After an extended break and becoming a father for the first time, we could see a more relaxed Collin Morikawa as he tees it up at the RBC Canadian Open.

Morikawa last played at the PGA Championship, and while being off the course to welcome his first born he's also managed to rest his troublesome back injury.

The two-time Major champion admits he hasn't had much recovery sleep thanks to his new arrival, something which he's really noticed when coming away for the first time back on the PGA Tour - and having such a restful sleep away from home!

The 'nappy factor' in golf is real as players often have a bounce in form when becoming parents for the first time - which is partly attributed to golf no longer being the most important thing in life.

Morikawa has acknowledged this fact, with his priorities now shifting to his family, and as a previously pretty intense player out on the course that could unlock something in his game on his return.

"A lot of people on tour have given me advice, a lot of friends," said Morikawa. "And just a different perspective on life, I think. I'm just enjoying every day.

"I know at the same time I still have a job to do when I'm out here and that's what's great kind of being back. But at the same time when I'm out there playing you're kind of playing a little bit differently, your mind's in a different spot.

"I think I'm a lot more positive out there and hopefully I can kind of just allow my body to relax and go out and play golf and enjoy it again."

Morikawa hasn't practiced much such Aronimink, when he played still being troubled with a back problem that forced him to withdraw from The Players Championship.

It somewhat derailed a fine season, as he won at Pebble Beach and finished T7 at The Masters as part of five completed tournaments in a row finishing no worse than T7.

Morikawa now hopes the time off has helped his back to settle down so he can be physically at his best for the rest of the season.

"I left the PGA Championship uncomfortable in a way. I've been grinding this kind of back injury since The Players," Morikawa added.

"It still hadn't felt that comfortable. So it was nice to take a full reset. And just focus on other things going on in life. I think after that I've just been able to relax a little bit more.

"There's still a trust factor that I'm looking for that I'm trying to find this week. But it's a lot better of a swing than I've been putting on and that's for me a positive thing.

"I think when the body fully is able to kind of have that last little puzzle piece of fully relaxing, I think the game's going to be exactly how I want. I still feel like I'm hitting great shots when I need to. But just the consistency-wise I think if I can build that into this week it will be a great boost into next week."

Following the Cadillac Championship, the next Signature Event of the PGA Tour season is already upon us with the Truist Championship, which returns to Quail Hollow after a one-year excursion to Philadelphia Cricket Club in 2025.

However, three days before the opening round in North Carolina, there has been a big-name withdrawal, with Collin Morikawa no longer in the 72-player field for the no-cut event and first alternate Andrew Putnam taking his place.

No reason has been given for the two-time Major winner's withdrawal, although he has been struggling with a back injury in recent weeks.

Just a month after claiming his seventh PGA Tour title at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Morikawa withdrew from The Players Championship with the injury after the opening hole.

That was the last time he played until The Masters, where, despite clearly still struggling, he battled to a highly creditable T7 at Augusta National.

Morikawa’s next appearance came at the RBC Heritage in mid-April, where he performed brilliantly again with a T4.

However, he admitted after the first round that he was still not 100% fit, saying: “It's hard to trust the body right now. It's a very uncomfortable feeling. I had never experienced anything like it until about a month ago.”

He added: “I'm not in pain. I know it looked painful, but I'm just very scared, and I've never been this scared in my life to go out and play.”

Following his final round, Morikawa was asked how his next six weeks looked, and he responded: “Unknown. Going to see how the body goes. Obviously, we have a baby due, and that can kind of throw some things off. Going to take it week by week now.”

Morikawa's latest appearance came at the Cadillac Championship, where he placed T62.

While Morikawa’s recent injury struggles are well documented, there could also be a timing factor in his decision not to play in the Truist Championship.

The event comes just a week before the second Major of the year, the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club, where he will be hoping to claim the Wanamaker Trophy for the second time, having won it in 2020.

Morikawa isn't the only big name who is missing the Truist Championship, with Scottie Scheffler opting to skip the event.

Nevertheless, there is still a host of world-class talent in the field, including the winner of the Cadillac Championship, Cameron Young, and Rory McIlroy, who will make his first appearance since winning The Masters in April.

April is not only Masters month for the world of golf, it's also a time to reflect on the past financial year and see which golfers have earned the most money.

With massive prize funds given out each week across the PGA Tour, the LIV Golf League and the DP World Tour, the best players in the world are racking up huge bank balances throughout the season.

Rory McIlroy has just added another $4.5m to his career earnings thanks to his incredible triumph at Augusta National. That'll give him a nice head start for next year's totals, but it doesn't help him surpass one other golfer for the 2025-26 tax year.

The data comes from Sportico, breaking down the earnings of the top-10 highest paid golfers in the world, with details as to how much they earned on the course and off it through sponsorship deals and the like.

McIlroy was in the top two, and led the way in off-course income, but it's actually Jon Rahm who earned the most in total for the last year.

Rahm benefits massively from his contract with LIV, of course. It is though the Spaniard was offered $300m to join the breakaway tour, with half paid upfront and the other $150m paid equally across the years of his contract.

Last year, Rahm is said to have earned a total of $102m, and is the only golfer to break the $100m barrier. Of that figure, $92m came from on-course earnings, with another $10m in sponsorship payments.

The 31-year-old didn't actually win an event throughout the LIV Golf season in 2025, but he still claimed enough points to come out on top in the individual leaderboard. That earned him a massive $18m, which is exactly how much he beat McIlroy by in the money charts.

McIlroy is arguably the most marketable golfer in the world, especially after his remarkable double Masters win. It speaks volumes that McIlroy's net worth was thought to be around $294m in 2023, and will be much higher now.

But, for 2025-26, he is reported to have earned $84m from golf. $29m of that comes from event payouts, while a whopping $55m comes from off-course deals. That actually makes McIlroy the leader in commercial income, narrowly beating Tiger Woods.

Still, McIlroy's closest competitor is Scottie Scheffler, who recorded $81m in earnings last year. Not surprisingly, given his dominance on the Tour, $51m of that came from winnings on the course, while he's thought to have earned a huge $30m from sponsorship deals with the likes of Turtlebox, Nike, TaylorMade, and Huntington Bank.

Looking elsewhere, there's quite a gap between that top three and the rest of the top-10 highest paid golfers. Bryson DeChambeau is next in line, but his earnings stood at around $65m, with $45m of that coming from his lucrative deal with LIV.

Woods, as we mentioned, is the second highest-earner when it comes to commercial deals. $54m of his total came from that side of the game, while only $200,000 was earned from his performances on the course.

Rounding out the rest of the top-10, Tommy Fleetwood enjoyed a successful year thanks to his Tour Championship win in August. That netted the Englishman a mega $10m payout which contributed to his $42m earnings.

Joaquin Niemann is the third and final LIV golfer in the top 10. The Chilean won five events last year, so it's not surprising that he's up there, with earnings of $41m in total.

Beyond that, we have Hideki Matsuyama sitting at $31m. That's largely thanks to his endorsement portfolio, which contributed $25m. Xander Schauffele ($30m) and Collin Morikawa ($28m) complete the list.

Highest-Paid Golfers 2025-26

Collin Morikawa looks to be a doubt for The Masters after withdrawing from this week's Valero Texas Open.

The two-time Major champion was last seen at TPC Sawgrass, where he withdrew after just one hole after tweaking his back on a practice swing.

Three weeks later he was due to tee it up to get some final Masters prep at TPC San Antonio but he was confirmed to be out of the field on Tuesday morning. Frankie Capan III will replace him in Texas.

Morikawa remains among the favorites for the Green Jacket, having made 5/5 cuts with three top-10s at Augusta, but whether he will even be in the field next week is now up in the air.

"I felt fine in warm-up, nothing's been any signs of back problems," Morikawa said after WD'ing at TPC Sawgrass.

"And teed it up on 11, and took one practice swing, and I just knew it was gone. Like I just had the feeling before when it's happened. And I just, I can't swing through it. Trust me, I would play if I could. It's just the worst thing in the world."

The injury has been disappointing for Morikawa after a strong start to the year, which saw him win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, finish 5th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and T7th at the Genesis Invitational.

The former World No.2 is the latest player to withdraw from the Valero Texas Open after a number of field changes this week.

Daniel Berger also pulled out on Tuesday morning, following Houston Open winner Gary Woodland, Nicolai Hojgaard, Matti Schmid and Pierceson Coody all withdrawing on Monday.

That came after Ryan Gerard, Isaiah Salinda and Aaron Wise all also pulled out over the weekend.

The Valero Texas Open gets underway on Thursday, with Brian Harman looking to defend his title. It is the final chance for players to qualify for The Masters, with only the winner earning their spot in the field for the year's first Major.

Rickie Fowler, Billy Horschel and Tony Finau are among the notables vying for a chance to drive down Magnolia Lane.

Could the back injury Collin Morikawa picked up at The Players Championship hinder his chances at The Masters next month?

An innocuous practice swing on the 11th tee at TPC Sawgrass resulted in Morikawa having to pull out of the PGA Tour's flagship event after completing just one hole.

It was a big blow for the World No.4 who has been in great form and had hoped to launch a big challenge for The Players Championship, but it also could have wider implications.

"It just sucks, I don't know how to put it in words. I feel terrible," said Morikawa after pulling out at TPC Sawgrass, and that was just watching his Players chances end before he'd even got going.

But with his injury striking exactly four weeks before the first round gets underway at Augusta National the two-time Major champion must have a slight concern about his Masters hopes.

The 29-year-old spoke about having a few back issues before The Players, and after pulling out he said he knew how to deal with it, but did hint that it wouldn't be a quick fix.

"I kind of know the protocols of what to do and kind of dance around it," said Morikawa. "But it's going to take a little bit of time."

Masters worry for in-form Morikawa

There's no suggestion that Morikawa could struggle to make The Masters, and he could well be right back in action with it just being a tweak, but his comment that it would take some time could set a few alarm bells ringing for those wanting to back him for a Green Jacket.

Morikawa is +2000 (20/1) with the bookmakers to win The Masters and was in great form this year, winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am to claim a first PGA Tour title since October 2023.

He'd then followed up that win with a T7 at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera and a solo fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

That form made him a leading contender at Sawgrass and also put him well in the early conversation about possible Masters champions next month.

Morikawa has a strong record at Augusta National - making all six cuts with three top 10s including his best finish of T3 just a couple of years ago.

A swift return would erase any doubts about him but if he has to miss significant time then it will be a big negative against him as it's an untimely break in his preparations just when he'd want a clear run to Augusta.

The first round of The Players Championship began on Thursday, but it didn’t take long before it was hit by two withdrawals.

First, Ryan Fox withdrew because of illness before he could even begin his first round, but more controversially, Collin Morikawa also withdrew because of a back injury after he had completed the first hole.

That is not only disappointing for the star as well as fans hoping to see far more of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am champion, but it has also thrown betting slips and fantasy line-ups into disarray.

While Fox's withdrawal could see those who had placed money on him refunded, because Morikawa had already teed off, it generally means selections are “locked in,” even though he had completed only the first hole of the tournament when he called it a day.

For those who placed bets with DraftKings, there is a reprieve as the company has announced it will cover all bets placed on Morikawa under the Early Exit program, including hole and round props.

However, for those who placed bets with companies not employing a similar policy, it will leave them tearing their hair out.

Meanwhile, for fantasy players, it’s arguably even more frustrating.

Given Morikawa’s high profile, his excellent recent form, including victory at Pebble Beach, and his status as one of the tournament favorites, it was inevitable that he would be a popular selection this week.

It wasn’t just fantasy players who fancied Morikawa to do well at TPC Sawgrass, either, with tipsters also singling the two-time Major winner out.

Indeed, Golf Monthly’s betting expert Baz Plummer tipped Morikawa as Bazza's Best Bet this week at TPC Sawgrass, while elsewhere, DraftKings’ Alex Hunter chose Morikawa as his top one and done golf pick for the tournament.

As highlighted by Inside Sports Network’s Brian Kirschner on X, Morikawa was also golf betting tips tracking service Golf Tips Checker's most tipped golfer.

One and done is a game where players pick one golfer for each tournament, with the prize money that selection earns that week going to a season total. You can only pick the player once that season, so it becomes a strategic choice.

Because of his withdrawal, Morikawa won’t pick up any prize money at TPC Sawgrass, when many players would have expected him to finish with seven figures of earnings, and possibly even the top prize of $4.5m.

So, roughly how many fantasy players has that affected? According to Kirschner on X, a quarter! He wrote that Morikawa was the “highest owned in one and done at 25% (12 points higher than next highest golfer).”

Players picking fantasy teams also saw their chances all but go up in smoke within an hour of the tournament starting.

Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) contests usually require players to pick a team of six golfers, but Morikawa’s withdrawal effectively reduces the teams of thousands of players to just five.

That would be an issue at any point, but in the case of Morikawa, it’s exacerbated by the huge popularity of the player in DFS selections.

He was the highest owned player in DFS at almost 40%, meaning around four in 10 players were instantly – and more than likely terminally – hampered the moment Morikawa withdrew, with no chance to replace him.

DraftKings later clarified its position with regards to DFS, writing on X: "Collin Morikawa has withdrawn from The Players Championship. For Daily Fantasy, this is considered an inherent risk and he will be scored with the stats accrued before the withdrawal."

To rub salt into the wounds, those unlucky fantasy players must also endure the rest of the event knowing that their entry fees are still contributing to the prize pool, while the platform retains its commission, known as the “rake.”

In other words, the platform still benefits, along with the players who didn’t have Morikawa in their teams.

Ultimately, Morikawa had to do what was best for his health, but in the immediate aftermath of his withdrawal, it’s likely thousands of bettors and fantasy players will be left cursing their bad luck.

Here's our betting expert Baz Plummer's take:

Morikawa's withdrawal is a dagger to the heart of DFS players, one and done contestants and golf betting fans alike.

Many look forward to The Players Championship (from a fantasy or betting perspective) with the same level of excitement and anticipation as a Major, especially with the prize pots and prices on offer, but when the most-owned player in DFS and the most tipped golfer online pulls out after just one hole... that unfortunately leaves many with a sour taste in their mouth for the remainder of the week.

I myself tipped Morikawa as Bazza's Best Bet this week at TPC Sawgrass, so I am still reeling from this news, but while I still have a roster of three to carry my card forwards, I feel sorry for those who picked him in their one and done contests and put him forwards as their main man in DFS lineups.

That's the week over for them, essentially, after just one hour of play at one of the biggest tournaments of the year.

While Morikawa has to put himself first, especially if this injury could affect his bid for a Green Jacket next month, the metaphorical pitchforks will be out among the dedicated golf fans who will be unlikely to trust him with their cash or fantasy favor in the future.

Collin Morikawa was forced to pull out of The Players Championship early in the first round with a back injury.

The World No.4 managed to complete just one hole of his first round at TPC Sawgrass before tweaking his back.

After starting on the 10th, Morikawa seemed to hurt himself taking a practice swing on the 11th tee box, as he instantly grabbed at his lower back.

The 29-year-old tried stretching it out on the tee box but he looked in some discomfort and eventually had to call it a day and withdraw.

"I felt fine in warm-up, nothing's been any signs of back problems," said Morikawa.

"And teed it up on 11, and took one practice swing, and I just knew it was gone. Like I just had the feeling before when it's happened. And I just, I can't swing through it. Trust me, I would play if I could. It's just the worst thing in the world."

The two-time Major champion was playing alongside Ludvig Aberg and Si Woo Kim and showed no signs of injury when making a par four on his opening hole - the 10th at Sawgrass.

Already a winner this season at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Morikawa was hoping to continue his fine form with a big run at The Players.

He'd follwed up his win at Pebble Beach with a T7 at the Genesis Invitational and a solo fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill last week.

Back injuries are becoming a bit of a theme on the PGA Tour with Rory McIlroy pulling out of Bay Hill last week with a similar back problem, but hoping to make a decent defence of his Players Championship title this week.

Ironically, Morikawa had spoken about his fitness before the tournament and some lower back issues he was having.

"I've had this stuff before, and been healthy all throughout the year, been moving weight and pushing, going fast," Morikawa added.

"I don't know, like, before I even took my practice swing, it's like you had, like a weird, like deja vu thing. I took the practice swing and immediately knew, like, I just couldn't get through impact. So at that point called over my trainer, and talked about it with my caddie Mark, and it just sucks. I don't know how to put it in words."

Morikawa insists there was no signs of injury during his warm-up, and added that this back problem hasn't been an issue for some time.

"Warm-up, prep, nothing. I was ready to go swing even harder this week if I had to, right. Honestly, first hole felt great.

"Teed it up, nothing felt bad. Honestly, it was like, it's like a deja vu. Like it all hit me at one second, where I was like, something doesn't feel right. I took a practice swing, there it was, like not being able to swing.

"Yeah, it's been a while. Like I said, like I've been really, really good with the body so far throughout the fall, and it's been a little while. It's just frustrating, because I don't know what caused it.

"Maybe something wasn't activated enough or what, but I went through all the warmups, felt fine. Just, yeah, it's awful. I feel terrible."

Team USA's Collin Morikawa has defended comments he made regarding fan behavior in the build-up to last month's Ryder Cup, stating his words were taken "a little out of context."

Morikawa was quoted in his pre-Ryder Cup press conference as saying he felt the crowd during practice days at Bethpage Black was "kind of tame" and he hoped "Friday is just absolute chaos."

The 28-year-old later went on to remark that he wanted fans to "go crazy" during tournament days so that Team USA could use the home crowd's energy to their advantage in trying to win back the Ryder Cup.

He said: "Yeah, Whistling Straits, there was still a little bit of Covid. We had a crowd but it wasn’t as big as what they say it’s going to be here.

"I’ll be honest, I think it’s kind of tame so far, Tuesday and Wednesday. I know tomorrow is going to be pretty bad but I hope Friday is just absolute chaos. I’m all for it. I think it feeds into who we are and the American players and the American Team. We want it. Like we want to use that to our advantage.

"I think every sport uses their home crowd to their advantage, and just because we don’t play in a setting like this doesn’t mean the craziness of New York and the rest of the country that people are traveling in from, it doesn’t mean that we can’t use that to our advantage.

"I think we really have to tap into that. I hope they come strong. Watching all these kids, I know they want autographs, but come Friday, I hope they go crazy."

However, most people - including Morikawa - agreed that the actions of certain sections watching on in New York significantly crossed the line in terms of what is acceptable.

Rory McIlroy, in particular, was subjected to a torrent of abuse throughout the week while he and his wife, Erica, even had beer thrown over them at one point.

There were also several instances of shouting while players were stood over the ball and unsavoury comments directed at a number of other European golfers, leading McIlroy to criticize the overall standard of behavior post-event.

Speaking ahead of this week's Baycurrent Classic on the PGA Tour, which is being held in Japan, Morikawa was asked by one reporter whether he felt fan behavior "crossed the line" at Bethpage Black and whether he felt any responsibility for what occurred.

Issuing a defence of his comments, Morikawa insisted his pre-Ryder Cup words were not meant to inspire rudeness or aggression but instead encourage passionate patriotism from the stands.

He said: "I think we’ve taken what I said a little out of context. I think Ryder Cups are meant to have a lot of energy, right?

"And I think me saying the word “chaos,” I didn’t mean for them to be rude, right? So, like, that’s not on me, I believe, for me to take credit for people being rude.

"I think what I meant was like I wanted energy, right? You wanted people to be proud of the country, the countries they’re rooting for.

"So I don’t think me saying one word, everyone listened and then -- I don’t think I have the power to do that amongst people.

"I think fans can do and say what they want sometimes. It probably crossed a line out there. It wasn’t in my groups but definitely what people were hearing [crossed a line]."

Morikawa is aiming to move past Team USA's 15-13 defeat to Team Europe last month with a strong performance at Yokohama Country Club this week.

The six-time PGA Tour winner tees off alongside Chris Gotterup and Hideki Matsuyama in round one, which has been moved forward by two hours to protect against the "projected impacts" of Typhoon Halong.

It has been a year of change for Collin Morikawa, with the two-time Major champion going through five different caddies - and now he looks to have switched putters.

The 2025 Ryder Cup player will make his third appearance for Team USA later this month at Bethpage Black, and he may well be doing so with his new TaylorMade center-shafted flat stick in the bag.

Morikawa was pictured with a center-shafted TaylorMade Spider Tour V model in practice for this week at the Procore Championship, where he is one of 10 US Ryder Cup players in the field.

The Californian has previously been described as "a tried and true blade guy", having used a toe-hang blade putter for the majority of his career.

He has long had the TaylorMade TP Soto in the bag, which he won both of his Majors with, aside from the odd experiment.

He has occasionally switched putters during his career, notably at the 2024 Masters where he went to a TaylorMade Spider X mallet for the opening round before changing it on day two.

He also briefly used a Logan Olsen blade putter in 2024 and was photographed with a mallet in the third round of the BMW Championship last month.

Putting has let Morikawa down this year statistically, with the 28-year-old losing an average of 0.319 strokes on the greens per round on the PGA Tour to rank 141st. That's while ranking 2nd in Tee to green and 3rd in Approach.

He has not won since the Zozo Championship in October 2023.

College golfer Jackson Herrington is enjoying an impressive career, which reached new heights when he reached the semifinals of the prestigious US Amateur.

Here are 10 facts about the powerful left-hander.

Jackson Herrington Facts

1. Jackson Herrington was born in Franklin, Tennessee, and raised in Dickson.

2. He reached the final of the 2024 US Amateur Four-Ball Championship playing alongside Blades Brown.

3. In July that year, at the age of 18, he became the youngest winner of the Tennessee State Open Championship.

4. That also made him the first amateur to win the event since 2018.

5. He overcame a four-shot deficit in that tournament, including being three down with four holes to play.

6. To help keep his mind clear and maintain a smooth rhythm, the left-hander says the word “nine” to himself slowly as he begins his swing.

7. When he joined the University of Tennessee, he continued a family tradition as an eighth-generation Volunteer.

8. In 2024, he won the Tennessee Men’s Player of the Year and Boys’ Junior Player of the Year awards, becoming just the second player in Tennessee Golf Association history to win both in the same year.

9. He reached the semifinals of the 2025 US Amateur, becoming the first University of Tennessee player to get that far in the tournament since Oliver Goss 12 years earlier.

10. Ahead of the tournament, his highest position in the World Amateur Golf Rankings had been 86^th.

A new piece of equipment can make a huge difference in golf, no matter the skill level.

On Friday at the Rocket Classic, that proved to be just the case, as two-time Major winner, Collin Morikawa, changed his putter to much success at Detroit Golf Club.

Admitting that he "putted like a blind man" on Thursday during his first round, Morikawa was rock-bottom of the putting stats in terms of Strokes Gained: Putting, losing 4.614 shots.

However, 24 hours later, after switching from a blade-style putter to a more mallet-shaped design, the American then gained 3.095 shots on the field in terms of Strokes Gained: Putting, which put him 11th in the field.

Previously using the TaylorMade TP Soto, Morikawa introduced a new Logan Olson blade-style putter at last week's Travelers Championship. That model stayed in the bag this week and, after struggles on Thursday, he changed it on Friday.

Currently, the official specs of the new flatstick are yet to be confirmed by TaylorMade, but it has been reported that it might be a prototype Spider. Looking at the head shape, it has a similar appearance to the TP Black Ardmore.

Speaking on Thursday after a three-under 69, Morikawa voiced his disdain for his performance on the greens, stating: "It's just an uncomfortable feeling shoving everything and not being able to square up the face. It's tough.

"On greens that are... you've got a lot of poa annua (grass) growing in, you have to just be confident with your stroke, and there was just no confidence today after seeing a couple miss."

Producing a seven-under 64 on Friday, Morikawa is three shots back of leaders Chris Kirk, Philip Knowles and Andrew Putnam.

Ahead of the Rocket Classic, Morikawa split with caddie Joe Greiner, with the duo only working together for five tournaments, registering a best finish of T17.

With former college teammate, K.K. Limbhasut, on the bag, Morikawa will hope to end his winless drought this weekend, which spans back to October 2023.

After another caddie split, Caddie Morikawa explained why he'd parted company with Joe Greiner after just five events together.

The 28-year-old will have his former college teammate KK Limbhasut on his bag for the Rocket Classic in Detroit this week.

The World No.5 split from his long-time caddie JJ Jakovac in April, and replaced him with Max Homa's former bagman Greiner ahead of the Truist Championship.

However, the new pairing lasted just five events as Morikawa and Greiner went their separate ways on the eve of the Rocket Classic - where the two-time Major winner explained that the chemistry was just not right.

"Just because two people are great at what they do doesn't mean we're going to be great together," said Morikawa.

"I think Joe is an amazing caddie, but I think just the way we kind of saw things or just day-to-day how we kind of went about it, we were just a little bit on a different page. That doesn't mean it's right or wrong, but for me it just didn't feel right.

"I have to explore other options. I knew that coming in. I knew it was going to be a great start and it was going to be a fun thing for me to test out that I knew I put myself in, but at the end of the day you don't know how you're going to be, because we spend more time with them than anyone else in the world honestly.

"I spend more time with them than my wife sometimes. It's a true relationship."

Limbhasut has played nine times on the Korn Ferry Tour this year, but did not make the field for this week's event so was able to step in and help Morikawa out at Detroit Golf Club.

"I appreciate him doing that and we're going to go out and have a blast," said Morikawa, who does not have another permanent caddie in mind just yet.

And with The Open Championship and then Ryder Cup coming up this year, finding a new full-time looper is now a big priority for Morikawa.

"It's a process that I'm going through," he added. "We'll find out when the time comes and I will let everyone know."

Morikawa is a six-time winner on the PGA Tour but hasn't tasted a tournament victory since the Zozo Championship in October 2023 - and may feel finding the right caddie could be key to ending that long drought.

In a surprising turn of events, it has been announced that Collin Morikawa and caddie, Joe Greiner, have split after just five tournaments.

The duo, who had been working together since the end of April, had been part of five tournaments, with Morikawa registering results of T17, T50, T20, T23 and T42.

Confirming the news to Golfweek on Wednesday, Morikawa will now have Korn Ferry Tour player, and former college teammate, K.K. Limbhasut, on the bag for this week's Rocket Classic.

Currently, it's unclear who will be Morikawa's long-term replacement on the bag going forward, with a Major championship and possible Ryder Cup on the horizon.

Caddie-swapping has been a regular occurrence in 2025. After Greiner and Max Homa parted ways following a number of years, Greiner then filled-in for Justin Thomas’ regular caddie, Matt Minister, at the RBC Heritage, an event Thomas actually won.

Not a permanent fixture on the American's bag, Morikawa then hired Greiner shortly after he and JJ Jakovac parted ways after working together since 2019.

Going into the Rocket Classic, Morikawa is among the favorites for the title, which includes the likes of Patrick Cantlay and recent Travelers Championship winner, Keegan Bradley.

One player who won't be featuring is former Rocket Classic winner, Tony Finau, who withdrew on Wednesday. He is among several other players who also withdrew prior to the event getting underway.

Collin Morikawa was spotted channeling his inner Fred Couples and playing without a glove during the opening round of the Travelers Championship.

The World No.4 was hitting mainly approach shots at TPC River Highlands without the usually standard glove on his left hand, which he was quizzed about afterwards.

Morikawa finished the day on three under, five off the lead, but said the experiment of playing without a glove seemed to be working.

The two-time Major champion explained that the move was in a bid to correct a consistent miss with his irons, so employed the no glove strategy mainly on approach shots.

It's the first time he's tried it in competition, and Morikawa described playing without a glove as "very, very weird, trust me".

Morikawa reported a positive feel on his approaches and ranked 15th in the field for Strokes Gained: Approach during the opening round.

"I feel like I’ve been putting good swings on it and they just keep missing in the same spot, so it’s not like my misses are all over the place. I just keep missing 30 feet left," Morikawa explained.

"When it comes down to it, our hands are what makes us such good athletes and such good golfers is that we have so much feel. For some reason when I’ve taken the glove off this week, it’s kind of worked. It’s just - problem is it’s really hot and it’s sweaty.

"But honestly, I started seeing shots that I was hitting, and even the bad ones were not good, but like that’s kind of where I expect them to be."

Look, we’re crazy. Honestly, we’re crazy

As a known striper of the ball with his irons, Morikawa still ranked highly in approach play even with his problems - and says that his latest "crazy" plan is more about the comfort of seeing the ball going where he expects it to.

"I was sitting on the range on Monday kind of working by myself, and I’ve done bare feet, so no shoes, and that normally works," said Morikawa of how he came up with the plan.

"It’s just trying a bunch of things. Look, we’re crazy. Honestly, we’re crazy because we try a lot of things, but that’s what makes us really good is we’re trying to find the little things.

"Even though last week I think I was top 5 or whatever in approach, it’s like, I know I can get better and feel more comfortable.

"Even though it ends up close, it’s a comfort factor of just being less stressed out there."

High-degree lofted fairway woods such as a 7-wood or a 9-wood may not be everyone's first choice of club to put in their bag, especially not for a professional. However, over the last few years, there has been a moving trend for tour pros to use this type of fairway wood.

These clubs' qualities such as adding more height, increased ball speed, more versatility and ease of use, have meant they have overtaken clubs like a 3-iron or a 4-hybrid, in players' preferences.

According to a report from Sports Marketing Surveys, just over 10 per cent of Tour professionals now have a 7-wood, or a higher lofted fairway wood in their bag.

This week, the US Open is being held at Oakmont Country Club, which will provide incredibly difficult conditions for the players. The rough especially, which is long and heavy, will make it very challenging for the players to score well if they miss the fairway.

Colin Morikawa, who uses a 9-wood said, "Look, I've got a 9-wood. It's like cheating. I told that to myself yesterday, and then I had some lies that were not playable.

"On a course like this, step number one is to hit it in the fairways, and hopefully we can do that."

Even with the high degree of loft on these fairway woods (20-26 degrees), they may not be enough to get the ball out of the Oakmont rough - as Morikawa said.

"Look, at the end of the day, when you have really long rough, hitting a 9-iron is going to be more beneficial than trying to hit a 6-iron if the ball is really down just because you need loft to get out of the rough," Morikawa said.

"I don't think people understand how thick the rough is.

"It's just being smart. When you're in the rough out here, there's still bunkers you have to carry. It's not like you just play it out to the front of the green.

"There's bunkers you might have to carry if you hit it off line. You're just honestly trying to make 4 from 150 yards."

Tour pros using higher-lofted fairway woods

A 7-wood or 9-wood therefore may not be the best solution out of the rough this week, depending on its density and lie of the ball. However, it will definitely be of use off the tee or from the fairway, for players trying to keep the ball in play.

Other tour players such as Scottie Scheffler, who carries a 7-wood, have also turned to the more forgiving fairway wood.

Tommy Fleetwood and Dustin Johnson both use 9-woods, while LIV Golf star Joaquin Niemann who is in serious form going into the third men's Major of the year after winning his fourth LIV Golf event last week in Virginia also carries a Ping G425 Max 7-Wood as well as a 26-degree hybrid.

Another golfer looking to find more fairways this week and avoid the rough, is current Masters Champion Rory McIlroy. He has been spotted using the TaylorMade Qi10 driver again following a brief switch to the Qi35 last time out at the RBC Canadian where he missed the cut, after struggling off the tee.

He said, "I feel like, as the last few weeks go, I think I learnt a lot on Thursday and Friday last week and did a good bit of practice at home and feel like I'm in a better place with everything going into this week."

Regarding the rough at Oakmont this week, McIlroy said, "Yeah, just the lie. Just whatever club you think you can get on it. The good thing about this course is most of the greens have run-ups onto them. It's not as if they're forced carries on to greens."

"So if you have a half-decent lie in the rough, it gives you a chance to at least run the ball up to the front of the green if you've got a decent lie. But decent lies in the rough are few and far between, you don't want to ride your luck on this golf course.

Regarded as one of the best players off the tee and currently ranking second on tour in driving accuracy percentage this season, Collin Morikawa seemed bewildered while standing on the tee of the 289 yard par 3 at Oakmont Country Club, as he prepared to take on the colossal hole with his driver.

The eight hole at Oakmont is one of the longest par 3s in the world and is certainly going to be a fierce test for the players teeing it up at the 125th edition of the US Open this week.

Entrenched with bunkers at the front of a downward sloping green, it would be of no surprise see many players recording big numbers at the troublesome hole when play gets underway on Thursday.

Partnered with Xander Schauffele in a practice round, Morikawa was heard saying in a DP World Tour clip: "I mean this just seems ridiculous", while holding driver on the eight tee.

Schauffele humorously replies stating to his partner: "You don't look very comfortable."

If Morikawa wasn't comfortable, then who will be this week?

The American isn't the only one to hit driver on the par 3 in a practice round before the tournament begins. Texas Children's Houston Open winner and heavily regarded as one of the longest hitters on tour, Min Woo Lee, jokingly posted on X about Oakmont getting the par wrong on the famous eight hole.

Michael Kim also posted on X regarding the difficulty of the hole and said that he “hit driver into par 3 8th, no one in my group ever thought about 3wd. It was decently into the wind today.”

While it's a beastly hole for a par 3, Xander Schauffele says he will be playing it just to try and make the best score in whatever way possible - even if pulling driver will 'hurt a few egos.'

"It's just a golf hole. If you can peel a par away from it, you just figure out how best to make a score on it," Schauffele said.

"I think you might hurt a few egos if you see guys pulling driver or some long clubs in there, but at the end of the day, however you feel you're going to make the best score in there is how you should play it.

"Whether it's laying up with an iron out to the right and trying to wedge it close or being aggressive with the driver, however you feel like you can make a good score is how you should play the hole."

Although there's been talk about players exploiting the testing rules for their drivers, Collin Morikawa says he's not aware of anyone trying to cheat the system.

The non-conforming driver saga hit the headlines at the PGA Championship when Rory McIlroy reportedly had to change his big stick after it failed USGA testing, while Scottie Scheffler later confirmed he also had to change clubs due to a failed test.

Matters took a turn when Major champion Lucas Glover told the SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio show that some players kept two drivers in their bags and handed their backups in for testing to try and cheat the system.

The CEO of the USGA, Mike Whan, played down those accusations, saying "I don't think that's a real concern for us".

“I read something where somebody said that people can doctor the system," said Whan.

"But we keep serial numbers of the driver that were given us, and 90 percent of the drivers that were given us in those practice facilities when we test are played on the first tee, and we expect 10 percent of players to be making changes anyway."

And Morikawa is not aware of players gaming the system, saying they hardly get much of an advantage anyway from drivers that are close to or just over the limit.

"I sure hope not," Morikawa said when asked about players evading proper driver checks. "I mean, I'm sure someone has done it.

"People joke about doing it, but I don't think anyone actually does. All our clubs have lifespans on them. We know it.

"So I don't think people do that. I think people joke about it, but I don't think people do it. And if they do, then, I mean, sure. Is it going to help? I don't think it's going to help.

"When these fail, we're on such fine margins that they give us this like green, yellow, red. Like we want our drivers to be in yellow, it's passing, but it's like you want it to be fast, you don't want it to be slow.

"But if it's close to failing or if it's failing and it's close to cracking, I mean, what are you gaining? You're not gaining anything. Guys aren't going to hit it 25 yards further.

"I don't think it's really changing much. It's just you got to have a line somewhere and that's where they have drawn the line."

Two-time Major champion Collin Morikawa has explained the thinking behind his switch from long-term caddie JJ Jakovac to Joe Greiner.

After a successful six-year partnership with Jakovac that included Major victories at the 2020 PGA Championship and 2021 Open, Morikawa split with his regular bagman.

Instead, Morikawa made the switch to Max Homa's former caddie Greiner, who recently helped Justin Thomas claim his first victory since the 2022 PGA Championship at the RBC Heritage.

The move, first reported by Colt Knost on SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio, was something of a surprise with Morikawa in decent form this year despite not yet picking up a win.

But, speaking to Dan Rapaport's 'Dan On Golf Show' he said the decision was more than just about simple results and more down to just a feeling that a change was needed.

"Firstly, it doesn't take anything away from what JJ and I have done over the last six years, but sometimes things just aren't feeling right," Morikawa told Rapaport.

"I think when people look at it in the macro perspective of 'OK, Collin's playing great, he's contending, he's trying to close out tournaments'.

"Even at the beginning of the year everything looked very, very good, but sometimes, on the golf course things just don't feel right."

Morikawa hopes Jakovac will get plenty of interest in his services after helping him to such success at the start of his career.

"It wasn't an easy talk and I hope all the best for him," Morikawa added. "I hope guys are lining up for him because, look, if you look at his resume, if you look at what we've done just simply over the past six years it's incredible."

Greiner, who split from Homa at the start of April, began caddying for Justin Thomas temporarily after his full-time bagman, Matt Minister, sustained a back injury.

He stepped in at the last minute at Augusta National to help Thomas to a T36 finish at The Masters before then seeing his long-awaited victory at Harbour Town.

And Morikawa is looking forward to getting started with his new looper having already talked to him about their partnership.

"For me, what I've seen with Joe, he's someone who wants to continue to learn and get better," he added. "We've already talked numerous times on how we're going to get started.

"He's a great caddie, he's one of the best out there, obviously what he did with JT. Sometimes when you have a new caddie it frees people up and obviously it helped JT for those two events."

After his recent run-in with certain media members, Collin Morikawa is not backing down, if anything he's doubling down as he stood his ground during his Masters press conference at Augusta National.

And although he's standing by his recent comments, far from wanting to speak to the media less, Morikawa actually wants, and feels he deserves, to have more regular coverage.

The Morikawa saga started when he opted not to talk to the media after his near miss at the Arnold Palmer Invitational saying he was too emotional and upset at not winning the tournament.

The Californian's "I don't owe anyone anything" statement at The Players Championship drew criticism among some media personalities, prompting him into a sharp response.

"To the Brandel Chamblees, to the Paul McGinleys, to the Rocco Mediates of the world, I don't regret anything I said," Morikawa retorted at Sawgrass.

And now at Augusta, the two-time Major champion has questioned why the media have made a big deal out of him not speaking to them on that one occasion when usually he's not the centre of their attention.

As he explained why he stood by his comments, Morikawa said he thought the media should try to speak to him more often rather than criticize the one time he didn't.

"Look, I said it in my second media thing. I could have said it differently. But I stand by what I said. I was in the moment," Morikawa said ahead of The Masters.

"We talk about giving people space to be who they are, and at that time, it was for me to be who I was, and I didn't want to be around anyone. I didn't even want to be around my wife. I said hi to her after, we hugged, and I just went straight to the locker room.

"I think there needs to be a balance and an ebb and flow between everything. I do want to be here for you guys, but here's the thing: I've been in the top 5 in the world before, and people don't come up to me and ask me questions. If you guys - you can't just ask me when I'm playing well."

So for Morikawa the issue is him getting criticism for skipping one media engagement when he's not getting the regular coverage he feels he deserves.

"You guys should be asking the top 10 players every single week, every single day, and just document it," he added. "Then you get a sense of who we are and you get a flow of how that comes to be.

"But if you're only asking me - look, I've been in the top 5 for however long in my career, there's plenty of times where media doesn't ask me. There's a balance, right? If you guys don't want to ask me, it's not my job to go out and tell you my story.

"Sometimes it is, but you do that through social media, you do that through playing well, winning tournaments. But not everyone is like that."

"I stand by what I said."

Collin Morikawa has responded to critics of his decision to not speak to media following his runner-up finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and specifically for his reasoning why he chose not to.

Morikawa opted not to speak to the press following his one-stroke loss to Russell Henley last week, where he was three ahead on the back nine before being overtaken after Henley's chip-in eagle on he 16th.

The Californian said he signed autographs for fans before leaving without talking to the media, and his explanation why didn't go down well with some figures in the game.

"Yeah, just heated. Just pissed. Like I don't owe anyone anything," Morikawa said ahead of The Players Championship on Tuesday.

"No offense to you guys, but for me in the moment of that time, I didn't want to be around anyone. Like, I didn't want to talk to anyone. I didn't need any sorries. I didn't need any "good playings." Like, you're just pissed.

"Honestly, if it was an hour later I would have talked to you guys, but an hour later I was on my way out to here, because I didn't want to be in Orlando anymore.

"But I just felt like I put everything I did into the, let's call it, seven hours of my time being there, right, a few hours before showing up, physio, workout. Look, my entire routine, right. I was just drained.

"I get it. Like you guys are there to figure out how we played and how things went, but in my perspective, like I just didn't want to talk to anyone, and I think that's fair to myself, you know."

Morikawa addressed those who criticized his reasoning, including Rocco Mediate who was quoted with some strong words for the two-time Major winner on Sirius XM.

“Biggest bunch of horsesh** you could ever say, period. I mean, that is the dumbest, most selfish garbage you could ever say," Mediate said.

Following his second round at TPC Sawgrass this week, Morikawa had his reply, addressing Mediate as well as Golf Channel analysts Brandel Chamblee and Paul McGinley.

At the end of his questions in the mixed zone, he told media that he had one more thing that he wanted to say before leaving.

"Then I just want to add one more thing," Morikawa said.

"I might bite my tongue after saying this, but to the Brandel Chamblees, to the Paul McGinleys, to the Rocco Mediates of the world, I don't regret anything I said. You know, it might have been a little bit harsh that I don't owe anyone, but I don't owe anyone. I respect the fans. I'm very thankful for them.

"I'm grateful. It makes me emotional, but it's just, it hurts to hear people say this, and especially you guys, because I finished the round and I went to go sign for 10 minutes, 15 minutes for all the people after.

"Not a single person from media went to go follow me because, I don't know. But that's me. So for people to be calling me out is, it's interesting. It just, it doesn't show anything.

"I mean, look, I get what you guys are saying. But I was there. I was signing for every single person right after the round, whether they wanted it or not. I finished second. They could care less. But yeah, I'm going to leave it at that, all right? So thank you guys."

Morikawa shot a superb 65 on Friday, the lowest round of the week so far, courtesy of nine birdies and two bogeys.

He is nine-under-par after two rounds, which currently trails Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia by two strokes.

The 2020 PGA Champion and 2021 Open Champion is seeking his first victory since the Zozo Championship in October 2023.

Collin Morikawa has defended the suggestion of a ban on AimPoint by PGA Tour player, Lucas Glover, suggesting that there should be a ban on "long putters."

The jibe was aimed at the former US Open champion, who recently claimed on the SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio that the AimPoint method is “rude,” and "hasn't helped anybody make more putts since its inception on the PGA Tour."

Speaking at a press conference at the Genesis Invitational on Tuesday, Morikawa stated: "I have nothing against Lucas, but if we're banning AimPoint I think we should ban long putters as well," with the comment causing a mix of gasps and laughs in the media centre.

The reason for Glover using a long putter is down to the fact the American endured a 10-year battle with the yips on the greens, a condition that can cause involuntary wrist spasms.

Speaking back in August 2023, Glover explained how moving to a long putter had completely changed his game, revealing that at one point in his career he "was going to try left-handed."

In terms of Morikawa's game, the American started using the green reading method, AimPoint, a number of years ago, with Morikawa acknowledging that it "does take longer if you're not doing it properly" but, from his perspective, it "has 1,000%" helped him in terms of putting in tournament play.

"I think there's a respect issue. I think some players might get a little bit too close to the hole and I get that," explained Morikawa, who is one of the favorites going into the week at Torrey Pines.

"When you get too close to the hole when someone else is putting, yeah, like I don't want my line and my putt to go over someone else's foot and their marks. I mean, are you going to tell other players not to walk around the hole when we're picking up putts?

"I listen to the announcers sometimes during play and they say why would you AimPoint this, this and that. It gets a basis of how I read a putt and how I start my lines. It's just like reading something from behind the hole or behind the ball, that's how I'm getting my general read for that."

Throughout the start of 2025, slow play has been a big talking point, as many called out the pace of play during The American Express and Farmers Insurance Open, which takes place at this week's venue Torrey Pines.

The LPGA Tour have introduced new policies to help combat it and, at the Founders Cup, play did seem to get quicker. Currently though, the PGA Tour isn't as strict in enforcing its pace of play, but has listed some ideas recently to help combat it.

Recently, the circuit announced that it is set to allow players to use rangefinders in a bid to try and cure the problem. In the interview with SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio, Glover listed the use of measuring devices as one way to help speed of play and, although Morikawa disagrees with the AimPoint ban, the introduction of rangefinders is something he would use if it were allowed.

"The PGA Championship allows it and I normally -- I use it and I just shoot the number just to like quicken things up," explained the two-time Major winner.

"I would use it. It wouldn't really add more time because I would do it first thing, I would be out of it. Then as he's (caddie) walking things off, it would be like as if he would normally walk it off in any other tournament that we can't use it.

"It helps more from the fact when you're out of position. Like not really in the fairways I don't think it's going to change anything. I don't think it's the end solution to changing our pace of play from if you had five hours and 20 minutes to four and a half hours, right? It's not going to shave 45 minutes off our time for pace of play.

"I know a lot of people complained when we were or when the Tour was here a few weeks ago how slow it was, but when you have a course in front of you that is that difficult and the winds are up and the conditions are that tough, it's just going to play slower, like there's no way around it. I get it, guys are slower than others and sometimes it takes too long, but tough conditions make it play slower no matter what. It's going to happen that way."

Collin Morikawa is the latest big name to withdraw from the Farmers Insurance Open.

The two-time Major winner will no longer compete at Torrey Pines, with Wesley Bryan taking his place.

The news comes just a day after it was revealed that World No.2 Xander Schauffele would also not be competing in his hometown event. Schauffele’s team cited a “medical issue” for his absence, while he will also not play for New York Golf Club in the TGL on Tuesday evening. Morikawa is also one of the 24 TGL players, although his team, Los Angeles Golf Club, is not in action this week.

Morikawa had played in each of the last two editions of the Farmers Insurance Open. He finished third in the 2023 edition but didn’t fare nearly as well last year and missed the cut after rounds of 67 and 75.

Despite that disappointment, Morikawa had an excellent year where he earned his place back in the world’s top 10 after a loss of form the previous season. This year, he picked up where he had left off with runner-up at The Sentry earlier this month.

As for Schauffele, his withdrawal comes after he also pulled out of The American Express, although at the time, no reason was offered for his withdrawal.

Schauffele’s absence from the Farmers Insurance Open means he will miss the tournament for the first time after nine successive appearances.

See also: How To Watch The Farmers Insurance Open

Morikawa and Schauffele aren’t the only high-profile withdrawals from this week's tournament, which begins on Wednesday. Nicolai Hojgaard will also not play having initially been named in the field. His spot will be taken by Hayden Springer.

Last year, Matthieu Pavon claimed his maiden PGA Tour win at Torrey Pines, and it was Hojgaard who finished runner-up, one shot behind the Frenchman. Pavon will defend his title this week in his third start of 2025 after The Sentry and Team Cup.

Despite the big-name withdrawals, there are still some other high-profile players in the field, including two in the world’s top 10 – Hideki Matsuyama, fresh from his victory at The Sentry, and Swedish star Ludvig Aberg.

MLB's World Series starts on Friday night after a long and gruelling season of action across the country and occasionally overseas. Two historic franchises remain, with the seven-time world champion LA Dodgers set to take on the most successful ball club of all time - the New York Yankees.

When the iconic duo begin their potential seven-game battle at Dodger Stadium this weekend, a couple of other serial winners will be keeping a close eye on proceedings from the opposite side of the world.

Max Homa and Collin Morikawa were both born in the vicinity of Los Angeles - Homa took his first steps in Burbank - and, as a result, grew up supporting the Dodgers. Homa even threw the ceremonial first pitch before a 2019 home game against the Washington Nationals.

Yet, both hope they won't be in attendance for at least the first three fixtures of the 2024 World Series due to their appearance in this week's Zozo Championship, which takes place in Japan.

While Homa is keen to snag a first victory of the campaign, the 33-year-old insists he will be locked in to the early World Series clashes whenever he can and by any means possible.

Speaking ahead of the tournament at Narashino Country Club, Homa said: "Yeah, I'm hopeful [of being able to watch]. They play in the morning here, which is tough because we also play in the morning.

"We listened to the last game against the Mets on the radio and then watched on our phone and finally found a stream of it.

"It's really cool being here [in Japan]. Obviously we have two Japanese players on the Dodgers that are tremendous, one of which is [Shohei] Ohtani, who is the best baseball player I've ever seen. So it's quite cool to come here.

"I've actually seen quite a few LA hats. It's quite neat to be in Japan when the best baseball player in the world is Japanese and he's on the team I root for. It's kind of a dream scenario.

"I would be lying if I said I wish I wasn't home a little bit so I could go to the game, or a game, but yeah, it's neat to be here. I'm hopeful to see some more L.A. hats. And yeah, it's been great, the run they've been on, it's been very fun to watch."

Meanwhile, the Zozo Championship's current title holder will be hoping for an even greater week than this time last year when he won at a location which means so much to him and his family.

Morikawa is among the favorites to defend his crown in Japan while his Dodgers are also backed to collect an eighth World Series title against their 27-time-winner rivals.

Asked if he would be keeping an eye on any other ball games this weekend, Morikawa said: "Yeah, absolutely. It's been great watching the Dodgers play in Japan, in Tokyo. It was nice because they had it on TV. You wake up in the morning and it's on.

"They'll probably be playing I'm guessing when we're out on the golf course, but we'll be taking a peek here and there for sure."

With the exception of the Presidents Cup, many of the world's best golfers have been absent from the PGA Tour since August's Tour Championship.

Some have opted to take a break ahead of another packed schedule in 2025, while others competed in some of the biggest events of the DP World Tour season as the FedEx Cup Fall section of the PGA Tour season got underway.

The first four events of the FedEx Cup Fall saw fields largely dominated by players who hadn't already secured their full PGA Tour cards for next season, with 125th or above in the standings the all-important cut-off by the end of the next month's final tournament, the RSM Classic.

However, this week's FedEx Cup Fall event is a little different from the others. The action takes place in Japan for the only time in the PGA Tour season with the Zozo Championship.

It's not just the location that is unique. The event, which is being held at Narashino Country Club, also has a limited field of just 78 players, while there isn't a cut. Eligibility is also restricted to criteria including the top 60 in the FedEx Cup standings, sponsor exemptions and the best players on the Japan Golf Tour.

While that hasn't been enough to tempt some of the world's best players to compete, including World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and four-time Major winner Rory McIllroy, there is still a stronger field than in many recent PGA Tour events.

The defending champion is two-time Major winner Collin Morikawa, who is making his first appearance since helping Team USA win the Presidents Cup. However, even at fourth in the world, he is not the highest-ranked player in the field.

That honor goes to World No.2 Xander Schauffle, who won two of the year's Majors among 15 top-10 finishes so far this year.

The third player in the world's top 10 competing is local star Hideki Matsuyama, who is currently ranked seventh. Matsuyama won the 2021 Zozo Championship a little over six months after victory at The Masters, and, after briefly dropping out of the world's top 50, he has rediscovered his best form this year, including two victories.

Two-time PGA Champion Justin Thomas is also in the field as he makes his first start since finishing seventh at the Tour Championship, while six-time PGA Tour winners Max Homa and Rickie Fowler, who finished runner-up in 2022, play too.

World No.12 Sahith Theegala is another big name in the field, along with Sungjae Im, who is ranked 10 places beneath him.

Other notable names competing include rising star Min Woo Lee, former World No.7 Will Zalatoris and nine-time PGA Tour winner Matt Kuchar.

Star Players In Zozo Championship Field

• Xander Schauffele
• Collin Morikawa
• Hideki Matsuyama
• Sahith Theegala
• Sungjae Im
• Max Homa
• Justin Thomas
• Min Woo Lee
• Max Greyserman
• Eric Cole
• Nick Taylor
• Si Woo Kim
• Will Zalatoris

Not for the first time in the PGA Tour season, Collin Morikawa came second to Scottie Scheffler in the final round of a tournament, this time as the World No.1 eased to victory at the Tour Championship to claim his maiden FedEx Cup title.

Despite that, Morikawa, who was also runner-up to Scheffler at the Memorial Tournament, can take some consolation from the fact he finished top of the Official World Golf Ranking leaderboard for the event following his efforts at East Lake. 

That’s because of the scoring system in place at the Tour Championship, where Scheffler began with a two-shot lead, and Morikawa began six off the pace.

In the end, Morikawa finished four shots adrift of Scheffler in his bid for the FedEx Cup title, but he actually outperformed him by two over the four rounds, with Sahith Theegala finishing just one shot worse off than Morikawa.

Following the event, the two-time Major winner admitted that he was taking the silver lining of knowing that, without starting strokes, he would have won the tournament.

He said: “Yeah, it's nice. I knew that was kind of the goal for the week, right, to come out on top on this kind of fake leaderboard and see how things played out. Ultimately Scottie was second or third on that leaderboard, so it didn't really help my case.”

Still, Morikawa could see the funny side, later joking in an Instagram post: "Signed up for the gross division, forgot to sign up for the net."

On a more serious note, the FedEx Cup Playoffs format has had some criticizm from pros, including Scheffler, who, before the FedEx St. Jude Championship, described it as “silly” and added: “You can't call it a season-long race and have it come down to one tournament.”

A benefit of the scoring system for the Tour Championship is that it offered everyone a chance of glory, even the player beginning in 30th only 10 shots off the leader at the start.

Regardless, Morikawa admitted that making up the six-shot deficit he faced at the start was a tall order, but he was ultimately just happy to perform well throughout the tournament. He continued: “I knew six shots was a lot to catch up, but I know I've made it up before. It was just nice to put together four good rounds throughout a week.”

Morikawa’s performance, which earned him $12.5m, completed an encouraging season that took him firmly back inside the world’s top five after slipping to 20th heading into last year’s Tour Championship.

Despite that improvement, he has tended to come up short in the final round of tournaments, including finishing T3 at The Masters and T4 at the PGA Championship, after beginning the Sunday of each Major firmly in contention for victory.  That’s something he admitted he needs to improve in the future.

“I've got to start playing better, better final rounds. That's what it comes down to,” he explained. “It's not like I had to do anything special in a handful of those rounds. It's not like - I didn't have to shoot 63s to win.

“I was in these final groups, I don't know how many final groups I was in this year, but enough to where I can think of a few easily off the top of my head, and when you can do that, you hope to think of the wins.”

Collin Morikawa went from nearly missing the cut to storming back into contention at the US Open after the best putting round of his career. 

The 27-year-old carded his first ever bogey-free round at a US Open on day three, sinking four birdies to shoot four-under 66.

He did so thanks to the best statistical putting day of his career, which saw him make every single putt inside ten feet.

Speaking after his round, Morikawa said it was nice to finally get his putter going after a tough first two days.

“Just made the putts that I needed to. Yesterday, I think I missed everything that I could have made. First day was kind of a little bit of both, so it was nice to see putts go in.”

Morikawa gained a whopping 4.84 strokes on the field thanks to his putting, but when asked about his performance on the greens, he said he didn’t feel like it was his best round with the putter, pointing instead to his Open Championship win in 2021 at Royal St. George’s Golf Club.

“I think I putted better at the Open, to be honest. The Open I made everything when I won in ’21,” he said.

“Numbers don’t lie. I’ll take that. I mean, look, after yesterday’s round, didn’t really do much. I just felt like they were getting really bumpy yesterday late in the day. They got a little crusty. Sometimes they just don’t fall. Today I just kind of made sure I stuck with everything that we’ve been working on.

“It was nice to see the first one go in and build off that.”

Morikawa started steady with one birdie in his first nine, before posting three more on the back, including a clutch putt on the 18th that inspired a few fist pumps.

He said his plan was to get back to even par – and he seemed to execute that plan to perfection.

“I was trying to get to even,” Morikawa said. “You can’t be aggressive out here. I think if you’re aggressive, it can put you in really bad spots. You got to just kind of take your 30-footers.

“If you have a wedge, sometimes you’re able to go at pins. Didn’t play the par fives as well as I have been. Look, you can’t play aggressive out here at all. You play aggressive to the right parts, you take what you can. If you get lucky, you get lucky.”

His third round got him back to within five shots of the lead when he signed his card.

While there is still work to do, and results to go his way, Morikawa was definitive about his goals heading into the final round.

“To win,” he said. “I mean, look, if I play the way I did today, who knows what could happen. This course is only going to get tougher. I know it’s not going to be easy.

“Today was not easy by any means. I just put it in the right spot, kept the ball in front of me, really just played very simple golf.

"Just kind of build on that hopefully. Look, even par, I was trying to get to that today, so very happy."

A coach is one of the most crucial parts of a professional's golf game. Not only are they an expert pair of eyes, but they often know the player's swing better than the player him or herself.

Since the age of eight, Collin Morikawa had been working with Rick Sessinghaus, a PGA coach and Doctor of Applied Sports Psychology, with the pair splitting around the time of the 2023 Ryder Cup. Now though, it appears the duo are back working together.

First reported by Dan Rapaport, Morikawa has added Sessinghaus just a few weeks out from the second men's Major of the year, the PGA Championship, which Morikawa claimed himself back in 2020.

Under Sessinghaus, the American has picked up five PGA Tour wins, including two Major championships. However, following a two-year winless draught, Morikawa revealed at the 2023 Hero World Challenge that he had split with Sessinghaus before the Ryder Cup, claiming: “What I saw kind of over the past two years wasn’t to my expectations.”

Claiming that Sessinghaus was "more than just a coach" and a "really good friend", Morikawa then started working with swing coach Mark Blackburn, who also works with the likes of Max Homa and Justin Rose. In the very first event of working together, the ZOZO Championship, Morikawa added a sixth PGA Tour title to his CV.

The honeymoon period didn't seem to last, though, and following just one top 10 finish at The Sentry in 2024, Morikawa split with Blackburn prior to The Masters, an event he actually finished with a share of third place.

Speaking to Golfweek following the event, Morikawa did reveal that he spoke to Sessinghaus a few times but did not confirm whether the pair were rejoining. Now though, after a solo ninth finish at the RBC Heritage and a tie for 23rd at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Morikawa is seemingly back with his former coach.

A unique event on the PGA Tour, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, takes place at TPC Louisiana.

The event sees 160 players form 80 teams of two with rounds alternating between fourball and foursomes and a 36-hole cut that sees the top 33 teams and ties progress.

Last year, Davis Riley and Nick Hardy beat the Canadian pairing of Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin for their maiden PGA Tour titles. That also handed them a first prize of $1,242,700 each from the overall purse of $8.6m.

This year, there’s even more on offer, with an overall prize money payout of $8.9m, meaning each of the winners will receive $1,286,050.

Among the other incentives are 400 FedEx Cup points for each of the winners and a two-year PGA Tour exemption. They will also claim spots at the PGA Championship and signature events, as well as next year’s Sentry and Players Championship. However, unlike most other PGA Tour events, winners won’t receive either a Masters invite or world ranking points.

Below is the prize money payout for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Zurich Classic Of New Orleans Prize Money Payout

Who Are The Star Names In The Zurich Classic Of New Orleans?

Some of the biggest names in the game are in the field, including four-time Major winner Rory McIlroy, who has teamed up with Shane Lowry for his first appearance at the tournament.

The defending champions are Davis Riley and Nick Hardy, who beat Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor in 2023, and all four also return as part of the same teams.

The pair who won in 2022, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele, team up again too. Last year, 2022 US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick joined forces with his brother Alex after a text exchange, and they also return.

Elsewhere, two-time Major winner Collin Morikawa plays alongside 2023 Arnold Palmer Invitational winner Kurt Kitayama, while World No.17 Sahith Theegala is in a team with Will Zalatoris.

Team Europe Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald also appears, and he teams up with one of his vice-captains from the 2023 edition at Marco Simone, Francesco Molinari, while fresh from his Corales Puntacana Championship win, Billy Horschel, who has two victories at the tournament, plays alongside Alexander Tyson.

Collin Morikawa says that "greed" got the best of him on Sunday at The Masters where he shot a two-over-par 74 to finish in T3rd and seven strokes behind Scottie Scheffler.

The two-time Major champion was matching Scheffler on the front nine before a disastrous double-par-double three-hole spell from the 9th to the 11th.

He left his ball in the greenside bunker on nine before pulling his approach into the 11th and finding the water. He came back with birdies at 13 and 15 before dropping a shot at the final hole to end the week at four-under-par.

"Greed got the best of me. 9, can't miss it over there and can't leave it in the bunker. 11, just tried to hit too perfect of a shot. It's not like at that point I was trying to press. I knew where I stood," he said.

"Yeah, it's just can't do that. In the past I haven't done it, but kind of where the game's at. You kind of find your little stride. We put a lot of pieces of the puzzle together this week, but after watching Scottie this week, I know what to do if I really want to close this gap on what he's doing and how impressive he's playing."

Morikawa spent the afternoon in the company of Scheffler, who closed with a four-under-par 68 and ease to a four-stroke victory. It's the World No.1's second Masters title and his third victory in his last four starts.

"He drives the ball plenty, plenty long, well past me. Hits his irons obviously spectacular. Keeps it simple. Makes the putts when he needs to. If he doesn't, still has plenty of chances. And just never put himself in trouble," Morikawa said.

"He was always one year older than me, but he's always been the top of his class. He was Rolex Junior Player of the Year when we were young. In our Wyndham Cup days, he was one of the best players out there. He always had it in him.

"It's impressive what he's doing throughout the bag. From junior golf, he was always a great short game player. His chipping and putting was always great. This whole putting-majig he was going through, I knew he was going to get out of.

"But to see what he's doing with his irons is crazy impressive because he's hitting every shot, he's moving both directions, and it's something that I admired that hopefully I can get my game back to that kind of spot."

Morikawa's T3 is his best Major result since his 2021 Open Championship win, and he now has three top-10s in a row at Augusta National. He hopes the form he showed this week will stand him in good stead for the next three Majors.

"This has been a weird year, but I saw a lot of good this week. Today was the first day where I really just mentally kind of gave a couple away. Sometimes it happens. The few times I've been kind of near the lead in Majors, I've performed pretty well.

"Today I think it's just a balance of everything between how the game feels and where the mental state is. It's just kind of getting back in that groove. This week was a real big thing for me, and I think I'm going to use this a lot kind of in this next little stretch of golf, especially since Majors, they all come one right after another."

Collin Morikawa was seen using a TaylorMade Spider X mallet putter during round one of The Masters but the "tried and true blade guy" went back to his usual style of putter for Friday - and he's been climbing the leaderboard ever since.

While World No.1 Scheffler has found huge success since moving to the Spider X, from a blade, during the week of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Morikawa has gone the other way.

He returned to a TaylorMade TP Soto blade on Friday after also using an Olson prototype blade last month - a brand of flat sticks made by engineer Logan Olson.

"I came into this week not putting well or not feeling comfortable with the putter that I had in my hands," Morikawa said.

"Went full 180, switched to the mallet, switched to the Spider, and was feeling great, to be honest. I felt really, really good. Felt better than I've kind of felt all year.

"But sometimes you don't know how it's going to feel in the tournament. Through (the opening round, which extended into Friday morning) ... I just wanted to get the putter out of my hands because I couldn't get comfortable with it. 

"And thankfully I had a backup ... a copy of what I've putted with in the past, pretty much the past year and a half. Felt like old times and nice to have that in the bag again."

Scheffler briefly used an Olson blade around the turn of the year and the women's World No.1 Nelly Korda also has one in the bag.

Morikawa averaged 1.67 putts per GIR in his opening 71 on Thursday with the Spider X mallet but that was down to 1.5 on Friday where he shot 70 in high winds at Augusta National.

He opened with three consecutive birdies on Saturday to continue his climb up the leaderboard and eventually got himself into the final group, starting Sunday one back of Scheffler.

The two-time Major champion is seeking the third leg of the career grand slam this week, although his last three starts read MC-T45-T75.

The 27-year-old Californian won his sixth PGA Tour title in Japan last October.

"I've been grinding and had to find something in a swing thought to work this week, and we found something early on Monday, and we're just kind of sticking with that," Morikawa revealed this week.

"It's still not perfect, but perfect doesn't have to be out there. I'm able to play good golf and plot my way around this golf course. Especially with the wind out here, you had to just kind of really stay patient out there."

A message from the editor, Neil Tappin:

Seven months ago, I took over as editor and so far I’ve resisted the temptation to discuss the fracture in men’s professional golf. At the risk of alienating some but in the hope that it sparks a healthy debate, it’s time to explain how I see things. 

Men’s professional golf needed a reset. I’m not talking here about the Majors but, instead, referring to the many events that sit outside the big four. In a congested sporting landscape, I’d found myself struggling to consistently connect with the storylines and engage in the drama I’d once found compelling.

Then, in 2022, along came LIV. The shotgun start, with individual and team events being played in tandem, was a direct attempt to confront golf’s natural shortcomings. As the tour has developed and the quality of the fields improved, I’ve found myself being drawn in. Plenty has happened that I don’t agree with but the product itself, to my mind, is proving its merit.

One thing that mustn’t be lost, though, is the clear pathway for future stars to burst through. This was brought into sharp focus as I read David Facey’s insightful interview with Joaquin Niemann in this issue. After a stellar, if unconventional, amateur career, his star has continued to rise. That at just 25, he has emerged as a likely Major contender underlines the need to provide young talent with a clear and merit-based route to the very top. 

There may be no imminent quick fix but if we get to a point where the Majors are supported by several strong events doing a better job of engaging fans, we’ll be moving in the right direction. 

See below for some of the other highlights this issue has to offer...

Irons Made Easy

When spring arrives, it’s usually a signal for a lot of fair-weather golfers to get back out onto the course. It’s a time of the year when we can all experience a bit of rust, and it can take a few rounds to start striking the ball well. For some club golfers, though, those bad habits never really get addressed. Here, Top 50 Coach Jo Taylor revisits those important basics and gives you a couple of drills to help you improve the quality of your strike. 

Collin Morikawa Exclusive

Two-time Major Champion Collin Morikawa shares his tips for various kinds of shots along with some key mental-game pointers. 

Joaquin Niemann Exclusive

 Joaquin Niemann tells David Facey he has no regrets about his LIV Golf move and reveals his ambitions to leave a lasting legacy...

Best 2024 Fairway Woods 

Striping a fairway wood can be one of the most challenging yet satisfying skills in all of golf. This means that finding a model that suits your game and performs consistently for you will be crucial in helping you lower your scores. We’ve tested 12 3-woods from nine brands to help you make the best choice for your game.

Harry Kane Exclusive

We talk to Harry Kane about his passion for golf, getting down to scratch and the best players in the England camp… 

Rules Of Golf

Our regular rules section is there to make sure you don't get caught out on the course this season.

The Generation Game

Rob Smith pays a visit to Fulwell, a Middlesex club successfully introducing more young golfers to the game we all love.

The Best Courses You Can Play

The north of Scotland is a busy place when it comes to golf right now as we discovered on a January trip to the Moray Firth, taking in some of its most famous links as well as one or two lesser-known delights.

Collin Morikawa has made a late change to his bag for this week’s Masters that he hopes will give him a shot at contending for the Green Jacket.

Perhaps inspired by the form of Scottie Scheffler, Morikawa has ditched his TaylorMade Logan Olson blade prototype in favour of a Spider Tour X with an L-neck hosel and a “T” sight line.

The two-time Major winner has been described as “a tried and true blade guy” by TaylorMade in the past so him adding one of the best mallet putters to his setup represents quite a departure.

However, looking at his form on the greens, it should perhaps come as no surprise.

For the 2024 season, Morikawa ranks 164th on the PGA Tour for Strokes Gained: Putting, losing more than half a shot per round on average to the field.

If you couple that with his long game, which has regressed since his 2021 Open win, it’s little wonder his form coming into the first men’s Major is sketchy.

The 27-year-old missed the cut at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and backed that up with a T45 finish at the Players Championship and a T75 at last week’s Valero Texas Open.

He’ll be hoping he can find the same sort of immediate success with the new flat stick as Scheffler did.

The World No. 1 put the TaylorMade Spider Tour X mallet in his bag ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational after struggling on the greens for the majority of last year with his Scotty Cameron blade.

It was the only part of his game stopping him from completely dominating but he seems to have turned a corner since opting for a more forgiving and stable style.

He won at Bay Hill and followed that up by defending his Players Championship crown before he missed out on a playoff at the Texas Children’s Houston Open by a shot.

Notably, he gained shots on the field on the greens in all three events, something Morikawa will be hoping to emulate when the gun goes off at Augusta National.

Rory McIlroy now infamously suggested Scheffler should turn to a mallet, which he then did and won the Arnold Palmer Invitational by five strokes. “I’m not going to give him any more advice, that’s for sure,” the Northern Irishman joked.

Six-time PGA Tour winner Collin Morikawa is running with a new putter in the bag at The Players Championship this week - and it's a brand you may not be too familiar with.

After mostly utilizing a TaylorMade TP Soto over the past couple of years as part of a full bag of clubs by the manufacturer, mixing in a couple of different prototype blade and mallet options along the way, Morikawa has moved away from the household names in favor of a tech-savvy outsider.

Remaining with a familiar style of flat stick, the 27-year-old is now using a Logan Olson blade prototype putter - first put into action last week during the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

He was initially seen stroking golf balls home during practice rounds before feeling confident enough to give it a go during competition at Bay Hill.

Although Morikawa missed the cut as a resurgent Scottie Scheffler masterfully putted his way to victory, the Californian is sticking with his new blade at the 50th edition of The Players this week. 

Coincidentally, Scheffler switched to a Logan Olson late in 2023 but ultimately chose to return to a mallet in the aftermath of advice from Rory McIlroy. Multiple LPGA Tour winner Nelly Korda has also used a Logan Olson putter in the past.

Morikawa - who did not receive any advice from the World No.2 prior to making his decision on the new putter - explained why the TaylorMade TP Soto made way for the unreleased Logan Olson.

Speaking to GolfWRX, he said: "Yeah, I've switched putters my entire career, but, you know, just what we've seen, I like how it rolls off the face.

"When you actually get the data, it's incredible how much better it rolls, even though the TaylorMade rolled in insanely good. It’s nearly the exact same putter, the same look. We cleaned up a few things that I actually never looked at.”

The American's custom putter features just a dot on the crown as a sightline, a grooved face insert, two sole weights, a Mitsubishi Diamana P105-gram 1.0-flex shaft and a SuperStroke Zynergy Tour 2.0XL grip, per PGATour.com.

Continuing to discuss the putter as well as its designer, Morikawa said: “It's cool. You know, we went through a lot of little tweaking here and there, seeing the face, not seeing it, the dot, and he just cleaned it all up. So I'm loving it… it’s been fun.

"He's [Olson] incredibly smart. He has a knack for just asking all the questions on what you're trying to see and what you're trying to get out of a putter, and, it's been awesome.”

Morikawa tees off alongside Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark at 1:51pm EDT (5:51pm GMT) in The Players first round on Thursday.

The second season of Netflix golf-documentary series, Full Swing gave fans a behind-the-scenes view of some of the sport's most memorable moments during the 2023 campaign.

From the Ryder Cup to one of the more controversial US Opens at Los Angeles Country Club, the streaming platform's cameras showed what some may have preferred to stay hidden as well as the warts-and-all reaction of players to a variety of different scenarios.

But one moment from last year garnered a degree more reaction than most, and as a result it required a bumper slot to tell the full story. 

In the first couple of 'Full Swing' episodes, titled: The Game Has Changed: Part One/Two, a handful of PGA Tour pros react to the news that PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has performed a potentially historic u-turn and announced the US-based circuit has entered into a framework agreement with the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund - backers of rival tour, the LIV Golf League.

The decision arrived not too long after Monahan had claimed "we will never work with LIV" while appearing to remain steadfast in his belief that the PGA Tour could continue to grow without additional support.

Rory McIlroy - who features heavily in Season 2 of Full Swing - said: "What happened? How did you get from not knowing this guy (Yasir Al-Rumayyan) and not meeting this guy to signing what is probably the biggest deal in the history of professional golf? What happened?

“You’re telling us that these guys (LIV) are almost like the enemy to you’re partnering with them. It’s a hard one to swallow."

What made the announcement even more shocking and upsetting for McIlroy is that it came at a time where he was chairman of the Player Advisory Council on the PGA Tour board and had regularly defending his circuit by taking shots at LIV.

Meanwhile, his quest for Major number five continued to elude him.

McIlroy continued: "I’m like, 'why did I just waste 12 months of my life to fight for something that was always going to come back together again?'

“There is a palpable vibe of confusion and anger because we have very little information now apart from basically entered into an agreement, don’t know what that agreement is going to involve."

Elsewhere, two of Team USA's key players shared their surprise at the decision.

Collin Morikawa asked: “What the f*** just happened? Just chaos.” And Justin Thomas said: “What the f***?

"There’s clearly more to this other than 'it’s just a merger.' Nobody knows anything and there’s just so many unanswered questions. And I’m just trying to get answers like everybody else.”

Fan favorite from Season 1 of Full Swing, Joel Dahmen, shared his disbelieving response. He said: “What is happening? This is really weird, literally flipped 180.

"Monahan flipped 180, they did it in secrecy, they didn’t tell anyone, there was no votes, there was nothing.”

Offering some composed reaction to the June 6 agreement in the days after, McIlroy pointed out that a lot of the players' grievance was born out of not knowing it could be happening and also finding out it was happening at the same time as everyone else.

McIlroy said: "It was all sprung on us so quickly, everyone was blindsided by it and I think that created a lot of anger and a lot of confusion amongst the tour membership.

"Jay realised pretty quickly that the rollout of it could have been handled better.”

The second of the PGA Tour’s signature events takes place with the Pebble Beach Pro-Am as Justin Rose defends his title.

Like the first tournament of the year, The Sentry, players will be competing for a huge $20m purse, with the winner in line for a $3.6m windfall.

The tournament is one of the Tour’s controversial no-cut, limited-field events, meaning only 80 players will be participating. The player who emerges as runner-up from the field will claim $2.18m, while there’s another seven-figure sum, $1.38m, available to the player who finishes third.

Even with the bumper prize money payout for the action at two courses, Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill, it still falls $5m short of the fund available at another men’s tournament taking place at the same time, LIV Golf Mayakoba at El Camaleon Golf Club. However, it is significantly more than the $2.5m on the table at the DP World Tour’s inaugural Bahrain Championship.

Thanks to some changes to the Official World Golf ranking that were announced in December, the winner also stands to earn around 77 world ranking points, with only the four Majors and The Players Championship offering more. As well as that, there are also 700 FedEx Cup points on offer.

Below is the prize money payout for the 2024 Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Pebble Beach Pro-Am Prize Money Payout

Who Are The Star Names In The Pebble Beach Pro-Am?

As a signature event, many of the world’s best players are in the field, including the player at the top of the rankings, Scottie Scheffler, and the star directly beneath him, Rory McIlroy, who is making just his second appearance at the tournament.

Other players in the world’s top 10 competing are Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark.

Nick Dunlap also plays his first tournament as a professional after he made history by becoming the first amateur to win a PGA Tour event for 33 years at The American Express.

Justin Rose is the defending champion, and he also plays, along with 2022 champion Tom Hoge and 2020 winner Nick Taylor. Another former champion in the field is 2017 winner Jordan Spieth.

Brooks Koepka said he has "basically given up" on Matthew Wolff and called the young American's talent "wasted".

Koepka is captain of the LIV Golf team 'Smash GC', with Wolff joining the side ahead of the second season of the 54-hole series. Wolff recently withdrew after the opening round of the Washington DC tournament before his name was removed from Smash GC's social media bios, amid reports that he had left the quartet.

Wolff remained on Smash GC but it seems that his captain, five-time Major winner Brooks Koepka, isn't his biggest fan.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated's Alex Micelli, Koepka didn't hold back his feelings on Wolff and in particular his attitude and work ethic.

“I mean, when you quit on your round, you give up and stuff like that, that's not competing,” Koepka told Sports Illustrated at this week's LIV Golf London event.

“I'm not a big fan of that. You don't work hard. It's very tough. It's very tough to have even like a team dynamic when you've got one guy that won't work, one guy is not going to give any effort, he’s going to quit on the course, break clubs, gets down, bad body language, it's very tough.

"I've basically given up on him. A lot of talent, but I mean the talent's wasted.”

Wolff graduated from Oklahoma State University alongside Viktor Hovland after winning the NCAA Division I individual championship. He turned pro at a similar time to the Norwegian and Collin Morikawa, with all three lauded as future stars.

Wolff won on the PGA Tour in just his third professional start at the 2019 3M Open, where he eagled the final hole to beat Bryson DeChambeau and Morikawa. He would then go on to hold the 54-hole lead at the 2020 US Open, which DeChambeau won, before taking two months away from golf in 2021 to deal with his mental health.

He has since joined LIV Golf but he has yet to show his full potential. He sits 25th in the standings this year, with his best finish of 5th coming at the Orlando event in April.

“I'm here, you know, trying to do what I can to play the best round of golf and that's going to help the team,” Wolff told Sports Illustrated.

“I'm just here to focus on myself and try to play some good golf and that's what everyone's really trying to do, because golf is trying to put the best score up and then if that helps your team it's great.”

Wolff went on to describe Koepka's comments as "heartbreaking."

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Amazon Prime Day is next week, and we at Golf Monthly have been searching through all the early offers to find the best ones for you, to check them out go to our Amazon Prime Day Golf Deals post.

Butch Harmon has insisted that Rickie Fowler has got to be on the US Ryder Cup team after the American claimed his first victory on the PGA Tour in four years at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last weekend. 

The legendary golf coach, who has worked with some of the greatest players to grace the game, including Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, also claimed that Fowler's win 'meant more to him' than the other Majors some of his past students had won. 

After his sensational performance at the US Open, Fowler has continued his excellent vein of form, this time winning a three-man playoff to end what's been a difficult few seasons and his four-year winning drought. 

He carded a final round four-under par 68, that included a dramatic birdie on the final hole, to force his way into the playoff, where he would go on to defeat Collin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin to clinch his sixth win on the Tour. 

The resurgent American has certainly turned things around this season, with Fowler securing eight top ten finishes from 20 events and has shot right up the FedEx Cup standings to eighth place - a far cry from his performances in recent years. 

And in light of his excellent recent form, his coach, Harmon, believes he deserves a spot on Zach Johnson's Ryder Cup team later this year. 

"No doubt about it," Harmon said to the Sky Sports Golf Podcast. "He has got to be on that team.

"No.1, everyone loves Rickie [Fowler] and No.2, you can pair him with anybody. Rickie is a perfect guy for the Ryder Cup and he will be in that team."

Fowler also admitted that gaining a berth in the tournament in Rome this Fall was one of his ambitions for the season.

“One of the end goals was to be a part of the Ryder Cup team and that's still what we're focusing on right now," he said following his win in Detroit. "I’ve been a part of a handful and they're very special weeks, so that's where I have kind of my eyes.”

He hasn't featured in the biennial tournament since 2018, but is currently 12th in the qualification places following his triumph at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. 

Prior to this weekend, Fowler's last win on the PGA Tour came at the Waste Management Phoenix Open back in 2019. 

But soon after that, he found himself battling with his form, dropping to 173rd in the Official World Golf Rankings last August, missing nine cuts, while making one top ten finish in 2022. 

• - Amazon Prime Day Golf Deals

It prompted him to seek the advice of Harmon at the end of last year, who linked up with the American after having previously coached him for several years before parting ways in 2019. 

"This win for Rickie [Fowler] probably means more to me personally than all the Majors that I have had guys win that I've worked with," Harmon told Sky Sports. 

"From where he was, how down low he was not only in self-esteem but his game and his life, for him to come back the way he has come back means a lot to me. I'm so happy for him and his family.

"Rickie Fowler is good for the game of golf and he's back folks, so get ready to really enjoy it."

And during his post round press conference on Sunday, the world No.23 lumped praise on his coach saying he is "The best coach out there. It's more just the communication and talking and going back and him looking at videos, or what he sees on TV or stuff he can sees on TV or on the Tour app or whatever it may be.

"He does a great job with players, taking what they have and ultimately I think making them the best that they can be with who they are, how they swing and making what they do well that much better and bring up the weaknesses."

After a four-year drought, Rickie Fowler is finally back in the winner’s circle, much to the delight of his huge fan base. The popular American came close to ending his baron spell at last month’s US Open, only to wilt on the final day and finish in a tie for fifth. At the Rocket Mortgage Classic, however, Fowler was not to be denied a first win since 2019, putting on an exhibition with his flat stick. 

After claiming an emotional victory, Fowler admitted it has “been a long road”. Had it not been for a red hot putter, it could have been even longer. So far as golf equipment is concerned, Odyssey’s Versa Jailbird putter has dominated the headlines recently.

Wyndham Clark and Keegan Bradley both lifted titles with it at the US Open and Travelers Championship, respectively. And Fowler’s playoff win over Adam Hadwin and Collin Morikawa made it a third consecutive win for the attractive mallet.

A closer look at the 34-year-old’s putting stats from Detroit make for impressive reading. Averaging 1.6 putts per Green In Regulation (GIR), Fowler ranked fourth in the field, and an overall Strokes Gained figure of 4.528 put him 12th. No one had more birdies (28), and his 27.86 putts per round ranked 16th. Understandably, his putter has attracted a lot of attention off the back of his recent displays on the greens.

Following his historic round of 62 at last month’s US Open, Fowler revealed that he had changed the length of his putter by an eighth of an inch, whilst also altering his grip pressure.

The six-time PGA Tour winner added a counterbalanced Odyssey Versa Jailbird mallet putter to his bag at the start of the year. Equipment fanatics will have noticed plenty of lead tape added for weight, plus he’s had a lengthy grip installed. But the high-contrast Versa alignment system is the same as what any golfer can buy off the shelf, with the contrasting block colors helping to show face angle and path.

“I was very shocked, because I never really looked into anything that was longer, counterbalanced, or anything like that,” Fowler explained at the start of the year. “It’s very interesting, but it’s kind of freeing me up in a way. I’m not changing stroke-wise, or setup, not gripping anything differently than my normal length putter. I just feel like it’s, I don’t know, kind of helping me do some things, and I don’t have to think about it.”

After admitting to not putting “how I’m used to” over the last few years, it now appears he has his confidence back. Plenty of other Tour players may soon see their confidence on the greens return, too, this season. 

According to Golf.com's Jonathan Wall, Joe Toulon (PGA Tour Rep for Odyssey/Callaway Golf) said over a hundred Jailbird requests were made across all tours after Wyndham Clark’s US Open win, the most the brand had seen in one week for a model since Rocco Mediate’s ‘08 US Open run with Sabertooth.

Rickie Fowler is targeting a place at this year’s Ryder Cup after his first win on the PGA Tour in 1,610 days at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Fowler shot a final round four-under-par 68, including a dramatic birdie on the last hole in regulation to force his way into a three-man playoff with fellow American Collin Morikawa and Canada’s Adam Hadwin.

Despite finding the right rough with his tee shot on the first playoff hole, Fowler produced a superb iron shot into the 18th green before sinking another birdie putt to win the playoff and claim his first PGA Tour win since the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February 2019.

Having come close to victory at the US Open last month after carding a record-breaking opening round, Fowler continued his good form with a T13 at the Travelers Championship last week before capturing his sixth PGA Tour title in front of a frenzied and partisan crowd in Detroit.

Fresh off his triumph, the resurgent American, who dropped to as low as 185 in the world rankings last September, has now set his sights on a place in USA's 12-man team for the Ryder Cup in a few months.

“One of the main goals this year was to win,” he said on Sunday. 

“Outside of that was obviously playing well and doing what I've been doing to make it to the Tour Championship.

“One of the end goals was to be a part of the Ryder Cup team and that's still what we're focusing on right now. I’ve been a part of a handful and they're very special weeks, so that's where I have kind of my eyes.”

The 34-year-old has played in four Ryder Cups since making his debut in 2010. Having missed USA's dominant 2021 Ryder Cup victory at Whistling Straits due to poor form, Fowler now sits 12th in the qualification standings for the US team.

The top six qualify automatically for the tournament, which this year is held at Marco Simone just outside Rome, while the other six are selected by US Captain Zach Johnson.

America will be searching for their first Ryder Cup win on European soil since 1993 when Tom Watson captained the side to a 15-13 win at the Belfry.

How To Watch Rocket Mortgage Classic live stream 2023

Rickie Fowler birdied six of his last eight holes on Saturday to rise to the top of the Rocket Mortgage Classic leaderboard at 20 under. He is aiming to win his first Tour event since the 2019 Phoenix Open, 96 starts ago. Fowler, 34, has lead, either alone or jointly, 10 times on Tour going into the final round, but has converted these into only two victories. 

Adam Hadwin and Taylor Pendrith are in second and third, on 19- and 18-under. If either win they will become the fifth player from Canada to win this season on the PGA Tour.

Because of lighting, play was suspended for an hour and 42 minutes on Saturday and Sunday’s tee times have been moved forward in the hope of completing the final round before more forecasted bad weather arrives. Players will go out in threes and groups will be starting on both the 1st and 10th tees in an effort to get people round in time.

To make sure you miss none of the action, below are all the streaming and broadcast details on how to watch a Rocket Mortgage Classic live stream from wherever you are, as well as today's tee times.

The PGA Tour heads to Michigan for the fifth running of the the Rocket Mortgage Classic. No-one has won this event twice, something Tony Finau, Cam Davis and Nate Lashley were out to change this week.

Although several of the big names have stayed away from this year's Rocket Mortgage Classic, it still boasts eight of the top 30 in the world rankings in its field. Defending champion Tony Finau is joined by last week’s Travelers champion Keegan Bradley, as well as Max Homa, Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Sungjae Im, Tom Kim and Hideki Matsuyama.

The Rocket Mortgage Classic, which replaced the Quicken Loans National on the PGA Tour schedule four years ago, is held at Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Michigan. The club has two 18-hole Donald Ross designs, the North and South. The tournament is played over a composite 18 holes with 17 from the North and one from the South.

Tony Finau shot 26 under last year to win by five strokes. In doing so, he broke Nate Lashley’s scoring record. Lashley had won the inaugural event by six shots, with a 25-under-par 263. In the intervening years the winner’s score had been 18- and 23-under.

So it is not rocket science, nor even Rocket Mortgage science, to calculate that this week’s winner needs to make plenty of birdies. With the greens fairly accessible, putting well may prove to be the key factor as to who scores low round this predominantly flat course – when Detroit Golf Club became a PGA Tour host in 2019, it replaced TPC Louisiana as the flattest course on tour. (Its elevation change from highest to lowest point is only 43ft.)

Make sure you know how to watch PGA Tour golf from anywhere including all the details on the Rocket Mortgage Classic live stream just below.

US TV Schedule - Watch Rocket Mortgage Classic live stream

All times EDT

Thursday, June 29: 3pm-6pm (Golf Channel)

Friday, June 30: 3pm-6pm (Golf Channel)

Saturday, July 1: 1pm-3pm (Golf Channel) 3pm-6pm (CBS)

Sunday, July 2: 1pm-3pm (Golf Channel) 3pm-6pm (CBS)

NBC's Golf Channel will televise the action from the Rocket Mortgage Classic. If you already have the Golf Channel as part of your cable TV package, then you're all set.

No cable? No problem. Try a cord-cutting TV service such as fuboTV ($74.99), AT&T TV Now ($80/m) or Sling ($51/m) to watch the Golf Channel. There are no long contracts with these services. You can try them and cancel whenever you've had enough. FuboTV has a 7-day free trial.

For Sling you'll need the Sling Blue package plus the Sports Extra addon which usually has a very reasonable introductory price for your first month. Again, just cancel when you're done.

The most complete and the cheapest streamed choice, though, has got to be ESPN+. It's $9.99 per month (again, no contract) and has full coverage of every PGA Tour session. You can watch the main feed or stay with individual holes and marquee groups instead.

Watch every session on ESPN Plus

Rocket Mortgage Classic Live Stream: How to watch from outside your country

There are loads of easy ways to watch golf in 2023 including in the US, UK and almost anywhere else but geo-blocking means you won't be able to tune into your regular streaming service if you're away from home. Fortunately, VPNs allow you to tune in from abroad and let you watch the same legal, high-quality golf live stream you would at home.

ExpressVPN is one of the best out there. It's easy to use, boasts strong security features, is very easy to setup and is compatible with most major streaming devices, including the Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox and PlayStation.

Best of all, ExpressVPN comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. This is the #1 rated VPN in the world right now. You can try it out for a month for free or sign up for an annual plan and get 3 months absolutely free.

UK TV Schedule - Watch Rocket Mortgage Classic live stream

All times BST

Thursday, June 29: 6.30pm-11pm (Sky Sports Golf)

Friday, June 30: 6.30pm-11pm (Sky Sports Golf)

Saturday, July 1: 6pm-11pm (Sky Sports Golf)

Sunday, July 2: 6pm-11pm (Sky Sports Golf)

In the UK, Sky Sports should be your first port of call as Sky Sports Golf will televise action from the event. At the moment Sky has some great deals on Sky Sports for those looking to upgrade and those looking sign up to Sky for the first time.

You can get all eight Sky Sports Channels in HD for just £25 a month which not only includes all the golf action, but you can also watch the football, cricket, Formula 1, NFL and a whole host of other sporting events.

Australia TV Schedule - Watch Rocket Mortgage Classic live stream

All times AEST

Thursday, June 29: 9.30pm-8am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Friday, June 30: 11pm-8am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Sunday, July 2: 3am-8am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Monday, July 3: 3am-8am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

The PGA Tour coverage in Australia obviously means getting something great to watch early in the morning. As ever in Australia, the most comprehensive golf coverage is offered by Kayo Sports where you can watch Fox Sports that broadcasts the PGA Tour coverage. Not only can you watch the action from Detroit here, it has all the PGA Tour, DP World Tour events and the Majors. It also has events on the LPGA as well.

It also offers access to over 50 sports live and on-demand, with some its big name channels including Fox Sports, ESPN, and beIN Sports.

It's also good value at either $25 for Kayo One, $30 for Kayo Basic or $35 for Kayo Premium. Basic lets you stream sport on two devices at once, while Premium allows you to watch on up to three screens simultaneously, so it represents great value if your household has different sporting tastes or you're splitting the cost of the subscription. There's even a free 7-day trial.

As ever, Aussies out of the country can access their favorite streaming service just like they would at home can use a VPN to watch their PGA Tour live stream of choice.

Rocket Mortgage Classic tee times & pairings: Round 4

Leading players' tee times (PDT/EDT/BST):

5.25am/8.25am/1.25pm Taylor Moore, Lucas Glover, Brian Harman
5.35am/8.35am/1.35pm Dylan Wu, Collin Morikawa, Justin Lower
5.45am/8.45am/1.45pm Peter Kuest, Aaron Rai, Carl Yuan
5.55am/8.55am/1.55pm Rickie Fowler, Adam Hadwin, Taylor Pendrith

We recommend VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example:

1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service) 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad

We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. 

Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing. 

The PGA Tour returns to Detroit this weekend for one of the most popular summer events in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Like what we saw last week at TPC River Highlands, where the winning score was well over -20, the world’s best should tear this course up again. 

With the lack of elevated status, this week’s field is as expected light without the top players in the world, as Tony Finau and Colin Morikawa lead the way amongst the highest ranked in the field. Let’s take a closer look at my top five for the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Before we get into our picks for the Rocket Mortgage Classic power rankings, make sure to take a moment to check out these awesome sports betting offers for this week. With the offers below, you can turn $6 into $350 worth of bonuses, or you can use one of the HUGE first bet offers to wager with more confidence on your 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic selections this week.

Rocket Mortgage Classic Odds

Rocket Mortgage Classic Course - Detroit Golf Club, Detroit, MI

Despite coming in at nearly 7,400 yards, longer than the Tour average, the best in the world have been known to eat this course (and its greens up). When the weather is nice, which we expect this week, the greens are amongst the friendliest on Tour. 

A Donald Ross design, Detroit Golf Club is a Par 72 that was founded in 1899, making it one of the oldest golf courses in regular rotation on the PGA Tour. One thing to look out for this week, the course suffered extreme damage due to a storm last weekend, and as such, some greens have been freshly surfaced. 

Rocket Mortgage Classic Power Rankings

Tony Finau (+1400) Bet $100 to collect $1,500 Get the best Tony Finau odds at DraftKings

Tony Finau dominated this event last year, winning with four straight days under 67 finishing the week at -27. He has been in a rut as of late since winning the Mexico Open in April, but this is the exact place to get the spark back. 

Rickie Fowler (+1400) Bet $100 to collect $1,500 Head to DraftKings for the best Rickie Fowler odds

The pain of losing the US Open has likely worn off for Rickie Fowler, as he returns to a place he’s had success at in the past. 

Collin Morikawa (+1400) Bet $100 to collect $1,500 DraftKings has the best Collin Morikawa odds

Making his debut here, Collin Morikawa finished T14 at the US Open and has quietly been playing some stellar golf despite last week’s missed cut. 

Max Homa (+1800) Bet $100 to collect $1,900 Go to DraftKings for the best Max Homa odds

Max Homa missed the cut at the US Open and last week at the Travelers but returns to a course he’s had success with an average score of 69.3 per round. 

Justin Thomas (+1800) Bet $100 to collect $1,900 For the best Justin Thomas odds go to DraftKings

There aren’t many tournaments left for Justin Thomas to make his debut, but he will be this week and comes in off a top 10 at the Travelers.

It hasn’t taken long for Ludvig Aberg to make a positive impression in his early days as a PGA Tour. The Swede only turned professional at the end of last month after finishing top of the PGA Tour University rankings.

The next week, he made his debut on the Tour, and he finished seven-under to tie for 25th in the RBC Canadian Open. He followed up that performance by finishing one place higher last week in the PGA Tour’s latest designated event, the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands.

The 23-year-old’s efforts have not gone unnoticed and he has now signed a multi-year deal with Adidas. The linkup will see him wearing Adidas headwear, apparel, footwear, and accessories while playing.

Aberg, who was top of the World Amateur Golf Ranking when he earned his PGA Tour card for the remainder of 2023 and 2024, explained he is delighted at the move.

He said: “This past year has been an incredible journey and I couldn’t be more excited to wear the 3-Stripes as I start this next chapter of my career. The team at Adidas is always committed to making the best for golfers and I’m proud to officially join the team.”

President of Adidas Golf, Jeff Lienhart said: “With a lot on the line this year, Ludvig showed he is truly a remarkable athlete. He’s earned it all through amazing play and desire to win and we look forward to supporting him in the 3-Stripes as he begins his journey as a professional.”

Long before turning professional, Aberg had demonstrated his considerable ability. That was recognised when he became only the second player after Jon Rahm to claim back-to-back Ben Hogan awards in May. 

His college coach Greg Sands has also described him as a “generational type of talent” so it's safe to say there are high expectations he will have a glittering career, with Adidas Golf acting quickly to add him to its roster.

The move sees Aberg join other pros with Adidas Golf including Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele and another newcomer to the professional game, Rose Zhang.

The PGA Tour heads to Michigan and the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club.

Even though it is not one of the PGA Tour’s designated events, there is still a strong field in the tournament. Indeed, this year’s event will have the deepest field in its history with 13 of the world’s top 40 and 34 of the top 100 in the rankings participating.

The highest-ranked player participating is Max Homa, who is currently ninth in the world. The American has had some strong performances in 2023 including victory in the Farmers Insurance Open and runner-up at the Genesis Invitational.

However, his last two starts have being disappointing, with missed cuts at both the US Open and Travelers Championship. Given his status in this week’s field, he will be confident of getting back on track.

Another player with aspirations of victory will be Tony Finau. The World No.14 is the defending champion after winning by five shots in 2022. He is another player who has suffered some indifferent form of late. His most recent win did come relatively recently, though, when he held off Jon Rahm to win April’s Mexico Open, which suggests he could soon find his best form.

One player who will be heading into the tournament full of confidence is Keegan Bradley. The American finished 23 under to win last week’s tournament at TPC River Highlands and will be looking to continue that momentum here. 

Another player who performed encouragingly last week was Justin Thomas. The two-time Major winner finished tied for ninth following successive missed cuts in The Memorial Tournament and the US Open. He will be looking to build on that display with the Open Championship now less than a month away.

The player who won the Major in 2021, Collin Morikawa, also plays as he looks for his first win since the event at Royal St George’s.

Others who will be confident of victory include Rickie Fowler, who shot a PGA Tour career-low 60 in the Travelers Championship to leave him well in contention going into the final round, before eventually fading to T13.

Elsewhere, Sungjae Im, Tom Kim and Hideki Matsuyama are three of the other standout names competing. Ludvig Aberg will also be hoping for another encouraging performance after a T24 last week as his fledgling professional career continues. Similarly, Sam Bennett also plays. The American, who was low amateur at The Masters, has also since turned pro but missed the cut in Connecticut.

Two other former winners of the tournament are also appearing, 2021 winner Cam Davies and 2019 winner Nate Lashley.

Players will be competing for a purse of $8.8m, with the winner banking $1.584m.

Below is the full prize money breakdown and field for the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club.

Rocket Mortgage Classic Prize Money 2023

Rocket Mortgage Classic Field 2023

• Aberg, Ludvig
• Alexander, Tyson
• An, Byeong Hun
• Armour, Ryan
• Bennett, Sam
• Bezuidenhout, Christiaan
• Bhatia, Akshay
• Blair, Zac
• Bradley, Keegan
• Bramlett, Joseph
• Brehm, Ryan
• Buckley, Hayden
• Byrd, Jonathan
• Champ, Cameron
• Collins, Chad
• Cone, Trevor
• Cook, Austin
• Daffue, MJ
• Dahmen, Joel
• Davis, Cam
• Detry, Thomas
• Donald, Luke
• Dou, Zecheng
• Dufner, Jason
• Duncan, Tyler
• Echavarria, Nico
• Eckroat, Austin
• Endycott, Harrison
• English, Harris
• Finau, Tony
• Fowler, Rickie
• Frittelli, Dylan
• Garnett, Brice
• Gerard, Ryan
• Ghim, Doug
• Gligic, Michael
• Glover, Lucas
• Gordon, Will
• Goya, Tano
• Grant, Brent
• Griffin, Ben
• Griffin, Lanto
• Hadley, Chesson
• Hadwin, Adam
• Hahn, James
• Haley II, Paul
• Hall, Harry
• Hardy, Nick
• Harman, Brian
• Harrington, Scott
• Hickok, Kramer
• Higgo, Garrick
• Higgs, Harry
• Hodges, Lee
• Hoffman, Charley
• Hoge, Tom
• Homa, Max
• Hossler, Beau
• Hubbard, Mark
• Im, Sungjae
• Jaeger, Stephan
• Johnson, Zach
• Kim, S.H.
• Kim, Tom
• Kirk, Chris
• Kizzire, Patton
• Knox, Russell
• Kodaira, Satoshi
• Kraft, Kelly
• Laird, Martin
• Landry, Andrew
• Lashley, Nate
• Lebioda, Hank
• Lingmerth, David
• Lipsky, David
• List, Luke
• Long, Adam
• Lower, Justin
• Malnati, Peter
• Martin, Ben
• Martin, Kyle
• Matsuyama, Hideki
• Matthews, Brandon
• McGreevy, Max
• Merritt, Troy
• Moore, Ryan
• Moore, Taylor
• Morikawa, Collin
• Mullinax, Trey
• NeSmith, Matt
• Noren, Alex
• Norlander, Henrik
• Norrman, Vincent
• Novak, Andrew
• Núñez, Augusto
• Palmer, Ryan
• Pan, C.T.
• Pendrith, Taylor
• Percy, Cameron
• Piercy, Scott
• Potgieter, Aldrich
• Putnam, Andrew
• Rai, Aaron
• Ramey, Chad
• Reavie, Chez
• Redman, Doc
• Riley, Davis
• Rodgers, Patrick
• Roy, Kevin
• Ryder, Sam
• Sargent, Gordon
• Schenk, Adam
• Schmid, Matti
• Schwab, Matthias
• Shelton, Robby
• Sigg, Greyson
• Simpson, Webb
• Smalley, Alex
• Smotherman, Austin
• Snedeker, Brandt
• Spaun, J.J.
• Stallings, Scott
• Steelman, Ross
• Stevens, Sam
• Straka, Sepp
• Streb, Robert
• Stuard, Brian
• Suh, Justin
• Svensson, Adam
• Tarren, Callum
• Taylor, Ben
• Thomas, Justin
• Thompson, Davis
• Todd, Brendon
• Trainer, Martin
• Tway, Kevin
• Van Rooyen, Erik
• Walker, Jimmy
• Wallace, Matt
• Watney, Nick
• Werbylo, Trevor
• Werenski, Richy
• Westmoreland, Kyle
• Whaley, Vince
• Willett, Danny
• Wu, Brandon
• Wu, Dylan
• Young, Carson
• Yu, Kevin
• Yuan, Carl

The PGA Tour heads west to Detroit, Michigan, for the Rocket Mortgage Classic, a tournament that is still in its relative infancy. The event replaced the Quicken Loans National on the schedule and is the first PGA Tour event to be held completely in the Detroit city limits. Detroit Golf Club, an iconic Donald Ross design, is our host course, and while it may struggle to stand up to the modern game, it remains a wonderful course to watch golf on, and the event always produces great fan turnout and energy. 

While this is certainly a sleepy part of the jam-packed PGA Tour schedule, the Rocket Mortgage Classic will have its best field in tournament history, with 14 of the top 40 players in the Official World Golf Rankings. Tony Finau will return to defend his title, and he will be joined by the likes of Max Homa, Justin Thomas, Sungjae Im, Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa, Tom Kim, Hideki Matsuyama, and recent Travelers Championship winner Keegan Bradley. I have always felt that this event deserves a stronger field, and it’s certainly exciting to see some of the World’s best show up in Detroit this week.

Before we get into our picks for the Rocket Mortgage Classic, make sure to take a moment to check out these awesome sports betting offers for this week. We have teamed up with OddsChecker to ensure that you turn $6 into $400 worth of guaranteed bonuses, or you can use one of the HUGE first bet offers to wager with more confidence on your 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic selections this week.

Rocket Mortgage Classic: Course Preview

Detroit Golf Club

Designed in 1916 by famed architect Donald Ross, Detroit Golf Club fits the prototype of a classical, tree-lined, Bent-grass course that pros tend to tear apart. While measuring a stout 7,370 yards on the scorecard, the golf course plays much shorter than that, as the average driving distance is nearly 10 yards longer than Tour average. Hot, humid, and muggy conditions aid in the distance, and this is not a golf course that in any way deters plays from bombing drivers on nearly every hole. Everything is all out in front of you at Detroit Golf Club, and there are no real hazards that players need to be concerned with. Last year, it ranked 35th out of 38 courses in a fraction of missed fairways that resulted in a penalty stroke and 37th out of 38 courses in penalty strokes per round. 

As a result, it should not be a surprise to see power hitters such as Bryson DeChambeau, Cameron Davis, and Tony Finau win in the last three editions. While length off the tee is certainly advantageous at Detroit Golf Club, it’s far from a necessity. Wedge play and putting is still the name of the game. While elite drivers of the ball are not able to do much to separate themselves on this golf course, players who excel from inside 125 yards will have a huge advantage. Even more importantly, 40.1% of strokes gained at Detroit Golf Club have come with the flat stick, which certainly forces us to put the Ross design in the category of a “putting contest.” 

Like all Ross courses, these greens do have some character, and putting is the hardest strokes gained metric for players to gain strokes in, but the lack of firmness prevents these greens from truly having some bite. Putting inside 15 feet will remain absolutely essential this week, as scoring opportunities will be plentiful. I will primarily be looking for players who excel inside 125 yards, are elite at generating birdie looks, possess the ability to heat up with the putter and have a tendency to raise their baseline in easy scoring conditions.

Rocket Mortgage Classic Key Stats

• Long-term Proximity 100-150 yards
• Putting 5-15 feet
• Opportunities Gained

Rocket Mortgage Classic: Outright Winner

Tony Finau (+1200) (Bet $100 to collect $1,300) BetMGM has the best odds for Tony Finau

Despite being the defending champion, Tony Finau is flying relatively under the radar this week due to some understandable concerns about his recent form. While the six-time PGA Tour winner has failed to finish in the top 20 in his five starts since winning the Mexico Open, the ball-striking has never wavered. Finau is coming off a ho-hum 45th at the Travelers Championship, where he gained strokes in both ball-striking categories, including over three strokes off the tee. There’s absolutely nothing to prove in terms of course fit, and I would argue that Finau is a better player now than he was at this time last year. 

I would make that claim mainly due to the elevation of his approach play this season, as Finau remains the number two iron player in this field, behind only Collin Morikawa. Even more impressive is the fact that he ranks second in opportunities gained, third in birdies or better gained, first in par five scoring, and first in easy scoring conditions. My numbers suggest that despite a recent slump, Finau is still the class of this field, and this is the perfect time to buy on an elite talent that is playing far better than his results would suggest.

Mark Hubbard (+10000) (Bet $100 to collect $10,100) Head to DraftKings for the best Mark Hubbard odds

While I know Mark Hubbard disappointed many as a trendy pick last week at the Travelers Championship, I would not be so quick to hop off. Hubbard missed the cut on the number at TPC River Highlands while still gaining three strokes on approach. The 34-year-old’s irons have been absolutely on fire of late, as he has now gained over three strokes on approach in four straight starts. I love the way that Hubbard is hitting the ball right now, and I do not particularly feel that his lack of driving ability is really going to hurt him much at this course. 

With so many approach shots inside 125 yards, Detroit Golf Club should fit Hubbard’s ideal proximity ranges even better than the recent courses he has been tearing up. He also ranks 10th in this field in easy scoring conditions, and with strong performances at TPC River Highlands and TPC Deere Run, I have very little concern about his ability to keep up in a Bent-grass birdie-fest. While he has missed his last two cuts here, Hubbard finished 12th at the Ross design on debut and has gained ball-striking strokes in all three appearances. Coming off a very misleading missed cut, this is a great time to hop on one of the hottest approach players in the field.

You can see the power of odds comparison. OddsChecker has flagged that Mark Hubbard is +800 at BetMGM and Bet365 but +10000 at DraftKings. Claim an additional $200 in profit just by betting your $2000 on DraftKings this week.

Collin Morikawa is a two-time Major champion and an adidas brand ambassador. The 26-year-old attended the University of California, Berkley and was a member of the winning US Walker Cup side of 2018. 

Since turning professional in 2019 he has won six times around the world, including the PGA Championship of 2020 at Harding Park and The Open Championship of 2021 at Royal St George’s. 

In the video below, Collin gives us some insights into his personality, and shares his thoughts on the future of the game.

Dream Fourball?
Dream Fourball? OK - Tiger, Kobe Bryant and probably Arnold Palmer… 

Favourite Golf Course?
In the entire world? Ok. One to play every day… I’d probably say Kaplua as I’d get ocean views. I wouldn’t care how tough or easy the course is. I want beautiful beach views, good weather. I’m going to Hawaii!

Best Golf Shot You’ve Hit?
Probably the 16th at Harding Park in the PGA Championship. Yeah, that was a good one.

Worst Golf Shot You’ve Ever Hit?
Actually pretty easy this one - Zozo Championship, 2021. There weren’t many fans thankfully but I shanked one and it was the first shank I can remember hitting in competition round, for ever. 

I hit it and looked around and although there were people, there weren’t too many which I was thankful for.

Best Tip You’ve Ever Been Given?
JT (Justin Thomas) gave me some really good advice before my first ever PGA tournament. He talked about how you have to stand on your own path and believe in what you do. 

Everyone has a different path, some will fast track and get there quicker, some might take a longer path but if you really love what you’re doing and you believe in yourself, you’ll get there. 

That was big when I was first turning pro. With a lot of young talent out there I needed to dig that belief out of me and go and earn it.

Funniest Person On Tour?
It’s a tough one. There’s some dark humour, some funny guys – Tyrrell Hatton is one of my favourite people. He’s funny, very sarcastic, deadpan… 

He’ll love to hear that! But he’s one of my favourite people to play golf with. It’s never about us, always about him but in such a good way – it’s always entertaining.

Kapalua – In a Cart – What Tunes Are Playing?
It depends on the mood. Probably some country – when I’m really relaxed, country is what I turn to. Super-relaxing though, nothing too much.

Strangest Thing In Your Golf Bag?
I don’t have anything weird. I keep it clean… Nothing… Normal golf bag.

How Do We Get More People Playing Golf?
I think the biggest thing is to show them it doesn’t have to be 10 hours long. It doesn’t have to be a long day, you don’t have to put on pleated pants, a button up and a collared shirt. 

Some of the best times I’ve had is being in a t-shirt and shorts and sneakers and having a good time with your friends. 

That’s the biggest thing - making it more accessible and I think that’s what adidas has been able to to; merge sport and lifestyle and seeing their innovation and forward thinking ways of blending golf and streetwear that, you know, kids can wear that stuff to school.

Collin Morikawa was speaking to Golf Monthly at the 2023 adidas golf Global Launch in Los Angeles

The PGA Tour gets back to its regularly scheduled programming this week as players head East for the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut. However, you’d expect a drop off in the field’s talent following the third Major of the year, this week’s elevated status, and the $20 million in prize money that’s involved.

With eight of the top 10 in the world scheduled to tee it up this week, let’s take a closer look at the five I have at the top of my 2023 Travelers Championship power rankings.

Before we get into our picks for the Travelers Championship power rankings, make sure to take a moment to check out these awesome sports betting offers for this week. With the offers below, you can turn $6 into $350 worth of bonuses, or you can use one of the HUGE first bet offers to wager with more confidence on your 2023 Travelers Championship selections this week.

Travelers Championship Odds

Travelers Championship Course - TPC River Highlands - Cromwell, CT

Coming in just over 7,400 yards, long hitters will have less of an advantage this week than they did last week at Los Angeles Country Club. Coming in as a Par-70, TPC River Highlands features just two Par 5s, with 10 of its 12 Par 4s coming in at less than 450 yards. Approach shots will be key, as will putting, as the best putters on Tour have a great shot this week. 

Travelers Championship Power Rankings

Scottie Scheffler (+650) Bet $100 to collect $750 Go to DraftKings for the best Scottie Scheffler odds

For Scottie Scheffler, when the putter is going, no one on Tour can beat him. We started seeing flashes of it again on Sunday at LACC, and I think he puts it all together this week. 

Jon Rahm (+1200) Bet $100 to collect $1,300 DraftKings has the best Jon Rahm odds

Jon Rahm has been awfully quiet as of late, by his own standards, and it should be just a matter of time before he pieces it all back together. With the playoffs approaching, expect that to be soon.

Rory McIlroy (+1200) Bet $100 to collect $1,300 For the best Rory McIlroy odds got to DraftKings

It became a two-man race on Sunday at the US Open with Rory McIlroy and eventual champ Wyndham Clark. Taking one step closer to his first Major since 2014, and Rory has plenty to build on in this one. 

Xander Schauffele (+1600) Bet $100 to collect $1,700 Head to DraftKings for the best Xander Schauffele odds

If it were not for a triple-bogey early on Sunday, Xander Schauffele could very well have been in the mix late. The game is there, and he’s firmly in the mix nearly every week at this point. 

Tommy Fleetwood (+3500) Bet $100 to collect $3,600 DraftKings has the best Tommy Fleetwood odds

While many don’t think he has a chance in this stacked field, as the odds suggest, Tommy Fleetwood has some of the best value on the board as I’m concerned. Back-to-back top 5s in even more stacked fields than this week, and Fleetwood should have all the confidence in the world to post some low numbers this week.

The Travelers Championship is one of the most exciting, energized events on the PGA Tour and will host the 2023 edition at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, this week. The Travelers is an elevated event with a $20 million purse and massive FedExCup points at stake, which is becoming more important with each event as we near the FedExCup playoffs in August. Fans enjoy creating a raucous atmosphere on a course that rewards accuracy and finesse over power.

Xander Schauffele won by two strokes at the 2022 Travelers Championship, logging -7-under-par outings in each of his first two rounds to build an insurmountable lead en route to his victory. Harris English, Dustin Johnson, Chez Reavie, Bubba Watson, and Jordan Spieth are previous outright winners at TPC River Highlands. This week, Spieth has opted to skip this designated event, while English is 75/1, and Reavie is a massive 400/1 longshot via DraftKings Sportsbook’s current outright winner odds. 

Wyndham Clark just secured his first major win at the 2023 U.S. Open, playing great from start to finish with a strong driver, accurate irons, and consistent putting. He’s currently landing 35/1 odds, which is a massive value hit compared to the 75/1 odds most sportsbooks valued Clark at ahead of his win at LACC. Of course, Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm continue to stay atop the outright winner odds as the World No. 1 and World No. 2 ranked golfers, followed by Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, and Patrick Cantlay.

Let’s review the rest of the current outright betting odds ahead of the 2023 Travelers Championship, including previous winners, relevant betting stats, and an in-depth review of the course layout. Then, we’ll get into a few of my top players and reveal the reasoning to bet them outright ahead of Thursday’s opening round from TPC River Highlands. 

Before we get into our picks for the Travelers Championship, make sure to take a moment to check out these awesome sports betting offers for this week. We have teamed up with OddsChecker to ensure that you turn $6 into $400 worth of guaranteed bonuses, or you can use one of the HUGE first bet offers to wager with more confidence on your 2023 Travelers Championship selections this week.

Travelers Championship Betting Odds

2023 Travelers Championship Betting Preview

Previous Winners

• 2022 - Xander Schauffele (-19)
• 2021 - Harris English (-13)
• 2020 - Dustin Johnson (-19)
• 2019 - Chez Reavie (-17)
• 2018 - Bubba Watson (-17)
• 2017 - Jordan Spieth (-12)

Relevant Betting Stats

• Strokes Gained Off-the-Tee
• Strokes Gained Approaching the Green
• Scrambling
• Total Driving
• Strokes Gained Tee-to-Green
• Sand Save percentage

Course Layout

TPC River Highlands is a par 70 that is less than 7,000 yards. Designed by Pete Dye, this course places a premium on ball-striking, which means players who possess powerful, accurate irons will have a leg up on the rest of the field. Most of the par 4s are under 450 yards and will create ample birdie opportunities, but players should be weary of the numerous hazards that come along with these shortened track. These include tall rough, rows of trees, and a mixture of bentgrass and Poa Annua greens that will change the pace of putts and approach shots. More water hazards will emerge, starting at the 8th hole, and continue throughout most of the back nine.

Only two par 5s will provide relief, but the lack of length will allow accurate, powerful shots to get to the greens within one or two strokes. There are only two par 4s that run north of 260 yards, which is a much different layout than the distance baked into recent designated and major events. Four par 3s, evenly distributed along the front and back nine, run anywhere from 158 yards to 229 yards in length. Most of the fairways are doglegged and use trees as a shield to block the hole location on the greens, along with an abundance of circular sand bunkers flanking the greens and fairways. Players who can find the fairways consistently will avoid the tall rough, along with dozens of sand bunkers and water hazards, but there won’t be much undulation in comparison to LACC. 

Top Players To Bet For Outright Travelers Championship Winner

Scottie Scheffler (+600) (Bet $100 to collect $700) DraftKings for the best Scottie Scheffler odds

Scottie Scheffler dominates every event with his ball striking. Only the putter has held him back from collecting more outright wins this season. While Scheffler hasn’t won in a couple of months, he’s logged five consecutive T5 finishes, which is a testament to his consistency and brilliance with his irons. 7/1 is not extremely valuable since Scheffler is once again the outright betting favorite, but he has improved each year at TPC River Highlands, cracking a T15 finish after previously logging a T47 in 2021. Scheffler is due for his third outright win soon, so with a rowdy atmosphere and a course that rewards accuracy and iron play, we need to lay a healthy unit wager on Scheffler’s current +700 outright odds before they dry up once play gets underway.

Viktor Hovland (+2000) (Bet $100 to collect $2,100) For the best Viktor Hovland odds go to DraftKings

Watching Viktor Hovland extend his annual outright winning streak to four years at The Memorial Tournament, which was an elevated event, showcased how good the Norwegian’s ball-striking talent can be. He struggled to make a few birdie putts at the U.S. Open, putting him out of contention, but expect Hovland to be prepared for a strong bounce-back effort at TPC River Highlands. He hasn’t competed here since 2020 when he logged a T11 finish after starting -7-under-par. Hovland has minimal difficulty finding greens in regulation and scrambling when he doesn’t, so as long as the putter acts more like it did at Memorial than it did at the U.S. Open, we’re due for a nice payout at 20/1 odds. Let’s bet this number with confidence.

Collin Morikawa (+2500) (Bet $100 to collect $2,600) Head to DraftKings for the best Collin Morikawa odds

I haven’t been on Collin Morikawa much this season. He’s struggled to be consistent in all four rounds, but his irons are still the best part of his game. Morikawa has built momentum entering Travelers, though, going T26, T29, WD, and T14. He is ranked 13th in total strokes gained, including fifth tee-to-green, second approaching the green, and 25th off-the-tee. His putter has been his Achilles heel, ranking 143rd this season. However, he’s able to hit greens in regulation at over a 69.6 percent rate, which bodes well for his outlook this week. Morikawa’s previous finish here was a missed cut in 2020, but I like how his ball striking has looked lately, so let’s put a small bet on Morikawa at 22/1 on DraftKings Sportsbook.

Tommy Fleetwood (+2500) (Bet $100 to collect $2,600) DraftKings has the best Tommy Fleetwood odds

Tommy Fleetwood is one of my favorite outright prospects to bet on at TPC River Highlands this week. After a forgettable start at the U.S. Open, the Englishman went -7-under-par in the final round, one week after he nearly secured the first outright win of his PGA Tour career in a four-hole playoff against Nick Taylor at the RBC Canadian Open. Fleetwood’s stats are enticing. He’s ranked sixth tee-to-green, 23rd approaching the green, and 10th around the green. Plus, his 24th strokes gained putting, which is a huge skill set to possess on top of the premium ball striking he can deliver. An accurate driver and 18th scrambling rank should launch Fleetwood up all of our outright betting boards this week. I love the value we’re getting at 35/1, even though we haven’t seen Fleetwood collect an outright win yet. It’s only a matter of time, and he’s red-hot right now, so let’s wager confidently on his outright odds this week.

Tom Kim (+3500) (Bet $100 to collect $3,600) Go to DraftKings for the best Tom Kim odds

Tom Kim surged briefly at the U.S. Open before settling back into his average, winding up with a T8 finish. The 20-year-old South Korean prospect burst onto the scene in 2022, but it’s been a bit of a sluggish showing in recent events before LACC. Kim has bounced around between T7 and T34 finishes, while he logged two consecutive missed cuts before a better outing at the U.S. Open. Kim will make his debut at TPC River Highlands, where he could produce a monster outing due to ranking 17th tee-to-green, eighth approaching the green and 14th total driving. He finds greens in regulation at nearly a 70 percent clip, so at 45/1, I really like his outlook to contend down the stretch. Let’s sprinkle on Kim’s 45/1 odds and watch his irons keep him near the top of the leaderboard at TPC River Highlands. 

With the third men’s Major of the year fast approaching, Los Angeles Country Club (LACC) prepares to open its doors to the world’s best players. The historic Beverly Hills private club was founded over 126 years ago in 1897 and, despite maintaining its position as one of America’s premier golf courses, has largely remained cut off from the outside world.

The 123rd US Open this week will be the first time that the club has hosted a Major championship, having first opened discussions with the USGA to do so in 2014.  However, LACC does have a storied history of hosting several other famous golf tournaments. It was, after all, the site for the very first Los Angeles Open, now known as the Genesis Invitational. 

Hosting the first edition in 1926, the tournament returned to the club on four other occasions: 1934, 1935, 1936 and 1940. Then, 14 years later, the club hosted the US Junior Amateur Golf Championship in 1954, but it would be over 60 years before LACC would host another major golf tournament. 

That ended in 2017 when the club was the site of the 2017 Walker Cup, contested between the top amateurs from America against Great Britain and Ireland. On that occasion, America ran out comprehensive 19-7 victors, with the US team at the time made up of current stars including World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, two-time Major champion Collin Morikawa, as well as high ranking PGA Tour stars like Will Zalatoris and Maverick McNealy. 

The European team also featured notable names such as 2022 Italian Open champion Robert MacIntyre and DP World Tour regulars Connor Syme, Matthew Jordan and Jack Singh Brar. 

Alongside these events, the club has also hosted a number of college golf tournaments, perhaps most notably the Pac-12 Championship in 2013. It was at that tournament that current World No. 7 and six-time PGA Tour winner, Max Homa, set the LACC course record. 

The former University of California golfer and Los Angeles native shot a nine-under-par 61 to set a course record that remains to this day. Given the current conditions of the course this week, the American will do well to match such a feat in what promises to be an intriguing affair on America’s west coast.

England’s Matt Fitzpatrick will be tasked with defending the title that he won at the Country Club in Brookline last year, but will face a tall order against a stacked 156-man field. 

US Open TV Coverage 2023

US Open week is upon us which means the world of golf turns its attention to LA Country Club in Los Angeles. The field has been set and it includes the world's best players, including defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Masters champion Jon Rahm, PGA Champion Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and many more. 

The course itself could be the star of the show though. Designed by George C Thomas the course was restored by Gil Hanse, Jim Wagner and Geoff Shackelford back in 2010. The US Open course will be a par 70 and measure 7,421 yards. The course will likely play much wider than most U.S. Open venues and the collection of par-3s are unique – set to play from as little as 80 yards to over 300 yards.

The last time we saw the course in any high profile scenario was the 2017 Walker Cup, an event won 19-7 by the Americans. Scheffler competed in that event as did Collin Morikawa who went undefeated during his four matches. 

The course will undoubtedly look as good as ever, and with so many players competing at a high level at the moment, we should be in for one of the best weeks of the year so you would be mad to miss any of it! 

How To Watch With A VPN

There are loads of easy ways to watch golf in 2023 including in the US, UK and almost anywhere else in the world. Below we have a full list of options but anyone away from their home country can still watch the US Open by using VPNs.

VPNs allow you to get around any geo-blocking and and let you watch the same legal, high-quality golf live stream you would at home.

ExpressVPN is one of the best out there. It's easy to use, boasts strong security features, is very easy to setup and is compatible with most major streaming devices, including the  Amazon Fire TV Stick, Apple TV, Xbox and PlayStation.

Best of all, ExpressVPN comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. This is the #1 rated VPN in the world right now. You can try it out for a month for free or sign up for an annual plan and get 3 months absolutely free.

US Open TV Coverage 2023

USA US Open Coverage

All times EST

Thursday. June 15: 9.40am-1pm (Peacock), 1pm-8pm (USA), 8pm-11pm (NBC)

Friday, June 16: 9.40am-1pm (Peacock), 1pm-8pm (USA), 8pm-11pm (NBC)

Saturday, June 17: 1pm-11pm (NBC)

Sunday, June 18: 12pm-1pm (Peacock), 1pm-11pm (NBC)

NBC and USA Network will televise a lot of the golf during the week whilst NBC's streaming service Peacock will also televise a lot of the action too. 

UK US Open Coverage

Thursday. June 15: 3pm-4am (Sky Sports Golf)

Friday, June 16: 3pm-4am (Sky Sports Golf)

Saturday, June 17: 6pm-4am (Sky Sports Golf)

Sunday, June 18: 5.30pm-3am (Sky Sports Golf)

In the UK, Sky Sports should be your first port of call as Sky Sports Golf will televise action from the event. At the moment Sky has some great deals on Sky Sports for those looking to upgrade and those looking sign up to Sky for the first time.

You can get all eight Sky Sports Channels in HD for just £25 a month which not only includes all the golf action, but you can also watch the football, cricket, Formula 1, NFL and a whole host of other sporting events.

For more US Open content, check out the Golf Monthly website.

It's US Open week! The world's best golfers have headed to the west coast and the glorious Los Angeles Country Club in Beverly Hills, LA.

This year's tournament is the US Open's 123rd playing, with England's Matt Fitzpatrick hoping to defend the title he won at The Country Club last June.

It's the first ever US Open for LACC, which was the venue for the 2017 Walker Cup where the USA team, which featured the likes of Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa, beat GB&I 19-7. The club dates back to 1897, with the current George C. Thomas, Jr-designed North course, recently renovated by Gil Hanse, dating back 112 years.

It's an extremely private club that is sure to test the world's best, with thick rough, strategic bunkering and even a couple of par 3s that could measure very close to 300 yards!

An all-star cast is in Beverly Hills for the third men's Major of the year, with the likes of World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and World No.3 Rory McIlroy, who won his maiden Major at the 2011 US Open, two of the headline names.

So, who should we be looking out for this week? Here we take a look at five TaylorMade staffers that are highly fancied to be contending for the famous US Open trophy come Sunday evening...

US Open Key Info

5 Big Names To Watch At The US Open

Scottie Scheffler

• World Ranking: 1
• PGA Tour wins: 6
• Best US Open finish: T2nd (2022) 

View Scottie Scheffler What's in the bag?

Once again, Scottie Scheffler heads into a Major championship as the betting favourite, and it's easy to see why.

The World No.1 is on an incredible run of form and would have won almost everything this year had it not been for a cold putter. Scheffler ranks 148th in Strokes Gained: Putting on the PGA Tour this year but incredibly is 1st in SG: Total, Off the tee, Tee to green and Approach.

He hasn't finished outside of the top-12 in any event since October and is currently on a four-tournament run of T5-T2-T3-3. He has won twice this year as well, with victories coming at the WM Phoenix Open and Players Championship.

The Texan is surely set to be challenging come Sunday evening. Will he pick up his second Major title? You'd be brave to back against him!

Rory McIlroy

• World Ranking: 3
• PGA Tour wins: 23
• Best US Open finish: 1st (2011)

View Rory McIlroy What's in the bag?

McIlroy is also on an impressive run of form after a tough March and April that saw him miss the cut at TPC Sawgrass and Augusta National.

The four-time Major champion was T7th at the PGA Championship last month, T7th at the Memorial Tournament and then T9th at last week's RBC Canadian Open.

Rory has had a lot on his mind over the past 12 months as the PGA Tour's 'de-facto' spokesperson but he'll be hoping to concentrate on his golf this week and pick up his fifth Major title. 

He's coming into LA after a good four days' work in Canada where he began the final round in T2nd place so there'll be no signs of rust as he hopes to get off to a fast start.

A fifth Major title and a second US Open win would be a huge story in the game and he'll be surely wanting to keep up with Brooks Koepka who surpassed his Major tally and reached five after winning the PGA Championship.

Tommy Fleetwood

• World Ranking: 21
• DP World Tour wins: 6
• Best US Open finish: 2nd (2018)

View Tommy Fleetwood What's in the bag?

What a week it was in Canada for Tommy, who agonisingly lost out on the fourth playoff hole to home favourite Nick Taylor after he holed a 72-footer for eagle.

Fleetwood had been working on his game with Butch Harmon and he's starting to look like his old self again when he was a world's top-10 player and went 4/4 at the Ryder Cup with Francesco Molinari.

The Englishman loves the US Open, too, as he shot a record-equalling 63 in 2018 at Shinnecock Hills to push Brooks Koepka all the way. He was also 2nd at the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush, so he is certainly a man for the big occasions.

Could he win this week and make it back-to-back English US Open champions? Definitely.

Collin Morikawa

• World Ranking: 18
• PGA Tour wins: 5
• Best US Open finish: T4 (2021)

View Collin Morikawa What's in the bag?

Two-time Major winner Collin Morikawa could get to within one leg away from the career grand slam if he can lift the US Open trophy this weekend.

The American is having a slow year by his very high standards but he simply can't be discounted when the world's best assemble on the toughest of tests, which this week's tournament at LACC is sure to be.

Morikawa's laser-like irons and straight hitting will stand him in good stead to avoid the thick rough and punishing bunkers but it's on the greens, like Scheffler, where he'll need to make improvements.

He's 2nd in Strokes Gained: Approach on the PGA Tour this year but down at 143rd in putting. A good week on the greens for Collin will ensure that he'll be difficult to beat.

Rickie Fowler

• World Ranking: 45
• PGA Tour wins: 5
• Best US Open finish: T2nd (2014)

View Rickie Fowler What's in the bag?

After somewhat of a slump over the past few years, Rickie Fowler is well and truly a Major player again and it looks like a win is just around the corner for the talented Californian.

Rickie is inside the world's top 50 again after an impressive rise back to form and he's coming in hot to LA this week off the back of a T6 at Colonial in the Charles Schwab Challenge and a T9 at Muirfield Village in the Memorial Tournament.

The five-time PGA Tour winner and two-time DP World Tour victor was T2nd at the 2014 US Open at Pinehurst and he'll be relishing the US Open test again after missing the past three years.

Is a Fowler win this week realistic? Just about. A top-10 finish would be a great result for Rickie, but there's no reason why he can't roll back the years and challenge right up the top of the leaderboard on the back nine on Sunday.

For more on all of TaylorMade's Tour Staff and the company's products, visit the TaylorMade Golf website