Si Woo Kim had other ideas.

The 27-year-old South Korean, a former Players Championship winner who shined for the International side at last September’s Presidents Cup, started the day three off the lead, then shot a six-under 64 at Waialae Country Club, including a chip-in birdie from 28 feet on the par-3 17th hole and a two-putt birdie from just inside 42 feet on the par-5 18th. The momentum pushed him past Hayden Buckley and allowed Kim to claim victory for the fourth time on tour with an 18-under 262 total.

Buckley, the leader by two entering the final round, knew things weren’t going to come easy as he looked to be one of those first-time winners. The 26-year-old saw Collin Morikawa cough up a six-shot lead last week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, not to mention what happened to Jordan Spieth in Honolulu on Friday, going from tied for first to missing the cut. When major champions struggle while out front in tour events, what can really be expected from somebody with just 39 starts to their credit?

Additionally, only nine 54-hole Sony leaders had won since 2000 and only five 54-hole leaders of any tour event so far in the 2022-23 season had closed the door.

Kim knew those odds, too. “Three strokes behind, like always … [jumping to the lead] can happen fast. Like last week. So I tried my best on every shot.”

Buckley saw his lead slip away early on the back nine, making a birdie on the first hole then nine straight pars before a bogey on the 11th. He bounced back with birdie on the 12th, made another on the 14th to reclaim the lead, fell back to a tie with a bogey on the 15th, then regained it — for just seconds — with a birdie on the 16th hole as Kim was playing the 17th.

That’s when Kim punched back. “Right before I hit [the chip] I heard the noise [Buckley making a birdie putt on the 16th hole to go out front by one], Kim said. “It was a tough line into the grain. I had to hit it aggressive. Nothing to lose. It was exciting.”

Kim then made his birdie on 18 to take the one-shot lead. Buckley hit his drive on the home hole against the collar of rough through the fairway, then left his second shot short right of the green, giving him a tricky up-and-down chance for birdie. His chip settled just inside 11 feet, but he couldn’t convert the putt, leaving him with a closing 68.

With the win, Kim earned first-place prize money payout of $1.422 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million. Here’s the prize money payouts for each golfer at the Sony Open.

Win: Si Woo Kim, 262/-18, $1,422,000
2: Hayden Buckley, 263/-17, $861,100
3: Chris Kirk, 265/-15, $545,100
T-4: Andrew Putnam, 266/-14, $332,458.34
T-4: David Lipsky, 266/-14, $332,458.33
T-4: Ben Taylor, 266/-14, $332,458.33
T-7: Aaron Baddeley, 267/-13, $231,865
T-7: Matt Kuchar, 267/-13, $231,865
T-7: Nate Lashley, 267/-13, $231,865
T-7: Maverick McNealy, 267/-13, $231,865
T-7: Nick Taylor, 267/-13, $231,865
T-12: Corey Conners, 268/-12, $138,908.34
T-12: Nico Echavarria, 268/-12, $138,908.34
T-12: Andrew Novak, 268/-12, $138,908.34
T-12: Byeong Hun An, 268/-12, $138,908.33
T-12: Austin Eckroat, 268/-12, $138,908.33
T-12: Ben Griffin, 268/-12, $138,908.33
T-12: S.H. Kim, 268/-12, $138,908.33
T-12: Taylor Montgomery, 268/-12, $138,908.33
T-12: JJ Spaun, 268/-12, $138,908.33
T-21: Stewart Cink, 269/-11, $77,025
T-21: Brice Garnett, 269/-11, $77,025
T-21: J.T. Poston, 269/-11, $77,025
T-21: Adam Scott, 269/-11, $77,025
T-21: Brendon Todd, 269/-11, $77,025
T-21: Kevin Yu, 269/-11, $77,025
T-21: Carl Yuan, 269/-11, $77,025
T-28: Will Gordon, 270/-10, $55,300
T-28: Harry Hall, 270/-10, $55,300
T-28: Stephan Jaeger, 270/-10, $55,300
T-28: KH Lee, 270/-10, $55,300
T-32: Ben Martin, 271/-9, $41,387.23
T-32: Michael Thompson, 271/-9, $41,387.23
T-32: Tyson Alexander, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-32: Cam Davis, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-32: Brian Harman, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-32: Russell Henley, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-32: Denny McCarthy, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-32: Ryan Palmer, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-32: Doc Redman, 271/-9, $41,387.22
T-41: Ryan Brehm, 272/-8, $28,045
T-41: Nick Hardy, 272/-8, $28,045
T-41: Tom Hoge, 272/-8, $28,045
T-41: Augusto Núñez, 272/-8, $28,045
T-41: Chez Reavie, 272/-8, $28,045
T-41: Justin Suh, 272/-8, $28,045
T-41: Adam Svensson, 272/-8, $28,045
T-48: Danny Lee, 273/-7, $20,250.34
T-48: Greyson Sigg, 273/-7, $20,250.34
T-48: Zac Blair, 273/-7, $20,250.33
T-48: Adam Long, 273/-7, $20,250.33
T-48: Hideki Matsuyama, 273/-7, $20,250.33
T-48: Brendan Steele, 273/-7, $20,250.33
T-54: Joseph Bramlett, 274/-6, $18,249
T-54: MJ Daffue, 274/-6, $18,249
T-54: Keita Nakajima, 274/-6, $18,249
T-54: Chad Ramey, 274/-6, $18,249
T-54: Davis Thompson, 274/-6, $18,249
T-54: Kevin Tway, 274/-6, $18,249
T-54: Joseph Winslow, 274/-6, $18,249
T-61: Eric Cole, 275/-5, $17,380
T-61: Cole Hammer, 275/-5, $17,380
T-61: Kelly Kraft, 275/-5, $17,380
T-61: Aaron Rai, 275/-5, $17,380
T-65: Troy Merritt, 276/-4, $16,906
T-65: Brian Stuard, 276/-4, $16,906
T-67: Anders Albertson, 277/-3, $16,353
T-67: Russell Knox, 277/-3, $16,353
T-67: Adam Schenk, 277/-3, $16,353
T-67: Taiga Semikawa, 277/-3, $16,353
T-67: Austin Smotherman, 277/-3, $16,353
72: Kazuki Higa, 278/-2, $15,879
T-73: Harris English, 279/-1, $15,642
T-73: Kurt Kitayama, 279/-1, $15,642
75: Zach Johnson, 281/+1, $15,405
76: Patton Kizzire, 282/+2, $15,247

The post LOOK: Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer at the 2023 Sony Open in Hawaii appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

No wonder the stand-out South Korean appeared to exude a calm determination down the stretch on Sunday at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Kim birdied the final two holes at Waialae Country Club, the first with an aggressive chip-in, and rallied to edge Hayden Buckley by a stroke for his fourth PGA Tour title.

“I don’t know about that it [made] me a better player, but I think definitely helps for [dealing with] the pressure in any tournament,” Kim, 27, said after becoming the first Korean player to win the Sony Open since KJ Choi in 2008. “I think that helps more learning about it.

“I tried my best every shot. Was a little shaky in like last four holes, but, yeah, was trying to get confidence and keep calm.”

Kim sure didn’t look shaky. Coming out strong with birdies on his first three holes and then tacking on those clutch birdies at the finish, Kim shot his second-straight six-under 64 and completed 72 holes in 18-under 262. He won for the first time in almost two years, since the 2021 American Express, and collected a cheque for $1.422 million.

SI WOO HIM ? 

An incredible chip-in from Si Woo Kim answering @HBuckley13’s birdie @SonyOpenHawaii. pic.twitter.com/0cgRc3cfKD

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 16, 2023

In a showdown of 20-something newly married men — both Kim and Buckley tied the knot with their long-time girlfriends last month — the former concocted the key shot after beginning the day three strokes off the lead. Kim flew a 7-iron over the pin at the par-3 17th and found a light patch of rough 28 feet from the hole but with the grain growing against the intended direction of the shot. Initially, he thought about playing conservatively, but then Buckley holed a 16-foot birdie putt behind him at the par-4 16th to break a tie they had shared off and on over the late stages of the inward nine.

“It was little tricky. But I knew he made a birdie,” Kim said. “I heard the noise, so I have to hit it aggressive. I have nothing to lose, so I just hit it aggressive.”

He executed the chip perfectly and reacted with an enthusiastic fist pump. Then he immediately regrouped and found the green in two at the par-5 closing hole with a 5-iron from 222 yards out of the left fairway bunker. Two putts from 42 feet and his work was finished.

Buckley, 26, seeking his first tour title in his 40th start, came up short of the green on the home hole and then pitched to 12 feet. He pulled the tying putt slightly, and the ball veered just left of the hole. The Mississippi native closed with a 68.

Chris Kirk, twice a runner-up at Waialae, also had a 68 and added a third-place finish to his record with a 265 total.

“Winning on the PGA Tour is the hardest thing to do and sometimes you just get beat. I feel like that’s what happened today,” said Buckley, who entered the final round with a two-stroke lead over Kirk, Ben Taylor and David Lipsky. “Overall, I was impressed by what I did, and I think I’ll remember this day and it’ll just make me better.”

Amid the breeziest conditions of the tournament, Kim tied the low round of the day with the kind of ball-striking proficiency he exhibited all week. He hit 15 greens in regulation each of the four days and led in strokes gained/approach the green on Sunday. He was also second in proximity to the hole, averaging 24 feet. For the week he led in both categories, which explains his T-2 standing in putts per greens in regulation. That also helped to offset negative standing in strokes gained/putting each of the last two days, including -0.458 in the final round.

Though he won the Players at an early age, Kim said he has never thought of himself as one of the better players on tour. “Like I won the rookie year here [in 2016 at the Wyndham Championship], and then after next year I won the like pretty much the fifth major championship,” he said. “After I was thinking, like, I’m not a good player, and then here’s like too many good players here. I think that’s why a little bit hard time next couple years after Players.

“Yeah, my dad keep talking to me, you’re not the top player, so don’t try to act like top player,” he added with a slight laugh.

“There’s a lot of Si Woo as a golfer, especially on the inside,” said Australia’s Adam Scott, the former Masters winner, who thought Kim was one of the best players for the International team in Charlotte. “I think when he’s in a position like this, the fire burns hot, and he’s going to be hard to beat if he’s in the lead I would say.”

Kim, 84th in the world when he stepped foot on Oahu, wouldn’t disagree that he is more driven than he appears. In the past that meant getting in his own way. “Like a little bit of holding me up,” he said. But he’s learned a lot in recent years, a lot about himself, and experiences like the Presidents Cup certainly helped. Mostly, he has learned to balance his emotions as he strives to become a top player.

“Always hard, but I’ve got too much high expectation, so I think that makes me more nervous. This year the goal is like with my caddie, with Manny [Villegas], I talked to him the week before here, so I’m trying to be better attitude, like, act better. When I [don’t] hit the best shot, try to be less upset. I think that helps for this week.”

On Sunday, he hit the best shot—and at the right time. Something a top player would do.

The post Si Woo Kim always had the talent to win on the PGA Tour. Now he’s got the desire appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Still, Friday’s second-round stumble at the Sony Open was legitimately shocking, even by Spieth standards. After grabbing a share of the first-round lead with an almost-squeaky-clean 64 at Waialae, Spieth found himself in need of an 11-foot birdie putt at the par-5 18th just to make the cut on Friday. Yes, you read that correctly: to make the cut.

As you could have probably guessed, that 11-footer did not fall, Spieth early-walking the poor stroke in disgust before cleaning up his par for a five-over 75. The 11-shot difference between Thursday and Friday put him at one-under for the tournament, one shot off the cut line. It was the second-worst round of the day at Waialae, one that featured just one birdie and six bogeys. He needed 34 putts; this, just one day after he ranked sixth in the field for strokes-gained/putting. Spieth hit only six fairways and went 11-for-18 on greens in regulation. Even his scrambling, which often gets him out of a jam, was ugly, with the three-time major champion going 1-for-7 in that category.

The below clip just about sums it up:

+5 on his last 8 to move outside the cutline.

Just one of those days for Jordan Spieth. pic.twitter.com/L4YxIIXotI

— Shane Mularkey (@ShaneMularkey) January 14, 2023

As does this one: 

Jordan Spieth entered Round 2 in the co-lead @SonyOpenHawaii

He's now on the cutline after four consecutive bogeys. pic.twitter.com/U9q7oHsZnf

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 14, 2023

Per the PGA Tour, Spieth is the first player to hold a share of the lead after Round 1 and then miss the cut since Matt Every did it at the 2020 Arnold Palmer Invitational. For Every, an extremely volatile player in more ways than one, his 65-83 performance that week at Bay Hill was very on-brand. Yes, Spieth can be volatile, too, but first-to-worst displays rarely come from a player of his calibre.

Making the MC extra painful is the fact that Spieth sounded confident after his opening 64, a headspace he hasn’t found himself in all that much since 2017. Even in wins at Valero (2021) and at Harbour Town (2022), the when’s-this-going-to-go-wrong feeling was present. He said himself on Thursday that he felt he could “shoot five or six-under each day out here,” before essentially predicting what was going to happen on Friday.

So good. So true. pic.twitter.com/i9ukLsx5xV

— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) January 13, 2023

A cut-missing 75 less than 24 hours after this pump-up speech of sorts certainly can’t be great for the confidence. Knowing Spieth, though, he’ll probably go out and win in his next start, rendering all of it moot.

The post WATCH: Jordan Spieth goes from first-round leader to missing the cut in shocking stumble at Sony Open appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The Hawaii native and a PGA Tour winner turned short-game coach in recent years is making his 13th start at the tournament. But on Thursday he managed a first: break 70 in the opening round. And it wasn’t hard to spot the reason why.

RELATED: The simple reason Matsuyama won the Sony Open
Chaos and panic and Sony Open

“It’s fun to play this golf course in attack mode rather than defence mode,” McLachlin told reporters at Waialae Country Club.

What the 43-year-old was referring to is a bump in distance thanks to an increase in speed. Towards the end of 2022, McLachlin began using the Stack System made famous by Matt Fitzpatrick during last year’s US Open triumph, and he has already seen some eye-opening gains.

“I played so bad over the summer that I was like, ‘I’m just going to put my clubs away and try this Stack System,’” said McLachlin, who works with several PGA Tour pros including Collin Morikawa, Keith Mitchell, Joel Dahmen, Nick Hardy and Beau Hossler. “All of a sudden I didn’t touch a club and used the Stack System and went from averaging 110, 111mph with my clubhead speed to just the other day was swinging some at 115, 116 and I could get it around 117.”

That’s given McLachlin some 20 yards extra off the tee, which showed up on Thursday with a 300.6-yard driving average, including a 344-yard poke on No. 16. But something even more surprising has happened as a result.

“The funny thing is the more that I’m doing it properly, the more it’s going straighter, and I’ve always been a guy that is short and crooked,” said McLachlin, who carded a one-under-par 69. “Now I feel like I’m longer but also straighter. We’ll see how it holds up. Good so far.”

In 12 previous starts at Waialae, McLachlin has only made the cut twice, the last time coming in 2008 when he finished T-10. But it’s a special week for him no matter how he plays.

“Yeah, this tournament means everything. I think this tournament inspired me to want to become a professional golfer and play on the PGA Tour, so for me this tournament means a lot,” McLachlin said. “I cleaned — 100 feet away I’m cleaning the bathrooms when I was 13 years old. You know, I know this place inside and out. Yeah, this tournament has meant the world to me to be able to watch it as a kid and then to live out my dreams and play in it 13 times.”

Another round like this on Friday and the Short Game Chef will have a longer stay than normal at Waialae. He might also get some guys asking him for driving tips.

The post Even the PGA Tour’s ‘Short Game Chef’ has turned to speed training — and it’s paying off appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Following a first-round 66 at the 2023 Sony Open that has him in a lofty position on the leaderboard, McNealy is positioned nicely to earn a maiden victory. He could be achieving much greater heights soon, though, as he closes in on his pilot’s licence.

RELATED: Maverick’s club twirl is an instant classic

So when the 27-year-old told reporters at Waialae Country Club on Thursday that he feels like he’s “firing on all cylinders”, this is the rare occasion where that can be taken literally. Here’s how he described his off-season that helped him recharge his batteries. Or, rather, engine.

“Working on my pilot’s licence. Just not too many hours away from taking my check ride, which has been a lot of the fun,” McNealy said. “Just really able to fully focus on the things I want to do and the people I want to spend time with, and just been a super calm, peaceful, fun, productive focused off-season. Just had a great time at home.”

He added that he believes flying has helped with his golf game as well as he enters the meat of his fourth full season on the PGA Tour.

“In my approach, nutrition, sleep, recovery, even mental focus, having a passion outside of golf that trains me and pushes me and challenges me in other ways in flying,” said McNealy, who trailed leaders Jordan Spieth and Chris Kirk by two shots after Thursday’s morning wave. “Yeah, it’s been great.”

Hey, it worked for Arnold Palmer. And whatever Maverick is doing of late is certainly working as well. The former Haskins Award winner at Stanford already has a pair of top 10s and is currently No. 34 in the FedEx Cup standings.

McNealy is coming off a career-best 38th finish in the tour’s season-long competition. But he’s working hard to continue his improvement — getting better by any means necessary.

“Dialing in on-course nutrition and just everything,” McNealy said. “Looking at sleep, how do I sleep better and optimise the rest/recovery so I could push myself hard during the day. There is just a lot of aspects. Just trying to find that one percent everywhere I look.”

Sounds like a guy you can trust with a detailed flight plan. That check ride should be a breeze. In the meantime, he’s got three more check rounds in Hawaii to get through.

The post This PGA Tour pro has his eyes on a first win — and his pilot’s licence appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Evidence to the contrary was apparent this week at Hoakalei Country Club, where Funk was among 69 players to compete in the Monday qualifier for the Sony Open in Hawaii and came within one stroke of advancing into the first full-field PGA Tour event of the year. Funk managed to carve out a four-under 68 that got him into a nine-for-one playoff, but he, um … fell short when he bogeyed the first extra hole.

RELATED: The simple reason Matsuyama won the Sony Open
Chaos and panic and Sony Open

“First playoff hole, par 5, I’m hitting 8-iron for my third and all those young guys are reaching in two, so, yeah, I was cooked,” Funk said during a brief phone interview.

Winner of eight PGA Tour titles, including the 2005 Players, and nine more on the PGA Tour Champions, Funk is scheduled to compete in next week’s season opener on the senior circuit at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai on the Big Island of Hawaii. But plans changed when he agreed to caddie for his son, Taylor, in the Sony Open pre-qualifier on Thursday at Kapolei Golf Course and again the Monday qualifier if Taylor advanced.

But then he got to thinking he also would like to play in the qualifier at Hoakalei, regardless of Taylor’s fortunes. With dad on the bag, Taylor finished ninth at Kapolei at five-under 67, which meant both Funks were among the 69 in the Monday qualifier for the Sony Open. Taylor putted poorly and shot 74, while Fred exceeded his own expectations. By a lot.

“Taylor is playing really well … he probably just missed his caddie,” Funk said with a chuckle

“Honestly, I was just trying to get a round of golf in that counted to get ready for Hualalai,” he added. “Not a lot of good golf weather in Austin [Texas] right now.”

When he birdied three of his first four holes, Funk’s mindset changed, and he began to grind out a score on a course that measured 7,171 yards — not overly long, but tough enough on a guy averaging about 230 yards off the tee. He earned a spot in the playoff by saving par at the last after hitting a 3-wood to 12 feet following a poor drive. In all, he made seven birdies against three bogeys. Had he advanced, he would have made his first start in the event since 2017 and his 25th appearance at Waialae Country Club dating to his debut in 1989. His best finish was T-5 in 2001.

Danny Guise of Greenwich, Connecticut, ended up winning the final spot to earn his first PGA Tour start.

Funk has dealt with a series of back problems for several years and underwent his latest surgery in March. He made 18 PGA Tour Champions starts in 2022 but struggled, managing just one top-25 finish. He isn’t sure if he will continue playing beyond this year — and the qualifier didn’t really change his mind about that.

“I just haven’t been competitive. I think I might be the second-oldest player out there after Jay Haas, and I don’t really have the game for it, although Taylor is helping me try to find a little more speed,” he said. “I love being with the guys out there, I love the camaraderie. I want to keep playing, but I just want to be better. I’m going to give it this year, give it everything I got and see what I have left.”

It appears he still has more than a little game left.

The post After near-miss in Sony Open qualifier, Fred Funk laments his ‘Blue Plate Special’ game and ponders his future appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

If only he can conjure his performance five years ago here at Waialae Country Club, when he outlasted James Hahn in a record six-hole playoff and won the 2018 Sony Open in Hawaii for his second win in four starts over a two-month span.

RELATED: The simple reason Matsuyama won the Sony Open
Chaos and panic and Sony Open

Kizzire — which rhymes with desire, an emotion he is not lacking — is back on Oahu hoping that he can once again find the gear that produced his only two victories on the PGA Tour. The Auburn product won the 2017 OHL Classic at Mayakoba and then was able to maintain his form to collect a second trophy and springboard into the top 50 in the world.

“I was very opportunistic, which you need to be, but I just remember I had a lot of confidence coming off the win at Mayakoba and I took advantage of my form at the time,” Kizzire said. “I feel like I am a better player now than I was then, but I got my game into a really good place, and I was really doing a great job of just making a score. That’s what I am looking for again, getting a spark, because I’m a momentum player and a momentum putter.”

How a player creates that momentum is the key.

“I’ve really elevated my game,” he said. “It’s just taking all that work you’ve done to the golf course, every hole and every round and just staying after it.

Ranked 237th in the world, Kizzire, 36, is coming off a season that wasn’t his best but that didn’t leave him discouraged. He qualified for the FedEx Cup playoffs for the fifth time in six seasons. He’s optimistic about his prospects for this week given that his best finish so far this season is a T-10 at Mayakoba. The 6ft 5ins Alabama native has his comfort courses.

Waialae is one of them.

“I love this golf course. It’s a great challenge. I love country-club old-style golf courses with big greens,” he said. “I’m definitely excited about being back here.”

Just two years ago Kizzire shot 18-under 262 to finish T-7. That performance happened to be one stroke better than the year he won, when a final-round two-under 68 earned him a tie with Hahn, who shot a closing 62. They then embarked on a six-hole playoff in which Kizzire emerged with the victory with a par.

Kizzire remembers nearly every shot, but he also recalls how “peculiar” were the proceedings that week. Most significant was the false missile alert that Saturday morning of the third round that had many players scrambling to find safe haven and calling their families at home if they had not accompanied them.

Just after 8am local time, players received an emergency phone notification that read: “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill”. A banner with the same message also appeared on TV screens. It took 38 minutes before a second message was sent notifying everyone that the first was sent by accident.

“It was a wild week. I know this sounds a little weird, but one reason I played so freely was because of that missile scare,” Kizzire said. “I mean, we thought it might be a nuclear missile. No one really knew. But after that passed, I remember feeling grateful that I was playing golf, and I just played loose and put together a good round.”

Kizzire, in fact, shot his second-straight 64, which got him in the hunt. The next day, he converted for his second career victory.

He’s hoping that he doesn’t have to wait much longer for his third. He’s not frustrated. He just misses the feeling.

“I’m a better ball-striker than I was then. I hit the ball farther. I feel like overall my game is better,” said Kizzire, who is paired with David Lingmerth and Hayden Buckley for the first two rounds. “I’m working on the stuff that really matters for winning a golf tournament — short game and putting. I really want to start putting it all together. I love the game, but what I really love is winning. I love beating my opponents, beating the golf course. I’m focused on that.”

The post A Sony Open champ is anxious to win again at Waialae — just without the mid-tournament missile alert appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

These two new BFFs are Nos. 14 and 15 in the World Ranking, respectively, and hope to build off their performances from last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions (T-13 and T-5) with strong play this week at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama, Billy Horschel, Sungjae Im, Brian Harman and Keegan Bradley are all making it back-to-back starts as well, each seeking victory at one of the longest-tenured host venues for the tour.

RELATED: The simple reason Matsuyama won the Sony Open

Two of the last three Sony Opens required a playoff, including last year’s win from Matsuyama. The Japanese star overcame a five-shot deficit with just nine holes left to play, shooting a back-nine 31, then made an eagle on the first extra hole to knock off Russell Henley.

This week’s winner will receive 500 FedEx Cup points and a $1.422 million share of the $7.9 million prize money payout.
Tee Times (All times EST)

THURSDAY
First tee
12:10pm Brendan Steele, Jonathan Byrd, Matthias Schwab
12:20pm Michael Kim, Parker McLachlin, Doc Redman
12:30pm Andrew Putnam, KJ Choi, Mark Hubbard
12:40pm Stewart Cink, Si Woo Kim, Jim Herman
12:50pm Adam Svensson, Harris English, Michael Thompson
1pm JJ Spaun, Ryan Brehm, Webb Simpson
1:10pm Ryan Moore, Sam Ryder, Max McGreevy
1:20pm Nate Lashley, Scott Piercy, Brandon Wu
1:30pm Kevin Yu, MJ Daffue, Vincent Norrman
1:40pm Trevor Cone, Kevin Roy, Kohei Okada (a)
1:50pm Dylan Wu, Carson Young, Danny Guise
2pm Harry Hall, Kyle Westmoreland, Yuto Katsuragawa
4:50pm Peter Malnati, Denny McCarthy, Kurt Kitayama
5pm Patton Kizzire, David Lingmerth, Hayden Buckley
5:10pm Brice Garnett, Ryan Armour, Stephan Jaeger
5:20pm Robert Streb, Richy Werenski, Nick Taylor
5:30pm Keegan Bradley, Tom Kim, Mackenzie Hughes
5:40pm Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott
5:50pm Corey Conners, Rory Sabbatini, Jerry Kelly
6pm Nick Hardy, Ben Taylor, Harrison Endycott
6:10pm Taylor Montgomery, Carl Yuan, Taiga Semikawa
6:20pm Ben Griffin, Augusto Núñez, Keita Nakajima
6:30pm Harry Higgs, Will Gordon, Kazuki Higa
6:40pm SH Kim, Anders Albertson, George Markham
10th tee
12:10pm Troy Merritt, Kyle Stanley, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
12:20pm Emiliano Grillo, Chesson Hadley, Alex Smalley
12:30pm Chris Kirk, Maverick McNealy, Kelly Kraft
12:40pm Chad Ramey, Lucas Glover, Cam Davis
12:50pm Russell Henley, Tom Hoge, Matt Kuchar
1pm Billy Horschel, Jordan Spieth, Zach Johnson
1:10pm Brian Harman, Russell Knox, Austin Smotherman
1:20pm Adam Schenk, Zac Blair, Kramer Hickok
1:30pm Justin Suh, Eric Cole, Matti Schmid
1:40pm Erik Barnes, Sam Stevens, Cole Hammer
1:50pm Davis Thompson, Tano Goya, Kaito Onishi
2pm Paul Haley II, Trevor Werbylo, Austen Truslow
4:50pm Kevin Tway, Aaron Baddeley, Brian Stuard
5pm Ryan Palmer, Kevin Streelman, Aaron Rai
5:10pm Keith Mitchell, Jimmy Walker, Byeong Hun
5:20pm KH Lee, Tyler Duncan, Gary Woodland
5:30pm Chez Reavie, JT Poston, Brendon Todd
5:40pm Danny Lee, David Lipsky, Greyson Sigg
5:50pm Adam Long, Austin Cook, Ben Martin
6pm Joseph Bramlett, Zecheng Dou, Brandon Matthews
6:10pm Michael Gligic, Nico Echavarria, Jesse Mueller
6:20pm Robby Shelton, Andrew Novak, Joseph Winslow
6:30pm Scott Harrington, Brent Grant, Michael Castillo
6:40pm Tyson Alexander, Austin Eckroat, Blaze Akana

FRIDAY
First tee
12:10pm Kevin Tway, Aaron Baddeley, Brian Stuard
12:20pm Ryan Palmer, Kevin Streelman, Aaron Rai
12:30pm Keith Mitchell, Jimmy Walker, Byeong Hun
12:40pm KH Lee, Tyler Duncan, Gary Woodland
12:50pm Chez Reavie, JT Poston, Brendon Todd
1pm Danny Lee, David Lipsky, Greyson Sigg
1:10pm Adam Long, Austin Cook, Ben Martin
1:20pm Joseph Bramlett, Zecheng Dou, Brandon Matthews
1:30pm Michael Gligic, Nico Echavarria, Jesse Mueller
1:40pm Robby Shelton, Andrew Novak, Joseph Winslow
1:50pm Scott Harrington, Brent Grant, Michael Castillo
2pm Tyson Alexander, Austin Eckroat, Blaze Akana
4:50pm Troy Merritt, Kyle Stanley, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
5pm Emiliano Grillo, Chesson Hadley, Alex Smalley
5:10pm Chris Kirk, Maverick McNealy, Kelly Kraft
5:20pm Chad Ramey, Lucas Glover, Cam Davis
5:30pm Russell Henley, Tom Hoge, Matt Kuchar
5:40pm Billy Horschel, Jordan Spieth, Zach Johnson
5:50pm Brian Harman, Russell Knox, Austin Smotherman
6pm Adam Schenk, Zac Blair, Kramer Hickok
6:10pm Justin Suh, Eric Cole, Matti Schmid
6:20pm Erik Barnes, Sam Stevens, Cole Hammer
6:30pm Davis Thompson, Tano Goya, Kaito Onishi
6:40pm Paul Haley II, Trevor Werbylo, Austen Truslow
10th tee
12:10pm Peter Malnati, Denny McCarthy, Kurt Kitayama
12:20pm Patton Kizzire, David Lingmerth, Hayden Buckley
12:30pm Brice Garnett, Ryan Armour, Stephan Jaeger
12:40pm Robert Streb, Richy Werenski, Nick Taylor
12:50pm Keegan Bradley, Tom Kim, Mackenzie Hughes
1pm Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Adam Scott
1:10pm Corey Conners, Rory Sabbatini, Jerry Kelly
1:20pm Nick Hardy, Ben Taylor, Harrison Endycott
1:30pm Taylor Montgomery, Carl Yuan, Taiga Semikawa
1:40pm Ben Griffin, Augusto Núñez, Keita Nakajima
1:50pm Harry Higgs, Will Gordon, Kazuki Higa
2pm SH Kim, Anders Albertson, George Markham
4:50pm Brendan Steele, Jonathan Byrd, Matthias Schwab
5pm Michael Kim, Parker McLachlin, Doc Redman
5:10pm Andrew Putnam, KJ Choi, Mark Hubbard
5:20pm Stewart Cink, Si Woo Kim, Jim Herman
5:30pm Adam Svensson, Harris English, Michael Thompson
5:40pm JJ Spaun, Ryan Brehm, Webb Simpson
5:50pm Ryan Moore, Sam Ryder, Max McGreevy
6pm Nate Lashley, Scott Piercy, Brandon Wu
6:10pm Kevin Yu, MJ Daffue, Vincent Norrman
6:20pm Trevor Cone, Kevin Roy, Kohei Okada (a)
6:30pm Dylan Wu, Carson Young, Danny Guise
6:40pm Harry Hall, Kyle Westmoreland, Yuto Katsuragawa

The post LOOK: 2023 Sony Open tee times appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

A graduate of TCU, Hoge took a red-eye flight to Los Angeles on Sunday night after firing a closing nine-under 64 and finishing T-3 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. He did so to attend the Horned Frogs’ game against Georgia in the college football national championship game Monday night in Inglewood. After upsetting Michigan in the playoff semi-finals on New Year’s Eve, TCU were no match for the Bulldogs, losing 65-7.

“That was rough,” Hoge, who paid $945 for his game ticket, said on the practice putting green at Waialae. “It was exactly what you feared could happen. I actually feel bad for Georgia fans who bought tickets. That wasn’t what you want to see in a national title game.

“The only consolation,” he added, “was that it was so bad that it’s going to be hard for the Georgia guys here to talk … about it.”

After flying from Hawaii to Los Angeles for the natonal championship game, TCU alum Tom Hoge could only stand to watch three quarters of his team’s blowout loss to Georgia. Orlando Ramirez

Among the Georgia fans basking in the glow of the Bulldogs’ second straight national title was Russell Henley, who graduated from Georgia in 2011, the same year Hoge got his degree from TCU. Henley came into the interview room at the Sony Open because he lost to Hideki Matsuyama last year in a playoff and had won the event in 2013.

“Yeah, I guess at the end of the first half when we kept scoring in the last couple minutes, I just was like I can’t believe … like we already basically won,” Henley said. “I think we were up 38-7 at the half and their one play that they scored was kind of [after] a weird broken coverage pass. I would love for us to win the national championship by 60 every year, but I’m just still kind of surprised. I mean, that was crazy.”

Though the game drew the smallest viewership of a title contest since the start of the Bowl Championship Series in 1999 — a reported 17.223 million viewers tuned in — Henley stayed with it until the finish.

It was a different feeling than 10 days earlier when Georgia had to rally from a 12-point deficit in the fourth quarter to edge Ohio State, 42-41, in the semi-finals. He watched until the end of that game, too, but nervously as the Buckeyes missed a 48-yard field goal as time expired.

“I thought they [the Buckeyes] played a better-looking game than we did,” he said. “I kind of had to accept that we were going to lose. We were losing by 12. We’re kind of sloppy, struggling, not looking good for us. I was kind of like, OK, we’re going to lose, [but] we kept chipping away. Then I got real nervous the last five minutes of the game. Like it was nerve-racking. Kind of feel like we stole one there for sure.”

Like Henley, fellow Bulldogs Brian Harman and Keith Mitchell, also playing this week in the Sony Open, watched the blowout to the final gun. Hoge, meanwhile, said he left SoFi Stadium at the end of the third quarter when the Georgia lead ballooned to 52-7.

“To top it all off, it was 50 degrees and pouring down rain when we tried to leave,” Hoge said. “I paid $300 for a two-minute Uber ride back to the hotel. I said: ‘Just get us out of here.’”

The post Russell Henley (Georgia) and Tom Hoge (TCU) share their ecstasy and agony over CFB national championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Eleven-time WSL champion Kelly Slater surfs at the 2022 Corona Open J-Bay. Beatriz Ryder

Over the many years that Adam Scott has called Kelly Slater a friend, he’s always walked away from time spent with the surfing icon feeling inspired. Often, it’s had positive effects on his golf game.

On Monday at Oahu’s North Shore, ahead of this week’s Sony Open in Honolulu, the 14-time PGA Tour winner Scott caught up with Slater, whose 11 World Surfing League titles have established him as the greatest in the sport’s history. It’s a sentimental place in surfing and where Slater has a base. The pair didn’t surf — which they have together on plenty of occasions since meeting through mutual friends — but they did go swimming and Scott said even that was enriching. Although, that’s not why he hangs out with the 50-year-old Slater.

“I don’t go up there just to have deep and meaningful [conversations] and try and tap into him, but when you’re around a guy like that you always take something out of the encounter,” Scott said at Waiʻalae Country Club. “Even yesterday, being up there on the North Shore, just going out for a swim in the ocean with him was … it sounds too spiritual, but it was a bit of an enlightening experience. Being able to let go a little bit. That’s a feeling I get from Kelly a lot, like [he says], ‘Adam, just let go a little bit.’”

Adam Scott is impressed with how much confidence surf star Kelly Slater shows on the golf course. (Photo by Fairgame Golf)

Slater has played golf since the late 1990s and is a low single-digit handicap and once played as scratch. In 2018, he played the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in the same group as Scott. “My best years on [the WSL] tour were the first two years I started playing golf,” Slater said recently on Fairgame Golf, which Scott co-founded.

“[Slater and I] were even talking about golf yesterday and one of the amazing things about Kelly is he even communicates on a golf level with me like we’re dead equals,” Scott said with a laugh. “I really like that because he knows how to operate at such a high level in his own field that when he plays golf, he expects kind of the same. I do appreciate listening to anything he has to say and to get to go out and have a have a swim and be with one of the greatest [athletes] There is fun for me.”

Coming off a 29th-place finish in last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions — Scott’s first start in the 2022-23 season — the 42-year-old Australian is ranked 37th in the world and ended last year on a high note with T-5 finishes in two FedEx Cup Playoffs events — the FedEx St Jude and BMW Championship. Scott is one of only two golfers (Matt Kuchar being the other) who have competed in all 16 playoffs, and he’s reached the Tour Championship nine times.

Adam Scott surfed at Kelly’s Slater’s Surf Ranch in Lemoore, Calif., in 2019. (Photo courtesy of World Surfing League)

As Scott eyes earning a second career major victory to go with his 2013 Masters triumph, he knows that mentality will be key. It’s been 10 years since he became the first Australian to don Augusta’s green jacket, but he’ll need to forget the close calls and scar tissue if he wants to become a multiple major champion. A former World No. 1, Scott has had nine top-10s at the majors since the 2013 Masters, including two third-place finishes. The first was at the 2013 Open Championship and the second came in the 2018 PGA Championship, when Scott played in the final group with eventual champion Brooks Koepka.

“I think that’s one of the general [takeaways],” Scott said of time with Slater. “I have other friends who surf [professionally] too. If you stereotype a surfy attitude — which, I don’t know [if] Kelly fits into that or not — they’re pretty go-with-the-flow type people. That’s certainly something that came to mind yesterday with him and I think at this point in my career, it’s a good thing to remember. I’ve done a lot of work over the years, and I know instinctively how to swing the club and chip and putt. But at this point I have to just let go and do it and not be so controlled.”

Scott also said Slater’s longevity was perhaps the most admirable quality, given the golfer is attempting to end a three-year win drought on the PGA Tour going back to the 2020 Genesis Invitational at Riviera. Men’s professional golf is indeed becoming a younger game each year (all four major champions in 2022 were under 30), but it’s nothing like the physically demanding sport of surfing. Scott noted that Slater’s victory at the 2022 Pipeline Masters, just days short of his 50th birthday, and which ended a six-year drought on the WSL Tour, made it seem possible for Scott to win a second major in his 40s.

“Physically, I’m in a good space,” Scott said. “Kelly has worked hard on all those things physically. He’s incredible. He’s 50 years old and winning the [2022] Pipe Masters. He’s a great example of longevity at the highest level. You never know whether you’re going to get little pearls of wisdom here or there when you’re hanging around people like Kelly Slater.”

The post Adam Scott says his water time with surf legend Kelly Slater always becomes an ‘enlightening’ experience appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.