Welcome to our first Industry/Tour blog post - about once a month we’re going to share some Tour and industry news to keep #TeamStix in the loop - so stop by here to get some of the top highlights - Enjoy!
This past weekend Phil birdied on the 18th to win the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, his second PGA TOUR Champions victory, and why this is special is he joined Bruce Fleischer and Jim Furyk as the ONLY players to win in their first two PGA TOUR Champions events. Fleischer did it back in 1999 and Furyk did it earlier this year with victories at The Ally Challenge and Pure Insurance Championship.
Courtesy PGA Champions Tour via Twitter
And in case you’re wondering what exactly is the PGA TOUR Champions? It is the men's professional senior golf tour and is administered as a branch of the PGA Tour. When it was established in 1980, it was called the Senior PGA Tour until October 2002, when it was renamed the Champions Tour through the 2015 season. The current name, PGA TOUR Champions was then adopted.
50 is in the new 30, so it is hard to imagine Phil playing on the senior tour, and to give you further history so you can win at Jeopardy, the Senior PGA Championship was founded in 1937 and for many years was the only high-profile tournament for golfers over 50. The idea for a senior tour grew out of a highly successful event in 1978, the Legends of Golf at Onion Creek Club in Austin, Texas, which featured competition between two-member teams of some of the greatest older golfers of that day. And as they say, the rest is history.
Now back to the headlining star of this blog post, Mickelson. He decided to play this last weekend as the start of his Masters prep, focusing on accurate driving and competitive fitness….and it worked.
Yes...Masters prep in OCTOBER…..Everything is different this year, including when the Masters will take place, it was moved from the spring to November 12-15. No beautiful images of Magnolia Lane with them all bloom this year, but at least we’ve had golf during COVID-19, it saved me as I was so sports deprived for months while all other major sports were canceled or delayed.
Phil hasn’t won on the PGA TOUR since early 2019 at Pebble Beach, and he plans to return to the PGA TOUR next week for the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP at Sherwood in California. And then after a week off, he'll play in the Houston Open as his final preparation for the Masters Tournament.
We wish him the best of luck. ..and one last comment on another rookie on the PGA TOUR Champions, Robert Karlsson, he closed this last weekend in Virginia with a 64, including a DOUBLE EAGLE on the final hole. The ball bounced twice and then found the bottom of the cup - we should all be so lucky.
But at #TeamStix just being able to play a round with our friends is winning...especially when you’ve got good looking clubs in your hands and you make it on the green.
About the Author
Alexandra Skillman is a savvy marketing & PR pro that likes to keep her pulse on the latest in pop culture, food & wine, sports, travel and tech. She enjoys creating narratives and elevating the presence for brands with the media & consumers, which is what she is doing for Stix Golf. Alex can tell you the scores from ESPN, the hottest trends in Vogue and latest tech news all in the same sentence and her Frenchie, Zoey, is often making an appearance in her Zoom calls.
