2014 Pro Golf Now: Morning Chip Shot
By Les Bailey
Apr 13, 2014; Augusta, GA, USA; Bubba Watson holds son Caleb Watson and high fives fans in the gallery after winning the 2014 The Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY Sports
The regular part of the 2015 Golf season is only three weeks away, and frankly, I can’t wait for the second week of January and for the new season to get underway around the world, and around professional golf. Because 2015 is an odd year, we will not have the drama that a Ryder Cup brings, but we will have a Presidents Cup for the men, and the Solheim Cup for the women.
The major championships have increased their purse sizes in 2015. The Masters, and US Open will pay out $9 Million Dollars with the winner taking home, $1.62 Million. The Open Championship will have a $9.2 Million Dollar purse with winner getting $1,665,787 Dollars. The PGA Championship, as usual, will have the largest purse, at $10 Million Dollars, with the winners share being a whopping $1.8 Million Dollars.
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The Masters
The Masters continues to be the most popular tournament in golf, and the most popular major. It promises to be a great one in 2015, with Rory McIlroy seeking the career slam, and the impending return of Tiger Woods. Two-time Masters Champ, Bubba Watson looks to have his game going, and this should be a great tournament with plenty of drama.
The US Open
The US Open will be played at Chambers Bay in Washington state, and will mark the first time our national championship will be played in the state. Martin Kaymer will be defending the title he won at Pinehurst last year, and hopefully, Phil Mickelson will make a legitimate run at his career slam.
Lefty has finished as the bridesmaid at the US Open six times, and 2015 would be a good time for the 43 year-old to get-er-done!
The Open Championship
The Open Championship returns to the old course at St. Andrews in 2015, and the folks in Scotland are planning a big to-do for this championship. Rory McIlroy will be the defending champ, but Louis Oosthuizen from South Africa was the last to win a Claret Jug on the Old Course in 2010.
Oosthuizen beat Lee Westwood by seven strokes in the 2010 victory, his only major championship to date.
The PGA Championship
The PGA Championship returns to Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Rory McIlroy will be the defending champion, but it was Martin Kaymer who won here in 2010 after Dustin Johnson incurred a two-stroke penalty for grounding his club in one of the over 200 fairway bunkers on the golf course.
The penalty cost Johnson the lead in the last round, and he lost to the German in the playoff that followed.
The Presidents Cup
The Presidents Cup will pit the Americans against the Asians this year at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Course Korea in Incheon City, South Korea.
Jay Haas will take the reins of Team America from Fred Couples, and will pit his team against Captain, Nick Price, and Team International.
Since its inception in 1994, the only time Team International was able to win a Presidents Cup was 1998, when Team Captain, Jack Nicklaus lost to Peter Thomson at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club. Jack was tied 17-17 in 2003 by Gary Player at the Fancourt Hotel and Country Club in Cape Town, South Africa.
Wrap Up
The biggest change to the 2015 PGA Tour Schedule is what has been renamed the WGC-Cadillac Match Play Championship. The old, Accenture Match Play Championship, which previously played at the Dove Mountain Resort in the Tucson area, has been assigned a new date, and a new venue.
In 2015, this event will be played at Harding Park in the San Francisco area, and it has been moved in time as well. It was previously played in February, after the Northern Trust Open at Riveria as players were making their way to Palm Beach for the start of the Florida Swing.
It has been moved to the first week of March, after the Honda Classic, and will be played opposite the Puerto Rico Open. Players will need to return to California before moving back to Florida for the Valspar Championship.
I was disappointed that they elected to change the venue for this tournament. The Dove Mountain Resort was a perfect venue for this Match Play event, it just came at the wrong time of the year. Folks in the mountains of Arizona were still in the grips of winter, as we saw a few years back when the Thursday action was snowed out.
The playoff in 2014 between Jason Day and Frenchman, Victor Dubuisson was epic, and a reason I love this format.
I also felt that a format change was necessary to keep the top players at the venue. They need to take a page from the Volvo Match Play Championship in England, and find a way to keep stars involved for the entire event.
With the return of a healthy Tiger Woods, the 2015 golf season promises to be a great one. All we need to do now, is tee it high and let it fly….!!