Most of us are happy with just the one hole-in-one in our lives but Si Woo Kim came within a whisker of claiming two aces in his third round at Sedgefield Country Club. Kim took the near-miss in his stride stating that he had expected it to go in but was happy to make birdie on such a tough hole.
It was gripping stuff coming down the stretch as Justin Thomas saw off the challenge of defending champion Brooks Koepka at the WGC-FedEx St Jude Invitational. Two huge slices of luck assisted Thomas at the 15th and 16th holes, both of which he birdied and held his nerve as Koepka stumbled on the last.
Michael Thompson birdied two of the last three holes to hold off a late charge from Adam Long to record a two-stroke win at the 3M Open in Minnesota. Thompson had shared the overnight lead with Richy Werenski with Charl Schwartzel and Tony Finau two shots back but it was Long who set the target after a final round seven-under-par 64.
Jon Rahm was overcome with emotion as he took victory at the Memorial Tournament to grab the World number one spot from Rory McIlroy and emulate his hero Seve Ballesteros as only the second Spaniard to top the rankings. The big man's margin of victory would have been even higher but for a two-shot penalty for inadvertently moving his ball at address on the 16th hole.
Finally, golf is back after a three-month wait following the COVID-19 pandemic. Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth is hosting the Charles Schwab Challenge and nearly all the world’s best players will be teeing up today.
Coming to a store, or computer, near you on Friday 21 August is the latest iteration from the folks at 2K, PGA TOUR® 2K21. The game will be available on several platforms and will be the first golf game for some time to feature actual PGA Tour Pros.
The PGA Tour will kick off on 11 June with the Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas. However, players and caddies returning to the USA for the tour face the headache of 14 days in isolation due to the strict quarantine rules in place in the USA.
As the Coronavirus crisis rumbles on golf tours facing an uncertain future. Every week that passes means that both the PGA Tour and European Tour are losing millions in TV and sponsorship revenues. The Americans have a plan for survival but their European counterparts face the perfect storm of challenges that threaten the existence of the European Tour itself.
The European Tour today confirmed the cancellation of the BMW International Open and the Open de France and the postponement of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, a Rolex Series event, due to the continuing threat posed by the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19). At the same time, the PGA Tour announced its plans to resume the 2019-20 season with the Charles Schwab Challenge between 11th and 14th June.
As the various tours are losing millions each week in TV and sponsorship income and the Coronavirus trundles on the R&A continues to put out woolly statements about continuing to look at the options. Given the likely time frames for the lifting of social distancing and the issues over international travel, the R&A must postpone.
The Players' Championship in Florida is cancelled and no further tournaments will be played up until the Valero Texas Open. The announcement came from Tour saying it was " the right thing to do for our players and our fans is to pause."
Italy has just gone into lockdown and around the world sports events are starting to be impacted by the Coronavirus crisis. All golf events cancelled to date have been mainly in Asia but now Europe and the USA are beginning to take action to stem the spread of the virus. The Masters is only a month away, and the signs are not promising.
