Hello, friends, and welcome to this week’s Rogers Report. I just returned from Orlando, where I was covering the PNC Championship. I wrote about that here, so we won’t be talking about the event in this column, except for the fact that Will McGee, Annika Sorenstam’s son, had a special fan in the crowd over the weekend at the event. That’s right: His sixth-grade math teacher headed over to watch her current star student tee it up.
How wholesome is that? Anyway, a lot of stuff happened outside of the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club last week, so we have a lot to catch up on.
Rory’s soccer skills
I will be the first to admit that I don’t follow soccer. I do, however, follow golf, and this soccer-golf crossover piqued my interest.
Rahm, McIlroy, and Lowry can hold their own when it comes to juggling! The video did remind me of McIlroy’s 2015 soccer injury, so I went through his Instagram to find the post of him on crutches. Thankfully, I stumbled upon this as well.
I can’t help but wonder if there’s anything Rory McIlroy is bad at. Maybe like, swimming? Or checkers? Maybe he’s got bad handwriting? The playing field needs to be evened out a bit here. But let’s not forget that he did have to miss the Open Championship at St. Andrews due to a soccer injury.
And then he shared this graphic post online.
Man, 2015 Instagram was a different time. Players didn’t have sponsored social posts to share, and they definitely weren’t posting professional images of themselves on the course. It was a beautiful moment in time.
PGA Tour wedding season
Jessica Korda. Mel Reid. Dustin Johnson. Brooks Koepka. Justin Thomas. Collin Morikawa. JT Poston. Seven pro-golf weddings in 2022? Let’s make it 10. Not one, but two PGA Tour players got hitched over the weekend and before that, so did Will Zalatoris.
1. Will Zalatoris’s wedding
Never in all of my days have I reached such a dead end in terms of internet sleuthing as I did searching for information regarding Will Zalatoris‘ wedding. Please do not mistake this admission with me admitting defeat — I just need a little more time. What I do know is that Caitlin Sellers (now Zalatoris) first appeared on Zalatoris’ Instagram page in 2018. She got her Masters from the University of Texas in 2019, and the Wake Forest graduates were engaged in April of 2021. Also, their wedding photos were stunning.
I promise to keep you all update as this hard-hitting story unfolds.
2. Sungjae Im’s big day
Sungjae Im got hitched on December 17th, and I will admit this came as a surprise to me because the 24-year-old had never posted his significant other before this. I believe this is what the kids are calling a “hard launch” these days. The two were married at Lotte Hotel World in Seoul.
His caption translates to “Thanks again to everyone who congratulated me. From now on, I will live harder and happier. Thank you.” Also, it looks like Im handed out the best wedding gifts of all time to his pals at the wedding.
Custom Scotty Camerons? For attending a wedding? I’ve never heard of such a thing. I used to get bubble gum and pencil erasers for attending birthday parties as a kid. I had no idea just how much I was being low-balled until this very moment.
Looked like a fun time! But that was only Saturday night. There was yet another wedding on Sunday…
3. Si Woo Kim gets married
Si Woo Kim married fellow professional golfer Ji Hyun Oh on Sunday, and the event looked as elegant as could be.
His caption translates to “December 18, 2022. I promised to spend the rest of my life with the person I want to spend the whole life with. Thank you all for your congratulations. I will live happily ever after.” Boyfriends, fiancees and husbands out there, take this as a sign: step up your Instagram caption game. If these Tour players can do it, so can you.
And if you scroll over on that post, you’ll see the happy couple walking down the aisle to “Another Day of Sun” from La La Land. A superb choice.
Taylormade’s holiday content
TaylorMade has pretty much earned a permanent spot in the Rogers Report thanks to their holiday shoots. Let’s take a look back at their Halloween and Thanksgiving posts before we get into what they’re up to now.
It’s one thing to come up with these ideas, but it’s another to convince the best golfers on the planet to go along with it, which brings us to TaylorMade’s latest holiday shoot.
What I would give to be a fly on the wall at one of these. Are they sulking off camera, the way my siblings and I do when it’s time to take a Christmas card? Or do they get super into it? I’m hoping there’s lots of laughter after costumes are put on. And I’m looking forward to some behind-the-scenes content from this day.
Tiger’s advice
Speaking of TaylorMade, they shared video from the TGR Foundation’s Junior Invitational this year. There are a lot of gems in here, but I really like how he explained how he worked to get over first-tee jitters. Missing fairways due to nerves? Sometimes the pros are just like us.
Then he told the story of his first ace. He was EIGHT years old and had to get lifted up to see it from the tee. I’m 27 and still waiting on mine.
Then Tiger went on to calculate just how many times he’s won. “When I was 11 years old, my life peaked.” It sounds like he had it all. A girlfriend, great grades, good behavior and an immaculate golf resume.
Paulina Gretzky’s birthday party
Paulina Gretzky celebrated her 34th birthday over the weekend, and in classic Gretzky-Johnson fashion, no detail was left untended to.
The inside of DJ’s suit jacket was decked out with photos from their wedding, and he led a line of dancers on the skating rink.
And check out this cocktail menu! My only regret? No creative Moscow Mules. That’s not really relevant, though, considering I wasn’t invited.
There was also a video of Wayne Gretzky delivering a funny speech at the dinner portion of the event. He said, “In 2011, I looked at Dustin and said, run man!” which got a laugh out of everyone.
And for all the sisters out there, we appear to have a shared-clothing item situation brewing between Emma and Paulina Gretzky.
My sister and I will get in full-blown fights over sweatshirts and sneakers, which I’ll admit are not nearly as nice as this green dress. But I’m guessing they’ll have it all worked out.
Until next time, gang!