News

Grow the Game, Join the Olympics

The grand poobahs of the sport of golf believe golf needs to be an Olympic Sport in order to “Grow the Game”. David Fay, executive director of the USGA and chairman of the World Golf Foundation, Tim Finchem PGA Tour commissioner, Carolyn Bivens LPGA commissioner, Joe Steranka PGA of America CEO, Jim Armstrong Augusta National GM, Peter Dawson R&A chief executive, and George O’Grady European Tour CEO have agreed that this is an essential ingredient in achieving that goal.

Published

18 years ago

May 5, 2008

Eric Schuster

The grand poobahs of the sport of golf believe golf needs to be an Olympic Sport in order to "Grow the Game".

David Fay, executive director of the USGA and chairman of the World Golf Foundation, Tim Finchem PGA Tour commissioner, Carolyn Bivens LPGA commissioner, Joe Steranka PGA of America CEO, Jim Armstrong Augusta National GM, Peter Dawson R&A chief executive, and George O’Grady European Tour CEO have agreed that this is an essential ingredient in achieving that goal. I can’t help but wonder why this particular group has come out from behind the walls of their individual Kingdoms to join a crusade to gain access to a Kingdom as corrupt as the that run by the International Olympic Committee. Altruism is not something of which these power purveyors could be convicted. Thus the answer clearly becomes financial gain, both outwardly "for the good of the game" and less visibly for each Kingdom.

How bad is the IOC? Here’s a recent quote from Jacques Rogge the Poobah’s poobah of the IOC: "For us, freedom of expression is something that is absolute. It’s a human right," said Mr. Rogge. "There are small restrictions in not making propaganda or demonstrations in Olympic venues, like on the podium. . . . We are a movement of 205 nationalities, and many of these nationalities are in conflict with each other," Rogge said. The IOC will provide athletes with guidance on what constitutes propaganda, he added, "and we’ll do this with a lot of common sense." In other words freedom of expression is absolute, but we’re going to put a few restrictions on what can be said and done. Hmmm I think I’d really be anxious to clasp hands with this guy.

Remember the bribery scandals surrounding the Salt Lake City games 10 IOC members resigned and 10 others were reprimanded. Congress launched three investigations. The Justice Department convened a federal grand jury. What mostly came out of this wailing and gnashing of teeth was that those member forced to resign and those reprimanded where only practicing business as usual, they just happened to get noticed outside of the back alley at a time other than the dead of night.

And the organizations that operate under the umbrella of the IOC are hardly any better, but why would we expect anything better to occur under such stellar leadership. Remember the stink about Paul Hamm and the all around gold medal in men’s gymnastics? You remember gymnastics, a sport which would easily survive on it’s own without the mega doses of cash being an "Olympic Sport" provides. Well Mr. Hamm was asked to return his gold medal after the award ceremony because someone apparently made a mistake in scoring the Bronze medalists final performance. Good sportsmanship all over the neighborhood that, eh? Mr. Hamm even had to travel to a court hearing in Switzerland ( I think it was Switzerland) before he could be assured the medal was indeed his to keep. Weird and weirder. Remember the Winter Games were the Russian couple a Gold Medal despite an obvious even to the untrained observer second rate performance. The Canadian couple was awarded a second Gold Medal after the French judge admitted she bowed to pressure to vote for the Russian couple. Ice skating, another sport capable of standing on its own without the Olympic dollar supporter.

These are the playmates the poohbahs of golfdom want to join. For the good of the game? Please, spare me. I may have been born at night but it wasn’t last night so don’t try and get me to accept that we can’t grow the game without getting into the same arena with these schmucks. I’m not buying it for a minute. Is the game having trouble growing in South Korean? What you say there are how many South Korean women members of the LPGA. My my, and without the Olympics. How did this happen? Where exactly are you trying to grow the game? Russia? China? Sudan? Hmmm.

I have another question for the games anointed leaders; who exactly benefits from this Olympic connection? and how will it help my game?

News

WITB Time Machine: Phil Mickelson’s winning WITB, 2021 PGA Championship

Published

4 days ago

May 13, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

Phil Mickelson made history at the 2021 PGA Championship on Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course. At 50, he became the oldest player to win a major, breaking Julius Boros’s record. Starting the final round with a slim lead, Lefty faced tough competition from Brooks Koepka and Louis Oosthuizen. He pulled ahead with key birdies and a standout 366-yard drive on the 16th hole. Finishing 6 under par and two shots ahead, Mickelson claimed his sixth major and second PGA Championship. Many saw his win as an inspiring comeback, showing that experience and determination can still lead to victory in professional golf — and, sometimes, age is just a number.

Driver: Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond (6 degrees @5.5 , green dot cog)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X (47.9 inches)

2-wood: TaylorMade “Original One” Mini Driver (11.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X

4-wood (Sunday only): Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero (16.5 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Blue 8 X

Irons: Callaway X Forged UT (16) (Thursday-Saturday), Callaway X21 UT Proto (19 degrees @20.5, 25), Callaway Apex MB ‘21 (small groove) (6-PW)
Shafts: (16) MCA MMT 105 TX, KBS Tour V 125 S+

Wedges: Callaway PM Grind ’19 “Raw” (52-12@50, 55-12, 60-10)
Shafts: KBS Tour V 125 S+

Putter: Odyssey Milled Blade “Phil Mickelson”
Grip: SuperStroke Pistol GT Tour

Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft X (Triple Track)

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

More photos of Phil Mickelson’s WITB here.

News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

5 days ago

May 12, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Scottie Scheffler leads the betting ahead of the second major championship of the year, with the World Number One a +345 favorite to get his hands on a second PGA Championship.

Rory McIlroy who won the Masters back in April is a +800 shot to complete half of the calendar slam at Aronimink Golf Club this week, while Jordan Spieth can be backed at +5900 to become a career grand slam winner.

Here is the full betting board for the 2026 PGA Championship courtesy of DraftKings.

Scottie Scheffler +345 – (Check 0ut his WITB here)

Rory McIlroy +800 – (Check out his WITB here)

Jon Rahm +1300
Cameron Young +1500
Bryson DeChambeau +1700
Xander Schauffele +1850
Matt Fitzpatrick +1950
Ludvig Aberg +2000
Tommy Fleetwood +2600
Collin Morikawa +3500
Brooks Koepka +3900
Justin Rose +4300
Russell Henley +4600
Si Woo Kim +4700
Justin Thomas +4800
Robert MacIntyre +5300
Patrick Cantlay +5300
Viktor Hovland +5400
Tyrrell Hatton +5500
Jordan Spieth +5900
Sam Burns +6000
Hideki Matsuyama +6200
Adam Scott +6400
Rickie Fowler +7000
Chris Gotterup +7400
Patrick Reed +7400
Min Woo Lee +7800
Ben Griffin +8000
Sepp Straka +8400
Shane Lowry +9000
Akshay Bhatia +9200
Maverick McNealy +9200
Joaquin Niemann +9200
Jake Knapp +9200
Jason Day +9600
Kurt Kitayama +10000
J.J. Spaun +10000
Harris English +10500
Nicolai Hojgaard +11000
Gary Woodland +11000
David Puig +11000
Michael Thorbjornsen +12000
Jacob Bridgeman +12000
Keegan Bradley +12500
Corey Conners +14000
Alex Fitzpatrick +15000
Sungjae Im +15500
Sahith Theegala +15500
Harry Hall +15500
Alex Noren +16000
Thomas Detry +16500
Marco Penge +16500
Kristoffer Reitan +17000
Alex Smalley +17000
Wyndham Clark +17500
Sam Stevens +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Daniel Berger +18500
Ryan Gerard +20000
Nick Taylor +20000
Rasmus Hojgaard +21000
Dustin Johnson +21000
Pierceson Coody +23000
Aaron Rai +24000
Jordan Smith +24000
Angel Ayora +24000
Bud Cauley +25000
Matt McCarty +26000
Jayden Schaper +26000
Brian Harman +27000
Taylor Pendrith +27000
Ryan Fox +27000
J.T. Poston +27000
Cameron Smith +29000
Ryo Hisatsune +29000
Michael Kim +29000
Max Homa +29000
Denny McCarthy +29000
Tom McKibbin +30000
Rico Hoey +32000
Matt Wallace +32500
Ricky Castillo +33000
Haotong Li +33000
Michael Brennan +34000
Max Greyserman +36000
Stephan Jaeger +37500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +37500
Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen +39000
Aldrich Potgieter +40000
Andrew Novak +42000
Patrick Rodgers +42500
Daniel Hillier +42500
Max McGreevy +46000
Billy Horschel +48000
Chris Kirk +48000
Ian Holt +49000
Casey Jarvis +49000
William Mouw +50000
Steven Fisk +50000
John Parry +50000
Nico Echavarria +52500
Garrick Higgo +52500
John Keefer+55000
Matthias Schmid +57500
Austin Smotherman +57500
Sami Valimaki +60000
Andrew Putnam +60000
Lucas Glover +62500
Daniel Brown +62500
Jhonattan Vegas +75000
Emiliano Grillo +80000
Mikael Lindberg +85000
Adrien Saddier +100000
Bernd Wiesberger +100000
Elvis Smylie +110000
Stewart Cink +130000
Kota Kaneko +130000
David Lipsky +150000
Chandler Blanchet +150000
Andy Sullivan +150000
Joe Highsmith +180000
Adam Schenk +200000
Travis Smyth +200000
Davis Riley +225000
Martin Kaymer +400000
Brian Campbell +400000
Padraig Harrington +450000
Kazuki Higa +450000
Jordan Gumberg +450000
Ryan Vermeer +500000
Austin Hurt +500000
Tyler Collet +500000
Timothy Wiseman +500000
Shaun Micheel +500000
Y.E. Yang +500000
Michael Block+500000
Mark Geddes+500000
Luke Donald+500000
Bryce Fisher+500000
Jimmy Walker +500000
Jason Dufner +500000
Jesse Droemer +500000
Jared Jones +500000
Garrett Sapp +500000
Francisco Bide +500000
Zach Haynes +500000
Paul McClure+500000
Derek Berg +500000
Chris Gabriele +500000
Braden Shattuck +500000
Ben Polland +500000
Ben Kern +50000

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

5 days ago

May 11, 2026

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is on site for the second major of 2026: The PGA Championship from Aronimink in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

The tournament’s location, just outside Philadelphia, and its status as a major championship mean GolfWRXers are in for a treat: WITBs from a strong field, custom gear celebrating the PGA Championship, and the rich culture of the City of Brotherly Love — we have noted a relative absence of cheesesteak-themed items thus far this week, but most of the rest of the usual suspects are well represented.

Check out links to all our photos below.