News

The Players Championship, the first big tournament and the unofficial fifth major of the PGA Tour season, is here. All but three of the top 50 players in the world are competing for a $15 million purse, with Woods being the most notable absentee as he continues to rest his ailing back. Defending champion Rory

PONTE VEDRA BEACH – Despite the growing concern and continued spread of the COVID-19 virus, the Players Championship will be played as scheduled, with spectators allowed to attend, on Thursday at TPC Sawgrass, the PGA Tour said in a statement released just after midnight Thursday morning. It also said that fans wishing to no longer

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — The inevitable happened on Wednesday. In perhaps the least surprising bit of news any golf fan could hear, Tiger Woods has been elected into the World Golf Hall of Fame. “I am both honored and humbled to be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame,” Woods said in a statement.

8:37 AM ET ESPN Betting Insiders Golf’s unofficial fifth major — The Players Championship — begins Thursday at the historic TPC Sawgrass course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Our experts — ESPN’s Anita Marks and Chris “The Bear” Fallica, Stats & Info’s David Gordon and deputy editor David Bearman — are here to give their

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — Just eight months ago, Brooks Koepka hardly missed a shot in finishing T-4 at the Open Championship, his putting holding him back from making a charge. The swing was the least of his problems. Heck, there were hardly any problems at all—it was his fifth straight top-five finish in a major,

8:35 AM ET The Players Championship is the PGA Tour’s signature event. Even without Tiger Woods, who will sit out this week because of a stiff back, the field remains loaded. There are plenty of good choices for who will win. Can Rory McIlroy become the first player to repeat at The Players? Some of

For the right price, any golfer can book a tee time at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium Course. But one section of the annual home of the Players Championship is out of reach for the paying public—a practice facility on the south end of the range open to only card-carrying tour players, and designed to their precise

PONTE VEDRA BEACH — In January, the PGA Tour announced that it was increasing the purse for this year’s Players Championship to $15 million, up from $12.5 million a year ago. In the not-too-distant future, that number is expected to climb to $25 million, according to Commissioner Jay Monahan. A similar increase is expected for

1:54 PM ET PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The pesky question of a rival league that would siphon its biggest reason for existence and render inconsequential much of what PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was lauding Tuesday could not be avoided. It has been a topic of discussion at every tour event played in 2020

The PGA Tour announced Monday a new nine-year media agreement with CBS Sports, NBC Sports and ESPN. The long-awaited deal, running from 2022 through 2030, essentially maintains the status quo in the television arena. CBS will average 19 events per year through the lifespan of the contract while NBC will get eight events in addition

7:46 AM ET PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Before and after each of his rounds at his most recent tournament in Mexico, Jordan Spieth could be seen on the driving range trying to find what ails him. The pursuit of that magic remains one of the game’s most mystifying endeavors. A three-time major champion with

Imagine a world where you could watch any shot on the PGA Tour, of any player, as it happens, LIVE. Or anytime you wanted. If that sounds as appealing as it is overdue, keep reading. Over the last decade-plus, the media landscape has shifted enormously, with the ability to watch just about anything as it

When I heard that John F. Merchant, the first African-American to serve on the USGA Executive Committee (not until 1992-’98), died at age 87, the moment that came to mind was a mix of elation and anger that seemed to sum up his complicated life. It was in 1995, at the USGA’s centennial dinner in

9:02 AM ET It’s hard to believe it has nearly been 365 days since Tiger Woods stunned the golf world by winning his fifth green jacket at the Masters. The 84th edition of the Masters, the first major championship of the PGA Tour season, is only one month away. There’s much uncertainty, starting with the

The Players Championship features what might be, from top-to-bottom, the strongest field in professional golf. There are no amateurs (like in the Masters), no qualifiers (like in the U.S. and British Opens) and no club professionals (like in the PGA). Nope—it’s nothing but the best touring pros on Planet Earth. To help you get your

6:29 PM ET MAN, I TOLD my brother, you really stepped in it this time. Dan shot me a sideways look as we headed for the 17th hole at Augusta National on Sunday, April 14, 2019. “You’ve never been to a major golf championship before,” I said. “And here you are witnessing the greatest Masters

Five days after the European Tour’s DP World Tour Championship, Tyrrell Hatton underwent surgery to repair a right wrist injury that had been nagging him for some time. “Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery,” the Englishman Tweeted: https://twitter.com/TyrrellHatton/status/1200475232143912960 Less than three months later, Hatton was back in action at the WGC-Mexico, where he showed no

ORLANDO — Winning golf is a beautiful thing to behold. The feeling of satisfaction, the enjoyment of a job well done, the exhilaration one feels when having supreme control of your golf ball and hitting shot after shot with supreme confidence and impeccable precision. Yeah, well, none of that really happened Sunday at the Arnold

7:50 PM ET ORLANDO, Fla. — Five Sundays from now, the struggles at Bay Hill will be but a faded memory, a result that will have no impact either way on whether Rory McIlroy wakes up on Easter morning with a green jacket in his sights. Sure, it stings to let an opportunity get away

ORLANDO – Earlier this week at his home course in Port Orange, Fla., Rod Perry, the head professional at Crane Lakes Golf and Country Club, finished tied for third in a mini-tour event at his home course. He pocketed a check for $1,600 thanks to a six-under 60 in the final round. “That was not

8:26 PM ET Associated Press NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Ernie Els took the second-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Hoag Classic on Saturday, eagling the par-5 15th and birdieing the final two holes for a 7-under 64. Making his third senior start, the 50-year-old Hall of Famer from South Africa rebounded from a bogey

Throw a golf ball against a jagged rock and no two bounces will be the same. When Rory McIlroy reviewed the tape of his approach shot to the 18th green on Saturday in the third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he was going to see just how unlucky he was. Two inches higher, or

Tiger Woods is back, a notion signaled with intoxicating runs in 2018, confirmed at last year’s Masters and reiterated with dazzling displays in Japan and Australia. That doesn’t mean Tiger Woods is back, or at least what the sport wants that word to mean. Woods is passing on the Players Championship, his body not ready

7:12 PM ET ORLANDO, Fla. — A touch of winter — relatively speaking — descended upon Florida on Saturday, making for a treacherous day of golf at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. And with nobody breaking 70 at the Bay Hill Club, it set up what should be a wide-open final round. 1. Frigid Florida With

There is a debate surrounding the Players Championship, one that surfaces every year when the tournament arrives. We’re not going to get into it here, since we don’t have four hours to quarrel. Plus, there is a second discussion about the PGA Tour’s flagship event we’d rather explore: That it favors no specific type of

10:04 PM ET ESPN News Services WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump is honoring a pair of retired pro golfers with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor the president can give a civilian. Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player will receive the medal during a White House ceremony on March 23, the White House announced

Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player are joining the short list of golfers who have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. The White House announced on Friday that Sorenstam, a 10-time major winner on the LPGA Tour, and Player, one of only five players to win the men’s career Grand Slam, will be honored on March

Tiger Woods will miss the Players Championship for the first time since 2017. His agent, Mark Steinberg, explained the decision in a text to Golf Digest: “Back just not ready. Nothing concerning just not ready.” Woods has not played since the Genesis Invitational three weeks ago, where he shot 76-77 over the weekend to finish

4:47 PM ET ORLANDO, Fla. — To panic seems extreme, but that and any all emotions surrounding Tiger Woods‘ and his decision Friday to skip the Players Championship are certainly valid at this point. Pull your hair out. Fret and fuss. Spew doom and gloom. Go dark. It’s all fair when the subject is Tiger’s

It started with an idea from Golf Digest editor Ryan Herrington, who noticed that the past champions at the Sony Open were a list of impressive names and emailed me with a very good question: “Got me thinking … what is the tournament with the best group of past champs …wonder if there’s a way