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PGA Tour goes to Byron Nelson as Champions has 1st major

2023-05-09 22:20
The PGA Tour starts a disjointed Texas swing
PGA Tour goes to Byron Nelson as Champions has 1st major

PGA TOUR

AT&T BYRON NELSON

Site: McKinney, Texas.

Course: TPC Craig Ranch. Yardage: 7,468. Par: 72.

Prize money: $9.5 million. Winner's share: $1.71 million.

Television: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (CBS).

Defending champion: K.H. Lee.

FedEx Cup leader: Jon Rahm.

Last week: Wyndham Clark won the Wells Fargo Championship.

Notes: The field is led by Dallas residents Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim. Scheffler skipped the Wells Fargo Championship last week to prepare for a long stretch. Jordan Spieth withdrew with an injury to his left wrist. ... Aaron Wise is in the field. He last played at the Match Play two months ago, taking time off for personal reasons. Wise is No. 51 in the world and needs to be in the top 50 in two weeks for a British Open exemption. ... Sponsor exemptions were given to Texas twins Pierceson and Parker Coody, the grandsons of former Masters champion Charles Coody. ... Former PGA Tour player J.J. Killeen is playing as the PGA section winner. Killeen last week qualified for the PGA Championship as a club pro. ... This is the final week to earn a spot in the PGA Championship by winning. ... The par-3 17th hole is being turned into a miniature stadium that can hold as many as 6,000 fans. ... The field features four of the top 25 in the world ranking, including Hideki Matsuyama and Tyrrell Hatton.

Next week: PGA Championship.

Online: https://www.pgatour.com/

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LPGA TOUR

COGNIZANT FOUNDERS CUP

Site: Clifton, New Jersey.

Course: Upper Montclair CC. Yardage: 6,656. Par: 71.

Prize money: $3 million. Winner's share: $450,000.

Television: Thursday-Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 5-7 p.m. (Golf Channel).

Defending champion: Minjee Lee.

Race to CME Globe leader: Lilia Vu.

Last week: Thailand won the International Crown.

Notes: The tournament dates to 2011 to honor the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour. It began in Arizona and since moved to New Jersey under a new title sponsor that boosted the prize fund to $3 million. ... The rest of the 13 founders were elected for the World Golf Hall of Fame this year. ... Stacy Lewis is the only American winner of the Founders Cup. ... The field features eight of the top 10 from the women's world ranking. Brooke Henderson and Hyo Joo Kim are not playing. ... Georgia Hall is in the field after abruptly withdrawing from the International Crown last week without telling her English teammates. She said she had a foot injury she wanted checked out. ... Three of the four players from Thailand's winning team at the International Crown are in the field. Moriya Jutanugarn is not playing. ... The LPGA Tour is off next week, though Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko are among those playing in the Aramco Team Series in Florida, a Ladies European Tour event.

Next tournament: Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play on May 24-28.

Online: https://www.lpga.com/

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LIV GOLF

LIV GOLF-TULSA

Site: Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

Course: Cedar Ridge CC. Yardage: 7,213. Par: 70.

Prize money: $20 million. Winner's share: $4 million.

Television: Friday 1-6 p.m. (CW app); Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (The CW Network).

Defending champion: New event.

Points leader: Talor Gooch.

Last event: Talor Gooch won LIV Golf-Singapore.

Notes: Five players have ties to the state of Oklahoma. Talor Gooch, Peter Uihlein, Charles Howell III and Eugenio Chacarra went to Oklahoma State, while Abraham Ancer went to Oklahoma. ... Gooch, Uihlein and Howell are Nos. 1-2-3 in the points standings. ... Mito Pereira returns to the Tulsa area for the first time since he made double bogey on the final hole of the PGA Championship at Southern Hills and missed a playoff by one shot. ... Gooch is going for his third straight LIV Golf title. ... Cedar Ridge last hosted a professional event when Paula Creamer won an LPGA event in 2008 in a playoff over Juli Inkster. ... This is the third straight year for professional golf in the Tulsa area, following the Senior PGA Championship in 2021 and the PGA Championship in 2022. ... Some LIV Golf players are in the middle of a stretch in which they play five out of six weeks, including the PGA Championship. ... Dustin Johnson is 20th in the points standings. His best finish this year is seventh place.

Next event: LIV Golf-DC on May 26-28.

Online: https://www.livgolf.com/

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PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

REGIONS TRADITION

Site: Birmingham, Alabama.

Course: Greystone Golf & CC. Yardage: 7,249. Par: 72.

Prize money: $2.5 million. Winner's share: $375,000.

Television: Thursday-Friday, 1-4 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 3-5 p.m. (Golf Channel).

Defending champion: Steve Stricker.

Charles Schwab Cup leader: Steve Stricker.

Last week: Stephen Ames won the Mitsubishi Electric Classic.

Notes: This is the first of five majors on the PGA Tour Champions schedule. ... The next major is in two weeks at the Senior PGA Championship. That would mean three straight majors for five players, including Padraig Harrington and Steven Alker. ... Steve Stricker has won twice and been runner-up twice the last four times he has played in the Regions Tradition. Last year, Stricker won the Tradition and was runner-up in the two other senior majors that he played. ... Stephens Ames now has the two lowest 54-hole scores at the TPC Sugarloaf. He won at 15-under par in 2017 and at 19-under par last week. ... Ames and David Toms are the only multiple winners on the PGA Tour Champions this year. ... Stricker has finished in the top 5 in six out of his seven starts this year on the PGA Tour Champions. He has not finished out of the top 10 since the Boeing Classic last August. ... The Regions Tradition is the only senior major in which the winner does not get into a comparable event on the PGA Tour.

Next tournament: Senior PGA Championship on May 25-28.

Online: https://www.pgatour.com/pgatour-champions

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EUROPEAN TOUR

SOUDAL OPEN

Site: Antwerp, Belgium.

Course: Rinkven International GC. Yardage: 6,940. Par: 71.

Prize money: $2 million. Winner's share: $333,333.

Television: Thursday-Friday, 7-10 a.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 7:30 a.m. to noon (Golf Channel).

Previous winner: Sam Horsfield.

Race to Dubai leader: Rory McIlroy.

Last week: Adrian Meronk won the Italian Open.

Notes: Sam Horsfield is not defending his title because he now is with LIV Golf, which is playing in Oklahoma this week. ... Thomas Pieters also is missing his national Open because he plays for LIV Golf. ... The field has four of the top 100 in the world ranking, though the highest-ranked player is Callum Shinkwin of England at No. 88. ... Thomas Detry at No. 90 is the highest-ranked Belgian in the field. He is No. 41 in the FedEx Cup on the PGA Tour and will be in the PGA Championship in New York next week. ... The Soudal Open is one of four European tour events in which two players with the most points from the series can earn a spot in the U.S. Open. The series began last week with the Italian Open. The other two events are the KLM Open and the Porsche European Open. ... The Belgian Open first was played in 1910. ... Adrian Otaegui of Spain is in the field. He won the tournament in 2018 when it first was held at Rinkven International.

Next week: PGA Championship.

Online: https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/

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KORN FERRY TOUR

Last tournament: Ben Kohles won the HomeTown Lenders Championship.

Next week: AdventHealth Championship.

Points leader: Ben Kohles.

Online: https://www.pgatour.com/korn-ferry-tour

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OTHER TOURS

USGA: U.S. Women's Amateur Four-ball, The Home Course, DuPont, Washington. Defending champions: Thienna Huynh and Sara Im. Online: https://championships.usga.org/uswomensamateurfourball.html

Ladies European Tour: Jabra Ladies Open, Evian Resort GC, Evian-les-Bains, France. Defending champion: Tiia Koivisto. Online: https://ladieseuropeantour.com/

Japan LPGA: RKB Mitsui Matsushima Ladies, Fukuoka CC (Wajiro), Fukuoka, Japan. Defending champion: Ayaka Watanabe. Online: https://www.lpga.or.jp/en/

Korea LPGA: NH Investment & Securities Ladies Championship, Suwon CC, Yongin, South Korea. Defending champion: Min Ji Park. Online: https://klpga.co.kr/

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports