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Morning 9: Hovland repeats at Hero | Historic Aussie Open | ‘Project Wedge’

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By Ben Alberstadt with Gianni Magliocco and Matthew Vincenzi.

For comments: [email protected]. On Twitter: @benalberstadt

December 5, 2022

Good Monday morning, golf fans, as Viktor Hovland survived a late wobble to once again win the Hero World Challenge.

1. Hovland repeats at Hero

Cameron Morfit for PGATour.com…”The ending was tense, but the result was the same.”

  • “Viktor Hovland, who carried a five-shot lead into the back nine Sunday, survived a shaky finish and shot a final-round 69 to edge Scottie Scheffler (68) by two at the Hero World Challenge at Albany.”
  • “…Both players bogeyed the 18th hole, Hovland rolling in a 20-foot putt after hitting his second in the hazard from an awkward lie on the lip of a bunker. “When you’re standing there with a two-shot lead, that’s like the last thing you can do,” he said.”
  • “Scheffler couldn’t capitalize. Needing a birdie, he lost his approach into the waste bunker right of the green and also made bogey. After losing the world No. 1 ranking to Rory McIlroy at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina in October, he would have regained it with a win at the Hero, which provides world ranking points but not FedExCup points.”
Full piece.

2. (Simultaneous!) Australian Open winners

Evin Priest for Golf Digest…”The prize money was small, but the stage was massive as the Australian Open pulled off the historic first of running a men’s and women’s national championship simultaneously on the same courses. And the payoff for Adrian Meronk’s victory in men’s tournament will be far more valuable than the $183,000 he bagged for defeating local hero Adam Scott in an exciting finish on Melbourne’s famed Sandbelt.”

  • “Meronk secured his second DP World Tour victory of the year when he overcame a one-shot deficit to former World No.1 Scott—Meronk’s final-group playing partner and “childhood idol”—with a four-under 66 on the final day at Victoria Golf Club. The native of Poland sealed the deal with an eagle from off the green at the par-5 18th, and at 14 under, he won by five over Scott (72).”
  • …”In the group proceeding Scott, Lee and Meronk coming up the 18th hole, reigning Women’s British Open champion Buhai (73, 12 under) defeated two-time Women’s British Open winner Jiyai Shin by one shot (75, 11-under). LPGA Tour star Green (74) was third at 10 under. Buhai joined seven-time major winner Karrie Webb (2002) and Yani Tseng (2010 and 2011) as the only women to complete the British-Australian double in the same year.”
Full piece.

3. “Brainwashed”

The AP’s Doug Ferguson…”Rory McIlroy thought his differences with Greg Norman over a Saudi-funded rival golf league had been patched up. That changed when Norman accused him of being “brainwashed” by golf’s ruling brass.”

  • “I thought, You know what? I’m going to make it my business now to be as much of a pain in his arse as possible,’” McIlroy said in a lengthy interview in the Sunday Independent in Ireland.
  • “…McIlroy and Tiger Woods have said Norman, the CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf, needs to be out of the picture for golf to have any chance of coming together. Norman said that won’t be happening.”
Full piece.

4. Meanwhile, in South Africa

AP report…”Thriston Lawrence held on to win his home South African Open despite a final-round 2-over 74 at the Blair Atholl course on Sunday.”

  • “Lawrence started the day with a 2-shot lead over Clement Sordet of France and despite extending his advantage to 5 strokes early on the back nine, the South African just managed to hold off his playing partner to finish with an overall 16-under 272.”
Full piece.

5. Tiger to Charlie: Copy Rory, not me

Colby Powell for Golf Channel…”Some were saying his swing looked like a hybrid of Tiger and Rory McIlroy’s swings, but the elder Woods wants it to look more like the current world No. 1.”

  • “I told [Charlie], ‘Don’t copy my swing. Copy Rory’s,’” Woods said during the third round of the Hero World Challenge.
  • “The 82-time PGA Tour winner joked that he can’t move like that anymore before lobbing more praise McIlroy’s way.”
  • “Have you ever seen Rory off balance in a shot?” Woods asked Dan Hicks and Paul Azinger. “Not ever. That’s one of the things my dad instilled in me, is that you should be able to balance and hold your finish until the ball rolls and stops. You can swing as hard as you want, but you need to have balance.”
Full piece.

6. “Project Wedge”

Golf Channel’s Rex Hoggard…”LIV Golf and its disruptive introduction into professional golf began as a concept named “Project Wedge,” according to a motion filed by the PGA Tour Friday in U.S. District Court.”

  • “Project Wedge” was the internal designation at the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for LIV Golf according to the motion, which seeks to have Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund, deposed and comply with discovery in a lawsuit that was filed against the Tour by a group of players and LIV Golf earlier this summer.”
  • “Although Al-Rumayyan and the PIF are not named in the lawsuit, the fund has invested $2 billion and owns an estimated 85 percent of LIV, although the exact amount has been redacted in the court filings.”
Full piece.

7. Report: PGA Tour doesn’t believe Greg Norman is running day-to-day LIV operations

Alex Miceli for Sports Illustrated…”Greg Norman is CEO and commissioner of LIV Golf in name only, according to newly filed documents by the PGA Tour in federal court Friday.”

  • “In a reply filed in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, in support of its motion to compel the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF) and Yasir Othman Al-Rumayyan, the managing director of PIF, to comply with documents and deposition subpoenas, the Tour used documents obtained previously in discovery to paint a picture of who it believes really controls LIV Golf and its efforts to establish the league in the golf ecosystem.”
  • “According to the motion, Al-Rumayyan functions as LIV’s chief executive, meeting regularly with Norman, approving LIV’s budget, making key strategic decisions, participating in player recruitment in the U.S. and micromanaging LIV’s day-to-day operations.”
Full piece.

8. Hovland’s surprising record

9. Winning WITB

Driver: Ping G425 LST (9 degrees @8.4)

Shaft: Fujikura Speeder TR 661 TX (45.75 inches)

3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (15 degrees)

Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X

Utility: Titleist U510 (3)

Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI Hybrid 85 X

Irons: Ping i210 (4-PW)

Shafts: KBS Tour-V 120 X

Wedges: Ping Glide 4.0 (50-12SS, 56-06SS), Ping Glide 2.0 (58-12TS)

Shafts: KBS Tour-V 130

Putter: Ping PLD DS 72 Prototype

Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Grips: Golf Pride MCC

Full WITB.
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Equipment

Did Rory McIlroy inspire Shane Lowry’s putter switch?

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article.

The timing of Lowry’s putter changeup was curious: Was he just using a Spider putter because he was paired with McIlroy, who’s been using a Spider Tour X head throughout 2024? Was Lowry just being festive because it’s the Zurich Classic, and he wanted to match his teammate? Did McIlroy let Lowry try his putter, and he liked it so much he actually switched into it?

Well, as it turns out, McIlroy’s only influence was inspiring Lowry to make more putts.

When asked if McIlroy had an influence on the putter switch, Lowry had this to say: “No, it’s actually a different putter than what he uses. Maybe there was more pressure there because I needed to hole some more putts if we wanted to win,” he said with a laugh.

To Lowry’s point, McIlroy plays the Tour X model, whereas Lowry switched into the Tour Z model, which has a sleeker shape in comparison, and the two sole weights of the club are more towards the face.

Lowry’s Spider Tour Z has a white True Path Alignment channel on the crown of his putter, which is reminiscent of Lowry’s former 2-ball designs, thus helping to provide a comfort factor despite the departure from his norm. Instead of a double-bend hosel, which Lowry used in his 2-ball putters, his new Spider Tour Z is designed with a short slant neck.

“I’ve been struggling on the greens, and I just needed something with a fresh look,” Lowry told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. “It has a different neck on it, as well, so it moves a bit differently, but it’s similar. It has a white line on the back of it [like my 2-ball], and it’s a mallet style. So it’s not too drastic of a change.

“I just picked it up on the putting green and I liked the look of it, so I was like, ‘Let’s give it a go.’”

Read the rest of the piece over at PGATour.com.

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Spotted: Tommy Fleetwood’s TaylorMade Spider Tour X Prototype putter

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Tommy Fleetwood has been attached to his Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter for years now. However, this week at the Wells Fargo Championship, we did spot him testing a new putter that is very different, yet somewhat similar, to his current gamer.

This new putter is a TaylorMade Spider Tour X head but with a brand new neck we haven’t seen on a Spider before. A flow neck is attached to the Spider head and gives the putter about a 1/2 shaft offset. This style neck will usually increase the toe hang of the putter and we can guess it gets the putter close to his White Hot Pro #3.

Another interesting design is that lack of TaylorMade’s True Path alignment on the top of the putter. Instead of the large white center stripe, Tommy’s Spider just has a very short white site line milled into it. As with his Odyssey, Tommy seems to be a fan of soft inserts and this Spider prototype looks to have the TPU Pure Roll insert with 45° grooves for immediate topspin and less hopping and skidding.

The sole is interesting as well in that the rear weights don’t look to be interchangeable and are recessed deep into the ports. This setup could be used to push the CG forward in the putter for a more blade-like feel during the stroke, like TaylorMade did with the Spider X Proto Scottie Scheffler tested out.

Tommy’s putter is finished off with an older Super Stroke Mid Slim 2.0 grip in blue and white. The Mid Slim was designed to fit in between the Ultra Slim 1.0 and the Slim 3.0 that was a popular grip on tour.

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Rickie Fowler’s new putter: Standard-length Odyssey Jailbird 380 in custom orange

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Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from a piece our Andrew Tursky originally wrote for PGATour.com’s Equipment Report. Head over there for the full article. 

…The Jailbird craze hasn’t really slowed down in 2024, either. According to Odyssey rep Joe Toulon, there are about 18-20 Jailbird putter users on the PGA TOUR.

Most recently, Akshay Bhatia won the 2024 Valero Texas Open using a broomstick-style Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter and Webb Simpson is switching into a replica of that putter at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Now, Fowler, who essentially started the whole Jailbird craze, is making a significant change to his putter setup.

Fowler, who has had a couple weeks off since the 2024 RBC Heritage, started experimenting with a new, custom-orange Jailbird 380 head that’s equipped with a standard 35-inch putter build, rather than his previous 38-inch counter-balanced setup.

According to Fowler, while he still likes the look and forgiveness of his Jailbird putter head, he’s looking to re-incorporate more feel into his hands during the putting stroke.

He told GolfWRX.com on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship that the 38-inch counterbalanced setup “served its purpose” by helping him to neutralize his hands during the stroke, but now it’s time to try the standard-length putter with a standard-size SuperStroke Pistol Tour grip to help with his feel and speed control.

Although Fowler was also spotted testing standard-length mallets from L.A.B. Golf and Axis1 on Tuesday, he confirmed that the custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 is the putter he’ll use this week at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship.

Head over to PGATour.com for the full article. 

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