Tiger Woods spoke for 15 minutes or so, nearly all of it devoted to his parents and everyone else who nourished his love of the game. Missing was even one mention of any of the mind-bending accomplishments that landed him at the World Golf Hall of Fame podium in the first place.

Just as telling, perhaps, Woods dropped no hints about what might come next.

It was an intensely personal speech, a portrait of the golf artist as a very young man. Woods recalled how, as an 8-year-old, he was dropped off at the local muni each morning, with plenty of time to take quarters off the older kids in putting contests and skins games, then spent hours looking for lost balls while waiting for his father, Earl, to get off work at 4 p.m. and pick him up in a golf cart.

“By then, especially in the wintertime, it was already dark,” Woods recalled. “So we had a rule, if you ever lost the golf ball, we’d be done, and we’d have to drive in.

“So part of understanding how to shape shots and knowing where I hit it on the face, where I would hit it, all started then. … The furthest I ever made was 17 holes in the dark,” he added, laughing. “Never quite got to 18.”

Woods did nearly every time it mattered after that, winning 15 major championships and a record-tying 82 on the PGA Tour, and who knows how many more he’d have added if not for the eight surgeries he endured along the way. Woods didn’t mention those, either. But 14-year-old Sam Woods, who introduced her father, did.

Referring to Woods’ February 2021 car crash in Los Angeles, she said, “We didn’t know if you’d come home with two legs or not. Now not only are you about to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but you’re standing here on your own two feet.

Ten months later, Woods played with his 12-year-old son, Charlie in the PNC Championship, finishing second in the team event. Despite needing a cart to get around, Woods showed plenty of flashes of the mastery that made him nearly unbeatable for more than two decades. Inevitably, the questions began: Could he come back again?

Woods answered the latest round the same way he had in the past _ nothing was certain, but he wasn’t closing the door on at least a limited return. Then his caddie, Joe LaCava, threw some more kindling on the embers.

“I think it’s gonna be even more work than it was coming back from the fusion surgery with the back and stuff like that, but I think he’s willing, at this age, to do it,” LaCava said in an interview Wednesday with Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio.

“Maybe that father-son tournament gave him a little more motivation because, as most people saw — if they watched it — he hasn’t lost much. He may not be quite as long as he once was, but he can still hit the ball and still can putt and chip. So, I mean, if he can get around a golf course, he could still be dangerous, if that happens.”

Woods, as noted above, talked about the distant past and said nothing about his future. But golf is that rare game where Hall of Famers can collect their plaque, stick it in the trophy case and step back onto the field. Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els were both already alumni when they won in recent years.

Woods referred to those wins not long ago, calling his induction “an acknowledgement that you’ve had a successful career.

“I feel like I have,” he added, “but it feels like it’s still not over yet.”

The best ones have the hardest time letting go. Woods wouldn’t be the first G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All-Time) to push the envelope.

“One day you might look up and see me playing the game at 50,” is how Michael Jordan ended his Hall of Fame induction speech. Knowing laughs erupted on every side of him.

“Oh don’t laugh,” he said. “Never say never.”

Woods can’t walk a golf course at the moment, so he eschewed empty boasts or self-deprecating jokes, and it’s hard to imagine he would show up at the first tee just for the sake of playing. But Jordan and Jack Nicklaus and even Muhammad Ali said almost the same thing and all of them came back in search of one more transcendent run, one more moment when they felt like the king of the world.

“I was never going to be denied,” Woods said around mid-speech Wednesday night, recalling the moment he’d inherited his father’s passion for the game. “I loved it. I had this burning desire to be able to express myself in this game of golf.”

A plaque isn’t going to change that.

Additionally, the World Golf Hall of Fame presented two new distinguished service awards for the first time. Renee Powell was honored as the inaugural recipient of the Charlie Sifford Award presented by Southern Company (for her spirit in advancing diversity in golf), while Peter Ueberroth and the late Dick Ferris were honored through a Lifetime Achievement recognition for their contributions to golf.

Palm Beach, Fla. – Beginning last Thursday, the Honda Classic marked the first stop of the four-week ‘Florida Swing’ for the PGA TOUR. It would also mark 28 year old Adam Svensson’s second top 10 finish of the 2022 season to date.

In January, Svensson finished T7 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. With the T9 finish in Palm Beach, Svensson moved up 13 spots in the World Golf Rankings from 181 to 168th.

“I’ve just been working really hard. In the two weeks off I practiced every single day,” said Svensson. “Eight to ten hours a day, and just found something and [am] sticking to it.”

Svensson was no stranger to the layout having previously posted a 7-shot victory at PGA Resort and Spa’s Championship Course in 2015 to win Q-School.

“I just feel like I play good in the wind for some reason,” said Svensson on his comfort with the difficult course. “I’m able to control the golf ball, I like to hit it against the wind, hit it low and kind of create shots where, if there’s no wind, it’s more of just hitting the shot. So, yeah, just love playing in the wind.”

Nick Taylor would also land inside the top 20 shooting 3-under 67 in the final round to finish T16. Taylor Pendrith would finish T25, with Mackenzie Hughes T48 and Roger Sloan T55.

Full leaderboard here.

The performance of Canadian golfers on the world stage has improved significantly since the implementation of the Team Canada player development program in 2005. Canada is currently represented by 13 players with status on the LPGA or PGA TOUR, a substantial increase from the eight players with major tour status when the national team program was launched. Since 2014, members or graduates of the Team Canada Young Pro Squad have produced 50 professional tournament wins worldwide. 

Canada is positioned to take another leap forward in global golf achievement. Today, Golf Canada is announcing an enhanced commitment to the Team Canada player development program. Our goal is for Canada to reach 30 players with status on the LPGA and PGA TOUR by 2032, completing our transformation into a truly world-class golfing country where Canadians are regularly in contention on both tours. 

The pursuit of this ambitious goal is made possible by significant new philanthropic support from a group of generous donors who are making major gifts to fund enhancements in the Team Canada player development program—beginning with an investment of $13.5 million through Golf Canada Foundation to support the strategic goals of the program. 

Paul McLean, CEO of Turf Care and former president of Golf Canada and Golf Canada Foundation has made a lead gift of $5 million to increase the breadth and depth of financial support for Canadian players across the stages of development for the next ten years. Paul has been a pillar of the Canadian golf community with close relationships to many Canadian touring professionals. We are grateful for Paul’s leadership and support. 

Major gifts have also been committed by The Kavelman Fonn Foundation, John Francis, Jean Monty, David Kaufman, Steve Lister and Dr. Molly Rundle, and a pair of donors who wished to remain anonymous creating an initial pool of $13.5M in incremental funding to support new player development investments over the next decade. These generous donors are part of the Golf Canada Foundation Trustee program, which provides critical philanthropic support for important Canadian golf initiatives such as player development and First Tee. Golf Canada Foundation is continuing to identify Trustees who are interested in supporting the Team Canada player development program and expanding First Tee across Canada. 

Our ambitious strategy for player development is based on extensive research over the past year along with input from stakeholders in Canadian high-performance golf – including those involved at the very highest levels of the professional game. The full analysis and strategic plan can be read in draft form here. In addition, we invite you to attend Golf Canada’s virtual annual general meeting on March 2 for an in-depth presentation about the future of the player development system in Canada. 

In summary, Golf Canada’s updated player development strategy includes the following priorities: 

• Sharpen the specific focus of the player development system on the objective of increasing the number of Canadian players on the LPGA and PGA TOUR, with the goal of 30 players on these tours by 2032. 
• Foster an open and inclusive culture of collaboration among all stakeholders in Canadian high-performance golf – including players, coaches, facilities, professional tours, and provincial associations. 
• Invest in Canada’s player development system at a level that matches and competes with aspirational peers like Australia and England. 
• In partnership with PGA of Canada, increase the depth and diversity of Canadian coaching talent. 
• Broaden the player development system at the junior level by including more players in the national program and creating a national talent identification system for the most promising early-stage juniors. 
• Combine late-stage amateurs and young pro players into an expanded Team Canada cohort that is singularly focused on helping players to launch and sustain successful professional golf careers. Team Canada – NextGen, currently called the National Junior Squad, will include both juniors and developing amateurs. These changes will occur in 2023. 
• Provide housing and training facility access in the US for transitioning professional players. 
• Increase the breadth and depth of support for young professional players. Assign funding based on an individualized analysis of specific player needs. 
• Pay particular attention to off course support in areas such as mental health. Ensure a supportive environment that is in full compliance with Safe Sport policies. 
• Create a need-based system of financial aid for junior and amateur players in the player development program to ensure that financial assistance is provided to families with the most significant financial needs. 
• Build a digital library of educational resources featuring Canadian tour player role models that is available to aspiring Canadian players and their families. 
• Refine the analytics used to evaluate player development progress. Emphasize a data-driven and methodical approach. 
• Re-evaluate the infrastructure and pathway for Canadian professional women’s golf. Develop alternatives to the four-year NCAA pathway while maintaining educational opportunities for the most advanced women. Increase the number of domestic professional playing opportunities for women. 
• Especially emphasize how we can support the development of Canadian golf champions from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, building on the more diverse participation base that will be created by First Tee – Canada. 

These items will be implemented over the course of 2022 and 2023. One of the first enhancements to occur will be the creation of a national infrastructure for identifying and developing the most promising early-stage juniors in Canada (i.e., ages 10-14). Over time, this infrastructure will increase the volume of high-performing juniors in Canada who have the potential to develop into LPGA and PGA TOUR players. 

To move forward with this system enhancement, Team Canada Women’s Head Coach Tristan Mullally will transition to the newly created position of National Talent Identification Director. In this new capacity, Tristan will provide additional resources to parents and coaches who work with the most promising young juniors in Canada and provide direct coaching to identified early-stage juniors who don’t otherwise have local coaching support. He will also facilitate the development and implementation of local talent identification camps in every province. Tristan’s globally recognized technical skills and extensive experience with elite players will be a significant asset for helping to accelerate the development of Canada’s most promising young juniors. 

Tristan’s transition into this new role will occur gradually over the next several months. A search will begin immediately for a head coach to oversee the women’s program and for an additional assistant coach to complete the remainder of the women’s coaching staff. 

Many people across our country are deeply passionate about Canadian golf and excited for Canada to continue its emergence as a world-class golfing country. Every stakeholder in the Canadian golf industry is involved in developing Canada’s top players in one way or another. Golf facility operators create affordable opportunities for competitive juniors to access courses, PGA of Canada professionals provide important mentorship and coaching to young players, and partners and philanthropists provide critical support so the Team Canada player development program can be resourced for global success. Our goal is to unify the entire Canadian golf community behind this player development effort, as our Canadian players have the best chance to emerge on the world stage when everyone is part of the journey with them. 

If you’d like to ask questions, provide feedback about our plan, or find out more about becoming a donor to the program, please send us an email using this link. 

Go Canada Go!

Kevin Blue, Ph. D. Chief Sport Officer

At first Étienne Papineau didn’t know if he should go up to Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas to ask for a photograph. Hopefully it wasn’t going to be his only time sharing a locker room with some of golf’s superstars, he thought, but he worked up the courage, picked their brains a bit, and got the selfies. 

Add it to the list of pinch-me moments for the Golf Canada National Team member who made his PGA Tour debut last week at the WM Phoenix Open. 

“At first I didn’t know if I should,” said Papineau with a laugh, “but they were actually super nice.”

Both Thomas and Spieth congratulated Papineau on making his Tour debut and asked how things had gone so far. 

It had been a nice stretch of golf for Papineau to that point, so he had much to celebrate. He shot 59 at another course in Arizona just two weeks prior and earned his way into the WM Phoenix Open field through the Monday Qualifier – his first-ever Monday effort for a tournament that wasn’t the RBC Canadian Open.  

Papineau would go on to shoot 73-73 and miss the cut at 4-over. But he said he’ll take a ton of great learnings away from the week as he starts to put together a 2022 campaign. 

“I was a little disappointed with missing the cut and overall not playing better around the green. But from tee to green, it was a really good week,” he said. “I gave myself a lot of great opportunities on the greens but unfortunately I wasn’t able to capitalize on them. 

That particular PGA Tour event happens to be the rowdiest of any on the schedule, with upwards of a quarter-million fans on site through the week. Spectators on TPC Scottsdale’s par-3 16th (some 17,000 on Friday and Saturday) bared witness to two holes-in-one on the weekend and showered the green with beer. 

Papineau nearly made a birdie on 16 in the first round – once he hit the green with his tee shot the crowd went nuts and he lifted his arms in the air to get them hyped up even more – but he three-putted No.16 in his second round. 

“I got booed a lot, but I just laughed,” he said. “It was still awesome. It was not the right place to make a three putt, but even though I got booed, it was fun.”

The native of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que. admitted he was trying to navigate some serious nerves prior to teeing off Thursday. He was warming up on the driving range prior to his opening round and he said he had his caddie – fellow Golf Canada team member Chris Crisologo – try to calm him down.

“But once I stepped on the tee and they announced my name it was time to play. I was a little nervous then, but a great feeling,” said Papineau.

Papineau played the first two rounds with Sahith Theegala, who was in the field on a Sponsor Exemption. Theegala would end up playing in the penultimate group on Sunday and finished just one shot out of a playoff (the tournament was eventually won by Scottie Scheffler). Papineau said the second round, with Theegala leading, lots of people were out following them. The crowd was “going nuts” as Theegala climbed the leaderboard. 

Despite the missed cut, Papineau stuck around TPC Scottsdale for the weekend and actually cheered for Theegala on Sunday in person. Papineau walked around the course and popped his head back into the locker room on Saturday before spending all of Sunday with his dad and three friends in a hospitality area near the 17th green – with tickets courtesy the PGA Tour. 

As far as what’s next for Papineau, he said he’d be returning to Montreal for two weeks to see his family and girlfriend. Papineau’s sister just gave birth to a daughter, he said, so he’s especially excited to see his new niece. Afterwards he plans to return to the U.S. to prepare for PGA Tour Canada Q-School in March and is keen to parlay his WM Phoenix Open appearance into a few Sponsor Exemptions on PGA Tour Latinoamerica, where he has conditional status. “It’s kind of back to normal,” said Papineau, “but hopefully I’ll keep playing some good golf like the last month and keep things rolling.”

LIBERTY CORNER, N.J. – The United States Golf Association (USGA) today announced local and final qualifying sites for the 122nd U.S. Open Championship. The U.S. Open will be contested at The Country Club (Championship Course), in Brookline, Mass., for the fourth time from June 16-19, 2022.

Local qualifying, conducted over 18 holes at 109 sites in 44 U.S. states and Canada, will take place between April 25-May 23. Those players who advance out of local qualifying will join a group of locally exempt players in final qualifying, which will be conducted over 36 holes. The final stage will be held in Japan and Canada as well as nine U.S. sites on May 23 and June 6.

“The U.S. Open provides thousands of professional and amateur golfers with diverse backgrounds from around the world the opportunity to earn a place in the championship through a two-stage qualifying process that was established more than 60 years ago,” said John Bodenhamer, chief championships officer for the USGA. “Allied Golf Associations in the United States, as well as the Japan Golf Association and Golf Canada, are working with us to provide a pathway to The Country Club in June where we can once again showcase the world’s greatest players.”

The USGA accepted 9,069 entries for the 2021 championship at Torrey Pines Golf Course, in San Diego, Calif. The record of 10,127 entries was established for the 2014 championship on Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2, in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C.

The Pulpit Club in Caledon, Ont., will host the first qualifier in Canada on May 16. Rattlesnake Point Golf Club in Milton, Ont., is set to host on June 6.

Registration for U.S. Open Qualifying opens on Feb. 23 at 9 a.m. ET

Click here to view Golf Canada’s 2022 championship calendar.

After the final day of the Sony Open in Honolulu, Canada’s Adam Svensson and Corey Conners finished T7 and 11th respectively.

For Svensson, who shot a three under 67, this would mark his best finish since he placed T15 at the 3M Open in 2019.

Connors, who celebrated his 30th birthday last week, finished the tournament at minus 16.

The tournament ended in a playoff round with Hideki Matsuyama besting Russell Henley for the top spot on the leaderboard.

Prior to teeing off this morning for day three of the Sony Open, B.C. native Adam Svensson hit a few practice balls and admitted that he “just kind of wasn’t feeling it.” Clearly, the 28 year old overcame those nerves as he finished the day tied for third heading into the final round tomorrow.

Despite a tsunami advisory in effect for Honolulu in the early hours of the morning, the tournament was able to safely continue with weather conditions slightly windier than the previous two days of play. When asked if this affected his game Svensson replied:

“I’m usually pretty good into the wind. I kind of like the wind. Yeah, there is some extremely tough golf shots. I think on 13 I hit 3-iron into that hole, so you definitely got to play smart, golf your ball around here.”

Corey Conners who had been tied with Svensson after the first two rounds dropped to T18.

Play resumes tomorrow morning. Full leaderboard here.

Round 2 of the Sony Open brought envy-worthy views as golfers tee’d up for the second day of competition in paradise. Around mid-day Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time, the thermometer read 77F, equating to 25C for those who are north of the border.

For Conners and Svensson, the Friday round in Hawaii was a successful one as the pair moved up four spots on the leaderboard to finish the day at nine under in a tie for fifth. Both sit six strokes back of leader Russell Henley.

At the midway point of the tournament Conners is error-free, carding nine birdies total. His best finish at the Sony Open was in 2019 when he finished T3 at Waialae.

Conners and Svensson are the only two Canadians advancing to the third round with Sloan, Pendrith, and Gligic missing the cut.

Full leaderboard here.

2022 is off to a good start as the Canadians kick things off in Hawaii after the PGA TOUR broke for the holidays. For many of us in Canada experiencing especially cold weather as of late, the oceanfront views and swaying palm trees at Waialae County Club are an added draw along with the main attraction – spectacular professional golf.

After the conclusion of round 1, Corey Conners and Adam Svensson sit T9, with Conners carding a bogey-free round on Thursday. Both players finished six-under par 64, just three strokes behind leader and defending champ Kevin Na.

Roger Sloan and Taylor Pendrith each opened with a 71 and are tied for 119th. Michael Gligic sits T132 after he opened with a 72.

As host to 144 golfers, The Sony Open marks the first full-field event of the reopening of the PGA TOUR season. The host club, Waialae Golf and Country Club, has served as the only venue since the tournament was established in 1965.

Click here for the full leaderboard.

Noah Steele, 24, announced today that he has selected One Eleven Management Group for representation.

Steele, a National Team Program member and a 3-time NCAA tournament champion at Sam Houston State, begins his professional career after a summer to remember in 2021. That included a victory as an amateur on PGA Tour Canada against a field of professionals.

“I’m really excited to get my professional golf journey underway and thrilled to work with Jeff Dykeman and One Eleven Management Group in doing so,” said Steele, a Kingston, Ont., native. “Jeff’s reputation in the golf industry is fantastic and it was clear after a number of conversations that this would be a great match for both of us.”

In 2021, the Kingston, ON. native finished tied for fifth at the Canadian Amateur Championship before making an impressive run on PGA Tour Canada with a win, a runner-up and one additional top 10 on his way to finishing third on the points list. That secured him 2022 membership on the Canadian circuit. His victory at the 2021 Osprey Valley Open was especially impressive as he finished at 23-under par to win by six strokes at TPC Toronto.

“We are thrilled to start working with Noah, who on top of being exceptionally talented is also a total class act,” said Jeff Dykeman, CEO of One Eleven Management Group. “Noah is extremely dedicated to the process of achieving his goal of winning on the PGA Tour. We feel very privileged to be working with him and will do whatever we can to help and support him on this journey.”

Steele also earned conditional status on PGA Tour Latinoamerica for the 2022 season and hopes to play a full slate of events starting in February before returning home to play a full schedule on PGA Tour Canada. In addition, he will try to qualify for June’s RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour.

Golf Canada congratulates Noah on this next step in his career.