Monday, July 6, 2026 Balls & Bogeys Golf News Edition
Photo: Tyler Clouse / Getty Images
Chris Gotterup wins John Deere Classic with Sunday 62, late help from Ben Kohles
Per The Associated Press/PGA TOUR: “Chris Gotterup made up a five-shot deficit Sunday by closing with a 9-under 62 to win the John Deere Classic for his fourth PGA TOUR title in the last 12 months.
Gotterup avoided a playoff when Ben Kohles, trying to win for the first time in his 120th start, hit his approach to the 18th left and into the water, winding up with a double bogey…”
B&B POV: On one hand, Chris Gotterup won the John Deere Classic. His closing 9-under 62 was nothing short of superstar-level sublime. On the other, Ben Kohles suffered one of golf’s cruelest heartbreaks, dumping his approach into the pond left of the 18th green after finding the middle of the fairway—the perfect position to attack.
All Kohles needed was to hit the green with a 9-iron and two-putt to force a playoff with Gotterup. Make the birdie, and he’d have captured his first PGA Tour title. Instead, he walked away with a devastating double bogey while Gotterup celebrated the victory.
Golf can be absolutely brutal.
Photo: Getty Images
Padraig Harrington rolls to third U.S. Senior Open title, tying record
Per Brentley Romine / Golf Channel: “Padraig Harrington cruised into the history books Sunday in Columbus, Ohio.
Harrington used back-to-back 4-under 66s on the weekend at Scioto Country Club to win the U.S. Senior Open by four shots and become just the second player to claim the senior national championship three times…”
B&B POV: Stewart Cink is a terrific golfer and a major champion, but at the U.S. Senior Open he might want to apply for caddie duties. Padraig Harrington cruised to a record-tying third title, making Cink his personal perennial runner-up. At this rate, Stewart knows every inch of Padraig’s victory lane.
Photo: Getty Images
Winners, Losers, and Payouts: Chris Gotterup Is Becoming a Superstar. Ben Kohles Just Lived Every Golfer’s Nightmare
Per Thomas Hamden / Balls & Bogeys: Chris Gotterup didn’t just win the 2026 John Deere Classic—he served notice that he’s quickly becoming one of the biggest stars in professional golf. If he played with more emotion and swagger—more like Spieth and less like Scheff—he’d already be a bona fide star.
Starting Sunday five shots behind the leaders, Gotterup went out and posted a ridiculous, bogey-free 9-under 62, the lowest round of the week. That’s not exactly the best strategy if you want to lift a big trophy on Sunday, but it works.…
2026 John Deere Classic prize money payouts:
- Chris Gotterup, -20, $1,584,000
- Max Homa, -19, $959,200
- Ben Kohles, -18, $466,400
Click the button to view the full payouts:
Photo: Getty Images
What’s in the Bag: Chris Gotterup Isn’t Just Winning—He’s Doing It His Way
Per Thomas Hamden / Balls & Bogeys: Three weeks ago, Chris Gotterup, currently Bridgestone’s #1 ambassador, looked like a golfer enjoying the best stretch of his career. Now he looks like one of the hottest players on the planet.
Gotterup’s game is built around elite speed and an underrated short game—but another part of his success deserves attention.
His equipment.
Driver: Ping G440 LST (7.5°)
Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Black 70 T
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X X1
Click to View Gotterup’s Winning Bag >
Photo: Getty Images
PGA Tour’s radical changes can only shock players who ignored the warning shots four years ago
Per Eamon Lynch / Golfweek: “A 1994 episode of Friends featured a trivia game in which Ross asked how many categories existed for Monica’s towels. Joey and Chandler specified four—“Everyday Use, Fancy, Guest, Fancy Guest”—before arriving at the correct total of eleven. A similar exercise on the PGA Tour’s priority ranking for its members would last longer and expose an even greater zeal for hierarchical classifications, without the benefit of a laugh. It is golf’s version of a Medicare manual, the product of decades worth of perks, privileges, compromises, concessions and backroom deals…”
B&B POV: It’s been a painful five years since LIV was born from the union of professional golf’s warring factions. At inception, the oldest pros, along with newbies who didn’t know any better, paired up to take on the PGA TOUR and pocket as much money as they could, as quickly as they could. Five years later, it looks like LIV is going to die a miserable death, and that wedlock will become a footnote in the history of professional golf. Along the way, the pros on the real tour have become richer, sponsors have soured, and fans have held on for dear life, waiting for the day when the best players in the world tee it up again week after week, and not just four times a year.
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