Rory McIlroy didn’t leave Augusta National as the Masters champion without one last purchase from the gift shop.
He said there were 1,100 pin flags remaining in the Masters Shop.
“And we took all 1,100,” McIlroy said Tuesday ahead of the Tour Championship, the end of a PGA Tour season that has been his most memorable to date all because of one Sunday in April.
“It’s been a lot,” he said of the flags he has signed. “But I’ll never get sick of signing them. I’ve waited 17 years to sign that flag in the middle, and I will never complain about doing it.”
Players sign flags all the time for fans, but the golf protocol is that only the Masters champion signs his name inside the outline of the U.S. that is part of golf's most famous logo. READ MORE
Kevin C. Cox, Getty Images
The PGA Tour announced its 2026 schedule last Tuesday, consisting of 38 tournaments preceding the fall portion, which has yet to be released.
The schedule includes nine signature events, including a new event at Trump National Doral in Miami scheduled for April 30-May 3. The new season will begin in Maui with the signature event Sentry, Jan. 8-11.
The one notable West Coast swing change is the WM Phoenix Open and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am swapping places, with the Arizona tournament going first. Pebble Beach will now be followed by the Genesis Invitational, another signature event which returns to Riviera Country Club after a one-year absence because of the Pacific Palisades wildfire.
The Florida swing remains unchanged – with the Cognizant Classic, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Players Championship and Valspar Championship in March – followed by the run-up to the Masters at the Texas Children’s Houston Open and Valero Texas Open.
Starting with the Masters, the slate will offer a six-week stretch that includes three signature events and two major championships. READ MORE
The DP World Tour has fined English pro Sam Bairstow £25,000 for a breach of the tour’s code of behavior in the wake of a rules violation that was caught on video at the recent Nexo Championship in Scotland, The Telegraph reported.
A copy of the video obtained by the newspaper shows Bairstow’s ball having moved in the rough as he prepared to play his second shot on the 14th hole at Trump International Golf Links during the first round. Bairstow played the ball from its new resting position and made a bogey 5. After a fan sent video of the incident to DP World Tour officials, Bairstow was assessed a two-stroke penalty after the round, and he disqualified himself from the tournament before the second round.
In a statement issued to The Telegraph, the tour explained: “Following the review of video footage after the conclusion of round one, it was deemed that Bairstow’s actions had caused his ball to move prior to playing a stroke from the sand dunes on the 14th hole. Before the start of round two, Bairstow felt the right decision was to disqualify himself from the tournament.
“After further investigation, Bairstow was found to be in breach of the DP World Tour’s Code of Behaviour and sanctioned accordingly. The player has a period of review to appeal the sanction.”
According to The Telegraph report, the video circulated among players and caddies, triggering a DP World Tour hearing on the matter that resulted in the fine.
“I know I should have called a referee, and I really regret that I didn’t,” Bairstow said in a statement to the newspaper. “I know who I am as a person, and so do the people who are close to me. I fully acknowledge by not calling a referee at the time, I didn’t play my part in respect of the tour and my fellow players.” READ MORE
Tap-Ins
The second TGL season will tee off Dec. 28 with a rematch of last year’s championship series between the Atlanta Drive Golf Club and the New York Golf Club at SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The opening match will be broadcast by ABC at 3 p.m. ET. The tech-infused golf league, fronted by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, said a full schedule will be released this fall. READ MORE
RBC has signed a multi-year extension of its title sponsorship of the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage and RBC Canadian Open tournaments, it was announced last Monday. READ MORE
Compiled by Mike Cullity