Iss. #135 | MLB x TGR collab? & the rise of Rose

In honor of Opening Weekend

MLB-(ISH) X TGR COLLAB

In honor of MLB Opening Weekend, I thought I'd lead with the cross-sport collab none of us saw coming.

Mike Trout and Tiger Woods.

Earlier this week, they announced the creation of a new private, championship-level golf course in Mike's hometown of Vineland, New Jersey. It's also 45 minutes south of Philly so you Phillie Phanatics can get in on the action, too. See, I know baseball.

It's being designed by Tiger's firm TGR Design and it opens in 2025.

Most of the further details are basically non-existent. However, in the press release, Mike did drop a bit of teaser on what the vibe of his private course will be. (I say private again, because, it took me this long to realize that I will likely never play this course... but a guy can dream.)

"Although plans aren't finalized quite yet, I'll put it to you this way — this will not be your grandparents' country club." - Mike

I'm listening...

And now for a brief tangent on baseball.

I attended my first ever spring training game last weekend in Scottsdale to celebrate my bro-in-law's bachelor party. Let's hear it for Mike!

And I have to say it was a delightful experience top to bottom. Close to the action. Saw the stars play. The new pitch clock had this game FLYING. And dare I say, it has me seriously considering caring about baseball... someone talk me off the ledge—or on the ledge.

Also, shout out to the Bad Birdie team at HQ who I got to share some food court pitas and embarrass myself in office putt-putt with before the festivities began. The hospitality and vibes were impeccable.

SoCal's finest sets back to back records

READY FOR THE ROSE BOWL?

Saturday marks the grand finale of the Augusta National Women's Amateur played at THE Augusta National mere days before the Tour descends. Lucky.

And perched five shots ahead at the top of the leaderboard is none other than the pride of SoCal, 2020 US Women's Amateur Champ, 2022 NCAA Individual Champ, and the #1 ranked amateur player for 130 weeks running... Rose (Thorn In Your Side) Zhang. Nickname still patent pending as I don't believe anyone refers to her that way.

The ANWA title is really the only thing left for Rose to win despite coming dangerously close in years past.

So with the weight of the world and Condoleezza Rice (one of the first two women members of Augusta, and member of Rose's gallery on Wednesday) on her shoulders Rose came out and fired 66-65.

Setting, then re-setting, the record for lowest single round score at the event. Leaving one round left to bring it home. LFG ROSE!!!

Fun Scott-Rose fact—I actually "met" her a year or two ago at an Orange County course where we both were practicing putts. I hit mine off line and bumped into her ball. I said sorry. She said it's okay. And that was that. Soooooo yeah. We're kinda like twin-sies.

Randomly paired at a muni?

I THINK I GOT SOCIAL CATFISHED

Here I was sitting in the Scottsdale airport, minding my business as I scrolled through the feeds looking for some gold to pass along to you all... and one of the re-post factory accounts had the video linked above with a caption like "You'll never believe who these randoms got paired with at their local muni."

Alright, you got me. I'll watch.

WE THE BEST MUSIIIIICCCC - DJ KHALED himself.

Wow. Wild coincidence and blows my mind that Khaled plays a muni.

Well, when I circled back to find the original video I discovered... this "random dude" is actually someone named Zak Longo (apologies if this is a known influencer... but they all look the same to me). Verified account. 218k followers.

The BS meter is ringing and, after watching again, I think I got social catfished. There's no way this is a public muni. And there's no way this was random, right?? Even Khaled himself commented on the post along with a half dozen other verified users.

That said, only 3,492 likes with 218k followers. Not loving that ratio. Perhaps a double catfish? Is Zak real at all? Or some Russian catfishing scheme to lure in golf-loving individuals like myself. We'll never know.

Full Swing getting some competition

ASK AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE

You're welcome to everyone for this.

The second I heard JR was heading to college I DEFINITELY said in Breakfast Balls how great it would be to have a docu-series following him. Turns out that (potentially) loyal readers Lebron James and Maverick Carter listened and here we are!

The trailer promises great guest interviews, thoughtful production, and a killer story. I am already worried that this will beat out any episode of Full Swing from a "tug on your heart strings" standpoint.

Speaking of.... if you can wait, I think I'm making this the next watchalong recap-apalooza!

(Small programming note, I was traveling all week so Full Swing Episode 6 recap will be... delayed to next week. I mean at this point, I'm already so behind. What's another week, right?)

Ready for future drops?

A RED HOT APP-TEASER

Our Amateurs drop this week was gone... in a day. So if you hadn't downloaded our brand spankin' new app, the exclusive drops are comin' in hot and I couldn't live with myself to know you're missing out.