The post Masters TV ratings: 6 intriguing numbers from Rory McIlroy’s win appeared first on Golf.

The post Masters TV ratings: 6 intriguing numbers from Rory McIlroy’s win appeared first on Golf.

Rory McIlroy’s Grand Slam-clinching win at the Masters was, first and foremost, compelling television.

But for those in the business of making compelling television, Rory’s win was also something else: a very, very early Christmas present.

McIlroy’s victory at Augusta National delivered some of the highest golf ratings in recent history for CBS on Sunday afternoon, a 12.7 million average viewer number that served as a major boost over last April’s Scottie Scheffler victory and the highest number for CBS at Augusta National in several years.

Every year, the Masters TV numbers serve as a barometer for pro golf’s overall health, and 2025 was no different. Obviously, the ratings from McIlroy’s once-in-a-generation performance can’t be replicated every week, but the numbers help to inform where golf is — and where it’s headed. So let’s dig into the 6 biggest numbers and what they mean.

12.7 million

The number of average viewers for CBS’s final round at the Masters, the highest for a final round at golf’s first major since 2018 — and a mega-number for CBS fresh off last year’s 9.5 million slump for Scottie Scheffler’s second green-jacket victory.

Where’d the 3 million extra viewers come from? Well, this year’s tournament had the benefit of a heart-stopping finish, a historic accomplishment, and golf’s two highest-wattage stars not named Tiger Woods (Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau). When those things happen, more viewers tend to tune in. (Nielsen’s tweaks to out-of-home measurements surely didn’t hurt, either.)

While it is easy to make any number of uninformed arguments about what these numbers mean in the context of the greater sports and golf landscape, there is little questioning the singular objective reality: This is a big, healthy number for golf on TV. When you talk to people in the industry about golf TV ratings, one of the few universally agreed-upon truths is that big numbers in the majors are good for business. Big numbers in big moments point to golf’s ability to make inroads with casual sports fans. For a moment on Saturday and Sunday, it felt like golf was the sports world’s monoculture, and these TV numbers support that feeling, which is very good news for business.

Features

7 years

The last time a golf broadcast of any kind topped McIlroy’s final round at the Masters on Sunday. While the Masters has clipped 12 million viewers a handful of times over the last half-decade, it has fallen short of the 13 million plateau since the mid-2010s.

19.5 million

The peak audience for CBS’s Masters coverage, arriving in the minutes after McIlroy’s tournament-clinching putt and subsequent weepy walk to the scoring tent. (The peak audience is the average audience during the telecast’s most-watched 15-minute window.)

This is a notably huge number for golf, where peak audiences hold added value due to the length of the telecast. The Masters’ peak numbers tip out a notch higher than CBS’s NFL average for the 2024 season.

While the NFL remains (safely) more popular than the Masters on TV, it’s exceedingly rare to see golf clip football in, well, anything.

1.3 million

The average audience for Sky Sports’ coverage of the Masters’ final round in the United Kingdom, a record number for the international broadcaster, including a peak audience of 1.7 million during McIlroy’s walk, which aired shortly after midnight in the UK. These are the largest golf numbers in Sky Sports history, according to the network.

McIlroy’s name was stamped on all British mail at the beginning of the week, but it seems he’d already visited most of the living rooms in the country by the time Sunday evening rolled around.

5.9 million

The number of average viewers for last year’s U.S. Open final round thriller between Bryson and Rory, less than half of the Masters’ 2025 numbers. That number was also the highest-rated East Coast U.S. Open final round since 2013 — spotlighting the difference between even two of golf’s biggest events, and the importance of a good Masters TV number to the overall health of pro golf.

Triple digits

The percentage growth of Paramount Plus’s year-over-year viewership after the Masters added two additional hours from the Masters on Saturday and Sunday.

CBS treated the Paramount Plus broadcast precisely the same as its network window — with the same production talent, on-air crew, and technicians as the regular final-round telecast. They were rewarded richly, with huge gains for the streamer, and subscriber numbers that surely bumped in lockstep. According to CBS, it was the largest non-NFL sports streaming day for Paramount Plus ever.

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The post ‘Never seen it before’: Ludvig Aberg endures one of worst breaks imaginable appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘Never seen it before’: Ludvig Aberg endures one of worst breaks imaginable appeared first on Golf.

Ludvig Aberg was rolling in the first round of the Genesis Scottish Open: two under through seven holes and two birdies in his last two holes. His good form continued on the tee at the 448-yard par-4 8th from where he found the right side of the fairway, leaving himself just 148 yards to a front-right pin on a blind green. One of Aberg’s playing partners, Collin Morikawa, already had played, knocking a nifty approach to 11 feet right of the hole. Aberg must have liked Morikawa’s result, because the young Swede launched a short iron that followed a markedly similar line to Morikawa’s.

Well, not markedly — exactly.

As Aberg’s ball descended to the green, it landed squarely on top of Morikawa’s ball, a space that occupied all of 1.68 inches.

“Oh, you don’t see that very often,” a commentor said on the Sky Sports broadcast. “That’s got to be 1 in 10,000.”

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Actually, the odds are probably much slimmer than that. Figure in a full field PGA Tour event there are roughly 150 players hitting approaches or tee shots, over the course of four rounds, into 72 greens. That’s more than 10,000 shots right there, and this is not an occurrence we see at every event. Whatever the odds, we can agree they are long!     

Ask Aberg, who after his six-under opening 64 said of the wackiness at the 8th: “I’ve never seen it before. Probably not going to see it for a long time again.”

Nor would he want to see it again, because the result was costly. After careening into Morikawa’s ball, Aberg’s Titleist kicked hard right and off the green, leaving him a short-sided chip. Aberg looked on from the fairway, confounded. “I thought I hit a decent shot, and we just saw the ball just go straight sideways,” he said later. “I didn’t really know what it did, but then we kind of realized that’s pretty much where Collin’s ball was and then I saw his ball go that way.”

That way was off the back of the green, though Morikawa’s ball’s new resting point was moot, because under Rule 11.1, Morikawa was permitted to replace his ball as close as possible to its original spot. Aberg? No such luck. Play it as lies, pal.    

What would have been roughly a 10-footer for birdie was now a 47-foot up-and-down attempt to save par. Aberg’s chip came up well short and the par save wasn’t to be. He settled for a bogey 5.    

To his credit, Aberg took the wicked stroke of bad luck in stride. “Once those things happen, I can’t do anything about it,” he said. “All I try to do is just make good swings, and I did.”

Lots of them. After parring the par-3 9th, Aberg played the back nine in five-under 30 to climb into a tie for third, two back of Justin Thomas’ lead.

For what it’s worth, not all ball collisions end in calamity. Witness the final round of the 2016 Masters, when Louis Oosthuizen stepped onto the tee at the par-3 16th and hit an ideal shot that caught the slope in the middle of the green that funnels balls down to the hole. As Oosthuizen’s ball picked up speed, it banged into his playing partner’s, which was at rest about three feet right of the cup. At first it looked as if the interaction might have knocked Oosthuizen’s ball off line, but, in fact, it had bumped it onto an even better track. A few rolls later and Oosthuizen’s ball dropped into the hole for one of the most remarkable aces you will ever see.

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The post Rory McIlroy thinks these 2 words — when he absolutely needs a good drive appeared first on Golf.

The post Rory McIlroy thinks these 2 words — when he absolutely needs a good drive appeared first on Golf.

Rory McIlroy hit his drive 338 yards. His opponent in this friendly driving competition, YouTube sensation Micah Morris, hit 311. Their finish line was first to a mile, or 1,760 yards. 

McIlroy hit his second drive 343, Morris hit 332. 

McIlroy hit his third 338, Morris hit 368. 

McIlroy hit his fourth 342, Morris hit 353. At this point, the scoreboard read this way: Morris 1,364 yards, McIlroy 1,363. But the leader was curious. He promised he wasn’t trying to be distracting. But the pressure was rising in this game, so he wondered: 

“What is your thought process when it comes to, OK, you have to hit a good shot?” 

They were talking on a YouTube video published this week to Morris’ channel,  and you can — and should — watch the 20-plus-minute post here. And the question was asked to a player who’s won 24 times on the PGA Tour and 10 times internationally, including last week, at the Dubai Desert Classic. His resume is good. 

His answer was just two words. A phrase he says to himself. 

Here was the complete exchange, started by Morris:

“So real quick, I just want to ask you a question. Not to try to distract you, but in this moment — this is nowhere near the final round of a tournament — what is your thought process when it comes to, OK, you have to hit a good shot.” 

“Just full commitment,” McIlroy said on the video. 

Instruction

“I feel like when I don’t hit a good drive is when I guide it or I try to hit a fairway. It’s full commitment. Just fully see your shot and just like almost swing harder at it. Not swing harder at it, but just full, full, full commitment.”

Said Morris: “I love that.”

From there, McIlroy hit his fifth shot 340 yards into the fairway. 

But Morris followed with a 344-yard poke. And he won the competition on the last swing, hitting one 360 yards, to McIlroy’s 348-yard poke.  

Editor’s note: On Jan. 25, GOLF.com published a second article featuring McIlroy and Morris. You can read that story by clicking here, or by scrolling down. 

***

Rory McIlroy, as part of a friendly driving competition, hit one deep. And another. And another. All into the fairway. All with good ball speed. His opponent, YouTube sensation Micah Morris, was impressed. And curious. 

He noted that neither of them were tall. McIlroy, according to the PGA Tour’s website, is 5-feet, 10-inches tall. As he stood next to him, Morris looked to be around the same height. So he started to wonder:

Had McIlroy always been fast? 

He said he hadn’t. Maybe above average. But over the past few years, he had sped up. 

McIlroy then explained this:

How?

McIlroy and Morris were talking on a YouTube video published this week to Morris’ channel,  and you can — and should — watch the 20-plus-minute post here. On it, Morris notably was the first to drive a mile in drives in a contest versus McIlroy; Morris is a serious stick. And notable, too, was the speed dissection. 

McIlroy emphasized two points:

— His work in the gym, and he specifically thanked an exercise with a medicine ball. He loads onto his left foot, then his right, then plants and throws, accentuating the muscles used in generating speed through the ground. 

— His work with his swing, and he specifically thanked one thought that featured his right hip. He wants his right pocket to get “through” as quickly as possible.  

For clarity, here is McIlroy and Morris’ complete exchange, which starts just after the 9-minute mark and is started by McIlroy:

“To me, I do like — I mean, I do quite a bit of stuff in the gym to just try to create power. So one of the things I do like with the medicine ball is I’ll load into my front foot first and then back foot and I’ll plant and then throw a medicine ball. And it’s almost like I try to recreate that feeling in my golf swing if I’m really going after one. A little bit like Kyle Berkshire. It’s like the [motions] and then, so …”

Said Morris: “But it’s trying to use ground forces.” 

Said McIlroy: “It’s all just trying to use the ground.” 

Said Morris: “Because that’s what I’ve learned is ground forces, it’s everything. Like the harder I can push up, the quicker I can …”

Said McIlroy: “Exactly. And then to me, I feel like it sort of comes — I guess they’re both one in the same, but when I get this way, I just feel like I try to get my right hip or my right pocket through as quickly as possible. So like when you see a baseball [player] and they just — their separation is so, it’s so quick.” 

After the back-and-forth on the video, Morris was also curious about the times that McIlroy struggles with the driver. The four-time major winner admitted the club occasionally gets “stuck” behind him.

His focus there is another thought: 

Ideally, then, he said he wants his left arm and club to line up. Again for clarity, here is the complete exchange, started by Morris:

“And when you’re struggling and not hitting the driver as well, is it getting stuck behind you?” 

McIlroy said it does. 

Said Morris: “Because I’ve heard you talk so much about getting the club out in front, are you feeling that ‘widening?’”

Said McIlroy: “I’m feeling more — so to me, when I get it to the top sometimes, I feel like — you know like a hockey player will hit a slap shot and you stabilize the face, but you sort of — like that’s how I feel like I hit my driver sometimes. So if I tee it up off of my front foot, I just feel like I turn behind it and then I just turn that way and just try to get — like feel like my left arm and my club are one thing at impact.”

Editor’s note: To watch the complete video, please click here. Or scroll down. 

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The post Greg Norman opens up on Rory McIlroy, the R&A and his ‘moral line’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Greg Norman opens up on Rory McIlroy, the R&A and his ‘moral line’ appeared first on Golf.

Greg Norman, when asked where professional golf will be in the next couple years, says “there will be some merging of the powers to be, just sitting down and having a conversation,” though he added his LIV Golf group does not want that right now. 

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In an interview this week with media personality Piers Morgan, Norman also said he would tell Rory McIlroy not to “begrudge the other players for making the decision” to join his upstart series. And the LIV Golf CEO said his “heat shield gets a little bit weak” when asked how he’s been handling criticism, then indirectly answered a question of what his “moral line” is. 

“My moral line is I believe in the product,” Norman said on Piers Morgan Uncensored. “My moral line is I’ve been a big, staunch proponent of growing the game of golf on a global basis. My moral line is golf is a force for good. So when you have this opportunity — and I’ve seen it; I’ve seen it beyond LIV, prior to LIV; I’ve seen what I’ve done in Vietnam; I’ve seen what I’ve done in Mexico, through my other businesses, through golf course design. It is so resonatingly powerful to see the strength of what the game of golf can do in different countries around the world to change the economy of things, to change the hospitality, to change tourism, all these little ingredients that actually golf is the benefactor of, but actually golf was the initial reason why you could change these deals. 

“I am so proud to be in this role, I really am, because my whole life — somebody asked me the question the other day, Greg, do you think this is going to affect your legacy? And I said, you know what, maybe my legacy on the golf course is not my legacy. Maybe my true legacy is what we’re doing with LIV for the game of golf and giving this opportunity to collegiate players, eventually to women, guys we have today to be a true competitor to show that you are additive to the system, and our product is speaking for itself.”

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The subject of morals is one of several surrounding LIV Golf; they are backed by the Saudi Arabian government, which has been accused of wide-ranging human-rights abuses. The financing, which Norman said in the interview was $2 billion, has been another topic. Offers of guaranteed money and record purses have helped lure players away from the PGA Tour, and there are lawsuits now on both sides, along with questions of how the four major championships will proceed. 

With that in mind, and LIV playing its sixth event next week in Bangkok, and the PGA Tour in the middle of its fall schedule, Morgan asked Norman where pro golf will be in a year or two. 

In short, he foresaw the sides meeting, the majors continuing to invite LIV’s players, and the Official World Golf Ranking remaining neutral.  

“Look, I ultimately believe there will be some merging of the powers to be, just sitting down and having a conversation,” Norman said on the show. “We don’t want it right now. We’ve tried. And going back to what you’re saying before, we didn’t create this turmoil. We just came in with another opportunity within the ecosystem for the players, for the fans. … We didn’t really start this big fight. We didn’t create this animosity. 

“And with the majors, quite honestly, they should be Switzerland, right. If I’m a major, I want the best of the best in my field. They’re the four Super Bowls, four FA Cups, they’re the four whatever you want to call them that should always remain up there — Switzerland — and away from anybody. For them to be dragged into this quagmire, yeah, there’s going to be a lot of questions that need to be asked about that, but they should be apart from them. If you’re a broadcaster of any of the four majors, you should be saying to them, we want the LIV players in there, because 26 of the top 100 players, right now, today, are LIV players. OWGR, they’ve got to be, again, Switzerland, because they’re an independent organization. There’s 22 other tour events in this world that get OWGR points. And I can tell you this: 21 of those 22 are inferior to what the LIV tour is all about. So why are we being targeted?”

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On the subject of McIlroy, Norman was asked what his “message” would be to him, considering McIlroy’s defense of the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. In his most recent comments, ahead of this week’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship, McIlroy said this of the conflict: “I’ve always said I think there is a time and a place where everyone that’s involved here should sit down and try to work together. It’s very hard for that to happen right now when there’s two lawsuits going on.”

“Well, my message is, Rory, you’re an independent contractor; you have the right to make your decision,” Norman said on the show. “Remember, Rory started on the European Tour. Then Rory decided to leave the European Tour to go play where all the money is, where I went to play, to the PGA Tour. Why do we do that? We do that because that was the only option we had as players. We had to go sign on to their rules and regulations; we couldn’t even negotiate their rules and regulations. We had to do the only thing we could possibly do, is play the Tour. What we’ve done now is give them options. Hey, Rory, happy days, do what you want to do. If he’s comfortable over there doing that, an independent contractor, he can. If Rory wants to go to the Middle East and get appearance money to play in tournaments, happy days, go play in those, Rory; that’s your choice. 

“Don’t begrudge the other players for making the decision that is a rightful decision under their independent contract or right to go do it. It’s just a shame that people have taken this stance when if you look back over a period of time, they’ve pretty much done the same things themselves.”

Later in the show, Morgan asked Norman how he was handling the back-and-forth between LIV Golf and the PGA Tour personally. 

Here is the complete exchange:

“You yourself have gone under unbelievable fire,” Morgan began. “You’ve been snubbed up at the Open; they wouldn’t let you go to the Champions Dinner, which I thought was actually very churlish. As a great golfing champion, a great sporting champion, how are you dealing with that kind of vitriol, the kind of disenfranchisement, from the sport and the official bodies that you were once so welcomed by? How are you on a personal level dealing with that?”

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“Look, to be honest with you, at times, my heat shield gets a little bit weak because I am a human being,” Norman said. “I’ve done a lot for the game of golf — I was the No. 1 player in the world for six years; I’ve done things in the game of golf; I’ve promoted the game of golf; I’ve grown the game of golf globally; I took a mission on myself as an individual player to fly all around the world; I was the first guy to do an exhibition match in mainland China; I was one of the first guys to go into the Middle East and do that. And through my golf business at the same time, continue to do that. So when they do these — what happened in the R&A was a petty, cheap, childish shot, to be honest with you. If you can’t rise above it all, shame on you. Because if you’re under pressure from other people exerting pressure on you, shame on you. For you not to sit down and have a discussion and understand what the LIV business model is and to see how it sits within the ecosystem, shame on you. 

“Because in business, and remember we’re a commercial entity, in business, you understand what you’re up here what your opponent’s got; you understand what your competitor’s got. Unpack it all and see if you can actually work together within the system to make both entities better for each other, not try and destroy us. And we haven’t tried to destroy the PGA Tour. We have worked very, very closely to work with them. 

“Have you lost personal friends in the golf world as a result of all this?” Morgan asked.

“One-hundred percent I have, yup,” Norman said, “Look, if they want to judge me on lack of information and a lack of what’s out there, they’re the ones with the small mind. When you know the facts, you understand the facts, you understand the delivery mechanism and the business model — let me say this, my C-suite are the best of the best in the world of business. The economists, lawyers, marketing, they came from a diverse section of sport and business, not golf. Why do I have over 100 of the best of the best in the business? Because of the business model, and the business model is showing through; the product is showing through. I’m lucky to have these magnificent people behind me. I’m lucky to have an investor willing to invest in the game of golf like they are investing. Golf is lucky to have this.”     

The complete interview is below:

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The post 30 Presidents Cup observations: Is Tom Kim … the next Rory McIlroy? And more appeared first on Golf.

The post 30 Presidents Cup observations: Is Tom Kim … the next Rory McIlroy? And more appeared first on Golf.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Every pro knows Sam Reeves. And Sam Reeves knows every pro. 

Jordan Spieth smiles in his direction. Billy Horschel shouts his way as he walks across the Quail Hollow range. 

“Heyyyy, Sam-bo!” 

On and on from the Americans at the Presidents Cup. Of course, had he been closer to the International gang, it would have been much the same; Adam Scott, in an earlier profile of Reeves by Michael Bamberger for GOLF.com, said he “learned how to be a human being from Sam.” Think about whom you can say that about in your life. 

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Fred Couples, an assistant U.S. captain, now walks by, he spots GOLF’s Dylan Dethier, says, “You have to talk to this guy,” and he and Reeves walk over to us. It’s at this point, where you should take a minute and read the Bamberger piece; Reeves has lived a life. Now in his mid-80s, he made his money in the cotton business, according to the story; his house guests, at his home alongside Cypress Point, have included Peyton Manning and Tom Brady; and he was the best man in Butch Harmon’s wedding. So, yes, Freddie, please bring your friend over. 

For a half-hour, as Spieth, Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas hit, we talked. Brady came up; Reeves had pictures and video of him in his phone. The conversation then turned to Tom Kim. It was Sunday, and about 18 hours earlier, Kim had given us a moment with his winning putt/fist-pump/hat flip on the 18th. Reeves added this, twice:

He’s Rory McIlroy revisited. 

Scott had told Reeves the charisma is no act; Kim’s just like that. The swing is right, too. Reeves pointed out that McIlroy’s American-soil tournament breakthrough also came at Quail Hollow, at the Quail Hollow Championship in 2010. Maybe the hyperbole is getting lost in the moment. Maybe it isn’t. But this week, we may have just seen the birth of a global golf superstar. 

With that, here are 29 other observations from the week that was in Charlotte, which ended in a Team USA 17.5-12.5 win. (They played for 30 points, so that seems right.) We’re doing our business today at Suffolk Punch, a wonderful restaurant and brewery that opened at 7:30 a.m. (!), and we’re feeling good. 

2. Let’s stay with Kim, and why observers like Reeves are speaking so reverently of him. We’ll start with how he’s making his money, his golf. But not the putt on 18 on Saturday; the short before it. This is a take, but you can maybe nerve in a 10-footer — and it’s harder to hit to 10 feet, from 233 yards out, where the heart is really moving. I’ll remember that shot. But I think more daggers are on the way. 

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3. Then there’s just Tom, the 20-year-old. There are the fist-pumps and the shouts and the waves to the crowd and his caddie picking up his ball and his caddie picking up his putter. (This week, the bagman was Joe Skovron, Rickie Fowler’s old looper.) And we love it all. Here’s my hope: It never dies. It stays authentic. That’s almost as hard as hitting the shots described in observation No. 2. To have some fun with words, golfers can be like diet sodas, and Tom Kim is a shot of whiskey. And we don’t want the bartender to cut us off.      

4. One more Kim note. On 18 on Sunday, after his singles loss to Max Homa, another hero this week, several folks got in his ear. Horschel, who didn’t play Kim in any match, was one of the first to greet him on 18 green, and he leaned in for a good minute. Trevor Immelman, the International captain and another hero, told him this, which was captured by the PGA Tour’s social media team: “You’re a freaking champion. You’re a champion. You believe in yourself. You’re good. We’re getting there.” It’s very telling that other pros want him to succeed.   

5. Speaking of Horschel, I followed him Friday, in his first-ever round in a team event, after being passed over multiple times in a 13-year career. I’ll remember this most. On 14, after his tee shot on the par-3 went short and right, he one-handed his follow-through and was laboring, before Davis Love III, the U.S. captain, left-hand slapped him on the rear. Two shots later, he made a 17-footer to halve the hole, and four holes later, he and partner Homa won their match.   

6. Speaking of Homa, he’s ascending. Four wins since last February, including last week, at the Fortinet Championship. A 4-0 mark this week, which included his own moment, or moments — a putt and a fist-pump on the 17th green on Friday, and the same combo a hole later. Where does he go from here? What’s the ceiling? Is this a heater? Or is the start of a five-, 10-year run? For him, the Masters can’t come soon enough.  

7. Speaking of Masters champs, Immelman lost, but won the week. He was invested. This quote, from his press conference on Sunday night, will stick with me. 

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Though you are obviously reading this and not listening, imagine each syllable being emphasized, and all of it coming to a crescendo at “joke.” 

“This week, you know, we were in a tough spot on Friday,” Immelman said. “We showed a lot of guts to fight back. At some point, I don’t know about you guys, but at some point this afternoon, I thought there was still a chance.

“And when you consider that we were 8-2 down on Friday evening, this team is no joke, and I’m sick and tired of it being spoken of as a joke.

“We love this event, and we love our team, and we cannot wait to run this back and have another shot.”

8. A note on Immelman and the mood he created. Late Sunday afternoon, Jim “Bones” Mackay told me while walking to the cup presentation on 15 green that the U.S. team could hear the International’s music and celebration from their team room on Saturday night, after the INT’s won three afternoon points. The groups were about 75 yards away from each other. 

9. The Suffolk Punch SPB Breakfast Bowl — with two farm eggs my way (scrambled is my way), Anson Mills cream cheese grits, smoked bacon, sausage patties, shredded cheddar and grilled sourdough bread — is one of the better breakfasts I’ve maybe ever had. 

10. A half-hour before his singles match on Sunday, Cantlay 9-and-8’ed a Chipotle burrito on the range, then won. Incredible.  

11. Speaking of food, you could smell the barbecue, from local shop Noble Smoke, as far as a par-5 away. Heavenly. 

12. I consider myself somewhat of a K.H. Lee No. 1 sexiest golfer expert, so I had to ask the tough question earlier in the week. 

If you’re not familiar with the conversation of K.H. Lee No. 1 sexiest golfer, here’s a brief recap. In 2018, during the Korn Ferry Tour’s Portland Open, Lee said on a video that he had “several goals in my life.” One you’ve heard before: “The first is to become the No. 1 golfer in the world.” Fair enough. But the second was a bit more, shall we say, risque. 

“And the second is to become the No. 1 sexiest golfer in the world.”

OK then. There’s more. Like I said, I’ve been following this. About a year ago, the PGA Tour then helped their man, when, during the CJ Cup event, they labeled his placard on the range: “Sexiest Golfer,” had him nestle up next to it and shot a video that they shared on their social media channels. Good stuff all around, though Lee admitted in a story published by the Tour that he wasn’t sure he’d ever reach his goal. His reasoning was sound. 

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“Being sexy means to be a muscular guy,” he said. “It’s in my dream but not quite possible in reality. I want to be muscular, but I enjoy eating so much. For example, I try not to eat dinner if I have a big lunch, but when dinner time comes, I am usually hungry again. I will work out hard, but I will eat hard as well.”

But on Wednesday, during Lee’s media availability, I still had to ask. 

Me: “K.H., there was a moment a few years ago, brought up again, about a year ago, with you wanting to be the No. 1 sexy golfer. Who is the No. 1 sexy golfer on your team?”

Lee: “Should I say me? I hope so. Adam Scott. We’ll go there. Adam is very sexy. And then Camilo [Villegas] is sexy, too. So top 10, me?”

I was stunned. 

Me: “You’re top 10, not top 5?”

Lee: “Close.”

I’ll take it. 

13. The course was closed to fans last Monday, which helped amplify a practice round between friends Thomas and Spieth. With no one around — it really was just me, the players, caddies Mackay and Michael Greller — the vibe was carefree, and I wrote about our four-plus hours together here. But another takeaway was Zach Johnson and a scene on 15 green, which is actually 18 during other tournament play. (They moved up the hole to make sure most matches would get to the tricky, creek-on-the-right-side par-4.) Having carted over at this point, Johnson put together a game, with some cash on the line, where, from 40 feet away, you had to walk with your eyes closed and try to drop your ball in the hole. If you’re wondering about the atmosphere he’ll create in the team room next year when he takes the U.S. captain’s chair for the Ryder Cup, this is it. 

14. I followed Cameron Young on Thursday, his team-event debut. And on shot one on tee 1, before 2,500 sweaty fans, he bombed one over the trees on the right, and his tee was in his hand before his ball was on the ground. Killer. The internet tells me that he has that dog in him.         

15. On a 90-plus-degree day, Young also looked like he wasn’t sweating. No beads on his neck. Arms. Nothing. Wow. And how?

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16. Say what you will about the Saturday dramatics and some spirited back-and-forth on Sunday, but this was another American win, the 12th in 14 playings. Toss in that the Internationals have been gutted due to LIV Golf — players who have left the PGA Tour for the upstart, Saudi-backed series have been suspended, and the Presidents Cup is a Tour-backed venture — and the scene is tough. We’re now halfway through our story, so let’s look then to the future. First, here’s Immelman’s take: 

“We have a system that we like and a plan and a strategy, and it feels like to me, you know, this was an important week for us just to just lay a couple more bricks in this house that we’re trying to build,” he said. 

“We’re here for the long run in this event. We’re going to win this event. So we’ll keep building. We’ll keep fighting. At some point, we’re going to win.”

17. The odds are on staying the course; Friday, Saturday and Sunday were ticket sellouts, money was made and sponsors were likely happy, though we’d strongly argue moving singles away from King NFL. 

You won’t see a PGA Tour-LIV Golf team event, though I checked players’ temperatures on the subject early in the week. You also won’t see LIV players in the event, though Immelman at least inquired about one. The International team doesn’t require PGA Tour membership. So when Louis Oosthuizen resigned his and joined LIV, Immelman revealed that he did check to see whether he could pick the South African. 

His telling of the explanation he received was vague. And he understandably paused before doing so. 

“My understanding is that he made particular announcements and allowed himself to be used in different marketing campaigns and announcements once he was not given the release from the PGA Tour, and he did all of those things before he resigned his membership,” Immelman said Tuesday. “So there were still particular infractions there.”

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Then there’s adding women. 

Golf Digest wrote a nice piece making the case, and you can read it here. This weekend, I messaged LPGA pro Gemma Dryburgh for her thoughts, and she was very in. 

“I definitely think the girls would be interested in it,” she wrote back. “I think it would be great for the event, too. I’d love to see it happen.” 

Stay tuned. 

18. The Sycamore Brewing Haziness IPA is one of the best juice bombers I’ve maybe ever had. And Harris Teeter grocery store here has one of the best brew selections I’ve maybe ever seen. 

19. A word on the build-out on 1 at Quail Hollow. Good stuff. But this is about the volunteer on 1, about 100 yards from the tee, on the left side. On Tuesday, when the ropes were down, she asked every person with that look on their face and a phone in their hand if they wanted her to take a picture; she was doing the asking. Great stuff. She took mine, too.  

20. Another volunteer shout-out. On Friday on 4 tee, a caddie gave one a used piece of gum to toss into a trash bin. Gross. 

21. When I can, I watch and listen to the fans, and I easily laugh to most cracks, But the winners of the week was the group dressed in a Canadian flag spandex get-up that, shall we say, you shouldn’t look down at. Their mission, too, it seemed, was only to get the attention of Mike Weir, an assistant on the International side and, yes, a Canadian. It worked on Saturday, and he laughed.  

22. Horschel’s hair was also a shouting point among the galleries. Understandably so. It was locked into place and majestic. 

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23. At the Presidents and Ryder Cups, the wives and girlfriends also walk the fairways. What do they talk about? I overheard Katherine Zhu, the fiancee of Collin Morikawa, talking with International Team WAGs about their trip to what was described as “Canadian Sea World.”

24. Baker Mayfield was out at Quail Hollow. On Friday, the Carolina Panthers quarterback was walking with Max Homa’s wife, Lacey. He obliged a boy for a selfie. Another fan asked him if he was going to beat the Saints. “That’s the plan,” he said. The Panthers won, 22-14.  

25. Seth Curry, he of the jump-shooting and golf-playing Curry family, was out at Quail Hollow. On Sunday morning, he was at the range. Webb Simpson, an assistant captain, talked basketball with him; he asked how his team, the Brooklyn Nets, were looking, and whether he “ever had any desire to play for the Hornets,” Charlotte’s team. Smylie Kaufman, a pro on hand to do broadcast work, asked for jump-shot tips, and he gave Curry golf tips. 

26. I was kinda shocked Michael Jordan wasn’t out at Quail Hollow. Love had introduced him to golf when both were at Chapel Hill back in the day.  

27. On Sunday night, I wrote about the funniest moments from the Americans’ press conference, which you can find here, but maybe the best came from the Internationals. Before any questions were asked, Sweet Caroline was playing over a speaker, and Sungjae Im was singing the “Bah, bah, bah” part. Si Woo Kim and I laughed. 

28. The Cookout big double burger tray, with cajun fries and chicken nuggets, is one of the best late-night, post-work meals I’ve maybe ever had.      

29. Kevin Kisner, though, as he did earlier in the week, was at home in front of the mics. Though he was asked just one question after the victory, the exchange was a winner. 

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“I saved the best for last,” the reporter started. “This one’s for Kis. Being one of the more experienced players on the team, you know, can bring its advantages on the course. But do you feel it brings an advantage or disadvantage for tonight’s festivities with these younger guys?”

“It’s hard to hear,” Kisner said. “Can you speak up, please?”

“Yes,” the reporter said. 

“I just need the last part,” Kisner said. 

“OK. Do you think it brings, your experience, do you think it brings an advantage or disadvantage for tonight’s festivities with these younger guys?” the reporter asked again. 

“My experience can ultimately win in this scenario,” Kisner said. “There is nothing that any of these can do that can hang with me tonight, I promise you.

“I have never seen a better display of golfers and a worse display of partiers, and I am the best partier on this board. Amen.

“That’s why they picked me. I got half a point, but I brought the fun.”

30. Here’s proof I was there. 

If you’re interested, I also compiled takeaways, thoughts and observations this year from the Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and Open Championship, and they can be found below:

Masters
PGA Championship 
U.S. Open
Open Championship

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Having finished off the 2021-22 PGA Tour season last month with a FedEx Cup win and its $18 million winner’s check, Rory McIlroy is spending this week at the DP World Tour’s Italian Open. In two weeks he plans on playing another event at the iconic Old Course at St. Andrews, but this time he’ll do so against some unlikely, and, perhaps, unwanted competition: LIV Golf players.

This summer, the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) tried to follow the PGA Tour’s path and suspend LIV Golf pros from its tournaments. A lawsuit followed, so while the English court system sorts the whole issue out, LIV players are still allowed to play DP World Tour events.

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With the LIV Golf Chicago event happening this week too, players like McIlroy didn’t have to worry about running into their LIV counterparts at the Italian Open. Ironically, the Italian Open is being played at Marco Simone, which will host next year’s Ryder Cup. We know Rory will be there for that one, though we still don’t know if LIV players will be permitted to compete.

McIlroy plans to play the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in two weeks’ time, the popular DP World Tour event contested at three Scottish links courses, including the Old Course at St. Andrews. But there is no LIV event happening that week, so LIV players are free to sign up. And sign up they have.

As of now, 10 LIV players are in the field, including Talor Gooch, Abraham Ancer, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Shaun Norris, Branden Grace, Richard Bland, Laurie Canter, Peter Uihlein and Jed Morgan.

A whole lot of awkwardness and some choice words will likely be had, as was the case in the last iteration of LIV vs. PGA Tour. Two weeks ago at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, over a dozen LIV players teed it up, and many pros on the PGA Tour side were not happy about it, including Rory.

“I hate what [LIV] is doing to the game of golf,” he said after his Tour Championship win. “I hate it. I really do. Like, it’s going to be hard for me to stomach going to Wentworth in a couple of weeks’ time and seeing 18 of them there. That just doesn’t sit right with me.”

He wasn’t alone. PGA Tour stalwart Billy Horschel, who will also play the Dunhill Links, was caught on Wentworth’s practice putting green having an animated argument with LIV pro Ian Poulter.

Further adding to what will likely be a charged atmosphere for McIlroy at the Dunhill Links is the host course, the Old Course at St. Andrews. It was the site of McIlroy’s latest major disappointment, where he surrendered the 54-hole lead to lose the 2022 Open in July, with plenty of LIV pros in the field. The player who beat him? LIV Golf’s newest signee, World No. 3 Cam Smith.

The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship begins September 29.

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The post WATCH: Rory McIlroy’s full-swing flop shot is one of the most impressive you’ll ever see appeared first on Golf.

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There are few cooler shots in golf than the full-swing flop. You know, the kind Phil Mickelson made famous. That short-game wizardry that entails a wide-open club face and acceleration through impact when your target is perhaps only a few feet away from you.

It’s a shot that’s easy to shank, easy to blade, easy to botch in myriad ways — especially for recreational players, who are often much better off using a bump-and-run.

Rare is the occasion when you’ll actually need a full-swing flop, but there’s no question that pulling it off immediately elevates you in the eyes of golf peers the world over.

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Spectators at the Italian Open were treated to an impressive performance by Rory McIlroy on Friday, as he posted a second round of five-under 66 to take the tournament lead by one shot over Matt Fitzpatrick at the halfway point.

But the highlight of the day was McIlroy’s par save on the 183-yard par-3 4th hole.

McIlroy’s tee shot traveled 191 yards but ended up left of the green, leaving him nine yards to the pin.

Though he was pin-high, it was a tough look for an up-and-down, requiring several yards of carry over thick rough and fringe, followed by a slick green running away from him. Time to try a full-swing flop? Yes, indeed. And as you probably guessed, McIlroy executed it flawlessly.

As you can see in the video above, McIlroy’s divot traveled as far as the ball! He left himself less than six feet for the par save, and poured it in.

Though the shot looks downright heroic on camera, McIlroy was nonchalant about it after his round.

“Yeah, I short-sided myself a couple of times and was able to play some good shots and get myself out of it and holed the putts,” he said. “A few areas to try and tidy up but overall, a few good par saves which you always need.”

Here’s hoping for more of those kind of par saves in our own games.

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There may be a full on civil war taking place in the world of men’s golf right now, but if they can agree on one thing, it’s this: players on both sides seem to think it’ll resolve itself … soon enough. 

There are exactly 203 days until the 2023 Masters, 112 days until the first elevated event of the ’23 Tour season, 42 days until LIV’s first team event. Sometime in the next two months, we’ll know how the two tours’ schedules will officially intersect next season. 

“It’s up to the powers that be,” Rory McIlroy said Wednesday in Italy, ”to try to come to some sort of —not resolution, I don’t think that’s the right word — but a strategy going forward so that the game can drive at the highest level.”

A lot of players have said exactly this, or some derivative of it. They show some patience with the question being asked again, and dish out an answer that clings to a little bit of hope. It’s just no one can agree on when a resolution might actually take hold. When exactly will another decision be made? When will the Official World Golf Rankings decide if 54-hole LIV events can issue world ranking points? When will major championships change their qualification standards, if at all? 

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“It’s a weird time in golf,” McIlroy also said. Weird perhaps because the next major decision might not come down to those typical golf “powers that be,” and could instead just come from a United Kingdom court. That we actually have some details on. 

The DP World Tour currently has to make room for LIV golfers who want to compete in their events and are qualified to do so, thanks to a court-ruled stay of sanctions. Events like last week’s BMW PGA Championship could become the new norm, during which more than a dozen LIV golfers played at Wentworth. Despite commissioner Keith Pelley’s best wishes, that will be the case for weeks and months to come. 

Sometime in February, the sanctions handed down by Pelley — suspensions and fines, akin to those by the PGA Tour, and for similar reasons — will begin to be decided as fair or unjust. Until then, as we first learned at the Scottish Open, LIV golfers were granted the precedent of a stay of those sanctions. 

Unfortunately for the likes of McIlroy, who is in Rome this week playing next year’s Ryder Cup course, and even more so for his captain Luke Donald, the questions will not cease. Each event is another event closer to next year’s Cup, and another event where the same answers have to be trotted out. 

McIlroy: “But yeah, I have said it once I’ve said it a hundred times, I don’t think any of those guys should be on The Ryder Cup Team.”

Donald, this week: We’re still a little bit in limbo. We don’t know what’s going to happen with the lawsuit so I’m trying to not really put too much energy.

Donald, on Aug. 1: There are legal appeals ongoing, and until such time the players are entitled to play

Shane Lowry last week: With all due respect to a lot of those guys over at LIV, I think they know themselves and that’s why they went to LIV. Their Ryder Cup days are probably over.

Shane Lowry on Monday: Like I said it last week at Wentworth. With all due respect to the guys over at LIV that are European. I think for most of ‘em, their Ryder Cup years are behind them.”

If you’re exhausted by this song-and-dance, it’s not going away. It’s only at that February court hearing, the details of which have not been well-publicized, that we will understand the future of LIV golfers and the DP World Tour. 

Scenario A: Similar to the PGA Tour, LIV golfers are suspended and/or banned, and will not be able to compete, therefore dropping opportunities for world golf ranking points and entrance into the majors. 

Scenario B: The court sympathizes with LIV golfers, calling LIV another just another organization in the free marketplace of professional golf. LIV golfers are therefore allowed to earn qualification points in the Ryder Cup standings and earn their way onto Donald’s roster. 

In a wild, dystopian golf future, could one of those automatic qualifiers be Henrik Stenson, the ex-captain who lost the captainship by joining LIV? Crazier things have happened. 

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The post Watch Rory McIlroy play next year’s Ryder Cup course … in person … for free(!?) appeared first on Golf.

The post Watch Rory McIlroy play next year’s Ryder Cup course … in person … for free(!?) appeared first on Golf.

This week, golf is all over the place. The PGA Tour is back on in Napa, the LPGA Tour is just north of that in Portland, LIV Golf is stopped just outside Chicago, and the DP World Tour is nine time zones away, near Rome. Only one of those events will gladly have you for free, and it just so happens to be the event with Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Matthew Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton. 

The Italian Open kicks off Thursday just outside of Rome, and the cost for general admission is precisely zero euros. Free-ninety-nine, as the kids like to say. Zero dollars, if you’re struggling with the exchange rate. Better yet, the course hosting the event is the same course you’ll surely see those four players competing on 12 months from now at the 2023 Ryder Cup. 

Marco Simone Golf & Country Club is the host site, and one that McIlroy and many other pros haven’t played yet. One year from now, we’ll all want to know what to expect from this track, so how McIlroy and his future Ryder Cup teammates play seems extremely relevant. Almost as relevant as the price it’ll cost you to do it.

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You can count on one hand the number of events you can watch McIlroy for free at, and you might be able to do it on one finger. It’s just extremely rare that sort access is given away for nothing in return. Italy may not be a country brimming with golf fans, but those who are will be getting the full treat this week. All they have to do is register online at this site. 

The Ryder Cup vibes are sure to start in full. McIlroy doesn’t play a ton of events in Europe these days, but needs to meet a minimum to retain his membership. This is one of those weeks where he’s doing his part to lift the DP World Tour and ensure he’s on the team in 2023. Is it plausible he’ll play alongside Fitz, Hatton or Hovland? We’ll go further to say it’s rather likely. Team Europe began dishing out qualifying points last week at Wentworth, and who just happens to be in the field this week? Thomas Bjorn, Edoardo Molinari and Luke Donald — the current crop of European captains tasked with figuring out who will be paired with whom, who makes sense in four-balls vs. foursomes, etc. 

Next year’s Ryder Cup tickets lottery was just opened as well, and tickets for it are never cheap. But for exactly zero dollars, you could go analyze what the important holes are out at Marco Simone. You could go watch McIlroy as he tries to overpower a short par-4. You might see defending Nicolai Højgaard auditioning for a spot on next fall’s team. Same goes for the long-bombing Spaniard Adri Arnaus. And for Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre. For the Italian crowd, Francesco Molinari will be on hand, as will rising star Guido Migliozzi. 

Does this read as an advertisement for the Italian Open? Good! It should. Any company giving away Rory McIlroy lessons for free should be commended. Take them up on it. And if those high-profile names don’t quite do it for you, might I suggest Eddie Pepperell, who would love to see you out there in support.

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The post ‘The media have painted me as this black hat’: Patrick Reed opens up on lawsuit, LIV appeared first on Golf.

Patrick Reed, in addressing his defamation lawsuit against Golf Channel and analyst Brandel Chamblee, says the narrative against him is “he’s a horrendous person, he’s a cheater, a liar and a thief” and that “you have to fight back, fight for yourself, and fight for what you believe in.”

In the exclusive interview with the Sunday Times, Reed also says comments made by Rory McIlroy over LIV Golf player participation this week in the BMW PGA Championship are “insulting.” And after his final round on Sunday at Wentworth Golf Club, Reed told reporters that should a LIV golfer ever win a non-LIV event, “there would be some kind of media s*** storm.”

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The lawsuit comments were his first known on the subject, and we’ll begin there. Last month, Reed filed a defamation suit in the Southern District of Texas against Chamblee and Golf Channel, alleging they “have conspired as joint tortfeasors for and with the PGA Tour, its executives and its Commissioner Jay Monahan, to engage in a pattern and practice of defaming Mr. Reed.” The lawsuit uses quotes from Chamblee from his time on the air for Golf Channel and Sky Sports as well as on podcasts to allege damages in excess of $750 million. 

In the interview with the Sunday Times — which you can read in full here — Reed said he needed to defend himself. 

“Everyone who knows the true me knows it’s not this narrative that the PGA Tour and the Golf Channel have built,” Reed told the Sunday Times. “It feels like the media have painted me as this black hat, and they’ve just allowed that to keep on driving their clicks as well as the amount of income they can bring in from attacking me. They run with everything they can find or try to spin it in a negative way. It’s hard to even talk about it because of how fictitious it is. The malice and deceit to say something like that about somebody is just ridiculous.”

Continuing his thoughts on the lawsuit, Reed admitted to the Sunday Times that he’s brought on some of the attention himself, noting comments he made on Jordan Spieth and Jim Furyk at the 2018 Ryder Cup, but he also said he’s never cheated. Notably, Reed was penalized for brushing away sand from behind his ball in a waste area during the 2019 Hero World Championship, though he has maintained that he did not mean to skirt the rules. 

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“I have never ever intentionally tried to break any rule of golf to gain an advantage on anyone,” Reed told the Sunday Times. “I take too much pride in the hard work I do each and every day to try and gain an advantage in such a petty and deceitful way.”

On the subject of LIV Golf player participation at the BMW PGA, McIlroy had said after his victory at the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship that it would be “hard to stomach” seeing LIV golfers at Wentworth, then reiterated that thought in his pre-tournament press conference. 

Reed, meanwhile, had played on the DP World Tour and the PGA Tour before joining the threat to both leagues, LIV Golf, and he and 17 other LIV golfers played the BMW PGA on the DP World Tour this week, ahead of a trial that should determine whether he and other LIV players can play more DP World Tour events in the future.

“I feel like [Rory] making those types of comments is insulting,” Reed told the Sunday Times. “Let’s be honest, I’ve [played the DP World Tour] more consistently than some of the Europeans on the PGA Tour, so for them to take shots at other guys, especially Billy [Horschel] and Rory taking shots at the LIV guys saying they shouldn’t be here — I’ve done more for this Tour than Billy has and I’ve played almost as much as Rory has for the past five years.

“I was able to talk to a bunch of DP World Tour players [on Tuesday] and not a single one of them had any issue with me being here because of the support I’ve shown this tour throughout my career, throughout Covid and at smaller events as well as big events.”

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After Reed’s final round at the BMW PGA, where he shot a nine-under 63 to finish tied for fifth, he said again players were supportive throughout the week. Also during the press conference exchange, a reporter later asked: “Is it going to get to a point where people are too entrenched in their positions to change?” 

His answer also spoke to a comment he made in late June during his introductory LIV press conference, where he said the LIV schedule would allow him more family time. 

“I don’t know. To be honest with you, I have no idea,” Reed began. “Really at the end of the day, I feel like everyone has to come to terms with their decision. How I look at it especially a part of this tour, especially me being American and being, hey, guys, I’ve played on two tours my whole life, my whole career. I’ve played on the PGA Tour and European Tour at the same time. I don’t see any difference me playing on PGA Tour and here and playing on LIV and here at all.  

“If anything, with playing on LIV and them only having 14 events, that means I’ll be over here more. That means I play six or seven events. Guys are like, oh, you joined LIV to play a lesser schedule. Well, I’m a guy that’s played 31 to 34 events a year. So if I played 14 and say I play six here, that’s 20, so that’s 11 to 14 events left. That’s 11 to 14 extra weeks I can spend time with my family and that’s huge. 

“But at the end of the day, as a player, I hope they do the right thing and allow us to play, but at the end of the day, that’s not our decision.”

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A reporter then asked: “How do you think the golfing world will react if a LIV player did win one of these?” 

At the BMW PGA, four LIV golfers finished in the top 20 — Reed tied for fifth, Talor Gooch was fourth, Lee Westwood tied for 13th, and Sam Horsfield and Abraham Ancer tied for 18th. 

“I don’t know,” Reed began. “At the end of the day, the guys that are on LIV are really, really good golfers. I’m sure there would be some kind of media s*** storm is the easiest way to put it, but that being said, it would be no difference if it was last year and guys were playing the PGA Tour, would it?

“I mean, at the end of the day, really, if you took everything away, all the hoopla of everything, it would be just another top player coming over and winning a golf tournament, whether it’s PGA Tour, LIV, European Tour. There’s no big media just frenzy when a European comes over and wins on the PGA Tour, and when Billy [Horschel] won here it felt like the same as if a normal player won from over here. I don’t think there should be anything different. It just shows that the guys are still ready to play and guys are hungry to win and really just hungry for competition.”

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