Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters winner, and 2010 US Open winner Graeme McDowell join LIV Golf headliners Harold Varner III and Belgian Thomas Pieters for the long-running tournament, first held in 1959, which has a boosted prize fund of $2 million this year thanks to its new status as an International Series event on the Asian Tour.

Other big-name players including 2022 Open Championship winner Cam Smith, two-time Hong Kong Open champion Wade Ormsby, Hong Kong Asian Games gold medallist and the first local player to win an Asian Tour title at the World City Championship in March, Taichi Kho. LIV Golf ‘s 2023 Individual Champion Talor Gooch and Eugenio Chacarra are also already confirmed in the field for the first Hong Kong Open to be contested since 2020.

For Varner and Pieters, the Fanling date means a chance to re-connect with close friend and RangeGoats teammate Gooch.  Gooch has acknowledged his relationship with HV3 as a key factor in his switching from 4 Aces to RangeGoats on LIV Golf this season.

“HV3 and I first met in college golf. We just hit it off right away and have been close ever since. Then we had a bunch of time together on the PGA Tour, and now on LIV — and now we are teammates so it is fun, and it is a cool opportunity,” said Gooch, who has made history this season as the first player to win three LIV Golf events and won the overall Individual Championship points race on Sunday at LIV Golf Jeddah.

Varner also has some history behind his name. The 33-year-old is only the second American player to win the Australian PGA Championship.  He added a first LIV Golf victory in Washington DC in May and also won the PIF Saudi International last year.

Gooch is confident that Varner and his teammate Pieters are going to quickly become fan favourites at the Hong Kong Open.

“HV is about as fun of a dude that you are going to be around, but he is also a great player. He hits the ball a long ways, and he has a great short game. He plays well all over the world. He is my teammate, but I hope that I whip him that week,” added Gooch.

Pieters has seven wins since turning pro in 2013 and has represented Belgium and Europe in numerous team events including the 2016 Ryder Cup — when he led Europe with four points.

Talor Gooch. LIV Golf

“Thomas is truly one of the great talents that we have in the game,” said Gooch. “You look at him and think why are you not playing a different sport. He looks like a Greek god. He is 6ft, 5ins and a big dude that hits the ball a country mile. Great short game, great hands, just a great player. He truly has the potential to be one of the best players in the game on any given week.”

From friends to friendly rivals, the Hong Kong Open is set to welcome the return of two Fanling — and Ryder Cup — legends in Reed and McDowell.

Reed is no stranger to the excitement surrounding the Hong Kong Open — the nine-time PGA tournament winner having finished T-3 at Fanling on his debut in 2015, behind winner Justin Rose and Lucas Bjerregaard. The 33-year-old Reed has returned twice since then (2016, 2018), and was named in the field for the 2021 tournament, which was cancelled due to the pandemic.

The Texan has also had five top-five finishes on LIV Golf this season. He had a similar showing at this year’s Masters at Augusta, a venue where Reed will forever be remembered for his heroics in 2018, when he shot 15-under-par to win by a stroke.

Northern Irishman McDowell is also no stranger to Fanling — or Reed — as the pair have been part of rival Ryder Cup camps down through the years, representing Europe and America, respectively.

The 44-year-old McDowell counts four top-20 finishes among his previous efforts at the Hong Kong Open, to add to 15 career wins on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour in his career. He has also been an ever-present player on the LIV Golf series.

The Hong Kong Open is the penultimate event of this season’s International Series, 10 marquee tournaments on the Asian Tour calendar. What happens in Fanling could have real bearing on the final standings for the International Series Order of Merit, the year-long race which will guarantee one spot for the overall leader in next season’s LIV Golf League.

Main image: Patrick Reed. LIV Golf

The post LIV Golf’s Reed, McDowell, Varner and Pieters join Cam Smith and Talor Gooch in Hong Kong Open cast appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Next up is the Team Championship in Florida, and Leishman said it would be the perfect way to head into the 2023 finale with three trophies in the bag from Saudi.

“It would be a fun plane ride to Miami,” he told Golf Digest Middle East. “But we are all process guys and we try not to get too far ahead of ourselves. That hasn’t even entered any of our heads I don’t think. But that would certainly be a good way to end the regular season and go into Miami next week. It might not be so good for the golf next week, but it would certainly be a lot of fun.”

It is early days in Jeddah however, with two more rounds to go and with Johnson, Koepka and Varner — all previous winners at Royal Greens — breathing down his neck, Leishman is just taking it one step at a time, while also battling the course over the next two days.

“It was pretty tough,” he said of his round. “There was a fair bit of wind, and it was nice to be finding the middle of the face. I played pretty well today and made a couple of good putts to go along with it. When the conditions are tough like they were today, it’s nice to get a good score on the board, and hopefully I can keep it going for the rest of the weekend.

“It’s quite difficult when the wind is blowing like it is at the moment. But growing up in a really windy place, I enjoy that, and I think that’s a big part of my success in the wind maybe. Hopefully I can continue playing like I did today and have two more low scores.”

Asked if a team win would give Rippers a boost ahead of Miami next week, Leishman added: “Definitely. Yeah, next week is a huge week for the team. We got close there last year finishing second, and I know all the boys want to try and go one better than that.

“Obviously, it is a big week this week, but next week is going to be hopefully another week of good golf and we can try and get a win on the board.”

Main Image: Marc Leishman. LIV Golf

The post ‘It would be a fun plane ride to Miami’: Leishman and Rippers target a hat-trick of wins in Jeddah appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Q: As the individual season is reaching its climax this week in Jeddah. Can you tell us how you’re feeling this week going into the final event of the season?

CAM SMITH: “Yeah, it’s a good spot to be in. I think everyone out here wanted to probably be in our position at the end of this week, so it’s definitely a good spot to be in.

“I know we’ve had a couple of weeks off since Chicago, didn’t play my best there, so a couple good weeks of practice and feeling good going into this week.”

Talor Gooch. LIV Golf

TALOR GOOCH: “Yeah, like Cam said, going back to the first tournament of the year, if you could have told me, hey, this is where you’re going to be coming into the last event, you’d take it. In a good place, and like Cam said, had a couple weeks off and was able to get a little bit of practice in— I didn’t practice for this heat, but that’s just — you know what you’re getting into this week.

“Yeah, excited for the week and ready to have a good one.”

Q: “Cam, you’re our points race leader coming into LIV Golf Jeddah. Consistency has really been a key for you this year with six top 10s, two wins in London and Bedminster. Can you talk us through this year and really flying the flag for Australia with your Ripper team?”

CAM SMITH: “Yeah, it’s been good. I think from a team perspective, we could have done a little bit better, but we had a good win there in Bedminster, and I think that sets us up for a nice week in Miami. Miami has a lot of similarities to the course there, so we’re feeling really confident going into next week.

“For myself, yeah, consistency has been good. I probably didn’t get off to the greatest start to the season, but a lot of hard work and a lot of digging deep to get those couple of wins, and yeah, it’s really nice to be in this spot. Hopefully I can finish it off this week.”

Q: “Talor, some takeaways for you this year. You’re currently second in the standings, had some great success abroad winning in Adelaide, Singapore and Andalucía. Can you sum up your 2023 LIV Golf season and playing in some of these global destinations?

TALOR GOOCH: “Yeah, if you would have told the beginning of the season I would have had three wins, I obviously would have taken it. It’s been a culmination of years of hard work and patience. I’ve never won three times in a season as a professional golfer.

“You know, it’s been a great year. We’ve played great. I played really well last year, and I couldn’t close out some tournaments.

“Some of that experience of failing last year I think kind of set me up to succeed for this year when I was in those same positions. `Just continuing to build confidence and comfort coming down the stretch is something everyone is striving to do, and having done it, you just get more and more comfortable with it.

“It’s been a great year, and hopefully we can cap it off with a great week this week.

Q: “There’s so many scenarios in play about how you guys finish and how it works out against everybody else. Do you go into the tournament thinking you’re going to have to win to nail this down, or are you looking at any of those scenarios?”

CAM SMITH: “I think that’s kind of the mindset every week is to come here to win, so I don’t think it’s really any different to any other week. For sure there’s a little bit more up for grabs this week. You have to acknowledge that and really get on your toes and just try and go out there and win the tournament.

“I think it’s the same as every other week. But yeah, more stuff to play for.

TALOR GOOCH: “Yeah, I keep telling everybody, you just know that the two of these guys are going to have a good week this week, and the only way to know that you’re going to get the job done is just to go and win.

“I’ve used the term a lot the rule of 67. I’m just going to control what I can control, try and shoot 67 and lower each day and see where the chips fall.

“I know the only scenario that I have control of is if I go and win and that takes care of everything, and kind of like every other sport, winning kind of takes care of everything. That’s the goal, and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Main image: Cameron Smith. Andy Cheung

The post Smith and Gooch go to the wire at LIV Golf showdown appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

With two tournaments remaining in the regular season, just nine players have a chance to become the 2023 LIV Golf League Individual Champion — and Ripper captain Cameron Smith might wrap up the season-long race by winning next week’s LIV Golf Chicago.

Smith, having won two of the last three LIV Golf tournaments, currently has a 21-point lead over RangeGoats’ three-time winner Talor Gooch, while 4 Aces’ Patrick Reed sits in third, 50 points behind.

Smith will clinch the title in Chicago if he wins (worth 40 points) and Gooch finishes no better than fourth (worth 18 points). Smith won for the first time as a LIV member last year at Rich Harvest Farms and will enter next week as the favourite.

All other players besides Gooch will be mathematically eliminated from winning the Individual crown should Smith finish either first or second in Chicago. The Individual Champion, as well as the bonus-earning top three finishers, will be officially awarded after next month’s LIV Golf Jeddah.

Besides Smith and Gooch, the other players who’ll enter next week still alive in the Individual Champion race are Reed, Smash captain Brooks Koepka, Stinger’s Branden Grace, Torque’s Mito Pereira, Crushers captain Bryson DeChambeau, 4 Aces captain and defending Individual Champion Dustin Johnson and RangeGoats’ Harold Varner III.

Their fates hinge not only on their own performances in Chicago but how Smith finishes.

Reed, for instance, must finish inside the top nine on the points leaderboard to have any hope. Even then, he’ll may be eliminated depending on where Smith finishes.

Meanwhile, Johnson must win and hope Smith finishes no better than ninth on the points leaderboard. If Smith finishes outside the points (top 24), then DJ could finish second and remain alive. Beyond those two scenarios, Johnson’s title defence will officially end.

Gooch, the points leader for most of the season until Smith moved ahead of him by winning the most recent LIV event in Bedminster, will remain alive no matter what he does, as long as Smith finishes fourth or worse.

Here’s a look at every scenario for the eight players chasing Smith. Please note that these involve the points leaderboard with tiebreakers (not the traditional golf leaderboard that includes ties).

IF SMITH FINISHES …
1st – Gooch must finish top 3; all others eliminated
2nd – Gooch must finish top 9; all others eliminated
3rd – Gooch must finish top 14; Reed must win; all others eliminated
4th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 2; Koepka, Grace must win; all others eliminated
5th or 6th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 2; Koepka, Grace, Pereira, DeChambeau must win; Johnson, Varner eliminated
7th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 3; Koepka, Grace, Pereira, DeChambeau must win; Johnson, Varner eliminated
8th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 3; Koepka, Grace must finish top 2; Pereira, DeChambeau must win; Johnson, Varner eliminated
9th, 10th or 11th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 3; Koepka, Grace must finish top 2; Pereira, DeChambeau, Johnson must win; Varner eliminated
12th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 4; Koepka, Grace must finish top 2; Pereira, DeChambeau, Johnson, Varner must win
13th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 4; Koepka, Grace, Pereira, DeChambeau must finish top 2; Johnson, Varner must win
14th or 15th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 5; Koepka, Grace must finish top 3; Pereira, DeChambeau must finish top 2; Johnson, Varner must win
16th or 17th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 6; Koepka, Grace must finish top 3; Pereira, DeChambeau must finish top 2; Johnson, Varner must win
18th, 19th or 20th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 7; Koepka, Grace must finish top 3; Pereira, DeChambeau must finish top 2; Johnson, Varner must win
21st, 22nd, 23rd or 24th – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 8; Koepka, Grace must finish top 3; Pereira, DeChambeau must finish top 2; Johnson, Varner must win
25th or below – Gooch still alive; Reed must finish top 9; Koepka, Grace, Pereira, DeChambeau must finish top 3; Johnson must finish top 2; Varner must win

Starting with Charles Howell III, who’s currently 10th in points, all players more than 80 points behind Smith have been eliminated from the No. 1 spot.

Even so, finishing second and third in season-long points is still an attractive outcome for players since it comes with significant bonus money from the Individual Champion pool.

Theoretically, the top 29 players on the points list remain in contention for a top-three finish (Reed, the current No. 3, has 120 points). With the maximum of 80 points still available by sweeping the individual titles at Chicago and Jeddah, that means even David Puig (No. 29 with 40 points) is not mathematically eliminated.

But for middle-of-the-standings players like Puig, the more realistic incentive is to finish inside the top 24 in season-long points to earn a guaranteed spot for the 2024 LIV Golf League season.

Currently, Pat Perez is the bubble boy at No. 24 with 47 points. That’s an average of 4.3 points for the first 11 tournaments. If that average stays constant, that means a projected total of 56 points for the 24th spot.

With two regular-season tournaments remaining, big moves can still be made.

Cleeks’s Richard Bland was 41st in points after LIV Golf Andalucía but has finished top 11 in his last three starts and is now inside the bubble at 22nd. Fireballs’s Abraham Ancer was 41st in points going into Bedminster but posted a LIV-career-best third and jumped 11 spots to 30th.

It’s a sprint to the finish. Whether it’s the Individual Champion race or security for 2024, there’s plenty at stake for all 48 players.

The post LIV Golf scenarios: How Cam Smith can wrap up the title in Chicago appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Scheffler, 26 going on thirtysomething, has been your reigning Masters champion for about 11 months now, and on Sunday he won the Players, by a field goal and a safety. The tournament was kinda interesting for about six minutes. Scheffler and his playing partner, Min Woo Lee, a 24-year-old Australian with a beautiful swing, were tied for the lead on the 4th tee, but Lee made triple there and all the air suddenly went out of the balloon. Poor Paul Azinger. More than three hours of broadcast time remained.

In a few weeks Scheffler will host a Tuesday-night dinner in the Augusta National clubhouse that will be like nothing another Texan, Ben Hogan, could have imagined when he started this supper with a very definite dress code. (Club coat, no socklets). As the 2023 Players winner, Scheffler will now get his name in gold letters on stained old-money wood in the men’s locker room. The name on the top of that column belongs to … the player whose name must be whispered:

(c. a. m. s. m. i. t. h.)

Stacy Revere

If Cam Smith, pride and joy of LIV Golf, wins this year’s Masters, will you be shocked?

If so, you shock easily.

The Aussie, who lives in Jacksonville and catches bass by the bucket and has his mullet tended by a Jacksonville barber named Lee Trevino, pitches, chips and putts his ball like a man on fire. We’re talking Olazabal-level. Jordan Spieth. Tiger in his prime, for crying out loud.

Last year, in a four-month span, Smith won the Players and then glory’s last chance, the Open Championship at St Andrews in July. Yep, the guy who navigated the Stadium Course so well last year also plotted his way around the Old Course with stunning efficiency. You couldn’t imagine two more dissimilar courses.

But nobody would call the Stadium Course, which Scheffler played in rounds of 68, 69, 65 and 69, the second coming of Augusta National.

This year’s Players will be remembered for Scheffler’s dominating performance, and for those who were missing. For the first time in a long time, the MIA list hurt this event. Smith, Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson were all out on account of LIV.

Yep, one golf league per customer, per PGA Tour regs.

Yes, LIV Golf has an open-door policy, if you’re one of the Chosen Ones, the Get-It-While-You-Can 48.

Yes, there are suits and countersuits and you can read all about it in “LIV and Let Die”. All Alan Shipnuck has to do is write it.

Icon Sportswire

Speaking of titles, The Chosen One was the headline on Gary Smith’s 1996 Sports Illustrated cover story that all but predicted Tiger Woods would drive off a dry road and into a tree in 2021 and be sued by his former live-in girlfriend, Erica Herman, in 2023.

It’s all too messy and sad to revisit here, but this judgy yet logical question was going around last week, at the highest levels of the game: Erica was in Tiger’s life, and in the lives of his two children, in a lot of good and trying times over the past half-decade. Was there not a way to end this relationship amicably?

The $30 million question.

It was not like this for Arnie and Jack, or Hogan and Snead, or Sarazen and Hagen, or Young Tom and Mungo Park. Something changed. But what exactly?

The $2 billion question.

This Scottie Scheffler. He’s about as likeable and middle-of-the-road as a star golfer could be. His swing and his demeanour bring to mind Steve Jones, winner of the 1996 US Open. Jones was just a guy, too. The swing doesn’t need to be perfect. The golf doesn’t need to be perfect. The person behind the golfer doesn’t need to be perfect. Of course not.

Steve Jones earned $425,000 for that win in 1996 at Oakland Hills, on the outer rim of Detroit. Mike Souchak was once the head pro at Oakland Hills. Yep, done as a Tour player, he needed a job. Scottie Scheffler made $4.6 million for his efforts at TPC Sawgrass.

Of course it’s funny money. Professional golf has no intrinsic value. But it is an effective way to sell whatever it is that Morgan Stanley and Optum and Grant Thornton sell. Some years are more effective than others.

In the pro shop here, there was not a single golf club for sale, but you could buy custom belts made of alligator, ostrich and python skins for $600 and $700 and $800.

Whatever.

Mike Ehrmann

This Scottie Scheffler. Nothing about him suggests that money is his main motivator in life.

He drags the club behind him at times like he’s walking a dog.

After he won the Masters last year, he told the world about his Sunday-morning insecurities: “I cried like a baby this morning, I was so stressed out. I didn’t know what to do. I was sitting there telling [wife] Meredith: ‘I don’t think I’m ready for this.’”

It was one of the most revealing things ever said about why tournament golf matters so much. We care because they care.

You want to beat everybody. If you’re Tiger Woods or Steve Jones or Mike Souchak or Scottie Scheffler, you want to beat everybody. But all you can do is beat the guys in the tournament you’re in.

Scheffler started 2022 without a PGA Tour victory on his resume. Now he has won six times in the past 13 months and ascended to No. 1 in the World Ranking, looking all the while like he has one thing on his mind: getting to the house and being the low man in it.

His Sunday-night plan was to get dessert at his grandmother’s.

What’s not to like?

The post Scottie Scheffler won at TPC Sawgrass in a refreshing old-school way — but something was missing appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

That would be LIV Golf, the fledgling Saudi-backed circuit that has rocked the  professional game with its huge-purse, no-cut, 54-hole competitions.

Smith, like many in his position, has been linked to LIV Golf over the past few months, and he has been a past participant at the Saudi International, the event run by the same organisation that funds LIV operations. So when taking the dais in the media centre after his win at the Old Course on Sunday, Smith was asked about his interests in moving to the newly created league.

What followed was, well, awkward.

“I just won the British Open, and you’re asking about that. I think that’s pretty not that good,” Smith said in response.

Which, to some extent, is understandable. Smith would rather talk about his recent conquest than the controversial subject. But when pressed what his intentions are, Smith did not offer a denial.

“I don’t know, mate,” Smith replied. “My team around me worries about all that stuff. I’m here to win golf tournaments.”

It should be noted Smith did not respond in the affirmative. But given the chance to say he was sticking with the PGA Tour, Smith passed on the opportunity.

Should Smith ultimately defect from the PGA Tour, he would be the highest ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking (Smith is up to No. 2 in the OWGR with the win).

The next LIV Golf event is scheduled for July 29 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

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The post Open Championship 2022: Cameron Smith provides awkward answer when asked about LIV Golf interests appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall and Shane Ryan
There was an eerie quiet late on Thursday at Southern Hills Country Club. The afternoon wave at the 104th PGA Championship was playing in 90-degree heat that felt even hotter, but they weren’t playing in front of a whole lot of people. By the time the supergroup of Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth had finished up their morning-wave rounds, spectators seemed to say “Catch you later” knowing there were three more days of more fan-friendly conditions coming.

Yet even if the first-round landed with a bit of a whimper, it wasn’t without drama and intrigue. McIlroy ended his infamous first-round major slump by shooting 65; can he keep the momentum going? Tiger hobbled to an opening-round 74; can Tiger bounce back? More difficult conditions in the afternoon meant for tougher scoring; are those from the Thursday afternoon wave victims of the bad side of the draw?

With that, here are the 11 biggest surprises from Thursday at the PGA Championship.

Southern Hills was gettable …

There are rarely course set-up issues with this championship. No integrity of par nonsense or circling a winning score aspiration and doing whatever it takes to get there. The PGA of America officials see what the course gives them and goes with it. They let Bethpage be a beast, allowed the nuances of TPC Harding Park to speak for themselves, were fine with the field burning Bellerive to the ground. Thursday that meant letting the slopes, not the speed, be the greens’ defences at Southern Hills, and the set-up accounted for strong winds in the afternoon forecast with pin placements that erred on the side of caution. The upshot of these decisions made the course was somewhat vulnerable in the morning as the winds decided to sleep in. Needless to say, they should consider themselves lucky; it might not get any easier over the next two days.

… until the afternoon that is

Whether it was the heat (hmmmmm) or the wind (almost definitely), we saw a big disparity in performances between the morning and afternoon waves. According to Data Golf, that disparity was a difference of more than a full stroke, and you don’t have to get too deep into the numbers to see the results. A look at the top 20 shows a full 16 players from the morning wave, and just four — Lucas Herbert, Justin Thomas, Matt Fitzpatrick and Patton Kizzire — from the afternoon. Those lucky players will all start in the afternoon wave on Friday, and while the concept of switching is to theoretically balance the breaks they get from mother nature, we know that Mother Nature doesn’t always cooperate. The Friday forecast indicates that the afternoon-morning side of the draw is about to get doubly stiffed — winds gusting to 20mph in the morning will give way to calmer conditions in the afternoon, and late rain may soften the greens for the afternoon wave. So if you’re looking for justice here, look elsewhere.

Tiger looked gassed and hobbled

Tiger Woods. Richard Heathcote

Look, we get it. Everyone is happy Tiger Woods is back, and as an extension, wants him to be “BACK.” But sometimes that collective desire obscures the obvious, so we say this with our respect to those in attendance at Southern Hills — anyone who thinks Woods looked physically fine on Thursday morning is guilty of selective perception. There were instances when he did look OK, where his gait had vitality and purpose and his swing was compact and smooth. There were plenty of other times, however, where he looked very much like the man who had experienced the things he’s experienced over the past 15 months. Which is fine! That he’s even here is a miracle. But, physically speaking, Thursday was a reminder this is still a Woods in the recovery process.

If hell is real it will feel like Tulsa

The fine folks who call Tulsa home are tougher than you, because anyone who willingly sets up shop in this overheated toaster has an inner fortitude that we will never know. We heard the horror stories from the 2007 PGA, but that was August; certainly, May would bring tamer conditions. Technically we were correct, but tame in Tulsa still feels like running on a treadmill in three wool sweaters while shooting back shots of Tabasco.

Cam Smith, a bad man

All right, we should have already known this, but he did stumble down the stretch at the Players Championship (and got real lucky with that Sunday shot at 17) and fell apart on the final nine at the Masters. So when Smith opened with a two-over front that included two bogeys and a double we assumed the Aussie was heading for a quick out. Instead Smith answered, and answered with vigour, making five birdies over his first seven holes to catapult near the lead with a 68. A long, long way to go, but credit Smith for keeping his tournament from going sideways.

Spieth Slam will have to wait

Jordan Spieth. Ezra Shaw

Bad rounds happen. But Spieth came in hot and this course was supposed to be tailored to his game, and though he has a chance to bounce back on Friday, he missed a prime-time opportunity to make a move in the gettable conditions on Thursday morning in shooting two-over 72. Frankly it was just one of those days when even the best players have poor breaks and out-of-sync swings and putts that say the cup has posted a “Sorry, we’re closed” sign. Save for a miracle, his grand slam will have to wait another year.

Brooks Koepka is very much not his old self

There was a time when Koepka seemed to own this event, but that time is definitively past. His titles in 2018 and 2019 felt like a distant memory on Thursday, when he started poorly with a bogey at the first and only got worse, stumbling to a front-nine 40. A late look at his strokes-gained stats is close to agonising; he was 144th in the field off the tee, 137th tee to green and 141st around the green. His best stat was putting, where he was barely average at 67th. It took him four holes to hit a fairway, and though he also managed a green in regulation on the fourth, he three-putted for his third bogey of the day. In all, he hit just two fairways on the front, and though he played better on his back-nine (even-par 35), it was far too late to salvage anything from a disastrous round of five-over 75.

Uh … congrats to John Daly?

There is something beautiful and sadistic about Spieth — who had lost to precisely one golfer in his past two events — getting upstaged by 56-year-old John Daly — who hadn’t made a PGA cut since 2012. For most of the morning Daly hovered near the top of the board, playing his first 13 holes in two-under. Four bogeys on the closing five for a 72 dashed any hopes of Daly relevance going into Friday. But that we’re even talking about a guy who was disqualified from a PGA Tour Champions event last weekend is a testament in itself.

The short game importance was wildly overrated

As a preface this could change as the tournament progresses, but a number of experts believed short-game dexterity — specifically work around the greens — was paramount this week. Instead, Southern Hills proved it remains a shotmaker’s course above all else on Thursday morning, with those on the board making the climb off the tee and in approach. Yes, putting still matters, as McIlroy was lights-out on the dance floors, and missing greens could become more routine with stronger wind. Still, if the first wave is any indication, the tee-to-green game is what will decide this tournament.

Club professional fireworks

The PGA of America is referring to this year’s gang of club professionals in the PGA field as the “Team of 20,” and two of them created some buzz in the afternoon, starting with Jesse Mueller and this extremely memorable first hole of his PGA Championship career:

Incredible start for #TeamOf20's Jesse Mueller!@SWSectionPGA | #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/83sUQpupiq

— PGA of America (@PGA) May 19, 2022

He cooled off on the back nine, but the club pro baton was briefly carried by Alex Beach, who made an appearance on the leaderboard while bouncing back between one-under and even-par through his first 12 holes. On the leaderboard in the media centre, all players are designated by their national flag, with the exception of the club pros, whose “flag” is the number 20 on a black background. If they are something akin to a sovereign nation this week, a few of their members acquitted themselves well … and, as it turns out, more than a few beat Brooks Koepka.

The tournament is over?

McIlroy didn’t close strong. But he took his Thursday skeletons and threw them in the trash, and rather than fighting an uphill battle he now has the ground advantage. In short, McIlroy did a lot to suggest that a fifth career major title is a very real possibility this week. At the risk of jinxing him, how does 2022 PGA champion Rory McIlroy, sound?

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The post PGA Championship 2022 wrap: An on-fire McIlroy, an out-of-sorts Spieth and nine other surprises from Thursday at Southern Hills appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Yes, he continues to trail longtime leader Scottie Scheffler by three shots, but there are a number of legitimate reasons to think Cam Smith might just become only the second Australian to finish first in the Masters.

We’re talking here about the sixth-best golfer on the planet, if the World Ranking is to be believed. Just three weeks ago, Smith won the biggest event of 2022 so far, the Players Championship, against what is, statistically at least, the strongest field in golf. Two months before that, he saw off the then-World no.1, Jon Rahm, to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.

And there’s more, specific to the Masters. Only a year-and-a-half ago, Smith tied for second place in the 2020 “toonamint,” in the process becoming the first man to break 70 in all four rounds. And his latest effort, a third round 68 that was the best of the day by two shots, was compiled in conditions best described as “brutal.”

When it comes to Augusta National, this 28-year-old Queenslander knows how to get things done. No matter what.

Which leaves one obvious question: Can Smith finish the job and take out Scheffler, currently the hottest golfer on the planet? For all his fine play so far, the 25-year-old Texan did play the last five holes of his third-round 71 in a stuttering two over par to give credence to the notion that this event is far from over. What was once a procession is now a legitimate pursuit. Add that little nugget to all of the above and the man in second place would be less than human if he didn’t sense the merest hint of blood in the frigid air.

Along with the rest of the well-wrapped-up competitors—the hardest part of the round was, Smith felt, “keeping my hands warm”—the two-time Australian PGA champion was at pains to point out just how difficult the scoring had been. But not impossible. On a day when the field averaged in excess of 74.5, Smith’s six-birdie haul was all the more impressive.

“It was really tough out there today,” confirmed Smith. “With this west wind there’s not many holes you get straight downwind or straight into the wind. There are lots of crosswinds, which makes it tricky into the greens. Controlling distance was pretty difficult, especially when there are so many uneven lies around here as well. There are so many things to really think about.

“You have to hit different shapes and try to judge the wind as well. But I did a good job of just staying within myself, staying patient with the course. I did hit lots of quality iron shots. And today the putts went in as well.”

That is the sort of formula Smith will have to repeat over the closing 18 holes if he is to follow compatriot Adam Scott into the champion’s locker room. But with the weather forecast to be less windy and certainly a bit warmer, there will also be a need for more aggression amidst the requisite perseverance required to win at this elite level. To that end, Smith—a compulsive leader board watcher—will continue to pay attention to anything and everything going on around him.

“I believe in looking at what you need to do,” he said. “The goal today was to keep making birdies. I could see Scottie was making a few, so I was just trying to keep up.”

Still, amidst his inherent modesty, perhaps Smith’s biggest asset going forward is the confidence that has grown and flourished amidst his many recent successes. In that respect, he is the only rival to Scheffler’s three-win run over the last few weeks.

“My play this year has shown me I can get it done when I’m up against the best guys in the world,” said Smith. “It’s a good feeling to have. It’s earned. It’s not given to you. So, I’m going to have to go out there tomorrow and play really good golf again, probably similar to today. Hopefully everything falls into place. I can’t control what anyone else is going to do tomorrow. So, I’ll go out there and really focus on myself.”

• • •

MORE MASTERS 2022 STORIES
Scottie Scheffler’s big year has the chance to become historic on Sunday at Augusta
Every Tiger Woods Masters record
The entire field at Augusta, ranked
The history of honorary starters 
Now comes the hard part for Tiger
How will the amateurs get on at Augusta?

The post Masters 2022: Cam Smith seems like just the right player to overcome a big Sunday obstacle appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Sending my prayers to @TigerWoods and his family tonight—here’s to a speedy recovery for the GOAT of golf. If we’ve learned anything over the years, it’s to never count Tiger out.

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) February 24, 2021

And then there were all the golfers who honoured Woods by wearing his traditional Sunday red shirt. Arizona State alum Phil Mickelson even bought one with the logo of rival University of Arizona because that’s all he could find while playing in Tucson.

Only one way @PhilMickelson would wear red.

To honor Tiger. pic.twitter.com/EN8oZ4bPdq

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) March 1, 2021

Nicely done, Phil. Tiger tweeted how much he appreciated all the gestures, but I’d also like to think that the most competitive person this planet has ever seen took note of who didn’t wear red on Sunday and that he’s already planning another epic comeback. Anyway, I’ve got my red shirt on, too, as we dive into everything else happening in golf. In the meantime, get better, Big Cat. You’ll be missed.

WE’RE BUYING

Collin Morikawa: With a win at the WGC-Workday Championship, Morikawa became the second player to win a major and a WGC before turning 25. We’ll give you one guess who that other player is. Morikawa has now won four times in 39 PGA Tour starts as a pro. That’s virtually the same winning percentage he had in college when he won five times in 48 starts. Remarkable. No wonder this guy is already up to No. 4 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Mike Ehrmann

Speaking of rankings, Morikawa, who entered the week ranked No. 213 in strokes gained/putting on tour, ranked 10th in the stat for his second tournament since switching to that claw grip. In other words, Happy learned how to putt. Uh-oh. And after that mishap at the PGA Championship, he’s also learning how to better handle trophies:

.@collin_morikawa is a seasoned pro now thanks to his 2020 PGA Championship mishap. ?pic.twitter.com/UVgH5AZoTG

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) March 1, 2021

Again, uh-oh …

The Korda sisters: Another week, another win for golf’s sport’s most-talented family. This time it was Nelly Korda holding off Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko at the Gainbridge LPGA for her fourth career LPGA victory. This, just five weeks after older sister Jessica won for the sixth time in her career.

Icon Sportswire

The Kordas matched Annika and Charlotta Sorenstam in 2000 as sisters to win back-to-back tournaments on the LPGA Tour. But the Kordas are also on pace to win every event this season. Hey, you can’t win every event if you don’t win the first two, right? Anyway, did I mention the Kordas and Collin Morikawa were on the cover of recent back-to-back issues of Golf Digest? That bodes well for current cover boy Viktor Hovland …

Annika Sorenstam: Recent headlines hadn’t been particularly kind to the GOAT of women’s golf, but no one could criticize her performance on the course. After being retired for more than a dozen years, Sorenstam returned to action and made the cut at Lake Nona. Yeah, yeah, she was basically playing in her backyard, but that’s still really impressive. Imagine going more than 12 years without doing something and still being able to hang with the best in the world? If I didn’t drive a car for 12 days, I’d probably forget how.

Cliff Hawkins

Branden Grace: First of all, props to Grace for winning with such a heavy heart and for even being able to get through this interview in which he talks about recently losing his dad to COVID-19:

Five weeks ago, @BrandenGrace lost his father.

Today was an emotional win @PuertoRicoOpen. pic.twitter.com/5lq8knytZg

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 28, 2021

So sad. But undoubtedly, his pops would be proud. Talk about someone putting together a sneaky-good career, Grace’s victory at the Puerto Rico Open gives him two PGA Tour wins to go with nine Euro Tour titles. Still only 32, he’s also the only golfer to shoot 62 in a major. And like we’ve mentioned before, with Viktor Hovland recently lifting the Puerto Rico Open curse, there’s a good chance we’ll see him win again soon. If Grace could just get himself on the cover of Golf Digest, then he’d really be cooking.

WE’RE SELLING

The Tiger tribute police: I was joking about Tiger taking names of those who didn’t wear red. Sort of. But man, Golf Twitter needs to chill a bit. Everyone does things their own way, and whether it was due to sponsors (silly, but I get this is a business) or a delayed shipment (Morikawa), it just wasn’t in the cards for everyone to come out in red and black. I was half expecting someone to complain Justin Thomas’ shirt wasn’t RED ENOUGH!

But as we saw by Morikawa getting emotional talking about Tiger after winning, that doesn’t mean those who didn’t wear red didn’t show their appreciation or support in other ways. We also have no clue which players have been in touch with him directly. And again, thankfully, Tiger isn’t gone for good. So there will be other chances to honour him in the future. And by then, everyone better have figured out how to get a red shirt to wear! Kidding. Sort of.

Playing The Concession: If you’re a weekend hacker like myself, that is. Wow, does that place look tough. Sure, Morikawa wound up winning at 18 under, but the course also lived up to its nickname, The Concussion. Max Homa joked about running out of balls, Viktor Hovland made a quadruple bogey out of nowhere that cost him the tournament and take a look at this absurd scorecard from Matt Kuchar:

Apologies for not getting to this on Friday … Matt Kuchar with a GEM of a #psychoscorecard in his second round pic.twitter.com/gfxtJJ2qIG

— Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) February 27, 2021

That’s an even-par round with seven birdies. And an eagle! How?! That being said, watching the world’s best constantly on edge made for very entertaining TV so I wouldn’t mind this course getting another tournament in the future.

Cam Smith’s mullet: It was fun for a few weeks, but the Aussie continues to show up to tournaments looking like this:

Mike Ehrmann

Rough. And it’s not even practical now that we’re into the Florida Swing. Isn’t that much hair in the heat and humidity uncomfortable?! But now that we know he has a wife and two dogs, though, it makes more sense.

Cam Smith's girlfriend is wheeling their dachshunds around the course and it's amazing.

One of them is named Kendrick, not sure on the other. pic.twitter.com/LNTcyVFQ6B

— Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) February 27, 2021

The dude is totally settled down. Who does he have to impress?

ON TAP

The PGA Tour continues the (extended) Florida Swing by heading to Bay Hill for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, AKA that tournament that Tiger Woods used to basically win every year. Seriously, the guy hasn’t won the tournament in eight years and yet he still has won it eight times. EIGHT! GOAT! No one else has won this event more than two times, by the way.

Random tournament fact: Included in those eight wins are a pair of walk-off putts in back-back years. Let’s take a fun trip down memory lane, shall we?

What a legend.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—Anyone will ever match Tiger’s eight wins here: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds
—Rory McIlroy will win this week: 9-to-1 odds (Actual odds, favourite)
—Phil Mickelson won’t be wearing that Arizona shirt again: LOCK

PHOTOS

Some of Sunday’s sea of red:

Sunday red @ANNIKA59 | @PGATOUR | @GainbridgeLPGA pic.twitter.com/o2FHDPPUGf

— LPGA (@LPGA) February 28, 2021

?? pic.twitter.com/VCWNYA8doI

— Tony Finau Golf (@tonyfinaugolf) February 28, 2021

Rory in Tiger red and black. “Don’t wear it as good as he does, but it’ll be all right.” pic.twitter.com/S8TJze3U47

— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) February 28, 2021

It’s OK, Rory. No one does. And how about this Tiger tribute at St. Andrews?

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Golf Digest Middle East (@golfdigestme)

Beautiful.

TWEET(S) OF THE WEEK

Yes. https://t.co/PciD2V7qZg

— Collin Morikawa (@collin_morikawa) March 1, 2021

Good stuff, guys, but show some respect. Tiger is a Stanford guy, after all.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (ON THE COURSE)

Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas became the latest participants victims in the European Tour’s “Chase the Ace” series. Here were the impressive—but not quite impressive enough—results:

50 balls each to make a hole-in-one…

Step up @McIlroyRory and @JustinThomas34.#ChaseTheAce5050 pic.twitter.com/n3rYSPPRKV

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) February 23, 2021

At least they only hit 50 balls a piece. Anything more might have driven them both mad.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (AWAY FROM THE COURSE)

Props to our Shane Ryan for asking Will Zalatoris about his likeness to Owen Wilson. And props to Will for responding with a darn good impression of the actor:

And the Oscar goes to @willzalatoris. pic.twitter.com/sPExoBbtOF

— Skratch (@Skratch) February 25, 2021

Love me some Owen Wilson. Makes me want to get a “Zoolander”/“Wedding Crashers”/“Shanghai Noon” marathon going. You know, the classics.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Tiger means everything to me. … I don’t think we say thank you enough, so I want to say thank you to Tiger.” —An emotional Collin Morikawa after winning. He’s right. So, thank you, Tiger. You’ve meant more to people than you could ever imagine. Even a lowly golf scribe like myself.

THIS AND THAT

According to an NBC report, a Florida man is believed to have died while searching for a lost golf ball in a lake. Guys, I know golf balls have gotten pretty expensive, but trust me, they’re not worth that. … This is the first time since 1994 that there hasn’t been a player with multiple PGA Tour wins 20 weeks into the season. That’s NFL-like PARITY right there. … Last week marked the first time that Phil Mickelson didn’t win when he’s played on the PGA Tour Champions. It was nice of him to let someone else (Kevin Sutherland) claim the trophy this time. … Xander Schauffele had his streak of 16 straight starts finishing in the top 25 snapped, meaning he didn’t quite catch Rory McIlroy’s 17. Tiger Woods has the longest such streak at 38—actually, he has the four longest streaks. GOAT! … Speaking of streaks, congrats to my former colleague at The Journal News, Kevin Devaney Jr., for picking winners for an incredible four consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour. It might be time to get this guy on our Be Right podcast. … And finally, fingers crossed, we may have a golf fan on our hands:

Just doing my part to try to #GrowTheGame.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Will anyone in my house ever (willingly) watch golf with me?
Is “Wedding Crashers 2” still happening?
Tiger, can I get you anything?

The post Touching tributes to Tiger Woods, Collin Morikawa’s crazy win rate and a PGA Tour pro’s perfect Hollywood impression appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Matt Kuchar will be a vice captain for the United States at the Ryder Cup later this month. But he’ll be teeing it up for the red, white and blue later in the fall.

Kuchar will team up with Kyle Stanley for the 2018 ISPS HANDA Melbourne World Cup of Golf. Australia will serve as host of the biennial event for the third straight time, with the Metropolitan Golf Club the site of the proceedings. Twenty-eight countries will be represented, with the 56-player field competing for a $2.24 winner’s share. The first and third days are alternate shot, the second and fourth days best ball.

Headlining for the Aussies is Marc Leishman, who enters as the highest-ranked player at No. 22 in the world. Leishman has picked Cam Smith, who’s posted two third-place finishes in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, as his partner.

“I’m extremely excited and honoured to be representing Australia in this year’s World Cup of Golf,” Leishman said. “Having the opportunity to play in Australia is always a treat but to represent Australia against some of the best players from around the globe is truly special. Playing in the World Cup in 2016 was an incredible experience in Melbourne and I can’t wait to get back to play in this year’s event at Metro.”

Other notables that have committed include European Ryder Cuppers Tyrrell Hatton (England) and Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark), China’s Haotong Li, Belgium’s Thomas Pieters, and former No. 1 Martin Kaymer, representing Germany. Remaining roster spots will be filled by September 20.

The 59th World Cup of Golf begins on November 1. Olesen and Soren Kjeldsen are the defending champs.

The post Leishman/Smith, Kuchar/Stanley lead pairings for 2018 World Cup of Golf appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.