A running list of custom gear and equipment for the 2019 Masters

After entering the weekend in contention at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, Carlos Ortiz heads to Houston to defend in one of the PGA TOUR’s longest-running host cities. To win this year’s Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open, however, he’ll have to top a field boasting many of the game’s top players. FIELD NOTES: Brooks Koepka will head back to Houston – and the course he had a hand in shaping – to find his game after some continued struggles saw him miss the cut in Mexico… Koepka is joined by 13 other major champions in the Houston field… Matthew Wolff, who held the 36-hole lead in Mexico, is teeing it up… Past Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open winners teeing it up include the last four champs: Ortiz (defending a TOUR title for the first time), Lanto Griffin, Russell Henley, and Ian Poulter… Texas native and U.S. Ryder cup team member Scottie Scheffler is in the field after sitting in second place halfway through last week’s World Wide Technology Championship… Adam Scott, who won in Houston in 2007, is returning to action after a T5 at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT… Sponsor exemptions include Arizona State senior Cameron Sisk, Houston-area residents MJ Daffue and Shawn Stefani, and Brooks Koepka’s younger brother, Chase Koepka… Sisk earned his spot by winning the Maridoe Intercollegiate. He is 18th in the PGA TOUR University ranking. Sisk has finished in the top 5 in all three of his starts this season, including a win and runner-up. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Memorial Park Golf Course, par 70, 7,412 yards. This municipal course underwent a dramatic renovation by famed architect Tom Doak, with consultation from Brooks Koepka, before returning to the PGA TOUR after an absence of nearly six decades. To prepare for the TOUR’s return, holes were both shortened and lengthened, and trees were removed. The course boasts strategic bunkering, and unique green contours with dramatic short-grass runoffs – making it a second-shot golf course. STORYLINES: The Houston stop is the penultimate event on the PGA TOUR schedule in 2021… With just one more event left after Houston, this is prime time for many to earn valuable FedExCup points. Sixteen of the top 30 players on the FedExCup standings (as of Nov. 6), including leader Sam Burns, will tee it up in Houston. Three past FedExCup champions (Bill Haas, Brandt Snedeker, and Henrik Stenson) are scheduled to play… Ortiz is looking to become the first golfer to defend his title in Houston since Vijay Singh in 2004-05… While there hasn’t been a playoff in Houston since 2018, the event has still seen playoffs 23 times out of its 74 editions – the second most of any in the TOUR’s history after the U.S. Open. 72-HOLE RECORD: 266, Curtis Strange and Lee Trevino (1980 at Woodlands CC), Vijay Singh (2002 at TPC Woodlands). Golf Club of Houston record: 268, Phil Mickelson (2011), Russell Henley (2017). Memorial Park Golf Course record: 267, Carlos Ortiz (2020) 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Ron Streck (3rd round, 1981 at Woodlands CC), Fred Funk (3rd round, 1992 at TPC Woodlands). Golf Club of Houston record: 63, Johnson Wagner (1st round, 2008), Adam Scott (1st round, 2008), Jimmy Walker (1st round, 2011), Phil Mickelson (3rd round, 2011), Scott Piercy (1st round, 2015), Sung Kang (2nd round, 2017). Memorial Park Golf Course record: 63, Hideki Matsuyama (4th round, 2020), Talor Gooch (4th round, 2020) LAST TIME: Carlos Ortiz finally broke through to win on the PGA TOUR (after winning three times on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2014) after a final-round 65 in Houston. He became the first Mexican player in 42 years to win on the PGA TOUR. … Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama tied for second, then went on to win the next two Masters. Johnson won 2020’s unique November Masters the following week and Matsuyama won in the tournament’s return to its traditional April date … Ortiz needed two putts to win on the 72nd hole, but drained a 20-footer for birdie to finish in style. Matsuyama and Johnson finished tied for second, two shots back of Ortiz. Talor Gooch finished fourth, while Brooks Koepka and Sepp Straka rounded out the top five. Koepka had a role in redesigning the tournament’s host layout, the Memorial Park Golf Course. The 2020 Houston Open was the first domestic PGA TOUR event that allowed spectators since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 2,000 tickets sold per day. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-4 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. (Featured Groups) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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Here are nine tidbits from the first round of the BMW Championship gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Aronimink Golf Club just outside Philadelphia plays 7,267 yards to Par-70. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 selected, plus TWO, golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. I included all players who were owned by 20 percent or more. Big temperatures, big landing areas, big greens and big amounts of birdies welcomed the remaining 69 players in the FedExCup Playoffs at Aronimink Golf Club. The wind was non-existent so fairways and greens were to be had. Perfect greens were running at around 11.5 feet on the Stimpmeter that rounded out perfect scoring conditions. First In #59Watch was in full effect as Tiger Woods went out in 29 to kick-start the buzz for the week. His four birdies and an eagle set the tone but he couldn’t keep up the pace on his final nine (front nine). His 33 included his only bogey of the day plus three more birdies. It was by far his best opening round in sometime and it tied the course record. Gamers will point out it wasn’t based smoke or mirrors. He checked in second in Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green, third in proximity and sixth in Strokes-Gained: Putting with old favorite Scotty Cameron bag in the bag. Not bad for a guy who didn’t break par here in four rounds in 2010! 62 No. 2 After hearing the roars all afternoon in front of him, Rory McIlroy didn’t exactly back down from the challenge in the opening round. After making eight birdies in a row in his pro-am round on Wednesday, he added 10 more in Round 1 to share the course record with Woods and Nick Watney (2011). After five consecutive birdies to open his final nine (front nine), the 2014 BMW champ was nine-under with four holes to play. Our second #59Watch ended with bogeys Nos. 16* and 17* before a final birdie added up to 62. People’s Choice I was surprised that Bryson DeChambeau didn’t grace more than 70 percent of the rosters this week but the contrarian in me made me see the light. Winning two FedExCup Playoff events in one year is pretty astounding; winning two events in a row is even crazier. He hit it great and is T20 after three birdies against only one bogey with a chilly putter. Tony Reward It was pointed out by colleague Sean Martin that Tony Finau has been in pretty elite company despite not winning this season. The big hitter opened with 68, another round in the red, and sits T30. He’s posted four rounds above par since Shinnecock Hills. That’s insane. He’s collected cash for solo second and T4 to open the FedExCup Playoffs and should be awarded the final spot on the Ryder Cup team. Returning to Action Rickie Fowler suggested that in a long season his injury was probably fortunate as he was forced to recharge his battery. He took his time coming back and the patience was rewarded with a bogey-free 65. The iron play was rusty but his trusty short game (5 for 5 scrambling) and smooth putting stroke kept him in the top 10. Defender No player in the history of the FedExCup Playoffs has defended an event title. Marc Leishman is the defending champion of the event but Aronimink is hosting for the first time. The Aussie, along with countryman Adam Scott, looked anything but comfortable on the new digs as they joined Brendan Steele T67 (last) on four-over 74. Bubble Boys The top 30 will advance to the next round of the FedExCup Playoffs next week at East Lake Golf Club. Here’s how the guys under the gun are performing: Study Hall Round 1 played under-par at 68.130 (-1.870) with 48 of 69 rounds under-par. … Fowler was joined in the bogey-free department by Brian Gay, Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson. … Billy Horschel (T4) and Xander Schauffele (3rd) made eight birdies, two shy of McIlroy’s 10. … Of the top 10 players in Strokes-Gained: Approach-the-Green seven are T12 or better. … Gamers will need to adjust their lineups ASAP as tee times have been moved up Friday to avoid afternoon storms. Round 2 will tee off from both tees between 7 and 9 am.

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MCKINNEY, Texas — Jordan Spieth woke up Friday at 4:30 a.m. He felt tight on the range at the AT&T Byron Nelson. He bogeyed his first hole. Spieth found little to like early in the second round, starting his morning slowly on the back nine and playing holes 10 through 13 at TPC Craig Ranch at 1 over. “Losing a couple to the field there got me a little frustrated,” he said. “If you kind of tap the brakes a little when the scores are going to be low you feel like you have to play catchup.” Except that didn’t happen either. Spieth made just three birdies Friday. He lost his share of the lead and finished with a 2-under 70, three behind K.H. Lee. There was little wind when he and longtime friends Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris started play. Spieth hoped for a score around 5 under. That, the Dallas native and resident thought, would keep him at the top of the leaderboard for the weekend at the tournament where he made his first PGA TOUR start when he was 16 years old. But after a birdie on his fifth hole, Spieth stalled. He fought with his patience as he made par after par after par. The putter didn’t cooperate, either. The longest putt he holed was from 11 feet 2 inches on No. 1, his 10th hole. It was for par. “I just had plenty of looks,” Spieth said. “I didn’t make many putts at all today.” It was nothing like Thursday, when he made seven birdies and an exhilarating eagle on the par-5 18th. A substantial share of the 12,500 spectators on the course committed to following the group of three old rivals from the North Texas PGA section junior tour, many of them cheering robustly when Spieth made another putt or saved another stroke or tested the odds, as he did in spectacular fashion on No. 12. After a blocked drive finished in a patch of mud behind a clump of crabgrass, Spieth and his caddie discussed their many options. His ball sat about 245 yards from the hole at the reachable par-5, but tree limbs dangled to his right, forcing him to shape a shot just so to clear a creek that runs through the property. A prudent punch seemed the logical play. But Spieth never wavered. He slammed a soaring hybrid to 10 feet from the hole. The galleries howled, and Spieth seemed invincible. Even that pure joy of playing seemed elusive Friday, he said. “I think yesterday, even when I wasn’t playing a good hole, I was kind of laughing at the miss or chunked it and laughed,” he said. “Today I had a shorter fuse.” After two consecutive birdies Thursday to go to minus 7, Spieth drove short of the green on the par-4 14th. He hit his pitch too heavy and scrambled for par, but chuckled at the mistake. On the tee of the 15th, a long par-3 over water, Spieth thinned his iron and begged for it to find the ground. When it did, he leaned on his club and smiled. That Jordan Spieth never quite made it to the course the next day. The Spieth who did wasn’t nearly as loose, sharp or forgiving. “I’ll just get some better rest tonight and then, like I said tomorrow, will be kind of a fun test,” he said. “There is no reason for me not to trust everything I’m doing. At this point, I’ve got an opportunity to contend here, and if I can get myself a chance on Sunday, that is the best prep for this tournament and also next week.”

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