The post Rocket Mortgage Classic expert picks: 4 wagers that we really like this week appeared first on Golf.

The post Rocket Mortgage Classic expert picks: 4 wagers that we really like this week appeared first on Golf.

With the year’s final major in the books and the FedEx Cup Playoffs still weeks away, the caravan rolls into Motor City for the Rocket Mortgage Classic, at Detroit Golf Club.

We’re in something of a lull in the PGA Tour schedule.

But just because the field is not the season’s strongest doesn’t mean the handicapping has to slow.

At No. 4 in the world, Patrick Cantlay is the highest-ranked player. He is also the odds-on favorite, but red-hot Tony Finau is close behind as he looks to bag his second win in as many weeks.

Other notables include Will Zalatoris, Open Championship runner-up Cameron Young and Rocket Mortgage defending champ Cam Davis.

And let’s not forget Andy Lack, GOLF.com’s expert prognosticator. A data analyst for Odds Checker, and the co-host of The Scramble, a twice-weekly golf handicapping show, Lack does not base his plays on random guesswork. 

Tournaments

And this week, in a change of format, we’re tapping deeper into his expertise by asking him to give us his four favorite wagers. His picks, along with the reasoning behind them, are laid out below. 

Lack is a pro. But if you also want to know where public opinion is leaning, keeping reading. Below his picks, we’re sharing data from Chirp, a free-to-play mobile platform (and GOLF.com affiliate) that allows you to engage with the action through a range of games.

Andy Lack’s Expert Picks:

To win: Sahith Theegala (+4600) 

Odds available on Bet365

I’ve had Theegala earmarked at this event for months, and I am far from deterred by his missed cut last week at the 3M Open. The former Haskins Award winner’s ball-striking remained steady, and he only missed out on the weekend due to a faulty putter. Now, he travels to a golf course that should be a better fit for his game. 

Theegala’s biggest weakness is the occasional big miss with the driver, a flaw that will be exposed often at a course like TPC Twin Cities, but little at Detroit Golf Club. We’ve seen Theegala go head-to-head on Sunday with players such as Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka and Scottie Scheffler at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, and Schauffele again at the Travelers Championship. Some may view these near misses as scar tissue. I view them as worthy learning experiences for a towering talent who is due to break through.

Top 10: Scott Stallings (+600) 

Odds available on FanDuel

Stallings has quietly been playing some excellent golf this season, and he’s coming off a fourth-place finish at the John Deere Classic where he gained four strokes off the tee, and 3.7 strokes on approach. Before that, he finished eighth at the Travelers on the bent/poa greens, the same type he’ll face this week. 

Stallings checks the rare box of a player coming in with great ball-striking form, who is also an ideal course fit. The three-time PGA Tour winner has above average distance off the tee, is a great wedge player and has shown an ability to catch fire with the flatstick. Most of his best finishes have come in tournaments with easier scoring conditions, and I have little doubt about his ability to keep up in a birdie-fest. 

Top 40: Taylor Pendrith (+110)

Odds available on DraftKings

Pendrith has been on my radar since he contended at the Bermuda Championship during the fall swing. Unfortunately, injuries have derailed his season and he was sidelined for four months between March and July. The Canadian returned to action at the Barbasol Championship with a 13th-place finish and backed it up the following week with an 11th-place finish at the Barracuda Championship. 

Pendrith is known for his elite driving ability, and there’s an argument to be made that he’s currently the longest player on Tour. Detroit Golf Club is a course we’ve seen overpowered before. There’s an interesting parallel between Detroit GC and Winged Foot, as Bryson DeChambeau and Matthew Wolff were able to use the same strategy at both courses of aggressively wailing away with driver to get as close to the green as possible, knowing that even from the rough, they would be able to stop their shorter irons on the back to front sloping greens. 

As a relative unknown, Pendrith gained more than four strokes off the tee at the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot deploying a similar strategy. While I’m worried his spotty iron play could hold him back from contending, I’m confident his dominance off the tee will carry him to a top-40 finish, at the very least. 

Matchup: Rickie Fowler (+100) over Jason Day 

Odds available on DraftKings

It’s hard not categorize both players in this matchup as disappointments this season, but I remain far more bullish on Fowler. The former Players Championship winner quietly gained three strokes off the tee last week en route to a 36th-place-finish at the 3M Open. 

Gear

While swing changes have contributed to Fowler’s spotty recent form, one aspect of his game that has improved is his distance off the tee. Fowler ranks top-30 in this field in driving distance, and we’ve began to finally see his work on distance gains come to fruition. The 3M Open was his best off the tee week since the CJ Cup in October. Now, he returns to a course that he has never missed a cut at in three appearances. 

I find Jason Day much harder to trust right now, as it’s difficult to tell if he’s ever fully healthy. He recently withdrew from the John Deere Classic, and while he started out strong last week at the 3M Open, he was one of the worst players in the field over the weekend, fading to a T64. Fowler is simply a safer bet to make the cut and put four rounds together right now, and I will gladly back him at plus money. 

Who the betting public likes to win 

Some 600 users have already made their picks for Chirp’s free-to-play Trifecta game, a healthy sample that gives us a sense where public sentiment stands. As a reminder, the Trifecta game calls for players to make three picks: a favorite, a contender and a long shot, all categories based on the Official World Golf Ranking. Here’s a look at the three top vote getters in each category, along with the percentage of votes they received.

Want to play Chirp yourself? You can download the app here.

Favorites (players ranked 1-20): 

Patrick Cantlay (33.39 percent)
Will Zalatoris (23.04 percent)
Tony Finau (14.19 percent)

Contenders (players ranked 21-60): 

Denny McCarthy (24.21 percent)
Stewart Cink (11.35 percent)
Emiliano Grillo (7.01 percent)

Long Shots (players ranked 61 or higher): 

John Huh (18.86 percent)
Nick Hardy (14.19 percent)
Scott Piercy (7.68 percent)

The post Rocket Mortgage Classic expert picks: 4 wagers that we really like this week appeared first on Golf.

The post Jason Day details putter struggles: ‘I couldn’t stroke it between two tees’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Jason Day details putter struggles: ‘I couldn’t stroke it between two tees’ appeared first on Golf.

Jason Day has a familiar putter in hand this week. He seems to have found some of its old magic, too.

Day leads the Wells Fargo Championship thanks to a 63-67 start that has him 10 under at the halfway mark, three shots clear of second place. He’s doing so with his trusty red Spider in the bag — a TaylorMade Spider Limited Red, to be precise — that he’s used in wins as far back as the 2016 Players Championship.

At that point in his career, Day was performing something resembling actual wizardry on the greens. Just how good was he? In the 2015-16 PGA Tour season, Day gained 1.13 strokes on the greens per round. For context, Jordan Spieth was second-best at 0.758. For more context, nobody else — not a single golfer — has cracked that 1.0 mark for an entire season since the Tour started keeping strokes gained stats in 2004. Day’s putting season was so good it’s a borderline statistical anomaly.

And while it was a particularly spicy year for Day on the greens, but the fact that he led the Tour in putting wasn’t a shock. He’d been sixth in the same stat the year before (gaining 0.586 strokes per round) and finished second in 2017-18 (0.77). Day’s putter was his superpower.

Until it wasn’t. Day’s wand lost some of its magic in the years that followed, which coincided with a steady slide down the world rankings. He finished the 2015 calendar year at No. 2 in the world. He finished 2016 at No. 1. By the end of 2017 he’d slid to No. 13. The next year to No. 14. Then to 37 (2019) and 43 (2020) before a precipitous drop to 123 as he finished 2021. Day entered this week at No. 127.

It’s important to note that it wasn’t really his putter that was letting him down. After the 2016 season, Day went from one of the best irons players in the game to below average. He was suddenly erratic from the fairway; some weeks he’d be hot with his irons but on aggregate, that’s where he was losing the bulk of his strokes. Unlike in previous years, when his irons weren’t sharp, his putter wasn’t automatically there to bail him out. Last season, as Day slipped outside the top 100 in the world, he suffered his worst putting year on record, too, finishing 95th on Tour.

Day couldn’t remember anything like it.

“I remember a year and a half ago I put two tees between either side of my putter and I couldn’t stroke it between the two tees,” he said post-round Friday. “I was more concerned about the putting more so than the actual swing itself.”

That was a troubling sensation for a guy who, in previous years, had said he spent two-plus hours every day just working on his putting. But the realities of golf were converging with the realities of life. Day’s family was growing (he and his wife Ellie had their fourth child last year) and his mother was sick. He was in a constant battle with a balky back. Things were more complex than they’d ever been. Golf was more difficult.

News

Even in his down stretches, though, Day showed flashes of his best stuff. He led the 2021 Travelers at its halfway mark. He played in the final group at this year’s Farmers, ultimately finishing T3. His putter got hot that week, too, and swing changes he’s been working on with Chris Como were beginning to take. His best has always been good enough to win, after all. He seemed on the brink.

But in early March, Day’s mother Dening died after a five-year battle with lung cancer.

“Unfortunately, I kind of hit a bit of a — I lost a little bit of momentum with my mum passing away and all that stuff,” Day said Friday. It’s impossible to properly address personal loss in the context of athletic performance. But there’s also no separating the two. Day missed his next three cuts.

He gained some confidence from contending at the Zurich Classic, a two-man team event. But leading at this week’s halfway point seems particularly satisfying. “Finally finding my footing again is nice,” he said simply.

Friday brought a particularly brutal test to the pros at TPC Potomac, with chilly temperatures and relentless rain beating down the entire round. Day was up to the challenge.

“Obviously typically when you have tough conditions, long golf courses, tough conditions, thick rough, the guys that are playing well, they kind of usually find their way towards the top,” he said.

Day’s already found his way there; now it’s a matter of staying for the weekend. He’s leading the field in strokes gained approaching the green. He’s 10th in strokes gained putting. The new swing is working. So is the old putter.

“I’m finding a lot of confidence in my swing,” he said. “Every now and then it kind of falls back to some of the old stuff, but the big thing for me is just to not kind of panic and just take a step back and go through my shots and try and trust it the best I can.”

The post Jason Day details putter struggles: ‘I couldn’t stroke it between two tees’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler are each chasing something elusive appeared first on Golf.

The post Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler are each chasing something elusive appeared first on Golf.

When professional athletes are asked about other professional athletes, my ears tend to perk up — because that’s often when they tell you something about themselves.

Rory McIlroy doesn’t need much of an assist; he’s among the best golfers on the PGA Tour at digging into his own psyche. But on Thursday, after he polished off an opening round of three-under 67 at the Wells Fargo Championship, McIlroy was asked a question about his playing partner, too. His answer reminded us about hot streaks and the fickle nature of professional golf.

The last time that playing partner, Francesco Molinari, played a tournament at this week’s host course, TPC Potomac, was the 2018 Quicken Loans. He won the tournament by eight. Molinari was on top of the golfing world that summer, with that win coming in the midst of a ridiculous 1-2-T25-1-T2-1 worldwide stretch that culminated in a victory at the Open Championship. He went 5-0-0 at the Ryder Cup that fall, won the Arnold Palmer Invitational the following spring and led the 2019 Masters on the back nine on Sunday.

Things got instantly tougher after that; since that Masters, Molinari disappeared into golf’s wilderness. He’s logged just four top-10s, hasn’t seriously contended and has fallen from the top 10 all the way to No. 203 in the world. On Thursday, McIlroy was asked post-round about Molinari’s hot stretch — and his return to reality.

“Is there something about how fleeting that is, how hard to hold that feeling?” a reporter asked.

“Yeah, there’s I think there’s times as a golfer where everything just sort of matches up. Physically you’re feeling really good, mentally you’re in a good space, your confidence is high and yeah, when you go through periods like that, you have to take advantage of them,” McIlroy said. “There’s always things in golf that are working against you. You can feel like you’re right on your game but you’re uncomfortable to left pins. But every so often there’s times when everything clicks.”

He was referencing Molinari’s glorious 2018, when he found prime form and took full advantage. But McIlroy reminded us that when everything does click, the very best pros can get red-hot for a relatively short period of time.

“You’ve seen Jason Day in 2015,” he said. “You see DJ go on that run in 2020. You see Brooks [Koepka]. Yeah, Jordan [Spieth]. It’s fleeting until your name’s Tiger Woods, and then it’s not so fleeting.”

One pro McIlroy left off that list is, of course, himself. Between 2011 and 2014 he won four majors, a World Golf Championship and assorted PGA and European Tour events. That’s a longer and more fruitful run than just about any of his peers. But like Molinari, and like Spieth, and like Day, and like others, the curse of a streak that hot is that now, inevitably, the golfer McIlroy gets compared to most often is that peak version of himself.

His comments reminded us of a common struggle for golfers, whose lengthy careers allow for nostalgia even as reality sets in. But Thursday was a throwback some half-decade, with Jason Day leading the way at seven-under 63 and Rickie Fowler (four-under 66) not far behind. McIlroy’s post-peak golf has still been top-tier on Tour. That hasn’t been the case for either Day, who has fallen to No. 127 in the world, nor Fowler, who’s No. 146.

News

Post-round, Day wasn’t shy about how hard he’s been working to get back on top. “I think about the golf swing in the morning, I think about the golf swing during the day and I think about the golf swing at night.” But he was particularly revealing about how things have changed since his superstar run in 2015-16.

“The thing that’s different between now and when I was No. 1 in the world, even though the technique might not have been as crisp as it is right now, I had all the confidence in the world, especially on the greens,” he said. “So that’s always the goal.”

Fowler faced a similar line of questioning. But he said the key, in his mind, is to look forward rather than back.

“It’s not even getting back there, I’m trying to be better than I ever was,” he said. “No one’s ever trying to go through changes to just get back to what was there or to continue to stay the same. Everyone’s trying to get better.”

Unfortunately, Fowler said, progress hasn’t been linear and the process has taken longer than he hoped. He, like Day, used to lean on his putting. That hasn’t proven as reliable of late.

“I’ve putted poorly, very poorly. So when I have had some decent ball-striking days, I haven’t really been able to capitalize, and then if I’m a little off and not making anything, it looks a lot worse than it is,” he said.

As for McIlroy? He was impressed with Molinari’s grit, hanging in after a double bogey to post a round of one-under 69. But he didn’t have long to ruminate on another player’s game — he was off to get some treatment.

“Just little niggles and aches and pains,” he said. “I’m a year older now, so just have to make sure I take care of some things.”

McIlroy turned 33 on Wednesday. Though he’s won just about everything else, he hasn’t won a major championship since the PGA in 2014. In his pre-tournament press conference, he reminisced on his play at the 2011 U.S. Open, just down the street at Congressional, where he won by eight.

“Eleven years ago does seem like a long time ago. It is a distant memory,” he said. “I think I’ve watched it back so many times, I don’t really remember the experience of it. I remember more just from watching on a laptop or a TV screen.”

In other words, the version of McIlroy we’re holding up for comparison is a version he can hardly remember himself. Still, he can’t help but look back at it, like we do, and chase that version of himself, Peak Rory, wondering if it’s possible he could still tap into that same magic.

“Yeah, I still to this day think it’s the best week of golf I’ve ever played in my life,” he added. “The ball was on a string that week and you wish you could bottle that every single week that you play. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. But I think that’s still the benchmark of how I can play.”

The benchmark of how I can play. That’s a standard he, like every other golfer, will keep on chasing.

The post Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler are each chasing something elusive appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Billy Horschel made a crucial ruling from 300 yards away appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Billy Horschel made a crucial ruling from 300 yards away appeared first on Golf.

Golf may be a game of inches but sometimes golfers and their partners are required to assess those inches from hundreds of yards away.

On Sunday, in the final round of the Zurich Classic, Billy Horschel and his teammate, Sam Burns, and playing partners, Jason Day and Jason Scrivener, found themselves in just such a situation after Burns’ tee shot on the 299-yard par-4 16th hole at TPC Louisiana splashed into a lake to the left of the green.

The ball touched down on a bank where it bounded into the water. Key question was, on which side of the penalty-area line did the ball land? If it had landed on the in-bounds side of the line, Horschel — who was playing the ensuing shot in the alternate-shot format — would have been permitted to drop within two club-lengths of that spot no nearer the hole (see box 2, below), which would have left him with a fairly straightforward chip.

But if the ball had bounced on the penalty-area-side of the line, Horschel would have had to have taken his drop from the point where his ball last crossed into the penalty area (see box 1, below), which would have resulted in a much longer and more difficult wedge shot. With the tournament still in the balance and Horschel and Burns in contention, the ruling was a crucial one.

One problem. No one had a conclusive read on where the ball had landed. From the tee, it was hard to tell. From the TV replay, it was hard to tell. To any officials or volunteers in the area — yep, it was hard to tell.

So it was up to Horschel, who had kept a close eye on Burns’ tee shot — well, as close an eye as you can keep on a 1.68-inch-dimeter ball from 900 feet away. Best Horschel could tell, the ball had first touched down above the line.

“I just don’t think I could have seen the ball land below the red line from back there [the tee] because of the elevation difference and being blocked out by the bunker,” Horschel said as his group and a walking official discussed the matter. “So, for me to see it land, it had to be above the red line. But I’m 300 yards away.”

“Yeah, I can’t tell, either,” Day said. “Did TV have it by chance?”

TV did have it, but only kind of. The camera angle was such that it also made the ruling too close to call. You can watch it all here:

PGA Tour rulings can make for gripping television. You have the protagonist arguing his case; other players and caddies describing whatever they saw (or didn’t see); an official in the role of detective, surveying the situation and asking pertinent questions; another rules expert — in this case Craig Winter of the USGA — weighing in on the telecast. In the juiciest of rulings, like we saw with Viktor Hovland and Joel Dahmen vs. Daniel Berger at the Players Championship earlier this year, you even have eyewitnesses challenging the protagonist, leading to some of the most deliciously tense drama you’ll see not only in golf but in any sport.  

At the Zurich, no one took issue with what Horschel said he saw, but we did get one delightfully candid remark from Day, who said, “I didn’t see it splash, but I didn’t really pay attention.”

Later in the episode, Gary Young, the Tour’s chief referee, joined the mix by way of radio.

“We have to go with what they know,” Young can be heard saying of Horschel’s characterization of the ball’s path. “So, if he’s confident that it bounced there—”

“—I swear to God it bounced,” Horschel jumped in. “I know it bounced.”  

When asked about the incident after his round, Horschel added, “I’m one to play it safe, but I was pretty confident that ball landed above the red line.”

And so it was. The officials deemed that the ball had touched down above the line, and Horschel began the drop proceedings next to the green. After his first two drop attempts rolled back down the slope and across the penalty-area line, Horschel placed his ball. From there, Horschel hit a nifty chip to within 2 feet, and Burns tidied up the putt.

An unconventional par was in the books, and so was another chapter of PGA Tour rules intrigue.

The post Why Billy Horschel made a crucial ruling from 300 yards away appeared first on Golf.

The post Inside Jason Day’s golf bag: 7 things I noticed while inspecting his clubs appeared first on Golf.

The post Inside Jason Day’s golf bag: 7 things I noticed while inspecting his clubs appeared first on Golf.

Truth be told, Jason Day was already slated to be the next pro we spotlighted in our reoccurring “Inside the golf bag” series before his multi-year golf ball deal with Bridgestone was announced. While Day’s golf ball is under contract, the rest of his setup remains up for grabs.

The former major winner has employed a number of different brands since joining the gear free agent ranks last year. As we’ve stated before on GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast, you can usually figure out what’s trending on Tour by looking through the bags of the free agents. Without a guaranteed deal tying them to a particular brand, pros like Day can pick and choose the best setup for their game without any strings attached.

With one year of gear free agency under his belt, here’s a look at 7 things that stood out as I took in-hand photos of the former major winner’s gear earlier this year.

Mr. Clean

What stands out when you look at Day’s Toulon Daytona mallet? More specifically, what don’t you see? Day is one of the few pros on Tour who wields a putter without an alignment line — something he’s done since 2014.

At the time, Day was using a Spider 72 mallet with a line on top to create a visual line from “ball to the hole.” But for whatever reason, the alignment aid was no longer doing the trick. In Day’s mind, it was having the opposite effect.

“I couldn’t quite see the line anymore,” Day told me in 2014. “Normally when I’m over the putt I can see the line from the ball to the hole. Well, I couldn’t see it rolling and tracking, and that’s how I’ve always read putts.”

Going away from an alignment line helped free Day up and visualize the ball to the hole. He would go on to win five times in 2015, including the PGA Championship, on his way to the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Bottom line, an alignment aid isn’t for everyone.

Seeing Red

The TPT Red Range 15 Lo shaft is Day’s Ping G410 LST driver isn’t something you see every day on Tour. Day was actually one of the first pros to give TPT a shot when it was introduced and recently recorded his best finish in a stroke-play event since 2018, when he placed T3 at the Farmers Insurance Open.

The Red version he uses is a low launch profile, which makes sense when you consider all the work Day’s done to shift his flight down (more on that in a moment) over the course of his career. From a design perspective, TPT’s “special sauce” is an automated manufacturing process — most shafts are rolled by hand — that’s designed to make each piece more consistent and tighten dispersion.

Day has used several different driver heads since he became a free agent, but TPT has remained his shaft of choice along the way. Similar to Jon Rahm and his Aldila shaft, there are certain aspects of the driver build that Day doesn’t want to change. The shaft is one of them.

Multi-purpose club

With only a driver and 3-wood in the bag most weeks, it’s no surprise that Day’s TaylorMade SIM Max 15-degree sees a lot of use. The finish along the leading along has worn off since it went in play at the 2021 Masters — a clear indication of how the Aussie utilizes the club. It sees plenty of action from from the tee and fairway.

“I use my 3-wood a fair bit during a round,” Day said. “I don’t view it as something that only gets used off the tee. I have some other options at the top of the bag, but I know what this club can do and don’t really see a need to change. Once I find a fairway wood I like, I tend to stick with it.”

Day’s fairway wood comment is sage advice for the recreational golfer. If you have a multipurpose fairway wood that can execute a myriad of shots, you ride that club until the wheels come off. Out all the clubs in the bag, most Tour pros generally have a difficult time finding a suitable fairway wood replacement.

Checks the box

We’ve seen plenty of Tour pros add forgiving long irons and multiple models to their iron setup — but Day isn’t one of them. Although Day has gone away from the P760 cavity-back irons he played during his time as a TaylorMade staffer, he continues to play a fairly traditional iron setup in the P7MC.

Day’s set composition is 4-iron through pitching wedge in TaylorMade’s better-player cavity-back model. The addition of perimeter weighting gives P7MC a hint of forgiveness, but don’t mistake this beauty for a ball speed machine. The P7MC is geared for elite-level ball-strikers who know what they’re doing. There’s a reason why Day (along with Collin Morikawa) swear by these sticks.

A little bit of forgiveness is a big deal for a pro, but what Day appreciates most about P7MC is the ability to work the ball with a slightly lower launch window.

That’s the ticket

There are numerous ways to lower iron launch and corral spin. You can bend the head stronger to strengthen loft, but doing so typically requires carry distances to be recalibrated. As Jason Day found out in 2015, equipment can help solve the problem as well. Feeling as if his irons were launching too high and producing excess spin, Day tested a True Temper shaft that’s the stiffest steel product in the marketplace — Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X7.

Day remains one of the only players in professional golf who employs the exceptionally stiff iron shaft.

Compared to standard X100, the X7 product is 4-5 grams heavier at 134 and 135 grams, and features a thicker butt section that reinforces the overall stiffer feel. The sturdy shaft profile helped Day reduce launch by 1 degree and knock off 400-500 RPMs of spin through the bag.

It should be noted that Day only uses X7 in his irons, where he feels it offers the biggest launch and spin advantage. Which brings us to the wedge shafts.

Dial it back

Popularized by Tiger Woods — True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 in the irons and S400 in the wedges — during his heyday, there’s a benefit to be had going with a softer flex in the wedges. While it varies from player to player, most will notice a slightly lower ball flight and more feel in the hands with a softer flex.

For some, it can also help maintain spin compared to using the same shaft across the board. Considering many Tour players prioritize feel, consistency and control on shorter approach shots, it’s easy to see why so many drop down in flex with the wedges.

In Day’s case, shifting from X7 to S400 is necessary to maintain the touch and feel required to hit deft pitch and flop shots on Tour setups each week.

It’s good to have options

For a pro who goes to great lengths to lower launch, TaylorMade’s P790 3-iron ably covers the carry yardage gap that might otherwise be filled by a 7-wood or hybrid for most of Day’s colleagues. The long iron acts as a secondary option of the tee with a penetrating flight that’s dialed down even further with the help of Dynamic Gold X7 Tour Issue.

If Day is struggling to find the fairway off the tee, this is the kind of club that can help him get back on track.

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.

The post Inside Jason Day’s golf bag: 7 things I noticed while inspecting his clubs appeared first on Golf.

The post Jason Day signs Bridgestone ball deal (with assist from Tiger Woods) appeared first on Golf.

The post Jason Day signs Bridgestone ball deal (with assist from Tiger Woods) appeared first on Golf.

Jason Day has Tiger Woods to thank for introducing him to Bridgestone Golf. Now the former major winners are attached to the same equipment manufacturer after the 34-year-old Aussie agreed to terms on a ball-only deal that will see him continue to play the Tour B X in competition.

Day, who became an equipment free agent in 2020, was first introduced to Bridgestone’s Tour B XS while watching Woods hit controlled short game shots. The high spin around the green interested Day — to the point that he started using the ball in competition.

While the ball provided many benefits, it didn’t take Day long to realize there might be a better Tour B for the rest of his game that still provided the necessary greenside spin.

“We were doing some short game work with Tiger’s ball, the XS, and it caught my attention right away,” said Day. “I initially played the XS and liked it but after working with Bridgestone’s R&D team and really learning about the ball fitting process, it was obvious that the Tour B X was the best fit for my game.”

As Elliot Mellow, Bridgestone’s golf ball marketing manager noted, Day’s introduction to Tour B mirrored what he typically sees from recreational golfers who initially play Tiger’s ball before locating a better fit.

Balls

“We hear from a lot of players who started with Bridgestone by trying Tiger’s Tour B XS model and then eventually transitioned to the Tour B X, RX, or RXS, after being fitted,” said Mellow. “That’s what happened with Jason, who felt Tiger’s XS model provided a bit more spin than was optimum for his game. We’ve been focused on fitting for a long time and it’s interesting to see that even the best in the world sometimes need help finding the right golf ball for them.”

As the schedule shifts to the run-up to the Masters, Day confirmed he’ll continue to play the 2022 Tour B X for the foreseeable future after seeing an improvement in not only short game spin but ball speed and control as well.

“Every day I look at what I can do to get better and the choice to play Bridgestone feeds right into that,” he said. “Personally, I feel kind of like I am cheating playing this ball. Of course, I’m not but it’s that good. The performance of the Tour B affords me opportunities to be aggressive; off the tee, the ball speed is there but it’s still super spinny around the green, which is a nice combination.”

Day joins a Bridgestone Tour staff that currently includes Woods, Bryson DeChambeau, Fred Couples, Matt Kuchar and Lexi Thompson.

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.

The post Jason Day signs Bridgestone ball deal (with assist from Tiger Woods) appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘It falls out beneath you’: Jason Day, leading again, opens up on struggles appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘It falls out beneath you’: Jason Day, leading again, opens up on struggles appeared first on Golf.

Jason Day and the question of how are you feeling are, by now, nearly as closely associated as Day and his Australian accent, so it came as little surprise that three questions into his first press conference this week at the Farmers Insurance Open, a reporter checked in on him, again, on Friday. 

“I was just telling Joaco that I feel old,” Day said of his second-round playing partner, the 23-year-old Joaquin Niemann. 

“You feel old?” the reporter asked. 

“Yeah, I know,” said the 34-year-old Day. “Just like watching him today, he hit it wonderful the last two days and for me to — I was telling him at 2016 — I used to be fast. I was telling him at U.S. Open 2016, on the range, I was swinging it 127, high 80s in the ball speed. I don’t know if those days are past me, maybe they are, but it’s good to kind of keep the body in check and keep the ball out in front of myself.”

How’s Day feeling? In four sentences, he summed up about a decade of emotions. Unsurprisingly, he was a little reminiscent. How could he not be? You can’t forget winning 12 times on Tour, including a major, and moving to world No. 1 in the process. Nor could he look past what soon followed — a host of persistent injuries, namely to his back; and not only zero victories since his last, in May of 2018, but no seconds or thirds, either. But the hints have been there. Before he was asked his question, he had shot a 65 on the North Course at Torrey, and that had followed a respectable 70 on the South Course. And then came Saturday. 

A birdie on 4 on the South. And one on 9. A bogey on 12 was followed by a bird on 13. And then this: birdie, birdie, birdie to close. And this, too: Jason Day is your leader entering Saturday’s final round, with Will Zalatoris. So naturally, it must be known:

How are you feeling, Jason?

“I feel good,” he said. “You know, it’s — how to explain it. I’ve been saying that I’ve been close for a long time, that’s what I’ve felt like I’ve been saying. It’s been a long two-and-a-bit years not really being in contention or having a good shot at winning a tournament, but I think overall I’m pretty pleased with how things are progressing swing-wise, body-wise. My putting feels like it’s kind of back thereabouts when I’m usually putting pretty decent, and that’s typically the strength of my game is putting, short game. It’s nice to be able to complement that with some good hitting as well.”

Lifestyle

He further explained the past three years.

“A big ball of stress I would say, yeah,” Day said. “It’s just that you come from being the top of the world and then all of a sudden it kind of falls out beneath you.

“I’m just happy that — I’m obviously not still out of it, but I’m glad that I’ve given myself a chance at it tomorrow. That’s the ultimate goal is to put myself in the position where I can win tournaments. I feel like it’s been a long time. Even though I’ve had some good finishes here and there in the last three years, it’s been difficult to know that like, hey, do you want to keep pushing it, because it’s painful either way. It’s painful if I walk away, it’s painful if I keep pushing on, so I just had to kind of suck it up. 

“You’ve just got to understand that it’s going to take a long time for me. It may not for other guys, but for me, it’s taken a while and just stay patient with myself and just stay positive as much as possible because sooner or later it’s going to change.”

And then it did, at least for a week. Which brings us to this: How?

For one, it’s Torrey, where he’s won twice before. But most notably, he says he’s healthy. No back problems, nor flare-ups to his ankle or thumb that have also pestered him in the past. And that, in turn, has allowed him to rebuild his swing. This week, he’s been solid across the board in the Strokes Gained metrics — 17th in Off the Tee; 28th in Approach; 29th in Around the Green; 13th in Putting; and tied for fourth in SG: Total.

News

“Well, I mean, I could — I could talk for a day, you know, about all this stuff. It’s been a long, long process,” Day said. “When we have a lot more time, I can sit down and talk to you about it.

“It’s just being really disciplined on what I need to do movement-wise and then swing-wise because the two have to co-exist. If I don’t have a really good body that moves correctly in a certain way and then I don’t marry that with good technique or technique for my body, not necessarily saying that my technique is good, but for my body, it eases everything and starts giving me confidence that you’re heading in the right direction, more of the same stuff.”

As his Friday press conference was wrapping up, he was then asked one more feeling question.

He had heard this one before, too.  

“Do you feel like you’re ready to win tomorrow?” the reporter asked. 

“Yeah, yeah, very much so. I’m not going to be — I can’t be overly excited about it,” Day said. “I know I’ve been, like you said, I’ve been in the position before. I just know that everyone’s going to be super pumped to be either in the final group or in and around that. I’ve just got to forget what other people are doing. If I can go out there and just play within myself, then I should be able to give myself the opportunities. I just can’t get inside my head too much. I’ve just got to go out there and be patient.”

The post ‘It falls out beneath you’: Jason Day, leading again, opens up on struggles appeared first on Golf.

The post Off Course with Claude Harmon: Why Macklemore hoped he wouldn’t have to play with Jason Day at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am appeared first on Golf.

The post Off Course with Claude Harmon: Why Macklemore hoped he wouldn’t have to play with Jason Day at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am appeared first on Golf.

On this week’s episode of Off Course with Claude Harmon, rapper Macklemore explains the hilarious reason why he hoped he wouldn’t have to tee it up with Jason Day at Spyglass Hill.

The post Off Course with Claude Harmon: Why Macklemore hoped he wouldn’t have to play with Jason Day at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am appeared first on Golf.

The post Jason Day’s spectacular backyard golf spread is the stuff of dreams appeared first on Golf.

The post Jason Day’s spectacular backyard golf spread is the stuff of dreams appeared first on Golf.

The Columbus, Ohio, area is teeming with great golf: Muirfield Village, The Golf Club, Scioto CC, where Jack Nicklaus grew up playing.

Add Jason Day’s backyard to the list.

In the debut episode of Home Course, a new YouTube series from PGA Memes founder Travis Miller, Day shows off his spread, and, boy, is there a lot to show. With the 2015 PGA champion serving as tour guide, he first welcomes viewers inside the guesthouse that backs up to his yard and resembles a superhero’s hideout. Inside the facility is a full bar, a couple of bedrooms, a trophy case — the Wanamaker front and center, of course — plus a sizable TV screen on which Day says he watches CNBC in the morning.

But that’s only the beginning of the fun. Day’s golf toys are enviable, beginning with a simulator that sits next to robotic green that can be adjusted to various slopes and grades. Day says when the green was installed, it was only the third of its kind in the United States.

Outside the compound’s barn doors is the crown jewel: a practice area featuring three different greens (one for iron shots, one for putting and one for short game), plus a 160-yard par-3. Day keeps a superintendent in-house to maintain the facility, which has three bunkers, each with a different kind of sand: one to mimic the sand at Muirfield Village, another with Oakmont-style sand and a third — a pot bunker — filled with the kind of sand you’ll find on links courses in the U.K. Back near the par-3 tee box, Day even has his own Rolex clock.

Miller said the aim for Home Course — forthcoming episodes will feature Pat Perez, Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman — is simple: show golf’s best players in a new light.

“That’s exactly what it is, how I started this memes stuff was just that I love memes and I wanted to find something that related to the golf community humor and show some fun with these guys,” Miller said on this week’s episode of Subpar. “But as I built this out, I wanted to create some more content with the players and find more ways I can humanize them and help them build their personal brands and whatnot.”

While Day’s backyard setup doesn’t exactly scream “Average Joe,” it certainly helps to show the former major winner in a more casual, laid-back light.

“With this show directly, it’s like, man these guys have so many great homes and great golf complexes at their properties. They’ve got awesome cars and toys that are crazy,” Miller said. “Not everybody wants to be super showy, but at the same time, they don’t have the opportunity like some of these other guys where you only see them getting interviewed after the round. You know, a lot of em are just awesome guys with really great families and awesome lives, and this was just an opportunity to create some cool content in the golf space and allow them to step out and show the stuff they’ve earned from their careers.”

To hear Miller’s Subpar interview with Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz, listen here:

The post Jason Day’s spectacular backyard golf spread is the stuff of dreams appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Jason Day might not be fully healthy at the Travelers Championship appeared first on Golf.

The post Why Jason Day might not be fully healthy at the Travelers Championship appeared first on Golf.

Anyone who calls golf a good walk spoiled might reconsider after watching Jason Day during Saturday’s third round at the Travelers Championship. The walking part did not look easy.

Dogged by injuries throughout much of his career, the 32-year-old Aussie moved gingerly around the grounds of TPC River Highlands, striding slowly, bending carefully to plant his tee and removing his ball from the cup in the creaky-looking manner of a man twice his age.

Once again, Day’s pesky back was the issue.

The good news is that the problem was reported to be relatively mild muscle tightness—relative, that is, for a guy who has battled back problems for years and who earlier this month was forced to withdraw from the Memorial, his second WD of 2020-2021 season.

News

If the walking part looked tough, Day made the swinging part looked fairly easy, albeit with a modified back-sparing action. To safeguard himself from further aggravation, Day has taken to swinging his arms faster while rotating his body slower than he did in the past, a change easily noticeable to those who follow the PGA Tour. Even an armchair instructor could see that Day was hanging back slightly on his trail foot.

Not that the change did much to sap his power, as Day routinely kept up with, and several times out-drove, his long-hitting playing partner, Bubba Watson.

Long known for his deft short game (he led the Tour last year in strokes-gained around the green), Day had his touch intact as well. That point was underscored on the par-3 16th, where he pulled off a brilliant bump-and-run with a 3-wood from an awkward lie in a collection area behind the green, nestling the ball to within inches for a Houdini up-and-down.

As if a bothersome back weren’t enough, allergies also seemed to addle Day, who coughed and sneezed his way through the closing stretch, a consequence, perhaps, of wind-whipped pollen. Get that man some Claritin to go with his Aleve.

Whether Day can keep it going amid his discomforts remains to be seen. Back problems are stubborn, and for all his preventative measures, Day did not escape the day pain-free. On the 18th hole, after an awkward lash with his driver, Day reached down to grab his right glute. His tee shot settled near the lip of a fairway bunker, forcing him to layup on the par-4. A wedge for this third shot and two putts later gave Day a closing bogey, dropping him one stroke out the lead.

He’ll tee off on Sunday in the second-to-last group with his Down Under countryman Cameron Smith, maybe not in peak physical condition but still very much in the mix.

Winning has been known to cure all kinds of pain.

The post Why Jason Day might not be fully healthy at the Travelers Championship appeared first on Golf.