Fred Biondi of Brazil won the NCAA title at Florida last year, which earned him a spot in the 2023 U.S. Open and 2024 Masters. He passed up spots in two majors to turn pro, and it’s been a tough road. Now he’s in the LIV Golf Promotions event this week.
Biondi will be among 93 players at Riyadh Golf Club in Saudi Arabia trying to secure the one spot next year in the lucrative LIV Golf League, which offers 54-hole, no-cut events with $20 million in individual prize money.
Biondi played 42 times in the last 18 months, mostly the Korn Ferry Tour (he missed 10 straight cuts in one stretch this year) with some PGA Tour starts and a few European tour events and the Saudi International on the Asian Tour last week.
Also in the field in Saudi Arabia are Martin Trainer, Chris Wood of England and Ollie Schniederjans, once considered one of the promising young players who came from the same class as Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. Wood played in the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine.
“The golfing world is full of so many opportunities at the moment and this is one of the biggest,” said Wood, 37, who played the Challenge Tour this year. “I’m at a place in my career (No. 1,348 in the world ranking) where I am exploring different opportunities, and I am so grateful to have these along with an open mind as to where it might take me.”
The five players relegated from LIV — Branden Grace, Kalle Samooja, Hudson Swafford, Scott Vincent and Kieran Vincent — also are playing.
Six players from the United Kingdom and Ireland who played in the Walker Cup last year are in the field. One American in those matches, Caleb Surratt, is already in LIV Golf.
LIV also takes the top player from the International Series ranking on the Asian Tour, but that went to Joaquin Niemann when he won the Saudi International. Niemann already is set with LIV, and the league does not go down to the next available player.
The opening round features 64 players, with 20 advancing. Scores are reset for 18 holes on Friday and 36 holes on Saturday. While only one player gets a spot in LIV, the next nine players from the promotions event will get full status in International Series tournaments on the Asian Tour.
On top of the world
Scottie Scheffler earned 727 world ranking points with his nine victories this year, only the fifth time that has happened since the world ranking began in 1986. Vijay Singh did it in 2004, and Tiger Woods did it three times.
Scheffler also becomes the first player since Woods in 2009 to start and finish the year at No. 1 in the world. This week was his 82nd consecutive week, moving him past Nick Faldo (81 weeks from July 1992 to February 1994) into fourth place on the all-time list. His next target is Greg Norman (96 weeks), which he could reach in the middle of March.
Scheffler has been No. 1 a total of 116 weeks. Rory McIlroy was No. 1 for 122 weeks, and Dustin Johnson was at the top of ranking for 135 weeks.
The record is Woods at 683 weeks. That’s out there, and Scheffler is well aware. He talked about Woods at No. 1 after he won The Players Championship in March.
“I’m not going to remember the exact numbers, but like we’re playing at Riv this year, and I hit my tee ball and this guy yells out: ‘Congrats on being No. 1, Scottie! Eleven more years to go,” Scheffler said. “Eleven more years to go.”
Niemann waits
Joaquin Niemann might find out how a win in the Saudi International stacks up to his victory in the Australian Open.
His victory in the Australian Open — along with top-5 finishes in the Australian PGA and the Dubai Desert Classic — were seen as key in getting a special invitation to the Masters. Augusta National also awarded them to Ryo Hisatsune of Japan and Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark.
Niemann won twice on LIV Golf at the start of the season, then went nine months without winning until his Saudi International victory on the Asian Tour. That moved him to No. 74 in the world, and he would still have the chance to move higher depending on what European tour events he plays early next year.
Spieth update
Jordan Spieth, who had surgery on his left wrist in late August, said his recovery is going according to plan.
Spieth spoke last week on Sirius XM PGA Tour radio and said he went from a limited ball count to practice to no restrictions.
“It feels good. None of the shots, you know, I don’t really have any problems with it,” Spieth said in his interview with Colt Knost. “No pain, no anything. So now it’s kind of just taking care of it, continuing to do therapy probably through the new year, and just be prepared to go start playing some golf and be prepared to play three weeks in a row.”
Spieth did not indicate when he might return.
Blunder Down Under
Anthony Quayle produced a remarkable result last week when he finished third in the Victorian PGA Championship in Australia, two shots behind Cory Crawford.
What made it so impressive was spotting the field seven shots for one big mistake.
According to Golf Australia, preferred lies were allowed on a portion of the third fairway on the Open course at Moonah Links. This came to light when his playing partner, Tyler McCumber, asked Quayle if preferred lies were in effect. He told him they were, and that prompted Quayle to take another look at the document handed out to players before the round.
That’s when he realized it applied to only one area on one hole.
“It’s a massive rookie error on my part,” said Quayle, who primarily plays the Japan Golf Tour. “I had just assumed on this tour we play preferred lies a lot. I’m kicking myself now.”
Quayle said he felt sick to his stomach and immediately called an official to go over his round. He was docked seven shots because he lifted, cleaned and placed his golf ball on four holes. On one of the drops, he put the ball back in the same place, resulting in only a one-shot penalty.
His 66 turned into a 73, and he fought back to at least have a chance on Sunday. McCumber also was penalized two shots for his violation. He finished one shot behind Crawford.
“I’m sure when I reflect on this in a little bit of time, I’ll be really proud of this week,” Quayle said.
Divots
Karrie Webb has accepted an invitation as an honorary member of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. Webb is the only player to win the “Super Slam” of five different majors on the LPGA Tour. She was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2005. … Jesper Svensson has won the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award on the European tour, the first Swedish player since Jarmo Sandelin in 1995 to win. … Colorado native Hale Irwin will be the honorary chair of the U.S. Senior Open at The Broadmoor next year. Irwin is a three-time U.S. Open and two-time U.S. Senior Open champion.
Stat of the week
Thirteen players at Q-school are past winners on the PGA Tour.
Final word
“Getting better is not something that happens overnight.” — Scottie Scheffler.
