Kuchar statement: ‘I want to apologize’

The 2022 Presidents Cup gets underway Thursday at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. The U.S. Team and International Team will battle it out over four days in different formats before the winning group hoists the trophy on Sunday. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action. Scoring Tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel/Peacock). Friday, 11:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (Golf Channel/Peacock). Saturday, 7 a.m.-8 a.m. (Golf Channel/Peacock), 8 a.m.-6 p.m. (NBC/Peacock). Sunday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC/Peacock) Radio: Thursday: 1 p.m.-6 p.m. ET. Friday: 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday: 12 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 MUST READS Power Rankings Expert Picks How the format, scoring works Why Homa wanted to be picked for Presidents Cup so badly Kim, 20, brings energy to International Team Nine Things to Know: Quail Hollow Club The First Look Roundtable: Predicting the Presidents Cup

Click here to read the full article…

Phil Mickelson faces perhaps the biggest challenge of his historic golf career as he partners with NBA legend Charles Barkley against two-time Super Bowl champion Peyton Manning and current Golden State Warriors NBA legend and three-time NBA Champion Stephen Curry in Capital One's The Match: Champions for Change. Stone Canyon Golf Club in Oro Valley, Arizona is our host as 44-time PGA TOUR winner Mickelson tries to get Barkley's notoriously unreliable swing smooth enough to get through against near-scratch golfer Curry and single digit handicapper Manning. RELATED: How to watch The event will contribute toward and highlight diversity, equality, and inclusion through donations to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and organizations that support them (Thurgood Marshall Fund, United Negro College Fund) while raising awareness and spotlighting opportunities for diversity and equality in sports. As many of us lay back in a food coma following Thanksgiving feasts it's also important to note The Match will support Feeding America. Around 50 million people may face hunger in the U.S. during 2020's pandemic times, including more than 17 million children. The competition format will be modified alternate shot match play where each player will hit a tee shot and the team can then choose their best option before continuing in alternate shot fashion until the ball is holed. PRE MATCH The smack talk has already begun with Manning handing Barkley a special kit that includes an airhorn he can blow if he gets lost in the desert. Clearly these four champions are out for some fun while raising money and awareness for great causes. Mickelson has his calves out in all their glory - and he'll likely need them to carry a pretty big load given what we've seen out of Barkley in the past. But the 44-time PGA TOUR winner is at least talking a confident game - while reminding us he'll be hitting bombs and hellacious seeds to put some pressure on the Curry/Manning combo. And hey, look at this, Barkley has actually made some decent contact on a few at the range. Could an upset be on the cards? GO TIME Just minutes away from the start of The Match and players are getting their final warm up moments in. Mickelson is dialed in on the putting green while Barkley is trying to stretch out his back before he submits it to his swing that usually resembles a frog in a blender. Curry and Manning have that look of quiet confidence but there's also a whiff of nerves coming from the duo who, at their best in their respective sports, were seemingly impervious to jitters. The anticipation for the smack talk battle is just as high as it is for the golf itself. HOLE BY HOLE HOLE 1: (par 4, 426 yards) The Curry / Manning team gets off to a fine start after Curry splits the fairway. Mickelson then busts out his driver and lets the group know, "I wouldn't normally hit driver here but I just want to set the tone," and cuts the corner of the dogleg left opener, but finds the rough. Barkley then takes iron and hits a perfect draw into the fairway, but it's well back meaning they decide to use Mickelson's shot. Manning pulls his approach ever so slightly to the fringe of the green, but ensures Curry will get a birdie look from around 20 feet. Mickelson tells Barkley the shot is 70 yards as he's worried about pace through the rough. It's actually 55 yards. Mickelson math backfires and Barkley hits it through the green to the back fringe leaving about 70-feet. "I won't do that to you again," the TOUR star is forced to say to his teammate. Mickelson lags it down to six-feet giving Curry a chance to win the hole, but his effort comes up well short. "I don't recall Tiger leaving you five-footers," Mickelson chirps to Manning referencing the previous Capital One's The Match where Tiger Woods and Manning bested Mickelson and Tom Brady 1up. Barkley leaves his par putt on the high edge and lips out but Manning makes no mistake and an early lead is established. Hole Result: Curry / Manning WIN Hole Scores: Curry / Manning - Par; Mickelson / Barkley - Bogey Match Score: Curry / Manning 1up Mickelson / Barkley Hole 2: (par 5, 559 yards) A change in strategy for the Mickelson / Barkley team is instituted immediately as Barkley defies all odds and finds his second straight fairway off the tee. Mickelson's drive is significantly longer, but they choose Barkley's ball, allowing Phil to try to reach the green in two. The 50-year-old comes up just short to the front of the green. After a sweet Manning drive, Curry lays up to a number that Manning clearly loved as his wedge shot tracks to the hole and actually lips out before settling about six-feet away. Unfortunately, Curry pushes the birdie putt out to the right. That miss proves costly as Barkley produces an impressive long lag putt from the front of the green to five-feet and given the chance to square the match, Mickelson makes no mistake. "I made a mistake there in strategy and gave them a hole," Mickelson says of the opening hole. "But Chuck and I can make pars and birdies on this course if we play to our strengths and with him that's his putting so I'll work on giving him those chances." Hole Result: Mickelson / Barkley WIN Hole Scores: Curry / Manning - Par; Mickelson / Barkley - Birdie Match Score: Curry / Manning ALL SQUARE Mickelson / Barkley Hole 3: (par 4, 304 yards) We've hit the Ford Mustang Mach-E Drivable par 4 challenge where a Hole-in-One would trigger a $5 million donation to HBCUs, an eagle nets $1 million, a drive within 10-feet is worth $250,000 and the winner of the hole $100,000. Mickelson doesn't even need driver and lets loose, coming up with a shot to the back fringe of the green. Barkley brings out his driver for the first time and snipes a low bullet that they can dismiss. Both Curry and Manning have a crack with driver with the former NFL star's shot just short and right in the rough the best of the two. Curry chips out, but the ball rolls out significantly so Manning must try for an unlikely birdie. It doesn't quite have the gas to get there and they settle for par. Barkley has a putt for the $1 million and the hole with Mickelson reminding him to "quieten his mind," and forget about the money, the cameras and all of the outside noise. His 25-foot eagle effort has some heat and runs five-feet past. The stress of it all is evident on his face, but you'd be hard pressed finding many 25 handicappers (Barkley's official number) able to do much better under the spotlight like this. Mickelson proves his pedigree by converting the birdie to win the hole and take their first lead in the match. Hole Result: Mickelson / Barkley WIN Hole Scores: Curry / Manning - Par; Mickelson / Barkley - Birdie Match Score: Mickelson / Barkley 1up Curry / Manning Hole 4: (par 4, 374 yards) Barkley has clearly been in some sort of golf boot camp like back in the day when he was part of the Hank Haney Project on Golf Channel. His swing is holding up fairly well under pressure and he once again finds the middle of the fairway off the tee. This allows Mickelson to go full flex with his calves and try to hit a bomb up near the green. "I've only seen one better resurrection," Gary McCord quips of Barkley's game in commentary. Mickelson does hit a huge drive that finds the fairway, but the 50-yard pitch would have to go over a bunker and find the correct tier of the green so he learns from the opening hole and decides to back his approach game from distance against Barkley's short game. A clever shot to about 18-feet makes the strategy appear genius. Manning's drive hooks into the left rough leaving Curry under enormous pressure given the momentum of the match. The Warriors weapon steps up in the clutch and pounds a good drive up near the green, albeit into the left rough. The angle for the short wedge approach is a good one though. Manning, mindful of needing to get the ball to the back tier where the pin is located, is just a tad aggressive and sends the second shot into the back rough, but close enough for Curry to use his putter for their third. That effort rolls some 10-feet past the pin. Barkley's attempt to win the hole with birdie from 18 feet is tracking, but ends up just short. It's good enough though when Manning pushes his par putt. Hole Result: Mickelson / Barkley WIN Hole Scores: Curry / Manning - Bogey; Mickelson / Barkley - Par Match Score: Mickelson / Barkley 2up Curry / Manning

Click here to read the full article…

Rory McIlroy's title defense at THE PLAYERS has been two years in the making after the 2020 edition was cancelled before the first round could officially be put in the books. The COVID-19 pandemic rocked us all and has made the last 12 months feel like 12 years at times. So if you've forgotten how the last full PLAYERS Championship played out at TPC Sawgrass in 2019 don't be discouraged - you're not alone. With that being said we've compiled a quick refresher for you all. Here are five things you may have forgotten from an incredible championship. 1. Rory McIlroy snapped a 12-month winless drought. While some pre-tournament pundits were suggesting his ability to close was gone, there was no doubt McIlroy was "trending" as the 2019 PLAYERS approached. The Northern Irishman had posted five straight top-6 results on TOUR to start 2019, but the multiple near misses were being viewed as a negative by some. Since winning the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard McIlroy had yielded 11 PGA TOUR Top 10s in all without another win. In his title defense at Bay Hill - a week before the PLAYERS - McIlroy found himself in the final group Sunday for the ninth time in 13 months. He didn't win - making it 0 for 9. At TPC Sawgrass he opened 67-65-70 to be just one back of the lead but many weren't prepared to say he'd get the job done. And those folks were smirking after McIlroy had an early double bogey Sunday. A birdie at the par-5 9th put him back on the heels of the leaders and further birdies on 11 and 12 sent him to the top alone. But then he missed a short par putt on the 14th prompting a stinging assessment from Paul Azinger on the broadcast. "Just really a pathetic effort for somebody like McIlroy to completely miss the hole," he said of the putt that first dropped McIlroy into a logjam at the top and soon afterward had him one behind. Rather than dwell on the negative of both the poor putt and the last 12 months, McIlroy hit an incredible approach from a fairway bunker on the 15th and converted birdie from 14-feet to join the lead once more. A laser to the 16th set up another birdie before two clutch pars to finish on the dangerous island 17th and water flanked 18th secured his win. His aggressive drive and his approach on the 72nd hole were incredible and clearly not the stuff of a fragile individual. 2. There were as many as 11 potential champions other than McIlroy who ultimately lost their way. None more so than 54-hole leader Jon Rahm who crashed as part of a wild Sunday finish. Rahm would play in the final pairing starting at 15 under, one ahead of Sunday playing partner Tommy Fleetwood and McIlroy. His rollercoaster day started by dropping three shots in the first four holes before he bounced back with two birdies before the turn. A crucial moment came on the par-5 11th when, after driving the ball into a bunker, Rahm defied his caddie Adam Hayes' suggestion to lay up and found the water going for the green. A 13th hole birdie returned hope, but he played the final four holes 3 over par, including a water ball on the par-3 17th. Jim Furyk, the 48-year-old local favorite, hit the lead when he was four under on his round through 11 holes. A birdie on 16 countered a 15th hole bogey and the old guy took center stage when he took dead aim at 17 and hit it to 14-feet. While his birdie try looked good it wouldn't fall forcing Furyk to take an aggressive line off the 18th tee. His drive was brilliant, but his approach was better. A near tap in birdie posted 15-under well in front of McIlroy and others. It was almost enough - but ultimately left him runner up alone. Before that there were many other suitors. Mexico's Abraham Ancer and young American Ollie Schniederjans made moves with two and three birdies in the opening six holes respectively. The American dropped out of it with a double bogey on 10 while Ancer was gone with bogeys on 12 and 13. Attention turned to Hideki Matsuyama next. Previously out of sight an eagle on the par-5 16th introduced the Japanese star to the mix but he failed to birdie either of the final two holes and his clubhouse lead of 12 under was always likely to fall short. England's Eddie Pepperell closed with a 5-under 31 on the back nine, in part thanks to an incredible birdie on 17 (see below) to be the first to post 14 under - a mark that at the time held a piece of the lead and looked potentially ominous. Jhonattan Vegas – who made the longest putt ever made in the ShotLink era (since 2003) on the island green behind him (see below) - had a six-foot putt to post 15 under. He missed. Fleetwood led the tournament after the opening two rounds but on Sunday he three-putted the first, found water on 11 and bogeyed 15 to seemingly end his hopes. That was until a stunning second shot on 16 set up an eagle. But just as he'd reemerged as a contender he was gone again when his tee ball on the 17th bounced off the railroad ties and into the drink. Dustin Johnson, Brandt Snedeker and to a lesser extent Jason Day also all made small moves throughout Sunday but couldn't find a killer blow. 3. The first March PLAYERS since 2006. The last full PLAYERS Championship was also the first to move back to March after 12 years in a May slot. The course had its new ryegrass fairways (as opposed to Bermuda) and new, rye-overseeded greens, tested for the first time. While we still have a small sample size - at the time the shift back was considered a success - especially given the exciting finish and variety of players who had a chance to win. The early worries centered on the move helping out the bombers but of course Jim Furyk was living proof the design genius of TPC Sawgrass still shone through - any type of player can win. 4. Epic drama on the par-3 island 17th. It started in the opening round when Ryan Moore made a hole-in-one - a brilliant shot that dove into the hole on the fly. In Friday's second round the spotlight turned to Tiger Woods who saw his tournament derailed by a quadruple bogey 7 on the hole. Woods found the water off the tee and then again from the drop zone. A day later Woods would once again lead the highlight reel on the 17th - this time after a brilliant shot to close range was followed by a hilarious exchange with playing partner Kevin Na. Na had also hit the ball close and provided one of his trademark early walks to retrieve his birdie ball - much to Woods' amusement. The 82-time winner duly went about trying to replicate it. And then - Sunday. As the tournament was trying to shake out a winner England's Eddie Pepperell made an incredible double breaking 49-foot birdie on his way to the clubhouse lead. It was the longest of the week ... for a few minutes. Just as the echoes of Pepperell's out of this world putt had subsided around TPC Sawgrass, Jhonattan Vegas stepped up and made one from 70-feet – the longest ever made in the ShotLink era (since 2003) - to also surge into contention. 5. The highlights were seemingly never-ending. The Stadium Course is purpose built for spectator golf. Pete Dye wanted the chance of excitement at every turn. And in 2019 we certainly got that. While the above highlights were all brilliant - they weren't alone. Please allow us the chance to showcase a few more from two years ago. Harris English makes just the fifth albatross in PLAYERS history from 236 yards on the par-5 11th. Sungjae Im becomes the youngest to make an ace at THE PLAYERS on the par-3 13th. Seamus Power aces the par-3 3rd. Eagle efforts from Austin Cook, Louis Oosthuizen, Charley Hoffman and Ian Poulter. As always, there was some Phil Mickelson magic. Vaughn Taylor from downtown! Tiger Woods saves from the sand.

Click here to read the full article…