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Welcome Back! The PGA TOUR returns to the mainland as the West Coast swing resumes in the California desert at the CareerBuilder Challenge in La Quinta. This pro-am event has been around since 1960 and used four courses and five rounds to determine a champion until 2012. For the seventh year in a row the pros will only get four cracks at three different courses to find out who’s the best of the bunch this week. While each course has its own features, gamers will need to remember that only one, La Quinta Country Club, has been in use in 14 of the last 15 events. In 2016 Pete Dye’s Stadium Course and Jack Nicklaus’ Tournament Course were added to the rotation for the first time. When these tracks were added, course history from the previous two flew directly out the window. Speaking of rotation, the Stadium Course will host the final round for the third year in a row, meaning it will be the only course of the three to be used twice. Every pro and their amateur playing partner will play each course once with the top 70 and ties advancing to the weekend. If there are more than 78 players making the cut, only 60 will advance to the weekend. Jason Dufner was the first to take the title with the two new courses in play. His 25-under-par 268 was three shots lower than Hudson Swafford’s winning total from last year. Swafford will look to join “The Desert Fox” Johnny Miller as the only player to defend in the Coachella Valley. TALES OF THE TAPE Last year it was weird to see champion Hudson Swafford wearing a long-sleeve shirt under his polo as he held the trophy on Sunday. The final-round temperature only hit 61 and it was breezy so there’s no doubt that kept scoring quiet a day after Adam Hadwin posted 59 at La Quinta Country Club. Swafford took advantage of the greens he hit for the week by holing the important putts, those for birdie. His final round saw him circle three of the last four and become only the second player since 2012 to come from off the lead to win. His dominance of the par-5s is relevant because all three tracks play to par 72. ShotLink is only used on the host course but the stats above translate on all three tracks. The “regular” chart returns will return next week as well as a look back at the last THREE winners. Ch-ch-ch-changes! I do know that Swafford was the first, first-time winner since Jhonattan Vegas in 2011 and first since the reduction to four rounds in 2012. I’ll point out that Vegas is also the only rookie winner here and just the third international winner since the turn of the century. Jason Dufner needed two playoff holes to defeat David Lingmerth in the first edition with the two new courses in play. Both players carded 25-under-par 263 and both did it in two separate fashions. The champ opened 64-65-64 to carry a two-stroke lead into Sunday. The Swede made it a grandstand finish as he posted 62-65 (bogey free) to force extra holes. I’d point out that Adam Hadwin played in the second-to-last group in this edition for those of you paying attention. Dufner’s success was based on his strength, lighting up greens in regulation. This was his first top 10 in seven tries in the Coachella Valley but he entered the week on the back of consecutive top 10’s at The RSM Classic and Sony Open in Hawaii. When Dufner’s putter heats up, he can be a bother for the rest of the field. He circled a whopping 30 birdies winning in 2016. His putter has shown hints of warming as he circled 21 birdies last week at the Sony Open on the back of 18 at Kapalua. NOTE: Golfers inside the top 25 in each statistic on the 2016-17 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete in the CareerBuilder Challenge. * – Finished inside the top 10 at the CareerBuilder Challenge since 2016. Par-5 Scoring Rank Golfer 2 *Luke List 5 *Phil Mickelson 7 Jon Rahm 7 Brandon Hagy 12 Seamus Power 12 Rory Sabbatini 12 Kevin Tway 18 Nick Taylor Putting: Birdie-or-Better Percentage Rank Golfer 8 *Phil Mickelson 10 *Matt Every 11 Camilo Villegas 12 Grayson Murray 14 Sam Saunders 15 Jon Rahm 19 Scott Piercy 22 *Luke List 23 Brandt Snedeker 25 Tom Hoge Greens in Regulation Rank Golfer 1 Martin Flores 5 Ryan Armour 6 Lucas Glover 8 Cameron Percy 9 Robert Garrigus 12 J.J. Henry 14 *Luke List 15 Chad Campbell 18 Stewart Cink 21 Jon Rahm 23 *Hudson Swafford 24 Jim Herman Gamers playing the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO will want to revolve their rosters around avoiding the Stadium Course as much as possible this week. The last two years the Pete Dye design (par 72, 7,113) has played the most difficult of the trio. La Quinta (par 72, 7,060) is annually one of the easiest courses on TOUR and the last two years have seen it rate third easiest in 2016 and second easiest last year. The Nicklaus Tournament layout (par 72, 7,159) nipped La Quinta for the second easiest track in 2016 but rallied in the breeze last year to rank No. 39 of 50 in difficulty but still played 1.2 strokes under par. Having low scores in pro-ams is hardly earth-shattering information. The rounds are already long enough so heavy rough, slick greens and tough pin placements aren’t going to be on the menu. Toss in usually perfect weather and the recipe for going low is optimum. As is the case in shootouts, the players who find the most GIR will be the ones with the most chances for birdie. This week, with all three courses playing par 72 and all less than 7,200 yards, there won’t be many acceptable excuses for scores worse than par. Anything in the 70’s this week will need to be followed with something in the low 60’s. Bogeys will almost feel like doubles especially if the 54-hole cut hovers around 9 under par like it was in 2016. With a birdie-fest on the cards, there’s not much mystery on why there aren’t repeat champions. A shootout on short courses should involve just about everyone this week so it’s your job to narrow it down. I’ve provided some help below!  Weatherman Rob Bolton has suggested in his Power Rankings the weather this week won’t be perfect as temperatures are stuck in the 60s but the wind looks to be tame. Be sure to look for my post-round recap Emergency 9 each night shortly after the conclusion of play! NOTE: The groups below are comprehensive to assist in data mining. Inclusion doesn’t imply automatic endorsement in every fantasy game as all decisions are specific to your situation. CONFIDENCE MEN Selected golfers with multiple cuts made sorted by rank on the tournament’s money list. BUILDING CONFIDENCE Sorted by best finish, selected golfers who are either finally finding form on the course or are still relatively new to the tournament but have enjoyed some success. OTHER SIGNS OF CONFIDENCE Sorted by most recent top 10s, selected golfers for whom it’s been a few years since their last.
ORLANDO – Kevin Streelman had worked his way up near the lead when fate intervened in the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. His driver cracked, leading him to play his last six holes in 2 over for a somewhat disappointing 70 that left him five off the early lead of Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello. “I had to hit 3-wood all the way in,� Streelman said. Things were going well as he saved par at the third hole, his 12th of the day, to stay at 4 under. Then he smashed his drive at the par-5 fourth hole, and it made a funny sound. “I looked down at my driver and there was a big, old crater in it,� Streelman said. “Which just is demoralizing. I’ve had that thing for like 15, 16 months, and it’s been my baby. We just did a renovation on our house, and I could name the renovation after this driver, it’s been so good to me.� Absent his driver, a Ping G400 Max, Streelman went with a 3-wood, over-swung, and fought a left miss as he double-bogeyed the fourth hole and bogeyed the sixth, both par-5s. “They’re two of the easiest holes on the course,� he said. “It really could’ve been a good day, even though 2-under is still good. This has never really happened to me mid-tournament before. I’ve got two other ones sitting in my locker; I’ve got to go do some testing now.�
While tools of the trade typically take a back seat during major championship coverage, there were a number of interesting storylines at the 2019 PGA Championship when it came to equipment. In the recap below, we highlight those stories, including Jordan Spieth’s fairway wood switch, Dustin Johnson’s putter change, Ping club designer Marty Jertson, and Emiliano Grillo’s very rare decision. Swapping an 8-iron for a hybrid? You almost never see a golfer use an iron set that’s missing an 8-iron, unless you’re playing with a buddy who lost or broke it. For Emiliano Grillo, however, he purposely opted to leave his Callaway Apex MB 8-iron out of the bag for competition this week, instead substituting it for a Callaway Apex 2-hybrid. According to Callaway, he chose to use a hybrid instead of an 8-iron because he had a “specific carry number that he liked with the hybrid,� and he “liked how it performed in testing.� While the decision surely left Grillo with a few difficult shot-making decisions into the green with his mid irons, the move may have worked out since Grillo finished T23 on the week. Last minute putter changes In addition to Adam Scott’s putter switch for the week, there were two other putter changes that proved crucial. The PGA Championship’s runner-up, Dustin Johnson, who has shown in the past that he’s not afraid to test multiple putters and make last-minute putter changes, used a new TaylorMade Spider X putter with a “T� alignment aid on the crown of the putter this week. His flatstick was equipped with a SuperStroke Traxion Pistol GT 1.0 Tour grip. Luke List, who finished in 6th place at the PGA Championship, did so with a new Axis1 prototype putter that’s nearly identical to the putter that was designed for Justin Rose, who has been using that “Rose Proto� Axis1 throughout 2019. List finished 2nd in Strokes Gained: Putting on the week. Marty Jertson makes the cut using a driver he designed Jertson, who was one-of-three PGA Club Professionals to make the cut at Bethpage Black, is also the Vice President of Fitting and Performance at Ping. Previously at Ping, he’s also held job titles such as Director of Product Development and Senior Design Engineer. While his new role at company focuses more on fitting and optimizing clubs for better player performance, as his current job title implies, he was the lead designer of the G410 drivers. Of course, while competing in the 2019 PGA Championship, he was using a Ping G410 Plus driver (9 degrees), which was equipped with a Project X HZRDUS T1100 shaft. Koepka remains a free agent, and it’s paying off Although Brooks Koepka is certainly leaving big money on the table by not signing an equipment contract, he continues to justify his equipment free agency with major championship victories and huge winner’s checks. Currently, Koepka represents four different equipment companies in his bag setup: TaylorMade metalwoods, a Nike driving iron, Mizuno irons, and Titleist wedges, putter and golf ball. See his full winning setup here. Spieth switches out an old friend Jordan Spieth won the 2015 U.S. Open with a Titleist 915F fairway wood (15 degrees) in the bag, and while he has experimented with other Titleist fairway woods throughout the years, the 915F mostly remained in his competition setup ever since. That changed ahead of the 2019 PGA Championship, however. Spieth finished T3 this week using a Titleist TS2 (15 degrees) fairway wood, equipped with a Graphite Design Tour AD-DI 7X shaft. According to Titleist Tour rep Jim Curran, Spieth “loved the distance and overall ball flight that he was seeing.� A club that’s likely not to change anytime soon? His putter. Despite a rocky relationship with his putting over recent years, Spieth still has his Scotty Cameron 009 prototype putter in the bag, which he used to lead the 2019 PGA Championship field in Strokes Gained: Putting, gaining a whopping 10.6 strokes over the field – that’s more than three shots better than second place in that category for the week (List, with 7.2 strokes-gained). Spieth also made an astounding 394 feet, 4 inches worth of putts on the week. Check out our rundown of custom gear made specifically for the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black for more.
