Stewart Cink knows about change as well as anyone, a combination of good play and his birth certificate. At age 50, the former British Open champion is the only player at the Sony Open who will stay in Hawaii next week for the PGA Tour Champions opener. Cink played at Firestone when it held the World Series of Golf.
Of the two clear signs the PGA Tour is about to embark on a new year at Kapalua, one is obvious: The magnificent view from the first tee of an 80-yard fairway that seemingly drops into the Pacific Ocean. The other is more bizarre: Jon Rahm sightings. Rahm is the defending champion at The Sentry, except that all he has been defending of late is his decision to defect to Saudi-funded LIV Golf. The total compensation is probably in the neighborhood of the entire PGA Tour prize fund for the FedEx Cup season ($402.4 million, not including the majors).
The tour has yet to announce prize money for next year except for the $15 million purse to start the year at The Sentry, $20 million at seven other signature events, $25 million for The Players Championship and a $25 million bonus for the FedEx Cup champion. “If this is an arms race and if the only weapons here are dollar bills, the PGA Tour can’t compete,” Commissioner Jay Monahan said in June 2022, when LIV Golf was just starting to buy top players and Saudi Arabia’s national wealth fund was an enemy instead of a partner.
Next week: CME Group Tour Championship. Online: https://www.lpga.com/ PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS CHARLES SCHWAB CUP CHAMPIONSHIP Site: Phoenix. Course: Phoenix CC.
Chan Kim was making a comfortable living on the Japan Golf Tour, winning eight times over five seasons at tournaments like the Japan Open and the Dunlop Phoenix. Kim, who played his college golf at Arizona State, shot 64 in the final round to win the inaugural Magnit Challenge. A week later, Kim had a 64-64 weekend to win the Albertsons Boise Open.