McKINNEY, Texas (AP) — Scottie Scheffler won't be the wire-to-wire winner of his hometown CJ Cup Byron Nelson again this year.
For now, the world's top-ranked player is chasing Brooks Koepka, the five-time major champion looking for his first victory since returning to the PGA Tour from LIV Golf.
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Si Woo Kim, of South Korea, stretches before his tee shot on the 11th hole during the first round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Brooks Koepka hits to the 14th green during the first round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Scottie Scheffler watches his shot on the 14th hole during the first round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Brooks Koepka, right, shakes hands with Scottie Scheffler after playing their final hole in the first round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Brooks Koepka smiles while standing on the ninth green during of the first round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Koepka shot 8-under 63 for a one-shot lead over five other early finishers at the revamped TPC Craig Ranch on Thursday, with Scheffler three back while playing with Koepka and Si Woo Kim, one of those at 64.
“I felt like I was getting lapped out there for a little bit,” said Scheffler, who led from the start of last year's Nelson and won by eight shots at 31 under while tying the tour's 72-hole scoring record at 253. “So I was fortunate to make a couple birdies late in the round and keep myself in the tournament.”
Kim — the highest-ranked player in the field behind Scheffler at No. 24 — had the only bogey in the threesome, on his 16th hole at the par-3 seventh.
One of several countrymen in the event sponsored by South Korean conglomerate CJ Group, Kim got back within a shot of the lead with a birdie while Koepka saved par 5 at the ninth.
Emiliano Grillo, Keith Mitchell, Stephan Jaeger and Michael Thorbjornsen were tied with Kim, one shot ahead of Doug Ghim and Mackenzie Hughes.
Koepka, who contended at last week's PGA Championship before fading on Sunday, eagled the par-5 12th and was 4 under through five holes. He had four more birdies in a span of five holes in his back nine, capped by a 3-foot birdie putt on the short par-4 sixth.
Kim had four birdies on the front and four more on the back while Scheffler was lagging at 2 under before getting birdies on three of his final five holes.
“It was just a comfortable group,” Koepka said. “Everyone is just kind of feeding off each other, easy. Everyone’s having fun. Makes it enjoyable. I feel comfortable on the golf course as well.”
Even though he hardly recognizes parts of it.
Koepka last played at TPC Craig Ranch in 2021, the year before he bolted for LIV. The sixth Nelson at the par-71 layout about 30 miles north of Dallas was the debut of a Lanny Wadkins-led redesign that cost nearly $25 million and added bunkers everywhere and overhauled the greens with mounds and ridges.
“The greens are totally different than when we played,” Koepka said. “That’s obviously the biggest thing. Off the tee it looks pretty good. Place hasn’t changed too much. It’s familiar. I like it.”
Koepka was a regular at the Nelson a decade ago, including a runner-up finish in 2016 when he lost to Sergio Garcia in a playoff. The 36-year-old also has a little CJ Cup history. He rose to No. 1 in the world with a victory when the event was in South Korea in 2018.
The title sponsorship moved to the U.S. after the COVID-19 pandemic and has been associated with the Nelson since 2024.
The move to LIV forced Koepka to put aside things such as world rankings, and now he's dealing with stipulations he had to agree to in order to rejoin the PGA Tour. Among them is not being exempt for the $20 million signature events, even though he won a major — the 2023 PGA — while with LIV.
“I think there’s such a huge difference right now of trying to get into signature events, on my way back, coming back to the tour,” Koepka said. “(Winning) would be a big confidence boost for sure because I feel like I’ve been playing well. I feel like I’m knocking on the door, and I’m very, very close.”
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Si Woo Kim, of South Korea, stretches before his tee shot on the 11th hole during the first round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Brooks Koepka hits to the 14th green during the first round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Scottie Scheffler watches his shot on the 14th hole during the first round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Brooks Koepka, right, shakes hands with Scottie Scheffler after playing their final hole in the first round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Brooks Koepka smiles while standing on the ninth green during of the first round of the Byron Nelson golf tournament in McKinney, Texas, Thursday, May 21, 2026. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A judge on Thursday handed down an extraordinary prison sentence — nearly 42 years — to the former leader of a Minnesota nonprofit who was convicted in a staggering $250 million fraud case that helped ignite an immigration crackdown by the Trump administration.
Aimee Bock ran Feeding Our Future, which had claimed it helped provide millions of meals to needy children during the pandemic. The U.S. Justice Department, however, said she was atop the “single largest COVID-19 fraud scheme in the country.”
“I understand I failed. I failed the public, my family, everyone,” Bock, 45, said in federal court.
After the hearing, authorities held a news conference to announce charges against 15 more people accused of fraud in receiving federal payments for a variety of social services administered through Minnesota's state government. The FBI said one man jumped from a fourth-floor balcony to avoid arrest.
“We will claw back every dollar you have stolen from the American people,” Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald said, noting that the government sent more prosecutors and agents to Minnesota this year.
President Donald Trump used the fraud cases against Bock and many others to initially justify a massive surge of federal officers to the Minneapolis-St. Paul area last winter to target immigrants, leading to protests from residents and the deaths of two people.
Bock's nonprofit was at the center of a fraud network that included a web of partner organizations, phony distribution sites, kickbacks and fake lists of children supposedly being fed, prosecutors say. She had long proclaimed her innocence but was convicted last year of conspiracy, fraud and bribery.
Bock and co-conspirators enriched themselves with international travel, real estate, luxury vehicles and other lavish spending, the government said.
“This was a vortex of fraud and you were at the epicenter,” U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel told Bock.
A co-defendant was sentenced last August to 28 years in prison. Abdiaziz Farah claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children per day, investigators said, but the sites turned out to be parking lots or empty commercial space.
State auditors found that the Minnesota Department of Education received numerous complaints about Feeding Our Future, but often told the group to police itself. In January, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz said he would not run for reelection after being pounded by Trump about theft in programs that rely on federal cash.
At least 65 people, many from the state’s large Somali community, have been convicted in a series of overlapping food fraud cases. Investigations began during the Biden administration.
“This case has changed our state forever,” Joe Thompson, formerly the lead prosecutor in the case, said outside the courtroom. “Aimee Bock did everything she could to earn this long sentence.”
Bock’s lawyer, Kenneth Udoibok, argued for no more than three years in prison, saying she had provided key information to investigators. He said Bock, a former teacher, had been unfairly portrayed as the mastermind and insisted that two co-defendants were responsible for running the scams.
In a fresh batch of criminal cases filed this week in Minnesota, the government said alleged fraud involved $90 million across seven state-managed Medicaid programs.
The defendants include Fahima Mahamud, who was CEO of Future Leaders Early Learning Center, a childcare center in Minneapolis. Over three years, Mahamud’s organization was reimbursed approximately $4.6 million for services on behalf of people who didn’t make a required copayment, prosecutors allege.
A message seeking comment from her lawyer was not immediately returned Thursday. Mahamud earlier this year pleaded not guilty to fraud related to meals.
Two other people were charged with conspiring to get $975,000 in Medicaid subsidies for housing services that were not provided.
Two additional people were accused of receiving $21.1 million by billing Medicaid for autism therapy that was either unnecessary or not provided. Investigators said the two paid families as much as $1,500 per child per month to add their names to the program and get reimbursement.
Minnesota's Department of Human Services said it helped build the cases. Inspector General James Clark said payments to more than 600 providers have been halted since 2025 because of fraud allegations.
Trump, who has long derided Somalis, last year blasted Minnesota as “a hub of fraudulent money laundering activity.”
“Somali gangs are terrorizing the people of that great State, and BILLIONS of Dollars are missing. Send them back to where they came from,” Trump wrote on social media.
Bock is white and the U.S. Attorney’s Office says the overwhelming majority of defendants in the cases are of Somali descent. Most are U.S. citizens.
Trump's immigration enforcement surge led to repeated protests and confrontations between residents and federal officers and resulted in the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
AP reporters Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, and Ed White in Detroit contributed.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz speaks to the media during a news conference Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Glen Stubbe)
Assistant Attorney General for the Fraud Division Colin McDonald arrives for a press conference Thursday, May 21, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Glen Stubbe)
The exterior of Minneapolis federal courthouse on Thursday, May 21, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minn. Feeding our Future founder Aimee Bock is sentenced at the United States District Court in Minneapolis. (Carlos Gonzalez/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
Acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota Joe Thompson addresses the media following the sentencing of Feeding Our Future founder Aimee Bock on Thursday, May 21, 2026 at at the United States District Court in Minneapolis. (Carlos Gonzalez/Minnesota Star Tribune via AP)
FILE - Aimee Bock, founder and executive director of the nonprofit organization Feeding Our Future, arrives at the Minneapolis federal courthouse with her attorney, Ken Udoibok, right, on March 19, 2025, in Minneapolis. (Kerem Yücel/Minnesota Public Radio via AP, File)
