Horses for Courses: 3M Open

Kevin Na and Jason Kokrak carded a 12-under final round to win the QBE Shootout. Check out the clubs he used to get it done. RELATED: Final leaderboard Kevin Na Driver: Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond (8.5 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD GP 6 TX 3-wood: Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond 3+ (14 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana RF 70 TX 5-wood: Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond (18 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana BF 80 TX Hybrid: PXG 0317 X Gen 2 (19 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 95X Irons: Callaway Rogue Pro (4), Callaway Apex Pro 16 (5-PW) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Wedges: Callaway Mack Daddy 4 (54), Vokey Design Prototype (60-06K ) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Odyssey Toulon Madison Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Plus4 Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Jason Kokrak Driver: TaylorMade SIM (9 degrees @8.5) Shaft: Accra TZ5 85 M5 Proto 3-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 (15 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 6.5 80 TX 7-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max (21 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 6.5 80 TX Irons: PXG 0311 T Gen4 (4-PW) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Wedges: PXG 0311 Sugar Daddy (52), Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (56-14F), Titleist Vokey Design SM8 WedgeWorks (60-08M) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Bettinardi Studio Stock 38 Grip: SuperStroke Pistol GT Grips: Golf Pride MCC (Black/White) Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Click here to read the full article…

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Brendan Steele made a couple of big mistakes down the stretch, and still was good enough to grab the outright lead at the midpoint of The Honda Classic. Related: Leaderboard | Koepka and Fowler miss cut at The Honda Classic Steele shot a 3-under 67 on Friday, getting to 5 under for the week and putting himself a shot clear of J.T. Poston (69), Lee Westwood (69) and Luke Donald (66) after the second round at PGA National. This is Steele’s ninth time playing the Honda and the first time he’s ended any round at PGA National with the lead. He missed the cut last year by 10 shots, but most of what he’s doing so far this year has worked — that is, until he made bogey on two of his last three holes Friday. “My first few years here I couldn’t quite figure it out,” Steele said. “I thought maybe it wasn’t a good course for me. … I don’t feel like it’s a course you can just jump out your first time and have it nailed. You have to see it in all the different winds and conditions that you have.” The cut was 3 over, and most of the biggest names in the field aren’t sticking around for the weekend. Among them: Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose and defending champion Keith Mitchell. Koepka shot a 4-over 74 for the second consecutive day and missed the cut by five shots. Fowler (68) missed an eagle putt at the par-5 18th that would have gotten him to the weekend and fell a shot shy, Rose (74) was 6 over and missed by three shots, while Mitchell (72) missed by five shots. “You can rack up some big numbers pretty quick,” Koepka said. Steele had a chance to take an even bigger lead into the weekend. The famed Bear Trap, PGA National’s stretch of holes 15-17, has never been overly kind to Steele — who was 26 over on those three holes in 31 rounds on that triumvirate before Friday. But his tee ball on the par-3 15th went around the back of the hole before lipping out and stopping inches shy of an ace, and he followed that up with another birdie on the par-3 17th. Thing was, the 16th and 18th got him. A bogey on the par-4 16th was the first miscue, and then his approach sailed over the green at the finishing hole to lead to another dropped shot. Still, the three-time winner on the PGA TOUR — the last of those coming when he went back-to-back at the Safeway Open in 2018 — left more than satisfied. “I think a course like this always suits me a little bit better,” Steele said. “I feel like I can make birdies on this course maybe more than other guys can, and I don’t necessarily feel that way a lot of weeks. … That gives me some confidence, and I definitely feel like harder is usually better for me.” Steele missed a chance for a victory in January in Hawaii, falling to Cameron Smith in a playoff after taking a three-stroke lead into the final round at the Sony Open. U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland put himself squarely in the mix with a 67 and thinks there’s a simple reason why tough courses like PGA National appeal to him. “I think it’s definitely mental,” Woodland said. “I probably focus a little bit more. You’ve got to hit shots out here. You’ve got to work the golf ball both ways. You’ve got to ride the wind. I love playing in the wind. But this golf course is as demanding as we see, so you’ve got to be ready from the get-go.” Woodland was tied for fifth at 3 under with Sepp Straka (67), Cameron Davis (67) and Nick Watney (66). Donald got into the mix as well, looking for his first win in the U.S. since 2012 and the first anywhere since 2013. Donald had the best round of the day at 66, tied with a pair of South Korean players — Byeong Hun An and Sungjae Im. “It’s probably been a little bit of a lean stretch,” Donald said. “But yeah, I feel like I’ve been making progress in the last four months with my swing and feeling more comfortable on the golf course.” Zach Johnson briefly got to 5 under, then posted consecutive bogeys — and hit real trouble on the par-4 11th. His second shot went into the water, ending up in a muddy spot just at the edge of some long grass. Johnson elected to play his third from there, trying to knock the ball skyward toward the green — but only managing to bury it further into the mud. Johnson had to retreat about 125 yards back up the fairway, played another approach and two-putted from 45 feet for a triple-bogey 7. Just like that, he went from tied for sixth and one shot back to tied for 23rd and four shots off the lead. He finished with a 75, going to 2 over for the week.

Click here to read the full article…

The schedule for the 2018-19 PGA TOUR season has been released. As expected, the changes are dramatic and intriguing. The shifting of tentpole events and a compact finish certainly gives the golf world a fresh look, and no doubt will generate considerable buzz. There’s a lot to like about the changes – and here are my top 10 things. I like THE PLAYERS Championship’s move to March. There are many reasons (including the one below), but a key one is that the chances of sweltering heat should be diminished. A quick check on weather.com indicates that average temperatures for Ponte Vedra Beach in March are a high of 72/low of 55. Average temps in May are a high of 83/low of 68. May not seem like a huge difference but I welcome the opportunity of wearing a thin sweater on a crisp morning at TPC Sawgrass. I like that the Florida Swing is intact. By moving THE PLAYERS Championship back to March, that means all four of the Sunshine State’s events are compacted into a nice month-long run, starting with The Honda Classic to open March. There’s just a nice symmetry and rhythm to having the TOUR move from Hawaii, to the West Coast, then to Mexico, then to Florida. Everything seems in harmony. On the flip side, I like that the two events in North Texas are now split. Having grown up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I always considered it special to have the TOUR in DFW for two consecutive weeks (it’s a bragging thing in Texas, of course), with the tournaments just 30 miles apart. But I sometimes wondered if the second-week event suffered from fan fatigue, or perhaps was merely seen as an extension of the first week … or vice-versa. By having the year’s second major (the PGA Championship) splitting up the tournaments, each of my two hometown events should have its own identity. The AT&T Byron Nelson gets the buildup going into the PGA, and the Charles Schwab Challenge gets to reset the next phase of the schedule. On the third flip side (is that even geometrically possible?), I like that the other two Texas events are on consecutive weeks. With the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play keeping its place in the second half of March, followed by the Valero Texas Open moving into the slot previously occupied by the Houston Open, there is a new Texas Two-Step on the calendar, those two tournaments just 80 miles apart (Houston is twice as far). Yet there is no danger in either one suffering an identity crisis – a limited-field match play event followed by a full-field precursor to the Masters. I like the Midwest swing. With the Rocket Mortgage Classic moving to Detroit Golf Club, followed immediately by the new 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities, then the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run, there’s now a three-week stretch for the terrific golf fans in those states (Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois) during a key portion of the FedExCup regular season. It also helps negate Ohio’s loss of the World Golf Championships event at Firestone. Of course, Ohio already has one of the TOUR’s cornerstone events, the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, in early June. Speaking of Detroit and Minneapolis, I like that the schedule is adding two great musical cities. Motown speaks for itself, and then you add in Prince’s hometown. My fondness for Minneapolis also extends to two criminally underrated bands — Husker Du, and The Replacements. Throw in TOUR stops in jazzy New Orleans, Elvis’ Memphis, and the Live Music Capital of the World in Austin, and any golf fan can get his music fix properly filled. I like that the national opens of Canada and the U.S. are now back-to-back. Just works better in my head than having the RBC Canadian Open follow the Open Championship. Plus, I like that 100 years after the first Canadian Open, next season’s event will have its earliest finish in tournament history. The RBC Canadian has been held eight times in June, with the earliest finish coming on June 21, 1959 (a Doug Ford victory by two strokes). I like the almost frightening step-on-the-gas finish in the regular season. The last three weeks of the schedule include a) the lone overseas major; b) a new-WGC venue in Memphis at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational; and c) the traditional finale to determine the FedExCup Playoffs field. Oh, and throw in two opposite-field events, and you have five tournaments that will have a huge impact on the makeup of the 125 players advancing to the Playoffs. It’s not too dissimilar to this season’s schedule, but the challenge of traveling back from the Open Championship (at Royal Portrush next year) and revving up again so quickly seems a bit more daunting. Speaking of which, I like that The Open Championship is the final major of the season. It’s certainly not the first time golf’s oldest major has held that position; the last time, in fact, was 1971 when the PGA Championship was played in February, and there were several years before in the first half of the century. It’s actually a bit of a throwback schedule, and yet it provides a fresh approach. I like the three-tournament FedExCup Playoffs ending in August. It’s nice to have things settled before football starts dominating the fall weekends, and eliminating the off-week will prevent a disruption in momentum. Indeed, the volatility with just three events should turn the Playoffs into a wild ride. While I will miss TPC Boston next season – a visit to New England that time of the year is never bad, and the seafood at the Fresh Catch in nearby Mansfield makes life worth living (ask Angel Cabrera about his four-lobster night) – something had to give. Besides, the Playoffs are expected to be back at TPC Boston the following season, so the lobster bib won’t stay in drydock too long.

Click here to read the full article…