Hello friends and welcome to this week’s edition of the Rogers Report! Between TGL, Scottie Scheffler’s post-ravioli incident return to golf and season 2 of the Scoop debuting right here on GOLF.com this Wednesday, we’ve got a lot going on.
I’ll start with season 2 of the Scoop, a launch that I am very excited for. Shout out to my lovely producer, Emma Devine, for putting this masterpiece together. And thanks to my dad for lending us some office space so we could bring this idea to life.
Hopefully the Scoop bump will continue into season 2 of the series and beyond.
A PGA Tour newborn
The Finau family took to Instagram to hard launch the birth of their sixth child on Tuesday morning. Layna Finau shared an adorable video of her five older kids meeting their little sister for the first time and having them guess the baby’s gender before revealing it.
Shout out to the Finaus for keeping this a secret from all of their loyal followers on social media. I cannot imagine the creativity that went into posting consistently over the last nine months while keeping the pregnancy private. What a fun surprise! Also, as one of five siblings, I’m all in on big families. Six is a great number. They’ve now got a big enough squad for three-on-three basketball, enough folks to keep a Secret Santa interesting and the perfect number for a TGL match. It doesn’t get better than that!
The coolest golfer around?
There’s always some discourse surrounding who made golf cool. Many fans will argue that it’s Tiger, but Michelle Wie and others agree that it was Rickie Fowler who really made it cool.
And I bet if you asked some Gen-Z’ers, they’d say that YouTube sensation/major champion Bryson DeChambeau is who they think made golf cool. But right now, I want to focus less on people who made golf cool and more on cool people who happen to be really, really good at golf. Enter Rachel Heck.
The Stanford alum turned 2nd Lieutenant in the Air Force took to Instagram to share that she’ll be heading from Defense Information School to the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in April, which I can’t imagine is a route many have taken. We talk a lot about really good amateurs who have normal day jobs, but Heck does not have your average 9 to 5. She’s not able to sneak away for a range session or quick nine after a day in the office.
To put it simply, there’s nobody in the golf world like Rachel Heck. And just in case she doesn’t have enough going on, she’s quite an artist, too.
If you’re looking for someone to root for in April, Rachel Heck is your girl.
Bryson at the White House
Two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau was at the White House for the Inauguration last week, although what really caught my eye was the captions of the Getty Images he was in from the day.
According to Getty, DeChambeau attended the YouTube DC Creator Reception. I feel like he could have attended based on his golf credentials alone, but he went as a creator! He’s really got a best-of-both-worlds thing going on right now. DeChambeau is successful enough in his side gig to not even need his professional golf accolades to get him into the inauguration, which is pretty cool.
This has inspired me to find my own side gig. I’ll know I’ve made it big when I get invited to an event for something that has nothing to do with golf. Maybe I’ll take up knitting or something and see where that takes me.
TGL arrivals
One of my favorite things about TGL so far is the arrival content. We see NBA and NFL players do it, but because golfers arrive at the course at all different times at PGA Tour events, we don’t get much walk-in content. Thanks to TGL, that’s changing.
I started noticing the outfits when Kevin Kisner arrived in his socks a few weeks ago and now my interest is properly piqued. This is a chance for the pros to show off their style and have some fun! Let’s see how the guys did this week.
Not only was Tom Kim the star of the match on Monday evening, he was the star of arrival looks as well. From the trendy glasses down to his kicks, he looked like he was born to walk the red carpet (or SoFi Center pavement, whichever he prefers). Kevin Kisner and Tiger Woods went with more of a dad look in jeans and a Sun Day Red hoodie, which I have to respect as well. They’re ready to get to work! Tiger gets bonus points for his venti Frappuccino, which was definitely a staple of my middle school food experience back in the day. On to Boston Common.
I have to admit I was surprised to see Adam Scott not in beige, but as a guy whose on-course attire is usually pretty formal, I love the athleisure look. I’m assuming Rory McIlroy wore the green jacket to 1) manifest another green jacket in his future and 2) as a nod to Boston Common’s colors, which I’m a big fan of. However, Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley won the Boston Common arrival look competition because nothing says “Keegan Bradley” like a Team USA hat and a Red Sox jersey.
Consider this my formal invitation for all players to start treating TGL arrivals like the Met Gala. I want to see it all. Tuxes. Loud jackets. Accessories. And players: if you’re looking for inspiration, allow me to introduce you to the “LeagueFits” Instagram page. I’m sure you’ll find something that works.
Tiger’s relatable moment
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: it’s not very often normal people can relate to Tiger Woods. Every so often, he has a moment that us non-15-time major winners can look at and say “oh wow! I’ve done that!” See: his shank at the 2024 Genesis Invitational and the fact that he enjoys a frappucino every now and again.
Tiger found his mom, Tida, in the crowd on Monday evening and yelled over to her. Check out the moment yourself.
“Hi Mom! Not gonna suck tonight, OK?” This sounds just like the promises I’d make to my parents before my middle school basketball team lost by 20 points, but luckily the outcome was different for Tiger at TGL. It’s a hilarious promise for a 15-time major champion to make to his mom, and it was such a funny yet sweet moment to observe.
Miscellaneous
CBS Golf finally returned at the Farmers Insurance Open last week, so it was the perfect time for players and broadcasters to try their very best Jim Nantz “Hello Friends” impression.
Some of these were pretty impressive, and I’m realizing I don’t think I could get Nantz’s exact tone right if I had been put on the spot like that. I’ll have to start practicing.