Tiger Woods’ bad April Fool’s joke, Min Woo Lee’s performative putt and Bubba Watson’s bizarre hot take

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we continued our tradition of trying out local cuisine on our latest trip last week when we flew to Florida to cover the TGL Finals. April Fool’s! I actually continued my tradition of going to Wendy’s before anything. In fact, this time, I Ubered to one straight from the airport before checking into my hotel. And I did branch out by trying this new Girl Scout thin-mint-flavored Frosty:

And it was excellent. See? I can be adventurous. Anyway, let’s get to the golf.

WE’RE BUYING

Min Woo Lee: Let him cook! The popular Chef Woozy delivered his first PGA Tour win—and he made sure to put his own spice on it late. After a fantastic lag put that left him inches from victory, he made that AimPoint joke that even had runner-up Scottie Scheffler laughing.

Woo! That’s well played right there. I’m also buying the talented Lees—Min Woo and Minjee—who became only the third brother-sister combo to win on the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour:

Juuuust slightly more impressive than anything my sister and I have accomplished. Anyway, great job, Chef. Things got tight late, but you proved you could handle the heat in the kitchen. I look forward to seeing what you prepare for your next course. On the course.

Gary Woodland: Min Woo’s win and Scheffler’s Sunday charge were impressive, but nothing was better to watch than Woodland’s performance. This is a guy who had major brain surgery a year-and-a-half ago! Getting back to the PGA Tour to claim the tour's Courage Award was inspirational enough, but nearly getting back to the winner’s circle was even better.

If you haven’t watched the season 3 “Full Swing” episode with Gary, go do yourself a favor. Well, after you finish reading The Grind, of course.

TGL's first season: As I mentioned, I finally got down to see the SoFi Center, so let me be the 10,000th person to say watching this new tech-infused league in person is even better than on TV. Of course, it helps, when you get such a dramatic final match and you have a showman like Billy Horschel doing stuff like this:

After witnessing that live, I wrote more about TGL’s successful first season here. Oh, and I’m also buying the Palm Beach International Airport (located 15 miles from the SoFi Center), for its quick security lines, driving-range views and this putting green:

I would have putted, but I had a Wendy's to get to. Anyway, this place is, um, flying up my ranking of airports.

WE’RE SELLING

Rory’s bad elbow: Rory McIlroy told NBC Sports’ Kira Dixon in Sunday’s post-round interview that his right elbow is “bothering” him and that he’s getting some “treatment” on it. For one thing, we don’t want to see Rory with any ailments heading into the Masters. The guy has enough issues to overcome at Augusta National as we saw recently when he took that fan’s phone.

On the other, how bad could that elbow really be after shooting rounds of 65 and 64 over the weekend and then flying to Augusta National the following day to practice? Just saying.

Bubba’s bad Tiger take: Look, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion and if Bubba Watson really thinks Scottie Scheffler’s 2024 was better than Tiger Woods’ 2000, then that’s his right to think that. But the way he did it in this interview with Golf Magazine’s Sean Zak was absolutely bonkers:

“I know Tiger did some stuff in 2000, but … “ Say what?! The guy won three majors, including the U.S. Open by 15 shots and the British Open by eight shots! That will never happen again! Unless someone like Bryson DeChambeau comes up with golf’s equivalent to baseball’s new TORPEDO bats. Anyway, bad take, Bubba. Even Scottie would agree.

Tiger’s April Fool’s joke: This is a tough one, because on one hand, I like seeing a gentler, more playful Tiger. But on the other, it’s just another reminder that Woods remains out of competition for the foreseeable future, including the Masters. Which leads us to what the 15-time major champ posted on Tuesday (April 1) morning:

He then followed that up with this six minutes later:

Sigh. Two critiques: 1.) He needed to let the joke linger for longer; and 2.) It’s just too unbelievable a joke to begin with so it didn’t really work. And, again, it feels too soon to joke about this! But I appreciate the effort. And dads are going to be drawn to dad humor. Heck, I tried to get my 7-year-old by saying she couldn’t eat a muffin because there had been a recall on all muffins and she didn’t believe me for one second. Anyway, be careful believing (other) stuff you see out there on Tuesday.

Crabs in golf bags: Unfortunately, this is actually real. And you can add it to the list of horrifying things we’ve seen—well, others have seen—on a golf course:

Yikes. And now I’m scared to even get my golf bag out of my basement closet.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour stays in the Lone Star State for the Valero Texas Open, AKA that one before the Masters, AKA that one where the winner gets a pair of cowboy boots. The LPGA rolls on with the T-Mobile Match Play in Vegas and LIV returns with the event at Trump National Doral. President Trump will definitely NOT be watching … OK, so that was about as believable as Tiger’s April Fool’s joke.

Random tournament fact: Hideki Matsuyama broke the 72-hole PGA Tour record for score in relation to par with his 35 under to win the Sentry in January, but the 254 shots needed by Tommy Armour III to win the 2003 Valero (at La Cantera Golf Club) remains the tour’s lowest 72-hole total. Even Min Woo Lee would be impressed by how much Tommy was cooking that week.

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—Someone will post a 254 at TPC San Antonio: 1 MILLION-to-1 odds

—Hideki Matsuyama will win at TPC San Antonio this week: 22-to-1 odds

—Whoever wins won’t make an AimPoint joke on the final putt: LOCK

TWEET OF THE WEEK (GOLFER DIVISION)

Nice job by Ben Griffin here trying to reverse-jinx a win to get into the Masters after coming brutally close to qualifying:

Rooting for Ben this week. Plus, we recently had him on The Loop pod and he was great.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Awwww.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (TOUR PRO DIVISION)

Take a look at Patrick Reed’s security guard at LIV events:

What a monster. That guy could be a body double for Amazon’s "Reacher."

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (CLUB PRO DIVISION)

In what has to be one of the greatest breaks of all time, a Brentwood Golf Club assistant pro named Travis Britt got to be a contestant on “The Price Is Right”—and then got to play “Hole-in-One” for a newwwww car! And, yes, things turned out exactly how you thought they would:

The only thing better would have been if Travis went through an AimPoint routine before knocking that gimme in.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (WILDLIFE DIVISION)

You have to see this turtle to believe it:

Guess you could say it was pissed off. Sorry, I couldn’t help it.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

Back to Gary Woodland:

Go, Gary, go.

THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS

Andrew Santino announced he’s hosting a new golf show/podcast with this funny video featuring Cam Smith:

I had the pleasure of writing about the comedian last year. Although, there is nothing funny about his golf game. The dude can play.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"So like I'm weird, I don't like holding the umbrella because I feel like my arms get fatigued and I stand over a shot and I feel like I hit it weird.” —Ryan Gerard. C’mon, Ryan, you’re making golfers look bad here!

THIS AND THAT

Congrats to Hyo Joo Kim on beating Lilia Vu in a playoff at the Ford Championship in what was the strongest non-major LPGA field in 15 years. And it came after a ladybug landed on her golf ball on the 72nd hole. Maybe those things are lucky after all. … Congrats to John Daly II on winning his first collegiate title with an incredible 2-3-3-3-3 finish:

Look at Little John all grown up. … Congrats to Golf Twitter favorite Michael Kim on making it into the Masters. The only bad thing is that his tweeting will be limited that week. … Speaking of the Masters, the tournament announced a new YouTube show, “Mornings at the Masters,” with hosts Hally Leadbetter and Roger Steele. Just the latest example of Augusta National being more hip than you think. … And, finally, I took this photo yesterday, but it could be taken on any day in our house:

And for the record, none of those are mine.

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

What’s the golf equivalent to baseball’s “torpedo” bats?

How many water bottles do we have in our house?

How many Wendy’s have I been to in my life?