Golden moment: Mickelson in hunt at PGA

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Jordan Spieth holed out from 160 yards for eagle on the 16th hole at Pebble Beach, the start of a stunning turnaround that took him from two shots behind to a two-shot lead Saturday in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. RELATED: Leaderboard | Mickelson smiles after tough finish at Pebble Beach These moments used to happen when Spieth was winning all the time. This was the second time this week he holed out from the fairway, and now he is on the cusp of ending more than three years without a victory. He shot 1-under 71 as he goes for a second victory at Pebble Beach in the last five years. A pedestrian round that included bogeys on two of the par 5s left Spieth two shots out of the lead with three holes to play. And then it all changed. His hard draw to a left pin on the 16th landed about 8 feet right of the hole and took the slope all the way to the bottom of the cup. Two holes later, Daniel Berger sent his drive well to the right, over the bunkers and onto the cart path. It settled next to the hedges, and was out-of-bounds by mere inches. Berger called over an official for a linear measurement, but it was out. That led to double bogey and a 72. Patrick Cantlay, whose third round began with such promise when he hit it to 8 feet for eagle, birdied the 18th for a 70 and joined Berger two shots out of the lead. Tom Hoge (68) and Russell Knox (69) also were two shots behind. Spieth was at 13-under 203. He was tied for the lead going into the final round last week in the Waste Management Phoenix Open, only to fall back when he couldn’t make any putts. He shot 72 and finished two back. Jason Day was very much in the mix, too, after a 68 left him in the group at 10-under 206. Paul Casey stayed three shots behind with a great break on the 18th when his tee shot tumbled down onto the rocks, but had a flat enough lie he could hit off the rock back into the fairway. He shot 71. Maverick McNealy had a 69 that included a penalty shot behind the fifth green when his ball moved right as he set the club behind the ball. Spieth didn’t have to contend with what he predicted to be a “mean” day at Pebble Beach. The rain in the forecast was gone by the time he teed off. The raging wind was more of a stiff breeze along the ocean holes that Pebble gets all the time. Spieth didn’t do anything great Saturday. He made bogey on the easiest hole at Pebble Beach from the middle of the fairway on the par-5 second hole, coming up well short of the green, pitching short of the putting surface and missing a par putt from 5 feet. He also bogeyed the par-5 14th when his lob wedge was too tentative and spun all the way off the front of the green. But there was enough good golf — and no wild shots that have cost him so dearly over the last three years — to keep him close enough to work a little magic at the end. He also needed some help, which Berger supplied. Even so, a dozen players were separated by four shots going into the final round at a tournament that moves much faster this year without amateur partners creating groups of four players.

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Legendary golf architect Pete Dye died Thursday at age 94 but leaves an undeniable stamp on the game. As the news filtered through the golf fraternity TOUR players and others who have been touched by his contribution to the world begun reflecting on the World Golf Hall of Famer’s legacy en masse. RELATED: Pete Dye passes away at age 94 “We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Pete Dye, a true friend of the PGA TOUR and one of the most important course architects of this or any generation. A 2008 inductee into the World Golf Hall of Fame, Pete’s influence is far-reaching, leaving a global imprint on both the amateur and professional games. He designed some of the best known golf courses in the world, though none more recognizable than THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. It was here that Pete masterfully brought Commissioner Deane Beman’s revolutionary stadium golf concept to life, melding Deane’s vision with a brilliantly designed course that is celebrated annually as one of the game’s great strategic courses during THE PLAYERS Championship. Pete, though, was always quick to credit his beloved wife, Alice, with his success, including the concept for his most famous hole, the 17th island green at TPC Sawgrass. Together, Pete and Alice made a formidable team in golf and life, and with sons Perry and P.B., themselves successful course architects, they are recognized as one of the most accomplished families in golf. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire Dye family.â€� – PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan “He leaves a huge footprint on the game. One of my best experiences with Pete was playing Whistling Straits one of the first times we went there and I was lucky enough he walked nine holes with me in a practice round and I would ask him, “Mr. Dye why would you put that bunker right there… what were you thinking?â€� and he would look at me and said dryly, “just to piss you off, that’s the only reason.â€� He was a good man who obviously loved golf and just a wonderful course designer who knew how to make difficult golf courses. If you were going to play well around his places you couldn’t fake it and it’s a sad loss for golf. His footprint was at all of his places, undeniably and not a lot of designers can say that. And boy you knew it was going to be tough.â€� – Charles Howell III “Pete and Alice Dye are royalty in golf, no question. My mother was friends with Alice and always enjoyed talking with Pete every chance I could get. I love TPC Sawgrass and my parents were members at The Honors Course which I think is one of his best of all time. He revolutionized golf, changed it, and made it better. We are all lucky to have had him. If you look at the history of golf I’m not sure there is a bigger change in architecture than when Pete Dye came along. It was the most radical change and it was a great change. He is timeless. They’ll be copying him till the end of time.â€� – Jerry Kelly “You can’t mistake a Pete Dye. You knew it was his as soon as you played it. He had a different set of rules when he built golf courses and every single one he built was tough. He built TPC Sawgrass and helped build THE PLAYERS, and Whistling Straits, plus so many golf courses that are amazing. It is sad to lose someone who meant so much to not just the game of golf but to so many of its players as well. I had so many good experiences with him, I learnt a lot from him and he was clearly a very smart man. He will be missed.â€� – Vijay Singh “There’s fingerprints (of influence), and if Pete Dye doesn’t have one of the biggest, certainly in the last 50 years, I don’t know who would rival that. I was fortunate enough to play with him at Hilton Head, one of his gems, in the Pro-Am. It was me and Mr. Dye, Mr. Finchem, and I believe there was another executive of the TOUR. I believe Mr. Dye shot 78 or 79 that day in the Pro-Am and this was within the last 10-12 years for sure. Just hearing the stories, you know, what he did with this hole and that… it was awesome. It was just fantastic to see a golf artist on his canvas he made. Very special. Condolences to his family obviously. He’s a legend.â€� – Zach Johnson “He was an icon when it comes to golf course design. He was a guy who really made you uncomfortable the whole round. And he did it visually. He’d always make you think. He’s one of those guys that you respected him because he built some great golf courses but in the midst of playing them, you hated his guts.â€� – Brandt Snedeker

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Takumi Kanaya could be an overlooked bracket buster this week. At just 23 years old, the former top-ranked amateur in the world already has three wins on the Japan Tour and is a candidate to make this year’s International Team for the Presidents Cup. He also finished seventh in this season’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan and he even shares an alma mater, Tohoku Fukushi, with his country’s biggest star, Hideki Matsuyama. To learn more about the equipment setup of this rising star, we spoke with his club fitter, Will Yanagisawa, who’s currently the collegiate player development manager at Ping (and a former college teammate of Tiger Woods). Below are three noteworthy takeaways from Yanagisawa on Kanaya’s unique equipment setup. 1. Once he finds the right fit, he sticks with it Kanaya is still using a Ping G410 driver, fairway wood and hybrid, which were all launched to retail back in 2019. According to Yanagisawa, Kanaya tests all the new products, but he’s particular about his golf clubs. He launches the ball low, so he works to increase his launch angle to carry the ball farther. But he also doesn’t want the ball to spin too much. Apparently, the Ping G410 series still fits his eye and his performance preferences just right. “Once he gets set and comfortable, he just rides that out,” Yanagisawa told GolfWRX. “He’ll play the same clubs until he finds something better. He always tests everything and we’ll take numbers, but at the end of the day, he keeps playing what he’s comfortable with.” The same goes for his putter. Kanaya has been using the same Ping Sigma2 Arna putter since his amateur days, and it has a special hosel that was only released in limited markets overseas. Take it from Takumi: Comfort with performance is often better than going with something new just to do it. 2. He uses two different 5-irons It’s not often that you see a golfer use two irons with same number on them, but Kanaya has a specific reason. According to Yanagisawa, Kanaya is precise with the yardage gaps between his irons. He doesn’t want the gaps between clubs to be too far apart or too close together. While the two Ping irons both say “5” on their soles, the irons are two different models that were designed for different performance characteristics. His Ping i210 5-iron is designed for better players, but with a touch of forgiveness added. While it has a cavity-back construction with perimeter weighting for additional relief on mishits, it has a compact shape, reduced offset and a thin topline. His Ping G710 5-iron, on the other hand, is more of a game-improvement club that has a fast face made for higher launch and more carry distance. While his G710 also is a 5-iron, it’s designed to fly farther and higher than Kanaya’s i210 5-iron. For amateur golfers, it’s important to hit all of the clubs in your bag on a launch monitor to see exactly how far they fly. You may notice you have two clubs that fly about the same distance. In that case, you’ll want to find a different club to replace one of them, since there’s no sense in having two clubs that serve the same purpose. 3. A 60-degree specialty wedge Kanaya’s highest lofted wedge is a Ping Glide Forged Pro 60-degree lob wedge, which is only 2 degrees more than his 58-degree sand wedge. “What’s the point of having two wedges so close together in loft?” you may be wondering. Well, Kanaya doesn’t hit full shots often with his 60-degree wedge. For longer shots, Kanaya opts for the 58-degree wedge, which is slightly easier to hit and more forgiving on full swings. He keeps the 60-degree wedge in his bag for specialty shots around the green when he needs the extra loft. “He likes to have that 60-degree for certain shots around the greens,” Yanagisawa said. “He’s a very good short-game player. He’s world class, in my opinion. He uses the 58-degree for full shots and most of his chipping, but for many specialty shots around the green, he uses the 60-degree.” For amateurs, it’s important to take a good, hard look at your wedge setup and why you have certain wedges in the bag. It could be in your best interest to get rid of the lob wedge altogether and fill your bag with clubs that are slightly easier to hit on long shots. Remember, the lob wedge is a specialty club, not a prerequisite.

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