Scottie Scheffler’s ‘well-earned’ drinks, Michael Block’s relentless showmanship and a major champ gets humbled

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we will never play golf with $10 million on the line, but we can say we played golf as the guest of a nine-time major champ:

Unfortunately, Mr. Player was not part of our foursome at lovely GlenArbor—I could have really used some tips from the legend—but it was still a great day. And the perfect complement to watching a current legend continue his march toward golf history. Let’s get to it.

WE’RE BUYING

Scottie Scheffler: So much for that PGA Tour Player of the Year debate. Scottie may have let a few others take the lead at times during the season, but it was all a setup so he could blow by them at the finish line.

After his three-shot win at the Tour Championship following his eight-shot romp in Memphis, it really seems like he would have swept all three FedEx Cup playoff events had he not caught a nasty case of Hand, Foot and Mouth disease in between. Young Bennett and Remy might be the only people capable of stopping this man, who is now a virtual lock to win PGA Tour POY for a staggering fifth consecutive year, which would tie Tiger Woods’ mark.

And after Scottie’s latest triumph—which took his season earnings to nearly $54 million—the man who led the PGA Tour in more than 20 (!) statistical categories in 2026 treated himself to a “well-earned” beer:

Enjoy, Scottie.

Joe Dean: One of the best stories of the years in golf is this guy winning the British Masters. During COVID, Dean started delivering groceries to make ends meet and he kept doing it part time until three years ago to keep his pro golf dreams alive. And now he’s a DP World Tour winner.

Amazing stuff. Plus, he did it with his wife, Emily, on the bag, so that first-place check of about $600K stays in the family. That amount can certainly buy a lot of groceries. And with this being the first counting event for next year’s European Ryder Cup team, Dean now has a different dream on his mind. And speaking of incredible timing, the great Sam Harrop was able to give Joe a song while paying tribute to the late great Dolly Parton:

RIP Dolly. And great going, Joe.

Michael Block: No, he didn’t win his first PGA Tour Champions title, but Block put on an absolute show all week at the Ally Challenge. After taking a two-shot lead heading into the final round, Block got blitzed by Steven Alker as the polarizing club pro finished T-3 for his third top 10 in five starts on the senior circuit. But it’s how he conducts himself on the course that’s truly electric:

I realize he’s not everyone’s cup of tee, but boy, does he get people talking. And watching. When it comes to the senior circuit, Michael Block is the needle. That’s probably the most I’ve ever watched a PGA Tour Champions event. What an incredible showman and what an impressive golfer. Team Blockie all the way.

WE’RE SELLING

The FedEx Cup "Playoffs": I’m not a huge proponent of match play on the PGA Tour (I think it’s basically flipping coins to determine a winner at this level), but the future format has to be better than the current system. As it stands, the Tour Championship is a standalone tournament that also awards the winner the FedEx Cup.

No offense to Ryan Gerard, but wouldn’t it have been silly if he won his first PGA Tour title at East Lake AND won what’s supposed to be a season-long prize for winning that one event? At least Tommy Fleetwood was near the top of the standings when he won at East Lake last year. The tour got lucky that it got a deserving champ of both thanks to Scheffler winning.

Good Good: People thought I was crazy when I suggested on last week’s episode of The Loop podcast that they would lose their PGA Tour event. Turns out, I wasn’t so crazy. Things just got worse and worse this past week for the company following that awful ad, getting dropped from retailers, a TV show (I feel awful for those involved in Golf Channel’s shelved “Big Break” return), and, finally, “stepping away” from the fall PGA Tour event bearing their name. Whether you think the backlash was warranted or not, it’s hard to defend Good Good’s bad defense of the whole situation, from Garret Clark’s “apology” video to CEO Matt Kendrick’s middle-of-the-night tweets.

There won’t be a “30 for 39” on this, but it will be studied as an all-time marketing disaster for years to come.

Having playing partners: Apparently, they’re holding these guys back! Just look at what happened at East Lake, where Min Woo Lee and Cameron Young shot 62 when playing solo over the first couple days due to J.J. Spaun’s Thursday WD leaving just 29 players in the field. Nice job by Cam shaking his imaginary playing partner’s hand after:

And then on Saturday, Robert MacIntyre shot 63 playing as a single. I’d be suspicious of any of my buddies reporting low scores by themselves, but obviously, these were legit. Anyway, funny how that worked out this week.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour is having a well-earned beer break itself after an eventful season. The fall campaign will start in a couple weeks at the new Biltmore Championship. And the LPGA Tour is off ahead of next week’s Solheim Cup. In the meantime, you’ve got the Walker Cup at Lahinch and the DP World Tour rolls on this week with the Omega European Masters, AKA that one in Switzerland with the stunning mountain views. And AKA that one Ryan Gerard is playing in to avoid being suspended by the DP World Tour and to stay prepared in case he’s a Presidents Cup captain’s pick. Oh, and the Korn Ferry Tour is off until the start of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals next week. But to talk about that and a whole lot more, we had rising star Blades Brown on this week’s episode of The Loop podcast:

Random tournament fact: It’s been 20 years since Michelle Wie played as a sponsor’s invite in the Omega European Masters, shooting 78-79 to miss the cut. In related news, Wie was sponsored by Omega. And she contributed to record crowds at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club that week so Omega got their money’s worth out of that one.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—Scottie Scheffler won’t treat himself to any more beers: 10 MILLION-to-1-odds

—Ryan Gerard will win this week: 11-to-1 odds (Actual odds, favorite)

—Ryan Gerard will earn a lot of miles this week: LOCK

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Insane stuff from Scottie.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

I hope Scottie treated himself to a well-earned Coca-Cola as well.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (TOURNAMENT DIVISION)

You don’t see that every day!

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (PROMOTION DIVISION)

My beloved Chili’s took over a golf course for a day and created Chili’s Golf Club:

A Chili’s in the clubhouse after a round is the stuff of my dreams. Also, shout-out to my favorite chain restaurant (and Rhoback) for sending me some of their merch collab.

I got a few compliments on that (hot) shirt!

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (DAGGER DIVISION)

This was a tough and humbling moment for Ryan Fox:

Yeah, c’mon, kid! That’s THE CHAMPION GOLFER OF THE YEAR! Maybe Ryan should carry his claret jug around with him everywhere he goes.

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS

LeBron gets most of the attention, obviously, but Bronny is going to be one heckuva a golfer:

This kid’s got good genes.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

Scottie Scheffler gave some love to Brandel Chamblee for his copious notes:

That’s why they’re both at the top of their respective jobs.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“One of the biggest things for me is like I never want the crowd to be bored. Every once in a while, I look at the crowd and they’ll all be quiet. They’ll talking on their cells and they’re not even looking at what’s going on. To me, I’m kind of more of the guy like, hey, we’re out here, let’s go. I try to get them pumped up.” —Michael Block. What an entertainer.

THIS AND THAT

Congrats to Ruoning Yin on winning the FM Championship, her sixth career LPGA Tour title, but first in two years. Of course, at 23, it was probably a bit too soon to be talking about a winless drought. . . . Congrats to golf fan Douglas Armstrong III on winning what has to be the golf bet of the year by parlaying Joe Dean at the British Masters with Viktor Hovland winning (minus Scottie Scheffler) the Tour Championship:

Although Douglas only bet $1 that returned nearly $2,900! Hopefully, he was also able to enjoy a well-earned beer after that. . . . Colt Knost’s bid for reinstated amateur status has been put on hold while the USGA re-evaluates the entire process. Sorry, Colt, but this seems like the right decision. . . . And, finally, Costco has finally started selling chocolate chips under their Kirkland label again:

They are delicious and they are $4 cheaper than the Nestle Toll House ones I’ve been buying the past couple years. You’re welcome for this very important chocolate chip PSA.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

How many chocolate chips have I eaten in my life?

What’s the best bet I’ve ever made in my life?

Where else can I be a guest of Gary Player?