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    Masters 2024: Five Players to Watch

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    Among them are golfers who have won the event before and have a good chance to do it again.No golfer has repeated as the champion of the Masters Tournament, which begins on Thursday at Augusta National Golf Club, since Tiger Woods successfully defended his crown in 2002.Such is the challenge facing Spain’s Jon Rahm, who closed with a 69 last year to secure his second major title. He also won the 2021 United States Open.Rahm, who signed with LIV Golf in late 2023, will be one of the favorites.Here are five other players to watch:Scottie SchefflerThe strong favorite will be Scheffler, who is so precise from tee to green. When he is making putts, as he’s been doing lately, he seems unbeatable.Ranked No. 1 in the world, Scheffler turned in a six-under 66 in the final round to capture the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month. One week later, he shot an eight-under 64 to rally to win his second consecutive Players Championship, which no player had done since the tournament — considered the unofficial fifth major — began in 1974.The true test of his greatness, however, will depend on how he fares in the official majors. Scheffler, 27, who tied for second in March at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, has one major title, the Masters in 2022.Jon Ferrey/Liv Golf/LIVGO, via Associated PressBrooks KoepkaKoepka, 33, made a run at the green jacket last year before faltering with a final-round 75 to tie for second, four strokes behind Rahm.The next month, he took the P.G.A. Championship, his fifth major. One more and he’ll match the total of Phil Mickelson, Lee Trevino and Nick Faldo.Koepka said his inability to close the deal at Augusta National last year helped pave the way for his win at the P.G.A.“I think failure is how you learn,” he told reporters at the P.G.A. “You get better from it. You realize what mistakes you’ve made.”Doug Defelice/LIVGO, via Associated PressPhil MickelsonWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Mistrust Looms Over PGA Tour as Deadline for Saudi Deal Nears

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      Rancor within the tour’s board could shape decisions about the final agreement and influence the sport for decades to come.The PGA Tour is less than three weeks from a deadline to finalize a deal with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund that it promised would transform professional golf into a global powerhouse and quiet years of acrimony.But acrimony clearly remains.The plan’s outline called for combining the moneymaking businesses of the PGA Tour, the venerable American circuit; and LIV Golf, the upstart league flush with billions of dollars in Saudi investment. The deal’s announcement on June 6, though, was short on the basics, including a total valuation and even modest support from many players. Six months later, unrest and mistrust are still pervasive inside the PGA Tour, as players, board members and senior executives struggle to repair ties after secret talks that led to the Saudi deal surprised even many in the boardroom.“Since June 6, trust has been broken at the top level,” Adam Scott, who turned professional in 2000 and now chairs the tour’s Player Advisory Council, said in an interview this week. “Nothing has changed to reinstate that trust.”Mr. Scott, the winner of the 2013 Masters Tournament, will assume a seat on the PGA Tour’s board next month. When he does, he will join a group that has lately felt splintered, as players on the board have repeatedly clashed with some outside directors. The rancor may not derail any deal, since many players are open to significant outside investment. But their frustrations with tour leaders — over both the secretive nature of how the deal came together and a feeling that players do not have a strong enough say in how the sport is run — could shape decisions about the details and the future makeup of the tour’s board, influencing golf for decades to come. Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour commissioner, said at the DealBook Summit last month that players “ultimately are going to be responsible for the deciding vote.”The deal would give the wealth fund a significant stake in American golf as Saudi Arabia pours money into sports to try to shore up its reputation around the word. It faces headwinds outside the golf world, with the Justice Department prepared to scrutinize any arrangement for antitrust violations and senators digging into the tour’s ties to Saudi Arabia, and tour officials have spoken for months with potential American investors.The tour and Saudi Arabia’s wealth funds set a Dec. 31 deadline to finalize their deal, though the sides can extend their talks.A spokesman for the tour declined to comment.The tentative deal with the wealth fund, which came after the tour long insisted that LIV Golf was merely an attempt by the Saudi government to distract people from its human rights record, provoked an uprising among players, many of whom had spurned LIV’s lucrative payouts. The negotiations’ clandestine nature also fueled the anger. The tour sought to curb the revolt in August, when it agreed to add Tiger Woods to the board, evening the count between the golfers and outside directors at six each. And it vowed that the merchant banker Colin Neville, who had already been brought in to advise the players, would “be fully aware of the state of the negotiations.”Mr. Woods’s addition was a boon to the players, who figured his swagger and savvy would give their side more heft in the boardroom. It did. But Mr. Woods’s ascendance did not alter certain realities like, for instance, the voting thresholds required to make significant changes. As expected, it also did not dislodge the two directors who secretly negotiated with the Saudis: the board chairman, Edward D. Herlihy, a partner at the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and James J. Dunne III, vice chairman of the investment bank Piper Sandler.“I’ve learned that any great board, you need disagreement in order to get to the best solution, and we’ve had many disagreements this year — even the players have had disagreements,” said Webb Simpson, the winner of the 2012 U.S. Open and a member of the tour’s board. “But we’re trying to all get to a better place.”Although tour membership is limited to a fraction of the world’s finest golfers, the players have only so much influence over the appointments of outside directors to the board. That has long frustrated many players, who felt they were put in a subservient position to the independent board members. Worsening the atmosphere, a director many players saw as a good-faith collaborator, the former AT&T chief executive Randall Stephenson, resigned after the Saudi deal was announced. (Two players were on a committee that recommended Mr. Stephenson’s successor, Joseph W. Gorder.)Charley Hoffman, also a board member, said many players want more “accountability” from the board.Harry How/Getty ImagesCharley Hoffman, a longtime player who sits on the board, said he thought “the independents have the best interests of the players” in mind. But the tour’s structure ultimately limited players’ sway over their tour, he and others said, a particular sore point after the Saudi deal.“The word I hear echoing throughout the membership is ‘accountability,’” Mr. Hoffman said.Amid this scrutiny, the tour is considering bringing in additional U.S. investors alongside the Saudi wealth fund, which would assure investment in the tour before what could be a prolonged regulatory review of the Saudi deal. The tour said Sunday that it had entered talks with Strategic Sports Group, an investment group led by Fenway Sports Group — the parent company of the Boston Red Sox, the Liverpool Football Club and, years ago, Mr. Monahan’s employer.Fenway would inject $3.5 billion into a newly formed for-profit company that would have a valuation of up to roughly $12 billion, according to two people familiar with the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private financial matters. Those terms, like most things with the deal, remain in flux.The announcement last week that the Saudis had recruited Jon Rahm, the world’s third-ranked player, to LIV disappointed and unnerved tour loyalists. It also fueled a surge in infighting, most prominently displayed in a Sports Illustrated article that depicted the golfer Patrick Cantlay as having outsize control over the tour’s destiny. Mr. Cantlay, the article said, “seemed more concerned about catering to elite golfers like himself” and suggested he was the leader of a group “driving negotiations.”Mr. Cantlay is the player on the board with the highest spot in the Official World Golf Ranking (fifth), but other directors downplayed the notion that he was in charge.“He just likes to think deep and see if there’s anything under the rocks that can improve the organization for everyone,” Mr. Hoffman said.Jordan Spieth recently replaced Rory McIlroy on the board.Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesJordan Spieth, a past winner of the British Open, the Masters and the U.S. Open who sits on the board, confessed to bemusement over accounts of Mr. Cantlay as a distinct power center. He thought Mr. Cantlay’s inquisitive, insistent style and vision had unsettled some people inside the tour hierarchy.“He’s challenged people who have been in a position to not be challenged for a long time, and I think that’s upset them,” Mr. Spieth said. “Because he comes from a place of trying to enforce some change where change is inevitable, but kind of do it in a way where the players have a massive role in how it looks, that challenges the status quo and makes him a target.”Mr. Cantlay said his approach to the role had not changed since June 6 and that, “in general, my mentality is just to put my head down and try to get the work done.”Mr. Stephenson is not the only director to have left. The superstar Rory McIlroy resigned last month. Although his replacement, Mr. Spieth, is a well-liked tour stalwart with a record of board service, the turnover has stoked unease.“The dynamic has been shook, obviously,” Mr. Scott said, adding, “The reasons don’t even really matter — at a critical time, that is not ideal.”Some board members believe that once a deal is done, tensions could ease almost automatically, especially if the board’s composition changes.“When we all go back to hitting golf shots and doing what we actually know how to do,” Mr. Hoffman said wryly, “this will all slow down.” More

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      Phil Mickelson Has Best Final Round in 30th Masters Appearance

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      Mickelson, who withdrew from last year’s Masters Tournament as he took criticism for joining LIV Golf, earned a measure of redemption from fans by finishing in a tie for second place.AUGUSTA, Ga. — When Phil Mickelson was introduced on the first tee Thursday to begin his 30th appearance at the Masters Tournament, he was greeted by muted, faint applause. All the members of the renegade, Saudi-backed LIV Golf circuit in the field were being treated roughly the same during the opening round. Not shunned, just not welcomed.It was a form of the silent treatment and as Mickelson walked down the first fairway Thursday, he was surrounded by a corridor of fans who hardly made a sound.On the 18th green late Sunday afternoon in the final round of the 2023 Masters, Mickelson sank a twisting, downhill putt for birdie and twice pumped his left fist as he went to retrieve the ball. He was barking something to himself but it was inaudible because the thousands of fans enveloping the green were on their feet roaring their approval. Soon, the gallery was chanting: “Phil.”Mickelson, who would finish tied for second at eight under par, waved to the crowd and smiled broadly, perhaps understanding better than anyone how much had changed in four days.The palpable undercurrent to this year’s Masters, the sport’s most watched tournament and the initial men’s major of the year, was the first head-to-head match between the LIV rebels and the pros aligned with the entrenched PGA Tour at the venerable Augusta National Golf Club, which in every way epitomizes traditional golf. Mickelson has always been the headliner of the defectors, and he took the brunt of the heat for turning his back on the established golf world last year — so much so that he voluntarily withdrew from the 2022 Masters.Mickelson tied for second with Brooks Koepka, whom he plays with on the LIV Golf circuit.David J. Phillip/Associated PressAnd now, after his best final round ever at the tournament, Mickelson, the three-time Masters champion, was being feted as if nothing had changed, with delirious cheers.As his playing partner Sunday, Jordan Spieth, said afterward: “It felt very much like eight, nine or 10 years ago.”Spieth also played well on Sunday, shooting 66 to Mickelson’s 65, and he had firsthand experience of what it was like to play with Mickelson years ago.“I’ve played with him three or four times on Sunday here,” Spieth, who finished in a three-way tie for fourth at seven under par, said. “And I didn’t feel a whole lot different than those times.”That is the most meaningful takeaway of this year’s Masters. A LIV player may not have won during the four days at Augusta National but they did not lose, as many expected. The reception Mickelson received proved that many golf fans are not drawing lines in the sand over this golf feud.The LIV-affiliated golfers took three spots in the top 10, including Brooks Koepka matching Mickelson. Twelve of the 18 entrants made the cut. For a week at least, the embarrassingly low television ratings this year for LIV events in the United States seemed less significant. The conversation about LIV’s relevance was altered for a week, led by Mickelson. There will now be fewer assertions that LIV’s 54-hole events are merely exhibitions that do not prepare players for major competitions. Mickelson, 52, certainly showed plenty of stamina and panache for the final round on Sunday. Moreover, he predicted before the tournament that he was “about to go on a tear.”Since Mickelson had not played especially well during his LIV tenure, not many in the golf world took that prediction seriously.“It just reaffirms that I knew I was close and have been hitting quality shots,” Mickelson said after Sunday’s round. “This doesn’t feel like a fluke. I didn’t make loose swings at an inopportune time. I stayed very present and calm throughout, then executed and had a blast.”Mickelson was smiling, even beaming. He understood the moment as he stood in front of the Augusta National clubhouse wearing the logos of the LIV team he captains — the HyFlyers — on his hat and a breast of his black pullover.“Like this is so much fun,” he said. “Again, we’re all grateful that we’re able to play and compete here.”Mickelson, playing in the second round, had not played well on the LIV Golf tour, but said he was confident going into the Masters.Mike Blake/ReutersHe added a subtle, yet cheeky and revealing, comment — what else would you expect from a Phil Mickelson news conference? — that was made plainly accurate by his performance and those of others in LIV’s wing of professional golf.“I think it’s tremendous for this tournament to have all the best players in the world here,” he said with another grin. “It means a lot.”Mickelson is correct. For now at least, his performance and that of his brethren within LIV made a statement at the 2023 Masters. For one, the civil war on the fairways and greens that was envisioned didn’t materialize. The golfers from both tours got along. OK, maybe not every LIV representative was as welcome as the likable Cameron Smith, but some of those LIV guys weren’t well liked back when they were on the PGA Tour.In the end, what the four days at the Masters proved is that the LIV circuit is not going anywhere. That is not necessarily a positive development for the expanded community of golf fans because it means tournament fields, except at the majors (for now or until some exemptions for LIV golfers expire) will be diluted and missing some big names — on both sides.The cheers were real for Mickelson late Sunday, and understandable. But maybe in some subconscious way those ovations signaled what golf fans are missing — the whole gang back together again. More

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      The 5 Players to Watch at the Masters

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      An impressive Scottie Scheffler is in good position to repeat, and Tiger Woods is capable of making another run.The best players in the world will assemble again this week at Augusta National Golf Club for the first of the year’s four major championships.Will a marquee name come through and add to his legacy? Or will an unheralded player emerge? It’s happened before at the Masters Tournament and will likely happen again.Here are five players to watch.Scottie SchefflerScheffler, 26, the defending champion and No. 1 player in the world, is on quite a roll.He has ended up in the top four in four of his last five starts, including two victories. The one occasion he didn’t record a high finish was in February when he tied for 12th at the Genesis Invitational in Pacific Palisades, Calif.His performance in last month’s Players Championship was especially impressive. He seized a two-stroke advantage with a seven-under 65 on Saturday. On Sunday, Scheffler made five consecutive birdies starting at the eighth hole to pretty much put the tournament away.“I knew the conditions were going to get really hard late,” he said, “and I did a really good job of staying patient and not trying to force things.”Scheffler was in position for another win two weeks ago at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Texas before he fell to Sam Burns. If he were to prevail again at Augusta, he would become the first consecutive champion since Tiger Woods in 2002.Tiger WoodsRyan Kang/Associated PressTiger WoodsSpeaking of Woods, how can he possibly not be someone to keep a close eye on?As he’s made clear, from here on we’re likely to see him at only the four major championships and perhaps another tournament here and there. Which is similar to the type of limited playing schedule Ben Hogan maintained after his car accident in 1949. Woods, 47, has played in only one event, the Genesis Invitational. He tied for 45th.It might be easy to assume Woods won’t be a factor this week.It might also be a mistake.In 2019, he surprised the golfing world by winning his fifth green jacket, second to the six won by Jack Nicklaus. And if there is anyone who knows Augusta National, it would be Woods.One of the keys will be how the leg he injured in a car accident in 2021 holds up. He started last year’s Masters with a more than respectable 71 before ending up in a tie for 47th.However he fares, it will be fascinating to watch.Rory McIlroyMike Mulholland/Getty ImagesRory McIlroyEvery year, it becomes more difficult to comprehend how McIlroy, one of the most talented players in the game, has failed to pick up a major title since the 2014 P.G.A. Championship.The Irish star was 25 when he prevailed that year by a stroke over Phil Mickelson. The victory gave him four majors.He is now 33.It looked like the drought might end in last year’s British Open.Heading into the final round, he was tied with Viktor Hovland, both up by four over Cameron Smith. Except McIlroy recorded only two birdies on Sunday, while Smith had eight in firing a 64. McIlroy, who could manage no better than a 70, finished third, two shots back.A victory at Augusta would make him the sixth player to capture the career grand slam (winning all four majors) the others being Ben Hogan, Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen. He would also atone for what happened in the final round of the 2011 Masters. Up by four strokes entering the day, he fell apart with an 80.With his talent, McIlroy is destined to win another major sooner or later.Jordan SpiethDustin Safranek/USA Today Sports, via ReutersJordan SpiethSpieth, 29, is another star who has experienced a drought in the majors that wasn’t expected.Go back to the summer of 2017 when Spieth, 23 at the time, rallied to win the British Open. That gave him three majors.He’s still stuck at three.Each round seems to provide an assortment of errant shots and magical recoveries. How he will fare from day to day, from shot to shot, remains a mystery.Spieth has played some of his finest golf at Augusta National. Since he captured the title in 2015 with a record-tying score of 18-under 270, he has finished three times in the top three (2016, 2018 and 2021).He will also have the calendar working in his favor. On Easter Sunday in 2021, Spieth won the Texas Open. On Easter Sunday last year, he won the RBC Heritage in South Carolina.The final round of the Masters this year falls on Easter.Jason DayRichard Heathcote/Getty ImagesJason DayDay, from Australia, is looking more and more like his old self, and now he’s coming back to a course where he has enjoyed success.A former No. 1 player in the world, Day, 35, has finished in the top 10 in five of his last six starts. At the match play event, he defeated four opponents before Scheffler rallied to knock him out in the quarterfinals.Still, it was another encouraging week.“It was a great step in the right direction,” Day said. “It opens my eyes to the fact that I have a few things I need to work on, short-game-wise, putting-wise.”Day has been plagued by health issues over the years, and he has won one major, the P.G.A. Championship, in 2015. At the Masters, he tied for second in 2011 and finished third two years later.He is trying to become the second player from his country — the other was the 2013 champion, Adam Scott — to win at Augusta National. More

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      2023 Masters: Fred Couples Talks About Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy

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      Jordan Spieth is looking for his first major victory since 2017, and the weather forecast for the Masters Tournament is becoming less encouraging.AUGUSTA, Ga. — One of the pleasures of the Masters Tournament can be finding Fred Couples, the 1992 winner, in an expansive mood.And so it was on a particularly brisk Monday, after he had played part of the course with Tom Kim, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. Few players have had as many close looks at Woods in recent years: The men routinely play practice rounds together, with Couples filling a role approximating that of court jester. And even if his analyses sometimes prove off the mark, they can be telling glimpses of Woods’s potential.“He’s strong enough to hit it a mile,” Couples said of Woods. “He’s not hitting it as far as Rory — I don’t think many people are — but he’s hitting it really strong and solid, and he looks good.”Woods has played only four rounds of tournament golf this year, logging an average driving distance of 306.3 yards, about 20 yards behind McIlroy. But the challenge for Woods, as ever these days after the car wreck that nearly cost him a leg in February 2021, is walking 72 holes over four days of competition. Asked Monday whether Woods was moving differently from the way he had around this time last year, Couples replied, “Probably not.”“The leg — I guess this is what it is,” he continued. “I don’t know how much better it’s ever going to get.”Woods and Couples talk as they walk along the 14th fairway.Doug Mills/The New York TimesBut Couples did not talk exclusively about Woods. In McIlroy, who is seeking a victory at Augusta to complete a career Grand Slam, he sees a player with all of the potential in the world to capture a green jacket.“Is it surprising he’s never won this?” he said. “Of course it is, the way he plays and the way he putts and how high he hits it and how far he hits it. But it’s not that easy.”And not long after he had drawn headlines for bashing LIV players — Phil Mickelson was a “nut bag” and Sergio García a “clown” — Couples said he had merely wanted them to avoid criticizing the PGA Tour.“They don’t bother me,” he said. “They really don’t. They’re golfers. I’m a golfer. I respect them all. On my show, I’ve told everyone Sergio is one of the top 10 players I’ve ever seen hit a ball, but if he’s going to make comments about the tour that I play, I’m going to make a comment back — and if it’s offensive, I apologize, but they’re on another tour. Go play and have a good time.”Jabs aside, he was not bothered by their invitations to the Masters: “I think they deserve to be here.”— Blinder‘It’s definitely not going to be on any nutritionist’s plan.’Scottie Scheffler, the defending Masters champion and the world No. 1.Doug Mills/The New York TimesNearly all of the living Masters winners (as well as Fred S. Ridley, Augusta National’s chairman) are expected to convene Tuesday evening for their annual dinner. Scottie Scheffler, the reigning champion, picked the menu and will pick up the tab.The appetizers include cheeseburger sliders and firecracker shrimp. A tortilla soup will be on offer, and guests can pick between a Texas rib-eye steak — Scheffler, after all, is essentially a product of Dallas — and blackened redfish. Side items include macaroni and cheese, jalapeño creamed corn and brussels sprouts, and the dessert will be chocolate-chip skillet cookies topped with milk-and-cookies ice cream.The menu’s development began with a conversation among Scheffler; his wife, Meredith; and Blake Smith, his agent. The trio kicked around Scheffler’s favorite foods and narrowed the list before consulting with an Augusta National chef to nail down the menu.“It’s definitely not going to be on any nutritionist’s plan,” Scheffler said last month. “But we’re going to have fun. We’re going to eat some good food.”The menu should appeal to plenty of former winners, a traditional bunch that has sometimes been alarmed by selections like haggis (Sandy Lyle) and kidney pie (Nick Faldo). Some were skeptical in 2001, when they arrived to a Vijay Singh-commissioned menu of Thai delicacies.“I’m sure Charlie Coody didn’t try anything,” Tommy Aaron, the 1973 winner, recalled of the 1971 victor. “I had never had Thai food, and it was fantastic.”But the dinners, Aaron said a few years ago, always feature one practice: “They pour that wine like it’s going out of style.”— BlinderEvery day is like Sunday.Jordan Spieth, a PGA Tour golfer who won the Masters in 2015.Doug Mills/The New York TimesFirst-time visitors at the Masters tournament are always obvious. For starters, they tend to walk slowly with their eyes wide. As famed as Augusta National Golf Club is, to a newcomer parading around the grounds, the landscape is a bevy of surprises that no television broadcast — however technologically advanced and exhaustingly thorough — can grasp.For example, every Masters first-timer is stunned that the vertical drop from the 10th tee to the 10th green is a stunning, and difficult to traverse, 85 feet. It’s one of many discoveries. And as Jordan Spieth, the 2015 Masters champion, said on Monday, even veteran players know that there may be another revelation awaiting them each time they arrive at the site of the tournament.Players fret and worry that their games may not be ready for the exacting test that awaits.Taking note of a packed practice range on Monday, Spieth waved a hand toward the scene and said: “Have you ever seen this many people practicing this hard on a Monday? Typically, you take Monday off.”Annual tweaks to the course, like the substantial lengthening of the 13th hole this year, only add to the tension. As Spieth added: “You know, you’re just anxious. More anxious than nervous.”Asked if the mental preparation for the tee shot on the pivotal first hole tended to change considerably from Thursday’s welcoming opening round to Sunday’s tense final, Spieth shook his head side to side. “I don’t feel that it changes,” he answered.He continued: “It’s one of the only places it doesn’t change for me, regardless of the position I’m in. It feels like it’s a Sunday — a first tee shot in contention each day.”— PenningtonCameron Smith arrived with trepidation.Cameron Smith, a LIV golfer and the 2022 British Open champion.Andrew Redington/Getty ImagesIt’s not just golf fans and reporters who have been wondering how the stalwarts of the PGA Tour and the renegade LIV golfers would get along when having to mingle at the Masters tournament for the first time this week. Cameron Smith, who bolted for the Saudi-backed LIV circuit a month after winning last year’s British Open, conceded on Monday that he had approached the Augusta National Golf Club practice area with trepidation.“I really wasn’t sure what to expect walking onto the range, but it was good to see some familiar faces and a lot of smiles,” Smith said with a wide grin. “It was just a really nice experience.”But Smith, who is hardly known for pointed remarks, also insisted that the 18 LIV golfers in the 88-player 2023 Masters field were intent on having a visible presence at the top of the leaderboard when at the tournament’s conclusion. And, he said, the LIV cohort is aware of the shade that has been thrown its way by its one-time colleagues on the PGA Tour.“It’s just important for LIV guys to be up there, because I think we need to be up there,” Smith said on Monday. Referring to the occasional derisive comments directed at the LIV circuit by PGA Tour players, officials or members of the golf media, he added: “I think there’s a lot of chatter about how these guys don’t play real golf; these guys don’t play real golf courses. For sure, I’ll be the first one to say, the fields aren’t as strong. But we’ve still got a lot of guys up there that can play some really serious golf.“I think we just need a good, strong finish.”Smith was also asked about whether the LIV golfers had discussed having a joint celebration on the 18th green if one of them were to win this year’s Masters, which was suggested recently by Greg Norman, the LIV Golf Commissioner.“There definitely hasn’t been a conversation with me — I definitely got left out of that one,” he said, laughing. “I guess we’ll see how the week unfolds. For sure, I’d love to see one of us guys get up to the top of the leaderboard and really give it a nice shot.”Lastly, Smith, whose world golf ranking has slipped to sixth from second at the end of the 2022, reiterated that he had no regrets about joining LIV Golf.“I’ve made my bed, and I’m very, very happy where I am,” he said.— PenningtonKeep an eye on the weather.There’s a good chance for rain at Augusta National on the weekend.Doug Mills/The New York TimesYes, it is early in the week. Yes, weather forecasts can change. But no, the outlook for this week is not great. The team assembling forecasts for Augusta National has pegged the chances of rain at 60 percent or higher on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.“Shower and thunderstorm chances increase Thursday afternoon as a weak frontal boundary approaches,” the tournament said in one of its official forecasts on Monday. “The front is expected to stall to the south Friday into Saturday with a northeast wind pushing much colder air into Georgia. Waves of upper-level energy moving along the front are forecast to produce periods of rain that could be heavy at times through Sunday.”All of that scientific speak could make this Masters a delight for Rory McIlroy, who has sometimes thrived in abysmal weather at major tournaments, and a nightmare for the organizers.The Masters last had a Monday finish in 1983, when Seve Ballesteros won his second green jacket. That year, the second round — the Friday round — did not end until 8:30 a.m. on Sunday.But Augusta National is accustomed to dealing with poor weather more recently. If a round is upended in the coming days because of inclement conditions, this will be the fifth consecutive year in which tournament organizers have had to grapple so explicitly with meteorological misfortune.— Blinder More

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      Postcard From Phoenix: A Day Inside Sport’s Party Vortex

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      SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The wind was whipping like a blender working overtime on a margarita Thursday morning, and the more than 17,000 people bellied up to the 16th hole at the Phoenix Open acted as if it were last call.If you want cemetery-like quiet, kneel politely before the golf gods at the Masters’ “Amen Corner.”This is the People’s Open, and the 16th is the loudest hole on the rowdiest stop on the PGA Tour. Jon Rahm, a U.S. Open champion, says the decibels have risen exponentially from year to year.The 16th hole at the Phoenix Open is the loudest hole on the rowdiest stop on the PGA Tour.“Very few sporting events in the world can comfortably happen in the same week as the Super Bowl and still have the impact that they have like this one,” Rahm said. “With that said, I don’t think it’s everybody’s favorite — I think either you love it or hate it. There’s no in between. With my case, I love it.”The tournament is an annual destination for fans who refuse to bow to stuffy golf etiquette and, for that reason, the fairways at the T.P.C. Scottsdale course are lined with younger and rowdier attendees than anywhere else in golf. With the Super Bowl in town, golf’s party capital was not only supercharged, but it also helped the 91-year-old tournament sell out its second- and third-round tickets for the first time.Nate Orr, a lawyer, traveled from Kansas City with his friends Jared Kenealy and Micheal Lawrence. They’re Chiefs season-ticket holders who sprung for Super Bowl seats on Sunday, but found themselves in a box on the edge of the 16th green, where they watched golf balls ricochet off the panels beneath them and trickle into sand traps.Dive Deeper Into Super Bowl LVIIThe God of Sod: George Toma, 94, has been a groundskeeper for all 57 Super Bowls. On Sunday, his perfectionism will be on display for millions of people who will have no idea who he is or how he suffers for his work.Philadelphia Swagger: After surviving a disastrous introductory news conference, an ill-chosen flower analogy and his “Beat Dallas” motivational shirt, Nick Sirianni has transformed the Eagles, and maybe himself.Inside a Kansas City Oasis: Big Charlie’s Saloon is a South Philadelphia bar with a bit of a conundrum: how to celebrate Kansas City’s Super Bowl berth without drawing the ire of locals.Halftime Show: The nearly four-year gap between Rihanna’s live performances will close when she takes the stage at the Super Bowl. During her hiatus, the stakes for her return have only grown.“Bucket list stuff,” said Lawrence, an executive at a nonprofit.From left: Jared Kenealy, Nate Orr, Stephanie Orr and Micheal Lawrence inside their suite on the 16th green.Doug Mills/The New York TimesThe crowd was just as rough on the celebrities who competed in the Pro-Am on Wednesday, including the Olympic great Michael Phelps.Tony Finau, the world No. 13, was greeted like a gladiator at the so-called coliseum hole after knocking his tee-shot 16 inches from the flag. When he sunk the gimme for a birdie, the crowd roared as exuberantly as they had in Arrowhead Stadium last month when Harrison Butker booted the game-winning field goal that landed Kansas City in Sunday’s Super Bowl.Rory McIlroy was booed for merely backing off his ball as the wind gusted.When Jordan Spieth, ranked No. 17, yanked his five-or-so-foot birdie putt, however, the boos reached a crescendo. How to describe the crowd’s ardor? Imagine Eagles fans greeting Chip Kelly’s return. It was that venomous.The Phoenix Open sold out tickets for the tournament’s second and third rounds this year, a first.Autograph-seekers waited on the 16th tee box during the hole-in-one competition on Wednesday.The crowd skews younger than at any other PGA Tour event, in part because of the access to pros.Chants of “Go Chiefs” and “Fly Eagles Fly” were part of the tournament’s already-booming soundtrack as football fans were among those in the long lines of people waiting to secure seats in the Coliseum’s general-admission grandstand.The crowd was just as rough on the celebrities who competed in the Pro-Am on Wednesday. The Olympic great Michael Phelps, the retired Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald and Carli Lloyd, a former soccer star of the United States Women’s National Team, were announced at the tee box with D.J. music, but they were razzed and roared at as they made their way to the green.The pro golfer’s bags in the “bag room.”Hideki Matsuyama dove to the ground to catch a scorecard that was blown out of his hand on the 12th green.Name another hole where it can rain suds and thunder beer cans as it did last year when Sam Ryder aced the 16th in the third-round to set off a delirious celebration that halted play for 15 minutes so volunteers could pick up the cans.Alas, aluminum cans inside the Coliseum were banned this week and replaced with plastic cups.Where else are gallery members enlisted to remove a boulder as they were in 1999 so Tiger Woods could get a clear shot at the green. It took a dozen of them, and the blessing of a rules official, but after a few heave-hos Woods got his birdie.Enclosed from tee to green by a grandstand that reaches three stories, an army of aggressive and clever beer vendors helped lubricate the crowd on Thursday.“I got a Coors with your name on it — What’s your name?” went one’s singsong mantra.Unlike the golfers they came to watch, patrons of the People’s Open do not even have to make it through all 18 holes. The Birds Nest, a party tent near the course’s entrance, starts throbbing in late afternoon as tournament goers get ready to dance into the night to performances by Machine Gun Kelly and the Chainsmokers.Yes, the Phoenix Open has its charms. Ask McIlroy.“If I wasn’t a player and I wanted to come to one PGA Tour event,” he said after shooting 2-over in his opening round, “this would probably be the one that I’d want to come to.”The 16th green from the top level of the grandstands. More

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      Tiger Woods Limps Through a Disappointing Round at PGA Championship

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      Woods could make only wry jokes after a painful and disappointing first round at the P.G.A. Championship.TULSA, Okla. — Tiger Woods has a good sense of humor, though it is rare for him to use it in a public setting. But at 46, he is evolving. What was once unthinkable for him — playfully mocking his poor play on the golf course — is one of his new, winsome tools.On Thursday, six weeks after his stirring comeback at the Masters Tournament, Woods returned to competitive golf in the first round of the P.G.A. Championship. After a blazing start with two early birdies, Woods was limping a little on his right leg, which was surgically reconstructed after multiple serious fractures sustained in his horrific car crash early last year. A couple of holes later, Woods was limping a lot, even sometimes using a golf club like a cane to ascend or descend hills.Not surprisingly, his score soon reflected his infirmity as he shot a four-over-par 74 with seven bogeys in his final 13 holes. After he had hobbled to a rostrum for a news conference, he was asked about his rebuilt leg.“Yeah, not feeling as good as I would like it to be,” he said with a smile. Woods added that he could not put weight on his right leg in his backswing — known as loading — and he also struggled to push off his leg on the downswing, too.“Loading hurts, pressing off it hurts, and walking hurts and twisting hurts,” he said.Woods then deadpanned: “It’s just golf. If I don’t play that, if I don’t do that, then I’m all right.”“Loading hurts, pressing off it hurts, and walking hurts and twisting hurts,” Woods said.Michael Madrid/USA Today Sports, via Reuters“We’ll start the recovery process and get after it tomorrow,” he added, predicting that his evening would include ice baths and myriad efforts to reduce inflammation in his right leg.Tiger Woods’s Lasting Impact and Uncertain FutureThe star golfer, one of the most influential athletes of the last quarter-century, is mounting a comeback after being badly injured in a car crash.The 2022 Masters: After saying that he would step back from competitive golf, Tiger Woods teed off at Augusta once again.Four Days That Changed Golf: When Woods won the 1997 Masters, he remade the game and catapulted himself to stardom.A Complicated Legacy: Our columnist looks back at Woods’s stunning feats and shocking falls.His Enduring Influence: Even when Woods is not playing, his impact on the sport can be felt at a PGA tournament.And so, Woods’s ongoing return to elite golf is following the bumpy, irregular progression that even he forecast before the Masters when he said he expected a series of good days and bad days.“It’s a process,” Woods said.Part of that process, as Woods acknowledged on Tuesday, was that his right leg and his ailing back, which has been operated on five times, no longer allowed him to practice for long periods of time, which had been routine for him since he was a kindergartner. While watching Woods play on Thursday, it was easy to wonder if some of his troubles on the golf course were related to a lack of preparation off it, especially for someone like Woods who was once renowned for exhausting work habits.For example, one of Woods’s playing partners Thursday was Rory McIlroy, who is the first-round leader after a five-under-par 65. McIlroy successfully navigated the tricky sloping greens of the Southern Hills Country Club with deft chipping, bunker play and deadly accurate putting.Woods’s short game was once probably his greatest strength, but on Thursday it let him down repeatedly. Moreover, Woods appeared uncomfortable, or unsure, over those shots, which was startling. Woods with a wedge or a putter in his hands had always been commanding and cocksure.But on the sixth hole that Woods played Thursday, when he was still two under par for the round, he was in a greenside bunker with a fairly straightforward shot to the pin, which was 23 feet away. Shockingly, he blasted his shot 21 feet past the hole and made bogey.Three holes later, playing the 18th hole because his group began its round on the 10th tee, Woods was in another greenside bunker and again thumped his ball 20 feet past the hole for a bogey. Even after Woods rallied for a birdie three holes later, another bunker shot on the next hole sailed over the green and led to yet another bogey.Woods looked exasperated, and as often happens to any golfer, missteps in one facet of the game led to a lack of execution in another part of part of the game as Woods failed to convert several long- or medium-range putts. Keep in mind that some people think Woods was the greatest pressure putter of golf’s modern era.Asked about his difficulties from the sand, Woods said: “Yeah, all the bunker shots sort of came out hot.”Tiger Woods playing from the bunker near the eighth green during the first round of the P.G.A. Championship.Michael Madrid/USA Today Sports, via ReutersBut his bunker play was not the only way Thursday’s round seemed uncharacteristic for Woods. For more than 25 years, Woods was known as an aggressive golfer, and he all but invented the bombing-it-off-the-tee-with-a-driver style that has overtaken the sport.But on Thursday, as McIlroy and the third golfer in the grouping, Jordan Spieth, launched drivers far down the fairway, Woods was hitting long irons and playing for position. Sometimes he was more than 60 yards behind McIlroy off the tee, although as Woods later said, not being able to push off his right leg caused him to slice shots to the right.“I wouldn’t have been so far back if I would have hit the iron shot solid and put the ball in the fairway,” he said. “I was playing to my spots, and those guys obviously have a different game plan. The game is just different. It’s much more aggressive now, and I know that. But I was playing to my spots. If I would have hit the ball solidly on those two holes and put the ball in the fairway, I would have been fine.”He continued: “But I didn’t do that. I put the ball in the rough.”The smile that Woods brought to the beginning of his news conference was dissipating. The golf comeback that seemed unlikely only 15 months ago would continue Friday, Woods said. But before he walked away with a noticeable, lurching limp, Woods had a last comment.“It was a frustrating day,” he said. More

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      Tiger Woods Is on the Course at the P.G.A. Championship

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      In his first tournament since the Masters in April, Woods finished his first nine holes at even par but ended the round at a disappointing four over.Tiger Woods returned to a major championship on Thursday, and after a good start, things started to go awry.Playing in a star-studded group with Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, Woods finished at four over par at the P.G.A. Championship. McIlroy was the early clubhouse leader at five under.Playing at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., where he won the 2007 P.G.A. Championship, Woods at first showed few obvious signs of the severe leg injuries he sustained in a car crash in February 2021. Toward the end of his first nine holes, he appeared to start limping a little more.And though he got down to two under in the early going, his second-nine performance was poor.Woods had returned to the majors at the Masters last month after missing more than 500 days of top-flight golf following his crash. His one-under opening round raised the echoes of the past, but he struggled the rest of the way, making the cut but finishing 47th. At that tournament, he was limping and seemed to struggle to crouch fully to line up putts.Woods started on the 10th hole Thursday, and birdied it with a 3-foot putt after a flawless chip. He birdied the 14th as well with a 15-footer. But he found the rough and a bunker on 15 and could not get up and down, falling back to one under.On the 18th, a difficult hole, he found a greenside bunker with a poor iron shot and missed a 20-foot putt to fall back to even.That started a poor stretch, and he made two more bogeys, at No. 1 — a tee shot into the rough behind a tree was the culprit — and at No. 2, where he knocked a long putt from the fringe 10 feet past and missed the comebacker.Woods struck back with a birdie on No. 3, making a 10-foot-plus putt that got his big gallery going. But he gave that right back with a bad bunker shot on No. 4, which rolled over and off the green. He wound up with another bogey.He dropped another stroke on 8, finding a bunker on the challenging par 3, then blowing the next shot far past the hole and failing to make the long putt back.On the ninth, he seemed to get lucky when his tee shot caromed off a tree and landed in the fairway. But his second shot flew over the green, and he flubbed the chip, not reaching the green. Two more shots, and he had another bogey. More

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      P.G.A. Championship: Jordan Spieth Aims for Career Grand Slam

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      And why not? After a couple of years of uncharacteristically mediocre play, he sees an opportunity at the P.G.A. Championship to complete a career Grand Slam.TULSA, Okla. — Sixteen months ago, Jordan Spieth spent long stretches during post-round news conferences answering questions about what was wrong with him.Or what was missing from his once prized golf game.The world’s top-ranked men’s player for much of 2015-16 and the winner of three major championships in roughly the same period, Spieth had tumbled to 92nd in the world rankings by January of last year. His best finish at a 2020 major had been a tie for 46th.In this time, Spieth handled the almost weekly inquisition about whether he would ever regain his form with poise and sincerity. For the most part, he kept his smile. But that smile is far wider now. With a rally in 2021 that included a second-place finish at the British Open and a surge this year that has included a 13th PGA Tour victory and two second-place finishes, Spieth has climbed back into the top 10 worldwide.On Wednesday, one day before the first round of the 2022 P.G.A. Championship, Spieth met with reporters and happily spent most of his time answering questions about whether he might achieve a measure of golfing immortality this week.Jordan Spieth chipped to the green on Wednesday while practicing for the P.G.A. Championship in Tulsa, Okla.Matt York/Associated PressOnly five golfers — Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods — have won each of the game’s major championships. With victories at the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open, Spieth, 28, needs only a P.G.A. Championship title to join that gilded group.“It’s the elephant in the room for me,” Spieth said Wednesday with a small grin. “If you told me I was going to win one tournament the rest of my life, I’d say I want to win this one. Long term, it would be really cool to say that you captured the four biggest golf tournaments in the world that are played in different parts of the world and different styles, too. So you feel like you kind of accomplished golf when you win a career Grand Slam.”Tiger Woods’s Lasting Impact and Uncertain FutureThe star golfer, one of the most influential athletes of the last quarter-century, is mounting a comeback after being badly injured in a car crash.The 2022 Masters: After saying that he would step back from competitive golf, Tiger Woods teed off at Augusta once again.Four Days That Changed Golf: When Woods won the 1997 Masters, he remade the game and catapulted himself to stardom.A Complicated Legacy: Our columnist looks back at Woods’s stunning feats and shocking falls.His Enduring Influence: Even when Woods is not playing, his impact on the sport can be felt at a PGA tournament.Accomplished golf? As in mastered it? That’s an almost celestial ambition in a sport that keeps almost all of its devotees cruelly grounded on a regular basis. But Spieth can be forgiven. When his game was in an abyss, he endured many months muttering to himself as he marched off the tee on his way to the high rough. And no golfer mutters to himself so systematically, indeed professionally, with the zany zeal that Spieth exhibits.Even with his golf ball sailing straight and farther now, Spieth has not stopped his frequent self-commentary on the golf course, always with his forbearing caddie, Michael Greller, the former sixth grade math teacher, nodding silently as he walks alongside his boss.Greller’s role should not be underestimated given Spieth’s active brain (and mouth). Spieth acknowledged as much Wednesday.“I’ve been trying to really have some fun more, and Michael does a good job with that,” Spieth said. “If I wake up tomorrow a little on the wrong side of the bed, as we all do, he’ll try and talk to me about something other than golf. He’ll step in, and having kind of a friend on the bag that can keep it light can sometimes turn things in that direction.”Jordan Spieth handed a club to his caddie, Michael Greller, during a practice round leading up to the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club in April.Gregory Shamus/Getty ImagesSpieth will be tested in other ways in Thursday’s first round. He will play with Woods and the four-time major champion Rory McIlroy, a grouping that is likely to be followed by about 70 percent of the tens of thousands of fans on the grounds at Southern Hills Country Club. The atmosphere will be charged, and because a golf gallery does not remain seated as at other sporting events, it will become more like a noisy, chaotic, ever-moving wave.But Spieth, whose wife, Annie, gave birth to the couple’s first child, a son, Sammy, in November, had a different take.“I’ll get to tell my kid about this someday — I got to play with Tiger in a major,” Spieth said.He added that he had done it before, but as he acknowledged Woods’s near-fatal car crash in February 2021, he added: “Last year, you weren’t sure if that was ever going to happen again.”Spieth did concede that the massive crowd could be a distraction, but one he has gotten used to. When he nearly won the Masters as a 20-year-old and finished first at the tournament a year later, in 2015, Spieth attracted some teeming crowds himself.“Sometimes, when the crowds get big enough, it’s kind of just a color blur in a way,” he said. “But Tiger and Rory are great to play with. They’re quick. They’re positive. I think you have to embrace it and recognize that it’s cool and it’s obviously great for golf.”The grouping might even be a blessing, Spieth said, as a way to keep his mind off the opportunity to achieve the career Grand Slam of major championships.“If I can play well these next couple days, given the crowds that will be out there, then I think the weekend might actually feel a little like a breather in a way,” he said. “So that’s how I’m looking at it.” More