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    Rory McIlroy Has a Long Game

    He has won four majors, but with his investment fund he’s preparing for a life without golf.By every measure, Rory McIlroy is in the prime of his career. And given recent performances by players in their 40s and 50s on the PGA Tour, McIlroy, 32, who is originally from Northern Ireland, has decades to go before thinking about hanging up his spikes. More

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    Brooks Koepka Explains Why He Won’t Drop Feud With Bryson DeChambeau

    Ahead of the British Open, Koepka said the two were “not going to be high-fiving” each other as Ryder Cup teammates and traced the reason back to 2019.The feud between Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau survived the trip across the Atlantic to the British Open with barbs intact, erupting and entertaining anew on Tuesday. Among the highlights:At a news conference ahead of the tournament at Royal St. George’s in southeast England, a reporter began his question to DeChambeau with a cheery “Hi, Brooks.” More

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    5 Players to Watch at the Scottish Open

    The golf tournament serves as a tuneup to the British Open, which is a week later.This week’s Scottish Open features an excellent field of players, and it is easy to understand why.The tournament serves as a tuneup for next week’s British Open, giving players an opportunity to get acclimated with the challenges of links golf, played on courses on sandy soil near a coastline. Among those who will be in Scotland: the world No. 1 Jon Rahm, the winner of last month’s United States Open; No. 3 Justin Thomas; and No. 4 Collin Morikawa. More

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    Even Pro Golfers Have Turned to Remote Learning

    With coaches and players forced to keep their distance because of the pandemic, perfecting the golf swing went virtual.It has been well over a year since Lucas Herbert, the Australian golfer who won the Irish Open last week and is playing in this week’s Scottish Open, hit balls in front of his swing coach, Dominic Azzopardi. The coronavirus pandemic has been the reason for their separation, but it has not stopped the work they do. More

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    Nelly Korda Wins the Women’s P.G.A. Championship, and Her First Major

    After beginning the final round tied with her fellow American Lizette Salas at 15 under par, Korda pulled away and finished the tournament at 19 under.ATLANTA — As soon as Nelly Korda’s approach shot landed safely on the 18th green on Sunday, her older sister, Jessica, swooped in on their mother in the gallery and tugged on her arm, leading her to a spot behind the hole.Nelly Korda, who had spent the entirety of her 22 years known mostly as either her mother or father’s daughter or Jessica or her brother Sebastian’s sister, had stepped out of the shadows at last.Nelly Korda carded a four-under-par 68 at Atlanta Athletic Club’s Highlands Course for a three-stroke victory at the Women’s P.G.A. Championship over Lizette Salas, who closed with a 71. Korda, whose 72-hole total was a 19-under 269, is the first American woman to win a major since Angela Stanford at the 2018 Evian Championship. Giulia Molinaro (72) and Hyo Joo Kim (68) tied for third at 10 under for the tournament.“This is something that I’ve worked for since I was 14, since I played in my first one,” Nelly Korda said during the trophy presentation at the conclusion of her 26th major start. “I wanted to be a major champion.”The Kordas are an answer to a “Jeopardy!” question waiting to be written: “Who is the first family of sport?”The sisters’ father, Petr, won the Australian Open tennis title in 1998 and reached No. 2 in the world men’s singles rankings. Their mother, Regina Rajchrtova, was a top-30 tennis player who represented her native Czechoslovakia at the 1988 Summer Olympics.The sisters’ younger brother, Sebastian, 20, won his first ATP Tour event in Italy in May and is eligible for the U.S. Olympic men’s tennis team.Jessica Korda, 28, closed with a 71 to finish in a six-way tie for 15th at four under and secure a spot on the U.S. women’s Olympic golf squad. That team will be led by her sister, who matched her father in major victories and raised him one by ascending to the top of the women’s world rankings.Nelly Korda, who has six L.P.G.A. titles, including three this year, is the first American to hold the women’s No. 1 ranking since Stacy Lewis in 2014 and the first Korda to hold a No. 1 world ranking.“Really?” said Rajchrtova, who walked the first nine holes of Jessica’s round before peeling away to walk all 18 in Nelly’s gallery. “I didn’t know that but it’s nice. We wanted one. Now we have one.”After Nelly Korda’s par putt on No. 18 dropped, one piece of family business remained. Someone had to text Petr, who is at Wimbledon with Sebastian, to spread the good news. Rajchrtova said she couldn’t send updates to her husband during the round because she keeps her phone turned off and tucked away in her backpack.“I’m superstitious,” she said. “I don’t talk to anybody during round.”For Nelly, who became the first woman since Lydia Ko in 2016 to win a major the week after winning a regular tour event, it was a fabulous end to a month that started with a disappointing missed cut at the U.S. Women’s Open, won by Yuka Saso of the Philippines.The month has passed in a blur for Saso. After closing with a tournament-low 67 on Sunday to finish at three under par, Saso referred to herself as a 19-year-old, having forgotten that she turned 20 seven days prior.Since her U.S. Women’s Open victory at San Francisco’s Olympic Club, Saso learned that she is to be honored in the Philippines with her own postage stamp, never mind that she can’t remember the last time she wrote a letter.“I send emails,” Saso said, adding, “I always call or text my family.”Her birthday brought Saso, who has a Filipina mother and Japanese father, closer to a difficult decision. Saso, who lives in Tokyo, has dual citizenship, but by her 22nd birthday she has to choose whether to continue representing the Philippines, the country whose flag she’ll compete under at the Olympics, or drop her Filipino citizenship so she can maintain her Japanese passport.Will the Tokyo Olympics mark the last time that Saso represents the country that has stamped her as a national treasure?A noncommittal Saso said, “It’s going to be a tough choice.” She added, “Whatever I choose I’m both inside my heart.”Before the U.S. Women’s Open — and after her brother’s breakthrough victory — Nelly Korda joked, “I get referred to as Petr Korda’s daughter and Jessica Korda’s little sister, and now I’m going to be referred to as Sebastian Korda’s little sister.”On a sultry summer afternoon, after near misses in consecutive majors at the ANA Inspiration and a tie for third at this event in 2019, Nelly Korda played second fiddle to no one.She stood on the 18th green holding aloft the championship trophy, as had the male P.G.A. champions before her: Larry Nelson (1981), David Toms (2001) and Keegan Bradley (2011).Like Bradley in the final round 10 years ago, Nelly Korda eagled the par-5 12th (she also eagled the par-5 fifth and played the four par-5s in 11 under for the tournament). Like Jason Dufner in that same round, she stood on the 15th hole with a five-stroke lead and then promptly made double bogey.Unlike Dufner, who frittered away his lead in the last three holes of regulation and lost to Bradley in a playoff, Korda made par to write the latest chapter of history at a course on a street named after Bobby Jones, one of the most prominent men’s golfers. Her performance raises the profile of the women’s game sure as she raised the trophy.“A major championship and No. 1 in the world,” Nelly Korda said. “Is this week even real?” More