The post Hideki Matsuyama admits to talks with LIV but is staying with PGA Tour appeared first on Golf.

The post Hideki Matsuyama admits to talks with LIV but is staying with PGA Tour appeared first on Golf.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hideki Matsuyama admitted during Tuesday’s media availability at the Presidents Cup that he was approached by upstart, Saudi-backed LIV Golf. 

Still, he said he will continue to play his golf on the PGA Tour. Through a Japanese-to-English translator, Matsuyama’s reasoning was six words. 

“Simply this is where I belong,” he said. 

LIV’s flirtation with last year’s Masters champion confirms a long-whispered rumor, with some reports suggesting Matsuyama was offered well into the nine figures to play with LIV. According to a source to the New York Post, Matsuyama turned down the offer late last month, with the source saying the 30-year-old was torn between building his legacy and receiving the large payday.

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Matsuyama likely would have been announced among the six Tour golfers who joined LIV after last month’s Tour Championship — Open Championship winner Cameron Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Harold Varner III, Marc Leishman and Cameron Tringale. Instead, he is playing the Presidents Cup, played last week’s Fortinet Championship and is expected to defend his title next month at the Zozo Championship. 

On Tuesday, a reporter also asked Matsuyama if he would be interested in playing a PGA Tour-LIV Golf team event, should one ever come together. 

His answer again was short. 

“I can’t decide something like that because there’s nothing specific about it,” he said through a translator.

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The post Who’s playing in the Presidents Cup? Meet the U.S. and International teams appeared first on Golf.

The post Who’s playing in the Presidents Cup? Meet the U.S. and International teams appeared first on Golf.

The stage is set for for the 2022 Presidents Cup where 24 of the PGA Tour’s top golfers — 12 from the United States and 12 from around the world (except for Europe) — will meet for the biennial matches.

Due to the pandemic, this will be the first Presidents Cup since 2019, when the Tiger Woods-captained U.S. team narrowly edged the Ernie Els-led International squad with a miraculous come-from-behind win in Sunday singles.

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The U.S. team holds a dominating 10-1-1 record in the matches and most expect a similarly dominate performance with LIV Golf defectors being ineligible to play in this year’s event and taking the hardest toll on Trevor Immelman’s International team.

Without further ado, let us introduce you to the players who are playing this year.

United States Team

*denotes captain’s pick

Captain: Davis Love III

Love was a six-time member of the U.S. Presidents Cup team and compiled a 16-8-4 record in those matches. Love — who was born in Charlotte, N.C., home of this week’s host, Quail Hollow Club — won 21 times on the PGA Tour, including one major win at the 1997 PGA Championship. He also notably won the 2015 Wyndham Championship at the age of 51, becoming the third-oldest winner in PGA Tour history. Love was an assistant captain on the 2013, 2015 and 2017 Presidents Cup teams and captained the 2012 and 2016 Ryder Cup teams.

Sam Burns

Career Presidents Cup record: First appearance

Burns may have been overshadowed by close friend Scottie Scheffler in the early part of the 2021-22 season, but the Louisianan had a break out year himself, winning three times, including taking down Scheffler in a playoff at the Charles Schwab Challenge in May. This will be his first appearance at either the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup.

Patrick Cantlay

Record: 3-2-0 in one appearance (2019)

Cantlay had another solid year in 2022, winning once while defending his crown at the BMW Championship in Wilmington and teaming up with Xander Schauffele to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He played all of his matches in 2019 with Schauffele and figures to do so again. Cantlay was also very successful at last year’s Ryder Cup where he compiled a 3-0-1 record at Whistling Straits, the one tie coming in the only match he wasn’t paired with Schauffele.

Tony Finau

Record: 0-1-3 in one appearance (2019)

The big-hitting Finau had a slow start to the season before catching fire over the summer, notching five top-5s in a stretch of eight events, including back-to-back wins at the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic in July. He somewhat surprisingly did not notch a win in his only Presidents Cup appearance in 2019. He only had one loss in four matches, however, and he’ll be looking for a new partner as both his partners from 2019, Matt Kuchar and Bryson DeChambeau, are not playing this year. He’s picked up three wins in his two Ryder Cups in 2018 and 2021.

Max Homa*

Record: First appearance

Homa comes in as perhaps the hottest player in the matches. He won in dramatic fashion last week at the PGA Tour season opening Fortinet Championship, holing a chip shot from off the 18th green to win. He also finished a career best tied for fifth in the Tour Championship in his previous start. This will be his first team match appearance.

Billy Horschel*

Record: First appearance

If you were shocked to learn Horschel is making his first ever appearance in either the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup this week, you’re not alone. Horschel’s career resume includes seven PGA Tour titles, including this year’s Memorial Tournament, and the 2014 FedEx Cup. He’s had a mixed bag of a season, missing four of last eight cuts on the PGA Tour, but with the win in Columbus sandwiched between two of them. He did earn a top 10 in his most recent appearance during his title defense at the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship.

Kevin Kisner*

Record: 2-0-2 in one appearance (2017)

Kisner is the oldest player on Team USA’s roster and has become known as somewhat of a match play savant, including a win at the 2019 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and owning an undefeated record at the 2017 Presidents Cup. His best finish this past season was a second at — you guessed it — the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, but he did rack up five other top 10s. Kisner will also be looking for a new partner as he played with Phil Mickelson in all three team matches in 2017.

Collin Morikawa*

Record: First appearance

Morikawa came out just as hot as his first three years on Tour to begin this season with five straight finishes of T7 or better, but he fell back to earth a little toward the end of the year, his first on Tour without a win. Although he did lead the U.S. Open through 36 holes, he struggled Saturday and was out of contention by Sunday. The two-time major winner, who is still just 25 years old, showed better form at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August with a T5 finish, but needed to be one of Love’s six captain’s selections to make it to Quail Hollow. He led the U.S. team in qualifying for the Ryder Cup last year and went 3-0-1 at Whistling Straits, his lone tie coming in singles.

Xander Schauffele

Record: 3-2-0 in one appearance (2019)

Like Finau, Schauffele also had a strong end to the season, finishing in the top 20 in all but one of his last 11 events. Again, like Finau, he notched back-to-back wins at the Travelers Championship and Genesis Scottish Open. He also teamed with Cantlay for a team win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and figures to see a lot of his close friend whom he has a 4-2-0 record with in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup matches.

Scottie Scheffler

Record: First appearance

Scheffler has come a long way from being a captain’s selection at last year’s Ryder Cup. The Texan notched his first four PGA Tour wins last season, including a major victory at the Masters, and earned the World No. 1 ranking. While he didn’t come away with the FedEx Cup title, PGA Tour Player of The Year honors are a decent consolation — as well as the $5.75 million he got for finishing T2 at East Lake. He went undefeated, going 2-0-1 at Whistling Straits, teaming with Bryson DeChambeau in two four-ball matches. He also beat Kisner at this year’s WGC-Match Play.

Jordan Spieth*

Record: 8-5-1 in three appearances (2013, 2015, 2017)

After missing the 2019 matches, Spieth is back on the U.S. team at just the right time. With stalwarts like Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed absent this year, Spieth and Justin Thomas are the only players with multiple Presidents Cup matches under their belt coming into the week. The 29-year-old notched a win at the RBC Heritage this season and finished a respectable tied for 13th in the FedEx Cup. He carries a career 16-12-4 record in U.S. team cup matches and played with Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed in all of his partner matches in 2015 and 2017. At last year’s Ryder Cup, he paired most often with good buddy Justin Thomas.

Justin Thomas

Record: 6-2-2 in two appearances (2017, 2019)

Thomas may not have met all of his preseason goals, but he notched 11 top 10s last season and his second major title at the PGA Championship. He brings with him the most impressive U.S. team match record, going 12-4-3 across two Presidents Cups and two Ryder Cups. In his two previous Presidents Cups, he paired with Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler and Daniel Berger, all of whom are not playing this week. He figures to play more with Spieth as he did twice at Whistling Straits.

Cameron Young*

Record: First appearance

Young had a debut season to remember, notching six top-three finishes and was one of two rookies to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship. Those top finishes also include just missing out on the playoff at the PGA Championship by one stroke, and the memorable eagle finish at the Open Championship at St. Andrews to earn the runner-up spot.

International Team

*denotes captain’s pick

Captain: Trevor Immelman (South Africa)

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Immelman is the youngest captain in International team history at just 42 years old. The South African is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, including one major, holding off Tiger Woods to win the 2008 Masters. He’s also picked up six victories around the world on the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour. He’s a two-time veteran of the Presidents Cup and served as assistant captain under Ernie Els in 2019. Many fans will know him now for his broadcasting as he is expected to take over as the lead analyst for CBS’s golf coverage, following Nick Faldo.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout* (South Africa)

Record: First appearance

Bezuidenhout had a solid rookie year, making 20 cuts in 24 starts on the PGA Tour with 10 top-25 finishes. He’s perhaps better known in Europe, having a breakout year in 2020 while notching three victories including the Alfred Dunhill Championship. His best finish on the PGA Tour in 2022 was a T2 showing at the John Deere Classic and he advanced to the second FedEx Cup Playoff event at the BMW Championship. He’s one of five Presidents Cup first-timers selected by Immelman.

Corey Conners (Canada)

Record: First appearance

Conners played his way to the Tour Championship for the third time of his career thanks to 20 made cuts in 25 starts and four top-10 finishes. One of those top 10s came last month at the BMW Championship where he finished in T5, but he missed the cut last week in the PGA Tour’s season-opening Fortinet Championship. The Canadian has one win under his belt on the PGA Tour, coming at the 2019 Valero Texas Open.

Cam Davis* (Australia)

Record: First appearance

Davis notched five top-10s in 25 starts last season on the PGA Tour. His best golf came toward the end of the season when he made his last 10 cuts in a row. His best year on Tour came a season ago when he made 21 of 26 cuts and notched his debut win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. His cuts-made streak broke last week at the Fortinet Championship where rounds of 74 and 70 sent him to Charlotte early.

Sungjae Im (South Korea)

Record: 3-1-1 in one appearance (2019)

The iron man of the PGA Tour, nobody plays more golf than Sungjae Im. Im had another strong season on Tour in 2021-22, winning for the second time at the Shriners Children’s Open and finishing strong with three T2 finishes in his last five events, including at the Tour Championship. The World No. 19 will be heavily relied upon as one of just four veterans on the International team with Presidents Cup experience. All three of his partners from Royal Melbourne — Adam Hadwin, Abraham Ancer and Cameron Smith — are not on the team this year.

Tom Kim (South Korea)

Record: First appearance

Kim burst onto the scene in 2022, finishing third at the Genesis Scottish Open, seventh at the Rocket Mortgage, and then capturing his first win at the Wyndham Championship in August to secure his PGA Tour membership and even qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. He was only a special temporary member when he won, but had earned enough points to get his full status for 2023. He’s now exempt through 2024 and he auto-qualified for the International team.

K. H. Lee* (South Korea)

Record: First appearance

Lee has two PGA Tour titles and both have come at the AT&T Byron Nelson. At this year’s tournament, Lee outdueled Jordan Spieth down the stretch to defend his title. The rest of his season wasn’t much to write home about, with almost as many missed cuts (7) as top-25s (8), until he used T20 and T5 finishes in the first two Playoff events to catapult his way into his first Tour Championship appearance.

Hideki Matsuyama (Japan)

Record: 6-7-4 in four appearances (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)

Hard to believe the 30-year-old Matuyama is about to start his fifth Presidents Cup, but the Japanese star heads to Quail Hollow as the alpha of the International squad. It was another good year for the World No. 17 on the PGA Tour, finishing 11th in the FedEx Cup after winning twice, with one of those victories coming last fall in his home country at the Zozo Championship. Only one of his previous partners, Adam Scott, is on the roster this week and they haven’t played together since Matsuyama’s Presidents Cup debut in 2013.

Sebastián Muñoz* (Colombia)

Record: First appearance

Munoz hasn’t quite played up to the same level as he did in his breakout season in 2019-20 when he got his first win at the Sanderson Farms Championship and then went on to finish 8th in the final FedEx Cup standings thanks to a solid performance at East Lake, but his 2021-22 campaign was enough to earn a captain’s pick. He had two runner-up finishes on the season.

Si Woo Kim* (South Korea)

Record: 1-2-0 in one appearance (2017)

Kim was the only one of Immelman’s captain’s selections with previous Presidents Cup experience, winning a four-ball match and losing in foursomes and singles matches in New Jersey in 2017. That season was also the year of his signature win, The Players Championship. He won in early 2021 at The American Express, but has not played well as of late, only recording one top 10s in 21-22, last fall at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Both of his partners from 2017 are not on this year’s team.

Taylor Pendrith* (Canada)

Record: First appearance

Normally for a rookie, an injury can be devastating. Taylor Pendrith missed time between The Players in March and the Barbasol Championship in July because of a rip injury, but it didn’t stop him from earning nine top 25s in 16 starts. Since coming back from the injury, Pendrith finished worse than T13th once in six starts, including a tie for second at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and a tie for eighth at the BMW Championship.

Mito Pereira (Chile)

Record: First appearance

Heartbreak at the PGA Championship overshadowed what was otherwise a very respectable debut season on the PGA Tour for Pereira. He opened the year with a solo third at the Fortinet Championship and had two other top 10s, including at Southern Hills. Of course his season will be remembered for the leading the PGA through 71 holes, only to hit his tee shot in the water on 18, leading to a double bogey and missing the playoff. Pereira was rumored to be joining LIV Golf, but reportedly is waiting to jump so he could play in the Presidents Cup.

Adam Scott (Australia)

Record: 16-22-6 in nine appearances

The 42-year old hasn’t missed a Presidents Cup since 2001 and is by far the most experienced player on either team, having more appearances than the entire International team combined and as many as the entire American team combined. His 10th appearance will break his own record for the Internationals. He also has a chance to tie or pass Ernie Els’ International record of 21 points this week. Aging like fine wine, the 42-year-old didn’t win on the PGA Tour this year, but only missed two cuts all year and had five top 10s. His back-to-back T5s to start the FedEx Cup Playoffs helped him play his way into the Tour Championship from outside the top 70 at the end of the regular season. Matsuyama is the only teammate his paired with before on the International roster.

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The post Hideki Matsuyama caught in sticky rules situation — and Jon Rahm defends him appeared first on Golf.

The post Hideki Matsuyama caught in sticky rules situation — and Jon Rahm defends him appeared first on Golf.

Jon Rahm was disgusted. From just off the green, though with his ball pinned against the collar of thicker rough, he left his chip shot a disappointing 14 feet short on the 7th at Wilmington Country Club. Rahm bent over in frustration. 

He then helped relieve Hideki Matsuyama. 

In a sequence on Friday that featured the rules, a call to a rules official, and a playing partner plea, Matsuyama escaped a penalty during the BMW Championship second round. And Rahm played a part.  

To begin, Matsuyama’s tee shot on the par-3 had dropped just above the top of a greenside bunker, then it dropped in after Matsuyama, from the sand, took a few short swipes with his wedge about a foot from the ball. He looked down, looked up at his caddie, Shota Hayafuji, looked down, looked up at Hayafuji, looked around and looked down. Questions were raised. 

Did Matsyama’s cuts cause the movement? That would have forced him to take a one-stroke penalty under rule 9.4b. But did the ball move on its own? If this were the case, rule 9.3 comes into play — and he would be allowed to play the ball from the new spot, and notably, do so penalty free. It’s all hard to gauge — it’s not as if you can ask the ball what happened — so players’ words are strongly considered. Hayafjuki signaled Rahm and called for a referee. 

Rahm hit his chip before the official came over. PGA Tour Live mics then picked up this conversation. 

“The ball was here?” the official asked, pointing to an area. 

Matsuyama said yes. 

“And you took some practice swings over here?” the official asked. 

Matsuyama demonstrated his moves. By this point, Rahm was close by. 

“And it was just hanging basically just right on top up here?” the official asked.  

Matsuyama and Hayafuji showed the official where the ball was.  

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“It was not deep,” Rahm said.  

“It was really perched up?” the official asked. 

“That thing could have fallen at any time,” Rahm said. “He did not make it move. It was literally like the last little grass was keeping it up.” 

He was right, at least in the eyes of the official. After a little more back and forth, the official determined that the ball fell on its own. The crowd even cheered. 

From there, Matsuyama got up and down for his par, shot a four-under 67, and he’ll begin Saturday’s third round three shots behind leader Adam Scott. Rahm, meanwhile, shot a 70, and he’s nine back of the lead. 

“You got to be happy you don’t get a penalty for that,” analyst Andres Gonzales said on the PGA Tour Live broadcast. “The way things are interpreted. You can see from our camera angle that he did nothing to cause that to move, but there’s always that little bit of uncertainty that you don’t know about when you start getting other minds in. 

“That was good of Jon Rahm to back him there.” 

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The post Hideki Matsuyama takes *four* drops on single hole at 3M Open, withdraws appeared first on Golf.

The post Hideki Matsuyama takes *four* drops on single hole at 3M Open, withdraws appeared first on Golf.

The odd summer of Hideki Matsuyama continued Thursday at the 3M Open, in Minneapolis, as the Japanese star made an epic quadruple-bogey 9 and then promptly withdrew following the round. 

What a rollercoaster season this has been for Matsuyama, beginning with his Memorial Tournament start in early June. In the first round, Matsuyama made the turn at three over and was approached by a rules official to check his equipment. A white substance had been spotted on the face of his 3-wood, akin to white out, the rules official would later say. The result was blunt: Matsuyama had been disqualified for using a non-conforming club. He accepted the punishment, and moved on. 

Two weeks later, he made a run at the U.S. Open. 

Gear

Matsuyama was chasing when his final round began at The Country Club, teeing off early and trying to set a score the leaders couldn’t beat. After failing to break 70 in any of the first three rounds, Matsuyama played bogey-free and carded a 65, the best round of the week. It certainly gave Will Zalatoris, Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick something to think about as the wind picked up at Brookline. Ultimately, they all squeaked in past him, but Matsuyama finished solo fourth, one of the best results of his season. 

It remains unclear of Matsuyama is much of a links golfer — his only top 10 in an Open Championship came nine years ago at Muirfield — and that was proven again this summer as he missed the cut at the Scottish Open, finished T68 at the Old Course and packed his bags for Minnesota. 

Matsuyama was one over through eight holes on Thursday when he reached the 18th (his ninth of the day) at TPC Twin Cities, a gettable but occasionally treacherous par-5. We saw Sangmoon Bae dunk multiple balls in the water there in 2020 and still make par. We saw Sung Kang make a 12 made there last summer, and Rickie Fowler card an 8.

Matsuyama got off to a similar start as those aforementioned car crashes, pumping his drive out to the right and into the water hazard. With 240 yards to the hole, into the wind, Matsuyama took a drop and chunked his third, also finding the water. Reload!

If you watch the clip of this debacle below, you’ll notice the third and fifth shots are nearly identical. He lets go of the club with his right hand each time, finishing his swing like a baseball player, only much less sure of how far his long ball would carry. On his fifth swipe, he finally crossed the water, only to crash into the bank and fall back into the drink. Drop No. 3. Anytime your ShotLink results look like someone crocheting a scarf, you’re destined for a big number.

Since his ball crossed the hazard, Matsuyama was at least able to drop his ball further up the hole and hit a short iron into the green. But he airmailed that approach from 160 yards, his ball bouncing into the grandstand. Another drop, but this one came with free relief from the stands.

Playing his eighth, Matsuyama finally found some luck. He hit his wedge a bit too hard, but directly at the flag, crashing into it. Without the backstop, he may have found the hazard once again, which would have forced him into a double-digit score. Instead, he found his ball waiting there next to the flag for a 16-inch tap-in for a not-so-routine 9. You can check out the hazardous footage below. 

Rattling (and frequent) as a 9 might be for you and me, Matsuyama did follow up his string of gaffes with a chip-in for birdie on the next hole, a nice reminder that, yes, he is a professional golfer after all, the 14th-ranked player in the world no less. 

Matsuyama’s weird summer will continue somewhere else as he finished out the first round to card a 77. He then withdrew from the tournament, citing a “sore wrist,” according to the PGA Tour communications. 

That’s a DQ-4th-MC-T68-WD stretch that only one of the best players in the world could pull off.

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The post WATCH: This Masters champ just got an outrageously bad break at the U.S. Open appeared first on Golf.

The post WATCH: This Masters champ just got an outrageously bad break at the U.S. Open appeared first on Golf.

In case you haven’t noticed, this year’s U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., is playing tough. Really tough. The wind is gusting, the rough is thick, and wayward shots are severely punished by fescue so deep it can be difficult to even get the club on the ball, let alone hit a good shot.

And even when you do make solid contact, there’s rub-of-the-green circumstances that can make even a well-struck shot go wrong.

During the U.S. Open’s third round on Saturday, 2021 Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama learned that the hard way, when his shot from the fescue hit the pin — and ricocheted backward into a greenside bunker. Talk about adding insult to injury! Check out the video below.

Here’s how it transpired: Matsuyama was even par for the tournament and only five shots off the lead when he approached the 314-yard par-4 5th hole on Saturday.

In an attempt to drive the green on the reachable hole, Matsuyama ended up on the right side of the green, in deep fescue. His next shot — a 23-yard approach — looked good at the start. So good, in fact, that it hit the pin. Unfortunately, that rarely goes well for the pros, and this shot was no exception.

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The ball bounced hard, and backward, into the front greenside bunker.

“I don’t know if that’s a bad break or a good break,” analyst Paul Azinger mused.

It’s hard to tell on the video where exactly the ball struck the pin, but you can’t help but think that Matsuyama was done wrong by the ricochet.

He then failed to get his bunker shot up and down, and had to settle for a bogey.

Matsuyama’s best finish at the U.S. Open was a tie for second in 2017.

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The post What can you learn from Hideki Matsuyama’s bizarre DQ at Memorial? appeared first on Golf.

The post What can you learn from Hideki Matsuyama’s bizarre DQ at Memorial? appeared first on Golf.

In a shocking sequence of events on Thursday at the Memorial Tournament, Hideki Matsuyama was disqualified for having a foreign substance on the face of his 3-wood directly around the middle of the hitting area.

Paint in the grooves of a fairway wood — or any club, for that matter — isn’t grounds for disqualification. But since the paint substance could be felt above the face and out of the grooves of the club it was deemed non-conforming, and as per the rules, he was disqualified when he used the club in competition.

(You can read our in-depth breakdown of the rules situation here.)

As with many rules in golf, this raised questions about where the line between legal and illegal actually begins. In the case of marking up the face of your club head, when does paint or marker go from simply being a visual aid on the face to something that could get you DQ’d? Let’s dive in.

Why change the paint on a club face?

From driver down to fairway woods, you will often hear players refer to how a club sits in the address position: open, square or closed. They’re referring to the direction the face is pointing when set behind the ball. In most cases, PGA Tour players prefer to have a face that looks square or slightly open to give them confidence in their desired shot shape.

Visual alignment cues play a big role in how any individual player will aim the club behind the ball. Most people are familiar with putter alignment, but it’s just as important for the longest clubs in the bag. Golfers and equipment companies have been trying to figure out how to get aim right for years.

Ping used what looked like racing stripes to help golfers with alignment on the i25 driver back in 2014.

Since then most equipment manufacturers have stuck to simple alignments on crowns and focused on creating face patterns to help contrast the club face from the top line (where the paint meets the face).  A more modern example comes from Titleist and the etching pattern on their TSi Series line of woods, which focuses a player’s attention on the middle of the face.

Also, TaylorMade’s Stealth fairway woods come with a laser-etched alignment along the topline to contrast the black top from the face for easy alignment.

All of these visual face cues, whether applied through an etching process or by painting grooves, are only intended to aid with alignment and offer zero performance advantage.

Who else has changed their clubs?

Although this is likely one of the first times the golfing public has had any interest in what is used to paint the face of a golf club, there are a number of examples of PGA Tour players modifying the visual aspects of a club for personal preference.  

Collin Morikawa: Before switching to the new TaylorMade Stealth Plus driver, Collin used a sharpie marker to black out the center circle of his TaylorMade SIM as a way to reduce distraction.

Keith Mitchell: Similar to Morikawa, Mizuno staffer Keith Mitchell used a sharpie marker to black out the grooves of his ST190 for a quieter look from address. Mizuno designers must have taken this preference to heart, because in driver models since the face marking has been much more subdued.

Charley Hoffman: Unlike the above examples and before the release of the aforementioned TSi Series driver, Hoffman drew a vertical line in the middle of his TS3 driver face using a metallic color marker to improve his address alignment.

Try it yourself

To review, anything that can’t be felt beyond the texture of the face is considered legal. Permanent marker, like a Sharpie or Tiger’s preferred option, the Milwaukee Inkzall, has no affect on the performance of the club. So if you’re looking to improve your alignment or reduce distraction, marking up your club could be your ticket to finding more fairways. 

Just be careful when you do.

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The post Hideki Matsuyama is DQ’d — after ‘person in world of golf’ sees rules infraction appeared first on Golf.

A white substance? Online pictures? An unknown informant? Some detective work? While this is a story of a golf rules infraction, you may also think it reads a little like a mystery novel. 

In the end, it disqualified Hideki Matsuyama from Thursday’s first round of the Memorial. Last year’s Masters champ had the substance on the face of his 3-wood, he hit his first shot at Muirfield Village with it, and that meant the DQ, under rule 4.1a (3). But how rules officials got from opening tee shot to ejecting Matsuyama on the 10th hole required some sleuthing. 

In a press conference with reporters midway through the round, Steve Rintoul, a PGA Tour senior tournament director, said that a member of his committee had been sent pictures of the club and was asked whether they had seen it. The pictures, Rintoul said, were from a website — Golfwrx.com posted pictures of the club earlier this week — but Rintoul would not reveal who alerted the committee member when twice asked. 

“Another person in the world of golf,” he first said. “We don’t need to get into that.”

“Another person in the golf industry,” Rintoul said when questioned again.

“You’re not willing …” a reporter started. 

“I don’t think it’s important here,” Rintoul said. “It would have come across sooner or later. It was going to be on camera this afternoon.”

Rintoul said the message was received when Matsuyama and playing partners Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed were on the first green, and he met Matsyama on the fifth tee. There, after Matsuyama told Rintoul that he had used the 3-wood, Rintoul took pictures of it and rubbed his fingernail across the substance, then took his evidence back to rules officials and told Matsuyama to keep playing. 

“These equipment rules can get real finicky real quick,” Rintoul said. 

In question was a white substance outlined in a circle on the club face. Rintoul described its texture as “White Out,” and rules officials determined that was enough to be a violation of rule 4.1a (3), which Rintoul said reads: “A substance or any treatment can’t be applied to the face of a club which could influence the flight of the ball, the spin, the loft or anything on the ball, how the ball performs.”

The penalty is disqualification, and Matsuyama was told while he and his group were making the turn. Matsuyama, his caddie, Shota Hayafuji, and his interpreter, Bob Turner, talked with Rintoul, then Matsuyama shook hands with McIlroy and Reed, and he walked off. 

“I think after we talked about it in the fifth fairway, I’m not going to say he was expecting — it wasn’t as much a surprise as it would have been if it had been unknown,” Rintoul said. “We told him we were looking at this; there was a problem with the stuff on the face. But our committee wanted to give Hideki all the due that he was deserved while we ascertained whether this club was nonconforming or not.”

So why, then, was the substance used? While Matsuyama did not talk to reporters afterward, Rintoul said he was told that it was applied by Matsuyama’s gear person to help with alignment — and that he had done it previously to Matsuyama’s driver, stopped doing so but believed the substance was allowed on other clubs. 

“I will say this is a mistake — I will say it was a mistake on their behalf,” Rintoul said. 

A reporter then asked: “Is it a fair inference here to suggest that he’s been applying this to his clubs for a period of time?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Rintoul said. “I think we would have learned about it. He’s on camera all the time. He steps on camera all the time. I think this was fresh this week. It’s a relatively new 3-wood, it looked like. He was looking for a place to make sure he had the ball centered in the face. They just went about it with like a paper, whiteout brush, and there it was.”

Notably, according to Rintoul, you are allowed to have smaller markings on the club face — “like a Sharpie dot” — and that if “the paint had been down in the grooves and in the bottom of the grooves where it’s not on the face, not making contact with the ball, again, no problem.” Matsuyama also would have been allowed to continue either if the 3-wood had been just in his bag and not in play, or if the substance was removed before hitting it. (This clarification, GOLF’s Sean Zak reported, was made in April.) 

On Golf Channel, though, Rintoul offered up some advice. 

“Don’t put paint on the face of your clubs at home.” 

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The post 7 interesting equipment finds from the PGA Championship appeared first on Golf.

The post 7 interesting equipment finds from the PGA Championship appeared first on Golf.

Interesting equipment finds abound when you have a field loaded with stars. Having spent the last three days stalking the Southern Hills range and peeking inside staff bags, I somehow managed to narrow down my snaps to 7 pieces of gear that stood at the 104th PGA Championship. Take a look at what’s trending.

Tiger’s wedges

Lost in the shuffle of Tiger Woods adding TaylorMade P770 long irons to the bag this week was an equally important gear change that few gearheads noticed. That would be Woods’ transition from TaylorMade’s Milled Grind 2 wedge into the Milled Grind 3 the week of a major championship.

As you’d expect with one of the most meticulous golfers on the planet, every change has a purpose. In Woods’ case, he found the grass to be on the stickier side — in other words, the Bermuda grass around the greens is particularly grainy this week — which required a few modifications to the sole and leading edge.

By increasing the bevel and reducing the bounce on the back edge, the leading edge was raised without making the wedge sit higher at address. Raising the leading edge should make it easier for Woods to get the wedge through the turf this week and not have to worry about catching it heavy.

New looks

Ping’s PLD putter line has been making waves since it was introduced on Tour. With the PLD custom program and PLD Milled now available to the masses, Ping is continuing to find new ways to expand the matrix, including the addition of two new finishes that are on site at Southern Hills for feedback purposes.

Ping Tour rep Dylan Goodwin pulled off the headcovers to reveal new “Glazed Donut” and “Oyster” finishes. The “Glazed Donut” might be the best putter finish name on Tour. And before you bemoan the addition of two new Tour-only looks, Goodwin confirmed both will be available through the PLD putter program.

Load it up

Scott Piercy remains the Lead Tape King, but Beau Hossler is coming for the crown. Hossler, who was spotted using a carry bag this week, had a set of Titleist 620 CB Forged irons with lead tape completely concealing the cavity badging. Lead tape can be used to achieve a certain feel or flight.

In Hossler’s case, he uses the tape to achieve a combination of both, preferring the slightly heavier feel to go alongside his preferred launch window.

Options aplenty

As I stood next to the practice putting green on Tuesday afternoon, I spied Hideki Matsuyama’s staff bag overflowing with drivers sporting different Graphite Design shafts. We’ve seen Matsuyama carry a multitude of putters during practice rounds. But it’s also not uncommon for him to have at least four or five drivers in tow during a practice round.

With the wind expected to blow at Southern Hills, it’s very likely Matsuyama is testing different profiles to find a driver that can handle the weather conditions. It’s a savvy move for a pro who’s in tune with his gear.

Custom offering

Before Bryson DeChambeau withdrew on Wednesday afternoon, I snapped some photos of his clubs while he went through a rigorous putting session. The setup hasn’t changed one bit since we last saw Bryson at the Masters, but it was still fun to snap photos of his 58-degree Artisan Prototype wedge.

The slab of lead tape on the back — designed to help lower launch — and DeChambeau’s logo situated on the toe give it some character. Wedge stamping is commonplace on Tour, but you rarely see a pro add their logo to the scoring tools.

Major changes

Billy Horschel’s Titleist 620 MB irons have a similar look to the retail version — with one exception. The number stamped on the bottom of each head has a different look. When Horschel first put the irons in play after turning to the free agent route, he needed the heads bent so much — a whopping 4 degrees strong — that Titleist had to change the number on the head to ensure there wasn’t any confusion.

His 8-iron became his 7-iron, his 7-iron became his 6-iron — you get the idea. Making significant modifications to the loft on an iron head — anything beyond 2 degrees isn’t advisable — will typically create a negative chain reaction that affects how the club goes through the turf. In Horschel’s case, he didn’t have to sweat the loft change with Titleist’s Tour team making the sole adjustments. Some alterations are best left to the professionals.

Black gold

Dubbed the “Oil Capital of the World,” it seems fitting that Scotty Cameron would create a headcover for the PGA Championship featuring a roughneck, oil derrick and black Circle-T oil spots.

Cameron rarely misses the mark when it comes to his special-edition major headcovers. This one is no different.

Want to overhaul your bag for 2022? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf. For more on the latest gear news and information, check out our latest Fully Equipped podcast below.

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The post Off Course with Claude Harmon: What Made Hideki Matsuyama’s Masters Dinner So Special appeared first on Golf.

The post Off Course with Claude Harmon: What Made Hideki Matsuyama’s Masters Dinner So Special appeared first on Golf.

On this special episode of Off Course with Claude Harmon in Augusta, he reveals what players thought of Hideki Matsuyama’s Champions Dinner and explains why it was very special.

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The post Off Course with Claude Harmon: What Made Hideki Matsuyama’s Masters Dinner So Special appeared first on Golf.

The post Augusta National reveals Hideki Matsuyama’s Masters Champions Dinner menu appeared first on Golf.

The post Augusta National reveals Hideki Matsuyama’s Masters Champions Dinner menu appeared first on Golf.

Tiger Woods’ comeback has dominated much of the attention early on at this 2022 Masters, but that all changes on Tuesday night, when defending champion Hideki Matsuyama gets to host his first Masters Champions Dinner.

And now we know exactly what he will be serving to all of the former champions in attendance, including Tiger, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples and many more.

Lifestyle

On Tuesday morning, Augusta National’s official Masters Twitter account unveiled the white and green menu for Hideki’s dinner, officially known as the Masters Club Dinner, and it’s heavy on some Japanese staples.

The champions will begin their feast with assorted sushi, sashimi and nigiri, as well as yakitori chicken skewers as appetizers.

The main courses will be miso glazed black cod and miyazaki wagyu: a wagyu beef ribeye with mixed mushrooms and veggies.

Finally for desert Hideki has planned a Japanese strawberry shortcake, equipped with whipped cream and amaou strawberries.

It’s a delicious and sophisticated meal fit for the first Japanese men’s major champion.

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