DP World Tour
_{Rikuya Hoshino continues his strong form!}

After a second place finish at the Australian PGA Championship, a second place finish at the Australian Open, a T12 last week in Bahrain, Rikuya Hoshino has become just the 4th Japanese born player to win on the DP World Tour! A birdie-birdie-par finish saw him win by one shot over Ugo Coussaud.

He played four very solid rounds this as he shot 69-68-69-68 as he claimed victory at the Qatar Masters!

Congratulations to Rikuya, this win moves him to second place in the Race to Dubai rankings!

What’s next on the DP World Tour?

A very interesting event this week on the DP World Tour! The Magical Kenya Open at Muthaiga GC in Nairobi, Kenya! This event has been won by some big names over the years, such as Seve Ballesteros and Trevor Immelman. More recently Justin Harding, Aaron Rai, and Sebastian Soderberg have won here. This is a very unique course and I would encourage you to check out some of the event if you get a chance!

LIV Golf
_{Fittingly, 4 “Aces” captain Dustin Johnson wins in Vegas}

Dustin Johnson was in the mix throughout all of LIV’s 2024 US debut in Las Vegas. The final round saw him, Bryson, and Rahm in the final pairing with Rahm two shots back of DJ and Bryson. Bryson couldn’t get anything going but Matt Wolff and Peter Uihlein both played well and at one point with just a few holes left there was a SIX way tie for the lead.

In the end, Dustin Johnson would birdie the 17th hole, and hit a great approach shot from the rough on 18 to make a comfortable par and won by one shot over Talor Gooch and Peter Uihlein.

In the team event Brooks Koepka’s Smash GC took home the title led by a bogey free 65 from Graeme McDowell in Saturday’s final round. An impressive round in very windy conditions! The team leaderboard was pretty tight throughout most of the day but Smash GC ended up pulling away and winning by 7 shots over 4 Aces.

What’s next for LIV Golf?

LIV is off for the next two weeks before their annual event in Jeddah at Royal Greens and Country Club. All eyes on Brooks Koepka in Jeddah, as he’s won the event two years in a row now, and both times in a playoff! Last year against Talor Gooch, and the prior year against Peter Uihlein. More on that as the event nears.

PGA TOUR
_{Nick Taylor wins a wild Waste Management Phoenix Open!}

Does Nick Taylor only win in dramatic fashion?

Nick Taylor birdied 15, 16, and 18 at the Waste Management to force a playoff with Charley Hoffman. He then birdied 18 two more times to win the playoff. In a wild event that included Zach Johnson, Jordan Spieth, and Billy Horschel all taking issue with rowdy fans, fans being shut out despite paying for tickets, alcohol sales being cut off, Nick Taylor was able to remain calm and make the late charge that would eventually see him win the event. Expect this event to be a bit more controlled next year than this, as many fans, media, and even players have spoken out about it getting out of control.

Congrats to Nick, though! You may recall his last win, where he sank a 72 foot putt to win in a playoff over Tommy Fleetwood at the RBC Canadian Open. Seems like if Nick Taylor has a putter in his hand in a playoff, something exciting is bound to happen.

What’s next on the PGA Tour?

This week’s tour event is The Genesis Invitational at Riviera, the third signature event of the season. Most notably, this is Tiger’s first full field event featuring a 36-hole cut. Also notably, it will not be featuring the defending champion Jon Rahm. Being a signature event however, it will still feature the vast majority of the PGA Tour’s top players, as well as 20 million dollar purse!

Asian Tour
_{The Asian Tour is back!}

Finally! The Asian Tour returns this week with the Malaysian Open! Notable about this event is that the 3 top finishers that aren’t already qualified through other means will earn a spot in The 152nd Open! This attracts some big names like Sam Horsfield, James Piot, David Puig, Wade Ormsby, Travis Smyth, and many more!

Tee Talk
_{More reading from this week in golf:}

Tiger Woods officially unveiled his new clothing line in partnership with TaylorMade:

Sports Illustrated’s Bob Harig summarizes the issues surrounding LIV Golf’s world ranking problem: