TELFER’S THOUGHTS 25.5.26

In the wake of the rigorous challenges of a Major Championship many of the world’s leading golfers give themselves a week off afterwards, some even more. The USPGA Tour, mindful of these demands, usually then schedules a tournament without quite so many of the mental and physical challenges associated with getting through four rounds of a Major.

At the year’s second Major, the USPGA Championship in Philadelphia at the Aronimink course last week, no-one managed to get to 10 under for their week’s work. The winner, 38-year-old Englishman Arun Rai, won by 3 shots and finished the week at 9 under. From there the Tour moved to Texas for the CJ Cup, in honour of Byron Nelson, winner of five Major Championships. However, Nelson is probably best remembered for his remarkable achievement in 1945 when he won, believe it or not, 11, yes 11, PGA tournaments in a row, a record that not surprisingly still stands after 75 years. Not even Tiger Woods at his peak could get near that consecutive winning streak of Nelson’s.

This year’s winner was former US Open champion Wyndham Clark. His winning score of 30 under par for his 72 holes contrasts rather vividly with Rai’s 9 under a week ago in the PGA Championship.

Clark, mind you, had to play easily his best golf of the year to win here in Texas. His final round of 60 comprised of 9 birdies, an eagle and just 7 pars. He caught and overtook the 3rd round leader, South Korean Kim Si Woo, who had shot a 2nd round of 60 as well.

As mentioned, many leading lights including Ryan Fox had the week off. All in all it was a very low- key week for NZ’s leading golfers. The US Women’s Tour had the week off and Daniel Hillier and Kazuma Kobori both missed the cut in Antwerp at the Soudal Open. It was a peculiar week indeed for Hillier. Firstly, making a rapid departure from Philadelphia where he’d played 4 rounds at the USPGA Championship. Then he got off to a remarkable start at the Soudal Open, reeling off 4 birdies from his first holes and led the field, albeit briefly. Not sure what happened next, perhaps it was a case of jet lag and the toll of having played in a Major Championship many thousands of kilometres away a few days earlier. Two double bogeys and a couple of bogeys saw him tumble quickly down the leaderboard. Day 2 was only marginally better and after 36 holes he languished in 130th place, missing the cut by 6 shots. Kobori fared slightly better with rounds of 69 and 71 to miss the cut 1 shot.

The winner, South African Richard Sterne, recorded his first win on this Tour in 13 years.

Away from PGA Golf, LIV Golf got some headlines when it announced last week a 10-tournament schedule for 2027.

Whether it ever sees the light of day is another matter. Their financial backer, to date the Saudi Arabian quasi government entity PIF (Public Investment Fund), is ending its financial support at the end of this year. LIV Golf accepts that in order to continue along the lines it has to date, it must find in the vicinity of US$300million. A very tall order.

It’s estimated the Saudis have tipped in excess of US$5billion into LIV Golf to date. Is it any wonder then that they’ve said ‘enough is enough’?