Leaderboard: Three-way tie after 3 rounds

Prior to The Genesis Invitational, we looked inside the pros’ bags to see what they’re using at historic Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. We peeked at the equipment in play for the world’s No. 1 player, tournament host Tiger Woods and an NFL quarterback. We spotted some unique wedge stampings and plenty of tributes to the late Kobe Bryant. ** A closer look at Woods’ TaylorMade MG2 TW Grind wedges from a recent practice round. Whispers in the golf equipment world suggest TaylorMade is considering bringing Woods’ wedge design to retail, just as it did with the P7TW irons. Matthew Stafford’s 60-degree Vokey SM8 is stamped with wise words. Rory McIlroy’s bag featured a number of headcovers paying tribute to Bryant in the town where he starred for the Lakers. Dustin Johnson’s bag featured a Mamba Mentality cover, as well. While he’s prone to tinkering before a tournament, and even switching clubs once play begins, it’s worth noting that for now, Johnson, like McIlroy, has a TaylorMade SIM Max hybrid in the bag. Marc Leishman, winner at the Farmers Insurance Open two weeks ago, has the names of his two sons, Harvey and Oliver, stamped on his 52- and 60-degree wedges. Adam Scott, who experimented with one of LAB’s putters last year, is testing another of the company’s models against the Scotty Cameron Xperimental prototype putter, which has been in and out of his bag for several years. Sure, it looks cool, but players usually drill out the backs of irons for function, not fashion. The process removes weight from the clubhead to achieve a desired swing weight. You can see the technique on Rafa Cabrera Bello’s wedges below. Charles Howell III is known as one of the TOUR’s great equipment tinkerers, as evidenced by the photo above. Safe to say CH3 was doing quite a bit of testing on the range at Riviera. Sergio Garcia, who is currently without an equipment sponsor, is featuring the iconic Three Stripes of his apparel sponsor, adidas, on his bag.

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JACKSON, Miss. - Peter Malnati was an alternate for the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open next week, so he was just hoping for a top-10 finish to get himself to Las Vegas. He did better than that. The winner of the Sanderson Farms Championship five years ago, Malnati scorched the Country Club of Jackson with a final-round 63 to finish 18 under par. Then he hung out for a few hours with wife Alicia and their son Hatcher, watching as one by one the others failed to match him, before Sergio Garcia birdied the 18th hole to complete a final-round 67 and beat him by one. Alas, Malnati's belly laugh at Garcia's final approach shot - which nearly went in before settling to 30 inches from the pin - spoke volumes. Fine, he didn't win, but he'd potentially revived his career. "I’ve really struggled with my long game," said Malnati, who again missed the FedExCup Playoffs last season and was 312th in the world coming into the Sanderson Farms. "Consistency in my long game, I should say. I’ve had weeks where I’ve been good, but I’ve really struggled with consistency for the last several years." He's thought about breaking his swing down to fix what he calls his idiosyncrasies, but with the year-round schedule, he said, "There’s never a time to take a two-month break to work on a golf swing." Malnati wasn't great with his long game Sunday, either, barely finishing in negative numbers in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, but he took just 23 putts. Then he had to wait an hour and 40 minutes for the final group, Garcia and Australian Cameron Davis, to finish. "Honestly after the restart, he wasn't playing very well," said his caddie, Chad Antus. "Not up until (the Wyndham Championship in) Greensboro did he hit it very well, and then last week (at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship) he didn't finish that great (T41) but he hit it good, and that continued this week. It's one of the best weeks I've seen him hit the ball, and he putted amazing today." Malnati made 139 feet, 6 inches worth of putts Sunday. "It was impressive," said Antus, who has worked for Malnati for three and a half years. "Our biggest goal was to try and top-10 because we were third alternate for next week." They're not third alternate anymore. Malnati planned to join Alicia for the long drive home to Knoxville, Tennessee, and then fly to Vegas for the Shriners. Given how far off the radar he's been the last five years, it was, for all intents and purposes, a win.

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