Tom Hobbs

Main Account: @flushingitgolf

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

Anthony Kim is in the middle of an incredible comeback season. Having been relegated from LIV Golf last year, he earned his way back via the Promotions Event and then won on the league almost immediately in Adelaide. He’s not done there though, AK is now targeting a return to the Masters in 2027.

Ahead of LIV Golf Andalucia, AK spoke to Flushing It Golf about how his season is going so far:

“1% better is something that I'm keeping with me every day.

“To get a win early in the season, especially in Australia, was amazing, and getting that moment with my family was amazing. But I've had a couple weeks where my focus wasn't as good as I wanted, so theres a lot to improve on still. I think that I'm progressing in the right way, and if I just keep working, I'll keep getting better.”

AK’s success has been a simple combination of hard work and focusing on the fundamentals to utilise the incredible natural talent he’s had throughout his career. He spoke about the importance of getting the basics right:

“I was just explaining to my friend over there, no matter how well you're playing, you always have to go back to the fundamentals. Whether it's alignment, posture, grip, all the small things to keep playing good golf. I think no matter how far along I get, whether I win a bunch more times, no matter what the result, I still have to focus on that first. And then everything else will take care of itself.”

AK’s concentrating right now on solely playing LIV Golf events. But once the league season is over, he plans to play on The International Series on the Asian Tour, with a specific target of the Hong Kong Open, where there is a Masters spot on the line. He spoke about the target of returning to Augusta:

“Yeah, the target is to give myself an opportunity, not only to play a major, but to win a major. I know that sounds crazy, but it also sounded crazy for me to be contending to win a golf tournament, let alone to actually win.

“So, I'm excited for the opportunity that I have in front of me, and I think I'm gonna be able to keep getting better as long as I keep working.”

AK still has a great chance to qualify for The Open this week at Valderrama for the highest ranked player on the LIV Golf Standings who isn’t already exempt.

Hopefully he can play well and add another chapter to what has already been an inspirational story.

@AnthonyKim_Golf @4AcesGC_ @livgolf_league

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

Joaco Niemann will be filling his schedule with DP World Tour events during LIV Golf’s 7 week break after Valderrama, with appearances at the Italian Open and BMW International.

He told Flushing It Golf ahead of LIV Golf Andalucia:

“It’s nice to go to all these different countries and play their national championships. I mean it's just real fun. And obviously, I need to kind of play them well because of the world rankings, but yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”

Joaco won his 8th event on the LIV Golf League last week in Korea, a record number of victories. This week he is at Valderrama, and he thinks the difficulty of the course will be good preparation for the US Open:

“Yeah, I think this is a really challenging course. I’m not sure how Shinnecock is. It’s a different style, but for the mental test this is definitely up there with Shinnecock because of the tough conditions that we play here. So yeah, I mean, I think it will get you ready for the challenge.”

Joaco qualified for this year’s US Open via the 2025 LIV Golf season-long standings. But despite his record of winning 21 times globally on 6 different tours, he only has a single top 10 in a major. He’s thankful he has the opportunity to improve on that in 2 weeks:

“Yeah, I mean, it just feels so good to be there. I’m just grateful that I'm able to play. It’s going to be a great celebration of golf, and a lot of people dream of winning it, and I love competing. So yeah, it’ll be nice to be there.”

Joaco also has the chance to qualify for The Open Championship this week at LIV Golf Andalucia if he can maintain his position in the standings as the highest ranked non exempt player. It’s a big stretch of golf coming up, and he got off to the dream start last week with the victory.

@TorqueGC_ @livgolf_league

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

Charles Howell III has been a top-level pro for more than a quarter of a century. Consistency and longevity have been pivotal in his career, and that’s something LIV Golf now desperately needs.

After the current event at Valderrama, the league has a lengthy mid-season break. So, I asked Charles what he’s planning to do with the time off and his thoughts on LIV Golf’s future:

“That’s a great question. I'm not totally sure yet. But I do know these are the biggest seven weeks that LIV Golf has ever had. Apart from maybe the few weeks leading into London, back in 2022. So, I think these are the biggest seven weeks of LIV Golf.

“Scott O'Neill has been awesome. And man, he stepped into this role, and he's working his tail off. Us players see that, and we love it. And I love that his communication is open communication. Telling us (the players), what's going on, where he's at, and what he's doing. There’s not one player out here that's upset, and that doesn't like playing golf out here. We have a lot of positives, a lot of things going for us.

“With Scott and the team, Chris Heck, Katie O’Reilly, Ollie Banks, Rich Marsh. We have a wonderful team up top, and, yeah, I think it'll be okay.”

Many players are projecting this image of positivity. Despite that, there are currently very few details on what the future of LIV Golf actually looks like. One thing is obvious, though: there’s almost certainly going to be a reduction in prize money.

If the LIV Golf purses, which are currently a bloated $30 million, were cut significantly — potentially to between $10 million and $15 million — would Charles and the other top players hang around?

“Yeah, I think so,” Charles said, “I mean, if the schedule looks good and all that, I think so, yeah.

“But, listen, I'm at a different point in my career. I'll be 47 in June. So I want to stay on LIV. I want LIV to work. I want LIV to be better than ever. And I'm having a blast. And, I don't like speaking for other players, but I can speak for them and say that they're having a blast too, you know? So collectively, you have 57 guys out here that want this to work. And we have one of our biggest and best assets in Bryson DeChambeau, busting his tails to help make it work. So it's cool to see.”

LIV Golf faces a race against time to secure their future. They’ve hit the market with a plan to try and secure the essential funding to keep the league alive. Whether they’ll get, no one knows right now. But internally, the majority of players are expressing the same positivity they always have. “Long LIV Golf.”

@livgolf_league @Crushers_GC

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

Bryson DeChambeau has taken a prominent role in trying to secure investment for LIV Golf since the PIF withdrew funding. So, how does the league’s other main star, Jon Rahm, feel about that, and is he taking a similar role?

“I am not, no.

“I said it in Spanish; I don't know how to translate it to English. It would be more of a stay-in-your-lane type situation as it goes to me. I know nothing about business. I'm never going to claim to know anything about business, and if I was in a business pitch, I would not know the first thing to say. My job is to play golf, and I'll say it's is hard enough as it is, especially this week.

“But if any player who knows what they're doing is willing to do certain things like that, I think it can only help. To have insight from a player on a meeting like that can help, and I'm open for any suggestions possible, but I would also say I don't have the free time that Bryson has to be flying around the country to attend meetings with three little ones and one on the way. Even if I wanted to, I don't know if I could do it.”

@JonRahmOfficial @livgolf_league

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

On Friday, Sports Illustrated released their entire golf crew. That sucks.
Not only because incredibly talented and experienced journalists like Bob Harig are now (temporarily) out of work. But one of the largest sports media empires is cutting virtually their entire coverage of the sport we all love.

Storytelling is the greatest asset a sport has to drive engagement and fan interest. If there are less reporters at the events and fans have to rely on questions from tour employees, media who are financially linked to the tour they cover, or media who are represented by the same agencies as the players, then output is inevitably going to be sanitised.

Professional golf is already boring when it compares to other sports. The legendary characters of Arnie, Seve, Chi Chi etc are long gone and now the vast majority are media trained robots who offer very little in the way of a story unless it’s pulled out of them by a willing journalist. That’s only going to get worse the more great writers become unemployed.

I haven’t been in the golf media game for long, but I have learned one very important lesson. Authentic storytelling is paramount to the success of the sport and elevating stars.

I’d like to wish every single one of the great journalists that was released by SI all the best for the future and I hope they land in another important role within the sport as soon as possible.

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

Just over 2 years since its launch, LIV Golf has cancelled the “Any Shot Any Time” feature - which was available to subscribers on the app - for the rest of the season. A League spokesperson described it as a “strategic decision” as part of the ongoing evaluation of the production model, and LIV Golf will be issuing refunds.

The “Any Shot Any Time” feature was a fantastic addition to the league’s production, offering highlights of every shot from every player and live streams of each group. It significantly enhanced the fan experience and many people subscribed to the app just to use it. It’s a real shame that it’s been cancelled at this stage of the season.

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

LIV Golf’s early proposed schedule for 2027 consists of what they are calling “5 x Team Majors” and “5 x Signature Events” in correspondence with media. The players obviously got the same memo because Anthony Kim made a joke about it ahead of LIV Golf Korea.

When asked about whether majors are on his radar, AK said:

“Yeah, I obviously want to play in the majors. I want to play in the biggest events. That's why I'm working. But I heard LIV is adding five more majors, so there will be nine majors to go after. (Smiling.)”

On the serious side though, AK is currently 5th on the season long standings and the highest placed player who is not currently exempt after Andalucia will qualify for The Open. If he can have 2 good weeks, he has every chance of claiming that spot and playing in his first major since the 2011 PGA Championship.

@AnthonyKim_Golf @livgolf_league @4AcesGC_

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

Dustin Johnson was asked his opinion on the PIF pulling funding of the league ahead of LIV Golf Korea, and in classic DJ fashion, he offered a lengthy answer:

“Long LIV Golf.”

He’s a man of many words! 😅

@DJohnsonPGA @4AcesGC_ @livgolf_league

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

Bryson DeChambeau spoke with media ahead of LIV Golf Korea with a new look, and he was once again bullish on where he sees the future of the league with the business plan they are taking to investors. In particular, the team golf aspect and the global schedule.

This week marks the 8th different country they have visited in the 8 events they’ve held so far and Bryson was asked about his experience of travelling the world:

“I think as I look at it now, what's really impacted me the most is the cultural barriers that get broken down, in a good way, with the game of golf. Everybody comes together. I think that's what's really special about LIV. I think that's what's really special about the game of golf. We'd be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn't continue to do that.

“I think there's value in the States. There's value outside of the States. There's a way to match both.”

He then was asked about his reaction to the news that the PIF was pulling the funding and the opportunity it offers:

“We were surprised that they pulled out as quickly as they did. We didn't really see that coming. But that's okay. One door closes, another opens. I think that's the way a lot of us are looking at it. I think we all have optimism that there is a business plan that makes sense for team golf. I'd quite honestly actually -- how do I say it? I'm very optimistic with the business plan of team golf compared to other models, in my opinion.

“But again, other models have worked, as well, so I'm not going to say that one is better than the other, but I do see value in what team golf can provide not only worldwide but also in grass rooting the game of golf. National support, team national support, city local support, we grass root ourselves there. There's a couple ideas that we have -- quite a few ideas that we have that could be interesting.

“We'll see if investors like it or not. I'm giving all I can to make it happen, and if it doesn't, it doesn't happen.”

And finally he was asked how he is able to overcome the noise off the course and concentrate on his own game during tournament weeks:

“I go out there on the first tee on Thursday and hit a beautiful drive down the middle of the fairway, hopefully. That's what we're focused on. In the background, yeah, we're trying to help where we can, but ultimately it's up to executives and everybody banding together. If we all band together, there's an opportunity here. If not, it's going to be a different day for all of us.

“But for me, how I support, go out and hit a great drive on the first tee, play a great round of golf, sign autographs after and have a good time.”

Bryson is more involved now than he has ever been in shaping the future of the LIV Golf League. With the PIF pulling the funding and withdrawing the blank cheques, they have a big task ahead of them. But if one of their greatest assets is fully on board with trying to fund a practical solution, that can only be a positive for everyone involved.

@brysondech @livgolf_league

[The Milton @saintsfcmemes]

Request a bet.

Odds on how many games it takes Southampton, starting on -4, to get more points than Portsmouth next year in the Championship.

I’d like a specific line on 2 games.

Cheers

@SkyBet @paddypower @Betfair @bet365 @Coral

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

The Korea Open announced a LIV Golf backed purse increase of more than 40% to a record 2 billion won a few weeks ago. But Asian Tour players have been told yesterday, Monday of tournament week, that the additional increase has been removed and it will revert to the original 1.4 billion won.

At the end of April, tournament organisers said:

“With $500,000 in prize money support from LIV Golf, with whom we have been expanding our partnership, the winner's share will be 700 million won and the total purse 2 billion won, making this the largest tournament in its history.”

But players received an email yesterday, stating:

“Due to reduced sponsorship, please be informed that the prize money for Kolon The 68th KOREA Open Golf Championship will revert back to the original amount of KRW 1,400,000,000. This does not affect points allocated to the tournament and it will remain as a Tier 2 event.

“We appreciate your understanding and remain committed to delivering a world-class event for all competitors.”

5 players on the LIV Golf League are in the field with Bubba Watson, Danny Lee, Abraham Ancer, Minkyu Kim and Richard T Lee all set to tee it up on Thursday alongside the top Asian Tour players.

The Kolon Korea Open is part of the Open Championship Qualifying Series with 1 spot available to the highest finishing non-exempt player. It promises to be anther great event at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in Cheonan.

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

Aaron Rai’s historic victory at the PGA Championship is a fantastic reminder of just how great of a multicultural sporting nation the United Kingdom has become.

Aaron’s parents are of Indian and Kenyan descent, but he was born and raised in the heart of England. Now he’s broken the more than 100 year drought of English major winners to lift the Wanamaker Trophy.

Yesterday, he was asked about his heritage:

“I'm very proud to be from England. That's where I grew up. That's where a lot of my family still live.

“I'm very proud of India and Kenya as well. My mum grew up there. My mum’s side of the family lived there for a number of years before they moved to England. My sister now lives there. My mum still spends a lot of time in Kenya.

“Again, going back a couple of generations, both of my sets of grandparents from my mum and dad's side were from India.

“Again, I'm very proud of representing all three really. I don't know what all that represents or how it's going to come across. All I can say is I'm very proud to be a mix of all of them.”

Aaron Rai isn’t just an English champion, he’s a global one, and he’s an incredible ambassador for the sport.

@PGAChampionship

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

Chad Mumm is the co-founder and president of Pro Shop Holdings, a media company that the PGA Tour own a substantial minority stake in and is registered and operated out of PGA Tour BLVD in Ponte Vedra.

PSH operates, controls or produces various media outlets and shows, including Dan on Golf - hosted by Dan Rapaport, Skratch, and Netflix shows like Full Swing and Happy Gilmore 2. PSH also offers incentives to NUCLR Golf to share their articles and shows on X which I don’t believe has ever been publicly disclosed.

Chad, and many other US media outlets, have regularly tried to discredit me because I am just a tradesman from the UK who is obsessed with golf and has managed to build a large platform without the need to financially grift like they do. Despite the many, many offers, I’ve never sold out.

People like Chad are a big reason why there is so much misinformation in the golf space and frankly, I’m embarrassed for them.

Enjoy the final round of the PGA Championship, Chad.

@chadmumm

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

https://t.co/dZVIl32eeQ

In 2013, 15 year old Leonie Harm was out for her morning run and hit by a car leaving her with brain injuries, bone fractures, and a collapsed lung. She was put into an induced coma and given a 1% chance of survival by paramedics at the scene. But she made a full recovery and went on to be one of the best amateurs in the world.

Today, she just made birdie on her last two holes to shoot a final round 69 and win her maiden title on the LET at the Amundi German Masters in front of her home fans.

What an incredible story.

@LETgolf https://t.co/dZVIl32eeQ

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

After an opening 74 at the PGA Championship that he described as “shit”, Rory McIlroy bounced back with a bogey free 67 that he says was “not as shit” to comfortably make the cut.

Despite unanimous praise from fans about the Aronimink set up, Rory is not as impressed:

“The only thing I would say is, I think a bunched leaderboard like this, I think it's a sign of not a great setup, I think when it's as bunched as it is, because it hasn't really enabled anyone to separate themselves. It's like, you know, it's easy to make a ton of pars, hard to make birdies, and not that it's hard to make bogey, but it feels like bogey's the worst score you're going to shoot on any one hole.

“There's not a lot of hazards. There's not, you know -- yeah, I think the setup is fine, like the golf course is good, the pins were tough, and the wind was what it was as well. But I just think, yeah, I've always felt like really good setups, it starts to spread the field a bit, and not great setups sort of bring everyone together. I feel like that's what's happened the last two days.”

Rory is 5 shots back of the lead in T30th position heading into the weekend and says he still feels like he is in with a chance:

“At five back I do feel like I'm right in the tournament, and that's really what I wanted to do today was to just get myself back in it, and I feel like I've done that.”

Rory has a Saturday pairing with Brooks Koepka at 11am EST. He will need 2 low ones over the next 2 days if he is to claim his third PGA Championship and be halfway towards completing the calendar year Grand Slam.

@McIlroyRory @PGAChampionship

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

Ludvig Aberg shot a 2nd round 4 under par 66 to move inside the top 10 of the PGA Championship and just 2 back of the lead. After the round, he said he did “most things better” than the opening day 72, and gave a great explanation of why patience is so important at Aronimink:

“Yeah, compared to yesterday, I did most things better. I was hitting more fairways, I was hitting it closer, and I was making more putts. We knew going into today it was going to be a day of patience with some of those pins. The wind was up early in our round. It kind of died down, which made it a little bit easier.

“But still a difficult golf course, and I'm pleased with the way kind of the scorecard kind of showed that patience a little bit today, which I'm pleased with.”

He then spoke about how optimistic he is heading into the weekend:

“Yeah, absolutely. Like you said, optimistic is a good word. I think, I like that yesterday I didn't hit the ball very well, but I was able to sort of get back into hitting golf shots again today. I felt like I was striking it nice all day. If I can keep that up tomorrow and keep the patience, I'll be happy.”

The course set up has been the topic of much discussion. Ludvig spoke about how many pins he had to play away from:

“Plenty, yeah, definitely plenty. The one that stands out is definitely 11, where you probably know going into you're not going to get it close. What's cool about this place is it gives you short clubs on a lot of these par-4s, but it's still really hard to get it close. Then you mix that in with some strong par-3s and it's a good test.

“I felt like I handled it well today. I didn't feel -- I didn't try to force anything, I was okay with 20 feet, and I was okay with 25 feet at times. I think that's what you got to do when you play this golf course.”

Ludvig’s form in his last 5 PGA Tour events reads: T3, T5, T5, T4 and T8 with a T21 at the Masters in between. It’s been a very consistent season so far and he has a great chance to claim his breakthrough major win this weekend.

@PGAChampionship

[Wampum Mining LLC 🇺🇸 @WampumMining]

@jamierkennedy Does anyone in golf media actually like anything related to golf. It’s just nonstop “actually this sucks” about everything

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

24 year old Spaniard David Puig shot a 3 under par 67 to climb inside the top 10 of the PGA Championship, just 3 shots off the lead. It’s the highest position he’s held after any round of a major and he spoke about how that feels:

“No, yeah, very excited. I get up every day for weeks and days like today. I'm really excited about the weekend. I think obviously I could do some things better, hopefully the weekend.

“But I think I've been getting a little better year after year, and I definitely got to this major championship as best prepared as I ever was, and compared to the other ones that I played.

“So really excited to have some sort of late tee time on a Saturday at a major championship, and I'll give my best and hopefully it's good.”

David played with 21 year old Aldrich Potgieter today and they are both the new school of modern player, who absolutely send it off the tee. He spoke about that:

“No, yeah, it was awesome. He's a really talented player. He hits it really far. I think I hit it pretty far, but he's definitely longer than me. And, yeah, I mean he -- obviously the last couple holes, with a couple bogeys, but he played unbelievable golf today and yesterday.

“He's pretty much accomplished a lot of things already, but he's got a really, really bright future in front of him. So amazing player.”

David won the Australian PGA on his debut as a DP World Tour member, and the golf world is already fully aware of his talent. It feels like it’s just a matter of time before he announces himself on the biggest stage and he has a great chance to do that this weekend at Aronimink.

@PuigCorrius @PGAChampionship @fireballsgc_

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

After shooting an opening 67 to co-lead a major after the first round for the first time in his career, Scottie Scheffler shot a 1 over par 71 to currently be T8 in his PGA Championship defence. After the round he said the pins at Aronimink are the toughest he’s ever experienced:

“This is the hardest set of pin locations that I've seen since I've been on TOUR, and that includes U.S. Opens, that includes Oakmont. I did ask, I asked Fooch, who caddies for Justin Rose. He's been around a long time -- and I asked Teddy too -- have you seen anything like this before? They said maybe Shinnecock is the only place they have seen that has pins that could compare to this.

“But it's different in a sense on this golf course, because Oakmont, their greens are extremely severe, but they're extremely severe in one direction. Here, it's like the green may slope all this way and then we put the pin down here and then there's also a slope this way. And like it's not as, how would you say, natural to the slopes that are there. There's a bit more, I think, that's manufactured into the greens, and it's just very difficult.

“It's difficult to get the ball close to the hole. It's difficult to hole putts, especially when you have big slopes and wind, and I think that's why you see the scores so close to par.”

Personally, I think the PGA of America has set the course up very well and it’s a fantastic test of golf for the elite players. What are your thoughts on it?

@PGAChampionship

[Flushing It @flushingitgolf]

Justin Thomas’s group were put on the clock today at the PGA Championship. He said after the round he disagrees with the decision and spoke about “time par”:

“We were, yeah. We just didn't really agree with it. It's hard because it's kind of the whole time par thing. What is time par? How can time par on this course be the same when it's blowing 25 and the pins are tough than if it's not? And does time par change every day? There's just so many factors that go into it.

“We were behind. I'm not -- I think that wasn't our issue or being annoyed by it, it's just the fact that we weren't holding up the group behind us. They were about -- it seemed like every time we were on the green, they were on the tee and so on and so forth.

“The hard part to me with the whole pace of play thing is that you, there's so much that goes into golf and there's so much that goes into hole to hole in terms of, are you hitting it close, are you able to tap it in, or you have to mark it, stuff like that, to where, are you holding the group up or are you not, to where it's very hard to make that call. And we just didn't agree with it, to be honest.

“But we got taken off, and a hole later we were caught up. So it kind of goes to our point of why we didn't think we should of, but it is what it is. It's a part of it.”

He then was asked whether he had to rush to get back into position:

“No. I backed off on my first shot being on the clock even. It's just, it's so hard out here, and that's the last thing I'm going to do is make a mistake because I feel like I'm rushing.

“If we were, for some reason, to get in a position where I was getting, we were getting bad times and we were continuing to be on, I would have had more discussions with the rules officials to kind of plead my case. But that was -- it's hard enough -- I'm not going to sit out there and take two minutes, like that's disrespectful to the field and everybody.

“But at the same time, I'm not going to -- you know, I'm not going to rush and hit a shot that isn't right. So just kind of went about my business and just was ready to play when it was my turn like I feel like I do normally.”

It does a bit ineffective to put one group on the clock if they can quickly catch up with the group ahead. But professional golf is far too slow and something does need to be done to improve the pace of play.

Justin is currently inside the top 10 after a second consecutive 69. Nice!

@JustinThomas34 @PGAChampionship