Hello, friends, and welcome to this week’s edition of the Rogers Report.
I write to you feeling … just okay. One positive: I hit golf balls for the first time in six months (!) over the weekend at Five Iron Golf’s new Boston location. My cousins Chris, Dave and I teed it up at Pebble Beach (still waiting on an invite to this week’s PGA Tour stop) on the simulator and my swing de-rusted faster than I expected. One negative: I feel for my fellow 20-something-year-old gals who are bummed to see Joe Burrow’s season come to an end.
On to the (professional) golf news.
Major weeks aside, this may have been the most dramatic week in golf news … ever. I’m not usually a fan of January. The month drags on way too long and springtime seems eons away, but this past week in golf more than made up for what has been a dull few weeks. And for that, I’d like to personally thank Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed and Larry Klayman.
Pros react to subpoenas and Teegate
I’m fairly certain that everyone reading this is familiar with Patrick Reed’s $750 million lawsuits and Teegate by now, but just in case you have somehow avoided all golf news for the last week or so, allow me to briefly catch you up.
Let’s take it from the top. Reed’s lawyer, Larry Klayman, subpoenaed McIlroy on Christmas Eve (not on behalf of Reed, however — this was a different lawsuit). When Reed approached McIlroy at the Hero Dubai Desert Classic last week, McIlroy ignored him and Reed tossed a tee in his direction while walking away.
Here’s what the two had to say about the interaction.
McIlroy and Reed weren’t the only golfers to speak out about TeeGate, however. A handful of pros had some fun with it on Twitter. Let’s start with Ben An, who isn’t quite as popular as Max Homa on the platform but definitely has the determination and wit to get there one day.
Insightful! I’d like to say I live my life like this, but I would sooner invite someone I don’t like to Thanksgiving dinner than risk confrontation. Next up we have Max Homa and Collin Morikawa, who hit two birds with one stone.
The two were able to work in subpoenas and teegate. A+ content from the UC Berkeley boys. Next up we had Mr. Smylie Kaufman, who let us know via the replies that he was also getting a kick out of the TeeGate and subpoena content.
New father Joel Dahmen couldn’t help but think of it as a potential lesson in safety for his son.
And it wouldn’t be proper golf drama without Eddie Pepperell commenting on it, which he did after Reed’s rules controversy (now referred to as “Treegate.”
Phil’s return to Twitter
Aside from a few shared LIV Golf announcements and a liked tweet here and there, Phil Mickelson has been pretty absent on Twitter for the last 11 months. That all changed last week when Mickelson’s timeout from the app either expired or he found his password on a crumpled-up piece of paper somewhere.
Whatever happened, I’m very glad it did because Mickelson is never boring.
“No idea the guy on the right.” I’ve missed Mickelson’s sense of humor online! (Sidenote: I’d love for whatever shirt Tiger is wearing there to make a comeback. He should bring back those glasses, too, while we’re at it.)
I was going to say Mickelson’s emoji use is second to none, but I don’t want to offend any of my great-aunts.
I like to think that Mickelson’s text messages to his friends and fellow LIV golfers are chock-full of emojis as well. Phil, if you’re reading this, please let me know.
Now, an announcement: This is my favorite Phil tweet in Rogers Report history.
“PGA thingies.” Thingies! I need to add that term into my repertoire. I’d guess that it’s not easy to win on the PGA Tour, but I won’t argue with a man who has done it 45 times. And finally we have Mickelson throwing just an ounce of shade to McIlroy, who teed it up and won in Dubai over the weekend.
Love him or hate him, Phil Mickelson makes the internet 10 times more fun.
The awkward pairing we wanted — plus the one we got
I know, I know. We all wanted McIlroy and Reed paired together for the final round of the Hero Dubai Desert Classic. The fact that we didn’t get that combined with the fact that McIlroy drained a 14-foot putt to avoid a playoff proves to me that the golf gods simply didn’t think we could handle such a thing. (Not yet, at least: I’m not giving up hope that we’ll see them tee it up alongside each other on Sunday afternoon at Augusta.)
The golf gods might not have given us exactly what we wanted, but they did show their sense of humor over the weekend when Ryder Cup captain-turned-LIV-Golfer Henrik Stenson and his replacement, Luke Donald, were put in the same group in Dubai. I don’t think there’s a better third for this group than Tyrrell Hatton, who I’m assuming definitely brought some comedic relief to the situation.
I can relate to Hatton here; I’ve been through enough situations where I sit between my divorced parents at graduation or something. Is it an ideal situation? Of course not. Is it the perfect time to crack some jokes? Absolutely. I’ll need Hatton to dish on the mid-round chatter at some point, because I can’t be the only one who is extremely curious.
Hilarious WAGs
I’ll admit that when players started heading to LIV, I was worried about the future of the PGA Tour’s biggest asset when it comes to my reporting: the wives and girlfriends of the pros. Without Paulina Gretzky and Jena Sims sharing a look at life on Tour, I didn’t know where I’d find the inside scoop.
As it turns out this anxiety — like most I experience — was all for naught. The PGA Tour is in very good hands when it comes to players’ wives giving us something to talk about. I am not exaggerating when I say that Jessica Hadwin and Layna Finau should be in the PIP rankings. These two are carrying the PGA Tour on their backs and I hope Jay Monahan compensates them accordingly.
The category of this week’s WAG humor is: husbands who almost missed the cut. Let’s start with Jessica Hadwin, who shared this text with her husband, Adam.
Next up we have Layna Finau, who made sure to pick up the bill after Finau struggled to make it to the weekend at Torrey Pines.
I will now spend the rest of my days praying for a Hadwin-Finau pairing so that the queens of the PGA Tour can create some content together and become best friends.
A day in the life of a Tour pro
If you’re like me and spend way too much time thinking about golf, then I’m willing to bet you’ve wondered what the day-to-day is like for professional golfers. Thanks to Ben Griffin’s TikTok, we’ve made it to the inside:
I’m especially grateful for the peek inside player dining — and to Ben for leading the charge of Tour pros on TikTok.