Live leaderboard: Moving day WGC-Mexico

GERMANTOWN, Tenn. – Late in a major-winning season may seem like an odd time to make an equipment change, but Justin Thomas has a new driver in the bag at this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship. This week at TPC Southwind, where Thomas won the 2020 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, is Thomas’ first with Titleist’s new driver. Why change now? Titleist first brought the TSR drivers out on TOUR at the Travelers Championship, which Thomas had to withdraw from because of a back injury. He had the new driver at home but wasn’t able to sufficiently practice with the club before back-to-back events in Scotland because he wanted to rest his back. With three weeks off after The Open, he was able to put the new club through its paces and was ready to debut it this week. “The biggest difference is the spin,” Thomas said after his first-round 67 in Memphis. “When I heel it, it doesn’t spin crazy high and when I toe it, it’s somehow spinning a little more. It’s unbelievable in terms of misses.” Mishits on the heel of a driver tend to have more spin while misses on the toe tend to have less. Consistent launch conditions were one reason Thomas made the change, said Titleist tour rep J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. Thomas also saw an uptick in ball speed, according to Van Wezenbeeck, and liked the TSR3’s “classic shaping” and “clean look.” Thomas is using a 10-degree Titleist TSR3 with a Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX driver. The head is on the D1 setting, which takes three-quarters of a degree of loft off the face. Decreasing the loft also opens the face, which is a look at Thomas prefers. “I like it being a little bit open,” Thomas said. “I don’t like when I can’t see a lot of face because then I feel like I have to get it up in the air and then I start getting underneath it and that gets the two-way miss going. I feel like when I’m driving it my best, although I like to work it both ways, I feel like I aim at something and rip it and it goes pretty straight and falls right. Kind of letting the openness in the club let it fade a little bit.” Thomas entered the week at No. 8 in the FedExCup standings after a season that included his second PGA Championship win and top-10s in half his starts. He was sixth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+1.5) on Thursday. He’s trying to join Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods as the only two-time winners of the FedExCup. Thomas won his first FedExCup five years ago, the same year that he won his first PGA Championship.

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Welcome to Numbers to Know, where we’ll take a closer look at Dustin Johnson’s victory in the TOUR Championship and his first FedExCup. Here are the best stats from Johnson’s victory at East Lake Golf Club: 11: Dustin Johnson is the first player in 11 years (Tiger Woods) to win the FedExCup after arriving at East Lake as the top seed. 3: Johnson could become the third player to win the FedExCup, end the season at No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking and be voted PGA TOUR Player of the Year in the same season. Player of the Year, which is voted on by the players, will be announced later this year. Woods (2007, ’09) and Jordan Spieth (2015) also did it. 23: This was Johnson’s 23rd PGA TOUR victory, which ranks 27th all-time. 30: Johnson has won 30% of his starts since the Return to Golf (3 of 10). 6: This was Johnson’s sixth win in the FedExCup Playoffs, the most all-time. He also has the most top-fives (13) and top-10s (21) in Playoffs history. 4: Johnson has won three or more titles in four of the past five seasons. 12: Johnson has qualified for East Lake for 12 consecutive years, the longest active streak on TOUR. 6: Johnson has finished inside the top five in the FedExCup six times. 3: Johnson ranked third on TOUR this season in approach-shot proximity from the fairway. He also ranked third in approach-shot proximity from the rough. 4: Johnson held the 54-hole lead in his final four starts of the season. He finished second twice and won twice. Johnson shot 68 or lower in all four Sundays. The two times he was beaten – by Collin Morikawa at the PGA and Jon Rahm at the BMW — the winner shot 64 to pass him.

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Ping’s new Blueprint Forged prototype irons have made waves in the golf equipment world for their sleek designs with compact profiles, thin toplines and thin soles. Also, it doesn’t hurt that Bubba Watson and Tony Finau have put them in play on the PGA TOUR, and Louis Oosthuizen recently won using the irons at the 2018 South Africa Open. Despite getting play on TOUR, however, the iron designs remained shrouded in a bit of mystery. Most golfers assumed the screw in the toe signified that the irons have a hollow body design, much like the Ping’s new i500. Most golfers were incorrect. During a recent trip to Ping Headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, company representatives informed me that the irons do not have a hollow-body design, and that the screw in the toe is to add weight. While Ping still remained mum on design details, materials, specs and a release date for the irons, company reps did allow me a sneak peek at the ultra-thin-soled 2-iron, which will remind blade users of times passed. We’ll keep you informed if or when Ping reveals more details about the Ping Blueprint Forged prototype irons.

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