Potgieter wins a playoff in Detroit for first PGA Tour win. Harrington wins another Senior Open

DETROIT (AP) — Aldrich Potgieter made an 18-foot birdie putt on the fifth playoff hole, outlasting Max Greyserman to win the Rocket Classic on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title.

The 20-year-old from South Africa is the youngest player on the tour and its biggest hitter. He became the ninth player to win for the first time this season.

Chris Kirk, who closed with a 5-under 67, missed a 9-foot putt for the win on the first playoff hole and was eliminated on the second extra hole when he missed a 4-foot par putt.

Greyserman missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole in regulation, missing his chance to win and closing with a 67. Potgieter, who started with a two-shot lead, shot 69 to join Kirk at 22-under 266.

Michael Thorbjornsen (67) and Jake Knapp (68) finished a stroke out of the playoff.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Padraig Harrington came out on top of a major championship that felt more like match play, closing his round with seven straight pars at the U.S. Senior Open for a 3-under 67 to beat Stewart Cink by one shot.

Playing alongside Cink for the fourth straight day, Harrington finished at 11-under 269 on the tricky, heavily sloping Broadmoor. The Irishman sealed this match by hitting his approach to 8 feet on No. 18, putting pressure on Cink, who trailed by one but sat 30 yards in front of him on the fairway.

Cink’s approach landed on the precipice of a ledge, but spun back to 35 feet away to set up a two-putt. Harrington took two putts for the win, his second U.S. Senior Open title in four years that gets him in the U.S. Open next year at Shinnecock Hills.

CARROLLTON, Texas (AP) — Patrick Reed lost the lead with a 3-over 75 and then atoned for it by making a 15-foot birdie putt on the first hole of a four-man playoff to win LIV Golf Dallas, his first title since joining the Saudi-funded league in 2022.

Reed, who started the final round with a three-shot lead, fell behind late in the day at Maridoe Golf Club until Jinichiro Kozuma made bogey on the 18th hole and then made par on his final hole at No. 1 for a 68. That got him into a playoff with Reed, Louis Oosthuizen (68) and Paul Casey (72).

On the first extra hole, Oosthuizen drove into the water and Casey took four shots to reach the green on the par-4 18th. Kozuma missed his 25-foot birdie try, setting the stage for Reed.

Jon Rahm finished out of the top 10 for the first time in LIV, while Sergio Garcia claimed the one LIV spot for the British Open.

MIDLAND, Mich. (AP) — Somi Lee poured in an 8-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to team with fellow South Korean Jin Hee Im to win the Dow Championship, denying Lexi Thompson her first LPGA title in six years.

Thompson’s partner, Megan Khang, had a chance to extend the playoff, but she missed a 5-foot birdie putt that was on the low side of the hole from the start.

The final round was fourballs, but switched to foursomes for the playoff.

Thompson made an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-3 18th hole for the American duo to finish with a 10-under 60 in fourballs. They were the first to post at 20-under 260. Lee made a 10-foot birdie putt to tie for the lead on the 17th. They shot 62.

TUSCANY, Italy (AP) — Adrien Saddier claimed his first European tour title in his 200th start with a back-nine charge in the Italian Open, closing with a 4-under 66 for a two-shot victory over Martin Couvra.

Couvra, the 54-hole leader, closed with a 69 and appeared headed for victory until Saddier had five birdies over the final seven holes at the Argentario Golf Club on the Tuscan coast.

Saddier and Couvra earned places in the British Open field at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland next month.

Calum Hill of Scotland and Dan Bradbury of England finished tied for third, four strokes behind.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Austin Smotherman holed out for eagle to take the lead for the first time and closed with an 8-under 63 for a one-shot victory over Alvaro Ortiz in the Memorial Health Championship.

It was the second Korn Ferry Tour victory this year for Smotherman, who moved to No. 1 on the points list and is virtually certain of returning to the PGA Tour next year.

Ortiz began had a four-shot lead going into the final round and his lead was down to one when he bogeyed the 11th hole. Smotherman followed by holing out for eagle on the 408-yard 12th hole. Both player made birdie on the par 5s coming in and Smotherman held on for the win.

Sandy Scott shot 60, with pars on the last two holes, to tie for third.

Jillian Hollis rallied from a three-shot deficit with a 4-under 68 and a one-shot victory over Kelli Ann Strand in the Otter Creek Championship on the Epson Tour. ...Tatsunori Shogenji closed with a 6-under 65 for a one-shot victory over Ryuichi Oiwa (62) in the Japan Players Championship, his second Japan Golf Tour victory this year. ... Shannon Tan of Singapore captured her second Ladies European Tour title with a 5-under 68 and a one-shot victory over Helen Briem of Germany in the Amundi German Masters. ... David Horsey birdied the final hole for a 3-under 69, and then made birdie again to win a four-man playoff against James Allan, Joseba Torres and Daniel Young in Le Vaudreuil Golf Challenge in France. ... Shuri Sakuma closed with a 2-under 70 and won the Earth Mondahmin Cup by one shot over Nana Suganuma on the Japan LPGA. ... Jiu Ko closed with a 5-under 67 to hold off Hyungjo Yoo (62) for a two-shot victory in the McCol-Mona Youngpyong Open on the Korea LPGA.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Patrick Reed, of 4Aces GC, reacts after his putt on the 18th green during the final round of LIV Golf Dallas at Maridoe Golf Club, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Carrollton, Texas. (Mateo Villalba/LIV Golf via AP)

Padragh Harrington holds up the trophy after winning the U.S. Senior Open Championship golf tournament at the Broadmoor, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (Jerilee Bennett/The Gazette via AP)

Aldrich Potgieter, of South Africa poses with the trophy after winning a playoff during the final round of the Rocket Classic golf tournament at the Detroit Golf Club, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Aldrich Potgieter, of South Africa, celebrates after his winning putt in a playoff during the final round of the Rocket Classic golf tournament at Detroit Golf Club, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Aldrich Potgieter, of South Africa celebrates his winning putt in a playoff during the final round of the Rocket Classic golf tournament at the Detroit Golf Club, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Patrick Reed, of 4Aces GC, hits from the second tee during the final round of LIV Golf Dallas at Maridoe Golf Club, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Carrollton, Texas. (Mateo Villalba/LIV Golf via AP)

Aldrich Potgieter, of South Africa, hits from the fourth tee during the final round of the Rocket Classic golf tournament at the Detroit Golf Club, Sunday, June 29, 2025, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

U.S. President Donald Trump wants to own Greenland. He has repeatedly said the United States must take control of the strategically located and mineral-rich island, which is a semiautonomous region that's part of NATO ally Denmark.

Officials from Denmark, Greenland and the United States met Thursday in Washington and will meet again next week to discuss a renewed push by the White House, which is considering a range of options, including using military force, to acquire the island.

Trump said Friday he is going to do “something on Greenland, whether they like it or not.”

If it's not done “the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way," he said without elaborating what that could entail. In an interview Thursday, he told The New York Times that he wants to own Greenland because “ownership gives you things and elements that you can’t get from just signing a document.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO, and Greenlanders say they don't want to become part of the U.S.

This is a look at some of the ways the U.S. could take control of Greenland and the potential challenges.

Trump and his officials have indicated they want to control Greenland to enhance American security and explore business and mining deals. But Imran Bayoumi, an associate director at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said the sudden focus on Greenland is also the result of decades of neglect by several U.S. presidents towards Washington's position in the Arctic.

The current fixation is partly down to “the realization we need to increase our presence in the Arctic, and we don’t yet have the right strategy or vision to do so,” he said.

If the U.S. took control of Greenland by force, it would plunge NATO into a crisis, possibly an existential one.

While Greenland is the largest island in the world, it has a population of around 57,000 and doesn't have its own military. Defense is provided by Denmark, whose military is dwarfed by that of the U.S.

It's unclear how the remaining members of NATO would respond if the U.S. decided to forcibly take control of the island or if they would come to Denmark's aid.

“If the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops,” Frederiksen has said.

Trump said he needs control of the island to guarantee American security, citing the threat from Russian and Chinese ships in the region, but “it's not true” said Lin Mortensgaard, an expert on the international politics of the Arctic at the Danish Institute for International Studies, or DIIS.

While there are probably Russian submarines — as there are across the Arctic region — there are no surface vessels, Mortensgaard said. China has research vessels in the Central Arctic Ocean, and while the Chinese and Russian militaries have done joint military exercises in the Arctic, they have taken place closer to Alaska, she said.

Bayoumi, of the Atlantic Council, said he doubted Trump would take control of Greenland by force because it’s unpopular with both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, and would likely “fundamentally alter” U.S. relationships with allies worldwide.

The U.S. already has access to Greenland under a 1951 defense agreement, and Denmark and Greenland would be “quite happy” to accommodate a beefed up American military presence, Mortensgaard said.

For that reason, “blowing up the NATO alliance” for something Trump has already, doesn’t make sense, said Ulrik Pram Gad, an expert on Greenland at DIIS.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a select group of U.S. lawmakers this week that it was the Republican administration’s intention to eventually purchase Greenland, as opposed to using military force. Danish and Greenlandic officials have previously said the island isn't for sale.

It's not clear how much buying the island could cost, or if the U.S. would be buying it from Denmark or Greenland.

Washington also could boost its military presence in Greenland “through cooperation and diplomacy,” without taking it over, Bayoumi said.

One option could be for the U.S. to get a veto over security decisions made by the Greenlandic government, as it has in islands in the Pacific Ocean, Gad said.

Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands have a Compact of Free Association, or COFA, with the U.S.

That would give Washington the right to operate military bases and make decisions about the islands’ security in exchange for U.S. security guarantees and around $7 billion of yearly economic assistance, according to the Congressional Research Service.

It's not clear how much that would improve upon Washington's current security strategy. The U.S. already operates the remote Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, and can bring as many troops as it wants under existing agreements.

Greenlandic politician Aaja Chemnitz told The Associated Press that Greenlanders want more rights, including independence, but don't want to become part of the U.S.

Gad suggested influence operations to persuade Greenlanders to join the U.S. would likely fail. He said that is because the community on the island is small and the language is “inaccessible.”

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen summoned the top U.S. official in Denmark in August to complain that “foreign actors” were seeking to influence the country’s future. Danish media reported that at least three people with connections to Trump carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.

Even if the U.S. managed to take control of Greenland, it would likely come with a large bill, Gad said. That’s because Greenlanders currently have Danish citizenship and access to the Danish welfare system, including free health care and schooling.

To match that, “Trump would have to build a welfare state for Greenlanders that he doesn’t want for his own citizens,” Gad said.

Since 1945, the American military presence in Greenland has decreased from thousands of soldiers over 17 bases and installations to 200 at the remote Pituffik Space Base in the northwest of the island, Rasmussen said last year. The base supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance told Fox News on Thursday that Denmark has neglected its missile defense obligations in Greenland, but Mortensgaard said that it makes “little sense to criticize Denmark,” because the main reason why the U.S. operates the Pituffik base in the north of the island is to provide early detection of missiles.

The best outcome for Denmark would be to update the defense agreement, which allows the U.S. to have a military presence on the island and have Trump sign it with a “gold-plated signature,” Gad said.

But he suggested that's unlikely because Greenland is “handy” to the U.S president.

When Trump wants to change the news agenda — including distracting from domestic political problems — “he can just say the word ‘Greenland' and this starts all over again," Gad said.

CORRECT THE ORDER OF SPEAKERS, FILE - Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen, left, speak on April 27, 2025, in Marienborg, Denmark. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

FILE - Danish military forces participate in an exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in the Arctic Ocean in Nuuk, Greenland, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

President Donald Trump listens as he was speaking with reporters while in flight on Air Force One, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, as returning to Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen arrives for a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday, Jan.6, 2026. (Yoan Valat, Pool photo via AP)

FILE - A plane carrying Donald Trump Jr. lands in Nuuk, Greenland, Jan. 7, 2025. (Emil Stach/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, file)