News

Morning 9: Sawgrass: An acquired taste | State of the PGA Tour is strong? | Coronavirus is trouble for caddies | Brandel drags PGL

Published

6 years ago

Mar 11, 2020

GolfWRX Staff

1. Rory on TPC Sawgrass: It’s an acquired taste

Golf Channel’s Randall Mell…“It’s a little like how he came to appreciate beer…That’s how Rory McIlroy describes the way he learned to like Pete Dye courses.”

“An acquired taste,” McIlroy said Tuesday as he prepared to defend his title at The Players Championship. “They’re like beer when you’re younger. You sort of don’t like it, but then you think it’s cool to drink it, and then you sort of acquire a taste for it.”

“I turned a corner,” McIlroy said. “I turned up there … and I hated it.

“I really did not like it. I had to tell myself, `Look, you just need to like it for one week. Just get your head around liking this place for one week and embracing the fact that it’s different and the fact that it’s visually a little funky.'”

“I never liked how [Dye] made you feel on the golf course, in terms of hiding things and angles,” McIlroy said. “It makes you a little bit uncomfortable, which is obviously his plan. He’s a wonderful designer of golf courses, but that was the week where I had to embrace what Pete tried to put into his golf courses.”

Full piece.

2. State of the Tour

Per Golfweek’s Adam Schupak….“the business of the PGA Tour appears as healthy as ever.”

“It’s clear to me we have a winning formula,” said Monahan, who noted the Tour has 18 tournaments under contract for seven or more years. “We’re growing in virtually every metric, and it’s not because the winning formula remains the same. We listen, and we respond.”

“On Monday, the Tour announced a nine-year renewal with TV partners CBS and NBC/Golf Channel and established a new relationship with Disney and ESPN+. While the financial terms weren’t disclosed, Monahan said it will help the Tour secure $12 billion in revenue through 2030.”

“The purse for the Players jumped to $15 million this year, with the winner awarded $2.7 million on Sunday, and he predicted that when the new TV riches kick in, the purse of the Players would reach $25 million. The FedEx Cup, which has doubled from a season-long pot at the end of the rainbow of $35 million to $60 million as of last season (plus $10 million for the Wyndham Rewards Top 10), also will receive a turbo-charge.”

“Perhaps $100 million or more,” Monahan said. “That’s not a commitment, but that’s, generally speaking, the kind of growth that I expect for us to see for our athletes.”

Full piece.

3. Impact of coronavirus

Shane Ryan penned an interesting piece on the negative ramifications of COVID-19 for a particular group: Tour caddies.

“As the global death toll from coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, rises past 4,000, the primary concern is the health and welfare of those infected. The secondary impact on the economy, however, will be enormous, and those most affected will be workers without full-time positions who are dependent on day-to-day or week-to-week work.”

“Caddies typically fall into that category. With rare exceptions, there is no guaranteed money, even for those who work on the PGA Tour. As Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said on Tuesday, a caddie can be fired because his golfer doesn’t like his pants. Literally.”

…”Financial security lasts only as long as a caddie can work, and the extent to which a long absence from the Tour could affect a given looper varies depending on his situation.”

Full piece.

4. Ban PGA Tour players who play in PGL?

Geoff Shackelford weighs in on commissioner Monahan’s decision not to draw a line in the sand and declare any players who participate in the PFL will be banned…

…”Yet, the reluctance to go public with a ban policy prompts questions about the possible reasoning:”

“A) Gives the PGL legitimacy. Coming out with an unprecedented ban focused on one particular Tour certainly validates the PGL. Monahan’s stance of just waiting for a player to leave is probably the wise strategy. Unless a large group of players joins forces at once.”

“(B) Contradicts Rory. Rory McIlroy’s recent praise of independent contractor life, as opposed to a league requiring full participation, would suddenly sound less realistic under such a PGL ban. Particularly if a precedent is set that could be applied to other existing tours. Restraint of trade could be claimed.”

“C) Bad optics. Protecting the PGA Tour and its beneficiaries should not create a bad look, but the world is a funny place when it comes to perception. If a few top players or legends are threatened, they might get in a public war that benefits no one. Cutting off a long time star for good, while protecting the Tour, could also upset fans of that player.”

Full piece.

5. Brandel drags PGL

Adam Schupak at Golfweek…“Golf Channel commentator Brandel Chamblee is never one to hold back with his opinions. But he delivered a doozy, even for him, while discussing Rory McIlroy and his recent comments about the Premier Golf League, a potential rival league to the PGA Tour with financial backing tied to Saudi Arabia.”

“I think he just pointed out the flaws in what it would mean to take the money, and the flaws would be that these Tour players are called independent contractors. If you’re lucky enough to ascend to a place on the PGA Tour, I can’t think of another – I can’t think of anything else in life where nobody gets to tell you what to do,” Chamblee said. “The Tour can’t tell you what to do. You can fire your caddie if you don’t like the pants he’s wearing, and they do it. Ed Fiori famously fired his caddie. ‘Why did you do it?’ (He said), ‘I don’t know, I just got tired of looking at him.’ Managers kowtow to you, the Tour kowtows to you, caddies kowtow to you. Nobody tells a Tour player what to do.”

Full piece.

6. CBS removing the clutter?

Credit to Geoff Shackelford for pointing out this quote from CBS Sports chair Sean McManus in a Q&A with Adam Schupak…

“Q. With CBS having to pay significantly more in rights fees, should viewers be concerned that you’re going to have to add additional sponsorship and promotional elements to make up that difference?”

“SM: Definitely not. In fact, we have regular conversations with the Tour about eliminating some of the clutter, so I would say if anything you’re going to see fewer interruptions than more. We’re going to continue to try to do more CBS Eye on the Course, the double box, so you don’t miss live golf action. We and NBC, although sometimes we get criticized, we and NBC run basically the same commercial load. You will not see that expanding in this deal, and if anything we’re going to try to reduce the clutter a little bit. We’ve already reduced the amount of on-air promotions we do for other programs, and I think we and the Tour are really cognizant of the fact that you want to show as much golf as you possibly can, and the two box is one way to do that, and less clutter is another way to do it. But no, there’s not going to be increased sponsorship or increased commercial inventory in the new deal.”

Full piece.

7. Inside BK’s GQ profile

Helen Ross at PGATour.com…“There was not this sort of precious sense of maintaining the temple of his body as hard as he works out and everything,” Riley says. “There’s definitely a looseness there. It’s fun hearing stories about his life down there and going out on the boat.

“He loves fishing, he has all his buddies. It just seems loose, and fun in that way.”

“Koepka, for his part, seemed to enjoy the experience. He called the GQ photo shoot a “blast” and said he enjoyed doing something so different from his “normal day job.”

“I don’t know anybody that doesn’t want to be in GQ, let’s put it that way,” Koepka said. “I mean, when they approached me, I was excited about it. I thought it would be something cool, something different, show a little different side of me that you don’t get to see on the golf course.”

Full piece.

8. Chainsmokers x TPC Sawgrass

Golf Digest’s Christopher Powers on the very interesting pre-Players entertainment decision…“For the unaware, The Chainsmokers are one of the more well-known DJ duos in the world, which has to be true since even I know who they are. You’ve probably heard a few of their songs on the radio, and you’ve definitely heard their No. 1 hit “Closer,” the one about the roommate in Boulder with the mattress, or the Range Rover or whatever. You know, this one.”

“I’m not old by any means, so I don’t want to call myself old and piss off people who are actually old and would kill to be 27 again. But I’m an old 27, which is something a lot of 27-year-olds go through. Going out is no longer fun. Crowded bars are hell on earth. Does the music really need to be THAT loud? Can’t we just hang home, drink Bud Lights and play Monopoly? Is that so much to ask?”

“I could go on and on. I had my concert days in college. Electric dance music concerts to be more specific (RIP Avicii. That show at URI was dope freshman year). It’s a phase. A fun phase, sure, but a one that couldn’t have ended soon enough. Some people hang on as long as they can, attending festivals, camping out in mud, failing to cleanse their bodies for days at a time. I saw the Fyre Fest documentaries. Not for me.”

Full piece.

9. A pro sports bettor on betting on The Players

I talked to my old friend, Dave of Top Market Sports about betting strategy and how he’s punting on The Players this week…

“Q. You seem to never bet on the big marquee names like Rory McIlroy to win. Why?”

“A. Betting single-digit futures is bankroll suicide. Single-digit futures are anyone with shorter odds than 10/1. In fact, I’m actually making a conscious effort this season to not touch anything lower than 25/1.”

“The sports betting market, as a whole, underestimates the possibility of an unexpected event happening. For example, the St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup last year after being priced at 250/1 midway through the season. Leicester City won the Premier League as a 5000/1 long shot a few years ago. Five thousand to one! My point is that in sports, the unexpected happens all of the time. And in golf, this phenomenon is amplified even more.”

“If you’re feeling strongly about a player at the top of the board like McIlroy, just bet him in matchups. Then all you have to do is beat one guy, not a full field of 143 killers. Pretty much everyone in this Players Championship field is capable of tasting God Mode on any given week. You want to bet against an army of 143 with a 6/1 shot? Be my guest, but you’re in the wrong business.”

Full piece.

News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

6 hours ago

May 13, 2026

Pro Shop

What is Lorem Ipsum?

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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.