Jordan Spieth would choose Rickie Fowler if Ryder Cup play included drinking

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Rory McIlroy’s win at last week’s RBC Canadian Open included a rare mid-tournament equipment switch. It was the latest edition of a battle between two 3-woods for a spot in his bag. He started the RBC Canadian Open with TaylorMade’s SIM Ti 3-wood before switching to the new Stealth 3-wood over the weekend at St. George’s. The Stealth will remain in his bag at The Country Club, he told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday. Since the Wells Fargo Championship in May, when McIlroy first switched into TaylorMade’s new Stealth fairway wood, he’s been switching back and forth between his old flame and his new one, carrying both options on a weekly basis. “I (used) the SIM (in Canada), I just didn’t hit it much last week,” McIlroy told GolfWRX on Wednesday. “There was honestly no real need for a 3-wood last week, just with the yardage. …I actually have the Stealth this week. SIM is almost like a 2-wood. It’s very low spinning. It’s pretty hot. It’s always been a hot head. … I can get high 170 ball speed out of it and carry it over 300 yards. …There wasn’t really much opportunity to hit it last week. It was either lay way back with a 5-wood or an iron, or hit driver. But some weeks, like Memorial, where 310 yards is a really good distance off the tee; it’s good for weeks like that. And this week is a little similar to last week. It’s either you lay back quite a lot with a 5-wood, or you get it up there with a driver. So, there’s just no need for it.” As a quick refresher, TaylorMade’s SIM Ti (Titanium) fairway woods hit retail in February 2020, and McIlroy has been using the 3-wood off and on ever since. The TaylorMade Stealth fairway woods, on the other hand, hit retail more recently in January 2022. This is far from the usual ‘old versus new’ dilemma, though. McIlroy, the 2011 U.S. Open Champion, switches between the options because he uses them for different purposes, and they fly different distances. Based on course setup and his plan of attack come competition time on Thursday each week, he must choose between the two options, since there’s only room for one in his 14-club setup. He travels with both clubs to keep his options open. “The Stealth, I carry 285 to 290. It’s a little weaker, a little spinnier, sort of more just to get it in play,” McIlroy told GolfWRX.com on Wednesday. “The SIM is a little hotter, a little lower spin, sort of get it out there a little more. … (The Stealth is) a little more workable. A little more spin. A little more in control. That SIM 3-wood I spin it at like 2,600-2,700 rpm. It’s like a mini driver.” According to a TaylorMade representative, although both of McIlroy’s 3-woods have “15 degrees” listed on their heads, McIlroy’s SIM Ti 3-wood measures out at 13 degrees of loft, whereas his Stealth has 13.75 degrees of actual loft. While most of the focus has been on McIlroy’s 3-woods, McIlroy said it’s his TaylorMade Stealth Plus 5-wood that will get the most use among his fairway woods. “There’s a few opportunities to hit drivers here, but I think it’s just so important to get it in the fairway,” McIlroy told GolfWRX. “I can carry the 5 wood 270-275 in the air off the tee. With how fast these fairways are, it rolls out to 290 or whatever. …I’ll hit 3-wood maybe a couple times, but the 5-wood is probably just a better club for quite a few holes here.” While McIlroy’s SIM Ti and Stealth 3-woods are busy battling it out for a place in the starting lineup, it seems the Stealth Plus 5-wood is really the one doing the hard work as he looks to win his second U.S. Open and fifth major.

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NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Henrik Stenson delivered the biggest shot on a back nine filled with them, a 5-wood within inches on the 15th hole for eagle that carried him to a 6-under 66 and a one-shot victory Saturday in the Hero World Challenge. Tournament host Tiger Woods was among five players who had a chance to win on the back nine, four of them with at least a share of the lead at some point at Albany Golf Club. RELATED: Final leaderboard Woods fell out with a chip that didn’t make it up the slope on the 14th hole, and he had to scramble for bogey. Justin Thomas had a pair of 12-foot birdie putts burn the edge. Defending champion Jon Rahm, in his final event before getting married in Spain, appeared to seize control with a birdie-eagle-birdie stretch to take the lead. And then Stenson struck the decisive blow. From 259 yards away on the par-5 15th hole, he hammered 5-wood and couldn’t see beyond a dune as it bounced onto the green, tracked toward the hole and settled about 8 inches away for a tap-in eagle. That took him from one shot behind to one shot ahead, and he closed with three pars. Rahm had to settle for two pars to close out his 66. Stenson won for the first time in 50 tournaments worldwide, a drought dating to the Wyndham Championship in August 2017. His world ranking plunged from No. 6 to No. 40. But after wrapping up the European Tour season in Dubai last week, he worked with swing coach Pete Cowen and took some momentum to the Bahamas. Patrick Reed, who took a two-shot penalty on Friday after a Rules violation, shook that off for a 66 to finish alone in third. Woods hasn’t won his holiday event since 2011, and he put himself in position with timely birdies while playing alongside Thomas. It looked like quite a battle with Woods setting the pace early, and Thomas catching and passing him with an 8-foot eagle putt on the 11th hole. But that was as good as it got for both of them. Woods tried to drive the par-4 14th hole and wound up in the waste area with a bad lie. He sent that over the green, and his chip up the slope wasn’t hard enough and came back down the hill. His fourth shot barely made it onto the green and he holed a 15-foot putt to escape with bogey. But he spent more time in the waste area on the par-5 15th and had to scramble for par, and that was the end of his chances. Woods closed with a 69. The only victory — a hollow one — was finishing with a lower score than Thomas for the first time in some 15 pairings together. Even that required a double bogey by Thomas on the last hole, giving him a 70. “I don’t think that’s how we wanted it to end up,” Woods aid with a laugh. “If I was going to get him, it would have been nice for either of us to have a chance to win the tournament.” U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, who started the final round with a one-shot lead, ran into trouble chipping up the slope on the par-5 third hole and made double bogey. He never recovered, shot 73 and tied for seventh. The Hero World Challenge was just the first stop for 11 of the Americans in the field. They had a few hours to get changed for a charter flight from the Bahamas to Australia for the Presidents Cup, which starts Thursday with Woods as the first playing captain in 25 years. Stenson wants to patch back his game, and this was a big step. After five straight years in the top 10, the 43-year-old Swede is eager to get back. “It’s down, but it’s not a disaster,” Stenson said of his ranking. “I can compete with the best, and I guess I showed that.”

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