Icon Sports WireJordan Spieth has won 11 PGA Tour events and three major championships in his short but stellar professional career, which makes it hard sometimes to remember the days when the 24-year-old was just an aspiring golfer. Even though those days weren’t that long ago.
In 2010, a then 16-year-old Spieth had begun making a name for himself at the junior golf level, having won the U.S. Junior Amateur title the previous summer (one of two he would win) and being named the AJGA Rolex Player of the Year. In the midst of building an impressive resume, Spieth decided it was worth reaching out to the tournament officials at the HP Bryon Nelson Championship to inquire about something that at the time seemed a little audacious: Getting a spot in the field at a PGA Tour event.
No amateur had received an exemption into the tournament since Trip Kuehne in 1995, and Justin Leonard and Tiger Woods before that in 1993. But Spieth, a Dallas native, wrote tournament director George Conant to m..

Jim McIsaacThis past week, my renewed baseball addiction hit a fever pitch with the intense, nerve-shattering three-game series between the Yankees and Red Sox. I am a Yankees fan, but I will be the first to admit that I'm a bad one. The peak of my fandom came in the World Series year of 2009, when I lived in Brooklyn, attended about 20 games, and watched almost all the rest on TV. After that, my commitment dwindled with the team's fortunes, and by the time we hit the 2012-2106 rebuilding stretch, with exactly one playoff appearance (that lasted exactly one game), I was out.
Now, though? I'm back, baby! The Yankees are young and awesome, the Red Sox are evil, there's bad blood everywhere, and I've jumped back on the bandwagon whether they want me or not. Pinstripes for life! Or at least until the next sign of trouble!
But there's something wicked brewing on the baseball horizon in 2018, and I'm already mad. It just so happens that the Yankees and Red ..

Players Championship 2018: How much money every golfer earned while playing in this week's 2018 Players Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Paul Tesori detached the yellow flag at the 18th hole and carried it with him as he walked off the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

For Tesori, this was more than just a championship souvenir.

It was part his childhood and could be his most treasured piece of golf memorabilia.

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Tesori, the caddie for The Players Championship winner Webb Simpson, grew up down the road from Sawgrass and has played the course more times than anyone in the field. When Simpson won by four strokes Sunday, Tesori got the first and maybe the longest embrace.

”This means about as much as anything could,” Tesori said later.

Tesori picked up golf at a young age thanks to the influence of his grandfather, who was a starter at the nearby Ponte Vedra Inn & Club for 30 years. His first golf tournament as a fan was The Players in 1977, when the event was still played across the street at Sawgrass Country Club.

He figures he’s played the Stadium Course more ..

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Justin Thomas has come a long way in 18 months.

All the way to No. 1 in the world.

He had one PGA Tour victory and was No. 35 in the world in October 2016 when he began a steady rise through a deep field of stars. Thomas won seven times in a span of 32 tournaments around the world, including his first major. The final step to the top of the ranking was an illustration of how he got there. He made the cut on the number at The Players Championship, had a 68-66 weekend and tied for 11th.

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That was enough to end Dustin Johnson’s 64-week atop the world ranking.

”I’m very proud to have gotten there, but it means more to me how long I can hold it,” Thomas said in a text message while flying home to south Florida for a two-week break. ”Have to continue to work hard with how well so many guys are playing.”

Thomas became the 21st player and seventh American to reach No. 1 since the world ranking began in 1986. He was helped by five vi..

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Standing in the middle of the 14th fairway with a sand wedge in his hands, Tiger Woods had a chance.

At making a birdie. At cutting into Webb Simpson’s lead. Maybe even at winning for the first time since returning from a fourth back surgery.

Woods was 110 yards out and four shots back in the final round. He struck the ball cleanly, stared at intently and then watched it spin off the green .

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The 14-time major winner fell a few feet short of providing the first real drama Sunday on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

He missed an 8-foot par putt that caused him to flip his club, ended up with a disappointing bogey and limped home with a double at the famed 17th . Woods, however, left the course feeling better than ever about his comeback.

”This weekend was more like it,” Woods said.

Woods shot a 3-under 69 in the final round and tied for 11th at 11-under 277. His round could have been much closer to the 65 he shot Saturday…

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Webb Simpson navigated his way through a few mistakes but not too much stress to win The Players Championship on Sunday.

Staked to a seven-shot lead, no one got closer than four shots of Simpson, even after a double bogey on the 18th hole when his only concern was finishing the hole at the TPC Sawgrass. He closed with a 1-over 73 for a four-shot victory, his biggest title since the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic Club.

Tiger Woods made another big run that revved up the crowd and revived hopes that he was close to winning. So did Jason Dufner, Jimmy Walker and Danny Lee. None could do enough to catch Simpson during record scoring at the final Players Championship in May.

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His only big mistake didn’t even matter. Simpson’s approach to the 18th bounded across the green and into the water. He closed with a double bogey, but that only made the final margin closer.

Justin Thomas left the TPC Sawgrass as the No. 1 player in the world. He..

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) Webb Simpson navigated his way through a few mistakes but not too much stress to win The Players Championship on Sunday.

Staked to a seven-shot lead, no one got closer than four shots of Simpson, even after a double bogey on the 18th hole when his only concern was finishing the hole. He closed with a 1-over 73 for a four-shot victory and his biggest win since the 2012 U.S. Open at Olympic Club.

Tiger Woods made another big run. So did Jason Dufner, Jimmy Walker and Danny Lee. None could do enough to catch Simpson during record scoring in the final Players Championship in May.

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Justin Thomas shot a 66 and tied for 11th, which was more than enough to move to No. 1 in the world.

SCIACCA, Sicily (AP) Joakim Lagergren of Sweden won his first European Tour title with a dramatic playoff victory over Mike Lorenzo-Vera at the Sicilian Open on Sunday.

Lagergren birdied the first extra hole at Verdura Golf Club after he and overnight leader Lorenzo-Vera had finished tied on 16 under par.

”I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole career,” said the 26-year-old Lagergren. ”I’m so relieved and I’m so happy at the moment, I can’t describe it in words. I’ve just been fighting so hard to get to here, it’s just awesome.

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”When you’re just missing out a few times you really want to get that first win … This is a big step for me.”

Lorenzo-Vera began the day with a two-shot lead but he could only card a final round 70 and recorded his second consecutive runners-up finish after losing out in the final of GolfSixes alongside Romain Wattel last week.

Lagergren made four birdies in his first nine holes to shoot 68 and finish level with the Frenchma..

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka began The Players Championship wondering if his wrist would allow him to play. He finished it Sunday with an albatross on the par-5 16th hole and a 9-under 63 to tie the course record.

Koepka had 208 yards on the 16th hole when he opted for a three-quarter shot with his 6-iron. It started a little more right than he wanted, right on line. The ball took one hop and disappeared into the cup for a 2.

It was the second albatross in two years on the 16th hole at the TPC Sawgrass.

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”I couldn’t tell where it hopped,” Koepka said. ”Everyone started screaming. The roars kept going, so we figured it went in. It was a hell of a shot.”

That wasn’t all.

He followed with a wedge into 4 feet on the island-green 17th for birdie – Koepka hit two in the water on the par-3 17th on Friday to make quadruple-bogey 7. And then he narrowly missed a 12-foot birdie chance on the final hole for the record.

As for his ..