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    Local Guys Bought the Valhalla Club, and Now They’re Hosting a Major

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    A group of Kentucky businessmen are trying to give the P.G.A. Championship a Louisville feel, complete with nods to Churchill Downs.The quality of a major championship venue is defined by its champions, and Valhalla Golf Club, the site of this week’s P.G.A. Championship in Louisville, Ky., has a list of past winners that stands out at every level.Tiger Woods won the 2000 P.G.A. Championship at Valhalla, and Rory McIlory won it there in 2014. Hale Irwin won the 2004 Senior P.G.A. Championship at Valhalla, and Tom Watson won it there in 2011. At the 2008 Ryder Cup, the United States squad, led by Paul Azinger, beat the European Team.Even on the junior side, the course has hosted elite players. Akshay Bhatia, who at 22 has two PGA Tour victories, won the 2018 Boys Junior P.G.A. Championship there. Anna Davis, now 18, won the 2021 Girls Junior P.G.A. Championship at Valhalla and went on the next year to win the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.What its new owners, a group of Kentucky businessmen who bought Valhalla in 2022, said it didn’t have was a club presence to go with its illustrious championship history. So when the P.G.A. of America, which runs the championship, decided to sell Valhalla, the new owners moved in to change that.“We couldn’t let it go to an out-of-town golf management firm,” said David Novak, the co-founder and former chief executive of Yum Brands, which owns Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. “We felt they’d be more interested in making money than building Valhalla’s reputation.”Rory McIlory won the 2014 P.G.A. Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.Brett Hansbauer/Sports Illustrated, via Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Best Hats at the 2024 Kentucky Derby

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      America’s most famous horse race may be celebrating a milestone this year, but the hats are the real stars of the show.There are many associations that come to mind with the Kentucky Derby. Horses, naturally. Mint juleps too. But to be a true participant in the Derby spectacle, one needs a proper Derby hat.The tradition for wearing eye-catching attire to America’s most famous horse race began in the 1870s. The founder of the Kentucky Derby, Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., was inspired by the fashionable dress codes at events like Ascot in Britain and Paris’s Grand Prix. Creating his own, he figured, would transform his racetrack from a place of ill-repute to one for well-heeled high society.On a sunny spring Monday in 1875, more than 10,000 spectators attended the first Kentucky Derby and The New York Times reported on the fashion as well as the racing, noting that “the grandstand was thronged by a brilliant assemblage of ladies and gentlemen.” His plan worked, and this collective passion for horses, gambling and partying — even in smart seersucker suits or a spectacular feathered fascinator — has endured as a cornerstone of the Derby to this day.This year marked the 150th running of the race at Churchill Downs, won this year by Mystik Dan in a photo finish. As expected nobody held back both on and off the track, from wide-brimmed styles adorned with spring florals and soft feathers paired with tasteful pastel-colored dresses to jockey helmets adorned with plastic stallions and straight up horse heads. Hats off to this crowd.A coordinated pair in pink and blue. More is more on Derby day. Quiet pastels work too.It’s never a bad idea to match your hat with your cocktail. The winner by a nose. A dashing suit for Derby day. The view from the top. Riders up! Derby bling means feathers, sequins and a unicorn.Proving you can still look fantastic during a Derby nap. The hats may get all the attention, but the dresses also deserve their due.A cowboy and his bow-tie.A magenta moment that is both practical and festive. This duo had us at yellow with their coordinating sunny standout looks.Can you spot the floral accent in this red, white and blue ensemble?A coordinated pair.Yay or neigh? This fan was happy to horse around when it came to his head gear. David Kasnic for The New York TimesAnd they’re off! The Kentucky Derby is often described as “the most exciting two minutes in sports.”Pastels for the paddock (and flat shoes for a long day).The mad hatter?A dapper look for a day at the Derby.Wide-brimmed straw hats continue to be a winner for many racegoers — and the bigger the better.David Kasnic for The New York TimesYou can never go wrong with the classic straw hat.Thinking pink.One fan in full bloom.Ahoy sailor!David Kasnic for The New York TimesIt wouldn’t be the Derby without the mint juleps.David Kasnic for The New York TimesPearls, posies and lots of layered netting here for a millinery delight.David Kasnic for The New York TimesAn eye-popping race day outfit missing its owner. More

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      Mike Repole, Horse Racing’s Loudest Critic, Is Kentucky Derby Favorite

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      In the world according to Mike Repole, everyone involved in horse racing is a dummy. Except him, Mike from Queens or the Commish, as some of his followers on X call him.Stuart S. Janney III, chairman of the nonprofit Jockey Club, is clueless and tone deaf and has run the sport into the ground, Repole says. Churchill Downs Inc., which hosts the Kentucky Derby, is cheap: The $3 million purse for America’s most famous race should be much more, and the racetrack treats Repole and other owners badly.Forget about John Stewart, a new owner bringing fresh energy and big money into the game. He is “arrogant, free spending” and such a rube that he has an “$8 haircut.”All the above, and many others, are among Repole’s frequent targets on social media and various podcasts. Repole, a prominent horse owner who made his fortune in the beverage industry, says he is merely trying to disrupt an industry (often punctuated with profane Bronx cheers) that he likens to the Titanic heading inevitably into a looming iceberg.“You want real or you want fake??? You want loud or you want quiet??? You want intensity or you want passive??? You want better or you want worse??? Love me or Hate me,” Repole posted on X in January, summarizing his credo for remaking the racehorse business.Repole, right, with Fierceness last week. In seven starts, Repole-owned horses have yet to win a Derby. Two more were late scratches. Matt Stone/The Courier Journal — USA Today NetworkWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More