Draws and Fades: RBC Canadian Open

HONOLULU — Kevin Na felt such great control Thursday in the Sony Open in Hawaii that he matched his career low with a 9-under 61 and still found reason to be slightly disappointed. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Jim Furyk, 51, makes ace in opening 62 at Sony Open He had his sights on a sub-60 round, especially as the afternoon wind died, only to see three good birdie chances narrowly miss. He finished with a 6-foot par save from the bunker on the 17th hole and made a 6-foot birdie at the par-5 18th. That gave him a one-shot lead over 51-year-old Jim Furyk, who knows what it’s like to post a round in the 50s. Furyk is the only player to do that twice on the PGA TOUR. “I did everything well today and my iron play was amazing,” Na said. “And I tell you what, I had a chance for a 59. I gave it all I could. I’m a little disappointed my putts didn’t fall, some of the good putts that I hit didn’t fall. But it’s still a good round.” It was good enough to set a target of winning back-to-back at Waialae. Na also had a 61 last year in the third round. He now has five rounds at 61 in his PGA TOUR career. This one didn’t give him much breathing room. Furyk and Russell Henley were at 62, with Kevin Chappell and Seamus Power of Ireland among those at 63. Furyk was in the hunt more than a quarter-century after he first won the Sony Open. He made a hole-in-one on the 17th hole to cap off a big run toward the end of his round. Furyk went a decade without playing in Honolulu until returning last year once he became eligible for the 50-and-older PGA TOUR Champions, which opens next week on the Big Island. “Trying to get ready for this year and what do I look at this week? I want to be competitive,” Furyk said. “I want to compete and put myself in position, in the hunt, and also want to get a feel for where my game is and what I want to work on for the year.” Furyk won so long ago at Waialae that it was a year before Collin Morikawa was even born. The tournament had a different title sponsor in 1996, and the perks of winning ($216,000 for first place, compared with $1.35 million this year) included a United Airlines pass for two to travel anywhere in the world for a year. There were other reminders for Furyk. “Played a practice round with a guy that called me ‘sir,’ and later on he asked me what I liked most about the Champions Tour,” Furyk said. “And I said, ‘No one calls me ’sir.’ He said his dad would be angry with him if he didn’t.” On the course, not much changed. Waialae is on the short list of PGA TOUR courses that doesn’t favor all-out power, and even after heavy rain a week ago, there’s enough bounce and roll on shots in the fairway to make it feel even shorter. Furyk opened with a long three-putt bogey, which did not project to what kind of day he had on the greens. He made a pair of 30-foot birdie putts early, and then finished strong with birdie putts from 12, 15 and 25 feet starting on the 14th hole, and then a 6-iron for an ace at No. 17. Na was bogey-free, and stress-free. All seven of his birdies and his eagle on the par-5 ninth hole were inside 10 feet, and he only came seriously close to bogey on the 17th when he had to get up-and-down from a deep bunker right of the green. Chappell also had a good start that he needed. His career has been start-and-stop since surgery on his lower back after the 2018 season. He also realized it was time to take care of more than his body. “I definitely had some lingering stuff going last year coming from my back throughout the year, and kind of end of the year I decided I wasn’t good physically, I wasn’t good mentally and I needed to take some time,” Chappell said. “And so I did. The TOUR has been phenomenal with that supporting me. Really dove into the mental side and believe it or not, the better I got mentally, the better my back got. “It’s been a lot of hard work but it’s been great.”

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When we last saw Bryson DeChambeau, he was making an impressive run through the Professional Long Drivers’ World Championship. He hasn’t teed it up in a traditional event since the Ryder Cup, and isn’t scheduled to return to competitive golf until his match with Brooks Koepka on the day after Thanksgiving, followed by next month’s Hero World Challenge. DeChambeau has been busy during his “down” time. He said after leaving the long-drive championship that he intended to use his time away from tournament golf to get even longer. Then, earlier this week, he posted a video to his YouTube channel titled “My New Prototype Cobra Irons.” Naturally, we at the Equipment Report were intrigued. For as much adjusting as DeChambeau has done at the top (driver, woods) and bottom of his bag (wedges), he has been using since 2016 the Cobra King Forged One Length irons he helped design. Accordingly, we were even more intrigued when DeChambeau said these new clubs — a 3D-printed version of the Cobra MiM Tour One Length that has been tweaked specifically for DeChambeau — could go straight into the bag. On one of his first recorded strikes with a pitching wedge, DeChambeau’s ball speed was 138 mph. For reference, the average PGA TOUR pro’s ball speed with a 4-iron is only 137 mph. For a pitching wedge, it’s a little over 100 mph, according to TrackMan. Later in the video, DeChambeau carried a 6-iron 245 yards. So, he has no problem flushing the new irons. During testing, DeChambeau made note of how impressed he was with the ball speed and spin rate he was generating. While Cobra is mum on the specifics of the technology and the appearance of the clubs – the clubheads were blurred out in the YouTube video — Cobra’s Ben Schomin described them as having a “better player shape with a thin, rounded topline, small-to-medium sole width, and rounded sole camber.” DeChambeau prefers a simple shape in his irons with plenty of leading-edge bounce and some offset at the hosel, Schomin said. Interestingly, according to DeChambeau and Cobra, the prototype irons are 3D-printed (rather than cast or forged, the two traditional methods of making irons). Schomin told us DeChambeau’s 4- and 5-irons have always been 3D printed, but not so for the rest of his set. While offering similar performance to cast clubs, Schomin said 3D printing allows for more rapid and consistent prototyping than other methods of club creation. It also allows greater ease of “feel replication.” The fully 3D printed clubs are the latest iteration of a multi-year process that has seen multiple models printed, tweaked, and tested to adjust shapes, sole widths, face thickness, and bounce. It’s been a long process to find DeChambeau a successor in the iron department. According to Schomin, Cobra engineers have “made at least a dozen sets with various modifications over the last five years.” DeChambeau has had mixed results with the irons he has used for the past five years. He has ranked as one of the best players on TOUR in proximity from 200-plus yards, but has struggled mightily from 125 yards and in. DeChambeau wrapped the YouTube video by saying of the irons: “Going to be putting ‘em right in the bag. Little bit of loft adjustments for spin rates,” before describing the prototype irons as “baller.” We’ll be keenly awaiting further details on the prototype technology and whether we can expect a retail offering.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Josh Teater started the week off by throwing out the first pitch on Monday at the Greensboro Grasshoppers game. He has skills, too. The ball caught the right corner of home plate for a strike. “They let me go out to the rubber, which you usually don’t see,â€� Teater said. “Brought back some old memories from the baseball days.â€� “He definitely threw some heat,â€� the Grasshoppers posted with the video of the pitch on Facebook. On Thursday, Teater was still wearing the cap he got at the game when he shot 64 in the first round of the Wyndham Championship. The round of 6 under left him just two strokes off the lead. There’s a lot at stake at Sedgefield Country Club this week, to be sure. Teater, who came into the week ranked 165th in the FedExCup, likely needs a finish of solo third or better to make the Playoffs and secure his PGA TOUR card for the 2019-20 season. He’s been playing better of late, though, with a tie for sixth at the Barbasol Championship in his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky, two weeks ago, where he shot 21 under on a course not unlike Sedgefield where you have to go low. He also shared 13th at last week’s Barracuda Championship. In fact, Teater has made the cut on seven of his last eight starts – after missing 10 of his first 15 starts through the AT&T Byron Nelson. The upswing started when he parlayed a sponsor’s exemption into a tie for 17th at the Charles Schwab Challenge that was his best of the year until the last two weeks. “Just trying to keep being patient,â€� Teater said. “I think after Byron Nelson I was kind of at a low point, like what am I going to do, and since then I’ve turned it around in a considerable way. Colonial was a huge tournament for me getting an exemption and playing well. “Yeah, just trying to not make too much of it, you know. These hot summer days, not staying out here practicing for two and three hours, going and getting off my feet and relaxing and trying to be fresh.â€� Teater, a big Kentucky fan who played collegiately at Morehead State, opened with three straight birdies on Thursday and ended up with a 30 on the front nine. He was resilient on the back nine, following a double bogey on the 14th with a 13-foot eagle putt at the next. “That’s probably the hardest hole, 14,â€� Teater said. “I mean, no reason for me not to make a bogey there, I just three-putted from the front fringe. “But we had a nice little break there, got to sit in one of the nice comfortable Wyndham chairs and kind of get it out of my mind. Obviously, a little bounce back.â€� Teater finished his round off with a flourish when he holed a bunker shot at No. 18 for a final birdie. Teater, who was a fully-exempt TOUR member from 2010-14, got his card back through the Korn Ferry Tour for this season. He needs to finish 150th or better in the FedExCup to be conditionally exempt and inside the top 125 to secure full playing privileges. This week, the 40-year-old Teater isn’t worrying about the numbers. He’s just trying to play his best golf and stay patient. “It’s the hardest part of the game,â€� Teater said. “We’re all capable of winning every week and rarely do we do it. I’ve been out here almost 10 years and haven’t done it, so it would be a good time for it.â€�

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