Status Update 016
My 2025 PGA Championship experience
Welcome to Status Update — a free Friday newsletter featuring long and short stories, general ramblings from the week that was, the most interesting things to have recently caught my eye and any other golf-related nonsense I believe to be worth your time.
The Opening Drive
Happy Memorial Day weekend to all! Apologies for the delay, but who was going to read this Friday morning with the long weekend ahead? Surely, more of you who might be slightly hungover and with one final day of celebrations ahead will use those bloodshot eyeballs to scan the black mirror in front of your face.
Surely.
Let’s get the fun stuff out of the way before I make this newsletter all about, well, myself. The winner of this week’s giveaway is none other than Ryan Stevenson! Mr. Stevenson has been contacted, shipping details have been exchanged and now I will be selling his personal information online.
Hope it was worth it, pal! We got him some fun little trinkets, a hat and will be sending some additional B. Draddy PGA Championship logo’d gear his way once that package arrives on my doorstep.
I thank not only Ryan but the rest of you lot for continuing to read the nonsense I piece together. A number of people (dozens!) came up to me this week saying how much they enjoy the newsletter and the change of pace it provides from the typical golf writing.
Those interactions will never be lost on me because it all still feels surreal to me that I get to (more or less) watch and talk about golf for a living. I’ll try to do a similar giveaway in a couple (!!!) weeks for the U.S. Open.
We are going to run back the summary style used for the Masters given the positive feedback I received last month. Admittedly, the Masters and the PGA Championship are not on the same playing field, but it was an amazing week and one I do not take for granted.
There were plenty of laughs shared, plenty of good work done and plenty to catch up on. So without further ado, here are the personal highlights (and unfortunately the lowlights) from my week at Quail Hollow for the 2025 PGA Championship.
Personal Highlights
Talking my way into getting a player support badge
Monday with no fans on the grounds
Dinner on Monday was at a spot called The Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar, and it sounds as insane as the menu was — pick any type of food you can think of and some variation (or combination) was on the menu which featured size 4 font and items on both the front and back
The NBC Golf Channel team sat at the table next to us and were discussing statistics, historical implications of the week ahead and storylines — let’s just say our tables were on completely different wavelengths
Saw Sergio’s Fireballs get-up in person, and it did not disappoint
Checked out Moosehead Grill on Tuesday night — fantastic wings and fantastic decor. My type of place.
Ran into the practice round of Ben Griffin and Ryan Gerard who both had great weeks — talked with Gerard’s father for a bit before gravitating towards the man who was holding court on the other side of the green
That man was Mark Immelman who introduced us to the crew including Dottie Pepper
We caught up with them and the Rory McIlroy’s practice round group that included Rasmus Hojgaard (buy all the stock you can), Tom McKibbin and Keita Nakajima (he gave me a polite nod sensing I too was from the land of the rising sun)
Harry Hall’s whole shtick (what the fuck is in that backpack)
Ran into someone I hadn’t seen since middle school! How cool is that!
Our set was located on the driving range which was so much better in terms of location, and we got to see some goodies from Hideki Matsuyama speed training after a missed cut to Max Homa grinding after his third round
Got to watch Scheffler’s warm up before his final round when he was trying to figure some stuff out with his alignment
SPOILER: It took him 9 holes to figure it out
Always appreciative of who I get to share the chair with (Rick, Mark, etc.) but Michael Breed is a national treasure
If you walk around like you own the place and give a compliment, no one will question you
The work from the PGA was better than the work from the Masters for whatever reason — not being my first, not needing to run around as much and knowing what to expect — and I am hopeful it will only continue on this trajectory
Personal Lowlights
Walking into the media center and being told they did not have a desk for me (Oops!)
Because they did not have a desk for me that meant I was not allowed to eat in the media center — there was a scan in, scan out situation and the one time I entered from the exit (whoa now!) I chickened out when I was questioned
I am still operating at a caloric deficit
Getting stuck on the golf course during a torrential downpour
Got Greek yogurt all over my navy slacks (one of many pairs I own, mind you)
Watched three holes of golf on Thursday which included two water balls from my one and done selection, Xander Schauffele
Getting ripped on by the crew for not knowing who Nostradamus was
Saying “belly in his fire” instead of “fire in his belly” on air
Happens
Introduced myself to Brad Faxon, and he goes “Yeah, I’ve definitely seen you around.”
Survey says…"Doubtful”
74% sure the man next to us in the media center went to the bathroom at his station
Was asked “Did you go to J School?” on multiple occasions to which the questioner often scoffed at me when I said “No.”
“The big boy is running hot.”
The whole shuttle system
I hated it
The whole shuttle system
It needed a second entry
I walked into the golf course on Saturday and thought to myself, “Yeah, I can see how Scottie Scheffler got arrested last year.” given the number of people who believe their word is the gospel — volunteers, security, police officers, tournament officials. By the end of the week I had had enough of those authoritative figures
There are going to be some photographs and video promos that come out shortly, and I just need to get ahead of it all and let you know that I had no say in the matter
