Martin Trainer gets first PGA TOUR win at Puerto Rico Open

Moriya Jutanugarn, Caroline Masson, Danielle Kang and Amy Olson shot 6-under 66 on Thursday to share the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour’s Volvik Championship.

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Jon Rahm had no issue being assessed a two-stroke penalty on his chip-in for an apparent birdie at the 16th hole Sunday en route to winning the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. While it reduced his margin of victory over good friend Ryan Palmer from five strokes to three, Rahm was still elated with the shot … and that his integrity remained intact. RELATED: Final leaderboard | What’s in Rahm’s bag? The shot in question was his second from the rough just off the green at the par-3 16th. As Rahm was at address, the ball moved slightly. Rahm then holed the shot, but slow-motion replays showed the label on the ball moving slightly. “I didn’t see it,” Rahm said. “You know, I promised open honestly and I’m a loyal person and I don’t want to win by cheating. … The ball did move. It’s as simple as that.” Rahm was first asked about the potential of a penalty during his post-round interview with CBS prior to reaching the scoring area. Slugger White, PGA TOUR Vice President of Rules & Competition, then showed the replay to Rahm and the penalty was assessed prior to signing his scorecard. Instead of birdie, he suffered a bogey at the hole, with the two-stroke penalty giving Rahm a 3-over 75 in the final round, leaving him at 9 under for the week. “The rule is 9.4,” White said. “It was a ball at rest by the player, moved, and since he didn’t put it back, he was assessed a general penalty, which is two strokes. That’s pretty much the bottom line. … “When he put the club down behind the ball, it moved ever so slightly to the left, so it changed positions. He accepted it like a gentleman and the man that he is, and we just went on with it.” Rahm, who moved to world No. 1 with the win and inside the top 10 (No. 8) in the FedExCup standings, said he was surprised when he was first informed about the potential for a penalty, and also a little confused. But after seeing the replay, he agreed with the ruling. “Had I seen it, I would have said something or maybe questioned — not questioned, asked for a rules official and explained what happened and would have gone from there. But I mean, he had to zoom it in the iPad so much to see what was a very minimal oscillation that could have basically just been me putting the club down and all the grass just simply going down,” Rahm explained. “It barely moves at all. Everything goes down with it. But the rules of golf are clear, and the ball did move. Unfortunately, it’s going to have a bittersweet feeling to what was possibly one of the greatest shots of my career, the shot that this Sunday gave me the victory, but … I accept the penalty. That goes to show that you have to fight until the end. “I could have very easily maybe just given up on the up-and-down on 17 and 18 and finished with two bogeys, and possibly after the penalty strokes given myself a scare and possibly gone to a playoff and still fought hard. Every shot counts, and I tried every shot and got those two last up-and-downs, as a true Spaniard would, and it is what it is.” The bottom line is that it didn’t change what Rahm accomplished this week. With the pressure on, he hit a great shot … and now he’s the world’s top-ranked golfer. He’s just the second Spanish golfer to be No. 1, following in the footsteps of the legendary Seve Ballesteros. “If it doesn’t change the outcome of the tournament, does it really matter? Maybe. Again, I accept what it is; it did move. It doesn’t take anything from the day, though. It’s still probably one of the greatest days of my life,” Rahm said. “I know it doesn’t sound like it because I’m still processing things and maybe in a week I’ll be completely ecstatic about everything, but proud that I did what I did, proud that I chipped that in, and proud that I finished the way I did.”

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OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. - Tiger Woods’ 2019-20 PGA TOUR season came to an end Sunday at Olympia Fields as he finished with a 1-over 71, falling well short of the top three finish he needed to advance to the TOUR Championship. The two-time FedExCup champion will not have a chance for a third next week at East Lake, instead he will take two weeks off before kickstarting his 2020-21 campaign at the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. "I didn’t play as well as I wanted to the first couple days. Today was nice. I hit the ball really well and made only a couple putts, but today was more indicative of how I want to play in a couple weeks," Woods said. "This golf course was basically a U.S. Open, with the rough being as high as it is and fairways a little bit narrow. Look at the scores, and I don’t think that we’ve seen scores like this in a non-major in a very long time. This was a great ramp-up for me for the U.S. Open. I wish I was playing next week, but I’ve got a couple weeks off." Needing to go super low on a tough course on Sunday, Woods raised an eyebrow or two with two birdies in his first four holes but he couldn't make enough of the mid-range chances he presented himself to create a miracle. A bogey right before the turn was countered with a birdie at the 11th but that was his last of the season. A bogey at the 15th was followed with a double bogey at the 17th. "It’s me missing the ball in the wrong spots. When I missed in the correct spots I was able to advance in the correct spots, make putts, but if I missed them in bad spots, this golf course will certainly punish you," he added. Measuring Woods performance for the season depends on if you're a glass half full or half empty type of person. Starting back last October in Japan Woods claimed his 82nd PGA TOUR win at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, joining Sam Snead at the top of the all-time win list. "Well, it's a big number," Woods said of his 82nd victory at the time. "It's about consistency and doing it for a long period of time ... I'm very fortunate to have had the career I've had so far." Woods was referencing tough times from 2014 through 2017 where it looked increasingly likely he might not play again such were his back issues. But in April of 2017, he saw Dr. Richard Guyer of the Center for Disc Replacement at the Texas Back Institute, where spinal fusion surgery gave Woods a new lease on life. "Probably the low point was not knowing if I'd ever be able to live pain-free again," he said after winning the TOUR Championship in 2018. "Am I going to be able to sit, stand, walk, lay down without feeling the pain that I was in? I just didn't want to live that way. This is how the rest of my life is going to be?" He would famously win the 2019 Masters before his win in Japan. Woods followed the ZOZO win up with a fourth place in his Hero World Challenge (an unofficial TOUR event) before leading the U.S. Team as a playing captain to a stirring come from behind victory in the Presidents Cup. Woods took his team to Royal Melbourne in December and overcame a 10-8 deficit heading to singles to win 16-14. He was 3-0 personally that week.

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