Jon Rahm, Bethpage Black, Greg Norman, Yasir Al-Rumayyan and Hannah Green (clockwise from top left).
Getty Images
Welcome to Monday’s Finish, where we’re still choosing which TGL team to dress up as for Halloween. For the news…
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I LIKE GOLF
Persistence.
Tim O’Neal always loved golf. He didn’t always love her.
At Q-School in 2000 he needed a bogey on the last hole to get his PGA Tour card. He tripled. In 2004 he lost by one stroke when his birdie putt on No. 18 burned the edge. There were plenty of eyes on O’Neal, a promising black golfer who had racked up wins at Jackson State in college and even earned a few investment dollars from the actor. Will Smith. But while he reached the limit of golf’s highest levels, he could never seem to crack.
O’Neal played in several iterations of the PGA Tour’s main feeder tour, earning status on the Buy.com Tour, which became the Nationwide Tour, which became the Web.com Tour, which is now the Korn Ferry Tour. He won and lost that status several times and spent the years on tours and mini-tours close to home and far away. There were times when he was tempted to give up, but he never did; by 2013 he was one of the oldest players on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, but found some magic that season, winning twice. There were always enough signs that his game was there to continue, and the last time O’Neal won a PGA Tour sanctioned event was in 2016 at Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, which was a PGA Tour event. Latinoamerica at the time. .
Until Sunday, that is.
O’Neal, who made it through the PGA Tour Champions Q-School last year, entered the final round of the Dominion Energy Charity Classic three shots off the lead. He was in good position for his best finish of the season – he had posted just one top 10, a T7, in 23 starts in 2024 – but passed that goal and instead scored the round of the week, a seven below 65 marked by birdies on 16 and 18 to win his first PGA Tour Championship title by two.
O’Neal was emotional in his post-round interview as he tried to process the moment in real time.
“It only takes a week, right? And that was my week,” he said.
If he struggled to comprehend the achievement, that was understandable. O’Neal now has something he’s been chasing for decades: stability. He earned $350,000 for the win. He advanced to the next round of the Charles Schwab playoffs. And he closed his job for next season as well.
“You know, I like all these guys here and I’ve learned a lot over the last two years playing here on the PGA Tour Champions,” he said when asked about the players who stopped by to congratulate him. “For them to feel that way about me means a lot because I feel like now that I’ve won, I feel like I belong.”
Persistence and reward – these are the things I love about golf.
wINNERS
Who won the week?
JT Poston won the Shriners Children’s Open, his third PGA Tour title and first as a father.
Hannah Green joined him in elite society third win of the season at the BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea, joining Lydia Ko and Nelly Korda in the three plus group.
Julien Guerrier won the Estrella Damm Andalucia Masters, earning his first DP World Tour win nearly 20 years after turning pro. She got an even in the ninth playoff hole to get there.
MJ Maguire won the Asian Championship of Montenegro in a playoff.
AND Tim O’NealS ‘ great victory advanced him to the next round of the playoffs.
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Non-winners
Some guys who didn’t win.
Gary Woodland finished T9 at the Shriners, his second consecutive top-20 finish and his best finish since brain surgery 13 months ago. He is feeling better, he saidand this is reflected in his game.
Michael KimA tournament winner who has become known for his Twitter presence posted a 62 Sunday — the low round of the day by two — to dramatically increase his chances of retaining full PGA Tour status for in 2025. He went from no. 129 in 112 with a T5 finish.
“I mean, it’s great. It is not one big monkey off my back, but a good size,” Kim said. It looks pretty big to me.
In addition to Kim’s move on Sunday, Matt Schmidt AND Rico Hoey shot a 66 Sunday to lock up their PGA Tour cards for next year; they went from 105 and 102 to 84 and 83, respectively.
Others make moves: Woodland moved from No. 148 to 137 with his T9 finish. Alejandro Tosti also finished T9 to move from no. 136 to 127. Joe Highsmith jumped within the number, at least for now, going from number 133 to 125. Vince Whaley improved his number from 125 to 120.
Joel Dahmen dropped out of the top 125 after a high profile penalty-WD combination; he is now projected at number 129. And Daniel Berger slipped from 126 to 128 after a T39.
SHORT HITS
Five things to know, in a nutshell.
1. Can the PGA of America sell the Ryder Cup? Golfweek columnist Eamon Lynch made that case heresuggesting it may get more from the newly-former PGA Tour Enterprises group now than ever. If that’s a possibility, it’s only fair to put on your tin hat and connect the dots with the Cup’s $750 ticket prices. Could proving high price demand and generating a ton of revenue have the side benefit of increasing the purchase price of the event…?
2. Cognizant is out as a sponsor of the LPGA Founders Cup, as reported by Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols. The event was founded in 2011 as a way to honor the legacy of the LPGA’s 13 founders and, with the help of Cognizant, soon boasted a $3 million purse. Now her future is in question. Nichols also writes that the Ford Championship in Arizona and the Portland Classic face sponsorship questions — though Black Desert is expected to add a big-money event to the calendar. Good reading here.
3. LIV is looking for a new CEO to replace him Greg Norman, for Sports Business Newspaper; they have enlisted an executive search firm to assist in the process. Norman is expected to remain in the league, though his role is not immediately clear. Several high-profile players including PGA Tour pros Tiger Woods AND Rory McIlroy plus star LIV ion Rahm have suggested that Norman would have to step aside for negotiations on the future of pro golf to make meaningful progress.
4. DATE published its schedule for the beginning of 2025; things kick off on Tuesday, January 7th on ESPN in primetime with a matchup between New York Golf Club and The Bay Golf Club. Tickets for the 1,500-seat South Florida arena will cost $160.
5. Wyndham Clarke explained that PGA Tour players have been struggling with the mechanics of LIV pros being able to rejoin the league.
“If we 100 percent knew we could get the money and come back, then we all would have done it,” Clark said in There are no extension podcasts this week. “Because we’d all be a lot richer and then you’d come back and play at the highest level.”
He underlined that, if it were up to him, successful professionals like Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson AND Dustin Johnson could be returned. But he also did not suggest that the negotiations are near any kind of finish line.
AN IMPORTANT THOUGHT
There is more to life than birds. Somehow.
JT Poston had missed short putts on 16 and 17, cutting his lead over Doug Ghim from four to two. Then Ghim turned 18, and suddenly Poston was faced with a quadruple that had to be done.
“Yes, I told myself that this is what you dream of. You have a shot at winning on the PGA Tour. Just try and forget the last two. I didn’t hit very good shots on any of them, but I told myself I’ve made a million of them and I’ve only made one more.”
He buried it.
A BIG QUESTION
Who will join LIV next?
There are more questions than answers when it comes to LIV 2025 rosters, but we learned a few more things this week.
Sergio Garcia GolfMagic said that Eugenio Chacarra it is not in the team’s plans for 2025; Chacarra finished 39th in the LIV standings and his next stop is uncertain. Garcia hinted that he hopes to add “a little bit of a different kind of player profile,” which suggests he has a specific goal in mind. One rumored possibility: US Amateur Champion (and current Arizona State Devil) Jose Luis Ballester. Ballester’s longtime coach is the father of Garcia, Victor and Ballester has spoken a lot of mentoring Sergio.
Jon Rahm has a spot to fill in his Legion XIII team after Kieran Vincent was relegated. it Golf Tent No Labels on YouTube that, while he doesn’t have a signed player yet, he has “six or seven in mind.”
Rahm said one pro he had been considering was Spanish and in the DP World Tour field this week. He also suggested that a Callaway staff would be a good fit as he dreams of a sponsored team. Angel Hidalgo, a Spanish pro who beat Rahm in a playoff a few weeks ago, looks like a possible candidate; Rahm has watched his game up close (even though he plays Cobra and wears Puma).
John Catlin continued his excellent play on the Asian Tour with a runner-up finish at the Montenegrin Championships; he is in position to earn an LIV spot, too, if he maintains his no. 1 in the International Series.
ONE THING TO PRESENT
Michael Greller talks about Spieth.
We have often heard Jordan Spieth TALK THE Michael Greller. We’ve even heard Greller talk to Spieth from time to time. But we have not often heard Greller speak around Spieth. But then he got some ice cream with our own Claire Rogers, which means here’s your chance.
NEWS FROM SEATTLE
Monday Finish headquarters.
Gamble Sands is arguably Washington’s hottest destination-style golf course. Now? It will be twice as good. The resort brought David McLay-Kidd returns for a sequel and so he and friend Nick Schaan have brought to life “Scarecrow”, the property’s second 18-hole course (there is also a 14-hole short course).
The new course is on a more compact footprint, is hillier, has even wider views of the nearby Columbia River and, while it will still boast generous fairways, the smaller greens may make it tougher than the original. Hope to see you there when it opens in 2025.
But first, I’ll see you back here next week!
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Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.
