Shriners Children's Open
It was a fun week at The Sanderson Farms Championship. Mackenzie Hughes finally got it done after an extremely long winless drought. The last time Hughes won was in 2016 at the RSM Classic. Hughes waited 2,142 days for his next win and it couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s tough for players that go through such long droughts. It’s hard to stay patient and confident in yourself. Hughes has been familiar with those feelings all to well. In a later statement he told reporters that (I just kept telling myself that I'm really good.) This kind of self talk is so important to not only keep your mind focused but eliminate negativity. Hughes knew he was going to win again it was just a matter of time. To all the young players out there struggling between wins adopt this mindset and mantra because at the end of the day it’s just a matter of time. Another player that has ended a long drought of her own was Charley Hull. She won the Ascendent LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America event. She herself has been waiting for her second victory since her first in 2016 at the season ending CME Globe Championship. Hats off to both of these extremely talented competitors the grind never stops no matter how long it takes, it never ever stops.
A lot has happened around various tours the past couple weeks. PGA Tour Latin America has released Q-School dates and sites, they have also released literature outlining how their tour is moving forward. Some of these changes outlined are causing uneasiness among young professionals looking to move up through the ranks of the developmental tours. The most serious change that raised a lot of concerns were the lack of increase in the weekly purses and the most serious were how players would be exempt onto the Korn Ferry Tour based on their year-long finishes on PGA Latin America. Prior to these changes the top 25 finishers would be exempt through one or two stages of Korn Ferry Q-School, more specifically among the top 25, the top 10 went directly to the final stage and the remaining 15 went to the second stage of Korn Ferry Q-School. However after the changes being implanted this year all of that changes. Players finishing 2nd-5th throughout the season will receive conditional status but will go back to the second stage to try and improve on that, 6th-10th will have no status and go back to second stage and finally players finished 11th-25th will go back to first stage. This hurts the top performers on these tours. The major incentive is to get boosted to the Korn Ferry Tour and further along through Q-School and now that it's essentially gone. In the coming years expect to see less players competing on this tour because of lack of benefits and financial struggles. Hopefully these incentives will improve and move in the other direction because right now these developmental tours are going in the wrong direction. Moving on, the second stage of the Korn Ferry Tour begins next week in various locations across the country, leading up to the final stage in Georgia in November. As for the PGA Tour they had to Las Vegas, the city that never sleeps!
This week more and more of the top ranked players start their seasons. TPC Summerlin, the host course for the Shriners Children’s Open, tends to draw a very solid field. More specifically it draws top rank players like such as Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Sunjae Im, Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim. As well as fan favorites like Jason Day and Rickie Fowler. However this week those players shouldn’t be the focus. Fans keep an eye on Taylor Montgomery. Montgomery is a PGA Tour rookie and is quickly making a name for himself. He has already logged a solo third place finish followed by a t-9 finish. On top of that this is a home game for Montgomery. I would not be surprised if Montgomery makes a huge push this week for his maiden PGA Tour victory. Montgomery aside Cantlay and Homa are poised to make a strong push as well. (Mike)