Max Homa is still searching for a way back to his best form, and that's led to another change in caddie.

The six-time PGA Tour winner has split with caddie Lance Bennett after the pair spent about a year together.

Veteran looper Bennett had been on the bag of Tiger Woods in 2024, and joined Homa ahead of the RBC Canadian Open last June.

After just 12 months together though Homa has made a change, following his missed cut at the PGA Championship.

Homa's friend Peter Pappageorge will step in as his caddie for this week's PGA Tour stop in Texas for the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Homa spent a decade with his childhood friend Joe Greiner on his bag before they eventually split - with Bill Harke then taking up the role.

That partnership only lasted a couple of months though until Homa made the move to Bennett.

Veteran Bennett has plenty of experience having not only caddied for Woods but also the likes of Matt Kuchar, Sungjae Im, Davis Riley and Michael Thorbjornsen.

Homa struggling to find his form

Homa is still struggling to get back to anything like the form that saw him win six times on the PGA Tour in less than three years.

His last win came at the 2023 Farmers Insurance Open and he's been stuck in a huge slump since, with multiple changes in caddies to go along with a change in coach and equipment.

Homa missed five cuts in a row last year, leading to his split with Griener, before showing some signs of life with two top-10s and one missed cut in his last eight events.

It's been a mixed bag again in 2026 with a T9 at The Masters a big highlight, but he's not built on that since and a missed cut at Aronimink was a big frustration.

Homa has not played since and for his return to PGA Tour action at the Charles Schwab Challlenge he will hope a new face on the bag will help.

From as high as World No.5 at his peak, Homa is down at 123rd in the OWGR at the moment and 74th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Max Homa says players breaking clubs makes them all look "very, very spoiled" after Sergio Garcia smashed his driver at The Masters.

Robert MacIntyre was also in a spot of bother at Augusta National for his angry outbursts, but it was Garcia who was issued with a code of conduct warning during Sunday's final round.

Garcia smashed up the tee box on the second hole and snapped his driver after a poor tee shot - which he's now apologized for.

There was a strict code of conduct policy implemented at The Masters, with Garcia the first person to get an official first warning - a second warning would result in a two-shot penalty.

Homa did not name Garcia when asked about the code of conduct, but said he doesn't think it's a good look when players snap clubs in anger.

"Not saying I've never done it. I don't like when people break clubs. I don't like when people beat up the golf course because we deal with it, and I think the breaking clubs makes us look very, very spoiled," Homa said ahead of the RBC Heritage.

"I try my absolute best not to do it, and when it does happen, as far as slamming a tee box, I'm very upset with myself because we're very lucky to play this game we do, and I think it is a bad look.

"But again, this is a very frustrating game, and it happens. So I don't know where I'd draw that line exactly, but I definitely think beating up a golf course would be probably tops just because the rest of us have to play it."

Garcia was issued the warning after repeatedly slamming his driver into the turf at the second tee box, which then needed repairing early on in Sunday's final round.

The Spaniard then smashed his driver into a cool box and broke the head, meaning he was unable to use it for the rest of his round.

"I regret the way I acted and it has no place in our game," said Garcia in his apology.

MacIntyre has yet to make a statement on his behavior, for which he was reportedly reprimanded by Augusta National - although nothing has been made official.

MacIntyre was heard swearing on the course and also slammed his club into the fairway during a frustrating week at The Masters.

Homa himself has shown his frustration on the golf course before, notably being filmed throwing a club down the fairway at last year's PGA Championship.

He says his main vice is some bad language when things aren't going his way, and said player conduct is something the PGA Tour will try and work on improving going forward.

"I say a lot of bad words," Homa admitted. "I very much try to do it not when a kid can hear. So I do think there's some, hey, don't say it in front of the wrong person, like be a bit aware of your surroundings

"But yeah, that's a tough thing to handle or to decide upon because it is so subjective. If I do something where no one is watching on TV, that gets graded a lot lower than when it's in front of everybody.

"But it's never a bad thing to have that conversation being had at Augusta. That's good.

"Between that and pace-of-play stuff, there's things we can address, and we can wait until we figure it out until we implement it, but at least the conversation is going that way.

"We want to inspire the next generation to be better than us, so we need to be held to a higher standard."

The Open Championship was not quite a last chance for Ryder Cup hopefuls to impress, but it may have been a missed opportunity for some big names to press their claims to make their respective teams.

This seems especially true for Team USA more than Europe - with Luke Donald looking like having a far more settled side with many of the 12 that won in Rome in 2023 set to return.

The big 10 for Europe seem almost assured and make our very own Ryder Cup team predictions pretty settled in terms of the visitors in New York, with Sergio Garcia the 'biggest' name likely to miss out.

One of the Hojgaard twins or Matt Fitzpatrick could be others who miss out but they're likely the only big decisions to make - while for Keegan Bradley he has some Ryder Cup stalwarts nowhere near in good enough form to warrant a pick.

Brooks Koepka

One of America's biggest alpha males, Brooks Koepka has played in four Ryder Cups, won eight points and is unbeaten in singles with a 3-0-1 record when going man-to-man.

But he's just not been himself this season, missing three cuts from four in the Majors and not managing to win on LIV Golf - with just two top 10s ahead of the latest round in the UK.

He's nowhere near qualifying so Bradley would be taking it all on trust that he could find something back at Bethpage, where he won the US Open, but that'll be a huge gamble in this form.

Patrick Reed

Three Ryder Cups, eight points from 12 matches including a perfect three-for-three in singles and a match of the century contender against Rory McIlroy - Patrick Reed has excelled as Captain America over the years.

A fallout with Jordan Spieth and move to LIV saw him miss out on the last two, and after coming third at The Masters and winning on LIV he's fallen away this season and missed the cut at The Open.

Bradley may feel he lacks experience in his side and having Reed around would certainly add a swagger, and raise the temperature and the atmosphere even higher at Bethpage - but he'd be the ultimate wildcard pick.

Dustin Johnson

OK, so it's not really a surprise but Dustin Johnson doesn't look like he'll make the side - making his perfect 5-0 record from Whistling Straits possibly his last action from five Ryder Cups.

Outside the top 100 in the standings, he missed three out of four cuts so surely won't be anywhere near Bradley's thinking unless he's planning a major curve ball for the Europeans.

It's a shame as DJ was dynamite in his perfect 2021 outing - and the best thing about him is that his matches are decisive, as he's never halved a Ryder Cup match with his record being an impressive 12-9-0.

Rickie Fowler

If you had sponsor invites into the Ryder Cup Rickie Fowler might get in! He rode the system nicely to get into The Open and finished T14, but barring a late season charge his race looks run.

He's a five-event veteran in the Ryder Cup, but Fowler's record doesn't breed confidence as he's only won three of his 17 matches and 5.5 points overall.

A huge crowd favorite, yes, but at 42nd in the standings and with that record chances are he'll have more chance being at Bethpage as an extra vice-captain than as a player.

Tony Finau

A nice symetrical won three, lost three record from Tony Finau's matches across two Ryder Cups, but he missed out in Rome last time and is just outside the top 20 in the standings again after a so-so season.

Down in 67th on Data Golf shows he's not been playing that well either, with just that spark missing from his play. He won four times in the 14 months before the last Ryder Cup and still didn't make the team - he looks to stand no chance this time.

Max Homa

Max Homa played really well in his Ryder Cup debut in Rome, winning 3.5 points after being trusted to play all five matches, but his form has fallen off a cliff since.

He's missed cuts by the bucketload and didn't even make the last two Majors of the season, so he's got no chance sadly until he can at least find some of his best form.

Despite making a bit of a name for himself on social media, Max Homa now largely stays away from it these days, calling it an "awful, awful place" and a "safe haven for a*******".

Homa became popular on Twitter, now known as X, for roasting amateur golf swings and some witty responses to the news of the day - but although he logs on occasionally he's not a regular on the app now.

The six-time PGA Tour winner is enduring a big slump in form this year, with just one top 25 at The Masters to his name so far.

And so while going through his on course problems, he has no intention of adding insult to injury by going online - with some harsh words for the social media space when asked why he quit.

"Twitter, or X, is an awful, awful place," Homa said at the John Deere Classic.

"It took me a while to catch on to how impactful that can be and how much of a waste of energy. I miss the connection with the fans, but nothing comes without, I mean, just so much hate and anger. There is a lot of love in there, too, but unfortunately, it really does get overwhelmed.

"It's a safe haven for a*******, for lack of a better term. Sorry, PGA Tour.

"I don't know if it's the gambling world or whatnot... but people say some bad, bad things. People tell you you should die on the internet."

The 34-year-old was still in the top 10 in the world until after the US Open last year, but has since tumbled all the way down to 99th currently.

A missed cut at the Rocket Classic was his seventh in the past 13 tournaments as Homa still tries to find a way to get back to the form that saw him win six PGA Tour events.

And Homa says that a slump in form is much harder to deal with these days now he's a more well-known player, which is limiting what he can go and do in his spare time.

"Someone asked me the other day the difference between this and when I played poorly in 2017," Homa said. "One is that the golf is a lot closer than it was then.

"The lack of anonymity is a bit hard. Everywhere I go, someone is talking to me about golf. That's obviously a great thing. Like I said, I am really lucky.

"It's just hard to go do much. I used to really like going to sports bars and watching games with my friends and that's just not exactly a safe haven anymore."

Less than two months after hiring a new caddie, it appears as though Max Homa is looking for his third looper of the year.

The Associated Press' Doug Ferguson first reported on Monday that Homa and Bill Harke are no longer working together, just two months after the bagman replaced Joe Greiner, who had been at the 34-year-old's side for six years prior.

Ferguson said that he was informed of the split by an anonymous party who noted only that Harke had "lost his job" and did not wish to confirm the news before Homa had his chance to make a statement.

However, following the six-time PGA Tour winner's heart-breaking failure to reach the US Open at Oakmont via Final Qualifying, Homa was in no mood to clarify anything.

Asked if he had split with Harke, Homa replied: “I’d much rather talk about the golf than all the questions about the caddie.”

Homa's attitude was perhaps understandable given he was destined to play a sixth consecutive US Open with one hole of his 36 to go at Kinsale Golf and Fitness Club, Ohio.

Yet, a closing three-putt par forced him into a five-for-one playoff - which Cameron Young won - before Homa missed out on an alternate spot at Oakmont a hole later.

The fact that the Californian even put himself in that position while being the only player to carry his own bag all day was remarkable - a fact that was not lost on Homa.

Prior to the playoff, he said: "I haven’t carried my bag 36 holes in a while so I’m a little tired. I would assume college [was the last time]. Good thing is I played decent.

"I was on the line [for qualifying], so kind of the day flew by, but then when I missed that putt on 18 on the last hole, it all kind of hit and my legs are a little bit tired."

While caddies obviously carry the physical burden of a large tour bag, they can also be on-course sounding boards for players to let out excess emotion. With no one next to him, Homa was forced to rely on himself for all of the crucial jobs loopers help with.

Although, interestingly, the World No.90 felt his outlook was a little sunnier in the absence of a caddie.

Asked how his mood fared on such a taxing day at Kinsale, Homa said: “Pretty good. Seems to be better than when someone's standing next to me, for some reason, so I might need to just walk by myself more.

“Maybe I just looked at it as a nice peaceful day by myself. Probably got to battle some demons and just kind of have nobody to lean on. So sometimes maybe that helps a little bit.

"There's no one to… it's just everything's me. So just kind of like the battle of that maybe helped a little bit.”

Reporters at the Ohio golf club tried to find out why Homa took on 'Golf's Longest Day' one last time, but Homa simply said: “I wanted to carry for 36 holes. Everyone is going to ask me that” before walking away.

The University of California, Berkeley alumnus has one more chance to reach the US Open, but he must likely win this week's RBC Canadian Open on the PGA Tour to jump up into the world's top-60.

Per Golfweek's Adam Schupak, Homa will have one of Tiger Woods' former caddies, Lance Bennett on the bag in Canada.

Bennett had recently been working for Michael Thorbjornsen before being replaced by JJ Jakovac - the former caddie of Collin Morikawa. Coincidentally, Morikawa hired Homa's old caddie, Joe Greiner after Jakovac.

Max Homa is known for many things, such as world-class golfing ability, his cutting sense of humor which helps him roast the swings of amateur players on social media, and his absolute transparency while being interviewed.

Following a brilliant response to his opening-day 73 at the 2025 PGA Championship, Homa admitted he was not looking to change any of those, especially not his open nature when a microphone is under his nose.

The 34-year-old from Burbank, California comfortably made it through to the weekend at Quail Hollow thanks to an outstanding seven-under 64 on Friday. Afterwards, Homa was asked whether his open nature in the press room helps in clearing his mind after a day's play and aids him in kicking on next time he plays.

Homa's answer was typically honest. He said: "No, it probably doesn't help me at all if I'm being honest. I don't know, I grew up a fan of sports, as so many are, and I always found... like interviews and things to be so thought-provoking as a fan to get a little insight.

"Like I said, we are entertainers, and without the fans, we would be just playing golf with some buddies. Yeah, I just try to be myself.

"Yeah, sometimes I wish I would probably keep some things in, but at the end of the day, we owe a lot to them. It's not so hard to be transparent. It doesn't hurt me in any way."

Earlier in his interview, the six-time PGA Tour winner broke down his performance at Quail Hollow and explained how his past six rounds have all felt really positive, even if the results haven't always backed that up.

Round two of the PGA Championship produced six birdies, an eagle and one bogey compared to two birdies, two bogeys and a double on Thursday.

Yet, according to Homa, he didn't do an awful lot differently. He explained: "I played quite similarly to yesterday. It was a lot easier. There's like no wind. Just scored better, made a couple long putts. Hit a drive randomly to a foot and chipped it.

"Yesterday I played awesome. I felt like I had really good control. I just couldn't really get the ball close to the hole, didn't pull the right club a lot, and had a poor finish.

"It was kind of in a way nice to be able to play in the morning and just get to go immediately because I knew the game was good. Didn't know I was going to shoot 7-under, but I will take it."

Such a score might have been quite unlikely for Homa a matter of weeks ago, before he paid a visit to swing coach, John Scott shortly after The Masters.

Homa revealed that he told Scott that his swing felt "foreign" to him and that the aim - as far as the World No.78 was concerned - was to move more like he did in 2022-23.

Following "an absurd" number of practice balls and plenty of constructive support from Scott, Homa now feels like he has his swing under far greater control again.

Pulling no punches in his assessment of the journey he has been on with Scott in recent weeks and months, Homa said: "It's been difficult because I felt like I was so broken, and whatever the swing change was going to be was going to be some grand thing, like something I've never done before.

"We were just not finding anything in this range session. Everything he says makes sense and it's very right, but it didn't feel like me. It was close to the positions and everything was on what I wanted to do, but I just said I want to try to do it this way and just let me know if that looks okay.

"It was immediately like, we're going to do that, and let's just work off of that as like the template. So it was hard for me because... I've been very lucky, like working with John and working with Mark, they're brilliant people, and you listen to brilliant people, but at some point you have to maybe get in there and just say, 'hey, this technically might be right, but it doesn't feel like I'm going to be able to do this.'

"[John] was really great at that and kind of ebbing off of that a little bit. Like I said, it feels more like me. It looks more like when I swung at my best, I think."

Max Homa has split with long-time caddie and childhood friend Joe Greiner.

The pair grew up playing together at Vista Valencia Golf Club in California before teaming up as a player-caddie duo back in 2013.

Greiner went on to work with Kevin Chappell before rejoining Homa in 2019, with the pair going on to win six PGA Tour titles together plus the Nedbank Golf Challenge on the DP World Tour as well as making the 2023 USA Ryder Cup team.

“Joe and I made memories for a lifetime and can’t be more thankful for all the hard work," Homa said, per the PGA Tour.

"We have parted ways and it will be sad to see him go. I’ll always be grateful to have walked the fairways with one of my best friends.”

Homa's new bagman is Bill Harke, who has previously worked with the likes of Chris Kirk, Colt Knost and Jonas Blixt.

Harke is on the bag at the Valero Texas Open this week, where his new boss is searching for form after slipping to 78th in the world.

Homa has missed four consecutive cuts and is without a top-10 since May's Wells Fargo Championship.

Homa was 10th in the world this time last year and went on to record his best ever Major finish of T3 at The Masters.

It's the latest change for the Californian, who made sweeping gear changes to start the year in signing with Cobra Golf after playing with Titleist clubs for his entire career up until this point.

Three big names continued their struggles in 2025 with Viktor Hovland, Justin Thomas and Max Homa all having difficult starts to the Players Championship.

Thomas finished birdie-birdie but still carded a bitterly disappointing opening round of 78, while his six over par was at least better than Hovland's 80.

Homa has endured a torried start to 2025 and that looks likely to continue, as the American was six over for his first nine holes before adding two more bogeys early in his back nine during his round of 79.

Thomas won the Players Championship in 2021 and had a couple of positive results this year to build confidence heading to TPC Sawgrass, but that disappeared on just two holes.

Starting on the 10th tee, the two-time PGA Championship winner negotiated his first seven holes in two under, before coming apart at the 17th and 18th on the Stadium Course.

Thomas found the water on the iconic par-3 17th hole and again on the intimidating closing hole at TPC Sawgrass, which cost him back-to-back double bogeys.

A third double bogey followed at the fifth during a disastrous run that saw him go bogey-double-bogey-bogey to lose five shots in a four-hole run that could have cost him a shot at making the weekend already.

Thomas fought back well though, picking up birdies at the eighth and ninth to at least finish the day with hope that he can turn things around on Friday.

Hovland has been his own worst critic over the last year or so, and having missed back-to-back cuts before the Players that criticism looked valid.

Like Thomas, Hovland had three disastrous holes, with two double bogeys and a triple bogey blighting his card - but unlike the American the Norwegian could not find a late response as he signed for an 80.

Hovland hit a triple-bogey seven on the fifth and followed it with a double-bogey six on the sixth as two wide right drives ended up costing him five shots.

Homa turned in 42 after two bogeys and two double bogeys, before adding two more coming home as he continued the struggles that have seen him miss the cut in three of his last four events.

He did at least manage his first and only birdie of the day on 16 to make sure he broke 80, but shooting 79 will be scant consolation after another poor round in the books.

Max Homa was one of nine players to withdraw from the Farmers Insurance Open during an interrupted second round of brutal gusting winds at Torrey Pines.

The 2023 champion of the event had three holes left to play on the North Course of another ragged round at Torrey Pines when play was suspended due to high gusting winds.

Homa then opted to call it a day and withdrew from the event when sitting on four over for the day and nine over for the tournament.

A first-round 77 was Homa's second worst score in 25 rounds at the Farmers, and after carding another four bogeys on his front nine on Thursday he was actually socring pretty well considering with six straight pars on the back nine before the hooter halted play.

Homa then decided not to return for more punishment, with Golf Channel citing illness as the reason for his withdrawal.

The writing was on the wall from Homa's very first hole on Wednesday, when he made a triple-bogey seven on the par-four opener, before hitting another bogey and then a double.

Even with an incredible eagle Homa turned in a five-over 41 and although again he pulled himself together with nine straight pars coming in, his game was obviously not where he wanted it to be.

The Farmers was hit with a raft of withdrawals even before a shot was struck as 11 players pulled out before Wednesday's first round.

A further 10 have since pulled out after the action got under way, with Braden Thornberry a casualty during the opening round - and Homa headlining nine more during round two.

Emiliano Grillo was the final man to withdraw with just one hole left to play on the North Course - where he stood on eight over for his round and 14 over in total.

Nate Lashley, Hayden Buckley, Kevin Roy, David Lipsky, Max McGreevy, Paul Peterson and Philip Knowles were all well over par when they called it quits during the stoppage in play.

Illness was also given as a reason for many of the withdrawals, and there could be more before the second round is finally completed Friday morning.

It's new year, new gear for Max Homa who has penned new equipment, apparel and shoe deals to start 2025.

The six-time PGA Tour winner, who was winless in 2024, has signed with Cobra Golf for his clubs, Puma Golf for his footwear and Lululemon for his apparel.

Homa tees it up this week at The Sentry with a Cobra driver, irons and wedges after being a Titleist staffer since he turned pro in 2014. He has the new DS-Adapt LS driver in the bag on the C6 setting with a Fujikura Ventus Velocore+ 7X shaft. He is also using a custom built set of irons that includes a Cobra LIMIT3D 4-iron and King CB and King MB irons as well as Cobra Snakebite wedges and a custom Cobra King lob wedge. He has stuck with with his Scotty Cameron T5.5 prototype flat stick.

The US Ryder Cup star is also no longer with FootJoy, whose shoes and apparel he was previously wearing. He is now wearing Puma shoes and becomes Lululemon's second PGA Tour ambassador after Min Woo Lee.

“I am super excited to join the Cobra Puma Golf team. Gear that’s on the cutting edge of technology and the most comfortable shoes in the game are a great combination for any player,” Homa said.

“The Cobra Puma Golf brands are undoubtedly a natural fit for my game, style, and personality and I’m looking forward to a long-term relationship that will be fun and exciting for years to come.

“Throughout the testing process with the Cobra Tour and R&D team, I was incredibly impressed with the performance of the clubs, and I think they will truly give me a competitive advantage.

“I love the look, sound and feel of the new DS-ADAPT driver, and the new FutureFit33 hosel is a gamer changer in terms of fine-tuning performance.”

Homa, currently ranked 41st in the world, described joining Lululemon as a "dream come true."

“I’m so excited to join the lululemon family,” he said.

“Lululemon already takes up most of my wardrobe with workout and lounge apparel, and it feels like a dream come true to have the opportunity to work with such an iconic brand.

“Golf is usually seen as an individual sport but it’s far from that. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve built a tight knit community around me. It’s fun because when you do win or have success, everybody gets to enjoy it together and that’s one of the parts I love most.

“I subscribe to the old saying look good, feel good, play good. When I feel good, it definitely influences how I play."

Homa makes his first start of 2025 in Hawaii at The Sentry.

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."

At the Open de Espana, Angel Hidalgo rose to prominence as the 26-year-old not only defeated Jon Rahm in a playoff, but secured his first ever DP World Tour title on home soil.

That week, the Spaniard caught the eye of many, with his flamboyant golf swings garnering plenty of attention on social media. Now, with the DP World Tour back in Hidalgo's home country, it's his swing video that is doing the rounds on social media, with even his fellow pros reacting to it!

In response to the the video posted by the DP World Tour, Max Homa wrote: "I have watched the first swing in this video 50 times", with the swing in question seeing Hidalgo cranking a wedge under a tree and all but collapsing onto his knees before he's even completed the follow-through.

Along with Homa, many users compared Hidalgo's swing to that of fellow Spaniard, Seve Ballesteros, who was famed for producing miraculous moments from the severest of conditions.

As well as Seve comparisons, one user claimed that Hidalgo is "quickly becoming one of the most entertaining players to watch in pro golf", whilst another wrote: "This dude is dynamic and electric to watch."

For the first two days of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, Hidalgo was part of a star-studded group that included Jon Rahm and Rasmus Hojgaard, with Hidalgo carding a two-under 70 on day one and a six-under 66 on Friday.

Sitting eight back of leader, Jorge Campillo, Hidalgo will call on the home support to vault up the leaderboard but, it's safe to say that, in the past few weeks, the DP World Tour winner has gained a lot more followers and fans...

Max Homa has confirmed that he has split with his swing coach Mark Blackburn ahead of the Presidents Cup following a difficult season on the PGA Tour. 

Despite making the United States team as one of Jim Furyk's captain's picks for this week’s Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal Golf Club, Homa has struggled for form this year, earning just three top 10s in 21 starts. 

Ahead of his second Presidents Cup, the six-time PGA Tour winner revealed that he parted ways with Blackburn following his last-place finish at the FedEx St. Jude Championship last month.

“It's just a tough year,” he said. “Time for a change. It's unfortunate, I love Mark. He's basically a part of my family. He's just been an amazing human being.

“But at times, the communication gets hard. I think everyone in here has gone through that at some point. It's one of those things, more for me I need a break and sometimes I don't do a great job of taking ownership of my own golf swing so kind of putting the ball in my court a bit, and you know, trying to figure it out myself.”

Homa said he has been working “solo” since splitting with Blackburn and is trying to take “ownership” of his own swing.

“I mean, as much as a coach can be brilliant, a genius like Mark, I know my golf swing better than anybody, and I can see it and feel it. Just trying to take some ownership like that.”

The 33-year-old’s best finish this year was a T3 at the Masters, but since then, he has had a worrying slump, with just one top 25 finish in his last 10 starts.

Despite missing the cut at his last event, the Procure Championship, Homa said his swing “feels great” and he is hoping to bounce back in Montreal this week.

“I just needed some time,” Homa said. “I just don't think people understand how impressive it is when golfers like a Scottie [Scheffler] or a Wyndham [Clark], or anyone on our team goes through a slump and then it ends. It's just not that easy. The back end of our season, it goes from The Open and the Playoffs and you just don't get a lot of time to go through and work things out as fast.

“I used [Procore] as a check … of, okay, how is this going to be in competition, and I was really pleased with how I drove the ball there. So it was good.”

Homa, who is the lowest ranked player in Team USA, is one of two American players sitting out Thursday’s opening session, alongside Brian Harman.

Team USA captain Furyk said he remains confident in Homa’s game and that he will be a big part of the side.

“I have a lot of confidence in his game,” Furyk said after the first pairings were announced. “I have a lot of confidence in what he brings to our team, not only from a playing standpoint, but in the team room as well. You're going to see him play a lot of golf this week.”

Homa was part of the United States’ winning Presidents Cup team in 2022, and went a perfect 4-0-0 in his first appearance in the event.

When it comes to professional golf, winning is one of the key factors but, as Max Homa's reaction shows, it's also about being present for the weekend in the big tournaments...

Standing on the 18th hole at seven-over-par, the American needed a birdie at the last to make the weekend of The 152nd Open Championship and, faced with a near 30-footer, Homa managed to roll in the putt, showing clear emotion in the process at Royal Troon.

The second round of The Open had been a slog to say the least, with a number of huge names failing to make it to the weekend. Determined not to be one of those, the 33-year-old opted for the driver with his tee shot and, despite pulling it left, he managed to manufacture a shot that finished 28-foot past the flag.

Faced with a left-to-right, downhill putt, it never looked anywhere else as it made its way down the slope. Five-foot out, it was destined to drop and, as it did, both Homa and his caddie let out a roar that was heard all round the course, with both men high-fiving each other on the green as they gave themselves 36 more holes to jump up the leaderboard.

"Hopefully it was to make the cut, but I don't know, just been really not playing very well and golf has not been very fun. I've been doing a poor job mentally. I just felt like today for one of the first times maybe ever I just never really flinched, never blinked," explained Homa, following his one-over-par round of 72.

"I played 16 really good holes and just made two really bad swings. I don't know, maybe I'm just proud of myself. This is my favourite tournament in the world. So to have the chance to potentially play two more days, I don't know, I had an out-of-body experience. I didn't really expect to yell like I won a golf tournament. It just felt really good. I felt like I fought all day."

Revealing that the putt is "something I'll never forget," Homa added "they just kept clapping. It really did make me feel good. I think these fans obviously over here get it more than anybody. I think they all knew how hard it was out there, and I think they appreciate a good fight. I tried to do my best."

Although Homa made it to the weekend, it was a different story for his playing partners Rory McIlroy and Tyrrell Hatton, as the European pair carded 11-over and eight-over-par results, respectively, to be amongst the big names to miss the cut at The Open.

Going into Saturday and Sunday, it's Shane Lowry who leads the event, with the 37-year-old carding rounds of 66 and 69 to lead Englishmen Daniel Brown and Justin Rose by two strokes.

Max Homa has improved his Major record drastically over the past few months, with the American finishing inside the top 10 at both The Open Championship in 2023 and The Masters in April 2024.

Looking for similar at Valhalla, Homa produced four rounds under-par but, despite an eight-under-par total, he was nowhere near the leaders at the PGA Championship, something which Homa joked about, following his final round, on social media...

Homa is known as one of the more relaxed characters on social media and, following his two-under 69 on Sunday, the 33-year-old wrote on social media: "Frustrating week in KY (Kentucky). Lost to a guy who was literally in jail Friday morning. Tough look for me. The journey continues in Fort Worth next week."

The joke was seemingly aimed at World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, who was arrested and charged on the Friday of the PGA Championship after "a big misunderstanding" regarding traffic flow instructions.

Following his finish, Homa now heads to the Charles Schwab Challenge at Fort Worth, Texas. Amongst the big names, the six-time PGA Tour winner will be joined by the likes of Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Collin Morikawa and Brian Harman.

In 2023, it was Argentina's Emiliano Grillo who claimed the title in thrilling circumstances, with the 31-year-old defeating Adam Schenk in a playoff. Amongst the names in contention was Scheffler, who finished one back of the leaders.

For much of this year, the PGA Tour and worldwide broadcasters have been concerned with declining viewership figures on TV in relation to professional golf.

With the odd exception, usually because of a tight finish, many regular PGA Tour events have averaged fewer than two million people tuning in to watch the Sunday climax - whether it be Peter Malnati's heart-warming victory at the Valspar Championship or Matthieu Pavon's stunning success at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Even in the big-ticket tournaments like The Players or The Masters, Scottie Scheffler's victory in both wasn't enough to prevent a significant drop-off in people watching the finish at home.

However, it certainly hasn't all been bad news for golf broadcasters and the PGA Tour, and Rory McIlroy's walk-off win at last week's Wells Fargo Championship proved that the end doesn't even have to be that competitive to lure fans in front of their screens.

The Northern Irishman - who just a day later filed for divorce from wife, Erica - began last Sunday with a one-shot deficit to Xander Schauffele at the top but quickly turned the tables, going on to claim his fourth Wells Fargo Championship by five shots thanks to a six-under final round.

The golf was fascinating from McIlroy, even if the contest fizzled out quite quickly around the turn. But nevertheless, figures from Sports Business Journal's Josh Carpenter showed that the interest of fans at home was still piqued by what went down at Quail Hollow.

In a post on social media, Carpenter said: "CBS has a big increase Sunday for Rory McIlroy's win at Quail Hollow, with the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship drawing 2.778 million viewers. That's up 34% from 2.073 million last year for Wyndham Clark's win. Sunday peaked at 3.830 million."

The peak number was around 300,000 more than the average figure for Scheffler's triumph at The Players and an astounding 1.5 million more than the average for the American's Arnold Palmer Invitational score - another of the PGA Tour's Signature Events.

Speaking about the subject of fans' interest in men's pro golf right now ahead of this week's PGA Championship, Max Homa believes "the internet probably makes it seem worse than it really is" but admitted it is tough to love watching the sport right now.

He said: "Yeah, it's been a bit tricky. I do feel like the internet probably makes it seem worse than it really is. It's a very small community and they're incredibly loud. So I think if you spend a lot of time on the internet, it does feel like professional golf is crumbling.

"It's tough to decipher, because when we're on the grounds of events, it's amazing. Last week at Quail Hollow was awesome. Felt no different at Bay Hill. Felt no different -- The Players felt no different. So it's odd, it doesn't feel like it's dying, yet you hear a lot of very valid complaints on the internet.

"So I think it's been, it's very troubling. I don't like where it's going. It's got to be exhausting to be a casual golf fan at this point in time. I don't know why you would want to hear about the business side of this game."

Meanwhile, McIlroy shared his thoughts on the subject before last month's Masters tournament. Asked where he thinks the fans' levels of interest are right now, the World No.2 pointed to TV viewing figures as a measure of the declining support for men's pro golf.

He said: “I know this isn’t a be-all, end-all, but if you look at the TV ratings of the PGA Tour this year, they’re down 20 percent across the board. That’s a fifth. That’s big.

“That’s where I said like things need a correction and things are unsustainable because I’m close with NBC and the people that really care about these things and the people that tune in to watch golf. You know, 20% is a pretty jarring number this year.

"I would say the numbers on LIV aren’t great either in terms of the people tuning in. I just think with the fighting and everything that’s went on over the past couple years, people are just getting really fatigued of it and it’s turning people off men’s professional golf, and that’s not a good thing for anyone.”

For over two years, the fractures at the top of the men’s game have dominated the headlines almost as much as events on the course.

While negotiations are ongoing between the PGA Tour and Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) behind LIV Golf to plot a route for a harmonious future between the two circuits, there is still no word on when - or even if - it will happen, almost a year after they came to the table. 

In recent months, players including Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau have expressed concerns that the impasse is beginning to turn fans away, while it's never far from the conversation on social media.

Max Homa is one of 156 players in the field for this week’s second Major of the year, the PGA Championship - one of the few events where PGA Tour players and LIV golfers come together. However, he’s not convinced the game is suffering as much as others claim.

Ahead of the Valhalla tournament, he said: “I do feel like the internet probably makes it seem worse than it really is. It's a very small community, and they're incredibly loud. So I think if you spend a lot of time on the internet, it does feel like professional golf is crumbling.”

Homa then cited recent tournaments that indicate the men’s elite game is thriving. “It's tough to decipher, because when we're on the grounds of events, it's amazing,” he said. “Last week at Quail Hollow was awesome. Felt no different at Bay Hill. Felt no different... The Players. Felt no different."

Still, he was reluctant to dismiss the concerns of those with another opinion. He continued: “It's odd. It doesn't feel like it's dying, yet you hear a lot of very valid complaints on the internet. So I think it's been, it's very troubling.”

He also acknowledged that the continuing emphasis on the business side of the game is unhealthy for fans. “I don't like where it's going, he said. “It's got to be exhausting to be a casual golf fan at this point in time. I don't know why you would want to hear about the business side of this game. As a fan of other sports, I do not care about the business side of what the Lakers and Dodgers are doing.”

The divide has been back in the news in recent days, with McIlroy last week ruling out a return to the PGA Tour board. That was followed by the news that one of the senior figures involved in bringing the PGA Tour and PIF to the table, Jimmy Dunne, has resigned from the PGA Tour board, describing his role as “utterly superfluous.”

Homa admitted that, for the good of the game, stories of that nature need to become background issues sooner rather than later. He added: “I hope at some point soon we can just get back to entertaining people and playing golf and seeing who shoots the lowest score and not talking about what our Player Advisory Council is going to do and who - the fans of golf should not know who is on the board.

“Men's professional golf might be in a weird spot, so hopefully we can continue to get more people to play golf and then once everybody can get this thing figured out hopefully we get those people playing golf to also enjoy watching a little bit of golf. We have a lot going on here, but hopefully at some point everybody can find the plot again.”

The gap between Scottie Scheffler and the rest on the PGA Tour is a big one, but Max Homa is determined to “beat his ass pretty bad at some point” as he detailed the extent of the challenge the World No.1 presents.

Homa says that Scheffler, who returned to action with a first-round 69 at the RBC Heritage, is getting towards Tiger Woods levels of dominance, albeit via a completely different method, but the challenge of beating him is somewhat similar.

Although players such as Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson have dominated golf for spells over the last few years, Homa says the levels Scheffler produces consistently are “unique”.

Scheffler has been putting up Woods-esque numbers in terms of Strokes Gained dominance over the rest, and his second Masters title illustrated perfectly how his consistently high levels just grind his opposition into the dirt.

“I mean, the gap seems to be quite large,” Homa admitted. “He's gone first, second, first. Three of those events are the best fields we've got. One of them is another good field on a really difficult golf course.

“I think we've seen people do this over the years as far as excellence for time, over a little bit of time.

“His seems to be sustained a bit longer than I can remember from a lot of people. The Rorys of the world, the Tigers, the Jordans, these guys have done this for a while.

“Then he's [Scheffler] done it for a year. He does this every week. It's definitely unique what he's doing.”

Woods was the ultimate alpha on the golf course and his mere presence often scared others off from challenging, but Scheffler is more of the smiling assassin type, which offers a different if still desperately difficult challenge.

“Is it more daunting or challenging? More challenging, I would say,” said Homa. “I think it's inspiring. It makes you look at your game even more closely to figure out what you would do to get on his level.

“I think because of the Tiger era when he was just running through golf tournament after golf tournament and just annihilating everybody, it was probably more daunting because we had never seen anything like that.”

Scheffler is a likeable character, which maybe helps disarm his opponents, and while he doesn’t pull off as many wonder shots or highlight reel fillers – it’s his metronomic excellence the confounds the rest of the field.

“Scottie is tremendously talented and a hard worker and sadly, a better person. I wish I could hate him,” joked Homa. “But it's not utterly shocking what he does. He just does it over and over and over again. That's amazing. 

“I feel like he almost makes it seem very realistic that we should do that. He just seems like he's playing on the driving range every day.

“It’s really amazing what he's doing. I can't believe how good he is week in and week out. I imagine it's harder than it looks, and he's just making it look so easy that I think it gives us some hope that maybe one or multiple of us can start to do something like he's doing.”

While Homa, and the rest, may have secretly hoped for Scheffler’s wife Meredith to go into labor during The Masters, he doesn’t want the new arrival to result in the World No.1 losing his best form – as he wants to try and topple him at the pinnacle of his powers.

“No, I want to beat his a** pretty bad at some point,” Homa said. “So I'd be lying if I wasn't thinking a little bit about last week if Meredith did go into labor.

“No, the beauty of this is you want to beat the best when they're at their best. It's fun, and it's hard. 

"That's the cool part about the opportunities provided us right now is that if you beat Scottie Scheffler pretty much any week, you've had a good week, and I think that's a pretty cool part of where our sport is at right now.”

Golf fans have every right to be tired of listening to "nauseating" talk of all the money players are earning and want to earn, says Max Homa, who expressed his own "fatigue" he has "from all of this garbage going on".

After a Player Advisory Council meeting after The Masters, though, Homa is hopeful that the future can be bright for golf fans.

The Masters continued the trend of viewing figures on the decline for big golf events on TV, and while there could be mitigating circumstances it's obvious that the average fan is being turned away by all the money talk.

Players who have left for LIV Golf for millions moaning about ranking points, and PGA Tour prize purses being given huge bumps - at every turn modern men's pro golf is being framed solely by the money.

Although attending events in person is still good fun, Homa acknowledges that on the viewing side the continued dominance of dollar signs at every turn has left fans fatigued - including himself.

"I've actually been pretty amazed this year with the fatigue I have from all of this garbage going on," Homa said at the RBC Heritage.

"But each event on-site has felt amazing. The Masters was incredible. Bay Hill was awesome. The Players was awesome. All these events I've been to have been great.

"Yet on the internet and what I'm seeing with those numbers and all that, it does seem like yeah, I would imagine fans have fatigue. 

"They probably should have fatigue. I don't know why they'd want to care about how much money we're making and how much more money we want to make. It's quite nauseating."

Golf as a participation sport is still in good health, but it's transferring the fun aspect over to TV viewers that is the next aim.

"I love golf. I want golf to continue to thrive," added Homa. "About people watching golf, that doesn't mean golf is going down. It's actually going way up. More people are playing. That's cool.

"Would I like people to do both? Sure. But I'm just glad that golf is continuing to gain popularity." 

And after a PAC meeting after The Masters, Homa believes that there could be plans on the horizon to provide more entertainment to bring back viewers through TV and online to the game.

"I can only speak on what I know we're trying to do. We had a really great PAC meeting yesterday," said Homa. 

"I was really inspired by the hope and plan to make it better for the fans. I think we hit this year-and-a-half- or two-year rut as both golfers and golf leagues that was just about making the players happy, and unfortunately and quite obviously the fans were not benefitted by that.

"I'm very hopeful that at some point here soon, we've been shown that we are nothing without those watching us, and they can stop watching us whenever they'd like. Hopefully more innovation will go into making their viewing process a lot more engaging and fun because that's why we get to do this."

And Homa did at least offer that positive update, later adding that he does feel the PGA Tour product will improve over the coming years.

"There's light at the end of this tunnel for the golf fan," he insisted. "There's innovation, possibilities. It's not nearly that this is just what golf looks like and we need to hope people like it. 

"There's ways we can manipulate it a little bit in a good way to gain fan engagement, make it more fun for them to watch. It was truly all about just what we need to do better as a Tour for golf fans to be more inclined to watched. 

"I think at times it's easy to say this is just what golf looks like, and I think it was nice to see that people have other out looks on that that are a lot more optimistic."

Max Homa had a scary moment at The Players Championship on Saturday when, after finding trouble off the tee, his next shot almost struck multiple spectators lining the 14th hole.

Playing the par 4, Homa ended up making a quintuple bogey nine and, on the basis of how close the shot was to taking out the fans, we can understand why, with his fourth shot barely clearing the heads of the spectators, eventually colliding with a tree and finishing in the fairway bunker.

Speaking to the media about the video on Sunday, Homa stated: "Yeah, it was the tree (I hit). I asked them to back up and they backed up their usual three or four steps and I was trying to go much higher than that (shot).

"At some point... I probably should have asked them to move more, but I didn't think I was going to knife it. Typically though, you ask them to move and it's two steps back and I... I think I've thrown caution to the wind at times with their own safety. So I am glad I didn't hit anybody. It was scary, I was trying to go significantly higher than that. I gave some guys a good story."

Following the news that everyone in the area was safe, social media had a range of reactions to the incident, with everyone from Tour pros to fans commenting on the near miss from Homa.

Fans being struck by golf balls is not something you hear about often, on the professional circuits at least, but it has happened previously. 

Back in 2023, Padraig Harrington accidently struck a fan at the PGA Seniors Championship on the 16th hole of the final round. Following the incident, the three-time Major winner bought the fan dinner, with Harrington stating: "I bought him a dinner. He nutted my ball back to the fairway. So, yeah, like, you give him a glove, but it never really seems adequate to give a guy a glove. He's a grown man, like what's he want with a glove with my signature? So I thought - he said his wife was inside - but, please take your wife out for dinner on me was the sort of thing. I don't know, I hope I gave him enough for dinner."

Max Homa is one of the most recognizable faces in the game of golf but, at The Players Championship on Saturday, the Ryder Cup star had a moment to forget as he made a quintuple bogey nine at TPC Sawgrass.

Beginning the day at one-under-par, it was unlikely that Homa was going to win the event, but a good run would hand him a number of FedEx and World Ranking points. Certainly, through 13 holes, he was performing solidly, sitting at one-under for his round, that though, was all about to change at the difficult par 4 14th...

Ranked as one of the hardest holes on the TPC Sawgrass layout, Homa pulled his tee shot left and into the water. Frustrated, his next tee shot was not going left and, after blocking it right, Homa was left with a difficult shot over the trees from 200 yards away.

Hitting a six-iron, his ball clattered a tree and vaulted left, eventually finishing in the fairway bunker, some 165 yards away. Now playing his fifth, Homa chunked his next, still remaining in the bunker, with his sixth getting out of sand but still short of the green.

Eventually, after playing a pitch shot to 11-feet, the 33-year-old two putted for a quintuple bogey nine, which dropped him from two-under to three-over-par. Following the nine, he went on to birdie the 16th and 17th, finally signing for a two-over-par round of 74, putting him in a tie for 68th.

It's not the first time we've had pros score high numbers. At last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, Tommy Fleetwood carded a 10 at the par 5 sixth. Not to be outdone, Jake Knapp produced a 12 at the very same hole 24 hours later, with two water balls being followed by a tee shot that finished out of bounds.

Max Homa admitted he was not surprised about the "crazy" scenes at last week's WM Phoenix Open and stated that it is difficult to be shocked if you go in assuming the tournament will play out in a certain way.

At an event where a party atmosphere has always been encouraged, some people felt the line was crossed at times after a combination of weather-induced delays and poor fan behaviour partially took away from one of the most eagerly-anticipated stops on the PGA Tour calendar.

As well as a woman sustaining non-life-threatening injuries after falling from the stands early in the week, there were several reports of fights taking place and some members of the crowd heckling players during their swings.

Homa's most-recent Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson was filmed angrily engaging with fans after comments were made towards him, while Billy Horschel defended his outburst towards some patrons who called out during his playing partner's shot.

American pair Homa and Wyndham Clark said they found their personal experiences at the recent WM Phoenix Open to be "fine" - although Clark did admit Saturday's events did get "a little out of control."

Speaking to the PGA Tour's Sirius XM about the raucous atmosphere at TPC Scottsdale last week, Homa said: "I thought it was fine, it was crazy. Maybe it just depends if you go in assuming it's going to be insane then I guess it's hard to be overly surprised.

"There did seem like more fighting this year, which was quite funny. But I don't really mind [the atmosphere]. I get that for some people it's probably overwhelming. Granted, I played two-and-a-half days so I didn't have to endure it all four. But, I dunno, it's just one week of chaos."

Meanwhile, Clark - who finished T41 at TPC Scottsdale - also acknowledged his own experience of the tournament was perfectly enjoyable. Although, the Denver-born golfer admitted some friends and family were less than happy with their week due to external factors.

Clark said: "It's always one of my favorite events, I love the week. But with that said, a combination of the weather and the number of people who were let in on Saturday, I think it got a little out of control.

"For me, it was fine. But just like my friends and family that were out there, they were all complaining about it. I had some people saying to me "this might be my last [Phoenix Open] or whatever, just because it got a little too much.

"I don't know if that's because of the weather and only being able to walk in certain areas because of all the mud, but I think it was maybe a little too chaotic on Saturday."

Both players return to action at this week's Genesis Invitational - which also sees Tiger Woods make his first PGA Tour start since last April's Masters.

It has been said in the past that Tiger Woods is like an enigma and to truly understand the influence he has on golf, you have to be in his presence - or at least somewhere close. Max Homa can certainly vouch for that being true.

Ahead of the 33-year-old's defence of the Farmers Insurance Open this week - a title that Woods has won a grand total of seven times, himself - Homa shared a story on one of the first times he encountered the 15-time Major champion and how the environment is quite literally altered when the big cat is around.

Woods won't be in attendance at Torrey Pines this week as he continues to prepare for his next competitive appearance at the Genesis Invitational next month - a tournament which may see the 48-year-old in the 'Sunday Red' brand that he and TaylorMade are reportedly planning to launch.

But looking back at previous editions of the Farmers in which Tiger did tee it up, Homa reflected on the aura around Woods and shared a story which once again proved one of the all-time greats' popularity.

Homa said: "Even when I got out here as a professional, just the vibe around him. One year there was a fog delay and we were all stuck on the putting green, and he’s playing with two very popular and amazing golfers, Billy Horschel and Rickie [Fowler].

"The first day there was a thousand people on the putting green and the next day - he had withdrawn that afternoon - there was the same fog delay and there were like 22 people around us. It was like 'dang, this guy really controls the world.' Just stuff like that I always thought was fascinating about him."

Without Woods to attract people's attention in 2024, Homa will be hoping to encourage a large following as he bids to go back-to-back at one of the world's most famous courses - Torrey Pines.

Homa's victory in 2023 saw him card a final-round 66 on the South Course to lift the trophy on 13-under. And looking at one of the most notable holes on that iconic layout, Homa likened the impressive nature of it to witnessing a Rory McIlroy drive up close and personal.

Referencing Woods' heroics at the 2008 US Open, Homa said: "One hole, 15, another bear of a hole, I remember [Woods] hit a massive drive and it looked like he hit a 9-iron and spun it back to like two feet. That’s the hole that I just remember sticks out so much to me. It’s graceful and it’s powerful, something you have to almost see up close.

"That’s what I say about Rory. If you’re going to come to a golf tournament, I suggest at least watching him hit one or two drivers because it doesn’t do it justice on TV, you kind of need to see it."

Homa tees off at 1:40pm ET (6:40pm GMT) in the first round alongside seven-time PGA Tour winner, Xander Schauffele and six-time PGA Tour winner, Tony Finau. 

Max Homa may not get his hands on the trophy at The Sentry but he is set to have a memorable tournament nonetheless after unleashing a monster, record drive.

Homa's tee shot on the par-4 525-yard seventh hole at Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course measured an astonishing 477 yards during Saturday’s third round in Hawaii.

It is the longest recorded drive on the Tour in the ShotLink era (since 2003) and the biggest on the PGA Tour since 2002 when Tiger Woods hit one 498 yards on the 18th hole at Kapalua during the third round. 

The 15 longest drives of that season were all recorded on that hole during that round, but they were all later excluded from the official records. As a result, Homa bested Davis Love III's 476-yard effort by the barest of margins this week to stand alone at the top of the longest official drives in PGA Tour history.

Homa's drive helped set up a birdie in the third round en-route to a five-under 68 to leave him tied 17th on -15 after earlier rounds of 67 and 69.

His drive is remarkable as he averaged 305 yards off the tee during the 2022-23 season, which ranked 62nd on Tour - 21 yards behind Rory McIlroy's average of 326 yards at the top.

But Homa, who won his first DP World Tour title in South Africa in November, undoubtedly made the most of conditions in Maui where the seventh is a downhill, dogleg right, which played downwind on Saturday. 

The Plantation course, which has 400 feet of elevation change, also has a history of staging big drives, and in 2022/2023 the majority of 400+ yards drives on the PGA Tour were hit here.

Nevertheless, news of Homa's strike is likely to add fresh impetus to the debate on the merits of the distance the ball travels in professional golf. Last month the R&A and USGA confirmed that testing conditions for golf ball conformation will change, rendering nearly every golf ball in circulation non-conforming from January 2028.

The game’s governing bodies have been hinting at rolling back the ball for years in attempts to reduce the impact that increased hitting distances are having on golf’s long-term sustainability.

Longer hitting at the top of the game meant longer golf courses were necessary - meaning more water, more resources, more equipment, more staff and more money to maintain.

The other aspect behind the testing change was to ensure golf courses were being played in ways they were originally designed and not overpowered by the driver-wedge game plan of the modern pro. Increased costs due to moving bunkers or re-designing greens also played a part in the decision.

How To Watch Genesis Scottish Open Live Stream 2023

Rory McIlroy, who has not won in Scotland in his career, leads going into the final round by one a shot after a three-under par third-round. He was four under after 11 holes but, in his own words, “made that first bogey on 12 and it was a little scrappy coming in from there.”

It is congested at the top of the leaderboard with 17 players within 5 shots of the lead. There is a competition-within-a-competition in that the final three qualifying places for The Open will go to the three highest finishers at the Genesis Scottish Open who have not already qualified. Eric Cole and Byeong Hun An lead the chase for these places.

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

The Genesis Scottish Open boasts a stellar field including defending champion Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Jordan Spieth. Eight of the world’s top-10 ranked golfers will be playing with only Jon Rahm and LIV Golf’s Cam Smith absent. The field also includes the current US Open champion, and world number 11, Wyndham Clark, and past Major champions Justin Thomas, Justin Rose, Shane Lowry and Adam Scott.

The Genesis Scottish Open is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour. This, allied to it being played the week before the Open Championship with a prize fund of $9,000,000, has attracted many top golfers from the US circuit.

It is a modern course on the East Lothian coast adjacent to Muirfield, designed by American Tom Doak. It opened in 2008, and was extensively remodelled a few years later. Built with the intention of attracting top professional events, it has been home to the Scottish Open since 2019, and has also hosted the 2017 Scottish Senior Open and the Ladies Scottish Opens of 2019 and 2020.

The course is “packed with variety, originality and wow-factor,” according to our reviewer Rob Smith. Although not a true links course, it does blend aspects of links and inland golf, as it runs through and beside ancient pine woodland, along cliffs and over drystone walls. It opens with several holes carved through the forest before heading towards the Firth of Forth where the best holes are found around the turn.

If you're looking for a Genesis Scottish Open live stream, the article below will tell you how to watch the latest tournament from the DP World Tour.

UK TV Schedule – How To Watch Genesis Scottish Open Live Stream

All times BST

Thursday, July 13: 8am-6.30pm (Sky Sports Golf)

Friday, July 14: 8am-6.30pm (Sky Sports Golf)

Saturday, July 15: 7am-2pm (Sky Sports Golf)

Sunday, July 16: 7am-2pm (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 to 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.

Genesis Scottish Open Live Stream 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 you won't be able to tune into your regular streaming service if you're away from home because of geo-blocking. 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.

US TV Schedule – How To Watch Genesis Scottish Open Live Stream

All times EDT

Thursday, July 13: 8.30am-12.30pm (Golf Channel)

Friday, July 14: 8.30am-12.30pm (Golf Channel)

Saturday, July 15: 4am-6am (Golf Channel)

Sunday, July 16: 4.30am-6.30am-12pm (Golf Channel) 

NBC's Golf Channel will televise the action from the Genesis Scottish Open. 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 add-on which usually has a very reasonable introductory price for your first month. Again, just cancel when you're done.

Australia TV Schedule – How To Watch Genesis Scottish Open Live Stream

All times AEST

Thursday, July 13: 5pm-3.30am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Friday, July 14: 5pm-3.30am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Saturday, July 15: 7.30pm-5am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Sunday, July 16: 7.30pm-5am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

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 North Berwick here, it also 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 favourite streaming service just like they would at home can use a VPN to watch their Tour live stream of choice.

Genesis Scottish Open tee times and pairings: Round 4

Leading players’ tee times (in PT/ET/BST/AEST) and scores:

* = not currently qualified into this year’s Open Championship

• 12.02am/3.02am/8.02am/5.02pm Xander Schauffele (-7), Tyrrell Hatton (-8), Sebastian Soderberg* (-8)
• 12.13am/3.13am/8.13am/5.13pm Joakim Lagergren* (-8), David Lingmerth* (-8), Robert MacIntyre (-8)
• 12.24am/3.24am/8.24am/5.24pm Max Homa (-9), Harry Hall (-9), Tom Hoge (-9)
• 12.35am/3.35am/8.35am/5.35pm Byeong Hun An* (-10), Scottie Scheffler (-10), Shane Lowry (-10)
• 12.46am/3.46am/8.46am/5.46pm JT Poston (-10), Eric Cole* (-10), Brian Harman (-11)
• 12.57am/3.57am/8.57am/5.57pm Tommy Fleetwood (-11), Tom Kim (-12), Rory McIlroy (-13)

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. 

Max Homa is known as one of the good guys on the PGA Tour and, at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, he brought the surrounding crowds into raptures, with a hole-in-one on the par 3 15th, his second on the PGA Tour.

Starting his final round, Homa was -10 and well back of overnight leader Rickie Fowler. However, three birdies in his first five holes moved him up the leaderboard, before a bogey at the sixth and a birdie at the eighth kept him at three-under-par going into the back nine.

A bogey at the 13th followed, but Homa then made an incredible shot at the par 3 15th, with his 140-yard tee shot pitching just past the hole and spinning into the centre of the cup for the first hole-in-one of the week.

After the ball had dropped, Homa didn't seem too phased, as he calmly flicked his wrist and high-fived his playing partners. Not only did the ace move him to four-under for the day and -14 for the tournament, but it also moved him inside the top-25 as he faced his final few holes of the round.

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 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

On Friday, Max Homa was one of the big names to miss the cut at the US Open, with the American finishing his round with consecutive double bogeys to finish at four-over-par, two shots back of the two-over-par cut line.

It was a disappointing day for Homa, whose struggles at Major championships continued at Los Angeles Country Club despite the fact he shot the course record at LACC in 2013. However, Homa's work ethic couldn't be questioned as, on Saturday morning, he was spotted still at the golf course working on his game at the range.

Following his round, Homa wrote the following statement: "Incredibly disappointing round. That one hurt a lot. I try my hardest every day to be the best I can be, and days like this are really tough to handle. 

"I want to say how grateful I am for everyone who has sent me an encouraging message. I see them and appreciate it. To those of you sending hate, I hope it fills whatever void in your heart. I know who I am and I know what I can do. I'll keep hammering away at that rock."

In 16 Major appearances, Homa has recorded just one top-20, which came at the 2022 PGA Championship where he finished in a tie for 13th. Having missed nine cuts, his other six results in the big four tournaments have been above the top-40.

Currently, Homa has six PGA Tour titles to his name with five of them coming in a two-year period. Although he has seen his world ranking rise significantly, as well as making 102 cuts out of 167, he will look to put in a good performance at Royal Liverpool in July as The Open Championship rounds out the final men's Major of the year.

Max Homa is widely tipped to make his Major breakthrough in the not-too-distant future – and a look at his record at Los Angeles Country Club suggests that he may enjoy a pretty good run at this week’s US Open.

Ten years ago, Homa, a senior at Cal, shot a nine-under 61 at LACC, setting a course record that remains in place to this day. Although a round that low seems unlikely, especially during US Open conditions, Homa is clearly a fan of the layout.

The 32-year-old, who has six wins on the PGA Tour, carded that remarkable 61 on day one of the 2013 Pac-12 Championship, and golf fans tuning into the third men’s Major Championship of the year this week are sure to hear a lot about it.

“This is why golf is so bad. I remember not getting up-and-down from the front bunker on six for birdie, and I remember three-putting eight, so I could have shot 59, so that bothers me,” said Homa, when asked about his memories of that special day.

“But I remember I didn't really make a lot of long putts, but I made a few good-sized mid-range putts, and I just felt like I was putting uphill all day. I did everything great, but I just remember putting uphill all day.

“We've all had those days in golf where as professionals where just everything is clicking. It was just really cool that it happened during the Pac-12 Championship on this golf course. It's nice when those things line up and when they really matter and not when I'm playing my friends who I'm giving six shots to at home and it doesn't really matter.

“I just remember it all clicking, but it just felt so easy. Then we had to play 18 holes right after that because we had a 36-hole day, and the golf course was not nearly as easy as I remembered it one hour prior, and I just hung on for dear life for three more rounds.”

Homa might boast the course record at LACC with that 61, but a player by the name of Stewart Hagestad has gone lower – two shots lower in fact, the US Mid-Am star firing a 59 on the North Course of  his home club just last year.

In a message sent to Golf Digest, Hagestad, who was enjoying a round with friends, said that he wasn’t playing from the back tees, although he estimated that he played the George C. Thomas beauty at 6,800 yards – and it was so nearly a 58.

It's safe to say anyone teeing it up this week will be more than happy anything sub 70, with the course appearing to be set up as a bit of a brute. 

Max Homa goes in search of the first Major victory of his career in this week’s US Open in his home city of Los Angeles.

The tournament is known for being one of the most difficult challenges in the game, but the 32-year-old is relishing the prospect of the cut and thrust of the action at Los Angeles Country Club.

Homa won the 2013 Pac-12 Championship at the venue – a performance that including an outstanding 61 during the first round which set the course record. Speaking to the media in the build-up to this week's tournament, Homa said he wasn’t sure that would happen again, particularly if the conditions are as he hopes.

He said: “When I got here Sunday and Monday wasn't too firm, and I played with JT yesterday and he probably could have shot 61 if we had played 18 holes, so it's firmed up a lot since then, the nine holes we just played.

“It's going to be pretty hard. Yeah, I think the sun being out is real helpful. A little bit of wind is going to make it spicy. I hope it's carnage. I hope it's a typical US Open. This golf course lends itself to that."

Homa doesn’t have the best record in Majors so far in his career and has yet to finish in the top 10 in any. However, he said he hopes the familiarity he already has with course will stand him in good stead.

He explained: “Knowing where my hotel is, knowing where the locker room is here, knowing what the golf course looks like having played it before so that the practice rounds don't feel like we're re-learning a golf course, we're not just seeing it for the first time, that can always be a little difficult.”

“Any leg up is valuable with how great these golfers are. I do look at that as a bit of a boost. All the guys who played the Pac-12s here, anybody who played here prior, it's definitely a bit of an advantage.”

'My Golf Game Is Plenty Good Enough To Contend In These Things'

Still, Homa is acutely aware that his Major record needs improvement, and he revealed his underwhelming form in them is partly due to trying too hard. He said: “I really do believe that my golf game is plenty good enough to contend in these things.

"I think I've shown that in other PGA Tour events. I've won six times, a lot of them recently. I've done it on some pretty great golf courses, some hard golf courses. I just think I get here and I try too hard."

It was clear how much performing well in Los Angeles means to Homa following his tearful appearance in front of the media after his runner-up finish behind Jon Rahm at February’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club.

Homa explained that the US Open being in the city makes it all the more special. He said: “All four Majors mean a ton, but this event to the Americans, this is our championship.

"If it was anywhere it would be special, but just an added bit of excitement being here, I think it's all positive. There's nothing really negative I could say about that. I can't wait for the event to start to hear all the noise, because like I said, at Riviera this year was wild. I can't imagine if something like that were to happen here.”

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. 

The US Open returns to Southern California at a spectacular venue right in the heart of Los Angeles. The George Thomas designed Los Angeles Country Club is an oasis that sits right off Wilshire Boulevard, one of the busiest streets in the country. Yet the club nicknamed “L.A.C.C.” rarely lets the public in to see its majesty, as this will be the first Men’s professional major champion held at the ultra-private venue. 

We, as fans, have had very limited exposure to the Thomas masterpiece, as it has only hosted five L.A. Opens over 50 years ago, the 1930 U.S. Women’s Amateur, the 1954 U.S. Junior Amateur, and the 2017 Walker Cup. Los Angeles Country Club is not just a unique venue due to its location and exclusivity, it’s a singular golf course that does not even remotely resemble many US Open venues that we have seen in the past. With some fairways measuring over 80 yards in width, a large barranca traversing through the property, and molar-shaped greens, Los Angeles Country feels like an Australian Sand-belt course placed in the heart of one of the biggest metropolitan cities in the country. 

As is the case with any major championship, storylines are abound this week, and the recent PGA Tour-LIV merger will be a conversation topic on the grounds that will be hard to avoid. From a golf standpoint, many intriguing questions remain as well. Can Brooks continue his momentum and pick up major number six? Can Scottie Scheffler finally capitalize on what has been a historic ball-striking season? Can Jon Rahm pick up both his second major of the year and his second major in California? Can players with Los Angeles ties, such as Collin Morikawa, Max Homa, and Patrick Cantlay, deliver for the hometown fans? All of this remains to be seen, but fireworks are sure to ensue at what will be one of the most anticipated major championships in recent memory.

Before we get into our picks for the US Open, 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 US Open selections this week.

US Open: Course Preview

Los Angeles Country Club

Los Angeles Country Club is a one-of-one. Designed in 1928 by George Thomas and later restored by Gil Hanse, Jim Wager, and Geoff Shackleford, the sacred venue is finally opening its gates to Men’s professional golf. Playing as a par 70 and tipping out to just over 7,400 yards on the scorecard, Los Angeles Country Club is a beast, but length is far from the defining feature here. With the firmness of the tough and the elevated changes, I would still expect the Thomas design to play shorter than it’s scorecard yardage. Let’s also consider the multitude of set-up options that Los Angeles Country Club provides. For example, in the Walker Cup, the 133-yard 15th hole played as short as 78 yards one day. 

USGA officials have already been open about the fact that they may set the course up very differently from day to day. Unlike previous US Opens, I do not believe this venue can be reduced to a long-drive contest. The width in the fairway and the brutal consequence of big misses should favor more accurate driving than sheer power. Many mistake wider fairways as being advantageous for a bomb and gauge strategy, but it’s actually the golf courses such as Torrey Pines, Bay Hill, Oak Hill, and Winged Foot, with incredibly narrow fairways but little consequence for large misses that give way to the aforementioned boring style of golf. 

Los Angeles Country Club is far more about angles and certainly more of a second-shot golf course than we have seen from US major venues in the past. There will still be an extremely large plurality of long iron approach shots here, and those who miss greens will be penalized by incredibly deep bunkers and comically thick greenside Bermuda rough. The putting surfaces also have far more tilt and character to them than recent major venues such as Torrey Pines and Oak Hill, and players will be hard-pressed to find a flat putt on the entire golf course. This week, I am primarily looking for players that avoid wide misses off the tee, are elite with their long irons, possess tremendous creativity around the greens, and have a proven track record of success on firm golf courses.

US Open Key Stats

• Strokes Gained Total: Firm Golf Courses
• Proximity 200 yards plus
• Strokes Gained Around the Green: Firm Golf Courses

US Open: Outright Winner

Patrick Cantlay (+1700) (Bet $100 to collect $1,800) FanDuel has the best Partick Cantlay odds

I understand that many golf bettors have become frustrated with backing Patrick Cantlay at such short notice, particularly in major championships where he has failed to truly contend. Yet I would exercise patience and look at the track record of many of the world’s best prior to their big breakthrough. Winning has actually not been the problem for Cantlay, who already owns eight PGA Tour victories, with five of them coming in extremely strong fields. Yet his major record still leaves much to be desired. On the surface, with 12 top-25s in 25 major starts, Cantlay has been an incredibly consistent performer in these events, but it’s the lack of truly high-end finishes that leaves bettors frustrated. 

I am far from deterred, and I have a strong feeling that Cantlay is going to make a major statement this week on a golf course where he has already fired a 62 before in the PAC-12 Championships when he was at UCLA. There are many reasons for my bullishness on Cantlay this week, but his driving ability deserves the first mention. 

Cantlay has morphed into a top-three driver of the ball in the world, gaining over 3.5 strokes off the tee in seven of his last nine starts. His ball-striking has allowed him to develop an extremely high floor, with 12 top-30 finishes in 13 starts, including six top-10s. Cantlay has also vastly improved his long iron play this year, ranking ninth in proximity from 200 yards plus this season. Of the elite players, I also still trust his putter the most. 

Cantlay has remained the number one Bent-grass putter in the world over the last two years, and he ranks seventh in putting from five to ten feet, an incredibly underrated skill that is crucial to keeping rounds from de-railing at golf courses this challenging. Cantlay is too good of a player to remain major-less for much longer, and I would actually wager that this is the first of multiple major victories for the former UCLA standout.

As you can see from OddsChecker's odds comparison above, Patrick Cantlay's odds range from +1400 to +1700. Cantlay is +1400 on DraftKings but +1600 at Ceasares and BetMGM and +1700 at FanDuel. Claim an additional $300 in profit just by betting your $100 on FanDuel this week rather than other popular sportsbooks.

Xander Schauffele (+2000) (Bet $100 to collect $2,100) Go to FanDuel for the best Xander Schauffele odds

Many of my same frustrations present with Cantlay likely apply to Xander Schauffele. The key difference is that Schauffele’s record at US Opens has been second to none, with five top-10s in six appearances. While I do believe that this will be unique from previous USGA set-ups, the one recent US Open venue I would point to as a strong reference point is Shinnecock Hills, where Schauffele finished sixth. A contending performance at Carnoustie, a 13th at Southern Hills, and a sterling track record at Augusta National leave me feeling incredibly optimistic about his ability on firm golf courses. 

In fact, the San Diego native ranks third in this field on golf courses that I would categorize as firm. From a statistical standpoint, the case for Schauffele is incredibly simple. He remains one of the most well-rounded players in the world and is now returning to a firm golf course in his home state at a major that he is always relevant at. Xander ranks 13th in good drive percentage on firm golf courses, fifth in overall approach play, second in proximity from 200 yards plus, top-40 in every short game metric I am looking at, and 15th in Bent-grass putting. He’s done just about everything but cross the finish line this year, with 11 top-25s in 14 starts. Schauffele’s numbers look a whole lot similar to last year right before he reeled off back-to-back wins, and if he continues to put himself in the mix, I’m extremely confident the cards will break in his favor at one of the big ones. 

Once again, you can see the power of odds comparison. OddsChecker has flagged that Xander Schauffele is +1800 at Caesars but +2000 at DraftKings, BetMGM, and FanDuel. Claim an additional $200 in profit just by betting your $100 on FanDuel this week.

On Tuesday, the professional golf landscape changed drastically, with it being announced that LIV Golf, the PGA Tour and DP World Tour struck a historic agreement after over a year of division.

Following the surprising news, social media reacted heavily to the announcement, with Netflix's 'Full Swing' docuseries producer, Chad Mumm, revealing that cameras were indeed rolling when the news broke.

Taking to Twitter, Mumm, who has already dropped a few hints of what series 2 of Full Swing will contain, wrote: "You better believe we were filming when this broke. #FullSwing," with the producer then explaining that the timing of the news was a "good break".

Already, in 2023, we know that the second series will drop next year, with Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry spotted wearing microphones during the third round of the PGA Championship.

Along with the Major pairing, Max Homa was also spotted wearing a microphone during the first round of the Masters in April, with the American reportedly filmed during the 2023 Waste Management Phoenix Open, an event in which he finished 39th.

The first season of Full Swing debuted in February with eight episodes following some of the sport's biggest names throughout 2022. The show documented all four of the men's Majors and culminated with the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Playoffs, an event which was won by McIlroy.

Although it's unclear as to what was caught on film when the news was released, Netflix certainly chose a good time to make Full Swing, with the rise of LIV Golf and the recent agreement only hyping up what is in store for 2024.

Rory McIlroy has been confirmed as one of the players who will be in attendance at the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open. 

The Northern Irishman will tee it up alongside a list of huge names for the co-sanctioned event. 

Some of those will included World No 1 Scottie Scheffler, two-time Major champion Justin Thomas and Olympic champion Xander Schauffele. 

Plenty of golfers from the UK and Ireland will also be in the field, with Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose and Seamus Power all set to add to the stellar cast of names. 

McIlroy is the latest addition to that list, after it was announced today that he will compete at The Renaissance Club on July 13, just a week before the Open Championship kicks off on July 20.

After it was announced this morning, McIlroy said: “I’m pleased to be able to add the Genesis Scottish Open to my schedule again this season. 

"The Scottish fans have always been very supportive of me and it would be great to win a title in the home of golf.”

A press release said: "The four-time Major winner brings further excitement to a stellar field that includes World Number One Scottie Scheffler, fellow Major champions Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose and Justin Thomas, defending champion Xander Schauffele, European Ryder Cup stars Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton, PGA TOUR winners Sam Burns, Max Homa, Im Sungjae and Seamus Power and Scotland’s number one, Robert MacIntyre."

His attendance at the Rolex Series event was teased this morning on Twitter, with the Scottish Open posting a picture of a golf bag featured the 34-year-old's trade-mark St Bernard dog head cover sitting in front of a grand stand at a previous tournament. 

The four-time Major winner was not in attendance at last year's event as Xander Schauffele, who despite hitting a bogey on the 18th, held on to beat Kurt Kitayama by one stroke. 

The Northern Irishman, meanwhile, had previously excluded himself from that event claiming he "hadn't got what he had been looking for" in his past two outings at the Scottish Open. 

After missing the cut in 2021 placing T88, McIlroy admitted that he was left with "more questions than answers" going into the Open Championship that season, and decided that he would abstain from the tournament in 2022. 

He has only played the Scottish open four times in the last 13 years, with his best finish coming in 2014 where he placed T14. 

But he will return this season to take on the North Berwick golf course, as he hopes to find his groove ahead of the Open at Royal Liverpool Golf Club the following week.

Despite having won at the CJ Cup earlier this season, it's been a very difficult few months for the World No 3. 

He came into the season bounding in form after clinching both the FedEx Cup and the DP World Tour's Race to Dubai title. 

And it looked like McIlroy could end his career grand slam woes and finally claim a coveted green jacket too, after he came second at the Arnold Palmer Invitational before coming third at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play. 

But after a disappointing opening two rounds at Augusta National, he missed the cut at the Masters and that knocked him off his stride, with the 34-year-old taking some time away from the game to focus on his wellbeing, notably missing out on one of his designated events. 

He rallied at the PGA Championship to card a solid T7 finish and will now participate in this weekend's Memorial Tournament at the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio.

The PGA Championship starts on Thursday and soon we will know who will win the second major of 2023. With Jon Rahm slipping on the Green Jacket at Augusta, there was no room for a longshot victory there, but will that change at Oak Hill this week?

We are looking for five players at +4000 and bigger that can make an impact at the 2023 PGA Championship, rewarding us with a potentially huge payday if they can get the win in New York this week.

We have picks ranging from +4000 thru to +12000 so read on below for the five longshots we believe can win the PGA Championship this week.

Before we get into our favorite PGA Championship longshots, make sure you first check out the very best PGA Championship promos below. Here you can grab $350 worth of guaranteed bonuses on your first PGA Championship outright, plus you can claim $1000's in first bet insurance so you can wager with more confidence this week.

Max Homa

Max Homa (+4000) Get the best odds on Max Homa at DraftKings

Say what you will about the Official World Golf Rankings, but Max Homa currently ranks as the 6th best player in the world, following his three wins since May 2022, yet he is priced behind more than 15 players this week to win the PGA Championship.

Now a six-time winner on the PGA Tour, five of which have come since the start of 2021, Max Homa has reinvented himself as one of the best players on the circuit, and now it is time for him to show that in one of the four biggest events of the year.

He is priced this way because his T13 finish in this event last year remains his only top-15 finish in a major, and he's only made six cuts in fourteen major starts. Five of those made cuts have come in his last six major starts though which suggests he is trending towards a bigger performance in these huge events.

A final round 78 at Augusta cost him a shot at another strong finish in these major championships, but he was going along nicely there before severe weather delays over the weekend.

Many will have an eye on him for the US Open in California, but I will take a chance that the man who ranks, 9th in SG Approach, 13th in SG Tee to Green, 10th in SG Putting, and 26th in SG Around the Green, as well as 22nd in Total Driving, and 3rd in Approaches from 200-225 Yards, will challenge at this demanding layout.

Tyrrell Hatton

Tyrrell Hatton (+4600) Get the best odds on this Tyrrell Hatton pick at FanDuel

Like Max Homa, Tyrrell Hatton has something to prove in major championships, but as a player that has reached #5 in the World, and as someone who is playing like that again right now, I think he presents some great value here.

Hatton has two 10th-place finishes in PGA Championships and has also finished 6th in a US Open. Add that to two top 6 finishes at the Open Championship and you do have a player that at least knows how to get on the first page of a leaderboard in the big events.

The Englishman has posted five top-6 finishes on the PGA Tour in 2023, two of which have come in his past two outings at the Wells Fargo Championship, and just last week at the Byron Nelson Championship. 

A beneficiary of the Tour's new elevated event schedule, Hatton has been competing in the very best fields all season, with his runner-up finish at The Players Championship his standout performance so far.

His two best finishes in this event have come in easier scoring conditions which will be a worry, but his T6 finish down the road at Shinnecock Hills in the 2018 US Open provides confidence that he can tough it out in harder conditions.

Hatton ranks inside the top 11 for SG Approach (11th), SG Off the Tee (11th), SG Tee to Green (6th), and Total Driving (9th) all of which contribute to him ranking 5th in SG Total on the PGA Tour this season. Alongside Patrick Cantlay, Hatton may well be playing the best golf of anyone without a win on the PGA Tour this season, and what better way to double your career PGA Tour win tally, than a major major?

Adam Scott

Adam Scott (+8000) Get the best odds on this Adam Scott pick at DraftKings

We have seen Jason Day and Justin Rose pick up wins for the first time in a number of years, and whilst you only have to go back to 2020 for Scott's last win, I still group him together with these two.

Scott has been somewhat out of the limelight for a while now, and he will be looking for a big week here at the PGA Championship to halt his current slide which could see him fall out of the top 50 before long. 

The good news for Scott is that things seem to be turning a corner, with back-to-back top 8 finishes at the Wells Fargo (T5) and the Byron Nelson (T8) over the past two weeks.

At Quail Hollow Scott was firing on all cylinders, gaining stokes in all major areas, and he was particularly good with his irons. This is something you would normally attribute to Scott anyway, but he's struggled with his approaches in 2023 in general, which is what has held him back.

The rest of his game is in fine shape, having gained strokes Off the Tee in all but two events this year, and his short game has also been tidy, gaining strokes Around the Green in 10 of his 11 starts and also Putting in 8 of his 11 starts. If he can keep these areas of his game ticking along, and fire again with his irons, he promises to make a run at this tournament.

Scott has finished inside the top 9 six times in this major, with none so perhaps more significant than his T8 at Bethpage Black in 2019. Scott closed out major season well in 2022 with back-to-back top 15s in the US Open and Open Championship, and whilst he failed to make a run at Augusta this year, he started well enough there, sitting 6th after round 1 and 20th going into the weekend.

Gary Woodland

Gary Woodland (+11000) Get the best odds on this Gary Woodland pick at PointsBet

Gary Woodland is a beast Tee to Green and if he can find anything resembling a decent putting stroke this week, he's going to contend in this tough test.

Despite only posting three top 15 finishes on the PGA Tour in 2023 (one of which came at The Masters), Gary Woodland is up there with the very best in terms of Ball Striking, and his prodigious length is still an advantage.

Woodland ranks 10th in SG Approach, 10th in SG Off the Tee, 22nd in SG Tee to Green, 8th in Driving Distance, and 12th in Total Driving, and when you look at his approach numbers from certain ranges he also seems to get better the further away he is from the hole. Woodland ranks 3rd in Approaches >200 Yards, 5th in Approaches 200-225 Yards, and 7th in Approaches 250-275 Yards. He also ranks 11th from 150-175 which suggests no matter where he finds himself this week, he should be able to control his approaches to the greens.

The concern is when he gets on the putting surface, but he did gain strokes on the greens at Augusta and at the RBC Heritage, so in two of his past four starts he's shown improvement in that department, even if he threw all that good work away by losing over 7 strokes putting, on the greens in Mexico.

Ultimately, Woodland is a former US Open winner, who also has two top 8 finishes in this event, one of which came at the 2019 renewal at Bethpage Black, which is a nice indicator for this week.

Justin Rose

Justin Rose +12000 Get the best odds on this Justin Rose pick at FanDuel

It is a toss up between Justin Rose and Gary Woodland as to who I believe represents the best value in the field this week, and I am leaning towards the 2013 US Open winner, Rose as the best bet.

Rose returned to the Winner's Circle at Pebble Beach earlier this season, before finishing T6 at The Players Championship. A rather pedestrian finish at the Valspar followed, but he once again put in a strong performance at Augusta, where he was T9 after 54 holes, eventually finishing T16.

Since then he's finished T25 at the RBC Heritage, where he was again better placed before the week was up, as he sat in 2nd place going into the weekend. 

The Englishman's current form is being overlooked, and the fact he has gained strokes with his irons in eight-straight events certainly catches the eye.

Rose is a winner and a runner-up at Aronimink, another Donald Ross design in the Northeast, and when you add in two runner-up finishes at East Lake and 6th and 16th place finishes at the Ross-designed, Plainfield, in New Jersey, Rose clearly possesses hatfuls of potentially correlative form.

You have to go back six years for the last time Justin Rose finished outside the top 29 in this major, with 3rd, 4th, 8th, and 9th place finishes all in recent enough memory to add to Rose's confidence this week.

This might be last-chance saloon for the 42-year-old, who will be looking to double his major-winning tally, and whilst he's in this form, this might be his best chance, looking at the remaining majors this season.

Wells Fargo Championship 2023 Live Stream

The PGA Tour heads to the Wells Fargo Championship this week and it will take place once again at Quail Hollow Club, after a one-year hosting at TPC Potomac. This was due to Quail Hollow hosting the Presidents Cup in 2022.

This tournament is now a designated event and will feature a purse of $20 million as a result. Of course, as a result the field is of a high-quality, despite Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler skipping the event. Rory McIlroy returns to action for the first time since The Masters, Max Homa is the defending champion and Jordan Spieth will compete at the tournament for the first time since 2013. Then you have players like Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. 

The course was first laid out by George Cobb before getting upgraded by Tom Fazio before the 2017 PGA Championship. The last time it hosted the tournament it was ranked as the fifth-toughest golf course on the PGA Tour and its famed 'Green Mile' closing stretch will undoubtedly test the top players this week.

Below are all the broadcast and streaming details for the event.

Wells Fargo Championship 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 in the world. Below we have a full list of options but anyone away from their home country can still watch the action 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.

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US TV Schedule - 2023 Wells Fargo Championship

All times EST

Thursday, May 4: 2pm-6pm (Golf Channel)

Friday, May 5: 2pm-6pm (Golf Channel)

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

Sunday, May 7: 1pm-3pm (Golf Channel), 3pm-6pm (CBS)

NBC's Golf Channel will televise action during the week and CBS will takeover when the tournament heats up over the weekend. Bearing this in mind you can access the Golf Channel through streaming options such as AT&T TV Now and fuboTV.

AT&T TV Now starts at around $55 a month but does have a 7-day free trial. While fuboTV also offers the Golf Channel and 100+ other channels and also has a 7-day free trial.

We also recommend Sling TV in the US as well. At $51 per month, Sling Blue with the Sports add-on brings NBC and Golf Channel, and it is also half price for your first month.

UK TV Schedule - 2023 Wells Fargo Championship

Thursday, May 4: 6pm-11pm (Sky Sports Golf)

Friday, May 5: 6pm-11pm (Sky Sports Golf)

Saturday, May 6: 5pm-11pm (Sky Sports Golf)

Sunday, May 7: 5pm-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 - 2023 Wells Fargo Championship

Thursday, May 4: 9.30pm-8am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Friday, May 5: 9.30pm-8am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Sunday, May 7: 3am-8am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Monday, May 8: 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 North Carolina here, it has all the PGA Tour, DP World Tour events and the Majors. It also has events on the LPGA as well.

It of course 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 fantastic value at either $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 14-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.

Wells Fargo Championship Tee Times

(Selected)

• 7:23am - Max Homa, Patrick Cantlay, Sahith Theegala (10)
• 7:34am - Matt Fitzpatrick, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day (10)
• 7:45am - Tony Finau, Corey Conners, Harris English (10)
• 12:43pm - Tom Kim, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth (1)
• 12:54pm - Keegan Bradley, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler (1)
• 1:05pm - Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Cameron Young (1)
• 1:16pm - Sam Burns, Adam Scott, Shane Lowry (1)
• 1:27pm - Si Woo Kim, Trey Mullinax, Tyrrell Hatton (1)

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The PGA Tour returns stateside following its second annual stop at the Mexico Open at Vidanta, where Tony Finau avenged his loss to Jon Rahm last season with a three-stroke victory over the Spaniard, finishing at -24-under-par for his first outright win of the season. Vidanta was a birdie fest, but this week’s newly designated event, the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship, will be a much more arduous test.

Quail Hollow Club is the course that will host the field of 156 players this weekend, returning here after the event was moved to TPC Potomac in 2022 due to the President’s Cup. Its location in Charlotte, North Carolina, promises to deliver good weather, which is a huge factor in a course that ranks as tough as Quail Hollow. We’ve only seen two winners during the previous three events, with Max Homa winning at Avenel Farm in 2022 and at Quail Hollow in 2019. The 2020 event was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic but returned here in 2021, where Rory McIlroy logged his third outright win of his career at this course, finishing at -10-under-par. 

DFS is always more fun when we get a designated event, attracting the sport’s best competitors for maximum lineup production. Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm won’t be in attendance. Still, virtually every other star golfer will be at the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship, including McIlroy, who hasn’t been on a course since missing the cut at The Masters with a final scorecard of +5. Other notable names include Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, and Jordan Spieth. 

After analyzing Quail Hollow Club’s course difficulty and the players in attendance, I’ve identified six of my favorite prospects to invest in on DraftKings and FanDuel ahead of Thursday’s opening round tee times. Let’s find out why each golfer deserves to be prioritized in DFS lineups as they prepare to tee off at the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship.

Before we get into our Wells Fargo Championship DFS Picks and Targets, make sure to take a moment to check out these awesome sports betting offers for this week. You can use one of the HUGE first bet offers to wager with more confidence on your 2023 Wells Fargo Championship selections this week.

DraftKings $50,000 Maximum Salary

Xander Schauffele ($10,700)

Xander Schauffele logged a T14 finish at Quail Hollow in 2021, so he’s comfortable playing on this difficult course, especially with his current form. The 29-year-old Californian has gone T19, T10, and fourth in his previous three solo stroke play events, delivering 15-19 birdies during each of these outings. It helps that Schauffele is ranked seventh in total strokes gained, including fourth approaching the green and ninth tee-to-green, combined with a confident putter. He’s a blue-chip prospect worth investing in despite the high salary on DraftKings. 

Jordan Spieth ($9,600)

While we haven’t seen Jordan Spieth compete in the Wells Fargo Championship in several years, he dominated the President’s Cup at this course last season. Combine that performance with his inability to close out Matt Fitzpatrick at the RBC Heritage sudden-death playoff during his last event played. We can expect an explosive performance from Spieth at Quail Hollow Club this weekend. Spieth is the definition of consistent, logging four T5 finishes in his past five events played. Don’t hesitate to pounce on Spieth’s value and get him locked into lineups.

Tommy Fleetwood ($8,000)

The last time we saw Tommy Fleetwood at Quail Hollow during this event, he logged a T14 finish alongside Schauffele. The 32-year-old Englishman has had a variety of finishes this season, with only two T10s through 10 events, but he’s among the best iron players on the PGA Tour. Fleetwood is ranked 10th in total strokes gained, including third around the green and 14th tee-to-green, while efficiently scrambling to either save par or deliver a par breaker, averaging 4.03 birdies per round this season. At $8,000, Fleetwood is a rock-solid value to acquire, so get him into lineups.

FanDuel $60,000 Maximum Salary

Viktor Hovland ($10,600)

Viktor Hovland is a great investment amongst the cheaper blue-chip options this week. The Norwegian golfer logged a T3 finish here at Quail Hollow during the 2021 Wells Fargo Championship, going -7-under-par across the final two rounds to surge up to a T3 finish alongside Keith Mitchell. Hovland has a few flaws in his game, and it’s just the consistency aspect that can burn us in DFS. He’s ranked seventh in strokes gained off-the-tee, fourth in total driving, and hits over 68 percent of greens in regulation, which makes Hovland a considerable asset that could win a few contests by inserting him into lineups this weekend.

Sahith Theegala ($9,800)

Sahith Theegala continues to improve each week on the PGA Tour. Since it’s only his second season, he missed out on Quail Hollow at this event back in 2021, but Theegala is built for this course. Plus, he’s a birdie machine, averaging 4.34 per round, ranked 14th on the PGA Tour. His metrics don’t pop as much as some other players that have been recommended, but Theegala has logged two consecutive T10 finishes, including a T5 at the RBC Heritage. A couple of weeks off to rest and practice should result in the 25-year-old Californian manufacturing another strong outing to collect his eighth T10 finish this season. Plug Theegala into FanDuel lineups at a relatively nice value.

Keith Mitchell ($9,600)

Surprisingly, Keith Mitchell has been consistently good at the Wells Fargo Championship throughout his recent appearances at the event. Mitchell logged a T3 finish at -8-under-par with Hovland at Quail Hollow during McIlroy’s win in 2021 while previously delivering a T8 finish during Max Homa’s outright win in 2019. Mitchell is ranked sixth in strokes gained off-the-tee, 30th tee-to-green, and first overall in total driving. Of course, a 4.1 birdie average also boosts his appeal in DFS, where birdies are king. At $9,600, we aren’t overpaying for Mitchell’s past success, so let’s lock him into FanDuel lineups with confidence. 

After the Wells Fargo Championship took place at TPC Potomac in 2022, it returns to its traditional home of Quail Hollow for the latest of the PGA Tour’s designated events.

Because of that status, many of the world’s top players are in the field. However, the top two in the world, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler, have opted to skip this week’s event with the PGA Championship just two weeks away.

Despite their absence, six of the world’s top 10 still appear. The most notable among them is World No.3 Rory McIlroy, who makes his first start since missing the cut at The Masters. McIlroy had been expected to play in previous designated event the RBC Heritage, but he controversially withdrew, which will reportedly lead to a docking of his PIP award of around $3m.

in truth, McIlroy could barely have picked a better tournament to make his comeback following that disappointment at Augusta National last month. The Northern Irishman has won the tournament a record three times, most recently just two years ago, and he will be confident of having an added celebration by Sunday in the week of his 34th birthday.

Another of the world’s top 10 in attendance is defending champion Max Homa, who won a hard-fought battle after an enthralling final day in 2022. The American is the current World No.7 thanks largely to a superb 2023 to date, which has included a win in the Farmers Insurance Open and a runner-up in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club.

Last year’s victory was Homa’s second in the tournament’s following his first of his six PGA Tour wins to date in 2019. Given his excellent form, he will be another expecting to contend at the top of the leaderboard this week. 

In 2019, Homa beat Joel Dahmen by three shots, and he is also in the field this week. Last year was a tighter affair, with Homa edging out Keegan Bradley, Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young by two shots. All three return this year, but Fitzpatrick in particular will be buoyant given his victory in the RBC Heritage last month.

Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth complete the list of players from the world’s top 10 in the field.

Other notable players include 2018 winner Jason Day. The Australian former World No.1 is enjoying a resurgence in form this year and he will be confident of adding to his five top 10 finishes in 2023 so far. 

Another player enjoying a return to some of his best form is Rickie Fowler. The World No.53 won the tournament in 2012, and with some solid performances this year, including a tie for 10th at last month’s Valero Texas Open, he should be another to watch.

Last week’s Mexico Open winner Tony Finau also plays. Considering he beat Rahm, a player who has been all but unstoppable for large parts of 2023, to that title, he will surely be full of confidence going into this week.

Players are competing for a purse of $20m, while the winner will receive $3.6m with the runner-up earning $2.18m.

Below is the full prize money breakdown and field for the 2023 Wells Fargo Championship.

Wells Fargo Championship Prize Money 2023

Wells Fargo Championship Field 2023

• Alexander, Tyson
• An, Byeong Hun
• Armour, Ryan
• Bhatia, Akshay
• Blair, Zac
• Bradley, Keegan
• Bramlett, Joseph
• Brehm, Ryan
• Buckley, Hayden
• Burns, Sam
• Byrd, Marcus
• Cantlay, Patrick
• Champ, Cameron
• Cink, Stewart
• Clark, Wyndham
• Cole, Eric
• Cone, Trevor
• Conners, Corey
• Coody, Pierceson
• Daffue, MJ
• Dahmen, Joel
• Davis, Cam
• Day, Jason
• Deneen, Morgan
• Dufner, Jason
• Duncan, Tyler
• Echavarria, Nico
• Eckroat, Austin
• Endycott, Harrison
• English, Harris
• Finau, Tony
• Fitzpatrick, Matt
• Fleetwood, Tommy
• Fowler, Rickie
• Frittelli, Dylan
• Gerard, Ryan
• Ghim, Doug
• Glover, Lucas
• Gordon, Will
• Grant, Brent
• Greaser, Austin
• Griffin, Ben
• Griffin, Lanto
• Grillo, Emiliano
• Hadley, Chesson
• Hadwin, Adam
• Hahn, James
• Hall, Harry
• Hardy, Nick
• Harman, Brian
• Hatton, Tyrrell
• Herman, Jim
• Hickok, Kramer
• Higgo, Garrick
• Hodges, Lee
• Holmes, J.B.
• Homa, Max
• Hossler, Beau
• Hovland, Viktor
• Hubbard, Mark
• Hughes, Mackenzie
• Im, Sungjae
• Jaeger, Stephan
• Johnson, Zach
• Kim, Michael
• Kim, S.H.
• Kim, Si Woo
• Kim, Tom
• Kirk, Chris
• Kitayama, Kurt
• Kizzire, Patton
• Knox, Russell
• Kraft, Kelly
• Kuchar, Matt
• Laird, Martin
• Landry, Andrew
• Lashley, Nate
• Lee, K.H.
• Lingmerth, David
• Lipsky, David
• List, Luke
• Long, Adam
• Lower, Justin
• Lowry, Shane
• Malnati, Peter
• Martin, Ben
• McCarthy, Denny
• McGreevy, Max
• McIlroy, Rory
• Merritt, Troy
• Mitchell, Keith
• Molinari, Francesco
• Montgomery, Taylor
• Moore, Ryan
• Moore, Taylor
• Morikawa, Collin
• Mullinax, Trey
• NeSmith, Matthew
• Noren, Alex
• Norlander, Henrik
• Palmer, Ryan
• Pan, C.T.
• Pendrith, Taylor
• Piercy, Scott
• Poston, J.T.
• Power, Seamus
• Putnam, Andrew
• Rai, Aaron
• Ramey, Chad
• Reavie, Chez
• Redman, Doc
• Riley, Davis
• Riley, Quinn
• Rodgers, Patrick
• Ryder, Sam
• Sabbatini, Rory
• Schauffele, Xander
• Schenk, Adam
• Schwab, Matthias
• Scott, Adam
• Shelton, Robby
• Sigg, Greyson
• Simpson, Webb
• Smalley, Alex
• Smotherman, Austin
• Spaun, J.J.
• Spieth, Jordan
• Stevens, Sam
• Straka, Sepp
• Streb, Robert
• Streelman, Kevin
• Suh, Justin
• Svensson, Adam
• Tarren, Callum
• Taylor, Ben
• Theegala, Sahith
• Thomas, Justin
• Thompson, Davis
• Thompson, Michael
• Todd, Brendon
• Tosti, Alejandro
• Tway, Kevin
• Van Rooyen, Erik
• Walker, Jimmy
• Wallace, Matt
• Watney, Nick
• Werenski, Richy
• Willett, Danny
• Woodland, Gary
• Wu, Dylan
• Young, Cameron
• Young, Carson

Many of the world's top players face another huge designated event with this week's Wells Fargo Championship. The event returns to Quail Hollow after a one-year departure to TPC Potomac. But who will master the course, including its notorious three-hole closing stretch, the Green Mile, to claim the trophy?

Will Rory McIlroy extend his number of record victories in the tournament to four, or will Rickie Fowler claim his second win in the tournament following his 2012 victory? Then there’s Collin Morikawa. He has underlined his big tournament credentials with top-10 finishes at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, RBC Heritage and The Masters, indicating his next win isn’t too far away.

Here are five of the TaylorMade players we expect to shine this week.

Key Wells Fargo Championship Info

5 Players Who Could Win The 2023 Wells Fargo Championship

Rory McIlroy

• PGA Tour wins: 23
• Best Wells Fargo Championship Finish: 1st (2010, 2015, 2021)

View Rory McIlroy What's in the bag?

McIlroy has been one of the top players in the game for a long time, and few tournaments highlight that fact more than the Wells Fargo Championship. It is now 13 years since McIlroy first lifted the trophy, and he repeated the feat on two more occasions. 

His second win in the tournament came in 2015 when he romped to a seven-shot victory, including a course record 61. Not done there, he won it for a third time just two years ago.

McIlroy uses the TaylorMade Stealth 2 driver and he'll be confident it will continue to stand him in good stead as the season progresses. The signs are certainly good. McIlroy has not been outside the top three of the Official World Golf Ranking for over eight months. With three top-10 finishes in 2023 so far, including a win in the Dubai Desert Classic, there’s every chance the Northern Irishman, who turns 34 this week, will have another reason to celebrate by Sunday evening.

Collin Morikawa

• PGA Tour wins: 5
• Best Wells Fargo Championship Finish: N/A

View Collin Morikawa What's in the bag?

This will be two-time Major winner Morikawa’s first appearance in the Wells Fargo Championship, but he is familiar with the course, having represented the USA in the 2022 Presidents Cup as Davis Love III’s team overcame a spirited challenge from the International team.

The American’s last win came in November 2021, and he’s due another. There have been encouraging signs that he isn’t far away, either. Morikawa began the year in style, finishing runner-up in designated event the Sentry Tournament of Champions, before achieving third the week after in the Farmers Insurance Open. 

A tie for sixth in the third designated event of the year, February’s Genesis Invitational, underscored his appetite for the big occasion, and he finished tied for 10th in the first Major of the year, The Masters at Augusta National.

With another huge tournament upon him, don’t be surprised if Morikawa’s near the top of the leaderboard again.

Rickie Fowler

• PGA Tour wins: 5
• Best Wells Fargo Championship Finish: 1st (2012)

View Rickie Fowler What's in the bag?

Fowler returns to the scene of his maiden PGA Tour win in 2012, where he kept his cool to battle to a playoff despite starting the final round in sixth. If that was impressive, his poise in the playoff was even better as he birdied the first hole to better the efforts of McIlroy and DA Points.

After a lean run of form, Fowler has reminded everyone of his gifts this season. A tie for sixth in season opener the Fortinet Championship was swiftly followed by a tie for second in the Zozo Championship. He carried that momentum into 2023, too, with top-10 finishes in the WM Phoenix Open and Valero Texas Open.

Before that, he offered another compelling reminder of his talent by beating World No.1 Jon Rahm in the opening match of the WGC-Match Play.

Tommy Fleetwood

• DP World Tour wins: 6
• Best Wells Fargo Championship Finish: T14 (2021)

View Tommy Fleetwood What's in the bag?

Ever-popular Englishman Fleetwood quietly enjoyed one of his most successful years to date in 2022. As well as victory in the Nedbank Golf Challenge on the DP World Tour, he achieved top-five finishes in two of the four Majors, the US Open and the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews.

Fleetwood is still looking for his first PGA Tour win, but he wasn’t far off in last October’s CJ Cup, where he finished tied for fourth. Less than two months ago, he came even closer at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook in the Valspar Championship with a tie for third.

Fleetwood is one of the best strikers of the ball in the game, doubtless helped by his driver, the TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus and selection of TaylorMade fairway woods. With that ability to draw from and solid form, he’s another with every chance of victory this week.

Kurt Kitayama

• PGA Tour wins: 1
• Best Wells Fargo Championship Finish: T15 (2022)

View Kurt Kitayama What's in the bag?

After a couple of wins on the DP World Tour, Kitayama earned his PGA Tour card in September 2021, and he hasn’t looked back. In fact, the American could barely have chosen a more high-profile event for his maiden victory on the Tour than this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

As well as its long history and association with one of the game’s greats, it was also a designated event, meaning Kitayama had to overcome a field packed with world-class players to claim victory. In the end, he did so by one shot over McIlroy, demonstrating what many already knew – that the 30-year-old is a player on the rise.

He gets another chance to shine on the big stage this week, and after finishing runner-up to McIlroy in the CJ Cup last October, plus securing a creditable tie for fifth in March’s WGC-Match Play, another strong display is expected.

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

The Wells Fargo Championship has been a staple on the PGA Tour for the last two decades and is annually held at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. This tournament nearly always attracts a strong field, but this year might be its best one yet, as the event has been granted elevated status. Unfortunately, the top-two players in the world and winners of the two biggest events of the season, Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler, have both opted to skip this event and spend their time preparing for the upcoming PGA Championship at Oak Hill. 

Rory McIlroy, three-time winner of this event, will still be in attendance to defend his 2021 Quail Hollow title. He will be met by a worthy crop of challengers that includes Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa, Justin Thomas, Sungjae Im, Cameron Young, Jason Day, and Matt Fitzpatrick, amongst others. Many of the top American and International players will be extremely familiar with the task at hand this week, as the President’s Cup was held at Quail Hollow back in September. While course conditions will differ, the George Cobb design always presents a difficult test.

Before we get into our picks for the Wells Fargo Championship, 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 Wells Fargo Championship selections this week.

Wells Fargo Championship: Course Preview

Quail Hollow

The Quail Hollow Club was designed in 1961 by George Cobb but has undergone a number of changes in the last decade by Tom Fazio. The famed architect changed the first hole from a short par five to a long par four and divided the par-five fifth hole into a new par three fourth hole and par four fifth hole. The course now plays as a par 71 and stretches over 7,500 yards on the scorecard, making it one of the longest and toughest golf courses on the entire PGA Tour. All four of the par threes at Quail Hollow traditionally play over par, and the sixth hole can tip out to over 250 yards. Two par fours, eight and fourteen, can be drivable, but the other nine par fours all measure greater than 450 yards! In fact, five par fours measure 480 yards, with the ninth and sixteenth holes both topping out at over 500 yards. Overall, only five holes at Quail Hollow feature over a 15% birdie rate, while 13 holes feature over a 15% bogey rate!

Quail Hollow is a big and brawny golf course, and since the Fazio changes ahead of the 2017 PGA Championship, all four of the champions here, Justin Thomas, Jason Day, Max Homa, and Rory McIlroy have averaged over 313 yards off the tee. McIlroy and Thomas both finished top two in driving distance, and Day and Homa finished top 20. Distance off the tee is incredibly helpful at the Cobb track, as is long iron play, as over 50% of all approach shots come from over 175 yards. I will primarily be looking to identify players who average over 310 yards off the tee and are elite long-iron players with a passable short game and a strong track record of success at long and difficult golf courses.

Mexico Open Key Stats

• Proximity 175 yards plus
• Driving Distance
• Strokes Gained on Long Golf Courses

Wells Fargo Championship: Outright Winner

Sungjae Im (+2500) (Bet $100 to collect $2,600) Get the best Sungjae Im odds at DraftKings

I have been riding Sungjae Im for multiple weeks now, and after extremely close calls at the RBC Heritage and Zurich Classic, I see absolutely no reason to hop off. The two-time PGA Tour winner is playing some of the best golf of his career, and he is riding a string of six straight top-25 finishes, including a 16th at the Masters and a sixth at the Players Championship. 

I love his fit on this golf course as well, as Im ranks seventh in this field off the tee on long golf courses, sixth overall on long golf courses, fourth in difficult scoring conditions, and 21st in overall long iron play. The 25-year-old gained 4.4 strokes off the tee and 2.8 strokes on approach in his last stroke play event and has done just about everything this season but find the winner’s circle. Quail Hollow is the perfect track for the young Korean to pick up PGA Tour win number three.

Justin Thomas (+2200) (Bet $100 to collect $2,300) DraftKings has the best Justin Thomas odds

By Justin Thomas’ standards, 2023 has been his most disappointing season in years. I still have a ton of reason for optimism given the fact that his ball-striking remains intact, and what better venue to regain form than where he won the PGA Championship in 2017? Even in a down year, Thomas still has seven top-25 finishes in nine starts this season, and he has gained over five strokes ball-striking in three of his last five starts. 

While the biggest reasons for his struggles this season include a downturn in iron play and an incredibly shaky flat-stick, he still statistically possesses the best short game in this entire field, and he is driving the ball great as well. The approach play is certainly not up to his lofty baseline, but it is still strong enough to lead me to believe he is close enough to winning golf tournaments again if he can just find himself a positive putting week. I’ll gladly take my chances on one of the best players in the world at depressed odds returning to form at a familiar and welcome venue.

Zurich Classic of New Orleans 2023 Live Stream

This week on the PGA Tour we have something slightly different. Instead of the usual tournament of individual competitors we have teams of two. There are eighty teams with 160 golfers and some of the world's best have teamed up, including last year's winners Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. We also have Max Homa teaming up with Collin Morikawa, Billy Horschel with Sam Burns, Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim, and also a cool pairing of RBC Heritage winner Matt Fitzpatrick with his brother Alex.

A pair of major champions John Daly and David Duval will be paired together too!

Format wise this is something to be aware of. Each two-man team will start by playing Four-ball (best ball) on Thursday, followed by Foursomes on Friday. After the cut is made – only 33 teams and ties find the weekend – they will play Four-ball again before the Sunday drama unfolds with Foursomes.

Below are all the broadcast and streaming details for the event.

Zurich Classic of New Orleans 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 in the world. Below we have a full list of options but anyone away from their home country can still watch the action 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.

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US TV Schedule - 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans

All times EST

Thursday, April 20: 3pm-6pm (Golf Channel)

Friday, April 21: 3pm-6pm (Golf Channel)

Saturday, April 22: 1pm-3pm (Golf Channel), 3pm-6pm (CBS)

Sunday, April 23: 1pm-3pm (Golf Channel), 3pm-6pm (CBS)

NBC's Golf Channel will televise action during the week and CBS will takeover when the tournament heats up over the weekend. Bearing this in mind you can access the Golf Channel through streaming options such as AT&T TV Now and fuboTV.

AT&T TV Now starts at around $55 a month but does have a 7-day free trial. While fuboTV also offers the Golf Channel and 100+ other channels and also has a 7-day free trial.

We also recommend Sling TV in the US as well. At $51 per month, Sling Blue with the Sports add-on brings NBC and Golf Channel, and it is also half price for your first month.

UK TV Schedule - 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Thursday, April 20: 8pm-11pm (Sky Sports Golf)

Friday, April 21: 8pm-11pm (Sky Sports Golf)

Saturday, April 22: 1.45pm-11pm (Sky Sports Golf)

Sunday, April 23: 3.30pm-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 - 2023 Zurich Classic of New Orleans

Thursday, April 20: 10.30pm-8am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Friday, April 21: 10.30pm-8am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Sunday, April 23: 3am-8am Kayo Sports (Fox Sports)

Monday, April 24: 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 Louisiana here, it has all the PGA Tour, DP World Tour events and the Majors. It also has events on the LPGA as well.

It of course 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 fantastic value at either $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 14-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.

Zurich Classic of New Orleans Teams

(Selected)

• Patrick Cantlay – Xander Schauffele
• Collin Morikawa – Max Homa
• Billy Horschel – Sam Burns
• Matt Fitzpatrick – Alex Fitzpatrick
• Si Woo Kim – Tom Kim
• Sahith Theegala – Justin Suh
• Kurt Kitayama – Taylor Montgomery
• Sungjae Im – Keith Mitchell
• Zach Johnson – Steve Stricker
• Tom Hoge – Harris English

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The Zurich Classic is a unique tournament on the PGA Tour, as while it used to be a regular individual stroke play event, it shifted formats in 2017. The field now consists of 80 two-man teams who play better ball in rounds one and three and alternate shots in rounds two and four. The top 33 teams plus ties will advance to the weekend. 

The tournament has been held at the Pete Dye-designed TPC Louisiana since 2004. Super team Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele will return to defend their title. Still, they will be met this year by an interesting crop of challengers, including returning tandems such as Sam Burns and Billy Horschel, as well as new duos such as Max Homa and Collin Morikawa and Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim. A change of pace is always welcome on the PGA Tour, and the Zurich Classic always seems to deliver.

Before we get into our picks for the Zurich Classic, 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 Zurich Classic selections this week.

Zurich Classic: Course Preview

TPC Louisiana

TPC Louisiana was designed in 2004 by Pete Dye, and although we do not have strokes gained at this event for obvious reasons, we still possess some limited data from when a stroke play event was held here prior to 2017. There have been some notable changes to the course since 2017, including a lengthening of over 200 yards. Truth be told, the extra length didn’t change much of the character of the course, but it’s certainly worth mentioning. There are ample opportunities for players to take advantage of TPC Louisiana, which is by no means a difficult golf course despite the added length and high volume of long iron shots. 

In 2015 and 2016, TPC Louisiana ranked as one of the seven easiest courses on the PGA Tour. There is not a ton of trouble off the tee, the rough is nearly non-existent, the course is extremely flat, and there is very little undulation to the greens and surrounding greenside areas. For this reason, teams will need to be incredibly comfortable going low, especially on Thursday and Saturday in the best ball format. I will be focused this week on identifying the teams that are the best overall long iron tandems, are comfortable in easy scoring conditions, and generate the most birdie opportunities per round.

Zurich Classic Key Stats

• Proximity 200 yards plus
• Opportunities Gained
• Birdies or Better Gained

Zurich Classic: Outright Winner

Sungjae Im & Keith Mitchell (+1400) (Bet $100 to collect $1,500) Head to DraftKings for the best Sungjae Im & Keith Mitchell odds

While Sungjae Im and Keith Mitchell have never played this event together before, both players are well antiquated with TPC Louisiana and fit this course ideally from a numbers standpoint. Sungjae Im is clearly one of the best talents in this field and playing some of the best golf of his career. The World No. 17 is coming off a contending seventh-place finish at the Heritage, where he gained 4.8 strokes off the tee and 2.5 strokes on approach, good for his sixth top-25 finish in a row. Im has done just about everything but finds the winner’s circle this year. He has already recorded top-six finishes at the Farmer’s Insurance Open, Waste Management Open, and Players Championship. 

The possibility of a different format and a worthy partner may help him cross the finish line. While Keith Mitchell may not have the pedigree of Im, he is a player I have been high on all season that I fully expect to break through at this level. The University of Georgia product remains one of the best drivers of the ball in this entire field, and he also ranks top-15 in both opportunities gained and birdies or better gained. Both players combine to rank as the third most formidable duo in my team rankings and present a fair amount of value in the outright market.

Davis Riley & Nick Hardy (+4000) (Bet $100 to collect $4,100) Get the best Davis Riley & Nick Hardy odds at DraftKings

Davis Riley and Nick Hardy are a new duo this year, but both players fared incredibly well at this event last year, with Riley finishing fourth alongside Will Zalatoris and Hardy finishing 21st alongside Curtis Thompson. Both players have elevated their games since then and now enter as a worthy duo at an appetizing price. Riley and Hardy are certainly undervalued in the market, coming off near-missed cuts at the RBC Heritage. 

My numbers suggest that the tandem are the fourth most formidable pairing in this field and course fit for TPC Louisiana. Riley is one of the absolute best in the field at generating birdie opportunities and an incredibly worthy long-iron player as well. Hardy, on the other hand, is an excellent long iron player as well, provides plenty of pop off the tee, and is one of the biggest risers in easier scoring conditions. Ultimately, I believe this team, at their current number, presents the most value in the entire field, and I will gladly take my chances on a breakthrough performance from two young talents.

After Jon Rahm holed his final putt of the 2023 Masters at Augusta National, he didn’t just claim the coveted Green Jacket for the first time. The Spaniard also banked $3.24m of the record $18m purse.

However, that’s far from the first huge prize payout Rahm has claimed since the turn of the year. As well as the Major, Rahm has won three other tournaments since the beginning of 2023, earning huge sums in each.

The year began with the first designated event on the PGA Tour, the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Rahm started as he meant to go on with victory and a cheque for $2.7m. It wasn’t long until he was at it again. In his next start further on in January, he claimed $1.44m after winning The American Express.

Rahm then played two tournaments without a win, but his tie for seventh in the Farmers Insurance Open and finish of third in the WM Phoenix Open still earned him over $1.6m.

After that came Rahm’s biggest prize money win of the year so far after a two-shot victory over Max Homa in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club. Thanks to it being another designated event, he scooped a whopping $3.6m for his efforts.

A tie for 39th in another designated event, the Arnold Palmer Invitational, left Rahm better off to the tune of another $70,029, before he had to withdraw from The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass through illness. Next came the WGC-Match Play, where Rahm’s tie for 31st netted him $113,762, before his big-money Masters win last week.

Overall, Rahm has won a staggering $13,288,540 so far in the 2022/23 season. While that figure includes his earnings for his tie for 29th in last October’s CJ Cup, where he earned $462,000, it still leaves him on $12,826,540 since the turn of the year.

For context, last year, Scottie Scheffler finished top of the PGA Tour’s money list after earning $14,046,910 over the course of the 2021/22 season. Considering Rahm’s incredible form and commitment to playing in designated events, it seems inevitable that he will soon breeze past that total with room to spare.

There were several standout performances from LIV Golf players at The Masters, most notably joint runners-up Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed, who tied for fourth.

As well as the advantages that came with those displays, including prestige, prize money and Official World Golf Ranking points, they also accumulated precious Ryder Cup points, which are unavailable to them in LIV Golf tournaments.

However, is it realistic that one or more LIV Golf players could yet qualify for Zach Johnson’s team for the biennial tournament at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club later this year? It certainly looks more likely after last week.

There are two ways to qualify for Team USA - as one of six Captain’s Selections or finishing in the top six of the points list, with points available in tournaments until the end of the BMW Championship on 20 August.

While US LIV Golf players are suspended from the PGA Tour, some are eligible for Majors, and those tournaments offer the chance to earn the most points. The qualifying system awards one point per $1,000 earned in PGA Tour events, but that increases to 1.5 points in Majors and double for winning one of the big four tournaments.

Those performances from the three LIV Golf players at Augusta National have helped move them up the points list significantly. Unsurprisingly, it is currently headed by World No.2 Scottie Scheffler, while beneath him are fellow PGA Tour players Max Homa, Cameron Young, Sam Burns, Will Zalatoris and Collin Morikawa.

You don’t need to go too much further down the list to find the first LIV Golf player, though. Brooks Koepka jumped up 81 places to 16 following last week’s tournament. Given his excellent form after returning to full health and the fact he is eligible for the remaining three Majors this year, more strong performances in them would give him a fantastic chance to breach the top six.

Further down the list, but not by much, is Phil Mickelson at number 20, who is also eligible for the remaining three Majors this year. The 52-year-old rolled back the years in the final round of The Masters shooting a historic 65, the lowest score ever recorded by an over 50 at the tournament.

It’s only two years since Lefty won the PGA Championship, while he’s one US Open win from a career Grand Slam having finished runner-up in the tournament six times. He will surely have his sights set on those two events in particular as he aims accumulate plenty more Ryder Cup points.

Dustin Johnson is at number 27 on the list despite his disappointing tie for 48th in The Masters. Meanwhile, Reed is at 33. Thanks to Johnson’s win in the 2020 Masters, he, in particular, will fancy his chances of reaching the all-important threshold as he qualifies for all three remaining Majors in 2023.

Before last year’s John Deere Classic, Team USA captain Zach Johnson outlined how players can qualify for his team. He said: "So what I know is this: in order to play on the Ryder Cup team whether you're top 6 or a pick, you must garner Ryder Cup points through the PGA of America. In order to garner Ryder Cup points through the PGA of America you have to be a member of the PGA of America. 

"The way that we're members of the PGA of America is through the PGA Tour. I'll let you connect the dots from there."

Following that statement, the outlook appeared dire for the qualification chances of LIV Golf players, but good news came from Barstool Sports' Dan Rapaport after Koepka's Masters finish. He wrote on Twitter: "PGA of America confirms Brooks will get his full Ryder Cup points for this finish. If he follows this up with good play in the other three majors, he could well qualify for the team on points. Either way, if we want the 12 best from each, it’s hard to imagine he’s not in Rome…"

So there we have it. The door is open for LIV Golf players to make the team if they accumulate enough points in the remaining Majors. Will at least one walk through it? After some encouraging performances last week, it seems increasingly likely.

Golf fans got a surprise on Thursday at The Masters when Rory McIlroy was interviewed in-play during his round at Augusta National.

In-play interviews have been a new addition to PGA Tour coverage this year, with Max Homa (who also did an interview during his round on Thursday) starting the new feature at the Farmers Insurance Open. He was followed by Keith Mitchell at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, with Rory McIlroy finally giving it a go at the WGC-Match Play after initially being hesitant.

The four-time Major winner surprised viewers with his in-play chat while walking down the 9th hole, with social media divided. Many fans loved it but some were questioning whether it was a distraction from what is one of the biggest weeks of his career - with only The Masters left to wrap up in a career, and trophy cabinet, that features almost every accolade there is to win.

McIlroy explained why he decided to take part: "Yeah, so the club reached out to us last week and just inquired if I would be interested in doing it," he said.

"I did it a couple weeks ago at the Match Play. It definitely feels a little less intrusive with the ear piece rather than someone right up next to you with the microphone like they've been doing it in Europe for a couple of years.

"I thought it would be a cool thing to do. I did it in Austin and didn't feel like it took me out of my rhythm in any way or made me think about things too much. So it's nice to provide the audience at home a little bit more insight into what's going on out here.

"I mean, I think with the previous chairman, he definitely brought things forward. Then I think since Chairman Ridley has come along, he's really tried to push the envelope as well. So I think Augusta have a great balance of blending that history and that tradition but also making sure we're keeping up with the times, I guess.

"I thought Max's was great at Torrey. I thought Keith Mitchell's was good at Pebble. I think they're the only two that I've watched, but I really enjoyed them. I thought Max provided some great insight into the hole he was playing, and I thought Keith did a really good job as well."

And who does he want to see do an in-play interview next? There's only one person, of course, and he admits that will never materialize.

"Tiger. There's only one answer there," before joking that the chances of that happening are "zero".

The Northern Irishman got off to a slow start in his ninth attempt at the career grand slam, with a level-par 72 that he described as "a little untidy in places".

On Thursday, fans were treated to not just Rory McIlroy mic'd up at Augusta National, but also Max Homa, with the American giving live commentary as he played up the par 4 14th during The Masters. 

Earlier in the broadcast, McIlroy's appearance had divided opinion, with the four-time Major winner making his way up the par 4 ninth. This time around Homa, who at the time was one-over-par for the day, was asked questions as he made his way up the 14th fairway, a 445-yard par 4 which had delivered all manner of scores throughout the day.

In typical Homa fashion, there was a mix of informative information with a side of humour, as the six-time PGA Tour winner instantly stated "I'm really happy I made my first birdie before I had to talk to you guys. That was a big moment!" He added "the day has been pretty frustrating. I've driven it good but I made a sloppy bogey on eight and my distance control hasn't been awesome and that's where this place exposes you."

Along with discussing his round, Homa also delivered a great line about his self-confidence with the air pods in, with the American quipping: "I've just realised that people can see me talking to myself" before going on to comment about the 14th green and how "it has three insane sections".

Perhaps what fascinated me most was how quickly Homa was able to snap from the humorous chat between him and the broadcast crew to going into his approach shot, with the 32-year-old chatting to his caddie, Joe Greiner, about the cover and yardages to the flag.

Taking out the air pod for his second shot, he found the fringe on the left side with Homa explaining how the "hanging lies" (undulating lies) have such an effect on where the golf ball goes. In the end, he managed to two-putt from the edge of the green to secure his par going on to eagle the next hole to move from one-over to one-under.

Again, there was a lot of praise for the American for doing the commentary, with one user commenting "I love this feature of tv coverage. Insightful. Great to hear from the player in the moment," whilst another said "loving the live interviews on the course with a handful of players, great insight into the mindset of professional golfers."

It's not the first time that Homa has given live commentary on the golf course. Back in January, he was mic'd up during the Farmers Insurance Open, an event he actually won, with Homa one of the first players on the PGA Tour to use this initiative. 

9 Things You Didn't Know About Gordon Sargent

1. Gordon Sargent was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on May 27th 2003. We believe he still resides there as well.

2. His father, Seth Sargent exposed him and his brother Thomas to as many sporting activities as possible when they were younger. He didn’t want them to become golfers just because he was a golfer, one of the top amateurs in Alabama who participated in events including the George C. Thomas Invitational and the Crump Cup.

3. According to Max Homa, who played a practice round at the 2023 Masters with Sargent; "He hits it 95 miles. He was so far by us it's crazy. He's a phenomenal golfer. Really nice kid. He doesn't look like he's going at it that hard. I've heard so many good things about his game. It was probably even more impressive to see him in person." Specifically, Sargent averages around the 185-190mph ball speed mark which equates to well over 300 yards in average distance. 

4. Sargent and his family were members of Shoal Creek and the Country Club of Birmingham, where Gordon honed his skills. It was then at the Future Masters in Dothan, Alabama, where Sargent participated at the age of nine and discovered that golf was his true calling.

5. He played for Team USA at the 2022 Palmer Cup.

6. Sargent won the 2019 Alabama State Junior title. In 2020, he became the youngest Alabama State Amateur champion, at age 17, after scoring a record 24-under total. In 2021, Sargent showcased his talent again when he successfully defended his State Amateur title thanks to a third-round 62.

7. As a Vanderbilt freshman, he became famous on a national level during the 2022 NCAA National Championship. He missed a short putt in regulation that would have won the individual title outright, setting up a playoff with three other players. Gordon birdied the first hole to beat Parker Coody of Texas, Ryan Burnett of North Carolina, and Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra of Oklahoma State.

8. Sargent got a special invitation to play in the 2023 Masters. Sargent at the time was ranked number two in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and became the first amateur to accept a special invitation since Aaron Baddeley in 2000.

9. According to Golf Channel, Sargent played Augusta National once before when he was 14 years old. He re- members hitting a 3-iron into the first green.

What Is Max Homa's Net Worth?

A man who has had a rollercoaster of a career as a professional golfer, Max Homa has risen up the world rankings and the hard work has clearly paid off as he has now won six times on the PGA Tour, and made a Presidents Cup appearance. As a result he has become a firm fixture in the world's top-20 male golfers, getting as high as 5th, and has a high-profile in the sport off the back of this stellar play, and his social media presence which is funny to say the least. But how much is he worth? Well estimates can vary on this but we have regularly seen the $4-5 million mark reported.

Homa's career earnings on the PGA Tour so far are just above $20 million. He has played in more than 160 PGA Tour events and as we mentioned above, won six of them. For his 1st PGA Tour title, at the 2019 Wells Fargo Championship he won $1,422,000, and he won the same event in 2022 winning $1,620,000. He won the Fortinet Championship in both 2021 and 2022 netting himself $1,260,000 and $1,440,000 respectively. 

In 2023 he won the Farmers Insurance Open with a cheque for $1,566,000 but his biggest win to date was at the 2021 Genesis Invitational. He beat Tony Finau in a playoff to win $1,674,000. It is worth stating that because of his play, Homa has all but assured himself a spot in the biggest PGA Tour events and Majors for years to come, so his earnings are definitely going to go up. His net worth should trend upwards as well if he continues to play as well as he has over the past few years.

Homa was also a beneficiary of the Player Impact Program which debuted in 2021 to reward players for boosting engagement and publicity of the PGA Tour. In 2022's list he earned $3m for coming 14th. 

As such a marketable and likeable player and person, Homa has a range of sponsors at the moment. Homa uses a full bag of Titleist clubs at the moment including Vokey wedges, Scotty Cameron putter, and a Titleist golf ball. He then wears FootJoy golf shoes and apparel as well. 

On this apparel he has several sponsors stitched onto the polo shirts. In March 2020, Homa signed a deal with the insurance company, Burns & Wilcox, and in 2022 he signed a partnership with Five9, a leading provider of the intelligent cloud contact center. He also has agreements with Fortinet, Wells Fargo, ADP and Mastercard.

Anticipation is at fever pitch ahead of the first men's Major of the year. The Masters tee times have been announced, with some star-studded groupings set to descend upon Augusta National.

Also announced were the four three-balls that would be included in the featured group coverage for round one, and they were perhaps most notable for those who weren't included.

It could be coincidence, of course, as the green jackets have remained fairly quiet on the ongoing divide in the men's game, but the four groups on Thursday are bereft of a single LIV Golf player.

Instead, they are made up of PGA Tour stalwarts, led by Tiger Woods as he makes his second start of the year alongside Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele at 10.18am local time (3.18pm BST)

Thursday's featured groups are:

10.18am EDT/3.18pm BST: Tiger Woods, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele
10.42am EDT/3.42pm BST: Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Cameron Young
1.36pm EDT/6.36pm BST: Scottie Scheffler, Max Homa, Sam Bennett
2.00pm EDT/6.00pm BST: Jordan Spieth, Tommy Fleetwood, Tony Finau

As picked up on by No Laying Up, in each of the last three Masters tournaments, multiple players who since went on to join the breakaway circuit have been part of the featured group coverage from the famous Georgia venue.

In 2022, LIV's Louis Oosthuizen, Joaquin Niemann, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and James Piot all made the grade, while in previous years, the likes of Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed and Cameron Smith have also been included.

Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley confirmed members of the Greg Norman-fronted tour who qualified for The Masters would be allowed to tee it up at the men's season-opening Major, but added he was "disappointed" by recent developments.

"Regrettably, recent actions have divided men's professional golf by diminishing the virtues of the game and the meaningful legacies of those who built it" Ridley said. "Although we are disappointed in these developments, our focus is to honour the tradition of bringing together a pre-eminent field of golfers this coming April."

Open champion Smith was given a press conference slot and it remains to be seen whether he or any of his colleagues form part of Friday's featured group coverage.