Leaderboard: Round 2 of the Travelers

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Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson headline the field as Minnesota celebrates its first regular PGA TOUR event in a half-century, enjoying elevated status for what previously was one of the most popular stops on the PGA TOUR Champions. Jason Day and Patrick Reed also fill out the roster that features 11 of the top 30 men in the latest FedExCup standings for the inaugural, as the TPC Twin Cities unveils a bolder layout in anticipation of testing some of the TOUR’s top talent. FIELD NOTES: Kenny Perry, who won last year’s final Champions edition, is back to make a title defense of sorts while Minnesota native Tom Lehman also tees up as a holdover from the event’s previous chapter. … Fellow Minnesotan Tim Herron also was given a spot via sponsor exemption. … Koepka, Mickelson, Reed and Jimmy Walker give the event four members of the 2016 U.S. Ryder Cup winners at nearby Hazeltine. … Robert Garrigus makes his first PGA TOUR start since sitting out three months on suspension. He tuned up with a pair of Korn Ferry Tour starts, grabbing the first-day lead in Utah after a 64. … Viktor Hovland makes his third straight start as a pro since rewriting the U.S. Open’s scoring record for an amateur and finishing T54 in his pro debut at the Travelers Championship. Former Oklahoma State teammate Matthew Wolff likewise is in the field after making his pro debut at the Travelers Championship as well. … Chase Koepka, younger brother of Brooks, also will tee it up on a sponsor invite. He’s spent 2019 on Europe’s Challenge Tour. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES: After embracing a PGA TOUR Champions event, two major championships and the Ryder Cup in the past 17 years, Minnesota finally has a PGA TOUR event that will put down roots. The 3M Open marks the TOUR’s first regular stop in the state since the Minnesota Golf Classic played its last edition in 1969. Raymond Floyd, Mike Souchak and Frank Beard were among those winners. … Brooks Koepka, who won the PGA Championship and was second in the year’s other two majors, hopes to right the ship in a regular event. His past two non-majors have seen him finish outside the top 40. … A top-7 performance also would lift Koepka past Matt Kuchar into the FedExCup points lead. … The 3M Open is the second event in as many years to receive a PGA TOUR promotion from another circuit. Last year, the Corales Puntacana Championship made the jump from the Korn Ferry Tour. COURSE: TPC Twin Cities, 7,468 yards, par 71. Recently upgraded in anticipation of the PGA TOUR’s arrival, the longtime Champions venue north of Minneapolis first opened in 2000 and was widely considered one of that circuit’s top layouts. The Arnold Palmer design, with Tom Lehman as a consultant, transformed a former sod farm into a rolling landscape featuring 27 bodies of water, restoring several natural wetlands while framing holes with stands of mature oak and spruce trees. The 3M Championship came to TPC Twin Cities in 2001, enjoying an 18-year run on site. In each of the past seven years, TPC Twin Cities ranked first or second in birdies among 54-hole Champions stops. 54-HOLE RECORD (Champions): 191, David Frost (2010). 18-HOLE RECORD (Champions): 60, Paul Goydos (2nd round, 2017), Kenny Perry (2nd round, 2018). LAST YEAR: Perry closed the event’s PGA TOUR Champions chapter with his third victory in Minnesota, using a second-round 60 to open a five-shot lead before cruising to a three-shot triumph. A 3-under-par 69 was all Perry needed to finish things off, keeping Wes Short Jr.’s closing 63 at arm’s length. Perry also won at TPC Twin Cities in 2014 and ’15, matching Hale Irwin’s standard of three wins in the Champions event. It also was the seventh time in eight appearances that Perry had finished among the top seven at TPC Twin Cities. “It’s going to be so long next year, I probably won’t even recognize it when I come back,â€� he quipped. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (featured groups). Saturday-Sunday, 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes). International subscribers (via GOLF.tv): Thursday-Friday, 12:00 to 22:30 GMT. Saturday-Sunday, 13:30 to 22:00. RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-6:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).  

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Given the speed that Bryson DeChambeau hits a golf ball, it’s difficult to find the perfect driver for him. His average of 190.7 mph was the second-highest ball speed on TOUR last season, which means any slightly off-center strike can result in bigger trouble for him than it does for the average TOUR player, who averages 20 mph less (170.4 mph) than DeChambeau. That’s why DeChambeau has been working closely with Cobra over the last year to help create a driver that will provide more forgiveness and accuracy. The new, multi-material Cobra King LTDx drivers are the result of those efforts (click here for more on Cobra’s LTDx drivers here). “A lot of (the design improvements) were from last year’s input,” DeChambeau told GolfWRX on Monday at the Farmers Insurance Open. “There were obviously some moments that were tough, and some great moments, as well. I would say we’ve worked really hard on making a driver that works very well for me and for consumers that have some speed. And also, because we understand the upper end of speed, the lower end is going to be helped out quite a bit because we understand the parameters. Once you understand both sides of the coin, you can fit really well in between.” To DeChambeau’s point, the Cobra LTDx lineup has three different options to suit a wide range of golfers. There’s a low-spin Cobra King LTDx LS model, a standard Cobra King LTDx version, and a Cobra King LTDx Max that’s made for draw spin. While DeChambeau debuted a LTDx LS prototype at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui, he showed up at Torrey Pines with the more-forgiving LTDx standard version with just 5 degrees of loft. From a design perspective, each model in the King Cobra LTDx driver family is made with PWR-COR technology that consists of internal and external weighting that moves center of gravity (CG) to positions that enhance performance. They also have new face designs that feature 15 pockets of different thicknesses to help increase ball speeds on off-center hits. Additionally, the crown and sole feature lightweight carbon composite material, which work in conjunction with a titanium body that helps lower CG and increase forgiveness. “(I’m swinging) a lot freer,” DeChambeau said. “The ball’s not going to go in places that I’m not expecting. That’s just what happens with speed, in general, with any product out there. This is where (Cobra is) the first ones to really take the dive and go, ‘OK, let’s try and understand this and make it playable for guys with speed like this.’” In a recent Cobra media event alongside World Long Drive champion Kyle Berkshire, DeChambeau used an LTDx prototype to hit his all-time high of 221 mph of ball speed. Of course, that type of speed can’t be expected week-to-week on the PGA TOUR, but DeChambeau is hopeful the new driver will help him produce more speed consistently. “(Hitting 221 mph) was pretty awesome,” he said. “Obviously, on the course it’s a totally different state of being, but eventually, over time, it’s just allowing me to be over 190 mph consistently and I’m excited to continue to keep trying to hit it farther and farther. I’m not afraid of it, and I love trying to push barriers like always. “I think that’s the point of this whole process is that we’re not done. We still have better iterations to make. They know that, we know that. But this a huge improvement and step forward in a direction that’s allowing me to perform at speed for the first time ever, for anybody I think. It’s going to be a continuous process. It’s not absolutely perfect, but we’re definitely working in a manner that makes sense and is helping me out quite a bit.” As the ultimate tinkerer, DeChambeau told GolfWRX on Monday that he’s using lead tape to add weight to the toe of his driver. He may add some more weight internally to the upper portion of the crown before the tournament begins, as well. At speeds of 190-plus mph, every single gram matters, especially if you want to keep it in the fairway.

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