Remembering David Duval’s remarkable round at the Desert Classic

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The FedExCup Playoffs are upon us! The PGA TOUR’s postseason gets underway Thursday at Ridgewood Country, a historic A.W. Tillinghast design in Paramus, New Jersey. This classic course will be the setting for the top players in the FedExCup standings. Players are grouped for the first two rounds based on their FedExCup ranking, so that guarantees some star-studded Featured Groups, including the top trio of Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka. PGA TOUR LIVE’s Thursday and Friday broadcasts will begin at 7:30 a.m. After the Featured Groups, LIVE will transition to Featured Holes coverage of Ridgewood’s par-3 15th and par-5 17th holes. Saturday’s Featured Holes coverage will begin at 1 p.m., while Sunday’s coverage will begin at noon. PGA TOUR LIVE also can be viewed on Twitter and Facebook Watch. Twitter’s broadcast will begin at 7:30 a.m. on both Thursday and Friday and run for approximately an hour. Facebook Watch will offer weekend coverage from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. As in past years, we will be conducting a fan vote on Twitter to select a Featured Group on Friday.  We will announce the group with the most votes on Thursday’s broadcast. Here’s a look at this week’s Featured Groups (Note: FedExCup rankings in parentheses; all times Eastern): THURSDAY Tiger Woods (20), Marc Leishman (22), Tommy Fleetwood (23): The only two-time winner of the FedExCup is back in the Playoffs for the first time in five years. He’ll be joined by one of the stars of the 2017 postseason and an international star making his FedExCup Playoffs debut. Leishman finished sixth in last year’s playoffs after winning the second postseason event, the Dell Technologies Championship. Tee times: 7:54 a.m. off No. 9 tee on Thursday; 12:55 p.m. off No. 1 on Friday. Dustin Johnson (1), Justin Thomas (2), Brooks Koepka (3): The FedExCup leader, reigning FedExCup champ and the only winner of two majors in 2018 are all grouped in this star-studded threesome. Thomas’ strong defense of the FedExCup includes three victories this season. No one has ever gone back-to-back in the FedExCup. Johnson has finished second and fourth in the past two FedExCups, but is looking to hoist the Cup for the first time. He also has three wins this season. Koepka is coming off victories at the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. These three also are the top three in the Official World Golf Ranking. Tee times: 8:05 a.m. off No. 9 tee on Thursday; 1:06 p.m. off No. 1 tee on Friday. FRIDAY Justin Rose (4), Bubba Watson (5), Jason Day (6): This group has combined for seven victories this season. They’ll be jostling for position in the all-important Top 5 in the FedExCup standings; the Top 5 entering the TOUR Championship can clinch the FedExCup with a win at East Lake, regardless of how their closest competitors perform. Watson responded to the worst finish of his FedExCup career with his first three-win season. Rose and Day have two wins apiece. All three are looking to add the FedExCup to resumes that include major championships. Tee times: 1:06 p.m. off No. 1 tee on Thursday; 8:05 a.m. off No. 9 tee on Friday. Here are the options fans can vote on for Friday’s second Featured Group (additional information to come). 7:54 a.m. off 9th: Patrick Reed (10), Phil Mickelson (11), Tony Finau (12) 8:16 a.m. off 9th: Jon Rahm (13), Patrick Cantlay (14), Patton Kizzire (15) 8:16 a.m. off 1st: Brandt Snedeker (30), Austin Cook (31), Brian Harman (32) 8:27 a.m. off 1st: Chesson Hadley (24), Pat Perez (25), Andrew Landry (26)

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It used to be easier to identify the brand of irons that a PGA TOUR player uses. These days, it’s becoming more difficult. In the current golf equipment landscape, ultra-personalized custom irons are growing in popularity among PGA TOUR players, whereas they historically would use irons that were available to the public on the retail market. The tide is shifting. In 2022 alone, Adam Scott debuted custom Miura Golf-made irons with his logo on them, and Maverick McNealy used a custom set of Callaway Apex prototype irons – a set that included an “11-iron” – throughout the year. Justin Thomas also has been using a “1-of-1” custom set of Titleist irons that meet his specs. There may be another big name added to that list soon. In a Halloween-day post on Instagram, former FedExCup champion Justin Rose revealed an equally mysterious set of irons, showcasing no other logos aside from his personal “JR” logo. The golf world was abuzz trying to figure out which equipment manufacturer designed and built the set. Luckily, we didn’t have to wait long to find the answer. Rose revealed shortly after, in a comment on the GolfWRX Instagram page, that Custom Golf Works at Gatwick Studio custom-built the irons. He later confirmed via Instagram DM with GolfWRX that the iron heads themselves were manufactured by Miura, much like Scott’s custom irons. While Rose is not entirely positive if and when the custom “JR” irons will go into play, he’s giving them serious consideration. Most players do the bulk of their equipment testing in tandem with a company’s reps – often at tournaments, a company’s home office or the player’s home course – but Rose has used Custom Golf Works, an independent, off-site clubfitting facility, multiple times this year. They also helped fit him for the Titleist 620MB irons he was using earlier this year. The fitter boasts a decade of fitting players on the DP World Tour but also is open to the public. It isn’t affiliated with a single equipment brand. When Rose switched to Titleist clubs earlier in the year, it was simply because the irons won out over other brands he was testing. For Rose, changing irons wouldn’t be anything new; since becoming an equipment free agent in 2020, Rose has used multiple sets of irons in PGA TOUR competition, including TaylorMade P-730 irons, Mizuno MP-20 irons, TaylorMade P-7MC irons, and Titleist 620 MB irons. This time around, it seems Rose’s new custom “JR” irons are made especially for his look and preferences, so maybe his iron search has reached a finish line.

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