Show notes
Victor Hovland Wins. Nelly Misses Her Three-Peat. Players React to the New PGA Tour.
Another week in golf delivered everything — a wild finish at the Travelers Championship, Nelly Korda falling just short of making LPGA history at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, and players on-site at TPC River Highlands giving their honest takes on what the new PGA Tour structure actually means for them. Trey Wingo is at the Travelers. Justin Ray just finished a two-week road trip covering the US Open and the KPMG. Here is everything that happened.
Victor Hovland Wins at the Travelers — Again, It Delivered
The Travelers Championship has built a remarkable track record of memorable finishes over the last fifteen years. Kevin Streelman with seven consecutive birdies in 2014. Jordan Spieth holing out from the bunker in 2017. Harris English and Kramer Hickok in an eight-hole playoff. The Scotty Scheffler and Tom Kim playoff. Keegan Bradley breaking Tommy Fleetwood's heart last year. And now Victor Hovland making birdie on the first playoff hole while Scotty Scheffler's almost identical putt slipped out.
Hovland wins his eighth career PGA Tour title in a week that also featured one of the most electric atmospheres in recent tournament memory — Norwegian World Cup fans bringing Ryder Cup-level energy to TPC River Highlands, singing in the stands, waving flags, and creating an environment that reminded everyone why live golf is unlike anything else in sports.
Scotty Scheffler goes 13 straight events without a win. His underlying numbers are still extraordinary — he leads the PGA Tour in strokes gained total, scoring average, and birdie average, and his putting has moved up to 12th on tour, which is genuinely alarming for his competitors. Justin's read is simple — the putts are not falling at the moments that count, but they are going to start. He would not be surprised to see Scotty win both the Scottish Open and the Open Championship. His iron play is returning to form, ranking sixth in the field last week in strokes gained approach. The drought is not a crisis. It is a math problem that is about to solve itself.
Alex Fitzpatrick continues to be the most remarkable money-making story of the season. Since winning the Zurich Classic with his brother Matt in April, Fitzpatrick has made the cut in every event, piled up multiple top tens, and earned his way into the top 17 on the FedEx Cup list playing in a fraction of the events most players have entered. Justin and Trey agree — Ryder Cup conversation is now entirely appropriate and Fitzpatrick is drifting toward automatic qualifying at the majors. The ATM is open and it does not appear to be closing anytime soon.
The Fried Egg Podcast Takes on the Travelers
Trey addresses a recent Fried Egg Podcast episode that was critical of the Travelers Championship — specifically the course layout, the scoring, and the overall quality of TPC River Highlands as a venue. He has a lot of respect for Andy and Brendan and what the Fried Egg has built in the golf media space, and he disagrees with them strongly.
His argument — look at the leaderboard from Sunday. Victor Hovland, Scotty Scheffler, Colin Morikawa, Matt Fitzpatrick, Wyndham Clark, Akshay Bhatia, Corey Conners, Alex Fitzpatrick, JJ Spaun, Robert MacIntyre, Ben Griffin. That is a top ten you sign up for at any tournament on the planet regardless of the course. And for every birdie fest concern, he points directly at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am — same scoring range, same depth of field issues, nobody criticizing Pebble Beach.
Justin adds the experiential layer — being there as a fan in his early career, the sight lines on the back nine are exceptional, the fan experience is one of the best on tour, and the players love it because the Travelers understand exactly what they are and what they are not. Every player Trey spoke to on-site last week said the same thing — this is fun for us, they treat us well, and we enjoy coming here.
What Players Actually Think About the New PGA Tour
Trey had access to multiple players on-site at the Travelers including Lucas Glover, Chris Gotterup, Colin Morikawa, and Xander Schauffele. The conversations all pointed in the same direction — genuine support for the broad vision, honest concerns about specific details, and trust that the flexibility Rolapp has promised will show up in the execution.
The specific concern that kept coming up — if you are on the Championship Tour, you cannot dip down and play Challenger Series events. That means players like Scotty Scheffler, who has been loyal to events like the Byron Nelson and Colonial in Texas, cannot play at those events if they land on the Challenger tier. Chris Gotterup, whose career was launched at the John Deere Classic, raises the same concern — it stinks personally, but once it was explained commercially, it makes sense. The sponsors investing $20 million or more deserve field protection.
Trey's take — rigid on the vision, flexible on the details, and the Jimmy Johnson rule applies. The more you can do for the tour, the more leeway you get. Rory McIlroy is not meeting his 15-event minimum this year. The PGA Tour is doing nothing about it. That is not a double standard — that is smart business. Justin's take — it is absolutely a double standard. And he totally agrees with it.
Nelly Korda at the KPMG — Tied for Eighth
Nelly Korda came to Hazeltine trying to become the fifth woman in LPGA history to win three majors in the same season. She finished tied for eighth. Justin points out immediately — tied for eighth is her worst stroke play result of 2026. That is where she is right now. That is not a disaster. That is a temporary blip for the most dominant player in women's golf.
The winner was Hyeon Ju Yu — one of the best ball strikers on the LPGA Tour for several years who had held 54-hole leads at Chevron in both 2024 and 2025 without closing. She closed this time. A great story and a deserved win. Brooke Henderson was near the top of the leaderboard for much of the week — ten-year anniversary of winning a major as an 18-year-old, not yet 30, doing it again. Davy Weber, about to become a mother for the first time, essentially doubled her career earnings with a $750,000 check courtesy of the record $13 million KPMG purse.
Charlie Hull missed the cut, which surprised Justin given how well she played at Riviera. Hannah Green and Minjee Lee also missed. Golf is a long season and bad weeks happen even to great players.
On Nelly's path to a third major — Justin leans toward the AIG Women's Open at Royal Lytham over the Evian Championship. Evian generates unpredictable outcomes by nature, not always revealing the best player in the field. Lytham should suit Nelly better given her ball striking and course management. She had opportunities with her wedge game at Hazeltine — 14 times between 80 and 130 yards from the fairway over the weekend, she made two birdies. Small tweaks. No overhaul needed.
Your Questions
Seven questions from the Golf Live community this week — covering the Norwegian fan energy at the Travelers, whether no sponsors exemptions is fair to tournament partners, when Patrick Reed returns to the PGA Tour full-time, what is wrong with Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson missing the Open Championship for the first time since 2009, Eugenio Chacarra winning the Italian Open, and whether the PGA Tour is right to grant Rory McIlroy an exemption from the 15-event minimum.
The Rory question gets the most direct answer of the week. Trey — it is not a double standard, it is just different when you have done what Rory has done. Justin — it is absolutely a double standard. I totally agree with it. Period. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com
for information about our collection and use of personal data for
advertising.