Rory McIlroy’s Masters celebration hangover, Brandel Chamblee’s new favorite phrase and an all-time embarrassing golf gambling mistake
· Yahoo Sports
Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we are still feeling a bit embarrassed. I spent all week until the back-nine on Sunday rooting for Justin Rose because A.) I think he deserves a green jacket and B.) I believed I had an 80-to-1 ticket on him that I hopped on a couple months back. I thought I was so sharp for getting that number and I was counting the money as he took a two-shot lead heading to the 11th hole.
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Adam Glanzman
There was just one problem: My 80-to-1 ticket was for Justin Rose at the PGA Championship and NOT the Masters. Whoops! Just another sign I’m getting old. Did I continue to root for Rose? Yes. But was I quite as gutted as I would have been had his latest close call also cost me a bunch of money? No. Anyway, now I feel like I have a free roll for the PGA, and I’ll be all the way back in Rosie’s corner next month at Aronomink. In the meantime, let’s talk about the guy who actually won the Masters.
WE’RE BUYING
Rory McIlroy: The floodgates, as they say, are open. It’s incredible to think it took so long for Rory to win a green jacket and now you have to wonder when he’s ever going to have to leave that thing at Augusta National again after winning a second straight Masters.
Augusta National
The club’s tailor got off easy with that one. McIlroy didn’t have his best stuff over the weekend—according to stats guru Justin Ray, he’s the first Masters champ to lose strokes to the field over the final 36 holes—but he was so brilliant for those first two days in which he built a record six-shot lead that it didn’t matter as he claimed major No. 6. And how about the guts he showed at No. 12:
Just an all-time great birdie by an all-time great player. Speaking of which . . .
Rory McIlroy’s place in history: McIlroy became just the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters, joining Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. And I believe he’s now—if he hadn’t already—passed Faldo and Seve (and, yes, Harry Vardon from another era) as the greatest European golfer of all time.
And he’s clearly not done. After completing the career Grand Slam last year, McIlroy is now halfway to the Double Grand Slam, accomplished only by Jack and Tiger. If he gets there by adding another U.S. Open and British Open title, he’d have to jump into a list of the top five golfers of all time. He is truly a historical figure and we are all (lucky) witnesses of his greatness.
Rory McIlroy’s victory speech: Not surprisingly, McIlroy delivered another great one just minutes after having the green jacket slipped back on, this time by Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley because McIlroy also won last year. Rory was all class in victory, thanking his parents in attendance for all they did for him as a kid—Alan Shipnuck details the sacrifices they made by working multiple jobs to pay for their only kid’s golf pursuits in his new, fantastic biography, “Rory.” But he also had some lighter moments as well, including calling out his daughter, Poppy, for taking advantage of the unlimited ice cream in the new player services building (Who wouldn’t?):
As a fellow girl dad, I’ve seen that “Dad, you’re embarrassing me!” face plenty of times. Anyway, if there was a strokes gained: public speaking, McIlroy might win every major.
Cameron Young: OK, I’ll throw someone else a bone besides Rory. Obviously, Rose was amazing again—although he let the tournament slip away at Amen Corner—and Scottie Scheffler came closest to tracking down Rory, but I’ll go with my fellow Westchester/Wake Forest guy. Young spotted the field four shots on Thursday with a disastrous start—maybe the Players champ won’t take off three weeks ahead of the Masters next year?—before rallying.
Augusta National
It took awhile for him to find the winner’s circle with all those runner-ups, but after becoming a Ryder Cup star and winning the Players, this guy is clearly coming for majors as well. And Augusta National is a great place for his slinging, pausing draw. They should keep a green jacket in his size ready.
WE’RE SELLING
CBS’ 18th hole camera work: Look, no one could have predicted that Rory McIlroy would take a trip up the 10th hole on his way to finishing his round, but that was wild that golf fans had no clue where his golf ball was for what seemed like a few minutes. And then there’s the matter of his final putt. We went with this angle? Where you can’t actually see the ball going in the hole?
That’s the replay we’re going to see for decades to come? CBS has made major strides the past few years and Jim Nantz, Trevor Immelman and the rest of the crew remain at the top of their games, but this was a tough finish.
Rory’s “unfair advantage”: I can’t believe this is actually a thing. Casuals took Rory McIlroy’s comments that he was making day trips up to Augusta National to prep for the Masters and turned it into some kind of controversy. And it was spread far and wide to even more people by Stephen A. Smith talking screaming about it on ESPN:
Embarrassing stuff. Because as any real golf fan knows, any player in the field is allowed to practice at Augusta National leading up to the tournament. At least, players like Michael Kim and Kevin Kisner cleared this up, but not after this misinformation spread like wildfire. Here’s Kisner saying he’d play “10 times” at Augusta during the years that he was in the tournament!
Now, does having your own private jet make doing something like that easier? Of course. And I’m sure the environmentalists weren’t thrilled with Rory’s use of that thing. But to make it like his win was in any way tainted is absurd.
Sergio’s Sunday tantrum: Sergio Garcia wasn’t the only player to lose his cool at Augusta National—I’m looking at you, Robert MacIntyre—but he did it in the most egregious fashion. After hitting a poor tee shot on No. 2 during the final round, the 2017 Masters champ smashed the tee box repeatedly with his driver and then hit a cooler, which caused his driver head to snap off.
A couple holes later, Garcia appeared to get a talking to from Geoff Yang, AGNC’s chairman of the competition committee, but when asked about it a couple times after—I’m amazed he stopped to talk to media at all—he said, “I’m not going to tell you” and “Next question, please” before his interview wrapped. Not a good look. I’m sure it won’t be enough to get a tournament suspension or ban, but you have to wonder what a player would have to do to get one of those punishments. Maybe re-sell a Masters gnome.
ON TAP
The PGA Tour moves on with the RBC Heritage, AKA that one they play the week after the Masters, AKA that one they play at Harbour Town, AKA that one where the winner gets a tartan jacket. Jordan Spieth slipped that bad boy on in 2022, and, amazingly, that’s the last time he won anywhere. It’s also a special place for me since I won a buddies trip—and a green belt—in Hilton Head in the fall. Although, not at Harbour Town, which was closed that week. Oh well, maybe next time. And maybe it’s time for Spieth to get back in the winner’s circle after that T-12 at Augusta.
Random tournament fact: Justin Rose was a WD on Monday from this event after another Masters heartbreak. I can’t blame him. Rest up, Rosie! We’ve got the PGA Championship in a month!
RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK
—Actual odds Justin Rose will win the PGA Championship: 35-to-1 odds
—Jordan Spieth will win the RBC this week: 35-to-1 odds
—Both would win my buddies trip playing left-handed: LOCK
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Following his victory, Rory was asked about how he’d celebrate this time.
“We lose a lot more in golf than we win. So I think when the winning comes around, you have to celebrate it to the fullest,” he answered. “I'll have a good time tonight, and I'll probably have a sore head flying back to Florida tomorrow morning.”
Well, it looks like he made good on his word with this recovery stat from WHOOP founder Will Ahmed!
Good for you, Rory. Also, that’s not too far off from my OURA readiness numbers during my week in Augusta. And I don’t have a green jacket—or $4.5 million to show for it.
TWEET OF THE WEEK (NON-RORY DIVISION)
No one does sarcasm on X like Shane.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Rory getting emotional before tapping in for the win (not that TV viewers could see it well) was awesome. And our Adam Glanzman got this great shot of it:
Adam Glanzman
Adam also won the Masters Monday media lottery and played Augusta National the day after so what a week for him. (I’m now 0 for 10, thanks for asking.)
PHOTO OF THE WEEK (NON-MASTERS DIVISION)
This is, um, really something . . .
Imagine someone loses the tournament hitting it into that kiddie pool?
VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
The Masters is the biggest week for golfers, but also everyone involved in the game. That goes for Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee, who puts on a cook session every night on “Live From.” Nothing will ever top “Sensory Blitzkrieg” from a few years back, but these “Lost It” and “HOOK LIE” segments are instant classics.
So good.
THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION
Rory’s parents were actually in attendance this year to see him win and his mom had this incredible custom purse:
That’s great. And it’s a good thing they didn’t use this magazine cover with her son’s name misspelled instead:
Woof.
THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS
It was a who’s who of celebs at Augusta from the hockey GOAT, Wayne Gretzky, to one of tennis’ GOATs, Rafael Nadal, to my personal GOAT, Chris Paul. Unfortunately, I never saw CP3. And then there was JJ Redick being late to a press conference because he had to see how the final hole turned out.
Don’t blame you, JJ. That was a pretty wild finish.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I went to the toilet last night a lot of times and this morning when I got to the golf course and was still feeling really bad and I was living in the toilet." —Haotong Li sounded very relatable on Friday—except for the fact that despite his troubles he had just played his way into contention at the Masters. What a legend. Although, his Sunday in Augusta wound up being even tougher:
Or maybe he was just looking for another toilet behind Amen Corner.
THIS AND THAT
Congrats to Golf Digest’s Will Irwin for winning the Masters Monday media lottery in his third try (Again, I’m now 0 for 10 and not bitter at all!) and shooting 74! Amazing round, Will! Haotong Li would have killed for that score on Sunday. . . . Will also convinced me to finally buy one of those Masters gnomes. And I’m kind of already regretting it. . . . Speaking of those gnomes, someone paid nearly 30K(!) for one of the originals from 2016. That’s insane. OK, so I’m not regretting that gnome purchase as much now. . . . And, finally, this guy at my local Costco on Sunday was really into the Masters:
Either that or he was Bryson’s caddie.
RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER
Will Justin Rose ever win a second major championship?
Will Rory McIlroy complete the Double Grand Slam?
Will I ever win the Masters Monday media lottery?