Golf  

Canadian Brooke Rivers's cool head prevails to help Wake Forest win ACC championship

An NCAA conference title was riding on Brooke Rivers's putter, but she kept her mind clear.

Rivers, from Brampton, Ont., sank a 12-foot putt on the 18th green to break a tie in her match and lift the Wake Forest Demon Deacons to the ACC conference final with a 3-1 win over North Carolina on Sunday. 

The championship match against the Clemson Tigers was called that night due to darkness. With Wake Forest ahead in three matches and the top seed in the tournament, the Demon Deacons won the title, a scenario that was set up by Rivers's cool demeanour earlier in the day.

"I just thought of the putt at hand and no external factors," said the 19-year-old Rivers. "So I tried to clear my mind of anything consequential and focus more on what I was doing in that moment."

"The only thing running through my head was the putt that I had to hit and how I was going to actually hit that putt."

Wake Forest won the eighth conference title in program history after the two rain delays, advancing the Demon Deacons to the regional finals as they look to defend their 2023 U.S. collegiate national title.

Rivers said that she likes how match play — the format used in the medal rounds of varsity golf — boils the sport down to its essence.

"You just control what you're doing and what you can do instead of putting your focus and emphasis on another person," said Rivers. "You just control what you're able to control."

Wake Forest women's golf coach Kim Lewellen said that Rivers has shown in her freshman year that she knows how to rise to the occasion.

"Brooke is a competitor and when she's out there, the tougher the situation, the better that she does," said Lewellen. "She had to make a putt on the hole before that that was a left-to-right slider that was probably five, six feet, and she made that.

"When we really needed her to clinch that point she had that competitiveness come out and there was no doubt in her mind."

Wake Forest will be one of six host sites for the 2024 NCAA Regionals in two weeks at Bermuda Run Country Club in North Carolina. In each regional, 12 teams and six individuals not on those teams will compete. 

The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams will advance to the finals. 

NCAA — Lauren Kim of Surrey, B.C., tied for third on the individual leaderboard to help the University of Texas women's golf team win Big 12 Championship with a commanding 12 stroke victory on Saturday at the Clubs at Houston Oaks. The Canadian freshman earned a Big 12 All-Tournament Team honours.

LPGA TOUR — Rookie Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont., is 62nd in the Race to CME Globe standings and is the top-ranked Canadian in the field at this week's JM Eagle L.A. Championship. Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., is 137th and will also tee it up at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles.

EPSON TOUR — Selena Costabile of Thornhill, Ont., leads a group of four Canadians into the IOA Championship. Although she has yet to earn points on the second-tier Epson Tour this season, she is No. 773 on the Rolex women's golf world rankings heading into play at Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon in Beaumont, Calif. She will be joined by amateur Leah John of Vancouver, Kate Johnston of Ayr, Ont., and Vancouver's Tiffany Kong.

PGA TOUR — Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin, who grew up together in Abbotsford, B.C., will team up at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in Avondale, La. They are the highest ranked Canadians in the FedEx Cup standings at 21st and 33rd respectively. Best friends Corey Conners (55th) of Listowel, Ont., and Taylor Pendrith (99th) of Richmond Hill, Ont., will also be a team. Ben Silverman (103rd) of Thornhill, Ont., and Roger Sloan (189th) of Merritt, B.C., will be in different pairings at TPC Louisiana.

KORN FERRY TOUR — Edmonton's Wil Bateman leads the Canadian contingent into the Veritex Bank Championship. He's 18th on the second-tier tour's points list. He'll be joined at Texas Rangers Golf Club in Arlington, Texas, by Myles Creighton (27th) of Digby, N.S., Etienne Papineau (35th) of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., Jared du Toit (76th) of Kimberley, B.C., and Sudarshan Yellamaraju (120th) of Mississauga, Ont.

CHAMPIONS TOUR — Calgary's Stephen Ames is the lone Canadian in the field at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic. He's fourth in the Schwab Cup standings heading into the three-day event at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Ga., which tees off on Friday.

PGA TOUR AMERICAS — Matthew Anderson of Mississauga, Ont., sits atop the Fortinet Cup points list after winning last week's 69th ECP Brazil Open in a 54-hole, wire-to-wire victory. He'll be back in action at the Diners Club Peru Open in Lima on Thursday. Anderson is one of 13 Canadians in the field.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 24, 2024.

Jordan Spieth's left wrist injury isn't getting any better. It's also not getting worse

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — The left wrist injury Jordan Spieth first suffered a week before the PGA Championship last year hasn’t gone away.

That doesn’t necessarily means it’s worse — or better.

“It’s a come-and-go thing,” Spieth said last week after his pro-am round at the RBC Heritage. “I could oddly enough twist in the wrong way getting off the ground, and I couldn’t play tomorrow. But I could play the next day.”

Spieth said the tendon sheath is torn enough that it won’t hold the tendon perfectly in place. He said he could lift a 20-pound weight without any issue. But then something small, like placing his hand on the counter to pick something up, could trigger it.

It was fine when he started the first round Thursday. He had it taped up Friday and went without the next day.

Spieth doesn’t expect any changes to his schedule, though he has one eye on the offseason to figure out what to do.

“It’s not really a surgical thing, it’s a rest thing,” he said. “From who I’ve talked to in other sports, the ulnar side of the wrist is hard to heal.”

Spieth said he saw a hand specialist last offseason and had imaging done, and he has yet to solve the issue.

“When it pops up, instead of me being out for a month, I’m out for a day,” he said.

NO. 1 AND THE MAJORS

One way to measure how much Scottie Scheffler has been on top of his game is his appearance as the No. 1 player in the majors.

The Masters was the eighth time he went into a major at No. 1 in the world. Only three other players have done that more since the world ranking began in 1986 — Dustin Johnson with 15, Greg Norman with 24 and Tiger Woods with 55.

Winning at No. 1 doesn't happen all that often. Both times Scheffler won the Masters he was No. 1 in the world. No one else in the non-Woods division has done that. Ian Woosnam (1991), Fred Couples (1992) and Johnson (2020) won the Masters at No. 1, while Rory McIlroy won the PGA Championship (2014) as the top-ranked player.

Woods won 11 of his 15 majors at No. 1 in the world.

RETURN DATE

Adam Schenk will go through the rest of the year knowing he’s headed back to the Masters because he tied for 12th in his debut. He still can’t imagine how it unfolded for him.

“I thought if we birdied one of the last two holes, we’d have a good chance,” he said.

He settled for two pars, signed for a 73 and was tied for 13th.

“I knew there were a couple of people on the course that could help me,” Schenk said. “It really weird rooting against people. I don’t like doing that. And it was Cam Davis, the nicest guy out here.”

Davis needed 35 feet for birdie, just off the back of the green, when his putt had too much pace, too much break and kept rolling left of the pin until it was off the green. He chipped up to 3 feet and missed the putt, making double bogey.

That moved Schenk up to a tie for 12th. He was thrilled Davis made par on No. 18 to also finish in a tie for 12th. All in all, a great debut.

“If he had made birdie on the last hole, it would have been motivation for me to finish top 50 in the world, make the Tour Championship, whatever,” Schenk said about the paths back. “Just knowing how badly I want to get back there. To know I’m there is nice.”

As for the rest of the week, he has no idea how much money he spent in the pro shop.

“I can tell you my wife spent more than me,” Schenk said. “The more I went in the pro shop, I kept buying.”

SARGENT WAITS

The PGA Tour University ranking already has produced Ludvig Aberg, an exceptional talent who within a year of leaving Texas Tech won on the European tour, the PGA Tour, played in the Ryder Cup and was runner-up at the Masters.

As much as Scottie Scheffler is dominating golf, Aberg already is seen as one of his biggest threats.

Next in line is Gordon Sargent of Vanderbilt. But some patience is required.

Sargent already is eligible for a PGA Tour card through the accelerated ranking set aside for underclassmen. But he’s going to stay for his senior year, deferring his card until 2025.

That got a nod of approval from Aberg.

“He’s a tremendous golf player,” Aberg said. “I think he’s got some good people around him making good decisions. For me in my case, I think a fourth year at Tech really helped me. It helped me keep developing, keep getting better and keep maturing as a player and as a person.

“It is a little bit different playing tour golf than it is in college, but I’m sure he’ll be ready whenever his time comes.”

JUPITER LINKS

Tiger Woods finally has a roster for his TGL team called, “Jupiter Links, which draws in players living in Scottsdale, Arizona (Max Homa), Dallas (Tom Kim) and Aiken, South Carolina (Kevin Kisner).

Woods is part owner of Jupiter Links and a co-founder of TMRW Sports, the entertainment outfit behind the technology league that will be played in an arena in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, starting Jan. 7.

“I have already shared my excitement and optimism for TGL as a league and product,” Woods said. “Now that we have finalized our roster with a team of world-class golfers, I am even more confident that this group will proudly represent the Jupiter area and connect with our fans for years to come.”

PRESIDENTS CUP

The International team for the Presidents Cup is building some familiarity in the back room. It's the same leadership as 2022, except for Ernie Els stepping in for K.J. Choi.

International captain Mike Weir said his four assistants would be Els, Trevor Immelman, Camilo Villegas and Geoff Ogilvy. Two years ago at Quail Hollow, Immelman was the captain and had Weir, Villegas, Ogilvy and Choi as assistants.

Els was the 2019 captain and gave the International team a real identity with its shield on the logo. He was not part of the 2022 matches.

The Presidents Cup is at Royal Montreal on Sept. 26-29.

DIVOTS

With his victory at the RBC Heritage, Scottie Scheffler moved to No. 10 on the PGA Tour career earnings list with $61,258,464. This is his fifth full season. ... The PGA Tour Champions has had seven winners from seven countries through seven tournaments this year. ... The Zurich Classic of New Orleans has three sets of brothers in the field for the PGA Tour's only team event — Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick, twins Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard and twins Pierceson and Parker Coody. ... Matthieu Pavon and Christiaan Bezuidenhout left Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for Japan to play in a European tour event.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Scottie Scheffler joins Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson as the only players with multiple seasons of at least four wins over the last 25 years.

FINAL WORD

“Scottie is tremendously talented and a hard worker and sadly, a better person. I wish I could hate him.” — Max Homa on Scottie Scheffler.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Webb Simpson offers to resign from PGA Tour board. But only if McIlroy replaces him, AP source says

A plan is in place for Rory McIlroy to rejoin the PGA Tour board, a move that would require the board's approval and could be viewed as a chance to help to improve stalled negotiations with the Saudi financial backers of LIV Golf.

McIlroy resigned from the board in November, saying he felt he could no longer commit the time and energy required with the PGA Tour trying to finalize an agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

The deal with PIF was not finalized, and the PGA Tour instead took on Strategic Sports Group as a minority investor in a deal that could be worth as much as $3 billion.

Webb Simpson, one of the six player directors on the PGA Tour board and PGA Tour Enterprises board, has submitted a letter saying that he wants to resign as a player director but only if McIlroy replaces him, according to a person who has seen the letter.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday because the letter was not made public. The board is expected to discuss Simpson's request as early as Wednesday.

PGA Tour Enterprises is the new commercial entity, though six players serve on both boards.

McIlroy's resignation in November required the other five player directors — Simpson, Tiger Woods, Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott and Peter Malnati — to elect a player to serve out the term through 2024. They chose Jordan Spieth.

Some of those players have been at odds with McIlroy over the last few months because the four-time major champion has changed his tune about LIV Golf and has suggested LIV players be allowed to return to the PGA Tour without penalty.

Spieth and McIlroy disagreed in February over Spieth's comments that a deal with PIF was not needed because of the SSG investment, although it would help with unification.

The Simpson case, however, is different. He has not resigned from the board. The person said Simpson's letter said he would resign if McIlroy could replace him; otherwise, he would stay on the boards.

The person said Simpson indicated the board currently does not have a European player — five are Americans and Scott is Australian.

SSG in a consortium of American sports owners, led by the Fenway Group, and McIlroy has an affiliation with Fenway through the new TGL team league due to start play in January.

The Guardian, which first reported McIlroy's potential move back to the board, also noted McIlroy has a good relationship with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor.

Al-Rumayyan met with the player directors — he even played nine holes with Woods — in the Bahamas a week after The Players Championship last month. Spieth described that meeting as a chance to talk while figuring out the next step.

There have been no reports of progress since then.

A London financial newspaper, City A.M., reported last week that LIV had offered McIlroy $850 million to join, based on sources it did not identify. McIlroy quickly shot down those rumors and said he would play the PGA Tour “for the rest of my career.” But he also reiterated his hopes that golf could be unified again outside the four majors.

“The game is better when we're all together,” he said last week at the RBC Heritage.

The hurdle for any kind of a deal has been how to unify the game. Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson are among players who signed bonuses said to be worth upward of $100 million that led to the divide.

McIlroy said last month at The Players Championship that Al-Rumayyan “wants to do the right thing” for all of golf and that LIV Commissioner Greg Norman and others have done the PIF leader a disservice.

“So the closer that we can get to Yasir, PIF and hopefully finalize that investment, I think that will be a really good thing," McIlroy said.

SSG's initial investment of $1.5 billion is for a first-of-its-kind equity ownership program. PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in a February memo that $750 million in aggregate equity would be granted to 36 players based on career performance, last five-year performance and Player Impact Program results.

Those players are to learn details of how much they receive this week.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Analysis: Golf has two dominant forces in Scheffler and Korda. It didn't happen overnight

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Golf went a decade without being able to identify a dominant player. And then within the last month, the sport suddenly has two of them.

Scottie Scheffler won his first PGA Tour event in the Phoenix Open two years ago and now he has 10 tour titles, two of them at the Masters.

Not only is he the No. 1 player in the world, he has double the average points of the next player, Rory McIlroy. That hasn't happened since Tiger Woods doubled the world ranking lead over Phil Mickelson toward the end of 2009.

Nelly Korda went through 2023 without winning on the LPGA Tour — her only title was the Aramco Series in London on the Ladies European Tour — and ended the year at No. 5 in the women's world ranking. Now she is in the LPGA record book with five straight victories and is close to having double the points average of Lilia Vu, who won two majors last year.

It all seems to have happened so quickly, except that it really hasn't.

Korda possesses all the traits of a star.

She has the athletic genes — an older sister (Jessica) on the LPGA Tour, a younger brother (Sebastian) who is No. 26 in the world in tennis, a father (Petr) who won his lone Grand Slam event in tennis at the 1998 Australian Open.

Her swing is so pure that even the late Mickey Wright, regarded as the greatest LPGA player, took notice in a 2017 Golf Digest interview. That was a year before Korda won the first of her 13 LPGA titles.

Korda first rose to No. 1 when she captured the Women's PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club in 2021, and then won the Olympic gold medal in Japan. What she lost was momentum — surgery for a blood clot in her left arm that cost her four months in 2022, and then a back injury in the late spring of 2023 that cost her a month.

She exudes a cool demeanor, ruthless at times, and her quiet toughness is a good fit with swing coach Jamie Mulligan. He says Korda has “shooter's adrenaline,” a basketball reference.

“If the mind is quiet, even if your heart is going, you can get yourself in the right spot,” Mulligan said.

Now she is fully fit and listening to her body. Korda won before a home crowd in Bradenton, Florida, skipped the entire Asia swing, returned after seven weeks off and won four in a row.

Her victory at the Chevron Championship, her fifth straight win to tie the LPGA record, never looked in doubt. It was surprising to hear Korda talk about the grind, her nerves and that she felt “sick to my stomach.” No telling how the rest of tour must feel.

“I think there’s a key in the simplicity that I have when I play,” Korda said. “I honestly just take it a shot at a time, and we pick a game plan when we get to the golf course and we work and we stay in our own little bubble. It’s been working so far.”

That's how Scheffler makes it look.

He picks a target. He swings the club. It goes where he's looking.

No one is better from tee to green, which can make his putting seem worse than it really is. He got into some bad habits last year that made the putter look like a piece of Kryptonite at the end of a shaft. That has been sorted out. And that's frightening for the rest of golf.

When he polished off his latest clinic Monday morning in the rain-delayed RBC Heritage, Scheffler was asked about the worst shot he hit in the final round.

It stumped him. Scheffler finally settled on a 3-wood he tugged off the tee on the eighth hole. It just trickled into the left rough.

But that was the point of the question. He never seems to miss.

“I didn't know what you were getting at there,” he said with a laugh. “And I was thinking through my shots and I was like ... yeah, I felt like I hit a lot of quality shots, and the ball was coming out of the face. It seemed like if a shot didn't end up where I wanted it to, it was probably just a little gust of wind."

Korda and Scheffler will disappear now for a few weeks.

Korda withdrew from the JM Eagle LA Championship on Monday — probably a smart move for her and the long year ahead, brutal for the LPGA just when it was poised to create room on the Nelly bandwagon — and is not expected back until May 9 for the Cognizant Founders Cup in New Jersey.

Scheffler said he will not be back until the PGA Championship on May 16-19. His wife, Meredith, is expecting to give birth to their first child by the end of the month.

Scheffler is approaching a full year at No. 1 in the world, a rarity in men’s golf. Dustin Johnson (64 weeks) and McIlroy (54 weeks) are the only ones to have done that post-Woods. After that first victory, it took Scheffler only 50 tournaments to get the next nine.

This form didn’t just show up overnight. It just seems that way because of his putting funk.

“I was No. 1 in the world for a long time last year,” Scheffler said. “But I was never answering questions like, ‘Hey, you’ve been playing so great.’ It was more like, ‘Hey, you’ve been playing great, BUT you’ve been doing this one thing really, really bad.’”

He laughed, because laughter comes easily to Scheffler. So does winning.

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A previous version of this article reported incorrectly that Tiger Woods last doubled the world ranking lead over Phil Mickelson in 2008.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Nelly Korda puts bid for 6th straight victory on hold after withdrawing from Los Angeles tourney

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nelly Korda is putting her bid for a historic sixth straight victory on hold.

The LGPA golfer officially withdrew Monday from the JM Eagle LA Championship, which begins Thursday at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles. Korda tied Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam with her fifth straight win last weekend at the Chevron Championship near Houston, the year’s first major.

“It was not an easy decision,” Korda said in a statement posted on the LPGA Tour website. "After the unbelievable week at The Chevron and grinding through the mental and physical challenges of four events in the past five weeks, I am definitely feeling exhausted. With so much still to come throughout 2024, I feel I need to listen to my body and get some rest, so I can be ready for the remainder of the season.”

Korda's two-shot win at the Chevon Championship was her second career major and her fifth win in five starts.

The 25-year-old from Florida didn't indicate when she'll compete next. After this week's stop in Los Angeles, the Cognizant Founders Cup in New Jersey is May 9-12. The next major is the U.S. Women's Open in Pennsylvania from May 30-June 2.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Captain Mike Weir names assistants for upcoming Presidents Cup in Montreal

MONTREAL — Captain Mike Weir named Ernie Els, Trevor Immelman, Geoff Ogilvy and Camilo Villegas as his assistants on the International Team for the upcoming Presidents Cup.

The best-on-best men's golf tournament will be played at Royal Montreal Golf Club starting Sept. 24.

Els, a 19-time PGA TOUR winner, has appeared in eight Presidents Cups (1996, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013) and holds the record for most matches won by an International Team player (20).

He was captain in 2019, leading the Internationals to their biggest lead in Presidents Cup history before falling to a Tiger Woods-led U.S. Team, 16-14, at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.

Immelman was the International Team's captain in 2022. He competed in 2005 and 2007.

Ogilvy returns to the Presidents Cup for a fourth time in the role of a captain’s assistant (2017, 2019, 2022).

Villegas, 42, will return in 2024 after making his debut as a captain’s assistant in 2022 at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2024.

Scottie Scheffler finishes off another win at Hilton Head to extend dominant run

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — A Masters green jacket wasn't enough for Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler was running on emotional fumes fresh off his four-shot victory at Augusta National, but full of purpose that more than made up for his lack of preparation for the RBC Heritage. The result not only was similar, it has come to be expected.

He rarely missed a shot. He gave little hope to those chasing him. And he walked away from Harbour Town on Monday morning with another victory that extended a dominance not seen since the peak years of Tiger Woods.

“I didn't show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations. I came here with a purpose,” Scheffler said after polishing off a 3-under 68 for a three-shot victory.

Victory was inevitable — Scheffler had a five-shot lead with three holes to play when the final round, delayed 2 1/2 hours because of storms Sunday afternoon, was suspended by darkness. It's starting to feel that way whenever he plays.

Scheffler now has won four of his last five starts, the exception a runner-up finish in the Houston Open when he misread a 5-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff.

He considered this one of the tougher wins because it followed the Masters.

“Coming off the high last week to going into here, not really with a ton of energy, not really with a ton of prep work,” Scheffler said. “I think it's underrated how difficult it is to do the stuff that Tiger was doing, and win like every single week. It takes a lot out of you emotionally and physically, especially major championships.”

Turns out he had plenty left in the tank.

Scheffler now has 40 consecutive rounds at par or better, a streak that began at East Lake in the Tour Championship last August. His position at No. 1 in the world is so great that he became the first player since Woods to crack the 15-point average mark.

“It's very impressive,” Patrick Cantlay said. “He's played great for a while now — a number of years — and it seems like he is playing the best golf of his life right now.”

The only competition Monday morning was for second place.

The storms brought cold weather and a strong wind. Scheffler missed the 18th green to the right, chipped safely to 18 feet and two-putted for bogey. That ended his streak of 68 consecutive holes with no worse than a par.

“I hit driver, 3-wood into there,” Scheffler said. “So I’m going to count that as a par for myself.”

Sahith Theegala birdied the 16th hole, saved par from a bunker on the par-3 17th and closed with a par for a 68 to finish alone in second, a difference of $666,667 than if he had finished in a three-way tie for second.

“Even though I finished second, I felt like I was never really in it to win there. Scottie was just so far ahead,” Theegala said.

Cantlay (68) and U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark, who finished his 65 on Sunday before the storms, tied for third.

Scheffler finished at 19-under 265 and earned $3.2 million. That brings his season total to nearly $18.7 million in just 10 tournaments.

The good news for the rest of the PGA Tour: Scheffler won't show up again until the PGA Championship the third week in May. He headed back home to Dallas, where his wife his expecting their first child sometime next week.

Scheffler was staked to a one-shot lead starting the final round and chipped in for eagle on the second hole. Before long, he had a four-shot lead and never showed any signs of coming back.

“I got off to a good start yesterday and kind of just kept it going from there,” he said.

The week wasn't the smoothest start for Scheffler, who was six shots behind after an opening round that included a shank from the bunker on the third hole for a double bogey. He didn't drop another shot the rest of the week until it no longer mattered.

About the only thing that went wrong for Scheffler was the celebration. His caddie, Ted Scott, went for an elevated chest pump and Scheffler just laughed at him without moving.

About 400 spectators waiting along the 18th fairway were allowed to fill a corner of the grandstands as Scheffler approached. He turned and waved his cap toward them after tapping in his final stroke of another masterpiece.

Such is Scheffler's dominance that his last seven victories have come against fields that had at least eight of the top 10 players in the world.

The last player to run off a stretch like this — four wins and a runner-up — was Woods at the end of 2007. Woods then won his first three PGA Tour starts (and one on the European Tour) to start 2008.

Scheffler now has 10 titles on the PGA Tour in a span of 51 tournaments dating to his first victory in the 2022 Phoenix Open.

“It does not get boring,” Scheffler said. “I think hitting a really well-struck golf shot close to the pin is like an addicting feeling.”

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Nelly Korda ties record with 5th straight win, gets 2nd major. Scottie Scheffler poised to win again

THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) — Nelly Korda tied an LPGA record with her fifth straight victory, closing with a 3-under 69 for a two-stroke victory in the Chevron Championship to capture her second major title.

Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA events. Her previous major victory was in 2021 at the Women’s PGA Championship.

Korda held out to win over Maja Stark of Sweden, who birdied her final two holes to shoot 69 and pull within one. Korda stayed aggressive on the par-5 18th, easily clearing the lake in front of the green and setting up a simple up-and-down for birdie.

Haeran Ryu of South Korea shot a bogey-free 67 to enter the final round leading Korda by one. But she bogeyed the first two holes in the fourth round to fall out of the lead. She closed with a 74 and finished fifth.

Korda, who finished at 13-under 275, took home $1.2 million from a purse of $7.9 million, raising her season earnings to $2,424,216.

PGA TOUR

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Masters champion Scottie Scheffler holed a difficult pitch for eagle on his second hole Sunday and turned the RBC Heritage into another rout. A storm system with heavy rain stopped play for 2 1/2 hours, forcing a Monday finish.

Scheffler was 20 under and has a five-shot lead with three holes remaining when the final round resumes at 8 a.m. Monday. He was on the verge of winning for the fourth time in five tournaments, the exception a runner-up finish in the Houston Open.

He was trying to become the first player since Bernhard Langer in 1985 to win the week after slipping on the Masters green jacket.

U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark made a furious charge early in the round at 8 under through 11 holes, only to lose ground with a double bogey in the trees. He posted a 6-under 65 and finished at 15-under 269.

Patrick Cantlay was tied for second at 15 under when he hit his approach to the collar of the 18th green. He chose to mark his ball and return Monday to finish. J.T. Poston also was on the 18th hole and among the group at 15 under.

None had a chance of catching Scheffler unless the world’s No. 1 golfer made a series of blunders in the morning, and that looked improbable.

PGA TOUR

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic (AP) — Billy Horschel went to the Dominican Republic for the first time in search of momentum and came away with a PGA Tour victory he sorely needed Sunday in the Corales Puntacana Championship.

Horschel ran off four straight birdies on the front nine to get in the mix, began to pull away with an eagle on the par-5 12th hole and closed with a 9-under 63 for a two-shot victory over Wesley Bryan.

Horschel, who started the final round three shots behind, all but sealed it with an 18-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole.

Bryan, trying to go wire-to-wire, was only one shot behind late in the round. But right after Horschel made his final birdie, Bryan missed a par par putt from just outside 2 feet and fell three behind. He birdied the 18th for a 68 and was runner-up.

Horschel finished at 23-under 265 and earned $720,000 for his eighth PGA Tour victory, and his first in nearly two years.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Paul Broadhurst closed with a 5-under 66, playing bogey-free over the final nine holes to hang on for a one-shot victory over David Toms in the Invited Celebrity Classic for his sixth PGA Tour Champions title.

The tournament was reduced to 36 holes because of heavy rain that washed out Saturday.

Toms shot a 65.

Broadhurst, who finished at 11-under 131, had not won on the PGA Tour Champions since 2018, the year he won three times and his second senior major. The victory moves the Englishman to No. 2 in the Charles Schwab Cup behind Steven Alker, who did not play.

Y.E. Yang (69) and Thomas Bjorn (70) tied for third, three shots behind. Bjorn was playing on a sponsor exemption.

KORN FERRY TOUR

LAKEWOOD, Fla. (AP) — Tim Widing of Sweden won his first Korn Ferry Tour event when he closed with a 5-under 66 and won a three-man playoff with a par on the second extra hole in the Lecom Suncoast Classic.

Widing birdied the par-3 17th and finished with a par to get into a playoff with Patrick Cover (69) and Steven Fisk, who lost the lead with two bogeys only to birdie the 18th for a 68.

Cover was eliminated with bogey on the first extra hole at No. 18. Fisk made bogey the second time around.

Miles Russell, the 15-year-old from Florida who became the youngest player in Korn Ferry Tour history to make the cut, shot a 66 to tie for 20th. The top 25 get into the next tournament.

OTHER TOURS

John Catlin won for the second straight time on the Asian Tour. He closed with a 5-under 66 on Saturday for a wire-to-wire victory by seven shots over Wade Ormsby in the Saudi Open. The 33-year-old Californian now has two wins and a tie for third on the Asian Tour this year. Peter Uihlein, who finished third, had a 66-63 weekend and still lost ground to Catlin. ... Garrick Porteous won for the first time in seven years when he closed with a 7-under 63 for a one-shot victory over Alexander Levy in the Abu Dhabi Challenge. It was his second title on the Challenge Tour. ... Chiara Tamburlini of Switzerland finished off a dominant Ladies European Tour victory with a 3-under 70, seven shots ahead of Aunchisa Utama in the Joburg Ladies Open. ... Matthew Anderson of Canada birdied his last two holes on the Rio Olympic course for a 2-under 69 and a one-shot victory in the Brazil Open on the PGA Tour Americas. ... Rio Takeda won her second straight tournament on the Japan LPGA, shooting a third straight round of 4-under 67 for a three-shot victory over Mitsuki Kobayashi in the Fujisankei Ladies Classic. ... Eunwoo Choi closed with a 1-under 71 to successfully defend her title in the Nexen-SaintNine Masters on the Korea LPGA Tour.

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Scottie Scheffler builds 5-shot lead at Hilton Head. Rain forces a Monday finish

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Turns out only the rain can stop Masters champion Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler holed a difficult pitch for eagle on his second hole Sunday to build some separation in the RBC Heritage and looked so flawless that it was only a matter of time.

And then he ran out of time. A storm system with heavy rain stopped play for 2 1/2 hours, and Scheffler was only able to get through 15 holes when darkness forced a Monday finish. He led by five shots with no one seriously challenging him.

“Everyone is trying to chase Scottie and he's making it really tough because he keeps winning,” U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark said after giving it his best effort.

Clark, who started the final round seven shots behind, opened birdie-eagle-birdie and at one point got to within one shot of Scheffler. He was 8 under through 11 holes until an adventure into the trees right of the 12th fairway led to double bogey.

Clark already has finished runner-up to Scheffler twice in this amazing run, at Bay Hill and The Players Championship in consecutive weeks in March. He at least managed to finish his round at 6-under 65 and posted at 15-under 269.

Patrick Cantlay and J.T. Poston were at 15 under and were just off the 18th green. Sahith Theegala also was 15 under and in the right rough on the 16th hole.

The final round was to resume at 8 a.m. Monday. Scheffler has three holes separating him from a fourth victory in his last five tournaments, a level of dominance not seen on the PGA Tour since the prime of Tiger Woods.

The exception in his streak was a runner-up finish in the Houston Open when he misread a birdie putt from 5 feet that would have forced a playoff.

Now he is on the verge of becoming the first player since Bernhard Langer in 1985 to win the week after slipping on the Masters green jacket.

Scheffler was relentless as ever, especially at the end.

He hit his second shot into the water fronting the green on the par-5 15th, which he assumes was due to mud on the bottom of his ball. Facing a fourth shot with trees blocking a direct path to the flag, he hit a shot with enough spin to ride the slope down to 12 feet.

The horn to stop play had already sounded. Scheffler chose to finish, and lightly pumped his fist when he made it for par. That extended his streak 66 straight holes at par or better.

Scheffler showed more emotion for that par than for his eagle on the second hole, or the two birdies that followed.

“I felt like the par was pretty important tonight, just being able to go to sleep and still keeping a clean card,” he said. “I felt like I got a bad break there in the fairway. I haven’t had to hit a shot like that in a long time, so I figured there must have been mud on the bottom of the ball. Just nice to keep the card clean.”

If it's a battle for second place — just like it was at the Masters last week when Scheffler won by four shots — there was reason for Cantlay and Poston to wait.

Second place alone is worth $2.16 million, some $800,000 more than a four-way tie for second.

Cantlay marked his ball next to the collar of rough left of the green. Poston was short of the green, some 30 yards from the back left pin.

No one had a chance of catching Scheffler unless the world's No. 1 golfer made a series of blunders in the morning, and that looked improbable.

Scheffler has not made worse than par since a double bogey on the third hole Thursday. He had a streak of 53 holes — dating to the 15th hole of the opening round — without anything higher than a 4 on his scorecard.

He began the final round with a one-shot lead over Sepp Straka and asserted himself on the par-5 second hole. His second shot caught the back slope of a front bunker and shot it over the green, leaving him a pitch up toward mounds, short-sided given the green ran away from him.

It came off perfectly, bouncing short and right, crawling up the slope and feeding down into the cup. Scheffler just looked at his caddie, Ted Scott, the bottom lip slightly jutted as if to say, “Not bad.”

And then every hole except No. 8, he was putting for birdie. He missed two chances inside 10 feet, but handled the par-5 fifth with ease and holed a 6-foot birdie putt on the 13th when his approach narrowly cleared the steep railroad ties framing the front bunker.

All he has to do now is finish to collect another $3.6 million check before he heads home, where his wife is due with the couple's first child the following week.

Nine players have to finish, a group that does not include Tom Hoge.

Hoge elected to finish the 18th after the horn sounded. His tee shot sailed out-of-bounds. His fourth shot went into the native area and Hoge chopped his way to a quintuple-bogey 9. That gave him a 74, dropping him from a tie for sixth to a tie for 18th.

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Nelly Korda ties LPGA Tour record with 5th straight victory, wins Chevron Championship for 2nd major

THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) — Nelly Korda couldn't have imagined the incredible run she's put together this season while at home recovering from a blood clot that required surgery in 2022.

“Because obviously then I was just more scared for my health,” she said. “Competing was kind of on the back seat. I was not thinking about competing at all. But I think all of the sad times and the health scares that I have gone through have made me who I am today.”

Fully healthy now, Korda is seemingly unstoppable. The world's No. 1 player hasn't lost a tournament since January, and now she's a two-time major champion.

Korda etched her name in the LPGA Tour record books Sunday, winning her record-tying fifth straight tournament with a two-stroke victory in the Chevron Championship.

Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA events. Her previous major victory was in 2021 at the Women's PGA Championship.

“It’s been an amazing feeling these past couple weeks knowing that I can go on this stretch and that if I stay in my bubble and I keep golf in a sense simple and let it flow, then I can have so, so much fun out here,” she said.

Korda shot a 3-under 69 in the final to outlast Maja Stark of Sweden, who birdied her final two holes to shoot 69 and pull within one. Korda stayed aggressive on the par-5 18th, easily clearing the lake in front of the green and setting up an easy up-and-down birdie for a two-shot victory.

She had a four-day total of 13-under 275 at Carlton Woods.

Korda nearly aced the par-3 17th, with her tee shot hitting the hole and hopping in the air before settling within 10 feet. She settled for par to maintain her two-shot lead.

Korda wowed the large crowd, which followed her throughout the day, by chipping into the wind for birdie on the par-4 10th hole to take a four-stroke lead. The 25-year-old raised her club above her head with one hand and pumped her fist after the ball rolled into the hole.

Her parents — former Australian Open tennis champion Petr Korda and Regina Rajchrtova — beamed as she was presented with the trophy.

“She had a difficult ’22 and ’23 in certain ways,” Petr Korda said. “She did not win a tournament in ’23 and some things probably made her humble and (she) put a lot of work into where she is right now. Without the work and commitment, she would not be here. So seeing that, I’m very happy.”

Korda’s older sister, Jessica, is a six-time LPGA winner who’s taking a break from golf after giving birth to her first child.

Korda took home $1.2 million from a purse of $7.9 million, a significant increase from last year’s purse of $5.2 million. That brings her season earnings to $2,424,216 and her career earnings to $11,361,489.

Winners had been jumping into Poppie’s Pond off the 18th green at Mission Hills since 1988, and Korda became the second to do it in Texas by doing a cannonball off a small dock into brown-tinged water. World No. 2 Lilia Vu was first to jump into the pond here after her win last season. Vu withdrew from this year’s tournament before the first round after experiencing “severe discomfort” in her back during warmups.

While still shivering from her post-win plunge Sunday, Korda confirmed she'll be competing in the JM Eagle LA Championship next week in Los Angeles. She was then asked about the possibility of becoming the first to ever win six straight LPGA tournaments.

“I’m going to enjoy this right now and then I’ll think about that,” she said. “But yeah, it’s been an amazing time. Hopefully keep the streak alive. But I’ve been so grateful to compete week in and week out and get the five in a row, too.”

Masters champion Scottie Scheffler is on a similar tear, on his way to a fourth victory in five starts until rain interrupted the final round of the RBC Heritage. He couldn’t help but check in on Korda.

“I actually was checking the scores this afternoon when we were in the rain delay,” he said. “I’m extremely happy for her and proud of her. That’s some pretty special stuff. It’s been a treat to watch.”

Korda entered the last round one shot off the lead after completing the last seven holes of the weather-delayed third round early Sunday morning on a windy and unseasonably cool day. She was wiped out after her big win because she’d been up since 4 a.m. to prepare for the end of the third round.

She birdied two of her first four holes to take the lead. Lauren Coughlin birdied Nos. 13 and 14 to get within two strokes, but bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes put her four behind. She shot a final-round 68 to finish tied for third with Brooke Henderson.

Coughlin got emotional when discussing her best finish in a major.

“It’s really cool to see all of the work that I’ve put in, especially with my putting and my short game, and putting specifically showed off this week, as well,” she said.

Henderson was tied with Korda for second to start the last round after she shot a 64 in the third round to set a scoring record for the tournament since its move from Mission Hills, California, to Texas last year. But the Canadian, who has 13 LPGA wins with two majors, also faltered early in the final round, with a bogey and a double bogey in the first four holes.

Haeran Ryu of South Korea shot a bogey-free 67 to enter the final round leading Korda by one. But the 2023 Rookie of the Year bogeyed the first two holes of the fourth round. She closed with a 74 and finished fifth.

Eighteen-year-old amateur Jasmine Koo provided an unlikely highlight on the 18th hole. Her second shot bounced off the advertising board in the water and back into play. She ended up with a birdie to shoot 71.

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AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

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Korda, Henderson both one shot back in Chevron Championship

THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) — Nelly Korda was one shot off the lead at the Chevron Championship when the third round was suspended Saturday because of lightning in the area.

Play at Carlton Woods was halted just before 3 p.m. and called for the day 2 1/2 hours later with dangerous conditions remaining. The third round of the LPGA's first major of the season will resume Sunday morning, with the final round scheduled to commence just before 9:30 a.m.

Korda, who is trying to tie an LPGA Tour record with her fifth straight victory, was 3-under 41 through 11 holes in the third round and 10 under overall. She entered Saturday one shot off the lead after posting a 7-under 137 through the first two rounds.

The top-ranked Korda is seeking her second major after winning the Women’s PGA Championship in 2021. She could join Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA events.

Korda was asked about the challenges of having to finish the third round Sunday before playing the final round.

“I think you just have to try to be positive about it and just tell yourself that you can’t get caught up in possibly girls being on 18 or not having that many holes left,” she said. “If you think about it positively, then I have a lot of opportunities left in the day that I can go out and maybe capitalize on a couple of them, then that’s good. But I’m going to think about it positively rather than negatively.”

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., who was at 2-under 142 through two rounds, rocketed up the leaderboard and into a tie with Korda for second Saturday by shooting an 8-under 59 through 17 holes.

“It was on six when I made that par save,” Henderson said. “It really kept my round alive, and then from there I was able to get things going. It was really fun to kind of get on a bit of a run.

"I feel like this year I’ve just played pretty solid, but I haven’t really seen that run and kind of had that excitement. That was really fun for me today, and hopefully just do something similar (Sunday).”

Henderson, who has 13 LPGA wins with two majors, had a one-putt streak of 10 with six birdies and an eagle in that stretch.

“Anytime my putter gets to working, I’m pretty happy because ball-striking is usually a strength of mine,” she said. “This week I’ve been hitting it really well, so when I’ve been able to make a few putts, it feels really good, and hopefully keep it hot tomorrow.”

Atthaya Thitikul had the lead at 11 under and was through 12 holes when play was suspended. She started the round tied with Jin Hee Im for the lead with a 136 in the first two rounds.

Thitikul, a 21-year-old from Thailand who has won twice on the LPGA Tour and missed the beginning of this season with a thumb injury, was asked about how she expects the normally firm greens to play Sunday, with rain expected to continue overnight.

“The greens are going to play a little bit easier, but the drives, other things may be harder,” she said. “I don’t know what it’s going to be like because some holes we have the wind, and it’s helped. Maybe you have a bunker on the way and then you can get over it. But if it’s soft and kind of like not dry, then maybe you couldn’t get over some holes.”

Im was in fourth place at 9 under Saturday through 11 holes.

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Masters champ Scottie Scheffler posts a 63 and leads the RBC Heritage by 1 shot

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler drilled his opening tee shot — straight down the middle, of course — with a grandstand packed with spectators behind him. What got his attention was when he looked back from the green and saw that it was empty.

Thousands of fans didn't want to miss the Masters champion on Saturday in the RBC Heritage, and Scheffler didn't disappoint.

His shots were like lasers into the greens as he quickly worked his way into the lead and stayed there. One last birdie on the 18th hole at Harbour Town gave Scheffler a bogey-free 63 and a one-shot lead over Sepp Straka.

“It felt to me like the crowd was coming with me today, and there was definitely a lot of cheers out there,” Scheffler said. “I’ve always enjoyed playing in front of a crowd. It may not look like I’m paying much attention to them out there, but I can feel their energy, and it’s great to have the support.”

He won a green jacket last week, perhaps a plaid jacket from Harbour Town this week. Scheffler wasn't kidding when he talked about how much he hates to lose.

At stake Sunday is a fourth win in his last five starts, and a chance to become the first player since Bernhard Langer in 1985 to win the Masters and the next PGA Tour stop on the schedule. The only other Masters champion to do that was Gary Player in 1978.

“I think when I’m playing my best, sometimes it feels like I’m competing against myself a little bit out there, trying to keep pushing and stay as focused as I can,” Scheffler said.

“At the end of the day, we're out here competing against the best players in the world. I love competing against these guys, and I’m looking forward to the challenge of coming out and competing tomorrow.”

Scheffler was at 16-under 197. Straka made a 15-foot birdie putt on the last hole for a 65 to get within one shot. They will be in the final group Sunday, with a different wind and thunderstorms in the forecast.

Two-time major Collin Morikawa made one mistake late, coming up short of the 16th green and missing a 10-foot par putt. He had a 68 and was two shots behind. Masters runner-up Ludvig Aberg (68) was among those three shots back.

All of them are chasing the No. 1 player in the world in the midst of a dominant stretch of golf not seen since Tiger Woods in his prime.

Scheffler has gone 51 consecutive holes at par or better at Harbour Town. He posted his 39th consecutive round at par or better dating to the Tour Championship last August.

“I think we all expect him to play well, and there’s nothing I can do about it,” Aberg said. “All I try to do is focus on myself and make sure that I hit the shots the way I want to and then see where that takes me.”

Scheffler started three shots behind and already was tied for the lead with a tee shot to a pin at the back right corner of the 221-yard seventh hole, converting a 10-foot birdie.

Even the bad breaks led to birdies. On the reachable par-4 ninth, his drive stopped short of the bunker on a down slope of grass, leaving him a flop shot to a short pin with the green running away from him. All he could manage was a pitch to 35 feet. He rammed home the birdie putt, and never really stopped until finishing with a 7-foot birdie on the 18th.

For a moment, it was setting up as a duel with Aberg, the Swedish stud who has been a pro for 10 months and already is regarded as Scheffler's biggest threat because he never seems to miss. But he missed a drive on the 12th into the trees and made bogey to fall out of a share of the lead, and Aberg had to settle for pars the rest of the way.

The crowds were particularly large in the warm and sunshine, often lining the entire fairway two- and three-deep to watch golf's newest sensation. Scheffler has three wins and a runner-up finish in his last four tournaments.

The only player to beat him was Stephan Jaeger by one shot in the Houston Open — Scheffler missed a 5-foot putt that would have forced a playoff. They played together for the first time since then and Jaeger held his own with a 67.

Against Scheffler these days, that's just not enough.

Scheffler wasn't entirely prepared for this week. Winning can be draining, even more when it involves a Masters green jacket. He flew home to Dallas on Sunday night, spent two days with his pregnant wife, managed nine holes of a pro-am at Harbour Town and here he is again.

Patrick Rodgers is the only player within five shots of Scheffler who has yet to win on the PGA Tour. The former Stanford star has felt his game was in a good place and he was hopeful of getting another chance. And then he saw Scheffler's name starting to rise on the scoreboards as he was starting his round. Rodgers hung in there with a 68.

“It feels inevitable at this point,” Rodgers said. “His ball-striking is incredible. For me to have a chance tomorrow, I’m going to have to play 18 great holes. And I’m looking forward to the challenge."

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