David White

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Golf

The 5th Signature event on the PGA Tour, The Cadillac Championship, WP’s birthday

April 29, 2026

Can Scheffler get over the hump this week after finishing second at Augusta National to Rory by a shot and losing to Matt Fitzpatrick in a playoff at the RBC Heritage? (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia).



Trump National Doral, the Blue Monster course, aptly named, will host the 5th Signature event of the PGA Tour season Thursday as 72 tour players tee it up in Miami for the Cadillac Championship. This will be the 56th time the tournament will be played at Doral. It was played as the Doral Open from 1962-2006, and as the WGC Cadillac from 2007-2016. It took a hiatus from a while after some controversy with President Trump. But it’s back now and ready to roll.

Leading the field is Scottie Scheffler, as Matt’ Fitzie” Fitzpatrick, as Bama Golf likes to call him, is taking the week off after winning three of the last four events he’s entered, which includes the Valspar Championship, the RBC Heritage, the fourth Signature event this year, good for a $3.6 million first place check, and last week at TPC Louisiana in the Zurich Classic playing with his brother Alex, who, thanks to big brother hitting a bunker shot to a foot on the par 5 18th for birdie, earned his tour card and is in the field this week.

Per the Trump National Golf Club website, there are many terrific and intensely challenging holes on this course sand and water all over the track. The 15th hole is a 157 yard, Par 3 with a peninsula green demanding the player to land it safely over the water and accurately onto the green with water on all four sides of the green. With the wind playing a role this week, 15 could be somewhat a bear for the players. Hole 16 is a 370 yard, Par 4, that is drivable for the longest hitters, Scheffler being one of them, but there are four bunkers surrounding the green, so the best play may be to hit a fairway wood or a 4 or 5 iron and play for birdie. Hole 17 is a 458 yard, par 4, it doglegs left to right, so a good drive carries the right hand fairway bunker and gives the player an optimal second shot. Could be a birdieable hole, but with the wind coming up this week/weekend, maybe not. I want to go back one more hole before describing the terrifically challenging 18th at the Blue Monster. The 12th hole is a 667 yard, par 5 with the wind definitely impacting how the players navigate this hole. Several bunkers align the 12th. There is one on the right side of the fairway, one on the left, and the green is heavily bunkered with five surrounding it. These guys are the best, so they can handle these holes better than anybody in the world, so it may not be as daunting as it sounds to a weekend player. But with the wind this week, it may very well be. The 18th is a 473 yard, par 4 and is considered one of the toughest holes on the PGA Tour. Water runs all along the left side of the hole, so hitting it to the right side of the fairway is a must. Getting in the right rough and dealing with those palm trees is no bargain, so the player will need to keep it in the short grass. The bermuda rough will be at 3 inches, so the player will have to probably chip it out of the rough on 18 and try to get up and down for par. Any slight draw, and the player is “dead in the water.”

The course is playing 7,739 yards and is a stock par 72. At 7,739, according to Rob Bolton of PGA Tour.com, the Blue Monster is the second longest course on tour this year only 26 yards shorter than Torrey Pines. The fellas will be tested.

The bermuda greens will be stimping at 12, so decent speed, but, as of now, the wind will be a major factor. Dick Wilson designed the course in 1962. He’s known for several other courses, including Bay Hill in 1961, and The Greenbriar. Gil Hanse redesigned the course in 2013-14. Hanse also redid Olympic Club in San Francisco, Southern Hills in Tulsa, and Winged Foot in New York. All of three of those courses are consistent major venues.

Collin Morikawa is in pretty good form right now and looks to capture his second Signature Event in 2026 after winning the AT&T Pebble Beach in February.( Photo courtesy of Official World Golf Rankings).

Weather

Thursday: Sunny, 85, winds SSW at 10-20 MPH.

Friday: Partly sunny, 86, winds SSE 10-15.

Saturday: Sunny, 88, Winds, S 15-25.

Sunday, not so great, as of today, but could change. T-storms likely, 82. 90% chance of t-storms. Winds NNE 10-15. So, the wind will totally change direction on Sunday.

Challenging wind conditions are in store. I know the players are hoping Sunday won’t be an inclement day. Florida has intermittent spurts of t-storms and they can pass through quickly. Remains to be seen.

TV Coverage

Thursday-Friday: 2-6 P.M. CT, 3-7 ET, Golf Channel.

Saturday-Sunday: 11 A.M.-2 P.M. CT/ 12-3 ET, GC; 2-5 P.M. CT/3-6 ET, CBS, Paramount+.

Odds

Scheffler: 3/1; Cam Young: 12/1; Morikawa, 20/1; Chris Gotterup, 25/1; Tommy Fleetwood, 27/1; Min Woo Lee: 27/1; Russell Henley: 27/1; Sam Burns, 27/1; Jake Knapp, 30/1; Si Woo Kim, 33/1; Hideki, 33/1; Adam Scott, 35/1; Maverick McNealy, 35/1; Vik Hovland, 35/1; Kurt Kitayama, 40/1; Jacob Bridgeman, 40/1; Justin Rose, 40/1; Nicolai Hojgard, 40/1; Harris English, 40/1; Michael Thorbjornsen, 40/1; Jordan Spieth, 50/1; Akshay Bhatia, 50/1; Gary Woodland, 50/1: Sepp Straka, 55/1; J.J. Spaun, 60/1; Shane Lowry, 70/1; Jason Day, 70/1; Justin Thomas 70/1.

White’s World’s winner

I’m going to kind of go out on a limb here and take the 36 year old from Valdosta, Georgia (great high school football country), by way of the University of Georgia, and now living in Sea Island. He finished tied for 4th at the RBC Heritage two weeks ago, and played pretty solidly at Augusta National finishing tied for 30th at one under. He’s won 5 times on tour. He won the 2013 Fed Ex St. Jude Classic in Memphis at TPC Southwind, the 2017 OHL Classic at Mayakoba in Mexico, the 2021 Sentry of Champions in Hawaii, the 2021 Travelers Championship, the final Signature event this season, the 8th one, and he won the 2025 Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey. He’s an excellent putter as he is 8th on tour in Strokes Gained: Putting. He putted very well at Harbour Town two weeks ago at the RBC Heritage. Give me:

Harris English

I’ll take Harris English to capture the Cadillac Championship at the Blue Monster Course at Doral. (Photo courtesy of The Travelers Championship).

Sleeper

I’ll take the guy who ate at Craft’s/ 280 a few nights ago. He was with his family, so I don’t think he made it to the Fennec. Derrick doin work.

Sepp Straka

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And Last, but most importantly…

Today is Walter “WP” Pittman’s 35th? birthday. Just joshin’ Walter. You’re better at your age than many of these early to mid 30 somethings are at their’s. Hope you’re having a phenomenal day. The Blog appreciates you.

Saturday

The 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby: Preview/Prediction.

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Joseph, Brombey doin work; NBA, Stanley Cup Playoffs Predictions

April 28, 2026
Bama Golf, Joseph D. with an excellent prediction of Matthew Fitzpatrick, the hottest golfer on the planet, winning the Signature Event RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head. (Photo courtesy of Baggett Transportation).

Joseph “Bama Golf” Donald made a prophetic prediction a couple of weeks ago when he predicted Matt “Fitzie” Fitzpatrick to win the RBC Heritage. Great stuff from Bama G, who is a terrific predictor.

“Spike Me Up” John “Brombey” Bromberg, another winner in his own right, correctly picked the three year old thoroughbred, Commandment, ridden by Flavien Prat and trained by Brad H., Cox, to win the Florida Derby. Brombey was down at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, FL. about 20 miles north of Miami. It’s in between Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

Brombey’s reaction was epic. This is called, as now LSU basketball coach (again) Will Wade , would say (paraphrasing), “a strong — reaction.” Here’s Brombey’s electric moment when he showed his ticket that he would be cashing on Commandment.

Brombey’s classic reaction. (Video courtesy of Amy “Sweetie” Bromberg).

Great stuff from the fellas. I care a lot about my commenters. Walter, Excedrin, Bama Golf, Spike Me Up, MB, Derrick, WT, EHS ’80, and Charles B. Perkins make my day when I see their comments on the Blog, and also relish getting private emails from K Sevier, my illustrious wife, Chris “CK” King from Nashville and Bo.C. from Dallas.

Matt “Fitzie” Fitzpatrick hit a four iron from 204 yards to 13 feet in the playoff of the RBC Heritage and canned the birdie putt to outlast the great Scottie Scheffler and capture the Tartan Jacket and the $3.6 million first place check that came with it. I texted Joseph and he told me he just likes Fitzie’s toughness. I agree with that. Fitzie and his brother, Alex , just won the Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana at 31 under, as ‘Fitzie” hit a bunker shot from 20 yards to a foot on 18, and Alex tapped in the birdie putt on the par 5 to secure the one shot Fitzpatrick brothers’ victory over a couple of other teams and earned Alex his PGA Tour card. Alex will now be playing in the Signature Event this week, the Cadillac Championship, at Trump National Doral, the Blue Monster Course. Should be terrific. Fitzie, Matt that is, is sitting this one out. The first place prize is once again $3.6 million as is the custom for Signature events, and there is a stellar field with Scheffler the 3/1 favorite at this point. More on the Cadillac tomorrow in my Preview/Predictions column on that classic tourney.

And the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby is Saturday. At present, the favorite is Renegade, the Arkansas Derby winner from March 28th at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas, 55 miles southwest of Little Rock. That was the same day Brombey won at Gulfstream Park with Commandment. Renegade is a 9/2 favorite presently. Commandment is at 9/1. Renegade, trained by Todd Pletcher, a two time Derby winner, will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.. The horse is in the No.1 Post position, a pretty tough post to win at. Commandment, trained by Brad H. Cox, will be ridden by Luis Saez, is at 9/1. Flavien Prat, the winning jockey on Commandment at the Florida Derby, will be riding Louisiana Derby champion Emerging Market. Emerging Market’s odds are at 13/1. Chad C. Brown is the horse’s trainer.

I’ll have a lot more on Saturday with a Preview and Predictions column for the 152nd Run for the Roses.

Now to the Playoffs in the NHL and NBA, along with my predicitions of which teams I like to win those respective Leagues’ championships.

Stanley Cup Playoffs

Eastern Conference

Conference Semifinals

TB Lightning over Buffalo Sabres in 7

Carolina Hurricanes over Pittsburgh Penguins in 7

Both hard fought series.

Conference Finals

Hurricanes over Lightning in 7

Carolina edges out a superbly talented Tampa team to make the Stanley Cup Finals.

Western Conference

Conference Semis

Anaheim Ducks over Utah Mammoth in 7

Colorado Avalanche over Dallas Stars in 6

Conference Finals

Avalanche over Ducks in 5

Stanley Cup Finals

The Avalanche won the you would call it the “dreaded” President’s Trophy for having the best record/most points during the regular season. The last team to win the President’s Trophy and the Stanley Cup was the 2012-13 Chicago Blackhawks. See a lot of Blackhawks games on the TV and banners on the walls on my favorite TV shows, Chicago Fire and Chicago PD. Fire is on for its 14th season and PD is in its 13th season. Both are renewed for 2026-27. Amazing shows. I’m on season 9 of Fire and season 6 of PD. A lot of Blackhawks stuff on those shows. But I believe in this curse that is winning the President’s Trophy. So I’m going to take a very strong Carolina team in a thriller.

Hurricanes over Avalanche in 7

Conn Smythe Trophy, Most Valuable Player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs

Sebastian Aho

Center Sebastian Aho and Carolina capture Carolina’s second Stanley Cup in its 29 year history in Raleigh. They also won the Cup in 2006 over Edmonton in 7 games. (Photo courtesy of NBC Sports).

Coverage on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS and truTV with the Finals exclusively on ABC. Goes into June.

NBA Playoffs Predictions

Eastern Conference

Conference Semis

Cleveland Cavaliers over Orlando Magic in 7

Celtics over Knicks in 6

Conference Finals

Celtics over Cavs in 6

Western Conference

Conference Semis

OKC over Lakers in 6

Denver Nuggets over San Antonio Spurs in 7

Conference Finals

OKC Thunder over Nuggets in 6

NBA Finals

I’ll take the Boston Celtics to win their 19th Championship in their 80 year franchise existence. The Celtics have won 18 now and the Lakers have 17. Interesting competition still ongoing.

Celtics over Thunder in 7.

Finals MVP

Jaylen Brown

Jaylen Brown leads his Celtics to another NBA Championship denying the OKC Thunder back to back world championships. (Photo courtesy of Reuters).

Coverage on ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock and Amazon Prime with the Finals exclusively on ABC.

Wednesday: The Cadillac Championship, Preview/Prediction.

Vanderbilt Baseball, Men’s Basketball, Football, Men’s Golf Excelling. Here’s VU Insider

April 23, 2026

Our outstanding sophomore third baseman from Ooltewah, TN., Brodie Johnston is pounding the baseball right now. (Photo courtesy of The Vanderbilt Hustler).

Our baseball team is picking it up as third baseman Brodie Johnston and right fielder Braden Holcomb, among many others, are pounding the baseball right now. And, just as importantly, we are pitching MUCH better, which we had to have. The defense has been stellar lately.

I’ll have some more on Friday with details on Brodie, Braden, Mancini, Ryker Waite, Ruston Rigdon, etc, and what to look for as No.4 Texas (D1 Baseball Rankings) comes to Nashville for a three game set at the Hawk. Couldn’t be more gigantic of a series.

Our RPI, as reported by Warren Nolan, an expert in the field, is 69, which is probably not good enough yet to get us in the NCAA Tournament. But we’ve improved markedly in the last week after taking 2 of 3 from Kentucky in Lexington and defeating Xavier, 11-1, in 8 innings by the run rule, a 10 or more run lead after the trailing team has hit in the 7th. We are now 25-17 overall and 9-9 in the always rugged SEC. We started out slowly in the non-conference and the SEC has been as brutal as ever. But we’ve held our own. But we’ve got work to do. 

Connor Fennell has been pitching well on Friday Nights, and our bullpen was better last weekend in Lexington. We just need to get better starting pitching on Saturday and Sunday, and our bullpen needs to keep progressing.

Brodie’s been awesome hitting .367 with 13 homers and 38 steaks. Braden is also hitting well at .329 with 12 and 39. Waite, our shortstop, is hitting .301 with 5 and 32 and is 9 for 12 in base stealing, and our great senior, second baseman Mike Mancini, is hitting .301 with 12 and 39. Mancini is also 12-for-12 in stolen bases. We always need to manufacture runs. It can be the difference between winning and losing, and we’ve been pretty strong lately in the stealing and bunt games along with our hitting prowess.

Braden was 4 for 5 Tuesday versus Xavier, and our superb sophomore first baseman, Tommy Goodin, who has taken over at first, was three for 5 with a three run shot and 5 Ribeyes. Waite hit a grand salami. Tommy is hitting .295 with 9 long ones and 29 Ribbies.

Game one Friday versus Texas is at 6 P.M. CT/7 ET on SEC Network+. Saturday’s game is at 7 P.M. CT/8 ET on the SEC Network. And Sunday’s finale is at 12 P.M.CT/1 East on ESPN2.

Major weekend ahead at the Hawk, and we’ll have to pitch well because Texas hits .303 as a team and has a 3.41 team ERA. Texas is 30-8 and 11-6 in the SEC, good for third in the conference behind No.5 Georgia, which is 13-5 and 32-10, and No.7 A&M, which is at 12-5 and 31-7. We are in 11th place in the conference standings, so A LOT on the line on West End starting Friday. 

 We’re hitting .294 as a team and are 4th in the country in home runs with 87. Defense is solid at .975, and we turn a ton of double plays. Defense could even be a little sharper, but it was very sharp against Kentucky and Xavier.

The pitching ERA is where we need to pick it up. It’s at 5.38 right now. We’ve Got to get better on the mound if we want to have a highly successful season. We’ve had some injuries, but now have guys coming back, and we’re pitching four or five freshmen, so it’s been a learning curve. But now is the time for the staff to step it up. The freshmen have been through a lot of battles in the pre-conference and now in the SEC. So, they’re veterans at this point despite the fact that they’re  freshmen. They’re just going to have to lock it down. We’ve got to have those young guys and the veterans produce for us to have good, if not great success this season. The talent is there. Just need to be mentally tough on the hill and throw strikes and let our defense make plays. Connor is definitely giving us that. Fennell is our leader on the staff. Our other juniors and underclassmen have to follow suit.

I’ll have more on our team through the weekend.

I’ll have more on “By,” Coach Mark Byington, and the men’s bball team coming up Friday. By was extended by Candice and rewarded our program and our University for it by pulling in a tremendous incoming freshmen and transfer class. I’ll have many more details on what By has done. Keeping Tyler Tanner as a Dore is preeminent in our plans for 2026-27. Tyler did not transfer, so it’s a matter of if we can keep him from going to the NBA. There are deadlines for declaring for the draft and staying in. I think we’ve got a shot to keep him and possibly get AK Okereke back. AK is trying to win his case in court for an extra year of eligibility. Will get into more detail on Men’s bball Friday. It’s going very well. By’s the man.

It was such a downer losing to Nebraska because I loved the guys on the team and they had such a sensational season. Sorry to see Tyler Nickel, and Devin McGlockton have to move on due to the fact that they’re out of eligibility. Nickel is kind of up in the air still though. He probably won’t be back, but there’s talk of him trying to get another year of eligibility. He was a little erratic as a shooter, but gave great effort and was a leader. Glock was a terrific leader and teammate and gave us a lot. I really liked what Jalen Washington did, too, in his one season as a Commodore. Wish those guys all the very best and will be pulling for them in their future endeavors. Will get more in depth on our newcomers Friday.

Football had an awesome spring. Clark has this program fine tuned to be a powerhouse in the near future. I love what five star freshman quarterback Jared Curtis can do for us. The QB competition is still ongoing into August, and we’ve got three other pretty good players. Curtis has the most talent. He can really sling it. Can a freshman quarterback really lead his team to prominence in the SEC? If anybody can do it, Jared can. It’s not a done deal, but I’m banking on Jared being our starting QB in game one vs. Austin Peay at FirstBank on Saturday, Sept 5th. And the talent around Jared, or whomever it is, is as good as we’ve ever had. The defense is loaded, too. We’ll have to fine tune our offensive line, but there’s great size and ability, and plenty of depth. And I’m a huge fan of O Line coach Chris Klenakis. With Coach Klenakis, and OC Tim Beck at the helm, and our chief Consultant to Clark and senior offensive Advisor Jerry Kill, we’ll have good offense. Seddy Alexander, MK Young and Junior Sherrill are back among others. I like our material on offense. And Clark and DC Steve Gregory can do super things with our talent on defense. Our defense can be elite. Couldn’t be going any better in football.

Our Men’s Golf team shot 9 under today in the second round of the SEC Tournament at Sea Island Golf Club at St. Simons Island, GA. and are in 9th place heading into Friday’s final round of stroke play at 11 under. We are one shot back of 8th place South Carolina, which is at -12. The top 8 finishers in stroke play matriculate to the Match Play on Saturday and Sunday. There are quarterfinal and semifinal matches on Saturday, and the Championship Match is Sunday. I like where Coach Scott Limbaugh and our team stands heading into Friday.

We are ranked 11th in the country. We have really improved throughout the season. We’ve got a young team, for the most part, as two freshmen are in the starting lineup of 5 players in the team competition. But the two freshmen were 2 of the three players in the No.1 recruiting class in the country in 2025, so they know what it takes. But our senior from West Point, Mississippi, Wells Williams, has been the story for our team through the first two rounds.  Wells is at nine under for the tournament, and tied for fourth, three shots back of Auburn stud Jackson Kolvun.

We’ll need Wells, freshman Will Hartman, from Marvin, N.C., who is at -4, freshman Jon Ed Steed from Enterprise, Alabama, who has been superb for us this season, junior Chase Nevins, from Great Falls, VA. and sophomore Ryan Downes, from Longmeadow, Massachusetts, to lock down tomorrow and get us into the match play, where it’s anybody’s game then. No.1 Auburn leads the team leaderboard at -27.

Will have more VU Confidential stuff Friday with the 2026-27 Basketball team makeup, more on these tremendous signees, and a running diatribe (not overkill, but up to date information) on the Men’s golf team as they home in on round 3 and advancing to Match Play. 

Thanks, have a great evening and Anchor Down.

The 4th Signature event on Tour, The RBC Heritage

April 16, 2026

Scheffler is the favorite once again after falling agonizingly short to Rory last Sunday at Augusta National. (Photo courtesy of Britannica).



Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, S.C. (7,213 yards, Par 71) will host the 58th playing of the RBC Heritage, the fourth signature event on tour this season which features a $20 million purse, no cut and a $3.5 million first place check to go along with a Wimp Sanderson look-alike jacket. Eighty two players are competing. The tournament is presently underway.

The two big stories in golf heading into this weekend are Rory’s winning a second Green Jacket in a row last Sunday at the 90th Masters, and the possibility of the LIV Tour disbanding. Rory did what he had to do to capture his second Green Jacket, the $4.5 million first place check, and his sixth major championship to catapult him into the discussion of a top 10 elite player in history. He was fortunate on the 18th tee that he only needed a bogey to win because he promptly drove it right-into the woods, but got out and chipped up on the green and two putted for bogey. Scottie Scheffler shot 65 Saturday and 68 on Sunday, but came up a half inch to the left of sinking his 20 foot birdie putt on 17 and really putting some pressure on McIlroy. But he finished at -11, and Rory, who played solid golf on Sunday, took care of business to capture the Green Jacket. Not as dramatic a finish as you’d like, but surely another classic at the hallowed grounds of Augusta National.

Now to the LIV Tour. There are reports that Saudi Arabia, dealing with the bombings from Iran, could stop funding the LIV Tour and call it quits. The Public Investment Fund that has $900+ billion in assets, which seems like it’s unbreakable, is losing interest in the tour as has been reported. Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed defected back to the PGA Tour, and Bryson DeChambeau does not have a new contract with LIV Golf. LIV Golf CEO Scott O’Neil is disputing the report, saying the Tour plans on continuing operations at full speed ahead, but there’s no word from the Public Investment Fund. It’s worth keeping an eye on. Definitely would be nice to get DeChambeau, Rahm, guys like that, back on the tour, though there should be punitive measures for them to rejoin. Koepka had to forfeit several million dollars in future earnings, but I think maybe these guys need to earn their way back on tour by playing more events than are required. They did turn their backs on the PGA Tour, so there should be consequences for that. This will be an interesting story to follow the next couple of days.

But back to the PGA Tour and the RBC Heritage which features a terrific field of major winners including 4 time winner Scheffler, two Masters, a PGA Championship and an Open Championship, defending champion Justin Thomas, a two time PGA Championship winner and a 16 time tour winner who looks to be regaining his form. Two time major winner in 2024 Xander Schauffele (PGA Championship and Open Championship), 2022 U.S. Open winner and 2023 RBC Heritage champion Matt Fitzpatrick, and this year’s Players Championship champion Cam Young, who looked like he had a serious shot of winning the Masters last Sunday, but fell back due to putting miscues. Rory is not in the field this week, which makes sense. Any player would take a week off after winning the Masters. This is the fourth of eight Signature events this season with the $20 million purses and $3.6 million first place checks and no cuts for five of them, and $4 Million for the player sponsored events with a cut. Jacob Bridgeman won Tiger Woods event, the Genesis Invitational, and Akshay Bhatia won the Arnie. Jack’s event, the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, which will be played at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, will take place June 4th-7th. The other three Signature events are the Cadillac Classic at Trump National Doral in Miami, April 30th-May 3rd; the Truist Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, May 7-10; and the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut, June 25th-28th.

The rest of the majors this season are, in order: The PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Newton Square, PA., 15 miles from downtown Philly, May 14-17. It’ll be the 108th edition of the PGA Championship. The 126th U.S. Open will be played at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, a classic, in Southhampton, New York, June 18th-21st, Father’s Day weekend. And the 154th Open Championship will be played at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport England, July 16-19. So a lot of electricity in golf is forthcoming.

Harbour Town Golf Links’ greens are some of the smallest on tour and will be stimping at 12 1/2. The greens are Bermuda and the rough will be at approximately 1 1/2 inches. No.18 is the classic lighthouse hole with a lighthouse behind the green. Eighteen is a 478 yard, par 4, with a wide landing area for the player’s tee shot, but trouble on the left with marsh and water if the competitor overcooks it. The second shot is tough to a narrow, small green. There have been dramatic moments on the 18th including JT’s 22 foot birdie conversion on the first playoff hole in 2025 to prevail over Andrew Novak. Here are odds for the tournament.

Scheffler, 4/1, Schauffele, 14/1, Fitzpatrick, 16/1, Cam Young, 17/1, Russell Henley, 17/1, Tommy Fleetwood, 18/1, Ludvig Aberg, 20/1, Collin Morikawa, 22/1, Patrick Cantlay, 24/1, Si Woo Kim, 28/1, Jordan Spieth, 29/1, Bob McIntyre (he and Sergio Garcia were sure asking to be suspended for a year from Augusta after their behavior last weekend on the course. They should be suspended from next year’s Masters in my opinion) 29/1, Harris English, 30/1, Vik Hovland, 34/1, Sam Burns (had a shot at the Masters, just couldn’t finish over the weekend), 35/1, Jack Knapp, 37/1.

Weather looks outstanding. Mid 80’s, sunny, though we could use some rain here and a lot of other places in the south sometime soon. But for this weekend, there will be stellar golf conditions. Wind will be a factor at 10-20 MPH each day.

Broadcast Schedule

Today-Friday: 1-5 P.M. CT/2-6 ET Golf Channel.

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

Winner

I liked what I saw from this recently turned 37 year old at the Masters. He went 66, 68 on Saturday and Sunday and finished tied for third at 10 under par. He finished tied 8th at the RBC in 2025. I’ll take the man who turned 37 this past Sunday at Augusta National, April 12th, who is a native of Macon, Georgia, by way of the University of Georgia, to take home the Tartan Jacket and the $3.6 million first place check.

Russell Henley

Give me the stellar Henley, a 5 time winner on tour, to capture the 58th RBC Heritage. (Photo courtesy of Golf Monthly).

Darkhorse

I’ll go with the 34 year old eight-time tour winner on tour from Long Beach, Cali, by way of UCLA. The Bruins captured the women’s college basketball national championship, and have the No.1 ranked team in college baseball right now. Cantlay can “augment” (as Bill Gates Bates and I like to say) that success with a Tartan Jacket.

Patrick Cantlay

The Masters

April 8, 2026

Justin Rose was runner-up to Sergio Garcia in 2017, and Rory in 2025 losing to both in a playoff. But the 45 year old British gentlemen is undaunted about his chances heading into Augusta National this week. (Photo courtesy of Golf.com).



Ninety one players convene at Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday for the 90th playing of the Masters with only one guy emerging to put on the coveted Green Jacket on early Sunday evening. It’s as good as it gets in sports with Sunday at the Masters “a tradition unlike any other,” as the prolific Jim Nantz says. That’s one sports phrase that never gets old because it’s a unique and spectacular sporting event. So, who will be that stellar and fortunate player who earns the Green Jacket along with the $4+ million first place check and an exemption for life to the Masters and exemptions into the other three majors through the early 2030’s, and have his name etched in history as the Masters champion? Legacy still matters too. Here’s a look at the players, the details, and who I like to capture this one of a kind major championship; the greatest championship there is in all of sports for all golf fans.

The defending champion is Rory, who made it quite interesting on Sunday in 2025 as he hit several heroic shots and some not too stellar shots also. McIlroy’s shank into the water on 13 with a four shot lead that led to a double bogey was a critical miscue. But he persevered with a beautiful approach to three feet on the first playoff hole, number 18, to prevail over the savvy veteran Justin Rose and capture the 89th edition, completing the career Grand Slam. Rory had not won a major since the 2014 PGA Championship at Valhalla, and had never won the Masters, falling apart many times while in contention or leading before last year’s breakthrough. So it was both elation and relief for McIlroy when he sank the three foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole. This year Rory is back to defend and squaring off with the 2022 and 2024 champion, the elite Scottie Scheffler, along with 2023 champion Jon Rahm, 2018 winner Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, a five time major winner, Collin Morikawa, a two time major winner at the Open Championship in 2021 and the PGA Championship in 2020, Cameron Young, on a roll after his Players Championship victory in March, Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 U.S. Open champion, Rose, Xander Schauffele, a two time major winner at the 2024 PGA Championship and the 2024 Open Championship. The always dangerous Bryson DeChambeau, the 2020 and 2024 U.S. Open champion, and the young stallion, Ludvig Aberg, among a terrific field of the world’s best. Here are odds for key players in this week’s Masters.

The 26 year old Aberg is a strong contender this week. (Photo courtesy of Golf Monthly).

Scottie Scheffler: 4/1; Jon Rahm: 9/1; Rory: 10/1; DeChambeau: 11/1; Aberg: 18/1; Xander Schauffele: 19/1; Cameron Young: 24/1; Tommy Fleetwood: 25/1; Fitzpatrick: 26/1; Morikawa: 31/1; Rose: 36/1; Jordan Spieth: 38/1; Koepka: 38/1; Hideki Matsuyama: 39/1; Robert McIntyre: 40/1; Chris Gotterup: 43/1; Patrick Reed: 45/1; Viktor Hovland: 46/1; Justin Thomas: 55/1; Tyrrell Hatton: 69/1; Russell Henley: 42/1; Si Woo KIm: 47/1; Min Woo Lee: 54/1; Patrick Cantlay: 51/1; Akshay Bhatia: 66/1; Jason Day: 69/1; Corey Conners: 82/1; Ben Griffin; 100/1.

Those are several key contenders, and, typically, one of those guys will win.

Weather

Perfecto all weekend

Thursday: 74, Sunny, Wind NE 9 MPH

Friday: 79, sunny, Wind ENE 5

Saturday: Sunny, 86, Wind WNW 5

Sunday: 86, Sunny, SSE 10.

Wind will be a factor on Thursday and Sunday. The backside will be intense on Sunday with wind playing a big role on certain holes. The 155 yard, Par 3, 12th will be pressure packed, as will the par 5’s,13 and 15. No.18, a 465 yard par 4 with a chute like drive that on Sunday looks like you’re trying to throw a football through a tire from 20 feet away, always tests the contenders. And No.11 is the hardest hole on the course, a 520 yard, par 4. It’s the start of Amen Corner. Numbers 11, 12 and 13 has oftentimes sealed the fate of guys who didn’t win. Augusta National is a 7,565 yard, Par 72. The greens will be stimping at 13-15, lightning quick, and with the slopes and undulation on the Bentgrass surfaces, the players will be stressed out to the max several times this weekend.

Broadcast Coverage

Thursday/Friday, Rounds 1&2: 12-6:30 P.M CT/1-7:30 ET, Masters.com, Masters App. 12-2 P.M. CT/1-3 ET, Amazon Prime Video. 2-6:30 P.M. CT/3-7:30 ET, ESPN.

Saturday: Moving Day: 11 A.M.- 6 P.M. CT/12-7 ET, Masters.com, Masters app, Paramount+. 1-6 P.M. CT/2-7 ET, CBS.

Sunday, A lot of coverage from 9:15 A.M. CT/10:15 ET on the Masters app, the ESPN app, Paramount+ and Prime Video. 11 A.M.-1 P.M. CT/12-2 ET, Paramount+. 1-6 P.M. CT/2-7 ET, CBS.

Winner

Sometimes you out-think yourself trying to predict sports as I did Monday Night by picking UConn over Michigan. My final record in the college basketball postseason from the SEC Tournament on was SU: 11-15; ATS: 11-15; O/U: 15-11. As Coach Lombardi used to say: “We didn’t lose, we just ran out of time.” I’ll take the Great One’s advice on that.

I’ve been through a lot of possibilities with the talent off the charts at Augusta National. No Tiger Woods. He wouldn’t be a factor anyway, and he’s got a long way to go to get his life in order. But all the real contenders are at Augusta National this week. I was leaning towards going out on a limb and picking J.J. Spaun at the beginning of this week. The 2025 U.S. Open Champion at Oakmont is mentally built for any major track. Then I started getting more bullish on Cam Young. The last two Players Championship winners have gone on to win the Masters; Scheffler in 2024, and Rory in 2025. Ludvig Aberg is a popular choice, as is Matt Fitzpatrick. Don’t sleep on Justin Rose, either. A lot of people like Rahm, DeChambeau, and, of course, the defending champion, Rory. But I’m going to take the old reliable. Give me the 29 year old from Ridgewood, New Jersey by way of the University of Texas and now living in Dallas. He just had his second son over the weekend, Remy, to join his nearly two year old son, Bennett. The guy’s just so solid and stable on and off the course. He’s also extremely cool under pressure. I’ll take the two time champion at Augusta National and four time major winner, which also includes the 2025 PGA Championship played at Quail Hollow, and the 2025 Open Championship played at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. Give me:

Scottie Scheffler

I’ll take the two time Masters champion to prevail again this week at Augusta National. (Photo courtesy of The Los Angeles Times).

Sleeper

Justin Rose

I like the 45 year old to have a shot at, as Excedrin Bates and I like to say, “circumventing” the field and capturing the Green Jacket after near misses in 2017 and 2025.


Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball advances to the Second Round. VU Women’s Basketball in action Saturday along with the Men. Baseball, Women’s Tennis, Men’s Golf and Tennis

March 20, 2026
T Tanner (left) and Duke with big days in round 1 in OKC to lead us to victory. (Photo courtesy of YouTube).

Tyler Tanner dropped in 26 on 7-of-16 from the field, 3-of-8 from triple, and 9-of-10 from the stripe, and added 7 boards and 5 assists, as our Vanderbilt Commodores Men’s Basketball team advanced through the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a 78-68 victory over a scrappy McNeese team at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.

We moved to 27-8 on the season, and, most importantly, “matriculated” to the second round of the tournament where we’ll face the fourth-seeded Nebraskas Cornhuskers (27-6, 15-5 Big Ten) at 7:45 P.M. CT/8:45 ET Saturday. TNT will broadcast our game with Nebraska.

The Cornhuskers reached the second round by blasting Troy,76-47 in the game before us at the Paycom Center. We are the fifth seed in the South Region. We are a 1 1/2 point favorite over Nebraska as this time. 

Duke Miles added 13, and Tyler Nickel and Devin McGlockton chipped in 12 apiece. AK Okereke finished with only seven points, but led us in rebounding with 9. Devin added 8. We out-rebounded them, 37-34. We were 26-of-51 from the field, 51%, 9-of-24 from trifecta, 38%, and 17 of 20 from the stripe, 85%. We held them to 36 percent from the field, but they sank 9 threes like we did. They were a scrappy team and had our number for a while in the first half. But we picked up our intensity in the last 25 minutes and played solid basketball from that point on.

Coach Mark “By” Byington calls this “a road game” for us Saturday against Nebraska. Hopefully we can have a strong contingency there. If you live in the Oklahoma City area and you’re an alum, please come out and support our stellar team.

Nebraska got 23 points out of their 6’7″, 210 junior forward Pryce Sandfort Thursday vs Troy. He was 7-of-12 from trifecta, and 2 of 2 from the stripe for his 23 points. Jamarques Lawrence and Braden Frager added 13, and 6’10”, 250 center Reink Mast finished with 11 and 6 boards.  

Nebraska’s coach is Fred Hoiberg, who had a lot of success at Iowa State from 2010-2015, going 115-56 (67%) with four trips to the NCAA Tournament. The Cyclones went to the Sweet 16 in 2014 under Hoiberg.

He moved on to the Chicago Bulls of the Association after that and went 115-155 before getting fired in 2018-19. It’s hard for any college coach to succeed in the pros either in Football and Basketball.

Just ask Nick Saban, Steve Spurrier, Rick Pitino or John Calipari. Four of the greatest coaches of all time  in their respective sports, each of whom could not succeed on the professional level. Those guys like discipline, and in the pros you have to be a player’s coach, and those guys just didn’t want to do that. But they had superior success in college, and Pitino and Calipari are still going strong with teams that can do some major damage in this NCAA Tournament with Pitino at St. John’s and Cal at Arkansas. 

Hoiberg probably ran into the same issues.Billy Donovan, who was so successful at Florida winning back to back national championships in 2006 and 2007, is finding the same struggles in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls. His teams either miss the playoffs or barely make it to the Play-In games every year. Right now, Donovan’s team is at 28-42 and in 12th place and looking not too swift to make the NBA Playoffs. He’s a superb coach and would make an excellent coach in college again if he wanted to come back.

Hoiberg looked like he faced the same issues.
 He’s doing very well after a slow start at Nebraska. He started in 2019-20 and went 7-25, then 7-20 in 20-21, 10-22 in 21-22, but broke through in 23-24 going 23-11 and making the NCAA Tournament where the Huskers lost in the first round. Last year they won the CBC Champions Tournament, a level below the NIT, and this season has been a spectacular one for Nebraska.

So what do we need to do to be successful Saturday? We need to guard them hard on the three, win the boards or stay equal, and we need EVERYBODY to contribute. We’ll need big games from Tyler Tanner, Tyler Nickel and Duke and we’ll need Devin, Jalen Washington, AK and Chandler Bing to give their usual stellar contributions on offense AND defense. As By always says, “we’ll have to guard.”

I like us to bring our lunch pales, hit big shots, defend well and stay equal or a little better on the boards and come out victorious in a tremendously hard fought game. This is a very good Nebraska team.

Vanderbilt 75, Nebraska 73

Our No. 2 seeded Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball team (Fort Worth Regional) tips off at 6 P.M. CT/7 ET vs No. 15 seed High Point at Memorial in Nashville on Saturday. The game will be broadcast by ESPN News. 

The amazing Mikayla Blakes was named first team All American by the Associated Press earlier this week. Mikayla leads the country in scoring at 27 points per game. In my opinion, Mikayla should be the National Player of the Year. Will keep you posted Coach Shea Ralph and our women’s progress. Will send out a full briefing on Monday.

A couple of brief things which I want to elaborate more on Monday, our baseball team plays at No.6 Mississippi State today through Sunday. The game today is at 7 CT/8 ET on the SEC Network. Saturday’s game is at 6 P.M. CT/7 ET on SEC Network+, and Sunday’s game commences at 1 P.M. CT/2 ET on SECN+ as well. We are 13-9, far from our standards. We gotta learn how to pitch if we want to have a chance to have any success this season. Got a long way to go there. We’re hitting .308, so usually we’re good at the plate, and we’re fielding well at .979, but our team ERA is 4.89, which is unacceptable for Vanderbilt University Baseball under Tim Corbin. We’ve had some detrimental injuries to our pitching staff, but there are no excuses. Need to figure it out starting tonight or it could be a long, painful season.

Our No. 12 Women’s Tennis team is on a roll after defeating No,37 Ole Miss yesterday, 5-2. No.33 nationally ranked Bridget Stammel, No.25 Valeria Ray, Trinetra Vijayakumar and Sophia Webster all won in singles and we won the doubles point as well. We moved to 16-4 overall and 6-2 in the SEC. We have now won 5 straight SEC matches with one coming over then No.1 Georgia and another over then No.11 South Carolina, both at the Lummis Family Tennis Center at VU. We are @ No.11 LSU Saturday at 11 A.M.Great stuff from Coach Aleke Tsoubanos and our team. Our usual number one player, Celia- Belle Mohr, is not playing at this time. I’m going to do some investigating and “get back to you” on this on Monday. Need Celia-Belle back for sure. But we’re doing well even without her.

Men’s Golf is presently tied for fourth after the first round of the Linger Longer Invitational at the Great Waters Course at Reynolds Plantation Lake Oconee in Eatonton, GA. We are -10. Georgia leads at 21 under. We’re playing solid golf. Michael Riebe, Jon Ed Steed and Ryan Downes all shot 3 under/69, today on the par 72 course. Wells Williams finished at 1 under/71. Need to get back in it on Saturday and win it on Sunday. Two more rounds left. Need a big performance Saturday. Our guys tee off at 8:24 A.M. CT/9:24 ET with Wells leading us off.

The Men’s tennis team is ranked 13th nationally by the ITA Rankings, which also ranks our women. The guys are playing @ No.3 Texas right now. We lost the doubles point, but are highly competitive in the singles right now.

Will keep you apprised on everything on Monday, with a blast on Sunday on our men’s and women’s basketball teams with hopefully successful outcomes. 

Have an awesome weekend and Anchor Down. 

The 52nd Players Championship

March 11, 2026

Scottie Scheffler goes for his third Players Championship after going back to back in 2023 and 2024, the first time it had ever been done, and would join the only other player, Jack Nicklaus (1974, ’76, ’78), to accomplish the feat of three time winner at TPC Sawgrass. (Photo courtesy ofGolf Monthly).



The classic “Fifth Major” kicks off Thursday at TPC Sawgrass as the 52nd Players Championship, a tournament every player wants to win with first place prize money of $4.5 million, a $25 million purse, the largest in golf, and the status of being a champion of a tournament that is the closest to a major in golf. It’s the fifth most important tournament on tour every year (except for when the Ryder Cup is played, then it’s the sixth), and there is “major” prestige that comes with winning this historic tournament on this iconic course in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. where the PGA Tour is headquartered.

The field consists of 123 players as the PGA is shooting for smaller fields to speed up play. The field is usually 144 players. The cut after the second round Friday will consist of the top 65 players and ties. The rough will be at 3 1/2 inches. The greens will be overseeded Poa trivialis over Bermuda, which grows better in cooler months. They’ll top out at 13 on the stimpmeter. Poa trivialis is different from Poa Annua, which is found on the California courses. The Poa trivialis gives a lot smoother roll than the Poa Annua. TPC Sawgrass is a stock par 72 and tips out at 7,352 yards. The winner of this classic also qualifies for the next five editions of the Players and all four majors this season. So, a lot to play for. Pete Dye was the architect. Dye worked on TPC Sawgrass from 1978-80 and it was opened in 1980. Dye passed away in 2020 at the age of 94.

Key holes include the 137 yard iconic, and, many times, treacherous 17th, with the island green leaving no margin for error. The green is 26 yards wide, and if you miss it, you are in the water and looking at bogey or worse. Classic, intense pressure on Sunday with the tournament on the line. To me, and I’ve said this before, No.18 is the most underrated and challenging hole on the tour. It’s a par 4, 468 yards and is a dogleg right to left. Water runs down the entire left side, and if you miss right you’re behind the trees. Tiger Woods made his “stinger” shot famous on this hole in winning in 2013. It’s the hardest hole on the course with the players getting zero relief after 17.

Tiger also won in 2001, with his “better than most” 40 foot birdie putt on 17 on Sunday, the highlight of that tournament and historically great in golf lore.

No. 12 is a high risk/high reward 369 yard par 4, with water running down the left side and pot bunkers on the right side. No. 16 is the famous 523 yard, par 5 that always has fireworks on Sunday as the leaders aim to enhance their chances of winning. A lot of players bail out to the left on their second shots to try and get up and down for birdie. It takes a lot of bravery to go for the green in two on 16 with water guarding the right side. All in all, this course is just a tremendous test of golf.

Rory is the defending champion. He won last year and then went on to complete the career Grand Slam at the 89th Masters in 2025, with high tension in both. He defeated J.J. Spaun in a Monday finish at the Players in a three hole aggregate playoff on 16, 17 and 18. He also defeated Justin Rose in a playoff at Augusta National to win his first Green Jacket and complete the career Grand Salome. Spaun went on to win the 125th U.S. Open with a 64 foot birdie putt of his own on Oakmont’s 18th hole. I’ve talked about how clutch that was.I was superbly clutch. Justin Rose is still playing at a high level at 45 years old, winning the Farmers in late January, early February.

A lot of drama will ensue this week/weekend at the Players. Here is the weather forecast, the TV times, some key tee times along with those players’ odds of winning..

Weather

Thursday, Scattered t-storms developing in the afternoon. 59% chance. Wind WSW 10-20.

Friday, 76, Partly cloudy/sunny, 14% chance. Wind ENE 11.

Saturday, 79, Partly cloudy/sunny, 12% chance. Wind ENE 12.

Sunday, 80, rain showers in the morning with t storms in the afternoon, 67%. Wind SE 11.

So weather will be a major factor Thursday and Sunday if the forecast holds up, and the wind will make 17 a bear all four days, especially Sunday for somebody trying to win the fifth major.

TV

Thursday-Friday, 12-6 P.M. CT/1-7 ET. Golf Channel.

Saturday, 1-6 P.M. CT/2-7 ET. NBC.

Sunday, 12-5 P.M. CT/ 1-6 ET. NBC.

ESPN+ will carry early round coverage.

Key tee times Thursday/odds

7:28 A.M. CT/8:28 ET. No.1 -Akshay Bhatta, 40/1, was iron at the Arnie in winning; Brooks Koepka, 65/1; Tony Finau, 100/1.

7:40 A.M. CT/8:40 ET. No.10, Collin Morikawa, 16/1. AT&T Pebble Beach winner, and certainly one of the favorites at TPC Sawgrass; Ludvig Aberg, 22/1. Another threat; Si Woo Kim, 20/1. Same for him. 2017 champion

7:52 A.M. CT/8;52 ET. No.10 Scottie Scheffler, 4/1. The favorite and back to back winner in 2023 and 2024. Tries to join Jack Nicklaus as the only three time winner ever at the Players; Tommy Fleetwood, 25/1. 2025 Fed Ex Cup champion. Has a shot; Justin Thomas, 33/1. 2021 winner at TPC Sawgrass, and starting to figure it out. Had back surgery in November, 2025.

8:04 A.M. CT/9:04 ET. No 10. Vik Hovland, 35/1. Possible; Russell Henley, 25/1. Very accurate off the tee and an excellent putter when the flat stick is clickin’; Bob McIntyre, 50/1. He hasn’t done much lately.

12:18 P.M. CT/ 1:18 ET. No.10 Keegan Bradley, 125/1. Don’t see it. Failed captaincy at the Ryder Cup still looms large; Ryan Fox, 150/1; Chris Kirk 300/1.

12:18 P.M. CT/1:18 ET. No.1. J.J. Spaun, 80/1. Good value from the U.S. Open champion and second place finisher in last year’s Players in a playoff; Sepp Straka, 40/1. Good player with a shot; Shane Lowry, 55/1. Not buying him after his implosion at West Palm Beach in the Cognizant Classic two weeks ago where he had a three shot lead with three to play and went double, double on 16 and 17 to lose to Nico Echavarria?

12:30 P.M. CT/1:30 ET. No.1,. Sahith Theegala, 70/1. He’s getting closer and closer to winning a big tournament, Signature or major; Rickie Fowler, 55/1. Possible, but not really seeing it even though he’s playing a lot better; Jordan Spieth, 70/1. Do NOT see this happening.

12:42 P.M. CT/1:42 ET. No.1. Xander Schauffele, 27/1. Possible ;Rory, 16/1. Sore back. Not seeing it this week, though possible; Hideki Matsuyama, 33/1. Has to putt A LOT better to win.

12:54 P.M. CT/1:54 ET. No.1 Chris Gotterup, 45/1. This guy has won the Sony Open and the Waste Management already this year. He’s a factor; Justin Rose, 80/1. Still a prolific player. Not out of the question, and he Can win going forward and not out of the major conversation this season by any means; Min Woo Lee, 35/1. Definite shot.

12:54 P.M. CT/ 1:54 ET. No.10. Cam Young, 33/1. Certainly has a shot; Davis Thompson, 115/1. Fifth on the tour in Strokes Gained: Putting. Always helps your chances; Sam Burns, 80/1. Not seeing it. Can’t seem to close very well.

Winner

My choices were between Min Woo Lee, Chris Gotterup and this now veteran. Lee has great stats off the tee leading the tour in total driving, which measures distance and accuracy, which is critical at TPC Sawgrass with all the water. He’s also seventh in strokes gained total. Gotterup is a total winner. Bigger fella.

But this 30 year old from Seoul, South Korea has some seriously strong stats on tour this year. He’s tied for fourth in driving accuracy percentage. He’s second in strokes gained: approach to the green. He leads the tour in proximity to the hole, a huge stat on any course. And he also leads the tour in strokes gained: approaches from 100 yards or more. Some people, who I don’t trust, say statistics are for losers. I like what two time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Parcells (1986, 1990, Super Bowls 21 and 25, respectively) said about stats: “The numbers don’t lie.”

So, I’ll take these stats of a four time winner on tour. He won the 2016 Wyndham Championship, the 2021 American Express, the 2023 Sony Open, AND, is the 2017 winner at the Players.

This season he’s finished T-11 at the Sony, T-6 at the AMEX, T-2 at the Farmers, T-3 at the WM Phoenix, T-45 at Pebble, T-34 at the Genesis, and finished in a tie for 13th at the Arnie last week. He has 7 top 15’s in his last nine starts. He’s 151st in Strokes Gained: Putting, but he putts well on these Poa trivialis greens. Besides his 2017 victory at the Players, he has two top 10’s at Sawgrass. Give me:

Si Woo Kim

I’ll take Si Woo at the 52nd Players. (Photo courtesy of Golfmagic).

Winner at the 61st Arnold Palmer Invitational

March 4, 2026

I’ll take the 26 year old from Inman, South Carolina by way of Clemson University. He won the Genesis and has finished well in other tournaments this year.

Jacob Bridgeman

I’ll take Jacob Bridgeman to capture the Arnie. (Photo courtesy of Instagram).

Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball with a massive victory in OxVegas Tuesday Night

March 4, 2026

Our superb graduate senior, AK Okereke gave us another terrific performance Tuesday Night in a thrilling victory for the Commodores. (Photo courtesy of x.com).

The awesome Tyler Tanner finished with 34 points, 5 boards, 7 assists and 5 steals as T Tanner and the Dores outlasted Ole Miss last night, 89-86, in overtime before 7,300 fans at The Sandy and John Black Pavilion in Oxford.

With the victory, a spectacular one on the road against an athletic, pretty talented team, our Dores moved to 23-7 overall and 10-7 in the SEC, and still in contention for a double bye in the SEC Tournament, which commences next Wednesday, 3/11, and runs through Sunday, 3/15, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.

Will get more into that in a second.

First, on last night’s  game. Tyler Tanner connected on big shot after big shot and helped propel us to a critical SEC road victory as we now gear up for a trip to Knoxville to face the Tennessee Volunteers to close out the season this Saturday at 1 P.M. CT/ 2 ET on ESPN. Should be an epic game with a hopefully favorable outcome.

Duke Miles sank a pair of clutch buckets at the end of regulation, and finished with 16, while another great, graduate senior AK Okereke, from? Cornell University, added 16, 5 boards and 5 assists. Dev McGlockton only finished with 4 points, but pulled down 16 rebounds, eight of them on the offensive glass. Wow. We out-boarded them, 44-40, and outboarded them on  the offensive end, 22-12. We also wreaked some havoc on their offense as they turned it over 17 times to our 9.

We shot only 39% from the field, we were 9-of-32 from triple, 28%, and we were 22-of-30 from the line, 73%. It was our work on the glass and the turnovers along with some critical buckets late in the game that won the contest for us. Tyler Nickel finished with 9 points, but sank a critical trifecta late in the game, and pulled down a critical carom right after that.

Dev was brilliant on the boards. He kept two shots alive with consecutive rebounds, the first one he pulled down, and the second he tapped out to T Tanner who then laid the ball in off the glass for a 65-64 lead with 5:11 left. Seemed big at the time. It was our first lead in a long time.

T Tanner was so good last night. Tyler is a phenom. He was driving, dishing, scoring, and played defense like Gary Payton, “The Glove.” Payton played for the Seattle Supersonics back in the day (1990-2003), and was an electric, historically tenacious defensive player. 

And T Tanner drained a three that looked like it came from Big Bad Breakfast on the north side of town. What a player.

So, here we are heading into a critical Saturday season finale @ the Vols with a lot at stake. Right now we are tied for fifth with Missouri, A&M and Kentucky at 10-7. Texas is 9-7, and could join us, but they have to play @ Arkansas tonight at 6 CT/7 ET on ESPN2. That’ll be tough for them and a Razorbacks’ win would help us as Texas holds the head to head over us with a victory over us in Austin on January 14th.

Florida has won 10 in a row and is at 15-2 and leading the conference standings. Alabama, which lost on the road last night to a very solid Georgia team, is second at 12-5. Arkansas is third at 11-5, and would tie the Tide for second with a victory, but Alabama holds that head to head tiebreaker over the Hogs by virtue of a victory over them a couple of weeks ago in Tuscaloosa.

Tennessee is in fourth at 11-6. If we defeat the Vols Saturday, we would be tied with them in the standings, and not sure about the tiebreaker in that scenario, yet, because they defeated us in Nashville a week and a half ago. I’ll work on that and, “get back to you,” as my high school U.S. History Teacher/Football Coach would say when we asked him questions like who was the explorer who founded Florida (Ponce de Leon-FYI, I wonder if he ever found that out. He never “got back to us.”). I will though.

Other key games for our purposes this  Saturday are: Arkansas @ Missouri (need Missouri to lose, 11 A.M. CT/12 East, ESPN), Florida @Kentucky, (3 P.M. CT/4 ET, E-S-P-N. Need a Florida W), Texas A&M @ LSU (5 P.M. CT/6 ET, SEC Network-we do hold the tiebreaker with the Aggies), and Oklahoma @ Texas (7:30 P.M. CT/8:30 ET. Need a Texas loss tonight or Saturday).

But we need to hold up our end of the bargain first and pull off what would be considered a slight upset in Knoxville as they will be favored in all likelihood. The point spread will be decided closer to game time, tomorrow or Friday, but I’d imagine anywhere from 2 1/2- 5 1/2, Vols.

The Vanderbilt Women’s Basketball team will play Friday at 5 P.M. CT/6 ET on the SEC Network in the quarterfinals of the SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament. We play the winner of Thursday’s  No.7 seed Ole Miss and the winner of tonight’s Auburn/A&M matchup (Thursday, 5 P.M. CT/6 ET, SEC Network). We are ranked fifth in the country and can really make a statement for a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament with tremendous success this weekend at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.

Baseball has several injuries right now, and it’s’ a struggle. We’re 7-6 now after losing to Central Arkansas Tuesday, 5-4. We’re playing Troy right now. Troy is always scrappy and usually pretty darn strong in football, basketball and baseball. Those Alabama country boys are terrific athletes and fierce competitors.

The Trojans are 5-6, but have already knocked off No. 8 Georgia, 6-5, in Athens on Wednesday, February 25th, two weeks ago. Georgia is currently ranked 11th nationally by D1Baseball.com. It’s 0-0 going into the bottom of the fourth.

Have a terrific rest of your week. I’ll “get back to you” in the near future. I promise I will. 

Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball in a Critical Game today, Women’s Basketball excelling, Men’s Tennis, Baseball, Women’s Tennis, Men’s Golf

March 3, 2026

No way to sugarcoat it, we got our tails kicked in Lexington on Saturday, and HAVE to regroup tonight in Oxford as we face the Ole Miss Rebels (4-12, 12-17), which are fresh off an upset @ Auburn and aiming to get revenge from our earlier victory over them this season at Memorial. The game tips at 8 CT/ 9 ET on ESPN+. Probably not staying up for the second half, but will watch it first thing in the morning in my office and have a write up if we’re successful.

 We are now 22-7 overall and 9-7 in the SEC. We are ranked 24th in the AP Poll, the Ken Pom rankings has us ranked 14th, with an offensive rating of 9th nationally, and a defensive rating of 26th, which are still solid numbers as far as our ability to matriculate in the NCAA Tournament. 

But the effort Saturday was not there. Kentucky seemed un-guardable that day, too, but we have to get better. The Net Rankings has us at 19th, and the latest Lunardi bracketology has us as a 5 seed and playing Liberty in the Midwest Region in Portland in round one. Michigan is the Number one seed in the Midwest, according to Lunardi. Will get into that more as we get closer to that time, but we’ve got to concern ourselves with the SEC right now.

We are tied for 7th place with A&M presently as both of us are at 9-7. Florida, which looks like a juggernaut, but not unbeatable, is in first place at 14-2.  Alabama is second at 12-4, Arkansas is third at 11-5, and Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky are at 10-6 and tied for fourth. So tremendously important game for us tonight.

Tyler Tanner will give us everything he has as always, and so will AK Okekere, but we’ll need Devin McGlockton, Tyler Nickel, especially him, and Duke Miles to play well and get good minutes off the bench from Chandler Bing, Jalen Washington, etc. Gotta have this one. Ole Miss is playing a lot better and there is skill and talent down there, so we will HAVE to play well.

We finish off the season Saturday at Tennessee for a 1 P.M. CT/ 2 ET tip on ESPN2. 

Women’s Basketball

Our fifth-ranked Commodore Women put on a spectacular performance at Knoxville on Sunday as the great Mikayla Blakes was dominant with 34 points, six boards, and four assists in another masterful performance from our sophomore from Somerset, New Jersey. The awesome Mikayla is leading the country in scoring at 27 per game. If Mikayla is not player of the year nationally that would be a travesty. Simply the most impactful player in the country.

Our tremendous freshman point guard from Deerfield, Illinois, Aubrey Galvan, added 24 and 5 dimes. Sacha Washington, our terrific graduate power forward from Lawrenceville, GA., finished with 16 and 8 boards. We defeated the Vols, 87-77, to close out the regular season at 27-3 and 13-3 in the SEC. 

ESPN Bracketologist Charlie Creme has us as a No.2 seed in Region 2, the Sacramento Region, facing No. 15 Navy in Nashville, which would be tremendous. We could play the first two rounds in Nashvegas. We can get to a Number one seed if we win the SEC Tourney.

And first things first. The SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament starts tomorrow, Wednesday, at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. We have a double bye and don’t play till Friday as we finished second in the SEC behind the Gamecocks, and are the second seed.

We’ll either play Auburn/Texas A&M (first round game Wednesday Night) or No.7 seed Ole Miss, which has a bye to Thursday. We’ll play Friday at 5 P.M.Central/ 6 East on the SEC Network. Will keep you totally apprised on our phenomenal women’s team. Coach Ralph is superb.

Men’s Tennis

We swept a pair of SEC matches last weekend, winning 4-3 at Oklahoma, and 4-3 at then No.14 A&M. Great stuff from third year Coach Scott Brown and the guys. We have now jumped to 11th nationally (ITA Rankings) after being 37th last week. So, superb stuff from the fellas.

We’re at No. 41 Arkansas Friday at 5:30 P.M. CT/ 6:30 ET, then, on Sunday, 3/8, we’re at No.31 Ole Miss starting at 1 P.M. CT/2 ET. We are 11-3 overall and 3-1 in the SEC with our other SEC victory coming over No.61 Tennessee, 4-2. Our only loss is to No.5 Mississippi State, in a tightly contested match, as we just barely fell, 4-3. So a lot to be excited about with the men’s tennis program.

Baseball and Women’s Tennis

No sugarcoating this either: Both teams got their respective tails kicked over the weekend. Baseball lost all three games in the Live Like Lou Las Vegas College Classic, losing 9-4 to UC Irvine, 5-1 to ‘Zona, and 6-4 to Oregon. We were terrible.

We have Central Arkansas at home today at 4:30 P.M. CT/5:30 ET on SEC Network+, and we play at home Wednesday at 3 P.M. CT/4 ET versus Troy on SECN+.  We host North Dakota State this weekend at the Hawk. Will have more on the team once they decide to show up this season.

 Women’s Tennis lost a pair of matches at home last weekend to then No. 4 A&M, 5-2, and No.16 Texas, 5-2. We’re presently 35th in the country according to the ITA Rankings. We host No.1 Georgia Friday at 5 P.M. CT/6 East, and then we host No.11 South Carolina Sunday, 3/8, at the Currey Tennis Center at 1 P.M. CT/2 ET. Need to get our act together and start playing a lot better tennis. Tough matchups this weekend, but need to see if we can find a way to emerge victorious. 

Men’s Golf 

Our Men’s Golf team has had a terrible performance at the Cabo Collegiate as we are in 12th place out of 16 teams at 17 over par. No idea what happened. A lot of room for MAJOR improvement. 

Will keep you apprised. Thanks a lot. 

Latest & Greatest

Fresh Tweets:

Vanderbilt women’s tennis player Astra Sharma 1 on 1. https://t.co/D0WS0rVnqG @VandyMeg @mmhamlett @Vandywtennis @ManOfVandy @SkipPrince
May 18, 2017, 2:34 PM

Vanderbilt women’s tennis Astra Sharma 1 on 1. https://t.co/D0WS0rVnqG @astrasharma @markNwhitebluff @vandy_62 @warehouse1987 @dbc5361
May 18, 2017, 2:33 PM

Previewing 2017 Clemson Tigers football team. https://t.co/1JH1cPGQkp @markNwhitebluff @vandy_62 @clayphillips27 @warehouse1987 @dbc5361
May 15, 2017, 2:13 PM

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