The post Scottie Scheffler’s athletic Nike golf shoes suit his powerful swing appeared first on Golf.

The post Scottie Scheffler’s athletic Nike golf shoes suit his powerful swing appeared first on Golf.

If sporting an athletic look is the on-course vibe that appeals most to you, Nike is likely a familiar brand in your closet.

A decade after exiting the ball, club and bag side of the golf business, the Swoosh has remained synonymous with some of the game’s biggest names, partnering with World Nos. 1 and 2, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy on the men’s side, and Nelly Korda and Michelle Wie West on the women’s side.

While we recreational players can’t necessarily ensure the same result as the pros when we try to replicate their equipment specs, we can certainly strive emulate their look as closely as possible by seeking out the apparel and footwear we see them wearing on Tour. And after Scheffler’s impressive performance at the FedEx St. Jude, we’re shining the spotlight on his Nike Victory Pro 4 spiked golf shoes, which you can buy at PGA TOUR Superstore.

Gear

Scottie Scheffler's surprise (and unique) TaylorMade driver switch | Tour Report

By: Jack Hirsh

These sneaker-style shoes have a chunkier athletic vibe. They’re casual yet clean, and are available in several colors, none of which are flashy. Instead, they have a simple, comfortable, go-with-everything appeal.

In terms of technical attributes, the Nike Victory Pro 4’s feature “Fly Wing” — a design enhancement that connects the upper and midsole to increase lateral stability, enabling the wearer to better utilize ground forces to generate speed and power through impact. A nine-spike traction pattern helps provide grip where you need it.

Given Scheffler’s performance this year — 2 wins, and 12 total top-10 finishes thus far in 2026 — it’s clear the shoes are an important cog in Scheffler’s on-course gear machine. But unlike his TaylorMade Qi4D 7.8-degree driver, which may prove a bit difficult for the average recreational player to flush off the tee, Scheffler’s Nike shoes are refreshingly accessible.

Check them out in detail below, and click on the link to order your pair now.

Shop Scottie Scheffler’s Nike Victory Pro 4 golf shoes

Nike Victory Pro 4 Men’s Spiked Golf Shoes

Unlock your swing speed in the Victory Pro 4.

$155 from PGA TOUR Superstore

View Product

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The post Canceled finale? Concerts in doubt? Inside LIV Golf’s uncertain finishing stretch appeared first on Golf.

The post Canceled finale? Concerts in doubt? Inside LIV Golf’s uncertain finishing stretch appeared first on Golf.

LIV Golf’s 2026 season will end this week, even if LIV hasn’t acknowledged as much.

For weeks, golf fans have heard whispers of the league’s shortened season via reports from various outlets, but LIV’s official channels haven’t addressed the matter, leaving interested parties, including ticket-holders, in the dark.

As of early Monday afternoon, 10 days before the would-be first round of LIV’s team championship in Michigan, the league’s website still had the tournament, slated for The Cardinal at St. John’s, listed as an “upcoming event.” The site included links to “Get Tickets,” but when users accessed it, they received a notification that read “the tickets you were looking for are no longer available…”

While that messaging might appear innocuous, GOLF.com has learned that it was, in fact, strategic, an effort by the league to maintain the appearance — if only for a few additional days — that the event might still happen.

Late in the evening of Aug. 12, in the wake of a Telegraph report that LIV told players the event was canceled, LIV quietly pulled all ticket listings for the Michigan event. (Incidentally, at that point the league was still distributing promotional emails encouraging recipients to buy tickets.) According to an internal email viewed by GOLF.com, LIV’s head of ticketing and hospitality, Michael Drobnick, laid out a plan for limiting media attention around the cancellation of one of the league’s biggest events.

“The ticketing page will remain live, but no inventory will be available,” Drobnick wrote to ticket and hospitality staffers. “If a guest visits the page to view tickets, they will see a message that says, ‘The tickets you were looking for are no longer available.’”

The plan also requested that LIV’s ticketing partner, Fever, continue holding off any response to questions it was receiving until LIV could make an announcement. That announcement still has not come. As was reported by MyGolfSpy and The Detroit News, fans could still buy tickets to the Michigan event in the middle of last week, well after it was known internally that it had been canceled.

“After discussing with [LIV executives] Scott [O’Neil], Chris [Heck] and Ilana [Finley], we think this is the best path forward for now,” Drobnick’s message continued. “It allows us to keep the ticketing page live, hopefully avoiding additional media flags by removing it entirely, while also ensuring guests cannot proceed through the checkout process.

“Hopefully in the next 24-48 hours, we’ll have the green light to officially make the announcement. At that point, we will remove the ticketing page entirely.” 

It’s unclear what “green light” LIV was (or is) awaiting, and from whom, but one LIV source called the slow-play tactic a mitigation effort to appease the Saudi PIF, LIV’s owner, which promised it would fully fund the league through the rest of the 2026 season. Multiple LIV players — Tyrrell Hatton, Tom McKibbin and Adrian Meronk — have already moved on with their plans, signing up for the DP World Tour’s British Masters, which is the same week as the would-be team championship.

LIV did not respond to multiple inquiries from GOLF.com. On Monday afternoon, the league issued a press release confirming the Michigan event had indeed been canceled.

The duties of a league facing cancellations cross into an ethical gray area, but communicating in a timely manner with ticket-buyers and potential attendees is widely considered a baseline standard for event management. Purposely delaying announcements could undercut any latent belief that the challenged league might regain its footing as it continues into shaky financial territory. 

This week’s now-final event, just north of Indianapolis, has for months touted Friday and Saturday evening concerts from country-music star Thomas Rhett and DJ Disco Lines, respectively. But in recent days both concerts found similar uncertainty, as LIV staff was told late last week that the concerts were also bound to be canceled. Then, over the weekend, info about the headliners and concerts was quietly removed from LIV’s website as well. The toolbar navigation atop LIV’s Indianapolis ticketing site lists a “Concerts” tab, but the link doesn’t go anywhere. It has now been removed. Monday afternoon’s press release also clarified that the concerts would not go on, just a few days before their scheduled dates.

Representatives from both performers did not respond to request for comment, but Disco Lines’ official list of tour stops did not include the LIV concert. As of Monday, Rhett’s website still included the Indy date, but clicking through its “Buy Tickets” tab revealed a dead link. On Monday afternoon, the date had been removed. Additionally, the press releases for both concert announcements — published online in late March and mid-May and cached by search engines — have been scrubbed from LIV’s site.

The golf will go on this week, as LIV will now fold its season-long team championship race into a single event, crowning whichever team plays best in Indianapolis. But a LIV event without concerts goes against the league’s original premise: that it is a festival-like combination of sport and music, blending golf by day into music by night. Just one ticket required. For proof of the role music has played in boosting attendance, look no further than LIV’s raucous event in South Africa, featuring DJ Calvin Harris’ first-ever visit to the continent. In most cases, spectators have been able to buy a “concert experience upgrade” to gain streamlined access to the first rows of the crowd, right next to the stage. For months, LIV’s Indianapolis event offered this music-only add-on, but those tickets and any links referring viewers to them were also removed from the ticketing options late last week.

The post Canceled finale? Concerts in doubt? Inside LIV Golf’s uncertain finishing stretch appeared first on Golf.

The post Jordan Spieth (and 2 other stars) just miss ‘important’ top 50 cutoff appeared first on Golf.

The post Jordan Spieth (and 2 other stars) just miss ‘important’ top 50 cutoff appeared first on Golf.

Matt McCarty had an early tee time on Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

That wasn’t the plan going in.

“I kind of controlled my own destiny. Now for that not to be the case kind of sucks. But it is what it is, and we’ll see,” he said post-round.

McCarty entered the week at No. 48, just inside the PGA Tour’s all-important top 50 bubble. The top 50 get into next week’s BMW Championship, but more importantly they get into all of next season’s Signature events, and maybe even more importantly than that, doing so will provide an inside track to qualifying for the new ‘Championship Series’ cutoff coming in 2028.

McCarty didn’t much help his cause with a T63 finish, which earned him just 7.75 FedEx Cup points. That meant he had to sit around and wait to see if he hung on as others from outside the top 50 tried to play their way in.

“I’m going to hop on a plane and not look at my phone for a while,” McCarty said. “I think that’s better than kind of looking at it a lot.”

LAST MAN IN

McCarty’s fellow bubble boy Maverick McNealy didn’t mince words:

“I think the top 50 number is probably the most important number on the PGA Tour right now,” he said. “First of all, you want to play against the best players in the world. Those are the guys you grew up watching on TV. You want to play at the highest level, and that’s what these Signature Events are. I want to play against guys like Scottie and Rory and all those guys.

“Secondly, being able to pick your schedule is so important. It’s something that basically 50 guys get to do is know what they’re playing in starting January 1st. That just makes your life so much better and so much more predictable.”

Alex Noren, who entered at No. 46 and moved up 12 spots with a T3 finish, echoed its importance.

“It means a lot. I mean, I know the whole system is changing for 2028, so I wanted to get into the top 50 this year.”

McNealy entered the week in the precarious No. 49 spot; he navigated TPC Southwind’s increasingly treacherous back nine in two under on Sunday to finish T19 and remain No. 49 at week’s end.

McCarty could only watch as his projection pinged back and forth from green to red — but he, too, made it through, slipping from No. 48 to No. 50, less than eight points clear of No. 51.

Sungjae Im was the lone player from outside the top 50 to work his way in; despite stumbling with a Sunday four-over 74 he finished T5 to leap from No. 53 to No. 40.

FIRST 3 OUT

Inevitably if one golfer plays his way in that means he’s knocked another player out, and on Sunday Sungjae Im’s rise came at the expense of his friend Keith Mitchell, who finished No. 51.

Mitchell’s season concluded with a wild 18th hole where he hit his approach barefoot, standing in the water, only to watch as that approach bounded into the water by the green. He got up and down for bogey and T34; that wasn’t quite enough.

“I mean, it’s tough because this year I was like one foot in, one foot out all year, in the majors, in the Signature Events,” Mitchell said post-round, explaining the bubble’s real-life consequences. “I didn’t have a schedule. Really didn’t have like, a life, off-weeks built in. Every week I was like, first alternate, or am I going to get in?

“That’s good because you’re playing well, but if you’re in at the start of the season, it’s a different life, literally, as a PGA Tour player. It felt like that out there today … I felt like I handled the nerves of an entire season on your hands pretty well today. It looks like I’m going to come up short, but I did my best.”

Jordan Spieth began the week at No. 54 and mounted a charge on his front nine Sunday, birdieing his first hole and going out in two-under 33 — temporarily projecting inside the top 50. But three back-nine bogeys proved to be his undoing as he signed for a typically chaotic even-par 70, a T19 week and a 52nd-place season.

“It’s funny, I just feel like I’m kind of getting back to playing really good golf, like it’s close to kicking off, and I’m not going to play a tournament for a long time,” Spieth said post-round, ever the optimist. “I’m very, very confident in what’s coming. I just ran out of steam and maybe made a couple bad decisions over about a six-week stretch on what I was working on, and I just didn’t quite have enough time to make up for it.”

Max Homa finished at No. 53; his Sunday 68 was enough to move him to T24 for the week, but he would have needed two shots better to crack the top 50.

A final look at the bubble:

48. Eric Cole, 874.8 FedEx Cup points
49. Maverick McNealy, 862.8
50. Matt McCarty, 845.4
—
51. Keith Mitchell, 837.6
52. Jordan Spieth, 818.4
53. Max Homa, 811.4

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The post ‘When is this going to stop?’: Scottie Scheffler fights off horrible break to win St. Jude appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘When is this going to stop?’: Scottie Scheffler fights off horrible break to win St. Jude appeared first on Golf.

Scottie Scheffler finally captured his second win of the season on Sunday at the 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship. In the process, the World No. 1 ended a winless drought that stretched back to January.

While that would hardly be news for almost any other player, Scheffler is the best in the world and has repeatedly experienced near-misses all year long.

But it all almost came undone when Scheffler suffered a horrendous break on the 3rd hole of the final round that threatened his lead as well as his comeback win and left the four-time major winner beside himself.

Scheffler after sprinkler head leads to water ball: ‘I wasn’t very happy’

It seems odd to say Scheffler has been snakebitten in 2026, but the argument holds some weight.

Though he earned his first victory in his very first start of the year at the American Express, and though he held a comfortable lead in the FedEx Cup standings all year, Scheffler had gone seven months without another win.

In that time, he recorded an incredible five runner-up finishes, two thirds and 10 total top 5s. While Scheffler admitted Sunday night that he “hadn’t played much kind of great golf” this season, he also suffered a number of bad breaks and bizarre occurrences that contributed to his lack of wins.

Gear

Scottie Scheffler's clubs: Surprise Qi4D driver switch leads to FedEx St. Jude win

By: Jack Hirsh

Take the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in May, where Scheffler was on a Sunday tear hunting down the lead from behind in an attempt to defend his 2025 title there. After two straight birdies, Scheffler hit a perfect wedge shot trying to set up another birdie, only it was too perfect. His shot ricocheted off the flagstick and rolled 55 feet off the green.

“When you’re winning tournaments, those are the ones that sometimes go in,” Scheffler said at the time. “When you’re not winning tournaments, those are the ones that hit the pin and kind of go 50, 60 feet away.”

The bad break cost him dearly, and he ended up with a solo third that week.

The golf gods struck the World No. 1 again early in Sunday’s final round of the FedEx St. Jude.

Beginning the day with a two-shot lead over Sam Burns and Sungjae Im, Scheffler took on the par-5 3rd green with his second shot, missing to the left and leaving himself with a tricky downhill bunker shot toward a pond guarding the front right side of the green.

To exactly no one’s surprise, Scheffler hit a perfect shot, lofting his ball into the air and getting it to land just on the collar of the green, right where he’d aimed, so it would trickle down to the hole and not run through the green and into the water.

But there was one problem. Scheffler’s ball came down directly on a sprinkler head hidden in the collar. His ball took a hard bounce, and he could only watch helplessly as it rolled past the pin, down the hill and into the water. A penalty stroke and drop followed. You can watch a clip of the shot here or below.

Scheffler couldn’t believe his bad luck, and he immediately communicated his shock to his caddie, Ted Scott.

“I told Teddy when we were going down there to drop my ball, and I was like when is this going to stop happening?” Scheffler said in his post-win press conference. “He’s like, ‘I don’t know, man.'”

When Scheffler made bogey at 3, his lead had been cut to one, and suddenly his march to victory looked in doubt.

“Yeah, I wasn’t very happy when that ball bounced off that sprinkler head on the 3rd,” Scheffler said. “It cost me a couple shots.”

Still, he could have done much worse than bogey there, and rather than shake him, the moment sparked a run of inspired play.

“Yeah, got that ball up-and-down and was able to save bogey and then bounce back pretty quick with a good shot at 4 and then a really nice birdie at 5. Just tried to do my best to bounce back really was all that it was,” Scheffler explained Sunday night.

He went five under the rest of the round, shooting 66 to win by an impressive margin of eight shots. However, Scheffler never felt comfortable given TPC Southwind’s treacherous closing stretch.

“I didn’t really feel like I could breathe too much until I got on the green on 18,” he admitted.

Now with his 21st PGA Tour victory secured, Scheffler heads to this week’s BMW Championship with the FedEx Cup points lead, and likely Player of the Year honors, all but wrapped up.

The post ‘When is this going to stop?’: Scottie Scheffler fights off horrible break to win St. Jude appeared first on Golf.

The post 2026 BMW Championship odds: Scottie Scheffler huge favorite in St. Louis appeared first on Golf.

The post 2026 BMW Championship odds: Scottie Scheffler huge favorite in St. Louis appeared first on Golf.

The FedEx Cup Playoffs continue this week with the 2026 BMW Championship at Bellerive CC, and, after a big win, the FedEx Cup leader is still the betting favorite. Here is everything you need to know about the BMW Championship odds and other betting favorites to start the week.

BW Championship betting favorites

Scottie Scheffler was a fixture as the betting favorite in every tournament he teed it up in this year, even when he wasn’t winning. Now that he is winning, the odds have grown even more lopsided.

Scheffler captured his second win of the season on Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, cementing his big lead in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the BMW.

News

Tour Confidential: Jon Rahm’s LIV future, U.S. Amateur lessons and Scottie's big win

By: GOLF Editors

The World No. 1 comes into BMW week with +300 odds-to-win.

In a distant second place behind Scheffler in the odds, you can find Rory McIlroy. The six-time major winner took significant time off before playing the FedEx St. Jude. The rust showed as McIlroy finished at 8 over, putting him 66th out of 68 players who finished.

Despite that poor start, McIlroy is still 13th in the FedEx standings and has +1375 odds to win the BMW Championship.

Sam Burns (+1475) and Tommy Fleetwood (+1800) aren’t far behind McIlroy. Three big-name players are tied with +2000 odds-to-win: Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Aberg and Cameron Young.

You can see the top 25 and ties in the BMW Championship betting odds as of Monday morning below via DraftKings.

2026 BMW Championship odds (full field)

Scottie Scheffler (+300)
Rory McIlroy (+1375)
Sam Burns (+1475)
Tommy Fleetwood (+1800)
Xander Schauffele (+2000)
Ludvig Aberg (+2000)
Cameron Young (+2000)
Matt Fitzpatrick (+2150)
Chris Gotterup (+2450)
Viktor Hovland (+2700)
Si Woo Kim (+2700)
Patrick Cantlay (+2700)
Hideki Matsuyama (+2700)
Wyndham Clark (+3300)
Justin Thomas (+3500)
Collin Morikawa (+3600)
Jake Knapp (+4000)
Tom Kim (+4100)
Russell Henley (+4300)
Robert MacIntyre (+4400)
Maverick McNealy (+4600)
Kurt Kitayama (+4800)
J.J. Spaun (+5100)
Min Woo Lee (+5300)
Michael Brennan (+5300)
Rickie Fowler (+5600)
Michael Thorbjornsen (+5700)
Adam Scott (+5800)
Ryan Gerard (+6000)
Sungjae Im (+6100)
Ben Griffin (+6500)
Jacob Bridgeman (+6600)
Alex Noren (+7000)
Nicolai Hojgaard (+7200)
Justin Rose (+7800)
Gary Woodland (+7800)
Alex Smalley (+7800)
Kristoffer Reitan (+8200)
Aaron Rai (+9200)
Akshay Bhatia (+10500)
J.T. Poston (+11000)
Bud Cauley (+11000)
Alex Fitzpatrick (+11000)
Ryan Fox (+12000)
Ryo Hisatsune (+13500)
Nicolas Echavarria (+14000)
Eric Cole (+15000)
Sahith Theegala (+21000)
Matt McCarty (+27000)
Sepp Straka (+27000)

The post 2026 BMW Championship odds: Scottie Scheffler huge favorite in St. Louis appeared first on Golf.

The post Tour Confidential: Jon Rahm’s LIV future, U.S. Amateur lessons and Scottie’s big win appeared first on Golf.

The post Tour Confidential: Jon Rahm’s LIV future, U.S. Amateur lessons and Scottie’s big win appeared first on Golf.

Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we discuss Jon Rahm’s future on LIV Golf, the U.S. Amateur at Merion and LeBron James’ move into YouTube golf.

1. This week, in “Will or Won’t LIV Golf Survive?” brought reporting that Jon Rahm might not be long for the league. According to the Telegraph’s James Corrigan, several LIV sources are “almost resigned” to Rahm’s departure after the 2026 season, and that the DP World Tour is aware of Rahm’s intentions. How much would a Rahm exit hurt the league in its efforts to attract new investors and stay alive in 2027 and beyond?

Josh Schrock, associate news editor (@schrock_and_awe): If Rahm does exit after the event in Indianapolis, you’d have to think it would be a near-mortal wound for LIV. If reports that the money the new investor has promised is tied to star retention are true, then Rahm leaving would leave LIV 2.0 with Bryson DeChambeau and not much else, assuming other notable names exit behind Rahm. 

Dylan Dethier, senior writer (@dylan_dethier): It’s not great. The extent of LIV’s inbound investment will be contingent on its ability to keep its top stars, and Rahm has been its best player since his arrival. At this point, I, like Ian Poulter, do not see LIV’s path forward.

Sean Zak, senior writer (@sean_zak): Rahm leaving LIV would only add to what we already know: the league is floundering. It can’t afford to lose its best player. It would also create a bit of a domino effect, I’d think, with his other Legion 13 teammates.

2. When Rahm signed with LIV at the end of 2023, his timing seemed impeccable, and not just because he collected nine figures in guaranteed money. At that juncture, LIV had the PGA Tour backpedaling, with indications that the leagues might open up channels by which players could play on both tours. Today, that possibility has been turned on its head, with the Tour squarely back in the driver’s seat. How much will Rahm’s decision to sign with LIV shape his legacy?

Schrock: Regardless of what he does in the future, the decision to sign with LIV will be the opening line on Rahm’s career obituary. Because of the effect it had on the state of pro golf’s civil conflict and how it shocked everyone. Rahm went from No. 1 player in the world, with an appreciation for golf’s traditions who couldn’t be bought, to a star player who took a lot of money to try and create his own path and spent years of his prime on a tour that didn’t adequately prepare him for the majors he seemed destined to win. He still has a lot of years left in the game and surely a lot of winning to do, but his decision to join LIV will be something he carries.

Dethier: I dunno. He made a lot of money. He left as the reigning Masters champ, which maximized the amount of money he could sign for in the moment. He racked up a whole bundle of top 10s on LIV, which meant he made a bunch more money. He may still be owed a bunch of money. That’s probably the theme of this stretch of his career: Profit maximization. As for his legacy? My only caveat would be that golf careers are long, and his has many chapters left. The golf world will reshape again, Rahm will continue to be among its main characters and each golf fan can make his own call as to how they view his legacy.

Zak: It’ll inform his legacy, certainly, but he had two majors before LIV and will almost certainly win more in the future. He’s 31, going on 32, will be a Ryder Cup captain at some point, and I sense he will hang around the game for a long time. There are many, many years by which he can alter what the golf world thinks of these last few years. It definitely feels like an odd chapter, though.

3. The 126th U.S. Amateur concluded at Merion on Sunday with Jack Whaley def. Jay Leng Jr., 4 and 3. There was a lot to like about the week, from some of the colorful participants to the storied venue to a Charles Barkley cameo. What will stick with you from this Am?

Schrock: It truly was a week for people who love golf. There’s no better event to watch and enjoy golf than a U.S. Am, and Merion being the stage made the event feel weightier than normal. An iconic golf course with a field full of interesting stories and an unexpected winner who got to share an all-time moment with his dad on the bag. Can’t beat it.

Dethier: This is nebulous, but this U.S. Am felt big. Merion made it feel big, and so did the USGA, and hell, so did my GOLF colleagues on the ground. With apologies to the Boeing Classic, it felt like a legitimate contender for biggest golf event of the week, which is notable given it was up against the PGA Tour’s playoffs.

Zak: I started the week thinking it’s all a bit gratuitous how many people get into the field, but left the week loving all the odd stories it brings together. The bizarre Tiger-polo, the fedora man, the cigar-toting senior — I didn’t really clock any of their names, but I enjoyed their vibes. What a wild array of characters. 

4. Our James Colgan wrote earlier this week that the PGA Tour’s revamped post-season, which is coming in 2028 and will feature a match-play finale, could glean a lot from the U.S. Amateur, including the employment of elite courses in big markets, smaller footprints and a head-to-head format driving TV eyeballs. Would you agree that the Amateur is a worthy model for the Tour? 

Schrock: I couldn’t agree more with James’ thesis. Being at the U.S. Am this week at Merion was a rare golf experience that allows you to watch the game in its purest form. The fans are true die-hard golf sickos, and there’s an appreciation for the game and the venue that the PGA Tour could benefit from. The mixture of formats helps, but I think the combination of match play, cathedrals and smaller footprints is a winning formula that will please golf fans. 

Dethier: I think that’s the plan! The Tour is chasing something with prestige, with mystique, with meaning. Whatever gets them out of a Memphis-St. Louis-Atlanta August swing will be an improvement — but there’s a lot of possibility for creative execution. 

Zak: The only element of this likely missing from the Tour’s future Tour Championship is hundreds of people walking along, without a ropeline barring them from the center of the fairway. Would be very cool if the Tour somehow leaned into that aesthetic. 

News

9 specific reasons we're loving this U.S. Amateur at Merion

By: Michael Bamberger

5. Scottie Scheffler hasn’t lacked for chances this season, but before this week had won just once in 2026, at the American Express in January. That changed in a big way on Sunday when he won the first FedEx Cup playoff event, the FedEx St. Jude, by eight — eight! What did Scheffler find in Memphis?

Schrock: Maybe it was the driver switch, or maybe everything that had been costing him wins this year didn’t happen this week. He didn’t get off to a slow start, didn’t have a subpar round that put him behind the eight ball, and didn’t run into someone playing at full flight while he was armed with only his B-game. He came with his A-game, and it wasn’t close.

Dethier: What he found was a way to completely change the narrative around his season. A one-win, Amex-only campaign with five runners-up is an unfulfilled year. A two-wins-including-an-eight-shot-blowout season hits a different note altogether. Again: he won by eight. Over the best players in the world. It seemed like every one of his competitors stumbled or crumbled at some point on Sunday and Scheffler just kept pulling further away. Dominant showing. Best golfer in the world. (Beating a fresh-off-vacation World No. 2 Rory McIlroy by 25 sent an additional message, I’d say.)

Zak: If he found anything, it’s the age-old Tour truism that the best players are the best ball-strikers, just waiting for a great putting week. That’s what he had in Memphis: a classic Scheffler elite ball-striking week that coincides with a bunch of putts dropping. Something in the stroke felt freed up, and suddenly it feels like he might win the last two events of the season, too.

6. Noted golf enthusiast LeBron James has launched a golf-themed YouTube channel, with the aim of dropping monthly videos illuminating his journey in the sport. “I hope people will come along for the ride and just feel the sense of joy and all the fun we’re having out there,” James told our Dylan Dethier. “This is about my journey of falling in love with golf and you’ll see the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s a steep learning curve, but I’m loving every bit of it.” YouTube golf is a crowded market. Is there room for King James?

Schrock: Hand up, YouTube golf isn’t for me. I’m surprised there’s enough room for all those who already do it, but I do think LeBron could find a niche in the market — superstar athlete learns golf — that isn’t already tapped. Worth monitoring even if I won’t be watching. 

Dethier: I have found it funny just how precious and protective people have already become about the world of YouTube Golf. I thought different was the whole point? I’m fascinated to see where LeBron’s golf obsession takes him; he’s currently at Bandon Dunes, as I understand it. As with everything on YouTube, if you don’t want to watch, feel free not to.

Zak: The tricky thing about YouTube golf is how all-consuming it becomes for its subjects. As Emma Devine and Josh Sens showed us in last week’s GOLF.com feature video (on YouTube, of course), the content creation game is a grind. It takes time and people and effort. Bryson DeChambeau shows us that, too. My instincts would be that LBJ doesn’t want it nearly as bad as the less-famous folks doing it alongside their accounting jobs. 

7. If the extensive lines out the pro-shop door at the U.S. Amateur were any indication, Merion merch — powered by the club’s iconic wicker-basket logo — was a hot seller this week. Does Merion have the best logo in golf? If not, which club/course holds that distinction?

Schrock: Merion, Augusta National, Pasatiempo and Sleepy Hollow are probably the favorites, but I’m partial to Wildwood Golf Course in Portland, Oregon, with Bigfoot carrying a bag of clubs. Honorable mention to Whistling Straits. 

Dethier: I like MacArthur’s milk jug, a nod to its dairy-farm past. I’m not much of a merch guy, but you do you, fellas. Get some sun, watch some golf, go for a walk and soak it all in. Life’s good. 

Zak: I’m forever in love with Stanwich Club’s witch-riding-a-flagstick logo. Class. 

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The post Jack Whaley’s U.S. Amateur win, in demanding conditions, was unsurprising appeared first on Golf.

The post Jack Whaley’s U.S. Amateur win, in demanding conditions, was unsurprising appeared first on Golf.

ARDMORE, Pa. — Merion, the club and the course, is about as English as any American thing could be, and Sunday here — for the finale of the 126th U.S. Amateur — was dank and wet and oh-so-English. An Englishman was playing a kid from California. The Englishman won. Not a shocker.

There was something truly great about this Am, the whole seven days of it: six days of hot, dry golf leading to this rainy, cool Sunday; 312 players whittled down to two; and a final featuring two totally dissimilar golfers. Jack Whaley, deeply tanned and powerfully built, grew up in Doncaster, England, plays at Florida State and has a ready-for-the-Tour swing and a grind-it-out demeanor. Jay Leng Jr. grew up in San Diego, plays at Stanford, could not weigh 130 pounds, has a stance wider than Moe Norman’s and a backswing shorter than Jon Rahm’s, and follows no known playbook but his own. It was a delight watching these two go at it in this 36-hole final. Whaley won the match with a birdie on 15, the final nail in his 4-and-3 victory.

Arnold Palmer, who won this event in 1954, offered this as a swing tip for life: “Swing your swing.” A cousin to you do you. Leng, winner of the Western Amateur earlier this summer who will represent the U.S. at next month’s Walker Cup at Lahinch in Ireland, did not know Palmer’s three-word phrase but understood its message. “I’ve always done things my own way and it seems to be working so I don’t see any reason to change now,” Leng said Sunday night, about to board a van for a ride back to the clubhouse as Whaley’s new trophy was being brought to the 15th green.

By 14, Leng was playing without a hat, his black hair so wet he looked like he had just stepped out of a shower, his shirt close to soaked. Asked if he had learned anything over the course of the day about playing in the rain, he said, “Maybe carry more towels?” He was wet and worn out and tired. A U.S. Amateur can take a lot out of a guy, and so can golf in a steady rain.

Andy North won his two U.S. Opens playing in cold and wet conditions. He is now a member of the USGA executive committee — nice get, USGA! — and was at the award presentation. “Not a shock to see a player from England play so well in these conditions — you would think he has a lot of experience at it,” North said Sunday night. “Playing in the rain really requires you to stay as dry as you possibly can while keeping your mind totally focused on the shots you have to make, never giving in to the rain for a second.” Andy North was a master of keeping two towels in the spokes of his umbrella while playing in the rain, one for the grips, the other for his hands.

Whaley handled playing in the rain incredibly well, even if he was getting annoyed at his father/caddie, who, per the winner, was struggling with the umbrellas, plural, all through the round.

“I’ve always been told by my coach, Nick [Huby of England], ‘You’re better than everyone in the rain,’ and it was down to the fact that I wanted to be out there,” Whaley said. “I’ve played so many tournaments where it’s been raining. I felt like 50 percent of the field has already given up because it’s raining — they don’t want to be there. So I’ve always tried to be positive [in the rain].” In other words, precisely what North was saying.

Through the round, Whaley had one umbrella and his father had another. He did something he normally does not do — he wore two black rain gloves, just as another Englishman, Aaron Rai, the winner of the PGA Championship in May at Aronimink, though Rai does it in rain and shine.

Whaley has never met Rai “but honestly I felt like him out there.”

Caddies really earn their keep, caddying in the rain. Sounds like the winner might be ready to stiff his man, who was also his father, Andy.

“My dad was kind of stressing me out on the golf course today,” Whaley said with humor and candor. (Don’t take this bit the wrong way: Whaley also made it abundantly clear that he owes his golfing life to his father.) “He left my putter on the green. He was trying to carry [two] umbrellas. And I was like, ‘Just calm down — we don’t need all this.’ We got into a good routine by the end of it, and I think he learned a lot of things. I definitely learned a lot of things this week.”

Jack Whaley will represent Great Britain and Ireland at the Walker Cup. We’ll see if his father gets the nod as his caddie. Jack Whaley will represent FSU (and himself) at next year’s Masters. We’ll see if Andy Whaley gets the nod there, too. He’ll likely play there with Rory McIlroy. There’s an Augusta tradition by which the defending champion is grouped with the U.S. Amateur winner. Andy Ogletree, the 2019 U.S. Amateur champion, essentially kept his amateur status through November 2020 and the pandemic-delayed Masters so that he could play those first two rounds of the Masters with Woods.

Whaley has never met Tiger but on Sunday night he was wearing Tiger’s name, image and likeness around his neck. The U.S. Amateur winner receives something called the Tiger Woods Medal, honoring the player who won three U.S. Amateurs. Woods went to Stanford, Leng’s school. Woods’s son, Charlie, has committed to Florida State. Whaley has met the son.

“I’m sure Charlie was cheering me on, and his dad was cheering Jay on,” Whaley said.

OK, what other name-dropping can we do in this short write-up? We’ve got Merion, Andy North, Tiger Woods, Charlie Woods, Moe Norman, Jon Rahm. Oh — how about Bob Jones?

Bob Jones won the 1930 U.S. Amateur at Merion, completing the Grand Slam. His status was so great at that point that, despite the financial strain of the Great Depression, he was able to start construction on the Augusta National golf course in 1931 and start the Masters Tournament in 1934. Now Whaley will follow this path, Merion to Augusta. In 2005, Edoardo Molinari of Italy won the U.S. Amateur at Merion. In April 2006, he played in the Masters with his brother, Francesco, as his caddie. They played with Woods on Thursday and Friday. In June 2013, Justin Rose of England won the U.S. Open here at Merion. At the 2014 Masters, Rose played the first two rounds with Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson.

Jack Whaley got into the match-play portion of this Am by way of a 16-man playoff for 11 spots. In other words, he eked his way in. Five days later, he was carrying around the Havemeyer Trophy with Mickelson’s name on it, with Woods’s name on it, with Jones’s name on it.

“I never thought my name would be among such impressive people,” he said, glancing at the trophy. He’s an unassuming young man, loaded with game and grit. He could make the cut at Augusta. He could do more than that. Regardless, this he has forever.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com.

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The post Merion’s ‘magical’ U.S. Amateur ended up being about something bigger than golf appeared first on Golf.

The post Merion’s ‘magical’ U.S. Amateur ended up being about something bigger than golf appeared first on Golf.

ARDMORE, Pa. — Andy Whaley couldn’t believe his eyes. Standing at the back of Merion East’s soaked 15th green, he smiled and laughed as his son, 22-year-old Jack Whaley, raised the Havemeyer Trophy after conquering the best amateur field in the world.

“Did I ever think he could win the U.S. Amateur? No. Did I ever think he’d win it this year? Absolutely not,” Andy Whaley told GOLF with a laugh as his son did the post-win media car wash.

Andy and his wife, Kerry, were scheduled to fly home on Saturday night. “That tells you how confident we were,” Andy Whaley said with a chuckle. Instead, Andy Whaley, carrying his son’s bag for the first time in five or six years, changed his flight and set out to walk Merion for a final day with his son.

This week’s U.S. Amateur at Merion was golf watching in its purest form. The famed golf course opened its doors to the world’s best amateurs and local crowds flocked by the thousands to walk its fairways, raid the pro shop and watch the best amateur golf has to offer. It was a week for the true, dyed-in-the-wool golf fans who appreciate and understand what the game has always been about.

It was fitting that, during a week about Merion, the Hugh Wilson design outside Philadelphia remained the main star throughout the week. The world’s best amateurs — Preston Stout, Miles Russell, Tyler Watts and others — all either failed to make it out of stroke play or made an early match play exit. This week was about getting to see Merion, one of the game’s great cathedrals, without it being overrun by giant buildouts and throngs of fans. It was just the world’s best ams and fans who wanted to soak in good golf at a place steeped in history. It was about the magic and mystique of a place we rarely see.

But as Jack and Andy Whaley made their way through the bracket, knocking off the last mid-am and then the Merion favorite Carter Loflin, a different story emerged. One with a meaning far greater than golf or trophies or cathedrals. A story as old as time, but one that never gets old.

That of the bond between fathers and sons.

Andy Whaley might say he didn’t think Jack Whaley could win the U.S. Amateur, but he always believed his son would achieve his golfing dreams. Andy first got Jack into golf as a 4-year-old, when he’d take him to the Pete Cowen Golf Academy in Rotherham, England. Andy would buy Jack a lollipop after every practice at the Academy. As fathers tend to do for their sons, Andy Whaley did everything he could to allow young Jack to play golf. Money was tight back then for the Whaleys. Jack didn’t get his first new set of irons until he was 16. When Andy bought his son a new 60-degree wedge when Jack was 12, he dipped into his savings, telling his son that he had worked hard and he deserved it.

“At 12 years old, I don’t understand, but now when I look back at it, I really do appreciate the things he sacrificed for me,” Jack said on Saturday at Merion. “He’s my hero. I want him to see me play well and watch me succeed.”

On Saturday night, after Jack Whaley beat Loflin on the 18th hole, he opened up about how he felt he had disappointed his dad during a stretch of golf from 12 to 17 that saw him rack up missed cut after missed cut. Jack felt that he was stealing from his dad, who was footing the bill for his golf dreams. But Andy Whaley only wanted one thing for his son on the course — enjoy it.

“He’s voiced it, so he clearly felt that that was the case,” Andy Whaley said as the celebration commenced. “But it never ever crossed my mind. It was just about giving your son the opportunity to have fun. If ever, if ever I thought he wasn’t enjoying what he was doing, then that would’ve been difficult to keep it going. I’ve seen him miss cuts. And he’s missed a cut, and we’re having a sandwich after on the patio and having a beer and a chat with the other parents, and he’s not moping; he’s out on the putting green with the other guys who have made the cut, just having fun. You think, well, you’ve missed the cut, but you’re alright if you’re having fun. That’s what mattered. It’s why we’re here.”

“To have a dad that’s that supportive of someone who’s almost — almost looks as if I was failing, was just amazing,” Jack Whaley said on Sunday night about his dad’s influence on his golf journey. “A lot of parents would have just given up, and I know a lot of parents that have given up. He’s not one of them, and he’s the guy that will back me for everything.”

Jack Whaley blossomed during a gap year before college. He planned to work hard on his game, and if he didn’t feel like he was getting better, he was going to hang it up. No college golf, no chasing pro dreams, that was that. But he improved and played well enough to finally crack the World Golf Amateur Rankings. He went to NAIA Dalton State and won five times in two years, including the 2025 NAIA individual title, and won the Nicklaus, Palmer, Player, and Mickelson awards. Then he transferred to Florida State as Andy continued to watch his son do what he always knew was possible, as long as Jack’s cup and soul were full on the course. Like all good fathers, Andy Whaley just wanted his son to find joy in life, whatever that entailed. Nothing more, nothing less.

“We’ve always felt that he could be an elite golfer, but you just don’t know where you can get to,” Andy Whaley said. “We’ve looked at each season, we’ve looked at how he’s performed and we’ve look at this season and gone, ‘Right, this season was better than the last season. So we’re still headed in the right direction.’ We don’t know how far that will take us. But the theory being that if you keep improving until you just can’t improve anymore then you are where you are. As long as you’re having fun along the way, as long as you’re enjoying what you’re doing. If it becomes a job and it becomes a chore and it’s becoming hard to get out of bed in the morning to want to do it, then maybe it’s not for you. He’s always, well, the last seven or eight seasons that escalation has been there. We’re still escalating. We’re still scaling the ladder.”

News

9 specific reasons we're loving this U.S. Amateur at Merion

By: Michael Bamberger

That ladder brought Jack and Andy Whaley to Merion this week. Jack didn’t know if he’d be in the field, but as some top amateurs turned pro, he slipped inside the top 100 in the WAGR rankings and booked a ticket to Merion and told Andy he wanted him on his bag. The Merion experience started with Jack Whaley shooting 2 over through the first two days, which landed him in a 16-for-11 playoff to get into match play. Whaley nearly holed his shot on the par-3 13th and tapped in a birdie to advance. He beat Jackson Ormund in the Round of 64, dispatched Bowen Mauss in the Round of 32, took care of Christian Cavaliere in the Round of 16, handled Adam Bresnu in the quarterfinals, and outlasted Loflin to reach the championship match against Jay Leng Jr.

Andy Whaley has always shared a mantra with Jack: Drive forward, see where you go and just have fun

On Sunday, at famed Merion, Jack and Andy arrived with their eyes forward and calm nerves after a hectic semifinal Saturday. The job was clear. After 18 holes, Jack trailed Leng by two, but he never felt like he was in trouble. Andy had a front-row seat to the biggest day of his son’s life. But it was easy for Andy to be caddie Andy and not dad inside the ropes. He caddied for Jack a lot when he was younger. Then, they butted heads, needing a “250-meter rule” because Andy says that if he was closer than 250 meters and Jack hit a bad shot, then it was his fault.

“It’s Dad’s fault, you know, and that’s all right, that’s what I’m here for,” Whaley said, recalling those times he carried the bag as Jack struggled.

But Sunday was different.

“We’ve been through some good days and some bad days,” Andy Whaley said. “Today just felt mellow. He was good. He was good. We both knew we got a job to do. Focus on the job. Focus on what we need to do out on the course. There’s a lot of people come to watch good golf, so we needed to give them some good golf. … It has been surreal.”

Whaley quickly flipped the script on Leng during the afternoon 18. He won four straight holes to take a 2-up lead as the rain started to pour. A birdie at No. 10 moved him to 3 up, and then Jack and Andy Whaley reached the 15th hole, still with a three-hole advantage, knowing they were close to a place they never imagined.

Whaley bombed his drive over the right fairway bunker and then hit his approach to some 10 feet. When Jack and Andy arrived at the green, they looked at their destiny and liked what they saw.

“I will admit that when we stood behind it, we did fancy it a little bit. We did like it. There wasn’t much in it. We did like it,” Andy Whaley said with a glimmer in his eye, a laugh and a big smile as the sun set on soggy Merion.

Andy placed the bag on the back of the green, planning to go to 16. But Leng missed his birdie putt, and then Jack Whaley, who once thought about quitting golf to stop wasting his dad’s money, settled over the biggest putt of his life with his dad watching. Jack Whaley took the putter back smoothly and sent the ball right into the middle of the cup. He unleashed a mighty fist pump and then turned to Andy and embraced his father, the two crying as the rain continued to pummel Merion.

“When it dropped, I just roared,” Andy said. “I screamed my bloody head off. … It’s surreal. I can’t believe it.”

“I think it was amazing,” Jack Whaley said of his championship-winning week with his dad on the bag. “I think, from the hours that my dad has taken me to practice and all the different golf lessons he’s taken me to, it feels like it was all worth it. Now he can actually see me happy and I can see him happy coming off the golf course, which is really good. I’m very proud of myself for this week.

“I wouldn’t be here without him. Everything is for him.”

As the Whaleys celebrated on Merion’s 15th green, Andy Whaley beamed as his son snapped photos with every fan remaining at Merion. He took some himself, but mainly, Andy Whaley just smiled and laughed in awe. What he saw, however, was not the U.S. Amateur champion or a likely Walker Cupper. It was his son, who handled himself in the manner that Andy and Kerry always wanted him to. It was the pride of a father who saw his son becoming the type of man he had always hoped for; the good golf is just extra and only registers because it fills still brings a smile to Jack’s face.

“The pride of what he has achieved, for me, I like how he’s gone about it,” Andy said as his son took a photo with a young kid on the green. “Just the kind of guy he is and always will be, I hope. The pride in what he achieved is tremendous. But the pride in how he behaves and how he does it overrides it.”

As the crowds started to disperse, the stage belonged to the Whaleys. A cathedral of the game that is synonymous with Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan now also belongs to Jack Whaley. No matter what the future holds, no matter if golf breaks his heart or not, Jack Whaley and Merion will forever be linked. Nothing can steal the joy the week has brought.

“Whenever anything is happening at Merion, I’m sure that clip will pop up,” Andy Whaley said of his son’s winning putt, the giant smile of a proud parent still stretched across his face. “That’s incredible. Just the opportunity to come and play here is magical. That will do for starters. And then to come and compete against the best in the world and be successful is just the icing on the cake. This is a seriously iconic place, and to go out there and test yourself against the best in the world is just epic.” 

Late college basketball coach Jim Valvano once said: “My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person: He believed in me.”

Such has always been the story of fathers willing to put their sons on their shoulders, giving them every chance to be all they could dream of. Not to be rich or famous or powerful, but to be happy and kind and to live a full life.

And so there was Andy Whaley watching his son’s crowning moment, beaming from ear to ear and laughing with anyone who came by to congratulate him on his son’s win and for the man that the son he raised has become.

Then, Andy Whaley, still wearing his red USGA bib, wiped his eyes and started to follow his son and the rest of the crowd toward the Merion clubhouse, his son, Jack, having just answered the most important question of all.

“Of course he’s still having fun,” Andy Whaley said.

That’s all that’s ever mattered to Dad. Jack wanted to give his father more to repay him for an invaluable gift.

On Sunday at famed Merion, a magical week ended with both father and son getting their wish.

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The post Scottie Scheffler’s clubs: Surprise Qi4D driver switch leads to FedEx St. Jude win appeared first on Golf.

The post Scottie Scheffler’s clubs: Surprise Qi4D driver switch leads to FedEx St. Jude win appeared first on Golf.

It took a little longer than most expected, but Scottie Scheffler has won with TaylorMade’s Qi4D driver.

Scheffler ran away from the field Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, earning his second win of the season and first since the American Express in January.

But for a player who rarely makes equipment changes, the big story is that for the first time in more than three years, Scheffler has won with a driver other than his trusty TaylorMade Qi10 driver. Scheffler surprised many by starting the opening round in Memphis with a new TaylorMade Qi4D driver.

Gear

Scottie Scheffler's surprise (and unique) TaylorMade driver switch | Tour Report

By: Jack Hirsh

“From the beginning, Scottie told us that Qi4D has been faster and it holds the spin better than his previous driver,” TaylorMade Tour Rep Adrian Rietveld said. “Since then, we have worked relentlessly based off his feedback to give him a driver that perfects every performance variable that is unique to him. To his core, Scottie is a shot maker and the look and speed of the driver he won with today enabled him to be exactly that off the tee.”

For the week, Scheffler gained more than 2 strokes off the tee, finishing 13th in the field, on his way to the eight-shot win.

This is the third time Scheffler, a noted difficult switcher of golf clubs who often forms emotional attachments with them, has attempted a switch to the Qi4D. The first was at the Hero World Challenge last December, before the driver’s release. He reverted back to the Qi10 for his first PGA Tour start of the season at the American Express — which he won. He then tried again at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, but was back in the Qi10 the following week at the Players Championship.

All three Qi4D drivers Scheffler has tried have featured a unique blue face that matches the color of his beloved Qi10 driver.

The ability of TaylorMade to create Qi4D heads with varying face optics, thanks to carbon construction, has been something the Tour team has taken advantage of frequently this season. Players like Rory McIlroy and Wyndham Clark use the “Light Face” option, and McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood both have reflective launch monitor markers built into their driver faces.

The driver Scheffler used this week had another key difference from the retail version: a glossy crown. Again, this matches the look of his Qi10, which was the last glossy-crown driver TaylorMade released.

For more on Scheffler’s detailed setup, keep reading below.

Scottie Scheffler’s winning clubs at the 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship

Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D 8.0˚
Actual Loft: 7.8˚
FCT Setting: Standard Upright  
Front Weights: 13g toe, 10g heel  
Back Weights: 4g toe, 4g heel  
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7-X
Length: 45″
Tipping: 1″
Swingweight: D4

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Driver

SHAPED FOR SPEED The re-engineered head profile increases ball speed thanks to improved aerodynamics developed through advanced simulations. FACE FOR DISTANCE 60x Carbon Twist Face™ is a technological cornerstone that provides weight savings, incredible ball speed and more consistency vs. a titanium face. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight. TOUR PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES New and improved cut-through Speed Pocket™ protects ball speed and reduces spin on low-face strikes. Advanced CAD modeling creates a design with a clean and powerful sound, a foundation of TaylorMade driver performance. Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to strategically place mass in areas of the head where it maximizes performance, speed, and stability.

$649.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, TaylorMade

Fujikura Ventus Black Wood Shaft (Velocore+)

$350.00 from Fairway Jockey

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3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8-X
Loft: 15 degrees @ 14.75˚
Lie: 58.25˚
Length: 42.3125″ EOG
Tipping: 1.5″
Swingweight: D3

3-iron: Srixon ZU85
Loft: 20˚
Shaft: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus 3 Hybrid Prototype 10 X

Irons: Srixon ZU85 (4), TaylorMade P7TW (5-PW),
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 (4-PW)
Length: +.25″
Lie: 1 degree upright
Loft Progression: 23/26/30/34/38/42/46

TaylorMade P7TW Custom Irons

MILLED GRIND SOLE DEBUT Milled Grind eliminates variances in sole geometry from head to head and ensures precision in every iron set, while the CNC machined sole geometry and a precise leading edge promote consistent turf interaction. TIGER’S FINGERPRINT Each iron has been meticulously shaped to meet Tiger’s discerning eye—longer blade length, thinner topline, progressive face height, and more.  

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Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (50.12F @ 51˚, 56.14F @ 55˚), SM9 (60-04T),
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Titleist Vokey SM10 Raw Custom Wedge

For every shot, every lie, every course, there’s a grind fit for your swing. Finding the right grind to match your swing and playing conditions will give you the best turf interaction, contact and shot performance. Master Craftsman Bob Vokey has spent decades crafting, developing and improving his tour proven grinds to fit players of all levels.Anyone can manufacture a wedge, but it takes a master to turn a piece of high-performance technology into an instrument of creative control. Bob’s six tour-proven grinds are designed to offer maximum creativity, versatility and consistency, all meticulously developed through years of working with the best players in the world. PROGRESSIVE CENTER OF GRAVITY SM9 features a progressive center of gravity (CG) throughout the lofts, which optimizes ball flight, accuracy and forgiveness. Using tapered top lines and varied hosel lengths, the Vokey R&D team has raised the height of the CG in the higher lofts, which promotes a lower, more controlled flight.The CG is also forward of the face, resulting in increased MOI, exceptional feel and a club face that simply wants to square up at impact. SPIN MILLED GROOVES SM9’s patented Spin Milled grooves are meticulously engineered through a new cutting process to maximize spin and durability. The process starts by cutting the face perfectly flat with a high-speed saw. Then every groove is individually cut based on loft and finish; low lofts (46°-54°) are designed with narrower, deeper grooves, while higher lofts (56°-62°) have wider, shallower grooves.Micro-grooves are individually cut in between grooves, which maximize spin on partial shots. A proprietary heat treatment is applied to the impact area which doubles the durability of the groove without impacting feel, making it the most durable groove in golf. The process is only complete when every Vokey wedge is 100% inspected for utmost quality and performance.

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Putter: Spider Tour X
Hosel: L-Neck
Length: 35 1/2″ EOG
Loft: 3˚
Lie: 72˚
Sightline: Full Line
Insert: Pure Roll
Grip: Golf Pride Pro Only

TaylorMade 2026 Spider Tour X L-Neck Custom Putter

TORCHED PVD FINISH The durable PVD coating creates a beautiful high-quality finish. THIN WALL UNDERCUT CONSTRUCTION We’ve engineered a super stable structure by removing excess weight to create high MOI and legendary Spider performance. CG LOCATION PROGRESSION Each Spider Torched model features different CG locations for optimal putter fitting. HYBRAR ECHO® DAMPENER HYBRAR is behind the face to dampen unwanted vibrations, delivering premium sound and feel on every putt with the best possible sensation.

$349.99 from Fairway Jockey

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Grip: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Rib 58 (6 wraps of double-sided tape)

Golf Pride Tour Velvet Swing Grip

Tour Velvet Swing Grip The most popular grip in golf today combines an exclusive, state-of-the-art rubber-blend compound, non-slip surface pattern for maximum playability, comfort, and confidence. The Tour Velvet® is the standard upon which many club manufacturers base their grip designs. ALL-WEATHER CONTROL State-of-the-art rubber-blend compound with a non-slip surface pattern for maximum playability and confidence. MODERATE SURFACE TEXTURE Scientifically designed plus sign texture created to pull moisture away from surface to allow for consistent traction. MODERATE FEEDBACK The standard in grip feel providing comfort and moderate feedback. Specifications: Grip Size: Standard, Midsize, Jumbo Core Size: 58 Round, 60 Round, 60 Round

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Ball: 2021 Titleist Pro V1

Titleist Pro V1 2025 Personalized Golf Balls

h2>THE GREATEST COMBINATION OF SPEED, SPIN AND FEEL For players who prioritize total performance. New faster high gradient core Speed amplifying high-flex casing layer Spherically-tiled 388 tetrahedral dimple design Soft cast urethane elastomer cover Product Features New faster high gradient core delivers more speed and iron and wedge spin for more control Low long game spin from a speed amplifying high-flex casing layer Penetrating and consistent flight from a spherically-tiled 388 tetrahedral dimple design Excellent greenside spin from a soft cast urethane elastomer cover Player Benefits Extraordinary Distance Increased Drop-and-Stop™ control Very low long game spin Penetrating trajectory Consistent flight Very soft feel What’s New – (what performance attributes have improved) 2025 Pro V1 and Pro V1x produce more speed off the tee, more control with irons, more spin with wedges and more opportunity to shoot lower scores. Player Profile For players who prioritize total performance. Available Colors and Play Numbers White golf balls are available with play numbers 1-4, 5-8, and all the same play number 00 or 1- 99. High optic yellow golf balls are available with play numbers 1-4. Not available for purchase or shipment to Australia.

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Want to overhaul your bag for 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

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The post 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship money: Total purse, payout breakdown, winner’s share appeared first on Golf.

The post 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship money: Total purse, payout breakdown, winner’s share appeared first on Golf.

The stage is set for the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Sunday, Aug. 16, at TPC Southwind. Scottie Scheffler has quickly extended his lead to seven strokes and sits at 16-under, extinguishing much of the hope for final-round drama—but there is still plenty at stake.

While Scheffler is in position to close out the first event of the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup Playoffs, the rest of the field is fighting to improve its standing. Sunday’s results will determine which players advance to next week’s BMW Championship in St. Louis.

Of the sizable $20 million purse, the winner of the FedEx St. Jude Championship will take home $3.6 million. The champion will also earn 750 FedExCup points, but for many players, the biggest priority is staying inside the top 50 in the FedExCup standings.

Maverick McNealy, currently T19 at 4-under and hovering around the FedExCup top-50 cutoff, knows exactly what is on the line. After his round Sunday, McNealy emphasized the importance of making the next stage of the playoffs.

“I think the top 50 number is probably the most important number on the PGA TOUR right now. I’m excited to get to St. Louis and just take a Hail Mary swing to see if I can get into the TOUR Championship, which is the goal every year,” McNealy said.

This week’s event featured the top 70 players in the FedExCup standings, with the field set to drop to 50 after Sunday’s final round. Those 50 players will advance to the BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club and earn exemptions into all 2027 Signature Events. From there, the field will narrow to 30 for the TOUR Championship at East Lake Golf Club, where the FedExCup champion will be crowned.

The FedEx St. Jude Championship purse is $20 million, with $3.6 million going to the champion. 

The post 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship money: Total purse, payout breakdown, winner’s share appeared first on Golf.