In golf (and most other sports), when the tournament is over so is your opportunity to get the results changed because of a potential rules violation. If Felipe Massa has his way, that won’t be the case in Formula 1 racing. The Brazilian driver was caught up in the famous “Crashgate” scandal of 2008 when a wreck involving Nelson Piquet Jr ended up helping Piquet’s teammate win a race — and costing Massa the season-long driver’s championship by a point.

All of that would have been (bitter) water under the bridge had it not come out that not only did Piquet Jr intentionally crash on orders from his team, but Formula 1 head Bernie Ecclestone was quoted saying he and other racing executives knew about it and decided not to investigate — or potentially throw out the results of the race while there was still time to do so.

Felipe Massa is exploring a lawsuit against Formula 1 for damages from lost income he did not receive by being denied the World Championship title in 2008 due to what he says was a blundered ruling. Darren Heath

Massa has now filed paperwork stating he intends to sue Formula 1 for the millions he says he would have earned because of a boost to his marketability as a world champion.

If Massa’s suit succeeds and establishes a precedent that works across sports, it sets up some fascinating opportunities for golfers (or their estates) to potentially polish their résumés retroactively.

Arnold Palmer was one shot ahead of Ken Venturi at the 1958 Masters when his tee shot on the par-3 12th embedded behind the green. He and Venturi agreed it was plugged — and that Palmer should get relief, according to the local rule in effect. The rules official walking with the group disagreed and told Palmer to play the ball as it lay. Palmer did — sort of. He chopped out, chipped on and two-putted for double.

He then declared he would play a second ball in protest and dropped near the plug location. Palmer made par with that ball, and the committee later decided his three would count — a decision many believed was contrary to the rules. Palmer would win by a shot over Fred Hawkins and Doug Ford and by two over Venturi. Venturi would go on to become a major champion at the 1964 US Open, but Hawkins would probably be more of a household name instead of a footnote in history had things gone differently.

Seve Ballesteros and Paul Azinger had a legendary heated feud that started at the 1989 Ryder Cup where a singles match turned contentious. On the second green, Ballesteros said his ball was damaged; Azinger protested to a referee, who said the Spaniard had to keep the ball in play. Fast forward to the last hole, and Azinger hit his tee shot in the water. As Azinger was taking his drop, Ballesteros felt he was doing so from a more advantageous spot then he was entitled.

Azinger was able to get up near the green with his next shot, and a steamed Ballesteros hit it in the water to seal a 1-down loss. The result would end up depriving Europe of an outright victory, even though they were able to keep possession of the Cup by virtue of a 14-14 tie. A half point won’t change the individual Ryder Cup legacy for either Ballesteros or Azinger, but three straight outright team wins would look pretty good on the historical register.

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Jason Day has a classic Arnold Palmer story.

Yes, many golfers do, given that the King stayed in touch with players at all levels through meetings and his famous letters. But it was Day who had the honour of winning the last Arnold Palmer Invitational before Palmer died in late 2016 at age 87.

Sunday night of the 2016 Palmer event, Day had just finished his wire-to-tire victory at Orlando’s famed Bay Hill course. It was customary for champions of the invitational to do two things after winning: shake Palmer’s hand off the 18th green and come into his office inside the Bay Hill clubhouse to share a celebratory beverage.

“So, this is a unique story,” Day told Golf Digest after a practice round Tuesday ahead of this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, a $20 million designated PGA Tour event. “Typically after every time you win here, you would go and have a celebratory drink with him. His drink was Ketel One vodka on the rocks. No mixer and it was like a good dose of Ketel One.”

Day, however, did not know Palmer’s usual drink.

“It was like 90-degree weather, and I was hot and hadn’t eaten really that much [all day]. So I go in and I say, ‘I’ll have whatever he has.’ And Arnie poured me a drink and I thought, I better finish this now. After that, I had to go on Golf Channel and I felt pretty buzzed.”

Back then, Day was in career-best form. The 2015 PGA Championship winner would go on to win the 2016 WGC-Match Play and the Players Championship to take the World No.1 spot and not relinquish it for almost a year. But the Australian star has not won on the PGA Tour since a pair of victories in 2018 and struggled with his form for several years after that. Last year, Day’s world ranking even dropped as low as 164th.

Day, now 35, has begun to turn things around. He’s getting comfortable with a swing rebuild under coach Chris Como, which aims to shallow the club and produce a fade in his full swing to alleviate chronic back injuries. The changes have seen Day record top-10 finishes in his past three starts leading into Bay Hill.

“It’s the best [my swing and body] have felt since I was No. 1 in the world,” Day said. “Over the last two years, I was just hoping to get through four days [pain-free at a tournament] I’d wake up every day with pain.”

Day’s tie for ninth at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera two weeks ago brought Day back inside the top 50 in the world and has him eyeing a return to the Masters. Day, who finished second at Augusta in 2011 and tied for fifth in 2019, only qualified for one major last year, the PGA Championship, which he did through a lifetime exemption as a winner.

“It’s been consistent hard work, being really disciplined with my body off the golf course and then being really disciplined with my swing,” Day said of the process.

“It’s also been about the drive to get back inside the top 50, little goals I set for myself. Then get back inside the top 25 and then top 10, hopefully.”

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“The King” might not have written down the rules, but he offered a lot of clues along the way. From golf courses, grillrooms, boardrooms, banquet halls, pressrooms, exhibition tents and on TV, he revealed how to absorb and enjoy all the benefits the game can provide. And there has been nobody better at paying it forward. Here are 10 things we learned from Arnold, on and off the course.

1. INVENT A SYSTEM, THEN OWN IT

“System” in golf usually describes a connect-the-dots, full-swing method. To Arnold, it meant something else. “It’s a whole way of playing,” he said.

It included the fundamentals but also the intangibles, like how far you hit each iron, your tendencies on side slopes and downslopes, and how to play in the wind or to stay calm under pressure. Arnold thought a system could partially be taught but that it mainly was self-discovered. “When you saw me gripping and regripping the club on the tee and taking a bunch of waggles, I was thinking about how I was going to play the shot,” he said. “It was part of my system and was a lot better than dwelling on how important the situation was.”

2. ALWAYS DRESS THE PART

Around the Bay Hill Club in Orlando—where the PGA Tour plays the Arnold Palmer Invitational each year—Arnold was known to not wear socks with his loafers. On the flip side of this nontraditional style choice, he loathed beards, hats worn backwards or indoors and shirts left untucked. He was a principled dresser and always a trendsetter. In the 1960s, he rocked a navy-blue cardigan like nobody else. In the ‘70s, he went with bat-wing collars and mod patterns, and in the ‘80s, hard-collar shirts with long plackets. Even in recent decades, his look commanded attention. He had quirks, too, favouring pink shirts and breaking out a new pair of golf shoes every week of competition. But he was basically old school. “The neatly appointed golfer,” he told Golf Digest in 2008, “is like a businessman or someone headed to church: He gives the impression he thinks the course and the people there are special.”

3. REMEMBER THE KIDS

The defining moment of a 2013 Golf Digest cover shoot with Arnold and supermodel Kate Upton had little to do with either celebrity. It was Arnold who brought the shoot to a halt while he bragged about the golf game of his granddaughter Anna Wears, then 16. How she drove it 240 yards, was breaking 80, and was the most athletic of all the grandchildren. On and on he went until photographer Walter Iooss Jr. had to ask Arnold to get back on his mark. Young people got Arnold’s attention. No athlete signed more autographs for young fans, endorsed more youth initiatives, and put in more calls of support. A small example of his largesse: In 1984, when Arnold was turning down far more endorsements than he was accepting, he agreed to lend his name to P. Bryon Polakoff’s children’s book Arnold Palmer and the Golfin’ Dolphin. Then there’s the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, a highly regarded pediatric hospital that was a passion of Arnold’s since it opened in 1989. His foundation donates to many causes, but the common denominator is that they’re all for young people.

4. WALK, AND WALK SOME MORE

If for no other reason, than he intensely disliked golf carts, it’s doubtful any human walked more miles on the course than Arnold. To him, it was as intrinsic to the game as swinging the club. He did it for health and enjoyment but also to help him play better. When tour pro Casey Martin, born with a syndrome that eventually required his leg be amputated, went to court to be allowed to ride in PGA Tour events, Arnold reluctantly—but firmly—took a stand for walking. Arnold never voluntarily rode during competition as a senior and lobbied against the use of carts on the senior tour. He enjoyed incredible vitality for almost all of his 87 years. There are crazier notions than to assume walking had something to do with that.

5. A GOOD GRIP COMES FIRST

Butch Harmon has long maintained that the Vardon Trophy—a bronze-coloured statue of two hands holding a club that goes to the PGA Tour player with the lowest scoring average—was modelled from a cast of Arnold’s grip. It is linear perfection, golf’s equivalent of a silhouetted Jerry West as the logo for the NBA. Arnold never denied or confirmed the rumor, but it’s true that for years, his grip was the envy of other players. Position-wise, neither hand shaded toward weak or strong, the Vs of both hands aiming at his right ear. Arnold was given the grip at age 3 by his father, along with the directive, “Don’t ever change it, boy.”

So gripping properly became second nature to Arnold, and he took immense pride in it. His grip was a perfect model for aspiring golfers a half-century ago—and is to this day.

Photo by Walter Iooss Jr.

6. HIT THE BALL HARD

It started when he was 7, when a woman at Latrobe (Pa.) Country Club named Mrs Fritz paid Arnold a nickel to drive her ball over a ditch on the sixth hole. For the next 80 years, Arnold rarely spared himself physically on any shot. The violence of his driver swing led to a balanced but contorted follow-through, and he took huge divots on iron shots. When Arnold played from a tree stump at the 1963 U.S. Open at Brookline, he sent splinters flying. He preached what he practised: Keep the head still, turn the shoulders as far as they’ll go and finish with the hands high above the left shoulder. But he also issued a warning: “Swinging all-out is good. Swinging beyond all-out usually leads to disaster.”

7. IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DRIVER

Through good times and bad, Arnold’s game was married to the driver. He hit the most famous drive in the game’s history: a Herculean bomb on the par-4 first hole at Cherry Hills outside of Denver that found the green and fueled his victory at the 1960 U.S. Open. “When I drove the ball well, I was usually tough to beat because my game flowed off that,” he said. Hundreds of his drivers, persimmon and metal, line the shelves of a modified maintenance barn at Latrobe. Arnold was a powerful driver and wanted ordinary players to taste power, too. In 2000, he controversially backed a nonconforming driver.

Photo by Bob Thomas/Getty Images

8. ACCEPT THE GAME’S MYSTERIES

A dark counterpoint to Arnold’s driver blast at Cherry Hills was a series of snap-hooked tee shots on the back nine at The Olympic Club in the 1966 U.S. Open, which led to an incoming 39, a blown seven-shot lead, and the title going to Billy Casper. It wasn’t the only time Arnold’s game left him. He lost the 1961 Masters to Gary Player with a double bogey on the final hole. The lesson learned is sometimes you lose your game, and there’s little you can do about it. “When the train leaves the tracks, it’s rare you can get it back on track again,” he told Golf Digest in 2007. “It’s very hard—impossible, really—to reverse your thinking and go back to the frame of mind you were in just a couple holes before. I’m not sure we’ll ever figure out an answer.”

9. IMITATE YOUR HEROES

Arnold’s swing model when he was a boy in the 1930s was Byron Nelson, and he pored over the instruction book Byron Nelson’s Winning Golf. When he finally met Nelson, who was already famous for his proficient ball striking, Lord Byron’s sportsmanship and unfailing politeness gave Arnold even more to imitate. Later, a generation of young golfers copied Arnold’s pants-hitching, go-for-broke style. Today, when tour pros like Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler sign hats and programs, they sometimes mention how they’re following Arnold’s lead.

10. GET IT TO THE HOLE

“The worst thing you can do is leave a putt short,” Arnold said. In his prime, he charged them all. In the final round of the 1960 Masters, he banged a birdie putt on No. 16 off the flagstick. He then rammed home a 20-footer for birdie on 17, and rapped in a four-footer for another birdie at the last to win by a shot. That’s just one example of his aggressive putting. Even when the three-footers stopped falling late in his career, he defended his style. “Get the ball to the hole no matter what,” he said. “If you do that, you’ll at least give it a chance to go in, which, if I’m not mistaken, is the object of the game.” Simple, sound advice from The King.

(Editor’s Note: This article was originally published after Arnold Palmer’s death in 2016.)

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It’s probably not a coincidence, however, that since opening up about that dream — and working with a clinical psychologist this year as part of a golf training programme — those visions have popped into my head much less frequently. But that doesn’t mean golf hasn’t continued to play a major role in my dreams.

It makes sense. After all, I love to play golf. I love to watch golf. And golf is literally my job. So it’s no surprise I still see golf-related things when I close my eyes at night. And as an experiment, I decided to try to keep track when I awoke from a golf-related dream for this entire year. When I could remember what happened during the night, I’d type a note into my phone before going about my day. And now it’s finally time to go through the list and reveal the ones that stand out.

Why did I do this? I’m not really sure, but I thought it might make for a fun year-end post. These are dreams about golf, after all, not about all the other awful stuff going on in the world right now. And again, I’m not looking for any deeper meaning here. But if you want to try to decipher some of them, be my guest.

RELATED: LIV Golf and Tiger Woods most googled golf terms of 2022
Countdown: Your top 25 moments and people of 2022

Jan 14: “Colt Knost gives me a putting lesson.” I don’t remember any other details about this, but hey, the guy won the US Amateur once upon a time. You could do a lot worse for a putting coach. And it stood out enough to get me to start tracking my dreams for the rest of the year. So … thanks, Colt?

Jan 26: “Tiger Woods presser, frustrated by fans asking questions.” OMG I remember this one well! Somehow a few fans had gotten into Tiger’s press conference and asked a few questions. He was not happy. Anyway, if the PGA Tour ever considers doing this, I wouldn’t include Tiger.

Feb 3: “Doing George Gankas shallowing drills.” I watch way, way too many swing tips on Instagram so this one checks out.

Feb 14: “Playing Rock Ridge with Arnold Palmer.” This was a good one, although I’m not sure why we were playing at Rock Ridge, a nine-hole course and frequent site for company outings. It’s a nice spot, but we’re talking about a round with The King! How were we not playing somewhere like Augusta or Oakmont?! Anyway, I’m sure my wife would love to know I was dreaming about a dead golf legend on Valentine’s Day.

Feb 21: “Got emailed to caddie for Bill Haas — forgot to reply.” OMG talk about a nightmare! There are few things that would provide me with a bigger thrill than looping for my former Wake Forest classmate.

March 15: “Interviewed Greg Norman—and forgot to ask about LIV Golf.” Another nightmare! If this ever happened, I would get reamed by my bosses, and even worse, dragged across Golf Twitter!

April 10: “Got to eat at the White House with Golf Digest co-workers.” I wish I remembered more about this dream from Masters Sunday. Sounds electric.

April 23: “Got smoked by Fotch in the championship match of HGGA Championship.” The biggest nightmare of all. Although Fotch, a high-handicap golf buddy, wound up challenging me in an opening-round match of our annual golf trip a couple months later, I beat him on my way to claiming a Green Jacket. Phew. Guess I’m not clairvoyant.

April 27: “Mom on the phone with Bob Harig about Phil.” This is right around when I talked to Harig about his upcoming book on Phil and Tiger for an episode of Golf Digest’s Local Knowledge podcast, but … wow. Just wow. That’s a (particularly) weird one.

May 14: “Playing a tournament on Pelham streets.” Pelham is the town I grew up in, and my best friend and I used to do this, whacking wiffle golf balls from yard to yard on his street. And this was right around the two-year anniversary of his death. RIP Kiffy. Those were fun times. Oh, and apologies to his neighbours for making some divots.

May 22: “Tiger and Kuchar on a cruise with Tiger taking the top bunk.” I mean, they’re friends and all, but there’s no way 15 majors wouldn’t earn you the bottom bunk in this scenario.

June 1: “Rory McIlroy struggling in a putting contest in our old office.” This one was really believable! Especially because that Jack Nicklaus design was trickier than it looked.

June 13: “Getting my new clubs.” Not surprisingly, I was dreaming about the pair of fairway woods I had recently ordered. Sadly, supply-chain issues kept them from me for months, but I got them. Eventually.

July 8: “Davis Love III says hi to me like we’re best friends.” DL3 and I have had a few nice chats over the years, but we’re definitely not best friends and I doubt he’d remember my name. But who knows? Maybe he’s had a dream about me saying “Hi” to him. If I’ve learnt anything from this exercise, it’s that dreams are really weird.

August 3: “Steve attends wedding with Natalie Gulbis.” Another wild one. To be clear, all the Steves I know are happily married. And so is Gulbis for that matter. Although, as Season 2 of The White Lotus tells us, you can never be sure. But seriously, this might have been the craziest and most random dream of the year.

Sep 15: “Forgot to embed everything before publishing post.” Another nightmare. A) Because this would look really bad if people clicked on that link without all the embeds, and B) Because that meant I still had to embed everything and that’s the worst hour of my week. I’m sure I woke up in a cold sweat from that one.

An ode to @joohyungkim0621, courtesy of @AlexMyers3. ? pic.twitter.com/b2y1ztwxh3

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) September 27, 2022

Oct 7: “Met Tom Kim and begged him to come on our podcast and told him about the song I made about him. He wrote down my name and the name of my song.” This was the longest description because I wanted/needed to make sure I got it all down. I LOVE me some Tom Kim and I’d love nothing more than to know he enjoyed “The Ballad of Tommy The Kid.”

Oct 31: “Played with Doug Ferguson, who accidentally hit my golf ball. Then didn’t think it was a big deal.” I remember adding some detail to this as well because although I’ve never played with the legendary Associated Press golf writer, I always imagined him to be a real stickler for the rules. I mean, he talks about carrying a 1-iron! Anyway, not exactly a spooky Halloween dream, but still a puzzling one.

Nov 16: “Hit a drive off a tree that bounced backward 200 yards and into a hazard.” I vividly remember this one and it would be the worst break in the history of golf. Also shows what sort of mindset I was in on the eve of the annual Golf Digest Seitz Cup. Not surprisingly, Jerry Tarde and I lost our match the following morning. On the bright side, nothing like that happened, and I didn’t even lose a ball off the tee. Silver linings.

Dec 9: “Something about Paige Spiranac and a goose.” Absolutely no clue about this one. All I know is I’ve been doing this job way too long.

The post I tracked an entire year of golf dreams and the results were, um, interesting appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
What might have been? That’s what Mito Pereira will be thinking for a while in the wake of the 104th PGA Championship. With 71 holes down, and one to play at Southern Hills, the 27-year-old from Chile needed a par on the home hole to close out a one-stroke win and become the first golfer from his homeland to win a major championship.

Instead, his drive found the creek right of the hole, and he could do no better than double bogey. Rather than of joining a list of rookies to win in their first PGA Championship appearance, he joins an ignominious group of golfers who have seen a major slip from their hands on the 72nd hole.

And, oh, what a group it is. Here are some of the most memorable 72nd-hole men’s major collapses:

Sam Snead, 1939 US Open
It was the one that got away for Snead after making a triple-bogey on the 18th hole at Philadelphia Country Club, falling two strokes back of a playoff between Byron Nelson, Craig Wood and Denny Shute. Snead never won a US Open, keeping him from being another member of the career Grand Slam club.

Ben Hogan, 1946 Masters
Herman Keiser’s three-putt on the 18th gave Hogan a birdie chance for the title. But then Hogan three-putted himself from from 12 feet for bogey that allowed Keiser to claim his lone major championship title. Hogan would get redemption with Masters wins in 1951 and 1953.

Gary Player. Bettman

Arnold Palmer, 1961 Masters
Palmer looked like he would be the first repeat winner at Augusta National, needing just a par on the 18th hole. After hitting the fairway, Palmer pushed his approach into a greenside bunker. He hit his third off the green, failed to get his fourth anywhere near the hole. An eventual double bogey allowed Gary Player to win and become the first international player to slip on a green jacket.

Doug Sanders, 1970 Open Championship
A short miss for par on the 18th at the Old Course cost Sanders the Claret Jug, dropping him into a playoff with Jack Nicklaus that he would lose the next day. Standing over the par putt, Sanders picked at a piece of brown grass, but then never restarted his putting routine, burning the right edge with his putt for victory.

Ed Sneed, 1979 Masters
Three shots in front with three holes left, Sneed proceeded to bogey 16, 17 and 18. It dropped him into a playoff with Fuzzy Zoeller and Tom Watson, the first of the sudden-death variety rather than a full 18 holes. Zoeller’s birdie on the second extra hole made him the second Masters rookie (and most recent) to win the green jacket.

Jean van de Velde. Getty Images

Jean Van de Velde, 1999 Open Championship
The Frenchman had a three-shot cushion stepping on to the 18th at Carnoustie, then proceeded to make all sorts of mistakes, starting with driver off the tee and then a third shot into the Barry Burn, en route to a triple-bogey 7. He could have made amends in a playoff, but eventually fell to Paul Lawrie.

Phil Mickelson.

Phil Mickelson, 2006 US Open
The most painful of Mickelson’s six runner-up finishes in the US Open came at Winged Foot, where Lefty needed a par to win, but hit a wayward drive, hit a tree with his second shot and tripped up with a double bogey to miss a playoff.

Tom Watson, 2009 Open Championship
A sixth Claret Jug and the honour of being the oldest winner of a major championship was there for the 59-year-old at Turnberry if he was able to make par on the 18th. But his approach just went long and he couldn’t get up-and-down from back of the green. He then fell to Stewart Cink in a four-hole aggregate playoff.

Dustin Johnson. Getty Images

Dustin Johnson, 2010 PGA Championship
DJ birdied the 16th and 17th at Whistling Straits for a one-shot lead, but pushed his drive on the 18th into a waste area. Surrounded by fans, he hit his approach to the green, and scrambled for bogey to seemingly get into a playoff with Martin Kaymer and Bubba Watson. But rules officials alerted him behind the 18th green he actually grounded his club in the sand, which was a breach of Rule 13.4 and added two more strokes to his score.

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The post The most infamous 72nd-hole collapses in men’s major championship history appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By E. Michael Johnson
AUGUSTA — As Tom Watson prepares to join Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player as honorary starters for the 2022 Masters, the significance of joining a select group hasn’t been lost on him.

“It’s such a great honour to tee it up with Jack and Gary,” Watson told Golf Channel in January. “They are icons in the game of golf.”

Although the honorary starters are at Augusta National in a ceremonial capacity, they are indisputably a hefty part of the tournament’s lore. It is why patrons, media and even numerous tour pros make sure to arrive plenty early on Thursday morning and head to the first tee as soon as allowed to grab a spot. It is watching history in person.

The tradition began in 1963 with Jock Hutchison and Fred McLeod tabbed to do the honours. For nearly a decade leading up to that year, the pair often played nine or 18 holes together before withdrawing. The move to honorary starters merely formalised the arrangement.

Although neither won the Masters, both were major championship winners and had a connection to Augusta National. Hutchison won the 1937 PGA Seniors’ Championship and McLeod won the same event a year later — the only two times the tournament was held at Augusta National. Hutchison held the role until 1973 when he was 88 years old. McLeod continued alone until 1976 when he was 93.

After a brief hiatus, Chairman Hord Hardin revived the tradition in 1981 with Byron Nelson and Gene Sarazen taking on the role. Both among the game’s all-time greats, Nelson was a two-time Masters champion and Sarazen the owner of the greatest shot in tournament history, the albatross on No. 15 in 1935 that allowed him to tie Craig Wood and win in a playoff. In the early years of their tenure as starters they would not only strike the ceremonial swat, but like McLeod and Hutchison, play nine holes before retiring.

A little-known honorary starter fact is that Ken Venturi, who twice nearly won the Masters as an amateur, pinch-hit for Nelson in 1983 as Nelson was tending to his wife, who was ill. Other than that blip, Nelson, Sarazen and Sam Snead, who joined the pair in 1984, proved a fixture in opening the tournament, providing incredible cachet to the ceremony and making it a can’t-miss event.

Honorary starter Sam Snead watches as Gene Sarazen tees off during the 1984 Masters Tournament. Augusta National

The trio got the Masters off and running until 1999 before Sarazen passed shortly after that year’s Masters at 97. Nelson stopped after 2001, saying, “OK ball, one more time” before striking a reasonably solid final shot for an 89-year-old. Snead kept up the tradition one more year, with unfortunately an ugly flare to the right that struck a patron as his final swing at Augusta National. He passed the following month at 89.

The tradition lay dormant for a few years until Chairman Billy Payne asked Arnold Palmer — who played his first round in the Masters with Sarazen — to take on responsibilities. Although Palmer stopped competing in 2004, it took the four-time Masters champion a few years to come to grips with coming to Augusta National in a non-competing role.

“When I quit, I just wanted to think about not playing in the Masters, and get over that, and then I would be ready,” he said in 2007. “I’m ready.” Palmer also was asked at the time if he would twist Chairman Payne’s arm to have Nicklaus and Player join him. “To let them join me or to tell them to stay the hell away?” he joked.

Palmer went solo for a few years but in the lead-up to the 2010 Masters, Palmer asked Payne to have Nicklaus join him and the six-time Masters champion, who once said he did not want to be a ceremonial golfer, readily accepted the invitation.

“Billy called me and said that Arnold would like to have me do it with him,” said Nicklaus. “I’m old enough now, I can do that.”

In 2012, Gary Player completed ‘The Big Three’ by being asked to join the pair, a significance Player fully understood.

“Teeing off with Arnold and Jack is going to be very special,” said Player, a three-time Masters winner and the tournament’s first international champion. “I go back to Jock Hutchison. I always loved the history of golf. I stood there and watched Jock Hutchison hit off the first tee and watched that incredible swing of Sam Snead hit off the first tee. It’s got a lot of wonderful memories for me.”

Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer on the first tee at Augusta. Andrew Redington

The threesome started the tournament each year until 2016, when Palmer informed the club he could no longer continue in the role. That didn’t stop Palmer from being part of the proceedings, however.

“I plan to go out to the first tee with the chairman on Thursday morning and watch Jack and Gary sweat it out and hit the shots,” he said. And indeed, Palmer was there in his green jacket to join them. Palmer passed later that year and Nicklaus saluted Palmer during the 2017 ceremony by lifting his hat and raising it in the air as he looked toward the sky in perhaps the ceremony’s most emotional moment.

In 2021, Lee Elder joined Nicklaus and Player, and although he did not strike a shot due to physical limitations, his presence served as a poignant reminder of his legacy as the first Black man to play in the Masters in 1975.

Now it’s Watson’s turn, and it is certain to hold nearly as much meaning as his two Masters titles. Watson, who regularly plays with Nicklaus and Player in the Par 3 Contest, put the green jacket on Player in 1978. He also made sure to get a photo with Snead and Nelson in 2001 during Nelson’s swansong.

Now Watson joins the club and gains a new appreciation for the significance of being an honorary starter. Play away, please.

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By Daniel Rapaport
The Ryder Cup affords golf fans the unique opportunity to watch a generation’s best players join forces. The results aren’t always positive—looking at you, Mickelson/Woods 2004—but when the pieces fit just right and the putts start to fall, magic happens. Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal projected an air of impassioned invincibility. Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth exuded a youthful bravado. Tommy Fleetwood and Francesco Molinari made golf look impossibly easy and irresistibly enjoyable.

Those power duos inspired a thought experiment: Say you’re the captain of an all-time Ryder Cup team. Ages do not matter, nor do physical concerns like distance or equipment. You can choose any two Americans and any two Europeans to play together, regardless of era. Who would you take? (And no, you can’t use Seve more than once). Our answers are as follows.

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Ryder Cup Rewatchables: Henrik Stenson’s Cup Clinching Putt in 2006

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Seve Ballesteros/Ian Poulter

Their competitiveness alone would be enough to kill a horse. Ballesteros, part of the European “Famous Five” that played a role in elevating the Ryder Cup to the massive institution it is today, endeared himself to his teammates and incensed his opponents with his hard-nosed, combative style and his sheer unwillingness to lose. Poulter hasn’t matched Ballesteros’ record in golf tournaments not named the Ryder Cup, but the Englishman has emerged as a spiritual offspring of sorts, serving as the emotional spark for the six teams he’s played on and compiling a 14-6-2 overall record with a 5-0-1 singles mark. There’d be fist pumps and guttural yells, belly laughs and probably an awkward moment of contention with the Americans. It’d be delicious.

Paul Azinger/Justin Thomas

The American answer to the above pair. Azinger and Ballesteros clashed in the 1989 and 1991 Ryder Cup, with the Spaniard accusing the Floridian of lying after a particularly testy face-off at Kiawah Island. Azinger refused to back down from Ballesteros, beating him 1 up on European soil in the first singles match in ’89 but losing both his matches alongside Chip Beck to the Ballesteros/Olazabal powerhouse in ’91. Azinger’s overall record is a pedestrian 5-7-3, but this is less about wanting to win and more about wanting to watch him and Seve go at it. Thomas, on the other hand, is off to a 4-1-0 start in his Ryder Cup career after he was a rare bright spot for the Americans in Paris. He relished the chance to face Rory McIlroy in the first singles match and beat him, too. There’s not a more competitive player on this year’s American side and his fiery tendencies should play well in the many Ryder Cups in his future.

Bernhard Langer/Henrik Stenson

Two stone-cold ball-striking assassins. Langer, another Famous Fiver, played on 10 Ryder Cup teams and ranks third all-time in points won with 24—despite his Ryder Cup career being most closely associated with his missed five-footer at Kiawah in 1991. Stenson, known affectionately as the Ice Man, has gone 10-7-2 in his five Ryder Cup appearances. Think of this duo as the anti-Ballesteros/Poulter; while those guys are making miraculous up-and-down pars and infuriating their opponents with their celebrations, Langer/Stenson would wear you out with fairways and greens, and hardly smile as they polish off a 4-and-3 victory.

Tiger Woods/Jack Nicklaus

Who wouldn’t want to watch the consensus best and second-best players of all-time—we’ll let you decide the order—tee it up together? Nicklaus and Woods are two different men with two different styles of competing, but it’s what they share that makes this such a tantalizing what-if: prodigious length, flawless execution under pressure and a propensity for making huge putts in massive moments. Give prime Jack Nicklaus 2021 equipment and we’re willing to bet he could keep up with early 2000s Tiger Woods, who was the longest player on the planet. No U.S. captain could ever quite figure out a perfect partner for Woods—he’s an awful 9-19-1 in non-singles matches—but something tells us he and the Golden Bear would click just fine. Real recognize real, as the kids say.

Arnold Palmer/Phil Mickelson

Palmer became universally loved for his daring style, legendary kindness and an ability to naturally mingle with fans. No one is Palmer, but when it comes to fan adoration and go-for-broke style, Mickelson is about as close as we’ve got. Palmer’s Ryder Cup career came mostly during the non-competitive years of the 1960s and 1970s, so we’d love to see how he’d react to the spirited dynamic now that continental Europe is involved. The galleries following this one would be good for a few holes, because even the most hostile European crowd wouldn’t be able to root against Lefty and The King. Damn, that has a nice ring to it.

Jordan Spieth/Lee Trevino

They’d simply never shut up, and it’d be hilarious to witness. Spieth’s constant narration of his round and his Michael! shouts to his caddie would pair beautifully with Trevino’s aimless musings and classic one-liners. Plus, Trevino’s ball-striking combined with Spieth’s short-game magic could produce an unrivaled foursomes duo. They’re also both from Texas, albeit from vastly different backgrounds—Spieth grew up at the country club, Trevino working on the cotton fields. Something tells us these two would have loved playing with each other.

Tommy Fleetwood/Francesco Molinari

Stuart Franklin

They were already good pals going into the 2018 Ryder Cup, but they left it joined as one: Moliwood. The two won all four matches rather easily in Paris—including three over Tiger—and could not have enjoyed themselves more in the process. Yes, we know, the point of this exercise is to pair two players of different eras … but if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. #MoliwoodForever.

Anthony Kim/Patrick Reed

You could put Anthony Kim with anyone and they’d probably make it on this list. That’s how much we miss AK, who was so perfectly in his element at the only Ryder Cup he played, in 2008, when he went 2-1-1 and crushed Sergio Garcia in singles. He was Captain America before Captain America, so to speak. And while Reed’s Ryder Cup reputation has taken a hit with a poor performance in Paris (and his blabbering afterwards), early career Patrick Reed was an absolutely all-time Ryder Cup character. Pairing a 23-year-old AK and a 23-year-old P-Reed would be a whole mess of chaotic brashness in the best way possible. If only.

The post 8 all-time pairings we wish we could have seen appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dave Shedloski
The late Arnold Palmer inspired a new collegiate event at Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. Yes, it really happened that way. And the match will carry the Nicklaus name, to boot.

After serving as co-captain of the U.S. team in the 2018 Arnold Palmer Cup in France, Therese Hession, then the women’s golf coach at Ohio State University, was elevated to her current position as director of golf over both the women’s and men’s programs. Fresh in her mind was her Palmer Cup experience at Evian Resort Golf Club, where collegiate women joined the men for the first time.

Creating a mixed-team event seemed like a no-brainer. “I thought it would be a cool way to bring both of my teams together, and I knew of no other event in college golf like it,” said Hession, who approached officials at Muirfield Village about hosting it. They readily embraced the concept, she said, especially after learning Hession’s plan for what she wanted to call it.

After two years of delays, the Barbara Nicklaus Cup debuts next month at Muirfield Village, annual site of the Memorial Tournament on the PGA Tour.

Scheduled for Oct. 4-5, the match will feature a round-robin four-school competition that includes the men’s and women’s golf teams from Auburn, Arizona State and Florida State in addition to the Buckeyes. Hession wanted to name it after Barbara Nicklaus because of her contributions and support of the game and to charitable causes.

“Plus, she’s a Buckeye,” Hession said. “She has been such an inspiration to me and to so many others. I’ve watched Barbara from afar even before I came to Ohio State. She is just the kind of lady that has done so many great things for people, for the game of golf and who has touched a lot of hearts. This was something on my heart that I wanted to do.”

Barbara Nicklaus, 81, is an Ohio State alum and a recipient of several golf-related awards, including the Bob Jones Award from the USGA and the PGA of America Distinguished Service Award. Barbara and Jack, the hall of fame golfer and holder of a record 18 professional major titles, met at Ohio State as freshmen in 1957 and have been married for 61 years. A Columbus native, Barbara actively serves on the Captains Club of Muirfield Village, the organization that advises on the conduct of the Memorial Tournament, and is co-chair with son, Gary, of the Honda Classic, the tour event in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. She has long been called, “The First Lady of Golf.”

Among her many personal accomplishments is spearheading the establishment in 2004 of the Nicklaus Children’s Health Care Foundation, dedicated to improving pediatric care and research.

In her 30th year at Ohio State, Hession is a seven-time Big Ten Coach of the Year who has led the women’s team to 10 Big Ten titles and 17 appearances in the NCAA Division I Championship. The Indiana native had hoped to add the Barbara Nicklaus Cup to the Buckeyes’ 2019 schedule, but the start of renovations at Muirfield Village forced a delay to the spring of 2020 at an alternate site—Jack Nicklaus’ home course in Jupiter, Fla., the Bear’s Club. However, the coronavirus pandemic caused further postponement to this fall, enabling Ohio State to host the Barbara Nicklaus Cup at its originally proposed venue.

“This is our third time to give it a go, and we are so excited to provide an amazing experience for our student-athletes,” Hession said. “Two days playing Muirfield Village … that in itself should be something memorable for all the players.”

Andy Mead/ISI Photos
Ohio State head coach Therese Hession, the driving force behind the creation of this event.

Each school will field six players from each men’s and women’s team to compete in four mixed foursomes and four singles matches in head-to-head contests against each of the other three schools. Each match counts for one point with a maximum of eight points per contest. The school with the most points after the three separate rounds will be the winner.

Members of the winning school will receive Muirfield Village Golf Club pin flags signed by both Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, said Hession, who hopes that a trophy might be created for the occasion in the next few years.

While Hession isn’t sure if the Barbara Nicklaus Cup would be the first mixed-team collegiate match ever held, it is believed to be the only one in the nation during this fall season.

The post New Barbara Nicklaus Cup will feature mixed college team matches at Muirfield Village appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Bryson DeChambeau has been toying with the idea of trying to drive the green on the par-5 6th hole at Bay Hill all week. He attempted the straight-line carry—to the front edge from the tee box, it’s about 340 yards in the air—in the practice round but hit two balls in the water. The wind was slightly into him that day, and he said he’d only go for it during the Arnold Palmer Invitational competition if he got the right wind.

He got it on Saturday. With a 10-ish mph wind directly at his back, DeChambeau unleashed a 370-yard bomb on an ultra-aggressive line—not quite on line with the green, but just right of a bunker not far from it. His ball easily carried the water and ran through the fairway into rough. It was the longest drive on the hole since 2003.

370 yards. ??

The longest drive on the 6th hole since 2003.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/zkL2jlU8S3

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 6, 2021

Another look at the line @B_DeChambeau took over the lake at No. 6.

TOURCast: https://t.co/To4aYMMkXU pic.twitter.com/coLrRHOOTa

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 6, 2021

He then pitched just short of the green, leaving himself a 40-footer for eagle that he cosied up to tap-in range. One of the easiest birdies you’ll ever see.

It was an electric moment—directly after impact, DeChambeau put his arms up in the air like a slugger celebrating a walk-off homer. He then leaned forward to make sure the ball found dry land, then threw his hands up one more time for good measure.

DeChambeau had been taking some heat on social media for talking about going for it and then not doing it in either of the first two rounds. Now, there’s not really much for the haters to say.

The post Watch: Bryson DeChambeau (sort of) tries to drive green on par-5 6th at Arnold Palmer Invitational appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
A trio of Hall of Fame golfers—Annika Sorenstam, Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Gary Player—will receive the United States’ highest civilian honour, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, on Thursday from President Donald Trump.

W.L. Pate Jr., president of the Babe Zaharias Foundation, is expected to accept the medal in honour of Zaharias, who died in 1956.

The medal is described as a recognition of “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavours.” Only four other golfers have received it: Arnold Palmer (2004), Jack Nicklaus (2005), Charlie Sifford (2014) and Tiger Woods (2019). Trump awarded Woods with the medal shortly after he won the 2019 Masters.

The White House announced in March that Sorenstam and Player would receive the honour, but Zaharias is a new addition.

Sorenstam, 50, dominated women’s golf from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s. The Swede amassed 72 official LPGA Tour wins, including 10 majors, and was named player of the year a record eight times. She stepped away from playing full-time professional golf in 2008 and has since focused on philanthropic and business pursuits.

Zaharias is widely considered one of the finest athletes ever, having won gold medals in the 80-meter hurdles and javelin throw at the 1932 Olympics—all before she took up golf in 1935, at the age of 24, then became perhaps the greatest woman’s golfer in history. Like Sorenstam, she won 10 major championships and completed the Grand Slam in 1950, winning all three women’s majors at the time. She holds the distinction as the only woman ever to make a cut in a PGA Tour event, which she did three times.

Known as the “Black Knight” for his penchant for wearing all black, Player was one-third of golf’s “Big Three” alongside Nicklaus and Palmer. The South African is one of five players ever to complete the career Grand Slam by winning all four men’s majors, and he is the only non-American to have done so. He won 160 tournaments worldwide, including nine majors, and since his retirement he has remained an active presence in the game. He has designed over 400 golf courses worldwide and is the founder of the Player Foundation, which seeks to provide underprivileged children with access to education.

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