Leaderboard: Munoz keeps Greenbrier lead

HONOLULU, Hawaii – Former FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy has revealed he has a heart irregularity that he must monitor throughout his career but hopes it’s not a major issue. The 13-time PGA TOUR winner and four-time major winner made the stunning admission in an interview with The Telegraph but then clarified the seriousness on his Instagram account. McIlroy, who suffered from a rib injury for most of last season, is slated to return to the PGA TOUR at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February after playing in the Middle East on the European Tour. He has had nearly four months off. “The rib’s fine, no problems whatsoever – I had an MRI scan on my thoracic spine and all was OK,� McIlroy told the Telegraph. “But I’ve got a bit of an irregularity with my heart that I have to keep on top of. “I have a flat T-wave and I’ll have to get an echo [cardiogram] on my heart every six months and an MRI scan every year.� McIlroy, reacting to the news exploding across the golf community, took to his social media to quash alarm. “It’s really not that big of a deal and nothing to worry about, apart from getting an annual check up, like you should do anyway,� he said in part of his Instagram post. “I feel there’s been a big reaction to it in the media which there really shouldn’t be. I’m fit and healthy and can’t wait to get my 2018 season started in Abu Dhabi next week.� In the original newspaper interview McIlroy went on to explain the problem originated after falling ill in China a year-and-a-half ago. “I suffered a really bad viral infection in China 18 months ago and they told me that’s the reason that I have this thickening of my left ventricle and there’s a bit of scar tissue,� he told the paper. “For now, I just need to stay on top of it and have to stay fit. Hey, I was planning on doing that anyway.� The 2016 FedExCup champion will get a chance to test the strength of his heart with plans to play possibly six times in seven weeks on the PGA TOUR once he returns.

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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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