Driving distance leader Cameron Champ makes unexpected equipment changes

Grammy winner Macklemore knows the right sounds when he hears them. So that crisp crack when the middle of his 5-iron hit his ball in late 2018 as he gave golf his attention for the first time was all it took. He was hooked. His ball though didn't hook. Well at least not on that occasion. "I randomly played one day after Thanksgiving in 2018 and hit a 5-iron out of the sand and I hit it pure and I have been very addicted ever since. I just want that feeling," the popular rapper said ahead of the AT&T Every Shot Counts Charity Challenge that precedes this year's AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. "I love that feeling of hitting a great shot. I love hitting a green in regulation, piping a drive. I love even just the ups and downs, the humility that the game brings, the swing of emotion, the mental fortitude that it takes, the patience, the spiritual practice of accepting whatever you just did and letting it go, the exercise, the camaraderie. I truly love everything about the sport." Between his incredible career and juggling life with two kids, Macklemore says he doesn't get to play as often as he would like but he jumped at the chance to be part of Wednesday's charity challenge. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen a forced change of this week's TOUR event with the "Am" part of the Pro-Am missing. But in lieu of this and the traditional pre-tournament charity events the AT&T Every Shot Counts Charity Challenge stands to raise more than $1.6 million for Monterey Peninsula Foundation charities. The five-hole match play challenge will be broadcast on PGA TOUR LIVE and Golf Channel from 3-5 p.m. PT with three teams of two celebrities. Each team will represent charities in the community targeting basic necessities with Macklemore joining actor Alfonso Ribeiro on Team Food Insecurity. Team Health Equity consists of actress Kathryn Newton and former Miss America and Golf Advisor Lifestyle Correspondent Kira K. Dixon and Team Education Insecurity has NFL star wide-receiver Larry Fitzgerald and actor, comedian and all-around entertainer Bill Murray. Jim Nantz will serve as host while San Francisco 49er's Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young will serve as official scorekeeper and Train's Pat Monahan will treat viewers to a musical performance. "I'm excited. Last year I think I was on TV three or four times. Every shot counting and being televised is slightly nerve wracking. But we're playing for some great causes and that's what it's all about, so we're going to have fun," Macklemore said. Macklemore and his work have long been associated with inclusion and equality. While not on the same scale as some of his bigger social pushes the artist hopes golf continues to open its doors to all walks of life. "The game is amazing. It’s not one of those sports that you can just pick up right away. It takes a little bit before you get that first dopamine hit of a great shot. But I think that in general we need more people playing. We need more accessibility. We need to really just open up the floodgates of kind of the old guard of what golf is and the exclusivity and make sure that all people can play, that courses are affordable, that equipment is readily available to those that need it, and we get youth out there enjoying this amazing sport," he said. Last year Macklemore partnered with Lanto Griffin in the tournament proper but was unable to make the cut, a goal of his for future years when things return to normal. Despite being out of the mix the musician says the week only spurred on his love of the game. "It was incredible. It was a phenomenal experience, bucket list, completely terrifying. I had no idea how to hit an iron all of a sudden," he laughed. "Shooting in the high 80s at home with some mild cheating with friends. Get down here, can’t improve your lie, you got to play it how it lands, man. That’s just a whole different sport. "All of a sudden I’m coming over the top. I’m slicing the ball. Jason Day’s trying to give me lessons on how to come from the inside. I don’t even speak that language. It was crazy. But it was literally Disneyland for a golfer like myself. I felt like I was a child, and this was the oasis and that’s exactly how it feels this year."

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Here are nine tidbits from the final round of The RSM Classic that gamers can use down the road. Austin Powers: As I pointed out after Friday’s round, Austin Cook is a known quantity among pro gamers. His result today, his first PGA TOUR win in only his fourth career start with a TOUR card, is still an eye-opener as he only had 13 previous starts on TOUR. He becomes the fifth player in eight editions to win in his first start at this event. I’m not a detective but I’ll suggest the absence of course form shouldn’t deter gamers at this event. He led the field in birdies (23) and only made two bogeys, both while holding the 36 and 54-hole leads. He bucked the recent trend on putting, finishing 11th in putts per GIR. He had plenty of chances as he hit 60/72 greens (T2). He’s exempt for the rest of this season and the next two that follow so load up! J.J. is OK: It’s never easy to follow up a round in the low 60’s especially in the final round on Sunday. J.J. Spaun rewarded gamers that recognized he was on the boil recently with a round of 66 that included a final birdie to take second alone. That putt might not have won him the tournament but it was for a nice chunk of cash and he made it. It’s his best finish on TOUR, and like Cook, he’ll be disappointed to have the break arrive as he’s 33-under in his last three events. Looking ahead, he cashed T9 at Torrey Pines and T4 at TPC Scottsdale as a rookie last year. Life of Brian: With T4 (2014) and solo third this year, Brian Gay has cashed handsomely in two of his last three tries on Sea Island. The last time he was here Kip Henley was on his bag. Henley was on Austin Cook’s bag this week in the winner’s circle. Gay’s not going to any to win any long drive contests but, at 45, he usually keeps it down the sprinkler line and can really putt (third, putts per GIR). Dawgs Barkin’: Former UGA Bulldogs Kevin Kisner and Brian Harman both fulfilled gamers’ prophecies this week as they shared T4. It’s now three top 10’s in the last four here for Kisner and two in the last five for Harman. Kisner’s layoff from the Presidents Cup didn’t seem to bother him much while Harman chalked up his third top 10 in as many starts in the new season. Canadian bacon: Ben Silverman couldn’t channel his inner Mac Hughes this week, but his 66 on Sunday (T8) gave the Canadian his second top 10 in five events in his rookie season on TOUR. He had his first child in July and named him Jack Palmer. He won three weeks later in August. So is this a continuation of “Nappy Factor” or is he just a very solid player? I can’t answer that today but he’s gotten my attention! Zach Johnson finally cracks the top 10 in his eighth try. He stuck all four rounds in red figures to bang out his third consecutive top 23 in the new season. He hasn’t won since St. Andrews in 2015 but he’s a monster, if he plays, at Waialae (Sony Open). C.T. Pan seems to be settling in nicely on the bermudagrass on Sea Island. He cashed T6 last year and returned this season to collect T13. He’s 26-under-par during that span. Like Spaun, he also likes a bit of Torrey Pines as he was T2 last year for his best finish on TOUR. A year Wise-r: Former NCAA champion Aaron Wise has the exact pedigree that gamers are looking for: winning. In May of 2016 he won the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada Q-School and followed that up with his NCAA title. Two months later he won a Mackenzie Tour event. Last June, he won in his eighth start on the Web.com Tour. His T13 this week gives him four top 25’s in 13 career TOUR starts. Giddy up. What jinx?? William McGirt survived my “keep an eye on the backdoor” mention after yesterday’s round of 65. His 66 on Sunday moved him up five more spots to T8. He closed the 2017 portion of the schedule T25, T10 and T8. This was his best finish since T3 at Harbour Town last April, another seaside course on the Atlantic Ocean. 

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – Notes and observations from Friday’s second round of the Wyndham Championship, where Henrik Stenson shot 66 to take the lead at 12 under. Kevin Na shot 63 and a resurgent Hunter Mahan carded his second straight 65 to go into the weekend two shots back MAHAN BACK FROM THE ABYSS Hunter Mahan was the only player not to miss a FedExCup playoff event from its 2007 inception until he failed to make the 2015 TOUR Championship. He reached a career high of fourth in the Official World Golf Ranking after winning The Barclays in 2014. He played in four Presidents Cups, two Ryder Cups, and racked up roughly $30 million in career earnings. No one would have looked twice if that Mahan had shot 65 at steamy Sedgefield, getting him to 10 under and just two off the lead at the Wyndham. But today, at 35 and the father of three kids age 4 and younger, Mahan is 197th in the FedExCup and 809th in the OWGR. His best result so far this season: a T17 at the Travelers Championship, where he got his first win in 2007. If his name on the leaderboard surprises you, well, yes—it should. “I’ve been on a little bit of a journey in the last year trying to figure out what kind of—what kind of golfer I am, what kind of swings I need to make,â€� Mahan said after making six birdies and one bogey. “It kind of starts from scratch. It feels a little better. I’m trying to get back to what I did when I was successful and my kind of fingerprints and what I do well and—it’s difficult.â€� What happened to Mahan? The short answer is: parenthood. He held a two-shot at the 2013 RBC Canadian Open, but withdrew to be home for the birth of his first child with wife Kandi. It’s too easy to call that the line of demarcation in his career, since he won The Barclays the season after that, but Hunter and Kandi had their second and third kids in quick succession. “I think it overwhelmed me,â€� he told the AP last year. “And I lost track of my swing a little bit.â€� Mahan took a new caddie. He changed coaches, hiring Dallas-based Chris O’Connell, and the two went on a deep dive in search of the stuff that made Mahan the winner of two World Golf Championships and six total PGA TOUR titles. The results at Sedgefield suggest they’re on the right track. Mahan especially liked the way he responded to bogeying the sixth hole Friday. Over the past few years, he said, he might have faltered. This time, the former Oklahoma State star flushed a 6-iron onto the green at the par-3 seventh hole, leading to an easy par. At the par-4 eighth, he split the fairway and stuck a wedge inside 16 feet, then made the birdie putt. Can he keep building on his success? Mahan admits he doesn’t know. Some fixes have helped him one day only to hurt him the next. “Sometimes the cure becomes the cancer,â€� he said. Stenson, who has played his way out of the golfing wilderness more than once, said one of the hardest things for a player in Mahan’s shoes is to keep taking the long view. “The tendency is to try to turn things around too quickly,â€� Stenson said. “When I’ve been down, the key for me has been committing to the long-term process. You’ve got to give yourself time, and once you get into that mindset you get a different calmness and you can kind of climb your way up. It’s good to see Hunter playing well again. Mahan says his life is “pretty good,â€� and adds that he has learned what he can and can’t control with three young children. He watches the big events like last week’s PGA Championship go on without him, and while that’s disappointing, he tells himself that he’s doing the right things. Like any parent, he tries to stay patient. He tries to appreciate the small victories even if they don’t necessarily translate on the scorecard. Peers like Sean O’Hair, with whom Mahan played junior golf and who himself is a parent of four, tell him to keep his head up, that it’ll turn around. “I feel excited to play,â€� Mahan said. “Excited to learn about what I can do to get better. I’m not tired of golf, not sick of playing tournaments. I’ve got keep learning about myself and what I do well and what ‘feels’ work for me.â€�

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