The Epson Tour remains the primary path to the LPGA Tour, now with larger purses and a new wrinkle on how to get into those tournaments. The Epson Tour released its 2024 schedule on Tuesday, most noteworthy the five tournaments with $300,000 purses or more — the largest at $400,000 for the Carlisle Arizona Women's Golf Classic — and the Tour Championship moving from Florida to California. New to the circuit is switching from money to points to determine the top 10 players who receive LPGA cards the following year.
Team Europe already has voiced its preference that it would like to see Luke Donald return as captain for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. If that's the choice, he would be the first repeat captain since Bernard Gallacher in 1991, 1993 and 1995. Tiger Woods was thought to be the logical choice for Bethpage Black a year ago, especially when Phil Mickelson effectively lost his chance as a chief recruiter for Saudi-backed LIV Golf.
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.
Morikawa followed his 61 with another clean card for a 6-under 64 on Friday in the Tour Championship, giving him the lowest 36-hole score at East Lake and a share of the lead with Viktor Hovland going into the weekend of the FedEx Cup finale. “Sometimes just being out there when you don’t realize that you’re out there for that long of a period, but you find one thing that you hope works,” said Morikawa, winless since the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai at the end of 2021. Scores can look inflated at the Tour Championship because players start at various points under par depending on the FedEx Cup position.