Emilia Migliaccio, Lil Wayne
Getty Images
Hello friends, and welcome to this week’s Rogers Report! I’m writing to you from home in Rhode Island, where I’ve downgraded from hanging out with LPGA pros to hanging out with my siblings.
Just kidding, maybe, but I did get the chance to take a quick trip to Pebble Beach to spend the day with EA Sports PGA Tour. I got to explore the real-life course while also playing the video-game version, so it’s kind of like I got to see Pebble twice. First I played as Danielle Kang with gamer/golfer Daltoosh and Cassandra Meyer. Then we met up with Kang, who was very excited to see herself on the video game.
It was a quick but surreal trip, capped off by my first-ever red-eye flight home, and I lived to tell the tale (passed out immediately and slept the entire way). There’s a LOT of action unfolding at Pebble Beach this week with the U.S. Women’s Open being played there for the first time (!) so let’s get to it, but only after you watch this incredible video of Michelle Wie West looking back on her career before her final event this week.
How special is that? I will admit I teared up while watching it, and can only imagine how it felt for Wie West to relive those moments.
Some awesome U.S. Women’s Open storylines
There are some really incredible storylines playing out at Pebble Beach this week, and while this isn’t the entire list, here are some of my favorites. We’ll start off with Michelle Wie West teeing it up in her last event.
Again, I cannot imagine the emotion she must be feeling this week. I was so sad to say goodbye to high school sports 10 years ago, and this is … absolutely nothing like that. Wie West has dedicated her whole life to the game, and her playing career is about to come to a close!
There are ends and there are beginnings. We have 20-year-old Rose Zhang playing in her very first U.S. Women’s Open as a professional — and 14-year-old Angela Zhang teeing it up as well!
It’s a week of lasts for some and firsts for others, which is what makes events like this so special. Next we have Lexi Thompson, who is playing in her 17th (!) U.S. Women’s Open at just 28 years old.
I’m the same age as Lexi and cannot think of anything productive that I have consistently been doing for 17 years. Golf Digest’s Luke Kerr-Dineen put this into perspective when he noted that 51-year-old Padraig Harrington just played in his 17th U.S. Open.
Amy Olson is teeing it up at Pebble Beach this week while seven months (yes, you read that correctly) pregnant.
If Olson wins this week, is her child also technically a U.S. Open champion? That’s the kind of fun fact that will turn a lot of heads at a future college orientation one day.
Finally, we have Emilia Migliaccio, who is in the field and calling the shots (literally) at Pebble Beach this week. When she’s not teeing it up, she’ll be with featured groups on Peacock.
Superb U.S. Open content
To accompany the storylines at Pebble Beach this week, there’s been some superb social-media content from the U.S. Women’s Open. We’ll start with one of my favorites things of all time: A golf-Taylor Swift crossover.
I really hope that most of you know what this is replicating, but just in case a few of you don’t here’s a helpful side-by-side:
I’m definitely sensing a theme here, because the U.S. Women’s Open commercial features Taylor Swift’s “Wildest Dreams.”
The U.S. Women’s Open has been pumping out superb content all week, so I guess what I’m saying here is that you should definitely follow them on Instagram and Twitter. They had PGA Tour players pick their winners for the week, a married player-caddie duo play a newlyweds game and more!
Caitlin Clark’s Pro-Am debut
We learned the Caitin Clark was a golf fan during Masters week this year, but it wasn’t until this week that we learned she’s got game on the course, too.
The Iowa Hawkeyes star teed it up in the John Deere Classic Pro-Am on Wednesday and started her round by hitting the middle of the fairway.
Is there anything Clark can’t do? She also had a ton of fans following for her round, and then spoke with the media afterwards.
Zach Johnson gave her some pointers on her game, so don’t be surprised when she starts tearing it up in amateur events. Perhaps she has a Pebble Beach Pro-Am in her future? Only time will tell.
Bachelorette content: Nikki Guidish!
We’ve got another professional golf wedding coming up, folks! I’m sure sure exactly when Patrick Cantlay and Nikki Guidish are tying the knot, but I do know that Guidish had her bachelorette party recently. Thank you to Maya Schauffele, who was at the bachelorette and shared the following photos.
Maya Schauffele
There’s nothing like a good theme night on a bachelorette party, so the sparkles were a great choice. I am extremely curious to see what Patrick Cantlay does for his bachelor party! Is he a Vegas guy? A lake guy? I’d love to know, but as someone who doesn’t use social media that much, we might never find out.
Maya Schauffele
Lil Wayne: my favorite golf fan
DJ Khaled has gotten a lot of love lately in the golf world. He was on the cover of Golf Digest recently and is always posting videos from the course talking about his love for the game. That’s all good as long as we don’t overlook another celebrity who is super into golf as well: Lil Wayne. Not only was he psyched for Rickie Fowler and his win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, he has a history of following golf very closely.
There are currently no photos of Lil Wayne on a golf course on Getty Images, but I hope that changes very soon. Weezy, assuming you are a loyal Rogers Report reader, please know that I’d love to hang at an event. Let me know and we can make something happen.
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