Welcome back to Monday’s Finish, where we’re cutting everyone down super secret high stakes private poker invitations until further notice. For golf news!
I LIKE GOLF
Keeping out.
By now you may have seen several iterations of what is a strong contender for golf’s shot of the year – the American Jordan Gumberg going for eagle on his 72nd hole at the Genesis Championship to retain his DP World Tour card by a single stroke. But what strikes me about that shot is how much of professional golf is simply refusing to quit.
Gumberg, who turned pro in 2017, didn’t give up when he missed the first 17 cuts on the Korn Ferry and PGA Tours in the first five years of his career. Instead, he headed to Europe and tried to find an opening there.
He didn’t give up when his first year in Europe went sideways, missing eight of 10 cuts and failing to finish better than T51. Instead he put his head down, bounced back the next season, turned a Monday qualifier into a runner-up finish, bounced back that on a full card, turned it into a DP World Tour win and claims full status for 2024 and 2025.
He didn’t give up when things went sideways again midway through this season, not even when he missed 13 of 16 cuts and headed into his final event of the year knowing it would likely be his last event of any real status. He was not showing form and had to fight just to keep his card. But then he stood up.
And it is BECAUSE Gumberg didn’t give up that he was in position to hit that wedge shot on No. 18 at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in Cheonan, South Korea. In fact, hitting the hole was a nice reward from the golf gods.
And because Gumberg hasn’t given up yet, I’m excited for what he’ll do next.
wINNERS
Who won the week?
Michael Brennan skipped a step. After winning three times on the PGA Tour Americas this summer, he earned Korn Ferry Tour status for the 2026 season — but he won’t be using it. Instead, he took full advantage of the sponsors’ exemption at the Bank of Utah Championship, going on to win by four strokes over a strong Tour field in the fall. His entire week stood out, but this one stood out the most:
Brennan on average 351.1 meters comes off the tee and hits 89 percent of his free ways. This produced the best driving performance of the entire PGA Tour season by strokes gained (+7.6 SG). The Black Desert has wide roads, but it aggressively punishes major mistakes. Sean Martin called it a “driver’s clinic”, which seems about right. It’s fitting that Martin’s analysis is attached to a clip of Brennan actually disappeared one of his six fairways all week – because this miss was right down the middle and went 418 yards, trickling into the rough off the green and leaving him with an up-and-down birdie.
What a driving clinic from Michael Brennan to win in Utah.
He averaged 351 yards off the tee and missed just 6 fairways all week, leading the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee with an insane +7.62.
— Sean Martin (@PGATOURSMartin) October 27, 2025
Team Australia won the Hanwha Lifeplus International Crown, the biennial LPGA team event that features locally based teams in a week’s worth of match competition. The event may have slipped your radar because so much of it happened overnight (New Korea Country Club isn’t much on ET) but the Aussies took it to Team USA in the finals, with Minjee Lee AND Hannah Green each winning their own singles matches. (More here.)
Junghwan Lee won for the first time on the DP World Tour – and did so on home soil, by three strokes. Lee immediately takes DPWT status with the win, which is also the first in the tournament by a Korean player since Ben An in the same tournament last year. (More here.)
Pongsapak “Fifa” Laopakdee punched his ticket to the Masters by winning the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship at Emirates Golf Club, rallying from six shots back with birdies on 10, 13, 15, 17 and 18. He then birdied all three playoff holes to win by one stroke. A fun fact about the Arizona State junior BY Evin Priestwho was in the country this week: the 20-year-old Thai sings to himself when he’s nervous, an idea he borrowed from Jeeno Thitikul.
Steven Alker won the PGA Tour Champions by a full stroke (and bonus points!) by shooting 20 under par at the Simmons Bank Championship to blow away the two runners-up at 13 under. It’s his 10th win in the senior competition and he moves to No.1 as they head into their playoff final. (More here.)
AND Yani Tseng re-entered the winner’s circle on the European Ladies’ Tour, the latest step in an improbable comeback that featured some jaw-dropping lows but now serves as a small triumph of the human spirit; Tseng overcame the green going left to the green. Golf is endlessly difficult, but endlessly fascinating, even if you reach No. 1 in the world.
SHORT HITS
5 unanswered questions facing LIV this offseason.
If you say to yourself, Hey Dylan, isn’t it your job to answer these questions? I would say, I know, that’s fair enough. Consider this an interesting list for you and a to-do list for me. Here are five questions about LIV that also affect the rest of the professional golf ecosystem:
1. Who will sign LIV?
Since LIV’s inception, this has consistently been the most intriguing question surrounding the league – who will they recruit from elsewhere in the golf ecosystem? The first half wave in 2022 caught the eye, all from Phil Mickelson THE Bryson DeChambeau THE Brooks Koepka THE Joaquin Niemann THE Cam Smith and more. The signature of 2023 i Jon Rahm it was shocking, too, especially when accompanied by Tyrrell Hatton. So who will claim LIV this offseason? Which PGA Tour players will defect? Who will be the biggest name?
2. Who will re-sign LIV?
The news broke over the weekend vIA Flushing It that LIV was resurrected Dustin Johnson’s contract, which was set to expire after the 2025 season. The captain of the 4 Aces will return, which means that LIV apparently paid for it to do so.
Some of LIV’s big names are now in an interesting position; on the one hand LIV needs them to stay to continue every moment. On the other hand, their leverage in negotiating with LIV is hampered by the fact that they may have nowhere else to go.
The biggest negotiations so far won’t come this offseason and include Bryson DeChambeauwhose contract runs through 2026. He’s a full-time content creator and something of a media mogul in his own right now — it’ll be interesting to see how his relationship with LIV and his Crushers evolves as he considers reinventing himself while also balancing his side quests.
3. Will LIV get OWGR points?
Included in a wonderful and comprehensive Global Golf Post profile by John Hopkins (which you should read here) of now-retired OWGR chairman Peter Dawson were two interesting points:
-He is unclear as to why LIV is pushing.
“I really don’t understand why the PIF (Public Investment Fund) and Saudi Arabia are persisting with it,” Dawson continued. “They are doing great things for the women’s game with the PIF Global Series and have great plans within Saudi Arabia to expand golf for their people and for tourism. These initiatives deserve our applause, but LIV seems to be the odd man out.”
-and he’s disappointed they didn’t reach an OWGR resolution.
“I was very disappointed that we couldn’t do that with LIV,” he said. “Obviously the players in the LIV tournament are good enough to be ranked because they were before. But OWGR has a duty to ensure that all the thousands of players in the system are ranked equally. Some aspects of the LIV format made that impossible. In my opinion, OWGR made the only decision it could at the time.“
The failure of the OWGR was partly due to the fact that LIV took its toys and went home, withdrawing its application rather than working with the powers-that-be in acceptable standards for obtaining points. Now, though, with new leadership on each side of the relationship and a new application on the way, it will be interesting to see how the OWGR board and LIV find common ground — and potential points.
4. What will happen to Henrik Stenson?
Henrik Stenson is the most high-profile golfer at LIV to finish in his Drop Zone, outside of 48 balls, since LIVs regulations means it falls automatically. (This is true with Anthony Kimalso, plus Pereira’s mythamong others.) But we haven’t really seen LIV abandon any of its stars to this point, never mind a co-captain of a team (Majesticks) like Stenson.
5. What exactly will promotion and relegation look like?
LIV has run a Promotions event each of the last two off-seasons. They’re due for another one this December, and it looks like Stenson, Kim and Pereira could be in – but if that happens, LIV hasn’t made any announcements on the subject yet. The answer to this question is intertwined with #3 and #4 (and, perhaps, #1 and #2 as well), because the questions of promotion and relegation are crucial to what makes this an open vs. closed shop, with young players earning their spots. Perhaps they are consulting with OWGR on this very issue. Maybe there is another avenue they can build through the Asian tour or his international series. Again, we have mostly questions.
Time to work on the answers…
NEWS FROM SEATTLE
Monday Finish headquarters.
It’s a remarkably sunny Monday after a blustery weekend; Saturday night the lights flickered all night thanks to torrential rain and 50 mph winds, and on Sunday I got pictures of a hail storm in Chambers Bay. But this is inspiring weather, the kind that will make you hit a mean bucket on the way home from work, that will make you take the dog for a very long walk, that will make the evening hours feel more precious than dark and shortened. I hope it’s the same where you are.
See you next week!
Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.
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