The first day of the 2019 men’s NCAA tournament belonged to Ja Morant. The Murray State star posted a rare triple-double — here’s a look back at that historic day and how he did it.
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This year marks the 30th anniversary of Tiger Woods’ PGA TOUR debut at Riviera Country Club. The 16-year-old needed permission from his school principal to play, and he called it a “life-changing moment for me” after shooting 72-75 to miss the cut. Little did we know what the next three decades would hold. Woods went on to amass a record-tying 82 TOUR wins, including 15 majors. He’s back at Riviera this week as the host of the tournament now known as The Genesis Invitational. Much has changed in the world of golf, as well. Most notably for our Equipment Report, there have been huge advancements in club technology since 1992. To celebrate Woods’ 30-year anniversary of his PGA TOUR debut, we wanted to take a closer look at the driver the 16-year-old Woods used that week (Want to read more on Tiger’s historic gear? Click here for more on Tiger’s famed Scotty Cameron Newport 2 putter). As a TaylorMade representative has confirmed, young Woods used a TaylorMade Tour Preferred Burner Plus driver equipped with a “Tour Gold From TaylorMade” shaft. Woods averaged 263.3 yards off the tee in his two rounds at Riviera, slightly below the field average (263.9 yards) for those two days and 25 yards between the leader in that category (Joey Sindelar, 288.0 yards). Fred Couples, who went on to win that week, averaged 282.5 yards in the first two rounds, while Davis Love III, the 36-hole leader who eventually fell in a playoff to Couples, averaged 283.8. Woods ranked 77th in the 144-player field in that statistic. TaylorMade was a pioneer in the metalwood space, releasing the first metal driver, the Pittsburgh Persimmon, in 1979. The Burner Plus model that Woods used in 1992 was part of a series of TaylorMade drivers that were available in the late 1980s and early 1990s. According to a TaylorMade catalog from 1989, the Tour Preferred drivers were made with stronger-than-usual lofts, but the designs utilized “tri-dimensional weighting” to move the center of gravity lower and farther back in the heads. The combination of strong lofts and rearward weighting allowed TaylorMade to enhance both distance and accuracy. The drivers also were designed with thinner hosels to reduce drag throughout the swing, and the reduction in weight allowed TaylorMade to increase perimeter weighting in the clubheads for increased forgiveness. If you read up about new golf club technology in the year 2022, golf club companies are still trying to achieve similar engineering improvements. The typical goal is to reposition weight in a head to enhance forgiveness and increase speed. Woods’ Burner Plus was made of stainless steel, which was a common material that drivers used in the era between persimmon and the introduction of titanium in the early 90s. As you’ll notice, Woods’ driver had in 1992 a significantly smaller head than the drivers of today. Drivers have gotten significantly bigger as materials have gotten lighter, and companies have gotten smarter through the years. In his most recent appearance, at the 2021 PNC Championship, Woods used a TaylorMade Stealth Plus driver that debuted TaylorMade’s new carbonwood technology. The club’s black-and-red face is made of 60 layers of carbon, has sole-weight and hosel adjustability, and a crown made of carbon. The Stealth Plus is a far technological cry from the driver Woods used in his PGA TOUR debut 30 years ago. Just for kicks, if you’re interested in owning a Tour Preferred Burner Plus for yourself (if you don’t have one in the garage already), they’re readily available on third-party websites for less than $20. Pick one up and give it a try: Our guess is you won’t hit it nearly as far or as straight as a 16-year-old Woods!
It seems like a safe pick. But it’s happened just once since 2002.
One of the PGA TOUR’s most famed and historic tracks, The Riviera Country Club has been providing Hollywood-caliber drama for almost a century. With an iconic bunker in the middle of a green, a natural amphitheater and one of the world’s most recognizable short par-4s, Riviera demands a variety of shots to conquer its terrain. Coming off Max Homa’s playoff win over Tony Finau in 2021, this year’s edition will have its hands full to live up to the hype. But with one of the strongest fields on the PGA TOUR so far this season, a new star can join Riviera’s Walk of Fame (and win at a course that has befuddled the two greatest players in the game’s history). 1. WHAT A START The first hole at Riviera is an early feast opportunity for PGA TOUR players. The par 5 plays roughly 495 yards from a tee box that sits 75 foot above the fairway. While there’s out-of-bounds on the left and trees on the right, a straight drive should offer an eagle opportunity all four days. Only four par-5s played to a lower scoring average (4.28) last season, and it was the easiest opening hole on TOUR in 2021. It traditionally plays as the easiest hole at Riviera, as well. The difficulty dramatically shifts right after. The second hole, the No. 1 handicap hole, presents a 488-yard par 4 that heads back uphill, again with out-of-bounds on the left and trees on the right. A long, narrow green is just 25 feet wide and protected by bunkers on the left and front. Despite having different pars, the scoring averages for the two holes are usually separated by just a fraction of a stroke. They played to an average of 4.28 and 4.15, respectively, in 2021. While Riviera’s greens are the same Poa annua that players face throughout the West Coast, the Kikuyu fairways and rough offer a unique challenge. The sticky Kikuyu grass grabs balls like Velcro and makes it hard to execute bump-and-run shots around Riviera. 2. IN THE MIDDLE You do this if you are creating a golf course in a video game, but not usually if you are an architect building a PGA TOUR-caliber track. Long before video games existed, George C. Thomas Jr. and William P. Bell had a unique vision for Riviera’s par-3 sixth hole, putting what is now one of the world’s most famous bunkers smack in the middle of the green. If having a sand trap in the middle of the green is not enough, the putting surface is also two-tiered with a lower level mostly in front of the bunker and an upper level mostly behind the bunker. An errant tee shot, even just a few feet off-line, could find a player scrambling to putt around or pitch over the trap, even needing to pull out a wedge from the putting surface. There is no true safe shot on the green, as all four quadrants bring the center bunker into play. And that is before mentioning there are other bunkers in the back, left and front portions of the green. Birdie is manageable when on the correct tier of the green, but the landing spot can determine the difference between a two or a four quickly. 3. MUST-SEE TV Drivable par 4s are en vogue these days and perhaps No. 10 at Riviera sets the standards for those holes. Measuring anywhere from 282 to 315 yards, most players can hit the green if the conditions are right. However, such a tee shot challenges even the best shot-shapers in the world, with bunkers protecting the green on its right, left and back. The combination of deep bunkers and a skinny putting surface make getting up-and-down difficult, especially from the sand. Right-handed players will try to launch a power-fade, while left-handed players need to sweep a draw to the front-left portion of the green. The lay-up shot isn’t forgiving. A bunker running across the left portion of the fairway forces players to lay up to a full wedge shot if not going for the green. A handful of trees also run along the fairway left of the green. Homa famously found his ball lying next to one of those trees during the first playoff hole against Finau last year, but Homa was able to skip a shot out and match Finau with a par. Unlike No. 17 at TPC Scottsdale, where a water hazard provides penalty trouble for those taking a shot at the green (as Sahith Theegala found out last week), trees and bunkers are the issue on this drivable par 4. A miscue left or right off the tee and a player can go from envisioning eagle to scrambling for par, even without a penalty stroke. 4. HOLLYWOOD DRAMA Riviera is truly one of the OG staples of the Los Angeles social scene. The Hollywood sign – then Hollywoodland – was erected in 1923. Riviera opened its doors in 1926. At the time, with a cost of $243,827, Riviera was labeled as one of the most expensive golf courses in the world. The club has long-attracted famous members, with such Hollywood names as Humphrey Bogart, Walt Disney and Dean Martin making the course their home (“Bogey’s Tree,” a trimmed Eucalyptus on the 12th hole is allegedly where Bogart used to sit to heckle pros). In the 1950s, golf films “Pat and Mike” – starring Katharine Hepburn and Babe Zaharias – and “The Caddy” – starring Martin and Jerry Lewis – were both filmed at Riviera. “Follow the Sun,” a 1951 biographical film about Ben Hogan, was also taped at Riviera. And in more modern times, Seinfeld co-creater and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David helped raise money for the club’s caddies during the pandemic. The Genesis Invitational has been held at Riviera dating all the way back to 1929, hosting the event all but two years since 1973. The exceptions were in 1983, when the club hosted the PGA Championship, and in 1998, when it hosted the U.S. Senior Open. Riviera also has been the venue for the 1948 U.S. Open, 1995 PGA Championship, and 2017 U.S. Amateur. It is scheduled to host the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open, as well. The club will add Olympic golf to its history at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, although this won’t be the Olympics’ first foray on the grounds. Dressage equestrian and modern pentathlon were held at Riviera in 1932. Living up to its Hollywood pedigree, the 18th hole green is surrounded by a natural amphitheater, creating golf’s version of the Hollywood Bowl. As players stare down the 18th green, with Riviera’s iconic clubhouse in the background, the gallery seated on the hillside is staring directly down at them. 5. HOGAN’S ALLEY, BUT NO TIGER OR JACK Ben Hogan was one of Riviera’s early heroes, winning the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in 1947 and 1948 and the U.S. Open there in 1948. His dominance during that two-year stretch gave the course the nickname, “Hogan’s Alley,” a moniker it shares with Colonial Country Club for a similar reason. Hogan also finished runner-up in 1950, losing a playoff to Sam Snead in his return to the TOUR after his near-fatal car accident. Snead, Tom Watson, Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson all also notched multiple wins at Riviera over the next few decades. Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, Mike Weir, Adam Scott, and Dustin Johnson are among other modern winners. But the two jarring names you will not find on the champions’ plaque: Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Nicklaus made his professional debut at Riviera in 1962, tying for 50th place as a 21-year-old, earning $33.33 in prize money. He notched his best finish in 1978, grabbing runner-up honors two strokes behind Gil Morgan. Woods made his PGA TOUR debut at Riviera in 1992, driving up from Orange County as a 16-year-old high school sophomore (and amateur). He missed the cut. Woods’ best finish at Riviera was second in 1999, behind Els by two strokes. Since 2016, Woods has been the host of the Genesis Invitational with his TGR Foundation being the benefiting charity. But despite his connection to the course, Riviera is a place Woods has still never been able to lift a PGA TOUR trophy.
Welcome to PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live! This is the PGA TOUR’s first offering of an interactive game using live odds, which are powered by PointsBet. It’s a weekly contest developed by Low6 and it’s free to play on desktop and mobile devices. RELATED: FAQs for PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live! Fittingly, its launch aligns with The Genesis Invitational. The annual stop at The Riviera Country Club hosts a smashing field of 120. What you’re reading now is the first edition of Pick ‘Em Preview, the weekly space dedicated to tournaments that PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live will be presenting. Our resident fantasy writers, Rob Bolton and Mike Glasscott, have been collaborating on various projects for many years, so we hope that you enjoy their analysis, insight, opinion, and banter as much as they do. Before you go on though be sure to sign up at https://pickemlive.pgatour.com/ and join the free fun! Not sure who to pick where? Never fear, our gurus are here! After having reviewed the board at PointsBet, Rob and Glass are sharing their opening selections for the weeklong component and for the first round. With this debut, they’ve dug into some of the strategic components of the gameplay. As we navigate PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live for ourselves, we will present more perspective, tips and other helpful hints from the experience. A cash prize bounty of $5,000 is on offer ever tournament for the top five scorers. $2,500 for first place, $1,000 for second, $750 for third, $500 for fourth and $250 for fifth. You cannot lose points at any time, so there’s no reason to abstain from any pick. And with three weeklong wagers hovering over 12 props for which progressive multipliers of 25, 50, 75 and 100 drive the action, you’re never out of the hunt. Odds for weeklong outrights will change in real time, and quite often in your favor. So, if you’re locked in at, say, +1200, and he moves to +2000, and you still want him as your choice, cancel and reselect at more favorable pricing. Just like that. Enjoy! WEEKLONG Outright Rob … Francesco Molinari (+15000) Unless you’re the punter who’d rather set and forget, à la Glass turning to shorter odds below, reaching for a longshot before R1 is the way to go in PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em Live. The experience and phenomenon of monitoring odds changing in real time is fascinating for me as someone who has never played in this space. With the power to modify the investment at any time, and with the insurance that I still can select the winner just before he is determined, consider making it a weekly routine to start outside the box. Thing is, despite what the board says, Molinari really isn’t a longshot on a course where he is a member. His value is long in part because of his form, but also because of the depth of the kind of field over which he hasn’t prevailed in recent memory – his and ours. Glass … Xander Schauffele (+2200) Uh, Rob, how many times has Webb Simpson won at Quail Hollow? How about Ryan Palmer at Colonial? I’ll hang up and listen to your answer. Meanwhile, it’s hard to turn down a number on Schauffele after he led the field last week in Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green for a T3. SoCal player has never missed the cut here in four tries and won’t have to figure out Poa. Max Homa won on his fifth try last year. Top 10 Rob … Francesco Molinari (+1000) There are a few ways you can go with this and your top-20 prop. First and foremost, unlike the outright, the lines for top 10 and top 20 will freeze during live action. You will be unable to modify either selection until play concludes every day. That could be challenging depending on where you are and your lifestyle because there isn’t a set period of time after any round when the window will reopen. As for the strategy, when an outright is as long as Molinari is at Riviera, and there aren’t any others valued more favorably (in your opinion) for a top 10, then you might as well double dip. Although my outright and top 10 match in the tournament for which PGA TOUR Pick ‘Em launches, it’s unlikely to happen again for a while. Regardless, with the promise to have the power to change picks in between rounds, ignoring the chalk for a longshot makes sense early. Once again, however, Glass has other ideas, but I’m used to that. It’s what makes his world go round. Glass … Matthew Fitzpatrick (+360) Value smacks me right in the forehead, so I’ll take it! The Englishman has stacked back-to-back top 10s at Pebble and Scottsdale in his first two TOUR events of 2022. Posted par or better in seven of eight career rounds here with T5 the highlight last year. Top 20 Glass … James Hahn (+650) Let’s gamble. I write Horses for Courses, so let’s get #OnBrand. I get that he’s ICE COLD right now but the 2015 champ hasn’t finished worse than T15 here the last three years. Remember, you can change all of your weeklong picks throughout the week, so riding a longshot isn’t the worst strategy in the business! Rob … C.T. Pan (+850) Gee, partner. Thanks for the advice! I’ll have to remember that. Molinari checks in at +425 here but Pan at twice the payoff is totally worth the early nod. He finished T20 here last year (in his fourth start) and he’s peppered leaderboards at times with top 20s. That’s all well and good, but the 30-year-old always has presented as a go-to on tough tracks. No, it’s not a sure thing, nothing is, but he does some of his best work when par is a good score. Pan isn’t quite at the class-is-permanent level, but he can see it from where he operates. The sequence of variables at Riviera are aligned to prove it. ROUND 1 Leader Glass … Patrick Cantlay (+2500) Saddle up, folks! Ready? Last four first rounds here: 67-68-68-66. Also, a bit hot in ALL FACETS of his game, no? Rob … Luke List (+6000) In full disclosure, either I’m missing something or I don’t have a mechanism for blind confidence. Connecting for the first-round leader, or the leader of any round, is akin to playing the lottery. Sure, you can kind of rule out a percentage of possibilities, but this is just an educated dart. For me, I’ve always espoused steering toward the draw with the better weather and/or wind. When it’s balanced and neutral as it will be throughout Thursday in Pacific Palisades, California, I default to the morning wave, and I’m hardly alone. Softer conditions from overnight moisture that settles and pure greens allow for better scoring. It’s that simple. Cantlay is perched atop my Power Rankings, but he goes out at 12:21 p.m. PT in the opening round. Pass. List tees off at 7:46 a.m., and he starts on the par-5 first hole with that elevated box beside the clubhouse. It’s been the easiest hole on Riviera for forever and it’s among the easiest par 5s on the PGA TOUR annually. He just captured his first TOUR title at Torrey Pines and he’s been among the best performers all season. So, give me the bomber to circle a birdie or even an eagle to ignite his day and keep that rally rolling. Make the Cut Rob … Francesco Molinari (-188) How do you say, “Duh,” in Italian? Not only is he already my outright, but his odds are the longest of the offerings. It’s almost an insult at this point. It’s important to note that, unlike the weeklong props, you will not be able to change this pick after the R1 deadline, but you won’t see an outcome on your home page until the 36-hole cut falls. Glass … Cameron Tringale (-277) Again, sniffing around for some value. I’ll ride his nine paydays from 10 starts at The Riv. Of them, seven are T30 or better, so you might shoehorn him in somewhere else if you need! Oh, and he’s on the “every” this week of his “every other week” streak of big finishes. Matchup Glass … Joaquin Niemann over Robert Streb and Adam Long. Opened his season T6 on Poa at Torrey before jetting off to Saudi Arabia for another top 10 (T8). Dialed in and easily the class of this 3 ball as Long is 0-3 and Streb is 0-7 here. Rob … Talor Gooch over Erik van Rooyen and Chez Reavie It’d be logical to double down on my FRL, Luke List, but the angle here isn’t the same. It’s relative to the group and the potential influence of its dynamics, but I do like the opportunity to take advantage of the vacuum of the morning conditions. I also like putting points on the board early for psychological reasons. With a multiplier of only 25 in R1, it’s not worth reaching. Can’t win the thing on Thursday! Moreover, of the first six wagers we make, this is the easiest to convert, so go ahead and drive to the hoop for the layup. Gooch, who goes off the par-4 10th at 7:13 a.m. PT, is having himself a season. In addition to his breakthrough victory at Sea Island, he’s second on TOUR in both red numbers (34) and sub-70s (30). In three appearances at Riviera, he’s finished a respective T20, T10 and T12 with a scoring average of 69.75. EVR is 0-for-1 with an average of 72.50 in his two rounds. Stallings exploded for a T4 in 2018, but it’s his only top 40 among three paydays in six trips. His scoring average in 30 rounds is 72.37. LATER ROUNDS Don’t forget, if you want to get the maximum chance at points, you’ll need to return prior to rounds 2, 3 and 4 to pick from three categories each round! There will be some variance between tournaments but the choices will come from the markets PointsBet provides. It’s likely most second rounds will see you picking two separate 3-ball results and which player will lead at the halfway mark. Start thinking about which players grind to make cuts, or who is prone to producing rebound rounds. It might be prudent to also think about those who may be mentally moving on to the following week a little early. Round 3 is slated to provide you with six match ups (2 or 3-Balls depending on tournament), from which you’ll have to make three selections. Who are the moving day masters? The final round, which carries the 100-point multiplier, will have you select three matchups from the final six groups of the tournament. As you watch those key players down the stretch remember you can change your weeklong outright winner if your choice has faded! How long will you keep the faith before jumping ship? Will a late change be enough to finish in the cash? If not, well you live to fight another week as we all go back to zero to kick off the next tournament! We hope you enjoy the ride as much as we intend to. Good luck!
Scottie Scheffler recorded his first PGA TOUR victory Sunday at the WM Phoenix Open following a three-hole playoff against reigning FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay. While the win should mostly be attributed to years of hard work, perseverance and raw talent, at least a sliver of credit must go to a putter change he made the week of the event. Scheffler hasn’t been one to change putters much throughout his career thus far, mostly opting for a Scotty Cameron Tour Rat 1 prototype putter. Heading into 2022, though, he wanted a slightly different look Back in December 2021, Scheffler took a trip to the famous Scotty Cameron Putter Studio in California to work with Scotty Cameron Tour Rep Brad Cloke. Before the trip to the studio, Scheffler had been experimenting with a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Timeless putter at home — for those who may not know, Scotty Cameron’s Newport has a bit rounder and softer edges than its Newport 2 style. While Scheffler liked the slightly different look of his Newport 2 Timeless putter at home, he wanted to get something more dialed in. And there’s no better place to do it than Scotty’s studio, where the fitters can make custom adjustments to weighting, profile, look and materials. “He just wanted to switch things up a little bit and give himself a slightly different look heading into 2022,” Cloke said in a Titleist press release. “Prior to visiting us in the studio, he’d been messing around with an older Newport 2 Timeless he had at home. He’d added bunch of lead tape to the sole to try and get it to a similar swingweight as his Super Rat. He really liked the profile but the feel wasn’t exactly where he wanted it, so we went to work on building him a new setup with adjustable weighting.” Of course, custom putter builds don’t just happen overnight. Scheffler had to wait for his new putter to get made and delivered from the studio. So, for the first few events of 2022, Scheffler used the Newport 2 Timeless putter that he’d been experimenting with. His new Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless Tourtype GSS prototype finally showed up the week prior to the WM Phoenix Open. It is 36.25 inches long and it has two 25-gram weights in the sole to get the weighting right for Scheffler’s stroke and feel preferences. The putter went right into play, and, obviously, it worked. Scheffler ranked second for the week in Stroked Gained: Putting (+6.49) and he made 44.7% of his birdie attempts. Illustrating how slim the margins are on the PGA TOUR, the new club helped Scheffler hole a couple crucial putts that helped him just make the cut at TPC Scottsdale. Scheffler advanced to the weekend with just a stroke to spare, thanks in part to a 35-foot birdie putt he made on his second-to-last hole Friday. “I kept telling (caddie Ted Scott) on Thursday and Friday I was scoring really poorly. I was playing fantastic golf, my swing felt great, short game felt good, putting felt good, everything felt really good and I was only 3 under,” Scheffler said in his pre-tournament press conference for this week’s Genesis Invitational. “I was really fighting the cut line on Friday afternoon. I had to make like a 6- or 7-footer on 7 for par to stay at 2 under, which was the cut line. Then I ended up making like a 40-footer for birdie on 8 to get to 3 under, and got up and down on 9 because I thought the cut line was going to be at 3 under.” Scheffler shot up the leaderboard with weekend rounds of 62-67 to claim his first TOUR title. Thanks to Cloke and his fitting efforts, Scheffler was able to find the right look, and Scheffler was able to capture his first career victory. Sometimes it’s the little things that can push golfers over that performance barrier. In terms of other putter changes, Adam Scott also switched putters recently. More on that change here.
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