The Korea Herald

Lee among leaders at Innisbrook

PALM HARBOR, Florida (AP) ― Matt Every made the best of the worst conditions Thursday at Innisbrook. Danny Lee, finally, seems to be playing good golf in any weather.They were among a four-way tie for the lead after the opening round of the Valspar Championship, a day so challenging that 3-under 68 was the highest score to lead after the first round in the 14-year history of this event.Pat Perez and Greg Chalmers also had 68s to share the lead.Every was the only one among the leaders to play in

March 14, 2014

Golfer Lee sets sights on Olympics

HAIKOU, China (AFP) ― Teenage sensation Lee Min-jee said she is in no rush to follow New Zealand’s Lydia Ko by turning professional as she plots a path to the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.The 17-year-old Australian has assumed Ko’s former crown by becoming the world’s top-ranked amateur and making waves with her performances at professional events. Last month, Lee won the Victorian Open by six strokes and was runner-up to Tiger Woods’ niece Cheyenne at the Australian Ladies Masters.She tied f

March 13, 2014

Torrey Pines picked to host 2021 U.S. Open

SAN DIEGO (AFP) ― Torrey Pines, where Tiger Woods won the most recent of his 14 major titles, has been selected to host the 2021 U.S. Open golf championship pending city approval, according to reports Tuesday.The San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper’s website and Golf Channel reported that the course, which hosts the U.S. PGA Tour’s $6.1 million Farmers Insurance Open each January, has been invited by the U.S. Golf Association to host the 2021 event, the next U.S. Open without a named host course.B

March 12, 2014

Tiger Woods has lost his intimidation factor, ex-caddy says

SYDNEY (AFP) ― Outspoken caddy Steve Williams says former employer Tiger Woods has lost his intimidation factor, as the New Zealander revealed he will quit full-time golf this year.Williams, who was sacked by Woods in 2011 after helping him win all but one of his 14 major titles, added that he had yet to reconcile with the world number one, but hopes to one day.“There’s just personal things and differences of opinion about how things went down. He thinks one thing and I think another,” Williams,

March 12, 2014

Newcomers crowding PGA landscape

DORAL, Florida (AP) ― The road to the Masters is just getting started, and already two players have combined to win five times on the PGA Tour.They’re not Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.How many would have guessed Jimmy Walker (three wins) and Patrick Reed (two wins) when the wraparound season began in October?Reed might have had his hand up.In a moment of bravado on national television after he went wire to wire (with ties) to win the Cadillac Championship, the 23-year-old Reed said, “I’m one o

March 11, 2014

LPGA ready for Bay Area return in Swinging Skirts

DALY CITY, California (AP) ― When Yani Tseng found out the Swinging Skirts Golf Team from her native Taiwan planned to host an LPGA event on U.S. soil, she had her initial doubts.Then, the top Taiwanese women’s golfer changed her tune as she realized just how determined this group ― a private, Taiwanese nonprofit of amateur golfers ― is to promote its countrywomen on the world stage and boost the women’s game globally.“It’s pretty easy to talk about crazy people out here,” Tseng joked Monday in

March 11, 2014

Golfer Park In-bee retains world's top spot for 48th week

South Korea's Park In-bee has held the top spot in the women's world golf rankings for the 48th consecutive week.In the latest Rolex Rankings announced Tuesday, the 26-year-old solidified her position after picking up her first victory of 2014 at a Ladies European Tour tournament in China last week.Park got an average of 10.28 ranking points, followed by Suzann Pettersen of Norway with 9.36 points and Stacy Lewis of the United States with 8.25.There was no change in the top tier of the rankings

March 11, 2014

Reed captures win at Doral

DORAL, Florida (AP) ― Patrick Reed felt he belongs among the best in the world. He beat them all Sunday in the Cadillac Championship.Dressed in a red shirt that he always wears in the final round ― with Tiger Woods in the group ahead of him ― Reed made back-to-back birdies early on the front nine to build a big lead and showed off a great short game when the pressure was building on the new Blue Monster at Doral.Equipped with a two-shot lead, the 23-year-old Texan wisely played the final hole co

March 10, 2014

Tiger in the mix at Doral

DORAL, Florida (AP) ― In only his second year on the PGA Tour, Patrick Reed already is used to playing in the final group on Sunday ― and winning.But not against a field of stars at a World Golf Championship.And not looking at a familiar figure in a red shirt playing in the group ahead of him.Reed turned his game around in four holes Saturday at the Cadillac Championship and wound up with a 3-under 69 in much tamer conditions at Doral. It gave him a two-shot lead going into a final round that wi

March 9, 2014

Hadley leads in Puerto Rico

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico (AP) ― Chesson Hadley took the third-round lead Saturday in the Puerto Rico Open, shooting a 5-under 67 in windy conditions at Trump International.Making his 13th PGA Tour start, the 26-year-old Hadley had four birdies in an early five-hole stretch and also birdied the par-4 14th in wind gusting to 40 kph.“It was frustrating, to be honest with you, even though I was playing well, just because I hit it so well today and I missed quite a few putts, a lot of putts the last 1

March 9, 2014

Park In-bee picks up first win of 2014 on Ladies European Tour

The world's No. 1-ranked female golfer Park In-bee picked up her first win of 2014 at a Ladies European Tour (LET) tournament in China on Sunday. Park fired a 6-under 67 in the final round of the Mission Hills World Ladies Championship at the par-73 Mission Hills Hainan's Blackstone Course, beating world No. 2 Suzann Pettersen of Norway by five shots. Park shot a 24-under 268 over four rounds, making just five bogeys. Pettersen, breathing down Park's neck in the world rankings, began th

March 9, 2014

Torrance, Smyth picked as Ryder Cup vice captains

DUBLIN (AP) ― Europe captain Paul McGinley selected Sam Torrance and Des Smyth as two of his vice captains on Thursday for this year’s Ryder Cup against United States at Gleneagles.Torrance captained Europe to victory in the 2002 event, when McGinley holed the winning putt at the Belfry. The 61-year-old Smyth has played in the Ryder Cup twice and was Ian Woosnam’s assistant in the 2006 competition at the K Club.“They first came to mind to me when I was put in position as Ryder Cup captain last J

March 7, 2014

Torrance, Smyth picked as Ryder Cup vice captains

Slow start for Tiger Woods at Doral

DORAL, Florida (AP) ― Tiger Woods only made it through 10 holes Thursday ― this time because of the weather, not his back.The debut of the new Blue Monster, and the return of Woods, received an incomplete grade Thursday when the opening round of the Cadillac Championship was halted more than two hours because of menacing thunderstorms.Harris English was among only six players who finished the round, hitting 5-iron into the par-3 ninth hole and rolling in a 45-foot birdie putt for a 3-under 69.Th

March 7, 2014

Tiger Woods will play at Doral after back treatments

MIAMI (AFP) ― World No. 1 Tiger Woods will defend his World Golf Championships event at Doral after all as treatment this week helped ease back pain that forced him to quit a USPGA event last Sunday.Woods will tee off on Thursday alongside Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and reigning Masters champion Adam Scott of Australia, who could dethrone Woods from atop the rankings with a victory at the $9 million Cadillac Championship.“I feel better. I feel good,” Woods said Wednesday.“It has been a long couple

March 6, 2014

Tiger Woods will play at Doral after back treatments

Tiger begins road to Augusta with a limp

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida (AP) ― The last time Tiger Woods quit in the middle of a round because of an injury, he won his next tournament. And then he followed that with his highest score ever in the Masters, the ultimate measure of Woods these days.Now what?Making predictions about the world’s No. 1 player is like gauging the wind at Amen Corner. You’re bound to get it wrong for three reasons:― Only an athlete knows how badly he is hurt.― Golf is too unpredictable under the best of times.― He

March 4, 2014

Tiger begins road to Augusta with a limp

Henley wins playoff at Honda Classic

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida (AP) ― Russell Henley made good on his second chance at the 18th hole Sunday and won the Honda Classic after a wild day that began with Tiger Woods walking off the course with a back injury and ended with a four-man playoff.The closing hour at PGA National was a series of blunders by the contenders ― and even the winner.Henley was in a three-way tie for the lead, 40 yards left of the flag on the par-5 18th in regulation, when he chunked a chip so badly that it only go

March 3, 2014

Korea to host LPGA qualifying tournament

South Korea will stage its first-ever qualifying tournament for the U.S. Women’s Open, one of five majors in women’s golf, officials announced Monday.The Korea Golf Association said it has reached an agreement with the United States Golf Association to hold the 36-hole qualifying event on May 19 at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, about 90 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)

March 3, 2014

McIlroy ups lead going into last round

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida (AP) ― Rory McIlroy is 18 holes away from his first PGA Tour victory in 18 months, a chance to show the world he is back on his game.That’s not the way McIlroy views the final round at the Honda Classic.McIlroy started strong, avoided a big number with a brilliant bogey in the middle and took on the wind and water on the 16th hole for one final birdie Saturday that gave him a 1-under 69 in the toughest conditions and a two-shot lead over Russell Henley at PGA National

March 2, 2014

Upward momentum

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida (AP) ― On the course where Rory McIlroy first rose to No. 1, he looked as if he might be headed in that direction again.McIlroy swung freely and walked briskly on his way to a 7-under 63 on Thursday, with birdies on the last two holes at PGA National giving him a one-shot lead over Russell Henley after the first round of the Honda Classic.If nothing else, it was big improvement from the last official round he played on PGA National.McIlroy was 7 over through eight hol

Feb. 28, 2014

Park admits world No. 1 up for grabs

SINGAPORE (AFP) ― Park In-bee admitted she was resigned to the prospect of losing the world’s top ranking with Suzann Pettersen breathing down her neck at this week’s HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore.The South Korean starlet swept three major titles in 2013 and she made a fast start to her season last week in Thailand, carding six-under 66 on Sunday to finish second.But Park, 25, said she expected a shift in the rankings with Norway’s Pettersen capable of catching her this week, and defending

Feb. 26, 2014