Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we spent most of Super Bowl halftime working on our putting stroke. No, this isn\u2019t some political statement, but rather an admission of being a total golf sicko. I had a feeling I wanted to work on\u2014and, no, I haven\u2019t dabbled with Justin Rose\u2019s claw grip…yet.\u2014 so I snuck away to the basement for a bit, and, boy, was I rolling the rock. My biggest regret is that I didn\u2019t start doing that sooner with how dreadful that first half was. I mean, my seven-year-old was reading \u201cHarry Potter.\u201d Then again, she would have been doing that no matter how good the game was, and she enjoyed Bad Bunny\u2019s performance. Anyway, let\u2019s talk some golf, because the golf was a lot more exciting.<\/p>\n
Chris Gotterup: The 26-year-old threw his version of a Super Bowl Sunday Hail Mary at the WM Phoenix Open\u2014and it worked. The first-round leader had fallen well back of the leaders late in the final round before going for broke over a blistering final stretch in which he birdied five of his final six holes in regulation. In fact, Gotterup only had a 0.7 percent chance of winning even as he struck his approach shot on the 72nd hole:<\/p>\n
Wild stuff. But it\u2019s also pretty wild that a Rutgers golfer is suddenly the hottest player on the PGA Tour. Not to mention the fact that a Wake Forest running back was named Super Bowl MVP. And, yes, despite Gotterup and Kenneth Walker III transferring to finish their college careers, both Rutgers and Wake are allowed to claim these guys. It\u2019s only fair with us having such little sports success.<\/p>\n
With a second win in three 2026 starts and a third win in his last 10 tournaments, Gotterup is all the way up to No. 5 in the Official World Golf Ranking.<\/p>\n
And, yes, his bank account balance has gone up a LOT as well.<\/p>\n
Patrick Reed: Speaking of hot players, the 2018 Masters champ continued his takeover of the DP World Tour. Reed won the Qatar Masters for his second victory in three weeks and the only time he didn\u2019t win during this stretch was a playoff loss in Bahrain last week.<\/p>\n
After announcing his intentions to return to the PGA Tour, Reed seems extra motivated. And with the top-10 players on the DP World tour money list earning PGA Tour cards, he\u2019s a lock to return to full status this fall. And that\u2019s a good thing for the tour. Say what you will about the guy, but he gets people talking.<\/p>\n
Jackson Koivun: It\u2019s just a matter of time before this guy becomes a full-time PGA Tour pro as well. And he\u2019s going to make it harder for everyone once he gets there. The Auburn junior authored his most impressive collegiate performance yet, cruising to victory at the Amer Ari Invitational in Hawaii. Even more noteworthy? Koivun\u2019s back-to-back 62s to start the event put him at 20 under par through 36 holes and broke Tiger Woods\u2019 30-year-old record from when he started the 1996 Pac-10 Championship at 18 under through 36 holes.<\/p>\n
Although, in Tiger\u2019s defense, he shot his rounds of 61 and 65 in one day. And considering Koivun\u2019s team matched an NCAA record with a 77-under-par total, it seems like this course was playing a tad easier. Still, like Tiger, this Auburn Tiger is the real deal.<\/p>\n
Chair-gate: If we\u2019re being honest, Hideki Matsuyama was lucky to be so close to winning a third WM Phoenix Open considering the way he hit the ball off the tee all day. However, he got incredibly unlucky during the playoff when, reportedly, a volunteer accidentally dropped a chair right as he was about to hit his drive on No. 18.<\/p>\n
Matsuyama was able to keep from swinging, but after getting set again, he yanked one left that bounced off a grandstand and into the water to effectively end his chances. That\u2019s a tough finish. At least he\u2019s not also a Patriots fan.<\/p>\n
People knocking the Players Championship: The push for this to be (men\u2019s) pro golf\u2019s fifth major seems to be more serious than ever before. And it makes sense given new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp. He\u2019s a smart guy and it makes no sense that the PGA Tour doesn\u2019t run any of the sport\u2019s majors (or the Ryder Cup). So I get the whole \u201cMarch is going to be Major\u201d movement:<\/p>\n
That being said, it\u2019s a messy one. Can four of the five majors really be in the U.S.? Does this screw up the record books too much? Obviously, you can\u2019t retroactively give guys majors (Sorry, Rickie Fowler), but letting guys have five cracks a year will pad the stats. That being said, they already do that on the LPGA and PGA Tour Champions. Anyway, the Players is a big-time event and it\u2019s probably worthy of major status. In the meantime, those who win will have to settle for an unofficial major win and a $4.5 million check. Not a bad consolation prize.<\/p>\n
Jack Doherty: I had never heard of this guy and hopefully, I\u2019ll never hear about him again. The YouTube star\u2014and good for him, I guess, for finding such a stupid way to get rich (15 million people actually subscribe to his channel! What a world!)\u2014made news by paying a fan at the WM Phoenix Open to yell \u201cJackass!\u201d during Mackenzie Hughes\u2019 swing. A fan accepted the offer, although he wound up yelling during Mackenzie\u2019s warmup. Anyway, Doherty was promptly kicked out of the tournament and slapped with a LIFETIME ban from PGA Tour events:<\/p>\n
I loved the response from the tour. Admittedly, I laugh every time that old \u201cJackass\u201d clip comes up of that prank where they blow an airhorn in the middle of golfers\u2019 swings, but those aren\u2019t professional players and they weren\u2019t affecting a sporting event with a $10 million purse as Michael Kim pointed out.<\/p>\n
Despite his pathetic protests, this jackass got what he wanted and hopefully, that\u2019s the last time we see him at a PGA Tour event.<\/p>\n
The PGA Tour season rolls on with the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, AKA that one with the celebrities at Pebble Beach. Meanwhile, LIV is in Adelaide and the DP World Tour, AKA the Patrick Reed Tour, takes a rare break. On this week\u2019s episode of The Loop podcast, we had Maverick McNealy, who has a great track record at Pebble, in addition to our usual shenanigans. Please have a listen:<\/p>\n
Random tournament fact: The AT&T is the first of eight SIGNATURE events this season. That means we are officially entering Scottie Season. Although, Rory McIlroy won this one last year.<\/p>\n
RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK<\/p>\n
\u2014Jack Doherty will ever attend a Masters: 1 BILLION-to-1 odds<\/p>\n
\u2014Maverick McNealy will win this week: 30-to-1 odds<\/p>\n
\u2014There will be some celebrity golf handicap controversy: LOCK<\/p>\n
Golf Twitter\u2019s prince, Michael Kim, drew a lot of attention for this one:<\/p>\n
Again, if one of the PGA Tour\u2019s smartest players feels this way, he can\u2019t be that off. And he can\u2019t be alone.<\/p>\n
Is there a tougher (golf volunteer) job than trying to keep the hooligans quiet on the 16th hole at the WM Phoenix Open?<\/p>\n
To all those brave men and women, thank you for your service.<\/p>\n
Joakim Lagergren and caddie Jesse Karlsson moving rocks at the Qatar Masters\u2014especially during WM Phoenix Open week\u2014gave golf fans everywhere serious Tiger Woods flashbacks:<\/p>\n
Props to Joakim for getting his hands dirty and not asking fans for help. And what a freaking golf shot.<\/p>\n
VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (INSIDE DIVISION)<\/p>\n
Speaking of great golf shots, leave it to the electric Neal Shipley to make the first hole-in-one in TGL history during The Bay\u2019s win over LAGC on Monday night:<\/p>\n
Hopefully, Neal celebrated with a few brews\u2014and a trip to his beloved Waffle House.<\/p>\n
THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION<\/p>\n
Chris Gotterup got emotional talking about his girlfriend getting to see him win for the first time. And Samantha had a great time as well:<\/p>\n
Aww. And then there were Chris” peeps who couldn’t be there. Like this former Rutgers teammate, who missed having Gotterup at his wedding, but still celebrated like crazy when he won on Sunday:<\/p>\n
THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION TALENT<\/p>\n
It was a rough week for Scottie Scheffler. The guy shot an opening 73 and only finished 15 under for the week, one out of a playoff, for a T-3 and his 17th consecutive top 10. Obviously, we kid. He\u2019s amazing. But his best on-course moment involved watching his son, Bennett, get some swings in at TPC Scottsdale. And Mark Immelman gave a great breakdown of Bennett\u2019s action:<\/p>\n
Man, I\u2019d kill for a release like that. Little man is going to be a player.<\/p>\n
THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS<\/p>\n
It\u2019s only fitting that we highlight a couple NFL players during Super Bowl (and Pro Bowl) week. First, Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce with this beautiful shot on No. 16 during the WM Phoenix Open pro-am:<\/p>\n
Too bad Taylor Swift wasn\u2019t there to see it. And then Dallas Cowboys kicker Brandon Aubrey winning a long drive contest for the NFC by hitting one 336 yards on his first try:<\/p>\n
Impressive. And, yes, that was the best part of the Pro Bowl.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could bet on golf, I would have put a lot of money on him to come out and play good on Friday.\u201d \u2014Chris Gotterup when asked if he was aware of Scottie Scheffler\u2019s position after Thursday\u2019s first round. Chris Gotterup is no dummy.<\/p>\n
Congrats to Elvis Smylie on winning LIV\u2019s season-opener in Saudi Arabia. Also congrats to Jon Rahm, who with yet another runner-up is in great position to win the league\u2019s Clutch Player Award again. . . . Shout-out to Westchester (Scarsdale) legend James Nicholas for winning his first Korn Ferry Tour title. James\u2019 dad, Dr. Stephen Nicholas, is also my orthopedic surgeon. And I\u2019ve kept him busy the past couple years. . . . Wesley Bryan says he got shot down by the PGA Tour to even have a conversation concerning his current ban for participating in a LIV Golf pro-am last year. I feel for Wes, but caddying in the WM Phoenix Pro-Am for Grant Horvat felt like he\u2019s poking the bear a bit. . . . The legendary Roger Maltbie has signed a one-year contract with Golf Channel to work select tournaments this year starting with Pebble Beach this week. That\u2019s great news for golf fans. It\u2019s been over a decade, but I\u2019ll never forget riding around in Rog\u2019s golf cart at the Players. . . . And, finally, I chaperoned my first-ever field trip for my daughter\u2019s class:<\/p>\n
She had fun and I didn\u2019t lose any of the kids in my group, so, success!<\/p>\n
RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER<\/p>\n
What was your favorite field trip as a kid?<\/p>\n
(When) Will I have to go see Dr. Nicholas again?<\/p>\n
Should I give Justin Rose\u2019s claw grip a try?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we spent most of Super Bowl halftime working on our…","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17525,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_volume":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[1919,100,6029,332,33,3772,54,22,13,84,416,419],"class_list":["post-17524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chris-gotterup","tag-celebrity-golfers","tag-chris-gotterup","tag-chris-gotterups-super-bowl-sunday-hail-mary-tiger-woods-30-year-old-college-record-gets-broken-and-a-youtuber-gets-a-lifetime-pga-tour-ban","tag-dp-world-tour","tag-liv-golf","tag-ncaa","tag-patrick-reed","tag-pga-tour","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-story","tag-the-grind","tag-viral-videos","cs-entry","cs-video-wrap"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@fogolf\/117472615711120270","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17524\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fogolf.com\/pros\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}