Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: Wells Fargo Championship (Wyndham Clark)
THIS WEEK: AT&T Byron Nelson, McKinney, Texas, May 11-14
Course: TPC Craig Ranch (Par 71, 7,414 yards)
Purse: $9.5 million (Winner: $1.71 million)
Defending Champion: K.H. Lee
FedEx Cup leader: Jon Rahm
HOW TO FOLLOW:
TV: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming on ESPN+: Thursday-Friday, 7:45 a.m.-7 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m.
Twitter: @attbyronnelson
NOTES: World No. 2 and Dallas native Scottie Scheffler headlines the slightly weaker-than-average field in between last week’s designated event and next week’s major, the PGA Championship. Tyrrell Hatton of England, Tom Kim of South Korea and Hideki Matsuyama of Japan are the only other top-25 players in the field. … Jordan Spieth, who also calls the Dallas area home, withdrew from the event Monday citing a left wrist injury. His status for the PGA Championship is in doubt after he said the injury needed evaluation “week to week.” … Lee is the two-time defending champion, posting a final-round 63 to hold off Spieth’s late push and go 26 under for the week. … TPC Craig Ranch played as a par-72 last year but is now a par-71 for the pros after No. 12 was changed from a par 5 to a par 4. … A PGA Championship berth is on offer if the player who wins this week is not already in the field. … Among those receiving sponsor exemptions this week are twins Pierceson and Parker Coody, who starred at the University of Texas.
BEST BETS: Scheffler (+333 at BetMGM) hasn’t finished worse than tied for 12th at a PGA tournament since October. He has played the Byron Nelson just twice and finished 15th in 2022. … Hatton (+1200) held the 36-hole lead at last week’s Wells Fargo Championship before tying for third, his fourth top-10 of the season. He’s still searching for his second win on the PGA Tour. … Jason Day (+1600) missed the cut last week but nonetheless has the fourth-shortest odds at BetMGM, thanks to his six top-10s this season. He won the event in 2010 before it moved to TPC Craig Ranch. … Matsuyama (+2200) fired a final-round 62 to tie for third here last season. This will be his first appearance since the Masters in early April. … Lee (+2200) has shown an obvious affinity for the course and has an enticing number for a two-time defending champ. He’s also coming off a T8 at last week’s Wells Fargo.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: PGA Championship, Rochester, N.Y., May 18-21
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown (Thailand)
THIS WEEK: Cognizant Founders Cup, Clifton, N.J., May 11-14
Course: Upper Montclair Country Club (Par 71, 6,656 yards)
Purse: $3 million (Winner: $450,000)
Defending Champion: Minjee Lee
Race to the CME Globe leader: Lydia Ko
HOW TO FOLLOW:
TV: Thursday-Friday, 10:30 a.m.-1 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 5-7 p.m. (All times Golf Channel)
Streaming: Thursday-Friday, 1-1:30 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 4-5 p.m. (All times NBCSports.com, NBC Sports App)
Twitter: @LPGAfounders
NOTES: This event has been played since 2011 to celebrate the 13 founders of the LPGA. This will mark the first time it’s played since the remaining founders were elected for World Golf Hall of Fame induction in March. … Lee bested Lexi Thompson in a close final-round finish in 2022, with a birdie at the 72nd hole to claim the victory. … Lee is coming off a successful week at the International Crown in which she helped the Australian team place second to Thailand. … Two-time winner Jin Young Ko of South Korea (2019, 2021) and Lee are two of the eight top-10 ranked players in the field.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play, Las Vegas, May 24-28
Champions Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Mitsubishi Electric Classic (Stephen Ames)
THIS WEEK: Regions Tradition, Birmingham, Ala., May 11-14
Course: Greystone Golf & Country Club (Par 72, 7,249 yards)
Purse: $2.5 million (Winner: $375,000)
Defending Champion: Steve Stricker
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Steve Stricker
HOW TO FOLLOW:
TV: Thursday-Friday, 1-4 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 3-5 p.m. (All times Golf Channel)
Twitter: @RegionsTrad
NOTES: This is the first of five majors on the 2023 PGA Tour Champions schedule. … Stricker won his fourth senior major championship here in 2022, beating Irishman Padraig Harrington by six strokes. The 56-year-old also won in 2019 and placed second or tied for second in 2018 and 2021. … Stricker leads the money standings but has won just one tournament this season, the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai in January. … Bernhard Langer, who won the Tradition in 2016 and 2017, remains one win shy of breaking his tie with Hale Irwin for the all-time record in Champions history at 45.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, Frisco, Texas, May 25-28
LIV Golf
LAST TOURNAMENT: LIV Golf Singapore (Individual: Talor Gooch; Team: RangeGoats GC)
THIS WEEK: LIV Golf Tulsa, Broken Arrow, Okla., May 12-14
Course: Cedar Ridge Country Club (Par 70, 7,213 yards)
Purse: $20 million (Winner: $4 million)
Defending Champion: New event
Points leader: Talor Gooch
HOW TO FOLLOW:
TV: Friday, 1-6 p.m. ET (CW app); Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (The CW Network)
Twitter: @livgolf_league
NOTES: Gooch won consecutive events in Adelaide, Australia and Singapore to vault to the individual points lead in the second season of LIV Golf. … Gooch, Peter Uihlein and Charles Howell III are first, second and third in the standings as they enter Tulsa. They all played collegiately at nearby Oklahoma State. … This tournament will serve as a tune-up for next week’s PGA Championship for many LIV members, including Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed and Australian Cameron Smith. Mito Pereira of Chile and Brendan Steele are eligible for the major after finishing in the top 15 last year. The PGA of America invited Gooch and reserved the right to invite others not already exempt ahead of announcing the field on May 10.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: LIV Golf D.C., Sterling, Va., May 26-28
–Field Level Media
