How Cameron Smith surged at St. Andrews and stole the show from Rory McIlroy at The Open

After 58 measured drives this season, Cameron Champ currently leads the PGA TOUR in driving distance with a 319.9-yard average. In the last week, however, Champ has made some unexpected changes for such a long hitter. Prior to the start of last week’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, Champ switched into Ping’s new Blueprint Forged prototype irons and a Ping G410 Plus driver. In the Ping Blueprint irons, instead of the KBS C-Taper 130X shafts he was previously using, he switched into the softer True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts. According to Ping Tour rep Kenton Oates, the X100 shafts allow him to work the ball more, instead of hitting them “dead straight� with the C-Tapers. Then on Monday during a driver testing session on the range at this week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, Champ requested a quarter-inch longer Fujikura Pro TS White 63X shaft than he normally plays because it felt “too stiff� in the new G410 Plus head, according to Oates. Also, instead of tipping the shaft an inch-and-a-half as he normally would, Champ requested to have the shaft tipped only an inch. While sitting in on the Monday testing session involving his previous gamer, the Ping G400 Max, against the new Ping G410 (“around 8 degrees� with a flat/heel loft sleeve), I also noticed that Oates switched the 10-gram sliding weight of Champ’s new G410 driver into the heel-ward position. Oates explained this weight shift allowed the ball flight to be more consistently straight, instead of his tendency to miss the ball right. The new settings, coupled with the longer shaft, allowed Champ to contact the center of the club head more often instead of his typical toe-ward miss, according to Oates. Champ missed the cut last week at the Farmers Insurance Open with the new irons and driver, but keep an eye on his performance this week with the new driver tweaks. I caught up with Oates following the driver test for deeper insight. PGATOUR.COM: OK, so where did you end up with Champ’s (G410 Plus) driver settings? OATES: “In his 410 (Plus) driver – there’s 8 settings within the driver – Cameron ended up with the flat-minus. So that’s going to allow the driver to play flat in lie angle and take off a degree of real loft.� PGATOUR.COM: And why is that? Because he misses it? OATES: “That’s not so much for a miss, that’s for launch and spin. His current G400 Max gamer is at 8 degrees of loft, and just the way the heads come in, we needed a reduction of loft from the sleeve to get there. He plays the little-minus (setting) in the G400, which takes off 0.6 (degrees), so it’s basically the same setting that he has in the G400, this one just takes off a little more loft in the 410, and that’s just because of the 8-probe sleeve.� PGATOUR.COM: And then I think you went up in length on the shaft, is that right? OATES: “Yeah, that was his idea. He felt that in his current gamer, he felt like he was getting a little steep and hitting spinny shots to the right, and he felt that’s because the shaft was a little too stiff. So he wanted to, in his head, making it longer would reduce the stiffness. Which it does, and we also took out a half-inch of tipping. We used to, in his 400, we tipped our shafts and inch-and-a-half, and the 410 is tipped an inch, and a quarter-inch longer, and it finishes at 45.25 inches.� PGATOUR.COM: So the guy who hits it farthest on TOUR thought the shaft was too stiff for him? OATES: (laughs) “Yeah. He’s actually, he’s an under spinner. Even though he swings 130 (mph) and down 4 (degrees), he always hits it high-center (on the face). He always hits it above that center of gravity so he gravitates to softer stuff than you might think just because of the way that he loads it and where he hits it on the face.� PGATOUR.COM: What’s he seeing in comparison to his G400 Max in terms of ball speed, launch, spin? OATES: “I think we got him … the launch and spin were identical pretty much, I would put him right between 6 and 8 (degrees), that’s pretty much where he lives. And spin was 2200-2500 (rpm), and those were very similar. He noticed that in the 410, due to all the fitting options that we have, and CGs that we can move and get all that dialed in for him, he was able to strike the center every time, where he was a little bit toe-side on his 400. And I think that just added the consistency. The launch and spin didn’t change that much … every single time we got the same number out of the 410. And then ball speed approximately 1 mph faster. Went from about 195 to 196 (mph). Max was 197 (mph), which… yeah, that’s a big number.� PGATOUR.COM: That was fun to watch. OATES: “He’s fun to watch, isn’t he? It’s effortless.� PGATOUR.COM: He hits it so low, but it stays in the air forever. OATES: “The 2-degree launch that carries 300 yards is impressive.� PGATOUR.COM: He’s got that in the bag? OATES: “Yeah. When he hits his low stinger, he launches it at 2 (degrees) and it carried 291 (yards) I think it was.� PGATOUR.COM: Is that a problem at all? You guys aren’t trying to get him more launch, he likes that window? OATES: “Yeah. If you look at ball data at that ball speed, anything over 10 (degrees of launch) is really hard to control left-or-right bias. Because you saw… normally 7 (degrees) and 2200 (rpm) looks like it’s falling out of the sky. But at 196 (mph) it just hangs out there forever.� PGATOUR.COM: Yeah, it just chills. OATES: (laughs) “It feels like it’s at its apex the whole entire flight.� BUY EQUIPMENT HERE: PGA TOUR Superstore

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AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tommy Fleetwood’s wife Clare battled for a peek of her husband all day. Marc Leishman’s wife Audrey used her short stature to her advantage when politely asking to push through the ropes at Amen Corner a few times before giving up. Even Tiger Woods’ own mother – who knows every shortcut and special viewing secret at Augusta National – was unable to get more than a few glimpses of her boy. Welcome back to the Masters, Tiger. As expected, the patrons moved in a wave, engulfing the 10:42 a.m. trio of Woods, Leishman and Fleetwood at every turn. Those walking along would routinely merge into those who had chosen to stake their claim on a viewing spot ahead of time. As each grandstand was passed, the unmistakable rumble of footsteps evacuating the structures would begin. Everyone wanted to see Tiger, and plenty wanted to show their affection. At Augusta National, only players, caddies and the bare minimum television cameraman get inside the ropes. There is no special treatment. And so standing back behind crowds — 30 and 40 deep at places — were family members and friends and media. There were even a few members in Green Jackets walking a hole or two. “I don’t really expect to see any shots,â€� Clare said early in the round. “But it is a good day for a walk.â€� Fleetwood’s wife recounted how they had been talking prior to the tee times being announced and she had voiced getting Woods would be the worst-case scenario – and then sure enough the times flashed on the screen. “Worse case for me!â€� she quickly reminded her man. Fleetwood himself enjoyed the marquee group and fought hard to a nice even-par round. Leishman immediately decided to treat the scenario as a positive. “If I can’t handle it now, I mean I never will,â€� Leishman said of the masses. “But the way I looked at it, if you’re going to win here, you got to play in front of crowds like that, with energy like that. “So I looked at it as a positive and preparation for later in the week.â€� The admiration started early for Woods, who claimed “the nerves really were just normal. I wasn’t flying high. I wasn’t jittery, I wasn’t any of that stuff.â€� They stood and cheered for him at the range when he arrived just under an hour before his tee time. When he signed a glove for a man in the disabled viewing section he got his first raucous cheer. The seas parted from the clubhouse door to the practice putting green and the crowd encouraged voraciously as his tee time neared. They stood and hollered a little more as he was introduced on the first tee for the first time since 2015. And it continued as he marched down the opening fairway in a seemingly endless chorus until one clever patron broke up the Woods love-fest with a very audible “Marc you’re the man!â€� — making all three break into a giggle. Woods returned the love by hitting his opening shot – and a few others – outside the ropes. It meant he would ply his trade right amongst a select few lucky patrons. At one stage, they were a little too eager. With Woods looking to punch a shot from well right of the 11th fairway he moved everyone well back. But once he made contact with the ball they surged forward and into the path of the shot, stopping it from chasing toward the putting surface. “It was a great shot there. Unfortunately people ran out and it clipped them. Otherwise it’s just short right of the green, an easy up-and-down from there, where I was trying to leave it,â€� Woods said after the round. On the course, Woods was a little more animated and agitated but otherwise he was certainly loving being back in major championship golf. In the end, Woods’ 1-over 73 wasn’t overly special, but it was better than it could have been as he fought back hard from some mistakes. It was no secret everyone out there wanted a charge. They wanted a low number. You could feel the collective will of the crowd trying to push short putts forward or errant shots back on line. They wanted to roar. There was an early one thanks to a birdie putt on the third hole, but back-to-back bogeys sucked the life back out of the throng. They lifted again at the par-3 sixth hole when Woods hit it tight off the tee. But he failed to convert, and the sighs reverberated around the pines. A run of pars came before the hordes of people were bummed with a bogey on 11 and a water ball into Rae’s Creek on 12. Failure to birdie the par-5 13th also hurt. But those who stuck around were rewarded on the 14th hole when Woods made his second birdie of the round. They let him know even if it was more a roar of relief. A more pronounced reverberation came on the par-3 16th – the sight of his infamous chip-in in 2005 – when he coaxed in another birdie. And while a red number start didn’t materialize – they still stood on the 18th green and warmly welcomed the four-time champion back. “The crowds have been incredible. It’s been awesome this entire comeback,â€� Woods admitted after finishing the day in a tie for 29th. “I could have easily let it slip away. And I fought hard to get it back in there, and I’m back in this championship. There’s a lot of holes to be played.â€� You can bet those with weekend tickets certainly hope he is right.  

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