Morning 9: Brooks Koepka has a solution to slow play | No Tiger at Bethpage Wednesday? “No problem,” says team

Published

7 years ago

May 16, 2019

GolfWRX Staff

By Ben Alberstadt (ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com)

May 16, 2019

Good Thursday morning, golf fans.

1. Koepka’s slow play fix

A take to be pardoned, indeed…

Via Golf Channel Digital…”Appearing on an episode of Barstool Sports’ Pardon My Take podcast, Koepka talks about how he would fix the slow-play issue in professional golf.”

“Nobody wants to spend 5 1/2 hours out there,” said Koepka. “I would just make it 15 holes, 14 holes. Because then you get to go to the 19th hole a little bit quicker.”

“Koepka then took it a step further, saying he gets bored in the middle of rounds, even during tournament play.”

“It gets boring from hole five through 12, you’re just like ‘where am I right now?'” continued Koepka. “I literally can’t tell you what happened during those holes. You kind of black out. Everything is so repetitive.”

Full piece.

2. “All good”

Tiger Woods didn’t set foot anywhere inside Bethpage State Park Wednesday.

Golfweek’s Dan Kilbridge...”Woods practiced on property Tuesday and planned to play nine holes Wednesday. But he never arrived to the course one day before his 8:24 a.m. tee time with Brooks Koepka and Francesco Molinari.”

“He’s all good. Just getting some rest,” said agent Mark Steinberg, who noted that Woods played the course last week. “All is good.”

“Wednesday’s absence means he’ll enter the PGA Championship having played just nine practice holes this week. Woods played the front nine early Monday morning and that will be all until the scores start to count Thursday. Woods usually plays at least 18 holes the week of a major, which he did at Augusta National, but he’s plenty familiar with the course. Woods won the 2002 U.S. Open here when Bethpage first hosted a major and was T-6 at the 2009 U.S Open.”

Full piece.

3. New York brings out Phil’s second best

Jimmy Golen at the AP says that while Mickelson loves NYC…

“…it’s the courses in the area that seem intent on torturing him.”

“The five-time major champion is back in the area this week for the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, where he has finished second both times the course hosted the U.S. Open. In fact, of his six runner-up finishes in the Open, four have been in New York.”

“It’s the best playing here. It really is,” Mickelson, who did not have a media interview session, told the Golf Channel after his nine-hole practice round on Wednesday. “I would love nothing more than to have a victory here and be able to feed off the energy here that the people have provided me over the years and be able to reward it with a victory.”

Full piece.

4. Singular stuff from Ping’s Marty Jertson

The fact that one of Ping’s chief engineers qualified for and is playing in the PGA Championship is incredible, to say the least.

Golfweek’s David Dusek talked with Jertson…

…”Jerston, 38, from Phoenix, Ariz., shot a final-round 69 at the PGA Professional Championship to finish T-8 and earn a spot in this year’s PGA Championship. When he is not playing or spending time with his family, Jertson works for Ping and has held job titles like director of product development and senior design engineer.”

“In those roles, he led teams that created numerous woods and irons, including the G410 driver that is in his bag and is also being used this week by Bubba Watson.”

“I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that driver,” he said. “I was the lead designer on that, so I did all the 3D design work, all the short-term research and development, made all the improvements to the turbulators (an aerodynamic-enhancing feature on the crown) and our center of gravity-shifting weight.

Full piece.

5. Spieth’s bid for the grand slam

Andy Vasquez of the North Jersey Record on Spieth’s pursuit of the full set of major hardware…

“That would be a dream come true for me,” Spieth said. “But I also recognize that if I continue to stay healthy and play well, I’ll have, I don’t know, 30 chances at it. One of them is bound to go my way, right?”

“Nearly two years have passed since his last win at the 2017 British Open. Since then, Spieth has fallen from No. 2 in the world to 39th and he hasn’t had a top-20 finish since September.”

“It’s an alarming drop-off for Spieth, who had won 10 events from 2015-17 before falling into a self-admitted slump.”

Full piece.

6. Daly on cart use

A few of JD’s remarks on the subject of his means of transportation this week, via Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard…

“I wouldn’t have been able to play [without a golf cart],” Daly said. “To tell you the truth it’s not even easy playing with a cart because for me the cart is more of a distraction but I need it otherwise I can’t play.”

“…Osteoarthritis in Daly’s right knee prevents him from walking more than six holes at a time and he said there is no short-term option for relief.”

…”It won’t get better until I get it replaced and they said I’m too young [for replacement surgery],” Daly said. “If it was broken it would have been much better, but I have Osteoarthritis. It just hurts, especially when I go downhill. I rode in a cart and it’s swelling up like a watermelon.”

Full piece.

7. Why not?

USA Today’s Christine Brennan doesn’t want to be the one betting against Tiger Woods winning a second-consecutive major championship…

She begins with this…”Is it too much to ask, Tiger winning another major little more than a month after the Masters? Can a man who hasn’t hit one competitive shot between his final putt April 14 at Augusta National and his opening tee shot Thursday morning in the PGA Championship be in the mix come Sunday? Does a 43-year-old golfer with the back of a 70-year-old have it in him to do this again?”

“Why not?”

Full piece.

8. “Making golf’s biggest stars forgettable”

The New York Post’s George Willis with a hot take…

“…With Woods winning his fifth green jacket last month and first major in 11 years, it’s already Tiger Woods 24/7. Everything is being chronicled, from where his $20 million yacht is parked in Oyster Bay to being presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom to making his first practice round at the Black. It has the feel of the late 1990s and early 2000s again, when it was all about Woods and virtually no one else mattered. It’s getting that way again.”

“I would say 99 percent of the people that show up when he’s playing are there to see him,” Jordan Spieth said.

“Players like Spieth, Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson and Justin Thomas have carried the sport while Woods was out battling back injuries and personal troubles. Most of them grew up inspired by watching Woods in his prime. Once they matured into pros, they offered a much-needed injection of youth and bravado that has been good for golf. All but Fowler have won majors and earned their own legions of fans, who have gravitated to them for one reason or another.”

Full piece.

9. Area 313

…and now for something non-PGA Championship related…

Via Matt Charboneau, of the Detroit News…

“On Wednesday, the tournament revealed its plans for “Area 313,” which includes holes 14, 15 and 16 at Detroit Golf Club and plays off of the city’s area code. No. 14 is a 543-yard par-5 followed by 160-yard par-3 15th. The run is capped by No. 16, a 450-yard par-4.”

“With players aiming to go eagle-ace-birdie – a 3-1-3 on the scorecard – and the fans getting up close to the action, the belief is the cluster of holes, complete with general admission stadium seating and upgraded hospitality venues, will quickly become one of the most popular places to watch golf on Tour.”

“Area 313 has been designed to be a stretch of the golf course unlike anything else on the PGA Tour,” said Jason Langwell, executive director of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. “It is an area where fans can watch the action on three different holes, as some of the world’s best golfers make the difficult decision of whether to gamble on going for the green in two on 14, attacking the flag on 15 and pushing their luck on 16.”

Full piece

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

2 hours ago

May 13, 2026

Pro Shop

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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.