Augusta National’s latest 12th hole victim, Tiger Woods’ viral arrest videos and Adam Scott’s amazing Masters tradition

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we may have finally had a breakthrough with our kids getting into golf. Well, one kid. After years of putting the Drive, Chip and Putt on, my oldest daughter, now 8, finally watched for a few minutes. And then declared, “I want to do that next year.” We’ve got a loooooong way to go to think about that, but maybe—at long last!—Julia is catching the golf bug. Or, maybe, she's suddenly interested in going to Augusta National because she saw this kid eating a Georgia peach ice cream sandwich during the coverage:

Either way, I’m rolling with it. And in the meantime, congrats to all the participants—and their parents. OK, let’s talk some more golf.

WE’RE BUYING

J.J. Spaun: The big golf Sunday continued for Julia with her favorite player (she randomly latched onto J.J. during the opening round of the U.S. Open last year) winning the Valero Texas Open. Spaun hadn’t done much since hoisting that trophy, and he’d done even less in 2026, but suddenly, he’s red-hot heading into the year’s first major.

And while he searches for a first green jacket, he earned a second pair of black boots:

I couldn’t pull those off, but you look good, J.J.

Maria Jose Marin: What a win at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur for this Arkansas sophomore, who shot a final-round 68 at Augusta National to claim the title:

The 19-year-old Colombian wound up winning by an impressive four shots. I’m also buying her caddie, Darren Woo, a 56-year-old local caddie and firefighter, who came off a 14-hour shift just a few hours before to help lead Maria to victory.

Oh, and shout-out to her dad for giving up carrying her bag. That must have been a difficult decision, but one that ultimately paid off. I’ll have to keep that in mind if my daughter actually gets into playing golf.

Lauren Coughlin: The LPGA Tour vet earned her third career victory, but none have been quite as impressive as this one. Coughlin led wire-to-wire at Shadow Creek and won the Aramco Championship by five shots.

Although, we probably should have seen this coming considering she lost at Shadow Creek in the championship match last year when this was a match-play event under a different sponsor. “It left a sour taste in my mouth last year not getting the W given how well I feel like I played all week,” she said. “That makes it extra special this week.”

WE’RE SELLING

Asterisk Talley’s back nine: With so many amazing Masters finishes, it’s crazy to think Augusta National’s nines were actually switched for the inaugural tournament. But while we usually think of the great charges put on that back nine, it’s also led to some unfortunate collapes. Asterisk Talley joins the latter group after seemingly being in complete control on Saturday with eight holes to go. Then she bogeyed 11—her first bogey of the tournament—and quadruple bogeyed the par-3 12th out of nowhere, similar to what Jordan Spieth did there in 2016.

Although Talley found Rae’s Creek twice from behind the green instead of in front so she pulled a reverse Spieth. Anyway, it was a tough finish for the top-ranked junior, but at 17, we can safely say she will have plenty more chances to win big tournaments.

Coming up short three straight weeks: Nelly Korda continued her run of runner-ups, finishing second for a third consecutive week. Just this time, she was looking up at Lauren Coughlin on the leaderboard and not Hyo Joo Kim.

Losing by five can’t hurt as much as the two previous closer calls, but it has to be annoying to play such good golf for three weeks in a row and not have a trophy to show for it.

Coming up one inch short: It has to feel even worse to have this happen. Jay Card III had a birdie putt on the 72nd hole to get into a playoff at the LECOM Suncoast Classic and this happened:

What a brutal way to lose. (Congrats to France’s Jeremy Gandon on picking up his second career KFT title, by the way!) Card could have literally coughed on his golf ball and it would have dropped.

ON TAP

What’s that we hear? Is that … the Masters theme?!

That’s right, it’s Masters week, AKA the best week of the year. And the best player in the world will be back after his wife’s fantastic timing of the birth of their second son, Remy. So congrats to Scottie and Meredith Scheffler—and congrats to Remy on already making it to Augusta National with big brother Bennett. It’s just too bad he’s not old enough yet to enjoy a Georgia peach ice cream sandwich. But if dad wins, he will easily set the record for youngest kid to celebrate a Masters win on the 18th green.

Random tournament fact: As pointed out by Shane Bacon, Tom Kite has finished runner-up at Augusta National to both Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.

On one level, that’s gotta sting, but on another, that’s pretty cool. Also, finishing 12 shots behind Tiger in 1997 wasn’t exactly a nail-biter!

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—Scottie Scheffler will be doing late-night feedings this week: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds

—Scottie Scheffler will win the Masters this week: 5-to-1 odds (Value?!)

—Scottie Scheffler is going to enjoy the Champions Dinner more than ever: LOCK

TWEET OF THE WEEK

First the U.S. Open at Oakmont and then the Valero Texas Open. Poor Robert MacIntyre. That would also apply for Nelly Korda when she sees Hyo Joo Kim.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

A buddy sent me this pic of a golf ball winding up on top of a gator earlier this year:

The “Play it as it lies” jokes write themselves! And it even made the cover of TWATL (This Week at The Landings):

Love that a golf community has its own (weekly!) publication.

DRAWING OF THE WEEK

How cool is this?

There’s a good chance we’ll see some of those Drive, Chip and Putt competitors playing in the Masters down the line.

VIRAL VIDEO(S) OF THE WEEK

The Tiger Woods arrest videos just got wilder and wilder, including his phone call with President Trump:

Insane timing if Trump happened to call him right then. And then there was his “Just the sticks” comment when asked if he needs anything out of his overturned Range Rover:

Hopefully, those clubs—especially that putter—got home safe. That thing is a historic artifact. On the flip side, Tiger freaking Woods uses a binder clip to hold his cash?!

Jeez. I'd be happy to pick up a nice money clip for you at Augusta, Cat. Let me know.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION (SORT OF)

Mark Hubbard remains in the doghouse for hitting his wife with a driver off the deck a couple years ago at the Valero Texas Open:

Yeah, that’s probably going to take a long time to get over.

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS

YouTube Golf addict (and NBA legend) LeBron James appeared on an episode of Bob Does Sports . . . and he has never drawn more universal praise:

Great stuff from King James.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Once a day, I like to sit up in the champion’s locker room with the [green] jacket on and have one drink. It’s nice, especially if there’s someone else in there, but I’m not afraid to do that on my own either.” —Adam Scott (via Evin Priest) is still living the dream.

Now that’s an awesome Masters tradition.

THIS AND THAT

Congrats to Jackson Koivun on winning his fourth collegiate tournament in his last six starts. The Auburn junior also has four consecutive top-11 finishes on the PGA Tour. Yep, he’s coming. … Phil Mickelson joins Tiger Woods as a WD from the Masters, making it the first time since 1994 that neither of them have played in the event. That’s a sad thing for golf fans, but Rory McIlroy won’t mind paying a lower tab for the Champions Dinner. … Much has been made about the Malbon bird print outfit that Augusta National asked Jason Day not to wear, but Charley Hull was rocking it on the grounds on Monday. And she pulled it off. … And a special shout-out to that pizza delivery man who went the extra mile to bring a customer some Diet Coke by buying some at a store:

As a fellow soda lover addict (Although I'm Team Coke Zero over Diet Coke and it's not even close), I know how much that meant to those people. Glad to see he’s been rewarded handsomely for this kind gesture. There’s still plenty of good out there in the world!

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

How much will Rory’s Champions Dinner tab be?

How many Georgia peach ice cream sandwiches will be eaten this week?

How many of those will involve me doing the eating?