No one has won the City Section individual golf championship four times, but Layla Phillips has a chance to be the first.
The 14-year-old freshman from Harbor Teacher Prep carded a five-under-par 67 on Thursday at Balboa Golf Course in Encino, good enough for a six-stroke victory over Macy Lee of El Camino Real.
“She’s been playing since she was 2,” explained her father Kasey, who was there to watch his daughter’s round and could not have been more proud. “Our old house was right off of Maggie Hathaway Golf Course and balls were constantly flying onto our property. It was an annoying thing and my wife was afraid the kids might get hit playing in the backyard. So we complained about it and they offered us free lessons as kind of a peace offering.”
As fate would have it, Layla and her sister Roxanne, one year younger, both took to the sport like fish to water.
“We started taking lessons at Chester Washington Golf Course because they had a better driving range there,” said Layla, who started playing the Toyota Tour Cup series 18 months ago. “We get along great and we practice together everyday. She’s following in my footsteps. We’re opposites. I get really nervous but she just hits the ball and doesn’t care. At times, we have to take advice from each other.”
After bogeying the first hole, Phillips birdied the second, eagled the third and birdied the fourth to vault to the top of the leaderboard. She maintained at least a two-shot lead the rest of the way. A bogey on No. 6 was followed by two pars and three consecutive birdies that stretched the margin to six.
“I can’t be too mad with my performance today but there’s always room for improvement,” said Phillips, who got to six-under before bogeying 18 and who finished two strokes off the City finals record of 65 set last year by Palisades senior Anna Song, now a freshman at Stanford. “I’ve only played this course twice before and I’d never played the back nine.”
Phillips tries to get a round in once a week and plays a two-day tournament every month. She shot six-under (equaling her personal best) to win a Southern California PGA Junior Tour championship in Palm Springs in December. She has won around 50 SCPGA Junior events since she was 10. In March, Roxanne won the L.A. City Junior championship by 15 shots on the same course when she was only 12.
“School lets out at 3:30 so I’m practicing from 4 to 7:30 p.m. at Los Verdes [in Palos Verdes] or Victoria [in Carson],” said Phillips, who finished in the top 10 at the Junior World Golf Championship last year in San Diego.
Phillips longs to play college golf (maybe at USC, which is only a 30-minute drive from where she lives in Harbor City). When told she could potentially be the first four-time City champion, she said: Yeah, it’s a possibility. My best competition in City might be my sister. She’s beaten me a couple of times already.”
She will also have to contend with fellow ninth grader Lauren Song (Anna’s sister) who shot a 75 to finish alone in third Thursday to help Palisades (+55) win its fifth straight team title, one shy of the City record accomplished twice by Granada Hills. The Highlanders finished second by 64 shots Thursday but still advanced to next week’s SoCal Regionals.
LIV Golf events will be extended to 72 holes from 2026, putting them in line with the sport’s established tours.
The Saudi Arabia-backed circuit began in 2022 with 54-hole events and the unconventional format of events played a role in players being denied official ranking points.
Most LIV events have been played from Friday to Sunday but will now be contested from Thursday of tournament weeks – apart from a Wednesday start for February’s LIV Golf Riyadh.
“LIV Golf is a player’s league,” said the former world number one. “We are competitors to the core and we want every opportunity to compete at the highest level and to perfect our craft.
“Moving to 72 holes is the logical next step that strengthens the competition, tests us more fully, and, if the growing galleries from last season are any indication, delivers more of what the fans want.”
Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) points play a key role in determining entry into golf’s four majors.
LIV Golf players have slid down the rankings with Rahm now 71st in the world while Dustin Johnson, another former world number one, is 604th.
“Playing 72 holes just feels a little more like the big tournaments we’ve all grown up playing,” said Johnson. “I’ve always liked the grind of four rounds.”
Bryson DeChambeau, who is also on the LIV tour, added: “Everyone wants to see the best players in the world competing against each other, especially in the majors, and for the good of the game, we need a path forward.”
For each regular season event, the individual competition will be decided over 72 holes of stroke play.
The team competition will continue to run concurrently, with each team’s cumulative individual stroke play scores determining the team result.
“The move to 72 holes marks a pivotal new chapter for LIV Golf that strengthens our league, challenges our elite field of players, and delivers more of the world-class golf, energy, innovation and access that our global audience wants,” said LIV Golf chief executive Scott O’Neil.
“The most successful leagues around the world – IPL, EPL, NBA, MLB, NFL – continue to innovate and evolve their product, and as an emerging league, we are no different.”
In shutdowns past — including during Trump’s first term — presidents normally scaled back their schedules. With staffers deemed “non-essential” sent home, the White House often sought to appear sympathetic to Americans affected by disruptions to healthcare, veterans benefits and other key services.
Nonetheless, it’s been mostly business as usual for Trump over the last 29 days.
“It’s like that country song: ‘Sometimes falling feels like flying for a little while,’” said Paul Begala, a Democratic strategist and former advisor to President Clinton, who presided over two shutdowns between 1995 and 1996. “They seem to be like, ‘So far, so good, man.’ ”
Ballroom, golf and trips
Trump was on a six-day swing through Asia, after a recent, whirlwind Middle East visit. He hosted a White House fundraiser for major donors to his $300-million ballroom that has seen construction crews tear down the East Wing, and held another fundraiser at his Florida estate.
Members of the Cabinet have similarly hit the road. Vice President JD Vance traveled to Israel, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem went to Oregon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth toured Topgun, the U.S. Navy’s elite fighter weapons school in Nevada.
Only 32% of staff in the Executive Office of the President were set to be furloughed during the current shutdown, according to a White House budget office contingency report. That’s down from 61% during the last shutdown in 2018-19, in Trump’s first term. About half of the Executive Mansion’s team that includes housekeepers, ushers, valets and butlers are currently working. Last time, more than 70% were furloughed.
It’s often been hard to tell a shutdown is happening with so many staffers remaining at their desks.
“I don’t even know if they’re supposed to be working, but they wouldn’t miss a day,” Trump said during an event last week.
It’s a departure from Trump’s first term, when he cut out golf and canceled a planned trip to Florida for Christmas during the 2018 shutdown, which stretched into the new year. He made a surprise visit to troops in Iraq then, but nixed plans to go to the Swiss Alps for the World Economic Forum.
When hosting Clemson University football players celebrating their NCAA football championship, Trump brought in burgers and fries from McDonald’s and Domino’s pizza because of White House staff furloughs.
This time, the president had Republican senators over for a lunch that featured burgers, too. But staff made them. “They do great food at the White House,” Trump said.
‘A smarter approach’
Some say barreling ahead like there’s no shutdown has some political advantages for Trump, allowing him to look presidential while avoiding congressional bickering.
“It’s a much smarter approach,” said Marc Short, chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence.
In Trump’s first-term shutdown, he rejected a congressional compromise to force the government to close — an attempt to win funding to wall off the U.S.-Mexico border. Then, he named Pence as lead negotiator to end the shutdown while involving his son-in-law Jared Kushner — creating the visual of them having to go to Capitol Hill.
“The first go-around, he was pretty clear with cameras rolling: He said he wanted the shutdown. He claimed ownership,” Short said. This time? “The White House has been clear about not owning it.”
Back in 1995, Begala recalled talking strategy with Clinton during a sweaty summer run at Fort McNair in Washington, and telling the president that Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich and his party “think they can roll you,” forcing cuts to Medicare by threatening a shutdown.
Clinton responded: “‘My favorite movie’s ‘High Noon,’ ” Begala recalled, meaning the western in which a marshal stands up to outlaws. ”They do that — then I just have a Gary Cooper, ‘High Noon’ moment. That’s easy.”
When Gingrich later came to the White House to negotiate, Begala said Clinton wouldn’t budge, even though some advisors urged him to cut a deal. Voters ultimately blamed congressional Republicans more than the White House for the government closing, and Clinton was easily reelected in 1996.
“That could have really gone badly for Clinton,” Begala said. “But he did understand that standing strong, and having a Gary Cooper moment, would be really good for him.”
Trump could probably find a way to end the current shutdown if he wanted to prioritize it, said Leon Panetta, who worked to end past government closures as Clinton’s chief of staff. But Trump’s “attention is focused on everything but sitting down and getting both parties together to resolve this issue,” Panetta said.
‘Continuing to work night and day’
During the 16-day government shutdown of 2013, President Obama scrapped a four-country Asia trip and skipped the Congressional Hispanic Caucus gala. His schedule featured events meant to show the shutdown’s effects, including visiting a Maryland construction firm that benefited from the kind of federal loans jeopardized with the government shuttered.
In 2019, as that shutdown dragged on, Trump’s White House officials acknowledged feeling pressure to end it. This time, the administration’s approach has been to blame the Democrats, while signaling that it’s prepared to wait — even warning of coming travel delays during the Thanksgiving holidays.
“President Trump is continuing to work night and day on behalf of American people,” said White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson. “The entire administration, including the president, will continue highlighting the workers and families who are suffering because of the Democrats’ decision to shut down the government.”
Bill Daley, a White House chief of staff to Obama before the 2013 shutdown, said Trump isn’t acting like he’s feeling political heat to reopen the government, even before next Tuesday’s gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey — both home to sizable federal workforces.
“My guess is, he thinks it helps him,” Daley said, “until — and I don’t know if it will — the bottom falls out.”
Democrats are demanding an extension of expiring tax credits that have helped millions of people afford health insurance, while Republicans say they won’t negotiate until the government is reopened.
Trump has said the shutdown must end, but also used it to cut federal positions and target programs Democrats favor, while redirecting funds to his own priorities — like covering military paychecks. The president has even said of closed museums, “We should probably just open them.”
Americans, meanwhile, are divided on who’s to blame.
Roughly 6 in 10 say Trump and congressional Republicans have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of responsibility for the shutdown, while 54% say the same about Democrats in Congress, according to a recent poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Mike McCurry, a White House press secretary under Clinton, said Democrats have yet to settle on a clear shutdown message that has resonated. Trump has the presidency to deliver his take, but McCurry noted he has been “mercurial.”
“It is not likely we’re going to have clear winners or losers after this,” McCurry said. “It’s going to be a bit of a muddle.”
Kai Trump, President Trump’s eldest granddaughter, a high school senior and University of Miami commit, has secured a sponsor invitation to play in an LPGA Tour event Nov. 13-16.
The 18-year-old will compete in the Annika at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Fla. She currently attends the Benjamin School in Palm Beach and is ranked No. 461 on the American Junior Golf Assn. rankings. She also competes on the Srixon Medalist Tour on the South Florida PGA. Her top finish was a tie for third in July.
“My dream has been to compete with the best in the world on the LPGA Tour,” Trump said in a statement. “This event will be an incredible experience. I look forward meeting and competing against so many of my heroes and mentors in golf as I make my LPGA Tour debut.”
Sponsor invitations have long been used to attract attention to a tournament through a golfer who is from a well-known family or, in recent years, has a strong social media presence. Kai Trump qualifies on both counts.
She is the oldest daughter of Donald Trump Jr. and his ex-wife, Vanessa, and has nearly 8 million followers combined on Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube and X. In addition to posting her own exploits on and off the course, she creates videos playing golf with her grandpa and chronicled their visit to the Ryder Cup.
She also recently launched her own sports apparel and lifestyle brand, KT.
“Kai’s broad following and reach are helping introduce golf to new audiences, especially among younger fans,” said Ricki Lasky, LPGA chief tour business and operations officer, in a statement.
The oldest of the president’s 11 grandchildren, Kai became known nationally when she made a speech in support of her grandfather’s campaign at the 2024 Republican National Convention. Her parents divorced in 2018, and her mother has been dating Tiger Woods for about a year.
Truly Adams of Moreno Valley is racing Formula 4 cars in France even though he’s not old enough to obtain a driver’s license in California.
The 15-year-old freshman who’s enrolled in online classes at Epic Charter School in Corona became the first American driver to finish on the podium at the Feed Racing Volant F4 finals last month, taking third place in a field of international contenders at Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, one of France’s top F1 racetracks.
Truly Adams races in the Feed Racing Volant F4 Finals in France.
(Troy Adams Coaching)
Adams is bilingual in English and Spanish and learning French to help further his desired career in racing. He’s won kart races in Spain and was the fastest driver at the Mexico F4 Series test. He’s preparing for the 2026 French Formula 4 season next year, which is the path toward being a Formula 1 driver. Entry into the series requires $300,000 in funding, so he’s seeking sponsorships and partnerships.
“I love racing cars because of the thrill of it, passing cars, getting passed, going 130 mph in the straightaway,” he said.
His father, Troy, serves as his driving coach. His mother, Kara, is his driver when he’s in Southern California. In the last year, he’s traveled throughout the United States and to France, Portugal, Spain and Italy for competitions.
“I played every sport growing up — soccer, football, basketball, golf, tennis, rugby, swimming,” he said. “I tried to play the guitar. I tried to play piano. I tried to play everything.”
He said he has begun studying for his California driving test in September of 2026.
Asked what he might tell the instructor in the car, he said, “I’ll tell him I’m a professional race car driver and do you want to go more than the speed limit?”
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].
Pitch Golf has opened in Manchester, and Mirror man Matt Atherton went along to play a round at St Andrews – with mixed results
Pitch Manchester opened last month(Image: The Mirror)
A brand new indoor golf experience has opened in Manchester city centre, and we went along to give it a whirl.
It’s exactly what it sounds like – a round of golf without having to lug a heavy club bag around for miles, and it’s just what this amateur (really, really bad) golfer needed.
Players are given the chance to sit down in a cushty golf bay, away from the judgemental eyes of a posh golf course’s driving range. You’ll simply choose whether you want to just smash a few balls, or try your hand at dozens of the world’s most famous courses, with some pretty decent clubs at your disposal.
I haven’t played a round of golf for about 15 years, and even then it wasn’t really playing. I managed to get my handicap down to about +35 before putting my clubs down once and for all.
So, it was particularly refreshing to be able to get back in the swing of things without anyone watching. I simply headed to Pitch Golf’s driving range, and stepped up to the plate.
The bay uses Trackman technology, which basically means the AI watches your swing, impact zone on the ball, and swing power, to analyse exactly where the golf ball would end up in the real world. You can switch between a trusty pitching wedge to zero-in on your target, or whack out the driver and smash it as hard as you can.
Clearly I’d been out of practice for a while, and my golf play lacked professionalism, shall we say? But, the incredible technology really opened my eyes to how I could improve my game, if I wanted to keep pursuing it. A handy trainer captures your entire movements on camera, and then replays it to you, so you can see exactly where you’re going wrong when you smash the ball into a lake (speaking from experience).
Within half an hour I was hitting the ball generally in the right direction, topping 150yards each shot. The screen even shows you the flight path of each shot, so you can make subtle improvements to absolutely nail your target.
Quite rightly, after an hour I figured I was ready for one of the world’s most challenging courses, St Andrews, playing off the ‘Champion tees’. It ended as predictably as imagined.
I managed to finish with a triple bogey on the first hole… mainly because the computer took pity on me and just waved me through to the next hole. But, aside from that embarrassment, the AI scenery was stunning. The visuals matched the iconic scenes of St Andrews’s opening hole – so much so that when I sent a picture to my family asking “Where am I?”, someone quickly replied: “St Andrews?!”.
Pitch Manchester isn’t just somewhere to practice your golf, though. It’s a great social setting that prides itself on being open to everyone – not just the clubhouse gang in their posh polo shirts and chinos.
It features a bar with a great selection of drinks, as well as the usual pub luxuries; shuffle board, Sky Sports, and a great kitchen team. The menu features a special selection of Asian-inspired dishes, which is perfect for scoffing a mouthful between swings.
Even as you enter the facility, you’re greeted by a shop with all of the latest gear you’ll be needing to hit the links. It mimics the exact feel of a clubhouse, without the beginners feeling out of place.
Meanwhile, if you’re heading to Manchester city centre and need somewhere to stay, it’s definitely worth considering the Marriott Piccadilly Hotel.
It’s central location is perfect for those needing access to Piccadilly train station, and its views over the city are second-to-none.
There’s plenty of space to put your feet up after a busy day, and the next morning you’ll be treated to a delicious breakfast, featuring everything you’d ever need to kickstart your day.
Four of Europe’s Ryder Cup heroes will be in action at this week’s Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland, headed by defending champion and three-time winner Tyrrell Hatton.
And you can bet your life they will get a much better reception from the fans than they did from the loud-mouthed yobs who hurled abuse at them at Bethpage Black.
Luke Donald’s team were certainly heroes as far as this column is concerned.
Tommy Fleetwood, another of the players teeing it up this week, was a 12-1 winner in the top points scorer market, and the 15-13 scoreline was also tipped here at 12-1
Justin Rose going out first in the singles, having been highlighted at 18-1, was the icing on the cake. Cameron Young also finished joint top in the USA points list with Xander Schauffele, having been advised at 25-1.
So the big question now is where do we “reinvest” the winnings, to try to keep the mood of celebration going?
Alfred Dunhill Links Championship 2025 betting tips
Hatton seems an obvious starting point, given his incredible record in this event.
In his last seven starts here, he has posted a couple of runner-ups as well as his three victories. And his worst finish was a share of 15th. So 7-1 looks reasonable.
Hatton is second favourite behind world No 7 Fleetwood, who has finished second here twice, and was third 12 months ago.
He is a general 6-1, with European team-mates Matt Fitzpatrick and Robert MacIntyre next on the list at around 10-1 and 12-1 respectively.
But the Ryder Cup was such a draining experience that I am reluctant to side with any of that quartet at short prices. They have earned a bit of down time, and may not be quite as focused on this event as usual.
Marco Penge, who was a bit unlucky not to get a wild card for Bethpage after winning twice this year, looks attractively priced at 20-1.
Penge missed the cut here last year – but that was largely due to a calamitous opening round of 75 at Carnoustie, where he had a NINE and a seven on the back nine.
That can happen at the toughest course on the planet. And the big-hitting Englishman bounced back well with rounds of 69 and 70 at Kingsbarns and St Andrews.
He is a much more accomplished player now, and is second only to Rory McIlroy on the current DP World Tour money list. He could easily go one better than his runner-up finish at the hotly-contested Scottish Open three months ago.
I also like the chances of another monster hitter, Rasmus Neergard-Petersen, who is a best priced 25-1. He seemed to thrive on the links when finishing joint fourth last year.
Previous form in this event is invaluable, so 40-1 shot Haotong Li also comes into the reckoning. His share of seventh last year was his second top ten here, and a tie for fourth at this year’s Open confirmed his love of links golf.
Among the longshots, the 80-1 about Laurie Canter and Peter Uhlein deserves a second look, while improving Frenchman Tom Vaillant looks over-priced at 150-1. The same thing applies to 200-1 shot Brandon Robinson-Thompson.
The only Ryder Cup golfer playing in the PGA Tour’s Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi is another European, Rasmus Hojgaard.
He had a tough debut at Bethpage, losing both his matches. So despite a couple of runner-up finishes in his last four starts, I’m not tempted by the 33-1 on offer.
But I am keen on the 33-1 available for Mackenzie Hughes. The Canadian won here in 2022, finished top ten last year, and arrives on the back of a share of seventh in the Procore, where ten of the US Ryder Cup team were in action.
Emilian Grillo did even better at the Procore, finishing tied fourth. He also also played well in Jackson in the past. So he is another 33-1 shot on the shortlist.
Michael Thorbjornsen is starting to justify the hype after a stellar college career, and 25-1 looks fair. Do not get him confused with Thorbjorn Olesen – but 50-1 for the former Ryder Cup man means he might be worth backing too!
Beau Hossler is another 50-1 chance worth considering, and I haven’t lost faith completely in USPGA runner-up Davis Riley despite a bunch of missed cuts.
At 150-1 he could be worth a small interest. David Lipsky was a big disappointment at the Procore, but two third places in his previous five starts suggests he is another 150-1 shot to think about.
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The Irish golf star had stood up for himself amid verbal abuse and other inappropriate behavior from some American fans during the Ryder Cup this weekend at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y.
After helping Team Europe fend off a massive U.S. rally for a 15-13 victory Sunday, McIlroy had plenty more to say about what he witnessed from fans during the three-day event.
“I don’t think we should ever accept that in golf,” McIlroy said during his team’s post-tournament press conference. “I think golf should be held to a higher standard than than what was was seen out there this week.
“Golf has the ability to unite people. Golf teaches you very good life lessons. It teaches you etiquette. It teaches you how to play by the rules. It teaches you how to respect people. And, you know, sometimes this week we didn’t see that.”
McIlroy went 3-1-1 during the event while enduring boisterous jeers and insults from members of the crowd who were doing their best to disrupt him while he lined up to swing or putt. At one point Saturday a cup of beer appeared to sail out of the crowd and hit the brim of a hat worn by McIlroy’s wife, Erica Stoll, who was walking next to her husband.
The reigning Masters champion didn’t take such treatment quietly, clapping back at times with profanity or gestures of his own.
At one point during foursome play Saturday morning, McIlroy told some boisterous Americans to “shut the f— up.” He then proceeded to send his shot to within three feet of the hole, setting up Tommy Fleetwood‘s putt to clinch the European pair’s win.
Asked Sunday how satisfying that particular set of events was, McIlroy replied, “Very f— satisfying.”
On Monday morning, U.S. golf legend Tom Watson congratulated the European team on their win in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The four-time Ryder Cup player and two-time captain also wrote: “More importantly, I’d like to apologize for the rude and mean-spirited behavior from our American crowd at Bethpage. As a former player, Captain and as an American, I am ashamed of what happened.”
In general, McIlroy said, “we shut them up by our performance and how we played. You know, I chirped back a few times because it got to me a few times. [But] we tried to handle everything that came our way with class and poise and for the most part I felt like we did that.”
The amount of security and police present at the tournament was increased as the weekend went on, a step McIlroy didn’t think was necessary.
“The police out there and the amount of the security presence was insane,” McIlroy said. “It’s not like — nothing was going to happen. There wasn’t really going to be any sort of physical altercation or anything like that. … There was a lot of language that was unacceptable and abusive behavior, but look, it’s a minority of the crowd. It’s not the majority. The majority of people here are true golf fans and are respectful and [hope] that both teams have the same chance to hit the shots and play a fair contest.”
McIlroy added that he hopes those respectful fans are the ones who show up at the next Ryder Cup, which will be held in his homeland.
“We will be making sure to say to our fans in Ireland in 2027 that what happened here this week is not acceptable.”
That said, McIlroy and his European teammates did appear to take part in a little playful taunting of their own after their win Sunday. President Trump posted a video on Truth Social that showed the group hoisting their trophy and singing, “Are you watching, Donald Trump?”
Trump, who attended the Ryder Cup on Friday, wrote in response: “Yes, I’m watching. Congratulations!”
For the uninitiated, the Ryder Cup is not something from which you drink coffee in your rental truck. As a matter of fact, 15 years ago, this golfing classic was proclaimed by the locals to be the biggest sporting event ever in the country of Wales.
The newest edition of the Ryder Cup will find your TV screen Friday through Monday. It will be contested on Long Island on a torture-chamber called Bethpage Black. They played the U.S. Open there in 2009 and it rained so hard and so often that there were rumors Noah was getting another Ark ready. Lucas Glover didn’t win that one. He survived it.
To be clear, this will not be the biggest sporting event in the New York area. Thursday afternoon Mets’ games create more stomach aches and fist pumps.
But it should not be dismissed or greeted by yawns.
U.S. Ryder Cup golf team captain Keegan Bradley, left, and Team Europe captain Luke Donald, right, will face off this week.
(Heather Khalifa / Associated Press)
This every-other-year, alternating-home-course event that matches the best golfers in the United States against the best in Europe, creates as much emotion as you can find in a sport that preaches controlling that.
Recently, British golfer Matt Wallace shed tears on camera after falling just short of qualifying. “I will never give up on the Ryder Cup,” he sobbed.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, one of the best players ever in the sport, made the mistake years ago of calling the Ryder Cup “mostly an exhibition.” He has been apologizing for that ever since.
Spain’s Sergio Garcia, a former Masters champion and an emotional leader of many past European teams, pulled out of a European tournament immediately after he learned he would not be on this year’s Ryder Cup team. He said he needed to get away for a while.
Keegan Bradley was on U.S. teams that lost both the 2012 and 2014 Cups, and he has spoken of the still-unpacked and logoed Ryder Cup backpack that he brought back after 2012. He has vowed to never unpack it until he is part of a winning Ryder Cup team.
If you think that golf and its top players are the living definition of a sports metronome (tick-tock boring), it is not so with the Ryder Cup.
The event keeps sneaking up on people. McIlroy was right, just not up to date. By 2010, the U.S. had started to lose Ryder Cup matches, and that suddenly made them important. U.S. sports fans like a little agony and drama before celebrating winning moments. Losing is not acceptable. From 1959 through 1983, the U.S. had won every Ryder Cup. Then, in 1985, Europe won and held the cup for eight of the next 11 meetings.
Now, it was game on.
Europe’s Rory McIlroy celebrates after winning his singles match against American Sam Burns at the Ryder Cup played at the Marco Simone Golf Club in Guidonia Montecelio, Italy, on Oct. 1, 2023.
(Gregorio Borgia / Associated Press)
The U.S. won in 2008, but this time, for 2010, the Europeans were ready. They even had a special course built, clearly with one thing in mind. It was in Newport, Wales, the club was named Celtic Manor and the course was called the Twenty Ten.
They held a huge pre-celebration dinner and by the time it started, they had sold out the six-day package (three practice rounds and three competition rounds) to 45,000 people at $660 each. That $29.7 million paid nicely for the big party.
Big profits haven’t seemed to be the driving force yet in the Ryder Cup, but like everything else in sports, that is likely to change. This year’s Ryder Cup will be its most extensively televised one to date in the U.S.
Bradley, the guy with a 13-year-old unpacked suitcase, will be the U.S. captain. He has played on two Ryder Cup teams, both defeats, and lost the deciding match to Jamie Donaldson in 2014 in Scotland. The suitcase remains unpacked.
He is still one of the top players in golf, good enough to be a player on this year’s team, but chose not to choose himself and will be a traditional non-playing captain. He was also high enough in the rankings to be considered for a spot on the ’23 U.S. team that lost in Rome. He later said that, when ’23 U.S. captain Zack Johnson passed him over, “It broke my heart.”
Luke Donald of England, who played his golf at Northwestern, was good enough to be No. 1 on the PGA Tour for 56 weeks and was the first golfer to top season money-winning lists on the PGA and European tours in the same year, will be the European captain. He has played on four Ryder Cup teams, all European victories. He was also the captain in Rome.
Donald was a member of that 2010 team in Wales. The U.S. lost by a point and Donald won three of the Europeans 14½.
Celtic Manor was more than just a European win. It was a rub-your-face-in-it win, a remember-who-invented-this-game moment. It was more than winner-take-all. It was winner-celebrate-all-night and-be-smug-about-it-all-next-year.
The setting helps to understand all this.
American Phil Mickelson plays a shot from the rough during the 2010 Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor Resort on Oct. 1, 2010, in Newport, Wales.
(Ross Kinnaird / Getty Images)
The Twenty Ten course was surprisingly not a classic European links course. Much was made of that in the run-up. Why give the Americans a golf course type that they were used to — soft, grassy fairways and smooth-rolling greens — when the links courses usually drove them nuts. Then it started to rain and seemed as if it would never stop. Twenty Ten became Twenty Thousand Puddles. It was so bad that the final day of concluding singles match-play was contested on a Monday, a first for a Ryder Cup. The U.S. team was ready, with nicely logoed rain suits. Except they leaked.
Amid one particularly drenching downpour, U.S. star Phil Mickelson spotted a reporter he knew walking the sidelines. He sauntered over, soaked and dripping, eyed the reporter’s rain gear and said, “Wanna trade?”
The next day, the U.S. team got replacement rain gear from the same gift shop that the reporter had purchased his.
Such nuances are the responsibility of team captains. The Europeans, whose rain suits stayed sealed, were led by longtime tour pro Colin Montgomerie, a great player who never won a major and who many feel was the model for the Pillsbury Dough Boy. The U.S. captain was Corey Pavin, who not only won a U.S. Open in 1995 with his famous four-wood to the green on No. 18, but also was a Gutty Little Bruin, a pride of UCLA golf.
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin holds a flag stick during a practice round prior in 2010 at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales.
(Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
The match, eventually won by Europe, came down to the final singles pairing on Monday. Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland, who had won that year’s U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, was matched by Montgomerie against Pavin’s Hunter Mahan, a Texan who had been the No. 2 Ryder Cup qualifier behind Mickelson.
McDowell took a two-up lead on No. 16, making a sliding, curling 15-foot downhill putt for birdie that left him two up with two holes to play. Then, on the par three 17th — Mahan had to win this hole and the next to keep the U.S. hopes alive — Mahan chunked his second shot, a chip, short of the green. The Euro fans went wild. Mahan walked to McDowell, whose ball rested in easy two-putt, par territory, and shook his hand in concession.
Europe had won, 14½-13½, and the champagne began to flow.
The Celtic Manor clubhouse was on a hill, with a long balcony overlooking the 18th green. Within minutes, the European players were up there, shaking huge bottles of champagne and spraying them all over each other and the thousands of fans below. It went on and on. It was a post-Super Bowl-in- Philadelphia celebration, minus the bent traffic lights; a post-Lakers-win-the-NBA-title-at Staples celebration, minus the burning police cars. It produced photos that dominated every major European newspaper and TV broadcast for the next several days.
Eventually, the U.S. team shuffled into an interview room. There was not a smile to be found. All were there, a unit to the end, sitting at a long table. Quickly, a question went to Mahan about his gagged chip shot. He looked like a man who had just watched his dog get hit by a car. Before he could conjure up much of an answer, two of the three main veterans on the team ran interference. Both Mickelson and Jim Furyk jumped in to answer, saying basically, that none of the people asking the questions could have any idea of the pressure involved in a Ryder Cup situation like that. Of course, none of the people asking the questions had ever aspired to that pressure.
Tiger Woods remained silent.
American Tiger Woods attends a tense news conference after Europe’s 14.5 to 13.5 victory over the U.S. at the 2010 Ryder Cup at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, Wales.
(Sam Greenwood / Getty Images)
At a press gathering before the event, he had fielded a question from a member of the British press. If there was a moment that set a tone of animosity for the event, it was right there.
Reporter: “You don’t win majors any more, you don’t win regular tournaments. Where is the Ryder Cup on your agenda, now that you are an ordinary golfer?”
Woods, the ordinary golfer: “I hope you are having a good week.”
The captains’ comparisons are fun, but probably not meaningful. Bradley has won a major, the 2011 PGA, and was ranked as high as No. 7 in the world. His Ryder Cup playing record is 4-3-0. Donald never won a major, but was World No. 1. His Ryder Cup record is 10-4-1. He was Ryder Cup captain in 2023 in Paris. He has never been on a losing Ryder Cup team, as a player or captain. Bradley’s Ryder team record is 0-2.
The only playing returnee from 2010 at Celtic Manor — Donald was also on the team — is McIlroy, who once called this whole thing an “exhibition.” That was before he stood on a balcony in Wales, 15 years ago, and looked below to a mass of idolizing golf fans, begging to be sprayed with champagne.
In that moment, the Ryder Cup became a huge deal for McIlroy. The rest of the sports world now follows.
Stacy Lewis, the captain of the United States’ 2024 Solheim Cup-winning team, says she will retire from golf at the end of the LPGA season.
The 40-year-old won 13 LPGA titles, including two majors, and led the United States to victory over Europe in last year’s Solheim Cup.
She also spent 25 weeks as world number one and was named LPGA Player of the Year in 2012 and 2014.
Lewis’ achievements came despite being diagnosed with curvature of the spine at the age of 11 and spending the next seven years wearing a back brace for 18 hours a day.
“Never in a million years would I have thought this journey playing golf would still be going in 2025, but the time has come to put the clubs away,” Lewis wrote on social media.
“I am going to miss the LPGA Tour family and this part of my life, but my body has told me it’s time.”
Lewis’ two major victories were at the 2011 Chevron Championship and the 2013 women’s British Open.
She represented the United States four times at the Solheim Cup as a player and twice as captain – including last year’s dramatic 15½-12½ victory in Virginia – as well as finishing in a share of fourth place at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
A RYDER CUP star was dumped out of the BMW PGA Championship after three rounds – following a rarely-seen SECOND CUT.
All 12 Team Europe players plus captain Luke Donald teed it up at Wentworth this week in the last big event before they fly to New York to face the USA.
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Robert MacIntyre missed the secondary cut at the BMW PGA ChampionshipCredit: Getty
But DP World Tour chiefs were forced into an unusual rule change.
A whopping 86 made it through the regular cut at the mid-way point after 36 holes on Friday evening – with 26 players tied on two-under-par.
However, a secondary cut can be introduced by the Tournament Director after the third round on Saturday to reduce the field for the final day if more than 84 make it to the weekend.
The secondary cut is designed to ensure the maximum number of players on Sunday is 78.
This was the first time the little-known rule was implemented on the DP World Tour since the Hero Dubai Desert Classic in 2023.
That ensures the leaders can go out at 11.10am on Sunday – allowing enough time for a possible play-off and to stick to TV schedules.
His level-par 72 kept him at -2 and sent him packing alongside Alex Fitzpatrick and Niklas Norgaard among others.
But unlike the regular cut, the 13 golfers ditched after Saturday are still entitled to both ranking points in the Race To Dubai and prize money from Wentworth.
‘This rules’ hail fans at dad & son’s viral reaction to Rory McIlroy sinking epic putt to send Irish Open to play-off
Tommy Fleetwood, fresh from his maiden PGA Tour win, just scraped through to Sunday on -3 with Rory McIlroy two shots better off.
Justin Rose, Jon Rahm and Shane Lowry are all at -7 with Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick on -10.
But MacIntyre’s European team-mates Viktor Hovland (-12) and Tyrrell Hatton (-13) will be hoping to chase down the leaders Alex Noren and Adrien Saddier on -15.
Ironically, Noren is a vice-captain for Donald at Bethpage Black in two weeks’ time.
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Tommy Fleetwood scraped through to the final round at WentworthCredit: Getty
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Tyrrell Hatton shot a brilliant 64 to get to -13, two off the leadCredit: Getty
Ryder Cup line ups
Here are the players who will be competing in the Ryder Cup…
FORT PIERCE, Fla. — A federal trial is scheduled to begin Monday for a man charged with trying to assassinate Donald Trump as he played golf in Florida in September 2024.
Jury selection is expected to take three days, with attorneys questioning three sets of 60 prospective jurors. They’re trying to find 12 jurors and four alternates. Opening statements are scheduled to begin Thursday, and prosecutors will begin their case immediately after that. The court has blocked off four weeks for the trial, but attorneys are expecting they’ll need less time.
Here’s what to know about the case:
Defendant to represent himself
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon signed off in July on Ryan Routh’s request to represent himself during his trial, but said court-appointed attorneys need to remain as standby counsel.
The judge told Routh she believes it’s a bad idea for him to represent himself, but he wouldn’t be dissuaded. Routh, who has described the extent of his education as two years of college after earning his GED certificate, told Cannon that he understood the potential challenges and would be ready.
Cannon confirmed during a recent hearing that Routh would be dressed in professional business attire for the trial. She also explained to Routh that he would be allowed to use a podium while speaking to the jury or questioning witnesses, but he would not have free rein of the courtroom.
“If you make any sudden movements, marshals will take decisive and quick action to respond,” Cannon said.
Self-styled mercenary leader
The 59-year-old Routh was a North Carolina construction worker who in recent years had moved to Hawaii. A self-styled mercenary leader, Routh spoke out to anyone who would listen about his dangerous, sometimes violent plans to insert himself into conflicts around the world, witnesses have told the Associated Press.
In the early days of the war in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to fight the Russians. In his native Greensboro, N.C., he had a 2002 arrest for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction,” which turned out to be an explosive with a 10-inch-long fuse.
In 2010, police searched a warehouse Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen items, including power tools, building supplies, kayaks and spa tubs. In both felony cases, judges gave Routh either probation or a suspended sentence.
Attempted assassination charge
Authorities said Routh tried to assassinate Trump, then the Republican nominee for president, while Trump played golf at his club in West Palm Beach, Fla.
Routh is facing five felony counts in federal court in Fort Pierce. They include attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm to carry out a violent crime, assaulting a federal officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
In addition to the federal charges, Routh also has pleaded not guilty to state charges of terrorism and attempted murder.
Same judge presided over Trump case
Cannon is the same judge who presided over another high-profile case involving Trump — the classified documents case against him.
Last year, Cannon, who was nominated to the bench by Trump during his first term, sided with Trump’s lawyers who said the special counsel who filed the charges was illegally appointed by the U.S. Justice Department.
Cannon’s ruling halted a criminal case that, at the time it was filed, was widely regarded as the most perilous of all the legal threats the president faced before he returned to office in January. The felony case was being appealed when Trump was elected in November, after which that and other criminal indictments against him were dismissed, following a Justice Department policy not to charge a sitting president.
No signs of shots fired
Trump was uninjured, and there’s no evidence that Routh fired his weapon at the golf course. U.S. Secret Service agents stationed a few holes up from where Trump was playing golf noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away. An agent fired, and the gunman dropped the rifle and fled in an SUV, leaving the firearm behind along with two backpacks, a scope used for aiming and a GoPro camera. He was later stopped by law enforcement in a neighboring county.
That alleged assassination attempt took place nine weeks after Trump survived another attempt on his life, in Pennsylvania, when a gunman’s bullet grazed the candidate’s ear during a rally.
Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin says he has “no regrets” over joining LIV Golf.
McKibbin made the switch to Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII LIV team despite securing his PGA Tour card in November.
Alongside Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton and Caleb Surratt, the 22-year-old helped Legion XII win the teams’ title and had a best individual finish of joint-fourth place.
“I’m very glad, I’ve enjoyed it a lot. I’ve learnt a lot and I feel like my game has improved a lot,” McKibbin told BBC Sport NI ahead of the Irish Open at the K Club.
“I’ve no regrets. I love being there, and being able to come and play some events over here is really good as well.”
After signing up to the lucrative LIV Golf, McKibbin says he is “fortunate” to be a multi-millionaire at only 22 years of age.
However, while he says the financial aspect of the Saudi-backed golf league is a plus, his motivation when he steps out on the tee is to try and win.
“With how golf is now, there is a lot of money around it. To be part of it and be able to benefit from it is good, but I want to let my golf do the talking and that’s more important,” he said.
“I want to win more. It is life-changing and to be fortunate enough to have that is nice, but hopefully I can get a few more wins.”
McKibbin is eligible to play at the Irish Open as the conflict between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf has yet to be resolved.
That meant he has been able to retain his DP World Tour membership while playing under the LIV banner.
The Holywood golfer says he hopes there is a resolution so he can continue to play at the Irish Open and other tournaments in the coming years.
“I think everyone just wants it to work out and play together,” said McKibbin.
“We’re all hopeful it can happen, so hopefully this isn’t my last one [Irish Open] for a while.
“I’ve still got membership and status here, and I’d love to play whenever I can. It’s good to come back to events like this.
“There’s some big tournaments and national Opens to play. I want to try and win those, so there’s definitely something important for me still here.”
This is a story about a movie that saved a sport. OK, that’s a stretch, but only a little one.
Scottie Scheffler is the No. 1 golfer in the world. Has been for a couple of years. He has won two Masters titles, one PGA Championship and the recent British Open, as well as an Olympic gold medal. He is so good that somebody ought to check his golf balls for tiny magnets that hook up to the cups on the greens. So far this year, by slapping a little white dimpled ball around in the grass, he has won $19.2 million. He has yet to turn 30, but his overall income, just from golf tournaments, is around $90 million.
This guy is so good that his caddie, Ted Scott, is estimated, at the normal 10% of winnings, to have pocketed about $5 million. For carrying a bag.
So, what’s the problem?
Scheffler is so good that he might also be sparking a trend called remote remorse. You really want to watch, but once he gets ahead by a couple of shots, there is nothing left. No drama, no possible twist and turn, no chance of any excitement. Other players in those tense, title-on-the-line final holes, dunk a shot into the water or bury one so deep in the sand that their only choice of club is a shovel.
Not Scheffler. He is a 6-foot-3 human robot whose veins circulate ice water. When the going gets tough, Scheffler yawns.
Scottie Scheffler, right, and wife Meredith Scudder attend the premiere of Netflix’s “Happy Gilmore 2” on July 21 in New York.
(Evan Agostini / Evan Agostini/invision/ap)
So, you see this and you know what is coming next — final putt, arms raised in satisfaction, a hug for his multi-millionaire caddie, the mandatory TV interview with the apparently mandatory British-accent female sportscaster, who will always start with, “How does this feel?”
You, and millions more, click the button on your remote for something more interesting, like HGTV or the Gardening Channel. When Scheffler gets ahead in the final round like that — which is almost always — it is game over. He can squeeze the drama out of a golf tournament like Bill Belichick could out of an NFL postgame interview.
Certainly, you say, Tiger Woods used to win lots of tournaments by lots of big margins and that never seemed boring.
That’s because it wasn’t. Tiger was animated, angry, annoyed, analytical, fed up with some part of his game, charged up over another part, mad at a reporter, upset with his agent. Tiger could win by eight, occasionally did, and it was still must-see TV. When Tiger was at his best, nobody could beat him and the public loved him and just wanted more. Scheffler is currently at his best and the public certainly is terribly impressed and, sadly, kind of meh. Tiger was a pound-on-the-table-and-shout-at-the-TV kind of player. Scheffler is a nod and a shrug.
But there is hope. Hollywood has intervened, as only Hollywood can.
Twenty-nine years ago, an up-and-coming comic named Adam Sandler made a movie inspired by one of his New England friends, who was a great hockey player and could also hit a golf ball a long distance with a hockey stick. Sandler called the movie “Happy Gilmore” and found a wide audience that loved it for its irreverence about a game that flaunts hushed reverence.
Among the highlights was an on-course fistfight between Happy Gilmore (Sandler) and aging TV game show host Bob Barker. Barker won by KO.
The movie was hilariously overdone slapstick. It was a gut-laugh-a-minute. It was so stupid and wacky that it was wonderful.
Now, Sandler has made “Happy Gilmore 2,” and it is again a must-see for all the reasons that the original was. Plus the cameo appearances. Especially one by Scheffler.
In the movie, Scheffler is good, funny, fun. He doesn’t have a lot of lines, but he has perfect timing. He punches a guy out on the green and the cops come and haul him away. “Oh, no. Not again,” he says.
Remember, earlier this year, when Louisville cops hauled him away and put him in an orange jail suit, when he was accused of making a wrong turn while driving into the golf course at the PGA Championship, a tournament that he would eventually win? Well, Sandler and his writers made hay out of that, but more significantly, Scheffler played to it perfectly.
After the movie punch-out, Scheffler is pictured in a jail cell, in an orange jail suit, as a guard asks, since he has been in that cell for three days, if he wants to get out. Scheffler replies, “Ah, what’s for dinner?” When he is told chicken fingers, he says, “I think I’ll stay another night.”
Now, of course, none of that is knee-slapping stuff, but it is Scheffler, and the self-effacing comedy is a perfect image-enhancer, even if it is only in a stupid movie. It is so much better for golf fans to see Scheffler as a roll-with-the-punches fun guy, than an emotionless, ball-striking robot. Neither is totally accurate, but in this media world of image-is-everything, “Happy Gilmore 2” has done wonderful things for this wonderful golfer. Even moreso, for his sport
He will be all over your TV screens for the three-week FedEx playoffs. It starts Aug. 7 with a tournament in Memphis, followed by the next week in Baltimore and the grand finale Aug. 21 in East Lake, Ga., near Atlanta. For the playoffs, the PGA will distribute $100 million in prize money and the winner will receive $10 million.
Scheffler, a likely winner, would then certainly be invited to appear on TV, especially the late-night shows such as Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon. This would present another great image-building opportunity. He could show up in an orange jump suit.
BALMEDIE, Scotland — Golf and Scotland are close to President Trump’s heart, and both were in play Tuesday as he opened a new eponymous course in the land of his mother’s birth, capping a five-day trip that was largely about promoting his family’s luxury properties.
Dressed for golf and sporting a white cap that said “USA,” Trump appeared to be in such a jolly mood that he even lavished rare praise — instead of the usual insults — on the contingent of journalists who had gathered to cover the event.
The golf-focused trip gave him a chance to escape Washington’s summer heat, but he could not avoid questions about convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the deepening food crisis in Gaza or other issues that trailed him across the Atlantic. The trip itself teed up another example of how the Republican president has used the White House to promote his brand.
Trump addresses Gaza and Epstein
Trump on Monday expressed concern over the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to do more to get food aid to hungry Palestinians.
Asked if he agreed with Netanyahu’s assertion Sunday that “there is no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza,” Trump said he didn’t know but added, “I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry.”
The president also offered a reason why he banished Epstein from his private club in Palm Beach, Fla., years ago, saying it was because the disgraced financier “stole people that worked for me.” A top White House aide said last week that Epstein was kicked out for being a “creep.”
Trump tees off on newly opened golf course
Flanked by sons Eric and Donald Jr., Trump counted “1-2-3” and wielded a pair of golden scissors to cut a red ribbon marking the ceremonial opening of the new Trump course in the village of Balmedie on Scotland’s northern coast.
“This has been an unbelievable development,” Trump said before the ribbon cutting. He thanked Eric, who designed the course, saying his work on the project was “truly a labor of love for him.”
Eric Trump said the course was his father’s “passion project.”
Immediately afterward, Trump, Eric Trump and two professional golfers teed off on the first hole with plans to play a full 18 before the president returns to Washington on Tuesday night. Trump rarely allows the news media to watch his golf game, though video journalists and photographers often find him along the course whenever he plays.
Trump’s shot had a solid sound and soared straight, high and relatively far. Clearly pleased, he turned to the cameras and did an almost half-bow.
“He likes the course, ladies and gentlemen,” Eric Trump said.
Billed as the “Greatest 36 Holes in Golf,” the Trump International Golf Links, Scotland, is hosting back-to-back weekend tournaments before it begins offering rounds to the public on Aug. 13.
Trump fits White House business into golf trip
Trump worked some official business into the trip by holding talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and reaching a trade framework for tariffs between the U.S. and the European Union’s 27 member countries — though scores of key details remain to be settled.
But the trip itself was centered around golf, and the presidential visit served to raise the new course’s profile.
Trump’s assets are in a trust and his sons are running the family business while he’s in the White House. Any business generated at the course will ultimately enrich the president when he leaves office, though.
The new golf course will be the third owned by the Trump Organization in Scotland. Trump bought Turnberry in 2014 and owns another course near Aberdeen that opened in 2012.
Trump golfed at Turnberry on Saturday, as protesters took to the streets, and on Sunday before meeting there in the afternoon with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
New course blends things dear to Trump
The occasion blended two things dear to Trump: golf and Scotland.
His mother, the late Mary Anne MacLeod, was born on the Isle of Lewis on the north coast.
“We love Scotland here. My mother was born here, and she loved it,” Trump said Tuesday. She visited “religiously once a year” during the summer with his sisters, he said.
Perhaps the only mood-buster for Trump are the wind turbines that are part of a nearby wind farm and can be seen from around the new course.
Trump, who often speaks about his hatred of windmills, sued in 2013 to block construction of the wind farm but lost the case and was eventually ordered to pay legal costs for filing the lawsuit — a matter that still enrages him more than a decade later.
Trump said on a new episode of the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast that the “ugly windmills” are a “shame” and are “really hurting” Scotland. The interview was conducted over the weekend and released Tuesday.
“It kills the birds, ruins the look. They’re noisy,” he said, asserting that the value of real estate around them also plummets. “I think it’s a very bad thing. Environmentally, it’s horrible.”
Weissert and Superville write for the Associated Press. Superville reported from Washington.
THIS is the hilarious moment Donald Trump’s golf caddy appears to drop his ball into a prime spot before he takes his shot.
A video clip has emerged which shows two golf caddies alongside the US President as he drives a golf cart around Turnberry’s Ailsa course, in Scotland.
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Donald Trump is on a five-day visit to Scotland, expected to end on TuesdayCredit: Getty
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Footage appeared to show a caddy drop the President’s ball in a prime spotCredit: X / RoguePOTUSStaff
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The US leader was enjoying a round of golf on Turnberry’s Ailsa courseCredit: X / RoguePOTUSStaff
He donned a white USA baseball cap and was joined by his son Eric.
Trump, 79, is seen being escorted down to the course, with a convoy of 20 other carts following close behind.
The caddies go ahead of the US leaser and one appears to try and secretly place a golf ball on the ground.
The President then gets out and claims to have made the shot himself.
Trump waves for cameras on the third green at the southeast end of the course before the party moves on.
One person who watched the footage circulating on X wrote: “Caddy did that so smoothly. Can only imagine how many times he’s done it.”
“I want to know how he finds caddies to do that for him,” added another.
After waving to the crowds, he was welcomed by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray before being whisked to his luxury Turnberry resort 20 miles down the Ayrshire coast.
Villagers waved as the convoy passed through nearby Kirkoswald and later arrived at the resort at around 9.30pm.
And he wasted no time in taking to the green after being seen teeing off at the luxury resort.
Several protests were planned, with opponents of Mr Trump gathering in both Edinburgh and Aberdeen earlier this week.
The Stop Trump coalition has planned what it has described as being a “festival of resistance”.
Trump donned a white USA baseball capCredit: Getty
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The footage has circulated social media platform XCredit: Getty
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The President was playing with his son EricCredit: Getty
Climate campaigners from Greenpeace confirmed that 10 activists abseiled from the massive 156m bridge to block an INEOS tanker.
A large number of police and military personnel were seen searching the grounds at the golf resort to ensure Mr Trump’s safety before he teed off.
A high-profile security operation was in full swing with land, sea and air coverage from police and security services while a number of guests were checked over.
Secret service agents with sniffer dogs checked bushes as snipers were positioned on a platform on the edge of the course and the roof of the hotel.
Uniformed and plain clothes cops guarded all access points to the course, including roads, footpaths and the beach.
Amid the search, a few golfers were also spotted at the course, enjoying an early-morning game.
A number of onlookers had gathered at the entrance to Turnberry hoping to catch a glimpse of the game.
But they were not let anywhere near.
Police also had road closures in place, with limited access for locals and members of the media.
As well as visiting Trump Turnberry, Mr Trump will later head to Aberdeenshire and visit his golf resort in Balmedie.
During his stay, he will officially open his second course at Menie, named in honour of his late mother, Mary Anne MacLeod.
His visit is expected to last until Tuesday, July 29.
The President is also scheduled to meet Scottish First Minister John Swinney and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer during his trip.
After landing in Scotland, Mr Trump said the “invasion” of migrants is “killing” Europe and told the leaders to “get their act together”.
But when asked about illegal immigration, Mr Trump said a “horrible invasion” was taking place in Europe which needs to stop.
He said: “On immigration, you better get your act together.
“You’re not going to have Europe anymore, you’ve got to get your act together.
“As you know, last month we had nobody entering our country – nobody, [we] shut it down.”
He added: “You’ve got to stop this horrible invasion that’s happening to Europe.”
Mr Trump, who made a crackdown on illegal immigration a major policy in his second term at the White House, boasted: “Last month we had nobody entering our country.”
A massive £5million security operation has been rolled out to ensure his safety, with around 6,000 police officers drafted in from across the UK to support the efforts.
We previously told how police and security services assessed fears that Trump could be assassinated during his visit to Scotland after he survived an attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania last year.
David Threadgold, General Secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said “a huge amount of threat assessment and intelligence gathering” took place ahead of the visit.
Donald Trump will play his second round of golf at Turnberry this weekend
Donald Trump will spend the second full day of his visit to Scotland back on the golf course before meeting the EU Commission president for trade talks.
The US president will again play a round at Turnberry in South Ayrshire with guests and family, including his son Eric.
It is believed his only major business meeting will be with Ursula von der Leyen, who has said they will discuss “transatlantic trade relations, and how we can keep them strong”.
Trump is due to meet UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney on Monday, as well as opening a second 18-hole course at his estate in Aberdeenshire.
The president arrived in Scotland on Friday evening, with Air Force One touching down at Glasgow Prestwick Airport before his entourage travelled to nearby Turnberry.
He has said he “it’s great to be in Scotland” and has praised Starmer and Swinney ahead of meeting them.
A major security operation was ramped up at Turnberry before Trump played 18 holes on Saturday.
He waved to photographers and the assembled media as his day passed without incident.
Several roads remain closed in the area while police and military personnel have been carrying out checks around the resort.
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Ursula von der Leyen is expected to meet President Trump
A security checkpoint has been put in place outside the hotel and a large fence has been erected around the course.
Elsewhere, several hundred demonstrators gathered in both Aberdeen and Edinburgh on Saturday to protest against the visit.
Trump is expected to meet Starmer and Swinney on Monday before officially opening his new golf course at Menie in Aberdeenshire.
The US president will travel back to Washington on Tuesday and is due to return to the UK for an official state visit in September.
Reuters
Trump enjoyed a day on the Turnberry fairways and greens on Saturday
EDINBURGH, Scotland — Lashed by cold winds and overlooking choppy, steel-gray North Sea waters, the breathtaking sand dunes of Scotland’s northeastern coast rank among President Trump’s favorite spots on Earth.
“At some point, maybe in my very old age, I’ll go there and do the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen,” Trump said in 2023, during his New York civil fraud trial, talking about his plans for future developments on his property in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire.
At 79 and back in the White House, Trump is making at least part of that pledge a reality, landing in Scotland on Friday as his family’s business prepares for the Aug. 13 opening of a golf course bearing his name.
Trump will be in Scotland until Tuesday, and he plans to talk trade with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The Aberdeen area is already home to another of his courses, Trump International Scotland, and the Republican president is also visiting a Trump course near Turnberry, about 200 miles away on Scotland’s southwest coast. Trump said upon arrival Friday evening that his son is “gonna cut a ribbon” for the new course during his trip. Eric Trump also went with his father to break ground on the project back in 2023.
Using a presidential overseas trip — with its sprawling entourage of advisors, White House and support staffers, Secret Service agents and reporters — to help show off Trump-brand golf destinations demonstrates how the president has become increasingly comfortable intermingling his governing pursuits with promoting his family’s business interests.
The White House has brushed off questions about potential conflicts of interest, arguing that Trump’s business success before he entered politics was a key to his appeal to voters.
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called the Scotland swing a “working trip.” She added that Trump “has built the best and most beautiful world-class golf courses anywhere in the world, which is why they continue to be used for prestigious tournaments and by the most elite players in the sport.”
Tee times for sale
Trump went to Scotland to play his Turnberry course during his first term in 2018 while en route to a meeting in Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But this trip comes as the new golf course is already actively selling tee times.
“We’re at a point where the Trump administration is so intertwined with the Trump business that he doesn’t seem to see much of a difference,” said Jordan Libowitz, vice president for the ethics watchdog organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, known as CREW. “It’s as if the White House were almost an arm of the Trump Organization.”
During his first term, the Trump Organization signed an ethics pact barring deals with foreign companies. An ethics framework for Trump’s second term allows them.
Trump’s assets are in a trust run by his children, who are handling day-to-day operations of the Trump Organization while he’s in the White House. The company has inked many recent lucrative foreign agreements involving golf courses, including plans to build luxury developments in Qatar and Vietnam, even as the Trump administration negotiates tariff rates for those countries and others.
Past legal fights
Trump’s existing Aberdeenshire course has a history nearly as rocky as the area’s cliffs.
It has struggled to turn a profit and was found by Scottish conservation authorities to have partially destroyed nearby sand dunes. Trump’s company also was ordered to cover the Scottish government’s legal costs after the course unsuccessfully sued over the construction of a nearby wind farm, arguing in part that it hurt golfers’ views.
The development was part of the massive civil case, which accused Trump of inflating his wealth to secure loans and make business deals.
Trump’s company’s initial plans for his first Aberdeen-area course called for a luxury hotel and nearby housing. His company received permission to build 500 houses, but Trump suggested he’d be allowed to build five times as many and borrowed against their values without actually building any homes, the lawsuit alleged.
Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump liable last year and ordered his company to pay $355 million in fines — a judgment that has grown with interest to more than $510 million as Trump appeals.
Weissert writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.
EDINBURGH, Scotland — President Trump played golf Saturday at his course on Scotland’s coast while protesters around the country took to the streets to decry his visit and accuse United Kingdom leaders of pandering to the unpopular American president.
Trump and his son Eric played with the U.S. ambassador to Britain, Warren Stephens, near Turnberry, a historic course that the Trump family’s company took over in 2014. Security was tight, and protesters kept at a distance were unseen by the group during Trump’s round. He was dressed in black with a white “USA” cap and was spotted driving a golf cart.
The president appeared to play an opening nine holes, stop for lunch, then head out for nine more. By the middle of the afternoon, plainclothes security officials began leaving, suggesting Trump was done for the day.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on the cobblestone and tree-lined street in front of the U.S. Consulate about 100 miles away in Edinburgh, Scotland’s capital. Speakers told the crowd that Trump was not welcome and criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for striking a recent trade deal to avoid stiff U.S. tariffs on goods imported from the U.K.
Protests were planned in other cities as environmental activists, opponents of Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and pro-Ukraine groups loosely formed a “Stop Trump Coalition.” Anita Bhadani, an organizer, said the protests were “kind of like a carnival of resistance.”
June Osbourne, 52, a photographer and photo historian from Edinburgh, wore a red cloak and white hood, recalling “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Osbourne held up a picture of Trump with “Resist” stamped over his face.
“I think there are far too many countries that are feeling the pressure of Trump and that they feel that they have to accept him, and we should not accept him here,” Osbourne said. The dual U.S.-British citizen said the Republican president was “the worst thing that has happened to the world, the U.S., in decades.”
Trump’s late mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, was born on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, and the president has suggested he feels at home in the country. But the protesters did their best to change that.
“I don’t think I could just stand by and not do anything,” said Amy White, 15, of Edinburgh, who attended with her parents. She held a cardboard sign that said, “We don’t negotiate with fascists.”
”So many people here loathe him,” she said. “We’re not divided. We’re not divided by religion, or race or political allegiance, we’re just here together because we hate him.”
Other demonstrators held signs of pictures with Trump and Jeffrey Epstein, as the fervor over files in the late child abuser’s case has created a political crisis for the president.
In the view of Mark Gorman, 63, of Edinburgh, “The vast majority of Scots have this sort of feeling about Trump that, even though he has Scottish roots, he’s a disgrace.” Gorman, who works in advertising, said he came out “because I have deep disdain for Donald Trump and everything that he stands for.”
A Scottish newspaper, the National, greeted Trump’s arrival with a banner headline in its Friday edition that read, “Convicted U.S. felon to arrive in Scotland.”
Saturday’s protests were not nearly as large as the throngs that demonstrated across Scotland when Trump played at Turnberry during his first term in 2018.
But, as bagpipes played, people chanted, “Trump out!” and raised dozens of homemade signs with such messages as “No red carpet for dictators,” “We don’t want you here” and “Stop Trump. Migrants welcome.”
One dog had a sign attached that said “No treats for tyrants.”
Some on the far right took to social media to call for gatherings supporting Trump in places such as Glasgow.
Trump also plans to talk trade with Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president.
But golf is a major focus.
The family will also visit another Trump course near Aberdeen in northeastern Scotland, before returning to Washington on Tuesday. The Trumps will cut the ribbon and play a new, second course in that area, which officially opens to the public next month.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney, who is also set to meet with Trump during the visit, announced that public money will go to staging the 2025 Nexo Championship, previously known previously as the Scottish Championship, at Trump’s first course near Aberdeen next month.
“The Scottish government recognizes the importance and benefits of golf and golf events, including boosting tourism and our economy,” Swinney said.
At a protest Saturday in Aberdeen, Scottish Parliament member Maggie Chapman told the crowd of hundreds: “We stand in solidarity, not only against Trump but against everything he and his politics stand for.”
The president has long lobbied for Turnberry to host the British Open, which it has not done since he took over ownership.
In a social media post Saturday, Trump quoted the retired golfer Gary Player as saying Turnberry was among the “Top Five Greatest Golf Courses” he had played in as a professional. The president, in the post, misspelled the city where his golf course is.
