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      PGA Tour Denies Golfers Waivers for Saudi-Backed Tournament

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      The tour has made it clear it will suspend players who defect to Greg Norman’s rival LIV Golf series, which is set to make its debut in England next month.The PGA Tour has sternly refused to grant its membership the ability to play in the inaugural event of a rival Saudi-backed golf tour, which will make its debut next month outside London. The move, announced in a memo to tour members Tuesday night, was hardly a surprise — the PGA Tour is protecting its business — but in the most gentlemanly of sports, it exposed uncharacteristic rancor.It is also pressuring the world’s best men’s golfers, who are highly paid entrepreneurs, to choose sides over where they will collect their millions of dollars in compensation. And not inconsequentially, the focus of the dispute is often the source of the alternative golf circuit, LIV Golf, whose major shareholder is the Public Investment Fund, the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia.The overwhelming likelihood is that only a small number of players with little standing on the established, American-based PGA Tour — plus a handful of golfers past their prime — will jump to the new golf series, which may not lack for money but currently lacks prestige, or even a TV contract.But if the start-up tour perseveres for years — also not a certainty — and keeps its promise to dole out purses that overshadow those on the PGA Tour, it could sow unrest down the line in a future generation of young pros, especially those raised outside the United States whose focus is not so centered on the PGA Tour.For now, scores of tour players, including everyone at the top of the men’s world rankings, have pledged their fealty to the PGA Tour.Several times, Rory McIlroy, a four-time major winner who is ranked seventh in the world, has declared the breakaway tour “dead in the water.” He has also disapproved of its underpinnings, saying, “I didn’t like where the money was coming from.” Aligning with McIlroy, 33, have been some dominant new faces of the game, like Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth.Caught in the dispute is one of the most renowned players in the sport, Phil Mickelson, who has stepped away from competitive golf for months since making comments in support of the breakaway league.Mickelson was one of several PGA Tour-affiliated players, including Sergio García of Spain and Lee Westwood of England, who applied for a release from the tour to play in the first event of a LIV Golf International Series at the Centurion Club near London from June 9 to 11.The tour is declining to grant those releases, which means players who choose to play in the LIV Golf event will be deemed in violation of tour regulations. Disciplinary action could include suspension or revocation of tour membership.Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, has made it plain to the players this year that the tour will suspend players who defect to the rival league. The same may be true for a player who wants to play even one tournament on the LIV Golf schedule, which includes eight events from June to October, including one in Thailand and five in the United States. In late July, the host site will be Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.Greg Norman, chief executive of LIV Golf Investments, at a news conference at the Centurion Club on Wednesday.Paul Childs/Action Images Via ReutersHours after the PGA Tour declined the players’ requests to play at the Centurion Club event, Greg Norman, a former major golf champion who is the chief executive of LIV Golf Investments, denounced the tour’s decision.“Sadly, the PGA Tour seems intent on denying professional golfers their right to play golf, unless it’s exclusively in a PGA Tour tournament,” Norman said. He added: “Instead, the tour is intent on perpetuating its illegal monopoly of what should be a free and open market. The tour’s action is anti-golfer, anti-fan and anti-competitive.”As if to up the ante, LIV Golf on Tuesday announced plans for more events from 2023 to 2025.The next step in the clash may be in court. Monahan has insisted that the tour’s lawyers believe its decision making will withstand legal scrutiny.While a court case will be less than riveting, the more compelling drama within the drama for golf will be Mickelson’s situation. He has only a few days to commit to playing in next week’s P.G.A. Championship, which he won last year when he became the oldest major champion at age 50. Mickelson has been linked to the LIV Golf circuit for months. In February, he was severely rebuked for incendiary comments attributed to him in support of the Saudi-backed tour.In an interview for a biography to be released next week, Mickelson told the journalist Alan Shipnuck that he knew of the kingdom’s “horrible record on human rights,” but that he was willing to help the new league because it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to drastically increase the income of PGA Tour players.Shortly afterward, Mickelson, a six-time major winner who has earned nearly $95 million on the PGA Tour, was dropped by several of his corporate sponsors. He apologized and called his remarks “reckless.”Next week, perhaps while Mickelson is making final preparations for his return to competitive golf at the P.G.A. Championship, Shipnuck’s book, “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf’s Most Colorful Superstar,” will be released. It is expected to shed light on Mickelson’s gambling habits, among other things.Sergio García at the Wells Fargo Championship golf tournament this month in Potomac, Md.Mitch Stringer/USA Today Sports, via ReutersGarcía, another player who has long been considered a candidate to join the LIV Golf enterprise, recently expressed his support of the alternative tour in an unconventional way. Playing in last week’s PGA Tour event near Washington, García was apprised by a golf official of an on-course ruling that went against him. That decision was later determined to be erroneous (but not reversed). García, whose career PGA Tour earnings exceed $54 million, told the official, in a reaction picked up by a nearby television broadcast microphone: “I can’t wait to leave this tour.” He continued: “A couple of more weeks, I don’t have to deal with you anymore.”García, 42, represents the kind of professional golfer who might be most receptive to the promises of the LIV Golf enterprise. A Masters champion with 11 PGA Tour victories, he has been struggling to keep up with the more powerful, long-hitting young players taking over golf. His world ranking has slipped to 46th. He is also not American, like other golfers who are reported to have signed on with the breakaway tour. These players are most likely attracted to LIV Golf’s more global, and limited, schedule. Some players view the American tour as overbearing, restrictive and weighted toward events staged in the United States.In the meantime, there is a ruckus in the genteel world of golf. Its short-term impact is unlikely to rock the boat much. The question will be how long the rival tour can maintain sustainability, and whether that will be enough to seriously churn the sport’s customarily calm and lucrative waters. More

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      Older Players on the PGA Tour Are Looking Over Their Shoulders

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      A week ago, the top five players in the men’s world golf rankings were under 30 years old for the first time since the rankings began in 1986.PALM HARBOR, Fla. — On the eve of the PGA Tour’s Florida swing, a four-tournament series in March that sets the stage for four months featuring major golf championships, Rory McIlroy, 32, made a revealing observation.McIlroy, a one-time child prodigy turned four-time major winner, said the results of recent tour events were making him feel especially old.McIlroy was only half joking.But with Sunday’s conclusion of the Valspar Championship, the last chapter of the tour’s trip through the Sunshine State, McIlroy sentiments reflect an unmistakable reality: Men’s professional golf is being transformed by a sweeping youth movement.Even being a creaky 32 is enough to keep you out of the upper echelon. Sort of.A week ago, the top five players in the men’s world golf rankings — in order, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay and Scottie Scheffler — were under 30 years old, which was the first time that had happened since the rankings were instituted in 1986. While Cantlay turned 30 on Thursday, that does not diminish the headway the game’s youngest players are making.It is particularly noticeable because many of the most dominant names in men’s golf during this century are now farther from the top of the rankings than ever: Phil Mickelson is 45th, Justin Rose is 51st, Jason Day is 99th and Tiger Woods, who has not played a tour event in 16 months, is 895th.Moreover, no one expects the 20-something brigade to retreat.“I’ve been saying it since Day 1, the young guys, we all believed in ourselves when we got to the tour,” Morikawa, 25, said. “That’s not going to change. The recent play just shows how good the young guys who are coming out can be — how good this young pile is.”Collin Morikawa, 25, will attempt to defend his British Open title, his second major tournament victory, in July.Julio Aguilar/Getty ImagesThe remaking of the rankings has been most dramatic over the last several weeks.It began a week before the first PGA Tour Florida event this month when Joaquin Niemann, 23, won the Genesis Invitational near Los Angeles. It continued when Sepp Straka, 28, was atop the final leaderboard at the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.Next, Scheffler, 25, claimed the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando. The following week, on the east coast of Florida, Cameron Smith, 28, won a Players Championship that was battered by bad weather over five days. Finally, on Sunday, near Tampa, Sam Burns, 25, won the Valspar Championship, a tournament he also won last year. Burns, who moved to 10th in the world with Sunday’s victory, defeated Davis Riley, 25, in a playoff. Justin Thomas, 28, and Matthew NeSmith, also 28, tied for third. Matt Fitzpatrick, 27, was fifth.Thomas, a former world No. 1, praised the growing accomplishments of this younger set even though the competition has helped push his current world ranking to seventh.“I’ve played some pretty damn good golf, but if you’re not winning tournaments now, you’re getting lapped,” Thomas said. “That’s just the way it is, which just goes to show the level of golf being played.“But the jealous side of me wants that to be me.”It is a reasonable expectation that youth will continue to have an impact heading into the four golf majors contested from April through July. While the truism is that experience matters greatly at the Masters, it is also worth remembering that Will Zalatoris, 25, finished second at last year’s Masters. Xander Schauffele, 28 and ranked ninth (one behind McIlroy), played in the final group on the last day of that Masters with eventual winner Hideki Matsuyama.At this year’s U.S. Open, Rahm, 27, is the defending champion. Scheffler, Schauffele and Morikawa were all in the top 10 last year, as were Daniel Berger, 28, and Guido Migliozzi of Italy, who is, of course, just 25. At last year’s P.G.A. Championship, Scheffler, Zalatoris and Morikawa were among the top 10 finishers; Morikawa is the reigning British Open champion. Oh, yes, at that event a year ago, Spieth was second and Rahm was third.There are a handful of theories to explain this youthful surge, and most center on the heightened professionalism that has become commonplace even in competitions for top golfers in their late teens or early 20s. That has in turn raised the caliber of golf at the American collegiate level, where rosters are also now frequently dotted with elite players from around the world.And since every conversation about modern golf must have a tie to Woods, there is also a belief that more agile and finely honed athletes have been flocking to golf for more than 20 years — a tribute to Woods’s effect on sports worldwide.Put it all together and those graduating from pro golf’s chief minor league, the Korn Ferry Tour, seem less intimidated by the big leagues and more ready to win, or at least contend, right away.“It’s a reflection of the system at work,” said Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner. “The athleticism, the youth, the preparedness, the system is working. You can talk about the top five, but you can extend it past the top five and into the top 30.”Jon Rahm, 27, won his first major tournament title at the 2021 U.S. Open.Jared C. Tilton/Getty ImagesSixteen of the top 30 golfers are 30 years old or younger.Scheffler gave credit to Jordan Spieth, who won his first PGA Tour event when he was 19 and nearly won the Masters when he was 20 (he finished second). Scheffler, like Spieth, attended the University of Texas.“It was one of those deals where I had a personal connection with him,” Scheffler said of Spieth, who is 28. “He gave a lot of the guys from Texas the belief that we can come out here and play well at a young age. You don’t have to wait until you’re 25 or 30 to get some experience under your belt.”The one aspect so far missing from golf’s youth movement is the kind of prominent rivalries that fuel any sport’s popularity. While television ratings for golf broadcasts have been surging since 2020, which could be because of the new faces at the top of leaderboards, pitched competition between familiar foes always helps.But if the cohort of 20-something golf champions has anything in common, it is their congeniality. Morikawa and Hovland were born 12 days apart, turned pro at the same time in 2019 and roomed together during their early days on the PGA Tour. Cantlay and Schauffele have vacationed together. Thomas and Spieth have been close friends since they were preteens.In that case, maybe the rivalries will have to be between the new guard and their elders — you know, those old guys in their early 30s. More

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      A Rare Rainout Suspends Players Championship With Three Tied for Lead

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      Torrential rains flooded the fairways at T.C.P. Sawgrass, a course that already features multiple water hazards. The tournament won’t end before Monday.PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — This year’s Players Championship, a signature event of the PGA Tour, will take an extra day to complete after torrential rains on Friday in northern Florida suspended play for a second consecutive day. Golfers endured Friday’s foul weather for only a few soggy hours at the T.P.C. Sawgrass golf course, one day after the first round was twice interrupted by rain delays and never completed.The back-to-back postponements will ensure that the 72-hole, four-round tournament, scheduled to end on Sunday afternoon, will not finish before Monday for the first time since 2005.Large puddles had become common on most greens by 10 a.m. on Friday, and maintenance crews used squeegees to remove water after each group finished a hole. But in time, with fairways all but flooded, officials ordered players off the course. The first round is still not complete.“The golf course has just reached a point of saturation, and unfortunately the weather conditions are not providing us any relief,” Gary Young, the chief referee of the event, said late Friday afternoon.Young added that the golf course had received almost three inches of rain in the previous 36 to 48 hours and that the tournament will restart no sooner than 11 a.m. on Saturday. The third round will not be completed Sunday, and severe weather was expected in the area Friday night into Saturday morning, including wind gusts that could reach 60 miles an hour. But the tour is anticipating clearer weather by midday Saturday even though the T.P.C. Sawgrass layout will most likely still be subject to considerable wind.The conditions, coupled with a challenging Pete Dye-designed course that features multiple daunting shots over water hazards, could make for unpredictable results. Moreover, the final-round leaders will be forced to complete more than 18 holes on Monday.On Friday morning, Young said the tour was potentially considering a Tuesday finish to the event, but hours later he said, “We feel very confident that we’re going to be able to accomplish the conclusion of this championship on Monday evening.” A last round on Tuesday was “not really in our thought process,” Young said.It is the eighth time that the Players Championship, which was first contested in 1974, will not finish on Sunday. While Monday finishes are infrequent on the PGA Tour and at major championships — the last Monday finish at the Masters tournament was 1983 — they are not unheard-of, and players have generally learned to adapt.“You just know that you’re here hopefully until the very end of the tournament, and you just get on with it,” said Tommy Fleetwood, who was one of a few dozen golfers to complete 18 holes on Thursday and is tied for the lead at six under par. “Everybody’s in the same circumstances. When it’s your turn to play, you play.“It’s easy to get caught off guard when you’re hanging around for a long time and then all of a sudden you have to try to switch it back on. But you almost have to relax as much as you can and save your energy but always kind of stay ready and in that mind-set that you might be going out at any time,” Fleetwood said. More

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      Tommy Fleetwood Tied For First With Tom Hoge At The Players Championship

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      “It was break some golf clubs or shave my beard,” Fleetwood, the English golfer, said of his recent struggles on the PGA Tour. “I went for the beard.”PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tommy Fleetwood, a golfer once ranked in the men’s top 10, has been missing from a PGA Tour leaderboard for so long, fans may not have recognized him when he vaulted into first place during the first round at the Players Championship here on Thursday.Fleetwood has also shaved his trademark — and popular — frowzy beard. And it turns out the facial hair is missing, in part, because of his recent two years of jagged play, which resulted in Fleetwood losing his PGA Tour playing privileges.“I was in a really bad mood,” Fleetwood, 31, said. “It was break some golf clubs or shave my beard. I went for the beard.”Fleetwood, a winsome Englishman best known for his shoulder-length hair and second-place finish at the 2018 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, played like his old self for 18 holes on Thursday. His six-under-par 66 was one of the lowest scores among the several dozen golfers who finished a first round that was twice delayed by heavy rain and thunderstorms.When play was suspended because of darkness on Thursday night, Fleetwood was tied atop the leaderboard with Tom Hoge. Roughly half the field did not complete their rounds and will hope to tee off early Friday morning, though there is more rain in the forecast.But Fleetwood’s usual sunny disposition broke through, and his golf backstory would be relatable to anyone who has played the game recreationally or professionally. While he spent more than 15 minutes trying to explain how one of the world’s best golfers had sunk into an on-course funk that at one point dropped him to 137th in the FedEx Cup rankings, he also smiled and simplified.“It’s just a strange game that you never seem to be able to understand or that makes no sense,” Fleetwood said with a laugh.While he admitted to being somewhat lost in a golfing abyss, he refused to be downtrodden.“I still have one of the best jobs in the world,” Fleetwood said. “I’ve just not been performing to the level that I want to perform at. Again, I’m not going to sit here and moan or complain about playing poorly for a couple of years.”Fleetwood, who plays on both the PGA and European tours, offered some explanations for his drop from the world’s ninth-ranked player in 2018 to 49th entering this week’s Players Championship.“There’s been certain things in my swing that I haven’t quite understood,” he said. “So then your confidence takes a hit because you’re not quite comfortable out on the golf course. It adds up.”He added: “My results haven’t been terrible, but I’ve lacked obviously very good results. And then I think especially from a world ranking standpoint, that makes it very, very difficult. So I’ve just sort of been gradually declining.”Fleetwood playing an approach shot on the 14th hole.Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesTraveling the world to play on two tours has not helped.“You’re playing minimal events on both tours,” Fleetwood said. “Even in my best years, I was always starting way behind the 8-ball just to play consistently throughout those years. Again, it’s hard to make headway. And when you’re not seeing good scores and the shots aren’t quite there, it just becomes harder and harder for it to change that momentum.”For Fleetwood, like most golfers, the game mystifies. And that goes for even the best of the best. He did not, for example, come to Florida expecting to be leading the Players Championship at any point. Late Thursday afternoon after his round, he talked about playing “dreadful” lately — but then birdied his first two holes.That may have brought some good karma, but it was halted when inclement weather forced a delay of more than three hours. Fleetwood, however, was undeterred.“I was quite happy when the delay came,” he said. “You knew a delay was coming anyway, so I took the break and later I got to practice. Then I started the day by holing a putt and got going again.”The rain-soaked fairways and greens made conditions challenging, but Fleetwood remained unfazed, clocking three more birdies in his next nine holes. He finished with a birdie on the par-5 16th hole and another on the treacherous 18th. The close left him grinning, but he would not predict future results, not after the last two years. Looking ahead to his next round, he said: “I might play terrible, I might play great. We’ll see.”Fleetwood was much more certain about the eventual fate of his once-famous beard.Asked if his wife, Clare, likes him clean shaven or with facial hair, he answered: “She definitely has a preference, and it’s not this one.”Fleetwood does think he looks younger without the beard. He was playing in a tournament with his fellow tour players Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa on his 31st birthday in January, he said, when the duo looked at him and told him: “We had to Google your age. I thought you were 37, 38.”He added: “Everyone kind of noticed that I look a lot younger without the beard.”But then Fleetwood had a final thought.“Clare definitely prefers me with a beard, so I’ll definitely grow it back,” he said. “As long as I can keep my temper and keep smiling, then I won’t have to shave it off again.” More

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      PGA Tour Commissioner Has Strong Words for Phil Mickelson

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      “The ball is in his court,” Jay Monahan said of the golfer who is taking a break from competition after saying he supported a rival, Saudi-backed league.PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — In his first meeting with reporters since Phil Mickelson’s controversial remarks about offering assistance to an upstart Saudi-backed golf league, Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, said on Tuesday that he had not talked with Mickelson but that he did not absolve him from future punishment for his comments.With Mickelson recently announcing he was taking a break from golf — an absence that includes the Players Championship this week — Monahan was asked if Mickelson had been suspended, or if he could have entered this week’s tournament.“He stepped away on his own accord, and he’s asked for time,” Monahan said. “He’s been given that time. We don’t comment on disciplinary matters, potential matters or actual matters. But every player is accountable for their actions out here.”Monahan added: “The ball is in his court. I would welcome a phone call from him. But it’s hard for me to talk about the different scenarios that could play out.“Listen, he’s a player that’s won 45 times on the PGA Tour. He’s had a Hall of Fame career. He’s won here at the Players Championship. He’s inspired a lot of people and helped grow this tour, his tour. So as difficult as it is to read some of the things that were said, ultimately a conversation will be had when he’s ready to have it, and I will be ready to have it as well.”In an interview for an unauthorized biography to be released in May, Mickelson told a journalist, Alan Shipnuck, the book’s author, that his intentional involvement with the new league was to use it as “leverage” to increase PGA Tour players’ income. Mickelson also talked about soliciting the aid of other golfers to pay for a lawyer to assist the rival league.In opening remarks before addressing reporters’ questions on Tuesday, Monahan indicated he had put the threat of the alternative league behind him. He also appeared to take a subtle jab at Mickelson.“We have too much momentum and too much to accomplish to be consistently distracted by rumors of other golf leagues and their attempts to disrupt our players, our partners and most importantly our fans from enjoying the tour and the game we all love so much,” he said. Monahan added, “We are and we always will be focused on legacy, not leverage.”Monahan was also asked about accusations by Greg Norman, who has become a face of leadership of the proposed new league, that the PGA Tour was bullying players to remain with the established circuit.“People know me and they know how I play and how we operate and the values that we stand for, and I don’t think there’s any question that that’s not how I operate,” Monahan responded. “I haven’t had a lot of people ask me about it because people know me. I’m right here.”Nearly all of the world’s top-ranked men’s golfers have pledged their loyalty to the PGA Tour, which has warned players that they would be prohibited from playing on the tour if they agreed to play events from the alternative league.Norman has insisted that the PGA Tour’s boycott would not hold up in court. Monahan disagreed. “Our rules and regulations were written by the players, for the players — they’ve been in existence for over 50 years,” he said. “I’m confident in our rules and regulations, my ability to administer them, and that’s my position on the matter.” More

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      Scottie Scheffler Plays It Straight to Win Arnold Palmer Invitational

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      One of golf’s hottest players, Scheffler won his second PGA Tour event of the year and rose to the top of the FedEx Cup standings.ORLANDO, Fla. — Throughout the final round Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, it was as if someone were playing a prank on the world’s best golfers.Simple tasks, like needing fewer than three attempts to sink a putt from one yard away, were suddenly impossible. Greenside chips were no less wayward, usually long or short but rarely in between. The players, one after another, were left scratching their heads, stomping their feet in anger or smiling sardonically.One tour veteran, Matt Jones, simply flung his putter into a pond after one such vexing experience. That was on Saturday, but it set the stage.Had the golf balls been replaced with tricked-up orbs designed to wobble off line? Was the joke on top golfers who normally make a befuddling game look easy?Alas, it was not a cruel ruse. If there was a conspiracy, it was one borne of thick rough, hard greens, gusting winds and the pressure to win one of the PGA Tour’s signature events. In the end, Scottie Scheffler, a rising young star, endured the exasperating challenge in the fewest strokes. With an even-par round of 72 on Sunday, Scheffler, 25, won his second PGA Tour event this year, rallying for a one-stroke victory at Palmer’s Bay Hill Club.Scheffler, a New Jersey native raised in Texas who is now the fifth-ranked men’s golfer in the world, has an Everyman, self-effacing style that tends to overshadow his consistency and an impressive recent record that has made him one of golf’s hottest players. Scheffler finished in the top 10 of the last three major championships he has played, and he now leads the FedEx Cup standings.But even Scheffler, who was five-under par for the tournament, felt drained from Sunday’s 18 taxing holes. “The golf course was a total beat-down,” he said. “I’m very pleased I didn’t have to play any extra holes today.”Befitting his no-nonsense image, Scheffler summarized his approach on Sunday with few words: “I just kept grinding.”Three golfers, Billy Horschel of the United States, Viktor Hovland of Norway and Tyrrell Hatton of England, finished tied for second.While the course conditions had been demanding throughout the tournament, the final charge on Sunday came after several hours of jockeying among the leaders. Scheffler began the day two strokes off the lead and had an uneven front nine with three bogeys and two birdies. But he settled down on his second nine and took a one-stroke lead with five consecutive pars heading into the pivotal par-4 18th hole. His tee shot on the final hole missed the fairway by a few feet, but his approach shot from 148 yards landed on the left side of the green about 69 feet from the hole.It left the kind of lengthy putt that had led to myriad misadventures — and bogeys — for the rest of the field on Sunday. After his round, Scheffler conceded that the wind on some holes had sent putts as many as eight feet off line.“Fortunately, the 18th green is kind of sheltered,” he said. “So when I hit my putt, I didn’t think the wind was blowing very hard.”Still, it took nerve and confidence to calmly stroke his birdie attempt to within nine inches of the hole.“I was just happy to see it next to the hole,” Scheffler, who tapped the ball in for a reassuring par, said with a wide smile.Moments later, Hovland missed a 20-foot birdie putt from a difficult lie on the fringe of the 18th green that would have tied Scheffler for the lead and forced a playoff. Horschel was in the final group on the course, but he also missed a lengthy birdie putt to tie Scheffler.Viktor Hovland of Norway made bogey on No. 17, above, then missed a birdie putt on No. 18 that would have tied Scheffler.Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesHovland, who is 24 and could be a rival for Scheffler for many years to come, was especially disappointed by Sunday’s outcome.“This one stings,” Hovland said. He called the arduous conditions “the same for everyone,” but added that the wind could make putts “a guessing game” and a “test of patience.”About 30 minutes before Scheffler was putting on the final green, Gary Woodland dramatically grabbed a one-stroke lead when he sank a 24-foot eagle putt on the par-5 16th hole. On the ensuing par-3 17th hole, Woodland’s tee shot found a bunker. Worse, he left his second shot in the sand, then missed a 5-foot bogey putt. His double bogey was followed by a bogey at the 18th hole, which left Woodland in a tie for fifth place, two strokes behind Scheffler.Hatton, the 2020 champion in the event, had one of the most topsy-turvy final rounds with four bogeys and seven birdies, three of which came in the final seven holes.The day began with Horschel and Talor Gooch atop the leaderboard and two strokes clear of the field. Gooch, 30, is enjoying his best year on the tour, but his troubles with the Bay Hill layout began early Sunday when he overshot the first green from 100 yards in the fairway and had to settle for a bogey. Gooch missed the green by 70 feet on the par-3 second hole, which led to a second bogey.A birdie on the third hole seemed to steady Gooch until he became a notable casualty of the course’s greens, which were dried out by the wind and a cloudless day with temperatures in the mid-80s.On the par-4 fifth hole, Gooch had a birdie putt of 19 feet. He missed it with the ball running two and a half feet past the hole. His next putt also missed, as did a 4-footer coming back toward the hole. When Gooch sank his fourth putt for double bogey, he was on his way to a 43 on the front nine and out of contention for the title.Horschel, Gooch’s playing partner, was also staggered by the front nine, with three bogeys, a double bogey and a birdie. Rory McIlroy, a favorite entering the event who was only four strokes off the lead heading into the final round, shot three-over-par 39 on his first nine to tumble down the leaderboard. He finished one over for the event.Jon Rahm, the world’s top-ranked men’s golfer, shot even par on his front nine, which, given the conditions, was an accomplishment. But Rahm could not continue that momentum and finished the final round with a 74 that left him two over for the event. More

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      Sahith Theegala Is a Rarity on the PGA Tour in More Ways Than One

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      The Indian American golfer is consistently finding his game as a rookie on tour, but he still lives with his parents and drives a regular old car.ORLANDO, Fla. — Sahith Theegala, whose humble public golf course roots, unpretentious mien and near victory at last month’s Waste Management Phoenix Open have made him a rising young star on the PGA Tour, ended his round on Thursday with a dispiriting three-putt bogey.Theegala, an Indian American from California and the rare nonwhite player on the tour, had hoped for better than a one-over par 73 in his debut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The disappointment was plain on his face as he exited the final green. But after a few steps, Theegala, 24, broke into a smile as he graciously approached two volunteers who had accompanied him as scorekeepers for the previous 18 holes in stiflingly hot conditions.“Thank you for your help and for coming along today,” he said as he shook hands with them.The gesture was an apt close to the scene on the first tee hours earlier, when Theegala politely clapped as his playing partners were introduced to fans before their opening shots. It is uncommon, if not unheard-of, for professional golfers to applaud their competitors before a round, especially at the game’s elite level.But part of the winsome, budding Theegala phenomenon enveloping the PGA Tour this season is tied to his authenticity. He still lives at home with his parents, who emigrated from India in their 20s. Until he flew to Florida this week, he spent the previous few weeks driving his 2015 Volkswagen Passat 2,000 miles up and down California and then to Arizona to play in five tour events and never missed the cut in any tournament. In the Phoenix event, he was tied for the lead in the final round with two holes remaining before a bad bounce on a sterling tee shot cost him dearly and dropped him into a tie for third.If that gutsy performance for a tour rookie had not already won over many golf fans, a video posted on Twitter shortly after the event that showed Theegala crying on his mother Karuna’s shoulders earned him more admirers.The 6-foot-3 Theegala also has scoliosis, which causes what he called, “a pretty big bend to the right.” That would explain his somewhat unorthodox swing. The condition does not cause Theegala pain. “I just can’t move in certain ways,” he said.As a child learning golf on a dusty substandard municipal course near his home in Southern California, Theegala adapted his putting stroke by tilting his head to the right so he could see the appropriate line from the ball to hole. The profile of his distinctive stance on a putting green still stands out from 100 yards away.It explains why Theegala, a former junior champion and the winner of three college golfer of the year awards at Pepperdine, had a decent-sized gallery following him during Thursday’s first round. Theegala had an eventful day with three birdies and four bogeys as fans shouted his first name as encouragement, even if they often did not pronounce it correctly.It is “SAW-hith” — the second syllable rhymes with “pith.” Theegala understands the confusion. Besides, it has its advantages. He can always tell where his close friends and family members are in tournament crowds because they shout his name correctly.In a short amount of time on the tour, he has climbed to 42nd in the season-long FedEx Cup rankings. He is long off the tee — he regularly out-drove his playing partners Russell Henley and Troy Merritt on Thursday — and his short game has a mix of finesse and ingenuity defined with one word: touch.Every golfer, longs to have touch.For his part, Theegala finds the newfound attention he is receiving enjoyable, albeit amusing.“I’m an introvert by nature,” he said with a smile as he walked from the practice range after Thursday’s round.That trait is not paradoxical to Theegala, who performs before thousands standing nearby and many more watching on television.“You hear about the best performers in the world — singers and dancers — who are really big introverts,” he said. “But it’s different when you get on the stage. When I’m in the act of playing golf, I don’t even think about the people watching.”Theegala is aware, however, that as an Indian American he is viewed differently in a sport that has never made it easy for nonwhite players to ascend to the highest professional level.“I’m definitely proud of my Indian heritage and I hope I’m inspiring other Indian Americans and people in India to know that they can compete in sports,” he said. “It’s obviously not the main purpose of being out there but it’s an ancillary effect of what we’re doing and I’m all for it.“I do believe the landscape is changing.”Theegala smiled. His three-putt on the final hole already seemed like a distant memory. For such a vexing game, he is routinely sedate on the golf course.“Yeah, obviously, it helps that I’ve been playing the best golf of my life in the last six or seven months,” he said with a laugh. “That always helps, right? I don’t want to be too hard on myself.” More

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      Phil Mickelson’s Setbacks Keep Coming, and Tiger Woods Gets a Bonus

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      Mickelson previously boasted that he won the PGA Tour’s new program that pays the most popular pros, but the embattled golfer finished behind his rival once again.ORLANDO, Fla. — In an off-the-course chapter of the enduring rivalry between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, Woods once again bested Mickelson.Woods, who has not played a tour event since the Masters in November 2020, earned the largest bonus payment from a new PGA Tour program meant to measure a player’s appeal and popularity across the calendar year. For 2021, as calculated by examining categories that included TV ratings, internet searches and social media posts, Woods garnered the $8 million top prize even despite not playing because of serious leg injuries he sustained in a February 2021 car crash. Mickelson will receive $6 million for coming in second.In December, Mickelson had surprised the golf community by announcing that he had won the top award for the tour’s Player Impact Program, or PIP.On Twitter, Mickelson thanked “all the crazies (and real supporters too)” for his first-place payout. On Wednesday, Woods had a comeback.For Mickelson, who became golf’s oldest major champion when he won last year’s P.G.A. Championship at age 50, receiving only a $6 million bonus may not qualify as bad news, but finishing second to a golfer who didn’t play all year felt like a setback in a turbulent few weeks for him.In mid-February, comments attributed to Mickelson in support of a breakaway golf tour backed by Saudi Arabia created controversy and backlash. Mickelson was quoted as saying he knew of the kingdom’s “horrible record on human rights,” but was willing to help the new league because it was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to dramatically increase PGA Tour players’ income.The following week Mickelson said he regretted his remarks, which he called “reckless.” He added that he would take a leave from competitive golf. Within days, his chief corporate sponsors, including KPMG, Workday and Heineken/Amstel, announced that they were either ending or pausing their partnerships with Mickelson.On Wednesday, the tour also announced the other eight winners of the PGA’s popularity contest. Rory McIlroy came in third followed by Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas, with each earning $3.5 million. The golfers from seventh to 10th — Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Bubba Watson — will collect $3 million each.At a news conference, McIlroy was congratulated for finishing third. He shrugged his shoulders, grinned and offered a sheepish “thanks.”Asked if he felt there were any surprises in the top 10 money winners, McIlroy, who has been friendly with Woods for several years, answered: “Not really. I mean, you look at the 10 guys that are on there, and they’re the 10 guys that have been at the top of the game or have been around the top of the game for a long time. I feel like it’s a pretty self-explanatory system. That’s how the numbers sort of rolled out.”He added: “But it’s certainly not something that I’m checking up on every week to see where I’m at.”McIlroy, who has increasingly become a forthright voice in golf, has been strident in his criticism of Mickelson’s comments on the alternative Saudi-backed league last month, but on Wednesday he sounded conciliatory.“Look, we all make mistakes,” he said of Mickelson. “We all say things we want to take back. No one is different in that regard. But we should be allowed to make mistakes, and we should be allowed to ask for forgiveness and for people to forgive us and move on. Hopefully, he comes back at some stage, and he will, and people will welcome him back and be glad that he is back.” More