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INSIDER

GARY PLAYER

Players with Saudi releases have to decide if it's worth it

The PGA Tour is giving conditional releases to more than two dozen of its members who have signed up to play the Saudi International. The Saudi International is Feb. 3-6, the same week as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The tour said it would grant conflicting event releases provided players put Pebble on their schedule once in 2023 or 2024, or twice through 2025 if it has been more than five years since they last played the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

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Trump honors golfing greats with award in private ceremony

The award is one of the nation’s highest civilian honors. President Donald Trump has generally held public ceremonies when presenting the honor, but Thursday’s event was closed to the media. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany released a statement on the awards, which for Sorenstam and Player had been previously announced last March. She was an all-around athlete nicknamed “Babe,” after Babe Ruth. Zaharias was still a top-ranked professional golfer when she died from cancer in 1956.

When it's Tiger Woods, the son becomes more famous than dad

Tiger Woods, left, walks on the 11th fairway with his son Charlie during a practice round at the Father Son Challenge golf tournament, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)ORLANDO, Fla. – Padraig Harrington and Tiger Woods turned pro about the same time and have played in some 170 tournaments around the world together. “This is the first tournament I've ever played in that Tiger Woods is playing in that he's not the star of the show,” Harrington said Friday. Everybody is stopping to watch Charlie.”That would be Charlie Woods, the 11-year-old son of the 15-time major champion. Plus, he's the son of Tiger Woods. Even so, this cozy event in the holiday season has come to life with Woods playing for the first time.

Tiger Woods to play with 11-year-old Charlie in Father-Son

The PNC Championship announced Thursday that Woods will play with 11-year-old son Charlie in the tournament that has paired major champions with their sons since 1995, the year before the 44-year-old Woods turned pro. “I can't tell you how excited I am to be playing with Charlie in our first official tournament together,” Woods said. The PNC Championship is Dec. 19-20 at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club Orlando in central Florida. It allowed Fuzzy Zoeller to play with his daughter, Gretchen, and Arnold Palmer to play with his grandson, Sam Saunders. Until deciding to play in the PNC Championship, it was thought Woods ended the year at the Masters.

Casey rides the buzz of Masters history to 65 and early lead

Paul Casey matched his lowest score at the Masters with a 7-under 65, giving him a two-shot lead among half the field fortunate to play in perfect scoring conditions. It was the fifth hole, which he bogeyed all four rounds last year when he won the Masters. He was joined by Xander Schauffele, a runner-up to Woods last year, who had seven birdies in his round of 67. The delay was the last thing the Masters needed with limited daylight hours leading to the two-tee start. The loudest cheer — applause, certainly not a roar — came for Nicklaus and Player hitting tee shots so early that they couldn't see where they landed.

Honorary starters, then rain, as 1st fall Masters begins

“I was pleased it was dark, because you didn’t see where my ball went,” Nicklaus told reporters afterward. No fans are allowed at this year’s event except for the players’ significant others and coaches, along with Augusta National members. Normally a rite of spring, the Masters has a different look and feel this year, given the move to November. A drone TV camera, allowed for the first time this year, also seemed out of place at the usually staid golf club. The COVID-19 protocols prevented Nicklaus from bringing one of his grandchildren to caddie for him, like he usually does.

The Latest: Woods off to bogey-free start in Masters defense

Also, it’s the first bogey-free round for Woods in a major since the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine. The 43-year-old Englishman is leading the Masters after shooting a 7-under 65 in the opening round. But he turned things around in his return to Augusta National, which was delayed for seven months by the coronavirus pandemic. ___2:05 p.m.Tiger Woods is off to a strong start in defense of his Masters championship. He has six top-10 finishes at Augusta National, including a second-place finish in 2010 and a tie for second in 2016.

For fall Masters, change comes to a tradition like no other

So much else has changed at Augusta National this week, when the first fall Masters will be held without many of the traditions that make it a tradition unlike any other. Another tradition diminished without fans: golfers trying to skip their shots across the surface of the pond in front of the 16th green. “We do think Butler Cabin is something that is really, not only part of the history, but emblematic of what the Masters is all about, giving the champion the green jacket,” Ridley said. “So we will be in Butler Cabin. The fall date also messed with the Masters' spot on the sports schedule.

The Masters in November gives golf a big sendoff

It's November, and I think everybody just has to embrace that we're here and we're playing and that's a great thing." In some respects, this Masters is a celebration of what golf has done and a sendoff the sport has never had. For many, it signaled the start of golf season, whether that meant playing or watching. “All the Masters I've watched over the years in Ireland, the golfing season started normally the weekend of the Masters,” British Open champion Shane Lowry said. “I think when The Open Championship was canceled, I had serious doubts we'd play a Masters this year in 2020,” McIlroy said.

Masters honors Lee Elder with scholarship and a tee shot

The Masters for some two decades has provided scholarship money for Paine College, a private, historically Black college in Augusta. The Lee Elder Scholarship will be endowed for one man and one woman on the golf team. “That is one thing that’s going to be significant to me, because 1975 was just an ordinary shot playing a golf tournament, even though it was the Masters,” Elder said. Never forget.”The connection to Paine College goes beyond it being an HBCU. He said Augusta National would pay for everything.

Mel Reid hopes to keep the party going at Women's PGA

Reid, a 33-year-old from England, is among the contenders to win the Women’s PGA Championship at Aronimink. This is where Gary Player won his first PGA Championship in 1962, by one shot over Bob Goalby. Reid is a six-time winner on the Ladies European Tour but she was more than overdue for an LPGA Tour title. Last year, Hannah Green used a steely performance down the stretch at Hazeltine to make the Women's PGA her first career victory. She hopes to use the lessons learned there to be able to secure a second straight major championship.

Spieth chasing Grand Slam and hardly anyone notices

Jordan Spieth watches from the putting green during practice for the PGA Championship golf tournament at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020. Win this major and he joins the most exclusive club in golf with the final leg of the career Grand Slam. The longest anyone went from winning the third leg to completing the Grand Slam was three years by Player and Nicklaus. If you told me that, I'd probably say that guy is kind of a jerk and I'd walk the other way, Spieth said with a smile. 2 after winning at Royal Birkdale and getting his first shot at the career Grand Slam in the 2017 PGA Championship (he tied for 28th).