Golf

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — “Gallus,� like “bahooky� (backside), “wheesht� (be quiet) and “dreich� (cold, damp weather), is one of the great Scottish words. Bob Macintyre is gallus. This 22-year-old Scot, a rookie on the European Tour this season, has already achieved much in his young life.

GREAT EXUMAS, Bahamas (AP) — Zecheng Dou birdied the final three holes Wednesday for a two-stroke victory in the Web.com Tour's season-opening Bahamas Great Exuma Classic. Dou shot a 2-under 70, holing a 55-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th at Sandals Emerald Bay to finish at 18-under 270. Three strokes ahead entering the round, the 21-year-old Chinese player rallied after bogeying three of the first six holes on the back nine. Dou earned $108,000 for his second Web.com Tour title. Ben Kohles (64) and Steve LeBrun (65) tied for second, and Steven Alker (66), John Oda (70), Rob Oppenheim (68) and Willy Wilcox (69) were another stroke back.

The new Sentry Tournament of Champions winner is proof that you should never judge long drivers by their shoe size

The ability to leave the flagstick in while putting and taking drops from knee height have drawn the most attention of the new rules of golf that went into effect on Jan. 1. However, another tweak by golf's governing bodies wound up causing a heated—and random—Twitter spat between two European Tour winners on Wednesday. The fun started when Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, following his first round of 2019 at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Wednesday, commented on the new rule that allows players to repair spike marks on the green and said, "it will take some time to get used to it."

As he first began to play as a regular on the PGA Tour late last year, José de Jesús Rodríguez was often asked if he was nervous stepping onto the course. After all, this was golf's most grandiose stage, with the sport's biggest stars, and even at 37, Rodriguez was a newcomer to the game. Then he would tell a little about his background and about how he got here; about the many days in central Mexico that he went without food, the dirt floor he slept on in the one-room adobe hut before crossing the neck-deep Rio Grande into the United States at 15, when he couldn't swim. Sometimes, he'd share how, after a decade of laboring tirelessly in the U.S., he returned to Mexico and only then began playing golf competitively.

The efforts to work around the new Rules of Golf have bee entertaining and even inspiring. After all, it takes talent to intentionally double hit a ball as some of golf's best trickshotters first exhibited on social media last week. The European Tour followed suit and asked top players such as Tommy Fleetwood, Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka to try, with varying degrees of success. Here's a look at Hannah Davies' trick-shot stunt: And here's how the European Tour's “double-hit� challenge turned out. The double strikes were inspired by Rule 11.1. In the simpler language of golf's refreshed rules, the kinder, gentler governing bodies are no longer penalizing player for the dreaded “double-hit�

World No. 1 Justin Rose begins his 2019 campaign at this week's Desert Classic. No, this isn't another high-profile player-caddie breakup, but Rose will be without the services of his longtime bagman, Mark Fulcher, for the foreseeable future. Fulcher announced on Twitter he will undergo heart surgery, a procedure that will take place on Thursday in New York City, according to Golf Channel's George Savaricas.

When No. ranked Joaquin Niemann won the Latin America Amateur Championship a year ago, it was the first time a player inside the top 50 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking had claimed the title. Or inside the top 100.

The Naperville Park District board approved Thursday night the purchase of 15 golf carts as part of an annual replacement program. The board approved spending $51,240 for the new carts to be used this year at the Springbrook and Naperbrook golf courses. That price includes a trade-in rebate for the older models, Commissioner Rick Janor said. But the rather routine topic wasn't without a bit of controversy, courtesy of Commissioner Bill Eagan. Eagan cast the lone “no� vote, as the purchase was approved 6-1. He again advocated for the Park District owning one golf course, not two. “If we sold Naperbrook Golf Course, we could consolidate the (remaining) golf carts, making this purchase unnecessary,�

Tiger Woods will make his return to the PGA Tour and his 2019 debut at a familiar place. The 14-time major champ officially committed to next week's Farmers Insurance Open (Jan. 24-27) at Torrey Pines, where he has won eight times as a pro. “I'm looking forward to being back in Los Angeles for the Genesis Open,� Woods said in a statement.

The PGA Tour and the PGA of America just reshuffled their schedule, it works really well for everyone involved, and there's not much financial incentive for any governing body to stick their prized tournament in January or February. As I was losing a tennis match the other day, my opponent told me during a changeover that his favorite grand slam is the Australian Open. Obviously, this is a terrible opinion for which he should be mocked ruthlessly—who likes the Australian Open more than Wimbledon or the U.S. Open?—but he went on from that rough beginning to make some salient points.

Hosung Choi may not have the best form on the PGA Tour, but his swing is definitely the most notable. SI's Daniel Rapaport shares why the golf needs a character like Choi on tour.

NEW YORK, Jan. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- In a stunning reimagining of a leading golf publication, 8AM Golf and GOLF Magazine Chairman Howard Milstein has unveiled a dramatic new redesign of GOLF's monthly print magazine. The new, larger GOLF Magazine—with heavier paper stock, upgraded editorial content, state-of-the-art photography and a host of new voices and commentary—premiered with the magazine's February issue, which was mailed to subscribers on January 10, 2019 and was available on newsstands on January 15, 2019. At 9 by 10.9 inches, the new GOLF Magazine is 16.5% larger than its prior iteration, with 21% more pages of content compared to a year ago. "When we purchased GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com a year ago, our goal was to enhance the visual and editorial experience for our readers in a way that reflected all that is great about the game of golf," said Howard Milstein, publisher of GOLF and Chairman of 8AM Golf, the newly created holding company for all of Milstein's golf assets.

Lowry rolled in 10 birdies and did not drop a shot in the first round of the Abu Dhabi Championship on Wednesday, giving him a three-stroke lead in the European Tour's opening event of the year. Down to 75th in the rankings and now 3½ years without a win, Lowry is adjusting to life back as a full-time European Tour player after failing to successfully juggle his commitments on both sides of the Atlantic in 2018. He appears to be reaping the rewards of a lengthy spell of practice in Dubai at the start of the new year after not playing competitively since November.

Lexi Thompson will try to keep the chemistry going. While Curtis has his own playing career, he won't be giving up her bag after the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. In weeks when Curtis is busy trying to regain full status on the Web.com Tour, Lexi's planning to use her father, Scott, as caddie.

Hal Sutton drives an hour and a half each morning from his home in a Houston suburb to a place called the Big Easy Ranch, where a golf academy bearing his name once represented his purpose after a distinguished career on the PGA Tour. Sutton pictured a retirement from competition that involved teaching, not learning. Sutton also had been helping young players understand the mental side of tournament golf, which in a roundabout way made him miss tournament golf himself—the adrenaline, the camaraderie, the discipline, the distinct thrill of hitting that one shot that mattered.

Golfer Diksha Dagar opened her professional career in style with a one-under 70 that put her right on top of the leaderboard in the first leg of the Hero womens Pro Tour 2019 at the Poona Club Golf Course here on Wednesday. Diksha has previously won a Hero WPG Tour event last year, but that was as an amateur. The left-hander, who had a stellar amateur career, which included appearances at most global amateur events and also at the Asian Games, took the plunge into pro ranks just this week. She landed four birdies against three bogeys and led Millie Saroha (72) by two shots. Amateur Pranavi Urs carded two-over 73 to be placed in 3rd position. Diksha opened with a par and followed that up with

We have an agreement now to feel free to ask whatever you want to do together but not feel bad when someone says she can't do it. IS IT HARD TO BE FRIENDS WITH THE PEOPLE YOU'RE COMPETING AGAINST? I turned pro when I was 17 and won my first event on the Korean LPGA right away.

Kirk Siddens' golf ball landed beyond the flagstick, spun backward and trickled toward the hole. Even before the ball made one last, slow revolution and dropped into the cup, a member of his foursome shouted, “You did it again.� One of Utah's best amateur golfers over the past couple of decades, the 56-year-old Siddens entered the 2019 season with two career holes-in-one. He doubled that total in a four-hole span of the Coral Canyon Amateur last Saturday in Washington, Utah. The odds of any golfer making two aces in a round are 67 million to 1, according to the National Golf Foundation. Annette Gaiotti made two holes-in-one during a casual round at Hidden Valley Country Club in Sandy in 2002.

It's not unusual for golf-addicted billionaires to drop a ­couple of hundred million dollars on the ancient game. Herb Kohler (of the Kohler Co.) built the famous Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run courses in Wisconsin. Paul Fireman (Reebok International Ltd.) created Liberty National Golf Club on a former Superfund site opposite the Statue of Liberty. Julian Robertson (Tiger Management) carved out two spectacular clifftop courses in New Zealand. Then there's Donald Trump. Bob Parsons has gone a different route. In 2013 the founder of GoDaddy Inc. (estimated wealth: about $2 billion) purchased a down-on-its-luck country club in Scottsdale, Ariz., and set about transforming it into a golf paradise,

There's still more money to raise, lots of dirt to move and a couple of buildings to go up, but the Houston Open's reboot is officially under way with a new logo — Astros-oriented in design — and for-real dates. It will kick off the 2019-20 PGA Tour season Oct. 10-13, returning for a final time to the Golf Club of Houston. That same week, it's hoped, amateur golfers also will be swarming the restored Memorial Park Golf Course layout, because that's what the PGA Tour insisted on if the tournament is to move there a year later in 2020. Astros owner Jim Crane, who has ramrodded the project since last spring and all but personally guaranteed its success for the next five years in order to ensure

Callaway Golf (NYSE:ELY) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a “hold� rating to a “sell� rating in a research report issued on Monday. According to Zacks, “Callaway Golf is renowned for developing innovative products that help golfers hit longer and straighter shots from tee to green; controlled, higher-spinning shots around the green; and smooth, accurate putts. The long list of legendary Callaway products introduced across the past three decades is long, punctuated by the iconic Big Bertha driver and the Great Big Bertha driver, which Golf Digest named the greatest club of all time for its combination of innovation, performance and lasting impact on the golf equipment landscape. Huge number of tournaments, including numerous Major Championships, have been won by Tour pros playing Callaway equipment.

The Sanderson Farms Championship boasts one of the sport's more distinctive trophies in its Golden Rooster. The tournament will have something else to crow about this fall. On Tuesday Sanderson Farms officials, along with the PGA Tour, announced the Jackson-based event has graduated from its alternate status—it's been opposite the WGC-HSBC in recent years, along with the Open Championship and Ryder and Presidents Cups—to become a stand-alone competition for the 2019-'20 season.

Davis Love III is headed off to play in the Singapore Open, and so is his son. This will be the 14th time they have played in the same tournament since Davis Love IV — who goes by Dru — turned professional 18 months ago. That doesn't include the PNC Father-Son Challenge, which they won last month with a record score.

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J., Jan. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Hidden Creek Golf Club in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey has been purchased by Dormie Network—a national network of private destination golf clubs. With the acquisition, Hidden Creek becomes the sixth golf club in the network's national portfolio. The announcement comes on the heels of the August 2018 purchase of Victoria National in Newburgh, Indiana. In addition to Victoria National and Hidden Creek, Dormie Network also includes Pinehurst's Dormie Club, Roanoke's Ballyhack Golf Club, Nebraska City's ArborLinks, and San Antonio's Briggs Ranch Golf Club. The growing network's full-service accommodations, premium amenities, and renowned

The 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open first round tees off on Thursday, Jan. 31 and concludes on Sunday, Feb. 3, Super Bowl Sunday. The field consists of 132 golfers. The deadline to commit to play is 5 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 25. The final spots will be filled via the Monday qualifier on Jan. 28. Anders Albertson  Byeong Hun An Abraham Ancer Ryan Armour Aaron Baddeley (exemption) Sangmoon Bae Ryan Blaum Jonas Blixt Bronson Burgoon Sam Burns Roberto Castro Bud Cauley Alex Cejka Cameron Champ Stewart Cink Austin Cook Joel Dahmen Cameron Davis Jason Dufner Tyler Duncan Harris English Tony Finau Rickie Fowler Brice Garnett Brian Gay Lucas Glover Cody Gribble Chesson Hadley Adam Hadwi Brandon Hagy

Doug Ferguson of The Associated Press will receive the 2019 PGA Lifetime Achievement Award in Journalism. Ferguson is the 30th recipient of the PGA award, which recognizes members of the media for steadfast coverage of golf throughout a career. Ferguson has covered more than 500 golf events.

As the longest government shutdown in American history stretches on, President Donald Trump's golf game hits a milestone of its own.

The PGA Tour heads back to the mainland this week, as Palm Springs plays host to the Desert Classic where several of the game's bigger names will take their shot at the three-course rotation. Here's a look at some of the marquee, early-round groupings in California as Phil Mickelson makes his 2019 debut on familiar territory (all times ET): 11:40 a.m. La Quinta), 1:20 p.m.

Fear not, you don't have to head to the Scottish highlands to find great golf courses (although, we would also highly recommend that). After much research and endless lugging of golf clubs on crammed buses, we've found the best places to golf in London. Note to reader: You will have to be prepared to take your clubs onto busy Tube carriages so get used to taking a reduced set in a pencil bag.

For years I didn't know who Jack, Arnold Palmer or Ben Hogan even were. There were only a hundred or so courses in all of Germany. It was a magical putter, and I quickly became the best putter at the course, Golfclub Augsburg, and possibly all of Germany.

The discrepancy roughly parallels the difference in television ratings in the United States between the tours, according to LPGA commissioner Mike Whan, with the women mainly shown on the smaller audience Golf Channel while the men's circuit is broadcast on free-to-air network television. "The difference in purses is the difference in total viewership," Whan told Reuters in a television interview ahead of the Tournament of Champions season opener that will be held in Florida. With 19 vacant weekends on the schedule, however, there is plenty of room for the LPGA to grow and Whan sees one gaping hole that he would love to plug with a new tournament or two.

Lee Westwood removed himself from consideration for the 2020 European Ryder Cup captaincy, but that won't be the case when the matches head to Italy two years later. “I'd love to have it in Italy. Indeed, Westwood, who turns 46 in April, snapped a winless drought with his victory last November at the Nedbank Challenge.

Ryder Cup star Sergio Garcia said Tuesday he is in no hurry to captain the European team despite his record playing success, stressing his focus is on defending the title in 2020. Garcia, 39, was on dominant form as Europe beat the United States last year in France, and in the process became the cup's all-time points leader, eclipsing Nick Faldo's 21-year record. Speaking ahead of the start of the Singapore Open on Thursday where he is the defending champion, Garcia said the memory of the Ryder Cup victory was still fresh.

The mother of all comeback years begins this week at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. Stacy Lewis, Suzann Pettersen, Gerina Piller and Karine Icher will be rejoining the tour after taking long spells off to give birth during the LPGA's baby boom a year ago. It's different for mothers returning to the LPGA, more complicated than it is for fathers returning to the PGA Tour.