Category: Golf

PHOENIX — Steven Alker began his PGA Tour Champions career as a Monday qualifier, the goal every week right in front of him: post top-10 finishes to keep playing.

Alker kept pulling it off until a win secured his full card. His path to winning the Charles Schwab Cup is just as clear.

Alker, the PGA Tour Champions points leader, shot his second straight bogey-free round at the Charles Schwab Cup Championship on Friday, a 7-under 64 that gave him a one-shot lead over Padraig Harrington.

“I know what I’ve got to do. The numbers are all there,” Alker said. “It’s kind of black and white. I just try and put myself in position to win a golf tournament. That’s big for me.”

Alker made seven birdies at Phoenix Country Club to reach 13 under through two rounds, keeping him comfortably in front of the only player who can overtake him for the Schwab Cup. Harrington also shot 64 and was 12 under, but he needs to win and have Alker finish outside the top five to win the PGA Tour Champions season championship.

“It seems that the Schwab Cup could be a bit of a long shot at this stage, but I’m very much in the tournament, and that’s what we’re going to focus on now,” Harrington said.

Retief Goosen shot 64 and was tied for third at 10 under with Brian Gay, who shot 65.

Bernhard Langer closed with a bogey on the reachable par-5 18th to shoot 69. He’s at six back at 7 under in his bid to match Hale Irwin‘s record of 45 senior tour wins.

Alker had to make a 15-foot par putt on No. 17 to preserve a bogey-free 65 to tie for the lead in the opening round, but spent most of a balmy Friday afternoon in the desert hitting fairways and greens.

The 51-year-old opened the second round with consecutive birdies and added two more to turn in 4-under 32. Alker rolled in a birdie putt on the short par-4 11th and another on No. 15 after squeezing his tee shot on the par 3 between a tight pin and a bunker.

He added another birdie on the par-4 17th, but pulled his tee shot into the left rough on the par-5 18th. Alker hit his second shot over a strand of trees to the fairway and his third to 30 feet, but left the birdie putt short.

A disappointing finish, but Alker has some wiggle room headed into the weekend in his bid to go from PGA Tour journeyman to champion of the over-50 circuit.

“The course dried out a little bit today, played the ball down, so that was good and greens were rolling fantastic,” Alker said. “Putted nice. When you shoot 7 under, you normally putt pretty good.”

Harrington shot an opening 66 and reeled off four birdies in five holes to start his second round. The three-time major champion from Ireland added two more birdies before a three-putt bogey on the 15th.

Harrington birdied No. 17 and reached No. 18 in two, but left a a 30-foot eagle putt short, tapping in for birdie.

“I started as well as I could and I still can’t get away from him. Steve is doing a great job,” Harrington said. “I’m trying to mind my own business most of the time doing my thing out there and I’ve got another 36 holes to do that.”

Langer had two birdies and a bogey on the front nine, then birdied the par-4 11th. The 65-year-old German caught a tough break when his tee shot left on the par-4 12th left him with an awkward stance, leading to bogey.

Langer dropped in consecutive birdies on Nos. 13 and 14, but bogeyed No. 18 after an errant tee shot and a chunky pitch.

Tiger Woods will return to competitive golf for the first time in nearly five months when he tees it up in the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas on Dec. 1-4, he announced on his Twitter account Wednesday.

Woods, 46, hasn’t played since missing the cut at the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews on July 15. The 15-time major champion made just three starts this past season; he was 47th at the Masters in April and withdrew after 54 holes at the PGA Championship in May.

The Hero World Challenge, which benefits Woods’ foundation, will be played in Albany, outside Nassau. The 20-man field also includes Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. Norway’s Viktor Hovland is the defending champion.

Woods announced Wednesday that Kevin Kisner and Tommy Fleetwood would round out the field.

Woods is still recovering from serious injuries he suffered in a car wreck outside Los Angeles in February 2021. He said doctors nearly amputated his right leg because of his injuries.

Woods announced Monday that he will be playing in The Match at Pelican Golf Club outside Tampa, Florida, on Dec. 10. He’ll team up with Rory McIlroy in a 12-hole match against Spieth and Thomas under the lights.

Woods is also expected to play with his son, Charlie, in the PNC Championship in Orlando, Florida, on Dec. 17-18. He hasn’t yet officially announced that he’ll play in that event.

It’s official: Tiger Woods is returning to the golf course Dec. 10 in the seventh edition of The Match.

The 15-time major champion will team up with world No. 1 golfer Rory McIlroy against Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in a 12-hole competition under the lights at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida.

Proceeds from the match, which tees off at 6 p.m. ET, will benefit Hurricane Ian relief efforts on the Gulf Coast. Previous editions of The Match raised $33 million for charitable organizations and provided 27 million meals through Feeding America, according to a news release.

It will be Woods’ third appearance in The Match. He teamed up with NFL quarterback Peyton Manning to defeat Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady by 1 stroke in May 2020. Woods lost to Mickelson 1-up in 22 holes in the original head-to-head Match event in November 2018. McIlroy, Spieth and Thomas will be making their debuts in the event.

Woods, 46, hasn’t competed in a tournament since missing the cut at the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews in July. He is still recovering from serious injuries suffered in a car wreck outside Los Angeles in February 2021. He finished 47th at the Masters in April, his first start since the wreck, and withdrew after three rounds of the PGA Championship in May.

Woods hasn’t yet announced whether he’ll play in the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in early December. The event benefits his foundation. Woods is expected to compete in the PNC Championship, scheduled Dec. 15-18 in Orlando, with his son, Charlie, but hasn’t yet confirmed he’ll play in the event.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Russell Henley rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on his first hole and never really let up Saturday until he had a 6-under 65 and doubled the size of his lead to six shots in the World Wide Technology at Mayakoba.

This is the sixth time Henley has had at least a share of the 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour, and while he has converted only one of them into a victory — his rookie start in 2013 in Hawaii — he has never had a lead like this.

Will Gordon bogeyed the 18th hole for a 68 to fall even farther back, tied with Patton Kizzire, who had a 67.

Henley was at 22-under 191, breaking his career low for the opening 54 holes on the PGA Tour by one shot. He had a 192 in the Sony Open in January, ultimately losing in a playoff to Hideki Matsuyama.

Equally impressive by Henley was going bogey-free, the only player in the field who has yet to drop a shot at El Camaleon.

Henley sure had his chances. He put his tee shot into the hazard on the 428-yard second hole, took a penalty drop and then hit his approach to 4 feet to save par.

Henley will be going for his fourth career victory, and first since the 2017 Houston Open.

This round had plenty of stress compared with the opening two days, though that made it feel more satisfying because of the key putts he made that saved par and kept momentum in his favor.

He started with a three-shot lead and no one made up any ground.

Sam Ryder was three behind. He was six back after making a double bogey on his first hole, while Henley made his long birdie. Gordon had three straight birdies early on the back nine to try to stay in the game.

“The score was good, but it just felt harder,” Henley said. “It was my favorite of the three days because it wasn’t easy.”

Seamus Power of Ireland, coming off a win in Bermuda, had a 63 and was seven shots behind. His round featured a hole-in-one on the eighth hole, and he didn’t even get the stage to himself.

Greyson Sigg moments later made an ace on the par-3 10th hole, and Sigg didn’t even realize it. He hit 7-iron, hit it well, knew it was a good shot but needed to get to the bathroom, and so he rushed off to the clubhouse near the tee.

“We couldn’t see it go in, no one really made any reaction,” Sigg said. “So I threw my club to my caddie and I took off and I came in the locker room, went to the bathroom, and as I was walking out, one of the locker room attendants was like, ‘Great shot. Hole-in-one.’ And I was like, ‘No way.'”

It was his first hole-in-one on the PGA Tour and he didn’t even get it out of the cup.

Two-time defending champion Viktor Hovland had a 66 and lost ground. He now is nine shots behind. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler had a 68 and was in the middle of the pack, 13 shots behind and without much chance of regaining the No. 1 ranking.

Two-time major champion Collin Morikawa had a 68 and then sounded offended in his Golf Channel interview when told that TV analyst Trevor Immelman suggested his off year might feel that way because of a high bar from early success out of college.

“Wow, that’s hard to hear from him. To be honest, I could care less what he says there because I don’t think that’s my bar,” Morikawa said.

When told it was meant as a compliment from having won so much so often, Morikawa wasn’t buying.

“I don’t know if that was a compliment, I’ll be honest. If he did, maybe it came off wrong from what I heard,” he said. “For me, I’ve never seen a ceiling. I just want to keep improving. Obviously we took a couple of steps back this year but it’s just trying to get better every day and improve on little things.”

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Will Gordon was frustrated with the way he finished last week in Bermuda. He had no complaints about his start Thursday at Mayakoba.

Gordon ran off four straight birdies to start the back nine on the El Camaleon course and finished with a 9-under 62 to take a one-shot lead over Russell Henley in the World Wide Technology Championship.

Harris English took another step back in his recovery from hip surgery and was at 64, part of a group that included former British Open champion Francesco Molinari.

Also seeing positive signs was Masters champion Scottie Scheffler.

Without the No. 1 ranking next to his name for the first time since March, Scheffler hit plenty of iron shots close and converted them into a 65. Also at 65 was two-time defending champion Viktor Hovland, who played alongside Scheffler in a balmy and occasionally breezy day in this Mexican resort.

Gordon had to go back to the Korn Ferry Tour last year to regain his PGA Tour card. He thought he was off to a reasonable start in the new season by making every cut, and then he was five shots behind going into the final round in Bermuda last week. He played the final four holes in 4-over par and tied for 35th.

“I just had an up-and-down week in Bermuda,” Gordon said. “Played some really good golf for probably 68 holes and had a rough finish. So I didn’t have many expectations coming into this week. It’s just really about managing my expectations and my emotions, so I feel like I did a good job of that today.”

The field is strong for this time of the year on the PGA Tour, especially with the addition of Scheffler and two-time major champion Collin Morikawa (71), along with Hovland, going for his third straight win at Mayakoba.

The objective for everyone is to keep it in the mangrove-lined fairways, manage the wind and occasional bursts of showers, and take advantage of the relatively flat greens.

This might be just want English needed, especially with the good vibes of having won at Mayakoba in 2013 when he was just getting started.

English capped off a two-win year in 2021 by making a solid Ryder Cup debut. But then he had surgery on his hip, which had been nagging him for years. After five months away, he returned at the Memorial and it’s been slow going.

“It’s definitely getting better,” English said. “I went through a lot of rehab. But your expectations for coming back are so much higher than they should be. I’m so competitive and I want to be the mix so badly. You’ve got to give yourself time to heal and time to get your game back.

“But I love it here. I love the atmosphere,” he said. “I’m excited about the next few days.”

Scheffler soared to No. 1 in the world when he won four times in six starts, capped off by the Masters. He lost in a playoff at the Colonial. He had a good shot at winning the FedEx Cup until he didn’t convert on the final hole.

But his game feels a long way from April, and Scheffler is playing three out of four weeks in the fall to try to build some momentum. The biggest takeaway from Thursday was signing a card without bogeys.

“Clean card is nice,” Scheffler said. “Kept the ball in play for the most part today.”

The exception was No. 3, his 12th hole, when he put his tee shot into the hazard. He took a penalty drop and hit the next one to tap-in range to escape with par. There were a lot of moments like that. Scheffler had six birdies and only few anxious moments.

“Solid golf is fun. Stress free,” Scheffler said.

Work remains for Morikawa, who won six times — including two majors — in his three years on tour. He is running out of time to get a win in 2022, and this wouldn’t appear to be the week to end that drought after four bogeys negated his four birdies.

Tony Finau was headed that direction. He took triple bogey on his second hole by twice hitting into the hazard. He bogeyed the par-5 fifth. But he turned it around with six birdies the rest of the way and salvaged a 68.

Free agency is coming to LIV Golf.

Only two days after capturing LIV Golf’s first team championship at Trump National Doral in Miami, 4 Aces GC captain Dustin Johnson is shaking up his team’s roster for 2023, sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday.

Talor Gooch is moving to the Niblicks GC, which is captained by Bubba Watson, and Johnson’s squad is replacing him with Peter Uihlein. Watson told ESPN last week that he plans to change the name of his team before next season.

Uihlein, a former world No. 1-ranked amateur and 2010 U.S. Amateur champion, finished third in the season-long individual points race in LIV Golf’s inaugural season, which earned him a $4 million bonus.

After struggling without a top-25 finish in 15 starts on the PGA Tour during the 2021-22 season, he finished second to Cameron Smith at the LIV Chicago tournament and lost to Brooks Koepka in a playoff in Saudi Arabia.

Uihlein, who is ranked 343rd in the Official World Golf Ranking, earned more than $12.8 million in purses and bonuses during the LIV Golf season.

Johnson’s team of Patrick Reed, Pat Perez and Gooch split a $16 million winner’s purse for claiming the team title. Johnson earned more than $35 million this past season. Reed and Perez are expected to remain with Johnson’s squad in 2023.

ESPN’s Michael Collins contributed to this report.

DORAL, Fla. — Dustin Johnson watched the final putt of his season roll in, pumped his right fist and waited for the party to begin.

Another big celebration. Another big check, too.

Johnson drove the green on the 370-yard par-4 16th to set up an easy birdie that provided a bit of breathing room, Patrick Reed birdied his last hole to put their squad ahead for good and 4Aces GC captured the season-ending LIV Golf team championship at Trump National Doral on Sunday by 1 shot over Cameron Smith and Punch GC.

The victory capped a monster earnings year for Johnson, by far the biggest money winner in the first year of LIV. Including his $18 million for winning the season-long individual title, Johnson finished with $35,637,767 in earnings.

“It’s been amazing,” Johnson said. “Obviously, the fans [are] what makes it. This week’s been incredible. This whole season has gotten better and better and obviously this finale has been unbelievable.”

Johnson (70), Reed (70), Talor Gooch (71) and Pat Perez (70) shot a combined 7 under 281 on the par-72 Sunday — and split $16 million.

“I feel unbelievable,” Perez said.

Reed felt even better, making birdie on his final hole to give Johnson a 1-shot lead to work with. Johnson was on the par-4 18th green in 2 when Reed finished, while Smith — the other player in Johnson’s twosome — was needing a miracle that didn’t arrive. Reed’s birdie gave his team the lead, and 2 putts from Johnson later, it was over.

“Makes me feel great,” Reed said.

Johnson wound up claiming 14% of the $255 million in purses and bonuses won by all players in LIV’s inaugural year, not including signing bonuses, which were massive and reported to be around $200 million for Phil Mickelson, and at least $100 million apiece for players like Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.

Smith (65), Matt Jones (70), Wade Ormsby (73) and Marc Leishman (74) finished at 6 under, splitting $8 million. Smash GC — Koepka (74), Peter Uihlein (75), Jason Kokrak (68) and Chase Koepka (75) — ended 4 over and split $6 million.

Stinger GC, the team of Louis Oosthuizen (71), Charl Schwartzel (71), Hennie du Plessis (76) and Branden Grace (80), finished at 10 over and split $4 million.

“Coming down the stretch here, you couldn’t draw it up any better with me and Cam battling it out to win the team championship,” Johnson said.

The payouts next year, when LIV grows from eight to 14 events, will reach $405 million. And if more players join LIV in the coming months, there will be more signing bonuses, too.

“Next year we’re going to play 14 events, plus … the majors,” Mickelson said during the LIV Golf broadcast on YouTube, doing the knock-on-wood-for-luck move before saying “the majors.” “And that’s a lot of golf. I’ve got a lot of golf coming up next year and I really want to get back to the level that I know I can play.”

The majors remain in some question since much of the qualifying process for them revolves around world rankings. For now, LIV players don’t get points toward their Official World Golf Ranking. They’ve been trying to change that.

All 16 of the players who competed Sunday finished their LIV year with more than $2 million in earnings, though most of them received much more.

Perez made just over $8 million in seven LIV events, which is more than he had in his last five years on the PGA Tour combined.

Uihlein, who never won on the PGA Tour, finished his LIV season with just over $12.5 million in seven events. That more than doubled his career earnings in 10 years as a pro.

“We’ve had a lot of headwinds,” LIV CEO and commissioner Greg Norman said on the streamed broadcast prior to the start of the final round. “We’ve weathered all the storms, and we’re here. We’ve got a great crew of people and we’ve got a great product and we’re off and running.”

DORAL, Fla. — Phil Mickelson‘s long year that led him to being a central figure in Saudi-funded LIV Golf ended on Friday when British Open champion Cameron Smith holed a 7-foot birdie putt on the final hole to beat Mickelson and eliminate his team.

The LIV Golf Team Championship-Miami at Trump National Doral is all match play, with four teams moving on to Saturday’s semifinals to face the four teams that had earned byes based on the previous seven LIV events.

Marc Leishman of the Australian team “Punch” beat Matthew Wolff in a singles match. In the foursomes match, Bernd Wiesberger and Cameron Tringale of the “Hy Flyers” won a point. That left it to the other singles match between Smith and Mickelson.

They traded pars for much of the front nine — they started on the par-3 ninth in the shotgun start — and it came down to the par-5 eighth. Mickelson missed his 8-foot birdie putt, and Smith made his 7-foot putt for a 1-up victory.

In another quarterfinal, Harold Varner III easily handled four-time major champion Brooks Koepka, 4 and 3, for his “Niblicks” team. But in this case, Koepka’s brother saved him. Chase Koepka and Jason Kokrak of “Smash” won the foursomes match for one point, after Peter Uihlein beat James Piot in a battle of U.S. Amateur champions.

Uihlein won the Amateur in 2010, while Piot won it in 2021.

Ian Poulter and his “Majestiks” easily advanced with a sweep of the “Iron Heads” in which none of the matches went the distance. The captains played each other in all quarterfinals, and that meant Poulter faced Kevin Na, winning 4 and 2.

Graeme McDowell and Richard Bland led the “Cleeks” to victory. Joaquin Niemann of “Torque” won his team’s only point, a 5-and-3 singles victory over Shergo Al Kurdi of Jordan, a late substitute when Martin Kaymer couldn’t play with an injured wrist.

Laurie Canter made a 25-foot putt for a 1-up victory over Jediah Morgan that sent the “Cleeks” to the next round.

Dustin Johnson and his leading team, “4 Aces,” face the Cleeks on Saturday. The other matches will be Sergio Garcia‘s “Fireballs” against Smith and the Punch; Brooks Koepka against Ian Poulter as the Smash face the Majesticks; and Bryson DeChambeau and his Crushers against the South African “Stinger” team led by Louis Oosthuizen.

The four winning teams advance to Sunday, which will be medal play in which every player’s score will count.

Each member of Friday’s losing teams made $250,000. The losers of Saturday’s semifinals each get $750,000.

Each player of the winning team gets $4 million.

Joe Biddle, whose Nashville sportswriting career spanned five decades, died early Wednesday. He was 78.

Born June 13, 1944, in Johnson City, Tennessee, where he was a high school classmate of Heisman Trophy winner and legendary coach Steve Spurrier, Biddle rose to prominence as the sports editor and columnist of the Nashville Banner, the city’s afternoon paper, from 1979 until it shuttered its doors in 1998.

It was during his time at the Banner that the popular “I Beat Biddle” contest came to be. Anyone who bested Biddle’s college football picks received a red, white and blue “I Beat Biddle” bumper sticker. They could be seen throughout the Southeast.

Biddle, an East Tennessee State graduate and an Air Force veteran of the Vietnam War, moved over to The Tennessean, Nashville’s morning paper, as a sports columnist in 1998 and remained there until 2011.

Biddle, an avid golfer, was a fixture at the Masters. He also covered 31 Super Bowls and 31 Final Fours. He was a four-time Tennessee Sports Writer of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sports Writers Association. He was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.

Biddle is survived by his wife, Sharon. They were married 47 years.