8:27 AM ET PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Reigning Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama withdrew from the Players Championship on Thursday because of a lingering back injury, the PGA Tour announced. Matsuyama will be replaced in the field by Patrick Rodgers. Matsuyama, the No. 11-ranked player in the world, already has two victories this season, at
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(Scroll down for the latest updates from TPC Sawgrass) It surely will still be entertaining, perhaps in a different way than we’re used to. On Saturday, when it’s likely that competitors will be finishing their second rounds, there are sustained winds of 15-22 mph forecasted, with gusts up to 41 mph. It’s very common for
2:52 AM ET Associated Press CHONBURI, Thailand — Japan’s Nasa Hataoka birdied four of her final five holes to take a share of the first-round lead with a 9-under 63 at the Honda LPGA Thailand on Thursday. Hataoka was level with Germany’s Esther Henseleit, who birded three of her final four holes, and Australia’s Su
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.—For all the praise lavished on Tiger Woods, spoken and written, tweeted and typed, Wednesday evening marked a first: a gathering dedicated solely to appreciating his immeasurable impact on golf. Not just his impact on Stanford, or Nike, or the PGA Tour, but the entirety of the sport he conquered. There was
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — “We’re having a discussion right now with our Players Advisory Council on a number of issues, one of which is disclosures and transparency,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said at the Players Championship. If you somehow missed that admission from the commissioner, don’t feel bad. He said it five years
Mar 8, 2022 Associated Press PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tiger Woods introduced his son to the spotlight at the PNC Championship the past two years. Now it’s his daughter’s turn. Woods has chosen Sam, 14, to introduce him Wednesday night when he and three others are inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Recent Walker Cup tradition has been that the U.S. captain holds the job for two successive matches (the second one unofficial until after the first Cup has been completed). That would mean that the USGA’s choice to follow 2019 and 2021 winning captain Nathaniel Crosby and lead the Americans in 2023 and 2025 would do
PONTE VEDRA BEACH—Saying Cameron Young has “burst onto the scene” in his rookie season on the PGA Tour would be willfully ignoring everything Cameron Young accomplished in golf prior to 2022. He’s won at every level, dominating the Metropolitan Section as a junior and putting together a strong college campaign at Wake Forest University. He
7:23 AM ET The PGA Tour heads to its marquee event this week with The Players at TPC Sawgrass. Unofficially labeled “golf’s fifth major,” The Players doesn’t just boast prestige — but a huge payday. This year, the purse is up $20 million. The winner will be cashing in a $3.6 million check, the largest
6:45 AM ET ESPN Betting Insiders The 2022 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, tees off Thursday with one of the best fields of the year. The tournament will include almost all of the top 50 players in the world, including No. 1 Jon Rahm and No. 2 Collin Morikawa. Rahm
Mar 8, 2022 PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said he hasn’t spoken to Phil Mickelson since his explosive comments about the tour were published last month, but Monahan said it’s a conversation that will have to take place before the six-time major champion returns to play. Mickelson isn’t playing in
Scottie Scheffler’s victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill on Sunday marked the first time a player ranked inside the top 15 had won a PGA Tour event in 2022. The average World Ranking of the winner of the first eight tournaments of this calendar year was 81. The world’s 81st-ranked player at
You could accuse officials at the PGA Tour of being like a crazy eBay user unable to keep from outbidding themselves when it comes to the purse at the Players Championship. The tour’s flagship tournament had laid claim to the most lucrative overall purse in professional golf starting in 2019 when Rory McIlroy won $2.25
7:22 AM ET It has become a go-to thought each year when the Players Championship arrives. Anybody can win at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course because the track does not favor a certain player’s game. Well, it’s true. Look at the champions list — everyone from Tiger Woods to Tim Clark, Rory McIlroy to Fred Funk,
Tony Finau did not grow up in a family of means, which might explain why, despite earning over $25.6 million just on the course in his career (so far), you’ll never catch him spending superfluously. Of course, having five children to provide for plays a factor, too. But there is one thing Finau never, ever
6:49 PM ET Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. — Scottie Scheffler played the kind of golf that wins a traditional U.S. Open, and that’s what the Arnold Palmer Invitational felt like Sunday at Bay Hill. In another final round that featured some of the toughest scoring conditions in four decades, Scheffler made key putts to save
PGA Tour practice rounds can be an enigma. You’ll often hear folks talk about how enjoyable it is to attend one as a spectator, compared to a Saturday or Sunday tournament round, because the course isn’t packed with crowds, tickets are cheaper, and you get an up-close look at how the best players in the
8:02 PM ET Associated Press NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Retief Goosen holed out for eagle from a greenside bunker on the short par-4 first hole, birdied the next two, and cruised to an 8-under 63 and a four-stroke victory Sunday in the Hoag Classic. A stroke behind fellow South African star Ernie Els entering the
9:22 AM ET Things are about to get good on the PGA Tour. This week, the tour heads to the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, for the unofficial “fifth major,” which now has a $20 million purse. The field includes 47 of the top 50 players in the world and
It would be a cliché to say that playing the weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was like being in a heavyweight fight, Bay Hill Club in Orlando packing quite the wallop on the field. However, we’re not the ones who brought up the boxing analogy on Sunday. Rory McIlroy did the honors. After a
8:58 PM ET Mark Schlabach Close ESPN Senior Writer Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Tom VanHaaren Close ESPN Staff Writer ESPN staff writer Joined ESPN in 2011 Graduated from Central Michigan For the second straight PGA Tour event, Bryson DeChambeau has withdrawn after
Bryson DeChambeau has withdrawn from the Players Championship, the PGA Tour released on Sunday night shortly after the finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. No reason was given, but this is the second straight week in which DeChambeau had initially registered to compete on the PGA Tour only to then drop out of the tournament.
Early on the back nine of his final round at Bay Hill, Chris Kirk had a legitimate chance to take a stranglehold on the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Then again, so did just about everybody who was within a few shots of Viktor Hovland’s lead. But Kirk’s failed run at the lead was particularly noticeable because
6:30 PM ET Associated Press RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico — Needing to win or finish solo second to retain PGA Tour status, Ryan Brehm went out Sunday and ran away with the Puerto Rico Open for his first tour title. With wife Chelsey at his side as his caddie, the 35-year-old Brehm birdied five of
Jin Young Ko started her 2022 season right where she left off in 2021: Winning. In her first LPGA Tour start of 2022, the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore, Ko played her final six holes in five under to shoot a final-round 66 at Sentosa Golf Club. She finished with a 17-under 271 total
3:26 AM ET Associated Press SINGAPORE — World No. 1 Jin Young Ko birdied the 18th hole on Sunday for a 6-under 66 to win the LPGA Tour’s HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore by two strokes over fellow South Korean player In Gee Chun and Australian Minjee Lee. Ko has won six times in
A look at the contenders heading into the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. T1. Billy Horschel (seven under) The buildup: With a remarkable birdie on 18 after getting to move his ball out of a terrible lie because of a sprinkler head, the Floridian shot a second straight 71. He
8:48 PM ET Associated Press ORLANDO, Fla. — No lead was safe Saturday at Bay Hill. No one felt comfortable until they were finished. In the toughest conditions of the year, Billy Horschel and Talor Gooch were up to the task at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Horschel got a good break on a day where
Max Homa is only 31 years old. His eyesight shouldn’t be that bad. But apparently, he can’t track his ball from only 160 yards away. “I got terrible eyes,” he says. So, even as his tee shot tracked toward the flagstick on the par-3 14th hole at Bay Hill on Saturday, not only did Homa
4:26 PM ET Associated Press Scotland’s Ewen Ferguson will take a four-shot lead into the final day of the Kenya Open after his round of 66 left him with a healthy advantage over the chasing pack on Saturday. Marcus Kinhult and Ashun Wu are joint second while a four-way group are a further five shots