Good morning
Every golfer has had the same thought after a bad round:

What if I just gave my swing to the best coach in the world and said, “Fix all of this”?

It sounds dramatic. It also sounds expensive. But it gets at a real question: are great golfers built by better information, or are there levels most of us simply can’t buy our way into?

-Harry Carlisle

Rory McIlroy returns at the Truist Championship this week at Quail Hollow Club in North Carolina, his first start since winning the Masters. He has described feeling more motivated, not less, with new “mountains” still to climb.

Why it matters: After Rory finally won the Masters, the obvious question was whether the chase would lose some edge. So far, he sounds like the opposite: lighter, but not less ambitious.

Worth knowing: Scottie Scheffler isn’t in the field this week, so Rory won’t get a direct pre-major check against the world No. 1. 

Quail Hollow’s final three holes, Nos. 16, 17, and 18, are known as the Green Mile, and they’re one of the toughest closing stretches on the PGA Tour. Since the TOUR returned to Quail Hollow in 2003, the first 15 holes have played heavily under par while the final three have played thousands over par.

Rory McIlroy goes off Thursday at 10:05 a.m. ET with Matt Fitzpatrick, then plays Friday at 1:20 p.m. ET.

Bryson DeChambeau said he was shocked by the news that Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund is expected to stop backing LIV after 2026, because he believed LIV had financial support locked in through 2032. He also said that if LIV folds, he could focus even more on YouTube and play tournaments that want him.

That’s a very modern golf sentence. A major champion’s backup plan isn’t just another tour. It might be building a bigger media business while playing a custom schedule around majors, exemptions, and invitations.

The twist: Bryson may be one of the few LIV players with enough leverage to treat uncertainty like optionality. Most players need a tour. Bryson has majors, a massive YouTube audience, and a brand that can live outside the normal schedule.

Key takeaway: If LIV shrinks or disappears, not every player is looking for the same exit. Some need status. Bryson may want freedom.

Nelly Korda won the Riviera Maya Open on Sunday, one week after winning the Chevron Championship. It was her 18th LPGA Tour title, her third win of 2026, and her second win in two weeks.

Worth knowing: Korda is now at 23 LPGA Hall of Fame points, four short of the 27 needed for induction.

The Asian Tour is in Taiwan this week for the Taiwan Glass Taifong Open at Taifong Golf Club, where local players get a rare home-stage chance to turn a good week into a regional breakthrough.

Why it matters: Taiwan doesn’t get many high-profile pro golf weeks on the international calendar, so this is a useful window into a golf scene many English-language fans rarely see.

Worth watching: Hung Chien-yao is the cleanest local storyline. He finished second at this event last year and has already won the Taifong Open before, back when it was part of the Asian Development Tour. If he gets near the lead again, the week has a real home-country hook.

Denmark’s Smilla Sønderby won the inaugural MCB Ladies Classic in Mauritius with a birdie on the final hole. It was her second Ladies European Tour title and made her the event’s first-ever champion.

Grant Horvat, the Bryan Bros, and Brad Dalke are building YourGolfTour, a creator-led golf league that ends with a $1 million championship at Wynn Las Vegas.

The best detail is the wild card.

Each captain drafts a team, but at every event they can add one new wild card player. Once that player is used, no other captain can pick them later in the season. At the end, those wild cards are expected to feed into a one-day shootout for a spot in the championship.

That gives the series something most creator golf doesn’t have: discovery. It creates a lane for the unknown club pro, mini-tour grinder, or camera-ready sicko who can actually shoot 65.

The twist: Captains now have real strategy. Do you take the best golfer nobody knows, or the good golfer who already knows how to play on camera?

It sounds ridiculous, until you remember someone basically tried it.

In Paper Tiger, writer Tom Coyne went all in. He was a 14-handicap who wanted to know how much better a regular golfer could get with the right help. So he changed his body, hired top instructors, worked with a sports psychologist, and treated golf like a full-time job.

The result was encouraging and brutal: he got much, much better. But he still didn’t get all the way there.

Because scratch golf isn’t just a better swing.

A great coach can fix the obvious stuff first: the grip, the setup, the ball position.

But the best coach in the world wouldn’t start by handing you one magical swing thought. They’d start with the boring stuff that actually lowers scores.

Before every approach shot, measure three numbers:

Then choose the club that sends a normal shot to the middle of that window, not the perfect shot to the pin.

Then look at the trouble.

If there’s a bunker left and your usual miss is left, aim farther right. If long is dead, choose the club that can’t fly the back. If short leaves an easy chip but right is water, build the miss into the shot before you swing.

The same idea applies off the tee. Lower scores usually come from leaving yourself shorter, simpler next shots, not from playing the “safe” club every time. If driver gives you a clear shot and gets you closer to the hole, it often makes the next shot easier.

So the answer is this:

The world’s best coach could probably help the right golfer get to scratch with enough time, money, and discipline.

But the coach can’t do the hard part for you. They can show you the smarter target, the better club, and the cleaner plan. You still have to hit the shot, accept the boring play, and do it again for 18 holes.

The PGA Championship is next week at Aronimink Golf Club near Philadelphia. Championship rounds run May 14 to 17.

That means the homework has already started.

Next week, we’ll look at how Ted Scott, Scottie Scheffler’s caddie, prepares for a major, from course notes and yardages to the simple prep any golfer can do before setting foot on the course.

This week’s Morning Tee Golf Mini is live, with clues from the week’s biggest golf stories.

Play the mini crossword →

Same brand. Same number. Same model.

But there’s no identifying mark, and you can’t be certain it’s yours.

What do you do?

A) Play it, since it matches your ball
B) Ask your playing partners to vote
C) Treat it as a lost ball
D) Take free relief because the ball is uncertain

C) Treat it as a lost ball

Under the Rules, you must be able to identify your ball as yours. Same brand and number isn’t enough if you can’t be certain. If you can’t identify it within the search time, it’s lost.

This is why marking your ball matters. A tiny dot, line, initials, or unique mark can save you from turning a found ball into a lost-ball penalty.