Si Woo Remains Right At Home On Big Stage

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – Tiger Woods’ magic with his Scotty Cameron didn’t continue Friday at the BMW Championship. Woods struggled with his putting throughout his second-round 70. After starting the day with a share of the lead, he is now five shots behind leader Xander Schauffele. After holing four putts of 10 feet or longer on Thursday, Woods’ longest made putt Friday was a 6-footer for par on his first hole. He ended the day with a three-putt bogey that was punctuated by a miss from 6 feet. It was his second consecutive missed par putt from inside 10 feet. Woods was 1 for 4 from 4-8 feet on Friday. This was his second-worst performance in Strokes Gained: Putting of the season. He lost 3.57 strokes on the greens. Only the second round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, where he lost 3.68 strokes with his putting, was worse. Woods made three birdies and three bogeys Friday. All three of his birdies came on putts from inside 3 feet, and two of them were on par-5s. He made just 31 feet, 4 inches of putts in the second round. Woods wasn’t ready to blame his putter, though. “I hit it just as good and putt it just as good. Nothing went in. That’s the way it goes,â€� Woods said. It wasn’t just his iron play that wasn’t sharp. He hit 14 greens Friday but failed to hit many shots close to the hole. On the par-3s and par-4s, he hit just two approach shots within 15 feet. His proximity of 37 feet, 4 inches was almost 12 feet higher than the previous day. A change in conditions is partly to blame. Woods’ average approach shots on the par-4s Friday was 144 yards, 19 yards longer than the previous day. Thursday’s high temperatures allowed the ball to fly far and for Woods to hit driver over many of the fairway bunkers that cut into the fairway. The softer conditions made the course play longer and made it difficult for him to get close to the back hole locations. Half of Friday’s pins were cut within 10 strokes of the back edge of the green. “(I) couldn’t get back there, couldn’t skip the ball back there,â€� Woods said. “It was a difficult task to try and flight one to get it back there without hitting it over the back.â€� Aroninimink was hit by rain overnight, and tee times were moved up because of thunderstorms that were forecast to hit Friday afternoon. The air was damp and heavy when Woods teed off at 8:06 a.m. He missed four birdie putts from 20 feet or less on his first seven holes. He didn’t make his first birdie of the day until the par-5 ninth hole, where he pitched to 2 feet from in front of the green.   That offset his first bogey of the tournament. One day after hitting his tee shot over the green on the downhill par-3 fifth hole, he hit it into one of the deep bunkers fronting the green. He couldn’t convert the 4-foot par putt after playing a delicate shot from the sand. It was his first miss from inside 10 feet of the week. Of his six missed greens this week, four have come on par-3s. Woods was under par for the first time Friday after a birdie on No. 11, where he wedged to 2 feet from 93 yards. He made a nice par save at the 15th hole, getting up-and-down from 75 yards after driving into the rough on the 515-yard, par-4. That preceded his third birdie of the day. Despite driving into a divot in the 16th fairway, he reached the green in two with a fairway wood. He two-putted for birdie. Woods then pushed his tee shot on the par-3 17th into a bunker before three-putting the last hole. “That round today was easily 6, 7-under par,â€� he said. “It turned into even par which is not what I needed to do today.â€�

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The 2023 portion of the PGA TOUR season begins with spectacular views from Maui at the lovely Plantation Course in Kapalua for an incredible 25th year running, but to steal a theme from PGA TOUR player Kevin Kisner… this ain’t no holiday. Kisner (who has picked up a cult following using his phrase, “this ain’t no hobby”), is sadly not one of a field of 39 players in Maui for the first of the TOUR’s new designated events that sees a huge purse increase from $8.2 million to $15 million and FedExCup points for the winner also rise to 550. As such the holiday isle will see a stacked field with 17 of the top 20 players in the world gearing up for a shootout as Mother Nature isn’t ready for prime time just yet. Of course there will be breezes but the Coore/Crenshaw layout is designed for just that as Kapalua provides the largest targets off the tee and into the greens on TOUR. The Par-73 layout stretches to 7,596 yards but there’s plenty of tract playing down the mountain to shorten the length. Judging the elevation changes, uneven lies and just over two inches of Bermuda will provide the challenges, relatively speaking, this week. Defending champion Cameron Smith (not entered) set the PGA TOUR tournament scoring record on 34-under and did so without breaking the course record. That was left to Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and Matt Jones (not entered this week) as they posted 12-under 61 to establish the new mark. The fact is, the Golfbet crew cannot ignore the scoring stats this week when looking for a gaming or fantasy edge. Key Statistics Only players listed are competing this week; click stat headline for additional players; Stats from 2021-22 completed season. Strokes Gained: Approach the Green The first key in a shootout is finding as many Greens In Regulation (GIR) as possible. With some of the largest targets on TOUR I’m looking for the snipers who can hone in on flag sticks and create prime scoring chances. Of the last eight winners only Harris English (2021) has finished outside of the top seven in this category. Note: Billy Horschel (1), Tom Hoge (3), Tony Finau (4), Tom Kim (5), Cameron Young (6) and Collin Morikawa (13) all rank inside the top 15 of this stat so far THIS season. Birdie or Better Conversion Percentage Welcome aboard! Now, it’s time to pay off the approaches. TifEagle installed before the 2020 edition won’t be the issue. The greens will be ready, as they are annually, to accept eagle and birdie chances. Aggressive lines and speeds will pay off as the Stimpmeter (around 11 feet) is protection if the wind picks up. The last two seasons the Plantation Course has ranked in the top three on TOUR in this category. Of the last eight winners, six have ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 for the week. Note: Patrick Cantlay (1), Tony Finau (4), Jon Rahm (5), and Max Homa (8) all rank inside the top 10 of this stat so far THIS season. Par Breakers Nothing wrong with making pars this week as the absence of a cut will see all players complete four rounds. Those will grander aspirations and expectations will accept that birdies and eagles need to be the rule, not the exception. Of the courses used the last two seasons on TOUR, Kapalua has ranked first or second easiest in this category. Jon Rahm tied the TOUR record for most birdies in an event last year with 32. He didn’t win. Cameron Smith, who is not defending this season, circled 31 but also added three eagles. Note: Patrick Cantlay (1), Jon Rahm (2), Tony Finau (5), Seamus Power (7), Max Homa (8) and Brian Harman (1o) all rank inside the top 10 of this stat so far THIS season. Rounds in the 60s Of the top 15 players in 2022 only two of 60 rounds were posted at 70 or worse. In 2021 there were only seven from the top 12 finishers. With very similar conditions forecast this year this should hold again. Last year the top three players would have won the previous 23 Sentry TOC with their winning totals. The top 18 last year and top nine players in 2021 were all 20-under or better. Rounds under par are great but rounds in the 60s will be difference makers. Find guys who have no problem racking ’em up! Note: Seamus Power (8) ranks inside the top 10 of this stat so far THIS season. Justin Thomas has 20 career rounds of 63 or better, most on TOUR since 2015. The Bottom Line Not surprisingly two-time event winner Justin Thomas (Win: +1100; Top 5: +175; Top 10: -160; Top 20: -700) jumps off the page as does the hottest player from 2022 in Scottie Scheffler (Win: +900; Top 5: +140; Top 10: -225; Top 20: -1000). Xander Schauffele (Win: +1100; Top 5: +175; Top 10: -165; Top 20: -800) has had a ton of success in limited field, big money events and lines up almost as nicely. Sam Burns (Win: +2500; Top 5: +375; Top 10: +140; Top 20: -350) and Russell Henley (Win: +4000; Top 5: +550; Top 10: +220; Top 20: -200) have burning red hot track records on Bermuda surfaces also. Good luck! Responsible sports betting starts with a game plan. Set a budget. Keep it social. Play with friends. Learn the game and know the odds. Play with trusted, licensed operators. CLICK HERE to learn more at HaveAGamePlan.org

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For years, PGA TOUR players have used raw wedges to help maximize spin around the greens for increased control of their wedge shots. Raw wedges, versus those that have a finish or coating applied, reduce the material between the golf ball and the grooves to ensure maximum friction as the ball runs up the face of the wedge. Callaway’s new Jaws Raw wedges – which replace the previous Jaws Mack Daddy 5 (MD5) wedges – have raw faces and extremely sharp grooves to enhance greenside spin. While Callaway is officially launching the Jaws Raw wedges to PGA TOUR players this week at the Travelers Championship, a number of players have already put them into play. Marc Leishman, Xander Schauffele and Kevin Kisner, for example, have each used the wedges in recent weeks. In fact, as Callaway reports, nine Jaws Raw wedges were in play at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. “I love the look,” said Marc Leishman. “I actually used to grind the leading edge of my old wedges to look like this (straighter leading edge). I’ve actually been playing with it since (the Zurich Classic of New Orleans), I took it from the photo shoot.” The relatively quick adoption of these wedges — very, very quick in Leishman’s case — can be attributed to Callaway’s willingness to work with TOUR players when developing the new wedges. Legendary wedge designer Roger Cleveland and the Callaway team used feedback from TOUR players to make a number of changes to the new Jaws Raw wedges compared to the previous Jaws MD5 models. The new Jaws Raw wedges introduce tungsten weighting and progressive hosel lengths to provide the optimal center of gravity for increased feel, trajectory control and forgiveness. The higher-lofted wedges have longer hosels that are balanced by two tungsten weights in the toe section. This configuration helps balance CG from heel-to-toe, but also moves it slightly higher to influence a lower shot with greater spin. The lower lofted wedges, on the other hand, have shorter hosels and less tungsten weighting in the toe sections to help lower CG for higher-flying shots from the fairway. Kevin Kisner, who’s been using the 52-degree Jaws Raw wedge, told GolfWRX.com on Monday that the “grooves are more aggressive, and I find it easier to hit from the fairway on full shots.” The raw-faced wedges have ultra-sharp grooves with a 37-degree wall angle. They also have groove-in-groove technology, which feature micro-milled grooves at a 20-degree angle to promote added spin on both straight-faced and open-faced shots. Golfers will notice that the new Jaws Raw wedges have a straighter leading edge, the toe pad has been muted to reduce glare, and they feature a smooth transition from the hosel section to the heel area that doesn’t show a pronounced “hook.” This feedback comes directly from TOUR players, according to Callaway. With 17 loft-grind combinations in total, the Jaws Raw wedge lineup introduces an all-new “Z” grind. The Z grind – which Callway says is used by Leishman – is a low-bounce option, but there’s significant chamfer, or roundness, on the leading edge to help reduce digging at impact and eliminate chunk shots. Other grinds in the Jaws Raw family include the standard S-grind, the versatile C-grind, the wide-soled W-grind, and the high-bounce X-grind. Available to the public on July 22 for $179.99 in steel, $189.99 in graphite, the Callaway Jaws Raw wedges will be available in either a Raw Face Chrome or un-plated Raw Black Plasma option. Brian Stuard, for example, opts for the Raw Black Plasma option, as pictured below. It’s important to note that the faces of the wedges are raw, which means they will rust over time. The stock shaft options include True Temper Dynamic Gold Spinner 115 grams (steel) and Project X Catalyst 80 grams (graphite), with a stock Lamkin UTx Charcoal grip. Callaway’s Jaws Raw wedges will have up to 13 color options to choose from within the Callaway Customs platform, as well as different medallions, emojis, and stamping options for further personalization.

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