LIV Golf stars Garcia and Reed set for International Series Macau

LIV Golf stars Garcia and Reed set for International Series Macau
Sergio Garcia has been confirmed for the 2025 International Series Macau (Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour)
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Updated 18 February 2025
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LIV Golf stars Garcia and Reed set for International Series Macau

LIV Golf stars Garcia and Reed set for International Series Macau
  • The Asian Tour event has this year been named as a qualifying pathway event for The Open

MACAU: Major champions Sergio Garcia and Patrick Reed are the latest big names confirmed for the International Series Macau presented by Wynn, the elevated Asian Tour tournament that is a qualifying event for The Open this year.

The 2017 and 2018 Masters champions, respectively, will be part of a stellar field at Macau Golf and Country Club from March 20 to 23. The lineup includes defending champion John Catlin, who shot a historic 59 to claim a thrilling playoff victory at the same venue last year.

Spaniard Garcia, captain of the Fireballs GC in the LIV Golf League, will bring his entire team for the second of 10 elevated events on the Asian Tour calendar.

Mexican Abraham Ancer, the LIV Golf Hong Kong 2024 champion, Spaniard David Puig, who lost in the playoff to Catlin last year, and close-season recruit Luis Masaveu will all line up in Macau.

All four Fireballs GC players have shown good form this season, having secured the team title at the recent LIV Golf Adelaide by an emphatic six strokes.  

Hong Kong native Taichi Kho, the 2023 World City Championship winner, is also confirmed as part of a truly international field, with more big names to be revealed soon.

Garcia had an impressive 2024, recording his maiden win in the LIV Golf League at LIV Golf Andalucia, having lost in two playoffs — Mayakoba and Miami — earlier in the season.

The Ryder Cup legend finished third in the league’s overall individual standings, behind Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann.

Reed, who won the famous green jacket at Augusta a year after Garcia in 2018 and lined up against the Spaniard three times in the Ryder Cup, also had an impressive 2024.

The American, who plays for 4Aces GC in the LIV Golf league, stormed to a runaway victory at the Link Hong Kong Open on The International Series, ending a four-year drought.

The Macau contest was recently named as a tournament on The Open Qualifying Series for 2025, with the top three finishers set to earn a coveted spot in the field for this year’s fourth major.

Rahul Singh, head of The International Series, said: “Welcoming a field of this caliber, featuring major champions, LIV Golf stars, and rising talent, takes International Series Macau presented by Wynn to another level.

“The presence of globally recognized players alongside proven winners from The International Series and Asian Tour adds incredible depth to the competition, making this a must-watch event. With so much at stake, including three places in the field for The Open, we’re set for an electrifying week of world-class golf.”


Camilo Villegas, Lucas Glover among those sharing Players Championship lead on wild day

Camilo Villegas, Lucas Glover among those sharing Players Championship lead on wild day
Updated 14 March 2025
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Camilo Villegas, Lucas Glover among those sharing Players Championship lead on wild day

Camilo Villegas, Lucas Glover among those sharing Players Championship lead on wild day
  • Lucas Glover had nine birdies in his round of 6-under 66, leaving him tied with Villegas and J.J. Spaun
  • Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler figures he left a few shots out there — two birdie chances were in the 8-foot range — but was satisfied enough with a 69

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida: Camilo Villegas was on the phone the day before The Players Championship trying to sort out his swing with a coach who is in Singapore caddying at a LIV Golf event. He wound up tied for the lead, a peculiar twist in a tournament filled with them.

Thursday was no exception.

Lucas Glover had nine birdies in his round of 6-under 66, leaving him tied with Villegas and J.J. Spaun, who managed to get around the TPC Sawgrass without a bogey.

Max McGreevy, who tied the tournament record for the highest score two years ago with an 89, had a chance to join them. He was at 5 under and faced a 15-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole when play was suspended by darkness.

Rory McIlroy made four birdies from tee shots that found the rough or the pine straw, including the 18th hole when he punched a shot off the pine straw and out of the trees to 7 feet, putting him in the group at 67.

“You’re just hoping for a backswing and a gap, and I had both of those,” McIlroy said. “Just trying to chip-and-run a 5-iron up around the front of the green and make 4 and get out of there. It was a bonus to get it up on the green and hole the putt was a lovely way to finish.”

Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler figures he left a few shots out there — two birdie chances were in the 8-foot range — but was satisfied enough with a 69.

Villegas was on the verge of losing his card two years ago when he connected with Jose Luis Campra, a respected Argentine professional who caddies on the side. He currently is looping for Sebastian Munoz on LIV, which is in Singapore this week.

“It was 9 a.m. here, it was 9 p.m. there,” Villegas said. “We worked for a couple hours. He’s a very, very hard worker. Very few guys give more golf lessons than Jose Campra, and he’s always available for me. So it’s great.”

It was a small tweak on the downswing, and Villegas took that to the dangerous Stadium Course and promptly made five birdies on the back nine to start his round. There were a few mistakes, typical for most players.

That’s what this course does. Slight misses can turn into big numbers.

Chandler Phillips experienced both. He set a Players Championship record with three eagles. He also had four birdies, an astonishing performance wiped out by a triple bogey on the par-3 eighth hole that started with a tee shot into a palmetto bush.

Justin Lower had the best par of all. He was one of 10 players to hit their tee shots into the water on the island green at the par-3 17th. He was the only player to walk away with par, going to the drop zone and holing his wedge.

Max Greyserman wasn’t so fortunate. He put two in the water and had to make a 12-foot putt for his quadruple bogey.

Glover isn’t sure what to make of his record at the TPC Sawgrass, 10 times missing the cut with only two top 10s. But there was no big secret on this day. He hit it where he was aiming and made putts, with birdies on his final four holes.

It stood out amid some surprising scores on a gorgeous day. Justin Thomas hit four tee shots into the water and had to birdie the last two holes for a 78. Viktor Hovland had three double bogeys in his round of 80.

Jordan Spieth had an eagle, birdie, par, bogey and double bogey in his opening six holes. He played far boring golf — which he prefers — with seven pars, a birdie and a bogey on the back nine and it added to a 70.

“That’s the thing about this place,” Glover said. “There’s always some really good scores and always some really bad scores. The margins are razor thin here, akin to say Augusta or Bay Hill. You get off just a little, you can make big numbers in a hurry.

“I happened to have a bunch of good numbers today and a bunch of good yardages and was able to be aggressive and I putted great.”

Glover was not immune. He was too aggressive on the par-5 11th with a wedge and wound up in a pot-shaped bunker for bogey. He dropped another shot on the next hole.

But it was the finish that set him apart — an approach to 5 feet on the 15th, a chip to tap-in range on the par-5 16th, an 18-foot birdie putt on the island green par-3 17th and a shot that caught the slope and fed down to 8 feet for birdie on the 18th.

The 45-year-old former US Open champion is having a late resurgence in his career, particularly impressive from having overcome the putting yips about a decade ago. He never gave up the grind and finally cashed in by winning the Wyndham Championship and the opening FedEx Cup playoff event in consecutive weeks in 2023.

“Just don’t want to be done at 45, honestly,” Glover said. “I deep down believe I can still compete out here at 45 and I don’t want to stop anytime soon.”

McGreevy was among five players who didn’t finish before darkness. He was to resume at 8 a.m., and then everyone gets to do it all over again.


The secret to Sawgrass for The Players Championship: Play well and stay out of trouble

The secret to Sawgrass for The Players Championship: Play well and stay out of trouble
Updated 13 March 2025
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The secret to Sawgrass for The Players Championship: Play well and stay out of trouble

The secret to Sawgrass for The Players Championship: Play well and stay out of trouble
  • The PGA Tour’s premier event — it has been referred to as the “fifth major” — begins Thursday with the same level of intrigue
  • Scheffler has a chance to join Jack Nicklaus as the only three-time winners of The Players Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida: The 25 newcomers to The Players Championship probably won’t take much solace in hearing that only one player — Craig Perks in 2002 — has conquered the diabolical Stadium Course at the TPC Sawgrass in his debut over the last four decades.

Just as curious is the case of Scottie Scheffler. Last year he became the first player in the history of this championship to win in consecutive years.

Tiger Woods for all his greatness won it only twice. Phil Mickelson won in 2007 and some eight years later after missing the cut said, “I can’t believe I’ve actually won here.”

The PGA Tour’s premier event — it has been referred to as the “fifth major” — begins Thursday with the same level of intrigue. There are great players. There are players in great form. But anything goes over the next four days.

The secret to Sawgrass?

“Playing good,” said Scheffler, who last year had to make up a five-shot deficit with a sore neck by holing out for eagle on the fourth hole on his way to a 64.

“You can’t fake it around this place,” Scheffler said. “I think there’s a lot of genius in the way the golf course is designed. There is some volatility in terms of the hazard. That provides a lot of volatility for how the golf course can play, especially in high wind.

“It doesn’t suit one type of player,” he said. “It’s not a horses-for-courses-type place. It’s just the guys that are playing the best are going to be on the leaderboard on Sunday.”

That sounds simple enough, thought that requires a view of Perks in 2002. He played great that week — turns out it was his only PGA Tour victory — but had to chip in for eagle from the edge of the 16th green, hole a long birdie putt on the 17th and then chip in for par on the 18th.

Simple.

If the island green at the par-3 17th, or water in play on all but a handful of holes isn’t enough, the PGA Tour restored the tree that hung sideways over the tee box on No. 6 that frames the shot and gives players one more thing to think about.

“I certainly have to hit it a little lower than my preferred launch window,” Rory McIlroy said.

McIlroy won in 2019 and he has three other top-10 finishes. He also has missed the cut seven times, keeping in form of other past champions.

“You just have to be so on your game here,” McIlroy said. “I think that’s the main key. It’s such a course on execution, and if you’re not executing like 100 percent, you leave yourself in spots where it’s really tough to get up-and-down. You have to hit the ball where you’re looking, and if you can do that, you can do well here.

“It’s one of the best tests of the year, for sure.”

Among the newcomers this year is Laurie Canter of England, who got plenty of attention Wednesday during the first-timer interviews because he spent parts of three years cashing in at Saudi-backed LIV Golf.

Canter was an alternate who was never in trouble with the European tour because he had limited status. And then he played beautifully enough to work his way into the top 50 in the world, the final push a runner-up finish in the South African Open.

Six others have won for the first time in the last year, three of them in 2025 — Brian Campbell (Mexico), Joe Highsmith (PGA National) and Karl Vilips (Puerto Rico).

Scheffler has a chance to join Jack Nicklaus as the only three-time winners of The Players Championship. Nicklaus won his three before it moved to the TPC Sawgrass in 1982.

The Masters champion is still waiting to hit his stride after sitting out all of January with a hand injury from trying to cut ravioli with a wine glass.

But he has been on an amazing run, capped off by his nine-win season in 2025, winning back-to-back at The Players and building such a big lead at No. 1 in the world that he is assured of being atop the ranking for two straight years. No one except Woods has done that.

“Scottie is the closest thing to Tiger I think any of us have seen,” Wyndham Clark said. “He not only is the No. 1 player in the world, he embraces it, and he shows up every week and almost wins or is in contention or does win. It’s very impressive.

“I think he’s kind of the mark we’re all trying to get to, and I have nothing but respect for everything that Scottie is doing, and I love that it doesn’t affect him,” Clark said. “It hasn’t gone to his head. He just continues to be Scottie and goes about his way.”


Trump has ‘bolstered’ PGA-LIV reunification talks: Monahan

Trump has ‘bolstered’ PGA-LIV reunification talks: Monahan
Updated 12 March 2025
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Trump has ‘bolstered’ PGA-LIV reunification talks: Monahan

Trump has ‘bolstered’ PGA-LIV reunification talks: Monahan
  • Hopes of a breakthrough had risen after Trump hosted PGA and LIV chiefs at the White House last month in talks that Monahan described as “real and substantial”
  • Monahan said he had built a relationship of “mutual respect” with LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who he said could conceivably be welcomed onto the board of the PGA Tour eventually “to move the global game forward”

MIAMI: President Donald Trump’s intervention in negotiations between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf has “significantly bolstered” hopes of reunifying the fractured sport but “hurdles” to a deal remain, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said Tuesday.

Speaking ahead of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, Monahan said Trump, who has hosted two rounds of talks at the White House involving leaders of the PGA and Saudi Arabia-financed LIV, had made a deal between the two sides more likely.

But Monahan told a press conference that while some hurdles had been removed during negotiations, “others remain” without revealing what were the stumbling blocks preventing a final agreement.

Hopes of a breakthrough had risen after Trump hosted PGA and LIV chiefs at the White House last month in talks that Monahan described as “real and substantial.”

“Those talks have been significantly bolstered by President Trump’s willingness to serve as a facilitator,” Monahan said Tuesday.

“President Trump is a lifelong golf fan. He believes strongly in the game’s power and potential, and he has been exceedingly generous with his time and influence to help bring a deal together.

“He wants to see the game reunified. We want to see the game reunified. His involvement has made the prospect of reunification very real.”

Monahan said he had built a relationship of “mutual respect” with LIV Golf chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who he said could conceivably be welcomed onto the board of the PGA Tour eventually “to move the global game forward.”

However, Monahan said that while “important aspects” LIV Golf could be incorporated into the PGA Tour, any unification deal would not “diminish the strength of our platform.”

“Our team is fully committed to reunification,” Monahan said. “The only deal that we would regret is one that compromises the essence of what makes the game of golf and the PGA Tour so exceptional.”

Asked for an example of what might diminish the PGA Tour, Monahan was tight-lipped but hinted that the impasse could be linked to the PGA Tour’s traditional four-round, 72-hole format versus LIV’s abbreviated 54-hole standard.

“If you look at the PGA Tour today and the strength of our organization, the momentum that we have as an organization and what we stand for, I mean ultimately if you’re a player anywhere in the world, this is the platform that you want to get to,” he said.

“These tournaments are 72-hole stroke play tournaments at historic, iconic venues ... That’s who we are as an organization, and that’s who we’ll always be as an organization.”

Monahan said fans simply wanted to see the best players playing against each other. At the moment, golf’s four annual majors are the only events that see players from both circuits competing against each other.

“I think what our fans are telling us is that they want to see the best players in the world playing together more often and that’s what really is the focus of the conversations,” he said.

Two-time major-winner Justin Thomas, meanwhile, said players were fatigued by the long-running saga of golf’s schism.

“I think this is the third time I’ve played this tournament while this has been going on in some way, shape or form,” Thomas said. “I think we’re kind of like past the level of exhaustion... obviously like the rest of us, we would love for it to be done sooner rather than later.”


Fireballs, Garcia claim wins at LIV Golf Hong Kong

Fireballs, Garcia claim wins at LIV Golf Hong Kong
Updated 09 March 2025
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Fireballs, Garcia claim wins at LIV Golf Hong Kong

Fireballs, Garcia claim wins at LIV Golf Hong Kong
  • Spanish star leads his team to double tries as Mickelson makes first podium

HONG KONG: Sergio Garcia and his red-hot Fireballs GC team captured both trophies on Sunday at LIV Golf Hong Kong, while HyFlyers GC Captain Phil Mickelson appears to have recaptured his Hall of Fame form.

Led by their captain Garcia, the Fireballs have now won back-to-back tournaments, having claimed LIV Golf Adelaide last month. They will head to next week’s LIV Golf Singapore presented by Aramco seeking to become the first LIV Golf team to win three consecutive tournaments since the league expanded to a full 14-tournament schedule in 2023.

Garcia shot a bogey-free 7-under 63 to finish at 18 under and claim the individual title by three shots over hard-charging Dean Burmester, whose 62 was the low round of the day. Garcia, who finished third in the season-long Individual Championship race last season, moved atop the points standings after the first three events in 2025.

The 45-year-old Garcia played the final hole on Sunday with a comfortable individual lead but needed to make par to avoid dropping into a team playoff with Burmester’s Stinger GC. Facing a lengthy birdie putt, he rolled it to within tap-in range to seal the Fireballs’ sixth LIV Golf team title in club history. They climbed atop the season-long team standings by 10 points over Legion XIII.

“It was nice to see not only that I was doing well and leading the tournament, but my teammates were playing great,” said Garcia, who follows teammate Abraham Ancer as individual champions in Hong Kong. “They were keeping us there with a chance to win. Obviously when you can pull the double, it’s a lot sweeter than if it’s just one of them. Very proud of them.”

The Fireballs and Stingers appeared headed for a playoff until Luis Masaveu, the 22-year-old Spaniard signed by Garcia in the offseason, birdied his final hole, the short par-4 10th. “It feels incredible,” said Masaveu. “… Very happy for the team to be able to hole that putt and help them.”

Masaveu shot an even-par 70, with Ancer shooting 65 and David Puig a bogey-free 67 for a three-day team total of 37 under. The South African Stingers shot 17 under as a team Sunday to finish one shot back. Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC tied for third at 34 under with Cameron Smith’s Ripper GC, the reigning Team Champions. It was the HyFlyers’ third podium result in team history.

Individually, Mickelson finished solo third after his 64 left him at 14 under. It is the first podium finish for the 54-year-old Mickelson since joining LIV Golf as an original member in 2022, and it could not have come at a better time with golf’s first major just a month away at the Masters.

“The fact is, I’m hitting a lot of good shots. I’m playing some good golf,” said Mickelson, who has won three of his six majors at Augusta National. “This is a building week as I continue to build into LIV and my goal of accomplishing a win in LIV as well as winning another major or getting ready for Augusta.”

Garcia is also a past Masters champion, and his form has been superb for more than a year. Since the start of the 2024 LIV Golf season, he has two wins, three other runner-up finishes, and 13 top 20s in the last 16 LIV Golf regular season events, including 10 straight after Hong Kong.

He entered Sunday’s final round with a share of the lead but made an early statement by holing a lengthy eagle putt at the par-5 third after finding the green in two with a 6-iron. That gave him a two-shot lead, which he never relinquished.

“It really got me in a good mood,” Garcia said of the eagle. “I was very focused on what I wanted to do. But obviously when that happens, it gets you going even more.”

Always one of golf’s best ball-strikers, Garcia’s putting was dialed in at Hong Kong Golf Club, as he ranked third in the field in fewest putts during the week after switching to one of his old putters.

“I played with him yesterday,” Masaveu said. “He’s a machine.”

Asked if Garcia with a hot putter is as good as it gets in professional golf, Ancer offered a one-word response: “Yes.”


Schauffele is ready to return from rib injury with modest expectations

Schauffele is ready to return from rib injury with modest expectations
Updated 06 March 2025
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Schauffele is ready to return from rib injury with modest expectations

Schauffele is ready to return from rib injury with modest expectations
  • Bay Hill is loaded again as a signature event, the third time the top three players — Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Schauffele — are in the same field since the Tour Championship last August
  • Because it’s a player-hosted event (Palmer), the 72-man field features a 36-hole cut to top 50 and ties

ORLANDO, Florida: Xander Schauffele took his first swing on a PGA Tour course in 57 days and found the middle of the fairway.

And then he took another golf ball from his bag and tossed it into the thick rough. That was the real test.

“If this doesn’t go well,” he recalled telling his caddie, “then I’m going to get in my car and drive back to Jupiter.”

Schauffele gave it a rip and didn’t feel any twinge in his right ribs from an intercostal strain and slight tear in his cartilage that has kept him out of golf for two months. He returns to the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill this week with modest expectations.

He started the year as the top threat to Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player. Schauffele broke through in a big way in 2024 by winning two majors at the PGA Championship and the British Open, going from no majors to halfway to the career Grand Slam.

That lasted all of one week at The Sentry at Kapalua, where he finished in the middle of the pack and then realized that nagging pain was more serious than he thought.

He isn’t sure if the injury stemmed from trying to gain more speed in his swing or something during a workout. He describes it as a perfect storm — it happened right when his trainer left the country to get his visa renewed. He didn’t get any soft tissue therapy, like usual. He figured it was not a big deal, until it became one.

He missed two tournaments at Torrey Pines in his hometown of San Diego. He watched way too much golf on TV to see what he was missing.

And now he has some catching up to do.

Bay Hill is loaded again as a signature event, the third time the top three players — Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Schauffele — are in the same field since the Tour Championship last August.

“I wouldn’t call it like the dream place to come back to, to be completely honest,” Schauffele said. “Everyone knows what Bay Hill gives you — it takes a lot more than it gives — and you have to earn every par or birdie or bogey that you make. It’s a tough place.”

But it’s a dream part of the schedule — Bay Hill, The Players Championship next week and the Masters is right around the corner.

“I would be lying if I said I was in the most comfortable position ever,” Schauffele said. “I’ve been practicing mentally to convince myself that I’m still in some crazy-good form. Trying to use that sort of low expectation with serious focus to try and get the most out of what you’re doing. Just think about all the greats that have had to take some time off and came back and played really well.

“I think Scottie came back and he wasn’t close to winning, but played pretty decent and put himself back in the mix, so I don’t see why I can’t do that.”

Scheffler can appreciate what Schauffele faces this week. He also went two months without playing because of a freak injury when he was trying to cut ravioli with a wine glass and it punctured his right palm.

He has two top 10s in his three starts since returning.

“I think it’s challenging any time you’re coming off an injury,” Scheffler said. “That first time you step back out inside the ropes, it’s different playing competition tournament golf, and there’s definitely challenges to it and it takes a little bit of time to get used to.

“I’m a big routine guy and so being injured and being out of my routine was definitely an unusual thing. Xander’s a guy that’s fairly routine as well, so I’m sure there will be some adjustments, but it’s definitely good to have him back out playing.”

Because it’s a player-hosted event (Palmer), the 72-man field features a 36-hole cut to top 50 and ties. Schauffele has the longest active streak on the PGA Tour at 57 in a row.

In three previous trips to Bay Hill, he has only one round in the 60s.

Schauffele said he relied on plenty of scans to make sure he couldn’t reinjure his ribs, and that shot he took out of the rough was another indication. He played nine holes using only his irons in San Diego. He returned to his South Florida home and played nine holes on a par-3 course with Justin Thomas, 18 holes on his own, and then came to Bay Hill.

“So this is as good as it’s going to get,” he said.