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Kurt Angle remains the only person to make Hulk Hogan tap out in a WWE ring, and now heâ€s recalling the moments leading up to the finish.

Hulk Hogan made his illustrious return to the company in 2002. After feuding with The Rock in the lead-up to their WrestleMania X8 classic, the Hulkster found himself facing a slew of new opponents — one of whom turned out to be Kurt Angle.

The two faced off at the King of the Ring pay-per-view event on June 23, 2002. The finish of the match saw Angle submit Hogan with his infamous ankle lock submission, making him the first person in WWE history to make The Immortal One.

Kurt Angle recalls tapping out Hulk Hogan

During a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, Kurt Angle explained the outcome of the match, revealing they included the rope-break spot to set up a potential rematch.

“What he did is, just in case we were gonna wrestle again, continue the storyline, Hogan grabbed the ropes and tapped out, so he could always bring up that excuse, ‘listen Kurt, you didnâ€t make me tap out, I was holding the ropes. Lets go againâ€. So they were leaving it open in case we wanted to do another program,†Kurt said.

“Unfortunately it never happened, so I go down in history as making Hulk Hogan tap out… I was a fanboy like holy crap Iâ€m wrestling Hulk Hogan, I was so excited, I think he thought maybe I was gonna hurt him, but I was just so ramped up to be wrestling Hulk Hogan, I grew up watching the guy. I wasnâ€t even a big wrestling fan, I grew up watching Bruno Sammartino and Hulk Hogan.†[H/T: WrestleTalk]

Kurtâ€s recollection of the closing stretch seems a bit sketchy. While Hogan did reach the ropes, he never broke the hold, as Angle dragged him back to the center of the ring to apply full pressure with the Ankle Lock, ultimately forcing the Hulkster to tap out. Check out the closing moments of the match below:

READ MORE: Kurt Angle Gives His Take On How Triple H Is Doing With WWEâ€s Creative

Do you have a favorite Kurt Angle versus Hulk Hogan match? Let us know your overall thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below!

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The PGA Tour announced on Wednesday that its 2026 season opener, the Sentry, is canceled.

Curiously, it wasn’t the only Kapalua-related announcement on Wednesday. The Plantation Course — the pride of Maui and longtime host to the first event of the Tour’s calendar season — added a banner to its website trumpeting the fact that it’s now booking tee times after closing the course for two months.

So what on earth is going on?

This is a story of drought, of course conditions and of Hawaiian politics. But it has also become a story about the PGA Tour’s future, about its vision and its strategy and its relationships with markets and sponsors. Let’s talk through a few of the complicating factors together, Q&A-style.

Wait — why aren’t they having the Sentry at Kapalua like they normally do?

The simplest answer is that water restrictions on Maui (resulting from a combination of drought, infrastructure, streams, ditches, lawsuits, finger-pointing and more) called into question the course’s readiness to host a premier field in January. Tournament officials and PGA Tour representatives deliberated and ultimately decided last month that the Sentry wouldn’t happen as scheduled.

An earlier release on the decision cited conditioning concerns and explained that they pulled the plug early because of “logistical complexities unique to staging a tournament on the island of Maui.”

“These include shipping deadlines, vendor coordination and tournament infrastructure build-out — all of which are intensified by the island’s remote location,” the Tour wrote.

So how bad is the course, really?

Honestly? If you’ve seen posts of browned-out fairways on social media, it’s probably not as bad as you’d think. There are two courses at Kapalua, the Plantation and the Bay, and the resort has doubled down on its efforts to revitalize the Plantation — while some of the more viral images, like the one below, have been from the sepia-toned Bay.

As for the Plantation Course? They have a live view of the first tee which you can check out here, and below is a screenshot from Wednesday afternoon ET.

A Wednesday screen-grab from Kapalua’s live cam.

Kapalua

This is hardly proof of anything; we don’t have up-close looks at how well grass has grown in on the greens, for instance. But we’re still two-plus months from the start of the tournament. If everybody involved had been committed to the idea that the Sentry must be played at Kapalua this year, it seems like they could have done so. One way to think about this is that Tour doesn’t like uncertainty. Combining complex local politics with the uncertainty of the course conditions and everything required to get equipment, vending and personnel to Maui contributed to pulling the plug.

Wait, so why not have it somewhere else?

Good question! There was talk of holding the Sentry elsewhere. Torrey Pines, which served as fill-in host for last year’s Genesis, was a possibility, as were other options, from Palm Springs to Florida. Ultimately, those in charge decided that the logistical challenges of pulling together a last-minute replacement venue weren’t worth it. That’s not a particularly satisfying answer, but another way to think about it is this: The Tour and this tournament are each in reset mode. It wasn’t worth pulling out all the stops to make the Sentry happen in a less-than-satisfactory way.

There was also this comment from Sentry’s Stephanie Smith in the release:

“The Sentry is a jewel in the PGA Tour schedule,” said Smith, chief marketing and brand officer and chief golf partnership officer at Sentry. “We were determined to find a way to play a signature level event in 2026 – one that honored the tournament’s tradition and provided the quality of competition that players and fans have come to expect. Despite the Tour’s best efforts, it became impossible to do that. Sentry is committed to our long-term relationship with the Tour – which runs through 2035 – and the Sentry’s place as a prominent event. While 2026 will not turn out as we would have liked, we’re optimistic about the future.”

Are there other complicating factors?

There are! One is the fact that the Sentry is no longer the only early-January competition on the golf calendar. The DP World Tour’s 2026 Dubai Invitational is scheduled for the week after the Sentry (Jan. 15-18) and has already gotten commitments from Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood; they’re also among the top Europeans expected at the following week’s Hero Dubai Desert Classic (Jan. 22-25).

There’s also TGL, which kicks off in Florida on Sunday, Dec. 28, and then features matches on Monday or Tuesday every week of January — which raised eyebrows when the schedule was released, given it’s tough to combine a Tuesday TGL match with a Thursday tournament tee time in Hawaii.

So … where does the PGA Tour season start?

Technically the first PGA Tour event of the season will be the Sony Open in Hawaii, with balls in the air for the first round on Jan. 15. But it may not feel quite like the full-on PGA Tour will be underway; top pros who typically island-hop from the Sentry to the Sony may not make the trip at all.

It’ll be interesting to see if we get a beefed-up field when the Tour returns to the mainland with the American Express in Palm Springs Jan. 22-25. That’s followed by the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines (Jan. 29-Feb. 1) and the WM Phoenix Open (Feb. 5-8) before, at last, the first Signature Event, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Feb. 12-15). From there, things will hit warp speed (eight Signature Events plus the Players and all four majors in the next 23 weeks). But it’s an admittedly slower start with the Sentry off the schedule.

Does this mean the end of PGA Tour golf in Hawaii?

The answer there is a very definitive maybe. There have been no final decisions made about the future of the Sentry nor Sony, but the Tour appears to be assessing all its options — and has been clear about the built-in challenges that come with hosting pro events in Hawaii.

On the one hand, there’s a long tradition of early season tournament golf in Hawaii. Cold-weather golf fans have grown to love being transported to Kapalua’s epic Hawaiian hillsides for primetime viewing the first week of the year. Players who make the trek love starting their seasons there and love bringing their families, too. And Sentry recently extended its partnership with the Tour and that kickoff event through 2035.

On the other hand, having a massive golf tournament on a remote island chain is expensive. It’s a logistical challenge from tournament operations and TV production standpoints. And Hawaii doesn’t have the population centers of its mainland counterparts, making revenue generation tougher. Reading between the lines of the Tour’s statement, it sounds committed to its relationship with Sentry (“a tremendous partner of ours”) but avoided any mention of the tournament’s future at Kapalua. Add in the fact that Sony’s deal expires in 2026, combine that with the Tour’s new leadership, and it’s easy to imagine a world where the season begins somewhere else — and somewhere easier to get to.

What does this mean for the future of the PGA Tour?

Nothing, yet. But it’s a reminder that change is coming. That everything is being assessed. That the Future Competition Committee, chaired by Tiger Woods, has been tasked with creating the Tour’s “optimal competitive model.” As new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp said in August:

“The goal is not incremental change. The goal is significant change.”

That committee also includes Tour pros Patrick Cantlay, Adam Scott, Camilo Villegas, Maverick McNealy and Keith Mitchell — as well as ex-Valero CEO Joe Gorder, Fenway Sports Group’s John Henry and baseball-executive-turned-sports-visionary Theo Epstein. They’ll have more to say, in time.

For now all we know for sure is that the first Tour event of 2026 is off the schedule. We can only guess at what changes come next.

Was the most nervous shot at a Ryder Cup a basketball shot?

Maybe, maybe not. To decide that, the ball’s in your court, so to say. But the shooter did say he hadn’t felt nerves like he did that day in a while.

And that shooter was also Michael Jordan.

The story comes via the first night of NBC’s coverage of the NBA, on a segment featuring Jordan and announcer Mike Tirico called “MJ: Insights to Excellence.” The exchange can be found by clicking on the video below, and below that will be some additional thoughts.

Michael Jordan was nervous over a free throw at a Ryder Cup?

He said he was. The story started when Tirico asked him when was the last time he’d picked up a basketball.

Said Jordan: “I haven’t picked up a ball in years.”

Said Tirico: “No, come on. Just like walk past. There’s got to be a hoop somewhere at your place.”

Said Jordan: “You don’t see a hoop anywhere around here, right?”

Said Tirico: “I don’t. So seriously, the last time you picked up a basketball and shot it?”

After a pause, Jordan said that came at a Ryder Cup. [He didn’t say which one, though; Jordan has been to several.]

Here is how the shot came about:

“I rented a house from the owner,” Jordan said. “He came over to do pictures. He had grandkids. And I was meet-and-greet and thank him for allowing me to stay in the house, and he had a basketball court. He says, ‘I want you to shoot one free throw.’ I said, ‘Really?’ Now, I already paid for the house; it’s not like he got to see me.

“So when I stepped up to shoot the free throw, that’s the most nervous I’ve been in years.”

Really? Why?

“Those kids heard the stories from the parents about what I did 30 years ago,” Jordan said. “So their expectation is 30 years prior and I haven’t touched a basketball.”

Good point. Here on the segment, Tirico asked if Jordan swished the shot.

“Absolutely,” Jordan said. “I got the most gratifying of that — that made my whole week is that I was able to please that kid not knowing if I could.”

The takeaway: We’d love to see a picture or video of this moment. If you’re reading this and are the owner of the house, please email the writer at nick.piastowski@golf.com.

Were there any more insights from Jordan?

There were. Tirico wondered if Jordan still loved the game of basketball — and Jordan said “love it like you wouldn’t believe.”

“In all honesty,” he continued, “I wish I can take a magic pill, put on shorts and go out and play the game of basketball today because that’s who I am. That type of competition, that type of competitiveness is what I live for. And I miss it. I miss that aspect of playing the game of basketball, being able to challenge myself against what people see as great basketball.

“But it’s better for me to be sitting here talking to you as opposed to popping my Achilles and I’m in a wheelchair for a while.”

Said Tirico: “But it’s nice to be able to share the things that can still make the game great going forward from your perspective.”

Said Jordan: “Yeah. I think one of the things why I did this [the interview] is as professional athletes, we have an obligation to pay it forward. That’s part of what this is all about is to pay it forward.”

The takeaway: The Jordan Q&A should make for an interesting watch, for sure.

AEW star MVP could link up with an old WWE co-worker in the future to make a movie about his life.

On a new episode of his Marking Out podcast, MVP was asked if he’s given thought to turning his life story into a book or movie. MVP said he has considered the idea but has not done anything concrete like writing a manuscript yet. He’s had early talks with WWE legend Dave Bautista about Bautista’s production company Dogbone Entertainment bringing his story to the big screen.

“I have thought about it, and many people have asked me about it, and it’s something that I want to do. And I’ve actually talked to my good friend Dave Bautista,” MVP said.

“We’ve talked about, with his production company, taking the steps to turn my life story into a movie. It’s something that — I trust Dave to do it. I wouldn’t trust just anybody with it, because my life story is not PG, man. My life story is rated R as [f*ck]. Rated X. I mean, legit, we have to get it like PG-13 at the minimal. But, yeah, it’s something Dave and I have talked about, and it’s on the back burner.â€

MVP believes his life story — which includes spending nearly a decade in jail for committing an armed robbery on a cruise ship — is one that would make a great film.

“My life is a movie, man. A movie in the making,” he said. “From my teenage years in Miami as a graffiti artist/gang member, becoming an armed robber, going to prison, nine and a half years in prison, and all the bullsh*t I survived and saw in there, and then coming out and becoming — well, being a bouncer and bodyguard on South Beach, and selling weed and steroids to support my wrestling habit, going on to eventually making it as a professional wrestler.”

When it comes to writing a book about his life, MVP has not started that process yet because he wouldn’t want to use a ghostwriter. He would want to write the book himself like Chris Jericho, Mick Foley, and Bret Hart have.

At WrestleDream this past weekend, The Hurt Syndicate (MVP, Bobby Lashley & Shelton Benjamin) became the new number one contenders to the AEW Trios titles. They will be challenging Samoa Joe, Powerhouse Hobbs & Katsuyori Shibata for the belts.

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Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I’m calling this the Weekend 9. Think of it as a spot to warm you up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We’ll have thoughts. We’ll have tips. We’ll have tweets. But just nine in all, though sometimes maybe more and sometimes maybe less. As for who I am? The paragraphs below tell some of the story. I can be reached atnick.piastowski@golf.com.

Why do you want to write this story?

A great question. And one I usually have no trouble answering, as you go to places with at least some understanding of what’s about to unfold. For example, the Masters? Because it’s the Masters. Easy enough. Everyone gets that. But standing in front of a dozen inmates and a superintendent inside their prison, I paused this time. I had encouraged the question — I simply asked: What do you want to know about me? And the query in the paragraph above was the first one I got.

To take a quick step back here, this week, on GOLF.com, a story headlined “‘I never thought I’d be golfing, let alone in prison’: Here, golf offers a second chance” was published. In a sentence, the story is about how a prison in Washington state is using golf as a rehabilitation tool — but I’d need a few paragraphs to explain fully what that all entails. Maybe you’d wonder:

What does that look like?

How did it start?

Should inmates even be allowed to play golf in prison? Should they be rehabilitated? Or should they be punished?

And why is this being written?

That took a while to answer. I wanted to say the right words. This was my chance to connect, I thought. That I wasn’t there for the benefit of getting a story. That I was there to share it.

I remember saying this then:

“Because you all are playing golf, too.”

And, over the course of a few days, they did, and GOLF.com videographer Darren Riehl and I were invited in. Cedar Creek Golf Club played on its home turf — an old softball diamond at Cedar Creek Corrections Center — where pitch shots were hit and some drives were deposited over a 15-foot fence rimmed with barbed wire. And CCGC also played their first-ever ‘real’ round, during a day outing to The Home Course in Washington. At times, they wanted to see us hit too, and we did — and we were trash-talked, and we trash-talked them. (More on that in a sec.)

All of that’s golf, right?

And since it is, there’s a chance that some of the inmates will adopt a few of the principles of the game that the sport’s romantics believe in. Tim Thrasher, Cedar Creek’s superintendent, thought that when he started the program.

All of which sounds like a story.

With that, I’m switching things up in this Weekend 9. There’ll still be a mix of items — some light and some not-so-light. But today, they’ll all be centered around Cedar Creek Golf Club, if that’s OK with you.

Let’s see if we can find eight more.

2.If you’re unfamiliar with the story, you can read it here.

And you can watch it below.

3.As part of the story, I interviewed Professor Kimora, a full adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York who has studied and worked at prisons throughout the world. One question I asked her was why golf wasn’t played in more prisons. Her answer is below.

“It actually helps people. I’m just being blunt. Rehabilitation is not a big part of this country. I have taught in prisons and jails for over 30 years. … This country does not believe in rehabilitation when it comes to corrections. What it does believe in is a lot of punishment, thinking that’s going to make somebody better, and it doesn’t. Research proves it.

“Rehabilitation, when done right, is a good thing for everybody because it helps build character. It helps build people. It gives them a sense to take responsibility for the problems that they caused others and to make amends. This is why we have much more interest in restorative justice; that’s another whole topic. But we don’t have enough of these kinds of programs like golf in general because it means it’s believing in people and that they’re actually going to get better. A lot of people working in corrections, sad to say, are not concerned with that. They’re just not. They think of punitive stuff. They don’t care about the people that are in there. It’s very sad to watch, very sad to watch.”

4. Another reason Thrasher started the program?

For him and his staff.

According to an article found on the Department of Justice’s website, the average life expectancy of a prison worker is 59. Non-prison workers, meanwhile, live to an average age of 75.

“Golf is the secondary byproduct of this,” Thrasher said. “It’s about golf, but it’s not. It’s about enhancing incarcerated and staff. Interactions, just improving those communications. We work in an environment that potentially could be negative, and it is sometimes, but every interaction doesn’t have to be negative. So the enhanced communications. Yeah, it’s nice that they might be learning a new hobby — that’s another reason. But I have an inherent belief that programs like these — that enhance communication, that enhance idleness reduction, that do all these things — bring that tense tone of an environment down, which I hope ultimately helps the staff be less stressed. And hopefully they leave having a better day.

“The studies are different and the numbers are a little bit different, but the lifespan of a correctional worker is under 60. And part of that is the stress of the job, so if we can work with programs like this to lower the stressfulness of this environment and live longer, that was another one of the motivators for doing this program.”

5. What was it like inside the prison?

Mostly quiet, though Cedar Creek is in the Washington woods. (There was zero cellphone reception, actually.) Lots of pickleball was also being played, and on one of the days we were there, a few inmates were taking GED tests. There are occasional issues, but there were also mostly calm interactions between the prisoners and the guards. Thrasher said he tried to remember every one of the inmates’ names.

Cedar Creek also has a program where inmates rehabilitate turtles — you can read more about it here — and a photo of one of the turtles can be found below.

A turtle at Cedar Creek Corrections Center.

Nick Piastowski

6. In the story, I wrote this:

Should former inmates be allowed to play golf with their prison superintendent?

Brandon has. He played in CCGC while incarcerated, and on a recent Sunday afternoon, he played nine holes on a real course with Thrasher. He was nervous; it was his first actual round in years, and, as he put it, “when you’re part of the criminal underworld, you don’t exactly have time for golf.” Brandon dressed like a Tour pro — red Titleist hat, a white polo shirt, blue pants — though Thrasher wondered if the patriotic-looking ensemble was a nod to the late Hulk Hogan.

Thrasher, who’s a single-digit handicap, also told Brandon on the sixth tee that if he could beat him on just one hole on the way in, he would give him one of the T-shirts he recently had made for CCGC. Thrasher’s first shot found water; Brandon laid up. Game on. But Brandon’s second shot also found water after he topped it. Then he chunked one. Thrasher grabbed his phone and hit the play button. David Bowie and Freddie Mercurybegan to sing.

Pressure

Pushing down on me

Pressing down on you

No man ask for

Under pressure

You may be wondering, though: Did I capture that on video?

Yes, I did. And it is below.

7. There was more from the round with Brandon and Thrasher.

On the second hole of our round, on my second shot, I propped my ball up. I do it often. My friends do it, too. The usual line is “it’s winter somewhere,” a reference to ‘winter rules.’ But as he sat in a cart a few yards behind me, Brandon said:

“I can’t believe you cheated in front of a cop.”

So CCGC is big on the rules of golf.

8. At Cedar Creek, we also were asked to play during a pitching contest. And I won. My prize?

A loofah.

Thrasher awards toiletry items during the games — they’re appreciated, as personal things are limited — and the biggest is the loofah. I let the runner-up take it, though.

9. Were we trash-talked? Yes.

After the round at The Home Course, I asked Rodron, one of the inmates, for some thoughts, and the exchange can be found below. My apologies for the language.

10. Let’s do 10 items.

If you’re interested in watching a movie with a similar theme as what is happening at Cedar Creek, please check out “Sing Sing.” It features the theatre program for inmates at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York.

11. Let’s do 11 items.

Several people have asked how they can help the program. To do so, please email me at nick.piastowski@golf.com, and I can put you in touch with the prison.

12. Let’s do 12 items.

On Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after our Cedar Creek content published, I talked with Thrasher.

He said that Tejuan, one of the main ‘characters’ in the story and the video, had been brought to his office by Tejuan’s therapist, and together they watched the video. A few minutes in, Tejuan started to tear up. He was happy people could watch it.

Afterward, the therapist told Thrasher that that was the reason the therapist had gotten into his line of work.

Rory McIlroy’s priorities have shifted. At this week’s DP World India Championship, the impact of those changes is materializing.

When LIV Golf arrived on the scene three years ago, McIlroy took up the mantle of PGA Tour spokesperson. He was front and center defending the PGA Tour in its moment of need. He worked to try to reshape the PGA Tour with Signature Events and mandatory appearances. But when the Framework Agreement between the PGA Tour and LIV was announced, McIlroy shifted his focus. He resigned his board seat, skipped Signature Events and even ditched a FedEx Cup Playoff stop to focus on playing a more global schedule.

McIlroy hoped pro golf would come together and form a more global tour that would send the sport’s stars around the world, and not just from Florida to California with the occasional stop in the U.K. But he clearly understands that the fractured world of pro golf isn’t going to magically reunify any time soon, so he’s taking it upon himself to go to all corners of the globe. He’s focusing on national opens, from Canada to Ireland and Australia, and playing where he wants, when he wants.

That brings us to this week’s inaugural DP World India Championship, where McIlroy touched down in India for the first time in his career. Now, McIlroy isn’t doing this for free. He understands his value and is getting an appearance fee, as are Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry, Ben Griffin and Luke Donald. But it would be unfair to assume he’s doing it just for the money. McIlroy has pledged to start playing a more global schedule and is starting to back that up. He recently cited tennis superstar Roger Federer as an inspiration to start taking his talents to places that don’t normally see him tee it up.

“I think India has a wonderful culture,” McIlroy said Wednesday about his first time in India. “I think the people are unbelievably welcoming and hospitable and gentle. … Golf has become quite a big sport in this country, but hopefully I can help it become even bigger.

“I’d love more people to watch golf. That would be amazing,” McIlroy said later about his long-term hope for golf’s growth worldwide. “But I would be more interested in getting more people to play the game, and I think when people play the game, then they learn and they can acknowledge what golf is, what it represents, and the sort of etiquette and the values that you need to adhere to when you play the game.”

Regardless of appearance fees, the special thing about what’s taking place in India this week is that this event has never happened before. The event was created out of thin air to give a golf-loving country a groundbreaking new event. The sponsorship for this event from DP World included a $4 million prize fund and a relationship that was integral to getting McIlroy and others to show up in a country starved for golf. The downstream impact of people watching Rory McIlroy hit a golf ball, Roger Federer swing a tennis racket or Steph Curry shoot a basketball is unquantifiable.

On Thursday, during the first round of the DP World India Championship, the crowds around McIlroy and Viktor Hovland showed the impact an event like this can have.

There were similar scenes at DLF Golf and Country Club when Bryson DeChambeau competed in the International Series India in January.

“Educate, entertain, inspire are my main three principles of why I play the game of golf,” DeChambeau said in January of his decision to play in India. “I think this is an amazing opportunity for all of golf to come together and see what India can truly produce for the world. And it’s a growing economy, it’s a growing population that need golf. There’s a lot more to come, so that’s why I’m here.”

Raj Khosla, president of Delhi Golf Club, has said that the McIlroy-headlined tournament is a “landmark moment” for Indian golf. The hope is that this event will continue to attract global stars and elevate golf in the world’s most populous country.

The scenes on Thursday and at DLF in January show the impact the world’s best can have when they break new ground. Rope lines packed to the gills as fans try to get a glimpse of the golf stars that have parachuted in. Thousands of eyeballs transfixed on players many probably never thought would peg it in their country. The impact isn’t felt just by those outside the ropes.

“It’s something I have dreamt a lot of times, watching Rory, Tommy on TV and thinking one day that I want to be playing next to them,” home favorite Dhruv Sheoran, who shot four under in Round 1 to beat McIlroy by a shot, said. “It’s a dream come true in a way. I couldn’t sleep at night thinking that I’m going to be playing alongside them, so it’s really surreal to be playing here.”

For McIlroy, competing in places that don’t normally see him, or have never seen him in person, is something he plans to cement in his schedule. He’s still the PGA Tour’s needle, but his priorities are making a global shift as he focuses on a grander goal to bring golf to countries with untapped potential to become golfing hotbeds.

“I would say as time goes on, my schedule will get hopefully more international,” McIlroy said. “Because that’s what I’ve enjoyed doing. I’ve always said that. But I think over the last few years, I’ve enjoyed it even more. I’ve enjoyed the travel. I’ve enjoyed getting to play in front of people that I’ve never played in front of before.”

On Thursday, the scene spoke for itself.

Golfers don’t always retire. Not clearly and publicly, at least. Because they don’t need teams to sign them to contracts, because tour status has plenty shades of gray, because the physical demands of the sport are lesser than, say, football, professional golf careers can just…keep going.

We do sometimes get chances to bid farewell to our big-time golf stars, if decades later than we would in other sports; think Arnold Palmer in his final U.S. Open at 64 or Jack Nicklaus in his final Masters at 65. But the rank-and-file players who compose the fields of the biggest tournaments in the world? They might eventually play a reduced schedule, or on a different tour, or set their sights on the senior tour, perhaps slightly less each year until it’s finally time.

And so I found it unexpectedly moving to listen to the post-round interviews of several PGA Tour Champions players after last week’s SAS Championship, the final regular-season event, as they considered the ends of their respective careers. The average NFL career is a little over three years; the longest ones run 15 or so. But most guys on the senior tour have been pro golfers their entire adult life. There’s something that feels bigger about considering the end. And it comes with a mix of gratitude, sadness, peace, longing, acceptance, resistance.

Scott Dunlap was wistful about the passage of time but sounded remarkably grateful for a second phase of his career that exceeded all expectations — even if it still feels a bit surreal.

“You know, when it’s time, it’s time. It’s been a whole lot better run than I ever thought it would be,” he said. “And looking forward to the next thing, which won’t be making three-footers … I mean, you know, you age out. I saw it when I got out here, guys that were near the end, and lo and behold it happened to me.”

It’s hardly all been sunshine and roses — “you know, it’s always fun to compete but it hasn’t been fun to not play well,” he said — but big-picture?

“Well, I feel like I robbed a bank. This post-50 thing has been amazing,” Dunlap added. “Did okay on the PGA Tour, not a great career, had to go to the qualifying school to make it.

“But my time out here has been a blessing … make a whole lot more money playing golf post-50? I can’t think of any other sport where this opportunity avails itself to somebody. I couldn’t be happier. Now it’s time to go have some fun.”

Mark Walkerexpressed gratitude, too, but sounded less at peace with the idea that this could be it.

“What now? Not sure,” he said. “I don’t know what this is going to look like moving forward. May be done, golf may be over. Not sure yet, but we’ll see.”

Here Walker seemed to be referencing the PGA Tour Champions’ latest decision to eliminate Q-School — effectively closing off access to those not otherwise qualified.

“Just because they’re limiting the spots, there’s nowhere to play. It’s just getting harder and harder to even get a start out here,” he said. He’s still clearly a competitor with plenty of self-belief — but the realities of the game have caught up to him.

“I didn’t give up,” he said. “Really struggled with my game, tried to just keep fighting, working on it. For 75 percent of the year I didn’t have my game. Kind of started coming around at the very end, but a little too late. A little too late in the year.”

What would he miss, if this is the end?

“It’s been wonderful,” he said. “[I’ll] just miss the competition, miss the guys out here. Competition, mainly. That’s what gets you up in the morning, waking up and knowing you have a place to compete and test your game.”

Brandt Jobe still has some competitive golf in his future — but he, too, is coming to terms with a more limited schedule.

“You know what, take some time off and reflect a little bit, see next year what tournaments I get in. Obviously I still have the desire to do it, so we’ll see. I don’t know where that’s going to land me or how many opportunities,” he said.

“I remember coming out here saying if you give me five years, that would be great, and I got 10. If next year’s 10 tournaments, 12 tournaments, whatever it is, embrace it.”

And then there’s Kirk Triplett, who said with a warm smile that he’s doing everything he can to resist that final day coming.

“I’ve talked to a few guys that I always try and learn from, the people that came before, and to a man they say, ‘do not stop playing until your eligibility is up because you will miss it.’

“So if I had something to do, like if you need an assistant or you know anybody, right, maybe it would be easier,” he said, addressing the interviewer with a laugh. “But for right now I’m a PGA Tour Champions professional. And when’s the next tournament?”

For Triplett, though, there’s good news: the next tournament is this week. He snagged the final spot in the Schwab Cup’s playoffs, finishing No. 72 on the money list, just a couple hundred bucks ahead of Jobe.

Another start. At a point in his career where they all start to feel a little more precious.

On Saturday, the Pittsburgh Penguins were set to square off against the New York Rangers for the second time in three games to start the season. They got the best of Mike Sullivan’s Rangers the first time around in a 3-0 opening night shutout.

This game – even if it started out pretty promising – did not have the same result.

Trailing just 1-0 after the first period on a shorthanded goal by Mika Zibanejad and outshooting the Rangers, 9-4, the Penguins opened up the second period strong, as Ben Kindel scored his first career NHL goal to tie the game. But the Penguins allowed five unanswered goals to the Rangers and were defeated by a score of 6-1.

Even after Adam Fox scored to put the Rangers back in front, 2-1, the Penguins didn’t lose much momentum. However, it all seemed to go downhill after a missed holding call that saw Penguins’ forward Bryan Rust – who returned to the lineup Saturday after missing the first two games to injury – get hauled to the ice, and then a subsequent hooking penalty by Kindel resulted in a Rangers’ power play goal by Will Cuylle.

“Got on the wrong side of the puck, kind of a lazy penalty in the o-zone,” Kindel said. “So, something I definitely want back and will definitely learn from it. I can’t be costing my team like that. They scored a big goal on the power play there, and it kind of changed the momentum of the game, so just going to learn from those things.”

From there, New York took over. And, unfortunately, the special teams woes didn’t end there for the Penguins.

With less than five minutes to go in the second, the Penguins took a bench penalty for Too Many Men, and Fox lit the lamp for the second time in the game to put the Rangers up, 4-1. In the third period, Matt Rempe and Taylor Raddysh added goals for the Rangers, and they walked out winners.

Penguins’ Top Forward Prospect Ben Kindel Records First Career NHL Goal
Just one game after Pittsburgh Penguins’ 19-year-old defensive prospect Harrison Brunicke tallied his first goal in the National Hockey League on a beauty of a wrist shot off the rush, the other teenager on the Penguins’ roster did the same thing.

When Rust was asked what went wrong in the second period and on special teams, he chalked it up to the Penguins’ lack of response in the detail of their game.

“We didn’t handle it well,” Rust said. “We let in one goal there, and I just think we just kind of lost our details on both the kill and the PP.”

It wasn’t a pretty one, but there were some positives and negatives. Here are some thoughts and observations:

– There were few standout players in this game after the first 20 minutes of play, but I do want to start with Connor Dewar. He did not register a goal, but he tied for the team lead in shot attempts and was very noticeable.

In the first period, he generated a few scoring chances on his own. On one occasion, he forced a turnover at center ice and brought the puck into the offensive zone himself, skating around a defender before getting a shot off. He was cycling well down low, good on forecheck as per usual, and finding the net-front with regularity.

I quite liked Dewar’s game in the pre-season, and that has – so far – carried into the regular season.

– Probably the player who stood out positively the most in this game, however, was Filip Hallander.

He was everywhere. The 25-year-old forward was generating chances down low for his linemates, crashing the net, using his vision and playmaking skills to find the open man and get creative. The puck just kept finding him, and he kept delivering on creating space and generating chances.

Youth Movement Cultivating Fresh Identity For Penguins
On Thursday night against the New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins’ rookie defenseman Harrison Brunicke became the first teenager to score a goal for the Penguins since Daniel Sprong in 2015.

If anyone else deserved a goal Saturday, it was Hallander. He’s one of the hardest workers on this team, and if he keeps playing like this, that hard work is going to be rewarded.

– Speaking of deserving goals, what else can I say about Kindel and Harrison Brunicke?

Kindel did take that hooking penalty in the second period, but – that aside – he turned in another solid performance. His goal was a thing of beauty, as it certainly isn’t easy to snipe a longer-range wrister past one of the best goaltenders in the league in Igor Shesterkin. And, not only that, Kindel also capitalized off of a neutral zone turnover by the Rangers, and he carried the puck into the zone and scored off the rush.

His 200-foot game is really showing up for the Penguins, and he continues to get better.

“The offensive side, I think it’s been there pretty consistently,” head coach Dan Muse said. “This guy has got a lot of poise with the puck, puts himself in great areas, then defensively, I think it’s an area he’s continued to get better. He’s young. There’s going to be the details of the game, there’s going to be little things that constantly are coming up, as they should, and I think it’s just going to be good for just continuing to learn the game at this level.

“It’s different. This is the highest league in the world. So, while there’s been a lot of good, there’s also plenty of learning that should be taking place and will be taking place.”

Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) on X
TAKE A BOW, KID ðŸŒ

As far as Brunicke, it wasn’t a flawless game, but it was another good one. And there was a moment when the 19-year-old stood up for a teammate, too.

Near the end of the second period, Rangers’ rookie forward Noah Laba took Penguins’ forward Blake Lizotte down against the boards in front of the Rangers’ bench. Brunicke took exception and went after Laba, which did make the Penguins shorthanded again to start the third period.

However, the gesture didn’t go unnoticed by teammates.

“It’s huge. That kid is out there defending his teammate,” Rust said. “He isn’t scared to go in there. He isn’t scared to do something for the team, and I think that takes a lot of character.”

They’re both supremely talented players with elite hockey sense, and the returns in production are already starting to show. If they keep this up, they need to stay. Period. They’re getting better with each and every game, and they’ve earned it up to this point.

– Onward to the negative, I have not been particularly inspired by the play of Caleb Jones through three games. He is, by far, recording the lowest ice time per game among Penguins’ defensemen, and, speed aside, he just isn’t bringing much.

Matt Dumba and Connor Clifton – both right-shot defensemen – worked a bit on their off-sides during the pre-season, and they have both played their off-sides at some point. It’s probably about time to give one of those guys a game, anyway. The left side could benefit from some experimentation.

– Kris Letang was injured during this game and only played one shift in the third period. Muse said Letang is being evaluated for an injury, but he did not specify the type.

This will be an interesting situation to monitor, especially since the Penguin head out West next week. If he goes to injured reserve, the Penguins already have eight defensemen, and – as mentioned before – they have two right-shot defensemen who have been scratched for the first three games.

My feeling is that they may end up recalling a forward instead of another d-man, should Letang be out longer-term.

Kelsey Surmacz (@kelsey_surmacz4) on X
#LetsGoPens    head coach Dan Muse said defenseman Kris Letang is being evaluated for an injury.

– After two outstanding games, Erik Karlsson was not particularly good in this one. Like everyone else, he started out well in the first 20 – aside from failing to take away the pass on the shorthanded two-on-one that led to Zibanejad’s goal – and fell apart afterwards.

He wasn’t even credited with any giveaways in this game. It just looked like the life got sucked out of him in the second, and he began to get more hesitant with the puck, along with the rest of his teammates.

– On a positive note, it was a warm reception for Sullivan in Pittsburgh. The Penguins showed a nice tribute on the video board during the first TV timeout, and he received a standing ovation.

Sullivan has never been known to show emotion, but he got a little teary-eyed while this was happening. As the winningest coach in franchise history – and after 10 years in Pittsburgh – he deserved the ovation that he got.

Really nice tribute by the Penguins and by the Pittsburgh faithful.

Mike Sullivan’s Time In Pittsburgh Deserves To Be Celebrated
If folks have been keeping tabs on the Pittsburgh Penguins for the last year and a half, they very well know that the organization is going through a plethora of change.

Bookmark THN – Pittsburgh Penguins on your Google News tab  to follow the latest Penguins news, roster moves, player features, and more!

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Life as a professional golfer can be brutal, isolating and level you with crippling self-doubt. For every star, countless guys are scraping and clawing to get a foothold in the professional game, keep their heads above water and build a career for themselves.

Guys like Steven Fisk.

The 28-year-old PGA Tour rookie had a trying first year on the top circuit. The Georgia Southern product made 13 cuts in 22 starts but only had one top-10 finish, which came at the Puerto Rico Open. The summer was especially tough for Fisk, who carded just one top-30 finish in his final eight starts of the PGA Tour regular season, leaving him well outside the top-100 bubble entering the FedEx Cup Fall Series.

Fisk finished T30 at the Procore Championship, which Scottie Scheffler won as a Ryder Cup tune-up. That left him at 135 on the FedEx Cup points list entering this week’s Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi. Fisk opened with a two-under 70 but then fired back-to-back seven-under 65s to get within two shots of 54-hole leader Garrick Higgo entering Sunday’s final round.

After a year spent getting a crash course in the realities of professional golf, Fisk knew he had to make the most of Sunday. With the fall season dwindling down and a trip back to the Korn Ferry Tour staring him in the face, the final round in Jackson might be his last, best chance to keep his head above water on the PGA Tour.

Steven Fisk’s final round highlights at Sanderson Farms Championship

Fisk turned in three-under 33 and then birdied the 11th to grab the outright lead. Higgo, a two-time PGA Tour winner, responded with birdies at 13, 14 and 15 to tie Fisk at 21 under. With three holes left and a career-changing win hanging in the balance, Fisk closed in style. He rolled in a 41-foot birdie putt at No. 16 to match Higgo and stay tied at 22 under.

On 17, Higgo hit his approach to six feet, but Fisk stuck it inside him. Higgo’s birdie attempt from three feet slid past the hole, opening the door for Fisk, who tapped in his two-foot birdie putt to take a one-shot lead to the 72nd hole. Fisk striped his tee shot and then stuffed his approach shot to three feet, 10 inches. Higgo’s final birdie attempt didn’t scare the hole, ceding the stage for Fisk to walk through a door that can change everything.

“[I had] an attitude that nothing was going to stop me,” Fisk told Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis after the win. “No matter what happened, no matter what shots I hit. I just felt like I’d be standing right here, right now before today started.”

When asked why he still felt that way after a trying rookie season, Fisk offered a glimpse into the uphill climb he has been attempting and the relief that irrational confidence and four good October rounds in Jackson, Mississippi, can deliver.

“Self-belief. Grit. I know I’m good enough. I thought I could do it,” Fisk said.

“It’s a lifelong dream, honestly. Sometimes you doubt yourself. I don’t know. I knew I could do it. And to have some job security is pretty nice. It has been a long, hard year.”

After rolling in the finishing birdie, Fisk embraced his caddie Jay Green. He then turned to find Edith, who was racing toward the green. She leaped into his arms, and his eyes started to tear up. She started crying, and then so did he. They exited the putting surface toward Green. Edith and Green hugged. The three held each other in a moment of relief and celebration, smiles beaming from all of their faces. The road here had been trying. Team Fisk has traversed a trying year together and endured personal tragedy along the way.

Fisk lost his father, Christopher, earlier this year after a battle with cancer. Green, who started caddying for Fisk last year, caddied for the late Grayson Murray when he won the Sony Open in 2024. After the win, the two will travel to Raleigh for the Grayson Murray Classic.

Fisk is certain that he and Green weren’t alone on their Sunday charge in Jackson.

“I think he nudged a couple of putts in for me for sure, maybe him or Grayson,” Fisk said of his father on Sunday. “I had a couple of helpers out there. I miss him very much, and I know he’d be really proud of how I played all week and especially today to keep my composure and just kind of go about my business the best way I know how.”

This day brought Fisk a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour as well as a spot in the PGA Championship and the Players Championship. Where he started the week worrying about his FedEx Cup points rank and what the future might hold if the putts didn’t start dropping over the next month-and-a-half, Fisk now can exhale. He no longer has to worry about whether or not he can make it on the PGA Tour. With a finishing birdie flurry at the Country Club of Jackson, Steven Fisk did what he and his father always believed he was capable of.

“I’d like to think that he knew this day would happen,” Fisk said.

I spent the week at Bethpage Black covering this year’s Ryder Cup. It was, at different moments, inspiring, ugly, deafening, silent, raucous, joyous, tense and absolutely thrilling.

After a day to reflect (and a full night’s sleep!) I flipped back through my notebook. Here are 10 scenes I’ll take with me.

1. “There’s only oneeeee Shane Lowry”

The songs still stuck in my head tell the story.

Europe will own the soundtrack of the Ryder Cup for the foreseeable future; it’s hard to imagine that advantage flipping unless American golf fans start spending a lot more time in European soccer (or football, choose your own adventure) stadiums. It doesn’t matter that the Ryder Cup only comes along every two years; Team Europe’s fans can launch into song and get full buy-in from the surrounding crowd before they reach the second line. And don’t take my word for it. Just ask Justin Thomas:

“Yeah, the chants — I don’t know how the Europeans do it. It’s really impressive, to be honest. I don’t know if there’s like a group text of 10,000 people that they just come up with these things, but they’re pretty awesome and impressive,” he said early in the week. He added this detail:

“Our daughter’s name is Molly, and the amount of times I had that Tommy Fleetwood chant stuck in my head and both Jill and I have caught ourselves singing ‘Mol-ly,’ right along to the ‘Tom-my’ song…”

The Tom-my Fleet-wood chant

That’s a good place to start, with the anthem of the Cup’s highest points-getter, Tommy Fleetwood, whose catchy chant just goes:

Tom-my.
Tom-my, Tom-my.
Tom-my, Tom-my.
Tom-my, Tom-my FLEET-WOOD.

And then it goes again. And again. Fans deployed the same chant early and often for the similarly syllabic Ro-ry Mc-Il-roy, though you have to elide his surname a bit.

Rory McIlroy — he’s in your head

Speaking of McIlroy, this was the loudest song (and most layered in meaning — he was in everybody’s head). To the tune of the Cranberries’ “Zombie”:

He’s in your heeaaaad
In your heeeeead
Ro-o-ry, Ro-o-ry, Ro-o-ry, ry, ry

Shane Lowry’s song

And then there was the emotional heartbeat of the team — and the man who retained the Cup:

There’s only oneeeee Shane Lowry!
Oneeeee Shane Lowry!

Europe’s on fire…

Finally there was this now-classic, which echoed around Marco Simone in 2023, to the tune of Gala’s ‘Freed From Desire’:

Europe’s on fire
USA is terrified
Europe’s on fire
USA is terrified
Europe’s on fire
USA is terrified
Europe’s on fire
Hoo!
Na na na na na na na na na na na na…

The song absolutely rips. It has an interesting history; it’s from the 90s but has seen a resurgence in the last decade as an anthem across European football (or soccer) stadiums (and elsewhere) for years, so it’s hardly a Ryder Cup exclusive. But when I went back to read those original lyrics, they seem particularly fitting for this European team’s mindset…

…my love has got no money
he’s got his strong beliefs
Want more and more
people just want more and more
Freedom and love
what he’s looking for…

A few more European sing-song highlights, most (all?) of ’em borrowed from other stadiums:

As the first-tee crowd got quiet:
Is this a library

As Europe built a massive lead:
Caaan we play you
Can we play you
Can we play you every week

As Europe got five points up:
Shoes offfff
If you’re five points up

As the Americans started filing out:
Is there a fire drill

The home crowd, on the other hand, had a few notable misfires, including:
-A series of cringey first-tee chants
-An overreliance on “U-S-A,” which inevitably peters out if there’s nothing really happening
-Their emcee getting booted after chiming in on a round of “f–k you Rory”
-On Friday and Saturday mornings, AFTER the cringey first-tee chants, the first-tee music was cut off for long stretches beginning at 7 a.m. ET to avoid interrupting NBC’s ‘Breakfast at Bethpage’ show, hosted by Colin Jost, which was airing live off the right side of the tee. This was a bit of a vibe-killer.

Worth noting: The best first-tee vibes for the home team actually came on Sunday, despite the U.S. team down seven points. The sun was out, the stands were full, the music was blasting. The peak came when Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy came out to the Killers’ Mr. Brightside, which seemed to hit a real sweet spot for the crowd.

2. The enraged, caged fans

By now you’ve read and probably watched videos of the Saturday afternoon atmosphere on course, particularly around Rory McIlroy’s group, so you hardly need my confirmation. But here it is anyway: yeah, it was nasty. There are two lines you shouldn’t cross as a golf fan — don’t get personal when someone’s family is literally right there and don’t interfere with someone’s actual golf shot — and fans raced across both. I joined the McIlroy/Lowry vs. Thomas/Young group near the end of the front nine and when I arrived, everyone who’d been walking with them — families, vice captains, support staff, media members — looked a bit shell-shocked by just how toxic the atmosphere had gotten. Things got marginally better once security presence increased, but it was still a different tenor than anything I’ve heard in the better part of a decade in this job.

Why was it so bad? I think it’s fair to start with [gestures at the comment section of any post on any form of social media] the general temperature of our cultural discourse and the way we’ve gotten use to talking to each other. But it’s also worth unpacking the mechanics of why this match and this session, specifically. I was a hole ahead of this group at one point and started to understand things a bit more clearly.

The home team was getting drubbed, so fans didn’t have much to cheer for. There were tens of thousands of fans on course and only four matches, which meant people weren’t able to see much and they were on edge. A segment of those fans had been drinking all day. And McIlroy’s group came through first, which meant that every hole he and Lowry arrived at, they encountered fans frothing at the mouth; they’d been waiting for two hours for this moment and got ready to unleash the nastiest invectives they could think of. McIlroy is the most famous of the Euros and has lived his life in the public eye; he also likes to give it back to the fans as he is, in his words, “quite an impulsive character.” As a result he can end up as both lightning rod and blast shield.

Rory McIlroy on crowd behaviour at the Ryder Cup:

“Look, I don’t think we should ever accept that in golf. I think golf should be held to a higher standard than what was seen out there this week. Golf has the ability to you unite people. Golf teaches you very good life lessons.… pic.twitter.com/in1S2HOulx

— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) September 29, 2025

Sunday was a far happier scene because none of the above was true. Fans didn’t start drinking early in the morning given the first tee time was at noon, both sides had something cheer for, there were 11 matches on the course instead of just four, Rory McIlroy was third out instead of first, etc. etc. There was still plenty of hostility. But I’m sure there are lessons to take from the mechanics of the matches that could limit the level of toxicity going forward.

3. The thrown beer

I was standing directly behind the 17th green on Saturday some 20 minutes after that McIlroy / Lowry match finished when Rory and his wife Erica came racing back down the hill to cheer on the Euros in the remaining matches — and to celebrate with the European fans. One particular group of supporters was in full celebration mode, embracing the fact that, with a day still to go, the Cup was essentially already theirs. (Or so it seemed at the time.) McIlroy dished out a few high-fives to a group of revelers who’d been dancing and singing and then, as he turned away, something happened: a drink came flying from the crowd, ricocheting off the front of Erica’s hat.

It was clearly a jarring moment for Erica and for Rory and for the entire Euro support staff, and with good reason — as bad as these personal insults were, “we’re throwing beers” marks an acceleration to an entirely different level of hostility. To their credit, nobody escalated the scene and they moved on, no doubt disturbed. But here’s the thing, and I’m cautious to even bring it up because I don’t want to be dismissive of the rest of scene: It’s actually still a little tough to tell how intentional this was. I was standing with my coworker James Colgan and we rewatched the video, zoomed, slowed down, over and over. The drink hadn’t technically been thrown; it had been slapped out of somebody’s hand from the middle of that Euro contingent. That leaves us with two possibilities:

a. The beer was hit intentionally in the McIlroys’ direction. This seemed pretty likely in real time and still seems pretty likely given the way it flew directly at them; it would be a strange coincidence for an accidental hit.

b. The beer was launched either by accident or just with excitement but wasn’t intended to fly towards either Erica or Rory.

Which was it? I genuinely have no idea. I don’t want to downplay the fact that somebody appeared to have tossed a beer at a player and/or his wife. I also think it’s possible it was an unfortunate accident. Does it matter? Yes and no. There was so much other nastiness happening around them that it’s not like this was a make-or-break incident. Still, it’s nice to stick to the truth, where we can. And the truth is that, in this case, I’m not quite sure — even standing right there.

4. Europe’s response

First there was Europe’s on-course response; their play showed that poking the bear isn’t always the right move. McIlroy and Lowry responded by ham-and-egging their way to a fist-pumping, fiery victory, and behind them Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose took it to the high-wattage American duo of Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau in a match that included a near dust-up between players and caddies and about a thousand feet of European made putts. They finished the session 3-1 to open up a seven-point lead on the way to singles.

Then there was the off-course response. McIlroy was measured (for once) in his comments post-round when asked if things had gone too far outside the ropes.

“It’s not for me to say. People can be their own judge of whether they took it too far or not,” he said. “I’m just proud of us for being able to win today with what we had to go through.”

Lowry said he’d embraced it all.

“Yeah, it was intense. It was like something I’ve never experienced. But this is what I live for,” he said. “This is it. This is, like, honestly, the reason I get up in the morning, for stuff like this. This is what I love doing. I love being a part of this team.”

Rose, too, wanted the focus on the match and the quality of the golf. “Yeah, I’m really disappointed that this has to be the talking point at the end of a really cool match. The level of golf was incredible,” he said.

“Very happy with how strong our team is, the firepower they have, the intensity. It kind of the anti-fragile mentality,” Donald added. “Things got tougher out there, and it fired them up even more. They were able to get better through those difficult moments out there. That is what makes me most proud as a captain, just their ability to take the punches and come back even stronger.”

It was the perfect response. They didn’t cry foul — even though they would have been justified in doing so. Instead they focused on themselves and the pride they had in each other.

In the words of the slightly less subtle Curt Schilling: “I’m not sure I can think of any scenario more enjoyable than making 55,000 people from New York shut up”.

5. Scottie’s pick-me-up

It was unfathomable to see World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who’s been winning at an historic clip, start the Ryder Cup 0-4. On Sunday, after he’d picked up a point against Rory McIlroy, he admitted just how tough it had been on him, too. But it was telling to hear how much he’d leaned on his teammates Saturday night to move past it.

“This week did not go how I anticipated it going for myself, and I’m a little bit bummed, but these guys on this team, they picked me up when I needed it last night, and we’ve got a great team,” he said, choking up after logging his first point on Sunday night.

Scheffler expanded on that answer in the team’s press conference.

“I can’t tell you how much I needed these guys this week, and it’s just a really special group,” he said. “It was probably one of the lowest moments of my career, but it turned out to be one of the most special just because I’ve got great friends in this room and I was really proud to be battling with these guys for three days.”

6. Xander’s pump-up speech

Enough American players referenced this in their post-round interviews that it must have left an impression. On Saturday night, down an historic margin, Keegan Bradley delivered a pump-up speech — and Xander Schauffele added a clear message: Play to the whistle.

From DeChambeau: “I just thought back to what Xander said: ‘It’s not over till the whistle blows.’ And I wasn’t willing to give up for this team.

From Cameron Young, after his win: We said we’d play to the whistle, and it looks like the guys are doing that now.

From Justin Thomas:

7. Bryson’s run

As the U.S. began its impossible charge on Sunday afternoon, Young made an inspired birdie putt at 18 to win 1 up, and Thomas made another to also win 1 up, and DeChambeau made a clutch par putt to complete a 5-down comeback. And then, as the rest of the U.S. contingent hopped into golf carts to rejoin the action some holes back, DeChambeau waved off a cart driver and took a full-adrenaline sprint down the length of the par-4 18th. It felt like a release of sorts, a moment of relief after days of tension and disappointment. Now the comeback was on, there was hope in his heart and there was the satisfaction of knowing he’d done what he could to help.

The good news is his run was mostly downhill. But 400-plus yards is a long way to go at full speed, so when DeChambeau hit the uphill back by the 18th tee box, he finally accepted the help from a passing cart.

8. Viktor’s neck

I’ve seen various viral posts basically implying that Viktor Hovland was faking the injury that kept him out of Sunday singles, some of them joking but some presumably not. Whatever you may think of the Envelope Rule (which at this point probably is antiquated, and also seems particularly silly in this exact situation, when one side needs a massive comeback and every half-point is precious), there’s no way that Viktor Hovland would have voluntarily sat out of a singles match. After all, before he was a last-minute scratch on Saturday afternoon he’d played 13 of a possible 13 sessions in his Ryder Cup career.

Also, Hovland was out supporting Team Europe on Sunday afternoon and a couple times I saw people wish him well and he’d do the thing you do when you’ve messed up your neck where you stiffly turn your entire body just to rotate a few degrees left. Get well soon, Vik.

9. Erica’s defense

There were countless meaningful moments in the European winner’s press conference, but as always it felt like McIlroy was the main character; he fielded the most questions, his eyes tearing up more than once as he basked in the satisfaction of a sixth Ryder Cup win.

Since the 2023 Ryder Cup McIlroy has made it clear what means the most to him as he nears 20 years as a professional; that short list includes winning at meaningful venues, winning another major (preferably the Masters) winning an away Ryder Cup. This year he won at Pebble Beach and at TPC Sawgrass against big-time PGA Tour fields. He won at Augusta National, completing the career Grand Slam in the process. He added on an emotional win at his home Irish Open. And then he went 3-1-1 at Bethpage Black to win his sixth Ryder Cup.

But it was a particularly touching moment to hear him talk about his wife Erica, given she was the target of so much abuse at the hands of the fans. McIlroy plays golf at a superhuman level and he’s been a celebrity for more than half his life, but this was a particularly human moment as he spoke about Erica and his teammates chimed in behind him.

McIlroy: “It should be off-limits, but obviously it wasn’t this week. Erica is fine. She’s a very, very strong woman. You know, she handled everything this week with class and poise and dignity like she always has. I love her — and we’re going to have a good time celebrating tonight.

Justin Rose: “Can I just pick up on that, if you don’t mind, because I actually had no idea that Erica had a beer thrown at her yesterday, so fair play to Erica. She didn’t bring that to the team room. We didn’t make that a big deal. That’s news to me. That says a lot about the strength of Erica and everybody on this team.”

Shane Lowry: “I was out there for two days with Erica McIlroy, and the amount of abuse that she received was astonishing and the way she was out there supporting her husband and supporting her team was unbelievable, and kudos to her for that.”

10. Luke’s shampoo

I’ll start this final point by acknowledging that every point won in this and every Ryder Cup was won by superior golf shots and by fewer strokes taken. There’s no crowd chant that can teach you to stuff an iron shot to five feet under unfathomable pressure. Also, the U.S. absolutely dominated the singles session and nearly pulled off the most improbable comeback in the event’s history.

WITH THAT SAID, it’s hard to look at the decades of European success in this event, particularly the team portions, and wave it away as randomness or nonsense. They’re better at the little stuff. And they’re bought in on the idea that the little stuff is the big stuff. Y’know who believes that? Luke Donald, who Bradley (among others) called the greatest captain the European side has ever seen. Does this somehow mean they make more putts? It’s hard to say for sure but, as silly as it sounds, you certainly can’t dismiss the idea.

“My job is literally to give these guys a better chance to win. It can be as simple as some very small things,” Donald said. Those small things?

“I’ll give you an example. At the hotel rooms this week, the doors to our hotel rooms had a big crack that let in light. We brought things that covered the light. We put different shampoos that had a better smell. We changed the bedding because the beds weren’t very good, and they just had sheets, and we created much nicer beds so guys could sleep. They could have more energy. Those are just little things.”

One final bit of Donald philosophy:

“That’s a big part of my captaincy is to create an environment where these guys are having the best weeks of their lives, honestly. We’ll always remember this.”

Based on the bus rides, I think he’s right…

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

every time I see a video of this Euro team on their bus it looks like the most fun you could ever have. also ‘freed from desire’ absolutely ripspic.twitter.com/yoGc6KojvX

— Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) September 30, 2025