Rory McIlroy has a week off, at least from tournament play, as he plans to take in a visit to Augusta National and “work on some things” ahead of returning to tour life at next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, followed by his defence of The Players the following week at Sawgrass.
The Northern Irishman finished tied-second behind Jacob Bridgeman in the Genesis Invitational to complete back-to-back weeks in California, moving to 12th on the updated FedEx Cup standings.
“I feel like my game’s in really good shape. I’m looking forward to getting on some Bermuda greens over the next couple weeks. But it’s feeling good, it’s feeling much better than it did in Dubai, which is a big step in the right direction. I just have to keep working,” said McIlroy, who has opted to skip this week’s Cognizant Classic, which kickstarts the Florida swing part of the PGA Tour schedule.
Shane Lowry followed up on a top-10 in the Pebble Beach pro-am with a tied-24th in the Genesis. He’ll feature in the Cognizant – the third of what will be a five-week stretch of events – at Palm Beach Gardens, effectively a hometown tournament for him.
Shane Lowry plays his shot from the second tee during the first round of the Genesis Invitational. Photograph: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images
Lowry will be joined in the field by Séamus Power as the Waterford man – who lost his full tour card last season – bids to make the most of the tournaments his status allows.
Leona Maguire, meanwhile, continues her Asian swing itinerary on the LPGA Tour. The Cavan woman is playing in the HSBC World Championship in Singapore after a tied-32nd finish in last week’s Honda LPGA Thailand (won by Jeeno Thitikul) which marked her first outing of the season.
Áine Donegan will make her Ladies European Tour debut in this week’s Ford Women’s NSW Open at Woolongong Golf Club in the start of a four-week stretch in Australia, where Anna Foster is also in the field.
Amateur Championship hits to Portrush
Royal Portrush has been named as the host venue for next year’s Amateur Championship, part of a policy by the R&A to continue bringing their premier amateur events to courses that are on The Open rota.
The 132nd Amateur Championship will take place from June 14th-19th, 2027, with strokeplay qualifying on the Valley and Dunluce courses before the matchplay phase is played on the Dunluce links, which last year hosted Scottie Scheffler’s march to the claret jug in the 153rd Open.
The sixth tee at Royal Portrush during last year’s Open. Photograph: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images
It will be Royal Portrush’s fourth time hosting the Amateur Championship, the last being the 2014 edition when Scotland’s Bradley Neil claimed the title.
This year’s championship will be staged at Royal Liverpool, with championship competitor applications due to open on the R&A website later this week.
By the Numbers: 5,300,000,000
LIV Golf received another $266.6 million (€226 million) capital injection from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), bringing the total since the tour’s inception to $5.3 billion (€4.5 billion).
Word of Mouth
“The hole is really white and it looked pretty big, for whatever reason, on 18. I was just hoping that the ball would roll where it was supposed to roll. Everyone always says the hole looks small when you’ve got pressure, I thought it looked pretty big.” – Jacob Bridgeman on having to putt through the shadows on the 18th to capture the Genesis Invitational, his first win on the PGA Tour. Bridgeman’s win moved him to the top of the FedEx Cup standings and a career-best 20th (up from 52nd) on the official world rankings.
On this day: February 24th, 1991
Steve Richardson’s win in the Girona Open – the opening event of the European Tour season – marked him out as a man apart as the only ever winner of the tournament in Catalonia.
Team Europe’s Mark James and Steve Richardson during the 1991 Ryder Cup in Kiawah Island, South Carolina. Photograph: Stephen Munday/Getty Images
The Englishman’s maiden win on the circuit came with rounds of 71-64-67-70 for a total of 16-under-par 272 at Golf Platja de Pal for a two-stroke winning margin over Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez, with another Spaniard Jose Rivero in third.
The breakthrough win propelled Richardson on to what would be his best ever season on the European Tour, when he also won the Portuguese Open and earned a place – for his first and only time – on Europe’s Ryder Cup team for the match at Kiawah Island. He would finish second on that year’s order of merit behind Seve Ballesteros.
However, Richardson never got a chance to defend his title as the Girona Open turned out to be a one-off event on the schedule.
Social Swing
Most bronze medalists are happier than silver medalists… life’s all about how you look at things.
It’s ALL internal, not external.
Except plugged lies in the bunker. The golf gods are just laughing at you at that point.
— Michael S. Kim (@Mike_kim714) February 22, 2026
Most bronze medalists are happier than silver medalists…. Life’s all about how you look at things. It’s ALL internal, not external. Except plugged lies in the bunker. The golf gods are just laughing at you at that point – Michael Kim, something of a philosopher it would seem.
3 years sober 2day🔥
Never give up. Life may knock u down but GOD will help u get back up but u need 2 put in the work. Thank u all 4 the support from my family/friends & supporters🙏 love u guys@malbongolf pic.twitter.com/VIcGFjJmjJ
— Anthony Kim (@AnthonyKim_Golf) February 19, 2026
3 years sober 2day, Never give up. Life may knock you down but GOD will help u get back up but u need 2 put in the work. Thank u all 4 the support from my family/friends & supporters love u guys – Anthony Kim on the journey he has travelled in fighting his addiction.
JEENO! With a CLUTCH putt on the 71st hole, Jeeno Thitikull claimed her 8th LPGA title, and first in her home country of Thailand. This was the first win Jeeno has been able to capture in front of heer mother, who still lives in Thailand #1PutteronTour #NothingBeatsThis – Odyssey Golf bigging up Thitikull’s win in the Honda LPGA Thailand tournament.
Know the Rules
Q: A player using a wheeled mobility device takes relief in a bunker for an unplayable ball by dropping the ball back on the line outside the bunker. How many penalty strokes is this relief option?
A: The relief is for one penalty stroke. This is covered by Rule 25.4n and Rule 19.3b: When a player with a wheeled mobility device takes relief for an unplayable ball in a bunker, Rule 19.3b is modified so that the player may take back-on-the-line relief outside that bunker for one penalty stroke.
In the Bag: Jacob Bridgeman
Genesis Invitational – PGA Tour
Driver: TaylorMade Qi35 (10.5 degrees)
Fairway woods: TaylorMade Qi4D HL (16.5 degrees), TaylorMade Stealth (21 degrees)
Irons: TaylorMade Tour Preferred UDI (4), TaylorMade P770 (5), TaylorMade P7CB (6-PW)
Wedges: TaylorMade MG5 (50, 54 and 60 degrees)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour
Ball: TaylorMade TP5