Leaderboard: Moving Day at the PGA

LA QUINTA, Calif. — When it comes to his thought process on the course, Jon Rahm likes to keep things simple. That means getting the yardage, wind direction and club selection from caddie Adam Hayes. Nothing more, nothing less.  Before Hayes was on the bag, Rahm went through the same pre-shot process with Tim Mickelson, his former head coach at Arizona State, who managed and caddied for the 23-year-old before taking over the bag full-time for brother Phil Mickelson.  “Because Tim was my coach at (Arizona State), I didn’t need much,” Rahm said of their pre-shot routine. “It was, ‘OK, it’s 120, this shot, right?’”  Asked what it’s like being privy to the player-caddie pre-shot conversations between the Mickelson brothers, Rahm, who played a practice round with Phil on Wednesday at the CareerBuilder Challenge, said they are on the opposite end of the spectrum.  “With Phil, it’s like, ‘Oh, this shot, the moisture, this is going on,’” Rahm said. “They’re talking about one mile per hour of wind sideways, it’s going to affect it 1 yard. This green is this, this trajectory. They’re thinking and I’m like, ‘I’m lost.’ ‘I’m like, God, if I do that thought process, I could not hit the golf shot.’” Of course, Mickelson’s extreme attention to detail doesn’t end with full shots. Rahm said it also extends to the putting green as well.  “He gets to the green and it’s the same thing,” Rahm said. “I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s a foot right?’ And he goes, ‘OK, it’s 1.8 degrees of slope here.’ And I’m listening and I’m like, ‘Man, I hope we’re never paired together for anything because I can’t think like this (laughs).’ I would not be able to play golf like that. “And then you hear me and Adam (Hayes) talk — 180, a little breeze into, OK, hard 6. And it’s just the extreme opposite.” Despite being polar opposites when it comes to the way they navigate the course, Rahm appreciates having the opportunity to glean as much as he can from the five-time major winner during their practice rounds.  “It’s just fun to hear it, to hear what he does,” Rahm said. “But I tried to learn as much as I can from that guy, I always like to try to pick his brain a little. Again, great guy to be out here with.”

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Every time the Ryder Cup is held outside the U.S., the Americans fold. It’s been 25 years since Team USA has had a road win, and it looks it’s headed toward 27.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Golf is a game of inches. And grams, apparently. Adding 3.5-gram weights to his irons has paid dividends for Anirban Lahiri at THE PLAYERS, where he’s the overnight leader heading into the Monday finish at TPC Sawgrass. Lahiri sits at 9 under par, one shot ahead of Tom Hoge and Harold Varner III. Lahiri is 5 under par for his first 11 holes of the suspended third round after shooting 67-73 in the opening two rounds. “I think the biggest difference was we made a change to the irons this week,” Lahiri said after his first round. “I changed the weight. The irons have been my weak link, and they came out much better. I feel like my confidence is getting better, which is really positive. “It’s really something that’s minor. I’ve added maybe 3 1/2 grams of weight to all of my irons. … These last couple of weeks, especially, we’ve been playing really tough golf courses, and you hit it 4 or 5 yards offline and you can make 6 instead of 3. And I had a lot of that happen to me. It’s frustrating when you know you’re not making bad swings and you’re not getting the results you want, so it’s equally satisfying when it comes together like this.” Lahiri is using a Srixon ZX Utility 4-iron and Srixon Z945 irons for his 5-iron through pitching wedge this week. The Z945s were first released in Asia in 2014 and became available in North America the following year. Hideki Matsuyama was among the players to use the clubs when they first came out. Lahiri used lead tape to add weight to his clubheads. The added weight gave Lahiri increased face awareness and gave him a more consistent swingweight from his woods to his irons. “He found the windows of old and spin rates of old, and it was off to the races,” said Rusty Estes, who worked with Lahiri on his clubs. Lahiri arrived at THE PLAYERS after three missed cuts and a T74 in his last four starts. He was 24 over par in those 10 rounds. He also ranked 212th (out of 217 players) in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green this season, losing nearly a stroke per round. He’s fourth this week, having gained 5.95 strokes in 47 holes. He’s also hit 36 of 47 greens this week, including 10 of 11 in the third round.

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