Paulina Gretzky, Scotty Scheffler, PGA Tour
Hello friends, and welcome to this week’s edition of the Rogers Report. It’s only Monday, but it already feels like a long week. After the US Open, she headed straight to Baltusrol for the KPMG Women’s Championship. Now I’m finally home and I’m trying to catch up on sleep, but there’s a lot to be excited about in the world of golf right now to get comfortable. Between Keegan Bradley’s hometown win (using the term “hometown” lightly here) and 20-year-old Runing Yin’s victory on Sunday, I’m feeling pretty good about all things golf right now.
This was my second week in a row that I wore Adidas, making packing for two weeks on the A road a lot easier. Here are some of my favorite Baltusrol wear items.
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Bentock pants
$100 dollars
Add a stylish look to your game with these adidas golf pants. The soft, lightweight fabric has plenty of stretch to allow for a full range of motion, and the wide, fold-over waist provides additional support. The slim style with pintuck detailing keeps your look on-trend and off-trend. Made from a series of recycled materials, at least 70% recycled content.
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1/4-ZIP GOLF PULLOVER
$80
Sometimes a simple polo shirt just doesn’t cut it on a cool morning or late afternoon on the course. Team it with the adidas Golf Tee before you get dressed to keep yourself warm and comfortable through every hole. It’s made from a soft fabric blend with a bit of stretch to allow you to swing comfortably and ensure a full range of motion.
Well, let’s get to it.
KPMG PGA Championship
It was my first time at Baltusrol at the 2016 PGA Championship. I arrived an intimidated young apprentice with little to offer. I’ve been a few times since then, but last week was the first time I felt like I really got to know the course. Speaking of the course, the way Baltusrol got its name is very interesting.
I got a few DMs after this tweet suggesting I made this up! I invite you to google more information on the club, as it is a wild story.
Well, on to the winner. I didn’t know much about Ruoning Yin before this week, so I decided to do an old-fashioned investigation (read: scrolling Instagram profile) on her. I’m sure you can imagine my disappointment when I found out that Yin’s profile only had nine posts.
And three of them beat KPMG! Luckily, we still learned a thing or two about Ruoning before play ended on Sunday. My colleague (and friend) Zephyr Melton was on site to hear Yin talk about her love for Steve Curry.
Her first Instagram post is actually to curry.
Yin also has a great sense of humor. Its owner, Xiyu Lin, was also competing at Baltusrol last week (yes, two LPGA pros live together in a tenant-owner relationship). Lin shed some light on some of the problems they face at home.
I will be very honest here and admit that I have never met the landlord. I only have Venmo once a month and that works for us.
After winning $1.5 million on Sunday, Yin had a great streak about how things can change back home.
It’s crazy to think that 20-year-olds win major championships. I was at home working at a summer camp and sleeping upstairs in the room I shared with my little sister at that age.
Rose Chang
I spent a lot of time following Rose Zhang last week. Her press conference was great — she talked about going from winning the Mizuho Americas Open to Stanford in the finals, studying for a computer science exam, and how her practice schedule has changed a bit now that she has media commitments. Zhang is an absolute blast to listen to and follow the course.
There were dozens of people watching her practice run on Wednesday, and then at least 100 after her first run on Thursday morning. Looking like a seasoned veteran, she remained calm between shots and autographs.
I couldn’t help but notice that Zhang writes left-handed! She and Tom Kim have much in common other than being young golf stars.
Gretzky smuggler
The Gretzky-Johnson clan headed to Gozzer’s ranch in Idaho after the US Open for a mini-vacation to celebrate Dustin Johnson’s 39th (!) birthday.
On Paulina Gretzky’s birthday to her husband, we got a glimpse of her rocking the action on the track!
Before the armchair golf instructors come after that swinging course, I encourage you to do something else! I’m jealous that she has a DJ to give her lessons – the same guy who takes lessons from Butch and Claude Harmon. The amount of knowledge about golf you pour into is insane.
Many thanks to Paulina for sharing a few moments from her weekend on her Instagram stories.
I’m still curious how they decided who was going to ride shotgun here.
Big birthday celebrations
Scotty Scheffler and Tom Kim celebrated their birthdays last Wednesday at Travelers in the sweetest way possible in Hartford, Connecticut: by going out for pizza. I spent my 17th birthday in Connecticut at a high school basketball game, where my team got crushed. Unfortunately, there was no pizza. This seemed a great way to ring in Kim’s 21st birthday and Scheffler’s 27th.
The two golfers then brought the celebration home for some cookies, and the video Kim shared was very helpful. He calls Kim Scheffler a “big brother” and “advice-giver” in the caption, which is pretty cool.
Meredith Scheffler got up really early to make Scotty breakfast before he celebrated his birthday, which was very kind. I cannot at this moment think of anyone, myself included, for whom I would wake up at that invalid hour.
Keegan Bradley!
Not only did Keegan Bradley have an emotional win at the Travelers on Sunday, he also had an emotional week in Connecticut. Early on he said he was glad his family was in town.
He even took a moment during the first round to say hello to his son, Logan, and his wife, Jillian.
Congratulations Keegan, but I firmly believe that his sons Logan and Cooper were the real winners this week. They got their own awards after their dad won, and they celebrated like they did decades ago.
How good are these conditions? This is exactly what I want every Tour winner to show off with the trophy from now on. Shout out to travelers for thinking of the sweetest thing ever. I hope Keegan wins a lot more just so we can see more of these two having fun on camera.
Jokes aside, the Bradley boys seem as good-natured as they are funny. Logan refers to Chez Reavie as “Mr. Reavie” here very well and brings me back to the question I’ve spent so long asking: What do the kids in Tiger Woods’ life call him? Do his children’s friends call him Mr. Woods? tiger? another thing? I won’t be able to rest properly until I get an answer to that.
Also, what would Sammy Speth call his JT? Mr. Thomas? Uncle Justin? GT? I beg someone to teach me.
Keegan Bradley ended the night in the closest possible way to Boston: sipping on Samuel Adams and listening to Dropkick Murphys.
JT the hype man
We know that two-time champion Justin Thomas is a good golfer, but I’d like to take a moment to appreciate him as a friend, too. Not my boyfriend (although I’m certainly willing to be friends). First, Justin Thomas went out of his way to congratulate fellow Baker Bay spring break Ricky Fowler after his career-low tour of the Travelers.
And on Sunday night, JT made sure to give the Bradley family some love after Keegan won.
Good man alert! Seeing the pros cheer their opponents on after a round is one of my favorite things about golf.
A warning to golf celebrities
I’ll leave you all with this photo of Steve Curry and Butch Harmon, which must leave other famous golfers (I’m looking at you, Tony Romo) pretty nervous. If these two work together, Curry could win the 2024 Masters.