Tag: carlos ortiz

Matthew Wolff opens two-shot lead at World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba

“It was a hard finish, but I was really happy with how I played today.”

Through 31 holes at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, Matthew Wolff was up five shots on the field, making it easy to envision a second career PGA Tour title for the 22-year-old.

Scottie Scheffler then drained his fifth straight birdie on his back nine to cut it to four.

Wolff stumbled just a bit coming home with bogeys on 16 and 18 but his second-round 64, one day after his career-best 61, gives him a two-shot lead heading into the weekend at the El Camaleon Golf Club in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

This week marks the first time in his career that Wolff has held the solo lead after both 18 and 36 holes.

“No. 16 just doesn’t really set up well for me, not going to take driver there, and 3-wood kind of works away from the fairway,” he said after his round. “You know, like I said, it was a hard finish, but I was really happy with how I played today.”

Matthew Wolff of the United States looks on from the ninth green during the second round of the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba on El Camaleon golf course on November 05, 2021 in Playa del Carmen. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)

One key for Wolff is that he’s keeping the ball in play.

“I haven’t hit one ball out of play yet. Not to jinx myself, but like I said, feel really confident with every part of my game. My 2-iron and 3-wood are just really strong right now. I feel like I’m not even really giving up that much distance because balls aren’t rolling really in the fairway.”

Wolff won for the first time on the PGA Tour in his fourth start. He wasn’t even 21 yet when he hoisted the trophy at the 3M Open. Now he’s looking for win No. 2 in his 52nd career start.

As for his dinner plans on Friday?

“I’m actually going to go to Saffron in Banyan Tree here. It’s a Thai place that a lot of people say is really good,” he said.

Scheffler made things interesting by making a run up the leaderboard late in the day. He needed just 15 strokes over five holes to card those five straight birdies and vault into solo second. He is seeking his first Tour win.

“It’s not necessarily just bomb driver every time and I kind of appreciate that about this course,” he said. “You really just have to put the ball in position, there’s really no way around it.”

Carlos Ortiz and Viktor Hovland, who each shot 65 on Friday, are tied for third. Hovland, seeking to become the first repeat champion in the event, had a bit of a bad break Friday.

“I was 3-under par going on my front nine, the back nine. Then I get to the first hole, hit it in the left rough and I didn’t have very far in and I pushed it a little bit and literally landed four steps right of the pin, hits a sprinkler head and goes in the trees over the green. That was obviously, that’s a bad break, but it’s not like I sliced it OB or something like that. I knew I was playing good golf, so I just had to reset, and I was happy I made five birdies coming in.”

Hovland also seamlessly overcame a broken-driver incident on the driving range on Thursday, which caused him to go to the backup.

“Yeah. It’s honestly, yeah, I think from an accuracy standpoint, I think the driver might be better.”

Ortiz, who won for the first time on Tour 368 days ago at the Houston Open, sounds confident.

“Yeah, I know I can make it happen, so at the end of the day I want to be in contention for the last nine holes of the tournament and that’s my goal pretty much. Just have to keep playing some good golf and enjoy myself.”

Notables who missed the cut

The cut was 4 under and Brooks Koepka is among those who won’t play the weekend. Koepka shot 71-71 to finish even and tied for 108th. Lucas Herbert, who won a week ago at Bermuda, couldn’t recover from his opening round 75 and finished 1 over.

Up next

The Tour is back stateside next week for the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open.

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Who’s the oldest living boxer in the Hall of Fame?

Who’s the oldest living boxer in the International Boxing Hall of Fame? Hint: It’s wasn’t Tony DeMarco

Boxing lost one of its revered elder statesmen when former welterweight champ Tony DeMarco died at 89 on Oct. 11.

However, DeMarco wasn’t the oldest living boxer in the International Boxing Hall of Fame at the time of his passing. That distinction belongs to women’s pioneer Barbara Buttrick, who turns 92 on Dec. 3.

The next oldest living boxers in the Hall are Eder Jofre and Carlo Ortiz, both of whom are 85.

Buttrick (30-1-1) was in the inaugural class of the Women’s Trailblazer Category, which was instituted last year. She was elected with fellow pioneers Jackie Tonawanda and Marian Trimiar.

The Londoner, all 4-foot-11 and 98 pounds of her, began training at 18 and fought in exhibitions in Europe as part of a traveling boxing troupe, according to the IBHOF. Women’s professional boxing was banned in the U.K. at the time.

“The Mighty Atom of the Ring” was recognized as the world flyweight champion when she and her husband-trainer Len Smith traveled to the United States. She boxed throughout North America, winning the bantamweight title by outpointing Phyillis Kugler in 1957 in the process.

Buttrick trained at the famous 5th Street Gym in Miami and ended up settling in Florida. She retired in 1961 but remained a licensed manager and trainer.

Eder Jofre (7-2-4, 50 KOs) is a former two-division champion in the 1960s and ’70s who is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time. Ortiz (61-7-1, 30 KOs) was a highly respected – and probably underappreciated – lightweight titleholder in the 1960s.

Journalist and author Jerry Izenberg, 91, is the oldest living non-boxer in the Hall. The next oldest is journalist and broadcaster Larry Merchant, who is 90.

Who’s the oldest living boxer in the Hall of Fame?

Who’s the oldest living boxer in the International Boxing Hall of Fame? Hint: It’s wasn’t Tony DeMarco

Boxing lost one of its revered elder statesmen when former welterweight champ Tony DeMarco died at 89 on Oct. 11.

However, DeMarco wasn’t the oldest living boxer in the International Boxing Hall of Fame at the time of his passing. That distinction belongs to women’s pioneer Barbara Buttrick, who turns 92 on Dec. 3.

The next oldest living boxers in the Hall are Eder Jofre and Carlo Ortiz, both of whom are 85.

Buttrick (30-1-1) was in the inaugural class of the Women’s Trailblazer Category, which was instituted last year. She was elected with fellow pioneers Jackie Tonawanda and Marian Trimiar.

The Londoner, all 4-foot-11 and 98 pounds of her, began training at 18 and fought in exhibitions in Europe as part of a traveling boxing troupe, according to the IBHOF. Women’s professional boxing was banned in the U.K. at the time.

“The Mighty Atom of the Ring” was recognized as the world flyweight champion when she and her husband-trainer Len Smith traveled to the United States. She boxed throughout North America, winning the bantamweight title by outpointing Phyillis Kugler in 1957 in the process.

Buttrick trained at the famous 5th Street Gym in Miami and ended up settling in Florida. She retired in 1961 but remained a licensed manager and trainer.

Eder Jofre (7-2-4, 50 KOs) is a former two-division champion in the 1960s and ’70s who is considered one of the greatest boxers of all time. Ortiz (61-7-1, 30 KOs) was a highly respected – and probably underappreciated – lightweight titleholder in the 1960s.

Journalist and author Jerry Izenberg, 91, is the oldest living non-boxer in the Hall. The next oldest is journalist and broadcaster Larry Merchant, who is 90.

¡Carlos Ortiz va por el oro! México sigue con vida en el Golf

Carlos Ortiz de 30 años, está rankeado en lugar 61 de la clasificación mundial, pero está inspirado en Juegos Olímpicos y va por el oro

La esperanza de medalla para México está puesta en Carlos Ortiz, el golfista tapatío que está dando mucho de qué hablar con una destacada primera y segunda fase que lo mantienen en segundo puesto en Tokio 2020.

Ortiz comenzó la segunda fase de muy buena forma, incluso se puso como líder con un eagle y dos birdies en los primeros seis hoyos. Si bien, no pudo mantener la ventaja, arrancará como segundo lugar el fin de semana decisivo con un estupendo -10.

© Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

La punta la tiene el estadounidense Xander Schauffele (-11) con un golpe de ventaja sobre el mexicano que buscará darle a su país otro triunfo histórico este año, pues recordar que en 2020 le dio a México un título de PGA después de 42 años.

Carlos Ortiz de 30 años, está rankeado en lugar 61 de la clasificación mundial, pero está inspirado en Juegos Olímpicos y tiene a todo el pueblo mexicano ilusionado con una medalla para la delegación azteca que está siguiendo el desempeño de un torneo que ha atravesado de todo, incluyendo el mal clima, lo que podría afectar el cierre de la competencia.

Portada © Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

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Mexicans Abraham Ancer, Carlos Ortiz embrace Masters opportunity

It’s the first time two Mexican players have qualified for the Masters; they expect to see more in the future

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AUGUSTA, Ga. — Not many Mexicans have played in the Masters Tournament: four have combined for six starts before this year.

And never has more than one teed it up in the same Masters. So it is quite a thrill for the country to have two of its native sons — Abraham Ancer and Carlos Ortiz – among the 88 players in the field this year.

“You know, it’s awesome,” Ancer said Wednesday. “I think it speaks to where Mexican golf is headed. I think it’s in a good spot. Obviously we want to have more and more Mexicans and Latinos out here. Yeah, it’s awesome to have my friend out here, Carlos, and going to be a lot of fun.”

Thursday’s first round was more enjoyable for Ancer than for Ortiz. Ancer, playing in his second Masters, shot 1-over-par 73, while Ortiz opened with 81 in his Masters debut.

“It was quite the grind,” said Ancer, who started the day 2 under through three holes. “I didn’t hit it the best off the tee so I had to really dig deep and come up with some up and downs.

Masters: Leaderboard | Photos

“Like I said, it’s playing tough, so we got to stay positive and stay really, really focused out there,” he said. “There is going to be some shots that you think you hit in a good spot and they’re not going to end up in a good spot. You got to dig deep and get it up and down.”

Ancer, who was a second-round co-leader last year as a Masters rookie before finishing in a tie for 13th place, qualified for this year’s tournament by being among the 30 players to make the Tour Championship last year. He also finished among the top 50 in the season-ending world ranking, another route into the Masters.

Ortiz got into the field by winning the Houston Open on Nov. 8. He’s also in the top 50 in the world (47th).

The only other Mexican winner on the PGA Tour is Victor Regalado, who qualified in 1975 and then again for the 1979 Masters after he won the 1978 Quad Cities Open.

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The other Mexicans to make the Masters were amateurs – Juan Antonio Estrada and Alvaro Ortiz. Estrada was a foreign invitee in 1962, 1963 and 1964.

Alvaro Ortiz, who is Carlos Ortiz’s younger brother, played in the 2019 Masters by virtue of winning the Latin American Amateur.

Carlos followed him around during his appearance that year, and now Alvaro is returning the favor.

“It’s a payback,” Carlos said. “I came to see him, he’s coming to see me.”

Ancer said there are other talented young Mexicans in the pipeline that should make their way to the Masters.

“I feel like since Lorena (Ochoa, the former LPGA Tour star) played on tour and did so well it kind of opened our eyes and motivated us to get out here.

“Also the Mexican Federation, I think they’ve done a really good job bringing opportunities for kids, and now the First Tee is a big deal in Mexico which before we didn’t have any First Tees,” Ancer said. “So there has been a lot of efforts in the last five years to grow the game and hopefully can keep it going.”

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WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play odds, predictions and PGA Tour picks

We take a look at the 2021 WGC Match Play odds and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions to win.

This week’s World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play will be the final event for most of the PGA Tour’s biggest names ahead of the 2021 Masters Tournament (April 8-11). Austin Country Club in Austin, Texas, hosts the bracket of 64 for the first time since 2019. Below, we look at the 2021 WGC Match Play odds and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions to win.

The 2020 Match Play was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was not made up upon the Tour’s mid-June restart. As such, Kevin Kisner, who enters this week at 49th in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings, is the defending champion.

The Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic hosts a field of 132 as this week’s alternate event.

2021 WGC Match Play picks – Favorite

Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Monday at 1:45 p.m. ET.

Bryson DeChambeau (+1400)

DeChambeau comes into this week in top form following victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and a semi-disappointing T-3 finish at the Players Championship. He played this event only in 2019 when he was knocked out by group champion Marc Leishman in pool play.

DeChambeau leads the PGA Tour with 1.22 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and 2.29 SG: Tee-to-Green through 30 measured rounds on the 2020-21 season. He averaged 0.69 and 0.94 SG: Putting at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, respectively.

The biggest threat on this side of the bracket is world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, but he’s likely to be looking ahead to defending his green jacket at Augusta National Golf Club in two weeks.

Place your legal, online 2021 WGC Match Play bets in CO, IA, IN, MI, NJ, PA, TN, VA and WV at BetMGM. Risk-free first bet! Terms and conditions apply. Bet now!

2021 WGC Match Play picks – Contender

Viktor Hovland (+3300)

Hovland is likely to be tasked with a match against DeChambeau in Round 2 of the bracket format, but he has a very manageable pool in the group stage against Abraham Ancer, Bernd Wiesberger and Kevin Streelman.

The 23-year-old Norwegian is already a two-time PGA Tour champion and will play in his first match-play event. He tied for second at the WGC-Workday Championship last month before a T-49 finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and missed cut at the Players.

He’s averaging 1.79 SG: Tee-to-Green per round through 41 measured rounds this season. He has broken 70 in 11 of his 22 rounds in 2021.

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2021 WGC Match Play picks – Long shot

Carlos Ortiz (+10000)

Ortiz, 81st in the Golfweek rankings, is worth a long-shot bet from the right side of the bracket. He’ll play his group stage against Patrick Cantlay, Hideki Matsuyama and Brian Harman. Cantlay has the best odds of the four to win this event at +2800.

The 29-year-old makes his WGC-Match Play debut after winning November’s Vivint Houston Open by two strokes over Matsuyama and Johnson. It was his first PGA Tour victory and gained him entry to his first Masters.

Ortiz missed the cut at the Players, but he previously tied for 15th at the WGC-Workday Championship and has a top finish of T-4 this year in a strong field at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Get some action on the 2021 WGC Match Play by signing up and betting at BetMGM. If you’re looking for more sports betting picks and tips, access all of our content at SportsbookWire.com. Please gamble responsibly.

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Carlos Ortiz gets best of South Course, shares 54-hole lead at Farmers Insurance Open

After the third round, Carlos Ortiz has a share of the lead alongside Patrick Reed at the Farmers Insurance Open.

SAN DIEGO – Carlos Ortiz played the South Course at Torrey Pines during Saturday’s third round of the Farmers Insurance Open.

No, really, he did. Seriously, no fooling.

While most others were having their fair share of troubles on the brutal layout despite warm temperatures, little wind and plenty of sunshine, Ortiz got the best of the brute en route to a 6-under-par 66 and shot up the leaderboard into a share of the 54-hole lead with Patrick Reed.

His 66 was the day’s best round by two shots. The field averaged 73.57.

So, yes, Ortiz was entitled to flash a huge smile when asked after the round exactly what course he had played on Saturday.

Farmers Insurance Open: Leaderboard | Photos

“Today was a beautiful day, I don’t think it gets any better than this anywhere. I took advantage of that, I hit the ball great and made a couple putts and when you do that it normally is a good outcome,” Ortiz said. “It doesn’t really matter pretty much until the last nine holes. My goal is to be in contention going into the last round, last nine holes, and I think I’m going to have a good chance tomorrow.”

His lone bogey came on the 11th and he birdied four of his last six holes. He also wasn’t bothered by an adventurous ninth hole when he chipped in for par.

“Oh, my God, I don’t want to walk you through that. I mean, it was one of those holes that I hit it five times and I made 5,” he said. “I feel like I played three holes in one hole, it was just exhausting hitting out of the rough.

“I was really aggravated and I was really energized after making that chip. I don’t know how to react. I was mad and at the same time, happy I made it. I don’t know, it was just one of those holes that I’m glad I made 5.”

Ortiz broke through for his first PGA Tour title in last year’s Vivant Houston Open. He has risen to No. 54 in the world.

MORE: Patrick Reed involved in rules controversy at Torrey Pines

“I’m having a different perspective on the way I’m playing,” he said. “I’m taking it easier, I’m trying to see the good things in everything, not only on the golf course. I just want to come out here, give my best. If my best is 78 or 66, that’s OK, but as long as I give my best, that’s all I’m trying to do here right now.”

Ortiz shares the lead with Reed, who was involved in a rules controversy and overcame four bogeys on the back nine to birdie his final hole for a 72. The two are at 10 under.

Five players are tied for third – 2017 Farmers champion Jon Rahm (72), Sam Burns (70), Lanto Griffin (72), Viktor Hovland (73) and Adam Scott (72).

Scott had one of the wildest rounds one has ever posted. He didn’t make his first par until the fifth – and he had to get up-and-down from 50 yards to make that par. In all, he had five birdies, five bogeys, an eagle and a double bogey.

“I had 72; it felt like 80 at one point and it felt like it was going to be 67 at one point,” Scott said. “It’s a hard golf course and I got a little out of sorts coming in there, which is disappointing, but I’m a couple back and got a chance tomorrow.

“If you’re not on top of your game on these tough courses, you know it’s a pretty demanding golf course in that wind today, a lot of holes into the wind on the back nine. You miss the fairway, it’s hard to hit a green you’re so far back. So really it was a combination of those two things coming in, leaving yourself work around the greens. It was tough putting the last nine holes today.

“If I can just kind of find about 16 really good holes tomorrow and limit the damage out here, I think I’ve got a good shot at it. It can turn around quick, there’s opportunities if you hit good shots and you get penalized if you hit bad ones. I’ve got to find a bag full of good ones tomorrow.”

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A wishlist: What we hope to see on the PGA Tour in 2021

We asked our writers to name the thing that tops their PGA Tour wish list heading into the new year.

After a stop-and-start PGA Tour season in 2020, we’re reminded how grateful we are when our sport is playing on as scheduled. No one knows for sure what’s ahead in 2021, but here’s hoping we’ve cleared the COVID hurdle – in life and in golf – and are trending toward normalcy.

For all the uncertainty of 2020, it still produced some memorable storylines. Some of those set the stage for big things to come in 2021.

We asked our writers to name the thing that tops their PGA Tour wish list heading into the new year. In a perfect world, we’d be able to check all the following boxes. Wouldn’t that be some year?

How much money the top PGA Tour golfers won at the Mayakoba Golf Classic

Check out how much money the top players won this week in Mexico.

Check out how much money the top players won this week in Mexico.

Carlos Ortiz, Abraham Ancer lift Mexican golf to new heights

Mexican golfers Carlos Ortiz and Abraham Ancer have enjoyed recent success on the PGA Tour while inspiring their fellow countrymen.

As Carlos Ortiz chased his first PGA Tour title at the Vivint Houston Open last month, Abraham Ancer was preparing to play a practice round ahead of his first Masters, the tournament he grew up dreaming of playing and had framed the invitation in his living room.

“But I was like, ‘I’ve got to go watch my boy win this thing,’” Ancer said. “I’ve never been that nervous watching somebody else play. I was actually freaking out there a little bit.”

As Ortiz lined up the winning 20-foot putt, Ancer watched from the Augusta National locker room with U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and filmed the moment on his phone.

“I’m like, ‘Man, he’s going to win.’ Bryson’s like, ‘Don’t jinx him.’ I said, ‘I’m not going to jinx him, he’s going to make this putt,’” Ancer recounted during a press conference on the eve of the Mayakoba Golf Classic. “He hit that putt maybe a little bit harder than he would have thought or would have wanted, but it went dead center and I was fist pumping, I was so pumped.”

In doing so, Ortiz became the first player from Mexico to win a PGA Tour event in more than 40 years and just the third Mexican native ever, joining Cesar Sanudo, who won the 1970 Azalea Open Invitational and Victor Regalado, who won twice at the 1974 Pleasant Valley Classic and 1978 Quad Cities Open. Afterwards, it took Ortiz five days to respond to his well-wishers, which included Mexican boxer Canelo Alvarez, Formula 1 driver Checo Perez, and Mexico’s most-renowned golfer, World Golf Hall of Famer Lorena Ochoa, who set the bar high for Ortiz and all Mexican golfers with 27 LPGA Tour victories before she retired in 2010.

“She was on TV all the time and in my case, she definitely inspired me and helped me believe that working hard and doing things the right way, we’re able to achieve our goals,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz, 29, broke the long winless spell for Mexican golfers on the PGA Tour, but it likely won’t be long before Ancer or someone else follows in his footsteps. Ortiz and Ancer are leading a contingent of five Mexican golfers (and 11 Latin golfers in all) at this week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic at El Camaleon Golf Club in Riviera Maya, south of Cancun.

Abraham Ancer tees off on the 15th hole during the second round of the Zozo Championship golf tournament at Sherwood Country Club. (Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports)

Ancer, 29, was born in the United States, but grew up in Reynoso, Mexico, and was introduced to the game by his father at the tender age of 2 or 3, he said, at Club Campestre de Reynoso. Asked at Augusta National to describe his childhood course, he cracked, “It’s just like this.”

“I was out there practicing every single day. I never really had to be told, hey, you need to go practice. I was always wanting to be out there and I just love, I love this sport. I love getting better and I feel like there’s so much to get better at still,” he said. “It’s a never-ending journey.”

Ancer’s family crossed back to the border town of McAllen, Texas, so that he could attend high school and pursue his dream of playing golf professionally. Ancer was named the 2010 Jack Nicklaus Award winner as the Junior College National Player of the Year at Odessa College in Texas and played three seasons at Oklahoma, where his college coach, Ryan Hybl, nicknamed him “The Eraser,” for his penchant to bounce back from a bogey with a birdie. Ancer realized his childhood dream of playing on the PGA Tour in 2015, but experienced a rude awakening as a rookie, none more so than when he witnessed the brilliance of Rory McIlroy for the first time at his Tour debut at the Safeway Open.

“I was hitting balls on the range, hitting 7-irons and it was kind of cold in the morning and Rory sets up next to me. I was like, man, this is awesome,” Ancer said. “He starts hitting these irons that just take off straight up in the air carrying 210 into the wind cold, like 5-irons. I was like, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t do that.’ I started thinking I need to hit it higher and farther, so I started tinkering and that was a terrible idea, but I just didn’t know better.”

Ancer missed his first nine cuts his rookie year and was relegated back to the Korn Ferry Tour, but that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“I didn’t play my game. I switched equipment, I did a bunch of things trying to play like the top guys in the world and that really hurt me. I mean, it went downhill quickly,” he said. “But I’m thankful I did that and I learned a lot of lessons really quickly. In those five short months I just played terrible golf. I learned so much, and right after that I was like, you know what, I’m going to go back to playing my game.”

He found his stride, winning the 2018 Australian Open, becoming the first Mexican player to represent the International team for the Presidents Cup in 2019 and playing in the final group in his Masters debut last month before skying to a final-round 76 and T-13 finish when his putter let him down on Sunday. Ancer rued missing a short birdie putt at the par-5 second hole.

“I couldn’t really shake it off,” he said. “After that I didn’t really quite feel that comfortable over my putter throughout the round.”

Having risen to No. 22 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Ancer is one of the top-ranked players without a PGA Tour title to his credit, and there’s a growing sense that it is a matter of when, not if, he’ll bring another trophy home for Mexico.

“I think he’s been a great influence for the whole Mexican golf,” Ortiz said. “Even though we’re competing, I look up to him because he’s doing great things.”

Ortiz and Ancer likely will battle this week for the Premio Mexico trophy, which is awarded to the Mexican player with the best finish this week. Ortiz nearly won all the hardware last year, finishing tied for second in the tournament.

“Brendon Todd played unbelievable,” Ortiz said. “I did everything I could and then he won.”

Ortiz had his day in Houston and it’s one he will not soon forget.

“First two days it was kind of almost scary waking up thinking like it was all a dream, just wanted to make sure it was real,” he said.

Could there be a more perfect scenario for Ancer’s maiden victory than becoming the first Mexican to win at El Camaleon in the 14th year of the Mayakoba event? Ortiz doesn’t think so.

“Winning on your home soil would be a dream come true,” he said. “I think it’s coming.”

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