Winner’s Bag: Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele, Zurich Classic of New Orleans

DETROIT, Mich. – Patrick Reed has used an Odyssey White Hot Pro 3 putter for years, even before winning with one at the 2018 Masters. While he’s experimented with other putters throughout his career, he’s mostly opted for that model. Even a familiar golf club, however, needs a check up every now and then, and Reed went to an unexpected source for an evaluation. Coming into the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic, Reed was ranked 65th in Strokes Gained: Putting on the PGA TOUR, and he has recorded just one top-10 finish on the season. Fresh off a T30 finish last week at the Travelers Championship, Reed had an appointment set up at a Club Champion – a nationwide company that specializes in club fitting – in Royal Oak, Michigan, which is nearby Detroit Golf Club, host of the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic. The local Club Champion, in addition to having full-swing hitting bays equipped with Trackman, has a SAM (Science and Motion) PuttLab that analyzes putting performance in depth. As Reed explained to Golf Channel, he enlisted the services of Club Champion to verify there was nothing wrong with the specifications of his putter. “I went just to check to make sure that my specs were right,â€� Reed told Golf Channel on Thursday. “For me personally, the best way to do it is if I can find a SAM lab. Club Champions have those, and those have high enough cameras and stuff that you can actually see what’s going on. So you can tell by that rather than machines, since every machine has a different variance. But cameras don’t really lie.â€� Instead of finding an issue with his Odyssey putter, however, he found an issue with his putting setup. Adam White, a Master Club Fitter at the local Club Champion who was on site during Reed’s Club Champion session – along with Reed’s coach Kevin Kirk  — said that while his stroke was in the “88th percentile in overall consistencyâ€� and “94th percentile in rotation,â€� Reed was setting up 1.2 degrees closed to his intended target. Based on the data, according to White, the issue was not with the stroke or with the putter itself, but rather with Reed’s setup position. During the “35-40 minute session,â€� White and his staff had Reed try a few different putters, but Reed ultimately decided to stick with his familiar Odyssey putter. Reed improved on his putting performance in his second-round 68 on Friday, losing 0.952 strokes putting, versus losing 1.629 strokes in his first round 68 on Thursday. He is currently in T15 (at the time this article was posted).

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Here are nine tidbits from the second round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Be looking for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. PAIN OR GAIN These were the top-five picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: The top three above are currently in the top five. Pat Perez checks in safely at T23, but Brandt Snedeker will have to move up a few shots on Saturday to make the 54-hole cut. He’s currently two-under-par and tied for 70th. The top 60 and ties will play Pebble Beach on Sunday. The Great One Wayne Gretzky’s de facto son-in-law, Dustin Johnson, posted his 21st round in the 60’s from 40 chances on the Monterey Peninsula. His 64 Friday matches his second-best round ever and missed the best by a shot. His 63 at Pebble Beach in round one in 2012 is the best of the bunch. His rounds of 67-64 (-12) ties him with Beau Hossler for the lead, and he’ll play the weekend at Pebble Beach. If the wind blows tomorrow afternoon as predicted, he’ll be licking his chops. Merritt Badge Troy Merritt’s 67 at Pebble Beach yesterday included three bogeys, an eagle and six birdies. His 67 at Spyglass Hill Friday included zero bogeys or others and five birdies. He’ll begin Saturday 10-under-par on the Monterey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Course), the easiest of the three courses in play this week. Every shot and dollar counts this week as Merritt is playing out of the Web.com priority list. He’s MC in five of eight events and his biggest check cashed T51 money after Shriners. He’s never made the cut in six previous visits to this event, including the last four years in a row. Invitation Only Duke grad Julian Suri is ranked No. 66 in the OWGR and is in the field this week on a sponsor’s exemption. He won twice last year in Europe (one Challenge Tour, one European Tour) but his first two TOUR events this season saw him collect T63 at Torrey Pines and MC last week in Scottsdale. He’s made 13 birdies in two rounds this week and currently sits T3. This event is notoriously tough on rookies and first-time players. He’ll have two rounds this weekend at Pebble Beach to be an exception to that rule or just another statistic. Gamers should be aware of him regardless. Jordan Rules World No. 3 Jordan Spieth bounced back nicely today at MPCC as he birdied five of his first seven holes to get back into the fight. His 66 moved him up 75 spots to T23, and he’ll be one that will be begging for tough conditions Saturday so he can get back into his title defense. He hit less fairways and greens than he did yesterday, so it’s obvious which club started cooperating. Mr. Rodgers Neighborhood Stanford grad Patrick Rodgers is known for his 11 collegiate victories. but he hasn’t found the winner’s circle on TOUR just yet. His 65 at MPCC moved him up 42 spots to T11 after an opening 70 at Spyglass Hill. Rodgers ranks 195th in putting average this season but is leading the field this week after two rounds. Caution. Rory’s Retreat After six birdies to open with 68 at the usually more difficult Spyglass Hill, gamers who were riding the form of the 2016 FedExCup champion probably expected another low one today at MPCC. In fact, just the opposite rang true as Rory McIlroy had to absorb four bogeys and a double against only three birdies for 74. He’s T87 after dropping 71 spots and will have to take his frustrations out on Pebble Beach Saturday. He needed 25 putts on Thursday and 38 on Friday. Playing from Behind Last week’s winner Gary Woodland will also need a big, bad weekend on Pebble Beach, as he’s the eighth-most selected player in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO. I’ll remind gamers he made 10 birdies on Pebble Beach last year on Sunday to claim his first top 10 in three tries. He might need TWO rounds of that, bartender, to make noise this year. It’s not over, yet. Study Hall Angel Cabrera has WD from the professional competition but is sticking around for the Pro-Am portion.  Graeme McDowell, winner of the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, shot 71 at Pebble Beach yesterday but backed that up with 80 at Spyglass Hill today. … Beau Hossler, who is tied with Dustin Johnson for first, hasn’t made a bogey yet this week. … Jason Day, winner at the Farmers Insurance Open, lit up his card with 65 today at MPCC. He was joined on that number by Rodgers, Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker. … Denny McCarthy signed for the lowest round of the day at Spyglass Hill with 66. Jon Rahm led the crew of three with 67 at Pebble Beach.      

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Tiger Woods makes his first World Golf Championships start in four years, getting one last tour of a Firestone Country Club venue where he’s won eight times but is hosting its final edition before the event moves south to Memphis. Newly crowned The Open Championship winner Francesco Molinari tees it up for the first time since taking possession of the Claret Jug at Carnoustie. Dustin Johnson’s FedExCup lead also figures to be on the line as the points race tightens near the top. FIELD NOTES: Hideki Matsuyama, whose closing 61 last year matched the Firestone record, also joins Molinari and Johnson atop a roster currently at 72 qualifiers via tournament wins and world rankings. The lineup features 29 of the top 30 in the FedExCup standings. … Berths remain open for Sunday’s RBC Canadian Open winner, plus anyone who cracks the top 50 in Monday’s world rankings. … Spring winners Aaron Wise (AT&T Byron Nelson) and Andrew Landry (Valero Texas Open) are among seven men making their World Golf Championships debut. … Ted Potter Jr., triumphant at Pebble Beach back in February, is playing his first WGC since the 2012 WGC Bridgestone Invitational. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 550 points. STORYLINES: Woods, who barely cracked the top-50 rankings threshold with a share of sixth at Carnoustie, tees it up on the WGC stage for the first time since the 2014 Bridgestone Invitational. His eight wins at Firestone are a PGA TOUR record he shares with himself (Torrey Pines, Bay Hill) and Sam Snead (Greensboro). … Molinari, now No.7 on the FedExCup chart after prevailing at Carnoustie, will pursue a fourth victory worldwide in a 2 ½-month span. He also won the Quicken Loans National and European Tour’s BMW PGA Championship, adding a runner-up finish on each circuit. … With three weeks left in the FedExCup regular season, Akron could produce a new leader. Johnson came to the RBC Canadian Open with just a 47-point lead over No.2 Justin Thomas, with Justin Rose and Bubba Watson also within 200 points. … A winner two years ago in Akron, Johnson also has his eyes on a fifth career WGC crown. … It’s the final WGC chapter to be played at Firestone CC, as the event relocates to Memphis next summer and the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship settles in Akron. COURSE: Firestone Country Club (South), 7,400 yards, par 70. A PGA TOUR mainstay for five decades and the last of the original WGC venues, Firestone takes one more bow this week before parting ways. Built as a generous perk from Harvey Firestone to employees of his tire company, the club opened in 1929 and eventually stamped its own name as a major stage long before the WGC series was conceived. Robert Trent Jones readied the South for the 1960 PGA Championship captured by Jay Hebert, and the PGA of America brought its showcase event back in 1966 and ’75. The World Series of Golf played its entire run at Firestone, starting in 1962 as a three-man exhibition and becoming an official event in 1976. It moved under the WGC banner in 1999. 72-HOLE RECORD: 259, Tiger Woods (2000). 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, José María Olazábal (1st round, 1990), Tiger Woods (2nd round, 2000 and 2nd round, 2013), Sergio Garcia (2nd round, 2014), Hideki Matsuyama (4th round, 2017). LAST YEAR: Matsuyama captured his second WGC title of the season in dominant fashion, tying the Firestone course record with a 61 in cruising to a five-stroke romp. The Japanese pro erased a two-shot deficit when he chipped in for eagle at the par-5 second hole and never looked back, adding seven birdies before his afternoon was complete. Three came on Firestone’s final three holes, completing the run with a 6-foot birdie at No.18. That left Matsuyama at 16-under-par 264, the event’s lowest total since Adam Scott went one lower in 2011. Zach Johnson (68) led the chase pack, with Charley Hoffman (66) another two shots back in third. Matsuyama’s title joined his win 10 months earlier at the WGC HSBC Champions, when he moved alongside Vijay Singh (2008 WGC Bridgestone) as Asia’s only WGC titleholders. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 1:30-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, noon-1:45 p.m. (GC); 2-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. (featured groups), 2-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured groups). 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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