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Good Wednesday morning, golf fans, as a mixed event highlights this week’s golf action.

1. Ranking the Grant Thornton teams

Golfweek’s Todd Kelly…”The highest-ranked PGA Tour golfers are Ludvig Aberg at No. 7, Rickie Fowler at No. 8 and Tony Finau at No. 16.”

• “Meanwhile, four of the top 10 LPGA players will be there: No. 3 Ruoning Yin, No. 8 Nelly Korda, No. 9 Megan Khang and No. 10 Celine Boutier.”

• “Who has the best combined ranking?

• “Here’s a look at the highest-ranked combos for the mixed-team event:

• “Nelly Korda (8) and Tony Finau (16) = 24

• “Megan Khang (9) and Denny McCarthy (29) = 38

• “Brooke Henderson (22) and Corey Conners (22) = 44”

2. ShotLink bugs swarm

AP report…”Those tiny clips all but a few players wore on the back of their belts at Albany is what the PGA Tour refers to as “ShotLink bugs,” enabling the tour to gather most data it typically gets at domestic PGA Tour events.”

• “It’s part of a massive upgrade in the tour’s scoring and data collection that has reshaped the game from a statistical standpoint, providing more data for the media, invaluable statistical analysis for players and more information for fans.”

• “They have been tested on the Korn Ferry Tour for the past 18 months.”

• “Ken Lovell, the tour’s senior vice president of golf technologies, said the devices players wore were accompanied by employees carrying a carbon fiber pole with GPS that can localize data within seconds.”

• “ShotLink is now handled remotely out of PGA Tour headquarters.”

3. LPGA player complains: “Why can’t men just have different driver heads?”

Our Matt Vincenzi…”On Monday, LPGA Tour player Jenny Shin took to X to express frustration with the expected announcements of the golf balls universally being rolled back.”

• “The issue has been a hot topic of discussion over the last few days, but most players and fans seem to be against the idea.”

• “Shin’s sentiment is similar to that of former Masters Champion Adam Scott, who argued the driver head was the real problem, not the golf ball.”

• “The biggest fundamental change in the game since I’ve been a pro, is traditionally the driver has been the hardest club to hit in the bag, and now it’s the most forgiving.”

4. Glover to host radio show

Golfweek’s Adam Schupak…”In his social media profile, PGA Tour veteran Lucas Glover lists the Oscar Wilde quote as a mantra of sorts: “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”

• “Glover, the 2009 U.S. Open champion who had a resurgence this season with two victories in consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour, lives up to Wilde’s words.”

• “In his latest effort to be himself, Glover is joining the SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio channel. The six-time Tour winner will host The Lucas Glover Show, which will premiere December 6 at 8 pm ET. The hour-long program will air regularly throughout the year exclusively on SiriusXM.”

5. On John Smoltz: Champions Q-School participant

Jeff Babineau for PGATour.com…“Few possess a passion for the game that even approaches anything in the same ZIP code as Smoltz. Though at varied times he has been limited physically by bad hands, bad shoulders, a bad back and bad hips – hey, at least he has two new hips – 18 holes a day, even while playing hurt, has seldom been enough. Smoltz goes around golf courses the way a spry greyhound wants to sprint around a racetrack, rarely stopping at 36 holes.”

• “As he tries to make his way through the arduous gauntlet that is Champions Tour Q-School – only five players will earn full-time cards this week – Smoltz said he does not attempt to fool himself regarding the difficulty of his assignment.”

• “I don’t live in a false reality,” he said. “This sport is really difficult. I’m not trying to think that this is something that I could do for a whole year or not … but it’s fun to attempt it.”

• “Many of his fellow athletes from outside golf will be watching closely. Former Major Leaguer Kevin Millar, who jokingly refers to Smoltz as his “swing coach,” said he’ll be exchanging frequent texts to keep up with Smoltz all week, as will many others. (“It’s been crazy,” said Smoltz, who acknowledges he is playing for something bigger than himself this week.)”

6. DeChambeau discusses OWGR

Joshua Lees for The Mirror… “…the former U.S. Open champion believes those in charge are attempting to usher the Saudi-backed series away from the top of professional golf. “I know their agenda,” DeChambeau told The Rick Shiels Golf Show.”

• “We know their whole playbook, we see exactly what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to hold us out long enough to where we’re irrelevant. ‘Oh we’ll give you points now, we’re gonna play nice in the sandbox’. But then we’re all irrelevant, we don’t have enough points to even fill a field.”

• “DeChambeau did however insist he had no bitterness towards the OWGR, and appeared content with relying on golf’s four major championships to improve his place in the rankings. “This last half of the season, yes, I feel like I’ve played way better golf.”

• “And that’s because the last three Majors I made the cut and played somewhat decent in them, 4th at the PGA, British Open I didn’t do very well, the US Open I did ok. That’s what’s really holding me at [152]. If I didn’t have those this year, I’d be 500-and-something, probably.”

• “And you know what, it’s OK, I don’t hold myself to that level. I’m not bitter, I don’t care. What I do care about is the people that aren’t being ranked right that don’t have a chance to be in the majors.” DeChambeau went on to highlight former top-20 golfer Joaquin Niemann as one of those who he believes should be at the four flagship events, but is not thanks to his fall in the rankings.”

7. Bryson on the path back to PGA Tour

Our Matt Vincenzi…”While appearing on the Rick Shiels Golf Show, LIV Golf superstar Bryson DeChambeau discussed what path back to the PGA Tour may look like for LIV players if a “merger” indeed takes place.”

• The former U.S. Open champion speculated that team golf could be the key to LIV players integrating into the signature event series on Tour.

• “What I could see is LIV integrating into the signature series on the PGA Tour in some capacity and having two championships in one, where you have the individual component in the signature series, and you have the team side of it,” DeChambeau said.

• “You have the teams you’re playing for, so no matter what on that final day that guy that’s playing really bad still matters, it’s still a big deal on the team championship aspect of the tournament.

• “Then you guys have the individual side that’s still competing for that individual title the way it is currently.”

• “We want to be mainstream. We believe we should be mainstream, we have some of the best golfers in the world that should be highlighted at these events.

• “That would be my blue-sky scenario where we integrate, we figure out how to make it all mutually be beneficial, and we play for the legacy that’s there with a new idea and concept on top.”

8. LIV’s first-ever trade

Adam Woodard for Golfweek…”Two teams have completed the LIV Golf League’s first-ever trade.”

• “David Puig, who competed for Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC and finished 31st out of 50 players in LIV’s season-long standings in 2023, has been dealt to Sergio Garcia’s Fireballs GC for Carlos Ortiz, who placed 15th last season.”

• “The move will make the Fireballs a majority-Spanish team with Garcia, Puig, Eugenio Chacarra and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer. Torque is now fully comprised of Latin American talent with Chileans Niemann and Mito Periera, Ortiz, also from Mexico, and Colombia’s Sebastian Munoz.”

9. Rahm not in Am-Ex field

Sky Sports report…”Speculation that Jon Rahm is weighing a lucrative offer to sign with LIV Golf received additional fuel on Wednesday as the Spaniard was not included among the notable names listed as committed to the PGA Tour’s American Express field next month.”

• “Rahm has regularly played the tournament in La Quinta, California as part of his West Coast swing schedule, with one of his two wins at the event coming earlier this year.”