Matt Kuchar and Scott Brown tied for lead at RBC Canadian Open

PGA TOUR University will be represented by 59 seniors at this weekend’s NCAA Championship at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. After the conclusion of stroke play on Monday, May 31, the top-15 players in the final PGA TOUR University Ranking will earn membership on either the Korn Ferry Tour (Nos. 1-5) or Forme Tour (No. 6-15). Three teams have four U-Ranked players on their roster: • Liberty, led by No. 37 Kieran Vincent • San Diego State, led by No. 9 Puwit Anupansuebsai • Tennessee, led by No. 19 Hunter Wolcott Oklahoma is one of six teams with three U-Ranked players, and the Sooners trio is in position for top-15 finishes: No. 5 Garett Reband, No. 6 Quade Cummins and No. 13 Jonathan Brightwell. Four U-Ranked players qualified for the NCAA Championship as an individual: • No. 26 James Piot (Michigan State) finished T4 at the Kingston Springs Regional • No. 44 AJ Ott (Colorado State) finished T3 at the Stillwater Regional • No. 65 Ryunosuke Michael Sakane (Jacksonville) finished second at the Tallahassee Regional • No. 96 Cole Bradley (Purdue) won the Noblesville Regional Featured groups for Friday’s first round: • 12:14 p.m. (10 tee) – No. 1 John Pak (Florida State), No. 3 Austin Eckroat (Oklahoma State), No. 5 Garett Reband (Oklahoma) • 2:04 p.m. (10 tee) – No. 12 Benjamin Shipp (NC State), No. 19 Hunter Wolcott (Tennessee), No. 37 Kieran Vincent (Liberty) • 6:54 a.m. (10 tee) – No. 7 McClure Meissner (SMU), No. 16 Tim Widing (San Francisco), Ricky Castillo (Florida) The final round of stroke play at the NCAA Championship will be live on Golf Channel from 5-9 p.m. ET on Monday, May 31. Follow PGA TOUR University on Twitter (@PGATOURU) for projections and news from Grayhawk Golf Club throughout the weekend. PGA TOUR University Players in NCAA Championship Field

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Tony Finau, ranked 30th in the FedExCup after two runner-up finishes this season, is one of the headliners for this week’s 3M Open in Minnesota. With the PGA TOUR season reaching its final stretch, Finau is seeking his sixth consecutive TOUR Championship appearance. His impressive ballstriking is the reason for his consistency that makes a trip to East Lake an annual occurrence. This year, he ranks in the top 25 of Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (13th), Off-the-Tee (21st) and Approach-the-Green (17th). Finau ranks 125th in Strokes Gained: Putting, however, and has taken steps over the last couple years to improve that aspect of his game. Below we will highlight three interesting nuggets about Finau’s unique putter and preparation. 1. Finau has a drawn-on alignment aid In the modern world of equipment design, small tweaks can be made to golf clubs with a few clicks of a button within CAD (computer-aided design) files, but Finau’s alignment additions are a bit more old-school. Last year, Finau worked in close collaboration with Ping through its PLD (Putting Lab Design) platform to build a custom putter. Finau’s PLD Anser 2 model, which was crafted based on his direct feedback, measures 37 inches and has 5 degrees of loft. Everything from the length and loft, to the depth of the face milling marks, was tested and approved by Finau. Like many golfers, Finau preferred a single line in the back of his putter head to use for alignment at address; his white-painted line pops particularly well off the black head. Finau’s putter includes two subtle, yet unique, additions to the head. If you look closely at the heel section of his putter, you’ll notice white/silver markings in the small notch between the hosel and the topline of the putter, and in the far heel portion of the head on the crown. According to Finau, the additional markings help guide his setup, making sure that he gets his hands and eyes aligned the same way every time. If he accidentally makes a small deviation from the norm, the markings won’t appear properly to his eye at address, and he’ll be triggered to make an adjustment. 2. He can hear loft? PGA TOUR players are so finely-tuned that they’re able to tell the difference in minor loft adjustments just by looking down at the club. It’s even more common for them to be able to see performance differences from loft changes; more loft, for example, will generally lead to higher launch angles and spin rates on the golf ball. According to Tony Serrano, Ping’s Senior Design Engineer, Finau can actually hear the differences in loft with his PLD Anser 2 prototype putter. On the outdoor practice green at Ping Headquarters in Phoenix, Finau was hitting lag putts with his custom-built putter and noticed a small issue; he could hear it was impacting the grass more quickly than he was used to, telling him the ball was launching too low because the putter had slightly too little loft. “He automatically noticed the difference in the loft coming off the face, because the loft was a little different than his previous gamer,” Serrano explained. “He was like, ‘I could hear that right away.’ “I don’t know if it was so much coming off the face, but the way it was interacting with the turf, he could hear that it wasn’t rolling right. So we went and did some testing and took video, and he was right. It had too little loft on it, so we had to adjust it a half-degree or so, and he took it back out, and he said, ‘Now we’re back where we need to be.’ But he knew right away, he could hear how the ball was rolling off the face.” That’s a new level of awareness. In the end, Finau settled on 5 degrees of loft being ideal for his custom Anser 2. 3. Finau’s putter drills When PGA TOUR players take to the practice putting green, they don’t mindlessly hit a few putts to get the speed right and head to the course. They practice with a purpose, seeking to instill the proper technique and feels into their putting strokes. Finau uses two drills, in particular, that stand out. GolfWRX has spotted Finau on numerous occasions flipping his putter 90 degrees and putting with the extreme toe side. Additionally, Finau was recently spotted at The Open Championship using a True Pendulum Motion (TPM) Putting Aid made by Ixia Sports. The aid attaches to the shaft of any putter, and by tucking the putting sticks of the apparatus underneath the arms, it helps reduce wrist activity and create more of a swinging motion. Coming off a T28 finish at The Open Championship, Finau is set to tee off at 1:33 pm Eastern at TPC Twin Cities on Thursday for the 3M Open. Pay careful attention to his putter, setup and stroke during the event to see if you can spot the subtle differences.

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Andy Ogletree, the 2019 U.S. Amateur champion and low amateur at last week's Masters, announced Thursday that he is turning pro. Ogletree finished T34 at Augusta National to tie former Masters champion Adam Scott and U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau. Ogletree will play Titleist equipment and wear Peter Millar clothing. He played the first two rounds of the Masters alongside defending champion Tiger Woods. Ogletree was 4 over par after the first four holes at the Masters but played the remaining 14 holes of the opening round in 3 under. He shot 70 in the second round to make the cut, then played the final two rounds 1 under. "My amateur golf career was an absolute blast and last week at the Masters is the perfect way for it to end," Ogletree said. "I've had so much fun, met so many great people and have so many incredible memories, but it's time for me to test my game at the next level, against the best of the best." "The game has taken me to so many special places already. I cannot wait to see where it will take me in the future." Ogletree finished his amateur career ranked No. 4 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. He was an All-American in 2019 and 2020 while playing for Georgia Tech.

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