Max Homa earns first international win at Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa

Next week the European-based tour heads to Dubai for its season finale DP World Tour Championship.

Max Homa was a winner on Sunday, but it wasn’t on the PGA Tour.

The 32-year-old is sitting pretty in Sun City, South Africa, after picking up his first international win at the Nedbank Golf Challenge, the penultimate event of the DP World Tour season.

Playing on an invitation, Homa fired a 6-under 66 at Gary Player Country Club to finish at 19 under for the tournament, four shots ahead of runner-up Nicolai Hojgaard (68). This weekend was Homa’s first appearance since his 3½-point performance in his Ryder Cup Debut last month in Italy.

“It’s kind of what you dream of, you want to be in the fight and it was just fun to kind of close it out at the end,” Homa said. “It was one of those weeks the ball wanted to go in when it needed to go in.”

Homa is a six-time winner on the PGA Tour and last claimed victory at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open. In 25 events last season, the Cal product earned two wins, one runner-up and 18 top-25 finishes. He finished ninth in the FedEx Cup standings and earned $10,761,517 in official prize money.

Thorbjorn Olesen (69) finished third at 14 under, with Justin Thomas (66) in fourth at 12 under. Dan Bradbury (71) rounded out the top five at 11 under. Two-time defending champion Tommy Fleetwood (72) finished T-12 at 7 under.

Next week the European-based tour heads to Dubai for its season finale DP World Tour Championship.

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Gary Player makes controversial comment about the Augusta National Women’s Amateur

Player is a three-time Masters champion.

During the first-round broadcast of the DP World Tour’s Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa, that country’s own Gary Player stopped by to take in the action and joined the broadcast.

The three-time Masters champion said he loved that Augusta National extended a membership offer to arguably the greatest women’s player of all time, Annika Sorenstam (a story first reported by Golfweek‘s Adam Schupak).

“To see Annika Sorenstam made a member of Augusta, they never allowed women, and now to see a woman be a member, I think it’s fantastic,” Player said. “She’s the best lady golfer in the world, or was, wonderful to see, isn’t it?”

Sorenstam isn’t the first woman to earn a green jacket, as she joined Condoleezza Rice, Darla Moore and others.

However, when the Augusta National Women’s Amateur was mentioned as another great thing Augusta National does for the women’s game, Player quickly retorted, “I don’t agree with you on that.”

Watch the full clip below:

Player has been at odds with the famed golf club in Georgia in recent years and had said he doesn’t feel welcome when he’s back on the grounds.

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‘Nobody enjoys it and it’s not fair’: Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and Annika Sorenstam address golf’s pace of play problem

“It’s not very pleasant to watch somebody stand over the ball for half an hour,” said Jack Nicklaus.

When Jack Nicklaus says slow play is a problem, you know the topic has officially jumped the shark.

Nicklaus was asked to opine on the pace of play of professional golf during a press conference on Saturday at The Woodlands in Houston ahead of competing in the Greats of Golf, a nine-hole exhibition played during the Insperity Championship on PGA Tour Champions.

“They do have a problem on the Tour today,” Nicklaus said. “The golf ball is a part of the problem. The longer the golf ball goes, the longer the courses get, the more you have to walk, the longer it’s going to take. I don’t think it’s good for the game. (The USGA and R&A have proposed) bringing the golf ball back (and reducing the distance it can travel). I think it’s a good start. It’s the first time they’ve done that in forever. We’ll see where it goes with that.

Nicklaus has long been a proponent of rolling back the golf ball but acknowledged that slow-play penalties are also overdue to be handed out.

“It’s got to be equitable,” Nicklaus added, “but they need to make an example and stay with it. It’s not very pleasant to watch somebody stand over the ball for half an hour.”

Slow play has made headlines recently after weather delays forced the Masters to go to threesomes and split tees in the final round and the glacial pace was exposed on TV. Brooks Koepka, who played in the final group, called out Patrick Cantlay, who also took his time on multiple occasions at the RBC Heritage the following week but pointed out that he was never put on the clock in either instances. Slow play has been a chronic problem in the game and rarely gets addressed in any meaningful way. But that wasn’t the case in Nicklaus’s rookie year.

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The Golden Bear always was a deliberate player but he learned early in his career that his pace of play was too slow. He was penalized two strokes during the second round at the 1962 Portland Open by PGA official Joe Black. Nicklaus still rolled to a six-stroke victory but he learned an important lesson that day.

“It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” Nicklaus said, noting that Black told him, “Jack, you can take as long as you want over the golf ball to play but be ready when it’s your turn.”

“I always tried to stay out of everybody’s way,” Nicklaus continued. “I didn’t want to bother anybody lining up my putt while they were lining up their putt so I stayed back. I didn’t want to start walking my yardages off. I took a while over the golf ball but that wasn’t the problem. The problem was being ready to play. I realized after playing on the Tour for a while that it’s also a courtesy to the field. It’s not fair to do that.”

Nicklaus also blamed caddies for being part of the problem.

“By the time they get through talking, I couldn’t hit a shot anyway,” he said. “It’s a problem.”

The Greats of Golf gathered on Saturday, April 29, 2023, at the Insperity Invitational and played a nine-hole exhibition. (Courtesy Insperity Invitational)

Gary Player echoed that sentiment. “It’s just not fair to the others to be taking the amount of time,” he said. “You are allocated a certain amount of time and you have to adhere to that or you should be penalized.”

Player noted that golfers have three practice rounds and then they spend too much time around the green doing Aim Point and studying their yardage books. “You didn’t see Bobby Locke, Ben Crenshaw or Tiger Woods doing that,” Player said.

“I read the green from 50 yards,” Lee Trevino added. “Keep staring at it while you’re walking you can see every curve on that green. Before you ever get there to read that putt you know exactly the direction it’s going.”

Annika Sorenstam said the problem with pace of play starts at the junior level.

“The juniors watch the pros and they see the Masters and see how much time the pros take and do the same thing,” she said. “I know the AJGA does a good job, but then they get to college and it all goes away and then they turn pro. I think it is a root problem from the beginning.

“Nobody enjoys it and it’s not fair. We’re running out of time, time is a precious commodity, right, so I think start at the very beginning and teach them to hit when you’re ready and go. The more we think, the more complicated it gets, right, so just hit and go.”

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Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorenstam and 14 other legends highlight this year’s Folds of Honor event at The Woodlands

This is going to be fun.

If you’re looking to spend a day watching 16 legends of the game tee it up in the same event, you’re in luck.

This year’s Folds of Honor Greats of Golf exhibition at The Woodlands in Texas is loaded with some of the best players of all time. During the second round of the Insperity Invitational on the PGA Tour Champions, Jack Nicklaus, Annika Sorentam, Gary Player, Lee Trevino and 12 others will play in a nine-hole four-team scramble.

“We feel very privileged to have the opportunity to bring the greatest names in the game of golf back to the Houston area thanks to the support of our new partner, Folds of Honor, during this milestone celebration for our tournament. This collection of legends are true ambassadors and role models in our sport,” said Bryan Naugle, Executive Director, Insperity Invitational, in a press release. “Not only is this a great group of golfers, they are incredible people and special role models for all of us. Reuniting these extraordinary ambassadors of our game has become a staple of tournament week. They provide hours of entertainment and a lifetime of memories for our fans each year.”

Team 1: Sorenstam, Nicklaus, Player, Trevino
Team 2: Pat Bradley, David Graham, Tony Jacklin, Tom Kite
Team 3: Nancy Lopez, Dave Stockton, Larry Nelson, Hale Irwin
Team 4: Juli Inkster, Ben Crenshaw, Bill Rodgers, Fuzzy Zoeller

In all, the group of 16 players accounts for 234 PGA Tour wins, 156 LPGA wins and 77 major championships. Thirteen of the participants are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame.

The match is scheduled for April 29.

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Phil Mickelson joins list of players to finish top 10 at the Masters in four different decades

When your name is next to Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus, you’re doing something right.

AUGUSTA, GA. — Finishing in the top 10 of the Masters is an impressive accomplishment no matter the year. After all, Augusta National Golf Club isn’t for the faint of heart.

But to do so in four different decades? That’s a testament to a player’s longevity and ability to navigate Alister MacKenzie’s masterpiece among the Georgia pines.

Stats guru Justin Ray from the Twenty First Group was first to point out that Phil Mickelson had a shot to join the exclusive group of players with a top 10 this week, and Sunday afternoon he did just that.

Mickelson, who missed last year’s event after his controversial statements and move to LIV Golf, shot a 7-under 65 during the final round of the 2023 Masters to shoot up the leaderboard into a tie for second place with Brooks Koepka. A three-time winner of the green jacket (2004, 2006, 2010), Lefty has now finished inside the top 10 a whopping 15 times in more than 30 appearances at Augusta National.

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Here’s the impressive list of other players to finish top 10 at the Masters in four different decades.

Photos: Honorary Starters ceremony at the 2023 Masters

It never gets old watching Jack, Gary and Tom hit the opening tee shots of the Masters.

The 2023 Masters tournament is officially underway.

Those are the words Chairman Fred Ridley said at the conclusion of the Honorary Starters ceremony, one of the best traditions of Masters week at Augusta National Golf Club. The tournament always gets underway with legends of the game striking the first tee shots.

87-year-old Gary Player went first, followed by 83-year-old Jack Nicklaus and then 73-year-old Tom Watson hit the final shot. Player kicked his leg after hitting his tee shot, Nicklaus joked with the crowd how putting the tee in the ground was the most difficult part and then Watson made fun of himself for injuring his shoulder late last year in a go-kart accident.

Masters 2023 leaderboard: Get the latest news from Augusta

The Honorary Starters hitting tee shots will never get old. Here’s a look at some of the best photos from the special moment on the first tee to kick off the 87th Masters.

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Lynch: Fore please! Gary Player now making a fool of himself

It’s a feast of sniping and griping, but the Player spectacle is veering toward undignified.

Gary Player has enjoyed his share of MVP moments at the Masters – you may even have heard him mention them on occasion – but his most welcome contribution might come Tuesday evening, when the garrulous 87-year-old can be relied upon to fill any awkward silences at the Champions Dinner, which is likely to include six LIV Golf players but even more of their critics.

What the Most Voluble Player will actually say is another matter. He’s outspoken on every topic, from distance to despots, several of whom have hired him over the years and one of whom still lists Player as an ambassador for the Golf Saudi sportswashing front, despite the nine-time major winner’s sometimes harsh words on LIV. Alternatively, the old legend might elaborate on his recent comments about how unwelcome he feels at Augusta National and how he is reduced to beseeching members if he wants to bring a foursome to a private club that he’s not a member of.

“After all I’ve contributed to the tournament and been an ambassador for them, I can’t go and have a practice round there with my three grandchildren without having to beg a member to play with us,” he said to the Times of London. “And there’s always some excuse. It’s terribly, terribly sad.”

“I helped make this tournament what it is,” he added, with customary humility. Player apparently doesn’t think the tournament is all that, even with his contributions. In another salvo, he ranked the Masters fourth among majors (a defensible position, but one unlikely to make green jackets more receptive to his hosting requests).

Masters 2023 leaderboard: Get the latest news from Augusta

Player’s grumbling won’t surprise Augusta National’s evasive members, who are presumably weary of lectures about everything from their improper weight to his pristine bowel movements. He is well-known as an insufferable braggart whose ceaseless self-promotion makes Donald Trump appear downright modest by comparison. To borrow Jimmy Breslin’s rapier twist on Rudolph Giuliani, Player is a small man in search of a balcony.

While he is the most persistent bellyacher rolling down Magnolia Lane this week, he is not the only one.

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Bryson DeChambeau has bemoaned Tiger Woods cutting off contact since the pseudoscientist decamped to LIV, not even acknowledging a birthday text message. Bubba Watson insisted there’s no bad blood between players and that any suggestion of such is media mischief, ignoring the fact that LIV has been scattering subpoenas like confetti at one of Greg Norman’s weddings. Joaquin Niemann clearly wasn’t cc’d on Bubba’s memo. He said LIV guys are motivated to perform because of the “hate” directed toward them by other players, a comment that illustrates how quickly the rot sets in when a man orbits Sergio Garcia.

It’s a feast of sniping and griping, but the Player spectacle is veering toward undignified.

Since the blush of youth, he has been determined to write his own obituary, his every breath spent extolling his own virtues. It’s a trait that can amuse some, but surely tests the forbearance of others.

While his contemporaries Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus were welcomed as fully-fledged members at Augusta National, Player remains an honorary member, a status conferred on all past Masters champions. If the club was hesitant to extend full privileges to a three-time winner, events have justified the caution.

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Two years ago, his shiftless son Wayne sullied a first-tee tribute to Lee Elder, positioning a sleeve of golf balls he was pimping at just head height behind the wheelchair-bound honoree, right in the camera line. A couple years prior he was embroiled in an escapade over the selling of Masters access. Wayne is now unwelcome at the club, an exclusion that even the most ardent advocate for inclusion can cheer.

The son’s antics would have caused many a father to stay home for the shame of it. This father has many attributes—not least his commendable charity work—but a sense of shame isn’t among them. Both his life story and career record show Player is a man not easily deterred, while his words show one not easily embarrassed. How else to explain the mix of narcissism and petulance underpinning his crack that Augusta National would be “just another golf course in Georgia” without guys like him?

It’s quite possible Player will be contrite by the time he takes the dais with Nicklaus and Tom Watson for a Thursday morning press conference after the ceremonial tee shots, waxing lyrical about what the tournament, the club and its members mean to him, and how honored he is to be involved. It’s also possible that he might double down. Such are the risks inherent when the Masters venerates past champions, a peril not just confined to Tuesday’s private dinner. It must make some in officialdom wonder how long the tournament should continue platforming a man seemingly unable to filter his grievances, real or imagined.

If Player is being truthful—there’s no reason to think he isn’t—and really doesn’t feel welcome at Augusta National, there is an obvious solution. Lee Trevino felt similarly for many years. He stays home, and sometimes did so even in his competitive prime. But then, there’s neither a microphone nor an audience posted by the barcalounger at Player’s home, and one suspects the wounded old lion would see that as an even more intolerable situation.

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Gannett may earn revenue from sports betting operators for audience referrals to betting services. Sports betting operators have no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Terms apply, see operator site for Terms and Conditions. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available. Call the National Council on Problem Gambling 24/7 at 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, OH), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN). Must be 21 or older to gamble. Sports betting and gambling are not legal in all locations. Be sure to comply with laws applicable where you reside.

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‘I helped make this tournament what it is’ but Gary Player says he’s sad he doesn’t feel welcome at Augusta National

“If it wasn’t for the players, (Augusta) would just be another golf course in Georgia.”

Gary Player says he wishes he had more access to Augusta National Golf Club. It’s one of his biggest complaints about the Masters.

He said the worst thing about the famed club is his inability to come play a round with friends, a rule he wishes would change. But it seems his frustration has boiled over.

The 87-year-old three-time Masters champion said in an interview with The Times how sad it is that he has to beg for a round at the place where he’s an honorary member.

Come Thursday, Player will join Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson as honorary starters ahead of the 2023 Masters, something he has done for more than a decade.

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Masters 2023 leaderboard: Get the latest news from Augusta

That ceremony is something he treasures, but outside of that, he isn’t happy with how he is welcomed at Augusta.

“After all I’ve contributed to the tournament and been an ambassador for them, I can’t go and have a practice round there with my three grandchildren without having to beg a member to play with us, and there’s always some excuse. It’s terribly, terribly sad,” Player told The Times.

“I’ve played my role: I’ve won it three times; I was in the top ten 15 times; I made the most number of cuts in a row ever (23), yet here we are struggling to get a round. If it wasn’t for the players, (Augusta National) would just be another golf course in Georgia.

“It’s just sad – and I put great emphasis on the word ‘sad’ – that Augusta (doesn’t) make you feel welcome in that regard because I helped make this tournament what it is.”

Last week, Player said in the Daily Mail the Open Championship was the best major and the Masters was fourth.

While Player said no golfer has received more love than he has over his career, he also said he has had a difficult road.

“There’s no golfer who’s ever had a tougher life than I have,” Player said. “I’ve won more tournaments than any man alive. I’ve won more national Opens than Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Arnold Palmer put together. I’ve done remarkable things.”

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Gannett may earn revenue from sports betting operators for audience referrals to betting services. Sports betting operators have no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. Terms apply, see operator site for Terms and Conditions. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, help is available. Call the National Council on Problem Gambling 24/7 at 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ, OH), 1-800-522-4700 (CO), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN). Must be 21 or older to gamble. Sports betting and gambling are not legal in all locations. Be sure to comply with laws applicable where you reside.

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Masters survey 2023: What hole (No. 12 aside) scares you the most at Augusta National?

We polled a handful of players and past champions about the scariest hole at Augusta National.

We eliminated the obvious choice – Golden Bell, the slender par-3 that has been a watery grave for many Green Jacket hopes – though Collin Morikawa was quick to point out he never said that hole was scary.

Jon Rahm cleverly asked, “Does the walk to 12 count?” and Jim Furyk voted for the dreaded third shot at 12. Sorry, Collin, 12 is take-your-par-and-run scary and that’s a fact.

The votes have been tabulated and Nos. 1, 4, 5, 7, 11, 15 and 18 all have been tabbed as “scary.” Our favorite answer has to be Jack Nicklaus, who made it clear he wasn’t scared of any of them but then gave a master class on the six scary shots that must be handled to have success at Augusta National. A scary thought, indeed.

Here’s what the pros had to say about the scariest hole at Augusta National, and why it’s No. 11.

Masters surveys: Least-liked concessions | Champions Dinners | Traditions

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Photos: Gary Player through the years

View photos of Gary Player throughout his Hall of Fame career, including nine major victories.

Gary Player is a golf giant.

A nine-time major champion, Player earned the nickname “The Black Knight” thanks to his dashing looks and outfit choices on the course.

With more than 150 worldwide career wins to his name, Player has been much more than just a champion golfer. He has dedicated his life to growing the game throughout his native South Africa and the world.

Player became just the fourth golfer to earn a career grand slam with his win at the 1965 U.S. Open at Bellerive. From there, he would go on to five more majors. As a senior, Player would tack on nine more major championships.

Following his playing career, Player continued his work as a global ambassador for the game. Sharing stories, swing tips and even showing off his fitness prowess, Player has been an endearing figure within the game throughout eight decades.

From helping underprivileged children across the globe to having a hand in designing over 400 golf courses, Player has made an impact well past his wins on Tour.