Britain’s Prince William has picked Singapore to host the third annual awards ceremony for his Earthshot prize, which gives $1 million each to five winners developing solutions to climate change. The heir to the throne created the prize three years ago to encourage inventors and entrepreneurs to build technology to help mitigate global warming. He is expected to visit the island for a four-day trip next month to meet with finalists and business leaders and also hold local activations to raise awareness about climate change.
The shortlist for the 2024 Singapore Literature Prize includes 49 titles across three genres and languages, a slight reduction from the previous year’s total of 106 books in 39 categories. Five writers made the cut in two or more categories, including Clara Chow, who is the first writer to be shortlisted for English fiction, English creative nonfiction and Chinese poetry in the history of the program.
The winner will receive 16.5 OWGR points, based on field strength, and be eligible for the standard Tour event-winning benefits. Those include a two-plus season exemption on the Tour and berths in key events. The winner will also receive a $200,000 cash prize, a customized Lexus, and an invitation to join the global network of Lexus Innovation Partners, which provides a range of business and personal benefits.
Gooch, whose best finish in a major is tied for fourth at the 2016 Masters, took advantage of a poor start by Garcia and pulled clear on the back nine with birdies on 10, 13, 16 and 17. He needed just a par on the last to win and he held his nerve to beat Garcia by three shots with a birdie-birdie finish.
He walked off the 18th green with a fist pump and a huge smile after a superb final round that included an eagle on the 15th, a hole-in-one on the second and a chip-in for a birdie on the final hole. The victory was his second on the PGA Tour and earned him $1.6 million in earnings.
The victory gave him a career-best ranking of 13th, and he is now one shot off the lead of Australian Nick O’Herlihy and American Daniel Berger going into the season-ending event at Royal Melbourne in November. Gooch will also qualify for the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, which begin in October. He was runner-up in the Race to Dubai earlier this year and has now finished top-10 in a record five consecutive seasons on the PGA Tour. He is the first player to achieve that feat since Tiger Woods in 1998-99. He has a career total of six PGA Tour wins.
