Tom Hobbs

LIV Golf’s early proposed schedule for 2027 consists of what they are calling “5 x Team Majors” and “5 x Signature Events” in correspondence with media. The players obviously got the same memo because Anthony Kim made a joke about it ahead of LIV Golf Korea. When asked about whether majors are on his radar, AK said: “Yeah, I obviously want to play in the majors. I want to play in the biggest events. That's why I'm working. But I heard LIV is adding five more majors, so there will be nine majors to go after. (Smiling.)” On the serious side though, AK is currently 5th on the season long standings and the highest placed player who is not currently exempt after Andalucia will qualify for The Open. If he can have 2 good weeks, he has every chance of claiming that spot and playing in his first major since the 2011 PGA Championship. @AnthonyKim_Golf @livgolf_league @4AcesGC_

Dustin Johnson was asked his opinion on the PIF pulling funding of the league ahead of LIV Golf Korea, and in classic DJ fashion, he offered a lengthy answer: “Long LIV Golf.” He’s a man of many words! 😅 @DJohnsonPGA @4AcesGC_ @livgolf_league

Bryson DeChambeau spoke with media ahead of LIV Golf Korea with a new look, and he was once again bullish on where he sees the future of the league with the business plan they are taking to investors. In particular, the team golf aspect and the global schedule. This week marks the 8th different country they have visited in the 8 events they’ve held so far and Bryson was asked about his experience of travelling the world: “I think as I look at it now, what's really impacted me the most is the cultural barriers that get broken down, in a good way, with the game of golf. Everybody comes together. I think that's what's really special about LIV. I think that's what's really special about the game of golf. We'd be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn't continue to do that. “I think there's value in the States. There's value outside of the States. There's a way to match both.” He then was asked about his reaction to the news that the PIF was pulling the funding and the opportunity it offers: “We were surprised that they pulled out as quickly as they did. We didn't really see that coming. But that's okay. One door closes, another opens. I think that's the way a lot of us are looking at it. I think we all have optimism that there is a business plan that makes sense for team golf. I'd quite honestly actually -- how do I say it? I'm very optimistic with the business plan of team golf compared to other models, in my opinion. “But again, other models have worked, as well, so I'm not going to say that one is better than the other, but I do see value in what team golf can provide not only worldwide but also in grass rooting the game of golf. National support, team national support, city local support, we grass root ourselves there. There's a couple ideas that we have -- quite a few ideas that we have that could be interesting. “We'll see if investors like it or not. I'm giving all I can to make it happen, and if it doesn't, it doesn't happen.” And finally he was asked how he is able to overcome the noise off the course and concentrate on his own game during tournament weeks: “I go out there on the first tee on Thursday and hit a beautiful drive down the middle of the fairway, hopefully. That's what we're focused on. In the background, yeah, we're trying to help where we can, but ultimately it's up to executives and everybody banding together. If we all band together, there's an opportunity here. If not, it's going to be a different day for all of us. “But for me, how I support, go out and hit a great drive on the first tee, play a great round of golf, sign autographs after and have a good time.” Bryson is more involved now than he has ever been in shaping the future of the LIV Golf League. With the PIF pulling the funding and withdrawing the blank cheques, they have a big task ahead of them. But if one of their greatest assets is fully on board with trying to fund a practical solution, that can only be a positive for everyone involved. @brysondech @livgolf_league

Request a bet. Odds on how many games it takes Southampton, starting on -4, to get more points than Portsmouth next year in the Championship. I’d like a specific line on 2 games. Cheers @SkyBet @paddypower @Betfair @bet365 @Coral

The Korea Open announced a LIV Golf backed purse increase of more than 40% to a record 2 billion won a few weeks ago. But Asian Tour players have been told yesterday, Monday of tournament week, that the additional increase has been removed and it will revert to the original 1.4 billion won. At the end of April, tournament organisers said: “With $500,000 in prize money support from LIV Golf, with whom we have been expanding our partnership, the winner's share will be 700 million won and the total purse 2 billion won, making this the largest tournament in its history.” But players received an email yesterday, stating: “Due to reduced sponsorship, please be informed that the prize money for Kolon The 68th KOREA Open Golf Championship will revert back to the original amount of KRW 1,400,000,000. This does not affect points allocated to the tournament and it will remain as a Tier 2 event. “We appreciate your understanding and remain committed to delivering a world-class event for all competitors.” 5 players on the LIV Golf League are in the field with Bubba Watson, Danny Lee, Abraham Ancer, Minkyu Kim and Richard T Lee all set to tee it up on Thursday alongside the top Asian Tour players. The Kolon Korea Open is part of the Open Championship Qualifying Series with 1 spot available to the highest finishing non-exempt player. It promises to be anther great event at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in Cheonan.

Aaron Rai’s historic victory at the PGA Championship is a fantastic reminder of just how great of a multicultural sporting nation the United Kingdom has become. Aaron’s parents are of Indian and Kenyan descent, but he was born and raised in the heart of England. Now he’s broken the more than 100 year drought of English major winners to lift the Wanamaker Trophy. Yesterday, he was asked about his heritage: “I'm very proud to be from England. That's where I grew up. That's where a lot of my family still live. “I'm very proud of India and Kenya as well. My mum grew up there. My mum’s side of the family lived there for a number of years before they moved to England. My sister now lives there. My mum still spends a lot of time in Kenya. “Again, going back a couple of generations, both of my sets of grandparents from my mum and dad's side were from India. “Again, I'm very proud of representing all three really. I don't know what all that represents or how it's going to come across. All I can say is I'm very proud to be a mix of all of them.” Aaron Rai isn’t just an English champion, he’s a global one, and he’s an incredible ambassador for the sport. @PGAChampionship

Chad Mumm is the co-founder and president of Pro Shop Holdings, a media company that the PGA Tour own a substantial minority stake in and is registered and operated out of PGA Tour BLVD in Ponte Vedra. PSH operates, controls or produces various media outlets and shows, including Dan on Golf - hosted by Dan Rapaport, Skratch, and Netflix shows like Full Swing and Happy Gilmore 2. PSH also offers incentives to NUCLR Golf to share their articles and shows on X which I don’t believe has ever been publicly disclosed. Chad, and many other US media outlets, have regularly tried to discredit me because I am just a tradesman from the UK who is obsessed with golf and has managed to build a large platform without the need to financially grift like they do. Despite the many, many offers, I’ve never sold out. People like Chad are a big reason why there is so much misinformation in the golf space and frankly, I’m embarrassed for them. Enjoy the final round of the PGA Championship, Chad. @chadmumm

x.com/LETgolf/status… In 2013, 15 year old Leonie Harm was out for her morning run and hit by a car leaving her with brain injuries, bone fractures, and a collapsed lung. She was put into an induced coma and given a 1% chance of survival by paramedics at the scene. But she made a full recovery and went on to be one of the best amateurs in the world. Today, she just made birdie on her last two holes to shoot a final round 69 and win her maiden title on the LET at the Amundi German Masters in front of her home fans. What an incredible story. @LETgolf x.com/LETgolf/status…

After an opening 74 at the PGA Championship that he described as “shit”, Rory McIlroy bounced back with a bogey free 67 that he says was “not as shit” to comfortably make the cut. Despite unanimous praise from fans about the Aronimink set up, Rory is not as impressed: “The only thing I would say is, I think a bunched leaderboard like this, I think it's a sign of not a great setup, I think when it's as bunched as it is, because it hasn't really enabled anyone to separate themselves. It's like, you know, it's easy to make a ton of pars, hard to make birdies, and not that it's hard to make bogey, but it feels like bogey's the worst score you're going to shoot on any one hole. “There's not a lot of hazards. There's not, you know -- yeah, I think the setup is fine, like the golf course is good, the pins were tough, and the wind was what it was as well. But I just think, yeah, I've always felt like really good setups, it starts to spread the field a bit, and not great setups sort of bring everyone together. I feel like that's what's happened the last two days.” Rory is 5 shots back of the lead in T30th position heading into the weekend and says he still feels like he is in with a chance: “At five back I do feel like I'm right in the tournament, and that's really what I wanted to do today was to just get myself back in it, and I feel like I've done that.” Rory has a Saturday pairing with Brooks Koepka at 11am EST. He will need 2 low ones over the next 2 days if he is to claim his third PGA Championship and be halfway towards completing the calendar year Grand Slam. @McIlroyRory @PGAChampionship

Ludvig Aberg shot a 2nd round 4 under par 66 to move inside the top 10 of the PGA Championship and just 2 back of the lead. After the round, he said he did “most things better” than the opening day 72, and gave a great explanation of why patience is so important at Aronimink: “Yeah, compared to yesterday, I did most things better. I was hitting more fairways, I was hitting it closer, and I was making more putts. We knew going into today it was going to be a day of patience with some of those pins. The wind was up early in our round. It kind of died down, which made it a little bit easier. “But still a difficult golf course, and I'm pleased with the way kind of the scorecard kind of showed that patience a little bit today, which I'm pleased with.” He then spoke about how optimistic he is heading into the weekend: “Yeah, absolutely. Like you said, optimistic is a good word. I think, I like that yesterday I didn't hit the ball very well, but I was able to sort of get back into hitting golf shots again today. I felt like I was striking it nice all day. If I can keep that up tomorrow and keep the patience, I'll be happy.” The course set up has been the topic of much discussion. Ludvig spoke about how many pins he had to play away from: “Plenty, yeah, definitely plenty. The one that stands out is definitely 11, where you probably know going into you're not going to get it close. What's cool about this place is it gives you short clubs on a lot of these par-4s, but it's still really hard to get it close. Then you mix that in with some strong par-3s and it's a good test. “I felt like I handled it well today. I didn't feel -- I didn't try to force anything, I was okay with 20 feet, and I was okay with 25 feet at times. I think that's what you got to do when you play this golf course.” Ludvig’s form in his last 5 PGA Tour events reads: T3, T5, T5, T4 and T8 with a T21 at the Masters in between. It’s been a very consistent season so far and he has a great chance to claim his breakthrough major win this weekend. @PGAChampionship

@jamierkennedy Does anyone in golf media actually like anything related to golf. It’s just nonstop “actually this sucks” about everything

24 year old Spaniard David Puig shot a 3 under par 67 to climb inside the top 10 of the PGA Championship, just 3 shots off the lead. It’s the highest position he’s held after any round of a major and he spoke about how that feels: “No, yeah, very excited. I get up every day for weeks and days like today. I'm really excited about the weekend. I think obviously I could do some things better, hopefully the weekend. “But I think I've been getting a little better year after year, and I definitely got to this major championship as best prepared as I ever was, and compared to the other ones that I played. “So really excited to have some sort of late tee time on a Saturday at a major championship, and I'll give my best and hopefully it's good.” David played with 21 year old Aldrich Potgieter today and they are both the new school of modern player, who absolutely send it off the tee. He spoke about that: “No, yeah, it was awesome. He's a really talented player. He hits it really far. I think I hit it pretty far, but he's definitely longer than me. And, yeah, I mean he -- obviously the last couple holes, with a couple bogeys, but he played unbelievable golf today and yesterday. “He's pretty much accomplished a lot of things already, but he's got a really, really bright future in front of him. So amazing player.” David won the Australian PGA on his debut as a DP World Tour member, and the golf world is already fully aware of his talent. It feels like it’s just a matter of time before he announces himself on the biggest stage and he has a great chance to do that this weekend at Aronimink. @PuigCorrius @PGAChampionship @fireballsgc_

After shooting an opening 67 to co-lead a major after the first round for the first time in his career, Scottie Scheffler shot a 1 over par 71 to currently be T8 in his PGA Championship defence. After the round he said the pins at Aronimink are the toughest he’s ever experienced: “This is the hardest set of pin locations that I've seen since I've been on TOUR, and that includes U.S. Opens, that includes Oakmont. I did ask, I asked Fooch, who caddies for Justin Rose. He's been around a long time -- and I asked Teddy too -- have you seen anything like this before? They said maybe Shinnecock is the only place they have seen that has pins that could compare to this. “But it's different in a sense on this golf course, because Oakmont, their greens are extremely severe, but they're extremely severe in one direction. Here, it's like the green may slope all this way and then we put the pin down here and then there's also a slope this way. And like it's not as, how would you say, natural to the slopes that are there. There's a bit more, I think, that's manufactured into the greens, and it's just very difficult. “It's difficult to get the ball close to the hole. It's difficult to hole putts, especially when you have big slopes and wind, and I think that's why you see the scores so close to par.” Personally, I think the PGA of America has set the course up very well and it’s a fantastic test of golf for the elite players. What are your thoughts on it? @PGAChampionship

Justin Thomas’s group were put on the clock today at the PGA Championship. He said after the round he disagrees with the decision and spoke about “time par”: “We were, yeah. We just didn't really agree with it. It's hard because it's kind of the whole time par thing. What is time par? How can time par on this course be the same when it's blowing 25 and the pins are tough than if it's not? And does time par change every day? There's just so many factors that go into it. “We were behind. I'm not -- I think that wasn't our issue or being annoyed by it, it's just the fact that we weren't holding up the group behind us. They were about -- it seemed like every time we were on the green, they were on the tee and so on and so forth. “The hard part to me with the whole pace of play thing is that you, there's so much that goes into golf and there's so much that goes into hole to hole in terms of, are you hitting it close, are you able to tap it in, or you have to mark it, stuff like that, to where, are you holding the group up or are you not, to where it's very hard to make that call. And we just didn't agree with it, to be honest. “But we got taken off, and a hole later we were caught up. So it kind of goes to our point of why we didn't think we should of, but it is what it is. It's a part of it.” He then was asked whether he had to rush to get back into position: “No. I backed off on my first shot being on the clock even. It's just, it's so hard out here, and that's the last thing I'm going to do is make a mistake because I feel like I'm rushing. “If we were, for some reason, to get in a position where I was getting, we were getting bad times and we were continuing to be on, I would have had more discussions with the rules officials to kind of plead my case. But that was -- it's hard enough -- I'm not going to sit out there and take two minutes, like that's disrespectful to the field and everybody. “But at the same time, I'm not going to -- you know, I'm not going to rush and hit a shot that isn't right. So just kind of went about my business and just was ready to play when it was my turn like I feel like I do normally.” It does a bit ineffective to put one group on the clock if they can quickly catch up with the group ahead. But professional golf is far too slow and something does need to be done to improve the pace of play. Justin is currently inside the top 10 after a second consecutive 69. Nice! @JustinThomas34 @PGAChampionship

Aronimink is delivering one of the toughest tests for a PGA Championship in years but there is still a score out there. After shooting a 5 under par 65, Chris Gotterup spoke about whether the course is playing fair and how it affects pace of play: “I'm going to try to answer this properly. I don't think it's unfair, but I do think for pace of play and certain aspects, there have been a couple -- you know, 14 today is probably aggressive, I will say. You're hitting a 4-iron to a 10-foot circle, and if it doesn't go there, it's off the green, and if you hit it 40 feet left, you have a very hard 2-putt. “So, you know, Bob made birdie in my group and he hit a great shot. So is it unfair, probably not. But is it going to make the round slow, yeah. Yesterday I think hole 8 was probably pushing it a little bit. I hit 5-wood yesterday, and I hit 7-iron today. Granted, I don't know if they were expecting 30 mile an hour winds yesterday, but I also did shoot 5-under today. “So like I don't think it's -- I don't think it's unfair by any stretch of the imagination, but you're not going to get any 4-1/2 hour rounds out here if that's what they, if that's what's going to happen. So, unfair, no, but, you know, tough to make birdies” Chris also spoke about how he confident he is playing in the gusty conditions: “You know, I mean, obviously all good things. I feel like, if I'm playing well, I can compete anywhere. That's no different here. But I think it's just hard to say what it did for me other than build confidence. I felt like I played some of my best golf maybe ever as a pro that week, and I came in third. “So like it's just one of those things where you just got to keep -- I feel like you got to keep putting yourself in position, and you hope that one day it breaks through and it was your time. But as long as you can keep putting yourself there, I think that's all you can do.” Chris Gotterup has been one of the hottest players in the world over the last 12 months and he has a great chance to claim his first major title this weekend. @ChrisGotterup @PGAChampionship

41 year old PGA Professional Ben Kern shot a 3 under par 67, the tied 2nd lowest round of the tournament so far, to comfortably make the cut at the PGA Championship. Ben is the GM of Hickory Hills GC outside Columbus and says he plays “once a week” with the members, playing off a +6 handicap. After playing well at the 2018 PGA Championship, he said he felt like he finally belonged after spending 6 years “chasing it” on mini tours when he left college: “Yeah, it just tells me, it shows me, it proves to myself that I can hang with these guys when I'm playing solid, and it was really nice. I felt good yesterday, didn't put up a good score, but the game's -- I hung my head high yesterday, and I had a goal today and I surpassed it.” He went on to say: “I spent a good amount of time five, six years after college chasing it, Q-School, mini-tours, and then got married and got in the business. Once I did that, I'm pretty happy with it. “I am not one to want to practice all the time, so the week in, week out grind doesn't really appeal to me anymore. So I'm very happy with what I'm doing.” Ben is currently the leader in total birdies for the tournament and no matter what happens this weekend, he will have one awesome story to tell his members back home. PGA Professionals are the lifeblood of the game and it’s awesome to see them performing on one of the biggest stages in the sport alongside the world’s best players. @PGAChampionship

The combination of gusting winds, consequential shots and tough greens is making for a proper US Open style test out there at Aronimink, but these guys have got to play faster. 5 and a half to 6 hour rounds are just unacceptable. As Brooks said: “start stroking guys.”

Brooks Koepka was asked his thoughts on the recent LIV news but he wasn’t interested in talking about it. “I'm just focused on how I can figure out how to make this putter work.” Brooks hit it awesome today but is last in strokes gained putting. Hopefully he can find something.

Jon Rahm hit a flyer on the 7th hole today and then took a swing in frustration at the grass and ended up hitting a volunteer with his divot. After the round he was incredibly apologetic and fully owned up to his poor etiquette: “Thanks for reminding me of that. I got a flier on my second shot that went long. It's not a good spot. Just out of frustration, I tried to make an air swing, just over the grass, and I wasn't looking, took a divot, and unfortunately, I hit a volunteer. “Yeah, it hit him, and unfortunately it hit him in the shoulder and then the face. Which I couldn't feel any worse. That's why I was there apologizing. I need to somehow track him down to give him a present because that's inexcusable and for something that could be completely avoidable. “Whether it was my intention or not, it was just not good.” Jon still shot an opening 1 under par 69 with birdies on his last 2 holes to be just 2 shots off the current lead. @JonRahmOfficial @PGAChampionship

It’s safe to say Rory McIlroy was NOT happy with his opening 74 at the PGA Championship 😳