A looming deadline and a potential showdown between professional golf’s establishment and the startup LIV Golf invitational series prompted DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley to call on his member’s loyalty in a recent memo.

The memo, which was sent directly from Pelley to the membership on Tuesday and was obtained by GolfChannel.com, addressed the circuit’s “release protocols” as some players move to play the first of eight LIV Golf events. The first event is scheduled to be played in early June at the Centurion Golf Club in London, which is a short drive from the DP World Tour’s headquarters at Wentworth.

“Conflicting events, regardless of how attractive they might appear to you personally, potentially compromise our efforts in these areas and could significantly hurt your tour in both the short and long term,” Pelley wrote. “Please continue to bear this bigger picture in mind.”

Pelley also pointed out that many of LIV Golf’s invitational series events will be played opposite what he calls “heritage events” on the DP World Tour, including the Irish Open, Italian Open and Open de Espana.

Earlier this week, Robert Garrigus confirmed to Golf Channel that he’d submitted a conflicting event release request to the PGA Tour to play the first LIV Golf event in London. According to various sources, as many as six Tour members plan to submit similar requests. The Tour has until May 10 to either grant or deny the releases.

Pelley also addressed what he called “rumors” that the circuit turned down an investment from Golf Saudi that was “worth millions of dollars.”

“Although we had discussions with Golf Saudi about extending our relationship beyond the Saudi International tournament, we never received a formal written offer from them,” wrote Pelley, who added that the DP World Tour did receive an offer from Raine Capital in 2020.

Numerous reports in the fall of 2020 link Raine Capital to Saudi Arabia as a source of funding for what was then called the Premier Golf League. Funding from Saudi Arabia’s public wealth fund has now shifted to LIV Golf.

The eight-event LIV Golf series will feature 48-man fields with a team concept and $25 million purses. After the event in London, the next four tournaments are scheduled to be played in the United States.

Ash Barty will return to the world stage of sport wielding a golf club rather than a tennis racket. The former world No 1 will play in a teams exhibition event in New Jersey from 30 June 30 to 1 July, alongside some of sport’s biggest names.

Barty, who announced her shock retirement last month aged just 25, will be a headline act in the Icons Series which will be played in the US for the first time. Team USA, captained by the 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples, will take on a Rest of the World team captained by the four-times major winner Ernie Els.

The late Shane Warne has played in a previous edition while this time the Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, former boxer Oscar De La Hoya and retired swimmer Michael Phelps will line up.

The June tournament is a nine-hole team match-play format at Liberty National. Barty is reportedly looking to bring the event to Australia next year.

She has been coy on her post-retirement plans, although they are sure to involve golf in some way as she lives on a golf course with her fiance Garry Kissick, a PGA trainee professional.

The three-times grand slam tennis champion won the ladies competition at her home club Brookwater, near Ipswich, this month, playing off a handicap of five.

The seven-times major winner Karrie Webb played a round with her at Victoria Golf Club in 2019 and told AAP that Barty had the talent to make it on the LPGA tour.

“She’s a really handy player and just that one day I could tell if she puts some time into it she will be a great player,” Webb said. “It was everything – she hit the ball a long way – but a lot of athletes are very hand-eye co-ordinated and they get out there and they’re fairly decent at hitting the ball.

“When it comes to the finesse shots, sometimes that’s where they struggle, but she’s got good hands from how she plays tennis. You could tell she had good hands and she’d developed a good short game and that just needs sharpening.”

Round 1 of the 2022 Masters Tournament is in the books. South Korea’s Sungjae Im finished the day atop the leaderboard after shooting a 5-under-par 67 on Thursday.

Im survived back-to-back bogeys on holes 10 and 11 by making five birdies and an eagle on the day, including birdies on each of his first three holes.

Right behind Im is Cameron Smith, who was the clubhouse the leader for a while after a 68. Smith bracketed his day with double bogeys, with a 6 on the par-4 first hole and another 6 on the par-4 18th. On holes 2 through 17, however, he made eight birdies.

Four players are tied for third at 3 under: Dustin Johnson, Danny Willett, Joaquin Niemann and Scottie Schefler. Johnson was in danger of falling out of the top five as he faced a tough approach on 18, but a terrific third shot onto the green from the gallery allowed him to save par.

In his first professional appearance in 508 days — not to mention his first since the gruesome car accident that nearly cost him his leg last year — Tiger Woods managed to shoot a 1-under 71. He will look to take that momentum into the weekend as he continues to walk the arduous course at Augusta National.

Masters Leaderboard 2022

Sungjae Im -5 (F)
Cameron Smith -4 (F)
T-3. Dustin Johnson -3 (F)
T-3. Danny Willett -3 (F)
T-3. Joaquin Niemann -3 (F)
T-3. Scottie Schefler -3 (F)

Few events are as synonymous with spring as the Masters. With its towering tree lined fairways, blooming azaleas and thundering roars that can be heard throughout the grounds, Augusta National Golf Club is the mecca of the sports world. Patrons will pack the storied course when the Masters 2022 gets underway on Thursday. The 2022 Masters field is shaping up to be one of the most anticipated groups in recent memory, and history tells us that we could be in for a thrilling finish on Sunday when the 2022 Masters schedule concludes with Round 4.

The Masters has been decided by more than one stroke just once in the last five tournaments. The lone outlier was Dustin Johnson’s historic victory in November 2020 that saw him record the lowest score (-20) in tournament history. According to the latest 2022 Masters odds from Caesars Sportsbook, Johnson is 16-1 to finish on top of the 2022 Masters leaderboard, while Jon Rahm (10-1), Justin Thomas (14-1), Scott Scheffler (16-1) and Rory McIlroy (18-1) are also among the 2022 Masters contenders. Before locking in your 2022 Masters picks, be sure to check out the golf predictions and best bets from SportsLine’s Mike McClure.

McClure built SportsLine’s proprietary golf model, which has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed in June of 2020. In fact, the model is up over $8,000 on its best bets since the restart, nailing tournament after tournament.

At the 2021 Open Championship, McClure’s best bets included Collin Morikawa winning outright even though he was listed as a massive 40-1 long shot. In addition, McClure’s model was all over Jon Rahm’s (10-1) first career major championship victory at the 2021 U.S. Open. Rahm was two strokes off the lead heading into the weekend, but the model still projected him as the winner.

This same model has also nailed a whopping seven majors entering the weekend. Anyone who has followed it has seen massive returns.

Now, McClure has set his sights on the 2022 Masters and just revealed his top Masters prop bets. Head to SportsLine now to see McClure’s 2022 Masters prop picks, sleepers and head-to-head matchups.

Masters prop bets
McClure is high on Justin Thomas to finish in the top five at +330 odds. Thomas won the PGA Championship in 2017, but he’s looking to add to his major championship collection with a green jacket.

Thomas’ best finish at Augusta National is fourth place in 2020. The 28-year-old will now enter the 2022 Masters full of confidence after finishing eighth or better in three of his last five starts on the PGA Tour. The 14-time PGA Tour champion also ranks second in scoring average (69.617) and third in birdie average (5.22), the main reasons why McClure expects he’ll secure a top-five finish this week.

Masters head-to-head matchup picks
McClure’s 2022 Masters prop picks also include Collin Morikawa (+112) over Rory McIlroy in a head-to-head matchup. Morikawa has been on a tear this season, securing a top-10 finish in five of his seven official starts on the PGA Tour. He’s one of the best ball-strikers on tour, which makes him a serious contender at Augusta National. In fact, Morikawa enters the 2022 Masters ranked seventh in greens in regulation (72.22), sixth in birdie average (4.77) and 11th in scoring average (70.026).

Meanwhile, McIlroy has struggled since earning his 20th career victory on the PGA Tour at the CJ Cup in October. McIlroy missed the cut at last week’s Valero Texas Open and finished 33rd or worse in his last two starts on the PGA Tour. McIlroy also missed the cut at the Masters a year ago.

Masters one-and-done picks
McClure’s 2022 Masters one and done picks features Jon Rahm, the No. 2 ranked player in the world. Rahm continues to find himself in the mix at the Masters, securing four consecutive top-10 finishes at Augusta National. He recorded a top-five finish in 2021 and finished inside the top-10 in his last six starts at a major championship. It’s easy to see why McClure is including the Spaniard in his 2022 Masters one and done picks.

Find more Masters picks, sleepers
McClure has also locked in a slew of other prop bets for the 2022 Masters, including a long shot higher than 50-1 to win it all. Anyone who backs one of his 2022 Masters sleepers could hit it big. You can only see them here.

2022 Masters odds
Jon Rahm +1000
Justin Thomas +1400
Dustin Johnson +1600
Cameron Smith +1600
Scottie Scheffler +1600
Rory McIlroy +1800
Brooks Koepka +2000
Patrick Cantlay +2000
Jordan Spieth +2000
Viktor Hovland +2000
Collin Morikawa +2000
Xander Schauffele +2200
Will Zalatoris +2800
Bryson DeChambeau +3500
Sam Burns +3500
Shane Lowry +3500
Matthew Fitzpatrick +4000
Hideki Matsuyama +4000
Corey Conners +4000
Tyrrell Hatton +4000
Daniel Berger +4000
Louis Oosthuizen +4000
Joaquin Niemann +4500
Paul Casey +5000
Tiger Woods +5000
Adam Scott +5000
Russell Henley +5000
Sungjae Im +5000
Marc Leishman +5000
Tony Finau +5000
Tommy Fleetwood +5500
Billy Horschel +5500
Si-Woo Kim +6500
Justin Rose +6500
Bubba Watson +6500
Patrick Reed +6500
Abraham Ancer +6500
Sergio Garcia +6500
Gary Woodland +7000
Seamus Power +8000
Max Homa +8000
Jason Kokrak +10000
Webb Simpson +10000
Talor Gooch +10000
Brian Harman +10000
Robert Macintyre +10000
Kevin Kisner +10000
Thomas Pieters +10000
Cameron Young +12500
Matthew Wolff +12500
Tom Hoge +12500
Cameron Champ +12500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +12500
Kevin Na +12500
Francesco Molinari +12500
Luke List +12500
Lee Westwood +12500
Erik van Rooyen +15000
Harold Varner+15000
Sepp Straka +15000
Lucas Herbert +20000
Cam Davis +20000
Mackenzie Hughes +20000
Ryan Palmer +20000
Kyoung-Hoon Lee +20000
Danny Willett +20000
Stewart Cink +20000
J.J. Spaun +20000
Padraig Harrington +25000
Takumi Kanaya +25000
Garrick Higgo +25000
Min Woo Lee +25000
Zach Johnson +25000
Keita Nakajima +30000
Charl Schwartzel +30000
Harry Higgs +30000
Lucas Glover +30000
Guido Migliozzi +40000
Hudson Swafford +40000
Bernhard Langer +75000
Aaron Jarvis +100000
James Piot +100000
Stewart Hagestad +100000
Fred Couples +100000
Vijay Singh +100000
Austin Greaser +100000
Mike Weir +100000
Jose Maria Olazabal +200000
Laird Shepherd +200000
Larry Mize +250000
Sandy Lyle +250000

A tumultuous week that began with Phil Mickelson’s bombshell comments about the Super Golf League ended Sunday with Rory McIlroy declaring that the rival tour was “dead in the water.”

Mickelson received plenty of blowback earlier this week when he said that he was willing to overlook the Saudi Arabian government’s myriad human-rights violations in order to gain leverage on the PGA Tour.

The interview – which took place in November, with golf writer and author Alan Shipnuck – seemed to spur many of the top players to voice their support for the PGA Tour, with Bryson DeChambeau and Dustin Johnson ending months of speculation by announcing Sunday that they wouldn’t sign up with a rival league.

McIlroy, who in spring 2019 was the first superstar to spurn the Saudis, was asked after his round Sunday what he made of Mickelson’s controversial comments.

“I don’t want to kick someone while he’s down, obviously,” he said, “but I thought they were naïve, selfish, egotistical, ignorant.

“It was just very surprising and disappointing. Sad. I’m sure he’s sitting at home sort of rethinking his position and where he goes from here.”

Mickelson has not made any public statements since the Fire Pit Collective published the story, and it was unclear when he would next compete on the PGA Tour.

If a quarter-century of Tiger Woods press conferences have taught us anything, it’s not to get our hopes up.

The 15-time major champion doesn’t have any outstanding beef with the media and his relationship with reporters isn’t contentious. And like any coworker who’s been around for the majority of one’s career, both parties have respect for the space the other occupies. (Wednesday’s presser at the Genesis Invitational revealed Woods even keeps nicknames for some reporters.)

Despite that respect, Tiger treats public statements the same way most of us treat trips to the dentist: necessary, but preferably as infrequent, painless and brief as possible.

In his press conferences, that manifests itself largely in boredom. With rare exception, he remains true to his early-intervention public relations training (Earl was an Army PIO for most of his childhood). He answers only the questions he’s asked, generally in as few words as he can muster, with the unstated aim of producing nothing of substance.

In other words, Tiger’s talents with media might not raise to his ability with a golf club, but they’re both worth praise. When he says nothing, we hear it, and when he says something, anything of substance, we listen.

On Wednesday at the Genesis, well past the 20-minute mark of his press conference, Tiger broke from form. It happened so quickly and sounded so similar to the answers that came before and after, it’d have been easy to miss. The question came from the Associated Press‘s Doug Ferguson, who wondered, did Tiger share Phil Mickelson’s gripes with the PGA Tour over its usage of his media rights?

Tiger took a deep breath, then delivered a 320-word soliloquy that said a whole lot of nothing, but revealed a striking amount of insight. Below is his answer, in full:

“Yeah, that’s something that — we’ve struggled with that for decades really. If you remember Larry [Rinker] wanted to unionize our Tour and we went through that whole process.

Probably what we didn’t understand at the time even when I first came out here over 25 years ago is where our Tour would go, where our media would go. We barely had cell phones, barely had the internet.

Media rights is a big thing. A lot of us are concerned about what is the direction where we’re going and how can we have more control over that. There’s been a lot of talk from whether it’s the PAC or the board or from players internally. Everyone has their opinion about it, but we need to come to a collective decision.

Jay has taken it all in to try and figure out what’s best for each and every individual player because we’re all independent contractors, but again, what is best for the Tour as a brand as well. Trying to put all that together, meanwhile still grow the Tour at the same time and all the different media rights that have come about over the last 10 years, whether it’s streaming, which didn’t exist, where do you go on that, where does the Tour go, who owns those rights, how much do you share of that, where does it go.

But I have to say that one of the things that allows our sport, what separates our sport so much is, one, the fact that we were able to have the best retirement plan there is in all of sports, and we have an opportunity to play well past our playing days and still earn well over a million dollars well into our 50s where football players are done at nine years.

Yes, there’s give and take, okay? We just need to find — there’s a balance of what’s best for the players and what’s best for the brand.”

“I wish I could tell you when I’m playing again. I want to know, but I don’t”; Tiger Wood admits he has been “frustrated” in his recovery but is still hopeful of making a return to the PGA Tour even if that remains “a long way off”

The 15-time major champion showed glimpses of his past best during a runner-up finish alongside his son, Charlie, in his first competitive appearance since the accident at the PNC Championship in December.

The 46-year-old admitted amputation of the leg ‘was on the table’ during his three weeks in hospital after the crash and has already ruled out a full-time return to professional golf – but featuring at tour events remains a possibility.

The 46-year-old admitted amputation of the leg ‘was on the table’ during his three weeks in hospital after the crash and has already ruled out a full-time return to professional golf – but featuring at tour events remains a possibility.

“And the longest walk you have is probably from, what, the cart to the green and back. I can do that, that’s not that hard, but walking a golf course, that’s a totally different deal.

“Then walking out here for days on end, long days. Don’t forget when my back was bad, when we had rain delays and had to reactivate everything and go back out there again. I’ve still got that issue, too. I’ve got a long way to go.”

Woods says the PNC gave him a boost after a trying year and that he is “a lot stronger” now than he was in December but he is no closer to be able to give a return date.

“Did it give me hope? Yes, it did because I went through a very difficult year last year. It gave me hope to be able to play with my son again and to be able to have fun with him and have those moments we had from a year prior to that. We built on that.

“I wish I could tell you when I’m playing again. I want to know, but I don’t. My golf activity has been very limited. I can chip and putt really well and hit short irons very well, but I haven’t done any long stuff seriously. I’m still working.

“Like at the PNC, I’m still working on the walking part. My foot was a little messed up there about a year ago, so the walking part is something that I’m still working on, working on strength and development in that. It takes time. What’s frustrating is it’s not at my timetable. I want to be at a certain place, but I’m not. I’ve just got to continue working.

“I’m getting better, yes, but as I said, not at the speed and rate that I would like. You add in the age factor, too. You just don’t quite heal as fast, which is frustrating.”

Collin Morikawa dismissed the possibility of joining the rumored Saudi-backed golf league, saying he is “all for the PGA Tour” at his pre-tournament press conference for the Genesis Invitational.

“My entire life I’ve thought about the PGA Tour,” the World No. 2 and Southern California native said ahead of his hometown event. “I’ve thought about playing against Tiger, beating his records, whatever, something that might not even be breakable, but I’ve never had another thought of what’s out there, right? I’ve never thought about anything else, it’s always been the PGA Tour.

“Has [the rival league] opened up things for us as professional golfers, to open up things for the PGA Tour to look at what to do better? Absolutely. We’ve seen a lot of changes—some good, some bad, some that are still going to be amended I’m sure as time goes on. Right now, you look at the best players that I see and they’re all sticking with the PGA Tour and that’s where I kind of stay and that’s where I belong. I’m very happy to be here.”

The two-time major winner joins Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka as high-profile players who have pledged their allegiance to the PGA Tour. Morikawa’s comments come amid another swell of rumors regarding the Greg Norman-led league, which is expected to launch sooner rather than later. In an appearance on the Stripe Show Podcast, tour player Kramer Hickok claimed 17 players have already signed up to play in the league, which he claims will launch this summer and feature 12-14 limited-field events—10 of which would be in the United States—with no cuts and massive guaranteed paydays.

Last month, the Saudi International, an Asian Tour event funded by the Norman-fronted LIV Golf Investments, lured a number of top players to the Middle East with lucrative appearance fees. Phil Mickelson, who told Golf Digest that the PGA Tour’s “obnoxious greed” has him looking elsewhere, made the trip. So did Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele, Shane Lowry, Tony Finau, Tommy Fleetwood, Bubba Watson, Matthew Wolff, Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia, among others.

Talks of a challenger to the PGA Tour began at this tournament two years ago, when officials with ties to the Saudi government held a clandestine meeting with agents to pitch their vision for a new circuit that would offer players eye-popping sums. Morikawa said that he was not one of the first players approached but did eventually listen to a pitch and was frustrated by a lack of definite answers.

“I don’t want to keep hearing it from other people saying ‘you need to go talk to this person, you need to do this, this is what they have, this is what they don’t have.’ ” Morikawa said. “Yeah, of course, if there were more details, maybe I would have thought about it more, maybe I would have given it more of a decision and I would have had to sit down and ask more questions. But it’s hard to ask questions when you’re not getting answers, either.”

Morikawa, who will be making his fourth start of this wraparound season and first since the Sentry Tournament of Champions, spoke candidly and confidently on a wide range of topics. He said he feels there are better uses of $50 million than the Player Impact Program, which saw him finish 11th and receive no bonus in its first year. He praised the atmosphere at the WM Phoenix Open and cited the event as a case study in how to bring new eyeballs to the game. And he seemed to call out his fellow players who have negotiated with the Saudi-backed venture for months without speaking on it publicly.

“We’ve all heard rumors of this date, this date, in the future—I’m ready for it,” Morikawa said. “Why not, right? Like we’ll call them out, like what are they waiting for? I don’t know. I saw something this morning that said someone had an interview with a player and there’s other things said about players signing up. There still have been no names. Once again, we go back to evidence, right? Can we see concrete evidence of what’s going on? If we can, then people can make decisions. It’s an unknown, it’s a hidden thing. For me, it’s not enough.”

Argentine golfer Eduardo Romero has died at the age of 67 from cancer.

Romero, whose nickname was ‘El Gato’ (The Cat) is considered to be one of the greatest South American golfers of all time.

He won eight times on the European Tour, now the DP World Tour, with the Trophee Lancome in 1989 his first.

His final professional victory came with a play-off success at the 2002 Scottish Open aged 47, although he went on to win two majors in seniors golf.

He also won more than 80 times on his own continent and represented his country at the World Cup of Golf on 14 occasions, finishing second on home soil alongside Angel Cabrera in 2000.

In a post on Twitter former European Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn wrote: “This really hurts. Eduardo was the nicest man.

“A great friend that always was a pleasure to be around. He had a big game but more importantly an even bigger heart. RIP, dear El Gato. A true great ambassador for Argentina and for our game.”