Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of the Rogers Report. It was a nice two-week break from it all, but I’m feeling relieved that the PGA Tour is officially back on Thursday. Golf makes up for (give or take) 90 percent of my personality, and without it I have very little to talk about.
Enough of the small talk. Let’s get to it.
Ian Poulter vs. Billy Horschel?
The week started off strong when PGA Tour players and LIV golfers competed together at the BMW PGA Championship last week, and folks, this was the best reality television around. Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Billy Horschel all gave their thoughts on the matter, but to me the whole thing reminded me of when two pals in your friend group break up and then they have to go to the same birthday party. Everyone knows, everyone’s whispering about it and waiting for the moment of truth: when they have to face each other.
And we finally got a standoff (or golf’s version of it, which is much more tame) between Poulter and Horschel last Wednesday.
What I’d give to have been within earshot of this conversation! Both Horschel and Poulter said their conversation wasn’t anything serious, but the body language kind of begs to differ. Poulter went on to add his own audio to the video, which you can check out below.
We here at the Rogers Report love a social media reparation. Well done, guys. And while we’re on the topic of Horschel, he handled getting mistaken for McIlroy very well at the BMW PGA.
Brooks Koepka’s Italian vacation
Between LIV’s Boston and Chicago events, Brooks and Chase Koepka, Jena Sims and crew headed to Italy for a cruise. They made stops in Portofino, Portoferraio and Capri. If you’re like me and have not traveled to these locations, worry not because I lived vicariously through their trip and now you can too.
Jorts are back!
There’s nothing better than a party with a theme, which the Koepka-Sims crew absolutely crushed last week. It started out with prom night. Say what you want about the suits, but this looked really fun.
I also believe this is one of the first times we’ve seen some off-course Chase and Brooks Koepka content, which didn’t disappoint.
These two love to dance! I’d be lying if I said I knew Chase had this in him.
Another one of the themed parties thrown on the boat was outer space night, which Brooks also took very seriously. I don’t see myself going on a cruise any time soon (read: ever), but if I were, I’d want it to be just like this one.
The pros take in Texas vs. Alabama
Golf’s first couple (Scottie and Meredith Scheffler) cheered on the Longhorns over the weekend and the Masters champion got quite the surprise during his time on College GameDay.
In fact, a lot of Texas golf alums were in Austin over the weekend.
Talk about a squad. And although he’s not a Texas alum (perhaps an honorary one? His wife, Angela Atkins, played golf at UT and her father, Marty Atkins, was an All-American quarterback there), Sergio Garcia was in attendance on Saturday after firing a 76 in Round 1 of the BMW PGA Championship roughly 4,730 miles away.
The DP World Tour might now take disciplinary action against Garcia, who failed to provide a reason for his WD. Unfortunately, I don’t think college football would be accepted as an excuse. Let this be a lesson for all my readers: If you are going to play hooky, you need to keep your social footprint clean until you return to work. It’s a rookie mistake and the exact plot line of dozens of episodes of Disney Channel shows.
Finau shoots hoops with Drake
Tony Finau and a handful of other celebrities took their talents to Oregon for an event at Nike’s headquarters last week and it looked incredible. And to hang out with Drake seems like the ultimate bonus for a guy like Finau who loves to rap in his car.
Shane Lowry’s celebrations
We saw it after the 2019 Open Championship, and we saw it again over the weekend. Shane Lowry loves to celebrate his victories (as he should). And lucky for us, he likes to share those celebrations online. Before we get into the celebrations that happened off the course, let’s take a moment to appreciate this moment between Lowry and McIlroy.
Rory says, “I’m really happy for you,” to which Shane replies, “you’ve won enough anyway.” Nice guys alert! It appears as if Rory even stuck around for some of the celebrations.
I love the fact that Lowry got in on a viral TikTok trend that is recording yourself before your first and last drinks of the night, and I really love the fact that Rory is charging his Whoop at the afterparty in the above image. Celebrating or not, this man is committed to getting those recovery numbers!
What ensued the next morning is something we can all relate to, although most of us have never won a professional golf tournament.
I hope by the time this article comes out Shane Lowry is back to feeling 100 percent.
The pros in NYC
Tiger, Joe LaCava, Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns are in New York this week for the Nexus Cup at Liberty National. (But Claire! Liberty National is in Jersey City! I know, but they’re hanging out in NYC, as shown by this image of Scottie Scheffler grabbing some Pizza in the pouring rain.)
Listen, I’m glad we got this image. I’m glad Scheffler is sharing an inside look at his life on social media. I know beggars cannot be choosers and that I shouldn’t tell the World No. 1 what to do, but I would love for the text and location tag to not be covering his face going forward. It just doesn’t look as clean as it would, say, if that were all on the bottom of the screen.
Moving on. I’ve thought a lot about what my photo with Tiger Woods would (God willing, will) look like, and I think I’d be pretty happy if my hair looked as good as Jimmy Fallon’s does here.
Tiger even hit some balls on the range on Tuesday morning and although I am nowhere near qualified to be commenting on the state of his swing, I’d say things look pretty good!
