Tag: through the years

Photos: David Duval through the years

David Duval now works for Golf Channel as an analyst, but before then, he had a tenured career on the PGA Tour.

David Duval has been an analyst on Golf Channel, but before that, he was a tenured master of the golf course.

The former World No. 1 won his first and only major at the 2001 British Open and came close to two Masters titles (second place in 1998 and T-2 in 2001) and a U.S. Open title in 2009 (T-2).

Duval, who was born on Nov 09, 1971, joined the PGA Tour in 1995 after playing college golf at Georgia Tech. One of Duval’s most memorable achievements was after earning his first Tour victory at the 1997 Michelob Championship at Kingsmill, he went on to win his next two starts in consecutive weeks at the Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic and Tour Championship.

In the 30 years after he participated in his first Tour event, the 1990 U.S. Open, Duval accumulated 13 victories on Tour.

Here are a few of the highlights from his extensive career:

Photos: Golf legend 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.

Born on Nov. 1, 1935, and 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.

Photos: PGA journeyman Jay Don Blake through the years

His best year came in 1991, with his lone Tour win at the Shearson Lehman Brothers Open.

Jay Don Blake was inducted into Utah State University’s Hall of Fame in 1991. During his collegiate career, he won the 1980 NCAA Golf Championship, followed by a second-place finish the following year. Blake, a two-time All-American, was also named the Collegiate Player of the Year in 1981.

Blake made his first Tour start six years later in 1987. His best year came in 1991, with his lone Tour win at the Shearson Lehman Brothers Open, five other top-10 finishes and a top-30 money list placing. He also led the Tour in putting in 1991. Blake, who earned more than $5 million during his Tour career, went on to win three times on the senior circuit and $10 million overall. He most recently played in the Tour’s 2018 Barracuda Championship and competed in two PGA Tour Champions events last season. He last broke 70 at a Champions Tour event at the 2018 Sanford International.

Black Desert has presented local legendary professional Jay Don Blake, who will turn 66 on Oct. 28, 2024, with an exemption to compete at the inaugural Black Desert Championship. The tournament, which will be held Oct. 9-13, will mark Blake’s 500th career Tour event in his hometown of St. George, Utah.

Here’s a look at the journeyman through the years.

Photos: As she heads to retirement, here’s LPGA star Catriona Matthew through the years

Matthew is the winningest Scottish player to ever compete on the LPGA.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Catriona Matthew tried to quickly walk over the Swilcan Bridge one last time to avoid the spotlight. She was lured back for a proper sendoff, however, waving to fans who’d gathered on the 18th – on the ground and on the rooftops – to celebrate a long and successful career.

Matthew, the winningest Scottish player to ever compete on the LPGA, played her final round on the LPGA over the Old Course on Friday, closing with birdie to finish it off at the AIG Women’s British Open in style.

“Obviously had decided this was my last one, and to finish with a birdie,” said Matthew, “I couldn’t have scripted it any better.”

The 54-year-old shot 2-over 74 on Friday, in her 100th round at the AIG, to finish the tournament at 7 over, three shots outside the cut line. There’s no question she got the worse end of the draw.

“I think I’m just quite pleased that I actually came out and played respectably today, the last couple of days, and I don’t want to have to try and do that again next year,” she said. “So the right time.”

Matthew won four times on the LPGA and is the only Scot to ever win the AIG Women’s British Open. She did so only 11 weeks after giving birth to her second daughter in 2009.

In 2019 and 2021, the steady and sure Matthew led Team Europe to back-to-back Solheim Cup victories.

Next week, she’ll captain the Great Britain and Ireland team at the 43rd staging of the Curtis Cup at Sunningdale Golf Club.

Here’s a look at her storied career through the years:

Photos: Lydia Ko through the years

View photos of former world No. 1 Lydia Ko throughout her career.

Lydia Ko is without a doubt, the best Kiwi to ever tee it up.

She has 28 professional wins with two major championships to boot.

A child prodigy, Ko began playing golf at the age of five and gained national attention at 14 when she became the then-youngest winner of any professional golf tour event. That title now belongs to her colleague, Brooke Henderson, who broke Ko’s record that same year.

Later in 2012, Ko became the youngest LPGA winner at just 15-years-old at the CN Canadian Open. Not looking back, Ko has continued to rack up wins and dominate in spurts on the LPGA.

Three wins in 2014 earned her LPGA Rookie of the Year honors. Winning five times in 2015, Ko climbed to No. 1 in the world which culminated in her first major title at the Evian Championship.

Winning is what Ko does.

All her wins came before being eligible to become a mid-amateur. Her dominance at such a young age is one of the things that make Ko so special. Luckily for us, it looks like she’ll be around for awhile longer.

Photos: Harry Higgs through the years

To follow golfer Harry Higgs is to be entertained.

To follow golfer Harry Higgs is to be entertained. The 32-year-old SMU product has bounced up and down between the PGA Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour, but has found his way into 120 tournaments on the former, and he now has accrued more than $5 million in career earnings.

And although he’d gone five years between his first and second win, he only had to wait seven days for his third.

Higgs fired a 5-under 65 on May 26, 2024, to finish at 19 under, edging Frankie Capan III in a playoff at the weather-challenged Visit Knoxville Open. Higgs’ winning putt was from more than 36 feet away.

Just a week before, Higgs chipped in for eagle on the 18th hole to get into a playoff before winning in Kansas City at the AdventHealth Championship.

And he’s been hit-or-miss in his few major tournaments as well, missing the cut in two of the four in which he’s played, but finishing T-4 in the 2021 PGA Championship and T-14 in the 2022 Masters.

Of course, Higgs is as well known for his comedic side as he is for his golf game. In early 2023, Higgs told Golfweek that one issue with the PGA Tour/LIV Golf split was “they took all the assholes. They took all the villains. And that’s a problem.”

And at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open, Higgs went shirtless with playing partner Joel Dahmen in what can only be termed a moment for the ages.

Here’s a look at the always-entertaining Higgs through the years.

Who is Sarah Schmelzel? Here’s a look at her golf career in photos through the years

Sarah Schmelzel, who was an LPGA rookie in 2019, played collegiate golf at the University of South Carolina.

Sarah Schmelzel, who was an LPGA rookie in 2019, played collegiate golf at the University of South Carolina. Over that offseason, she began working with swing instructor Chris Mayson, who helps a number of players on tour including Alison Lee.

Schmelzel, born in 1994, grew up playing one of the few tree-lined courses in Phoenix, Moon Valley Country Club. She was there in March 2001 when Annika Sorenstam carded the only 59 in LPGA history. Schmelzel’s parents have been members there since the late ’90s, and one of the guys in the bag room called her father and told him to bring the kids out. Something special was brewing.

Schmelzel, who is looking for her first LPGA title, had a stretch of four top-8 finishes early in the 2024 season that included a career-best second place at the Blue Bay LPGA in China.

Here is a look at Schmelzel’s career in photos.

 

Photos: LPGA star Lexi Thompson, who will retire at 29, through the years

Thompson is expected to announce today that she plans to retire at the end of the LPGA campaign.

Lexi Thompson has been a staple of American golf for nearly two decades.

Playing in her first U.S. Open at just 12 years old, Thompson has become one of the biggest LPGA stars the game has ever seen. She’s been dominant at every level of golf there is.

A full-time LPGA member in 2014, Thompson has racked up 15 professional wins including a major; the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship.

Among her milestones, she was the youngest winner on the LPGA when she won the Navistar LPGA Classic at just 16 years old in 2011.

On May 28, 2024, however, she announced that she would be retiring at season’s end. Thompson has represented the U.S. on six different Solheim Cup teams and has a chance to play in one more later this season.

Photos: LPGA’s Amy Olson announces retirement

“I knew that once I had kids I wanted to be home,” Olson told Golfweek. “That was a huge desire of my heart.”

Carly Gray Olson just started to crawl last week. Her first teeth came in, too. These are the sweet moments that take most of Amy Olson’s focus these days, which is why the LPGA veteran announced on social media Wednesday that she wouldn’t be coming back from maternity leave.

Olson’s last event was the 2023 U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links, where she played seven months pregnant.

“I knew that once I had kids I wanted to be home,” Olson told Golfweek. “That was a huge desire of my heart.

“Even when (husband) Grant and I were dating, years ago, we talked about how I wanted to play for 10 years, that was my goal, and then I wanted to shift homeward and focus on family.”

Olson, 31, joined the LPGA in 2014 after winning an NCAA record-tying 20 titles at North Dakota State University, eclipsing the mark of 17 set by Juli Inkster.

Looking back, Olson said winning the 2009 U.S. Girls’ Junior gave her a huge confidence boost as did qualifying for the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open while in college and holding the first-round lead at The Broadmoor. The eventual winner that week, So Yeon Ryu, retired after last week’s Chevron Championship.

One of Olson’s favorite memories on the LPGA was clawing back from 6 over through 13 holes at the 2021 Kia Classic to finish tied for second.

Of course, she realizes that others will remember more painful runner-up finishes, like the 2018 Evian Championship, when she made double on the 72nd hole to lose to Angela Stanford.

Or when she was in contention at the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open in Houston and her father-in-law, Lee Olson, died from a heart attack the night before the final round. Olson finished second that year, too.

“Unfortunately, a couple of the pivotal ones of my career were actually really sad moments,” said Olson. “But I think one of the things I’ve always been most proud of is keeping golf in perspective and realizing that life is bigger than golf. In a lot of ways, some of those bigger moments that people remember me for, I was able to live that out in front of them.”

Olson said while there aren’t regrets in terms of what she could’ve done differently, there are dreams that will go unrealized as this chapter of life ends. She never played on a U.S. Solheim Cup team or won an LPGA event.

“I’ve had to come to terms with that,” said Olson, “I’m just realizing OK, that’s not part of my story, and realizing I have different dreams and bigger dreams, rather than clinging to the same ones that motivated me for a number of years.”

The bigger dreams, she said, are ordinary and small. Being a wife and a mom, being present for the milestones, passing on her perspective and deep faith to Carly.

She’ll have the gift of time.

Here’s a look at Olson’s career in pictures:

Photos: Min Woo Lee through the years

The persona of the native of Perth, Australia, has resonated with fans across multiple continents.

Social media phenomenon Min Woo Lee has yet to win on the PGA Tour but he did collect two international victories in 2023 at the SJM Macao Open and Fortinet Australian PGA Championship.

Lee, whose sister is LPGA player Minjee Lee, is a social media star with nearly a half-million Instagram followers and 275,000 more fans on TikTok.

And the persona of the native of Perth, Australia, has resonated with fans across multiple continents. He signed a deal with clothing company lululemon, which spawned an interesting campaign at the WM Phoenix Open, and he also played with the guys from Good Good prior to the 2024 American Express.

“They’re hitting this age range of like 18 to 30, young people that are starting to get into golf and it’s amazing for the sport,” Lee said of the round. “It only boosts the game. A lot of people love Good Good, and it’s nice to collab with them.”

Here’s a look at the phenom through the years: