It looked for a while like Rory McIlroy was going to be blown away by the wicked winds steadily buffeting the golfers on Sunday at the Genesis Scottish Open. The 54-hole leader at the Renaissance Club in Gullane, Scotland, McIlroy was struggling early to handle the steady 20 to 30-mile-per-hour winds, making four bogeys and turning at two over on the front nine. Meanwhile, Scotland’s own Robert MacIntyre had jumped past him on the leaderboard, posting an impressive closing 64 (the best score by two on the day) to take the clubhouse lead.

But McIlroy came up clutch at the close. Birdies on the 11th and 14th holes were then followed by two more on the 17th and 18th holes (only the third all day) to finish off a closing 68. That let the Northern Irishman pip MacIntrye by one shot with a 15-under 266 total and claim his first victory as a professional in Scotland.

“This is right up there with the best of them,” McIlroy said of an impressive close he had in claiming his 24th PGA Tour title and 16th on the DP World Tour (this tournament is a co-sanctioned event for the two).

The victory earned McIlroy the first-place prize money payout of $1,575,000 from a total purse of $9 million. Here’s how much each golfer who made the cut earns this week.

Win: Rory McIlroy, 265/-15, $1,575,000

2: Robert MacIntyre, 266/-14, $985,500

T-3: Byeong Hun An, 270/-10, $468,450

T-3: David Lingmerth, 270/-10, $468,450

T-3: Scottie Scheffler, 270/-10, $468,450

T-6: Tommy Fleetwood, 271/-9, $261,990

T-6: Tyrrell Hatton, 271/-9, $261,990

T-6: Nicolai Hojgaard, 271/-9, $261,990

T-6: Tom Kim, 271/-9, $261,990

T-6: J.T. Poston, 271/-9, $261,990

11: Grant Forrest, 272/-8, $197,100

T-12: Ewen Ferguson, 273/-7, $151,007.15

T-12: Jordan Smith, 273/-7, $151,007.15

T-12: Ryan Fox, 273/-7, $151,007.14

T-12: Brian Harman, 273/-7, $151,007.14

T-12: Lee Hodges, 273/-7, $151,007.14

T-12: Max Homa, 273/-7, $151,007.14

T-12: Shane Lowry, 273/-7, $151,007.14

T-19: Sam Burns, 274/-6, $105,750

T-19: Corey Conners, 274/-6, $105,750

T-19: Sean Crocker, 274/-6, $105,750

T-19: Garrick Higgo, 274/-6, $105,750

T-19: Tom Hoge, 274/-6, $105,750

T-19: Nick Taylor, 274/-6, $105,750

T-25: Wyndham Clark, 275/-5, $73,597.50

T-25: Will Gordon, 275/-5, $73,597.50

T-25: Ben Griffin, 275/-5, $73,597.50

T-25: Calum Hill, 275/-5, $73,597.50

T-25: Viktor Hovland, 275/-5, $73,597.50

T-25: Romain Langasque, 275/-5, $73,597.50

T-25: Thorbjørn Olesen, 275/-5, $73,597.50

T-25: Yannik Paul, 275/-5, $73,597.50

T-25: Marcel Schneider, 275/-5, $73,597.50

T-25: Gary Woodland, 275/-5, $73,597.50

T-35: Alexander Björk, 276/-4, $52,810.72

T-35: Luke List, 276/-4, $52,810.72

T-35: Tom McKibbin, 276/-4, $52,810.72

T-35: Min Woo Lee, 276/-4, $52,810.71

T-35: Victor Perez, 276/-4, $52,810.71

T-35: Tapio Pulkkanen, 276/-4, $52,810.71

T-35: Davis Riley, 276/-4, $52,810.71

T-42: Jorge Campillo, 277/-3, $36,255

T-42: Thomas Detry, 277/-3, $36,255

T-42: Rickie Fowler, 277/-3, $36,255

T-42: Padraig Harrington, 277/-3, $36,255

T-42: Maximilian Kieffer, 277/-3, $36,255

T-42: Ben Martin, 277/-3, $36,255

T-42: Andrew Putnam, 277/-3, $36,255

T-42: Richie Ramsay, 277/-3, $36,255

T-42: Xander Schauffele, 277/-3, $36,255

T-42: Marcel Siem, 277/-3, $36,255

T-42: Sebastian Soderberg, 277/-3, $36,255

T-42: Matt Wallace, 277/-3, $36,255

T-54: Julien Brun, 278/-2, $26,190

T-54: Daniel Hillier, 278/-2, $26,190

T-54: Kurt Kitayama, 278/-2, $26,190

T-54: Joakim Lagergren, 278/-2, $26,190

T-54: Joost Luiten, 278/-2, $26,190

T-54: Guido Migliozzi, 278/-2, $26,190

T-60: Eric Cole, 279/-1, $23,220

T-60: Harry Hall, 279/-1, $23,220

T-60: Lucas Herbert, 279/-1, $23,220

T-60: Justin Thomas, 279/-1, $23,220

T-60: Dale Whitnell, 279/-1, $23,220

T-65: Austin Eckroat, 280/E, $20,340

T-65: Billy Horschel, 280/E, $20,340

T-65: Ashun Wu, 280/E, $20,340

T-68: Adri Arnaus, 281/+1, $19,170

T-68: Gavin Green, 281/+1, $19,170

T-68: Antoine Rozner, 281/+1, $19,170

T-68: Erik van Rooyen, 281/+1, $19,170

72: K.H. Lee, 282/+2, $18,720

73: Ben Taylor, 283/+3, $18,540

74: Connor Syme, 284/+4, $18,360

75: Dan Bradbury, 285/+5, $18,180

76: Sami Valimaki, 286/+6, $18,000

77: Matthew Jordan, 287/+7, $17,820

The post Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer at the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Whether his third time playing in a Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club turns out to be lucky or not, Rory McIlroy is off to a best start at a venue where he has had little or no previous success. In 2019, the Northern Irishman finished T-34, and two years later he failed to qualify for the weekend. Not only that, his 2021 visit was marked by a bizarre incident.

Waiting to tee off on the 10th hole alongside Jon Rahm, McIlroy was chatting to his caddie, Harry Diamond, when a man appeared out of the gallery, grabbed the headcover off McIlroy’s driver and took one of his irons out of the bag. He then proceeded to make a couple of practice swings. All of which provoked a classic double-take from McIlroy and bemused looks from all concerned before a pair of security guards moved in to remove the intruder.

Rory McIlroy was part of a bizarre incident ahead of his second round at the Scottish Open, where a spectator came to the tee and took a club from his golf bag. ? pic.twitter.com/FUhNiE342Z

— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) July 9, 2021

This year, so far at least, things are rolling along a little more smoothly. Again starting on the back nine, McIlroy was as many as five under par after only seven holes. Bogeys at the short 17th and the par-4 second slowed his progress. But normal service was resumed over the last seven holes, courtesy of an eagle at the par-5 third and what was a sixth and final birdie, on the 338-yard fifth hole. It all added up to a six-under-par 64 and an air of contentment around the four-time major champion.

“It was pretty comfortable, although I wouldn’t say it was easy,” said McIlroy of a bright and breezy morning at the Tom Doak design on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth. “I got off to a great start and holed some nice putts early on. That got my eye in. As I said yesterday, I’m coming in here playing really good golf. I’ve been producing good results and getting myself in contention. So I’m just trying to do the same things while still adapting a little bit to the different conditions I’m going to face in the next couple of weeks.”

Octavio Passos

And that was as much as McIlroy had to say about next week’s Open Championship at Hoylake, the course where he became Champion Golfer of the Year back in 2014. Otherwise, he was all business, focused solely on the matter in hand.

“My mind is pretty much on this week,” he claimed, without even a hint of his tongue entering his cheek. “I’ve got myself off to a great start. I’d love to win the Scottish Open. This event is a massive deal in its own right. And what that could give me for the rest of the summer is important. Yes, we’ve got the Open Championship next week. But there is also the FedEx Cup and the Race to Dubai, too. So this is a big week. I’m focused on here, but in doing so I’m getting ready for more links golf next week.

“In fact, this week is a bit of a re-set,” he continued. “I didn’t touch my clubs for 10 days after the Travelers. Before the pro-am yesterday I had played only two rounds of golf and had two practice sessions. So I’d had a bit of time away. I have some really good feeling in my swing that are consistent. Even if I do take a bit of time away, I feel comfortable getting back into it. After today, I feel like I’ve returned just where I left off.”

Such was McIlroy’s mood, he even found time to comment on the shots he had hit the previous day with a persimmon wood.

Can’t beat the feeling of hitting out of the screws with a persimmon driver. pic.twitter.com/2anUxWwkZE

— Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory) July 12, 2023

“Roll back the clubs,” he said with a smile. “Roll back the ball. Roll back everything. I see John Huggan nodding his head in agreement. I must say swinging a persimmon wood means you can’t swing as hard as you would with a [modern large clubhead]. You need to hit it out of the middle of the club face. And a persimmon wood looks about as big as a golf ball. It’s cool. It’s a throwback. And that’s why we have a few different tee boxes. We can always move forward and play some old equipment. Every now and then it’s fun to do it.”

Shooting 64 is too, of course.

The post ‘Roll everything back’: Rory McIlroy drops spicy equipment take after strong start to Scottish Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

In 2015, McIlroy lost an arm wrestling contest to a junior golfer (to be fair, he was a big junior golfer). And on Wednesday, he took the bait from a college golfer on a long drive competition, and, well, you can guess where this is going.

The four-time major champ was wrapping up final preparations for this week’s Genesis Scottish Open when he was approached on the range at The Renaissance Club by Ruben Lindsay. The rising redshirt sophomore at the University of Houston is a Scottish native and had played in the day’s pro-am. He also happens to possess jaw-dropping swing speed. Even when that jaw belongs to Rory McIlroy.

Check it out as Lindsay goes first and bombs one 374 yards with an absurd 195-mile-per-hour ball speed. McIlroy is in awe before putting up a pretty darn good effort of his own:

195 MPH ball speed ?@McIlroyRory was in awe of 19-year-old Ruben Lindsay's speed @ScottishOpen. pic.twitter.com/WSy7eaBlNT

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 12, 2023

We’re not sure if McIlroy actually said “Wow,” or something a little more NSFW, but you get the point. He was impressed. And unfortunately for him, 352 yards and 188 mph couldn’t get it done. Not even close. Crazy.

Anyway, here’s Lindsay describing how this thrilling moment/triumph all went down. Turns out, this confident young man has been wanting a piece of Rory in the long drive for a while and he won a nice little side bet with a friend.

Challenging Rory and winning ?

A moment the @UHCougarMGolf freshman will never forget @ScottishOpen. pic.twitter.com/ylOJienRXF

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 12, 2023

To be clear, Lindsay isn’t even in the field at the Scottish Open. Otherwise, he’d be drawing some McIlroy-sized crowds on Thursday. Again, good on Rory for being a good sport. And at least he didn’t put any money on this impromptu range competition. That would have been an all-time hustle.

The post Rory McIlroy was in awe of this 19-year-old’s swing speed after getting smoked in a long drive contest appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

News flash: Links golf in the British Isles is different. Different from the norm on the PGA Tour that is. Where most events in the US involve shots that are played mostly through the air, across the pond the bounce and roll of the ball after it lands are typically also parts of the overall equation. So it is that this week’s Genesis Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth is as good as it gets for those looking to combine competitive play with seaside practice before next week’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool.

Still, within those parameters, many agendas exist. Not every player is arriving in East Lothian for the co-sponsored PGA Tour/DP World Tour event with the same priorities. The lucky ones have made the trip on the back of some encouraging form. Others are struggling a little. Some haven’t played at all for a couple of weeks. The common factor though is that no one really knows with 100 percent certainty how things are going to go in golf’s most unpredictable format. Links golf is a multi-faceted affair, one that asks an often-dizzying array of questions all the way from driver to putter. That is why so many believe golf in the land where the game began is the ultimate test, both mentally and physically.

“Not to diminish the Scottish Open, which is great, but if any of us had to choose one to win in the next two weeks it’s going to be the Open,” says two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas. “So for sure, my mind is looking ahead, at least when it comes to prepping for links golf. My best performances in the Open, which admittedly have not been that great, have come after I’ve played in the Scottish Open. So just being here is a good start for me.”

Thomas also noted the importance of simply getting acclimated to the U.K. overall. “The time zone change is a big thing for me,” Thomas said. “I’ve been in London for a couple of days before coming here and that has helped. I don’t usually feel this fresh at 4 p.m. on the Monday before the Scottish. Ideally, of course, I’d like to get myself in contention here. Playing under pressure will tell me more about where my game is than anything else.”

Thomas’ obvious uncertainty surely stems from a run of recent form that has been less than encouraging. But at least he has some idea of what to expect. Ryan Fox is one who can’t say the same. The burly New Zealander is here on the back of three weeks at home, dealing with a family bereavement.

RELATED: Dear Americans: The Open Championship is not called “The British”

“My aim is just to find some form,” Fox said. “I’ve played here a few times though, so I know how to get myself around. I just need to hit shots and get some confidence going. I’m normally pretty good at coming in cold. I went to the PGA [Championship] in May with little golf in my locker. This week will be much the same. On the range, I’ll be looking to control my flights and trajectories. You have to do that in links golf, although not quite as much here as it will be at Hoylake. The height and penetration on my shots will be key there, so I’ll be working on that this week.”

One who has already seen some success over the Tom Doak-designed Renaissance is Aaron Rai, who won the Scottish Open here in 2020. The Englishman, who has been busy establishing himself on the PGA Tour, where he sits 56th on the FedEx Cup points list, might be well aware of the challenges ahead, but he is also cognizant of the fact that absence can make the heart grow unfamiliar.

“I grew up playing a lot of links golf, but I haven’t seen much of that on the PGA Tour,” Rai said. “So this week I’ll be re-learning what I used to know so well. It is such a contrast, in almost every way. The fringes we chip off. The speed of the greens. The style of the greens. Everything is an adjustment.

“What you have here is a lot more choice,” he continues. “I’ve been working hard on my short game for that reason. I’ve hit a lot of shots in the 20- to 40-yard range with everything from a lob wedge to a 6-iron. And they’ve all been the right club at times. There’s a lot of thought required. You have to remain open to almost any possibility around the greens. Especially when the conditions get tough, it’s all about flight control and ‘creating’ the shot.”

Emphasis on less-than-full shots is also where former U.S Open champion Gary Woodland will be focusing over the coming days.

“It’s nice to get accustomed to the time change and, most importantly, ‘see’ some different shots,” Woodland says. “In America, there aren’t many questions to answer. You hit the ball up in the air and it pretty much stops where it lands. That’s not the case here. You need more imagination. You need to get the ball on the ground early and use the slopes. I like to play the ball low. I grew up in the wind. But the short shots over here are different. I’ll be spending a lot of time on shots around the practice green here.”

Then there is the putting. The general consensus is that Old World greens are noticeably slower than those on the PGA Tour. So, yet again, adjustment is required.

“Long lag putts are always key here,” says Max Homa. “I don’t normally find myself putting from 100 feet or so, but I do over here. Everything is just not what I’m used to. Even the texture of the sand is different. So I’m here just because I want to feel more comfortable in a place where you can be hitting a 7-iron 100 yards one minute, then 220 the next. It’s just awkward, as there is always the possibility of bad bounces. I have a good caddie though. He’s very good at knowing where the ball is likely to end up after it lands. I’ll lean on him a lot.”

Indeed, two themes are developing, both summed up neatly by Thomas.

“The biggest adjustment for me is always around the greens,” he said. “You can’t replicate that until you get here. There is nowhere I can go in Florida to rehearse the chip and pitch shots I’ll be asked to play in the next couple of weeks. Then on the longer shots I also like having the opportunity to use the ground more than I normally do. Which is why I hit a few more 2-irons than usual last week at home. At the end of the day though, it’s still golf.”

Indeed, it is. Only different.

The post ‘It’s still golf,’ only different: Open Championship prep begins with the Scottish Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
GULLANE, Scotland — Perhaps not surprisingly given his outspoken nature, his high profile on social media and just the fact that he is Ian Poulter, Ryder Cup legend and the man the Americans most love to beat, there has been a fair bit of Poults-bashing going on in the wake of the 46-year-old Englishman’s decision to play in the LIV Golf series.

Using words like “liar” and “hypocrite,” Billy Horschel was the latest to take a public and indirect pop, albeit the BMW PGA champion didn’t single out Poulter as the sole target of his disappointment. But around the Renaissance Club, venue for this week’s Genesis Scottish Open, there is a lot of grumbling and finger-pointing going on, much of it directed at Poulter and the three other LIV players in the field—Branden Grace, Justin Harding and Adrain Otaegui—courtesy of a last-minute reprieve won in arbitration.

“This is not just about a bunch of players looking after themselves,” says one prominent DP World Tour golfer, who requested anonymity. “It’s about the whole European Tour. That’s why we are finding this so difficult. When I hear what some of the guys like Ian have been saying, I shudder. Just tell us the truth. I couldn’t sit in front of my peers and say I am happy not to be playing golf for the rest of my life. Not when I’ve made $50 million in prize money. There have been things that have been difficult to listen to.”

On the other side of the debate, comments like that are hard for Poulter to hear. So it is no surprise that he has not been slow to respond. Never a shrinking violet, Poulter plans to continue playing in DP World Tour events as long as the injunction that allows him to do so remains in place. No, he isn’t worried about the prospect of negative reactions from spectators or his fellow competitors. And no, he isn’t going to respond directly to Horschel. At least, not in public.

“I plan to play the Czech Open, but to be honest, I haven’t actually sat down and worked it out beyond that,” Poulter said. “I haven’t looked at the bigger picture of the other events. I’ll play at Wentworth [in the DP World Tour flagship event in September]. I had a good catch up with Rory [McIlroy] and Thomas [Bjorn] last week. It’s only uncomfortable because that’s what is being written. And no, I am not going to talk about someone else’s comments. I have no interest in that at all.”

Patrick Smith

Poulter’s feeling is that the separation between business and personal relationships is one he can comfortably bridge.

“They are two completely different things,” he says. “I am going to have a different opinion than some. Even if Thomas’ opinion is different to mine, I’m not going to fall out with him about it. I have known Thomas for 25 years. He is on the [DP World Tour] board and has the right to his opinion, I have a right to mine. There’s going to be a few people that are extremely strong-minded about it and there are others who are my friends; we will agree to disagree but remain friends.”

Poulter was also keen to underline his previous commitment to his home circuit. Although a resident in Florida, he has notched 389 DP World Tour starts, often enough, he declares, to the detriment of his stature on the PGA Tour.

“Quite a few [Europeans] have given their card up through the years,” he said. “But I have been as committed to this tour as anyone. I have sacrificed a good few FedEx [Cup] points along the way because of that. This has always been my home tour for 24 years. Why should that change? I had a great reception last week [in Ireland at the JP McManus Pro-Am] as never before, 40,000 fans at the event and they were incredible. There was not one bit of abuse, zero. Yes, social media is bad because that’s their forum to hide. We know that happens. It empowers people who can stay behind a screen. But to my face? Nothing.”

Looking forward, Poulter refused to comment on the fact that he and his LIV colleagues have been singled out in the draw. Harding and Otaegui are first off the first tee in the first round, a two-ball amongst a sea off three-balls. Poulter, alongside Grace and only Grace, is first off the 10th tee in the afternoon wave. No coincidence, of course. But not something that will, according to Poulter, affect him negatively once the tournament starts.

“My bubble starts when I tee off,” he says. “The phone is off, you have a job to do. That’s my safety net. Of course, it has affected my golf, there’s no question. It is not an easy process to go through. Social media and various people’s comments make it difficult. You don’t want to feel like you have been completely pushed out.”

To discuss all the above and much more, Poulter has yet to talk in any depth to DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley. Poulter is open to a chat, although he feels strongly that the first move must come from Pelley.

“We said hello in Ireland,” Poulter said. “I think he was quite busy, and I was quite busy. I don’t have a problem with anybody in this situation. If Keith would like to have a conversation, I would happily do that. I spoke to him not that long ago but it’s over to him, really. This whole thing is exhausting. The bigger picture of golf is there is a level of investment coming in which is of vast amounts of money. For a period of time, the European Tour were extremely interested in doing something with that and now they are not. It was OK to work in that little ecosystem for a while because they [all sides] were negotiating and now they are not. Which is sad. There is clearly space in the calendar for everyone.”

You may also like:
Tiger a little rusty at JP McManus Pro-Am
Meronk on top of the world at Mount Juliet
Grace shines in Portland
DJ dominates on Day 2 at Portland
Schwartzel crowned inaugural LIV Golf champion
Who won what at LIV Golf London
PGA announces new plans, but not everyone happy
LIV Golf officially announced the signing of Brooks Koepka
LIV players permitted to play in Open
PGA plans tour series to rival  LIV
LIV Golf announces latest major signing
Brooks Koepka set to make his move to LIV
Report: Ancer is the latest LIV Golf recruit
The Gulf Club: Latest golf news from UAE

The post Ian Poulter won’t trade jabs with LIV haters, says there’s ‘space in the calendar for everyone’ appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The pro-am, hosted by Irish billionaire JP McManus, will be held on July 4-5 at the Adare Manor in County Limerick, which will also host the 2027 Ryder Cup. It is the Monday and Tuesday of the week before the Open. This will mark Woods’ fourth appearance in the event, which he won in 2000.

We are over the moon to announce that Tiger Woods will be playing in the 2022 JP McManus Pro-Am. ?

More updates to follow… #JPProAm2022 pic.twitter.com/NSoycjF7at

— JP McManus Pro-Am (@JPProAm) April 14, 2022

Woods will not play in the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club, which is now an official PGA Tour event as well as a DP World Tour Rolex Series competition, the weekend prior to the Open. He will head to St Andrews shortly after the pro-am.

Woods made his return to competition at last week’s Masters 14 months after sustaining traumatic injuries to his right leg in a car accident. After shooting 78 on Sunday for a 47th-place finish, Woods told Sky Sports that he will play in the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews, where he has won two of his three Open Championships. Woods stopped short of committing to any other event before the Open and said he was not sure whether he’d be able to play in next month’s PGA Championship at Southern Hills.

“I won’t be playing a full schedule ever again,” Woods told Sky Sports. “It’ll be just the big events. I don’t know if I’ll be able to play (the PGA Championship) at Southern Hills or not, but I am looking forward to St. Andrews. That is something that is near and dear to my heart. You know, I’ve won two Opens there, it’s the home of golf, it’s my favorite golf course in the world.

“I will be there for that one. Anything in between that, I don’t know. I will try, there’s no doubt. This week, I will try to get ready for Southern Hills, and we’ll see what this body is able to do.”

Woods joins Rory McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and a number of other high-profile players in the JP McManus Pro-Am field.

More
Thai stars sign up for Aramco Team Series — Bangkok
Saudi golf continues to thrive
Asian Tour breaking new ground with Trust Golf events
Chantananuwat clings on to lead at Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup
Thai teen Ratchanon Chantananuwat’s learning curve at Trust Golf Asian Mixed Cup
Tiger confirms he will play Open at St Andrews
Scottie Scheffler continues the ride of his life

The post Tiger Woods to play in JP McManus Pro-Am in Ireland the week before Open Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
Given what had gone before, the ultimate (anti) climax of this Scottish Open was perhaps inevitable. Yes, Tommy Fleetwood made a 15-footer for birdie on the Renaissance Club’s 18th green to force a playoff with fellow Englishman Aaron Rai. But over the previous 17 holes, the 29-year-old World No. 17 missed any number of makable putts that could, should and would have seen him stroll to a comfortable victory in this $7 million Rolex Series event.

But that didn’t happen. The two protagonists tied on 11-under 273 at the picturesque Tom Doak design on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth, one shot ahead of a third Englishman, Robert Rock (who made bogey on the 72nd hole). And it took only one more hole to decide the destination of the €974,000 first-place check. After watching Rai make a chip-and-putt par after hitting his drive in a fairway bunker, Fleetwood took three putts from the fringe, missing from not much more than three feet to hand victory to his younger compatriot.

“I just fell short really,” was Fleetwood’s inevitably glum verdict. “I felt like I played really well today, especially on that back nine. But my putting really cost me this week. That last one summed it up really. It was just a straight pull. You always try to look at the positives but I cocked it up on the first playoff hole. And that’s that. I’ll sulk for about five hours on the way home. Maybe the only positive is that no one beat me over 72 holes. Clearly my game is coming back. For a lot of this week I felt more like the player I should be.”

Rai isn’t doing so badly himself. One week after a second-place finish at the Irish Open, the man who wears two gloves to hit every full shot is now a two-time winner on the European Tour, having first tasted victory at the 2018 Hong Kong Open. This latest step up, though, is the biggest yet for the 25-year-old who turned pro in 2012. A winner in Scotland on the third-division EuroPro Tour in 2015 (he took home a golf trolley and a range finder), Rai won three times on the Challenge Tour in 2017. Now he sits sixth on the European Tour’s Race to Dubai points list for 2020 and is a member of the world’s top-100 players. Heady stuff.

A soft-spoken, almost shy individual, Rai seemed nearly overcome by the magnitude of his latest achievement. It certainly didn’t come easy. After a bogey on the second hole of his final round, he made the eight birdies he needed to tie Fleetwood, shooting a closing 64 after starting the day tied for 10th, five strokes back of overnight leader Rock. And, just as Rai had done on the final hole of regulation play, he drove into sand in the playoff. With his opponent in the middle of the fairway, Rai’s prospects were clearly veering into a territory known as “bleak.” But just as he had done earlier, Rai saved par.

“Both times I was fortunate to be far enough back from the lip that I could almost make the green,” he said. “And it definitely helped me the second time round that I knew what to expect from the shot. I was still thinking 4 would be a great score though. And I was lucky, too, that the flag was so close to the front of the green. If it had been a back pin, I probably wouldn’t have made par both times. But you always need a little bit of good fortune. That was mine. And of course I wasn’t expecting Tommy to make 5.”

Tommy Fleetwood congratulates Aaron Rai after winning the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open on the first playoff hole. Ross Kinnaird

Perhaps the only note of discord as Rai has plotted his way through professional golf has been his pace of play. Or, more specifically, his lack of pace. Back in early 2018, former Open champion Paul Lawrie “named and shamed” Rai as one of the worst slow coaches on the European Tour. And, judging by the methodical nature of his pre-shot routine this week, not much has changed in the interim.

Still, at least one major champion won’t be surprised by Rai’s success. Speaking prior to the tournament, 2005 U.S. Open winner Michael Campbell expressed his admiration for Rai’s game.

“Aaron is very good,” Campbell said. “I played with him in Wales, and he showed me all the shots. He works the ball both ways and can hit it high and low too. He’s got all the tools. What he does is hard to do with the modern equipment, but he does it very well.”

Indeed. And this week, no one did it better.

The post Aaron Rai mounts impressive Sunday charge, wins Scottish Open in playoff over Tommy Fleetwood appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
It was, amidst much doom, gloom and precipitation, a thing of beauty. Hitting shots the old-fashioned way, Tommy Fleetwood somehow manufactured a two-under-par 69 in vile conditions on Saturday to sit two shots off Robert Rock’s lead at the end of day three of the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club.

It was, quite simply a magnificent effort, full of the sort of imagination and flair many feared forever lost at the sharp end of the professional game. Employing his distinctive, “punchy” action to its best effect in the heavy rain and strong wind off the Firth of Forth, Fleetwood made five birdies and dropped only three shots.

“I think halfway back was just about as far as I could swing,” he said modestly. “And they turned out to be punch shots. You have to pick a shot and try to play it in conditions like that. Wherever it goes, it’s going to go. You have to accept that. For some reason that helps me accept shots. Because I know how hard it is. When it’s like this, there is still a massive emphasis on clubhead control. You have to hit a strong draw against a left-to-right wind for example. Downwind you have to launch it. So it’s all about clubhead control. And I had a really good day today.”

The final birdie came on the 483-yard par-4 18th, the difficulty of the challenge illustrated perfectly by Fleetwood’s thought process as he addressed his approach shot.

“Stood over the ball I was prepared for just about any scenario,” he said with a wry smile. “I could have topped it, shanked it or duffed it and I wouldn’t have been too surprised. Where it went (10 feet from the cup) was the most surprising thing. And from two feet out the putt was going in. I felt like I won the battle with the course today.”

Indeed, it was a fight that shifted more and more in the course’s favour as the rain grew even more intense and the breeze stiffened. Fleetwood’s one-under back nine picked up shots on all of those around him. Most significantly, it was three strokes lower than Robert Rock managed.

“I loved every minute of it,” Fleetwood insisted. “It’s golf isn’t it? I’ll play in that every day. I’m really happy and the birdie on 18 left me feeling really good. I was grinding all day. But an occasional look at the leader board helped. I saw everyone was doing the same. It was a day when three pars moved you up. And every birdie was like gold dust.”

The best of Fleetwood’s 34 inward blows both came at short holes. At the short 12th his 5-iron tee shot finished no more than four feet from the flag, a feat that impressed his hard-to-impress caddie, Ian Finnis. Fleetwood made par there, but an even better result came two holes later, when he birdied the next par 3.

“The tee shot there was interesting,” said Fleetwood. “Finno gave me the yardage but there was no point in even discussing what club it was. It was ‘pick a club and create something.’ I looked up and it was nice to see where it was going. Those two tee shots were the best shots of the day for sure. And they came at the good time. I’d missed a couple of putts not long before. But nothing was easy; everything was hard.”

Indeed, it was day for acceptance, for patience and for finesse. Fleetwood displayed all three.

“I consider my acceptance an asset,” he said. “Yes, the rain was pretty relentless. And normally when it’s like this you can’t play. The rain never stopped for even half a second. Then it just got progressively worse. But nothing out there phased me and Finno. The prize money we play for means even days like this has compensations. It was so bad near the end we were laughing about it. If you can handle yourself in these conditions you should be proud of yourself. And hold your head up. You have to give yourself a pat on the back sometimes. And I deserve one today. Besides, my ultimate dream is to win the Open and I might have to do it on a day like this.”

The post Every golfer can learn from Tommy Fleetwood’s attitude and play in brutal Scottish Open conditions appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
The European Tour has announced schedule changes to two of its premier events.

On Monday the Euro Tour moved up the BMW PGA Championship and the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, which will be played in consecutive weeks at the start of October. Both tournaments jump one week on the Old World circuit schedule, with the Scottish Open starting on Oct. 1 at the Renaissance Club in North Berwick, with BMW PGA at Wentworth Club in Surrey—the tour’s flagship event—sliding into Oct. 8.

As these events will follow the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Galgorm Castle Golf Club in Northern Ireland (Sept. 24-27), the Euro Tour has established a second UK Swing for its season, with the current six-week run ending next week at the Belfry.

The rest of the schedule, however, remains a bit of a mystery.

The Italian Open and Turkish Open have not been cancelled but are without dates, leaving a month gap between the BMW and the Masters. Additionally, the HSBC-WGC Champions is in danger of postponement or cancellation after China barred all international spectacles. The European Tour’s season finale, the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, is set for Dec. 13.

The post European Tour announces schedule changes to Scottish Open, BMW PGA appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Keely Levins
It took a while for Stacy Lewis to grab LPGA career win No. 13. Nearly three years to be precise. A lot has happened to the 35-year-old former World No. 1 between her victory at the 2017 Cambia Portland Classic and her triumph Sunday at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open. Most notably, she and her husband, University of Houston women’s golf coach Gerrod Chadwell, welcomed their first child, Chesnee, in 2018.

“It’s amazing,” Lewis said of winning for the first time as a mom. “The only disappointing thing is that she’s not here to take a picture with this [the trophy], but I have been trying to get a trophy from the day she was born. That’s been my goal. I just called them, got to FaceTime with them. My husband said she was hitting the TV screen with her plastic golf clubs when I made that putt. So it’s just pretty cool. I can’t wait to get home with them in a week or so and celebrate.”

Lewis shot a one-over 72 in the final round for a five-under 279 total at Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland. She then made 23-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to claim the title over Azahara Munoz, Cheyenne Knight and Emily Pedersen, who all made pars. The win came with its own milestone: The $225,000 first-place prize puts Lewis’ career earnings over $13 million, making her just the eighth player in LPGA history to reach the mark.

Heading into Sunday, Lewis was nervous about what lay ahead. Pace of play from her group on Saturday, which included Munoz and Jennifer Song, was troublesome for Lewis, who was worried that it would mess with her rhythm. And yet she was paired with both again on Sunday.

“Honestly,” Lewis said after her third round, sitting one shot back of Munoz in second place, “my biggest challenge is to figure out with that pace of play how I can get into a good rhythm and how to keep myself in a rhythm of playing golf and not feeling like you’re waiting so long in between holes and shots and different things.”

Lewis’ worries proved warranted as pace of play was an issue again in the fourth round (it took the group five hours and 16 minutes to complete 18 holes). They were put on the clock on the 11th hole, where Lewis made double bogey, her only double of the tournament, that erased a lead created by two early birdies in the round.

However, Lewis focused on what she could control and was able to regain her rhythm, playing the last seven holes even par.

To deal with the situation, she made a promise with herself to not bring it up with her caddie. By not talking about it, she hoped she wouldn’t think about it as much.

“I stayed more in a rhythm of my game and kind of the way I was thinking about shots,” Lewis said. “I knew that was going to be the biggest challenge of the day, and overall, I felt like I did a really good job with it.”

Mark Runnacles
After nearly three years since her last LPGA title, Lewis had plenty to smile about on Sunday.

While excited about her victory (her first in a playoff after going 0-3 previously), Lewis is thinking about more than her own game when she verbalizes her concerns about slow play. She’s trying to help the tour overall. “I do think an effort needs to be made across the board to play faster, because obviously I wasn’t watching it on TV, but I’m sure it couldn’t have been fun to watch on TV,” Lewis said.

It was fun, however, for Lewis to be a winner again. Since returning to the tour in 2019 after having Chesnee, Lewis has struggled to find the game that helped her claim two major titles. She played 19 times last season, coming away with three top-10 finishes but missing eight cuts and falling to No. 96 in the Rolex Rankings.

But what she showed in Scotland hints that there’s more left in Lewis, who no doubt hopes career win No. 14 will come a tad bit quicker than No. 13.

The post Stacy Lewis grabs first title in nearly three years, winning four-woman playoff at the Ladies Scottish Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.