No. 13 Minnesota Eliminates No. 4 UCLA To Join Oklahoma In Final Four
Minnesota takes down UCLA to join Oklahoma in NCAA Gymnastics Final Four!
The author mistakenly believed they had an 80-to-1 bet on Justin Rose for the Masters, only to realize it was for the PGA Championship. Despite the mix-up, they continue to support Rose for future tournaments.
Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we are still feeling a bit embarrassed. I spent all week until the back-nine on Sunday rooting for Justin Rose because A.) I think he deserves a green jacket and B.) I believed I had an 80-to-1 ticket on him that I hopped on a couple months back. I thought I was so sharp for getting that number and I was counting the money as he took a two-shot lead heading to the 11th hole.
Masters 2026
Adam Glanzman
There was just one problem: My 80-to-1 ticket was for Justin Rose at the PGA Championship and NOT the Masters. Whoops! Just another sign Iâm getting old. Did I continue to root for Rose? Yes. But was I quite as gutted as I would have been had his latest close call also cost me a bunch of money? No. Anyway, now I feel like I have a free roll for the PGA, and Iâll be all the way back in Rosieâs corner next month at Aronomink. In the meantime, letâs talk about the guy who actually won the Masters.
WEâRE BUYING
Rory McIlroy: The floodgates, as they say, are open. Itâs incredible to think it took so long for Rory to win a green jacket and now you have to wonder when heâs ever going to have to leave that thing at Augusta National again after winning a second straight Masters.
2270642505
Augusta National
The clubâs tailor got off easy with that one. McIlroy didnât have his best stuff over the weekendâaccording to stats guru Justin Ray, heâs the first Masters champ to lose strokes to the field over the final 36 holesâbut he was so brilliant for those first two days in which he built a record six-shot lead that it didnât matter as he claimed major No. 6. And how about the guts he showed at No. 12:
Just an all-time great birdie by an all-time great player. Speaking of which . . .
Rory McIlroyâs place in history: McIlroy became just the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters, joining Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods. And I believe heâs nowâif he hadnât alreadyâpassed Faldo and Seve (and, yes, Harry Vardon from another era) as the greatest European golfer of all time.
And heâs clearly not done. After completing the career Grand Slam last year, McIlroy is now halfway to the Double Grand Slam, accomplished only by Jack and Tiger. If he gets there by adding another U.S. Open and British Open title, heâd have to jump into a list of the top five golfers of all time. He is truly a historical figure and we are all (lucky) witnesses of his greatness.
Rory McIlroyâs victory speech: Not surprisingly, McIlroy delivered another great one just minutes after having the green jacket slipped back on, this time by Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley because McIlroy also won last year. Rory was all class in victory, thanking his parents in attendance for all they did for him as a kidâAlan Shipnuck details the sacrifices they made by working multiple jobs to pay for their only kidâs golf pursuits in his new, fantastic biography, âRory.â But he also had some lighter moments as well, including calling out his daughter, Poppy, for taking advantage of the unlimited ice cream in the new player services building (Who wouldnât?):
As a fellow girl dad, Iâve seen that âDad, youâre embarrassing me!â face plenty of times. Anyway, if there was a strokes gained: public speaking, McIlroy might win every major.
Cameron Young: OK, Iâll throw someone else a bone besides Rory. Obviously, Rose was amazing againâalthough he let the tournament slip away at Amen Cornerâand Scottie Scheffler came closest to tracking down Rory, but Iâll go with my fellow Westchester/Wake Forest guy. Young spotted the field four shots on Thursday with a disastrous startâmaybe the Players champ wonât take off three weeks ahead of the Masters next year?âbefore rallying.
2270430373
Augusta National
It took awhile for him to find the winnerâs circle with all those runner-ups, but after becoming a Ryder Cup star and winning the Players, this guy is clearly coming for majors as well. And Augusta National is a great place for his slinging, pausing draw. They should keep a green jacket in his size ready.
WEâRE SELLING
CBSâ 18th hole camera work: Look, no one could have predicted that Rory McIlroy would take a trip up the 10th hole on his way to finishing his round, but that was wild that golf fans had no clue where his golf ball was for what seemed like a few minutes. And then thereâs the matter of his final putt. We went with this angle? Where you canât actually see the ball going in the hole?
Thatâs the replay weâre going to see for decades to come? CBS has made major strides the past few years and Jim Nantz, Trevor Immelman and the rest of the crew remain at the top of their games, but this was a tough finish.
Roryâs âunfair advantageâ: I canât believe this is actually a thing. Casuals took Rory McIlroyâs comments that he was making day trips up to Augusta National to prep for the Masters and turned it into some kind of controversy. And it was spread far and wide to even more people by Stephen A. Smith talking screaming about it on ESPN:
Embarrassing stuff. Because as any real golf fan knows, any player in the field is allowed to practice at Augusta National leading up to the tournament. At least, players like Michael Kim and Kevin Kisner cleared this up, but not after this misinformation spread like wildfire. Hereâs Kisner saying heâd play â10 timesâ at Augusta during the years that he was in the tournament!
Now, does having your own private jet make doing something like that easier? Of course. And Iâm sure the environmentalists werenât thrilled with Roryâs use of that thing. But to make it like his win was in any way tainted is absurd.
Sergioâs Sunday tantrum: Sergio Garcia wasnât the only player to lose his cool at Augusta NationalâIâm looking at you, Robert MacIntyreâbut he did it in the most egregious fashion. After hitting a poor tee shot on No. 2 during the final round, the 2017 Masters champ smashed the tee box repeatedly with his driver and then hit a cooler, which caused his driver head to snap off.
/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2021/260412-sergio-driver.png
A couple holes later, Garcia appeared to get a talking to from Geoff Yang, AGNCâs chairman of the competition committee, but when asked about it a couple times afterâIâm amazed he stopped to talk to media at allâhe said, âIâm not going to tell youâ and âNext question, pleaseâ before his interview wrapped. Not a good look. Iâm sure it wonât be enough to get a tournament suspension or ban, but you have to wonder what a player would have to do to get one of those punishments. Maybe re-sell a Masters gnome.
ON TAP
The PGA Tour moves on with the RBC Heritage, AKA that one they play the week after the Masters, AKA that one they play at Harbour Town, AKA that one where the winner gets a tartan jacket. Jordan Spieth slipped that bad boy on in 2022, and, amazingly, thatâs the last time he won anywhere. Itâs also a special place for me since I won a buddies tripâand a green beltâin Hilton Head in the fall. Although, not at Harbour Town, which was closed that week. Oh well, maybe next time. And maybe itâs time for Spieth to get back in the winnerâs circle after that T-12 at Augusta.
Random tournament fact: Justin Rose was a WD on Monday from this event after another Masters heartbreak. I canât blame him. Rest up, Rosie! Weâve got the PGA Championship in a month!
RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK
âActual odds Justin Rose will win the PGA Championship: 35-to-1 odds
âJordan Spieth will win the RBC this week: 35-to-1 odds
âBoth would win my buddies trip playing left-handed: LOCK
TWEET OF THE WEEK
Following his victory, Rory was asked about how heâd celebrate this time.
âWe lose a lot more in golf than we win. So I think when the winning comes around, you have to celebrate it to the fullest,â he answered. âI'll have a good time tonight, and I'll probably have a sore head flying back to Florida tomorrow morning.â
Well, it looks like he made good on his word with this recovery stat from WHOOP founder Will Ahmed!
Good for you, Rory. Also, thatâs not too far off from my OURA readiness numbers during my week in Augusta. And I donât have a green jacketâor $4.5 million to show for it.
TWEET OF THE WEEK (NON-RORY DIVISION)
No one does sarcasm on X like Shane.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Rory getting emotional before tapping in for the win (not that TV viewers could see it well) was awesome. And our Adam Glanzman got this great shot of it:
Masters 2026
Adam Glanzman
Adam also won the Masters Monday media lottery and played Augusta National the day after so what a week for him. (Iâm now 0 for 10, thanks for asking.)
PHOTO OF THE WEEK (NON-MASTERS DIVISION)
This is, um, really something . . .
Imagine someone loses the tournament hitting it into that kiddie pool?
VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK
The Masters is the biggest week for golfers, but also everyone involved in the game. That goes for Golf Channelâs Brandel Chamblee, who puts on a cook session every night on âLive From.â Nothing will ever top âSensory Blitzkriegâ from a few years back, but these âLost Itâ and âHOOK LIEâ segments are instant classics.
So good.
THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION
Roryâs parents were actually in attendance this year to see him win and his mom had this incredible custom purse:
Thatâs great. And itâs a good thing they didnât use this magazine cover with her sonâs name misspelled instead:
/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2021/260414-grind-mag.jpg
Woof.
THIS WEEK IN CELEBRITY GOLFERS
It was a whoâs who of celebs at Augusta from the hockey GOAT, Wayne Gretzky, to one of tennisâ GOATs, Rafael Nadal, to my personal GOAT, Chris Paul. Unfortunately, I never saw CP3. And then there was JJ Redick being late to a press conference because he had to see how the final hole turned out.
Donât blame you, JJ. That was a pretty wild finish.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
âI went to the toilet last night a lot of times and this morning when I got to the golf course and was still feeling really bad and I was living in the toilet." âHaotong Li sounded very relatable on Fridayâexcept for the fact that despite his troubles he had just played his way into contention at the Masters. What a legend. Although, his Sunday in Augusta wound up being even tougher:
Or maybe he was just looking for another toilet behind Amen Corner.
THIS AND THAT
Congrats to Golf Digestâs Will Irwin for winning the Masters Monday media lottery in his third try (Again, Iâm now 0 for 10 and not bitter at all!) and shooting 74! Amazing round, Will! Haotong Li would have killed for that score on Sunday. . . . Will also convinced me to finally buy one of those Masters gnomes. And Iâm kind of already regretting it. . . . Speaking of those gnomes, someone paid nearly 30K(!) for one of the originals from 2016. Thatâs insane. OK, so Iâm not regretting that gnome purchase as much now. . . . And, finally, this guy at my local Costco on Sunday was really into the Masters:
Either that or he was Brysonâs caddie.
RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER
Will Justin Rose ever win a second major championship?
Will Rory McIlroy complete the Double Grand Slam?
Will I ever win the Masters Monday media lottery?
The author mistakenly thought they had an 80-to-1 betting ticket on Justin Rose for the Masters, but it was actually for the PGA Championship.
The author continued to root for Justin Rose despite the betting mistake, feeling less gutted about his performance since it didn't cost them money.
The author plans to support Justin Rose in the upcoming PGA Championship at Aronomink next month.
The author implies that the betting mistake is a sign of getting older, as they confused the tournaments.
Minnesota takes down UCLA to join Oklahoma in NCAA Gymnastics Final Four!
John Leonard signs one-year extension with the Detroit Red Wings!
Hunter Goodman powers Rockies to a 3-2 win over Astros, ending a six-game skid.
Dudinha discusses her strong start with San Diego Wave and dreams of the 2027 Women's World Cup.
Steve Kerr praises Stephen Curry's incredible performance against the Clippers
Padres beat Mariners 5-2, marking their eighth straight win!
See every story in Sports â including breaking news and analysis.