Harman takes 1-shot lead at Travelers Championship

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Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff are two of the most exciting young players on the PGA TOUR. Morikawa already has four wins, including a major and World Golf Championship, while the 22-year-old Wolff is just the third player to win the NCAA title and a PGA TOUR title in the same season. He also finished in the top four of two majors last year. The two stars are teaming up together at this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans in hopes of securing another title. Morikawa is known for his precise iron play, while Wolff unique, powerful swing and his prowess off the tee is his trademark So with that, let’s take a look inside the bags of these TaylorMade staff players to see how their setups compare. Drivers Morikawa: TaylorMade SIM (8 degrees @ 8.5 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70 TX Wolff: TaylorMade SIM2 Max (10.5 degrees @ 9 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD TP 7 TX The most interesting contrast between these two driver setups is the way they configure the loft using the adjustable sleeve. Morikawa prefers to use a lower-lofted driver and close the face, which actually increases loft, while Wolff goes with a higher-lofted driver and opens the face to decrease loft. Even though the stated loft numbers on the drivers is 2.5 degrees apart, once adjusted, they’re only separated by half of a degree. There are a lot of reasons players might choose to play a driver more open or closed-looking, but the general consensus is about creating the right optics from address to inspire confidence. Fairway woods Morikawa: TaylorMade SIM Titanium (15 degrees @ 13.5 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX/TaylorMade SIM2 (19 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX Wolff: TaylorMade SIM2 Titanium (15 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD XC 8 X Just like with his driver, Morikawa uses the adjustable hosel to dial in the loft and the look he wants at address with his 3-wood. He opens the face to reduce the loft, while Wolff leaves his set to standard. Morikawa also carries a 5-wood to create proper gapping into his irons, whereas Wolff only has a single 3-wood. Both players have a lot of clubhead speed: Morikawa averages close to 114 mph with his driver, and Wolff is at 122 mph. The 5-wood helps create spin and height a lot easier than a 3-iron, which means the ball comes in higher and stops sooner, which is crucial when hitting approach shots into long holes. Irons Morikawa: TaylorMade P770 (4-iron), P7MC (5-6), TaylorMade P730 (7-PW) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Wolff: TaylorMade P7MC (3-PW) Shafts: Project X 6.5 Morikawa plays a mixed set of TaylorMade irons that includes a faster-faced, foam-filled 4-iron, which transitions to a small cavity back with his 5- and 6-irons and then blades with his short irons. This gives a little extra forgiveness in the long irons, the preferred trajectory with each club and maintains a proper gap in the distance between each of his irons. Wolff, on the other hand, uses a single model throughout his entire set. This could be for a number of reasons, including having a consistent look from club to club. Wedges Morikawa: TaylorMade MG2 (50, 60 degrees), Titleist Vokey Design SM8 56-14F (bent to 55 degrees) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Wolff: TaylorMade MG2 (50-09SB, 56-12SB, 60-09LB) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Both golfers use the same 50, 56, and 60-degree wedge setup. The only tweak is that Morikawa has his 56-degree wedge bent one degree strong to fit particular yardage. A three-wedge setup (three wedges beyond a pitching wedge) is by far the most common configuration on TOUR because, with so many shots hit inside 100 yards, having a club for any situation can save valuable strokes. Putters Morikawa: TaylorMade Spider FCG Wolff: TaylorMade TP Berwick Both the TaylorMade Spider FCG and the TP Berwick are mallet-style putters that offer higher MOI and grooved inserts to improve ball roll around the face. FCG stands for Forward Center of Gravity, and Morikawa’s Spider putter is specifically designed to play like a blade but offer the alignment of a bigger front-to-back mallet putter. Balls Morikawa: TaylorMade TP5 Wolff: TaylorMade TP5 ’21 Pix Both golfers use the same model ball, which should work well this week in Zurich’s team format. The only difference is Wolff uses the “Pix” version of TaylorMade’s TP5 ball, which features extra graphics for alignment. The TP5 is a slightly softer and higher-spinning ball compared to TaylorMade’s other premium option, the TP5x. Using the same model means each golfer won’t have to make any adjustments for distance or shot preference around the greens. As for graphics or no graphics during the alternate shot —we’ll leave that debate up to Collin and Matthew. Grips Morikawa: Golf Pride Z-Grip Cord Wolff: Golf Pride Z-Grip Cord (+3 double-sided tape) Both Morikawa and Wolff play the same model of grip. Wolff has three extra layers of tape under his, however, to make them thicker. Although their clubs are similar, it’s the small details of each set that allows both players to perform their best and makes them one of the teams to watch this week.

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Follow along as Charles Barkley and Phil Mickelson go up against Steph Curry and Peyton Manning in a charity golf match.

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