BRITISH OPEN

Players who joined Saudi-funded LIV Golf can still play in all the majors — and qualify for the Ryder Cup — now that the PGA Championship and British Open have announced only minor tweaks to existing criteria. As for the Ryder Cup, LIV players such as Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed likely would need to win at least one major to have any chance of earning one of the six automatic spots on the U.S. team for the Sept. 28-30 matches in Italy. The qualifying system is 1 point earned for every $1,000 won in PGA Tour events this year, with 1.5 points at the majors and double points for winning a major.

Fifteen-time major winner Tiger Woods shot a 2-under, 69 on Thursday at the Genesis Invitational to finish the day five back of the leaders in his first competitive round since July.

The Masters is keeping its criteria the same for next year.

Tiger Woods and his son will compete at the PNC Championship in December. Last year, Woods and his son, Charlie, finished in second place behind Team Daly.

Masters champion Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy can each claim a roller coaster day in the Tour Championship.

British Open champion Cameron Smith and his chase for No. 1 in the world got a little tougher even before he teed off Sunday in the FedEx St. Jude Championship. The PGA Tour penalized Smith two shots upon learning he took a drop in the wrong place after hitting into the water on the par-3 fourth hole in the third round Saturday. Smith signed for a 67 and was two shots behind.

Rickie Fowler narrowly avoided missing the FedEx Cup playoffs for the second straight year, and he will proceed with a new caddie. Fowler is parting ways with Joe Skovron, a childhood friend and the only fulltime caddie he has ever had. “It was a team decision,” Fowler said.

The Rocket Mortgage Classic, nestled between the British Open and FedEx Cup playoffs, could have been a tournament to skip for all of the world’s best players.

This is turning out to be a strong group of rookies on the PGA Tour, including three players with one thing in common down the home stretch: None has won yet.

The British Open stung Rory McIlroy, even if he said it wasn't life or death. Only three other players in the previous century had that many at age 25 or younger — Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. McIlroy is now 33 and still has four majors, not to mention some gray hair around the edges.

With St. Andrews fresh on people’s minds after seeing the images this weekend, one might wonder the following: How hard is it to play a round at the Old Course, the home of golf?

Cameron Smith’s dad is kicking himself that he didn’t make the journey to St. Andrews to see his son win the 150th British Open.

Henrik Stenson, a five-time Ryder Cup player, has been heavily linked with the LIV Golf Invitational Series since its launch earlier this year.

The birdies that flowed so freely for Viktor Hovland over the first three days of the British Open finally dried up.

Cameron Young was very briefly tied for lead on the 18th hole on the final day of the British Open with only three other golfers still out on the course.

Cameron Smith charged his way into history on the Old Course, a Sunday stunner at St. Andrews that gave the Australian his first major win.

The Australian shot 8-under 64 to overturn a four-shot deficit in the final round. It's his first major title.

Cameron Smith’s winning margin at the British Open was one shot.

Cameron Smith started the third round of the British Open with a two-shot lead and finished it four strokes back.

Cameron Smith started the third round of the British Open with a two-shot lead and ended it four strokes behind.

R&A chief Martin Slumbers is blasting the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series as being driven by money.

The Old Course at St. Andrews is to golf what the Mona Lisa is to art or the Holy Grail is to archeologists.

They stood on the 18th tee at St. Andrews, a foursome that collectively has won 43 major championships spanning nearly six decades. There are exceptions, and a British Open at the home of golf that celebrates the R&A's champions would be one of them. Along for the ride was Jack Nicklaus, the gold standard when it comes to majors with his 18 titles.

Xander Schauffele went from a four-shot deficit to a two-shot lead in the Scottish Open.

Tom Kidd won the first British Open at St. Andrews.

Greg Norman is persona non grata at the British Open at St. Andrews.

Now he doesn't even get to attend the dinner at St. Andrews for past champions. The R&A said Saturday it contacted Norman to tell him “we decided not to invite him to attend on this occasion.” “The 150th Open is an extremely important milestone for golf and we want to ensure that the focus remains on celebrating the championship and its heritage,” the R&A said.

Tiger Woods considers the British Open at St. Andrews to be a historic occasion.

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Players who have joined the new Saudi Arabia-funded league will still be allowed to compete at the British Open next month.

Collin Morikawa has had plenty of thinking to do ahead of this week's Dubai Desert Classic.

The 24-year-old American remarkably played the final 31 holes at Royal St. George's without a bogey.

Rory McIlroy finally got the better of par at the British Open, just barely. McIlroy ran off five birdies on the front nine, only to make none on the back nine at Royal St. George’s. It added to a 69, his first round under par this week, and only his second sub-70 score in 13 rounds at the majors this year.

Louis Oosthuizen stood on the 11th tee with only one bogey on his card over 46 holes at Royal St. George's and a two-shot lead Saturday afternoon in the British Open. Jordan Spieth was tied for the lead and belted a drive down the middle of the 17th fairway, leaving him only a half-wedge to the green. In the middle of all this chaos was Collin Morikawa, who went from a two-shot deficit to four shots behind after five holes, and he was fortunate it wasn't worse.

This time it's Corey Conners, who quietly put together one of better rounds in the British Open. Then, he ran off four birdies over the next five holes and closed with four pars. How much of a chance Conners has on Sunday depends on Oosthuizen over the final seven holes.

It’s nicknamed “The Himalayas,” and for good reason.

In any other week Nick Poppleton would be working as a supermarket delivery driver to supplement his modest income as a player on the third tier of European golf.

Zach Johnson is the latest player out of the British Open.

The British Open could have big crowds at Royal St. George's.

While a birdie is 1-under par on a hole and an eagle is 2-under par, a step better than that is an albatross, which is 3-under par on a hole. In the four major tournaments, it has only happened 18 times since 1870, according to GolfLink. An albatross has happened the most times at golf’s oldest major, the British Open, which has seen an albatross occur eight times in its history. The U.S. Open and PGA Championship were the last to see three, by Nick Watney in 2012 and Joey Sindelar in 2006, respectively. Maggert has two of the 18 albatrosses at major tournaments, collecting one at the 1994 Masters and one during the 2001 British Open.

It will go to Royal St. Georges next summer. Its just very strange times for us at the minute, isnt it?Lowry said he has never seen the lunar landscape of Royal St. Georges. Id love if we were playing in front of 40,000 or 50,000 people this week in St. Georges, he said. For the week of the U.S. Open, golf was in its second week of returning from the pandemic, at Harbour Town. So everything that I miss or that I wont get to do this week, Im sure Ill get to do next year.

ON THE GREEN: Tiger lags this one to a foot and taps in for par. APPROACH SHOT: Another great tee shot blown by an awful approach. Hell have inside 20 feet feet for birdie. ON THE GREEN: Tiger buries the putt for consecutive birdies to make another move towards the cut. TIGER ON THE DAY: 1-under thru 8 (6-over overall)Hole 7 Par 5OFF THE TEE: B-e-a-utiful tee shot here from Tiger.

The 2019 British Open kicked off on Thursday at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland and will finish on Sunday, July 21. The tournament is the fourth and final golf major of the year. The winner of the 148th Open will bring home more than the Claret Jug: He'll earn $1.935 million, a slight increase from last year, when Italy's Francesco Molinari won $1.89 million. The runner up will collect $1.12 million. Here's how the top eight finishers will fare:First place: $1.935 millionSecond place: $1.12 millionThird place: $718,000Fourth place: $558,000Fifth place: $449,000Sixth place: $389,000Seventh place: $334,000Eighth place: $282,000

British Open winner Zach Johnson shared the ride home with fellow American golfer Jordan Spieth, but also shared a traditional drink from the championship trophy, the Claret Jug. CBSN's Contessa Brewer shares a picture of the memorable moment.