Jack Nicklaus holds his usual presser ahead of the Memorial (Ben Jared/PGA Tour via Getty Images)

If you look closely at the Muirfield Village logo, it is a wreath of laurel that encircles a trophy. That trophy is the Claret Jug, the prize for winning the Open Championship. Muirfield in Scotland is where Jack Nicklaus won the first of his three Open titles in 1966.

A decade later, Nicklaus launched his own PGA Tour tournament — the Memorial — that is now, remarkably, celebrating its 50th anniversary (its 51st playing) at a course Nicklaus designed in the early 1970s and named in honor of his first Open victory.

At 86, the Golden Bear is still a monumental presence at his own event in Dublin, Ohio, still a source of inspiration for the players who compete and a comfortable elder statesmen who seems to enjoy reminiscing about many of the aspects that led to this point.

“The reason it’s called the Memorial Tournament is that the Masters also is called the Masters Tournament,” Nicklaus said Tuesday during his annual pre-tournament news conference. “And why is the Masters called a tournament? Well, it’s called a tournament because Bobby Jones did not want it to be called a championship. Jones felt like he was using what the USGA and the R&A and the PGA and the players that played best in those three championships made up his field at the Masters, and he thought it would be presumptuous to call it a championship, so he called it a tournament.

“And I didn’t want to be presumptuous here in calling this any more than a tournament because I felt like our goal was to be of service to the game of golf and to try to further the game. Bring the game back to the place where I grew up. Bring it back to the people here.”

Nicklaus’ Memorial tournament became one of just a few marquee events outside of the major championships. It was before the days of World Golf Championship events and before today’s signature events. It came along just two years after the creation of the Players Championship and predated what is now the Arnold Palmer Invitational by three years.

The field of “major” non-majors is much more crowded today. The Memorial is one of eight signature events this year, a model that is expected to expand by 2028.

“I don’t want to comment on the tour’s schedule because I’m not exactly in favor of what they’re doing right now,” said Nicklaus, who then did exactly what he said he didn’t want to do.

“I really haven’t had a conversation. I want to sit down with (PGA Tour CEO) Brian (Rolapp) and Jay (Monahan) and have that conversation. I mean, I hate to see tournaments bunched too much together with too many big tournaments too close together. That’s a problem, I think. And I think that’s going to be a problem for the tour in the future.

“But anyway, that’s neither here nor there. I probably shouldn’t have brought it up here. I’ll get chastised for that later.”

The Memorial’s prominance is 60 years in the making going back to the championship that inspired his club’s name. In his first Open victory at Muirfield, Nicklaus trailed Phil Rodgers by two strokes through 54 holes. He shot a final-round 70 to reel in Rodgers and eventually beat Doug Sanders and Dave Thomas by a stroke. His prize for winning was £2,100, or about $2,900 based on today’s exchange rate. It would have barely covered the trip.

The victory, however, brought bigger rewards beyond the modest purse. It was Nicklaus’ sixth major title but first Claret Jug and made him the fourth player to complete the career grand slam, joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Gary Player. (Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are the only players to complete it since.) Although it didn’t count as an official PGA Tour victory at the time (it was later added to his total), the win was his 19th along his way to amassing 73 victories, 18 of them majors.

Only 26 in 1966, Nicklaus already had his thoughts on bringing an event to his hometown in Ohio and began embarking on the mission to accomplish it.

“We started the idea of the tournament and bringing golf to Columbus in 1966 at Augusta,” Nicklaus said. “So it took us 10 years to get the golf course built, financed and move forward.”

Nicklaus said Joe Dey, a former USGA president who was the PGA Tour’s first commissioner, was instrumental in getting the event started, suggesting the Captain’s Club that still exists to help run tournament affairs. He also suggested the name.

“Joe came up with the idea of … he says, ‘It’s Memorial Day … why don’t we honor the past people who have contributed to the game of golf in the past?” Nicklaus said.

That led to the ongoing tradition that the tournament honors someone in the game. A Captain’s Club was formed to select the honorees and Nicklaus’ wife, Barbara, received the honor last year. Two-time major winner David Graham is the 2026 honoree.

The initial Captain’s Club had as part of it Clifford Roberts, who was at the time the first and only chairman of Augusta National Golf Club in its history. The first honoree was Jones, who founded the Masters along with Roberts and had passed away in 1971.

“The Captains Club was guys like Byron Nelson and Chick Evans and Gene Sarazen,” Nicklaus said. “Let’s see, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Sean Connery, all walks of life. Presidents of the USGA, captains of the R&A. And that group has come together, and it’s still that group. And I only ask two things of them. One is to select the honoree every year, and two, perpetuate your membership. And that took it out of my hands.

“And I’m not a member of the Captain’s Club. I never have been a member of the Captain’s Club. And I said, I want to be out of that position. They do the exemptions. They do everything that relates to the structure of the tournament.”

Roger Maltbie won the first tournament in 1976, a sudden death playoff win over Hale Irwin. A year later, it was Nicklaus who prevailed.

Nicklaus would win again in 1984 and went on to play the tournament 30 consecutive times through 2005. That was when he was 65 and also played in his final Masters and final Open.

In the ensuing years, Nicklaus has remained a constant force with the Memorial. Playing and organizing his own tournament might have been problematic, but there is still a flurry of activity, with a schedule planned out to the minute as Nicklaus meets with various dignitaries, sponsors, media, PGA Tour officials, tournament staff, Muirfield Village staff and players.

“He does such a good job at his tournament of being around, and the last few years especially, asking players about his golf course I think is a really cool thing that he does,” said Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion. “He wants this golf course to be the best test of golf, and so the last couple years he’s just been sitting in player dining basically asking guys what they think of the course. And he’s not sitting in there for everybody to be like, ‘Hey, we love it, it’s great, everything’s the best.’ He’s like, ‘No, I want you to tell me how we can continue to improve this tournament.’

“I think for a man that has the experience he has in the game of golf, for all the stuff he has accomplished, for him to be sitting in dining asking the current guys how he can improve his tournament I think is really cool.”

There’s no doubt, Nicklaus has been a tinkerer. He’s made numerous changes to the course over five decades and acknowledged that it his original intent was always to make it a top tournament course.

That, he said, was part of a design philosophy that has evolved over his time in the business.

“We always wanted to have a tournament, from its inception,” Nicklaus said. “And probably from a design standpoint I wouldn’t have designed the golf course this way. What I mean by that is I designed this golf course basically for a tournament, and spent the next 50 years trying to ease it enough so the average member can play it.

“I would have done it the other way around. Had it a little bit more user-friendly to start with, which is what I do now, more user friendly now. And if I want to lengthen a hole here or there to handle a tournament, I would do it that way.”

Nicklaus has never been shy in speaking his mind, and he’s earned that right. Among the many things he does during Memorial week is meet with the media, and that session on Tuesday again provided plenty of fodder. Among the topics covered were the tournament’s history, Rory McIlroy’s repeat Masters victory, whether anyone will ever match his 18 major titles and the golf ball rollback debate.

His words still pack meaning.

“I’m trying to make sure that just what we do here is right for the game,” he said. “Anything that the tour or anybody wants to sit down and ask me and talk about, I hope that I can, through the experience that I’ve had, be of some influence or what do you call it? Something to bounce off of, something to bounce, somebody to bounce off things.

“And I’m too old to worry about trying to create new stuff, I’m just trying to make sure that the game of golf — the game of golf’s a great game, it gave me everything that I had the opportunity to do.”

His concerns about the pending changes to the PGA Tour and how a crowded schedule of Tier 1 events will impact each tournament are worth considering.

“Anyway, I think it’s harder for your tournaments to stand out,” he said. “I mean, if you looked at the schedule, we’re involved in the Cognizant (Classic) down in Florida, and, we (follow) Pebble Beach and Los Angeles, Tiger’s event, and then Cognizant, and then we had Bay Hill and the Players. I mean, what chance does that tournament have? I mean, it sits right in the middle of those. They don’t have a chance.

“The other tournaments also say I got four out of five. It’s hard for guys to play that. See, the problem is not so much from the standpoint of players, it’s hard for the players to really be focused to play that much and be on top of their game. I look at it from the way I was as a player. I could play a couple weeks in a row, maybe three weeks in a row, but I needed some time off to be able to recharge the batteries. And I think everybody needs to recharge their batteries.

“So to jam it all in in one period of time, and then leave the rest of the year open, I think it’s tough. … I don’t think it’s a problem yet, but I think it will be if we don’t address it.”

Classic Jack. He expressed his opinion, strongly, but in the most unconfrontational way.

Russell Henley birdied four straight holes to win Colonial, er, Charles Schwab Challenge. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

While it pains the soul to hear the television broadcasters refer to the tournament won by Ben Hogan in 1946 as the Charles Schwab Challenge, there is no denying the event’s history at Colonial Country Club in Forth Worth, Texas.

Schwab, the financial guru, was born a decade after Hogan won the tournament for the first of five times at a course for which he became linked. Corporate marketing contracts and all that dictates that the event — known forever as the Colonial National Invitation or simply the Colonial — be referred to by its title sponsor name.

While the tournament’s history gets muddled amid naming rights, that history still matters, right? Or not?

As the PGA Tour forges a new path with private equity, player ownership and a for-profit model, you wonder about places such as Colonial Country Club, where Russell Henley birdied the last three holes in regulation (where was that hot putter in the clutch during that Ryder Cup?) and then the first sudden-death playoff hole against Eric Cole to win for the sixth time on the PGA Tour.

It’s doubtful that Colonial is going away but it is quite possible it is diminished. If the Schwab company doesn’t elect to step up with the necessary funding to help make it one of the proposed new Tier 1 events — believed to be $20 million purses — then it will fall into Tier 2. And, well … who knows what that means right now?

When Brian Rolapp took over as CEO of the PGA Tour, he quickly leaned into three tenets: parity, scarcity and simplicity. The latter was in regard to the competitive format that for 20 years has often been confusing — and at times, inconsequential — to golf fans.

But the scarcity part — which leads to parity — was all about streamlining the schedule, making events mean more, getting all of the leading players into more of the big events.

While that has generally been the case with the current signature-event model that will see the PGA Tour go to Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament this week, the ideas that are coming about for 2028 and beyond are bound to cause some consternation.

Rolapp has proposed a minimum of 16 Tier 1 events that would have 120-player fields. Nothing wrong with that. It’s better than the limited and often no-cut signature fields they have now. Both Golf Channel and Golfweek have reported, however, that that goal is to see them all have $20 million purses.

And that seems majorly ambitious and not necessarily wise. Of the current signature events, at least two of them are known to not be paying the full asking price that the tour requires for sponsors. So in doubling that number of big-money events, the tour believes that eight more sponsors are going to step up to that price point — which is basically double the going rate for a regular event now.

With the LIV Golf threat seemingly subsiding, it would appear this is a good time to reset the purse structure in the game, one that has gone way beyond sustainability with LIV’s $30 million payouts, the ones that led to the PGA Tour upping its ante to compete.

The number probably needs to settle in beneath that $20 million figure, and nobody is going to complain. There will still be big purses at the major championships, a $25 million purse at the Players Championship, and big hauls for the PGA Tour’s playoff series.

Perhaps of more concern is how the schedule will be configured, who will be in and out, what players will support which tournaments — and if they’re even allowed in Tier 2 events.

If you have 16 Tier 1 events, four majors, the Players and three playoff events, that’s 24 total tournaments. Most top players — not all — will settle in at playing 20 or less. That means the potential to skip four events, which means the PGA Tour is hopeful that the talent will spread itself around.

But a few others issues remain unresolved.

Two mainstays of the Colonial event — local residents Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth — skipped last week. Both played the Dallas-based event (the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, to be sponsor-correct) in their hometown the week prior.

What happens if neither the Nelson nor Colonial are Tier 1 events? While that is unlikely, it is possible. Both Scheffler and Spieth have ties to the Dallas event that pre-date their professional careers. There has been some rumbling that the tour will either prohibit or highly discourage those eligible for Tier 1 events from playing in Tier 2 events.

A compromise floated is that they be allowed to play the lower event but without benefit of earning any points, only prize money.

But playing one of those tournaments, which are likely to have far-reduced purses, means perhaps skipping one of the bigger ones. And if that happens too often, the sponsors of those bigger ones start to wonder what the are paying for.

As it stands this year, the schedule is such that players are all but forced to skip events they like. Scheffler skipped the Truist Championship the week prior to the PGA Championship because he knew he had the Nelson and the Memorial — where he is defending champion — coming up.

The Cadillac Championship at Doral last month had five players eligible via last year’s FedEx Cup list skip — the most marquee absentees in the signature-event era. It preceded the Truist and the PGA Championship. Something had to give.

“So it’s very situational of when you play, don’t play in that regard,” said Justin Thomas last week as he had entered the Colonial. “But, I mean, I really, really, really try with all my might to not do four in a row. Four in a row is like I’m not fun to be around. It’s very taxing. So I try to cap it at three. And, yeah, there’s a lot of great tournaments, we’re very fortunate to have to miss some great events, but you have to at some point. So just kind of start with the majors and fill it in here and there, I guess.”

And that will be the trick for Rolapp and the future competition committee as it comes to scheduling these Tier 1 events. There need to be built in “off weeks” that allow players to properly prepare for the major championships while seeing clear to playing in as many of these tournaments as possible.

Scheduling two of them leading into a major championship — as was the case this year with the Cadillac and the Truist — is a bad idea. So is having too many in too short of a time period — as was the case with the Masters, RBC Heritage, Cadillac, Truist and PGA stretch that saw those five events in a six-week period.

How players earn their way into them, if they are able to play their way up to them during the season, and how you get relegated out of them are all to be determined. Which means the new-look PGA Tour has yet to fully come into focus.

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Bryson DeChambeau tees off in front of big crowds at LIV’s Korea event (Charles Laberge/LIV Golf)

LIV Golf and its cost-cutting realities

The crowds appeared boisterous and the vibe looked positive at the LIV Golf Korea event won by Joaquin Niemann on Sunday.

While that is undoubtedly what CEO Scott O’Neil and LIV leadership hoped for as a sign of positivity going forward, another aspect that occurred at the tournament was a sign of the difficult financial struggles ahead.

One of the innovative features that has been part of the LIV Golf broadcast was dropped without notice, part of what a spokesman told Sports Business Journal was a “strategic decision” as the league assesses its future.

Called “Any Shot, Any Time,” it was an innovative feature on the live stream of the broadcast that allowed subscribers to have access to group and team streams. The cost for the season was $59.99 and LIV said it would be working on a refund for those who no longer want the service due to this change.

The Masters has an every shot feature on its app but it is not live. It offers the ability to go back and watch every shot after a period of time has passed. The PGA Tour shows every shot at its annual Players Championship.

A company called Mobii was providing the “Any Shot” technology to LIV Golf and the company has not been paid for months. It is unclear if Mobii then decided to discontinue.

But the service will not be available for the rest of the season, which includes five more events starting with this week’s tournament in Spain. Afterward, LIV doesn’t play again until late July as its tournament in New Orleans scheduled for later this month was scrapped in the wake of its financial issues.

LIV Golf, now in its fifth season, is enduring a tumultuous time after the announcement last month that its main benefactor, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, would be pulling its funding following this season.

The PIF, Saudia Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, has spent some $5 billion on the controversial league and while it pledged funding for the rest of this year, it is unclear if it is doing so to the levels previously supported.

O’Neil has vowed to try and forge on by analyzing all aspects of the business — which could mean reductions in tournaments and prize funds — while seeking investment from companies interested in the league or in its franchises.

Bryson DeChambeau was loquacious ahead of LIV Golf Korea event (Pedro Salado/LIV Golf)

It has been a tumultuous month for Bryson DeChambeau, whose golf game has been surprisingly suspect in the major championships and whose reputation as the face of LIV Golf has taken some shots as the league fights to survive.

But give the two-time major champion credit. He showed up in South Korea in a good mood, talking positively about his game and the ability of LIV Golf to find a way forward.

While he shed no new light on his moon-landing skepticism relayed on a recent podcast, DeChambeau spoke at length on more down-to-earth topics. He reiterated his surprise at the Public Investment Fund’s decision to pull its funding from LIV Golf after this year but expressed mild confidence that, with his support, the league could continue after this year.

Speaking for the first time since missing the cut at the PGA Championship — he did not talk to reporters after the first or second rounds at Aronimink — DeChambeau said he is “giving all he can” to assure that LIV survives beyond this year.

“We were surprised that they pulled out as quickly as they did,” DeChambeau said at Asiad Country Club in Busan, South Korea, site of this week’s LIV Golf Korea event. “We didn’t really see that coming. But that’s okay. One door closes, another opens. I think that’s the way a lot of us are looking at it.

“We all have optimism that there is a business plan that makes sense for team golf. I’d quite honestly actually — how do I say it? — I’m very optimistic with the business plan of team golf compared to other models, in my opinion.”

It has been approximately a month since the PIF, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, announced that it would no longer support LIV Golf beyond this year.

LIV has spent some $5 billion as it plays its fifth season and is said to be considering a pared down schedule and significant cost-cutting going into next year.

Most involved with LIV were caught off guard by the PIF decision, and CEO Scott O’Neil has added two board members and an investment entity in an attempt to shore up funds to continue in 2027.

“Other models have worked, as well, so I’m not going to say that one is better than the other,” DeChambeau said. “But I do see value in what team golf can provide not only worldwide but also in grass rooting the game of golf. National support, team national support, city local support, we grass root ourselves there. There are a couple ideas that we have — quite a few ideas that we have that could be interesting.

“We’ll see if investors like it or not. I’m giving all I can to make it happen, and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t happen.”

DeChambeau said he went on investor visits with O’Neil a few weeks ago when LIV was playing in Virginia. This week’s event in South Korea is followed immediately by a trip next week to Spain. There is then a week off before the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills.

This is LIV’s eighth event of the year and DeChambeau has more or less become the face of the league along with Jon Rahm. While’s Rahm’s under contract beyond 2026, DeChambeau’s contract expires at the end of this year and he has floated the idea of leaning further into his popular YouTube golf creator endeavors if LIV folds.

As the 2024 U.S. Open champion, he is exempt in that major through 2034. He is exempt at the Masters and PGA Championship through 2029 and the British Open through 2028.

DeChambeau was asked Tuesday about his penchant for being the center of attention.

“Oh, literally,” he said. “It’s the funniest thing ever. I respect everybody that says that I’m the worst thing for golf or I’m the best thing for golf. It’s okay.

“The reality is I’m so focused on what I can do for the game that somebody saying something online or to me personally in my face is not going to distract me from the mission that I have.

“When people are saying these things about me, I know my mission. I know what I’m here to do. Sometimes it’s tough to see, but sometimes it’s an inspiration for me. Fuels positive fire in my stomach.

“I think people love to say something and you have to respect that. I think everybody’s opinion is valid. All I can do is continue to be the best every single day that I can, whether I win tournaments out here, I win majors or don’t win majors or finish dead last out here. It doesn’t matter to me, as long as I’m working as hard as I can and giving as much as I can, that’s all that really matters.”

DeChambeau is coming off missed cuts in both the Masters and PGA and missed another at last year’s U.S. Open. His major “slump” comes after typically performing so strongly in golf’s biggest events, including three top-10s (including one win) in both 2024 and 2025.

“I’m playing some solid golf,” he said. “I’m working on my golf swing quite hard, trying to get back to that 58 level (the score he shot in 2023) at Greenbrier when I just had this golf swing that was so easy.

“The weeks that I’ve been playing in major championships, I’ve been playing okay, just having nothing happen for me, and that’s kind of the game of golf. The weeks before that I played really well going into them. I won two events going into the Masters and then finished third in Virginia. So it’s not like I’m playing bad golf. I think I’m putting some pressure on myself to play well in those tournaments, and that’s the reality. Nobody is perfect, and I’m still working hard to play as good as I possibly can, and the year before I played really well in the majors, missed one cut there, and it just happens.

“That’s golf, and ultimately excited for the opportunities I have moving forward. There isn’t any quit in me, as you can see, even at Aronimink (for the PGA) I birdied my last three holes trying to make the cut there, and it is what it is.

“I’ll tell you this: I played worse golf and shot better scores at majors. It’s one of those scenarios of ebbs and flows in golf. I’m really excited for the future over at Shinnecock and overseas, as well, for the Open Championship.

“Head down, keep moving forward.”

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Wyndham Clark got back in the winning saddle in Texas (Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)

There’s no bullet-proof way to end a victory drought on the PGA Tour. But shooting 60 in the final round works pretty well.

Just ask Wyndham Clark. He shot 60 in what turned out to be the final round of the weather-shortened 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a number good enough to win by one shot.

More than two frustrating years later for the former U.S. Open champion, Clark shot another 60 in the final round of CJ Cup Byron Nelson. His 11-under Sunday — which included an uncatchable 28 on the back — was good for a 30-under-par 254 at TPC Craig Ranch and a three-shot victory over Si Woo Kim.

“This is obviously very special, but it’s pretty awesome to do it at Pebble, such an iconic golf course,” Clark said in comparing his pair of winning 60s in the last two of his four PGA Tour wins. “Any time you win and any time you do it in the fashion I did is very special. At Pebble I didn’t have any family and friends there. This one I had my girlfriend, my brother and his fiancee, and a bunch of other friends. So this one is very special in that sense.”

It was a really big deal for Clark, who had fallen from a high of No. 3 in the world to 75th without a top-10 finish since last summer’s Open Championship while hitting some frustrating depths that included destructive tantrums at the 2025 PGA Championship and U.S. Open.

“The greatest thing about having a downfall like that is to come back,” said Clark, who thanked all of his sponsors for sticking with him after he made ugly headlines by destroying his locker in frustration at Oakmont. “Today feels really special after having a really tough year and grinding it out.

“It’s been a pretty heavy fall since being — I was even up to third in the world at some point in ’24. Yeah, it’s frustrating, but that’s golf. I went through kind of a tough spurt, not swinging it good, not feeling comfortable with a lot of things, and I did a lot of work this offseason working on my golf swing. Then I started hitting it better but wasn’t making the putts. Then finally landed on a great putter, and then everything’s been kind of coming together.

“Needless to say, it feels amazing to be back in the winners’ circle. I feel like my game’s trending in a great direction to continue to have success through the rest of the year.”

Clark started Sunday’s final round in the Dallas suburb of McKinney, Texas, tied with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler two shots behind Kim. He made it clear early that he was the player most likely to put pressure on the leader with four birdies in his first six holes. Kim made enough birdies himself to remain a step ahead until Clark made a 15-footer for eagle on the par-5 12th to take his first lead.

Si Woo birdied 12 to reclaim a share of the lead, but Clark birdied four of the last five holes to leave no doubt. He made a short birdie on 14 and drained a 44-footer for birdie on 15 to take control and added another at the par-3 17th to take a two-shot lead to the last, where he slammed the door with a stiff approach from 172 yards to set up a clinching birdie.

“Man, it was pretty amazing,” Clark said. “Obviously I made a birdie on 14, and I look and Si Woo’s right there on my heels. Then I birdied 15, and I just knew I had to keep birdieing because I knew Si Woo was probably going to do the same thing, or even Scottie. I felt pretty comfortable, but I knew I had to put the pedal to the metal and keep making birdies. I made more than I thought I was going to make, that’s for sure.”

Clark gained more than 12-and-a-half strokes on the field putting on the week, his first time leading the field in putting since his Pebble Beach victory. For the season he was ranked 137th in strokes gained putting. He made more than 157 feet of putts on Sunday.

“I’ve been in the zone before. Like at Pebble, that was a crazy zone, just simply because that golf course and the putts I was making was almost like out of this world just because those greens are so difficult,” Clark said.

“Here it just almost felt like I was playing at home, and every hole was a new hole. I didn’t worry that I just made six birdies or that I needed to make more. I just was like, all right, I have this 20-footer. I see it left edge, and I’d hit it, and it would go in. It was a different zone than I’ve been in before, that’s for sure.”

Clark is now the first player to ever win twice with finishing rounds of 60. Only three other players have ever shot 60 or better in the final round to win on tour: David Duval (1999 American Express, 59), Stuart Appleby (2010 Greenbrier Classic, 59) and Tommy Gainey (2012 RSM Classic, 60).

“Two different experiences … both were equally amazing,” Clark said of his 60s. “It’s a nice accolade to have.

“I look at Pebble, it was amazing, but that one, I was so close to shooting 59. At that golf course, that would have been just epic. This one, really 59 wasn’t necessarily in the cards. So it’s just amazing to finish. I’m just really proud of myself that I didn’t waver and I didn’t sit back and just try to hit to 20 feet and kind of leak my way in there. I was still very aggressive.”

Until Clark chased him down and sailed past on Sunday, it looked like Kim would collect his fifth tour win and first since the 2023 Sony Open in Hawaii. Kim separated himself to a five-shot lead at the halfway mark with a second-round 60 despite a bogey on his final hole after airmailing the green to miss joining the 59 club.

“I hit it great and putted great. So everything was perfect, other than the last hole,” said Kim. “I’ll still take it. Sixty is hard, but I was a little bit of thinking about the 59 after I make that on 17. It was a little bit of like adrenalin.”

Kim’s 6-under 65 on Sunday was good for runner-up at 27-under. He made 33 birdies for the week —five more than the second-most 28 made by Clark — and came up two birdies shy of the PGA Tour’s 72-hole record 35 made by Hideki Matsuyama at the 2025 Sentry at Kapalua.

“I think it’s pretty much the best play I’ve ever had,” said Kim. “I’m a little frustrated, but nothing I can do. Wyndham played so good. Congrats to Wyndham.”

Scheffler finished alone in third at 25-under with a 65 of his own, his sixth finish inside the top four since winning his season-opening start at The American Express. Scheffler has finished inside the top 25 in 32 consecutive tournaments.

Did Jon Rahm get a parental guarantee from PIF, meaning it assures payment? (Jon Gerry/LIV Golf)

For those who love the PGA Tour, this emerging story is, well, delicious.

And for those who love LIV Golf? Well, it is not necessarily as dire as it appears, even if it all seems so remarkable given the massive pool of funding the league has enjoyed to date.

LIV Golf is, according to a Bloomberg News report, preparing to file for bankruptcy.

So let’s do a bit of a dive as to what means, and could mean, going forward.

First, “bankruptcy” is not a solution — it’s a place, a venue. It’s a place where companies can find, or implement, a financial solution to its capital structure problems. “Capital structure” means how to treat those who have loaned and invested money to date, and can include — as is likely here — liquidity challenges, specifically that LIV needs more money to continue operations in some fashion beyond 2026.

Three weeks ago, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which has backed LIV Golf since 2022 to the tune of some $5 billion, said it would no longer fund the league beyond this season.

Second, filing bankruptcy has some real advantages for a company in financial distress. Its creditors (lenders, landlords, etc) are prevented from taking legal action against the company for at least 180 days, and perhaps longer. That means LIV Golf can perhaps access fresh near-term capital to prime its operational pump (called debtor-in-possesion, or DIP, financing).

And LIV can then do a couple of important things in bankruptcy. Among other things it can:

• reorganize its capital structure;

• access long-term capital, called “exit financing” (new money to permit LIV to emerge from bankruptcy in a much stronger position);

• shed liabilities;

• sell its operations.

There are two ways to execute a sale:

1. Pursuant to a Plan of Reorganization (POR), which is a longer term process that wraps up everything (treatment of capital structure, new ownership, etc.) and requires votes of creditors and sometimes shareholders.

2. Through a “section 363” auction process, which is pretty much the opposite of a POR, which can take just 60-120 days and requires no votes. Money comes in and assets (sometimes stock) go out the door to a buyer, and it wraps up nothing else; the money sits there for all the creditors to fight over.

Right now, its investment bank should be seeking (DIP) financing, exit financing, and acquisition interest.

Acquisition interest could come in the form of LIV Golf itself, or in individual teams. All potential avenues should be pursued and considered on a fast-track basis. It may still be possible to transact out of bankruptcy court, but it’s rather likely any putative acquirer or financier will want to transact only under the auspices of a bankruptcy court.

That is because the “title” a buyer or financier receives in bankruptcy court is the cleanest title known to man — almost all liabilities, real or contingent (meaning they could be lurking out there and the buyer may not know about them), will be shed or addressed.

Conversely, if one transacts out of court and acquires the stock of LIV, then one also inherits all liabilities, actual and contingent. It’s generally okay if you are buying a healthy company, but not so advisable if it’s in distress, and LIV Golf would seemingly be in the latter category.

What are some interesting aspects to this situation? Top of the list are player contracts; those who have not yet received all their contractually promised money will be “creditors” of a bankrupt LIV, and will likely be deemed “unsecured” creditors (they cannot look to any LIV collateral for redress). They will be a lower priority than entities who loaned money but received an interest in LIV collateral (secured creditors).

Unless — were certain players (like potentially Jon Rahm) advised well enough to get a form of parental guarantee from PIF, meaning it assures payment regardless of PIF’s obligations to LIV Golf? If so, they will be in a different, and far better, bucket than those who only contracted at the LIV level.

And, its highly unlikely LIV will be paying player salaries upon a bankruptcy.

Let’s not forget the overhang here — who really wants to be going up against, in a public forum, PIF and the Saudis, a country whose human rights abuses have been quesitoned going well back before it chose to invest in a golf league.

The PGA Tour may or may not have a direct stake in these proceedings, but it certainly will at the least be a very interested buystander, both about the future (if any) of LIV, but also with respect to the LIV players and their future.

The PGA Tour could certainly be a potential investor/acquirer of LIV — wasn’t that what the framework agrement of three years ago was supposed to be about? — and would control it and shape it to the desires of the tour. Or it could acquire LIV just to disband it, perhaps something that was discussed in negotations with the PIF previously. Or to make it an operating subsidiary. Acquiring the intellectual property (name and brand) is one way to do it.

But the PGA Tour will also likely tread carefully here, given the prior specter of antitrust allegations/investigation and litigation flowing from LIV lawsuit — since dismissed after making the framework agreement.

Stay tuned to this developing story.

Jon Rahm had only positive thoughts leaving Aronimink (Scott Taetsch/PGA of America)

Whether he admits it or not, Jon Rahm needed that performance at last week’s PGA Championship. So, too, did LIV Golf.

Rahm didn’t leave Aronimink with the Wanamaker Trophy, upstaged by Englishman Aaron Rai, whose major victory was special in its own right.

No, Rahm’s tie for second was more about personal redemption for him. And attempting — at least for a little while — to shift all the negativity hovering over LIV Golf’s future. (Good luck with that: Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that LIV Golf is considering filing for bankruptcy protection at the end of this season).

The last several weeks have been nothing short of calamity for LIV, which played two events against the backdrop that it is on the verge of collapse. The breakaway league — if it survives — is destined for considerable changes ahead as the Saudi Arabian sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund has withdrawn its backing.

Rahm was always going to be fine from a financial standpoint. If the league falters or alters its contract with him, he’ll have the legal remedy to attempt a return to the PGA Tour. He’s already cleared a deal that will see him regain his DP World Tour membership.

But the “LIV hurts play in the majors” narrative has been difficult to downplay, and Rahm’s runner-up finish as well as quality performances from other LIV golfers at Aronimink helped to quell the chatter.

“I mean, obviously I performed well last week,” Rahm said of his performance at LIV Golf Virginia after he had won the prior event in Mexico City. “I did really well in Mexico. After the Masters I’ve been playing good. I just — when the pressure is the highest in majors, some of those things you’re working on, those weak links can damage the foundation, right?

“Just happy that all those things I felt like I could have done better at Augusta ended up working out this week.”

Rahm’s tie for 28th at the Masters coupled with Bryson DeChambeau’s missed cut raised the debate again about LIV’s preparing players for majors.

LIV’s five-event international schedule prior to the majors — including a ridiculous three-week stretch that ended just two weeks prior to the Masters which saw them flying from Hong Kong to Singapore to South Africa — didn’t help.

Yet Tyrrell Hatton finished third at the Masters and DeChambeau had consecutive top-six finishes at Augusta prior to this year and won the 2024 U.S. Open. When he was playing for LIV Golf, Brooks Koepka was runner-up in the Masters before winning the 2023 PGA Championship — although he hasn’t had a top-10 in a major since that victory.

You can argue this from either side, perferred agendas ruling the day.

But pro golfers should be able to find a way to prepare themselves for the biggest events, regardless of schedule or level of competition.

“The margin, even though it’s three shots, it can be so small honestly,” Rahm said in the aftermath of Rai’s three-shot win over him and Alex Smalley in the PGA. “I feel like I’m playing really good golf and definitely played good enough this week to give myself a chance to win. So keep doing what I’ve been doing well.

“I still need to give myself some time to think about what I could have done better this week. Right now I’m really still fresh on just today, but I did miss two putts from about four feet (Saturday). So that’s two shots right there. It’s easy to focus on today because I’m sure I can find three shots that in the length of the week could have been better.

“I still need to assess the entire week to be able to pick and choose what I need to change or what I need to improve on.”

After a poor 2024 in the majors, Rahm has three top-eight finishes in his last five. He contended at last year’s PGA until late on the final day and tied for eighth then finished seventh a month later in the U.S. Open at Oakmont.

He’s also been by far LIV Golf’s best and most consistent player, finishing in the top 10 in 31 of 32 LIV events. This year, he has two victories, three runner-ups and six top-fives in seven events.

Overall at Aronimink, it was a respectable week on the course for LIV golfers. Seven of the 11 in the field made the cut. Cam Smith snapped his major streak of six straight missed cuts with a tie for seventh. David Puig’s T18th along with Joaquin Niemann was good enough to move Puig into the top 60 in the Official World Golf Ranking, allowing him to qualify for the U.S. Open. Dustin Johnson, a somewhat surprising invite, made the cut and tied for 44th.

Johnson, perhaps more than anyone, has been the high-profile example cited for LIV’s impact on major performance. He’s just 41, still more than capable, and yet has posted just two top-10s in majors since leaving the PGA Tour in 2022, less than two years after winning the November Masters. His last tie for 10th came at the 2023 U.S. Open. He’s missed six cuts over the past three years.

Smith has been accused of mailing it in while enjoying the good life but it’s hard to fathom that talking point given his comments on the matter. He recently fired for the only coach he’s worked with for 23 years since he was 9, instead going to Claude Harmon III who breathed a little life in his game.

This could simply have been an inevitable falloff after winning the Players Championship and the British Open in 2022 before jumping to LIV Golf. Before those six straight missed cuts, Smtih did post three top-10s in majors. His tie for seventh at the PGA on Sunday is his best finish since he tied for sixth at the 2024 Masters.

“I mean, it feels great to play nice,” said Smith. “You don’t work hard to play crap, and it’s frustrating, and the last couple of years have been frustrating. I feel like I’ve been putting in the work and not really getting anything out of it.

“I made a swing coach switch a couple weeks ago now to Claude, and we’ve just managed to clean up a few things that were perhaps a little bit off, and I feel like I’ve got a lot more confidence in my swing.

“Even out there today, under the pressure I felt like I was able to trust it already. So lots of positive signs.”

Smith’s struggles have also been apparent on LIV Golf. He’s not won since 2023. Through last year’s Australian PGA Championship, he had missed seven consecutive cuts in events that had a 36-hole cut. Then he finished second at the Australian Open in December. Now he’s got a good result in a major.

“I feel like I’ve thrived in major championships my whole career,” Smith said. “I feel like I’ve been able to play my best golf in major championships, and that kind of fell off. And like I mentioned before, I don’t think it was from a lack of hard work. I just think you lose a little bit of confidence in your swing and maybe in your brain, and it can all happen so quickly.

“That’s why I needed a fresh voice in the head and kind of almost a restart and like I said, it’s felt good so far.”

LIV’s schedule doesn’t get any easier the rest of the summer. Next week it’s on to South Korea, followed immediately by a long trip to Spain. Not exactly conducive to tuning up for major championship, with the U.S. Open looming just a week after that conclusion of those tournaments.

By then, the questions are still likely to be prevalent. Depending on how you view it, the same narratives are bound to return.

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Aaron Rai was all business in pulling away from the crowd to win PGA (Maddie Meyer/PGA of America)

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Aaron Rai is too nice to be confused with the find of folks on the City of Brotherly Love who once famously threw snowballs at Santa Clause. But if any champion exuded the blue-collar spirit of Philadelphia, it’s certainly the 31-year-old Englishman who sports two gloves and head covers for his irons.

Rai’s Sunday burst to sieze control of the PGA Championship at Aronimink — or should we call it Aaronimink? — was endearing. A hard worker whose rise to one of the pinnacle achievements in golf was as methodical as his pace of play, Rai’s collection of the Wanamaker Trophy was no fluke.

Rai broke free from the peloton densely packed in contention for all four days at Aronimink by charging with an eagle and four birdies in his last 10 holes on Sunday en route to a 5-under 65 and 9-under 271 total that was three clear in the end of two-time major winner Jon Rahm and 54-hole leader Alex Smalley.

Rai’s win — which sits above his maiden PGA Tour triumph in the 2024 Wyndham Championship as well as three DP World Tour victories — had its share of drama even if the finish proved rather comfortable for the Englishman of Indian and African descent.

Gaurika Bishnoi — his wife and a pro golfer herself from India — followed along as best she could outside the ropes among the masses at Aronimink, living and dying “always” with every shot and twist and turn. But what she saw on Sunday was her husband not just reaching a higher level but proing he belonged there.

“The way he was carrying himself, and the way he was so calm and composed, after the first eight holes, when things were exactly not really tipping towards him, that was enough win for me,” Bishnoi said. “Because when I see a professional golfer who’s able to do something like that, in such a high intensity situation, I know he can do it again.

“And even if we wouldn’t have lifted the trophy today, I knew that he’s to lift it very soon. So that, for me, was a very, like, very, very important step towards him tracking what it takes to win a major.”

Aaron Rai and his wife, Gaurika Bishnoi, are both successful pro golfers (Darren Carroll/PGA of America)

Rai was 1-over Sunday after the first eight holes for the day, already two strokes behind the clubhouse lead of 5-under posted early by two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas. Smalley and Germany’s Matti Schmid were at 6-under and playing in the final pairing.

That’s when Rai flipped the switch, draining a 40-foot eagle putt across the par-5 ninth green. As Philly fans say, “Fly, Eagles, fly!” — and Rai soared home from there. He carved up the more difficult second nine at Aronimink with surgical precision, adding birdies at 11, 13 and 16 to pull ahead and then slammed the door shut on anyone still harboring hopes with a 68-foot birdie putt across the par-3 17th green.

Rai was up by 4 at that point and the engraver shortly thereafter began etching his name on the Wanamaker Trophy even as a couple chasers had a few holes left to play.

Rai certainly seemed the unlikely player to break away from a crowd that included the likes of Rahm, Ludvig Åberg, Rory McIlroy, Cam Smith and Xander Schauffele. But there he was head, and shoulders and two gloves above them, the workman-like champion not even cracking a smile until long after the job was done.

Those he beat did not begrudge his victory.

“There won’t be one person on this property who won’t be happy for him,” said McIlroy, whose final-round 69 left him four behind in a tie for seventh.

“I have heard absolutely nothing but good or great things … there’s very few people that are nicer and kinder human beings than Aaron Rai. He’s been playing great golf. He’s a fantastic golfer. He’s been able to perform really well. What he did today is nothing short of special,” said Rahm, who tied for the lead with two birdies to start his round but couldn’t keep up with Rai on the back nine.

Rahm noted the backstory about Rai’s lifelong habi of protecting his irons with head covers.

“Anybody that wears or uses head covers in his irons because he coveted his irons when he was a kid so much that he wanted to respect the equipment so much, and to still do it? Yeah, exactly, he’s still doing it shows a lot about a person.”

Aaron Rai got to walk like a champion up to the 18th green (Darren Carroll/PGA of America)

Rai’s story has been told before, if not to such a large audience. When his father bought him a set of expensive irons, “he used to clean every single groove with a pin and baby oil,” Rai said. To protect the investment in those golf clubs, Rai thought it would be good to put iron covers on it. Rai continues the practice to not lose that perspective, even though he can easily afford new clubs since making on the European circuit with three prior wins over there that counta pair of playoff wins against Tommy Fleetwood including the 2020 Scottish Open.

Hailing from Wolverhampton in the dead center of the English Midlands, Rai is the first Englishman to win the PGA Championship since Jim Barnes — who won the first two editons of the PGA Championship in 1916 and 1919. That inaugural Barnes victory came when he was employed as the head pro at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club in Pennsylvania, about 14 miles away from Aronimink. It’s Whitemarsh Valley that’s engraved on the Wanamaker Trophy that now bears Rai’s name.

What a long strange trip it’s been from Barnes to Rai.

“It definitely feels like a journey,” said Rai, who only a week ago finished fifth in the PGA Tour’s opposite Myrtle beach event because he wasn’t eligible for the signature Truist Championship at Quail Hollow.

“Everyone playing in the field this week has a great journey to be able to share, and I’m no exception to that. So much goes into it from being a junior golfer to developing the game to have aspirations of turning professional. Then you realize once you turn professional how good some of these guys are and how strong the level of professional golf is, not just on the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour, and all the feeders that go into it.

“So, yeah, it’s a really long journey to even get to compete at major championships at events like the PGA. To be standing here, amazing journey, it still hasn’t sunk in for sure. Amazing journey.”

Three years ago, before he had won on the PGA Tour, Rai was in the Genesis Invitational but not in the pro-am. He had never met tournament host Tiger Woods so he decided to follow the 15-time major winner on the entire back nine during his chilly morning pro-am at Riviera.

Why? Because Rai began playing golf because of Woods. “He’s been my idol since a young age,” he said. Welcome he finally got introduced to Woods, Rai said “he made me feel very welcome.”

Now he can welcome Tiger to next year’s PGA champions dinner in Frisco, Texas, if Woods is back competing by then.

Rai makes his U.S. home near Jacksonville, Fla., and plays with his wife out of TPC Sawgrass. She doesn’t take any shots when they play but the manage to be competitive considering Bishnoi has won eight times on India’s Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour and also competes on the Ladies European Tour.

“So we do a lot of wedge competitions and that’s generally where I’m good,” Bishnoi said. “And we do a lot of putting competitions and that’s where I’m good. But when I kind of take him on with driving accuracy and approach shots, maybe that’s where I’m not so good. So we have like a lot of things to learn from one another, which we do as well, which makes us like better golfers.”

It certainly showed at Aronimink.

Rory McIlroy has always be a thoughtful subject in the interview room (Terence Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — In the modern age of sports journalism, the rarest gift in the game is the star athlete who has something to say. Maybe you don’t like what they have to say, but it’s truly special when they’re willing to say it. Most cop out like Michael Jordan, with a rehearsed brush-off line like “Republicans buy shoes, too.” Others get through it like Tiger Woods, saying a whole lot of words while rarely ever saying anything at all.

Rory McIlroy has never been unwilling to share. Maybe he shares too much, but when he says something you can be sure he means it. It’s not manager-vetted tripe. It’s legit feelings and opinions. And he’s not often wrong, like when he said last week that any professional golfers unwilling to play the PGA Tour are revealing a deeper truth about themselves.

“If you want to be the most competitive golfer you can be, this is the place to be,” McIlroy said of the PGA Tour. “And if you don’t want to play here, I think that says something about you.”

On Tuesday at Aronimink ahead of the PGA Championship, McIlroy had plenty to say about the tenuous state of LIV Golf. He’s never been shy about his thoughts on the subject and had opinions have evolved through the last five years. And now he’s not afraid to admit that he might have been wrong about some things.

Not too long ago, McIroy was in favor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund investing in the PGA Tour. After the 2023 “framework agreement,” McIlroy went from defending his home tour against the LIV assault to promoting a partnership between the two sides of golf’s rift.

With the PIF pulling hits funds and orphaning LIV Golf to fend for itself after 2026, McIlroy’s tune evolved once again.

“I’m glad I was wrong,” McIlroy said of his partnership push. “I can admit when I’m wrong, and that was one that I did get wrong.”

After the Strategic Sports Group investment of $1.5 billion in the PGA Tour in early 2024, McIlroy believed then the tour should make a similiar arrangement with the PIF.

“Having PIF as your partner as opposed to not having them as your partner, I don’t think is an option for the game of golf,” McIlroy said in February of 2024, noting that PIF funding of LIV is what was keeping the game from being unified. “I think they’re committed to investing in golf and in the wider world of sport and if you can get them to invest their money the right way to unify the game of golf.”

As negotiations for some kind of deal heated up early in 2025, McIlroy continued to support a resolution.

“For me, we’ve all been done better from all of this,” McIlroy said ahead of last year’s Genesis Invitational. “Whether you stayed on the PGA Tour or you left, we have all benefited from LIV. And I’ve been on record saying this a lot, we’d never be playing for what we’re playing for this week ($20 million purse).

“So I think everyone’s just got to get over it, and we all have to say, okay, this is the start point and we move forward. We don’t look behind us, we don’t look to the past, whatever’s happened, happened. And it’s been unfortunate. But reunification is the best thing for everyone.”

Now LIV is on life support after the PIF withdrawal and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, quitting the board. That leaves LIV CEO Scott O’Neil trying to cobble together new investors to keep LIV alive in some form after 2026.

McIlroy saw the PIF pulling out of its money pit as a possibility that came to a shocking reality over the course of the last month.

“I think it was always a possibility to happen,” McIlroy said of the PIF’s change of heart after sinking $5 billion into LIV for little return. “Look, I think everyone knows like with everything that’s happening in the Middle East [the war in Iran], that had a lot to do; but whenever you have funding tied so much to the geopolitical landscape in the world, that’s a tricky road to navigate.

“Their priorities shifted, and that leaves LIV in a pretty precarious spot. But again, that was always — it was always a possibility. I feel like a lot of us in this room, including me, we almost knew before the (LIV) players did that this was going to happen. Like I was hearing about this back in March, April time.”

It was shortly after McIlroy’s repeat victory in the Masters that things unraveled quickly ahead of LIV’s event in Mexico City. The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times reported that the PIF’s changing priorities meant pulling out of LIV Golf.

“One of my best friends caddies for Tom McKibbin, who’s over there, and I would talk to him all the time about what was going on,” McIlroy said. “I was saying to Ricky (McCormick), even before Mexico, ‘Have you guys heard any of this stuff?’ He was like, ‘No, everything seems okay over here.’

“It just feels like the rug was pulled from under their feet and everyone was sort of blindsided by it. But again, that’s the risk that those guys chose to take. As I said, it leaves — there’s a lot of uncertainty in the air right now.”

McIlroy said last week at Quail Hollow that’s he’s not averse to LIV players who can coming back to the PGA Tour, admitting that he was originally “probably too judgmental” about the defectors.

“If it is a scenario where they have the option to come back and play on the traditional tours, I think (PGA Tour CEO) Brian Rolapp has said anything that makes this tour stronger, anything that makes the DP World Tour stronger, I think everyone should be open to that,” McIlroy said in Charlotte. “That’s just good business practice.

“They’re going to go and try and find alternative investment, whatever that may look like. But when one of the wealthiest sovereign wealth funds in the world thinks that you’re too expensive for them, that sort of says something.

“Obviously the guys over there are under contract and if they are able to keep it going and get a schedule together next year, it seems like those guys are still going to play the majority of their golf on LIV, in whatever form it takes.

“I’m not going to judge anyone for not wanting to play on the PGA Tour. I don’t know, does that mean that they go play DP World Tour, maybe. If that’s a pathway, that would make the DP World Tour stronger, and I would be delighted with that.”

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Rickie Fowler nearly wins again at Quail where he won 14 years ago (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

For a little while there on Sunday afternoon, it felt like 2012 all over again.

Brandt Snedeker, 45, had already come home with his first victory in eight years in the PGA Tour’s opposite event in Myrtle Beach. About the same time, Rickie Fowler, 37, was all decked out in Sunday orange and had a share of the lead at the signature Truist Championship. He looked poised to win for the first time in three years (and only second in the last 10) when he fired a dart from 202 yards to 5 feet on the 16th hole at Quail Hollow Club.

Fowler, however, could not turn back the clock to his 2012 win at Quail Hollow, pulling the close chance for birdie on 16 and missing a 10-footer for par on 18, ultimately finishing runner-up two shots behind ascending Norwegian Kristoffer Reitan.

“It would have been nice to have that one on 16,” Fowler said.

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The 2012 Wachovia champ at Quail made the biggest charge on Sunday, going out in 5-under 30 on the front to get in the mix and then assuming the lead when his eighth birdie of the round on 15 had him 7-under on the day and at the top of the leaderboard.

But after the missed chance at 16, his approach came up short on 18 and settled in the thick collar between the green and the creek and his pitch-out came up a little too short to let him save par and set the clubhouse mark at 14-under.

“Obviously now, you know, bummed not to be in a position to at least maybe to be in a playoff or having a chance to win,” Fowler said. “But at the same time if you would have told me at seven back that I was going to be out front and have a chance to close, yeah, a lot of really good stuff this week …

“A lot of good stuff and definitely happy with where the game’s been, how it’s been progressing, and obviously where we are right now.

“Making birdie on 9 to turn at 5-under, that’s kind of when it was like, all right, we got nine holes in front of us, let’s go have some fun and there was a lot of good stuff. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but hit a lot of quality golf shots. …

“Felt fun to be in the mix.”

Reitan made Fowler’s final bogey moot when he got to 15-under after a birdie at 15 and then saved par with a clutch 12-footer at 16 and then steadily parred his way through the last two holes of Quail’s infamous Green Mile finish.

Meanwhile in Myrtle Beach, the clock did turn all the way back.

Brandt Snedeker breaks eight-year drought with opposite-event win (Raj Mehta/Getty Images)

Snedeker had fallen as far as 790th in the world a couple of years ago and seemed fully invested in the next chapter of his career serving as vice captain in Ryder Cups and preparing for his first captainship at this fall’s Presidents Cup at Medinah. He’s being playing without a PGA Tour card the last few years.

But after all of his struggles since his last win in the 2018 Wyndham Championship, Snedeker finally found a second wind this spring. He showed a spark after four missed cuts to start the year with a T18 at the Valspar Championship in March. Then in Myrtle Beach, he closed the deal on a one-shot win over Mark Hubbard despite a finishing bogey.

His 10th career PGA Tour win not only gets Snedeker a fresh two-year exemption but put him in this week’s PGA Championship at Aronimink — his first major start since the 2021 British Open.

“It’s been a roller coaster,” said Sneds. “I feel amazing. I feel so lucky to still be out here still doing what I love to do, to have a chance to win a golf tournament at my age and to be able to pull it out is something super special. I’m just so pumped. I don’t know what else to say.

“But I’ve had a lot going on this year obviously with Presidents Cup stuff and getting to be around the guys. It really pushed me a lot. It did. Seeing Gary Woodland win a few weeks ago in Houston and seeing the old guys play well and the young guys push them, it’s been fun to get back in the swing of things and play some good golf.

“I know people don’t think I’ve been playing that great, but I’ve been playing pretty good. Just kind of have not been able to put four rounds together, and this week I did.

“So excited for what the next little bit holds, and going to really enjoy tonight and celebrate this. Ten wins out here is a huge accomplishment for me, and super excited about it.

“To not have my card the last couple of years, to be struggling to do what I love, you know, to still have a passion to play this game the way I want to play it and to show people how I can still do it, especially not playing my best and struggling the way I did to come back and fight, claw my way back and play some great golf this year even though it hasn’t seemed like it to people outside.”

While the win changes a lot of plans Snedeker had for the remainder of the season, we shouldn’t expect him to fall into the same drama as Keegan Bradley did about potentially picking himself to play in the Presidents Cup. But it will alter his outlook for the next few months ahead of the matches against the International team in September.

“I was planning on going home tonight and having a week off and going to Medinah on Thursday, Friday of next week and do some stuff for the Presidents Cup. That obviously got changed,” he said.

“Changes a lot of things. I’m kind of in a bunch of tournaments I probably wasn’t in before now. All good things. Just kind of get home tonight and re-evaluate what we need to do, and kind of figure out a new plan. I’m excited to get to the PGA. I haven’t played in a major in a few years.

“Love the opportunity to play in those big golf courses and playing against tough competition. It will be fun to get up there and see the guys. I haven’t seen a lot of those guys in a minute. And use it as a scouting trip for Presidents Cup stuff, talk to the guys a little bit.”

Jon Rahm has binding LIV contract and is done stressing about his DPWT relationship (Courtesy LIV Golf)

LIV Golf arrived for its first domestic tournament of the year in Virginia this week. With everything that’s going on since the Saudi’s decided to no longer fund the start-up league beyond 2026, there was a lot to unpack.

Among the tidbits that came out of the pre-tournament conversation in Virginia:

• Jon Rahm said he’s settled his dispute with the DP World Tour to pay his fines and remain eligible for the Ryder Cup. “We were able to reach an agreement. There were some concessions on both sides. I offered some,” Rahm said. “They extended an olive branch. And we reached an agreement. So, I will not be stressing that.”

• He also said he’s under contract with LIV beyond this season (if there are more). “As of right now, I have several years on my contract left, and I’m pretty sure they did a pretty good job when they drafted that. So I don’t see many ways out, and as of right now, I’m not really thinking about it since we still have a season to play and majors to compete for. So it’s not something I want to think about just yet.”

• Graeme McDowell regrets repeating the platitude that he left for LIV to “grow the game” instead of admitting he did it for the money. “I regret a few things I said in the beginning, stuff like growing the game,” he told Sports Illustrated. “I should have just said it for what it was: this is good for my bank account, and I’m getting a runway to play the game of golf for as long as I possibly can.”

• LIV CEO Scott O’Neil remains bullish on LIV’s future even without PIF’s deep pockets and that he’s committed to LIV’s “transformational” team format and selling the 13 franchises: “To have this chance in this business, to be able to reset and create something special, something lasting ... I feel an appropriate amount of pressure, which I hope we all do here. I’m feeling inspired. And I feel like we have a clear path to a win.”

• Ian Poulter believes LIV can live on with a reimagined 2.0 version that emphasizes the team aspect and works with instead of against the PGA Tour. “Does it work if some PGA Tour players can move in to play in the back end of the year possibly? And therefore a chunk of the guys can go and play and help their TV renewal valuation?” Poulter told SI. “We can all work together in some way to make the calendar for the whole year look good? Whether that be international, whether it be in the U.S. or whether it be in Europe.

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Then there is Bryson DeChambeau, who admitted he was “shocked” by the news that the PIF was pulling its money out beyond 2026. DeChambeau is a curious character, and while he’d like to help LIV last long into the future, the YouTube star doesn’t think his future needs to be tied to any tour.

If LIV doesn’t survive and the PGA Tour doesn’t want to make it easy for guys to return, DeChambeau would be content to growing his popular YouTube platform and play anywhere that “wants him.”

DeChambeau told a few reporters in Virginia this week that he’s hopeful O’Neil and the new LIV Golf board can “come up with a good business plan and there’s some (private equity) that wants to get in …”

DeChambeau said he and his agents have talked to the PGA Tour about cooperation to reunite golf, and he is concerned for other players and their path back. He’s not so much worried about himself.

“If Scott doesn’t find the funding …. and we don’t find a solution, for me I think it’s really enticing, depending on what everybody says on the (PGA Tour) and what they’re going to strike me with as a penalty, which is quite unfortunate in my opinion, considering what I could do for them,” he said.

“I think, from my perspective, I’d love to grow my YouTube channel three times. Maybe even more. I would love to. I’d love to do a bunch of dubbing in different languages, giving the world more reason to watch YouTube. And then I’d love to play tournaments that want me.”

DeChambeau declined the PGA Tour “returning member” offer that was given to Brooks Koepka and he could join the DP World Tour at the end of 2026 and be fully exempt as a winner of the 2024 U.S. Open.

It’s the strings attached that worry him.

“I mean, they make up rules every day,” he said. “I would love to entertain the world globally and play professional golf globally and give everyone around the globe a show. And I’d also like to do YouTube videos around it, too. How great would that be? I’d love to promote the events and grow the events and collab with people and really create an amazing experience for juniors. Our demographic for golf is what? You know what the age is? It’s 60-plus, right? My demographic is 24 to 34 and it’s over 10 million of them.

“And I want to continue to inspire them and give them as much entertainment as possible because I’m just being myself. I’m trying to be myself as much as I can. I think there’s value to that and I want to give the world of golf as much as I can.”

DeChambeau didn’t discount the idea of LIV Golf surviving with fewer events and smaller purses. He suggested that PGA Tour should work with LIV for the betterment of the game and its own bottom line.

“Look, the tour isn’t doing great either,” DeChambeau said. “Let’s be honest about the situation. They’ve got the media. They’ve got everybody on the side that helps pump it up. But they’re reducing field sizes, cutting employees and restructuring their business too. …

“If we can come up with a good business plan for the game of golf, not just on our side, but on their side. And everybody together for the 2030 media rights negotiation. (When the PGA Tour’s current media rights deals end.) We can all come up with something. We can really do something special for the game, and I hope everybody sees that potential.

“That would require cooperation from both sides. On both sides. And the egos need to get dropped. Everybody needs to come in with a level-headed playing field, with an opportunistic mindset to grow the game of golf. That’s why I came over here.”

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Cameron Young enjoyed a relative walk in the park at Doral last week (Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)

DORAL, Fla. — With apologies to Cameron Young, who put forth a dominating effort to get this third PGA Tour victory and continue ascension to world-class over the past two months, that sure was some dud of a deal at Doral.

Yeah, the once iconic Blue Monster course in South Florida still has some teeth, but there was not much buzz at the place that was hosting the PGA Tour for the first time in 10 years.

Why the PGA Tour felt the need to rush back in 2026 without fully being able to promote the tournament — or even play it at a time of year when it is more suitable — can probably be put down to its desire to curry favor with President Trump.

The owner of the resort just west of the Miami airport was none too pleased when the PGA Tour pulled up stakes in Doral after 54 years following the 2016 tournament and moved what was then called the WGC-Cadillac Championship to Mexico City.

Trump cried foul and his backers decried politics as the reason. But when the decision to move on was announced in early June of that year, Trump was yet to earn the Republican nomination for president and few at the time would have thought he could win.

If anything — as this year proves — the tour would love to have been at his course had the circumstances been right. But they weren’t.

For more than a year prior to that final Doral WGC event won by Adam Scott, the PGA Tour sought to renew its deal with Cadillac, which had been asking for a reduction of its sponsorship commitment. It wasn’t going to sign on for the same price, in part because of Trump. Not because of politics but because the owner of the resort had an outsized role at the event, dwarfing Cadillac’s promotional objectives.

“Some of the reaction revolves around the feeling that this is political exercise, and it is not that in any way, shape or form,” said then-PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem at a news conference he conducted during the Memorial Tournament.

That, in itself, was unusual, as Finchem would not want to take away from that week’s event to talk about another one. But prior to the official announcement, Finchem had called Trump to tell him the news, then got word that Trump might be talking about it publicly in an interview. He elected to get out in front of it.

And given what Trump said, it was wise.

“They’re moving it to Mexico City, which, by the way, I hope they have kidnapping insurance,” Trump said back in 2016, alluding to Mexico’s reported battle against a nationwide surge in abductions.

“I know everybody’s talking about politics, but it’s actually not that, in my view,” Finchem said. “I think it’s more Donald Trump is a brand, a big brand, and when you’re asking a company to invest millions of dollars in branding a tournament and they’re going to share that brand with the host, it’s a difficult conversation.

“The difficulty there is more that and less the politics. The politics might have contributed some since he’s been running, but it’s more that, and he knows that. It’s unfortunate we couldn’t make it work right now, but our focus is going to come back (Doral) with a solid property to make it work going forward.”

It took 10 years to get back.

The event was played for four years in Mexico City — at the same place where LIV Golf has played the last two years — and then one final year in Florida before the whole WGC idea was scrapped following the 2022 season.

With the move to signature events in 2023, the PGA Tour had eight of them scattered throughout its schedule. Why it felt the need to cram a ninth in this season (the Sentry was canceled in Hawaii to start the year due to agronomy issues at Kapalua) was some poor planning, to say the least.

For the first time, a signature event was missing five of the players from the previous years’ top 50 FedEx Cup qualifiers. That can easily be put down to scheduling. Three signature events in four weeks between the Masters and the PGA Championship was always a disaster waiting to happen.

Rory McIlroy was a no-show and Scottie Scheffler will be missing at this week’s Truist Championship at Quail Hollow Club — where he won last year’s PGA Championship. Something had to give and this scheduling faux pas was the reason for headaches.

That, however, doesn’t explain the poor crowds and lack of any vibe on site at Doral this week. The first two days were a virtual club championship, with just a smattering of fans throughout the course. It got better over the weekend, and Sunday produced a decent enough crowd even with the tee times moved up due to impending bad weather.

Trump’s appearance toward the end of play Sunday and all the hassles associated with a presidential visit for those trying to get there probably didn’t help, but it’s really due more to the late spring timing and a lack of planning.

The 54 previous iterations of Doral’s PGA Tour event were played in March as part of the early Florida Swing. The weather is more conducive to golf viewing then, and the area is populated by an abundance of winter visitors.

Hot, humid temperatures in late April/early May, a Formula 1 race also in town and the relatively short window to plan and sell the event — which was announced less than six months ago — didn’t help.

All in a rush to go back to a place that wasn’t an essential priority.

For Young, none of that really matter. It was a great six-shot victory over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler — a wire-to-wire win that saw him move back to No. 3 in the world after a strong run of events that also saw him win the Players Championship and tie for third at the Masters.

But the atmosphere — or lack of it — was all in keeping with Young’s understated, somewhat boring demeanor. A lack of buzz wasn’t going to bother him in the least.

It should bother the tour, however. They rushed back to a place that had more recently hosted lackluster LIV Golf events and they got a LIV vibe out of it.

Dubious postponement of Louisiana event leaves a glaring void in LIV schedule (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

Something is amiss. Sure, something already was wrong behind the scenes with LIV Golf considering the recent news of the league’s Saudi Arabian funding potentially drying up. But the latest news makes that situation appear even worse.

LIV Golf announced on Tuesday that it is postponing its Louisiana event scheduled for New Orleans in late June due to its concern over heat and sporting conflicts.

Apparently the LIV hierarchy just now discovered it’s hot in the summer in New Orleans and that the World Cup will be going on?

That excuse defies belief.

And when Louisiana governor Jeff Landry began his statement on the matter by showering praise on the PGA Tour and Zurich for its just-completed tournament won by the Fitzpatrick brothers … well, that level of shade could not have been an accident.

The decision to “postpone” comes in the aftermath of reports that LIV Golf’s financial backing from the Public Investment Fund of Saudia Arabia was in danger of drying up as the PIF pivots its priorities. The league is guaranteed full funding only through the rest this year.

And yet, LIV CEO Scott O’Neil pronounced it “full speed ahead” and said its schedule would played uninterrupted.

Now it’s going to be interrupted in the prime golf months of the summer — with a dubious plan to reschedule for the fall?

Original reports suggested that the state of Louisiana was concerned about the event and its financial obligation if the league were to cancel the tournament.

LIV Golf Louisiana, originally scheduled for June 25-28, was to be LIV’s ninth event on its 14-tournament schedule. Gov. Landry, in a statement, first made mention of the PGA Tour’s visit to the area over the weekend and also noted a desire to reschedule.

“First, we want to thank Zurich and PGA Tour leadership for another outstanding tournament this past weekend,” Landry said. “We are proud of the continued partnership and the opportunities this event brings to our state each year.

“Secretary Bourgeois spoke with LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil and was informed that the organization seeks to postpone its June 2026 event in New Orleans and explore a potential event this fall. The state has already paid $3.2 million in accordance with the contract. LIV is expected to return all state incentive funds, with the exception of the $2 million already invested in upgrades for City Park, ensuring those improvements remain in place for the community.

“We appreciate LIV’s good-faith efforts and look forward to maintaining our partnership as we continue conversations around an event later this year.”

n its own statement, LIV Golf said that it “made the strategic decision to explore moving LIV Golf Louisiana to a new window later this fall. This shift allows us to avoid the peak summer heat and the crowded global sports calendar while ensuring the course is in the championship condition our fans and players expect.”

That statement simply raises more questions.

The tournament was announced as part of LIV’s schedule last August and you’d be naïve to not be aware of the summer heat in Louisiana. And given LIV’s reported financial plight at this time, postponing a tournament only adds to the chaos. Playing on dirt greens or in a monsoon makes more sense than abandoning the event now.

Playing in the fall in Louisiana comes with its own issues. The heat is still oppressive and it’s hurricane season. Also, there is this thing called LSU football. And the New Orleans Saints. The PGA Tour isn’t foolish enough to try to go up against those sports forces of nature.

From a purely competitive standpoint, LIV Golf will not have a tournament following its Spain event June 4-7 (two weeks before the U.S. Open) until its UK tournament July 23-26 (the week after the British Open). That’s six full weeks off in the optimal summer window

Also, it is unclear if this means that the league is shrinking to a 13-event schedule with 12 counting toward the individual title or if the Louisiana event to be rescheduled will be part of that. LIV Golf Indianapolis in August has been billed as LIV’s individual season championship.

That is trivial in the bigger picture, of course. LIV’s financial plight is the story. The league is scheduled to play next week in Virginia, where O’Neil — who has yet to speak to a non-LIV-affiliated outlet — might want to explain what is going on.

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Matt Fitzpatrick celebrates his brother Alex’s clinching putt in New Orleans (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

This is turning into quite a year for Matt Fitzpatrick. And for his little brother Alex, too.

The English siblings combined for a victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans on Sunday at the PGA Tour’s only team event, one that had a relatively weak field but wasn’t without drama.

A record-setting performance turned shaky over the back nine at TPC Louisiana, where the alternate-shot format that can be incredibly tricky proved to be so.

And with a PGA Tour card on the line for Alex Fitzpatrick — not to mention spots in the upcoming signature events and the PGA Championship — those final holes were nervy. Especially for the major-winning big brother who seemed to feel the weight of his little brother’s immediate tour future on his shoulders.

So it was for Matt — the winner of the Valspar Championship last month and the RBC Heritage last week — to hit the stellar 35-yard bunker shot on the 18th hole, setting up an easy birdie 14-inch putt for Alex to convert for a one-shot victory over the Norwegian duo of Kristopher Reitan and Kris Ventura and Americans Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer.

“It was a struggle,” Matt said. “I was doing absolutely zero to help him. Apart from the [8-foot par] putt I made on 15 there, I wasn’t really providing much support. He was fantastic on the back nine, as he was yesterday as well.

“It means the world. Absolutely speechless. It was a grind today, and [Alex] was unbelievable. I couldn’t be more proud. That was just truly unbelievable today.”

Norwegians Reitan and Ventura set the clubhouse mark at 30-under with their third eagle of the day on the last, with Reitan hitting his approach from 230 yards to 6 feet. Then Smalley and Springer matched them with a birdie at the last.

In a three-way tie heading up the final par-5, Alex Fitzpatrick’s approach from 257 yards found the front bunker, leaving his big brother a 35-yard shot.

“When I got there, the lie was just absolutely obscenely good,” Matt said. “It was literally like sat on a tee peg. I knew that it was going to spin, and I knew I had to kind of be aggressive with it.

“I’d say, you know, it’s as good a bunker shot as I’ve ever hit, but that may be lying. But to hit it the way I did and to finish where it did to make it the most stress-free tap-in of all time pretty much for such a big occasion was really, really nice.”

Alex, 27, was shaking over the 14-inch winner.

“I don’t even know how to describe it. I thought I was going to miss the putt, stood over it, even though it was so short. I couldn’t feel my hands, couldn’t feel my legs, couldn’t feel anything,” he said.

“Yeah, it’s just been a whirlwind. I think, yeah, at some point it will set in, but it’s a pretty life-changing thing. Kind of excited to see what doors open and just try and play as good of golf as I can and chase him.”

Alex and Matt Fitzpatrick will now play together on the PGA Tour (Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

The sibling tour rivalry should be interesting. A Fitzpatrick brother has now won somewhere in the world four of the last six weeks. A week after Matt won the Valspar on the heels of his runner-up in the Players Championship, Alex won the Hero Indian Open for his maiden victory on the DP World Tour. Now Matt goes back to back weeks on the PGA Tour and carries his little brother with him.

Alex was scheduled to play in this week’s Turkish Airlines Open, but those plans changed with the Zurich win which gets him in this week’s Cadillac Championship as well as the Truist Championship next week prior to the PGA Championship. He’s also be in the Memorial Tournament as well as the Travelers, next year’s Players and is exempt on the PGA Tour through 2028.

“Winning a couple of weeks ago on the DP World Tour was the first time that I had an exemption for over a year,” the younger Fitzpatrick said. “It’s always been a battle to have some form of status somewhere, so it was nice to have some eligibility that I know that I’m going to be okay for a year and a half or two years.

“So I obviously didn’t expect to be sitting here knowing that I’ll have exemption for, I don’t know, a year, two years on this tour. So, yeah, it’s pretty surreal. I don’t think it will set in for a long time.

“But, yeah, to be sitting here doing it with him is the craziest thing ever.”

Making their fourth consecutive start in the Zurich team event together, the brothers had twice before finished in the top 20.

This time, the Fitzpatricks seized control with a tournament-record 15-under 57 in Saturday’s better ball round, opening a four-shot lead heading to Sunday’s alternate shot finale. Matthew made six birdies and an eagle in the third-round, draining a 33-foot eagle putt on the seventh hole to be 5-under on his own through the first seven holes. Alex made seven birdies, five of them on the back including three straight to finish off the record round.

“I didn’t really do much the first nine holes. I just kind of just let him do his thing,” Alex said of his older brother. “Yeah, it was pretty cool to watch. You know, playing alongside my brother, who happens also to be one of the best players in the world, is pretty fun. When he’s playing well, it’s pretty cool to watch.”

“Yeah, an amazing day. Amazing day,” said Matt. “Probably not kind of sunk in how well we played today, if I’m honest. Yeah, it was just hole after hole.”

Team Fitzpatrick entered the final round already at 30-under par, which matched the tournament-record finishing total set by Nick Hardy and Davis Riley in 2023. By the fifth tee Sunday, the Fitzpatricks’ gap was five shots.

The pressure, however, quickly ratcheted up on the back nine.

The brothers found big trouble on the difficult par-4 12th hole when Matt’s drive flared right and settled behind a tree. Alex’s punch shot hit another tree and ended up just 21 feet away on the cart path. Matthew laid up in the fairway and after Alex wedged it to 14 feet, the 2022 U.S. Open champ missed the putt to save bogey. The double proved to be a three-shot swing as Smalley and Springer birdied 13 to close within a shot.

Matt put his brother in trouble again on 13 when he airmailed the green from 105 yards. But Alex took relief from a TV tower and hit a gutsy 30-yard flop shot to 2 feet to save par and the lead.

Alex couldn’t bail Matthew out on the par-3 14th after the elder tugged his tee shot left, leaving a long bunker shot. Alex hit it 24 feet past the hole from the sand and the bogey dropped them into a tie with Smalley and Springer at 30-under. On 15, Matt buried an 8-footer to save par and keep them tied at the top and they got up-and-down from 85 feet to save another par on 16.

While Matthew Fitzpatrick has surged from 85th in the Official World Golf Ranking exactly a year ago to a career-best No. 3 with three victories and a runner-up in the Players Championship this season, Alex has made his own big move upward. Nearly outside the world top 300 and fearing he might lose his card on the European tour late last season, he made a switch in October to Matt’s former swing coach, Mike Walker.

The work paid off with a victory last month in the Indian Open and now a partnership win with his brother on the PGA Tour. While the team victory doesn’t improve his current No. 141 world ranking, he’s trending up toward his career-high 117th with more OWGR points at stake on the PGA Tour.

“You know, it’s just tricky … when you’re not playing well and you feel like things need to change,” Alex said. “Last year it got kind of too close for liking where there was only about three or four events left in the year, so I felt like I needed to do something just to keep my card. Luckily, I made it. It was a good change.

“Mike has done a really good job with my driver and the rest of my game as well to where I feel in control of my driving, and I feel like I hit a lot of fairways now, and that gives me the opportunity to hit a lot of greens. I felt like I’ve put a lot of work in, and happy that it’s starting to show.”

His performance this week left his big brother gushing. “He played brilliant golf both last two days,” said Matt. “His game has really turned a corner these last few months, and I believe in him to continue that trend.”

The PGA Tour will no longer offer Hawaiian views in January (Tracy Wilcox/PGA Tour vis Getty Images)

If you have been following along at all, the news that the PGA Tour is leaving the state of Hawaii should not come as a shock. And yet, there’s been a good bit of hand-wringing over the announcement this week, and a misguided interpretation that the PGA Tour is in tough shape and cutting back to save money.

That is not why this divorce went down.

The tour announced Monday that it would not be returning to the Kapalua Resort on Maui for the season-opening Sentry tournament, formerly known as the Tournament of Champions. It also said it would not be playing the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu.

The reasons have more to do with CEO Brian Rolapp’s desire to contract the schedule and produce a more meaningful year-long competition.

Yes, the cost of staging events in Hawaii is partly to blame. So is making the Sentry into a $20 million signature event when the title sponsor did not originally sign up for that commitment. And the local water dispute in Maui that caused the cancellation of the 2026 event made for another excuse to move on from the tournament at Kapalua’s Plantation course.

In Honolulu, the former Hawaiian Open had been played since 1965. It’s a blow to the history buffs and all who love those great winter views of the islands. There is no denying that.

But Rolapp made clear last month at the Players Championship that the schedule is going to look different, with some changes occurring in 2027 and a bigger transformation a year later. Part of his reasoning is to not compete directly with the NFL playoffs that fill the weekends in early January and dampen golf ratings.

Where and when the tour will begin remains undecided. Rolapp said that he wants to “open big with a marquee event at an iconic venue in the west, among other things, allowing us to finish on network television in primetime on the East Coast.” With a late January start, as he suggested, that could mean venues such as Torrey Pines or PGA West in the Palm Springs area, among several possibilities.

“We are proud to have sponsored The Sentry in Kapalua for eight years,” said Stephanie Smith, Sentry’s chief marketing and brand officer. “We have said from the beginning, we love Maui and Maui is a Sentry community not unlike our hometown of Stevens Point, Wisconsin. We cherish the friends and partnerships we have formed over the past several years. Our commitment to the island runs deep, and we remain committed to being active in the community.”

Sentry has a sponsorship deal in place with the PGA Tour through 2035 and Sports Business Journal reported it could be in line to take over the title sponsorship of the event at Torrey Pines, where Farmers Insurance bowed out as sponsor after this year’s tournament.

Other issues will likely be addressed as well. It’s not a great situation to have the Masters followed by three signature events in four weeks preceding another major championship, the PGA. It makes for a brutal scheduling month and is particularly hard on this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which will have one of the weakest fields of the year.

That can possibly change next year even if there is not a big overhaul to the schedule, which Rolapp laid out.

Rolapp said the tour is looking at roughly 21 to 26 tournaments on a “first track of elevated events” with the best players competing for higher purses. That would include the Players and the major championships as well as any postseason events, which he said he expected to remain at three tournaments.

“To be clear, we will have a second track of PGA Tour tournaments which will ladder up to those elevated events,” Rolapp said.

The 21-26 events would not be in order — there are approximately 32 weeks from late January to early September — meaning the second-tier events could find their way in between the bigger tournaments.

All of that is still to be determined.

But we know now that Hawaii won’t be part of it.

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LIV Golf says it will go on with the show this week in Mexico City (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)

LIV Golf’s shotgun start in Mexico City is set to go this afternoon. But if the reports are true they could be “dead men walking” to their respective tees — assuming they show up for work.

What started as a rumble when Ryan French, the journalist behind Monday Q Info, began tweeting about a “bombshell” annoucement from the Saudi-backed league has swelled into a full-blown tsunami of reports that the deep-pocketed Public Investment Fund might be pulling its funding of the breakaway league.

It is by no means business as usual at LIV despite the show presumably going on in Mexico City this week.

LIV staffers are in the dark about the league’s future after an unconfirmed reports started circulating Tuesday about the league’s possible demise.

None of the league’s executives were in Mexico City on Tuesday and The Telegraph’s (London) Jamie Corrigan reported that they were summoned to New York for a meeting with PIF representatives, although the reason for the meeting was not announced.

The Financial Times reported Wednesday that the PIF was on the verge of cutting its support for the league. While the Wall Street Journal reported the the league faces “imminent closure” if the PIF pulls out.

In a release on Wednesday, PIF’s board of directors announced that due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East it approved a new five-year investment strategy that will refocus its priorities domestically. LIV was not mentioned in the release.

ESPN reported that LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil told staff in an email Wednesday that its season will go on “as planned, uninterrupted and at full throttle.”

Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard reported that O’Neil flew to Mexico City Wednesday and communicated to players and personnel that the league is “fully funded through the rest of the year” and said reports of its imminent shutdown are “false.” Later Wednesday, however, the Golf Channel also reported that some LIV golfers are threatening to not play in today’s first round in Mexico City after not being paid for their first-quarter performances.

LIV officials are not commenting publicly. The on-site media center in Mexico City was closed days ahead of the tournament due to reported power outage and some player interviews were cancelled. Sports Illustrated reported the players have not been given any information and that Wednesday’s pro-am continued as scheduled.

Sergio Garcia and his Fireballs team did have a pre-tournament press conference Wednesday.

“We have not heard anything,” Garcia said. “That is not what [LIV Golf chairman] Yasir [Al-Rumayyan] told us at the beginning of the year, that he is behind us, that they have a project of many years.”

LIV Golf executives, including CEO Scott O’Neil, and several communications team members were in Augusta last week for the Masters, which had 10 players in the field including Tyrrell Hatton, who tied for third.

The PIF has invested and spent billions of dollars since its 2022 launch. A year later, the PIF and the PGA Tour struck a “framework agreement” to drop litigation and negotiate a way to reunite golf. Nearly three years later, nothing has happened.

The Mexico City tournament is the sixth of LIV’s 14-event schedule, which is schedule to play its first domestic event in Virginia the week prior to the PGA Championship.

LIV events in Australia and the recent debut in South Africa enjoyed immense success, though it has struggled to gain any traction with viewers in the U.S. market. It’s last major signing was Jon Rahm in 2024.

Stay tuned. This turbulance isn’t going away soon.

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Rory McIlroy needs less drama to win back-to-back Masters (Logan Whitton/ANGC)

AUGUSTA, Ga. — It’s took 17 years or Rory McIlroy to finally win a green jacket. It took only 12 months to snag another one.

McIlroy threw away a six-shot lead Saturday and fell two behind on the front nine Sunday to two players (Cameron Young and Justin Rose) before coming back with birdies at 12 and 13 and winning at Augusta National for the second straight year, joining Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Tiger Woods (2001-02) as the only players to repeat as Masters champions.

A year ago, his roller-coaster playoff victory over Rose made McIlroy only the sixth player with the career Grand Slam with Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Nicklaus, Gary Player and Woods. His second win put added him to another exclusive fraternity.

“I thought it was so difficult to win last year because of trying to win the Masters and the Grand Slam, and then this year I realized it’s just really difficult to win the Masters,” McIlroy said after holding on for a one-shot victory over world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. “Just incredible.”

McIlroy was nursing a two-shot lead when his wedge barely cleared the false front of the par-5 15th hole. Then he air-mailed the par-3 16th and hit a parbolic putt from behind the green to six inches away save another par. He repeated that trick with a chip close from the right side of the 17th green.

The two-shot lead proved important as his drive on 18 went nearly to the 10th fairway and he settled for a tap-in closing bogey from the front bunker to nip Scheffler.

“I’d say walking off the 18th tee not knowing where my ball was, that was the moment of greatest stress,” McIlroy said.

“It felt pretty similar to last year. I made a double early on the first hole last year. I made a double on 4 this year. Then I played flawless golf after that. I made four birdies and no bogeys going to the last tee knowing that I had a two-shot lead. It’s nice to have that two-shot cushion instead of the one like I had last year.”

The result was pretty much how McIlroy drew it up in his mind even if the details varied.

“My parting message last year was I can’t wait to come back and put the jacket on myself,” McIlroy said at the trophy presentation. “I wasn’t quite correct.”

For the third time, it was left to the Augusta National chairman — Hord Hardin for Faldo, Hootie Johnson for Woods, Fred Ridley for McIlroy — to do the honors. “It still fits,” McIlroy said.

Nicklaus is the only one to give himself the jacket at the suggestion of Masters co-founder Bobby Jones.

McIlroy now has six majors, tied with Faldo, Lee Trevino and Phil Mickelson. And that sense of freedom he brought back to Augusta National as a champion carried him to the finish line.

“I just can’t believe I waited 17 years to get one green jacket, and I get two in a row,” he said in the Butler Cabin. “I think all of my perseverance at this golf tournament over the years has really started to pay off. It was a tough weekend. I did the bulk of my work on Thursday and Friday. But just so, so happy to hang in there and get the job done.”

McIlroy seized control for good with a critical shot over Rae’s Creek to 7 feet for birdie on the par-3 12th. Then he blasted a 350-yard drive on the par-5 13th — he had been in the trees the previous three rounds — that set up another birdie to move three shots ahead at that point.

Scheffler put himself in position to break the Masters record with the largest 36-hole comeback in history. He was 12 strokes behind going into the weekend but was just two shots behind as he approached the turn. After 11 straight pars from 4 to 14, he birdied 15 and 16 to move ahead of a pack at 10-under.

Scheffler ultimately settled for his third runner-up finish in a major to go along with four titles. His 65-68 weekend made him the first player since 1942 to go bogey-free on the weekend at Augusta.

“I put up a good fight in order to give myself a chance,” Scheffler said.

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Justin Rose laments late missed chance on 16 on Sunday (Kieran Cleeves/ANGC)

Justin rose and fell again in Masters

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The tournament was all but over for him at this point, a final walk up the hill at the 18th hole to the sound of loud, boisterous applause greeting him as he headed for the green and a completion of his 21st Masters appearance.

Like the others, Justin Rose was not going to win this time. Yet another close call and a bittersweet ending.

“It’s more sympathy than anything,” Rose noted of the reception he received. “It was nice. Felt like the crowd was amazing to me all week long. They pulled for me all week long. I felt their encouragement and support. At the end it kind of goes a little flat. … But it was still nonetheless very beautiful.

“But, yeah, another little stinger.”

No doubt.

Last year, Rose, 45, made 10 birdies in a final-round 66 to get into a playoff with Rory McIlory, where he fell in sudden-death to a birdie. He became one of nine players to finish runner-up at least three times in Masters history (2015, ’17 and ’25).

On Sunday, Rose surged into the lead with a five-birdie first nine, had a two-shot advantage through 10 holes and was three clear of eventual winner McIlroy.

Amen Corner turned into his demise.

The holes that are furthest from the clubhouse and often such a pivotal point in any Masters round proved difficult for Rose. He played the 11th, 12th and 13th holes in 2-over par while McIlroy played them in 2-under.

That difference proved pivotal when Rose ended up two shots back of McIlroy and in a four-way tie for third with Tyrrell Hatton, Russell Henley and Cam Young. Scottie Scheffler finished second.

“Just a chance that got away, obviously,” said Rose, who won the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. “I was by no means kind of free and clear and was nowhere kind of close to having the job done, but I was right in position. You know, Amen Corner, without really hitting a bad shot but just not a good shot — not committed enough on maybe 11 shot specifically — it was kind of like two saves.”

Rose missed the green at the par-4 11th to the right and then left his pitch 15 feet short, missing the par putt.

At the par-3 12th, Rose’s tee shot went just over the back left of the green, 35 feet away. But his heavy pitch shot from there came up well short and he again bogeyed.

And when he went for the green at the par-5 13th, hitting a beautiful approach over the flagstick, he had 30 feet for eagle. But his attempt run 8 feet past. He missed the birdie comebacker, a killer three-putt that left him looking up at McIlroy.

“I was really in control,” Rose said. “First 10 holes I felt like I was. And the mentality was to run through the finish line not just try and get it done. I was playing great, but just momentum shifted for me around the Amen Corner.”

The 13th hole was an opportunity to get back into the game, especially after a strong tee shot.

“Kind of hit the premium shot in there, and thought I was going to have a great eagle chance,” Rose said. “I talked myself into having too much of a good eagle look that. That green is a bit of a funny one. I feel like I was quite straight down the line and maybe got too — obviously clearly too aggressive with it. Just maybe off the back of two bogeys that was the one moment where four there really settles things down and gets me right back in it.

“It was kind of like a continuation of a lot momentum I felt. So, yeah, that three-putt … that was untimely for sure.”

Rose got a birdie putt to drop at the 15th to get back to 11-under par and with some hope, but a bogey at the 17th when he missed a short par putt crushed his chances.

“I feel like if there was anyone that is deserving of a green jacket this probably would be Rosey,” said fellow Englishman and Ryder Cup teammate Hatton, whose 66 pushed him into a tie for third. “As it stands right now, it looks like he’s going to come up just a hair short again. But, again, incredible player and I imagine one day he’ll slip on a green jacket.”

For that to happen, Rose will have to equal Jack Nicklaus at age 46 as the oldest Masters champion.

He was attempting to become just the fifth player to win a major after losing it the year prior in a playoff. John McDermott (1911 U.S. Open), Bobby Jones (1926 and 1929 U.S. Opens), Gay Brewer (1967 Masters) and Jack Nicklaus (1972 U.S. Open) were the others.

Rose has played nicely over the past few years, contending at the 2024 British Open won by Xander Schauffele and winning three times in the past three years, including this year’s Farmers Insurance Open. He’s also been a strong performer for Europe in the Ryder Cup.

But these major opportunities are so rare.

As tough as last year was in losing to McIlroy in a playoff, this one was equally if not more difficult.

“I feel like with a sudden-death loss you kind of know you got to the house,” Rose said. “You’ve done everything it took to win. Then it comes down to flick of a coin at times.

“Whereas today I felt like, there was an opportunity to do better, so obviously that is frustrating for sure.”

Abe Mitchell held 6-stroke lead halfway through 1920 Open at Deal (Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

While we all process what happened on Saturday at Augusta National before the co-leaders tee off in the final round of the 90th Masters, it seems like a good time to become acquainted with Abe Mitchell.

There is little reason for even the most avid modern golf fan to know of Mitchell, who is often first described as “the illegitimate son of Mary Mitchell” born in East Grinstead, England in 1887 and, according to five-time Open champion J.H. Taylor, was the original “greatest player to never win a major.”

We all, however, are familiar with his likeness, as Mitchell is immortalized atop the Ryder Cup.

You see, Mitchell was supposed to serve as the player-captain in the inaugural Ryder Cup matches in 1927 at Worcester Country Club in Massachusetts, but the personal golf instructor of Samuel Ryder was unable to make the trans-Atlantic journey due to either a bout of appendicitis or anxiety he was known to suffer from after serving on the front line in World War I.

Mitchell did play in three subsequent Ryder Cups (1929, ’31 and ’33), helping the team from Great Britain actually defeat the U.S. team twice on home soil at Moortown in Leeds and Southport & Ainsdale.

As thanks for teaching him the game in St. Albans north of London, Samuel Ryder had Mitchell’s figure placed atop the 17-inch cup he donated to the competition that bears his name. “I owe golf a great deal,” Mitchell said. “What you have done, putting me on top of the cup, is more distinction than I could ever earn.”

Figure atop the Ryder Cup is a likeness of Abe Mitchell (Wikipedia photo)

While Mitchell finished runner-up in the 1912 British Amateur, 17th in the 1922 U.S. Open and fourth three times in the Open Championship, there is one other distinction that is the reason for writing this remembrance today.

Mitchell is the only player in the history of the game to blow a six-stroke or better lead after 36 holes in a major championship. A year after joining golf’s most exclusive fraternity as a career grand slam winner, this is one historical accomplishment Rory McIlroy would not like to pull off.

McIlroy soared to a record six-shot lead on Friday at the midpoint of the 90th Masters. That tied him with himself (among others) for the third largest 36-hole lead in major history, behind only Henry Cotton’s nine-shot gap in the 1934 British Open at Royal St. George’s and Brooks Koepka’s seven-shot margin in the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black. Also with six-stroke 36-hole leads were Martin Kaymer in the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst, McIlroy in the 2011 U.S. Open at Congressional, Tiger Woods in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and Mitchell in the 1920 Open at Royal Cinque Ports (Deal).

Everyone before — except Mitchell — went on to victory.

Deal was supposed the host the 1915 Open Championship, but the outbreak of the Great War forced it to be cancelled. So when the British Open resumed in 1920, it went back to Royal Cinque Ports.

Mitchell, an amateur, led all qualifiers as medalist to get into the field of 74 players. Rounds of 74 and 73 saw Mitchell open a six-shot lead over Jim Barnes and Sandy Herd.

Mitchell’s third round, however, was disastrous. He started with three bogeys, made a seven at the fifth hole and finished with an 84 to fall into a tie for fourth with George Duncan two shots behind 54-hole leader Len Holland. Duncan, who’d started with a pair of 80s, shot 72 in the final round to win the claret jug and Mitchell settled for fourth.

Now Mitchell has a chance to be remembered in the same context as McIlroy, whose six-shot lead evaporated on the lowest scoring third-round Saturday in Masters history.

Rory McIlroy scratches his head after 6-shot lead dissolved in a long third round at Masters (Leckie Wong/ANGC)

While guys like Cam Young and Scottie Scheffler were posting 65s and the scoring average (70.63) dipped below 71 strokes for only the third time in Masters history, McIlroy shot 73 and ended the day tied with Young for the lead at 11-under. Now it’s a horse race on Sunday with 11 players within five shots of the lead.

A potential date with infamy awaits McIlroy at Augusta late Sunday. Either he joins another exclusive fraternity with Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods as the only players to ever win back-to-back green jackets, or his joins Abe Mitchell as the only players to ever lose a six-shot 36-hole lead in a major championship.

If Rory doesn’t turn his fortunes back around, he will never be able to look at the figure on top of the Ryder Cup quite the same way.

Tyrrell Hatton talks to his hat after three-putting the 18th on Friday (Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy (12-under) ran away from an all-star chasing pack — Patrick Reed (6-under), Sam Burns (6-under), Tommy Fleetwood (5-under), Justin Rose (5-under) and Shane Lowry (5-under) — late Friday in his quest to go wire-to-wire and become the fourth player to repeat as Masters champion.

McIlroy opened a record six-stroke lead after 36 holes. He birdied six of the last seven — including the final four consecutive — in a second-round 65 on Friday that left him at 12-under par for the tournament. He’s in position to not only join Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Tiger Woods (2001-02) as the only repeat champions but challenge a couple of huge Masters records in the process — Tiger’s 12-stroke margin in 1997 and Dustin Johnson’s 20-under scoring total in 2020.

“Look, I’ve built up a nice cushion at this point,” McIlroy said. “I guess my mindset is just trying to keep playing well and keeping my foot on the gas.”

While McIlroy rolls, let’s take a moment at the midpoint of the Augusta National invitation tournament to appreciate one of golf’s true characters ensconced among the crowd tied for seventh at 4-under par who had the round of the tournament Friday until Rory came roaring home.

Tyrrell Glen Hatton.

The English Hatton kept his cool on Friday, which on his best days is typically a dicey proposition. The man known for his bemusingly ammusing volcanic eruptions, self-deprecating immolations and genuine disgust for his various executions while playing an impossible game was quite nearly stoic during an oh-so-close to flawless second-round at Augusta National.

There wasn’t much reason to get upset on Friday, where Hatton hit all 18 greens in regulation and shot a 6-under-par 66 to move into contention through two rounds at the Masters. Only two other players in the last 30 years have hit every green in the Masters (Jim Furyk in 2009 and Kevin Na in 2020).

But even that came with a fitting bit of Hatton angst after a three-putt bogey at the last hole. Already peaved that his approach stayed atop the upper tier and left him an impossibly bending downhill 30-footer, when his comebacker for par spun out of the hole it left him in a relatively mild (by his standards) state of annoyance as he pointed and barked at the various slopes and breaks that contributed to his finishing injustice.

“Today was a great day,” said Hatton, who finished 36 holes at 140, 4-under par, after shooting an opening-round 74. “Actually walking up 18 I was pretty confident that I couldn’t mess it up enough that I wouldn’t shoot my best score here.

“I mean, naturally I tried with a three-putt, so that was disappointing, to say the least. But, yeah, I mean, I certainly would have taken 6-under before I went out.”

Hatton’s previous best was a 68 during the final round in 2021 at a place that has generally frustrated him. He tied for ninth in 2024 and tied for 14th last year but he has called the course “unfair at times” and said that good shots often are not rewarded.

This came a day after Hatton’s equanimity was challenged when his approach shot to the seventh green hit the flagstick and came back off the green.

“I was absolutely headless on seven yesterday, because I had gone from essentially having a very good birdie opportunity to not only has it gone back in the bunker at speed, it’s gone onto the flat, and then it’s semi-buried itself,” Hatton said. “I was, like, sick, I’ve got no chance. Not good.

“I still had, what, 11 holes to go, so you move onto the next hole. As headless as I would be, I still go and try my best. That’s all you can ever do. And ended up being a not too bad day. I didn’t think 2-over was that bad yesterday afternoon.”

The 34-year-old Hatton — who plays on Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII on LIV Golf and tied for third in the Adelaide event earlier this year — was invited to the Masters based on a top-four finish last year at the U.S. Open. He is also among the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, coming in at No. 31 this week.

Last year, he won the Dubai Desert Classic on the DP World Tour, where he also plays. And he went 3-0-1 in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory last September at Bethpage Black.

But Hatton’s reputation has largely been built around his demonstrably combustible nature and his utter disdain for bad shots and poor results. Sometimes it can come across poorly, and he’s been criticized for it at times.

“I don’t know if I’m popular or not,” he said. “I think there’s many other players that are far more popular than me, and that’s fine. People, I guess, will either like how I am on the golf course or they won’t. I won’t lose sleep over it.

“But maybe they see themselves in me and how they play golf at the weekend and how they react, but that’s for them to judge, I guess where.”

Very few, if any, can play the way Hatton played Friday at the Masters on a firm and fiery golf course. He shot the round of the tournament so far on a course that seems to be getting more difficult by the minute.

He acknowledged that the greens might have been a tad slower when he played early in the day, something that helped him.

“I gave myself lots of opportunities,” he said. “I would have liked to have seen more putts go in. I don’t feel like I actually holed that many putts certainly outside sort of seven, eight feet.

“Hopefully I can do a bit better on that front over the weekend, but overall it was a good day.”

As for the weekend … well, that is where Hatton acknowledges his patience might become severly tested. The conditions are not expected to get any easier, especially as he will be in one of the later groups, when the course dries out even more and the greens become firmer.

“I think the greens are just going to get firmer and faster, which is quite a scary prospect, because I feel like the 15th green can’t really get much firmer than what it is,” he said. “So it’s going to be tough. There’s always going to be someone that deals with it very well, and they’ll be putting on a green jacket on Sunday.

“I’ll just try and do the best I can and see if I get a bit of luck for a change.”

Hatton has had trouble getting out of his own way in all of the major championships, to be fair. It tests the patience of a man who has little. And he needs it.

As he so eloquently put it about his seven-birdie, one-bogey round: “For me it felt like a bit of a surprise I actually got it to 7 under around this golf course with how I’ve previously struggled.

“I mean, I was obviously enjoying it. It was nice to be at that score and not hacking it round and over par like I generally do around here. I guess it was nice for a change.”

Rory McIlroy picks up where he left off last year atop Masters leaderboard (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

Quite frankly, it’s a helluva leaderboard after one eventful round at the Masters.

Defending champion Rory McIlroy shares the lead at 5-under 67 despite hitting only five fairways all day. There’s something to be said for this playing carefree theory.

Talented if not sexy American Sam Burns is right up there with Rory.

“I was nervous, I was anxious just like I always am on that first tee,” McIlroy said. “It’s the first round of major season, the first round of the 16 most important rounds of the year. Yeah, I’m thankful that I felt the same as I always have. I think it would be worrisome if I didn’t feel that way because it definitely still means something to me.

“But I would say that I didn’t hit the ball very well the first seven holes, and sometimes here that would lead me to get tentative and a little guidy, and I kept swinging, just trusting that I’m going to find it eventually. So maybe that was a little bit different.”

The pack in third at 3-under includes past Masters champion Patrick Reed and former PGA champion Jason Day along with Kurt Kitayama.

The heavyweight foursome at 2-under are all major champs — world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, two-time major winner Xander Schauffele, two-time Masters playoff runner-up Justin Rose and former Open champion Shane Lowry.

Lurking among a crowd in red figures at 1-under are fan favorites Tommy Fleetwood and Gary Woodland. Eight major winners are among the 16 tied at even par, including past Masters winners Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Hideki Matsyama.

Geezers José María Olazábal and Freddie Couple were each 2-under on the back before the perilous 15th hole derailed them with a double and quad, respectively. No. 15 (Firethorn) was merciless on Thursday, torching dreams of multiple players including Robert MacIntyre, who collected one of four quads there and likely earned a talking-to by flipping his middle finger at the pond.

LIV golfers had a nightmarish start, with only past champion Garcia managing to get home in even par. Popular favorites Bryson DeChambeau (76) and Jon Rahm (78) need a special effort Friday to avoid early exits. Only Dustin Johnson (73) among the rest of the LIV team even beat 60-year-old short hitter Olazábal (74), and none of them did better than recent defectors Reed (69) and Brooks Koepka (72).

“It’s a hard golf course,” said Rahm. “Some of the players might have been able to manage a respectable round, but when you have no feel with the swing whatsoever, it’s just not an easy one. What I manage? Hopefully get some physio, get some dinner, get something positive going in that sense. Tomorrow is a new day.

“It’s going to be a very much more uphill battle right now, but I’m going to have to come out tomorrow and most likely post something in the 60s to have a chance to make the cut and give myself a chance on the weekend.”

Day 2 should be fun.

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Stray Shots: Traditions unlike any other

By Peter Kaufman

1. Hello, friends: Jim Nantz has been announcing at the Masters since 1986 — this is his 41st year at Augusta (and the 90th Masters is this year). His inaugural appearance, of course, was Jack Nicklaus’ most famous victory.

Nantz has been the anchor of the CBS telecast since 1989. He intends to continue his Masters run for another 10 years until the 100th Masters in 2026. Lucky us.

His celebrated career has included Super Bowls and March Madness, but it’s for his Masters coverage that most of us revere him. His silky delivery of “the towering Georgia pines” and his smooth demeanor means the arrival of “spring” just as much as the tournament itself does. It’s impossible to find anyone with a cross word to say about Nantz, as well.

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Adam Scott drives on the 18th hole during another perfect practice day (Kohjiro Kinno/Augusta National)

AUGUSTA, Ga. — If the weather forecast is right, this will be the best Masters week in 15 years.

For the first time since 2011, there is no precipitation in the forecast for the entirety of the Masters week. It’s difficult not to be excited for what is in store over the coming days at Augusta National for the 90th playing of the Masters Tournament.

With conditions likely to be the driest in recent memory, it means the potential for the firm, fast test that tournament organizers of all the major championships dream about being able to produce.

That’s what typically separates the best from the rest, with greens only holding well-struck shots and fairways that let errant drives run toward trouble. New Masters competition committee chairman Geoff Yang with have a perfect palette to set the course upon.

“It’s just looking so good,” said Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters champion making his 25th appearance. “It’s the way I like to see it. It’s getting firmer and likely getting faster as well. And the weather looks perfect. So it’s going to be play well and have a good score kind of stuff this week, and I think there’s going to be a lot of excitement.”

The course was already firm last Saturday for the playing of the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, and there was only the slightest precipitation late on Sunday since. There is no rain in the forecast through the tournament days.

The temperature cooled off into the 40s the last two nights and reached only into the mid-60s on Wednesday, but it will get progressively warmer starting with Thursday’s first round, with temperatures getting into the 80s on Saturday and Sunday. There is potential for light wind each day which makes for more indecision.

Because of the firmness of the course, some players have been re-thinking their equipment.

“I’m using a 7-wood this week because might need it on (hole No.) 4 and also the par-5s,” said Keegan Bradley. “The 3-iron is just not going to be high enough (in the air) so (with a 7-wood) I can hit that much higher.”

“This course tests you every single hole,” said 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia. “When it’s windy the wind switches and it’s really, really tricky. It’s testing you every single hole.”

Said Alex Noren: “The most fun thing about it is you get some roll on the fairways. Like on (hole No.) 2, for example, you can kind of use the fairway. Also fun hitting into greens. It’s always a lot of thinking here, but it’s even more when it’s dry. And it’s going to be interesting.”

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Fred Ridley wanting to get something off his chest about equipment regulation (Joe Toth/Augusta National)

Masters strongly supports ball rollback

Augusta National Golf Club and Masters chairman Fred Ridley made his strongest statements yet in support of the governing bodies’ attempts to reign in the distance modern players with modern equipment are hitting the golf ball.

Are the PGA Tour and PGA of America listening?

Ridley — a former U.S. Amateur champion, past president of the USGA and once chairman of the Masters competition committee — made it emphatically clear where he (and thus Augusta National and the Masters) stands when it comes to the announced rollback of the golf ball led by the USGA and R&A. He reserved the bulk of his scripted comments during his annual pre-tournament press conference about the issue.

“Finally, I’ve commented for the past several years on the subject of distance,” Ridley said Wednesday. “We have been consistent in our support of the governing bodies in their effort to regulate the distance elite players are hitting the golf ball. Recognizing that the implementation of the overall distance standard test for golf balls may be delayed to 2030, I want to reemphasize that support and affirm our position as the USGA and R&A represent their collective obligation as custodians of the game.

“I also want to be clear that our position is grounded on much more than protecting the Augusta National golf course. We will continue to make modifications as are necessary to react to driving distances that in some cases exceed 350 yards. Unfortunately, many courses, including some iconic venues, do not have that option.

“Until recent years golf has been a game of imagination, creativity and variety. The game has become much more one-dimensional. As players drive the ball prodigious distances and routinely hit short irons into par-4s and even some par-5s, this issue goes beyond competitive impacts. Increased course lengths result in more time, more cost and more environmental concerns.

“The data that has been shared with all stakeholders makes one thing clear: the impact to the recreational game will be immaterial. All of us in this room and millions of weekend golfers around the world will be hard-pressed to notice the effects of this change, and I do not believe our enjoyment of the game will be affected.

“As for professional golf, we hold firm in our belief that the greats of the game are defined not merely by how far they hit the ball, but their extraordinary skill in all aspects of the game. Their ability to shape shots, to take on risk and to execute under pressure is at the heart of championship golf and is best displayed through a full spectrum of shot-making opportunities.

“Regulation of the golf ball is not an attempt to turn back time or stifle progress. It is an effort to preserve the essence of what makes golf the great game that it is.”

In case any of the complainers among recreational golfers didn’t hear that, he called the ball rollback “immaterial” and said it will go unnoticed by the average hack. The focus should be on trying to contain the elite golfers who keep pushing the limits of technology to the detriment of historic venues.

He would also like the PGA Tour and PGA of America — the two most prominent entities to express skepticism and/or outright disdain for the ball regulations proposed by the governing bodies — to understand where the Masters stands.

If the PGAs choose not to abide by the rules of golf when the ball changes go into effect in 2030, then those players will almost certainly be playing a different golf ball when they show up for three of the four major championships on the calendar.

Ridley would prefer it not come to that.

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