PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Patrick Cantlay came up clutch with the putter again by making a 6-foot birdie putt to give the Atlanta Drive a 6-5 victory over New York and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-3 finals of the TGL indoor golf league's inaugural season.
Xander Schauffele had a chance to sent the match to a shootout with a 6-foot birdie putt, but it caught the right edge and lipped out.
The second finals match of high-tech league is Tuesday night, followed immediately by a third match if necessary.
The score was tied at 2 after nine holes of alternate shot. Cameron Young made a 9-foot eagle putt to give New York a 4-2 lead because Atlanta challenged with the hammer, making the hole worth two points. Billy Horschel of Atlanta returned the favor, making an 11-foot birdie putt when New York threw the hammer.
Young won the 13th hole when Justin Thomas of Atlanta made bogey, only for Horschel to hit his tee shot on a par 3 to 5 feet for a conceded birdie.
The winner Tuesday gets $9 million — $2.25 million for each of the four players — while the runner-up shares $4.5 million.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Patrick Cantlay waits to putt on the 17th hole during the second round of The Players Championship golf tournament Friday, March 14, 2025, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
LONDON (AP) — Britain's Conservative Party, which governed the country from 2010 until it suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat two years ago, was plunged into fresh turmoil Thursday after its leader sacked the man widely seen as her greatest rival for apparently plotting to defect from the party.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said in a video and statement on X that she sacked the party's justice spokesperson Robert Jenrick due to “irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect" in a way that was “designed to be as damaging as possible” to the party.
Badenoch also ejected Jenrick from the party's ranks in Parliament and suspended his party membership.
“The British public are tired of political psychodrama and so am I,” she said. “They saw too much of it in the last government, they’re seeing too much of it in this government. I will not repeat those mistakes.”
Though Badenoch did not specify which party Jenrick was planning to switch to, Nigel Farage, leader of the hard-right Reform UK party, said he had “of course” had conversations with him.
In the past 12 months, the Conservatives have suffered a string of defections to Reform UK, including some former Cabinet ministers.
Farage said in a press briefing in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, that coincided with Badenoch's statement that, “hand on heart,” he wasn't about to present Jenrick as the latest Conservative to defect to Reform, an upstart, anti-immigration party.
“I’ll give him a ring this afternoon,” he said. “I might even buy him a pint, you never know.”
The Conservatives are fighting not just the Labour government to their left, but Reform UK to the right. Reform has topped opinion polls for months, trounced the Conservatives in last May’s local elections and has welcomed a stream of defecting Tory members and officials.
Jenrick, who has continued to attract speculation about leadership ambitions despite being beaten in 2024, has appeared more open than Badenoch to the prospect of some sort of deal between the Conservatives and Reform in the run-up to next general election, which has to take place by 2029.
Jenrick has yet to respond to the news of his sacking.
The Conservatives remain the official opposition to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour.
Badenoch, a small-state, low-tax advocate, has shifted the Conservatives to the right, announcing policies similar to those of U.S. President Donald Trump, including a promise to deport 150,000 unauthorized immigrants a year.
Her poor poll ratings and lackluster performance in Parliament had stirred speculation that she could be ousted long before the next election.
However, she has been making a better impression in Parliament in recent weeks in a way that appears to have cemented her position as leader.
The party is no stranger to turmoil, having gone through six leaders in the space of 10 years, five of them serving as prime minister. Widespread anger at the way the Conservatives were governing Britain led to their defeat at the general election in July 2024, when they lost around two-thirds of their lawmakers, their worst performance since the party was created nearly 200 years ago.
Reform Party leader Nigel Farage addresses protesters outside the Iranian embassy, in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)
Kemi Badenoch with Robert Jenrick before being announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Nov. 3, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
