Emergency 9: BMW Championship, Round 3

Good things come to those who wait. That familiar phrase is a nod to the value of patience being rewarded, but it doesn’t come with a guarantee. So, let’s attach one. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live | The First Look | Inside the Field After a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the RBC Canadian Open is back in business, and Ontario’s top-rated course returns as the backdrop for the first time in 12 years. St. George’s Golf and Country Club in the municipality of Etobicoke in west Toronto hosts for just the sixth time in the 111 editions of Canada’s national championship. A review of the course, what should be required to succeed and more is detailed below. POWER RANKINGS: RBC CANADIAN OPEN Draws and Fades will include Justin Rose, Sahith Theegala, Chris Kirk and two-time champion Jhonattan Vegas among the notables. Canada endures long, cold winters, but the darkness of the last two years was most unwelcome. Saying nothing of the four-day test straight ahead of the field of 156, the logistics of merely staging the RBC Canadian Open is a challenge. Soon, however, the machinations of the preparation will pay off the fortitude. St. George’s G&CC is 93 years old this year. The Stanley Thompson design opened as Royal York GC and first hosted this tournament in 1933. All subsequent editions have been held under its current name. Its last turn was in 2010. Carl Pettersson prevailed by one stroke over Dean Wilson. The Swede’s week included a tournament-record 60 in the third round. Eight years prior, all bunkers were updated. They were again in 2019. Many are positioned beside what already are elevated greens that average just 4,000 square feet. When you consider that the longest bluegrass rough could extend as high as six inches on the weekend, a sense of claustrophobia settles in. Power takes a backseat to tee-to-green precision and general course management. A sharp short game also will be necessary to emerge as the champion. Putting on the bentgrass surfaces that should touch 12 feet on the Stimpmeter likely won’t be as critical for the simple reason that the course is largely unfamiliar to the field. (As of Monday, 24 golfers in the field pegged it in the 2010 edition.) What’s more, not only are the greens a mystery to most, but there’s also mystery in the greens. Subtle undulations will generate frustration on par putts especially. The course is down 65 yards since it last hosted. Now tipping at just 7,014 yards it’s a par 70 with unequal nines. The front side is a par 34 with three pars and one par 5; the back is a stock par 36. The nines as they will be played, at least for the first two rounds, aren’t traditional, either. Because of the logistics, golfers will be split to tee off on Nos. 1 and 9. Those opening on the modified back side will play par 5s at 9 and 11, so blistering starts are promised. Rain will fall at some point and probably more than once during the tournament. If the course plays soft, hole locations might toughen in defense. Comfortable daytime highs of 70 degrees, give or take a degree or three, will add to the pleasure. Prevailing winds pushing in from the west and north will be moderate on occasion. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws and Fades WEDNESDAY: Pick ’Em Preview SUNDAY: Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Rookie Ranking * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

Click here to read the full article…

It’s not uncommon for PGA TOUR players to give their golf clubs a unique touch with custom stampings. Whether it’s their initials, family members’ names or movie quotes, the paint-filled engravings can add a special flair to their tools of the trade. While Justin Thomas’ current Titleist “621.JT” irons do have his initials stamped on the hosel, the stampings aren’t the only unique feature of the clubs. The irons are actually 1-of-1 prototypes made specifically to meet Thomas’ personal preferences. He is arguably the best iron player of the post-Tiger era, having finished no worse than sixth in Strokes Gained: Approach in each of the last six seasons. His iron-play prowess was on full display in his victory at last year’s THE PLAYERS. After flirting with the cut line Friday afternoon, Thomas shot 64-68 on the weekend while displaying full control of his ballstriking. He hit the first 17 greens in the final round, as well. He used a set of stock Titleist 620 MB (muscleback) irons here last year. Those clubs were released to the public in 2019. The blade-style construction of the stock 620 MB blades featured thin soles, thin toplines, compact shapes and little offset. The problem is, however, that Thomas doesn’t want “little” offset; he wants none. As a reminder, the term “offset” refers to how far the leading edge of the face sits behind the hosel. By general rule, the more offset an iron has, the it is to square the face at impact. Many TOUR pros use irons with reduced offset to avoid hooking the ball too much, whereas amateurs tend to use irons with more offset to reduce their slice. Most golfers, though, even on the PGA TOUR, use some semblance of offset to add forgiveness. But not Thomas. Although Thomas helped provide Titleist with early feedback on the 620 MB irons, as Titleist tour rep J.J. Van Wezenbeeck explains below, he would have his gamer irons bent to remove any offset. “The biggest thing is we’re always trying to work with our TOUR pros on finding things that will help them play better,” Van Wezenbeeck told GolfWRX. “Justin’s been an important part of that feedback loop in our development of muscleback irons over the years. Throughout his career with Titleist, we’ve taken his feedback, talking to him about sole design, toe shape, etc. So, as we brought (620 MB) prototypes to him, he was able to provide feedback and he really allowed us to move that into what became the 620 MB. Based on what we looked at over time, one of the facets he likes is no offset. Not a little offset, but none. Literally zero offset, so the leading edge and the hosel are in-line with each other. That’s obviously not something preferred by all players, so what we were doing for the 620 MBs for him was bending the offset out.” The offset modifications helped provide the look and performance that Thomas needed, and he used the purposely-bent 620 MB irons to win at TPC Sawgrass last year. Bending irons, however, doesn’t always create the perfect sound, feel and most elegant overall look. Unsatisfied, Titleist sought to provide Thomas with the exact irons he wanted in all facets. “We wanted to provide the best looking, best feeling and best performing irons for one of the best iron players on Tour,” Van Wezenbeeck said. That’s when Titleist and its R&D team started working closely with Thomas to develop what would eventually become the 621.JT irons. They built a number of prototypes with differing shapes, soles, CG (center of gravity) placements, and offset to determine what truly suits Thomas’ preferences. What they settled on were irons that were essentially identical to the original 620 MB irons in terms of overall shaping, sole grinds, materials (1020 carbon), and grooves. The only true difference is the 621.JT irons have zero offset, which is just how the defending PLAYERS champ likes them. “They came to me and said let’s create (a set of irons), anything that you want to change,” Thomas told PGATOUR.COM. “Obviously I loved it, everything about (my irons) already, but the changes are so minor. … It just was about getting the best feeling iron, the best sounding iron. It’s one of those clubs that obviously you have to hit it properly for it to be that way, but one of those ones where you kind of hear it and you turn around like, ‘What is that?’…They look awesome.” Thomas started using the new 621.JT irons at the 2021 CJ CUP @ SUMMIT in November 2021, and he still has them in the bag this week to defend his title at THE 2022 PLAYERS Championship. While he is looking for his first win since last year’s PLAYERS, Thomas is ranked 26th in this season’s FedExCup thanks to four top-10s in six starts.

Click here to read the full article…

Frenchman Antoine Rozner claimed his maiden European Tour title in his rookie season by winning the Golf in Dubai Championship by two shots at the Jumeirah Golf Estates on Saturday.

Click here to read the full article…