Tiger Woods was on roll Friday, before the rain rolled in. So what does this mean for him? For the field? For the condition of the golf course? Our expert weigh in.
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Titleist and FootJoy confirmed for GolfChannel.com that both brands have dropped Scott Piercy after he posted a homophobic meme on social media earlier this week.
Scottie Scheffler won't soon forget where he was when he was named the Arnold Palmer Award winner as PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year for the 2019-20 season. Quarantine. It wasn't exactly the celebration the 24-year-old had in mind, just prior to getting word of the win he tested positive for COVID-19 and had to withdraw from the U.S. Open and go into lockdown. Instead of competing at Winged Foot as one of the form players - Scheffler played in the final group at the PGA Championship before finishing T4, he had the same result at THE NORTHERN TRUST while shooting a 59 and was also fifth at the TOUR Championship - he was at home in a small bubble riding out the disease. His season included seven top-10s (six of which were top-5s) and 13 top-25s from 23 events. Now the Texan is ready to return this week at the Sanderson Farms Championship to kick off his encore performance. "I had plenty of time at home to digest and plenty of time to reflect on the year. I felt like I had a really solid rookie season," Scheffler said of his Palmer Award winning efforts as he sets up for a return at the Country Club of Jackson. "If you had told me that was going to be my results going in, I would have been pleased. I would have liked to have had a win last year, but I feel like that’s coming on the horizon, and game feels like it’s in a good spot for sure. I had a lot of solid finishes, gave myself a lot of chances to win, and I feel like I’m getting close to breaking through." Scheffler is trying to see the bright side of the enforced time off that gave his body a chance to rest up a little. He was lucky enough to not feel the heavy brunt of any symptoms despite his positive test. "I feel like I got a little break. Not a break I necessarily wanted, but I felt all right, so it’s good to be back out here feeling healthy again," he said. "It obviously stunk, catching COVID. But I felt all right, and only one person I knew was also infected, and so we kept our circle pretty small, and it paid off for us. "It definitely stunk sitting at home all week watching the U.S. Open, especially the way I was playing leading into it. I felt like I had a good chance of winning. It stunk, but it’s the world we live in. I felt okay, so very blessed to have felt good through all of it and came out on the other side recovered." Now he's ready to get back into his groove on a course where he has finished T45 and T16 over the last two seasons. "I feel my game is still in a good spot. I think there’s still a few areas that are a little rusty just from having not played tournament golf in the last three weeks ... but hopefully I’ll pick back up soon," he said. "A good finish this week would be nice. Not really going to look too far into it. Obviously I’m here to win and that’s the goal, but really just trying to go out in the first round and do as best I can."
Most of us can appreciate the travails of Jordan Spieth at the moment. Trying to appreciate his game at its peak was something most of us mere mortals cannot fathom. Solid off the tee, crisp iron shots, and a short game that at times seemed to never miss. He took that game to a FedExCup title, 11 PGA TOUR wins and three majors in his early 20s. But his current efforts over the past few seasons, where one part of his game would be firing but another be off, is something more familiar to most amateur golfers for sure. On Friday at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, Spieth found some needed rhythm off the tee and on approach at times, but his putter largely deserted him. He gained as many strokes on the field in his approach game that he had lost on Thursday but rounds of 74-69 will see him miss the weekend. It’s part of a larger slide for the now 26-year-old who is coming up on nearly three years since his last victory at the 2017 Open Championship. Since claiming the claret jug, his only top-five finish came at the 2018 Masters. Related: Leaderboard | Amy paying it forward Despite falling outside of the world top 50 for the first time since he first entered it in 2013 early this week, Spieth’s game is still miles above us weekend warriors. He’s still in another stratosphere and while words can sometimes be cheap and “it’s closeâ€� is one of the most used clichés in the sport, you really believe him when he says a turnaround is coming. “I drove the ball really well, just hit my irons poorly yesterday, which set me back. And then just historically, I’ve had a really hard time reading these greens and it just continued this week,â€� Spieth said after his round. As he signed his card, he had lost nearly three strokes to the field on the greens over the two rounds. “Felt like I put good strokes on it and then I would look up and I missed them by like a foot offline, which was very unusual for me,â€� he added. “But overall I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made off the tee. That was the best I’ve driven the ball in a couple years. So when that happens I know the rest of it’s kind of coming behind. Did a lot today to make it work and I hit 16 greens which is another really good sign.â€� Spieth worked his tail off over the off-season with coach Cameron McCormick to get his swing back to the heady days of 2015, but on Tuesday they made another adjustment. He strengthened his grip by some “five degreesâ€� and is working on getting his shaft flatter with a very closed clubface in his backswing. This makes his accuracy into the greens Friday perhaps even more impressive. But the flip side of that is there could be some more erratic golf as he tries to embed yet another change. “That’s something that takes 2-3 months to nail down,â€� Spieth told Golf Digest of the changes. “It’s an unusual feeling for me and it’s been difficult to trust, especially without having my grip in the perfect place. I miss a lot of left shots given the grip. My hands are pretty good and I’ll be able to figure it out in a couple of weeks, but I did it with the idea that we have a couple of months before the first major.â€� Next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am provides a welcome happy hunting ground for the Texan to continue his efforts. He won the tournament in 2017 and has never missed the cut in seven starts, finishing inside the top 25 in six of them. “When the driver starts to come around… that’s normally last… so when that starts to come around, I’m not worried about the rest of the game. And I’m not worried about the putting either,â€� Spieth continued. “I’ve had bad putting weeks where I’ve walked away saying, I don’t know what’s going on in the stroke. But I hit my lines almost every single putt and just simply misread them all. And I know that that’s not the case historically for me on the three courses next week, so I’m looking forward to that.â€� While he remains upbeat looking forward, he was emotional on course at TPC Scottsdale, even more so than usual. Afterwards, he admitted he felt like he had let down a few of his friends who had flown out to watch the tournament. “(The frustration) was just will. I just really wanted it. I wanted to play the weekend. I had a bunch of buddies come in town. I wanted to kind of give them something to watch the next couple days,â€� he lamented. “So when I just couldn’t do the easy part for me, which is the putting, that’s what was so frustrating. It’s not like overall frustration. I’ve had plenty of that. I’m done with that. I’m on the rebound now.â€� Currently Spieth is not locked into the World Golf Championships – Mexico Championship on Feb. 20-23 but can still earn his way in over the next few weeks. If his ranking slides further, he could also find himself out of the World Golf Champions – Dell Match Play Championship on March 25-29.  “I don’t know where I’m at in the world ranking,â€� he said. “Don’t care, don’t look at it. I’m just trying to step up and win a golf tournament and let everything else take care of itself [but] you need to play all four rounds to win a tournament.â€�
