Golf

Subterms

    Latest story

    163 Shares40 Views

    The L.P.G.A. Is Getting a New Commissioner. He’s Got Some Work to Do.

    by

    Craig Kessler starts in a few days and knows what he must do to help the tour grow.Women’s golf has been riding a wave of increased popularity over the past five years.At the professional level, golf has a young generation of stars like Nelly Korda, Charley Hull, Minjee Lee and Rose Zhang, who are keeping fans engaged and who are expected to play in this week’s Amundi Evian Championship.Korda, in winning five tournaments in a row last year, transcended golf to become part of the broader sports conversation for her feat.Among amateurs, girls and young women are the fastest growing contingent of golfers. A third of junior golfers are girls — the highest percentage ever — and the number of female golfers has grown by 41 percent since 2019, according to the National Golf Foundation.But unlike the organizations behind women’s soccer or basketball, the largest professional organization behind women’s golf, the L.P.G.A., which runs the L.P.G.A. Tour, has struggled to capitalize on interest in the sport and the star power of its players.Craig Kessler, the L.P.G.A.’s incoming commissioner, said that his goal was to nurture emotional investment among fans.Sam Hodde/Getty ImagesThe league’s newly appointed commissioner, Craig Kessler, who starts on Tuesday, knows that leveraging this interest in the women’s game to create momentum is his remit. He does not shy away from the challenges.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    More stories

    • 113 Shares30 Views

      in Golf

      The Evian Championship Has Produced a Lot of Drama

      by

      Here are a handful of exciting tournaments from 2004 to 2022.The Amundi Evian Championship, which begins Thursday at the Evian Resort Golf Club in France, has produced its share of drama since Helen Alfredsson of Sweden captured the first tournament in 1994.The event, a major on the L.P.G.A. Tour since 2013, has been held 30 times. In half of those occasions, the winner won by a stroke or in a sudden-death playoff, including five times since 2017.Following are five tournaments that stand out.2004Early in the final round, Wendy Doolan trailed Annika Sorenstam, a Hall of Famer, by six strokes. Game, set and …Not match.During a five-hole stretch (holes six through 10), Doolan of Australia, notched three birdies and two eagles. The eagle came on No. 7, a par five, when she hit her second shot to within two feet and knocked in the putt.With three holes to go, she was up by three and wound up winning by one.“That’s a lot of birdies and eagles right there,” she said after clinching the victory. “I’m going to cherish this because I wouldn’t be surprised if it never happens again.”“I just knew I had it in me to make a lot of birdies on this course,” she added. “This means what I’m doing is working for me.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares25 Views

      in Golf

      Annika Sorenstam Reflects on a Super Competitive Career

      by

      She won the Evian Championship in 2000 and 2002 and reflects on a career in which she was super competitive.The past winners of the Amundi Evian Championship, which begins on Thursday in France, include some of the game’s brightest stars, such as Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam, who prevailed in 2000 and 2002.Among women golfers, only Patty Berg, Mickey Wright and Louise Suggs captured more majors than Sorenstam, who won 10. Sorenstam, with 72 victories overall, is also known for her 2003 appearance in the Colonial, a men’s tournament — she missed the cut — and being the lone woman to record a round under 60. In 2001, she shot a 59 at an event in Arizona.Sorenstam, 54, reflected recently on her career. The following conversation has been edited and condensed.The Evian wasn’t a major when you won, but did you approach it as one?For us Europeans, it was prestigious. It had such a different atmosphere compared to all the other tournaments in Europe, one you wanted to win.What do you recall about the victory at the Evian over Karrie Webb in 2000?My biggest rival was Karrie, so I could not have asked for a better showdown at the premier event in Europe, to have a chance to beat Karrie at her best. The 18th hole is a fun finishing hole — challenging, but it can be super rewarding. No laying up. You got to go for it. I put the pedal to the metal. I felt good all weekend.Sorenstam, with 72 victories overall, is also known for her 2003 appearance in the Colonial, a men’s tournament, and being the lone woman to record a round under 60.Andrew Redington/Allsport, via Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 163 Shares199 Views

      in Golf

      U.S. Open: With 15,000 Fewer Trees, Oakmont Is Now Ready for Another Major

      by

      A former club president, known as Old Chainsaw, started the process in 1994 under cover of darkness. It transformed play.Standing on the back porch at Oakmont Country Club, site of the U.S. Open, which begins on Thursday, you can see 16 of the 18 greens. This is something that was not possible and was downright undesirable when the club hosted the Open in 1994.At that Open, Oakmont, considered then and now to be among the toughest tests of golf in America, looked like a forest, with trees lining the fairways. The club also had hundreds of bunkers, meaning an errant shot would be punished by a tree or a bunker — or in some cases, both.The course, near Pittsburgh, that will be on view this week began its transformation under cover of darkness after that Open and culminated in 2023 with Gil Hanse restoring it to the original vision of Henry Fownes, the club’s founder and principal architect.As strange as it may sound today, those trees began to fall at the hands of members cutting during the night.“Absolutely true,” said Bob Ford, once the longtime head pro who used to live in a house adjacent to the 18th green. “They went out at 4:30 in the morning with lights. My wife would wake up to the sounds of the chain saws, and I’d say, ‘Banks is at it again.’”Banks was R. Banks Smith, a corporate lawyer and the president of Oakmont at the time. Known as Old Chainsaw, Smith was the leader of the tree removal project that largely went undetected for years.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 125 Shares149 Views

      in Golf

      U.S. Open: At Oakmont, a Rare Changing of the Guard

      by

      Devin Gee, who look over from the longtime club pro, Bob Ford, a few years ago, is working his first Open as pro.Devin Gee is ready for this U.S. Open.His mentor and former boss, Bob Ford, will be standing on the first tee at Oakmont Country Club as he has for the last five U.S. Opens at the club near Pittsburgh. But he will be there in a new role as the starter, reading the names of the players. It will be the first time in over four decades that Ford has not been the head pro at the club for the Open.That role is now held by Gee, who is at Oakmont only because a friend convinced him to take a summer internship in 2006.“I was supposed to go to Medinah that year,” Gee said of the golf club near Chicago. “But some circumstances took me here.”And now he is set to be the face of Oakmont as it hosts a record 10th U.S. Open. “It’s a dream job,” he said. “It’s a prominent place. As you can imagine, anyone going into a job like this, you wonder, am I ready for it?”As at many U.S. Open venues, the head pro job at Oakmont comes open infrequently and is coveted when it does. Winged Foot Golf Club in New York, another anchor site for the United States Golf Association, is only on its seventh head pro in 102 years. The longest tenure went to Claude Harmon, the Masters champion who was there for 31 years.Brendan Walsh is set to become the pro emeritus at the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., after 27 years. His predecessor, Don Callahan, was in that role from 1967 to 1999, with the last several years as pro emeritus.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares129 Views

      in Golf

      U.S. Open: In 1983, Larry Nelson Conquered Oakmont

      by

      He won the U.S. Open on the course where this year’s tournament is being held.​​Ronald Reagan was president and “Flashdance … What a Feeling” topped the charts in June 1983 when Larry Nelson won the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club just outside Pittsburgh, the site of the national championship, which begins on Thursday. Nelson defeated Tom Watson by a stroke to clinch the second of his three major titles.The two were tied when play in the final round was suspended because of rain with a few holes to play. The next morning, Nelson, who is now 77, made a 62-footer on No. 16 to seize a lead he didn’t relinquish.Nelson, who served in Vietnam and didn’t pick up the game until he was 21, recently spoke about the week at Oakmont.This conversation has been edited and condensed.Is Oakmont the toughest course on the planet?It can be, depending on the way that it is set up. The Open in 1983 was one of the toughest I ever played.How were you feeling going into the week?The year had not been all that good, even though it felt like I was playing pretty good. A lot of things happened the week of the Open. As a matter of fact, my family and I flew up on Monday, but my clubs didn’t get there until Tuesday afternoon. Probably the best thing that could have happened, because I spent a lot of time putting. Anyway, I felt like I was as ready as I could possibly be on Thursday and got off to kind of a rough start.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 100 Shares149 Views

      in Golf

      P.G.A. Championship: An Intimate Look at Quail Hollow

      by

      The pro Webb Simpson lives near the seventh hole and knows the ins and outs of the course where the P.G.A. Championship will be played.Webb Simpson has what many recreational golfers dream of.Simpson — who won the U.S. Open in 2012 and Players Championship in 2018, and has played on multiple Ryder and Presidents Cup squads — can walk out his back door and be on the seventh hole of the Quail Hollow Club, the host of this week’s P.G.A. Championship and an annual tour stop on the PGA Tour.Better still, Simpson, who has five children, can hop in his golf cart like any golf dad and take his children around the course at dusk to chip and putt. He admitted, “I might owe the club a cart fee or two.”Major golf championships have long gone to storied, private clubs — think Baltusrol, Oakmont, Oak Hill and Winged Foot. More recently, they have ended up at challenging public or resort courses like TPC Harding Park, Bethpage Black and Kiawah Island.But it’s rare that these events go to a top-notch private club that also has members living around its perimeter, let alone touring pros who can walk out their doors and tee up.Yet this is the third time that the club has hosted a major international competition: It put on its first P.G.A. Championship in 2017 (won by Justin Thomas) and a Presidents Cup in 2022.Simpson — whose best professional finish at his home club was a tie for second in 2015 at the Wells Fargo Championship, seven shots behind the winner and this week’s favorite, Rory McIlroy — appreciates what he has.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 63 Shares169 Views

      in Golf

      Five P.G.A. Championships to Remember

      by

      Here are five that stand out over the long history of the tournament.The P.G.A. Championship, which gets underway Thursday at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., might not be as popular or prestigious as the game’s other three majors, but there have been plenty of magical moments and striking duels.That includes from its inception in 1916 through 1957, when it featured a match play format — one competitor pitted against another — as well as since 1958 when the tournament switched to medal play, the winner being the one with the fewest total strokes.Among the high-profile champions: Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagen, who each captured the title a record five times, and Tiger Woods who has four victories.Here, in chronological order, are five P.G.A. Championships that stand out:1923: Pelham Country Club, Pelham Manor, N.Y.The battle in the 36-hole final was between two of the greatest players in the game: Hagen and Gene Sarazen. They would go on to win a combined 18 major championships. And the fight delivered from start to finish.Sarazen, the defending champion, appeared in control down the stretch, up by two holes with just three to go. He bogeyed 16 and 17, however, and the match was suddenly all square. Both players made pars on the final hole of regulation to set up a sudden-death playoff.Which was when things really got interesting. After each birdied the first extra hole, Sarazen hooked his tee shot on the second. Fortunate that it didn’t go out of bounds, he hit his next shot to within two feet of the hole and knocked in the putt for the victory.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

    • 75 Shares129 Views

      in Golf

      The P.G.A. Championship: Pressure and Expectations

      by

      The leading players have had mixed success at this tournament and at this year’s course, Quail Hollow.In the world of expectations leading up to a major championship, Justin Thomas may have just won himself a free pass with his recent victory at the RBC Heritage at Harbor Town on Hilton Head Island, S.C. He’s a two-time major champion, but had been struggling.His first major came in 2017 — a two-shot victory in the P.G.A. Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, N.C., where the event returns this week. The second major was also a P.G.A. Championship, in 2022 at Southern Hills.The pressure on Thomas came because he went three years without a win before his victory at Harbor Town last month. That stretch was characterized by more downs than ups, including being a controversial captain’s pick for the Ryder Cup in 2023. He was seen as having edged out the more-deserving Keegan Bradley, who had won the Travelers Championship that year and was playing well. But then came the Ryder Cup itself, where Thomas won only his singles match, losing two others and winning a halve in the third.Thomas, the world No. 5, is sure to be asked about what it’s like to be returning to Quail Hollow. But the weight of expectations will most probably rest on others. The focus will likely to come center on two players, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler.Scheffler notched his first win of the season at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Texas this month.In the past, he hasn’t played Quail Hollow that well, at least compared with his high standards. When the club hosted the Presidents Cup in 2022 — the biennial match between the United States and the International squad — Scheffler lost three matches and contributed only half a point.Scheffler, who joined the PGA Tour in 2020, has skipped the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow over the years. He didn’t play it last year because his wife was about to give birth.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More