LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 One of the conditions for Brooks Koepka to return to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf was a $5 million contribution to charity. That process is underway, with $1 million going to the Nicklaus Children\u2019s Health Care Foundation, the primary charity of the Cognizant Classic.<\/p>\n
Koepka also designated (with PGA Tour approval) $1.5 million to 10 charities. That included the ALS Bridge Foundation, which longtime Acushnet executive Peter Broome recently launched.<\/p>\n
Broome, well known from his 30 years in the industry, was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig\u2019s disease in August 2024. His mission with ALS Bridge Foundation is to accelerate the search for life-saving solutions and close the gap between laboratory discovery and when patients receive treatment.<\/p>\n
The foundation is directing 100% of proceeds toward programs that accelerate drug trials, improve diagnostic access, and fuel collaborative research across the United States and Canada.<\/p>\n
Part of the fundraising includes an auction of exclusive experiences provided by a list that includes Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Ryder Cup captains Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald, and CBS announcer Jim Nantz.<\/p>\n
Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith and Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki are leading the auction offers in Canada.<\/p>\n
The other $2.5 million of Koepka\u2019s contributions will be equally distributed to charities selected by eligible PGA Tour members, such as their foundations or other charities they support.<\/p>\n
Chacarra on the PGA Tour<\/p>\n
Eugenio Chacarra was the biggest college star LIV Golf signed when the Saudi-funded league launched in 2022. He was the No. 2 amateur in the world at Oklahoma State, and he won in his first season on LIV.<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t long before he started contacting various PGA Tour officials, and Chacarra left LIV after 2024 with an eye on getting to the PGA Tour, which he called a lifelong dream.<\/p>\n
He gets a start next week as a sponsor exemption to the Puerto Rico Open. His only other time competing in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event was last year in the Scottish Open, co-sanctioned by the European tour. Chacarra is a European tour member from winning the Hero Indian Open last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy goal since I was little is to be on the PGA Tour,\u201d Chacarra said Tuesday. \u201cI\u2019m excited to finally get a chance to play on the PGA Tour. I\u2019ve been working a lot of these couple weeks at home. I needed some time to reset and focus on what\u2019s the most important thing for me right now, that\u2019s to get on the PGA Tour as quick as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chacarra, a 25-year-old from Spain, says he has no regrets about joining LIV because he felt that move was right for him at the time.<\/p>\n
He said upon leaving LIV Golf, \u201cI see what it\u2019s like to win on the PGA Tour and how your life changes, how you get major access and ranking points. On LIV, nothing changes, there is only money. It doesn\u2019t matter if you finish 30th or first, only money.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I was losing a little motivation to get better out there on LIV at the last year I was there, so it was time for me to move on and start a new pathway,\u201d he said on a video call.<\/p>\n
His best route to the PGA Tour might be getting one of 10 cards to the leading players in Europe because he plays a full schedule there.<\/p>\n
Justin Thomas Returns<\/p>\n
Justin Thomas had his first competition in five months Monday night when he played with his Atlanta Drive team in a TGL match. He took that occasion to announce he will return to the PGA Tour next week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.<\/p>\n
Thomas has been out since back surgery in November. He is keeping expectations reasonable.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, I obviously want to and would love to play well next week, but I\u2019m also understanding that it\u2019ll be almost five, six months since I\u2019ve played a competitive tournament,\u201d he said. \u201cSo I\u2019m not exactly expecting anything great. But at least everybody else will be struggling with me at Bay Hill, so that\u2019ll make me feel a little bit better, hopefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
Riviera\u2019s Fourth<\/p>\n
So much was made of the new tee on the fourth hole at Riviera extending it to 273 yards, the longest par 3 among regular PGA Tour stops.<\/p>\n
\u201cA horrible change,\u201d Rory McIlroy said, one of several observations (rarely positive) going into the Genesis Invitational.<\/p>\n
The previous time at Riviera in 2024, only 15% of players hit the green in regulation, the lowest on tour that year.<\/p>\n
But the change wasn\u2019t just about length. The tees were moved to the right with hopes of making George Thomas\u2019 original redan feature more accessible, and 30 to 40 yards on the right were recontoured to enhance the redan features.<\/p>\n
Also, the green was expanded to 5,792 square feet (it previously was 5,082 square feet).<\/p>\n
The greens were exceptionally soft last week, a product of heavy rain earlier in the week that allowed players to take on flags without shots bounding over the green. So another year might be required to get a better sense. The results, however were noticeable.<\/p>\n
Players found the green 65.9% of the time for the week. The highest rate was Saturday \u2014 the hole played 262 yards, the longest of the week \u2014 when 37 of 51 players (72.6%) hit the green in regulation.<\/p>\n
McIlroy played it 2 under for the week \u2014 two birdies and two pars.<\/p>\n
Wie West Goes Indoor<\/p>\n
Michelle Wie West played her last tournament outdoors in the 2023 U.S. Women\u2019s Open at Pebble Beach. The former Women\u2019s Open champion and still one of the biggest names on the LPGA will return indoors as part of the WTGL to start later this year.<\/p>\n
Wie West is an investor in TGL\u2019s Los Angeles team.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think success for me is really to use WTGL as a platform to keep growing the game,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to see more young girls play the game, and hopefully when they turn the TV on and it\u2019s not just men playing TGL, it\u2019s women, I think that does so much to grow the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her other goal?<\/p>\n
\u201cBe better than Kevin Kisner,\u201d she said, adding at one point she will be nervous about what comes out of her mouth while wearing a microphone.<\/p>\n
Wie West joins previous LPGA players who have signed on for the tech-infused indoor league, including world No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul, Lydia Ko, Charlie Hull and Brooke Henderson.<\/p>\n
The WTGL is to start in December, giving the women their own stage with the possibilities of mixed events once it gets established.<\/p>\n
Divots<\/p>\n
Charlie Woods, the son of Tiger Woods who has committed to play at Florida State, has Players Group Management representing him for name, image and likeness deals. Players Group Management also is handling NIL with another Florida State commitment, Miles Russell, the No. 11 amateur in the world. \u2026 Jimmy Roberts is the 2026 recipient of the Tim Rosaforte Distinguished Journalist Award, presented to the longtime NBC Sports host and reporter at the Cognizant Classic on Tuesday. \u2026 Adam Scott, who finished fourth at Riviera on a sponsor exemption, moved to No. 5 on the \u201cNext 10\u201d list of those eligible for the next signature event at Bay Hill. He withdrew from the Cognizant Classic this week. \u2026 PGA of America vice president Nathan Charnes now holds a seat on the PGA Tour board after the president, Don Rea, had his responsibilities reassigned to focus on PGA member priorities. Charnes is in line to become PGA president this fall. \u2026 Marco Penge has won the Seve Ballesteros Award after his European tour peers voted him player of the year. Penge won three times on the European tour in 2025.<\/p>\n
Stat of the week<\/p>\n
All six winners on the PGA Tour this year already were eligible for the Masters.<\/p>\n
Final word<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone always says the hole looks small when you\u2019ve got pressure. I thought it looked pretty big. I felt good in that moment.\u201d \u2014 Jacob Bridgeman on his 3-foot par to win at Riviera for his first PGA Tour title.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 One of the conditions for Brooks Koepka to return to the PGA Tour from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-445150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}