Patrick Mahomes’ shady handicap admission, Jordan Spieth’s telling stat and a hilarious home video

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we finally figured out how to stop the Kansas City Chiefs: Have me place a bet on them. That’s right, I finally caved and bet with this dynasty and not against it. And it did NOT work out as 126 million people saw. Of course, unless you’re an Eagles fan that was an absolute dud of a game. (Even if you bet against the Chiefs, which again, I did not.) So it’s at times like these that we’re happy to have plenty of golf to talk about instead. Let’s get to it.

WE’RE BUYING

Thomas Detry: This turned into almost as big of a blowout as the Super Bowl. What a performance by the 32-year-old Belgian who won his first PGA Tour title at the WM Phoenix Open by a touchdown/extra point. You know, that thing the Chiefs couldn't score until it was garbage time. Sigh. Anyway, golf's TD let his lead get cut to three shots a couple times on Sunday at TPC Scottsdale with guys like Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler and Daniel Berger chasing, but then he slammed the door shut with this incredible shot on the infamous 16th hole:

What a shot. And great commentary by Justin Thomas. If this whole golf thing doesn’t work out … anyway, Detry makes it three European winners on the PGA Tour in the past four weeks. And we all should have seen this coming because it’s a Ryder Cup year.

Yealimi Noh: Another tour, another impressive maiden win as 23-year-old American Yealimi Noh beat Jin Young Ko by four shots at the Founders Cup to capture her first LPGA Tour title.

“That was awesome. I’m so thankful for everyone who stayed,” Noh said. “I’ve done the champagne for other players and actually got it in my eye. To get it on me was awesome and something I’ll never forget.” The LPGA's spraying tradition is a fun one, but that sounds like it stings! These players should start packing a pair of goggles in their golf bags.

Jordan Spieth’s iron game: He’s back, ladies and gentleman. And not just in a wild Jordan Spieth rollercoaster way. Although he certainly was doing some of that, including what might be his all-time craziest par—which is really saying something:

But perhaps overlooked on that hole was the beautiful approach shot because it was just one of many. In fact, Spieth finished second in the field in strokes gained/approach, harkening the days when he used to live atop the PGA Tour standings in that stat. That surgically repaired wrist looks pretty darn good. And if you’re thinking of betting him to win the Masters, you may have missed a golden opportunity on the Golden Child.

Peter Malnati’s short game: This guy was dead last in strokes gained/approach, but he countered that with a historic week around the greens. Malnati chipped in just to make the cut and then had back-to-back hole-outs on Saturday:

Cue the Frosty The Snowman remix: “There must have been some magic in that bucket hat they found, for when they placed it on his head, he always got up and down.” Anyway, for the week, he wound up with 10.955 strokes gained around the greens, the highest number in 20 years, according to stats guru Justin Ray. Amazing stuff, Peter. But despite that stunning number, he only finished T-49. I’m not a big math guy, but it seems that if Malnati ever wants to win a third PGA Tour title, he’s going to have to hit more greens.

WE’RE SELLING

Lee Westwood’s odd penalty: First of all, congrats to Lee for making some actual golf news. It’s been awhile. The 51-year-old shot an opening 65 at the LIV Riyadh event, but then things went south in weird fashion. Westwood found the water with his tee shot on No. 16 during the second round, but his caddie was able to retrieve the golf ball.

Or so he thought. Turns out Westwood's caddie had fished out a different ball than Westwood's, who then used that ball when he hit his third shot to the green. Upon marking the ball, they realized it wasn’t Westwood’s ball, and thus he had to take another penalty for violating the one-ball rule. Wild stuff, especially him playing a retrieved water ball. Are these LIV guys on a tight golf ball budget? A tough penalty for Lee, who finished T-25, but an all-time “pros are just like us!” moment for us weekend hackers.

Rickie Fowler’s camo: Rough week for Rickie. First, he wears this outrageous getup that makes Jason Day’s sweat suit at Pebble Beach look tame by comparison and then he becomes a meme for blending into the TPC Scottsdale brush:

And then he actually disappeared by WDing from the tournament after an opening 74 with an illness. As someone on Twitter speculated, maybe it was the camoFLU. Seriously, though, hope Fowler feels better. And I know I’m not very forward-thinking about fashion, so I’m sure some people found his outfit really cool.

Patrick Mahomes’ handicap: What’s never cool, however, is manipulating your handicap. And now we have Patrick Mahomes admitting to as much on tape!

“I think I’ll forever play as a 7,” Mahomes said on Super Bowl Media Day. “I don’t put my good scores in. But don’t tell my buddies that.” Wow. The great Pat Mahomes is a total sandbagger. And a few days later, he played one of the worst halves of football in NFL history as his team got killed in the Super Bowl. Coincidence? I don’t think so. More like karma from the golf gods.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour's West Coast Swing rolls on with an unexpected return trip to Torrey Pines due to the L.A. wildfires for the Genesis Invitational, AKA that one Tiger Woods hosts, AKA that one Tiger Woods was supposed to play in this week. But sadly, Woods withdrew on Monday, making this announcement mentioning the death of his mom last week:

RIP Tida. Our thoughts go out to the entire Woods family. Hopefully, we’ll at least get to see Tiger in the TV booth over the weekend. (And nice job by Genesis donating $8 million to wildfire relief efforts.) In the meantime, Ben Griffin is teeing it up at Torrey Pines this week and we had the rising PGA Tour star on this week’s episode of The Loop podcast to talk about how his econ major is paying off, a wild club-throw story and one of the gutsiest rounds ever. Please have a listen:

Random tournament fact: This week’s winner will be the first golfer to win the L.A. Open in San Diego. I didn’t even have to look that one up.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—Thomas Detry will win by seven shots again this week: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds

—Thomas Detry will win again this week: 45-to-1 odds (Also actual odds)

—Torrey’s 10th hole will get talked about a LOT less than Riviera’s 10th: LOCK

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Gemma Dryburgh shared with The Scotsman this photo of her prized toilet that she received for winning the LPGA’s Toto Japan Open in 2022:

Although it’s not fully set up yet, just plugging it in gets it to sing and dance so she’s created a “shrine” commemorating her win. We're guessing that will be a party favorite for years to come.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Nailed it.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (ON-COURSE DIVISION)

Haotong Li continued his interesting career—where he's had plenty of success including a 63 at a British Open and plenty of tough times including a bout with the driver yips—with a fourth career DP World Tour title at the Qatar Masters. But the best part was this exchange down the stretch:

“I’m quite nervous too!” Li said with a laugh as he prepared to hit an approach shot on one of the final holes. Good stuff. And as someone who gets nervous over a putt worth a couple bucks, I completely get it.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (OFF-COURSE DIVISION)

Adam Hadwin shaved his beard and his daughter had no clue who he was while watching the WM Phoenix Open:

Is there still “America’s Funniest Home Videos”? Because that should win.

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS (NON-NFL DIVISION)

Apparently, Allen Iverson plays golf. And we know this because he’s released a new golf shoe that will look very familiar to those who remember watching The Answer’s NBA career:

What an athlete. I bet he could still score 20 points per game. While wearing those shoes.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

Loved seeing Thomas Detry’s family rush the 18th green at TPC Scottsdale:

Great timing for him getting to play his first Masters this April. Those kids are going to love participating in the Par 3 Contest.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I mean, we're prime examples of peak male athleticism right here." —Jon Rahm’s fantastic response to a ridiculous “Is golf a sport?” question.

If it’s not a sport, then how did I tear my meniscus while taking a golf swing last year? OK, maybe don’t answer that.

THIS AND THAT

Congrats to Adrian Meronk on winning LIV’s season opener under the lights in Saudi Arabia. He’s also the first golfer to ever go from filming a shower scene (It was a promotional video for The Cleeks and not a horror movie, although some might confuse the two) to getting showered with bubbly a few weeks later:

Historic! (Actually, they didn’t shower him in bubbly since they were in Saudi Arabia, but it was still a nice week for Adrian.) … Shout-out to Michael Kim for finishing T-2 at the WM Phoenix Open. The guy’s X/Twitter feed has been a goldmine of content, but this was the latest reminder that he can freaking play, too! … Jalen Hurts may be a Super Bowl-winning QB, but that doesn’t mean he can still play golf due to an unfortunate contract clause. We think he deserves to have that lifted after that performance in the big game. … And, finally, thanks to Ben Walton for swinging by and setting up my new “studio” for The Grind in the basement:

As you can imagine, my wife was thrilled.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

What’s the weirdest golf tournament prize?

What’s the worst kind of yips for a golfer?

Why didn’t the NFL “script” a better ending?