Na’s ending 90-foot chip to lead Colonial after first round

Full field list for Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship as of March 16. HOW THEY QUALIFIED Winners of the Arnold Palmer Inv. & the Memorial (Last 3 Years) Matt Every David Lingmerth Tournament Winner in Past Two Seasons Aaron Baddeley Greg Chalmers Fabián Gómez Emiliano Grillo Smylie Kaufman Graeme McDowell D.A. Points Career Money Exemption K.J. Choi Retief Goosen Sponsors Exemptions – Web.com Tour Finals Rafael Campos Augusto Núñez Sponsors Exemptions – Members not otherwise exempt Trevor Immelman Sponsors Exemptions – Unrestricted Paul Dunne Steve Han Dru Love Rhadames Pena George Riley Tony Romo Chris Wood Fabrizio Zanotti Designated Sponsor Exemption Guillermo Pumarol Santiago Rivas Julio Santos Hiram Silfa PGA Section Champion\Player of the Year Andrew Filbert Open Qualifying Ryan Brehm Vince India Tyler McCumber Zach Zaback Life Member Davis Love III Top 125 on Prior Season’s FedExCup Points List Robert Streb Kevin Tway Kelly Kraft Patrick Rodgers Harold Varner III Scott Piercy Michael Kim Martin Flores Richy Werenski Geoff Ogilvy Robert Garrigus Derek Fathauer Harris English Rory Sabbatini J.J. Henry Top Finishers from Web.com Tour Prior Season (reordered) Brandon Harkins Alex Cejka Tyler Duncan Brice Garnett Abraham Ancer Xinjun Zhang Seamus Power Stephan Jaeger Troy Merritt Corey Conners Andrew Putnam Shawn Stefani Adam Schenk Tom Lovelady Rob Oppenheim Lanto Griffin Bronson Burgoon Joel Dahmen Cameron Tringale Keith Mitchell Roberto Díaz Nate Lashley Ethan Tracy Jonathan Byrd Brett Stegmaier Matt Jones Sam Ryder Conrad Shindler Zecheng Dou Denny McCarthy Steve Wheatcroft Matt Atkins Kyle Thompson Andrew Yun 126 – 150 Prior Season’s FEC Points List (Reordered) J.T. Poston Ricky Barnes Johnson Wagner Trey Mullinax David Hearn Zac Blair Ben Crane Cameron Percy Daniel Summerhays Reorder Category – Cat. 34 thru 38 Hunter Mahan Eric Axley Brian Davis Ã�ngel Cabrera Ken Duke George McNeill Brendon de Jonge Tim Herron Stuart Appleby John Daly Omar Uresti John Rollins Beyond 150th on Prior Season’s FEC Points List Jim Furyk Jason Gore Andres Romero Dicky Pride Jason Bohn Carl Pettersson Mark Wilson John Merrick Robert Allenby Arjun Atwal Tommy Gainey Daniel Chopra Richard S Johnson Steven Bowditch D.J. Trahan Brendon Todd Parker McLachlin Michael Bradley Shaun Micheel Troy Matteson Marc Turnesa Chris Smith Dudley Hart Jonathan Kaye Len Mattiace Robert Gamez Past Champion Member Mike Weir Heath Slocum Cameron Beckman

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Alice Cooper plays golf six days a week, almost always in the early morning near his home in Arizona. He’s about a 3-handicap – pretty impressive but perhaps fitting for the shock rocker who describes himself as a Golf Monster. Oh, and he loves Callaway’s MAVRIK driver. “Unbelievable,” declared the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer. Of course, he’s not the only golfer – amateur or pro – who has taken to the MAVRIK line, with its Flash Face designed by Artificial Intelligence and touted by Callaway as its best combination of distance, forgiveness and feel. MAVRIK is the No. 1 driver and the No. 1 fairway wood across the major tours this year. But what about ball speed, you ask? After all, that’s what everybody seems to be talking about right now, a water-cooler topic among the pros at TOUR events as well as your fellow club members at the 19th hole. Callaway touts Flash Face as promoting optimum speed and spin for both drivers and fairway woods as it “works specifically with the size, shape and CG (center of gravity) location of each head.” Where it really shines, according to Callaway’s PGA TOUR Manager Jacob Davidson, are on shots that are not perfectly struck. In other words, most golf shots. Whether it’s Alice Cooper or Phil Mickelson swinging the club, any loss of ball speed is minimized thanks to a larger sweet spot. Instead, ball speed remains consistent on mis-hits. “Where I think we’ve separated ourselves — and we see it week in and week out on the PGA TOUR — is Callaway has a competitive advantage on non-center strike,” Davidson said. “I think across the face we see a jump in ball speed that was kind of pulled in with that compared to our competitors. “That’s kind of the frontier that seems to be popular right now. The professionals at the times they do miss it off the face used to lose a couple miles an hour on a heel strike or a toe strike. But we’re learning that if you hit it exactly center punched where optimal ball speed is, can we get the same on one that’s maybe a couple of millimeters to the toe or a couple of millimeters to the heel or higher or lower on the face? “Ultimately, that’s what we’re going after.” That advantage with non-center strike shots can make a big impact in performance, even on the PGA TOUR where we assume the world’s best golfers rarely hit such shots. But it’s more frequent that you might think. “Guys for the most part hit it in the center when they’re playing well,” Davidson said. “But you’d be surprised at how often they’re not. They’re missing it just slightly toe-ward or slightly heel-ward, and then that is obviously elevated because of the speed they’re swinging it at. So it seems to maybe stick out a little bit more.” Henrik Stenson, the 2013 FedExCup champ and six-time winner on the PGA TOUR, noted in the July-August 2020 issue of Golf magazine that “the ball speeds off of MAVRIK are really high, and I noticed that almost immediately when I first tried it. If I hit it dead center or if I miss the sweet spot, I still know that I’m going to get the speed and distance I’m looking for.” Having that confidence that a non-center strike can still be an effective shot is a huge advantage for any players, particularly those at the top level. And particularly on fairway woods, which can often be a pesky club to figure out – and a club that many weekend amateurs try to avoid as much as possible. “People’s confidence gets elevated when they hit a shot that they feel like they’ve mis-hit it and the results are very similar to a good hit,” Davidson explained. “I think that it gives them the confidence to know that, hey, I can still execute the shot that I want without a perfect strike. So they’re more likely to use that club.” For Davidson, a key indication that Callaway had a winner in the MAVRIK line was the high rate of conversion among its staff pros. Whenever their players tested a MAVRIK club, the increase in speed and the extra forgiveness was quickly noticeable. And the switch was quickly made. “They would look down at TrackMan and go, ‘Man, I hit that slightly out of the toe’ or ‘I hit that slightly out of the heel” and they couldn’t believe the ball speeds were still that high,” he said. “I think that was a defining moment for us.” Xander Schauffele was the first Callaway staffer to put a MAVRIK in his bag, back in December while representing the U.S. at the Presidents Cup in Australia. Schauffele won three matches with his then-prototype Sub Zero club that week – including his Sunday Singles match against the home favorite Adam Scott as the Americans rallied to win. A few weeks later, Schauffele was part of a three-man playoff at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Marc Leishman put a MAVRIK in his bag early in the season, then won the Farmers Insurance Open. “Took me only three swings to know it was the right driver for me,” Leishman said. Of course, Mickelson continues to “hit bombs” in a remarkable display of length for the recently turned 50-year-old who uses a MAVRIK Sub Zero driver. And non-Callaway staff pros such as Brooks Koepka and Daniel Berger are using a MAVRIK driver; in fact, Berger won the Charles Schwab Challenge with a MAVRIK Sub Zero. Now consider Will Gordon, who was ranked 812th in the world after he missed the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Gordon arrived at Callaway’s performance center the Monday of the Farmers Insurance Open and switched to the MAVRIK driver. He finished T21 that week, had a Top 20 finish at the Puerto Rico Open a few weeks later. In his first start after the resumption of play following the TOUR’s pandemic stoppage, Gordon — playing on a sponsor’s exemption – finished solo third and earned Special Temporary Membership. He’s currently 197th in the world. “You’re talking about a guy that’s trying to earn his way on the PGA TOUR with limited sponsor exemptions, on a big-boy golf course like Torrey Pines with extremely tight fairways and very penal rough, and he puts the MAVRIK driver in play,” Davidson said. “I think that was a catalyst to his confidence.” Confidence is a word frequently associated with the MAVRIK driver and woods. Confidence that a mis-hit can still be a solid shot. Confidence that ball speed will be maximized. Confidence in a line of club, no matter if they’re used on the tee box or in the fairway … and no matter if they’re used by a PGA TOUR pro or an aging Shock Rocker.

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico - Akshay Bhatia won't reach legal drinking age in the United States until January 31, 2023. But he's quickly proving that he's of age to contend on the PGA TOUR. The 18-year-old Monday qualified into this week's Mayakoba Golf Classic presented by UNIFIN, and he's maximizing his opportunity. Bhatia has opened in rounds of 67-69 at El Camaleon GC, comfortably inside the top-15 midway through the final full-field TOUR event of the 2020 calendar year. There was a learning curve for Bhatia, to be sure. He missed the cut in his first seven TOUR starts, admitting that urgency to earn Special Temporary Membership was too much of a focal point. Bhatia made his first TOUR cut at the Safeway Open in September, finishing T9. A weight was lifted, and he's continuing to display his immense potential in Mexico. "After that, I felt like I belonged," said Bhatia of the significance around his Safeway Open top-10. "It showed I could play, that I could score well. I feel like I'm doing everything right as far as practice ... I feel like my good is good enough, and that I can compete out here. So it's just a matter of time. "I'm excited to keep playing out here, and for the opportunities that I've gotten." After turning professional in fall 2019, Bhatia missed by six strokes at Second Stage of the Korn Ferry Tour Qualifying Tournament last fall. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, putting on hold his efforts of earning TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour starts via Monday qualifiers. There may have been a silver lining, though. Bhatia carved out a mini-tour schedule that extended through the summer months, building confidence by stacking low rounds. While several his age are debating their college choices, Bhatia is developing a veteran mindset in the professional golf ranks. "I haven't really thought about it," said Bhatia when asked whether Special Temporary Membership has been on his mind this week. "Any chance I get to play the PGA TOUR, I'm just going to try to play as well as I can. "If you asked me that last year, I would've been thinking about that a lot, and it's just amazing how much experience can change perspective over a year. Being 18, it's helped me a lot versus 17." Bhatia was born in southern California and now lives in the Raleigh, North Carolina area, where he plays out of TPC Wakefield Plantation. There, he has cultivated a frequent practice-round grouping with TOUR winners Chesson Hadley and Grayson Murray, as well as Korn Ferry Tour pro Stephen Franken. He's learning the value placed on low scores in professional golf - noting the confidence gained via carding rounds of 62 and 63 in mini-tour events this summer - and embracing lessons shared by his veteran practice partners. "It's fun just having a good, solid group of guys that like to play and can help each other out with experience," Bhatia said. "I had a really good summer in mini-tour events and just learning how to be in contention, how to shoot low ... and that's what you have to do out here." Bhatia could earn TOUR Special Temporary Membership (which brings the ability to accept unlimited sponsor's exemptions) by accruing 288 non-member FedExCup Points - the equivalent of No. 150 on the 2018-19 FedExCup standings. He earned 70 non-member Points via his Safeway Open finish, and could move further toward the mark with a strong weekend in Mexico. He's no longer thinking along those lines, though. He's enjoying the competition amongst the mangroves at El Camaleon GC, and looking forward to the weekend ahead. "I've got to say," Bhatia said, "it's pretty fun being able to compete with these guys."

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