Billy Horschel (pictured) and the others were told last week at the Hero World Challenge that in 2023 this week’s PGA Tour team tournament will be a mixed event with pairs made up of PGA Tour players and female players of the LPGA Tour.
PGA Tour, news
Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson compete in the QBE Shootout on the course at Tiburon Golf Club in Florida with male partners Denny McCarthy and Maverick McNealy. These unique pairs of PGA Tour players and LPGA players will become the norm next year.
It will be the first tournament of its kind on the circuit since the JCPenney Classic, the last edition of which took place in the last century. In 1999 precisely when John Daly and Laura Davies won the third round of the play-off against Paul Azinger and Se Ri Pak.
At the time the winners shared $440,000. Invited by the title sponsor, Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson will be able to claim the $950,000 promised to the winning pair on Sunday. Second alongside Sam Burns in 2021, Billy Horschel believes that this development was necessary to give more relief to this tournament and that it will be beneficial to both circuits.
I think this is something that should have been done a while ago. “When you look at the evolution of the game of golf, you find that fans like to get excited about team tournaments. It’s something different and it will benefit the PGA Tour, but I think it’s even more beneficial to the LPGA in terms of visibility”
On the DP World Tour for the first time in history a player won the mixed tournament in June in Sweden. Before finishing the season number 1 European Linn Grant caused a sensation by beating 78 men and 77 women on the course of Halmstad Golf Club.
The PGA Tour is an organization that curates major professional golf tours in the United States. It is based in Ponte Vedra Beach, a suburb of Jacksonville, Florida. Its official name is written in all capital letters, i.e. “PGA TOUR”
