PGA Championship sets the field for second major of the year

Billy Horschel walks off the second green during the second round of the RBC Heritage golf tournament, Friday, April 18, 2025, in Hilton Head Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
golf
By DOUG FERGUSON
The PGA Championship released its field Tuesday for next week at Quail Hollow, leaning heavily on the top 100 in the world ranking and giving full consideration to players from the Saudi-funded LIV Golf League.
The PGA Championship tries to get the top 100 in the world ranking, which won't be the case because No. 24 Billy Horschel announced on social media he will have hip surgery next week.
The PGA Championship is May 15-18 at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina. Xander Schauffele is the defending champion and Justin Thomas is the last PGA Championship winner at Quail Hollow in 2017.
LIV Golf will have 16 players in the 156-man field, the same number as last year. That includes John Catlin, a reserve who has played three LIV tournaments this year. He qualified through his Asian Tour performance.
Dustin Johnson required a special invitation because the PGA takes the last five winners of the Masters, instead of a Masters champion getting a five-year exemption. Johnson won the Masters in November 2020 during rescheduling from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among the LIV players getting a spot was Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland, who joined the rival league this year. He is No. 115 in the world ranking. His lone victory was the European Open in Germany in 2023, and he spent only two weeks in the top 100 before joining LIV.
Also getting special invitations were Joaquin Niemann, a three-time winner on LIV this year, and Sergio Garcia. They were notified months ago. Patrick Reed sewed up his spot with his third-place finish in the Masters.
The PGA Championship does not have a specific category for the top 100 in the world ranking. It's more an unwritten tradition to fit them under 'special invitations.'
Unlike the U.S. Open and British Open, the PGA chose not to create a category for LIV. That's similar to the Masters, which can invite players through its special exemptions.
'That's what we have done the last three years and continue to do so,' said Kerry Haigh, the championships director for the PGA of America. 'We have that flexibility to be able to invite those players who are deserving from whichever tour.'
The PGA of America takes the top 70 from PGA points — a PGA Tour money list from the last 12 months — and then goes beyond that to fill the field. In this case, it did not go beyond the top 70, leaning more on the world ranking.
The world ranking formula was changed in 2023 and is more heavily weighted toward PGA Tour events because of stronger fields.
Patrick Fishburn was bumped out of the top 70 in PGA points the final week to No. 71. He also is No. 110 in the world. Fishburn winds up getting in with the Horschel withdrawal.
Rico Hoey is the first alternate and likely to get in. The PGA is reserving two spots for winners of the Truist Championship and the Myrtle Beach Classic this week on the PGA Tour if they are not already eligible. In the Truist Championship, a signature event in Philadelphia, Michael Thorbjornsen is the only player not yet eligible for Quail Hollow.
The PGA Championship also offered an exemption to Rickie Fowler, who has plunged to No. 125 in the world. There is a category for players in the most recent Ryder Cup — Fowler was at Marco Simone in Italy — provided they are among the top 100 in the world.
Fowler's first PGA Tour victory was at Quail Hollow in 2012.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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Japan Today

6 days ago

• Japan Today

Sam Burns holds steady on soggy Oakmont to lead U.S. Open

Sam Burns reacts to his chip shot onto the 17th green during the third round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) golf By DOUG FERGUSON Sam Burns only wobbled twice on a soggy Oakmont course Saturday and held his nerve with a great lag from just inside 60 feet on the final hole for a 1-under 69, leaving him one round away from a U.S. Open title and no margin for error. Burns, who has never contended in his 20 previous majors, next takes on the Sunday pressure of golf's most stringent test alongside Adam Scott, the 44-year-old Australian and the only player among the top 10 with experience winning a major. Scott, whose lone major was 12 years ago at the Masters, didn't make a mistake since a soft bogey on the opening hole and looked far younger than his 44 years down the stretch with brilliant iron play and enough putts for a 67, leaving him one shot behind. This was shaping up to be a wild chase to the finish, with only four players under par. That starts with Burns at 4-under 206. He has five PGA Tour titles, the last one more than two years ago. He is coming off a playoff loss last week in the Canadian Open. J.J. Spaun, who lost in a playoff at The Players Championship in March, kept pace with Burns throughout the back nine until the end, when he couldn't save par from a bunker and shot 69. He joined Scott a shot behind. 'It seemed like we were kind of back and forth,' Spaun said. 'He would take the lead, I would take the lead, I would fall back, whatever. But it was fun. You can't really play against your opponent; you got to play this course. There's just so much on demand with every shot.' The other survivor to par was Viktor Hovland, who has been smiling as much as anyone on a course that has been exasperating to so many all week. Hovland salvaged a bogey from an opening tee shot into the bushes and an exquisite shot off the muddied cart path. But he hit the pin on the uphill ninth hole for birdie and hit an amazing wedge from the cabbage left of the 17th green for a tap-in birdie. He closed with a bogey from the rain-soaked rough on the 18th for a 70 and was three behind 'I'm well aware that I've got a chance tomorrow, and if I shoot a low round of golf tomorrow then anything can happen,' Hovland said. 'But there's a lot of good players around me. Adam Scott played a brilliant round today, just didn't really miss a shot. That forces me to play some really good golf tomorrow.' Carlos Ortiz turned in one of the most remarkable performances by going bogey-free for 30 consecutive holes. The streak ended on the 18th, but the Mexican still had a 67 and was very much in range at even-par 210. Missing from the mix was Scottie Scheffler, the world's No. 1 player who had won three of his last four tournaments coming into the U.S. Open. Scheffler never found any momentum, with one critical stretch coming right before the turn. After holing a 20-foot birdie putt on the sixth, Scheffler saved par after driving into the rough on No. 7 and hitting wedge to 3 feet. But then what looked like a tap-in par on the long par-3 eighth turned into a shocking miss. He wound up with a 70, moving him from a tie for 23rd to just outside the top 10. But he was eight shots behind Burns, his best friend on tour with whom he shares a house at the majors. 'I put myself in this position,' Scheffler said. 'It's not the position I want to be in, but I've done a good job of hanging in there and staying in the tournament.' The best news for this U.S. Open was that it finished the third round without weather getting in the way. Oakmont received an inch of rain from when played ended on Friday evening. The USGA offered to refund tickets to spectators who didn't want to traipse through the muck. Divots taken from the fairways looked like pelts, and the greens were noticeable softer and more receptive. There was one spell midway through the round when umbrellas were out and the sun was shining. Everyone plodded along, trying desperately to avoid rough that hasn't been cut and greens that never seem to lose their speed. Burns, a 28-year-old from from Louisiana, had the look of someone determined to add his list to young Americans ready to capture a major. He took a most unusual route on the tough third hole with a drive well to the left, over the church pew bunkers and into the adjacent fourth fairway, allowing him to avoid a blind shot. He picked up birdies with a wedge from the fairway to a back pin on No. 5 and a tee shot to 7 feet on the accessible par-3 13th. Equally important were the three times he saved par from the fairway after getting out of position off the tee Then came the closing stretch. He clipped a wedge that raced toward a back pin and checked up a foot away on the short par-4 17th. And he caught a break on the 18th when his drive into the rough caught a good lie, a rarity at Oakmont, allowing him to reach the back of the green nearly 60 feet away. He gently rolled the putt down to 4 feet for one last par and the lead. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Japan Today

13-06-2025

• Japan Today

J.J. Spaun leads U.S. Open on wild day of great shots and shockers

J.J. Spaun watches his tee shot on the seventh hole during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Thursday, June 12, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) golf By DOUG FERGUSON J.J. Spaun is still new enough to the U.S. Open, and a newcomer to the brute that is Oakmont, that he was prepared for anything Thursday. He wound up with a clean card and a one-shot lead on an opening day that delivered just about everything. Scottie Scheffler had more bogeys in one round than he made had the entire tournament when he won the Memorial. He shot a 73, his highest start ever in a U.S. Open, four shots worse than when he made his Open debut at Oakmont as a 19-year-old at Texas. Patrick Reed made the first albatross in 11 years at the U.S. Open when he holed out a 3-wood from 286 yards on the par-5 fourth. He finished with a triple bogey. Bryson DeChambeau was 39 yards away from the hole at the par-5 12th and took four shots from the rough to get to the green. Si Woo Kim shot a 68 and had no idea how. 'Honestly, I don't even know what I'm doing on the course,' Kim said. 'Kind of hitting good but feel like this course is too hard for me.' Through it all, Spaun played a steady hand in only his second U.S. Open. He played bogey-free and finished with 10 straight pars for a 4-under 66 on America's toughest course hosting the major know as the toughest test in golf. He matched the low opening round in U.S. Opens at Oakmont — Andrew Landry also shot 66 the last time here in 2016 — and it was no mystery. Good putting never fails at any U.S. Open, and Spaun holed five par putts ranging from 7 feet to 16 feet to go along with four birdies. 'I didn't really feel like I'm going to show a bogey-free round 4 under. I didn't really know what to expect especially since I've never played here,' said Spaun, playing in only his second U.S. Open. 'But yeah, maybe sometimes not having expectations is the best thing, so I'll take it.' Oakmont lived up to its reputation with a scoring average of about 74.6 despite a course still relatively soft from rain and moderate wind that didn't stick around for long. And oh, that rough. Just ask Rory McIlroy, although he chose not to speak for the fifth straight competitive round at a major since his Masters victory. He had to hack out three times on the fourth hole to get it back to the fairway, and then he holed a 30-foot putt for a most unlikely bogey. He shot 74. 'Even for a guy like me, I can't get out of it some of the times, depending on the lie,' DeChambeau said after a 73. 'It was tough. It was a brutal test of golf.' The start of the round included Maxwell Moldovan holing out for eagle on the 484-yard opening hole. Toward the end, Tony Finau hit an approach just over the green, off a sprinkler head and into the grandstand, his Titleist marked by green paint of the sprinkler. He saved par. When the first round ended more than 13 hours after it started, only 10 players managed to break par. That's one fewer than the opening round in 2016. Scheffler, the heavy favorite as the No. 1 player in the world who had won three of his last four tournaments by a combined 17 shots, made a 6-foot birdie putt on his second hole. Then he found the Church Pew bunkers on the third and fourth holes, made bogey on both and was never under the rest of the day. 'I made some silly mistakes out there, but at the same time, I made some key putts and some good momentum saves in my round,' Scheffler said. "But overall just need to be a little sharper.' Spaun, who started his round by chipping in from ankle-deep rough just right of the 10th green, was walking down the 18th fairway when a spectator looked at the group's scoreboard and said, 'J.J. Spaun. He's 4 under?' The emphasis was on the number, not the name. But some of the names were surprising, starting with Spaun. He lost in a playoff at The Players Championship to McIlroy that helped move him to No. 25 in the world, meaning he didn't have to go through U.S. Open qualifying for the first time. Thriston Lawrence of South Africa, who contended at Royal Troon last summer, had six birdies in a round of 67. And perhaps Brooks Koepka can count as a surprise because the five-time major champion has not contended in a major since winning the PGA Championship in 2023, and he missed the cut in the Masters and PGA Championship this year. He looked like the Koepka of old, muscling way around Oakmont, limiting mistakes and closing with two birdies for a 68 that left him in a group with the South Korea duo of Si Woo Kim and Sungjae Im. 'It's nice to put a good round together. It's been a while,' Koepka said. 'It's been so far off ... but now it's starting to click. Unfortunately, we're about halfway through the season, so that's not ideal, but we're learning.' Another shot back at 69 was a group that included two-time major champion Jon Rahm, who went 11 holes before making a birdie, and followed that with an eagle. 'I played some incredible golf to shoot 1 under, which we don't usually say, right?' Rahm said. The course allowed plenty of birdies, plenty of excitement, and doled out plenty of punishment. McIlroy also was bogey-free, at least on his opening nine. Then he three-putted for bogey on No. 1 and wound up with a 41 on the front nine for a 74. Sam Burns was one shot out of the lead until playing the last four holes in 5 over for a 72 that felt a lot worse. Spaun was not immune from this. He just made everything, particularly five par putts from 7 feet or longer. 'I think today was one of my best maybe putting days I've had maybe all year,' Spaun said. 'Converting those putts ... that's huge for momentum and keeping a round going, and that's kind of what happens here at U.S. Opens.' Spaun wouldn't know that from experience. This is only his second U.S. Open, and his ninth major since his first one in 2018. He didn't have to qualify, moving to No. 25 in the world on the strength of his playoff loss to McIlroy at The Players Championship. 'I haven't played in too many,' Spaun said 'I knew it was going to be tough. I did my best just to grind through it all.' It was every bit of a grind, from the rough and on the fast greens. Three more days. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Japan Times

11-06-2025

• Japan Times

Rory McIlroy eyes U.S. Open form after Masters triumph

Rory McIlroy is making no apologies for savoring the biggest accomplishment of his career, but insists Oakmont Country Club has his full attention this week. Since claiming his first Masters title in dramatic fashion in April, McIlroy's form has fallen off precipitously. After a tie for seventh at the Truist Championship, he tied for 47th at the PGA Championship before missing the cut by 12 shots last week in Canada, where he finished better than only four players. "You dream about the final putt going in at the Masters, but you don't think about what comes next," McIlroy said on Tuesday ahead of this week's U.S. Open outside of Pittsburgh. "I think chasing a certain goal for the better part of a decade and a half, I think I'm allowed a little bit of time to relax a little bit. But here at Oakmont, I certainly can't relax this week." McIlroy missed the cut by two shots the last time the U.S. Open was contested at Oakmont in 2016, carding a 77 and a 71 to finish 8 over. "Don't really remember much about 2016. I think I just tried to erase it from the memory bank," he joked. McIlroy called Oakmont "a big brute of a golf course" that will test every club in the bag. The club with the biggest question in McIlroy's bag has been his driver. After driving it "OK" in his words at Augusta, McIlroy struggled mightily off the tee at the PGA Championship after having to make a switch after his driver failed a pre-tournament inspection. Despite missing the cut in Canada, McIlroy said he has made progress with a new driver while playing at home and during Tuesday's practice round. "Hopefully I can hit a few more fairways than I have been hitting and give myself some opportunities," he said. "It's very penal if you miss. Sometimes it's penal if you don't miss. "But the person with the most patience and the best attitude this week is the one that's going to win." With his Masters victory, McIlroy accomplished the career Grand Slam at 36 years old. His lone U.S. Open victory came 14 years ago at Congressional. The Northern Irishman was asked about the biggest challenge he's facing as he attempts to reset from the high of Augusta. "I think it's trying to have a little bit of amnesia and forget about what happened six weeks ago. Then just trying to find the motivation to go back out there and work as hard as I've been working," he said. "At some point, you have to realize that there's a little bit more golf left to play this season, here, (the Open Championship at) Portrush, Ryder Cup. So, those are obviously the three big things that I'm sort of looking at for the rest of the year. "But I think weeks like (the PGA at) Quail Hollow or even weeks like last week, it makes it easier to reset in some way, to be like, OK, I sort of need to get my stuff together here and get back to the process." Many speculated that finally claiming his first Masters would free McIlroy to reel off several more majors. But even if that doesn't happen this week — or ever again — McIlroy plans to enjoy this stage of his life. One that includes playing more tennis with friends on the road, less concerned about suffering an injury that impacts his golf game, and traveling the world with his daughter, Poppy. "I worked incredibly hard on my game from October last year all the way up until April this year. It was nice to sort of see the fruits of my labor come to fruition and have everything happen," McIlroy said. "But at the same time, you have to enjoy that. You have to enjoy what you've just accomplished. I certainly feel like I'm still doing that and I will continue to do that."