Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) throws. during practice at NFL football minicamp, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers added another ring to his collection before he even signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The four-time NFL MVP quarterback and Super Bowl champion said Tuesday after his first practice with the Steelers that he got married “a couple months ago.”

Rodgers was spotted wearing a ring on his left ring finger in a photo the Steelers shared after the 41-year-old signed a one-year deal to join the team for the 2025 season.

When asked if the ring was an indication he was married, Rodgers replied, “Yeah, it’s a wedding ring.” He wore the ring on Tuesday while participating in drills with his new team.

Rodgers has revealed little about his bride. During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” last fall, he mentioned he was dating a woman named Brittani but offered no other details.

His previous dating history includes long-term relationships with race car driver Danica Patrick and actors Olivia Munn and Shailene Woodley.

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (8) looks on during practice at NFL football minicamp, Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Aaron Rodgers doesn’t need to keep doing this. He knows that.

The four-time NFL MVP’s decision to return for a 21st season and to do it in Pittsburgh was not about trying to prove something to himself, the New York Jets or anyone else.

The game has given a lot to him. Stardom. Wealth. A title. Relationships that will last long after he decides to stop playing. The next seven months — if they are indeed the last seven months of a career that almost certainly will end with a gold jacket and a bust in the Hall of Fame — are about trying to pay it forward while finding peace in the process.

Standing in front of a sea of cameras more suited for the week ahead of a conference championship game rather than what Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin calls “football-lite” in June, the 41-year-old Rodgers made a compelling case that the coda he is trying to author in Pittsburgh is about something deeper.

“A lot of decisions that I’ve made over my career and life from strictly the ego, even if they turn out well, are always unfulfilling,” Rodgers said Tuesday after the first day of Pittsburgh’s mandatory minicamp. “But the decisions made from the soul are usually pretty fulfilling. So this was a decision that was best for my soul.”

And one the Steelers believe is best for business, one of the reasons they put no pressure on Rodgers during the spring as he dealt with off-the-field issues that he’s said included having multiple people in his inner circle battle cancer.

Rodgers said those issues “have improved a bit,” clearing the way for him to join Tomlin and a team that has bounced from one quarterback to another since Ben Roethlisberger retired at the end of the 2021 season.

While Rodgers is hardly a long-term solution, he believes he has enough left to help a club that has gone nearly a decade without winning a playoff game. The path from the second Tuesday in June to late January and beyond is a long one, and Rodgers balked when asked if he could help Pittsburgh get over “the hump.”

He pointed out it was simply Day 1, with all the awkwardness that comes with it.

Rodgers couldn’t “stand” the new helmet he was forced to don after the model he’d worn for the last 20 years was finally banned by the league. He didn’t know many of the names of the other 88 guys who joined him on the practice fields on a day All-Pro outside linebacker T.J. Watt skipped in hopes of landing a new contract. It took all of one step outside the locker room for him to immediately get lost.

And yet, there was a familiarity to it all. He’s known Steelers quarterbacks coach Tom Arth since Arth made a cameo appearance alongside Rodgers as a player in Green Bay in 2006. Rodgers then rattled off a list of people he’s come across with Pittsburgh ties (which includes former Packers coach Mike McCarthy) and then added with a smile that he has “a lot of Yinzers” in my life, a colloquialism for Western Pennsylvania natives.

None of those names, however, convinced Rodgers that Pittsburgh was the right choice. That was all Tomlin.

The two stayed in contact over the last two-plus months following Rodgers’ semi-undercover visit to the team facility in March, producing what Rodgers called “some of the coolest conversations I’ve had in the game.”

“He’s a big reason I’m here,” Rodgers said. “I believe in him.”

The feeling is mutual. Unlike last year, when there was a quarterback competition — at least in practice if not in spirit — between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields, there is not one this time.

While Rodgers, wearing a white jersey with the No. 8 on it and a towel unfurled over the front of his black shorts, mostly stood and watched while Mason Rudolph, rookie Will Howard and Skyler Thompson took the reps there is no mystery about who will work with the starters when Pittsburgh arrives for training camp at Saint Vincent College in late July.

The last few groups of quarterbacks, from Wilson and Fields to Rudolph (during his first stint) to Mitch Trubisky to Kenny Pickett, never missed a practice or an OTA. They are also not Rodgers.

“I trust that whatever issues or learning curve things that he needs to get through will be handled during the down period of the summer for sure,” Tomlin said.

Rodgers, who has worked out with recently acquired DK Metcalf in recent months, hopes some of the Steelers’ skill position players can join him in Malibu, California, sometime between when minicamp opens on Thursday and they report to Rooney Hall on July 23.

If they do, maybe they’ll get a chance to meet Rodgers’ wife. Rodgers was spotted wearing what looked like a wedding band in a picture the Steelers shared when he signed his contract. Rodgers confirmed Tuesday that he was married “a couple months” ago but declined to get into details.

The revelation, made late in his 13-minute session with reporters, hints at the many layers to Rodgers that extend far beyond the field. He’s not afraid to express his views about many topics, from vaccines to politics and beyond. Yet there was none of that on Tuesday.

There was only his firm belief in why he’s here, and the optimism that this perhaps final chapter of his career will be rooted in joy.

“It’s hard to think of anything in my life that’s positive that wasn’t impacted by directly or indirectly by playing this game,” he said. “So (I) just want to give love back to the game, enjoy it, pass on my knowledge to my teammates, and try and find ways to help lead the team.”

Matt Vogt walks past the clubhouse to the first tee for a practice round for the 2025 US Open golf championship at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa. Monday, June 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Matt Vogt was always going to be at the U.S. Open this week. The man who likes to plan had it all planned out.

He and his wife, Hilary, and their 15-month-old daughter, Charlotte, and their dogs would make the nearly six-hour drive from the Indianapolis suburbs and then crash at his mom’s house in Cranberry, about 20 minutes from Oakmont.

At some point, the 34-year-old knew he’d make it out to the course where he spent five-ish years caddying, a job whose perks included the opportunity to put a tee in the ground on Monday nights, something he admits now he didn’t do nearly often enough.

And the day after this year’s Open ended, Vogt would find himself back in the main office of the dental practice he opened in 2018.

That last part is still part of the plan, by the way.

It’s everything else about this trip that’s changed.

Three rounds of exquisitely steady golf — the kind Vogt found so elusive as a “hot-headed” 20-year-old that he left his college team to focus on his other passion instead — will do that.

So yes, Vogt will be at Oakmont this week after qualifying for the 125th edition of the national championship. In essentially his hometown, on a course that certainly feels like home on Father’s Day weekend, just two months after losing his father and biggest supporter, Jim, to colon cancer.

“This is pretty wild,” Vogt said on Monday while walking in for a news conference that carried on for more than 20 minutes, unheard of at a major tournament for an amateur with a respectable but hardly historic resume.

When “pipe dreams” become reality, it usually is.

Trading one passion for another

Vogt is a dreamer sure. Just a pragmatic one.

Even though he’s 6-foot-6. Even though he’s always been able to hit the ball a long, long way. Even though he’s long felt drawn to a game that requires discipline, focus and a touch of math, he never considered trying to make a living doing it.

By the time he graduated from Seneca Valley High School, an hour north of Pittsburgh in 2009, he was pretty sure he didn’t have “it.” A couple of years playing at Butler University reinforced what he held to be true: that he wasn’t prepared — physically or mentally — for the toll the game can take if you dedicate your life to chasing it.

So he took a break, a long one. He graduated with a degree in biology, then enrolled in dental school at the University of Indiana.

There was something about the combination of helping people, problem-solving and running his own business that appealed to him, even if he laughs now about all the things he didn’t know when The Dentists at Gateway Crossing opened its doors. Things like the fact that the rent is due even if those doors aren’t actually open yet.

“That was a freaky, freaky few months,” he said.

He quickly figured things out, and his practice steadily grew. Vogt now has another dentist on staff and has become an advisor to young doctors who want to follow the ambitious path he took.

Reorganized priorities

Around the same time Vogt’s practice opened, he made himself a promise.

“Don’t look back and be the guy, ‘Well, if I had just done this or that, I maybe could have done great things,’” he said.

He’s not sure why he started hitting balls with a purpose again in 2018. It just kind of happened. He quickly became a fixture on the Indiana amateur circuit and qualified for the 2021 U.S. Amateur at Oakmont but didn’t make it out of stroke play. The first number of his score was an eight, and the second was either one or two, and to be honest, he’s fine not being totally sure.

The disappointment didn’t linger. He shot 67 at the alternate site the next day. Not enough of a rally to become one of the top 64 who advanced to match play, but telling of the ever-increasing maturity of both his game and his approach.

Having a job, having a family to support, playing because he wanted to, not because he had to, shifted his perspective. He’s no longer a golfer first. At this point in his life, that might not even crack the top five behind Christian, father and husband, among others.

“One of the biggest changes is, I’ve gotten my priorities right,” he said.

Bombs away

Some things, however, have not changed. At least on the course. Vogt hits it far. How far? He ran into long drive champion/influencer Kyle Berkshire at a pro-am a few months after the 2021 U.S. Amateur.

Berkshire saw enough to invite Vogt out to Nevada to see if he could qualify for a long drive competition. While he didn’t quite reach the world championships, he did unleash a 466-yard missile that drifted out of bounds.

He had a blast, but also realized he was running the risk of spreading himself too thin. So he took what he learned and incorporated it into his skillset. It’s one of the reasons he opted to try to qualify for this year’s U.S. Open by picking a route that included a sectional at Wine Valley Golf Club in Walla Walla, Washington.

The “math and science geek” had done his research. He knew Wine Valley was wide enough that he probably wouldn’t run into trouble if he started spraying tee shots. He captured medalist honors after back-to-back 4-under 68s.

And suddenly, the dentist from Indiana was on The Golf Channel, his emotional post-round video going viral and his phone blowing up to the point that he asked Hillary to help him keep track of it all. Things got so busy last week that when Vogt tried to sneak out to practice, it wasn’t until he was nearly at the course that he realized he’d forgotten his shoes.

A grateful heart

Vogt’s soft spikes were back in their usual spot when he stepped off the first tee on a Monday unlike any of the others he’d ever experienced at Oakmont.

This time, he wasn’t slinging it in the twilight with the other caddies. Instead, he was walking down the fairways with good friend and occasional tournament partner Kevin O’Brien on his bag, saying hello to familiar faces on the other side of the ropes while he signed autographs, his father never far from his mind.

Jim Vogt was diagnosed with colon cancer last July. Less than a year later, he’s gone. Vogt — who is wearing a blue ribbon on his baseball cap for colon cancer awareness — is still processing it. He is pressing on and trying to lean into the joy along the way.

“I think this weekend is going to be full of gratitude,” he said. “And hopefully some good golf, too.”

FILE – In this June 11, 1950, file photo, Ben Hogan, center, smiles over a crowd and poses with his wife, Valerie, left, as he receives the U.S. Open Golf Championship trophy from James D. Standish, Jr., Detroit president of the United States Golf Association, in Ardmore, Pa. (AP Photo/File)

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — A look at some of the anniversaries this year at the U.S. Open:

100 years ago (1925)

Site: Worcester Country Club

Winner: Willie MacFarlane

Runner-up: Bobby Jones

Score: 74-67-72-78-291

Margin: Playoff (MacFarlane 147, Jones 148)

Winner’s share: $500

Noteworthy: Jones felt his club moved the ball in the rough on the 11th hole of the first round. Officials were unable to confirm this and left it to Jones to make a ruling. He called a one-shot penalty on himself. Praised for his sportsman ship, Jones famously replied, “You might as well praise me for not robbing a bank.”

AP story: Willie MacFarlane, “finest of men and a great golfer,” in the words of America’s greatest amateur, little Bobby Jones of Atlanta, tonight is the open champion of the United States, a victory by a single stroke today ending the greatest tournament in history. The final score was 72 to 73 at the end of the second 18 holes of a playoff to decide the deadlocked tourney. Jones’ opinion of the victory is of weight, for he was was — national amateur and former open champion — who fell before the other’s prowess in a history-making playoff. Only after a throng of several thousand had boiled in the terrific heat through 36 holes did the end come, and then it was at the final green.

75 years ago (1950)

Site: Merion Golf Club

Winner: Ben Hogan

Runner-up: Lloyd Mangum and George Fazio

Score: 72-69-72-74-287

Margin: Playoff (Hogan 69, Mangrum 73, Fazio 75)

Winner’s share: $4,000

Noteworthy: Hogan hit 1-iron to the 18th in the final round, leading to one of golf’s most iconic photos. When he played the 18th during the third round earlier that morning, he hit 6-iron to the green. It was an example of how much fatigue he had from his battered legs.

AP story: Ben Hogan’s legs held out today like stanchions of steel, and the game little man from Texas smashed Lloyd Mangrum and George Fazio with strokes to spare in their 18-hole playoff for the National Open Golf Championship. In winning his second Open title within three years, Hogan climaxed gloriously the most remarkable comeback in the history of sports. This time a year ago, it was doubted that he ever would play golf again after barely escaping with his life from a head-on motor car collision near Van Horn, Texas.

50 years ago (1975)

Site: Medinah Country Club

Winner: Lou Graham

Runner-up: John Mahaffey

Score: 74-72-68-73-287

Margin: Playoff (Graham 71, Mahaffey 73)

Winner’s share: $40,000

Noteworthy: One year after Tom Watson had the 54-hole lead and shot 79, he had a 36-hole lead and shot 76-77. Watson won the first of his eight majors a month later at Carnoustie.

AP story: Lou Graham, a 12-year-old tour veteran, wore down ambitious John Mahaffey and ended a career of golfing obscurity with a two-stroke victory Monday in the 18-hole payoff for the U.S. Open crown. “It’s the dream of a lifetime,” the 37-year-old Graham said in his soft, Tennessee drawl. He won it with a 71, even par on the 7,032 yards of gently rolling, heavily wooded countryside that makes up the Medinah Country Club course The bitterly disappointed Mahaffey, now a runner-up seven times since his lone tour title, didn’t make a birdie in the hot and humid playoff and had a score of 73.

25 years ago (2000)

Site: Pebble Beach Golf Links

Winner: Tiger Woods

Runners-up: Ernie Els, Miguel Angel Jimenez

Score: 65-69-71-67-272

Margin: 15 shots

Winner’s share: $800,000

Noteworthy: Jack Nicklaus played in his final U.S. Open. In each of the four majors he played for the last time, Woods was the winner.

AP story: Standing on the 18th fairway, Tiger Woods turned his back on Pebble Beach and looked out over Carmel Bay in the final moments of the most monumental U.S. Open victory ever. He was all alone, playing for himself — and for history. No one was close to catching him. No one is close in the game. “We’ve been talking about him for two years. I guess we’ll be talking about him for the next 20. When he’s on, we don’t have much of a chance,” Ernie Els said. While the rest of the field was playing for second, Woods took aim at the record books. When the final putt fell, Woods owned his third major championship, along with the kind of records no one imagined possible.

20 years ago (2005)

Site: Pinehurst No. 2

Winner: Michael Campbell

Runner-up: Tiger Woods

Score: 71-69-71-69-280

Margin: 2 shots

Winner’s share: $1,170,000

Noteworthy: Retief Goosen and Jason Gore played in the final group and combined to take 165 strokes. Goosen shot 81, Gore shot 84.

AP story: Michael Campbell answered every challenge Tiger Woods threw his way Sunday until a U.S. Open full of surprises got the biggest one of all. Woods blinked first. Ten years after being touted as a rising star, Campbell finally delivered a major championship no one expected with clutch par saves and a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole that proved to be the knockout punch. The only drama at the end was whether Campbell would beat Pinehurst No. 2. He missed a 3-foot par putt on the final hole for a 1-under 69 to finish the tournament at even par. It was good enough for a two-shot victory over Woods, who charged along the back nine until missing an 8-foot par putt on the 16th hole, then three-putting from 25 feet on the par-3 17th, the same hole that doomed his chances at Pinehurst six years ago.

10 years ago (2015)

Site: Chambers Bay Golf Club

Winner: Jordan Spieth

Runners-up: Dustin Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen

Score: 68-67-71-69-275

Margin: 1 shot

Winner’s share: $1,800,000

Noteworthy: This was the first U.S. Open televised by Fox Sports in a 12-year deal. It gave up the rights after five years.

AP story: Jordan Spieth is halfway home to the Grand Slam, a prize only three of the biggest names in modern golf have ever chased. And he still can’t believe how he got there. Spieth won the U.S. Open in a heart-stopper Sunday with a turn of events even more wild than the terrain at Chambers Bay. He thought he had it won with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole. He threw away a three-shot lead one hole later. He made birdie on the final hole. And then he thought it was over as Dustin Johnson settled in over a 12-foot eagle putt for the victory. Three putts later, Spieth was the U.S. Open champion. Spieth joined Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods in getting the first two legs of the modern slam that Palmer created on his way to St. Andrews in 1960. That’s the next stop for the 21-year-old Texan whose two major championships could not be any more different. A wire-to-wire runaway at Augusta National. A nail-biter on the edge of Puget Sound. And another major heartache for Johnson.

5 years ago (2020)

Site: Winged Foot Golf Club

Winner: Bryson DeChambeau

Runner-up: Matthew Wolff

Score: 69-68-70-67-274

Margin: 6 shots

Winner’s share: $2,250,000

Noteworthy: It was the first U.S. Open in September since 1913.

AP story: Call him a mad scientist in a tam o’shanter cap. Call him a game-changer in golf. Any description of Bryson DeChambeau now starts with U.S. Open champion. In a breathtaking performance Sunday at Winged Foot, on a course so demanding no one else broke par, DeChambeau blasted away with his driver and had short irons from the ankle-deep rough on his way to a 3-under 67. When his 7-foot par putt fell on the 18th, DeChambeau thrust those two powerful arms into the air. This was validation that his idea to add 40 pounds of mass, to produce an incredible amount of speed and power, would lead to moments like this. Two shots behind Matthew Wolff going into the final round, he passed him in five holes, pulled away to start the back nine and wound up winning by six shots. Wolff, trying to become the first player since Francis Ouimet in 1913 to win the U.S. Open in his debut, closed with a 75.