Month: January 2021

The first time I saw Kevin Na at a press conference came in 2014 on Saturday at the Valspar Championship. I didn’t know a lot about him at the time and hadn’t really thought much about him, either. The extent of my knowledge was his infamous performance at the 2012 Players Championship, when he became

The old Bob Hope Classic, now The American Express, is one of the hallmarks of the early-year PGA Tour schedule. That includes some memorable moments—from victories by Arnold Palmer (five times), Johnny Miller (twice) and Jack Nicklaus (once)—to celebrity appearances by some of the world-class entertainers. It has given us some long-shot winners in recent

Week in and week out, the equipment scene shifts on the PGA Tour. At the Sony Open in Hawaii that meant new drivers for Russell Henley and Brendan Steele, new irons for Keegan Bradley and a new putter for Marc Leishman based on 20-plus-year-old technology. Oh, and an expanded tour staff for PXG as well.

9:06 PM ET Associated Press HONOLULU — Three shots behind with six holes to play, Kevin Na birdied three straight holes and finished with an up-and-down birdie from behind the 18th green for a 5-under 65 and a one-shot victory in the Sony Open. Na won for the fifth time in his PGA Tour career,

HONOLULU — Kevin Na freely admits there are courses on the PGA Tour that he cannot win on. “Yes, 100 percent,” he said Sunday night in a nod to many of the big ball parks that consume the schedule and serve as a defense against the bomb-and-gouge era. Fortunately for the 37-year-old South Korean, Waialae

Kevin Na hit only seven of 14 fairways on Saturday en route to shooting a third-round 61 at the Sony Open in Hawaii that left him two strokes back of leader Brendan Steele with 18 holes remaining. Presumably, then, he’s not one to worry about failing to find the short grass off the tee, a

12:50 AM ET Associated Press HONOLULU — Joaquin Niemann had no regrets about the 18th hole at the Sony Open. Four days after a pair of pars on the final hole at Kapalua led to a playoff loss, Niemann holed a 50-foot chip for eagle on the 18th hole Thursday for an 8-under 62 and

Golf fans are used to seeing low scores on the PGA Tour. But the numbers posted on Saturday at the Sony Open in Hawaii were lower collectively than usual. Way lower. During the third round at Waialae Country Club, a tight par-70 Seth Raynor design, the scoring average for the 73 golfers playing under calm,

10:40 PM ET Associated Press HONOLULU — Brendan Steele had the lowest score of his PGA Tour career with a 9-under 61, giving him a two-shot lead and another chance to win the Sony Open. Steele has reason to still be smarting from last year. He had the tournament all but won until a series

HONOLULU — New season, same story. Brendan Steele hopes the ending is different this time. A year ago at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Steele led by three going into the final round at Waialae Country Club and was up by a stroke going into the final hole of regulation. He ended up losing in

HONOLULU—Eleven-plus years, or 4,073 days, to be precise. That’s how long Stewart Cink went between victories, from the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry to the Safeway Open last fall. Now he’s looking for a second win in his last eight starts, and he’s off to a good start. Cink shot a seven-under 63 Friday at

7:28 PM ET Justin Thomas has lost an endorsement deal with Ralph Lauren after he used an anti-gay slur during the third round of last weekend’s Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. Thomas, 27, the third-ranked player in the world, was overheard on a greenside microphone cursing at himself for missing a par putt at

Ralph Lauren has “discontinued” its sponsorship of Justin Thomas after Thomas uttered a homophobic slur during last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions. “We are disheartened by Mr. Thomas’s recent language, which is entirely inconsistent with our values,” the company said in a statement. “While we acknowledge that he has apologized and recognizes the severity of

12:10 AM ET Associated Press HONOLULU — Nick Taylor pitched in for eagle to get his round headed in the right direction, and he kept going until he finished with a good break and one last birdie for an 8-under 62 and a two-shot lead Friday in the Sony Open. It’s still as crowded as

There aren’t many drawbacks to the PGA Tour’s Hawaii swing for the golf viewer. If we had to come up with one, though, it’d be the long wait for television coverage to begin. The five-hour time difference (for East Coasters), and no PGA Tour Live featured group coverage, means eager golf fans have to sit

In terms of all-around likability, Peter Malnati ranks near the very top on the PGA Tour. However, he may have gained a few enemies in the golf architecture crowd with his post-round comments on Thursday at the Sony Open. Following a first-round 62 at Waialae Country Club, which gave him a share of the Day

4:49 PM ET The World Golf Championship event scheduled for Mexico City is being moved for one year to Florida due to the coronavirus pandemic. The sponsors of the WGC-Mexico Championship, Grupo Salinas, did not want to play at Chapultepec Golf Club – where the tournament relocated to in 2017 – due to restrictions that

The PGA Tour has three opening days. The first is the Safeway Open, the official first tournament of the wraparound season. The second is the Sentry Tournament of Champions, which is always the first tournament of the calendar year. The third is the Sony Open, which…well, come to think of it, it’s a rather weak

10:15 PM ET SAO PAULO — Brazil’s federal police arrested Argentine golfer Angel Cabrera on Thursday for extradition to his homeland to face charges for several crimes allegedly committed from 2016 to last year, two officers said. Cabrera, who won both Masters and U.S. Open championships, was on Interpol’s red code list. Police said in