Gone to Play Golf

Associated Press Mar 24, 2024, 08:59 PM ET Open Extended Reactions NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Padraig Harrington won the Hoag Classic on Sunday at windy Newport Beach Country Club for his seventh PGA Tour Champions victory, rebounding from a double bogey with birdies on the final two holes. After driving left into trouble and dropping

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 25, 2024, 10:00 AM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions The reboot of the inaugural season of TGL presented by SoFi, the tech-infused golf league being fronted by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, will

Field Level Media Mar 25, 2024, 05:29 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Shane Lowry of Ireland are entering next month’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the PGA Tour’s only team competition. McIlroy has never played the tournament at TPC Louisiana, which has been a team event since 2017. While

Field Level Media Mar 26, 2024, 12:32 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Tim Mickelson has been toting the bag for his older brother Phil Mickelson since Phil and longtime caddy Jim “Bones” Mackay parted ways in 2017. Tim is retiring from serving as his caddy to spend more time with his family, his brother announced

Associated Press Mar 22, 2024, 03:05 AM ET Open Extended Reactions PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. — Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Canada matched her best score on the LPGA Tour with a 7-under 64 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship. Leblanc, 35, finished on the front nine at Palos

Associated Press Mar 21, 2024, 08:47 PM ET Open Extended Reactions PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Kevin Streelman has a new ball marker to help with alignment that required USGA approval before he teed off Thursday in the Valspar Championship. He had 10 consecutive one-putt greens on his way to a 7-under 64 and a one-shot

Field Level Media Mar 21, 2024, 02:48 PM ET Open Extended Reactions After 13 seasons on the LPGA Tour, including a pair of major victories, South Korea’s So Yeon Ryu announced Thursday she will retire from professional golf next month. Ryu made her announcement in a social media post. “After deciding to retire, I spent

Open Extended Reactions The Valspar Championship gets underway March 21 from Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. The purse is $8.4 million, with a first-place prize of $1.51 million. The event field has a combined 64 TOUR wins and 10 major championships. Seven past Valspar Championship winners are competing, including defending 2023 champion Taylor

Associated Press Mar 19, 2024, 02:24 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Masters champion Jon Rahm is bringing plenty of Spanish flavor to the Masters Club dinner for champions next month, even before they find their seat at the table. The cocktail reception will have gernika peppers, grown in a town in the Basque region of

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 19, 2024, 03:25 PM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions After jumping from the PGA Tour to the LIV Golf League in December, Jon Rahm didn’t get a chance to defend his first three

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 19, 2024, 07:23 AM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and player directors from the tour’s policy board met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund,

Associated Press Mar 17, 2024, 09:55 PM ET Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Players on the PGA Tour board negotiating with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund have a meeting planned Monday with the Saudi leader backing rival LIV Golf, something Rory McIlroy said Sunday should have happened long ago. He also said

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 18, 2024, 07:00 AM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — An important step toward a potential peace accord in men’s professional golf might take place Monday when Yasir Al-Rumayyan,

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 17, 2024, 06:22 PM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — In the first 49 years of the Players Championship, there never had been a repeat winner. Jack Nicklaus couldn’t

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 16, 2024, 08:48 PM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Wyndham Clark had just regained a share of the third-round lead at the 50th Players Championship on Saturday when

Associated Press Mar 15, 2024, 09:19 PM ET Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott said the player directors on the PGA Tour board are being encouraged to meet with the Saudi Arabia wealth fund leader behind LIV Golf, a sign that could spark talks of an investment. Golfweek

Associated Press Mar 16, 2024, 08:08 AM ET Open Extended Reactions MACAU, China — John Catlin holed a 20-foot eagle putt on Saturday for an 11-under 59 in the International Series Macau, becoming the first player in Asian Tour history with a sub-60 round. Catlin, a 33-year-old Californian with seven worldwide victories, became the fourth

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 15, 2024, 08:09 PM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Might Scottie Scheffler‘s neck determine whether or not the PGA Tour has another runaway winner in one of its

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 15, 2024, 03:06 PM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida — A year ago, Wyndham Clark was ranked 116th in the Official World Golf Ranking and had rarely contended in

Associated Press Mar 12, 2024, 11:40 AM ET Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Patrick Reed has not missed a major since he first became eligible for them at the 2014 Masters, a streak that now is in peril with the PGA Championship two months away. The PGA of America sent out its

Field Level Media Mar 14, 2024, 05:30 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Tom Kim withdrew from The Players Championship eight holes into his opening round at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. on Thursday. The PGA Tour said Kim’s withdrawal was due to an unspecified illness. It came as Kim was 5-over par following

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 14, 2024, 03:37 PM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — World No. 2 golfer Rory McIlroy had just taken the lead at 8-under in the first round of the

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 12, 2024, 12:48 PM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund are “accelerating” and that he still

Associated Press Mar 12, 2024, 07:15 PM ET Open Extended Reactions WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Bernhard Langer is missing the Masters for only the second time in 40 years because of an Achilles tendon tear from playing pickleball. This was supposed to be the final Masters for the two-time champion from Germany. But he

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 13, 2024, 10:29 AM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — With TV ratings falling so far this season, four-time major champion Rory McIlroy said Wednesday that he wants the

Mark Schlabach Close Mark Schlabach ESPN Senior Writer Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Paolo Uggetti Mar 13, 2024, 08:20 AM ET Open Extended Reactions Just when it seemed the narrative surrounding men’s professional golf might return to the course with the arrival of

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 12, 2024, 05:54 PM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – If golf fans are upset that the best players in the world aren’t playing in the same events such

Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior WriterMar 12, 2024, 07:43 AM ET Close Senior college football writer Author of seven books on college football Graduate of the University of Georgia Open Extended Reactions PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — On a sizzling Sunday at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, in late May, Scottie Scheffler had just

Doug Greenberg Mar 11, 2024, 12:28 PM ET Open Extended Reactions After several years on the sideline, North Carolina became the 30th state — in addition to Washington, D.C. — to offer legal online sports betting Monday. The basketball-wild jurisdiction gets its online sports betting infrastructure up and running just in time for March Madness.

Field Level Media Mar 11, 2024, 04:29 PM ET Open Extended Reactions Scottie Scheffler will begin his defense at the Players Championship paired alongside fellow Americans Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas for the first two rounds. Coming off a dominating victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he beat the entire field by 2 strokes