News

GolfWRX Morning 9: Na, Na, Na, Na | Phil afoul of the Rules again | Toughest majors

Published

8 years ago

Jul 9, 2018

Good morning, GolfWRX members. As most of you are signed up for our newsletters, you likely already know that I’ve been sending this little Morning 9 roundup of nine items of note.

In case you’ve missed it, or you prefer to read on site rather than in your email, we’re including it here. Check out today’s Morning 9 below.

If you’re not signed up for our newsletters, you can subscribe here.

By Ben Alberstadt (ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com)

July 9, 2018

Good Monday morning, golf fans.

1. Na, Na, Na, Na, hey, hey, Greenbrier

Kevin Na has been known as a slow and steady player (emphasis slow) who painfully cobbles together quality showings but rarely wins (and the guy who made a 16 at the Valero Texas Open).

He modified one of the elements of his legacy yesterday, winning his first PGA Tour event in seven years thanks to a six-under 64 to wrap up A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier.

“I failed so many times,” Na said after the win. “I see the records on TV, most starts since winning. I’m always up there.

Behind K-Na: -14 K Kraft; -13 B Snedeker, J Kokrak; -12 J Neimann, A Cook, J Dahmen, S Saunders, H Varner III

2. Phil Mickelson and the Rules of Golf, Reprised

Lefty used his right foot to flatten fescue in front of the teebox at the seventh hole during the final round of A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier, yesterday.

After conferring with rules official, Mickelson was told he had run afoul of the Rules of Golf for the second time in as many tournaments, having run afoul of Rule 13-2. He was hit with a two-stroke penalty.

I wrote yesterday (do I have to quote myself?): Mickelson didn’t have to take the penalty. I mean, right? He hadn’t hit the tee shot when he began wondering if he’d broken the rules (per the video). All he would have had to do is re-tee his ball in another position, thus taking a different line, right?

Of course, after he hits the ball, the damage is done (Mickelson consulted a rules official after the tee shot, so the official wasn’t able to intercede). But if he was concerned he may have broken a rule, why wouldn’t he have pressed pause on hitting the tee shot and called for an official then?

3. Knox over Fox

Per EuropeanTour.com: “Russell Knox holed two incredible putts on the 18th green as he beat Ryan Fox in a play-off to win his second European Tour title at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation.”

“The duo were locked together on 14 under after 72 holes, with the fourth Rolex Series event of the season producing unforgettable drama at Ballyliffin Golf Club…Scotsman Knox holed from 40 feet for a birdie on the final green in regulation to sign for a 66 and set the target but coming up behind him Fox put his approach into the 18th to ten feet.”

“The New Zealander had that putt for the title but missed on the high side and the pair were left to go back up the last…Knox put his second shot to a position almost identical to the one he found on the 72nd hole and rolled it home again, with Fox missing his own birdie attempt from 12 feet.”

Knox was six back to start the day. The W is the biggest comeback in Irish Open history. Host Rory McIlroy tied for 28th.

4. A scoring record on the LPGA Tour

Kim Sei-young broke the LPGA Tour’s 72-hole record, winning the Thornberry Creek Classic with a score of -31.

The previous record of 27 under, set by Sweden’s Annika Sorenstam in 2011.

Spain’s Carlota Ciganda (22 under) finished second. Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist, American Emma Talley and Korean Amy Yang tied for third at 20 under.

5. Scheduling difficulties

We will finally be presented with the the 2018-19 PGA Tour schedule this week, Golfweek’s Forecaddie writes.

“Normally, schedule releases are met with little fanfare given how little juggling traditionally occurs. But this is no ordinary schedule release, with the PGA Championship move to May creating new possibilities and issues. Throw in having had to deal with events struggling to land sponsors (Houston, Washington D.C.) with ambitious new events (Detroit, Minneapolis) and the Tour has had to work through numerous variables.”

Rather than paraphrase paragraphs aplenty, I’ll encourage you to check out TMOF’s take.

6. Farewell, JPete (?)

It seems like John Peterson is making good on his pledge to retire

Golf Digest’s Joel Beall writes: “Peterson, a former NCAA champion and three-time All-American, has been playing this year on a medical exemption, and announced at the Wells Fargo Championship that if he failed to earn conditional status in his remaining starts, he was going to retire from professional golf.”

“I’m kind of freewheeling it at this point,” Peterson said in Charlotte. “I know a little bit has been said about me retiring if I don’t make the necessary money for my medical starts, and all that’s true. If I don’t make it, I’m not playing golf anymore.”

“The Greenbrier marked Peterson’s last outing on the exemption, and after making the cut on the number, the 29-year-old turned in a fourth-round 66 to jump up the leaderboard. It was good enough for a T-13 finish, bestowing a $121,362 check and 52.12 FedEx Cup points. However, because his exemption goes back to 2015, he’s playing off that point allotment (long story), and in that standing, Peterson earned 54.75 points…Which is 0.58 points short of earning conditional status.”

7. The 25 toughest major courses of the last 25 years

Golfweek put together a list of the 25 most difficult major championships of…well, you read the header. Anyway, here are the five toughest by average shots over par.

Carnoustie 1999 British Open 5.82

Oakmont 2007 U.S. Open 5.70

Winged Foot 2006 U.S. Open 4.99

Bethpage Black 2002 U.S. Open 4.91

Royal Birkdale 2008 British Open 4.87

Full list

8. Carnasty, by reputation

On that note... Alistair Tait files a remembrance and rounds up some quotes.

“Of course, Carnoustie’s fearsome reputation was enhanced in 1999 when the R&A let the course get out of hand. Knee-high rough just off narrow fairways and rough in spots where players could normally putt from led to the layout being dubbed “Carnasty.”‘

‘”I feel like I just fought a war,” Hal Sutton said after an opening 73″‘

‘”Hitting the fairways is like driving the ball through the door of my hotel bedroom,” two-time Open winner Greg Norman said.”

‘”It’s just a bloody difficult golf course, especially if there’s any rough,” said Howell, a five-time European Tour winner and chairman of the European Tour’s tournament committee. “It got the term ‘Carnasty’ for a reason. My first one was when Lawrie won. I remember seeing Sergio crying, that’s how hard it was. That finish is the toughest in the world. If 15, 16 and 18 are into the wind, then it’s brutal, and by the time you get to that last four holes you’re already drained.”‘

9. How big would Tiger vs. Phil be?

…the Tour Confidential panel debates

Alan Shipnuck, senior writer: The intensity of the news coverage and on social media that followed our story tells me how much interest there is for this. It doesn’t make sense to rank it in the context of meaningful tournaments – this a lark, just a bit of fun. But it would certainly be anticipated.

Dylan Dethier, associate editor: Shipnuck’s right; you can’t really compare this to a Tour event and it ultimately means nothing in terms of legacy for either of the two. But it’s such a simple, digestible concept with exciting characters that I think it would grab the attention of plenty of casual golf fans in a way that only the majors and Ryder Cup currently do.

More takes

News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

1 hour ago

May 13, 2026

Pro Shop

What is Lorem Ipsum?

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News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

1 day 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

2 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.