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In 10 seasons on the PGA Tour, Troy Merritt has made 252 career starts but has just 19 top-10 finishes (for a frustrating 7.5 percent rate). Still, the few occassions the 35-year-old Idaho native has had a share of the lead entering the final round of an event—as he does at this week’s Rocket Mortgage

1:09 PM ET Associated Press THOMASTOWN, Ireland — Australian golfer Lucas Herbert completed a wire-to-wire victory at the Irish Open on Sunday, shooting 4-under 68 in the final round to win by three strokes and also secure a place at the British Open. It was Herbert’s second title on the European Tour, after the Dubai

After missing two of the past three majors, Rickie Fowler will be in the field for the 149th Open Championship that begins in eight days. But like a growing number of players, Fowler doesn’t sound ecstatic about the framework in place to compete for the claret jug. Last month the R&A announced it would welcome

DETROIT—Troy Merritt didn’t lose his mind after his first career hole-in-one on the PGA Tour, even if some around him—especially some young fans standing beside the 11th tee box—were having trouble containing their excitement. But what he did lose was momentum. His ace on the 218-yard par-3 11th hole at Detroit Golf Club gave him

10:48 PM ET Associated Press THE COLONY, Texas — Jin Young Ko chipped in for eagle on the par-4 15th and finished a bogey-free 32-hole Saturday in near darkness with a one-stroke lead in the Volunteers of America Classic. Ko returned to overcast and breezy Old American early Saturday, playing the final 14 holes for

Troy Merritt has played in 252 events on the PGA Tour, won two of them, top-tenned in 19 of them, and made well over $10 million in on-course earnings. It’s been a long, more-than solid, journeyman-type career. One thing it was missing: a hole-in-one. That changed on Saturday at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, where Merritt

3:48 AM ET Overnight leader Lucas Herbert opened up a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Irish Open, carding 67 in the second round on Friday to go 13 under at the Mount Juliet Estate in Thomastown. Having carded an 8-under-par 64 on Thursday to set the clubhouse target, the Australian was three

With the constant cheers that echoed around Phil Mickelson on Friday at Detroit Golf Club, you wouldn’t have known that a day earlier he had all but said he was going to abandon the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Mickelson, appearing in his first Rocket Mortgage, was miffed on Thursday when a story in The Detroit News

The reporters wanted to make the angle work, and Max Homa just kept shooting them down. Homa won his first PGA Tour event in February on one of his favorite golf courses in the world, Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. Riviera is tight and lined with eucalyptus and sycamore trees. This week’s venue for

10:25 PM ET Associated Press THE COLONY, Texas — Matilda Castren shot a 5-under 66 after a six-hour storm delay Friday to take the lead in the suspended second round of the Volunteers of America Classic. With the start of play delayed by lightning and rain, the 26-year-old former Florida State star from Finland had

Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim have dropped out of the Open Championship in order to focus on the Tokyo Olympics, the R&A announced Friday afternoon. Im and Kim will represent South Korea at the golf competition in the Summer Games, scheduled to begin at the end of the month. While a handful of stars

12:20 AM ET Associated Press DETROIT — Davis Thompson, in his third PGA Tour event as a professional, is leading the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He’s not excited about that fact. Yet. “Sounds good on Sunday,” Thompson said after matching a Detroit Golf Club record with a 9-under 63 to take the early first-round lead. “It’s

Annika Sorenstam will be one of three women to accept membership at Pine Valley Golf Club, the club announced in an email to its membership early Friday morning, ending Pine Valley’s 108-year history as a male-only club. Sorenstam, a 10-time major champion and 72-time winner on the LPGA Tour, will be joined by highly accomplished

Outspoken PGA tour veterans like Kevin Kisner and Joel Dahmen often talk about how shocking it is to see how good young players are almost immediately after college. Collin Morikawa, Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff served as the prime examples over the last two seasons. There are plenty of others we could name too, including

12:35 AM ET ESPN News Services Phil Mickelson entered the Rocket Mortgage Classic this week in Detroit for the first time in the event’s three-year history, but he said on Thursday it will be his last appearance. Mickelson said he won’t return because of a story published this week by The Detroit News, which obtained

A lefty with a flair for the dramatic made a Houdini-like birdie on Thursday at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. You have any guesses as to who this mystery person might be? OK, you caught us, it’s definitely Phil Mickelson, but in this particular case it was also Bubba Watson. How is that possible? We’ll explain. 

12:36 PM ET Michael Collins Close ESPN Senior Writer Senior writer/video talent for ESPN.com Worked for several players as PGA Tour caddie Former stand-up comedian Tom VanHaaren Close ESPN Staff Writer ESPN staff writer Joined ESPN in 2011 Graduated from Central Michigan DETROIT — Bryson DeChambeau and caddie Tim Tucker are taking a break, DeChambeau

Sports-management agency SPORTFIVE is expected to announce Thursday its acquisition of Chicago-based golf event management firm Global Golf Management, Golf Digest has learned. The deal, confirmed by both parties, expands the SPORTFIVE golf-event portfolio, part of its recent strategy to grow its golf business beyond player representation and its own event management position. Terms were

Despite a number of player dropouts and, let’s be honest, a severe lack of buzz, golf remains a full go for the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. Those that will make the trip, however, seem quite excited, as they should be considering it could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Captain America himself Patrick Reed won’t be

2:33 PM ET A representative for Phil Mickelson took issue with a Detroit News report that linked the golfer to an alleged mob bookie in a 2007 trial. Mickelson, 51, is playing in the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Country Club for the first time. The story published Tuesday reported Mickelson’s ties to a bookie

Angela Stanford returns to defend her Volunteers of America Classic title as a bit of a lone veteran ranger. Over the last decade on the LPGA Tour, only four victories came from players over 40 years old. Stanford, now 43, is responsible for two of those—at Old American Golf Club last year and the 2018