Schauffele, Xander (1993- )

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    The Five Players to Watch at the Scottish Open

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    Many of the top golfers will be in Scotland. Here are a few hoping to break into their ranks.A major title won’t be up for grabs — that will come a week later at the British Open — but the Genesis Scottish Open, which begins on Thursday at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, should generate a lot of attention given the caliber of contenders playing.Eight of the top 10 players in the world rankings, including No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, No. 3 Rory McIlroy, and No. 4 Patrick Cantlay, will be in the field. Attempting to defend his crown will be No. 6 Xander Schauffele, who won by a stroke in 2022.Here are five others to keep an eye on.Tommy Fleetwood has had his moments in the Scottish Open, finishing second in 2020 and in a tie for fourth last year.Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesTommy FleetwoodOvershadowed during last month’s final-round battle in the United States Open at Los Angeles Country Club between the eventual champ, Wyndham Clark, and McIlroy was the seven-under 63 fired on Sunday by England’s Tommy Fleetwood, 32, who became the first player to shoot that score twice at the Open. His other 63 came in 2018 at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, Long Island.Nonetheless, Fleetwood, now ranked No. 22, failed on both occasions to win the trophy, and in more than 100 starts has yet to capture a tournament on the PGA Tour. He came very close the week before the U.S. Open, losing in a playoff to Nick Taylor of Canada at the RBC Canadian Open. In May, he tied for fifth at the Wells Fargo Championship.Fleetwood, a two-time member of Team Europe in the Ryder Cup, has had his moments in the Scottish Open, finishing second in 2020 and in a tie for fourth last year.Justin Thomas, 30, won the 2022 P.G.A. Championship but has fared poorly in this year’s other majors. Stacy Revere/Getty ImagesJustin ThomasWith his tie for ninth at the Travelers Championship last month, his first top-10 finish since March, it seemed Thomas, one of the game’s top players, was back on track.Or not.A week later, he missed the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.Thomas, who has dropped to No. 20 in the world, struggled mightily in the second round of the U.S. Open. He hit just five fairways on his way to shooting an 11-over 81, missing the cut by 12 strokes.“It’s pretty humiliating and embarrassing shooting scores like that at a golf course I really, really liked,” he said.Thomas, 30, who won the 2022 P.G.A. Championship, has also fared poorly in this year’s other majors. He missed the cut at the Masters and tied for 65th in the P.G.A.With the British Open a week away, this would be a good time for him to regain his old form.Rickie Fowler’s victory two weeks ago at the Rocket Mortgage Classic was his first in four years.Cliff Hawkins/Getty ImagesRickie FowlerSpeaking of old form, with his victory two weeks ago at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, his first in four years, Fowler, 34, is officially back.It was no surprise given how well Fowler, one of the tour’s most popular players, was performing in recent months. He has finished in the top 15 or better in nine of his 11 tournaments since mid-March.In the U.S. Open, he started off with a record-setting 62 and was tied for the lead after three rounds. Although he faded in the final round with a 75 to tie for fifth, he played well the next week at the Travelers Championship, tying for 13th. In the third round, Fowler, who is ranked No. 21 after starting the year at No. 103, flirted with a 59 before shooting a 60. A week later came the triumph in Michigan.A lot was expected of Fowler, a star at Oklahoma State University, when he turned pro in 2009, and he didn’t disappoint. In 2014, he finished in the top five of each of the four majors. In 2015, he won the Players Championship.The U.S. Open gave Wyndham Clark, ranked No. 11 in the world, sudden fame.Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesWyndham ClarkIt wasn’t too long ago when casual golf fans were probably saying to themselves: Wyndham who?The U.S. Open changed that, giving Clark, ranked No. 11 in the world, sudden fame.The question is: Was his performance a fluke — other less-heralded players have claimed major championships only to vanish soon afterward — or will Clark, 29, be a force on the tour?Clark picked up his first victory at this year’s Wells Fargo Classic and has the game to win more tournaments, including majors. He hits it a long way, and how he was able to hold off McIlroy down the stretch at the Open in Los Angeles was something to behold.“It’s been a whirlwind few weeks and an amazing season so far, all coming together in L.A. a few weeks ago,” Clark said. “I’m looking forward to keeping things going over the summer.”In June, Viktor Hovland, 25, captured his fourth tour victory and biggest yet, the Memorial Tournament.Darron Cummings/Associated PressViktor HovlandIn three of the past four major championships, Hovland, ranked No. 5, has been in the hunt. Sooner or later, he’s bound to break through.Hovland, who would be the first man from Norway to win a major, was the co-leader with McIlroy heading into the final round of last year’s British Open. He faltered with a 74 to finish in a tie for fourth.At this year’s Masters, he opened with a 65 and, though he had his troubles the next two rounds, was still only three back going into the final round. For the second straight major, however, he closed with a 74 to finish in a tie for seventh, failing to make a birdie until the 13th hole. A month later, he tied for second in the P.G.A. Championship, two behind the winner, Brooks Koepka.In June, Hovland, 25, captured his fourth tour victory and biggest yet, the Memorial Tournament, in a playoff over Denny McCarthy. Hovland knocked in a 30-footer on 17 and saved par from five feet on 18 in regulation. In the playoff, he made a seven-footer for the win. More

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      Xander Schauffele Returns to Scottish Open Looking to Repeat

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      He won four tournaments, including the Scottish Open, in a strong 2022, but has not won in a year.This time last year, Xander Schauffele was on a tear.He won the Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour. The next week, he won the JP McManus Pro-Am. He beat Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler by five shots and the newly minted United States Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick by 17.When Schauffele showed up at the Renaissance Club for the Genesis Scottish Open, his solid play continued. He won the tournament by a shot, for his fourth victory in 12 months.“It was probably one of the better months I’ve had in my career,” said Schauffele, who went to San Diego State University and exudes a Southern California calm.He returns to Scotland this year a bit cooler, but still ranked sixth in the world. He hasn’t won in a year, but he has continued to play strongly.The following interview has been edited and condensed.You were on a roll last year. What was that like?I played the Travelers, then JP McManus Pro-Am in between, where I played really well, and then I won the Scottish. I was in a really good mind-set. I was hitting a lot of shots I wanted to hit, hitting a lot of putts the way I wanted to. I felt like I was doing my best, and that was good enough to win. It was that calm feeling attached with really good golf.How do you translate winning at River Highlands, one of the PGA Tour’s stadium courses, at which a lot of earth was moved to create the course, to the Renaissance Club, where the architect Tom Doak took a more minimalist approach to the land and the terrain?At River Highlands, you go from greens that are slower and have a lot more break to greens that are faster and more nuanced. With Renaissance, it’s a little bit more relaxed coming in. It’s not as penalizing as River Highlands [home to the Travelers] with all its contours. The only thing that would translate is confidence.Let’s talk scoring conditions. How do you adjust from going from plus 2 at the U.S. Open, (when minus 6 won it), to minus 19 at the Travelers and minus 7 at the Scottish Open?It’s definitely something you take into account before the week starts when you’re coming into different greens. It’s the mentality. At River Highlands, when you make six or seven pars in a row, you have to stay patient because you know other players are reeling off birdies. You have to beat the course each week. That’s something that comes into play. You have to stay patient. It doesn’t always go your way. Overseas you sometimes feel bad making par. But then you realize par is going to win.You shot a record-tying 62 in the opening round of this year’s U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club and a 70 the next day. Every golfer has done the equivalent of that. What was it like for you?A 62 at that club definitely wasn’t something you anticipated. It was a setup thing. Through two rounds there were a lot of low scores. Rickie [Fowler] and I doing it early made people feel it was out there. The most impressive round was Tommy Fleetwood shooting 63 on Sunday. I was off to a heck of a start, but no round was the same. I didn’t adjust accordingly. I got off to a fast start, but then I started leaking oil.What’s your plan to defend at the Scottish Open this year?I’m close to some good form. I’ve been scratching at the surface. When I come to a site where I play well, I really don’t try to think too much about whether I won last year or not. I’m excited to be back here. I typically like to play on hard golf courses. But I’ve worked to make myself a believer that I could play well on any property. More

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      Rickie Fowler Reserves His Flash for the U.S. Open’s First Round

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      Fowler no longer wears blinding colors and his shaggy hair is long gone. But after years of struggle at major tournaments, the popular golfer quietly made U.S. Open history on Thursday.No golf fans followed Rickie Fowler on Thursday dressed the same as he was. That used to be a thing in 2010 when Fowler, then 22, rode his relaxed dirt-biking roots and a boy band vibe complete with a top-to-toe orange outfit and a flat-brim hat to enormous popularity.Fowler, now 34 and a husband and father, was still dapper in Thursday’s first round of the U.S. Open at the Los Angeles Country Club but hardly flashy in a soft blue-gray pullover with white trim that matched his white cap, pants and shoes.The crowds were somewhat understated, too. Nine holes into his round, which had started on the 10th hole, a packed grandstand politely applauded when Fowler made a birdie putt to tie for the tournament lead at three under par. A fan called out, “Keep it going, Rickie.” But the reaction was hardly the same as the raucous quasi delirium that the longhaired younger Fowler once elicited.Finally, as he marched toward his final nine holes, the volume began to ratchet up. With five birdies and four pars in the closing nine holes, Fowler shot an eight-under 62. It was the lowest round in the history of the U.S. Open. Not long after, Xander Schauffele would match it.That did not alter the quiet smile on Fowler’s face as he hugged a group of friends and colleagues afterward. They had watched his many recent struggles on the golf course — “dark days,” he once called them — and admired how his countenance had never changed.“He’s always been the same guy,” said Justin Rose, who had played with Fowler on Thursday and shot a disappointing 76. “It was fun to watch Rickie today. That was the highlight of my day. Good for him.”Thursday’s result was something of a surprise for Fowler, but not a shock. He has been predicting some kind of revival for months. Once the fourth-ranked golfer in the world, Fowler had plummeted all the way to No. 173 last year. In 2014, he had finished in the top five at each of the four major tournaments. By 2022, he had played in only one, the P.G.A. Championship, and finished tied for 23rd.People wondered if he would defect to the LIV Golf circuit just to get a final big paycheck while his name still meant something. But Fowler stayed with his PGA Tour pals Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, with whom he once took beach vacations, and persevered. He could regularly be seen alone, grinding on the range or practicing putting by himself late in the afternoon or evening during tournaments.Fowler, left, and Jason Day walk from the eighth green on Thursday.Erik S Lesser/EPA, via ShutterstockLast month, after several encouraging results, Fowler vaulted back into the top 50 of the rankings, which qualified him for last month’s P.G.A. Championship. Fowler talked as if he had turned a corner.“Getting back to this stage, I mean, it’s never fun,” he said. “But in many ways, I’ve actually enjoyed it. I learned things about myself. Not that I lost faith, but I came to almost embrace the grind.”To that end, Fowler would have been forgiven if he had sauntered around the L.A. Country Club grounds on Thursday with a giant grin that never left his face. But interestingly, Fowler was mostly stoic, flashing a thin smile occasionally. When he sank a three-foot putt for par on his final hole — the uphill, par-3 ninth hole — he barely raised his right hand to acknowledge the cheers roaring from a nearby grandstand.Interviewed afterward, Fowler maintained his laid-back mien. He insisted he was actually uncomfortable with the L.A. Country Club layout for most of his practice rounds.“Then, yesterday, finally a couple things clicked and that gave me confidence,” he said, admitting that it had not hurt to have birdied three of his first five holes (with one bogey mixed in).Having started his round just after 8 a.m. Pacific time, Fowler reached the halfway point of his round before 10:30 a.m. when a late arriving fandom had yet to fill the grandstands or line the fairways. But as Fowler birdied the first, second and third holes (his 10th, 11th and 12th holes played), larger crowds found Fowler on the golf course. They were treated to a show.At the drivable par-4 sixth hole, he hit a long iron to 51 yards and then spun a wedge shot to within eight feet and sank that putt for birdie. On the par-5 eighth hole, his drive found the devilish barranca right of the fairway, but he rescued himself with a gutsy chip back into the fairway. “I tried not to overthink it and take too long with that recovery,” he said. His pitch to the green left a 13-foot left-to-right birdie putt that Fowler sank with aplomb.A record low U.S. Open score was on the table with a closing-hole par, which Fowler also made look easy, despite having to sink a dicey final putt.“This week is off to a good start,” he said moments later — nonchalantly, as if that were all his performance meant to him.Later, he would reveal otherwise. Asked to characterize his journey from 173rd in the world to a record-setting round in the national championship, Fowler said: “It’s definitely been long and tough. A lot longer being in that situation than you’d ever want to. But it makes it so worth it having gone through that and being back where we are now.” More

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      Masters Leaderboard: Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka Tied on Top

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      Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka all shot 65s in the opening round of the first Masters of the LIV Golf era.AUGUSTA, Ga. — The gallery was thick from the start, as it almost always is at Augusta National Golf Club’s first tee. And, as it almost always is when Tiger Woods is lurking at a Masters Tournament, nearly no one was there for the rest of his group, Viktor Hovland or Xander Schauffele.They probably should have been — especially for Hovland, the only man of the three never to have won a major tournament or finish as a runner-up. By day’s end, after all, he would be in a three-way tie for the lead.“If you get a little too cocky and you want to push a few spots that you probably shouldn’t, it will punish you very quickly,” Hovland, who scored a seven-under-par 65, said of the course. He is tied for the lead with Jon Rahm and the LIV Golf player Brooks Koepka. “So you know a good score is out there, but you can’t really force it. You’ve just got to let it happen, and if you have some makable putts, you’ve got to make them, and then you can get into a rhythm.”But, he warned, “It’s one of those things, you push too hard, and it will backfire.”He plainly learned plenty in his first three Masters appearances. But before a waterlogged weather system threatened to turn Augusta National’s hills into the most emerald of slip-and-slides, especially on Saturday, the course was modestly less menacing than usual. Winds were calm, when they rustled the pines at all, and punishing humidity kept the course soft.Hovland closed his round with four straight pars.With those conditions, Hovland was almost certainly not going to end Thursday as a runaway solo leader, and he did not. Rahm, who endured a frustrating March after winning three PGA Tour events in January and February, overcame a double bogey on the first hole to also finish at 65. And Koepka, who won a LIV Golf event over the weekend, birdied the last two holes to earn a share of the lead, lending the second-year circuit a dose of the credibility that it might require and crave in equal measure.“It’s full focus on this and trying to walk out of here with a green jacket,” said Koepka, one of the headliners of the LIV circuit funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to considerable condemnation and skepticism.Koepka, a four-time major tournament winner, drew attention Thursday evening from the tournament’s Competition Committee, whose chairman said that officials had “questioned” Koepka’s caddie and others “about a possible incident on No. 15.”“All involved were adamant that no advice was given or requested,” the chairman, James B. Hyler Jr., said in a statement. “Consequently, the committee determined that there was no breach of the rules.”Beyond Koepka, LIV, whose 54-hole competitions provoked wide debate over whether its players would be ready for the rigors of 72-hole major tournaments, had a mixed day. Cameron Smith, the reigning British Open champion, opened with a tee shot that stopped closer to the ninth fairway than the first. When sundown came, though, he had signed for a two-under-par 70. Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters champion, was one under par, as was Dustin Johnson, the 2020 winner.Brooks Koepka viewed his early tee time for Friday, with rain in the forecast, as an advantage.But Bubba Watson, a two-time Masters winner who has missed Augusta National’s cut only once in his career, bogeyed or worse on six holes to score a 77. Louis Oosthuizen put together a 76, and Bryson DeChambeau, who had a six-shot U.S. Open victory less than three years ago, finished at 74.Still, for all of the embittered theatrics that have seeped into men’s golf as LIV stormed onto the scene last year, much about the inaugural Masters of the LIV era seemed like most any other one.Fans — pardon us, patrons — clutched plastic cups that sweated more conspicuously than some of the players. A woman dozed at the base of a tree close to the 11th fairway, and just a bit deeper into Amen Corner, Larry Mize, the 1987 champion playing his final Masters, approached the 12th tee box to gentle applause. Woods, the 15-time major winner was, as usual, an attraction, by design or happenstance.“You’re just in time: You can see Tiger tee off,” a gallery guard at the No. 7 crossway told an elderly man sporting a hat from the 2007 P.G.A. Championship. (Fittingly, Woods won that tournament.)He saw Woods, yes, his journey to a two-over-par 74. But he also glimpsed the handiwork of Hovland and Schauffele, who would end at four under on a day when he felt he had exacting command of his ball.Hovland’s lurch toward the top of the leaderboard began on the second hole, the 575-yard par-5 that played as the easiest hole at last year’s Masters. His tee shot thundered to the middle of the fairway, leaving him about 209 yards from the pin, by his estimate. He gripped his 6-iron and expected his ball to crash around the green’s front edge.Tiger Woods had five bogeys and three birdies in his round.It went much farther, landing close enough for Hovland, who has sometimes struggled to conquer the intricacies of the short game, to putt for eagle. He later birdied five holes, including the newly lengthened 13th, and had no bogeys.“Around here, there’s never just a normal golf shot except maybe on the par-3s because everything is all different lies,” said Patrick Reed, the 2018 winner.“Because of that, you have to have full control over what your club’s doing, especially what you’re trying to do through impact,” added Reed, a LIV player who shot a 71 on Thursday. “I feel like Viktor has always done that really well. If he gets going and his putter starts working, he’s going to go out and do what he’s doing on this golf course right now.”Rahm summoned similarly consequential magic on the eighth hole, the one christened Yellow Jasmine that demands 570 yards.Rahm stood in the tee box and hit, in his estimate, “about as hard a drive as I can.” He figured he had about 267 yards left to the hole and pictured hitting a draw 4-iron. The right bounce, he thought, might position him around the back of the green.Then he hit it lower than he wanted.“It carried about 8 on and obviously on a perfect line and released all the way to 3 feet,” he said. “I would hope I would get that close, but being realistic, it doesn’t usually happen that often. I’m happy it did. I mean, it was a really good swing, and for that to end up that close is a huge bonus.”Hovland shot par or better on every hole.Eagle. The leaders will take a two-stroke advantage over Cameron Young and Jason Day, who were tied for fourth, into Friday.Augusta National may not be so relatively easy in the days ahead. The tournament’s official forecast warned that rain would threaten for much of Friday, when thunderstorms could upend afternoon play. Saturday’s outlook was even more miserable, with up to two inches of rain and wind gusts of 25 miles per hour expected.Koepka said his 8:18 a.m. Eastern time appointment at No. 1 — 30 minutes earlier than initially planned — could be his greatest advantage on Friday.“I think I might be able to squeak out a few more holes than everybody else before it starts dumping,” he said.Plenty of people will be chasing.Scottie Scheffler, the world’s top-ranked golfer and last year’s Masters winner, missed a birdie putt at No. 18 and ended his day at four under. Rory McIlroy shot a 72, the first time since 2018 he had played a first round at Augusta to par or better.The cut will happen Friday evening, weather permitting, with the line being the top-50, plus ties, leaving DeChambeau, Watson and Woods more vulnerable than most after their showings in the first round.“Most of the guys are going low today,” Woods said. “This was the day to do it.” More

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      2023 Masters: Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson Are Back

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      Players set out for official practice rounds ahead of the first men’s golf major of the year although more than a few have tested the course recently.AUGUSTA, Ga. — Augusta National Golf Club will be thick with spectators Monday, as one player after another sets out for official practice rounds before the Masters Tournament, the year’s first men’s golf major.But plenty of them have tested the course recently, making special jaunts to Georgia to size up the grounds in advance of the crowds, cameras and ropes — practice rounds for the practice rounds, if you will.They have the potential to inspire confidence: Rory McIlroy made the trek and played 54 holes, and in one round, he apparently recorded an otherworldly 19 putts across 18 holes.“Look,” he said recently, “I had two good days.”More critically, the rounds before the clamor give players chances to take the measure of changes to the course under less stressful conditions. The 13th hole, for instance, will play 35 yards longer this year, so Scottie Scheffler, the 2022 champion, has been sketching how his strategy might change.“I used to hit 3-wood there because I can sling hook a 3-wood,” Scheffler said last month. “I can’t sling hook a driver on purpose. The ball just doesn’t spin enough. I can do it on accident, but I can’t quite sling it on purpose because I like to fade my driver more off the tee, and so when it comes to that tee shot and hitting a hard hook with the driver, it’s not really a shot that I’ll try just because it’s not worth the risk for me.”Scottie Scheffler, the 2022 Masters champion, waited to greet winners of the Drive, Chip and Putt competition on Sunday.Doug Mills/The New York TimesScheffler, appearing far more comfortable than he usually is before reporters, went deeper into overthinking No. 13.“That hole was one where I’d hit the same shot I hit on 10,” he said. “The 3-wood, it has enough spin where the ball can actually stay in the air. With the driver, when I hook it, the ball doesn’t have enough spin to where it can stay in the air and hook that much. It kind of nose-dives. But the 3-wood, I can sit up there and it will just be like a boomerang. But that’s really the biggest change for me. Now I’ll just hit driver kind of out toward the corner and try and use more of the contouring to get the ball that way versus before.”And for players making their Masters debuts, the spins through Augusta National can be a chance to stamp out at least some jitters.“I got the bug out,” Tom Kim, the 20-year-old PGA Tour player, said. “Once I get there, I can kind of just play.”Not that the veterans shun practice. Tiger Woods, ahead of his 25th Masters, was around the course on Sunday afternoon, striking balls and practicing his putting. He has not played a tournament round since February, when he tied for 45th at the Genesis Invitational. But everyone knew that he was largely using Riviera Country Club as a laboratory to prepare for the Masters.He essentially said as much himself: “After this event, we’ll analyze it and see what we need to do to get ready for Augusta.” He finished 47th here last year.Remember Phil Mickelson? He’s back, too.Phil Mickelson at the second tee during a LIV Golf event at Orange County National last week.Reinhold Matay/USA Today Sports, via ReutersPhil Mickelson’s Masters hiatus lasted only a year.Mickelson, a three-time winner at Augusta National, skipped the 2022 competition amid the international uproar that began after he acknowledged Saudi Arabia’s “horrible record on human rights” but said he was open to aiding LIV Golf, its emerging league, because it could force the PGA Tour to change its economic structure.“They execute people over there for being gay,” he told the journalist Alan Shipnuck. “Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates.”Mickelson soon after defected to LIV, which Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund bankrolls. He played in two major tournaments last year, missing the cuts at the U.S. Open and the British Open.Now, he will try his hand at the major course that has been more favorable to him than any other.“I don’t have any expectations,” he said in a brief interview last month in Arizona. “I’m grateful we get to play because we were told — or there was talk — a year ago that you might not be able to play the majors. And now we can play the Masters; we can play in all of the majors.”Pressed, though, on whether he is anticipating this week to carry the feel of the other Masters he has entered, he replied, “I do, yeah.”At the 2021 Masters, not long before his P.G.A. Championship victory made him the oldest major winner, he finished in a tie for 21st.From Winter Garden, Fla., to Augusta, Ga.Brooks Koepka won the LIV Golf Orlando event at Orange County National on Sunday.Doug Defelice/Liv Golf, via LIVGO, via Associated PressThe PGA Tour players who are most likely to contend at Augusta National were off last week, when the circuit spun through T.P.C. San Antonio for the Texas Open. LIV golfers had no such respite: They played a tournament in Winter Garden, Fla., near Orlando, over the weekend, when Brooks Koepka emerged as the class of the field.Whether the schedule will make a difference at the Masters is anyone’s guess, or simply in the eye of the beholder.Bubba Watson, who won at Augusta National in 2012 and 2014, said LIV’s calendar had thwarted the approach he had employed for years: arriving on Friday; attending the Augusta National Women’s Amateur on Saturday before practice on the driving range; and usually logging a round on Sunday afternoon.Ordinarily, he said, he avoided playing the week before a major so he could take a mental break before facing the challenges of elite competition. But maybe, he confessed, a pre-Masters tuneup would prove helpful: “Maybe I need to gear up for it and see where I need to work or where I don’t need to work.”Other LIV players insisted that their schedule was compatible with their customary preparations.Mickelson, for example, stuck with his custom of visiting Augusta for part of the week preceding the Masters. If anything, he said, LIV’s three-day format offered him the option of more practice time in Georgia.And take Dustin Johnson, a two-time major winner. He last played a tournament the week before the Masters in pandemic-disrupted 2020, when he tied for second at the Houston Open and then stormed into Augusta, posted the lowest score in Masters history and claimed his first green jacket. Although Orange County National Golf Center is hardly Augusta National — Johnson earned his PGA Tour card when he played a qualifying school event there in 2007 — he said that any competition is good to have before a Masters.“That’s really good preparation,” Johnson said in an interview. “Any time you’re playing going into a major, it’s always good to get some rounds under you.”Zhang wins the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.Rose Zhang after winning the Augusta National Women’s Amateur tournament in a playoff on Saturday.Doug Mills/The New York TimesHow breathtaking was Rose Zhang’s play across the first 36 holes of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur? She shot four over par in Saturday’s final round and still won the tournament.It was not easy — she had to outlast Jenny Bae, whose Saturday scorecard had her two under on the day, in a sudden-death playoff, as well as a weather delay — but a grip change during the round allowed Zhang to unlock her swing just in time.“When things matter the most and you have a big lead but the job’s not done, it definitely puts a lot of things into perspective,” Zhang, 19, said. “I tried to stay as composed as possible, but at the same time, I was a little tight the first couple holes. I just felt like my swing wasn’t comfortable, and I really just tried to stay in the moment. I figured out a little trigger point in my golf swing, and from then on, it was kind of smooth sailing, grinding from there.”Zhang had arrived for Saturday’s final round, played at Augusta National, with a formidable cushion built up during the competition’s first two days at nearby Champions Retreat. Her first-round score there, a six-under-par 66, was a tournament record. The new standard lasted until the end of Zhang’s second round, when she signed for a 65.“I really, really do love this golf course,” she said of Augusta National. “Sometimes, it’s just interesting that I never really get my A-game when I’m out here. When I was out at Champions, it felt so easy to me. Everything just came to me. I was making putts. I was hitting greens.”Zhang teed off on the 13th hole during the final round of play.Doug Mills/The New York TimesA single mistake at Augusta National, though, “is magnified,” she said.“I think that just being able to kind of get back on track, that was my biggest feat” on Saturday, Zhang said. “I was able to have the outcome that I wanted while staying in the moment.”With her victory at Augusta National, Zhang, a Stanford sophomore, has achieved what amounts to a career Grand Slam for women’s amateur golf; she had won the U.S. Women’s Amateur, the U.S. Girls’ Junior and an individual N.C.A.A. championship. Another Stanford golfer recorded a similar feat.You’ve probably heard of him, since his name is Tiger Woods.Wise withdraws: ‘I need to take some time away.’Aaron Wise, the PGA Tour’s 2018 rookie of the year, will miss this year’s Masters.Douglas P. Defelice/Getty ImagesAaron Wise, the PGA Tour’s 2018 rookie of the year, has withdrawn from this year’s Masters.“Golf is just as much a mental game as it is one of physical skill, and the mental piece of it has been a struggle for me recently,” Wise, 26, wrote in an Instagram story on Friday. “I don’t take the significance of playing at Augusta lightly, but know that I need to take some time away to focus on my mental health so I can get back to competing at a level I am proud of.”Wise has appeared in seven tour events so far in 2023, with his best finish a tie for 18th at the Tournament of Champions in January. Since then, he has missed four cuts and did not advance beyond his group at the match play event in Texas last month. He competed in one previous Masters, taking 17th place in 2019. More

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      PGA Stars Seek ‘Some Sort of Unity’ With LIV After Meeting With Tiger Woods

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      Adding to the drama, the LIV golfer Patrick Reed filed a defamation lawsuit against Golf Channel and the commentator Brandel Chamblee, seeking $750 million in damages.PGA Tour stars, including Tiger Woods, met on Tuesday to grapple with the LIV Golf series, which has lured away tour players with staggering sums of money, and emerged feeling positive but unwilling to detail how they planned to fend off the rebel golf start-up or live somewhat peacefully alongside it.The meeting was the latest turn in what has been an uncharacteristically antagonistic year in golf, and it came just a week after a federal judge ruled that the PGA Tour can bar LIV golfers from the FedEx Cup playoffs, which conclude at the end of August.Ahead of the BMW Championship, PGA Tour players on Wednesday were reluctant to share specifics about the meeting, held in Wilmington, Del., that attracted Woods, who flew in from his home in Florida to attend. Rory McIlroy, the world No. 3, described the meeting to reporters on Wednesday as “impactful.”McIlroy said Woods’s leadership at the meeting was crucial as players discussed how to improve the PGA Tour and contend with the rift in the golf world since the emergence of the Saudi-backed LIV Golf Invitational series. (The PGA Tour announced in June that it would suspend players who joined the LIV series.)“His role is navigating us to a place where we all think we should be,” McIlroy said of Woods’s presence. “He is the hero that we’ve all looked up to. His voice carries further than anyone else’s in the game of golf.”While players were quick to praise Woods, they demurred when it came to sharing any actionable steps that came from the meeting.“What’s the short-term? What’s the medium-term? What’s the long-term?” McIlroy said. “That’s something that we have to figure out.”Xander Schauffele told reporters on Wednesday that he wanted to see a resolution that ended in “some sort of unity.”“It was a really nice meeting. It was great. It was exciting. It was new. It was fresh,” Schauffele said. “I am very hopeful with what’s to come.”Schauffele, the world No. 6, told reporters there was “a little bit of a code” to keep quiet.“I think I’d be pretty unhappy if I saw one of those guys from last night just blabbering to you guys what we talked about,” Schauffele said. “That would be really frowned upon, and you probably wouldn’t get invited back to the meeting.”Justin Thomas, the world No. 7, said at a news conference that the meeting was “productive” and that the players who attended “just want the best for the tour and want what’s in the best interest.”“I’d just hope for a better product,” Thomas said. “I think that’s the hope in general of anything, is just to try to improve ourselves, where we’re playing, everything the best that we can.”Thomas said that having Woods present gave the meeting added credibility.“I think if someone like him is passionate about it, no offense to all of us, but that’s really all that matters,” Thomas said. “If he’s not behind something, then, one, it’s probably not a good idea in terms of the betterment of the game, but, two, it’s just not going to work. He needs to be behind something.”McIlroy said that in addition to dealing with LIV Golf, the PGA Tour would also eventually have to handle a world without Woods on the tour.“The tour had an easy job for 20 years,” McIlroy said. “They’ve got a bunch of us, and we’re all great players. But we’re not Tiger Woods.”Adding to Tuesday’s drama, Patrick Reed, the winner of the 2018 Masters who joined LIV Golf in June, filed a defamation lawsuit against Golf Channel and the commentator Brandel Chamblee, seeking $750 million in damages.The lawsuit, which was filed in a federal court in Texas, claims that the network and Chamblee have conspired with the PGA Tour to defame LIV players “with the intention to destroy them and their families professionally and personally” and eliminate LIV Golf as a competitor.According to the lawsuit, Golf Channel, Chamblee and the PGA Tour have conspired since Reed was 23, about nine years ago, “to destroy his reputation, create hate, and a hostile work environment for him, and with the intention to discredit his name and accomplishments.”For Chamblee and Golf Channel, “it does not matter how badly they destroy someone’s name and life, so long as they rake in more dollars and profit,” the lawsuit said.Larry Klayman, a lawyer for Reed, said that “we are confident of prevailing in court,” adding that “it’s a very strong complaint.”“While Chamblee’s and NBC’s Golf Channel’s never-ending defamation with regard to Mr. Reed, as set forth in the complaint is not new, with his joining of LIV Golf, it has reached new, intolerable heights,” Klayman said in a statement.Lawyers for Golf Channel and Chamblee could not be reached.The LIV Tour, which is financed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has drawn much attention and criticism in recent months. Among those who have left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf are Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson. Mickelson sparked outrage in February when it was reported that he had said that the LIV series was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” even as he called Saudi Arabia’s record on human rights “horrible.”Mickelson, who is reported to have received as much as $200 million to sign with the breakaway tour, is among 11 golfers who defected from the PGA Tour and then filed an antitrust lawsuit earlier this month against the PGA Tour, seeking to challenge its suspensions and other measures that have been used to discipline players who have joined LIV Golf. More

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      The Players to Watch at the Scottish Open

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      Here are five golfers who could win the tournament at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick.Another major championship in professional golf, the last of 2022, is just around the corner: next week’s British Open at the Old Course in St. Andrews. With Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson expected in the field, along with other marquee names, the quest to win the claret jug should be quite a spectacle.First, however, comes this week’s Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland. The tournament, with a stellar field of its own — 14 of the top 15 golfers in the world — is also likely to provide some enduring memories.Here are five players to watch.Matt FitzpatrickIt will be fascinating to see what happens from here on with Fitzpatrick, who captured last month’s United States Open for his first PGA Tour victory.Will Fitzpatrick, 27, follow the path of Danny Willett, another major champion from England — the 2016 Masters — who hasn’t won in the United States since? Willett has registered three victories on the European Tour.Or will he perform more like one of the game’s greats, Nick Faldo, also from England, who has six majors on his résumé?Fitzpatrick has the talent to be a factor for many years. His approach from the bunker on No. 18 at the Open, which ended up 18 feet from the hole, was as clutch as it gets. He is ranked No. 10 in the world.Andrew Redington/Getty ImagesCollin MorikawaAt the halfway mark at the Open, Morikawa, still only 25, appeared headed to a possible third major crown in three years. He won the 2020 P.G.A. Championship and the 2021 British Open.Then came the seven-over 77 in Saturday’s third round, which included two double bogeys and four bogeys.After a collapse like that on such a grand stage, some players might not have been able to summon their best effort a day later.That wasn’t the case with Morikawa. He rebounded with a four-under 66, his second of the week, to finish in a tie for fifth. Morikawa, ranked No. 4, tied for 71st in last year’s Scottish Open.Charles Krupa/Associated PressSam BurnsWith all of the attention Scottie Scheffler has received this season, it’s easy to overlook what Burns has accomplished: three victories and eight top 10s in 19 starts. One of the wins came over Scheffler in May at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas.Burns, 25, who tied for 18th at the Renaissance Club in 2021, makes his share of birdies, 4.40 per round, seventh among tour players. And while his accuracy off the tee isn’t very impressive — he ranks 134th in that category — it does not appear to set him back as he is 14th in greens in regulation. He is ranked ninth.Julio Cortez/Associated PressXander SchauffeleSchauffele, 28, was long overdue when he broke through two weeks ago at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut. It had been more than three years since he captured an individual PGA Tour event, the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. Perhaps he will now get on a roll.Schauffele, ranked No. 11, doesn’t appear to have any major weaknesses. He averages around 305 yards off the tee, tied for 12th in greens in regulation and second in sand save percentage. If there is any aspect of his game that he could improve, it would be converting more putts from 15 feet or longer.Charles Krupa/Associated PressJon RahmRahm, a former No. 1, hasn’t been in contention that often in recent months. With his enormous talent, that could change at any moment.Although he won the Mexico Open two months ago, he failed to be a factor in the Masters, tying for 27th, and in the P.G.A., tying for 48th. At the U.S. Open, where he was the defending champion, Rahm was still in the hunt heading into Sunday, but fired a four-over 74 to finish in a tie for 12th.Ranked No. 3, Rahm, 27, competed in his first Scottish Open in 2021. He came in seventh, only two shots back. More

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      Schauffele Holds Off Theegala to Win Travelers Championship

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      Xander Schauffele nearly let a three-shot lead slip away, but a birdie on No. 18 gave him a two-stroke victory over Sahith Theegala and J.T. Poston.CROMWELL, Conn. — Before the first round of the Travelers Championship on Thursday, Sahith Theegala, a PGA Tour rookie, was asked if young players in the field were worried about the cluster of veterans spurning the tour to join the rival, Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit.“Actually, there’s a next man up mentality,” Theegala, 24, answered. “There are a ton of incredibly good players coming up. There’s not going to be an issue finding the next group of top golfers.”With one hole remaining in Sunday’s final round of the Travelers, it appeared that Theegala was going to be prophetic in the most personally satisfying way.Theegala held a one-stroke lead as he stood on the 18th tee after rallying to catch the third-round leader, Xander Schauffele, who began the day with a three-shot edge over Theegala. Reaching for a driver and needing to hit a left-to-right cut shot, Theegala, who had not bogeyed any of the previous 17 holes, felt confident.“A cut is my bread and butter,” he said later. “And I hit it well, it just didn’t cut. I don’t know why — adrenaline, maybe?”The shot came to rest in a fairway bunker, inches from an imposing, steep bank. Theegala needed two shots to escape the sand, which led to a double bogey and paved the way for Schauffele’s sixth career tour victory. He birdied the 18th hole to win the Travelers Championship by two strokes over Theegala and J.T. Poston.For Schauffele, who won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year, it was his first individual tour victory in three years. (He teamed with Patrick Cantlay to win the Zurich Classic in Louisiana in April.)“I’m happy because I was expecting to be in a playoff,” Schauffele, 28, said. “That was a really strong field, and Sahith just kept charging. It was a bit of a shock to see the way it played out at the end. I knew the finish would be tight.”Statistically, Schauffele has been having one of his best seasons, even if his efforts had not led to an individual victory, something Schauffele acknowledged Sunday evening.“I just hadn’t put four good consecutive rounds together, which is why mentally this is going to be such a boost for me,” he said. “I’m feeling like this could jump-start some things for me. At the end of the round, I felt really locked in.”Sahith Theegala missed a bogey putt on the 18th green Sunday.Michael Reaves/Getty ImagesIt was the second time this year that Theegala had come close to earning his first tour victory. At the Phoenix Open in February, an unlucky bounce on the 17th hole of the final round led to a bogey that left him one shot short of qualifying for a playoff. That loss left Theegala in tears, but Sunday he was calm and measured in his analysis of the final sequences. He occasionally smiled, if wryly.“I played a lot of good golf all week, and I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing,” he said. “That’s the feeling I’m leaving with — a lot of positives.”Schauffele agreed with Theegala, in more ways than one.“He’s a really good player, and he just needs to keep knocking on the door until he breaks that thing down,” Schauffele said.He added: “There’s been a lot of talk about where golf is right now. Some say there’s a fracturing of our game, but the future’s bright.”With nine holes remaining on Sunday, Theegala was one of four golfers under 30 jockeying for the lead at the Travelers, one of the tour’s oldest events. The group included Michael Thorbjornsen, a 20-year-old amateur, and Poston, 29. Both were in contention to unseat Schauffele at the top of the leaderboard.Entering the closing holes, the duel between Schauffele and Theegala began to resemble match play, although Theegala was playing one group ahead of Schauffele, who was in the final group of the day.Theegala tied for the lead for the first time when he birdied the par-4 15th hole, and he took the lead outright by sinking an 11-foot birdie at the par-4 17th.As usual, the field at the Travelers was deep with top-ranked players, but this year was especially chock-full because the T.P.C. River Highlands golf course outside Hartford is only 105 miles from the Country Club outside Boston, which hosted last week’s U.S. Open.Poston, who entered the Travelers No. 162 in the men’s world rankings and has one career PGA Tour victory, in 2019, had a sparkling, six-under-par 64 on Sunday. Poston had three birdies on the front nine and three more on the back nine and did not have a bogey. It was his third top-10 finish in his last eight events.Thorbjornsen qualified for this year’s U.S. Open, which was held near his boyhood home of Wellesley, Mass., but he missed the cut last week. At the Travelers, he was sharp, with four rounds in the 60s, including a 65 in the second round. On Sunday, he eagled the par-5 sixth hole after knocking a fairway wood 260 yards to the green and leaving a tap-in putt for a three on the hole. Four birdies and two bogeys led to a four-under 66. 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