Reed’s changes paying off at the Wells Fargo Championship

Webb Simpson has highly discerning eyes and hands when it comes to his equipment. He has a very specific feel he’s seeking from his irons, but it’s been difficult in recent years to find a set that checks all of the boxes with each club. In the last year alone, Simpson has used three different Titleist iron sets, including the T100, the 620 MB and the 680 Forged. According to Titleist Tour rep J.J. Van Wezenbeeck – who works closely with Titleist staffers on their equipment needs – Simpson has different things he likes (and dislikes) about each of the three models. Simpson, whose seven TOUR wins include THE PLAYERS and U.S. Open, has been playing the 680 Forged irons off-and-on since they first came out in 2003, and he’s most comfortable with the shaping and increased offset of the irons. The 620 MB irons, which came out in 2019, have a more compact shape with less offset, and although Simpson prefers the shape of the 680’s, he likes the size of the 620’s. The T100 irons, on the other hand, were released in 2021 and have a modern cavity-back construction, and while Simpson prefers blade style designs, he did like the sole shaping, grooves and performance out of the rough with the T100’s. He hasn’t been able to find the perfect iron, so instead of continuing to accept trade-offs, Titleist simply gave Simpson the custom prototype treatment. On Tuesday, Simpson revealed an all-new set of “682.WS” irons that combine everything he likes about his previous 680 Forged, 620 MB and T100 iron models. They’re built exactly to his preferences using special Titleist machines. Simpson told GolfWRX.com that he likely won’t play the irons just yet, however, since it’s his first week receiving them, and windy conditions are expected in Sea Island. “I wanted the blade look and setup, but I wanted the new grooves,” Simpson told GolfWRX. “They kind of have the T100 grooves. I had a lot of success out of the rough with the T100’s, but I still wanted the blade look and feel, and they kind of converge into one iron. It looks just like the (680 Forged irons). It was all JJ’s idea. He thought of it and he wanted to get going on this special project for me. It’s very exciting. They’ll be in play next tournament for sure. They’re beautiful, they’re awesome.” Only two players have received the same custom treatment previously: Justin Thomas with his 621.JT models, and Adam Scott with his former 681.AS irons. Now, Simpson has his initials on set of 682.WS irons. According to Van Wezenbeeck, the custom project started at this year’s U.S. Open, and after rounds of R&D prototyping and testing with Simpson, he finally received the final versions at The RSM Classic this week. The set of 682.WS irons even has Simpson’s preferred “5.5” iron, which splits the difference in loft between a 5 and 6 iron. At the 2022 Players Championship, Simpson told GolfWRX.com that he started using a 5.5 iron to fill in yardage gaps after adding he took out his 6-iron to add a fourth wedge. He strengthened his 7-iron, and bent his 5-iron to a 5.5-iron. Simpson likes what he likes, and now he finally has his perfect set.

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LOS ANGELES — Matt Kuchar made a mess of the easiest hole at Riviera. He couldn’t find the fairway and felt he was on the defensive all afternoon Friday in The Genesis Invitational. He was good enough with the short irons that Kuchar still managed a 2-under 69 and built a two-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and two others going into the weekend at Riviera. Related: Leaderboard | Scott starves himself of competition to stay hungry “It definitely wasn’t my best stuff today,” Kuchar said. “Two under was an awfully good score for the way I drove it.” Tiger Woods happily would have taken a score like that. Instead, he made his bid for a first victory at Riviera and a record 83rd title on the PGA TOUR a lot tougher. Two swings with a wedge wound up costing Woods three shots, and his 73 left him nine shots behind. “I made some pretty bad mistakes out there,” Woods said. He can’t afford any more, not with 44 players ahead of him, including past champions like Adam Scott and Dustin Johnson, and players who would desperately like to add their name to the list of winners at this historic club. McIlroy handled the par 5s and kept mistakes to a minimum in his round of 67, which puts him in the final group Saturday with Kuchar and Harold Varner III, who had a 68 in the morning. Kuchar was at 9-under 135. He began with a bogey on the par-5 opening hole, one of only two players in the 121-man field to not make par or better. Kuchar went long of the green, took two chips to get on the green and missed a 15-foot par putt. “You feel like you’ve already given up two shots on the day. Never a fun way to start,” Kuchar said. “But knowing there’s 17 holes to go, there’s still room to figure it out.” Wyndham Clark had a 68 and joined McIlroy and Varner in the group two shots behind. “I’m managing my game well,” McIlroy said. “I’ve hit a couple loose shots here and there, but I’m thinking my way around the golf course and that’s what this place is all about. You can hit a few squirrelly shots and get away with it as long as you miss it in the right places, and for the first couple days I’ve done that. I’m feeling pretty good about my game.” Scott has a trophy from Riviera. He won in 2005 when there was so much rain the tournament was reduced to 36 holes, and he won in a playoff Monday. He returned from a two-month break with a 7-under 64 that left him three shots behind. Scott hasn’t played since he won the Australian PGA Championship three days before Christmas. “You’re never quite sure coming off eight weeks how it’s going to feel, but I was really hitting the ball out of the middle of the club,” Scott said. “That gave me a bit of confidence to just kind of keep doing what I’m doing and it’ll all fall into place rather than go in search for what I’m doing wrong.” Woods didn’t have to search long to figure out his errors. He started well enough with a smart choice to hit iron on the reachable par-4 10th because of the back right pin position, a wedge into about 12 feet and a birdie. And he was never in too much trouble. The 15th hole did not appear to present any problems, especially after Woods crushed a 335-yard drive to the middle of the fairway. He hung his head immediately after a chunked pitching wedge that plugged into the bunker short of the green, leaving no shot to a front pin. He blasted that through the green, chipped back to 7 feet and missed putt for double bogey. “I just hit it fat,” he said. “Honestly, I was just trying to cut a little wedge in there and get it up in the air.” After two birdies on the par 5s around the turn — Nos. 17 and 1 — Woods gave away another shot with sand wedge from light rough into the front bunker on No. 3 for bogey. He bogeyed the par-3 fourth, and then he three-putted from about 50 feet up the slope on the par-3 sixth. Johnson, who won big at Riviera three years ago, bounced back from his opening 72 with a 66 and was among those five shots behind. Brooks Koepka had a 73 and was nine shots behind. Justin Thomas opened with a 74 and never got anything going in the morning. He didn’t make a birdie until his 16th hole and shot 71, missing the cut for the second time in his last three starts. Phil Mickelson, coming off a pair of third-place finishes in Saudi Arabia and Pebble Beach, shot 74 and missed the cut for the third time this year.

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How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. The first fantasy golf game to utilize live ShotLink data, PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf allows you to see scores update live during competition. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in his edition of the Power Rankings. THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create your team, click the “Leagues” tab and search for “PGA TOUR Experts.” After that? Pick your players and start talking smack. SEASON SEGMENT

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