Sleeper Picks: BMW Championship

Unlike with the other 13 clubs in a golfer’s bag, truly new putter technology is something of a rarity. Sure, new shapes and different head designs hit the market, models come and go, and novel insert materials arise, but how often do you see a putter offering totally unique face technology? That’s just what SIK Golf — with its Descending Loft Technology (DLT) — offers in its family of putters. As you’d expect, Descending Loft Technology means the loft of the putter face “descends” from the top to the bottom of the face. More specifically, SIK putter faces feature four flat surfaces milled into the putter face with loft decreasing by one degree (4 degrees to 1) from surface to surface. The next logical question, of course, is “why? In a word: consistency. No golfer perfectly matches the putter’s shaft angle from address to impact consistently. This produces inconsistent launch angles off the putter face, which leads to poor distance control. DLT aims to remedy this by offering a more consistent launch regardless of shaft lean, and thus a ball that finishes closer to the hole. Speaking about DLT, a SIK representative said “Descending Loft Technology aims to correct for shaft lean variance from address to impact (whether by shaft manipulation or changing ball position). We have four flat surfaces on our putters that descend in loft from top to bottom. For example, if the ball slightly moves back in your stance (or you deloft the club) the ball will impact higher on the face. A traditional putter would launch the ball with a negative launch angle, DLT will launch it similarly to a clean center strike. The same is true in reverse. With DLT you are consistently delivering proper loft at impact.” Another notable offering from SIK: Any putter can be purchased with any neck. With five heads and six hosels, there’s no doubt an option for every golfer. Whether you want a Pro with a plumber’s neck, a DW with a swept neck, or a Flo with a double bend, you can have it. “We developed our C-Series heads to allow the consumer the maximum amount of customization in a standard setup,” said SIK director of communications Tyler Finley. “Normally if you like a head shape you are stuck with the hosel that it’s made with. We didn’t think that was a very good way of getting the best fit. So if you like a traditional blade look, you can choose a plumber’s neck, slant neck, swept neck, double bend or armlock hosel. The same is true across our entire line of putters.” More on the specifics of the SIK models below. Pro The most popular SIK design, the Pro is a classic anser-style putter. DW Similar to the Pro, the DW is double the width of that classic anser-style putter design, offering higher MOI and stability. Jo Slightly heavier than the Pro and Sho, from heel to toe, the Jo is slightly shorter than the Pro. Sho The half-moon-shaped Sho is Sik’s mid-mallet offering. Depending on the neck configuration, the Sho weighs between 350 and 370 grams. Flo A reworked version of SIK’s oversized Mo mallet, the Flo features high MOI and a low CG. It weighs just over 415 grams with a plumber’s neck, 390 grams with double bend, and 400 grams with a slant neck. Additionally, the Pro, DW, and Flo models are all available in armlock with a longer shaft (steel or LAGP graphite) and MX/SIK grip Incidentally, the SIK Pro C-Series Armlock is the model Bryson DeChambeau won the 2020 U.S. Open with and continues to put in play. The Pro and Jo models retail for $399, the DW and Sho for $429, and the Flo for $449. The Pro Armlock retails for $499, the DW Armlock for $529, and the Flo armlock for $549 (with a steel shaft; there’s an upcharge for the LAGP graphite shaft). To purchase or learn more click here.

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DETROIT – With his second PGA TOUR victory in as many weeks at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, there is almost no scenario in which Tony Finau will not make the U.S. Presidents Cup Team, which will take on the International Team at Quail Hollow Club, Sept. 21-25. Still, he figures he has work to do even after shooting 26 under par to blow away the field at Detroit Golf Club. That’s because only six players will make the team on points, leaving U.S. Captain Davis Love III (who missed the cut at the Rocket Mortgage) to pick the other six. “To make those teams is really hard,” Finau said after beating Patrick Cantlay, Taylor Pendrith and Cameron Young by five. “There’s so many great players. I think one of the great players, Cameron Young, was chasing me down today. You’re going to see these guys win a lot, they’re amazing golfers. So, for me, I have that goal every year to make these teams on points.” Finau has a handful of fellow multiple winners this season ahead of him in the Presidents Cup standings, including Scottie Scheffler, Sam Burns and Xander Schauffele. Cantlay, who posted his TOUR-leading 10th top-10 finish in Detroit, is up there, as is Justin Thomas. With two victories in two weeks, Finau is up to sixth in the standings, just behind Thomas. The top six in points through the BMW Championship, the second event of the FedExCup Playoffs, will make the team automatically. Love makes his six picks the Monday after the TOUR Championship, Aug. 29. “I’ve been selected in the past,” Finau said. “One of my goals is to make the Presidents Cup team by points. These last two weeks I think were huge in earning my spot. I think everybody earns their spot to a certain extent, but I truly want to earn my spot by earning enough points to just qualify for the team this year. I’ve got a couple more tournaments to kind of prove myself.”

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When Travis Alley arrived at the Tahoe Mountain Club in Truckee, California, in 2007, he had a feeling he wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. When Brandon Harkins would end family visits to the Lake Tahoe area, he always knew he’d take advantage of opportunities to return. RELATED: How it works: Modified Stableford | Preview: Barracuda Championship Both men were correct, so it’s no surprise they’ll be in attendance this week when something familiar (the beloved Modified Stableford format) and something new (Old Greenwood) anchor the 22nd annual Barracuda Championship. Alley, now the Director of Golf at the 36-hole Tahoe Mountain Club, and Harkins, a member of the Korn Ferry Tour who was on the PGA TOUR in 2017-18 and 2018-19, are not shy about their passion for this mountain resort approximately 200 miles from San Francisco. “It’s a golf club that is also a ski club,” Alley said. “It’s a ski club that is also a golf club.” As for Old Greenwood, a Jack Nicklaus design that opened in 2004, “I think it’s a phenomenal layout for the Stableford format,” Harkins said. While Alley — a 2007 graduate of the PGA Golf Management program at Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina — certainly spends far more time at the Tahoe Mountain Club than Harkins, the native of Walnut Creek, California, embraces every visit. “Growing up in Northern California, we had a house in Tahoe, so it’s a special place for me,” said Harkins. And nearly every visit to the Tahoe area involves a stop in at the Tahoe Mountain Club, where a second course, Gray’s Crossing, was designed by Peter Jacobsen and opened in 2007. It’s Old Greenwood, though, that Harkins has played perhaps 20 times. “I like the layout and it’s always in nice shape,” he said. “There are some tricky holes, but there are also some great risk/reward holes where you can gain some points in a hurry.” Does his experience at Old Greenwood, which will be hosting the Barracuda Championship for the first time, make him a popular sounding board for players seeking insight and any chance for an edge? Harkins laughed. “To be honest, not many players have reached out to me,” he said. “But a couple of guys who know I’ve been there quite a bit have asked about it and whether or not they should put the Barracuda event on their schedule? His answer? “The same for everyone – absolutely,” said Harkins. Players likely will be accustomed to the usual elevation advantage, as they had the same thing at Montreux Golf and Country Club in Reno, Nevada, for the first 21 years of this tournament. “Being at 6,000 feet, the ball will go far,” said Alley. “Players will have some short par 4s they can drive (the 357-yard eighth; 345-yard 11th; 396-yard 16th), and there’ll be a lot of opportunity to make up ground,” said Alley. “But, at the same time, there’ll be opportunities to lose it, too.” It’s as good a time as any to remind folks that the Barracuda is that one tournament where players want to be on the “plus” side after their scores are recorded. Last year’s champion, Collin Morikawa, finished at +47, winning by three over Troy Merritt, in this event where points are awarded for birdies, eagles and albatrosses, and subtracted for bogeys, doubles, or worse. Alley suspects the shorter par 4s will yield big points and the par 5s (the 631-yard second; 578-yard sixth; and 551-yard 12th) will, as usual on the PGA TOUR, be reached in two shots to set up eagle attempts. “But the par 3s are nasty out here,” he said. “They have very difficult greens.” Therein lies an aspect of Old Greenwood (at 7,390 yards, it will play to a par of 71) that will be recognized by those players who have a familiarity with Nicklaus golf designs; the greens are expansive with demanding undulation and an assortment of hole locations. Players may also draw a connection between a few of the holes at Old Greenwood with some iconic holes elsewhere in the world. The 187-yard, par-3 seventh, for instance, has a Redan green and might evoke thoughts of the famed 15th at North Berwick in Scotland, the original Redan. The short, 357-yard, par-4 eighth features a series of six bunkers that surround a green tucked to the right, which is the mold of No. 10 at Riviera. Then there’s the 18th hole, a demanding 451-yard challenge that moves gently uphill, reminiscent of the closing hole at Nicklaus’ beloved Muirfield Village. As for the other features that will catch your eye – from the towering pine trees, or the series of streams that connect four lakes on the expansive property, or possible sightings of wildlife – that is a tribute to the breath-taking mountain setting. It will scream for you to take a deep breath, relax, and simply meander among nature – and most days Alley and the resort guests can do just that. But right now, things are moving quickly at the Tahoe Mountain Club. Winter snow pretty much melted away by late March “and since then we’ve never let our foot off the gas,” said Alley. “We’ve looked forward to seeing something like this and it’s exciting to see it all come together.”

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