DraftKings preview: WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

The hype around junior standout Akshay Bhatia was palpable when he decided to forgo college and turn pro last year. After becoming the youngest player ever to represent the United States in the Walker Cup, Bhatia made the leap to professional golf at just 17 years old. Needless to say, expectations are high after his utter dominance of the junior level, and all eyes are fixed on the young standout. Bhatia and coach George Gankas developed a very realistic plan to combat Bhatia's lack of collegiate experience—one that didn’t involve wins and top 10s as much as it relied on learning how to be a pro. And that’s what we are seeing with young Bhatia now. Since his debut last September, the made cuts have been few, but the process has been right on schedule, culminating with a T9 finish two weeks ago at the season-opening Safeway Open. Bhatia, now 18, was the youngest player to finish in the top 10 of a PGA TOUR event since Justin Rose finished fourth at the 1998 Open Championship. Bhatia's top 10 earned him a start in this week's Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic. It takes young pros, especially teen-aged ones, time to mature and gain an understanding of themselves and their games. And of course, one of the most important things you need to learn once on the big stage is managing yourself and your golf bag. Bhatia has the backing of Callaway tour support, and in particular tour manager Jacob Davidson. With Davidson's help, Bhatia is slowly adding nuance to the bag—while relying on the DNA that has worked tremendously his whole career. GolfWRX had a chance to chat with Davidson and this is what he had to say: WRX: How has Bhatia's knowledge of equipment evolved since last year? Davidson: Akshay has an extremely good eye and feel for his equipment. He can immediately tell the difference in specs, grinds, and weight. He is very sensitive to this because of how good his feel is. It's the sign of someone who has great hands and is a creative player. Akshay does all these things very well for someone his age. He is very mature and articulate with his equipment. WRX: Where do his sensitivities to equipment lie? Is he a numbers guy or a feel guy? Davidson: Akshay can tell you immediately when it is in his hand before he even hits a shot. However, Akshay has had a Trackman for 3-4 years now and pays obsessive attention to his numbers. He is a rare breed in the fact he goes both ways. WRX: As a high-speed player, it would seem face stability and spin control trump everything else. What are his optimal launch conditions with the driver? Davidson: If I recall, he is around 12.5 degrees of launch and 2,150 rpms. Akshay is a world-class driver of the golf ball. Pound for pound maybe even the longest on TOUR. What does he weigh, 122 pounds (laughs)? Bryson eats more steak in a month than Akshay weighs. WRX: His irons are strong-lofted. Do you do anything special grind wise to offset the lack of bounce? Davidson: Yes, we straighten the leading edge and adjust the bounce for better turf interaction. WRX: What is the most challenging part of his bag to get dialed? Davidson: Three-wood and putter. Akshay likes to hit several different shots with his 3-wood both off the tee and ground. Akshay has been in and out of putters but recently has settled on this armlock the last few weeks and has been putting great. Joe Toulon and Akshay have a great relationship. WRX: Is there a miss in his bag you are trying to mitigate at all costs? Davidson: We are continuing to dial in his distance control and approaches around the green. Akshay switched into the Chrome Soft X Double Dash before the Wyndham and has seen increased stability in the wind and much tighter spin dispersion numbers throughout the bag. Since his debut, the bag has changed very little beyond updating the driver and 3-wood to the current Callaway Mavrik Line, Jaws MD5 wedges, and a new putter. The only part that seems to shift gears week to week is his 3-iron, which is currently an Epic Forged but at times can be the Apex Forged UT. That’s it. On TOUR, those are small shifts and, besides the putter, there are no wholesale changes ever made. Debut WITB VS Current DEBUT: *driver not pictured DRIVER: Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero Triple Diamond (8.5 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZURDUS "Hulk" Smoke Green 75 6.5 TX 3-WOOD: Callaway Epic Flash Sub Zero (13.5 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZURDUS "Hulk" Smoke Green 85 6.5 TX IRONS: Callaway Apex Forged UT (3), Callaway Apex MB 18 Raw (4-PW) Shafts: Project X HZURDUS Black 95 X 6.5 (3), KBS $-Taper Black 125 S+ (4-PW) WEDGES: Callaway MD4 Raw (50S, 54S, 60C) Shafts: KBS $-Taper 125S+ PUTTER: Odyssey Stroke Lab Ten GRIPS: Iomic Sticky 2.3 Black Akshay Bhatia Current WITB DRIVER: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero 8.5 Shaft: Project X HZURDUS "Hulk" Smoke Green 75 6.5 TX 3-WOOD: Callaway Mavrik Sub Zero (15 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZURDUS Hulk Smoke Green 85 6.5 TX IRONS: Callaway Epic Forged (3), Callaway Apex MB 18 Raw (4-PW) KBS TG Hybrid Proto 95 X (3), KBS $-Taper Black 125 S+ (4-PW) WEDGES: Callaway MD5 Jaws Raw (50S, 54S, 60C) Shafts: KBS $-Taper 125S+ PUTTER: Odyssey SL Black Armlock 7 GRIPS: Iomic Sticky 2.3 Black

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Nick Taylor opened with an eagle, closed with two birdies and made a gorgeous day feel even better with an 8-under 63 at Monterey Peninsula that gave him the lead Thursday in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Most of the interest over three courses in the rotation was at Spyglass Hill, which featured Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson, along with five NFL quarterbacks that included Peyton Manning and his recently retired brother, Eli. Related: Leaderboard | Mickelson’s lucky silver dollar The iconic scenery is at Pebble Beach, especially when the surf turns a turquoise hue under so much sunshine. Taylor went about his business quietly, and most effectively. Starting on the back nine at Monterey Peninsula, with a chilly breeze at his back, he hit 4-iron to a back pin that settled 4 feet away for an eagle, ht 3-iron out of the rough for a two-putt birdie on the par-5 16th and knew he was playing well when he hit 4-iron to 10 feet on the first hole, a 495-yard par 4 that feels even longer when the air is cold at sea level. Better still was the finish — a 5-iron back toward the ocean to 5 feet, and then a wind-aided 3-iron from 240 yards on a back tee he had never seen to 20 feet. “A nice start,” Taylor said, referring to his 4-iron that set up eagle and the 63 that matched his low round on the PGA TOUR. “The weather helps out. If it’s raining, it’s windy, five-and-a-half hours is a long round. But we were very relaxed today, joked all day, and I felt like the mood was great.” He led by two shots to par over Patrick Cantlay (Spyglass) and Chase Seiffert (Pebble Beach), who each had a 6-under 66. Defending champion Phil Mickelson, whose third-place finish in Saudi Arabia last week was his best result in a year, was slightly disappointed with his 68 at Spyglass because of how well he felt he hit it off the tee. “I drove it like a stallion,” said Mickelson, a phrase he once used in describing his play at the pay-per-view match he won against Tiger Woods in Las Vegas. Cantlay made nine birdies at Spyglass and wasn’t even the best putter in his group. Some of his best views of this stunning day along the rugged coastline was watching champion surfer Kelly Slater on the greens, not in the pipe. “He looked like the best putter on TOUR today,” Cantlay said of his amateur partner. Cantlay, who tried surfing one time as a teenager and wisely gave it up, showed why golf has worked out okay for him. Despite two soft bogeys early in his round and a bogey on the par-5 14th from mud on his ball, he was among the leaders and feeling comfortable with all aspects of his game. The two bogeys early came from a chip just behind the green at No. 2 that rolled out some 6 feet by the pin, and a birdie chance that turned into bogey with a three-putt from 18 feet on the skinny green at the picturesque fourth. The rest of it was solid, and the number of birdies was encouraging. Cantlay loves the Monterey Peninsula so much he could retire here, and he had even more reason to love it Thursday. His group was first off in the morning, giving them an entire front nine of fresh greens. “Course was probably the best shape I’ve ever seen it and we’re getting perfect weather,” he said. “So yeah, it’s great.” Dustin Johnson had a 69 at Spyglass, while Jordan Spieth checked in at 70. They typically play in the same group that does not lack in entertainment with their amateurs, hockey great Wayne Gretzky and country singer Jake Owen. Gretzky hit into a bunker off the tee at No. 6, found the first of two bunkers in front of the green and went into the other bunker from there. Spieth delivered the good news: “There’s no bunkers left,” he said. Such is the nature of this week, a blend of incomparable scenery and amateurs that include entertainers and athletes, and corporate titans who learn that a net worth topping $1 billion won’t calm nerves over a putt. Among those at 5-under par were Charley Hoffman, who holed out from the fairway for eagle on No. 4 at Spyglass for the loudest cheer of the day, and Harry Higgs, the PGA TOUR rookie who drew Commissioner Jay Monahan as his partner. Mickelson ultimately was happy to be in range after his 68, though it wasn’t looking all that great when he failed to birdie any of the par 5s at Spyglass and had gone 10 holes without a birdie until birdies on his last three holes. “I let a lot of opportunities slide,” he said. “But I shot a 4-under par round and it’s not going to hurt me.”

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Golf is a game of inches. And grams, apparently. Adding 3.5-gram weights to his irons has paid dividends for Anirban Lahiri at THE PLAYERS, where he’s the overnight leader heading into the Monday finish at TPC Sawgrass. Lahiri sits at 9 under par, one shot ahead of Tom Hoge and Harold Varner III. Lahiri is 5 under par for his first 11 holes of the suspended third round after shooting 67-73 in the opening two rounds. “I think the biggest difference was we made a change to the irons this week,” Lahiri said after his first round. “I changed the weight. The irons have been my weak link, and they came out much better. I feel like my confidence is getting better, which is really positive. “It’s really something that’s minor. I’ve added maybe 3 1/2 grams of weight to all of my irons. … These last couple of weeks, especially, we’ve been playing really tough golf courses, and you hit it 4 or 5 yards offline and you can make 6 instead of 3. And I had a lot of that happen to me. It’s frustrating when you know you’re not making bad swings and you’re not getting the results you want, so it’s equally satisfying when it comes together like this.” Lahiri is using a Srixon ZX Utility 4-iron and Srixon Z945 irons for his 5-iron through pitching wedge this week. The Z945s were first released in Asia in 2014 and became available in North America the following year. Hideki Matsuyama was among the players to use the clubs when they first came out. Lahiri used lead tape to add weight to his clubheads. The added weight gave Lahiri increased face awareness and gave him a more consistent swingweight from his woods to his irons. “He found the windows of old and spin rates of old, and it was off to the races,” said Rusty Estes, who worked with Lahiri on his clubs. Lahiri arrived at THE PLAYERS after three missed cuts and a T74 in his last four starts. He was 24 over par in those 10 rounds. He also ranked 212th (out of 217 players) in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green this season, losing nearly a stroke per round. He’s fourth this week, having gained 5.95 strokes in 47 holes. He’s also hit 36 of 47 greens this week, including 10 of 11 in the third round.

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