Give Vidanta Vallarta this: the course is providing fireworks. The site of this week’s Mexico Open has surrendered two early aces in Round 1 in its PGA Tour debut. The first came from the very first group of the day thanks to Kiradech Aphibarnrat. The man affectionately known as “Barn Rat” was three over through
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9:48 PM ET Associated Press PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. — Minjee Lee shot an 8-under 63 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead over top-ranked Jin Young Ko after the first round of the Palos Verdes Championship. Coming off a third-place tie Sunday in the LA Open at Whilshire Country Club, Lee had a bogey-free
To no one’s surprise, Jon Rahm was made an overwhelming favorite by sportsbooks to win this week’s Mexico Open at Vidanta. At around 4-to-1 odds depending on where you looked, the 27-year-old Spaniard was given about as much respect as we’ve seen any player get since Tiger Woods was in his prime. And yet, after
4:11 PM ET Associated Press Oliver Bekker shot a 6-under 66 to take a share of the first-round lead at the Catalunya Championship on Thursday. Seeking his first European tour win, the South African made eight birdies and a double bogey at the Stadium Course to finish tied with Jeff Winther and Darren Fichardt. “Pretty
Tour pros battling through airlines losing their golf clubs is nothing new. Unfortunately, it’s an unavoidable part of being a professional golfer. But there’s one item that might be even more crucial to a player’s success if he/she doesn’t have great eyesight: contact lenses. Rob Hudson was without either as he started an important week
Back in January, while enjoying some early season success, Kevin Na was up to his usual Kevin Na tricks, which is to say he was walking in putts left and right. He was also taking his time before actually striking the putts, in addition to all his other shots, as Na is also known to
Stanford, Oregon, South Carolina, Wake Forest, San Jose State and Oklahoma State each earned No. 1 seeds as the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Committee announced its selection of 72 teams and 36 individuals to participate in the 2022 NCAA Women’s Regionals, May 9-11. Twelve SEC schools earned spots into the Regional fields, the most
Like most smart men, Justin Thomas is deferring to fiancée Jillian Wisniewski when it comes to planning their upcoming wedding. There is one thing, however, that’s non-negotiable for the 14-time PGA Tour winner. “I have very few things that we ‘had’ to have, but my No. 1 was definitely no phones,” Thomas said on the
4:20 PM ET Jeremy WillisESPN.com Ah, a spring wedding. PGA Tour star Dustin Johnson married model-actress Paulina Gretzky over the weekend at a resort in the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. The 33-year-old Gretzky, who is the daughter of hockey great Wayne Gretzky and actress Janet Jones, and Johnson have been engaged since 2013. Johnson,
World No. 3 Jon Rahm will lead the field at this week’s Mexico Open at Vidanta, a new event added to the 2021-22 PGA Tour schedule and the third ever tour event to be played in Mexico. This will be Rahm’s first start since the Masters, and he’ll be the highest-ranked player showing up to
3:03 PM ET Associated Press LA PINEDA, Spain — Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal shot 8-under 62 on Sunday to win the ISPS Handa Championship for his seventh European tour title — and first on home soil. Larrazabal made nine birdies and a bogey at the Lakes Course to secure a one-shot victory over countryman Adrian Otaegui
The Mexico Open at Vidanta will feature a wide array of talent from World No. 3 Jon Rahm to local favorites like WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational winner Abraham Ancer. The Greg Norman-designed Vidanta Vallarta course hosts this first-year event through 2024 and has already been extended 250 yards from its original design to get ready
12:38 PM ET Associated Press When he isn’t busy trying to get the Golden State Warriors back to the NBA Finals, Stephen Curry is doing his part to create golf opportunities for minorities. His latest venture is expanding his “Underrated” brand into golf by launching a series of five tournaments in conjunction with the American
11:31 AM ET Associated Press ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — The 150th edition of The Open is expected to attract a record-breaking crowd of 290,000 when St. Andrews hosts in July, organizers said Tuesday. The R&A received more than 1.3 million ticket applications, leading to the highest-ever number of general admission tickets being issued to fans
There was a time when Cobbs Creek Golf Course was the showcase of Philadelphia’s collection of municipal courses and worthy of national attention. That time might be returning because the course, presently closed, is being gently reclaimed by Hanse Design, the hottest golf-architecture firm in the game, and will be operated under a business model
Joe Highsmith is a college senior not unlike so many other college seniors this time of year, uncertainty their bane. What’s next? The question is a weighty one, certain to induce sleepless nights, or at least handwringing, in Highsmith’s de facto major. He is studying to be a professional golfer and good entry-level jobs are
12:13 AM ET Tory BarronESPN Editor Close Tory Barron is a Bristol-based writer and editor for ESPN.com. After retiring from playing lacrosse at UConn, the DC native decided to try her hand at writing about people playing sports. Who needs 3s when you can score a 4.0? In the fall of 2021, 16-year NBA veteran
6:33 PM ET Phil Mickelson has registered to play in next month’s PGA Championship and the U.S. Open in June, and his agents have requested a release from the PGA Tour to allow the six-time major champion to play in the first event of the Saudi Arabian-financed LIV Golf Invitational Series in London in June.
Phil Mickelson, out of the public eye for more than two months in the wake of inflammatory comments about the upstart Saudi-backed golf league, has filed for a release from the PGA Tour to play in the inaugural LIV Golf Invitational event, according to a statement from his longtime agent Steve Loy on Monday. In
For the fifth time in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship’s seven-year history, a pair of juniors walked off with the title. But it wasn’t the two teenagers most expected. Kaitlyn Schroeder and Bailey Shoemaker, a pair of 17-year-olds high school juniors, had cruised through their first four matches at Grand Reserve Golf Club in
6:49 PM ET Associated Press AVONDALE, La. — Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele held off Sam Burns and Billy Horschel by two strokes Sunday in a record-setting, wire-to-wire victory in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Cantlay and Schauffele closed with an even-par-72 in the alternate-shot final round to finish at 29-under 259 at TPC
Nasa Hataoka took charge and didn’t leave room for anyone to make a run at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles. She started the final round of the DIO Implant LA Open with a four-shot lead over Hannah Green. It was the eighth time the 23-year-old from Japan had held the 54-hole lead in an
10:14 PM ET Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Nasa Hataoka ran away with the DIO Implant LA Open on Sunday at Wilshire Country Club to open the LPGA Tour’s two-week run in the Los Angeles area. Four strokes ahead entering the round after Jin Young Ko’s late meltdown Saturday, Hataoka closed with a 4-under 67
5:31 PM ET Associated Press IRVING, Texas — Scott Parel two-putted for birdie on the par-5 18th hole for a 6-under 65, and then won the inaugural ClubCorp Classic on Sunday with a par on the same hole in a playoff for his second PGA Tour Champions title. Parel won a three-man playoff at Las
The inaugural ClubCorp Classic, boiled down, was a 12-hole tournament, the four par 5s at Las Colinas Country Club in Irving, Texas, proving the difference. Scott Parel played them in 5-under on Sunday, 12-under over three rounds, and then defeated Steven Alker and Gene Sauers with a par on the first playoff hole. The victory
8:23 PM ET Associated Press IRVING, Texas — Steven Alker moved into position for his second straight PGA Tour Champions victory on Saturday, shooting a 5-under 66 in windy conditions to take a 2-stroke lead in the ClubCorp Classic. The winner three weeks ago in the Rapiscan Systems Classic in Mississippi, Alker played the four
Greg Norman has never seen a publicity stunt that didn’t catch his eye. Still, in many ways his latest was among the most outrageous. Late last week Norman, 67, spoke with News Corp. in Australia about making a comeback to competitive golf after a 13-year absence, with an interest in participating in the Open Championship
There are no World Ranking points up for grabs this week in the Zurich Classic, and the volatility of the non-stroke-play format always leads to an eclectic leaderboard. Funny, then, that two of the best teams in the field occupy the top of the leaderboard with 18 holes to play. Scottie Scheffler’s the highest-ranked player
10:27 PM ET Associated Press LOS ANGELES — Nasa Hataoka took advantage of Jin Young Ko‘s late meltdown Saturday to take a four-stroke lead into the final round of the DIO Implant LA Open. Tied for the lead with Hataoka after a birdie on the par-5 15th, the top-ranked Ko bogeyed the par-4 16th and
It was an absolutely horrible break that would have had any of us griping about it for eternity. What the hell is a dead, hollow, three-foot high tree stump doing in the playing area of a golf course? Branden Grace had every reason to be ask that question on Saturday in the Zurich Classic of