Heavy Driver

Players 2022: Here's where things stand after two rain-soaked days at TPC Sawgrass

2022-03-12T06:48:00.000-08:00

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — No offense to Gary Young, chief referee of the Players Championship, but we're all getting a little sick of seeing him in the media center this week.

Of course, we kid, though the announcement that Young was returning for a second time on Friday was met with plenty of groans. Young had already made an appearance just before noon to inform the media that the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass had become unplayable, which caused the latest suspension of play. The hope was to return at some point Friday afternoon to get as many holes in as possible before dark.

Those hopes were dashed when Young returned to announce that play had been officially suspended for the day around 3:15 p.m., with the first round still yet to be completed. He also said that Sunday finish is out the window. Below, we'll attempt to answer any questions you may have heading into a wild weekend (and beyond) at TPC Sawgrass.

When will first-round play resume?

As Young stated on Friday afternoon, play will begin again no earlier than 11 a.m. on Saturday morning (that was updated to no earlier than 12 noon). Between the three inches of rain the course has taken on, the 60-mph winds in the Saturday morning forecast—that will undoubtedly litter debris all over the property—and the threat of more rain, there's simply no way to start any earlier.

How many players still need to finish their opening round?

Forty-seven players have still yet to complete their first round of the 2022 Players Championship. Fortunately, all of them at least reached their respective back nines. Doug Ghim, Matthew NeSmith, Emiliano Grillo and Brendan Steele have the most golf left, all four of them having completed just 11 holes.

Then what?

According to Young, business as usual.

"We're not trying to rush anyone and continue play just like a race to try to achieve it," Young said. "We are still building in our normal three hours between the two waves, making sure that things turn right on time, spacing them appropriately. We have a pace-of-play policy."

This is because the forecast after the front moves through finally calls for clear skies, and should allow for uninterrupted play.

"We feel that we've got favorable conditions," Young said. "Although it's going to be windy, we feel we're going to have the next two days rain-free following this weather event in the morning. Once that front goes through, we know we're going to have good weather conditions, and then we're just planning it like we would normally plan a round of golf."

This includes making a cut of the low 65 players and ties after the second round finally finishes, and repairing groups between the third and fourth rounds.

So when will the tournament finish?

The plan is to finish Monday, with time to spare even if there is a playoff, which is a three-hole aggregate at the Players, says Young. Should it clear up Saturday afternoon like it's supposed to, they should be able to get back on track and have a full day of golf Sunday, which calls for cold temperatures (mid-50s is the predicted high) but again no rain. Monday will be the best day in what feels like a week here at Sawgrass, with temperatures in the high 60s and a few clouds. The hope is that the third round of play ends early Monday morning and then the final round starts right after.

"We feel very confident that we're going to be able to accomplish the conclusion of this championship on Monday evening," Young said.

Who is in contention?

Believe it or not, some golf has actually been played, albeit the bare minimum. And while it's hard to describe anyone as being in "contention" in an unfinished first round, there are some very nice names near the top of the leader board. Tommy Fleetwood, who shot a six-under 66 on Thursday, has been sitting at the top of the board for 24 hours now, and he's joined there at six under by Tom Hoge, who finished his first round Thursday evening. On Friday, Brice Garnett, who made an eagle 2 at the par-4 fourth on Friday right before play was suspended, also is at six under. He's through 13 holes.

A little further down the board, you'll find Dustin Johnson and now two-time PGA Tour winner Scottie Scheffler at four under, along with Kevin Kisner. Johnson has two holes remaining in his first round, Scheffler has three, and Kisner was able to finish off a 68 on Friday. Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele are three under through 13.

Can fans who had tickets Friday return Saturday?

Yes, or Sunday (not both), according to Players senior vice president and executive director Jared Rice. Details for Monday are still being ironed out. As for parking passes, Rice says Friday parking passes will not be honored on the weekend, because they've already sold the parking lot for Saturday and Sunday ticket holders.

Is a Tuesday finish possible?

Young remained confident that they'll finish Monday, but Mother Nature has been working in seriously mysterious ways this week. Should Saturday be even worse than expected and they're unable to resume play at the glass-half full time of 11 a.m., then Tuesday is on the table. And Wednesday isn't something you can rule out entirely. But no one except for the eventual winner wants to really still be here on Wednesday.

Players 2022: Meet the hero this tournament deserves (and desperately needs)—the squeegee - US Sports

2022-03-12T06:40:00.000-08:00

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — They’re not technically squeegees. Squeegees, per the interwebs, have flat rubber blades. You use them to clean windows. Not golf courses.

This is not a distinction we anticipated discussing come Friday afternoon of the Players Championship. This is usually the he needs a birdie to make the cut hour, a very fun hour indeed. And yet, here we are. The rain, rain will not go away (and it seems to keep coming back another day). The first round—the first!—will not finish until Saturday afternoon. Forget Sunday—a Tuesday finish is now a possibility. Mother Nature remains 82-0.

And yet, humanity is not wholly powerless, for we have golf’s version of squeegees: big, heavy rollers attached to a broom-type handle. They're essentially super-sized versions of those wide, rolling paintbrushes. But that's not as fun to say as squeegee. It’s such a deeply enjoyable word that you’d assume it’s an onomatopoeia. You’d be wrong. The name likely derives from the word “squeege,” which at some point, in some language, was the word for squeeze. But we digress.

The "squeegees" emerged from the maintenance sheds on Friday morning, when the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass decided it could only stomach so much water. Players began calling over rules officials to request a squeegee job, as is their right. Under Modern Local Rule J-2: When temporary water accumulates on the putting green, the Committee may provide relief under Rule 16.1d—that’s the casual water rule—or:

Squeegee the line of play on the putting green.
Squeegee the putting green between groups.
Squeegee the putting green when a ball lies adjacent to the putting green in any area of the course, but only when authorized by the Committee.

“Only when authorized by the Committee”—that’s golf speak for no funny business allowed. Adjacent truly means adjacent; no squeegeeing shall be provided for a 100-yard approach shot. It’s a know-it-when-you-see-it situation. If a player’s ball rests on the green and he decides even the mighty squeegee won’t do the trick, he is entitled to move his ball away from the puddle of water (under the rules for casual water)—at risk of offending the squeegee gods.

The hope, of course, is that squeegees will not be required once this tournament kicks back into gear.

“We just kind of have to let Mother Nature do her thing," says Ken Tackett, senior tournament director, head of front-nine setup and squeege expert. "Let the drains work, let everything settle. And if we have to squeegee a few areas, we will.”

Our last line of defense. Our hero. The squeegee.

Players 2022 live updates: Round 1 resumes on Friday ahead of more storms - US Sports

2022-03-11T07:00:00.000-08:00

Friday is one of those days you just hope the weathermen are wrong. Forecasts call for thunderstorms and heavy rain all day throughout northern Florida. If the first round can wrap up, that would be considered a success. Of course, we’re not so sure that will be the case.

(Scroll down for the latest updates)

The game’s stars like Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy and defending champion Justin Thomas in the afternoon wave—which became the evening wave—played three holes Thursday before their opening rounds were suspended due to darkness. Forecasts call for the storms to start around 9 a.m., so hopefully all the groups will play quick so we can at least finish Round 1 this morning, in case the rest of the day becomes a complete wash.

Players 2022 live updates:

9:43 a.m.: Well, these troopers are playing through driving rains now. The marquee groups have really slowed down, in particular on the par-5 11th where squeegeeing has not led to many birdies. Of those currently on the course, Brice Garnett and Andrew Putnam both have the best rounds going at four under. Jason Day and Michael Thompson have fallen back to three under after picking up their first bogeys of the day.

9:25 a.m.: OK, now we're looking like we're about to have a stoppage in play as there's a backup on the 11th green for squeegees before Daniel Berger, Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson attempt their putts. And they are going to squeegee different parts of the green at different times because they are putting from different spots. "I don't care about the time, I care about the conditions," Spieth could be overheard saying. When you're playing for that much money, we don't blame you.

9:13 a.m.: Despite ESPN+ telling us a weather delay was about to happen at 9, the players continue to play on at the PLAYERS. The rain has definitely picked up, and the birdies have slowed down a bit. Dustin Johnson made the turn at four under, but bogeyed No. 11 and no one in the McIlroy/Morikawa/Thomas group birdied the par-5 ninth. One former champ who is racking up birdies, however, is Jason Day, who birdied No. 11 to move to four under. An impressive performance, especially considering he's playing with a heavy heart after his mom passed away last week.

9:00 a.m.: Michael Thompson is having himself a day. First, he was a (very) late add to the field when Tyler McCumber withdrew on Friday morning. And now he's gotten off to a scorching start with four birdies on his first six holes. Talk about playing with house, er, stadium money.

8:49 a.m.: Kudos to Brooks Koepka for quickly bouncing back after making double bogey on No. 5. The four-time major champ answered with birdie on the next hole and added another birdie on No. 9 as he makes the turn at two under. Surprisingly, Koepka has no top 10s in five career starts at TPC Sawgrass.

8:21 a.m.: Justin Rose joins Dustin Johnson amongst the hottest rounds of the second wave with a fourth birdie on his card. The Englishman had just made a 53-footer on the fifth hole, and he just holed a 25-footer at No. 6. Rose is 4-under through 6, taking advantage of the conditions thus far.

Rose has over 98 feet of holed putts through six holes. What a hot start for the 2013 U.S. Open champ.

7:48 a.m.: The "morning" wave of golfers from Round 1 is officially complete. Now we're hoping to get everyone who hadn't teed off yet on the course. And hopefully the thunder and lightning will hold off until later in the morning, so we potentially get all of Round 1 in on Friday.

7:40 a.m.: Rory McIlroy continues his hot start with a third straight birdie, this one with putter from off the green at the fourth hole. That gets Rory back to 2-under for the tourney.

In the same group, Collin Morikawa was at 2-under but drops a shot after being in trouble off the tee, and missing a par putt of about 6 feet. Morikawa moves back to -1.

7:32 a.m.: There are few hotter players in golf right now than Cameron Young. He challenged Joaquin Niemann at Riviera in that strong field, and now in the strongest field of the year he's making an early appearance on the leader board yet again.

Young just holed out for birdie at the fourth hole to get to 3-under. Out of position with his tee shot, he hit his second shot 48 yards short of the green, before holing the shot:

7:15 a.m.: We are off as scheduled this morning! Players who were on the course are continuing their round. We still have some groups who hadn't teed off yet, which included Tyler McCumber, who has WD this morning. He's replaced in the fiedl by Michael Thompson. It pays to stick around!

Dustin Johnson continues his hot start with a birdie at the short par-4 fourth. He marked his ball overnight, ensuring he'd get some smooth greens in the a.m., and he takes advantage, burying his third birdie in four holes to start his first round to move to 3-under.

Of course there are also groups from the "morning wave" still on the course, like Taylor Pendrith, who was 4-under through 16 when he wrapped for the day Thursday.

We'd normally post the pin positions in this space, but all the hole locations are the same as yesterday. Instead, the weather forecast is probably a little more useful ... and the PGA Tour has now included Tuesday on their updates, which is a sign we might be headed toward a Tuesday completion of play:

Players 2022: Alternate's patience pays off after waiting overnight to get into TPC Sawgrass field - US Sports

2022-03-11T06:47:00.000-08:00

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Tyler McCumer's sore shoulder and Thursday's stormy weather conspired to bestow on Michael Thompson a late, late, late date on the first tee Friday at the Players Championship.

Thompson, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, was the third alternate behind Patrick Rodgers and Aaron Rai when the tournament began on Thursday morning. He moved up to first when Rodgers took Hideki Matsuyama’s spot in the field after the reigning Masters champion withdrew with a lingering back injury and Rai withdrew from the alternate list.

Weather delays of more than five hours on Thursday pushed back tee times to the extent that a few groups never started their opening rounds. In fact, McCumber, paired with Charl Schwartzel and Denny McCarthy, was part of the next group to tee off when play was suspended at 6:36 p.m. EST because of darkness.

Thompson, who lives in Sea Island, Ga., wasn't just hanging around in hopes of an 11th-hour opening. According to a PGA Tour official, he was given a heads up that McCumber was ailing and might have to withdraw so he stuck around the area just in case. And just before play resumed at 7:15 a.m. Friday, McCumber pulled out and Thompson was in.

Thompson, after beginning the year with a T-5 finish at the Sony Open in Hawaii, has missed his last four cuts. He is making his eighth start at the Stadium Course, where his best finish came last year, when he was T-48. Only three of his 22 career rounds in the Players have been sub-70, with a low of 68 in his debut in 2012.

Even so, the 36-year-old Arizona native apparently was ready to roll Friday morning. He eagled the par-5 second hole from 12 feet and converted a six-footer for birdie at the fourth hole and then made a 14-footer for birdie after driving in the right rough on the fifth hole to get to four under early.

Players 2022: Watch Brendon Todd relive his hall-of-fame shank on TPC Sawgrass' 17th like an absolute champ - US Sports

2022-03-11T06:43:00.000-08:00

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Brendon Todd stepped to TPC Sawgrass' 17th tee in fine position. He'd played the first 16 holes of his final round of the 2021 Players Championship in three under par and had crept up to T-24. He was inching closer to a very solid payday in golf's richest event. And then disaster struck.

And we do mean disaster. Like, the worst thing that can ever happen to a golfer, on one of the more famous holes in the sport.

"It was a shank," Todd says with a laugh, uttering what amounts to a cuss word in this game. "It was a hard shank."

"It looked like it might catch that little island over there—I was like maybe I'll get to play from the flower bed and be the first one to do that. But sure enough it flew right past, splashed and all I could do was laugh. Bad shots happen. I think that's my first shank in PGA Tour history."

A week after his eventual T-35 finish, Todd hopped on a Trackman to see if he might be able to figure out what caused it.

"Turns out I was swinging in-to-out like eight to 10 degrees on a pitching wedge, which is a lot."

We somehow convinced Todd to rewatch the crime scene ahead of this year's Players Championship. The three-time PGA Tour winner handled it like a champ—just like he handled the shank itself. After a three putt and a triple-bogey 6, he birdied the difficult 18th. What a guy.

Players 2022: Harold Varner III shrugs off brutal finish to stay in the hunt - US Sports

2022-03-11T06:39:00.000-08:00

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla.—Harold Varner III took a look down, took a look back, shook his head and shrugged it off. The man shrugs most things off, owning a carefree attitude that begets a swagger unmatched in these parts. Still, Varner had the right to feel salty after an auspicious start at TPC Sawgrass was doused by the final holes, watching a first-round two-stroke lead wave bye-bye with a triple bogey-bogey finish. So here was Varner walking off the 18th green, knowing he’d just come out of the business end of the beast, attempting to take stock of how it happened and realizing his detective work was futile.

“It's a game. That's why we play it,” Varner said Thursday afternoon. “No one is going to die out there. I've always said that … Either you get it done or you don't.”

For the most part Thursday Varner got it done, turning in a three-under 69 at the Players Championship. It’s a number that looked like it was going to be better and probably should have been. But there’s no use for “probably,” not in the professional game and especially at this tournament.

“Yeah, 16 great holes,” Varner said with, yes, a shrug. “Hopefully I can do it again.”

This championship is known for many things, among them its boast of the deepest field in golf. It is a badge meant to convey how tough it is to win this shindig and that notion is certainly not untrue. In that same breath, while the game’s best are here, well, there are a lot of rank-and-file players here too. Varner, historically, has been classified among this subset. Played in 174 career tour events. Finished T-3 or better just twice. Enters the week outside the FedEx Cup top 100. To be fair, Varner won the 2016 Australian PGA and grabbed victory this February at a certain event backed by a certain group attempting to start a certain rival circuit (more on this in a second), and being a rank-and-file tour player is a damn fine thing to be and to be proud of. Still, given the Players’ notoriety for catering to both everyone and no one, it may be the best chance these rank-and-files have of graduating to a higher echelon.

Varner was doing his best Thursday to make that move, tied for the lead at four under when the first round was hit with a weather delay. When play resumed so did Varner. He birdied the difficult 180-yard, par-3 13th, dropping a 10-footer to move to five under. His approach from a bunker 140-something yards out at the 15th finished 20 feet left of the pin and converted what was left. He added another birdie at the 16th to move to minus seven, and with the showers turning Sawgrass’ usually tabletops into dart boards, Varner had chance to tie the course record of 63.

Now it’s no secret when it comes to big events golf has no appetite for the underdog. However, should an underdog win, Varner is a darn good dog. In a tour filled with nice but somewhat stiff and unrelatable personalities, he is as relatable and personable as it gets. Cat is always joking, always busting chops, always looking like he’s playing in a Tuesday night men’s league. (A vibe that was reciprocated by playing partner Charley Hoffman Thursday.) Varner loves what he does and loves to put on a show yet understands there are more important things than how many strokes it took to get a tiny white ball into a tiny white cup.

“It doesn’t kill me when I play bad or good. I love just the opportunity to play as well as I can,” Varner says. “Standing there on 16 tee or 17 tee, I'm like, give it to me, I want it every time.”

Harold Varner III smiles alongside caddie Chris Rice on the fourth green during the first round of the Players Championship.

Unfortunately for Varner, the 17th giveth and the 17th takeaway. You already know what we mean but we will spell it out for posterity. Varner went with a hard wedge. Should have went with an easy 9, because hard wedges tend to spin hard and that’s what Varner’s ball did, backing up and going down into the pond. His third did the same, saved from a same watery demise by the collar. The first putt wasn’t much better and neither was the next.

"I hit it where I wanted to, just didn't go—I think if it would have been a little further right, it would have had a better chance, but it is what it is," Varner said of the triple. "It's golf."

On the 18th, Hoffman hit his drive into the water left, which we mention only to explain why Varner might have bailed out to the right. He could only advance his second shot 80 yards and the third ended up on the green, 55 feet away. It was a good lag, but lags don’t find the cup. The final damage: four over on the final two, dropping Varner from the lead to three back when play was called due to darkness.

“I guess I was more disappointed by not hitting a better shot off the tee on 18 because it's how you respond,” Varner said.

It’s at this point we should revisit a sentence above. That, historically, Varner is a rank-and-file guy. “Historically” being the operative word. Varner enters the week No. 48 in the World Ranking. Stay inside the top 50 and Varner earns his first career trip down Magnolia Lane. It is an opportunity that exists solely because Varner won the controversial Saudi International a month back and we do mean solely, with just two other top-10 finishes in the past three seasons. Varner acknowledged as much. However, that win came with baggage because it connected Varner to the Saudi-backed proposed Super Golf League.

“Yeah, if I wouldn't have won, no one would have talked about it,” Varner said. Varner’s comments are not entirely true; nearly everyone who competed in the event has been tied to some degree to the league. Yet Varner wanted to leave no doubt where he wants to be.

“Obviously it's really good to hear all the talk about the Saudi league and all that stuff," Varner said. "My name went right to the top of the list, and I do have to commend [PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan] for sitting down and talking to me and being totally open about it. “I look at Jay as a friend, but it's pretty odd how my name just went straight to the top of the list. You do your job, that's what you do, and I thought that was pretty odd.

“I've always supported the PGA Tour when they needed me, and I want to be there.”

In spite of his stumble Varner is still very much here, three shots back of clubhouse leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge. More than half the field needs to finish the first round, and with the course vulnerable from the showers don’t be surprised if that three-shot deficit widens when he tees off again. Doesn’t matter; the only mission in Round 1 is to make sure Round 2 matters, and on that front mission accomplished. "It was a long day," Varner said. "I think it's going to be a long week, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to just have a chance."

On that last point, no shrug. The man may be carefree. He's not short on confidence, either.

Max Homa has such 'terrible' eyes he turned his back on first ace of his PGA Tour career - US Sports

2022-03-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

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 not bother to watch it, he turned his back. “I was walking back to get water,” he would later tell NBC,” and everyone went nuts.”

Of course, they did, because Homa’s ball landed about 15 feet short of the hole, took a couple of soft bounces and lightly tapped the stick before dropping in. The tees were up on the 14th in the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and Homa used a pitching wedge from 163 yards. It was the first ace of his PGA Tour career.

“It’s weird to write a ‘1’ down,” Homa said with a grin.

There was a really strange coincidence involved with this ace. A year ago in the third round of the Palmer, Homa was grouped with Jazz Janewattananond, who made a hole-in-one. The next day, Kris Ventura scored an ace, though Homa wasn’t there to see that one. In all, there have been six aces on the 14th in the tournament’s history.

Even with the ace, Homa shot 37 on the back for a 73 total because he double-bogeyed the 11th and bogeyed the 17th and 18th. He stood at even par entering the fnal round.

Watch tour player shotput putter into pond at Arnold Palmer Invitational - US Sports

2022-03-05T22:24:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a golf club needs to die. On Saturday at Bay Hill, it was time for Matt Jones’ putter to take that eternal nap. And it was Jones who put it to sleep.

Jones, 41, is enjoying a nice season, taking third at the Sentry Tournament of Champions to open 2022 and he entered the Arnold Palmer Invitational inside the top 40 of the FedEx Cup standings. Though a second-round 75 knocked down any aspirations of contention, the Aussie still made the weekend in Orlando. All things considered, Saturday’s round wasn’t going that bad, Jones one over through the first 10 holes, with an eight-footer at the 11th to get to even.

But Jones missed that putt, and missed it bad, chasing after his ball after it barely left the putter face. Given the struggles Jones has had with his flat stick—he ranked 120th in SG/putting coming into Bay Hill and had lost a whopping 3.582 strokes to the field on the greens this week—Jones decided it was best to part ways with his Scotty Cameron, and part ways immediately.

And by immediately we mean sending that Cameron soaring with the eagles.

It’s unclear if Jones meant to shotput his putter in the direction of the pond, which is where it met its demise. Considering the man didn’t break stride we’re guessing he’s at peace with his decision.

Perhaps it wasn’t the best time for an equipment change; Jones had seven holes remaining. He ended up shooting three over in that stretch en route to scoring 76, though he did make five pars. He had a two-putt double bogey at the 15th and a tap-in for bogey at the 17th when his greenside bunker shot didn't find the green. Given the aforementioned short-games woes ... well, sometimes a club just needs to die.

The chilling story of a Ukrainian golfer trapped in a war zone -

2022-03-04T08:15:00.000-08:00

It was a good day for Mykhailo Golod, because he has lived to see another.

It is deep into the night of March 3 when Mykhailo, 15, videoconferences from Kyiv. The town has just suffered its fiercest bombardment since the unprovoked assault by Russian forces began and reports vary if the 40-mile long convoy of tanks and troops heading towards Ukraine’s capital has stalled or is progressing. It is sort of unbelievable, the boy says, the invasion of his country and the siege that threatens his city, but the constant shower of artillery, the deserted streets and crowded undergrounds, the sounds he does not want to discuss yet cannot forget … it is very, very real.

“We hear, it seems like, 50 explosions a day,” Mykhailo says, speaking in fluent English. “You never know where they are, but they always sound close. The air sirens, letting us know something is coming, are always blaring.” Earlier in the day, after one of the blasts, Mykhailo looked out his balcony window and saw smoke down the road, the closest danger has come to his door.

Mykhailo relays that the past week has been a nightmare and there is fear the worst is just beginning. Because the hours and days have started to blur as one, Mykhailo—one of the best golfers in the Ukraine—recounts his recent past, if only for a sanity check. In January he was competing in the United States. Two weeks ago he lapped a field in Turkey. He remembers he was supposed to be competing in an event this weekend. Now, well, now he is planning on sleeping in the basement, given the expected ramp-up of fire from the sky.

“Yeah, we hear it might be bad tonight,” Mykhailo says. “Kharkiv has been getting shelled. It’s probably coming this way too.”

But enough worrying, he says. There’s been plenty of that already and there will be time for worry tomorrow. Right now, he wants to talk about something else.

“It just came on over here, the Arnold Palmer,” Mykhailo says. “Rory played well, got off to a good start. He plays well there.”

Right now, Mykhailo would like to talk about golf.

GOLF IS RELATIVELY new to Ukraine. The game was forbidden under the former jurisdiction of the Soviet Union, as the sport was viewed as an English sport and thus a pastime of the enemy. But following Ukraine’s independence in 1991 the consumptions and cultures of the Western world trickled in, with the Ukrainian Golf Federation established in 1997.

For decades the national team was composed of the country’s best golfers but golfers who were in their 40s and early 50s. That changed when Ruslan Garkavenko, 33, took the reins of the national team in 2019. A four-time national champion who enjoyed a few starts on the European Tour’s feeder circuits, Garkavenko overhauled the roster to make it a junior-based program, believing the best way to foster the game in a sustainable way was through Ukraine’s youth. In just two years Garkavenko has made the Ukrainian national team one of the best junior programs in Eastern Europe. The country boasts seven players inside the World Amateur Golf Ranking's top 1,000, a remarkable number considering there are less than 4,000 golfers in all of Ukraine. Children's academies have been established across the country, boasting close to 500 youngsters who are under active instruction from PGA of Ukraine teachers.

Among that elite class is Mykhailo, ranked 434th in the world. He was introduced into the game by his father at 6 and began taking it seriously around 10. Asked what it is about the sport that calls to him, Mykhailo blushes, knowing there aren’t enough words for a proper response.

“First of all, just being on the range and hitting golf balls, I could just be there for like five, six hours just hitting golf balls without getting tired,” Mykhailo says. “It's sort of like a meditation to me. I’m there all day, every day.

“Then there’s competing. You’re going against the course, others, yourself. Most tournaments don’t have leader boards so you don’t know how others are scoring. So you’re playing against them, but you don’t know what you’re playing against. You’re playing against your own thoughts. Not many games offer that.”

What you can say, the kid is a poet. And apparently 15 going on 50.

In that same breath, Mykhailo is also a performer. Not long after becoming infatuated with the sport, Mykhailo began winning, and winning, and winning some more. Four times he's claimed his country's junior national championship. He and his family have traveled the world seeking the competition Mykhailo couldn’t get at home. He has visited the U.S. often to play against some of the game’s best amateurs, and last summer, at 14, he became the first Ukrainian to compete at the USGA’s U.S. Junior Amateur at the Country Club of North Carolina.

“That might have been the best experience of my life,” Mykhailo says. “I’m going against kids four years older than me, kids who are the best in the world. It was tough for me to concentrate—it was a good lesson, actually—because I was so blown away by everything. Even the locker rooms were nice.”

It wasn’t his best showing and he missed the match-play cut, but the trip wasn’t a total loss. Mykhailo received a letter of encouragement from Webb Simpson and he got to play almost every course at Pinehurst, including No. 2. Questioned how he fared on the infamously tough Donald Ross course, Mykhailo replies with conviction, “Well … tough from the tips, all the way back, sure, then it’s tough.”

Now a sophomore in high school, Mykhailo was hitting his stride at the onset of 2022. He finished T-6 at the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl in Miami, followed by a T-3 at a Doral event. Two weeks ago he won the Superior Winter Cup in Turkey and followed with another victory at the Golf Mad Junior Open, capturing the under-16 division by 14 strokes and the entire under-21 event by three shots. He was receiving interest from big-time colleges in the United States.

Mykhailo returned from the Golf Mad Junior Open in late February. It was supposed to be a short stay, another trip to Turkey scheduled for early March. But on Feb. 24, Mykhailo received a phone call at 5 a.m. from his dad.

“He had left to go visit my grandparents who live south of Kyiv,” Mykhailo says. “He said, ‘War has started.’ I turned on the news and saw it, everything. It was horrible. It was the worst morning of my life.”

Mykhailo and his mother went to the grocery, trying to stock up on food. The line was 70 people deep. They tried their luck at another store; it was closed. They saw another huge procession at the ATM and finally decided to go home.

That was seven days ago. It was the last time Mykhailo has been outside.

A man rides his bike past destroyed buildings in Irpin, Ukraine, on March 3. Russia continues its assault on Ukraine's major cities, including the capital Kyiv, a week after launching a large-scale invasion of the country.

MYKHAILO'S FATHER SAFELY returned to Kyiv. However the family, like millions in the country, is in limbo. For the moment they remain at their house. From afar Mykhailo gets why the world might not understand why many are staying put. But it’s hard to leave when you don’t know where to go or what comes next.

“Right now, we have power, we have electricity, we have Wi-Fi,” Mykhailo says. “I have friends who have left to Hungary and Poland. Right now, my family doesn’t think it’s wise, because we don’t know how long this will last, because how long are you going to be gone?”

The house has running water, and his mother and father make short runs to the grocery to keep the group fed. Mykhailo is still attending school, albeit remotely, to try and maintain a level of normalcy. “The teachers aren’t giving us the same amount of homework, and if we don’t turn it in on time, they have been nice about letting it slide,” he says.

You don’t get used to the air horns or ensuing booms, Mykhailo says, despite their frequency. Sometimes the silence is just as scary, waiting for when it will break. As for looking outside, Mykhailo keeps it to a minimum.

The news is on, constantly. Mykhailo and the family try to stay informed, gathering anything they can from television or social media or text threads. There is so much information, including misinformation, it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not.

There is one piece of intel Mykhailo passes along, and the hurt on his face is clear when the words tumble out.

“My golf course, Kyiv Golf Club, my home club, the Russians have occupied it. They’re inside the clubhouse and sort of making a camp for themselves,” Mykhailo says. “It’s one of really only two good golf courses in the country, the other is in Kharkiv. And there, half of the city has been blown up. It’s horrible. I have friends there, I message them five times a day asking if they’re alright. I’m not even asking about the course because it doesn’t seem to matter at this point. But it’s tough to think about.”

Golod has won Ukraine's junior national championship four times already. His favorite golfer is Rory McIlroy: “He plays great—seven under today, that’s good for that course—but he always says the right thing and stands for what’s right.”

There is a respite to be found, Mykhailo says, hard as it is when a military superpower is surrounding his town. He can’t play golf at the moment. That hasn’t kept him from the game.

He’s used the past week to begin memorizing player statistics and old major schedules. He’s reading every piece of golf content there is to find. Already an avid consumer of live PGA Tour coverage, Mykhailo has done a deep dive into old rounds and films of past major championships. He feels like he’s watched every bit of U.S. Open tape that exists on the Internet, and he’s lost count of how many Masters and Opens he’s marked off. As he videoconferences in he mentions he recently finished the 2005 Masters. “The one where Tiger Woods puts away Chris DiMarco,” Mykhailo notes. “Fun finish. Tiger usually wins, doesn’t he?”

The tournaments, dated as they may be, are fresh to Mykhailo. Any port in the storm, sure, but also interesting because he didn’t watch most of those majors live. Heck, he wasn’t alive for most of these tournaments. He’s taking notes on how the champions compete, how they attack, how they carried themselves to victory, how they carried themselves in defeat and what could be learned from both. He’s continuing to improve his game without picking up a club.

Conversely, he’s not just receiving an education. The bright colors and dazzling landscapes on his screen juxtaposed with the hell outside his window resonate deeper than any lesson could.

“All these tournaments, they are played at beautiful places. Peaceful places,” Mykhailo says. “It’s a dream, but it’s also real what you’re watching, which means it's a dream that you can achieve.”

One of the things that filled Mykhailo’s computer on Thursday was first-round coverage from Bay Hill. Mentioned above, Rory McIlroy had the early lead. Rory is Mykhailo’s favorite; he likes his style, digs his play, loves the man. “Rory seems like a great guy,” Mykhailo says. “He plays great—seven under today, that’s good for that course—but he always says the right thing and stands for what’s right.”

Should the Wi-Fi make it through the weekend, be it in his bedroom or basement, Mykhailo plans to watch the closing action from the Arnold Palmer Invitational. However, it is getting late, and it is well past time for Mykhailo to find a safer place. He has lost track of time, which happens to all golfers when they start talking about the game they love. Before he leaves, Mykhailo wants to say two things.

The first: “I hope the world sees what is happening. We did not ask for this. Russia, they are attacking civilians, not just military. They're actually killing people. They're destroying homes, they're destroying government buildings. I hope the world hears and sees us and helps us out.”

The second? Mykhailo is not obtuse. He’s aware his present is ambiguous, frightening, weird, hard. He’s not sure what’s on tap for tomorrow. But Mykhailo Golod believes this will eventually end, and he knows where he wants to be.

“I want to play in the U.S. Junior Am coming in July. It’s at Bandon Dunes. I’ve never been,” Mykhailo says. “I’m much better than I was last year. This year, I will be able to concentrate. This time, I will be ready.”

Rory McIlroy (unknowingly) drums up the Augusta hype train, Jon Rahm struggles and Bay Hill bites back - US Sports

2022-03-04T07:58:00.000-08:00

There are days when Rory McIlroy makes this most vexing game look impossibly easy, when he’s swinging freely, putting like a kid and bouncing around like he owns the place. Thursday was one of those days. McIlroy opened the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a seven-under 65 on a Bay Hill track with juicy rough and ever-present water hazards, and he finds himself in a familiar position after one round: alone, on top of the leader board. Here are four takeaways from the first round of Arnie’s event.

Any time McIlroy plays well in February or March, the temptation is to judge his form vis a vis Augusta National. Rory and the Masters are star-crossed lovers; it remains the lone major championship he has not won, the last checkpoint he must pass to complete the career Grand Slam and stake his place among golf’s immortals. We’re still more than a month away from that ceremonial first tee shot, but McIlroy’s play will absolutely have his fans dreaming of a green jacket.

Loosening COVID travel restrictions have allowed McIlroy to fly his longtime coach, Michael Bannon, out to the U.S. from Northern Ireland. (You may recall he had a brief stint working with Pete Cowen, a stint that now appears to be over). Bannon and McIlroy have been hard at work trying to get his clubface more neutral at the top and to feel like the left arm is driving the backswing, not the right. It might sound like gibberish to you but it’s clearly clicking for Rory, who’s quietly putting together a pretty tasty stretch here. Dating back to his victory at last year’s CJ Cup, McIlroy has had official finishes as follows: WIN/T-6/T-12/3rd/T-10.

McIlroy began Thursday’s round on the 10th tee and bogeyed his second hole of the day, only to bounce back with back-to-back birdies and a 41-foot eagle putt on the par-5 16th. Per the Golf Channel broadcast, it’s the longest eagle putt McIlroy has made in his entire PGA Tour career, and he played Bay Hill’s four par 5s in five under par. He turned in three-under 33 and played his back nine in bogey-free 32 to put himself in ideal position to add a second API trophy (he won it in 2018) to his mantle.

McIlroy said he’s felt more comfortable putting as of late—he has a tendency to get a bit loose with his reads and setup—despite losing a weapon in his arsenal when the calendar turned to 2022.

“I've actually really enjoyed not having a green book. I feel like it's got me more into the putts. I feel like I'm more … I'm not consulting a green book as much. Honestly, I feel like it's benefited me these last few weeks, and that's been a nice thing.”

Don’t be fooled by one round—Bay Hill can bite

McIlroy’s score may give the impression that Bay Hill played like a normal PGA Tour setup. That would be incorrect. The rough is always longer than average at Arnie’s place, but this year’s lettuce seems to be extra thick—and the grainy Bermuda greens already have that slickness.

“They’re already baking out,” said Will Zalatoris, who shot 68. “Scottie [Scheffler] and I were joking about how we were having a tough time getting our putter heads solid on the green because there’s so much grain and so glassy. This is the best I’ve ever seen it, too.

“It’s going to be fun. The weekend’s going to be tough.”

Adam Scott managed the same score despite not having a driver in his bag—he’s going with a 2-wood for accuracy—getting his shoes dirty all day.

“The rough is incredibly thick,” the Aussie said. “It’s a half-shot penalty almost every time you hit it in it. I didn’t think it was that easy because I didn’t hit every fairway either.”

Sepp Straka, who won the Honda Classic four days ago, shot 76. Tom Hoge, who ranks third in the FedEx Cup, shot 78. So did Cameron Tringale, the PGA Tour’s ATM machine, and Garrick Higgo, the promising young South African. Seamus Power, who’s been terrific for the past six months or so, couldn’t break 80. Should the wind pick up at all over the weekend, we could be in for a repeat of the 2020 API, when Tyrell Hatton won at four under and just one player broke 70 on Sunday.

For Rory and Adam, the feeling is mutual

Ask around about the best golf swings on tour and you’ll hear a whole lot of two names: Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott. The two happened to play together on Thursday, and both played quite well, as we just discussed.

“I like playing with Rory,” Scott said. “I really enjoy watching him play. He’s a guy I can watch play and get positive swing thoughts for myself. I love watching him swing a golf club. I think almost everyone in the world would say that. But he’s a guy I like watching play. Generally, he can lift my level of golf, especially when he’s playing the way he did today.”

McIlroy was then made aware of Scott’s glowing review.

“Yeah, any time I play with Adam, it's a good pairing,” McIlroy said. “We chat about all sorts of stuff. I feel like we've got quite a bit in common. Yeah, anyone could watch Adam Scott swing the club all day long. He's got a nice rhythm. Yeah, it's nice. If he feeds off me, I certainly think I feed off him a little bit too.”

Awwww.

Is Jon Rahm … slumping?

It’s a patently ridiculous question to even ask, but Rahm has been on a patently ridiculous run of consistency … until the last few weeks. The World No. 1 saw his streak of 34 straight rounds of par or better end on Friday at the Genesis Invitational and needed a nervy five-footer on his last hole just to make the cut. A six-under final day crept him up to T-21, but that’s still a disappointing week for a guy who’s been living on the first page of leader boards.

Rahm would’ve shot one-under 71 on Thursday at Bay Hill had he not stubbed a putt that couldn’t have been more than eight inches. No, seriously, that actually happened.

"I really couldn't tell you," Rahm said of the mishap. "I wish I could give you all the excuses in the world, but no, it's as simple as … you know, it just didn't feel good in my hands, and I tried to stop, and I didn't. I just simply didn't stop. I don't know. It was very odd."

But the six-inchers count the same as the 300 yarders in this game, and so Rahm stands at even par and could conceivably find himself in another battle with the cut. That would make Collin Morikawa's path toWworld No. 1 a bit more straightforward. Now that we wrote that, Rahm shoot six under tomorrow. Book it.

Adam Scott ditches driver, opens with four-under 68 at Bay Hill

2022-03-04T07:44:00.000-08:00

When you think of Adam Scott's golf game, you think elite tee-to-green play and poor putting, which is why he's done so much tinkering with the putter throughout his career. That said, the former Masters winner has quietly improved in that area of late, finishing inside the top 50 in strokes gained/putting in each of the last three seasons (currently, he ranks 28th

Thanks to the marked improvement on the greens, Scott has now focused his attention on another club in his bag: the driver. No, he's not trying out a longer driver like he did at the Masters in 2020, and he certainly didn't switch to another $800 shaft like he did a year ago. This week, ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Scott simply left the driver at home.

The (early) results proved fruitful, as Scott opened with a four-under 68 on Thursday at Bay Hill. Per Golf Monthly, Scott swapped out the driver for a 13-degree 2-wood, this despite the Aussie averaging 311.8 yards off the tee this season, good enough to rank 17th on tour. The motivation behind the move? Scott ranks a paltry 183rd in driving accuracy, hitting just 52.71 percent of his fairways this year.

"Trying to hit fairways," Scott said Thursday. "If you look at my driver stats, accuracy is not its best thing. Distance is fine, but accuracy is not good. If it's not in the bag, it's not a temptation."

It's no surprise that Scott chose this week to place a premium on accuracy. There are reports from the grounds that the Bay Hill rough is as long as it's been in decades, long enough for Scott to make the decision to give up precious distance in favor of fairway-finding.

The leaving-the-big-stick-at-home move is hardly a new phenomenon. Phil Mickelson has championed it many times in some of golf's bigger events, and Ariya Jutanugarn did not use a driver en route to a win at the 2016 Volvik Championship. Sometimes, circumstances can also force a players hand, like when Dustin Johnson cracked his driver at last summer's Northern Trust and then put an extra 3-wood into play and shot a one-under 71.

Now for the ironic part: Scott didn't exactly put on a fairway-in-regulation clinic. He hit seven of his 14 fairways, a percentage clip that’s actually less than his season average (52.71 percent, 183rd on tour), and mostly relied on some stellar short-game play (+2.135 SG/around-the-green) and solid putting. But one could argue it's a mindset thing, too. Scott, playing with Rory McIlroy (who shot a seven-under 65), was unphased by McIlroy's bombs.

"I know better than to get into a big hitting contest with Rory McIlroy," Scott said.

When asked if he'll keep the driver out of the bag the rest of the week, Scott said he isn't even sure if he'll stick to the strategy on Friday. Whatever he did on Thursday worked, that we know.

Rory McIlroy preaches forgiveness toward Phil Mickelson, says players 'want to see him back&

2022-03-03T06:58:00.001-08:00

No player has been as outspoken against a Saudi-backed golf league as Rory McIlroy, and his candor has extended to those toying with jumping to the proposed breakaway circuit. One of those targets was Phil Mickelson, with McIlroy calling Mickelson’s now infamous comments “naive, selfish, egotistical, ignorant" at the Genesis Invitational.

But in the wake of Mickelson losing the majority of his sponsors and becoming something of a persona non grata at the moment, McIlroy—speaking Wednesday ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational—took a more compassionate tone towards Phil.

“It is unfortunate. I think Phil has been a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf, still is a wonderful ambassador for the game of golf,” McIlroy said at Bay Hill. “It's unfortunate that a few comments that he thought he was making in confidence or off the record got out there and were, not used against him, but this whole situation is unfortunate.”

McIlroy continued that the players “want to see [Mickelson] back”—in a statement last week Mickelson alluded to taking time away from the sport—and that Mickelson has represented the game well throughout his career. McIlroy also preached forgiveness whenever Mickelson does return.

“Look, we all make mistakes. We all say things we want to take back. No one is different in that regard,” McIlroy said. “But we should be allowed to make mistakes, and we should be allowed to ask for forgiveness and for people to forgive us and move on. Hopefully, he comes back at some stage, and he will, and people will welcome him back and be glad that he is back.”

Already considered one of the sport’s more contemplative and astute voices, McIlroy has cemented that standing over the past two years in his remarks about the threat of a rival league to the PGA and European Tours, making his stance known long before others would directly address the issues at hand. It is also a standing helped by the fact that McIlroy is one of the game’s best performers. Asked if he would see himself still speaking out if he wasn’t a renowned golfer, McIlroy clarified he only speaks about what he knows.

“I'll only voice my opinion on things that I believe I'm educated in and believe that I have a right to talk about. So there's certainly things that I won't get into just because I'm not completely educated on that topic and feel like giving an opinion probably isn't the right thing to do,” McIlroy said. “But when it comes to golf and PGA Tour stuff, I feel like I'm pretty educated on that stuff. And I guess with that voice comes responsibility to try to do the right thing. That's all I try to do. I try to make comments or speak about things to do the right thing, and that's the reason I'm maybe a little more outspoken than other guys in our game.

“Again, it doesn't go much further than the game of golf because I feel comfortable talking about that, but when you sort of delve into other things, I don't think it's my place to get into that.”

McIlroy, who won the API in 2018, tees off Thursday with Adam Scott and Sepp Straka at 8:27 a.m.

Rory McIlroy preaches forgiveness toward Phil Mickelson, says players 'want to see him back' - US Sports

2022-03-03T06:58:00.000-08:00

McIlroy, who won the API in 2018, tees off Thursday with Adam Scott and Sepp Straka at 8:27 a.m.

Jason Day WDs from Bay Hill for third time in last four years - US Sports

2022-03-02T07:38:00.001-08:00

Jason Day withdrew from the 2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational on Wednesday.

Day, 34, is a former champion at Bay Hill, winning the event in 2016. No reason was given for his WD.

The 2015 PGA champ has battled numerous injuries throughout his career, including chronic back pain. It is the third time in four years Day has withdrawn from the API, the prior two instances back-related ailments.

After slipping outside the top 125 in the OWGR, the former World No. 1 was enjoying something of a bounce-back campaign to begin 2022 with a T-3 at the Farmers Insurance Open and a top-25 finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. There is no immediate word of this puts his appearance at next week’s Players Championship—a tournament he won in 2016—in doubt.

Day was scheduled to be in one of the broadcast’s featured Thursday and Friday pairings with Tyrrell Hatton and Marc Leishman. Day will be replaced in the field by David Lipsky.

Jason Day WDs from Bay Hill for third time in last four years - US Sports

2022-03-02T07:38:00.000-08:00

Jason Day withdrew from the 2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational on Wednesday.

Day, 34, is a former champion at Bay Hill, winning the event in 2016. No reason was given for his WD.

Day was scheduled to be in one of the broadcast’s featured Thursday and Friday pairings with Tyrrell Hatton and Marc Leishman. Day will be replaced in the field by David Lipsky.

Tiger Woods beats out Phil Mickelson to win inaugural Player Impact Program, claims $8 million first prize - US Sports

2022-03-02T07:36:00.001-08:00

Despite not playing a single round on the PGA Tour in 2021, Tiger Woods won the inaugural Player Impact Program and its $8 million first prize.

Players were notified Wednesday morning of the results from the first year of the program, enacted at the beginning of 2021 to reward the 10 players who bring the most positive attention to the sport. Phil Mickelson claimed to have finished first in December, but tour officials insisted at the time that the competition ran through the end of the year and that no results were official until an audit from accounting and consluting firm Grant Thornton. In early December, Woods make his first public appearance, at the Hero World Challenge, since his February 2021 car accident. Two weeks later, he played alongside his son in the PNC Challenge. Both events garned plenty of attention as 2021 wound down.

Mickelson, who is currently taking time away from golf after intense fallout from his comments about the Saudi-backed golf league to biographer Alan Shipnuck, finished second in the program and earned $6 million. Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Bubba Watson rounded out the top 10, with places 3 through 6 receiving $3.5 million each and 7 through 10 getting $3 million.

The PGA Tour combined five criteria to rank each member by their PIP score: Google searches; meltwater mentions, which track how often a player is mentioned across global media; MVP index, a measure of a player's reach on social media; Nielsen score, which measures how much a player is featured on televisoin broadcasts; and Q-score, a decades-old measure of an entity's familiarity and appeal.

Any PGA Tour member who played five or more events last season, or five or more events in at least one of the preceding five seasons, was eligible for the controversial program. The PIP was largely seen as a response to rival golf leagues, which have sought to lure players away from the PGA Tour through massive guaranteed paydays. The PIP, then, gave the PGA Tour a mechanism to reward its top stars for something not directly reliant on their on-course performance. Case-in-point: the top two finishers in this year's PIP combined for one top-10 finish in 2021 (Mickelson's victory at the PGA Championship in May). Woods has not played in a PGA Tour event since the Masters in November 2020, though he is expected to return to competition sometime later this year.

Players will be paid in two parts, but only after satisfying two requirements. The first half will be delivered after a player attends a mutually agreed upon “sponsor function.” This can take the form of media interviews, a dinner party, a Q&A, a golf outing, etc. The second half comes after the player competes in a mutually agreed upon tournament on the PGA Tour schedule. The tour could use this rule to drive interest in a lagging tournament or to help a player satisfy his requirement to play at least one new event (defined as a tournament he has not played in the last four seasons) each year.

Shortly after claiming victory, Mickelson tweeted that he was playing the Sentry Tournament of Champions for the first time in more than 20 years to satisfy part of his PIP obligation.

The PIP fund will increase to $50 million for 2022, with the winner collecting $10 million.

Tiger Woods beats out Phil Mickelson to win inaugural Player Impact Program, claims $8 million first prize - US Sports

2022-03-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

Despite not playing a single round on the PGA Tour in 2021, Tiger Woods won the inaugural Player Impact Program and its $8 million first prize.

Shortly after claiming victory, Mickelson tweeted that he was playing the Sentry Tournament of Champions for the first time in more than 20 years to satisfy part of his PIP obligation.

The PIP fund will increase to $50 million for 2022, with the winner collecting $10 million.

'Seminole had a better field than the Honda': PGA Tour rookie dishes on exclusive event - US Sports

2022-03-02T07:29:00.001-08:00

It remains one of the great "golf nerd" moments on the calendar each year - the reveal of the Seminole Pro-Member tee sheet, usually tweeted out by Andy Johnson of The Fried Egg. When it hit social media on Monday, most golf fans had a similar thought: is this a better field than the Honda Classic had?

Dylan Wu, a PGA Tour rookie who tied for 30th at the Honda Classic and then played in the Seminole Pro-Member a day later, all but confirmed that notion on this week's episode of "Be Right."

"It was my first time playing Seminole, I was paired with Luke Donald, fellow Northwestern guy," said Wu, who played for the Wildcats golf team from 2014 to 2018. "It was great to play out there, it's crazy, like the Honda Classic was fun to play in, but the field at the Seminole Pro-Member was better than the Honda. There was five of the top 10 players in the world, Rory [McIlroy] was playing, [Patrick] Cantlay and [Jon] Rahm. Tom Brady's a member. It was just cool to see all the big names that come just for one day to play the course. One of the best courses I've ever played, probably the best course I've played in Florida."

Unfortunately, Wu didn't get to meet Brady, which was on his to-do list. But that didn't put a damper on what was one of the best golf experiences of his life to date.

"It's a course you can see literally every hole, no matter where you are on the property, which is really unique. It's like 98 acres of property and you can see a couple miles across, versus some courses you just have hole by hole. We had a great time, me and Luke have played a couple times being Northwestern alumni and me turning pro, and I'd played with him in college a couple times. We just had a great time. You're not invited there to grind it out and be super serious, it's just a fun time and everybody is there to play some good golf and have fun and play an amazing golf course, and that's kind of what it was."

Wu's rookie season hasn't gotten off to the most Cameron Young-like of starts, but the 25-year-old has made six of nine cuts and he picked up his first career top 20 at the Sony Open. This week, he'll tee it up in the PGA Tour's alternate-field event, the Puerto Rico Open, where he'll look to rack up valuable FedEx Cup points.

Please, have a listen to our full chat with Wu below, where we also discussed why he chose Northwestern, his incredible Korn Ferry Tour win at the Price Cutter Charity Championship last July, and much more. Plus, our Arnold Palmer Invitational picks.

'Seminole had a better field than the Honda': PGA Tour rookie dishes on exclusive event - US Sports

2022-03-02T07:29:00.000-08:00

Dylan Wu, a PGA Tour rookie who tied for 30th at the Honda Classic and then played in the Seminole Pro-Member a day later, all but confirmed that notion on this week's episode of "Be Right."

Unfortunately, Wu didn't get to meet Brady, which was on his to-do list. But that didn't put a damper on what was one of the best golf experiences of his life to date.

Zach Johnson officially named 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, maintains six-pick power over roster - US Sports

2022-03-01T07:51:00.001-08:00

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — The PGA of America announced Monday morning that Zach Johnson will serve as the American captain at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, Italy.

"I have all the emotions running through me," Johnson said. "Honor, pure honor comes to mind more than anything. Just knowing that I can lead this great team in Italy and represent my country, again, is flattering."

The AP first reported last week that Johnson would be selected for the job, and he was the overwhelming favorite to take over the head position after serving as vice captain for Jim Furyk in Paris in 2018 and Steve Stricker at Whistling Straits in 2021, along with a stint as a Presidents Cup vice captain under Tiger Woods in 2019. Johnson, 46, will be the youngest American Ryder Cup captain since Tom Lehman in 2006, which is coincidentally the first Ryder Cup in which Johnson competed. He's a 12-time winner on the PGA Tour, and a two-time major winner, with victories at the 2007 Masters and the 2015 Open Championship at St. Andrews. He was offered the job in January over a video call while on a ski trip with his family.

The other big news on Monday is that Johnson will stick with six captain's picks, an innovation that began at Whistling Straits. Stricker expanded to six picks, but only after COVID-19 delayed the Ryder Cup for a year; initially, he allotted himself four captain's picks.

"The PGA Ryder Cup Committee really liked the system of six earned berths and six picks," Johnson said. "That's where we're going to stay ... that equation worked, and I don't see any reason to change it."

Statistics show that captain's picks tend to perform better at the Ryder Cup than players who make the team on the low end of the points list, and Johnson clearly wanted to follow Stricker's lead in giving himself flexibility to select players who fit the course, and to influence (or preserve) team chemistry.

Johnson's other announcement was less surprising—Stricker will serve as one of Johnson's vice captains. That continues a new American tradition of the previous captain transitioning into an auxiliary role in the subsequent Cup. Previously, Davis Love III was one of Furyk's assistants in Paris, and Furyk joined Stricker at Whistling Straits.

"It's the perfect choice," Stricker said of Johnson, when reached by phone. "The progression that he's been on as part of these teams, it's perfect. He's a fierce competitor, just a little bulldog of a guy with the respect of his peers. He was very precise as a vice captain, and that's also the way he played the game. He's got that attitude where he'll do everything he can to get it done."

As far as transitioning into the vice captaincy, Stricker sounded excited.

"We've had discussions already, that's how important it is to him," Stricker said. "It's a tall task, but the guys that are part of this are ready to take on the challenge."

The U.S. has not won a Ryder Cup on European soil since 1993, and Johnson himself has never been to Italy, but already there was a sense that he embraced the challenge of undoing 30 years of history.

"Going over there is not easy, I get that," he said. "I frankly wouldn't have it any other way."

Following the 19-9 blowout victory in Wisconsin, there is a sense that the U.S. has its best chance to win in Europe in many years, and Johnson credited the team's positive momentum since the disaster at Gleneagles in 2014 to the ability of the Americans to establish a cohesive program where knowledge is passed on from year to year.

"[The PGA of America] really have kind of given us some freedoms as of late that has really helped I think kind of mold our system in place," he said. "We've got a system ... almost like a template. And I'm not suggesting that's going to be the reason for a win or a loss but what I'm saying is, is that there's continuity. There's expectations laid out, and the consistency there I think is what's attractive, and I think that whole systematic approach has really led to giving the guys on the team ... the freedom to just go be themselves and play and have a voice."

Johnson hinted that like Stricker, he'll try to get his team to play Marco Simone Golf Club in Rome to establish some familiarity before Ryder Cup week. That will be a more difficult task than the one that faced Stricker with his Wisconsin reconnaissance trip, but with several off weeks baked into the schedule following the conclusion of the 2023 FedExCup Playoffs, Johnson will have a better chance than past American captains. He also said he plans to use Scouts Consulting, the statistical group that has advised the U.S. since Hazeltine in 2016.

"Scouts has been a nice tool for us, a nice asset as far as just data crunching and number crunching," he said. "I think the beauty of what we have there is that if we have a question that arises, they can basically answer that in a pretty timely manner, whether it's golf course-related, whether it's individuals related, whether it's format related or whether it's European Tour-related.

When asked about his best trait as captain, Johnson couldn't resist taking a turn from the press conference's serious tone.

"My wife would say my dimples," he said.

Zach Johnson officially named 2023 U.S. Ryder Cup captain, maintains six-pick power over roster - US Sports

2022-03-01T07:51:00.000-08:00

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — The PGA of America announced Monday morning that Zach Johnson will serve as the American captain at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, Italy.

As far as transitioning into the vice captaincy, Stricker sounded excited.

"We've had discussions already, that's how important it is to him," Stricker said. "It's a tall task, but the guys that are part of this are ready to take on the challenge."

The U.S. has not won a Ryder Cup on European soil since 1993, and Johnson himself has never been to Italy, but already there was a sense that he embraced the challenge of undoing 30 years of history.

"Going over there is not easy, I get that," he said. "I frankly wouldn't have it any other way."

When asked about his best trait as captain, Johnson couldn't resist taking a turn from the press conference's serious tone.

"My wife would say my dimples," he said.

2021-22 PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list standings - US Sports

2022-02-28T06:32:00.001-08:00

The race for the FedEx Cup title continues as the 2021-22 PGA Tour campaign has hit the Florida swing. The season-long FedEx Cup points standings will help determine who keeps their PGA Tour cards and who’ll be eligible for the FedEx Cup Playoffs come August.

The 2021-22 season includes 45 regular-season events before the start of the three-event playoff series. For all regular-season PGA Tour events, 500 FedEx Cups points are awarded to the winner, with points also being earned by every player making the cut. In World Golf Championship events, 550 FedEx Cup points go to the winner, while 600 points are given to the champion of the four majors and the Players. Lastly, 300 points are given to the winner of any event played in the same week as a major or World Golf Championship event.

Here is the updated FedEx Cup points list through the 17th event of season (Honda Classic). All players inside the top 125 at the end of the season earn their PGA Tour cards for 2022-23 and get into the playoffs. All players ranked from 126 to 200 are eligible to compete in the Korn Ferry Tour Final Series, where 25 more PGA Tour cards will be up for grabs.

RANK, LAST RANK, PLAYER, STARTS, POINTS

1 (1): Hideki Matsuyama, 9, 1,276

2 (2): Tom Hoge, 14, 1,116

3 (3): Scottie Scheffler, 9, 1,064

4 (4): Talor Gooch, 12, 1,001

5 (5): Sungjae Im, 10, 895

6 (6): Luke List, 11, 803

7 (7): Joaquin Niemann, 9, 792

8 (8): Sam Burns, 8, 776

9 (9): Cameron Smith, 6, 754

10 (10): Collin Morikawa, 4, 730

And More....

2021-22 PGA Tour FedEx Cup points list standings - US Sports

2022-02-28T06:32:00.000-08:00

RANK, LAST RANK, PLAYER, STARTS, POINTS

1 (1): Hideki Matsuyama, 9, 1,276

2 (2): Tom Hoge, 14, 1,116

3 (3): Scottie Scheffler, 9, 1,064

4 (4): Talor Gooch, 12, 1,001

5 (5): Sungjae Im, 10, 895

6 (6): Luke List, 11, 803

7 (7): Joaquin Niemann, 9, 792

8 (8): Sam Burns, 8, 776

9 (9): Cameron Smith, 6, 754

10 (10): Collin Morikawa, 4, 730

And More....

Sepp Straka wins a suddenly exciting Honda Classic with late, rainy charge - US Sports

2022-02-28T06:24:00.001-08:00

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — What can you say about Sunday at the Honda Classic except that it was our latest lesson in the wild unpredictability of professional golf? What looked like a serene runaway in the Florida sunshine around 2 p.m. on Sunday turned into a dark, rain-soaked melee in which the palm trees bent to the wind, the umbrellas faltered in the onslaught and a timely rain propelled 28-year-old Sepp Straka to his first PGA Tour win—and the first triumph in tour history for an Austrian golfer.

"It's hard to take, to be honest," runner-up Shane Lowry said afterward. "It felt like I got the tournament stolen from me. ... That's as bad a break as I've ever gotten."

Lowry made sure to congratulate Straka and gave him a fist-bump in the loud scoring area when his interviews were done, so these were not sour grapes. He was only engaging in a favorite pastime of golfers the world over: lamenting the vagaries of the universe. And he wasn't wrong.

Straka, who birdied three of the final five holes in shooting four-under 66 to beat Lowry (67) by one, may have been the beneficiary of the meteorological whims, but nobody can say he didn't seize the moment.

Daniel Berger went into the fourth round with a look of invincibility, holding a five-shot lead (tied for the largest in this famously tight tournament's hisotry), and had played such steady, repetitive, error-free golf that it seemed impossible for anyone to catch him. And in fact, that was right—nobody caught him. Instead, he succumbed to the gravity of the field, and within five holes, his lead was gone. Berger, who shot 74, gamely faced the media in the aftermath of his collapse, but he was not in the mood for philosophy.

"Didn't play well, so I didn't win the golf tournament," he said. "I don't think I made a single putt today. I don't know what happened. Just didn't feel good over the putter today."

The stats bore him out. In a field of 73 players, Berger ranked 73rd in strokes gained/putting, with an abysmal -3.807 number. The trouble started early, with a double bogey on the par-5 third and two more bogeys on 5 and 6.

At that point, a story began to emerge, and the story was about Lowry as predator and Berger as prey. Lowry had fought his way into the final group with a field-best 67 on Saturday, and he said he simply wanted to put some pressure on Berger from the start. He got his wish on the first, burying a 15-foot birdie, and again on the fourth, when a laser-like approach left him a gimme birdie. Before long, Lowry held the lead, and though Berger tied him before the turn, a 13-foot birdie for Lowry on 11 followed by a Berger three-putt on 12 put him in front of his playing partner for good.

At that point, Straka was not yet in the discussion. He started out at six under, just like Lowry, but a missed two-footer on the first hole cost him a shot, and left him, in his own words, "pissed off." He responded with two straight birdies, but a back-and-forth front nine kept him well behind the leaders, and by the time he reached the 14th hole, he sat at seven under. That's when the charge began, and the putts began to drop: 10 feet for birdie on 14, and 18 feet for birdie on 16.

Coming to the final hole, the famous par 5 with the car floating on the water, he was tied for the lead. It was his good fortune that he managed to get off his drive—a 334-yard beauty down the right side of the fairway—just before the rains fell. The skies opened as he marched down the fairway, and his playing partner, Kurt Kitayama, seemed loath to hit his own second shot. Barring any lightning, though, there was no choice. Both players reached the green in two, and when Straka's 47-foot eagle putt stopped nine inches from the hole, he had the critical stroke he needed. With only Lowry and Berger threatening, he took shelter from the rain at 10 under.

His fortune in staying dry on the 18th tee wasn't shared by Lowry and Berger, who stepped up amid a downpour. Berger, at eight under, managed to keep his drive in the fairway, but Lowry, at nine under and needing a birdie, flew his drive into the left rough. Berger was forced to take dead aim from 253 yards, sent his 3-wood into the water, and Lowry hit a weak third shot to 43 feet and missed the birdie putt. Straka's victory was secure, and along with the security of tour status, he also locked down his first Masters berth.

"It's crazy," he said. "It's a lifelong dream of mine just to be heading to Augusta in a month or so. It's still surreal."

With his mother in the audience, Straka fielded questions about his background. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia and sounds fully American despite spending the first 14 years of his life in Austria. His father is Austrian (he watched the final round from home, and got a phone call from his son moments after the finish), and his American mother now lives in Valdosta, Ga. As Golf Digest’s Max Adler wrote in 2019, the parents met when his mother—who first traveled to Austria with a boyfriend, and stayed on after the relationship failed—sold a golf glove to her eventual husband in an Austrian pro shop. Sepp, whose given first name is Josef, considers himself something more than a blend.

"I have a good friend in Austria, Clemens," he said. "I used to always say that I was 50-50—50 percent Austrian, 50 percent American. He was, like, 'No, you're 100 percent Austrian and 100 percent American,' which is very accurate. I feel a connection to both countries and it's definitely split."

Straka represented Austria in last summer’s Olympics in Japan, opening with a 63 to take the lead before eventually tying for 10th.

As a child, his loyalties were initially divided between soccer and golf, and when asked about the veracity of a story that he chose golf simply because there was less moving around, he laughed.

"Well, I was a goalie so there wasn't that much going on anyways," he said. "But, yeah, my brother and I kind of made that move together. We did a summer camp, and he really decided that we were going to start playing a little more golf. That's kind of how we got into it."