Holders Thailand among seven set for LPGA International Crown
Defending champion Thailand and past winners United States and South Korea were among seven teams named Monday as qualifiers for October's LPGA International Crown team event.
Australia, Japan, China and Sweden also booked a place in the October 23-26 match-play event at New Korea Country Club in South Korea.
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The four top-ranked golfers from each qualified nation after the Women's British Open on August 4 will compete for their homeland in the International Crown.
An eighth squad, the World Team, will include the top-ranked player not from an already qualified nation from each of four regions -- Europe, Asia, the Americas and Africa/Oceania -- based on points as of August 4.
The Thai squad of Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn, Patty Tavatanakit and Jeeno Thitikul won the most recent Crown in 2023 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
Spain won the inaugural 2014 title with the Americans taking the 2016 triumph and South Korea winning in 2018 before the 2020 event was called off due to the Covid pandemic.
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Fox News
an hour ago
- Fox News
Golf influencer Tisha Alyn carves her own path in the sport
The sport of golf is one of the most competitive fields any athlete could break into. Only a handful of golfers make it to the PGA or LPGA Tours. Some get stuck in the Korn Ferry Tour or Epson Tour, while others head for green pastures with LIV Golf. Golfers like Tisha Alyn have found a different way to make an impact on the sport – becoming one of the most-followed influencers in the sport. Alyn boasts more than 1.3 million followers on TikTok and another 519,000 followers on Instagram – numbers that rival the likes of Paige Spiranac, Grace Charis and others. Alyn took up the sport when she was 3 years old and began competing when she was 7. She's been across the entire country from junior golf to NCAA Division 1 with Cal State Fullerton – and it has never been about anything else. "Golf was always my main path," Alyn told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "I used to be a competitive dancer as well, and for anyone who follows me or knows anything about me I'll showcase some fun dance trends and whatnot, but besides that, golf was always my main focus. "For those who aren't that familiar with golf, it really takes all of you. It is a lengthy sport that takes time in your day, and it is one of those sports, because it is low impact, you can do it and do it for so long. So my parents their goal for me was to always compete at a high level, play at a high level, achieve a scholarship, so golf was always it for me." Alyn said she played professionally from 2015 to 2018 but gaining funding to be able to continue to play at a high level took its toll. She said she made a larger focus on growing her social media right around the time platforms like Instagram reached its peak. She said she hoped she could use social media to earn sponsorships and other paid opportunities. "As I was going on my professional golf career, it grew in tandem with social media at the same time. Come 2018, when I stopped, I was going through injuries, I was going through a lot of personal things," she said, "I thought, 'I think it is time to put the bag down, stop playing professionally and pursue social media,' because I see something really big here, and I always was pretty good at finding trends and seeing what is going to be that it factor. "And I knew at the time even though there wasn't that influencer or personality, like we didn't have words for it, but I knew social media was here to stay. You know, looking at where we are now, it is basically the tried and true. It's where you go for any and all things media. So, I like to say I chose the right path after putting the bag down." Pursuing a career with a social media mindset is completely different from making one. A lot of time is spent creating and producing content and keeping a positive mindset is something that anyone who is extremely online is. With all the positives that come with a successful entrepreneurial career, so comes the backlash anyone would face on social media. Alyn, much like Spiranac, gets her share of social media scoundrels in her mentions. She told Fox News Digital that the key for her was to stay focused on her goals. "Staying focused on your own path and your own career I think is everything, and I am someone who is pretty feisty compared to my friends and peers around me, so I am not afraid to put up a fight or say what I feel when people especially come at me," she said. "I know I don't have it the worst among other people in my world. I'm good friends with Paige, and she really deals with it and I always tell her every time I see her you have the thickest skin … We don't wake up with a following right. "So, as you grow in it, you grow that thick skin with it. I can't imagine for those who have been one hit wonders how that must be for them to suddenly be criticize in front of the world, but for me, I just grown to wipe it off, you know dust it off the shoulder, because a lot of times they just want your attention. I think the comments that do hurt the most when they don't just attack me but they attack the people I love around me, and I think that is when it is kind of the most hurtful. But, you know, it is just kind of how that saying goes – those that throw hate at you are just envious and that is kind of how I feel, and they also give engagement, like if you want to comment thanks your growing, your growing my post, my profile, what have you, your feeding into the algorithm thank you for that." LPGA Tour legend Annika Sorenstam expressed support for golf influencers in their efforts to grow the game, lauding the ability of influencers to "bring a different view or perspective into the sport" in an interview with Fox News Digital. "I mean that to me means the world," Alyn said in response. "I have been able to work with Annika a few times so we do have a type of working relationship there but to get that affirmation from someone who is quite literally a legend in the game I think means everything. "There is still a lot of, you know, beliefs on influencers and personalities being in the space, but I think that for those who do it right, I want to say that I believe I do it the right way, to try to inspire and grow the game. I think that is here to stay, and I think Annika see's that, and she is utilizing social media. She is trying to grow on her platform as well, so it just means the world."

Associated Press
2 hours ago
- Associated Press
John Deere Classic shaping up as a final qualifier in world ranking for British Open
The John Deere Classic could serve as a final qualifier for the British Open, even though the R&A no longer offers an exemption to the leading finishers at the PGA Tour stop. This qualifier would be determined by the Official World Golf Ranking next week. The 156-man field for Royal Portrush on July 17-20 is now at 122 players with the addition of two spots from the Italian Open, two amateurs (European Amateur and Open Amateur Series) and Sergio Garcia getting the lone spot from LIV Golf. Final regional qualifying Tuesday in the United Kingdom provided 20 spots. Five more players from the top 20 in the Race to Dubai on the European tour will earn spots after this week's BMW International Open in Germany. The following week, three more spots will be available in the Scottish Open. That brings the field to 150 players. The other six would come from a reserve list, which is based on the Official World Golf Ranking published after this week. Aldrich Potgieter won the Rocket Classic and moved to No. 49 in the world, making him the highest-ranked player not already in The Open. He is followed by Nico Echavarria, who tied for sixth in Detroit and moved to No. 51. Next on the list is Michael Kim at No. 55. Seven of the next eight players in the world ranking not already exempt for The Open — from Bud Cauley at No. 59 to Ryan Gerard at No. 71 — are playing the John Deere Classic. Davis Riley is not in the John Deere field. If it plays out that way, in some respects it would make up for the fact that no one from the PGA Tour qualified from the category that exempts the leading five players from the top 20 in the FedEx Cup standings through the Rocket Classic. The top 28 players in the current FedEx Cup standings already are exempt, eight of them because they already were in the top 50 at the May 25 cutoff. Seven of those 28 were eligible by reaching the Tour Championship last year, and nine others got in as past major champions or from a top-10 finish at The Open last year at Royal Troon. It was only the second time in the last 10 years that everyone from the top 20 in the FedEx Cup already was exempt. Typically no more than two or three came out of that category. Golf shots Scottie Scheffler was raving about a 3-iron he hit into a par 5 at the Travelers Championship because it came off perfectly. That led him to recall two other pure shots in recent memory, a 9-iron on the par-3 third at The Players Championship and a 6-iron on the fifth hole at the 2022 Masters. It's not always about the score it yields, just the pureness of the shot. That's why whenever Collin Morikawa thinks about one of the best shots he ever hit, it wasn't necessarily his driver on the par-4 16th at Harding Park that stopped 7 feet away for eagle when he won the 2020 PGA Championship. That was a stock drive with a great bounce. Instead, he thought back to his final hole when he won the DP World Tour Championship in 2021 to become the first American to win the Race to Dubai. 'It was on 18, par 5, front left pin,' Morikawa said last week. 'I've watched the shot many times on YouTube because I'm like, 'How do I make it that easy?' Front left pin, water on the left, had 4-iron I think out of the first cut and I hit it exactly where I wanted. I could miss it in the water, lose the tournament; hit it in the bunker, not make up-and-down. It was picture perfect. 'And it's rare you get to do that, but that's why we keep practicing,' he said. 'I'm telling you, it's inches, margins, centimeters, degrees. We're crazy, but we love it.' LIV in 2026 The Saudi-funded LIV Golf League won't play its first tournament on U.S. soil next year until a week before the PGA Championship. That's according to a schedule obtained by Sports Business Journal that it said was not finalized but likely to be the final product. According to SBJ, LIV Golf would start in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 5-7, go to Adelaide, Australia, the following week and then go three straight weeks starting March 6-8 in Hong Kong, Singapore and a new stop in South Africa. Instead of playing at Trump Doral the week before the Masters, LIV instead will go to Mexico City a week after the Masters and then have its first U.S. event — listed as 'D.C./Virginia' on May 8-10, the week before the PGA Championship at Aronimink outside Philadelphia. Also new to the schedule is a LIV event in New Orleans a week after the U.S. Open. The schedule would have a U.K. event after the British Open, and then conclude with three tournaments in Chicago, Indianapolis and Michigan. The D.C./Virginia event would be the only LIV event before a major. The other three majors would have LIV events immediately after. There won't be stops in Florida for the first time. Also gone from the schedule, according to the SBJ report, is the event in the Dallas area. Monday qualifying at Birkdale The R&A added a new wrinkle to the British Open by announcing the 'Last-Chance Qualifier' to be held next year on the Monday at Royal Birkdale to start the championship week. Golf's oldest championship essentially will have a Monday qualifier starting in 2026, the only major that will keep a spot open for one player in what amounts to an 18-hole shootout. The R&A said the qualifier will have 'up to 12 players,' though it did not say how it will determine who gets to play, only that more details would follow. The 'Last-Chance Qualifier' on Monday and a 'Heroes Classic' featuring an abbreviated round of past champions and other guests (most likely celebrities) are in response to a fan survey that indicated a desire for more live golf. 'We have asked them how we can make their experience of attending The Open even more enjoyable and they have been clear — they want more live golf, more opportunities to engage with the traditions of golf's original championship and more activities onsite to watch, listen and play,' said Mark Darbon, the new CEO of the R&A. Not for a lack of effort Eric Cole leads the PGA Tour in number of tournaments played this season. He is playing the John Deere Classic, his 24th start of the year. The only two tournaments he has missed for which he was eligible were the Mexico Open at Vidanta after he had played seven weeks in a row to start the year and the Rocket Classic last week. He was in the field at Detroit until withdrawing before it started. The other week he was off was the Masters because he wasn't eligible. Cole is No. 64 in the FedEx Cup standings. Divots Alexandra Armas is stepping down after her second stint as CEO of the Ladies European Tour. Armas led the LET from 2005 until 2012, and then from 2020. She will stay on until October. Prize money has more than doubled during her most recent five years. ... Somi Lee and Jin Hee Im became the 50th and 51st players from South Korea with an official LPGA win at the Dow Championship. ... Aldrich Potgieter at the Rocket Classic and Rory McIlroy at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am are the only players this year to win on the PGA Tour while leading the field in driving distance. ... Potgieter was the fifth player in the last 12 months to earn his first PGA Tour victory in a sudden-death playoff. Stat of the week Austin Smotherman's victory in the Memorial Health Championship marked the sixth time this year a Korn Ferry Tour winner rallied from a deficit of four shots or more in the final round. Final word 'It's tough out here, it's a very fine line, but I know I'm plenty good enough to win.' — Rickie Fowler. ___ AP golf:


Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
The John Deere Classic: Boasts Stronger Field Of Contenders
SILVIS, ILLINOIS - JULY 09: A general view of the 18th green during the final round of the John ... More Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run on July 09, 2023 in Silvis, Illinois. (Photo by) The John Deere Classic boasts arguably its most star-studded participant list since the 1996 Quad City Open, which featured a young Tiger Woods. New rules under the PGA Tour's relegation policy which affects players outside the top 100 in the world rankings and those without a recent Tour win, have pushed many prominent names into smaller-field, lower-profile events. No tournament has benefited more from these changes in 2025 than the John Deere Classic. Held in the Quad Cities, a metropolitan area with a population of just 400,000, it is the smallest market on the PGA Tour. Its relatively modest purse ($8.4 million), small market size, limited FedEx Cup points, and schedule overlap with the Scottish Open in previous years led to low interest and, at times during the 2010s, no major television coverage. Despite that, the JDC has long been known as a launching pad for careers. It was the site of the first PGA Tour victories for Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, Brian Harman, and Payne Stewart. It also witnessed one of only two instances where Tiger Woods lost after holding or sharing the lead heading into the final round. SILVIS, ILLINOIS - JULY 06: Denny McCarthy of the United States plays his shot from the 16th tee ... More during the first round of the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run on July 06, 2023 in Silvis, Illinois. (Photo by) This year promises similar fireworks, with more big names in the field than usual, including Ben Griffin, Jason Day, Max Homa, Rickie Fowler, and Denny McCarthy. Several players are chasing their first Tour win, and among the top contenders are Luke Clanton, Bud Cauley, Michael Thorbjornsen, and Denny McCarthy. McCarthy, in particular, could be poised for a breakthrough. He enters the week with the third-best betting odds and has finished T6 and 7th at the JDC in prior appearances. In addition to a stronger-than-average field, the tournament also continues to impress with its entertainment offerings. Included with every ticket are concerts by Dierks Bentley on Saturday and Zac Brown Band on Sunday.