Return of sports? PGA expects to resume in June

SHANGHAI — Already the FedExCup champion and PGA TOUR Player of the Year, Rory McIlroy has found plenty of motivation toward the back end of the year. Most of it is geared toward reaping rewards next year. McIlroy is coming off a tie for third last week at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, a tournament he was never going to win after a bad start. He still managed his 17th top-10 of the year out of 23 starts worldwide, inching a little closer to Brooks Koepka at No. 1 in the world. He is the leading figure at this week’s World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, as Koepka and Dustin Johnson, two regulars at Sheshan International, are home in Florida recovering from knee issues. Koepka will not play another official event the rest of the year. He withdrew from the THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in South Korea when his foot slipped on a piece of wet cement leaving a tee box and he planted hard with his left knee, which had received stem cell treatment during his offseason. He chose not to play the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, and still to be determined is whether he plays the Presidents Cup. McIlroy has won three times in 2019, including THE PLAYERS Championship and TOUR Championship, along with runner-up finishes in two World Golf Championships. He joins Tiger Woods as the only two-time winners of the FedExCup, and could become the first player to win the Cup three times and back-to-back. “I’ve achieved most things that I’ve wanted to this year,” McIlroy said. “Just want to finish the year off strongly because I feel the year that I’ve had deserves a finish like that.” McIlroy has gone four years since capturing a World Golf Championship, though he has performed well in them this year. He was runner-up to Johnson in Mexico and Koepka in Memphis and suffered a bitter loss in the fourth round to Tiger Woods at the Dell Technologies Match Play. Xander Schauffele is the defending champion at the HSBC Champions, and he’ll try to win again without much of a voice. Schauffele got sick during the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP and withdrew from the pro-am Wednesday to try to be in fighting shape. The field also features resurgent Hideki Matsuyama, who tied for third in South Korea and was runner-up to Woods last week before a frenzied gallery in his native Japan; and Justin Rose, who also wants to finish the year strong for other reasons. They won won the HSBC in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Rose, who was No. 1 in the world for the opening two months of the year, has gone the opposite direction of McIlroy. Rose hopes to get back on track at the tournament where he rallied from eight shots behind to kick off his FedExCup-winning campaign. The HSBC Champions also is the last chance for players to audition as wild-card picks for the Presidents Cup, and most everyone on the bubble is here — Tony Finau, Patrick Reed, Kevin Kisner and Chez Reavie for the Americans, a longer list of International players from Sungjae Im and Byeong Hun An of South Korea, Adam Hadwin and Corey Conners of Canada and Justin Harding and Erik van Rooyen of South Africa. Reavie is among 18 players who have gone to all three PGA Tour events on the Asia swing.

Click here to read the full article…

It’s standard for TOUR players to need at least a few weeks before feeling fully confident with a new club in the bag during a pressure situation. Apparently, Kevin Tway, Ryan Moore and Brandt Snedeker didn’t get the memo. All three had new gear in the bag during their sudden-death playoff at the Safeway Open, including a new PXG prototype driver, 3-wood, 5-wood and center-shafted mallet putter for Moore. Picking up 5-10 yards is almost unheard of for TOUR players due to the extensive testing they normally conduct on launch monitors to optimize launch and spin. However, Moore found a much better fit (launch and spin) in PXG’s prototype woods — to the point that he picked up 12 yards of carry with the driver and 10 yards with the 3-wood. Sneds’ new driver: Brandt Snedeker didn’t envision having to start the new 2018-19 TOUR season by testing a myriad of new driver builds at the Safeway Open. But when his Bridgestone JGR Tour B driver broke the weekend prior to arriving in Napa, the nine-time winner was forced to consider his options. Instead of sticking with JGR, Snedeker tested TaylorMade’s M3 460 on Tuesday and Wednesday before giving it the green light for the first round. Snedeker was able to draw the ball with regularity while keeping it within his normal spin rate range. He ranked 22nd in Strokes Gained: Off-the-tee with the new driver build. Mickelson opts for prototype: Phil Mickelson used the Safeway Open as an opportunity to put a new 34-inch Odyssey prototype putter and shaft through the paces. It’s unclear how the head differs from Mickelson’s usual #9 head shape, but the shaft is a shift away from the standard steel he’s used in the past. According to Odyssey, the two-tone shaft, which likely indicates a multi-material design, helped improve the consistency of Mickelson’s putting stroke. He finished 15th in Strokes Gained: Putting with the flat stick. Couples goes from dot to line: It was a minor change for Fred Couples that produced big results on the putting greens at Silverado Resort and Spa. Couples received four Bettinardi putters with different sight line options, within the last month, and chose to go with a sight line over his usual sight dot on the FCB Tour DASS model he’s used on a regular basis. Couples’ putter is slightly counterbalanced with a floating F.I.T. face and red, white and blue paintfill. Couples recorded his 500th made cut on TOUR en route to a T41 finish in California. Tway’s irons: Kevin Tway received Mizuno’s JPX 919 Forged and 919 Tour irons at the Dell Technologies Championship but chose to wait until Safeway Open to put them in play. The time spent at home getting the setup just right paid dividends for Tway, who left Napa with his first TOUR title. Made from two different materials, the JPX 919 Forged features a Boron-infused 1025E carbon steel that improves the overall durability of the head while allowing the face to be thinned out to a COR of .810 — an improvement of .10 when compared to its predecessor. With JPX 919 Tour, Mizuno’s HD grain flow forging process was used on the 1025E (Elite) carbon steel, which compacts more grain structure in the hitting area to improve feel. Louis’ Blueprint: Only two players have been given the opportunity to test out PING’s new Blueprint Forged protoype irons: Louis Oosthuizen and Bubba Watson.   With Watson taking the week off following the Ryder Cup, Oosthuizen became the first PING staffer to use the new irons that offer a compact, muscleback head shape and weight screw in the toe. Notes: PING rolled out new Sigma 2 putters. … Brendan Steele debuted Wilson Staff’s D7 3-wood. … Fujikura’s new Ventus shaft was used by Cody Gribble (driver) and Andrew Landry (3-wood) the first week it was released on TOUR. The tip-stiff shaft offers low torque through an extremely stiff 70-ton pitch fiber at 45 degrees in the bias layer. PGA TOUR SUPERSTORE: Buy equipment here

Click here to read the full article…

Round 2 of the Masters takes place Friday. Dustin Johnson is the defending champion from November’s staging, and a field of stars including Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm will be chasing the Green Jacket. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action. Leaderboard Tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-7:30 p.m. ET (ESPN); Saturday, 3 p.m.-7 p.m. (CBS); Sunday, 2 p.m.-7 p.m. (CBS) Radio: Thursday-Sunday, 2 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (CBS Radio; Sirius 208, XM 92) Stream: Featured Group coverage, Amen Corner and holes 15 & 16 will be available to stream via Masters.com (Thursday, 7:30 a.m. ET; Friday, 8:30 a.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 10:15 a.m. ET on Saturday-Sunday) Editor’s note: Augusta National, which owns and operates the Masters Tournament, controls all digital streaming and broadcast rights to this event. PGA TOUR LIVE coverage will resume next week at RBC Heritage. MUST READS Round 1 review: The Masters Tournament Rose leads by four shots at Masters A return to April means a tough test at Augusta National Elder, Nicklaus, Player hit ceremonial tee shots at Masters Ancer assessed two-stroke penalty at Masters Cut prediction: Masters Tournament Nine things to know DeChambeau’s disc golf hobby provides thrill for Augusta family Johnson is a favorite magazine cover subject Using Strokes Gained to target all-time greats at the Masters

Click here to read the full article…