Money for old rope and such springs to mind when it comes to counting the greenbacks that came Pat Perez’s way on his defection to the start-up LIV Tour, which came to a close in Donald Trump’s backyard in Doral in Florida over the weekend.
The veteran American, for sure, had the last laugh on everyone who had poked fun at his poor golf as he walked away over $8 million richer for his involvement in the Saudi-backed series.
“All the pushback, all the negative comments, everything we’ve got, at this point I really don’t care. I mean, I don’t care! I’m paid. I don’t give a damn,” said Perez, who benefited from being part of a team headed by Dustin Johnson and also featuring Patrick Reed and Talor Gooch, who dominated the team element.
In his six starts on LIV, Perez struggled with individual finishes of T29-T31-T15-T31-40-46 in the 48-man no-cut fields and earned $961,000 for his troubles. But it was his involvement in the team side of things – on DJ’s 4Aces – that enabled Perez to kerching his way to $7,062,500 and bring his personal take to $8,023,500 for the limited campaign.
Last laugh indeed.
Meadow looking for strong push to make top 60
Stephanie Meadow has enjoyed a strong season – with two top-10s on the LPGA Tour – but she needs to produce something special in this week’s Toto Japan Classic in Shiga if she is to strengthen hopes of extending her campaign into the upcoming big-money CME Globe Tour Championship.
Meadow is currently 81st in the LPGA Tour order of merit, with this week’s Toto event and the Pelican Championship in Florida (the last of the regular season tournaments) ultimately deciding the 60 players who advance to the season-ending CME Globe Tour Championship.
Leona Maguire, who is 16th on the order of merit, opted not to travel to Japan and will return to tournament duty at the Pelican event in Florida on November 10th-13th. Maguire is assured of her place in the Tour Championship, which has a prize fund of $6 million.
Word of Mouth
“Hats off to Séamus, he played great in the wind. He knows how to play in the wind more than anyone out here. So it was a grind for both of us and there was a lot of back and forth most of the front nine and most of the start of the back nine and I just wasn’t able to execute and he came out on top, so hats off to him”
– Ben Griffin, magnanimous in defeat, after a disastrous homeward run. The American was two shots clear through 11 holes only to suffer a run of bogey-bogey-bogey-bogey-double bogey as Power took the initiative.
By the Numbers: 20
In a season long schedule to 28 tournaments, this week’s Grand Final of the Challenge Tour will determine the 20 players who will graduate with full cards to next season’s DP World Tour. Two Irish players – Tom McKibbin and John Murphy – are among the 45 players to make it to the season-ending tournament in Mallorca. McKibbin, currently 15th in the order of merit, is in a strong position to win his full card, while Murphy, is placed 42nd.
[ Tom McKibbin heads to Mallorca on the cusp of something specialOpens in new window ]
On this day: November 1st, 1987
Tom Watson picked a good one to return to the winner’s enclosure, claiming the Nabisco Championship – the forerunner to the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup – in San Antonio, Texas, to lay his hands on the then biggest prize money in tournament golf, a cheque for $350,000.
Without a win on tour in three years, Watson dramatically ended the drought with a winning total of 12-under-par 268 with rounds of 65-66-69-68 to hold off Chip Beck at the AW Tillinghast-designed Oak Hills Country Club for a win which prompted him to throw his yellow visor towards the heavens in celebration.
In fact, Sports Illustrated described the amount of money on offer as “sinful”.
“He’s back! You can write it, he’s back. It’s great for him and it’s good for golf,” Paul Azinger – who pipped Curtis Strange for the season-long money title – had informed anyone who would listen after venturing back out to the 18th green to see Watson seal the deal.
For Watson, who had spent three weeks at home prior to event working on his fragile putting, the win – his first since the 1984 Western Open – brought pure delight: “I’m about the happiest guy in the whole world. After all those years of answering the questions and asking internal questions too, this is sweet.”
Twitter Twaddle
– Shane Lowry tipping the cap to Waterford’s Séamus Power.
– Power’s caddie Simon Keelan responding to Lowry about the annual player-caddie get together.
– Pádraig Harrington’s measured take on Power’s win.
– Europe’s Ryder Cup assistant Edoardo Molinari happy with the weekend.
Know the Rules
Q
In stroke play, a player’s ball lies on the out of bounds line after his tee shot. Although no part of his ball touches or overhangs, he plays his next shot from lies. What is the ruling?
A
The player must return to the tee and gets a total of three penalty strokes (for infringing Rule 6.3c and Rule 18.2).
In the Bag: Séamus Power - Butterfield Bermuda Championship
Driver: Ping G430 LST (9 degrees)
3-wood: Ping G430 MAX (15 degrees)
7-wood: Ping G430 MAX (18 degrees)
Irons: Ping iBlade (4), Ping Blueprint (5-PW)
Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 (50, 54 and 58 degrees)
Putter: Ping PLD3 Mallet
Ball: Titleist ProV1x
