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5. Meanwhile, in Europe…
A round one update from the European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre.
- EuropeanTour.com…”Maximilian Kieffer fired his lowest opening round for five years to take the lead after day one of the Omega European Masters.”
- “The German birdied three of his last five holes at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club on the way to a 64 that left him at six under, a shot clear of Frenchman Julien Guerrier, Dane Søren Kjeldsen, England’s Andy Sullivan and Japanese Hideto Tanihara.”
- “Scot David Drysdale, Spaniard Nacho Elvira and South African pair Erik van Rooyen and Justin Walters were then two shots off the lead.”
A glance at the leaderboard: With Kieffer yet to tee off in round two, Tanihara has moved into the lead at 9 under.
6. Casey the leader?
Paul Casey, never at the forefront of European golf, not thought of as a particularly commanding presence, and not often on Ryder Cup squads, is prepared to step up in Paris.
- Writes Alistair Tait…”Casey makes his return to the competition following a 10-year absence after being handed a wild-card pick from European captain Thomas Bjorn. The 41-year-old Casey is ready to chaperone the five rookies around Le Golf National in Paris to help Europe win back the Ryder Cup. He already has some experience of that from helping Bjorn’s European team win the EurAsia Cup in January.”
- “Having tasted that experience in Malaysia with Thomas at the helm has given me a sense of the role I can play on and off the golf course,” Casey said. “To play sort of the role that I did in the EurAsia Cup along with Henrik (Stenson), a senior role, is one I’ve obviously never done before. It was great to sample it and get some exposure to it and kind of test myself in that role. I’m relishing that opportunity.”
- “It’s very satisfying, actually, because I didn’t have that ability in the past. One, I wasn’t old enough and experienced enough. Two, I didn’t need to play that role because we had such great leaders in the team room for the teams I played.”
7. TS launch
In case you missed it, Titleist officially launched the TS drivers and fairway woods yesterday. The artillery as been a minor sensation on Tour, with the majority of staffers having already made the switch-if you recall, for Justin Thomas, TS stands for the s**t.
- A few morsels from WRX’s pieces introducing the clubs…”To summarize, the TS2 and TS3 drivers have a 20 percent thinner titanium crown than the 917 drivers, allowing weight to be placed lower and deeper for lower CG (center of gravity) and higher MOI (moment of inertia, a measure of forgiveness). The faces also use variable thickness for faster ball speeds across the face, and this year, the faces have been made 6 grams lighter.”
- “According to Titleist, the faces are so thin now that the scoring lines have to be lasered onto the faces instead of etched, as with previous generations. With the combination of weight savings from the face and crown, Titleist says these drivers have the lowest CG ever for a Titleist driver, and MOI is 12 percent higher than the 917 drivers.”
- “Additionally, for more club head speed, Titleist says that enhanced aerodynamic shaping of the club heads that reduces drag by up to 20 percent.”
- “The “Titleist Speed” fairway woods, each measuring 175cc, are made for faster ball speeds with higher launch, lower spin rates and increased MOI (moment of inertia, a measure of forgiveness), according to Titleist
- “To achieve those results, Titleist designed the crowns of the new fairways to be 27 percent thinner than the previous 917 fairways, thus allowing engineers to move weight lower and deeper in the club heads. Also, a new variable thickness face helped to save weight from the face, and helps to deliver faster ball speeds across the face. With the weight savings from the crown and face, Titleist says MOI is up 11 percent compared to its 917 predecessors.”
- “While Titleist took the Active Recoil Channel out of the driver, the company put a new Active Recoil Channel in the TS2 and TS3 fairways, made to launch the ball higher; Titleist says since fairways need to hit the ball off the turf, and thus, lower on the face, the Active Recoil Channel remains a “crucial technology.” The new channel in the fairways is designed to be “higher” for more face flexibility to increase ball speeds.”
8. A (tenuous) Burt Reynolds golf connection
Credit to Golfweek’s Bill Speros for unearthing this gem featuring the recently departed Burt Reynolds.
- He writes…”ESPN used Burt Reynolds as the Almighty Himself in a spot promoting the-then Senior PGA Tour back in 2009. In this spot, “God” explains why he used his divine powers to create the every man, cigar-smoking pro golfer Larry Laoretti. This clip was part of a campaign promoting the Senior Tour as “Heaven on Earth.”
RIP, Mr. Reynolds.
9. Coach K and the Cuppers
The U.S. Ryder Cup squad went out for dinner Wednesday in Philadelphia. Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Kzrzyewski was photographed with 11 of 12 team members, Jim Furyk, and his vice captains. Presumably, Coach K had some words of wisdom for the team, reprising the motivational role he played ahead of the U.S. Cup win in 2016.
As a former Philly resident, I’m keen to know where they dined. Anyone heard anything?
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19th Hole2 weeks ago
19th Hole1 week ago
