Day captures Wells Fargo for 2nd win of season

Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama and 2013 champion Dustin Johnson have confirmed their participation in the 2017 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions taking place 26 to 29 October at Sheshan International Golf Club, Shanghai. Since Matsuyama’s triumph at ‘Asia’s Major’ last October when he became the first Japanese player to win a World Golf Championship, he has gone from strength to strength, winning four times, including the PGA TOUR’s Waste Management Phoenix Open and, earlier this month, the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. He reached a career high ranking of number two in June and is currently lying in third place on the Official World Golf Rankings. Matsuyama won last year by a cool seven shots from Henrik Stenson and Daniel Berger. His rounds of 66, 65, 68 and 66 took in as many as 29 birdies, and he is relishing a return to Sheshan. Matsuyama said: “Sheshan has some very special memories for me. It was a great honor to become the first Japanese winner of a World Golf Championships and to do it against such a world-class field was very special. I believe the confidence I gained with such a big victory there has really helped me with my performances this year.â€� At the top of the world rankings, Johnson became the only man to have completed the WGC-Slam when he won both the WGC-Mexico Championship and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play earlier this year.    Johnson, who suffered a back injury following a fall on the eve of this year’s Masters, returned to the winning circle last week at the PGA TOUR’s NORTHERN TRUST. He commented: “It is great that Hideki and I hold all the 2017 WGC titles between us, so we will both be gunning to win the final WGC of the year. I really look forward to returning to Shanghai and it always helps to be returning to a course where you have won before. The Chinese fans are awesome and bring a real energy and enthusiasm that always makes it really fun to play there.â€� Giles Morgan, HSBC Global Head of Sponsorship and Events, added: “WGC-HSBC Champions is our flagship event in global golf and an early announcement of two of the world’s best players is hugely exciting. Quality of field is the calling card for this tournament which has earned the reputation of ‘Asia’s Major’ and for the past three years we have attracted forty of the world’s top fifty golfers. Following recent heroics China’s leading players are truly coming of age at just the right time. This event means so much to them. It is their major. It first inspired them into the game then nurtured their skills. Now it gives this new generation a chance to unleash their talents against the world’s best. All in front their home fans. It’s a mouth-watering prospect.â€�   Ticket sales launch on www.HSBCgolf.com/buy-tickets-online. From daily passes to weekend family packages, and complimentary entry to juniors 18 and under, there is something for everyone. The popular Pinnacle Club will also return this year, a premium spectator experience for fans looking for an extra special way to enjoy world-class golf. Pinnacle Club guests will be able to enjoy the golf from a high-spec bespoke social and party platform on the golf course, offering excellent views of the action as well as top class hospitality and a unique atmosphere.  For more details on the WGC-HSBC Champions and all ticket information, please visit www.HSBCgolf.com/mens or follow official WeChat account: HSBCChampions

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Gary Woodland birdied the 18th hole Saturday for a 5-under 67 to move into a three-way tie for the lead with Marc Leishman and Shubhankar Sharma after three rounds of the CIMB Classic. Woodland just missed an eagle putt, while Sharma (66) and Leishman (67) had to settle for pars on the par-five final hole. Playing in the last threesome of the day, the leading trio had 54-hole totals of 19-under 197 on the TPC Kuala Lumpur West course. They had a two-stroke lead over Louis Oosthuizen, who moved up the leaderboard with a 65, and first-round leader Bronson Burgoon (67). Stewart Cink shot 63 for the low round of the day and was four strokes off the lead. Justin Thomas, trying to win the tournament for the third time in four years, had a 69 and was at 12 under, seven behind. Leishman had an eagle and three birdies on his first five holes to be 5 under, but was 1 over on the back nine with bogeys on the 11th and 13th after a birdie on the 10th. Only 18 of the 78-man field failed to shoot in the 60s Saturday.

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Vijay Singh will go down as one of the hardest working golfers of all time. In addition to his work ethic, the Fijian is also known on the PGA TOUR for his attention to detail when it comes to his golf clubs—especially his irons. This week at The Honda Classic, his unique taste for specific iron specs is on full display with his Mizuno MP-20 blades, that have a secondary number stamped above the club’s assigned number. To get more information about the reason for the double-stamped soles on Vijay’s irons, we talked to Jeff Cook, head of Mizuno’s PGA TOUR operations, for the behind-the-scenes information. “Vijay had previously used our MP4 irons, and the one thing he wanted to see with the MP20s was more bounce. So what we have done is, for example, taken a 9-iron which is standard at 42 degrees of loft and bend it to 45 to make it his pitching wedge. By doing this we have added three degrees of bounce and created slightly less offset in the heads.” “This relationship works up the entire set with the 8-iron playing like the 9-iron, 7 like the 8 and so on up the set. By doing this we gain bounce (versus the standard specs) and our technician Kyle stamps the clubs with the new numbers and paints them to make sure there’s not a mistake made in club selection.” Now, bounce is something you normally only hear about when discussing wedges, but like any club that has to travel through the ground, bounce and sole design play a big factor in how irons will perform for any specific player. Vijay Singh, for example, has a steep swing and takes larger divots than most. Without enough bounce, his irons wouldn’t get through the ground as efficiently, which would result in poor ball flight and inconsistent contact. “Bounce” is a term most golfers have heard, but in terms of what it “is,” bounce is the relationship between the leading (front edge) of the clubs sole and the trailing (back) edge and is assigned a value based on the angle relative to a plane perpendicular to the shaft. A picture is worth 1,000 words here. From a club building perspective, the relationship of loft to bounce is one to one when bending; for every degree of loft added you add a degree of bounce, and for every degree taken off you will also lose a degree of bounce. Bending clubs for loft and to add or decrease bounce is no different than changing the loft on an adjustable driver or fairway wood and is 100 percent conforming to the Rules of Golf. Bending clubs is common practice for players looking to finetune club specs from driving irons to putters, it’s just that we don’t see it taken to such an extreme too often. So, now you understand what happens when Jeff Cook says they take Singh’s “9-iron, which is standard at 42 degrees of loft, and bend it to 45 to make it his pitching wedge.” … and why Vijay Singh may be the only player in The Honda Classic field with two numbers stamped on the soles of his irons.

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