News

Morning 9: Tour’s Reed bind | GWAA POY winners | Shackelford talks to Barstool

Published

6 years ago

Jan 8, 2020

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt

Email me at ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com and find me at @benalberstadt on Instagram and golfwrxEIC on Twitter.

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January 8, 2020

Good Wednesday morning, golf fans.

**Drop me a line (ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com) if you’d like to talk about getting your message in front of the M9 readership. Banner and native ad possibilities are, well, possible**

1. No recourse on Reed

The AP’s Doug Ferguson on the position the Tour is in with respect to Mr. Reed…

“For Monahan to punish him further is effectively calling Reed a liar. He can’t do that. No one can with absolute certainty. They can only think it.”

“The question now is how many will say it to him.”

“And then it becomes a matter of how long Reed can take it.”

“He seems to play at his best when the world is against him, and that’s what he did Sunday at Kapalua…Maybe the perception will change if he wins, though it seems unlikely, at least at this stage.”

Full piece.

2. GWAA POY winners

Press release…”KOEPKA, KO, MCCARRON VOTED 2019 GWAA PLAYERS OF THE YEAR…World No. 1 Brooks Koepka’s impressive record in last year’s majors propelled him to his second consecutive Golf Writers Association of America’s Player of the Year Award, while Jin Young Ko and Scott McCarron won their respective 2019 Player of the Year honors.”

“Koepka is the first player to win back-to-back since Tiger Woods won back to back in 2006-2007 (he also won in 2005). Koepka got 44 percent of the vote to world No. 2’s Rory McIlroy’s 36 percent while Woods, who has won the Player of the Year honor 10 times, was third.”
“Koepka, who was sidelined with a knee injury in the fall, crushed the majors in 2019. In addition to winning his second consecutive PGA Championship, he finished in the top four at the other three majors. He was tied for second at the Masters, second alone at the U.S. Open and T-4 at The Open. In addition to the PGA, he won the WGC FedEx St. Jude Invitational and T-2 at the Classic, T-3 at the TOUR Championship and fourth at the AT&T Byron Nelson.”

3. Old man media vs. Barstool

Geoff Shackelford and the Barstool boys finally had their tete-a-tete, seemingly burying the Presidents Cup hatchet (Shackelford was critical of the crew’s shameless Tiger Woods fandom).

Before linking the podcast episode, Shackelford wrote this…”After going on the Foreplay pod to discuss last December’s Presidents Cup spat between “old” media and the Barstool boys, I’ve come to realize my use of fanboys that so riled their base was in fact, unnecessary and short-sighted.”

“While I’ll continue to contend everyone with a media pass and signing the same forms should work under the same rules-no matter how outdated-the notion of a fanbase following the sport vicariously through media personalities dates to the earliest days of coverage. Darwin had fanboys who lived for his tournament accounts even a month after there had been a conclusion. Certainly Dan Jenkins elevated the art of fans living vicariously through his SI expense-account maneuvering, both in print and books. And by posting the things we do today on social media (golf, food, sites), all of us take audiences of different sizes on the road with us in different ways, just as the Barstool group does for their audience.”

Full piece.

4. Cashing in on data

AP report…”Six of the largest U.S. bookmakers already use official league data under terms they negotiated directly with the leagues.”

“Last year it was, ‘Here are the leagues with their hands out,'” said Scott Kauffman-Ross, senior vice president of fantasy and gaming for the NBA. “Now we realize there’s a lot we can offer each other. More and more operators are starting to see the value in this.”

“While not delighted with the added expense, the companies see the value in using official data, particularly for in-game betting, the fastest-growing segment of sports betting in the U.S. In such instances, determining whether a running back gained 100 yards or 99 yards could be the difference between winning or losing a bet, and having the leagues’ data serve as the last word provides a level playing field for bettors and bookmakers alike.”

Full piece.

5. Ancer on TW comments

Golf Digest’s Dave Shedloski…”Ancer also found out that what he says and what he means aren’t the same thing. “I learned a lot about media and how it can get twisted,” he said, grinning.”

“Ranked 38th in the world, Ancer was asked in mid-November at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico a question that was more loaded than it first appeared.”

“It was like, ‘Out of the 12 guys, who would I like to play on a big stage in a big event like that?’ Yeah, obviously, I would like to play my hero growing up, Tiger Woods. Be an incredible experience,” Ancer explained. “Yeah, maybe it was a little bit of a downer because people just didn’t know how I said it. I was just a little thrown off by some of the comments.”

Full piece.

6. Topgolf IPO?

Adam Schupak at Golfweek…”Topgolf, the Dallas-based entertainment company that marries the traditional driving range experience with cutting edge technology at nearly 60 multi-tiered venues around the world, has selected Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase & Co., and Bank of America, to assist in a potential initial public offering that could value the company at close to $4 billion, Bloomberg reported.”

“In October, Reuters reported the privately-held sports and entertainment giant had been in talks with underwriters about a possible IPO in 2020.”

“The four lead investors in Topgolf International are WestRiver Group, Callaway Golf Company, which owns a 14 % share, Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon, and private equity firm Providence Equity Partners, according to the company’s website.”

Full piece.

7. First female PGA Tour China member?

Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine…”Wake Forest senior Siyun Liu is looking to make history this week.”

“Liu, who is from Shanghai, is competing in PGA Tour China Q-School as she hopes to become the first female to earn her card on the men’s development tour.”

“She began her quest Tuesday by shooting an opening 3-over 74 at Foison Golf Club in Guangzhou and sits T-19 on the leaderboard after the first of four rounds.”

“Honestly, it’s not as different as I thought,” said Liu, who is playing from the same tees as the men (6,588 yards). “Everyone hits it so much farther than I do, that’s for sure, and I expected that, but I’m just more playing my own game because I know that everyone else if kind of playing a different golf course than I am doing. It helps me relax.”

Full piece.

8. Farmers filling up

The 2020 Farmers Insurance Open field is filling up with golf’s heavyweights.

Golfweek’s Todd Kelly…“Tiger Woods is not officially confirmed but is likely to make his 2020 debut at Torrey Pines.”

“On Tuesday, Jason Day and Rickie Fowler did officially enter the tournament. Those announcements came a day after Rory McIlroy said that he was going to head to La Jolla.”

Full piece.

9. Ishikawa fit again

Singapore Straits Times report…”Popular Japanese golfer Ryo Ishikawa has fired a warning to his rivals ahead of the Jan 16-19 SMBC Singapore Open.”

“Ishikawa, who had three wins last year, said that he is swinging more freely than during his previous visits to the Sentosa Golf Club and predicted even better results this year.”

“I feel very good about my physical condition now,” said the 28-year-old, whose well-documented back problems restricted his movement. “I can swing the way I want to swing. I (hope) to do much more this season.”

Full piece.

News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

7 hours ago

May 13, 2026

Pro Shop

What is Lorem Ipsum?

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Why do we use it?

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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.