An’s goals in 2020? A win … and a trip to East Lake

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LAS VEGAS – A year ago, following his first PGA TOUR victory at the 2018 Sanderson Farms Championship, Cameron Champ made a number of changes to his driver and iron setups. He began using new Blueprint Forged irons and a new Ping G410 LS Tec driver but later switched back into setups with which he is more familiar: Ping’s iBlade irons and G400 Max driver, each of which he used to win the Sanderson. Recently, Champ switched again into the new Blueprint irons and a G410 LST driver. The new heads are now equipped with different shafts that allow Champ to produce the ball flights and consistency he’s looking for – and it paid off last week at the Safeway Open, as he finished off an emotional week with his second PGA TOUR win. Also, as equipment fans may have noticed in his winner’s bag on Sunday, Champ uses two 4-irons, neither of which matches his other Blueprint Forged irons (5-PW). On Monday, PGATOUR.COM caught up with Champ’s club fitter and Ping TOUR rep Kenton Oates to find out more about why Champ switched his driver and irons, why he uses two 4-irons, his crazy-low ball flight, why golfers don’t necessarily need to use blade irons, and much, much more. PGATOUR.COM: Can you take us through Cameron’s changes? KENTON OATES: “The change that started all this was when he started wanting to look at G410 LS Tec drivers in Detroit, so we did a lot of work between Detroit (Rocket Mortgage Classic) and New York (THE NORTHERN TRUST). By the time he got to New York in the Playoffs, he wanted a driver that he could hit lower and hit little cuts with. So we went even shorter in length, from 44.75 inches to 44.5 inches. We also went into a shaft that’s really stiff in the tip, the Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green. Then he loved the driver. “That’s what kind of sparked us wanting to work on iron shafts. He played Blueprint irons after winning with iBlades (at the 2018 Sanderson Farms), and he actually statistically gained more shots with the Blueprints, but that change kind of came at the wrong time. So we reached out to him after the season was done, and we’re like, ‘Hey, the Blueprints were actually pretty positive. What did you like about them? What didn’t you like about them?’ “He said that he liked the shaft change to True Temper’s Dynamic Gold X100, but he felt like he wanted something stiffer the next time; maybe not as stiff as his KBS C-Taper 130X shafts. So we sent C-Tapers and True Temper Dynamic Gold X7s home with him in the Blueprint heads. Then we added our Cushin inserts into the shafts, which are 10-gram inserts that are basically plastic with ball bearings. The Cushin helps with vibration — but in this case, it was just for weight purposes. PGATOUR.COM: Where exactly does the Cushin insert go? OATES: “It depends on the shaft, but on the X7s, it goes about 12 inches down the shaft, right on the fulcrum point. So it doesn’t really change swing weight, it just adds overall weight. The whole goal with Cameron was to get him a stable club that goes straight or falls right, and the extra weight for him just makes it more consistent. We want him to hit 8-irons 181 yards, or whatever his number is, and hit that 20 times in a row. He doesn’t need any help with distance obviously. So, he tested the Blueprints out with the different shafts and showed up to Jackson (2019 Sanderson Farms) with the X7s with Cushin. He’s played two events with those, and in his second event with that setup, he won.â€� PGATOUR.COM: Is his natural ball flight a high-draw that he guards against? Or he just wants equipment that compliments his natural flight? OATES: “I think his natural ball flight is pretty low and straight, and he just knows that when he’s fading it, he can keep the ball in front of him a little bit easier. He can hit it both ways pretty easily, actually. He can naturally draw it pretty easily. He went through some swing changes last year where he was trying to hit it a little higher, and then he stopped doing that at the end of the season. Coming out in Jackson, he talked about how him and Sean (Foley, his swing coach) were working on getting back to just smashing it. He actually hits it pretty darn straight for how hard he hits it. The ball doesn’t curve much.â€� PGATOUR.COM: Can you put his ball flight in comparison to maybe a Bubba Watson, or some of the other long hitters that you guys work with? OATES: “It’s even lower. Bubba’s stock shot is an 8-degree launch, 2500-rpm cutter that looks pretty low, and Cameron’s drives would stay underneath that apex the whole time. Bubba’s far ball is then like four times higher, because that’s 14-degree launch and 2200 rpm of spin, and it’s something you can’t even put into words. “But speed creates height, and with the speed Cameron hits it … it’s just so low. He can control the face so well, and it’s like a stinger that carries 300 yards. … “You watch him hit his 4-iron and his flight doesn’t make sense. It comes out really low and it kind of stands up, and you’d expect that flight to carry like 215 yards, and it’s going 255 yards. I can’t even comprehend it.â€� PGATOUR.COM: It’s very interesting that he has two 4-irons. Can you explain the reasoning behind that? OATES: “Cameron plays an i500 4-iron that’s built to 3-iron length. The i500 has metalwood technology in the face, so that metalwood technology is going to allow for some more flex in the face at impact; that means higher ball speeds, higher launch, a little less spin. So you put that club in the hands of a guy with that type of speed — he carries that club about 275-280 yards (laughs). … “It’s basically a 4-iron that plays exactly like a 3-iron would play for him. Then he goes into an iBlade 4-iron. We sent him the Blueprints, obviously 4-PW, along with a 4 and 5-iron in the iBlade, but when he showed up to Jackson he told me when he looked down at the Blueprint 4-iron, “I can’t play this.’“ PGATOUR: Because it’s so small? OATES: “Yeah, just because of the size. The i500 is already a little bit bigger, as well, so the iBlade is kind of his progression club. The i500s have a medium size and medium offset, then the iBlade is a little bit bigger than the Blueprint.â€� PGATOUR: What’s the difference in loft between the two 4-irons that he has in the bag? OATES: “The stock loft on the i500, because of that metalwood technology, has to be a little bit lower because the face flexing adds so much loft, even for the average golfer. The actual loft is pretty close to standard, traditional 3-iron loft. I think the loft on the i500 4-iron is 21 degrees, and then his iBlade is 24 degrees, and his Blueprint 5-iron is 27 degrees. So it’s a 3-degree spread.â€� PGATOUR: That’s actually a pretty standard loft progression. When you see it as two 4-irons, it looks different than what’s actually a 3-degree spread. OATES: Yeah, for all intents and purposes [the i500 is] basically just a 3-iron for him. It has a little bit bigger head, produces a little bit more ball speed, probably hits it a little bit higher than a traditional 3-iron. And off the tee it can go because of that face technology. PGATOUR: Some golfers love playing blades, and the smallest head possible. Maybe it’s a pride thing, or impressing their group, but here’s Cameron Champ who’s a ball striker and one of the longest hitters in the game, but he’s still going with a mixed set because the 4-iron looks so small. OATES: “Exactly. His direct quote in the TOUR Van in Jackson, actually, was, ‘I think I’m fine with my Blueprint 5-iron, but I can’t play this butter knife 4-iron.’â€�

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Cam Davis (+190 for a Top 20) … The 27-year-old Aussie leads off what really is a pool of candidates for top-40 plays. The John Deere Classic is wide open, so simply multiply your units where most confident. He’s 2-for-2 with a scoring average of 69.25 at TPC Deere Run, but he’s still chasing his first top 50 in the tournament. In his last dozen starts this season, he’s connected for only two top 40s, but both were top 10s, and on relatively similar tests at that – Harbour (T3) and Colonial (T7). Ranging six feet, four inches, he has plenty of muscle, but he profiles strongest on par 3s and as a scorer. Sam Ryder (+350 for a Top 20) … On the surface for those who weren’t paying attention or don’t recall, his co-runner-up in his rookie debut at TPC Deere Run in 2018 was akin to sharing B-flight honors. That was the edition during which Michael Kim established the tournament records in scoring (27-under 257) and margin of victory (eight strokes). It nonetheless was invaluable to Ryder’s comfort level on the PGA TOUR, but his ace at the par-3 16th hole at TPC Scottsdale earlier this year easily is his most memorable moment for fans. Even so, he’s cashed in all three trips and owns a scoring average of 67.92 in his 12 loops of the par 71. While he’s 95th in the FedExCup, he’s scuffled in his last 10 tries in individual competition, so the JDC arrives at a time when he needs a boost. Kevin Chappell (+450 for a Top 20) … When he failed to meet the terms of his Major Medical Extension during the same WM Phoenix Open where Ryder made history, he tumbled into the Past Champions category and admitted that he wasn’t sure what his future held. Well, with his 36th birthday on the horizon (July 8), he’s stayed active enough not to rule out a continuation of the lifestyle that he knows best. He’s added a pair of top 20s and sits 182nd in the FedExCup to at least give himself a great chance to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. One more solid performance would cement entry at worst, and it stands to reason that it will be an early birthday present at TPC Deere Run where he’s 3-for-3 with a T8 in his last appearance in 2015. Kelly Kraft (+500 for a Top 20) … Like Chappell, Kraft also fell short on his medical extension (at the Valspar Championship) but he’s fully exempt as a Korn Ferry Tour Finals graduate, so it specifically didn’t slow him down. His form in general has been suspect for most of the season, but he landed in the Quad Cities with four cuts made in his last five starts, two of which for a top 20. Leads the PGA TOUR in conversion percentage inside 10 feet, so no one is more dangerous to prevail in a putting contest. However, he’ll need to dial in his irons so as not to put too much pressure on his sharpest weapon to score. With a 4-for-4 slate at TPC Deere Run, he knows his way around the property to optimize all facets of his game right now. Scott Brown (+450 for a Top 20) … Call it a risk or call it shrewd, but don’t base the decision on the result. The 39-year-old is 210th in the FedExCup. He’s also 78th in Korn Ferry Tour points. KFT members who also are exempt on the PGA TOUR are in week-to-week mode to determine where they want to focus their efforts. With only five KFT events remaining to determine the top 25 who earn 2022-23 PGA TOUR cards and the top 75 eligible for the KFT Finals, every week is critical. Because he’s not fully exempt on the PGA TOUR, he could be in Colorado for the KFT’s The Ascendent presented by Blue. However, that he’s opted for TPC Deere Run is obvious. He hasn’t missed an edition since splashing in 2012 and has recorded three top 10s and another four top 25 in nine starts. Last year’s T4 occurred during an extended slump that would define his demotion to Past Champion status this season. Fresh off a T10 at the Live and Work in Maine Open, he’s actually at the center of converging trends, too. Odds were sourced on Tuesday, June 28, 2022. For live odds, visit BetMGM .

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