lpga tour and liv golf

LIV Golf for women? LPGA superstars Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson offer thoughts

LPGA Tour superstars Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson have spoken about the potential of a LIV Golf for women and whether it would receive the same scrutiny.

LPGA Tour superstars Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson refused to be drawn into entertaining the idea of playing in a LIV Golf for women or whether or not it would receive the same level as scrutiny as Greg Norman's enterprise. 

Both Thompson, 27 and the younger Korda sister, 24, are in New York at Glen Oaks Club for the forthcoming Aramco Team Series event. 

A few weeks ago the aforementioned Norman hinted that despite being focused on the $405m LIV Golf League in 2023, he was still heavily interested in launching a LIV Golf for women. 

Related: Nine players who changed their mind about LIV Golf

LPGA Tour commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said in July she would "engage in a conversation" with the LIV chief if would "achieve our aim of promoting women's golf." 

She also added: "But there needs to be input from players and sponsors. There's a lot of factors to consider before we do business with LIV Golf." 

England's Charley Hull has addressed this topic after her recent win at The Ascendant, claiming that "you'd be mad" not to consider an offer from LIV. 

        View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Nelly (@nellykorda)

Now Thompson and Korda, both one-time major champions, have offered their thoughts. 

They were asked if a LIV Golf for women would receive the same level as scrutiny as the men. Throughout LIV's inaugural season, the players have had to face questions accusing them of being complicit in the practice of sportswashing. 

Thompson said: "I would say that without the support of Aramco, LET would not be as strong as it is today.

"And I think they are growing the game of golf in women's golf, and I think that if you speak to any of the Ladies European Tour players, they are extremely grateful for this opportunity, and I think that's what Aramco is trying to do. They are trying to grow the women's game, and I support that fully." 

Korda nodded in agreement. 

Related: Danielle Kang was furious with "s***" greens at last LPGA event

Would each player entertain the idea of playing in LIV Golf for women? 

"I mean, right now that's kind of speculation. As a player I don't really know and that is not in my hands. That's for the Tour commissioner," said Korda. 

Thompson said: "Yeah, exactly. I mean, the talks is out there that that might happen but hasn't been brought to us. We are just doing what we can and that's playing the LPGA and there's not much else. We are just growing the game. There's not much else we can do." 

Korda continued: "I can only speak for myself but my eyes are set on the LPGA. That's all speculation to me. I'm focusing on the LPGA Tour and what's in front of me and with all the LIV stuff going on, that's all speculation and I don't focus on speculations." 

        View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Lexi Thompson (@lexi)

Their comments came in the same week a Saudi activist wrote to commissioner Samaan, the LPGA Tour board of directors and players urging them not to get in bed with LIV. 

Lina Alhathloul outlined the alleged treatment of her sister at the hands of the Saudi Arabian government, adding: "The general situation for women in Saudi Arabia has not improved, as the Saudi narrative suggests."

Related: LIV golfers urged to help Saudi man on death row

        View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Charley Hull (@charley.hull)

She added: "I understand that you might believe that your involvement with such a country could positively impact their fate but, given the present context, your participation in events hosted by the Crown Prince will only help rehabilitate him and cover up all the violations.

"In fact, I am sounding the alarm on the consequences of such actions.

"I urge you to consider the human rights aspect of your potential involvement with LIV Golf and use your influence to positively raise the situation of women in the country and to publicly distance yourself from the Saudi regime."

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Golf's leading organizations release statements on LIV Golf-PGA Tour deal

Jamie Squire

In the wake of the parternship announced between the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour, several of golf's leading organizations released statements.

Augusta National Golf Club and Masters chairman Fred Ridley wrote Tuesday, “As we have expressed previously, what makes golf special is its rich history and ability to bring people together. We are encouraged by this announcement, which represents a positive development in bringing harmony to men’s professional golf.

“Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters Tournament are—and will remain—devoted to developing the game and celebrating its many virtues.”

LIV Golf members were allowed to play in last year’s Masters, and Ridley did not announce any future sanctions regarding players of the Saudi-backed circuit regarding the tournament.

Ridley was named in LIV Golf’s antitrust complaint against the PGA Tour, with LIV players alleging Ridley discouraged players from jumping to the breakaway circuit. Additionally, Augusta National was part of the Department of Justice’s antitrust probe which was spurred by LIV Golf’s accusations against the golf ecosystem. As part of Tuesday’s surprise merger, both the tour and LIV said all pending litigation will come to an end.

RELATED:  15 lingering questions you might have about the PGA Tour-LIV Golf deal

R&A CEO Martin Slumbers noted: “We care deeply about golf’s future and are committed to ensuring that the sport continues to thrive for many years to come.”

Mike Whan, the USGA CEO, interestingly acknowledged he first learned of the deal when it was announced Tuesday morning: “Like most of the golf world, we were surprised by today’s PGA Tour/DP World Tour/LIV Golf news. If this proposed consolidation can help resolve the conflicts in men’s professional golf and allows all parties to focus on the incredible interest, growth, and opportunities that exist within our global game, then it’s an important step forward. We look forward to learning more about how this new approach can further drive long-term growth in our wonderful game.”

The PGA of America also commented: “We were pleased, relieved and like others, surprised to learn this morning that the division within the men's elite professional game appears to be on a pathway to resolution. While we look forward to learning further details in time, our actions will, as always, remain focused on delivering on our mission to serve PGA Professionals and grow the game.  During this time of abundant opportunity in golf, we look forward to collaborating with other golf industry leaders to continue to advance our sport with our Members at the forefront of those efforts.”

RELATED: Phil Mickelson sent exactly the tweet you'd think with news of PGA Tour-LIV deal

Mollie Marcoux Samaan, LPGA commissioner, noted: "As we have consistently said, a fractured ecosystem is not good for the game and we look forward to learning what today's announcement means for the growth and impact of global golf. We remain focused on growing the LPGA, continuing to work with the top partners in the world to provide the best opportunity for our membership and to make sure that everything we do continues to allow us to inspire, elevate and advance opportunities for girls and women, on and off the golf course."

One of golf's most plugged-in insiders, Golf Digest senior writer Joel Beall, joined "The Loop" podcast to help break down Tuesday's news and analyze what we know so far. Listen below -- and make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts :

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The Alliance of LIV Golf and the PGA Tour: Here’s What to Know

The details of the partnership are far from complete, according to a document outlining the framework of the deal.

By Kevin Draper

The PGA Tour, the world’s pre-eminent professional golf league, and LIV Golf, a Saudi-funded upstart whose emergence over the past year and a half has cleaved the sport in two, have agreed to join forces.

The pact is complicated and incomplete: A document submitted to Congress and obtained by The New York Times includes only a handful of binding commitments . But numerous golfers hate it, and for the moment they are directing their wrath at the architects of the deal. Let’s start from the beginning.

What are the PGA Tour and LIV Golf?

The PGA Tour holds tournaments nearly every weekend, mostly in the United States but also in other countries in North America, Europe and Asia, with prize pools worth millions of dollars. The tour has been the home to practically every male golfer you can name: Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer and so on.

It has relationships with, but is separate from, the organizations that stage men’s golf’s four majors: the Masters Tournament, the P.G.A. Championship, the U.S. Open and the British Open. (The L.P.G.A., which runs the women’s tour, is separate.)

LIV Golf began in late 2021 with the former PGA Tour player Greg Norman as its commissioner and billions of dollars in backing from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, which is known as the Public Investment Fund. LIV lured several PGA Tour players, including the major champions Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka, with massive purses and guaranteed payouts that far surpassed what they could earn on the established circuit.

LIV promised a sharp break from golf’s fusty traditionalism, starting with its name, which, when pronounced, rhymes with “give” but is actually the Roman numeral for 54, the number of holes played in each tournament. LIV had music blaring at its events, looser dress codes and team competitions — and tournaments that lasted three days instead of four. Further, and of particular appeal to potential players, while the PGA Tour tournaments cut golfers with the worst scores after two rounds, LIV did not cut anyone.

What was the relationship between the leagues before the deal?

Acrimonious, to put it lightly. Players who joined LIV were forced to resign from the PGA Tour — and its European equivalent, the DP World Tour — under the threat of suspension and fines. LIV sued the PGA Tour, and the PGA Tour countersued, litigation that is technically continuing (though the deal is supposed to resolve it).

PGA Tour supporters and other critics of LIV said the venture was simply an attempt by the Saudi government to distract attention from its human rights record, while LIV supporters said the PGA Tour was a monopoly that used inappropriate strong-arm tactics to protect its position in big-time sports.

And yet now they are combining?

It seems so. The PGA Tour and LIV announced on June 6 the creation of a new entity that would combine their assets, as well as those of the DP World Tour, and radically change golf’s governance.

The PGA Tour would remain a nonprofit organization and would retain full control over how its tournaments are played. But all of the PGA Tour’s commercial business and rights — such as the extremely lucrative rights to televise its tournaments — would be owned by a new, yet unnamed, for-profit entity that is currently called “NewCo.” NewCo will also own LIV as well as the commercial and business rights of the DP World Tour.

The board of directors for the new for-profit entity would be led by Yasir al-Rumayyan, who is the governor of the Public Investment Fund and also oversees LIV. Three other members of the board’s executive committee would be current members of the PGA Tour’s board, and the tour would appoint the majority of the board and hold a majority voting interest, effectively controlling it.

What have they agreed on?

Not much, it turns out. The PGA Tour’s tentative deal with Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund includes only a handful of binding commitments, such as a nondisparagement agreement and a pledge to dismiss acrimonious litigation. (The sides have already moved to end their legal fights .) What it does not include is a clear path of what lies ahead for the tours: Many of the most consequential details about the future of men’s professional golf have not been resolved, and were left to be negotiated by the end of the year.

Most crucially, the tour and the wealth fund must still come to terms on the values of the assets that each will contribute to their planned partnership. Bankers and lawyers have spent recent weeks beginning the valuation process, but a five-page framework agreement obtained by The New York Times includes no substantive details of projected figures or even the size of an anticipated cash investment from the wealth fund.

And one issue the two parties had agreed on has been removed. The framework agreement included a nonsolicitation clause, which said the PGA Tour and LIV Golf would not “enter into any contract, agreement or understanding with” any “players who are members of the other’s tour or organization.” But the two sides, facing pressure from the Justice Department, decided to abandon that clause .

When does this take effect?

First, the idea also has to be approved by the PGA Tour’s policy board, what it calls its board of directors, which includes some people who were left out of the secret negotiations for this deal in the spring.

The policy board is made up of five independent directors, including Ed Herlihy and Jimmy Dunne, who helped negotiate the deal. The board also includes five players: Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati, Rory McIlroy and Webb Simpson.

Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, said on June 6 that there was only a “framework agreement” and not a “definitive agreement,” with many details still to be decided. The definitive agreement needs a vote before it can go forward.

And for the rest of 2023, all the tours will remain separate, and all their tournaments will continue as scheduled.

And after that?

Who knows? This is how Monahan answered questions about what golf might look like in the future on the day the alliance was revealed.

Will LIV continue to exist as a separate golf league? “I don’t want to make any statements or make any predictions.”

Will LIV golfers go back to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour? “We will work cooperatively to establish a fair and objective process for any players who desire to reapply for membership with the PGA Tour or the DP World Tour,” Monahan wrote in a letter to players.

Will PGA Tour players, many of whom spurned LIV and its huge paydays, receive compensation? Will LIV players somehow be forced to give up the money they were guaranteed? “I think those are all the serious conversations that we’re going to have,” Monahan told reporters.

How do players feel about all of this?

Broadly, LIV players seem to think they have gained a major victory, and they are probably right. They got their cake (huge paydays) and can eat it (a pathway to returning to the PGA Tour), too.

Mickelson, the first major player to leave for LIV, tweeted that it was an “awesome day today.” Koepka took a jab at Brandel Chamblee, a former professional golfer and current television commentator, who has been vocally anti-LIV.

Many PGA Tour players were less jubilant. They were blindsided by the news, learning of the agreement when the public did, and they did not seem to understand why the tour waged a legal war against LIV and a war of morality against Saudi money, only to invite the wolf into the henhouse.

On the day the news broke, Monahan met with a group of players in Toronto at the Canadian Open, which was set to start in two days, and afterward told reporters it was “intense, certainly heated.”

Johnson Wagner, a PGA Tour player, said on the Golf Channel that some players at the meeting called for Monahan’s resignation.

“There were many moments where certain players were calling for new leadership of the PGA Tour, and even got a couple standing ovations,” he said. “I think the most powerful moment was when a player quoted Commissioner Monahan from the 3M Open in Minnesota last year when he said, ‘As long as I’m commissioner of the PGA Tour, no player that took LIV money will ever play the PGA Tour again.’”

Wagner estimated that 90 percent of the players in the meeting were against the merger.

McIlroy, perhaps the most influential PGA Tour player not named Tiger Woods, said he was reluctantly in favor of the agreement. McIlroy said he had “come to terms” with Saudi money in golf. “Honestly, I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that this is, you know, this is what’s going to happen,” he said.

I see a photo of former President Trump up there. Is he involved in this?

Yes, though not directly. The Trump Organization owns golf courses around the world, and Donald J. Trump has for years sought to host major tournaments on its properties. Those efforts suffered a setback after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, as the golf establishment distanced itself from the former president. Most significantly, the P.G.A. of America pulled the 2022 P.G.A. Championship from the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J.

But Trump had cultivated unusually close ties to Saudi Arabia while president, and Saudi-backed LIV had no problem embracing him. Last year, two LIV events were held at Trump courses, and this year it will be three.

Trump’s son Eric said that the agreement between LIV and the PGA Tour was a “wonderful thing for the game of golf” and that he expected tournaments to continue to be held at Trump-owned courses. He declined to comment on whether the Trump family played any role in bringing the two parties together.

If the PGA Tour was so against LIV and Saudi money, what changed?

“Listen, circumstances change, and they’ve been changing a lot over the last couple years,” Monahan said.

Get it? No?

“What changed? I looked at where we were at that point in time, and it was the right point in time to have a conversation,” Monahan said.

Between the lines, Monahan made it sound like the agreement came down to money and competition, as it often does. To compete with LIV, the PGA Tour has enhanced purses, supported the DP World Tour financially and pursued extremely expensive litigation. “We’ve had to invest back in our business through our reserves,” Monahan said.

He also said the ability to “take the competitor off of the board” while retaining control was significant.

Can anybody else stop the deal from going through?

The Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission or the European Commission could certainly try.

For about a year, the Justice Department has been investigating the tight-knit relationship between the PGA Tour and other powerful entities in golf. Among its questions is whether the organizations have exerted improper influence over the Official World Golf Rankings, which determine players’ eligibility for certain events and can be an important factor in their success and income.

As part of their deal, LIV and the PGA Tour agreed to drop their dueling lawsuits, but doing so would not necessarily change the Justice Department’s inquiry. If there were any illegal conduct by the PGA Tour, a merger would not prevent the PGA Tour from being punished for it.

“The announcement of a merger doesn’t forgive past sins,” said Bill Baer, who led the Justice Department’s antitrust division during the Obama administration.

The federal government, through the Justice Department and the F.T.C., also reviews more than 1,000 mergers for approval each year, and the European Commission reviews them for the European Union. Without a definitive agreement, it is not clear whether this might be the type of combination regulators could block or whether they would try to do so.

Saudi Arabia seems to have grand sports ambitions. Will it always remain a junior partner to the PGA Tour in golf?

As always, Saudi Arabia has the perfect vehicle to gain more control: money.

The Public Investment Fund will invest “billions,” according to its governor, al-Rumayyan, into the new for-profit entity. It will also hold “the exclusive right to further invest in the new entity, including a right of first refusal on any capital that may be invested in the new entity, including into the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and DP World Tour,” according to the release announcing the agreement.

If the Public Investment Fund invests more money, it will surely demand more board seats and greater voting rights, further tilting control of men’s professional golf toward the kingdom.

Kevin Draper is an investigative reporter on the Sports desk, where he has written about workplace harassment and discrimination, sexual misconduct, doping, league investigations and high-profile court cases. More about Kevin Draper

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Charles Howell III had a long PGA Tour career. Now he’s sticking to a short LIV schedule

First place Team Champions, Paul Casey, Bryson Dechambeau, Charles Howell III and Anirban Lahiri of Crushers GC pose with the Event Team Champion Trophy after the final round of LIV Golf Hong Kong at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Hong Kong Sunday, March 10, 2024. (Montana Pritchard/LIV Golf via AP)

Stephan Jaeger kisses the trophy as he poses for photos during ceremonies after his win in the final round of the Houston Open golf tournament Sunday, March 31, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)

Nelly Korda celebrates her win in the LPGA Ford Championship golf tournament Sunday, March 31, 2024, in Gilbert, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

Cameron Young hits his tee shot on the sixth hole during the third round of the Valspar Championship golf tournament Saturday, March 23, 2024, at Innisbrook in Palm Harbor, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O’Meara)

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Charles Howell III says it was never about the money when he joined Saudi-funded LIV Golf in July 2022 during its inaugural season. A few eyes rolled, no doubt, especially when he borrowed from the book of (Greg) Norman that golf can be a force for good.

Howell mentioned his 22 years on the PGA Tour ($42 million in career earnings) and the 609 tournaments he played (two as an amateur). It was something different, and the 44-year-old certainly has not looked back.

He has not played any other tournament but LIV Golf since joining. Howell is not eligible for any of the majors and did not attempt U.S. Open qualifying the last two years.

That’s true for some of the other players who defected from the PGA Tour who had exemptions to all four of the majors.

Dustin Johnson has played only the six majors outside of LIV. Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau have played seven times — six majors and the Saudi International. Brooks Koepka has played eight times, once in Oman on the Asian Tour and the other at the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan, where he has won twice.

And then there’s Patrick Reed, who said upon joining that the LIV schedule would allow him to spend more time with his children. In addition to the 26 LIV Golf events since joining, Reed has played 15 times in events that count toward the Official World Golf Ranking.

It’s still down from the 30-plus tournaments he used to average per year.

LIV Golf plays its fifth event of the season this week at Trump National Doral, a tuneup for 13 players in the field who will be at the Masters next week.

MASTERS FIELD

The Masters currently has 88 players in the field, with one spot available if the winner of the Valero Texas Open is not already eligible.

If it stays at 88 — a possibility considering the Texas Open field has 30 players already exempt — that would be the same number as 2023. So much for the notion the field is shrinking with LIV players not getting world ranking points.

The concern was only 77 players exempt at the end of last year. But the start of 2024 featured eight players earning spots by winning on the PGA Tour, three of them rookies. Only five players earned Masters invitations by winning early in 2023.

Also, the field currently is evenly split between Americans and international players — 44 each, the same as the previous two Masters.

FREE LODGING

The inaugural FM Global Championship is the latest LPGA tournament offering a welcome perk to the players — free lodging.

FM Global says the 144 players who compete in the Aug. 29-Sept. 1 tournament at the TPC Boston will have “exclusive access to a first-class property” a short distance from the course in Norton, Massachusetts. FM Global said it would cover all costs.

When the PGA Tour was at TPC Boston, most players stayed in Providence, Rhode Island.

“By offering athletes at the FM Global Championship complimentary accommodations, we hope to make their experience a little easier — so they can focus on the competition and playing the best they can,” said David Johnson, senior vice president at FM Global.

This is the fourth LPGA event to offer free lodging, joining the JM Eagle LA Championship, the Mizuho Americas Open in New Jersey and this week’s T-Mobile Match Play in Las Vegas.

TGL NEW YORK

The New York squad for the new TGL tech-infused golf league that starts next year has native New Yorker Cameron Young, along with a pair of Californians and an English major champion.

Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler, both from the San Diego area, and U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick also will be part of the New York Golf Club, owned primarily by New York Mets owner Steve Cohen.

That leaves San Francisco still to fill out its four-man team, Tiger Woods to add three players to his Jupiter, Florida, team and Boston to find a replacement for Tyrrell Hatton, who bolted to LIV Golf .

OLYMPIC UPDATE

Golf Digest has confirmed a Spanish golf website report that PGA champion Brooks Koepka and recent LIV Golf addition Tyrrell Hatton have withdrawn their names from qualifying for the Paris Olympics this summer.

Koepka and Hatton both would have been long shots to make their respective U.S. and Great Britain teams because they only have access to world ranking points at the four majors. Olympic qualifying for golf is based on the June 17 world ranking.

Koepka currently is at No. 31, making him 18th among Americans in the world ranking. The top four (provided they are in the top 15) qualify. Hatton currently is behind Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood.

Keita Nakajima, meanwhile, won his first European tour event at the Hero Indian Open and moved into Japan’s second spot behind Hideki Matsuyama.

Nakajima, the former No. 1 amateur in the world, is at No. 78 in the world ranking. Ryo Hisatsune, who is playing in his first Masters next week, is at No. 86, while Rikuya Hoshino is at No. 88.

JAEGER’S OMEN

Stephan Jaeger reached into his golf bag before the final round of the Houston Open and saw a sign that it might be a good day.

His wife made him three ball markers. One has the name of his 16-month-old son, Fritz, with a four-leaf clover. Another is of his dog. The third one is for his father — it says, “Papa Klaus” — who died two years ago the week of The Players Championship.

“I always pull them out before the round,” Jaeger said Sunday after his one-shot victory over Scottie Scheffler. “Whoever I pull out, that’s the one I use for the day. It was my son the first three days, and it was my dad today. I just kind of smiled. That was my good omen for the day, for sure.”

Jaeger said his father’s death was a low point in his life, mainly because he was playing terribly. But that also sparked a turnaround.

“The silver lining in that story is my son was conceived that week,” he said. “That was kind of you lose a life and you gain a life, right? He would be rolling over right now happy.”

Jon Rahm says he is going to a zone defense. That was his way of announcing on X that he and his wife are expecting their third child. He did not say when the baby was due. ... Nelly Korda is the first player since Yani Tseng in 2012 to have three LPGA victories through March. ... Stephan Jaeger became the fourth German to win on the PGA Tour, following Alex Cejka, Martin Kaymer and Bernhard Langer. ... Greg Chalmers got into the PGA Tour Champions event as a qualifier, tied for ninth at The Galleri Classic and earned a spot in the Invited Celebrity Classic the week after the Masters.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Cameron Young earned more money ($915,000) for his runner-up finish in the Valspar Championship than Nelly Korda ($900,000) for her last three LPGA victories combined.

“I love golf. I’ve always loved golf. Sometimes it’s harder than other days.” — Nelly Korda.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

LPGA Tour ‘Would Engage In A Conversation’ With LIV Golf

LPGA Tour boss Mollie Marcoux Samaan has said she'll consider discussions with the Saudi-backed organisation

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LPGA Tour commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan has revealed the organisation is open to the idea of working with LIV Golf.

The profile of the women’s game has grown considerably in recent years. However, it still lags behind the men’s game. According to a report in The Times , Marcoux Samaan appears keen to engage with LIV Golf if it can help promote the women’s game. She said: “It’s my responsibility to evaluate every opportunity. I would engage in a conversation if it would achieve our aim of promoting women’s golf but there needs to be input from players and sponsors. There’s a lot of factors to consider before we do business with LIV Golf.”

While the huge financial backing of the Saudi-backed organisation could undoubtedly raise the profile – and purses – of the women’s game, it is not without controversy, which explains Marcoux Samaan's wariness at striking a deal with the Greg Norman-fronted group. For example, there have been accusations of sportswashing, while the Saudi link inspired a letter sent from 9/11 families to LIV Golf’s US players last month.

Nevertheless, Marcoux Samaan appears to keen to avoid the same turmoil that has engulfed the men’s game since the launch of the LIV Golf Invitational Series . That has included players signing up for the Series being suspended from both the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, along with issues over Ryder Cup participation. She said: “Working together is always better than a fractured organisation. The LPGA has been breaking down barriers for years and hopes to continue to do so.”

Marcoux Samaan's willingness to speak to LIV Golf contradicts comments made by Norman in May, who claimed that the LET and LPGA Tours had rejected offers from them. Speaking on the '5 Live Sport: All About...' podcast , Norman said: "Well, we did approach the LET and the LPGA [Tours] with a substantial investment like the Asian Tour and we were rejected. So who is suppressing women's golf, quite honestly?"

LIV Golf are investing $300 million in the Asian Tour over the next decade as part of an annual  10-event "International Series" . Meanwhile, Saudi-backed investment in the women’s game wouldn’t be without precedent - the state-owned oil company Aramco are big-money sponsors of the Ladies European Tour’s Aramco Team Series .

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Mike has over 25 years of experience in journalism, including writing on a range of sports throughout that time, such as golf, football and cricket. Now a freelance staff writer for Golf Monthly, he is dedicated to covering the game's most newsworthy stories. 

He has written hundreds of articles on the game, from features offering insights into how members of the public can play some of the world's most revered courses, to breaking news stories affecting everything from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf to developmental Tours and the amateur game. 

Mike grew up in East Yorkshire and began his career in journalism in 1997. He then moved to London in 2003 as his career flourished, and nowadays resides in New Brunswick, Canada, where he and his wife raise their young family less than a mile from his local course. 

Kevin Cook’s acclaimed 2007 biography, Tommy’s Honour, about golf’s founding father and son, remains one of his all-time favourite sports books.

Having seen the four-time Major winner just a week ago, Harmon has given his thoughts on McIlroy's chances at the first Major of the year

By Matt Cradock Published 7 April 24

The LIV Golf CEO claimed that Talor Gooch 'is the best iron player in the game of golf in the past 20 years' whilst speaking in the booth at the League's Miami event on Saturday

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Checking in on PGA, LPGA and LIV a week before the Masters

MIAMI -- The Masters, the first major championship of the season in men's professional golf, is only a week away.

There's plenty on the line in professional golf this week, including one final invitation to Augusta National Golf Club up for grabs at the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, Texas.

Players on both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf League who have already qualified for the Masters are trying to get in one final warmup this week. That includes Rory McIlroy , who will attempt for the 10th time to complete the career Grand Slam by winning an elusive green jacket.

LPGA Tour star Nelly Korda is chasing history of her own at the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards, which teed off Wednesday in Las Vegas. She'll try to win for the fourth time in as many starts, which would be second most in LPGA Tour history. Only Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) have won five straight tournaments in which they competed.

Here's what to watch in professional golf this week:

What's next on the PGA Tour

Valero Texas Open

When: Thursday-Sunday

Where: TPC San Antonio, San Antonio

Defending champion: Corey Conners

Purse: $9.2 million ($1.66 million to winner)

Last chance for the Masters

There's one more spot available for next week's Masters, and it would go to the winner of the Valero Texas Open if he's not otherwise qualified for the first major championship of the season.

J.J. Spaun (2022) and Corey Conners (2019) were the last PGA Tour golfers to punch their tickets to Augusta National Golf Club by winning the Texas Open. Four of the past six Texas Open champions were first-time winners on tour -- Andrew Landry (2018) and Kevin Chappell (2017) won two weeks after the Masters.

Among the highest-ranked players in the field who haven't qualified for the Masters and would have to win in San Antonio to get in: Tom Hoge (57), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (58), Mackenzie Hughes (63), Thomas Detry (64), Alex Noren (66), Brendon Todd (68) and Andrew Putnam (70).

"I think guys who don't have an opportunity in the field, there's a bright light at the end of the tunnel here," Conners said. "If you win like I did in '19, you punch a ticket to Augusta. I think some guys are motivated, sort of the last chance to get in the field there."

Final warmup for Augusta

There are 30 players in the Texas Open field who have already qualified for the Masters, which is 19 more than last year. The group includes McIlroy, Jordan Spieth , Brian Harman , Ludvig Åberg , Hideki Matsuyama and Collin Morikawa .

This week's tournament is the last chance to sharpen their irons, short games and putting before going to Augusta National.

"As much as we all think about next week, I'm here," 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott  said. "I want a good result. I'd like to win a trophy, that's still what I'm trying to do out here. It's been a long time since I have lifted a trophy. I feel like my game is in that place where it could turn any week. It's all there, I need to somehow put myself in that position and make a putt at the right time and get back in that spot."

Horschel's trying to be fearless

After struggling through much of last season, Billy Horschel is finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. Ranked as high as No. 11 in the world in June 2022, Horschel fell to 94th after a forgettable 2022-23 campaign, in which he had only three top 10s and 10 missed cuts in 23 starts.

The seven-time PGA Tour winner missed the first four signature events of the season and missed the cut at the Players Championship, which is played in his hometown of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

Horschel, 37, currently isn't qualified for any of the four major championships. He played in each one from 2019 to 2023.

"Yeah, I'm not happy that I'm not in Augusta or any of the majors as we sit here right now, but listen, it's my own fault," Horschel said. "I can't do anything about that. I didn't play well last year, but the great thing is this game of golf gives you opportunities to correct that wrong and I'm trying the best I can right now to make up for a bad year last year, and get myself back to where I feel like I deserve to be in the game of golf or I want to be in the game of golf."

After missing the cut at the Players Championship by 2 strokes, Horschel said he had a dream in which he saw "fearless" written on his left wrist. He told his wife, Brittany, about the dream, and she made him a "fearless" bracelet.

Horschel said he didn't know Taylor Swift's second album was named "Fearless." Horschel's wife and two daughters attended one of Swift's concerts in Atlanta last year.

"I'm not the biggest Swiftie," Horschel said. "I get asked about it a lot from the fans now when I sign autographs -- they ask if I'm a Swiftie or are they friendship bracelets or anything. It's a cool little thing, but also just puts me in the right mind frame of when I'm playing golf of what I want to be thinking about."

Horschel will have to win in San Antonio to qualify for the Masters for the seventh straight year. He's currently fifth in the Aon Swing 5 standings after posting top-12 finishes in three of his past four starts, tying for ninth at the Cognizant Classic, for 12th at the Valspar Championship and for seventh at the Texas Children's Houston Open. Staying in the top five would put him in the field for the next signature event at the RBC Heritage Open at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, on April 18-21.

What's next in the LIV Golf League

LIV Golf Miami

When: Friday-Sunday

Where: Trump National Doral, Miami

Defending champion: Carlos Ortiz

Purse: $25 million ($4 million to winning individual; $3 million to winning team)

Good test for Augusta National

Three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson , who tied for second at Augusta National last year, says the Blue Monster course at Trump National Doral will be a strong test for what's coming next week.

"It gives you an opportunity to get momentum if you play well but also gives you a chance to play every shot you're going to need into Augusta," Mickelson said. "Now, Augusta has more undulation and elevation changes, but Miami forces you to hit a lot of long irons, mid-irons, short irons. There's trouble on every hole. You have to miss it on the correct side, and strategically [it] gets you ready for all the shots, challenges, physically and mentally, that we are going to face next week."

The par-72 course, which is owned by former President Donald Trump, is 7,701 yards. It's 991 yards longer than the last course the LIV Golf League used in Hong Kong and at least 585 yards longer than each of the first three in Mexico, Las Vegas and Saudi Arabia.

"It's one of the first courses we play that you've got to hit it good from everywhere in your game," said individual points leader Joaquin Niemann, a two-time winner this season, who received a special invitation to play in the Masters. "You have to hit it long and you have to hit it straight, and yeah, I think it's going to be good preparation for me as well.

"It's a good place, this course, to get committed to your game and get [prepared] for what is coming next week, which I'm really looking forward to."

Rahm's scouting trip

Jon Rahm , the defending Masters champion, took a scouting trip to Augusta National Golf Club last week. Mickelson, Koepka and two-time green jacket winner Bubba Watson elected not to play practice rounds in advance.

Rahm went to Augusta National last week with one of his best friends.

"I wanted to go back at least once before Masters week," Rahm said. "I didn't want the first time back at Augusta National to be tournament week, right? I wanted to get a lot of those emotions out of the way, and also see the golf course, see if they have done any changes. You know, pretty quickly when the scorecard came out, I got a million texts saying that it was 35 yards longer. Well, we're going to see what they added and what they changed."

Mickelson was supposed to play the course last week but said something came up. He's planning to arrive in Augusta, Georgia, on Sunday night and play more on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday than he typically does.

Kim's return

Former U.S. Ryder Cup team member Anthony Kim is scheduled to play in his first U.S. professional tournament this week. He returned from a nearly 12-year hiatus at LIV Golf League events in Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong. He also missed the cut in an Asian Tour International Series tournament in China in mid-March.

Kim, 38, last played in the U.S. when he withdrew after the first round of the 2012 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. He had surgery to repair his left Achilles tendon the next month and never played on the PGA Tour again.

Kim is scheduled to meet with the media Thursday.

Kim is playing as a wild card in LIV Golf League tournaments this year, meaning he can compete in the individual portion of events but his scores won't count in the team standings.

What's next on the LPGA Tour

T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards

When: Wednesday-Sunday

Where: Shadow Creek Golf Course, Las Vegas

Purse: $2 million ($300,000 to winner)

Defending champion: Pajaree Anannarukarn

Nelly's epic heater

World No. 1 golfer Nelly Korda is a 16-time winner around the world, an Olympic gold medalist and the 2021 PGA Championship winner. Yet Korda feels like she might be playing the best golf of her career.

At last week's Ford Championship in Gilbert, Arizona, Korda became only the seventh golfer in LPGA Tour history to win in three consecutive starts and the first since Ariya Jutanugarn in 2016. She'll try to become the first American to win four straight starts since Nancy Lopez won five in a row in 1978.

Korda, 25, captured the LPGA Drive On Championship in her hometown of Bradenton, Florida, on Jan. 28. After skipping the Asian Swing, she returned to win the Fir Hill Seri Pak Championship in a playoff in Palos Verdes, California, before taking the Ford Championship by two strokes.

"I would say that every victory I've had or every single time I've played well, I've felt more in the zone," said Korda, an 11-time winner on the LPGA Tour. "But I would say that the past two weeks everything has just kind of clicked a little bit more. Even my mistakes I've made the right mistakes in a sense. And just playing really smart. Just not taking [on] too much risk."

Korda leads the LPGA Tour in scoring average (68.88) and is third in greens in regulation (77.1%). She's a lock to make the Olympics in Paris and is the top U.S. golfer in points for the Solheim Cup, which will be played Sept. 13-15 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia.

"Getting to represent red, white and blue has always been a huge honor," Korda said. "Every time I've done it, I've been super proud of doing it. You don't just play for yourself, you play for your country. Getting to do that on many stages [such] as Solheim Cup, International Crown, Olympics has been so much fun. Hopefully, I get the opportunity to do that again."

The LPGA Tour is using a new format for its lone match-play tournament of the season. In the past, the 64 golfers in the field were divided into 16 groups and seeded from No. 1 to No. 64 based on their world ranking. Following three days of round-robin matches, the 16 survivors competed in a single-elimination bracket.

This year, the tour is using a combination of stroke play and match play to determine the champion. The golfers will compete in stroke play on Wednesday and Thursday with the top 65 and ties advancing after 36 holes. They'll play another round of stroke play Friday, and the field will be cut to the top eight players after 54 holes. If there's a tie for the final spot, it will be decided by a hole-by-hole playoff.

Any ties in seeding will be determined by a golfer's score in the third round, followed by the score in the second and first rounds, and finally world ranking.

On Saturday, there will be a single-elimination match play tournament with the quarterfinals in the morning and semifinals in the afternoon. The championship match will take place Sunday.

Along with Korda, No. 3 Celine Boutier , No. 5 Minjee Lee , No. 8 Lydia Ko and No. 9 Hyo Joo Kim are in this week's field.

Angel Yin, one of the bright spots for the U.S. team in its loss to Europe in last year's Solheim Cup in Spain, is making her first start of the season after breaking her left leg.

Yin was wearing a boot on her left foot and using a wheelchair when she withdrew from the season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. She spent the next three months swimming, playing video games and meeting her neighbors in Orlando, Florida.

"[You] really don't get breaks like that, so it was like another COVID for me," Yin said. "Yeah, I actually really enjoyed it. I was like really integrating into the life and the society of Orlando and felt like I was half-retired with all my people that are in their 80s. All I did every day was wake up at noon and then go for a walk, eat, practice, swim, gym, go home, and look at my screen and then do it again."

She said she walked her first round of golf about a week and a half ago.

Can a LIV Golf player win the 2024 Masters? Ask them

Pat McAfee appreciates Jon Rahm's honesty after the LIV golfer admitted he missed playing in certain PGA Tour events. (1:43)

• Senior college football writer
• Author of seven books on college football
• Graduate of the University of Georgia

MIAMI -- LIV Golf League captains Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka were sitting on a stage at Trump National Doral on Wednesday when a moderator asked if a LIV Golf player could win a green jacket at the Masters.

"I don't know, obviously chances are pretty good," Koepka said. "There's a lot of good players. I don't know how many guys are in the field. Usually about 90, right? Usually about 90 [it's 88 this year]. So, you know, probably got, what, 15%?"

Koepka turned to DeChambeau: "You're better at math and numbers."

"Something like that -- it's 15 to 20 [percent]," DeChambeau said.

Together, DeChambeau and Koepka dissected the numbers, eliminating amateurs, first-timers and golfers who might be nervous playing in the first major championship of the season in front of tens of thousands of patrons at Augusta National Golf Club, one of the most famous courses in the world.

"I can give that whole speech again, but I'll save everybody the five minutes," Koepka said.

Koepka was referring to his news conference at the 2019 PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, New York. Before a tee was even in the ground, Koepka suggested he had to worry about beating only a handful of golfers because he was better than half the field and many others would probably be too nervous to win.

The five-time major champion captured the second of his three Wanamaker Trophies five days later.

Heading into the Masters a year ago, there were similar questions about LIV Golf players. After leaving the PGA Tour, they were playing fewer tournaments -- and only 54 holes when they did. The circuit that claimed to be "Golf But Louder" seemed a lot more relaxed with its unique team names, on-course music and shotgun starts.

That doubt was put to rest at Augusta National Golf Club when Koepka and fellow LIV Golf League captain Phil Mickelson tied for second behind Jon Rahm . Former Masters champion Patrick Reed tied for fourth, putting three LIV Golf players in the top five.

"I think the outside perception was definitely that these guys have gone away and they're never going to be able to play competitively again," Australia's Cameron Smith said. "I guess our performance at the Masters definitely kind of turned a lot of heads."

Now the Saudi Arabian-financed LIV Golf League has Rahm, who became the fourth golfer from Spain to win the Masters with a 4-stroke victory a year ago. He jumped to LIV Golf in December and signed a multiyear contract that is reportedly worth more than $350 million. He is captain of the Legion XIII team.

Rahm, the third-ranked golfer in the world, and Smith, the 2022 Open Championship winner, are among 13 LIV Golf players who will compete in the Masters this week. Smith withdrew after the first round of the LIV Golf tournament in Miami because of illness.

Past Masters champions Dustin Johnson , Charl Schwartzel and Bubba Watson will also be there, along with Tyrrell Hatton and Adrian Meronk .

"I think that was something that, you know, some people came with to try to kind of take credit away from us, [by] saying that we're all done," said 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia . "I think it's been proven the other way, so I think people don't look at it that way anymore. They realize that we can still play and play really well."

Last year, Koepka said if he hadn't seriously injured his right knee in a fall in March 2021, he might not have left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf. He missed the cut at the Masters in 2021 and 2022 while recovering. Koepka came in hot last year, having won a LIV Golf tournament in Orlando, Florida, the week before. He captured his third PGA Championship title at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, about a month later.

Koepka said he never had doubts about his ability to compete in major championships again -- even if others did.

"I mean, I already knew that," Koepka said. "I kept telling everybody, but nobody believed me. I think it was more validation for everybody else."

Now, the 33-year-old Koepka seems as confident as ever. He would be only the eighth golfer to win the three U.S.-based major championships; Raymond Floyd, Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson , Jack Nicklaus , Gary Player , Gene Sarazen and Tiger Woods also won the Masters, PGA Championship and U.S. Open.

"This is kind of my time," Koepka said this week.

Mickelson was even further off the radar when he delivered his historic performance at the 2023 Masters. The six-time major champion had fallen to 425th in the world rankings. Since winning his last tournament at the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, South Carolina, Mickelson had missed the cut in three majors and tied for 62nd in a fourth.

Augusta National always seems to bring out Mickelson's best, however, and it did again last year. He carded a 7-under 65 on Sunday -- his best final round in the event -- and the lowest round in Masters history by any golfer aged 50 or older.

Mickelson, who was 52, also became the oldest player to finish in the top five of the Masters.

He will arrive at Augusta National Golf Club this week near the 20th anniversary of his first Masters victory -- the moment that broke his 0-for-46 record in major championships. In the final round in 2004, he walked to the 12th hole trailing Ernie Els by 3 strokes. Mickelson responded by making birdies on five of the final seven holes, including one on the 72nd hole when he sank an 18-foot putt that led to his iconic leap.

"I obviously love the place," Mickelson said. "It's a course where I feel I don't have to be perfect. When I go through the gates and drive down Magnolia Lane, I relax a little bit because if we miss it on the right side of the hole, given the pin placement, if we miss in the correct side, we can still salvage par utilizing our short games.

"You can still be creative and recover at Augusta, which is why I think it's so fun to watch. ... The trees are high enough where you have a swing, as opposed to take an unplayable lie and wedging out."

The odds of a LIV Golf player slipping on a green jacket in Butler Cabin on Sunday night only increased when Rahm signed. The Masters will be the first time that Rahm has competed alongside PGA Tour players since he defected. According to ESPN Stats & Information, he has the best scoring average (70.5) in Masters history among more than 400 golfers who have played at least 15 rounds.

Rahm would be the fourth golfer to win back-to-back Masters titles, joining Woods (2001-02), Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Nicklaus (1965-66).

"You know, there [are] quite a few major champions in LIV, and there are a few that are major champion-quality golfers," Rahm said. "So just pure numbers, if you go with math, wouldn't be the highest, but I'm confident that one of us can get it done this year."

LPGA Tour Left Out of LIV Golf Deal but Some Women Would Listen if Offer Made to Them

LIV Golf Commissioner Greg Norman suggested two months ago the Saudi-backed would consider adding a women's tour

Paula Creamer tees off the third hole during the first round of the LPGA Cognizant Founders Cup golf tournament, Thursday, May 11, 2023, in Clifton, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

GALLOWAY, N.J. (AP) — Greg Norman tantalized the best women golfers in the world with a big-bucks flicker of hope that, they too — possibly anyone from a former world No. 1 like Nelly Korda to Stanford phenom Rose Zhang — could eventually revel in the spoils offered by Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

Norman, the commissioner of LIV Golf, insisted in April the upstart golf league propped by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund would consider adding a women’s tour.

“I have personally had discussions with individual LPGA Tour players, Ladies European Tour. They love what our product is showcasing,” Norman said. “They ask all the time, ‘How can we get involved?’ We’d love to see a LIV ladies series.”

Norman, who also boasted of more major men's players to join the fledging series that failed to materialize, never named any women he met with to discuss LIV. But if any kind of offer ever comes that could inject a financial boon to the tour, the LPGA would at least be willing to listen, despite the Saudi's troubling history when it comes to women's rights.

Some women on the LPGA Tour currently play on the Ladies European Tour — which does receive Saudi funding — but there is not the distain and animosity between LET and the LPGA that had existed between the PGA and LIV Golf.

The PGA Tour partnership with Saudi Arabia’s enormous wealth fund essentially left out the LPGA in the foreseeable future of any chance of at least considering the idea to defect and join a rival league that paid signing bonuses of $100 million or more to poach players from the PGA Tour.(asterisk)(asterisk)

Photos You Should See

While bonuses likely never would have soared that high — again, there was never any firm plan a women's version of LIV was on the table — history showed the Saudi money surely would have been considerably more massive than any payout offered by the LPGA Tour.

“It’s definitely something I would look at,” 2010 U.S. Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer said Thursday. “I don’t know all the details about that. You have to weigh your options with everything these days.”

PGA players were blindsided this week by the unfathomable announcement . The LPGA field was even more unsure how the deal could affect them, if at all.

“Who knows what the next curve ball is,” American golfer Amy Olson said.

The Saudi overtures into the women’s game aren’t necessarily surprising given that the country is already tethered to the sport via its “Vision 2030” initiative aimed to diversify and reduce its dependence on oil.

The kingdom’s investments in sports and entertainment in recent years not only funded LIV Golf, it currently sponsors six events on the Ladies European Tour. The Aramco Team Series began in 2020 — two years before LIV was launched — and featured team and individual winners. Among the past champions are Korda and Lexi Thompson, two of the biggest draws on the LPGA Tour, while Lydia Ko won the Aramco Saudi Ladies International this year.

The LPGA Tour has joint ownership of the LET. State-run oil giant Saudi Aramco reported net profits of $161 billion in 2022 off higher crude oil prices, claiming the highest-ever recorded annual profit by a publicly listed company. It's pockets are deep enough to spread the wealth into women's golf.

The Saudi Ladies International had a $5 million purse this year — only the LPGA majors and its year-end Tour Championship pay more. The Aramco Team Series typically has a $500,000 prize fund — miniscule for LPGA Tour standards, nearly double most purses on the LET. The more opportunities abound to fatten the bank account, the greater the allure to play around the world.

No matter who may be pulling the strings.

“I’m a global player,” Creamer said ahead of this weekend’s LPGA Classic. “I have global sponsors. I travel all over the world for my partners.”

The LGPA has refused to shut the door on any opportunities that would pump needed cash into the game. While LIV was formed as a direct competitor to the PGA Tour and designed in part to reinvent the structure of professional golf, Saudis in the women's game serve as simply a title sponsor that pays a nice purse.

“We remain focused on growing the LPGA, continuing to work with the top partners in the world to provide the best opportunity for our membership and to make sure that everything we do continues to allow us to inspire, elevate and advance opportunities for girls and women, on and off the golf course,” LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said.

While the defections to LIV of Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and 2023 PGA champion Brooks Koepka’s brought fierce criticism for the ethical questions raised with their Saudi involvement, the LET players have largely escaped backlash for playing tournaments in Saudi Arabia.

When Ko won the Aramco Saudi Ladies International in February at the Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in the kingdom, the event was largely ignored. She took home a $750,000 check largely without the accusations of greed and hypocrisy that has followed the men.

“Women’s sports is regrettably ignored in general, so they wouldn’t receive that criticism,” said Michael Serazio, an author on sports culture and associate professor at Boston University. “It never really let up on Mickelson and some of the other guys that took the money to play in LIV. They continued to weather the criticism and the disdain did not wear off.”

Anna Nordqvist, who won three LPGA majors, ended an endorsement deal with Aramco earlier this year because of the “ incredible amount of hatred and mean comments from people who don’t even know me.”

The party line for some corporations and athletes is to at least offer an excuse that they want to inspire change or modernize the Middle Eastern country. The true enticement is money.

The active career money leaders on the LGPA Tour have made as much as, say, Mets ace Max Scherzer can make in a handful of starts.

The LPGA’s 33 official events this year will have a combined $101.4 million in purses, a high for the tour and an increase of about 18% over what was planned for this season and more than doubling what was paid out on the tour just a decade ago.

PGA Tour prize money this year is about $450 million over 47 events while LIV Golf offered $405 million in 14 men’s events in 2023.

But there is another side of the ledger that can't be ignored.

Even with modest modern reforms of late often posited as propaganda in the gender-segregated country, Saudi Arabia is still widely decried for repressing women’s rights.

Consider, laws around guardianship still limit women’s rights in Saudi Arabia. The worst laws require women to have a male guardian’s consent regarding most aspects of their life including marriage. The resentment against American dealings with the Saudis raged as the country was accused of taking part in sportswashing, an attempt by Saudi Arabia to shift focus away from its human rights abuses, such as the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Like it or not, the Saudis are major players in most sports and their portfolio is only growing.

And if the time did come for elite female golfers to make their money grab, the least they could do is listen.

“At the end of the day, you’re trying to grow the game of golf,” Creamer said. “You’re trying to keep the game going, as well.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Copyright 2023 The  Associated Press . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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On the 14th anniversary of his last pga tour win, liv golf's anthony kim believes he can get his game back, share this article.

Today marks the 14th anniversary of Anthony Kim’s last win on the PGA Tour at the 2010 Shell Houston Open.

Over that time the former rising star has “had some experiences that I wouldn’t wish on anybody,” such as battles with addiction and a whopping seven surgeries (including the same spinal fusion operation Tiger Woods underwent in 2017). He’s keeping a lot of the details of his demise close to the vest as he prepares to release a documentary, but did shed light on conversations with doctors who told him his time was running out.

“That’s a pretty rude awakening,” Kim said on Thursday ahead of LIV Golf Miami at Trump National Doral. “I still think about it to this day when I’m out there and I get frustrated with my golf, you know, how far I’ve come.”

During a recent interview with David Feherty, Kim admitted he never really loved golf . Throughout his down years the three-time PGA Tour winner and former Ryder Cupper hardly paid attention to what was happening on Tour. But just how removed was he from the game? Dustin Johnson told him on Wednesday that Brooks Koepka won back-to-back majors in 2018. Kim had no clue.

Since the birth of his daughter Isabella two years ago, Kim has gotten his life on track and is back in professional golf as a wildcard player for LIV Golf this season. The game has changed quite a bit in his time away, and as much as he wants to win and compete, Kim knows the real importance is to stay in the right mental headspace as he continues his return. He’s not sweating the poor results – in two starts with LIV he’s finished last and 50th in the 54-player field events – and thinks he can still play to the level he once did while on the PGA Tour.

“I believe I can absolutely do it at that level again. I’m prepared more than ever for success,” he explained. “I don’t think in my first career I was because I didn’t know what to expect. It was my mistakes that are the reason that I fell down into this deep hole. Having better people around this time around definitely helps.”

“My goals for this season and moving forward are to work as hard as I can, be focused, which I don’t think that I ever have been,” Kim added. “I appreciate the opportunity going on around me and the platform that I have and to be able to make a difference in the world. As crazy as that sounds, I feel like I will have the opportunity to do it, and the better I play, the louder my voice gets. And so hopefully if I play some good golf I’ll be able to do bigger things.”

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T-Mobile Match Play: Ireland's Leona Maguire sets up LPGA final clash against world No 1 Nelly Korda

Field at T-Mobile Match Play was cut to top eight after round of stroke play on Friday; Switched to single-elimination match play format over weekend; Ireland's Leona Maguire will face Nelly Korda in final on Sunday; watch live on Sky Sports Golf on Sunday at 11pm

Sunday 7 April 2024 17:01, UK

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Ireland's Leona Maguire has set up a T-Mobile Match Play final against world No 1 Nelly Korda, after the pair produced dominant efforts on Saturday in the quarter-finals and semi-finals at Las Vegas.

Korda dispatched South Korea's Narin An 4&3 in one semi-final, while Maguire ousted South Korea's Sei Young Kim 3&2 at Shadow Creek Golf Course.

"Nelly is the best in the world right now," Maguire said. "She's on a really hot streak. It's been incredibly impressive what she's been doing in the past few weeks.

"It's going to be a really tough battle tomorrow," she added. "I've got a big challenge ahead of me. I'm excited. I mean, that's why you practice. You want to play the best players in the world and that's what Nelly is."

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Korda is attempting to win her fourth consecutive LPGA Tour event.

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"(Maguire is) just so consistent," Korda said. "Such a tough competitor. Really grinds out there. We've had a couple battles in Solheim Cups for sure.

"But I think it's just going to be a grind tomorrow. I think it'll be a lot of fun and nothing is going to be easy."

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We've got a good one coming tomorrow 🤩 pic.twitter.com/ctGe8Q677x — LPGA (@LPGA) April 7, 2024

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Korda built an imposing early lead by playing even on the first three holes - all par-fours - while An struggled with bogeys. Korda birdied holes six and seven to go up five holes.

An responded with a birdie while Korda bogeyed the par-four 10, but Korda came right back with a par at hole 11 while An needed an extra stroke. An parred the par-three 13 to gain a hole, but Korda clinched the semi-final by matching her at No 14 (both bogeyed) and No 15 (both parred).

Maguire was up two on Kim on a par at the first hole and a birdie at hole three.

Kim birdied the par-five fourth to cut her deficit, only to fall further behind when her opponent made pars at the par-five seventh and at No 10. Kim's only other birdie came at No 14, then Maguire parred Nos 15 and 16 to close out the match.

We've got a potential @TheSolheimCup 2024 match preview on our hands 🙌 pic.twitter.com/KNv8SqZCIn — LPGA (@LPGA) April 7, 2024

In the quarter-finals, Maguire won by 4&3 over Thailand's Moriya Jutanugarn, who had emerged from a four-player play-off on Friday to get to the weekend.

Korda topped fellow American Angel Yin 3&2 in their quarter-final match.

Kim had cruised past American Rose Zhang 6&5, and An edged Japan's Minami Katsu 1Up in the other quarter-finals.

The field was cut to the top 65 players and ties after 36 holes of stroke play on Wednesday and Thursday, then trimmed to the top eight after stroke play on Friday. Saturday morning was single-elimination match-play brackets, with the championship match set for Sunday.

Watch the final of the LPGA's T-Mobile Match Play between Leona Maguire and Nelly Korda, live on Sky Sports Golf and Main Event from 11pm, Sunday. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, majors and more with NOW

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Home Golf Simulators Make for the Best Virtual Summer Golf Trips – Top 4 Virtual Golf Trip Itineraries

If you haven’t planned your summer golf trip yet, Golfzon’s luxury golf simulators are here to help. With some of the best golf courses available on a Golfzon simulator, why leave your house?

While golf travel can be exhilarating, it can also be exhausting — that’s where the best home golf simulator comes in. Rather than packing up each night to head to a new golf course, why don’t you set up a virtual summer golf trip in the comfort of your home? Invite your golf buddies and plan a week of golf you’ll never forget.

Plus, depending on your golf simulator room design , you could have food and beverages on tap — no need to wait for the turn to stock up on your favorite golf snacks.

Playing on a Golfzon simulator is as close as you can get to playing the real golf course . Golfzon’s mapping process is unparalleled, from the land and drone photography and topographical data, to the designs and pin locations. By visiting each course and studying it in detail, Golfzon ensures you are playing the same exact golf course.

Golfzon golf simulators allow you to utilize all of your clubs, from tee to green, and the moving swing plate emulates any lie you’d find on the course; transforming your space into your favorite course in the blink of an eye.

Some notable Golfzon courses, such as the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island and the Old Course at St Andrews, are popular among golfers. There are several other notable golf courses across the world you can play without all the travel, such as the Mission Hills courses in China or the Gary Player Country Club in South Africa.

With over 190 golf course options, Golfzon has created several golf trip itineraries of various lengths to quench your golf travel thirst. Whether you want to emulate a realistic golf trip and play golf courses in one area, fill your week with major championship courses or play some exotic international golf courses, Golfzon has a trip for you thanks to their best indoor golf simulator.

7 Days on Your Home Golf Simulator on the East Coast of the United States

With a plethora of golf courses on the East Coast of the United States, Golfzon tried its best to narrow the list down to 7. Keeping in mind there are other golf course options, here is your first golf trip itinerary.

Day 1: PGA National Golf Club – The Champion The Champion at PGA National Golf Club is known for two reasons — the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic and the Bear Trap. Kick off your virtual golf trip with one of the most popular Tour stops in golf — Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The Bear Trap, which earned its name after Jack Nicklaus designed three of the most difficult holes in golf, takes place on holes 15-17 and is marked by the famous bear statue.

Day 2: PGA National Golf Club – The Estate Since the finishing holes on The Champion can sometimes cause you to lose a few golf balls (if you weren’t playing virtually), Golfzon recommends heading down the road to PGA National’s Estate course. Shorter than PGA National’s four other courses, The Estate is a fun way to decompress by enjoying the wide fairways and larger greens.

Day 3: PGA National Golf Club – The Fazio Now, you’re probably wondering why PGA National has made the cut yet again, but with 90 holes of golf to choose from, it’s best to take your time here. The Fazio golf course, originally named The Haig, was debuted after renovations that increased the green sizes and added Celebration Bermuda Grass. This course is fun for golfers of all skill levels and the perfect way to begin ramping up for the rest of your trip.

Day 4: World Golf Village – Slammer & Squire Golf Course Heading north to St. Augustine, Florida, you will find the World Golf Village, home of the Golf Hall of Fame. At the Slammer & Squire Golf Course, you can play an open layout that features the wetlands of Florida. This is another great day to get your game back in shape before the rest of the golf trip.

Day 5: World Golf Village – King & Bear Golf Course Also in St. Augustine, the King & Bear Golf Course is the only jointly designed course by Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. Though you’re virtually in Florida, you’ll play some links-style and Florida-style golf at this course. This course maxes out at just over 7,200 yards, so make sure you have your driver.

Day 6: Harbour Town Golf Links Next stop is Hilton Head, South Carolina, where you can virtually play another PGA Tour stop on a golf simulator. Harbour Town Golf Links, which immediately brings the iconic red-and-white striped lighthouse to mind, is a must-play Pete Dye course that requires a lot of creative thinking.

Day 7: Quail Hollow Club The last stop of this itinerary brings you to Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. Also a PGA Championship course, Quail Hollow has some tough finishing holes, named the Green Mile after a Stephen King novel, that will make you thankful you’re not losing any golf balls this trip. What better way to end your summer virtual golf trip than with brilliant shots and funny stories?

3 Days on the Best Golfzon Courses on the West Coast of the United States

The West Coast of the United States is home to some of the most famous golf courses in the world — and you can play them from your luxury home golf simulator. You may be following this itinerary on your golf simulator now, but after you’ve played these golf courses, there’s a good chance you and the rest of your foursome are booking flights to California.

Day 1: Spyglass Hill Golf Course Spyglass Hill Golf Course is located in Pebble Beach, California, where the entirety of this virtual golf trip will take place. One of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am courses, Spyglass Hill promises both challenge and beauty, even through an impact screen. Though Spyglass Hill has not hosted a major yet, this course is definitely worthy.

Day 2: Poppy Hills Golf Course Another Pebble Beach course, Poppy Hills is touted as “firm, fast and fun.” Compared to playing in a national park due to its forest scenery, this golf course is the only one in Pebble Beach with bent grass, giving you different conditions you can feel through the Golfzon multi-surface hitting and putting mat.

Day 3: Pebble Beach – Del Monte Golf Course Playing the Del Monte Golf Course at Pebble Beach is the perfect way to round out your virtual California golf trip. This course opened in 1897 and is one of the oldest golf courses in the west. Del Monte is considered the true test of a golfer, so whoever wins this round of the trip will have some serious bragging rights.

3 Days Virtually Playing Major Championship Courses

Just like the Tour players, you have three chances in this itinerary to test your game on major championship-level courses — even from a residential golf simulator. Total your scores after the fourth round and see who in your foursome is the ultimate major champion.

Day 1: St Andrews Links – Old Course

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Who doesn’t want to play St Andrews Links, especially the Old Course? Now you can on the best indoor golf simulator. The oldest golf course in the world, the Old Course at St Andrews has hosted the Open Championship 29 times since the 19th century, with more to come. Test your skills on some of the most (in)famous bunkers in the world on Golfzon’s multi-surface hitting mats, which realistically simulates the sand you’d find on any course.

Day 2: Ocean Course at Kiawah Island

With ocean views and high winds, you’ll want your A-game for your round at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. In South Carolina, this course has hosted two PGA Championships, in addition to a Senior PGA Championship and a Ryder Cup. If you’re playing this itinerary simply to experience major championship courses on the best home golf simulator, switch up the game today and play Ryder Cup-style.

Day 3: Pebble Beach Golf Links

Quickly flying over to California via your home golf simulator, you and your buddies will end your majors tour at Pebble Beach Golf Links — the #1 public golf course in the United States. Pebble Beach Golf Links has hosted six U.S. Opens, with more on the schedule. Finish your virtual golf trip reminiscing (and attempting to recreate) the shots of so many Tour players and celebrities on this historic course.

7 Days on the Best Golfzon Courses Around the World

One of the biggest perks of owning the best golf simulator is having the ability to play famous golf courses all over the world from the comfort of your home. Golfzon simulators have tons of international courses to choose from, so you can continent-jump to your heart’s content.

Day 1: Phoenix Golf Resort – Champion Course Host of the 1st PGA World Masters Pro Golf Championship, this course is also home to the “the biggest and most beautiful Golf Resort,” as rated by the Vietnam Guinness Book of World Records. Designed by Ronald Fream, each of the three courses at Phoenix Golf Course takes advantage of severe fairway and green undulations as well as clever routing around stunning cliffs.

Day 2: Mission Hills Shenzhen – Faldo Course Jumping over to China, you have several Mission Hills golf courses to choose from, though Golfzon went with the Faldo Course in Shenzhen. Nick Faldo compares his course to TPC Sawgrass, citing its stadium status amongst the mountains.

Day 3: TPC Kuala Lumpur – West The number two golf course in Malaysia, the West Course at TPC Kuala Lumpur is a challenge to behold. Losing the first spot to its counterpart, the East Course, the West Course has undergone renovations that continue to make this one of the toughest golf courses in the world.

Day 4: Moscow City Golf Club Moscow City Golf Club was the first golf course in Russia. Approved by Mikhail Gorbachev during his presidency in the 1980s, this course has seen its fair share of celebrities and Russian leaders. Only a 9-hole course, experience Russia’s first take on golf without flying halfway across the world.

Day 5: Royal Aberdeen Golf Club Next stop takes you to Scotland, where the Royal Aberdeen Golf Club holds its legacy. While the exact establishment order is still debated, Royal Aberdeen is one of the oldest golf courses in the world. A classic links-style course, the front nine has garnered the most attention for its layout along the North Sea. Despite the charm on the front nine, all 18 holes are considered difficult.

Day 6: Evian Resort Golf Club Hopping down to France, enjoy the Evian Resort Golf Club, home of the fifth LPGA Tour major championship each year. Formerly known as the Evian Masters, the Evian Championship takes place on one of the oldest golf courses in France and has quite the view of Lake Geneva and the Alps.

Day 7: Gary Player Country Club Last, but certainly not least, round out your world golf tour with the Gary Player Country Club in South Africa. The longest golf course in the world, the Gary Player Country Club is almost 8,000 yards from the tips. With strategic bunker placements and fast greens, all of which can be simulated on Golfzon’s golf mat, conquering this course is the best way to end a week of virtual golf travel.

No matter where you want to play virtual golf, Golfzon simulators are ready to take you there. Whether you are interested in exploring local courses or playing abroad, the best Golfzon courses are here for the taking.

Of course, rather than follow one of the itineraries above, you can also go through the 190+ golf courses Golfzon has to offer and choose which you’d like to play. You can also create a game of sorts and randomly select your next golf course. When you have the Golf Digest best premium golf simulator in your home, you have endless opportunities to play whichever virtual golf courses you’d like.

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How many golf courses are there in russia?

Golf is played throughout various countries all over the globe. however, among many of those countries, russia is not one. the game is not as popular in russia as compared to other places. as a result, russia has only a few golf courses., how many golf courses does russia have.

A total of 32 courses are available in Russia, including 12 full-length 18-hole courses as well as a few nine-hole courses.

first golf course  in russia

Although the sport is not that popular in Russia, it has grown considerably over the past years. The first course was opened approximately 30 years ago, named, the Moscow City Golf Club; A nine-hole layout.

 GOLF COURSE Designed by Jack Nicklaus

One of the most recent Golf Courses in Russia include a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course, called Raevo Golf and Country Club, outside Moscow

Why is it tough to play in Russia?

One of the main reasons why the game is not so popular in Russia is its climate.  Apart from that, even the summer season is really short. However, if one wants to check out and play the beautiful courses, mid-May and mid-October is the best time.

russia competing in golf at the olymics

Just as the courses are coming up, some names in the sport are also making their presence felt. Maria Verchenova is one such name who appeared on the scenes back in 2016 at the Rio Olympics.

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Top-ranked Nelly Korda advances to semifinals of T-Mobile Match Play

2024 drive, chip and putt: lpga*usga girls golf update.

• LPGA Match Play

NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — Top-ranked Nelly Korda advanced to the semifinals of the T-Mobile Match Play on Saturday by defeating fellow American and Solheim Cup teammate Angel Yin 3 and 2 at Shadow Creek Golf Course.

"This course is brutal, especially in this weather," Korda said. "It was so cold this morning. I'm happy to get a couple of rounds under my belt, and hopefully that will help me in my next match."

In the other quarterfinal matches, 2020 LPGA Tour Player of the Year Sei Young Kim defeated Rose Zhang 6 and 5, Leona Maguire beat Moriya Jutanugarn 4 and 3 and Narin An eliminated Minami Katsu 1 up.

Korda will face An and Maguire will play Kim in the semifinals Saturday afternoon. The final is Sunday.

Korda is attempting to win her fourth tournament in a row. Lorena Ochoa in 2008 was the last player to accomplish that.

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