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Australia’s Cameron Smith two shots from lead at first PGA play-offs event, where victory will secure world number one ranking

An Australian golfer walks along, holding an iron in one hand as he looks down the fairway towards the green.

Cameron Smith has a huge chance to win the opening PGA Tour FedEx Cup play-offs tournament and claim the world number one ranking, set to enter the final round two shots from the lead.

As speculation continues to swirl about whether he’ll jump to the rebel LIV Golf circuit, Australian world number two Smith birdied two of the last three holes to shoot a 3-under 67 at the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis on Saturday.

Already the winner of the Tournament of Champions, Players Championship and British Open this year, 28-year-old Smith trails the only American leader, JJ Spaun (68), and second-placed Austrian Sepp Straka (68).

Smith is in a three-way tie for third with Americans Will Zalatoris (65) and Trey Mullinax (66).

He is keenly aware that a victory would take him to the world number one ranking for the first time after the incumbent, Scottie Scheffler, missed the cut on Friday.

“That’s been one of my goals probably since the start of the year is to try to get to that top spot,” Smith said. “try [to] chase it down.”

Fellow Australian Adam Scott fell to tied 25th, six shots from the lead, after a round of 70, while countryman Cam Davis (67) is tied 36th at 5-under.

Spaun had a two-putt birdie on the par-5 16th and holed an 18-foot birdie putt on the next hole to claim the 54-hole lead at 13-under 197.

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US

Federal judge denies LIV golfers bid for PGA Tour postseason

Federal judge denies LIV golfers bid for PGA Tour postseason

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A federal judge in California ruled Tuesday that three golfers who joined Saudi-backed LIV Golf will not be able to compete in the PGA Tour’s postseason.

US District Judge Beth Labson Freeman made her decision in San Jose after attorneys for the sides each spoke for about an hour. Freeman said she didn’t consider the golfers faced irreparable harm because of the big money they were guaranteed by joining LIV, a key issue in the case.

“There simply is no irreparable harm in this case,” PGA Tour attorney Elliot Peters said.

The three suspended golfers were seeking a temporary restraining order, which Freeman denied. Talor Gooch, Matt Jones and Hudson Swafford claimed they should be able to play where they want to, each saying in letters last month to the PGA Tour, “I am a free agent and independent contractor.” They are among 10 players who filed an antitrust lawsuit against the PGA Tour last week — including Phil Mickelson.

Robert Walters, an antitrust litigator representing the golfers, noted this would be their opportunity on a big playoff stage, “effectively the Super Bowl of golf” because of its “significant income opportunities.” Freeman responded that the LIV Tour earnings potential was also great and asked whether players might have been able to wait until the conclusion of the PGA Tour season to depart for the new tour.

Walters argued there were only 48 spots and they would have filled up according to LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, to which Freeman said she agreed with that stance but that the golfers stood to gain far more financially joining LIV than the money they might have earned on the PGA Tour.

“This is an extraordinarily attractive financial opportunity but it’s much more than that,” Walters said, saying the harm done is that “players lose intangible benefits” such as qualifications for the major tournaments as well as other marquee invitationals.

“This is the holy grail because everybody wants to compete in and prevail in major championships, but it’s not just the majors,” Walters said. I have noted that the PGA Tour inferred these golfers would put a “taint” or “stench” on the tour’s image by playing, perhaps even wearing LIV Tour gear in PGA Tour tournaments.

“We’re disappointed that Talor Gooch, Hudson Swafford and Matt Jones won’t be allowed to play golf. No one gains by banning golfers from playing,” LIV Golf said in a statement.

The first of three FedEx Cup playoff events begin Thursday. Two tournaments offer $15 million prize funds, and the player who wins the FedEx Cup at East Lake in Atlanta gets $18 million — thus the urgency for Freeman to rule. This case could go to trial next year, with the possibility of an injunction hearing in late September or early October, according to Peters.

Peters said lifting the suspensions of the golfers and allowing them to play would “change the status quo” for the PGA Tour and “give them a fabulous platform” to promote the LIV tour while competing in a PGA event.

“I think it’s a huge problem,” he said. “… The Commissioner needs the ability to protect the Tour. This is a very dire situation for the Tour.”

Gooch (No. 20), Jones (No. 65) and Swafford (No. 67) are among nine players who have joined LIV Golf and finished the regular season among the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings. The other six who joined LIV Golf are not asking to play in the tour’s postseason.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan issued a memo to members that included: “With today’s news, our players, fans and partners can now focus on what really matters over the next three weeks: the best players in the world competing in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, capping off an incredibly compelling season with the crowning of the FedEx Cup champion at the Tour Championship.”

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AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed to this report.

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More AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Sports

Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman joining Saudi-backed LIV golf tour, according to Australian golfer Cameron Percy

Play Video. Duration: 32 seconds

Australia’s latest major winner, Cameron Smith, is “gone” to the LIV Golf Series at the end of the PGA playoffs, according to fellow Aussie golfer Cameron Percy.

Percy said Smith, 28, and another Australian, Marc Leishman, had already signed deals to exit the PGA Tour.

“Unfortunate[ly]Yeah, they’re gone,” Percy told RSN radio.

Smith was infamously asked about his intentions immediately after winning his first major at St Andrews last month, and refused to answer, taking issue with the question even being asked.

“I just won the British Open and you’re asking about that. I think that’s pretty … not that good,” he said.

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Sports

Australia’s Minjee Lee wins Annika Major Award after finishing tied for fourth at Women’s British Open

Australia's Minjee Lee holds her club in her hand as she looks down the fairway after hitting an approach shot.

Minjee Lee has emerged from a day of high drama without the major spoils but with another one of golf’s most prestigious awards.

Lee fell tantalizingly short of becoming Australia’s first female golfer to capture the world-number-one ranking following a tie for fourth at the Women’s British Open in Scotland.

The Perth ace needed to win or finish second, but wound up three shots behind triumphant South African Ashleigh Buhai, who denied In Gee Chun in an epic, tension-filled sudden-death play-off that stretched four holes and ended under fading light on Sunday.

Buhai almost threw away the tournament with a disastrous triple-bogey seven on the par-4 15th before regaining her nerve to land the biggest title of her career.

After starting the day with a five-stroke leader, the 33-year-old finished at 10-under-par 274 following a closing 4-over 75.

A golfer smiles as she stands in the light holding a major trophy, with a clubhouse in near-darkness behind her.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai won the Women’s Open on the fourth hole of a playoff with In Gee Chun. (AP: Scott Heppell)

Chun carded a 70 but could not find the birdie needed in the play-off to claim a fourth career major.

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Categories
US

Seth Meyers Roasts the Hell Out of Trump’s ‘Face-Melt’ Photo

Seth Meyers Roasts the Hell Out of Trump's 'Face-Melt' Photo

Seth Meyers returned to late night this Wednesday after taking a week off to recover from his second bout of COVID. And while he couldn’t cover everything he missed while he was away, he was not going to let the opportunity go by to make some brutal jokes about a photo of Donald Trump looking a little worse for wear during his recent Saudi-sponsored golf tournament.

In the middle of an unrelated bit about Trump’s double “ERIC” endorsement in Missouri’s GOP Senate primary, Meyers noted that both Eric Greitens and eventual winner Eric Schmitt “bragged that they had been endorsed by Trump, a man who, again, is not only under multiple active criminal investigations for inciting a coup to overthrow American democracy, but is also starting to look less like a former president and more like the Nick Nolte mugshot.”

“I mean, is his head getting smaller or is his hat getting bigger?” the host asked. “It looks like his hat from him is some kind of organism feeding on his blood from him. Look how pale he is! He looks like he’s starring in the next Martin McDonagh film as the ghost of an Irish priest opposite Colin Farrell.”

But he still wasn’t finished. “Look, I know they say that all presidents age rapidly,” Meyers said, “but Trump looks like he’s halfway through a Raiders of the Lost Ark face-melt. It’s like they opened the Ark, his face started to melt, but then he slammed it shut real fast. But then his face just stayed that way.

It was only after Meyers did an extended Trump impression ranting about how he had to open the Ark of the Covenant to look for Hunter Biden’s laptop that he felt ready to return to more substantive news like the results of Tuesday’s primaries.

For more, listen and subscribe to The Last Laugh podcast.

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