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    European Tour May Punish LIV Golfers, Arbitrators Rule

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    The decision by a panel in London was an early test for the Saudi Arabia-backed circuit, which is also facing legal battles in the United States.AUGUSTA, Ga. — Golf’s European tour may punish players who defected to the rival Saudi-financed LIV Golf series, an arbitration panel in London ruled in a decision released on Thursday, the first day of the Masters Tournament.With litigation in the United States possibly years from a conclusion, the panel’s decision about the European series, the DP World Tour, was the subject of immense anticipation and anxiety among players and executives. All sides saw it as a crucial test of whether long-established tours could easily discipline players who joined LIV, the league bankrolled with billions of dollars from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.The ruling in Europe will have no effect on the Masters, where 18 LIV players are in the field. But it was a blow to a rebel league that had hoped the days of tournament play would deliver a springboard to greater credibility, not renewed discussion about its appeal and risk to big-name pros.The decision is also likely to shape the European roster for the Ryder Cup, the wildly popular U.S.-vs.-Europe competition that will be held in Italy this fall. To be eligible for the European team, players must be members of the DP World Tour.The case before the arbitrators in London involved a narrow issue: the conflicting events policy of the DP World Tour, formerly known as the European Tour, which bars players from participating in certain tournaments without approval. In their ruling, announced after a five-day hearing in February, the arbitrators concluded that rebel players had committed “serious breaches” of the tour’s rules.The arbitrators found that the violations “increased the likelihood that commercial partners would be tempted to terminate or limit relationships with the tour.” Citing “the scale and importance of the potential harm” to the tour, the panel said that Keith Pelley, the tour’s chief executive, had “acted entirely reasonably” when he turned down the players’ requests to appear at LIV events.In a statement hours before the start of the Masters, Pelley embraced the ruling.“We are delighted that the panel recognized we have a responsibility to our full membership to do this and also determined that the process we followed was fair and proportionate,” Pelley said.LIV did not immediately comment on the decision.Even though the case dealt only with a specific tour policy, many sports lawyers predicted that its outcome could shape ambitions to create alternatives to marquee leagues, tours and federations. A victory for the tour, that thinking went, would lend fresh support to the kinds of rules leading sports organizers have created to protect their television rights agreements and market power. A ruling for the players might have encouraged athletes — and not just in golf — to weigh more seriously overtures from start-up leagues and competitions offering richer paydays.The subject has bubbled up repeatedly in recent years, with particularly fraught cases involving soccer, speedskating and swimming, and could become more common as athletes assert greater autonomy and as wealthy Persian Gulf states look to invest more heavily in sports. The women’s golf world, for example, has been rife with speculation that Saudi Arabia will eventually underwrite a women’s league similar to LIV, a competition that has fractured the men’s game.That split became conspicuous last June at a course near London, when longtime tour players like Ian Poulter, Charl Schwartzel and Lee Westwood appeared at LIV’s first event. The tournament offered early glimpses at just how much money golfers stood to make if they shunned traditional tours in favor of the Saudi-backed circuit: Schwartzel won $4.75 million at the three-day event, thanks to his individual and team performances. He had earned close to 17.7 million euros, or more than $19 million, over his tour career, where his first win was in 2004.Tour officials, wary of allowing individual golfers to undercut their multimillion-dollar television contracts and sponsorship arrangements, responded with suspensions and fines. Poulter, though, was among the players who won a stay of the punishments, pending the arbitrators’ ruling. This week’s decision ultimately covered 12 players — four others had abandoned their appeals — who competed in the LIV event in Britain or a subsequent one in the United States, a group that included Poulter, Westwood, Martin Kaymer, Graeme McDowell and Patrick Reed. Schwartzel and Sergio García were two of the players who had withdrawn from the case.García, Reed and Schwartzel, all of whom are past Masters winners, are among the LIV players competing this week in Augusta.LIV’s skeptics routinely see the circuit, with its 54-hole, no-cut tournaments, as promoting a diluted version of golf and as a way for Saudi Arabia to put distance between itself and its human rights record. LIV executives insist they are only trying to electrify and repopularize a sport they judge stagnant, and the league’s players, many of whom signed contracts that guaranteed them tens of millions of dollars, see themselves as independent contractors who should be free to compete when and where they choose.“There is no difference whether I’m on the PGA Tour or on LIV: I’ve always played two tours,” Reed said in a January interview at a DP World Tour event in Dubai, where he was wearing a LIV hat on a driving range. “So all these guys saying that you can’t basically double-dip, you can’t — What’s that cake phrase they love to use? Make your own cake and eat it, or something like that? — well, Rory, myself, all these guys have played on multiple tours.” (Rory McIlroy, a star of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour, has been among the most outspoken opponents of LIV.)In their decision, the arbitrators said pointedly that the independent contractor argument was “overplayed.”“Individual players have to accept some limitation on their freedoms inherent in tour membership,” the panel said. No player, the arbitrators noted, “suggested that he had given up his independence by signing up to onerous (albeit remunerative) obligations to LIV.”The tour, the arbitrators ruled, had not broken laws governing competition or the restraint of trade.“It is no part of competition law to require incumbents to offer no resistance — they are entitled to react and retaliate, even if dominant,” the panel added.The ruling by the arbitrators is unlikely to have a direct effect on the legal battles in the United States, where LIV and the PGA Tour are mired in bitter and expanding litigation. The American dispute will not go to trial before next year.The British newspaper The Times had reported on Tuesday that the arbitrators had ruled in the DP World Tour’s favor, triggering a wave of chatter around Augusta National’s grounds. With the text of the ruling then still unreleased, McIlroy largely deferred comment but said, “If that is the outcome, then that certainly changes the dynamic of everything.”If LIV players resign from the tour, their prospects of making the Ryder Cup team will vanish under the eligibility rules. Sticking around might not guarantee a place on the roster, either.“I can only do what I can do, and that is to play the tournaments I can play, try to play them the best way possible, and then everything else is out of my hands,” García said on Tuesday. “So the decisions if we can get picked or will get picked or anything like that, it’s not going to come down to me.”Instead, he said, his Ryder Cup fate could be settled by whether the European captain, Luke Donald, “thinks that I’m good enough. We’ll see.” More

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      Power to Punish LIV Golfers Faces a Legal Test in Europe

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      An arbitration panel will meet next week to weigh whether the European Tour may penalize the men who played on the Saudi-backed circuit.DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Many of the golfers had wandered away one afternoon last week, seeking lunch or refuge from the Emirati sun or something besides the monotony of a driving range.Ian Poulter, though, kept swinging, the consistency nearly enough to disguise that there is almost no professional golfer in greater limbo.Poulter, who has competed on the European Tour for more than two decades, is among the players who defiantly joined LIV Golf, the breakaway circuit bankrolled by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and faced punishment from the tour. Next week, almost eight months after the first rebel tournament, arbitrators in London will weigh the tour’s choice to discipline defectors.The case is a test for the golf establishment’s response to LIV, which has guaranteed certain players tens of millions of dollars to compete in a league that insists it is looking to revive golf but that skeptics view as a front to rehabilitate Saudi Arabia’s reputation. Executives and legal experts say, though, that the arbitrators’ decision could also ripple more broadly across global sports as athletes increasingly resist longstanding restrictions on where they compete and as wealthy Persian Gulf states look to use the world’s courses, fields and racetracks as avenues for their political and public-relations ambitions.“The impacts of this case are potentially tremendous across all of international sport,” said Jeffrey G. Benz, a sports arbitrator in London who is not involved in the golf case and noted how other leagues and federations have faced opposition to their efforts to stymie potential rivals.Although the issue that next week’s panel will consider is formally a narrow one, dealing only with the European Tour’s conflicting event policy, a ruling in favor of the players could embolden like-minded but wary athletes to plunge into the universe of cash-flush start-ups. A victory for the tour, marketed as the DP World Tour, would reinforce the kind of rules that marquee sports organizers have harnessed for decades to preserve market power. And whichever side prevails will assuredly tout victory as vindication for its approach to professional sports.“There’s the public opinion part, there’s the influence it might have on other athletes, there’s the influence it might have on other rich people who might think, ‘Hey, I’d really love to get into sports. Let’s put a group together and go attack name-the-sport,’” said Jill Pilgrim, a former general counsel for the L.P.G.A. who now teaches sports arbitration at Columbia Law School.“They’re watching all of this,” she added.Poulter has argued that playing with the new circuit was not all that different from the rest of a storied career dotted with appearances across tours.Lynne Sladky/Associated PressThe golf case began last June, when Poulter was among the European Tour players who played in a LIV Golf tournament without the tour’s permission. The tour, wary of undermining the rules that fortify its sponsorship and television-rights deals, responded with short suspensions and fines, modest penalties compared to the indefinite suspensions that the United States-based PGA Tour meted out.The players insist, though, that they are independent contractors and should have greater freedom to pick when, where and for whom they compete. An arbitrator paused the tour’s punishments last summer but did not rule on the substantive arguments that will go before this month’s panel. The arbitrators could announce their decision within weeks of the five-day, closed-door hearing, which will begin Monday.A Guide to the LIV Golf SeriesCard 1 of 7A new series. More

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      5 Players to Watch at the BMW PGA Championship

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      One of these golfers could win the tournament at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, England.Fresh off his comeback on Aug. 28 at the Tour Championship in Georgia, Rory McIlroy is a top contender at the BMW PGA Championship, which begins Thursday at the Wentworth Club in Surrey, England.McIlroy captured his third FedEx Cup title by completing the largest final-round comeback in the history of the Tour Championship. He will be a compelling figure at Wentworth, but here are five other players to watch.Shane Lowry plays a second shot on the tenth hole during the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August in Memphis.Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesShane LowryIreland’s Lowry has proved that the course suits him well. In his last five appearances at Wentworth, he has finished no worse than a tie for 17th. His best showing was finishing second to McIlroy in 2014.Lowry, 35, would have qualified for his first appearance at the Tour Championship if either Adam Scott or Aaron Wise had made a bogey on the 72nd hole at the BMW Championship on Aug. 21 in Delaware, but each made clutch pars to secure the final two spots.Lowry shot a 68 on Sunday at the BMW to finish in a tie for 12th but three-putted from about 65 feet for a bogey at No. 17. Ranked No. 23, Lowry has not won an event since he captured the 2019 British Open at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland.Justin Rose during a practice round at Southern Hills Country Club in May in Tulsa, Okla. He was once ranked at No. 1.Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesJustin RoseRose, 42, also hasn’t won since 2019 at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego. Once as high as No. 1 in the rankings, Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open champion, now stands at No. 58.In 18 PGA Tour events this season, he has recorded only two top-10 finishes, and his best finish was a tie for fourth at the RBC Canadian Open in June when he flirted with becoming the first European to shoot 59 on the PGA Tour. He ended up with a 60.His performance in the majors has been disappointing. He missed the cut in the Masters, tied for 13th in the P.G.A. Championship, tied for 37th in the U.S. Open and was unable to compete in the British Open with a bad back.But Rose has experienced some success at Wentworth. He finished second in 2007 and 2012. Last year, he tied for sixth.Francesco Molinari putts on the tenth green during the first round of the Memorial Tournament in June in Dublin, Ohio.Sam Greenwood/Getty ImagesFrancesco MolinariSimilar to Lowry and Rose, Molinari, 39, has had his moments in this event. In 2018, shooting a final-round 68, he won the BMW PGA Championship by two shots over McIlroy. He has recorded six top-10 finishes at Wentworth since 2012.In July 2018, Molinari captured the Quicken Loans National in Maryland by eight shots, closing with a 62, and three weeks later he won the British Open in Carnoustie, Scotland, by two shots, becoming the first Italian player to win a major.He missed a chance to win another major in 2019, when up by two at the Masters he found the water with his tee shot at No. 12 in the final round, which led to a double bogey. He finished in a tie for fifth.In this past season, he recorded only one top-10 finish in 17 appearances on the PGA Tour, missing the cut at the Masters and the U.S. Open. He tied for 15th in the British Open.Billy Horschel plays a second shot on the tenth hole during the second round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August.Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesBilly HorschelHorschel, who won the BMW last year, picked up his seventh PGA Tour victory in early June at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio, beating Wise by four strokes. He shot a 65 in the third round that put him up by five, and he finished the final round with an even-par 72.Horschel, 35, became only the second American to win the BMW. The first was Arnold Palmer in 1975, when the tournament was known as the Penfold PGA Championship. Horschel, now ranked No. 15, secured the win with an approach shot on No. 18 that came to a rest less than two feet from the cup. He converted the putt to finish with a 65 and a one-shot victory.England’s Lee Westwood during the first round of the British Masters in May. He was one of the first players to join LIV Golf.Paul Childs/Action Images Via ReutersLee WestwoodWestwood, 49, is one of more than a dozen players in this week’s field from LIV Golf, the new series financed by Saudi Arabia.Ranked No. 100, his best finish on the PGA Tour this season was a tie for 14th at the Masters. He missed the cut in the P.G.A. Championship and tied for 34th at the British Open.Westwood, a former world No. 1, has never won the BMW, although he came close in 2011, losing in a playoff to Luke Donald. Last year, Westwood finished in a tie for 71st. He said he planned to play four DP World Tour events in 2023. More

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      LIV Golf Is Drawing Big Names and Heavy Criticism in Oregon

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      As golfers arrive for the $25 million Saudi-backed tournament, a mayor, some 9/11 families, a U.S. senator and some Pumpkin Ridge club members have expressed outrage.NORTH PLAINS, Ore. — The Saudi government-backed LIV Golf Invitational series arrives in the United States on Thursday as it continues to roil a genteel sport with a slogan that promises, “Golf, but louder.” Except this is probably not the kind of noise its supporters had in mind.There is vehement opposition by some to holding the three-day tournament at the Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, about 20 miles northwest of Portland. The disapproval has come from politicians, a group of 9/11 survivors and family members, club members who have resigned in protest and at least one outspoken club board member. Critics have decried what they describe as Saudi Arabia’s attempt to use sports to soften the perception in the West of its grim human rights record.Portland is the first of five LIV (a Roman numeral referring to the 54-hole format) tournaments to be held in the United States this year. The newly formed tour, with its lucrative prize money and eight-figure participation fees, has quickly become a threat to the long-established PGA Tour as marquee players such as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka have joined the Saudi endeavor.The Portland tournament will take place as local fury still simmers from the 2016 death of Fallon Smart, a 15-year-old high school student who was killed while crossing a Portland street by a driver traveling nearly 60 miles an hour. A Saudi community college student, facing felony charges of manslaughter and hit and run for Smart’s death, removed a tracking device and disappeared before trial, returning home apparently with the assistance of Saudi officials.Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, has been insistently seeking justice for Smart and beseeching the White House to hold the Saudis more accountable. He has criticized the LIV golf tournament, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, as an attempt to cleanse the country’s human rights reputation, a tactic known as sportswashing.Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon said the Saudis could not have picked “a more insulting and painful place to hold a golf tournament.”Jason Andrew for The New York Times“No matter how much they cough up, they’re not going to be able to wash away” that reputation, Wyden said in an interview. Referring to Smart’s death, he added, “The Saudis could not have picked a more insulting and painful place to hold a golf tournament.”Teri Lenahan, the mayor of tiny North Plains, population 3,440, has signed a letter with 10 other mayors from the area objecting to the LIV tournament, though they acknowledge they cannot stop it. Some members of Pumpkin Ridge have resigned in protest.Some family members and survivors of the 9/11 terrorist attacks have planned a news conference for Thursday to discuss what they called the golfers’ “willing complicity” to take money from a country whose citizenry included 15 of the 19 hijackers.Critics of the tournament note that American intelligence officials concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, ordered the killing and dismemberment of the dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018; that 81 men were executed in Saudi Arabia in a single day in March, calling into question the fairness of its criminal justice system; and that Saudi women did not receive permission to drive until 2018 after a longstanding ban and still must receive permission from a male relative to make many decisions in their lives.“I really felt it was a moral obligation to speak out and say we cannot support this golf tournament because of where the funds are coming from to support it,” Lenahan said in an interview. “The issue is the Saudi government publicly executed people, oppresses women and considers them second-class citizens. And they killed a journalist and dismembered him. It’s disgusting.”Escalante Golf, a Texas firm that owns the Pumpkin Ridge course, did not respond to requests for comment.The LIV tournament will go on, playing out against a backdrop of realpolitik. As a candidate, President Biden vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah” for the murder of Khashoggi. But Biden will travel to Saudi Arabia in mid-July, seeking, among other things, relief from the oil-rich kingdom for spiking gasoline prices in the United States.In truth, the issue of human rights frequently takes a back seat to financial and marketing concerns in the realm of international sports. China, for instance, was named to host the Winter Olympics in 2022 and the Summer Games in 2008. And the N.B.A. does robust business there. A recent ESPN report said the league’s principal team owners have more than $10 billion invested in China.Greg Norman, the golfing legend who is the face of the LIV series, recently claimed that the PGA Tour had 23 sponsors doing more than $40 billion worth of business in Saudi Arabia, saying in an interview on Fox News: “The hypocrisy in all this, it’s so loud. It’s deafening.”Greg Norman, above, chief executive and commissioner of LIV Golf, spoke at the LIV Golf Invitational welcome party, right, in Portland, Ore.Chris Trotman/LIV Golf, via Getty ImagesJoe Scarnici/LIV Golf via Getty ImagesThere have been clumsy moments in support of the Saudi involvement in golf. When asked about Khashoggi’s killing last month at a promotional event in the United Kingdom, Norman said, “Look, we’ve all made mistakes.”The creation of the LIV tour has resurfaced longstanding questions about athletes’ moral obligations and their desire to compete and earn money.Speaking generally, Wyden, who briefly played college basketball, said the Saudi approach is “really part of an autocratic playbook.” He continued: “They go in and try to buy everybody off, buy their silence,” figuring that “something somebody is going to be upset about on Tuesday, everybody’s going to forget about on Thursday.”The Portland tournament will feature $25 million in prize money, including $5 million for team play and $4 million to the individual winner.At news conferences here, golfers acknowledged the financial attraction of the LIV tour. And they said they respected various opinions about their involvement. Some played down human rights issues, while others, like Sergio García and Lee Westwood, said they felt golf could be a force for good.A Quick Guide to the LIV Golf SeriesCard 1 of 5A new series. More

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      How to Grip a Putter: 9 Ways the Pros Use

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      The claw. The two thumbs. The alternative reverse overlap. Every golfer at this week’s Masters Tournament has a preferred way to putt and a reason for doing it.AUGUSTA, Ga. — Accurate putting is widely considered the most pivotal golf skill, and the most intractable. While golfers generally hold their clubs the same way for a full swing, when it comes to rolling a little white ball into a hole roughly four inches wide, even the best players in the world contort their hands and arms into exotic grips to calm their nerves and foster consistency.Here are nine ways that top golfers at this week’s Masters Tournament try to solve the eternal puzzle of putting:Lee WestwoodThe ClawDoug Mills/The New York TimesLee Westwood: The ClawPopularized about 25 years ago, the claw grip, in right-handed golfers, features a right hand that does not merge with a stabilizing left hand at the top of the putter, as was done in conventional grips for decades. The right hand branches out on its own, with the putter pinched claw-like between the thumb and forefinger, which can purposely make the right hand more passive in the stroke.Bryson DeChambeauThe Arm LockDoug Mills/The New York TimesBryson DeChambeau: The Arm LockA college physics major whose early nickname on the PGA Tour was “the mad scientist,” DeChambeau was ranked 145th in putting on the PGA Tour until he converted to the arm-lock method and improved his putting ranking to 28th. It’s all about keeping the proper angles: DeChambeau turns his elbows outward in opposite directions and his wrists inward. Simple.Jordan SpiethThe Left-Hand LowDoug Mills/The New York TimesJordan Spieth: The Left-Hand LowThe left-hand low grip is likely the most widely used nontraditional way to grip the putter for right-handed golfers. It puts the left hand below the right hand and in an authoritative position to control the path of the putter head instead of a golfer’s dominant right hand. Interestingly, in Spieth’s case, he is naturally left-handed even though he plays golf right-handed.Matt WallaceTwo ThumbsDoug Mills/The New York TimesMatt Wallace: Two ThumbsWallace has his palms facing each other with both thumbs on the top of the putter shaft and the index fingers placed along opposing sides of the putter. In theory, this creates symmetry and permits the hands to hang straight down, rather than one above the other in a conventional grip. The shoulders remain level, which makes it easier to develop a (sometimes) preferred pendulum putting motion. Also known as the prayer grip.Phil MickelsonLefty ClawDoug Mills/The New York TimesPhil Mickelson: Lefty ClawMickelson is right-handed in most things he does other than golf, and his right hand, with a pointed index finger (sometimes called a pencil grip), becomes the top part of his version of the claw grip. The left hand is in the guiding position. Mickelson values the claw because it makes it easier to have “a longer, smoother stroke” on the fast greens of the Masters and tour events.Tiger WoodsThe Reverse OverlapDoug Mills/The New York TimesTiger Woods: The Reverse OverlapAlthough Woods is not at this year’s Masters, a photo from the 2020 tournament shows Woods using what is perhaps the most common putting grip in golf. He has rarely strayed from the revered reverse overlap. His left forefinger lies across the right hand, settling between the third and fourth fingers. Woods says the best part of the grip is the unity it brings to both hands.Brooks KoepkaAlternative Reverse OverlapDoug Mills/The New York TimesBrooks Koepka: Alternative Reverse OverlapKoepka, a four-time major champion, has adapted the reverse overlap by extending his right forefinger rather than curling it around the shaft. One intended advantage of this style is that the angle of the right wrist can remain the same through the stroke so that the putter face does not waver open or closed and cause an inconsistent ball path.Adam ScottLong Putter ClawDoug Mills/The New York TimesAdam Scott: Long Putter ClawScott is the only Masters champion to have used the older version of a long putter, which could be anchored against the chest. Revised rules forbid the top of the putter touching the body frame, but Scott has adjusted with a right-hand low claw grip. He also tends to leave the flagstick in the hole while putting, which is not common.Justin RoseModified ClawDoug Mills/The New York TimesJustin Rose: Modified ClawRose likes to think of his left arm as the driving force of his stroke, and he frequently practices putting with his left hand only. His version of the claw has his two right fingers over the top of the shaft instead of resting on the side. Asked why he prefers this grip, Rose had the most basic, succinct answer of all: “It feels simpler.”

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      Justin Thomas Surges to Win the Players Championship

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyJustin Thomas Surges to Win the Players ChampionshipThomas, who entered the final round Sunday three strokes behind the leader, won his 14th career title on the PGA Tour.Justin Thomas held off Lee Westwood and Bryson DeChambeau to win the Players Championship.Credit…Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesMarch 14, 2021, 9:09 p.m. ETPONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — It was evident early that the final round of the Players Championship might not unfold as expected when Bryson DeChambeau took one of his trademark mighty swipes and barely made contact with the top of his golf ball, which nose-dived and skittered into a pond roughly 100 yards away.Next, on the same tee, was Lee Westwood, who was leading the tournament and predicted to duel DeChambeau, who was in second place after the first three rounds, throughout Sunday afternoon. Westwood hit a slice so crooked it would have warmed the heart of the everyday hacker. Westwood’s ball plunked into a different pond than DeChambeau’s, but the tone for the day was undeniably cast.Playing in the pairing ahead of DeChambeau and Westwood, Justin Thomas was not aware of the travails going on behind him. But he had a studied understanding.“I’ve watched this tournament for years,” Thomas said, “and I know lots of crazy things can happen.”Thomas began the last round three strokes behind Westwood but passed him, and DeChambeau, to take the tournament lead with an eagle on the 11th hole. From there, as his rivals wobbled, he was steady, especially when he birdied the 16th and made gritty pars on the two treacherous closing holes at the TPC-Sawgrass course.On a day of unforeseen ups and downs, Thomas’s consistency led to a one-stroke victory and another noteworthy title, his 14th on the PGA Tour. Thomas, 27, has also won a P.G.A. Championship and the 2017 FedEx Cup playoffs.“I was bold when I had to be — I took risks,” Thomas, who finished the tournament at 14-under par, said afterward. “But I was also patient when things didn’t go exactly as planned because you knew it was going to be that type of day.”The victory also was a respite in a stormy year for Thomas, the second ranked golfer in the world.In January, a television boom microphone caught him muttering a homophobic slur to himself after a short missed putt at the Sony Open. Thomas apologized immediately and has not shied from the consequences, which included a social media outcry and the loss of his clothing sponsor.In February, his 89-year-old paternal grandfather, Paul, a P.G.A. professional with whom Thomas talked daily, died. Later that month, Tiger Woods, who has become one of Thomas’s closest friends, was seriously injured in a car crash.Since the crash, Thomas has stayed in almost daily contact with Woods, including on Sunday when Woods wished Thomas luck before the final round. In his last four tournaments this year, Thomas had seemed distracted and turned in poor results, especially for a player of his recent pedigree.“It’s been a bad couple of months,” Thomas said after Sunday’s victory. He added: “I told my family I’m ready for something good to happen this year. I’d say this qualifies.”Thomas was in danger of missing the cut with nine holes remaining in his second round on Friday, but he rallied with four birdies on the back nine to earn a spot in the last two rounds. He began Sunday with seven consecutive pars on a warm but mostly windless day in northeast Florida. Though the conditions were benign, they still did not lead to many low scores on the devilish Pete Dye-designed layout. Thomas, whose closing 36-hole score of 12 under par was a tournament record, vaulted to the top of the leaderboard with birdies on the ninth, 10th and 12th holes — along with his eagle on the par-5 11th hole.Lee Westwood finished second for the second consecutive tournament.Credit…Sam Greenwood/Getty ImagesWith DeChambeau and Westwood, the top two finishers at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, trailing but not totally out of the picture, Thomas came to the par-5 16th hole needing a daring strike. For his second shot from the fairway, Thomas hit a gutsy 5-wood that curled onto the 16th green from 228 yards. It was Thomas’s first attempt at an eagle putt in his career on the golf course’s 16th hole, which he did not make from 46 feet. But he tapped the ball in for a crucial, timely birdie.“I was proud that I took some chances that paid off,” Thomas said.A second successive second-place finish did not leave Westwood, who will turn 48 in April, dejected. He appeared at a news conference with a wide smile.“I’m just having so much fun — everybody keeps telling me how old I am,” Westwood said, laughing. “I’m still out here contending for tournaments and playing in final groups with great players.”DeChambeau said he had never hit a shot in competition like his knuckling mis-hit off the tee on the fourth hole Sunday, but he was not overly dispirited either.“I don’t know what happened on four — that’s the game and I’m OK with it,” DeChambeau said. “Still smiling after. It just seemed like something wasn’t going my way today for some reason. I could just feel it. It was weird.”Thomas, despite the outcome, was not without at least one moment of fear that one of his shots might find a water hazard at an inopportune time. His drive off the 18th tee landed only a few feet from the large pond to the left of the fairway.“I thought it was 50-50 whether it was going to be dry or in the water,” Thomas said of the shot, which ricocheted to the right, away from the hazard, on its first bounce.He continued, “When you win tournaments, you get lucky breaks like that.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Bryson DeChambeau Keeps the Crowd Riveted at the Players Championship

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyBryson DeChambeau Keeps the Crowd Riveted at the Players ChampionshipThe question of whether the big-hitting DeChambeau would pull out his driver seemed as compelling as the actual competition.Bryson DeChambeau played a shot from near the 12th hole back to the 14th as fans looked on at the Players Championship on Friday.Credit…Kevin C. Cox/Getty ImagesMarch 12, 2021, 8:54 p.m. ETPONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Throughout the second round of the Players Championship on Friday, an entertaining crew of the world’s best golfers vied for the tournament lead. But for several hours, most fans were transfixed by a different matter: Whether Bryson DeChambeau would hit a prudent iron or take a mighty lash with his driver on hole after hole.In this recurring drama, it seemed as if most of the roughly 10,000 spectators permitted on the spacious grounds of the T.P.C. Sawgrass golf course were packed behind DeChambeau as he stood on a tee box and deliberated how to best attack a par-4 or par-5. The tension was palpable, and the fans hushed when DeChambeau moved toward his golf bag.As DeChambeau explained later, if he ultimately pulled an iron from the bag, the response was a crestfallen bellowing, as if the crowd had seen a child’s just-bought ice cream cone fall and splatter on the ground.“It’s always like a big ‘Awwww’ for an iron,” DeChambeau said after his round on Friday.And if he tugged his mammoth driver from the bag? Think climatic movie scene in which a hero finally vanquishes the villain.“If it’s the driver, it’s like, ‘Yeah!’ ” DeChambeau said with a hearty grin.It has come to this on the PGA Tour, and perhaps it is not a surprise. Winning golf is entertainment, but it’s no match for a dose of swashbuckling charisma mixed with the sight of a golf ball smashed as far as 380 yards.The DeChambeau era in men’s professional golf continues with resounding impact. After Friday’s round, Rory McIlroy, a four-time major championship winner who missed the cut, blamed trying to play too much like DeChambeau for his poor performance.While hitting towering drives, DeChambeau, the reigning United States Open champion, also shot a three-under-par 69 on Friday that put him at six under for the tournament and only three strokes behind the second-round leader, Lee Westwood. Play was suspended Friday evening because of darkness, with a small number of players unable to finish their second rounds.DeChambeau, who defeated Westwood in a final-round duel last weekend to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational, is clearly buoyed by the fans’ attention. Their energy seems to inspire him, though he might not hit the driver as often as they would like on the tight T.P.C. Sawgrass layout. Between shots, he freely, and warmly, banters with the crowd.“They always ask how many protein shakes I’ve had, which is funny,” he said, “and I always reply back with however many I’ve had that day, for the most part.”Protein shakes are a staple of the diet that helped DeChambeau gain 40 pounds last year, although he has slimmed down by at least 15 now. As an explanation, DeChambeau said he had consumed only four shakes by Friday afternoon, or about half his intake four months ago.While DeChambeau hit several exceptional drives and approach shots on Friday, finishing with five birdies and a double-bogey, he was disappointed by his ball striking and headed to the practice range shortly after his round. He was still there pounding balls three hours later.Asked if he ever comes off the golf course satisfied and skips the post-round practice, DeChambeau, 27, blurted: “Never. Because my brain is — I mean, I’m a perfectionist, and I’ll continue to be so until the day I die and until the day I stop playing this game. That’s just the way I am. I love it about me.”He smiled and added, “But at the same time it makes me worry about stuff a lot.”DeChambeau at the ninth tee. He hit several exceptional drives Friday.Credit…Jasen Vinlove/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThough DeChambeau once again cast a large shadow on a PGA Tour event, he was far from the only golfer making news.Viktor Hovland, the ascending 23-year-old who is ranked 13th in the world, missed the cut on Friday in part because his mother, who was watching the tournament at home in Norway, noticed a rules violation that he had committed in the first round and called it to his attention later. Her intervention led to a two-stroke penalty.Hovland finished Friday at two over for the tournament, or two strokes above the cut line. He received the penalty for inadvertently playing his ball from the wrong place on the 15th green in the first round on Thursday.As is custom, Hovland had moved his ball out of a competitor’s putting line. But then he failed to replace it in the proper spot, although he did not move it closer to the hole or gain any apparent advantage.According to the NBC broadcast of the Players Championship on Friday, Hovland received a call from his mother after the first round and then contacted PGA Tour officials, who reviewed video of the incident and verified Hovland’s mistake.“It’s unfortunate; I’ve already kind of put that past me,” Hovland said calmly after shooting 74 on Friday. “I’m just more disappointed that I wasn’t able to play better.”Hovland was not nearly as disconsolate as McIlroy, who shot 75 on Friday after a glaring 79 on Thursday. Like so many others at this year’s Players Championship, McIlroy had DeChambeau on his mind, and he believes trying to keep up with DeChambeau’s prodigious distance has led to his recent subpar play.Late last year, after DeChambeau’s U.S. Open victory, McIlroy, already one of the longest hitters on the tour, altered his swing in an attempt to add even more yardage to his drives.“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t anything to do with what Bryson did at the U.S. Open,” McIlroy said. “I think a lot of people saw that and were like, ‘Whoa, if this is the way they’re going to set golf courses up in the future, it helps.’”McIlroy now considers that a mistake.“I thought being able to get some more speed is a good thing,” he said. “And maybe — to the detriment a little bit of my swing — I got there. But I just need to maybe rein it back in a little bit.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      With Reminders to ‘Play Boldly,’ Bryson DeChambeau Wins Arnold Palmer Invitational

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyWith Reminders to ‘Play Boldly,’ Bryson DeChambeau Wins Arnold Palmer InvitationalDeChambeau had counsel in the form of an old letter from Palmer and texts from Tiger Woods as he won his first tournament of the year on Sunday.Bryson DeChambeau putting on the red cardigan awarded to the winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The sweater had been a signature Palmer garment.Credit…John Raoux/Associated PressMarch 7, 2021, 9:33 p.m. ETORLANDO, Fla. — After sinking a testing five-foot par putt on the 18th hole to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational here on Sunday evening, Bryson DeChambeau said he had received a text message from Tiger Woods that morning.“We just talked about keep fighting no matter what,” DeChambeau said, “and play boldly like Mr. Palmer said. My heart has been heavy with Tiger and what’s going on with him. And I kept telling myself it’s not how many times you get kicked down but how many times you get back up and keep going.”Wearing a red cardigan, a signature Palmer garment that is presented to the tournament champion, DeChambeau said the sweater was a tribute to Palmer, who died in 2016, and to Woods, who has won the Palmer Invitational eight times. Woods is recuperating in California from leg injuries sustained in a serious car crash on Feb. 23.“Just knowing what place he’s in right now,” DeChambeau said of Woods, adding that he told him, “You’re going to get through this.”The final round Sunday featured a duel between DeChambeau and Lee Westwood, who must have been feeling a displaced sense of déjà vu.Westwood, 47, was once the young, barrel-chested strongman whose forearms propelled soaring iron shots into the sky. Westwood’s power game turned heads, and led to scores of tournament victories, a world No. 1 ranking and 10 Ryder Cup appearances.But on Sunday, Westwood played the role of the aging challenger to a beefed-up modern version of his former self in DeChambeau, 27. They had a stirring clash until the final hole, but ultimately, Westwood did not turn back the clock as DeChambeau, whose consistency is underrated, steadily held off Westwood for a one-stroke victory.Westwood has admired DeChambeau’s prodigious length off the tee, which became a sensational story line of the 2020 golf season. “It’s great to watch,” he said. “I like it. He can overpower a golf course.”DeChambeau trailed Westwood by one stroke entering the final round, and promptly fell back another stroke with a bogey on the first hole. But three holes later he had tied Westwood, and by the pivotal, par-5 sixth hole, which has been a stage for DeChambeau to showcase his unmatched power throughout the weekend, he seemed to seize the momentum with a memorable birdie in what had become a two-man competition for the tournament title.As he had done in Saturday’s third round, DeChambeau took a radically aggressive line off the sixth tee by taking the most direct approach over a lake that required a 340-yard carry to keep the ball dry. DeChambeau’s tee shot sailed a little right but it still cleared the water and, with help from the wind, traveled 377 yards that left him just 88 yards away from the pin. The next closest tee shot to the green on the sixth hole on Sunday was more than 200 yards away.DeChambeau bested Lee Westwood in a two-man race for the title.Credit…Sam Greenwood/Getty ImagesAfter his misstep on the first hole, DeChambeau made 15 pars and two birdies for a round of one-under-par 71, putting together an impressive exhibition of concentration and good course management on a day when the wind was gusting up to 25 miles an hour and vexing most of the field.DeChambeau also made critical, reasonably long par-saving putts on the second, third and 11th holes. On the fourth hole, he sank a 37-foot birdie putt. Afterward, DeChambeau said he does not believe he gets enough credit for his putting ability because his booming drives overshadow it.“It’s a very underrated aspect of my game,” DeChambeau said.Corey Conners, who began the day tied with DeChambeau, finished third. Jordan Spieth had another strong tournament, one of a series of improved performances for him this year, but finished Sunday’s round with a 75 to fall into a tie for fourth place.The victory was DeChambeau’s eighth on the PGA Tour and the first for him this year, which will signal to the rest of his rivals that his breakthrough season of a year ago was far from a fluke. DeChambeau had 10 finishes in the top 10 at tournaments last year, including a victory at the United States Open, his first major championship.But he said the victory at the Palmer Invitational was particularly emotional for him because Palmer had mailed him a congratulatory letter one week before he died. DeChambeau has framed the letter and hung it on a wall in his home office.“I don’t even want to say what winning at Mr. Palmer’s event is going to mean to me,” DeChambeau said Sunday evening. “It’s going to make me cry.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More

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      Five Golfers to Watch at Abu Dhabi

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      AdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyFive Golfers to Watch at Abu DhabiThe field seems impressive, and Lee Westwood is back to defend his title.Lee Westwood won the tournament last year and also was the European Tour’s Player of the Year.Credit…Mike Egerton/Press Association, via Associated PressJan. 20, 2021, 5:00 a.m. ETThe European Tour will start its new season this week with the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club in the United Arab Emirates. The tour will have 42 events in 24 countries, capped in November by the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai.The HSBC championship, which has been held at the same course every year since 2006, is one of four tournaments in the Rolex Series.Here are five players to watch:Rory McIlroyMcIlroy, 31, of Northern Ireland, is due. His last victory came at the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai in the fall of 2019. It was the same year he captured the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup for the second time.The Abu Dhabi course certainly appeals to McIlroy, who finished second in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015. He hasn’t played in the event since 2018, when he tied for third.Last year wasn’t one of McIlroy’s best. He recorded a number of very good rounds, but the problem was being able to put four of them together in the same week.Rory McIlroy at the Masters last year.Credit…Jamie Squire/Getty ImagesA good example was the Masters in November. Over the last three days, McIlroy shot 66, 67 and 69, one stroke lower in that span than the champion, Dustin Johnson. McIlroy, however, had started the tournament with a three-over 75. It was simply too much ground to make up.McIlroy, who was ranked No. 1 in the world before the pandemic, hasn’t won a major since 2014. Currently No. 6 in the rankings, he can achieve the Grand Slam with a victory in April at the Masters.Justin ThomasThomas, 27, ranked No. 3 in the world, will be playing for the first time in Abu Dhabi. He is one of the favorites every time he tees it up. He won three tournaments last season on the PGA Tour and now has 13 victories in his career.About two weeks ago, at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, Thomas finished third, shooting a final-round 66. His most costly mistake came when he bogeyed No. 17, as he finished one shot out of the playoff between Harris English and Joaquin Niemann.Justin Thomas at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.Credit…Cliff Hawkins/Getty ImagesThomas’s strong play at the tournament was overshadowed by his use of an anti-gay slur after missing a putt. He later apologized.In his three previous European Tour starts, his best finish was a tie for eighth at the 2018 HNA Open de France.Lee WestwoodWestwood, the defending champion and European Tour Golfer of the Year in 2020, is still quite capable at the age of 47.In last year’s event at Abu Dhabi, he held off Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood and Victor Perez to win his 25th European Tour victory. The wins have come in four separate decades.Westwood, the former No. 1 player in the world, will also have an opportunity this week to improve his chances of qualifying for the 2021 Ryder Cup, which will be held in Wisconsin.He has been a member of the European team 10 times, starting in 1997, and only Nick Faldo has appeared in more matches.A blemish in Westwood’s career is the lack of a major championship. He has come close with nine top-three finishes. In the 2019 British Open he finished in a tie for fourth.Westwood has been an excellent ball striker for many years. His short game, however, has not been at the same level.Tommy FleetwoodFleetwood, who turned 30 on Tuesday, has had a great deal of success at the Abu Dhabi course. He won the event in 2017 and 2018 and tied for second in 2020.Fleetwood, No. 19 in the world rankings, is also still chasing his first major title. He has been in contention on several occasions. In the 2018 United States Open, he fired a final-round 63 to finish one shot back of the winner, Brooks Koepka.In 2020, Fleetwood finished four times in the top three. Nonetheless, he knows the year could have been much better.“There are areas of my game where I felt I struggled,” he said. “My long game wasn’t up to the standard I feel it has to be.”Tommy Fleetwood at the Masters last year.Credit…Patrick Smith/Getty ImagesEven so, making the Ryder Cup team is well within his sights.The event, Fleetwood said, “is something you never want to miss again.” Fleetwood was 4-1 for the European team in 2018.Another goal is making it to Tokyo.“The Olympics is an occasion that I want to experience and represent my nation,” he said.Matthew FitzpatrickFitzpatrick ended the 2020 season with a striking victory at the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai. Tied for the lead heading into the final round, he birdied five of the first seven holes, prevailing by a shot over Westwood. It was his sixth European Tour triumph and first since the 2018 Omega European Masters.The win in Dubai couldn’t have come at a better time. In his prior 10 tournaments, he’d missed four cuts.“It was definitely great to get another win under my belt after so many second-place finishes over the last two seasons,” Fitzpatrick said.“I think any win or good result gives you some confidence, so hopefully I can carry the momentum into 2021. I’d say on the weeks leading up to the event I did some great swing work with my coach, Mike Walker, and that definitely showed.”Matthew Fitzpatrick at the BMW P.G.A. Championship in October.Credit…Paul Childs/Action Images, via ReutersOver the years, Fitzpatrick, No. 17 in the world, has revised his view of the Abu Dhabi course.“When I first came out on the European Tour, I kind of thought that it didn’t suit my game,” he said. “My perception of it was that it was a bomber’s paradise, but since then it’s kind of proved my theory wrong.”AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More