russian golfers pga tour

• Skip to Navigation
• Skip to Main Content
• Skip to Related Content
• Today's news
• Reviews and deals
• Climate change
• 2024 election
• Fall allergies
• Health news
• Mental health
• Sexual health
• Family health
• So mini ways
• Unapologetically
• Buying guides

Entertainment

• How to Watch
• My watchlist
• Stock market
• Biden economy
• Personal finance
• Stocks: most active
• Stocks: gainers
• Stocks: losers
• Trending tickers
• World indices
• US Treasury bonds
• Top mutual funds
• Highest open interest
• Highest implied volatility
• Currency converter
• Basic materials
• Communication services
• Consumer cyclical
• Consumer defensive
• Financial services
• Industrials
• Real estate
• Mutual funds
• Credit cards
• Balance transfer cards
• Cash back cards
• Rewards cards
• Travel cards
• Online checking
• High-yield savings
• Money market
• Home equity loan
• Personal loans
• Student loans
• Options pit
• Fantasy football
• Pro Pick 'Em
• College Pick 'Em
• Fantasy baseball
• Fantasy hockey
• Fantasy basketball
• Download the app
• Daily fantasy
• Scores and schedules
• GameChannel
• World Baseball Classic
• Premier League
• CONCACAF League
• Champions League
• Motorsports
• Horse racing
• Newsletters

New on Yahoo

• Privacy Dashboard
• Sixers sign Paul George
• Sixers sign Tyrese Maxey
• OKC signs Hartenstein
• Winners & Losers
• Mavs sign Klay Thompson
• Scores/Schedules
• Power Rankings
• Fantasy Baseball
• Scores/Schedule
• Fantasy Football
• Free Agency
• Copa América

• How To Watch the 2024 Season
• Paris Games Home
• USA Swimming
• Free Agent Tracker
• Wemby Watch
• Fantasy Basketball
• In-Season Tournament
• All-Star Game
• UFC Schedule
• Leaderboard
• Scottie Scheffler Arrest
• Masters Tournament
• PGA Championship
• Tournament Schedule
• French Open
• Australian Open
• Fantasy Hockey
• Playoff and Bowl Games
• Yahoo Sports AM
• College Sports
• March Madness
• Fantasy Sports
• Sports Betting 101
• Bet Calculator
• Legalization Tracker
• Casino Games
• Kentucky Derby
• Preakness Stakes
• Belmont Stakes
• Ball Don't Lie
• Yahoo Fantasy Football Show
• College Football Enquirer
• Baseball Bar-B-Cast
• NBA free agency updates
• USA booted from Copa America
• Tatum gets richest deal in NBA history
• NHL free agency highlights
• Klay leaves Warriors for Mavs

Golf-Top Russian golfer could emerge soon, says British pro

By Mike Collett ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia, July 24 (Reuters) - Russia and the former Soviet Union have produced world and Olympic champions in virtually every sport over the last century but no Russian has ever made an impact at the top level in golf. There were no golf clubs in Russia under the Communists with the first 18-hole course built in the Moscow suburbs in 1994. While the world's biggest country is not exactly undergoing a golfing revolution, the sport is growing with new nine and 18-hole courses opening every year and some see Russia as a potential breeding ground for a future top talent. Jon Marlor, who comes from Leeds in northern England, joined the professional ranks when he was 16 and after a decent career at the lower levels of the game turned his hand to teaching and coaching in Florida and New York. The 42-year-old is now the professional at the Golf & Country Club in Rostov-on-Don, in the southwest of European Russia, which opened earlier this year and believes the country is close to producing its first elite-level player. "I believe that within a couple of years a top Russian could get on to the higher ranks of the PGA tour," he told Reuters when a group of international reporters on a tour of Russia's World Cup soccer venues visited his club. "They have produced so many great sportsmen and women in so many sports. "They have the facilities, the discipline and the character. "All it really needs is one player to really spark the flame. Where was golf in Spain before Seve (Ballesteros), one of the greatest golfers ever. Look at what Bernhard Langer did in Germany -- they really blew the game open in those countries. "I believe the same could happen here." Golf in Russia is still in its infancy, not only because of adverse natural conditions and the relatively small number of golf courses, but also because it never took root alongside other sports in the Soviet era and has been slow to progress since the fall of communism. Currently former world number one tennis player Yevgeny Kafelnikov has established himself as Russia's top golfer, though he has yet to make a single cut after competing in more than 20 career events on the European Tour and its satellite Challenge Tour. Kafelnikov, 41, is ranked 1,613th in the world -- as low as the rankings go -- along with several of his compatriots. The most successful women's golfer in Russia is 29-year-old Maria Balikoeva, who is currently ranked 71st in the 2015 Ladies European Tour (LET) order of merit. Balikoeva, the first Russian to become a fulltime member of the LET, has recorded several top-10s on the Tour with career-best ties for fourth at the 2014 Turkish Airlines Ladies Open and also at the 2013 HONMA Pilsen Golf Masters. EASTERN EUROPE Tour events in eastern Europe are few and far between but Ireland's Padraig Harrington, a triple major winner, told Reuters earlier this year that he felt Russia could make the same sort of impact on the game as China, which hosts four events on the 2014-15 European Tour. "As far as I am concerned, it will help in driving the game forward," said Harrington. "Russia, surely, is an untapped market in golf. You only have to look at how far China has progressed ... given that this year was the 10th anniversary of the Volvo China Open being on the European Tour calendar." Oksana Reznikova, the Don club's director admits that it is an expensive sport for most ordinary Russians. Her club, a nine-hole course which could be expanded to 18 later, has only 14 registered members, although hundreds come to play there. "The annual fee is 210,000 roubles ($3,648), and the initial payment to join is several million roubles which is quite expensive -- but you have unlimited access to these fantastic facilities," she said. "When we had an open day recently there were more than 300 people who turned up, and many have come back. They aren't members but the interest is growing," she added. ($1 = 57.5518 roubles) (Additional reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; editing by Toby Davis)

Russian, Belarusian golfers allowed to return as neutrals

• Medium Text

Sign up here.

Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. New Tab , opens new tab

Sports Chevron

Mets score six in 10th, hang on to top Nationals

J.D. Martinez hit a three-run homer in the top of the 10th inning Monday night for the New York Mets, who held off the host Washington Nationals 9-7 in the opener of a four-game series.

R&A bans Russian golfers from upcoming events after Ukraine invasion

The R&A have joined other sporting bodies in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Golf's global governing body, the R&A, have joined other sporting organisations in condemning the "deplorable" Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

In a statement, they have denounced the attacks by Vladamir Putin and his forces which began 10 days ago. 

They have said that they would refuse entry to all of its upcoming championshiops - including amateurs - to golfers from Russia and its ally Belarus. 

The statement reads: "We have considered the situation in the context of our direct responsibilities for governance, for staging golf events and for developing and investing in the sport around the world."

66224. That's how many men returned from abroad at this moment to defend their Country from the horde. These are 12 more combat and motivated brigades ! Ukrainians, we are invincible! #FightLikeUkrainian — Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) March 5, 2022

More: Kevin Na baffled how Tiger Woods won the PIP

More: patrick reed "account" makes wild rory mcilroy claim.

Golf's governing body says they fully support the recommendations of the IOC and the International Golf Federation in excluding Russia and Belarus from international team championships. 

Currently, they are not expecting entries from Russian or Belarusian golfers in scheduled R&A-qualifying events, but in the event they would do so they would decline. 

They are currently reviewing the implications for matters such as international rankings and the World Handicap System. 

The R&A say they will contribute to a humanitarian aid fund and will offer direct support to the Ukranian Golf Federation. 

At the time of writing, the first ceasefire was declared 10 days after the invasion began. 

More than 1.2million Ukranians have fled. As of 5 March, 352 military and civilian deaths were declared by the Ukranian's healthcare ministry. Of those, 14 were children. 

More: Jon Rahm gets snippy when asked about his putter

More: pga tour pro breaks golden rule on the range, next page: rahm explains his dreadful, underhit putt from 11 inches.

Sponsored Posts

Latest news.

Latest Reviews

• PGA Twitter
• PGA Facebook
• PGA Youtube
• PGA Instagram
• PGA LinkedIn

From Russia with glove

• Share this story to Twitter
• Share this story to Facebook
• Share this story to LinkedIn

We talk to two PGA Members who have ventured beyond the 'Iron Curtain' to develop their careers in Russia, where a growing volume of clubs are catering for a small, but ever-increasing number of citizens that have taken up the game in recent years.

Matthew Marsh PGA Advanced Professional Golf Project Director at Shishkino Country Club

What attracted you to working in Russia? It certainly was not the two-metre snow drifts, -30c winter windchill temperatures in Moscow, or the six minutes of sunshine we experienced during the whole month of December in 2016! On a serious note, I always felt that greater opportunities for my career development were overseas. Eastern Europe and CIS countries are emerging golfing markets which can provide progressive opportunities. I was also attracted to experiencing and discovering new cultures and the personal development that working and living overseas provides.

How did you find out about your first job in Russia and your current role? My first overseas job – teaching professional at The Don Golf & Country Club – was advertised on the PGA website. I was lucky enough to be offered the job following a series of interviews with the then Director of Golf Christopher Snape. It was only a seasonal teaching role, but it was the platform from which my career in Russia has progressed. My current role as Project Director at Shishkino Country Club, a new golf development in the South of Moscow, came about through my own network. This highlights how valuable building your network can be as a PGA Professional overseas and the importance of developing relationships. Without my seven years of experience working within Russian golf, this opportunity would never have presented itself.

What is the remit of your job? As Project Director at Shishkino, I am responsible for the development of the whole project, from the golf course to all vertical infrastructure such as the clubhouse and real estate. It's an expansive, but very exciting role. The project is currently in the conceptual phase, with construction planned to start in the spring of 2022. I have recently appointed our golf course design team, which includes an award-winning architect and one of the best agronomy consultancy companies in Europe. We have undertaken site analysis and are already reviewing initial zonification plans, ahead of creating a preliminary course routing and masterplan of the whole country club in the coming weeks. Parallel to this, in line with the design brief from the owner, I have identified and met with potential clubhouse design teams and architects.

How has the pandemic affected the Shishkino project? COVID 19 continues to challenge us as we move forward with the project. We have faced difficulties bringing foreign specialists into Russia due to travel and visa restrictions, and we will also face challenges with production and delivery times of materials for the construction of the golf course. Bizarrely, it was actually during the first lockdown in Moscow, back in April 2020, that the idea of creating a new golf and country club was cfirst onceived while I was having a game of golf with the owner on his indoor simulator.

How would you rate the current strength of Russian Golf? Golf in Russia is a growing sport. The data provided by the Russian Golf Association on participation from 2020 suggest that there are 130,000 people actively participating in some form of golf. Most of this participation comes from the 100,000 kids in schools receiving some form of coaching and 20,000 having tried the game in some form of corporate events at golf clubs, driving ranges or indoor facilities. Officially there are only 2,641 golfers registered with handicaps, of which 83% are adults and 17% are junior golfers. The gender split is 70% men and 30% women. In 2020, there were over 585 new registered golfers with handicaps. It does feel like that there has been a golf boom due to Covid-19 in Moscow and I expect those figures to increase more significantly over the next few years. During my seven years in Russia there has been a 167% increase in registered golfers. It's from a low base, but it's a steady upward trend. From an elite level perspective, the highest ranked amateur is Nataliya Guseva, 77th in the women's world amateur rankings, while Nina Pegova is currently the highest ranked professional Russian golfer, currently ranked 458th due to her recent success on the LET Access Tour.

How easy was it for you to settle in Russia? And what is day to day life like outside of work for you? Maybe my view is slightly biased after over seven years here, but only a few weeks ago I celebrated my second wedding anniversary, having married a Russian, so I suppose I found it reasonably easy to settle. I feel fortunate to work in one of the best cities in the world. Moscow is a historical city with great culture and a thriving nightlife. It has become much easier for foreigners to get around in Moscow since I came. The city was transformed for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with almost all signage now in English and Russian. Unfortunately, I haven’t had as much time to travel within the country as I would like, but a trip to see the Northern Lights over the Barents Sea is definitely on my bucket list for this coming winter!

What advice would you give to PGA Members who may be interested in working in Russia? You do not need to think twice, take the opportunity! Be open minded and ready to adapt. Unfortunately, there are not as many overseas PGA Professionals left in Moscow due to the current economic situation. But like other emerging golf markets in Eastern Europe, golf is a luxury industry which can provide great opportunities for career development. Once you are here, I’d recommend that you spend time building relationships with your colleagues, as you will no doubt need them along way to help you get around and solve any translation issues. And lastly, don’t be put off by what you hear about Russia on the mainstream news channels. Come with an open mind and develop your own opinion.

Peter Holland Director of Golf, PGA National Zavidovo

What attracted you to working in Russia? Russia was never on my radar for work until a family friend mentioned the opportunities out there. I heard about the job at Agalarov Golf Club via contacts at Troon Golf. I was recruited to the position at Zavidovo after the club's general director made contact with me directly.

What facilities are on offer at Zavidovo? As a full-scale leisure resort, Zavidovo has a diverse range of facilities. The golf course, which opened in 2012, was built by European Golf Design and blends heathland and links style features, with a few water hazards to add to the challenge. Each hole has its own unique character and strategic element, while five sets of tees enable a wide range of abilities to enjoy the 7,400-yard course. Other leisure activities include fishing, biking, hiking trails, kids camp, while there are four on-site hotels. The local rivers link up with Russia's longest river, The Volga, so we also offer plenty of water sports.

How many members does the golf club have and what does an annual membership fee cost? The last couple of years has witnessed a surge in membership and we are approaching 200. This year's annual membership fee is around £1,700, with a guest green fee of up to £140.

What are the benefits of being a PGA National venue? Creating partnerships with PGA national clubs around Europe.

What does a typical working day involve? Primarily the creation and generation of ideas to enhance golfers' experiences on and off the course, sharing and developing these ideas with colleagues from both the general management and golf operations. Overseeing and organising all golf tuition, as well as giving individual and group lessons.

What are the best and the most challenging parts about working in Russia? The golf season is comparatively short, and generally operates through the summer months, so April to October is an intensely busy period with a packed calendar of events, which often pushes the limits when it comes to tournament organisation.

How would you rate the current strength of the golf industry in Russia? Although the golf industry in Russia is small, the country has witnessed a significant upsurge in domestic play in recent years, which has been accelerated even further due to the recent restrictions to travel caused by the pandemic. Although the current number of registered golfers is small – around 5,000 members – there is a very strong potential to grow as more courses open. While it used to be a game for Russia's elite, more courses with more affordable membership rates and green fees are opening all the time, which has enabled people more people to be able to afford take up the game.

How easy has it been to settle into the local community? Very easy. The Russians are welcoming and generous by nature. There are also quite a few expatriates here and plenty of social activities within the local community. The most challenging part about living here is the language – let's just say it's a work in progress!

What advice would you pass on to other PGA Members who may be interested in working abroad in general, and Russia specifically? If you have a desire to work abroad, get out there, make contacts and show a positive attitude. PGA pros, like all other professional people, will benefit by broadening their horizons through diversification and by learning about all elements of the industry, including people management, communication skills, food & beverage, golf operations, agronomy and finance.

• Categories:
• International

For Golf Clubs

Become a Partner

Regions & Counties

Tournaments

Our partners.

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share by Email

To Russia with Love: The story behind Russia’s first 18-hole course is stranger than fiction

Two decades in the making, Moscow Country Club, Russia’s first 18-hole golf course, debuted on the world stage 25 years ago this month. And the story of its creation — from Gorbachev and glasnost and swinging cops to grounded cosmonauts and mushrooms and vodka — is stranger than fiction.

The 1960s began with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev banging his shoe — definitely not a FootJoy — on a desk at the United Nations. A couple of years later came the Cuban Missile Crisis, which was as close to a nuclear holocaust as the world had come before or since. The Cold War continued in full freeze until the end of the decade, when U.S. President Richard Nixon, his Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, and Khrushchev’s successor, Leonid Brezhnev, tried to thaw things out.

Détente between the Soviets and the U.S. took on many forms. Perhaps the most surprising was plans for an American-designed 18-hole golf course on the outskirts of Moscow, the first in all of the Soviet Union. By the time it was done, perestroika and glasnost had cleared the way for playing golf — and the Soviet Union had dissolved. Here, some of the key players on one of the unlikeliest golf course projects ever share their recollections.

1. The Tsars Align / Fall 1973

Robert Trent “Bobby” Jones Jr., celebrated course architect and son of legendary course designer Robert Trent Jones Sr.: [American business tycoon] Armand Hammer, who was chairman of Occidental Petroleum, had a longstanding relationship with the Soviet Union’s oligarchs. Having gone over there at the beginning of what was later called détente, with Secretary of State Kissinger’s delegation, Dr. Hammer made a statement that if the Soviets were going to open up their closed society to Western and Japanese business, they needed two things: a golf course and a Cadillac. I read that in the New York Times . So I called Occidental’s office and identified myself to a manager of some kind. I’m waiting on hold, and suddenly I heard, “Armand Hammer here.” I was actually speaking to the chairman!

I said, “Do you want to do a golf course, and can we help you?” He said, “Why should I take you?” I said, “Well, I’ve been to the Soviet Union. After I got out of Yale, I went on a tour.” He said, “That’s unique.” Then he said, “Shouldn’t we use Arnold Palmer?” I said, “My father’s much more famous about building golf courses. Arnold tends to play.” Dr. Hammer didn’t know much about golf. This was a Thursday. He said, “I can’t see you tomorrow — be here Monday morning.”

Meantime, he had a friend on the USGA Executive Committee named Bob Dwyer, who was a timber man. The Soviet Union had lots of timber, and he and Dr. Hammer were trying to harvest and sell Siberian timber together. Dwyer and my father met a few months later at a USGA meeting. He convinced my father, who was a little reluctant to go, that Dr. Hammer was very well connected in the USSR. The following June, we all flew in a private plane that Dr. Hammer had. Onboard was a Soviet in his military uniform, to make sure we didn’t deplane to do anything weird.

We met with the mayor of Moscow, Vladimir Promyslov, and the foreign minister in charge of properties, called UPDK, a man named Vladimir Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov had been posted as ambassador to Malaysia, where he learned to play golf and would play with the U.S. ambassador at the Royal Selangor Golf Club so they could have backchannels about the Vietnam War. He’d become hooked on golf. My dad and I went skinny-dipping in the Volga River after too much vodka. My dad didn’t drink much, and I drank too much that day. But over time we made friends with these people. We didn’t see it as a commercial opportunity. It was an adventure.

Over a five-year span, from 1974 to 1979, Jones Jr. and Sr. made several visits to Moscow to look at potential course sites.

Jones : Eventually, they chose the site, Nakhabino, about 45 minutes from Red Square, because it was in the woods and nobody would see what they were doing. They didn’t want anybody to know they were making a golf course. There was no golf in the Soviet Union. It was considered an English sport and symbolic of the enemy, meaning the English, who had invaded and held Murmansk during the revolution.

November 1979

Jones Jr. went with Kuznetsov to see the Olympic Stadium, where Moscow would be hosting the 1980 Summer Olympics.

Jones : I was walking with Mr. Kuznetsov, and it starts snowing. And because they had a SALT treaty that our Congress did not approve, I said, “How are things between our two countries?” He said, “They’re colder than these few snowflakes. And by December, they’ll be very cold.” I took that as a sort of metaphor. But what he was hinting at was the Soviets were about to enter Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in December 1979, which led to a freeze in cultural and sports exchanges. The Moscow Country Club project was mothballed for another six years, during which time Jones Sr. left the project. Then Mikhail Gorbachev came to power.

Sam Nunn , U.S. Senator from Georgia : The first time I met Bobby was in the ’80s. I was a guest out at Cypress Point. A friend of mine from Rand Corporation introduced us. It rained about 14 inches that Saturday and Sunday, so we only managed to play maybe nine holes. But I got to know Bobby that weekend.

He travelled all over the world and was involved in a lot of countries where the East-West issues were front and center. That was what I spent a lot of time on, so we stayed in touch. He kept me informed on observations he’d make about various countries. The common denominator was golf, but he had a very keen interest in, and understanding of, many of the issues that we were dealing with politically in that era — the Soviet Union as well as with other countries, such as the Philippines when [President Ferdinand] Marcos’s leadership was coming under great assault by his own people.

There was a huge amount of tension — anything about the capitalist world was condemned in the Soviet Union, and golf would be right there at the top echelon of those types of symbolic issues. The chances of building a golf course in the land of the adversary, let alone the land where capitalism is damned, was very unlikely. Still, I took it seriously, because I felt the Soviet Union was going to have to change, if nothing else, for economic and investment purposes. And as I got to know Bobby, I came to realize that he doesn’t understand the word “impossible,” either in Russian or English.

Jones : George Shultz was a personal friend of mine, a member at San Francisco Golf Club, as I am. We played golf occasionally. When he became Secretary of State under Reagan, in 1982, he knew about the Moscow golf project and how it had been put on the back burner. In late 1986, he told me, “Bobby, get ready. That project may have some importance.”

January 1987

Jones is in Moscow, quietly negotiating terms of the golf course commission with the UPDK.

Jones : One night, I was walking by myself. There was no danger, walking the streets in Moscow, because crime was punished severely. But you couldn’t find good food.

Craig Copetas , a Moscow-based journalist : It was about 1:00 in the morning, and I had gone down to Old Arbat Street because I needed to look into the window of an antiques shop there for a story I was working on. No one was in Moscow at 1:00 a.m. in those days; it was completely vacant. There’s one of these Moscow mists in the air, kind of a frozen fog. And out of this mist, from around the corner, comes this guy wearing a baseball hat. He comes up to me and says, in English, “Do you know where I can get something to eat?” I said, “This is Moscow. Are you a tourist? Are you lost?” He says, “No, I’m here building a golf course.”

Now, old Moscow hand that I am, having heard every conceivable farfetched tale you could imagine, my jaw dropped. I looked at him and I said, “And I thought I was crazy.” I didn’t believe him. This made absolutely no sense. But I was intrigued. I said to him, “Well, I happen to know an illegal place down the street that stays open quite late where we can get some khachapuri — it’s like a Georgian pizza.” We went there and spent the whole morning talking, and he explained to me the project’s history. I was in complete awe.

June 1, 1988

A deal to create Moscow Country Club was announced at a summit meeting in Moscow, with a two-year contract between Jones’s firm and the Soviet foreign ministry (via a “techno-export company”).

Jones : Our plans had been approved by [Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduard] Shevardnadze, and George Shultz actually did the final [U.S.] approval of the project. Their contract was promptly agreed to, but ours was not. In the contract I submitted, I put a plan in it that had a legend: tee, fairways, greens and bunkers. The guy reviewing it in the Commerce Department was not a golfer. He said, “Oh, I had to send it to the Defense Department. You have a thing of known military significance — bunkers.” That held it up.

Blake Stafford , Jones’s business lawyer : We had to do some redesign of the irrigation system, because there was a computer control to regulate the irrigation heads. They also said, “What are these bunkers?” I said, “They’re depressions in the ground you create to catch errant golf balls.” They said, “It sounds like something from a battlement of some kind.” I said, “Nope, it’s not for fighting wars, it’s for fighting golfers.”

2. Coming to America / November 1988

Jones invited a small group of Russians — among them, Deputy Foreign Minister Ivan Ivanovich Sergeyev and assorted Soviet engineers and architects — for a two-week U.S. tour to learn more about golf. The itinerary included a visit to USGA headquarters in Far Hills, N.J., and course tours in and around Washington, D.C., Chicago and California’s Monterey Peninsula.

Jones : When the Russians had a party, they had a party . Once you broke the ice with them, they were very warm. In Moscow, they took my son Trent to the circus. They took my wife and me to the Bolshoi Ballet. We tried to return the same hospitality when they came to see us in the States.

Bill Pollak , a friend of Jones, and a lawyer and sports agent : The Russians came to Washington a week before Thanksgiving. I asked them how familiar they were with the traditions of Thanksgiving, and it was very little. They wouldn’t still be here for the holiday, so my wife and I did a complete Thanksgiving dinner for them a few days early. It was wonderfully colorful and joyful. They combined our Thanksgiving traditions with Russian traditions — singing and drinking and just thoroughly enjoying eating turkey and all the trimmings. I’ve never seen Thanksgiving with more drinking festivities.

Jones : All but one of them had never been out of the Soviet Union. They were amazed. When they went to Spanish Bay, which had just opened, they said, “My gosh, these rooms are so big. Shouldn’t we invite some homeless people?” And those little vodka bottles in the minibar, they were all consumed. I said, “Listen, don’t use those little ones. That’s expensive. I’ll get the big one.”

We went to a football game, Cal versus Stanford, big game. The Russians said, “Oh, we’re going to be for the [Cal] Bears, like the Moscow bear.” I said, “I’m a Stanford guy. You can’t be for the Bears.” “No, we’re going to be for the Bears.” Then one guy kept saying, “I don’t know anything about this game, but I really like those dancing girls” — the cheerleaders. It was a very big deal, in terms of détente, and cultural and sport exchange at the highest levels.

Stafford : There were a lot of really, really fun times, and the Russians we dealt with were completely enjoyable people with very similar senses of humor.

3. Breaking Ground / 1988-1993

The course building began in the winter of 1988; Jones invited Antti Peltoniemi, a Finnish golf course contractor he’d worked with previously, to join the project the following year, in part because he could import a needed bulldozer.

Antti Peltoniemi : When we first started construction, we had mainly Finnish and other experienced foreign workers building the log houses, the clubhouse and the golf course. There were 22 nationalities represented on the workforce, including somebody from Ecuador, who was the farthest away. I think it’s pretty much the same in every country where you haven’t had golf courses. The local workers or contractors think that they’re just moving dirt, then you seed it, and that’s the golf course. But throughout the years, we were able to train and teach those Russian nationals to build and eventually maintain the course. We started cooperating very well. They were willing to learn and are quite quick to learn if you explain what you are doing. By the end, we had only a couple of supervisors from Finland.

Copetas : I vividly remember one evening, long before the course was completed, we were in my car, along with two American golf-course shapers. For some reason, Bobby had all these golf clubs on the floor in the back seat, and there were more in the trunk. We’re driving, and two Russian cop cars stop us. What the shapers knew about Russia is from, like, hiding under desks. They’re scared to death. They think they’re going to prison. They’re cursing, they’re yelling, they want to go to the Embassy. I’m trying to calm them down. Bobby, in his inimitable way, gets out of the car and starts talking to four Russian police officers in English, thinking they’re going to understand him. They’re looking at him like, “Who is this guy in the baseball hat?” One of the cops shines his flashlight in the car, and he sees these golf clubs. Of course, he’s never seen a golf club before in his life. They take these things out, they’re looking at them, they don’t know what the hell they are. And Bobby proceeds to give one of the cops a lesson in how to swing a golf club, in the middle of the night in Moscow.

ADVERTISEMENT

Peltoniemi : Because Star Wars [the Strategic Defense Initiative program] kind of ended during the Reagan time, one of the superintendents on the golf course was a cosmonaut. He was a guy who was supposed to go to space, but then because the program fell away, he came to work on the golf course. We trained him in Finland, and Bobby trained him in the United States. So that was interesting.

Jones : When we were clearing the forest, we came upon, literally, a bunker that you could see had been shoveled out, and the trees had grown up around it. I asked, “What’s this feature?” They said, “Oh, that’s where we stopped the Nazis, right there,” as they were marching toward Moscow. We left it as a symbol of turning swords into plowshares.

Challenging weather and financial problems posed significant hurdles, but it was political unrest that nearly did the project in.

Jones : We had nine holes that were just grown in when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 — and then nobody came to work, nobody. Antti got his Finnish guys, and I got one of our guys, and we maintained the course for them for about a year for nothing, just to keep it alive. We always felt that if the course ever stopped, the new manager would let it go back to nature.

Copetas : Bobby saw it as his patriotic duty to bring Nakhabino to completion. And he had a lot of friends in Russia, too. Because of this, he showed a patience that very few others ever did when dealing with the Russians… When Bobby came to Moscow — and I saw him on just about every trip — the officials at UPDK, who were dyed-in-the-wool Soviet apparatchiks, treated Bobby with a courtesy and respect and curiosity that I can honestly say I never saw with any other American there doing business.

Peltoniemi : Before you start seeding, there are small rocks or stones on the ground. You have to pick them up, so that when you start mowing and are cutting the grass the blades won’t get ruined. At the end of finishing the course, our boss, the site manager, went to talk with the colonel at a military base close by. About 100 Russian soldiers came over and walked each hole in a line, picking up all the small stones.

4. Open For Business / September 1993

A nine-hole tournament takes place in 1993. It’s exclusively for Russians, to ensure that the first champion is a native.

Copetas : The one thing that the Russians demanded from day one was that once the club opened, they wanted a Russian golf pro, of which there were none. So the Russians did some kind of hunt through the sports academy to find anyone who had any knowledge of golf whatsoever, and they found this kid and made him the golf pro. I asked him, “How did you get involved in golf in Russia, where there’s no golf?” He said that prior to the club opening, he had been on an exchange program in Florida. One morning, he woke up very early and decided to take a walk. He wanders into this beautiful park area. All of a sudden, he hears voices screaming at him very loudly. And he doesn’t understand English that well. He looks up in the air and sees this white sphere coming at him that hits him in the head and knocks him out. He took that as a sign from God that he should learn about golf. And thus was born the first Russian golf pro.

The inaugural Russian Open championship, a 54-hole event, takes place in September 1994. It features a mix of accomplished players and not-so-accomplished players.

Jones : Speeches were made. The local mayor, who knows nothing, gave a long-winded speech. Then Michael Bonallack, who had come from the R&A to help open the course, was invited to speak. He got up and said, “On behalf of the Royal and Ancient Golf Society that was founded in St. Andrews in 1754, we welcome all of the people of Russia to our sport,” and sat down. That’s it. I thought that was perfect. Then Deputy Foreign Minister Sergeyev got up and said, “Comrades, I am the trained engineer responsible for the public health of our country. Because of perestroika and glasnost, I can now speak openly. Our entire country is an environmental cesspool. But here, at Nakhabino, there is one garden growing. There is hope,” and sat down. Best speeches I ever heard.

Peltoniemi : My brother Mikko, whose handicap at that time was 20, was playing in the third flight. He ended up making a hole-in-one on the 16th hole. Flew a 5-iron straight into the hole. There were three Russian TV stations there because it was the first Russian Open, and they were interviewing him because his hole-in-one was the most fascinating stroke of the tournament. They asked my brother, “Have you been playing on the American tour?” He said, “Yes, twice” — because he had been with me in Florida, where we played together two times. They asked, “How did you do?” He said, “I won once,” because he beat me one of the two times. They think he is a winner on the PGA Tour! It was a very young golfing culture at that time.

We had a huge celebration in the evening, and everybody wanted to toast vodka with Mikko. He was carried to the hotel because he got so drunk. The next day, he was playing in another early flight, because his 102 was not that good a score. When he came to the same hole, No. 16, there was one TV crew that came to see. And he hit it to about two inches from the hole! The TV crew said, “You did quite well there.” My brother, fooling around a bit, said, “Well, the wind was kind of circulating, so it was hard to shoot.”

At the end of the day, after the tournament, they had a summary about the tournament on TV. They said, “Best score was by the American Steve Schroeder…but clearly the most astonishing and the most remarkable player was Mikko Peltoniemi, because now, another day, he almost made hole-in-one again, and nobody else got even close to the hole.”

Steve Schroeder , chief business officer, Robert Trent Jones II Design (currently CEO of Poppy Hills) : I’d played in two U.S. Opens, but I hadn’t played any serious competitive golf since my last Open in 1990. At Nakhabino, I had a good second round, something in the 60s, and I want to say I won by 4 or 5. The night before the last round, we experienced a major rain and played the golf course in conditions that I would describe as being along the lines of the San Francisco City Golf Championship — which is, it doesn’t matter how hard it rains or how wet it gets, you’re going to play on. We played that last nine holes in this downpour, and I’ll never forget, there’s a picture of the R&A’s Mike Bonallack hitting a bunker shot with his bucket hat on and his tongue hanging out. You just see water and sand going everywhere.

Jones : On one of the holes, there was a group of people picking mushrooms in the rough. Bonallack had to make a local rule on the spot that if your ball gets picked up by one of the mushroom hunters, you can drop without penalty.

The European PGA Tour granted the Russian Open winner a spot in the Sarazen World Open field for two years.

Schroeder : That was a really cool acknowledgement of the magnitude of the event, which subsequently became part of the European Challenge Tour. It was the lift in the wings for Russia being acknowledged in international golf. For me, I actually made the cut my second year in the World Open and got to play in a twosome with Fuzzy Zoeller on Saturday.

Jones : We got a golf club that was given to us by a metallurgist who had worked in the Soviet missile program. He had taken the titanium from an ICBM and replicated a Big Bertha and gave it to me. I later gave it to President Clinton. He asked me, “Bob, are you sure it’s not radioactive?” And I said, “I have no idea.”

5. Postscript

Nunn : I did go to the club once. It wasn’t during the early stages, and Bobby wasn’t there. I just had a chance to put my feet on the ground for maybe a half-hour. My thoughts were that things really are changing, because in previous eras in the Soviet Union, anyone sponsoring such a project would be in jeopardy not just of their work, but of paying a long-term visit to Siberia.

Jones : Doing Moscow Country Club enriched my life enormously. Was it a challenge? It challenged every aspect of my essence as a human being. You had to call a lot of audibles. You knew what the goal was, but how you got there was completely new.

I’ve been back a few times. In 2008, they invited Antti and me to come back. They planted a tree in honor of my father, who’d passed on, for his memory, and one in my name, honoring the family together. And they gave me a medal from the charitable organization for humanitarian service and the foreign ministry. It’s beautiful, emblazoned with a starburst and what looks like diamonds on it. I said to my host, “Is this real gold and diamonds?” He said, “How can you ask? Of course, of course.” Of course, it isn’t.

Still, it’s a big deal to them and to me, too. It’s like, “You’re helping the Russian people in some fashion.” It’s like a trophy of friendship. It’s on my mantle, and it’s very special.

The Moscow CC Today

The semiprivate club currently has more than 400 members. More than 14,000 rounds were played on the course in ’18. The club hosts a nine-hole members’ winter tournament using red balls. The 2018 VTB Russian Open (Senior) Golf Championship on the Staysure Tour (formerly the European Senior Tour) was contested on the course. It was the only international pro tournament in Russia last year. Stay-and-play packages are available, starting at 12,000 Russian rubles per person, which includes accommodation at a 5-star hotel. Go to mccgolf.ru and mcc-hotel.ru for more information.

Advertisement

As war with russia rages on, ukrainian golfers reunite in st. andrews for memorable camp, share this article.

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February a group of young players in the Ukrainian Golf Federation’s development program was relocated across Europe.

For the first time since they were forced to flee their war-torn country, seven kids reconnected in Scotland at the Project Ukraine golf camp last week, which was organized by a group of women in the R&A’s Women in Golf Leadership Development Program.

The women were inspired by Veronika Rastvortseva, a colleague of theirs who gave an emotional account of what her family experienced in Ukraine while participating in an online workshop. From there Project Ukraine was founded to support the golf community in Ukraine.

“We’ve all watched the horrors unfold in Ukraine and we were compelled to help after listening to our colleague Veronika Rasvortseva describe what was going on around her in the early days of the invasion,” said Project Ukraine’s Toni Zverblis. “Thankfully, she managed to move her family out of the country but has been working tirelessly from her temporary home in Belgium on this project since then. She has helped the group liaise with the Ukrainian Golf Federation and the families whom we are supporting.”

The camp at the Macdonald Cardrona Hotel Golf & Spa featured golf clinics, health and mental skills sessions as well as Rules of Golf workshops. Last Saturday, a match was held against players from the Stephen Gallacher Foundation, a junior golf program in Scotland. On Sunday the camp attended the final day of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in St. Andrews where they were interviewed on Sky Sports and even met the likes of Rory McIlroy, Adrian Meronk and event winner Ryan Fox.

“I have no doubt this experience has changed their lives. The support they have had during this camp from the Project Ukraine team is enormous. I can’t describe how important it has been for these kids to be back together like a family, getting them back to the tee to play golf, and to just sit and chat in the lobby and share what they have been through over the past months,” said Rastvortseva, who attended the camp with her two daughters.

“Our goal was that the camp provided hope and inspiration,” said Zverblis. “We want to ensure that these young golfers’ dreams and ambitions are kept alive despite the devastation they face at home in Ukraine.”

“Their dreams have come true – they met Rory McIlroy and shook his hand. They had a welcome message from Tommy Fleetwood – it’s a dream for any junior. Unfortunately, all these kids have trauma – but for us, it was so important to keep them away from that for a short time,” added Rastvortseva. “It’s hoped that Project Ukraine will continue to be able to help other families and junior golfers because there are many others that need our assistance. They need support with education and getting them back out onto the golf course regularly. They need to remember those emotions that they felt when they were able to play golf in their home county, which unfortunately they haven’t been able to do for a long time.

“When these kids grow up in a few years they will understand even more how this camp has impacted their pathway. It’s inspiring.”

See more equipment: Best drivers for 2024 | Best irons for 2024 | Best putters for 2024 | Best golf balls for 2024

Most Popular

2024 rocket mortgage classic prize money payouts for each pga tour player at detroit golf club, golfweek's best 2024: top public-access golf courses in every state, ranked, 10 things every golfer should have in their bag for summer golf, meet the 60 players who qualified for the 2024 summer olympic men's golf competition in paris, why does aaron rai wear two gloves and use iron covers the reason is incredibly endearing, golfweek's best 2024: top private golf courses in every state, ranked, 2024 bridgestone golf balls: which is right for your game and budget.

Andrey Pavlov

Quick links, racing positions.

• Mark Schlabach
• Keith Jenkins

Thitikul, Yin duo pair up to win LPGA's Dow title

Aaron rai moves ahead after birdie to start his day, richard bland wins u.s. senior open after rain postponement, mark darbon named new chief exec., golf club of st. andrews, cam davis wins rocket mortgage as akshay bhatia slips up late, cam davis wins rocket mortgage classic in dramatic fashion.

• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Your US State Privacy Rights
• Children's Online Privacy Policy
• Interest-Based Ads
• About Nielsen Measurement
• Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
• Disney Ad Sales Site
• Work for ESPN
• Corrections

Follow Dawg Sports online:

• Follow Dawg Sports on Twitter
• Follow Dawg Sports on Facebook

Site search

• Yahoo Bulldogs News
• Yahoo Bulldogs Team Page
• Yahoo Bulldogs Transactions
• Odds & Fantasy
• Community Guidelines

Filed under:

• Georgia Bulldogs Golf

‘Dawgs on Tour: The List

Share this story.

• Share this on Facebook
• Share this on Twitter
• Share this on Reddit
• Share All sharing options

Share All sharing options for: ‘Dawgs on Tour: The List

In case you didn’t know, the PGA Tour season is similar to basketball (or, I guess, hockey if you’re into that sort of thing). The season begins in the fall and runs to the next fall with 3 playoff events to determine a champion. Other than a couple of weeks between the seasons, and a couple of weeks around December, there is always a professional golf tournament with rankings, points, and serious money on the line.

And since many of us are fairly consumed with something else** during the fall, the golf coverage at Dawg Sports won’t really kick into high gear until January. Whaddya know, here we are.

But why cover golf at a Barbecue and Bourbon blog that occasionally discusses football? Because we’re also Georgia, and Athens has produced an incredible amount of professional golf talent the last 15 years. And over the past 5 years, UGA golf alums have won more money on the PGA Tour than any other program, $6 million over 2nd place:

Georgia also leads all collegiate program alumni in the current 2019-20 season. So that’s why. And as football winds down and golf winds up, I’ve prepared a quick preview on who to watch and where they stand.

Beside each name I’ll give the current Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) and the current standing on the 2019-20 FedEx Cup Points List, as well as the number of career PGA Tour wins. The OWGR helps determine entry into majors (in case you haven’t won recently) and the FedEx list determines who makes the playoffs and has a chance for the huge purses.

Brendon Todd (#59; #2; 2 wins) . We have to start here. It’s such a great story , and his game has been incredibly consistent the last 3 months. After starting the season with 4 missed cuts, a T28 finish gave some hints that Todd had found his game. He then wins The Barracuda Championship, wins the Mayakoba Classic the next week, finished 3rd in the RSM Classic the next week, then tied for 3rd in the QBE Shootout team event. A disappointing T29 in Maui 2 weeks ago was followed up by a T21 in Honolulu this past weekend. He is almost assured of making it to the 2nd round of the playoffs this August with the points he’s accumulated.

Kevin Kisner (#30, #54, 3 wins). The self-described redneck from Aiken has become one of the better players from the US the last few seasons. Taking a couple of years to get his feet under him, Kisner has emerged as a tough competitor, making and being considered to represent the US in team events and match play formats. The Kiz is coming off a tie for 4th and T14 in Hawaii.

Keith Mitchell (#101, #94, 1 win). Not only does he get called “Kevin” a lot, but he also has one of the most unique caddies on Tour (google “Crunchy Pete” when you have time). Mitchell had a great early 2019, and he will be defending his lone title in a few weeks so I look forward to him having more success.

Bubba Watson (#50, #169, 12 wins) . It’s well noted that he has many interests outside of golf, and one wonders where golf lands on the priority list of late. Because of his two majors, he will be in all the major fields for a couple of years and should make most of the limited field events as well. He draws a crowd as well as he slices a golf ball. Bubba has made 3 of 4 cuts so far, but only a T28 at the WGC-HSBC Champions is of note.

Russell Henley (#232, #177, 3 wins). After a tremendous start to his career (he won his first PGA Tour event as a member), Henley has followed with a consistent career. He’s very streaky, so watch out when he’s hot. He made his first 4 cuts this season, but has missed his last 3. See? Streaky.

Brian Harman (#123, #37, 2 wins). The other lefty from Georgia (Bubba being the well-known southpaw) had an up and down season last year. He had 4 top 10 finishes, but missed the cut in 13 of 29 total entries. He did make the playoffs, but had an early exit. Still, he’s won 2 titles (John Deere Classic, and Wells Fargo Championship ) so don’t sleep on him.

Chris Kirk (#394, #196, 4 wins). Kirk is also a good story, as he stepped away from professional golf to tackle some personal challenges - on his own initiative. He’s back now, he seems healthy and happy, and has some decent finishes to prove it. Don’t let the current ranking fool you; he was top 50 in the world for a couple of years and snuck inside the top 20.

Harris English #185, #17, 2 wins). He’s got “conditional” status on the PGA Tour, due to a lackluster 2018-19 season and narrowly missing out on full status at the Korn Ferry Tour finals. His performance the last few years has been disappointing, as the Valdosta product had a very successful first couple of seasons on Tour. But he’s off on the right foot, as he played the early season (last fall’s) tournaments and made the cut in 6 of 7, pocketing almost $1.2 million. And note he’s currently #17 in FedEx Cup points - best to get them early before all the big boys come out to play.

Hudson Swafford (#434, #215, 1 win). He had some sort of foot injury during the season and essentially sat out the fall recuperating. Though outside the top 125 at the time, he can take a “minor medical” exemption (like a medical redshirt) and can keep his privileges by gaining a certain number of points in a short window. He made the cut in 2 of 3 tries so far, but the results are a T57 and T66 - he’ll need to pick up the pace a bit.

Sepp Straka #209, #99, 0 wins). As a rookie, finished ranked 37th in the Tour’s All-Around ranking. He made the final 125 so has full status on Tour. But he’ll need to improve some on his first go-round. Straka has a top 10 this season (good), but missed the cut in the other 7 tourneys (not good). He will be paired with English the first two rounds this weekend in the American Express.

There are a few other names that might pop in from time to time; players like Lee McCoy, Greyson Sigg, Joey Garber , and Erik Compton . All of whom are playing on the “mini Tours” such as the Korn Ferry, or the McKenzie. Due to relationships, requests, or other events, players will sometimes get invited to play a PGA Tour tournament even with no PGA status. All of the above have won a mini-tour event, and I believe all have a top 10 in a PGA Tour event, Compton having finished 2nd in the US Open in 2014.

That’s 30 wins by my count. With so many active players, UGA will be well represented in most every tournament played for the coming months, so great chances for even more victories. I could write an entire article about each one of these players, so feel free to ask questions in the comments if you have any. And as always...

GO ‘DAWGS!!!

** As a Georgia football fan, you may call this misery, heartache, a reason for living, the best time of the year, or ulcer season.

More From Dawg Sports

• Rewind: A Wild Gurley Appears….
• An Underrated Argument In Favor Of Playoff Expansion
• Golden Dawg: Condon Wins College Baseball’s Top Honor
• Recruiting: It’s A Marathon, Not A Sprint
• 4 Star Defensive Lineman Stays Home, Commits To The ‘Dawgs
• US Open: Tee Times & How To Watch

Miles Russell, age 15, made his PGA Tour debut. It was oddly normal

DETROIT — Miles Russell’s pants don’t fit. He didn’t mean to show off his ankles during Thursday’s first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. It’s just, the inseam he was measured for recently no longer applies. He hit a growth spurt soon after and now measures 5-foot-7, but stuck with pants meant for a wee 5-6. His waist, meanwhile, remains near-nonexistent. At 120 pounds, he wears a 28-inch waistline “with a scrunched belt.”

Advertisement

So there was Russell on Thursday, walking around Detroit Golf Club, flashing those ankles with each step.

Such is the life of a 15-year-old.

Russell made his PGA Tour debut at the Rocket Mortgage, shooting a 2-over 74. Born in 2009, he signed autographs for 7-year-olds, 10-year-olds, 15-year-olds and some adults. He took every swing with a PGA Tour Live cameras a few feet behind him. He held a press conference the day before his first round and afterward. He played from tees measuring 7,370 yards. He played in a field with 10 of the top 50-ranked players in the world.

And the strangest thing about it all?

It felt oddly normal.

This year has already seen two 16-year-olds make the cut on the PGA Tour — Kris Kim at The CJ Cup Byron Nelson, and Blades Brown at the Myrtle Beach Classic. Last year, 15-year-old Oliver Betschart survived a 54-hole qualifier to play in the Bermuda Championship, becoming the youngest player to play in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event in almost a decade. He was three months younger than Russell is now.

First birdie on TOUR for 15-year-old Miles Russell 🤩 pic.twitter.com/5tLfnf5HuW — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 27, 2024

Now it’s Russell at the Rocket Mortgage. In April, he played in the Korn Ferry Tour’s LECOM Suncoast Classic, shooting rounds of 68 and 66 to become the youngest player to make the cut in the developmental tour’s history. Headlines followed. Then Russell followed with rounds of 70 and 66 to finish T20. The winner, Tim Widing, was 11 years older than him.

Tournament organizers from the Rocket Mortgage took notice and contacted Russell following his performance at the Suncoast Classic, hoping to capitalize on the story. Because that’s what a tournament like the Rocket desperately needs — attention, however it can get it. Big names are scarce in Detroit, so compelling storylines are required. The Nos. 2, 4 and 5 ranked amateurs in the world — Jackson Koivun, Benjamin James and Luke Clanton — are all in this year’s field. Clanton is making his PGA Tour debut, as is Neal Shipley, the low amateur at the Masters and U.S. Open who recently turned pro. As Shipley walked off the course on Thursday, he was told next week’s John Deere Classic, another non-elevated PGA Tour event, has a spot for him.

Those names are all at least in or out of college, though.

Russell just finished his freshman year of high school, even though he doesn’t attend a physical school. The Jacksonville Beach, Fla., native began playing at 2 years old, broke par at 6, and has been on a prodigious path ever since. He is home-schooled and already operating as a small business. He has an agent and holds Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals with TaylorMade and Nike.

Because 15 sounds so jarring, there’s the tendency for some to see Russell as a novelty.

In reality, this is all less and less uncommon.

Russell did not come to Detroit like some kid looking to high-five his heroes.

Rico Hoey, one of Russell’s playing partners on Thursday, was on the practice green after their round and still in a bit of disbelief. Now 28, he was trying to break 80 at Russell’s age. Coming into the first round, he assumed he and Pierceson Coody, a 24-year-old PGA Tour rookie with three Korn Ferry wins to his name, would need to keep things light and easy for the young star. Then they met him.

“As a 15-year-old, I’m sure I’d be pretty nervous out here, so we tried to make it easy on him, and make him feel comfortable, but, really, I don’t even know how much he needed that,” Hoey said. “He was cool. His short game is really good. He has a lot of length for his size. His game is just really good and he’s really calm.”

Some will always be inherently uncomfortable with young mega-watt talent being expedited to play among pros in any sport. But that’s never stopped it from happening. And golf appears to be revving more and more, and going younger and younger. It’s reasonable to expect someone soon emerging to surpass Michelle Wie West as the youngest player to ever tee it up in a PGA Tour event. She was 14 years, three months and seven days old when she played in the 2004 Sony Open.

What’s most eye-opening isn’t the ages, but how narrow the gap is between the kids and the pros. Russell is not some beefed-up bomber. He is instead elastic and has crafted a swing with his coach, former Korn Ferry player Ramon Bascansa, that generates enough clubhead speed to hang with the pros. He averaged 292 yards off the tee on Thursday, tied for 78th in the 156-man field.

But that doesn’t mean everything surrounding him isn’t still misfitting. He is technically not old enough to use Detroit Golf Club’s men’s locker room, though exceptions are made this week. He is not able to drive, let alone rent a car or check into a hotel alone. One group behind Russell’s, 36-year-old Rafael Campos played his round while ripping a few cigarettes — a vice that Russell can’t legally buy for another three years.

Afterward, Russell played along with questions about the experience, but was really only concerned with the golf. He talked about unforced errors and missing some makable puts. He said he learned watching Coody and Hoey how tour pros manage to “grind it out and shoot a couple under.” He said, sure, he was nervous to start the round. How much out of 10? “I’d probably give it a seven.” But sort of shrugged off the idea of being intimidated.

Russell’s voice was soft and he was obviously still a little peeved. A missed 3-footer on the final hole left him with a closing bogey.

“We live, we learn, we move on,” he said, sounding like someone who is not only used to playing on tour, but damn near expects to.

Maybe, for better or worse, that’s not so crazy anymore.

(Top photo: Raj Mehta / Getty Images)

Get all-access to exclusive stories.

Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Try a week on us.

Brendan Quinn is an senior enterprise writer for The Athletic. He came to The Athletic in 2017 from MLive Media Group, where he covered Michigan and Michigan State basketball. Prior to that, he covered Tennessee basketball for the Knoxville News Sentinel. Follow Brendan on Twitter @ BFQuinn

Miles Russell’s rocket-like trajectory leads to PGA TOUR debut at 15

Tour Insider

‘We’re looking at a young Tiger Woods’

Change Text Size

It took one chip for Miles Russell to turn Ramon Bescansa into a believer. 

Russell was just 6 years old, and Bescansa, who also works as a putting coach for PGA TOUR players like Chris Kirk and Harris English, wasn’t looking to add a kindergartener to his stable of students. But that one shot convinced Bescansa that this kid was different. Russell’s technique was sound, the contact crisp, as he cleanly picked the ball from the turf.  

“I can work with this,” Bescansa said. 

Catching others by surprise has become a theme with Russell. He has seemingly skipped years and steps with every passing accomplishment. He broke par for the first time at age 6, and finished second in the Drive, Chip and Putt finals at Augusta National Golf Club when he was 9. He played from the tips before he was a teenager and made his high school golf team in sixth grade. He won both the Junior PGA Championship and Junior PLAYERS at 14, then won the AJGA’s Player of the Year Award a day after turning 15, supplanting Tiger Woods as the youngest to win AJGA Player of the Year.

Many kids become dominant juniors because of early growth spurts that leave them looming over their peers, hitting drives that sail well past those of their competitors. This is not the case for Russell. He looks like your average high-school sophomore, standing 5-foot-7 and weighing 135 pounds, but he has separated himself with a skill set that includes the same elite short game that impressed Bescansa years ago.

Miles Russell, 15, discusses final-round 66 at LECOM Suncoast Classic

Now he’s making his PGA TOUR debut at this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic after receiving a sponsor exemption into the field.

“Korn Ferry was pretty cool,” said Russell. “So I can only imagine what a PGA TOUR event is.”

Miles Russell on making first PGA TOUR start at Rocket Mortgage

Russell is the latest in a run of phenoms on the PGA TOUR this year. Kris Kim and Blades Brown , both 16, made the cut at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson and Myrtle Beach Classic, respectively.

Russell’s debut is more anticipated, given his stature as the No. 1-ranked junior in the world before becoming an upperclassman in high school. He is the youngest winner of both the Junior PGA Championship and the Junior PLAYERS. He won the former by seven with a score of 18-under par, then shot 70-66-71 to win by three at TPC Sawgrass.

Miles Russell bounces a ball with his club on the driving range at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on June 11, 2024, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR)

Miles Russell talks during an interview on the driving range at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on June 11, 2024, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR)

Miles Russell practices on the driving range, at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on June 11, 2024, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR)

He already has signed name, image and likeness deals with TaylorMade and Nike, relationships that led to him walking inside the ropes with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at this year’s PLAYERS Championship.

Russell’s travel schedule already imitates that of a TOUR pro, as well. He took a scouting trip to Michigan earlier this month to see Detroit Golf Club, the site of the Rocket Mortgage, and Oakland Hills, which will host the U.S. Junior Amateur, a tournament where he first made match play as a 13-year-old (making him the third-youngest player ever to do so). A few weeks ago, he traveled to the Northeast to play Pine Valley and Baltusrol. 

A native of Jacksonville Beach, Florida, Russell rubs elbows with TOUR players who call northeast Florida home. He plays with PGA TOUR player Raul Pereda, another of Bescansa’s students, and LPGA winner Mel Reid, who admits that she gets short-game tips from the teenager.

“I don’t think he needs any tips from me,” Reid, a former Solheim Cup participant, said. “He’s so good. I ask him for tips.”

Miles Russell swing breakdown

Pereda called him “a top-notch player” and said, “We’re looking at a young Tiger Woods right here.”

It’s a lofty, and likely unreachable target, but such pronouncements are the result of such incredible achievements. There’s more talent left to see, especially as Russell grows bigger and stronger. He already possesses a TOUR-level short game, according to Pereda.

Miles Russell poses for a portrait on the driving range at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on June 11, 2024, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR)

Miles Russell practices on the driving range at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on June 11, 2024, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR)

Russell’s gifts are preternatural, Bescansa said. He points to a moment early in their partnership, when Bescansa was showing Russell how to hit a flop shot. Bescansa, a former All-American at North Carolina, did well to leave himself a 10-foot putt. Without taking a practice swing, Russell opened the blade, threw his hands at the ball, and produced a high-arched pitch that landed softly, 2 feet from the hole. 

“He's got the nippers,” Pereda said, “the big flop shots. He's got the high-and-soft shot, the perfect sound out of the bunker shots. The bump-and-runs, the one-hop-stop. I've seen it all with him.”

Pereda sheepishly admits Russell has outdriven him, as well. Once, upon Pereda demonstrating his 116-mph swing speed, Russell delivered this retort: “Oh Raul, that’s my cruising speed right there.”

It was less of a flex from the younger player than good-natured ribbing amongst friends.

“And I’ve been working out so hard,” Pereda said with a laugh. “He turns around and gives me some crap. I wish I could give him some back.”

There are obvious concerns when an athlete shines so bright this soon. Pereda has considered this with Russell, but he doesn’t see the warning signs of burnout.

Russell’s drive is intrinsic. He’s always been the one insisting on going to the course, always asking to hit just a few more putts as his parents patiently waited in the car. They have never intervened in a lesson, Bescansa said. They drop him off at the course and pick him up when he’s done without comment or critique, a rare trait from parents of prodigiously talented juniors.

Miles Russell’s golf bag is seen on the driving range at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on June 11, 2024, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Ben Jared/PGA TOUR)

Russell doesn’t idolize athletes in other sports. He never played anything seriously other than golf. Asked what he does when it’s raining outside and practice isn’t possible, Russell said, “I just hope it doesn’t rain.” But when it does, Bescansa says, Russell uses it as an opportunity to test rain gloves, see how his swing holds up in the wet weather and get accustomed to playing in the elements. 

Russell is home-schooled and his golf schedule determines his school schedule. If it’s nicer in the morning, he will start with golf. If the weather is poor, he’ll work on school before heading to the course later. His life revolves around golf. It’s helped him become the best 15-year-old in the world. He’s acutely aware that doesn’t mean he’ll be the best at 16, 26 or 36, so he isn’t interested in doing much else while the good golf is flowing.

“I don't think it would feel like a job because I love it so much,” Russell said. 

He is still developing his personality and place in the world, as befitting a 15-year-old. He’s got some humor, Pereda said, but it never crosses into cockiness. Russell has every reason to feel himself as the next phenom but never goes there. Although Pereda argued that a touch more bravado may be beneficial as Russell grows, why change? His startling modesty and maturity is partly why Pereda is so confident in his prospects.

Pereda, a rookie on TOUR, has tried to “mentor” Russell as best he can, though he’s unsure how much Russell needs it, given how acclimated he already is to top-level golf. And it was Russell who sent Pereda an encouraging text after the latter endured a recent string of missed cuts. They plan to play a practice round in Detroit this week, and rest assured Pereda will be there for anything Russell needs in the Motor City. 

“That kid is a prodigy,” Pereda said. “How he's developed as an athlete in such a short period of time that I've gotten to know him, I'm amazed. I want to be around his life for a long time, not because of what he’s going to do, but how he’s going to carry himself as he does it.”

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• Auto Racing
• 2024 Paris Olympic Games
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

PGA Tour commissioner says sides are making progress on deal with Saudi backers of LIV Golf

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan pauses while speaking about the death of PGA player Grayson Murray during the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Saturday, May 25, 2024. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Tiger Woods wipes his face on the 16th hole during weather warnings in the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament Friday, June 14, 2024, in Pinehurst, N.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Scottie Scheffler hits his tee shot on the 18th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament Friday, June 14, 2024, in Pinehurst, N.C. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

• Copy Link copied

CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said Wednesday the difficulty in finalizing a deal with the Saudi backers of LIV Golf isn’t a reason for concern.

“With complexity comes opportunity,” he said before the start of the Travelers Championship at the TPC River Highlands. “There are a lot of different factors at play, but nobody who is having the conversation is unaware of the complexity. And everyone, I think, is embracing the fact that there are obstacles and things you’ve got to overcome in a complex situation.

“We have the right people around the table for us,” Monahan said, “and they do as well.”

It’s been more than a year since the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia — the financial backer of the rival LIV circuit — announced plans to form a partnership that would help bring peace to a sport torn apart by the departures of dozens of top players lured away by Saudi riches.

A framework for the deal was announced June 6, 2023, with plans to finalize it by the end of the year.

The deadline passed with no agreement . Monahan said a June 11 meeting in New York, attended by Tiger Woods and Adam Scott, with Rory McIlroy phoning in from the Memorial, was “very productive.” He declined to give specifics.

Monahan said he is on the phone with the PIF multiple times a week, including just about an hour earlier on Wednesday morning. “My outlook for those discussions and discussions continues to be very positive,” he said.

Speaking from the last of the limited field, no-cut signature events on the tour’s calendar this year, Monahan declined to say what has been agreed to and what remains unsettled. The original framework has changed greatly, he acknowledged.

“The framework agreement is still relevant. There are aspects of it that certainly continue to be in play. But we’ve all stepped back, and we started anew,” he said, listing new committees and other opportunities for the players to participate and profit from a future tour. “The vast majority of what we’re talking about, we’re building from the ground up.”

One of the complexities the deal faces is a possible objection from the Justice Department on antitrust grounds . The rival tours would need to show that the deal enhances competition — by bringing all the best golfers to the same tournament, for example — instead of squelching competition by giving golf fans, sponsors and players fewer options.

The sides already bowed to one suggestion from the Justice Department last summer, eliminating an anti-poaching clause in the framework agreement.

Meanwhile, players continued to defect to LIV — including last year’s Masters champion, Jon Rahm.

Only seven players have been involved in the talks. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said he didn’t know enough about the negotiations to worry about what will happen.

“I haven’t really heard too much, so I don’t know if they’re going great or if they’re going poorly, so your guess is as good as mine I think at this point,” he said. “Definitely no frustration or anything like that for me. It’s out of my control, so I’m not too worried about it.

“They have got a lot of big business decisions to make,” said Scheffler, who is a member of the Player Advisory Council. “But as far as input in the negotiations, I don’t really have much to say at all.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

• Associated Press ,

Trending Teams

Jay monahan, players speak on russian invasion of ukraine.

• Golf Channel Digital ,
• Golf Channel Digital

As invading Russian forces continue to shell Ukraine, PGA Tour commissioner began his Tuesday presser at TPC Sawgrass with a series of statements, including one of the Tour’s efforts to support Ukrainian citizens impacted by the crisis.

“Before I open things up for questions, I did want to take a moment to realize what’s happening overseas right now in Ukraine,” Monahan began. “Our hearts go out to the people of Ukraine and those caught in the crosshairs of the conflict. We hope for an end to the senseless violence and a peaceful resolution. I believe Jon Rahm shared some thoughts with you already in his press conference about our Golfers For Ukraine effort. The PGA Tour is proud to join this industry-wise initiative to provide financial support and awareness for the crisis.

“At golfersforukraine.com the industry is collecting donations for UNICEF, a United Nations agency responsible for providing humanitarian and development aid to children impacted by this crisis. The PGA Tour and many others have already made donations, and we are encouraging support from the broader golf ecosystem. ... The game of golf has an incredible way of rallying around causes that really matter, and this is one.”

Currently, the website has raised $225,565 in relief aid. Monahan added that blue and yellow ribbons would be available for players and officials to wear during this week’s Player Championship, and he was already donning one on his jacket.

Monahan was later asked about some of Tour’s sponsors that have continued to do business in Russia. Across the globe, corporations and governments have severed ties with the aggressing country. Last week, the R&A said it would deny entries from Russian golfers into its championship qualifiers, and President Biden announced earlier Tuesday morning that the U.S. would implement a ban on Russian oil.

The commissioner said he has not had conversations with those sponsors.

“I think when you look at the partners that we have on the PGA Tour, every single partner is heartbroken by what’s happening in Ukraine and every single partner of ours shares the same values,” Monahan said. “This is happening in real time, and I suspect that all of our partners, as they’ve done in the past, they will do the right thing. I firmly believe that. Everybody is going through their own processes right now, but ultimately that’s my very strong belief. Not having a lot of conversations, but just knowing how the companies we work with, the leaders there, how they operate.”

Justin Thomas was asked a similar question, but declined to elaborate.

“I have no thoughts,” Thomas said, “and no, I haven’t spoken to the Tour about it.”

Rory McIlroy admitted he wasn’t as knowledgable about the “geopolitical stuff,” but he did offer some thoughts.

“I think what’s going on in Ukraine is absolutely horrible,” McIlroy said. “I think everyone would agree with that. It’s absolutely brutal. It’s sad. It’s heartbreaking to see what’s happening to that country and those people and the families. It’s something that I don’t understand. It’s certainly, like my knowledge on geopolitical stuff is very low, but I just think from just a human side of things, it’s just horrible what’s going on.

“I’m sure Jay is in here in an hour or so and he’ll be able to speak more on that and the business side of things, but I’ve seen a lot of companies pull back. I saw Shell today is not going to buy Russian oil. I think at this point it’s only the right thing to do. I think that international community has to come together and, I guess, do whatever they can to – I don’t know if they can stop it or make it more difficult or whatever it is, but it’s horrendous what’s going on, and I think everyone can agree with that.”

Full-field scores from The Players Championship

Added Jon Rahm: “It’s hard to see, honestly. I think I saw some news that they might be targeting or not, but they’re bombing schools in Ukraine, which to me is absolutely ludicrous. I don’t know what goes through a human being’s mind to be doing that at this day and age really. I don’t know. I can’t rationalize it in my head, but it’s happening, and hopefully they can find a solution soon. But it’s sad, honestly. It’s really sad. Those people in Ukraine right now need help because through no fault of their own they’re going through what they’re going through.

“Luckily the PGA Tour and some of the golf industries are working on something to support that, which I think a lot of us might jump on, but hoping they can find at least a way to maneuver it because it’s a lot of innocent people that shouldn’t be going through this. Nobody should, but – I really am at a loss for words every time I think about it because I can’t believe it honestly.

“I have a hard time believing what goes through Putin’s mind to be doing this.”