Tiger Woods is returning to the PNC Championship, the 36-hole event that has become one of his favorites because of his partner: his son.
Woods and 14-year-old Charlie will be playing the PNC Championship for the fourth straight year, the one tournament the 15-time major winner has not missed during the last injury-plagued four years.
"It is an amazing gift to be able to share my love of golf with Charlie and we genuinely do look forward to playing in the PNC Championship all years," Woods said in a release posted on the tournament's website Wednesday. "Competing together, against a field of so many golfing greats and their families, is so special."
The PNC Championship is Dec. 16-17 in Florida, at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando at Grande Lakes.
Woods and son were the runner-up team in 2021, just 10 months after the player with a record-tying 82 PGA Tour victories badly damaged his right leg and ankle in a car crash in Los Angeles. They finished seventh in their 2020 debut and tied for eighth last year.
Woods is to play next week at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, where he is the host of the limited-field event, for the first time since surgery to fuse his right ankle in April after the Masters. Because the PNC Championship is run by the PGA Tour Champions, Woods is allowed to ride in a cart.
The tournament is for major champions or winners of The Players Championship. It began as a father-son outing and now has gone modern, with tour players having sons and daughters, grandchildren, even parents as their partners — with the requirement that they not have any playing status on a professional tour.
New to the field this year is a formidable pair of Steve Stricker, who won three of the four majors he played on the PGA Tour Champions this year, and daughter Izzi, a high school state champion in Wisconsin.
Padraig Harrington is playing for the sixth year, this time with youngest son Ciaran instead of Paddy.
"It was actually Ciaran watching Paddy and I play together out there these last couple of years that really ignited his passion for the game, which shows what a very special event this is," the 52-year-old Harrington said in Wednesday's release. "He must have watched me play in hundreds of events over the years and it has taken the unique atmosphere and experience of the PNC Championship to inspire him!"
Also back is Lee Trevino, who at 84 is the only player to have competed in the PNC Championship every year since it began in 1995.
LIV Golf photo by Charles Laberge via AP / Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau tees off on the third hole at Trump National Doral Miami during the finals of the LIV Golf Team Championship event on Oct. 22.LIV reveals partial schedule
The LIV Golf League released a 2024 schedule on Wednesday that includes going to Las Vegas the same weekend as the Super Bowl and has three U.S. events that will be held the same week as the PGA Tour's signature $20 million stops.
LIV, which debuted in 2022 and is backed by Saudia Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, announced 12 sites for its 14-tournament schedule. Not yet announced were the locations for final regular event that determines the individual title, held in Saudia Arabia this year and last, and the team championship tournament, which has been held at Trump National Doral Miami both times.
The schedule released Wednesday did not include any Trump courses after the circuit also made stops both seasons at the club in Bedminster, New Jersey, and this year at the club near Washington, D.C.
The 48-man league with 12 teams currently is going through an open period of reshuffling rosters and still has LIV Golf Promotions to see which three players can qualify for a league that offers $20 million purses and a concurrent team competition in its 54-hole, no-cut tournaments.
The new season starts Feb. 2-4 in Mexico, at the El Camaleón course at the Mayakoba resort on the Gulf of Mexico. That's the same week as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-am, the first $20 million event on the PGA Tour.
LIV goes to Las Vegas for the first time on Feb. 8-10, planning for a Saturday finish ahead of Super Bowl Sunday. That Saturday is also when the Phoenix Open stages the largest and loudest crowd in golf. Phoenix has long preferred Super Bowl weekend, even the years the NFL title matchup is in town.
LIV will be going to Las Vegas Country Club, which held that city's PGA Tour event — currently the Shriners Children's Open — from its inception in 1983 until 1991. It most recently hosted an LPGA Tour event from 2003 to 2006.
New domestic stops for LIV include the Golf Club of Houston on June 7-9 — one week before the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina — and the Grove, some 30 miles south of Nashville, on June 21-23. Both those events are opposite $20 million PGA Tour stops — Houston opposite the Memorial Tournament in Ohio, Tennessee opposite the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.
LIV also will play in Hong Kong on March 8-10, the same week as another one of the signature stops for the PGA Tour, the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando.
LIV no longer has stops in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Tucson, Arizona, after playing there in 2023.
Six tournaments currently are scheduled outside North America: Saudi Arabia (May 1-3), Hong Kong, Australia (April 26-28), Singapore (May 3-5), Spain (July 12-14) and England (July 26-28).
The European stops are on both ends of the British Open. The England tournament, which moves in 2024 to JCB Golf and Country Club in Staffordshire, is held the week between the British Open and the Olympics in Paris.
One of the problems with LIV tournaments not being worth points for the Official World Golf Ranking is how many players will be eligible for the Olympics.
For example, 2022 British Open champion Cameron Smith — who is currently No. 18 in the world and playing the next two weeks in his native Australia — will have access to big points only via the majors, while fellow Aussies such as Cam Davis, Jason Day and Min Woo Lee who don't play in the LIV Golf League will have access to top fields far more often.
"I've got these couple of events and four more looks again in the majors, so hopefully I can keep that ranking up," Smith said ahead of this week's Australian PGA Championship.
LIV Golf photo by Chris Trotman via AP / Cameron Smith follows through on a shot during the quarterfinals of the LIV Golf Team Championship event on Oct. 20 in Miami.Waiting to hear
Nothing ramps up speculation in golf like an opening in the broadcast booth.
Paul Azinger and NBC Sports failed to reach an agreement on a new contract for the lead analyst. Those close to Azinger said he had planned on working one more year, but NBC has been in a cost-cutting mode and negotiations didn't get very far.
That explains why Azinger said he was surprised and disappointed this past weekend when the news broke.
NBC has just two golf events left this year, the Hero World Challenge and the PNC Championship.
So who's next? NBC has had two lead analysts — Johnny Miller and Azinger — since 1990.
Justin Leonard had been working for NBC until he returned to playing on the PGA Tour Champions this year. Reached at home Monday night, Leonard had no insight on NBC's plans and said only, "I'm enjoying my playing gig."
David Duval also played extensively on the PGA Tour Champions after his work at NBC Golf Channel, where he delivered cerebral commentary. He was at a resort not far from Denver with his wife and didn't know Azinger wasn't returning until a day after the announcement.
"Would I listen? Of course," Duval said Monday night when asked if he had interest. "But no one has reached out."
Otherwise, names are being kicked around from Brad Faxon to Brandel Chamblee, whose work has been exclusively on shows before and after tournament rounds. Former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy, one of golf's most insightful players, and former Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley of Ireland also come to mind.
NBC also recently let go of Brandt Packer, a producer for 11 years with versality of working PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions, college and other prominent amateur events.
"It was not my decision," Packer said. "I would have loved to be back with them."
NBC has not commented on its cuts except to thank Azinger for his work and wish him well.