As we head into the final week of pro golf tour competition in 2017 – and after a week of around-the-clock coverage of Tiger Woods, here’s a handful of (mostly) Tiger-free stories that we’ve bookmarked this morning.
1. ADAM SCOTT LOOKS FORWARD
ESPN’s Evin Priest has a story on Aussie Adam Scott, and where he’s headed after one of his worst professional seasons.
Adam Scott has no doubt he can claw back up the world golf rankings in 2018 after bouncing back from a similarly poor season only two years ago.
His missed cut at last week’s Australian PGA Championship, in his own backyard of the Gold Coast, signed off a winless year interrupted by the birth of his second child and regular bouts of sickness.
At world No.31 and unlikely to tee up competitively until the US PGA Tour event at Riviera Country Club in mid February, Scott has ensured his worst end-of-year ranking since 2009, after starting 2017 at No.7.
2. MORGAN HOFFMAN FIGHTS DISEASE
Golfweek’s Brentley Romine reports on the sad news about Morgan Hoffman, and his announcement that he’s been diagnosed with muscular distrophy.
In 2011, Morgan Hoffmann began to notice that his right pectoral muscle was deteriorating. Five years, more than 25 doctors and many misdiagnoses later, Hoffmann was told in November 2016 that he had muscular dystrophy.
Hoffmann didn’t reveal the news publicly until Monday when he penned a story in The Players’ Tribune.
“The last few months have been the most trying of my life,” Hoffmann wrote. “I have a new reality now, and a new purpose.”
3. DALY’S WINNING STICK UP FOR SALE
Golf Digest’s Joel Beall has a post about the news that John Daly is selling the driver he used to win the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick.
Green Jacket Auctions has Daly’s Cobra driver from the ’91 PGA up for sale. According to the auction house, Daly gave his weapon of mass destruction to Crooked Stick architect Pete Dye. The famed designer then passed it to an associate, who decided to use the club in his own bag. Because of his usage, the driver does have some wear and tear. GJA also mentions that the shaft and alignment have been tinkered with.
4. WORLD RANKING HORSE RACE
Golf Channel’s Nick Menta updates us on the biggest moves in the world rankings after a wild weekend in the Bahamas, including Rickie Fowler reaching No. 7 and Tiger leaping into the, um, top 700.
Fresh off his final-round 61 and his win at the Hero World Challenge in Albany, Rickie Fowler is up two spots in the Official World Golf Ranking to No. 7.
Fowler, who has ranked as high as fourth, had been as low as 14th in January of this year.
As Fowler attempts to claw his way up the top 10, the man who handed him his trophy on Sunday, Tiger Woods, started what he hopes will be a rapid ascent up the ranking.
Woods’ tie for ninth in Bahamas vaulted him from 1,199th in the world to 668th, the product of the Hero’s strength of field and Woods’ low divisor.
5. PRO GOLF TOUR’S TAX STATUS
Geoff Shackelford posts some snark about the latest update on where the pro golf tours stand with their 501(c)(6) status related to the new tax bill that passed the U.S. Senate.
Since this CNBC story hit last week reporting the potential Senate tax bill inclusion of a giant headache for golf’s professional organizations, heartburn and acid reflux medicine has been flying off the shelves in greater Daytona Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach and West Palm Beach.
While we don’t know if this shortage was tied to the possibility of losing 501(c)(6) status for the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour and PGA of America, things should return to normal after some Senator struck language sometime Friday. The bill was voted on Saturday morning without language that would have done untold damage to the business operations of the tours and potentially to the PGA of America.
