News

Morning 9: 8 PGA Tour players petition to play in Saudi event | New rules of Amateur Status

Published

5 years ago

Oct 27, 2021

Ben Alberstadt

By Ben Alberstadt

For comments—or if you’re looking for a fourth—email me at ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com.

October 27, 2021

Good Wednesday morning, golf fans.

1. 8 PGA Tour players petition to play in Saudi event

Golfweek’s Eamon Lynch…”Eight PGA Tour players—including world No. 2 Dustin Johnson—are seeking permission to compete at the Saudi International tournament, Golfweek has learned. The Tour previously said that it would deny waivers for its members to take part in the controversial event.”

“Tour players need to obtain a release to compete on other circuits. A Tour spokesperson confirmed to Golfweek that a decision on waiver applications is not required until 30 days before a tournament starts. The Saudi International is scheduled for February 3-6 at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City, meaning players might not learn if they will be permitted to play until Tuesday, January 4.”
“PGA Tour members who choose to compete without obtaining permission are subject to disciplinary proceedings, most likely in the form of a fine.”

Full piece.

2 (Rules of Amateur) Status update

Golf Digest’s Ryan Herrington…”Officials with the USGA and R&A unveiled Tuesday the finished product of their four-year modernization initiative that redefines what amateurs can/can’t do to better reflect the modern game and make the rules easier to understand and apply. Most notably, amateurs now will be allowed to receive money to cover expenses with no restrictions or prohibitions. Additionally, amateurs will be able to make money off their name, image and likeness.”

“Short term, the biggest beneficiaries of the relaxed rules are elite nationally and internationally ranked players—those whose golf prowess would allow them to be compensated for endorsing, promoting and advertising products and services. Since all previous prohibitions will be lifted, there will be no ambiguity as to what is or is not permissible. The era of Lucy Li being “warned” about appearing in an Apple Watch ad jeopardizing her amateur status are over.”
“Long term, the hope is that the changes will allow up-and-coming golfers previously hindered from developing their true potential because of the monetary issues associated with traveling and playing in tournaments to continue to pursue the game without the burden of certain financial worries.”

Full piece.

3. More

Golfweek’s Julie Williams…”The USGA announced Tuesday that its updated amateur code has been published but won’t go into effect until Jan. 1, 2022. As with any major USGA Rules update, the final changes are a result of months of review and a public feedback period. The goal was to make the concept of amateurism easier to understand and apply.”

…”The new Rules identify only four acts that would cause a player to lose his or her amateur status:

Accepting a prize with a value exceeding the prize limit ($1,000) or accepting prize money in a handicap competition.
Playing as a professional.
Accepting payment for giving instruction (although all current exceptions still apply, such as coaching at educational institutions and assisting with approved programs).
Accepting employment as a golf club professional or membership of an association of professional golfers.

Full piece.

The Morning 9 Recommends: Bulletproof Coffee

This powerhouse cup of coffee is complementary to several ways of eating, including the paleo, low-carb and ketogenic diets, as well as intermittent fasting and OMAD (One Meal a Day). Bulletproof Coffee helps you feel satisfied, alert and focused, thank to its signature combination of coffee and quality fats. That means steady energy levels—without the crash. (Seriously!)

Buy here!

GolfWRX may earn a commission of “Recommends” products.

4. 15-year-old bomber to tee it up

Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols…”It’s hard to imagine a more memorable start to a professional career than competing in the world’s only night golf tournament a mere 15 minutes from home. Add to the fact that the pro happens to be a 15-year-old high school student who stands 6-feet tall and generates head-turning power and it’s a headline-worthy debut for Chiara Noja at this week’s Dubai Moonlight Classic.”

“The German-born player was raised in England and moved to Dubai shortly before last year’s Dubai Moonlight Classic. After playing almost exclusively in professional events this season on the LET’s Access Series, where she finished runner-up in Belgium, Noja decided it was time to take the next step. While she wouldn’t reveal all that’s in store for her upcoming schedule, Noja said it was too good to wait.”

Full piece.

5. Making the most of it

Golfweek’s Adam Stanley…”Matt Hill was a can’t-miss college star at North Carolina State, matching accomplishments that only Tiger Woods had achieved before him. And after Hill’s eight-win season in 2009, he quickly made a deep splash in his native Canada, topping the Order of Merit on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada.”

“But life, like golf, is unpredictable. Sometimes the can’t-miss kids end up missing. Or they run into injuries. Or the game rears its unsympathetic head – no matter your resume.

“Hill, of Brights Grove, Ontario — the same hometown as Mike Weir – is proof. He will make his first start on the PGA TOUR since 2017 after Monday qualifying for this week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship.”

“I haven’t played a ton of tournaments lately, but you just never know with golf,” Hill said from his home in West Palm Beach, Florida. “You keep plugging along and try to get better and you never know when it’s going to happen.”

Full piece.

6. Round of golf for Brady’s No. 600 ball?

Our Matt Vincenzi…”Over the weekend, Tom Brady threw his 600th career touchdown pass; a 9 yard strike to wide receiver Mike Evans.”

“Instead of giving the ball to the legendary quarterback, Evans tossed it in the stands to a fan wearing his number 13 “Evans” jersey. That decision ended up being quite a costly one for the Buccaneers.”

“29-year-old Byron Kennedy was the man who received the ball, and thankfully decided to give it back to the team, in exchange for some other memorabilia. Experts have predicted that the 600th touchdown ball would be worth about $500,000 at auction, but Kennedy didn’t receive anything close to that value.”

“According to Michael David Smith of NBC Sports, the fan had a special request that would appeal to golf fans. Kennedy asked that Brady play a round of golf with him: “Renegotiate, no, but play a round of golf as repayment? That’d be pretty cool,” Kennedy told Andrew Siciliano.”

Full piece.

News

Testing Lorem Ipsum

Published

9 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.