Welcome back to Keeping Score, our Friday column that highlights the personalities, teams and games that sports fans are talking about — by the numbers.
$7,500
Amount Patrick Reed tipped a local caddie on a scouting trip to LA County Club in 2023
Patrick Reed has been called many things in his controversial career, several of them unprintable, but “sympathetic figure” is a new one.
Reed is playing this week at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth outside London, serving his purgatory on the DP World Tour for the sin of jumping to LIV Golf in 2022.
His eventual return to the PGA Tour might be a triumphant one. Despite his Ryder Cup nickname of “Captain America,” Reed has always loved playing in Europe, and the 36-year-old’s game looks as strong as ever. He’s won twice on the DP World Tour this year, and he’s leading the Race to Dubai points list, setting up a potential late-season showdown with his Ryder Cup rival Rory McIlroy.
At his pre-tournament press conference, Reed said he’d relish the chance to get one over on McIlroy and prevent him from winning an eighth European Tour Order of Merit, which would tie Colin Montgomerie for the all-time record.
“It's always fun any time I get to battle out with Rory,” Reed said. “It's always a blast and you know, you always have to go out and play solid golf. I definitely wouldn't mind making him wait one more year to [equal] the record, but it's only a matter of time.”
Reed also confirmed that he gave a big tip ($7,500) to a local looper who helped him prepare for the 2023 US Open at LA Country Club. He said that’s something he does anytime he uses a local caddie to scout a course for a big tournament, which in Reed’s case can be a seven- or eight-hour practice day.
“I feel like they’re the ones out there spending their entire day out with me and then, you know, grinding with me,” Reed said. “So, that being said, for me, it’s one of those things that I’m very appreciative for what they do and how much they help me out and it's the least I could do.”
Reed also apologized on Thursday for inviting kids inside the ropes during the tournament so he could sign autographs for them. If he’s not careful, people might start rooting for him.
68th
Rank of Boston College in football spending among Power 4 Conference members, dead last on the list
Where have you gone, Doug Flutie? Boston College, once a rising Northeast college football powerhouse, now has the lowest roster budget of any Power 4 Conference member, according to The Athletic. BC spends just $8 million–$13 million on its roster, compared to the top schools on the list like Ohio State and Texas that spend more than $50 million. What happened to the school that won massive games under Coach Tom Coughlin and produced QBs like Flutie and Matt Ryan? The Eagles may be a victim of the success of Boston’s pro sports teams. Surrounded by popular and winning teams like the Patriots, Celtics and Red Sox, BC football can have a tough time breaking through.
84.5
Miles per hour of 52-year-old Ichiro Suzuki’s fastest pitch against a team of all-star high school girls at the Tokyo Dome. Ichiro’s team won 7-0.
Since retiring from the Mariners in 2019 at age 45 after 28 seasons in professional baseball (19 in MLB), Ichiro Suzuki has kept his game in shape. He hit eight home runs at the Mariners alumni home-run derby this summer, and he’s been pitching for a Japanese exhibition team. In a game on Sunday at the Tokyo Dome against the best high school girls in Japan, Ichiro threw a 127-pitch shutout with 17 strikeouts and a fastball clocked at 84.5 mph.
13
Hours that San Francisco 49ers RB Christian McCaffrey slept on the flight home from the Niners-Rams game in Melbourne, Australia
Coming home from Australia for Americans is always easier than going over because, thanks to the time-zone change, you get a day back. San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey started his readjustment as soon as he got on the 14-hour flight from Melbourne to San Francisco after the 49ers beat the Rams 27-7 last week.
“I passed out for 13 hours,” McCaffrey said. “When I woke up, there was like an hour and a half left. I think I missed the fun part.”
The NFL claimed a win in Australia, too. Attendance at the game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was 100,021, and the average audience on Netflix was 18.7 million with an additional 3.2 million international viewers. So expect more international games in 2027.
3
Number of Major League Baseball teams getting a Seinfeld-themed hat
Seinfeld creators Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld are both huge sports fans, and sports are featured in some of the most memorable episodes of the nine-season show, like George playing pickup basketball with Jimmy, Elaine’s boyfriend Puddy painting his face for New Jersey Devils games, and Kramer’s golfing adventures.
But baseball was clearly the gang’s favorite sport, and New Era is honoring this connection with Seinfeld-themed hats for three MLB teams. The choices are obvious. The Mets (Jerry always had a Mets hat on a computer in his apartment, and the Keith Hernandez male-friendship episode is one of the show’s best), the Orioles (Elaine, a Maryland native, once refused to take off her Orioles hat in the Yankees’ owner’s box and got thrown out), and, of course, the Yankees (George gets hired by George Steinbrenner to be assistant to the traveling secretary for the team).
The Elaine story was inspired by a real-life incident. David is a huge Yankees fan, and he wanted tickets to see the Yankees play the Angels in Anaheim. A show producer got David tickets to sit in Angels owner Gene Autry’s box via Autry’s accountant. When David showed up in a Yankees hat, the accountant asked him to take it off. The rest is television history.
25
Times Erling Haaland has been offside during his 131 Premier League starts at Manchester City, one of the lowest offside rates for an attacking player
Manchester City’s star forward Erling Haaland is known for his size, power, speed and tremendous finishing ability. But there’s another, more subtle factor to his game that helps make Haaland the Premier League’s most dominant player: he’s hardly ever offside.
So it was surprising to see the flag go up after Haaland’s goal against Manchester United on Sunday. After a review, the offside call was overturned and Manchester City was awarded the goal. City held on for a 1-0 win in the 199th Manchester Derby.
In 131 Premier League games that he’s started for Manchester City, Haaland has been offside just 25 times, according to The Athletic. By contrast, Leeds striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been offside 101 times in 94 games started. And Haaland was not offside once for Norway during this summer’s World Cup.
His secret: “I hate to be offside.”
3
Major international team golf events lost by Americans in the past 12 months
It’s been a tough run for Team USA in golf. The US men’s team took a drubbing at the hands of Team Europe in front of the home fans at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black. Earlier this month, the US amateur men’s team lost the 2026 Walker Cup after a storybook comeback by Great Britain & Ireland at Lahinch Golf Club on Ireland’s west coast.
The US women didn’t fare any better at the Solheim Cup last weekend, where they managed to lose to Team Europe 15-13 at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands and found themselves on the wrong end of a Sunday night beer chant led by English golf legend Laura Davies.
The beer celebrations at the Solheim Cup started on Saturday, when US Team Captain Angela Stanford brought a case of Heineken onto the team bus to celebrate the Americans winning three of the four Saturday afternoon matches to tie the tournament at 8-8 heading into Sunday singles.
That premature celebration became a rallying point for Team Europe, who won seven of 12 Sunday matches to win the Solheim Cup, followed by Laura Davies handing out Heinekens on the Team Europe bus and joining a chant of “They drink on Saturday, we drink on Sunday.”
As Rory McIlroy noted at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, if Team USA loses next week’s Presidents Cup at Medinah Golf Club in Chicago, they will be 0-4 in all of golf’s major international team events.
12,000
Times that US Open champion Alexander Zverev bounced his tennis ball before serving during the two-week tournament
There’s a line between deliberation and obsession, and you don’t need instant replay to see that US Open winner Alexander Zverev crossed it with his pre-serve ball bouncing at the US Open. Zverev bounced his ball an almost unbelievable 12,000 times over the course of the tournament.
Ben Shelton, who lost to Zverev in the final, suggested the rules might need to be changed to speed up play. (Tennis has a 25-second limit for a player’s first serve and no official time limit for the second serve.)
For his part, Zverev denied that he’s trying to play any mind games on his opponents and was amused to learn how often he bounces the ball.
“I’m not doing it on purpose,” Zverev said. “I saw the stat. Like, I bounced it 12,000 times or something like that. That’s quite funny.”
16
Internships available at Augusta National Golf Club
Attention college-age readers: your dream job might be just a click away. Augusta National Golf Club, host of the Masters Tournament and a slice of golf heaven, is looking to hire 16 interns in fields like agronomy, horticulture, broadcasting, human resources, IT, design, marketing and merchandising. Augusta National frequently posts its open positions on LinkedIn. When the club is looking for a “newsletter writer,” I will be ready.
30.4 million
Number of bachelors in the US between the ages 20-39, a 50% increase since 2000, and a trend that the Atlanta Hawks will address at the team’s Single AF Night promotion on Jan. 7
The loneliness epidemic is real, and experts think that AI is only going to make it worse. A recent report from the Institute for Family Studies revealed there were 30.4 million bachelors ages 20 to 39 in the country in 2025, while about 15.4 million men were married.
The Atlanta Hawks will do their small part to address this issue when the team hosts “Single AF Night” at their Jan. 7, 2027, game against the Indiana Pacers.
“Designed to bring singles together for an unforgettable night of basketball, entertainment and connection, Single AF Night will provide fans with unique opportunities to meet and mingle, while experiencing the excitement of Hawks basketball,” the Hawks said in a statement.
The team had a successful “Single AF Pregame Mixer” last season. 🏀
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