Category: Golf

• Europeans get a taste of Bethpage mood over PA system
• Luke Donald says tournament has ‘massive importance’

Luke Donald gave his potential Ryder Cup players a taste of what to expect at Bethpage as he hailed the “massive importance” of this week’s Team Cup. Footage posted on social media showed players forced to listen to chants of “U-S-A, U-S-A” over the PA system before practice rounds at Abu Dhabi Golf Resort.

The Team Cup, which effectively filled the gap left by the Seve Trophy, was revived in 2023 to boost Europe’s chances of regaining the Ryder Cup, a move which paid off with a resounding victory under Donald’s captaincy in Rome. Donald will captain the side again in New York in September – where a hostile atmosphere is expected – and is also overseeing the Team Cup, where Francesco Molinari will bid for a second win as captain of Continental Europe against a Great Britain and Ireland side led by Justin Rose.

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• American cuts hand on broken glass during festive period
• Golfer will now miss the first tournament of season

The men’s world No 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler has had surgery on a hand injury he sustained while cooking Christmas dinner. The 28-year-old American has been forced to withdraw from the first tournament of the season, next week’s the Sentry in Hawaii, after cutting his right hand on broken glass.

The PGA Tour said: “World No 1 and 2024 FedEx Cup Champion Scottie Scheffler has withdrawn from the PGA Tour’s 2025 season-opening tournament, the Sentry, which will take place next week, 2-5 January at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Maui, Hawaii.”

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• Charlie Woods, 15, makes first ace on par-3 fourth hole
• Hole-in-one gives Woods clan temporary share of lead

Tiger Woods isn’t the only member of his family to can produce big moments. His 15-year-old son Charlie made his first ace Sunday in the PNC Championship.

Woods was more excited than if he had made the hole-in-one himself.

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• Brown, 17, will make PGA Tour debut in January
• Nashville native is top-ranked high school golfer

High school junior Blades Brown, the top-ranked golfer in the Class of 2026, announced Tuesday that he’s turning pro.

In a lengthy post on Instagram, Brown said he won’t play college golf and will make his PGA Tour debut at The American Express at La Quinta, California, in January.

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• Americans will also get $300,000 to give to charity
• Debate over pay for tournament has been hot topic

Players for the US team will be paid to play in the Ryder Cup for the first time under a new PGA of America program announced on Monday that gives them a $200,000 stipend and $300,000 for them to distribute to charity.

The $500,000 directed to each of the 12 players and the captain is an increase from the $200,000 – strictly for charity – that began when the pay-for-play issue first arose in 1999 before the tournament at Brookline.

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• World No 1 surges to six-shot victory in the Bahamas
• Tom Kim second as Scheffler earns ninth win of 2024

Another Scottie Scheffler procession. The world No 1’s year ended in fitting fashion, with a five-shot lead on the 18^th tee at the Hero World Challenge. Scheffler cantered to a ninth victory of 2024, with that statistic not even the most remarkable element of recent months after the 28-year-old was arrested immediately before he was due to begin his US PGA Championship.

With all matters pieced together, we are undoubtedly living in the times of Scottie Scheffler. He is the Masters champion, an Olympic gold medalist and heading for an 82^nd consecutive week at the summit of the world rankings. Scheffler will remain there for some time yet; he has established himself among the greatest iron players in the history of this game.

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• Norman began divisive role at breakaway circuit in 2021
• Australian expects to remain involved with LIV

Greg Norman says he is to be replaced as the chief executive of LIV Golf. The 69-year-old Australian has been CEO of the Saudi Arabia-funded breakaway circuit since October 2021, prior to the league’s first official season the following year.

Norman, the former world No 1 and two-time Open champion, has often been seen as a divisive figure in golf’s civil war between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

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• New policy will come into effect from 2025
• USGA also introduces new policy on gender

Players must be assigned female at birth or have transitioned to female before going through male puberty to compete in LPGA tournaments or the eight USGA championships for females under new gender policies published Wednesday.

The LPGA says the policies, which begin in 2025, come after more than a year of study involving medicine, science, sport physiology and gender policy law.

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• Johnston shoots nerveless 68 in final round to snatch Stonehaven Cup
• Jiyai Shin seals second women’s Australian Open with 17-under 274

Unheralded American Ryggs Johnston has crashed the party with a stunning and improbable Australian Open triumph in Melbourne.

The world No 954 emerged from a big pack of home hopes to steal the Stonehaven Cup with a nerveless final-round four-under-par 68 at Kingston Heath on Sunday.

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• 21-year-old claims $5m in one week after brilliant play
• Prize is largest in history of women’s golf

Down by two shots with two holes to play, Jeeno Thitikul knew exactly what was needed to capture the biggest prize in women’s golf history. And another eagle-birdie finish – for the second straight day – made it happen.

Thitikul claimed the record-setting $4m purse by winning the CME Group Tour Championship on Sunday. It’s the biggest money prize in women’s golf history, bigger than even the winner’s shares in three of the four men’s major championships this year.

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• Smylie’s clutch final round to beat Smith in his pet event
• Youngster’s victory books him 2025 European tour card

Elvis Smylie stared down Cameron Smith at his pet event to win the Australian PGA Championship and book a return to the European tour.

The 22-year-old from the Gold Coast, son of former tennis star Liz Smylie, produced a string of clutch par saves and dodged Smith’s last desperate swings in a bogey-free Sunday at Royal Queensland. His 14-under total (65, 67, 67) left him two clear of three-time winner Smith (67, 65, 69), who was level with Smylie to begin Sunday but again stuttered on the final day after blowing a final-round lead at the NSW Open last weekend.

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• Englishman appealed sanctions after joining LIV circuit
• Sergio García still suspended despite paying £1m in fines

The latest indication of thawing relations between golf’s establishment and LIV rebels is expected on Wednesday, with Tyrrell Hatton to be named in the European Ryder Cup team’s warm-up event in Abu Dhabi. Sergio García, however, will miss out despite paying around £1m in fines to rejoin the DP World Tour.

The Team Cup, which takes place at Abu Dhabi Golf Club in January, features 10 players a team as Continental Europe take on Great Britain and Ireland.

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• Briton blasts rivals after tied-second finish at The Annika
• Sergio García to rejoin DP World Tour from LIV Golf

Charley Hull has hit out at “ridiculous” slow play in women’s golf, while insisting serial offenders should be removed from the LPGA Tour.

Hull tied second at Annika Sörenstam’s event in Florida as Nelly Korda notched her seventh win of the year. The tournament was overshadowed by pace of play issues, with Hull among players to finish their third round in near darkness on Saturday evening. The topic has been a regular one on the LPGA Tour and shows no sign of going away.

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Rory McIlroy contemplated his wins and losses, and everything else in between after ending a tumultuous year with a pair of trophies.

McIlroy broke a tie with Rasmus Hojgaard by hitting wedge to a foot for birdie on the 16th hole, and he closed with a 3-under 69 for a two-shot victory Sunday in the World Tour Championship.

He also captured his sixth title as Europe's No. 1 player. In 2024 he won four times — two of them on the PGA Tour, one of those with close friend Shane Lowry in a team event — and tied the late Seve Ballesteros with his sixth title in the Race to Dubai, formerly the Order of Merit

• Teary Rory McIlroy claims DP World Championship and sixth Race to Dubai

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