We have no idea how hard professional sport is for those who toil inside the ropes
'It was intense out there,' Noren told me Sunday night. 'Scottie was intense. I was intense. I was intense. The course is hard. It's Sunday at a Major, in the last group. It's very intense.' Noren was doing his own thing, as best he could, to the degree he could. He shot 76 and tied for 17th.
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Daily Record
2 hours ago
- Daily Record
Joaquin Niemann catches attention with 'amazing' Bryson DeChambeau comments
Chilean out to learn from his LIV colleague as he looks to transfer his form into major success with US open win at Oakmont Excited Joaquin Niemann is looking to learn from the intensity of "amazing player" Bryson DeChambeau as he works to finally crack the Major code. The Chilean star remains an intriguing puzzle to golf fans ahead of the 125th US Open at Oakmont next week as he fights to translate his LIV brilliance to the four biggest events in the game. Despite soaring clear in the individual LIV rankings ahead of the likes of DeChambeau and Jon Rahm, Niemann has taken time to flip his magic to the Majors. Before last month's PGA Championship, the 26-year-old had been unable to secure a Top 20 in one of the big-four events in 23 attempts. However, Niemann clearly showed he's moving in the right direction with a tied-eighth at Quail Hollow and, once he finishes with this weekend's LIV event in Virginia, will look to improve upon that again through the brutal test in Pennsylvania. DeChambeau has found it easy to translate with LIV work to the Majors and heads to Oakmont as the defending champion after winning 12 months ago at Pinehurst in thrilling fashion from Rory McIlroy. Niemann is watching his LIV colleague closely and with admiration as he said: 'Bryson's an amazing player. He's proved that since his amateur career. He's always been pretty talented and he's a guy that works really hard as well. He'll be the last one on the range. 'I feel like what I can learn from Bryson is his intensity of getting better. You can see how he's always trying to figure out new stuff, how he can put that into his game. I feel like he's somebody that changes and tries new things every time, there's nothing wrong with that. You can learn a lot of stuff from new experiences. 'He's way different than me, way different than anybody. The way he approaches the game is completely different. He's really unique and his way works for him. It's nice to be around him. It's nice to be around good competitive guys. 'I'm playing with him this week so it's going to be a good challenge for me. I know how bad he wants to catch me on the rankings. I'm trying to run away in a way. For me it's exciting to have that pressure from him, knowing how good of a player he is. It gets me excited to keep working hard and play better.' Niemann knows that, despite his LIV work, he is being judged by many fans and pundits outside of LIV on his performances in the Majors in terms of his status in the game. He believes he's finding the formula and said: 'For me, being on LIV, I feel like it's helping me a lot to better perform in Majors. I feel more fresh. Obviously there's a few weeks that we travel a little farther away, but I've been pretty smart and conscious of my recovery, how I'm trying to prepare and feel more fresh for a Major week. 'The schedule how it is, it feels like the guys on the PGA Tour probably play, like you see Scottie [Scheffler], he played the PGA, the week before the PGA, two weeks after that. Obviously he's playing unbelievable. But he's played a lot of golf. I feel like I had two weeks off, I'm playing an hour away from next week, which is pretty nice. 'I think I have learned most of the courses that we play on Majors are hard. There's not many crazy low scores. "My game is kind of in a way pretty aggressive and, whenever I'm out of position, I want to make the best out of it and I will take risks and try to take advantage of a tough situation and play my odds. 'But I learned to you've got to keep those high numbers away and be probably a little bit more conservative. At the end of the day in Majors, you don't win it on the first day or the second day. "I feel like all I have to do is keep my patience up there in Majors because you don't win with low scores, and knowing that it's kind of hard, but you've just got to play the game. I know I've just got to put myself in a position where I have a chance on the back nine and I know I can do the best out of that.'
Daily Record
3 hours ago
- Daily Record
ITV racing ace Jason Weaver off to see star golfing son Tyler at US Open
Tyler Weaver will come up against the likes of Rory McIlroy after qualifying for tournament at Oakmont Ex-jockey and TV racing pundit Jason Weaver is set for a whirlwind trip to Oakmont to see his son Tyler after the kid completed his dream of reaching the US Open. The English amateur will tee it up in the third Major of 2025 having come through the gruelling 36-hole qualifying event in Atlanta. Tyler says it's his biggest achievement and brother Max will be caddie in Pennsylvania as he goes in against the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. Dad is working at Epsom as part of the ITV team for Saturday's Derby and will head straight from there to the United States for the tournament before jetting back to take his place in the coverage for Royal Ascot. Naturally, he is proud and excited for the occasion and seeing his boy peg it up against the elite and told Sky Sports Racing: 'I was able to keep track of his first round of golf [in qualifiers] before I was travelling down to Windsor and then trying to concentrate whilst working was a nightmare for me because I was refreshing the phone and seeing that he was going okay. And then I got back luckily enough to see him finish the sort of the final five, six holes, obviously wanting to watch it on the telly, but they were covering all the different places dotted around and I was able to to hammer the machine and keep pressing that refresh button. 'Look, he's he's put a huge amount of work in. I've got to give him a big pat on the back. Obviously, the world is a very small place now, isn't it? And he was was good enough. He got a scholarship over at Tallahassee and he puts a huge amount of work in, which you have to. He's got Luke Clanton as part of that squad at Tallahassee, so he's had something to aim at. He's the number one amateur golfer in the world who's just turned professional, so he's had a great squad to train with. I'm chuffed that his his graft has paid off.' 'This is definitely up there with my biggest achievement,' said England Golf squad member Weaver. Tyler can't wait to get going and said: 'Playing in a major championship is a dream of mine and it still hasn't quite sunk in that I will be teeing it up at Oakmont. I am extremely lucky to have the support network that I do and none of this would be possible without them. My family are just as excited as I am.' Follow Record Sport on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-the minute breaking news, video and audio on the SPFL, the Scotland national team and beyond. You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers and Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season. We're also WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here. Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport's newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.
Daily Record
4 hours ago
- Daily Record
Brooks Koepka has lost his fear factor but will former Major monster ever get scary again?
Can American star return to that once a frightening presence at Oakmont Brilliant Brooks Koepka spent years striking deep fear into rivals on the Major scene. Five wins in golf's biggest events still puts him on a par with Rory McIlroy. But his last outing is remembered more for a spat with a mouthy fan and a social-media picture of him buying beer in a shop after missing the cut. And, as Kopeka prepares for the next big one at the US Open, the question is whether that once-scary Major monster still exists or has it been caged for good? At the age of 35, the American star has been lifeless in the Majors for the past year and a half and that's a far cry from the time when he once bossed them. Kopeka dominated the biggest events for over half a decade. In a six-year spell between 2017 and 2023, he won three PGA Championships, two US Opens and recorded six other top-five finishes. During one outrageous stretch through the 2019 season, Kopeka didn't finish outside the top four in any of the Majors and once famously stated that they were the 'easiest' to win. Asked to expand on that in the midst of his 2019 run prior to the PGA at Bethpage, he opined: '156 in the field, so you figure at least 80 of them I'm just going to beat. From there, you figure about half of them won't play well, so you're down to about maybe 35. "And then from 35, some of them, pressure is going to get to them. It only leaves you with a few more and you've just got to beat those guys.' Koepka, of course, has had savage trouble since then with injuries, most notably a serious knee issue, that set him back severely. But he roared back and the switch to LIV Golf didn't seem to have an effect as he stormed to victory in the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill soon straight after a second place at The Masters behind Jon Rahm when he was already imbedded in the Saudi series having been one of the first key names to switch across. His work that year booked him a September place in The Ryder Cup side in Rome. However, fast forward from then to now approaching the 125th Open at Oakmont next week, the man once notorious for bullying the big days is barely on the radar as a potential winner. Since that 2023 success at the PGA, the drop-off has been stark. Seventeenth at the US Open before an also-ran show at The Open at Hoylake. Last year, Koepka was unable to strike a blow as he failed to secure a Top 20 in any of the Majors and the descent has continued this term. At Augusta, while McIlroy was making history to win his career Grand Slam and match the mark of five majors, Kopeka was already long gone having missed the cut. That wasn't his first missed Masters weekend, but it was a different story with the PGA. The three-time winner of the Wanamaker Trophy had done less than four rounds in his 12 previous appearances in the event until he got to Quail Hollow, but that record was crushed by a bruising dismissal following rounds of 75 and 76 leaving him nine-over par. Naturally, a heckler is never far away in that situation and, as he made his way off one off the tees during the second round with playing partners Shane Lowry and Rickie Fowler, the obligatory LIV jibe was fired by one mouthpiece who called out that's what 'guaranteed money does to you, Brooks.' The golfer responded: 'Want to come down here and say it?' Fire in the belly, but not in the play. Koepka still won twice on the LIV circuit last year, but the connection to that Tour and poor recent Major form is just too easy a reason to use. Of course, 2016 champion at Oakmont Dustin Johnston has also become a non-factor in the big-four events since moving away from the PGA Tour with four missed cuts in his last six outings. Cameron Smith is nowhere in them recently, but the strong performances of DeChambeau, Rahm, Patrick Reed and others in Majors since making the move from the PGA Tour mean that's too simplistic an argument. Whatever the reasons, Koepka, who is playing this week at LIV Virginia in build-up to the US Open, is not the Major monster that once scared the rest and it remains to be seen when, or if, he'll frighten his rivals in them again. Most golf fans surely hope he can.
