Everything you need to know about the 2023 Solheim Cup

It’s still the “Greenest Show on Grass” and #ThePeoplesOpen, and it still excites all the senses, but now it’s known as the WM Phoenix Open. Spectacular weather in the Valley of Sun – what else! – is expected for the most-attended sporting event in the world. As usual, TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course serves as the stage to 132 entrants. Details on the course, what it takes to prevail and more can be found beneath the projected contenders. Recent winners Tom Hoge (Pebble Beach), Harold Varner III (Saudi International), Luke List (Farmers) and Hudson Swafford (American Express) will be among the notables reviewed in Draws and Fades on Tuesday. Compared to most of the rest of the country, any winter in Phoenix is preferable, but to locals, it doesn’t take much more than a daytime high in the mid-60s to generate conversation about finding a sweater and something thicker than a light jacket. That’s also almost too cold for the ubiquitous hoodie/jeans/flip-flops combo in these climes. But not this week. A warming trend with temperatures approaching 80 degrees will bridge all four rounds of the tournament. Believe it or not, that’s well above average for this time of year. Wind will not be a factor. The weather, or lack thereof for anyone who defines it as requiring something other than glorious sunshine, parallels expectations inside the ropes at TPC Scottsdale. The course is the same as it was last year, and it’s perfect. The par 71 with three par 5s tips at 7,261 yards. Greens will roll at 12 feet on the Stimpmeter. Primary rough is trimmed to 2½ inches. Last year’s field averaged a cool 69.455, easily the lowest since Tom Weiskopf’s renovation was unveiled in 2015. However, that was in part due to a wet season immediately preceding it; that is the Stadium Course really didn’t have a chance. Greens that average a sizeable 7,000 square feet were hit on an average of almost 13 times in regulation per round. Those scoring opportunities yielded close to an average of four par breakers per round. With a drier pattern a year later, the track should punch back a bit. Brooks Koepka likely largely is remembered for holing out for eagle on the par-4 17th hole in the final round en route to his second victory on the course – he recorded his first PGA TOUR title here in 2015 – but he wouldn’t have been in position to pay off that 2 unless he put all the pieces together beforehand. As is often the case on the Stadium Course, distance off the tee is rewarded. Although cacti and other desert flora await the most wayward of tee balls, it serves more as the visual routing in contrast with the rich greens of the overseeded bermuda that blanket every hole. Koepka has the muscle, of course, but he also co-led the field in greens in regulation, missing only 10 all week. He ranked second overall in both Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and the all-around to post 19-under 265, lowest since Weiskopf went to work. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws and Fades SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Ranking * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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2020 Houston Open, Round 2 Delayed (due to darkness) Top 10 win probabilities: Peter Malnati (1, -10, 16.5%) Sepp Straka (T3, -8, 10.7%) Talor Gooch (2, -9, 10.6%) Nick Watney (T3, -8, 9.8%) Carlos Ortiz (T5, -7, 7.5%) Lanto Griffin (T5, -7, 6.2%) Mark Hubbard (T5, -7, 6.2%) Stewart Cink (T5, -7, 4.3%) Austin Cook (T10, -6, 3.8%) Cameron Tringale (T13, -5, 2.7%) Top Strokes-Gained Performers from Round 2: Putting: Mackenzie Hughes +3.9 Around the Green: Carlos Ortiz +3.8 Approach the Green: Sepp Straka +3.5 Off-the-tee: Sebastian Cappelen +1.8 Total: Peter Malnati +8.4 NOTE: These reports are based off the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut�, “Top 20�, “Top 5�, and “Win� probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the Houston Open, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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Rory McIlroy’s win at last week’s RBC Canadian Open included a rare mid-tournament equipment switch. It was the latest edition of a battle between two 3-woods for a spot in his bag. He started the RBC Canadian Open with TaylorMade’s SIM Ti 3-wood before switching to the new Stealth Plus 3-wood over the weekend at St. George’s. The Stealth Plus will remain in his bag at The Country Club, he told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday. Since the Wells Fargo Championship in May, when McIlroy first switched into TaylorMade’s new Stealth Plus fairway wood, he’s been switching back and forth between his old flame and his new one, carrying both options on a weekly basis. “I (used) the SIM (in Canada), I just didn’t hit it much last week,” McIlroy told GolfWRX on Wednesday. “There was honestly no real need for a 3-wood last week, just with the yardage. …I actually have the Stealth (Plus) this week. SIM is almost like a 2-wood. It’s very low spinning. It’s pretty hot. It’s always been a hot head. … I can get high 170 ball speed out of it and carry it over 300 yards. …There wasn’t really much opportunity to hit it last week. It was either lay way back with a 5-wood or an iron, or hit driver. But some weeks, like Memorial, where 310 yards is a really good distance off the tee; it’s good for weeks like that. And this week is a little similar to last week. It’s either you lay back quite a lot with a 5-wood, or you get it up there with a driver. So, there’s just no need for it.” As a quick refresher, TaylorMade’s SIM Ti (Titanium) fairway woods hit retail in February 2020, and McIlroy has been using the 3-wood off and on ever since. The TaylorMade Stealth Plus fairway woods, on the other hand, hit retail more recently in January 2022. This is far from the usual ‘old versus new’ dilemma, though. McIlroy, the 2011 U.S. Open Champion, switches between the options because he uses them for different purposes, and they fly different distances. Based on course setup and his plan of attack come competition time on Thursday each week, he must choose between the two options, since there’s only room for one in his 14-club setup. He travels with both clubs to keep his options open. “The Stealth (Plus), I carry 285 to 290. It’s a little weaker, a little spinnier, sort of more just to get it in play,” McIlroy told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday. “The SIM is a little hotter, a little lower spin, sort of get it out there a little more. … (The Stealth Plus is) a little more workable. A little more spin. A little more in control. That SIM 3-wood I spin it at like 2,600-2,700 rpm. It’s like a mini driver.” According to a TaylorMade representative, although both of McIlroy’s 3-woods have “15 degrees” listed on their heads, McIlroy’s SIM Ti 3-wood measures out at 13 degrees of loft, whereas his Stealth Plus has 13.75 degrees of actual loft. While most of the focus has been on McIlroy’s 3-woods, McIlroy said it’s his TaylorMade Stealth Plus 5-wood that will get the most use among his fairway woods. “There’s a few opportunities to hit drivers here, but I think it’s just so important to get it in the fairway,” McIlroy told GolfWRX. “I can carry the 5 wood 270-275 in the air off the tee. With how fast these fairways are, it rolls out to 290 or whatever. …I’ll hit 3-wood maybe a couple times, but the 5-wood is probably just a better club for quite a few holes here.” While McIlroy’s SIM Ti and Stealth Plus 3-woods are busy battling it out for a place in the starting lineup, it seems the Stealth Plus 5-wood is really the one doing the hard work as he looks to win his second U.S. Open and fifth major.

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