Watch: LIV Golf star makes long birdie, fan falls off barstool trying to catch souvenir

The fan who tried to make a play for the ball might have wound up with a bruise or two.

Adrian Meronk’s 64 wasn’t the best score of the second round at LIV Golf Hong Kong, in fact that honor went to Abraham Ancer, who finished with a 62 to cruise out to a five-stroke advantage heading into the final round of play at the Hong Kong Golf Club Fanling.

For Meronk, who admitted when he first joined LIV Golf that he did so due to his snub from the Ryder Cup team, the spectacular second round still has him looking way up the leaderboard at Ancer. Although his 64 put him at 8 under through the second round of play, Ancer’s scintillating effort pushed him to 15 under. He’s trailed by Harold Varner III and Eugenio Chacarra, both at 10 under, and the trio of Jon Rahm, Cam Smith and Henrik Stenson at 9 under.

But after Meronk drained a lengthy birdie putt on the 10th hole, one of seven birdies he posted on the day, he casually tossed the ball up into a gallery sitting in an adjacent bar area. The fan who tried to make a play for the ball might have wound up with a bruise or two.

In the team competition, Ancer’s Fireballs GC sits atop the leaderboard at 28 with Smith’s Ripper GC in second, just three shots behind.

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Harold Varner III arrested for driving under the influence Thursday night

Varner III is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 19, 2024.

According to a report from TV station WBTV, LIV Golf member Harold Varner III was arrested for driving “while subject to an impairing substance” on Thursday night in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Varner III registered a .16 blood alcohol concentration during a breathalyzer test, which is twice the legal driving limit. Around 7:30 p.m. ET, Varner III was booked into the Mecklenburg County jail. His bond was set at $500. According to court records, he posted bail and has been released.

Varner III is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 19, 2024.

Last season, the then-RangeGoats GC member — Varner III was traded to Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC this offseason — won LIV’s D.C. stop in May. In 13 starts, Varner III finished inside the top 10 five times and finished seventh in the season-long individual competition.

LIV Golf offseason update: LIV Golf Draft, new team rumored for Jon Rahm and six open spots remain

Taking a look at what to expect next for LIV Golf’s offseason free agency period.

LIV Golf made arguably its biggest signing to date last week with world No. 3 and two-time major champion Jon Rahm and then held its first-ever promotions event.

So, now what?

Of the 12 established teams in the league, six spots remain available and four teams have openings. Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC finished runner-up at the 2023 LIV Golf Team Championship, and then the two-time Masters champion blew up his squad with two of the three trades that have been made so far this offseason.

With less than two months until the first event of the 2024 season at LIV Golf Mayakoba (Feb. 2-4), here’s a look at what’s still to come during LIV’s offseason period.

Pair of LIV Golf trades ends teammate feud between Brooks Koepka, Matthew Wolff

Bubba Watson also traded away his two best players after the entire roster was set to return in 2024.

If the relationship between former LIV Golf teammates Brooks Koepka and Matthew Wolff was a marriage, the two had been separated for months with a divorce in the works. On Thursday morning the Smash GC split was finalized.

Koepka traded Wolff to Bubba Watson’s RangeGoats GC for 2023 individual champion Talor Gooch, who will play for his third team in three years. Watson also traded Harold Varner III to Dustin Johnson’s 4Aces GC for Peter Uihlein. That means the RangeGoats, who finished runner-up at the 2023 team championship, have now traded their top two players from last season, who finished first (Gooch) and seventh (Varner) in the season-long standings. Uihlein was 12th and Wolff 27th.

After Pat Perez was re-signed last month, the trio of Johnson, Varner and Patrick Reed will make the 4Aces a favorite once again in 2024. The one-two punch of Koepka and Gooch on Smash might be the best in the league. Jason Kokrak is a solid third and the team still has a spot to fill after Chase Koepka was relegated. The RangeGoats were one of four teams set to return their entire squad for 2024 before Watson traded away his two best players. A foursome of Watson, Uihlein, Wolff and Thomas Pieters is, on paper at least, a step-down.

This week also marks the beginning of the inaugural LIV Golf Promotions event, held Dec. 8-10 at Abu Dhabi Golf Club which will see the top three players earn status on a team for the 2024 season.

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LIV Golf players dish on if they even want to return to the PGA Tour

Phil Mickelson said “not a single” LIV Golf player wanted to return to the PGA Tour and his colleagues backed him up.

As the powers that be continue to iron out details for the proposed framework agreement that aims to unite professional golf, one of the biggest questions is what must happen for players who left for LIV Golf to return to the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

Phil Mickelson didn’t mince words when he recently claimed “not a single player” who joined LIV Golf wanted to play on the PGA Tour. Are there some events players have fond memories of and wish they could play? Absolutely. But a full PGA Tour schedule, or even an abbreviated one, doesn’t sound appealing to the vast majority of those who made the leap to the 48-player, 12-team league.

We asked a handful of players what they thought ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Bedminster event at Trump National in New Jersey, and the answers were very similar.

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Harold Varner III Q&A: Thoughts on LIV Golf, player movement back to the PGA Tour and more

Read our entire chat with HV3 here.

BEDMINSTER, N.J. — Harold Varner III is unapologetically himself at all times.

For that very reason, the 32-year-old was a fan favorite on the PGA Tour over the last few years and a prime target for LIV Golf. It’s been just three weeks shy of a year since HV3 took his talents to the upstart circuit with a refreshingly honest announcement, and over 16 starts he’s earned seven top-10 finishes, including his first win at LIV Golf Washington, D.C., back in May.

Golfweek caught up with Varner during his pro-am ahead of this week’s 2023 LIV Golf Bedminster event at Trump National in New Jersey and discussed everything from his time with LIV to the framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and more.

Here are 10 storylines for 2023 U.S. Open final qualifying worth keeping an eye on

Time will tell if these players can earn their way into the 123rd U.S. Open.

The longest day in golf is just around the corner as players are preparing to chase their spot in the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angles Country Club, scheduled for June 15-18.

Final qualifying will be held over 36 holes, and 10 venues around the country (and Canada) are set to host some of the biggest names in the sport.

Members of the LIV Golf League who are not already exempt into the field will take part in the annual tradition. Some of those names include Harold Varner III, Marc Leishman, Brendan Steele, Carlos Ortiz and Matthew Wolff.

There are several PGA Tour players participating as well, including both 2023 Ryder Cup captains, Zach Johnson and Luke Donald.

Here are the 10 venues set to host final qualifying.

  • Lambton Golf & Country Club, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • Hillcrest Country Club, Los Angeles California
  • Pine Tree Golf Club, Boynton Beach, Florida
  • Hawks Ridge Golf Club, Ball Ground, Georgia
  • Woodmont Country Club (North Course), Rockville, Maryland
  • Canoe Brook Country Club (North & South Courses), Summit, New Jersey
  • Old Chatham Golf Club, Durham, North Carolina
  • Brookside Golf & Country Club and The Lakes Golf & Country Club, Columbus, Ohio
  • Springfield (Ohio) Country Club
  • Tacoma Country & Golf Club, Lakewood, Washington

Here are 10 players to keep your eye on Monday, June 5, as they try to earn their way into the 123rd U.S. Open.

Harold Varner III wins LIV Golf Washington D.C., Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC earn second team victory

The win is the first for Varner and second for Niemann’s Torque GC.

When Harold Varner III left the PGA Tour for LIV Golf, he was refreshingly honest about his reasons for taking the guaranteed money from the Greg Norman-led and Saudi Arabia-backed circuit, noting how his family and most importantly his foundation would benefit from the “financial breakthrough.”

After 54 holes just outside the nation’s capital this weekend, the 32-year-old will have even more money to pass around.

Varner claimed his first win with LIV Golf at its seventh event of the 2023 season Sunday at LIV Golf Washington, D.C., at Trump National in the suburbs of Sterling, Virginia. The North Carolina native birdied his final hole to defeat Branden Grace by one shot and take home the top prize of $4 million.

Mito Pereira finished third at 10 under, with Sebastian Munoz and Henrik Stenson T-4 at 8 under. Andy Ogletree, playing as a substitute for Paul Casey on Crushers GC, finished T-6 at 7 under.

Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC claimed its second team win this season at 27 under, three shots ahead of Grace’s Stinger GC and eight clear of Bubba Watson and Varner’s RangeGoats GC. Torque previously won LIV Golf Orlando.

Following his PGA Championship win, Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC finished as the only team above par, with Koepka T-12 at 5 under on the individual leaderboard.

The league returns to action June 30-July 2 at Valderrama in Spain.

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Wells Fargo Championship: Of ‘Mice’ and men and money games at Quail Hollow Club the other 51 weeks of the year

“It’s a group of guys that like to play golf, gamble and have a beer after the round.”

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Like the first rule of Fight Club, you don’t talk about the money games at Quail Hollow Club.

That made it difficult to detail a story that was based more on rumor and innuendo until a few brave souls agreed to give us a window into one of America’s great clubs within a club.

This week, Quail Hollow, which has been in the national spotlight as host to the 2017 PGA Championship, the 2022 Presidents Cup and will reprise its role for the PGA in 2025, welcomes a field of 156 of the best PGA Tour pros at the Wells Fargo Championship; the other 51 weeks a year the private club is home to a vibrant membership that includes the likes of pros Webb Simpson, Harold Varner III and Johnson Wagner. But unlike Whisper Rock in Scottsdale, Arizona, where a field of pros the size of a LIV event typically plays in the club championship, this is a members club filled with a fraternity of 15-20 handicappers who enjoy a friendly wager to be on the line. It’s a safe bet that money is riding every time a ball is in the air when several of the more notable groups are playing.

“It’s a group of guys that like to play golf, gamble and have a beer after the round,” said Wagner, who likes to keep everyone’s score when he participates.

Quail Hollow founder Johnny Harris and his silver-haired friends make up the Mo’s – the Morons – the original game in town, which gave birth to an offshoot known as the Mits – the Morons in Training. Another popular game formed during the global pandemic, the Mice, which stands for the Morons in Constant Evolution. They are also known as the Calder 32, a reference to its founder and commissioner Will Calder, who with nothing else to do during the height of COVID-19 decided to start a new game. He quickly discovered that his Apple iPhone would only allow 32 numbers on the group text chain.

Before long, the Mice, who range in age from 26-50, were playing four to five times a week, everyone racing after their ball in separate carts. Even though many of them have returned to work, there are always at least four or five groups on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.

Simpson has joined the Mice on occasion, but he doesn’t partake in their tomfoolery regularly. “He’s still focused on winning golf tournaments,” Wagner said.

Varner, who joined LIV Golf last year, says he plays with all the various groups and is more likely to give his partner one of his patented bear hugs when a four-for-three drops. The usual game for the Mice is net double-best ball and then each group picks its own side action.

“I’m pretty much exclusively a hammer player now,” Wagner said on the Subpar Podcast. “If you don’t want to play it, I don’t want to play with you.”

Calder is an 18 handicap and was getting 22 strokes from Wagner, a three-time Tour winner and member at Quail for the past 12 years, who he describes as always taking everybody’s money, though he did suffer a case of the shanks this summer. Wagner does his best to keep the handicaps honest. In fact, his face adorns a popular T-shirt sold at the club, a Smokey the Bear knockoff that says, “Only you can prevent sandbagging.”

At one time, Wagner lost enough money to member Clay Adams, a local beer distributor, that he began wearing a Budweiser hat on Tour in lieu of payment. The 42-year-old Wagner is doing more TV than competing these days and his handicap has gone from a +5.5 to +2.7.

“I’m finding my sweet spot,” he cracked.

The easiest money at the club? Wagner doesn’t have to think long to name one of his favorite foils, Taylor Zarzour, the jack-of-all-trades host on Sirius XM PGA Tour Network.

“He has the most vanity handicap I’ve ever seen,” Wagner said on Subpar. “He’s easy money.”

Given a chance to defend himself Zarzour, who is a 5 handicap, said, “He might be changing his tune after the last few times we’ve played but that’s OK, I could use some more shots.”

Zarzour noted that besides the obvious rule of not talking to reporters, there’s only one rule at their game: play fast! Typically, they’re done in three hours and back in the grill inside the white, stately, Southern-style clubhouse — hats removed, an unwritten club rule — to settle up and enjoy one of the club’s trademark transfusions.

After the Wells Fargo Championship, Quail Hollow is shutting down for the summer to change the grass on the greens, fix some bunkers and tweak some tees ahead of the 2025 PGA Championship, so 24 of the Mice are headed to Bandon Dunes in Oregon for a golf boondoggle. Expect enough cash to change hands that someone may end up going home C.O.D.

“Through this group, I’ve made 10-12 of my closest friends,” Zarzour said.

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2023 Masters: LIV Golfers weigh in on going from an overplayed, scruffy public course to Augusta National

“I don’t think you could have those in the same sentence, other than I played there last week and I’m playing here this week,” Johnson said.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Dustin Johnson didn’t bother to sugarcoat the difference between Orange Country National’s Crooked Cat Course, the site of last week’s LIV Orlando event, and Augusta National Golf Club, site of this week’s 87th Masters.

“I don’t think you could have those in the same sentence, other than I played there last week and I’m playing here this week,” Johnson said.

They do both have National in their name but that’s about where the similarities end. Orange County National, a 36-hole public facility in Winter Garden, Florida, ranks No. 20 in Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play list in Florida, which is two spots behind the second course at TPC Sawgrass. Augusta National ranks third in the Golfweek’s Best Classic Courses list. To make matters worse for LIV golfers, Crooked Cat, which has hosted PGA Tour Q-School in the past, was looking pretty scruffy last weekend for the likes of Johnson, Phil Mickelson and 54-hole tournament winner Brooks Koepka.

“A golf course that potentially wasn’t ready for us,” is how Graeme McDowell delicately put it. “Aesthetically not very pleasing.”

Crooked Cat, one of the courses at Orange County National in Florida, hosted a LIV Golf event.

Sources tell Golfweek that Isleworth Golf Club, in the Orlando town of Windermere and where Tiger Woods once lived and LIV member Charles Howell III is a longtime resident, had agreed to host the Orlando LIV stop but pulled the plug and Crooked Cat stepped in as a late replacement. (Isleworth was never officially announced as a tournament site by LIV. It is a sister property with Lake Nona, where LIV golfers McDowell, Ian Poulter and Henrik Stenson all call home.)

“Some places don’t want us,” Harold Varner III. “This is a great place, great layout, it’s just not in the best of shape right now. That’s going to take time to get courses that accept LIV. Some people are gun shy about sponsoring it because you don’t want to mess up relationships that existed before.”

But Johnson, the 2020 Masters winner, isn’t too worried about the quality of the course he played last weekend ahead of playing arguably the best-manicured course with some of the fastest greens in the country. He was just happy to get some reps before he tries to win a second Green Jacket.

“I still play golf for a living. I’m here at the Masters and enjoying this week,” Johnson said. “It’s still golf. So it doesn’t matter where you play at.”

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