How to Watch the Genesis Scottish Open, Round 3: Featured Groups, live scores, tee times, TV times

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Nick Saban has faced plenty of formidable opponents throughout his famed career. He took on a new one Wednesday. Saban played the tricky closing trio of holes at TPC Sawgrass as part of Justin Thomas’ return to the Stadium Course for a media day before his title defense in two weeks. Thomas was surprised when his golf cart rounded a hill and he saw Saban and his University of Alabama golf bag, with ‘Coach Nick Saban’ stitched on the pocket, waiting on the tee. “I can’t believe you got this guy away from recruiting long enough to come here,” Thomas exclaimed. The timing worked out perfectly, as Wednesdays are Saban’s only off day during offseason practices and he had a speaking engagement in Atlanta, a short flight away, in the evening. “I knew something was going on out here but I didn’t know who or what was going to be standing there,” Thomas said. “I’m always glad to see Coach.” Thomas and Saban first met when the golfer visited Tuscaloosa on a recruiting trip. “He was like a shy little puppy dog sitting in my office,” Saban said Wednesday. Their relationship grew during Thomas’ time with the Tide, as the golf team’s practice facility was the rare escape for the town’s most famous resident. Saban would work on his game with Alabama’s men’s golf coach, Jay Seawell, but the players were relentless in ribbing him about his well-documented chipping woes. “The more they got on me, the worse it got because the anxiety would build up,” Saban said Wednesday. Thomas returns to campus each fall to watch a football game and visit the team in the locker room. He and Saban play during the coach’s offseason, as well. They also keep in contact via text, though it’s not Saban’s preferred method of communication. “I know things are either really good or really bad if I get a text from Coach Saban because he’s not a big texter,” Thomas said. “It’s either, ‘Hey man, I saw you haven’t been playing well and wanted you to know I’m here for you,’ or, ‘I was watching and I’m proud of you.’” On Wednesday, they had the Stadium Course to themselves – with the exception of a camera crew and a handful of spectators — as they played Nos. 16-18. They talked Alabama football while Thomas relived some of his shots from PLAYERS past and guided Saban through the treacherous stretch. Unfortunately, it got the best of him. “I love seeing JT,” Saban said. “He’s a lot of fun to be around. My expectation for today was to hit a few in the water. I didn’t disappoint.” That included two tee shots in the water on 17. His first attempt was a few feet short of land, while his second shot landed on the back of the green before bouncing into the water. Thomas took the blame after recommending that Saban hit a soft 9-iron to the Island Green instead of swinging hard with a pitching wedge. This was Thomas’ first time at TPC Sawgrass since his win at last year’s PLAYERS, where he shot 64-68 on the weekend to win by one after barely making the cut. “It’s a special place and an amazing course,” Thomas said. “I have a lot of great memories here, but just because you’re excited doesn’t mean it’s going to be handed to you. I have to put in some work and get ready to try to defend.” Thomas, 28, has 14 PGA TOUR wins but is seeking his first victory since his triumph at TPC Sawgrass. He’s 23rd in this season’s FedExCup standings thanks to four top-10s in six starts. Saban was quick to tell Thomas that defending his title should not be a concern, however. “I give him the same speech I give our team. When you win a championship they say you have to defend,” Saban said. “You don’t have to defend. No one can take away what you did last year. Just go have fun and do it again. “There’s no such thing as defending a title, in my opinion. If they took it away from you, it would be different. But you’re always going to be a PLAYERS champion and you’re always going to have that special place in the locker room, so just have fun and win it again.”

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CROMWELL, Conn. — Viktor Hovland, recently the No. 1 ranked amateur in the world, signed an equipment contract with Ping ahead of his professional debut this week at the Travelers Championship. At last week’s U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, the 21-year-old Hovland finished T12 and set the record for the lowest 72-hole score by an amateur in U.S. Open history, breaking the record previously held by Jack Nicklaus. Earlier in 2019, Hovland also finished as the low amateur in the Masters, for which he qualified by winning the 2018 U.S. Amateur at Pebble Beach. At Oklahoma State University, Hovland was a three-time All-American and won the 2019 Ben Hogan Award – an award presented to the top men’s college player – after a season that included three collegiate victories. Hovland was also a member of OSU’s 2018 National Championship-winning team. Not only has Hovland been playing Ping products for three years, his connection to Ping runs deeper. Hovland was born in Oslo, Norway, while Ping founder Karsten Solheim was born in Bergen, Norway. “Viktor’s connection to Norway makes the relationship even more special. The country has been fully behind him since he burst onto the scene as a young junior, and he’s continued to impress on so many levels,â€� said John K. Solheim, Ping President and Karsten’s grandson, in a press release. “I know my grandfather would be honored to have a Norwegian golfer of Viktor’s character and talent representing Ping.â€� Hovland himself added: “The technology behind the equipment and the service they provide allows me to focus on getting better and not worrying about my equipment. The Norwegian connection is also really cool. Karsten Solheim and his family have done so much for the game of golf. Their support of Oklahoma State’s team and their role in developing Karsten Creek are just a couple of examples of the wonderful things they do for golf. I’m honored to be part of their golfing family and look forward to working with them as I begin my professional career.â€� Oklahoma State University’s home golf course, Karsten Creek Golf Club, is named after Ping’s founder, and the university is part of Ping’s College Program, which began in the 1970s. “We’ve been impressed with Viktor since we first met him when he was a freshman at Oklahoma State,â€� said Chance Cozby, Ping’s Vice President of Sports Development, in a press release. “During his time in Stillwater, he played PING equipment at various times and we continued to keep in touch with him through our regular visits to the school. When it became clear he was going to turn professional this summer, we identified him as someone who would be a perfect fit for our staff. We had a very productive testing session with him at Karsten Creek this spring, which ultimately led to where we stand today. We are extremely pleased Viktor is joining the Ping staff.â€� Hovland, who has officially signed an equipment deal with Ping as a professional, took PGATOUR.COM through his club setup at the Travelers Championship. As he told PGATOUR.COM, however, his setup is likely to change over the coming weeks and months. Driver: Ping G410 LST (draw setting, 9 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZRDUS 6.5-flex 62 grams Hovland says: “I just put this in the bag on Thursday morning of the U.S. Open. I drove it really nice and it was a big part of my success last week… I’ve been messing around with the different kind of heads and I felt like this was a great fit for me. I was struggling with a bigger left-to-right curve. I put it on draw [setting] and it keeps it neutralized a bit. I was able to hit a lot of fairways with it at the U.S. Open.â€� Hovland led the field last week at the U.S. Open in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. 3 Wood: Ping G410 LST (14.5 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke 6.5TX 80 grams Hovland says: “I really like [the way it] sits down because it looks like it has a lot of loft and it sits real tight to the ground, so for me it’s real easy to launch. I’m a guy who hits a lot of drivers off the tee, I don’t really like to hit a lot of 3 woods [off the tee]. So for me it’s key to have something I can launch up in the air and get it to stop on the greens, [such as going for] par 5’s in two. That’s been a great help for me.â€� Driving Iron: Callaway X-Forged UT (21 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD-DI 85X hybrid Irons: Ping iBlade (4-6 iron), Ping i210 (7-PW) Shafts: KBS Tour-V 120X In what is quite the unique iron setup, Hovland uses the smaller iBlade irons in his long irons, and the larger, more forgiving i210 irons in his shorter irons. This is opposite of what most other players do, but Hovland has his reasons, as discussed below. Hovland says: “I’ve actually only had [the i210] irons for about a week or so. I used to have a full bag of iBlades, and last week I got the Ping i210s. I noticed that I actually got a lower ball flight because I was spinning it a little too much with the iBlades that I had… Last week at the US Open I felt like I was hitting my irons from 7-PW just a little high – they were launching a little too high and spinning a little too much for what I like to see. The greens were firm out there [at the U.S. Open] so you want them to land softly and spin, but they were just [spinning and launching] a little too much, and especially with the wind coming they were hard to control. I just happened to test out some i210s and immediately on the range I just saw them launch a little lower and they weren’t spinning as much. And they were flying in a way that’s normal to my eye. So they were in the bag immediately. It’s opposite on the longer clubs (4-6 iron). You want to be able to launch them higher and I thought the iBlades were perfect for that. I can always launch it low with the longer irons, but if you can hit them high, you can attack any pin you want to. The iBlades have been really great for me so far.â€� Wedges: TaylorMade Tour Preferred EF Spin Groove (50, 56 ATV and 60 ATV) Shafts: KBS 610 Wedge 115 (50 and 56 degrees), KBS Tour-V 130 (60 degree wedge) Putter: TaylorMade TP Collection Mullen 2 Hovland officially makes his professional debut at the Travelers Championship at 8:35 a.m. on Thursday morning.

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Scottie Scheffler has won four PGA TOUR events this season, including the Masters, and he once held a record-setting, 1,041-point lead in the FedExCup standings back in June. Scheffler holds the lead heading into the finale of the FedExCup Playoffs – this week’s TOUR Championship – but now it’s a matter of strokes and not points. He will begin the tournament at 10 under par, two shots ahead of No. 2 Patrick Cantlay under the unique Starting Strokes format. Cantlay, who was seventh in the FedExCup prior to his timely win at last week’s BMW Championship, moved to second with his victory. With the injury withdrawal of No. 3 Will Zalatoris, Xander Schauffele is the only other player within four strokes of Scheffler (and two behind Cantlay). The player with the lowest score in relation to par at week’s end will win the FedExCup and the $18 million bonus. For Thursday at least, the focus will be on Scheffler and Cantlay, who’s trying to become the first back-to-back FedExCup champ. We wanted to take a closer look inside the bags of the two players atop the leaderboard at East Lake. In Scheffler and Cantlay, you have two players who stay pretty consistent with their equipment but who also have several notable differences. We found six notable differences: 1. Brands: Firstly, and most obviously, Scheffler is sponsored by TaylorMade, whereas Cantlay is sponsored by Titleist 2. Different driver lofts: Scheffler uses a lower-lofted 7.5-degree build, while Cantlay opts for a higher-lofted 9.5-degree driver 3. Driving irons vs. high-lofted fairways: Scheffler fills out the top end of his iron set with driving irons (3- and 4-iron), while Cantlay uses a 7-wood instead 4. Blade vs. cavity back irons: Scheffler uses a set of blade-style irons, and Cantlay uses cavity-back irons, which are typically designed for greater forgiveness on off-center hits 5. Lighter iron shafts: Scheffler uses True Temper’s Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts, which weigh-in at around 130 grams, and Cantlay uses True Temper’s lighter Dynamic Gold 120 Tour Issue X100 shafts that weigh 120 grams 6. Blade vs. mallet putter: Although both players use custom Scotty Cameron designs, Scheffler uses a more traditional blade-style putter, whereas Cantlay opts for a winged mallet design that helps boost forgiveness The vast differences in their golf clubs highlights the importance of custom fitting; not everyone swings the same way, so not everyone should use the same golf clubs. Look no farther than Scheffler and Cantlay for proof. Below, we’ll dive into both of their full setups to see what they’re currently using and what’s changed throughout the year. Scottie Scheffler As previously mentioned, Scheffler doesn’t tinker much with his equipment. Since his Masters victory back in April, in fact, he hasn’t made any changes to the clubs in his bag. Scheffler did, however, make huge equipment news in 2022 when he signed with TaylorMade Golf the week of THE PLAYERS Championship in March. Prior to the announcement, Scheffler was an equipment free agent, so he wasn’t obligated to play any particular brand. Plus, he was coming off of two PGA TOUR victories (the WM Phoenix Open and Arnold Palmer Invitational). So, why did he end up signing with TaylorMade then? “I would say first and foremost (the reason) would be the driver,” Scheffler told GolfWRX’s Two Guys Talking Golf podcast following his Masters victory. “I already used the (TaylorMade P-7TW) irons for a while. I like the irons, but the (TaylorMade Stealth Plus) driver, when we did testing over the winter, I saw some pretty nice gains. It was one of those things, like, I know I’m going to use this driver, I know I’m going to use the irons, so maybe let’s see if we can work something out. Just because having consistency with their brand, obviously I trust what they do. To be part of the family and be part of the team was pretty cool for me, and so we wanted to work something out with them, and we were able to get it done. I’m happy to be part of the team.” Since signing with TaylorMade, however, not much has really changed for Scheffler, aside from switching out his old Nike VR Pro Limited fairway wood for a new TaylorMade Stealth Plus 3-wood at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas, which he went on to win to reach No. 1 in the world. He explained why to GolfWRX.com: “One of the things I’ve struggled with was actually hitting 3-woods too far, and also just not seeing all my shots. … Austin was a good area for me to be like, ‘OK, I’m only going to hit this off the tee maybe a few times, let’s put it in the bag and see what I can do with it.’ And it was a pretty seamless transition. I saw the shots I wanted to see. My mishits were more accurate with the TaylorMade than they were than my Nike. I’ve seen some significant improvements already.” Arguably the most notable clubs in Scheffler’s bag are the irons he plays. They’re TaylorMade P-7TW blade irons, which were actually co-designed by Tiger Woods, hence his initials in the clubs’ name. Not surprisingly, Scheffler told GolfWRX.com that Woods had an influence on why Scheffler even started testing the irons in the first place. “I would say the reason I tested it was definitely a Tiger influence,” Scheffler said. “I used the P730’s for a number of years, and I played with Tiger at the Masters in 2020, and I watched him it. He hits it so solid and he flights it so well and does all kinds of stuff with the ball. It kind of clicked in my head, I was like, ‘I used Nike clubs for so long when he was helping develop those irons.’ I’m like, why wouldn’t I at least test his new irons with TaylorMade because they’re his irons, and he obviously had some influence in the process of developing and producing the irons. “I went home in the off-season, tested them out, and I saw that I was able to hit more shots with them. I was able to flatten out the flight a little bit more if I wanted to hit it low or hit it through the wind. And when I wanted to hit it higher, I could do that, as well. It gave me a little bit more variety in what I could do with the golf ball than the P730. And it’s not a big difference, it’s just when you put yourself in a 20mph wind in your face and want to flatten it out a little bit. I can flatten it out and have the ball be a little bit more stable with the head. It’s only a couple yards, but for me it felt like a huge difference.” Also, during the week of Scheffler’s first TOUR win and first of four victories this season in 2022 – the WM Phoenix Open – he switched into a custom Scotty Cameron Timeless Tourtype GSS prototype putter that measured 36.5 inches, with two 25-gram weights in the sole. Scotty Cameron putter rep Brad Cloke spoke on the backstory behind the “Scottie” special: “He just wanted to switch things up a little bit and give himself a slightly different look heading into 2022,” Cloke said in a Titleist press release. “Prior to visiting us in the studio, he’d been messing around with an older Newport 2 Timeless he had at home. He’d added bunch of lead tape to the sole to try and get it to a similar swingweight as his Super Rat. He really liked the profile but the feel wasn’t exactly where he wanted it, so we went to work on building him a new setup with adjustable weighting.” Check out Scheffler’s full specs below, and for more photos, head over to GolfWRX.com. Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (8 degrees, 7.5 degrees of actual loft) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7 X 3-wood: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (16.5 degrees, 15 degrees of actual loft) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 8X Driving iron: Srixon Z-U85 (3-iron, 20 degrees) Shaft: Nippon Pro Modus3 Hybrid Tour X Irons: Srixon Z-U85 (4-iron, 20 degrees), TaylorMade P-7TW (5-PW) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (50-12F, 56-14F), Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks prototype (60-06K) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless Tourtype GSS prototype Ball: Titleist Pro V1 Patrick Cantlay Speaking of not changing clubs very often, Cantlay still uses a driver from 2018, a 3-wood from 2014, a 7-wood from 2018, irons from 2017, and two wedges from 2018. The newest clubs in his bag are his custom Scotty Cameron T5 prototype putter, which Cantlay started using in August of 2021, and a new Titleist Vokey WedgeWorks 60-T custom wedge, which he started using at the Masters. The new wedge has Vokey’s T-grind on the sole, which is the company’s lowest bounce option, and it’s popular on Tour with players such as Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas also using the grind. Check out Cantlay’s full current setup below. Driver: Titleist TS3 (9.5 degrees, B1 SureFit setting, 0.75-degree flat lie angle) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX 3-wood: Titleist 915F (15 degrees, B1 SureFit setting, 0.75-degree flat lie angle) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 70 TX 7-wood: Titleist TS2 (21 degrees, B1 SureFit setting, 0.75-degree flat lie angle) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 80 TX Irons: Titleist 718 AP2 (4-9 iron) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 Tour Issue X100 Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (46-10F, 52-08F), Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (56-08M and 60-T) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300 Putter: Scotty Cameron Phantom X T5 Proto Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

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