The 19th Hole: Sue Fitzpatrick outshoots her sons, a tree keeps an umbrella

A mother’s fairway metal in Scotland, a tree at Yokohama Country Club and a pair of trousers in Delhi gave the cameras plenty to work with this week. The PGA TOUR spent the week in Japan at the Baycurrent Classic, won on Sunday by Michael Brennan, while the DP World Tour finished posting footage from the Alfred Dunhill Links and moved on to India. All four clips come from the tours’ own channels.

Sue Fitzpatrick outshoots her sons

The Alfred Dunhill Links pairs tour players with amateur partners, and few teams are better known than Matt Fitzpatrick and his mother, Sue, who won the team title together in 2025. This year his younger brother Alex, now a PGA TOUR player himself, joined them in the group. In the DP World Tour’s clip all three aim at one flag. Sue hits first and puts a fairway metal to three feet, according to Golf Digest. The commentators are talking about bragging rights before either son has taken a club out.

Anyone who has been outplayed by a parent, partner or junior member knows the silence that follows. We hope the conversation in the car home was gracious.

Sahith Theegala loses a ball, then an umbrella

On Friday in Yokohama, Sahith Theegala pulled his tee shot on the par-4 11th, the hardest hole on the course, and the whole group heard it crack into a tree. Nobody saw it come down. The Rules of Golf let a player take relief from the spot directly below a ball lodged in a tree, but only if they can identify it as theirs. Even through a rangefinder he could not pick out his markings, so his caddie, Carl Smith, began throwing an umbrella into the branches with help from the caddie of playing partner Jordan Smith. Golf Monthly reports that enough foliage eventually came loose for Theegala to identify the ball. The umbrella stayed in the tree. He took a penalty drop and made bogey.

The tip for this month’s medal: if you have to throw something into a tree, make sure it is not the thing keeping you dry. Nobody has reported whether Theegala got his umbrella back.

Ryo Hisatsune ranks Japanese food

Before a ball was struck at his home event, the PGA TOUR handed Ryo Hisatsune a tier list and a menu. The format will be familiar to anyone who has lost an evening online: a dish appears on screen and the player puts it somewhere between A and F. Sushi comes first. Tonkatsu, taiyaki and Japanese barbecue all get their turn. Then the golden arches of McDonald’s appear, and Hisatsune puts them in the B tier, a decision likely to start more clubhouse arguments than any ruling this season, Theegala’s included.

We would happily swap every ‘How’s the course playing?’ for one of these.

Rory McIlroy’s new trousers in Delhi

Rory McIlroy is back at Delhi Golf Club for the DP World India Championship (15 to 18 October), a year after making his India debut at the inaugural event. The DP World Tour’s camera found him on the practice green, greeting players and officials and wearing a pair of very wide-legged navy trousers. The tour’s on-screen caption, “Rory’s baggy trousers”, makes the obvious joke for us. Golf fashion travels at the pace of a Sunday four-ball, so expect the look to reach your club around 2030.

Sources

• DP World Tour on YouTube: Mum show the Fitzpatrick boys how it’s done
• PGA TOUR on YouTube: Golf ball stuck in a tree
• PGA TOUR on YouTube: Ryo Hisatsune ranks Japanese foods
• DP World Tour on YouTube: Rory McIlroy’s new look in India
• PGA TOUR on YouTube: Michael Brennan wins the 2026 Baycurrent Classic
• Golf Monthly: Sahith Theegala’s golf ball and umbrella stuck in a tree at the Baycurrent Classic
• Golf Digest: Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick’s mum at the Alfred Dunhill Links
• Alfred Dunhill Links Championship: Sue and Matt looking for a repeat Fitzpatrick spectacular at St Andrews
• Golf Digest Middle East: Rory McIlroy ready to resume DP World India Championship starring role
• The R&A: Rule 19, unplayable ball