Entertainment
Signature Scroll: Rory McIlroy survives, Jordan Spieth surges and Scottie Scheffler stumbles
Good morning! It was a busy and newsy Thursday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Not all the stars played well, but their performances were quite notable. We will dive into the great, solid and disappointing here. Thanks for making it to Day 2 of Signature Scroll!
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Join us on WhatsAppRory McIlroy’s first nine holes of his TOUR season were sublime. The Northern Irishman could do no wrong, stuffing approaches, holing bunker shots and pouring in putts. He made the turn at Spyglass Hill at 5-under and added another birdie early on his inward nine. It was the continuation of a year ago, when he also began his year on the Monterey Peninsula, and shot a bogey-free 66 with a hole-in-one that laid the foundation for a convincing victory later in the week.
McIlroy’s 2026 season seemed set to start similarly, fueling the full-throated title defense narrative. But just as that thought began to crystallize, the world No. 2 was reminded of what the smallest break in focus can lead to. McIlroy three-putted the third and fifth greens, leading to a pair of double bogeys that dropped him from the first page of the leaderboard to a distant six shots back of overnight leader Ryo Hisatsune.
It was shocking in the moment, stifling what was otherwise an incredibly solid debut round. He drove it great, hit his irons solid and was proficient around the greens. He putted well except for those lapses. And it could be that 45-minute stretch that he thinks about most, and deeply regrets come Sunday night.
For the second straight week, Scottie Scheffler will attempt a herculean comeback. He nearly pulled it off at the WM Phoenix Open, rallying from a 10-shot deficit to miss the Hideki Matsuyama-Chris Gotterup playoff by just one stroke.
He trails by 10 shots again this week after a frustrating even-par round on a very gettable day at Pebble Beach.
“Anything that kind of went wrong seemed to be going that direction and I just felt like I scored poorly,” Scheffler said. “I actually feel like I’m playing pretty well, just one of those days.”
Scheffler will kick himself for several uncharacteristic misses on approach, particularly on the 10th, 11th and 12th holes, the latter of which resulted in bogey. Scheffler lost more than two strokes on approach, a true anomaly for the TOUR’s top ball-striker. That, combined with a poor putting day, left him in a tie for 62nd. It will be an even tougher challenge to come back this week, with favorable scoring conditions likely leading to more low scores.
“You never know what the weather’s going to turn out to be like,” he said. “I’ll need a little bit of help up there.”
There aren’t many better pairings in pro golf than Jordan Spieth and Pebble Beach. The two get along quite nicely, both bold, daring and irresistible when the conditions are right. So it should be no surprise that Spieth is contending again on the Monterey Peninsula. A bogey-free 6-under 66 at Spyglass Hill has him right in the mix after one round.
It’s a welcome round after a surprising early exit from the WM Phoenix Open last week, typically one of Spieth’s best performances every year. He called his Friday 75 a “fluke,” the product of a bad mental day that twisted him in knots and left him without a weekend tee time.
“I was swinging it well, and I decided to tell myself I wasn’t. I just had a bad day,” he said.
Parting shots
👔 Tommy Fleetwood remains without an apparel sponsor, a rarity in today’s game. He played Thursday decked out in Pebble Beach gear. Not a bad life. “Who knows what’s going to happen in the future,” he said of any potential upcoming partnerships. For what it’s worth: Fleetwood’s caddie was wearing Malbon from head to toe.
6️⃣ Chris Gotterup birdied his first six holes on Thursday, the first to do so to begin a PGA TOUR event since Robert Streb in 2021. If you ask Gotterup, though, the streak is really nine. He birdied his final three holes en route to victory in Phoenix last week. “I’ll claim that.”
🤯 This is a doozy from stats guru Justin Ray … Ryo Hisatsune is the only player in more than 300,000 rounds dating back to 2004 to lose strokes off the tee, on approach and still shoot 62 or lower. Basically, the round was as improbable as it gets. He will need to improve on those areas if he hopes to stay atop the leaderboard.
Low scores are becoming a feature, not a bug at Pebble Beach. We narrowly avoided the single-round scoring record. The daily average settled at 68.25. Last year’s first round was the lowest ever (68.18). All five of the lowest single-round scoring averages at Pebble Beach have now come in the last three years. Still, Fleetwood is adamant that if the weather gets bad, as it was early in the week, Pebble Beach’s teeth will show. “I just find it hard to see somebody breaking par yesterday like in the conditions that I played in,” he said.
Entertainment
Paige Spiranac’s surprising NFL fandom confession triggers heated debate over loyalty, authenticity, and fan culture
The 2026 NFL Draft starts Thursday night in Pittsburgh, and the spotlight isn’t only on prospects and front offices. Golf influencer Paige Spiranac has again found herself pulled into NFL conversation, this time for her open support of multiple teams.
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Join us on WhatsAppWith the Steelers hosting the first round, her long-standing connection to Pittsburgh has resurfaced. But it’s not just about hometown ties. Her broader fandom, which stretches beyond one franchise, continues to draw mixed reactions at a time when fan loyalty is often treated as non-negotiable.
Paige Spiranac roots for 2 NFL teams: Who are they?
Paige Spiranac has never hidden where her loyalties lie, even if they don’t fit the usual mold. She has consistently pointed to her roots while leaving space for other allegiances.
“Both my parents are from Pittsburgh so I’ve been a Steelers ..fan since the day I was born. I also love the Bills. It’s a complicated relationship…Who’s your team?” she previously asked her followers. It’s a candid admission, one that reflects personal history more than calculated fandom.
Still, the reaction has been sharp. NFL culture tends to rew ..
Entertainment
Quiet moments on the course can say a lot about what’s coming next.
Sometimes the most important work happens when nobody is really watching.
Lexi Thompson was out on the 18th green, working through her putting during a practice round ahead of the Chevron Championship in Houston.
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Join us on WhatsAppIt’s a simple scene, but it shows the kind of quiet preparation that goes into these big tournaments—getting the feel of the greens, adjusting to conditions, and building trust in every stroke.
These are the small details that can shape how a player starts when the pressure kicks in.
Entertainment
Predicting what will happen to Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson if LIV Golf collapses
It looks like LIV Golf is over.
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Join us on WhatsAppThe Saudi Public Investment Fund has reportedly decided that this league simply isn’t worth the hole it’s burning in their pocket, and they’re pulling funds at the end of 2026.
That gives them less than a year to seek new investment. While CEO Scott O’Neil seems confident, it’s going to be extremely difficult to secure funding for a league that is operating at such eye-watering losses.
So this probably pulls the curtain closed on one of the most turbulent, frustrating, confusing, and ridiculous eras in golfing history. Hopefully, we can all return to some reality after the year is over.
But there is still so much uncertainty surrounding golf’s future thanks to this. Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed saw the signs early and jumped ship, but they did that with some leverage. So what on earth is going to happen to the rest of these players who didn’t take the olive branch when it was offered to them?
Feelings will be hurt, and careers will be ended. Let’s take a look.
Jon Rahm rejoins the PGA Tour
Koepka returned to the PGA Tour under the returning member program, which saw him pay $5 million to charity, accept that he’ll receive no FedEx Cup bonus money, and agree he cannot be a sponsor exemption for the 2026 signature events.
That same deal was offered to Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau. They didn’t accept it, but a similar offer will likely be handed out to them again.
If LIV Golf folds, Rahm will not hold the same leverage as Koepka did, but he is a bigger star at this stage of his career. Make no mistake, the PGA Tour will want him back immediately.
But Rahm does risk leaving himself without any options at all. Reed didn’t come straight back to the PGA Tour, so he’s spending a year on the DP World Tour first. You’d imagine Rahm would consider doing the same, but it might not be so easy for him.
Rahm is in a feud with the DP World Tour, as the only one of eight players to reject a deal which would have seen him retain his full-time membership. If Rahm agreed to play in six DP World Tour events this year, then he could have played on both LIV Golf and the tour. He did not agree.
For now, his membership is at risk. So, will it be possible for him to spend a season on the DP World Tour like Reed? Maybe not. That makes it all the more likely that Rahm will be back on the PGA Tour the moment LIV folds.
Bryson DeChambeau does YouTube full-time
With DeChambeau, I don’t think it’s as much of a done deal that he returns to the PGA Tour. Not immediately anyway.
He’s been negotiating his contract with LIV, which expires at the end of this season. During these negotiations, he’s made it very clear that he is completely willing to step away from full-time competition and be a full-time YouTuber.
DeChambeau’s channel has over two million subscribers, so he could feasibly do that with all of the money he’s making there.
He was annoyed to see LIV move to a four-day format, so he could commit himself fully to being the content king. It would be a wild thing to do, but it’s also exactly the kind of move you could see the two-time major winner making.
He could qualify for The Open Championship and the US Open, and earn enough points there to play The Masters and the PGA Championship. It’s possible.
He does seem to live for competition, so maybe YouTube won’t quite scratch the itch, but it is on the table for DeChambeau. At least for a year until his suspension expires. Out of Rahm and DeChambeau, the American is absolutely the least likely to take a deal.
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