HAROLD VARNER III

U.S. Open qualifying starts this week and a dozen or so LIV Golf players already have decided they won't be playing the third major of the year.

Masters chairman Fred Ridley is hopeful of a Masters just like any other.

Phil Mickelson returned to Augusta National on Tuesday for a practice round ahead of the Masters.

The Official World Golf Ranking won’t be awarding points to LIV Golf events this year.

Matthew Wolff is now a footnote in LIV Golf history.

It sure doesn't sound like Wentworth will be a place for PGA Tour players and LIV Golf players to visit over tea.

LIV Golf has made it official.

Keegan Bradley hasn’t been to the FedEx Cup finale in four years.

Sam Burns made a 38-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole at Colonial to beat Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world and his good buddy.

Scottie Scheffler has the lead alone going into the final round at Colonial.

The world's No. 1 golfer is part of a crowded leaderboard at Colonial.

Jordan Spieth hit a 56-foot shot from a greenside bunker to 7 inches and beat Patrick Cantlay with the tap-in par putt on the first hole of a playoff Sunday in the RBC Heritage.

Harold Varner III shot an 8-under 63 to take a one-shot lead in the RBC Heritage on Saturday in pursuit of his first PGA Tour victory.

Scottie Scheffler can play in the Masters forever now.

Tiger Woods has closed out the worst Masters performance of his professional career.

The only color Harold Varner III has been focused on at the Masters is red.

The longest week at The Players Championship is moving closer to a conclusion.

Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge share the lead after a long and wet start to The Players Championship.

Sahith Theegala crashed golf’s biggest party.

The PGA Tour is set for beautiful weather at Pebble Beach, with one eye on Saudi Arabia.

Reaction is coming in to the death of Lee Elder, the first Black golfer to play in the Masters.

Sahith Theegala has the lead in the Sanderson Farms Championship with a 64.

Tony Finau is a winner on the PGA Tour again.

Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith are tied for the lead at The Northern Trust.

Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas share the lead at 63 after one round of The Northern Trust.

Stewart Cink had a steady, stress-free 70 to cap off a dominant week and win his third RBC Heritage title.

Cameron Smith birdied the difficult 17th and 18th holes at Harbour Town to shoot a 9-under 62 and take a one-stroke lead over Stewart Cink at the RBC Heritage.

Brandt Snedeker hits his third shot on the 16th hole during the first round of the Houston Open golf tournament Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Houston. Snedeker shot a 5-under 65 in the afternoon to take a two-stroke lead in the last event before the Masters. “Drove it great,” Snedeker said. “Around this golf course you have to be in the fairway, otherwise it’s going to be a long day for you. “The golf course kind of forces you into being patient just because you can’t really miss too many greens,” Scheffler said.

LAS VEGAS – Bryson DeChambeau put on another power display Thursday and it worked just as well as when he won the U.S. Open. “I was not happy it didn't go in, but I'll take a 62,” DeChambeau said. Didn't hit it my best, but I put it in the right spots a lot of the times today.”Among early starters, DeChambeau had a one-shot lead over Harold Varner III and Austin Cook. DeChambeau easily reached the 314-yard 15th hole, the start of a dynamic finishing stretch at the TPC Summerlin. It was the perfect recipe for Las Vegas, with the warm desert air and barely a breath of wind.

Tom Hoge watches his drive on the ninth hole during the second round of the Wyndham Championship golf tournament at Sedgefield Country Club on Friday, Aug. 14, 2020, in Greensboro, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Hoge, tied for the first-round lead with Harold Varner III and Roger Sloan, kept in front with a steady 2-under 68 to get to 10-under par. Hoge, whose best-ever tour finish was a second at The Greenbrier this season, was asked what it would take for his first PGA Tour win. Like Kim, Gooch shot 65 to get into the foursome on top. He had six birdies, including two of his final three holes, to move up. Kokrak was in a group of seven one shot further back along with past Wyndham champ Webb Simpson, who shot his second straight 66.

Webb Simpson hits from the fairway on the eighth hole during the first round of the Wyndham Championship golf tournament at Sedgefield Country Club on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020, in Greensboro, N.C. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)GREENSBORO, N.C. Harold Varner III tied his career low round with an 8-under 62 to grab the early lead at the Wyndham Championship on Thursday. Varner was three shots in front of Wesley Bryan and Brian Harman among the early starters at the Sedgefield Country Club. Varner had eight birdies, including four in a row midway through the round, without a birdie his first 15 holes. Former U.S. Open champ and past Wyndham winner Webb Simpson was among a large group at 66. A pair of major champions who challenged at the PGA Championship last week struggled in the opening round.

(AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)Webb Simpson is competing on the PGA Tour again after his family had a coronavirus scare. I mentioned to the commissioner last week that based on our numbers, our stats, I told him the safest place anyone can be in the United States right now is on the PGA Tour," Simpson said. While the PGA Tour has resumed play, the pandemic is keeping the fans away. In the previous three PGA Tour events, the top five competed each week. The Donald Ross-designed Detroit Golf Club is a short course by PGA Tour standards.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)FORT WORTH, Texas The quiet of Colonial made Xander Schauffele feel as though he were back home in San Diego playing with his friends. Colonial is the first of five tournaments in the return to golf that doesn't allow spectators. He was one off the lead, and his tie for second is his best 54-hole position since the Colonial last year. He shot 72 in the final round and tied for eighth. Harold Varner III, still looking for his first PGA Tour victory, started with a one-shot lead and birdied the opening hole.

The leaderboard is a 'who's who' of golf right now, McIlroy said after a 63, with a bogey on the last hole, that left him two behind Varner among the early starters. Dating to the ShotLink era in 2003, it was the lowest score on the PGA Tour by a player who began his round with a triple bogey. I just wanted to make that putt just to get me back to even (for the round), Varner said. No spectators are allowed at the first five events on the PGA Tour. I felt like I gave myself some grace to say, Look, I havent really been practicing a ton of those kind of short-range putts,' Spieth said.

Players at the 8:46 a.m. tee time paused to pay their respects to the memory of George Floyd for a moment of silence, prayer and reflection. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)FORT WORTH, Texas Colonial already was quiet with no spectators around for the return of the PGA Tour on Thursday. As the PGA Tour commits to amplifying voices and efforts to end systemic issues of racial and social injustices, we have reserved the 8:46 tee time to pause for a moment of silence, prayer and reflection, Monahan said. Harold Varner III, one of four PGA Tour players of black heritage, was the strongest voice. He also pointed to Woods, not only as prolific a winner the PGA Tour has ever seen, but a player with a multiracial heritage.

FORT WORTH, Texas FORT WORTH, TexasThe PGA Tour is leaving the 8:46 a.m. tee time vacant this week at Colonial as part of a tribute to George Floyd and to support efforts to end racial and social injustice. In a memo to players Tuesday, Commissioner Jay Monahan said there would be a moment of silence in each of the four rounds at the Charles Schwab Challenge that will coincide with the 8:46 a.m. tee time. It has quickly become a universal symbol for the racial injustice faced by the black community, the memo said. The PGA Tour has been shut down the last three months because of the coronavirus pandemic, and it returns at Colonial with attention shared among the health and safety of running a tournament and the civil unrest sparked by Floyd's death across the country. Monahan and Harold Varner III, one of three PGA Tour members of black heritage, had a 10-minute conversation last week that the tour posted to its website to try to figure out ways golf could do its part.

What hasn't changed is his belief that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic isn't over just because golf is back. Greg Abbott this week moved the state to Phase III in the recovery that allows outdoor events at 50% capacity. At that time it was very unclear where we would be with safety and testing, Monahan said. Information was changing by the minute.Now that golf is returning, Monahan couldn't predict when spectators would return. The conversation was scheduled before the protests began, and Varner was chosen because he's on the Player Advisory Council and golf was ready to resume.