Sleeper Picks: Fantasy golf advice for Mayakoba Golf Classic

Born in Charlotte and an alumnus of UNC, Davis Love III is a Tar Heel through and through. North Carolina has been the site of on-course success for Love, as well. He’s a three-time winner of the Wyndham Championship, claiming the trophy in three different decades. The 2015 Wyndham Championship, which he won at the age of 51, was the last of his 21 TOUR wins. He also won the Wyndham in 2006 and 1992. Only Sam Snead, who won the event a record-tying eight times, has had more success in this event. Next month, Love also will captain the U.S. Presidents Cup team at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club. In preparation for that role, he’s competing for the second consecutive week on TOUR – a luxury afforded him as a life member – to get a closer look at prospective players. “I’m thrilled to be back,” Love III told the press on Tuesday. “(I) won it at Forest Oaks across town, and won here (at Sedgefield Country Club), so it always gives me good vibes when I come back to a place that I played well. … I always do play better when I get to North Carolina for some reason.” In celebration of the 30-year anniversary of Love’s first Wyndham first win, we wanted to look at what’s changed in his equipment setup between now and then. As you can expect, the changes have been drastic. He was still using a persimmon wood when he first won in Greensboro, as well as two classic equipment lines, the Tommy Armour 845 irons and Ping Eye 2 wedges. Love used a 2-iron back then, when he was one of the longest hitters on TOUR, but now a 4-iron is the longest iron in his bag. Love’s 1992 driver was a far technological cry from what he uses now: a weight-adjustable Titleist TSi3, equipped with a graphite Fujikura Ventus Red shaft. He was one of the last players to wield a persimmon driver, using a Cleveland Classic until 1997. “The Cleveland has been in my bag since 1985,” Love III wrote in his 1997 book, “Every Shot I Take.” “It was given to me by a good friend, Bob Spence. I experiment with metal drivers often; I find – for me, and not necessarily for you – they go marginally longer than my wooden driver, but they don’t give me any shape. I find it more difficult to create shape to my drives off the metal face, which is important to me. …I also love the sound my ball makes as it comes off the persimmon insert of my driver. “I’m no technophobe,” he added. “My fairway ‘woods’ have metal heads … but when it comes to my old wooden driver, I guess the only thing I can really say is that I enjoy golf more with it, and I think I play better with it…golf is somehow more pleasing to me when played with a driver made of wood.” Love III changed his tune later in 1997, though, when he switched into a Titleist 975D driver made of titanium instead of wood. Flash forward to this year’s Wyndham Championship, and Love III still has a Titleist driver in his bag. Check out the full specs below from Love III’s win in 1992 versus what he has in the bag this week! DAVIS LOVE III WITB 1992 Driver: Cleveland Classic Oil Hardened RC85 3-wood: TaylorMade Tour Spoon Irons: Tommy Armour 845 (2-PW) Wedges: Ping Eye 2 (SW, LW) Putter: Ping Anser DAVIS LOVE III WITB 2022 Driver: Titleist TSi3 3-wood: Titleist TS3 Utility: Callaway Apex UW Irons: Titleist AP2 718 (4-9 iron) Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (46-10F, 50-08F, 56-14F and 60-10K) Putter: Scotty Cameron Masterful Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1 2021

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While making his bed one day earlier this year, Brooks Koepka started crying in pain. Although he looks like the toughest guy in the room, the physical agony from his injured left wrist – which, after stem-cell treatment and platelet-rich plasma injections, had sidelined him for nearly four months – had reduced him to tears. Soon, he found a local chiropractor near his home in South Florida. The diagnosis? Koepka, with his soft cast removed, had dislocated his wrist while moving too quickly to pull up his bedsheets. “So he popped it back in,â€� Koepka said, “then we’re off and running.â€� And he never stopped. He returned to the PGA TOUR eight days later, spent the summer winning two majors, then finished inside the top 10 after the FedExCup Playoffs before slowing down long enough on Tuesday to claim the PGA TOUR Player of the Year award. “The lowest of lows and the highest of highs,â€� the 28-year-old Koepka said about the most unusual season. “It was pretty dramatic. Look, at the beginning of the season, I was just hoping to be back out playing again. To sit here after winning two majors and Player of the Year, I don’t think I even thought this was going to happen. “This is incredible. It’s an honor. It’s mind-boggling.â€� But it’s certainly no surprise. He has the game (one of the TOUR’s biggest bombers), he has the adaptability (his back-to-back U.S. Open wins were on different setups) and he has the mental mistake (hey, he’s chill) to emerge as one of the TOUR’s 20-something stars, right up there with JT, Jordan, Rory and the rest. “Calm. Collected. Confident,â€� was how Jack Nicklaus described Koepka. Perhaps the only thing he’s lacking is recognition — although being Player of the Year may finally eliminate that issue. Koepka once told Golf Digest that he’s “really good at blending inâ€� and by his own admission, he hangs out in the background as much as possible. “Most people don’t know the real me, my life off the golf course,â€� he said Tuesday. “I can go to plenty of restaurants and not have anybody come up and say anything, where a lot of guys can’t. Look at Dustin (Johnson) or Jordan or guys like that. They can’t do that. I’m still blending in.â€� Then with a laugh, he adds, “I mean, I get confused for Tony Finau most every week.â€� Koepka has turned this lack of attention into motivation. It allows him to play with a chip on his shoulder – much like Michael Jordan would take perceived slights and raise the level of his play against his NBA opponents. “I think you always have to play with a little chip on your shoulder if you want to get the best out of you,â€� Koepka said. “I love competition. I find a way, whatever it is, to try to play my best and get myself up for every event. “I think a lot of the chips that everyone’s been talking about is because I was left off notables as the defending champion of the U.S. Open, just things like that. To be at the PGA, I shoot a decent first-round score and the guy who never won a major shot two higher than I did, and he’s being interviewed. I’m like man, we’re in 10th, 12th place after the first day and I’m like, all right, I won a major this year, two-time major winner – you know what I mean? It seems kind of odd. But whatever…â€� On Tuesday, at least, there was no one slighting Koepka after his peers, his fellow competitors, voted him as Player of the Year. No golfer, from their perspective, had a better season. As a result, Koepka will receive the Jack Nicklaus Trophy. It’s not the first award in Koepka’s home that showcases an image of the Golden Bear. Born in West Palm Beach, Florida, and growing up in nearby Lake Worth, Koepka would occasionally see Nicklaus, a longtime resident of the area. Twice, Koepka won junior events at the Bear’s Club. The trophy was a plaque that included Nicklaus trading cards from the high points of his legendary career. “I still have those trophies,â€� Koepka said. “… It’s a very big plaque, as you can imagine, with all his major victories and everything. It’s pretty cool. “Mr. Nicklaus was always exactly what you’d expect he would be, very gracious and very kind. It’s nice to add something else of his to my trophy collection.â€� Provided that chip remains on Koepka’s shoulder, you get the feeling there will be more to come. In His Own Words A chronological list of quotes from Brooks Koepka that reflect the ebb and flow of his 2017-18 season: “Game feels good and excited to start the season.â€� (Oct. 26) “I have some wrist issues. I want to figure that out. I can’t grip anything strong with my left hand.â€� (Dec. 6, via AP) “It felt like someone was jabbing a knife in my hand. The problem is we don’t have any answers.â€� (Jan. 7, via Golf Channel) “I am frustrated that I will now not be able to play my intended schedule. But I am confident in my doctors and in the treatment they have prescribed, and I look forward to teeing it up at the Masters.â€� (Jan. 19 statement) “They said I would be about 80 percent but I can’t play 80 percent. I either have to go full bore or not at all.”(March 20 on decision to not play Masters, via USA Today) “It feels like I’ve been out for six months. … It was torn a lot worse than they originally thought.â€� (April 20, via AP) “There’s nobody more excited to be here than me, I can tell you that. To get back out, it felt like it took forever.â€� (May 13 at THE PLAYERS Championship) “I feel like my game is coming around. … I am finally finding a rhythm and feel like I’m getting really close.â€� (May 26) “I feel like it healed nicely. I like where my game’s trending right now.â€� (June 7) “To have my name on there twice is pretty incredible, and to go back-to-back is even more extraordinary. It feels so special.â€� (June 17 after winning second straight U.S. Open) “I’ll be honest. I’m dead right now.â€� (June 21 at Travelers) “Right now I’m focused on just winning. That’s the only thing I’ve got in my mind. Second place just isn’t good enough. I finished second a lot and just tired of it.â€� (July 17 on eve of Open Championship) “Didn’t play very good. Didn’t strike it good. Never really felt comfortable.â€� (July 22 after finishing T-39 at the Open) “Missing four months, the schedule got completely flipped around for me. I’m having to play a lot right now to play some events because I missed so much time.â€� (July 25 on eve of RBC Canadian Open) “It was as good as I’ve hit it in my pro career. I don’t think I’ve ever driven it as well as I did. .. I feel confident going into next week.â€� (Aug. 5 after WGC-Bridgestone Invitational) “When you take four months off, you really appreciate it and you’re eager to get back out there. Anytime you can tee it up, especially only doing three majors, it makes every one a little bit more important. I kind of fell back in love with the game a little bit.â€� (Aug. 7 on eve of PGA Championship) “When I look at what I’ve done in the past two months, it’s incredible. Looking where I was, sitting on my couch watch the Masters, and to think I would do this, I would have laughed at you and told you there was no way, no chance.â€� (Aug. 12 after winning PGA) “There’s a lot on my mind. I can get to world No. 1, win the FedExCup. It’s a big stretch, these next four weeks.â€� (Aug. 23) “I don’t see why it has to end. If I keep doing what I’m doing, I don’t see why it should stop.â€� (Sept. 27) Brooks By The Numbers Hitting the statistical highlights of Koepka’s season: 68.27 — Koepka’s final-round scoring average. Of the 140-plus primary statistical categories used by ShotLink, it’s the only category this season in which Koepka led the TOUR. It’s also the eighth best final-round average since 1980 when data was first collected. 9th — Koepka’s ranking in Scrambling this season, based on his 64.3 percent success rate. Before this season, Koepka had never ranked better than 108th in Scrambling. 33 — Number of times a player has won multiple majors in the same season. Koepka becomes the most recent player on that list. 411 — Length in yards of Koepka’s longest drive this season, on the 16th hole of the final round of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. That tied for the 20th longest drive of the season. 62.5 — Percentage of Koepka’s tee shots that were over 300 yards. No player had a higher percentage this season (see chart below). A Mixed Bag Equipment Insider Jonathan Wall reviews the tools that fueled Koepka this season: Coming off his first major championship win during the 2016-17 PGA TOUR season, Brooks Koepka limited the equipment changes to the driver during the 2017-18 campaign. After opening the year with TaylorMade’s M4 driver, Koepka swapped the club for the company’s M3 at THE PLAYERS Championship, due to the flight it produced and how easy it was to turn the ball over on command. A former Nike Golf equipment staffer, Koepka continues to play a Vapor Fly Pro 3-iron. Mizuno’s JPX-900 Tour irons were originally created with Koepka in mind when he became an equipment free agent following Nike’s departure from the hard-goods industry in 2016. Koepka’s 35-inch Scotty Cameron T10 Select Newport 2 putter was refinished prior to his return to the course at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. The “T10” represents the 10th anniversary of Scotty Cameron using Teryllium inserts in putters made for TOUR players. Over the years, Koepka has added weight to the putter head, going from a D6 swing weight to closer to D9 with the current version. Driver: TaylorMade M3 (Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 70TX shaft), 9.5 degrees 3-wood: TaylorMade M2 Tour HL (Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80TX shaft), 16.5 degrees Irons: Nike Vapor Fly Pro (3-iron; Fujikura Pro 95 Tour Spec X shaft), Mizuno JPX-900 Tour (4-PW; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts) Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM7 (52-12F, 56-10S, 60-08M degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts) Putter: Scotty Cameron T10 Select Newport 2 Ball: Titleist Pro V1x

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We’ll have to wait and see if Tiger Woods is playing in this year’s Masters after the five-time champion tweeted Sunday that his appearance will be a “game-time decision.” “I will be heading up to Augusta today to continue my preparation and practice. It will be a game-time decision on whether I compete,” he wrote. Woods also congratulated Anna Davis, 16, on her win Saturday in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Unlike weekly PGA TOUR events, there is no commitment deadline for the Masters. There are no alternates, either, so no player is waiting to fill Woods’ spot if he cannot compete. Only one more spot in the field remains, for the winner of the Valero Texas Open on Sunday. Anticipation around Woods’ potential appearance at Augusta National started ramping up after videos were posted on social media of him walking his home course, Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida, with his caddie, Joe LaCava. Woods played practice rounds at Augusta National earlier this week after his plane was tracked flying to Augusta. “He’s trying to see what he can do,” Rory McIlroy said from the Valero Texas Open. “Obviously no one knows but him if he can make it around and if he believes he can compete.” Woods said at his Genesis Invitational in February that he did not know when he would return to competitive golf. Some theorized that his comeback would begin this summer on the relatively flat links of St. Andrews, where Woods has twice won The Open. The Masters seemed too soon and Augusta National’s terrain too hilly for Woods as he continues to recover from the single-car accident in February 2021 that nearly resulted in the amputation of his right leg. “We didn’t know if he was going to make it through (the accident), and to be in this position where people are talking about, ‘This guy might actually play in the Masters,’ I think it’s amazing,” two-time U.S. Open champion Andy North, who will call the Masters for ESPN, said earlier this week on a conference call. “ CBS’ Jim Nantz visited Woods in Florida last month for a documentary on his historic 1997 Masters win, but received no hints that Woods may play this year. Nantz said Woods’ appearance would be “astonishing” and a fitting addition to the first Masters at full capacity since Woods’ 2019 win. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of Woods’ first Masters win, a 12-shot rout where he also set the tournament’s scoring record. CBS will mark that anniversary before the final-round broadcast of this year’s Masters with a documentary titled, “A Win for the Ages.” The show will feature Woods discussing his relationship with his father, as well as pioneers Lee Elder and Charlie Sifford, and his recollections of the win. North called Augusta National “the last place you would’ve thought he could possibly play.” That seemed true after Woods’ press conference from Riviera in February, where he expressed frustration at the pace of his comeback. Woods played golf publicly for the first time at the PNC Championship in December, where he and son Charlie finished second to John Daly and his son, John II. Woods was able to ride a cart and did not need to hit every shot in that tournament’s scramble format, however. The Masters would require Woods to walk multiple rounds on one of the most physically demanding courses players see all year. ESPN’s Curtis Strange, a two-time U.S. Open champion, called Augusta National “the hardest walk in golf.” Woods said in February that “the walking part is something I’m still working on, working on strength and development in that. “It takes time,” he added. “What’s frustrating is it’s not at my timetable. I want to be at a certain place, but I’m not. I’ve just got to continue working. I’m getting better, yes, but as I said, not at the speed and rate that I would like. You add in the age factor, too. You just don’t quite heal as fast, which is frustrating.” Whether Woods is ready to return at Augusta National remains to be seen.

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