Patrick Reed bet on himself and won by leaving LIV and getting back to the PGA Tour

Patrick Reed is back in Dubai this week for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship. It's the scene, but not the golf course, of perhaps the most consequential week of his career.

Reed won the Dubai Desert Classic in January at Emirates Golf Club and then decided not to renew his contract with LIV Golf, while the rival league was still getting full financial support from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund.

He wanted a return to traditional golf. Reed lost in a playoff the following week in Bahrain, and then won the Qatar Masters. Just over two months later, the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia shifted its strategy and pulled the plug on LIV Golf.

That left dozens of players scrambling to find a tour. Reed, meanwhile, secured his return to the PGA Tour by being among the top 10 in the Race to Dubai who didn't already have tour cards. He is No. 3 in the European ranking going into the final week.

“The year has been very satisfying,” Reed said Tuesday. “To kind of make that step and make the opportunity, to have to finish in the top 10 to earn my spot on the PGA Tour, and basically come out and believe in myself and put all my eggs in one basket and go get the job done, means a lot.”

Where he doesn't get satisfaction is seeing the plight of so many others who stayed with LIV and now will likely have to rely on sponsor exemptions to run-of-the-mill European tour events, waiting a year before they try to qualify for the PGA Tour.

“You never want to see guys struggle or have to sit out, things like that,” Reed said. “At the end of the day, a lot of those guys that are going through that are good friends of mine. You sit there, and you just hope that they are able to come out and do what I did — come out and play solid golf and come out on the PGA Tour.”

Shuri Sakuma wasn't even sure she could play in the Toto Classic in Japan at the start of the year. She wound up winning, and it wasn't a big surprise. Sakuma already had won four times on the Japan LPGA, and her fifth one gives her LPGA Tour membership.

She plans to defer that to next year.

Sakuma is the fourth first-time winner from Japan on the LPGA this season, a list that includes Shiho Kuwaki at the Women's British Open. She also is the 10th different Japanese player to have won on the LPGA the last two years.

Meanwhile, Erika Hara finished in a career-best third place at the Toto Classic, all but assuring she will be the LPGA rookie of the year. She has a 131-point lead over Youmin Hwang of South Korea (150 points for winning, 80 points for second) with two tournaments remaining.

Miles Russell will go from his fifth PGA Tour start of the year this week in Austin, Texas, to San Antonio. He joins Asterisk Talley at an American Junior Golf Association banquet on Nov. 21 to be honored as the Rolex Junior Players of the Year.

Russell joined Phil Mickelson as the only players to win the award three times since 2023 (Blades Brown won in 2024 before turning pro).

The 18-year-old Russell, who has committed to Florida State, won back-to-back in the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley, was runner-up in the U.S. Junior Amateur, was a semifinalist at the Western Amateur and tied for 39th in the U.S. Open. He made the cut in two other PGA Tour events and is playing the Austin Golf Championship this week.

Talley, a 17-year-old Californian who plans to go to Stanford, won three national junior titles this year. She won the U.S. Women's Amateur and tied for 22nd in the U.S. Women's Open at Riviera. She tied for 49th in another LPGA major, The Chevron Championship, and made the cut in two other LPGA events.

One difference in the two oldest golf championships is the U.S. Open has most sites selected all the way until Oakland Hills in 2051, when Blades Brown, a 19-year-old who just won the the World Wide Technology Championship, will be 44.

The R&A announced Monday that Carnoustie will host the British Open in 2029. That's as far out as the Open goes — St. Andrews in 2027, Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 2028, Carnoustie in 2029.

Carnoustie, reputed to be the toughest links on the rota, last hosted the British Open in 2018 when Francesco Molinari won his only major and Tiger Woods first began to show serious signs he was ready to win another major (he won the Masters the following year).

It will be ninth time for Carnoustie to host golf's oldest championship.

Turns out there’s more to Ryan Gerard than being an expert on travel deals and a player willing to travel halfway around the world to get to the Masters.

Part of his training in becoming a top-25 player in the world includes the violin.

“I played violin for a while growing up, like 10, 15 years,” Gerard said. “I think there’s something to understanding the rhythm of a putting stroke, and my feel is pretty attributed to what I hear. Being able to have that music background and understanding different kind of tempos, rhythms, sounds, I feel like it’s kind of made my feel as a golfer really sharp.

“My ears and eyes and everything kind of go together and (I) feel everything in a very distinct way.”

Nelly Korda won The Chevron Championship and jumped into a makeshift pool on the side of the 18th green at Memorial Park in Houston. The next winner of the LPGA major will get to jump into an actual pond.

Golf course architect Tom Doak returned to help redo the 18th hole by adding a pond down the right side of the green. It enables the winner to maintain the tradition of the major — which was played for some 50 years at Rancho Mirage in California — by jumping into the water. It's not Poppie's Pond, but it will have to do. The 18th hole opened for public play over the weekend.

Memorial Park also hosts the Houston Open held two weeks before the Masters.

The Australian All Abilities Open starts Wednesday at Sandhurst Club in Melbourne, an important step in golf’s efforts to join the Paralympic Games in Brisbane in 2032. It will be the first competition under the International Golf Federation's new classification rules that were developed in consultation with the International Paralympic Committee. ... Three-time major champion Minjee Lee remains in a slump. She finished last at the Toto Classic, 37 shots behind the winner, and had failed to make the cut in six straight tournaments before the Asian swing, where there are no 36-hole cuts. ... Nathan Charnes, general manager of WingHaven Country Club in Missouri, was elected to a two-year term as the 45th president of the PGA of America at the annual meeting last week in Las Vegas. Eric Eshleman was elected vice president and Jaren Barnes was elected secretary.

Blades Brown is the fourth consecutive winner of the World Wide Technology Championship to shoot 63 in the final round.

“We’ve got to stop blaming LIV for me playing poorly at the majors." — Jon Rahm, runner-up at the PGA Championship, missed cut at the U.S. Open and out of the top 30 at the other two majors.

See AP’s full golf coverage here

Jon Rahm of Spain poses with the championship trophy after winning the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

FILE - Blades Brown celebrates a birdie putt at the 18th green during the third round of the American Express golf event on the Pete Dye Stadium Course at PGA West, Jan. 24, 2026, in La Quinta, Calif. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Shuri Sakuma poses for a photo with her trophy after the Japan Classic golf tournament in Omitama, Japan, Sunday, Nov. 8, 2026, winning her first LPGA Tour title. (Katsuya Miyagawa/Kyodo News via AP)

Patrick Reed of the United States looks on after his second shot on the 11th hole during the first round of Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

Patrick Reed of the United States prepares to play a shot on the 16th green during the first round of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans were meeting for a second time Tuesday as they decide whether to delay elections for Republican leadership. South Dakota Sen. John Thune is seeking to keep his post as Republican leader just a week after steep losses in the midterm elections that cost them their majority.

Thune is expected to eventually win, given that he remains popular with his GOP colleagues and is so far running unopposed in the secret ballot election. But senators left the closed-door meeting after two hours of discussions Tuesday morning with no resolution on a way forward after an election wipeout that cost them at least seven Senate seats.

As they reconvened Tuesday afternoon, Republican senators were divided on whether a delay of anywhere from a week to a month would be productive. Votes were expected on whether to postpone.

“We want to be thoughtful and do the right thing,” said West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice as the meeting broke up. He said no obvious alternative had emerged, but “there is a legitimate argument that, good gracious, if we lost as badly as we lost, why would we continue on with the same leadership?"

At the same time, the current GOP leadership “didn't cause this problem to happen,” Justice said. “They do a good job."

The angst comes as frustrated Republicans are just beginning to reckon with what the election results mean for their future. Two additional Senate races remain uncalled in Alaska and Mississippi that could further deplete their numbers.

Several senators had already called on the Republican leadership to delay the elections, which include contests for other party leaders as well and are held in the small Old Senate Chamber.

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley said he isn't aware of anyone else running for leader, but “maybe there would be” if they waited.

“I just think that we’ve got a lot of things that we’ve got to think through, and I think that to just rush into this and just ratify all of the same leadership, what message does that send?" Hawley told reporters after walking out.

"If you don’t think after losing seven Senate seats minimum that we need to change course, I don’t know what planet you’re on,” he said.

Thune, who replaced Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky as leader in early 2025, said before the meeting that they would have a “very fulsome, robust conversation about where we go from here and then we’ll see what the consensus of the conference is.”

Thune has not yet made his case for leadership, senators emerging from the meeting said, and has instead been listening to his colleagues' concerns. Hawley said the discussion was a “frank” and “honest” open- microphone meeting and some senators discussed their own races this year — some who won, and some who lost.

Republicans in the meeting were also pushing Thune to stay in session around the clock in the coming weeks to push through war spending and other party priorities before they lose power.

“We need a plan to get the Republican agenda done,” said Florida Sen. Rick Scott.

Before the meeting, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson had circulated a letter asking for the delay. He said the conference needs to do some “real soul-searching” but conceded that there's no one else on the ballot.

“That's part of our problem, who would want the job?” he said, turning to a reporter and joking, “Do you want it?”

Oklahoma Sen. Jim Lankford said that there is “widespread support” among Republican senators for Thune, who has made it a point to hear out different viewpoints before he makes major decisions and has maintained close relationships with the rank and file — a different approach from his predecessor, McConnell.

Lankford said he supported having the elections on Tuesday because many of the new GOP senators are already in town for freshman orientation.

“It’s a pretty complicated role to be able to manage,” Lankford said of Thune's leadership post. “No one wants that job.”

Walking into the meeting, South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds said most senators are ready to move forward. It is time to have “leadership in place,” he said.

Thune has spent much of the last two years navigating President Donald Trump, who has often been at odds with the Senate.

While backing up Trump on most policy, Thune has refused to change Senate rules and scrap the filibuster to pass voting legislation that would require proof of citizenship for all voters — a position that frustrated Trump and enraged some in the president's political base.

But Trump hosted Thune and his family at the White House in October. He said Monday that the GOP leader is “a very fine man.” The election is “up to the Senate,” Trump said.

The soul-searching comes as lawmakers are trying to wrap up the year’s work — funding the government and seeing if there are some issues where they can work together, including an energy permitting bill that moved forward on a bipartisan vote Monday evening.

When he gets the chance to speak at the meeting, Thune is expected to emphasize his collaborative approach to his colleagues and point out what they did get done in the last year — including the tax and spending cuts legislation and an attempt at reining in the chaotic annual spending process.

In a Senate floor speech Monday, his first extended remarks since the election, Thune said the midterm election was a “tough night” and previewed his pitch to his colleagues who may be looking for answers on how they will navigate the minority.

Republicans will be willing to work with Democrats, Thune said, but “the American people are not looking for socialist government and leftist fantasies.”

Across the aisle, Democrats who could hold as many as 56 seats next year are having private discussions about whether New York Sen. Chuck Schumer is still the right person to lead them.

Schumer has found critics on the left and the right of his caucus as candidates from both sides declined to say in the campaign whether they would support him as leader. Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin have both considered challenging Schumer, but neither has announced a run.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Schumer’s New York colleague and the head of the Democratic Senate campaign arm, predicted that he will win enough support. Schumer not only won the Senate back but he “cares deeply, and he understands politics well," she said.

Associated Press reporter Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., speaks to reporters as members of the Republican Conference arrive to elect their leadership following the sweeping victory by Democrats in the midterm elections, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and members of the Republican Conference arrive to elect their leadership following the sweeping victory by Democrats in the midterm elections, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and members of the Republican Conference arrive to elect their leadership following the sweeping victory by Democrats in the midterm elections, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The Supreme Court is seen through a car window that is reflecting the U.S. Capitol dome, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., center, poses for a photograph in his office with Sen.-elects Abdul El-Sayed, D-Mich., Josh Turek, D-Iowa, Roy Cooper, D-N.C., Juliana Stratton, D-Ill., and Chris Pappas, D-N.H., Monday, Nov. 9, 2026, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., heads to an intelligence briefing in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol with the director of national intelligence and other congressional leaders, as Congress returns to work following the midterm elections, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Nov. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)