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‘Made the cut last week and didn’t break even’ – Danielle Kang on financial realities of life on LPGA Tour

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There is plenty said about the money available on the PGA Tour, and last year’s announcement of the sharp rise in prize-money for the LPGA and associated events was probably about time.

This week’s Chevron Championship has nearly 40 years of tradition and history behind it but Danielle Kang, winner of six LPGA events including one major championship, admits the extra money comes with extra sponsorship, and inevitable change.

When asked about the ‘fresh blood’ in terms of sponsors, the 29-year-old admitted:

“It’s refreshing, to be honest. It’s because I’m lucky enough to not worry about some of the cash prizes and things like that. I understand sometimes when people look at how much money we make, they get thrown off about you’re making extra amounts and you’re making this much and you’re just complaining.”

“Let’s kind of look at it from a broader perspective. I’m one player. How about the average tour players? I made $6,000 last week, made the cut; I didn’t break even last week. That’s me budgeting. I have to drive, rent a car, get a hotel room. Luckily enough for me I’m sponsored by BMW that provides for me the car. That saves like $500, $1000 etc.”

The winner of January’s Tournament of Champions was enthusiastic about the future:

“We have to think about all these things. So for us, when companies step up and give us an opportunity to make a living, make the tour better and broader and for players to compete and to be an actual job, it’s nice to see that.”

On the move to Houston in 2023, Kang understands that tradition must give way to progress:

“This place has lots of memories, a lot of traditions, and I understand that,” admits Kang. “But sometimes we’re so focused on the move right now that we have taken away the fact that the CEO, Michael Wirth, I think is his name, he upped our prize fund by 60% and is now a $5 million purse.”

“I understand this is one of the most loved events, but we have to elevate this event. It is something — it’s got history, traditions, and it will be an integral part of the championship moving forward, but we need to have bigger prize monies and — prize money, and for the fact that he made it $5 million, I really thank him for that.”

“He elevated it in literally a week. It’s instant. We have courtesy cars. At a Major championship, we’re competing for bigger prizes. It differentiates a Major versus other golf tournaments.”

Many of the previous event winners here this week have admitted sadness that this is the final year at Mission Hills.

2014 champion Lexi Thompson spoke about the tradition of the winner jumping into the greenside pond, started in 1988: “Jumping into Poppie’s Pond is one of my best memories. I think what’s so amazing is the history behind this tournament. Jumping into Poppie’s Pond’s, putting the robe on on the 18th green, just the tradition and history behind it. To be able to walk up the 18th green and see my name there, it’s pretty special.”

As Kang says, though, things must move on:

“Major championships, what makes it a Major? Bigger purse, better players, golf courses, difficulty, level of the golf course. US Open is US Open because of what it is. We play amazing golf tracks. Same thing and KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, the Open, British Opens. We have to think about why this tournament is so special. Traditions are tradition, but for me, like there is nothing permanent than change.”

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19th Hole

‘I still think it was his fault’ – Beau Hossler on the college incident with Scottie Scheffler that almost resulted in a physical fight

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Back in January, John Fields, who’s the head golf coach at the University of Texas told the story on the Subpar podcast of when his players Scottie Scheffler and Beau Hossler almost got in a physical fight while they were on the Longhorns golf team.

“That was an almost fight,” he said.

“Beau walks by this golf ball and he looks at it, and for whatever reason he thinks that he’s outdriven Scottie by 15 yards,” Fields said. “So, Scottie doesn’t think anything — we walked right past the ball and Beau look at the golf ball. Scottie hits his shot, we get up to the [other] ball, Beau’s turn now, and he looks down and goes, ‘This is not my ball.'”

Coach Fields shared that Scottie was livid at Beau.

“You would’ve thought Mount Vesuvius just went off, like we had a volcano 15 yards below us. Scheffler got so mad when he figured out that he’d hit the wrong ball, he ran up to the green, 260 yards on a dead sprint, picked up the ball, ran back, and threw it at Beau’s feet. Beau goes ahead and hits the right shot, and Scottie has lost the hole now. He’d just lost a hole, but it’s killing him. And now, they’re jawing against each other on the way up [to the green], and finally on the next hole, on the par-3, I told Beau, ‘We are not going another step farther until you apologize to Scottie for that.’”

Fast forward to 2024, and Beau Hossler was asked about whether or not Coach Fields exaggerated the story after his opening round at the Houston Open yesterday.

“No, it wasn’t inflated. He [Coach Fields] probably deflated it if anything. We were playing this mess-around tournament before the regional there. Basically we were both playing a match. I wasn’t playing him, I was playing a New Mexico kid and he was playing a New Mexico kid. I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Lubbock, but it’s very, very, very windy.

“No. 2 is kind of this blind par 5 I think. We both hit it down the middle and whatever. I walked past the first ball, I walked to the second ball, it’s 10 yards in front. He hits the ball in the back and then I realized that that was not my ball that I was standing next to. We had different markings, but we both were playing a Titleist whatever, 3 with a Longhorn on it. One had a marking and mine didn’t. He wasn’t happy. I was like, well, listen, you’re the one who hit the wrong ball. I understand like it’s not a — but like you hit it, I didn’t.”

“It was a bad deal. It didn’t mean anything, but it was just — we’re really competitive, both of us,” Hossler said. “That was the really cool part about our golf team at Texas, it was like every player on the team was like either a very good player or a pretty good player that was very competitive. We wanted to kick each other’s ass all the time.”

“That was obviously a penalty and he wasn’t happy about it. I don’t blame him for not being happy about it. I still think it was his fault, he’s the only one who hit the wrong ball. I agree I should have checked closer that it was — that that was actually my ball, but one way or the other it’s a good story.”

Luckily, the two remained friends and the feud didn’t last very long. “That’s the good part of being friends. Once we got on the plane home, it was OK.”

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19th Hole

3-time PGA Tour winner calls for LIV to buy Champions Tour to fix ‘joke’ purses

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While speaking on the Subpar podcast, former PGA Tour winner and current PGA Tour Champions player Chris DiMarco said he hopes LIV buys the Champions Tour.

“We’re kind of hoping that LIV buys the Champions Tour,” he said.

“Let’s play for a little real money out here. I mean this is kind of a joke when we’re getting $2 million. There were like seven guys last week from TPC (Sawgrass, at the $25 million PLAYERS Championship) that made more money than our purses.”

In 2024, the Champions Tour had a total of $67 million in prize money over the course of 24 events.

DiMarco also defended LIV players for taking the money and said he would take it also.

“They wanted to play for a lot of money, and they deserve it. They have had some great careers, why not go and get some money?”

DiMarco also offered insight on Graeme McDowell’s move to LIV.

“I saw Graeme McDowell at the Old Memorial Pro Member, and he goes, ‘Listen, I went up to Jay Monahan and said I love the tour but I am struggling to keep my card and these guys are offering me all this money and less golf. I’m sorry, I’m going.’ And I do not blame him one bit, and I said I would have too.”

DiMarco was ranked as high as 6th in the world in 2006.

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‘It won’t win you golf tournaments’ – Golf analyst rips Charley Hull’s course management

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Charley Hull came just short of her third LPGA Tour victory over the weekend at the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship when she played her last two holes at 3 over to slip all the way to 10th on the leaderboard.

After the round, Hull was blasted by Sky Sports commentator and former LPGA Tour player Trish Johnson for her lack of golf course management.

While speaking on the Sky Sports Golf podcast, Johnson spoke harshly of Hull.

“I’m probably her harshest critic, because I know how good she is. She doesn’t win anywhere near enough for her talent, and she doesn’t get involved enough, in all honestly.

“The thing with Charley is that you’re never going to change her. I read something the other day that said how much she loves the game and it’s her love of the game [that costs her]. She’s never going to change and she’s just going to go for every pin.

“In theory that’s great, but it won’t win you golf tournaments, it just won’t because she’s not that much better than anybody else. If you put Charley against Nelly Korda, then I’m picking Nelly every single day of the week.”

Johnson also made a fascinating comparison between Hull and a famous male golfer, John Daly.

“Golf-wise that’s the way she plays the game and it’s a little bit like watching John Daly I suppose.”

“There’s something that John Daly had that made him a major winner and a winner, but Charley is kind of lacking that. Her talent is not in question, but maybe her application is. Maybe it’s just the case of her never changing and that will cost her golf tournaments, there’s no two ways about it. You cannot go for every pin because that’s the way you play and it being fun, as other players are better than that and you have to have course management.”

Hull is still only 27, and therefore has plenty of time to work on her flaws to achieve the success her talent should allow.

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