Nick Taylor continues fine play at American Express in La Quinta...full scoreboard

 PGA Tour : American Express Leaderboard

The old adage about golf " the toughest course in the world is between your ears".

Nick Taylor struggled for most of 2024 after his win at WM Phoenix Open in February and after a month off he opened with a par of 73's at the Plantation course which the field played down to a par 67.

However he improved on the weekend, and with a little help from the field and a 60' chip in at the last hole for eagle at The Sony Open he found himself the winner.

For all the money and significant perks that comes with winning, perhaps its the renewed self confidence that is priceless. 

He  has opened his account on three of the easiest courses they will play all year with a -7 65 on the Pete Dye Stadium course to sit T8 with 9 others.

The leader by s shot is veteran American JP Poston -10 62 on Nicklaus Tournament Course.

Other Canadians

Adam Hadwin T65 (LQ) -3 69

Mac Hughes T83 (SC) -2 70

Adam Svensson T99 (NT) -1 71

Ben Silverman T116 (LQ) E 72

To contend at this event you simply have to make birdies, the winner will be in the -30 area.

Bryan Angus

Scotsman Ferguson rides Lady Luck into the weekend...full scoreboard

 DP World Tour : Hero Dubai Desert Classic Leaderboard

Scotland's Ewen Ferguson rode his luck on the final hole as an eagle gave him a one-shot lead at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic.

It looked for most of the day that Daniel Hillier's -11 halfway total would be enough to lead going into the weekend at Emirates Golf Club.

However, Ferguson chipped in on the eighth as he turned in 32 then birdied the long tenth from close range.

Six straight pars looked to have derailed his chances of leading outright, but he holed a 30-footer at the 17th to get within one then saw his second to the par-five last clatter off the stand behind the green and bounce back to five feet, with the subsequent eagle giving him a 65 and -12 halfway total.

“I think I played well,” said Ferguson. “I just stuck to my game plan.

“I didn't try and overpower the course like I had tried to last year. It's just not my game. I hit seven-wood on some of the shorter holes that are tight and gave myself chances.

“Last year I felt like I tried to almost drive it on the greens, I don't hit it as far as someone like Rory (McIlroy) and I had an awkward 30-yarder from the heavy rough but this time had a good strategy and felt good support out there so far. Yeah, 65 sounds nice."

On his exploits on the 18th, Ferguson added: “I thought, you know, what I'm just going to go to the back and even if I have to go in the drop zone, I'm just going to splash it out. If I had a 15-footer on the last, I would have been fine with that. Still would have made that for a good day, but a wee bit of luck goes a long way.

“Yeah, 36 holes played, leading so far is great. It's nice to be doing well, and as big as this is, some of the players that are playing, it's really, really cool, and I'm proud of myself.”

New Zealand's Hillier had also eagled the 18th, albeit in more orthodox fashion from 15 feet, in a flawless round of 65.

The pair are well clear of the chasing pack, with South African Shaun Norris, Australia's Jason Scrivener and English pair Laurie Canter and Tyrrell Hatton tied for third on -8.

edit **  Rory McIlroy is in a large group T33 70 71 -3, Tommy Fleetwood T16 71 68 -5. The cut fell at E par leaving 79 players to play on the weekend.

Canada's Aaron Cockerill T4 here last year, this year with 76 75 +7  T121 he is 4th last.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

American amateur ties for the lead at Hero Dubai Desert Classic.. full scoreboard. Friday tee times

 DP World Tour : Hero Dubai Desert Classic  Leaderboard

American amateur David Ford claimed a share of the first-round lead at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic after a stunning -7 65 on his second DP World Tour start.

Ford's -7 total at Emirates Golf Club was matched by Portugal's Ricardo Gouveia and Australian David Micheluzzi.

edit **  Ford a 5'8" lefty, born in Georgia is a triplet who plays at the University of North Carolina and was part of their winning Walker Cup side in 2023 as well as the Arnold Palmer Cup and the Eisenhower Trophy is playing on a sponsors exemption, eagled the tenth – his first hole of the day – and mixed six birdies with a single bogey.

“It was great,” he said. “I got a couple of putts to fall that I didn't know were going to go in, hit a lot of good iron shots. I love where the pins were set up today. I felt like a lot of them fit my eye.

“Overall, solid. Definitely missed a few shots and want a few swings back but overall, felt good about it."

Currently sixth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Ford insisted hie came into the week with minimal expectations. Ford's -7 total at Emirates Golf Club was matched by Portugal's Ricardo Gouveia and Australian David Micheluzzi.

Ford, who plays University golf in the United States and was part of their winning Walker Cup side in 2023, eagled the tenth – his first hole of the day – and mixed six birdies with a single bogey.

“It was great,” he said. “I got a couple of putts to fall that I didn't know were going to go in, hit a lot of good iron shots. I love where the pins were set up today. I felt like a lot of them fit my eye.

“Overall, solid. Definitely missed a few shots and want a few swings back but overall, felt good about it."

Currently sixth in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Ford insisted he came into the week with minimal expectations.

“I try to keep my expectations low,” he added. “I know where my game is at right now and I have got a lot of people around me believing in me which is really helpful going into this week.

“I just tried to have fun. Just come out here and do the preparation that I do for college events and just keep everything really simple and keep having fun.”

Micheluzzi had seven birdies in a flawless opening round – a remarkable achievement given the 28-year-old had never played the Majlis Course before.

“Everyone is saying how tough it was and today I played great. There's nothing more to it,” he said.

“It was nice for the first, I'd say 11, 12 holes and then the wind got up a little bit. Just kept hitting good shots, and stumped a few shots where I probably wasn't aiming. Got lucky with those, and then holed some nice putts coming in.”

Gouveia is still looking for his maiden DP World Tour win in his 190th event but arrived in Dubai full of confidence after finishing third at the Genesis Championship on his last start of 2024 to keep his card, having begun the week knowing he needed to finish in the top five.

Italy's Guido Migliozzi sits fourth after an opening - 6 66, with France's Mike Lorenzo-Vera in a share of fifth a shot further back on his return from a six-month break to address his mental health.

Lorenzo-Vera was joined on -5 by Australian Jason Scrivener and Scottish pair Calum Hill and Ewen Ferguson.

Rory McIlroy described his return to competitive action as “a bit scrappy” after kicking off his 2025 campaign with a -2 70.

Making his first start since November, the World Number Three mixed four birdies with two bogeys at Emirates Golf Club.

“Yeah, pretty scrappy,” he said. “Actually I felt I played probably better the first eight holes where I was one over compared to the last ten where I was three under.

“It was a bit scrappy. First competitive round of the year. First competitive round in a while. A little uncomfortable over some shots. Definitely not as comfortable as I was in practice and coming in here.

“But it's nice to get a card in your hand. It sort of exposes the things that you need to work on. I got it around today. I got it around and got it in in a couple under, which is nice, and didn't put myself out of the tournament, which is the main thing.

I did a good job of scrambling today. I made a lot of key up-and-downs. Bonus of a chip-in on seven. But I don't want to have to rely on my short game the rest of the week like I did today.

edit  Canada's Aaron Cockerill didn't have a great start to 2025 after over a month off opening T118 +4 76 with 4 bogey's a double and 2 birdies so will need a much better Friday to qualify for the weekend.

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

Rory McIlroy returns Hero Dubai Desert Classic after a fun two months off...

 DP World Tour : Hero Dubai Desert Classic 

Rory McIlroy says he has been “working on having fun” during his two-month break.

The World Number Three will tee up for the first time in 2025 at this week's Hero Dubai Desert Classic, where he is seeking a hat-trick of titles.

However, when asked what he had done to improve his game during the off-season, the Northern Irishman provided an unusual answer.

“I've been working on having fun,” he said. “Took a couple of trips on my time off. Went to a Borussia Dortmund game on Friday night.

“Just doing things that I've always wanted to do. You know, went to New Zealand for a few days, which was a lot of fun which I've wanted to do for a while.

“Honestly just trying to enjoy myself. It's the only part of the year I feel like I can really unwind and do that.

“There's plenty of time from now until April to knuckle down and get the game in good shape, and I just wanted to make the most of the time off.”

Asked whether the chance to become only the fifth player to win the same DP World Tour event, excluding WGCs, three years running and join Ian Woosnam (1990-92 at the Monte Carlo Open), Sir Nick Faldo (1991-93 at the Irish Open), Colin Montgomerie (1998-2000 at the BMW PGA Championship) and Ernie Els (2002-04 at the Heineken Classic) was on his mind this week, McIlroy revealed that making history was an added bonus rather than his main focus.

He said: “It's always been nice to start my year in Dubai. It's something that I've done most of my professional career.

“The last couple years to come here to Dubai, open the season, have success, obviously it's really nice to get off to a strong start to the season. That's the plan again this year.

“I think I talked about it the end of last year, and obviously winning the Seve Ballesteros Award, I think to be able to put my name up alongside the European greats of golf, Seve (Ballesteros), Faldo, (Bernhard) Langer, (Ian Woosnam) Woosie, (Sandy) Lyle, like all these guys, it's amazing.

“My goal is to go out and try to get the best out of myself and play as good as I can, and thankfully that's ended up in winning a few tournaments here and there.

“But my mindset has never been, 'Oh, if I do this, I will equal him, or if I do that'. I want to win tournaments, and it's really cool on Sunday nights to sit there with a glass of wine and look at all the names that are on the trophy and think that my name is alongside them. That's really cool.

“It's nice to knuckle down. I feel like my game is in good shape. I've been close to doing some really good things in the game of golf over the last few years. I have done some really good things.

“But I understand that the window is very slowly closing, and I want to make sure I do everything I can to have the best career I possibly can.”

McIlroy is expecting to have to overcome a more challenging set-up at Emirates Golf Club this week if he is to earn a third straight title.

“I love the thick rough,” he added. “I love the set-up of the golf course.

“The greens are quite a bit firmer today than they were on Monday. So as the week goes on, I think it's going to be a great test of golf, which I think we all want to play and I think that's what you all want to watch.”

europeantour.com

Bryan Angus (edit)

TEE TIMES American Express La Quinta, California...5 Canadians

 PGA Tour : American Express Tee Times

This Tour has moved out of Hawaii to the desert of California at La Quinta where for 40 years Bob Hope and friends sponsored the Bob Hope Invitational now all these years later American Express is the corporate sponsor.

As usual its on 3 courses Pete Dye Stadium, Jack Nicklaus Tournament course and La Quinta CC.

There are 5 Canadians in the field, Adam Hadwin has the best record here of the five with a 59 in 2017 and two runners up, several top 5's. He T6 last year.

Adam Svensson  NT 11.41

Adam Hadwin LQ  12.03

Nick Taylor   SC 12.47

Mac Hughes  SC  12.58

Ben Silverman SC   1.20

He was an amateur when he won here last year, Nick Dunlap. There is a 17 year old amateur on a sponsors exemption this year, Blades Brown from Nashville whose mother played in the WNBA. He decided to skip college to turn pro.

Bryan Angus

Thursday TEE TIMES Hero Dubai Desert Classic

 DP World Tour : Hero Dubai Desert Classic Tee Times

The Hero Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates in Dubai kicks of the 2025 season on the DP World Tour with a first class field headlined by the return of Rory McIlroy joined by Tommy Fleetwood, the Hojgaard brothers, Bob McIntyre, Adam Scott, and from the LIV John Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton amongst others.

Its the first of the Rolex Series and the Middle East swing.

Canada's Aaron Cockerill returns to play after returning to Winnipeg over Christmas before returning to his home in Dubai. He placed 4th here last year.

Bryan Angus

Nick Taylor wins the Sony Open .. Final results/ prize money

 PGA Tour : The Sony Open Results

My headline Sunday morning " Will it be Taylor at the Sony?"..... late last night here in EST that question was answered emphatically if not unexpectedly.

Standing on the 18th tee Nick was two shots off the lead, minutes later he was in the rough behind the 18th green.

I wrote all last week that his record on Waialae CC was very good T7 T7 T11 in his last 3 appearances. However Nick had not been playing well at all since winning the Phoenix Open last February. He wasn't driving it well and wasn't putting well, a fatal combination.

He told us in hindsight he began pressing to get into the Presidents Cup, putting captain Mike Weir in a tough position, having to make what he called " the worst call I had to make" when he told Nick he wasn't in.

At the Sentry while the field scoring average was 67.3 he opened with 73 73, near the bottom of the select field, but he improved over the weekend with 68,69 buoyed somewhat I'm sure on the short flight from Maui to Oahu.

Come Sunday he was one of 15 players within 3 shots of the lead, leading me to suggest a playoff was imminent.

Then the golfing God entered the picture. JJ Spaun and Stephen Jaeger were passing the lead back and forth, while Nick was going backwards at +1 through 7 holes. Suddenly 4 straight birdies from 8-11, with some stellar iron play leaving all 4 putts inside 10 feet to vault him right into contention.

Just as quickly he missed 2 shorties for birdie at 15, 16, " If you asked me at that moment I'd say my chances were pretty low"

Enter the golfing God again as he stood surveying his chip behind the 18th, which he promptly holed for an eagle 3 from 60 feet for a 65 to tie for the lead at -16. His playing partner Nico Echavarria made a tap in birdie from the bunker to join him

They had to wait while Spaun and Jaeger squandered their chances with late bogey's, both needed to birdie 18 to join the playoff, both made pars.

Nick Taylor of Canada poses with the trophy after defeating Nico Echavarria of Colombia (not pictured) in a playoff to win the Sony Open in Hawaii 2025 at Waialae Country Club on January 12, 2025 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Both Taylor and Echavarria made birdies on the first playoff hole but Nick stuck his approach on the 2nd within 4 feet and made the putt while Nico obliged taking 3 putts to get down from the fringe at 40 feet.

It was Taylor's 5th win, he has won in 3 consecutive seasons, all in playoffs including that memorable 70 foot putt to win the 2023 RBC Canadian Open. 

Now this why winning is so important besides over $1.5 million. He now qualifies for the remaining 7 signature events, the Masters the PGA Championship and into 29th in owgr from 73rd and 2nd in the Fed Ex Cup, wiping out all that mediocre play in one stroke !

Veteran Canadian Richard Zokol commented " his greatest strength is he never loses his composure."

Taylor summed his week up " I did a great job of hanging in there all week"

Other Canadians

Adam Svensson T30 70 69 65 67 -9    $52,137

Taylor Pendrith T45  69 66 69 69 -7   $24,381

Adam Hadwin T59  65 71 69 70 -5     $19,314

Ben Silverman 69th  69 68 71 69 -3    $18,009

Note. This week is the American Express at La Quinta (the old Bob Hope) where I will remind you Adam Hadwin shot 59 in 2017 and between 2016 -19 he was 2nd twice and no worse that T6, so you know he and the family have this week in the California desert circled in red. 

Also Hideki Matsuyama finished T16 -11 in his bid for the Hawaiian double.

Bryan Angus