News

Morning 9: Woods joins a unique foursome | A week in the life of a tour pro | BK on the clown nose

Published

7 years ago

May 7, 2019

Ben Alberstadt

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

May 7, 2019

Good Tuesday morning, golf fans.

1. Highest civilian honor

Politics aside, Woods’ Presidential Medal of Freedom was as well earned as any athlete’s (in terms of inside-the-ropes performance, at least).

Golfweek’s Bill Speros and Adrian Woodard…

“On a beautiful sunny spring evening, an emotional Woods reached another peak in a comeback for the ages. He is the first active athlete among the 33 from the sports world to earn the medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor.”

“A humbled Woods took the podium to a standing ovation after Trump delivered about 15 minutes of introductory remarks lauding Woods’ professional and philanthropic accomplishments.”

“This has been an unbelievable experience,” said Woods, who was particularly moved by mentions of his family by the president.

“It’s an incredible privilege to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Woods later tweeted. “Considering the recipients, history, and what this means to me and my family, it’s also very humbling. Thank you all for your support and I hope this inspires others to never give up on their dreams

Full piece.

2. Time for Babe?

Beth Ann Nichols brings up a valid point…

“…Not Ruth, he’s already on the list, awarded posthumously last year by President Trump. We’re talking The Babe – as in Babe Didrikson Zaharias.”

“Babe Didrikson Zaharias holds the Women’s U.S. Open Golf Championship trophy in 1954.

“The early LPGA was built to showcase Zaharias, one of the greatest athletes in American history. A woman who qualified for the 1932 Olympics by competing – and winning – as a one-woman team at the AAU Championships. Zaharias entered eight competitions, won five outright and tied for the lead in the sixth.”

Full piece.

3. A unique foursome

Golfweek’s Bill Speros…“The three previous golfers to receive the honor are Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Charlie Sifford. They are among 33 sports figures, including Woods, to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Previous winners from the world of sport include Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Michael Jordan, Bill Russell, Jackie Robinson, Billie Jean King and Muhammad Ali.”

“…Palmer was honored with his Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2004. Palmer, who died in 2016 at the age of 87, was one of golf’s greatest competitors and its most important, impactful and beloved figure of the 20th century.”

“…In 2005, Bush 43 placed the Presidential Medal of Freedom around the neck of the Golden Bear. Nicklaus was honored in a ceremony that also feted baseball great Frank Robinson and Ali.”

“…President Barack Obama chose to honor Sifford in November of 2014. The award came following a concerted campaign by golf’s major governing bodies, various diversity-based organizations, members of Congress, government officials and athletes including Bill Russell and Woods.”

Full piece.

4. A week in the life of a tour pro, via Billy Horschel

Billy Horschel, with Golf Digest’s Brian Wacker, discussed his usual week at a tour stop…

“Once the tournament starts, I’m the same creature of habit. If I’m in the morning wave, I wake up 3 hours and 15 minutes to 3½ hours before my tee time and arrive at the course 2½ hours to 2 hours and 45 minutes before I’m scheduled to go off. I don’t really have a preference on tee times, but if I’m going late-early the first two days, I’m usually only getting four or five hours of sleep between rounds because by the time I get back to my hotel and fall asleep it’s late.”

“The first stop at the course is the fitness trailer to warm up, get the blood flowing, warm up my muscles and get them activated. Yes, activated. They need to be ready to fire to make a proper golf swing. Then it’s off to breakfast in player dining for about 30 minutes.”

“Next, I start my warm up an hour and 15 minutes to a 1½ hours before my tee time. I do a longer warm up than most players-anywhere between 30-45 minutes longer. I could warm up in 45 minutes like everyone else, but I don’t like to feel rushed. I move quickly enough as it is, so slowing down and taking my time helps me focus.”

Full piece.

5. Celebrity sponsor’s exemptions: yay or nay?

Golf Digest’s Joel Beall and Christopher Powers discuss the merits…

Powers: Let ‘Em Play…“The debate here is about whether or not Romo’s-or Curry, Owen’s, etc.-sponsor’s exemptions have run their course. To that I say absolutely not. I will be watching Romo’s every move this week at the Byron Nelson, just like I did in his first two PGA Tour starts and just like I will when he attempts to qualify for the U.S. Open next week. How can you not? It’s obvious he has the game, and the more reps he gets, the better he’ll do. An ideal scenario at one of these events he gets exempt into would be Romo making the cut, and that will never happen if he doesn’t get more experience.”

Beall: Stop The Nonsense…“Professional golf is the purest rendition of sports meritocracy. Though that philosophy is not found in every aspect of the game-a fourth of the Masters field doesn’t have a shot at the green jacket, and that tournament seems to be doing just fine-these exemptions are the antithesis of this aspiration and core belief.”

Full piece.

6. An interesting McIlroy take…

On the heels of the Ulsterman’s final-round disappointment, Sky Sports’ David Livingstone thinks McIlroy needs even more balance in his life, not less…

“Rory can put things right almost immediately whereas his football team may have to wait years.

“Young McIlroy, and remember how young he is at 30, has his sporting destiny in his own hands. He already has a sound sense of perspective but what he probably needs is an even better balance between life and golf.”

“He probably thinks that’s perfect at the moment, but the fact is there’s always room for improvement.”

Full piece.

7. PXG offers a more affordable iron

In response to consumer demand, according to Bob Parsons’ company, PXG is releasing a more affordable, fully cast iron.

Our Ryan Barath…”PXG, a company known for pushing the boundaries of forged iron performance (and price) is pushing boundaries again. This time, however, it’s in a new direction. Thanks to some changes in the manufacturing processes, new PXG 0211 irons feature just as much of the high-performance technology embodied in the flagship 0311 irons, but at a more approachable price point.”

“Just like with the 0311 irons, the 0211s feature a large hollow body cavity filled with the company’s COR2 material. The difference being that this body is investment cast instead of being forged and milled like other models. And as you can probably conclude, every step the company can eliminate from the manufacturing process can help bring the cost down for the consumer. Attached to this cast body is a thin, high-strength 1770M steel face, (which at 0.058 inches is the thinnest face in golf) designed to help increase balls speeds across the greatest area possible.”

Full piece.

8. BK on the clown nose

Golf.com’s Dylan Dethier talked with Koepka about his circus-inspired tweet…

“Yeah, I mean everybody on my team, everybody around me and close to me knows what’s going to get me fired up or what makes me pay attention a little more,” he said. “You tell me I can’t do something and I can’t wait to prove you wrong

As for who Photoshopped the clown photo itself? That wasn’t the handiwork of Koepka himself.”

“I’ve got a group text with a bunch of buddies, there’s about 12 of them. I don’t know who sent it, one of ’em sent it, I thought it was pretty funny,” he said.

“I sent them the whatever, the tweet, and that was the first one they sent, and I just went with it, man – a picture’s worth a thousand words.”

Full piece.

9. Free beer from Brooks

Via Heavy.com…”As part of a sponsorship deal between Michelob and PGA Tour competitor Brooks Koepka, people in New York City will get to enjoy free Michelob Ultra during the tournament which runs from Monday, May 13 through Sunday, May 19.”

“On Monday, May 6, Koepka hit “The ULTRA shot,” landing a golf ball struck from Governor’s Island onto a floating barge in the Hudson River. Because of Koepka’s execution, the promotional offer Michelob had on the table is now in effect.”

“When the first round of the championship tees off on Thursday, May 16, people in New York City will be able to redeem a $5 rebate on six-packs of Michelob Ultra on top of getting to enjoy a free bottle of Ultra from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at select bars.”

Full piece.

News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

8 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.