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‘It’s a bit of a d**k move’ – Recent DP World Tour winner rips certain LIV pros playing BMW PGA Championship

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One of the hardest-working players on the DP World Tour finally won his second European event of his career, when victorious at Made In Himmerland on Sunday.

Known for his liking of links conditions, Oliver Wilson revelled in conditions at the Danish course, pipping the in-form Ewen Ferguson to the title.

The 41-year-old moves on to the tour’s flagship event at the BMW PGA Championship this week, a tournament that has had its share of the headlines this week, not all for the right reasons.

With Martin Kaymer deciding to pull out because of the bad feeling between the tour organizers and the LIV returnees, the remaining 17 have seen their benefits curtailed, being denied the opportunity to take part in the Wednesday pro-am or wear any apparel indicating an allegiance to the LIV Golf tour.

They have also been told that they will not receive any coverage as marquee players, despite many being contenders at some of the very best tournaments of the past couple of years.

As for the latest champion, Wilson makes his 11th appearance at Wentworth, hoping to repeat his runner-up finish from 2006.

Interviewed by Sky Sports Golf podcast soon after his victory, he made no bones about the feeling he has about many of the LIV players coming over to leafy Surrey for their debuts in the event, many of whom rarely play the DP World Tour.

“I have got a real issue with the guys who have never played here before coming to play,” Wilson admitted. “It’s a bit of a d**k move.”

However, he did concede that it’s only those rare visitors that he has an issue with.

“The European guys who are members, who have played here in the past, don’t really have a problem with that,” he said.

“It’s an awkward one. If I was in their position and I had taken the money to go and play LIV – they haven’t had enough events to play in. They need to play other events to keep themselves sharp.”

He regretted the way the split had come about, “The fact it’s in the courts is sad, and it’s dividing the players,” before saying he didn’t have anything “personally against them.”

Defending champion Billy Horschel, fourth in his only other attempt around Wentworth, had already demonstrated much of the feeling behind the attendance of the LIV players.

As reported on the Sky Sports golf website, the world number 15 said, “There’s a mixed feeling out here. There’s some guys that hate it; don’t think the LIV guys should be here. There are some guys that are sort of in the middle, and there are some guys that understand and feel that, ‘hey, these guys have helped build the DP World Tour and the European Tour, and been part of Ryder Cups and helped the European Tour be so successful in The Ryder Cup’, and they are okay with it.”

Horschel continued, “My stance on this is that when those guys were trying to figure out whether they were going to go to the LIV Tour or stay with PGA Tour, DP World Tour, they had to factor in that they knew that world ranking points were going to maybe not come right away or not come in at all.”

This should certainly be an interesting week, and maybe not for the reasons we all wish.

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TaylorMade signs 15-year-old AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year to an NIL contract

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This week, TaylorMade Golf announced that they’ve signed AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year, Miles Russell, to an NIL contract.

In a statement, TaylorMade called Russell “nothing short of remarkable”.

“Miles’ record setting success at his young age is nothing short of remarkable and we are excited he chose us to support him in his growth as a golfer to continue to accomplish his career goals. Identifying and developing the top junior talent in the world has always been a priority for us at TaylorMade. Miles and his family epitomize the type of athlete and human being we are looking to add to Team TaylorMade.”

Russell has broken plenty of records in recent months. This season, he was named American Junior Golf Association’s Rolex Boys Player of the Year, making him the youngest male player to receive the award. The record was previously held by Tiger Woods who was about 10 months older than Russell at the time he received the award.

At age 14, J he became the youngest player ever to win the Junior PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass at age 14.

The 15-year-old also played in his first Korn Ferry Tour event on Thursday, the LECOM Suncoast Classic, and shot a first-round 68.

In the aftermath of the agreement, Russell released a statement.

“I have had a great relationship with the team at TaylorMade for years now and couldn’t be more excited to continue to work with them in the future. TaylorMade has a history of developing the top junior talent in the world to help reach their goals of becoming PGA TOUR and major championship winners. I am looking forward to working with the team to reach those and other goals I have laid out for my career.”

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Group of PGA Tour caddies sign endorsement deal with underwear company

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In an interesting turn of events, a group of PGA Tour caddies have signed an endorsement deal with an underwear company.

Geno Bonnalie (Joel Dahmen), Aaron Flener (J.T. Poston), John Limanti (Akshay Bhatia) and Joel Stock (Will Zalatoris) and John Ellis (Wyndham Clark) have signed a deal with the underwear brand, SAXX.

Here are some details about the endorsement deal:

  • The deal eclipses six figures in total value, extending what last year marked the first significant apparel agreement with a group of pro caddies. Of note, Geno and John Ellis appeared in the Netflix docuseries, Full Swing.
  • The caddies will wear SAXX underwear, shorts and polos on and off the course.
  • SAXX will donate $100 to the Testicular Cancer Foundation for every birdie made by the caddies’ players for the rest of the season.
  • SAXX will bring the Ball Masters to the masses at the Travelers Championship, hosting a fan activation with underwear giveaways, photo opportunities, appearances from the Ball Masters and more.
  • Fans can become an honorary Ball Master, which includes a year’s worth of underwear, among other things. Go to SAXX.com/ball-master-application from now until June 15 to enter.

The partnership is great for the caddies and also represents a great cause.

Check out the video they shared on YouTube:

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Man charged with stealing millions of dollars worth of memorabilia from Augusta National

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Augusta National

According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, a man has been charged in Chicago with stealing millions of dollars’ worth of memorabilia from Augusta National.

The man, Robert Globensky, was charged with transporting the memorabilia across state lines.

The report states that between 2009 and 2022, Globensky allegedly transported “millions of dollars’ worth of Masters golf tournament merchandise and historical memorabilia” from Augusta National “and transported to Tampa, Florida, knowing the same had been stolen, converted and taken by fraud.”

The document was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Per the court records there is no mention that Globensky worked for the golf club.

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