McIlroy's Master Plan Complete

AP News’ Doug Ferguson writes, “McIlroy went 11 long years without a major, knowing the Masters green jacket was all that kept him from joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only winners of golf’s four professional majors.”

April 14, 2025

Rory McIlroy Wins Masters Playoff to Complete the Career Grand Slam
AP News’ Doug Ferguson writes, “What should have been a coronation along the back nine at Augusta National turned into a heart-racing, lead-changing jaw-dropping finish at golf’s greatest theater that ended with McIlroy on his knees sobbing with joy and disbelief.

“He lost a two-shot lead in two shots at the start. He lost a four-shot lead on the back nine in a matter of three holes with shocking misses, one of them a wedge into the tributary of Rae’s Creek on the par-5 13th. And right when it looked as though he would blow another major, he delivered two majestic shots when nothing less would do.

“McIlroy went 11 long years without a major, knowing the Masters green jacket was all that kept him from joining Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only winners of golf’s four professional majors.”
^{AP News}

The Masters Increases Purse to Record $21M, First Place to $4.2M
FOS’ David Rumsey writes, “That’s up from the $20 million last year and $18 million in 2023. Sunday’s winner will receive a $4.2 million first-place prize, which represents a significant bump from the $3.6 million that Scottie Scheffler earned a year ago for clinching his second Green Jacket. In 2023, Jon Rahm won $3.24 million.”
^{Front Office Sports}

When a Bet is Not a Bet: Kalshi, Online Brokers Test a Fuzzy Legal Line on Predictions
SBJ’s Bill King writes, “At 9 a.m. Thursday, prediction market contracts that had Rory McIlroy winning the Masters were trading at 13 cents through online brokerage Robinhood, a pricing structure that would allow those who purchased $20 in contracts to collect $134 in profits if McIlroy won. At the same time, FanDuel bettors in states in which sports wagering is legal could have bet McIlroy to win the Masters at moneyline odds of +650, giving them a similar upside of $130 if he won.

“Kalshi, the New York City-based financial exchange behind the prediction contracts, calls this derivative trading, regulated by the federal government and available to anyone over age 18 in all 50 U.S. states. FanDuel calls it sports betting, regulated by gambling commissions in 31 states and D.C., and available only to those over 21 in all but four where the legal betting age is 18.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

Ally Joins WNBA as Official Retail Bank and Changemakers Member, Signs Bueckers to Deal
Ally Financial is partnering with the WNBA in a multiyear deal to become the league’s new official retail bank and member of its Changemakers Collective. Under the deal, Ally will be heavily immersed at All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis, with the bank’s logo featured on the courts and the players’ jerseys as the logo patch partner. The digital-only bank will debut an activation for fans at WNBA Live and will sponsor All-Star Game fan voting as well.
^{Sports Business Journal}

CBS’ 70-Year Masters Run Is the Stuff Legends Are Made Of
Sportico’s Anthony Crupi writes, “As with pretty much everything else you can think of, language is strictly policed at Augusta … And while Jim Nantz rarely misses a chance to rhapsodize about the sublimity of the course—Augusta is basically a botanical garden with the world’s most exclusive country club plopped down in the middle of it—there’s one green thing that positively cannot be mentioned during CBS’ Masters broadcasts.

“‘When you have the Masters tournament, there’s never a discussion about money, purse money, how much you win,’ Nantz said last week in advance of his 40th Augusta broadcast. ‘It’s about a jacket. It’s about a coat that you win. Tell me something else that compares to that.’”

Behind Unlikely Cast, Pacers Stage Largest Comeback in Franchise History to Earn 50th Victory
AP News’ Joe Reedy writes, “Rick Carlisle described Indiana’s first 81 games as eventful before his Pacers took on the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday in the regular-season finale. Game 82 will go down as momentous.

“Indiana staged the biggest comeback in team history, erasing a 27-point deficit for a 126-118 victory in double overtime. It also gave the Pacers 50 wins for the 10th time in franchise history, but first since the 2013-14 season.”
^{AP News}

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Iamaleava Leaving Vols Symbolizes College Sports’ Pay-for-Play World
Sportico’s Michael McCann writes, “Iamaleava’s departure is emblematic of a college sports labor market that doesn’t quite work. 

“It’s uncomfortably situated between pro and amateur sports. It pays lip service to the lofty aspirations of higher ed but doesn’t want to interfere with the revenue engine known as big-time college sports. College leaders don’t want to recognize the athletes as employees, but that comes at a cost: NCAA attempts to regulate the market in arguably logical ways swiftly face antitrust lawsuits. The players, after all, can’t unionize as non-employees and thus can’t collectively bargain rules with the NCAA that would be immune from antitrust scrutiny.”
^Sportico

In Afterglow of Florida’s National Title, Commissioner Greg Sankey Finds SEC Firmly Entrenched Atop Men’s Basketball Ecosystem
“We’ve hired really good coaches,” Florida Athletic Director Scott Stricklin told Sports Business Journal, a championship cap perched atop his head. “I know people want to dig into all this other stuff. And all that other stuff supports it, right? The exposure that the SEC Network and the ESPN contract is giving, the money that we generate overall to support all of our programs, not just men’s basketball. But we started hiring good coaches.”
^Motorsport

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