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Good Wednesday morning, golf fans, as another great field has assembled at the latest designated event on Tour – the Wells Fargo Championship.

1. Furyk is back in charge of Team USA

Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…“The PGA Tour announced Tuesday that the 17-time winner has been named captain of the next U.S. Presidents Cup team. He will face off against Canadian Mike Weir at Royal Montreal in September 2024.”

• “Over the span of several decades this event has evolved tremendously into the global showcase it is today,” Furyk said, “and I’m thrilled to help continue that momentum. So many legendary captains have come before me, so now to be here as the 2024 U.S. captain is quite remarkable.”

• “Furyk has a long history in the Presidents Cup, competing seven times and also serving two stints as an assistant, most recently in 2017. A year later, he oversaw the Americans’ seven-point loss in the Ryder Cup in France, extending the team’s run of misery across the pond.”

2. LaCava picks up a bag

Christopher Powers for Golf Digest…“With another surgery sidelining Tiger Woods for the foreseeable future, his longtime caddie Joe LaCava has reportedly made a move that will keep him employed for the foreseeable future.”

• “At the Zurich Classic of New Orleans just two weeks ago, LaCava looped for Steve Stricker, a good buddy of Woods’ who LaCava jumped at the opportunity to caddie for. Apparently, though, LaCava was angling for something a little more permanent, and he’s found exactly that in one of the best players in the world, Patrick Cantlay.”

3. “Iron sharpens iron” – Rahm and Finau as practice partners

Shane Ryan at Golf Digest…”But they’re not just meeting on Sundays on the PGA Tour; Finau moved his base of operations from Utah to Scottsdale in 2020, and his home course is Silver Leaf Club, which is also the base for players like Max Homa and, yes, Rahm.”

• “We’ve been basically sparring partners, I would say, for a couple years now,” Finau said on Tuesday at the Wells Fargo Championship, speaking of his time with Rahm at Silver Leaf. “I practice with Jon a couple days a week, so just being around him has made me a better player. Iron sharpens iron.

• “I hope he’d say the same,” Finau continued. “Just us competing against each other on a weekly basis while we’re home, I think has been great for both of us, but I can only speak for me. He’s definitely made me a better player.”

4. Nicklaus on slow play

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak…”Nicklaus was asked to opine on the pace of play of professional golf during a press conference on Saturday at The Woodlands in Houston ahead of competing in the Greats of Golf, a nine-hole exhibition played during the Insperity Championship on PGA Tour Champions.”

• “They do have a problem on the Tour today,” Nicklaus said. “The golf ball is a part of the problem. The longer the golf ball goes, the longer the courses get, the more you have to walk, the longer it’s going to take. I don’t think it’s good for the game. (The USGA and R&A have proposed) bringing the golf ball back (and reducing the distance it can travel). I think it’s a good start. It’s the first time they’ve done that in forever. We’ll see where it goes with that.”

• “Nicklaus has long been a proponent of rolling back the golf ball but acknowledged that slow-play penalties are also overdue to be handed out.”

5. Why Rory needed to skip the Heritage

Brentley Romine for Golf Channel…”After three weeks away to focus on his “mental and emotional well-being,” Rory McIlroy is back competing on the PGA Tour at this week’s Wells Fargo Championship.”

• “McIlroy skipped his second designated event of the season, the RBC Heritage, following a disappointing missed cut at the Masters. While McIlroy still hasn’t given a specific reason for why he didn’t play at Harbour Town, he told Barstool’s Dan Rapaport on Tuesday at Quail Hollow that his absence was “due to personal reasons” and that it’s a “private matter”…”

• “I needed a break for me,” McIlroy told Lewis. “Obviously, after the disappointment of Augusta, and it’s been a pretty taxing 12 months mentally, so it was nice to just try to disconnect and get away from it. But it’s nice to come back and feel refreshed.”

• “I think I’m in a better headspace than I was…,” McIlroy added before taking a brief pause. “Yeah, you know, that run-up to Augusta is always a stressful enough couple of weeks trying making sure everything’s in the right order and making sure your game’s in good shape. I think for me it was a nice reset because I still had to realize that there’s three more majors this year, there’s a ton left to play for.”

6. Houston Open changes date

Reuters Report…”The Houston Open is officially returning to the spring portion of the PGA Tour schedule and will be played March 28-31 in 2024, tournament organizers announced Tuesday.”

• “The PGA Tour had previously announced that the longtime tour stop would be moved back to the spring next year after it wasn’t included in the fall portion of the 2022-23 schedule, now dubbed the “FedEx Cup Fall.”

• “The Houston Open once was played the week before the Masters. In 2019, it was moved to the fall, when interest in professional golf is lower after the Tour Championship wraps up the FedEx Cup playoffs.”

7. Wells Fargo photos

• Check out all of our galleries from this week’s event!