Russell Henley’s perfect quote, Tiger Woods’ brilliant business decision and the greatest wedding vow ever

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we are glad to hear the PGA Tour is going to start doing more something about pace of play. Commissioner Jay Monahan said the tour plans to release speed-of-play statistics (SHAME! SHAME!) and start testing out assessing penalties on the Korn Ferry Tour ahead of this week’s Players Championship. We just hope they implement these new things at a quicker pace than a typical tour threesome on a windy day. But while we wait for those to kick in, there’s plenty else in the game to talk about. Let’s get to it before we get put on the clock.

WE’RE BUYING

Russell Henley: How about that 1-2 combo Henley hit Collin Morikawa with late on Sunday at Bay Hill? Prime Mike Tyson would be proud of that. First the birdie on the toughest hole and then the chip-in eagle on the easiest to grab the lead that he closed for his fifth career PGA Tour title. Forget about Russell Westbrook or my guy Russell Wilson, this is the top Russell in pro sports right now. Let Russ cook!

And he summed it up perfectly after. “Sometimes golf is just mean like that.” Nailed it. And while winning the red cardigan is the biggest haul of his career, Henley has his eyes on the green jacket. The guy finished T-4 at Augusta in 2023 and he’s finished top 10 in the past two majors. Again, let Russ cook.

Karl Vilips: Congrats to former Stanford star and reigning Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year for not taking long to pick up his first PGA Tour title at the Puerto Rico Open. And in addition to a nice check and trophy, he also got Tiger Woods’ digits.

Impressive. I’m also buying Tiger as a talent scout and businessman. Vilips was named the first brand ambassador for Tiger’s new apparel line, Sun Day Red (although, curiously, he wore Sunday white in Puerto Rico), a couple weeks ago. And he’s already delivered the first win for the company. Talk about a quick return on investment!

LIV’s old guys: Sergio Garcia won the LIV Hong Kong event, his second win on the circuit in seven starts. Not bad for a 45-year-old:

And then there was Phil Mickelson finishing third place for his first PODIUM appearance in 37 career LIV starts (time flies!). It’s not too late to get both these guys in the Ryder Cup this year to recreate their classic match from Hazeltine in … 2016 (time really flies!).

WE’RE SELLING

Collin Morikawa’s drought: Last week I wrote in this space that we focus too much on wins, and I still believe that’s true, but wins are obviously still important. And as good as Morikawa has been (fifth in strokes gained/total since the start of 2024), he has zero wins in that period. And he has only one win since winning a second major at the 2021 Open Championship.

Pretty crazy for someone who has played that well. He's more than due. In fact, I think I'm betting on him this week at TPC Sawgrass. Like Henley said, “Sometimes golf is just mean like that.”

NBC’s timing: As good as Henley’s eagle chip-in was, it would have been nice to, you know, actually see the entire thing. Not surprisingly, Golf Twitter—and beyond with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy weigning in—had a field day with this:

Tough scene. But on a positive note, Russell Henley plays fast. Let Russ cook.

Snakes in golf carts: This is a tough watch:

I’ve (sadly) never played golf in Arizona. And I might have to keep it that way now.

ON TAP

The Florida Swing continues with the PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP, AKA the PGA Tour’s FLAGSHIP event, AKA THE FIFTH MAJOR. We’ve got a lot of capital letters because this is a BIG-time tournament. Unfortunately, Tiger Woods remains out, but it’s always great to see such an amazing field at such an intriguing golf course. And it’s always great to hear this theme song:

Random tournament fact: Scottie Scheffler became the first back-to-back winner in this event’s history last year. But the World No. 1 is now mired in a horrific slump having not won this year. In all of four events.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—That Sergio-Phil Ryder Cup rematch will happen this year: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds

—Scottie Scheffler will make it a three-peat this week: 4-to-1 odds (Actual odds)

—There are some nervous slow-playing tour pros out there: LOCK

TWEET OF THE WEEK (GOLFER DIVISION)

All jokes aside, Michael Kim is on fire. Good for him. We owe him big time for all the Twitter content he’s provided in recent years.

TWEET OF THE WEEK (GOLF WRITER DIVISION)

Sounds romantic!

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

This man may have a putter problem:

Unless that’s Scotty Cameron himself, that’s disturbing. And even if that is Scotty Cameron, that’s a bit much.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (TOUR PRO DIVISION)

Cam Smith tried to run to mark his golf ball … he didn't get there in time. Sometimes tour pros really are just like us.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (AMATEUR DIVISION)

This is the greatest wedding vow we’ve ever heard:

Congrats to that lucky guy. Those two are definitely going the distance. Speaking of sound marriages …

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

What a great moment for the Henley family.

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS

Josh Allen took his bachelor party crew to a TGL match and to meet Tiger:

A few days later, he signed a record $330 million contract extension with the Bills. But Josh is such a golf sicko, hanging with Tiger probably meant more. Regardless, what a week for the NFL MVP!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“That was not the right club today.” —Johnson Wagner after trying—and failing—to recreate Hal Sutton’s iconic winning approach shot at the 2000 Players Championship. Classic.

THIS AND THAT

Gutted to hear about Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston’s misdiagnosed thumb injury that will likely cost him another full season on the DP World Tour. Get better soon, Beef! … According to Brad Faxon, Rory McIlroy had his old fairway woods transported 2½ hours from his house to Bay Hill via Uber. That had to be a first for that driver. … Dustin Johnson finished 54th out of 54 in the LIV Hong Kong event. Where are all those LIV bots who killed me last year when I called him “Dustbin” Johnson? … And, finally, love this adorable birthday card from my soon-to-be 7-year-old daughter:

She gets me. Oh, and my traditional Kit-Kat and M&M-layered chocolate birthday cake from my wife. She gets me too.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

How many calories are in that cake?

How much did that Uber ride cost Rory?

Who is actually the slowest player on the PGA Tour?