Charley Hull’s (forced) cigarette break, Nelly Korda’s SI swimsuit kink, and Bryson DeChambeau’s big man-on-campus move | Golf news and tour information

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we promise not to talk about the elections. In fact, the only vote we’ll discuss is the one that took place in my youngest daughter’s kindergarten class: pizza versus ice cream. And ice cream won. And she was really happy with it. And also about getting a sticker when voting.

The ice cream lobby will also be very happy. Anyway, who thinks we should talk about golf now? Okay, the ayes have it.

Rio Takeda: The six-hole victory over Marina Alex gave her a first LPGA Tour title, but that doesn’t nearly tell the story of this precocious Japanese star. The 21-year-old Takeda had already won SEVEN times on Japan’s LPGA by 2024. So winning, especially in her home country at the Toto Japan Classic, is becoming old-fashioned:

Watch out, LPGA. We could see a Takeda takeover in 2025.

Charley Hull: And we also buy the power of positive thinking. On the eve of LET’s Aramco Team Series event, Hull said: “I feel like a win is just around the corner.” Three days later, she ended a two-year winless drought. Talk about manifesting something.

And due to Saudi Arabia’s strict smoking laws, she lifted the trophy without lifting a single cigarette to her mouth! Go Charley! For once we were flooded with videos of her hit darts instead smoking them. So Charley – and the kids – won. You like to see it. Or in this case, don’t see it.

This golf cellar: What a spectacular layout here with a putting green and simulator room:

And I love the bathroom labeled “Maintenance Shed.” Although, if I’m nitpicking, I could do without the gym down there. That’s just taking up valuable real estate. Just kidding. Sort of.

How to lose: Look away if you have trouble with short putts. Anyway, this is hard to watch:

But kudos to Kristoffer Reitan. Not only to win his first Challenge Tour event when he needed it most, but also to have the means to tell his partner not to celebrate an opponent’s miss. That’s class.

How to miss your tour ticket: Same idea here. What a brave effort, but it shouldn’t have been this way:

Jalen Hurts’ contract: Don’t get me wrong, making $255 million in five years is nice and all, but the Eagles star QB was recently unable to play golf with Barack Obama due to a no-golf clause. Ouch. And the round was at Merion… Double ouch.

But he still followed in a golf cart with the former president, teammate Saquon Barkley (Did Barack Saquon learn that back hurdle?) and owner Jeffrey Lurie, the man behind the no-golf clause. Yes, because golf is dangerous to your health and if you don’t QB, you’ll be sneaking close to the goal line again and again. I got it.

The PGA Tour returns with the World Wide Technology Championship, aka the one that used to be called the Mayakoba, aka the one where Matt Kuchar once stiffed that local caddy. In addition, the DP World Tour enters a final two-week period to determine the winner of the Race to Dubai with the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. Although there isn’t much drama when Rory McIlroy has a huge lead. Yep, even Rory can’t let this one slip. (Sorry, Rory, couldn’t resist. But seriously, you got this…right?)

Random Tournament Fact: Viktor Hovland is the only two-time winner at Mayakoba, a major reason why he was nicknamed ‘Resort King’. He also paid his caddy well both times.

—Rory McIlroy wins in Abu Dhabi: 4-1 odds (Favorite!)

—Max Greyserman wins in Mexico: 16-to-1 odds (also the favorite!)

-A LOT of NFL QBs laugh at that no-golf clause: LOCK

I loved this financial analysis from Bryan Kopsick, a PGA Tour caddy for Ben Silverman, who seems to be doing well thanks to his work and some smart investments:

And loved his love for his work even more:

This might be the biggest backfire of all time:

And just like that, that guy lost the annual salary of a PGA Tour caddy.

Bryson DeChambeau brought the US Open trophy to the student section during an SMU football game:

The people’s champion, indeed.

Speaking of football, Ted Scott had fun with Josh Allen and Keon Coleman at the Bills practice facility:

And while we’re on the subject of PGA Tour caddy income, Ted makes more money than most NFL wide receivers.

Congratulations to Troy Merritt on his induction into the Boise State Hall of Fame!

And congratulations to Katherine Morikawa on running the New York Marathon!

And while we’re at it, congratulations to Golf Digest’s Ben Walton and Will Irwin for achieving that too. I would literally die if I ran a marathon. That said, I can’t help but point out that Kat beat them both by a significant amount of time. Start training for next year, guys!

There were some great Halloween outfits this year, and we’ll highlight a few here. There was Luke Donald and his family donning another awesome group costume:

Then there was Donald as the Chicago Cub (the man has multiple costumes every year), Shane Lowry as Travis Kelce, and Rory McIlroy and Mario:

Sticking with threesomes, how about Brooks Koepka, Jena Sims and Crew nailing this ‘Men in Black’ look?

And finally, Aaron Flener and his girlfriend do the whole Scottie Scheffler arrested thing:

Expected, but still very good. Well done all around!

It turns out that Nelly Korda has been doing some dressing up of her own in preparation for next year’s SI swimsuit issue:

“I was still drunk, I was still drunk, but I had so much adrenaline. Honestly, it was like floating on a cloud. It was the easiest run I’ve ever done.” —Danny Willett goes for a run at 7am the day after winning the 2016 Masters. Since I bet on Danny to win, I know (kind of) how he felt!

Congratulations to Bubba Watson for making a hole-in-one, but kudos to Bubba as well. After making the bait, he doubled the price by buying a house for someone in need in Indonesia. … Speaking of charity, Scottie Scheffler’s old car with over 200,000 miles is being auctioned off to raise money for Triumph Over Kid Cancer. And the great Jim Nantz bought that old clunker for $50,000. Well done, Jim. … Shout-out to Michael Zenert, who found a Naval Academy ring on a golf course and returned it to a fighter pilot who had lost it there 54(!) years earlier.

What a great story. … Congratulations to Ozzie Smith on being named winner of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America’s Old Tom Morris Award. Yes, That Ozzie Smith. Apparently he’s also a wizard who makes the game grow. …And finally, my love for Costco and Bluey – and of course my girls – convinced me to buy this for my house this Christmas:

Just a perfect storm to get me to drop $150. But worth it. I think.

What’s the worst thing you’ve ever lost on a golf course?

Does “Investing Caddy” have any good stock tips?

Can we vote to bring back daylight saving time?