19th Hole

Very rare penalty decides final match of NCAA Championship

Published

4 years ago

May 26, 2022

The NCAA Division 1 Golf Championships are the pinnacle of competition between the top grade collegiate golfers and many of the contenders have gone on to make their mark at the highest level.

Related: Keegan Bradley putts for eagle and makes double bogey thanks to unfortunate penalty

With the team result often reliant on the final match-play games, nerves and mindset are crucial, let alone accidental breach of rules.

Related: Pro loses tournament after extremely rare penalty

In this year’s women’s final, favorites Stanford raced to an early 2-0 lead over Oregon thanks to wins from Brooke Seay and Aline Krauter before Oregon tied the score courtesy of victories from Briana Chacon and Tze-Han Lin.

It all came down to the match between the current world amateur number one, Stanford’s Rose Zhang, and her opponent Sofie Kibsgaard Nielsen.

All looked like going to plan as Zhang arrived at the 17th with a 2-up lead and, when both players hit their initial shots into the rough, the pressure was on the Oregon player.

Around 20 yards behind her rival, Nielsen hit her next just short of the 17th green whilst Zhang recovered from her tee shot to land her approach on the green.

However, as the Golf Channel came back to the coverage of the decider, they were made aware of an issue.

On-course reporter Jim Gallagher noted, “As Nielsen was walking up, she actually ran over [Zhang’s] ball with her push cart, which is no penalty. They placed it as well as they could.”

Unfortunately that was not the case.

In 2019 the Rules of Golf changed the ruling to award a penalty in match-play, not in stroke-play, stating, “If the opponent lifts or deliberately touches the player’s ball at rest or causes it to move, the opponent gets one penalty stroke.”

“There are a couple of exceptions, but what happened there with that incident didn’t fall under any of the exceptions,” said an NCAA rules official.

With Nielsen now lying three , not two, and her opponent on the green, she needed to hole out from off the green to have any chance of forcing the match to the 18th hole. As her chip couldn’t find the bottom of the hole, the match and the game was over.

Zhang, the current Player of the Year, took only the expected two putts to win the hole, match and NCAA Championship.

Broadcaster Paige Mackenzie sympathized:

“I’ve never seen anything like that before,” she said. “The mistake off the tee, hitting it into the rough, maybe fell asleep at the wheel. It’s one of those where you wonder if maybe mental fatigue was a part of it. Not paying attention to where Rose’s ball ended up. It happens, late in the day, it’s been 95 degrees.”

Whilst Zhang didn’t need the win to retain her status as the best current collegiate player, this was a luckless defeat in the end for Oregon.

Congrats to Coach Anne and the rest of the Cardinal on a dominant year and another National Championship! #NerdNation https://t.co/d9rJw8xqQl

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) May 26, 2022

How much each player won at the 2026 Masters

Published

2 months ago

Apr 13, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Rory McIlroy made it two wins in as many years at Augusta National, seeing off the challengers on a dramatic Sunday to slip on the green jacket once again. The victory earned Rory a whopping payday of $4.5 million, with Scottie Scheffler his closest challenger earning $2.43 million for his sole runner-up finish.

With a total prize purse of $22.5 million up for grabs, here’s a look at how much each player won at the 2026 Masters tournament.

For players that did not make the cut, they still earned $25k for their efforts at the year’s opening major.

1: Rory McIlroy, $4.5 million
2: Scottie Scheffler, $2.43 million
T3: Tyrrell Hatton, $1.08 million
T3: Russell Henley, $1.08 million
T3: Justin Rose, $1.08 million
T3: Cameron Young, $1.08 million
T7: Collin Morikawa, $725,625
T7: Sam Burns, $725,625
T9: Xander Schauffele, $630,00
T9: Max Homa, $630,00
11: Jake Knapp, $562,500
T12: Jordan Spieth, $427,500
T12: Brooks Koepka, $427,500
T12: Hideki Matsuyama, $427,500
T12: Patrick Reed, $427,500
T12: Patrick Cantlay, $427,500
T12: Jason Day, $427,500
T18: Viktor Hovland, $315,000
T18: Maverick McNealy, $315,000
T18: Matt Fitzpatrick, $315,000
T21: Keegan Bradley, $252,000
T21: Ludvig Aberg, $252,000
T21: Wyndham Clark, $252,000
T24: Matt McCarty, $182,083
T24: Adam Scott, $182,083
T24: Sam Stevens, $182,083
T24: Chris Gotterup, $182,083
T24: Michael Brennan, $182,083
T24: Brian Campbell, $182,083
T30: Alex Noren, $146,250
T30: Harris English, $146,250
T30: Shane Lowry, $146,250
T33: Gary Woodland, $121,500
T33: Dustin Johnson, $121,500
T33: Brian Harman, $121,500
T33: Tommy Fleetwood, $121,500
T33: Ben Griffin, $121,500
T38: Jon Rahm, $105,750
T38: Ryan Gerard, $101,250
T38: Haotong Li, $96,750
T41: Justin Thomas, $92,250
T41: Sepp Straka, $87,750
T41: Jacob Bridgeman, $83,250
T41: Kristoffer Reitan, $78,750
T41: Nick Taylor, $74,250
46: Sungjae Im, $69,750
47: Si Woo Kim, $65,250
48: Aaron Rai, $61,650
T49: Corey Conners, $57,600
T49: Marco Penge, $57,600
51: Kurt Kitayama, $55,250
52: Sergio Garcia, $54,000
53: Rasmus Hojgaard, $52,650
54: Charl Schwartzel, $51,300

19th Hole

CBS’s Sunday Masters coverage slammed by golf fans

Published

2 months ago

Apr 13, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

While Sunday was a dramatic day at the Masters, many golf fans were left feeling frustrated by the CBS final round coverage.

There were plenty of moments that golf fans took to social media to air their frustrations on Sunday over, including a lack of shots being shown throughout the day, being behind the live action, confusion over the approach shots of the final group on 18, and providing an angle for the winning putt where the cup couldn’t be seen.

Here’s a look at some of the criticisms that were directed at the CBS coverage throughout the day on X:

This has been a brutal broadcast for CBS. When the folks from Augusta sit down with them this year, you can bet they’ll talk about this 15 seconds where we have no idea where Rory’s ball went, and Dottie moans. #TheMasters pic.twitter.com/ak3mkpIN7V

— Ryan (@PossiblyRy) April 12, 2026

It’s rare criticism coming in for CBS, who are usually heavily praised for their Masters coverage each year.

19th Hole

The surprise club Tommy Fleetwood says is key to his Masters chances

Published

2 months ago

Apr 7, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Tommy Fleetwood goes in search for the first major victory of his career again this week, with the Englishman proving to be a popular pick at Augusta National.

Fleetwood’s best showing at Augusta came back in 2024 where he finished T3, and while speaking at his pre-tournament press conference, the 35-year-old emphasized the importance of his 9-wood in his pursuit of the green jacket.

Speaking on Tuesday to media, Fleetwood said:

“It’s a great 9-wood golf course. I think it’s always been — I can’t remember when I first put like a 9-wood in or a high lofted club, but it’s a perfect like 9-wood golf course. I’ve had that in the bag for a few years.”

The Englishman continued, revealing that his strategy for the week won’t just be to hit driver off the tee as much as possible:

“Yeah, it’s funny really because I know Augusta is probably associated with being fairly forgiving off the tee in a way, so you think you can whale around driver a little bit. But I don’t necessarily think that’s always the play for me. I think there’s holes that set up really well where I can draw it with the mini driver if I’m feeling less comfortable with the driver and things like that.”

That strategy he believes will make his TaylorMade Qi10 9-wood extra critical this week in Georgia:

“The biggest thing is the 9-wood for me. If I can put myself in position on the par-5s or the 4th long par-3, like it — for me, I can’t really hit that high 4-iron, so 9-wood helps me a lot.”