Europe adds Garcia, Poulter, Lowry for Ryder Cup

As a former FBI special agent, AT&T Byron Nelson volunteer Charlie Tusa seems perfectly suited for his role as chairman of tournament security. Charlie and his committee, many of whom are also former FBI agents, work closely with the PGA TOUR security team and local police to help safeguard the grounds and check visitor credentials.   Charlie and several security committee members have volunteered at the tournament for the past 16 years. They return to the AT&T Byron Nelson each year for the chance to support the tournament’s charity, Momentous Institute, and contribute to the tournament’s success. Momentous Institute (formerly Salesmanship Club Youth and Family Centers) has been powered by the Salesmanship Club of Dallas, a service organization of more than 600 business and community leaders committed to transforming kids’ lives. Charlie is a longtime member of the Salesmanship Club. Volunteers like Charlie are sharing their motivations for volunteering at AT&T Byron Nelson as part of the #IVolunteerBecause initiative. This fun onsite experience features volunteers at select tournaments and is part of the 2019 PGA TOUR Volunteer Appreciation Program Sponsored by Myrbetriq® (mirabegron). Myrbetriq® (mirabegron) is a prescription medicine manufactured by Astellas Pharma US, Inc. Astellas first became a PGA TOUR sponsor in early 2013 and is proud to partner with the PGA TOUR as both organizations share a deep commitment to the power of volunteerism and recognize the powerful impact made by giving back in local communities. What’s your inspiration for volunteering in your community? Tag #IVolunteerBecause on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and share your story.

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NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – Justin Rose enjoys an annual trip to Philadelphia, usually in the fall when the weather is cool and sweaters are a necessary article of clothing. “That’s my favorite time of year to play golf,â€� he said. “It reminds me of how I grew up playing golf in the U.K.â€� The yearly trip serves as a reminder of his biggest triumph. He takes friends to Merion Golf Club, where he won the U.S. Open in 2013. The club cuts the hole in the same back-left location that was used when he won five years ago. On Rose’s first return, all his companions wore his outfit from the U.S. Open’s final round. They forced him to change into matching clothes. “Slightly embarrassing, but it was fun,â€� he said. Merion is closed this year to undergo a Gil Hanse renovation, so Rose’s trip has undertaken a different context. Instead of playing with friends, he’s among the top contenders for the FedExCup. He’s third in the FedExCup standings with just two events remaining. If he remains in the top 5 after this week, he can clinch the Cup with a victory at the TOUR Championship on Sept. 23. Rose is playing on familiar territory at this week’s BMW Championship. Aronimink, which is less than eight miles from Merion, is on the list of historic venues where he has hoisted a trophy. He won the 2010 Quicken Loans National here. He’s also won at Colonial, Congressional, Muirfield Village, Valderrama and Royal Aberdeen. Aronimink underwent a restoration since the TOUR last visited here in 2011. Hanse, one of the top architects of this era, oversaw the work, which returned the course to its original Donald Ross design. Trees were removed, fairways were widened and bunkers were added. The greens were expanded, as well, to add hole locations. “It’s may be slightly more gentle, a bit more room out there than when I last played in 2011,â€� said Rose, who won the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics on a Hanse design. Rose arrives in good form, as well. He birdied four of his final six holes Monday to finish runner-up to Bryson DeChambeau at the Dell Technologies Championship. It was Rose’s fifth top-3 finish of the season. He has qualified for the TOUR Championship in seven of the past eight seasons, but just once has he been in the top 5 of the FedExCup entering the TOUR Championship. He was third in 2011 (after winning the BMW Championship). He finished T20 at the TOUR Championship as Bill Haas won at East Lake to claim the FedExCup. East Lake, site of the season finale, is a historic venue that would fit in nicely with Rose’s other victorious venues. He has finished second at the home course of Bobby Jones on two occasions (2012, ’15). Even in the midst of golf’s youth movement, the 38-year-old Rose is still having one of the best seasons of his career. His nine top-10s are third-most on TOUR, trailing only Dustin Johnson and Tony Finau. Johnson and Rose are the only players to finish in the top 10 in more than half their starts this season (Rose is 9 for 16). Rose also finished in the top 10 in all four of last season’s FedExCup Playoffs events, giving him 13 top-10s in his last 20 TOUR starts. The biggest improvement in his game has come on the greens. He ranks ninth in Strokes Gained: Putting (+0.51), an improvement of more than 100 spots and 2.3 strokes per tournament from last season. “Sometimes people are afraid to change what they do or how they do it,â€� said Rose’s long-time instructor, Sean Foley. “His lack of satisfaction in what he’s doing has really pushed us to look under every rock.â€� Many players suffer a fall-off in other parts of their game when making such a large improvement in another. They spend so much time practicing their weakness that they neglect their strengths. That hasn’t been the case for Rose, though. He’s remained one of the TOUR’s best ball-strikers while becoming an elite putter. He ranks ninth in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green this season. He’s also in the top 15 of Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green, a testament to the well-rounded game that has made him one of this season’s best players. Rose started using the claw grip in the fall of 2016 and has improved areas like green-reading and alignment. Rose said he employs “three or fourâ€� different strategies, including AimPoint, to read putts. “You can have a perfect stroke and not make putts,â€� Rose said. “The green-reading, the speed control, all of that is a huge factor.â€� This is just the second multiple-win season of his career. The other came in 2010, when he earned his first two PGA TOUR titles in a three-event span. He sandwiched a ninth-place finish at the Travelers Championship – where he shot 75 after starting the final round with a three-shot lead – between wins at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide and AT&T National. The latter was played at Aronimink. Rose started the final round with a four-shot lead. He led by five strokes after eagling the par-5 ninth hole with a 5-wood that stopped inches from the hole. Three-putts on the back nine’s first two holes put the title in tenuous position, though. He made par on the final seven holes to finish one shot ahead of Ryan Moore. Moore’s 65 matched Sunday’s low score. “I knew having not closed out last week, it was important for me to do it today,â€� Rose said after that win. He knows what it takes to win at Aronimink. That experience could help him hoist the FedExCup for the first time.

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Cameron Champ isn’t a normal professional golfer, so it makes sense that his club setup is far from average. In 2020-21, Champ ranked No. 3 in driving distance on the PGA TOUR, averaging 317.1 yards per drive. He ranked nearly last in another category, though. Out of 200 players, Champ ranked 199th in launch angle; the TOUR average for launch angle off the tee is 10.52 degrees, whereas Champ averaged just 6.85 degrees on his drives. That means Champ hits the ball quite low, especially for his speed. His shots fly like a low bullet, which is great for windy conditions but not so great for holding greens with irons. As such, Champ makes a few unique adjustments to his equipment setup compared to other TOUR players. You can check out GolfWRX’s deep dive into Champ’s bag here. The most notable difference, for example, is that Champ uses two 4-irons. In previous years, Champ used a combination of Ping iBlade irons (4-PW) and Ping i500 3- and 4-irons. Ping’s iBlade irons are commonly used among better players and TOUR players since they look like blade irons, featuring thin toplines and compact shapes, but they add a touch of forgiveness due to their cavity-back designs. The i500 irons — first released in 2018 — use metalwood-like technology on their faces to help players hit the ball higher and farther. “You watch him hit his 4-iron and his flight doesn’t make sense,” explained Ping Tour rep Kenton Oates, regarding Champ’s ball flight in 2019 and why he uses two 4-irons. “It comes out really low and it kind of stands up, and you’d expect that flight to carry like 215 yards, and it’s going 255 yards. I can’t even comprehend it. “Cameron plays an i500 4-iron (21 degrees) that’s built to 3-iron length. The i500 has metalwood technology in the face, so that metalwood technology is going to allow for some more flex in the face at impact; that means higher ball speeds, higher launch, a little less spin … It’s basically a 4-iron that plays exactly like a 3-iron would play for him. Then he goes into an iBlade 4-iron (21 degrees).” Compared to the iBlade irons, Ping’s i500 models also have a larger profile, thicker toplines, slightly more offset, and offer more forgiveness on off-center hits. That’s due to their multi-material, hollow-bodied construction that had C300 maraging steel faces and 17-4 stainless steel bodies, helping achieve more flex on the face at impact to boost speed and height across the face. For Champ, he used the i500 long irons to take advantage of higher ball flights. He relied on the i500 4-iron to help hold greens on approach shots, and he used the 3-iron as a driving iron replacement since he hit it farther and higher than a normal 3-iron. At the 2022 Farmers Insurance Open, though, Champ showed up with all-new Ping i525 irons to replace his previous i500 3- and 4-irons. Ping hasn’t replaced the i500 irons in its retail lineup since 2018, but with Champ revealing the new i525 designs, that could change sometime in the future. For now, they’re just prototypes. While Ping hasn’t yet commented on the new designs, GolfWRX caught up with Champ ahead of the Farmers Insurance Open to get his initial thoughts on the i525s. “They’re good. They look kind of similar to the previous irons, but they have a little bit more defined look, which I like,” Champ said Tuesday at Torrey Pines. “And they sound better too. I have nothing negative to say about them. For me, they’re pretty much the same (as the i500s). That’s why I put them in. As long as they do what I need them to do, I can care less what it is. “But yeah, they’re good. The sound is one thing. Definitely maybe a little bit softer on the face, which I like. You can feel it easier. But for me, for the ball flight that I want, it comes out perfectly.” Based on Champ’s review of the unreleased and previously unseen Ping i525 irons, they look, sound and feel better than the i500 models released four years ago. Champ also revealed the ridiculous distances that he hits the two new irons. “The 4- is like my 3-iron, and the 3- is basically like my 2-iron, or 1-iron, which is basically like my driving iron,” Champ explained. “But my 4- is my 250-260 shot, depending if it’s on grass or tee. Then the 2-, we bent it strong because it’s a driving iron. Obviously (at Torrey Pines) it’s not going to go that far, but I’ll fly it 265-275 and then it rolls. “I really don’t play a 3-wood. I have it in the bag; this week, I might need it on one hole, but generally I don’t have a 3-wood. I just use (the i525 driving iron).” Although average players can only dream about hitting irons those kinds of distances, they may want to take note of the club choices Champ makes. Most club players could benefit from the more forgiving and higher-launching long irons that Champ uses, since most players could use more height on their shots. Be on the lookout for more details on the new i525 irons as information becomes available from Ping.

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