The win lifted Bradbury inside the top 25 in the Race to Dubai for the 2025 season.
Dan Bradbury’s goal was to make the cut at the DP World Tour’s FedEx Open de France. He did a lot better than that.
On Sunday, Bradbury carded a 5-under 66 in the final round to win the title by one stroke at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. The 25-year-old Englishman reeled off four birdies on the back nine to finish at 16 under overall for his second career win. Trailing by two strokes heading into the final round, Bradbury recounted that he looked over at the trophy on the first tee and thought, “it’s one of the ones you want.”
Asked if he had a place for the trophy, he smiled and said, “I’ll find one.”
Bradbury emerged from a bunched up leaderboard as 11 different players held or shared the lead on Sunday. Swedish golfer Jesper Svensson surrendered a one-stroke overnight lead, ballooning to 5-over 76 and tumbling down to a share of 27th.
Bradbury caught a break at No. 15 when his ball managed to stay dry and he proceeded to sink a 15-foot birdie putt.
“Straight out pushed it,” he said of his approach. “Luckily it stayed on, and I hit a horrendous putt that went in. Sometimes you just need that. Once I’d done that it felt like ‘there’s definitely something going for me.’”
Bradbury staved off Denmark’s Jeff Winther, who closed with a bogey-free 64. The win lifted Bradbury from worrying about being keeping his card for next season to inside the top 25 in the Race to Dubai.
“The goal was to make the cut so I didn’t have to go to Korea to keep my card,” Bradbury said. “I guess I will be looking for flights to Dubai.”
A reminder, this is the only major that allows the devices.
The PGA of America announced back in 2021 that it would allow the use of distance-measuring devices in its three professional major championships – PGA Championship, KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship – starting that year.
The devices made their first appearance at the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island Golf Resort’s Ocean Course in South Carolina.
“We’re always interested in methods that may help improve the flow of play during our Championships,” said Jim Richerson, then the president of the PGA of America. “The use of distance-measuring devices is already common within the game and is now a part of the Rules of Golf. Players and caddies have long used them during practice rounds to gather relevant yardages.”
The PGA of America became the first major body to allow the devices in all its premier professional events. There had been speculation for years that such devices might help speed play, as players and caddies don’t have to walk off yardages to sprinkler heads and other fixed positions.
The United States Golf Association’s Rules of Golf have allowed the use of laser rangefinders and GPS devices in casual play and tournaments since 2006, but a local rule allowed a tournament committee to ban such devices. At elite professional levels of play, the devices still have not been embraced for competition rounds, though they have been allowed in the U.S. Amateur since 2014. They are still not allowed during competition rounds at PGA Tour events or at the U.S. Open and British Opens.
In keeping with Rule 4.3a (1), the devices allowed can report only on distance and direction. Devices that calculate elevation changes or wind speeds, or that suggest a club for a player as well as other data, will not be allowed.
Wyndham Clark checks the distance to the 11th hole during the second round of the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. (Photo: Clare Grant/Louisville Courier Journal)
The devices aren’t new for the pros, many of whom already use laser rangefinders and GPS in practice rounds.
Many laser rangefinders provide information on elevation changes and “plays-like” distances. Most of those devices come with a switch to turn off such information, but many elite players opt for devices that do not provide elevation and other data as a precaution against forgetting to turn off those functions.
The Norwegian was more than one shot better on each hole in the second round than in the first to break a DP World Tour course record.
More proof that golf is a ridiculous game: Espen Koftsad of Norway followed an opening 81 with a second-round, course-record 62 in the Hero Indian Open in New Delhi on the DP World Tour.
Kofstad made nine birdies and an eagle against one bogey in the second round. That’s versus one birdie, five bogeys, a double bogey on a par 5 and a triple bogey on another par 5 in the first round.
The 19-shot swing between the two rounds propelled him to a 1-under total and inside the projected cutline at DLF Golf and Country Club. Koftsad already had booked flights home after the opening 81, assuming there was no chance he would play the weekend on the Gary Player-designed course. His 62 broke Shubhankar Sharma’s record of 64 on the par-72 layout.
"I changed my flights last night to go home tomorrow, so I'm going to have to change them again!" @EspenKofstad shot 19 shots less on Friday than he did Thursday 😲#HIO24pic.twitter.com/Ans8LjjIoL
The 62 also was the lowest round by two shots on the DP World Tour for Kofstad, who turned pro in 2010 before a series of injuries derailed his career.
“Today was just unbelievable,” he told the DP World Tour after signing his card. “Everything came off and I’ve holed so many putts, I have no idea how many feet I’ve holed but it’s been quite the day. I’ve been working a lot on the range lately and I’m feeling like I’ve been coming back from injury and everything’s been feeling horrible for the longest time.
“The other day I felt like, ‘OK, I’m starting to move a little bit better,’ and then yesterday I just didn’t get used to what I was working on and everything went wrong. Then this morning on the range, I was just hitting balls and it felt really nice and then all of a sudden the birdies just started rolling in when I started playing.”
The second round of the Hero Indian Open was hit with storms and will be continued Saturday morning. Keita Nakajima of Japan held a one-shot lead at 14 under after completing consecutive 65s. Romain Langasque was in second place at 12 under after two rounds of 66, and Matteo Manassero of Italy was in third after completing rounds of 65-68 for an 11-under total.
Check out these hole-by-hole photos of Marco Simone headed into the 2023 Ryder Cup.
All the golf world’s eyes will be on Marco Simone Golf & Country Club this week for the 2023 Ryder Cup. Before you get your first look at the course on television or online coverage, check out the following photos of each hole to see what the U.S. and European teams face.
Marco Simone opened in 1989 with a layout by David Mezzacane and Jim Fazio, but that course doesn’t exist anymore. The whole layout was renovated and rerouted in 2018-2020 by a team from European Golf Design led by Dave Sampson, with American architect Tom Fazio II serving as a consultant.
The current hilly layout – 155 feet of elevation change in all – was designed with the Ryder Cup in mind, with several drivable par 4s. It will play to a par of 71 with a yardage of 7,181 yards for the biennial team competition.
Marco Simone, a par 72 that will play 7,268 yards for the Ryder Cup. is a public-access layout with tee times available.
Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome – site of the 2023 Ryder Cup between teams from the U.S. and Europe – originally was designed by David Mezzacane and Jim Fazio and opened in 1989.
The layout was completely renovated in 2018-2020 by a team of European Golf Design led by Dave Sampson in conjunction with Tom Fazio II, a leading American architect and the son of Jim Fazio – Tom Fazio worked for his dad on the original layout. The renovation included a complete rerouting of the hilly layout with the Ryder Cup in mind. With 155 feet of elevation change across the course, the holes were laid out to favor match play, with several drivable par 4s.
Marco Simone – a public-access layout with tee times available on the course’s website – will play to a par of 71 with the scorecard showing 7,181 yards. It’s likely the host European team will adjust yardages in attempt to benefit itself. The rough has been reported to be deep and thick heading into the Ryder Cup, putting an emphasis on accurate tee shots to relatively tight fairways.
Thanks to a yardage book provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the players face at the Ryder Cup. Check out the maps of each hole below.
Who can forget the way he squandered a three-stroke lead on the last hole of the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie?
I flew to Mexico for a golf lesson from a Frenchman.
That’s where Jean Van de Velde, the affable golfer who once nearly had both hands on the Claret Jug but let it slip away in dramatic fashion is living and working these days, heading up the Jean Van de Velde Golf Academy at Punta Minta, located on the southernmost point of the Riviera Nayarit, 30 miles northwest of the resort city of Puerto Vallarta.
Who can forget the way he squandered a three-stroke lead on the last hole of the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie and lost to Scotland’s Paul Lawrie in a three-man playoff?
Van de Velde kept his chin up and dealt with defeat with class and a smile on his face. In October, we met for a golf lesson and a talk about the game he loves. It could’ve continued for hours, especially if we started drinking a good bottle of his wine, but unfortunately he had pick up duty and had to run off to fetch his son. Suffice it to say, he’s still active in the game as an instructor, television broadcaster, tournament operator and wine merchant among other things. One of the more fascinating parts of our talk occurred when we talked about the golf swing as he tried to straighten out my penchant to hook it and more recent struggles with a block to the right — “That’s when you load too much on the left on the backswing,” he said.
Jean Van de Velde gives Golfweek senior writer Adam Schupak a lesson at his golf academy in Punta Mita in Mexico. (Adam Schupak/Golfweek)
“I’m a guy who looks at what the golf ball does to identify what system you’re in. Whether it is a draw or a fade, as long as you control that shot it’s OK. What matters is repetition,” he said. “Then you decide, OK, this is what you do, and maybe with a little effort this is where you can be. Do you want to embark on that journey or learn to control the system you’re already in? I’m not the guy who is going to try to transform you just for the sake of it just because I have one swing thought in my head. Do I have a few preferences? It’s like the salt and the pepper in a recipe. At the end of the day, you need to have the ingredients.”
During his playing career, Van de Velde worked with legends in the teaching world from John Jacobs to David Leadbetter to Butch Harmon.
“David tried to re-make a few things,” Van de Velde said. “We tried to work on my takeaway. I was bringing the club a little too inside, I was crossing the line, my body had completed the turn and my arms were still moving. It’s all fine as long as you have the right timing, but when things go wrong again, where do you start? How do you get back on track as fast as you can? He said, ‘This is what I think,’ but at the end of the day it was my decision. He didn’t burn me with an iron and you’re going to do it. I implemented a few changes so I could swing in a way that was going to be more reliable. I did believe and I still do that he and Butch and John Jacobs and a few others were a big influence on me and they were right in their analysis.”
He continued: “Technique and teaching, I’ve always been very interested and read a lot of things and been lucky to be around some great thinkers on the swing. I believe the swing is made up of little imperfections. If you look at me swinging, I always had my hands behind at address, but I always started with a forward press. Do you want to change that or look at what goes together and make it happen? In 1999, I had control of my system and I putted pretty well. That year you see what I did at the Open but the best golf I played was in 2000 — by a mile. I played 18-20 times in America and finished 60th on the money list. I played I think 10 times in Europe and was 20 or 30th. In my life, I tried not to reinvent things. I used what others had done and adapted to myself. I told Bernhard Langer that I was going to try to play both tours and he said, ‘Just be careful. I tried that and it was complicated.’ I knew playing in the U.S. was going to have an expiration date. My kids were already in school in Geneva. It was hard to say, you know what, I’m going to play in America. Who’s around me? Who do I rely on? It wasn’t easy. It’s different now. The guys start playing in college golf and they make their lives straight away in the U.S. They are already structured whether it is Viktor Hovland or Jon Rahm.”
Jean Van de Velde attempts to fix the ball flight of Golfweek senior writer Adam Schupak, saying, “It ain’t going left, Sunshine,” after he straightened him out. (Adam Schupak/Golfweek)
Van de Velde suggested I do a drill where I held the club with the face a few degrees open at address. In his disarming style, he said, “you’re on the range. It doesn’t matter. Let’s see what happens.”
I swung and the ball flew right at the flag where I was aiming.
“It ain’t going to go left, Sunshine,” he said. “Not possible.”
In that moment, Jean Van de Velde became my latest golf guru. Here’s more from Van de Velde on the Ryder Cup, what went wrong with budding French star Victor Dubuisson and the time he stuck Jose-Maria Olazabal with the tab for a dozen or so bottles of fine wine from the Augusta National wine cellar.
The R&A said “we look forward to working with the new entity for the benefit of the sport globally” as to professional golf’s new format.
Martin Slumbers, CEO of the R&A, weighed in Tuesday on the announcement that LIV Golf, the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour plan to merge under the umbrella of one new for-profit company that is yet to be named.
The R&A governs the sport of golf in most of the world outside the United States and Mexico. The R&A (originally part of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club but now an independent governing body) is separate from the DP World Tour, formerly the European Tour. The R&A conducts the Open Championship, known by many in the U.S. as the British Open. In cooperation with the USGA, the R&A determines the Rules of Golf.
It was not made clear if the R&A had been aware of the merger ahead of Tuesday’s statement. Many professional golfers have expressed surprise upon hearing the news. The USGA had not made any statements about the planned merger as of early Tuesday afternoon.
The full statement from Slumbers, who has been head of the R&A since 2015:
“We are pleased that an agreement has been reached which will help men’s professional golf move forward in a collaborative, constructive and innovative fashion. We care deeply about golf’s future and are committed to ensuring that the sport continues to thrive for many years to come. This agreement represents a huge step toward achieving that goal for golf and we look forward to working with the new entity for the benefit of the sport globally.”
Norman, who lives in Palm Beach Gardens, was behind the creation of LIV Golf.
The PGA Tour and Saudi-backed LIV Golf, who have been embroiled in a year-long bitter rivalry, have agreed to merge, they each announced Tuesday morning.
The tours, including the DP World Tour, signed an agreement that would combine their commercial businesses and rights into a new company. The move is thought to be a big win for the sport, which had become divided.
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said in a statement. “This transformational partnership recognizes the immeasurable strength of the PGA Tour’s history, legacy and pro-competitive model and combines with it the DP World Tour and LIV — including the team golf concept — to create an organization that will benefit golf’s players, commercial and charitable partners and fans.
“Going forward, fans can be confident that we will, collectively, deliver on the promise we’ve always made — to promote competition of the best in professional golf and that we are committed to securing and driving the game’s future.”
With @PGATOUR and @livgolf_league agreeing to combine, what will the new organization look like?
— Squawk on the Street (@SquawkStreet) June 6, 2023
The tours have been embroiled in a year-long bitter rivalry that has included insults being hurled back and forth by LIV commissioner and CEO Greg Norman and Monahan along with several lawsuits. As part of the new deal, those lawsuits will be dropped.
Norman, who lives in Palm Beach Gardens, was behind the creation of LIV Golf. The league, financed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has come under fire for what detractors say is a form of “sportswashing,” with Saudi Arabia attempting to distract from its atrocious human rights violations.
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From the start, Norman was seeking collaboration from the PGA Tour and told The Palm Beach Post last summer he believed a LIV-PGA Tour merger was in the future.
“One hundred percent I do,” Norman said when asked if he believed the two tours could come together. “Jay Monahan, if he had the decency to take our meetings right from the get-go, none of this stuff would be in place today. The game of golf would be in a much better place. The Tour would be in a much better place. European golf would be in a much better place.
“In the world of business if you got a competitor coming to challenge you, understand what your competitor’s got by sitting down and signing an NDA, having a conversation and see (what) works for us.”
“Golf is strange and hard to understand at times, and probably we shouldn’t try too hard to understand it.”
What a long strange trip it has been for Matteo Manassero to return to the winner’s circle.
On the weekend of the 10-year anniversary of his BMW PGA Championship victory, the 30-year-old Italian claimed his maiden European Challenge Tour title at the Copenhagen Challenge.
Manassero, a four-time DP World Tour winner and the youngest player to win three times on the European circuit, shot a bogey-free final-round 66, which was good enough for a one-shot victory at 12 under par and his first title since winning the 2020 Toscana Open on the Alps Tour.
Born near Verona, he started playing golf at age three with a set of plastic clubs. At 16, he became the youngest winner of the British Amateur Championship in 2009 before taking the silver medal for low amateur in the 2009 British Open Championship. Manassero climbed as high as 25th in the Official World Golf Ranking and seemed destined for greater things. But the short-hitting Italian chased distance gains and lost control of his swing and his game. He entered the week No. 575 in the world.
Manassero started the day six shots behind overnight leader Matias Honkala, but made a three-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to secure his first DP World Tour-sanctioned victory since his heroics at Wentworth in 2013.
“There are a lot of emotions,” he said. “It has been 10 years now since I won on Tour so I guess May is a good time of the year for me.
“My wife never caddies for me but this week she was here, so it’s been the perfect week and as good as any other I’ve ever had.”
Manassero started strongly in the final round with back-to-back birdies from the second hole before tacking on another at the eighth. With Honkala dropping back and South African teenager Casey Jarvis also picking up shots, Manassero was in a three-way share of the lead. However, he rose to the top with birdies at the 14th and 15th before the clincher at 18 to be crowned champion at Royal Golf Club by one stroke ahead of Jarvis. Manassero enjoyed the moment after being lost in golf’s wilderness for a decade, a can’t-miss-kid who has been one of the biggest disappointments in the professional game.
“I’ve had a lot of down periods during those ten years but I’m still here and now I’m holding the trophy, which means I’ve done a lot of good things as well in that period of time,” he said. “In the past maybe I didn’t enjoy enough of the good times, but I definitely will now.
“I came into this week with doubts about my game and I wasn’t feeling great. This golf course isn’t a course that you can afford not to be feeling great but sometimes you grind, and it doesn’t happen and sometimes all of a sudden it clicks.
“Golf is strange and hard to understand at times, and probably we shouldn’t try too hard to understand it.”
Manassero improved to fifth on the Road to Mallorca Rankings up from 40th position, while Jarvis moves up to second from 15th place.
John Bland won multiple titles in South Africa and on what is now the DP World Tour.
South African golfer John Bland, who won twice on the DP World Tour before coming to prominence in the U.S. on PGA Tour Champions, has died. He was 77.
Bland’s death was announced by the Sunshine Tour, of which he claimed the circuit’s Order of Merit title four times and he ranked fifth in career wins with 21. He died Tuesday at a hospital in George, South Africa “after a battle with cancer,” the Sunshine Tour said.
Born Sept. 22, 1945, in Johannesburg, Bland turned pro in 1969 and won his first of 36 titles at the 1970 Transvaal Open. He won the South African PGA Championship in 1977 over Gary Player, one of three victories that year and a total he matched again in 1983 when he claimed the European Tour’s Benson and Hedges International over Bernhard Langer.
Beloved South African professional golfer John Bland, who won 36 titles in a celebrated career, passed away shortly after 6am on Tuesday 9 May 2023.
Bland (77) passed away in a hospital in George after a battle with cancer, with his family and his bulldog Handsome by his side.… pic.twitter.com/4tZic37Gu5
In a professional career that spanned more than 40 years, he didn’t compete in the U.S. until turning 50 but quickly proved his mettle with five senior titles and more than $7 million in earnings. He won in his second start as a Monday Qualifier, earning exempt status for a year and went on to be named Senior PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 1996 after winning four times and finishing third on the money list. Some of his best duels were with Jim Colbert, who finished second to Bland in four of his five victories on the circuit. Bland also won three times on the European Senior Tour.
“It’s so hard to post the utterly devastating news that John Bland, my traveling companion of so many years and mentor has passed away,” fellow South African golfer Tony Johnstone tweeted. “He was so much more than a friend and words don’t express the true meaning of ‘brother’.”
Bland is survived by his wife, Sonja, three children – John-Mark, Bonney and Candice – and three grandchildren. He died with family and bulldog Handsome by his side.
The Sunshine Tour said Bland was “one of the most loved and respected South African sportsmen.”
