Of course, Scheffler is far from solely responsible for the foursomes defeats.
His partner Russell Henley did not cover himself in much glory during Friday’s 4&3 beating by European pair Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick.
Henley is fourth in a world ranking system skewed by the omission of LIV golfers, but looked shaky on his Ryder Cup debut.
Even Scheffler – whose game is based on consistent driving and metronomic irons – could not dig them out of trouble.
“Scheffler and Henley certainly failed to fire but the European performance was perfect,” said former European Ryder Cup player Oliver Wilson, who is analysing the Bethpage action for BBC Radio 5 Live.
“They made the Americans earn everything and they really couldn’t come up with the goods.
“The Americans put on a little spell at the end there, they had a little bit of life coming but it just wasn’t enough and it was far too late.”
Scheffler was bullish afterwards, saying he felt his pairing did “some good things”.
“We just didn’t hole enough putts early. We had some chances. I think the putts just didn’t fall,” he added.
On Friday afternoon, he aimed to make amends in the fourballs alongside debutant JJ Spaun.
Whether he will get another chance in the Saturday foursomes remains to be seen.
SEOUL — When South Koreans start to obsess over a movie or TV series, they abbreviate its name, a distinction given to Netflix’s latest hit “K-pop Demon Hunters.” In media headlines and in every corner of the internet, the American-made film is now universally referred to as “Keh-deh-hun” — the first three syllables of the title when read aloud in Korean.
And audiences are already clamoring for a sequel.
The animated film follows a fictional South Korean girl group named “HUNTR/X” as its three members — Rumi, Mira and Zoey — try to deliver the world from evil through the power of song and K-pop fandom.
Since its release in June, it has become the most watched original animated film in Netflix history, with millions of views worldwide, including the U.S. and South Korea, where its soundtrack has topped the charts on local music streaming platform Melon. Fans have also cleaned out the gift shop at the National Museum of Korea, which has run out of a traditional tiger pin that resembles one of the movie’s characters.
Much of the film’s popularity in South Korea is rooted in its keenly observed details and references to Korean folklore, pop culture and even national habits — the result of having a production team filled with K-pop fans, as well as a group research trip to South Korea that co-director Maggie Kang led in order to document details as minute as the appearance of local pavement.
There are nods to traditional Korean folk painting, a Korean guide to the afterlife, the progenitors of K-pop and everyday mannerisms. In one scene, at a table in a restaurant where the three girls are eating, viewers might notice how the utensils are laid atop a napkin, an essential ritual for dining out in South Korea — alongside pouring cups of water for everyone at the table.
“The more that I watch ‘Keh-deh-hun,’ the more that I notice the details,” South Korean music critic Kim Yoon-ha told local media last month. “It managed to achieve a verisimilitude that would leave any Korean in awe.”
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“K-pop Demon Hunters” has nods to traditional Korean folk painting, a Korean guide to the afterlife, the progenitors of K-pop and everydaymannerisms.
(Netflix)
Despite its subject matter and association with the “K-wave,” that catch-all term for any and all Korean cultural export, “K-pop Demon Hunters,” at least in the narrowest sense, doesn’t quite fit the bill.
Produced by Sony Pictures and directed by Korean Canadian Kang and Chris Appelhans — who has held creative roles on other animated films such as “Coraline” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — the movie is primarily in English and geared toward non-Korean audiences. But its popularity in South Korea is another sign that the boundaries of the K-wave are increasingly fluid — and that, with more and more diaspora Korean artists entering the mix, it flows in the opposite direction, too.
Those barriers have already long since broken down in music: many K-pop artists and songwriters are non-Korean or part of the Korean diaspora, reflecting the genre’s history of foreign influences such as Japanese pop or American hip-hop.
“Once a cultural creation acquires a universality, you can’t just confine it to the borders of the country of origin, which is where K-pop is today,” said Kim Il-joong, director of the content business division at the Korea Creative Content Agency, a government body whose mission is to promote South Korean content worldwide. “Despite what the name ‘K-pop’ suggests, it is really a global product.”
In “K-pop Demon Hunters,” Zoey is a rapper from Burbank. In addition, the soundtrack was written and performed by a team that includes producers, artists and choreographers associated with some of the biggest real-life K-pop groups of the past decade.
Streaming productions are increasingly flying multiple flags, too: Apple TV’s “Pachinko” or Netflix’s “XO, Kitty” are both American productions that were filmed in South Korea. But few productions have been able to inspire quite the same level of enthusiasm as “K-pop Demon Hunters,” whose charm for many South Koreans is how accurately it captures local idiosyncrasies and contemporary life.
While flying in their private jet, the three girls are shown sitting on the floor even though there is a sofa right beside them. This tendency to use sofas as little more than backrests is an endless source of humor and self-fascination among South Koreans, most of whom would agree that the centuries-old custom of sitting on the floor dies hard.
South Korean fans and media have noted that the characters correctly pronounce “ramyeon,” or Korean instant noodles. The fact that ramyeon is often conflated with Japanese ramen — which inspired the invention of the former decades ago — has long been a point of exasperation for many South Koreans and local ramyeon companies, which point to the fact that the Korean adaption has since evolved into something distinct.
It’s a small difference — the Korean version is pronounced “rah myun” — but one that it pays to get right in South Korea.
Apple TV’s “Pachinko,” with Sungkyu Kim, Eunchae Jung and Minha Kim, is an American production filmed in South Korea.
(Apple)
The girls’ cravings for ramyeon during their flight also caught the eye of Ireh, a member of the real-life South Korean girl group Purple Kiss who praised the film’s portrayals of life as a K-pop artist.
“I don’t normally eat ramyeon but whenever I go on tour, I end up eating it,” she said in a recent interview with local media. “The scene reminded me of myself.”
South Korean fans have also been delighted by a pair of animals, Derpy and Sussy, which borrow from jakhodo, a genre of traditional Korean folk painting in which tigers and magpies are depicted side by side, popularized during the Joseon Dynasty in the 19th century.
In the film, Derpy is the fluorescent tiger with goggle eyes that always appears with its sidekick, a three-eyed bird named Sussy.
“K-pop Demon Hunters” is peppered with homages to Korean artists throughout history who are seen today as the progenitors of contemporary K-pop.
(Netflix)
Though they have long since been extinct, tigers were once a feared presence on the Korean peninsula, at times coming down from the mountains to terrorize the populace. They were also revered as talismans that warded off evil spirits. But much like Derpy itself, jakhodo reimagined tigers as friendlier, oftentimes comical beings. Historians have interpreted this as the era’s political satire: the magpie, audacious in the presence of a great predator, represented the common man standing up to the nobility.
The movie is peppered with homages to Korean artists throughout history who are seen today as the progenitors of contemporary K-pop. There are apparent nods to the “Jeogori Sisters,” a three-piece outfit that was active from 1939 to 1945 and is often described as Korea’s first girl group, followed by the Kim Sisters, another three-piece that found success in the U.S., performing in Las Vegas and appearing on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Longtime K-pop fans might recognize the demon hunters from the 1990s as S.E.S., a pioneering girl group formed by S.M. Entertainment, the label behind present-day superstars Aespa and Red Velvet. (Bada, S.E.S.’s main vocalist, recently covered “Golden,” the film’s headline track, on YouTube.)
For a long time, South Korean audiences have often complained about outside depictions of the country as inauthentic and out of touch. Not anymore.
“Korea wasn’t just shown as an extra add-on as it has been for so long,” Kim said. “‘K-pop Demon Hunters’ did such a great job depicting Korea in a way that made it instantly recognizable to audiences here.”
Four rare Sumatran tiger cubs have been born at a Welsh Zoo, sparking new hope for the critically endangered species.
Mum Terima, who is 11, welcomed the “very noisy, and very cute” cubs around six weeks ago at Manor House Wildlife Park.
Park officials have been keeping news of the arrivals under wraps as the cubs were allowed to settle.
The four cubs, whose genders are yet unknown, were born on 8 June making Pembrokeshire home to seven tigers. Celebrity owner Anna Ryder Richardson said: “This is the largest litter in the UK, possibly in Europe, and it’s very exciting.”
There are estimated to be fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild due to habitat loss and illegal poaching.
Manor Wildlife Park is part of a “very strict breeding programme”.
Interior designer and TV presenter Ryder Richardson added: “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The tigers have a very important job to do because they have been genetically matched to breed.
“The breeding group are really hoping that one of our four is a male.”
The pairing and breeding of particular animals is managed by a studbook holder, who makes matches according to genetic diversity and other suitability criteria.
Participating in the European Endangered Species Programme means that if zoos are asked to send an animal to another zoo for breeding, they will co-operate to ensure the population overall is as strong and healthy as possible.
Ryder Richardson added: “You wont be able to see Sumatran Tigers in the wild, during ours or our children’s lifetimes. It’s happening in front of our eyes and it’s tragic.
“Our zoo will probably not be allowed to breed again, unless we bring in another male, or swap the females which we don’t want to do.
“For Wales, it’s a rare opportunity and it’s important for people to come and see, and learn.”
Manor House Wildlife Park has been attempting to breed from their 10-year-old male Jaya and 11-year-old female Terima for more than eight years.
They had been unsuccessful until their first cub Zaza was born in 2024.
Manor House Wildlife Park officials said they are open to suggestions on naming the cubs once their genders have been identified.
Park owner Ryder-Richardson said she is hoping “for some Welsh names.”
Even after he had climbed to the top of the world rankings, there were some doubts about Scheffler’s game.
The statistics proved he was the best from tee to green. They also proved he was among the worst with the putter.
In late 2023, a call was made to English putting guru Phil Kenyon – whose client list is a who’s who of major champions – in a bid to improve with the flatstick.
Attention was particularly paid to Scheffler’s reading of the greens and increasing the stability of his grip.
Switching to a claw grip – where the right hand acts as a pincer lower down the shaft – has transformed Scheffler into one of the most reliable putters in the game.
The tweak helped him become the first player to defend the PGA Tour’s Players Championship, win a second Masters, Olympic gold and five other titles in a stellar 2024 that also had echoed Woods.
Leading the putting statistics after three rounds at Portrush, having holed 97% of his putts inside five feet and 90% of those within 10 feet, put him in command. He holed putts of 14, 15 and 16 feet on Sunday.
“[The grip] was something we tested out last year and felt comfortable from the start,” Scheffler said.
“I use it as we get closer to the hole, lag putting. Outside of 15 to 20 feet, I’m still putting conventional.
“It was something we felt could help us improve, and so far it has.”
While improved putting has taken Scheffler to Woods-esque heights, will it help him move closer to replicating his iconic predecessor’s achievements over the longer term? That remains to be seen over the coming years.
Molting peacocks squawked in the distance and a Pacific breeze whispered through the eucalyptus as flamingo keeper Liz Gibbons tidied her station at the San Francisco Zoo.
It had been an unusually cold summer in a city famous for them. Marooned on “a breathtaking piece of land” at the peninsula’s far western edge, steps from the deadly surf at Ocean Beach, the timeworn seaside menagerie had endured weeks of gray gloom.
But late that July afternoon, the sun broke through the clouds. Then word began to spread.
“Everybody was like, ‘Oh my God, did you hear?’” the keeper recalled. “It’s the news we’ve been waiting for.”
A sign at the Highway 1 entrance of the San Francisco Zoo.
(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)
For more than a year, the keepers, gardeners, train drivers and office staff of Teamsters Local 856 had been fighting to unseat their boss, longtime San Francisco Zoo Chief Executive Tanya Peterson.
They were not alone.
A growing chorus of animal activists, government watchdogs and civic leaders had called for Peterson to step down. In May, the San Francisco Zoological Society, the park’s nonprofit operator, split down the middle in a failed attempt to remove her.
Even the consul general of China had privately sought Peterson’s ouster.
“He was like, ‘You have issues — fix them,’” said Supervisor Myrna Melgar, whose district includes the zoo.
A similar fight recently sent fur flying in Los Angeles, where the city and its former nonprofit zoo partner have locked horns over control of a $50-million endowment. At stake in San Francisco’s power struggle is a pair of cuddly new tourist magnets: two giant pandas from China, hailed as a coup for the tarnished Golden City when then-Mayor London Breed inked the deal to bring them last year.
Only two other American zoos have pandas: San Diego and the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. In San Francisco, where nearly a quarter of residents identify as Chinese, the thrill was palpable. City Hall hoped the panda prestige would burn off any lingering haze of a doom loop.
“We’re getting our house in order,” Lurie said. “We already are a world-class city. When the pandas arrive in San Francisco, that’s just going to be yet another draw.”
A giant panda plays at Chongqing Zoo in Chongqing, China, on May 10, 2025.
(Costfoto / NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Others saw the black-and-white bears as a rebuke to Trumpian isolationism.
“The best response to the displeasure of Washington is to be awesome and successful,” Melgar said. “The pandas are a part of our success and a part of our value system.”
For Peterson, who led the zoo since 2008, bringing a pair of the world’s most sought-after animals to San Francisco was a dream come true. The political urgency and multimillion-dollar price tag seemed to ensure her continued leadership.
“The same day that the [Zoological Society] board was meant to vote her out, she let everyone know she was meeting with the Chinese Consulate,” said activist journalist Justin Barker of SF Zoo Watch. Peterson “essentially tells the Board of Supervisors, ‘If you move forward with this audit, you might not get pandas.’”
So how did the ace up her leopard-print sleeve bring her down?
Peterson did not respond to requests for comment. In an emailed statement, zoo spokesperson Sam Singer said she “served with distinction and devotion.”
San Francisco Zoo director Tanya Peterson plans to depart from the zoo on Aug. 1.
(Paul Chinn / The San Francisco Chronicle)
In her own message to staff this month, Peterson likened her planned departure on Aug. 1 to the death of the zoo’s beloved silverback gorilla, writing that “some animals may leave this earth, but they never leave our souls.”
“It has been an honor to serve you, our animals, and the loyal constituents of this amazing community,” she said.
For workers, her exit brought elation.
“I haven’t seen this level of positivity and excitement ever,” said Stephanie Carpenter, a reptile and amphibian keeper.
Former carnivore curator Travis Shields name-checked the infamous large cat wrangler from the Netflix series “Tiger King” when asked what the next zoo leader should bring in comparison with Peterson.
“I don’t think [keepers] care who comes next,” he said. “It can’t be any worse unless Joe Exotic comes in — and he’s still in prison.”
Attendees watch a Western Lowland Gorilla at the San Francisco Zoo.
(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)
But the long fight has clawed open old wounds. Many in and around the zoo described the bitter panda power struggle as the worst crisis the institution has faced since the fatal tiger attack that vaunted Peterson to her current position and nearly shut down the zoo.
“They’re holding their breath,” said one former manager, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation. “It’s a similar feeling to after the tiger got out — what’s going to happen to everything?”
For Peterson’s usurpers, the $25-million question is now: What’s going to happen to the pandas?
“It can’t be any worse unless Joe Exotic comes in — and he’s still in prison.”
— former San Francisco Zoo carnivore curator Travis Shields
The rise of Tanya Peterson is inextricably linked to the fall of Tatiana the tiger, the first and only animal to escape and kill a visitor at an Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums-accredited facility.
San Francisco acquired the 2½ -year-old, 242-pound Siberian from the Denver Zoo in 2005 as a mate for its 14-year old male Tony. They lived in the tiger grotto and were fed at the Art Deco-style Lion House, built for the original Fleishhacker Zoo by the Works Progress Administration.
The park’s original Depression-era structures are iconic, rising gray and craggy from the muted landscape like the Monterey cypress through the ever-present fog.
A lion and tiger emerge into their open enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo.
(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)
“The zoo is right on the water, it’s right next to the beach and all the structures are daily battered by the fog and the wind and the sand and the salt,” Melgar said.
Much of the century-old site is in disrepair.
“The infrastructure really left a lot to be desired,” said Manuel Mollinedo, who took over as the executive director of the San Francisco Zoo in 2004 after a successful turnaround at the Los Angeles Zoo.
Twenty years before Tatiana arrived, the tiger grotto was briefly repurposed to house two giant pandas, Yun-Yun and Ying-Xin, who passed through during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics before visiting again in 1985.
Those publicity tours preceded a slump in attendance through the mid-1990s. In 1993, the nonprofit San Francisco Zoological Society took over operations, while the city retained ownership of the property.
Many zoos are run on a similar nonprofit model, including the Bronx Zoo and the San Diego Zoo, Assn. of Zoos and Aquariums President Dan Ashe said. Others, such as the Los Angeles Zoo, are run by cities or for profit.
By the mid-aughts, efforts to draw in more blue-collar visitors had begun to bear fruit, and tax records show more than a million people were coming each year.
“The zoo had really turned a corner,” Mollinedo said. “Our attendance was the highest it had ever been since the pandas were brought in 20 years before.”
Then, during a public feeding in the Lion House in December 2006, Tatiana reached under the bars and grabbed keeper Lori Komejan by the arm.
The tiger mauled her as she attempted to drag her into the cage, leading to permanent damage, according to a lawsuit later settled with the city.
Mary Ryan, a San Francisco Zoo employee, arranges a makeshift memorial to Tatiana the tiger in January 2008.
(Noah Berger / Associated Press)
But that wasn’t the end of it. One year after that incident, on Christmas Day 2007 — Tatiana escaped, mauling two men and killing a teenager.
The city and the zoo ultimately reached financial settlements with the injured men and the family of 17-year-old Carlos Eduardo Sousa Jr. A federal investigation found panda-era modifications probably paved the way for Tatiana’s escape.
“It was really rough for everybody,” said Gibbons, the flamingo keeper, who grew up in the Outer Sunset neighborhood and climbed the ranks through the zoo’s youth volunteer program. “I remember the city wanting to close it as a zoo and have it be a sanctuary.”
Instead, the board pushed Mollinedo out and installed Peterson, a fellow board member and an attorney at Hewlett-Packard, whose then-husband had just run the finance committee for then-Mayor Gavin Newsom’s reelection campaign.
“She said all the right things — that she wanted to hear from staff, that her door was always open,” longtime zoo gardener Marc Villa said. “For the time being, it was kind of a breath of fresh air.”
Echoing other critics, Mollinedo said Peterson “knew nothing about animals.” But she made up for it with philanthropic prowess.
“She’s a good fundraiser, I’ll give her that,” said San Francisco Recreation and Park Commissioner Larry Mazzola Jr., who heads the zoo advisory committee.
A mandrill at the San Francisco Zoo.
(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)
As interim CEO, Peterson swapped her corporate wardrobe for ostrich-feathered sheaths, tiger-striped hatbands, snakeskin-patterned coats and cheetah-spotted sneakers.
Her early tenure was already marked by constant tension between what animal experts felt needed fixing and what donors wanted done. Outrage over half-finished safety measures led the Teamsters to their first no-confidence vote in 2014.
“All of this has been degenerating for a long time,” Melgar said. “We have not had labor peace at that institution for years.”
By 2024, the zoo’s annual attendance had slipped to 700,000 — 15% below the nadir after the tiger attack, and roughly two-thirds of the yearly visitors to the Oakland Zoo across the bay.
The pandas were supposed to fix all those problems. Instead, they fomented a coup.
The pandas will have a view of the ocean!”
— San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar
When Breed announced the panda deal late last April, zookeepers were shocked.
“None of the senior managers knew anything about it,” Villa said. “Everybody’s scrambled: How do we make this work? Where are we going to put them? It was just, ‘Hey, we’re getting pandas!’”
It was a week after the union’s second vote of no confidence against Peterson. To many, the move felt emblematic of her leadership flaws.
“If we do have a vision for this zoo besides pandas, it’s not been communicated very well,” Villa said.
Pandas are wildly popular with the public. But they’re a thornier prospect for zoos, experts warn.
Two visitors at at the grizzly bear enclosure at The San Francisco Zoo.
(Paul Kuroda / For The Times)
The bears cannot be kept near lions or other large carnivores. They need a special diet, experienced keepers and state-of-the-art new enclosures. For San Francisco, the cost has been estimated at $25 million.
Raising that money will fall to the interim CEO, which San Francisco has not yet named. The search for a permanent replacement will pit San Francisco against two of the state’s premier animal attractions, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the San Diego Zoo.
Despite the promise of greater oversight and the possibility of more funding from the city, many animal activists and former zoo staff remain staunchly opposed to the panda project.
Some current keepers also expressed concerns.
“Guests are always asking, ‘Where are the tigers? Where are the monkeys? Where are all these animals that used to be here?’ We need to take care of the animals we have right now,” said Carpenter, the reptile keeper.
But City Hall remains staunchly pro-panda. So does the Chinese Consulate, the Teamsters and the Board of Supervisors, which just last month threatened to withhold $4 million from the Zoological Society over its failure to produce audit paperwork.
“People are proud that we’re doing this, and want us to pull it off,” Melgar said. “The pandas will have a view of the ocean!”
The Chinese visitors were originally slated to arrive at the end of this year. Then, this spring, they were assured by next April, just after the Super Bowl. That date has been pushed again, to the end of 2026.
“We don’t know where we’re going,” Villa said. “Everything runs on rumors and speculation.”
For now, the Teamsters are keeping their ears perked, waiting for good news to swirl in with the fog.
June 29 (UPI) — A 20-year-old woman was likely bitten by a juvenile sand tiger shark while swimming off a New York beach, officials said.
The unidentified woman was waist-deep in the surf at the Central Mall beachfront of Jones Beach State Park when at about 4:15 p.m. EDT Wednesday she reported being bitten by an unknown marine wildlife, the state’s Park, Recreation and Historic Preservation office said in a statement on Friday.
Officials said the woman suffered non-life-threatening laceration injuries to her left foot and leg and was transported to Nassau County University Medical Center Hospital for treatment.
As she did not observe what exactly attacked her, an investigation ensued with biologists concluding that it was “most likely” a juvenile sand tiger shark, though “without direct observation of the animal that caused the bites a full expert consensus was not reached,” park officials said.
Swimming resumed at the beach on Thursday, after park staff and police used drones to search the area and lifeguards scanned the water from the shore.
Charlie Woods has taken a big first step out of his father’s immense shadow in the golfing world.
The 16-year-old son of golf legend Tiger Woods made a huge statement this week by winning the American Junior Golf Association’s Team TaylorMade Invitational at Streamsong Resort in Bowling Green, Fla. He shot a 15-under-par 201 (70-65-66) to finish three shots ahead of a trio of players tied for second place.
“Being able to say to myself that I’ve won in an absolutely amazing event and to say I preformed under some high, high pressure situations is just huge going forward,” Charlie Woods said afterward, “because I haven’t been able to say that I have done that. And now that I can, it is just a big thing for my mental game going forward.”
Currently ranked as the No. 609 boys junior player in the U.S., Woods is expected to move into the top 20 next week, after topping a 71-player field that featured four golfers who currently rank in the AJGA’s top five. That includes top-ranked Miles Russell of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., who finished six shots behind Woods and in seventh place with a nine-under 207.
Playing in his first AJGA invitational, Woods finished the event with 26 birdies — the most ever at an AJGA Invitational, based on information available to the organization — to go with one eagle. He was tied for 14th place after Monday’s opening round but had pulled into a tie for second going into Wednesday’s final round.
“I didn’t look at the leaderboard once today,” said Woods, who gained fully exempt AJGA status with his victory.
A sophomore at Benjamin School in Palm Beach, Fla., Woods finished tied for 25th at the prestigious Junior Invitational at Sage Valley (a tournament that counts toward the AJGA rankings but is not an AJGA-sanctioned event) in March.
He and his father have competed in the parent-child PNC Championship every December since 2020. They finished as runners-up in 2021 and 2024, with Charlie Woods notching his first hole-in-one at the most recent event.
