News

Morning 9: Sneds ahead in Houston | Why fans now? | Couples’ new irons

Published

6 years ago

Nov 6, 2020

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt

Email me at ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com

November 6, 2020

Good Friday morning, golf fans.

1. Sneds leads Houston Open

AP report…”Snedeker found a lot of fairways and greens at difficult Memorial Park, top-ranked Dustin Johnson returned from the coronavirus, and fans were back, too, Thursday at the Houston Open.”

“Snedeker shot a 5-under 65 in the afternoon to take a two-stroke lead in the last event before the Masters. He’s one of 37 players in the field this week set to play at Augusta National.”
“Drove it great,” Snedeker said. “Around this golf course you have to be in the fairway, otherwise it’s going to be a long day for you. Did a great job of that. Made some putts. And the par 5s, birdied every par-5 out there. This course is a long, tough golf course, so to play well you need to take advantage of the scoring holes, which I did a great job of today.”

Full piece.

2. Why fans now?

Brian Wacker for Golf Digest…“We’ve gone almost seven months without fans, and when we first came back we wanted to make sure first and foremost it was safe for the players, caddies and all the essential people at the course and make sure it could run smoothly,” said Billy Horschel, a five-time tour winner and a member of the tour’s player advisory council. Horschel contends 2,000 a day is easily a “manageable number to maintain safety for the fans.”

“Horschel also noted that “sponsors have also been pushing to have fans back, and we understand why. Everyone takes a financial hit without fans.”
“…Simply put, holding tournaments without fans isn’t a financially viable option long term, not when title sponsors are investing between $8 million and $13 million (or more). Recently, the tour started allowing pro-ams again, a revenue stream that’s worth a seven-figure sum at some events. Then there are the fans on-site and all the ways they contribute to the bottom line.”
“Even in the small numbers of this week, the revenue is meaningful. Tickets for the first three rounds are $79 and $109 for the final round. That adds up to nearly $700,000 for the week, not including parking, merchandise and food and beverage sales.”

Full piece.

3. An ace in the moonlight

GolfPunk report…Sweden’s Caroline Headwall made headlines at the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic after a bogey-free round of 65 (-7), which included a hole-in-one, fired her into a two-shot first round lead from morning leader Laura Fuenfstueck and fellow Solheim Cup player, Celine Boutier.

…”Starting from the sixth hole, Hedwall opened up with ten straight pars to find her rhythm before igniting her challenge with a birdie on the par five 16th hole to get under-par for the day before producing a shot-of-the-day from 162 yards on the par three 17th…Dialled in on the laser beam flagstick all the way, her towering 6-iron looked nowhere else and pitched straight in the hole for one of golf’s most unlikely shots.”

Full piece.

4. Sergio loses…a professional tennis match

Tim Schmitt for Golfweek…“Garcia played in a doubles match as part of the DropShot Series 2020 H-E-B Men’s UTR Pro Tennis Open near Austin, Texas. His partner was Amer Delic, who was the former ATP World No. 72.”

“The duo put up a valiant fight but dropped a 3-6 6-7(6) decision.”
“The UTR, according to a release is:
… A tennis tech platform working to make tennis more affordable, accessible and fun for all tennis players. Instead of organizing by age or gender, Universal Tennis promotes play based on level through its Universal Tennis Rating (UTR), which is similar to a golf handicap in that it measures your tennis skill level based purely on results and nothing else.”

Full piece.

5. Saudi Arabia’s role in the women’s golf game

Gavin Gibbon for Arabian Business…”Golf Saudi recently announced a world-first initiative to offer free golf to women across the kingdom. The innovative Ladies First Club will offer a complimentary membership inclusive of golf lessons, driving range access and full 18-hole rounds on three different courses – Riyadh Golf Club, Dirab Golf Club or King Abdullah Economic City’s (KAEC) Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, depending on their location. It will be open to all Saudi women, with initial membership capped at 1,000 registrants.”

“Majed Al Sorour, CEO of Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation, told Arabian Business: “For us, we want to give equal opportunity. This is driven by the Crown Prince’s Vision 2030 and we see the opportunity that’s going to happen, not only in sports, but economically, socially and in all the different levels. We can see it and we can feel it now from the rest of the world, that it’s happening.”

Full piece.

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6. Worst of Champions Dinners

Jack Green for Betway Insider…”Unfortunately, those more inventive spreads are outnumbered by menus that wouldn’t look out of place in a Leicester Square steakhouse – although the prime cuts at Augusta are probably slightly more expensive.”

“It’s damning that the most popular choices over the past 20 years have been a Caesar salad to start, filet mignon for the main course and vanilla ice cream for dessert.”

“Those choices will do nothing to dispel the notion that golfers are boring.”

“Bubba Watson’s 2013 menu was the Champions Dinner’s nadir. The left-hander from Florida served Caesar salad, grilled chicken breast with corn and mashed potatoes and confetti cake for dessert, which Nick Faldo described as a “happy meal”.”

Full Piece

7. Freddy finally switches irons

Our Johnny Wunder…”The irons were the next frontier. Couples isn’t one to play around in that category and has tested (at home) different sets from time to time but hasn’t ever found that true replacement for the Bridgestone Dual Pocket CB he has loved for 10 years.”

“Ping I210 irons seemed to get his attention quickly, however. Not only do they resemble a club from his past (Ping Eye 2) but they have a few things Freddy loves. Offset, bounce, and a long blade length. Once Millard dialed in the lies, it was a no-brainer from there.”

Irons: Ping I210 (3-PW)

Shafts: Aerotech Steelfiber I110 CW X

Full Piece

8. Lifetime Ping staffer

Adam Woodard at Golfweek…”The equipment manufacturer announced its “lifetime” contract with two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson on Thursday. Terms of the agreement were not released.”

“I’ve been playing Ping equipment since I was a kid,” said Watson. “So basically my whole life. I love the company and truly believe Ping is committed to making the best equipment. I can’t thank the Solheim family enough for their support during my career. Ping and the Solheim family have played a huge role in my golf career and my life. I’m very grateful they’ve put their faith in me to represent them for the rest of my career.”
“The 42-year-old, who will make his 12th Masters appearance next week at Augusta National Golf Club, has played Ping clubs since he was 8 years old.”

Full Piece

9. The Tyrrell Hatton show

Golfweek’s Tim Schmitt…“But as consistent as Hatton’s game has been over the last calendar year, his reactions and emotions continue to be wildly unpredictable. Hatton has converted fans through his hilarious antics — often skewering himself after a bad shot or making subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) gestures during his typically steady rounds.”

“I guess it has its positives and negatives. It can be an issue if you start getting a fine, which is never good,” Hatton said with the wry smile that often accompanies him on the course. “But generally like it’s just a reaction. I kind of wear my heart on my sleeve, you know how I’m feeling, so I don’t try and hide that. I don’t see it as being an issue.”
“During Thursday’s opening round of the Vivint Houston Open, for example, Hatton pushed a ball on No. 4 (he started on the back), then angrily swung his club and talked his way down the fairway while motioning that he couldn’t get through an opening. After a tough break created a bad lie meaning he couldn’t control his chip, he still saved bogey with a testy putt.”

Full Piece

News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

2 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.