Doug Ferguson: U.S. Open a reminder of what really matters in golf
BROOKLINE, Mass. — A week that began with Phil Mickelson speaking without saying hardly anything ended with Matt Fitzpatrick at a momentary loss for words in his proudest moment. The U.S. Open was more that just a diversion from the disruption in golf. It brought meaning to the game. “No...
Englishman Fitzpatrick wins U.S. Open title on same course where he won U.S. AmateurVideo
BROOKLINE, Mass. — A playoff was looming Sunday in the U.S. Open, just like it always does at The Country Club, when Matt Fitzpatrick sized up his shot from a bunker left of the 18th fairway. He had a one-shot lead over Will Zalatoris and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler. He...
‘Kee-gan!’ Bradley feels the love, makes a run at the U.S. OpenVideo
BROOKLINE, Mass. — As a kid in Vermont, Keegan Bradley always wondered what it would feel like to be Larry Bird or Carlton Fisk or Tom Brady, or any of those Boston sports greats whose posters plaster bedroom walls across New England. On Saturday at the U.S. Open, Bradley got...
Tennessee, Florida State players share lead at Sunnehanna Amateur
Two college players, Tennessee’s Bryce Lewis and Florida State’s Cole Anderson, are tied for the lead after one round of the Sunnehanna Amateur. Lewis used five birdies on the back nine Wednesday and Anderson had a solid 18 holes to shoot a 6-under par 64 at the 69th annual Sunnehanna...
Golfers from new Saudi-funded tour could get traditional Boston greeting at U.S. OpenVideo
BROOKLINE, Mass. — Every loudmouth from Yarmouth and Masshole from Athol has descended on The Country Club this week, when 14 golfers in the U.S. Open field will face the American public for the first time since defecting to an upstart, Saudi Arabian-backed tour. The injection of genuine international intrigue...
Focus shifts from Saudi money to golf’s toughest test at U.S. OpenVideo
BROOKLINE, Mass. — The U.S. Open isn’t the only American major that has felt like an afterthought, lost among chatter and innuendo about topics unrelated to birdies and bogeys. Golf no longer was the primary concern going into the 1990 PGA Championship at Shoal Creek in Alabama. The club founder...
Tony Finau, defending champ Rory McIlroy share lead at Canadian OpenVideo
TORONTO — Tony Finau birdied the final hole Saturday for an 8-under-par 62 and a share of the RBC Canadian Open lead with defending champion Rory McIlroy. “I didn’t finish the way I wanted to yesterday, and I think all it did was kind of light a fire in my...
Former Masters champ Charl Schwartzel wins richest golf event amid Saudi outcryVideo
ST. ALBANS, England — Former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel banked $4.75 million Saturday by winning the richest tournament in golf history, while the event’s Saudi backers faced renewed backlash after a 9/11 victims’ group called for American players to withdraw from the rebel series. Schwartzel held on for a one-shot...
U.S. Open heads to Boston amid revolutionary battle in golf
The U.S. Open returns to its roots at The Country Club, a location steeped in history. It is one of the five founding clubs of the U.S. Golf Association. Its first U.S. Open in 1913 is what first put golf on the front pages of American newspapers when 20-year-old amateur...
Billy Horschel plays bogey-free, builds 5-shot lead at PGA MemorialVideo
DUBLIN, Ohio — Billy Horschel is more concerned with the way he is playing than the size of his lead in the Memorial. Either way, he’s in good shape going into the final round. On a Muirfield Village course that is getting increasingly firmer, Horschel hasn’t made a bogey since...
Minjee Lee shoots 67, opens 3-shot lead in U.S. Women’s OpenVideo
SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. — Minjee Lee appears to be on mission. The 26-year-old Australian shot a 4-under-par 67 on Saturday to take a three-stroke lead over American Mina Harigae into the final round of the U.S. Women’s Open. “My approach (Sunday) is going to be the same as the last...
World No. 1 Jin Young Ko surges, 3 shots back at U.S. Women’s OpenVideo
SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. (AP) — Jin Young Ko never seems to stress. Nor does she let up. The world’s No. 1 player vaulted into contention for a third major championship Friday, playing the final five holes in 3-under-par to pull within three shots of second-round Minjee Lee and Mina Harigae...
Sweden’s Ingrid Lindblad sets U.S. Women’s Open amateur mark with 6-under-par 65Video
SOUTHERN PINES, N.C. — Ingrid Lindblad decided months ago that she wanted to stay in college instead of turning professional. That might be a financial decision she comes to regret. The 22-year-old Swede shot the lowest round by an amateur in the 77-year history of the U.S. Women’s Open, a...
Former Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama disqualified from Memorial for club violationVideo
DUBLIN, Ohio — Former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama was disqualified Thursday when officials determined he had too much paint on the face of his 3-wood that he was using for alignment. It was the first time Matsuyama, who won the Memorial in 2014 for his first PGA Tour victory, was...
Scott Stallings among trio tied for lead after 2nd round at ColonialVideo
FORT WORTH, Texas — This has been a good week in North Texas for Scott Stallings, first qualifying for the U.S. Open that will be played less than an hour from where he was born and now sharing the lead at Colonial with top-ranked Scottie Scheffler and Beau Hossler. Stallings...
Justin Thomas wins 2nd PGA Championship title in playoff after 7-shot rallyVideo
TULSA, Okla. — Justin Thomas is a major champion when he least expected it. Thomas matched a PGA Championship record Sunday when he rallied from a seven-shot deficit at Southern Hills, and then saved his most exquisite shot-making for a three-hole playoff to defeat Will Zalatoris. He closed with a...
Businessman, local golf ‘ambassador’ Frank B. Fuhrer Jr. dies at 96
Frank B. Fuhrer Jr., who owned one of the largest beer distributorships in the country and owned professional sports franchises in Pittsburgh, died Saturday at UPMC St. Margaret in Aspinwall. He was 96. A family member said Fuhrer died of congestive heart failure. He lived in Fox Chapel with his...
Bryson DeChambeau withdraws from PGA after testing repaired wristVideo
TULSA, Okla. — Bryson DeChambeau withdrew from the PGA Championship on Wednesday after practicing for two days at Southern Hills to test his surgically repaired left wrist. The former U.S. Open champion practiced with a wrap that extended several inches up his left forearm. He tweeted Tuesday it had “held...
Local golf notebook: PGA Latinoamerica pro tops Butler County U.S. Open local qualifier
PGA Tour Latinoamerica pro and former Oklahoma Sooner Beau Titsworth claimed medalist honors at the Butler County U.S. Open local qualifier May 11. Titsworth shot a 4-under par 67. He was one of five players to earn a spot in the sectional tournaments. Amateur Darin Kolwalski of Bethel Park and...
PGA Championship shaping up as different event from previous 4 in TulsaVideo
TULSA, Okla. — Inside the clubhouse at Southern Hills is a sign that proudly signals its heritage with the phrase, “First to Five.” No other course has hosted the PGA Championship as many times. This PGA Championship already feels so different from the previous four. Think back to a year...
K.H. Lee holds off hometown hero Jordan Speith, repeats as Byron Nelson champVideo
McKINNEY, Texas — K.H. Lee ran across the fairway to try to get a better view of the key shot in his second consecutive victory in the Byron Nelson. The South Korean must have known it would be close, same as the low-scoring drama around him that included hometown favorite...
Masters champ Scottie Scheffler joins major winner Jordan Spieth as Nelson hometown starVideo
McKINNEY, Texas — Jordan Spieth remembers coming to his hometown Byron Nelson a few weeks after winning the Masters for his first major seven years ago. Now the three-time major champion will get to watch Scottie Scheffler do the same thing Thursday in their pairing Thursday at TPC Craig Ranch,...
Bad weather suits Keegan Bradley at PGA Tour’s Wells Fargo ChampionshipVideo
POTOMAC, Md. — Keegan Bradley did nothing special on the only easy scoring day this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, opening with an even-par 70 that left him around the cut line. Since the conditions got tougher, Bradley has been the best player at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm....
Report: Phil Mickelson had $40 million in gambling losses
Federal auditors investigating Phil Mickelson’s role in an insider trading scheme found his gambling losses totaled more than $40 million from 2010 to 2014, according to an excerpt from Alan Shipnuck’s forthcoming biography. Shipnuck posted the excerpt on his “Firepit Collective” site Thursday. His unauthorized biography on Mickelson is to...
Men’s and women’s U.S. Open qualifiers begin
Local qualifying for the U.S. Women’s Open begins Tuesday in Western Pennsylvania at Shannopin Country Club. That’s where 50 women will compete for three spots for this year’s tournament June 2-5 at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C. Heading the list is LPGA pro Rachel Rohanna,...