Monday, May 13th, 2024 Edition

Rory McIlroy rallies by Xander Schauffele to win Wells Fargo

– by ESPN News Services

Per ESPN: ” Rory McIlroy has a full head of steam heading into the PGA Championship…”

B&B POV: When Rory plays his best golf, his best golf is as good as anyone, Scheff included. On Sunday at Quail Hollow he leapt front runner Xander Schauffele going 8-under over an 8-hole stretch. For those wondering what a “heater” means when used in golf vernacular, it’s exactly what Rory did with the tourney on the line. Look out Vahalla. Rory is coming in scorching hot.

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Rose Zhang wins Founders Cup as Nelly Korda’s streak comes to unceremonious end

– by Zack Hirsh / Golfweek

Per Zack: “If there was to be a two-player Sunday duel at the Cognizant Founders Cup fueled by hot putters and world-class ball striking, most would have guessed it would have included Nelly Korda…”

B&B POV: Madelene Sagstrom finished a whopping 13 strokes ahead of 3^rd place finisher Gabriela Ruffels. Her problem – she finished two behind Rose Zhang. This was the craziest final scoreboard of any professional golf tourney posted this year – heck, for as long as we can remember. Only 21, Rose now has two victories on the LPGA Tour. What a talent!

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WITB Winner’s Bag Presented by Golf Galaxy: Rory McIlroy, 2024 Wells Fargo Championship

– Thomas Hamden / Balls & Bogeys

Per Thomas: We recently featured Rory’s gear set-up after winning the Zurich with bestie Shane Lowry. So we are going to approach this article differently this week. We’re going to estimate for you just how much it would cost if you wanted to buy his full bag, as is. We say “estimate” because some of his equipment is prototype just for him, but we’ll likely get pretty close with our final number…

Mcllroy’s Golf Gear:

DRIVER: TaylorMade Qi10 (9 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black 6X shaft

FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black 8X shaft, (18 degrees), with Fujikura Ventus Black 9X shaft

IRONS: TaylorMade P Series Proto (4) TaylorMade RORS proto (5-9), with Project X 7.0 shafts

WEDGES: TaylorMade MG4 (46, 50, 54 degrees), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks (58 degrees bent to 59), with Project X 6.5 shafts

PUTTER: TaylorMade Spider Tour X

BALL: TaylorMade TP5x

Check out our Best Golf Drivers 2024 edition.

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PAYDAY! 2024 Wells Fargo Championship Prize Money Payouts

– by Thomas Hamden / Balls & Bogeys

Per Thomas: You have to love the payouts for the PGA TOUR’s signature events, which last week’s Wells Fargo Championship was one. Thanks to an amazing 8-hole, 8-under run, Rory blew past Xander and pocketed $3.6M on Sunday. For his efforts, Xander’s pre-tax take home was $2.2M. That’s big cheese.

Now comes the funny math. Much like Anthony Kim’s financial gains for posting mid-level college golfer scores in LIV events, the last-place finishers in PGA TOUR signature events receive enormous amounts of cash too. This week’s bottom feeder was nice guy Eric Cole. He finished 35 strokes behind Rory. Surely embarrassed, and possibly injured, his check read $41,400. It pays to play ~~good~~ golf on tour.

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Tour Confidential: Nelly Korda, Rory McIlroy, PGA Championship thoughts

– by GOLF Editors

Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we discuss Scottie Scheffler’s, Rory McIlroy’s and Tiger Woods’ chances at this week’s PGA Championship, Nelly Korda and more.

What does B&B think?

If Scheff plays in the PGA (baby #1 on the backstretch), will his 3-weeks off impact his chances? Possibly. His putter was pretty darn hot when he stepped away to be with his family. If anything could go awry for him, it’s the flatstick when the pressure is on.
Does Scheff not playing at Quail Hollow take away anything from Rory’s victory? Like everyone else in the field Sunday, Scheff would have melted during Rory’s heater. However, he may have been 8 up on Rory when Rory started to boil, which if anything, would have made for amazing theater.
(NOTE: For full context, read the article): Should Rory have been allowed to rejoin the PGA TOUR Policy Board after suddenly resigning only a few months ago? Short answer, no. From what we the general public knows, he quit on the board because of a difference of opinion(s) and personality conflicts. Those same personalities continue to sit on the board.
Does Tiger finish better or worse in the PGA Championship than he did at Augusta, where he made the cut and then blew up over the weekend? We honestly don’t care. We only want to see him stay healthy and make the cut. His best chance for a victory this Majors season is at Troon in the Open Championship. Right now, he just needs to survive May and June.
Nelly Korda’s streak of five wins in a row on the LPGA Tour came to an end this weekend in the Cognizant Founders Cup won by burgeoning US starlet Rose Zhang. Nelly’s run was compared to Caitlin Clark’s ascension into mainstream awareness of her name and sport. A fair comparison? Not yet. Nelly is a generational talent. Caitlin is as well but also became a pop culture unicorn thanks to basketball being a mainstream sport. With more charisma and a better LPGA TV deal (bigger audiences), maybe Nelly can get there. Maybe.
What’s a juicy PGA Championship storyline line not being discussed? Our story: Can Blockie keep the party going for another year? Vahalla is a long driver’s course. And Block will be one of the shortest drivers in the field. Whether he plays well or not, he’ll be partying, but probably a little harder than he’d like to Friday night knowing he doesn’t have a Sat. tee time.

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Tiger Woods Is Still Pro Golf’s Top Dog … Off the Course

– by David Rumsey / Front Office Sports

Per David: “While Scottie Scheffler looks to match the dominance of Tiger Woods on the course, the 15-time major champion is still the key to generating business for stakeholders away from the links…”

B&B POV: Not Jones, nor Hogan, nor Arnie, nor Jack, nor Phil (nor anyone, anytime soon) has moved the needle of professional golf’s public awareness the way Eldrick “Tiger” Woods has since he was old enough to swing a club on TV. Even though he’s only played on average a few tournaments a year since 2019, he’s still the biggest earner off the course, and every professional step he takes is must-see TV. Even when he’s not teeing it up he maintains the biggest presence in golf. He’s on the board of the newly formed PGA Tour Enterprises. He’s on the tour’s Player Advisory Board. He’s launching TGL with Rory next year. He’s personally negotiating with PIF to end the PIF/PGA Tour feud. Even his weirdly logoed golf clothes will sell like hotcakes as soon as they are made available to the public in the next few weeks. Inaguarbly the modern GOAT of golf, when will his Netflix roast take place?

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