Author: Maisie Evans

Even though two of golf’s biggest bombshells of the year — the ball rollback and Jon Rahm’s departure for LIV — had yet to drop when legendary golf broadcaster Gary McCord sat down with hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz in the Subpar studio for this week’s episode, McCord still had plenty to say about the future of LIV, the PGA Tour and the golf world at large. “The one thing holding [LIV] up,” McCord began, “is the fact that they cannot exist without world golf ranking points. They can’t. They can’t get the big players, because the big players will, finally, after not getting world ranking points,…

The PGA Tour remains locked in negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia over a sensational merger with the LIV Golf series, but now it has agreed to negotiate elsewhere The PGA Tour has confirmed it will advance talks with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund despite the poaching of Jon Rahm – while also announcing it has formally agreed to continue negotiations with an outside investment group including Liverpool FC owners Fenway Sports Group. PGA chiefs have been locked in negotiations with the Saudi PIF for most of the year, having announced an earth-shattering merger in the…

Jon Rahm’s rumoured move to LIV Golf is anything but certain, but until we hear from the big Spaniard himself, the silence could become deafening. Rahm has long been the crown jewel for LIV Golf and reports surfaced Tuesday morning in the U.K. that the reigning Masters champ is in negotiations to join the Saudi-backed breakaway tour. Several stories have Rahm in talks with the Greg Norman-led tour, including Bunkered magazine’s Michael McEwan, who cites a well-placed source saying that rumours of an imminent switch are “wide of the mark,” but that the World No. 3 is “closer to joining than he has…

Dubuisson climbed to a career-best of 15th in the world rankings in 2015 but lost form after a series of injuries and is now ranked outside the top 1,000. “It’s life, for me it’s not an end,” he told French sports daily L’Equipe. “I started from nothing, so I’m extremely satisfied with what I’ve done. I still see myself as a little kid with my little bag and my Decathlon clubs. “I was not predestined to have this career at all.” Dubuisson only played eight events on the European Tour last season, withdrawing three times and posting a highest finish…

Joaquin Niemann mastered the Sydney winds to become the first Chilean winner in 119 years of the Australian Open when he beat Japan’s Rikuya Hoshino in a playoff to lift the Stonehaven Cup on Sunday. Niemann lipped out with a four-foot eagle putt on the first re-run of the 18th but made no mistake on the second playoff hole, draining a slightly longer eagle attempt to add a first DP World Tour title to the two he has won on the PGA circuit. “It means a lot,” Niemann, who also qualified for British Open, told reporters. “This season wasn’t the…

The Hall of Fame tennis star hopes Sorenstam’s invitation can lead to more opportunities for females in the future Hall of Fame tennis star Billie Jean King has called for Augusta National to host a women’s professional event after they recently invited Annika Sorenstam to become a member of the iconic club. Augusta National Golf Club, the home of The Masters, recently made the LPGA legend just the seventh female member of the club when they opened for the new season. In the process, Sorenstam becomes the first LPGA player to accept an invite to the world-famous location, which had traditionally been a male-only club. Augusta has…

How far do you hit your 7-iron? This is not a rhetorical question. The answer matters. It has implications for your enjoyment of the game as well as for your pace of play. How do we know this? Let’s back up a bit. According to the USGA, in a survey of more than 700 PGA and LPGA professionals, 92 percent said that it is “extremely common” or “somewhat common” for golfers to play courses from too far back. The average duffer bites off more than he or she can chew. That isn’t just opinion. Scoring data shows that roughly 75 percent of…

Byeong Hun An has been suspended three months by the PGA Tour for violating its anti-doping policy. The Tour announced the suspension on Wednesday, explaining that An, the 32-year-old former U.S. Amateur champ and Presidents Cupper, had tested positive for a substance prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency. The banned substance was an ingredient of an over-the-counter cough medicine available in South Korea. Per the Tour, An “cooperated fully” and accepted his suspension, which will be retroactive to Aug. 31. An will be eligible to return Dec. 1. That timetable means An will miss the entirety of the Tour’s fall…

King Abdullah economic city, Saudi Arabia – after a season of frustrating results, chase koepka is ready to face this week’s last-chance challenge of avoiding liv golf relegation. “Sometimes, you’ve just got to embrace the suck,” the Smash GC member said. For Koepka, Ripper GC’s Jed Morgan, HyFlyers GC’s James Piot and Iron Heads GC’s Sihwan Kim, it’s do-or-relegation time at LIV Golf Jeddah presented by ROSHN. Those four enter this week in the dreaded Drop Zone, the bottom portion of the season-long Individual Champion standings. Non-captains who finish the regular season ranked 45th or lower will be relegated out…

No matter what happens for Lexi Thompson at this week’s PGA Tour Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas, her drive off the first tee will make it a win in the eyes of some of her fellow competitors. Thompson will be the seventh woman to compete on the men’s PGA Tour, when she participates in the third event of the FedEx Cup Fall series. It is the first appearance for an LPGA player since Brittany Lincicome in the 2018 Barbasol Championship. “If I can inspire one individual, I would feel like I’m making progress,” she said. “Of course, yes, I want to…