19th Hole
Gambler’s heartbreaking loss at PGA Championship will make you feel sick
Winning a golf tournament is hard. Winning a major is very hard. Backing golfers to win majors can sometimes be a nightmare!
After the third round of last week’s PGA Championship, Mito Pereira stood on the 72nd tee with a small but significant advantage. He had been fighting all day to keep hold of a three shot overnight lead and, courtesy of two birdies against four bogeys, stood on the final par-4 with a single shot margin and one hand on the Wanamaker trophy.
- Related: Justin Thomas gifts caddie Bones the major winning memento he never got from Phil Mickelson
And then the bad stuff started.
As we all now know, the promising Chilean hit his drive into the creek and took a penalty stroke before flying his ball to the left hand rough. The horror continued as it took three more to record a ‘6’ and a place one shot off a two-man play-off.
Pereira looked distraught and the golf world felt for him, but it may also have felt an element of sympathy for one of Pereira’s backers, sports bettor Rufus Peabody.
Peabody, who oversees data at Unabated, a stat-based sports information company, tweeted a copy of his bet on the former Korn Ferry Tour star – $500 to win $150k. The caption? “Well, that hurt.”
Well, that hurt. pic.twitter.com/6QGCefS9SJ
— Rufus (@RufusPeabody) May 22, 2022
Having made the wager on Friday, Peabody joined the hoards of golf viewers to witness the 27-year-old go from seventh after the first round to second at halfway, before a third round 69 gave him a healthy overnight lead.
Of course, Pereira was surrounded by the likes of Justin Thomas, Will Zalatoris, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rory McIlroy and Cameron Young, so the pressure was on, but all looked calm before that wayward last tee shot and the subsequent double-bogey.
Of course, backers were not playing for the trophy or the status, nor were they playing for what would have been a historic first win on the PGA Tour, but even as a professional sports gambler, it surely hit Peabody hard?
Not a bit.
The large-staking sports investor came back on to tweet calmly:
Yeah, I feel gutted. But nothing I can do. Outside my control. Experience the disappointment. Then reset, and move on. No "what ifs" allowed. That's how you survive doing this as long as I have.
— Rufus (@RufusPeabody) May 22, 2022
It may take a while for Pereira to get over those half-a-dozen shots, but Peabody was back at work on Monday, explaining:
Find joy in the process. As I write this, code is running on my computer, digesting this week's data and recalculating golfer ratings, getting me prepared for next week's PGA and Euro tour events. Whether this week was a win or a loss, tomorrow I start at zero.
— Rufus (@RufusPeabody) May 23, 2022
Rufus will be back this week with updated wagers, and Mito will be back on the course soon enough.
What is gone is gone. Reset.
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- The chaotic F1 season finale explained in golf terms is absolutely hilarious
- ‘Don’t drink and order Taco Bell on Uber Eats’ – John Daly’s Taco Bell order is pretty incredible
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19th Hole
Brandel Chamblee has a surprising new take on the PGA Tour-LIV stand-off
One of the more outspoken analysts throughout the LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour saga has been Golf Channel’s Brandel Chamblee.
This week, Chamblee reversed course, saying he believes the PGA Tour should strike a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund (PIF).
Golf Channel Brandel Chamblee in his biggest about-face since the Framework Agreement on June 6, now says that making a deal with the PIF "is the better end of the bargain."
He says:
"The PGA Tour is in this pickle like it or not, but, do you want to compete with someone (LIV… pic.twitter.com/XDZaC1I6B8
— JCAGOLFReport (@JCAGOLFReport) May 10, 2024
“The PGA Tour is in this pickle like it or not, but, do you want to compete with someone who’s not going to go away, who can outspend you”.
“Every move they make that makes their tour better deletes your tour and causes more division within the tour. So the time is now, to Rory’s point about making a deal, I wouldn’t have said that a year ago… but it is the better end of the bargain.”
Chamblee’s new stance seems to be in line with that of Rory McIlroy, who reportedly wanted to rejoin the PGA Tour board with hopes of pushing a deal with the PIF closer to the finish line.
Chamblee will be in the booth for next week’s PGA Championship which has 16 LIV players in the field.
More from the 19th Hole
- Phil Mickelson drops big retirement hint; Says LIV will grow the game “on a much more global basis”
- 2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
- Tiger explains why golf has “negative connotations” for daughter Sam
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19th Hole
Xander Schauffele explains free drop ruling during round one of Wells Fargo Championship
During Thursday’s opening round of the Wells Fargo Championship, Xander Schauffele blasted his tee shot in the woods to the right of the fairway on the par-4 8th hole.
The ball was almost not found, but Xander’s group managed to track it down just before the three-minute time limit was reached.
When the ball was found, it was just beyond the penalty area close to a fence. In the moment, it seemed incredibly unlikely that Schauffele would be able to hit the ball through the trees towards the green.
However, through the woods and above the fairway, there was a hanging wire from a ShotLink tower that Xander claimed was in his way. He was then granted relief, and two club lengths from the spot positioned him all the way out of trouble. He played his ball onto the front of the green and two-putted for par.
Here is the full video of the interaction between Schauffele and the rules official.
??? #WATCH — The full video of the Xander Schauffele #DropGate situation ?
— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) May 9, 2024
After the round, Xander said he “got really lucky.”
“Got really lucky multiple times, on 1 with Wyndham finding it, 2, being able to move the rocks, and 3, the ShotLink tower being in like my only shot line possible. To walk out there with sort of a no breeze 4 with what I thought was almost out was a really good break.”
“Yeah, I hit it in the trees. My ball was probably like a foot, two feet from the fence. If I — ball was here, fence was kind of here, hitting back this direction.
“If I went towards the green, the fence kind of worked this way so I had what I could hit, a 4-iron or something low and just kind of run it through. If it gets stuck, I’ll just kind of hit my next one out. But I brought the rules official in there with me because I was like, you’ve got to be OK with this because this is literally the only shot I can hit.”
“So Austin [Kaiser] and I moved two massive rocks that weren’t embedded and then I got relief out of the junk and then hit a pretty good shot on the green from there. What was a very stressful moment turned into a pretty stressless par.”
Schauffele finished the round at seven under, which gives him a three-shot lead going into Friday’s second round.
More from the 19th Hole
- Phil Mickelson drops big retirement hint; Says LIV will grow the game “on a much more global basis”
- 2-time major champ announces shock retirement from the sport at age of 33
- Tiger explains why golf has “negative connotations” for daughter Sam
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19th Hole
Report: Tiger Woods voted against Rory McIlroy returning to policy board; Will be the only player negotiating directly with Saudis
According to a report from The Telegraph, the relationship between Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy has soured.
Last week, reports surfaced that McIlroy, who was a member of the PGA Tour policy board during most of the past few years, was looking to rejoin the board, presumably taking Webb Simpson’s seat.
However, on Wednesday, McIlroy revealed that he will not be rejoining the policy board, due to people on the board being “uncomfortable” with that “for some reason.”
Here's Rory McIlroy talking about the PGA Tour policy board and the "subset of people on the board that were maybe uncomfortable with me coming back on for some reason." pic.twitter.com/0skNOwtWxz
— Patrick McDonald (@pmcdonaldCBS) May 8, 2024
The Telegraph has reported that Tiger Woods was among the players who voted against McIlroy returning to the policy board.
The divide is apparently due to McIlroy pushing for the game of golf to unify, whereas Woods, reportedly, believes the PGA Tour is in a fine position where it currently stands.
The Associated Press added another wrinkle to the situation, reporting that Woods is the only player who will be negotiating directly with the Saudis.
The other members of the committee are PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, board chairman Joe Gorder, John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group, and Joe Ogilvie, who was a former PGA Tour player.
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