Fittingly, after taking one of golf’s longest breaks, Daniel Berger is set to return on golf’s longest day.

Berger, who turned 30 on Friday of this year’s Masters Tournament, was last seen in action at the 2022 US Open at the Country Club, Brookline. He missed the cut, shooting rounds of 70 and 75 before shutting it down for nearly a year due to lingering back issues.

As Berger told the Associated Press earlier this month, he reached a point of no return in Massachusetts last June. A week earlier, he tied for fifth in the Memorial Tournament despite suffering from serious pain, then told himself “this is it”. He attempted to gut it out at Brookline anyway.

“I was taking two ice baths a day to get on the course,” Berger said.

The issue first arose during a break Berger took after his 2021 Ryder Cup debut at Whistling Straits, where Berger went 2-1-0 overall. He didn’t play an official PGA Tour event after that until the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions, where he tied for fifth. Over the next sixth months he made 11 starts, collecting six top-25 finishes with a bad back and even taking a five-shot lead into the final round of the 2022 Honda Classic. By the sound of it, fighting through the pain was not worth it.

“That was the worst six months of my life,” Berger said. “I’ve had a pretty easy life. I play golf for a living — it’s not that stressful. But there was a point that I would have given up golf for the rest of my life not to feel like that.”

Fortunately, Berger is not giving up the game, instead using the last 300-plus days to rehab his way back to the golf course. A book reference from European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, in addition to plenty of training, has allowed Berger to see enough progress over the last few months to feel confident enough to tee it up for real again. This coming Monday, the four-time PGA Tour winner will be off at 7.35am local time at Pine Tree Golf Club in Boynton Beach, Florida, in the US Open final qualifying stage.

The 36-hole day is among the sport’s most gruelling tests, which shows you just how much better Berger must be doing, and how eager he is to get back. Once as high as No. 12 in the world, Berger is currently 146th.

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Rest assured, we will have the circuit covered plenty during our annual Newsmakers countdown, so we’ll go LIV-free here for our recap about the biggest controversies of 2022. Some of these items that follow you’ll vividly recall, and others you may have forgotten. Either way, they all were notable and entertaining in their own right.

A red-hot Berger at the Players
During Monday’s final round at the Players Championship in March, the trio of Daniel Berger, Viktor Hovland and Joel Dahmen found themselves in a testy he said/they said rules mix-up on the par-5 16th hole. Berger hit his second shot way right of the green from 233 yards, his ball landing in the water down the right of the hole. Then things got interesting.
Berger adamantly believed that his ball started left of the pin and last crossed land closer to the green. Hovland and Dahmen firmly disagreed, saying the ball started much farther right than Berger thought and that it last crossed land way back down the fairway.
A five-minute debate ensued with Berger saying the following:
“You’re wrong.”
“I’ve never taken a bad drop in my life.”
“Zero per cent chance.”
“It’s wrong.”
“It’s a wrong drop.”

The discussion surrounding Daniel Berger’s drop on 16 between Berger, Viktor Hovland and Joel Dahmen.
pic.twitter.com/OtkoaeXYrb

— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) March 14, 2022

Rules official Gary Young left it to Berger to figure out where to drop and, although he believed it was an improper drop, he dropped it back where Dahmen and Hovland suggested.
“I felt strong that my ball crossed here, they felt strongly that it didn’t,” Berger said afterward.
Berger bogeyed the hole, and finished T-13. A par would have meant a T-9 finish and nearly $200,000 in his pay cheque.

Hatton’s cold takes on Augusta National, Southern Hills

Tyrrell Hatton. David Cannon

Tyrrell Hatton doesn’t seem all that worried about golf gods, or major mojo. The outspoken Englishman had no problem sharing his feelings on the record this year regarding a pair of major championship venues. Let’s begin with Augusta National, where Hatton had this to say: “You can hit good shots here and not get any reward for it. It’s unfair at times. I don’t agree with that. If you hit a good shot, you should end up near the hole, not short-sided into a bunker because of the slope that they’ve created and stuff.”
Tough stuff, considering they don’t rotate the Masters to other venues. The 31-year-old is either going to have to figure out how to play course or forget ever winning a green jacket.
A month later, Southern Hills was the topic of Hatton’s ire when it played host to the PGA Championship. This one was less about the course overall and more about a decision not to cut the greens ahead of the second round due to a windy weather forecast.
“I mean, we’re playing a major championship, not a monthly medal,” he said after shooting a two-under 68. “They’re bubbling all over the place. It’s so hard to hole putts. So you can hit a great putt and they just don’t look like going in, which is hard to accept when we’re playing in a major championship.”
Either Hatton had no complaints about Brookline and the Old Course, or he figured he’d finally bite his tongue.

Q-School cheater (thankfully) doesn’t prosper
Matt Moroz was disqualified from a pre-qualifier for Korn Ferry Tour Q-School in Ashland, Nebraska, for cheating. Egregiously cheating. His two playing partners were suspicious multiple times during their second round when it appeared that Moroz hit balls into the woods on a couple holes, only for him to quickly get to the area and “find” the ball before either of his playing partners arrived.
It happened again later in the round when a spotter saw Moroz hit a ball into water, only for him to tell his group that he was putting for birdie moments later.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. But balls that Moroz claimed he found were later discovered in the woods and water. There was so much mounting evidence that Moroz was disqualified, although he never admitted to any wrongdoing.

Sergio’s acrimonious exits

Sergio Garcia

OK, this could probably be considered a LIV item, but it began before Sergio Garcia moved over, so we’re claiming it in this space. Garcia had one foot out the door with the PGA Tour in May when he was caught telling a rules official, “I can’t wait to leave this tour.” He was upset when the official told him that he took longer than the three minutes allowed to search for his ball during the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship.
The tour later acknowledged that Garcia was correct, he should’ve had more time, but the damage was already done. It was clear at that point the former Masters champion was leaving for LIV Golf. Saying “can’t wait to get out of here” was another clue.
Garcia made more news in September when he withdrew from the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, only to show up the next day on the sidelines of the Texas-Alabama college football game in Austin, Texas, during the second round of play. He was subsequently fined by the DP World Tour, and he has since let his membership on the tour lapse.

A state high school tournament gone wrong
This is one where it’s just best to watch the video in the accompanying tweet. Because words don’t do it justice.

Today at the Girls 3A State Golf Tournament at The River Valley Golf Course in Adel, the average score on hole 18 was a quadruple bogey.

No, the golfers weren't bad, but this had to have been the most unfair pin placement I've ever seen. This slope gave the athletes no chance. pic.twitter.com/F7OyqIjbkO

— Jake Brend (@JakeBrendTV) May 28, 2022

The final hole of the Iowa Girls 3A State tournament was a dozy. There were instances where the ball would roll within an inch of the cup, only to roll back to where the ball originated. The average score on the hole was a quadruple bogey and some players needed as many as 10 putts to finish the hole. It took most groups 20 minutes to finish once on the green.
Fun.

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By Joel Beall
The top of the 2022 PGA Championship leaderboard is loaded, with Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and Bubba Watson among those chasing Will Zalatoris. But the list of those who failed to advance to the weekend at Southern Hills isn’t short on firepower, either.

From fledgling superstars, current and former World No. 1s to the reigning FedEx Cup champ, here are the notables that missed the cut in Tulsa.

Scottie Scheffler
The Masters champ had been lights out on golf’s biggest stages, finishing T-8 or better in five of the last seven majors. That looked to continue after an all-time escape to finish his round Thursday evening. But Scheffler shot a 40 on his final nine holes, stumbling to a 75 and cooling the sport’s hottest heater.

Dustin Johnson
For the third time in his last six majors starts Johnson won’t see the weekend. Johnson was a victim of the late Thursday/early Friday draw, turning in a 73 Thursday and doing the same Friday. This week continued an odd year for Johnson, who came into the week 51st in strokes gained, 85th in scoring and 90th in the FedEx Cup. He has time to get turn his campaign around, but he’s running out of events.

Sergio Garcia
The Spaniard expressed his desire to no longer have to play on the PGA Tour. Judging by his recent performances he may be done with majors, too. Garcia has now missed the cut in 11 of his last 16 major championships, with zero top-15s in that stretch.

Patrick Cantlay
We say this as an admirer of the man’s work: For how good Cantlay has been over the past five years, his failure to translate that success to the majors is becoming concerning. Cantlay finished T-9 at the Masters and followed with a T-3 at the PGA at Bethpage in 2019. In the 11 majors since his best finish is a distant T-15 at last year’s US Open. This week was especially jarring, as Cantlay ejected from Oklahoma with a 76 and 75.

Daniel Berger
Berger has battled back woes throughout the year, so he deserves a bit of leniency. Still, his performance was far from pretty, shooting a 73 on Thursday and struggling mightily Friday to an 80.

Adam Scott
It wasn’t that long ago that the Aussie contended for the Wanamaker at Bellerive. Since ultimately finishing third at the St Louis venue, however, Scott hasn’t been a factor at the big events, his best finish a T-22 in his last 10 major starts. Those struggles continued in Tulsa, Scott unable to bounce back from an opening-round 77.

Matthew Wolff
The former prodigy will eventually get right. This week wasn’t it. Despite being just down the road from his college town, Wolff went 76-77 to miss the weekend.

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By Tod Leonard
AUGUSTA — It was not an unreasonable question, given the thunderstorms that blew through Augusta National Golf Club earlier this week. They dumped more than two inches of rain ahead of the 86th Masters, and outside the ropes it was a muddy mess in some places. Even inside the ropes for that matter—Tiger Woods, after all, got a fortuitous drop from standing water after a wayward drive on the 18th hole and saved par.

The region was so wet that the Augusta Chronicle reported several recreational areas near the Savannah River were temporarily closed due to high water levels.

Understand, players fear mud balls as much as bad pro-am partners.

So Daniel Berger, who teed off at mid-morning on Thursday, figured he’d do the prudent thing and ask an official if the field was playing preferred lies. Apparently, the person reacted as if the world No. 21 asked if he could run naked down the first fairway.

“He was kind of shocked that I even asked the question,” Berger recounted after shooting a solid one-under-par 71 to be tied for 10th after the first round. “It was a lot of water, so it was worth the question.”

It was, but as is the case at all the majors, the various hosting bodies are loath to put a ball in a player’s hands, lest the integrity of the competition be tarnished. At Augusta, it’s been a decade since mud balls were last the chatter of the tournament. Heavy rains in 2012 early in the week caused players to question the inability to lift, clean and place rules. Even Woods, who has said he considered preferred lies to be cheating, wrote on his website that week, “Today I played nine [practice] holes … had seven drives and had seven mud balls.”

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After the first round, Nick Watney called the conditions at the time “borderline”.

Billy Payne, the chairman of Augusta National at the time, laid out how painful it would be to make a decision to let the players touch the ball. “We surely would not want to have to do that,” he said. “That would be a decision very difficult to make. However, we are also bright enough to know that weather conditions can have an impact on that, and possibly cause us to change our minds on that issue.”

It didn’t happen that year, and the best scores were reasonable — Bubba Watson tied Louis Oosthuizen at 10-under 278 before winning a playoff.

There will certainly be no lift, clean and place this year, with the course expected to continue to dry out amid a good weather forecast for the rest of the tournament.

“The course this afternoon dried up phenomenally,” Berger allowed, “and it’s in great condition. Look forward to the challenges the next couple of days.”

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By Dave Shedloski
AUGUSTA — Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world, played two groups behind Tiger Woods, the No. 1 draw in the world, during Thursday’s opening round of the 86th Masters, and he couldn’t have cared less that so few patrons seemingly couldn’t have cared less about his opening three-under 69.

Woods hadn’t played an official competitive round since the 2020 Masters, and the mere fact that he was miraculously back on the golf course after nearly losing his right leg in an a car crash 14 months ago was, of course, the central focus of the day. Then he went out and shot 71, making his latest comeback story even more amazing.

Meanwhile, Scheffler assembled a solid round marred only by a closing bogey at the tough par-4 18th. Amid gusting winds, the 25-year-old Texan hit 11 of 14 fairways and 13 greens in regulation and made a decent statement in his first round since becoming the world’s top-ranked golfer. Not that it mattered where he is ranked. It was just another round of golf, basically.

“They didn’t give me any extra shots or anything this week. So not too much [different],” he said.

Of course, there were two major differences from a year ago: there were more fans, and most of them were following the five-time Masters champion. Like just about everyone else, Scheffler was curious how Woods was faring. A few roars informed him of Tiger’s status. He enjoyed the atmosphere, even if it was focused elsewhere. Which led to an odd question, which went like this:

“You talked the other day about Tiger being here takes a little bit of the spotlight off. Is that mostly fun? Or are you like, Hey, wait a second, I’m No. 1 in the world. Come over here?”

Scheffler gave an inquisitive look before responding. “No, I definitely don’t think I need any more attention than I have at the moment. Having Tiger here with what he does for the game of golf is so special.”

In other words, Tiger deserves the spotlight. But, hey, the supporting cast offered some interesting narratives on Day 1. Here are a few things you might have missed on Thursday while tracking Tiger’s every step … as well as other goings on:

The return of Sungjae Im

Sungjae Im. Jamie Squire

With four birdies in his first seven holes, South Korea’s Sungjae Im got his name on the leader board in a hurry, and though he stumbled in the middle of the round, he eagled the 13th and birdied the 15th to post five-under 67 for the Day 1 lead, one ahead of Cameron Smith.

Im finished T-2 in his Masters debut in 2020 after opening with a 66, so he’s no stranger to playing well at Augusta National. He did miss the cut last year, and he didn’t come in with his usual top-10 producing precision. But he was very good on Thursday, mostly on the strength of a hot putter and hitting 12 of 14 fairways.

“The thing today, I drove it well most of the holes and it gave me opportunities to have better second shots most of the holes. I’m glad with how everything went today,” Im said.

A two-time PGA Tour winner, Im agreed that his form hasn’t been as sharp of late. But he got inspiration, he said, from watching his father Ji Taek hit a shot on the ninth hole in Wednesday’s Par-3 Contest. “It was the most beautiful shot I’ve seen. It was like a professional shot,” said Im, who, being a professional, then went out and hit a few good ones of his own.

Defending champ rallies late

Hideki Matsuyama has been battling a neck injury that forced him to skip the Players Championship and WGC-Dell Match Play. Last week he withdrew in the middle of the second round at the Valero Texas Open, citing a neck injury.

Playing directly behind Woods, Joaquin Niemann and Louis Oosthuizen, Matsuyama slipped to two-over when he bogeyed 11 and 12. He bounced back, however, with birdies at the two par-5 holes, 13 and 15, and that kept him in the picture with an even-par 72.

JT’s learning curve

Justin Thomas. Jamie Squire

Fourteen months ago, Justin Thomas was visiting Woods in the hospital after his horrific car accident. On Thursday, playing with Matsuyama and US Amateur champion James Piot, Thomas found himself trailing his good friend and mentor by five shots after a frustrating four-over 76.

It might have been one of the more surprising results of the opening day given that Thomas has played rather decently this year and that he joined Woods for a practice round last Tuesday and two more times this week, both times with 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples tagging along. Apparently, whatever Thomas gleaned from that experience has yet to stick. Heck, even Couples, playing his first competitive round of 2022, nipped JT by a stroke.

Berger and fried

Daniel Berger. Gregory Shamus

Cameron Smith, who double-bogeyed the 18th hole to fall out of sole possession of the lead, wasn’t the only player smarting at the finish. Daniel Berger was sailing along at three-under on the strength of three straight birdies starting at the par-3 12th and then almost gave it all back on the home hole.

Berger drove into the right trees, pitched out fine, but then put his third shot over the green, from where he needed three more shots to get down for a double bogey. He carried the right attitude with him, however, in the aftermath. “Disappointed to finish like that,” Berger said, “but not going to take away from the round that I played today. I played solid.”

More Brooksy Bryson woes

It hurts to play hurt. Yeah, obvious. But Bryson DeChambeau was feeling more than just the pain in his injured hand.

The long-hitting former US Open champion was far from sharp in his four-over 76 that included playing the par 5s in one over with three pars and a bogey. (Or is that nine over since he once said Augusta was really par 67?) That’s definitely not the script DeChambeau has been trying to follow after he bulked up and started cutting loose with the driver.

The return of a ‘Brooksy’ catcall probably didn’t help either after he bogeyed the par-5 15th. He had to have heard it. So much for southern hospitality. And the score probably did feel like nine over while playing alongside Smith, who offset two double bogeys with eight birdies in his 68.

Wolff whimpers

Matthew Wolff has been finding various ways to dispose of misbehaving equipment without snapping a club over his knee. On Thursday, already four over par after three holes, Wolff exerted significant pressure when leaning on an iron after his tee shot at the par-3 fourth hole found the front bunker. The club snapped cleanly, and he carried the broken pieces with him off the tee.

This comes after last month’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, where Wolff flipped a wedge into the water after a poor approach into the 18th hole. He missed the cut there, and after signing for an opening nine-over 81 on Thursday that included a misplayed bunker shot at the seventh while using a putter, he’ll need a miracle rally to be around for the weekend at Augusta National.

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The video clip, which took over Golf Twitter immediately, features a testy exchange between Berger and his playing partners, who didn’t agree with a particular drop Berger was going to take at the par 5. Berger, who found the right side of the fairway off the tee, struck his approach shot from 233 yards out and knew it was dead right after impact. “Water ball,” Berger yelled.

That’s when things got interesting. In the clip below, you’ll hear Berger say “it’s a bad drop, that’s all I’m saying.” Berger believed his ball had started left of the pin and crossed land up near the green, where he was hoping to drop and attempt to get up and down for par. Hovland and Dahmen disagreed, believing it had started over the water and therefore crossed land much farther back then where Berger had thought.

“To be honest with you, I’m not really OK with [the drop] being up there,” Hovland says. “That’s not really what I saw.” Because Dahmen agreed with Hovland, Berger didn’t have any other choice. It’s up to the group to come to a group decision in matters like this one. Berger did not take it well, as you’ll see in the clip below:

The discussion surrounding Daniel Berger’s drop on 16 between Berger, Viktor Hovland and Joel Dahmen.
pic.twitter.com/OtkoaeXYrb

— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) March 14, 2022

“You know what, I’m going to drop here for the sake of you guys, but you’re wrong,” Berger says. Wow, spicy stuff.

As you can hear chief referee Gary Young say, Berger had to just agree on it and play on. He went on to make bogey on the hole, then went par-par to finish at six-under instead of seven-under, the difference between T-7 and T-15. To put it in a more painful way, a potential difference of $300,000 in prize money.

After the round, both Berger and Dahmen declined to speak with the media. Hovland obliged, shedding some light on the controversy.

“So obviously I was in kind of more of the left side of the fairway, Berger hitting from the right side,” Hovland said. “And Joel was kind of in the middle. But as soon as Daniel hit it in the air, he said, ‘oh, water ball’, and then I was watching the whole flight, and it was just short right of the green in the water on 16.

“From my perspective, obviously I was a little further left than Daniel, in my opinion I did not think the ball started very far left of the pin. It looked like it kind of started at the pin and then cut towards the end because the wind was also a little bit off the left.

“He obviously thought that he started it way left of the pin and then he kind of cut hard at the end, but that’s not what Joel and I saw. I’m not going to put words in Joel’s mouth, but he was closer to Daniel’s line, and we both saw the same thing, that it kind of started pretty close to the pin and then cut to the right at the end, therefore not really crossing all the way up there close to the green. We thought it was closer to the grass bunker there, just past it, and yeah, we had a little discussion about it.”

Despite Berger pushing back, Hovland wouldn’t budge.

“It’s not a fun conversation,” he added. “Daniel’s game is great, and I have massive respect for him as a player. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to protect the field and protect all the other guys. It’s not a fun conversation, but when you strongly believe in something, you kind of have to stand your ground.”

As for the post-round pleasantries, the young Norwegian said they kept it professional. 

“It’s not like we’re trying to dog on Daniel and trying to screw him over,” Hovland said. “It’s just, that’s what we believe, and he obviously felt strongly the other way. It’s just what it is. I’m not accusing him of anything. The golf ball is in the air for a couple seconds, so it’s tough to exactly pinpoint where it crossed and not. But Joel and I saw it in one way and he saw it differently.”

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By Joel Beall and Golf Digest Staff
Steve Stricker has made his captain’s picks. And Stricker is going with youth.

The United States Ryder Cup captain named Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Harris English, Daniel Berger and Scottie Scheffler as his six captain’s picks Wednesday morning.

The six join automatic qualifiers in Collin Morikawa, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and Brooks Koepka to round out America’s roster for the biennial event later this month at Whistling Straits.

There was no drama surrounding the picks of Spieth, Finau and Schauffele, as the trio had long been expected to make the team. Spieth, making his fourth Ryder Cup appearance, enjoyed a career revival in 2021, highlighted by a win at the Valero Texas Open and contending for the Masters and Open Championship. For Finau, making his second straight Ryder Cup team, a win at last month’s Northern Trust broke a five-year victory drought, but his breakthrough was hardly a one-week triumph. During the season, Finau was 14th in scoring and 16th in SG/tee-to-green. Though Schauffele doesn’t have an official win, he captured the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and finished fifth on tour in total strokes gained. He will be making his Ryder Cup debut.

English was also considered a sure-thing coming off a career-best campaign, winning twice (Setnry Tournament of Champions, Travelers Championship) to go along with high finishes at both the fall and summer U.S. Opens. While he represented the U.S. at the 2011 Walker Cup, this is English’s first professional Team USA appearance. English is the oldest captain’s pick at 32.

The picks of Berger and Scheffler, however, provided Wednesday’s theatre.

Berger was statistically one of the best ball-strikers on tour this season, finishing fifth in approach and 11th in strokes gained, while winning at Pebble Beach and racking up eight top-10s across the super season. The analytics favoured him as well, as he finished fourth in DataGolf’s Ryder Cup rankings over the past three and six months. His lack of Ryder Cup experience was the only knock, but clearly it was not enough of a restriction in Stricker’s mind.

Scheffler, also a Ryder Cup rookie, is still in search of his first PGA Tour win. However, he has finished in the top-10 in the past three majors, along with coming in second at the WGC-Dell Match Play. Scheffler, 25, ranked seventh in birdie average and was sixth in DataGolf’s Ryder Cup rankings over the last three months.

Jamie Squire
Jordan Spieth celebrates during the rare positive moment at the 2018 Ryder Cup for the Americans.

A notable exclusion among Stricker’s picks was Patrick Reed. The former Masters champ was not necessarily expected to make the team following his hospitalisation with bilateral pneumonia, but Reed returned at the Tour Championship in hopes of making a last-second bid for the club. Reed had played in the past six Team USA matches.

Team Europe will finalize its picks following this week’s BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in Surrey, England. Here are the thoughts of the Golf Digest staff on Stricker’s picks.

Which pick surprised you?

Dave Shedloski: Frankly, none of these picks surprise me. This is a solid group of players. Their respective strengths are obvious. They give Captain Stricker flexibility on pairings. But what I like is their personalities. They will mesh well with the automatic qualifiers.

Daniel Rapaport: Scheffler, in that he filled the only spot that wasn’t spoken for. The first four—Finau, Schauffele, Spieth and English were shoo-ins, and Daniel Berger all but spilled the beans that he was in last week. So there was really only one mystery left to solve.

Brendan Porath: No pick was a surprise. These were six obvious choices. There were other suitable options to Scheffler, who was likely the last pick with the most uncertainty. But he’s not a surprise.

Chris Powers: With all the talk about the Kevins—Na and Kisner—it felt like Scottie Scheffler was going to be the odd man out. Thankfully, that is not the case, because Scheffler’s game is perfect for Whistling Straits. This could prove to be Stricker’s best selection.

Who was the biggest snub?

Shedloski: Well, let’s not mince words here. Leaving Patrick Reed, so-called Captain America, off the team is a pretty big deal. One of America’s best putters and strongest competitors, but his negatives were just too obvious. Stricker said he lost sleep over leaving him off. Health was a real question. His 2018 post-match comments to the New York Times on Sunday night in Paris probably didn’t help. And, well, other than putting his game hasn’t been great.

Jamie Squire

Rapaport: Kevin Na. I’ve been on this horse for a while—I get that he doesn’t fit the course on paper, but if the Solheim Cup taught us one thing, it’s about who’s going to step up and make pressure putts. Na has that Poulter-like juice, and I thought he’d be a perfect addition to a team already loaded with bombers.

Porath: It’s hard to argue for snubs when there were so many options in a crowded field, but I suppose Webb Simpson has an argument for being left out. He was ahead of Scottie Scheffler on the points list and has sacrificed many times over in team events teaming up with partners who might be considered difficult. Reed was also ahead of Scheffler on the points list, but given his health uncertainty and the fact that he burned down the house on the way out of Paris, I don’t think he should be considered a snub.

Powers: Patrick Reed, even with the health concerns and poor form of late, is by far the biggest snub. Goes to show how deep this team is when Captain America, who was 11th in the final team standings and has an incredible team event record, gets left off.

Looking at all 12 players, what’s your assessment of Team USA?

Shedloski: If Stricker was looking to make the team stronger, he succeeded. In fact, you could argue the six picks are stronger—right now—than the automatic qualifiers, who as a group haven’t been trending all that well, aside from Cantlay and DeChambeau. And Brooks Koepka’s health is now a question. But seeing these picks makes me feel better about the U.S. team that’s heading to Wisconsin.

Rapaport: They’re massively talented and will be a sizable favorite. My only concern, apart from the lack of a Na/Reed-type character, is the lack of steady-handed leadership. There’s no one in their 40s, and the 30-plus guys—Koepka, English, Johnson and Finau—aren’t exactly guys to step up and make a speech.

Porath: It’s absolutely rock solid on paper (although isn’t that often the case at the start of these matches?). The statistical profiles are perfectly suited for Whistling Straits, and these were the best six captain’s picks to pair with the auto qualifiers. There are actually more questions about the six auto bids because of health issues related to Koepka and Morikawa, but Stricker knocked his captain’s picks out of the park.

Powers: To add Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau and Scottie Scheffler as captain’s picks make this team incredibly menacing … on paper. As for on the course, that remains to be seen, though the Whistling Straits home-course advantage will certainly help.

The post Spieth, Schauffele lead American captain’s picks; Reed left off appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
The Honda Classic took another hit on Wednesday when the top-ranked golfer in the field, Daniel Berger, withdrew due to a rib injury.

Berger, 15th in the World Ranking, was one of just six players inside the top 50 set to tee it up at PGA National. He pulled out of the pro-am Wednesday morning before deciding to skip the tournament entirely shortly after.

With Berger’s withdrawal, the top-ranked player in the field is World No. 18 Sungjae Im.

It’s a disappointing development for a tournament that dates back to 1972, especially considering how many PGA Tour players live within driving distance of Palm Beach Gardens, where PGA National is located. But the Honda has found itself in a difficult spot on the schedule, following a four-week stretch that includes two tournaments with elevated status (the Genesis Invitational and the Arnold Palmer Invitational), a World Golf Championship (WGC-Workday at the Concession) and the Players Championship.

Additionally, it is followed by the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, a tournament that many of the top players use as their final preparation for the Masters, which begins April 8.

The post Daniel Berger withdraws from Honda Classic with rib injury appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
PEBBLE BEACH — The eyes of the golf world fixated upon Jordan Spieth on Sunday. Hard to blame them, really, considering the storyline in play: a win, at this iconic golf course, to end The Slump. If someone was going to steal the win from him, it’d be Patrick Cantlay. Cantlay shot 62 on Thursday, and he’s one of the best ball-strikers in the world. Scratch that: It was Nate Lashley, who elbowed his way into the lead with birdie after birdie early in the final round.

All the while, plodding along just out of focus, was Daniel Berger. Which, of course, is nothing new for him. Berger has been golf’s Forgotten Man—the guy who couldn’t get a Masters invite despite being a top-15 player in the world. The first man out from the high school Class of 2011 discussion, not quite on the Thomas-Spieth-Schauffele-DeChambeau tier.

Maybe it’s because Berger doesn’t say much, or because he’s not the front-man for a giant equipment company, or because his sui generis swing and low fade aren’t exactly instruction-book material.

We’re running out of justifications for overlooking Berger. Especially after the 27-year-old won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with a superb final-round 65, capped by macho eagle—his fourth of the week, and a four-shot improvement from his Saturday double-bogey on 18—that clinched a two-shot victory over Maverick McNealy.

“One of the best finishing holes I’ve ever played,” Berger said.

The golf gods made sure the 30-footer at the last did indeed find the bottom, giving Berger his fourth career tour title and avoiding the nightmare scenario of McNealy losing by one after he was dealt a brutal one-shot penalty for accidentally causing his ball to move on the fifth hole Saturday.

Steph Chambers
Berger plays his shot from the 7th tee during the final round at Pebble Beach.

McNealy, whose family used to own a summer home on the Monterey Peninsula, took nothing but positives from this week. It was the best showing yet on the PGA Tour for the former World No. 1 amateur who shares the record at Stanford for most individual wins with one Tiger Woods.

“It gives me a lot of confidence. I’ve always been a guy that has to earn my own confidence,” McNealy said, before launching into an explanation worthy of a college philosophy class. “I can’t stand there and just tell myself I’m good at something or I’m doing something right. I have to earn it with myself, too. I feel like I earned a lot of confidence this week. I’m excited to get playing again.”

For Berger, perhaps this is the week that finally get him his due. His win at the Charles Schwab Challenge last June didn’t quite do the trick, despite a field featuring seven of the top 10 players in the world. There were no top-10 players in the field this week, but Sunday’s final round stumbled upon one helluva leader board. There was Berger and McNealy and Spieth and Cantlay, as well as Paul Casey and Jason Day and Max Homa. Big names, on a big-time stage—Pebble Beach has a knack for getting its hands on any hint of drama and multiplying it by 10. Nothing about this victory felt small-time, especially not the finish.

A day after fanning a drive out-of-bounds and making double bogey on the home hole, Berger stepped onto the 18th tee in a tie for the lead and ripped his signature tumbling cut, this time finding the sliver of safety between the tree in the fairway and the bunkers right of it. He then ripped what he called the best 3-wood of his life, a laser that plopped onto the front right edge of the green and sat quickly. Then came the clincher.

Ezra Shaw
When Berger made the 30-foot eagle putt on the 18th hole Sunday, he deserved to get excited.

Only five players have won multiple times since the PGA Tour returned from its COVID-hiatus last June: Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Bryson DeChambeau … and Berger. The first four players on that list will all but assuredly be present and accounted for at the Ryder Cup in September at Whistling Straits. Want to bet against Berger being there, too?

“I do feel like I’m overrated, but that’s OK with me. I just think it puts a little chip on my shoulder, which is totally fine. … You look at some of the other guys and what they have accomplished, I’m kind of right in line with that. So I just want to continue to get better. I feel like my goal has always been to be the No. 1 player in the world. Some people will laugh at that, and that’s fine. But that’s something that every day I wake up and strive for.”

He might not be there yet, but he’s been pretty impressive as he’s worked to achieve that goal. With 26 straight rounds of par or better, Berger holds the longest active streak on tour. And he has 10 top-10 finishes in his last 19 starts dating back to last March.

His play over the last eight months has been a revelation, especially considering the depths he reached toward the end of 2019. Struggling with a nagging wrist injury, Berger fell outside the top 150 in the world and even played the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Championship, where he finished tied for 39th.

“When I was hurt, I thought, Man, I’m never going to be able to play golf again without being … without feeling like I was going to be hurt and not be able to do the things I know I needed to be able to do to prepare and play my best golf. I thought I didn’t really love the game until it was taken away from me for three or four months, and then I was really sad. I think I was a bit lucky to have the team of doctors that I had to really get me back to a hundred percent. Now it’s a nonissue. I never think about it.”

Berger has better things to worry about now, like getting into the top 10 in the world—he’s projected to move to No. 13 with this win—making that Ryder Cup team and winning majors. Yes, he’s that good. It’s time we all noticed.

The post It’s time we start giving Daniel Berger his due appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
It’s no secret what the majority of golf fans we’re rooting for on Sunday at Pebble Beach: Jordan Spieth completing his comeback. Daniel Berger, who Spieth famously walked off at the 2017 Travelers Championship, was not interested in such fairy tales.

Here are four takeaways from the 2021 AT&T.

Daniel Berger has all kinds of guts
After Saturday evening’s stunning reversal of fortune on the final three holes, it was fair to wonder if Daniel Berger, at least in this tournament, was cooked. To suffer such a body blow from Jordan Spieth, the same guy who ripped his heart out at the 2017 Travelers, would simply be too much to overcome. In reality, it may have been a blessing, because there is nothing Berger loves more than coming from behind to win. He did it again on Sunday at Pebble Beach, closing with a seven-under 65 that included a door-slamming eagle on the 72nd hole. After starting the day two shots back of Spieth, he wound up finishing three clear of him. Major guts.

Berger now has four wins on the PGA Tour, and his final rounds in those victories are as follows: 67-66-66-65. In that Travelers Championship he lost to Spieth in a playoff, he also shot a 67. The former Florida State All-American is not scared of the Sunday heat, which will serve him well at the Ryder Cup, should he make the team. He entered the week 12th in the U.S. team standings, but this victory makes him all but a lock.

Ezra Shaw

We’d like a lot more of Maverick McNealy, please and thanks
Prior to this week, the former No. 1 ranked amateur in the world had been in the mix a handful of times in his young PGA Tour career, and almost always because his putter kept him in it. This week, though, we saw the full McNealy package, which included one of the cockiest, sauciest club twirls in club-twirl history in the 72nd fairway. He didn’t make the eagle putt, but it wouldn’t have mattered anyway (well, it would have if not for that ridiculous penalty from Saturday).

If you know McNealy’s backstory, you’re well aware he could quit the game tomorrow and do just fine in life. He doesn’t need pro golf, and, let’s be honest, pro golf doesn’t need him either. But after Sunday’s saucy performance, we’ve found ourselves clamouring for more Mav. What a name. What a talent. He’s another one of these young studs who is close to “putting it all together,” as they say, and the more of those guys the merrier.

Harry How

Does Jordan Spieth have the Sunday scaries?
In fairness to Jordan, that he’s contended in back-to-back weeks is solid proof that he’s returning to his old self. This is a great thing. The sport is better with Jordan consistently in it. We are all rooting for this to continue. BUT … are we in the trust tree? OK, good. The Sunday swoon trend is very real.

You may be asking, how can it be a trend if he’s just starting to contend again? Well, if you look at the few times he has been in contention since 2017, the Sunday numbers are not good save for that Sunday 64 at Augusta in 2018. Since then though, it’s been SundayScariesVille.

With the 54-hole lead at Carnoustie in 2018 he shot 76 on Sunday. At Colonial in 2019, he began the final round just two off the lead, and he wound up finishing T-8 after a two-over 72. The following week at Muirfield Village he shot a one-over 73 on Sunday after starting the day just four back. In the first post-restart event at Colonial, Spieth was one shot off Xander Schauffele’s 54-hole lead. He posted a one-over 71 to tie for 10th.

And now he has last week and this week to add to that not-so-great collection. At WMPO, with a share of the 54-hole lead, he finished with a one-over 72. This week, he led by two at the beginning of the final round, and ended up finishing three back. He did shoot a two-under 70, which you could argue is progress. But he knows better than anyone that that usually doesn’t get it done unless you’re up by seven or eight on Saturday evening. We should urge the same patience he is exercising in this comeback process, but these Sunday stumbles have become the norm since Royal Birkdale.

Harry How

That Nate Lashley debacle on 16 was NSFW
Nate Lashley’s victory at the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic was one of the great feel-good stories in recent memory. Part 2 of that story seemed to be playing out on Sunday at Pebble, where Lashley was in full control for 15 holes. Then came the 16th green, where this utter debacle took place:

4 putts from 13 feet.

Nate Lashley was tied for the lead before this triple bogey. pic.twitter.com/kGR3YQbUzG

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 14, 2021

As if the four-jack wasn’t ugly enough, Lashley slammed his putter down on the green as he walked off, which the above clip conveniently cuts out. Letting out frustration is fine, so long as you don’t damage the golf course (cough, Sergio, cough). Not the best look for Lashley, but hopefully he learns from it. He’s too nice of a guy to have his character called into question over one brief lapse in judgement. By the way, we do not condone damaging the putting surface, but that pin position was downright cruel. Lashley was within his rights to helicopter his putter into the ocean.

The post Daniel Berger overcomes disastrous double bogey on Saturday with a gutsy 65 on Sunday at Pebble appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.