Garnett-Stallings share first-round Zurich lead

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This time last year, Scottie Scheffler was an equipment free agent without a PGA TOUR victory. A lot has changed since then. Scheffler won four times in a two-month stretch last spring — including his first major triumph at the Masters — en route to winning PGA TOUR Player of the Year. In the midst of those eventful two months, Scheffler also inked an endorsement deal with TaylorMade. Scheffler’s most notable gear changes in 2022 included a switch into TaylorMade’s Stealth Plus driver at the beginning of the year, and a switch into TaylorMade’s Stealth 16.5-degree fairway wood prior to winning the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play event (remember, the TaylorMade Stealth fairway wood finally replaced his longtime Nike VR Pro fairway wood that he’d used for a decade! Scheffler is wasting no time upgrading to TaylorMade’s latest and greatest. He has the TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus prototype driver and a Stealth 2 3-wood in the bag at this week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions. Scheffler ranked 19th in Driving Distance (311.6 yards) last season and 100th in Driving Accuracy. Scheffler said Wednesday, however, the new Stealth 2 driver may move him up the rankings in the latter category by offering more stability on off-center strikes. “The testing process, it was pretty simple for me,” Scheffler said Wednesday from Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course. “This was, I think, an easy fitting. The driver, when we were going through the fitting … I noticed at first it was really stable. So if I was hitting it left, the ball would always kind of hang left, and then if one head was going too far right, the ball would kind of hang there. So the thing I noticed, and was excited about, was how stable it was. And getting into it was pretty seamless. I went up to The Kingdom (TaylorMade’s fitting center in Carlsbad, California) this winter and just kind of got into the driver, and the numbers were matching up nicely, and I thought it was a lot more stable, so I put it in play.” His driver is so new, in fact, that TaylorMade hasn’t yet announced any technical information about the design. It just went onto the USGA Conforming Club List earlier this week. Judging by the photos of Scheffler’s new Stealth 2 Plus driver, it appears that TaylorMade is staying with the red TwistFace – uniquely made from 60 layers of carbon – that the company introduced in its previous Stealth drivers. The red carbon face, according to TaylorMade, helped achieve faster ball speeds when compared to the titanium that is standard in today’s drivers. It does appear that TaylorMade has made some changes from the Stealth Plus to the new Stealth 2 Plus driver, though. The crown seems to have a glossier black finish compared to its predecessor, and the sole appears to feature a redesigned sliding adjustable weight near the front of the sole. Although Scheffler has changed into the new Stealth 2 Plus 8-degree head, he’s sticking with the same Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X shaft that he used throughout 2022. Scheffler is also upgrading into a new Stealth 2 fairway wood with 15 degrees of loft. As he explained on Wednesday, when he’s testing out new fairway woods, Scheffler first looks for the club to produce the correct distance to create the desired yardage gaps in his set. Then, from there, he wants to see that he can hit all of the different shots he requires from a fairway wood. “I always look for distance first (with a new 3-wood),” Scheffler explained. “Like, when we do the fitting, we’ll get it going the right distance, and then (see) if I can hit all my shots. I noticed with this one I was able to hit kind of down into the ball more, and so that part excited me. The front edge sat a little bit squarer, so it’s got a little better look to While Scheffler’s new TaylorMade Stealth 2 Plus driver and Stealth 2 fairway wood are still unreleased and unannounced by the company, Scheffler already sounds comfortable with the new designs. He’ll put them to their first competitive test on Thursday when he tees off at 12:15 p.m. local time in the opening round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

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The Butterfield Bermuda Championship has announced a newfound partnership with Aspen Bermuda Limited for 2022 in their quest to move closer to a more sustainable future for Bermuda’s annual PGA TOUR event. Many new and innovative solutions are being implemented at the tournament this year and thereafter to create an ever-increasingly environmentally friendly event. Mark Pickering, CEO of Aspen Bermuda Limited says “Aspen Bermuda Limited is proud to be the inaugural sustainability partner of the Butterfield Bermuda Championship as we continue our commitment to our local communities”. Plastic is detrimental to Bermuda’s oceans, wildlife, and population. As the harm caused by single-use micro-plastics increases, it becomes a prominent issue that requires close attention from the sporting events industry. Therefore, the Butterfield Bermuda Championship is taking great strides to implement a successful “green” event plan, which is intended to set the sustainability standard of excellence for other sporting events to follow. 2022 Event plans include a vast reduction of single-use plastic passing through Port Royal Golf Course throughout the tournament. Water stations positioned throughout the golf course will enable attendees to re-fill their water bottles with no bottled water available to purchase on-site. Aspen Bermuda Limited will giveaway 500 reusable water bottles daily at the entrance gate to promote single-use plastic awareness. In addition, the volunteer headquarters is reducing plastic waste by providing reusable water bottles to all Butterfield Bermuda Championship volunteers. Concession stands will serve drinks in reusable cups rather than single-use plastic cups. The on-site TAG recycling programme, new in 2022, involves collaboration with the Ministry of Public Works, Keep Bermuda Beautiful (KBB) and Cerobin. The specially designed Cerobins, placed throughout the golf course, will separate tin, aluminium, and glass from general waste. This separation helps to ensure the TAG items are processed correctly at Bermuda’s local recycling facility. All other regular trash will be disposed of at Tynes Bay, where the incinerator converts waste to energy. Transportation throughout the tournament is an extensive logistical operation. The 2022 championship will move entirely to electric buses to transport its volunteers, spectators, and tournament guests. Tournament staff are using a fleet of electric cars to move around the island in the advanced months of the tournament to reduce the event’s carbon footprint. This year, the Butterfield Bermuda Championship has partnered with Bermuda Sands and Cutter & Buck to produce an environmentally friendly uniform. The polo shirts produced by Bermuda Sands are made from 90% recycled water bottles. Volunteer jackets produced by Cutter & Buck are also made from recyclable materials. 2022 sees the move from paper tickets, pairing guides and course maps to a digital format. All mentioned will be accessible via a smartphone and a QR code, reducing paper waste significantly. A continuing partnership with Keep Bermuda Beautiful (KBB) will help to ensure that areas of Bermuda impacted directly by the tournament are maintained and that the Butterfield Bermuda Championship leaves no trace on the local environment. These areas include the ferry docking station, Whale Bay beach, Munro Beach Cottages beach and Pompano. The tournament staff also partake in beach clean-ups to help maintain the coastline of Bermuda. In addition to this, tournament staff regularly participate in KBB clean-ups to help maintain the beauty of Bermuda, specifically in Southampton and around Port Royal Golf Course. These areas include sections of the railway trail, roadsides and bus stops, the Rockaway ferry dock and various south shore beaches.

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