Nov 6, 2026 · 5 min read
Andrew Novak Made History in Mexico
A tournament-record 25-under finish earned him a five-shot victory and a $1.08 million payday
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Andrew Novak finally has a PGA Tour win he doesn’t have to share. He took the largest 54-hole lead in the tournament’s history into Sunday — six shots — and by the back nine it was down to three.
He still won by five.
Owen Wilson, meanwhile, took a TV role as a golfer and accidentally became one. Now he’s planning trips to courses he’d only dreamed about and trying to get himself invited to Augusta. Welcome to the obsession, Owen.
This week we’re fixing thin irons and working out which eye you actually aim with. Plus two gear deals, a Colorado course with Triceratops footprints behind the twelfth green, and a bourbon at the 19th.
The Grand Slam closed yesterday. Ben won it. Ben also won the week before that. His scores are still sitting on the leaderboard if anyone wants a go at them.
Let’s tee off.
⛳ THE GIMME · THE PUTTING GAME
Four courses. 36 greens. Par is 18 a course.
New pins. Post a score and see where you land.
Birdies: Where the Pros Play 🏆
Andrew Novak Finally Gets a Win All to Himself
Novak already had a PGA Tour victory. He just had to share it with Ben Griffin.
He shot 61 on Friday to tie the course record, followed it with a bogey-free 62, and took a six-shot lead into Sunday — the largest 54-hole lead in the tournament’s history.
Then he couldn’t convert anything on the front nine, and at one point that six-shot lead was down to three.
What followed was three holes of exactly the right golf. Up and down from a bunker on 12. Drove the green on 13 and two-putted from 14 feet. A 44-footer on 14.
He closed with a 69 and still won by five, at 25-under — one better than the tournament record.
“I thought I grinded it out pretty well,” he said, which is about right.
Griffin had played his way to a T-4 in the group ahead. He stayed by the 18th green and filmed his friend’s celebration on his phone.
“Ben’s over there somewhere,” Novak said. “I’m going to be chirping him after this.”
$1.08 million, and he doesn’t have to split it.
Owen Wilson Has Officially Caught the Golf Bug
Owen Wilson barely played before he signed on for Stick, the Apple TV+ series where he plays a washed-up pro. Two seasons later, he’s a golfer.
Here’s how you know. At Riviera he drove the par-4 10th and called his brothers about it.
“I had an eagle putt, which I missed,” he told GQ.
He birdied three of the next four, which gave him more to report.
He shoots in the low 80s at King Kamehameha in Maui, and he’s got an Augusta National invitation he still hasn’t managed to schedule. Apparently finding time to play Augusta is a real problem for some people.
He’s 57. He took a job pretending to be a golfer and came out the other side planning his vacations around tee times.
Bogeys: For Us Weekend Golfers 🏌️♂️
Stop Hitting Your Irons Thin
You make what feels like the best swing of your day and watch the ball travel the length of the fairway about three feet off the ground. Plenty of effort. Nothing to show for it.
Kerrod Gray is a PGA professional who graduated as the top PGA trainee in Australia. He says the usual culprit is your low point — the bottom of your swing arc. When it stays behind the ball, you lose the clean contact and compression that make an iron shot work.
Here's how to try it:
Grab an alignment stick: Hold it in front of you with both hands, the pointed end facing your lead side.
Make your backswing: Turn back, then start down by moving your lead shoulder over your lead foot.
Finish through: Rotate, release the stick toward the turf, and finish tall with your arms extended.
Do it on grass, not a mat. A mat lets you get away with hitting a little behind the ball. Grass tells you the truth.
Then hit a few short irons with that same feeling. Don’t chase distance yet — get the low point in front of the ball and the yards show up on their own.
I’ve been trying to fix thin shots by swinging harder for about fifteen years. It has never once worked.
Your Putting Problem Might Be Your Eyes
Ever stand over a five-footer, feel completely lined up, and watch the ball roll nowhere near where you thought you aimed? Your stroke may be fine. Your eyes are the other suspect.
Most of us have a dominant eye, and it changes how we see the line. If that eye isn’t in a good spot over the ball, what looks perfectly square at address isn’t.
Here's a 10-second test:
Extend both arms and make a small circle with your thumbs and forefingers.
With both eyes open, look through the circle at something in the distance.
Slowly bring your hands toward your face while keeping the object centered.
Whichever eye the circle naturally moves toward is your dominant eye.
Now take that to the practice green — and don’t trust your eyes to grade the result, because that’s the whole problem. Set a ball ten feet from the hole, aim the putter where you think it should point, then step back behind it without moving anything and look at where the face is actually aimed.
Do that with your dominant eye directly over the ball, then again with it just inside the line. One of them will get the face closer to where you meant it.
It won’t turn every five-footer into a tap-in. But it costs nothing, takes ten seconds, and might explain why you’ve been arguing with your putter all season.
Gear Drop: This Week’s Picks ⛳
Adidas S2G 26 Leather Spikeless Golf Shoes: $66 (Save 40%)
Good golf shoes don’t have to look like golf shoes. The S2G 26 Leather pairs a golf-ready spikeless sole with a white-and-green upper you can walk into the clubhouse in without changing.
They’re waterproof too, which at this price is the surprising part.
Verdict: Buy them. I did, and love them. Sixty-six dollars for a waterproof leather golf shoe is the kind of number that usually has a catch, and the only one here is availability — the discount moves by size and colorway, so check yours is actually at that price. They won’t fix your slice, but at least you’ll look decent while searching for your ball.
Cobra OPTM MAX-K Driver: $399 (Save $200, 33%)
We’ve all hit the drive that feels fine until you look up and find the ball somewhere it has no business being. Cobra built the MAX-K for exactly that golfer.
It’s their highest-MOI driver — about 13K combined across three axes — which means it twists less when you miss the middle and the ball holds closer to the line you meant. The adjustable hosel has 33 loft and lie settings, two degrees either way, and the face stays square at all of them.
Verdict: Buy it if you’re a mid-to-high handicap who’d trade yards for fairways. Reviewers put the sweet spot around 15 to 20-plus, and that’s the honest range.
Skip it if you’re chasing distance — ball speeds run low for a 2026 driver — or if you like to work the ball, because this one would rather go straight. And if what you really need is draw bias, Cobra’s own MAX-D is the club.
Either way, get fitted before you buy a driver. Even the most forgiving head has limits, especially when your swing decides to take the afternoon off.
This week’s Weekend Card has three goals for Saturday. Open it here →
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Bourbon: Life on the 19th Hole 🥃
⭐ Course of the week ⭐
Fossil Trace Golf Club: Golden, Colorado
Fossil Trace sounds like a dinosaur museum. It’s also a golf course worth traveling for.
In Golden, just west of Denver, architect Jim Engh routed the course across a former clay mine. The fairways roll, the greens have plenty of movement, and mining machinery is scattered around the property. With Table Mountain in view, keeping your eyes on the ball could be difficult.
No. 12 gets my attention. It’s a 585-yard par 5 with sandstone columns rising from the fairway. You can play around them or try a bolder line, but the narrow green and long bunker make the second shot interesting. Behind the green, the rock holds Triceratops footprints and prehistoric palm fossils.
I’d be the guy taking a picture of the fossils, then three-putting beside them.
Where you'll lose shots: Going for too much on No. 12. The columns invite an aggressive shot, and the green doesn't leave much margin.
How to play it smarter: Start with a drive into the center. If the pillars take away your preferred shot, lay up and give yourself a wedge.
Would I make the trip? Yes. Great setting, public access, and a story you won’t get on most scorecards. I’d check the renovation calendar first.
Planning a visit?
Location: Golden, Colorado, about 20 minutes west of Denver
Course: Public, 18 holes, par 72
Length: About 4,700–6,800 yards, depending on tees
Designer: Jim Engh
Rates: Late-season $100 weekdays, $115 weekends
Current play: 17 holes during irrigation work, with adjusted rates
Booking: Online reservations
This Week’s Pour
Elijah Craig Toasted Barrel
Max Homa liked this enough to pick his own barrel of it with Elijah Craig. That one came out at 126.6 proof, eight years old, single barrel, and it’s long gone.
This is the standard release, which has the advantage of being findable.
Elijah Craig takes its fully matured Small Batch and finishes it in a second, specially toasted oak barrel. The extra step pulls more sweetness and oak out of it without driving the proof up.
And there's something nice about a bourbon that doesn't need to be barrel proof to make an impression.
Verdict: Neat, and give it a minute to open up. Save the ice for later. At 94 proof it won’t cost you a recovery day — and after last week’s 116.8, it’s a decent reminder that a bourbon doesn’t have to be barrel proof to be worth sitting with.
Proof: 94 (47% ABV)
Age: No age statement
Style: Kentucky straight bourbon, finished in a second toasted oak barrel
Price: Varies by retailer
One Last Thing
Three things happened in this edition. I didn’t notice they were the same one until I’d finished writing it.
Owen Wilson, 57 and new to all this, drove the green at Riviera and called his brothers before he’d even hit the putt. He missed the putt.
Ben Griffin finished T-4 in a tournament he was trying to win, then stood behind the 18th green and filmed his best friend’s celebration on his phone.
And Andrew Novak, having just won $1.08 million and the first title he didn’t have to share, got asked how it felt. “Ben’s over there somewhere,” he said. “I’m going to be chirping him after this.”
Nobody’s first instinct was the trophy.
I could shoot 92 and still spend the whole drive home thinking about one seven-iron on the 14th. Not because of the shot. Because of who was standing there when I hit it, and the noise he made.
The score’s gone by Tuesday. The person you called isn’t.
So go hit one worth talking about this weekend. Then call somebody.
See you next week,
Adam
Adam Rosen
Editor-in-Chief, Birdies, Bogeys & Bourbon
P.S. Answer: B. They lead by as many holes as remain. If you're three up with three holes to play, you're dormie. Your opponent has to win all three just to tie. The term was dropped from the official rulebook in 2019, but you'll still hear golfers use it today.
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