Week 11 review; Week 12 look ahead - Rory wins; Sugrue returns
Rory McIlroy speaks to the media following his victory at TPC Sawgrass
Week 11 review; Week 12 look ahead
PGA Tour
The Players Championship
Rory McIlroy beat JJ Spaun in a three-hole aggregate playoff to claim his 28th PGA Tour win.
The Holywood star has now won in three of his last six starts worldwide and becomes the first European to win The Players twice.
Shane Lowry closed with a 68 at TPC Sawgrass to tie for 20th — his 12th top 20 in his last 14 starts. Having risen to a career-high 14th in the world the previous week, he fell one spot to 15th as Robert MacIntyre jumped four places to 14th.
McIlroy goes to the top of the FedEx Cup standings with Shane Lowry 12th and Seamus Power 98th following his missed cut at Sawgrass.
This week: Valspar Championship, Innisbrook Resort (Copperhead Course)
$8,700,000 /$1,566,000
Shane Lowry and Seamus Power will fly the flag for Irish golf in Tampa this week/
Lowry was T12 in 2022 and T49 in 2018 while Power will be making his fifth appearance after finishing T27 in 2017;, cut in 2018 and 2019 and T26 behind Peter Malnati last year.
Xander Schauffele (3), Tommy Fleetwood (9), Justin Thomas (10), Sepp Straka (11), Lowry (15), Viktor Hovland (19) and Billy Horschel (20) head a field featuring 21 of the world’s top 50 and 57 of the top 100.
Irish world rankings:
2 (2) Rory McIlroy;
15 (14) Shane Lowry;
117 (119) Tom McKibbin;
125 (120) Seamus Power;
315 (314) Conor Purcell;
398 (389) Padraig Harrington;
665 (661) Dermot McElroy;
716 (713) Gary Hurley;
835 (840) Liam Nolan;
840 (838) Jonathan Caldwell;
1233 (1225) Mark Power;
1359 (1356) John Ross Galbraith;
1387 (1382) Graeme McDowell;
1451 (1447) Ronan Mullarney;
1549 (1550) Robert Moran.
HotelPlanner Tour
England’s Joshua Berry won the Kolkata Challenge after a playoff with Norwegian Andreas Halvorsen, Austrian Lukas Nemecz and Om Prakash Chouhan from India.
Berry signed for a one over par round of 73 to tie on 11-under before birdieing the second extra play-off hole to win.
The 19-year-old, who broke the course record at Royal Calcutta on day two, was delighted to scoop the first win of his professional career.
Laytown and Bettystown’s Alex Maguire (24) made his seasonal debut in Calcutta adn shot level par 288 to finish tied 46th after rounds of 72, 72, 73 and 71.
He made 15 birdies, 11 bogeys and two double bogeys over the four days.
Galway’s Liam Nolan missed the level par cut by two shots after rounds of 74 and 72, making seven birdies, five bogeys and two double bogeys to finish on two-over.
Nolan is still well placed in the Road to Mallorca Rankings and the race for 20 DP World Tour cards.
Road to Mallorca (Irish placings)
6 (5) Liam Nolan
54 (46) Jonathan Caldwell
70 (59) Max Kennedy
97 (-) Alex Maguire
110 (96) Dermot McElroy
This week, Delhi Challenge, Classic Golf & Country Club Gurugram, Haryana, India
$300,000
Alex Maguire and Liam Nolan are the Irish entrants this week. John Parry won the inaugural Delhi Challenge last year, shooting 20-under to win by a shot from Jack Senior, Chris Paisley and Joshua Grenville-Wood
DP World Tour
There was no event last week and the action now moves to Singapore for the start of the DP World Tour’s Asian Swing
This week - Porsche Singapore Classic, Laguna National Golf Resort Club, Singapore
$2.5 million
Conor Purcell (27) will be out in the opening group of the day on Thursday.
He has made the cut in two of his first four starts in 2025, finishing 42nd in Qatar and 60th in Bahrain but missing the cut in Kenya and the Ras Al Khaimah Championship either side of those two starts.
Purcell’s 2025 stats
Driving Accuracy (%) 48.64 (Tour average) 51.28 (Rank) 128th
Driving Distance (Yards) 304.19 (307.89) 87th
Greens in Regulation (%) 64.24 (66.60) 115th
Putts Per Gir 1.89 (1.81) 156th
Average Putts Per Round 30.19 (29.50) 146th
Sand Saves (% / Total Save attempts) 40.91 (48.42) 146th
Stroke Average 72.56 (71.38) 147th.
Alps Tour
The Alps Tour returns to action this week for the first of two events in Tunisia
This week — 2025 Tunisian Golf Open, The Residence Golf Tunis, Tunisia
€47,500
Ronan Mullarney, Hugh Foley, John Murphy, Robert Moran and Michael Young tee it up this week.
Mullarney lies fifth in the Alps Tour rankings race for five Hotel Planner Tour cards after three starts with Foley 9th, Robert Moran 24th and John Murphy 36th.
Asian Tour
Graeme McDowell plays the International Series Macau presented by Wynn seeking one of 3 places available in The Open at Royal Portrush from July 13-20.
International Series Macau, Macau Golf and Country Club
US$2,000,000
Ladies European Tour
Last week - Australian Women's Classic Coffs Harbour Golf Club
Lauren Walsh finished tied 16th on two-under (69 65 74) at Coffs Harbour, seven shots behind Belgium’s Manon De Roey.
Anna Foster was 53rd on four over (71 69 74) while Annabel Wilson (71 74) missed the cut by a shot.
England’s Cara Gainer tops the Order of Merit while Walsh is 9th, Sara Byrne 52nd, Wilson 63rd and Foster 78th.
This week — Ford Women's NSW Open Wollongong Golf Club, €300,000
Irish entries - Lauren Walsh, Anna Foster and Annabel Wilson.
LPGA
The LPGA enters the second week of a break following the Asian Swing and returns next week for the Ford Championship presented by Wild Horse Pass with Leona Maguire in the field.
Maguire has played five events and lies 25th in the Race to CME Globe standings
Blue Bay LPGA T33 +2 $15,528 73 75 71 71 290
HSBC Women's World Championship T21 -2 $24,200 75 73 69 69 286
Honda LPGA Thailand T33 -6 $10,901 74 68 70 70 282
Founders Cup presented by U.S. Virgin Islands T19 -8 $23,210 73 68 68 67 276
Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions 9 -10 $55,514 70 68 72 68 278
Epson Tour
Last week - IOA Golf Classic presented by Aperture, Longwood, FL
Sara Byrne finished 58th on four over (71 73 73 217), 15 shots behind Gina Kim.
The Douglas golfer lies 64th in the race for 10 LPGA cards as the Epson Tour takes a break until late April.
Sara Byrne’s season so far
03/14/2025 IOA Golf Classic presented by Aperture T58 +4 $832 71 73 73 - 217 4.10
03/06/2025 Atlantic Beach Classic presented by Access Golf CUT +14 $0 83 73 - - 156 0.00
02/28/2025 Central Florida Championship T28 -4 $0 67 72 73 - 212 23.33
Clutch Tour
This week - UAE Championship, Al Ain
The action begins today with Mark Power, James Sugrue, John Ross Galbraith and Paul McBride in the field.
Sugrue, the 2019 Amateur champion, returns to action for the first time since last year’s Longwy Alps Open, following injury.
Sugrue (28) lost 18 months to a back injury and a broken ankle and is looking forward to returning to the fairways.
“Looking forward to the year ahead, the last year has been a disaster because I injured my back, and just as I came out of that, I broke my ankle, so I was out for 12 to 16 months, so really looking forward to getting back over,” he said.
“I’ll be playing Clutch all year, and I could have up to seven Challenge Tour starts, so you never know where that could take you.”
