While a short miss on the final green denied him a share of the clubhouse lead, Rory McIlroy had plenty of reason to smile after opening the BMW PGA Championship with a 5-under 67.

McIlroy won the European Tour’s flagship event in memorable fashion in 2014, erasing a seven-shot deficit on the final day. But the West Course at Wentworth has otherwise been a house of horrors for the Ulsterman, as he missed the cut in his three other appearances since 2012 and has played the course in a combined 10 over in his eight career appearances.

This marks his first return to the event since 2015, and he’s now one shot off the early pace after a round that at times offered glimpses of his commanding form from recent years.

 

Full-field scores from the BMW PGA Championship

 

“I think I did everything pretty well,” McIlroy said. “I drove the ball much better, put the ball in play off the tee a lot more than I’ve done the last couple weeks, so that’s been really good. I thought I gave myself a lot of chances, and I took most of them.”

McIlroy started slowly, and a bogey on No. 9 after a poor approach from the middle of the fairway meant he made the turn in just 1 under. But he got that dropped shot back on the next hole, then added birdies on Nos. 14 and 16 to climb up the leaderboard. He appeared poised to add at least one more tally, but was unable to birdie either of the two closing par-5s at Wentworth including a miss from inside 4 feet on No. 18.

“A little frustrated that I couldn’t get a birdie or two out of the last couple holes, but overall a really good start,” he said.

Making his first start since a missed cut at The Players Championship, McIlroy sits two shots behind Lucas Bjerregaard with hopes for “more of the same” from his game over the weekend on a course that has often had his number.

“If I can hit the ball like I did today over the next three days,” McIlroy said, “I think I’ll be right there.”

 

Source: golfchannel.com

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Tiger Woods left a lot of money, world-ranking points, FedEx points and his Bridgestone golf ball at the bottom of the water in front of the 17th green Sunday.

You would hardly know it based on his positive reaction after he tied for 11th at the Players Championship, shooting a final-round 69 after earlier being in a tie for second place behind eventual winner Webb Simpson.

“I really played really good today. I hit it so good,” Woods said after shooting rounds of 72-71-65-69. “I had control of it from tee to green. I made some putts. I felt good on basically every facet of the game, and it’s weird — not to really mishit a shot today and only shoot 3 under par is just weird … because I played much better than that.”

Woods began the day tied for eighth, 11 strokes behind Simpson. By the time Woods teed off, he had dropped to a tie for 17th.

He steadily climbed the leaderboard with birdies at the second, third, fourth and ninth holes. He added birdies at the 11th and 12th and was 6 under par for his round. At that point, he had closed to within four strokes of Simpson and was tied for second at 14 under par.

But like Saturday, when he was 8 under through 12 holes, the round stalled at the par-4 14th and this time was compounded by a tee shot into the water at the par-3 17th.

In both cases, Woods hit a sand wedge approach, but he said he did not misplay either shot.

“No. 14, it’s blowing downwind, and it’s off the left, and [the pin] is on top of that crown, and I thought it [the ball] was going to skip,” Woods said of the shot from 110 yards. “I thought I was going to have a hard time keeping it up top, and I spun it off the ridge. Left it short and hit a good putt. Just didn’t go in.”

The hole has been something of a nemesis for Woods. It is where he hit his tee shot in the water — leading to a controversial drop — on his way to victory in 2013. He bogeyed the hole Saturday. This time, he pounded a driver 355 yards into the fairway and had the short distance to the flag.

After it came up short and rolled off the front of the green, Woods elected to putt and left it 8 feet short then missed the par putt.

After failing to birdie the par-5 16th for the second straight day, he arrived at the par-3 17th and watched Jordan Spieth stick his shot to a few feet from a precarious pin that is typically on the right side on Sundays.

“I think I messed him up,” Spieth said. “He went and looked in my bag, and I had a 52-degree [sand wedge], which is a pretty aggressive play. I had to draw it from the water. And then he hit one, and the wind is just going like this the whole day, and if he caught this, he’s a tap-in birdie. It was unlucky there.”

Woods said Spieth’s shot did not impact him and that it was simply the wind.

“It was blowing downwind, and then, unfortunately, it switched in my face,” Woods said.

The resulting double-bogey bounced Woods out of the top 10, which meant a significant difference in prize money, FedEx points and the world ranking.

Woods finished at 277, 11 under par and seven shots back of Simpson and three back of second-place finishers Charl Schwartzel, Jimmy Walker and Xander Schauffele.

After beginning the week ranked 92nd in the world, Woods will move up to 80th. He would have been pushing the top 50 with a second-place finish. The drop also cost him approximately $600,000 in prize money, as the three players who tied for second each received $821,333, while Woods got $225,500. He will move from 53rd to 48th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Having won 14 major championships and 79 PGA Tour events in his career, Woods is not much concerned with where he is in the various rankings. But he noted Sunday that he would like to qualify for the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August.

“One of my goals is to get into Akron, one last time, before we leave there,” Woods said of the tournament he has won eight times at Firestone Country Club. It is moving to Memphis, Tennessee, after this year. “I’ve won there eight times, and I would like to get there with one more chance. But I’ve [got] to do some work between now and then.”

 

https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/995726211975294976

 

Short of a victory, Woods needs to be ranked among the top 50 in the world as of July 23 or July 30 to qualify.

“He’ll win sometime soon enough,” said Spieth, who tied for 41st after a final-round 74 that included an 8 at the last hole. “He’s certainly playing well enough to do so. All in all, I think he played like a 5- or 6-under round, almost shot 7 or 8 and ended up with 3.

“So his game, if I compare it to other guys that are winning golf tournaments that I’m playing with day to day, it’s right up there.”

Woods will take the next two weeks off and is expected to return at The Memorial Tournament, held May 31-June 3, that he has won five times but hasn’t played since 2015. That year, he shot his highest score as a pro, a third-round 85.

He has come a long way from those days. Some 13 months after spinal fusion surgery, he has played nine worldwide events — eight on the PGA Tour — and posted five top-12 finishes. He has jumped from 1,199th in the world to 80th. And he has some confidence.

“I felt comfortable with every facet of my game today,” Woods said. “Everything felt good. I had control, I was hitting it high, low, right, left, didn’t matter what it was. I felt like I had control of it today.”

 

Source: ESPN.com

Lydia Ko has faced plenty of heat over the past couple years. The general questions surrounding her have been about why a teen sensation with 14 LPGA titles to her credit would change her coach, her equipment, her caddie—and why has it been two seasons since her last victory? Thankfully for her sanity, it sounds like she hasn’t been paying too much attention to all the critics.

And when she was faced with the chance to change the narrative, Ko stepped up. Five days after turning 21, the New Zealand resident celebrated by claiming her 15th LPGA title, a playoff victory over Minjee Lee at the MEDIHEAL Championship.

Ko didn’t just win, she won in style, making an eagle 3 on the first extra hole, the par-5 18th at Lake Merced Golf Club outside San Francisco after hitting her second shot from 234 yards to less than three feet.

https://twitter.com/LPGA/status/990758034711363585

The leader after each of the first three rounds, Ko was asked on Saturday night whether or not she felt pressure from people talking about if she’s going to win again or not. Ko responded to the question saying, “I’ve been very distant from like press and media. No offense.”

It was a typical Ko response: honest, yet perfectly considerate.

The last time Ko had slept on a 54-hole lead was at the 2016 U.S. Open. The last time she had won was a week later at the Marathon Classic. Since that victory, Ko has changed her swing coaches, going from David Leadbetter to Gary Gilchrist to her current instructor, Ted Oh, who she began working with in early 2018. She changed her clubs, moving from Callaway to PXG. And she changed her caddie, multiple times. When all of these changes didn’t add up to continued dominance on tour, some questioned whether or not she had made the right choices.

But Ko stayed patient, confident, and relatively quiet about all of the adjustments.

During Sunday’s final round, the lead changed hands multiple times. Ko had started the day one stroke ahead of Jessica Korda. A cold putter kept Korda from making a charge (she’d finish with a Sunday 74). Meanwhile, early bogeys from Ko brought Lee, who started the day three strokes off the lead, into the mix. Lee made five birdies on the back nine to finish 12-under for the tournament, posting a closing 68.

After making the turn with a 38, Ko improved on the back nine and was sitting at 11 under for the tournament, playing in the group behind Lee. She watched as Lee made her birdie putt to finish at 12 under. That putt meant Ko had to make birdie to force a playoff.

Ko’s approach shot came up short on the short par 5, and her chip for eagle grazed the high side of the cup. She tapped in for birdie and a Sunday 71, and the two 21-year-olds went back to the 18th tee for the first playoff hole.

Each player headed into the playoff having had experience winning at Lake Merced in the past. Lee won the 2012 U.S. Girls’ Junior, where Ko had lost in her semifinal match. Ko won the Swinging Skirts LPGA event in 2014 and 2015 at Lake Merced.

Both put their drives in the fairway. Ko, with a 3-wood in her hands from 234 yards out, hit a towering shot over some branches that hung over the left side of the fairway. It hit in front of the green, rolled up and almost into the hole. Lee made birdie, but it wasn’t enough. Ko’s short eagle putt rolled in and she left the 18th green in tears.

After the win, Ko opened up more about what it felt like to play 43 starts without a win.

“I was frustrated because sometimes I would go into the Thursday feeling, Hey, I feel like I can actually play really well, and then miss the cut or shoot over par,” Ko said. “I think it was more frustration against myself from myself. I think sometimes self pressure is the biggest thing where you kind of put a lot of load on your shoulders. That’s what my mom actually said, hey, just clear your mind, just take away all the weight off your shoulders and just go out and play. That’s what I think I was able to do this week, which is always nice when you’re kind of playing without fear and you’re just out there freely.”

 

Source: Golf Digest