Rory McIlroy is now part of the most elite club in golf with the career Grand Slam.

This is the 51st year of The Players Championship. There have been so many memorable moments and legendary players over the years and one local journalist, Florida Times-Union golf writer Garry Smits, have covered almost all of them.

If form holds, Jake Knapp will probably shoot something around a 69 on Friday at PGA National in the second round of the Cognizant Classic.

Xander Schauffele says the plan is for Americans to give their Ryder Cup compensation to charity.

Bernhard Langer capped off a magical year by winning the PNC Championship for the fifth time with his son.

Tiger Woods has never had a family golf outing like the PNC Championship.

Nothing ramps up speculation in golf like an opening in the broadcast booth.

The U.S. Ryder Cup committee will get together later in the year to start discussions on the next captain.

The entire year seems to be all about money in golf.

Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson can expect plenty of more LPGA faces next year in the QBE Shootout.

The Constellation Furyk and Friends golf tournament tees off Friday at Timuquana Country Club. It’s the second year of the PGA Tour Champions event, hosted by Jim and Tabitha Furyk. This year, the field will include David Duval. The Episcopal graduate played in the pro-am in 2021, but this year, he’s in the field.

Tom Kidd won the first British Open at St. Andrews.

Tiger Woods has won five Masters.

He’s been The Players champion, held the Claret Jug and been ranked No. 1 in the world. Now, David Duval is set to become something different: a rookie.

Sergio Garcia is still the youngest Ryder Cup player in history.

Herman Keiser won a green jacket after the Masters went four years without being played because of World War II.

Patrick Cantlay follows his shot from the seventh tee of the Pebble Beach Golf Links during the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am golf tournament, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021, in Pebble Beach, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Patrick Cantlay looked just as good Thursday at Pebble Beach as the last round he played 18 days ago. That tied the course record at Pebble Beach last matched 24 years ago by David Duval, and it gave Cantlay a two-shot lead in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Bhatia hit all 18 of the small greens at Pebble Beach, the first player to do that at Pebble since Ryan Palmer in 2008. AdIt helped being at Pebble Beach, typically the easiest course when the weather is dry and relatively calm. The AT&T Pebble Beach and Honda Classic offered him exemptions.

The PGA Tour enters its eighth week of its return to golf with another modification to its guidelines for positive coronavirus tests and a gradual broadening of who gets to attend tournaments. Meanwhile, the tour said while there will be no pro-ams or paid spectators the rest of the season that ends Sept. 7 at the Tour Championship. LPGA RETURNSThe PGA Tour had its strongest fields of the year when it ended three months of being shut down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. That isn't the case with the LPGA Tour, which is more about timing and location. Thomas is among those who have leaned on private housing in the two months that the PGA Tour has resumed its schedule.

And as if to prove the point, David Duval and Rory McIlroy both showed that even past Open champions can be made to look like weekend hackers. Duval, the winner in 2001, notched up a sizable 13 on the seventh hole, while 2014 champion McIlroy opened with a four-over-par eight at the first on day one of the 148th Open Championship. Duval had started with two birdies but made his own eight at the fifth and then outdid that in spectacular fashion at the long seventh. The seventh is one of two new holes -- along with the eighth -- at Royal Portrush for the 2019 Open and Duval has written a dramatic first chapter in its history. Things barely got better for the pair, with McIlroy finishing the first day eight-over-par as Duval finished on an astonishing 19 over.