MacIntyre eagles 17th, has 4-shot lead in Canada

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Golf’s global growth has countless benefits. But it can also present challenges, especially if you’re trying to compare players competing on all corners of the globe. Three years ago, the Official World Golf Ranking began an analysis to answer one question: What is the best way to compare performances from players who compete around the world but may never face each other? That was an easier task when the OWGR was unveiled in 1986 and included just six tours. More than 20 tours are now included in the ranking. This growth was one reason for the changes to the world ranking that were announced Wednesday. This new system was created to provide a more accurate ranking, one that eliminates biases that existed because of arbitrary values that had been used in the ranking’s calculation. Here’s 5 Things to Know about the new world ranking: 1. WHAT’S NEW: This isn’t the first update to the Official World Golf Ranking. In its 35 years, the system has been adjusted at least 17 times, according to Peter Dawson, the chairman of the OWGR’s Governing Board. Under the new world ranking, a field will be evaluated based on the skill of all players in the field. The old system focused primarily on players ranked in the top 200 of the world, with little regard for the skill level of the remainder of the field. Each player will now have a Strokes Gained World Rating based on his scores in stroke-play events over the past two years. A player’s SG World Rating will determine how many Performance Points he contributes to the field. The sum of Performance Points determines the tournament’s Field Rating, which determines the number of Ranking Points that will be distributed. Ranking points will be awarded to all players who make the cut in a similar distribution to the prize purse, i.e. 18% to the winner, 11% to second place, etc. The old system did not guarantee points to all players who made the cut, but the new one does. Other features of the world ranking, such as its two-year weighted average, and minimum and maximum divisors for individual players remain intact. 2. OUT WITH THE OLD: The Field Rating replaces the Strength of Field measurement, which focused primarily on the number of top-200 players in a field. Also gone are the arbitrary values that are used in the current iteration of the world ranking, like the minimum values that tournaments on each tour can award. The new world ranking is agnostic to tour affiliations and concerned only with the skill of the players in the field. “We’re using all players coming into a field to determine the strength of an event rather than a smaller subset,” said Steve Otto, the R&A’s Technical Director and member of the OWGR Technical Committee. “This … will eliminate the requirement to have artificial constraints on the field rating with a more transparent and robust system.” For example, events on the PGA TOUR and European Tour can award no fewer than 24 points to the winner, regardless of the quality of the field. Those minimum values are not part of the new system. There are no longer flagship events – a designation given to the highest profile event on a specific tour — which also had a floor on the minimum number of points they could award. The only exceptions are the four majors, which will continue to award 100 points to their winners, and THE PLAYERS Championship, whose champion will earn 80 points. 3. GAINING ON THEM: So, what is a player’s Strokes Gained World Rating? If it sounds like something Mark Broadie would create, it should, as he was instrumental in its development. Described most simply, a player’s SG World Rating is based on his actual scores in stroke-play events, which are then adjusted for the strength of field. Things get a little more complex when you consider it’s a statistical modelling calculation known as fixed effects regression that enables the scores to be standardized. With either description, SG World Rating allows for comparison of players across a myriad of tours, enabling a 67 shot in the first round of THE PLAYERS to be compared to a 64 shot on the final day of a Challenge Tour event in Kazakhstan. Each player’s SG World Rating will fluctuate according to his two-year record, with more recent scores receiving more emphasis. SG World Ratings are an excellent evaluator of skill and would have strong predictive ability, said Billy Schroder, the PGA TOUR’s Vice President, International Relations and member of the OWGR Technical Committee, but the world ranking believes a ranking should reflect “established golfing norms,” including recognizing the majors as the pinnacle of the sport, putting a premium on winning and awarding points to all players who make the cut. 4. WHEN: The new system will not take effect for another year, beginning with the ranking for the week that ends August 14, 2022. From that date forward, tournaments will award points based on the new system (no retroactive changes will be made to past points awarded). Because the Official World Golf Ranking is calculated over a two-year window, the OWGR will not entirely reflect the new system until August 2024. 5. THE IMPACT: The OWGR predicts that the top 10 in the world ranking will likely remain the same under this new system and the top 50, which fluctuates weekly, would feature just 2-5 new players. The fact that these players compete regularly against each other is the reason for the minimal impact.

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Titleist has officially launched its T-series (T100, T200 and T300), 620 MB and 620 CB irons to the public, after recently launching its new U500 and U510 irons), as well as its TS hybrids. The T100, 620 MB and 620 CB irons first launched on the PGA TOUR at the 2019 U.S. Open, while the T200 and T300 irons first appeared at the 2019 Travelers Championship. PGA TOUR players have been using Titleist’s new irons since they launched, but until now, Titleist has remained quiet about retail dates, design details and pricing. With today’s announcement from Titleist, all of those details are now public. According to Titleist, the 620-series nomenclature is a nod to former 600-series forged blades released in the early-to-mid 2000’s. The T-series, on the other hand, is a separation from the past. After 11 years, Titleist is replacing the AP-series with the T-series. “The T-Series represents a revolutionary step forward in Titleist iron design and technology,� said Josh Talge, Titleist’s Vice President of Golf Club Marketing, in a press release. “Our Club R&D team is nearly six times the size it was when the first AP iron was introduced 11 years ago. It’s because of that ongoing investment that we’ve been able to make such significant breakthroughs in materials and construction, and learn how to package those technologies into constructions that offer the look, sound and feel that players expect from a Titleist iron.� Below, we take a look at what’s different with all of the new iron designs. The T100, T200, T300, 620 MB and 620 CB irons will all be available for fittings on August 8, and they will hit golf shops on August 30; read on for further information about each of the irons. T100 The T100 irons were developed based on direct feedback from TOUR players, including Jordan Spieth. They have a fully forged, dual-cavity construction, and they have an average of 66 grams of Tungsten in each head that’s placed in the heel and toe sections of the iron heads for added stability. Compared to the previous AP2 irons, the T100 faces are constructed thinner for higher ball speed across the face. Since these irons are made with TOUR players in mind, they have thin toplines, minimal offset, and camber on the sole to improve turf interaction. Throughout the sets (3-PW, W50), there are progressive blade lengths, sole widths and hosel lengths to ensure CG (center of gravity) is in the right spot for each head. “With T100 we wanted to build an iron that delivers incredible performance and perfectly suits the player’s eye,� said Marni Ines, Director of Titleist Irons Development, Golf Club R&D, in a press release. “This is a precision product. It’s not about hitting it the furthest, it’s about hitting it that exact distance each and every time, being able to work the ball when necessary and having that pure look and feel that the best players in the world demand.� The T100 irons come stock with True Temper AMT Tour White steel shafts, or Mitsubishi Tensei White AM2 graphite shafts. They will sell for $175 per club in steel ($1,399 for a set of 8 clubs), or $187.50 per club in graphite ($1,499 for a set of 8). T200 and T300 Both the T200 and T300 irons are made with what the company is calling “Max Impact� technology, which is a design that was developed in partnership with Titleist Golf Ball R&D. To increase speed across the faces without sacrificing sound or feel, Titleist is putting polymer cores behind the faces, allowing them to be constructed thinner; this allows for more speed, consistent distances, and higher launch angles, according to Ines. “Max Impact allows us to make thinner, faster faces that push the limits of iron ball speed,� Ines said. “With this system in place, we’re able to take our materials and make them thinner and faster to maximize speed across the face, and help give us the launch angle we need to deliver more consistent distances on every swing.� The T200 irons are “player’s distance irons,� according to Titleist, while the T300 irons are a “player’s improvement iron.� Made for players who want distance without sacrificing looks, feel, trajectory or stopping power, the T200 irons have thin toplines and camber on the soles for better turf interaction. The also have SUP-10 L-Face inserts, and they use an average of 90 grams of Tungsten in each head to lower CG for higher launch. The T300 irons, which have a larger profile than the T200 irons, are made for maximum distance and forgiveness. They have an average of 52 grams of Tungsten in each head to lower CG. Both the T200 (4-PW, W48) and T300 (4-PW, W48, W53) iron sets have progressive blade lengths, sole widths and hosel lengths. The T200 irons will sell for $175 per club in steel ($1,399 for a set of 8 clubs), or $187.50 per club in graphite ($1,499 for a set of 8). Stock shaft offerings will be True Temper AMT Black steel shafts or Mitsubishi Tensei Blue AM2 graphite shafts. The T300 irons will sell for $125 per club ($999 for a set of 8) in steel or $137.50 per club in graphite ($1,099 per set of 8). Stock shafts will be True Temper AMT Red steel shafts and Mitsubishi Tensei Red AM2 graphite shafts. 620 MB and 620 CB Due to the increased number of players switching into mixed irons sets, Titleist has matched the head profiles of the 620 MB and 620 CB irons, and each of the sets have progressive designs; the blade lengths are shorter in the short irons and longer in the long irons. The 3- and 4-irons of the CB sets, however, use Tungsten to improve ball speed and forgiveness.   “Our ability to use co-forged high-density tungsten in such a compact blade size like 620 CB is extremely powerful, especially at the long end of the set where players need the most help with launch and forgiveness,� said Marni Ines, Director, Titleist Irons Development. “We’ve seen many MB players gravitate toward mixed sets particularly because that combination of performance and workability in the CB 3- and 4- irons is so compelling. At the same time, with mixed sets becoming so common, we matched the profiles and blade lengths of 620 CB and MB so that players can start blending at any point in the set without making any sacrifices.� The MB heads, on the other hand, are all one-piece forgings made from 1025 carbon steel. They have a brushed chrome finish, and the labeling on the irons was kept intentionally simple based on TOUR feedback. “One request we started to hear over and over from both pros and amateurs was to make MB as clean as possible,� Talge said. “Really the only way to do that was to remove any ‘MB’ graphic, leaving only the Titleist script on the back of the club head. MB players know what an MB is, so that’s what we did.� The 620 CB irons (3-PW) will come stock with Project X LZ steel shafts, while the 620 MB irons (3-PW) will come stock with Project X steel shafts; both offerings will come stock with Mitsubishi Tensei White AM2 graphite shafts. They will sell for $175 per club ($1,399 for a set of 8) in steel and $187.50 per club in graphite ($1,499). Related: See more photos of each iron here.

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