Chris Gotterup’s Super Bowl Sunday Hail Mary, Tiger Woods’ 30-year-old college record gets broken and a YouTuber gets a lifetime PGA Tour ban

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we spent most of Super Bowl halftime working on our putting stroke. No, this isn’t some political statement, but rather an admission of being a total golf sicko. I had a feeling I wanted to work on—and, no, I haven’t dabbled with Justin Rose’s claw grip...yet.— so I snuck away to the basement for a bit, and, boy, was I rolling the rock. My biggest regret is that I didn’t start doing that sooner with how dreadful that first half was. I mean, my seven-year-old was reading “Harry Potter.” Then again, she would have been doing that no matter how good the game was, and she enjoyed Bad Bunny’s performance. Anyway, let’s talk some golf, because the golf was a lot more exciting.

WE’RE BUYING

Chris Gotterup: The 26-year-old threw his version of a Super Bowl Sunday Hail Mary at the WM Phoenix Open—and 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:

Wild stuff. But it’s 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’s only fair with us having such little sports success.

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.

And, yes, his bank account balance has gone up a LOT as well.

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’t win during this stretch was a playoff loss in Bahrain last week.

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’s a lock to return to full status this fall. And that’s a good thing for the tour. Say what you will about the guy, but he gets people talking.

Jackson Koivun: It’s just a matter of time before this guy becomes a full-time PGA Tour pro as well. And he’s 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’s back-to-back 62s to start the event put him at 20 under par through 36 holes and broke Tiger Woods’ 30-year-old record from when he started the 1996 Pac-10 Championship at 18 under through 36 holes.

Although, in Tiger’s defense, he shot his rounds of 61 and 65 in one day. And considering Koivun’s 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.

WE’RE SELLING

Chair-gate: If we’re 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.

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’s a tough finish. At least he’s not also a Patriots fan.

People knocking the Players Championship: The push for this to be (men’s) pro golf’s fifth major seems to be more serious than ever before. And it makes sense given new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp. He’s a smart guy and it makes no sense that the PGA Tour doesn’t run any of the sport’s majors (or the Ryder Cup). So I get the whole “March is going to be Major” movement:

That being said, it’s 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’t 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’s 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.

Jack Doherty: I had never heard of this guy and hopefully, I’ll never hear about him again. The YouTube star—and 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!)—made news by paying a fan at the WM Phoenix Open to yell “Jackass!” during Mackenzie Hughes’ swing. A fan accepted the offer, although he wound up yelling during Mackenzie’s warmup. Anyway, Doherty was promptly kicked out of the tournament and slapped with a LIFETIME ban from PGA Tour events:

I loved the response from the tour. Admittedly, I laugh every time that old “Jackass” clip comes up of that prank where they blow an airhorn in the middle of golfers’ swings, but those aren’t professional players and they weren’t affecting a sporting event with a $10 million purse as Michael Kim pointed out.

Despite his pathetic protests, this jackass got what he wanted and hopefully, that’s the last time we see him at a PGA Tour event.

ON TAP

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’s 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:

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.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—Jack Doherty will ever attend a Masters: 1 BILLION-to-1 odds

—Maverick McNealy will win this week: 30-to-1 odds

—There will be some celebrity golf handicap controversy: LOCK

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Golf Twitter’s prince, Michael Kim, drew a lot of attention for this one:

Again, if one of the PGA Tour’s smartest players feels this way, he can’t be that off. And he can’t be alone.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Is there a tougher (golf volunteer) job than trying to keep the hooligans quiet on the 16th hole at the WM Phoenix Open?

To all those brave men and women, thank you for your service.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Joakim Lagergren and caddie Jesse Karlsson moving rocks at the Qatar Masters—especially during WM Phoenix Open week—gave golf fans everywhere serious Tiger Woods flashbacks:

Props to Joakim for getting his hands dirty and not asking fans for help. And what a freaking golf shot.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (INSIDE DIVISION)

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’s win over LAGC on Monday night:

Hopefully, Neal celebrated with a few brews—and a trip to his beloved Waffle House.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

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:

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:

Great stuff.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION TALENT

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’s 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’s action:

Man, I’d kill for a release like that. Little man is going to be a player.

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS

It’s 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:

Too bad Taylor Swift wasn’t 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:

Impressive. And, yes, that was the best part of the Pro Bowl.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“If I could bet on golf, I would have put a lot of money on him to come out and play good on Friday.” —Chris Gotterup when asked if he was aware of Scottie Scheffler’s position after Thursday’s first round. Chris Gotterup is no dummy.

THIS AND THAT

Congrats to Elvis Smylie on winning LIV’s season-opener in Saudi Arabia. Also congrats to Jon Rahm, who with yet another runner-up is in great position to win the league’s Clutch Player Award again. . . . Shout-out to Westchester (Scarsdale) legend James Nicholas for winning his first Korn Ferry Tour title. James’ dad, Dr. Stephen Nicholas, is also my orthopedic surgeon. And I’ve 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’s 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’s great news for golf fans. It’s been over a decade, but I’ll never forget riding around in Rog’s golf cart at the Players. . . . And, finally, I chaperoned my first-ever field trip for my daughter’s class:

She had fun and I didn’t lose any of the kids in my group, so, success!

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

What was your favorite field trip as a kid?

(When) Will I have to go see Dr. Nicholas again?

Should I give Justin Rose’s claw grip a try?