David White

Articles in
February 2026

Senior Night a resounding success for the Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball team; Baseball with a weekend trip to Vegas; Men’s Golf in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

February 26, 2026

Dev McGlockton had a huge night for the Dores in our victory over Georgia. (Photo courtesy of x.com).

Six Vanderbilt players scored in double figures, as Dev McGlockton, Tyler Nickel, Coleson Messer and Miles Keeffe were honored for their hard work and dedication to the program on Senior Night with the team giving the Memorial crowd of 10,460 a night to remember as the 25th ranked Commodores defeated Georgia, 88-80.

Dev and Tyler Tanner led the way for the Dores with 17 points each. Dev had several critical buckets down low, as he was 7-of-10 from the field. Glock added 10 boards and 2 blocks.

Tyler T stuffed the stat sheet once again with his 17 to along with 6 boards and 5 assists. Duke Miles had a nice game and is looking like himself now as he finished with 15 points, 4 boards, and was 3-of-5 from trifecta.

Our great forward, AK Okereke, finished the night with 13 points, six boards and 6 assists. Excellent night from our grad transfer from Cornell. He’s such a key component to this basketball team. We’ve always had a 6’7″ small/power forward who can score and do all the blue collar work. AK is an outstanding player for us and will be a critical piece and leader for us in March/April.

Tyler Nickel finished with 10. Not Tyler’s best night shooting as he was 1-of-8 from triple, but he hit a key trifecta late and was a leader as always and hustled like always. Our stellar grad transfer from UNC, Jalen Washington, finished with 10, 4 boards and 2 blocks. I’d like to see Jalen finish a little better around the rim, but certainly believe he can and will.

Chandler Bing once again gave us solid minutes off the bench. Love what our freshman can do going forward this season. Chandler finished with 6 and gets after it on the defensive end.

We moved to 22-6 on the year and 9-6 in the SEC. It was a key victory for us as Texas and Texas A&M both lost, which helps us in the SEC Standings. We are now tied for fifth in the conference standings. No.7 Florida moved to 13-2 last night and 22-6 overall with its victory over Texas, 84-71 and is in first place. No. 17 Alabama is tied for second with No. 20 Arkansas, which blasted A&M last night, 99-84.The Crimson Tide is 11-4 and 21-7 overall after blasting Mississippi State last night at home, 100-75. The Razorbacks are 11-4, and 21-7. No.22 Tennessee is fourth at 10-5 and 20-8 overall after its loss to Mizzou Tuesday Night on the road.  We are tied for fifth at 9-6 with Missouri, Texas A&M and Kentucky. We’ve got Kentucky on the road Saturday at 1 P.M. CT/2 ET on E-S-P-N.

We control our own destiny as far as getting a double bye in the SEC Tournament (Wednesday, March 11th-Sunday, March15th, Bridgestone Arena, Nashville), so there’s plenty of work left for our team.

But we pulled off an excellent victory over a solid, athletic and physical Georgia team, that looked every bit the part of an NCAA Tournament team. We were just as physical beating them on the boards, 36-29. Just a real nice effort from the guys.

I said yesterday that I wanted to tell you about these interesting NCAA Tournament stats, and I won’t go into elaborate detail as I don’t want to nerd you out. But these Ken Pom stats are pretty prophetic as far as NCAA Tournament advancement for a team. Ken Pomeroy is the smart nerd who compiles numbers like offensive and defensive efficiency ratings. We are 12th in the country in our offensive rating, and 21st defensively, which, and I looked this up, correlates to a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. It’s very indicative and accurate of how a team will fare in March/April. Ken Pom ranks us 13th in the country in his overall rankings.

Duke is No.1 by Ken Pom with an offensive rating that’s 7, and a defensive rating that is Numero uno. And the top teams are all top caliber defenses.

I say bring’em on. We’ll match up with all these outfits and have a real shot at making it into April and going the distance. We have a team with skill, physicality andleadership, and we have a superb coach in Mark Byington. Mark has kind of shortened his rotation to seven players with Tyler Tanner, T Nick, McGlockton, Okereke, Washington, Duke and Bing. We’d take Frankie Collins back, but who knows? I read the SEC Availability Report the night before and the day of every one of our games, and he’s always out. But after last night, I like our chances with the guys we’ve got. I’m sure Coach Byington and the players would welcome Frankie back, but it’s unclear what’s going to happen with him. I’ll keep checking every night before and day of games and let you know.

Okereke and Nickel can help Tanner and Miles with ball handling. We were only 7-of-26 from trifecta last night, but we were 21-of-24 from the line, 88%, and we shot 30-of-61 from the field, 49%. If the threes aren’t falling, you’ve got to find other ways to win and our team did. Georgia shot 41% from the field and 42% from three. They were burying some 3’s in the second half, but our defense was overall solid, we out-rebounded them and we just have clutch players.

The other metric that’s interesting, and this is more for NCAA Tournament seeding purposes, is the Net Rankings. We are 17th in the Net, so we want to improve on that and improve our seeding possibilities. ESPN’s Joey “Brackets” Lunardi will come out with his latest 68 team field projection tomorrow. You can check it on the ESPN website under “Bracketology.” Joe puts it out at 9 A.M. ET/8 CT on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Major game in Lexington Saturday for SEC and NCAA prospects, and we do enjoy defeating those guys. It’ll be a major challenge for sure, but believe in the guys. Will have more on Monday on the team. 

Vanderbilt Baseball

The Vandy Boys, at 7-2, are in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Ballpark to play in the Live Like Lou Vegas Collegiate Classic.

Friday, Braden, Brodie and the Boys face UC Irvine, which is 6-3. First pitch is at 4 P.M. CT/5 ET and will be streamed by D1 Baseball.com. You can go to vucommodores.com or D1baseball.com to sign up if you’re inclined to do so. Saturday’s game versus Arizona (1-7) is at 6 P.M. CT/7 ET, and will also be streamed on D1.

Sunday’s game, on D1, is versus Oregon, which is 8-0. First pitch is 1 P.M. CT/2 ET on D1. The Ducks are not ranked yet, but will be if they have a good weekend.

Need a good weekend out of all 3 phases of the game for our team to be successful. Gotta pitch, defend and hit at a high level. Will let you know about our results on Monday. We are unranked by D1, but we are ranked 25th by Baseball America. Baseball America goes more in-depth on its analysis on its top 25 on its weekly rankings, so I trust them just as much if not more than D-1. We need a good weekend though to keep advancing as a team.

Vanderbilt Men’s Golf

Our 5th-ranked Vanderbilt men’s golf team heads to Cabo San Lucas Mexico for the Cabo Collegiate Sunday, 3/1-Tuesday, 3/3 for a 54 hole team event at the Twin Dolphin Club, a 7,156 yard, par 71 layout.

Other ranked teams (Scoreboard by Clippd rankings) include No.7 Arizona State, No.9 Arkansas, No. 17 Georgia Tech, No. 18 Tennessee, No.20 Stanford, and No.27 Arizona.

We finished second at the Watersound Invitational in Panama City in mid February, after taking a 6 shot lead into the third and final round. But we shot +2 the final day and Arkansas had a good day and overtook us to win it. Freshman Michal Riebe did tie for the individual title. Coach Scott Limbaugh has another stellar team as always. Our freshman class was the No.1 class in the country in 2025, and our 2026 forthcoming class is also ranked No.1 in the country. Just need to get over the top soon. We certainly get in position.

We need senior Wells Williams to really lead this group. Wells will need some help in order for us to be highly successful in 2026.

I want our guys, coaches and all the teams to be careful down there after one of the leading drug cartel guys, “El Mencho” was killed by Mexican military and security forces. It can be dangerous down there with all the drug cartels and unrest from the killing of the drug lord, which was a great thing for Mexico and the U.S. And I think we’d not go if it wasn’t safe. 

Will keep you posted on these three key Vanderbilt teams and other key teams in the winter and spring as we matriculate into March. Thanks a lot, have a good evening and Anchor Down. 

Tyler Tanner, Vanderbilt Basketball, Braden Holcomb, Vanderbilt Baseball, Mikayla Blakes, Aubrey Galvin, Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball. All unplugged.

February 25, 2026

Tyler Tanner playing through the flu, is a warrior as always. (Photo courtesy of WRAL- Raleigh-Durham. N.C.)

Tyler Tanner did everything he could last week despite having the flu.

He scored 27 points in a heart-breaking loss to @Missouri, 81-80, missing a beyond half court shot at the buzzer by maybe an inch after he intercepted a Missouri pass. The shot would have won the game for us.

Saturday, in another real heartbreaker, Tyler played through the illness again, which is tough, and looked to struggle some, but still came away with 16 points in a hard fought 69-65 loss to the Vols. 

Tyler should be a lot better tonight as we face a solid, athletic Georgia team, which is 19-8 overall and 7-7 in the SEC, and has its sights set on knocking us off. The game tips off at 6 P.M. CT/ 7 ET on the SEC Network.

The games are all big now. We’ve got 4 left and are 8-6 in the SEC and 21-6 overall and ranked 25th in the country. Joey Brackets has us as a 5 seed in the Midwest Regional playing 12 seed Belmont, which would be difficult as Belmont is always a sharp-shooting team that plays solid D.

But a lot of work left before that starting today at Memorial. We are tied for 8th in the conference as of today, but still have a shot at the double bye in the SEC Tournament, which starts Wednesday, 3/11, and runs through Sunday 3/15, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Florida leads the SEC standings at 12-2 and is 21-6 overall. Alabama and Arkansas are tied for second at 10-4. Tennessee is 4th at 10-5 after losing at Missouri last night, 73-69. A&M is fifth at 10-5, Missouri and Kentucky, which both played last night, Kentucky defeated South Carolina, 72-63, on the road, are tied for 6th at 9-6. We are at 8-6 and so is Texas, and the two of us are in 8th. Georgia is right behind us at 7-7, so crucial game today.

Thankfully for Tyler and the team, Duke Miles is back on the court. Duke was a little rusty on Saturday going 3-for-13, but sank an acrobatic 3 late in the game. With Duke and Tyler, we’ve got a shot to do well the rest of the season. Frankie Collins is out again tonight. There’s talk about him taking a medical redshirt this season, but we need him. I say as soon as he’s ready, we need him out there. There is a lot of basketball left this season, so if he can get on the floor, he should.

Freshman Chandler Bing is giving us some really solid minutes, and big man Jalen Washington pulled down 10 boards and blocked six shots against Tennessee. We’ve got to have Tyler Nickel, Devin McGlockton and AK Okereke  play well, also. Mike James and Tyler Harris can help us off the bench, and I like freshman center Jayden Leverett. He’s shown signs that he can be a really good player for us. I don’t know if Mark is totally comfortable with the freshman out there for a lot of minutes yet, just because he’s young. But I like what I’m seeing from Jayden. Mark might try him more. At 6’11”, 257, he can really help us in the paint. He’s physical, and skilled at  shooting and passing. 

So, major game today at Memorial. Georgia is good, so we HAVE to play well to get over the top. The Bulldogs are hungry to enhance their SEC prospects and NCAA Tournament resume, so they’ll come after us at full bore. We need to be ready. I’ll get more in depth tomorrow on the game, particularly if we’re successful, and  show some interesting metrics that the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee uses to seed the teams, and metrics, the Net Rankings and these really interesting Ken Pomeroy rankings, that can not only project your seeding, but also project how deep you can go into March/April. April is certainly the goal for this team, but one game at a time, beginning today against an athletic, talented Georgia team.

Vanderbilt Baseball cookin with the bats.

Braden Holcomb is hitting .471 with 6 long ones and 21 Ribbies, and our team has been run-ruling teams achieving their 6th in 9 games this season Tuesday afternoon/early eventing in a 15-3 victory over Evansville. The run rule is when a team in an out of conference game leads another by 10 or more runs after the seventh, home or away. Braden, our junior Floridian center fielder, was named SEC player of the week this week for last week’s performance in which he .579 with 3 homers and 10 Ribeyes. Just phenomenal performance by Braden. We are now hitting .355 as a team, which is stellar. Our pitching staff has a 3.50 ERA, which is solid also. Our bullpen struggled in losses to TCU, 5-4, and a really disappointing 11-1 loss to Oklahoma State with both games played at the Shriners Children’s College Showdown at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX. We did run rule Texas Tech on that Saturday, 13-3, in 8 innings. And we’ve snapped back. And while the competition hasn’t been as challenging, we’ve played well. We play in the Live Like Lou Las Vegas College Classic this Friday through Sunday in Vegas. It’s to honor people with ALS and the great New York Yankee Lou Gehrig, who the difficult disease is named after. More on that tomorrow, Thursday.

We’ll play three good teams, so we’ll need to maintain this level, particularly with the pitching and defense. We’ll, of course, need to hit, too.

We’re fielding at a .973 clip, which is solid. Need to keep that up and even improve on that. More coming Thursday. We are 7-2 overall now. Not ranked at present, but we can get in the top 25 with a good weekend.

Women’s Basketball

The dynamic duo of Mikayla Blakes, who leads the country in scoring at 26.2 ppg and is a strong candidate for National player of the year, and freshman point guard Aubrey Galvan, led us to a critical 81-79 victory over No.16 Kentucky Sunday at Memorial. Our No.5 nationally ranked women’s team moved to 25-3 overall and 11-3 in the SEC, and secured the double bye for the SEC Tournament, which will be played Wednesday, March 4th-Sunday, March 8th at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. That means we won’t play till Friday, a huge bonus.

Mikayla poured in 35 in a typical Mikayla performance, and Aubrey added 20, including the game winner with 54 seconds left. We hung on, and advanced in the Southeastern Conference. South Carolina leads the SEC standings at 13-1. We are tied with Texas for second at 11-3. We are 25-3 overall.

Charlie Creme, ESPN’s NCAA Tournament Bracketologist for Women’s Basketball, has us as a 2 seed and playing in the Sacramento Regional. We would open in Nashville, and, according to Charlie, would play No.15 Navy.

But we can enhance our resume even more with strong performances against Alabama at home, Thursday at 6:30 P.M. CT/ 7:30 ET on SEC Network+, and Sunday @ Tennessee at 1 P.M. CT/ 2 ET on ESPN. So, a ton to play for going forward.

Coach Shea Ralph has done an amazing job building her program. She’s impressive.

And, as I always say, Corbs is Corbs. Trust the great one.

I’ll get more in-depth on our three teams along with our Men’s Golf team, and our Men’s and Women’s Tennis teams on Thursday. Will check and see if there is any football intel to pass along, also.

Have a super day. 

A look at Alabama and Auburn’s Basketball-what’s coming up for the two programs; the 100th Genesis Invitational, Preview/Prediction

February 18, 2026

Labaron Philon and Coach Nate Oats hope to continue the Crimson Tide’s march towards March with a critical game on tap tonight at Coleman Coliseum. (Photo courtesy of The Tuscaloosa News).

The No. 25 Alabama Crimson Tide, which are now 18-7 overall and tied for third in the SEC at 8-4, plays host to No. 20 Arkansas (19-6, 9-3) in an electrically important SEC matchup tonight at Coleman Coliseum at 6 CT/7 ET on E-S-P-N.

The Tide has played well since Charles Bediako was ruled ineligible by a different circuit court judge in Tuscaloosa, Daniel Pruet, after the original judge, James H. Roberts, gave Bediako a temporary restraining order allowing him to play in five games despite the fact he had signed an NBA contract. Sorry for the kid that it didn’t work out, but it was the right decision. The rules are clear that a player who signed an NBA contract and has been out of college basketball for now three years cannot come back and play again in college. That would have been a disaster if that injunction was upheld. The floodgates would have been wide open for NBA players to come back to college and play, and the cluster that is college sports would have become even more dysfunctional. I understand Alabama’s argument on Euros, who had played professionally overseas, coming back to play college basketball seems a little out of line with the college model. But everything is out of line with the college model now, and there has to be some limitations on these athletes coming back to college just to enhance themselves and create an unfair competitive situation for other teams. There have to be rules in college sports. So, it was the right decision by Judge Pruet, and the Crimson Tide has moved on very well from it. They’ve put together a pair of nice victories over Ole Miss on the road, 93-74, and South Carolina at home, 89-75.

Philon, Philon, Philon! According to Slay of the SEC Network, WP and me, is lighting it up. Labaron is averaging 21 points per game. He’s awesome. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. scored 21 against Ole Miss on 7 of 13 from trifecta. He added 19 versus South Carolina. Aiden Holloway continues to excel, averaging 17 per game. Power forward Amari Allen is putting up 11 1/2 per game and pulling down 7 1/2 boards, while Aiden Sherrill, who is playing center pretty much, is averaging 10 1/2 and 5.7 caroms. Allen and Sherrill are big boys, and while it would be nice to have the seven foot Bediako, the Tide is adapting well without him. Florida is leading the conference at 10-2 and are 19-6 overall. They are ranked 12th in the country. The SEC is such a gauntlet, more so than football at this juncture, baseball’s a beast, too, that the teams just beat each other up and it’s a season of attrition. But the Crimson Tide is navigating it well. They are a 4 1/2 point favorite over Arkansas tonight and the total is 185.5. I’ll take the Crimson Tide, 96-91.

ESPN’s Joey “Brackets” Lunardi projects the Crimson Tide as a 4 seed in the East Regional and playing No.13 seeded High Point in Portland in the first round. Duke is the No.1 seed in the East, according to Brackets, and it filters into D.C. for the Regional semis and final. Now “Brackets” is not Robert Oppenheimer, but his projections are pretty darn accurate, so I trust him. This doesn’t mean that the Crimson Tide will be playing High Point in Portland for sure, but the 4 seed is a good projection at this point. If the Tide keeps “matriculating,” as E and I like to say, they could move up two or three more spots in the NCAA Tournament, that will start on Thursday, March 19th and continue through Friday, March 20th in venues throughout the country. The Selection Show is Sunday, March 15th, at 5 P.M. CT/6 ET on CBS. The NCAA Tournament will be broadcast by CBS, TBS, TNT and TBS. TBS will televise the Final Four and National Championship Games on April 4th and April 6th, respectively. The Final Four and championship games will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy.

But there are sill 6 games left in the conference, so a lot of work for both Alabama and Auburn. The SEC Tournament will be played once again at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville from Wednesday, 3/11 to Sunday, 3/15. The Championship Game is Sunday, 3/15, at 12 P.M. CT/1 ET on ESPN. The semis are on ESPN Saturday, and the quarters are on the SEC Network and ESPN on Friday. Friday’s games start at 12 P.M. CT/1 ET, and Saturday’s semifinal games start at the same time, 12 CT/1 ET. The first and second round games are Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The coveted double bye is what the Tide is playing for. That goes to the top four finishers in the SEC regular season. Playing on Friday and only having to win three games is a tremendous advantage. The Tide has Arkansas tonight at 6 CT/7 ET on ESPN, @ LSU, Saturday at 5 P.M. CT/6 ET on the SEC Network, @ home vs Miss State on Wednesday, 2/25, at 8 P.M. CT/9 ET on ESPNU, @ Tennessee Saturday, 2/28, at 5 P.M CT/6 ET. If things go well it will most likely be televised by ESPN. Then Georgia Tuesday, 3/3, at 5:30 P.M. CT/6:30 ET on ESPN News. And the Tide closes it out versus the Auburn Tigers in T-town Saturday, 3/7, at 7:30 P.M. CT/8:30 ET on ESPN. So, an electric time ahead for the Crimson Tide faithful and throughout the conference. “Brackets” has 10 SEC teams going to the NCAA Tournament, tied with the Big Ten for the most in the country. What a conference. What a basketball game tonight! Very much looking forward to it.

Keyshawn Hall is back in the lineup tonight for the Tigers. They need him. (Photo courtesy of Hoops HQ).

Stephen Pearl and his Tigers will try to right the ship tonight @ Mississippi State at 8 CT/9 ET on ESPN2. The Tigers are 14-11 overall and 5-7 in the conference. They are tied for 10th in the conference. They have lost four in a row, so they desperately need a victory at Starkvegas. Coach Pearl decided to sit Keyshawn Hall in the second half of the Vanderbilt game, and he was suspended indefinitely @ Arkansas on Saturday as Pearl wants his freshman to get his act together. I highly respect that. Hall is available tonight, so hopefully for MB and all Tiger fans, Hall has made an attitude adjustment. He’s a stud, no doubt. He averages almost 21 points per game, and pulls down 6.8 rebounds. Tahaad Pettiford has been solid at 14 points per game, and almost 4 assists. Kevin Overton is at 12.2 and KeShawn Murphy averages 11 and pulls down 7 boards. “Brackets” has the Tigers as an 8 seed and playing in the South Regional in Philly versus No.9 Indiana. Would be a nice matchup. UConn is the present No.1 seed in the South, which filters to Houston for the Regional Semis and Final. Finding a way in each game is critical for the Tigers from here on out. After tonight, they host Kentucky, Saturday, at 7:30 P.M. CT/8:30 ET on ESPN, then play @ Oklahoma next Tuesday, 2/24, at 6 CT/7 ET on ESPNU. On Saturday, 2/28, the Tigers host Ole Miss at 7:30 CT/8:30 ET on the SEC Network. On Tuesday, 3/3, they host LSU at 9 P.M. CT (are you kiddin’ me?)10 ET on the SEC Network. The Tigers finish it off with the Iron Bowl of Basketball at Tuscaloosa Saturday, 3/7, at 7:30 CT/8:30 ET on ESPN.

So a lot to be decided for the state teams, and for the SEC, and for the National scene. In the Midwest, “Brackets” has Michigan as the No.1 seed and they are the projected, at this time, as the No.1 overall seed by ‘Brackets.” And I believe it. They are a juggernaut. They have former UAB power forward Yaxel “Andrea” Lendborg, who is averaging 14.4 and 7 1/2 caroms. He’s spectacular. Michigan has several terrific players as they certainly opened up the checkbook to buy this team. It’s free agency these days for many teams in football and basketball and even in college baseball too. But we’ll see. When the pressure of the NCAA Tournament intensifies and the team you’re playing is sinking trifecta after trifecta and out-hustling you, any team can be beaten. Michigan is strong, however. In the west, “Brackets” has Arizona as his one seed, but that could change as they lost twice last week. Houston and Iowa State are lurking in the Big 12, and several other teams could sneak into that one seed, Alabama included, if they can turn it on and win out. Auburn just needs to win tonight and get this thing turned around and heading in a positive direction.

Genesis Invitational Prediction

While he’s grimacing in pain here from a poor shot, Hideki Matsuyama is having a very nice 2026 and won the Genesis the last time it was played at Riviera CC in 2024. (Photo courtesy of The New York Times).

The 100th Genesis Invitational will take place once again at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, CA. after a one year hiatus due to the wildfires in the L.A. area in 2025. Last year’s Genesis, played at Torrey Pines, was won by Ludvig Aberg. The last time the Genesis was played at Riviera in 2024, Hideki Matsuyama won it. So while Aberg is the official defending champion, Hideki was the last to win it on this course.

This is a Signature Event with a purse of $20 Million with the winner receiving 20% of the purse, or $4 Million. This tournament is hosted by Tiger Woods, so it, the Arnie, and the Memorial hosted by Jack, are the three tournaments that have 36 hole cuts and higher first place prize money. They are hosted by the legends, l so the winners’ share and the cut lines are different and more elite. The other 5 signature events (the AT&T Pebble Beach, won last week by Collin Morikawa, the RBC Heritage, April 16th-19th), the Cadillac Championship (Trump National Doral, April 30th-May 3rd.), the Truist Championship (May 7th-10th Quail Hollow), and the Travelers Championship (June 25th-28th) don’t have cuts, but the winner gets “only” $3.6 Million, or 18% of the purse. Not a bad deal there either if you can excel that week. The Arnie is March 5th-8th, and the Memorial is June 4th-7th. Second place at the Genesis pays $2.2 M, third gets $1.4 M, fourth gets a mill. $840K for fifth, $760K for 6th and $700K for 7th. So if you have a good week, it’s lucrative. Amazing stuff ahead on tour.

Riviera will be playing at 7,383 yards and a par 71. The 4th could very well be playing as a 270+ yard par 3, though Todd Lewis of Golf Channel reported it would be more like 240. But I’ve looked it up and it could be at 273. Will be extremely interesting watching that hole. No. 10 is a high risk/reward, 315 yard par 4. A lot of the players go for it on the 10th, and some have success. No.18, a historic hole, will play at 499 yards as a par 4. That’s a par 5 for the Bush Hogs, Strokers and Due Rights, and maybe a Par 6 for some of us at this age, but it’s still a challenging uphill, blind tee shot and tight with trees on the right causing problems on a PGA player’s approach if he cuts it too much off the tee. The green is like a stadium with the stands backing up and surrounding some of the green for a stadium-like atmosphere. Of the last four winners, two of them have led the field in strokes gained: approach. Jon Rahm did it in 2023, and Joaquin Niemann did it in 2022. However, they’re both on the LIV Tour, so they’re irrelevant. They’ve had a lot of rain in L.A., so it’s a soft course. They got an inch of rain today and expect a half an inch tomorrow. I like the proximity to hole stat and the strokes gained: putting stat, along with scrambling. Gotta be good off the tee as well. Golf asks a lot of you.

Weather: Thursday, 56, rain, 100%, should clear up in the afternoon. Wind at 10 MPH. Friday, 60, Partly sunny, wind 4. Saturday, 66, cloudy, slight chance of a shower, Wind 3. Sunday, 72, sunny. Wind, 4. Now that’s more like it in Southern California.

TV

Thursday-Friday- 3-7 P.M. CT/4-8 ET, Golf Channel.

Saturday, 12-2 P.M. CT/1-3 ET, GC; 2-6 CT/3-7 ET, CBS.

Sunday, 12-2 P.M. CT/1-3 ET, GC; 2-5:30 CT/3-6:30 ET, CBS.

The fairways are Kikuyu grass and the rough is also Kikuyu and will be 2 inches at its highest. There is no intermediate rough though.The greens are Poa annua and will be stimping at 12, so pretty quick for a PGA event.

Odds

Scottie Scheffler: 3/1; Rory, 11/1; Xander, 19/1; Hideki, 20/1; Tommy Fleetwood, 20/1; Morikawa, 25/1; Patrick Cantlay, 27/1; Russell Henley, 30/1; Si Woo, 30/1; Cameron Young, 30/1; Matt Fitzpatrick, 33/1; Jake Knapp, 33/1; Sam Burns, 35/1; Chris Gotterup, 35/1; Harris English, 35/1; Min Woo Lee, 35/1; Ludvig Aberg, 40/1; Vik Hovland, 40/1; Bob McIntyre, 40/1; Sepp Straka, 40/1; Mav McNealy, 40/1. Ben Griffin, 40/1. Justin Rose, 45/1. Rickie Fowler, 45/1; Adam Scott, 55/1; Shane Lowry, 55/1. There are 72 players in the field with the top 50 and ties after 36 holes playing on the weekend.

Winner

Sometimes you have to go obvious, and while golf and horse racing are the most unpredictable sports in existence, with horse racing leading the field, and with a field like this playing on a classic course like this, anything can happen. But I’m going to take Sea Biscuit once again. He’s the only guarantee on who can win or finish in the top 5. I like him to win at Riviera.

Scottie Scheffler

Give me Scheffler, the Texan, to win his 21st event on The PGA Tour at age 29. (Photo courtesyof Golf. com).

Sleeper

Give me this 26 year old from Easton, Maryland, by way of Rutgers University, to have a serious shot at raising the hardware on Sunday. He’s already won the Myrtle Beach Classic in May of 2024, the Genesis Scottish Open in July of 2025, and has also already won twice this year at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, and the Waste Management Phoenix Open on Feb. 8th. This guy is no sleeper, but I’ll pick him that way this week with everybody else picking Scheffler, McIlroy, Matsuyama, Morikawa, etc…

Chris Gotterup

Super Bowl LX Prediction

February 5, 2026

Super Bowl 60

New England Patriots (17-3) vs. Seattle Seahawks (16-3)

Sunday, 5:30 P.M. CT/6:30 P.M. ET, kickoff closer to 5:40/6:40

Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara, CA., 75,000

NBC, Streaming on Peacock

Mike, Cris, Melissa, Kaylee, Rules Analyst: Terry McAulay

Lead Laundry: Shawn Smith

Seahawks by 4 1/2, O/U, 45 1/2

Record in NFL Postseason: SU: 6-6, ATS: 5-7, Over/Under, 5-7. Made a pretty good comeback on the straight up after posting a 1-5 mark after Wild Card Weekend. Was 2-4 ATS and 2-4 O/U after the Wild Card Round, so hung fairly tough.

The Seahawks lead the NFL in scoring defense at 17.2 per game, while the Patriots are 4th at 18.8.

But these two quarterbacks, Sam Darnold and Drake Maye, are playmakers, so there will be some points scored. The weather in Santa Clara Sunday afternoon at 3:40 Pacific Time calls for 60+ degrees and 8 MPH winds. It’ll stay relatively steady there throughout the game.

I like Darnold and the terrific Seattle wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba to make few more plays than Maye and the New England offense. It’s about players in the NFL. Mike McDonald and Mike Vrabel are good coaches for Seattle and New England, respectively, but it’s 85% about players and 15% about coaches in determining how successful an NFL team is. General Managers are big pieces in that, too. More like 5% GM’s and 10% coaches. In college, it’s 80/20, players to coaches, unless you bring an NBA player into the fold like Alabama has done in college basketball. Nice, Oats and Byrne, and the circuit judge who gave Bediako a 10 day stay to play. The circuit court judge’s wife is defending alleged murderer Darius Miles from the tragic shooting of a young woman a couple of years back in Tuscaloosa. They’re big Alabama boosters. There will be another hearing tomorrow to see if Bediako can play the rest of the season. We’ll see which subjective or objective judge is on the bench in Tuscaloosa. Nice work, Alabama. Real great example of competitive integrity. In High School, it’s more like 60% players, 40% coaching. Coaches matter more in high school.

So I’ll take the players of the Seahawks over the players of the Patriots in a solid game. Sam Darnold and the Seahawks hoist the Lombardi Trophy later Sunday Night.

Seahawks 24, Patriots 17

MVP: Darnold

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