⛳ Tiger Trouble

Good morning. Three people were sentenced to prison this week after using a bear suit to fake attacks on luxury cars for insurance money, which feels like a useful reminder that some people have entirely too much confidence in a bad plan.

-Harry Carlisle

The Zurich Classic of New Orleans begins Thursday at TPC Louisiana, and it’s still the PGA TOUR’s only official team event. The field has 80 two-man teams, and the format again rotates between four-ball and foursomes.

Why it matters: This event usually feels lower-scoring and more chaotic than a normal TOUR stop, which is part of the fun.

One of the most interesting reactions to LIV’s uncertainty is this: if the league ever went away, Adelaide might be the one stop a lot of golf fans genuinely would not want to lose. LIV’s 2026 event at The Grange Golf Club in Adelaide, Australia drew more than 115,000 fans over four days, which LIV says is both a league attendance record and a record for professional golf in Australia.

That helps explain why people keep asking a bigger question: why doesn’t the PGA TOUR do more in Australia? A big reason is money. LIV Adelaide played for a $30 million purse, while the 2025 Australian PGA Championship was played for A$2.5 million. That gap is a huge part of why LIV could make Adelaide feel massive so quickly while more traditional tours have a harder time building the same kind of spectacle.

Why it matters: Adelaide may be the clearest proof yet that top-level golf can thrive well outside its usual U.S.-heavy schedule.

This week’s Chevron Championship moved to a new location, from Carlton Woods to Memorial Park. Early player feedback suggests the new venue will feel noticeably different right away.

What Hannah Green learned from Min Woo Lee

LPGA star, Hannah Green said she called Min Woo Lee because he’s won at Memorial Park on the men’s side. Green said he told her the course is “wide and that the rough is manageable”, which is useful early intel for the first Chevron at its new home.

What to know: Green is coming off four wins in 2026, including several in the last two months, which makes her course-read even more interesting this week.

Matt Fitzpatrick beat Scottie Scheffler in a playoff to win the RBC Heritage after both finished at 18-under. It was Fitzpatrick’s second title at Harbour Town and his second win in four weeks - a reminder that one of golf’s steadiest players is suddenly heating up fast.

The biggest current TGL story is expansion: Motor City Golf Club will join the league in 2027. The part worth remembering is who is behind it - the ownership group includes members of the Hamp family that owns the Detroit Lions.

Why? Detroit feels like a smart expansion because TGL is tapping into a market with strong sports identity and owners fans already recognize.

The Volvo China Open starts this week in Shanghai, and the DP World Tour says the 2026 edition has one of the event’s strongest fields in years.

Key takeaway: The field is usually the fastest signal of how seriously an event is being treated.

If the field is weak, people tend to read the event as a nice tournament, but not one the best players felt they had to play. If the field is strong, it suggests the event has enough stature, timing, prestige, or local importance to attract real names.

That’s the signal the tour is hoping to send this week.

At the Chevron Championship, one of the event’s best-known traditions is the winner jumping into water after the final putt. But this year the tournament moved to Memorial Park, and there was no natural pond in the right place near the 18th green.

So organizers built a temporary pond just to keep the tradition alive. Which is a very golf way of solving a problem.

Rory McIlroy picked up more global recognition this week, honored at the 2026 Laureus World Sports Awards in Madrid for his 2025 Masters win.

Why it matters: Golf rarely breaks through at awards like this, which is a reminder that McIlroy’s Masters Grand Slam remains one of the biggest moments in world sport.

Tiger Woods’ attorney is pushing back on prosecutors’ attempt to subpoena his prescription drug records after Woods’ March crash and DUI arrest in Florida. His lawyer, argued that Woods has a constitutional right to privacy over his medications and wants the court to decide first whether the records are actually necessary. If they are, he wants any release tightly limited.

That’s a pretty standard legal move. Defense lawyers usually challenge broad medical-record requests, especially when prosecutors may be trying to build a case around possible prescription impairment.

The next Creator Classic presented by YouTube is scheduled for May 7, the day before the Truist Championship begins.

Worth knowing: The PGA TOUR is clearly treating creator golf as part of the main show now, not just side content.

A) A lower fade
B) A higher draw or hook
C) A straight shot with less spin
D) A low slice

B) A higher draw or hook

When the ball is above your feet, the club sits more upright at address, which tends to point the face toward the player’s draw side. That usually makes the shot fly a bit higher and turn over more than expected.