LIV Golf captain Stenson headlines field full of stars as 2024 Saudi Open returns to Riyadh

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Five fellow LIV Golf members will join captain Henrik Stenson at the 2024 Saudi Open, presented by the Public Investment Fund, that will return to Riyadh Golf Club from Apr. 17-20, 2024. (Supplied)

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Five fellow LIV Golf members will join captain Henrik Stenson at the 2024 Saudi Open, presented by the Public Investment Fund, that will return to Riyadh Golf Club from Apr. 17-20, 2024. (Supplied)

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Updated 09 April 2024

Arab News

April 09, 2024 20:02

LIV Golf captain Stenson headlines field full of stars as 2024 Saudi Open returns to Riyadh

Stenson is determined to lift the trophy this time after catapulting himself into second place with a final round 65 at the 2023 Saudi Open
‘I am thrilled to be returning to Riyadh to play in the Saudi Open. I loved the atmosphere on my first visit to what is an incredible golf course,’ says Stenson

Updated 09 April 2024

Arab News

April 09, 2024 20:02

RIYADH: Five fellow LIV Golf members will join captain Henrik Stenson at the 2024 Saudi Open, presented by the Public Investment Fund, that will return to Riyadh Golf Club from Apr. 17-20, 2024.
A number of DP World Tour players, including Rafa Cabrera-Bello, and the stars of the Asian Tour are also scheduled to join.
The eighth edition in December 2023 was the first time the tournament featured as a fully sanctioned Asian Tour event and saw Thai rising star Denwit Boriboonsub finish on 18-under-par, three shots ahead of 2016 Open Championship winner Stenson.
The 20-year-old has confirmed he will return to defend his title when the Asian Tour tees off after a five-week break in the Saudi capital.
Stenson, after catapulting himself into second place with a final round 65 at the 2023 Saudi Open, is determined to lift the trophy this time.
He said: “I am thrilled to be returning to Riyadh to play in the Saudi Open. I loved the atmosphere on my first visit to what is an incredible golf course, and I am very excited to experience that again.
“The facilities are highly impressive and highlight the strides that golf in Saudi Arabia continues to make,” added Stenson, who expects another strong and testing tournament against a field full of quality players.
“I am eager to go one better than last year and lift the trophy,” he said.
Building on last year’s successful hosting, the 2024 Saudi Open presented by PIF will once again see a strong LIV Golf contingent battle for the trophy as Andy Ogletree, Peter Uihlein, Eugenio Chacarra and David Puig join Majesticks joint-team captain Stenson and his former European Ryder Cup teammate Cabrera-Bello in Riyadh.
Puig, who won the season-opening Malaysian Open, currently tops the Asian Tour Order of Merit ahead of second-placed John Catlin from the US — winner of the recent International Series Macau presented by Wynn, where he shot the tour’s first-ever 59.
Asian Tour Commissioner and CEO Cho Minn Thant said: “We are delighted to be going back to Riyadh for the Saudi Open. The event proved an excellent addition to the Asian Tour having been elevated from the Asian Development Tour, and Riyadh Golf Club provided us with a perfect setting to end 2023.
“In Golf Saudi, we have a trusted partner who we are confident will deliver another fantastic tournament.”
Golf Saudi will again show its commitment to ensuring opportunities for everyone with a number of spots reserved for local Saudi and Arab golfers to compete in the tournament.
The Saudi Open presented by PIF is the fifth stop of the season on the Asian Tour.

Jeeno Thitikul makes late charge to catch Angel Yin in the LPGA finale

Updated 24 November 2024

November 24, 2024 09:52

Jeeno Thitikul makes late charge to catch Angel Yin in the LPGA finale

At stake is the richest payoff in women’s golf, $4 million to the winner
Thitikul already picked up a $1 million bonus this week through the Aon Risk-Reward Challenge

Updated 24 November 2024

November 24, 2024 09:52

NAPLES: Angel Yin was making putts from across the green and threatening to build a big lead until Jeeno Thitikul finished eagle-birdie for a 9-under 63 to share the lead Saturday going into the final round of the CME Group Tour Championship with $4 million on the line.

Yin had a 69 after another day of big putts and one chip-in from some 60 feet for eagle on the par-5 sixth hole that put her comfortably ahead at Tiburon Golf Club.

She holed a 30-footer on the eighth hole, another birdie from about 25 feet on the ninth hole and another one from the 30-foot range on the 12th.

Thitikul seemed to be an afterthought until she lit it up on the back nine for a 30. The Thai started the back nine with three straight bogeys, but she made up quick ground at the end with her eagle on the reachable par-5 17th and a birdie on the closing hole.

The birdie briefly gave her the lead until Yin made birdie on the 17th to join her. They were tied at 15-under 201, three shots head of Ruoning Yin, who birdied her last two for a 66.

Charley Hull had seven birdies in her round of 66 and was at 11-under 205, along with Narin An of South Korea.

Nelly Korda, who got back into the mix on Friday after a sluggish start, lost ground with a 69 on a pleasant day that left her six shots back going into the final round. Korda has won four of her seven LPGA titles this year coming from behind. This could be a tall order.

At stake is the richest payoff in women’s golf, $4 million to the winner, nearly as much as Korda has made all year in her seven-victory season.

Thitikul already picked up a $1 million bonus this week through the Aon Risk-Reward Challenge, a competition based on how players score on a designated hole each week. Now she could leave Florida with a total of $5 million.

“Actually, $1 million is really good enough for me,” Thitikul said. “If I can get more, it’s definitely going to be nice, because as my team know I spend a lot of money. That’s why I have to keep playing good golf, like spending on shopping day.”

Angel Yin heard plenty of cheers for her long birdie putts, and the chip-in for eagle. She also was helped by a couple of pars after bad drives. She went well to the left at No. 10, did well to blast out on a blind shot just short of the green and then got up-and-down with a pitch to 4 feet.

And then on the 13th, another tee shot went well to the left. She tried to get it back in play from just in front of some bushes, and from 50 yards hit wedge to about 15 feet. She holed that putt, too, that kept her in front.

“I’m scoring still,” Yin said. “Making some mistakes, but saving a bunch, so a lot of positives.”

Topics: LPGA

Angel Yin rides a hot putter to 2-shot lead in LPGA fina

Updated 23 November 2024

November 23, 2024 04:14

Angel Yin rides a hot putter to 2-shot lead in LPGA fina

Yin won $1 million last year in the Aon Risk-Reward Challenge, a bonus competition all year that measures how players fare on holes that have risk, such as a reachable par 5
Very clear in her rearview mirror was Nelly Korda

Updated 23 November 2024

November 23, 2024 04:14

NAPLES, Florida: Angel Yin rammed in a 30-foot par putt on her opening hole, setting the tone for a day of big putts and 3-under 69 that gave her a two-shot lead Friday in the CME Group Tour Championship and the chase for the $4 million prize.

Very clear in her rearview mirror was Nelly Korda.

Korda, coming off her seventh win of the season last week, opened with a 72 and was eight shots behind. She found a simple swing thought after the round and was back to her old self with a 66 that cut the deficit in half with 36 holes left to play.

“Golf is just crazy,” Korda said. “You go from playing so well last week to not being able to find the center of the clubface yesterday. Always humbles you, but what’s that you love so much about it. Went to the range after my round yesterday. Tried to find a different feel. Felt a little better out there today, and hopefully I can keep progressing.”

Yin followed that 30-foot par putt with a 40-foot birdie putt on the next hole. She also holed a birdie putt from about 35 feet on the 11th hole that put her in the lead for good.

She was at 10-under 134. Hye-Jin Choi (68) and Narin An (72) were 8 under.

Korda, who already has captured her first award as player of the year, was tied for fourth at 138 with four other players who are either major champions or have been No. 1 in the women’s world ranking — Jeeno Thitikul, Ayaka Furue, Ruoning Yin and Amy Yang, the defending champion at Tiburon Golf Club.

Furue also is in a tight battle for the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average, and she pulled within a fraction of a point of Haeran Ryu.

Yin’s round had enough bogeys to slow her momentum, along with a discussion with a rules official over where she took her drop after going in the water on the par-3 fourth hole.

“It looked like I took an improper drop where I went up closer than I should have, where I should have dropped further back,” Yin said, who was asked to review footage. “They thought I didn’t take the drop properly. I explained to them that I believe I did take the drop properly.”

She said it was discussed with everyone in her group. She said a marshal never volunteered any information. The drop stood, she took bogey and was moving on.

“I believe my drop was right,” Yin said.

Korda, meanwhile, grazed the cup with birdie chances and then made it up for it on the third hole when her 8-iron from the rough landed so perfectly that it rolled into the cup for an eagle. That sent her on her way.

The key to getting her game on track was more hinge in taking the club away and taking a shorter swing. It all came together. Korda also said she finally was able to get some rest after a busy week of awards.

Yin won $1 million last year in the Aon Risk-Reward Challenge, a bonus competition all year that measures how players fare on holes that have risk, such as a reachable par 5. That $1 million meant a lot to her, and she said it gave her some financial freedom.

What would $4 million mean?

“Even bigger financial freedom,” she said.

LPGA Tour sets another record with $127.5m in prize money for 2025

Updated 21 November 2024

November 21, 2024 03:36

LPGA Tour sets another record with $127.5m in prize money for 2025

The official prize money does not include the $2 million International Crown, held every two years as the only team event in golf where countries compete against each other
The tour also announced that Chicago-based CME Group has extended its sponsorship of the Race to CME Globe for two years through 2027

Updated 21 November 2024

November 21, 2024 03:36

NEW YORK: The LPGA Tour will play for $127.5 million in official prize money in 2025, another record for the circuit that has worked independently of the PGA Tour for 75 years.

The schedule announced Wednesday at the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida, has a few moving parts that include new tournaments in Utah and Mexico, the end of a 40-year run in Ohio and its Founders Cup merging into a previous tournament.

The official prize money does not include the $2 million International Crown, held every two years as the only team event in golf where countries compete against each other; and the $2 million Grant Thornton Invitational, a mixed team event with the PGA Tour.

The LPGA Tour is playing for $123.75 million in official prize money in 2024.

The tour also announced that Chicago-based CME Group has extended its sponsorship of the Race to CME Globe for two years through 2027.

The CME Group Tour Championship has more than doubled its purse to $11 million, with $4 million going to the winner this week. The only bigger payoff in women’s sport is the WTA Finals. Coco Gauff won $4.8 million earlier this month.

The Players Championship ($4.5 million) and US Open ($4.3 million) are the only golf tournaments that paid more than what the CME Group Tour Championship winner will get.

“The metrics and the numbers are eye-popping in terms of the growth that we’ve had over the last several years,” LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan said Wednesday.

“We’re really proud that other women’s sports are starting to get the financial investment that women’s golf has enjoyed, and we’re proud of the role that we’ve played in elevating women’s sports in general,” she said. “The best women in the world need to make a living that matches their level of excellence, and we’re fighting every day to achieve that goal.”

The prize money has increased nearly 90 percent in four years, led by the majors and CME Group boosting purses at the biggest events.

Marcoux Samaan said the LPGA tried to improve the geographic flow of the schedule and it avoided playing the same week as five of the six biggest events in men’s golf next year. It plays only the same week as the US Open (Meijer LPGA Classic).

The LPGA will be off during The Players Championship, Masters, PGA Championship, British Open and Ryder Cup.

The Chevron Championship, the first major, was moved back one week so it doesn’t start just four days after the Masters.

Marcoux Samaan also said the LPGA will have fully subsidized health insurance for its players next year. Previously, they had a $1,800 stipend in 2021 that grew to $4,000 this year. Full coverage is “something we’ve been working on in this organization for a really long time, and we’re really proud of that,” she said.

Among the tweaks to the 2025 schedule was starting two weeks later for a slightly longer offseason. The Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions in Florida starts Jan. 30.

Cognizant no longer sponsors the $3 million Founders Cup in New Jersey. Instead, the Founders Cup replaces the LPGA Drive On Championship in Bradenton, Florida, with a $2 million purse.

New to the schedule is a return to Mexico for the Riviera Maya Open in Cancun, and the Black Desert Championship in Utah, which hosted a PGA Tour event on the same course this fall.

The LPGA also put the Hawaii stop on the front end of the fall Asia swing, instead of behind it as players made their way back to the mainland.

Ten of the tournaments had slight increases in prize money. All but two tournaments, the Honda LPGA Thailand and the ShopRite LPGA Classic, have at least $2 million purses. Ten tournaments have prize money of $3 million or more, with the new FM Championship at the TPC Boston raising its purse to $4.1 million.

That doesn’t include the majors or the CME Group Tour Championship. The US Women’s Open, run by the USGA, again has the highest purse at $12 million. It will be played next year at Erin Hills in Wisconsin, where Brooks Koepka won his first major in the 2017 US Open.

Topics: LPGA Tour CME Group Tour Championship Mollie Marcoux Samaan

Nelly Korda rallies in Florida for her seventh LPGA win of the year

Updated 18 November 2024

November 18, 2024 01:45

Nelly Korda rallies in Florida for her seventh LPGA win of the year

Korda now has won four times this year when trailing going into the final round

Updated 18 November 2024

November 18, 2024 01:45

BELLEAIR, Florida: Nelly Korda was back to competition for the first time in nearly two months and didn’t miss a beat. She ran off five straight birdies on the back nine to stage another Sunday comeback, closing with a 3-under 67 to win The Annika for her seventh LPGA Tour title this year.
Korda had a rough start and said she didn’t have many happy thoughts when she made the turn at 2 over for the day, two shots behind Charley Hull. Starting with a birdie on No. 11, she made five in a row on her way to a three-shot victory.
The only big surprise was seeing her younger brother, Sebastian, who has been charting his own career in tennis that kept him from seeing his sister win until Sunday at Pelican Golf Club.
Korda, who earlier this year tied an LPGA record with five straight victories, became the first player to win seven times in a season since Yani Tseng in 2011. No other American had won seven times in a season since Beth Daniel in 1990.
Korda now has won four times this year when trailing going into the final round.
Hull, going for a wire-to-wire win, simply couldn’t keep up with Korda’s birdie blitz. Coming off her first win worldwide two weeks ago in Saudi Arabia, Hull closed with a 1-over 71 and tied for second with LPGA rookie Jin Hee Im (68) and Weiwei Zhang (70).
Zhang moved up 24 spots to No. 82 in the Race to CME Globe to keep her card for next year. The top 60 advance to the CME Group Tour Championship next week in Naples, where the winner gets $4 million. Carlota Ciganda moved up three places to secure the final spot.
Korda last played Sept. 22 in Ohio. She was planning to play twice during the Asian swing until a minor neck injury kept her at home. She was eager to get back in time to play Pelican, where she had won two of the previous three years.
“After taking some time off with an injury, it feels great to be back out here,” Korda said. “Nothing like being in the hunt, the adrenaline feeling on the back nine, and being in contention. I love it so much.”
The victory puts her over $4 million for the year, and she can nearly match that with a win next week at Tiburon Golf Club. The ranking does not matter for the season finale — all 60 players have the same shot at one of the biggest prizes in women’s sports.

Topics: LPGA Nelly Korda golf

Rory McIlroy ends his year with another win in Dubai and a 6th title as Europe’s best

Updated 17 November 2024

November 17, 2024 12:36

Rory McIlroy ends his year with another win in Dubai and a 6th title as Europe’s best

He birdied two of the last three holes Sunday for a 3-under 69 to win by two over Rasmus Hojgaard

Updated 17 November 2024

November 17, 2024 12:36

DUBAI: Rory McIlroy capped off a tumultuous year by winning the World Tour Championship and his sixth title as Europe’s No. 1 player. He birdied two of the last three holes Sunday for a 3-under 69 to win by two over Rasmus Hojgaard.
McIlroy hit wedge to within a foot on the 16th hole to break out of a tie with Hojgaard, then closed with a 6-foot birdie for his third title in the European tour’s season finale.
He won the Race to Dubai — previously known as the Order of Merit — for the sixth time in his career, leaving him two behind the record held by Colin Montgomerie and tying him with the late Seve Ballesteros.
Hojgaard, who rallied to stun McIlroy in the Irish Open in September, didn’t make a birdie over the final 11 holes and had to settle for a 71.
McIlroy was emotional when he came off the 18th green, his final event of a year memorable for so many reasons. He won four times — twice on the PGA Tour — but went a 10th consecutive year without a major when he threw away a late lead in the US Open.
He announced he was getting a divorce before the PGA Championship, and then scrapped those plans and said he and his wife would try to reconcile.
“I’ve been through a lot this year, professionally and personally,” McIlroy said. “It feels like the fitting end to 2024. I’ve persevered this year a lot.”

Topics: golf Rory McIlroy

LIV Golf captain Stenson headlines field full of stars as 2024 Saudi Open returns to Riyadh

LIV Golf captain Stenson headlines field full of stars as 2024 Saudi Open returns to Riyadh

LIV Golf: ‘I’ve made it through,’ says Anthony Kim on return from decade of despair

Garcia leads by two shots, Legion seek second team win at LIV Golf Miami

Jeeno Thitikul makes late charge to catch Angel Yin in the LPGA finale

Jeeno Thitikul makes late charge to catch Angel Yin in the LPGA finale

Angel Yin rides a hot putter to 2-shot lead in LPGA fina

Angel Yin rides a hot putter to 2-shot lead in LPGA fina

LPGA Tour sets another record with $127.5m in prize money for 2025

Nelly Korda rallies in Florida for her seventh LPGA win of the year

LPGA Tour sets another record with $127.5m in prize money for 2025

LPGA Tour sets another record with $127.5m in prize money for 2025

Nelly Korda rallies in Florida for her seventh LPGA win of the year

Hull clings to one-shot lead over Korda, Zhang at LPGA Annika

Nelly Korda rallies in Florida for her seventh LPGA win of the year

Nelly Korda rallies in Florida for her seventh LPGA win of the year

Hull clings to one-shot lead over Korda, Zhang at LPGA Annika

Charley Hull triumphs at Aramco Team Series in Riyadh with impressive 18-under finish

Rory McIlroy ends his year with another win in Dubai and a 6th title as Europe’s best

Rory McIlroy ends his year with another win in Dubai and a 6th title as Europe’s best

McIlroy tied for lead with Hojgaard and Rozner after 3rd round in Dubai as hot-headed Hatton fades

McIlroy shares Dubai lead with Ballesteros mark in sight

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LIV Golf captain Stenson headlines field full of stars as 2024 Saudi Open returns to Riyadh

LIV Golf captain Stenson headlines field full of stars as 2024 Saudi Open returns to Riyadh

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Jeeno Thitikul makes late charge to catch Angel Yin in the LPGA finale

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