WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) Former world No. 1 Lydia Ko says her confidence is rising as she prepares to play in the New Zealand Open next week in front of her home gallery, near the end of a lackluster year.

Ko says she has taken faith from her third-place finish last week at the Evian Championship, the season’s final major. Ko bogeyed the final hole to miss a place in a playoff as she chased her first tournament victory in 14 months.

Despite having nine top-10 finishes in 20 starts, Ko has had a difficult 2017 after making changes to her swing and changing her clubs, coach, and caddie.

But Ko believes she is coming into form in time for her national open, which will be a U.S. LPGA Tour event for the first time.

She said in Auckland on Thursday that her apparent loss of form had been over-stated because expectations had been set too high after her long reign as world No. 1.

”I’ve been very fortunate about the things that have happened in my career so far, it’s almost like t..

It should go without saying that if you attend a PGA Tour event, you should keep your head on a swivel. These guys are good, but they're not machines. And Jhonattan Vegas provided the latest example of that with a shank during Thursday's first round of the Tour Championship that knocked a fan out of his seat. Literally.
RELATED: Who's got the best chance of winning the FedEx Cup?
The shot occurred on East Lake's difficult par-4 eighth hole, which used to play as No. 17 (Where Bill Haas hit his famous water shot in 2011) until they flipped the nines before last year's Tour Championship. Vegas chose an iron off the tee to try to avoid the water left and the bunkers right, but the hosel rocket wound up near the sixth tee box where one unsuspecting fan almost had his day of watching golf cut short.
Incredibly, Vegas' shot still traveled 238 yards (these guys even make shanks look pretty good) and he eventually had a 10-footer for par on the hole, although he m..

VILAMOURA, Portugal (AP) Joost Luiten of the Netherlands and George Coetzee of South Africa each shot 7-under-par 64 to share the lead in the first round of the Portugal Masters on Thursday.

Luiten had seven birdies in a bogey-free round in the morning at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, and Coetzee matched him in the afternoon after starting with six birdies in his first eight holes.

They take a one-stroke lead over Nino Bertasio of Italy, Gregory Havret of France, Jason Scrivener of Australia, Callum Shinkwin of England, and Ashun Wu of China.

”I’m very happy, 7-under, no bogeys, seven birdies – that’s what you want every day,” said Luiten, who missed three cuts in his last four tournaments. ”I knew my game wasn’t far off and the good thing about golf is there’s always next week. This week it feels nice.”

Coetzee had an impressive start and posted a 30 at the turn, but ended with a bogey and two birdies in his final nine holes.

”I read an article yesterday about 59-watch and..

LONDON (AP) Catriona Matthew has been appointed as captain of Europe for the 2019 Solheim Cup, which will be staged in her native country of Scotland.

The decision was announced on Thursday.

The 48-year-old Matthew made her ninth Solheim Cup appearance as a player in Europe’s 16 1/2-11 1/2 loss to the United States in Iowa last month. She has won 22 points in her career, leaving her third on Europe’s all-time list.

Matthew takes over from Annika Sorenstam, for whom she was a vice-captain this year before being called up as a late injury replacement.

The 2019 Solheim Cup will take place on the PGA Centenary Course at Gleneagles.

Ami VitaleINDIANAPOLIS — Thirty-three years ago today, an event of monumental cultural significance took place just down the road here in Terre Haute, Ind., a quiet, unassuming southern Indiana town known primarily for smelling like a barn full of tire fires.
The event: The first-ever production of a commercial compact disc—a.k.a. the CD—which occurred on Sept. 21, 1984, forever burning in Indiana’s place in music history, alongside (rifles through papers) Michael Jackson and Cole Porter and Axl Rose and Hoagy Carmichael and John Mellencamp and David Lee Roth and Wes Montgomery and yes I get me a little defensive about Indiana. You guys make your flyover-corn and Fat Bob Knight gags, but without us, there would be no “Mr. Brownstone” and that is a Hoosier fact.
(FUN FACT: The first CD ever made in America? It was a pretty good one.)
I bring this up because:
This is the internet, which is piteously obsessed with literally any droplet of culture that previously existed anywhere ever, and..

Of the six-trillion unfortunate byproducts of capitalism, misleading—or outright false—advertising is by far one of the most familiar. This app helps your precious little detention MVP pass algebra. This berry cures poverty. This LED light makes your package bigger, and so on and so forth until the closets are full, the creditors are knocking, and suddenly you find yourself wondering what you did with that waffle maker-cum-home-security system. For Death Wish Coffee, however, a little false advertising might not have been such a bad thing, as it turns out their new Nitro Cold Brew, well, might actually kill you.
RELATED: Good news: Coffee basically makes you immortal
According to Syracuse.com, the Upstate roaster—best known for pumping a day's worth of caffeine into a single cup (and winning that Super Bowl commercial contest a few years back)—has recalled their Nitro Cold Brew cans after a Cornell lab discovered a toxin in the coffee that could potentially cause a fatal degenerat..

Titleist has confirmed to Golf Digest that it is currently testing a new golf ball model called Titleist AVX in select U.S. markets.

Our newest video series, 5 STARTER LESSONS, is about getting the basics right. Nick Clearwater, the head of instruction for lesson leader GolfTEC has created a five-part curriculum that covers the fundamentals of driving, iron shots, the short game, bunker play and putting.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) A Pennsylvania high school golfer has defied huge odds by recording two holes-in-one in the same round.

Parkland High School golfer Ben Tetzlaff tells The (Allentown) Morning Call (http://bit.ly/2wCyfXn ) he still can’t believe the feat, which came during a nine-hole practice round Monday at Iron Lakes Country Club.

The National Hold-In-One Registry calculated the odds of the feat at 67 million-to-1.

Parkland coach Scott Levan says he missed the first ace, but saw the second when Tetzlaff hit a 9-iron on the 140-yard sixth hole. Tetzlaff had already sunk a gap wedge on the 104-yard second hole.

Tetzlaff’s career-low round is a 76 he shot at Allentown Municipal Golf Course. He hopes to play golf in college.

Tetzlaff says, ”I still can’t believe it and I’m the one who did it.”

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Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.com

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) A Pennsylvania high school golfer has defied huge odds by recording two holes-in-one in the same round.

Parkland High School golfer Ben Tetzlaff tells The (Allentown) Morning Call (http://bit.ly/2wCyfXn ) he still can’t believe the feat, which came during a nine-hole practice round Monday at Iron Lakes Country Club.

The National Hold-In-One Registry calculated the odds of the feat at 67 million-to-1.

Parkland coach Scott Levan says he missed the first ace, but saw the second when Tetzlaff hit a 9-iron on the 140-yard sixth hole. Tetzlaff had already sunk a gap wedge on the 104-yard second hole.

Tetzlaff’s career-low round is a 76 he shot at Allentown Municipal Golf Course. He hopes to play golf in college.

Tetzlaff says, ”I still can’t believe it and I’m the one who did it.”

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Information from: The Morning Call, http://www.mcall.com