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Jon Rahm’s recent rampage has been one of the big storylines early in 2023—especially because it didn’t result in him moving back on top of the Official World Golf Ranking. It’s something that golf fans and Rahm himself haven’t seemed too pleased about. (Just ask him!) But had the Spaniard overaken Rory McIlroy, it’s McIlroy

10:34 AM ET The ongoing battle between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf for the best players in the world seems to have reached the pettiness phase, and boy, it’s hard to turn away. With LIV players, Rory McIlroy and others hooking up in the Hero Dubai Desert Classic this past weekend, there were plenty

SAN DIEGO — Marcus Byrd was like a bunch of other kids who played golf and idolized Tiger Woods in his prime. When the superstar was competing at Congressional Country Club outside Byrd’s hometown of Washington, D.C., he attended with his father, decked out in Tiger’s signature red and black. At the rope line, young

11:22 AM ET Associated Press Rory McIlroy delivered an exhibition of short iron play to shoot 7-under 65 in his third round and build a 3-stroke lead at the Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday. Top-ranked McIlroy made eight birdies at Emirates Golf Club — four in a row from No. 1, three straight from No.

As he was driving to his home in Glendale, Ariz., from TPC Scottsdale after his second round in the 2015 WM Phoenix Open was suspended by darkness, Michael Hopper saw that his phone was blowing up with calls and text messages. Friends were telling him that he had appeared on ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” and he thought

DUBAI, U.A.E. — Adding yet another entry to the long list of Patrick Reed’s brushes with the Rules of Golf, the former Masters champion found himself involved in what turned into an unusual discussion/decision when playing the 17th hole at the Emirates Club during the Sunday’s third round of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. Specifically,

12:42 PM ET Associated Press Top-ranked Rory McIlroy and rival Patrick Reed were two shots off the lead at the halfway point of the Dubai Desert Classic on Saturday. Richard Bland, Thomas Pieters and amateur Michael Thorbjornsen all reached 10-under overall at Emirates Golf Club for a share of the lead after two rounds of

SAN DIEGO — It could be said that the Torrey Pines golf complex now represents something of a life-and-death circumstance for Max Homa when he’s competes in the Farmers Insurance Open. Not literally, of course. But on the same grass, the popular Californian has both absorbed the loss of his childhood idol, NBA star Kobe

8:56 PM ET Associated Press SAN DIEGO — Southern California native Max Homa came from five shots off the lead to win the Farmers Insurance Open by two strokes over Keegan Bradley on Saturday at Torrey Pines, where Jon Rahm imploded early and missed a shot at winning his third straight start and moving to

The evidence has been mounting that the pandemic may have done more for the growth of golf than any event in the modern history of the game. This week at the PGA Merchandise Show, the release of the World Golf Report did little to change that perception. Indeed, it added more substance to the sentiment.

DUBAI, U.A.E. — Most of the Thorbjornsens in the world are to be found in Norway. But not this one. Michael, born in Ohio, resident in Massachusetts and a junior at college in California (Stanford), is currently in the United Arab Emirates. And he’s doing rather well, too. Rounds of 70 and 64 over the

Jan 24, 2023 Paolo UggettiESPN TORREY PINES, Calif. — As Jon Rahm stands on the cusp of winning his third PGA Tour event in as many starts this year, he isn’t shying away from what could be a historic win at a course — Torrey Pines — where he’s had plenty of success. “I’m aware

SAN DIEGO — Oh, to be in Jon Rahm’s head right now. To understand what it’s like to address a golf ball and know that you’re pretty darned sure that you’ll hit it pretty darned close to where you want to. That your self-belief is so strong that nothing seems inescapable, whether it’s the nasty

9:55 PM ET Associated Press SAN DIEGO — Jon Rahm made an impressive charge up the leaderboard on his favorite course with a 6-under 66 on Friday, which is now moving day at Torrey Pines, to pull within two shots of leader Sam Ryder after the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open. Rahm, ranked

During a recent appearance on the No Laying Up podcast, Max Homa alluded to the fact he has recently been working with the PGA Tour on the “entertainment” side of professional golf. Homa said he’d been bouncing some ideas around, and that one would be put into effect soon, but wouldn’t say which. On Friday

When my friend Gwen Knapp covered the 1998 U.S. Open at Olympic for the San Francisco Chronicle, the rough, off Gwen’s laptop, was “bushy,” the fog “kept a polite distance,” the course was “rambunctious” and the host city, and her adopted one, was “naturally unruly.” Lee Janzen, the winner, played “possum golf.” Gwen liked words,

3:45 PM ET Associated Press DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Patrick Reed fared better than Rory McIlroy after some pre-tournament friction as the Dubai Desert Classic got off to a wet start on Thursday, with only 11 players managing to finish their weather-affected first rounds. Play only began at the European tour event after a

SAN DIEGO — It was a weekend in early December and Trevor Immelman was in a television booth to get a feel for the mechanics and cadence of CBS sports anchor Jim Nantz’s work. Call it a homework assignment, since Immelman was scheduled to make his debut as lead analyst on golf telecasts, replacing Nick

9:11 PM ET Associated Press SAN DIEGO — Sam Ryder extended his lead to three shots in the Farmers Insurance Open with a 4-under 68 in challenging wind in the second round Thursday on Torrey Pines’ South Course while Jon Rahm had an eagle and three straight birdies late in his 5-under 67 on the

LIV golfers have yet to be kept out of the four men’s majors by the organizations that run them. But that isn’t stopping another high-profile club that runs what some have affectionately called “the year’s first major” from saying no to the pros on the Saudi-backed circuit. According to a report in Golfweek, Seminole Golf

A legal battle to determine whether LIV golfers can still compete in DP World Tour events including the Ryder Cup continues to wage on, but in the meantime, Nick Faldo took on the role of judge and jury to deliver a swifter decision. In an interview with Jamie Weir on Sky Sports, the six-time major

Jan 25, 2023 ESPN News Services As one of the most vocal critics of the LIV Golf breakaway league, Rory McIlroy felt mentally drained at the end of last year and decided to put his clubs away for a few weeks. “It’s been nice,” top-ranked McIlroy said, “to try to take a little bit of

A calm day in San Diego produced low scores in the first round of the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open no matter which course golfers were playing at Torrey Pines. But that’s expected to change Thursday with the Santa Ana winds forecasted to wreak havoc for the second round. That could keep some players up tonight,

9:16 PM ET Associated Press SAN DIEGO — Jon Rahm struggled to a 1-over 73 at Torrey Pines South, which has become one of his favorite courses, while Sam Ryder, Aaron Rai and Brent Grant all shot 8-under 64 on the more forgiving North Course on Wednesday to tie for the first-round lead at the

A few weeks ago, I proposed a new ranking system for professional golfers, inspired by the current PGA Tour-LIV Golf OWGR stalemate and the potential collateral damage it could inflict on the four major championships. I won’t rehash the entire idea here—you really should read the story—but it’s important you know the broad strokes, so

Good news, sports fans, J.R. Smith is back running a three-man weave. He’s just got a microphone in his hands instead of a basketball these days. The former NBA Sixth Man of the Year and two-time world champ is part of a new golf show called the Par 3 Podcast, which made its debut on

8:59 AM ET Attorneys representing the PGA Tour are seeking to add Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the fund’s governor, Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, as defendants in the tour’s countersuit against LIV Golf. In a motion for leave filed to a U.S. District Court in Northern California on Tuesday, the PGA Tour’s attorneys argued that

SAN DIEGO — While the scheduled Wednesday through Saturday playing of last year’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines was originally met with some disappointment and skepticism—and then it nearly went into Sunday when the playoff between winner Luke List and Will Zalatoris ran late—there wasn’t a lot of complaining on the players’ end. The

3:36 PM ET Jon Rahm will attempt to become the first PGA Tour player to win in three consecutive starts since 2017 when he tees it up on Wednesday at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines outside San Diego. How rare would his feat be? According to Justin Ray, head of content for Twenty

DUBAI, U.A.E. — There are many miles between Eslov in Sweden and Lubbock in Texas, 5,178 to be exact. And the two cities have little in common. Eslov’s population maxes out around 25,000, which represents maybe a tenth of the people who make their homes on the southern end of the High Plains. Historic castles