Golf

Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith have all indicated they will remain with LIV Golf rather than rejoining the PGA Tour.

Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka was recently accepted back on the American circuit after he quit the Saudi Arabian-backed series to prioritise “the needs of his family”.

The PGA subsequently opened the door for fellow major winners Rahm, DeChambeau and Smith to follow Koepka under a new returning member programme open until 2 February.

But the trio have since quashed the prospect of a return at a news conference for LIV Golf captains.

Rahm, 31, said he “wished Brooks the best” but was “not planning to go anywhere”.

“As far as I’m concerned, I’m focused on LIV for this year and hoping my team can repeat as champs,” said the Spaniard.

American DeChambeau said he was “contracted through 2026” and “was so excited about this year” while fellow 32-year-old Smith of Australia added that he had “made a decision” and will “be on LIV for years to come”.

Only players who have been away from the PGA Tour for at least two years and have won The Players Championship or a major between 2022-25 were eligible to return under the terms of the PGA initiative.

PGA Tour chief executive Brian Rolapp outlined that programme would be only open for the 2026 campaign and was in “response to a unique set of circumstances”.

“This is a one-time, defined window and does not set a precedent for future situations,” Rolapp said in an open letter.

“Once the door closes, there is no promise that this path will be available again.”

The first women’s edition of the indoor league launched by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy will take place at the end of 2026.

The inaugural men’s TGL season was held in 2025, with founders Woods and McIlroy saying they wanted to help take golf “into the 21st century”.

The world’s best women golfers will compete in a season of team matchplay in the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

In WTGL, teams of players will hit shots at a five-storey-high simulator screen before moving to a green that can rotate 360 degrees, creating hole-to-hole variations.

“Partnering with [TGL organisers] TMRW Sports on WTGL reflects our belief that innovation can help the game reach new fans and create greater visibility for LPGA athletes,” LPGA chief Craig Kessler said.

“It creates another global stage for our athletes – one that helps fans connect more deeply with them and continues to elevate the visibility and growth of women’s golf.”

Atlanta Drive beat New York GC 4-3 and claim the inaugural TGL title in Florida last year.

The Atlanta team of Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel, Justin Thomas and Lucas Glover split £6.93m in prize money, with New York’s Cameron Young, Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and Matt Fitzpatrick sharing £3.46m.

Boston Common golf lead the way in the early stages, external of this year’s competition.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump has spent much of his two-week vacation in Florida golfing. But when he gets back to the White House, there’s a military golf course that he’s never played that he’s eyeing for a major construction project.

Long a favored getaway for presidents seeking a few hours’ solace from the stress of running the free world, the Courses at Andrews — inside the secure confines of Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, about 15 miles from the White House — are known as the “president’s golf course.” Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Joe Biden have spent time there, and Barack Obama played it more frequently than any president, roughly 110 times in eight years.

Trump has always preferred the golf courses his family owns — spending about one of every four days of his second term at one of them. But he’s now enlisted golf champion Jack Nicklaus as the architect to overhaul the Courses at Andrews.

“It’s amazing that an individual has time to take a couple hours away from the world crises. And they’re people like everybody else,” said Michael Thomas, the former general manager of the course, who has golfed with many of the presidents visiting Andrews over the years.

Andrews, better known as the home of Air Force One, has two 18-hole courses and a 9-hole one. Its facilities have undergone renovations in the past, including in 2018, when Congress approved funding to replace aging presidential aircraft and to build a new hangar and support facilities. That project was close enough to the courses that they had to be altered then, too.

Trump toured the base by helicopter before Thanksgiving with Nicklaus, who has designed top courses the world over. The president called Andrews “a great place, that’s been destroyed over the years, through lack of maintenance.”

Other golfers, though, describe Andrews’ grounds as in good shape, despite some dry patches. Online reviews praise the course’s mature trees, tricky roughs, and ponds and streams that serve as water hazards. The courses are mostly flat, but afford views of the surrounding base.

‘They all like to drive the cart’

The first president to golf at Andrews was Ford in 1974. Thomas began working there a couple years later, and was general manager from 1981 until he retired in 2019.

He said the Secret Service over the years used as many as 28 golf carts — as well as the president’s usual 30-car motorcade — to keep the perimeter secure.

“It’s a Cecil B. DeMille production every time,” said Thomas, who had the opportunity to play rounds with four different presidents, and with Biden when he was vice president.

He said the commanders in chief generally enjoyed their time out on the course in their own unique ways, but “they all like to drive the cart because they never get an opportunity to drive.”

“It’s like getting your driver’s license all over again,” Thomas laughed.

Trump golfs most weekends, and as of Friday, has spent an estimated 93 days of his second term doing so, according to an Associated Press analysis of his schedules.

That tally includes days when Trump was playing courses his family owns in Virginia, around 30 miles from the White House, and near his Florida estate Mar-a-Lago, where he’s spending the winter holidays. It also includes 10 days Trump spent staying at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., where his schedule allowed time for rounds of golf.

Trump has visited Andrews in the past, but the White House and base have no record of him playing the courses.

Another of Trump’s construction projects

Andrews’ military history dates to the Civil War, when Union troops used a church near Camp Springs, Md., as sleeping quarters. Its golf course opened in 1960.

The White House said the renovation will be the most significant in the history of Andrews. The courses and clubhouse need improvements due to age and wear, it said, and there are discussions about including a multifunctional event center as part of the project.

“President Trump is a champion-level golfer with an extraordinary eye for detail and design,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement. “His vision to renovate and beautify Joint Base Andrews’ golf courses will bring much-needed improvements that service members and their families will be able to enjoy for generations to come.”

Plans are in the very early stages, and the cost of — and funding for — the project haven’t been determined, the White House said. Trump has said only that it will require “very little money.”

The Andrews improvements join a bevy of Trump construction projects, including demolishing the White House’s East Wing for a sprawling ballroom now expected to cost $400 million, redoing the bathroom attached to the Lincoln bedroom and replacing the Rose Garden’s lawn with a Mar-a-Lago-like patio area.

Outside the White House, Trump has led building projects at the Kennedy Center and wants to erect a Paris-style arch near the Lincoln Memorial, and has said he wants to rebuild Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia.

On Wednesday, meanwhile, the Trump administration ended a lease agreement with a nonprofit for three public golf courses in Washington — which could allow the president to further shape golfing in the nation’s capital. The White House, however, said that move isn’t related to the plans for Andrews.

Presidential perks of golfing at Andrews

When the president is golfing, Andrews officials block off nine holes at a time so no one plays in front of him, allowing for extra security while also ensuring consistent speed-of-play, Thomas said.

That’s relatively easily done given that the courses aren’t open to the public. They’re usually reserved for active or retired members of the military and their families, as well as some Defense Department-linked federal employees.

Thomas remembers playing a round with the older President Bush, a World Golf Hall of Fame inductee known for fast play, while first lady Barbara Bush walked with Millie, the first couple’s English Springer Spaniel. George W. Bush also played fast, Thomas said, and got additional exercise by frequently riding his mountain bike before golfing.

When he wasn’t golfing at Andrews, Obama tried to recreate at least part of the experience back home. He had a White House golf simulator installed after then-first lady Michelle Obama asked Thomas how they might acquire a model that the president had seen advertised on the Golf Channel. Thomas gave her a contact at the network.

Obama famously cut short a round at Andrews after nine holes in 2011 to hustle back to the White House for what turned out to be a top-secret review of final preparations for a Navy SEAL raid on the compound of Osama bin Laden.

But, while Thomas was golfing with presidents, he said he never witnessed play interrupted by an important call or any major emergency that forced them off the course mid-hole. There also were never any rain-outs.

“If there was rain coming, they’d get the weather forecast before we would,” Thomas said. “They would cancel quick on that.”

Weissert writes for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has ended the lease agreement for three public golf courses in Washington, a move that offers President Trump an additional opportunity to put his stamp on another piece of the nation’s capital.

The National Links Trust, the nonprofit that has operated Washington’s three public courses on federal land for the last five years, said Wednesday that the Department of the Interior had terminated its 50-year lease agreement. The Interior Department said it was terminating the lease because the nonprofit had not implemented required capital improvements and failed to meet the terms of the lease.

While it was unclear what the Trump administration’s plans are for the golf courses, the move gives Trump, whose private company has developed numerous golf courses in the U.S. and abroad, the chance to remake links overlooking the Potomac River and in Rock Creek Park and a site that is part of Black golf history.

Officials for the National Links Trust said in a statement that they were “devastated” by the decision to terminate the lease and defended their management of the courses. They said $8.5 million had gone toward capital improvements at the courses and that rounds played and revenue had more than doubled in their tenure managing the courses. The nonprofit has agreed to keep managing the courses for the time being, but long-term renovations will stop.

“While this termination is a major setback, we remain stubbornly hopeful that a path forward can be found that preserves affordable and accessible public golf in the nation’s capital for generations to come,” the officials added.

The Department of the Interior’s decision comes as Trump rebrands civic spaces in Washington and deploys National Guard members to the streets for public safety. The Kennedy Center added Trump’s name this month after the center’s board of trustees — made up of Trump appointees — voted to change the name of the performing arts space designated by Congress as a memorial to John F. Kennedy. Trump is also in the midst of a construction project to build a ballroom on the White House’s East Wing, and he has put his name on the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Groves writes for the Associated Press.

Jan. 1 (UPI) — President Donald Trump ended the lease for the National Links Trust, which manages Washington, D.C.-area public golf courses owned by the National Parks Service.

The Department of the Interior sent a letter Tuesday formally cutting ties with NLT, which has managed three golf courses on public land in the District since 2020 — Langston Golf Course, Rock Creek Park Golf and East Potomac Golf Links.

The letter said that NLT had failed to complete required capital improvements and to provide a plan to fix alleged defaults in the lease.

The goal of the lease was for the NLT to redesign and renovate the historic sites where the golf courses lie. It would use money from donors and the District’s government.

“The Trump administration prides itself on getting the job done for the American people and partnering with others who share that same goal,” the Interior Department told The Hill.

The NLT said it was “devastated” to get the notice and is “in fundamental disagreement with the administration’s characterization of NLT as being in default under the lease.”

“We have always had a productive and cooperative working relationship with the National Park Service and have worked hand in hand on all aspects of our golf course operations and development projects,” the organization said.

NLT will stay in place to keep the courses running, but all renovation projects will stop.

Michael McCartin, NLT co-founder, told the Washington Post that it opted to keep the courses open for the workers and golfers.

“Our mission is to provide affordable and accessible golf,” McCartin said, “and our obligation is to our employees and the community. These are important places, and without an alternative, we can’t let them sit, closed and unavailable to the community.”

The Washington Post reported that Trump has expressed interest in the East Potomac course, wanting to redesign it and potentially host the Ryder Cup. But those potential plans have worried residents who are concerned about access and affordability.

“The DNA of municipal courses is a bit different than those owned and operated privately and much different than country clubs,” Jay Karen, chief executive of the National Golf Course Owners Association, told The Post.

“Munis are all about supporting the widest-possible access to the game, while also preserving critical green spaces, for perpetuity. … There is a greater sense of history and pride in a community around their public parks that happen to be golf courses,” Karen said.

A source told The Hill last week that NLT had hired a lawyer and was considering litigation.

“This is not the update we wanted to send, and we worked tirelessly to try to avoid this outcome,” the NLT said Wednesday. “While this termination is a major setback, we remain stubbornly hopeful that a path forward can be found that preserves affordable and accessible public golf in the nation’s capital for generations to come.”

Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki, whose 113 worldwide victories were the most of any player from Japan, died Wednesday in his home country after a battle with colon cancer, the Japan Golf Tour said. He was 78.

Ozaki was revered in Japan, a big hitter with a sense of style who won 94 times over 29 years on the Japan Golf Tour, the last one coming at the 2002 ANA Open when he was 55.

He rose to No. 5 in the world ranking in 1996 at age 49. Ozaki often got overlooked for never winning outside Japan except for the New Zealand PGA Championship. He was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2011.

“He is an indispensable, one-of-a-kind figure in discussing men’s golf, both now and in the future,” the tour said in a social media post.

Ozaki competed in 49 majors, his best finish coming in the 1989 U.S. Open at Oak Hill when he finished three shots behind Curtis Strange. He played the Masters for the 19th and final time in 2000 when he was 53 and tied for 28th.

Isao Aoki was the first Japanese player in the World Golf Hall of Fame, and Hideki Matsuyama became the first to win a major at the 2021 Masters. Both were inspired in some fashion by Ozaki, the pioneer in a nation now obsessed with golf.

Ozaki won the Japan Open five times and the Japan PGA Championship six times. He led the Japan Golf Tour money list a record 12 times, including five in a row from 1994 through 1998. He won his final money title in 2002, when he was 55.

When he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, Ozaki said his one regret was not playing more outside of Japan.

“But I dedicated my life to Japanese golf and am extremely grateful the voters thought I was worthy of this honor,” he said upon his election. He received 50% of the vote on the International ballot.

Ozaki was looked upon as the Arnold Palmer of golf in Japan with his powerful swing, charisma and sense of style, often wearing silk shirts and baggy pants. And his skill was not limited to just golf. He played the guitar and had three songs reach the pop charts in Japan, according to the Hall of Fame.

His first love was baseball, and he spent three years pitching professionally before turning to golf. That was evident when Ryo Ishikawa, who won his first Japan Golf Tour title at age 15, spoke of Ozaki’s influence. Ishikawa said he would visit Ozaki about 10 times a year to get advice.

“Jumbo used to be a baseball player, so he always tried to teach me the link from pitching or hitting to golf,” Ishikawa said in 2010 interview with the Associated Press. “Jumbo wanted me to hit the ball far.”

Ozaki traveled with an entourage when he did play outside Japan in the majors, usually renting a house and bringing a sushi chef so his people would feel at home.

He has two younger brothers who also played on tour, Naomichi (Joe) and Tateo (Jet).

Ozaki played in the 1996 Presidents Cup, partnering with Vijay Singh to beat the American duo of Fred Couples and Davis Love III. He qualified for the 1998 team but decided against the trip to Australia, and his brother, Joe, played instead.

Ferguson writes for the Associated Press.

Florida-born Koepka, who is married and has a young son, turned professional in 2012 and won nine PGA Tour events during his nine seasons on North America’s elite professional circuit.

The PGA Tour also wished Koepka and “his family continued success” in a statement, before adding they “continue to offer the best professional golfers the most competitive, challenging and lucrative environment in which to pursue greatness”.

A three-time US PGA champion, Koepka, has also twice triumphed at the US Open.

His defection from the PGA Tour, along with big names such as Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau, was seen as a major coup for LIV during a period when the sport appeared to be at civil war.

Koepka’s captaincy of the LIV Golf team, Smash, will now pass to Talor Gooch, with the side having an opening to fill for the start of the 2026 season in February.

Koepka becomes the first star player to leave LIV Golf, however, there has been speculation over his future for months and a possible return to the PGA Tour.

The Tour has suspended players who competed in LIV Golf events after categorising them as unauthorised. Non-members have been subject to a year ban following their previous LIV event.

Koepka will also be eligible to join the DP World Tour and have exemptions to compete in golf’s four major championships.

Earlier this week, Chilean Mito Pereira announced his retirement from golf aged 30 after three seasons with LIV.