MCLLROY’S HEARTBREAKING CONFESSION: In an emotional and devastating interview with CBS reporter Amanda Balionis, golf superstar Rory McIlroy in tears stunned the sports world by confessing that he has been…FULL STORY BELOW
Rory McIlroy and world No 1 Scottie Scheffler are tied-sixth and four strokes back at Le Golf National; Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm lead on 14 under and Tommy Fleetwood a shot back in third; watch the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Playoffs live this month
Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele will take a share of the lead into the final round of the men’s golf competition at the Olympics, with Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler still in the medal hunt in Paris.
Spaniard Rahm set the clubhouse target after mixing seven birdies with two bogeys during a five-under 66 at Le Golf National, only for American Schauffele – the gold medallist in Tokyo – to move alongside him on 14 under following a third-round 68.
Team GB’s Tommy Fleetwood sits a shot back in third with one round left to play, while Ryder Cup team-mate Nicolai Hojgaard of Denmark fired a round-of-the-day 62 to move to 11 under alongside Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama in a share of fourth and two strokes outside the medal places.
McIlroy – who narrowly missed out on a bronze for Ireland in the last Olympics – carded a bogey-free 66 to move back into contention, lifting him into tied-sixth and in the group on 10 under that contains Scheffler, Tom Kim and Thomas Detry.
Speaking about the strength of the leaderboard, McIlroy said: “It’s amazing for the game to see all those sort of players up there. Obviously Xander, who has had an incredible year.
“Scottie, best player in the world; you’ve got Jon Rahm, some younger players too, Nicolai shooting 62 today. Yeah, it’s an amazing leaderboard and should be an exciting day tomorrow.”
Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg shares 10th spot with Jason Day and Joaquin Niemann, while France’s Victor Perez is one of four players on eight under and six back as he chases a home medal.
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With Lydia Ko reaching LPGA Hall of Fame, pickings are slim for who will next achieve tough criteria
For the first time in eight years, the golfer next in line to meet the LPGA Tour’s challenging criteria is no longer clear. When Inbee Park became the 34th member in 2016, there was little question that at some point, then-19-year-old Lydia Ko would be next. The teen phenom already demonstrated a dominant staying power, winning 12 times during a long run as the World No. 1.
With Ko completing her Olympic medal trifecta with gold in the Paris Games to earn her 27th and final needed point to enter the hall, it is quite possible that no one else may qualify under the LPGA’s current points structure.
The LPGA requires players to earn 27 points to be eligible for its Hall of Fame, with the number of points needed and ways to gain them changing over the years. Getting to 27 is a slog—players earn a point for a regular victory, winning the Player of the Year or Vare Trophy, or an Olympic gold medal. A major championship is a premium worth two. Players must also win a season-ending award or a major championship, a seemingly superfluous standard with how many points are needed.
The only active players within 10 points of the required 27 are Yani Tseng (23), Jin Young Ko (20), Stacy Lewis (19), Nelly Korda (17), and Ariya Jutanugarn (17). Only two of them have won over the last three seasons––Korda and Ko–– and both have been injury-prone over their careers.
Korda, the current World No. 1, and past No. 1 Jin Young Ko have delivered two dominant multiple-point-earning seasons, a near-requisite to get to 27 points. Ko is a 15-time winner, including two majors and three season-ending awards. She earned 70 percent of her 20 points in two years—2019 and 2021.
Ko won four times in 2019, including two majors, and swept the season awards. In her six points from 2021, she ripped two points away from Korda during the CME Group Tour Championship. The pair were part of a four-way tie for the 54-hole lead, and Ko sprinted away with a Sunday 63, winning the tournament and overtaking Korda for the Player of the Year award to earn two points.
Ko has dealt with numerous injuries in recent years. She had a nagging wrist injury in 2021 and 2022, a balky knee that forced her to withdraw from the CME last season, and shoulder pain at the beginning of 2024. Since her injuries started up, Ko hasn’t had a multiple-point season, gaining one point in 2022 and 2023.
Korda’s ascendant 2024 alone has earned her 25 percent of the points needed to reach the hall. She started the season with 10 points and has earned seven more with her six-win season, including a major title in the Chevron Championship. The 26-year-old is a virtual lock to win the Player of the Year award to gain an eighth point and is contending for the Vare Trophy for a possible ninth. Korda gained six of her other 10 points in 2021 when she won the KPMG Women’s PGA, a gold medal from Tokyo, and four other tour titles.
Korda’s 2024 emergence comes during one of her first healthy seasons in years, as the star has been injured for nearly half of her career. During the 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, she withdrew after hurting her back and was sidelined for two months. Korda had surgery on a blood clot in 2022, which took six months to recover. In May 2023, Korda missed a month with another back injury.
Both Korda and Jin Young Ko likely need at least one more multi-point season to cross the 27-point threshold. Lydia Ko had three seasons of earning at least five points over her 12-year career. Tseng serves as a warning that commanding campaigns don’t guarantee future success, as the Taiwanese phenom won all 15 of her LPGA titles over five years before her stardom burned out.
If neither Korda nor Ko get to 27, the other alternative for someone to get into the hall would be the LPGA updating its qualification standards. The tour has done so twice in recent history. In 1998, it dropped the point requirement from 35 to 27 and created the veteran’s category to induct four-time major champion Donna Caponi, founder Marlene Bauer Hagge, and 26-time winner Judy Rankin. In 2022, to ensure 25-time winner Lorena Ochoa would be eligible, the LPGA dropped its 10-year playing requirement and also allotted a point to the Olympic gold medalist, which helped get Lydia Ko her final point for the hall.
Unless Korda or Ko get to 27, the tour may have to create a similar veteran’s category again or tweak its uber-high standards to at least let someone into the hall.
OMG COULD THIS BE THE END?THIS WILL SHOCK YOU : Rory Mcllroy and CBS sports journalist Amanda Balionis spark another bombshell announcement: the golf world is currently going crazy and in shock…FULL DETAILS BELOW
During an appearance on the Fairway to Heaven podcast, Westwood made no bones about his perspective, saying:
“After 30 years of being a professional sportsman I’ve learned not to give a s*** what anybody thinks.” Devoting the bulk of his career to the European Tour, Westwood shunned the allure of the PGA Tours high-profile status before his pivot to LIV.
He explained: “I’ve been a member of the European tour for nearly 30 years and I’ve won in the U.S. twice, didn’t take up membership there, you know, stayed on the European Tour.
I enjoyed playing in Europe and that’s where I felt like I belonged. Covid came along, a lot of people went and started up in the States because of world ranking points and various things.
Westwood lashed out at detractors, arguing: “I think a lot of those people are now starting to understand that they were being brainwashed by certain people with just purely financial motivations on their mind.
They were making up these stories and trying to give people these ideas about us players that were going to LIV just to really forge their case with the public, and convince the public that we were bad and they were good.”
Renowned for his blunt approach and defence of his involvement in the LIV league, Westwood has frequently clashed with both golf enthusiasts and fellow golfers. The Express takes a closer look at these confrontations…
Nelly Corda has issued a statement that supports Rolly Mciloy’s claim, suggesting that Tiger Woods may have misunderstood the qualification process to participate in Charlie Woods.”
“Nelly Korda has made a statement that supports Rory McIlroy’s allegation, suggesting that Tiger Woods may have improperly influenced the qualification process… full details below
Defending gold medalist, that’s what Nelly Korda was at the Le Golf National, but not anymore. The number one female golfer in the world, Nelly Korda, had a heartbreaking moment at the 2024 Paris Olympics when she ended the championship tied for 22nd place, far from the gold she won during the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Now, as the focus of the golfing community moves to the Women’s Scottish Open, people wonder if she will participate in it. Well, she will not.
The Women’s Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club is an important event, especially given that it is one of the major events that precede the AIG Women’s Open. In a way, it is rather unusual for a golfer of Nelly Korda’s level to miss this event. However, Nelly Korda’s absence this year at the Women’s Scottish Open 2024 is not because of an injury or the strategy of saving herself for the British Open. After a very demanding Olympic schedule that ended in bitter disappointment, she is choosing to concentrate on something more valuable than another medal—her family.
Nelly Korda’s decision to skip the Scottish Open to go home is not just a mere break from the rigorous games but a well-thought-out plan. The two key events coming up are the British Open and the Solheim Cup. The Solheim Cup, in which she will play for the United States, is as much about mental strength as it is about the strength of muscles. This way, she is making sure that she is fit mentally and emotionally to face the battles that are to come and bring home the Cup that Team USA lost to Europe last year.