McIlroy, Day miss cut early at U.S. Open

PGA TOUR statement We have been working since March to develop a comprehensive health and safety plan that would be considered a best practice among professional sports leagues. While we have been thorough in building and implementing a program that mitigates as much risk as possible, we knew it would be impossible to eliminate all risk – as evidenced by the three positive tests this week. We need to use these developments as a stark reminder for everyone involved as we continue to learn from an operational standpoint; we are making several adjustments to our health and safety plan, as noted in the memo sent to players this morning, and we will continuously reinforce to all players, caddies, staff members and support personnel on property at PGA TOUR events to adhere to social distancing and other safety protocols that further minimize risk. Positive COVID-19 cases with arrival testing complete (2,757 total in-market tournament tests over three weeks; 7 positives): This week: Travelers Championship • Cameron Champ (PGA TOUR player) • Ken Comboy (caddie for Graeme McDowell) • Ricky Elliott (caddie for Brooks Koepka) Utah Championship • No positives Overview of withdrawals from the Travelers Championship field (chronological order): Cameron Champ • Withdrew after testing positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday. • “I feel great physically and I was obviously surprised and disappointed to learn of the test result,” said Champ. “It’s important now to take the necessary steps and measures to protect others, including my loved ones.” Graeme McDowell • Withdrew out of an abundance of caution after his caddie, Ken Comboy, tested positive for COVID-19. • “When I look at the last four to five days, I have experienced some fatigue and muscle soreness myself,” said McDowell. “I didn’t think of it as COVID related, but rather just the effect of being back on the road, back practicing, back playing and just a little tired after having a few months off. But now that Kenny has tested positive – and we’ve spent a lot of time together the last 10 days – I have to take those symptoms more seriously. That is why I am withdrawing this week. I want to do the responsible thing. “I’ve had two negative tests this week – Monday and Wednesday – but if there’s any chance that I could have it, I am not keen on risking the possibility that I could pass it onto anyone else this week in Hartford. I decided to drive back to Orlando today, versus flying and those risks as well. I’m just going to take the scenic route down the east coast of the USA for 17 hours and increase my knowledge of U.S. geography a bit.” Brooks Koepka • Withdrew out of an abundance of caution after his caddie, Ricky Elliott, tested positive for COVID-19. • “I haven’t tested positive for COVID-19, but as I’ve said all along, I’m taking this very seriously,” said Brooks Koepka. “I don’t want to do anything that might jeopardize the health of any player in the field or his ability to compete. I was planning to take the next two weeks off anyway, so the right thing to do right now is get home, support Ricky and feel confident that I’m doing what I can do protecting my fellow TOUR members, my PGA TOUR friends and everyone associated with the Travelers Championship this week.” Webb Simpson • Withdrew out of an abundance of caution; has been tested twice and has not tested positive for COVID-19 this week. • “In the last 24 hours, I had a family member test positive for COVID-19,” said Simpson. “While my tests this week were negative, I feel like it is my responsibility to take care of my family and protect my peers in the field by withdrawing from the Travelers Championship. I am going to return home to Charlotte and quarantine under CDC guidelines, and I look forward to returning to competition after that time period.” Chase Koepka • Withdrew out of an abundance of caution; neither he nor his caddie, Dan Gambil, have tested positive for COVID-19, but they played a practice round with McDowell (caddie positive) and Brooks Koepka (caddie positive). • “Despite being very excited about playing the Travelers Championship, I am electing to withdraw,” said Koepka. “My team and I have all tested negative for COVID-19; however, I was in close contact with someone who tested positive. I feel as if this is the best decision to keep all other players, caddies and volunteers safe. I wish everyone the best of luck this week.”

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CROMWELL, Conn. – As previously reported by PGATOUR.COM, amateur standout Matthew Wolff announced that he joined Team TaylorMade ahead of his professional debut at the 2019 Travelers Championship. TaylorMade officially confirmed today that the company and Wolff have started a multi-year equipment deal. For more information about the TaylorMade clubs Wolff is using at the Travelers Championship, PGATOUR.COM caught up with the person who knows his equipment best: Ryan Ressa. Ressa, Manager of Product Development at TaylorMade, works with junior and collegiate golfers, helping them with their equipment needs. Wolff and Ressa first started working together around 2013, and Wolff has been playing TaylorMade products ever since, according to Ressa. “He was a really good player, a really solid athlete,â€� Ressa said of Wolff when he was around 14 years old. “A lot of juniors came to the Kingdom (TaylorMade’s fitting center) at that time, but when he came through, that’s when the light clicked on… the guy is just a natural talent. When you see some of the things he does with the golf club and the golf ball, that hasn’t changed since he was 13. Like the sound he creates now, that was the one thing that stood out back then.â€� When it comes to equipment, Ressa says he’s not one to tinker a lot. Back when Wolff was a junior golfer and into his collegiate years at Oklahoma State University, he’d go to the Kingdom once in January to get fit into the new product, and he wouldn’t change much all year after that, except for an occasional loft tweak. “He likes what he likes, but he’s also not hesitant to try or put new stuff in,â€� Ressa said. “He’ll come in January when we have the new product. He’ll hit it and we’ll get him into it and he’ll get comfortable with it over the next couple weeks and then he’ll go with it. He doesn’t tinker much.â€� As for his current equipment, Wolff has made a few recent changes. Ressa takes PGATOUR.COM through his equipment at the Travelers Championship (as of Wednesday’s practice session) below. Driver: TaylorMade M6 (8 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design AD-TP 7TX Ressa says: “He’s got the M6 8-degree driver in the bag, and we just made that adjustment a couple weeks ago. He had an M5 9-degree that he used that through college. He was probably spinning it a little too much throughout the course of March and April, but we didn’t want to tinker much as he was going down the stretch of the National Championship. Then we went to a different head model last week, and lowered the loft, just to give him something different to try. He loved the feel and the sensation of the weight being in the back of that head. He felt like it gave him a bit more workability, so that’s what he’s been going with the last couple weeks and all indications are that he loves it. It has a little less spin, probably 300 rpm less spin, and he likes the control. He likes to work it both ways, depending on how he’s feeling. The M6 is giving him that flexibility.â€� As for the driver shaft, Ressa says: “He’s probably had this shaft for 3 or 4 years, and honestly the Graphite Design feel is very unique. It’s very smooth through impact, and he always identifies with that. He might test a shaft here or there, but he always comes back to that. The launch fits his eye; it probably takes off a little higher than most guys like, but he likes the higher launch and the window that comes out in. He’s always been comfortable with that, so we haven’t tinkered much with it. We tested some other Graphite Design driver shafts a couple years ago that were maybe a little stronger, but he always came back to that TP. “He’s hanging out at D4 swing weight. His stuff is a little bit shorter, so he plays his driver at 45 inches, which is just a touch shorter than where most of my guys are. He likes the shorter length because his arms seem to hang a bit lower. So that seems to be consistent throughout his bag. He plays his stuff a little shorter all the way through.â€� 3 Wood: TaylorMade M6 (15 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke 6.5TX 80 grams Ressa says: “Three wood is a tough club for him because he hits it so far. So he will kind of alternate that one based on the course and based on what he needs that week. He goes between a 15 degree and probably a 16-degree. I would say most of the time he’ll carry a 16-degree — something that doesn’t fly so far, maybe 275-280 yards. When he gets that 15-degree, and he’s feeling it and it’s warm outside, that carries about 285 yards and goes out to 300, which is not super playable for him. I think this week he’s gone back to a lower loft, but traditionally he plays a 16-degree.â€� While Wolff doesn’t tinker much with shafts, he changed this week – at least, as of Wednesday — from a Graphite Design BB shaft to a Project X HZRDUS Smoke. Driving Iron: TaylorMade P760 (2 and 3-iron) Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Tour 130X Wolff has two different long-iron options in the bag this week ahead of the Travelers Championship. With 15 clubs in the bag, it’s likely that he’ll choose just one of these driving iron options. Ressa says: “He’s got a 760 3-iron that’s bent down to 18 degrees, so technically it’s a 2-iron. That’s been a great club for him off the tee at some of these tighter courses throughout the spring. After that, he transitions into the P750’s, 4-PW. He’s played that Nippon 130X shaft for I think 2.5 years now, since we got him into the 750s.â€� Irons: TaylorMade P750 Tour Proto (4-PW) Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Tour 130X Ressa says: “We’ve tested some smaller blade irons, but he always comes back to the 750s. He likes the shape and the forgiveness and the workability of those.â€� Wedges: TaylorMade Milled Grind (52, 56 and 60 bent to 62 degrees) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Ressa says: “He’s played Milled Grind wedges since we’ve had those, so a couple years. He goes 52, 56 and 62. He has a 60 that we’ve bent up to 62 for him, and that has little heel and toe relief grind on it. He’s just recently put that 62 degree in, just to have a little more height around the greens as he’s got into these tougher courses like the National Championship, which was pretty difficult, and he kind of anticipates that difficulty as he goes through this summer. That’ll be consistent in his bag.â€� Putter: TaylorMade Spider X Tour Shaft: KBS CT Tour putter shaft Ressa says: “He’s always had kind of a half mallet putter… he felt he didn’t putt great during the Waste Management and that was right around the time we introduced the Spider X. So we got him a few models of that and he put it in play the following week in Hawaii, and he won that tournament going away. He was off and running with that putter. He loves the look and the stability and everything about it, so he’s been in that since probably early February. It’s face-balanced, single bend, 33 inches, 1.5 degrees of loft. Pretty standard. No special insert.â€� Special made for Wolff after he turned pro is this “Wolffieâ€� headcover that features a wolf logo stitched with Oklahoma State University colors. The headcover, which may just be one of the best headcovers on TOUR, was designed by Cameron Bosson and the design team at TaylorMade. Wolff is also currently using a 2019 Titleist Pro V1 golf ball; TaylorMade is giving him an extended period of time to make the switch into TP5x (similar to Jon Rahm in 2016), according to a company representative. Related: Matthew Wolff bringing unique game to PGA TOUR

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