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OK, so it’s not precisely a brand new thought. A mixed-team occasion was on the PGA Tour and LPGA schedules most years from 1960 to 1999.
However for in the present day’s gamers and newer golf followers, the Grant Thornton Invitational was a primary and refreshing year-end addition in 2023. And, given the upheaval that surrounds the sport, a much-needed distraction.
Jason Day, the highest-ranked PGA Tour participant within the subject, teamed with Lydia Ko to win the inaugural occasion at Tiburon Golf Membership. Ko, who’d endured a massively disappointing 2023, discovered one thing within the lead-up to the occasion and appeared higher than she had all season.
Lilia Vu and Joel Dahmen throughout the first spherical of the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Membership on December 08, 2023 in Naples, Florida. (Picture by Douglas DeFelice/Getty Photographs)
With the Grant Thornton held on the similar venue because the longstanding QBE Shootout, one other unofficial limited-field occasion, it was straightforward to match notes between the 2. The combined occasion had double the followers and concession gross sales than QBE, and the hospitality areas bought out.
Most of the PGA Tour gamers mentioned they hoped {that a} profitable Grant Thornton would result in extra alternatives between the women and men.
“There’s no motive we will’t have extra mixed-team occasions,” mentioned Joel Dahmen, who paired with World No. 1 Lilia Vu.
“There are such a lot of occasions on the PGA Tour, scores aren’t at all times superb in a few of these fields. To herald the ladies’s recreation could be superior.
“I used to be utterly outclassed in the present day by Lexi (Thompson).”
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