Conners leads Canadians Rd 1 Valspar Championship...18 hole results

   PGA Tour : Valspar Championship  Tee Times Leaderboard

The winning formula this week on this Copperhead Course is fairways and greens. It's tight and tricky, water in play on 6 holes. Drive it straight, have a great iron game and you have the recipe for success.

With the opening round late on Thursday here are the Canadian scores.

Corey Conners T17 -2 69

AJ Ewart T46 E 71

Mac Hughes T70   +1 72

Nick Taylor T70 +1 72

Svensson , Hadwin, Pendrith still in play late Thursday....

The leader is Sungjae Im -7 64 with two eagles !! 

Bryan Angus

Rory reveals his Masters menu for the Champions dinner...

Rory McIlroy is bringing a taste of Ireland to Augusta National with champ on the menu for the Champions Dinner ahead of the Masters Tournament.

Better known as the Champions Dinner, the Masters Club Dinner began in 1952 when defending champion Ben Hogan organised a dinner for all previous winners.

Each year, the defending champion selects the menu and acts as host for the Tuesday night dinner before the first men's Major Championship of the season.

McIlroy earned the honour to host by virtue of his play-off victory over Justin Rose last year that saw him complete the career Grand Slam in emotional scenes at the 11th time of asking.

And while the Northern Irishman has chosen an eclectic and international menu, the traditional champ - a creamy mixture of mashed potatoes and spring onions - will bring a taste of home to the main course.

"When I was a kid, I used to eat champ by the bowlful," he said.

Four appetisers will be on the menu made up of peach and ricotta flatbread, rock shrimp tempura, bacon-wrapped dates and grilled elk sliders.

“I wanted to try to bring a little bit of the local ingredients in," he said of the flatbread. "So I'm doing a Georgia peach and ricotta flatbread with hot honey. So hopefully that will go down well with the drinks.”

He added: “My mum does these really, really nice dates stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in bacon. Thanks to Rosie for that one. 

The first course will then be a yellowfin tuna carpaccio, a recipe taken from McIlroy and wife Erica's favourite restaurant in New York, Le Bernardin.

"That's a fun one that the club worked with me on as well," he said. "They went up to the restaurant and worked with the chefs."

For the main, diners will then have a choice of wagyu filet mignon (Japanese beef) or seared salmon, served with champ, sauteed Brussels sprouts, glazed carrots with brown butter and local Vidalia onion rings.

He then returns to the British Isles for dessert, serving sticky toffee pudding with vanilla ice cream and warm toffee sauce.

Wine collector McIlroy has also chosen a a 2015 Salon Brut champagne, a 2022 Domaine Leflaive Batard Montrachet, a 1990 Chateau Lafite Rothschild and a 1989 Chateau D'Yquem dessert wine for his guests to drink.

As well as Masters champions, Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts were made honorary members of the Masters Club in 1952, with Bill Lane, Hord Hardin, Jack Stephens, Hootie Johnson, Billy Payne and Fred Ridley subsequently also handed honorary membership.

edit >>> The past champions also have a choice of the regular Masters menu.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

Cockerill T3 round1, Gumberg leads at Hainan Classic, China...18 hole results

  DP World Tour : Hainin Classic Tee Times Leaderboard

30 year old American Jordan Gumberg playing the tougher Blackstone Course made it look easy running off 9 birdies including 5 in a row on the front nine to take the opening round lead at 63 -8.

He has owgr 568 and sits at #122 in the Race to Dubai.

Meanwhile Canada's Aaron Cockerill after 3 weeks at home with new daughter Tegan, Adison and wife Chelsea caught fire on his back nine after going out in a 3 birdie 1 bogey -2 34, and back with a bogey free 4 birdie 32 T3 -6 66.

He has owgr 450 and begins the week looking to improve on his Race to Dubai ranking #119.

The field will all play the longer Blackstone Course and the tricky Vintage Course before the 36 hole cut is made.

Click on my live links above for the complete leaderboard.

more to follow....

edit >>>>>

Jordan Gumberg finished his first round with five straight birdies to lead the 2026 Hainan Classic presented by MAEXTRO.

The American was in the chasing pack at -3 after he dropped a shot at the fourth, his 13th hole - but took full advantage of the remaining five to reach -8, one shot ahead of Spaniard Jorge Campillo at Mission Hills.

He said: "I just got the putter rolling. It’s been a little while since I’ve had the putter actually go my way. I made a little switch in that break area, going back to a short putter, and I just have a lot of confidence in it right now. It’s feeling good.

"It’s always great to be in a good spot after Thursday. You’ve just got to keep your head down and keep going. It’s a long golf tournament, there are still three rounds left and we play a different golf course tomorrow, so it will be interesting.

Campillo made back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes and another at the ninth to turn in 35, -3 for the long front nine on the Vintage Course.

A run of four straight birdies from the 11th saw him surge to the head of the field and though he bogeyed the 15th, he bounced straight back with an eighth birdie of the day at the next.

He said: “It was good, I played quite solid. I hardly missed any shots besides the hole that I made bogey, I hit the bunker and I got a bad lie there, but besides that I played very solid.

Home favourite Wenyi Ding had two eagles in his 66 on the Vintage Course, Jason Scrivener matched that score, with six birdies in a bogey-free round, as did Dylan Frittelli with seven birdies and a bogey.

Thriston Lawrence had eight birdies and two bogeys - both on par-fives - on the Blackstone Course, where Aaron Cockerill also shot 66 with seven birdies and a bogey.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

Seven Canadians at Valspar Championship...TEE TIMES

 PGA Tour : Valspar Championship  Tee Times Leaderboard

The Innisbrook Resort just NW of Tampa was always a popular spot for Canadians when I was growing up, beautifully situated on the Gulf Coast, and it's reknown Copperhead Course is the site for this week's Valspar Championship, the 25th edition, Viktor Hovland defends and this is the final leg of the Florida Swing.

With the big boys off again, taking their break before the Masters, there is quite a decent field this year including seven Canadians, Adam Hadwin is back off the Korn Ferry Tour as a past champion.

The others Mac Hughes 8.02 10th, Nick Taylor 8.08 1st, Corey Conners 8.13 10th, AJ Ewart 9.14 1st, Adam Hadwin 12.30 1st, Adam Svensson 12.47 10th, Taylor Pendrith 1.40 10th

Akshay Bhatia, Justin Thomas, Matt Fitzpatrick are drawn together, all played well last week Koepka and Schauffelle are also in the field. 

WEATHER: An early look at the forecast is good, hot and mostly sunny, no rain, it is breezy NE around 20-25kmh

Bryan Angus

Hainan Classic in China..Cockerill returns..TEE TIMES

 DP World Tour : Hainin Classic Tee Times

The Asian Swing begins this week with the DP World Tour rank and file in the Far East at Mission Hills Golf Resort in Hainan China.

Canadian Aaron Cockerill will have been off for nearly 4 full weeks when he tees it up on Thursday, because he is in Group 18 this season instead of Group 10 he has not qualified for the South African Open or the Joburg Open and there was a week unscheduled in there as well.

His world ranking is #450, his Race to Dubai standing #119, in his last outing in Kenya he T18th. 66 69 62 69 -14 one of his better outings this season.

Group 22 12.52 1st   Aaron Cockerill, Stefano Mazzoli

Click on my TEE TIMES link above for the full list

Bryan Angus

Asian Swing begins this week on DP World Tour...

 Across four events in three countries, and with multiple rewards at play, the DP World Tour continues its global odyssey with the Asian Swing.

After the Opening and International swings, the Global Swings phase of the 2026 Race to Dubai calendar continues with stops in China, India and Türkiye.

Once again, the run of events - with the first men's Major Championship of the year Masters, sandwiched in between - promises to highlight the depth of international talent on Golf's Global Tour.

With the world coming to play, here is all you need to know about the Asian Swing.

Starting with the Hainan Classic, the DP World Tour will make the first of two visits over back-to-back months to China.

After its inaugural edition at Mission Hills last year, the tournament on the island province is the 51st visit to the country since the Tour's inception in 1972.

A week later, India will be in golf's international spotlight as the treacherous DLF G&CC - widely considered as one of the toughest tests on the schedule - plays host to the Hero Indian Open.

The Masters Tournament sits next, either side of two off weeks, with the world's best set to gather at Augusta National in an event - as with all four Majors - that does not count towards the Swing rankings, but will see players claim points for the Race to Dubai Rankings.

We then return east for the Volvo China Open at Enhance Anting GC, before the Turkish Airlines Open moves to National GC at Regnum Carya - one of six confirmed first-time venues this season - as it serves as a bridge ahead of the European Swing.

Across the seven-week span, the DP World Tour's country count will move into double figures as Türkiye is set to be the 11th of the campaign.

What's at play?

As with all Global Swings since the DP World Tour schedule was revamped ahead of the 2024 season, an overall swing champion will be determined based on their performances in the four counting tournaments across China, India and Türkiye.

DP World Tour members will compete for a total prize fund of US$10,600,000 million.

The player who finishes top of the mini order of merit standings will earn a place in all events in Phase Two of the DP World Tour season, the Back 9, and a $200,000 bonus.

Which players are set to feature?

Major champion and Ryder Cup winner Francesco Molinari is confirmed to play at both the Hainan Classic and the Hero Indian Open over the opening two weeks of the Swing.

Wenyi Ding - a graduate of the Global Amateur Pathway in 2024 - will hope to star in front of home crowds in China along with teenage sensation, who claimed more wins than Scottie Scheffler last year.

Molinari will be joined in India by South African stars Casey Jarvis and Jayden Schaper among a host of DP World Tour regulars, with the South African pair riding high on the Race to Dubai after claiming back-to-back DP World Tour titles so far this season.

Among others teeing it up in the world's most populous nation are Akshay Bhatia, who won his third PGA TOUR title earlier this month at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, winner of the DP World Professional Golf Tour of India's (PGTI) order of merit last year, will be among the local stars that week as will two-time DP World Tour winner Shubhankar Sharma.

Martin Couvra, one of golf's rising stars, having won the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award last year is set to defend in Türkiye.

Who won the Asian Swing last year?

Japan's Keita Nakajima recorded back-to-back runner-up finishes at the Porsche Singapore Classic and Hero Indian Open last year on his way to scooping a $200,000 bonus and book his place at the US PGA Championship and the Back 9 events.

What follows next?

After the Asian Swing, the DP World Tour schedule will head straight into the European Swing.

Starting with the inaugural Estrella Damm Catalunya Championship and ending with the BMW International Open, there will be six counting events across as many countries alongside two Majors.

The European Swing will be followed by the Closing Swing before the Back 9 leads into the DP World Tour Play-Offs.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

Yellamaraju T5, Young edges Fitzpatrick to win Players....Final results/ Prize money

   PGA Tour : Players Championship  Leaderboard  Results

Players were falling prey to TPC Sawgrass's many pitfalls, a few were charging, and Cameron Young was doing a good job of just "hanging in there"

David Cannon

After all was said and done, Aberg's magical 63 turned to a Sunday 76, his playing partner Michael Thorbjornsen was worse after a solid 67 a Sunday 77 simply opened the door for the rest of the field to walk through.

Young who's beard makes him look 40, had the best win of his 28 year old career after turning a wedge to 10' for birdie at 17, then a booming 375 yard drive at 18 into a flip wedge par 4 at 18 which was good enough to survive Matt Fitzpatrick's missed 8 footer which would have forced a playoff.  His take is $4,500,000

It was an Agatha Christie who dunnit' Sunday with Fitzy looking most likely 2nd 69, $2,725,000 his Ryder Cup partner "Bob" MacIntyre posting the best round of the day 65 4th, $1,225,000 and Xander Schauffele 3rd with a74 69 $1,725,000  weekend.

Canadians

Sudarshan Yellamaraju rose his stock expedentially with the weeknd of his rookie PGA career best T5 73 72 66 68 -9 worth $925,000

The viewing millions heard his story of arriving as a boy to Toronto from India and learning to play off You Tube with never a lesson in his life, golfing left handed with half a back swing but a superb follow through he was on TV a lot.

Most Canadians have no idea who he was, many will know this morning.

Corey Conners had a great Thursday, Friday 69, 67 to T4 but his weekend 72 74 dropped him to T13 $409,207

Nick Taylor T42 74 70 70 73 -1 $91,250

Taylor Pendrith T46 74 69 72 73 E  $72,125

Others

For the NBC ratings Scott Scheffler was a flop T22 73 73 67 71 -5, for a #1 ranked player he is an erratic driver, not sure where it's going off the tee, which has led to a very mediocre 2026.

Rory was worse T46 74 71 72 71 E he couldn't trust his putter on the lightning fast TPC Sawgrass greens this year as he tried to defend his title. He also lost the place a few times with his vaunted driver, and some loose irons.

The greens were already brown on Thursday, and despite a couple of downpours were simply treacherous, and the rough around the greens and 2nd cut off fairways was an uncut 5" thick which caused nothing but trouble all week.

Most of the big boys are on holiday now, the rank and file will head up to Innisbrook for the Valspar Championship. then two weeks in Texas for the Houston and Valero Opens before the Masters.

The good news the MLB baseball season is just 9 days away !

Bryan Angus