John Catlin punched his ticket to both the Masters and British Open Sunday by winning the Asian Tour’s Hong Kong Open.
The 35-year-old Californian, who also has a base in Thailand, shot a final-round 64 at Hong Kong Golf Club to win easily by five shots. The highest score he shot all week was a second-round 66. This will be his first appearance at Augusta National. In four previous Open appearances, he has missed the cut three times, but he tied for 16th place in 2024 at Royal Troon. "Hard to put it into words," he said.
The PGA Tour is facing some tough decisions over the next 24 hours because of the weather at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
With winds already gusting up to 30 mph in Saturday’s third round, the forecast gets far worse for Sunday, going from scattered showers in the morning to thunderstorms and a 100-percent chance of rain in the afternoon. Further troubling is the prediction of wind gusts up to 47 mph, which could force the stoppage of play, even if lightning doesn’t.
The tour sent a notice to the players on Friday night and said that play could be extended into Monday. Unfortunately, the forecast isn’t great for that day either, with an 80-percent chance of rain.
How concerned is the tour about the weather? Golf Channel’s Gabby Herzig reported on Saturday that, in anticipation of the high winds, the green speeds on the Port Royal course have been slowed down to 9.5 on the Stimpmeter. That's a lot when the standard tour speed is 12. She also said the tournament is removing all high-profile signage that could be blown over.
This has to be a nervy time for the players—many of whom are battling for their cards for 2027. From Bermuda, they’ll head to Puerto Vallarta for the VidantaWorld Mexico Open. That’s a 2,600-mile flight, though they’ll likely be on charters, since a commercial filght takes almost 14 hours with layovers.
Andrea Lee called in the “most quiet hole-in-one I’ve ever hit.” In the second round of the LPGA’s BMW Ladies Championship in South Korea.
The Stanford alum hit a 9-iron from 122 yards on the eight hole. The ball took a small hop and bounced into the cup for an ace. And in the video, we could hear exactly one person clapping for it. “No one even screamed on the green,” said Lee, who traded rather subdued high-fives with the caddies and playing partners.
The prize deserved a bigger celebration, because Lee won a BMW Mini Countryman car. "It feels awesome,” Lee said. "It honestly came when I least expected it. I wasn't even looking at the car. I just wanted to hit a good shot, and somehow it went in.”
Funnily enough, the last time Lee made an ace, in the LPGA Shanghai pro-am, she got a toy car. "I was like, I don't want this. I want the real thing," she said. "So I got the real thing today."
After an opening 78, the ace helped Lee shoot 66 in the second round. She followed that with a 70 on Saturday and sits T-45. Korean Haeran Ryu—the winner of two majors this season—takes a four-shot lead into the final round.
Tyrrell Hatton, the bearded and mercurial Brit who was one of LIV Golf’s most recognizable players, is officially out for any future iterations of the league.
The 35-year-old posted this statement on Instagram on Friday: “Wanted to confirm that I will not be a part of LIV 2.0. A big thank you to everyone for their continued support. I am excited for what the next chapter of my career holds. Looking forward to seeing you all in Abu Dhabi.”
The latter refers to the DP World Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship, Nov. 5-8, that Hatton won in 2021. A combined nine-time winner on the PGA Tour and DPWT, Hatton left both for LIV in 2024, following Jon Rahm, who is among the long list of established players who will no longer play on the former Saudi-backed startup league. Hatton won two individual titles on LIV and reportedly earned more than $100 million—$43.7 million on the course and a signing bonus of more than $60 million.
Ian Poulter also said on Friday that he will not go forward with LIV.
Introducing Ojaswini Saraswat, who earned a weekend tee time at the Hero Women's Indian Open. Not only that, but the youngster (Again, she's 13!) shot the low round of the day at the Ladies European Tour event with a 69, that included three consecutive birdies to end her day.
Saraswat is the second-youngest golfer to ever make a cut on the LET. The youngest? Ariya Jutanugarn back in 2008 when she was 12. And she went on to win multiple majors and become World No. 1.
Ian Poulter took to social media on Friday to announce he has "decided to not move forward with being part of LIV 2.0." The 50-year-old Englishman has been part of LIV Golf since its first tournament in 2022. Poulter said it was a "tough decision," but he wants to cut down on international travel, play some senior events, create more YouTube golf content and be around more for his sons as they pursue their own golf dreams.
One has to assume Poulter would like to get back into the Ryder Cup mix as well, although at this point, it would likely be as a captain. Poulter adds his name to a growing list of golfers leaving LIV. Only four golfers, Brendan Steele, Cameron Tringale, Richard Bland and Ben Campbell, have committed to playing on LIV 2.0.
PXG’s new Secret Weapon mini driver boasts a thinner face and a bigger safety net.
Mini drivers occupy an awkward spot in the bag: too big to be a 3-wood, too small to be a driver. PXG’s latest Secret Weapon is built to split the difference, promising driver distance with fairway-wood control.
The face is more than four percent thinner than the previous model, which PXG says lets it flex more at impact and keep ball speed up across a wider area. A thinner face needs help, so engineers reworked the internal sole structure to handle impact stress, then moved the saved mass to the perimeter for more stability on mishits. A carbon crown frees up weight to sit lower and deeper in the 300cc head.
Four sole weights (two 7.5 grams, two 2.5 grams) let you tweak shot shape, spin and swing weight, and an adjustable hosel handles launch. It comes in 13 degrees at 43.25 inches (right- and left-handed).
Jake Knapp, who called the original his favorite club in the bag, says putting the new one in play was an easy decision. Sequels rarely get that review.
Charley Hull just teased her Sports Illustrated Swimsuit debut.
The 30 year-old English golfer shared a sneak peek of their Sports Illustrated Swimsuit photoshoot in Ibiza on social media Thursday with a simple caption: “I did a thing." Hull is among 11 women featured in the magazine’s 2027 issue.
Hull turned professional in 2013 and became the youngest player to represent Europe in the Solheim Cup at just 17. Now a three-time LPGA Tour winner, she reached a career-high No. 3 in the world rankings in February and finished runner-up in the U.S. Women’s Open earlier this year. She joins a 2027 SI Swimsuit lineup that includes WNBA player Azzi Fudd, Brooks Nader and Jena Sims, wife of five-time major champion Brooks Koepka. The full issue is set to be released in 2027.
Bob Vokey’s original M Grind is back, and there are only 1,000 of them.
The master craftsman has spent nearly three decades building a wedge lineup so extensive it needs a fitting chart. Ask him which grind got it going, and he’ll point to the M.
When Vokey started on tour, most players used full-sole wedges, and grind requests were basic: some heel relief, a trimmed trailing edge or less bounce in the toe. He combined all three into one crescent-shaped sole, and after it hit the PGA Tour in the late 1990s, other players lined up for copies. Vokey credits the M as the root of several current grinds, including the D and T.
The signature 60M ($399) recreates that original profile and sole with SM11 tech, a slate blue finish, Project X wedge shaft and Golf Pride BCT Cord grip bearing Vokey’s initials. Each wedge also comes with a bag tag signifying that it is one of 1,000 made to Vokey's demanding specifications.
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