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Back to back: Tech Sunday at the Masters

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1 month ago

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So if it keeps on rainin’, levee’s gonna break
If it keeps on rainin’, levee’s gonna break
When the levee breaks, have no place to stay

Led Zeppelin’s levee broke last year for Rory McIlroy. If he hadn’t won the Masters in 2025, he probably would not have won in 2026. McIlroy always knew how to win the green jacket, but knowing and doing are different altogether. As Bobby Jones is attributed to have said, there is golf and there is tournament golf, and the two bear little resemblance. With his one-shot triumph over Scottie Scheffler, Rory is now halfway (or three-quarters way) to a second career grand slam.

McIlroy began the day in a dead heat with Cameron Young, recent winner of The Players Championship. Young struggled to find his authentic game on Sunday, posting two birdies and three bogeys for 73 and a tie for third, two back of the champion. Charging hard on Sunday was Scheffler, who made up four shots in a bogey-free 68, and finished solo second at -11. Tied with Young for third were Russell Henley, Tyrrell Hatton, and two-time runner-up Justin Rose.

Rose will sleep worst tonight. The Englishman reached 12-under par by the ninth green, but bogeys at eleven and twelve dropped him back to minus-ten. Like Young, Rose could not buy a birdie on the second nine and was once again gutted by the course and tournament that he dearly loves.

How did Rory McIlroy survive a gut-check, first nine, then calmly build his lead on the second nine? Let’s take a look at five shots that ironed the wrinkles from his game and brought him once more to victory. Unlike Jack Nicklaus, who had to slip the jacket on his own shoulders, Rory benefitted from the same treatment as Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods, the last two winners in consecutive years. This time around, chairman Fred Ridley did the honors.

Thanks to Todays Golfer and Inside Tour Golf for original equipment reporting, and to the Augusta National Golf Club/Masters Tournament for video links.

Shot #1: Second shot at the fourth hole

McIlroy addressed the ball on the tee of the par-three fourth, fresh off his first birdie of the day, and promptly decelerated on a long iron. The ball sailed left, shortsiding the defending champion, and leaving a deep bunker between his ball and the hole. McIlroy stepped up and zip-flopped his wedge to five feet. Never mind that he took three putts to get the ball in the hole. McIlroy could easily have dumped the wedge in the bunker, or thinned it across the green, but he did neither. Regardless of the double-bogey outcome, McIlroy had to take heart from his recovery pitch.

Critical Club: 60-degree TaylorMade MG5

Shot #2: Tee shot at the seventh hole

Rory McIlroy absolutely crushed … hold on, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Rory McIlroy made bogey at the sixth hole, the second par-three on the first nine. His heroic tee ball landed pin high right and bounded over the green. He failed to get up and down, and dropped back to minus-nine. The wheels were spinning and the train was wobbling. Then, Rory McIlroy absolutely crushed his drive on the par-four seventh, leaving 100 yards to the hole. His wedge approach landed long, then eased down the slope to six feet, where he converted for his first birdie since hole three. McIlroy would follow up with another birdie at eight and return to even par for the day. Without that confident swing off the tee, who knows where the round might have routed.

Critical Club: TaylorMade Qi4D driver, fitted with a Fujikura Ventus Black 60g X-Stiff shaft.

Shot #3: First shot at the twelfth hole

Remember for a moment, if you will, that Rory McIlroy had made a mess of the first two, short holes on Sunday. Forget that four and six demand long irons, while number twelve asks but a mere pitch to its putting surface. The Eddy Effect, the swirls of winds down in the hollow of Raes Creek, has rerouted many a mere pitch into the watery depths that front the green. McIlroy stepped to the tee and carved a nine-iron tee shot over the creek, just past the front bunker, seven feet from the hole. His putt for two was center cut, and he was back in the lead.

Critical Club: TaylorMade Rors Proto 9-iron (similar to the P7MB model) carrying a True Temper Project X Rifle 7.0 shaft.

Shot #4: Third shot at the thirteenth hole

After smoking a driver to a right-side, hanging, fairway lie, McIlroy went for the green in two on the first par-five hole of the second nine. His club slump told the story: this one was headed left. McIlroy’s third was from a declivity, long and left. Eschewing a pitch shot, McIlroy putted up the slope and across the green. His speed was perfect, and the ball broke slightly right, leaving him four or five feet for birdie. He converted, the putter was officially back in his good graces, and McIlroy reached two-under on the day.

Critical Club: TaylorMade Spider Tour X3 putter

Shot #5: Pick one

McIlroy’s drives at fifteen and eighteen barely stayed on the planet, but his recovery shots found daylight. His wedge third at fifteen barely cleared the water, but clear the water it did. His tee shot on sixteen ended in a familiar (cough, Tiger, cough) spot long and left. Given the historic knowledge and a better lie than the originator had, McIlroy putted to the fall line, and watched his ball slide to within inches of the hole for par. At this juncture, he was full-on palimpsest, re-creating the canvas that had depicted doom and frustration on previous major and Masters occasions. On seventeen, from the middle of the fairway, his approach drifted right, yet he nearly pitched in for the second time this week. McIlroy did very little well over the closing four holes, but his Houdini act lasted long enough for him to claim victory. As will always be said, it’s never the how, but rather, the how many.

Critical Club: The six inches between his ears.

Related Topics:

Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

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News

2026 PGA Championship betting odds

Published

1 day ago

on

May 12, 2026

By

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

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2026 PGA Championship

Published

2 days ago

on

May 11, 2026

By

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.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

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News

How much each player won at the 2026 Truist Championship

Published

2 days ago

on

May 11, 2026

By

Kristoffer Reitan held his nerve at Quail Hollow on Sunday to claim his first PGA Tour victory and the $3.6 million winner’s check that came with it. The Norwegian fended off a packed leaderboard on a dramatic final day, with Rickie Fowler and Nicolai Højgaard both taking home $1.76 million for their runner-up finishes.

With a total prize purse of $20 million up for grabs, here’s a look at how much each player won at the 2026 Truist Championship.

1: Kristoffer Reitan, $3,600,000

T2: Rickie Fowler, $1,760,000

T2: Nicolai Hojgaard, -$1,760,000

4: Alex Fitzpatrick, $960,000

T5: Tommy Fleetwood, $730,000

T5: Sungjae Im, $730,000

T5: J.J. Spaun, $730,000

T8: Ludvig Aberg, $600,000

T8: Harry Hall, $600,000

T10: Patrick Cantlay, $500,000

T10: Matt McCarty, $500,000

T10: Cameron Young, $500,000

13: Justin Thomas, $420,000

T14: Min Woo Lee, $360,000

T14: Chris Gotterup, $360,000

T14: Nick Taylor, $360,000

T17: Alex Smalley, $310,000

T17: Gary Woodland, $310,000

T19: Austin Smotherman, $242,100

T19: Rory McIlroy, $242,100

T19: Keegan Bradley, $242,100

T19: Sudarshan Yellamaraju, $242,100

T19: Kurt Kitayama, $242,100

T24: Patrick Rodgers, $156,643

T24: Pierceson Coody, $156,643

T24: Adam Scott, $156,643

T24: Andrew Novak, $156,643

T24: Harris English, $156,643

T24: J.T. Poston, $156,643

T24: David Lipsky, $156,643

T31: Brian Harman, $114,416.67

T31: Viktor Hovland, $114,416.67

T31: Alex Noren, $114,416.67

T31: Tony Finau, $114,416.67

T31: Nico Echavarria, $114,416.67

T31: Corey Conners, $114,416.67

T37: Sam Burns, $82,187.50

T37: Maverick McNealy, $82,187.50

T37: Akshay Bhatia, $82,187.50

T37: Taylor Pendrith, $82,187.50

T37: Matt Wallace, $82,187.50

T37: Andrew Putnam, $82,187.50

T37: Bud Cauley, $82,187.50

T37: Lucas Glover, $82,187.50

T45: Justin Rose, $60,000

T45: Daniel Berger, $60,000

T45: Ryo Hisatsune, $60,000

T48: Denny McCarthy, $50,000

T48: Aldrich Potgieter, $50,000

T48: Webb Simpson, $50,000

T48: Michael Kim, $50,000

T52: Mackenzie Hughes, $45,187.50

T52: Max Homa, $45,187.50

T52: Brian Campbell, $45,187.50

T52: Jhonattan Vegas, $45,187.50

T52: Matt Fitzpatrick, $45,187.50

T52: Chandler Blanchet, $45,187.50

T52: Jordan Spieth, $45,187.50

T52: Jacob Bridgeman, $45,187.50

T60: Xander Schauffele, $42,500

T60: Robert MacIntyre, $42,500

T60: Ricky Castillo, $42,500

T63: Ben Griffin, $41,250

T63: Sepp Straka, $41,250

T65: Ryan Gerard, $40,250

T65: Si Woo Kim, $40,250

67: Ryan Fox, $39,500

68: Jason Day, $39,000

69: Sahith Theegala, $38,000

70: Sam Stevens, $37,500

71: Hideki Matsuyama, $37,000

72: Tom Hoge, $36,000

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