J.Y. Ko wins first LPGA title on home soil

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Danny Lee is certainly not the first golfer on the PGA TOUR who is trying to chase a little more speed with his driver. But he may be the first to cause a bit of a last-minute panic by one of his fellow TOUR members after just one swing. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Inside Hovland’s strengths Wednesday afternoon at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, Lee, who finished T2 last week at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, was in the middle of a speed-training session. He was getting up to about 185 m.p.h. ball speed but Viktor Hovland, who was next to him, wanted to see how much more speed Lee could generate with his driver – which is about an inch longer. Lee stepped on one, and the shaft shattered. “That was very unexpected,” said Lee. “I felt so sorry for him. If I had a spare driver, I would have given it to him, but I didn’t.” “I just looked up after he hit the shot and it was in pieces,” said Hovland. Enter James Hahn, who had another Ping G-425 driver to nearly the same specs as Hovland’s usual gamer. “(Hovland) kept hitting it on the driving range and surprisingly he was hitting great with it,” said Lee. Kenton Oates, who is a PGA TOUR rep for Ping, said the driver Hovland put into play on Thursday was the same model, same loft, and had the same swing weight – with a slightly different shaft – as Hovland’s usual driver. “You give something pretty close to a guy like Viktor and he’ll figure it out,” said Oates. Hovland didn’t seem to have a problem with it. The defending champion in Mexico fired an opening-round 4-under 67 and missed only two fairways – both, he said, when he didn’t actually hit driver. “It’s a little bit shorter, it’s a different shaft, but honestly, almost helped me this week because it’s a little shorter,” said Hovland. “It probably goes 10 yards shorter, but I just felt like I could really hit it a little lower and a little straighter. So I’m hitting that thing really well.” Hovland, who was fifth on TOUR last season in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, ventured to another golf course in the area to try the new driver on Wednesday into different winds. But it was a quick learning session for Hovland. “As soon as I like, hit a couple with it, I was like, ‘this feels pretty nice. I think I can work with this,’ said Hovland. Oates said Hovland’s driving has always impressed him and Hovland’s consistent shot shape has been combined with a gain of nearly 6 m.p.h. of ball speed since he joined the TOUR. Oates said because the break (which happened because Lee has such an aggressive recoil on his driver swing) that occurred in Mexico was a unique situation for the Ping team. If this was the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open next week, Oates said, the two-time TOUR winner would have had a new driver in about 20 minutes. Oates said PING staffer Taylor Moore, who was in Mexico hoping to get into the field as an alternate, was also willing to provide a suitable replacement to Hovland. After the driving performance Hovland put on in the opening round at El Camaleón Mayakoba Golf Course, Oates laughed when he was asked if Hovland may consider Hahn’s specs when he gets fit into some new Ping stuff next year. “Dude, next year? If he’s hitting it like this it might be next week,” said Oates. “You play this game, and a lot of times guys may be out with their friends and say, ‘you know, I hit so-and-so club.’ This is a different situation, but it does happen (on TOUR) and that ends up being the best fitting process.” While it all worked out in the end for Hovland (and Lee, who opened with a solid 3-under 68) will Lee still try to make it up to Hovland somehow? “In the future,” said Lee, “I’ll give him something for sure.”

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The U.S. Open is open again! After the resemblance of an invitational to accommodate the pandemic and a shift to September in 2020, the tournament is back in its traditional slot in mid-June with a Father’s Day finish. Oh, and the field of 156 reflects the familiar blend of survivors of the sectionals among the automatic qualifiers. As of Monday, 68 golfers gained entry via 11 sectionals, many of whom seasoned touring professionals, but they should be careful what they wished for. The souped-up South Course at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California awaits. For details on the host, how it will challenge and much more, continue reading beneath the extended ranking of projected contenders. RELATED: Nine things to know about Torrey Pines | How the field qualified POWER RANKINGS: U.S. OPEN Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider will include reviews of 2021 PGA Championship winner and six-time U.S. Open runner-up Phil Mickelson, surging San Diego native Charley Hoffman, Congaree champion Garrick Higgo, Congaree co-runner-up Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick, Daniel Berger and other notables. For fans who typically do not monitor course setups, one of the lessons of the pandemic has been the timing of the need for overseeded grass. For many intents and purposes, the practice is utilized in months with cooler air and fewer daylight hours. Overseed adds body, and when maintained properly, the finished product is aesthetically pleasing. It’s not modeled after a program to thicken hair on a head, but you get the idea. In the context of the competition, the most important component is consistency. So, when the overseed isn’t necessary because of climate and other factors, the experience is poised to be pure. That’s what’s in store at Torrey Pines this week. For the Farmers for which the South Course is played three times by all golfers who complete the annual PGA TOUR stop, only the rough includes a measure of kikuyu grass (overseeded with ryegrass) due to its winter date, but the fairways are nothing but kikuyu for the U.S. Open. The rough still has an overseed of rye but that’s due in part to the allowance to grow to as high as five inches. Since Tiger Woods emerged from a playoff for his memorable victory at the U.S. Open in 2008, Rees Jones, who is part architect and part cosmetic surgeon for U.S. Open stages, and who renovated Torrey Pines seven years prior to Woods’ historic accomplishment prior to reconstructive surgery on his left knee, modernized the track ahead of the 2020 edition of the Farmers. Jones left the Poa annua greens alone, but he touched up everything else and installed new irrigation. Woods played the 2020 Farmers and finished T9, so he’s been tested by the update, but he will not be competing this week as he continues to recovery from serious injury. However, 53 golfers who pegged it alongside him qualified this week, and 61 from the 2021 Farmers are here. Forty-five competed in both editions. When Torrey Pines hosts the Farmers, it’s a stock par 72. Not this week. Just as it presented as a par 71 in 2008 for which Woods posted 1-under 283 in regulation, it will again for the 2021 U.S. Open. The sixth hole is converted from a 564-yard par 5 to a par 4 measuring 515 yards. Overall, the course tips at 7,652 yards. That’s 113 yards shorter than its setup for the Farmers and nine yards longer than the 2008 U.S. Open when the field averaged 74.712. Save the possibility for a marine layer in the morning, conditions will be ideal all week. Daytime highs probably will eclipse 70 degrees, it will not rain and winds will be light. Greens averaging just 5,000 square feet will be true throughout. All golfers positioned in the low 60 and ties at the conclusion of 36 holes will complete the tournament. The winner will earn a 10-year exemption into the U.S. Open, five-year exemptions into the other three majors, fully exempt status on the PGA TOUR through the 2025-26 season and $2.25 million of the $12.5-million prize fund. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers; Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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