Jared Du Toit was planning the next phase of his golfing career last summer, casting a wide net by entering qualifying for the Korn Ferry Tour, the DP World Tour, and anything else he could think of. 

But a friend from his days playing at Arizona State University nudged him toward the Asian Tour.

Fast forward to now and Du Toit, from Kimberley, B.C., sits seventh on the Asian Tour’s order of merit after earning a top-10 finish in his first-ever tournament on the men’s golf circuit.

“I was talking to him a little bit in the summer and he just said ‘you’re crazy if you’re not giving Asia a try. The competition is solid, the events are great, and the money is pretty good,'” said Du Toit. “That sparked some interest so I gave it a try, not thinking much of it. 

“But (the DP World Tour and Korn Ferry Tour) didn’t work out so I went to Asia, got status that way. Now we’re here and enjoying it, enjoying it a lot so far.”

The 28-year-old Du Toit tied for seventh at 17 under on Sunday at the IRS Prima Malaysian Open at The Mines Resort & Golf Club, six shots back of winner David Puig of Spain. 

Du Toit was in a position to miss the cut halfway through his second round but rallied to shoot a 64 and see the weekend. He then fired a 62 in the third round to rocket up the leaderboard before a 71 settled him into seventh.

“Going from basically the cutline to three or four inside the number and in the thick of it a little bit I felt like I was on the house money bit and just had a great round three, which got me right into it,” said Du Toit. “Unfortunately, I didn’t play my best on the last round, but all things considered going from the cutline to contention to finishing top 10 was a solid start to the year and I’m excited to get going over here.”

His next target is to earn his way into some of the co-sanctioned events like next week’s New Zealand Open or one of men’s golf’s majors, like the British Open.

“I was pretty close last week being in contention in Malaysia. There was three spots for the Open,” said Du Toit. “It might be a little tougher to do that, don’t think they just give away spots so I definitely lost a bit of an opportunity last week, but I’d love to do that.

“I just still try and play my best, make as many cuts as I can.”

Du Toit has his next chance to do just that this week at the International Series Oman at Al Mouj Golf in Muscat, Oman. Toronto’s Richard T. Lee is also in the tournament.

PGA TOUR — Five Canadians are in the field at this week’s Mexico Open at Vidanta Vallarta in Vallarta, Mexico. Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., is the top-ranked member of the Canadian contingent, entering the week at 62nd in the FedEx Cup standings. Mackenzie Hughes (72) of Dundas, Ont., and Ben Silverman (99) of Thornhill, Ont., are also in the field, as are unranked players Stuart Macdonald of Vancouver and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C.

OUTSPOKEN HUGHES — Hughes, who is on the PGA Tour’s player advisory council for another year, remains outspoken about the upstart LIV Golf circuit. He spoke to CBS while on the course of last week’s Genesis Invitational about the ongoing rivalry.

“Now we’re in a place where I think fans are just generally a little bit fed up with it, to be honest,” said Hughes. “Those are the people that drive our sport so I’d love to appeal to the masses a lot more.

“Certainly, the way we’re going right now, to me, isn’t quite it.”

DP WORLD TOUR — Aaron Cockerill of Stony Mountain, Man., is the lone Canadian in this week’s Kenya Open at Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi. He finished second at the event in 2022.

LPGA TOUR — Brooke Henderson of Smiths Fall, Ont., is the lone Canadian in the field at Honda LPGA Thailand at Siam Country Club’s Old Course in Chonburi. She sits sixth in the Race to CME Globe standings after placing third at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions on Jan. 18 and tying for 16th at the LPGA Drive On Championship.

MEN’S NCAA — Calgary’s Hunter Thomson won his season opener with eight birdies in the final round of the Palmas del Mar Collegiate tournament in Humacao, Puerto Rico. He won the event by two strokes on Feb. 13, helping the University of Michigan to a fourth-place finish. 

Nick Taylor is developing a reputation as one of the PGA Tour’s most clutch players, and he’s loving it.

Taylor drained an 11-foot putt for birdie on the second playoff hole of the WM Phoenix Open on Sunday to beat American Charley Hoffman for his second victory in nine months. 

The fourth win of Taylor’s PGA Tour career mirrored his historic victory at the RBC Canadian Open last June, when he sank a 72-foot eagle putt in the fourth round of a playoff against England’s Tommy Fleetwood.

“You always relish being in those positions, but being able to pull off shots, now I can draw on that a lot,” Taylor, from Abbotsford, B.C., said of his growing confidence. “I want to be in those positions more and more. 

“My game has followed that, so hopefully I’m in those positions more and when I get in that kind of spotlight I’m comfortable. The hard part now is getting there as much as I can.”

He’ll have another chance at being in the spotlight at this week’s Genesis Invitational at The Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. The 35-year-old Taylor said that he’s worked to solidify his game over the past two years.

“Really, since the fall of ’22 we had a road map of where we wanted to get to, and since then it hasn’t really been changes, it’s been sticking to the same things that we know will get me to where I want to be,” said Taylor. “It’s been the deliberate practice of doing the same boring stuff, which sounds easy at times but sometimes you can wander away. 

“That’s why my team will reel me in if I try to do something different because they know what we’ve been doing has been working, so just sticking to the basic stuff.”

One thing that hasn’t changed for Taylor is his ability to clear his mind and perform under pressure. 

Taylor won the Canadian Junior in 2006 and the Canadian Amateur Championship in 2007 as an amateur and then also won on the PGA Tour at the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2014 and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2020. 

He said that more than a decade of playing in high-leverage situations has forged him into a clutch performer.

“You work on mindset, you work on breathing at times, but I think dating back to even junior golf when I’ve been in those positions, I want to be in that position,” he said. 

“I feel more locked in, whatever it is. I’ve been able to pull off shots in those scenarios and I think maybe I’ve been doing it long enough where I have confidence that I can pull it off and I don’t have the sidetracking thoughts or negative thoughts in there.”

Taylor will be joined this week by Adam Hadwin, also from Abbotsford, Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C.

The win rocketed Taylor up the FedEx Cup standings to sixth overall, putting him into an excellent position to represent the International Team at this year’s Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club.

“That’s on the top of the list along with the Olympics,” said Taylor, who wants to play for International captain Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., at the Presidents Cup. “There are things on my goal list, but I also just try to focus on my golf and if I play well I feel like it’s going to take care of itself. 

“This is obviously a good start, but it’s a long ways away. If I keep playing good golf, I think it will take care of itself.”

CHAMPIONS TOUR — Calgary’s Stephen Ames and Weir will tee off on Friday in the Chubb Classic at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla. Ames is coming off of an incredible 2023 season where he won four events on the seniors’ circuit.

TEAM CANADA — Golf Canada announced the names of 19 professional players that will be part of its 2024 men’s and women’s squads on Monday. Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont., Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., Brigitte Thibault of Rosemere, Que., and Selena Costabile of Thornhill, Ont., were named to the women’s team. A.J. Ewart of Coquitlam, B.C., Calgary’s Brendan MacDougall, Chris Crisologo of Richmond, B.C., Étienne Papineau of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., Hamilton’s Johnny Travale, Jared du Toit of Kimberley, B.C., Victoria’s Jeevan Sihota, Joey Savoie of La Prairie, Que., Matthew Anderson of Missssauga, Ont., Max Sekulic of Rycroft, Alta., Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., Noah Steele of Kingston, Ont., Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald, Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, and Thomas Giroux of Georgetown, Ont., were named to the men’s group.

International and U.S. Teams starting to take shape for 2024 Presidents Cip

MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada – Canadian Nick Taylor notched the fourth win of his PGA TOUR career on Sunday by defeating Charley Hoffmann with a birdie-3 on the second playoff hole at the WM Phoenix Open. With the victory, the 35-year-old moved up 11 spots in the Presidents Cup’s International Team standings to No. 3, trailing only Tom Kim and Jason Day with just over seven months until the event returns to The Royal Montreal Golf Club.

The victory was Taylor’s first since his dramatic walk-off playoff win at the 2023 RBC Canadian Open, where he became the first Canadian to win the national open in 69 years. With the win at TPC Scottsdale, he moved up to No. 6 in the FedExCup, but also inside the top-5 of the International Team standings, with an eye on playing for Captain Mike Weir in Montreal this September.

“Yeah, this fall, again, looking at goals for the season, what I’ve done so well I think the last year has been process goals, but you want something to look forward, and the Olympics and the Presidents Cup were big time on the top of my goal list,” said Taylor when asked about his goals for representing Canada later this year.

The 2024 International Team will be comprised of six (6) automatic qualifiers and (6) Captain’s picks, with the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) being used to determine the former. The automatic qualifiers will be the top six eligible international players in the OWGR after completion of the 2024 BMW Championship. There are currently six Canadian players inside the top 20 in the standings: Taylor (3), Corey Conners (10), Adam Hadwin (13), Adam Svensson (16), Mackenzie Hughes (18) and Taylor Pendrith (20).

“It was an exciting finish to the WM Phoenix Open yesterday and to see the clutch play of Nick down the stretch to close in on Charley for the win was tremendous,” said Weir. “As captain, to have players who embrace the moment like he did yesterday is big for us, and these things can build momentum for Nick as well as the International Team.”

Top-6 International Team standings:

1. Tom Kim

2. Jason Day

3. Nick Taylor

4. Sungjae Im

5. Emiliano Grillo

6. Ryan Fox

For the U.S. Team, Sahith Theegala and Sam Burns made the biggest moves at the WM Phoenix Open, using top-5 finishes to move up to No. 5 and No. 10 in the standings, respectively.

The 2024 U.S. Team will be comprised of six (6) automatic qualifiers and six (6) Captain’s picks, with a weighted system based on FedExCup Points from January 1, 2023, through August 25, 2024. The automatic qualifiers will be the top six eligible U.S. players in the OWGR after completion of the 2024 BMW Championship.

Top-6 U.S. Team standings:

1. Scottie Scheffler

2. Wyndham Clark

3. Chris Kirk

4. Collin Morikawa

5. Sahith Theegala

6. Eric Cole

To view the complete 2024 Presidents Cup standings for both teams, please click here.

For more information about the Presidents Cup, please visit PresidentsCup.com.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., made an 11-foot birdie putt to beat Charley Hoffman on the second hole of a playoff after birdieing three of the last four holes in regulation Sunday, capping another wild week at the Phoenix Open with his second memorable victory.

Taylor closed with a 6-under 65 to reach 21-under 263, with the Canadian forcing the playoff with a nine-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th.

Both players birdied the extra hole and hit the green on No. 18 a second time — Taylor from the right rough, Hoffman from the left fairway bunker. Hoffman left his birdie putt short and Taylor birdied the hole for the third time in less than an hour as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Taylor won his PGA Tour title to end a chaotic week of weather delays and the rare decision to close the gates — and, gulp, cut off liquor sales — when things started to get out of hand Saturday.

Taking advantage of the first pleasant day of the week in the desert, Hoffman moved into contention by finishing off a 64 on TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium in the morning to complete his weather-delayed third round.

Hoffman was 4-under in a three-hole stretch on the back nine and had a three-shot lead when he finished.

Taylor wouldn’t let him grab the trophy just yet.

The 35-year-old had an emotional finish at the 2023 RBC Canadian Open, making a 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth playoff hole to become the first Canadian in 69 years to win his national open.

Taylor shot a course-record 60 in the opening round in the desert for a five-shot lead that matched the largest after 18 holes on the PGA Tour since 1983.

Taylor finished off a third-round 68 in the morning, but stagnated after a birdie at No. 9. He came to life with consecutive birdies starting on No. 15 and finished with a flourish after just missing a birdie putt on No. 17.

Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler surged into contention with five straight birdies to complete his third round, shooting 66 in the morning despite putting off the green into a bunker for a bogey on No. 18.

The world No. 1 briefly held the lead early in the final round before his putter went cold, ending his bid for the PGA Tour’s first three-peat in 13 years. Scheffler nearly aced the par-3 stadium 16th hole, but was too far behind to catch Hoffman. He shot 66 to tie Sam Burns for third at 18 under.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Canada’s Nick Taylor tied a PGA Tour record for the largest 18-hole lead in a stroke event with a bogey-free 11-under 60 in the weather-delayed first round of the Phoenix Open on Friday.

Taylor’s five-shot lead ties Jim Gallagher Jr. at the 1993 Tour Championship for the largest 18-hole lead in a stroke-play event since 1983. He also broke the largest 18-hole lead record at the Phoenix Open of four, set by Phil Mickelson in 2013.

A 3 1/2-hour weather delay in the first round forced about half the field to finish their first rounds at TPC Scottsdale on Friday morning. A frost delay of more than 90 minutes pushed back the resumption of the first round even more.

Taylor was 4 under through six holes after starting on No. 10 to start Thursday’s first round and returned to reel off four straight birdies starting on No. 18. He added three more birdies, including from nine feet on the par-4 ninth, to shoot 29 on the Stadium Course’s front nine.

Taylor’s 60 matches the course record set four previous times, last by Mickelson in 2013. Taylor leads overnight leader Sahith Theegala and three others by five shots heading into Friday’s second round.

Andrew Novak, Doug Ghim and Maverick McNealy also shot first-round 65s.

The rivalry between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf has Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes deeply worried about the state of men’s professional golf.

Hughes tweeted about his concerns in early December, hours after world No. 1 Jon Rahm announced that he was leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. Although Rahm’s departure moved Hughes up to No. 50 on the PGA Tour’s rankings and into the circuit’s US$20 million signature events, he still felt that men’s golf was in “a sad place.”

The 33-year-old from Dundas, Ont., expanded on those thoughts this week ahead of The Sentry, the first tournament of the 2024 PGA Tour season, an event he only qualified for because of Rahm’s defection. He said that it feels like 2019 was the peak of men’s golf and the PGA-LIV rivalry has put the focus on money and potentially alienated fans.

“Our economic model was sustainable. The LIV threat came along and all of a sudden we started to double the purses, and we’re asking sponsors to double their investment, and we’re giving them the same product,” said Hughes at a news conference from the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Maui, Hawaii. “Fans also, I think, are left wondering, ‘Do guys even love playing golf anymore? Or are they all just concerned about money?’

“All these guys going to LIV have made it pretty clear that it’s all about money. I mean, growing the game, but also money. So, to me, that’s disappointing.”

The PGA Tour introduced big money “signature events” last year to entice golfers to stay with the circuit. Hughes said that model is not sustainable because it means tournament sponsors have to double their financial undertaking without the product changing in any significant way.

“It would be silly for me not to play in these events, they are great opportunities, but, I just don’t think it’s right,” said Hughes, who is a member of the PGA Tour’s player advisory council along with Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont. “Again, we have the same product that we had in 2019, yet we want this increased investment, not just increased, but increased in a big way.”

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced on June 6, two days before the RBC Canadian Open teed off, that the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund — which owns LIV Golf — had agreed to a merger. The details of that agreement were supposed to be finalized by Sunday, but that deadline came and went with no update except that negotiations had been extended.

“(Fans) don’t know where certain guys are playing and there’s spats between the LIV and the PGA Tour, and it’s not unified in any way, shape, or form,” said Hughes. “There’s negotiations going on that are unclear, they have been dragged on for a long time.”

Hughes said on Tuesday that he felt compelled to speak up because he thinks the whole process could alienate viewers.

“The fan just wants to watch golf,” said Hughes. “I think you watch sports for an escape from other nonsense, but I think golf has brought a lot of nonsense onto its plate, and now you don’t get just golf, you get a lot of other stuff going on. It’s a bit of a circus.”

Hughes and Conners are joined at the Sentry this week by Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., as well as Adam Hadwin and reigning Canadian Open champion Nick Taylor, both of whom are from Abbotsford, B.C.

Taylor, who will be making his third appearance at The Sentry, said he took most of December off to spend Christmas back home in Canada. 

“I’m going to be as prepared as I possibly can be, but I’ve probably played my best at times with low expectations,” said Taylor. “I’m trying to win this week, but knowing it’s the first event of the year there’s going to be a little bit of rust, I’m sure, for a lot of people. 

“I’ve been here since the 29th, I played nine every day, so that’s going to help me kind of ease into the tournament. It’s always a treat to be here, I don’t care how many times you come.”

Nick Taylor’s putter flip after winning the RBC Canadian Open was the exclamation point on arguably the best year in Canadian golf history.

Taylor drained a 72-foot eagle putt to end a four-hole playoff with England’s Tommy Fleetwood at the Canadian national men’s championship on June 11, the first time a Canadian had won the title in 69 years. But Canada’s success on the course went beyond that, with Canadians winning at every level of the professional game including four wins on the PGA Tour and one on the LPGA Tour.

“I think the state of Canadian pro golf, especially on the PGA Tour, has never been better,” said Taylor, the first Canadian to win the RBC Canadian Open since Pat Fletcher did it in 1954. “Our goal, as players, with Golf Canada is to keep that number growing of Tour members.

“The more players that we can get out here, obviously, it gives us a greater chance of winning more and more.”

Taylor, from Abbotsford, B.C., joined Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., as winners on the PGA Tour in the 2022-23 season. It was the most wins by Canadians in a single PGA Tour campaign to date.

“The camaraderie is great,” said Taylor, whose victory at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf and Country Club was the fourth win by a Canadian in the season. “I feel like we play a lot of practice rounds together, houses often have dinners together, so we all rally together.

“I think we push each other to be better and I think that’s why we’ve continued to get better and reach new heights.”

Conners, who won the Valero Texas Open for a second time on April 2, said that winning is the best feeling you can have in professional golf.

“That was definitely a highlight for me,” said Conners. “I think another highlight, and something that I’m always very proud of, was making it to Eastlake — the Tour Championship — and being in the top 30 of the FedEx Cup rankings and having a chance to win the FedEx Cup. 

“Looking back on the year as a whole I would have liked to improve on some things, but making it there is a nice bonus because it means you had a great year.”

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., won the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions on Jan. 22 for her 13th victory on the LPGA Tour, the most of any professional player in Canadian golf history regardless of gender.

“It was a little bit up and down year for me,” said Henderson, assessing her 2023. “But it was nice to try to defend my title at the Evian Championship with a runner-up finish this year, it was really fun to be back in contention. 

“Then same kind of thing to be in our Tour Championship in November, it’s always a big goal when you start the season is to be in contention to try to win that, that big money and the race, the CME Globe in November.”

Canadian success wasn’t limited to the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour, however.
Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., both won on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour to earn full-time PGA Tour status in 2024. That means there will be eight Canadians on tour with Silverman and Sloan joining Taylor, Conners, Hughes, Svensson, Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford.

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp won an Epson Tour event and had five top-10 results on the second-tier tour, not missing a cut in 14 tournaments played. She also won Canada’s second-ever golf medal at the Pan American Games, winning bronze in Santiago, Chile. 

Sharp once again earned LPGA Tour status through final qualifying, as did Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont., and Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont. They’ll join Henderson and Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., on the LPGA Tour in the new year.

Two more Canadians won on the PGA Tour Canada, a feeder circuit for the Korn Ferry Tour, with Etienne Papineau of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., and Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald each claiming a victory. Papineau finished fourth on the season-long points list to earn conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., won on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, another third-tier circuit in the PGA Tour system. Calgary’s Stephen Ames won a remarkable four times on the Champions Tour.

On the amateur side, Lauren Kim of Surrey, B.C. earned the 109th Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship and Ashton McCulloch of Kingston, Ont. won the 118th Canadian Men’s Amateur, marking only the third time both tournaments were won by Canadians in the same year since 2011. Monet Chun of Richmond Hill, Ont., became the first Canadian to make the cut at the Augusta Women’s National Amateur.

With the Paris Olympics coming in July and the Presidents Cup returning to Royal Montreal Golf Club in September, Taylor expects 2024 to be an even bigger year for Canadian golf.

“Those two are at the top of the list of things I want to be involved in, participate in, this coming year,” he said.

Three Canadians have earned 2024 Korn Ferry Tour membership following the final round of the PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry on Monday in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont. finished T14 at 4-under. Étienne Papineau of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. finished T38 at 1-under, and Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S. finished T45 at even par. They will join fellow Canadian Wil Bateman on the Korn Ferry Tour to start the 2024 season.

Yellamaraju recorded rounds of 71-69-68-68-276 to earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for next season after successfully making his way through both second stage and final stage of Q-School.

Papineau previously earned 2024 Korn Ferry Tour membership by finishing fourth overall in the 2023 Fortinet Cup standings on the PGA TOUR Canada (now PGA TOUR Americas). Papineau’s T38 finish at Q-School with rounds of 74-67-68-70-279 improves his Korn Ferry Tour status for the coming season.

Creighton also previously earned his 2024 membership by finishing second on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica (now PGA TOUR Americas) season point rankings. Creighton shot rounds of 70-68-72-70-280 to finish inside the cut line of players who are awarded Korn Ferry Tour cards through Q-school and improve his status for 2024 as well.

Three other Canadians were competing in Ponte Vedra at final stage including, Stuart Macdonald who finished at 7-over, Thomas Giroux at 9-over and Jared Du Toit at 10-over. They will have conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour for 2024.

Harrison Endycott of Australia finished atop the leaderboard at 15-under, Americans Trace Cowe (11-under) and Brian Hale Jr. (9-under) finished second and third, while Raul Pereda of Mexico and Hayden Springer of the United States finished tied for fourth at 8-under to earn their 2024 PGA TOUR cards.

The top five players and ties earned their full status for 2024 on the PGA TOUR. The next 40 finishers and ties earned exempt status through multiple reshuffles of the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season, with the first 25 finishers and ties being subject to the third reshuffle (12 guaranteed starts), and any remaining finishers within the category being subject to the second reshuffle (eight guaranteed starts).

This marked the first time since 2012 that PGA TOUR cards were awarded during the Final Stage of PGA TOUR Q-School. The field of 168-players played two rounds at TPC Sawgrass’ Dye’s Valley Course and two rounds at Sawgrass Country Club. The final round was originally scheduled for Sunday but was postponed due to heavy rain in northern Florida.

The PGA Tour has notified Jon Rahm he has been suspended for signing with Saudi-funded LIV Golf, a formality that is more about the benefits to the players Rahm leaves behind.

Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes and China’s Carl Yuan are the immediate beneficiaries of Rahm’s decision to sign with the rival league.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan in a memo to players Monday afternoon said Rahm’s suspension “due to his association with a series of unauthorized tournaments” removes his name from the FedEx Cup eligibility points list.

That means Hughes goes from No. 51 to No. 50, and now is eligible for all seven of the $20 million signature events in 2024. It also means Yuan, who was signed up for Q-school this week, moves up one spot to No. 125 and has a full PGA Tour card for next year.

The tour last year distinguished between the FedEx Cup standings and a separate list related to eligibility for the postseason and for status. The distinction was so players defecting to LIV would not have a negative impact on those who stayed behind.

Among those who benefited last year were Rickie Fowler, who got into the postseason because of all the players who left for LIV; and Jimmy Walker and Rory Sabbatini, who moved up on the career money list and were able to use one-time exemptions to keep full status.

This year, Hughes narrowly missed out on the top 50. He kept his 51st position through the fall, which only would have guaranteed him spots in the first two $20 million events. Now the Canadian can count on the likes of the Wells Fargo Championship in his home residence of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Alex Smalley goes to the No. 60 spot and now is assured of two $20 million events. The changes also affect Paul Haley, who moves to No. 150 and now has at least conditional status.

And it could effect Sahith Theegala. He finished No. 31 to narrowly miss the Tour Championship. He moves up to No. 30, which could make him exempt for the U.S. Open. This year, the U.S. Open recognized the top 30 who were eligible.

The movements were allowed because the new season has not started. If more PGA Tour players leave for LIV before the end of the year, that could lead to more changes.

Social media had been buzzing about the possibility of Tony Finau — he and Rahm are close friends — also leaving for LIV. Finau took to Instagram on Monday night that recapped his year and said he was “looking forward to playing my 10th season on the PGA Tour.”

“See y’all in Maui!” he concluded, adding the hash tag, “imnotleaving.”

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A post shared by Tony Finau (@tonyfinaugolf)

Monahan also said in the memo that the policy board and management recently met with a group of players upset that signature events will offer disproportionately more FedEx Cup points than the other events, leading to concerns it will be difficult for players outside the top 50 to fairly compete.

Monahan said the board will review how the new system is working in June and evaluate whether changes are in order for 2025.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners are a perfect 1-0 when paired together on the golf course. They’re ready to improve their decade-old record this week.

Henderson and Conners were teammates on Golf Canada’s junior national and both represented Canada at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, but they rarely see each other as professionals on the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour.

They haven’t been paired together since 2013, when they won the Copa de las Americas along with fellow Canadians Albin Choi and Augusta James.

That all changes when they tee it up together Thursday, at a new event featuring players from the world’s top men’s and women’s golf tours.

“I’ve always admired her swing and the smile she always has on her face,” said Conners on Wednesday in a joint news conference with Henderson. “We go way back. We haven’t crossed paths, unfortunately, that much over the last few years.”

The Grant Thornton Invitational, a new tournament on the pro golf calendar, sees players from the PGA Tour and the LPGA Tour pair up in a season-ending event. Prize money will be evenly divided between the two genders at the 16-team field at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla.

Henderson and Conners hope to learn from each other on the course and maintain their unblemished record as a pairing.

“I’m really excited to watch the men play, watch Corey play, see how he goes about it,” said Henderson, who added they have already begun strategizing. “I think that it’s pretty cool to have a partner and somebody that is as brilliant as Corey is to talk that through.”

Neither Conners or Henderson had turned professional when Team Canada won the Copa de las Americas by one stroke at the TPC Blue Monster Course at Doral Golf Resort & Spa Miami 10 years ago. Conners, Henderson, Choi and James finished with a four-day total of 25-over par 1,177 to best Mexico (1,178) by a shot and the United States (1,179) by two.

A lot has changed since then.

Conners, from Listowel, Ont., has won twice on the PGA Tour since turning professional in 2015 and is the second highest ranked Canadian on this year’s FedEx Cup standings.

Henderson, from Smiths Falls, Ont., has put together an even more impressive resume, winning 13 times on the LPGA Tour including two majors since turning pro in 2014. She has the most pro wins in the history of Canadian golf.

“Ever since they announced the format of this event, I tried to try to throw my name in and partner up with Brooke,” said Conners. “I think it was similar from from her side, so it’s really exciting to be here together representing Canada. 

“Obviously, I’ve got a pretty solid partner so I’m looking forward to having some fun this week.”

Henderson think she can learn a lot from Conners, one of the best ballstrikers on the PGA Tour.

“I always enjoy watching my playing partners just regularly out on tour, when they’re practising, when they’re warming up, and also when I’m playing with them,” said Henderson. “You just always try to keep an eye out and see what I can learn and what I can pick up on and maybe how I can improve.”

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., the highest ranked Canadian on the PGA Tour, will also play at the event. He will partner with China’s Ruoning Yin.
Henderson and Conners agreed that the Grant Thornton could help grow the sport of golf in North America.

“It’s a really cool opportunity for the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour to do something together,” said Conners. “Hopefully this leads to some more collaboration and possibly some more events together.”