WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH FARMERS, RICKIE?
Rickie Fowler and Puma developed a hat with an “L” on the front to bring awareness and raise money for Lahaina and its slow recovery from the deadly Aug. 8 wildfires.
Otherwise, he had a clean look at Kapalua, at least clean by his standards.
Gone were the logos of Farmers Insurance, Rocket Mortgage and Mercedes. Two of them will not be coming back, and one of those raises questions about the tournament at Torrey Pines.
“Farmers decided not to extend,” Fowler said. “I think they have a new CEO and are downsizing. I don’t know if they’re going to do much in golf. They’ll go with their contract in golf (Torrey Pines). I don’t know if they’ll extend on that.”
Raul Vargas started as CEO at the start of 2023 and the company announced in August it would be laying off 11 percent of its workforce, or about 2,400 employees, as part of a restructuring to increase efficiency.
It has been title sponsor at
Torrey Pines since 2010, with the latest extension through 2026. Wells Fargo already has announced it would not renew its title sponsorship of the PGA Tour event in North Carolina after this year.
“My term is up and they decided not to go forward,” Fowler said. “Get it. Understand. Had a great run, great to be associated
with the tournament at Torrey that was once closest to where I grew up.”
Olympic trials
Even though it technically isn’t a team, no squad is more difficult to make than Americans wanting to play in the Olympics. The maximum number is four players provided they are within the top 15 in the world ranking. Otherwise, no country can send more than two.
Consider Canada.
Five Canadians were at The Sentry for the PGA Tour opener. Corey Conners leads the way at No. 38, followed by Adam Hadwin (48), Nick Taylor (54), Adam Svensson (57) and Mackenzie Hughes (63).
The Olympic ranking ends on the Monday (June 17) after the U.S. Open.
“I feel like Corey has a little bit of a lead in the world ranking, so basically four of us are fighting for that last spot,” Hadwin said. “And it’s going to take a lot of good golf. You play well one week in an event like this and you move up a lot.”
Conners and Hughes represented Canada in the Tokyo Games.
“If I had a year like I did last year, I’m pretty confident that I’ll be one of those top two guys,” said Taylor, who won the Canadian Open last June. “But we’re all so close to where I feel like it’s going to come down to the last putt.”