Even when there was doubt, Brooks Koepka had no doubt

Daniel Berger came from three shots back during the final round to defend his FedEx St. Jude Classic title. Berger notched his first PGA TOUR win last season at TPC Southwind as a member of TaylorMade’s Tour staff before departing at the end of last year to join Callaway Golf.  When he was unveiled as Callaway’s newest staffer, Berger noted that he joined the company “because of the equipment. And more than anything I wanted to play the new Epic driver.” Berger’s Epic driver played an important role during his second TOUR win in Memphis. He finished second in the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (plus-4.612) and averaged 293.5 yards (T19) with the 10.5-degree head.  “I like to hit a lot of shapes (off the tee),” Berger said during a recent Callaway Fitting Room podcast. “I like to hit cuts, I like to hit draws, I like to hit balls high, I like to hit balls low, so I need a driver that’s very versatile and has the ability to do all of those things.” Berger plays the standard GBB Epic driver that features a redesigned track housing a 17-gram sliding weight that can be positioned in the heel or toe to produce a draw or fade. Berger’s weight setup is in the neutral position.  Here’s a look at the rest of Berger’s Callaway equipment setup.  Driver: Callaway GBB Epic (Fujikura Pro Tour Spec 53X shaft), 10.5 degrees 3-wood: Callaway GBB Epic (UST Mamiya Elements Chrome 7F5T shaft), 15 degrees Irons: Callaway Apex CF ’16 (3-4; True Temper Project X 6.5 shafts), Callaway Apex Pro ’16 (5-iron; True Temper Project X 6.5 shaft), Callaway MB1 (6-PW; True Temper Project X 6.5 shafts) Wedges: Callaway Mack Daddy Forged (50-10, 56-10 and 58-08 degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts) Putter: Odyssey Versa 2-Ball Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft PGA TOUR SUPERSTORE: Buy equipment here

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JACKSON, Miss. - An inside agreement made Stewart Cink's final round at the Sanderson Farms Championship more consequential than most anybody realized. Cink, who won the season-opening Safeway Open with his son Reagan as his caddie two weeks ago, said Saturday the partnership would come to an end barring a miraculous round Sunday. Specifically, he said, he needed a top-five finish or Reagan was going to go back to his day job at Delta Airlines and Cink would go back to his regular caddie, Kip Henley. "Unless I shoot the fur off this place tomorrow, I'm going back to my regular caddie," Cink said. He made it interesting with a 7-under 65 on Sunday but finished at 13 under for the week. That means Henley, who was back home in Chattanooga, will rejoin Cink for next week's Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. "The traveling and living in a circus out here like I’ve done for my whole adult life is made tolerable by being a player," said Cink, who missed a 7-foot birdie putt on No. 17 and scrambled for par at the last. "If you’re playing, you’re kind of the top level of the wedding cake out here. "I just don’t envy a lot of the caddies," he continued, "and especially the ones that have families traveling out here. Media, you guys do understand that it’s not easy. I wouldn’t wish most of this life on any person that I love as much as I love Reagan." Cink laughed at the thought of Henley, his regular caddie for the last year, biting his nails as he watched on TV back in Chattanooga. "I’m sure Kip is sweating it out because I told him T5 or higher Reagan stays," Cink said. Added, Reagan, "You almost said top 10, too, remember?" Father and son had thought that the Safeway would be a one-off, but after winning felt they had to keep going. Cink and his wife Lisa took a trip to the Grand Canyon with her parents last week, and when Cink returned to action in Mississippi, he and Reagan made the top-five agreement. Reagan, 23, is a newly minted Georgia Tech graduate (industrial engineering) who has been working in the flight operations department for Delta Airlines. He's a scratch handicap. "Yeah, that’s the plan," he said, when asked if he would go back to his day job. "It’s been so fun out here. I really do enjoy it. But I don’t know. I’ve got a life to go get home and live." Stewart joked that Reagan already had offers from other players, then quickly said that wasn't true. No matter, Reagan sounded like he wasn't sure if he would have accepted one, anyway. "I’ve got a fiancé at home," he said. "I like to be home. It was fun. I mean, if (Stewart) had done it today, top five, I would have been super excited about getting out for next week." They'll always have the Safeway, a victory that evened the scales between Reagan and his brother Connor, who was Stewart's partner when they won the 2013 Father/Son Challenge. "Now they've both had a win with their pops," Stewart said.

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Here are nine tidbits from the final round of the THE PLAYERS Championship that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. THE PLAYERS Stadium Course TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, has been the host since 1982 and plays 7,189 yards to a Par-72. Winner Webb For the first time in 107 starts on TOUR Webb Simpson is back in the winner’s circle. His final round 73 saw him post 18-under-par 270 to defeat a trio of chasers by four shots. The 2012 U.S. Open champion becomes the ninth player to win THE PLAYERS Championship and the national championship. Simpson’s record-setting seven-shot lead after 54 holes was never sliced to less than four as he meticulously navigated Pete Dye’s house of horrors. His worst golf of the day came on a three-hole stretch (Nos. 8-10) that saw him square two bogeys and give the field hope that a collapse just might be on the cards. Nope. He birdied both of the Par-5 holes on the back and not even a water ball on the last could make this interesting for the peloton. Simpson played the Par-5 holes in 13-under for the week and led the field in driving accuracy (46 of 56) and SG: putting. He holed just over 455 feet of putts on the week to claim his first top-10 in nine PLAYERS starts. His previous best finish was T16 last year so to say he’s figuring it out here is a huge understatement. In 11 starts in 2018 he’s now cashed T5 or better in five of them, including three of his last six. He held the 54-hole lead at Colonial last year, collected T8 at the Travelers and hit the podium at the Wyndham Championship in third alone. One of his daughter’s names is Wyndham in case you’re wondering where you might use him next. PGA TOUR Fantasy Game presented by SERVPRO top selections: Gamers watched in horror in the final round as Stenson couldn’t keep up, Spieth closed with a quad and Johnson couldn’t break par on a course with four Par-5 holes playing 7,013 yards. Nobody said this would be easy and this week never is. PGA TOUR One & Done presented by SERVPRO top selections: The only thing worse in this game besides a MC is burning a guy in a big event and he doesn’t fire. The brilliant front-runner Day continues to reinforce that winning fuels his fire instead of satisfying the need. He closed with bogey-free 68 and those who piled on this week were rewarded and will move up. Wrong Newcomer There wasn’t any argument that Bryson DeChambeau entered the week on fire with three top-four finishes in his last four starts and should have commanded attention in his maiden voyage. Instead it was Xander Schauffele who took home the honor, and major cash payment, as the best newcomer this week (T2). He’s collected top-10 finishes at Erin Hills, TPC Old White, East Lake GC, Riviera and now TPC Sawgrass in not even two full years on TOUR. He led the field in SG: tee to green and sand saves. Dy-No-Mite Gamers were leery entering the 2017-18 season as they saw Jimmy Walker deal with Lyme disease last year. The season-long and weekly investors have both been rewarded for their patience as he’s now rattled off nine of his last 10 weekends. On top of that he’s cashed four top-25 checks in a row with a pair of top 10’s. His T2 included a bogey-free 68 in the final round is his best finish at THE PLAYERS. #Play72 All eyes were on Tiger Woods-Jordan Spieth pairing Sunday after they both shot 65 in Round 3 to break into the top 10. Woods played his first 13 holes on Saturday in eight-under. He played his first 13 holes on Sunday six-under and was on the prowl. For the second round in a row he bogeyed No. 14 and the momentum died. He fell out of the top 10 with a double on No. 17, his first ball in the water in his last 13 events on that hole. There were plenty of positives to take but he’s not the finished article. … Charl Schwartzel rebounded from a tough 73 in Round 3 as he stormed home in 32 to T2. He only made six bogeys on the week and that play as resulted in three top-10 finishes on the bounce. Noted. Not yet. But it’s coming. New No. 1 Justin Thomas posted 68-66 on the weekend with the only blemish on the card to finish T11 and take over the No. 1 spot in the OWGR. He’ll never be happy with T11 but not too many guys have been No. 1 in the world so I think he’ll survive. Thomas will be bummed this event is moving to March as eight of his 15 rounds have been in red figures and his stroke average is 70.73. Johnson, who needed to beat Thomas and end up in the top 10, achieved neither as he ended T17. This season Johnson has a win, two seconds and two other top-10 paydays and is NO LONGER NO. 1?!?!?!?! Defending Champ Curse For the 36th time at TPC Sawgrass the defending champ went quietly into the good night. Only Adam Scott (T8, 2005) posted a top-10 finish in defending this century. Si Woo Kim opened with the best score of a defender with 67 on Thursday but faded playing his final three rounds three-over for T63. Sunday Silence I could have stuck Jordan Spieth in #Play72 above since his quad on the final hole knocked him from T17 to T41. I’m not sure which rounds I’ll remember most from the week, the 75 to open and 74 to close or 68-65 in the middle two rounds. … World No. 14 Tommy Fleetwood stuck all four rounds under-par for the week and finished T7. I don’t think I saw one shot of his on Sunday as he crept up the leaderboard while others faded away. Study Hall The final round scoring average was the lowest of the week at 70.014 as TPC Sawgrass played just 7,013 yards. The scoring average for the week was 71.275, almost a full shot under-par for the last May event, as the course was in all-time best condition according to many of the pros. … Brooks Koepka tied the course record (63) but couldn’t crack the top 10 (T11). His bogey-free round was one of four on Sunday. … Charles Howell III collected T17 for his first top 25 in 16 tries. … Bubba Watson’s form couldn’t carry through four rounds this week. His 68-71 was followed by 73-73 for T57.

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