Latest news with #ScottieScheffler
Associated Press
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Ben Griffin still on a heater after his win on punishing course at Memorial
DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Ben Griffin resumed the great play that brought him his first individual PGA Tour victory last week, hitting two shots in the water and still posting a 7-under 65 on Thursday in the Memorial on a course with rough as dense as a U.S. Open. Griffin isn't taking victory laps after winning at Colonial. He just kept making birdies, along with an eagle on the par- 5 seventh hole with a 3-wood into 12 feet. He led by two shots over Collin Morikawa, with Max Homa another stroke behind. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler wasn't at his best and still managed a 70, his 19th consecutive tournament in which he opened with a round par. Griffin was playing so well that his two water balls — on the par-5 11th and par-3 12th — only led to bogeys when such mistakes punished so many other players. 'Yeah, a couple water balls — really need to go to the range and work on my game to clean that stuff up,' Griffin said with a laugh. He knew this was a good one. Muirfield Village was soft enough from rain the past two days that good scores were available provided shots came from the fairway, and not from rough that Justin Thomas had said was comparable to what they will face at Oakmont in the U.S. Open. 'Basically a U.S. Open we're playing,' Keegan Bradley said. 'I'm going to be playing back-to-back U.S. Opens here. But the course is very fair, setup nice. Just a tough test.' The numbers bear that out, whether it was only 13 players who broke par in a gentle wind, or the eight players who made triple bogey on seven of the holes at Muirfield Village. Griffin set the pace early by going out in 31, and then ran into a few problems with the water. He tried to reach the green on the 11th, came up short and into the water, and missed a 10-foot par putt. On the 12th, his tee shot bounced back down the slope into the water. He saved bogey with a 6-foot putt. But what a finish — a 15-foot birdie on the par-3 16th, a 12-foot birdie on the 17th and holing out from just over 50 feet up the ridge on the 18th for a third straight birdie. 'It was an incredible day,' Griffin said. 'Kind of building on what I was doing last week, making a ton of birdies, staying aggressive. This is one of the toughest golf courses we play on tour and you've got to be on your game to make birdies and give yourself a lot of looks.' Shane Lowry played alongside Griffin and had a 69, one of only six players to break 70. It might not have felt that good the way Griffin was playing. 'I told him when we finished, 'Keep it going, things will turn around for you pretty soon,'' Lowry said with a smile. 'He pretty much holed everything he looked at today. It was good. We bounced off each other, we all played really nicely. 'My 3 under doesn't look that great beside his 7 under, but 3 under is a good score out there on this course,' he said. 'It's pretty difficult.' Homa keeps trying to piece together his game that allowed him to reach No. 10 in the world when he played the Memorial last year. Now he is at No. 87 and faces a long week — a tough test at Muirfield Village, and then 36 holes of U.S. Open qualifying Monday. 'I told my coach last night this is the best my swing has felt in a really long time. Then the whole game kind of felt like that,' Homa said. 'I didn't need to shoot a low number to validate that, but it just feels nice.' Nick Taylor had one of the 10 double bogeys — two others made triple bogey — on the par-3 12th, but the Canadian rallied with two birdies on his last three holes for a 69. Scheffler won the PGA Championship and tried to get as much rest as he could ahead of Colonial, where he still tied for fourth. He worked a little more in the days heading into Memorial and spent too much time in the rough and battling for pars. He does that well, too, dropping only two shots despite hitting six of the 14 fairways and twice failing to convert birdie chances on the par 5s on the back nine. The last time he was over par to start a tournament was the U.S. Open last year. 'I felt like I scored pretty well. If I want to keep doing that, I'll have to be a little sharper the next few days,' Scheffler said. 'But overall, a good job posting a score. Yeah, 2 under on this place any day is pretty good.' No need telling that to Thomas (80) or Daniel Berger (81). And then there was Adam Scott, who was 7 over for his round through six holes. He played even par the rest of the way for a 79. ___ AP golf:
Newsweek
11 hours ago
- Sport
- Newsweek
How to Watch The Memorial Tournament First Round: Live Stream PGA Tour Golf, TV Channel
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The PGA Tour's Memorial Tournament begins on Thursday in Ohio at Muirfield Village Golf Club as many of the best players in the world compete for the top prize. Scottie Scheffler of the United States celebrates after making par on the 18th green to win the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday at Muirfield Village Golf Club on June 09, 2024 in Dublin, Ohio. Scottie Scheffler of the United States celebrates after making par on the 18th green to win the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday at Muirfield Village Golf Club on June 09, 2024 in Dublin, to Watch The Memorial Tournament - First Round: Date: Thursday, May 29, 2025 Time: 2:00 PM ET TV Channel: The Golf Channel Live Stream: Fubo (TRY FOR FREE) The event is founded and hosted by golf legend Jack Nicklaus and offers a $20 million purse, with $4 million and 700 FedEx Cup points going to the winner. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler returns as the defending champion, aiming to capture back-to-back victories after edging Collin Morikawa by a single stroke last year in a tense final round. Scheffler's 2024 win at Muirfield Village capped a remarkable spring and cemented his status as the game's current dominant force. He enters as the clear favorite, looking to become the first to repeat at the Memorial since Tiger Woods. Scheffler will have to contend with an elite field, with Xander Schauffele, fresh off his first major win, Collin Morikawa, who narrowly missed out last year and has a strong track record at Muirfield Village, and Justin Thomas, who's shown flashes of brilliance this season, all in the field. Viktor Hovland, the 2023 champion, and Hideki Matsuyama, another past winner, add further depth to an already world-class lineup. Live stream The Memorial Tournament First Round with Fubo: Start your subscription now! Regional restrictions may apply. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation.
USA Today
12 hours ago
- Automotive
- USA Today
Driver testing remains a hot-button topic on the PGA Tour. Especially when someone leaks
Driver testing remains a hot-button topic on the PGA Tour. Especially when someone leaks Driver testing became a big topic of discussion again during the 107th PGA Championship when SiriusXM reported that Rory McIlroy's club had failed a USGA test ahead of the major, forcing him to switch out the head of the TaylorMade Qi10 driver he had used to win the Masters in April. He wasn't the only big-name player to fail, either. We learned during the final round that world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was on his way to winning his third career major with his backup TaylorMade driver. 'I was the one who leaked it, basically, about Scott's,' Xander Schauffele said earlier this week ahead of the 2025 Memorial Tournament. 'To me, it was more of like, a credit to how good he was, ya know? I didn't realize — I apologized. I was like, 'Sorry, dude. I wasn't trying to have that be a question in your media after you just won another major.' It was more about, like, this guy just used his backup and absolutely rinsed the field again.' Scheffler gave a thoughtful answer, echoing Schauffele that more thorough testing needed to be implemented to make the testing more credible. Given that McIlroy has declined to comment on the subject, it refuses to go away. Last week, during his SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio show, Lucas Glover re-lit the fire when he said that he believes players on the PGA Tour who are required to submit their drivers for random USGA conformance testing for face flexibility have been known to avoid having their actual gamers tested by submitting a backup model for the field test instead.
USA Today
14 hours ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Xander Schauffele apologizes to Scottie Scheffler for leaking non-conforming driver news
Xander Schauffele apologizes to Scottie Scheffler for leaking non-conforming driver news DUBLIN, Ohio – Xander Schauffele smiled as he remembered how ticked off he was six years ago at Royal Portrush during the 2019 British Open after he was exposed for having a non-conforming driver. 'I kind of lit a fire and threw everyone under the bus,' he said. 'I remember there was a line, and I was like, 'I'm stepping across it.'' Driver testing became a big topic of discussion again during the 107th PGA Championship when SiriusXM reported that Rory McIlroy's club had failed a USGA test ahead of the major, forcing him to switch out the head of the TaylorMade Qi10 driver he had used to win the Masters in April. He wasn't the only big-name player to fail, either. We learned during the final round that world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler was on his way to winning his third career major with his backup TaylorMade driver. 'I was the one who leaked it, basically, about Scott's,' Schauffele said. 'To me, it was more of like, a credit to how good he was, ya know? I didn't realize — I apologized. I was like, 'Sorry, dude. I wasn't trying to have that be a question in your media after you just won another major.' 'It was more about, like, this guy just used his backup and absolutely rinsed the field again.' Scheffler gave a thoughtful answer, echoing Schauffele that more thorough testing needed to be implemented to make the testing more credible. Given that McIlroy has declined to comment on the subject, it refuses to go away. Last week, during his SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio show, Lucas Glover re-lit the fire when he said that he believes players on the PGA Tour who are required to submit their drivers for random USGA conformance testing for face flexibility have been known to avoid having their actual gamers tested by submitting a backup model for the field test instead. Speaking at the U.S. Women's Open, USGA CEO Mike Whan was quick to dismiss this possibility. 'We keep serial numbers of the driver that was given to us,' he said. 'And 90 percent of the drivers that were given to us in those practice facilities when we test are played on the first tee, and we expect 10 percent of players to be making changes anyway,' he said. Asked if he agreed with Glover's remarks that players might be circumventing driver testing, Collin Morikawa said, 'People joke about doing it, but I don't think anyone actually does.' Has he had a driver fail? 'I don't think I swing it fast enough,' he said. 'Or I don't hit enough drivers on the range. One or the other.' CT Creep, a measurement recorded in microseconds that indicates how long the ball stays in contact with the clubface during impact, is a phenomenon where a golf driver's face becomes more flexible over time, potentially exceeding legal limits. Morikawa went on to explain that the process by which a driver is graded is comparable to a traffic light – green is good, yellow passes, but use it with caution as it is on the verge of failing, and red is non-conforming. 'We want our drivers to be in yellow. It's passing, but it's like you want it to be fast, you don't want it to be slow,' he said. 'But if it's close to failing or if it's failing and it's close to cracking, I mean, what are you gaining? You're not gaining anything. Guys aren't going to hit it 25 yards further.' 'It's not like a corked bat,' Schauffele said. 'That's just not how golf works. You either swing it hard and hit it hard or you don't.' Schauffele added: 'I didn't even understand the public's negative opinion on it, it didn't really register in my head because I know, one, it's like, we hit our drivers a lot, so they creep and then they go over a line. We don't know the line — we have no clue. Unless our driver physically cracks and you start hitting these knuckle balls off the tee that disperse everywhere; then you know your driver's broken.' It's not so much about what a player is gaining but what is lost – comfort with a gamer that a player trusts. The specs may be the same, but drivers are mass-produced products and players develop relationships and preferences for specific clubs. In ways that club players could not detect, they perform differently. 'They can have all the same writing and logos on them, but the makeup of each head and shaft is slightly different,' he said. 'We have our trusty club, and then you take it out and switch it … there's a little bit of a grace period where you have to get used to it.' Does that explain why McIlroy, arguably the best driver of the ball on Tour, was spraying his tee shots around Quail Hollow and went from Grand Slam aspirations to barely making the cut and a disappointing T-47 finish? Perhaps, but until he addresses the subject – next week when he plays at the RBC Canadian Open? – we won't know for sure.
National Post
15 hours ago
- Business
- National Post
PGA Tour nixes starting strokes advantage for leaders at championship
Article content DUBLIN, Ohio — The PGA Tour voted to overhaul the season-ending Tour Championship so that all 30 players start from scratch and the low score on a tougher East Lake course wins the FedEx Cup. Article content The change is effective this year, with more tweaks still in the works. The announcement Tuesday evening followed a PGA Tour board vote and a meeting of the Player Advisory Council that has been trying for more than six months to find a solution. Article content The primary goal was to get rid of the staggered start that none of the players seemed to like. Article content Since 2019, the leader of the FedEx Cup going to East Lake started at 10-under par before the tournament even began. That gave him a two-shot lead over the No. 2 player, and a staggered from there until the last five players who qualified for the 30-man field were at even par. Article content Now it will effectively be a 72-hole shootout — everyone starts at even par, just like any other tournament — with FedEx Cup going to the winner. Article content 'We want the Tour Championship to be the hardest tournament to qualify for and the FedEx Cup trophy the most difficult to win,' said Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world who won his first FedEx Cup title last year. He serves on the PAC. Article content 'Shifting the Tour Championship to a more straight-up format with a tougher course setup makes it easier for fans to follow and provides a more challenging test for players — which brings out the best competition.' Article content Article content Still to be announced is the prize fund. Scheffler received a $25 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup last year. The tour indicated the bonus money would be distributed more evenly to account for all 30 players — regardless of their position in the standings — have the same chance of winning. Article content Scheffler won last year at 30-under par for a four-shot victory over Collin Morikawa. Scheffler, the No. 1 seed the last three years, had a raw total of 264. Morikawa shot 262, but he was the No. 7 seed and thus gave Scheffler a six-shot head start. Article content The tour said it leaned on feedback from its fans to help determine what would make the most compelling finale. Article content 'The Player Advisory Council led a thorough process to respond to what our fans are asking for: The most competitive golf in the world, played for the highest stakes, in the most straightforward and engaging format,' PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said.
