Quick look at the Quicken Loans National

The RBC Canadian Open returns to the PGA TOUR schedule after two years of cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. FedExCup leader and world No.1 Scottie Scheffler headlines the field with Rory McIlroy returning to defend his title from 2019. FIELD NOTES: Scottie Scheffler, a four-time winner already this season, will make his RBC Canadian Open debut… Sam Burns, who topped Scheffler in a playoff to win the Charles Schwab Challenge, will also make his Canadian Open debut… Rory McIlroy returns to defend… Justin Thomas is making his second-straight Canadian Open appearance… Cameron Smith, winner of THE PLAYERS Championship, returns to Canada… Other notables include Tony Finau, Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry (who finished tied for second in 2019), Justin Rose, Tyrell Hatton, and Patrick Reed… Corey Conners, the top-ranked Canadian in the FedExCup standings, leads a contingent of 21 Canadians in the field… Taylor Pendrith hopes to make his return after being on the shelf since THE PLAYERS due to a broken rib… Mike Weir makes his 29th appearance at the Canadian Open, the third-most all time… David Hearn will make his 18th start at his country’s national open… Sponsor exemptions include Albin Choi and Stuart MacDonald off the Korn Ferry Tour, plus Jared du Toit, who tied for ninth as an amateur in 2016, when he played in the final group Sunday. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: St. George’s Golf and Country Club, par 70, 7,014 yards. The Stanley Thompson gem, first constructed in 1929, is consistently ranked as one of Canada’s top courses – if not its best. Located just 11 miles from the CN Tower, St. George’s has hosted the Canadian Open five times – most recently in 2010 – along with the CP Women’s Open five times. Playing up, down, and across valleys, golfers will have to contend with uneven lies, thick rough, and slopey greens (which were all re-worked in 2014 after an ice storm caused turf damage in the winter of 2013). Due to the location and size of St. George’s practice area, Islington Golf Club (just down the road) will be the home of the tournament practice area. Golfers will be shuttled from Islington to St. George’s and will tee off No.’s 1 and 9. STORYLINES: The RBC Canadian Open was the only North American-based TOUR event to miss both 2020 and 2021 and returns with plenty of excitement for the Canadian crowds. The Chief Commercial Officer of Golf Canada, John Sibley, calls this year’s effort the “largest operational undertaking” in the organization’s history… Haskins Award winner Chris Gotterup will make his debut on TOUR as a professional. Gotterup had a standout collegiate career and finished seventh in the PGA TOUR U rankings. The last golfer to make his TOUR debut as a pro at the RBC Canadian Open, in 2019, was Collin Morikawa, who tied for 14th… “The Rink” returns. The hockey-themed fan experience on the par-3 16th hole features boards along both sides of the hole… Five of the world’s top-10 golfers will be in the field. This will be the fourth consecutive TOUR event with at least three of the top five… A Canadian hasn’t won the RBC Canadian Open since 1954. Brooke Henderson won the CP Women’s Open in Regina, Saskatchewan in 2018. 72-HOLE RECORD: 258, Rory McIlroy (2019) 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Carl Pettersson (3rd round, 2010 at St. George’s G&CC) LAST TIME: Rory McIlroy captured the 2019 RBC Canadian Open by seven shots after firing a 9-under 61 at Hamilton Golf and Country Club – flirting with a 59 for most of the day before making bogey on No’s 16 and 18. McIlroy, who was 5-under through his first seven holes Sunday, held the 54-hole lead after firing a Saturday 64 and never looked back. It was his 16th win on TOUR. Shane Lowry and Webb Simpson tied for second at 15-under while Brandt Snedeker and Matt Kuchar were two shots further back and tied for fourth. Adam Hadwin finished sixth and was low Canadian. He also earned a spot in The Open Championship with his top-8 result. The last time St. George’s Golf and Country Club hosted the RBC Canadian Open, in 2010, Carl Pettersson won by one shot over Dean Wilson. Pettersson made the cut on the number but shot a tournament-record 60 in the third round. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m. ET. Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) For outside of the U.S., click here for GOLFTV powered by the PGA TOUR PGA TOUR LIVE PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+ • Main Feed: primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course • Marquee Group: new “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group • Featured Groups: traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups • Featured Holes: a combination of par-3s and iconic or pivotal holes

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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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