Intensity has picked up with gold medals on the line here at the 2026 USA Games. Despite that pressure, the athletes have risen to the occasion. See below to learn about all of the latest storylines across pickleball, golf, and more!

Pickleball: Thrilling finishes in male/mixed doubles, six pairs clinch gold medals

As of 2:00 PM CDT when the above video was filmed, three unified male/mixed doubles gold medals had been clinched:

• Division 1: Dominick “Doc” Powell & Keith Walker, Virginia
• Division 2: Florica Gault & Jennie Petterson, Missouri
• Division 3: Joshua Stemm & Maria Calixto, Florida

Since then, three additional gold medals have been locked up. The Division 4 gold in unified male/mixed doubles will go to Terreance Upson and Amy Ingram of South Carolina, who hold the point differential tiebreaker by just 2 points over the Missouri duo of Scott Larue and Aidan Petterson. Both gold medals have also been clinched in unified female doubles:

• Division 1: Amy Price & Megan Slayton, Arkansas
• Division 2: Delaney Heflin & Lauren Osgood, Tennessee

Perhaps the most intense games came in the Division 1 ladder for male/mixed doubles. The ladder started off with a matchup between Virginia’s duo of CJ Gallagher and Robert Luk and Missouri’s duo of John Eckart and Ken Petterson. Headed into today, Gallagher and Luk had yet to lose a game.

In the first game of their best of three, Gallagher and Luk found themselves down 7-10, and managed to come all the way back for a 12-10 victory!

Eckart and Petterson won the second game in another close won, and found themselves with an even larger 10-3 lead in game three. However, Gallagher and Luk were not focused on the score. They were simply focused on playing their game and taking it point by point. In the end, they did just that, coming all the way back again to win 14-12 in dramatic fashion.

The match was undoubtedly the best pickleball match I have ever seen. CJ and I have built a very strong bond in a very short period of time, and his big win had both of us feeling emotional.

Gallagher and Luk’s large comebacks are no coincidence. In fact, they trained specifically for moments like this. They would give their opponents up to 8-point headstarts in order to practice playing under the pressure of a large deficit. Clearly, that practice paid off.

Later that morning, Gallagher and Luk’s Virginia teammates Dominick “Doc” Powell and Keith Walker also took down Eckart and Petterson, setting up a gold medal match between the two Virginia squads.

As CJ’s dad described before the match, “One way or another, Team Virginia’s going home with the gold, and no matter who gets it, they got it together.”

While Gallagher and Luk ultimately lost to their Virginia teammates, both teams played extremely well throughout the match. In the clinching game, Powell and Walker held leads of 6-1 and 10-6. Gallagher and Luk ultimately brought it within two points before their fellow Virginians clinched victory. Despite the loss, CJ was happy for his home state. I had the chance to catch up with him after the match:

After facing off against each other for gold today, Gallagher and Powell will have the chance to win gold together as a doubles pairing tomorrow. Below is the full schedule for tomorrow’s pickleball action, during which three more gold medals will be up for grabs:

Division 1:

• 9:00 AM: Gallagher/Powell (Virginia) vs. Price/Cannon (Arkansas)
• 10:30 AM: Gallagher/Powell (Virginia) vs. Johnson/Spielman (Florida)
• 12:00 PM: Johnson/Spielman (Florida) vs. Price/Cannon (Arkansas)

Division 2:

• 9:00 AM: Upson/Malone (South Carolina) vs. Jones/Rivers (Tennessee)
• 10:30 AM: Eckart/Larue (Missouri) vs. Upson/Malone (South Carolina)
• 12:00 PM: Eckart/Larue (Missouri) vs. Jones/Rivers (Tennessee)

Division 3:

• 9:00 AM: Gault/McDaniel (Missouri) vs. Shin/Hodgins (Florida)
• 10:30 AM: Gault/McDaniel (Missouri) vs. Rus/Habermann (Iowa)
• 12:00 PM: Shin/Hodgins (Florida) vs. Rus/Habermann (Iowa)

Golf: Rohrer keeps on rolling, tight races for gold in other divisions intensifying

Since earning 3 gold medals (with his last being in 2018), Scott Rohrer has taken his golf game to a whole new level. After 36 holes, Rohrer stands just 1 stroke over par, following up his 71 on Monday with a 72 in today’s round. This was despite the windiest day yet out on the golf course.

Rohrer had not just one, but THREE putts for eagle over the course of 18 holes today. He converted one of those three putts into an eagle, and came extremely close to a second eagle on the toughest hole on the course: Hole 5. See the video below.

Given today’s scores, the rules officials have opted to re-division golf again. Rohrer is the only golfer in the top division, which means he has already clinched his fourth USA Games gold medal. Tomorrow, Rohrer’s only competition will be himself. If he shoots a 70 or below, he will break his own USA Games record that was set in 2010. A 65 or below would break his World Games record of 66, set at the Los Angeles games in 2015.

Today, Rohrer golfed with Peyton Mattingly, who called Scott the best golfer he’s ever played with. Rohrer’s success seemed to serve as a motivator for Mattingly, as he improved upon his Day 1 score and shot an 89, achieving his pre-USA Games goal of breaking 90. Mattingly leaned on his favorite shot known as a “fairway finder”, a line drive style shot that played well on a windy day like today. The wind had a greater effect on shots that were sent high into the air. By keeping his shots low, Mattingly did not have to account for as much wind on his drives. See my interview with Mattingly below:

Rohrer’s placement in his own division leaves a tight race in Divisions 2 and 3, a race that includes Mattingly. While today’s scores have not been officially published, I have received information from my sources on some of the Level 5 scores. Below are the divisions as well as the scores BostonSportsMania is currently aware of. One thing worth noting: Zachary Lewis, Garrett Stortz, and Miles Stroud are all knotted up at +29 in Division 2!

• Division 2
  • Brett Geiger
    • 81 (+10) on Monday
    • TBA on Wednesday
  • Zachary Lewis
    • 86 (+15) on Monday
    • 85 (+14) on Wednesday
    • Total: +29
  • Garrett Stortz
    • 84 (+13) on Monday
    • 87 (+16) on Wednesday
    • Total: +29
  • Miles Stroud
    • 86 (+15) on Monday
    • 85 (+14) on Wednesday
    • Total: +29
• Division 3
  • Jeremiah Doane
    • Monday: 89 (+18)
    • Wednesday: TBD
  • Zachary Duncan
    • Monday: 88 (+17)
    • Wednesday: TBD
  • Peyton Mattingly
    • Monday: 92 (+21)
    • Wednesday: 89 (+18)
    • Total: +39
  • Wake Mullins
    • Monday: 84 (+13)
    • Wednesday: TBD
  • Daniel Steele
    • Monday: 90 (+19)
    • Wednesday: TBD

I had the chance to speak with two of the golfers that will be battling it out for the Division 2 gold tomorrow, Garrett Stortz and Zachary Lewis:

I also spoke with Zachary Lewis’s coach Lori Graham. I’d like to thank Lori for not only taking the time to speak with me but also facilitating my interview with Zachary.

Tomorrow, as opposed to playing in threesomes, golfers have been broken up into six pairs. Below are the tee times for tomorrow, with divisions for each golfer listed:

• 10:00 AM: Scott Rohrer (Division 1) & Brett Geiger (Division 2)
• 10:10 AM: Garrett Stortz (Division 2) & Miles Stroud (Division 2)
• 10:20 AM: Zachary Lewis (Division 2) & Wake Mullins (Division 3)
• 10:30 AM: Jermaine Doane (Division 3) & Zachary Duncan (Division 3)
• 10:40 AM: Peyton Mattingly (Division 3) & Daniel Steele (Division 3)
• 10:50 AM: Tyler Tolleson (Divsion 4) & Caleb DeMaio (Division 4)

Flag Football: Team Massachusetts set to play for gold

While my coverage is primarily focused on golf and pickleball, I met some parents of flag football players from my home state of Massachusetts this morning at my hotel, and they have provided me with some updates from the event.

Team Massachusetts defeated Team Arkansas 25-12 today to put themselves in position to play for a gold medal tomorrow at 1PM. They came out of the half against Arkansas with a one possession lead and scored on their first drive of the second half. While Arkansas had many opportunities to come back, the Massachusetts defense held up. They had two interceptions to seal the victory for the Bay State.

BostonSportsMania.com would like to wish Team Massachusetts the best of luck in their gold medal game tomorrow!

That’s all for today’s update, but follow along on my social media pages (@bostonsportsmania on Instagram, @AndrewRoberts1 on Twitter/X) for live updates during the day tomorrow! In addition, I’ll have a final recap about the entire week out once I’m back in Massachusetts early next week. I’m excited to watch the golfers, pickleballers, and other athletes go for gold in tomorrow’s final day of competition.