Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul fired a 7-under-par 65 to claim a one-shot win at the CME Group Tour Championship and the $4 million first-place prize, the largest in professional women's golf history, on Sunday in Naples. Fla.

• Tied with Angel Yin entering the final round at Tiburon Golf Club, Thitikul birdied three of her first seven holes and finished strong, sinking an eagle on the par-5 No. 17 hole before closing her round with a birdie on No. 18.

  "Actually, I don't know what's (happening) to me on 17 and 18," Thitikul said after her fourth LPGA Tour win. "I mean, like I really make a birdie on 17, which is giving me a good chance.

  "But like having eagle, it's more than I can ask for. And then hitting really, really good second shot on 18 and hole the putt, it's just like, you know, all the hard work that I've been, it's just like pay off."

  The 21-year-old Thitikul collected a total of six birdies, one eagle and one bogey, on the par-4 No. 4 hole, to close at 22-under 266 in the LPGA's season finale. With the win, she is the 2024 Race to the CME Globe champion.

  As for the $4M payout, Thitiful already has plans for the money.

  "Definitely spend it," she said with a laugh. "That's an honest answer for sure. Definitely going to spend it for a little while, but like saving it for my parents as well. Because I told them that I'm shopping a lot. Don't tell my parents that I've been spending all the money."

  Yin played a bogey-free round with six birdies but shot a 6-under 66 to finish one shot behind Thitikul at 21-under 267.

  "Lots of positives, hitting it good," Yin said. "This is -- you know, I'm happy because this is a golf course that I'm not very fond of and never played well. My track record, I think this is my best finish ever."

  New Zealand's Lydia Ko posted the round of the day, notching a 9-under 63 and moving up nine spots to finish third, five spots off the lead. Ko delivered nine birdies, including three in a row on Nos. 7-9, and played bogey-free golf.

  China's Ruoning Yin (68 on Sunday) finished fourth, followed by World No. 1 Nelly Korda (66) and Narin An (68) of South Korea in a tie for fifth. Korda sank six birdies in a bogey-free round but couldn't catch the leaders after a first-round 72.

  "Motivated definitely, and just excited and proud of how this year went," Korda said. "Never in a million years would I have thought last year, 365 days ago, I would be here with seven wins in one season and another major championship."

  Lexi Thompson, who had announced earlier this year that this would be her last full season on tour, shot a 2-over 74 and finished in a tie for 49th at 2-under 286.

  "Yeah, it was very emotional," she said. "Really wasn't until I got to No. 9 for some reason. Kind of all hit me."

  --Field Level Media

Joel Dahmen has handled the pressure of closing out a PGA Tour victory, but even that didn't equate to the emotional weight he felt standing over a 5 1/2-foot putt in Georgia on Friday.

• Miss it, and Dahmen was assured of missing out on fully exempt status on the PGA Tour for 2025. Make it, and he would get to live to fight another weekend.

  The 37-year-old steadied his hands to drain the putt and make the cut on the number at 1-under par at The RSM Classic on Sea Island, Ga. Dahmen enters the weekend projected to finish 126th in the FedEx Cup Fall standings -- only the top 125 earn fully exempt status for next year.

  "It was a great putt. I was very nervous," he admitted after the round. "But there's still work to do. It wasn't the game-winner, it was like the half-court shot to get us like at halftime. But without that and the way I played today, I wouldn't have anything this weekend.

  "I'm hoping I play great this weekend and I hit 36 greens and I just kind of plod my way around and it's super easy, but that's not the way golf is. Really proud of myself today, but there's still work to do."

  Nothing has come easy this season for the winner of the 2021 Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. Ranked as high as 58th in the Official World Golf Ranking, Dahmen has plummeted as low as 240th this year while posting a lone Top 10 finish against 10 missed cuts in 28 events.

  This week marks No. 29, including all eight during the FedEx Fall swing as Dahmen has attempted to improve his FedEx Cup ranking. He finished T14 in Mexico two weeks ago, but hasn't managed better than a T40 in the other six. That included a missed cut in Bermuda last week, which ratcheted the pressure up that much more.

  "You can't get away from anything. The room's a little more quiet around you. Like a pitcher throwing a no-hitter this week, it's a little different," Dahmen said. "Once I missed the cut in Bermuda last week, stress has been high.

  "You lay in bed, try to go to sleep, but it's like you're sleeping on the lead of a major every night. That's kind of what it feels like, but a little more stressful than that."

  Dahmen's chances of securing exempt status appeared bleak after opening with a 73 on Thursday. He fell to 2 over with an opening bogey on No. 1, then managed three birdies over his next 15 holes to set up the all-important putt on 18.

  When the putt dropped, Dahmen hugged his wife, Lona, and playing partner Mark Hubbard said the all the drama during a Friday round in November caused him to "stress drink."

  "I'm sorry for them, I'm sorry that they're feeling the way I'm feeling," Dahmen said. "I know my wife has been stressed. I have a lot of great people around me and so it's hard on them, but it's just because they love me and they care about me.

  "I mean, job's not done. ... We have two more steps to go."

  If Dahmen doesn't improve his standing at least one spot by the end of the weekend, he will still retain conditional status in the Nos. 126-150 category. Either way, Dahmen -- who gained "every man" fame along with caddie Gino Bonnali in the Netflix documentary "Full Swing" -- said his professional golf story is far from done.

  "I still got more to write this weekend, for sure, but without having the opportunity to play this weekend, my story would be a lot shorter this year," he said. "What happens this weekend, my story's still not done. I have a lot left in me and I'm going to give my all.

  "But this weekend's big, for sure."

  --Field Level Media

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have 24 PGA Tour members on board for TGL, their new indoor professional golf league, but they've also been in contact with the LPGA about a potential expansion, Front Office Sports reported Thursday.

• A spokesperson for TGL, which debuts Jan. 7 at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla, told Front Office Sports that discussions between the league and LPGA have already occurred, though any collaboration would only happen sometime after the league's inaugural season.

  LPGA commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said on Wednesday at the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Fla., that the tour had been exploring ways to boost its marketing of LPGA players, including "exploring some synergies with TGL."

  "We've been talking to them for a while," Marcoux Samaan said. "It will be great to get our athletes in different positions. You know, with different exposure, different innovation in golf. The LPGA should be in every conversation about golf. So we've been talking to those guys for a long time, and I think we'll try to figure something out -- how we can work together, whatever that looks like."

  Per the report, TGL may create a separate women's league down the line or have a mixed event involving players from both the PGA and LPGA.

  TGL will combine simulator golf with an actual short game area via its hybrid virtual format, so instead of teeing off at different locations, TGL mixed events would allow all golfers to tee off from the same spot -- improving the viewing experience for fans.

  Mixed events have become more popular of late, including McIlroy defeating Max Homa and LPGA pros Rose Zhang and Lexi Thompson in the made-for-TV golf series "The Match." That event, held in February, was the first version of the series to include female golfers. The $2.4 million won by McIlroy went to charity.

  In December, Zhang and World No. 1 Nelly Korda will be among the LPGA starts participating in the second year of the Grant Thornton Invitational, along with PGA Tour and TGL members Sahith Theegala and Rickie Fowler. The invitational is a co-sanctioned PGA Tour/LPGA Tour event established last year.

  There may also be a 36-hole mixed-team golf tournament at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with a proposal awaiting response from the International Olympic Committee.

  Also, Solheim Cup U.S. team captain Stacy Lewis said in September that she would like to see the biennial Presidents Cup become a mixed event.

  --Field Level Media

Nelly Korda capped her best season by capturing the top two honors on Wednesday at the Rolex LPGA Awards in Naples, Fla.

• The 26-year-old Florida native received the Rolex Player of the Year Award and the Rolex Annika Major Award, which goes to the major winner who had the best overall results in the season's big five events.

  Korda won seven events in 2024, including the Chevron Championship, her second career major title.

  "It's been crazy, it's been such a fun year, full of ups and downs, but I am so, so grateful for my team sitting right here," Korda said. "It's been an amazing year and I'm so grateful to be doing what I love."

  Korda entered the year with six career LPGA tournament wins but she added victories at the LPGA Drive On Championship, the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship, the Ford Championship, the T-Mobile Match Play, the Mizuho Americas Open and The Annika in addition to the Chevron Championship.

  She missed the cut at both the U.S. Women's Open and the Women's PGA Championship before tying for 26th at the Evian Championship and tying for second at the Women's British Open.

  With Lilia Vu having won Player of the Year in 2023, U.S. golfers have captured the honor in consecutive years for the first time since Betsy King and Beth Daniel did so in 1993 and 1994, respectively.

  New Zealand's Lydia Ko was awarded the Heather Farr Perseverance Award, given for "hard work, dedication and love of the game of golf." Ko, 27, earned the gold medal at the Paris Olympics to become the youngest player to earn Hall of Fame status since the current format went into place.

  Ko's three official victories this year included a major, the Women's British Open.

  "2024 has felt like a fairytale, one word, fairytale," Ko said. "I can't believe it, even now while looking at some of the highlights. I still get goosebumps."

  Ally Ewing received the Founders Award, given to the player who best "exemplifies the spirit, ideals and values of the LPGA through her behavior and deeds."

  Seth Waugh, the CEO of the PGA of America, and Martin Slumbers, CEO of The R&A, were given the Commissioners Award. The honor recognizes "a person or organization that has contributed uniquely to the LPGA and its Members, furthered the cause of women's golf, and possesses character and standards of the highest order."

  Gale Peterson, a teaching pro at Sea Island Golf Performance Center in St. Simons, Ga., won the Ellen Griffin Rolex Award.

  First-time LPGA tournament winners Bailey Tardy, Linnea Strom and Lauren Coughlin also were recognized.

  --Field Level Media

The 47th and final event of the 2024 PGA Tour season begins Thursday on St. Simons Island, Ga.

• With several PGA Tour players calling St. Simons Island home, and with dozens jockeying for critical spots in the race for playing status next year, The RSM Classic has once again drawn one of the strongest fields of the fall.

  The drama will be high for those grinding to earn spots in the first two signature events of 2025 and those trying to battle their way into the top 125 for full playing privileges next year. Our golf experts preview the field and provide their favorite prop picks along with best bets to win this week.

  THE RSM CLASSIC

  Location: St. Simons Island, Ga., Nov. 21-24

  Course: Sea Island Golf Club (Seaside: Par 70, 7,005 Yards; Plantation: Par 72, 7,060 Yards)

  Purse: $7.6M (Winner: $1.368M)

  Defending Champion: Ludvig Aberg

  FedEx Cup Champion: Scottie Scheffler

  HOW TO FOLLOW

  TV: Thursday-Friday: 12-3 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m. (Golf Channel)

  Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. ET

  X: @TheRSMClassic

  PROP PICKS

  --Chris Kirk to Beat Matt Kuchar (-115 at DraftKings): Kuchar, 46, has been among the veterans grinding as he tees it up for the sixth time during the fall swing. He posted three top-15s against a missed cut through the first four before going T37 in Japan and T30 in Mexico. Kirk, ranked 44th in the world, has been taking it far easier closer to home in Georgia and is a former Sea Island resident. Kirk, who posted a T35 in Utah in his long fall start so far, has played in this event every year since its inception.

  --Austin Eckroat Top 30 (+105 at BetRivers): Eckroat won his most recent start in Mexico two weeks ago and said it proved his maiden tour win at the Cognizant Classic in March wasn't a fluke. We agree. Eckroat reached the second round of the FedEx Cup playoffs on the strength of a strong season, and riding a wave of confidence he should be in contention against a fall field.

  --Callum Tarren Top English Finisher (+550): OK, we're closing out 2024 with a longshot selection. The big-hitting Tarren rebounded from a trio of missed cuts with a T37 last week. Granted, he has also missed seven of his past nine cuts overall. Matt Wallace is understandably the -150 favorite in this prop as the 65th-ranked player in the world comes off a T11 at the DP World Championship. We're banking on some jet lag as Wallace crossed the ocean to play his third consecutive week. Also in this prop are David Skinns (+400) and Ben Taylor (+650). Skinns has made four consecutive cuts during the PGA Tour fall swing, while Taylor has missed four of six cuts this fall.

  2024 Prop Picks Record: 53-60

  BEST BETS

  --Aberg (+900 at DraftKings) is making his first start since finishing 16th at the Tour Championship as he defends his lone tour win to date following knee surgery earlier this fall. His winning score of 253 last year tied Justin Thomas from the 2017 Sony Open for the record low in a 72-hole event.

  --St. Simons resident Brian Harman (+2200) competes for the first time since playing for the winning United States team at the Presidents Cup.

  --Sea Island resident Davis Thompson (+2200) won earlier this year (John Deere Classic).

  --Luke Clanton (+4000) will make his eighth start on tour this year, and the 21-year-old amateur has three top-10s.

  NOTES

  This is the final of eight tournaments on the FedEx Cup Fall schedule, which finalizes the top 125 players retaining exempt status for 2025. Nos. 126-150 after the fall will retain conditional status.

  Players who finished Nos. 51-70 in the FedEx Cup have secured their tour cards but are competing for spots in the first two signature events after the season-opening The Sentry on Jan. 2-5.

  All 19 players from Nos. 122-140 in the FedExCup Fall standings entering the week are in the field:

  No. 122 Sam Ryder

  No. 123 Zac Blair

  No. 124 Joel Dahmen

  No. 125 Wesley Bryan

  No. 126 Henrik Norlander

  No. 127 Daniel Berger

  No. 128 Hayden Springer

  No. 129 Pierceson Coody

  No. 130 S.H. Kim

  No. 131 Dylan Wu

  No. 132 Kevin Tway

  No. 133 Matt Wallace

  No. 124 Carl Yuan

  No. 135 Garrick Higgo

  No. 136 Alejandro Tosti

  No. 137 Taylor Montgomery

  No. 138 Michael Thorbjornsen

  No. 139 Gary Woodland

  No. 140 Kevin Streelman

  AON NEXT 10

  The top 10 players in the AON Next 10 following The RSM Classic receive spots in the first two designated events of 2025. Seven of the 10 players currently in position for one of the spots are in the field:

  No. 51: Mackenzie Hughes

  No. 52: Maverick McNealy

  No. 53: Patrick Rodgers

  No. 54: Harris English

  No. 55: Seamus Power

  No. 56: Ben Griffin

  No. 57: Tom Kim

  No. 58: Nick Taylor

  No. 59: Nico Echavarria

  No. 60: Justin Rose

  --Field Level Media

An all-time high of $131 million in purse money will be up for grabs at 35 events as the LPGA Tour celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2025.

• The 2025 funds mark an increase of more than $62 million since the 2021 season.

  The non-major purse total for the 2025 season is more than $83 million, up from $45.8 million in 2021. Sixteen events have purses of at least $3 million.

  "The 2024 season was another year of historic growth for the LPGA Tour, and with this 2025 schedule we will continue to improve on that growth," LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in a statement Wednesday.

  "This schedule is highlighted by two exciting new events, a new multi-year title for the longest-running non-major tournament on the LPGA Tour, even higher purse sizes, increased benefits that will enhance the athlete experience, improved geographical flow and a longer offseason that will give our athletes a well-deserved rest after their tremendous work in 2024."

  The LPGA -- the longest-running women's professional sports organization -- has a schedule that includes events in 14 states in the United States and 11 other countries. Of the 35 events, 33 of them are official LPGA Tour competitions.

  Starting two weeks later than in past years, the season will have five majors and will feature two multi-event swings through Asia and one through Europe.

  One new stop on the tour in 2025 will be the previously announced Black Desert Championship in Ivins, Utah. The tour also returns to Mexico for the Riviera Maya Open in Cancun. Both events take place in May.

  --Field Level Media

The RSM Classic is where Ludvig Aberg broke through for his first PGA Tour title last year, the apex of his fast rise to stardom.

• Aberg doesn't need to play this week to maintain his tour eligibility, but after taking most of the fall off to have knee surgery, the Swede is eager to defend his title this week in Sea Island, Ga.

  "I've had some time off, it's been quite nice," Aberg told reporters Tuesday. "I had surgery on my knee, so I had about four weeks off from golf. The first two weeks I did not miss it at all, I'm not gonna lie, but last couple of weeks it's been itching in my fingers quite a bit. So it's been nice to get back into practicing, playing a lot more at home."

  "Home" for the 25-year-old Aberg and his girlfriend is now a house in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., near TPC Sawgrass. It's less than a two-hour drive north to get to Sea Island, where many other professional golfers make their homes.

  Less than 18 months ago, Aberg had just finished a successful collegiate career at Texas Tech and received a tour card through the PGA Tour University pathway. He won on the DP World Tour last September, made the European Ryder Cup team and then finished his year by capturing the RSM Classic.

  Aberg shot back-to-back rounds of 9-under 61 on Sea Island's Seaside Course on the weekend to pull away for a four-shot victory.

  "Obviously I've always liked coming to Sea Island. ... It's a place that I really like coming to and the golf has been great to me so far, so looking forward to keeping that up," Aberg said.

  Aberg hasn't won a tournament since, but the highlights of his 2024 season included a second-place finish at the Masters and a T2 at the BMW Championship, the penultimate leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

  But during the spring, his knee began to act up on him, and he hunkered down and played through the pain. Soon doctors advised him to have surgery, so he went for it the first week after the playoffs in early September. It was his first major surgery, and he didn't hit balls for about four weeks.

  Aberg is the +900 favorite at Fanduel Sportsbook to win the RSM again against a weaker field. Most of the field is ranked nowhere near as high as Aberg's No. 5 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking; other players are instead focused on finalizing their spots in the top 125 of the FedEx Cup Fall points standings to guarantee eligibility for 2025.

  They'll have to contend with a healthier, stronger and more rested Aberg. He had his surgery and rehab in New York, so he and his girlfriend had an easy time enjoying their time off.

  "It's been nice to have a little break," Aberg said. "It was probably the first break that I've had from golf since my senior year in college, so it was quite nice to kind of reflect a little bit, sit down and not having to go play a tournament at some point.

  "Last couple weeks I've been itching to get out here. It's been a long time coming, it feels like."

  --Field Level Media

Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson might not feel as "ruthless" as Charley Hull when it comes to suggestions for fixing the LPGA Tour's issue with slow play, but the American stars agree something has to be done.

• Korda and Hull were battling for the lead at The Annika during the third round last Saturday that took five hours and 38 minutes to complete. Hull held the 54-hole lead, but Korda caught and passed her English rival on Sunday, dropping her final putt as darkness descended following another five-hour round.

  Hull called the situation "ridiculous," said she fell sorry for the fans who have to endure the long rounds and offered a solution sure to curb the growing issue.

  "I'm quite ruthless, but I said, 'Listen, if you get three bad timings, every time it's a two-shot penalty," she said. "If you have three of them you lose your tour card instantly. I'm sure that would hurry a lot of people up and they won't want to lose their tour card. That would kill the slow play, but they would never do that."

  Asked about Hull's solution on Tuesday ahead of the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship this week, Korda called it "funny," while agreeing more measures need to be taken. The LPGA has doled out penalties and fines, but that hasn't stopped the trend of five-hour rounds becoming the standard.

  "It's a pretty big issue," said Korda, the world's top-ranked player. "I think that it really, really needs to change.

  "Players just need to be penalized. Rules officials need to watch from the first group. Once they get two minutes behind, one minute behind, it just slows everything down."

  Thompson will be playing her final event as a full-time LPGA Tour member this week. The Florida resident echoed concerns for fans coming out in the heat to following their favorite players for five-plus hours.

  Thompson called Hull's comment "aggressive," but she doesn't disagree with it.

  "It has to be done. Something has to be done to quicken up the play out there, whether it's fines or whatever it is," Thompson said. "Needs to be done because we need to play quicker."

  Hull said she plays rounds at home on difficult golf courses in three and a half to four hours. She called the LPGA's pace of play issues "pretty crazy," and Thompson agrees there is no reason for threesome rounds on tour to be taking more than four and a half hours.

  "Look, you're going to hit a good shot or bad shot. Might as well not take that much time over it," she said. "It's just a game. Just do your routine, commit, and hit it."

  --Field Level Media

Brian Harman has grinded through just about every level since turning professional in 2009, so he empathizes with those who will be directly impacted by the reduced field sizes approved by the PGA Tour Policy Board for the 2026 season.

• As a member of the Player Advisory Committee, Harman was part of the group of players charged with evaluating the pro and cons of reducing the field sizes for several tournaments.

  "I can't even begin to elaborate on how many discussions that we had and ideas going back and forth," Harman said on Tuesday ahead of this week's season-ending The RSM Classic. "It's so nuanced and it's so detailed that it's not like a short interview about it isn't going to do it justice, but we were in the room, we discussed every possible scenario and this is kind of what everyone came up with."

  That scenario includes a reduction in fully exempt players on tour in a given season. Beginning in 2026, players who finished in the top 100 of the prior year's FedEx Cup standings will keep full status, down from the top 125 this year. Players finishing Nos. 101-125 in the FedEx Cup standings would receive conditional status.

  Only 20 PGA Tour cards will be awarded to Korn Ferry Tour graduates rather than 30, among other minor changes to membership policies.

  The fields at standard tournaments, currently at a maximum of 156 players, will be reduced to 144, with consideration for certain fields to be cut to 132 or 120 players based on daylight and pace of play. The Players Championship, the most prestigious non-major tournament in golf, will go from 144 players to 120. These changes also will not take effect until 2026.

  The changes have stirred debate among the rank-and-file, with Lucas Glover among them. The former major champion said earlier this week that the policy board "think we're stupid," and suggested the tour enforces its pace of play issues rather than cost professionals their jobs.

  "I'm not numb to the fact that we're cutting opportunities, right? It's not something that sits well with me and it doesn't sit well with anyone that was in any of those discussions," Harman said. "But all these decisions that get made, they're all not good or all bad.

  "We're looking at every single kind of pro and con to every piece that moves around and trying to figure out the most equitable, fairest way to have a great product at the same time providing enough playing opportunities for everyone.

  Harman said the PAC was broken into separate subcommittees to each evaluate different potential pathways. At the end of the day, the math simply doesn't work out for 156-player fields on one course during times of the year with limited daylight hours.

  "Daylight's a big thing, can't finish," he said. "The Tour's been expanding for the last I don't know how many years and just we're trying to come up with the best possible product for television, for the players and to make sure that people have pathways to get in.

  "I feel as though when we get into some of these 156-man fields, you can look at the parking lot out here, there's nowhere to park and (Sea Island) is two golf courses, thank goodness. But 156 on one golf course, it's hard to navigate a practice round, it's hard to navigate where to get food.

  "I mean, logistically it just makes it a lot, a lot tougher."

  Harman has three victories since joining the PGA Tour 12 years ago, highlighted by his win at The Open Championship in 2023. At just 5 feet, 7 inches tall, he's one of the shorter hitters on tour and is a noted grinder who has carved out a lengthy career with excellent iron play and a strong short game.

  Currently 24th in the Official World Golf Ranking, Harman has been as high as eighth but was also 123rd to begin the 2020 season and 141st to open 2017. So it's safe to presume Harman doesn't classify himself as among the "cool kids" Glover said are driving the decisions that most benefit them.

  "If you're one of the guys that you feel like you're going to affected by it, you're very upset by it and I understand that, I would feel the exact same way," Harman said.

  "They're really hard conversations to have because for me, I've been on every side of that token. I've been 100 to 125, I've been 70 to 100, I've been 1 to 20. I understand how all those blocks feel and for me to, like, having to discuss how that stuff gets moved around, it's extremely, extremely difficult and it's not comfortable."

  On the flip side of the debate, Harman believes that playing well throughout a season is now more rewarded than ever before on the PGA Tour.

  "There's a ton of different ways to look at it," he said. "For the first half of my career, I finished top-50 two or three times, right? Two of three times out of four or five times, and what you were rewarded for that was essentially not much. You got to start your season the same time two weeks later at zero, you weren't in any World Golf Championships, you weren't in any majors, you weren't in any bigger tournaments.

  "Now if you go out and you have a nice year on the PGA Tour, you finish in the top 50, you're in the elevated events, you have an incredible opportunity and that opportunity is because you've had a great year.

  "You've never been more rewarded for playing great golf right now and I think that's a really cool place for the Tour to be in.

  "You look at all of the information that's presented and you do your best to make the best possible decision for the most amount of people."

  --Field Level Media

Sergio Garcia has reapplied for membership to the DP World Tour with an eye on being eligible for next year's European Ryder Cup team.

• Garcia, 44, resigned from the European tour last year after racking up what is reportedly more than $1 million in fines after joining LIV Golf in 2022. After reportedly considering paying his outstanding debts in order to play in last year's Ryder Cup, Garcia has now decided to do so and serve his suspension to be eligible for next year's event.

  "Sergio Garcia submitted his application to return to membership of the DP World Tour for the 2025 season ahead of the deadline on Sunday, November 17," a DP World Tour spokesman said in a statement provided to bunkered.

  Garcia has the most individual match wins (25) and has scored the most points (28 1/2) in Ryder Cup history. He was 19 when he made his Ryder Cup debut in 1999 and appeared in his 10th competition in 2021. Only Lee Westwood and Nick Faldo, with 11 appearances, have played in more for Europe.

  The 2025 event will take place Sept. 26-28 at Bethpage Black in New York, after Europe won the Cup back at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club outside of Rome last year.

  Garcia finished third on LIV Golf's individual points race last year. However, to be eligible to compete for Europe in the Ryder Cup, players must be members of the DP World Tour.

  "He thinks he can play. He wants to play. I don't think he has talked to me about being an assistant captain, but again, he would have to re-join the tour for him to be eligible," European captain Luke Donald said last month when asked about Garcia. "He's certainly very interested in doing that. He understands everything that's involved and again, the decision has to go to him whether he's prepared to do all that.

  "If you fulfill the regulations and the rules that the DP World Tour set, then you're eligible. There's a bunch of LIV guys that play on LIV who are eligible now so that I can pick them at will."

  --Field Level Media

The PGA Tour Policy Board approved several changes to field sizes, eligibility and the FedEx Cup points system Monday that will be introduced over the next two years.

• Perhaps the most notable change involves a reduction in fully exempt players on tour in a given season. Beginning in 2026, players who finished in the top 100 of the prior year's FedEx Cup standings will keep full status, down from the top 125 this year. Players finishing Nos. 101-125 in the FedEx Cup standings would receive conditional status.

  Only 20 PGA Tour cards will be awarded to Korn Ferry Tour graduates rather than 30, among other minor changes to membership policies.

  "It was important to redefine PGA Tour membership as we build on the aspirational nature of earning a PGA Tour card," PGA Tour Chief Competitions Officer Tyler Dennis said in a statement. "Once on tour, members will have an equitable opportunity to retain their membership and qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. For our fans, this added competitive drama will in turn create stronger fields and leaderboards throughout the season."

  The fields at standard tournaments, currently at a maximum of 156 players, will be reduced to 144, with consideration for certain fields to be cut to 132 or 120 players based on daylight and pace of play. The Players Championship, the most prestigious non-major tournament in golf, will go from 144 players to 120. These changes also will not take effect until 2026.

  "These field size adjustments, which also promote a better flow of play, improve the chances of rounds being completed each day with a greater ability to make the 36-hole cut on schedule under normal weather conditions," Dennis said. "For our fans, this certainty sets up weekend storylines much more effectively and will make the PGA Tour easier and more enjoyable to follow."

  The FedEx Cup points system will raise the point allocation for a second-place finish at a major -- reportedly by 100 points -- while decreasing the points for positions 11 and below. At signature events, there will be a slight decrease in points for finishing seventh and lower.

  The proposals were initially sent to players by the PGA Tour Player Advisory Council last month, and they are far from universally popular. Tour veteran Lucas Glover called the policy changes "terrible" in comments to Golfweek earlier Tuesday.

  "Don't cut fields because it's a pace of play issue. Tell us to play faster, or just say you're trying to appease six guys and make them happy so they don't go somewhere else and play golf," said Glover, in a thinly veiled reference to the measures the PGA Tour continues to take to prevent more marquee players from bolting for LIV Golf.

  PGA Tour Policy Board player director Adam Scott explained his support for the changes in a statement.

  "The PAC discussions were based on a number of guiding principles, including our belief that PGA Tour membership is the pinnacle of achievement in men's professional golf," the Australian said. "The player representatives of the PGA Tour recognize the need to be continually improving its offerings to enhance the golf fan experience. The changes approved today will provide equitable playing opportunities for new young talent to be showcased, and positively refine the playing experience for our members."

  "Today's announced changes build on the competitive and schedule enhancements incorporated over the last six years in seeking the best version of the PGA Tour for our fans, players, tournaments and partners," commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. "This was a true collaborative effort, and I'm extremely proud of the PAC for the time and effort they put into evaluating how we build a stronger PGA Tour."

  --Field Level Media

Former major champion Lucas Glover called out what he labeled the "cool kid meetings" in criticizing the proposed changes to field sizes beginning in 2026.

• The PGA Tour Policy Board was set to meet Monday to discuss several changes, with the most controversial being the reduction of some field sizes. Glover, the 2009 U.S. Open champion who is currently ranked 50th in the world, said the proposal is being driven by a small group of people who are hiding behind the pace of play concern.

  "I think it's terrible," Glover said, per Golfweek. "And then hiding behind pace of play, I think challenges our intelligence. They think we're stupid."

  In the proposal, a full-field event played on a single golf course would shrink from 156 players to 144. And full-field events on one course before daylight savings time would shrink from 132 players to 120. Tournaments played over multiple courses would continue to have 156-player fields.

  The number of exempt players on the PGA Tour would also be reduced from 125 to 100, although the 25 spots eliminated under the proposal would maintain conditional status.

  At the heart of the debate is that tournaments played during fall and winter months often struggle to complete the first and second rounds on schedule, leading to the 36-hole cut often moving to Saturday. However, Glover said the solution is enforcing the rules in place rather than eliminating players' jobs.

  "Don't cut fields because it's a pace of play issue," said Glover, who estimated the number of slow players has grown from a handful to "50" since he started on tour. "Tell us to play faster, or just say you're trying to appease six guys and make them happy so they don't go somewhere else and play golf."

  It was a thinly veiled reference to the measures the PGA Tour continues to take in an effort to prevent more marquee players from bolting for LIV Golf. But Glover contends the board's job is to keep the best interests of the full membership at the forefront.

  "There's 200 guys that this is their life and their job," he said.

  Gary Young, the tour's senior vice president of rules and competition, said reducing field sizes "absolutely" will improve the pace of play. He said the Player Advisory Council meetings included discussions about what the ideal field size would be if they were starting the tour from scratch, and that simple mathematics shows that two waves of 78 players each creates "a parking lot" situation.

  "As we talked it through with the players on that subcommittee, there was agreement in the room that you would never build it so that groups would be turning and waiting at the turn," Young told Golfweek. "So that's where the whole idea of 144 being our maximum field size, everyone felt that that was the right number, and the mathematics on it worked. You'll see that some of our other fields have been reduced even further, and that's due to time constraints.

  "So a great example is we play a field size of 144 players at the Players Championship, and there's not enough daylight for 144 players. But we always placed an emphasis on starts for members, trying to maximize the number of starts they could get in a season, and sometimes, unfortunately, it was at the detriment of everyone else in the tournament.

  "Now we looked at it from strictly how many hours of daylight do we have, and what's the proper field size for each event on Tour. So we went straight by sunrise and sunset building in about three hours between the waves, which is what you need. And then that gives the afternoon wave some room to run, they're not starting out right behind the last group making the turn and backing up.

  "So we think that we've done a nice job building the schedule and finally getting all the field sizes correct for the future."

  The current pace of play rules call first for warning a group that falls out of position, followed by putting them on the clock. It's only if a player has a second bad time after the initial warning that a stroke penalty is levied.

  "You'd have to be somewhat crazy or not paying attention to ever reach that final stage," Young acknowledged.

  Glover believes the situation could be fixed by doing away with the warning and then exacting penalties.

  "You get a better pace of play policy or enforce the one you have better," he said. "If I'm in a slow twosome and an official came up and said, 'You guys are behind, this is not a warning, y'all are on the clock and if you get a bad time, that's a shot penalty,' guess who's running to their ball? That's what we need to be doing."

  Glover, 45, is a six-time winner on the PGA Tour. That includes following up a win at last year's Wyndham Championship with a victory at the FedEx St. Jude Championship to begin the playoffs.

  While that wasn't enough to be selected to last year's United States Ryder Cup team, Glover is part of the TGL's Atlanta Drive Golf Club along with Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas and Billy Horschel. Cantlay is one of six player directors on the PAC along with Tiger Woods, while Thomas is also a PAC board member.

  --Field Level Media

Along with national pride, it appears members of the United States' 2025 Ryder Cup team will have another incentive when teeing off against their European counterparts at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y.

• Lots of zeros.

  A vote by the PGA of America will ultimately determine whether, and how much, U.S. players are paid for playing in the Ryder Cup.

  U.S. players competing at the event could receive roughly $400,000 apiece according to a report. The pay structure, according to The Telegraph, would be similar to that of the Presidents Cup in September -- a stipend as opposed to a contribution made to the charity of each golfer's choice.

  However, there are two primary differences between the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup, according to The Telegraph.

  First, the amount. The Presidents Cup stipend was $250,000.

  Second, who is getting paid. While players and captains for both teams were paid at the Presidents Cup in Montreal, the European Ryder Cup golfers will not get paid -- instead opting to play for what European captain Luke Donald called "passion" for golf and country.

  "It's one week where you play for more than yourself," Donald told The Telegraph. "It's ... not about money or points, it's about coming together as a team and the fans feed off that -- it's all passion. I don't think we should ever get paid."

  Rory McIlroy was asked this week about the idea of compensation for participation in the Ryder Cup, and scoffed at the notion of requiring cash to entice players to represent their side of the international competition. McIlroy and the European team will not be directly tied to the PGA of America payment vote. The DP World Tour represents the European players on Ryder Cup matters.

  "I personally would pay for the privilege to play on the Ryder Cup," McIlroy said in a BBC Sport interview. "The two purest forms of competition in our game right now are the Ryder Cup and the Olympics, and it's partly because of that -- the purity of no money being involved."

  McIlroy said he understands the "other side of it" because of the amount of money made on the event. He said Donald huddled players to discuss their stance after learning the direction American golfers were leaning. But McIlroy said the consensus for Team Europe was to donate the sum to the DP World Tour for other purposes.

  "That $5 million would be better off spent elsewhere on the DP World Tour to support other events or even to support The Challenge Tour," McIlroy said.

  "I think we would all welcome money if it didn't change the dynamic, but the money really would change the dynamic. That's why I think everyone is like -- let's not do that."

  Shane Lowry said he worked toward getting a chance to play in the Ryder Cup and involvement was more than enough compensation.

  "I love the tournament, and I just want to be involved. I don't care whether I get paid or not," he told the Irish Independent.

  Talks of Americans getting paid for the Ryder Cup have been brewing for decades. In 1999 at Brookline, Mass. (one of the most famous Ryder Cup weekends in the event's history), golfers including Tiger Woods voiced their opinions on players not being paid despite the event raking in several million dollars.

  "I would like to see us receive whatever the amount is, whether it's $200,000, $300,000, $400,000, $500,000 and I think we should be able to keep the money and do whatever we see fit," Woods told The Washington Post in 1999. "I personally would donate all of it to charity. With all the money that's being made, we should have a say in where it goes."

  The charitable donations began being made that same year.

  Pay-for-play at the Ryder Cup became a hot-button topic during last year's competition near Rome after American Patrick Cantlay did not wear a hat during Saturday's play. Multiple reports stated he did not wear the hat as a protest for players not being paid. Cantlay denied that being the reason, instead saying the hat just did not fit.

  Said one anonymous European player to The Telegraph: "(The Americans) can do whatever they want. But we don't want payments in our bank accounts, as it'll be the thin end of the wedge and is not what the Ryder Cup is about.

  "Let's face it, a lot of the American players have been angling towards this for years, if not decades.

  "If it does go ahead, then it will be interesting to see how the fans react at Bethpage, although they'll probably announce it as just an extension of what already happens."

  The 2025 Ryder Cup is scheduled to take place Sept. 23-28.

  The Americans hold a 27-14 advantage all time in the event, though the Europeans have won five of the last seven contests, including a 16 1/2-11 1/2 win at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Italy in 2023.

  The U.S. team will be captained by Keegan Bradley in 2025.

  --Field Level Media

Only two events remain in the 2024 PGA Tour season, and the grind continues for players seeking critical points toward their playing status for next year.

• This week's stop for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Course in Bermuda begins Thursday, and our golf experts preview the event while sharing their favorite prop picks and best bets to win this week.

  BUTTERFIELD BERMUDA CHAMPIONSHIP

  Location: Southampton, Bermuda, Nov. 14-17

  Course: Port Royal Golf Course (Par 71, 6,828 Yards)

  Purse: $6.9M (Winner: $1.242M)

  Defending Champion: Camilo Villegas

  FedEx Cup Champion: Scottie Scheffler

  HOW TO FOLLOW

  TV: Thursday-Friday: 1-4 p.m. ET; Saturday: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; Sunday: 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (All times Golf Channel)

  X: @Bermuda_Champ

  PROP PICKS

  --Nico Echavarria to Beat Patrick Rodgers (-110 at DraftKings): Echavarria proved his second career PGA Tour victory was no fluke, nearly going back-to-back last week before slipping to T6. He's in as good of form as anyone grinding out these final events. Rodgers is trying to maintain his grip on entries into the first two signature events next year as he sits 55th in the standings. He's coming off a T24 at the WWT, with a best result in five fall events thus far being a T11 in Utah.

  --Carson Young Top 30 Finish (+110 at BetRivers): Young is up to a career-high 135th in the Official World Golf Ranking following his T2 last week. Granted, that was on the heels of a T37 and MC in his previous two events, but he did also tie for 11th in Utah. This is one of the weaker fields of the year and Young should be playing somewhat loose. At No. 86, he has secured his card for next year but is a longshot to rise into the AON Next 10.

  --Mark Hubbard to Make Cut (-330 at DraftKings): We made a similar play with Austin Eckroat last week and while the made cut payout wasn't attractive he did go on to win. Hubbard has made 80 percent of his cuts this year, and took a week off after a T41 in Japan. He also finished T20 in Bermuda last year while posting four rounds of 68 or better.

  2024 Prop Picks Record: 52-58

  BEST BETS

  --Seamus Power (+1600 at DraftKings) won the event in 2022, when he set the tournament record with 28 birdies.

  --Maverick McNealy (+1600) is ranked 68th as he still seeks his maiden win on tour. He did post a T6 last week. He has been a popular play since opening at +1800.

  --Mackenzie Hughes (+2000) is a two-time winner on tour and has posted a pair of top-10s in his only two starts this fall. His odds have lengthened since opening at +1600.

  --Lucas Glover (+2500) is among the most accomplished players in the field. In four fall starts so far, he has a pair of T3 finishes and two other top-25s.

  --Echavarria (+3000) claimed his second tour title two weeks ago and was in contention to make it two in a row until a 71 last Sunday dropped him into a T6. Recent form has made him one of the most popular plays in the field since opening at +4000.

  --Matti Schmid (+3000) is coming off a missed cut last week. However, that followed a pair of top-5s and his best PGA Tour result to date was a solo third in Bermuda last year. Schmid has shifted slightly since opening at +2800.

  NOTES

  --This is the seventh of eight tournaments on the FedEx Cup Fall schedule, which finalizes the top 125 players who will retain exempt status for 2025. Nos. 126-150 after the fall will retain conditional status. Players who finished Nos. 51-70 in the FedEx Cup have secured their tour cards, but are competing for spots in the first two signature events after the season-opening The Sentry on Jan. 2-5.

  --This week's field includes every player from Nos. 118-135 in the standings other than No. 130 Matt Wallace. Joel Dahmen (+6500) is among the notables battling for full status, having moved up to No. 121 with a T14 last week. Former Top 10 player Daniel Berger (+3000) has climbed to 124th with four consecutive top-40 finishes.

  --Villegas' win last year was his first since 2014.

  --Camiko Smith won a local qualifier to earn a sponsor exemption into the event along with fellow Bermudians Nick Jones and Eric West. None of the 14 Bermudians who have played in the event to date have made the cut, including Smith in 2020 and 2021. Each are being offered as +250000 longshots.

  --Miles Russell, 16, is in the field on an exemption as the Junior Player of the Year. He shot 74-70 in his PGA Tour debut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in June.

  AON NEXT 10

  The top 10 players in the AON Next 10 following The RSM Classic will receive spots in the first two designated events of 2025.

  Seven of the players from Nos. 51-60 are in this week's field: No. 51 Hughes, No. 53 McNealy, No. 54 Power, No. 55 Rodgers, No. 57 Nick Taylor, No. 58 Ben Griffin, No. 60 Kevin Yu.

  --Field Level Media

Caitlin Clark is no stranger to large crowds, given her time in the spotlight as a decorated basketball player in college and now the WNBA.

• Clark found herself to be the center of attention once again on Wednesday, this time playing golf alongside top-ranked Nelly Korda and tournament host Annika Sorenstam at the LPGA Tour pro-am event in Belleair, Fla.

  Clark, 22, was up bright and early and testing her mettle at the Pelican Golf Club, and there was a crowd estimated to be over 1,000 people following her every shot.

  The Indiana Fever star and reigning WNBA Rookie of the Year appeared to have fun at every turn, providing self-deprecating humor along the way. She even did her best to put a good spin after an errant shot hit a fan on the par-3 ninth hole.

  "Thanks for the good kick, whoever I hit," she said.

  For the record, Clark autographed the ball and apologized to the fan, who walked away with a story to tell.

  The misfire aside, Clark brandished a smile throughout her experience on Wednesday -- a sign that perhaps she's enjoying her first offseason in quite some time.

  "It's nice, but at the same time I'm still so busy," Clark said. "I got to get things done that I haven't been able to do during basketball season. Everybody thinks I have a bunch of free time, but I have been busy, been doing stuff. I like to keep myself in a routine and working out, whatever it is. It's been a lot of fun and I enjoyed it."

  Korda said she enjoyed her time with Clark on Wednesday, going so far as to say that it "felt like two friends hanging out."

  Then, Korda focused on a bigger picture.

  "It's just great for women's sports," she said. "I love that she has a love for the game of golf. I've never really tuned in to watching basketball before her, honestly. So, I think it's just growing the interest in all women's sports, and I hope that's what grows from this relationship."

  --Field Level Media

Matt McCarty was named the unanimous winner of the Jack Nicklaus Award on Wednesday as the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour's Player of the Year.

• The 26-year-old from Scottsdale, Ariz., recorded three wins and six additional top-10 finishes to place No. 1 on the tour's season points list.

  McCarty earned fully exempt status for the 2025 PGA Tour along with entries into the 2025 U.S. Open and Players Championship.

  In addition to his three Korn Ferry Tour titles, McCarty collected his first PGA Tour win at last month's Black Desert Championship in Utah.

  --Field Level Media

Two victories, seven Top-10 finishes, nearly $11 million in earnings on the PGA Tour -- and the inside track to winning the Race to Dubai -- would overwhelmingly please most people.

• Rory McIlroy isn't one of them.

  Speaking Wednesday before the start of the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, where he can capture a third straight Race to Dubai title this weekend, McIlroy said he left unfinished business on the course in 2024.

  And that starts with the U.S. Open at Pinehurst in June, where two missed short putts on the final three holes left him as the runner-up to Bryson DeChambeau.

  McIlroy, a 35-year-old from Northern Ireland, was seeking his first win in a major since 2014. In looking back at his season, he saw good and bad -- consistency and missed opportunities.

  "Yeah, incredibly consistent again. I think I've been really proud of that over the last few years," he said at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai. "But then at the same time, you know, thinking about the ones that got away.

  "I could be sitting up here with a fifth major title and I am not. So that stings and that's something that I have to come to terms with but at the same time I've got plenty more opportunities in the future."

  He continued: "You know, did I achieve every goal I set for myself this year? Probably not. But I still consider it a successful season."

  McIlroy sits third in the world rankings, and there's no doubt part of his drive for 2025 will be to reach the heights set by No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and No. 2 Xander Schauffele this season.

  "You've got two guys at the top of the world rankings down there winning two majors," he said. "You know, Scottie winning a Masters and a Players and the Olympics. They certainly separated themselves from the pack this year. I'm obviously very aware of that, and it only makes me more motivated to try to emulate what they did this year."

  McIlroy will be more selective about the events he plays in the United States next year. He has said he intends to cut down on his schedule and could skip some of the PGA Tour's signature events, but he assured reporters in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday that he wants to continue playing on the DP World Tour.

  "I think I'm not going to miss these tournaments in the Middle East. I'm not going to miss Wentworth. I'm not going to miss the Irish Open. I'm not going to miss The Scottish Open," he said.

  "But there was a few events this year in America that I played that I don't typically play, and I think that's where I'm going to have to trim a little bit. ... I have to remember, I'm 35 now. I'm not 23."

  He has spent half his life as a pro golfer.

  "At 35, and I've been on tour for 17 or 18 years, look, I'm not slowing down at all," he said. "But I just have to take care of myself and take care of my body a little bit more, and 27 events this year is maybe a touch too many. If I can trim it back down to 22 or 23, I think that would be good for me in the long run."

  --Field Level Media

LIV Golf is adding events in South Korea and the Indianapolis area to its 2025 schedule.

• The league announced Wednesday tournaments to be played at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea and at The Club at Chatham Hills in Westfield, Ind.

  "LIV Golf is growing across the globe in new and returning markets, and our 2025 schedule is a testament to that," said Greg Norman, LIV Golf commissioner and CEO.

  "Bringing LIV Golf to South Korea is another significant milestone as we continue to expand throughout Asia, and our inaugural event in Indy will be a perfect match for a community steeped in sports history and tradition."

  The tour will stop in South Korea May 2-4 at the Nicklaus club in Incheon, where the 2015 Presidents Cup was played. It is one of four Asian stops in 2025.

  LIV Golf Indianapolis is set for Aug. 15-17 and will be the final individual event on the calendar. Players will battled for the 2025 LIV Golf League championship there, also looking to secure their positions for 2026. Team-event seedings also will be determined there.

  The league also unveiled the dates for four of its returning tournaments:

  June 27-29: LIV Golf Dallas, Maridoe Golf Club

  July 11-13: LIV Golf Andalucia, Real Club Valderrama (San Roque, Spain)

  July 25-27: LIV Golf UK, JCB Golf and Country Club (Rocester, England)

  Aug. 8-10: LIV Golf Chicago, Bolingbrook Golf Club

  Play in the league's third season begins Feb. 6-8 at LIV Golf Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. LIV Golf has released the dates and locations of 10 of its 14 tournaments on the league's 2025 schedule, with further announcements expected soon.

  --Field Level Media

The DP World Tour announced a 42-event 2025 schedule that will visit 26 countries and feature a record prize fund of $153 million outside of the majors.

• The European tour returns to Turkey for the first time since 2019 and to Austria for the first time since 2021.

  The season begins later this month with the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland in Brisbane from Nov. 21-24. That kicks off the Opening Swing with events in Australia, South Africa and Mauritius.

  That portion of the schedule will be followed by the International Swing, the Asian Swing, the European Swing and the Closing Swing.

  The playoffs will remain comprised of the Abu Dhabi Championship (Nov. 6-9) and DP World Tour Championship (Nov. 13-16) in the UAE.

  --Field Level Media

Jason Day said he never had to make a decision on whether to leave for the LIV Golf League.

• That's because the Saudi Arabian-backed rival to the PGA Tour never made a formal contract offer to the former world No. 1.

  Day acknowledged that he made a "business move" in having his agent explore what a potential move to LIV would entail back in 2022, but that the upstart league was too concerned about Day's injury history.

  "I said (to my agent), 'No worries, I'm happy with where I'm at, but it's always nice to know.'" Day told Code Sports Australia ahead of this month's Australian PGA Championship. "And they (LIV Golf) said, ‘We love Jason, but he's too injured; he just gets too many injuries.' I don't blame them."

  Day won the 2015 PGA Championship and spent 47 consecutive weeks atop the Official World Golf Ranking from 2016-17. However, Day began to suffer from chronic lower back injuries and ultimately dropped as low as 175th in the rankings to begin 2023. The back issues even had him contemplate retirement.

  The lack of an offer to even consider a move to LIV turned out to be blessing in disguise for Day, who watched fellow Australian Cameron Smith make the jump in the fall of 2022.

  After working with noted coach Chris Como to revamp his swing, Day finally snapped a five-year winless streak with a victory at last year's Byron Nelson. He's currently ranked 34th and has five top-10s in 21 events this year.

  "I'm so thankful and so happy that I stayed on the PGA Tour," Day, 36, said. "I just feel that the tour was a perfect spot for me."

  Day said he has intentionally remained neutral when asked about fellow players who have bolted for LIV, and hopes the sides are able to unify professional golf in the near future.

  "I'm hoping we join back together because there's definitely a lot of players on the LIV tour that we miss on the PGA Tour," Day said. " I've always played very central with LIV and just never really got in the politics of it all."

  --Field Level Media

Japan's Yuri Yoshida birdied her final two holes on Thursday and emerged in a tie for the lead at the midpoint of the Lotte Championship in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.

• Yoshida carded a 5-under-par 67 at Hoakalei Country Club, leaving her at 9-under 135 through two rounds.

  Also at 9 under are first-round leader A Lim Kim of South Korea, who shot a 69 on Thursday; Russia's Nataliya Guseva (67); and China's Ruixin Liu (68).

  Ryann O'Toole and Auston Kim each carded a 66 on Friday, leaving them at 8 under and 7 under, respectively.

  Angel Yin (68), Japan's Nasa Hataoka (64), Canada's Savannah Grewal (70), Germany's Polly Mack (71) and South Korea's Youmin Hwang (69) are tied for seventh at 6 under.

  Yoshida, 24, is an LPGA rookie who is searching for her first victory. She made the cut at a major event for the first time when she tied for 51st at the U.S. Women's Open in June.

  On Thursday, she began on the back nine and had four birdies and one bogey through 10 holes. Following six consecutive pars, she birdied the par-4 eighth hole and the par-3 ninth hole.

  "I played well in very windy (conditions) today, so I focus on (catching) the green and green speed," she said. "No. 8, my putt was (on a) difficult line, but that was so perfect."

  Kim got her round off to a rocky start with two bogeys and two birdies over her first five holes, beginning on the back nine. She later steadied herself with five birdies in a seven-hole span but closing by bogeying Nos. 8 and 9.

  "Today I feel like ... the wind (changed) every time, every single hole, so some holes I made a mistake and some holes I think it's great," Kim said. "So that's golf."

  Guseva highlighted her round with an eagle at the par-4 seventh hole.

  Liu logged five birdies, including one on her final hole, No. 18, and just one bogey.

  Hataoka's 64 was the best round registered by any player in either of the first two rounds.

  "It was so windy, but I worked on my control shot with my irons and it worked (well)," Hataoka said. "... I like this golf course. "It's a pretty open area so it's so windy every time, but, yeah, I really like it."

  Defending champion Grace Kim of Australia shared 15th place at 4 under following a 68.

  --Field Level Media

South Korea's A Lim Kim, four years removed from her lone LPGA victory, shot a 6-under-par 66 on Wednesday and holds a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Lotte Championship at Ewa Beach, Hawaii.

• Five players are tied for second after carding a 5-under 67 at Hoakalei Country Club: the Philippines' Bianca Pagdanganan, China's Ruixin Liu, Germany's Polly Mack, France's Perrine Delacour and Taiwan's Peiyun Chien.

  Canada's Savannah Grewal, Russia's Nataliya Guseva and Japan's Yuri Yoshida are tied for seventh at 4 under. Eleven players share 10th place at 3 under.

  Kim, 29, captured the 2020 U.S. Women's Open at the Champions Club in Houston during her major championship debut. She has since finished in the top 10 at majors three times, including a tie for ninth at the Chevron Championship this year, but she has yet to post another victory in any event.

  Now she sits on top of a leaderboard following the first round for the first time since the 2021 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.

  Asked how that would affect her approach, she said, "Same as last week, two weeks ago. My prepare and process, everything is same, same as every weeks. I'm going to focus on speed control, putting speed control, and then wedge number game."

  Kim got off to a stellar start on Wednesday, recording an eagle on the par-5 first hole and adding birdies at the third and fifth holes. The rest of her round was bumpier, as she added four birdies and two bogeys.

  Pagdanganan also began well, producing four birdies and two pars through the first six holes. She was 6 under par through 15 holes before closing bogey-bogey-birdie.

  "The wind picked up a little bit towards the end of my round so that was quite the change," Pagdanganan said. "Overall I'm pretty satisfied how I played. I took advantage of all the birdie putts that I had; gave myself a lot of opportunities.

  "But at the same time, still managed to play smart out there. Again, with the conditions, it's easy to get impatient, so making sure that I'm smart with every decision that I make out there helped me."

  Liu began with three consecutive birdies and ended her day with seven birdies and two bogeys.

  Delacour posted four consecutive birdies from No. 2 to No. 5. Mack had a run of three straight birdies from No. 3 to No. 5, and Chien birdied Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

  Defending champion Grace Kim of Australia shot an even-par 72 and is right on the projected cut line.

  --Field Level Media

Rory McIlroy said Donald Trump's return to the White House "clears the way" for a deal between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

• Trump recently said on the "Let's Go!" podcast that he could negotiate a deal between the two sides in about "15 minutes."

  "He might be able to," McIlroy said Wednesday when asked about Trump's remarks. "He's got Elon Musk, who I think is the smartest man in the world, beside him. We might be able to do something if we can get Musk involved, too."

  McIlroy spoke at a press conference for the DP World Tour's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.

  "Yeah, I think from the outside looking in, it's probably a little less complicated than it actually is. But obviously, Trump has a great relationship with Saudi Arabia. He's got a great relationship with golf. He's a lover of golf. So, maybe. Who knows?

  "But I think as the President of the United States again, he's probably got bigger things to focus on than golf."

  McIlroy was also asked about a report in the London-based tabloid The Sun that claimed he and Tiger Woods had helped to negotiate a $1.3 billion deal between the rival golf leagues.

  "It's the first that I've heard of it," the Northern Irishman said. "I know (PGA Tour commissioner) Jay (Monahan) was in Saudi Arabia last week ... and was having some meetings. But no, I think I would have heard if there was.

  "I know he's briefing the transaction committee tonight. So maybe some news comes out of that. But as far as I'm aware, I haven't heard a thing."

  McIlroy, who is a member of the PGA Tour subcommittee that is negotiating with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, said Tuesday's U.S. presidential election results could speed up a resolution.

  "Obviously given today's news with what's happened in America, I think that clears the way a little bit," he said. "So we'll see."

  McIlroy, 35, is currently ranked No. 3 in the world. He comfortably leads the DP World Tour's Race to Dubai rankings with two tournaments remaining.

  --Field Level Media

A player with zero PGA Tour victories withdrew from the World Wide Technologies Championship on Wednesday, and it led oddsmakers to dramatically shift the tournament's odds.

• That's the intrigue of the otherwise mundane FedEx Fall, a slate of eight tournaments where little-known players are grinding out critical points to earn the best playing status they can for 2025.

  Cameron Young has yet to win on tour, but had been the top-ranked player in the field at No. 33. His withdrawal on Wednesday leaves a zero time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour -- much less the PGA Tour -- as the clear betting favorite.

  Our golf experts preview the event that begins at the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal course in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, on Thursday, and share their favorite prop picks along with best bets to win this week.

  WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY CHAMPIONSHIP

  Location: Los Cabos, Mexico, Nov. 7-10

  Course: El Cardonal at Diamante Cabo San Lucas

  Purse: $7.2M (Winner: $1.296M)

  Defending Champion: Erik van Rooyen

  FedEx Cup Champion: Scottie Scheffler

  HOW TO FOLLOW

  TV: Thursday-Sunday: 2-5 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)

  X: @WWTChampionship

  PROP PICKS

  --Austin Eckroat To Make Cut (-340 at DraftKings): Granted, the potential payout isn't highly attractive. On the positive side, Eckroat has made 80 percent of his cuts this season -- typically against far deeper fields than this one. He has played in only one fall event, a T46 in Las Vegas, but Eckroat has made five of his past six cuts dating back to The Open Championship.

  --Neal Shipley Top 30 Finish (+120 at BetRivers): Now here's a payout that is attractive. Shipley will make his 10th start on tour this season, having missed the cut just once. In addition to a T6 at the ISCO Championship, Shipley finished 20th on the Fortinet Cup standings on PGA Tour Americas. This is an ascending player who is ranked 218th in the world after being 1,161st after making the cut at the Masters just seven months ago.

  --Matti Schmid Top Continental European (-105 at DraftKings): The German is among the pre-tournament favorites -- see below -- and is in excellent late-season form. He's going up against Henrik Norlander (+240), Adrien Dumont De Chassart (+700), Paul Barjon (+1000) and Martin Trainer (+1400) in this prop.

  Norlander is coming off a missed cut in Las Vegas following at T8 in Utah, Dumont De Chassart has missed eight of his past 12 cuts, Barjon has reached the weekend just twice in his past 11 events and Trainer has 15 MCs in his past 18 starts worldwide.

  2024 Prop Picks Record: 51-56

  BEST BETS

  --Max Greyserman (+1600 at DraftKings) has three runner-ups in his past five starts as he seeks his first PGA Tour title. The 40th-ranked player in the world had a pair of runner-ups on the KFT in 2023, but has yet to post a victory on either tour.

  --Doug Ghim (+2200) posted his best career finish on tour two starts ago with a solo second in Las Vegas for his third consecutive T6 or better.

  --Matti Schmid (+2200) has quietly post a pair of top-5 finishes, including a T3 in Las Vegas where he was right in the thick of things but was undone by a 70 on Saturday.

  --Adam Svensson (+4500) has not been in top form with a T25 his best result in his past four fall starts. He does have a tour title to his credit at the 2022 The RSM Classic and finished T7 at the Wyndham this season.

  --Nico Echavarria (+5500) is coming off his second win on tour, although it was just his second top-10 finish in 27 starts this season.

  NOTES

  --This is the sixth of eight tournaments on the FedEx Cup Fall schedule, which finalizes the top 125 players who will retain exempt status for 2025. Nos. 126-150 after the fall will retain conditional status. Players who finished Nos. 51-70 in the FedEx Cup have secured their tour cards, but are competing for spots in the first two signature events after the season-opening The Sentry on Jan. 2-5.

  --Young had been backed by the most total bets (8.2 percent) and money (17.7 percent) at BetMGM and was the biggest liability in the field before his withdrawal.

  --First contested in 2007, this was the first official PGA Tour event played in Mexico in the modern era. It moved to El Cardonal last year, when van Rooyen eagled the final hole to win by two strokes. He's trying to join Viktor Hovland (2020-21) as the only two-time winners of the event.

  --Billy Andrade is playing his first PGA Tour event since 2014. He's in the field on a sponsors exemption after failing to qualify for the Charles Schwab Championship.

  --Field Level Media

In an unsurprising turn of events, the British tabloid report of a finalized merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf may have been premature.

• The Sun reported Saturday that the long-awaited merger between the rival golf circuits was complete and, per the headline, "Golf's civil war OVER."

  But on Tuesday, Front Office Sports cited industry sources in reporting that the tabloid had jumped the gun.

  Several details remain to be ironed out, including the major issue of navigating antitrust concerns in the United States.

  There is "heavy internal pressure" to finalize the merger before the end of 2024 in the interest of making future scheduling easier, Front Office Sports reported. The PGA Tour has already released its 2025 schedule, and LIV has put out four tournament dates for 2025 so far.

  The shock merger between the PGA Tour and LIV was announced in early June 2023, with a self-imposed Dec. 31, 2023, deadline to finalize the "framework agreement." That deadline came and went, and PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan continues to meet and play golf with Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan as the 18-month mark approaches.

  The Sun's tantalizing report claimed that PIF would receive an 11 percent share in the PGA Tour; that LIV's 14 annual team events would be brought under the PGA umbrella; and that Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy "played key roles in the peace talks."

  --Field Level Media