News

Morning 9: Breaking the Puerto Rico Open curse | RIP, Peter Alliss | Bezuidenhout goes back-to-back

Published

5 years ago

Dec 7, 2020

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt

Email me at ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com; and find me on Twitter and Instagram.

December 7, 2020

Good Monday morning, golf fans. What’s the worst golf gift you’ve ever received?

1. Breaking the Puerto Rico Open curse

Adam Woodard for Golfweek…”Not only did Viktor Hovland earn his second PGA Tour win on Sunday, he also put to rest a curse that’s been haunting the Tour for more than a decade.”

Earlier this year in February, Hovland won the Puerto Rico Open, an event that’s put a burden of sorts on its winners over the years. Players who won the Puerto Rico Open never went on to win another tournament on Tour, with one exception: Michael Bradley, who won the Puerto Rico Open in 2009 and again in 2011.

“Tony Finau won in 2016 and has yet to win since, losing in two playoffs along the way. Alex Cejka, 2015’s champion, has lost in one playoff, same with 2013 winner Scott Brown, whose playoff loss was with Kevin Kisner against Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in 2017.”

Full piece.

2. Peter Alliss, legendary golf broadcaster, dies at 89

As you have likely heard, legendary long-time commentator Peter Aliss’ death was reported over the weekend.

And while the remembrances are many, the BBC’s Ian Carter’s lead—and discussion of Alliss the commentator’s origin story—is excellent.

“Peter Alliss was nattering to a friend on a flight back from Ireland, discussing how he had missed a chance to win that week’s golf tournament. It was a conversation that led to one of the greatest careers in sports commentary.”

“Alliss’ tale of golfing woe was clearly wonderfully told and it was overheard by someone working in television who could spot broadcasting potential. Ten days later a letter arrived from BBC producer Ray Lakeland.”

“It said, so Alliss told me: “I was sitting behind you and you were telling the story of how you lost and it was very amusing. Would you like to come and work with us at The Open?”

“I was only 30 years old, I was still trying to win The Open,” Alliss continued. “But they said just come up after your round and tell us what it was like out there, and that’s what I did – and I’ve been there ever since.”

Full piece.

3. Back-to-back for Bezuidenhout

EuropeanTour.com report…”The 26-year-old began his final round with a five shot advantage over Welshman Jamie Donaldson, who cut the deficit to two before turn as the South African struggled to make an impact on the scoreboard at Gary Player Country Club. But Bezuidenhout regained his form on the the back nine to sign for a 69 and finish on 18 under par overall to seal his third European Tour operated title of the season following his win at the Dimension Data Pro-Am on the European Challenge Tour in February and his magnificent four shot victory at the Alfred Dunhill Championship seven days ago.”

Full piece.

4. Stanford wins as parents look on

AP report…”Angela Stanford won her home LPGA Tour event in front of her parents, closing with a 4-under 67 for a two-stroke victory Sunday in the Volunteers of America Classic.”

“I just haven’t had many chances to win in front of them. So to finally do it, it’s so cool,” Stanford said. “I couldn’t even look over at my mom coming up 18 because I was starting to get teary eyed. I’m like, ‘Just don’t look over there, don’t look over there.? I would have lost it.”

“The 43-year-old former TCU star from Fort Worth won her seventh LPGA Tour title and first since the major Evian Championship in 2018. She finished at 7-under 277 at Old American Golf Club in the event that started in bone-chilling cold Thursday.”

Full piece.

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5. USWO’s virtual fan experiences

The USGA is getting creative to offer fans the opportunity to experience the 75th U.S. Women’s Open.

USGA report…”A number of experiences and activations have been designed specifically to bring fans around the world closer to the action and allow them to interact directly with the world’s best players during the 75th U.S. Women’s Open at Champions Golf Club in Houston, Texas, from Dec. 7-13. “This year marks a significant anniversary in our storied championship, and we are excited to unveil unique ways for fans to interact with the year’s final major like never before,” said Craig Annis, chief brand officer of the USGA. “While we won’t be able to welcome the game’s greatest fans on-site at Champions Golf Club, they will be given unmatched access to the championship and their favorite players across all of their devices from the comfort of their homes.”

Full piece.

6. Brooks’ 2020 finishes with a whimper…

Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner: “A moment of carelessness cost Brooks Koepka a cut in the final PGA Tour event of 2020.

Hovering near the cut line Friday at the Mayakoba Classic, Koepka missed a 10-footer for birdie on the par-5 fifth hole, his 14th of the day. That’s when he stepped up and, without taking much time, lipped out the 1.5-foot comebacker, walking off with a bogey.

Even though he birdied the eighth hole, it wasn’t enough for Koepka to make the cut. He stood at even-par 142, with the cut line falling at 1 under. Second-round play was suspended Friday because of darkness and completed Saturday morning in Mexico.”

Full Piece

7. Lynch: The cautionary tale of Rickie Fowler

Eamon Lynch for Golfweek…”With the enigma that is Rickie Fowler, the most illuminating figure is this: 11 years into his career, he has more commercial sponsors than PGA Tour victories.”

“…There was a period when Fowler’s ample screen time on Sunday afternoons was earned through his fine play. Now that time is paid for by a seemingly endless parade of partners confident that Fowler can help them sell everything from insurance and automobiles to mortgages and underwear. It’s the Arnold Palmer business model, and more power to Fowler for leveraging it so astutely. But at what cost to his career?”

“On Friday, Fowler missed the cut at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, the latest in a run of dismal performances in the year since he parted ways with his tag team of swing coaches, Butch and Claude Harmon, to work with John Tillery. His last top 10 finish was in January at the American Express.”

Full Piece

8. Report: Cristie Kerr and caddie taken to hospital after golf cart accident

Golf Channel’s digital team…”Cristie Kerr and her caddie were injured in a “serious” golf cart accident on Friday morning, according to Golfweek. Kerr, who shot 1-over-par 72 in the first round of the Volunteers of America Classic, withdrew from the tournament and she and her caddie went to the hospital.”

“According to Golfweek…Kerr’s husband, Erik Stevens, confirmed that the accident occurred in dark conditions at the Old American Golf Club and both Kerr and her caddie, Matt Gelczis, spent several hours in the emergency room with multiple serious injuries before being discharged late in the afternoon.”

Full Piece

9. Hovland’s winning WITB

Driver: Ping G425 LST (9 degrees)

Shaft: Project X HZURDUS Smoke RDX Black 6.5

3-wood: TaylorMade SIM (15 degrees @ 14.5)

Shaft: Mitsubishi Tensei Blue AV Raw 85 TX

Irons: Callaway X Forged UT (21 degrees), Ping i210 (4-PW)

Shafts: Graphite Design Tour AD DI-85 X Hybrid (21), KBS Tour 120 X (4-PW)

Wedges: Ping Glide 3.0 (50-SS, 56-SS @55) Vokey WedgeWorks (60T)

Shafts: KBS Tour-V 130 X

Putter: Ping PLD Prototype “Hovi”

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

9 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.