2023년 PGA투어
[WGC-매치 플레이] 샘 번즈 優勝, 캐머런 영 2位, 로리 맥길로이 3位, 스카티 쉐플러 4位 [LPGA 드라이브 온 選手權] 세린 부티에 優勝, 조지아 홀 準優勝.高眞榮 T5
김영호 ・ 2023. 3. 27. 13:09
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(2006년 6월, 내가 미국으로 가면서 잠실 주인에게 주었는데 경북 구미의 어느 식당에서 2016년 2월에 다시 보고 깜짝 놀랐습니다. 친형 김기식 화백의 작품인데 다시 매입하여야겠습니다)
安寧 하십니까? 2023年 3月 27日, 月, 아침 6時 17分입니다.
LPGA 드라이브 온 選手權 마지막 라운드, 高眞榮(-15)이 6番 홀까지 先頭(-17) 세린 부티에에 두 打까지 따라갔습니다. (6:23) 첫 파일은 세 時間 半만에 끝냅니다. (7:53) 原理數學 52쪽을 배우다가 wo(3) bu(4) zhi(1) dao(4) I don't know의 中國語를 배웁니다.
(9:54) 아내가 神學校 準備한다고, 올라가 있다가 스페니시 토스트를 먹으려 내려왔습니다.
(11:50) 옛날의 YH로 다시 돌아가서 너무 좋습니다.
(12:24) 어제 SARS-CoV-2 確診者는 日本 6,324名 (23%), 韓國 9,361名(35%, 어제 4,204名), 베트남 7名, 濠洲 0, 臺灣 0, 泰國 0, 뉴 질랜드 11,234名 (42%), 싱가포르 0, 홍콩 0, 中國 0, 캄보디아 0 等 4個國 26,926名입니다. 인도네시아(426名), 말레이시아(0), 필리핀(207名)은 633名으로 餘他 亞太國들의 2%입니다. (12:34) 이제 올립니다.
2023 WGC-Match Play money: Here’s how much every player made
golf.com, BY: NICK PIASTOWSKI, MARCH 26, 2023
Sam Burns hits a tee shot on Sunday on the 14th hole at Austin CC.
This was sweet. In more ways than one.
On the first day of the WGC-Match Play, and down four after 13 holes in his match against Denny McCarthy, Keegan Bradley went on a tear. He won 14. He won 15, He won 16. He won 18. He halved the match.
The difference?
“Man, it was looking pretty bleak there for a while, but I just put my head down,” Bradley said. “My boy gave me Starburst walking down 10, and I put it in my back pocket for good luck, and gave me some good luck.”
So let’s have some fun. As we break down the WGC-Match Play $20 million purse, let’s see just how many Starbursts you can buy with the $3.5 million given to the winner. Here we go:
— There are 12 pieces per pack.
— On Amazon, you can purchase a box of 36 packs for $43.50, or $1.20 per pack.
— For $3.5 million, you can buy 2,916,666 packs.
— And for $3.5 million, you can have 34,999,992 pieces of Starburst.
Sweet!
You can find a complete list of the 2023 WGC-Match Play payouts for each player below. In all, players were playing for a $20 million purse.
How much every player made at the 2023 WGC-Match Play
1. Sam Burns $3.5 million
2. Cameron Young $2.2 million
3. Rory McIlroy $1.42 million
4. Scottie Scheffler $1.145 million
T5. Mackenzie Hughes $645,000
Jason Day $645,000
Xander Schauffele $645,000
Kurt Kitayama $645,000
T9. Max Homa $365,000
Patrick Cantlay $365,000
Matt Kuchar $365,000
J.T. Poston $365,000
J.J. Spaun $365,000
Andrew Putnam $365,000
Billy Horschel $365,000
Lucas Herbert $365,000
T17. Rickie Fowler $219,909
Brian Harman $219,909
Cam Davis $219,909
Ryan Fox $219,909
Si Woo Kim $219,909
Tony Finau $219,909
Adrian Meronk $219,909
Taylor Montgomery $219,909
Russell Henley $219,909
Corey Conners $219,909
Sungjae Im $219,909
T28. Davis Riley $166,000
Keegan Bradley $166,000
Collin Morikawa $166,000
T31. Tom Kim $113,761
Jon Rahm $113,761
Scott Stallings $113,761
Nick Taylor $113,761
Hideki Matsuyama $113,761
Kevin Kisner $113,761
Justin Suh $113,761
Aaron Wise $113,761
Harris English $113,761
Viktor Hovland $113,761
Victor Perez $113,761
Matt Fitzpatrick $113,761
Sahith Theegala $113,761
Min Woo Lee $113,761
Jordan Spieth $113,761
Shane Lowry $113,761
Seamus Power $113,761
Adam Scott $113,761
Adam Hadwin $113,761
Ben Griffin $113,761
Davis Thompson $113,761
T52. Alex Noren $74,857
Keith Mitchell $74,857
Denny McCarthy $74,857
Chris Kirk $74,857
Adam Svensson $74,857
Tommy Fleetwood $74,857
Maverick McNealy $74,857
T59. Christiaan Bezuidenhout $67,500
K.H. Lee $67,500
Tom Hoge $67,500
Will Zalatoris $67,500
Tyrrell Hatton $67,500
Sepp Straka $67,500
Here's the prize money payout for each golfers at the 2023 WGC-Match Play
golfdigest.com, March 26, 2023
A volunteer updates the bracket group board during Friday's play at the WGC-Match Play.
Five days, seven matches, one satisfying victory. Sam Burns proved to be the last man standing on Sunday at the final edition of the WGC-Match Play Championship, finishing off a long but rewarding week at Austin CC with a convincing 6-and-5 triumph over Cameron Young in Sunday’s championship match.
“It was very exhausting,” said the 26-year-old Louisiana native after grabbing his fifth career PGA Tour title, making an impressive 48 birdies over 119 total holes in Texas.
For that effort, however, Burns gets to enjoy a substantial reward. The last edition of this event at Austin C.C. is also one of the PGA Tour’s designated events for 2023, which means the overall prize money payout jumped from its previously impressive $12 million to $20 million. Burns grabbed a first-place prize money payout of $3.5 million, up from the $2.1 million Scottie Scheffler earned for his win a year ago. Young claimed $2.2 million for his runner-up effort. Indeed, if you made it to Sunday, you guaranteed yourself a seven-figure payday.
Below is the prize money payout for each golfer at this week’s Match Play so far. We’ll update these totals with specific individual player names and money earn as the tournament wraps up on Sunday.
Win: Sam Burns, $3,500,000
2: Cameron Young, $2,200,000
3: Rory McIlroy, $1,420,000
4: Scottie Scheffler, $1,145,000
Quarterfinalists: $770,000
Mackenzie Hughes
Jason Day
Xander Schauffele
Kurt Kitayama
Round of 16: $365,000
Max Homa
Patrick Cantlay
Matt Kuchar
J.T. Poston
J.J. Spaun
Lucas Herbert
Andrew Putnam
Billy Horschel
T-17: 2 points (2-1), $219,909
Rickie Fowler
Brian Harman
Cam Davis
Ryan Fox
Si Woo Kim
Tony FInay
Adrian Meronk
Taylor Montgomery
Russell Henley
Corey Conners
Sungjae Im
T-28: 1.5 points (1-1-1), $166,000
Davis Riley
Keegan Bradley
Collin Morikawa
T-31: 1 point (1-2-0), $113,761
Tom Kim
Jon Rahm
Scott Stallings
Nick Taylor
Hideki Matsuyama
Kevin Kisner
Justin Suh
Aaron Wise
Harris English
Viktor Hovland
Victor Perez
Matt Fitzpatrick
Min Wo Lee
Sahith Theegala
Jordan Spieth
Shane Lowry
Seamus Power
Adam Scott
Adam Hadwin
Ben Griffin
Davis Thompson
T-52: .5 points (0-2-1), $74,857
Alex Noren
Keith Mitchell
Denny McCarthy
Chris Kirk
Adam Svensson
Tommy Fleetwood
Maverick McNealy
T-59: 0 points (0-3-0), $67,500
K.H. Lee
Tom Hoge
Will Zalatoris
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
Tyrrell Hatton
Sepp Straka
Here's the prize money payout for each golfer at the 2023 Corales Puntacana Championship
golfdigest.com, March 26, 2023
The payday is modest when you compare it to the amounts on the line at the WGC-Match Play Championship. But winning the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Championship on Sunday in the Dominican Republic comes with some handsome rewards—as Matt Wallace is about to learn.
The 32-year-old Englishman, No. 172 in the World Ranking entering the week, rallied on Sunday with a six-under 66 at Puntacana Resort & Club in the Dominican Republic to claim his first PGA Tour win in his 80th career start. A 19-under 269 total gave Wallace, playing his third full year on tour, a one-shot victory over Nicolai Hojgaard.
With the victory, Wallace, a four-time winner on the DP World Tour, locks up a PGA Tour card through the 2025 season. Additionally, he is now guaranteed a spot in the upcoming Heritage and the Memorial, both designated events this season, and the PGA Championship at Oak Hill. It also ensures that he is in the field for the ToC and the Players Championship in 2024, both designated events in the new PGA Tour system.
And there’s also the first-place prize money payout of $684,000 from an overall purse of $3.8 million. That’s no small thing considering Wallace’s biggest prior payday on the PGA Tour was the $575,000 he won for a third-place showing at the 2019 PGA Championship.
Here’s the prize money payout for each golfer who made the cut in the Dominican.
Win: Matt Wallace, 269/-19, $684,000
2: Nicolai Hojgaard, 270/-18, $414,200
T-3: Tyler Duncan, 271/-17, $224,200
T-3: Sam Stevens, 271/-17, $224,200
5: Austin Eckroat, 272/-16, $155,800
6: Wyndham Clark, 273/-15, $137,750
7: Ricky Barnes, 274/-14, $128,250
T-8: Thomas Detry, 275/-13, $103,550
T-8: Brice Garnett, 275/-13, $103,550
T-8: Brent Grant, 275/-13, $103,550
T-8: Ben Martin, 275/-13, $103,550
T-8: Matthias Schwab, 275/-13, $103,550
T-13: Austin Cook, 276/-12, $74,416.67
T-13: Nick Hardy, 276/-12, $74,416.67
T-13: Harry Hall, 276/-12, $74,416.66
T-16: Jonathan Byrd, 277/-11, $56,050
T-16: Kevin Chappell, 277/-11, $56,050
T-16: Doug Ghim, 277/-11, $56,050
T-16: Kelly Kraft, 277/-11, $56,050
T-16: Vincent Norrman, 277/-11, $56,050
T-16: Dylan Wu, 277/-11, $56,050
T-22: Henrik Norlander, 278/-10, $41,230
T-22: Martin Trainer, 278/-10, $41,230
T-24: Akshay Bhatia, 279/-9, $35,150
T-24: Bill Haas, 279/-9, $35,150
T-26: Tyson Alexander, 280/-8, $29,450
T-26: Michael Kim, 280/-8, $29,450
T-26: Augusto Núñez, 280/-8, $29,450
T-29: Erik Compton, 281/-7, $24,351.67
T-29: MJ Daffue, 281/-7, $24,351.67
T-29: Mark Hubbard, 281/-7, $24,351.67
T-29: Fabrizio Zanotti, 281/-7, $24,351.67
T-29: Sean O'Hair, 281/-7, $24,351.66
T-29: Scott Piercy, 281/-7, $24,351.66
T-35: Tano Goya, 282/-6, $19,760
T-35: Paul Haley II, 282/-6, $19,760
T-35: Brandon Matthews, 282/-6, $19,760
T-38: Rafael Campos, 283/-5, $15,390
T-38: Harry Higgs, 283/-5, $15,390
T-38: Sung Kang, 283/-5, $15,390
T-38: S.Y. Noh, 283/-5, $15,390
T-38: D.A. Points, 283/-5, $15,390
T-38: Chris Stroud, 283/-5, $15,390
T-38: Kevin Tway, 283/-5, $15,390
T-38: Carson Young, 283/-5, $15,390
T-46: Aaron Baddeley, 284/-4, $10,963
T-46: Scott Harrington, 284/-4, $10,963
T-46: Kramer Hickok, 284/-4, $10,963
T-46: Andrew Novak, 284/-4, $10,963
T-50: Cody Gribble, 285/-3, $9,284.67
T-50: Max McGreevy, 285/-3, $9,284.67
T-50: Chris Nido, 285/-3, $9,284.67
T-50: Kyle Westmoreland, 285/-3, $9,284.67
T-50: Joel Dahmen, 285/-3, $9,284.66
T-50: Kevin Roy, 285/-3, $9,284.66
T-56: Greg Chalmers, 286/-2, $8,816
T-56: Erik van Rooyen, 286/-2, $8,816
T-58: Ben Crane, 287/-1, $8,588
T-58: Jason Dufner, 287/-1, $8,588
T-58: Harrison Endycott, 287/-1, $8,588
T-58: Russell Knox, 287/-1, $8,588
T-62: George McNeill, 288/E, $8,360
T-62: Stephen Stallings Jr., 288/E, $8,360
T-64: Scott Brown, 289/+1, $8,132
T-64: Hank Lebioda, 289/+1, $8,132
T-64: Camilo Villegas, 289/+1, $8,132
T-64: Trevor Werbylo, 289/+1, $8,132
T-68: Michael Gligic, 290/+2, $7,904
T-68: Cameron Percy, 290/+2, $7,904
T-70: Emiliano Grillo, 291/+3, $7,752
T-70: Taylor Pendrith, 291/+3, $7,752
72: Sangmoon Bae, 293/+5, $7,638
Sam Burns wins final Match Play in rout over Cameron Young
By DOUG FERGUSON
Sam Burns holds his trophy after defeating Cameron Young in the final match at the Match Play Championship in Austin, Texas, Sunday, March 26, 2023. Michael Dell, left, presented the trophy.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Sam Burns won the WGC-Match Play on the 13th green, most appropriate for this unpredictable tournament because that’s where he thought he had lost it.
Some four hours earlier, Burns stood on that same green ready to remove his cap and congratulate defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who had a 4-foot birdie putt to win their semifinal match in overtime.
And then it all changed, quickly and dramatically, like so often in match play.
Scheffler missed. Burns birdied the next hole to win. And then Burns delivered a masterclass performance with eight birdies over his last 10 holes for a 6-and-5 victory over Cameron Young in the final edition of the Match Play.
“Crazy week,” Burns said.
Rory McIlroy was 2 up with three holes to play against Young in the semifinals when one swing (into a bunker) and one bad break (into the side collar of a bunker) and one missed putt (on the 19th hole) left him playing a consolation match.
Young went from one of the most satisfying rounds of his career to feeling helpless. He made a few mistakes in the championship match, but there was no stopping Burns and that silky putting stroke at Austin CC.
“I was a million under for the week,” Young said. “It’s really easy to think you’re so close. There’s only one guy standing between you and winning a tournament. But that one guy is Sam Burns playing really well.”
Indeed, the final edition of this wild and wacky tournament ultimately turned into a downer for just about everyone but Burns.
Burns went on a tear Sunday afternoon in the championship match, with just enough help from Young at the end for the second-largest margin of victory over 18 holes in match play.
Young had to settle for his sixth runner-up finish in the last two seasons on the PGA Tour, disappointed but not without perspective. With concessions, he was 41-under par for the week. There wasn’t much he could do against Burns.
“There might not have been anybody beating him today the way he played,” Young said.
The gallery, strong and loud and thoroughly entertained during the semifinals, thought they were going to get the world’s top two players in the final match of the final Match Play. That turned out to be only partially true. Burns was celebrating his fifth PGA Tour title as McIlroy and Scheffler played on. McIlroy won the consolation match, 2 and 1.
Burns went from 3 up to 2 down to 1 up playing the final hole against Scheffler until the No. 1 player in the world hit a beauty of a pitch-and-run up the slope to a back pin on the 18th for a birdie to send it to extra hole.
It was the first time in the 24-year history that both semifinal matches went overtime.
Scheffler was 4 feet away from becoming the first player in three straight title matches, and then he missed the short birdie putt on No. 13, their 20th hole.
“That’s the nature of this match play,” Burns said. “It’s one holed putt or missed putt away from winning or losing. He gave me a gift there on 13.”
Burns answered with a fairway bunker shot to 15 feet and a birdie putt to win.
He fell behind early, and briefly, against Young. Burns went 2 up on the seventh hole when Young missed a 6-foot par putt for his first bogey since the seventh hole on Thursday. Burns made a 20-foot birdie on the eighth to go 3 up, and he was on his way.
The end was anticlimactic. Young pulled his shot from rough into the water on the par-5 12th, and then he came up short of the green and into the water on the reachable par-4 13th.
Burns chipped to just inside 3 feet, and Young removed his cap without making him putt.
The highlight for Young was his semifinal win over McIlroy, who was in full flight for so much of the week. McIlroy was 2 up with three holes to play when Young won the 16th with a birdie and then hit a nifty pitch-and-run up the slope and his purest putt of the week.
On the first extra hole at the par-5 12th, Young was in such a bad spot in the bunker next to the lip that he could only blast out to 169 yards with McIlroy just over 200 yards for his second. Young hammered pitching wedge to 9 feet and made birdie. McIlroy played short and right of the green, chipped to just inside 9 feet and missed.
That was the kind of theater that graced Austin CC all week, particularly Sunday morning with the prospect of a McIlroy-Scheffler title match. Instead, it got a championship match that felt like a mismatch the way Burns was playing.
It was a flat ending to what has been 23 dynamic events of Match Play since the WGC began in 1999. Match Play was the first one, a 38-hole final won by Jeff Maggert at La Costa. That was a nail-biter. This was a rout.
Match Play will not be on the schedule in 2024 as the PGA Tour moves toward elevated events for the top 70 or so players, a response to the threat of Saudi-funded LIV Golf.
Burns moved to No. 10 in the world and collected $3.5 million from the $20 million purse. Young got $2.2 million for finishing second, though a trophy after so many close calls would seem to be invaluable.
(winner, $3,500,000) Sam Burns watches his putt on a playoff hole during a semifinal round.
Sam Burns, right, is congratulated by Cameron Young after Burns defeated him in the final match.
Sam Burns, right, kisses his trophy after defeating Cameron Young in the final match.
(runner-up, $2,200,000) Cameron Young plays his shot from the rough on the sixth hole during the final match.
(3rd, $1,420,000) Rory McIlroy chips on the 13th hole during a semifinal round.
Scottie Scheffler, left, and Rory McIlroy, center, walk up the fairway on the fifth hole during a consolation match
Rory McIlroy reacts to his putt on the fifth hole during a consolation match.
(fourth, $1,145,000) Scottie Scheffler reacts to missing a putt on the 12th hole during the semifinal round.
Scottie Scheffler reacts to missing a putt on a playoff hole in the semifinal round.
Scottie Scheffler reacts to missing a putt on a playoff hole against Sam Burns during a semifinal round.
Scottie Scheffler, right, hugs Sam Burns, left, after their semifinal round.
Wallace uses late birdie run to capture 1st PGA Tour title
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic (AP) — Matt Wallace of England was hugging his caddie again Sunday, not to make good from an argument but to celebrate his first PGA Tour title at the Corales Punta Cana Championship.
Wallace ran off four straight birdies down the stretch on the Corales course at Punta Cana and closed with two solid pars for a 6-under 66.
He was on the putting green when Nicolai Hojgaard, the 22-year-old from Denmark playing on a sponsor exemption, had a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th that would have forced a playoff. The putt just missed on the low side, giving the Dane a 68.
Wallace, already a four-time winner on the European tour, finished at 19-under 269 in winning in his 80th career start on the PGA Tour.
His iron play and putting was pivotal, such as the downhill 8-foot birdie putt breaking to the left on the 15th hole that gave him his first lead. Equally important was his attitude. Wallace can run on the hot side and often berates himself.
“Self-talk was very good today,” he said. “I realized at The Players Championship that out of the 145 shots I hit to miss the cut by one, two of those I spoke to myself nicely. That’s not going to get the job done.”
He was coming off a tie for seventh last week at the Valspar Championship, memorable only for his play on the 18th off a cart path and then an animated argument with his caddie, Samuel Bernard of France, for asking if Wallace was sure about the shot.
That isn’t unusual for Wallace, though it made for good television. They later were seen hugging it out. There was nothing but positive vibes, especially the birdie stretch that began at the 13th hole.
“It’s cool. This is cool,” said Wallace as he started to get choked up.
The victory doesn’t get the Englishman into the Masters because it was held opposite the WGC-Match Play in Texas. But he is set for the PGA Championship and the Sentry Tournament of Champions next year at Kapalua.
Hojgaard had a long two-putt birdie on the par-5 14th, and a clutch 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th hole to get within one and have a chance to catch Wallace. His putt narrowly missed, and he had to settle for being the runner-up.
Tyler Duncan (68) and PGA Tour rookie Sam Stevens (69) tied for third.
Toms claims Galleri for 2nd Champions win of the season
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) — David Toms fired a 7-under 65 Sunday for a four-stroke, wire-to-wire win at The Galleri Classic to become the first two-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions this season.
Toms closed out his second win in three starts and fourth Champions victory with an eight-birdie, one-bogey performance at Mission Hills CC to claim the $330,000 winner’s share.
Steven Alker of New Zealand used a round of five birdies — four on the back nine — to finish alone in second after a closing 67.
Retief Goosen had a final-round 65 and tied Paul Stankowski (66) for third at 11 under. Vijay Singh (68), Padraig Harrington (68), Miguel Angel Jiménez (68), Steve Stricker (69) and Mario Tiziani (67) were at 10 under.
Toms added the Galleri title to his win at the Cologuard Classic earlier this month for his first multiple-win season on the over-50 tour since joining in 2017. The win vaulted him into first place in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.
“I’ve just enjoyed playing good golf right now, off to a good start,” the 56-year-old Toms said. “I haven’t really been part of the Charles Schwab Cup at the end, haven’t even been close, so that’s kind of my goal this year is to try to get close, give myself a chance late in the season.”
The inaugural event was contested on the same Mission Hills layout where the LPGA formerly contested its first major of the season for 50 years. Chevron has taken over as the title sponsor of that event and moved the major to Houston.
Toms found the par-72, 7,112-yard course to be a tough layout that put a premium on accuracy off the tee.
“It was a really good test, you had to keep the ball in the fairway, which was very difficult,” said Toms, who ranked first in driving accuracy by hitting 33 of 42 fairways and led the field with 20 birdies. “Just enough rough to make you think.
“Greens got firm, so you really need to be in the fairway. Fortunate for me, I kept it in the fairway for the most part. If not, I always had a shot where I had an open green or something, and the putter felt really good the last few days.”
Bernhard Langer, who was trying to win his record 46th title on the PGA Tour Champions, finished in a tie for 20th at 6 under after a final-round 69.
Boutier beats Hall in playoff to claim 3rd LPGA victory
Celine Boutier tees off on the first hole during the final round of the Drive On Championship, Sunday, March 26, 2023, in Gold Canyon, Ariz.
GOLD CANYON, Ariz. (AP) — Celine Boutier beat Georgia Hall with a birdie on the first playoff hole Sunday to win the LPGA Drive on Championship.
Boutier forced a playoff by making a testy birdie putt at the par-5 18th to close out a 4-under 68, matching Hall (65) at 20-under 268 in the LPGA’s first full-field event of the season.
Playing the 18th hole again, neither golfer found the green with their second shot of the playoff. Boutier, chipping from nearly the same spot as she did in regulation short and right of the green, pitched to about 4 feet. Meanwhile, Hall hit her second shot into a greenside bunker, blasted beyond the hole and failed to convert her birdie effort. That set the stage for Boutier’s winning birdie putt.
With the victory, the 29-year-old Boutier claimed her third LPGA victory and became the winningest French player on tour, moving past Patricia Meunier-Lebouc and Anne-Marie Palli. She had previously won the 2019 ISPS Handa Vic Open and 2021 ShopRite Classic
After three birdie-filled rounds at Superstition Mountain GC, the final round started with 17 players within three shots of the lead and stayed to form. Hall made the most of her fourth round, posting one of three 7-under par scores, including going 6 under on the back nine to charge into the early lead.
Japan’s Ayaka Furue closed with a 65 and finished third at 19 under. Na Rin An of South Korea was alone in fourth at 18 under with a closing 67, while American Ally Ewing (67) and South Korea’s Jin Young Ko (68) were another stroke back in fifth.
(-20, playoff win) Celine Boutier waits to tee off on the first hole during the final round.
(-20, runner-up) Georgia Hall putts on the 18th hole during the final round.
Georgia Hall acknowledges the crowd on the 18th hole during the final round.
Burns captures Match Play, Toms wins again on Champions Tour
Sam Burns holds his trophy after defeating Cameron Young in the final match at the Match Play in Austin, Texas, Sunday, March 26, 2023. Michael Dell, left, presented the trophy.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Sam Burns went on a tear Sunday afternoon with eight birdies on his final 10 holes and enough help from Cameron Young for a 6-and-5 victory to win the WGC-Match Play. It was the second-largest margin in an 18-hole match in this tournament.
Burns won for the fifth time on the PGA Tour.
Young, who had a late rally with clutch birdies to eliminate Rory McIlroy in the semifinals, had to settle for his sixth runner-up finish in the last 18 months.
Burns made it to the championship match Sunday afternoon only when defending champion Scottie Scheffler missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the 20th hole of their semifinal match. Given new life, Burns made birdie from a fairway bunker with a 15-foot putt to advance.
Young had a brief lead early in the title match, and then Burns was unstoppable. He won five of the next six holes. Young had to make a 20-foot birdie putt to halve the 11th hole, and then Young hit into the water on each of the next two holes.
Burns won $3.5 million from the $20 million purse. Young, who won $2.2 million, now has six runner-up finishes in the last two seasons.
McIlroy defeated Scheffler, 2 and 1, in the consolation match.
PGA TOUR
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic (AP) __ Matt Wallace of England ran off four straight birdies down the stretch and closed with two solid pars for a 6-under 66, giving him a one-shot win in the Corales Puntacana Championship for his first PGA Tour title.
Wallace was on the putting green when Nicolai Hojgaard, the 22-year-old from Denmark playing on a sponsor exemption, had a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th that would have forced a playoff. The putt just missed on the low side, giving the Dane a 68.
Wallace, already a four-time winner on the European tour, finished at 19-under 269 in winning in his 80th career start on the PGA Tour.
Hojgaard had a long two-putt birdie on the par-5 14th, and a clutch 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th hole to get within one and have a chance to catch Wallace. His putt narrowly missed, and he had to settle for being the runner-up.
Tyler Duncan (68) and PGA Tour rookie Sam Stevens (69) tied for third.
LPGA TOUR
GOLD CANYON, Ariz. (AP) — Celine Boutier of France beat Georgia Hall of England with a birdie on the first playoff hole to win the LPGA Drive on Championship.
Boutier forced a playoff by making a testy birdie putt at the par-5 18th to close out a 4-under 68, matching Hall (65) at 20-under 268 at Superstition Mountain in the tour’s first full-field event of the season.
Playing the 18th hole again, neither golfer found the green with their second shot of the playoff. Boutier, chipping from nearly the same spot as she did in regulation short and right of the green, pitched to about 4 feet. Meanwhile, Hall hit her second shot into a greenside bunker, blasted beyond the hole and failed to convert her birdie effort. That set the stage for Boutier’s winning birdie putt.
With the victory, the 29-year-old Boutier claimed her third LPGA victory and became the winningest French player on tour, moving past Patricia Meunier-Lebouc and Anne-Marie Palli. She had previously won the 2019 Vic Open and 2021 ShopRite Classic
Japan’s Ayaka Furue closed with a 65 and finished third at 19 under. Na Rin An of South Korea was alone in fourth at 18 under with a closing 67, while American Ally Ewing (67) and South Korea’s Jin Young Ko (68) were another stroke back in fifth.
PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) — David Toms fired a 7-under 65 for a four-stroke, wire-to-wire win at The Galleri Classic to become the first two-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions this season.
Toms closed out his second win in three starts and fourth Champions victory with an eight-birdie, one-bogey performance at Mission Hills CC to claim the $330,000 winner’s share.
Steven Alker of New Zealand used a round of five birdies — four on the back nine — to finish alone in second after a closing 67.
Retief Goosen had a final-round 65 and tied Paul Stankowski (66) for third at 11 under. Vijay Singh (68), Padraig Harrington (68), Miguel Angel Jiménez (68), Steve Stricker (69) and Stricker’s brother-in-law, Mario Tiziani (67), were at 10 under.
Toms added the Galleri title to his win at the Cologuard Classic earlier this month for his first multiple-win season on the over-50 tour since joining in 2017. The win vaulted him into first place in the Charles Schwab Cup standings.
The inaugural event was contested on the same Mission Hills layout where the LPGA formerly contested its first major of the season for 50 years.
EUROPEAN TOUR AND SUNSHINE TOUR
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) — Nick Bachem of Germany closed with an 8-under 64 for a four-shot victory in the Jonsson Workwear Open, capturing his first European tour title that comes with a two-year exemption.
Bachem was the only contender at The Club at Steyn City to not drop a shot on the back nine, which allowed him to pull away for a comfortable margin over Hennie Du Plessis (68) and Zander Lombard (65).
The tournament was co-sanctioned with the Sunshine Tour.
Alexander Knappe, the 54-hole leader, was keeping pace with Bachem’s hot start until a double bogey on the par-3 12th hole, along with two more bogeys against no birdies. He shot 40 on the back nine for a 73 to finish 13th.
Bachem won for the first time on a major tour. His previous three wins were on the German-based Pro Golf Tour.
KORN FERRY TOUR
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — David Skinns of England closed with a 4-under 68 for a one-shot victory in the Club Car Championship, his third career win on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Skinns did enough work to keep ahead of the field that needed only a par on the par-5 closing hole at The Landings Golf and Athletic Club to hold off Shad Tuten (67) and Tom Whitney (68), who each birdied the 18th.
Jack Maguire had 11 birdies in his round of 63 to tie for fourth.
Skinns moved up to the top of the points list on the Korn Ferry Tour. He previously won in 2021 and 2018 on the PGA Tour’s top developmental circuit.
OTHER TOURS
Taichi Kho became the first player from Hong Kong to win on the Asian Tour when he closed with an even-par 70 for a two-shot victory over Michael Hendry in the World City Championship. Rain forced the tournament to be shortened to 54 holes. Kho, Hendry, Travis Smyth and Bio Kim earned the four spots available to play in the British Open this summer. ... Miranda Wang closed with a 2-under 70 for a one-shot victory over Natasha Andrea Oon in the IOA Championship on the Epson Tour. ... Om Prakash Chouhan of India closed with a 7-under 65 for a two-shot victory in the Duncan Taylor Black Bull Challenge, his first Challenge Tour title. Ashley Chesters of England and Victor Pastor of Spain tied for second in the tournament held in Bangalore, India. ... Chandler Blanchet holed out from the fairway for an eagle on the last hole to cap off a 30 on the back nine and a 5-under 66 for a three-shot win in the Roberto de Vicenzo Memorial 100 years on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica. ... Hinako Yamauchi closed with a 2-under 70 for a one-shot victory over Mamiko Higa in the AXA Ladies Golf Tournament on the Japan LPGA.
Qualifiers for the 2023 Masters
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — The 89 players expected to compete in the 87th Masters, to be played April 6-9. Players listed only in the first category for which they are eligible (a-amateur). One spot remains for the winner of the Texas Open.
MASTERS CHAMPIONS: Scottie Scheffler, Hideki Matsuyama, Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods, Patrick Reed, Sergio Garcia, Danny Willett, Jordan Spieth, Bubba Watson, Adam Scott, Charl Schwartzel, Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson, Mike Weir, Vijay Singh, Jose Maria Olazabal, Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples, Sandy Lyle, Larry Mize.
PGA CHAMPIONS (five years): Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Brooks Koepka.
U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONS (five years): Matt Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Gary Woodland.
BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONS (five years): Cameron Smith, Shane Lowry, Francesco Molinari.
U.S. AMATEUR CHAMPION AND RUNNER-UP: a-Sam Bennett, a-Ben Carr.
BRITISH AMATEUR CHAMPION: a-Aldrich Potgieter.
U.S. MID-AMATEUR CHAMPION: a-Matthew McClean.
ASIA-PACIFIC AMATEUR CHAMPION: a-Harrison Crowe.
LATIN AMERICAN AMATEUR CHAMPION: a-Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira.
TOP 12 AND TIES-2022 MASTERS: Rory McIlroy, Will Zalatoris, Corey Conners, Sungjae Im, Cameron Champ.
TOP FOUR AND TIES-2022 PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: Mito Pereira, Cameron Young.
TOP FOUR AND TIES-2022 BRITISH OPEN: Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland.
PGA TOUR WINNERS SINCE 2022 MASTERS (FULL FEDEX CUP POINTS AWARDED): Max Homa, K.H. Lee, Sam Burns, Billy Horschel, Xander Schauffele, J.T. Poston, Tony Finau, Tom Kim, Patrick Cantlay, Mackenzie Hughes, Keegan Bradley, Seamus Power, Russell Henley, Adam Svensson, Si Woo Kim, Justin Rose, Chris Kirk, Kurt Kitayama, Taylor Moore.
FIELD FROM THE 2022 TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP: Sepp Straka, Tom Hoge, Joaquin Niemann, Aaron Wise, Brian Harman, Sahith Theegala, Scott Stallings.
TOP 50 FROM FINAL WORLD RANKING IN 2022: Tyrrell Hatton, Ryan Fox, Kevin Kisner, Abraham Ancer, Thomas Pieters, Alex Noren, Talor Gooch, Harold Varner III, Jason Kokrak, Adrian Meronk, Kevin Na, Louis Oosthuizen.
TOP 50 FROM WORLD RANKING ONE WEEK BEFORE THE MASTERS: Jason Day, Harris English, Keith Mitchell, Min Woo Lee.
SPECIAL INVITATION: Kazuki Higa.
Opinion Why we’re still stuck in Trump’s world
WP, E.J. Dionne Jr., March 26, 2023
There is a madness running through our nation’s public life. Our country seems nearly powerless to counteract it because it’s built into the structure of American politics, the belief system of Republican voters and the polarization of opinion in Congress.
The past week epitomized Donald Trump’s continuing dominance of the public conversation and the extent to which we simply take for granted his threats of violence, his overt racism and the eagerness of many in his party to revert to attacks on George Soros that, at a minimum, carry overtones of antisemitism.
The coming week is likely to give us more of the same. The news media will stay focused on what a grand jury in New York may or may not do, and on the accelerating pace of Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s investigations into the former president’s role in the 2021 insurrection and Trump’s handling of classified documents.
The journalistic obsession with Trump is certainly part of the problem. “I can’t tell you the number of calls I’ve gotten from reporters asking me about the implications of Trump being indicted,” Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster, told, well, this reporter. “They were asking me about the implications of something that’s unknowable because it’s without any precedent in our history.”
But there is something the Trump-obsessed news media did not cover because it didn’t happen: There were no widespread Republican criticisms of Trump’s unhinged attacks on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as an “animal” and “a degenerate psychopath,” no official GOP condemnation of Trump’s wee-hours-of-the-morning threat on Friday that an indictment could lead to “potential death and destruction.”
On the contrary: Violating his party’s incessant claims to believe in states’ rights and local control, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote to Bragg demanding materials related to the investigation of hush-money payments to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. It’s bad enough to be silent about Trump’s abusive rants, but to make a chamber of Congress part of Trump’s defense team reveals the depth of the rot.
Unfortunately, the incentives and current architecture of politics make it unlikely that any of this will change. Two studies this month highlighted why. An analysis of all 435 congressional districts conducted by the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California in conjunction with the Atlantic found that 142 of the House’s 222 Republicans represent districts with low levels of racial diversity and that are dominated by White voters without college degrees.
As a result, wrote the Atlantic’s Ronald Brownstein, “the energy in the party over recent years has shifted from the small-government arguments that drove the GOP in the Reagan era toward the unremitting culture-war focus pursued by Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.” What Jordan is doing, in other words, represents the prevailing attitudes of his caucus.
Another study released last week, by Alan I. Abramowitz, a political scientist at Emory University, traced the dramatic change in the makeup of the American electorate over the past 40 years. The study, published by the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, found that “racial and cultural issues, rather than economic ones,” have driven the enormous gains Republicans have made with noncollege Whites.
In the meantime, Abramowitz noted in an interview, Democratic gains with White college-educated voters reflect the decay of what had once been the political base for more moderate Republicans, particularly in the Northeast. Again: The pressure in the party is to the cultural right — and to Trump.
No wonder that Trump’s favorability among Republicans in the latest YouGov poll late last week stood at 78 percent, compared with 34 percent among independents and 12 percent among Democrats.
Even Republicans who are fully aware of the damage Trump is doing and the cost of Trump-backed candidates to the party’s electoral fortunes thus hold back from criticizing him. “They know this is disastrous, but they are reluctant to speak up, and they don’t know how to stop it,” Abramowitz said. Which just allows the show to go on.
Ayres, the Republican pollster, sees his party as divided among 10 percent “Never Trump” voters, 30 percent “Always Trump,” with the remaining 60 percent in a category he calls “Maybe Trump.”
The Maybe Trumpers are open to alternatives, he said, but having voted for Trump twice, “you will never, ever get these folks admitting they made a mistake,” meaning they do not take kindly to criticisms of the former president. This is why Trump’s rivals for the nomination have been so reluctant to take him on directly. The Republican Party’s swing voters are in a see-no-evil, hear-no-evil mood.
A substantial majority of the country would like to be done with Trump and the nastiness he sows. Many Republican leaders may quietly agree, but their electorate and the nature of the places they represent push them toward timidity. Until the incentives change or the party’s leaders discover the fortitude to defy them, we’re stuck in the world that Trump’s neuroses create for us.
Opinion As in 2016, Trump’s GOP rivals haven’t figured out a way around him
WP, Eugene Robinson, March 23, 2023
Republicans who want to run for president in 2024 will have to go over, under, around or through Donald Trump to win the nomination. So far, none has remotely figured out how.
It’s still early, but not that early. Trump is in the race and running hard, despite his legal troubles. Aside from former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who announced her bid last month, the potential GOP candidates are all still making their pilgrimages to Iowa and New Hampshire, hawking their political memoirs, doing high-profile television interviews, and trying their best to look and sound presidential.
What they don’t appear to be doing is meaningfully loosening Trump’s hold over the Republican base. Not that they aren’t trying, kind of.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, currently Trump’s most formidable potential challenger, opened with a strategy of presenting himself as the MAGA-friendly, drama-free alternative to the former president. But when polls showed DeSantis a legitimate threat to win the nomination, Trump reacted by — I know this will come as a surprise — attacking him viciously and often.
The latest mocking nickname Trump has coined, “Ron DeSanctimonious,” does not easily roll off the tongue. But his portrayal of DeSantis as nothing but a faux-populist poseur might be hurting the governor’s standing with the MAGA base. It certainly isn’t helping it. The RealClearPolitics polling average has Trump with a 14-point lead over DeSantis, 43.9 percent to 29 percent.
Now, DeSantis has finally begun to hit back — but with love taps, not actual punches. In an interview with British talking head Piers Morgan, DeSantis called Trump’s attacks “just background noise” and unleashed a veritable trickle of implicit criticism. His own approach to government, DeSantis said, is “no daily drama, focus on the big picture and put points on the board.” He spoke of the importance of the “type of character” a person brings to the presidency. He said that “we have to agree that there’s a certain reality to the world” and not “just create our own facts.”
Meanwhile, Trump was on social media blasting DeSantis — by name — for failing his state on issues such as crime and education — and for his past positions in favor of cutting Medicare and Social Security. “And we don’t want Ron as our President!” he concluded.
Perhaps all of the declared and undeclared GOP candidates are waiting for state and federal prosecutors to do the job of cutting Trump down to size for them. There’s no way of knowing whether this is a reasonable bet, because we’ve never had a former president try to reclaim the White House while under criminal indictment. It is indeed possible that such a scenario — if it develops — would weaken Trump’s hold on the GOP base.
But why, then, are Trump’s rivals encouraging Republicans to rally around him? Amid reports that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg might be nearing an indictment of Trump in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case, Haley said the rumored prosecution is “more about revenge than it is about justice.” Former vice president Mike Pence, who is third in the GOP polls behind Trump and DeSantis, said that Bragg’s case “reeks of … political prosecution.” Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, widely expected to announce a presidential run, said that Trump is a “victim” of a district attorney who wants to “weaponize the law against his political enemies.”
DeSantis did get in a dig with a snarky reminder of what the case is about: “Look, I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I just — I can’t speak to that.” But still, in the end, he defended Trump by accusing Bragg of “pursuing a political agenda and weaponizing the office.”
Trump must be thinking that with enemies like these, who needs friends?
I don’t know how a Republican should go about beating Trump in a primary campaign, because nobody has done it. But it appears to me that one lesson to be learned from those who have failed is that Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope strategy does not work; Trump never exhausts himself by throwing punches, but instead seems to gain energy. Another lesson, to switch from boxing to mud wrestling, is that it is impossible to compete against him and remain above the fray; he will always drag you down, and he will dirty up your nice new outfit.
I do not believe Trump can win again in a general election, whether he has to run as an accused felon. If we are to avoid the grave peril of testing that proposition, the other Republican candidates are going to have to start hitting him back.
An Anxious Asia Arms for a War It Hopes to Prevent
Doubts about both China and the United States are driving an arms race in the Indo-Pacific with echoes of World War II and new levels of risk.
By Damien CavePhotographs and Video by Chang W. Lee, March 25, 2023
The tiny island of Tinian was the launch point for American planes carrying atomic bombs to Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Now a new runway is being carved from the jungle, just south of World War II ruins inked with mildew.
And on a blustery February morning a few hundred yards away at Tinian’s civilian airport, American airmen refueled Japanese fighter jets during a military exercise using more airstrips, islands and Japanese planes than the two enemies-turned-allies have ever mustered for drills in the North Pacific.
“We’re not concerned with the past, we are concerned with the future,” said Col. Inadome Satoru, commander of Japan’s Ninth Air Wing Flight Group. “We can ensure stability by showing strength.”
Asia and the Pacific are steering into an anxious, well-armed moment with echoes of old conflicts and immediate risks. Rattled by China’s military buildup and territorial threats — along with Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and doubts about U.S. resolve — nations across the region are bolstering defense budgets, joint training, weapons manufacturing and combat-ready infrastructure.
For decades, Asia’s rise made it an economic engine for the world, tying China and other regional manufacturing hubs to Europe and America. The focus was trade. Now, fear is setting in, with China and the United States locked in a volatile strategic contest and with diplomatic relations at their worst point in 50 years.
The meeting in Moscow this past week between China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia pointed to the powerful forces lining up against the West. The appearance of Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, in Ukraine’s capital at the same time further emphasized that one deadly conflict can quickly become knotted up with power struggles thousands of miles away.
Japanese troops on Tinian during Cope North, a multilateral exercise that sent jets to Tinian using 10 airstrips on seven islands with Japanese, Australian and French partners.
American airmen unloading equipment on one of Tinian’s World War II-era runways.
Mr. Xi has made his intentions clear. He aims to achieve a “national rejuvenation” that would include displacing the United States as the dominant rule-setter in the region, controlling access to the South China Sea, and bringing Taiwan — a self-governing island that China sees as lost territory — under Beijing’s control.
In response, many of China’s neighbors — and the United States — are turning to hard power, accelerating the most significant arms race in Asia since World War II.
On March 13, North Korea launched cruise missiles from a submarine for the first time. The same day, Australia unveiled a $200 billion plan to build nuclear-propelled submarines with the United States and Britain that would make it only the seventh nation to have them.
Japan, after decades of pacifism, is also gaining offensive capabilities unmatched since the 1940s with U.S. Tomahawk missiles. India has conducted training with Japan and Vietnam. Malaysia is buying South Korean combat aircraft. American officials are trying to amass a giant weapons stockpile in Taiwan to make it a bristling “porcupine” that could head off a Chinese invasion, and the Philippines is planning for expanded runways and ports to host its largest American military presence in decades.
None of this may be enough to match China. Its own surging arsenal now includes “monster” coast guard cutters along with a rapidly increasing supply of missiles and nuclear warheads.
In flashpoint after flashpoint over the past year, China’s military has also engaged in provocative or dangerous behavior: deploying a record number of military aircraft to threaten Taiwan, and firing missiles into the waters of Japan’s exclusive economic zone for the first time last August; sending soldiers with spiked batons to dislodge an Indian Army outpost in December, escalating battles over the 2,100-mile border between the two countries; and last month, temporarily blinding the crew of a Filipino patrol boat with a laser, and flying dangerously close to a U.S. Navy plane, part of its aggressive push to claim authority in the South China Sea.
Many countries hope that stronger militaries will discourage China from going any further, but the buildup also reflects declining confidence in the United States. The war in Ukraine has drawn down U.S. political capital and material support. In many Asian capitals, there are doubts about the American military’s ability to adapt and stop China’s advance, and worries about what U.S. politics might produce — the dreaded nightmare of an overreaction to Chinese provocations, or abandonment with a retreat.
Japanese pilots refueling a F-15 fighter jet at the Tinian airport.
A Japanese mechanic checking the jets between flights.
Asia’s security calculations ultimately point to an unsettled and ill-tempered global order, shaped by one-man rule in a more militarized China with slowing economic growth, polarized politics in a heavily indebted America, bolder aggression from Russia and North Korea, and demands for greater influence from the still-developing giants of Indonesia and India.
“The balance of power is shifting so rapidly, and it’s not just China,” said Shivshankar Menon, India’s national security adviser from 2010 to 2014.
“There will be higher risks,” he added, “in a time of change.”
China’s Military Transformation
The Indo-Pacific holds 60 percent of Earth’s population, covers two-thirds of the planet and accounts for around 65 percent of global gross domestic product.
In 2000, military spending in Asia and the Pacific accounted for 17.5 percent of worldwide defense expenditures, according to SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. In 2021, it accounted for 27.7 percent (with North Korea excluded, making it an undercount) and since then, spending has shot up further.
China’s growth has been a major driver of that increase. It now spends about $300 billion a year on its military, according to SIPRI, up from $22 billion in 2000, adjusted for inflation — an expenditure second only to the $800 billion defense budget of the United States. And while U.S. military spending covers a global network, China has focused on Asia, rolling out hardware to project power and intimidate its neighbors.
China’s navy has already outstripped the U.S. Navy, reaching 360 battle force ships in 2020, compared with the U.S. total of 297, according to the U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence. In 2021, China fired off 135 ballistic missiles for testing, more than the rest of the world combined outside war zones, according to the U.S. Defense Department.
Beijing’s nuclear arsenal is smaller than those of the United States and Russia, but here, too, the gap is starting to narrow. By 2030, the Defense Department has estimated, China’s supply of over 400 nuclear warheads is likely to expand to 1,000. It already has more land-based launchers than the United States, leading some to call for the Pentagon not just to modernize its own technology but also to add to its nuclear stockpile of 3,708 available warheads.
American and Japanese airmen training on runway repair with rapid-setting concrete.
The Guam Remote Ground Terminal at Andersen Air Force Base. The site does satellite surveillance in the region.
Though many of China’s weapons are less advanced than America’s, that is starting to shift with fighter jets and missiles. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency’s chief scientist told Congress this month that China now appears to have the world’s leading arsenal of hypersonic weapons, which can fly at several times the speed of sound and be maneuvered in flight, making them much harder to intercept with missile defense systems.
China’s DF-41 missile circumnavigated the globe in 2021. The Dong Feng-26 missile can be armed with a conventional or nuclear warhead, and it is called “the Guam Killer” by Chinese media because it can reach American military installations on the island.
Beyond raw capacity, Mr. Xi’s willingness to brandish the People’s Liberation Army on disputed borderlands from northern India to the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea has magnified anxieties, as has China’s new naval base in Cambodia and a recent security agreement with the Solomon Islands.
But more than anything else, growing hostilities with the United States have set the region on edge.
Raising the level of concern: recent statements from U.S. commanders suggesting that war could arrive by 2027, or even 2025, and the combative comments of China’s leaders. Qin Gang, the Chinese foreign minister, warned this month that conflict between his nation and the United States was inevitable if Washington “continues to go down the wrong road.”
Mr. Xi also called out what he described as a U.S.-led campaign to “contain, encircle and suppress” China, telling Chinese officials they must “have the courage to fight.”
Defense Interdependence
Many countries have concluded that to restrain the Chinese Communist Party and gain leverage with the United States or other nations, they must show they can and will counterattack if needed.
“In Australia, in countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, and now the Philippines has given the U.S. more access. Why?” said Bilahari Kausikan, a former permanent secretary of Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Because China has been unnecessarily aggressive.”
Japan and India were among the first to sound the alarm. In 2006, they started sharing security assessments over concerns about China’s efforts to expand airstrips and ports across South and East Asia, an effort that would later include building military bases on islands and reefs that other nations claim as their own.
India and Japan have since signed several agreements that typify the region’s interlocking defense plans. One deal granted access to each other’s bases for supplies and services; another eased regulations to encourage cooperation in military manufacturing. So far this year, the two countries have conducted naval training together and their first-ever joint fighter exercise.
Both countries are also expanding cooperation with the United States, while ensuring they are not too dependent. Mr. Menon, the former Indian diplomat, called it a natural “balancing reaction” — signaling resistance to China, stopping short of collective defense.
The United States is also seeking to upgrade how it might fight with a focus on coordinated interdependence.
American military personnel on a French CN-235 transport plane in the Northern Mariana Islands during Cope North.
Cope North used 10 runways on seven islands, the most ever.
Now that many kinds of missiles from China and North Korea can hit big American bases both in nearby Japan and in Guam, every American service branch has begun aiming for a dispersed approach in the Indo-Pacific — “the priority theater” for global security, according to the Defense Department, which has stationed 300,000 troops in the region.
To minimize risk and maximize deterrence, U.S. officials have been hunting for real estate. The Philippines, Japan, Australia, Palau, Papua New Guinea and U.S. territories across the Pacific are all working with Defense Department officials on expanding military access and facilities, often with the U.S. proposing investments in shared infrastructure.
Cope North, the multilateral exercise that sent jets to Tinian, hinted at that more networked future, using 10 airstrips on seven islands with Japanese, Australian and French partners (from Tahiti). It also included new dangers: When Japan’s F-15s landed, the day’s training included a simulated response to an enemy missile strike.
“Can the U.S. go it alone?” asked Col. Jared Paslay of the U.S. Air Force, the joint integration team leader for Pacific Air Forces. “I would prefer not to.”
Interviewed at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, he described America’s ability to make friends as an important “asymmetric advantage” that raises complex questions.
How much fuel and maintenance equipment should be pre-positioned in remote locations? Where else should the United States negotiate for airport access and the improvements needed for warplanes? How much sharing of weapons systems increases deterrence without adding to risks of conflict?
Many countries also worry that working with the United States could make them targets of Chinese military or economic punishment, and in exchange they are requesting more trade and training from Washington — demands that Congress has failed to address.
Colonel Paslay, a foreign affairs specialist who speaks Japanese, said the United States may soon find that Japan is moving faster to fill gaps and pull allies along. Japan is now the largest bilateral donor of aid in Asia. More significantly, the country’s government is pushing to reinterpret the Constitution it adopted in 1947. Japan embraced pacifism after terrorizing Asia and losing World War II, but now, like Germany, the country is rearming. Japan recently agreed to raise military spending to 2 percent of GDP, or by 60 percent, over the next five years, which would give it the third-largest defense budget in the world.
American, Australian and Japanese military medical teams during a drill at Andersen Air Force Base.
Teams from the three nations collaborating during a joint drill.
“We were an excessively pacifist nation for the past several decades,” said Kuni Miyake, a former high-ranking Japanese diplomat. “Now we are becoming normal.”
Some American analysts argue that Japan should do more, faster, but its assertiveness has already stirred up old animosities. China, North Korea and Russia have criticized its increased military spending. South Korea, which endured brutal Japanese colonization from 1910 to 1945, has its own concerns, with some analysts in Seoul warning against allowing Japan to set the regional agenda even as the two countries’ leaders have been seeking to repair relations.
Farther south, Australia’s AUKUS deal with the United States and Britain to acquire nuclear-powered submarines has also angered Indonesia, which has concerns about proliferation, and has increased the closeness of its military ties to China.
American officials acknowledge that tensions across the region are rising alongside military budgets. But they say they believe the glue of shared distress about China will hold. And locations like Tinian are starting to play a bigger role as rallying points.
During a break from flying, Capt. Shotaro Iwamoto, 37, one of the Japanese F-15 pilots, said he had made a “meaningful visit” to where the atomic bombs that killed tens of thousands in Japan were loaded onto American planes. He came away determined to work harder on his English so he could communicate more quickly and easily with American allies in the air.
Senior commanders from the United States, Japan and Australia also made a shared trip to the area, where they touched the cracked tarmac and stared at the concrete pits where the giant atomic weapons were attached to B-29 Superfortress bombers.
For many, the horror of the last world war and the threats of the present seemed to rise like heat from the island’s ragged old runways.
“If we are not a credible force to deter aggressors, then potentially we’ll end up in a circumstance where we might have to consider something like that again,” said Group Capt. Robert Graham of the Royal Australian Air Force. “We hope never to be there.”
One of the pits on Tinian where the atomic bombs were loaded onto American planes before being dropped on Japan during World War II.
Faldo Approaches Highest Plateau
NYT, Jaime Diaz, April 8, 1991
WITH the same calm obsessiveness that has steadily taken him to the top of the game, Nick Faldo will attempt this week to do what no golfer has done and what only one other has ever had the chance to do -- win the Masters three years in a row.
If he does win his third in a row, Faldo will stand apart from the field like no one since that other golfer -- Jack Nicklaus.
It was Nicklaus whose television image at the 1971 Masters inspired the then 13-year-old Faldo to take up the game, and it is Nicklaus to whom the now 33-year-old Faldo refers when he talks about the priorities for managing his own career.
Tellingly, it is also Nicklaus who Faldo thinks of when the tension of trying to win a major championship becomes almost too much.
"You say to yourself, 'This is what it's all about,' " said Faldo, whose general demeanor in recent years has gradually evolved from tight reticence to relaxed confidence. "Nicklaus used to look into the crowd on Sunday afternoon and say, 'Isn't that great? This is what I've been working for.' You want to get in that position and no point being scared about it." Excellence in a Sea of Mediocrity
Faldo's own demonstrated fearlessness at the biggest moments has begun to give him a similar indomitable aura. Granted, his greatest exploits since 1987 -- winning two Masters and two British Opens -- do not approach the kind of domination Nicklaus achieved on his way to winning 15 professional majors and 65 PGA Tour events in the 1960's and 70's. But because of the general lull in sustained excellence by other top golfers on the current scene, Faldo is in a position to achieve a relative status approaching that of the Golden Bear.
The qualifier is important because the player who dethroned Nicklaus in the late 70's, Tom Watson, won seven major championships and 23 other PGA Tour events during a six-year run as impressive as any golfer ever put together. But all the while he was being pressed by both the image and the reality of a still formidable Nicklaus, as well as a rapidly peaking Seve Ballesteros. Even in Watson's best year, 1980, Nicklaus won the United States Open and the PGA Championship, Ballesteros ran away from the field at the Masters and Lee Trevino played some of the best golf of his life.
After Watson was replaced at the top by Ballesteros in 1984, crowning a clear No. 1 player became more difficult. Depending on criteria and the emotion of the moment, the spot has been occupied variously by Ballesteros, Greg Norman, Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam, Curtis Strange and Faldo.
All have won major championships since 1985 -- Faldo has won four, Lyle and Strange two and Ballesteros and Norman one each. But since last year, only Norman and Faldo have played consistently solid golf. In such an atmosphere, Faldo's second consecutive victory at the Masters and his five-stroke triumph at St. Andrews in the British Open have put him far ahead of everyone else.
Girth to Go For Third
"Faldo has widened himself away from his peers," said Nicklaus, who was not referring to the 20 pounds of muscle the broadshouldered, 6-foot-3 Faldo has put on as a result of a rigorous fitness regiment in the last year. "If he should win a third-straight Masters, he would really widen the gap."
Faldo is not dominating by winning the most tournaments or the most money. The Englishman has won 12 tournaments around the world since he joined the game's elite with his British Open victory in 1987, a total surpassed by Norman, Ballesteros and Woosnam in the same time frame. And in 1990, he won only three, fewer than Wayne Levi won on the PGA Tour.
But Faldo is winning the right ones. Just as Bobby Jones did in 1930, Ben Hogan did in 1953 and Nicklaus tried to do his whole career -- Faldo is peaking for the four major championships.
Those titles now carry more weight than they ever did. With the proliferation of $1 million purses on golf tours all over the world, money lists and regular tournament victories have depreciated in value. And as tours in Europe, Australia and Japan -- instead of just the PGA Tour -- increasingly occupy the schedules of some of the world's best, almost the only tournaments in which all the top players are brought together are the four majors (the United States Open, the British Open, the PGA Championship and the Masters).
Faldo certainly subscribes to the formula, so much so that he has been accused of using the other tournaments as simple tuneups, just like -- that name again -- Nicklaus. He has even had the audacity to talk about the possibility of accomplishing the modern Grand Slam in one year.
Grand Slam is His Goal
"Unfortunately, my goal is to win all four in one season," said Faldo with mock ruefulness. "The odds against it are overwhelming, but it's not impossible if you play 16 wonderful rounds of golf and do everything right."
Such an ambitious focus might be unrealistic, but it will probably help distract Faldo from the pressure to become the first to win three straight Masters.
Of course, although he will be the favorite, the odds are Faldo won't win against the limited field of elite players at Augusta this week. But no matter who wins, it's almost certain that Faldo will remain No. 1 in the perception of most followers of the game. His extreme dedication and ability to perform at the big moments has made a significant impact on the the game's collective consciousness.
"I like that Nick has had to fight for where he is and that he works very hard," said Watson. "If you want to stay on top, you can't succumb to human nature and relax or rest on your laurels. He doesn't seem ready to do that. I think Faldo has the best shot of anyone at having a run like mine. I see it in his game, and I see it in his mind."
Staying on top in golf has always been difficult, not just because of the capricious nature of the game, but also because trying to win championships is so emotionally taxing.Today, other variables have arguably made it harder than ever. Worldwide travel can be exhausting, and the time and energy it takes to cash in on the commericial riches available to a champion can quickly erode the mindset that get a player to No. 1 in the first place.
"Its harder for a player to stay on top today than in other eras because there are so many financial opportunities," said Deane Beman, commissioner of the PGA Tour.
The latest victim of the pitfalls of success may be Norman, who has kept both the busiest and richest schedule of worldwide golf and endorsements of anyone this side of Arnold Palmer. After a dismal performance in the Players Championship last Sunday, a tired Norman sat by his locker and condeded that perhaps the pace has worn him down.
"I didn't have any problem with it for years, but maybe those years they have taken their toll now," said Norman, who spent the past week fishing and resting for Augusta. "I can honestly say I've got zero desire to play the game right now. Probably the best thing for me is to walk away from it as much as I can. I hate it, to tell you the truth. I really feel like I've lost control."
So that he keeps a handle on his life, Faldo is holding to a schedule of golf and business opportunities as meticulously wrought as his golf swing. It may now net him an estimated $10 million a year, but he insists it keeps performance as its major priority.
"I've got everything under control," he said flatly. "I'm not overdoing things and I'm practicing when I want to practice. You get a lot of temptations, obviously, to make an extra few dollars here and there. But the priority is playing golf."
Faldo takes pride in being acknowledged the world's best, but perhaps the element that separates him is that he sees his position as a beginning more than as an end.
"You can't just say you are No. 1 and everything is going to be all right," he said.
"Right now, I'm thinking more of practicing to maintain my game more than trying to maintain No. 1." THREE DECADES OF BIG SHOTS Jaime Diaz, who covers golf for The Times, picks the top players since Arnold Palmer charged to the top of the tour. Arnold Palmer, '60-'62 Jack Nicklaus, '63-'67 Billy Casper, '68-'69 Jack Nicklaus, '70 Lee Trevino, '71 Jack Nicklaus, '75-'76 Johnny Miller, '74 Jack Nicklaus, '75-'76 Tom Watson, '77-'83 Seve Ballesteros, '84-'85 Greg Norman, '86 Ian Woosnam, '87 Sandy Lyle, '88 Nick Faldo, '89-April, '91
Hills and Greens at Masters Frustrate Even the Best
NYT, Jerry Tarde, April 10, 1991
If it weren't for the beauty of the place, the history that was made there and the difficulty of the golf course, Augusta National would have nothing to recommend itself.
The last ingredient -- the course's exasperating difficulty -- is what leads grown men to the brink of locking themselves in the garage with their golf cart running. Ever since the Masters began, golfers like Jimmy Demaret have been known to stumble off the course and observe: "They ought to plow it up and start all over."
Two things make Augusta National such an uncompromising examination in golf: the hills and the greens.
No warning can ever prepare a golfer for that first view from the clubhouse looking down toward Amen Corner, the juncture of the 11th, 12th and 13th holes and the stretch where the tournament is often decided. From the veranda to Rae's Creek in front of the 12th green is a drop of 165 feet, the equivalent of a 16-story building. The 10th hole plunges dramatically 100 feet from the tee down through a cathedral of pines and up again to the green.
The course has no rough to speak of. The longest blade of grass on the whole property is one inch, and the fairways are cut to normal putting- green height, which means that every 3-iron shot is played off a surface as forgiving as a cement pavement. Add in the fact that you always seem to have a side hill lie, with the ball above or below your feet, on either an up slope or a down slope, and you see why every shot is half luck and half the triumph of calculated physics.
When a golfer finally reaches the putting surface, the ground war begins. The bentgrass greens measure a consistent 10 to 11 on the Stimpmeter, a device used to quantify the speed of the greens; this is perilously close to unputtable. Former Masters champion Fuzzy Zoeller, after a second-round 66 in 1988, repeated Demaret's line, suggesting they plow them up and start all over.
As Robert the Bruce told his troops before Bannockburn: "I have brought you to the ring. Now you must dance." Here are Augusta National's five toughest holes on which the Masters champion will have to perform.13th Hole
Many golfers believe that the term triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13, originated at Augusta National. The 465-yard dogleg left is the hardest hole on the golf course because it demands two long and accurate shots followed by an I.Q. test on the green. The scorecard says the par is 5, but during Masters week, any player who makes more than 4 thinks he has lost strokes to the field.
The ideal drive is a controlled draw that starts along the right side and kicks down the banked fairway to the left, finishing past the go-or-no-go spot about 200 yards from the green. A tributary of Rae's Creek guards the whole left side of the fairway, exacting at least one penalty stroke for the foolhardy off the tee, and then it curves in front and to the right of the green, making a pro's second shot the toughest decision of the day.Disaster in '54
The hole's most famous Masters disaster occurred in 1954 when the swashbuckling amateur Billy Joe Patton made up a five-stroke deficit on Ben Hogan and Sam Snead in the fourth round to take the lead and then squandered it all with a 7 on the 13th. Thirty years later, a history-conscious Ben Crenshaw came to 13 in the lead, thought he spotted Billy Joe Patton among the gallery, and thereupon decided not to go for the green in 2. He laid up short, birdied the hole and won the tournament, only later to discover that Patton was never in his gallery.
Jack Nicklaus's design company was hired in 1985 to reconstruct the 13th green, which had been perennially flooded by rainstorms. His solution was to put a four-foot-deep drainage swale just off the front left side of the green; after some controversy its severity was lessened by about a foot before the 1989 Masters. Players now consider both sides of the green equally penalizing -- water on the right, swale on the left -- so they either fire for the center of the green regardless of the pin position or just lay up. 12th Hole
Yard for yard, the most difficult hole in golf is the 12th at Augusta. Measuring only 155 yards, it yielded the highest stroke average above par in last year's Masters: average score was 3.335.
The hourglass-shaped green is guarded by Rae's Creek and a bunker in front, and two churlishly awkward bunkers behind, but the hole's toughest hazard is the unseen one: the wind. It comes sweeping down the creek, turns Amen Corner and blows deceptively over your shoulder, often giving you the impression that the shot is downwind when in fact you're playing into a stiff breeze. Every bogey golfer has heard the Nicklaus tip: When you get to the 12th tee, look at the top of the tall pines behind the green to see which way the wind is really blowing.
Of course none of this would matter a great deal if you were shooting at a normal green. But this is a terrifying sliver of a target, only 28 feet deep directly behind the bunker, 37 feet at its deepest on the right and 48 feet at its deepest on the left. The combination of hazards and target attack every golfer's greatest weakness: uncertainty. For the tour pro, the length varies from a 6 iron to an 8 iron, and a tee shot that finishes just over the back edge is very acceptable. The calamity that always comes to mind here is the 13 suffered by Tom Weiskopf in 1980, when he hit five balls into the water. The gallery gathers here like medieval hordes around a guillotine, just waiting for the death of a leader. An ornery old cuss himself, tour pro Lloyd Mangrum once called it "the meanest little hole in the world." 11th Hole
Eleven is becoming known as the sudden-death hole, because four of the five Masters playoffs decided at sudden death have ended here, including both of Nick Faldo's victories the last two years. It is a 455-yard par 4 played out of a chute of trees to a blind fairway, then onto a kidney-shaped green with a magnetic pond in front and two inconspicuous bunkers in back. Ron Whitten, an architecture critic, said, "As the first hole with water encountered during the round, there is probably a certain psychological impact that weighs heavily on the choice of approach shots."
Conventional strategy dictates that the second shot be aimed at the right edge of the green to avoid flirting with the pond. Ben Hogan's often-quoted tactic was to play safely to the right of the green, chip up and one-putt for a par. "If you ever see me on this green in 2," he said, "you'll know I missed my second." But with golfers hitting the ball farther today, and the second shot at 11 being a 6 or 7 iron instead of a 3 or 4 iron, many pros play more boldly for the flag.4th Hole
The toughest pure hole on the course -- with no gimmicks, no water, no hanging lies, all there in front of you -- is the 205-yard, par-3 fourth. At tournament time, it's usually played with a long iron into a heavy wind directly against or quartering to the right. When an unofficial United States Golf Association team rated the course last year, No. 4 was judged to have the most difficult green target to hit. The architect Alister Mackenzie designed the hole as a mirror image of the 11th on the Old Course at St. Andrews, except that over the green is not the Eden River but one of Augusta's tricky grass swales.
The Masters founder, Bobby Jones, himself described it best: "With the pin immediately behind the bunker or on the high ground at the back of the green, a precise judgment of distance is required to avoid either a long, difficult approach putt or an exacting chip. The green is so large that a shot played to the outer reaches more often than not will result in a bogey." 1st Hole
For Nick Faldo at least, the key to winning the Masters is to botch up the first hole. Faldo did it en route to both his victories, with a double-bogey 6 in the third round in 1989 and another 6 in the last round in 1990. The alternative was presented by Roberto de Vicenzo on that heartbreaking Sunday in 1968 when he holed his approach to the 400-yard par 4 for an eagle 2, only later in the afternoon to sign an incorrect scorecard that cost him the opportunity to play off for the title with Bob Goalby.
The hole is hard simply because it is the first, and there a player stands on the tee with 10,000 fans and the history of the game awaiting his play. The drive is set up by a fairway bunker in the landing area on the right, which scares the golfer into pulling his drive to the left. Of course, the bold drive down the right is the one that opens up the hole like an oyster. As Jones said, "The player who drives down the left side must play his second either over the bunker or into slopes which tend to direct his ball off the right side of the green." It's a classic example of deceptive architecture.
Once on the green, the battle is only 50 percent over. "It's a severe putting surface with an S-shaped ridge that runs through the middle," said Faldo. "You're opening putt is usually uphill, across a plateau and then downhill to the hole -- all that in 20 feet. You stand there wondering how hard to hit it, and then you realize it's going to be a long day."
Nicklaus, the Master of the Masters, Still Gets Attention
NYT, Jaime Diaz, April 10, 1991
There are no numbers, only 88 names, on the huge scoreboard that will chart the 55th Masters starting Thursday. Scanning it, the eye stops easily to consider names like Faldo, Norman, Strange and Woosnam. But despite the tug of common sense, the eye also unavoidably settles on the name Nicklaus.
He may be a 51-year old part-time player with a bad back and an admittedly ambivalent focus, but Jack Nicklaus comes to his 33d spring in Augusta a legitimate threat to win his seventh green jacket.
"Remember, Jack won here at age 46," said Tom Watson, who at 41 will be looking for his third Masters title. "He played a couple of great rounds a couple of weeks ago, and he won last week. You can't forget about Jack." Inspirational Victory
Indeed, just as he did the week before, finishing sixth at Augusta last year, Nicklaus comes to the Masters directly from an inspirational victory at the Tradition seniors event in Phoenix the previous Sunday.
After falling 12 shots back with 36 holes to go, Nicklaus birdied the last hole in last Sunday's final round to complete a 66-67 weekend that beat three other golfers by one shot.
Of course, it is no surprise when Nicklaus beats a Senior field; he has done it three times in five attempts. But what Nicklaus will take into the Masters was the way he handled the stretch run and closed out.
After bunkering his tee shot on the par-3 17th hole, Nicklaus hit a good trap shot and aggressively holed the 10-foot par putt. Then, on the par-5 18th, Nicklaus followed a big drive with an aggressive 4 iron over the back of the green, a chip that ran 5 feet from the cup, and a solid putt that was in all the way.
"I was able to gut it out on the last two holes," said Nicklaus. "That makes me feel real good going into Augusta.'
In the last two years, Nicklaus has not always handled being in contention. At last year's Masters, Nicklaus was tied with Faldo, his final-round playing partner, after 55 holes. But Nicklaus lost his momentum early in the round and struggled home in 74, which left him seven shots out of first. At the Senior Open in July, Nicklaus bogeyed the 71st hole to lose to Lee Trevino.
This year at Doral, where he had a scintillating 63 in the second round, Nicklaus followed with a 75 and a 70 to finish tied for fifth. At New Orleans three weeks ago, Nicklaus shot 68 and 69 and led by two after 36 holes but finished with a 74 and 71 to tie for 14th.
"I've been saying for several years, Jack is still capable of winning any tournament that he cares enough to prepare to win," said PGA Tour Commissioner Deane Beman. "It's not a matter of ability. It's having the time to get his game together enough mentally to carry through a significant event. In that respect, I don't think Jack has been giving himself a chance to win in the last few years."
When he is playing well, Nicklaus would seem to have the game to contend at Augusta. He is not as long off the tee as he used to be, but he can still drive a ball prodigious distances. In the 3,500-foot elevation of the Tradition, several of his measured drives were over 300 yards.
His putting was also solid. Beside holing a 94-foot eagle putt on the fourth hole that he said was the second-longest putt he has ever holed in competition, Nicklaus made all his putts from six feet and in over the last two rounds.
Lacks Power of Yesteryear
The only element that Nicklaus admits to losing in recent years is the power that used to allow him to hit high, soft landing iron shots out of the rough. But Augusta has only light rough.
The challenge for Nicklaus will be to reach back and recover the combination of power and iron will that made him the hardest competitor in golf.
"This is a tournament of attrition," said Watson. "It wears down the player who can't keep it together. Jack, even when he is playing poorly, is very strong mentally."
Nicklaus Rallies To Win
NYT, April 8, 1991
Jack Nicklaus, making another of his legendary final-round runs, shot a five-under-par 67 this afternoon in The Tradition tournament to defend his title with a one-stroke victory over Jim Colbert, Phil Rodgers and Jim Dent.
Nicklaus, in his season debut on the Senior PGA Tour, came from five shots back to finish with an 11-under 277 total and take the $120,000 top prize in the $800,000 tournament. He won here last year by four shots on the 6,864-yard Cochise Course at Desert Mountain, which he designed.
Today, Rodgers and Colbert started the final round tied for the lead at 11 under, with a four-stroke edge over Dent and Ben Smith. Nicklaus took over the lead on the 17th when Rodgers and Colbert bogeyed to fall to nine under.
Nicklaus chipped within 2 feet on No. 18, then tapped in a birdie putt to go 11 under. Finishing Birdies
Colbert and Rodgers, playing in the group behind Nicklaus, both birdied the final hole to finish at 278 after rounds of 73. They won $58,000 as did Dent, who shot a 70 and overcame four bogeys on the front nine with seven birdies in the final eight holes.
Dale Douglass had five of his eight birdies on the back nine and posted the day's best round, a 66, to finish at 281. Chi Chi Rodriguez, who had won two of the tour's last four events, was at 282 along with George Archer and Charles Coody.
The victory was the third on the senior tour for Nicklaus, who also won the Mazda Senior T.P.C. last year. Colbert, who joined the tour after turning 50 on March 9, was playing in only his third senior event. He hasn't won since the 1983 Texas Open on the PGA Tour. Rodgers still is without a victory in his third full season as a senior.
Golf; Azinger Leads Zoeller by One Shot in T.P.C.
NYT, Jaime Diaz, March 31, 1991
Paul Azinger continued to match what is statistically the best all-round game on the PGA Tour against its most variegated course today and took a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Players Championship.
Azinger's three-round total of 12-under par 204 over the heavily mounded, hazard-intensive T.P.C. Stadium Course was one shot better than Fuzzy Zoeller, and three better than Tom Watson and Bob Lohr.
But Azinger, who has led the tour's all-around statistical category for the last two years, knows that the extreme demands of the Stadium Course can find holes in the most complete arsenal.
"I told my caddy I hope I wake up tomorrow feeling as good about my game as I did today," said Azinger, who won the A.T. & T. Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February. "I'm pleased this is a hard golf course, but you've just got to hope that you are on your game. A guy who is not on his game will get killed out here." 3
Birdies to Regain Lead
Azinger holed a 40-foot putt for a birdie on the first hole to take a two-shot lead over the field. But he bogeyed the sixth hole, and actually lost the lead when Zoeller, his playing partner, birdied the 10th. But Azinger birdied the 12th, 13th and 15th holes to regain the lead.
"My objective today was to pull away from the field, but I just couldn't do it," said Azinger, whose best finish in this event is a tie for sixth in 1987.
The man who wouldn't let him was the 39-year-old Zoeller, who shot his own 69. Zoeller, who has been troubled by back problems since winning three tournaments in 1986, essentially followed Azinger's formula for success.
Zoeller Playing it Safe
"I'm doing just about a little bit of everything well," said Zoeller, who amazed his playing partner with a 5-iron shot off the upslope of a mound on the par-four 14th hole that seemed to go nearly as high as its length: 185 yards. After the ball finally began its descent, it landed with a thud 18 inches from the hole.
"I asked the television guys if they could time how long that ball was in the air," said Azinger. "We put the over and under at 12 seconds."
Zoeller, who before this year had missed the cut nine times in 15 appearances in this event, is taking a conservative approach to the Stadium Course, although he said that may change on Sunday.
"You can't get greedy or try to force the issue on this course; you just have to accept getting it pin high and accept a 20-foot putt," he said. "When it gets down to crunch time tomorrow, then you might try to move it in a little bit."
Watson, of course, has been through more crunch times than any of the other contenders, and he primed for it today by shooting the low round of the day by two shots: a seven-under par 65 that featured the kind of putting that made him the best player in the world a decade ago.
Watson Rediscovers Putter
Overcoming what he has candidly admitted is a case of the "yips," Watson took only 24 putts for the round. At one point, Watson had nine one-putt greens in a row, rolling them in from lengths ranging from three feet to 25 feet.
His only misstep was a three-iron putt from 35 feet on the 15th hole, where he missed a three-foot par putt. Watson ended his round by holing a sharply breaking 35-footer for a birdie on the difficult par-four 18th.
"Today I made everything I looked at," said Watson, who last won a tournament at the 1987 Nabisco Championships, his 32d career PGA Tour victory. "I got even with the putter today. I hope I get even again tomorrow."
With a forecast for moderate temperatures and light winds, low scoring will be possible on Sunday.
"This is a good course for someone to sneak up from back in the pack," said Azinger. "The tendency is for the leaders to kind of stall."
GOLF; Elkington Captures The Players Title
NYT, Jaime Diaz, April 1, 1991
Steve Elkington rose out of a pack of golfers and a shallow divot today to birdie the final hole and win the Players Championship by one shot over Fuzzy Zoeller.
Elkington, a 28-year-old native of Australia, fired a four-under-par 68 to finish 72 holes at 12-under 276. The victory, the second of his five-year career, was worth $288,000 and a 10-year exemption to co-sponsored PGA Tour events.
Zoeller, who began the day one shot behind the third-round leader, Paul Azinger, shot a 72. Azinger shot a disappointing 74 to tie for third at 278 with Phil Blackmar and John Cook, who closed with a 65.
Elkington turned what could have been a shallow grave into a remarkable recovery at the watery 440-yard par-4 final hole. He had just missed a 5-foot par putt on the par-5 16th and three-putted the island-green par-3 17th hole from 50 feet for a bogey that had dropped him into a tie with Zoeller.
Being Mad Helped
"I was a little mad on the 18th, and I think that helped me," said Elkington, who is considered to have one of the smoothest swings and easiest dispositions on the United States tour.
Duly agitated, Elkington hit a solid drive that rolled into a divot hole, 208 yards away from a pin protected by mounds, bunkers and water.
Elkington caught his ball flush, letting a steady right-to-left wind drift it toward the pin in the back left corner of the green. His remaining 15-foot putt, which was relatively straight, rolled into the back of the cup.
"I felt like I could do it, but you really don't know if you can," said the former University of Houston all-American who last April won the K Mart Greater Greensboro Open.
Zoeller, playing three groups behind Elkington, had a chance to tie on the final three holes. But he missed 20-foot birdie putts on the 16th and 17th holes, and after a courageous 4-iron to 12 feet on the final hole, missed a 12-foot birdie putt that would have forced a playoff.
Azinger, looking for his second victory of the year, held or shared the lead until he bogeyed the par-4 14th hole when his approach shot in a deep greenside bunker.
Perhaps the player with the most reason to be disappointed was Blackmar, who actually held the lead by himself at 12 under par after he birdied the 16th.
But the 6-foot-6-inch Blackmar's 8-iron on the 17th hole sailed well right of the island green and slashed into the water. After hitting a wedge from a drop area to 10 feet, he two-putted for a killing double-bogey 5.
Elkington began the day four shots behind Azinger, and said he didn't have a particularly good pre-round practice session. But he began the day solidly with birdies at the par-3 third hole and par-4 fourth, which were partially negated by a bogey at the difficult par-4 seventh, where he missed a 9-foot putt.
But Elkington made his move on the back nine, making a birdie on the par-4 10th from 15 feet, and tying Azinger with a 3-foot birdie putt on the par-five 11th. He took the lead alone with when he holed a 20-footer for birdie on the par-4 15th. He missed a chance for a two-shot lead when he missed a 5-footer at the par-5 16th.
"I didn't get nervous until the 17th," Elkington said of the infamous 132-yard hole. "I looked up and all I could see was water."
He reacted by pulling an 8-iron 70 feet left of the pin and leaving his putt 8 feet short. But after he missed, he went from scared to determined.
For the moment, he is the most successful Australian on the PGA Tour, surpassing PGA Champion Wayne Grady, Ian Baker-Finch, and the most famous of all, Greg Norman.
"He's a big shark; I'm a little fish," said Elkington. "But I'm a bigger fish today than I was yesterday."
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