FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) \u2014 Alex Smalley was right back in a position to win at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial two weeks after the third-round leader at the PGA Championship\u00a0settled for second place.
\nSmalley, still seeking his first PGA Tour victory, had one of a bevy of bogey-free 5-under 65s on Thursday and was one of 12 players a shot behind six first-round leaders.
\nLee Hodges, among those who had to sit through a two-hour weather delay during his round, finished with a bogey at the par-4 ninth. He was at 64 along with reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, Ryan Gerard, Andrew Putnam, Tom Kim and Matt McCarty, who birdied No. 9 two groups ahead of Hodges.
\nIt’s the second-most leaders after 18 holes at Colonial behind the eight atop the leaderboard in 2022.
\nKeegan Bradley, Brian Harman, Jordan Smith, Ricky Castillo and Luke Clanton matched Smalley with five birdies and no bogeys. The other six players at 5 under included 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland and eight-time tour winner Billy Horschel.
\nThere were another 13 players at 4 under, putting 31 players within two shots of the lead at Hogan’s Alley. Defending champion Ben Griffin, whose won three times last year, was 2 under.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s one of my favorite courses we play all year because I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any one person that it caters to,\u201d Hodges said. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to bomb it. You\u2019ve got to have your whole game here. I think it\u2019s a great test of golf.\u201d
\nSmalley finished three shots behind Aaron Rai at the PGA, tied with Jon Rahm after leading by two through 54 holes. The Duke alum spent the next few days focused more on travel plans for the U.S. Open and British Open than his return to Texas.
\nSmalley found that his Lone Star State vibe is still a good one. He is on a six-tournament run of finishing 21st or better. The first two were in Houston and San Antonio, followed by a tie for second in the team event in New Orleans.
\nThe PGA finish matched that career best, and Smalley finally picked up a golf club again last Thursday, then picked up where he left off at Colonial. Four of his five birdie putts were inside 5 feet, including a 134-yard approach to inside a foot at the par-4 15th.
\nColonial is tough when it’s dry and windy, but it’s neither right now in North Texas. Plenty of recent rain has been accompanied by calm winds.
\n\u201cWe would throw grass up and it was kind of coming right back down to our feet,\u201d Smalley said. \u201cSo definitely more of the scorable conditions I\u2019ve seen around here, but still not an easy golf course. To have no bogeys on the scorecard anywhere is nice, especially here.\u201d
\nKim, a South Korea native who lives in Dallas, is the closest thing to a hometown favorite with top-ranked Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth skipping Colonial for the first time since the Dallas residents became household names. Both cited busy schedules.
\nKim twice had the lead by himself at 7 under, but bogeyed the par-4 fifth and followed a birdie at the sixth hole with another bogey at No. 7, his 16th.
\nHodges went in front with five birdies in a six-hole stretch to start his back nine, but he had to punch out of the rough at No. 9 and ended up missing a long par putt.
\n\nGerard made all 17 of his putts inside 15 feet, finishing with eight birdies and two bogeys. Putnam’s bogey-free round included four birdies over his final eight holes, which were on the front nine.
\n\u201cIt was nice to get a couple putts to go in,\u201d said Gerard, whose only tour victory came at last year’s Barracuda Championship, seven years after Putnam’s only tour win at the same event. \u201cI know the stats are probably going to lean more putting, but I\u2019ve been hitting my driver really well.\u201d
\nHarman, the 2023 British Open champion playing Colonial for the 13th consecutive year and 14th time in 15 years, ran off third birdies over four holes early and had two more on the first three holes of his back nine.
\n\u201cI love playing golf in Texas, man,\u201d said Harman, who has two top 10s at Colonial. \u201cI love this weather. I like it hot. I like the course a lot. It\u2019s holding up pretty good for itself. The greens are soft and the scores are still, there\u2019s nothing crazy out there.\u201d
The post Alex Smalley Back In Position To Win At Colonial After 3rd-Round Lead At PGA Gets Away first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-29T02:07:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-29T02:07:26+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/AlexSmalleyColonial26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "24 hours", "excerpt": "FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) \u2014 Alex Smalley was right back in a position to win at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial two weeks after the third-round leader at the PGA Championship\u00a0settled for second place. Smalley, ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/blades-brown-is-going-places-in-a-hurry-the-teenager-just-isnt-sure-which-direction/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/blades-brown-is-going-places-in-a-hurry-the-teenager-just-isnt-sure-which-direction/", "title": "Blades Brown Is Going Places In A Hurry. The Teenager Just Isn\u2019t Sure Which Direction", "content_html": "\n
Blades Brown is four months removed from graduating high school and already well-schooled in golf axioms.
\n\u201cGood golf takes care of everything,\u201d Brown said.
\nThere has been plenty of good golf from the Tennessee native who turned 19 during the first round of The CJ Cup Byron Nelson last week. He celebrated with a 66 at TPC Craig Ranch,\u00a0followed with rounds of 68-65-67 and tied for 14th.
\nIt was his fourth top 20 in seven starts on the PGA Tour, and\u00a0his decision to skip college and turn pro while still in his junior year\u00a0is starting to make more sense.
\nGolf at the highest level seems to be getting younger by the minute. Brown’s route was similar to Akshay Bhatia, who turned pro when he was 17 and won on the Korn Ferry Tour just 12 days shy of his 20th birthday.\u00a0He won his first PGA Tour title a year later\u00a0and now is No. 26 in the world.
\nBrown has yet to win as a pro. What stands out are the chances he keep giving himself.
\nHe played in the final group with Scottie Scheffler and Si Woo Kim at The American Express. He had a one-shot lead on the back nine of the Puerto Rico Open. Both times, one errant shot led to a big number and ended his hopes. Brown shared the 54-hole lead on the Korn Ferry Tour until a pair of three-putt bogeys late in the final round and finished third.
\nGood golf is taking him places. He already has earned $751,728 from his seven PGA Tour starts, and $940,357 when counting money from his eight Korn Ferry Tour events.
\nHe was asked if his results vindicate his decision to turn pro in high school and he quickly replied, \u201cYeah, absolutely.\u201d
\n\u201cI know my route to the PGA Tour is a very uncommon route,\u201d Brown said. \u201cIt\u2019s mainly because of my parents. They\u2019ve been my biggest supporters. They\u2019ve sacrificed so much, especially my dad. … It’s been pretty cool, and I’m really happy with the decision I made to turn pro.\u201d
\nHis route is far from complete, and Brown now has options.
\nHis tie for 14th at the Byron Nelson earned him enough points to surpass No. 150 in the FedEx Cup last year, earning him special temporary membership. That means Brown can take unlimited sponsor exemptions the rest of the year and is no longer restricted to a limit of 12 tournaments for the season.
\nEight tournaments \u2014 two of them opposite-field events \u2014 remain that can offer him exemptions the rest of the PGA Tour regular season. Then it’s either six more Korn Ferry Tour events, or the FedEx Cup Fall. Brown would need the equivalent of 70th in last year’s FedEx Cup Fall standings to get a full PGA Tour card for 2027, and he’s 562 points away from there.
\nThat would require some seriously good golf.
\nHe also is No. 13 in points on the Korn Ferry Tour, and the top 20 earn a tour card for next year.
\nWhat to do? The first stop is Raleigh, North Carolina, this week for the next Korn Ferry Tour stop. Another one follows in South Carolina. That would seem to be the prudent path, and Brown figures the experience already has been invaluable.
\n\u201cThe Korn Ferry Tour is awesome,\u201d he said. \u201cThe cool thing that I think it\u2019s done is it\u2019s taught me to go low. I can\u2019t thank the Korn Ferry Tour enough for teaching me those valuable lessons because everybody out on the PGA Tour, they can go low.\u201d
\nHe got a glimpse of that at The American Express when he was one shot behind Kim and one shot ahead of Scheffler going to the tee at par-3 fourth. Five holes later, Brown was five shots behind Scheffler as the world No. 1 put it in overdrive.
\nThe latest example came Sunday. Brown was never in the mix as he was at PGA West, but every glance at the leaderboard showed Wyndham Clark piling up birdies until he shot 60 to win at 30-under par. Kim had a two-shot lead, shot 65 and lost by three. Tough game.
\n\u201cLook at Wyndham. Look at Scottie. Look at Si Woo \u2014 27 under is no joke,\u201d Brown said.
\nBrown is on the fast track. The Korn Ferry Tour is a tedious track.
\nJordan Spieth faced a similar situation, with far different circumstances. It was early in 2013 and the 19-year-old Texan was coming off a pair of top 10s on the Korn Ferry Tour. He had an exemption to the Puerto Rico Open. Part of him wanted to stay on the tedious track. Another part of him wanted to honor his commitment.
\n\nHe chose Puerto Rico and tied for second to get into the next PGA Tour stop, tied for seventh to get special temporary membership, and four months later won the John Deere Classic. By the end of the season, he was playing alongside Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker in the Presidents Cup.
\nThat’s the temptation. One shot, one moment can change everything in a hurry.
\nBrown concedes to being farther along than he imagined. He has goals, but mostly he just plays and \u201cit just kind of happens.\u201d
\nHe’s not sure where he’s going from here, but he’s going somewhere. Good golf does that.
The post Blades Brown Is Going Places In A Hurry. The Teenager Just Isn\u2019t Sure Which Direction first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-28T15:11:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-28T15:11:10+00:00", "author": { "name": "Doug Ferguson, AP" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BladesBrownPGAWest26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "1 day", "excerpt": "Blades Brown is four months removed from graduating high school and already well-schooled in golf axioms. \u201cGood golf takes care of everything,\u201d Brown said. There has been plenty of good golf from the Tennessee native who ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/doral-to-move-back-to-the-florida-swing-in-march-as-part-of-pga-tour-reshuffle/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/doral-to-move-back-to-the-florida-swing-in-march-as-part-of-pga-tour-reshuffle/", "title": "Doral To Move Back To The Florida Swing In March As Part Of PGA Tour Reshuffle", "content_html": "\n
The Cadillac Championship\u00a0at Doral\u00a0is getting its old spot on the schedule, moving back to March next year as part of a reshuffle on the Florida swing that moves the Valspar Championship to early May.
\nThe change also puts the Arnold Palmer Invitational a week after The Players Championship for the first time, leaving a three-week gap between The Players and the Masters.
\nThe Cadillac Championship returned to\u00a0the PGA Tour\u00a0schedule this year at Trump Doral for the first time since 2016 and had an awkward spot on the schedule. It was held the first weekend in May under humid conditions and a smaller crowd than when LIV Golf played at Doral. Several players skipped as it preceded another signature event and then the PGA Championship.
\nFor decades \u2014 before the advent of World Golf Championships or even signature events \u2014 Doral led off the Florida swing and perceived as the start of the road to the Masters.
\nBut putting it back in the Florida swing meant something had to move. That turned out to be the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook in the Tampa Bay area, which usually attracted a reasonable field despite coming after four big events in a five-week stretch.
\nIt will be held May 6-9, the first time it ends on a May date since 2021 when the Match Play Championship was still on the schedule.
\n\u201cI think there’s a lot of positives,\u201d tournament director Tracy West said Tuesday. \u201cWe’re not on spring break. We’ve got three things we can rally around. We’re already the most colorful tournament. We have May 4th, Cinco de Mayo and Mother’s Day.\u201d
\nWest said the tournament likely will pick up more local sponsorship. She also said there could be a shortage in volunteers as the part-time residents head back to northern homes. But the weather is typically warm without being stifling and too early in the year to be humid and sticky.
\nIt also beats the alternative \u2014 the Florida swing starts with the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches on March 25-28. That date on the schedule is immediately after a run of events that goes from Pebble Beach to the Phoenix to Riviera, and it precedes Doral, The Players and Bay Hill.
\nBay Hill has been held the third full week in March previously, but that was when The Players Championship had moved to May.
\nThis will be the first time it follows the tour’s signature event at the TPC Sawgrass. Bay Hill this year was held March 5-8.
\nThe 2027 schedule is now set through the PGA Championship on May 20-23 in Frisco, Texas.
\nOther changes include moving The CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Dallas to April 29-May 2, instead of being back-to-back with neighboring Colonial as it was this year. Scottie Scheffler and Jordan Spieth are both missing Colonial for the first time.
\n\nThe schedule will go from Dallas to Tampa, following by the signature event Truist Championship at Quail Hollow and the PGA Championship.
\nThe changes have no bearing on 2028, the earliest the PGA Tour can overhaul a new schedule that aims to have two tracks \u2014 one with signature events for the elite, and another track that will essentially be a proving ground to get back to the top.
\nPGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp is to give an update on those plans a week after the U.S. Open.
The post Doral To Move Back To The Florida Swing In March As Part Of PGA Tour Reshuffle first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-26T19:02:59+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-26T19:02:59+00:00", "author": { "name": "Doug Ferguson, AP" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CamYoungDoralR126.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "3 days", "excerpt": "The Cadillac Championship\u00a0at Doral\u00a0is getting its old spot on the schedule, moving back to March next year as part of a reshuffle on the Florida swing that moves the Valspar Championship to early May. The change ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/end-of-an-era-at-firestone-as-senior-players-championship-moves-to-california/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/end-of-an-era-at-firestone-as-senior-players-championship-moves-to-california/", "title": "End Of An Era At Firestone As Senior Players Championship Moves To California", "content_html": "\n
At a time of big changes\u00a0in golf, one development on the senior circuit should not go unnoticed. The Senior Players Championship is moving to California, which likely spells the end of 72 years of PGA Tour presence at Firestone Country Club.
\nHealthcare company Hoag is taking over as title sponsor of the Senior Players and moving it from Firestone to Newport Beach Country Club, which has hosted the Hoag Classic since 1996. It will be played March 25-28 instead of a summer date.
\nThat leaves Firestone without a tournament for the first time since the Rubber City Open in 1954.
\nFirestone opened in 1929 as a park for employees of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. It landed the 1960 PGA Championship, which inspired the American Golf Classic from 1961 to 1976. The PGA Championship returned in 1966 and 1975.
\nFirestone also hosted the first big-money event in 1962, the World Series of Golf, for the four major champions of the year. Jack Nicklaus, the 22-year-old U.S. Open champion, won $50,000 (he won $17,500 that year for the U.S. Open).
\nThe World Series of Golf became part of the PGA Tour schedule in 1976 (Nicklaus won again), and it became a World Golf Championship in 1999. Tiger Woods won a record eight times. Over 11 straight visits to Firestone starting in 1997, Woods won seven times and never finished worse than fifth.
\nThe one year the WGC went to Sahalee outside Seattle in 2002, Firestone hosted the Senior PGA Championship.
\nJustin Thomas won the final WGC at Firestone in 2018 before it moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and the Senior Players Championship took over in 2019. And now it’s leaving.
\nRiviera Country Club will have a new structure in time for the U.S. Women\u2019s Open next week, a bench weighing more than 10,000 pounds and incorporating 40% of the preserved root system from a eucalyptus tree that came down during the 2025 wildfires.
\nThe course and the clubhouse were spared from the Pacific Palisades fires, though the historic tree on the 15th hole came down. It had been planted in the early 1930s and was part of nearly all of Riviera\u2019s history.
\n\u201cI felt it was important to honor what was lost, and what our community endured, by creating something lasting and meaningful,\u201d Megan Watanabe, the CEO at Riviera, said in a letter to members.
\nRiviera commissioned artist Taylor Donsker to transform the fallen tree into a circular bench next to the tee on the par-3 14th as a place to pause, reflect and soak up the view.
\n\u201cThis bench is dedicated to the Riviera members who faced this time with strength, unity and resilience,\u201d Watanabe said. \u201cIt stands as a reminder of our shared roots and how we move forward together, with gratitude for the past and the resilience of our community, as we look toward the club\u2019s next 100 years.\u201d
\nRiviera is celebrating its centennial by hosting the Women\u2019s Open for the first time. The Olympics will be held at Riviera in 1928, followed by the U.S. Open in 1931.
\nThe PGA of America waited until 5:01 p.m. of Memorial Day weekend to finally say it has suspended Don Rea as president for his final six months of his two-year term. It was a classic news dump and barely news.
\nRea already has been moved aside in February, giving up his seat on the PGA Tour board to the vice president, Nathan Charnes, in February. The PGA of America said Rea\u2019s responsibilities had shifted to PGA member priorities. He wasn\u2019t visible during the PGA Championship two weeks ago.
\nRea first raised eyebrows when he was asked during a press conference at the 2025 PGA Championship his opinion on bifurcation. \u201cThere is no personal opinion. I\u2019m the president of the PGA of America, right? I\u2019ve got 31,000 members that are listening to my every word.\u201d
\nFar more infamous was his response to the vulgar heckling Rory McIlroy and Team Europe faced in the Ryder Cup last September at Bethpage Black. He compared it with what could be heard at a youth soccer game and said American players also get jeered at away matches. He later apologized.
\nCharnes is now acting president and already in line to become the next president in November.
\nGary Woodland was No. 139 in the world when he won the Houston Open, his first since he had brain surgery in September 2023. It also paved the way for him to return to the British Open.
\nWoodland is at No. 47 this week. He is among 11 players exempt for the British Open through top 50 in the world ranking. The others are Patrick Reed, Kurt Kitayama, Min Woo Lee, Ryan Gerard, Rickie Fowler, Jake Knapp, Jason Day, Alex Smalley, Michael Kim and Matt McCarty.
\nThe Memorial will offer one British Open spot and the Canadian Open offers three spots. The British Open also will take the leading five players not already exempt from the top 20 in the FedEx Cup through the Travelers Championship.
\nSi Woo Kim is playing some of his best golf without a trophy to show for it.
\nKim has played in the final group twice this year, both times with Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler rallied to beat him at The American Express, while Kim and Scheffler were overtaken by Wyndham Clark in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson last week.
\nKim was in the penultimate group Sunday at Torrey Pines and Phoenix. He has two runner-up finishes, twice has finished third and has seven top 10s in 15 tournaments.
\nIt adds to $6,040,361, the first time in his career Kim has gone over the $6 million mark for a season, and he still has three full months remaining.
\n\u201cI think if I keep knocking on the door, something is coming,\u201d Kim said. \u201cI can feel it. I played great. I think it’s pretty much best play I’ve ever had. I’m a little frustrated, but nothing I can do.\u201d
\nAuburn junior Jackson Koivun has won the Ben Hogan Award, the third college player to win the award twice. He won the Hogan Award as a freshman in 2024 and was a finalist last year, losing out to Luke Clanton.
\nThe vote announced Monday night in Fort Worth, Texas, was not a big surprise. Koivun is the No. 1 player in the world amateur ranking, a winner of six college events this spring including three in a row culminating with his third straight SEC title. Koivun, who had a 67.97 scoring average in college tournaments, had four top-12 finishes in five PGA Tour events.
\nThe other two-time winners of the Ben Hogan Award were Jon Rahm and Ludvig Aberg.
\n\nRyan Hybl is leaving Oklahoma after 17 years and one NCAA title (in 2017) to take over as golf coach at Georgia Tech. Hybl replaces Bruce Heppler, who has retired after 31 years with the Yellow Jackets. … Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma, has been awarded the 2044 U.S. Amateur, the 2029 U.S. Girls’ Junior and the 2036 U.S. Mid-Amateur. That brings to eight the number of USGA championships held at Southern Hills. … The Nexo Championship is back on the European tour schedule this year. It will be Aug. 20-23 at Trump International in Aberdeen, Scotland.
\nScheffler had only one 5 on his scorecard over four rounds at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. He still finished five shots behind Clark.
\n\u201cMy plans are just to play golf. I\u2019ll play so much golf, I\u2019m going to be sick and tired of golf.\u201d \u2014 Scott Hend after winning on the PGA Tour Champions to be fully exempt into all tournaments.
The post End Of An Era At Firestone As Senior Players Championship Moves To California first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-26T19:00:26+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-26T19:00:26+00:00", "author": { "name": "Doug Ferguson, AP" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/TigerFirestone11.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "3 days", "excerpt": "At a time of big changes\u00a0in golf, one development on the senior circuit should not go unnoticed. The Senior Players Championship is moving to California, which likely spells the end of 72 years of PGA Tour ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/19-year-old-blades-brown-earns-special-pga-tour-status-with-tie-for-14th-at-byron-nelson/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/19-year-old-blades-brown-earns-special-pga-tour-status-with-tie-for-14th-at-byron-nelson/", "title": "19-Year-Old Blades Brown Earns Special PGA Tour Status With Tie For 14th At Byron Nelson", "content_html": "\nMcKINNEY, Texas (AP) \u2014 Blades Brown earned unlimited sponsor exemptions for the rest of the PGA Tour season when the 19-year-old tied for 14th at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Sunday.
\nBrown needed a finish at least as high as alone in 21st place to qualify for what’s called special temporary membership. He shot 4-under 67 in the final round at TPC Craig Ranch and finished at 18 under.
\nAfter graduating from high school in January, Brown was in the final group with Scottie Scheffler and Si Woo Kim in The American Express that same month. He faded late on the back nine and tied for 18th.
\nBrown \u2014 from Nashville, Tennessee \u2014 also had the lead on the back nine at the Puerto Rico Open before taking a triple bogey from the water and finishing third.
\nAfter turning pro last year, Brown \u2014 whose mother, Rhonda Blades, played in the WNBA \u2014 is 13th in Korn Ferry Tour points and can earn a PGA Tour card for next year with a top-20 finish.
\nThere are eight potential PGA Tour events Brown could play, along with a Korn Ferry schedule. It\u2019s likely he will do both.
\n\u201cI know my route to the PGA Tour is a very uncommon route,\u201d Brown said after finishing the Nelson. \u201cIt\u2019s mainly because of my parents. They\u2019ve been my biggest supporters. I think (my dad has) missed about two events in my entire life, and he believed in me whenever I didn\u2019t believe in myself.\u201d
The post 19-Year-Old Blades Brown Earns Special PGA Tour Status With Tie For 14th At Byron Nelson first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-26T16:06:28+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-26T16:23:48+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BladesBrownPGAWest26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "3 days", "excerpt": "McKINNEY, Texas (AP) \u2014 Blades Brown earned unlimited sponsor exemptions for the rest of the PGA Tour season when the 19-year-old tied for 14th at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Sunday. Brown needed a finish ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/wyndham-clark-shoots-60-to-win-byron-nelson-pulling-away-from-si-woo-kim-and-scottie-scheffler/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/wyndham-clark-shoots-60-to-win-byron-nelson-pulling-away-from-si-woo-kim-and-scottie-scheffler/", "title": "Wyndham Clark Shoots 60 To Win Byron Nelson, Pulling Away From Si Woo Kim And Scottie Scheffler", "content_html": "\n
McKINNEY, Texas (AP) \u2014 Wyndham Clark’s come-from-behind win at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson was pretty much in hand when he decided to aim for the pin anyway on the final hole.
\nAfter that approach shot inside 3 feet, he became the first PGA Tour player to win twice with a closing 60.
\nThe 2023 U.S. Open champion shot 11 under on Sunday, overtaking Si Woo Kim by three and pulling away from defending champion Scottie Scheffler after starting the day tied with the top-ranked hometown favorite.
\nClark didn’t know he was shooting a closing 60 for the win the first time he did it, in 2024 at Pebble Beach. There was supposed to be a final round the next day, but it was wiped out by weather. Clark was declared the winner when officials decided not to play Monday.
\nOne other difference came to mind for Clark, who shot 30-under 254 and had a 28 on the back nine at the revamped but still vulnerable TPC Craig Ranch, about 30 miles north of Dallas.
\nTwo years ago, Clark had an eagle putt for 59 on the iconic 18th green at Pebble Beach but settled for birdie. This time \u2014 in his first victory since then \u2014 Clark closed with four birdies over five holes, including that short capper at 18.
\nClark’s ninth birdie matched Kim\u2019s 60 from the second round when the 30-year-old\u00a0South Korean was in position to shoot 59\u00a0but bogeyed the final hole. Kim, who started the final round with a two-stroke lead, shot 65 to finish 27 under.
\n\u201cI look at Pebble, it was amazing, but that one, I was so close to shooting 59. At that golf course, that would have been just epic,\u201d Clark said after his fourth PGA Tour win. \u201cThis one, really 59 wasn\u2019t necessarily in the cards. I\u2019m just really proud of myself that I didn\u2019t waver and I didn\u2019t sit back and just try to hit to 20 feet and kind of leak my way in there. I was still very aggressive.\u201d
\nDespite the addition of bunkers and significant changes to the contour of the greens on the Lanny Wadkins-led redesign, Clark was just one shot off Scheffler’s winning score of a year ago. Scheffler’s 31 under tied the tour’s 72-hole scoring record of 253.
\n\u201cI felt pretty comfortable, but I knew I had to put the pedal to the metal and keep making birdies,\u201d Clark said. \u201cI made more than I thought I was going to make, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d
\nClark went in front for the first time in the final round with an eagle at the par-5 12th and twice took two-shot leads with clutch birdie putts over the final four holes.
\nThe 32-year-old had an emphatic first pump after his 45-foot birdie putt at the par-3 15th. Clark was a little more reserved, but pumping a fist nonetheless after another birdie 2, this one at the No. 17 stadium hole.
\nA few minutes after Clark’s long putt at 15, Kim was a shot behind when his 44-footer on the same hole slid by the right side of the cup. The deficit was two when Kim couldn’t match Clark’s birdie at 17.
\n\u201cI think if I keep knocking on the door, something\u2019s coming,\u201d said Kim, a four-time tour winner looking for his first victory since 2023 at Waialae. \u201cI think it\u2019s pretty much best play golf I\u2019ve ever had. I\u2019m a little frustrated, but nothing I can do. Wyndham played so good.\u201d
\nScheffler, who matched Kim’s 65 and was 25 under, briefly was tied for the lead on Saturday, but never caught Kim \u2014 his partner in the final pairing \u2014 or Clark one group ahead after the second hole in the final round.
\nThe four-time major winner was two shots behind Kim and Clark at the short par-4 sixth when his second shot hit the pin and spun away after it bounced, ending up 54 feet away. Scheffler settled for par on a hole Kim and Clark birdied.
\nJackson Suber was a career-best fourth, shooting 63 to finish 23 under. Keith Mitchell shot 64 and was a stroke back in fifth.
\nBrooks Koepka, still looking for his first win since rejoining the PGA Tour from LIV Golf, shot 68.
\n\nJordan Spieth, the other hometown favorite alongside Scheffler, bounced back with a 66 and finished 15 under a day after fading from contention with a 73.
\nScheffler almost became the only PGA Tour player since at least 1983 to go an entire tournament without a score of 5 or higher. That ended with his par 5 on 12, when he went bunker to bunker with his first two shots and missed a 12-foot birdie putt. It was his only 5.
\n\u201cNo,\u201d Scheffler said when asked if he was aware. \u201cBut you know around this place, what did Wyndham finish out, around 30 under? If you\u2019re going to play 30 under, you can\u2019t be making too many 5s.\u201d
The post Wyndham Clark Shoots 60 To Win Byron Nelson, Pulling Away From Si Woo Kim And Scottie Scheffler first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-26T15:53:19+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-26T16:23:09+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/WyndhamClarkByron26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "3 days", "excerpt": "McKINNEY, Texas (AP) \u2014 Wyndham Clark’s come-from-behind win at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson was pretty much in hand when he decided to aim for the pin anyway on the final hole. After that approach shot ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/brooks-koepka-leads-the-byron-nelson-with-scottie-scheffler-lurking-in-his-hometown-event/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/brooks-koepka-leads-the-byron-nelson-with-scottie-scheffler-lurking-in-his-hometown-event/", "title": "Brooks Koepka Leads The Byron Nelson, With Scottie Scheffler Lurking In His Hometown Event", "content_html": "\n
McKINNEY, Texas (AP) \u2014 Scottie Scheffler won’t be the wire-to-wire winner of his hometown CJ Cup Byron Nelson again this year.
\nFor now, the world’s top-ranked player is chasing a leaderboard that includes Brooks Koepka, the five-time major champion\u00a0looking for his first victory\u00a0since\u00a0returning to the PGA Tour\u00a0from LIV Golf.
\nKoepka shot an 8-under 63 on Thursday and trailed first-round leader Taylor Moore by one at the revamped TPC Craig Ranch, with Scheffler at 66 while playing with Koepka and Si Woo Kim, one of seven players at 64.
\n\u201cI felt like I was getting lapped out there for a little bit,\u201d said Scheffler, who led from the start of last year’s Nelson and\u00a0won by eight shots at 31 under\u00a0while tying the tour’s 72-hole scoring record at 253. \u201cSo I was fortunate to make a couple birdies late in the round and keep myself in the tournament.\u201d
\nMoore, whose only win in his first 128 tour starts came at the 2023 Valspar Championship, made a 14-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the par-5 ninth to finish the best round of his tour career.
\nThe Texas native and Oklahoma resident leads Koepka and Jesper Svensson, who had a chance to join Moore atop the leaderboard but missed a 9-footer on the ninth.
\nKim \u2014 the highest-ranked player in the field behind Scheffler at No. 24 \u2014 had the only bogey in the threesome, on his 16th hole at the par-3 seventh.
\nOne of several countrymen in the event sponsored by South Korean conglomerate CJ Group, Kim closed the gap on Koepka with a birdie at the ninth while Koepka settled for par.
\nEmiliano Grillo, Keith Mitchell, Stephan Jaeger, Michael Thorbjornsen, Tyler Duncan and Kensei Hirata were tied with Kim. Doug Ghim was at 65 with Mackenzie Hughes, Hank Lebioda, Austin Eckroat and Lanto Griffin.
\nKoepka, who contended at last week’s PGA Championship before fading Sunday, eagled the par-5 12th and was 4 under through five holes. He had four more birdies in a span of five holes in his back nine, capped by a 3-foot birdie putt on the short par-4 sixth.
\nKim had four birdies on the front and four more on the back while Scheffler was lagging at 2 under before getting birdies on three of his final five holes.
\n\u201cIt was just a comfortable group,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cEveryone is just kind of feeding off each other, easy. Everyone\u2019s having fun. Makes it enjoyable. I feel comfortable on the golf course as well.\u201d
\nEven though he hardly recognizes parts of it.
\nKoepka last played at TPC Craig Ranch in 2021, the year before he bolted for LIV. The sixth Nelson at the par-71 layout about 30 miles north of Dallas was the debut of a Lanny Wadkins-led redesign that cost nearly $25 million and added bunkers everywhere and overhauled the greens with mounds and ridges.
\n\u201cThe greens are totally different than when we played,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cThat\u2019s obviously the biggest thing. Off the tee it looks pretty good. Place hasn\u2019t changed too much. It\u2019s familiar. I like it.\u201d
\n\nKoepka was a regular at the Nelson a decade ago, including a runner-up finish in 2016 when he lost to Sergio Garcia in a playoff. The 36-year-old also has a little CJ Cup history. He rose to No. 1 in the world with a victory when the event was in South Korea in 2018.
\nThe title sponsorship moved to the U.S. after the COVID-19 pandemic and has been associated with the Nelson since 2024.
\nThe move to LIV forced Koepka to put aside things such as the world ranking, and now he’s dealing with stipulations he had to agree to in order to rejoin the PGA Tour. Among them is not being exempt for the $20 million signature events, even though he won a major \u2014 the 2023 PGA \u2014 while with LIV.
\n\u201cI think there\u2019s such a huge difference right now of trying to get into signature events, on my way back, coming back to the tour,\u201d Koepka said. \u201c(Winning) would be a big confidence boost for sure because I feel like I\u2019ve been playing well. I feel like I\u2019m knocking on the door, and I\u2019m very, very close.\u201d
The post Brooks Koepka Leads The Byron Nelson, With Scottie Scheffler Lurking In His Hometown Event first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-21T21:15:55+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-22T03:03:45+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BrooksByron26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "1 week", "excerpt": "McKINNEY, Texas (AP) \u2014 Scottie Scheffler won’t be the wire-to-wire winner of his hometown CJ Cup Byron Nelson again this year. For now, the world’s top-ranked player is chasing a leaderboard that includes Brooks Koepka, the ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/brooks-koepka-enjoys-grind-in-his-pga-tour-return-from-liv-and-calls-every-week-a-fresh-start/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/brooks-koepka-enjoys-grind-in-his-pga-tour-return-from-liv-and-calls-every-week-a-fresh-start/", "title": "Brooks Koepka Enjoys Grind In His PGA Tour Return From LIV And Calls Every Week A Fresh Start", "content_html": "\n
McKINNEY, Texas (AP) \u2014 Brooks Koepka is enjoying the grind in his\u00a0return to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf, and he feels like he has to take advantage of every opportunity.
\nKoepka is playing in his third consecutive tournament\u00a0this week at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, an event that most of the game’s top players are skipping coming off the PGA Championship.
\n\u201cEvery week is a new fresh start for me,\u201d Koepka said Wednesday, a day before teeing off in a group with hometown favorite Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player and\u00a0defending Nelson champion. \u201cObviously with my penalty I\u2019m not allowed to play every event, and if I get the chance to tee up, I want to play.\u201d
\nNearly four years after being one of the biggest names to sign a financially lucrative deal with the Saudi-funded LIV tour \u2014 his was for more than $100 million \u2014 the five-time major champion is\u00a0back on the PGA Tour this year\u00a0with some restrictions. He will not receive FedEx Cup bonus money this season, and he can’t play in any of the signature events unless he earns his way in. The Nelson isn’t one of those $20 million events.
\n\u201cI\u2019ve kind of fallen back in love with this,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cI\u2019m enjoying the grind. I\u2019m enjoying battling it out here. Yeah, it\u2019s just a newfound love, a newfound passion for the game, and something that I\u2019m really, really enjoying being back on the road and grinding it out and trying to find it in the dirt.\u201d
\nThe 36-year-old Koepka, now ranked 111th, has made the cut in seven of his 10 tournaments. He returned at Torrey Pines at the end of January. His only top-10 finish was a tie for ninth at the Cognizant Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, but he did tie for 13th at The Players Championship and 12th at the Masters.
\nThis is only the second time this season he plays three weeks in a row. He tied for 55th at the\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0after a closing 4-over 74.
\nWhile he has changed putters this week going into the Nelson, Koepka feels good about the state of his game.
\n\u201cI\u2019m driving the ball fantastic. I feel like I\u2019m in complete control,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m in complete control of my golf ball. Shape, spin, trajectory, everything seems to be right where I need it to be. It\u2019s just a matter of rolling those putts in.\u201d
The post Brooks Koepka Enjoys Grind In His PGA Tour Return From LIV And Calls Every Week A Fresh Start first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-21T16:00:32+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-21T16:00:32+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/BrooksTorrey26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "1 week", "excerpt": "McKINNEY, Texas (AP) \u2014 Brooks Koepka is enjoying the grind in his\u00a0return to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf, and he feels like he has to take advantage of every opportunity. Koepka is playing in his ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/jim-furyk-and-keegan-bradley-added-as-assistant-captains-for-presidents-cup/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/jim-furyk-and-keegan-bradley-added-as-assistant-captains-for-presidents-cup/", "title": "Jim Furyk And Keegan Bradley Added As Assistant Captains For Presidents Cup", "content_html": "\n
MEDINAH, Ill. (AP) \u2014 Jim Furyk and Keegan Bradley were appointed assistant captains for the Presidents Cup on Wednesday, giving skipper Brandt Snedeker the current and most recent U.S. Ryder Cup captains help at Medinah this September.
\nFuryk was the last Presidents Cup team captain that won, which came in 2024 at Royal Montreal, and\u00a0he was appointed Ryder Cup captain\u00a0last month. Bradley, who played in the last Presidents Cup, was\u00a0the losing Ryder Cup captain at Bethpage Black\u00a0in 2025.
\n\u201cBoth guys have incredible experience as leaders representing the United States and they’ve each earned the respect of players across generations,\u201d Snedeker said.
\nSnedeker,\u00a0who won the Myrtle Beach Classic\u00a0two weeks ago at age 45, still has two more assistants to appoint ahead of the Sept. 24-27 matches at Medinah Country Club. The Americans have lost the Presidents Cup only once, in 1998, since it began in 1994 against an International team of players from everywhere but Europe.
The post Jim Furyk And Keegan Bradley Added As Assistant Captains For Presidents Cup first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-21T15:57:40+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-22T11:06:07+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/FurykRyderCup18.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "1 week", "excerpt": "MEDINAH, Ill. (AP) \u2014 Jim Furyk and Keegan Bradley were appointed assistant captains for the Presidents Cup on Wednesday, giving skipper Brandt Snedeker the current and most recent U.S. Ryder Cup captains help at Medinah this ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/golf-notes-keeping-track-of-liv-players-in-the-majors-is-starting-to-get-old/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/golf-notes-keeping-track-of-liv-players-in-the-majors-is-starting-to-get-old/", "title": "Golf Notes: Keeping Track Of LIV Players In The Majors Is Starting To Get Old", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 The PGA Championship was the 16th major since the launch of LIV Golf, and keeping score of those players’ results is starting to get old.
\nJon Rahm barely made the cut at the Masters. And then he was a\u00a0runner-up at the PGA Championship, both results leading to unfounded speculation about whether the rival league with shotgun starts and the golf courses is affecting his play.
\nTyrrell Hatton tied for third at the Masters. He missed the cut at PGA Championship. And then there’s Bryson DeChambeau, who missed the cut at both majors this year.
\nAlso missing the\u00a0cut at the PGA Championship\u00a0\u2014 FedEx Cup champion Tommy Fleetwood, Robert MacIntyre and Russell Henley.
\nCameron Smith had missed the cut in six consecutive majors. He went to a new swing coach recently, Claude Harmon, because he felt he was getting nothing out of hard work. Smith had a chance late at Aronimink until\u00a0Aaron Rai pulled away.
\nBy the sound of it, the Australian is excited for the U.S. Open.
\n\u201cIt feels great to play nice. You don\u2019t work hard to play crap, and it\u2019s frustrating, and the last couple of years have been frustrating. I feel like I\u2019ve been putting in the work and not really getting anything out of it,\u201d Smith said. \u201cEven out there today, under the pressure I felt like I was able to trust it already. So lots of positive signs.\u201d
\nRahm was asked on Saturday, when he was two shots out of the lead, what winning would mean to LIV Golf now that its\u00a0Saudi funding is ending after this season.
\n\u201cHonestly, in a week like this, I\u2019m thinking more about myself,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to take on anything outside what I can control when it comes to competing tomorrow.\u201d
\nThe Korn Ferry Tour has broken new ground in golf with a published listing of how long it takes to hit shots relative to the field average for a tournament and for the season.
\nThe data for \u201caverage stroke time\u201d was posted to the PGA Tour\u2019s website after last week\u2019s Colonial Life Charity Classic. It provides an overall speed of play, with how long a player takes off the tee, with his approach, around the green and putting.
\n\u201cThe publishing of the AST data on the Korn Ferry Tour is an opportunity to provide greater context around a player\u2019s pace of play and the various factors that may impact it during any given tournament,\u201d Korn Ferry Tour President Alex Baldwin said.
\nMitchell Meissner said he considers himself to be a quick player and he was 17th at 4.815 seconds below the field average.
\n\u201cThere was definitely some interest in comparing my timing data to the data of my buddies,\u201d Meissner said. \u201cI hope the fans will be surprised by how quickly the majority of us play, especially considering all the necessary decisions it takes to play one shot and the significant consequences at stake out here.\u201d
\nNicholas Infanti led the Korn Ferry with an average overall time of 12.226 seconds below the field average. Ian Gilligan was last (No. 129) at 9.097 seconds above the field average.
\nMarco Penge, second in the Race to Dubai on the European tour to earn a PGA Tour card, is stepping away to attend to his health. He announced his decision on social media after missing the cut at the PGA Championship.
\nPenge had said leading up to the PGA that he had an MRI after suffering from a sinus infection and vertigo symptoms. He also had a viral infection at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai last November when he was chasing Rory McIlroy for the season title.
\n\u201cThis week didn\u2019t go to the way I wanted to but that\u2019s golf,\u201d Penge wrote on social media over the weekend. \u201cMoving forward, I have decided that I am going to take some time off to get my health back to where it needs to be. Thank you for your support as always! I\u2019ll be back soon!\u201d
\nHis best finish this year was a tie for fourth in the Valspar Championship.
\nPenge said he would be back when he felt fit and healthy.
\n\u201cThat could be in two weeks or two months, I don\u2019t know right now,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I\u2019m hoping for the U.S. Open. Sooner the better!\u201d
\nAuburn junior Jackson Koivun, Oklahoma State junior Preston Stout and Virginia senior Ben James are the finalists for the Ben Hogan Award, awarded to the best college golfer based on his college, amateur and professional events over the last 12 months.
\nKoivun is a heavy favorite to join Jon Rahm (Arizona State) and Ludvig Aberg (Texas Tech) as the only two-time winners of the award. He also won the award as a freshman.
\nAlong with six college wins this spring, Koivun has a pair of top-5 finishes on the PGA Tour and is No. 1 in the world amateur ranking.
\nStout, who is playing The CJ Cup Byron Nelson this week, became the first player to win three straight Big 12 Conference titles. James is No. 3 in the world amateur ranking and leads the PGA Tour University ranking.
\nThe winner will be announced May 25 at a black-tie dinner at the TCU Legends Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
\nWeeks around the majors are a reminder of how global the game of golf has become.
\nMikael Lindberg of Sweden and Casey Jarvis of South Africa are among seven players in the Soudal Open in Belgium who were in Philadelphia last week for the PGA Championship. That list includes Thomas Detry, who missed the cut and had a stopover in England for a\u00a0U.S. Open qualifier.
\nAlso in Belgium is Caleb Surratt, who was in Dallas on Monday to get the final spot in a U.S. Open qualifier. He is joined in Belgium by Eugenio Chacarra and Josele Ballester, who also were in Dallas and failed to qualify.
\nAbraham Ancer missed out in qualifying in Dallas, and he\u2019s in South Korea for the start of the Korea Open (where the leading player gets into the British Open).
\nStanford senior Kelly Xu will cap off her college career with her first appearance in the Curtis Cup.
\nXu joined Kary Hollenbaugh, Jasmine Koo and Avery Weed as the final four additions to the eight-player American team that will play Great Britain and Ireland at Bel-Air Country Club in Los Angeles on June 12-14.
\nGB&I has not won the Curtis Cup on the road since it was held at The Honors Course in Tennessee in 1994.
\nThe American team previously announced top-ranked amateur Kiara Romero, 17-year-old Asterisk Talley, Farah O\u2019Keefe and Anna Davis. Davis, Koo and Talley will be making their second appearance.
\nXu, a 21-year-old senior, played on Stanford\u2019s NCAA title team and played in the Palmer Cup in 2024. She also was an inaugural winner of the Drive, Chip and Putt competition at Augusta National.
\nAaron Rai became the first player in the PGA Championship since it went to stroke play in 1958 to improve his score after each round (70-69-67-65). It has happened only seven previous times in the majors, most recently by Mark O\u2019Meara in the Masters in 1998. … CBS announcer Jim Nantz has been selected to receive the Donald Award Ross from the American Society of Golf Course Architects for significant contributions to the game and golf course architecture. … Golf Australia announced a partnership with Capital.com to become title sponsor of the Australian Open, which will be played this year at Kingston Heath with Masters champion Rory McIlroy returning to play.
\n\nAmericans have not won either of the two majors to start the season for the first time since 2013, when Adam Scott (Australia) won the Masters and Justin Rose (England) won the U.S. Open.
\n\u201cIt was a true major championship setup in terms of how difficult it was, how penalizing it was, but it also rewarded you for good play.\u201d \u2014 Aaron Rai on Aronimink.
The post Golf Notes: Keeping Track Of LIV Players In The Majors Is Starting To Get Old first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-19T23:27:22+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-19T23:27:22+00:00", "author": { "name": "Doug Ferguson, AP" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/JonRahmPGA26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "1 week", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 The PGA Championship was the 16th major since the launch of LIV Golf, and keeping score of those players’ results is starting to get old. Jon Rahm barely made the cut ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/aaron-rai-a-surprise-major-winner-only-by-name-as-pga-championship-lives-up-to-major-reputation/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/aaron-rai-a-surprise-major-winner-only-by-name-as-pga-championship-lives-up-to-major-reputation/", "title": "Aaron Rai A Surprise Major Winner Only By Name As PGA Championship Lives Up To Major Reputation", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 The\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0once used a slogan that only illustrated an identity crisis of a major often looked upon as the fourth of four.
\n\u201cThis is major,” it said, as if anyone should need a reminder.
\nThe 108th edition was every bit of a major, right down to\u00a0Aaron Rai joining a list of surprise winners\u00a0that speaks to the beautiful meritocracy in the game, and the shots he produced that will become part of PGA Championship lore.
\nMost memorable was a\u00a0putt\u00a0that determined only the margin of victory, just inside 70 feet across the par-3 17th green that Rai later said he was only trying to get close. The pace was perfect.
\n\u201cAmazing to see that one go in,\u201d Rai said.
\nNo matter. It was an exclamation point, a shot that will get replayed as often as\u00a0Shaun Micheel hitting 7-iron to 2 inches on the final hole at Oak Hill; Justin Thomas driving the par-4 17th green at Southern Hills in a playoff;\u00a0Collin Morikawa hitting driver to 7 feet\u00a0on the par-4 16th at Harding Park for the decisive shot in his first major title.
\nNot to be overlooked is Tiger Woods making that 6-foot par putt at Valhalla on the 72nd hole in 2000. He often refers to it as the most important putt of his career. And he made a lot of them.
\nIt’s a long list, and every major has them.
\nThat so many exceptional shots came from Rai, a 31-year-old who had never so much as contended in a major, is irrelevant.
\nEvery major has surprise winners. Turn the page back one year to Oakmont to find\u00a0J.J. Spaun making a 65-foot birdie putt\u00a0\u2014 another major memory \u2014 to clinch the U.S. Open. It was only his second victory.
\nWhat added to the surprise of Rai was the cast of contenders he left in his wake.
\nSunday at Aronimink featured 22 players within four shots of the lead, the most ever since the PGA Championship went to stroke play in 1958. That included eight major champions, another record for the PGA and the most for any major since the 2015 British Open at St. Andrews.
\nJon Rahm had a chance\u00a0and simply couldn’t get it close enough for a reasonable look at birdie, or he missed the putt when he did.
\n\u201cNot an easy task over here on these greens,\u201d Rahm said.
\nNo need telling that to\u00a0Scottie Scheffler, who struggled all weekend to make short putts. He twice missed par putts from 3 feet on the back nine that summed up his week, his first finish out of the top 10 since the 2024 U.S. Open.
\nRory McIlroy\u00a0thinks back on three holes \u2014 his failure to birdie the par-5 ninth and the par-5 16th, and a big miss in his biggest moment. He was two shots behind playing the par-4 13th, 299 yards to a back pin. McIlroy sent it so far right it was in deep rough along the 15th fairway. A birdie to get within one shot became a bogey that all but ended his best chance.
\nXander Schauffele went from the front bunker over the 13th green, took two shots to get it up the slope to the putting surface and had to make a 15-foot putt for bogey. That was it for him, too.
\nRai didn’t miss a fairway on the back except for the 13th \u2014 the front bunker that he converted for a birdie \u2014 and didn’t really miss an approach shot after the 10th hole.
\nThis is the hallmark of someone who wins a major. It was beautiful golf, and Rai delivered some beautiful remarks after he summoned enough strength to lift that 27-pound (12.2-kilogram) Wanamaker Trophy.
\n\u201cGolf is an amazing game,\u201d Rai said. \u201cIt teaches you so many things, and it teaches you so much humility and discipline and absolute hard work because nothing is ever given in this game no matter what level you\u2019re playing, no matter what course you\u2019re playing on.
\n\u201cAnd I think pretty much every guy on tour are incredible people, and I think the sport should be very proud of the ambassadors that represent the PGA Tour and represent the PGA of America.\u201d
\nIt was a big moment for the PGA of America, too.
\nWas it the right decision moving from August to May? That remains up for debate, although the northern courses since the calendar move in 2019 \u2014 Bethpage Black and Oak Hill in New York and Aronimink \u2014 have performed well.
\nFive of the seven PGAs in May since 2019 \u2014 the 2020 championship at Harding Park was held in August because of COVID-19 \u2014 had a single-digit score to par for the winner.
\nThe heritage of PGA Championship courses still lacks compared with the U.S. Open. But this one, much like Oak Hill, resembled a U.S. Open.
\nKerry Haigh, the chief championships director at the PGA responsible for creating the test, made full use of the severely undulated greens at Aronimink that contributed to the bunched leaderboard, and required control of every shot from tee-to-green.
\n\n\u201cMost of Monday and Tuesday I spent thinking what was wrong with me, because everybody was saying we were going to shoot 15 to 20 under here, and I didn\u2019t see any chance in the world of that happening,\u201d Rahm said.
\nRai won at 9-under 271. Rahm and\u00a0Alex Smalley\u00a0were at 6-under 274.
\n\u201cStill lower than what I expected,\u201d Rahm said.
\nThe opening round of the U.S. Open at storied Shinnecock Hills starts June 18, just 32 days after Rai won his first major. Now it’s whether that can live up to what transpired at the PGA Championship.
\nBecause this was major.
The post Aaron Rai A Surprise Major Winner Only By Name As PGA Championship Lives Up To Major Reputation first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-19T23:25:42+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-19T23:25:42+00:00", "author": { "name": "Doug Ferguson, AP" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/AaronRaiPGA26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "1 week", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 The\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0once used a slogan that only illustrated an identity crisis of a major often looked upon as the fourth of four. \u201cThis is major,” it said, as if anyone should ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/adam-scott-officially-set-for-100th-consecutive-major-at-us-open-as-field-starts-to-fill/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/adam-scott-officially-set-for-100th-consecutive-major-at-us-open-as-field-starts-to-fill/", "title": "Adam Scott Officially Set For 100th Consecutive Major At US Open As Field Starts To Fill", "content_html": "\n
Adam Scott officially is set for his 100th consecutive major next month in the U.S. Open, which added 24 players to the field from the\u00a0world ranking\u00a0on Monday. Sixteen players also earned spots at qualifiers in England and Dallas.
\nScott effectively secured his spot among the top 60 in the world with a tie for fourth in the Cadillac Championship at Doral. He is at No. 49 in this week’s ranking, which the U.S. Open uses to determine who avoids qualifying.
\nOthers exempt through the top 60 in the world ranking include Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed and Alex Smalley, who tied for second in the\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0to move up 36 spots to No. 42.
\nMatti Schmid, who had the lead during the\u00a0final round of the PGA Championship\u00a0and wound up in a tie for fourth, earned one of five exemptions awarded to leading players in the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour who were not already exempt.
\nThe exemptions finalized Monday meant 70 players in the 156-man field will be forced to qualify, an unusually low number for a major that prefers that roughly half the field go through qualifying. The U.S. Open is June 18-21 at Shinnecock on New York’s Long Island.
\nAdding to the field Monday were two final qualifying events.
\nNathan Kimsey of England had a 62 in his second round at Walton Heath to earn one of seven spots out of England. He will be making his U.S. Open debut.
\nKimsey was joined by Rocco Repetto Taylor, Filippo Celli, Matthew Jordan, Angel Hidalgo, Niklas Norgaard and Ugo Coussaud, who earned the final spot in a 4-for-1 playoff.
\nThomas Detry ended nine days of U.S. Open misfortune by losing out in England playoff, and missing out in the bid for two alternate spots.
\nDetry was set to earn an exemption from LIV Golf until Lucas Herbert won in Virginia on May 10. He was at No. 61 in the world going into the PGA Championship but missed a 12-foot birdie putt on his final hole to miss the cut by one shot. And then he flew to London.
\nAll is not lost. Detry still has two tournaments \u2014 the Soudal Open this week in his native Belgium and LIV Golf Korea the following week \u2014 to move into the top 60 before the final cutoff for the world ranking on June 14.
\nThe Dallas qualifier \u2014 the first of 11 to be held in North America over the next month \u2014 featured Sergio Garcia among 14 players from LIV Golf.
\nLIV’s Peter Uihlein won the qualifier and was one of three LIV players to get through, joined by 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and Caleb Surratt. McDowell who will play in the championship for the first time since 2020, the last year of his exemption for winning at Pebble Beach a decade earlier.
\nGarcia fell two shots short of a six-way playoff for the last spot, won by Surratt. The other players to qualify at Dallas Athletic Club were Tom Kim, Cooper Dossey, Manav Shah, Jimmy Stanger, Adrien Dumont de Chassart and TK Kim.
\n\nScott’s streak began with the 2001 British Open, and he has not missed a major since, even going through U.S. Open qualifying when he wasn’t exempt. It’s the longest streak since Jack Nicklaus played in 146 in a row, from the 1962 Masters through the 1998 U.S. Open.
\nScott’s one close call was breaking a bone in his hand before the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, but he played \u2014 grouped with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the opening two rounds \u2014 and tied for 26th that week.
\n\u201cI would rather win some stuff, and let\u2019s celebrate winning the U.S. Open than just playing in it,\u201d Scott said three weeks ago. \u201cI can give myself a pat on the back for hanging in there and playing all these events. I think there\u2019s some luck in it, but I think I\u2019ve had generally great advice around me from a physical and training standpoint that\u2019s kept me healthy and pretty much injury-free.\u201d
The post Adam Scott Officially Set For 100th Consecutive Major At US Open As Field Starts To Fill first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-19T23:23:00+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-20T12:55:10+00:00", "author": { "name": "Doug Ferguson, AP" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/AdamScottSony26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "1 week", "excerpt": "Adam Scott officially is set for his 100th consecutive major next month in the U.S. Open, which added 24 players to the field from the\u00a0world ranking\u00a0on Monday. Sixteen players also earned spots at qualifiers in England ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/scheffler-cant-conjure-final-round-magic-in-pga-championship-title-defense/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/scheffler-cant-conjure-final-round-magic-in-pga-championship-title-defense/", "title": "Scheffler Can\u2019t Conjure Final-Round Magic In PGA Championship Title Defense", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Scottie Scheffler couldn’t conjure up the late-round magic that has been the staple of his 2026 season Sunday at the\u00a0PGA Championship.
\nScheffler’s title defense that started with so much promise Thursday ended quietly at Aronimink Golf Club with a 2-under 278 and a tie for 14th.
\nThe world No. 1 was tied for the lead at 3-under 67 on Thursday, the only time in his career that he led or shared first in the opening round of a major. He posted consecutive 71s in chilly, windy conditions in the middle rounds and, at 1 under, was five strokes back at the start of warmer, calmer Sunday.
\nThis time, however, there was nothing resembling the closing kick that carried him to a seconds at The Masters and Doral, a third in Phoenix or fourth at Pebble Beach.
\nScheffler missed a 4-foot birdie putt at No. 3 and failed to convert two 3-foot par putts on the back nine.
\nNow, he’ll try to complete the career Grand Slam at the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills in New York next month.
\nAlex Smalley and Matti Schmid got great payoffs with their top-five finishes at the PGA Championship: an invitation to The Masters for the first time.
\nThe top 15 finished in the PGA earn a return trip to the championship in 2027 at PGA Fresno in Texas.
\nSmalley, tied for the third-round lead with Schmid,\u00a0finished second with Jon Rahm, three strokes behind winner Aaron Rai of England. His long birdie putt to close out the championship delivered a big bonus.
\n\u201cThrilled to be going to Augusta next year,\u201d the 29-year-old said. “I knew that top four and ties, I believe it is, gets you into Augusta. So I knew that was a possibility.
\n\u201cI wasn\u2019t really thinking about it honestly until I hit the green on 18, saw where I was. Was really just trying to two-putt, just trying to lag it up. That 20-footer up the hill on 18, I was just trying to get a tap-in. Fortunate enough that it went in.\u201d
\nAnother payoff for Smalley’s 6-under total and high finish was a huge move in the world rankings. Smalley started the week 78th and will move to 42, well inside the top 60 to earn a spot in the U.S. Open next month.
\nSchmid picked up just one shot on par in the final round and finished in a tie for fourth with Ludvig Aberg and Justin Thomas at 5 under.
\nJordan Spieth will try to complete a career Grand Slam in Frisco, in his home state of Texas in 2027.
\nSpieth needs a PGA Championship to complete his effort to claim all four majors. This week at Aronimink in the Philly suburbs, his 10th attempt was not good enough.
\nThe 13-time PGA Tour winner handled the chilly, windy conditions and was in contention after the first round a couple stokes behind the leaders after an opening 3-under. He failed to make up ground in the second and third rounds with scores of 2 over and even par. He started Sunday seven strokes back and closed with a 1-under 69, finishing tied for 18th.
\nSpieth\u2019s last major victory came in the 2017 British Open. His only top-10 finish in a PGA was in 2019 at Bethpage Black.
\nPadraig Harrington would have won the senior division of the PGA Championship at Aronimink, if one existed.
\nThe 54-year-old Irishman, who won the title in 2008,\u00a0chipped in for eagle from the greenside bunker at the par-5 16th\u00a0and\u00a0chipped in from 25 feet from off the green on the 72nd hole\u00a0for a 69 and 1-under finish in his 26th PGA. He finished tied for 18th.
\nThat places the PGA Tour Champions regular in some exclusive company, joining Sam Snead and Gene Sarazen as players 54 or over to finish in the top 20.
\nHe kept pace against the younger competition by averaging 314 yards off the tee in the final round and needed 26 and 27 putts in his last two rounds after heading into the weekend at 3 over.
\nA six-time starter this season on the 50-and-over circuit, Harrington electrified the galleries crowding the final holes with his late-round heroics in his best finish in the event since a fourth in 2021.
\nSlowed by bogeys at Nos. 8 and 9 to close out his front side, Harrington reeled off five straight pars on the back before another bogey at the 15. Three shots later, he was high-fiving members of the gallery after burying his bunker shot from 15 yards for an eagle 3 on the par-5 hole that played second-easiest this week.
\nThe 2007 and 2008 British Open champion made some more magic at the final hole, using a wedge from just off the fringe and holing out from 25 feet.
\nJustin Thomas kept the beers in the fridge as the leader in the clubhouse at the PGA while waiting for a potential playoff.
\nAs the wait dragged on, Thomas had time to crush a cold one, or two, with the hope the PGA would serve up a playoff.
\nAll Thomas got after a prolonged wait \u2014 locked in but not loaded \u2014 at Aronimink as he tried to win his third career PGA. Ultimately, he tied for fourth behind champion Aaron Rai.
\nThomas shot 5-under 65 and carded one of the top scores of the day that was good enough to contend. Just not good enough to claim the Wannamaker Trophy.
\n\u201cWe did our part,\u201d Thomas said.
\nThomas, the PGA winner in 2017 and 2022, grabbed a share of the lead at 4 under with a birdie on the sixth hole. He followed with four straight bogeys to drop six back behind the leader and would up tied for 31st.
\nThomas, still playing his way from back surgery last year for a herniated disk, finished at 5-under 275.
\nThomas learned through past experience how to handle himself in the clubhouse.
\nThomas had been the leader in the clubhouse before, at the Travelers Championship in 2016, and found out that perhaps sobriety was the best way to handle the wait. Assuming his score would eventually fall off the leaderboard, Thomas said he relaxed with a friend and had a few beers. His caddie went out for sandwiches at lunch.
\n\u201cNext thing you know, it\u2019s 2 1/2 hours later, and I\u2019m still the leader in the clubhouse,\u201d Thomas said with a laugh. \u201cThe wind picked up 15, 20 miles an hour, and the leaders were on like 15. (My caddie), he\u2019s at a Subway like an hour and a half away. He\u2019s like what do we do?
\n\u201cI\u2019ve never not wanted to be in a playoff before, but I kind of didn\u2019t want to be in a playoff then. That wouldn\u2019t have been a good situation. So I\u2019m not going to do that, I promise you that.\u201d
\nNo post-round beers at Aronimink for Thomas during the wait.
\n\nBen Kern of Hickory Hills Golf Club in Grove City, Ohio, was the low PGA professional for the second time in three championship appearances.
\nHe had four birdies, including a chip-in at the par-3 fifth hole, in a fourth-round 72 and was 80th on the 82 finishers at 10 over.
\nKern earned his first low pro honors at Bellerive in 2018 and is the third person to claim that honor twice.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s very special,\u201d Kern said. \u201cOnce I got into the business, it was a goal to get out here and play in this championship. It\u2019s very special to be in this field and then to walk away with low PGA pro, it\u2019s everything.\u201d
The post Scheffler Can\u2019t Conjure Final-Round Magic In PGA Championship Title Defense first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-18T01:25:21+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-18T01:25:21+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ScottiePGA26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Scottie Scheffler couldn’t conjure up the late-round magic that has been the staple of his 2026 season Sunday at the\u00a0PGA Championship. Scheffler’s title defense that started with so much promise Thursday ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/with-runner-up-at-pga-jon-rahm-flashes-a-reminder-that-hes-still-among-the-worlds-best/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/with-runner-up-at-pga-jon-rahm-flashes-a-reminder-that-hes-still-among-the-worlds-best/", "title": "With Runner-Up At PGA, Jon Rahm Flashes A Reminder That He\u2019s Still Among The World\u2019s Best", "content_html": "\nNEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Joh Rahm teased his third major victory \u2014 and first since he left for Saudi-backed\u00a0LIV Golf\u00a0\u2014 when he opened with back-to-back birdies at Aronimink on Sunday.
\nRahm, who started the final round two strokes off the lead, made only one birdie on the back nine, still good enough to contend in the PGA Championship.
\nJust not enough to catch\u00a0Aaron Rai\u00a0of England.
\nRahm shot a 2-under 68 and finished three shots behind Rai. Although he enters the record book as a runner-up, he ultimately didn’t have a chance over the closing stretch.
\nRahm did provide, at times, a reminder of just how well he can play in a major \u2014 or any tournament, after toiling in relative obscurity for American audiences while playing on LIV.
\nRahm knows he hasn’t been part of part of the conversation about the best in golf. Despite two wins and four second-place finishes in seven LIV events this year, Scottie Scheffler and\u00a0Rory McIlroy\u00a0rule the sport.
\nAnd for this week, at least, so does Rai. On the closing holes when the contenders needed him to stumble, Rai\u00a0holed a birdie putt of some 70 feet\u00a0on the 17th hole to put it away.
\n\u201cWhat Aaron did today, catching him could have been very difficult,” Rahm said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it could happen, but I would have liked a better chance playing the last two holes. I feel like I was still close … until he made that long putt.\u201d
\nStill in contention on the back nine, the Spaniard reeled off six pars before making birdie at the 16th, getting to 6 under, but by that point Rai was three strokes ahead.
\nRahm won in Hong Kong in March for his first individual title since 2022. A week after a rough showing at the Masters, he won again in Mexico City.
\nNeither victory got as much attention as the uncertain future of LIV Golf, which next year will\u00a0lose the financial backing of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
\nThe 31-year-old Rahm can only wonder which direction his career would have gone\u00a0had he not bolted from the PGA Tour at the end of 2023\u00a0for a lucrative contract with LIV.
\nAsked about that decision this week, Rahm said he preferred not to look back.
\nHe did finish with the best score of the LIV players at Aronimink. Cameron Smith, David Puig and Joaquin Niemann all finished inside the top 25, while Bryson DeChambeau missed the cut.
\nRahm entered the week at No. 20 in the world, a number that could be higher had LIV Golf received ranking points before this year.
\nHe’s keenly aware of being overlooked. Rahm referred to himself as being under the radar at the Masters and then lived up to that by nearly missing the cut.
\nRahm righted himself at Aronimink thanks to some changes he made ahead of the tournament.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s just small, little details that, unless you\u2019re within, you\u2019re not really going to understand. It\u2019s hard to explain,\u201d he said.
\nPlaying on LIV means Rahm gets tested by a full field of golf’s best only at the four majors, and it hasn’t gone very well from him since he left the tougher competition on the PGA Tour.
\nIn the eight majors before this week, Rahm finished outside the top 30 in four, including a missed cut.
\nHe’s had three top 10s but only one serious chance of winning. That was last year in the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, when he briefly challenged Scheffler.
\n\nHe also tied for seventh in the U.S. Open at Oakmont, though he started the final round 11 shots behind.
\nRahm has two more LIV tournaments \u2014 in Korea and Spain \u2014 before he arrives at Shinnecock Hills seeking his second U.S. Open title.
\nRahm knows only winning \u2014 or at least flashing a reminder of his greatness on a major stage \u2014 will put him back in the mix among the world’s best.
\n\u201cI feel like I\u2019m playing really good golf and definitely played good enough this week to give myself a chance to win,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cSo, keep doing what I\u2019ve been doing well.\u201d
The post With Runner-Up At PGA, Jon Rahm Flashes A Reminder That He\u2019s Still Among The World\u2019s Best first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-18T01:22:12+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-18T01:22:12+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/JonRahmPGA26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Joh Rahm teased his third major victory \u2014 and first since he left for Saudi-backed\u00a0LIV Golf\u00a0\u2014 when he opened with back-to-back birdies at Aronimink on Sunday. Rahm, who started the final ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/mcilroy-has-angry-exchange-with-fan-at-pga-rahm-smith-schauffele-also-fade/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/mcilroy-has-angry-exchange-with-fan-at-pga-rahm-smith-schauffele-also-fade/", "title": "McIlroy Has Angry Exchange With Fan At PGA. Rahm, Smith, Schauffele Also Fade", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Rory McIlroy’s frustrating final round at the PGA Championship on Sunday boiled over with an angry exchange with a fan after a \u201cU-S-A!\u201d shout from the gallery at Aronimink Golf Club.
\nAn errant shot out of heavy rough at the scoreable 16th hole derailed McIlroy’s come-from-behind bid, and he appeared to respond to the shout by using an expletive while telling the fan to “shut up.”
\nThe exchange summarized the two-time Masters champion’s confounding final round. He was not alone, as Jon Rahm, Cam Smith and Xander Schauffele had their chances and failed to catch Aaron Rai.
\nMcIlroy said earlier in the week that the outlandish and abusive fan behavior he endures \u2014 like at the Ryder Cup last year \u2014 is usually limited to one week every four years, when the matches are contested in the U.S.
\nSunday’s interaction, far less severe than what he heard at Bethpage in New York, seemingly just came at a bad time.
\nMcIlroy was three strokes behind Rai on the par-5 16th hole when his second shot out of rough from 37 yard was short and bounded into a bunker. The two-time Masters champion spun, glared at the spectator, grumbled under his breath and seemed to point out the person to security.
\nMcIlroy started the final round three strokes behind the leaders and struggled to make up ground while others were finding the Donald Ross layout scoreable. He managed just one birdie on the front nine, and after a bogey 5 at the drivable par-4 13th, managed one more birdie coming in, settling for a 69 to tie for seventh at 4 under.
\nMcIlroy didn’t comment on the fan interaction, but admitted he left some strokes on the course.
\n\u201cI think not birdieing the two par-5s and making the bogey at the drivable par-4 13th,\u201d he said. \u201cTo me, I felt like I played the golf I needed to play the rest of the way. If I birdied the two par 5s and turned that 5 into a 3 on 13, the day looks very different.\u201d
\nRahm, who started two strokes back, took the steam out of his three birdies on the front nine with two bogeys for a 1-under 34 at the turn. Still in contention on the back, the Spaniard reeled off six pars before making a birdie at the 16, getting to 6 under, but by that point Rai was three strokes ahead.
\n\u201cJust wish I\u2019d have done better with the speed of the greens,\u201d said Rahm, who needed 33 putts in the final round. \u201cJust couldn\u2019t seem to get it to the hole, and that\u2019s the reason why I didn\u2019t hole any more putts.\u201d
\nThe captain of LIV Golf’s Legion XIII team found the good in his four rounds after barely making the cut at the Masters and finishing 38th.
\n\u201cAs far as I\u2019m concerned, to be in the mix again and hit it as good as I did and perform as well as I did this weekend, it\u2019s been a great week,\u201d he said. \u201cFour rounds and a par, even par, can\u2019t really ask too much more of myself. Just maybe obviously hole in a few more putts, which is not an easy task over here on these greens.\u201d
\nSmith, who reached the weekend after missing the cut in six straight majors, bolted to 5 under with birdies at Nos. 2, 4, and 9. But his round flattened out with seven straight pars on the back before dropping another stroke at the 17th.
\nThe LIV player had weekend rounds of 68. Smith found early success when he moved to LIV with a victory in 2022 and two wins in 2023. He’s winless since.
\n\n\u201cIt feels great to play nice,\u201d Smith said. “You don\u2019t work hard to play crap, and it\u2019s frustrating, and the last couple of years have been frustrating. I feel like I\u2019ve been putting in the work and not really getting anything out of it.
\n\u201cOut there today, under the pressure I felt like I was able to trust it already. So lots of positive signs.\u201d
\nSchauffele failed to gain on the leaders with pars on the first eight holes before a birdie at the ninth. Trouble struck with bogeys at Nos. 11 and 13th, and two late birdies were not enough for the 2024 PGA and British Open winner.
\n\u201cYou really had to kind of hang tough all day and really capitalize on some small spots,\u201d he said. \u201cFor me to bogey a drivable hole there that got away from me, I was trying to be aggressive. I figured I needed to make birdie and tried to be aggressive and ended up making bogey. That\u2019s just what this course can do to you.\u201d
The post McIlroy Has Angry Exchange With Fan At PGA. Rahm, Smith, Schauffele Also Fade first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-18T01:18:47+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-18T01:18:47+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/RoryPGA26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Rory McIlroy’s frustrating final round at the PGA Championship on Sunday boiled over with an angry exchange with a fan after a \u201cU-S-A!\u201d shout from the gallery at Aronimink Golf Club. ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/aaron-rai-runs-away-with-the-pga-championship-first-english-born-winner-in-more-than-a-century/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/aaron-rai-runs-away-with-the-pga-championship-first-english-born-winner-in-more-than-a-century/", "title": "Aaron Rai Runs Away With The PGA Championship, First English-Born Winner In More Than A Century", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Aaron Rai was just another name among a dozen others who had reason to believe the PGA Championship was theirs for the taking Sunday at tough Aronimink.
\nThere was Rory McIlroy,\u00a0Jon Rahm\u00a0and Xander Schauffele, with 10 majors among them, all ready to seize the moment on a stage that was unfamiliar to Rai.
\nJustin Thomas was the clubhouse leader for nearly four hours after a 65 before the course turned hard under a hot sun.
\nWhat followed was a master class from golf’s newest major champion.
\nRai made six birdies over the last 10 holes, taking the lead for good on the 13th and pouring it on with a\u00a070-foot birdie putt\u00a0across the 17th green that evoked a roar so loud everyone else on the course must have realized it was over.
\nHe closed with a 5-under 65 for a three-shot victory to become the first English-born player in more than a century to capture the PGA Championship.
\n\u201cTo be here is outside my wildest imagination,\u201d Rai said.
\nThree shots behind as he approached the turn, Rai got back in the game with a 5-wood up the hill and a 40-foot eagle putt. His 40-yard bunker shot was sublime and set up a 6-foot birdie on the 13th hole, the reachable par 4 that moments earlier gobbled up\u00a0McIlroy and Schauffele.
\nAnd then the 31-year-old Rai \u2014 who wore Ferrari shirts at junior golf tournaments because he once dreamed of being a Formula 1 driver \u2014 hit the gas with a back nine that ranks among the best in major championship history.
\nThe previous two players to go 6 under or better over the final 10 holes of a major were Cameron Smith at St. Andrews when he won the 2022 British Open, and Jack Nicklaus when he won the 1986 Masters.
\nRai now takes his place in some exclusive company.
\nThose chasing him with a better golfing pedigree \u2014 even Alex Smalley and Matti Schmid, who also took turns atop the leaderboard while going for their first win \u2014 were undone by untimely mistakes or failure to get good looks at birdie.
\nMcIlroy, who closed with a 69, played the par 5s in even for the week and he chopped up the reachable par-4 13th for a bogey. He also glared and softly cursed at a fan who said \u201cUSA!\u201d after McIlroy hit a wedge from the rough to the bunker on the par-5 16th. It was an indication McIlroy knew his hopes were all but gone.
\nRai, who finished at 9-under 271, is the first player from England with his name on the Wanamaker Trophy since Jim Barnes in 1919, the second edition of this major and the first after World War I.
\nRahm and Smalley tied for second, a big deal for both of them.
\nRahm had his best finish in a major since defecting to\u00a0LIV Golf\u00a0at the end of 2023. He was slowed by a pair of bogeys on the front nine, and managed only one birdie on the back nine for a 68.
\nSmalley lost the lead with a messy double bogey on the sixth hole, and his best golf was too late. Rai already had his eye on the Wanamaker Trophy when Smalley made birdie on the 18th for a 70. The runner-up finish gets him in the next four majors, including the Masters.
\nThomas made a 16-foot par putt on the final hole to post at 5-under 275, one shot behind as the final group was only in the second fairway. For the longest time, as Aronimink got tougher and the pressure got tighter, it looked like Thomas might have a chance.
\nLike everything else on this final day, Rai ended those hopes, too.
\nSo concluded a most remarkable week in the Philadelphia suburbs when no one could separate themselves at Aronimink. The 22 players within four shots of the lead going into the final round was a PGA Championship record.
\nFrom that pack emerged the 31-year-old Rai, with one PGA Tour title, three on the European tour, and no finishes inside the top 15 at any of the majors.
\nHe might not be well known among casual observers, but he is a star in the eyes of his peers for his humility and gracious personality.
\n\u201cYou won\u2019t find one person on property who\u2019s not happy for him,\u201d McIlroy said.
\n\u201cSuper pumped for him and his team,\u201d Schauffele said. \u201cAll-world gentleman, no doubt.\u201d
\nHe wears two gloves, a habit he started as a kid in England to battle the cold winters when he was practicing \u2014 and he was always practicing. Even more unusual for Rai is the plastic covers on each iron, a reminder of his roots.
\nHe once said his father sacrificed to buy the nicest golf clubs and then would clean the grooves with baby oil after his son was done playing. Rai has left the iron covers on since then \u201cto remember where I came from and to respect what I have.\u201d
\n\u201cAnybody that uses head covers in his irons because he coveted his irons when he was a kid so much that he wanted to respect the equipment and to still do it? Yeah, it shows a lot about a person,\u201d Rahm said. \u201cWhat he did today is nothing short of special.\u201d
\nRai had seven straight one-putt greens, the last one a 6-foot birdie putt on the 13th that made him the first player all week to reach 7 under. And then he kept right on going.
\nThomas wound up in a for fourth with Ludvig Aberg (69) and Schmid, whose 5-foot par putt on the 18th hole gets him into his first Masters next year. Smith, who didn’t drop a shot until the 17th hole, had a 68 to join McIlroy and Schauffele (69) another shot back.
\n\nDefending champion\u00a0Scottie Scheffler\u00a0missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the third hole and twice missed 3-foot par putts on the back nine in his closing round of 69 to tie for 14th, his first time out of the top 10 at a major since the 2024 U.S. Open.
\nRai now has a five-year exemption on the PGA Tour, and into the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open. He can play the PGA Championship for life.
\n\u201cGolf is an amazing game,\u201d Rai said. \u201cIt teaches you so many things, and it teaches you so much humility and discipline and absolute hard work because nothing is ever given in this game.\u201d
\nNothing was given to him Sunday. Rai simply outplayed the strongest field in golf and won it.
The post Aaron Rai Runs Away With The PGA Championship, First English-Born Winner In More Than A Century first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-18T01:12:52+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-26T16:23:41+00:00", "author": { "name": "Doug Ferguson, AP" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/AaronRaiPGAWin26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Aaron Rai was just another name among a dozen others who had reason to believe the PGA Championship was theirs for the taking Sunday at tough Aronimink. There was Rory McIlroy,\u00a0Jon ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/lottie-woad-wins-kroger-queen-city-championship-for-2nd-lpga-tour-title/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/lottie-woad-wins-kroger-queen-city-championship-for-2nd-lpga-tour-title/", "title": "Lottie Woad Wins Kroger Queen City Championship For 2nd LPGA Tour Title", "content_html": "\n
CINCINNATI (AP) \u2014 Lottie Woad held off Haeran Ryu on a gusty Sunday afternoon at Maketewah Country Club in the Kroger Queen City Championship.
\nThree strokes ahead of playing partner Amanda Doherty and four ahead of Ryu entering the round, Woad closed with a 1-under 69 for a two-stroke victory. The 22-year-old English player finished at 12-under 268.
\n\u201cI just played pretty good tee-to-green,\u201d Woad said. \u201cI hit a lot greens, hit a lot of fairways. And it\u2019s pretty windy out there, so I think that was the key, obviously, to having the lead.\u201d
\nThe wind was a big challenge on the first-year venue that features par-3 closing holes on each nine.
\n\u201cIt was definitely up there with the strongest of the days and was kind of flickering around a bit,\u201d Woad said. \u201cIt was a cross-wind most holes, but kind of flipped between into and down. So, trying to judge the yardages into some smaller greens was definitely tricky.\u201d
\nRyu had a double bogey on the par-4 13th in a 67. She played the front nine in 5-under 30.
\n\u201cAmazing front nine. I\u2019m so happy,\u201d Ryu said. \u201cBut I have a little mistake on the back nine.\u201d
\nNelly Korda shot a 67 to tie for eighth at 5 under after winning in her previous two starts. She began the day nine strokes back after a third-round 72.
\nWoad won for the second time on the LPGA Tour, following a victory last year in the Women\u2019s Scottish Open in her professional debut. She also won the European tour’s Irish Open last summer as an amateur.
\n\u201cThis one is definitely, I think, is a little sweeter than the first one because I wasn\u2019t really expecting that,\u201d Woad said. \u201cThis one, I\u2019ve seen how good everyone is out there, so it\u2019s good to win again.\u201d
\nWoad made a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4 17th to open a two-stroke lead, with Ryu parring the par-3 18th soon after in the group ahead to post at 10 under.
\n\u201cNot an easy putt from where I was above the hole with a lot of break, and had a little pace going in, so pretty glad I hit the hole,\u201d Woad said. \u201cGave me a two-shot cushion on a par 3, so pretty happy with that.\u201d
\n\nWoad overcame a double bogey on the par-4 sixth. The former Florida State star birdied the seventh, parred the next five and dropped a stroke on the par-4 13th. After three more pars, she got the long birdie try to fall on 17.
\n\u201cI generally played pretty well,\u201d Woad said. \u201cObviously, double, not really sure what happened there. Just kind of happened pretty quickly there. The rest I hit a lot of fairways, greens pretty stress-free.\u201d
\nMiyu Yamashita has third at 9 under after a 64. Ruoning Yin (66) was 8 under, and Doherty (71) and Jin Young Ko (65) were 7 under. Jeeno Thitikul, the winner last week in New Jersey, was another shot back after a 69.
The post Lottie Woad Wins Kroger Queen City Championship For 2nd LPGA Tour Title first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-17T22:57:25+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-26T16:23:29+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/LottieWoadKroger26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "CINCINNATI (AP) \u2014 Lottie Woad held off Haeran Ryu on a gusty Sunday afternoon at Maketewah Country Club in the Kroger Queen City Championship. Three strokes ahead of playing partner Amanda Doherty and four ahead of ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/kurt-kitayama-becomes-2nd-player-with-a-sunday-63-in-pga-championship-history/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/kurt-kitayama-becomes-2nd-player-with-a-sunday-63-in-pga-championship-history/", "title": "Kurt Kitayama Becomes 2nd Player With A Sunday 63 In PGA Championship History", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Kurt Kitayama tied the lowest final round in major championship history with a 7-under 63 on Sunday at\u00a0the PGA Championship.
\nKitayama, in\u00a0the fourth group\u00a0off in the morning, charged up the leaderboard with the lowest score of this championship at the par-70 Aronimink Golf Club midway through the final round. He became the ninth player with a 63 in the final round, and second in PGA Championship history.
\nThe record for majors is 62 done five times, most recently by Shane Lowry and Xander Schauffele in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla.
\nThe 5-foot-7 Kitayama, an accomplished basketball player from California who led Chico High School to a pair of section titles and\u00a0earned the nickname \u201cQuadzilla\u201d\u00a0for his large legs, averaged 313 yards off the tee in the championship. But, it was his work on the greens that helped him challenge the major records.
\nHe credited the \u201cputter God\u201d for his bogey-free round in which he used 28 swings with the flat stick to make more than 141 feet of putts.
\n\u201cI felt like I was holding the world out there,\u201d said Kitayama, whose two PGA Tour titles include the Arnold Palmer Invitational. \u201cWhat my eye saw that\u2019s what the ball was doing. And that\u2019s a good feeling.\u201d
\nThe 33-year-old Californian started quickly with a 5-under 30 on the front nine, opening with three straight birdies and adding two more at the sixth and par-5 ninth.
\nHe made three straight pars on the inward nine before getting up and down from a bunker on the reachable par-4 13th, rolling in a 13-foot birdie putt.
\nHe failed to capitalize at No. 16, the only par 5 on the back, which has played as the second-easiest hole this week. Kitayama drove into the right rough, played out to just over 90 yards to the green, hit wedge to 37 feet and two-putted for par.
\nHis hopes for a record-tying 62 ended with a two-putt par from 40 feet on the par-3 17th. But he finished a great day in style by making birdie on the 18th from just outside 12 feet and tied for 10th at 3 under.
\n\nBrad Faxon had the only other 63 on Sunday in the PGA, in 1995 at Riviera that earned him a spot on the Ryder Cup team.
\nJohnny Miller was the first with 63 on Sunday in a major, and perhaps the most famous, at Oakmont in 1973 to win the U.S. Open. Henrik Stenson shot 63 at Royal Troon in 2016 when he won his famous duel with Phil Mickelson.
\nTommy Fleetwood has shot 63 on Sunday in the U.S. Open twice, in 2018 at Shinnecock Hills and in 2023 at Los Angeles Country Club.
The post Kurt Kitayama Becomes 2nd Player With A Sunday 63 In PGA Championship History first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-17T22:54:19+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-18T01:39:58+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/KurtKitayamaPGA26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Kurt Kitayama tied the lowest final round in major championship history with a 7-under 63 on Sunday at\u00a0the PGA Championship. Kitayama, in\u00a0the fourth group\u00a0off in the morning, charged up the leaderboard ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/jordan-spieth-off-to-uneven-start-in-bid-for-career-grand-slam/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/jordan-spieth-off-to-uneven-start-in-bid-for-career-grand-slam/", "title": "Jordan Spieth Off To Uneven Start In Bid For Career Grand Slam", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Jordan Spieth’s bid to complete the career Grand Slam with a victory at the PGA Championship got off to a mixed start Thursday.
\nAfter making the turn at 1 under, Spieth birdied three of the first six holes on the front nine, his back, and was tied with the early leaders at 3 under before consecutive bogeys at Nos. 7 and 8 slowed his charge. He settled for a 1-under 69 and was still in contention with three rounds left.
\n\u201cI struck the ball well,” said Spieth, who is making his 10th try at completing the Slam. \u201dI was in a good position on a lot of holes. If I drive it like that, I\u2019d expect to shoot what I did or better. Just didn\u2019t quite finish the way I wanted to the last three holes, but under-par was a good score.”
\nSpieth said the morning chill and wind had Aronimink Golf Club playing difficult. As the day warmed up, so did the three-time major winner.
\nHe rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt at the par-4 16th, made the turn and drained a 10 footer at the first, and then made putts of just over 3 feet and a touch under 7 feet at Nos. 4-5, respectively.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s one of those rounds where I feel like I played better than I scored, which is frustrating because you want to get the most out of your round,\u201d said Spieth, who has 16 career wins. \u201cIt\u2019s also a good thing, which means things are in a good spot.\u201d
\nSpieth’s last major victory came in the 2017 British Open. His only top-10 finish in a PGA was in 2019 at Bethpage Black.
\nJustin Thomas kept his hopes for a third PGA title alive with a round-saving 53-foot bogey putt at the 14th hole.
\nHe stumbled a bit down the stretch, but was still in the hunt with plenty of golf remaining.
\nTied for the lead at 3 under, the 2017 and 2022 PGA winner gave two strokes back over the final holes.
\nAt the 14th, he pulled his approach shot left, near the grandstands, and then left his chip short of the green in heavy rough. Then, his fourth shot drifted more than 50 feet on the undulating green. He salvaged a bogey with the long-distance putt.
\nThomas dropped another shot at the par-5 16th when he drove into the left rough, advanced the ball less than 100 yards with his second and hit his third shot into a greenside bunker. Two shots later he was at 1 under.
\n\u201cI played, I felt like, flawless in there for probably 13 holes,\u201d the 33-year-old said. “Honestly, I just had a very hard time staying focused. It\u2019s a long, long day out there. It\u2019s so, so tough, very, very windy, some tough pins.
\n\u201cReally proud of the way I played and the way I hung in there. Solid first round.\u201d
\nJon Rahm and Daniel Brown added a bit of Philly flare to the PGA Championship by posting E-A-G-L-E-S in the opening round.
\nWhile some spectators at the opening round broke out in Eagles chants, Rahm heard a different kind of roar from across Aronimink. It was the kind of outburst that is prompted by a special shot, and he immediately considered the rarity of a televised eagle at a major championship.
\nA short time late, he made some magic of his own.
\nRahm didn\u2019t know who was responsible for the shot that prompted the loud reaction, but the possibility of an eagle got him thinking.
\n\u201cI kind of thought, man, how often you see hole-outs in majors on TV and how rarely I\u2019ve ever seen one in person,\u201d he said. \u201cThen about an hour later I get to do it myself, right? So that\u2019s just one of the funny moments in golf.\u201d
\nBrown’s hole-out from 106 yards at the uphill, 421-yard par-4 11th prompted the cheer that grabbed Rahm’s attention. His shot landed short of the pin on the green that slopes steeply from back to front, spun right and rolled into the hole for a dramatic 2.
\n\u201cYou try to hit it a little left of the flag because you know it kind of feeds in, and you\u2019re just hoping it goes close,\u201d said Brown, who is playing in his third major. \u201cObviously a big bonus, the crowd going wild at the back, and you kind of know it\u2019s gone in.\u201d
\nRahm eagled the second hole \u2014 ironically, his 11th of the round \u2014 and the shot came after he wasn’t satisfied with his 105-yard, downwind approach on the previous hole that he left short of the green. This time it all came together.
\nHe said he was more committed at the same distance into the wind and felt lucky to see the ball fall into the hole.
\n\u201cIt was a phenomenal shot, really good wedge shot,\u201d the two-time major champion said.
\nRahm posted a 1-under 69, while Brown closed out a 2-under 68.
\nThe two eagles were well off the pace of last year’s championship at Quail Hollow, where there were there were six eagles on par-4 holes in the first round.
\nRahm was unhappy with his second shot at the seventh hole and swung through the rough in frustration, sending a divot that hit an event volunteer on the shoulder and face.
\n\nRahm was quick to apologize. He said he felt horrible about the incident and planned to track down the volunteer to make amends.
\n\u201cI got a flier on my second shot that went long\u201d he said. “It\u2019s not a good spot. Just out of frustration, I tried to make an air swing, just over the grass, and I wasn\u2019t looking, took a divot, and unfortunately, I hit a volunteer.
\n“I couldn\u2019t feel any worse. I need to somehow track him down to give him a present because that\u2019s inexcusable and for something that could be completely avoidable.
\n\u201cWhether it was my intention or not, it was just not good.\u201d
The post Jordan Spieth Off To Uneven Start In Bid For Career Grand Slam first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-15T00:26:09+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-15T00:26:09+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/SpiethPGAR126.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Jordan Spieth’s bid to complete the career Grand Slam with a victory at the PGA Championship got off to a mixed start Thursday. After making the turn at 1 under, Spieth ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/scottie-scheffler-part-of-7-way-tie-for-the-lead-at-pga-championship/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/scottie-scheffler-part-of-7-way-tie-for-the-lead-at-pga-championship/", "title": "Scottie Scheffler Part Of 7-Way Tie For The Lead At PGA Championship", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 The biggest logjam in 57 years after the opening round of a major championship still had one name that stood out above the rest: Scottie Scheffler handled everything Aronimink threw his way Thursday in the\u00a0PGA Championship.
\nScheffler took advantage of two long birdie putts and one big break on the 17th hole for a 3-under 67 to share the lead with six other players \u2014 former PGA champion Martin Kaymer perhaps the biggest surprise \u2014 on a tough day in the Philadelphia suburbs.
\nIt was the 13th round in the majors that Scheffler has had at least a share of the lead, and remarkably the first time after the opening round.
\nJoining them at 67 were Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Min Woo Lee, Ryo Hisatsune and Alex Smalley. The seven-way tie was the largest since nine players shared the lead in the 1969 PGA Championship at NCR Country Club in Dayton, Ohio.
\nAnd to think it could have been eight players. Garrick Higgo had a 69, which included a two-shot penalty before he even hit a shot for being 10 seconds late to the tee for his group’s starting time.
\nMasters champion Rory McIlroy bogeyed his last four holes for a 74 that sent him to the practice range for most of the afternoon.
\nNot since Oakland Hills in 2008 \u2014 Jeev Milkha Singh and Robert Karlsson at 2-under 68 \u2014 has the low score to par after the first round of the PGA Championship been worse than 3 under. Aronimink with its severely sloped greens, fast fairways and plenty of wind that shooed away morning clouds was every bit a major challenge.
\nScheffler has struggled with opening rounds for most of the year since opening with a 63 in his season debut at The American Express, his only victory. But this was quality work. He missed only one fairway, which cost him one of his two bogeys on the day.
\n\u201cDefinitely the best start I\u2019ve gotten off to this year, maybe besides American Express,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cYour scores are definitely going to be lower if you hit the ball on the fairway, but it\u2019s still really, really difficult to make birdies.\u201d
\nHe made one from just inside 40 feet on the par-4 seventh, and another birdie from just inside 30 feet on the par-4 10th. And even the No. 1 player in the world needed a little help.
\nScheffler was in the thick collar of rough to the right of the par-3 17th, facing a chip over a ridge and down toward the hole. But his golf ball was close enough to a sprinkler cap that he was given free relief, dropped on the fringe and putted it to close range for a par.
\nScheffler wasn’t interested in this being his first time atop the leaderboard on Thursday at a major. All he saw was the long list of names next to him and behind him \u2014 48 players within three of the lead.
\n\u201cAt this moment, it’s anybody’s tournament,\u201d he said.
\nThat it includes Kaymer is a surprise. He won the PGA Championship in 2010 at Whistling Straits, giving him a lifetime exemption. Kaymer joined LIV Golf in 2022 and has yet to finish in the top 10 in the few European tour events he has played since then. He is No. 1,160 in the world ranking. He hasn’t been in the top 10 after one round of any major since the 2020 PGA Championship.
\nDuring the champions dinner on Tuesday, he said one PGA of America officer asked him if the German planned to play this week.
\n\u201cI said, \u2018Yeah, that\u2019s why I\u2019m here. I\u2019m not flying from Europe to here to have a New York strip with you guys, you know?\u2019 Of course, I’m playing. And that really motivated me.\u201d
\nPatrick Reed was the only player who made it around Aronimink without a bogey, his two birdies giving him a 68 and in the large group with Xander Schauffele and Shane Lowry, who played the two par 5s in 3 under.
\nJordan Spieth, lacking only the PGA Championship for the career Grand Slam, bogeyed two of his last three holes \u2014 and did not birdie the par-5 ninth, the easiest hole at Aronimink \u2014 to join the group at 69 that included Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas.
\n\u201cJust didn\u2019t quite finish the way I wanted to the last three holes, but under par was a good score,\u201d Spieth said. \u201cIt was blowing really hard, and it was cold this morning. The course played very, very difficult. It was a good start. I\u2019m going to need to improve on it, I think, each day.\u201d
\n\nRahm was headed for another rough start in a major until he holed out for eagle from the 11th fairway, chipped in for birdie on the tough par-3 eighth and shot 69. He was told some people thought scoring would be better in the morning. This surprised him.
\n\u201cPeople thought it would be lower?\u201d he replied. \u201cHave you been out there? Have you seen this course?\u201d
\nMcIlroy had the toughest finish. He struggled out of the damp, dense rough. He struggled on the greens. He closed with four straight bogeys and described his round in one word that translates loosely to doo-doo.
\nNo one struggled quite like Bryson DeChambeau, who didn\u2019t make a birdie until he ended on the par-5 ninth. That kept him from matching his highest score in the PGA Championship. He shot 76 and now has to work toward avoiding a second straight missed cut in a major.
The post Scottie Scheffler Part Of 7-Way Tie For The Lead At PGA Championship first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-15T00:22:27+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-15T01:00:02+00:00", "author": { "name": "Doug Ferguson, AP" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ScottiePGAR126.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 The biggest logjam in 57 years after the opening round of a major championship still had one name that stood out above the rest: Scottie Scheffler handled everything Aronimink threw his ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/chella-choi-part-of-3-way-for-lead-on-lpga-tour-with-korda-3-shots-behind/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/chella-choi-part-of-3-way-for-lead-on-lpga-tour-with-korda-3-shots-behind/", "title": "Chella Choi Part Of 3-Way For Lead On LPGA Tour With Korda 3 Shots Behind", "content_html": "\n
CINCINNATI (AP) \u2014 Chella Choi bogeyed her final two holes Thursday that blemished an otherwise flawless round, giving her a 4-under 66 to fall into a three-way share of the lead with Rio Takeda and Ina Yoon in the Kroger Queen City Championship.
\nNelly Korda had 15 pars in her round of 1-under 69 in her bid to win a third straight tournament. Korda won\u00a0The Chevron Championship\u00a0for her third major and the following week\u00a0in Mexico\u00a0before taking off last week.
\nJeeno Thitikul, who won last week in the\u00a0Mizuho Americas Open, also had a 69. It was the same score as Korda achieved far differently.
\nKorda had two birdies against one bogey at Maketewah Country Club, in its first year hosting the LPGA Tour event. Thitikul had only five pars \u2014 seven birdies and six bogeys.
\nChoi was at 6 under until her foot slipped on a shot at No. 8, leading to her first bogey. She failed to get up-and-down from a bunker on the long par-3 ninth, her final hole.
\n\u201cSuper hard golf course,\u201d Choi said. \u201cFairways very narrow and the green is … green in not flag, like so many bumps here.\u201d
\nJin Young Ko and Lilia Vu, both with multiple majors in their careers, were at 67. Another shot behind were Lydia Ko and Charley Hull.
\nLydia Ko was in a group with Korda and Thitikul, the Nos. 1 and 2 players in the women’s world ranking.
\n\u201cSomebody asked me who I was playing and I was like, \u2018I\u2019m playing with 1 and 2, and they\u2019re almost like 1 and 1,\u2019\u201d Ko said. \u201cI was thinking some part in my back nine how impressive they\u2019ve played these last few years. I think that\u2019s the most impressive thing.\u201d
\n\u201cJeeno, she\u2019s won a couple times, but she also has put herself in contention a lot in the times she didn\u2019t win,\u201d she added. \u201cNelly hasn’t finished worse than second place this year. So it was cool to be out there with them.\u201d
The post Chella Choi Part Of 3-Way For Lead On LPGA Tour With Korda 3 Shots Behind first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-15T00:19:33+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-15T00:19:33+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ChellaChoi26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "CINCINNATI (AP) \u2014 Chella Choi bogeyed her final two holes Thursday that blemished an otherwise flawless round, giving her a 4-under 66 to fall into a three-way share of the lead with Rio Takeda and Ina ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/rory-mcilroy-has-a-bad-finish-for-a-rough-start-at-the-pga-championship/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/rory-mcilroy-has-a-bad-finish-for-a-rough-start-at-the-pga-championship/", "title": "Rory McIlroy Has A Bad Finish For A Rough Start At The PGA Championship", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 The blister on Rory McIlroy’s right pinky toe was the least of his worries Thursday in the PGA Championship. And it certainly didn’t cause him as much pain as staring a scorecard that featured five bogeys over his last six holes.
\nHe struggled mightily off the tee, a recipe for trouble at Aronimink. He was tentative over his putts, with three misses from the 7-foot range that could have made him feel a lot better.
\nThe result was a 4-over 74 that left McIlroy chasing the wrong kind of history as the Masters champion goes for the second leg of the calendar Grand Slam. Not since the late Payne Stewart in 1989 has a player started the PGA Championship with a 74 and gone on to win.
\nThe question by a PGA of America moderator when it was over sounded innocuous: \u201cHow would you describe your opening round?\u201d The response was one word. A four-letter stinky word.
\nMcIlroy had said earlier this week at Aronimink that \u201cstrategy off the tee is pretty nonexistent. It’s basically bash driver down there and then figure it out from there.”
\nHe never quite figured it out Thursday.
\nMcIlroy was hanging around par for so much of the day, right there with Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm in his group, not bad golf given the testing conditions at Aronimink.
\nBut he started missing fairways \u2014 a lot of them.
\nHis lone bogey on his front nine came on the opening hole from the right rough \u2014 he managed to only get that scooting down the fairway. But the miss to the right on the par-4 fourth (his 13th of the day) cost him another bogey. He holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fifth. All was well.
\nAnd then it wasn’t.
\n\u201cI missed the fairway right on 4, the fairway right on 6, the fairway right on 7, fairway right on 9,\u201d he said. “From there, it\u2019s hard. I didn\u2019t have great angles, either. Then obviously you start missing it just off the edges of these greens, it gets tricky.
\n\u201cI just got on that bogey train at the end.\u201d
\nMcIlroy also opened with a 74 at Quail Hollow in the PGA Championship last year, his first round as the Masters champion. The frustrations were different. A year ago, he was irritated about learning the face of his driver had become too thin to conform to regulations (and then even more irritated when the news was leaked to the media without context).
\nThis was simply a weakness in his game he thought he had corrected.
\n\u201cI\u2019m just not driving the ball well enough. It\u2019s been a problem all year for the most part,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cI miss it right, and then I want to try to correct it. And then I\u2019ll overdo it, and I\u2019ll miss it left. It\u2019s a little bit of back and forth that way. So that\u2019s pretty frustrating, especially when I pride myself on driving the ball well.\u201d
\nHe hit only five of the 14 fairways. He was in the short grass on No. 1 after making the turn. He played from the rough the rest of the round. McIlroy was in the hay right of the seventh hole and could only manage to hack that across the fairway into more rough on the left, leaving him 15 feet for par that he didn’t convert.
\n\nHis final hole was the par-5 ninth, another drive that sailed right. From there, he put it in the worst spot \u2014 a bunker 67 yards from the pin \u2014 and barely got that onto the green, leaving him 70 feet a way for birdie. He ran that 8 feet by and missed it coming back.
\nAs for that blister causing problems, McIlroy offered another one-word answer: \u201cNo.\u201d
\nThis was about his driver, mainly, which McIlroy felt good about after his final round Sunday in the Truist Championship, and the 12 holes of practice at Aronimink he played this week.
\n\u201cI honestly thought I\u2019d figured it out,\u201d he said. \u201cJust once I get under the gun, it just seems like it starts to go a little bit wayward on me.\u201d
The post Rory McIlroy Has A Bad Finish For A Rough Start At The PGA Championship first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-15T00:16:44+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-15T00:16:44+00:00", "author": { "name": "Doug Ferguson, AP" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/RoryPGAR126.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 The blister on Rory McIlroy’s right pinky toe was the least of his worries Thursday in the PGA Championship. And it certainly didn’t cause him as much pain as staring a ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/bryson-dechambeau-fails-to-stay-in-contention-with-6-over-76-in-long-day-at-pga-championship/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/bryson-dechambeau-fails-to-stay-in-contention-with-6-over-76-in-long-day-at-pga-championship/", "title": "Bryson DeChambeau Fails To Stay In Contention With 6-Over 76 In Long Day At PGA Championship", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Bryson DeChambeau’s attempted climb up the\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0leaderboard took a serious detour when his tee shot on No. 2 plopped on the stairs of a hospitality tent.
\nDeChambeau wasn’t sure how to play that shot, telling officials, \u201cI’m so confused right now.\u201d
\nConfused by the lie, confounded by the course, DeChambeau is on the brink of missing the cut of his second straight major following his breakdown at the Masters.
\nDeChambeau, a two-time U.S. Open champion, was a disaster in his opening round at\u00a0Aronimink Golf Club\u00a0and shot a 6-over 76, about six weeks after Amen Corner put him through the wringer again at the Masters.
\nTake the eighth hole at Aronimink.
\nDeChambeau flubbed a pitch from the rough so badly that the ball landed short of the green and rolled right back to his feet on the closely mown area around the putting surface.
\nThe initials on his yardage book seemed to sum up DeChambeau’s day.
\nB.A.D.
\nThis 76 is his worst score to par ever in the PGA Championship. This is the fifth time he shot 4-over or higher in the first round of a major. He made the cut in two instances, the 2018 U.S. Open and 2021 Masters.
\nHis round over, DeChambeau headed straight to the scoring tent, and he then stormed through the parking lot and to the driving range.
\nDeChambeau pounded ball after ball, stopping after most shots to review his form on the mobile phone video shot by a member of his team. He did not speak to the media.
\nDeChambeau, one of the main players in LIV Golf, might not rush to add video from the range or the bulk of his shots at Aronimink to his YouTube channel. He’s a hit on the platform, registering millions of views while he pals around on the course with Stephen Curry, Adam Sandler and Kevin Hart, and his Break 50 series has helped him earn more than 2.7 million subscribers and growing to his channel.
\nThe good times haven’t extended to the majors.
\nHe’s missed the cut in three of his last five Masters and is going to need a terrific rebound on Friday to have any shot at spending the weekend in suburban Philadelphia.
\nWhat hasn’t faded is his popularity.
\nNot even his much-derided and debated departure to LIV has dampened the enthusiasm for DeChambeau and his lethal driver. His tee shot on No. 4 seemed to fly as high as the Goodyear Blimp that flew overhead the hole and had fans rooting him on \u2014 “He smoked that thing!” \u2014 as he walked to find his ball.
\nHe averaged nearly 336 yards on his drives, yet the short game failed him.
\nOn the 11th hole, he tapped a putt that rolled and rolled and rolled some more until it landed almost off the green. DeChambeau finished with one of his six bogeys on the round, including a double-bogey on eight.
\nDeChambeau had a bit of a wait on No. 8 for the group ahead of him to finish. He folded his arms, stared straight ahead and could only search for answers. He snacked on beef jerky but not even a quick snack could help him snap into a successful end to this hole.
\nFunny thing, DeChambeau actually two-putted after his ball found the bottom stair of the staircase off the second hole and he saved par.
\nHe couldn’t save much else, though he finished the round with his lone birdie of the day on the par-5 ninth.
\nDeChambeau is in the final year of his LIV contract and the rival league to the PGA Tour faces a murky future now that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has pulled its financial backing. Even if the league doesn’t fold, could it find another investor willing to scrape up the cash needed to keep a talent like DeChambeau?
\nDeChambeau said earlier this month that \u201cegos would need to get dropped\u201d by the PGA Tour and LIV officials if there was going to be reconciliation in the golf world.
\n\nDeChambeau, who won LIV Golf events in Singapore and South Africa earlier this year, could simply step back and focus on social media content and playing the four majors if he fails to re-sign with LIV or find a path back to the PGA.
\nRatings for the LIV Tour have been anemic, meaning most people see DeChambeau four times a year \u2014 at the majors.
\nDeChambeau gears his content toward a younger audience, and Aronimink fans packed the tee box area and lined the ropes rows deep to catch a rare glimpse of him in the Northeast, though one grumbled after the end of the round, \u201cI hope he can fist bump better than he can play golf.\u201d
\nHis future in limbo, DeChambeau could find himself with two extra days to film content for his YouTube channel \u2014 he posted a\u00a0PGA practice round\u00a0to social media \u2014 if he can’t figure out a way into the weekend.
The post Bryson DeChambeau Fails To Stay In Contention With 6-Over 76 In Long Day At PGA Championship first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-15T00:13:51+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-15T00:13:51+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/BrysonPGAR126.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Bryson DeChambeau’s attempted climb up the\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0leaderboard took a serious detour when his tee shot on No. 2 plopped on the stairs of a hospitality tent. DeChambeau wasn’t sure how to ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/garrick-higgo-penalized-2-strokes-for-missing-opening-tee-time-at-pga-championship/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/garrick-higgo-penalized-2-strokes-for-missing-opening-tee-time-at-pga-championship/", "title": "Garrick Higgo Penalized 2 Strokes For Missing Opening Tee Time At PGA Championship", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Garrick Higgo found out Thursday in the\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0if you’re not early, you’re late.
\nHiggo arrived on the first tee box at what he estimated to be 30 seconds after his listed tee time and was assessed a two-stroke penalty. His first swing of the championship turned out to be his third because of the penalty.
\nThe South African still managed a 1-under 69, even though he could only wonder how easily that could have been a 67, the low score of the morning wave.
\n\u201cI was there on time,\u201d Higgo said. \u201cBut the rule is if you\u2019re one second late, you\u2019re late.\u201d
\nDue to tee off at Aronimink Golf Club at 7:18 a.m., he was told as he arrived he had been penalized. The rules state a golfer must be on the tee box and ready to play at the assigned time, regardless of the order. He was third to play.
\nHiggo said it’s the first time he’s been penalized for being late to the tee box. The good news? If he had been five minutes late, he would have been disqualified.
\n\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a surprise,\u201d he said. \u201cI was late. I mean, my caddie was yelling at me to get to the tee.\u201d
\nThe 27-year-old kept his composure and went on to \u201cpar\u201d the opening hole, but his 4 became a 6.
\n\u201cObviously, it wasn\u2019t great,\u201d he said of being penalized. \u201cI knew that I firstly had to get a driver, and I have to hit a tee shot. It was OK. I just kind of focused on what I need to do. … I wasn\u2019t going to give up and shoot 80. There was only one thing that I could do, and that was make birdies and pars and hit it where I wanted to hit it.\u201d
\nHiggo said the whole episode made him focus on making birdies in the first round. He did just that, finishing with four birdies and a bogey for a 69.
\nHe attempted to argue his case to officials after the round, to no avail. He even had the support of his playing partners. He said he believed he was within the time limit, yet conceded he might have been a bit tardy and grudgingly accepted his fate.
\nHe attributed it to his casual approach to being late, though he’s not the type who arrives 10 minutes early. He said he could have added time for his walk from the range to the putting green and ultimately the first tee.
\n\u201cI was obviously too casual,\u201d he said.
\n\nHiggo managed to erase the two-stroke penalty on the front nine. He rolled in a birdie putt from about 35 feet on the par-4 third hole and made a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-5 ninth to get back to even par.
\nAfter a bogey at the 10th, Higgo made birdie on the two par-3 holes on the back nine, with a 27-foot putt at the 14th and hitting to just over 5 feet and making the putt at the 17th.
\n\u201cI played great, made a lot of good swings, made some good putts,\u201d said Higgo, who has two PGA Tour victories and six international wins. \u201cDid everything that I could do.\u201d
The post Garrick Higgo Penalized 2 Strokes For Missing Opening Tee Time At PGA Championship first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-15T00:10:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-15T00:10:30+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/GarrickHiggoPGA26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Garrick Higgo found out Thursday in the\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0if you’re not early, you’re late. Higgo arrived on the first tee box at what he estimated to be 30 seconds after his listed ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/luke-donald-happy-not-to-have-to-worry-about-jon-rahms-eligibility-for-ryder-cup/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/luke-donald-happy-not-to-have-to-worry-about-jon-rahms-eligibility-for-ryder-cup/", "title": "Luke Donald Happy Not To Have To Worry About Jon Rahm\u2019s Eligibility For Ryder Cup", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Luke Donald goes into his third term as European captain without having to worry about whether Jon Rahm will be able to play in the Ryder Cup. In that regard, his captaincy is off to a great start.
\nRahm had declined a European tour offer\u00a0\u2014 accepted by eight other LIV Golf players \u2014 that would have allowed him to compete in the rival league without penalty provided he pay his previous fines, play in stipulated events and drop his appeal.
\nRahm, who had accused the European tour of \u201cextortion,\u201d said last week\u00a0they had reached an agreement\u00a0that frees him up to be eligible for the 2027 matches in Ireland.
\nDonald said he had no influence on the European tour’s deal with Rahm, and had no complaints.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s not my job to tell Jon what to do, but obviously very delighted that a resolution has happened and that he\u2019s available as someone that can be a part of the Ryder Cup team,\u201d Donald said. \u201cHe’s played four \u2014 two under my captaincy \u2014 and done extremely well. So to have him available for selection is pretty cool.\u201d
\nWhat remains uncertain is the rest of the golf landscape, depending on what happens with LIV Golf next year when it\u00a0loses the financial backing from the Public Investment Fund\u00a0of Saudi Arabia.
\nTeam Europe has not announced its qualifying process, which typically doesn’t start until about a year out from the matches.
\n\u201cWe don\u2019t really know what\u2019s going to happen with LIV,\u201d Donald said. \u201cObviously, you have to think about that in terms of qualification criteria.\u201d
\nAlso uncertain is how well LIV players will be accepted should they return to the tour, especially with Rahm being particularly irritated by European tour policies.
\n\u201cI like to use the phrase, \u2018Even brothers fight sometimes.\u2019 But deep down, they love each other, and the mission is pretty clear when we play a Ryder Cup, and that\u2019s to win,\u201d Donald said. “They understand that putting those feelings \u2014 those egos of different personalities, personal things \u2014 to one side is important if you\u2019re going to be successful.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t have any real qualms or issues that the team room won\u2019t be unified.\u201d
\nDonald is playing in the PGA Championship as a special invitation usually afforded Ryder Cup captains. Jim Furyk,\u00a0appointed U.S. captain two weeks ago, also was at Aronimink on Wednesday wearing a blazer, not golf shoes.
\nAsked why he wasn’t playing, Furyk said, \u201c56.\u201d He celebrated his 56th birthday on Tuesday. He also mentioned another number \u2014 7,400 \u2014 to reference the length of Aronimink, which is to suggest it’s a bit too long for a regular on the PGA Tour Champions.
\nFuryk is just getting to work on his second captaincy \u2014 his 2018 team lost in France \u2014 though it was difficult to identify some weaknesses.
\n\u201cIt’s no secret that foursomes has been a glaring problem,\u201d Furyk said. \u201cOur team play the last two Ryder Cups on Friday and Saturday, we\u2019ve dug massive holes. But foursomes is the glaring problem.\u201d
\n\nEurope had a six-point lead after team play last year at Bethpage Black, and a five-point lead going into Sunday in 2023 at Marco Simone. Europe’s foursomes record both years was 13-3.
\n\u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of stones to be unturned, our analytics, and just how we grow and how we evolve in all those areas,\u201d Furyk said. \u201cThis is something that I quite honestly have been thinking about for years because I\u2019ve been involved with so many teams.\u201d
\nHe was an assistant captain in 2021, 2023 and 2025 after his loss as a captain in France. Furyk also was the winning U.S. captain in the 2024 Presidents Cup.
The post Luke Donald Happy Not To Have To Worry About Jon Rahm\u2019s Eligibility For Ryder Cup first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-14T13:52:10+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-14T13:52:10+00:00", "author": { "name": "Doug Ferguson, AP" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/LukeDonaldRCTrophy25.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Luke Donald goes into his third term as European captain without having to worry about whether Jon Rahm will be able to play in the Ryder Cup. In that regard, his ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/a-philadelphia-golf-course-seeks-to-reclaim-its-status-as-a-force-for-opportunity-and-inclusion/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/a-philadelphia-golf-course-seeks-to-reclaim-its-status-as-a-force-for-opportunity-and-inclusion/", "title": "A Philadelphia Golf Course Seeks To Reclaim Its Status As A Force For Opportunity And Inclusion", "content_html": "\n
PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 The Philadelphia region has welcomed major championships to five of its golf clubs, most notably Merion and this week\u2019s\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0at\u00a0Aronimink.
\nYet the area\u2019s greatest contribution to\u00a0the game\u00a0may have come a few miles away in West Philadelphia, where a rebirth is taking place at Cobbs Creek Golf Club.
\nWhile Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Gary Player were competing for titles and trophies at the venerable Main Line layouts, Cobbs Creek offered something more tangible: inclusion and opportunity.
\nOpened in 1916, Cobbs Creek welcomed golfers of all backgrounds. Women could play at Cobbs Creek before they were eligible to vote. And, while very few golf courses were open to Blacks, there was no segregation at the course.
\nHall of Famer Charlie Sifford took advantage of the course’s open-door policy. He claimed it as his home and honed his skills there on the way to breaking golf\u2019s color barrier in 1961 as the first Black member of the PGA and among its first Black winners.
\nSifford\u2019s success and connection to the course helped spark a groundswell of support for the Cobbs Creek Foundation and its effort to restore the long-neglected 350-acre parcel that also touches Delaware and Montgomery counties. The effort got a significant boost with backing from Tiger Woods.
\nThe relationship between Woods and Sifford is well-documented. Woods credits Sifford for helping pave the way for his success and referred to him as \u201cthe grandfather I never had.\u201d He even named his son, Charlie, after Sifford.
\nThat connection led Woods to get involved with the Cobbs Creek project, opening his foundation\u2019s second TGR Learning Lab there in 2025. The educational facility with golf-related activities for youth in underserved areas is one of the cornerstones of the revitalization efforts and has been an immediate success.
\nWoods says the renovation is as much about education and giving back to the community as golf.
\n\u201cComing here, to a place he (Sifford) played, he grew up, he called home, and for me to have the support of the entire community, to be able to build something,\u201d Woods said. “A home, a safe place, innovation. … I didn\u2019t start the foundation to produce golfers that hit golf balls. I started the foundation to produce the greatest humans possible.\u201d
\nThe learning lab also has a junior practice putting green, built with a $250,000 donation from the foundation of three-time major champion\u00a0Jordan Spieth. Also on property is a 68-bay driving range and a short course designed by Woods\u2019 company. All the elements play a role in the bigger project: the championship course restoration.
\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of new ways that people are picking up the game now, and you\u2019ll have all of that available here,\u201d Spieth said at the opening of the putting green. \u201cThe accessibility for anybody, of any age, to come. Do golf however you want to do golf.\u201d
\nThe grand plan is to restore the course to the original design by Hugh Wilson, the golf course architect responsible for crafting nearby Merion. The rebuild has been made more daunting by near-constant flooding and decades of disrepair that led to the course closing in 2020.
\nThe hope is to eventually host a PGA Tour event at the site. For now, golf is just piece of the puzzle.
\n\u201cWe knew we were going to restore this golf course and it was going to be for the good of the public,\u201d said Cobbs Creek Foundation COO Enrique Hervada.
\n\u201cGolf is very exclusive in many ways. This is extremely inclusive. Everybody is welcome here. It was always that way, too.\u201d
\nPhiladelphia-owned Cobbs Creek was established to serve those unable to golf at private clubs.
\nWilson is credited with the design of Cobbs Creek\u2019s \u201cOlde Course,\u201d with an assist from noted golf course architects George Crump (Pine Valley), A.W. Tillinghast (Winged Foot), George Thomas (Riviera) and William Flynn (Shinnecock Hills).
\nThe layout hosted the USGA\u2019s Amateur Public Links in 1928. A nine-hole layout, the Karakung Course, was established in 1929. In 1947, Cobbs Creek was the site of the Negro National Open, with heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis as the first-round leader. It became one of only a handful of courses in the National Black Golf Hall of Fame in 2021.
\nSifford and Howard \u201cButh\u201d Wheeler, a pioneer among Black golfers and multi-time United Golf Association national champion, were notable players at Cobbs Creek. Sifford was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2014. He died in 2015.
\nIn the 1950s, the original layout was tweaked to make room for four missile silos and barracks as part of the U.S. air defense system. The original layout was reconfigured and the course continued to deal with flooding. Conditions also deteriorated while under the control of different management companies.
\nThe renovation comes with a $180 million price tag. There have been numerous stops and starts during the rebuild while awaiting permitting and other hurdles. Fundraising is a near-daily endeavor for Hervada.
\nGolf architects Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner, who led the restoration of Aronimink, are refurbishing the \u201cOlde Course.\u201d The drainage issues have been dealt with and the plan includes restoring three miles of creek and creating more than 20 acres of wetlands.
\n\u201cThe people involved knew it was going to be a herculean effort,\u201d Hervada said. \u201cWe\u2019re really close, but we have a long way to go. We\u2019re building this for the next 100 years.”
\nThe 30,000-square foot educational facility for grades 1-12 was the first building to open on the Cobbs Creek campus, in April 2025. It is the second TGR lab, after the first in Anaheim, California, opened in 2006. Others are planned for Georgia and California.
\nThe plan is for the profits from the golf operations to help fund the STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) after-school and weekend programs.
\nThe learning lab got off to a fast start, thanks to Woods\u2019 TGR Foundation.
\nMeredith Foote, the lab’s executive director, said when the facility first opened, schools within a mile and a half radius were the targets. Now, all are welcome, and Foote says that 7,000 students have been served.
\n\u201cWe exist to open up doors and opportunities,\u201d Foote said. \u201cAnd when the right doors to educational enrichment open, there is no limit for our students. It\u2019s really expose, expose, expose.”
\nCorrine Schultz, 18, of Upper Darby, was excited about joining the learning lab from the moment she saw what was offered. The homeschooled high school senior is on a robotics team at TGR.
\n\u201cOpportunity,\u201d Schultz said of what was offered. \u201cTo be part of a competitive team with the robotics. I had never been a part of a competitive team.\u201d
\n\nSchultz will continue her education in the fall at Drexel University and plans to return to the lab.
\n\u201cI\u2019m a student here,\u201d she said. \u201cBut whatever future career I decide, I want to give back to the community, to people in general.\u201d
\nAnd that is exactly what Foote wants the learning lab to instill in its participants.
\n\u201cThe legacy of this program is the kids who come in and are trying to find their passion and going on to do amazing things in life because of the opportunities they received here at the TGR Learning Lab,\u201d Foote said. \u201cWe\u2019re using golf as a driver to lift up this entire community.\u201d
The post A Philadelphia Golf Course Seeks To Reclaim Its Status As A Force For Opportunity And Inclusion first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-13T15:00:43+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-13T15:00:43+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/CobbsCreekPA26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 The Philadelphia region has welcomed major championships to five of its golf clubs, most notably Merion and this week\u2019s\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0at\u00a0Aronimink. Yet the area\u2019s greatest contribution to\u00a0the game\u00a0may have come a few miles away ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/rory-mcilroy-cuts-practice-short-at-the-pga-with-a-blister-on-his-right-toe/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/rory-mcilroy-cuts-practice-short-at-the-pga-with-a-blister-on-his-right-toe/", "title": "Rory McIlroy Cuts Practice Short At The PGA With A Blister On His Right Toe", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Good thing Masters champion Rory McIlroy came to Aronimink a few weeks ago for a\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0preview. His first practice round Tuesday didn\u2019t last very long. He stopped after three holes because of ongoing blister issues under his right pinky toe.
\nMcIlroy removed his shoe on the fourth tee, got into a cart and headed in. He looked a little better leaving the clubhouse, stopping to sign autographs and pose for a few pictures.
\nMcIlroy had a limp Sunday at the\u00a0Truist Championship\u00a0that he said was the result of a blister. That was his only tournament since\u00a0winning the Masters\u00a0in April.
\n\u201cYeah, I\u2019ve got a blister on my pinky toe on my right foot, but it\u2019s underneath my nail,\u201d McIlroy said Sunday. \u201cI can\u2019t really get to it, so it\u2019s a little sore. But I\u2019ll be all right.\u201d
\nMcIlroy told Irish media earlier Tuesday he had the nail removed and would be trying to find shoes to limit the discomfort. He has another day of practice \u2014 or maybe rest \u2014 before the opening round of the PGA Championship.
\nJustin Rose feels at home in the Philadelphia suburbs.
\nRose has a history of success on the Main Line as winner of the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion and a great track record with a win and playoff loss at Aronimink.
\nThe 45-year-old Englishman’s second PGA Tour title came in the 2010 AT&T National. He lost to Keegan Bradley in a playoff at Aronimink in the 2018 BMW Championship. Sandwiched between those performances was his lone major victory.
\nRose sounded a bit nostalgic explaining his repeated success in the region.
\n\u201cI think the whole area feels very familiar to the part of England I live in,\u201d he said. \u201cVery leafy, very green. Even this time of year I feel like the spring here is very much like the spring in England right now. So it feels very familiar from that point of view.\u201d
\nIt’s not just the change of seasons that seemingly puts Rose at ease. The old-fashioned course designs of Merion and Aronimink are part of it, too.
\n\u201cI like the old-school golf,\u201d the 25-time worldwide winner said. \u201cI like old-school tests of golf. I like the design and the architecture of these classic old courses, to be honest with you.\u201d
\nRose’s easygoing ways have made him a fan favorite in the area and he welcomes that rapport.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of fun to kind of always come back to this part of the country and play.\u201d
\nJon Rahm arrives at Aronimink seeking his third major title and with an equally important task for his fellow Spaniards.
\nSpanish players have won every major but the PGA Championship, the one tournament keeping the proud country from the Spanish Grand Slam.
\nRahm won U.S. Open (2021) and Masters (2023). Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal each won the Masters twice, while Ballesteros was a three-time British Open champion. Sergio Garcia also won the Masters.
\nRahm is at a loss to explain the lone missing major title for Spain, considering the talent of his countrymen.
\n\u201cIt does mean a lot. It\u2019s not only that, but statistically for whatever reason it\u2019s our poorest performance across all majors,\u201d Rahm said Tuesday.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t know why, but it is something that is in my mind obviously, having one left. It would be wonderful to close that fourth leg of the Grand Slam. Even though every major is extremely special in that way, to tie it all together with the greats of the past of Spain would be quite unique.\u201d
\nScottie Scheffler is casting a wide net, on and off the golf course.
\nScheffler,\u00a0who is defending his PGA title\u00a0this week, also has interests off the course, such as owning a professional fishing team.
\nThe world\u2019s top-ranked player bought the Texas Lone Stars Angling Club in 2024. The team is part of the Sport Fishing Championship and competes in saltwater tournaments.
\n\u201cI\u2019m definitely interested in other things … The fishing team is really fun,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cThat\u2019s something really interesting for me. I love being able to see that. I would like to be able to go to one of them one day. Something like that for me is really fun.\u201d
\nScheffler said he only gets involved in things he believes in and is passionate about. Asked whether his ownership has made him a better fisherman, he was brutally honest.
\n\u201cNo. I\u2019m still terrible,\u201d he said.
\nGolf course architects have been trending toward tree removal when restoring century-old courses. Not everyone is a fan.
\n\n\u201cI\u2019ve been making this joke for the last few years where I see a lot of golf courses coming in saying, \u2018Look, 100 years ago, this golf course was like this, there was no trees,\u2019\u201d Jon Rahm said. \u201cWell, in the back of my mind, they planted those trees with the future vision of having those trees in play, and now you\u2019re taking them all out.\u201d
\nRahm said he appreciates the thinking of healthier turf by allowing for sunlight and better air circulation with the wind aiding overall conditions. But a lack of trees can make it easier, especially if players come into the greens from rough with a shorter club.
\nRory McIlroy said the removal of trees at Aronimink eliminates a lot of strategy off the tee, and Xander Schauffele offered an illustration.
\n\u201cThis week you\u2019ll see guys kind of gouging it towards the green,\u201d Schauffele said. \u201cIf there\u2019s a tree there, you\u2019d be chipping out sideways. This is the type of rough where you can\u2019t get a ball to curve at all. You just grab a high-lofted club and hit a knuckleball and have it kind of trundle somewhere.\u201d
The post Rory McIlroy Cuts Practice Short At The PGA With A Blister On His Right Toe first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-13T14:57:13+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-13T14:57:13+00:00", "author": { "name": "Doug Ferguson, AP" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/RoryToePGA26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Good thing Masters champion Rory McIlroy came to Aronimink a few weeks ago for a\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0preview. His first practice round Tuesday didn\u2019t last very long. He stopped after three holes because ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/scottie-scheffler-is-looking-to-end-a-streak-of-runner-up-finishes-with-pga-championship-repeat/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/scottie-scheffler-is-looking-to-end-a-streak-of-runner-up-finishes-with-pga-championship-repeat/", "title": "Scottie Scheffler Is Looking To End A Streak Of Runner-Up Finishes With PGA Championship Repeat", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQAURE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion at the\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0and feeling like a bridesmaid over the last month.
\nRunner-up to Rory McIlroy at the\u00a0Masters. Playoff loss to Matt Fitzpatrick at the\u00a0RBC Heritage. Runner-up (by six shots) to Cameron Young at\u00a0Doral.
\n\u201cLast week my wife was like, \u2018Hey, Scottie. You\u2019re like the first guy in PGA Tour history to have three solo runner-ups in a row.’ I’m like, \u2018Yeah, it\u2019s probably because the guy that was playing that good figured out a way to win one of those,’\u201d Scheffler said Tuesday.
\nIt hasn’t put much of a dent in his confidence going into the\u00a0second major of the year. Scheffler is fierce when it comes to competition, hates losing even in friendly matches with his caddie and still has come to appreciate that winning isn’t always easy.
\nHe has a firm hold on the No. 1 world ranking \u2014 he is approaching\u00a0three straight years at the top of golf\u00a0\u2014 despite not winning since his\u00a0season debut in the California desert.
\n\u201cYou know you’re playing good golf, and you’d love to get some wins,\u201d he said. \u201cFinishing second hurts, but I think when you reflect and you’re looking at things to work on, there’s a lot less to clean up when you’re finishing second than there is when you’re finishing 30th.\u201d
\nNot that he has a lot of experience with the latter \u2014 Scheffler hasn’t finished 30th or worse since August 2024.
\nTo end that run of silver medal this week at Aronimink would allow him to join Brooks Koepka (2018-19) and Tiger Woods (1999-00 and 2006-07) as the only players to win back-to-back in the PGA Championship in stroke play.
\nIn his way is a course has plenty of room off the tee and little room for error when it comes to hitting the correct spot on the\u00a0large, severely contoured greens.
\nHe also faces the strongest field of the four majors, with 98 of the top 100 in the world, which includes the last three players to beat him \u2014 McIlroy (No. 2), Young (No. 3) and Fitzpatrick (No. 4).
\nMcIlroy\u00a0came up to\u00a0Aronimink\u00a0two weeks ago for a peek at the course he had not played since the BMW Championship in 2018, when it was so soft and mushy from rain that the event couldn’t finish until Monday. The hope this week is for minimal rain and firm, dry conditions.
\n\u201cFor the most part, it should be a bit drier, which really brings out the character of the greens,\u201d McIlroy said. \u201cThe greens seem to be the big defense and the big talking point of the golf course.\u201d
\nMcIlroy had his practice round cut short on Tuesday with a blister on his right toe that was causing some discomfort last week at the Truist Championship.
\nNot since\u00a0Jordan Spieth\u00a0in 2015 has anyone captured the first two majors of the season, and McIlroy has a chance to do that. The majors have become his focus of late, especially now that he finally has the\u00a0career Grand Slam\u00a0from\u00a0winning the Masters a year ago.
\nMcIlroy and Spieth are in the\u00a0same group\u00a0when the PGA Championship begins Thursday, along with Jon Rahm of LIV Golf. Spieth lacks only the PGA Championship to complete the career slam.
\nFor all the talk about bunker complexes that seem to line every landing area \u2014 there are 20 bunkers on the 11th hole alone \u2014 players have been talking about the greens all week, particularly if the rain holds off and the course gets firm.
\n\u201cGreens are diabolical. Should be a really good test,\u201d Xander Schauffele said. “You can make it as easy or difficult on yourself as you\u2019d like. If you get aggressive to certain pins and short-side yourself, you\u2019re going to hit it to 20 or 30 feet at best, just based on how fast and firm it is and how much it runs away from you. But at the same time, there’s certain pockets where … you can hit a really good shot and get rewarded for it.
\n\u201cThe greens are definitely the thing to prepare for this tournament. I think it will be fun to watch.\u201d
\nScheffler and McIlroy have combined to win four of the last five majors \u2014 McIlroy at\u00a0Augusta National the last two times, Scheffler at the\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0and\u00a0British Open\u00a0last year.
\n\nScheffler is more about precision, though he certainly has enough length. McIlroy feasts on wider fairways as one of the best drivers of the ball. Aronimink could test a little of each, though McIlroy was more concerned about the second shot.
\n\u201cI think in this day and age I\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s going to test all aspects of your bag,\u201d McIlroy said. “Strategy off the tee is pretty nonexistent. It’s basically bash driver down there and then figure it out from there. … When these traditional golf courses take a lot of trees out, it makes strategy not as much of a concern off the tee.
\n\u201cBut the greens are the main focus this week, and I think getting yourself in the right sections of the greens, making sure you leave yourself below the hole for the most part. That\u2019s the key.\u201d
The post Scottie Scheffler Is Looking To End A Streak Of Runner-Up Finishes With PGA Championship Repeat first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-12T22:20:04+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-12T22:20:04+00:00", "author": { "name": "Doug Ferguson, AP" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ScottieSchefflerPGAPractice26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQAURE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion at the\u00a0PGA Championship\u00a0and feeling like a bridesmaid over the last month. Runner-up to Rory McIlroy at the\u00a0Masters. Playoff loss to Matt Fitzpatrick at the\u00a0RBC Heritage. ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/lou-graham-who-won-the-us-open-in-1975-and-five-other-pga-tour-events-dies-at-88/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/lou-graham-who-won-the-us-open-in-1975-and-five-other-pga-tour-events-dies-at-88/", "title": "Lou Graham, Who Won The US Open In 1975 And Five Other PGA Tour Events, Dies At 88", "content_html": "\n
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Lou Graham, who won the U.S. Open in 1975 and five other PGA Tour events, has died. He was 88.
\nThe PGA Tour and USGA said Graham died Monday. Friend Joe Taggert, a golf pro at Richland Country Club where Graham was a member, told The Tennessean that he had been in hospice care.
\nGraham won the U.S. Open by beating John Mahaffey by two strokes at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois.
\nHis other PGA wins were the Minnesota Golf Classic in 1967 and the Liggett and Myers Open in 1972. He also won the Valero Texas Open, the IVB Philadelphia Golf Classic and the CVS Charity Classic, all in 1979. For those victories, he won the Comeback of the Year award presented by Golf Digest.
\nIn 1977, he finished second at the U.S. Open, losing by one stroke to Hubert Green at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
\nOn the Senior Tour, later known as the PGA Tour Champions, Graham’s best finish was a tie for third at the AT&T Championship in 1990.
\nHe joined the PGA Tour in 1964, winning more than $1.4 million in his career, plus $600,000 on the Senior Tour, which he joined in 1988.
\nHe played on Ryder Cup teams in 1973, 1975 and 1977.
\nGraham was born in Nashville and attended then-Memphis State University before being drafted into the Army.
The post Lou Graham, Who Won The US Open In 1975 And Five Other PGA Tour Events, Dies At 88 first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-12T21:46:06+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-12T21:46:06+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/LouGraham1975.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Lou Graham, who won the U.S. Open in 1975 and five other PGA Tour events, has died. He was 88. The PGA Tour and USGA said Graham died Monday. Friend Joe Taggert, ..." }, { "id": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/collin-morikawa-in-search-of-a-2nd-pga-title-and-hoping-his-cranky-back-is-up-to-the-task/", "url": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/tour/collin-morikawa-in-search-of-a-2nd-pga-title-and-hoping-his-cranky-back-is-up-to-the-task/", "title": "Collin Morikawa In Search Of A 2nd PGA Title And Hoping His Cranky Back Is Up To The Task", "content_html": "\n
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Collin Morikawa’s start-and-stop season is a big go at the\u00a0PGA Championship.
\nFor now.
\nThe two-time major winner \u2014 and 2020 PGA champ \u2014 is still dealing with back issues that first\u00a0surfaced after the opening hole of The Players Championship\u00a0in March, forcing his first withdrawal of the 2026 season and sidetracking a torrid start that included his first victory in 28 months.
\nThe seven-time PGA Tour winner, who withdrew from two other events, is dealing with an occasional cranky back and trying to learn to live with the accompanying uncertainty.
\n\u201cI wish I was 100% healthy,\u201d the 29-year-old said. \u201cThe body doesn\u2019t feel bad, just it\u2019s uncomfortable, and there\u2019s a trust factor. I\u2019m kind of having to deal with … I can\u2019t imagine wanting anyone to deal with it because it\u2019s just a very weird feeling of not trusting the body and yet knowing that things are going to be OK. So, it\u2019s just taking it day by day, doing what I need to do.\u201d
\nThe disappointing exit at TPC Sawgrass came after a great season-opening run.\u00a0He won at Pebble Beach, finished tied for seventh at The Genesis Invitational and placed fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. A week later, back spasms at The Players knocked him out of the championship, and the back has been a consideration ever since.
\nMorikawa withdrew from the Texas Open ahead of the Masters and tied for seventh at Augusta National while dealing with back discomfort. The following week \u2014 again with back issues \u2014 he placed fourth at Hilton Head. Two weeks later, he finished down the leaderboard in a tie for 62nd in a signature, no-cut event at Doral.
\nMorikawa skipped last week’s Truist Championship, another signature event. While that wasn’t something he originally envisioned, he is learning to adjust on the fly.
\n\u201cFor me, even taking last week off, even though that wasn\u2019t really the plan, it\u2019s so big to just be able to reset sometimes and then come out and say, \u2018Oh, man, I\u2019m ready to go.\u2019\u201d
\nHe also is realizing there is more to golf than just his swing and has become more aware of his mental approach to the game. And, that’s his focus at\u00a0Aronimink\u00a0as he chases another Wanamaker Trophy.
\n\u201cThe mental game is a big aspect of it,\u201d he said. “You\u2019re able to push yourself that much farther. Trust me, it was very, very uncomfortable to play the Masters and very uncomfortable to play the week after at Hilton Head, but you just have to keep pushing.
\n\u201cWhatever the next week or weeks, I\u2019m going to have to just breathe it out after this. Like, I will do everything it takes to play some great golf starting Thursday for four days.\u201d
\nMorikawa credits his physiotherapy team and others with keeping him competitive and said something as simple as caddie Mark Urbanek handing him a water bottle and saving him from bending goes a long way.
\nAt Augusta National, Morikawa said, he let his body adjust to the course. Instead of trying to overpower the layout, he tried to capitalize on the course’s slope and became more accepting of shot shaping.
\n\u201cI think over the last month and a half, it\u2019s just shown that there are many, many different ways to play golf. You obviously wish you were healthy, that you could just go out there and see target, hit target. But, it doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019re out of the tournament.\u201d
\n\nMorikawa followed his PGA Championship win at TPC Harding Park in 2020 with a victory at the British Open in 2021 at Royal St. George’s. Lots of time has passed since those major wins, but he’s confident he can recapture that success \u2014 maybe even at\u00a0Aronimink.
\n\u201cYeah, it\u2019s a long time, and you don\u2019t forget the win, and you don\u2019t forget that you can do it, but I think that\u2019s just more motivation to go out there and knock another one out,\u201d he said. “That ’20-\u201921 stretch, golf was pretty easy.
\n\u201cBut you go through life, and that\u2019s part of life, and you figure it out.\u201d
The post Collin Morikawa In Search Of A 2nd PGA Title And Hoping His Cranky Back Is Up To The Task first appeared on SwingU Clubhouse.
\n ", "date_published": "2026-05-12T21:45:30+00:00", "date_modified": "2026-05-12T21:45:30+00:00", "author": { "name": "Associated Press" }, "post_image": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/morikawaAPI26.jpg", "category": { "name": "Tour", "slug": "https://clubhouse.swingu.com/category/tour" }, "time_ago": "2 weeks", "excerpt": "NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Collin Morikawa’s start-and-stop season is a big go at the\u00a0PGA Championship. For now. The two-time major winner \u2014 and 2020 PGA champ \u2014 is still dealing with back issues that first\u00a0surfaced ..." } ] }