WINDERMERE, Florida (AP) ― Tiger Woods took on any shot without pain or worry Thursday, a feeling he hasn’t had on the golf course in a long time.As for his short game?He hadn’t seen anything like it in longer than he can remember, and it was shocking.Woods flubbed four chips. He took two shots to get out of a bunker on the par-5 seventh hole. He didn’t have a birdie putt inside 20 feet until the 11th hole. And on the four birdie chances he had inside 10 feet on the back nine, he made only one o

Dec. 5, 2014

Kim Hyo-joo, South Korea’s budding golf star, on Tuesday signed a lucrative five-year contract extension with her main corporate sponsor, Lotte Group. The conglomerate will pay her 1.3 billion won ($1.2 million) per year along with performance-based incentives.The 19-year-old said she is aware of the pressure and weight of expectations that come with such a momentous windfall. And to make sure she can live up to the big contract, Kim said she will place emphasis on her short game during her offs

Dec. 2, 2014

SYDNEY (AP) ― Jordan Spieth played the best round of his life to shoot an 8-under 63 on Sunday and win the Australian Open by six strokes, making his first trip Down Under a successful one.Spieth’s four-round total of 13-under 271 on the tough, windy Australian Golf Club made him the first American to win the Australian Open since Brad Faxon in 1993, when the 21-year-old Spieth was four months old.Spieth birdied four holes on the front nine ― three of them in a row ― to lead by three strokes aft

Nov. 30, 2014

NAPLES, Florida (AP) ― The biggest challenge facing Lydia Ko is how she can top a rookie season like this one.The 17-year-old from New Zealand sat next to a pair of crystal trophies Sunday evening. At her feet was a glass box that was stuffed with cash to symbolize the $1 million bonus she picked up on an historic end to the LPGA Tour season.She was an instant millionaire when she closed with a 4-under 68 to get into a three-way playoff in the CME Group Tour Championship. She already had finishe

Nov. 25, 2014

NAPLES, Florida ― New Zealand teenager Lydia Ko ended her rookie year on the LPGA Tour with the biggest payoff in women’s golf.Ko won the $1 million bonus from the inaugural “Race to CME Globe” on Sunday by getting into a three-way playoff. Then, the 17-year-old added an extra $500,000 when she defeated Carlota Ciganda of Spain on the fourth extra hole at Tiburon Golf Club to win the CME Group Tour Championship.Ko made par all five times she played the 18th hole on Sunday, and the last one paid

Nov. 24, 2014

NAPLES, Florida (AP) ― Stacy Lewis became the first American in 21 years to sweep the three biggest awards on the LPGA Tour, which she considered more valuable than a $1 million bonus.Lewis closed with a 1-under 71 in the CME Group Tour Championship on Sunday, tied for ninth in the LPGA Tour finale. But it was enough for her to win LPGA Tour player of the year for the second time in three seasons. She also won the Vare Trophy for the lowest scoring average and the money title.The last American t

Nov. 24, 2014

NAPLES, Florida (AP) ― Julieta Granada stayed in front of a growing pack of challengers Saturday with a 2-under 70 and a one-shot lead in the CME Globe Tour Championship, only one part of what was shaping up as a tense conclusion to the LPGA Tour season.Stacy Lewis had more reason to be rattled by the name of Lydia Ko making a run and climbing to within three shots of the lead, boosting her chances of the $1 million bonus.Only one thing was clear. Sunday was shaping up as a nail-biting end to th

Nov. 23, 2014

Korea’s Park Hee-young tees off on the ninth hole during the first round of the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida, Thursday. (AP-Yonhap)NAPLES, Florida (AP) ― Stacy Lewis was three shots out of the lead Thursday and one step closer to the largest payoff in women’s golf at the CME Group Tour Championship.Lewis overcame the kind of tension she typically feels on the weekend at majors. She held it together with her short game, made a 25-foot eagle putt late in her opening round and wou

Nov. 21, 2014

NAPLES, Florida (AP) ― Stacy Lewis has never been closer to a $1 million payoff, in points or in person.Lewis is leading the inaugural “Race to CME Globe” that will be decided this week in the LPGA Tour’s season finale. The top three players ― Lewis, Park In-bee and Lydia Ko ― need to win the CME Group Tour Championship to capture the $1 million bonus. In a promotional stunt Wednesday, the tour asked them to pose next to a glass case neatly packed with $100 bills that amount to the richest payof

Nov. 20, 2014

MEXICO CITY (AP) ― Christina Kim won the Lorena Ochoa Invitational on Sunday for her first LPGA Tour title in nine years, beating Shanshan Feng in a playoff after blowing a five-stroke lead.Kim won with a tap-in par on the par-4 18th on the second extra hole.The 30-year-old American celebrated with an exuberant dance and jumped up and down on the green. Kim hugged caddie T.J. Jones, boyfriend Duncan French and friend Michelle Wie, with Wie wiping away tears after embracing the winner. French is

Nov. 17, 2014

MEXICO CITY (AFP) ― Christina Kim, who is seeking her first LPGA win in almost a decade, posted a 4-under 68 to take a five-shot lead into the final round of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.The 30-year-old American has one of the longest winless droughts on the tour ― her last victory came in 2005 at the Tournament of Champions.Kim, who began the day just one shot ahead of Paula Creamer, finished 54 holes at 14-under-par 202.“I’m just here to enjoy myself and really just go out and try and play so

Nov. 16, 2014

Lydia Ko. (AP-Yonhap)DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (AFP) ― New Zealand teen Lydia Ko was named the LPGA Rookie of the Year on Wednesday, the two-time 2014 winner becoming the youngest player to ever claim the award at 17.The South Korean-born star won the 2012 and 2013 LPGA Canadian Women’s Open titles, becoming the youngest winner of an LPGA event at age 15 and then defending that crown, although both wins came as an amateur.Ko was given a special exemption in October of last year to join the LPGA, th

Nov. 13, 2014

South Korean Lee Mi-hyang captured her first LPGA Tour victory in a playoff in Japan on Sunday.Lee, 21, won the Mizuno Classic with a birdie on the fifth playoff hole, edging out fellow South Korean Lee Il-hee and Japanese Kotono Kozuma at the Kintetsu Kashikojima Country Club in Shima, Japan. Lee Mi-hyang took home the $180,000 winner’s check.The three players all scored pars on their first two trips to the par-4 18th hole in the sudden death playoff, and then all birdied the same hole on their

Nov. 9, 2014