News

9:46 PM ET Joe LaCava is back inside the ropes this week — caddying for his old boss, Fred Couples. LaCava, who has caddied for Tiger Woods for the past 10 years, said in a text message Thursday night that “I’m actually eating pasta and watching hockey with [Couples] right now. Like nothing has changed

Following Phil Mickelson’s stunning victory at Kiawah—one of the biggest upsets in recent golf history—the world’s best players are set to arrive at Torrey Pines for what feels like a wide open 2021 U.S. Open. It’s the second time the South Course at Torrey has hosted this event, but don’t expect to learn much from

With full-time boss Tiger Woods sidelined for the foreseeable future, Joe LaCava has picked up a pretty solid side gig: loopin’ for Boom Boom. LaCava will guest caddie for Fred Couples in the Principal Charity Classic, this week’s PGA Tour Champions event at Wakonda Golf Club in Des Moines, Iowa. It’s not a new arrangement—LaCava

11:03 PM ET Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — High school junior Megha Ganne shot a 4-under 67 on Thursday to become the first amateur in 15 years to have a share of the lead after any round at the U.S. Women’s Open. The 17-year-old from New Jersey made back-to-back birdies on the back nine to

SAN FRANCISCO — For any player sitting in a hotel or rental home on Thursday morning, checking the scores in the first round of the U.S. Women’s Open, one circumstance must have produced a queasy feeling. Danielle Kang, the sixth-ranked player in the world, suffered a triple-bogey 8 on the par-5 16th—and she managed that

5:27 PM ET DUBLIN, Ohio — Xander Schauffele is statistically one of the best putters on the PGA Tour. That didn’t stop him from changing this week to a different style — one he believes should be illegal. Schauffele, the fifth-ranked player in the world, began practicing with a longer putter and using the armlock

SAN FRANCISCO — Being a TV producer is much like being an orchestra conductor. From keeping a cadre of camera operators in synch to coordinating the vocals of the on-air talent and pushing stagehands building graphics to round out the experience, the producer makes innumerable decisions to make what airs on screen come alive. But

It was a day of reckoning that ended a long week a year late for the Pepperdine and Oklahoma men’s golf teams, who on Wednesday settled a lingering question: Which had the best team? On any given day the answer likely would fluctuate, but on this day, well, score one for “the Waves of Malibu,”

10:12 PM ET Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Clay Feagler two-putted from 35 feet on the 18th hole to wrap up Pepperdine’s first men’s golf national championship in 24 years, a 3-2 victory over Oklahoma on Wednesday at Grayhawk Golf Club. Pepperdine took an early lead on a sizzling day in the desert, allowed Oklahoma

SAN FRANCISCO—This will be a nostalgic week for Webb Simpson. Nine years ago this month, he came from back in the pack on Sunday, shot 68 and seized the U.S. Open at Olympic Club for what is his only major victory in a seven-win PGA Tour career. You’d think the 35-year-old would make it a

4:38 PM ET DUBLIN, Ohio – A viral video that caught the emotion of a mini-tour golfer who had qualified for his first PGA Tour event moved Justin Thomas enough to want to offer his support. Not just in the form of encouragement, but money. As in a check he handed to Michael Visacki last

Because of how good he was between 2015 and 2017, anything less in the ensuing years from Jordan Spieth was always going to be cause for concern. When he went without a victory in the next three seasons, and experienced a particularly lean 2020, concern levels reached DEFCON 5. Thankfully, in 2021 Spieth has seemingly

SAN FRANCISCO—Jessica Korda was so distracted, so excited that she forgot just a couple of minor things as he rushed out of her Florida home for her trip to California for the U.S. Women’s Open. She could play maybe the hardest major of her life as if eyes were smeared with Vasali peering through a

10:10 PM ET Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Quade Cummins sank an 8-foot birdie putt on the drivable par-4 17th hole at Grayhawk Golf Club in the NCAA men’s national semifinals on Tuesday, clinching Oklahoma’s place in the title match against Pepperdine. Oklahoma and host Arizona State played close matches all afternoon after advancing to

Gamblers are a funny bunch. Last week in this space, one of our “experts” gave out Jason Kokrak as their sleeper pick (45-1). The rest of our crew cleaned up on matchup bets—and we hit a few of our top-10 bets, too—so anyone who followed us made a nice chunk of change. Rubbish, we say.

7:52 PM ET Associated Press FORT WORTH, Texas — Jason Kokrak played in 233 PGA Tour events before getting his first victory. The big hitter didn’t have to wait nearly as long to win again, though this one might have been harder because he had to overcome a local favorite at Colonial. Kokrak shot an

Much like golf’s last go-around with the Olympics, the 2021 Summer Games lead-up has been marked by withdrawals and issues with the competition rather than the competition itself. However, with three weeks remaining before the men’s field is set, the sport received two strong endorsements Tuesday morning. Speaking at Muirfield Village ahead of this week’s

The course remains one of the toughest tests of the year—a second-shot course that will challenge the game’s best this week. It’s another great field, as defending champion Jon Rahm (10-1) leads the odds board at this invitational event. Seven of the top-10 and 16 of the top-25 ranked players in the world will compete

10:18 PM ET Associated Press SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Turk Pettit had a stellar start to his collegiate career, winning a tournament as a freshman and posting five top-10 finishes. One bad round seemed to put him a funk. Then his clubs were stolen. The tall, lanky player from Alabama appeared to get back into a

SAN FRANCISCO—It’s one of those occasions when you wonder, “Why didn’t anybody think of this before?” Remarkably, the Korda sisters of the LPGA Tour, Jessica and Nelly, had never been grouped together in the first round of a women’s major championship. That will change come Thursday, when they will play alongside each other and former

8:08 PM ET Associated Press TULSA, Okla. — Alex Cejka won the Senior PGA Championship on Sunday for his second straight major championship, thriving on accurate and powerful ball-striking and deft touch around the demanding greens at Southern Hills. Cejka shot a 3-under 67 for a 4-stroke victory over Tim Petrovic, three weeks after he

Unlike Bryson DeChambeau, Juvic Pagunsan did not have a dew guy spritzing his ball on the range to simulate moisture conditions. He did not even have a caddie. And because he did not even have a caddie, he did not even have a full set of clubs. But none of that mattered for Pagunsan, who

LAS VEGAS — The 112th and final head-to-head showdown of the week in the first LPGA event to feature match play since the 2019 Solheim Cup turned into a likely preview of the 2021 edition. American Ally Ewing beat German Sophia Popov, 2 and 1, for her second career tour title, as the Bank of

10:03 PM ET Associated Press NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Ally Ewing won the LPGA Match Play on Sunday at Shadow Creek, beating Sophia Popov 2 and 1 for her second tour victory. Ewing won the difficult par-4 14th with a birdie to take a 2-up lead and closed out her German rival with a

Some days you just don’t have it. In every step of his resurgence, Jordan Spieth has put an emphasis on process over results. Through that prism his week at Colonial was a success. He was near the top of the field in strokes gained/putting and tee to green. He galvanized the crowds and gave them

2:02 PM ET Associated Press FARSO, Denmark — Bernd Wiesberger retained his title at the Made in HimmerLand event on the European Tour by shooting 7-under 64 to win by five shots on Sunday. The Austrian golfer won the tournament in Denmark in 2019 and it was canceled last year because of the pandemic. The

It was over fairly early for Bernd Wiesberger, which made for a less than thrilling finish to the European Tour’s Made in HimmerLand tournament but no less satisfying a result for the 35-year-old Austrian. Wiesberger started the round with a one-stroke lead, but with seven birdies in an 11-hole stretch at the HimmerLand course in

LAS VEGAS—The Bank of Hope LPGA Match-Play is down to its final four players. Sophia Popov, Ariya Jutanugarn, Shanshan Feng, and Ally Ewing will play two matches on Sunday, with the day ending with a championship final and consolation match. Ally Ewing (seeded 20th) vs. Ariya Jutanugarn (16th) Danielle Kang was hotter than her hometown

9:44 PM ET Associated Press NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Ally Ewing made a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole Saturday to beat local favorite Danielle Kang 1 up and join three major champions in the LPGA Match Play semifinals. “It was a grind,” Ewing said after the long, hot day at Shadow

Any time Jordan Spieth is leading and in the final group on a Sunday, he is the story. Add in the fact that he’s going for his second win in the last nine weeks, and he’s pretty much the only story. But both Jason Kokrak, who is one shot back after matching Spieth’s third-round 66,