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Golf Glance: PGA parties in Phoenix, LIV tees off '26 season in Saudi Arabia

PGA: The American Express - Final RoundJan 25, 2026; La Quinta, California, USA; Scottie Scheffler hits his tee shot on the sixth hole during the final round of The American Express golf tournament at Pete Dye Stadium Course. Mandatory Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

The PGA Tour returns to “The People’s Open” in Phoenix this week, while LIV Golf tees off its 2026 season in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

PGA TOUR

THIS WEEK: WM Phoenix Open, Scottsdale, Feb. 5-8

Course: TPC Scottsdale, Stadium Course (South: Par 71, 7,261 Yards)

Purse: $9.6M (Winner: $1.728M)

Defending Champion: Thomas Detry

FedEx Cup Leader: Chris Gotterup

HOW TO FOLLOW

TV: Thursday-Friday: 3:30-7:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday: Noon-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6:30 p.m. (CBS); Sunday: Noon-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS)

Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday: 9:15 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Saturday: 11:30-6:30 p.m.; Sunday: 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

X: @WMPhoenixOpen

NOTES: This is the 39th edition of “The People’s Open.” The field includes 32 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking. … Brooks Koepka was added to the field under the Returning Member Program so as to not take a spot from another player, with Pontus Nyholm and A.J. Ewart also added to round out threesomes for the first two rounds. The winner of the 2015 and 2021 WM Phoenix Opens, Koepka finished T56 in his return to the tour last week. … Detry will not defend his title after signing with LIV Golf. … Scottsdale residents in the field include Wyndham Clark, Max Homa, Jake Knapp, Matt McCarty and Joel Dahmen. Dahmen is playing on a sponsor exemption along with Sahith Theegala after both finished T7 last week. … Three players have posted top-20 finishes in each of the first three events this season: Pierceson Coody, Ryan Gerard and Si Woo Kim. … The tournament scoring record of 256 is shared by Mark Calcavecchia (2001) and Phil Mickelson (2013).

AON SWING 5: This is the final event for players to earn exemptions into the first two signature events of the year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational. The current leaders are Coody, McCarty, Patrick Rodgers, Ryo Hisatsune and Andrew Putnam.

BEST BETS: Scottie Scheffler (+225 at DraftKings) has won seven of his past 14 worldwide starts. He is also a two-time winner in six previous starts in Phoenix (2022-23) … Xander Schauffele (+1900) is seeking to rebound after having his streak of 72 consecutive made cuts snapped last week. He won his previous start to that at the Baycurrent Classic. … Cameron Young (+2400) finished T22 in his 2026 debut last week, snapping a streak of six consecutive results of 11th or better. … Hideki Matsuyama (+2500) is one of three players in the field who has won the WM Phoenix Open multiple times (2016-17). … Si Woo Kim (+2700) has not finished lower than T11 in his past four starts, including a runner-up last week. … Chris Gotterup (+3600) followed up his win in Honolulu with a T18 last week.

Last Tournament: Farmers Insurance Open (Justin Rose)

Next Tournament: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Pebble Beach, Calif., Feb. 12-15

LIV GOLF LEAGUE

THIS WEEK: LIV Golf Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Feb. 4-7

Course: Riyadh Golf Club (Par 72, 7,464 Yards)

Purse: $30M

Defending Champion: Adrian Meronk

2025 Season Winners: Individual: Jon Rahm; Team: Legion XIII

HOW TO FOLLOW

TV: Wednesday-Saturday: 10:05 a.m. ET shotgun start (Fox Sports, FS1, Fox Sports App, LIV Golf+)

X: @livgolf_league

NOTES: The season-opening event will be contested under the lights at night. … LIV Golf is moving to a 72-hole format for the league’s fifth season in 2026. The daily shotgun start includes 13 teams and 57 total players, including five wild cards. … Phil Mickelson (personal) and Lee Westwood (injury) will miss the first two events of the season. Ollie Schniederjans will replace Mickelson for the HyFlyers and Ben Schmidt will replace Westwood for the Majesticks. … Two teams have changed names: the Iron Heads are now the Korean Golf Club while the South African team is now called Southern Guards.

Last Event: Team Championship (Legion XIII)

Next Event: LIV Golf Adelaide, Feb. 12-15

DP WORLD TOUR

THIS WEEK: Qatar Masters, Doha, Feb. 5-8

Course: Doha Golf Club (Par 72, 7,508 Yards)

Purse: $2.75M

Defending Champion: Haotong Li

Race to Dubai Leader: Jayden Schaper

HOW TO FOLLOW

TV: Thursday-Friday: 4-9 a.m. ET; Saturday: 4:30-9 a.m.; Sunday: 3:30-8:30 a.m. (Golf Channel)

X: @DPWorldTour

NOTES: This is the fourth of seven events on the tour’s International Swing. The winner of the International Swing will earn a $200,000 bonus and a spot in the Scottish Open if not otherwise exempt … World Golf Hall of Fame member Padraig Harrington will make his 500th career DP World Tour start.

Last Tournament: Bahrain Championship (Freddy Schott)

Next Tournament: Kenya Open, Nairobi, Feb. 19-22

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

THIS WEEK: OFF.

Charles Schwab Cup leader: Stewart Cink

Last Tournament: Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, Ka’upulehu-Kona, Hawaii, Jan. 22-24 (Cink)

Next Tournament: Chubb Classic, Naples, Fla., Feb. 13-15

LPGA TOUR

THIS WEEK: OFF.

Race to the CME Globe Leader: Nelly Korda

Next Tournament: Honda LPGA Thailand, Pattaya, Chonburi, Feb. 19-22

–Field Level Media

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Team Falcons, Team Spirit advance in group stage at BLAST Open Spring

Syndication: Arizona RepublicA backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.

Jordan Woodruff

Team Falcons, FURIA, Team Spirit and The MongolZ each recorded wins on Sunday to stay alive in the BLAST Open Spring event in Copenhagen, Denmark and Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The Group A lower-bracket final on Monday is set between Team Falcons and FURIA, while Aurora Gaming and Natus Vincere previously secured the upper-bracket final.

The Group B lower-bracket final is between Team Spirit and The MongolZ, while Team Vitality and PARIVISION already had their spots in the upper-bracket final on Monday.

The 16 teams in the $400,000 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event were split into two groups of eight that are contesting a pair of double-elimination brackets. The top three finishers in each bracket will advance to the six-team playoffs. All matches will be best-of-three until the best-of-five grand final on March 29.

The winning team will earn $150,000 along with three BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens.

On Sunday, Team Falcons rallied for a 2-1 win in the Group A lower-bracket semifinal over TYLOO, who opened with a marathon 16-14 win on Inferno. The Falcons responded in a big way with a 13-1 win on Ancient and a 13-2 victory on Mirage.

Nikola “NiKo” Kovac of Bosnia and Herzegovina led Team Falcons with a plus-14 kill-death differential while posting 45 kills, and teammate Maksim “kyousuke” Lukin of Russia had 50 kills and a plus-12 differential. No TYLOO players had a positive K-D differential.

FURIA followed a similar path in the other Group A lower-bracket semifinal, defeating NRG 2-1. NRG opened with a 13-10 win on Mirage, then FURIA surged past with wins on Nuke (13-2) and Dust II (13-7).

Danil “moloday” Golubenko of Kazakhstan led FURIA with 61 kills and a plus-32 differential.

Team Spirit swept 9z Team 2-0 in the Group B lower-bracket semifinal, winning on Overpass and Dust II on matching 13-6 scores.

Danil “donk” Kryshkovets of the all-Russian Team Spirit posted 44 kills and a plus-22 K-D differential.

The MongolZ notched a 2-0 win over Team Liquid in the other Group B lower-bracket semifinal, winning 16-14 on Ancient and 13-10 on Mirage.

Ayush “mzinho” Batbold led the all-Mongolian Mongolz with 45 kills while recording a plus-8 differential. Jonathan “EIGE” Jablonowski of the United States paced Liquid with 52 kills and a plus-10 differential.

Monday’s schedule

–Group A upper-bracket final, Aurora Gaming vs. Natus Vincere

–Group A lower-bracket final, Team Falcons vs. FURIA

–Group B upper-bracket final, Team Vitality vs. PARIVISION

–Group B lower-bracket final, Team Spirit vs. The MongolZ

BLAST Open Spring prize pool (cash prize, BLAST Frequent Flyer tokens)

1. $150,000, 3

2. $60,000, 1

3-4. $40,000, 1

5-6. $20,000, 1

7-8. $10,000

9-12. $7,500 — TYLOO, NRG, 9z Team, Team Liquid

13-16. $5,000 — FaZe Clan, B8, MOUZ, Ninjas in Pyjamas

–Field Level Media

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Tundra Esports, MOUZ unblemished to start ESL One Birmingham

Syndication: Arizona RepublicA backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.

Jordan Woodruff

Tundra Esports and MOUZ went undefeated in Group A on Sunday as ESL One Birmingham 2026 began play with 16 matches in the United Kingdom.

The $1 million tournament, featuring 16 teams in a Dota 2 competition, will award $750,000 in prize money and $250,000 in club rewards as well as 35,460 EPT points spread among all participants.

The group stage runs from Sunday through Wednesday, with two single round-robin groups of eight teams each. All series consist of two games.

The top two teams from each group advance to the upper bracket of the playoffs. The third- and fourth-place teams are delegated to the lower-bracket playoffs, and the remaining teams are eliminated.

The playoffs are March 26-29 with a double-elimination bracket. All matches are best-of-three except for the grand final, which is best-of-five.

Tundra Esports opened with a 2-0 sweep of PARIVISION, winning in 54 minutes on green and 29 minutes on red. Tundra also downed BetBoom Team in 30 minutes on green and 40 minutes on red.

MOUZ swept GamerLegion in 63 minutes on red and 46 minutes on green. MOUZ also swept REKONIX in 34 minutes on green and 29 minutes on red.

Team Yandex recorded a win and a tie on Sunday, while the remainder of Group A had a loss and a tie: BetBoom Team, GamerLegion, PARIVISION, REKONIX and Yakult Brothers.

In Group B, Aurora Gaming and Team Spirit are atop the standings with a win and a tie.

Aurora handled Team Falcons in 50 minutes and 26 minutes, both on green. Team Spirit and Aurora Gaming split their match, with the latter winning in 35 minutes on red and the former wining in 36 minutes on red.

Team Spirit also swept paIN Gaming with victories in 57 minutes on red and 30 minutes on green.

The following teams lost both matches: Nigma Galaxy, OG, Virtus.pro and Xtreme Gaming. Team Falcons and paIN Gaming each lost and tied after the first day.

Each group has eight matches scheduled for Monday.

Prize pool (prize money, club reward)

1. $250,000, $40,000

2. $100,000, $30,000

3. $80,000, $25,000

4. $60,000, $20,000

5-6. $40,000, $15,000

7-8. $27,500, $12,500

8-10. $20,000, $10,000

11-12. $17,500, $10,000

13-14. $15,000, $10,000

15-16. $10,000, $10,000

–Field Level Media

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Spacestation Gaming stay hot in Overwatch Champions Series

Syndication: The Courier-JournalA custom gaming keyboard backlit with red LED lights waits for tactile input before Manual took on Boone County in a Rocket League match, which was streamed on YouTube on Thursday, March 5, 2020.

Spacestation Gaming recorded their second win in as many days by posting a 3-2 victory over Disguised on Sunday in the Overwatch Champions Series 2026 — North America Stage 1.

The Overwatch 2 online competition, with a prize pool of $75,000, features six teams playing a regular season with a round-robin format from March 21 to April 5. All matches are first-to-three.

The top four teams advance to the regional playoffs, which are April 10-12 and feature a double-elimination bracket. All matches are first-to-three except for the grand final, which is first-to-four.

Spacestation Gaming followed up their 3-0 victory over LuneX on Saturday by outlasting Disguised on Sunday.

Disguised jumped out to a fast start by sandwiching a 2-1 victory on Lijiang Tower and a 3-1 triumph on Aatlis around a 3-0 setback on Rialto. Spacestation Gaming, however, bounced back with a 3-1 win on Numbani and 89.69m-62.11m victory on Runasapi.

LuneX Gaming rebounded from Saturday’s setback with a 3-0 victory over Extinction.

LuneX notched a 2-1 win on Lijiang Tower, a 128.06m-51.42m victory on Esperanca and 3-2 triumph on Suravasa.

Saturday’s Week 2 matches:

–Team Liquid vs. Dallas Fuel

–Disguised vs. Extinction

Standings

1. Spacestation Gaming, 2-0, +4

2. Dallas Fuel, 1-0, +2

3. Team Liquid, 1-0, +1

4. LuneX Gaming, 1-1, 0

5. Disguised, 0-2, -3

6. Extinction, 0-2, -4

Prize pool:

1. $30,000, qualifies for Champions Clash, NA Stage 2

2. $15,000, qualifies for Champions Clash, NA Stage 2

3. $12,000, qualifies for NA Stage 2

4. $8,000, qualifies for NA Stage 2

5-6. $5,000, qualifies for NA Stage 2 promotion/relegation

–Field Level Media

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