The field of 132 at the Mexico Open was reduced to 65 on Friday night after the cut came in at 2 under.
The field of 132 at the Mexico Open at Vidanta was reduced Friday night after the cut came in at 2 under, and that sent 65 players to Saturday’s third round.
It’s not the most star-studded field on the PGA Tour this season, but there were still some notable names among the 67 who failed to make the weekend at Vidanta Vallarta, a 7,456-yard golf course where Tony Finau – who is tied for ninth – is the defending champion.
Still up for grabs for those playing is the $1,458,000 first-place prize as well as a Masters invite, if one is not already secured by the man who hoists the trophy come Sunday.
Fox birdied eight of his last 13 holes during Sunday’s final round.
Ryan Fox birdied the 18th hole to win the 2023 BMW PGA Championship for his fourth DP World Tour victory, pumping his fist in the air just as the ball was dropping into the cup.
Along the way, he upstaged the European Ryder Cup team.
All 12 members of the squad arrived at Wentworth Club for one last tournament of preparation ahead of the biennial matches against the Americans, and all 12 made the cut, including Tyrrell Hatton, who birdied the 18th to forge a tie atop the leaderboard at 17 under.
But it was Fox who overcame a triple-bogey 7 on the third hole with birdies on eight of his last 13 holes during Sunday’s weather-interrupted final round to post a closing 67 and win his first Rolex Series event by a shot over Hatton and Aaron Rai.
“I played great, pretty much from the third hole on, didn’t miss a shot,” he said after his round. “It was a pretty cool feeling on the last, knowing I had one to win it and actually make it.”
Fox birdied four of the first five holes on the second nine before the weather stalled the action.
“The back nine was crazy. I made birdie from the trees on 15, first hole back after the delay,” he said.
Jon Rahm grabbed solo fourth, two shots back. He had an eagle putt on the 18th hole that would’ve tied him for the lead, but he missed just left to finish 16 under.
Rai also had an eagle putt at the last and while his ball was tracking, it could only catch a bit of the edge of the cup and it lipped out.
Ryder Cup rookie-to-be Ludvig Aberg held the 54-hole lead by a shot after rounds of 68-66-66 but shot a final-round 76, his card featuring two bogeys, two double bogeys and just two birdies.
Defending tournament champion Shane Lowry tied for 18th after shooting a final-round 71 which included a 9 on the par-5 17th hole.
How the European Ryder Cup team did
T-2. Tyrrell Hatton, 17 under
4. Jon Rahm, 16 under
5. Viktor Hovland, 15 under
6. Tommy Fleetwood, 14 under
T-7. Rory McIlroy, 13 under
T-10. Sepp Straka, 12 under
T-10. Ludvig Aberg, 12 under
T-18 Shane Lowry, 10 under
T-18. Matt Fitzpatrick, 10 under
T-36. Justin Rose, 5 under
T-45. Robert MacIntyre, 4 under
T-64. Nicolai Hojgaard, even
European team captain Luke Donald finished 5 under, tied for 36th.
The field at this week’s Memorial Tournament is stacked. The top five players in the Official World Golf Ranking — Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele — are all set to tee it up come Thursday morning.
Rahm won this event in 2020 while Cantlay has claimed the title twice, 2021 and 2019. Billy Horschel is the defending champion thanks to his four-shot win over Aaron Wise last season.
Scheffler is the betting favorite at +600 followed by Rahm at +750 and Cantlay at +1000.
[pickup_prop id=”33667″]
Although big names will be all over the leaderboard this week, we wanted to take a look at five sleeper picks with a shot to win come Sunday.
Two more players have withdrawn from the RBC Heritage.
Kevin Kisner withdrew following his opening round 8-over 79 at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Fox was 6 over in his first nine holes before withdrawing due to illness.
No reason was given for Kisner’s WD. He missed the cut last week at the Masters and has struggled this season, missing the cut in half of his 10 starts.
Fox made the weekend at Augusta National, finishing tied for 26th, The week before, he missed the cut at the Valero Texas Open.
He was even through four holes but then had three bogeys and a triple on the back nine Thursday at the RBC Heritage before WD’ing at the turn.
Kevin Kisner WD after the first round of the RBC Heritage.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) April 13, 2023
Ryan Fox WD during the first round of the RBC Heritage due to illness.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) April 13, 2023
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.
A total of 21 players in the field for last year’s Genesis Invitational won’t be playing this week.
Take a look at the field for the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational this week in Los Angeles.
Then glance at last year’s results at the Riviera Country Club.
More than any other tournament so far on the 2022-23 Tour schedule, the impact of more than 20 former Tour players who are now playing on the LIV Golf League and are under suspension from the PGA Tour will be felt at the Genesis. It’s an impact that has been lessened with Tiger Woods’ announcement that he will play in the event he hosts, making his first start of the season.
Coincidence?
Last year’s Genesis winner, Joaquin Niemann, isn’t playing because he joined the list of players suspended by the Tour the moment he opted for the LIV Golf Series. Also missing will be Cameron Tringale (tied for 13th), Mito Pereira and Paul Casey (tied for 15th), Sebastian Munoz (tied for 21st), Jason Kokrak (tied for 26th), Cameron Smith (tied for 33rd) and Pat Perez, Abraham Ancer, Sergio Garcia and Carlos Ortiz (all tied for 39th).
Ten other players who missed the cut won’t be in L.A., including four players who have combined for nine major championships, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed.
[pickup_prop id=”31652″]
That makes a total of 21 players in the field for last year’s Genesis Invitational who won’t be playing this week. There were 17 former LIV players in the field at the CJ Cup in 2022 who didn’t play this year, 16 at the Farmers Insurance Open and 15 at the WM Phoenix Open.
But the biggest impact is yet to come, and it will be on the First Coast: There will be 25 participants in last year’s Players Championship who have joined LIV Golf and are barred from entering this year. It includes Smith, whose 66 was one of the most stirring closing rounds for a winner in tournament history, runner-up Anirban Lahiri and third-place finisher Paul Casey.
Two more players who were among the top 10 also won’t be playing, Harold Varner (tied for sixth) and Johnson (tied for ninth).
It’s the nature of The Players field that it would lose more than other tournaments to the LIV suspension list. It’s the PGA Tour’s signature event, with the largest purse, and it’s always a must-play.
And their spots will be filled, by the best 144 players the Tour can get, led by the last three players to be ranked No. 1 in the world, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm.
Also likely to play are other major champions such as Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose, Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama; veteran winners Billy Horschel, Patrick Cantlay and Tony Finau, and rising stars Max Homa, Tom Kim and Seamus Power.
Tiger Woods speaks with winner Joaquin Niemann following the final round of the 2022 Genesis Invitational golf tournament. (Photo: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)
Indeed, The Players is on track to get 45 of the current top 50 in the world. LIV Golf proponents would counter that Johnson, Koepka, Reed, Kevin Na, Casey, Jason Kokrak and others have fallen out of the top 50 because the World Golf Ranking committee isn’t yet awarding points for LIV events.
And what’s that they say about every door that closes, another one opens? Having 25 spots open by the suspension of the LIV Golf pros may have simply sped up the process for the next generation of young players. Among those who are in line to make their first Players’ starts:
∎ Ryan Fox of New Zealand, who is 29th in the world, with 11 top-10 finishes and two victories worldwide in the past 18 months.
∎ Davis Thompson of St. Simons Island, Ga., the latest in a long list of University of Georgia products coming to the Tour who was matching Jon Rahm shot-for-shot for most of the final round in the American Express.
∎ Taylor Montgomery of the U.S., a former UNLV player and a deadly putter who has quietly moved into 10th on the FedEx Cup points list. He opened the season with five consecutive too-15 performances, three of them among the top 10.
∎ Ben Taylor of England, who played college golf at LSU and is a green-hitting machine, with a tie for third in Houston and a fourth at the Sony Open.
∎ Alex Smalley of the U.S., who played at Duke and tied for fifth at the RSM Classic at Sea Island in November with four rounds of 67 or better.
This is a candidate for best golf content of 2023.
This is as good as it gets.
Tyrrell Hatton, Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood and several other DP World Tour stars recreated the famous business card scene from American Psycho with a golf twist.
And it only made sense to make hot-tempered Hatton Patrick Bateman.
The best part? Hatton’s nickname for Fleetwood is “Golfing Jesus.” To be honest, his hair alone is well deserving of that moniker.
To no surprise, Lowry’s ball mark is a shamrock clover, while Thomas Pieters’ is a smiley face with his initials, “TP.”
And the acting? Hollywood should give these boys a call.
“To be honest the only person I can really think of at the moment is Warne.”
Ryan Fox didn’t just win for the second time of 2022 on the DP World Tour on Sunday, but he did so at the Home of Golf.
In front of his family visiting from New Zealand, the 35-year-old claimed the 2022 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship by one shot at the Old Course at St. Andrews. After the final putt dropped, Fox was quick to mention someone who wasn’t there to celebrate his third win on tour.
“It means a lot,” said Fox after the round. “To be honest the only person I can really think of at the moment is Warne.”
The Dunhill Links features both an individual and team championship and is held across three iconic courses in Scotland: Old Course at St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns. Fox and Australian cricket legend Shane Warne, who died in March, finished second in the team championship last year.
“He meant a lot to me and this event and was a great mate. It’s a terrible shame he’s not here,” added Fox, who said he felt his friend’s presence down the stretch. “Obviously I was pretty nervy the last three holes. I didn’t hit very good shots, to be honest, down the 16th, 17th and 18th. He was definitely helping out.”
After starting the final round four shots back, Fox took the lead through seven holes and was three holes clear with just as many to play. A late blemish on the 17th and par on the 18th secured the one-shot win at 15 under over Callum Shinkwin and Alex Noren, T-2 at 14 under. Rory McIlroy, a three-time runner-up at the event, finished T-4 at 13 under with Antoine Rozner.
Shinkwin and Alex Acquavella won the team championship at 37 under.
Meronk became the first golfer from Poland to earn status on the DP World Tour.
Adrian Meronk kissed the trophy and admired the names that have won the Horizon Irish Open before him.
Meronk, clinging to a one-stroke overnight lead, played the final four holes in 4 under en route to shooting 66 at Mount Juliet Estate in Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland, and win his first title on the DP World Tour.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said. “This is what we practice for everyday and I’m so happy.”
Meronk trailed by one stroke with four holes to go but a late birdie barrage and an eagle lifted him to a 72-hole total of 20-under 268 and a three-stroke victory over Ryan Fox of New Zealand.
Meronk, a 29-year-old former top-ranked junior, became the first from Poland to earn status on the DP World Tour and had two previous runner-up finishes. Now he’s the first Polish golfer to notch a victory on the circuit.
Fox, who made 22 birdies for the week, closed with 64 to grab the clubhouse lead at 17-under 271. But Meronk, who played college golf at East Tennessee State, tied for the lead with a 20-foot birdie putt at 15, clenched his right fist as he took the lead with a 15-foot birdie at 16, and stretched the lead to three with a 25-foot eagle putt from the fringe at 17.
“Just a relief,” said the 6-foot-6 big man of his third straight one putt that propelled him to the winner’s circle to join the likes of Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and Rory McIlroy with his name on the champion’s trophy.
Thriston Lawrence was alone in third place, a stroke behind Fox. Scotland’s David Law, American John Catlin and Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti all earned spots in The 150th Open—via the Open Qualifying Series—for all finishing tied for fourth at 15 under.
