Asian Golf

LIV Golf Back With A Bang!

LIV Golf has announced that the League will launch its third official full season in February 2025, teeing off in marquee global markets across Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

“As we set our sights on 2025, LIV Golf is gearing up for our most ambitious season start, to date,” said LIV Golf Commissioner and CEO Greg Norman. “Since our debut in 2022, LIV Golf has played 34 tournaments in nine different countries across four continents. We are a global league with a global footprint, and we’re excited to kick off next season with four truly international events that will deliver our unique blend of elite golf, entertainment and culture to fans around the world.”

The League will begin the 2025 season February 6-8 with LIV Golf Riyadh, marking LIV Golf’s debut in Saudi Arabia’s capital city. The 2025 kickoff event will feature LIV Golf’s star-studded field competing at Riyadh Golf Club, host to events including the Aramco Team Series, the Saudi Open presented by the PIF, and the PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers in December.

Scheffler Raids The Bank!

The golfing gods must love this guy! Scottie Scheffler, the world’s number one ranked player was given the most generous blessing of his playing life when he scooted off with a payload of US$25 million at the 2024 TOUR Championship.

Already the biggest winner on tour this year, the American superstar entered the FedEx Cup Playoffs final, with a two-stroke lead to capture the humongous paycheck.

Scheffler had entered the TOUR Championship in the lead twice before this year and, both times, he was surpassed Scheffler finished on 30-under par, four shots clear of Collin Morikawa, with Sahith Theegala in third.

The total TOUR Championship purse comes in at US$82.95 million this week and that will be split among the 30 players who made it to the final. In total, the FedEx Cup purse is US$120 million with the differing US$17.05 million being split up among players ranked No. 31-150 in the final FedEx Cup standings.

Scottie Scheffler, who entered the final round with a five-stroke lead, is the only player to clear US$25 million in earnings in the 2024 PGA Tour season. Besides being the most dominant figure in golf this year, the American won the Masters for a second time, back-to-back Players Championship crowns and an Olympic gold medal in Paris.

Speaking to reporters, Scheffler said, "I feel like I’ve lived almost a full lifetime in this one year. It’s been nuts.”

Ko Strikes Gold Again!

What a player! Just two weeks after claiming the Olympic gold medal for golf, Lydia Ko showed off her winning form by winning her third career major in Scotland.

The Korean-born New Zealand superstar, came from three shots behind to lift the AIG Women's British Open.

Ko caught the 54-hole South Korean leader Jiyai Shin at 4-under, and raced ahead to win with a final score of 7-under par.

Victory won her a check for US$1.4 million – her 21st win on the LPGA Tour.

“It's been a crazy past few weeks,” Ko said at the post tournament press conference. “Something that was too good to be true happened, and I honestly didn't think it could be any better, and here I am as the AIG Women's Open Champion this week. Obviously, being here at the Old Course at St Andrews, it makes it so much more special. I just loved being out there this week.”

Tied for second place were four players which included China’s Ruoning Yin and veteran Jiyai Shin. Finishing in sixth place on her own was Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn.

A total of seven Asian players finished inside the top ten on the leaderboard.

But it’s a win that will go down in her personal record books as one of the most significant victories of her career, a long-awaited major title that couldn’t mean more to the now 21-time LPGA Tour winner.

Bradley Zooms To Victory At BMW Championship!

American Keegan Bradley was in crazy form as he played his heart out to win the BMW Championship.

The newly appointed captain of the 2025 US Ryder Cup team who won the BMW in 2018 took home a winner’s check for US$3.6 million.

Fellow American Sam Burns closed in 7-under 65, the low round of the day, to finish second along with Ludvig Aberg (71) and Australian veteran Adam Scott (72), one stroke back.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler shot 72 and finished T-33 but held on to the top spot in the FedEx Cup, which means he’ll start at 10 under in next week’s staggered start, for the third straight year.

To Hell And Back!

If you want to know what it feels like to sink into the abyss of hell and emerge triumphant in the end, speak to Japanese ace golfer Hideki Matsuyama.

The winner of the bronze medal in golf at the Paris Olympics streaked ahead with a five-stroke lead at the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship only to see his lead robbed towards the finishing holes of the fourth round.

What seemed to be a glorious finish to his FedEx Cup Play Play-Off saw him starring disaster in the face when a double bogey at the 15th hole saw the Japanese star tumbling from his perch at the top of the leaderboard in the final round.

This is when his strong mentality kicked in as he sank a 26-foot birdie putt at the 17th hole to regain the lead and hit a precision shot at the 18th to 6 feet to seal his 10th career PGA Tour title. This was good enough to bump co-leaders Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele with claim victory at 17-under par.

Matsuyama claimed a check for US$3.6 million for the win.

This win comes after Matsuyama had his wallet stolen earlier in the week and was without his coach and regular caddie, who had their passports lifted. He also put in a new putter in his bag which delivered his best putting week of the season.

Olympic gold medalist and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, shot a 66 and finished fourth.

The top 50 finishers in the FedEx Cup advance to the BMW Championship next week.

Koepka KO’s Rahm In Play-Off!

Brooks Koepka drew down on all of his muscle power to catch and overcome Jon Rahm for a win at the LIV Golf Greenbier tournament.

With both players deadlocked at 19-under par in regular play, Koepka just need one extra play-off hole to send Rahm packing.
The American who is a five-time major champion was beaten by the Spaniard at the 2023 Masters which was Rahm’s second major title.

The win was worth US$4 million for Koepka.

American Jason Kokrak was third on 18-under with England's 51-year-old Richard Bland and Australian Marc Leishman sharing fourth on 17-under.

Despite the defeat, Rahm remained second to Chile's Joaquin Niemann in the season standings, with the campaign title to be decided at next month's regular-season finale at Chicago.

In the Teams division, Koepka's Smash, with Kokrak in the lineup, won the team competition on 53-under, defeating Leishman and the all-Australian Ripper squad by three strokes.

PIF – PGA Tour Merger – Not Looking Good!

The regular PGA Tour season is over. The four majors have been played. The 2024 Olympic Games has come and gone.

But there seems to be no closure on the stale-mated proposed merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf funded and supported by the gargantuan sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

Should this come as a surprise? ASIAN GOLF reckons not as we have already been reporting that this is a deal that would not fly!

Now, the PGA Tour’s muscleman, Jay Monahan, commissioner of the Tour has broken the silence by intimating that there will be no decision this year on the proposed merger. In fact, he revealed that the stand-off will stay due to “complicated discussions”.

Speaking from TPC Southwind, Monahan said, “They’re very complicated discussions. There’s a lot of elements to them. When you have the level of interaction, we’re continuing to meet and move forward and discuss and debate, you can’t be anything but hopeful. As it relates to times and timeframes and where we are, I’ll just say we’re in a good place with the conversations. That’s the most important thing.”

Wonder if the “complicated discussions” could mean that there has been a change of mind on the part of the PIF? Again, ASIAN GOLF believes that this could be a likely scenario.

We have maintained that the US$770 billion sovereign wealth fund should walk away from the talks and forget the deal.

US$40 Million Bonus Windfall!

We are only in August but for some PGA Tour players, Christmas 2024 is already here!

Ten guys received huge bonus pay-outs which is part the Comcast Business Tour Top 10 that recognizes their performance of their FedExCup standings at the end of the FedExCup regular season.

Scottie Scheffler, the ranking world number one and 2024 Olympic champion grabbed the biggest slice of the US$40 million bonanza!
He siphoned off US$8 million as his bonus – which does not include his 2024 winnings which comes in at a staggering US24 million!

Scheffler has now set a prize money record for three straight years on the PGA Tour with US$14 million in 2022, US$21 million in 2023 and US$24 million in 2024 so far.

The 28-year-old won six tournaments during the 2024 PGA TOUR season, including four Signature Events and a second career major championship at the Masters Tournament. Scheffler is the fourth player (ninth instance) with six or more wins in a season since 1983 and first since Tiger Woods in 2009.

Here’s the list of the 2024 bonus recipients:

1st: Scottie Scheffler US$8 million
2nd: Xander Schauffele US$6 million
3rd: Rory McIlroy US4.8 million
4th: Collin Morikawa US$4.4 million
5th: Wyndham Clark US$4 million
6th: Ludvig Aberg US$3.4 million
7th: Sahith Theegala US$2.8 million
8th: Hideki Matsuyama US$2.4 million
9th: Sungjae Im US$2.2 million
10th: Shane Lowry US$2 million

Uihlein Grabs An Asian Tour Win!

American and LIV Golf star Peter Uihlein walked away with a US$360,000 check after clinching his first win on the Asian Tour.

He won the International Series England with a four-round total of 20-under, and a seven-shot lead over England’s Andy Sullivan and Caleb Surratt.

Sullivan shot a 66 while American Surratt shot a 68.

China’s Sampson Zheng (66), Sadom Kaewkanjana (67) from Thailand, and Harold Varner III (70) from the United States, tied for fourth, one stroke further back.

This is only Uihlein’s fourth win since turning professional in 2013.
This week’s US$2million tournament is the ninth event of the year on the Asian Tour and the fourth stop on The International Series.

Ko Strikes Gold!

The final round of the women’s golf event at the Paris Olympics was historic! It witnessed the crowning of arguably the best golfer ever!

New Zealand’s Lydia Ko hit the absolute pinnacle of excellence in global sports when she claimed victory and the iconic gold medal and bringing with it glory to New Zealand, her original motherland South Korea and all of Asia.

Ko’s path to glory was the perfect storybook ending – since golf made a return to the Olympic fold in 2016, the trail-blazing superstar has won three medals - a silver at Rio in 2016, a bronze at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and now the ultimate in global sporting excellence, a gold in Paris.

She is the first golfer — male or female — to own three medals.

Her victory marked the dethroning of the defending Olympic champion Nelly Korda who finished down the leaderboard at 22nd.

The newly minted Olympic champion finished in grand style with a final score of 10-under par, two clear strokes ahead of surprise silver medalist Esther Henseleit of Germany with three strokes ahead of China’s Xiyu Lin who took the bronze medal.

Ko’s win saw the culmination of a total of nine spots going to Asian players who finished ranked in the top twenty on the leaderboard.

Ko’s Gold medal performance has locked in a guaranteed place in the LPGA Hall of Fame, her required 27th title.

Olympic Golf – The Asian Swarm Continues!

With the women’s golf event at the Paris Olympics entering its final round, eight players from Asia continue to dominate amongst the top twenty players on the leaderboard.

Leading the charge and keeping Asia’s hopes of a medal high is Japan’s Miyu Yamashina who is tied third at 7-under Par, two strokes behind the leaders.

Lying in fifth place on her own is Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul, one stroke back from Yamash*ta and she looks set to make a strong bid for a medal.

In the lead going into the final round is New Zealand’s Lydia Ko who is tied with Morgane Metraux of Switzerland. Ko is the winner of a silver medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Nelly Korda, the No. 1 player in the world and defending Olympic gold medalist continued to struggle as she carded a round of 70 to remain five behind the joint leaders.

Olympic Golf – Asians Swarm The Leaderboard!

With round two of the women’s golf competition at the Paris Olympics done and dusted, golfers from Asia are holding their own.

China’s young Ruoning Yin (pictured) sits comfortably in second place with a two round total score of 6-under par. A total of nine players from Asia, the most dominant group on the leaderboard, are poised to charge for a medal with Yin being the brightest hope for gold.

The second round leader is Morgane Metraux of Switzerland who is at 8-under par.

In third place is Lydia Ko, the only golfer to win medals in the last two Olympics, was only three shots behind.

The overnight leader Celine Boutier slipped after a poor round and is five back from the lead while world number one Nelly Korda, the defending Olympic champion, hit a quadruple bogey to stay in the 16th spot six behind the lead.

Olympic Golf - Boutier Guns Into The Lead

Home-town favourite Celine Boutier, buoyed by support from French fans blasted off like a nuclear missile to grab the first round lead of the women’s golf competition at the 2024 Olympics.

Boutier fired a round of 7-under 65.

The Olympics are in her home country of France, and she acknowledged that crowd support was awesome. “It’s not something I’m used to from what I usually experience on the LPGA. So it’s nice to have that much support,” she explained.

Boutier leads by three shots over South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai who shot a 4-under 68. There are also four players tied for third at 2-under.

Olympic Golf – Simply Scintillating Scheffler!

As predicted, the final round of the men’s golf event at the Paris Olympics turned into a thrilling, nail-biting knife fight!

Battling for Olympic pride and honour, sixty of the best players in world golf showed off their stuff on sports biggest stage and they did not disappoint.

It was a knock down drag out bust up and the man finally left standing to claim the prestigious Olympic gold medal was the reigning world number one, American Scottie Scheffler. He was anointed by the golfing gods to ascend the Olympic Games dais and be coronated as the champion and the proud recipient of the absolute pinnacle of sports excellence – an Olympic gold medal!

Scheffler, a young man who has already won millions and some of the sport’s toughest tournaments was unashamedly touched by his victory as he emotionally placed his right hand over his heart and wept as America’s national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was played at the medal presentation ceremony.

"It was just very emotional being up there on stage as the flag is being raised, singing the national anthem. Definitely one I'll remember for a long time."

Being declared as an Olympic champion was a unique experience for Scheffler and as he later told reporters, "Any time you can be part of the Olympics is really special ….. and for golf to be on the Olympic stage is a tremendous amount of fun for us."

The newly crowned Olympic champion pulled off a come-from-behind win where he toppled former world number one Jon Rahm of Spain who looked like a certainty to claim the gold medal. It was not to be as the red-hot, in-form Scheffler blasted a 9-under 62 and charged up the leaderboard in the race for gold.

The American wrapped up his torrid performance with a final round score of 19-under par 265, to beat Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood by one stroke. The Englishman claimed the silver medal. The bronze medal went to Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.

Hot favourite and winner of the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympic, Xander Schauffele had a spot of trouble and finished in fifth place.

Describing the Olympic experience, silver medallist Fleetwood said, "The crowds were amazing …. it was a different atmosphere to what we get week in, week out, in terms of the number of fans that are supporting their nation. Just a different vibe."

Golf made a comeback to the Olympics after a 112-year absence and based on the crowd support, the game is back for good at the Olympics!

Olympic Golf – Stage Set For Knife Fight!

The knives are sharpened and drawn as an intercontinental battle waits to rage through the final round of the men’s golf event at the Paris Olympic Games.

The top ten leaderboard features some of the games best golfers representing Asia, Europe, USA and Australia all set to fight for top honours.

Reigning Olympic champion, American Xander Schauffele was the joint leader heading into the final round with Spain’s Jon Rahm, both deadlocked at 14-under par.

Rahm surged up the leaderboard after producing a sizzling 5-under 66 to grab a joint top spot, jumping from an overnight fourth position while Schauffele carded a 3-under 68.

Britain's Tommy Fleetwood who was a joint leader after the second round, remained a shot behind and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who was tied for the lead going into the third round, dropped to joint-fourth after two bogeys in his first four holes, missing the opportunity on 18 to go within two shots of the lead.

The current world number one, American Scottie Scheffler shot himself into contention for a medal after carding a 4-under 67, leaving him level with Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and South Korea’s Joo-Hyung Kim tied for sixth.

Australia’s Jason Day is in a good spot in the top ten and Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard produced the best round of the day, shooting a course record-tying 62 to move him 26 places up the leaderboard.

Olympic Golf – The Clash Of The Continents!

The 2024 Men’s Olympic Golf Competition is shaping up into a mighty duel of the Continents.

Players representing Asia, Europe and the United States of America are the combatants and the guys at the top of the leaderboard are Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, Europe’s Tommy Fleetwood and America’s Xander Schauffele, the reigning gold medallist.

At the end of the second round in Paris, the trio of Schauffele, Matsuyama and Fleetwood share the lead of 11-under par.
Schauffele, fresh from his victory at The Open showed tremendous form when he raced out to a 5-under 66.

Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion got off to another fast start by adding three more shots to his opening round 8-under par.

Meanwhile, Fleetwood who opened the tournament with a round of 4-under 67 added an impressive second round score of 7-under 64 to take him to the top of the leaderboard 11-under.

Schauffele, Matsuyama, and Fleetwood will play together in the final grouping on Saturday. The chasing pack includes Spain’s Jon Rahm (-9), Belgian’s Thomas Detry (-8), and Taiwan’s C.T. Pan (-8.

Playing Golf Just Got Easier!

The guys at Topgolf have been working their butts off to come up with a better and fun way to play golf.

And they seem to have hit that Eureka moment!

Understanding the challenges faced by novice golfers to play the game, Topgolf has launched “The Sure Thing” club, which has been designed in collaboration with Callaway engineers and made for the everyday, "just want to feel the thrill of hitting a golf ball" player.

The Sure Thing is equipped with features that basically guarantee your golf swing, is, well, a sure thing:

• Enormous club face: A larger club face means a better chance of making contact with the ball, resulting in less whiffs and more hits.
• 20° loft: Real talk – all that means is the ball will fly higher after you hit it.
• Shorter club shaft: That long, slender part of a golf club? That's the shaft, and the shorter it is, the more control Players have.
• Chicken wing technology: Leave the complicated technology for another day. The Sure Thing is powered by Topgolf's proprietary chicken wing technology, something no other company has dared use before.

Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9ms8CAZgQE

"At Topgolf, we exist to bring joy through more ways to play the game of golf, and The Sure Thing is one way we're delivering on that purpose," said Topgolf CEO Artie Starrs. "We want everyone to experience the thrill of hitting the ball solidly and into the air, and designing a club with new Players in mind is our way of helping to make that happen. I remember the first time I hit a solid shot into the air as a kid and we want to enable that thrill for everyone! New Players are going to love it and experienced Players will too."

The Sure Thing is not for sale and only available for gameplay at Topgolf

Olympic Games – Banzai Boy Seizes The Lead!

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama had only one thing on his mind after the golf tournament teed off at the Paris Olympic Games.

He’s going after gold and he put his money where his mouth is to grab the lead in the first round of the men's individual stroke play with a score of 8- under par.

The Japanese superstar tops the 60-player leaderboard with Xander Schauffele, the reigning Olympic gold medalist from the United States, in second place after shooting a 6-under par opening round.

New Big Sticks From The Bright Guys!

The brand renowned for producing golf clubs for serious golfers has just rolled out a bevy of brand new big sticks.

Titleist, has launched the GT2, GT3 and GT4 drivers, all said to be engineered to deliver total driver performance.

Describing the GT line as a “monumental leap forward” Stephanie Luttrell, Director, Titleist Metalwood Product Development said, “The breakthroughs we made in material, construction, shaping and design weren’t possible in prior generations. All the advancements found in GT are working in concert to create the highest-performing driver we have ever made.”

“When we release a new product, it has to outperform the previous line,” said Josh Talge, Vice President, Titleist Golf Club Marketing. “For GT, it needed to be faster than TSR. It needed to be longer and straighter, and it had to sound better, look better and feel better. GT delivers across the board without compromise.”

The new big sticks will be available for fittings worldwide beginning August 23rd.

Iron-Man Choi Is Back!

K.J. Choi – remember the name? He was the golfer, built like a body builder, who blazed a trail for golfers from South Korea to hit the big time in professional golf.

Now 54-years old, the superstar from South Korea is still at it as he claimed victory at the 2024 Senior Open Championship in Scotland.

The soft-spoken Choi said after his win: “Very historical for Korean player to win this.”

Choi, who led by one entering the final round, shot 4-under 32 on the back nine to finish at 10-under for the week.

He was the only player to shoot under par all four rounds in the Senior Open Championship, and only 11 players finished under par for the week.

The victory was Choi’s second on the PGA Tour Champions.

Rahm Rules Again!

It took Spanish superstar Jon Rahm a whole ten LIV Golf tournaments to finally score a win.

Rahm who was signed on by LIV Golf for a staggering fee of over US$450 million was victorious at LIV Golf’s latest tournament in England.

Speaking to reporters after his win, Rahm said, “Finally got one done …. you never want to get those feelings to go on for too long, and to get over the hump feels great, incredible. It's been a fantastic week and a fantastic year, and just relieved that it happened.”

Prior to this win, the 29-year-old finished in the top ten in nine tournaments.

The win was worth US$4 million.

Rahm, playing in the group ahead of Tyrrell Hatton, finished off a final-round 4-under 67 that left him at 13-under. Hatton was also at 13-under as he played the 18th hole. The Englishman, playing in front of his home crowd, found the green in two, and then did well to knock his 76-foot birdie putt to 5 feet. But with a chance to force a playoff against his captain, Hatton missed the par putt, leaving a muted celebration for the entire team.

Besides his first win, Rahm also led his team Legion X111 to victory in the team section of the tournament.

Global Golf – Japan Wants A Piece Of The Action!

Guess what? The Japanese want to be part of the internationalisation of the global game and have taken some serious steps to help this goal materialise.

The thrust of this ambitious initiative will be led by Yutaka Morohoshi, 77 (pictured in the middle) who has been appointed the chairman and CEO of the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO).

Morohoshi is a sports heavyweight in Japan with an impressive career in sports administration. His expertise spans multiple Olympic Games, seven in total, where he served in various capacities. Morohoshi's influence also extended to the world of football where he was instrumental in Japan's successful campaign to co-host the 2002 FIFA World Cup alongside South Korea, a milestone event for Asian football.

So, he has all the credentials to “internationalise” the JGTO and he seems all cranked up and ready to go!

"The only possible way for this tour, at this time in Japan and under the current economic conditions, to survive, is to go after money that's outside of Japan. It's very difficult to bring major sponsors here at this point. We have just been overtaken by Germany in terms of GDP, falling from third to fourth place," said Morohoshi.

The Japanese sports visionary continued: “What do I do? How much money is there out in the world? The US PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Asian Tour - they're much, much bigger. In fact, in Japanese yen, the US PGA Tour has ¥80 billion a year for prize money. We're just ¥3 billion. It's not even a comparison. We're just a tiny little fly."

"So faced with that reality, the only way I could make this tournament richer and ensure that the 194 players who belong to JGTO are well rewarded is to bring money from outside of Japan – it’s the only way we can survive is for JGTO to become internationalised, and that's what I've been trying to do."

Morohoshi’s internationalisation campaign is underway with the JGTO trying to get more tournaments hosted abroad. "One of the first things I did when I went to the Masters (Tournament in April) was talk to the US PGA Tour, DP World Tour, Australia, Asian Tour, and other tours," said Morohoshi.

"I proposed let's do things together. I want to take advantage of the fact that Japanese companies are doing very well outside of Japan - we’ll go to their headquarters in Tokyo or Osaka, wherever they are, and see if we can find sponsorship among these Japanese companies. When that happens, we could have reciprocity, and that's one approach. Another approach is to form a tour - not in the old sense of the word, but a much looser one that encompasses Japan out west, all the way beyond India.”

He added: "We are looking at covering a geographical area that includes one-half of the world's population. That is a huge potential market for any corporation, be it American, European, or from anywhere else. No company can ignore a market with half of the world’s population.”

The U.S. educated Morohoshi who is also a professor is confident that under his leadership, the JGTO will succeed. "So, I think we’ll be able to do quite a bit of joint ventures, co-sanctioned events, tri-sanctioned events, or whatever," concluded Morohoshi.

Royal Troon – What A Beast!

It was painful to witness an absolutely ruthless golf course make mince meat out of some of the best players in the world.

Royal Troon, host venue for the 2024 Open Championship showed absolutely no respect for the game’s best field as she bit, chomped, chewed and spat them out in a heap of dispirited humans totally beaten up and humiliated!

Amongst those who were subjected to this harsh treatment and sent packing included some of the gods of the game – the likes of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau and Cameron Smith to mention a few.

Only nine players kept the demonic course at bay by finishing in red numbers.

The mortal who played the heroic role of the dragon slayer was the reigning Olympic gold medallist who battled Royal Troon and beat it down into submission.

Battling frequent gusting winds, the cold and rain, American Xander Schauffele, beat Royal Troon to claim the 2024 Open Championship. The win makes Schauffele the proud winner of two major titles this year.

The PGA Championship champ shot a bogey-free 6-under 65 in the final round and a winning score of 9-under to lift the Claret Jug and a huge paycheck for US$3.1 million!

With this win, Schauffele is without doubt the best player on the Planet and this fact is borne out by his recent crowning as the Champion Golfer of the Year.

Coming in tied second at 6-under par was veteran British champion Justin Rose and American Billy Horschel.

Wannasaen Leads Asian Charge!

It was an Asian rout as 14 players from the Continent dominated the top twenty spots at the LPGA’s DANA Open.

Leading the sharp-end of the attack was Thailand’s super-hot Chanette Wannasaen who chased down her second LPGA victory with a commanding three-stroke lead.

The 20-year-old Thai fired a 5-under par 66 to finish on 16-under 197 after 54 holes.

South Korean Ryu Hae-ran was second on 13-under 200 and sharing third, five strokes adrift, were Taiwan’s Cheng Ssu-Chia, China’s Lin Xiyu, and defending champion Linn Grant of Sweden.

Chanettee, ranked 43rd, won her only LPGA Tour title at last September’s Portland Classic as a Monday qualifier.

Ryu, last year’s LPGA Rookie of the Year, won her only LPGA Tour title at last October’s Northwest Arkansas Championship.

Riding high amongst the top twenty finishers were players from Thailand, China, Taiwan, Korea and the Philippines.