News

GolfWRX Morning 9: Ryder Cup pairing clues? | Toughest tee shot in golf? | Chamblee: I’m a huge Tiger fan

Published

8 years ago

Sep 26, 2018

Ben Alberstadt

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

September 26, 2018

Good Wednesday morning, golf fans.

1. The most nerve-racking tee shot in golf?

Interesting perspective piece from Beth Ann Nichols at Golfweek that reminds us the Ryder Cup–and Ryder Cup pressure–is a different animal entirely, and the first tee shot makes seasoned pros’ knees weak (just ask Webb Simpson).

A few bits…”Even Tiger Woods tried to talk partner Mark O’Meara into letting him tee off on the even holes in 1997 to avoid that first tee shot.”

“The best piece of advice that definitely (Ian) Poulter’s given me,” said Fleetwood, “and Rory (McIlroy) says the same thing: He says, it’s the most special you’ll ever feel. Whatever nerves you felt up to now, times it by 10, and that’s what you have.”

“Actually, at Le Golf National outside Paris, it might be worse. This is a golf course that was built to host championships, which means there’s plenty of room. The massive grandstand surrounding the first tee seats 6,900. That’s more than three times the size of the first tee at Glenagles. The stand on the first tee at Hazeltine sat 1,668.”

Full piece.

2. Pairings speculation

Steve Dimeglio reports…”If the groups that went off the first tee Tuesday at Le Golf National are an indication of what’s to come, Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed have split…And Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson could play together.”

“Instead, Reed was grouped with Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Bryson DeChambeau. Right behind them was the group of Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson. The third group was Bubba Watson, Webb Simpson, Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau.”

“Sergio Garcia, Alex Noren, Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose led off the Europeans’ practice rounds. They were followed by the group of Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Thorbjorn Olesen and Paul Casey. The third group was Tommy Fleetwood, Francesco Molinari, Ian Poulter and Tyrrell Hatton.”

3. Tiger Woods is on Tiger Woods’ Mount Rushmore of golf

Our Andrew Tursky…”Who’s on your “Mount Rushmore” of golf? For Tiger, apparently, it’s Snead (Sam), Jones (Bobby), Nicklaus (Jack), and “me” (Tiger Woods). He put himself on the Mount Rushmore of golf!”

Woods made the comments in a promotional video for the Ryder Cup.

Andrew writes..”What makes this video so great though is that there are so few athletes in all of sports who have the confidence (arrogance?) to put themselves on a list like this. Michael Jordan would definitely put himself on the Mount Rushmore of basketball, and surely Joe Namath would put himself on the Mount Rushmore of football. But in golf where respecting tradition is so important, it’s shocking to hear a statement like this… in the absolute best way possible for Team USA ahead of the 2018 Ryder Cup.”

4. Chamblee on why Tiger can win another major

Often regarded as a “Tiger hater,” Brandel Chamblee told our Johnny Wunder on the Gear Dive podcast that his is, in fact, a huge Tiger Woods fan and always has been.

Chamblee spoke further about Woods and the 14-time major champion’s latest victory on the Gear Dive. The full 50-minute interview is well worth a listen, as Chamblee discusses modern instruction, the most important recent invention in golf teaching technology, what’s in his bag, and much more-but here are a few of his best Tiger Woods takes.

Commenting on the magnitude of Woods win for the golfer’s career, Chamblee said, “It sort of got this historical freight train back on the tracks. Everything is on the table. It’s possible he could win more majors. It’s possible he could get to 90 wins…he looks healthy. He’s pain free.”

“I’m far more convinced with what he did this week than what he did at the PGA Championship. At the PGA, the golf course was really soft and that allowed him to miss fairways…but ever since the PGA…he’s been a much, much better driver of the golf ball. All of a sudden, that makes major championships a possibility for him.”

“In my opinion, he’s the greatest player who’s ever played. Nobody has ever played golf like him. But he didn’t just beat his competitors…he defeated his demons. That’s what made it so compelling. We’re all familiar with his issues. Most of relate to most of them…we’re all fixated on them..We know it slowed his career down…he was knocked off the highest pedestal. To re-establish his reputation as a leader in the game…as a an intimidating player…it went a long way toward becoming the alpha male again in the game of golf.”

Listen to the podcast here.

5. Wrist injuries for Thomas, Spieth ahead of RC

Golfweek’s Brentley Romine writes tendonitis has come for the U.S. squad.

“Thomas is battling tendonitis in his right wrist, the injury flaring up during the final round of the BMW Championship, while Spieth, according to Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis, is suffering from the same ailment in his left wrist.”

“It’s just kind of more precautionary than anything, just a little tightness, and it probably looks a little worse than it is,” Thomas said last Tuesday before he tied for seventh at the Tour Championship…Spieth echoed Thomas’ comments on Tuesday, telling Lewis that the injury was “not a big deal.”

6. No time to reflect

PGATour.com’s Mike McAlister writes…”Tiger, though, simply hasn’t had time to process unforgettable. Less than 48 hours after completing a year-long comeback from career-threatening back surgeries, Woods has turned his attention to beating the Europeans on their home turf for the first time in 25 years. Not until next week will he have a chance to reflect on the improbable climb back into the winner’s circle.”

“I saw a couple of [videos] on some French news channel [of] the people rushing behind me, but I haven’t sat down and watched it yet,” Woods said. “I still have this event to do.

“Post-Ryder Cup, it will be a different story. I will look back and soak it up and really reflect on what really transpired that entire week.”

7. Captain America, ready for duty

Cameron Morfit on Patrick Reed, match play dynamo.

“The bonkers singles victory over Rory McIlroy at Hazeltine in 2016. The grind-it-out takedown of Henrik Stenson at Gleneagles in 2014, when Reed shushed the European crowd. Other Reed exploits, like the college grudge matches against Harris English (Georgia) and Uihlein (Oklahoma State) that were part of his 6-0 record as Augusta State won national titles in 2010 and ’11, we’ve heard about enough to feel like we were there.”

“In college, he was so excitable for match play, his nickname was Next Level. But excitement and enthusiasm only go so far; Reed, more than most players this side of Ian Poulter (more on him shortly), somehow utilizes that run-through-a-wall spirit to elevate his play.”

“I just get more jacked up, more excited,” Reed says of his Captain America persona. “Just really pumped and goin’, and that’s why even if it’s a 5-footer for par, I’m screaming. I think just the show of emotion gets the crowd going, gets me kind of going, kind of picks you up. That’s a week that’s all on adrenaline.”

Full piece.

8. The forgotten Ryder Cupper

Kevin Van Valkenburg returns to the narrative that Brooks Koepka remains overlooked.

“A lot has happened since that Ryder Cup two years ago. Koepka has won three majors, including two this season. In doing so, he’s establishing himself as perhaps the most formidable big-game hunter of his generation. He has just one regular-season PGA Tour victory, the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open. But get him in a major, or a Ryder Cup, and the people around him can actually see his focus narrow, his preparation intensify. He is not one for chest-bumping theatrics or egging on a hostile crowd the way Patrick Reed is, but if the United States is going to win this Ryder Cup this week on European soil for the first time since 1993, it will likely be because Koepka turned in another dominant performance.”

“How much respect Koepka deserves for his accomplishments, and how much he’s received for them, has been something of a sensitive topic this year on the PGA Tour, particularly in Koepka’s camp. Though he has risen to No. 2 in the world, it’s become obvious Koepka doesn’t feel golf media — or the sport’s fans — are giving him the attention that Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson frequently receive. Koepka isn’t particularly forthcoming in interviews, but when he does open up, he’ll sometimes share anecdotes he is clearly using to fuel the narrative of disrespect.”

Full piece.

9. Phil wants strokes

Mickelson tweeted…”I just played with Tiger today and it is the best I’ve ever seen him swing the club. It is so on plane and solid. I’ll be asking for a shot a side for our Thanksgiving match. I doubt I’ll get it though.”

Patrick Reed told reporters he didn’t think a stroke a side would be enough to give Mickelson a chance.Ouch.

News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

6 hours ago

May 13, 2026

Pro Shop

What is Lorem Ipsum?

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

Why do we use it?

It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years, sometimes by accident, sometimes on purpose (injected humour and the like).

News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

2 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

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.