Top-ranked golfer Dustin Johnson tested positive before this weekend’s PGA Tour event in Las Vegas, while soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has also tested positive and begun isolation.

The Englishman won at Wentworth after attending the event as a five-year-old boy The Englishman won at Wentworth after attending the event as a five-year-old boy This article Tyrrell Hatton Wins BMW PGA Championship appeared first on Golf Monthly.

LAS VEGAS — Martin Laird lost a chance to win by making bogey on the 18th hole, only to redeem himself in a three-way playoff by making a 20-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole Sunday to win the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Laird ended seven years without a victory in a year filled with so much doubt, which included knee surgery right about the time golf was set to resume from the COVID-19 pandemic. The 37-year-old Scot suddenly is flying high. He needed a sponsor exemption to play the tournament he won in 2009. He ended it with a birdie to beat Matthew Wolff and Austin Cook. It was the third three-man playoff in Las Vegas for Laird, who won in 2009 and lost the following year when Jonathan Byrd made a hole-in-one on the 17th hole at the TPC Summerlin. Laird contributed a pair of big shots on the par 3. He had a one-shot lead with two holes to play Sunday when he sent his tee shot on the par-3 17th off a cart path and some 30 yards right of the green with the pin to the right. He hit a chip-and-run over the cart path, under the trees, between a pair of bunkers and then made a most improbable par with an 18-foot putt. But he missed the green to the right on the 18th and chipped to 30 feet, two-putting for bogey and a 3-under 68 to fall into a playoff at 23-under 261 with Wolff and Cook, who each closed with a 66. They all made par on the 18th in the playoff, and then Laird ended it on the 17th with his birdie. Laird, at No. 358 in the world, becomes the third winner in the last four regular PGA Tour events to be ranked outside the top 300. Now he has a two-year exemption, and he's headed back to the Masters in April and the PGA Championship in May. Laird appeared to have everything going his way when he caught a buried lie near the lip of a bunker while facing a front pin on the par-5 ninth. He blasted away, turned his head and looked back to see the superb shot trickle into the cup for eagle. That gave him a three-shot lead heading to the back nine. But he couldn't hold it. Cook never really went away, closing within one shot with a 40-foot birdie putt on the 17th and burning the edge of the cup on his birdie attempt on the closing hole. Wolff was never far away and arrived in a powerful burst with a two-putt birdie on the reachable par-4 15th, blasting a 375-yard drive on the par-5 16th and stuffing wedge to 10 feet for eagle. Laird never lost the lead, though he was grinding to the finish line. He had to make a 15-foot birdie putt on the 15th, the easiest hole at TPC Summerlin. He played away from the flag and water on the par-5 16th to 70 feet and came up 15 feet short, leading to a three-putt par. And then he made his great escape on the 17th after a tee shot off the cart path. A par on the 18th was all he needed for the victory, and he hung it out to the right, down to a collection area with a drain a yard in front of his ball. Patrick Cantlay, who shared the 54-hole lead with Laird, was the biggest surprise of the day. Cantlay won the tournament in 2017 and was runner-up each of the last two years. Fourteen of his 15 rounds at the TPC Summerlin were under par. He opened with four bogeys in six holes and didn't make birdie until the 13th, closing with a 73. U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau closed with a 66, and that was the worst he could have done. With a helping wind, he played the par 5s on the back nine in 1 over. He also bogeyed the last from a bunker. He tied for eighth in his first appearance since becoming a major champion at Winged Foot, and he now goes back to the lab — or the gym, in his case — for the next month before resurfacing at the Masters. Abraham Ancer birdied the last two holes for a 67 to finish alone in fourth. Will Zalatoris closed with a 69 for a three-way tie for fifth, leaving him just short of enough FedEx Cup points to earn special temporary membership on the PGA Tour. His next chance is in three weeks in Bermuda. Michael Gilgic of Burlington, Ont., finished tied for 27th place at 14-under. Adam Hadwin of Abbortsford, B.C., finished in a nine-way tie for 34th at 13-under. Doug Ferguson, The Associated Press

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Bryson DeChambeau shot a 9-under 62 during the first round of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. It could have been much lower. The post How Bryson DeChambeau shot the most ridiculously effortless 62 you’ll ever see appeared first on Golf.

LAS VEGAS – Cameron Champ smashed his drive on the par-5 ninth at TPC Summerlin, turned to Bryson DeChambeau and said, “there … that’s all I got Bryson,” before giving him a fist bump. “Yeah that will roll,” DeChambeau quipped as both had a chuckle. RELATED: Full leaderboard | How DeChambeau turned doubters into believers And roll it did. A further four yards past DeChambeau’s 353-yard bomb. Between the two of them, and a third power hitter in Matthew Wolff, the trio displayed how to muscle your way around a golf course during the opening round of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Between them they hit 28 drives of more than 300 yards. But DeChambeau also showed how to add finesse. The recent U.S. Open champion continued where he left off at Winged Foot with an eye-opening 9-under 62 to pace the morning wave. His round featured five occasions where he had a putter in his hand looking to make eagle – on all three par fives and two par fours. He didn’t connect on any of them but kicked in those five birdies, plus four more. “That's the advantage of power in this game now, that you can do those sorts of things ... I didn't make any of them, but it makes it easy. That's five birdies right there and it makes the golf course a lot easier,” DeChambeau said afterwards. “I would say that lowers the par to 67 out here, and that's just the number for me. If I shoot 69 or 70 I feel like I shot a couple over.” Technically DeChambeau hit 11 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens while needing just 29 putts. He gained over two shots on the field on the greens and almost three shots off the tee. He also casually shot a 59 in the Pro-am on Wednesday. For the record, Champ shot 67 and Wolff 68. But Champ was focusing on the final drive when the two did media interviews within earshot of each other. “I was swinging the driver good all day, (and on nine) I was like, you know what, let's just see (if I can get him), and just mess around and it was more of a joke afterwards,” Champ grinned. “I got him but he would have flown me by probably 20 yards … but I got him on the roll, so there's a difference, there's a difference.” Two seasons ago Champ was number one on TOUR in driving distance but DeChambeau relegated him to number two last season after his hulking transformation. “I got it past him a couple times, he got it past me a couple times and I'm going to try and hit it harder tomorrow,” DeChambeau joked right back. Champ plays a low bullet ball flight while DeChambeau plays a high ball, or “moon ball” game as he calls it. Whatever you call it, it is impressive. “It was fun, it was awesome to play with all of them … amazing to see the power that's out here now. I think that's a testament to the new generation that's coming up and what it's going to be like in the future,” DeChambeau said. As is habit for the seven-time TOUR winner DeChambeau was looking to get to the range post round after claiming he “heel thinned” a number of shots. But he had to make a few stops first. He was flagged for a random drug test and also had to find fellow competitor Chesson Hadley. Hadley was part of the group ahead and was standing over a three-foot putt on the par-4 seventh hole when DeChambeau’s tee shot bounded out of the rough and on to the putting surface behind him. The green is obscured from the tee as a dogleg left but DeChambeau cut the corner. According to ShotLink records he is the first player to ever drive that green. “I felt incredibly bad about that, I had no idea that they were on the green. They were ahead of us all day and I felt like they were off the green because of the time that we took on a few of the holes before that,” DeChambeau said. “So that was my mistake and I felt really bad. I think it was Chesson, I have got to go find him and apologize … but it was fun to hit it to 15 feet.” Hadley wasn’t concerned by the incident. “The only thing that was hurt was my ego. I’m glad I made the putt though because if I missed it would have totally been his fault,” Hadley laughed in jest. That kind of shoulder shrugging laugh is kind of all anyone can do right now as DeChambeau continues to crush the ball and make more than his fair share of putts. If he continues to do it over the next three rounds he will prove near impossible to beat. “When I'm playing great golf I feel like I've got a great chance to win every week,” DeChambeau said. “I feel like I have my golf swing under control and am making a lot of putts. I feel like I can shoot low on a lot of golf courses and usually that wins tournaments.” Yes. It usually does.

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