Category: Golf

• 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.

Continue reading...

• 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.

Continue reading...

• 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.

Continue reading...

• 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.

Continue reading...

• 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.

Continue reading...

• 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.

Continue reading...

• 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.

Continue reading...

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

Continue reading...

• ‘I’ve been through a lot this year. I got the job done’
• McIlroy now level with Seve Ballesteros on all-time list

Rory McIlroy finished the 2024 season in style by adding his third DP World Tour Championship win after winning the sixth Race to Dubai title of his career.

The Northern Irishman was in the midst of a two-way tussle with Rasmus Højgaard for the season-ending event when his Race to Dubai crown was confirmed, with both players locked on 13 under with five holes remaining.

Continue reading...

• ‘I would pay for the privilege to play in the Ryder Cup’
• Europeans feel fee would be better spent on World Tour

Rory McIlroy has admitted he would pay to play in the Ryder Cup after it emerged US team members could collect $400,000 each for taking on Europe in New York next year. McIlroy believes such a move could undermine the “purity” of the biennial contest.

After pressure from leading players, the PGA of America’s board is seriously considering a move to break with Ryder Cup tradition and pay the 12-man American team by pooling a $5m fund. No such plan is being or will be considered in Europe; a situation McIlroy, the continent’s leading player, is fully behind.

Continue reading...

• Missing out on fifth major in June still grates
• Race to Dubai title would cap ‘successful’ season

Rory McIlroy admits his failure to win the US Open still “stings” after missing out on an overdue fifth major in June and remains a painful memory. The Northern Irishman looked set at Pinehurst to win his first major since 2014, but bogeyed three of the last four holes to finish a shot behind Bryson DeChambeau.

“Incredibly consistent again,” McIlroy said when asked to assess his season. “I think I’ve been really proud of that over the last few years. But then at the same time, thinking about the ones that got away, I could be sitting up here with a fifth major title and I am not.

Continue reading...

It is estimated that Trump played hundreds of rounds of golf during his first term as president of the United States

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is practising golf – for the first time in eight years – in preparation for future meetings with US president-elect Donald Trump, Yoon’s office has confirmed.

South Korean media said Yoon had visited a golf course on Saturday for a sport his office said he had last played in 2016.

Continue reading...

• Briton’s 66 with birdie-birdie finish seals two-shot win
• Tyrrell Hatton finishes second, Rory McIlroy ties for third

Paul Waring produced a stunning finish to hold off a stellar chasing pack and win the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship by two shots from Tyrrell Hatton.

Waring had taken control of the event with a course-record 61 at Yas Links on Friday but saw his five-shot halfway lead reduced to one with a 73 on Saturday. The 39-year-old from the Wirral had spoken of feeling jittery during his third round but he displayed nerves of steel in a flawless closing 66 to secure victory with a 24-under-par total.

Continue reading...

Rory McIlroy backed the US president-elect Donald Trump to mend the relationship between the PGA Tour and the Saudi Arabia funded breakaway, LIV circuit. McIlroy even floated the idea of Elon Musk, who he called 'the smartest man in the world', becoming involved in golf’s elongated merger plans. Trump has a keen interest in golf as well as business connections to Saudi Arabia and LIV Golf. He previously claimed he could align professional golf within 15 minutes.

• Rory McIlroy hopes Trump and Musk can heal golf’s civil war

Continue reading...

• Northern Irishman hopes president can help find peace
• McIlroy: ‘Musk is the smartest man in the world’

Rory McIlroy has suggested Donald Trump’s return to the White House could accelerate peace talks between traditional golf tours and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. McIlroy even floated the idea of Elon Musk becoming involved in golf’s elongated merger plans.

It has long been assumed that a Trump victory in the US presidential election could have a spin-off for golf. Trump has business connections to Saudi Arabia and LIV Golf – which the PIF funds – having previously staged events for the PGA Tour.

Continue reading...