Monday Finish Minute: Scratch amateurs are a world away from LPGA players

You, the Jordan Spieth fan, may be worried. So we begin with the man himself saying everything’s gonna be OK. “Sometimes we miss those,” he said. And Spieth’s right. Sometimes they do. We all do. Only sometimes seems to be cropping more frequently of late when it comes missing putts from a distance that you and your golf buddies may otherwise pick up. At the Texas Open the week before the Masters, Spieth missed from 3 feet, then circled around the hole — and missed from 2. In his last start before this week, in what turned out to be a win at the RBC Heritage, he missed from 12 feet on 18 during the third round — then missed from 18 inches, and he revealed the day after that his wife, Amy, told him that he needed to count to five on the gimmes going forward.

Three years ago, Alex Cejka’s greens book was too big. On Saturday, it was not OK’d. Both times, the gaffes were costly. The latest misstep came to light after Saturday’s third round of the Regions Tradition, the PGA Tour Champions circuit’s first major, when the tour said that Cejka was disqualified for using “a yardage book that had not been approved for the competition by the PGA Tour Champions Rules Committee.” Cejka, the event’s defending champion, had shot rounds of 69, 74 and 76, was tied for 12th and was 10 shots behind leader Steve Stricker.

After three days, we’ve finally reached the final round of play at the 2022 AT&T Byron Nelson. Below, find everything you need to know to tune into Sunday’s final round action from TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas. 2022 AT&T Byron Nelson final round preview. For Jordan Spieth,...

It can be so fun to play a new golf course for the first time, and the courses we always seem to enjoy the most are the ones we play best on. While your preparation and technique are always important, there are also some tactics you can take to make sure you have a memorable day.

Golf equipment has changed considerably in the last two decades. We’ve seen titanium overthrow steel; adjustable weights become the norm in the woods category; the advent of the hollow-body blade; and mallets go from a complete outsider to a common sight at your local course — and on Tour.

The thing about golf, as you’ve no doubt heard us say before, is that there’s no one way to do it well. One method that works for someone many not for another. I was reminded of this recently during a chat with Jess Korda, who paired with her cover star sister Nelly to share some tips about their golf swings.

Michelle Wie West hasn’t played a full Tour schedule since 2018, but the 32-year-old has still found ways to support the LPGA, including tapping into her significant social media following to help promote the wildly successful #HoodiesForGolf initiative, which raised over $350,000 for charities. Wie West has increasingly been...

Phil Mickelson? He withdrew. Tiger Woods? He’s committing further. Albeit in the strangest of circumstances, golf’s biggest names are making headlines together again. And if you would have foreseen this sequence a year ago, well, we actually don’t believe you. In a somewhat odd news overlap late...

Golf’s most conspicuous absence made news again this weekend with the announcement that Phil Mickelson will not be part of the 2022 PGA Championship. The six-time major champion, who last pegged it in a tournament in early February, has been keeping a low profile since the middle of that month, when controversial comments he made about a Saudi-funded golf league were published in an excerpt of a forthcoming biography of him.

He four-putted his final hole. He played his final three holes at four-over. And then, despite being toward the top of the leaderboard, John Daly was gone. In a strange sequence during the Regions Tradition, the first major on the PGA Tour Champions circuit, Daly shot an even-par 72 during Friday’s second round at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Alabama, sat in a tie for 16th at the halfway point, then was disqualified for failing to sign his scorecard. It was a breach of Rule 3.3b (2), which states: “The player must certify the hole scores on the scorecard and promptly return it to the Committee after which the player must not change the scorecard. If the player breaches any of these requirements in Rule 3.3b, the player is disqualified.”

There was a backup at the rental car center adjacent Oklahoma City’s airport on Sunday afternoon. There were plenty of Hertz customers but not enough cars to satisfy their needs; a disgruntled queue formed awaiting a fleet of returns. Two employees noticed several golf bags among the assembled. “We...

Chloe Williams tumbled over. And, almost like a set of dominoes, everyone doubled over. There were her playing partners, her caddie and her playing partners’ caddies at the Ladies European Tour’s Aramco Series – Bangkok event, laughing. There was the television announcer who gave Williams her iPhone to show her a replay, laughing. There was Williams herself, laughing.

After three long days of play, we’ve reached the final round at the 2022 AT&T Byron Nelson. Below, find everything you need to know about tournament money at TPC Craig Ranch, including payout information, winner’s share and more. 2022 AT&T Byron Nelson final round preview. Golf’s preeminent Texan...

Golf swings are not snowflakes. Often, I hear rec golfers — and even some golf instructors who should know better — say, “Every swing is unique.” To some degree, that’s true. Every golfer is unique. But the best swings share traits the “unique” swings don’t, and that’s a claim backed up by GOLFTEC’s terabytes of swing data.

One of the many talents of my fiancée, golf personality Alexandra O’Laughlin, is that she’s an accomplished golfer. When she’s on the practice putting green ahead of a tournament round, she’ll do one of my favorite drills: finding a short putt inside 10 feet with a little break on it and placing three tees on the high side of the hole, each about six inches apart, as shown.

Some fan engagement ploys are just that: ploys, gimmicks, distractions — superficial methods to get more “butts in seats.” But some fan engagement strategies rise well above that standard. Some, like the one on display at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Visit Knoxville Open, are nothing shy of genius.

Steve Stricker made a conscious choice coming into the week. “I’m giving myself a break,” Stricker said after his first round at the Regions Tradition. He was keeping expectations low. Given the events of the previous few months, why sweat the small stuff? He used one word more than any other: Perspective. He meant it. And whether through freedom or perspective or just the best golf game in the field, it worked. Stricker won the Regions Tradition by six shots, claiming his fifth senior major championship and completing an emotional comeback win in the process.

Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us @golf_com. This week, we discuss Phil Mickelson’s absence from the PGA, Tiger Woods’ presence, brutal golf punishments and much more.

One of the final questions I asked Nelly and Jessica Korda during our warm-up interview was the one I’d been most curious to hear the answer to. What’s your favorite part of professional golf — your day-to-day job?. The two sisters were warming up while I lobbed...

K.H. Lee held off a hard-charging Jordan Spieth to defend his AT&T Byron Nelson title at TPC Craig Ranch. Take a closer look at the setup he used to get it done. Driver: Callaway Epic Max LS (Graphite Design Tour AD DI 6X shaft), 10.5 degrees. 3-wood: Callaway Rogue ST...