Max Homa’s surprise party, a LIV Golf wedding and Ryder Cup prep | Rogers Report
Collin Morikawa, Max Homa and the Niemanns
Kat Morikawa, Lacey Homa, Christina Hellema Puga
Hello, friends, and happy college football season to all who observe! I had a lovely long weekend here in New England, where I teed it up not once but twice. While I was out on the course, Labor Day weekend festivities were well underway at Casa Rogers, where my little sister decided to rock the same hat Scottie Scheffler wore for GOLF’s cover shoot after he won the Masters. I thought that was pretty funny.
She seemed to disagree. When I explained that she was sporting a hand-me-down from the top-ranked golfer on earth, she hardly flinched. “Ok,” she said, apparently uninterested.
To each their own!
There may not have been a PGA Tour event over the weekend, but there was still plenty going on in golf. Let’s get into it. We’ll start out in St. Andrews for the Walker Cup, where Hatgate (the British press thought the “W” on the American team’s hats stood for “win” instead of “Walker”) ended in a dramatic U.S. victory at the Old Course.
That was definitely a positive golf moment this weekend. A not-so positive moment occurred when Anne van Dam’s driver snapped in the middle of her drive to a playoff hole at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.
Proceed to the below images and video with caution, because it’s painful to watch.
I sympathize for van Dam here, but I (unfortunately) empathize with our pal the cart driver. One time in middle school I walked up to my teacher’s desk during a test and knocked over a hand-painted ceramic bowl that her daughter had made for her. My teacher, along with the 15 other kids in my class, gasped as the bowl shattered into a million pieces. Sure, it didn’t cost my teacher the Women’s Irish Open, but that untimely broken object cost me a good night’s sleep. I still remember it 15 years later, and I’m betting our cart driver will too.
If the driver is reading this, I hope they know not to worry. Mistakes happen — and I’ve been told the embarrassment really fades at the 20-year mark.
(Side note: my co-worker and pal Dylan Dethier made a great point here. Knowing what we know now, should we have gone easier on Bryson after his great rope incident of 2022?)
What the U.S. Ryder Cup team is up to
With the Tour Championship behind us and the Ryder Cup just a few weeks away, the U.S. Ryder Cup team has been working hard over the last week or so. We’ll start with Xander Schauffele, whose wife photographed him pumping some iron last week.
Now that’s what proper Ryder Cup preparation looks like. Well, that and a few dozen red, white and blue outfits to wear on the course.
At the end of a long pro golf season, it’s nice to see the pros are finding some time to relax. (Question: is watching college football relaxing?) Justin Thomas attended the Alabama football game over the weekend while Sam Burns threw on an LSU jersey and cheered on his alma mater from home.
I’m fully expecting crowds like Tuscaloosa when I attend Boston College-Holy Cross this upcoming weekend.
And what’s a long weekend without some errands? I’m not sure if the Morikawas are planning to knit blankets for the whole U.S. Ryder Cup team with that yarn, but they definitely have enough to do so.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate the fact that Morikawa is sporting head-to-toe Adidas gear at his local Hobby Lobby. Some might say he was coming off a practice session; I say he’s that committed to the brand.
I’m also willing to bet the Morikawas are the type of people who return their shopping cart to its designated spot, which we all know is the ultimate litmus test for being a good person.
Suzy Whaley and Mark Wahlberg join forces
Is this the golf crossover we didn’t know we needed? Current President of Golf Nation and former PGA of America president Suzy Whaley and Hollywood’s very own Mark Wahlberg held a putting clinic last week at Detroit Golf Club.
From his insanely cool backyard to his partnership with Abe Ancer, it’s no secret that Wahlberg is a huge golf guy. He and Whaley teamed up for an awesome cause last week at the Children’s Miracle Celebrity Invitational benefiting the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation and Beaumont Children’s Network, which you can learn all about here.
Joaquin Niemann gets hitched
LIV golfer Joaquin Niemann got engaged in late July, and he and his fiancee Christina Hellema Puga tied the knot in La Serena, Chile over the weekend.
Massive props to them for the quick turnaround on this production. Or maybe the wedding was planned ahead of the engagement? Who knows! Either way, I was very pleasantly surprised to see their wedding photos among the many pieces of Labor Day weekend wedding content on my Instagram feed when I was in the depths of my social media scrolling over the weekend.
Their wedding looked like an absolute blast, and Niemann’s pals Mito and Antonia Pereira were in attendance.
This photo really made me miss their Full Swing episode, where we got to take a look at life inside one of their rental houses while on the road.
Gorgeous photos! Niemann even posted his Instagram carousel with an instrumental version of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car, which is really sweet if you totally forget the lyrics and focus on the tune instead.
Max Homa the Prom King
I was kind of (very) confused when U.S. Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson referred to Max Homa as the team’s “prom king” last week. Was that his midwestern way of calling someone cool?
I’ll have to ask for clarification on that at some point, but for now let’s go with it, because that’s exactly what Homa’s pals did when his wife, Lacey, threw him a surprise party to celebrate him making the team.
They even went so far as to get him a sash! I bet whoever sold that thing online is very confused as to why a 32-year-old professional golfer is wearing it, but I sincerely hope it makes its way to Rome. I’m sure it would be a hit in the team room.
Take a look at the surprise (and wholesome video) Lacey put together for Max.
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