Schauffele stays on track for defense

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Collin Morikawa has been one of the TOUR’s top iron players since turning professional in 2019, finishing in the top three of Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green in each of his first three full seasons. Throughout nearly all of his professional career – aside from playing in extremely firm conditions in Scotland – the two-time major winner has used TaylorMade’s P730 blade irons that were released in 2017. Morikawa typically uses the P730 blades in his short irons (7-PW) and combines them with cavity-back style P7MC irons at the top end of his set (5- and 6-iron). This week at the Hero World Challenge, however, Morikawa is debuting new “P7CM” blade irons in the place of his previous P730’s. Speaking with Morikawa on Tuesday, GolfWRX.com learned that he recently conducted in-depth testing at TaylorMade’s headquarters in Carlsbad, California, and he’s been using the new irons for just two weeks. “They’re brand new,” Morikawa told GolfWRX.com. “I’ve been using them for probably two weeks now. They’re not too far off from the P730’s that I’ve been using pretty much since I turned pro. I was fortunate enough to do some iron testing with TaylorMade – which I’ve never done – and go into the whole sole pattern, and bounce, and width of an iron. There’s nothing wrong with 730’s, I … love them, that’s why I played them for probably 4.5 years now. But there’s just certain shots here and there that come out of nowhere.” The new P7CM models creatively weave Morikawa’s initials into their nomenclature, similar to how Tiger Woods’ TaylorMade “P7TW” prototype irons are named, and Morikawa said he’s finding tighter dispersion patterns with the prototypes. To go along with his new P7CM blade irons (7-PW), Morikawa has also added new cavity-back TaylorMade P7MC’s to replace his previous 5- and 6-irons. He called the switch an “easy transition.” In nongolf equipment news, the newly married Morikawa told GolfWRX.com that he tried hitting range balls while wearing his new wedding ring for the first time, but he’ll likely take the ring off while playing golf … for now, at least. “I hit balls for the first time yesterday, and I didn’t love the feeling,” Morikawa said. “Right now, she’s going to have to live with it off (while playing golf), or else I’ll have to find a new job I can wear my ring. But I don’t really want to do that.” Should the newlyweds come to an understanding on the wedding ring, Morikawa will officially debut his new prototype irons this week.

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