Blimp pilot suffers burns in crash at U.S. Open

GERMANTOWN, Tenn. – Late in a major-winning season may seem like an odd time to make an equipment change, but Justin Thomas has a new driver in the bag at this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship. This week at TPC Southwind, where Thomas won the 2020 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, is Thomas’ first with Titleist’s new driver. Why change now? Titleist first brought the TSR drivers out on TOUR at the Travelers Championship, which Thomas had to withdraw from because of a back injury. He had the new driver at home but wasn’t able to sufficiently practice with the club before back-to-back events in Scotland because he wanted to rest his back. With three weeks off after The Open, he was able to put the new club through its paces and was ready to debut it this week. “The biggest difference is the spin,” Thomas said after his first-round 67 in Memphis. “When I heel it, it doesn’t spin crazy high and when I toe it, it’s somehow spinning a little more. It’s unbelievable in terms of misses.” Mishits on the heel of a driver tend to have more spin while misses on the toe tend to have less. Consistent launch conditions were one reason Thomas made the change, said Titleist tour rep J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. Thomas also saw an uptick in ball speed, according to Van Wezenbeeck, and liked the TSR3’s “classic shaping” and “clean look.” Thomas is using a 10-degree Titleist TSR3 with a Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX driver. The head is on the D1 setting, which takes three-quarters of a degree of loft off the face. Decreasing the loft also opens the face, which is a look at Thomas prefers. “I like it being a little bit open,” Thomas said. “I don’t like when I can’t see a lot of face because then I feel like I have to get it up in the air and then I start getting underneath it and that gets the two-way miss going. I feel like when I’m driving it my best, although I like to work it both ways, I feel like I aim at something and rip it and it goes pretty straight and falls right. Kind of letting the openness in the club let it fade a little bit.” Thomas entered the week at No. 8 in the FedExCup standings after a season that included his second PGA Championship win and top-10s in half his starts. He was sixth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+1.5) on Thursday. He’s trying to join Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods as the only two-time winners of the FedExCup. Thomas won his first FedExCup five years ago, the same year that he won his first PGA Championship.

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Here is the latest field list for the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play as of March 16. Top 64 – Official World Golf Ranking Dustin Johnson Justin Thomas Jon Rahm Jordan Spieth Hideki Matsuyama Sergio Garcia Jason Day Tommy Fleetwood Paul Casey Rory McIlroy Tyrrell Hatton Marc Leishman Alex Noren Phil Mickelson Pat Perez Matt Kuchar Rafa Cabrera Bello Brian Harman Patrick Reed Xander Schauffele Francesco Molinari Charley Hoffman Branden Grace Gary Woodland Louis Oosthuizen Ross Fisher Kiradech Aphibarnrat Daniel Berger Matthew Fitzpatrick Tony Finau Patrick Cantlay Kevin Kisner Kevin Chappell Bubba Watson Brendan Steele Haotong Li Webb Simpson Adam Hadwin Thomas Pieters Satoshi Kodaira Dylan Frittelli Jason Dufner Chez Reavie Jhonattan Vegas Yuta Ikeda Cameron Smith Patton Kizzire Charl Schwartzel Si Woo Kim Bernd Wiesberger Kyle Stanley Yusaku Miyazato Russell Henley Zach Johnson James Hahn Alexander Levy Peter Uihlein Ian Poulter Shubhankar Sharma Kevin Na Charles Howell III Joost Luiten Keegan Bradley Luke List

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Lucas Herbert … With a playoff victory at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic four weeks ago – his maiden title on the European Tour – and three more paydays in 2020, he’s totaled more Official World Golf Ranking points in the calendar year than every other PGA TOUR non-member, in the process climbing 121 spots to 80th. He can hang with anyone in terms of distance off the tee, but like so many Aussies before him, he also has soft hands for scoring. All three of his PGA TOUR appearances to date have been in majors, so the bright lights of a World Golf Championship won’t be unfamiliar. Kurt Kitayama … The native of California and UNLV product took a week off after finishing T18 on the Poa greens at Pebble Beach. That came two weeks after he placed T6 in Dubai. So, he’s simply piled on after a magnificent rookie season on the European Tour during which he logged two wins, a P2, a solo third, a solo fourth and finished 14th in the Race to Dubai. His firepower off the tee doesn’t play everywhere, but he’s learned how to harness it on the big stage. Michael Lorenzo-Vera … He occupied a spot on this page for the last World Golf Championship and delivered a T38 at the HSBC Champions. It was good, not great, but the Frenchman would go on to finish a career-best 19th in the Race to Dubai with a solo third at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship. It’s how he qualified for his debut at this week’s WGC, where his peerless touch around and on greens should yield a better result than his last WGC. His pair of cuts made in 2020 is highlighted by a T8 in Dubai. Still winless on the European Tour, the 35-year-old is embarking on his 198th career start. Marcus Kinhult … The 23-year-old probably couldn’t have hand-picked a better spot for his World Golf Championship debut. As one of the European Tour’s best putters – a Swede with a sharp short game, who knew? – he’s seemingly solidified a spot on the circuit for years to come. Since breaking through at the British Masters last May, he’s added seven top 20s, including a playoff loss (to Tommy Fleetwood) at the Nedbank Golf Challenge three months ago. Ryan Fox … The Kiwi is a regular on the European Tour but he’s in the field as the money leader from the Australasian Tour in 2019. That was boosted in earnest with a victory at the last edition of the ISPS HANDA World Super 6 Perth a year ago this week. After months without making another headline, a dry spell that included a T67 in his debut at Club de Golf Chapultepec the week after his title in Australia, he returns having recorded five top 25s during an 11-for-12 stretch dating back to the last weekend in September. Most encouragingly, he finished second at the ISPS Handa Vic Open before taking last week off. Arguably best known in the U.S. as one of the longest hitters anywhere, the 33-year-old can throttle back at altitude and put his capable irons to work. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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