19th Hole
Controversial ESPN host says he’s ‘disgusted’ by Tiger Woods in unpopular rant

On Tuesday, a closed meeting amongst several of the golf hierarchy, all assembled for a PGA Tour player meeting including none other than Tiger Woods.
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ESPN’s divisive host Stephen A. Smith isn’t happy about it, though.
On Tuesday’s edition of First Take, the outspoken presenter made it clear that, in his opinion, it is disgusting that Tiger Woods is putting his considerable might behind the PGA Tour in the ‘battle’ against LIV.
Smith ranted:
“I’m disgusted by it. Let me explain why. The United States government, their number two trade partner, from what I’ve read, is Saudi Arabia. a host of U.S. corporations, and I apologize, I just googled it, I just looked it up just now. If I’m wrong about anybody, please forgive me, General Electric, AT&T, Bank of America, Halliburton Company, Pfizer International. A whole bunch of people. If I’m wrong, I apologize, it was online. Talk about these major corporations doing business. I don’t know. I just said it was online, so I don’t know. But I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say U.S. corporations doing big business with Saudi Arabia and suddenly individuals are looking to get paid and everybody is in an uproar?”
Hinting at anti-competition regulations, the presenter continued:
“I thought this was America. I thought we were a capitalistic society. I thought competition breeds our greatness. That’s what I thought. Tiger Woods is sitting there acting like the PGA should be the only game in town. When do we say that? Now granted, if you’re the only game in town, you’re the only game in town. We see it in USFL and we see Arena Football but we know it’s the NFL and then everybody else. You can have the G League and college basketball, but we know it’s the NBA and everybody else.
“You got Major League Baseball, we understand that you can have those things, but the chances of you usurping them and eclipsing them are slim to none. They are established brands in the United States of America that garner the support of millions and as a result that’s what we gonna flow with. I’m good with that. That’s America. You establish your level of dominance to the point that it don’t matter what some competition is going to do, cool. This is different.”
Smith then puts the 15-time major winner in the spotlight:
“You got Tiger Woods supporting, feeling like players betrayed the PGA. What do you owe the PGA? Show the PGA, you work, you produce, you go out there and you earn your money,” he said. “They don’t pay everybody. Winners get paid. Losers don’t necessarily get paid. I don’t know all the particulars … and I’m not pretending to. I’m addressing principle, meaning American principle.”
“Now I’m a Black man first forever and always and very, very proud of it,” continued Smith. “But I am a proud American citizen and I do believe in the American system when it talks about capitalism, when it talks about meritocracy and handling your business and handling your own and may the best man and woman win. So if you better than LIV, be better!”
Referring to the feelings presented by the families of the victims of the 9/11 tragedy, Smith said:
“…the intensity you exercise toward golfers who want to compete under the LIV umbrella, we do the same thing to the government and the corporations. If you ain’t doing it for them, don’t do it to the individual players.”
Reaction to the speech, transcribed on mediaite.com has been, naturally, very mixed.
Support for the controversial presenter was limited with many taking an opposite stance.
Indeed, the general feeling was summed up by one respondent on the mediaite.com site:
“There is no explanation that will rationalize away the Saudi’s human rights violations. I don’t measure good and bad based on what American corporations do. They would sell their mother to the taliban if it meant bigger profits. I am happy that Tiger Woods is calling out the LIV golfers and trying to get more backing for the PGA. The LIV golfers have dug their grave and they can lie in it now. The Saudi’s believe in women as 2nd class citizens, and LGBTQ are even lower. They believe in corporal punishment which is vile. I DO have a problem with the idiot Smith fella criticizing anyone for finding fault with Saudi Arabia. I am sick of money talking, corporations deciding what is ethical and NOT prosecuting law breakers because they are politicians or rich.”
ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith 'Disgusted' By Tiger Woods Rallying Against Saudi-Backed LIV Golf https://t.co/oZydyTvo6C
— Mediaite (@Mediaite) August 16, 2022
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19th Hole
‘Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight’ – LPGA pro offers candid take following rough AIG Women’s Open finish

An opening round of 77 left LPGA pro Jenny Shin with a mountain to climb at last week’s AIG Women’s Open.
However, fighting back with rounds of 69 and 67, Shin found herself six shots off the lead and just outside the top 10 heading into Sunday as she went in search of her first major victory.
Shin, who won the US Girls’ Junior at just 13, couldn’t back those rounds up on Sunday, though, and after playing her opening nine holes of the final round in level par, she then bogeyed three holes coming home to slip down the leaderboard and eventually finish T23.
Taking to X following the final round, Shin offered a frustrated and honest take on how she was feeling, posting: “Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish.”
Don’t think I’ll sleep well tonight. What a crappy way to finish
— Jenny Shin (@JennyShin_LPGA) August 3, 2025
Shin has made 11 cuts in 13 starts on the LPGA Tour this season, but has been plagued by frustrating Sunday finishes throughout the year. Shin ranks 102nd on tour this year out of 155 for Round 4 scoring in 2025.
Miyu Yamashita won the 2025 AIG Women’s Open with a composed final round of 70 to win her first major of her career by two strokes.
19th Hole
How a late golf ball change helped Cameron Young win for first time on PGA Tour

Cameron Young won the Wyndham Championship on Sunday for his first victory on the PGA Tour.
Young dominated all weekend at TPC Sedgefield, running away from the pack to win by six strokes and put himself in contention for a Ryder Cup pick in September.
Ahead of the event, the 28-year-old switched to a Pro V1x prototype golf ball for the first time, following recent testing sessions with the Titleist Golf Ball R&D team.
Interestingly, Young played a practice round accompanied by Fordie Pitts, Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, at TPC Schedule early last week with both his usual Pro V1 Left Dot ball and the new Pro V1x prototype.
Per Titleist, by the second hole Young was exclusively hitting shots with the Pro V1x prototype.
“We weren’t sure if he was going to test it this week, but as he was warming up, he asked to hit a couple on the range,” Pitts said. “He was then curious to see some shots out on the course. Performance-wise, he was hitting tight draws everywhere. His misses were staying more in play. He hit some, what he would call ‘11 o’clock shots,’ where again he’s taking a little something off it. He had great control there.”
According to Titleist, the main validation came on Tuesday on the seventh hole of his practice round. The par 3 that played between 184 and 225 yards during the tournament called for a 5-iron from Young, or so he thought. Believing there was “no way” he could get a 6-iron to the flag with his Left Dot, Young struck a 5-iron with the Pro V1x prototype and was stunned to see the ball land right by the hole.
“He then hits this 6-iron [with the Pro V1x prototype] absolutely dead at the flag, and it lands right next to the pin, ending up just past it,” Pitts said. “And his response was, ‘remarkable.’ He couldn’t believe that he got that club there.”
Following nine holes on Tuesday and a further nine on Wednesday, Young asked the Titleist team to put the ProV1x balls in his locker. The rest, as they say, is history.
19th Hole
Rickie Fowler makes equipment change to ‘something that’s a little easier on the body’

Rickie Fowler fired an opening round of one-under par on Thursday at the Wyndham Championship, as the Californian looks to make a FedEx Cup playoff push.
Fowler is currently 61st in the standings, so will need a strong couple of weeks to extend his season until the BMW Championship, where only the top 50 in the standings will tee it up.
Heading into the final stretch of the season, Fowler has made an equipment switch of note, changing into new iron shafts, as well as making a switch to his driver shaft.
The 36-year-old revealed this week that he has switched from his usual KBS Tour C-Taper 125-gram steel shafts to the graphite Aerotech SteelFiber 125cw shafts in his Cobra King Tour irons, a change he first put into play at last month’s Travelers Championship.
Speaking on the change to reporters this week, Fowler made note that the graphite shafts offer “something that’s a little easier on the body.”
“I mean, went to the week of Travelers, so been in for, I guess that’s a little over a month now. Something that’s a little easier on the body and seemed to get very similar numbers to where I was at. Yeah, it’s gone well so far.”
Fowler has also made a driver shaft change, switching out his Mitsubishi Diamana WB 73 TX for a UST Mamiya Lin-Q Proto V1 6 TX driver shaft in his Cobra DS-Adapt X, which he first implemented a couple of weeks ago at the John Deere Classic.
However, according to Fowler himself, the testing and potential changes are not done yet.
“Probably do some more testing in some different weight configurations with them once I get some time. Yeah, I feel like we’re always trying to search, one, to get better but are there ways to make things easier, whether that’s physically, mentally, whatever it may be. So yeah, I thought they were good enough to obviously put into play and looking forward to doing some more testing.”
Fowler gets his second round at TPC Sedgefield underway at 7.23 a.m ET on Friday.