Scheffler goes to Minnesota for 3M Open, as LPGA and PGA Tour Champions head to Scotland

3M OPEN

Site: Blaine, Minnesota.

Course: TPC Twin Cities. Yardage: 7,431. Par: 71.

Prize money: $8.8 million. Winner's share: $1.584 million.

Television: Thursday-Friday, 4-7 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3-6 p.m. (CBS).

Defending champion: Kurt Kitayama.

FedEx Cup leader: Scottie Scheffler.

Last week: Ryan Fox won the British Open and Stefano Mazzoli won the Corales Puntacana Championship.

Notes: Scottie Scheffler is playing the 3M Open for the first time and gives the field the only player from the top 10 in the world. Scheffler did not want three weeks off before the postseason, among other things. ... British Open champion Ryan Fox was scheduled to play until withdrawing to take in his first major title. Eric Cole also withdrew, leaving 29 players in the field who were at Royal Birkdale last week. ... Casey Jarvis of South Africa got in through his top-10 finish at the British Open. ... Three tournaments remain for the top 70 to qualify for the FedEx Cup postseason. ... Jordan Spieth was contemplating playing in the 3M Open. He missed the cut by nine shots in the British Open and is not in the field. ... The 3M Open has its usual share of youth, led by Jackson Koivun and NCAA champion Preston Stout, the latter playing on a sponsor's exemption. ... Minnesota is getting its second tournament in two months, with Hazeltine holding the KPMG Women's PGA Championship in June.

Next week: Rocket Classic.

Online: https://www.pgatour.com/

LIV GOLF UK

Site: Rocester, England.

Course: JCB Golf & CC. Yardage: 7,332. Par: 72.

Prize money: $20 million. Winner's share: $4 million.

Television: Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. (FS2); Saturday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. (FOX); Sunday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. (FS1).

Defending champion: Joaquin Niemann.

Points leader: Jon Rahm.

Last tournament: Tyrrell Hatton won LIV Golf Andalucia.

Notes: This is LIV Golf's first event in nearly two months because the New Orleans event was postponed. ... Eight players from LIV Golf made the cut last week in the British Open. ... Anthony Kim is No. 7 in the points standings. The American has not played anywhere in the world outside of LIV Golf in 2026. ... Among the players currently facing relegation heading to the final stretch are Adrian Meronk, Martin Kaymer and Michael LaSasso. ... Cameron Smith has missed the cut in seven of his last eight majors. He is 21st in the standings. ... Ian Poulter is coming off a fourth-place finish in the U.S. Senior Open. ... Peter Uihlein made it through 36-hole qualifiers for the U.S. Open and the British Open, and made the cut on the number in both. ... LIV Golf has been in the U.K. every year since the league launched in 2022. This is the third straight year for JBC Golf and Country Club to host the event. It's about 90 miles (145 kilometers) from Royal Birkdale.

Next tournament: LIV Golf New York on Aug. 6-9.

Online: https://www.livgolf.com/

SENIOR BRITISH OPEN

Site: Gleneagles, Scotland.

Course: Gleneagles GC (Kings). Yardage: 6,859. Par: 70.

Prize money: $2.85 million. Winner's share: $447,800.

Television: Thursday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 8:30 to noon (Golf Channel), noon to 2 p.m. (NBC).

Defending champion: Padraig Harrington.

Charles Schwab Cup leader: Stewart Cink.

Last tournament: Zach Johnson won the Kaulig Companies Championships.

Notes: This is the last of the five majors on the PGA Tour Champions. ... The winner earns a spot in St. Andrews next year for the 155th British Open. ... Darren Clarke won the Senior British Open when it last was held on the Kings course at Gleneagles in 2022. ... Gleneagles also has the Centenary course, which hosted the 2014 Ryder Cup and the 2019 Solheim Cup. ... Stewart Cink won the first two majors on the PGA Tour Champions. Padraig Harrington won the U.S. Senior Open, and Zach Johnson won at Firestone in what used to be the Senior Players. ... Johnson, who won the British Open at St. Andrews in 2015, chose not to play at Royal Birkdale last week and is not in the field for the Senior British Open. ... The Senior British Open was first held in 1987 at Turnberry. It was held on a links course every year until moving to Sunningdale in 2009. ... This will be the sixth time the Senior British Open is not held on a links course.

Next week: Portugal Invitational.

Online: https://www.pgatour.com/pgatour-champions

ISPS HANDA WOMEN'S SCOTTISH OPEN

Site: Irvine, Scotland.

Course: Dundonald Links. Yardage: 6,538. Par: 72.

Prize money: $2 million. Winner's share: $300,000.

Television: Thursday-Friday, 4:30-8:30 a.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon (CNBC); Sunday, 7-11 a.m. (CNBC).

Defending champion: Lottie Woad.

Race to CME Globe leader: Nelly Korda.

Last tournament: Hae Ran Ryu won the Evian Championship.

Notes: The Women's Scottish Open is part of a three-tournament swing through Europe that is between the final two majors, with the Women's British Open next week at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. ... Nelly Korda, who won the first two LPGA majors of the year, is in the field. Haeran Ryu, who won the last two majors, is not playing. ... Among the sponsor exemptions is Kiara Romero, the No. 1 amateur in women's golf. Romero tied for sixth in the U.S. Women's Open but missed the cut in the other two LPGA majors open to amateurs. ... The field features seven of the top 10 in the women's world ranking, missing Ryu, Jeeno Thitikul and Ruoning Yin. ... The tournament is co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour and has been since 2017. ... This is the fifth straight year for the tournament to be held at Dundonald Links. The only time it has been held on true links turf was in 2018 at Gullane.

Next week: AIG Women's British Open.

Online: https://ladieseuropeantour.com/ and https://www.lpga.com/

EVANS SCHOLARS INVITATIONAL

Site: Glenview, Illinois.

Course: The Glen Club. Yardage: 7,262. Par: 71.

Prize money: $1 million. Winner's share: $180,000.

Television: None.

Previous winner: Johnny Keefer.

Points leader: Doc Redman.

Last tournament: Ross Steelman won The Blue Championship.

Next week: Utah Championship.

Online: https://www.pgatour.com/korn-ferry-tour

Last week: Ryan Fox won the British Open.

Next tournament: Danish Golf Championship on Aug. 13-16.

Race to Dubai leader: Patrick Reed.

Online: https://www.europeantour.com/dpworld-tour/

Epson Tour: Hartford HealthCare Women's Championship, Golf Club of Avon, Avon, Connecticut. Previous winner: Gina Kim. Online: https://www.epsontour.com/

Challenge Tour: Raiffeisenbank Golf Challenge, Kaskada Golf Resort, Brno, Czech Republic. Previous winner: Palmer Jackson. Online: https://www.europeantour.com/hotelplanner-tour/

USGA: U.S. Junior Amateur, Saucon Valley CC (Old), Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Television: Friday, 4-6 p.m. (Golf Channel app), 8-10 p.m. (Golf Channel-TD); Saturday, 3-5 p.m. (Golf Channel). Defending champion: Hamilton Coleman. Online: https://www.usga.org/

PGA Tour Americas: Osprey Valley Open, TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley (Heathlands), Caledon, Ontario. Previous winner: Carson Bacha. Online: https://www.pgatour.com/americas

Japan LPGA: Daito Kentaku Eheyanet Ladies, The Queen's Hills GC, Fukuoka, Japan. Defending champion: Ayaka Watanabe. Online: https://www.lpga.or.jp/en/

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

Scottie Scheffler of the United States looks at the lie of his putt on the 18th green during the final day of the British Open Golf championships at Royal Birkdale golf club, in Southport, England, Sunday, July 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — One is a tech-savvy drone innovator with no military experience who became Ukraine’s youngest defense minister six months ago and was credited with contributing to successes in defending against Russia's 4-year-old invasion.

The other is a seasoned, Soviet-trained general more at home with traditional top-down command culture who led Ukraine’s armed forces.

When their personalities and policies clashed, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy decided one of them had to go as part of a wider government reshuffle. He dismissed the popular young upstart, sparking protests across the country.

A look at the contrasting careers of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov and commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi.

The 35-year-old Fedorov was credited with modernizing Ukraine’s drone program and changed military procurement rules in a crackdown on corruption. He argued that the military establishment was resisting changes demanded by the evolving war with Russia.

The former tech entrepreneur drove forward Ukraine’s innovative drone technology that has recently reshaped the battlefield and has earned the interest of other countries, including the United States, as well as those in Europe and the Middle East.

“We transformed Ukraine into a global tech leader and a defense powerhouse,” he said on social media after he lost his job last week in Zelenskyy's government shake-up.

Fedorov also took credit for restricting Russian military access to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet services.

Before becoming defense minister in January, Fedorov headed Ukraine’s digital transformation policies and introduced successful e-government platforms.

Fedorov got that job after running the digital operations of Zelenskyy’s presidential election campaign in 2019. Before that, he ran a digital marketing company.

After his dismissal, Fedorov publicly accused Syrskyi of blocking military reforms and insisting on a traditional command culture. That criticism echoed complaints from soldiers and veterans over heavy casualties in costly front-line assaults.

Appearing at a news conference in a dark T-shirt and jeans, Fedorov accused Syrskyi of blocking reforms needed because “the war has changed completely” due to new technology.

Protesters framed Fedorov’s removal as an example of Zelenskyy siding in the feud with an entrenched military old guard over a modernizer.

Syrskyi, 60, was born when Ukraine was still part of the USSR. He attended Moscow Higher Military Command School and served in the Soviet Artillery Corps. He has long been associated with a Soviet-style, top-down command culture.

He played a key role in some of Ukraine’s biggest victories in its war, overseeing the successful defense of Kyiv in the early days of the invasion in February 2022. Seven months later, Syrskyi was credited with orchestrating the counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region, one of the most significant Ukrainian victories in the war.

“I’m not fighting the (defense) ministry. I’m fighting Russia,” Syrskyi said in a column published Monday in the Ukrainian military outlet Militarnyi that defended his conduct.

“The General Staff has never opposed the ministry — we have cooperated and will keep cooperating with whichever minister the state appoints. Because in the army, you don’t get to choose who you serve with. In the army, you follow orders and do your job,” he said.

Within the military, Syrskyi earned the nickname of “Butcher,” a label that gained wider currency during his command of the ill-fated defense of Bakhmut, one of the war’s longest battles that killed tens of thousands of people.

His reputation took another hit after the Ukrainian outlet Babel published an investigation last month detailing allegations of abuse within the Skelia assault regiment, a unit closely associated with Syrskyi. It reportedly has suffered higher-than-average losses. The investigation documented dozens of deaths among recruits.

The protests of Fedorov's ouster and the backlash against Syrskyi reached into the military, with the air force’s deputy commander resigning and warning it would weaken Ukraine’s air defenses. Veterans and soldiers on leave joined the protests. Many demonstrators said they wanted a new generation of generals who would prioritize preserving soldiers’ lives.

The stakes are high for Zelenskyy. The outcry appeared to leave him open to accusations that by ousting Fedorov, he was trying to get rid of a possible political rival. The episode threatened to undermine his authority.

Ukrainian political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko called Syrskyi “a more convenient and more comfortable” choice for Zelenskyy to keep in his government, adding that it turned out to be a “major miscalculation.”

Zelenskyy “underestimated the extent to which part of Ukrainian society had come to see Fedorov as perhaps the main driver of the positive changes in Ukraine’s war against Russia,” added Fesenko, head of the Penta Center think tank.

Russian war bloggers responded to Fedorov’s dismissal with glee, noting his role in masterminding long-range drone strikes on oil facilities that have caused a fuel crisis and midrange attacks that disrupted military logistics.

Syrskyi, some noted with grudging respect, has built a string of defenses that have stalled Russian advances.

Many Moscow commentators voiced hope that the controversy would fuel political infighting in Ukraine and weaken its military.

——

Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

People gather to denounce President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's decision to dismiss Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov after six months in the post, Thursday, July 16, 2026, Kyiv, Ukraine. Placard reads "Bring back Fedorov. Do not destroy defense capability." (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)

Activists hold a portrait of Ukraine's Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi demanding his resignation during a rally to denounce President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's decision to dismiss Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov after six months in the post, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

An activist holds slogan "My father is at the front. I am angry here on his behalf" during a rally to denounce President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's decision to dismiss Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov after six months in the post, Friday, July 17, 2026, Kyiv, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

FILE - In this photo provided by the Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine on Nov. 19, 2024, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi speaks to parliamentarians at Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Press Service Of The President Of Ukraine via AP, File)

Outgoing Ukraine's Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov speaks during a briefing to journalists in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, July 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Dan Bashakov)