The post ‘I fell short of that’: Garrick Higgo caddie blames himself for PGA rules penalty appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘I fell short of that’: Garrick Higgo caddie blames himself for PGA rules penalty appeared first on Golf.

The caddie for Garrick Higgo blames himself after the pro was penalized two strokes for arriving late last week to his PGA Championship first-round tee time. 

Austin Gaugert posted his thoughts to Instagram on Wednesday. On Monday, Golfweek’s Adam Schupak reported that Gaugert and Higgo parted ways after the PGA, and at this week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson event, Higgo is using Nick Cavendish-Pell as his caddie. 

Below is Gaugert’s statement:

“I want to say something about the incident with Garrick Higgo being late to the tee on Thursday at the PGA Championship. As a caddie, you try to do everything you can to prepare your player for competition and I fell short of that. Garrick was understanding throughout the situation and handled it with professionalism and class. This has happened to players before and will again. Garrick handled a difficult situation with grace, and I wish him nothing but success moving forward.

“After working with Garrick and finding the highest success in caddying, Garrick has become a better friend to me than just a boss. I will always be grateful for that.”

News

Inside Garrick Higgo’s bizarre (and costly) PGA Championship start

By: Michael Bamberger

Higgo’s late-arrival penalty came during last Thursday’s first round of the PGA. He’d been scheduled to tee off at 7:18 a.m. ET and arrived at 7:19, leading to the addition of two strokes to his first-hole score, per rule 5.3a of the Rules of Golf. Had Higgo arrived more than five minutes late, he would have been disqualified. 

At the time of the tee time, Higgo was on the nearby practice green, and as Higgo made his way to the tee, Gaugert was seen imploring him to arrive. When Higgo did, he was told of the penalty by a rules official, then went on to shoot a one-under 69. The next day, Higgo shot a 76 and missed the cut by a shot.  

After his first round, Higgo answered 15 questions on what had happened. 

“If you know me, then you know I am very casual and laid back,” Higgo said in his press conference. “But — I don’t know. I don’t want to be there 10 minutes early. I know that five minutes is fine. I thought I had time. 

“I was obviously too casual, yeah.”

The post ‘I fell short of that’: Garrick Higgo caddie blames himself for PGA rules penalty appeared first on Golf.

The post He made PGA Championship cut, then did something REALLY rare appeared first on Golf.

The post He made PGA Championship cut, then did something REALLY rare appeared first on Golf.

Last week was a good one for Aaron Rai, who beat out the competition at Aronimink Golf Club and won the PGA Championship for his first major title.

But it was also a good week for Ben Kern, one of the 20 PGA professionals who qualified for the tournament. Kern was the only club pro to make the cut (shooting 74-67-77-72); he finished 80th and won $23,930. He even played the final round with former No. 1 and European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald.

“It’s very special,” Kern said Sunday. “Obviously, once I got into the business, it was a goal to get out here and play in this kind of event. It’s a once-in-a-year opportunity that I’ve had the chance to play in three. It’s very special to be in this field and then to walk away with low club pro, it’s everything.”

When he’s not playing in PGA Championships, Kern is the general manager at Hickory Hills Golf Club in Grove City, Ohio. He said Sunday he had lots of work to get back to.

“It’s going to be busy,” Kern said. “I have not looked at my emails. So I will get back to my emails in a few days. Unfortunately, I’m probably going to be at my desk for a lot of it, getting caught up, getting the back end back to where it needs to be, getting all the information out to the members and what we have coming up, because our season is going.”

But before he got back to his desk — or maybe at his desk — Kern did something important: He posted his scores from a major golf tournament to his handicap.

Some pros, like Jon Rahm and Max Homa, for example, have handicaps that are kept semi-active, but they don’t post frequently. And we are going to guess Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy did not post their scores on Sunday night either. (And if any of the other club pros did post scores, they didn’t get four rounds in like Kern, or get to hold up a crystal trophy on Sunday night.)

The USGA — which would love for you to get your own Handicap Index — noticed Kern entered his scores and tweeted about it on Tuesday.

Kern’s three-under 67 he shot Friday was the only one of his PGA Championship scores that counted toward his Handicap Index, and for good reason — only two players shot a lower score in the second round, and Kern’s 67 was good for a -6.7(!) differential. The Aronimink course rating from the back tees is 75.5 and the slope is 144, although those numbers don’t factor in a major-championship setup, so Kern’s differentials could have been even lower.

Kern said last week he keeps a handicap to have matches with members at his home club. He was asked on Friday, after that 67, what happens now.

“It’s going to absolutely destroy my handicap,” he said. “But that’s OK. That’s what it’s for. I think the handicap is sitting right around +6. So I got to give up a few shots to the members back home.”

His handicap is now +6.4, which is pretty good. You can sign up for your own Handicap Index here.

The post He made PGA Championship cut, then did something REALLY rare appeared first on Golf.

The post Shop the drivers that hit the most fairways at the PGA Championship appeared first on Golf.

The post Shop the drivers that hit the most fairways at the PGA Championship appeared first on Golf.

As anyone who watched the PGA Championship at Aronimink knows, the course played tough.

Aaron Rai came out on top thanks to a final-round of five-under-par 65, which gave him a three-shot victory over Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley. But no one in the 156-player field managed to post four rounds under par.

The greens were diabolical, making it even more of a priority for players to find the fairway off the tee, and hopefully set themselves up for success with an approach shot from the fairway.

Over four rounds, there were 56 fairway opportunities at Aronimink, and three players who topped the driving accuracy list, finding the short grass 69.64 percent of the time: Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth and Chandler Blanchet. (Winner Aaron Rai was fourth, with a driving accuracy percentage of 67.86 percent.)

So if your game could use a boost of off-the-tee efficiency, check out the three most accurate drivers of the week wielded by some of the world’s best below.

Shop the PGA Championship’s top fairway-finding drivers

Scottie Scheffler: TaylorMade

Scottie Scheffler still plays TaylorMade’s Qi10, which is unfortunately no longer available. The next-best thing: TaylorMade’s latest, the Qi4D.

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Driver

SHAPED FOR SPEED The re-engineered head profile increases ball speed thanks to improved aerodynamics developed through advanced simulations. FACE FOR DISTANCE 60x Carbon Twist Face™ is a technological cornerstone that provides weight savings, incredible ball speed and more consistency vs. a titanium face. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight. TOUR PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES New and improved cut-through Speed Pocket™ protects ball speed and reduces spin on low-face strikes. Advanced CAD modeling creates a design with a clean and powerful sound, a foundation of TaylorMade driver performance. Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to strategically place mass in areas of the head where it maximizes performance, speed, and stability.

$649.99 from Fairway Jockey

View Product

Jordan Spieth: Titleist

Spieth recently upgraded to Titleist’s new GTS2 driver and 3-wood, and also switched to a new ball, the Titleist Pro V1x Left Dash.

Titleist GTS2 Custom Driver

$699.00 from Fairway Jockey

View Product

Chandler Blanchet: Titleist

Blanchet is still gaming the popular Titleist GT2 — a high-launch, low-spin option which was first released in early 2025.

Titleist GT2 Custom Driver

GT2 — Speed & Forgiveness Across The Face For players who don’t always find the center of the face and need the stability of a high-MOI driver without sacrificing speed. Speed & Forgiveness Across The Face Delivering impressive distance from any impact point, GT2 extracts maximum performance through forgiving design. Get the stability and added confidence of a high-MOI driver without sacrificing speed. Seamless Thermoform Crown A reimagined ultra-lightweight design, born from a new Proprietary Matrix Polymer. The tunable acoustic properties of this unique composite allow Titleist engineers to realize new material gains while maintaining our signature sound and feel. All wrapped in a clean look that inspires total confidence. Split Mass Construction GT2 delivers a powerful balance of forgiveness and speed thanks to a breakthrough in internal weighting. Mass is shifted to the back of the clubhead to increase MOI for better stability, while also pushing weight low and forward to optimize speed and spin. The result is a driver that frees you to swing with confidence.

$649.00 $449.99 from Fairway Jockey

View Product

The post Shop the drivers that hit the most fairways at the PGA Championship appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Aaron Rai’s PGA Championship win resonates so deeply appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Aaron Rai’s PGA Championship win resonates so deeply appeared first on Golf.

In golf (once more with feeling: as in life!) there are always corrections. For instance, you could consider saving up for the newest and baddest TaylorMade driver, the Qi4D Designer Series Shadowfall, available at Dick’s for $700. Or, with less financial stress, you could buy a 2017 TaylorMade M2, the make and model that Brandt Snedeker used when winning at Myrtle Beach this month. Saw one listed on 2nd Swing for $209.99. 

Talk about corrections: Part of the appeal of Aaron Rai’s feel-good win at the PGA Championship, at nine under par, is his underlying modesty, in this age of bake-at-home celebrity. He has no social-media presence, a driver nearly as old as Snedeker’s and a home in suburban Jacksonville, Fla., that Henry David Thoreau would likely recognize. Thoreau, in one sentence: “Simplify, simplify.”

You might want to check out Thoreau’s cabin on Walden Pond, where he lived for two years, two months and two days. You can walk there in six hours from Fenway Park, faster via public transit.

What is Bryson DeChambeau worth on the open market, if he leaves LIV for green pastures? Don’t know, don’t care. Aaron Rai earned $3.7 million for winning the PGA Championship. If he’s worried about anything it’s money and fame and success changing him. Doesn’t seem likely. He takes his cues from Thoreau. You could tell that on Sunday afternoon. Golf reveals character as few things do. That’s been true forever.

Golf does tried-and-true well. The game changes over time, of course, as all things do, but here’s a quick Big Three of keepers: the 14-club limit, a ball weighing 1.62 ounces, play-it-as-it lies as a fundamental. They work, and they come out of golf’s sacred text, the rulebook. No rulebook, no golf. No tournament golf, anyhow.

I’ve cited this sentence, from an earlier version and preamble of the ever-changing rulebook, more than a few times. I do so because it says it all:

“All players should conduct themselves in a disciplined manner, demonstrating courtesy and sportsmanship at all times, irrespective of how competitive they may be. This is the spirit of the game of golf.”

Aaron Rai is the spirit of the game of golf.

I am fond of Robert MacIntyre, the Scottish left-hander and Ryder Cupper. And believe me, I understand the spirit by which he gave the middle finger to the pond on 15 at Augusta National during the Masters last month. We’ve all been there. The game can do weird things to any of us, anywhere. (I have been there many, many times, playing in front of nobody, for nothing.) But, truly, that whole first-round middle-finger thing, funny though it was in the moment, is beyond unacceptable when you think about it all. For starters, MacIntyre is playing Augusta National as a guest. That pond is part of the challenge the club is presenting, part of the greatness of the course and the tournament. That millions are watching goes without saying.

Conduct yourself in a disciplined manner, demonstrate courtesy and sportsmanship. It’s not complicated.

Sergio Garcia’s hissy fit on the second tee in the Sunday round at Augusta last month was even worse —he defiled a tiny piece of the course, site of Garcia’s greatest golf accomplishment. (He won there in 2017.) Garcia’s behavior rose to such a level that an Augusta National member, Geoff Yang, the tournament’s new rules chairman, felt compelled to go out to the course and discuss the matter with Garcia. I don’t know what Yang said but I can give you an educated guess and will reduce it to everyday language we all know: Not even close, dude.

News

Aaron Rai, iron covers, jawns and Balboa: 50 thoughts on PGA Championship 

By: Nick Piastowski

And then there’s Rory McIlroy, after the first round of last week’s PGA Championship. He came into the press tent to meet with a small group of reporters. A PGA of America public relations official, Greg Dillard, opened the proceedings with this:

“Rory McIlroy is with us at the 108th PGA Championship. How would you describe your opening round?”

“Shit,” McIlroy said. No mirth, all heat.

I get it, we all get it. I’ve been there (in totally different circumstances) as we all have been. You’re hot, you take it out on the wrong person. In this case, McIlroy shot 74 and wasn’t happy about it. He was four strokes away from a good mood. McIlroy’s response was an honest one, and his candor, for getting on 20 years now, is one of the things that makes McIlroy special.

But a couple things here. His one-word answer degrades what Dillard’s job, appropriately, requires him to do — help get word about the proceedings from the PGA Championship out into the broader world. But here’s a more most significant point: McIlroy is lucky that anyone cares about his first-round score in the 108th PGA Championship at all. It’s easy to lose track of that, when you’ve been doing this whole play-the-world-elite-golfer thing, for big bucks and a lot of attention, for a long time. But that is the starting point that makes McIlroy’s whole public life possible: People care. His one-word response was not courteous, and it was not disciplined. Broadly, it lacked sportsmanship.

“All right, thank you — we’ll open it up for questions,” Dillard said, about as perfect response as a press-tent moderator could have in that situation. With one word, McIlroy seemed to have a reset, and from there on out he did his job. Really, he’s been a joy to cover, by and large and over the years. Every last one of us has our moments.

Aaron Rai’s are coming. He’ll be a public figure from here on out in a way he was not before the PGA Championship last week. Human nature is human nature. But this guy has so much at his core. We could all see it in a single afternoon. But this game will push any of to our limits, even Aaron Rai. That old preamble is always there as a useful reminder.

Michael Bamberger welcomes your comments at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com

The post Why Aaron Rai’s PGA Championship win resonates so deeply appeared first on Golf.

The post Garrick Higgo, days after curious PGA Championship penalty, splits with caddie appeared first on Golf.

The post Garrick Higgo, days after curious PGA Championship penalty, splits with caddie appeared first on Golf.

The weirdest story of PGA Championship week just got weirder.

Garrick Higgo, the 27-year-old South African who was penalized two strokes for arriving late for his opening round tee time at Aronomink, has split with the caddie who tried to hurry him along to the tee, according to a Golfweek report.

The outlet reported that Higgo has replaced his looper, Austin Gaugert, with Nick Cavendish-Pell, with whom Higgo previously has worked, including in 2021 when Higgo won his first of two PGA Tour titles at the Palmetto Championship.

Video from the PGA Championship, which ESPN dissected like it was the Zapruder film, showed Higgo, in the moments before his 7:18 am. start, exhibiting little urgency on the practice green. As Higgo finally made his way to the tee box, Gaugert could be seen imploring his boss to get a move on.  

Higgo arrived on the tee at some point between 7:18 and 7:19, but when it comes to tee-time arrivals, every second counts, and an attending official dinged Higgo with a two-shot penalty for violating Rule 5.3a.

If Higgo was rattled, it didn’t show. On a challenging day at Aronimink, he shot a one-under 69 that should have been a 67 that would have tied him for the first-round lead. Following his round, he tried to explain his lateness to the media, but his comments left more than a few observers scratching their heads.

“I was there on time, but the rule is, if you’re one second late, you’re late,” Higgo said. “So if you think about it, I was there on time, if you know what I mean.”

Higgo’s form didn’t hold. On Friday, he shot a 76 to miss the cut by one.

Higgo and Cavendish-Pell will officially reprise their partnership at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which kicks off later this week in Dallas.

The post Garrick Higgo, days after curious PGA Championship penalty, splits with caddie appeared first on Golf.

The post Aaron Rai, iron covers, jawns and Balboa: 50 thoughts on PGA Championship  appeared first on Golf.

The post Aaron Rai, iron covers, jawns and Balboa: 50 thoughts on PGA Championship  appeared first on Golf.

Our intro here pertains to Aaron Rai’s iron covers and his two gloves and his other unique characteristics, so I can understand if you want to click away, as the subject, while charming, has been talked about a bit excessively at this point. But there’s been something else going on with his quirks. I think it tells the bigger story.

It’s the thought of why he never changed. 

After all, we’re a society of mostly conformists. There’s comfort in that — and the absence of discomfort. Golf and life can be hard enough, but sticking out adds another element.

Unless, of course, you don’t give a you-know-what.  

Like Rai. And he just won a PGA Championship. 

“I think my dad played a really big role in that,” Rai said Sunday night. “For the most part, it was just the two of us who used to go onto the golf course and practice together, probably up until I was 13 or 14. So I think he was very much an advocate to really just stay in your lane, focus on the things that you can do.

“And I didn’t really mix with a lot of other junior golfers, which didn’t give me a perspective of what was normal. So I think he kind of sheltered me to be able to develop in a way that made sense for me, in a way that I guess was a little bit unique with two gloves, with iron covers, et cetera.

“I think by the time he probably allowed me to play more kind of club golf, play professional golf, I felt like I was strong enough in why I did certain things to be able to continue to move that forward. I knew the reasons why I do them. I believe in the reasons why I do them. So I had no reason to really shift from that as I got older. So, yeah, that’s probably the main reason behind it.”

I felt like I was strong enough. There’s strength in that.

That’s what others should emulate. 

As we look back at the PGA Championship week that was at Aronimink Golf Club, let’s make that observation No. 1 then. We’ll try for 49 more, and, to help the mood, we’ll mix in some Philly music.

2. My grandpa had iron covers. Red ones even. 

3. Let’s talk more about Rai. I liked this answer when he was asked about his wife, Gaurika, who’s also a pro golfer:

“She’s been incredible. I’m not exaggerating when I say that I wouldn’t be here without her. Both as a companion, as a friend, as someone I’m sharing my life with, but also as a real support system for my game. She’s a professional golfer herself. So her mindset, her advice, her thoughts, whether it’s technique or the way I’m holding myself is absolutely invaluable. She encompasses so many different sides in her opinions.

“We even had a conversation yesterday for probably 30 minutes in the car just before we got back to the hotel, just speaking a little bit about today. Again, some of the things that she mentioned in the conversations were really with me today.

“Yeah, I really wouldn’t be here without her.”

News

Aaron Rai shocked the world. Here's what he revealed in the process

By: Dylan Dethier

4. What was that conversation in the car about? The Athletic’s Gabby Herzig wrote about that, and you can read her story here. 

5. Who wins in a match between husband and wife?

“We practice quite a lot together. Honestly she beats me more times than I beat her,” Rai said. “When we have putting contests, chipping contests, we do some wedge games on TrackMan, I do well to keep up with her. She really is that good.

“We play a little bit on the course, but I’ve played Sawgrass — that’s where we live — a little bit more than her, and I think that little bit of experience helps. But it’s still very close with us even on the course.”

6. How did the Rais meet? Golfweek’s Adam Schupak wrote about that, and you can read his story here. 

7. Where was Rai planning to celebrate after his win? As he said he wasn’t sure, Gaurika shouted at his press conference, “He’ll probably have Chipotle.”

“I do love Chipotle on the road,” Rai said. “So we’ll probably go to Chipotle.”

8. I also thought Rai’s story on how he played courses growing up was interesting. 

“Up until the age of around 12 years old, I used to play off basically a customized course length, which gradually got longer and longer every year from the age of kind of 7 to 12,” he said. “… I was playing off the fairways and trying to make the course short enough for me to score par or better even as an 8-, 9-, 10-year-old.

“I thought it was a great idea. My dad thought it was a great idea.”

As he aged, Rai farther and farther moved back. 

“My dad really thought that idea was great in terms of just installing the abilities and the skills to be able to score and the distance would just follow with age and with growth.”

9. Of course, if you’re going to read just one Rai story today, please make it be this one here. It’s about the time Rai and I hunted for ghosts. Seriously. 

10. You can learn a lot about a person through the thoughts of others, and I liked this one here, from pro Paul Waring. 

11. And below is a young Rai. Enjoy. 

12. The week-long talk of no one pulling away on the leaderboard? Behind a four-under 31 on the back nine on Sunday, Rai ended it, along with the tournament itself. His 68-footer for birdie on 17 will also go down as one of the PGA’s all-time moments. 

13. So why were there so many players at or around the lead throughout the tournament? Certainly, there’s always the possibility of that happening — who’s to say that the best in the world can’t all go out and shoot the same score? 

But Aronimink seemed to dictate play — there weren’t many ways to approach holes, other than the safe route, so most everyone did that. Find the fairway, find the safe pocket on the green, hit a couple of putts and move on. 

The question is, how much of that is the course’s fault, and how much of that is the players’?  

14. Let’s talk more about Aronimink — and two of the big questions of the week: Was it a good course for the PGA? And was it set up properly?

Hmm, how much time do you have?

But maybe the answer is easier than you think, if you ask yourself this:

Did you like watching? 

I think that’s mostly what matters in this. Golf is entertainment.  

15. I did laugh when I heard Brandel Chamblee say on Golf Channel’s “Live From” show that a course manager knows they’ve set up a course right when the players start to [expletive]. 

16. Here are a couple player thoughts on Aronimink and the setup that I thought were interesting:

Said Rory McIlroy on Saturday: “Look, when you have a set of greens like this, you can start to frustrate people pretty easily, I think. You heard it in me last night. You heard it in Scottie [Scheffler]. I saw some of his comments. Shane [Lowry]. I think there was a lot of guys that were frustrated yesterday coming off the course.

“Again, it’s frustrating to us, but at the same time, it creates a helluva entering championship. If I wasn’t playing this tournament, I’d love what’s going on this week, but watching and playing are two different things.”

17. Said Patrick Reed on Saturday: “It’s just different. I mean, I think that’s the easiest way. It’s a different challenge, and that’s the cool thing about it is it’s on its own.

“But the great thing about all the golf courses we play, no matter where it is, whatever major championship we’re playing, if you’re hitting the ball well and you’re putting well, you’re going to be able to handle anything. We’re the best players in the world, so when they throw a really hard challenge at us, that’s when the top players are going to show up.”

18. Music break! The Roots’ “The Seed (2.0)” was heavily played during ESPN’s and CBS’ coverage, so let’s use it here. It’s a favorite. 

19. What would I, the 15-or-so handicap, shoot, with the wind, the rough and the pin locations, along with just the course itself? 

How much time do I have?

20. But man, a lot of folks were wrong about how the course would play. The predictions of low numbers had Jon Rahm feeling strange. 

“I would like to know who came up with that, by the way,” he said on Saturday. “Honestly, when I heard people talking about 20-under par, it made me question my ability to read a golf course, because I was looking at the greens and where they could put pin locations, and possible wind, I just — my mind was never — I actually got worried. I’m like if somebody shoots 20-under, the amount of records they’re going to break this week would be unheard of.

“You know why I think that can happen is also the fairways up here by the numbers are probably wide. They don’t play as wide as they really are. Holes like 7, 10, 15, with how much slope you have to the fairway, you have to hit a very accurate golf shot to be in it. Like that, you can add 2, too, 4 — maybe not on 6, but like I said, 10, 12, 15, 16, right?

“You need to hit — with the slope of the fairway and the wind going with the slope of the fairway, it plays a lot more difficult than I think a lot of people would have foreseen at first with how much they’re rolling out.”

21. Let’s talk about some players. 

In the first major since LIV Golf learned that it was losing its funding from the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, Rahm, one of LIV’s biggest stars, tied for second. I thought one of the more interesting quotes of the week came during his pre-tournament press conference, where he was asked what he learned from a strong showing at last year’s PGA. 

“It was really fun to be out there in the landscape nowadays in which as players in LIV we hear a lot of things from articles, from social media, from comments,” Rahm said. “While I understand why things are being said, it’s something you have to deal with.

“To go on that Sunday playing against Scottie, that has the lead, and to feel the support and love from the crowd is what made it really enjoyable. To realize that sometimes the truth is very different from what this makes or made up to be. When I made that birdie putt on 11 and I hit those good shots on 12 and 13 and almost made the putt on 13, the support from the crowd and the cheering from the crowd was what made it so much fun.

“It was a realization of having such support from the crowd and playing good golf that made me realize in a way how I’m truly perceived from the public, as opposed to what I read sometimes.”

News

How did Aaron Rai win PGA? You must hear about when we … ghost-hunted?

By: Nick Piastowski

22. Bryson DeChambeau, another LIV star, shot seven-over over two rounds and missed the cut, after missing the cut at the Masters. 

What are your expectations for him at the U.S. Open, where he’s won twice?

23. Cam Smith had missed four straight cuts in the majors, then tied for seventh at the PGA. He recently started working with swing coach Claude Harmon III, after moving on from Grant Field, whom Smith had been guided by since he was 9. 

“Probably one of the most difficult phone calls I’ve ever had to make,” Smith said Sunday.

“And, yeah, it’s still kind of lingering, but I feel like I’ve made the right call, and I can see it in my golf and just my strike of the ball and seeing some different shots. It’s been nice.”

24. Patrick Reed played the Masters in April, didn’t play for four weeks, then tied for 10th at the PGA. Interestingly, he’ll have the same schedule heading into the U.S. Open — no tournaments for four weeks — as he’s been mostly playing a DP World Tour schedule while serving a PGA Tour suspension due to his time with LIV Golf. 

“Yeah, this year’s a little different,” he said. “Honestly, I enjoyed my time at home. I enjoyed actually getting to grind, to prepare, and work on things and get ready for this week. … Who knows, it might be a new thing.”

25. My favorite exchange of the week? This one:

Moderator to McIlroy, after he shot a four-over 74 in the first round: “How would you describe your opening round?”

McIlroy to moderator: “Sh*t.”

26. My favorite story this week? This one, from Justin Thomas, who was asked on Sunday if there was an “art” to sitting on a clubhouse lead. 

“I don’t know if there’s an art,” he said. “I can tell you how there isn’t because it happened to me one time in Hartford, Conn., one year. It was actually the same day that [Jim] Furyk shot 58, I think it was. I shot like 61 or 62, and I finished pretty similar, like the leaders were on the middle of the front nine.

“I had a buddy that was out there watching me, and we went in the clubhouse and probably had like four or five beers at lunch. Next thing you know, it’s two-and-a-half hours later, and I’m still the leader in the clubhouse. The wind picked up 15, 20 mph, and the leaders were on like 15. Jimmy [Johnson] was caddieing for me at the time. He’s at a Subway like an hour and a half away. He’s like what do we do?

News

Aaron Rai isn't the PGA Championship winner you expected. And that's OK!

By: Michael Bamberger

“I’ve never not wanted to be in a playoff before, but I kind of didn’t want to be in a playoff then. That wouldn’t have been a good situation.”

27. It’s strange not seeing Scottie Scheffler in the top three or so, right? That’s Tiger-like.  

28. Alex Smalley will win a major. Maybe this year still. 

29. I think Xander Schauffele will win another major. Maybe this year still.

30. I think Ludvig Aberg will win multiple majors. Maybe this year still. 

31. I think Garrick Higgo will never miss another major tee time again. Notably, Golfweek’s Schupak reported here that Higgo has also parted ways with his caddie. 

32. Music break! Let’s go with “You Make My Dreams (Come True)” by Hall & Oates. 

33. I want to see Michael Block at next year’s PGA. Golf needs personalities, and he is one.

34. Next year’s PGA is in Texas, Jordan Spieth’s home state. The grand slam happens there, right?  

35. The Spieth shot below is one of the best of the week. Maybe the best. 

36. The video below is gruesome. 

37. The video below, as always, is great. Padraig Harrington’s social media accounts shared it on Saturday night — after Harrington finished his third round. A true content machine. 

38. Here are a few of my favorite reads this week from the GOLF.com staff. From Michael Bamberger, his story here that wrapped up the tournament was great. 

39. From Dylan Dethier, his story here on Rai was great. 

40. From Sean Zak, his story here on the PGA at Aronimink was great. 

41. From Josh Schrock, his story here on Cam Smith was great. 

42. Those four jawns above were pretty good jawns, right?

43. Music break! I mean, if I didn’t go with the “Rocky” theme song, what am I even doing here?

44. With that comes an admission: I’ve never seen the original “Rocky.” I’ve watched “Rocky III” and “Rocky IV” about 3 million or 4 million times each. But never the original. (Or “Rocky II,” for that matter.) I have no excuse. I’m watching it tonight.

45. Or maybe I should watch “The Dark Knight” like McIlroy. He said he was going to watch the movie on Saturday night.     

46. Another admission: I’ve never had a cheesesteak. My dad was a meat butcher for 50 years, and I like sub sandwiches, but somehow it’s escaped me. That won’t change tonight — because I want the best. Where should I go both in Philly and outside of Philly? My email is nick.piastowski@golf.com. 

47. Who wins the next two men’s majors? Let’s go with Aberg at the U.S. Open, and Matt Fitzpatrick at the Open Championship.  

48. Who wins the next four women’s majors? Let’s go with Nelly Korda at the U.S. Women’s Open, Lydia Ko at the Women’s PGA (which would give her four of the five women’s majors), Charley Hull at the Evian and Minjee Lee at the Women’s Open (which would also give her four of the five women’s majors).  

49. A quick and deserved nod to Leonie Harm, who, on Sunday, won the Amundi German Masters — 13 years after she suffered multiple injuries after she was hit by a drunk driver while running. In 2023, she wrote a story for Golf Digest about her experience, and you can read that here.  

50. Tonight’s dinner? Chipotle. 

Had to copy Rai, of course.  

The post Aaron Rai, iron covers, jawns and Balboa: 50 thoughts on PGA Championship  appeared first on Golf.

The post Intrigued by Aaron Rai’s iron covers? They’re low-cost club protectors appeared first on Golf.

The post Intrigued by Aaron Rai’s iron covers? They’re low-cost club protectors appeared first on Golf.

Aaron Rai is our newest major champion, thanks to a stellar performance at the PGA Championship at Aronimink on Sunday.

The 31-year-old from England pulled away from the pack with a sizzling round of five-under 65 to claim the Wanamaker Trophy by three shots over Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley.

Rai, who had seven wins on his resume before his PGA triumph, is a player who does things his own way. He plays with not one but two gloves made by MacWet, an English company that makes sporting performance gloves for outdoor activities like polo, showjumping, horse racing, shooting and more.

Another way Rai stands out from his peers: iron covers. And thanks to Rai, what was viewed as a golf taboo now has some major-championship cred.

Putters

After PGA win, Aaron Rai's Spider is the hottest putter on Tour

By: Jack Hirsh

Rai has an endearing reason for his iron-cover usage: Growing up, he was cognizant of the sacrifices his parents made to support his golf development. When he received his first premium set of clubs as a child, he wanted to protect them to the best of his ability, so he used iron covers — a habit that continues to this day.

“Although on the PGA Tour, we get given equipment, and we get given everything that we need, it’s more out of principle,” Rai said of his iron covers in the wake of his victory on Sunday. “The value of not losing perspective of what I have and where I am.”

Even if iron covers don’t make sense for use in your daily golf life, there’s no denying that using them for travel is reason enough to invest in a set. And with a price point starting at $22, it’s a low-cost investment.

Check out a selection of iron-cover options below, and click on the link to purchase your set now.

Shop irons covers like Aaron Rai’s

Plush Iron Covers, Black – Golf Gifts & Gallery

Plush iron Covers are designed for right or left handed golfers. They provide great protection during play and travel. Bold embroidered numbers allow for an easy selection. – Set Make Up: 3-9, P, S, and W.

$31.99 from PGA TOUR Superstore

View Product

Iron Covers – w/Zipper, Black – Golf Gifts & Gallery

Iron Covers with a Zipper great protection with a secure hold on your club head. The set includes ten padded covers that fit standard to oversized iron heads, with each cover marked clearly for easy identification. – Includes 3-PW, LW and SW – Fits oversized irons

$40.99 from PGA TOUR Superstore

View Product

Deluxe Iron Covers – Right Handed, Black, RH – Golf Gifts & Gallery

Deluxe Iron Covers are designed to protect your investment from dings and scratches. These iron covers snap on and off easily and fit today’s oversized irons. They come with tangle-resistant lanyards for additional convenience.

$26.99 from PGA TOUR Superstore

View Product

Golf Gifts & Gallery Neoprene Covers 10 Pack

This protective, padded design also features a place to display the iron number.

$21.99 from PGA Tour Superstore

The post Intrigued by Aaron Rai’s iron covers? They’re low-cost club protectors appeared first on Golf.

The post After PGA win, Aaron Rai’s Spider is the hottest putter on Tour appeared first on Golf.

The post After PGA win, Aaron Rai’s Spider is the hottest putter on Tour appeared first on Golf.

TaylorMade’s Spider putter line keeps racking up majors, although this time it’s not from Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler or any contracted TaylorMade player.

The TaylorMade Spider Tour V Flow-neck putter Aaron Rai used to nail the 68-foot birdie putt on the 71st hole to slam the door shut at the PGA Championship is a putter he uses completely by choice.

Rai’s Spider Tour V was part of the 2024 edition of Spider putters and has found the bags of several players at times, including Collin Morikawa and Nelly Korda. Shane Lowry has had one in his bag since the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, which he won with McIlroy. The Tour V model has a more tapered body than the Spider Tour or Tour X models and features adjustable weights just behind the face, giving it a more forward CG.

That more forward CG helps to emulate the CG location of blade putters, making the Tour V a great option for players seeking to move into the Spider platform from a blade.

Rai’s putter features a unique flow neck, similar to the one Morikawa has on his Spider Tour X, that gives the putter a bit more face rotation to the stroke.

The 31-year-old switched to this putter late last August from a face-balanced TaylorMade TP Hydro Blast DuPage mallet, which also featured a Pure Roll insert. This past week at Aronimink, Rai was fifth in SG: Putting, gaining 1.7 strokes per round on the field, including nearly four in the final round.

With the victory, a Spider Tour putter has not only won five of the last six majors, dating back to McIlroy’s 2025 Masters win, but it’s also won eight events already this season, including both major championships.

While the Spider Tour V Rai used is no longer available at retail, the Spider Tour and Spider Tour X head shapes are currently available and feature much of the same technology, most notably the Pure Roll insert. TaylorMade putter rep James Holley credited the insert with much of the Spider’s success on Tour.

TaylorMade Spider Tour X Custom Putter

  THIN WALL UNDERCUT CONSTRUCTION We’ve engineered a super stable structure by removing excess weight to create high MOI and legendary Spider performance. STEEL WIREFRAME Allows engineers to better control weight distribution and CG location. HYBRAR ECHO® DAMPENER HYBRAR is behind the face to dampen unwanted vibrations, delivering premium sound and feel on every putt with the best possible sensation. DIFFERENT CG LOCATION Each Spider Tour model features different CG locations for optimal putter fitting. TSS WEIGHTING TSS weights provide balanced weighting and help optimize performance for all various putter lengths. GUNMETAL PVD FINISH The durable PVD coating creates a beautiful high-quality finish. TRUE PATH™ ALIGNMENT The patented alignment system provides visual clarity and helps golfers better envision the line to the hole. WHITE TPU PURE ROLL™ INSERT Made from a combination of Surlyn and aluminum, the white TPU Pure Roll™ insert creates a softer feel. Grooves are angled at 45° to encourage optimal forward roll as well as better sound, feel and overall roll characteristics. The white insert also creates better symmetry with the white True Path alignment. REFINED HOSEL DESIGNS Spider Tour Series includes two different hosel shapes and designs. The small slant produces toe hang, and the double bend produces a face balanced design.

$349.99 from Fairway Jockey

View Product

ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, TaylorMade

“Any of the guys that have switched like Scottie or Tommy, they see such a big improvement inside that 20 feet,” Holley, who fit Rai into his Spider, told GOLF. “Especially out on Tour, that’s where those guys make their money. Statistically, the best putter and the worst putter from 30 feet, there isn’t that big of a difference from a strokes-gained perspective.”

There’s also a new Spider Tour V shape that debuted on the PGA Tour last month, in what appears to be the next generation of the putter. Brooks Koepka put that model in play last week, which appears to also have the forward weighting based on the weight placement.

Want to find the best putter for your game? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

The post After PGA win, Aaron Rai’s Spider is the hottest putter on Tour appeared first on Golf.

The post The strange feeling of watching Scottie Scheffler fade away on PGA Sunday appeared first on Golf.

The post The strange feeling of watching Scottie Scheffler fade away on PGA Sunday appeared first on Golf.

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — The air at Aronimink Golf Club outside of Philadelphia was hot and heavy on Sunday. As the sun baked the Donald Ross design, fans filed in, hoping to see a chaotic final round of the PGA Championship end with something unforgettable — something to remember the week for long after the buildouts had been removed and the pins put back in friendly spots for members.

The energy built as the afternoon started, the heat rose and the possibilities became clear. Fans were out on the course watching Kurt Kitayama, Matt Fitzpatrick and Justin Thomas go low. The anticipation grew. At the short game area, one man stood in a bunker with a bucket of balls, playing different kinds of shots to corners of the green. Chunk and run here, splash out there, then throw it long and put the brakes on.

Only a few fans watched Scottie Scheffler prepare for his final round at the PGA Championship. Everyone was already waiting for him to begin what they hoped would be a day etched in golf history. A day when Scheffler authored his next defining moment — when their golf course and one of the all-time greats might become synonymous.

Scheffler shared the lead after Round 1. He survived blustery conditions and treacherous pin locations on Friday to enter the weekend two back of the lead but with the tournament in the palm of his hand. An uncooperative putter caused a Saturday stumble, but didn’t take him out of contention.

“The golf course is just challenging,” Scheffler said late Saturday night before a lengthy practice session.

It was an exacting test of patience. One Scheffler had answered better than most. He was in the top five in ball striking, driving and approach play. Tee to green, he had done what Aronimink asked. The greens had been his kryptonite, but he had a chance, and that might be enough.

As the late-arriving fans filed in, they spotted Scheffler finishing his short game prep and crowded the fence. He was hitting 40-yard pitch shots across the area with coach Randy Smith looking on. His third attempt landed two paces from the flag, hopped once and stopped. That was it. Scheffler walked through both practice putting greens toward the first tee, and the crowds followed. Scheffler striped his opening tee shot. The first three holes at Aronimink were gettable on Sunday, and fast starts were expected to be common. As Scheffler stood over his 95-yard approach, tension added weight to the humid Pennsylvania air. To Scheffler’s left, fans gathered on a make-shift platform in the yard of a neighboring house. Scheffler’s strike was clean, but the shot came up well short of the flag and left him a lengthy two-putt for par. As he strolled toward the first green, the platform-dwellers started a loud “Scottie! Scottie!” chant. Patrons on the other side of the fairway joined in, trying to push the world No. 1 to light the fuse.

Scheffler made par at the first and then rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt at the second that sent those on the deck of the building overlooking the second green and eighth tee box into delirium. He was four back with so much golf to play. The crowds grew and moved with him. When he stuffed a wedge to four feet at No. 3, the electricity surged as history seemed ready to beckon.

But then something else happened. Scheffler’s birdie putt hit the lip but didn’t drop. The crowd groaned.

Then came the par-3 fifth, where Scheffler missed the green left and couldn’t up and down to save par. The air started to leave the balloon as it became clear that the story they wanted wasn’t coming. After missing the 9-footer for par on five, Scheffler smirked and shook his head. He muttered a few words to caddie Ted Scott and then walked to the sixth tee by himself.

News

Aaron Rai shocked the world. Here's what he revealed in the process

By: Dylan Dethier

There comes a time in every tournament when reality starts to sink in, when it overtakes hope. Hours after Scheffler’s missed birdie at three and bogey at five, Jon Rahm, who would finish in a tie for second behind eventual winner Aaron Rai, explained the phenomenon of still trying to win even though the outcome is no longer in doubt.

“Never lost hope,” Rahm said hours after Scheffler left the property following a final-round 69 that included a few more short missed putts on the back nine. “Even at the end, listen, once [Rai got to 9 under], you’re still trying to finish as strong as possible.”

On a setup that demanded relentless precision, it felt like a Scottie Scheffler type of week. Aronimink wanted it. That’s the effect of greatness. It conjures something deep inside those witnessing it, like watching a once-in-a-century celestial event.

But Scheffler couldn’t give the Aronimink crowd what it craved, like what Rai delivered hours later with a major-clinching 68-foot birdie on the 17th hole. Instead, the defending champ faded from the PGA Championship picture.

As his tee shot on the par-4 sixth sailed right, Scheffler backpedaled to try to get a view of where it was headed. He watched it land in the fairway bunker. He sighed, dropped his head and lightly smacked his driver head on the turf of the tee box. The crowd dispersed in different directions and Scottie Scheffler started a long walk to nowhere.

The post The strange feeling of watching Scottie Scheffler fade away on PGA Sunday appeared first on Golf.