Category Archives: Golf News

Ernie Els pulls out of KLM Open to stay in Irma-hit Florida

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) Ernie Els has pulled out of the KLM Open golf tournament so he can stay with family and friends in Florida to deal with the fallout from Hurricane Irma.

Els said in a statement Monday that his ”first concern at the moment and the coming days is to support my family and our friends and staff at Els for Autism. We must be ready for the consequences of this terrible storm.”

Tournament organizers say the school that Els and his wife Liezl built for autistic children in southern Florida was forced to close as Irma bore down on the state over the weekend.

Daan Slooter, director of the tournament that starts Thursday at The Dutch course in Spijk, says he understands Els’ choice, ”and we hope … that the hurricane damage is not too bad and that everybody is safe.”

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Colin Montgomerie wins PGA Tour Champions event in Japan (Sep 10, 2017)

CHIBA, Japan (AP) Colin Montgomerie made all the putts he needed Sunday on Narita Golf Club’s massive greens to win the Japan Airlines Championship – the first PGA Tour Champions event in Japan.

The 54-year-old Scot two-putted for par from 50 feet on the par-4 18th, hitting his first to 1 1/2 feet, for a 5-under 67 and a one-stroke victory over Billy Mayfair and second-round leader Scott McCarron.

”The greens were as good as any, and I mean this, as good as any as we have ever putted on, ever,” Montgomerie said. ”And we’ve putted on some great, great surfaces. In the 30 years as a pro, these are as good as any we have putted on as a putting surface. Superb putting surfaces. And the way the course was manicured was exceptional.”

Montgomerie finished at 14-under 202 for his fifth victory on the 50-and-over tour and first in nearly a year. He won 31 times on the European Tour and topped the tour’s money list a record eight times – seven in a row from 1993-99 and the last in 2005.

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Colin Montgomerie wins PGA Tour Champions event in Japan

CHIBA, Japan (AP) Colin Montgomerie made all the putts he needed Sunday on Narita Golf Club’s massive greens to win the Japan Airlines Championship – the first PGA Tour Champions event in Japan.

The 54-year-old Scot two-putted for par from 50 feet on the par-4 18th, hitting his first to 1 1/2 feet, for a 5-under 67 and a one-stroke victory over Billy Mayfair and second-round leader Scott McCarron.

”The greens were as good as any, and I mean this, as good as any as we have ever putted on, ever,” Montgomerie said. ”And we’ve putted on some great, great surfaces. In the 30 years as a pro, these are as good as any we have putted on as a putting surface. Superb putting surfaces. And the way the course was manicured was exceptional.”

Montgomerie finished at 14-under 202 for his fifth victory on the 50-and-over tour and first in nearly a year. He won 31 times on the European Tour and topped the tour’s money list a record eight times – seven in a row from 1993-99 and the last in 2005.

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Morikawa, Xiong, Hagestad help US win back Walker Cup

LOS ANGELES (AP) The United States won back the Walker Cup from Britain and Ireland on Sunday with decisive performances by three Southern Californians and the 2017 NCAA individual champion at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course.

The United States went into the afternoon singles matches needing only 2 1/2 points to win the amateur biennial event. It got them quickly.

Collin Morikawa of La Canada Flintridge beat British Amateur champion Harry Ellis 2 and 1 to go 4-0 in the two-day competition. Norman Xiong of Canyon Lake came painfully close to also being perfect before halving his match with Scott Gregory.

Stewart Hagestad, a junior member at LACC who played at Southern California, won 2 and 1 against Jack Singh Brar. NCAA individual champion Braden Throneberry of Ole Miss, rolled past Paul McBride, 6 and 5.

Xiong had been up 2 with two holes to play before Gregory caught him.

The Americans clinched the cup with six singles matches still in progress.

Earlier Sunday, Mor..

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Canada’s Anne-Catherine Tanguay wins Symetra Tour event

GARDEN CITY, Kan. (AP) Anne-Catherine Tanguay won the Symetra Tour’s Garden City Charity Classic on Sunday at windy Buffalo Dunes to put herself in good position to earn an LPGA Tour card.

The 26-year-old former University of Oklahoma player from Quebec birdied three of the last five holes for a 1-under 71 and a three-stroke victory in steady 20 mph wind that gusted over 35 mph.

”I’m not sure how it happened because I was extremely nervous today,” Tanguay said. ”One of my biggest goals was to pick a target and take an aggressive and fearless swing and that is really what got me through.”

Tanguay finished at 5-under 211 and earned $22,500 for her first career victory to jump from eighth to fifth on the money list with $70,995. The top 10 after the final four events will get LPGA Tour cards.

”This year was almost go big or go home,” said Tanguay, who made 10 LPGA Tour starts last year with conditional status. ”Last year, I had the taste of playing there and I knew I belonged and ..

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Morikawa, Ghim, McNealy perfect in leading Walker Cup rout

LOS ANGELES (AP) The United States won back the Walker Cup from Britain and Ireland in an unprecedented runaway that atoned for a big loss two years ago.

Collin Morikawa, Doug Ghim and Maverick McNealy each went 4-0 – a first for a team in Walker Cup history – to lead the United States to a 19-7 victory Sunday in the biennial amateur matches at the super exclusive Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course.

Norman Xiong, at 18 the youngest player in the competition, came painfully close to also going 4-0 before halving his match with Scott Gregory. Xiong, one of three Southern Californians who had huge performances this weekend, had been up 2 with two holes to play before Gregory caught him.

It was a big turnaround from two years ago, when Britain and Ireland won 16 1/2-9 1/2 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. The 19 points for the Americans matched the most ever in Walker Cup history. That came in 1993 when the United States won 19-5 at Interlachen.

It was special for Morikawa in helpi..

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Fitzpatrick beats Hend in playoff to win European Masters

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland (AP) Matthew Fitzpatrick made a safe par 4 on the third extra hole to win the European Masters on Sunday, after firing a 6-under 64 to force a playoff.

The 48th-ranked Englishman sank his putt from less than three feet (one meter) while Scott Hend of Australia made a ragged bogey at the 18th hole on the scenic Swiss Alps course.

Fitzpatrick earned a 450,000-euro ($542,000) prize for his first win since the season-ending World Tour Championship in Dubai last November.

It was a fourth career title for the 23-year-old former U.S. Amateur winner.

Hend again pocketed 300,000 euros ($361,000) for losing the title in a playoff for the second straight year.

Both carded 14-under totals of 266 having had early starts Sunday to complete their delayed third rounds. On Saturday, play was suspended because of fog, while fading light brought the leading groups in early.

Englishman Tyrrell Hatton (66) and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti (68) finished three back on 11..

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Morikawa, Xiong lead US to 8-4 lead in Walker Cup

LOS ANGELES (AP) The first day of the Walker Cup started brilliantly for the United States.

It ended the same way, thanks largely to two Southern Californians.

Collin Morikawa and Norman Xiong teamed up for a record-setting victory in the morning foursomes and then won their afternoon singles matches to help the United States take an 8-4 lead over defending champion Britain and Ireland on Saturday at Los Angeles Country Club’s North Course.

Morikawa and Xiong beat Harry Ellis and Alfie Plant 8 and 7 in the alternate-shot morning match, the largest margin for an 18-hole match at the biennial amateur tournament that started in 1922. Plant was the low amateur at the British Open and Ellis won the 2017 British Amateur.

Xiong, of Canyon Lake, and Morikawa, of La Canada Flintridge, opened with four birdies and won the first five holes.

Morikawa plays at California and Xiong had a big freshman year at Oregon.

American coach Spider Miller didn’t see any of Morikawa and Xiong’s matc..

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