Koepka holds off Tiger, Scott to win PGA crown

2022 Masters Tournament, Round 1 Scoring Conditions: Overall: +1.83 strokes per round Morning wave: +2.22 Afternoon wave: +1.43 Current cutline (top 50 and ties): 59 players at +2 or better (T43) Top 3 projected cutline probabilities: 1. 3 over par: 35.9% 2. 4 over par: 34.7% 3. 2 over par: 13.5% Top 10 win probabilities: 1. Cameron Smith (2, -4, 14.2%) 2. Sungjae Im (1, -5, 11.6%) 3. Scottie Scheffler (T3, -3, 11.6%) 4. Dustin Johnson (T3, -3, 8.6%) 5. Patrick Cantlay (T7, -2, 8.1%) 6. Joaquin Niemann (T3, -3, 5.9%) 7. Matthew Fitzpatrick (T10, -1, 3.1%) 8. Corey Conners (T7, -2, 2.8%) 9. Will Zalatoris (T10, -1, 2.7%) 10. Rory McIlroy (T31, +1, 2.6%) NOTE: These reports are based off of the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut”, “Top 20”, “Top 5”, and “Win” probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the Masters Tournament, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

Click here to read the full article…

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. - One of the toughest tests of the year made it clear that par would be a great score at Olympia Fields. Leave it to Hideki Matsuyama to make a 65-foot birdie putt on his final hole Thursday to lead the BMW Championship. Matsuyama, the Japanese player who has gone three years since his last victory, birdied two of his last three holes for a 3-under 67, one of only three rounds under par on a course that was long, tough, firm, fast and nothing like the last two weeks. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Tyler Duncan, just outside the top 30 as he tries to earn his first trip to the TOUR Championship, made an 8-foot par putt on his last hole for a 68. Mackenzie Hughes, one of only four players who reached 3 under at any point in his round, was another shot behind. “I’m not sure really what I had going today, but that last putt, the long putt that went in, very happy with that one,” Matsuyama said. “So we’ll remember that one.” Dustin Johnson, who won THE NORTHERN TRUST last week at 30-under par, opened with a 71 and felt like it was a good day’s work. He was told that even three straight rounds of 60 would not be enough to reach 30 under at Olympia Fields. “Yeah, but I would win,” he said. By a landslide, no doubt. Tiger Woods needs to finish around fourth to have any hope of returning to East Lake next week in Atlanta to chase the $15 million bonus for the FedExCup winner. He was hovering around even par a few shots out of the lead. He finished with three straight bogeys for a 73 and was running hotter than the weather. A three-time U.S. Open champion, Woods knows all about control and patience and key pars putts. And then he let a reasonable round get away from him. “The course was fine. The course is in perfect shape. Not the way I wanted to finish,” Woods said in brief comments. The average score was 72.8, and only four of the 18 holes played under par. That included both par 5s. This is what the U.S. Open could have used in 2003, instead of rain-softened conditions. It was hot in the morning, baking out a dry course. The rough is 5 inches in spots. The greens were hard, making it tough to get the ball close and nearly impossible to get shots to stop on the green from out of the rough. “I think when golf courses become like this and pars are a premium, I think I’m almost more comfortable at times because you don’t feel like you’ll ever get left behind when you’re running off a few pars in a row,” Hughes said. “Like last week, if you got off to a slow start and you were even par through six holes you felt like you were getting run over.” Rory McIlroy was among 10 players who finished at 70 and felt the day was a success. He hasn’t registered a top 10 since golf returned from the coronavirus shutdown in June, and he conceded to being lethargic without fan energy. “I said last week if you need someone to shoot between like even par and 2 under, I’m your man,” McIlroy said. “So I’m loving these conditions. It’s sort of weird. The way my game feels at the minute, it’s just as easy for me to shoot even par here as it was last week in Boston, for whatever reason that is. “But this is proper golf,” he said. “You’ve really got to think about stuff. … It’s nice to play a round of golf like that again.” Also in that group at even par was Carlos Ortiz of Mexico, notable because he was the latest player to be grouped with Woods for the first time. He raved about how Woods controls the flight of his irons. He missed out on the massive crowd because there are no spectators, only carts carrying the broadcast crew. “It’s probably the least amount of people he’s played in front of,” Ortiz said, “and the most for me.”

Click here to read the full article…

Round 2 of the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday continues Friday from Muirfield Village. The deep field includes seven of the top-10 players in the Official World Golf Ranking. After the first round, six players are tied for the lead at 5-under-par. World No. 3 and reigning PLAYERS champion Cam Smith, rookies Cameron Young and Davis Riley, Luke List, K.H. Lee, and Mackenzie Hughes all carded opening-round 67’s to take the lead. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action, including Featured Groups for PGA TOUR LIVE and newly expanded and extended coverage on ESPN+. Click here for more details. Leaderboard Full tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m. ET. Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) For outside of the U.S., click here for GOLFTV powered by the PGA TOUR PGA TOUR LIVE PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+ • Main Feed: primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course • Marquee Group: new “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group • Featured Groups: traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups • Featured Holes: a combination of par-3s and iconic or pivotal holes FEATURED GROUPS FRIDAY Marquee Group Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Shane Lowry Featured Groups Xander Schauffele, Viktor Hovland, Matt Fitzpatrick Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed Featured Holes: No. 4 (par 3), No. 12 (par 3), No. 15 (par 5), No. 16 (par 3) MUST READS Six-way tie for lead at the Memorial Tournament Jack Nicklaus’ impact on the modern PGA TOUR Five Things to Know: Muirfield Village Hideki Matsuyama disqualified for non-conforming club at Memorial Colin Morikawa switches to new mallet putter

Click here to read the full article…