The Dunluce Links Course at Royal Portrush was designed by Harry Colt in 1932. In 2017, Martin Ebert was called upon to provide some renovations prior to its hosting of the 2019 Open. What we have today is a par 71 that stretches to nearly 7,400 yards. It is a coastal property in Northern Ireland with spectacular dunes, narrow fairways and small, undulated, fescue grass greens. The first cut of rough off the fairways is only about two-inches high, but outside of that, players will find the gorse, the heather, the meadow grasses – a.k.a, the nasty stuff.

The Dunluce Links Course at Royal Portrush was designed by Harry Colt in 1932. In 2017, Martin Ebert was called upon to provide some renovations prior to its hosting of the 2019 Open. What we have today is a par 71 that stretches to nearly 7,400 yards. It is a coastal property in Northern Ireland with spectacular dunes, narrow fairways and small, undulated, fescue grass greens. The first cut of rough off the fairways is only about two-inches high, but outside of that, players will find the gorse, the heather, the meadow grasses – a.k.a, the nasty stuff.

The PGA Tour goes abroad. In preparation for next week’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, golf first makes a stop in North Berwick, Scotland, for the Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club.

Located next door to the legendary Open venue, Muirfield, The Renaissance Club has been around since 2008. This will be the seventh year in a row that it has played host to the Scottish Open and the third year that it is a co-sanctioned event between the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour. The Renaissance Club is not a classic links design but is certainly “linkish.” I like to classify it as a tribute to Scottish links golf, built by an American. That American being long-time golf architect Tom Doak, who is responsible for another American links-type course, Pacific Dunes, a part of the Bandon Dunes resort in Oregon.

The Midwest Birdie Fest continues this week in Silvis, Ill., as the PGA Tour heads to TPC Deere Run for the John Deere Classic.

This will be the last stop stateside before heading across the pond for a fortnight and the playing of the Scottish Open and the Open Championship. For the second week in a row, most of the big names have taken the week off. For the most part, it is largely the same field we had last week in Detroit, where Aldrich Potgeiter held off Max Greyserman and our selection, Chris Kirk, in a playoff. That is three times now this season that we have had one of our guys reach a playoff and lose — J.J. Spaun at the Players Championship, Justin Rose at the Masters, and now Kirk. On to the Deere.

The Midwest Birdie Fest has arrived on the 2025 PGA Tour calendar.

After hammering through three Signature Events and two major championships in the last seven weeks, players can breathe easy for a couple weeks here before we head across the the pond and gear up for the Open Championship and the home stretch of the season. Next week, it is the John Deere Classic in Silvis, Illinois, but our first stop is in the Motor City at Detroit Golf Club for what will be the seventh edition of the Rocket Classic.

For nearly two decades now, the Travelers Championship has immediately followed the U.S. Open on the PGA Tour calendar. This year is no exception. The tournament is one of the most heavily attended events on the circuit and now, for the second straight year, the Travelers Championship serves as the eighth and final Signature Event of the season.

For a record 10th time, the U.S. Open returns to Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Penn. The U.S. Open has always been billed as the most difficult test these golfers face versus any other tournament. Following suit, Oakmont has often been labeled as the most difficult golf course in the world. As golf fans, it ought to be fun. As golf bettors, we’re simply aiming for victory.

As we flip the calendar to June, the PGA Tour begins its national open run. We are north of the border this week for the RBC Canadian Open, back in the states next week for the U.S. Open, and then across the pond next month for the Scottish Open, followed by the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.

We had not one, but two of our selections finish runner-up last week at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. After Bryson DeChambeau made a mess of the final three holes on Saturday, playing them in 3 over par — and Scottie Scheffler playing them in 2 under par — this major championship never really felt like it was that close again. Scheffler won for the second week in a row, adding a Wanamaker Trophy to his two green jackets, and the world No. 1, for the first time this year, looked like the dominant player we have become accustomed to for the past two seasons.

The second major championship of the 2025 golf season is upon us. It’s PGA Championship week, and as I noted a couple of weeks ago in our early bets column, as handicappers, we are afforded the luxury of having a golf course we have seen regularly on the PGA Tour since 2003. That is not typically the case with major championship venues other than Augusta National.

First of all, this is the sixth Signature Event of the season. It is a 72-player field with no 36-hole cut. Everyone is here except for last week’s champ, Scottie Scheffler. Secondly, we would normally be gearing up for the Wells Fargo Championship this week at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., but we have a sponsorship change. Wells Fargo is out and Truist is in — for at least the next seven years. And finally, Quail Hollow Club, for the second time since 2017, will host the PGA Championship, coming up next week — so, the Tour has chosen a new venue in the interim for this year’s final tune-up prior to the season’s second major championship.

The Grateful Dead once sang that Houston was too close to New Orleans, so we’re onto McKinney, Texas instead — a little over 30 miles north of Dallas. For the fifth straight season, the CJ Cup Byron Nelson is being held at TPC Craig Ranch, but the golf course has undergone some noteworthy changes. What had been Zoysia-grass fairways are now over-seeded Rye grass. What had been extremely wide fairways, have been since narrowed and are now bordered by better than three-inch rough. The golf course is a very big property, a par-71 Tom Weiskoph design, that has been lengthened to nearly 7,600 yards. A birdie-fest is still expected, however.

Thinking two of our pre-tournament picks to win, had the slimmest of chances to do so heading into Sunday’s final round, trailing by six and seven shots respectively — and then to have not one but both of them, Patrick Reed (115-1) and Justin Rose (110-1), both triple-digit long-shots, threaten McIlroy all the way to the bitter end, was stunning and incredibly exciting. 

We’re back. For the 89th time, it is Masters Week — that special place on the calendar in early April is here once again. Ninety-five golfers in all have made their way to Augusta National Golf Club for what always feels like the official coronation of the spring season. 

Cue the organ music, Jim Nantz greeting us with “Hello, friends,” the azaleas in bloom. It truly is a welcome tradition unlike any other.

This year marks the 10th consecutive year that the Valero Texas Open will provide the final tune-up prior to The Masters. The tournament dates back to 1922 but began being held at its current location, TPC San Antonio, in 2010.

It was quite the week in Ponte Vedra Beach at the Players Championship. All seven of our selections made the cut and five of them cashed a top-20 finish for us. Most notably, J.J. Spaun nearly pulled off the huge win….It is now off to Palm Harbor we go as the final stop on the Florida Swing has arrived.

It was quite the week in Ponte Vedra Beach at the Players Championship. All seven of our selections made the cut and five of them cashed a top-20 finish for us. Most notably, J.J. Spaun nearly pulled off the huge win….It is now off to Palm Harbor we go as the final stop on the Florida Swing has arrived.

Often heralded as golf’s “fifth major,” I prefer these days, sans LIV players in the field, to tab the Players Championship as golf’s greatest appetizer. This Thursday marks exactly four weeks until the opening round of the Masters, making the Players, the PGA Tour’s crown jewel, the undisputed world’s best precursor.

This week’s field is made up of 72 players. There will be a 36-hole cut, trimming down to the top 50 players and ties. Bay Hill is a big-boy golf course, for sure. A par 72 originally designed by Dick Wilson and Joe Lee, Arnold Palmer purchased the property in 1976 and began putting his hands on the tweaks and redesigns for the next four decades. Today’s version stretches to nearly 7,500 yards and is wall-to-wall Bermudagrass. The greens are relatively large, firm, and fast, and are some of the more difficult surfaces on Tour to reach in regulation. Much of that may have to do with the thick, penal rough that borders the fairways.

Forty-five days and six golf tournaments remain on the PGA Tour schedule before they put the first peg in the ground at Augusta National Golf Club for the 2025 Masters. The Florida Swing begins this week at the Champion Course at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. for the Cognizant Classic as the march toward the season’s first major championship is officially underway. In shifting from the west coast to the southeast, we go from Poa Annua greens, mountains, elevation change, and the Pacific Ocean to flatlands, palm trees, sand bunkers, Bermudagrass, and often, those infamous Florida winds. Welcome to the next four weeks on Tour in the Sunshine State.