How much money can be made in a PGA Tour career since Tiger Woods helped turn golf into a cool and lucrative profession is always a good subject for a rainy day. So, since too many rainy days of late have limited the amount of golf news available, let’s take a quick look how at profitable the game has become at the highest level.

Perhaps the best way to put things in a quick, mind-blowing perspective is to note that Gary Woodland’s recent U.S. Open victory produced a check for $2.2 million. Compare and contrast that to the $1.9 million CAREER earnings of one of golf’s all-time greats, Arnold Palmer.

Jack Nicklaus, arguably the greatest player in the game’s history, made $5.7 in official earnings during his illustrious career. With several tournaments left in the 2018-19 season, Brooks Koepka ($7.2 million), Rory McIlroy ($6.9 million) and Matt Kuchar ($6.1 million) have already topped the Golden Bear’s lifetime bottom line.

Woodland ($5.5 million), Xander Schauffele ($5.3 million) and Dustin Johnson ($5.2 million) could top Nicklaus in their next tournament. Last year, meanwhile, seven players topped $6 million, with FedEx Cup playoff champion Justin Rose
banking a whopping $18.1 million.

Tiger, of course, is far and away the all-time career earnings leader.

Through May’s PGA Championship, Tiger’s official winnings were $118.3 million.
Poor Phil Mickelson was a distant second at $90.5 million. Vijay Singh ($71.2 million), Jim Furyk ($70.6 million) and Johnson ($61.4 million) round out the top five.

To localize the golf money factor, the late Bruce Lietzke is the all-time leader from Southeast Texas. Beaumonter Lietzke, who won 13 times on the PGA Tour and seven more times on the Champions Tour, walked away with a mere
$13.85 million.

Chris Stroud, with one PGA Tour victory, is fast closing on Lietzke and could pass him with a late season charge. PNG ex Stroud stands at $12.2 million. Andrew Landry, who has only been on the PGA Tour two years, is already at $3.9 million.
Mamas, raise your baby boys to be really good pro golfers.

CHIP SHOTS

Jim Huebel of Groves made it four consecutive weeks for at least one player to score a hole in one at Babe Zaharias.

Huebel, on Thursday, June 27, sank his 8-iron tee shot from 147 yards on the 12th hole. It was his fourth ace.

Witnesses were Kyle Landry, Joe Landry, Cricket Owen and Richard Briggs …
The most widely reported hole-in-one last week was authored by 17-year-old senior-to-be Jack Kyger in Battle Creek, Michigan. Kyger, playing in the Gene Lewis Hughes Sr. Memorial Scramble, got his ace on the 158-yard, fourth hole.

The reason it’s being mentioned here is No. 4 was the car hole in the tournament. Kyger won himself a $50,000 Cadillac with what was his first ace.

Later he was told he had the choice of taking the Cadillac ATS-V or $50,000
cash.

Because he hit the jackpot in a summer tournament, the Michigan High School Athletic Association said taking the car or the money won’t cost Kyger a year
of eligibility. …

LCM junior-to-be Jack Burke finished in the middle of the pack last week in the National High School Golf Invitational in Orlando. Burke, who shot rounds of 78-79 on the Magnolia and Palm Courses at Disney World, tied for 70th out of 172 players.

Two bad holes kept Burke from placing much higher. He took a quadruple bogey eight on the 18th hole of the first round and a triple-bogey 7 on the 17th hole of the second round. Those two holes accounted for seven of his 13 strokes over par. …

Stroud, who withdrew from last week’s PGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Classic with an eye infection after an opening 73, dropped four places to No. 115 in FedEx Points. Stroud, fellow PNG grad Landry (167) and Lamar ex Shawn Stefani
(133) are all entered in this week’s 3M Classic in Minnesota. …

Braden Bailey once again made a solid showing in a Monday qualifier for the
Canadian PGA’s Mackenzie Tour but came up short. The PNG ex shot a one-under-par 69, highlighted by an eagle three on his second hole. However, he needed a 67 to grab one of the eight spots available for the Windsor Championship in Windsor, Ontario.

Bailey, whose 69 tied for 20th in a field of 150, is now nine under on rounds of 68-68-69 in his three Mackenzie Tour Monday qualifying attempts. …

Keaton Degeyter and Jake Gauthier shot 82s to tie for first in Boys 15-18 at the Southern Texas PGA Junior Tour stop at Sunset Grove Country Club in Orange. Degeyter then claimed the first place trophy in a sudden death playoff.

Other flight winners included Lincoln Parks (85 in Boys 13-14), Hayden Boyette (84 in Boys 11-12) and Annabel Cardenas (91 in Girls 13-14). …

In the Monday Senior 50 Plus 2-ball at Babe Zaharias, the team of Bob West, Rick Pritchett, Charlie Perez and James Trahan won the front with minus-2. Minus 2 also won the back for the team of James Shipley, Rufus Reyes, Roger
Baumer and Dwayne Benoit. …

The Friday 2-ball at Zaharias saw a two-way tie on the front. Posting minus-3 was the team of Keith Mullins, Kacee Begaman, Jeff Rinehart and Baumer and
the foursome of West, Larry Johnson, Curtis Harrington and Larry Foster.
On the back, the team of Ron LaSalle, Pritchett, Eddie Delk and Perez finished first with minus-3.

For the second time in the past month one of the long-time fixtures on the fairways at Babe Zaharias has died. Paul Bourgeois of Port Arthur passed away
at age 93.

According to Ed Campbell, who spent many years as the head pro at
Zaharias, Bourgeois may have logged more rounds on the course adjacent to
Jimmy Johnson Boulevard than any player. …

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Golf news should be sent to rdwest@usa.net

 

JUNIOR GOLF RESULTS

Listed below are results of the Southern Texas PGA Junior Tour and Little
Linksters tournaments played Monday at par 71 Sunset Grove Country Club in
Orange.

Boys 15-18 
Keaton Degeyter      38-44—82
Jake Gauthier           40-42—82
Preston Ricks          45-42—87
Collin Shiff                45-45—90
Jacob Kotzur             48-50—98
Dalton Russo           49-53—102

Boys 13-14  
Lincoln Parks           40-45—85
Jonathan Perry         48-47—95
P-Tup Tupper           46-50—96
Drew Turley              52-50—102
Vincent Mazzola       61-45—106

Boys 11-12 
Hayden Boyette        44-40—84
Ricardo Cardenas  52-55—107

Girls 13-14  
Annabel Cardenas  45-46—91

Little Linksters
Boys 11-12 9-hole Red  
Julian Mathews        47
Owen Sims               57

Girls 11-12 9-hole Red  
Mattie Purgahn         42
Tatum Bean              54

Boys 9-10 9-hole Modified 
Foster Cecka                        39

Girls 9-10 9-hole Modified  
Savanah Murdock    58

Co-ed 6-8 5-hole Modified 
Tyler Fasulo              20
Talon Romero          25
Maggie Stutz             36