Rory’s Tiger trick, Spieth’s admission, Scottie’s emotion

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GOLF STUFF I LIKE

Rory’s Tiger trick.

The other day, as I was deep down a random golf rabbit hole, I stumbled across something I found interesting — and thought you guys might like, too.

Remember after the Masters, when Bryson DeChambeau said that Rory McIlroy, his playing partner in Sunday’s final tee time, hadn’t talked to him at all? I thought the “controversy” from that interview clip was silly; fair play by McIlroy, who was locking in, and also good on DeChambeau for just answering the question honestly after a long, frustrating day. Still, it was a revealing answer, and a reminder of the ways in which these two titans of the modern game are distinctly different, in both approach and personality. DeChambeau is the YouTube entertainer chasing engagement, while McIlroy is the old-school competitor chasing history. (That’s a wild oversimplification, of course.)

But where did McIlroy learn to stay in his own zone — and has he always been this way? Let’s rewind.

A bunch of people on [gestures broadly] the internet wisely pointed out that this is hardly the first time one pro has stonewalled the other in the final round of a big-time event. One recent and particularly high-profile case: Tiger Woods in the 2019 Masters, en route to one of the most incredible major wins in golf history. Tony Finau has now told the story a couple times, including here on Subpar, about their first and last exchange of that round, which came as they walked off the tee together at No. 7:

Finau: “Hey Tiger, how are the kids?

Woods: “They’re doing fine.”

And that was it. Finau got the message.

“The next time we spoke was when I congratulated him on winning the green jacket,” he said.

Sound familiar? Where it gets interesting is if we rewind two weeks further. The Tiger-trackers among you may recall that in early 2019, Woods showed signs of serious form at the WGC-Match Play, where he advanced through pool play to make it through to the round of 16, where he faced [drum roll] Rory McIlroy.

McIlroy was in stellar form at the time; he was coming off a Players Championship win and a string of top-six finishes. Woods and McIlroy had become friendlier in the preceding years, spending time together on Tour as well as at home in Florida. But here was an alpha-dog showdown, mid-comeback Tiger against mid-flight Rory. How did the dynamic play out on course between two of golf’s modern greats? Here’s how the New York Times described the day:

“McIlroy tried to draw Woods into casual conversation early in the match only to have his attempts peter out like short putts,” wrote Karen Crouse. She described Woods as “a dispassionate adversary intent on making putts, not conversation.” In other words, back in 2019 McIlroy was the one who got rebuffed and got the message, the would-be talker rather than the tunnel-vision stoic. The story described a lengthy wait on the 5th tee where the two just killed time and didn’t talk at all.

Woods wound up a 2-and-1 winner, sending McIlroy home early. Later, McIlroy corroborated Crouse’s report as part of his epic interview series with Paul Kimmage of the Irish Independent:

“Tony Finau told a similar story … about Augusta,” McIlroy said. “So, same sort of thing.” In the context of the scorpion vs. the frog, McIlroy described Woods as “majority scorpion”, while “my natural tendency is to be the frog”.

You know how the next several years went for McIlroy at majors: close call after close all, each one heartbreakingly closer than the last. After one such near-miss at the 2023 U.S. Open he said he’d “go through 100 Sundays like this” to win his next major — and that it would be that much sweeter when he did.

And then came this Masters Sunday, April 13, 2025, where McIlroy made some shocking mistakes but hit just enough preposterous shots to win the craziest tournament anybody could remember. It’s impossible to know how to tally the X-factors involved, but maybe, just maybe, ripping a page from Woods’ book and shutting out DeChambeau plus the rest of the world gave him the tiniest edge he needed to finally get over the line.

It would be incredibly fitting if it did. One last crazy connection: Before Tiger won the Masters in 2019 he hadn’t won a major in 10 years, 304 days. That’s almost identical to Rory, who entered this year’s Masters Sunday without a major win in 10 years, 249 days. No, Rory isn’t Tiger; we’re not so swept up in the moment to make that declaration. But as of April 13 they are the only two guys to win the career grand slam in the last 50 years. And to think that Rory won the Masters while leaning on a lesson he’d learned from Tiger Woods himself, his childhood hero, six years ago?! I think that’s pretty cool.

WINNERS

Who won the week?

Scottie Scheffler won his hometown event, the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, by an outlandish eight shots, shooting 31 under par at TPC Craig Ranch to claim his first win of 2025 by a massive margin. He was up the full touchdown-and-two-point-conversion to begin the day and matched final-round 63s with Erik van Rooyen, who finished solo second at 23 under. He described his emotional reaction post-round:

“When I think about this tournament, I think about a lot of different stuff. I grew up coming to watch it. This was my first start on the PGA Tour when I was in high school. The girl I was dating at the time is now my wife. We have one son. My sister was caddieing for me at the time. She was here today. She has two kids.

“My family was all able to be here, and it was just really, really special memories, and I think at times it all comes crashing down to me at once. We have a lot of great memories as kids coming to watch this tournament. I just dreamed to be able to play in it, and it’s more of a dream to be able to win it.”

Haeran Ryu earned a blowout victory of her own at the Black Desert Championship just a week after a disappointing final round from the last group at the Chevron Championship. Her final-round eight-under 64 at Utah’s stunning Black Desert Resort earned her a five-shot win over Esther Henseleit and Angel Yin.

“Last week in final round, my shot [was] so bad there, so I just called my Korean coach every day. I ask him, ‘What’s the problem? What’s it mean? What’s the problem for me?’” Ryu recalled post-win. “He said, ‘No problem, Haeran. Just keep focus and keep calm and more trust your golf.’”

Keep calm and carry on. As long as you’re as good as she is.

Bryson DeChambeau won LIV’s event in South Korea, fending off Charles Howell III — his Crushers teammate — with a furious finish; he holed a 50-footer for birdie at No. 17 and birdied 18 as part of a six under par back nine. It’s DeChambeau’s first win on LIV since 2023, although he’d held 36-hole leads at the league’s two most recent events. (DeChambeau’s Crushers also won the team title.) He also led the Masters through two holes on Sunday, making this close-out a bit more satisfying.

“I feel like I’ve been playing some great golf, but I just haven’t gotten the job done,” DeChambeau said. “That was a lot of tension. Just glad I was able to step up to the plate and get it done.”

Bryson Nimmer, playing on conditional status, won the Korn Ferry Tour’s Tulum Championship — but it wasn’t easy. Stuart MacDonald holed out from the fairway on No. 18 in regulation to force a playoff before Nimmer outlasted him with two consecutive pars in extra holes.

And just down the desert from the LPGA event, 18-year-old Yana Wilson won the Epson Tour’s Reliance Matrix Championship. Wilson, who decided to forgo college, is just five events into her playing career and already a winner. After a 64-68 weekend in her hometown of Las Vegas (“My seventh-grade history teacher actually came out with her husband, so that was pretty cool,” she said of her unexpected entourage) Wilson is up to No. 2 in the Race for the Card and on a fast track to earning an LPGA Tour card for the 2026 season.

NOT-WINNERS

But not losers, either.

Erik van Rooyen gave a terrific press conference after coming in a distant second to Scheffler. What was it like to shoot 63 and not even gain ground on the leader?

“I don’t play with the World Number 1 too often, and you’re almost flabbergasted in a way because I’d fire, like, that 5-iron on 9 [his second on the par-5, setting up eagle] comes to mind,” he said. “I hit it to whatever it was, five feet, and he just makes the eagle. There’s nothing you can do. Absolute hats off to Scottie. He’s played fantastic golf.”

He was also thrilled to have played in way into next week’s Truist Championship, a Signature Event on Tour. But he didn’t mince words when it came to describing his feelings on the new limited-field structure of those events.

“How honest do you want me to be? I hate it,” he said, to laughter. “I strongly believe that the strongest fields are the ones with the most players in them. The guys on the PGA Tour are so good. It’s so deep. I get that you’ve got the Scotties of the world, the Rorys of the world, and people want to see them, it’s entertaining. But like, the PGA Championship coming up, for example. I think it’s the strongest field in the game, similar to the Players. I love competing, so selfishly I want to compete against those guys. Again, really proud of playing my way into it.”

Van Rooyen clarified that being able to play your way in is “100 percent a good thing,” and he sang the praises of the Tour’s meritocracy. He’d just draw things up a little differently. In the meantime, he’ll change his own plans instead.

“I’ve got my wife and kids here as well. I guess we’ll all just go to Philly and go to Quail [Hollow, for the PGA Championship] the week after.”

Jordan Spieth was another intriguing contender — if anybody was truly a “contender” behind Scheffler — and shot a Sunday 62, low round of the day, to finish solo fourth. But while he was pleased with his play, he mostly sounded in awe of Scheffler, a regular Dallas-area sparring partner.

“I mean, it wasn’t that long ago I was definitely better than him, and I’m definitely not right now,” Spieth said. “I hate admitting that about anybody, but I just watched it those first two rounds and, like, I’ve got to get better. It’s very inspiring.”

Spieth is just two weeks away from another crack at the career Grand Slam; he’s only missing a PGA Championship from his trophy case. He’ll have to beat Scheffler, and everybody else, to get there.

“I know if I’m able to clip him when we’re playing at home, then I’m playing really well. That’s just the way it’s been the last few years,” Spieth said. “It didn’t used to be that way. I used to get him every time.”

SHORT HITTERS

5 intriguing updates from around the golf world.

1. Last week’s Zurich Classic wasn’t just a massive win for co-champions Ben Griffin and Andrew Novak — it was the first Tour victory for reinvented golf-ball brand Maxfli. Our Jack Hirsh has the story of a 22-year win gap, plus what’s next.

2. Rory McIlroy is still remarkably good at chipping golf balls into a washing machine.

3. Brandt Snedeker and Geoff Ogilvy will be next year’s Presidents Cup captains at Medinah; here’s what that means for American captaincies going forward.

4. Collin Morikawa split with longtime caddie J.J. Jakovac and has picked up Joe Greiner, who’d recently split with Morikawa’s good friend and frequent practice partner Max Homa — and then scooped up a win in a fill-in capacity for Justin Thomas.

5. We got our first rangefinder penalty on Tour in the third week of its trial run; Davis Riley self-reported an incident where he’d accidentally turned on the slope feature. There’s probably some common-sense solution here — accidentally pressing a button and then taking a penalty feels absurd.

ONE SWING THOUGHT

Rory fueling Scottie?

I was curious if watching Rory McIlroy win the career Grand Slam did anything to Scheffler, the World No. 1, especially given he was the one to slip the green jacket over his shoulders. He put a positive spin on it, as he tends to — but it’s fair to say he drew some motivation from the experience:

“I think any time somebody has beaten any of us out here, I think we’re all — I guess you could say inspired, but I think we’re all fired up to come out here and compete. I think that’s what’s great about our game. Week in and week out, we get to come out here and compete. This week I was the best player. I have the week off, and we’ll see the week after who is the best player at the PGA.

“Rory has been playing some tremendous golf this year. The career grand slam was really special to watch. I was glad to be able to be there for it. I think any time you’re getting beat, you’re always fired up just a little bit extra to go out and practice.”

Then he added this, the picture of understatement:

“I feel like my game is trending in a good direction. I’m excited to start the rest of the season.”

RYDER CUP WATCH

Spieth?!

With all due respect to third-place finisher Sam Stevens, this was a notably strong week for the Ryder Cup cases of Jordan Spieth and Sam Burns, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Spieth has been posting a series of strong results; he has six top-20s, three top-10s and now two top-fives in 2025.

Burns played well to finish 2024 but struggled earlier this year, including three missed cuts in a row beginning in March. But his T13 at Hilton Head combined with this fifth is promising.

One encouraging number for both players: strong strokes gained numbers with their irons. Spieth gained 2.13 strokes on the field on approach, while Burns gained 2.56.

(You can find complete Ryder Cup rankings here):

ONE THING TO WATCH

Our Sean Zak spent time with Lydia Ko talking through the ups and downs of her recent career — including a fairy-tale 2024. This is a video version of our magazine cover story, essentially, and it’s got some real soul to it. Have a watch here. (Or below.)

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NEWS FROM SEATTLE

Monday Finish HQ.

How important is the Monday Finish? Just know that I’m filing this from vacation; time to finish typing and investigate a spicy margarita. Life is good.

We’ll see you next week!

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

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