Jordan Spieth’s spotty speed record, Charley Hull’s ‘drunk’ tattoo and Tate McRae’s surprising golf swing

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we begin with an absolute beatdown in team golf. I’m talking about the annual Golf Digest Seitz Cup, which was about as competitive as the 2017 Presidents Cup at Liberty National. Unfortunately, I was on the wrong side of this historic 23-10 rout as a member of Team Old, but fortunately, I wasn’t officially a captain this time. Instead, that left Joel Beall open to all the criticism, which came mostly in the form of this hilarious interview Shane Ryan did with Young Team winning captain Luke Kerr-Dineen.

Poor Joel. He had to carry me around Tamarack for four hours and now he’s getting crushed harder than Keegan Bradley. Anyway, congrats to Team Young. Now, let’s move onto something else. Anything else.

WE’RE BUYING

Eugenio Chacarra: The former LIV player has blossomed into a global star after winning the DP World India Championship for his third DP World Tour title of the year and fourth overall. With the win, Chacarra leap-frogged over Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed to No. 1 on the season-long Race to Dubai standings. Although, “leap-frogged” probably isn’t the right term considering that nasty toe injury he’s been battling. Talk about grit.

With his latest win, the 26-year-old is up to No. 39 in the Official Golf Ranking and No. 20 in Data Golf’s list. I’m also a big fan because he went to Wake Forest (Go Deacs!) for two years before transferring to Oklahoma State. Not sure if he was able to catch the football game against Cal on Saturday night with the time difference in India, but the Deacs dominated once again. Anyway, congrats to Chacarra and move over Rickie Fowler, because there’s going to be someone else wearing orange on Sundays on the PGA Tour next year.

Halbert National: The greatest backyard golf course ever created is on display this week at the Abilene Christian Intercollegiate being aired on Golf Channel. We’ve written about billionaire David D. Halbert hiring Tom Fazio to build him a personal $50 million course—and it’s as spectacular as it sounds.

As Halbert told Forbes, he spends $3 million per year on maintenance because he wants it to be in as good of shape as Augusta National. Now THAT’S a rich guy spending his money well.

LPGA’s slow-play penalties: I’ve got to hand it to the LPGA for actually enforcing pace of play. We’ve seen some costly penalties handed out and we saw another one in Shanghai with Carlotta Ciganda being docked two strokes while in serious contention on Saturday.

Ciganda wound up finishing fifth and with the two strokes it would have been a T-3, so it cost her more than $56,000. And who knows how things would have turned out if not for the penalty? Congrats to winner Ruoning Yin, by the way. The 24-year-old picked up her second win of 2026 and a coveted title in her home country. And she didn’t dilly dally while doing it. Now if only the PGA Tour would start cracking down like this . . .

WE’RE SELLING

Jordan Spieth’s speed record: This was a kind of bizarre post from the PGA Tour highlighting Spieth’s “record” consecutive years of increasing his clubhead speed:

Because Jordan seems to be yet another cautionary tale of what can go wrong when you’re chasing speed as the three-time major champ is now mired in a four-year-plus winless drought. As important as distance is, you’ve got to be careful you’re not altering your swing too much to achieve it. Trust me, I know from experience this year! Anyway, Spieth might do better if he dials it back a tad in 2027.

Rory McIlroy’s pants: Seriously, what is going on here with Rory’s baggy pants?

I’m certainly no style expert, but I’m not a fan.

Jim Nantz’s injury: Our pal Jim Nantz got injured in the booth on Sunday:

Another reminder of how much more dangerous football—even broadcasting football!—is than golf. Feel better, Jim!

ON TAP

The PGA Tour fall season resumes with the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, AKA that one they play in Bermuda, AKA that one where it can get really, really windy.

Meanwhile, the LPGA and the DP World Tour are both in South Korea, where Chacarra will put that bad toe to work once again. The kid is a gamer.

Random tournament fact: Adam Schenk beat Chandler Phillips by one last year to claim his maiden PGA Tour title. A 1-2 finish doesn’t get much more random than that.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—I will ever own a backyard golf course: 50 MILLION-to-1-odds

—Adam Schenk will win in Bermuda again this week: 200-to-1 odds

—Team Young will assemble a task force before next year’s Seitz Cup: LOCK

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Apparently, Fred Ridley has a hand in the Tampa Bay Rays’ run to the World Series:

Talk about a successful person.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Congrats to Subash Tamang on becoming the first golfer from Nepal to play in a DP World Tour event. He missed the cut, but he came away with this cool pic with Rory McIlroy:

Awesome stuff.

STORY OF THE WEEK

This is a new category, because I didn’t know where else to fit this wild answer from Charley Hull from an interview with Golfweek’s Adam Schupak, who asked her about tattoos:

"I’ve got three tattoos. I've got one on my foot. I got drunk when I was in Ibiza when I was 17 years old. Me and my friend James went out partying. I was coming back from the club, and I thought it would be a great idea to get a tattoo across my head, because me and my best mate, James, our favorite thing we always said to each other was "Hold tight, hold tight." He wouldn't let me get it on my forehead. Instead, I got it on my foot and it says, hold tight. He got a matching one on his arm. We went back to the hotel, woke in the morning hung over, and I went to James, "Bloody hell, was I that drunk last night? I walked back with a plastic bag on my foot." He said, 'No, Charley. That's the wrapping after you've had your tattoo.' I was like, 'What? I got a tattoo?' He said, 'Yeah, you were trying to get it on your forehead and we had to stop you there.'"

Jeez! Good thing for James!

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (YOU-LOVE-TO-SEE-IT DIVISION)

Tiger Woods is looking pretty good on the range:

He and Charlie could be a problem (again) at the PNC Championship.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (YOU-HATE-TO-SEE-IT DIVISION)

This is something from Zach Johnson:

No snacks at a gas station?! That’s the best part of any road trip.

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS

I honestly didn’t know who Tate McRae was before this past week, but she’s suddenly popping up all over my feed with her Victoria Secret Fashion Show appearance (That darn algorithm, am I right?) and her new “Housewife” music video in which she hits golf balls off a yacht. You know, just like a regular housewife.

Catchy tune, though, and a decent (lefty!) swing!

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLF FANS

Soccer legend Ronaldo enjoyed following Justin Rose around at the DP World India Championship:

And if Justin’s kids play soccer, sorry, futbol, he is now the coolest dad on the block by far.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

Eugenio Chacarra paid tribute to his grandfather, who recently passed away, during his victory speech:

Sorry for your loss, Euenio, but as someone who was introduced to the game by my grandfather, I loved that. RIP Papa Myers.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I’ve told Luke I want to be on that team by not just a pick, I want to be one of the six (automatic) spots. That’s one of the goals and I’m working really hard for it. We’re still a year away but I know what I’m capable of. I know I’m a good player, I have a lot of charisma and I want to keep getting better and keep winning.” —Eugenio Chacarra on making the Ryder Cup team next year. Love it, especially the charisma line!

THIS AND THAT

Congrats to 13-year-old Jeremiah Baddeley for qualifying for next year’s Drive, Chip and Putt at Augusta National. And congrats to proud dad Aaron Baddeley as well. . . . Congrats to 63-year-old Vijay Singh on winning his sixth career PGA Tour Champions title. Although, for a guy who famously won so much on the PGA Tour in his 40s, isn’t it odd he’s only won six times on the senior circuit? . . . In the first trade in TGL history, Shane Lowry is heading to Boston Common Golf. As if you needed another reminder that he and Boston captain Rory McIlroy are great pals. . . . Speaking of upstart leagues, LIV 2.0 currently has commitments from Brendan Steele, Richard Bland, Cameron Tringale and Ben Campbell. No offense to those guys, but the Golf Digest Seitz Cup would do better ratings than them. Heck, my regular foursome has more juice. . . . And, finally, this is what a “full” bag of chips looks like these days: