19th Hole

Rory McIlroy rips fellow PGA Tour pro for giving a ‘slap in the face’ to his peers

Published

3 years ago

Mar 7, 2023

Rory McIlroy has challenged the absence of a fellow PGA Tour player for skipping a player’s only meeting last Tuesday.

While preparing for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, players were called to discuss the latest changes to the PGA Tour, which now include several ‘designated’ events that many players have called out as being far too in favor of the big guns in the game.

One of the most open in his criticism is James Hahn, who stated that he believes the media has created more of a divide than has been reality, and has also publicly rejected the notion that the changes made by the PGA Tour are for the benefit of all the players.

Morning thoughts on the new structure of the PGA Tour. pic.twitter.com/T7nS4VsKEo

— James Hahn (@JamesHahnPGA) March 5, 2023

However, despite having the opportunity of appearing at the meeting, Hahn’s absence was most noted, even above the likes of Jon Rahm, who said he wanted time with his family.

McIlroy was equally open with his thoughts on the missing Hahn.

At the pre-event press conference, the 2018 API and 2019 Players Championship winner ranted:

“Like, you say all this s— and you’re not even in the meeting? If you want to get informed and be a part of the process—the fact that he wasn’t even in the room was a slap in the face to everyone there.”

Of the meeting itself, the world number 3, who subsequently had the chance to get to 9-under on the 18th green on Sunday, felt players now understood the significant changes to the 2024 schedule.

“I think when more information and data was presented to them, the people that maybe had reservations about it I think came around, or at least were more informed on their opinions, right?” he said, before continuing.

“I think the tour executives did a really good job of basically just walking them through the slides that we saw in the board meeting last Tuesday, obviously not to the same degree of detail.”

“We were in that board meeting for almost seven hours last Tuesday.”

Far from the rumblings on the sidelines, McIlroy saw the meeting as a success.

“Obviously we’re all here trying to get ready for one of the biggest tournaments of the year [the API]. So with that time crunch, we just sort of took the — or they took the sort of most important slides and showed them to the membership.”

“Yeah, I think it was good for them to see that and to see what the thinking is behind what we’re really trying to do here.”

“I think the temperature in the room was nowhere near as hot as I anticipated it to be once the information was sort of laid out.”

Take from the following what you will, but McIlroy certainly believes that the meeting was less “self-serving” than the players meeting held in Delaware last August.

“Yeah, so I said this in the meeting today. The presentation in Delaware was very self-serving for the 20 players in that room. We were looking at fields of 50 to 60. We were looking at only 10 players dropping out of that top 50 every year, so a retention rate of 80 percent,” he explained.

“The tour were like, look, the typical retention rate for the top 50 has historically been around 60 percent, so let’s try to get back to that number. So the structure that has been rolled out here is vastly different from the one that we all talked about and the guys saw in Delaware, and I think for the betterment of everyone” he said, before admitting:

“I think if we had have went down that road, it doesn’t serve the membership anywhere near as well as what this structure does.”

How much each player won at the 2026 Masters

Published

2 months ago

Apr 13, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Rory McIlroy made it two wins in as many years at Augusta National, seeing off the challengers on a dramatic Sunday to slip on the green jacket once again. The victory earned Rory a whopping payday of $4.5 million, with Scottie Scheffler his closest challenger earning $2.43 million for his sole runner-up finish.

With a total prize purse of $22.5 million up for grabs, here’s a look at how much each player won at the 2026 Masters tournament.

For players that did not make the cut, they still earned $25k for their efforts at the year’s opening major.

1: Rory McIlroy, $4.5 million
2: Scottie Scheffler, $2.43 million
T3: Tyrrell Hatton, $1.08 million
T3: Russell Henley, $1.08 million
T3: Justin Rose, $1.08 million
T3: Cameron Young, $1.08 million
T7: Collin Morikawa, $725,625
T7: Sam Burns, $725,625
T9: Xander Schauffele, $630,00
T9: Max Homa, $630,00
11: Jake Knapp, $562,500
T12: Jordan Spieth, $427,500
T12: Brooks Koepka, $427,500
T12: Hideki Matsuyama, $427,500
T12: Patrick Reed, $427,500
T12: Patrick Cantlay, $427,500
T12: Jason Day, $427,500
T18: Viktor Hovland, $315,000
T18: Maverick McNealy, $315,000
T18: Matt Fitzpatrick, $315,000
T21: Keegan Bradley, $252,000
T21: Ludvig Aberg, $252,000
T21: Wyndham Clark, $252,000
T24: Matt McCarty, $182,083
T24: Adam Scott, $182,083
T24: Sam Stevens, $182,083
T24: Chris Gotterup, $182,083
T24: Michael Brennan, $182,083
T24: Brian Campbell, $182,083
T30: Alex Noren, $146,250
T30: Harris English, $146,250
T30: Shane Lowry, $146,250
T33: Gary Woodland, $121,500
T33: Dustin Johnson, $121,500
T33: Brian Harman, $121,500
T33: Tommy Fleetwood, $121,500
T33: Ben Griffin, $121,500
T38: Jon Rahm, $105,750
T38: Ryan Gerard, $101,250
T38: Haotong Li, $96,750
T41: Justin Thomas, $92,250
T41: Sepp Straka, $87,750
T41: Jacob Bridgeman, $83,250
T41: Kristoffer Reitan, $78,750
T41: Nick Taylor, $74,250
46: Sungjae Im, $69,750
47: Si Woo Kim, $65,250
48: Aaron Rai, $61,650
T49: Corey Conners, $57,600
T49: Marco Penge, $57,600
51: Kurt Kitayama, $55,250
52: Sergio Garcia, $54,000
53: Rasmus Hojgaard, $52,650
54: Charl Schwartzel, $51,300

19th Hole

CBS’s Sunday Masters coverage slammed by golf fans

Published

2 months ago

Apr 13, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

While Sunday was a dramatic day at the Masters, many golf fans were left feeling frustrated by the CBS final round coverage.

There were plenty of moments that golf fans took to social media to air their frustrations on Sunday over, including a lack of shots being shown throughout the day, being behind the live action, confusion over the approach shots of the final group on 18, and providing an angle for the winning putt where the cup couldn’t be seen.

Here’s a look at some of the criticisms that were directed at the CBS coverage throughout the day on X:

This has been a brutal broadcast for CBS. When the folks from Augusta sit down with them this year, you can bet they’ll talk about this 15 seconds where we have no idea where Rory’s ball went, and Dottie moans. #TheMasters pic.twitter.com/ak3mkpIN7V

— Ryan (@PossiblyRy) April 12, 2026

It’s rare criticism coming in for CBS, who are usually heavily praised for their Masters coverage each year.

19th Hole

The surprise club Tommy Fleetwood says is key to his Masters chances

Published

2 months ago

Apr 7, 2026

Gianni Magliocco

Tommy Fleetwood goes in search for the first major victory of his career again this week, with the Englishman proving to be a popular pick at Augusta National.

Fleetwood’s best showing at Augusta came back in 2024 where he finished T3, and while speaking at his pre-tournament press conference, the 35-year-old emphasized the importance of his 9-wood in his pursuit of the green jacket.

Speaking on Tuesday to media, Fleetwood said:

“It’s a great 9-wood golf course. I think it’s always been — I can’t remember when I first put like a 9-wood in or a high lofted club, but it’s a perfect like 9-wood golf course. I’ve had that in the bag for a few years.”

The Englishman continued, revealing that his strategy for the week won’t just be to hit driver off the tee as much as possible:

“Yeah, it’s funny really because I know Augusta is probably associated with being fairly forgiving off the tee in a way, so you think you can whale around driver a little bit. But I don’t necessarily think that’s always the play for me. I think there’s holes that set up really well where I can draw it with the mini driver if I’m feeling less comfortable with the driver and things like that.”

That strategy he believes will make his TaylorMade Qi10 9-wood extra critical this week in Georgia:

“The biggest thing is the 9-wood for me. If I can put myself in position on the par-5s or the 4th long par-3, like it — for me, I can’t really hit that high 4-iron, so 9-wood helps me a lot.”