Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia - yes, Slovakia! - shoots Olympics 18-hole scoring record 61
Rory Sabbatini celebrated with a fist pump on his birdie putt at 18 for an Olympics 18-hole scoring record of 61 at least three feet before it dropped.
His wife and caddie this week, Martina Stofanikova, was equally elated, lifting her arms to the sky and screaming, “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
What a round it was for the 45-year-old Sabbatini, the oldest competitor in the 60-man field, who was born in South Africa and represented Slovakia, the home country of his wife and stepson, in the Tokyo Summer Games.
Sabbatini, a six-time winner on the PGA Tour but without a triumph since the 2010 Honda Classic unless you count the 2019 Slovak Open, attained Slovakia citizenship via marriage to Stofanikova. Her cousin, Rastislav Antal, the current President of the Slovak Golf Association, suggested to Sabbatini that he could take advantage of a bylaw to Rule 41 of the Olympic Charter that allows athletes of dual citizenship to represent the nation of their choice.
As a result, Sabbatini wore a golf shirt with Slovakia, a nation with only 9,000 registered golfers and 26 courses, printed in large red lettering on the back of his shirt.
Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia lines up a putt on the 16th hole during the final round of the men’s golf event at the 2020 Summer Olympics on Sunday, Aug. 1, 2021, in Kawagoe, Japan. (AP Photo/Matt York)
“The whole principle about me getting my Slovak citizenship and representing Slovakia is to try and generate interest among the junior golfers and to create future generations of Slovak golfers,” he explained earlier this week.
Sabbatini arrived early in Japan and stayed in the Olympic Village, and tabbed the experience “fabulous.”
“It’s been a great environment to be around all the Slovak athletes and the Olympic team and they have been very hospitable and welcoming and we have had a lot of fun in the team room,” he said on Friday. “Hopefully I’ll give them something to cheer about this weekend and inspire a few new golfers and maybe some desire to be future Olympians in the young girls and boys in Slovakia.”
According to Golf.com, after the Games, Sabbatini is flying to Slovakia, where he is scheduled to visit Trnaya Golf Club, about a 30-minute drive north of the capital city of Bratislava.
He’ll be able to recount arguably the round of his career. Trailing by seven strokes to start the final round, he made 10 birdies and an eagle to offset two bogeys in shooting 10-under 61 at the East Course at Kasumigaseki Country Club, in Saitama, Japan, about 35 miles northwest of downtown Tokyo. Sabbatini is the clubhouse leader at 17-under 267.
Michael Thorbjornsen finishes off a marathon week with Western Amateur title
Michael Thorbjornsen started Western Amateur week with a Glen View Golf Club course record – his 8-under 62 went into history books that date back 124 years. He ended it with one of golf’s most prestigious amateur trophies. The 19-year-old, who is about to embark on his sophomore season at Stanford, took down a stout list of opponents in four rounds of match play over the past two days to become the Western Amateur champion.
Thorbjornsen, from Wellesley, Massachusetts, made his run from the top of the bracket after rounds of 68-62-70-67 left him at 13 under and one ahead of David Ford and Pierceson Coody (the defending champion) as medalist.
The final three days of the six-day Western Amateur feature double rounds. As soon as Thorbjornsen got to the bracket, he faced recent Southern Amateur champion Maxwell Moldovan, a sophomore at Ohio State. Thorbjornsen downed him, 2 and 1, before facing two-time Western Amateur semifinalist Ricky Castillo in the quarterfinals.
Despite Castillo’s match-play chops – he went undefeated at the Walker Cup in May – Thorbjornsen defeated him on the final hole, 2 up.
On Saturday morning, Thorbjornsen defeated North Carolina’s Austin Greaser to reach the final match, where he met incoming Vanderbilt freshman Gordon Sargent.
Thorbjornsen had the advantage for much of the match, but Sargent birdied Nos. 9 and 10 to cut the deficit. Thorbjornsen then won three holes in a row from Nos. 11-13 to set the stage for a 4-and-3 victory.
“I could kind of feel the momentum switch,” Thorbjornsen said of the final. “But I had to remind myself that I was still leading. That birdie on 11 switched the momentum back in my favor.”
This week marked Thorbjornsen’s debut in the Western Amateur. He won the 2018 U.S. Junior and competed in the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, making the cut.
Thorbjornsen is the first solo Western Am medalist to win the title since Norman Xiong in 2017 at Skokie Country Club in Glencoe, Illinois.
Sargent, meanwhile, is coming off a quarterfinal run at last week’s U.S. Junior. Both men earn exemptions into the 2022 Evans Scholars Invitational on the Korn Ferry Tour.
“There’s nothing negative I will take away from this week,” Sargent said. “So many positives. This is the best amateur field and to be able to compete against these players gives me a lot of confidence.”
Already this summer, Thorbjornsen has finished 11th at both the Sunnehanna Amateur and the Northeast Amateur. He also won the Massachusetts Amateur earlier in July by an overwhelming 8-and-6 margin in a final match against 2017 U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Matt Parziale.
Thorbjornsen will compete at the U.S. Amateur at Oakmont in two weeks.
Davis Hartwell, 13, fires bogey-free 58 to win age division in Oregon Junior event
The numbers surrounding Davis Hartwell’s Klamath Basin Junior Championship title this week are nothing short of remarkable. Hartwell, a 13-year-old from Klamath Falls, Oregon, won the boys 12-13 division by 16 shots.
That’s not particularly hard to do when you fire a 14-under 58 to close.
Hartwell didn’t make a bogey in his second round on July 29, and he only made one of them over the course of the 36-hole tournament at Running Y Ranch in Klamath Falls. Needless to say, his second round is a new course record and by far a personal best for Hartwell. His previous low score was a still-impressive 64.
Davis Hartwell, a 13-year old from Klamath Falls, shot a 58 yesterday in the final round of an OGA Junior Golf Championship played at @Running_Y_Ranch.
This is the fifth age-division title Hartwell has won in Oregon Junior events this year.
“I was just kind of focused on the next hole, the next drive,” the eighth grader told the Medford Trail Tribune. “I was working on my driver all day because it’s a little inaccurate right now. I was feeling confident with the putter and I just kept making birdies.”
He did, however, admit that he was “shaking and in shock” when he saw his final score.
Three years after a chance meeting with Billy Horschel, Willie Mack III comes full circle with Billy Ho Invitational win
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Kenyatta Ramsey still has the photo saved on his cell phone.
It was from August 2, 2018, nearly three years ago to the day, that the PGA Tour invited eight members of the APGA Tour to TPC Sawgrass and a visit to the PGA Tour Academy, where director of golf Todd Anderson held court.
One of Anderson’s star pupils, Billy Horschel, happened to be there working on his game. Ramsey, who began as a member of the PGA Tour’s minority internship program in 2001 and has risen to senior director of Tournament Business Affairs for PGA Tour Champions, asked Horschel if he’d speak to the promising young golfers. Once he gets started, Horschel is tough to stop so it was approximately 30 minutes later that Horschel slid his right arm around the shoulder of Willie Mack III of Flint, Michigan. He and three others from that picture competed in the inaugural Billy Horschel APGA Tour Invitational, a 36-hole competition for an 18-man field at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.
“Three years later, they are playing for $80,000 thanks to Billy,” Ramsey said. “It’s crazy.”
Billy Horschel poses for a picture with eight APGA Tour members during a visit to PGA Tour Academy in 2018. (Photo courtesy, Kenyatta Ramsey.)
Horschel says he’s got a memory like an elephant, but for some odd reason he had no recollection of this original meeting until Ramsey showed him the photo. But Mack remembers that first visit to TPC Sawgrass as a moment that changed the course of his professional career. That was the start of the PGA Tour investing in his future by arranging for Anderson to watch him hit balls.
“He said I have the game to play on the Tour,” Mack recalled. “He said I hit the ball just like them. That meant everything to me.”
The soft-spoken Mack, 32, credited the work with Anderson, who has helped him stay on his left side a little longer, for the improvement in his overall consistency. As proof, he shot a pair of 69’s and a 36-hole total of 6-under 138 at the Pete Dye layout to win the tournament by four strokes over Troy Taylor II. (Mack birdied three of the first four holes to pull ahead but it was closer than the final score indicates as Taylor, a senior at Michigan State, went for broke at 18 and made a triple bogey.)
“I think Willie should be on the PGA Tour and it’s just a matter of time,” Horschel said. “From the minute I saw him hit balls with Todd Anderson I saw some things – he had the talent level, the ball striking level, everything in the sense of talent and athletic ability to be on the PGA Tour. Sometimes it just takes a coach or someone you meet that’s had the success to tell you that and give you that little extra confidence in yourself. I think Willie will be on the PGA Tour here in the next couple of years, there’s no doubt about it.”
Of Horschel’s influence on him, Mack said, “It’s always good to have somebody like that in your corner.”
Billy Horschel congratulates Willie Mack III for winning his seventh career APGA Tour title. (Adam Schupak/Golfweek)
Horschel conceived the idea of launching an APGA Tour event – he already headlines an AJGA tournament – in February and his team pulled the first event together without a hitch. Horschel was reluctant to take too much credit, but the players and organizers noted how he returned from his summer home in Colorado a few days early to be here, helped set the pins and tees each day and spent nearly three hours on the range after the first round providing everything from swing tips to relaying life lessons as well as making a few donations on the putting green. He compared the tournament’s debut to a rock dropped in water.
“Greater things to come,” said Horschel of his hopes for the future of the event. “This is the first ripple in many ripples.”
Adrian Stills, the APGA’s director of player development, played on the PGA Tour for a year and in Mack he sees a player with “all the tools to succeed,” he said. “He just needed the reps and the support.”
Mack’s latest victory – he’s won more than 65 times on the mini tours – was his seventh on the APGA Tour and earned him the biggest check of his career, $25,000. He also has played in four PGA Tour events this season, making two cuts as well as playing the weekend at one of his Korn Ferry Tour starts. The steep learning curve of missed cuts at the Farmers Insurance Open and Genesis Invitational have prepared him for the next step – Korn Ferry Tour Q-School this fall – and his confidence and comfort level in the heat of competition suggest he’s ready.
“I wasn’t even nervous at the PGA Tour events,” he said. “I was kind of nervous at 17 today but I think I got all my nerves out at Detroit.”
This is what Ken Bentley, a retired Nestle executive, and Stills envisioned when the APGA was founded 12 years ago to provide opportunities for minority golfers. Its strategic partnership with the Tour, which began in 2013, went next level this year when PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan made a 10-year, $100 million commitment to support nonprofit organizations that serve Blacks and other underrepresented and underserved populations.
“At his ‘State of the Tour,’ press conference last year, Jay said, ‘We don’t necessarily know what the solution is but we want to be part of it.’ We decided let’s lean in to what we’re already doing and that included APGA,” Ramsey said. “We’ve got a long way to go but we’re off to a great start.”
Look no further than Kamaiu Johnson, who not that long ago didn’t know how he was going to pay his next entry fee. Now, his shirt alone was adorned with eight different sponsor logos, including Farmers Insurance on his shirt and Titleist on his right sleeve. More big-name sponsors who want to be part of the circuit’s success are joining too, including MasterCard.
“These guys got a lot of talent,” Horschel said, “and all they really need is a little bit of mentorship and some financial backing, and I think we’re going to see, hopefully in the next five, 10 years a lot more minorities out on the PGA Tour, which would be a great thing for the game of golf.”
Horschel wrapped up the award ceremony by confirming that all of this year’s sponsors of his event confirmed they’d be back to support a sequel the following year.
“I don’t want to see any of you back here next year,” he said. “Hopefully, you’re all on the Korn Ferry Tour.”
'Nobody is going to give it to you': Annika Sorenstam carries two-stroke lead into final round of U.S. Senior Women's Open
FAIRFIELD, Conn. – As Annika Sorenstam signed golf balls after speaking with the press late Saturday afternoon, son Will asked if he could have one. Of all the fans walking down the fairways of Brooklawn Country Club at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open, children Will and Ava make this particular major unlike any of the rest.
Sorenstam left the LPGA 13 years ago to start a family and a build a new business with husband Mike McGee. The records they’ve read about in books (Will loves stats), and the hardware that packs the home trophy case are evidence of one of the greatest careers in LPGA history. But now, Will and Ava get to watch mom battle for a major championship in real time with dad on the bag. And, in many ways, they’re watching vintage Annika.
“It’s like she’s never been away,” said Laura Davies, who played alongside Sorenstam in the first two rounds. “It’s incredible.”
Annika Sorenstam gets a hug from her son, Will, before she tees off during the third round at the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn. on Saturday, July 31, 2021. (Darren Carroll/USGA)
Going into the final round, Sorenstam, 50, holds a two-shot lead over Liselotte Neumann, who provided a source of inspiration for a young Sorenstam when Neumann became the first Swedish player to win the U.S. Women’s Open in 1988.
Sorenstam battled to an even-par 72 on Saturday to stay at 8 under for the championship. Neumann’s 71 put her at 6 under, and 2021 European Solheim Cup captain Catriona Matthew sits in solo third at 4 under. Both Davies and Japan’s Yuko Saito share fourth, six shots back.
Sorenstam preached the positives after the round and said she wasn’t going to over-analyze.
“You got to let it happen,” said Sorenstam of any pressure she’s feeling. “Nobody is going to give it to you. You got to go out there and earn it. Every shot you got to earn it, make the putts, hit the fairway, the green, and that’s what it takes to score out here.”
She leads the field in greens in regulation at 85 percent and ranks third in driving distance (241.0) behind Helen Alfredsson (241.1) and Davies (268.4). Several missed tee shots put her out of place in Round 3. She also felt like she lost her feel early on in the round.
How do weekend nerves compare to winning on the LPGA in her last year on tour in 2008?
“I used to know what I would be feeling, what to do,” she said. “Now I’m having all kinds of feelings, up and down, and it just – you know, I just don’t really know what’s coming.”
Annika Sorenstam plays her tee shot at the 17th hole during the third round at the 2021 U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Conn. on Saturday, July 31, 2021. (Darren Carroll/USGA)
While Sorenstam played in a handful of tour events and pro-ams leading up to this week, Neumann, 55, said she’s only played in the Southern California Open in the past 18 months, a two-round event at La Costa in which she tied for sixth. While it’s tough replicating competition back home, she’s relishing the opportunity of playing in the final group alongside Sorenstam.
“It’s a good feeling,” said Neumann. “I just love golf and love to compete. It’s just the most fun thing we can do being out here, and being able to be in the last group, it’s pretty special.”
Davies, the inaugural champion of this event, put together the day’s best round of 68 after a nightmare of a day on the greens on Friday. She brought two putters with her to Fairfield and put the second one in play on the weekend.
“Every time I step on these greens I’m terrified because they’re good and tricky,” she said. “They’re a really true surface. You feel like you should hole lots of putts because they’re so pure, and yet when you’re – I’m not going to say the word yip because that too extreme.
“My hands were stopping and wasn’t getting it online. So, yeah, it’s pretty miserable when you know you’re hitting it pretty well tee-to-green, and you know when you get on the green best result is going to be a two-putt.”
Thankfully, she had options.
Matthew, who, like Sorenstam is making her debut in the USSWO this year, hadn’t competed since the AIG Women’s British Open at Royal Troon until she teed it up in an LET event in London earlier this month. While the mother of two didn’t exactly miss tour life, she was looking forward to the chance at competing for another major title.
“As my kids said, I’ve got a chance of winning this one,” said a grinning Matthew. She’ll play in Spain next week on the LET, followed by the AIG Women’s British Open at Carnoustie.
Sorenstam won 72 times on the LPGA, including 10 majors. A victory tomorrow at Brooklawn would give her an exemption into the U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles next year, site of Sorenstam’s 1996 Women’s Open victory.
Not that one of the game’s greatest champions will be getting ahead of herself.
“I have a lot of positive things going around,” she said. “My family is here, being here at the Open, playing in the last group. I love the golf course. I feel the love from the fans. Just having a good round.
Pajaree Anannarukarn, Jordan Smith chart runs up the leaderboard at ISPS Handa World Invitational
A leaderboard shuffle took place Saturday on the LPGA side of the ISPS Handa World Invitational, the tri-sanctioned event being played in Galgorm, Northern Ireland, this week. Second-round leader Emma Talley still has a share of the top spot, but Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn stole the show in catching her.
Anannarukarn, the 22-year-old who finished T10 at last week’s Amundi Evian Championship, had a 7-under 66 at Galgorm Castle that included an eagle at the par-5 third plus seven birdies in her final eight holes. It moved her to 13 under, which was good for a share of a one-stroke lead along with Talley and Jennifer Kupcho.
For Talley’s part, despite expressing her love for the venue and the region earlier in the week, the third round was a bit of a struggle. She opened with birdie, but bogeyed the fifth hole and doubled the ninth. She managed to get back on track on the back nine with a 2-under 34 but her even-par round of 73 didn’t allow for her to gain any ground.
Kupcho had a steady round of 70 that included birdies on her final two holes.
On the men’s side, second-round leader Daniel Hillier also lost a bit of ground, dropping from first to third with a third-round 70.
Now, a pair of Englishman are 1-2 on the leaderboard. Jordan Smith took the top spot with his 65. At 15 under, he leads countryman David Horsey by a shot. Horsey had a third-round 64.
Smith didn’t make a bogey on Saturday.
“I’ve been playing well around here for the two days that we’ve been here and I’m feeling good, the swing is feeling good, so we’ll see how it goes,” he told the European Tour.
“Today we didn’t do too much wrong at all, the putter saved me quite a few times so hopefully it can do that tomorrow if needed to.”
Golfers embracing Olympic experience; would tournament benefit from format change?
KAWAGOE, Japan — As Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy, grouped together for the first two rounds of the men’s Olympic golf stroke play tournament, walked the final fairways during Friday’s second round, they were chatting.
The topic of conversation revolved around the Olympic sports they watched growing up.
Morikawa took to the prime-time events of swimming and gymnastics during his youth. Even though he watches equestrian only every few years, McIlroy couldn’t hold back his excitement for the first night of individual and team dressage.
“It’s mesmerizing,” McIlroy said.
The Olympics were never much of a professional goal for the golfers, because golf wasn’t on the Olympic program from 1904 until 2016.
“I think it’ll probably hit me once the tournament is over,” Morikawa said of being an Olympian. “No one can take that away from you.
“Whether it changes our career or not, put that aside,” he added. “It just changes who you are.”
Heading into the Games, McIlroy had been largely indifferent in his comments. He’s quickly changed his tune. Being part of an event that’s completely different and bigger than McIlroy and golf in general has been “a pretty cool thing.”
“I didn’t know if this going to (be) my only Olympics I play,” he said, “and I’m already looking forward to Paris.”
So is Morikawa, even if Paris 2024 feels distant. If he qualifies, “I’ll definitely be going.”
Embracing the Olympic experience
Great Britain’s Paul Casey became contemplative when asked about his experience at the Games. He’s staying in the Olympic Village and is “absolutely loving it.” He said the Village has been so wonderful to him he convinced Norway’s Viktor Hovland to move in.
Paul Casey of Great Britain plays his shot from the first tee during the third round of the Men’s Individual Stroke Play on day eight of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Kasumigaseki Country Club on July 31, 2021 in Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan. Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
“It couldn’t be any better. For me, it’s hard to describe. Our tournament’s only just begun. Yeah, I’m going to have to digest it and probably talk about it afterwards, but it’s just been amazing,” Casey said.
He’s one of a few from Great Britain sleeping in a suite, not exactly similar to the accommodations he’s accustomed to on the PGA Tour. A group of rowdy partiers in the building next to him were at it deep into the night before the tournament. Instead of complaining, he took videos on his phone.
“I don’t even own a (clothing) iron this week,” he said. “Doing laundry that’s out on the balcony, all these things, it’s great.”
At the course, there is disappointment that no fans are permitted to attend, especially after 32,000 fans per day attended Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England, for a “proper” Open Championship, as Ireland’s Shane Lowry put it.
“As far as the magnitude of the event, it feels big. It’s hard,” said Lowry. “It just feels like another tournament to me. I’m out there trying to shoot the best score I can. I don’t know whether that’s me playing it down in my own head or trying to do that. I do think if I did manage to win a medal, it would be a really big deal back home.”
Casey said the jovialness that could be felt in a playing group at another tournament, even a major, was absent. Caddies aren’t handing bags to players other than their own, for example. The entire field is “all-in” and they’re all aware of what the gold medal means to 2016 Olympic champion Justin Rose, Casey’s compatriot.
“This is being an athlete, being a global athlete,” he said. “What an honor to sort of have a chance to win a gold. This might be the only chance I get. I’ll have other chances at majors.”
Would format change be good for Olympic golf?
A dichotomy presents itself in Olympic golf. Players are part of a “team” — they wear the same uniform and compete under the same flag — but it’s still an individual competition. Only one person receives a spot on each of the three podiums.
“It’s tough, because it is a team sport, but we’re here as individuals,” Morikawa said. “There’s no ‘team, A-plus job’ here.”
If the International Golf Federation shifted to a different format that relied on team play, the body would have to change current qualifying rules that dictate the top 60 in the Olympic qualifying rankings earn spots, with a maximum of two per country. The U.S. sent four because it has several players in the top-15; if a country has four players in the top-15, it can send that many.
Morikawa is down for team play at the Olympics. He’s not sure how it would work, though.
“You look at the top 15 guys in the world, there’s a lot of us (Americans),” he said. “How do you decide two guys versus four? Or how do you decided whatever the numbers are for other countries?”
Match play has been mentioned as an alternative. That would be good for television ratings, Morikawa said, but there’s also a chance a chunk of the top players in the world could be sent home after the first day of play. Stroke play gives everyone the best chance to medal, he said.
“You can’t put us in one-day qualifiers and hope all the best get through, like swimming,” he said.
A team aspect already exists in some form, Lowry said, in the effort to produce medals for Team Ireland between he and McIlroy. They’ve dined together every night, played practice rounds as pairs and travel to the course in tandem.
But it’s not like they were helping each other out too much while paired together for the third round.
“We’ll be out there competing against each other, but it’d be nice to be playing with a friend and a really good golfer,” he said.
“I’ve always said it would have been nice if it was a team event,” Lowry added, “particularly because I would have got to play with Rory.”
How about a combination of stroke and match?
“It’d be too many rounds,” Lowry said. “I don’t know, I think it’s good the way it is. Four-round stroke I think is the proper form of golf. Let’s be honest, it generally determines the best golfer of the week.”
How did a Green Bay Packers lineman celebrate Aaron Rodgers' return? A slick personalized golf cart.
Green Bay Packers lineman David Bakhtiari welcomed quarterback Aaron Rodgers back to training camp this week with a new set of wheels: the Aston Martin Vanquish Rodgers always wanted and the pink fuzzy steering wheel cover he never knew he needed.
More accurately, it was Bakhtiari’s version of the luxury British sports car. In reality, it was just an Onward golf cart he had customized to look the part — but with impressive attention to detail, we must say.
It has been a running joke during Rodgers’ appearances on “The Pat McAfee Show” that Bakhtiari gives him crummy presents, and he hoped his buddy would take his gift-giving game up a notch and get him something he actually wants, like a new Aston Martin Vanquish.
Last Christmas, Bakhtiari came through with a model of one, but Rodgers complained it was “100% used,” was all smudgy and looked like something off eBay.
“I have to contractually tell you guys he is supposedly getting me a golf cart … I don’t know if it’s an Aston Martin golf cart, but I will say that I am excited about that,” Rodgers told McAfee in December.
He can’t say Bakhtiari didn’t make good on that promise.
“My man finally got that #Ashtonmartin he always wanted. This is the real reason Aaron came back,” Bakhtiari wrote in the caption. “Enjoy it 3x MVP. No more shaming @patmcafeeshow.”
We’re coming down the homestretch of the men’s golf competition at the Tokyo Olympics, which has been as much an endurance race as anything. Multiple weather delays, numerous lead changes and a leaderboard chock-full of various nationalities have made this a riveting tournament to follow.
Kasumigaseki Country Club outside Tokyo is the host venue of the event and is one of Japan’s most exclusive private clubs. The East Course, which is where the Olympics are being played, opened in 1929, but Tom and Logan Fazio completed renovations to the track in 2016.
Team GB's Paul Casey, Tommy Fleetwood having a blast in Tokyo, both in contention to medal https://ift.tt/3ieByKz
One would be hard pressed to find anyone who has enjoyed the Olympic experience more than Paul Casey.
Well, OK, maybe Tommy Fleetwood has.
The teammates for Team Great Britain haven’t stopped smiling, feeling patriotic and enjoying all things Olympics since landing in Tokyo for the Summer Games.
Fleetwood, for instance, tweeted out “I love the (bleeping) Olympics.”
“From the moment I put a shirt on in my garage at home to getting on the flight to arriving here to being around the village, I think all of it is a, for one, it’s a very special experience, but I think being surrounded by all the athletes that put so much into this on a daily basis throughout their lives, I think it’s inspirational,” Fleetwood said. “I’ve loved every minute.”
And boy, did Team GB have a day on a hot, sunlit, windless Saturday on the rain-softened East Course at Kasumigaseki Country Club in Saitama, about 35 miles northwest of downtown Tokyo. With both inspired by countryman Justin Rose, who won the gold medal in the 2016 Rio Summer Games when golf returned to the Olympics for the first time in more than a century, Fleetwood and Casey enhanced their bold bids to earn a medal of their own.
Fleetwood, ranked 34th in the world, made seven birdies in a nine-hole stretch and ended with another red number en route to the lowest round of the day, a 7-under-par 64. Casey, ranked 22nd in the world, birdied four of his first seven holes and came home with birdies on his last two holes for a 66.
Casey stood at 12 under, Fleetwood at 10 under through 54 holes on the crowded leaderboard. USA’s Xander Schauffele leads at 14 under after a 68. At 13 under is Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (67). Joining Casey at 12 under is Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz (69). Four players are 11 under, including Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (67).
Casey will play in the final group. He said the two are technically defending the gold medal and feels passion and pride when he dons the colors of Great Britain.
“I couldn’t think of anything greater than winning a gold medal as a golfer,” he said. “We’ll see what pans out as I come down the last sort of few holes. But as I stand here right now I’m only thinking about one thing.”
That would be winning gold.
Tommy Fleetwood of Great Britain plays his shot from the ninth tee during the third round of the Men’s Individual Stroke Play on day eight of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at Kasumigaseki Country Club on July 31, 2021 in Kawagoe, Saitama, Japan. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
Fleetwood has a chance after he finally found some momentum.
“That’s the lowest round I’ve had for a very long time, really, and I think sort of got to take that back with me and think about that and draw on that,” Fleetwood said. “Just got on a run and that was great, and it was nice to come down the stretch feeling like constantly giving myself chances and moving up the board.
“We all know what places matter this week, so it’s nice to actually be within touching distance.”
Even if neither earns a place on the podium, they won’t go home empty handed.
“There’s so much to take from the Olympics,” Fleetwood said. “I love sport, I love the people that put everything into everyday life to try and be here and they get one shot every four years, five years, and it’s just been really, really good.
“We’re kind of in awe of all the other athletes and respect what they do so much and kind of supporting them the whole way. One of the things I’ve enjoyed most is either sitting on the bus to the Team GB Lodge or sitting in the dining and just rattling off conversations about what they’re doing and how they’re feeling.”
Added Casey: “Whatever’s happened in the world over the last 18 months, for all the debate on whether the Olympics should be on or not, if you’re inside that village, without a doubt there is nothing that means more to these people than competing this week and I think it’s very special.
“It’s been better than I could have imagined. I didn’t know what to expect in terms of village life and that kind of stuff. The professionalism of Team GB, I’m blown away by. Just how, also how nice everybody is. I mean it’s like the athletes are under serious pressure and it’s just a whole bunch of smiles and great people. Even with success and disappointment. It’s beyond what I could have imagined, and it’s motivated me, it’s inspired me, I’ve made new friends already.
“It’s already been a win. I just hope it’s a really big win tomorrow.”
Olympic men's golf pairings, tee times and TV info for final round https://ift.tt/2Vak61d
They are heading to the final round of the Summer Olympics mens golf competition.
Who’s going to win the gold, silver and bronze?
The leaderboard is stacked with Xander Schauffele holding a one-shot lead after 54 holes after he birdied the 18th hole. Masters champ and pride of host Japan Hideki Matsuyama is a shot back. England’s Paul Casey and Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz are tied for third, two shots back.
Kasumigaseki Country Club is playing host to both the men’s and women’s competition. The East Course will play 7,447 yards for the men this week. For the women, August 4-7, it will play 6,648 yards. Each competition has 60 players and there is no cut.
There is a 13-hour time difference between Tokyo and ET in the United States, so Sunday’s final round will start on Saturday night in U.S.
From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know about the final round of the men’s golf competition at the Olympics. All times listed are ET.
Tee times
Time
Players
6:30 p.m.
Rafael Campos, Gavin Green, Ondrej Lieser
6:41 p.m.
Juvic Pagnusan, Ryan Fox, Udayan Mane
6:52 p.m.
Gunn Charoenkul, Kalle Samooja, Jorge Campillo
7:03 p.m.
Henrik Norlander, Marc Leishman, Kristian Krogh Johannessen
JoAnne Carner shoots 79 (again!) at a U.S. Senior Women's Open, this time besting her age by 3 strokes https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
FAIRFIELD, Conn. — JoAnne Carner wasn’t trying to break her age at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open. Truth be told, she was trying to make the cut.
“You know, I hit too many bad shots,” said Carner after carding a 7-over 79 at Brooklawn Country Club, besting her age by three shots.
She won’t make her goal of playing the weekend at Brooklawn, however, as the projected cut for top 50 and ties is 8 over. (The second round was suspended due to darkness.) Carner shot her age in the first round, 82, and finished at 17-over 161.
“It was really fun,” said Carner. “I mean, I started too late. Normally you come in here you’re all ready.
“But, you know, I was still hunting and pecking for some way to get it around there. Just, you know, I would hit a really good shot and then two holes later I would drop-kick it. … was just very erratic for me.”
Carner took 14 months off from golf during the COVID-19 pandemic and picked up a club for the first time two months ago. She played five times per week at her home club, Pine Tree in Boynton Beach, and lost 24 of the 26 pounds she’d gained while hunkered down away from the virus.
On Thursday, Carner became only the fifth player in history to shoot his or her age in a USGA championship more than once, and the first player to do it when in her 80s. At the inaugural U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Chicago Golf Club, Carner matched her age, 79, in the opening round. Jerry Barber (9), Tom Watson (3), Hale Irwin (3) and Harold ‘Jug’ McSpaden round out that impressive group.
Carner also became the oldest player to compete in a USGA championship on Thursday, clipping McSpaden, who was 81 when he competed in the 1990 U.S. Senior Open.
Carner turned professional at age 30 and won 43 times on the LPGA. She holds the record with eight USGA titles and at Brooklawn competed alongside amateurs Carol Semple Thompson and Ellen Port in the first two rounds, who each have seven USGA titles.
“It’s a thrill to play with her,” said Port, who at 4 under is four strokes back of leader Annika Sorenstam. “Her standards are high. Never will comment on other people’s games. There were a couple times I was like, ‘Dang, she outdrove me on a couple holes.’ She was great and Carol was great.”
The USGA allowed Carner to take a cart at Brooklawn due to her COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), which makes it difficult to walk on hills. Carner, who also had surgery on her right hip on Christmas Eve in 2019, averaged 191 yards off the tee in her first two rounds. She hit 11 greens in the first round and 10 in the second and bemoaned the number of putts she took (36 and 33).
Check out this lineup on the range: Juli Inkster, JoAnne Carner, Annika Sorenstam and the great amateur Carol Semple Thompson. pic.twitter.com/ETM0COY94L
While warming up on the range next to Sorenstam, a Senior Open rookie, and Inkster, twice a runner-up at this event, fans were treated to an extraordinary display of talent. One couldn’t help but wonder how many more times those three champions would be in the same field.
Carner certainly didn’t rule out coming back next year. She appreciates that USGA events are always the toughest. Seeing the eight badges on her locker for each USGA victory this week brought a smile to her face each time she entered the room.
“You can’t just hit every green and every fairway in an Open,” said Carner. “You’re always going to have to play out of rough and out of the sand and all that. So your whole game has to be in good shape.
“That’s what I love about it. Those boring girls down the middle don’t win the Open usually.”
There’s never been anything boring about Big Mama. No one else in the game quite like her.
How to watch
Golf Channel will have live coverage Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m.
Annika Sorenstam takes solo U.S. Senior Women's Open lead, but there's an amateur in striking distance https://ift.tt/3rL0EnJ
After two days at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open – a jumbled two days because of a long first-round weather delay – a pair of Swedes top the leaderboard. The one who came into this event as the hands-down favorite is predictably at the very top.
Annika Sorenstam is playing her first USGA championship in 13 years this week. The three-time U.S. Women’s Open winner has put together rounds of 67-69 to reach 8 under at Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield, Connecticut, and take an three-shot lead over countrywoman Liselotte Neumann.
The two share more than a country. They both have Solheim Cup captaincies under their belts, too, with Sorenstam having captained the Europeans in 2017 while Neumann led the team (to victory, no less) in 2013.
Sorenstam, who started on No. 10, ended her day with three consecutive birdies on Nos. 7-9.
Play was halted mid-afternoon on Thursday because of inclement weather. Many players’ second-round tee times were pushed way back given that so much of the first round still needed to be finished. Sorenstam even got in some laps in the pool before teeing it up on Friday.
“I really felt like I hit the ball well today, so it was nice to see them go in and get some red numbers there on the board,” she said. “Overall it’s just a good finish always makes the round feel a little sweeter than maybe it was.
“Glad we finished. Going to have a good night’s rest. Our kids came into town, so maybe I should take the rest away. We’re just going to have a good night. How about that? And have a fun weekend.”
Sorenstam may be a Hall of Famer, but she’ll have an amateur on her tail entering the weekend. Seven-time USGA champion Ellen Port backed up an opening 71 with a second-round 69 on Friday and at 4 under, is tied for third with Japan’s Yuka Saito.
Port, a gregarious St. Louis native who captained the Americans to victory in the Curtis Cup in 2014 – and made match play at the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2018 when she was 56 – got emotional post-round talking about contending in this championship.
“Yeah, I am shocked, to be honest with you, that I stayed in the present as much as I did and kept things simple,” she said. “I have a lot of thoughts go through my mind normally in a given hour, so I just tried to really – I trained and I trusted, and that’s really the two Ts I’ll put on my golf ball.
“I’ve trained the best I could at this juncture, and now it’s time to trust it.”
Port was part of an all-star pairing in the first two rounds that included fellow longtime amateur Carol Semple Thompson as well as JoAnne Carner. Between them, they have 22 USGA titles.
On Thursday, Carner shot her age – 82 – and on Friday, she came back with a 79. Though she’s going to miss the cut, Carner still garnered several new fans over two days at Brooklawn.
Anna Davis wraps up Girls Junior PGA title, spot on U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team https://ift.tt/eA8V8J
In the end, no one else could come close to Anna Davis, the 15-year-old from the San Diego suburb of Spring Valley, California. After a long week at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, Davis won the Girls Junior PGA Championship by a seven-shot margin over Julia Misemer.
Davis strung together rounds of 69-68-73-67 to finish 15 under at Valhalla.
“It feels so good to top off the summer this way with a big win at a tournament like this,” Davis told the PGA of America minutes after being doused with bottles of water by some of her fellow competitors, a tradition often seen on the LPGA. “If I was put in this situation a year ago, I definitely would have struggled mentally. That’s for sure. But my mental game has improved so much, just keeping my head in the game, worrying about me and not what the other girls are doing.”
The Girls Junior PGA is Davis’s biggest win of the year, so she also claimed the title at the AJGA’s Ping Heather Farr Classic back in April. Davis was third at the AJGA’s Under Armour/Albane Valenzuela Girls Championship in May and finished fourth at the Rolex Girls Junior Championship the next month. At this month’s U.S. Girls’ Junior, she bowed out in the first round of match play.
For finishing 1-2 at Valhalla, Davis and Misemer earn spots on the U.S. Junior Ryder Cup team. Despite the fact that the formal matches have been called off because of COVID, a U.S. team consisting of six boys and six girls will still be selected. That squad will travel to Whistling Straits in September to compete in an early-week exhibition match.
Behind Davis and Misemer was a familiar name in Megha Ganne, the 17-year-old who wowed golf fans in June with her U.S. Women’s Open run. She ended up finishing 14th, the low amateur. Ganne will now head to the U.S. Women’s Open next week.
Yana Wilson, a U.S. Girls’ Junior quarterfinalist, was fourth at 6 under.
Emma Talley, feeling at home in Northern Ireland, leads ISPS Handa World Invitational; Daniel Hillier tops men's field https://ift.tt/376THno
For Emma Talley, Galgorm Castle in Galgorm, Northern Ireland, is a long way from her hometown of Paducah, Kentucky. But Talley is taking to venue quite well, having worked her way to the top of the leaderboard halfway through the ISPS Handa World Invitational, a unique event co-sanctioned by the LPGA, Ladies European Tour and European Tour.
“I love playing over here in general,” Talley said. “I think it’s really calming. The people are really – it’s a very simple way of living. The golf courses are awesome. Yeah, it can get windy and cold and rainy. We got some wind and rain today, but I love playing golf over here, always have. Hopefully it treats me well the next couple weeks.”
Talley opened with 67 at Galgorm Castle and when she backed it up with 65 on Friday, she took a three-shot lead over Chella Choi and fellow American Jennifer Kupcho, who are both at 10 under.
Englishwoman Charley Hull and Scottishwoman Gemma Dryburgh are close behind, in a tie for fourth at 9 under.
On the men’s side, the leader also hails from far away. New Zealander Daniel Hillier is 11 under through two rounds, which puts him one shot ahead of England’s Jordan Smith. Hillier pulled away in the second round with an 8-under 62.
Hillier is just 23 years old and coming off a successful amateur career during which he won the New Zealand Amateur twice and represented his country at the Eisenhower Trophy. He was stroke-play co-medalist with American Cole Hammer at the 2018 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach.
“It was really good out there,” he told the European Tour. “Made the most of some pretty benign conditions in the morning and got off to a good start. Managed to sink a couple more near the end.
“I’ve hit it really well. Made one bad swing on hole 11 and made bogey there but apart from that it was really solid.
Smith posted that number on Thursday only to follow it up with 68 on Friday. His countrymen Garrick Porteous and David Horsey are tied for third two shots behind him at 8 under. A fourth Englishman, the colorful Eddie Pepperell, is tied for fifth at 7 under along with last week’s Cazoo Open winner Nacho Elvira.
