Latest news with #LIVTour
RTÉ News
24-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Rory McIlroy set to skip next week's Memorial Tournament
Reigning Masters champion Rory McIlroy will skip next week's Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio. McIlroy is not on the list of competitors for the event, marking the first time since 2017 that he will not participate in the tournament. Eighteen of the 20 top-ranked golfers in the world are expected to take part in the event. McIlroy currently is ranked number two, while No 10 Bryson DeChambeau competes on the LIV Tour. World number one Scottie Scheffler will defend his 2024 title at the Muirfield Village Golf Club. Since he completed the career Grand Slam at Augusta National on 13 April,McIlory has managed two top-12 finishes, placing tied for 12th at the ZurichClassic (24-27 April) and seventh at the Truist Championship (8-11 May). McIlroy struggled at last weekend's PGA Championship, finishing on three over and tied for 47th place, while Scheffler captured his third career major at Quail Hollow. Jack Nicklaus founded The Memorial Tournament in 1976 and continues to serve as the tournament host. Patrick Cantlay, the 15th-ranked player, has won two championships in the past six years (2019 and 2021).
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Playing on LIV Tour 'brings out the best' in Bland
Veteran British golfer Richard Bland says that playing on the LIV Tour "brings out the best" in him. The 52-year-old from Southampton joined LIV in 2022 for their very first event in London - and, in his first three full seasons, has secured top-24 finishes in the individual standings every time he has played. After turning professional in 1996, it took Bland 25 years and 478 tournaments on the European Tour to win his first championship - the 2021 British Masters. Last week, Bland made the cut at the second major of the year, the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, finishing tied for 37th place with a final score of one over par. "My game has definitely improved since joining the LIV Tour - it had to if I'm going to compete," he told BBC South Today. "When you compete with Bryson (DeChambeau), Brooks (Koepka) and Jon Rahm week in, week out, I have to bring my best if I have any chance of competing. "Someone like Jon last week (at the PGA Championship) proved he is a top-five player in the world, so is Bryson, and to be able to go up against those guys 14 times a year will only enhance my game." Bland is the second oldest golfer in the LIV Golf League behind Phil Mickelson, and this year made headlines with an impressive albatross at LIV Mexico. The lucrative LIV Tour was launched three years ago and fractured men's professional golf by signing high-profile players from America's previously-dominant PGA Tour including Rahm, Dustin Johnson, DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and Koepka. LIV Golf is backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) - an entity controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al-Saud - which is also the majority owner of Premier League football club Newcastle United. But for now, Bland's attention will be away from the LIV Tour as he looks to defend his Senior PGA title at Congressional Country Club in Maryland. Last year, he won the tournament on his senior major debut, closing with an eight-under final round of 63 for a three-shot victory at Harbor Shores. It was his first triumph since that British Masters win back in 2021. "My game is in pretty good shape right now," he said. "If I play the golf I know I can play, I am confident I can be in the hunt come Sunday [but] there are a lot of legends out here that can still play to a very high level. "I'm under no illusions that I'll just turn up and take the trophy - I'll have to play some of my stronger golf just to stand a chance and hopefully I can do that. "Whatever happens this week it's been an honour and privilege to be champion and hopefully that can continue." Last year, when he won the Senior PGA title, Bland dedicated the victory to his brother Heath, who had been diagnosed with cancer. On Instagram the two posed for a photo with the trophy once Bland had returned home, sharing a message that the cup was with its "rightful owner". "His treatment has finished now and hopefully touch wood he will be fine," Bland added. "He has a battle every day - compared to what he had to go through, me hitting a white golf ball round a course means nothing. "We all get frustrated because we care but it puts things into perspective that one poor shot is not life and death. I try to keep that close to myself and it brings me back to normality. "But I want to play well to give my family something to be positive about. If I do that then I have done my job."
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Playing on LIV Tour 'brings out the best' in Bland
Veteran British golfer Richard Bland says that playing on the LIV Tour "brings out the best" in him. The 52-year-old from Southampton joined LIV in 2022 for their very first event in London - and, in his first three full seasons, has secured top-24 finishes in the individual standings every time he has played. After turning professional in 1996, it took Bland 25 years and 478 tournaments on the European Tour to win his first championship - the 2021 British week, Bland made the cut at the second major of the year, the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, finishing tied for 37th place with a final score of one-over-par."My game has definitely improved since joining the LIV Tour - it had to if I'm going to compete," he told BBC South Today."When you compete with Bryson (DeChambeau), Brooks (Koepka) and Jon Rahm week in, week out, I have to bring my best if I have any chance of competing."Someone like Jon last week (at the PGA Championship) proved he is a top-five player in the world, so is Bryson, and to be able to go up against those guys 14 times a year will only enhance my game."Bland is the oldest golfer in the LIV Golf League behind Phil Mickelson, and this year made headlines with an impressive albatross at LIV Mexico, lucrative LIV Tour was launched three years ago and fractured men's professional golf by signing high-profile players from America's previously-dominant PGA Tour including Rahm, Dustin Johnson, DeChambeau, Cameron Smith and Golf is backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) - an entity controlled by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al-Saud - which is also the majority owner of Premier League football club Newcastle United. But for now, Bland's attention will be away from the LIV Tour as he looks to defend his Senior PGA title for the first time at Congressional Country Club in year, he won the tournament on his senior major debut, closing with an eight-under final round of 63 for a three-shot victory at Harbor was his first triumph since that British Masters win back in 2021."My game is in pretty good shape right now," he said."If I play the golf I know I can play, I am confident I can be in the hunt come Sunday [but] there are a lot of legends out here that can still play to a very high level."I'm under no illusions that I'll just turn up and take the trophy - I'll have to play some of my stronger golf just to stand a chance and hopefully I can do that."Whatever happens this week it's been an honour and privilege to be champion and hopefully that can continue."Last year, when he won the Senior PGA title, Bland dedicated the victory to his brother Heath, who had been diagnosed with Instagram, external the two posed for a photo with the trophy once Bland had returned home, sharing a message that the cup was with its "rightful owner"."His treatment has finished now and hopefully touch wood he will be fine," Bland added."He has a battle every day - compared to what he had to go through, me hitting a white golf ball round a course means nothing."We all get frustrated because we care but it puts things into perspective that one poor shot is not life and death. I try to keep that close to myself and it brings me back to normality."But I want to play well to give my family something to be positive about. If I do that then I have done my job."
The 42
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The 42
DeChambeau moves into contention at Quail Hollow by showing it's okay to crave attention
IF THERE'S A lesson to be distilled from this second act of Bryson DeChambeau's career: it's okay to want to be liked. Professional sport is not an arena in which you'll make many friends. 'I'm not going to try to be his best mate', replied Rory McIlroy this week when asked about DeChambeau's gripe that he hadn't said a word to him during the final round of the Masters. We tend to dismiss any sportspeople who openly court public approval as vain and distracted, even if there's a nagging part of all of us arguing we'd be precisely the same in their position. Stalking the fairways of Quail Hollow on Friday morning brought another bracing reminder as to just how popular Bryson has become, and how willingly he embraces it: his whoops and cheers were louder than any of those for McIlroy or Scottie Scheffler at the same time yesterday. At virtually every shout of I love you Bryson!! today, he turned and said, 'Thank you.' It's all part of his chase of attention and validation and he has been liberated by that chase. Advertisement 'He's the cool dude in golf at the minute', says his fellow LIV Tour member Tom McKibbin. DeChambeau's route to affections has been to surf the boom in golf influencers, and he has quickly raced past a million YouTube subscribers. (A few of those influencers have been given press credentials this week and have been stopping for selfies as they walk inside the ropes. They have been getting more attention than the vast majority of the players.) 'I''m just learning to be myself and continue to be ok with what happens', said DeChambeau last year. 'From my perspective, what's been really nice and helpful for me is doing a lot of content on YouTube. As crazy as it sounds, it's been really awesome to see how I can affect a lot of peoples lives. Junior golfers, even middle aged men are coming and shouting 'Thank you for all the content, appreciate what you do online.' DeChambeau has effectively found acceptance in a sport from which he had been ostracised. His enormous bulk and blithe belief in his own power was treated like a kind of heresy by golf's grandees, most obviously when he said he believed Augusta National was a par 67. He might as well have taken a shit in the fairway. He has slimmed down since, and his major performances have become the exception to prove the LIV rule. As all of the other A-list defectors struggle to come out of their weekly lassitude to compete at the majors, DeChambeau has become the man for the big occasion, winning last year's US Open having finished second in the PGA Championship a few weeks earlier. And today he hung tough to move himself into contention for the weekend at Quail Hollow. Having opened with a wobbly one-over 72, DeChambeau today found his groove to card a three-under 68, and found himself among the top 10 as he signed his card. He began by ripping a 351 yard drive off the 10th tee to open with birdie, and there were times he was at risk of running out of course. The 14th hole is a downhill par four measuring 344 yards, and with the pin clinging to the back-left edge by the water, he had to club down to a three-wood off the tee to avoid flying over the green entirely. He found the front-left bunker but left his chip sufficiently short to be content with a par. The frustration of a clumsy three-putt par on the par-five 15th was erased with a birdie on 16, and then bounced back from bogey on two with a birdie on three, which was followed by another pair of birdies on four and eight. Faced with a 10-footer par on his final hole, however, DeChambeau saw his putt drift past. He spun sharply and loudly cursed himself in frustration before tapping in for bogey. Visibly dejected, he pulled his cap over his eyes and took a moment on the far side of the green before gathering himself to walk through his adoring crowds and back to the clubhouse. He held out his arms to slap the tangle of hands outstretched from behind the barriers, albeit with much less enthusiasm than he had earlier in the day. Perhaps that's the downside of all this cultivated love: it's hard work to always rise to the mood to meet it. Longer-term, all of this attention might just wear him out, under the principle that being universally loved can become a tyranny of its own. But for now it doesn't matter, as the attention is giving him DeChambeau motivation to compete, and finding motivation on the LIV Tour is like striking oil. Take a glance down this leaderboard: Dustin Johnson is battling against finishing dead last, while all of Cam Smith, Brooks Koepka, Martin Kaymer and Phil Mickelson are bombing out, miles from the cut line. DeChambeau, though, once again finds himself bang in the mix of a major championship. As DeChambeau walked back across the putting green to the clubhouse with another day's adoration done, he passed Scheffler and McIlroy, both of whom were heading for the first tee, readying to walk their own tunnel of noise. Though theirs was not going to be as loud as that of the man they passed.
RTÉ News
16-05-2025
- Sport
- RTÉ News
McKibbin maintains momentum at PGA Championship, Tyrrell Hatton loses cool and ground
Tom McKibbin is set to make the cut in his first US PGA Championship. The 22-year-old from Antrim shot an even-par 71 that left him on under, inside of the predicted cut mark of one over. McKibbin, who joined the LIV Tour in January, bogeyed his final hole, the ninth, cancelling out his sole birdie on 15. Meanwhile, Tyrrell Hatton admitted his latest foul-mouthed outburst was "not my finest moment" after he squandered a promising start to round two. Hatton was within a shot of the lead after covering his first eight holes at Quail Hollow in two under par, only to then run up a damaging triple bogey on the 18th. After pulling his tee shot on the difficult par four into the creek which runs the length of the hole, Hatton could be clearly heard shouting "piece of s***" at the face of his driver, followed by another word – seemingly beginning with the letter C – which was not 100% clear. Following a penalty drop, Hatton hit this third shot into the rough short of the green and failed to find the putting surface with his fourth, before seeing his fifth shot trickle back off the green. The Englishman almost holed his next shot and tapped in for a seven before covering the front nine in 36 to complete a 73 which left him one under par, seven shots off the clubhouse lead held by Jhonattan Vegas (70). "A great birdie on 17 but a poor tee shot really on 18 and then made some bad decisions," Hatton said. "It's a really tough pin if you miss the green anywhere. It's an awkward chip and I had such a bad lie for my fourth shot to be honest. "I was trying to hit it 30 feet right, but I didn't want to hit it that hard and obviously it came out horrendous and you kind of look stupid. But I didn't think I played the next chip shot that badly and it came off the green. "Making seven there was tough and I just unfortunately wasn't able to make other shots coming back on the back nine and it ends up being a frustrating day." Asked to clarify what he had said on the 18th tee, Hatton said: "You tell me, you've seen it." Told the first three words were clear but the fourth was not, Hatton replied: "Okay. Well either way it wasn't my finest moment on the course but I mean yeah, running hot in the moment I'm pretty good at sometimes saying the wrong thing. "So yeah, I'll leave it at that." US PGA Championship round 2 live updates It is far from the first time Hatton's explosive temper has been seen on the course, with the world number 20 labelled a "terrible influence" after snapping a club and complaining about course conditions in round three of the DP World Tour Championship in November. Hatton reacted angrily to missing a short birdie putt on the 11th hole at Jumeirah Golf Estates, exclaiming clearly "F*** you, f****** s*** greens" and banging his putter down on the green. The LIV Golf player then broke one of his wedges after missing the green with his approach to the par-five 14th. Responding to that incident, which was another in a long line of displays of petulance from Hatton, veteran Sky Sports commentator Ewen Murray said: "Oh no, no. It's time for change I'm afraid. "What a terrible influence on the next generation. I'm sorry to say it, I'm his biggest supporter as a golfer. But just have a look at this. Why? Why would you do that? We've all had our moments but he's having too many of them." Vegas, who enjoyed a slice of luck when his tee shot on the 17th hit a rake and kicked onto the green, looked set to enjoy a sizeable lead before taking four to get down from a greenside bunker to make a double bogey on the 18th. The resulting 70 left him two shots clear of France's Matthieu Pavon, with Max Homa another stroke back adding a 64 to his opening 73. "I feel like finishing so late yesterday, not getting a great sleep, and having to come back early kind of put me not in the best mood all day," Vegas, who completed an opening 64 at 8pm on Thursday, said. "Every chance you get to lead a major and play with the lead is never easy, so I feel proud of a solid round today. Even though it's never easy to give two shots away right at the end, [there's] a lot of golf left, so got to keep remembering the good stuff." Former champion Shaun Micheel shrugged off an unwelcome encounter with a snake on day two. Micheel, who lifted the Wanamaker Trophy in 2003, was pacing off the distance of his third shot on the 10th hole when he came across a snake crossing the fairway on the par five. Micheel was happy to give the snake – believed to be a non-venomous eastern kingsnake – a wide berth before a tournament volunteer stepped in and used his foot to help usher the reptile out of the way and into the rough. After hitting his third shot to 12 feet, Micheel converted the birdie putt and also picked up another shot on the 11th as he battled to make the halfway cut in the US PGA for the first time since 2011. The 56-year-old won his sole major title at Oak Hill in 2003, beating Chad Campbell by two shots after a birdie on the 72nd hole. He also finished second in the same event at Medinah in 2006, five shots behind Tiger Woods.
