A look inside the bags of The Match participants

For the second week in a row, ESPN’s College GameDay has gone to the world of golf for their celebrity guest picker. Following Jordan Spieth’s appearance last week at his alma mater in Austin, Texas, the trend continued with six-time major winner Sir Nick Faldo joining the crew on location in Bozeman, Montana. The storied player and recently retired commentator for CBS and Golf Channel calls Montana his home these days, filling his free time with fly fishing and cheering for the Montana State Bobcats. Without a major matchup between top teams at the FBS level, ESPN chose to send the show to Big Sky Country for the rivalry matchup between Montana and Montana State with pivotal FCS playoff implications. Faldo joined Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Lee Corso, and the whole crew on set in 5-degree weather, a record low for any College GameDay live show. Finding himself right at home back in front of the cameras, Faldo picked the day’s biggest games like USC over UCLA, Michigan over Illinois, Montana State over Montana, and Utah over Oregon, giving Utah-native Tony Finau a shout-out in the process. Faldo dropped a few more golf nuggets, taking the Oklahoma Sooners over the Oklahoma State Cowboys while telling Rickie Fowler it’s time to ditch his iconic OSU orange. After picking Stanford in their matchup against Cal, Faldo made a unscheduled prediction that Stanford alum Tiger Woods would win the upcoming PNC Championship with his son Charlie. The pair finished second in last year’s event but have yet to officially declare their participance in this year’s edition. With Faldo no longer teaming up with Jim Nantz to call golf action, fans of the Englishmen were pleased to hear one of the game’s most iconic voices back in their living rooms once again.

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OVERVIEW What stands between Tommy Fleetwood winning for the first time on the PGA TOUR and becoming a bona fide star in 2019? Not much, and he seems to know it. There was Fleetwood, all by himself on the practice putting green, before the other 29 players had even shown their faces at the TOUR Championship at East Lake last season. There was Fleetwood, going 4-0 with partner Francesco Molinari at the Ryder Cup in France just a week later, leading the European rout. Oh, and don’t forget Fleetwood coming within a dimple or two of making birdie at the 18th hole at Shinnecock Hills, a birdie that would have given him a U.S. Open record 62 and tied him with eventual winner Brooks Koepka. (Fleetwood finished second.) Fleetwood, 27, stands on the precipice of stardom. He’s a four-time winner on the European Tour, has all the physical tools from driving to putting, and is fearless. Birdies? He makes a ton. In addition to his final-round 63 at the U.S. Open, he shot a third-round 62 at the BMW Championship at Aronimink. He had six top-10s in 19 starts and finished 19th in the FedExCup. Whether or not his terrific Ryder Cup performance fuels a bigger career leap remains to be seen; he finished T7 at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in his only TOUR start of the fall. — By Cameron Morfit Click here to see who else made the Top 30 list. BY THE NUMBERS FEDEXCUP UPDATE Current 2018-19 position: 82nd Playoff appearances: 1 TOUR Championship appearances: 1 Best FedExCup result: 19th in the 2017-18 season SHOTLINK FUN FACT Tommy Fleetwood led the PGA TOUR in Par 5 Birdie or Better Percentage last season at 56.32 percent (107 of 190). INSIDER INSIGHTS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Tommy Fleetwood in 2019. TOUR INSIDER: Fleetwood is one of those players who seems to be good at everything. His strength is probably driving, where he was 17th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee last season, but it’s a hard call because he was inside the top 50 in every major Strokes Gained category. A rare disappointment was his final-round 73 and T12 at The Open Championship, his national Open. If Fleetwood can come up with the big shot in the big moment in 2019, the way he did alongside Molinari at the Ryder Cup, it won’t be long before he’s raising his first TOUR trophy. — By Cameron Morfit        FANTASY INSIDER: It’s rare when an international non-member transitions seamlessly onto the PGA TOUR and generates as much value as he did in just 19 starts in 2017-18. It’s rarer still that he’s done nothing to deter us from investing confidently in every format despite his relative inexperience in the United States. Yet, gamers must continue to respect the Englishman’s curtailed schedule due to obligations on his home circuit, but he’s the strongest talent with a TOUR card and without a TOUR victory. Go with the flow. — By Rob Bolton EQUIPMENT INSIDER: Fleetwood’s irons were the topic of arguably the most interesting equipment story of 2018. Former Nike staffer Fleetwood uses VR Pro Blade irons, but the issue is, it’s the last set of the irons he has. That’s obviously a problem, in case something happens to one of the irons. That being the case, he offered to buy fellow ex-Nike staffer Paul Casey’s VR Pro Blade irons … but Casey wouldn’t give them up. Fleetwood’s irons are still going strong, however. While Fleetwood uses a new TaylorMade M3 driver and a Titleist 917F2 3 wood, he still games a Nike Vapor Fly 5 wood (the one with the blue crown). He fills out his bag with Callaway Mack Daddy wedges and an Odyssey White Hot Pro #3 putter. — By Andrew Tursky STYLE INSIDER: Fleetwood is one of the players who is bringing a modern streetwear vibe to the course. Nike’s Roshe shoe is one of the brand’s most iconic streetwear models, and Fleetwood has fully embraced the golf-specific version of the shoe. Expect the Ryder Cup star to lace up the 2019 version of the Roshe G Tour with a cleated outsole and waterproof upper next year. — By Greg Monteforte

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