The Open 2021: live score and latest updates from the third round in Sandwich

Weekly 18: Kisner feeling presidential, Player wants recount

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Dustin Johnson defends the first of back-to-back World Golf Championships titles as the event, formerly based in Miami, makes its second visit to the Mexico City suburbs. Justin Rose, who chased down Johnson to win the WGC HSBC Champions last fall, ends a four-week break with an eye on becoming the third man in history to claim back-to-back WGCs. Jon Rahm, third a year ago, and reigning FedExCup champ Justin Thomas also highlight a small-but-solid WGC lineup. FIELD NOTES: The roster currently stands at 64, though that will grow with any late qualifiers. … Current FedExCup leader Patton Kizzire is assured of being added off the current points list, along with anyone who cracks the top 10 following the Honda Classic. … Adam Scott, now outside the world’s top 50 for the first time since 2001, has an outside chance of sliding back in with a good weekend at Honda. … India’s Shubhankar Sharma, twice a European Tour winner in its new season, is among eight entrants teeing it up in their WGC debuts. … Brett Rumford, the 2017 Australasian Tour money leader, makes his first WGC start since 2014. … Abraham Ancer gains a berth as the top Mexican in the world rankings. He’s in his second PGA TOUR season. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 550 points. STORYLINES: Johnson, who also prevailed three years ago in Miami, seeks a Mexican repeat and a third victory in a four-year span. He was a runaway winner at Kapalua, but found his quest for a third Pebble Beach crown derailed by Ted Potter Jr. … Tiger Woods, you’ll recall, owns a trio of three-peats at WGC stops. … A Rose triumph would allow him to join Woods and Johnson as the only men to win consecutive WGC starts. His victory in China was the first of three in the final two months of 2017, but he hasn’t teed it up since a tie for eighth at the Farmers Insurance Open. … Rahm has a pair of top-3 finishes in four WGC starts, including a loss to Johnson in last year’s WGC Dell Match Play final. … Contributing to the small roster is the absence of five names among the top 13 in the rankings, including Farmers winner Jason Day and Rory McIlroy. COURSE: Club de Golf Chapultepec, 7,330 yards, par 71. A debutant on the WGC scene last year, the club on Mexico City’s affluent outskirts celebrates its 90th anniversary in 2018. Construction was interrupted by the Mexican Revolution and led to architect Willie Smith – the 1899 U.S. Open winner – passing away in 1916 without seeing the course finished. Smith’s brother Alex took over the project and saw it to completion. The Mexican Open got its start at Chapultepec in 1944, remaining as host until 1960 when the tournament began rotating sites. A Percy Clifford redesign in 1972 made significant changes, with more upgrades were made ahead of its WGC introduction. 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Tiger Woods (2006 at The Grove). Chapultepec record: 270, Dustin Johnson (2017). 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Sergio Garcia and Retief Goosen (both 4th round, 2002 at Mount Juliet), Bubba Watson (2nd round, 2012 at Trump Doral), J.B. Holmes (1st round, 2015 at Trump Doral). Chapultepec record: 63, Jordan Spieth (3rd round, 2017). LAST YEAR: Johnson captured his fourth WGC title in his first start since ascending to No.1 in the rankings, holding steady down the stretch after a four-shot lead turned to a one-shot deficit. Jon Rahm used an eagle and two birdies after the turn to move in front, but Johnson pulled even with a birdie at No.15 and parred his way home for a closing 68. Rahm bogeyed twice in his last three holes, bumped out of second when Tommy Fleetwood (66) drained a 40-foot birdie at No.18. Johnson notched his 14th PGA TOUR victory and second in a row, following a Genesis Open triumph to ascend to No.1. A few weeks later, he’d make it three straight by taking the WGC Dell Match Play. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, noon-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, noon-2 p.m. (GC), 2-6 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 11:15 a.m.-2 p.m. (featured groups), 2-7 p.m. (featured holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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A lot has changed in Brooks Koepka’s equipment setup since he won last year’s WM Phoenix Open. He was a free agent at last year’s event, meaning he had the flexibility to play any clubs he wanted. This year, he is as an official staffer of Cleveland-Srixon after signing a deal with the company in November 2021. A black-white-and-red Srixon staff bag with his name on it is the most immediate proof. His bag at last year’s WM Phoenix Open did include Srixon ZX7 irons (more on the development of Srixon ZX7 irons here), and that hasn’t changed. He switched to those irons in January 2021, and given the way he still talks about those irons and their unique V-sole designs, it doesn’t seem like that will change anytime soon. “The irons have been probably the easiest transition I have ever made,” Koepka said in Wednesday’s pre-tournament press conference. “(The V-sole), … I’d never even heard of it, didn’t know it existed. But going through the turf, every once in a while, because I’m very steep on it, I felt like the club would grab a little bit and kind of drag it left. I haven’t seen that once with these irons. They went in the bag immediately.” He’s added more Cleveland-Srixon clubs to the bag since becoming a staffer. Koepka has the new Cleveland RTX ZipCore Tour Rack Raw wedges in play. Having played Cleveland wedges when he was a kid, the biggest part about getting comfortable with his new wedges was figuring out the right sole grind for his turf interaction. “The wedges, I’ve played Cleveland wedges growing up as a kid,” Koepka said. “It’s all about getting the grind work done for me. My lob wedge is probably a little difficult to get the grind right. Takes a few tries. Once we got that done, everything else, you know, you just match your specs.” At the top end of the bag, Koepka has a new Srixon ZX7 driver at 10.75 degrees, equipped with a Mitsubishi Diamana D-Limited 70 TX shaft that he’s used for years. Like Koepka said, he matched up his previous specs, so it makes sense he didn’t switch up his driver shaft even though he switched the heads. It’s the golf ball switch, though, that seemingly has Koepka most excited. As of November 2021, Koepka has been using a Srixon Z-Star prototype that offers him more height and stopping power with the irons, which is an advantage on the faster and firmer greens on the PGA TOUR. Despite the added height, Keopka says the ball provides ample stability in the wind. “The ball has been crazy actually to me,” Koepka said. “The ball doesn’t move that much in the wind, which I think is the craziest thing. So a little bit of adjustment there. But, I mean, it goes probably, like if I was hitting 7-iron, ball goes 15 feet higher, the Srixon ball, and it’s got the same amount of spin. So to me it’s only going to help me. This place, the greens are kind of firm so I can hold greens a lot better. Then it’s just been very easy transition, something I have been very, very pleased with. We have been working at it for probably six, eight months. So I have been very pleased.” Filling out his bag, Koepka continues to use a TaylorMade M2 Tour 3HL fairway wood and a Nike Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron, each of which has been in his bag for years. He also has a Scotty Cameron Teryllium TNP2 putter, which is a new and slightly different version of the T10 Select Newport 2 proto he used to win last year. Check out the full specs below on Koepka’s bag for this week as he defends his title at the WM Phoenix Open. Driver: Srixon ZX7 (10.75 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D-Limited 70 TX 3-wood: TaylorMade M2 Tour 3HL (16.5 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D-Limited 80 TX Driving iron: Nike Vapor Fly Pro (3-iron) Shaft: Fujikura Pro Tour Spec 95 X Irons: Srixon ZX7 (4-PW) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore Tour Rack Raw (52 Mid, 56 Mid and 60 Low) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Scotty Cameron Teryllium TNP2 Golf Ball: Srixon Z-Star proto Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord (midsize)

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