Sleeper Picks: Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide

If it ain't broke don't fix it. This is not the motto above the Ping headquarters - but it could be - given their penchant to only bring out something new when they are certain of improvement across all performance areas. Building on the successful G410 platform, Ping engineers now offer golfers enhanced distance, stability, and a full complement of custom fitting options to dial in performance with its new G425 line. The Ping G425 family features three driver models (G425 MAX, G425 LST, G425 SFT), three fairway wood models (MAX, LST, SFT), and the G425 hybrid, Crossover, and irons). "As is our engineering philosophy, we don't introduce a new product unless it's measurably better than its predecessor. The G425 family exceeds that standard in both performance and appearance," Ping president John K. Solheim says. "The Tour response to the G425 driver has been exceptional. It started with a win its first week on the European Tour in the hands of Tyrrell Hatton at the BMW PGA Championship and has continued with wins around the world ever since. Viktor Hovland claimed the Mayakoba Golf Classic in early December with the G425 LST and one week later the U.S. Women's Open champion also relied on the new driver." To keep the likes of 12-time PGA TOUR winner Bubba Watson and Hatton, the reigning Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard champion, happy they'd need to allow their specific set of gifts shine. "This driver in particular is definitely easier to turn over than some of our previous models, and I think that’s good for a guy like Hatton who likes to move it left to right and his misses to the right are minimized," Ping Director of Tournament Players Christian Pena said. "Viktor Hovland switched to it. He’s gained all kinds of yardage, and I think that’s a testament to the head also and then the fitting. We’ve increased his shaft length a little bit knowing that he hits it so straight, and he still hits it just as straight with a little more length with a driver that has been more forgiving and lower spin to help him gain distance." "Tony Finau is in it. Joaquin Neimann. Bubba Watson is in the G425 LST because he can maneuver it." With respect to the drivers themselves, the primary G425 model is the MAX, so named for its elevation of MOI (moment of inertia) - and thus forgiveness - to the highest level in Ping history. The G425 lineup also features the G425 LST (Low Spin Technology) and SFT (Straight Flight Technology) to cover all swing profiles. The crowns of Ping G425 drivers feature an improved version of the company's turbulators, which improve airflow and increase aerodynamic efficiency. The lightweight, framed lattice titanium structure both saves weight from the crown and increases its rigidity, which lowers the center of gravity and gives engineers the ability to reposition mass around the clubhead for greater MOI (which equals more forgiveness). In using the proven forged T9S+ face of previous generations, the thin, variable thickness design provides a high COR (more springiness) around the face for more distance. Weight savings - in large part to the technologies discussed above - allowed Ping engineers to move weight low and back in the driver heads for lower spin coupled with greater forgiveness and stability. The Ping G425 MAX boasts the most successful elements of the G400 Max and G410 Plus drivers. A 26-gram moveable tungsten weight positions more mass in the rear of the club for greater stability and forgiveness. Indeed, MOI is 14 percent higher compared to the G410 Plus, according to Ping. As with previous models, the weight can be adjusted to neutral, draw, or fade settings. The Ping G425 LST features a slightly smaller (445cc) pear-shaped head, and is designed to reduce spin. Compared to the G425 MAX, the LST model spins 500-700 rpm less—and it spins 200 rpm less than the previous generation G410 LST. In keeping with the smaller head, the adjustable weight is lighter in the LST as well at 17 grams. The Ping G425 SFT (straight flight technology) is designed to help golfers who push and/or slice their tee shots. The 460cc, draw-biased club has a 23-gram tungsten weight in the heel to promote a right-to-left ball flight (an additional 25 yards of correction beyond the G425 MAX). The new G425 Fairway woods and hybrids bring with them two innovations Ping engineers hang their golf caps on – Facewrap Technology and Spinsistency. The Facewrap refers to a high-strength, thin maraging steel face that extends over the top of the face to the crown of the club. This produces greater face flexing, increasing the trampoline effect of the face for faster ball speed. As for Spinsistency, Ping calls it "a complex face curvature that modifies the roll profile, mainly low on the face where the loft decreases to normalize spin and increase ball speed for more distance." Both Ping Man robot testing and player testing with the new G425 fairway woods and hybrids showed greater distance on shots struck low in the face, thanks to this. "Drivers have the advantage that you can tee them up however you want. So based on where you’re hitting on the face and how you’re doing that day, you can tee a little higher or a little lower. You can’t do that when you have a tight lie on the fairway," Ping VP of Engineering Paul Wood says. "You’re going to catch that roll on the face or you’re going to chunk it. You don’t have that luxury. Sometimes it sits up a little, sometimes sitting down, sometimes it’s a tight lie. You’re going to hit low on the face fairly regularly with a fairway wood. So really, what (Spinsitency) is doing is keeping that spin down a little, stopping the ball ballooning too much, but still giving you optimal results when you do hit one out of the middle or high on the face." The G425 irons feature a first for Ping: metal-wood style, variable face thickness (VFT) design. This allows the iron faces to flex more, producing higher ball speeds and higher-launching, faster-stopping shots. A compact iron, the G425 is shorter heel-to-toe than the G410. Even with the smaller package, however, the G425 still boasts higher MOI than its predecessor thanks to toe and hosel weights and the enhanced perimeter weighting they provide. "Normally, a smaller package means less forgiveness. You have less room to spread the mass to make the moment of inertia around the center of the head higher. What we’ve been able to do with the G425 iron is move the shaft in a little bit make it look visually a little smaller heel to toe and actually play a little smaller heel to toe," Wood says. "It's easier to manipulate the face…and it's a tiny bit more draw biased, which is good for the game improvement market…It’s more forgiving, while at the same time looking a little smaller…Best of both worlds." In terms of cosmetics, G425 irons feature a performance-improving, water-repelling hydropearl chrome finish. G425 irons are available in 4-9, PW, UW, SW, and LW in Standard, Power Spec, and Retro Spec lofts. The grooves in the PW, UW, SW, and LW are precision-milled for additional control. Lastly, as a gap-filling long iron-replacement, Ping's G425 Crossover features a thinner face and larger, more forgiving shape than a traditional long iron. The G425 features toe and hosel weights to increase the perimeter weighting - and thus MOI - of the club. For additional specs on all products see below. Additional specs Ping G425 drivers: Additional specs Ping G425 MAX: 9°, 10.5°, 12° Ping G425 LST: 9°, 10.5° Ping G425 SFT: 10.5° Head weights: 208g (LST), 206g (MAX), 202g (SFT) Swingweight: D3 (MAX), D4 (LST), D1 (SFT) Std. length: 45 3/4″ (Alta CB Slate 55); 45 1/4″ (Ping Tour and optional stock) Stock shaft: Ping Alta CB (counter-balanced) Slate (SR, R, S, X) Optional stock shafts: Ping Tour 65, 75 (R, S, X), Alta Distanza Red (SR), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 55 (R, S) and 65 (R, S, X), Aldila Rogue White 130 MSI 70 (R, S, X) Ping G425 fairway woods, hybrids: Additional specs G425 MAX 3W: (14.5°), 5W (17.5°), 7W (20.5°), 9W (23.5°) G425 LST: 3W (14.5°) G425 SFT: 3W (16°), 5W (19°), and 7W (22°) G425 Hybrids: 2 (17°), 3 (19°), 4 (22°), 5 (26°), 6 (30°) and 7 (34°). Fairway woods and hybrids feature a lightweight, 8-position hosel for loft (+-1.5°) and lie (up to 3° flatter) adjustments. Fairway wood stock shaft: Ping Alta CB Slate 65 (SR, R, S, X) Fairway wood no-upcharge shaft options: Ping Tour 65, 75 (R, S, X), Mitsubishi Tensei AV Orange 75 (R, S, X), Aldila Rogue White 130 MSI 70 (R), Aldila Rogue White 130 MSI 80 (S, X Hybrid stock shaft: Ping Alta CB Slate 70 (SR, R, S, X) Hybrid optional stock shafts: Ping Tour 85 (R, S, X); Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro 80 Orange (R, S, X), Aldila Rogue Black Hybrid 95 (TS, TX) Ping G425 irons: Additional specs Stock shaft options: Ping AWT 2.0 (R, S, X), Alta CB Slate powered by AWT (SR, R, S) Optional stock shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold 105 (R300, S300), True Temper Dynamic Gold (S300, X100), True Temper Dynamic Gold 120 (S300, X100), Project X LZ (5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5), True Temper Elevate 95 (R, S), Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 105 (R, S, X), KBS Tour (R, S, X) Ping G425 Crossovers: Additional specs Available in 2 (18°), 3 (20°) and 4 (22.5°) Stock shaft: Ping Alta CB 70 Slate (SR, R, S, X) Optional stock shafts: Ping Tour 85 (R, S, X), Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro 80 Orange (R, S, X), Aldila Rogue Black Hybrid 95 (TS, TX) Arccos Caddie Smart Grip Program The Arccos Caddie Smart Grip (Golf Pride Lite 360 Tour Velvet) is the standard grip on all G425 clubs. Golfers who purchase one or more G425 driver, fairway wood, hybrid, iron (up to five), or Crossover are eligible for 14 free Arccos Screw-In sensors and a free trial of the app. The annual subscription is $99.99. Note: Interested in adding the Ping G425 family to your bag? Click here for driver and here for irons.

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CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — Tommy Fleetwood brings to mind some of the best ball-strikers of yesteryear. The Englishman, with his long locks and aggressive hip turn through impact, looks like a brown-haired version of a young Johnny Miller. He harkens back to the days before space-age technology infiltrated the game, when players flushed unforgiving forged blades and hit wound balls that flew off-line after the slightest mis-hit. Fleetwood is such a good ballstriker, in fact, that he was able to shoot the best round of this Open Championship without his best stuff. Fleetwood’s 6-under 65 on Friday was the low score, and first bogey-free round, thus far at Carnoustie. He sits at 5-under 137 through 36 holes. Earlier this summer, England was two victories from winning its first World Cup since 1966. Now Fleetwood is two rounds from bringing the Claret Jug back to his homeland for the first time since Nick Faldo’s win at Muirfield in 1992. Fleetwood will have to find his swing first. “Normally, when you play great you know where the ball is going,â€� Fleetwood said. “A lot of the shots, I was just looking up, and I was really happy that they were going straight. I didn’t feel fully confident and fully comfortable with my swing.â€� Fleetwood has hit 27 of 36 greens this week, but he headed to the range for a late-afternoon practice session after finishing his first-round 72 with bogeys on 16 and 17. He signed his scorecard around 5:30 p.m., then spent an hour on the driving range with his coach and caddie to “neutralizeâ€� his swing. His swing was too short and under the plane, leading to shots pushed right of his target. “Sometimes … you’ve just got to hit balls and work your way into some good swings,â€� Fleetwood said. Even though it would help his competition, he was hopeful that the rain would cease so he could head to the range Friday for another post-round practice session. Normally, when you play great you know where the ball is going. A lot of the shots, I was just looking up, and I was really happy that they were going straight. I didn’t feel fully confident and fully comfortable with my swing. Thursday’s extra work set the stage for Fleetwood’s latest impressive performance in a major. He is coming off a second-place finish at Shinnecock Hills, where he barely missed a birdie putt for 62 and finished one shot behind Brooks Koepka. Shinnecock and Carnoustie are two of the toughest venues in their respective rotas, but Fleetwood is 12 under par over his past 54 holes on those courses. Fleetwood is in contention at Carnoustie despite playing in the tougher half of the draw, as well. The late-early players got Thursday’s strongest breezes and Friday’s heaviest rain. Only Zach Johnson (69-67) posted a lower score from their half of the field. “Our side of the draw, we had to sort of tough it out a little bit,â€� Rory McIlroy said after shooting consecutive 69s. Fleetwood is unprecedented territory at The Open. He may have grown up around the corner from Royal Birkdale, but he has found more success in the Open held across the Atlantic. He finished fourth at Erin Hills before this year’s runner-up. Last year’s T27 at Royal Birkdale was Fleetwood’s best finish in four Open Championships. He missed the cut in his first three starts in golf’s oldest championship. He owns the course record at Carnoustie, though, after shooting 63 in last year’s Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. That is the European Tour’s version of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The event is held on three courses and conditions are easier to ensure the amateurs can get around in a timely fashion. Friday’s round was just his fourth sub-par score in 10 rounds at The Open, and was his lowest ever at this championship. “It’s no course record, but it will do,â€� Fleetwood said. “It was a spirited effort today.â€�

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JACKSON, Miss. - All week the focus was on his eyes. Every time Sergio Garcia stroked a putt, the cameras showed a battle-scarred 40-year-old who had missed so many over his career he'd seen enough. Perhaps, he reasoned, the seeing itself was the problem. Why watch? There was no upside. He led his lids fall, trusted the stroke, and when the last putt fell, a kick-in birdie on 18 to beat Peter Malnati by one, those eyes filled with tears. RELATED: Final leaderboard | The clubs Garcia used to win | Why Garcia putts with eyes closed It was his first victory on TOUR since the 2017 Masters, and the first since he became a father, first to 2-year-old Azalea and then to 6-month-old Enzo. More than his putting woes, or his so-called slump - he won on the European Tour just over a year ago - he thought of family. He especially thought of the two uncles he lost to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. "My father has a lot of family in Madrid," Garcia said. "He’s one of nine siblings, and unfortunately we lost two of his brothers because of COVID, one at the beginning, Uncle Paco, and one just last Saturday actually - not yesterday but the Saturday before, Uncle Angel. "You know, it’s sad," he continued. "It’s sad. And I know that a lot of families have lost a lot more people, but you never want to lose anyone like that, and I wanted to win this for them." Sometimes golf is hard just because it's hard. And sometimes life just gets in the way. Garcia had never played the Sanderson Farms, and it was hard to know what to make of him, especially the eyes-wide-shut putting. He was a 10-time TOUR winner, but he hadn't won since the 2017 Masters. He'd missed three of his previous four cuts on TOUR, had fallen out of the world top 50, and was coming off a season in which he recorded just one top-25 finish. To put that in perspective, he had never recorded fewer than four top-25s in 21 previous TOUR seasons, and missed the Playoffs for just the second time in the FedExCup era. Two shots stood out Sunday: His 5-wood second shot that trundled up to within four feet of the pin for eagle, and his 8-iron approach on 18, which set up a 30-inch birdie. The ball-striking that has defined his career took center stage at Country Club of Jackson, as Garcia was first in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, and driving distance. Although he was only 28th in Strokes Gained: Putting, he was in positive numbers all four days. His unusual putting, which he said he's been doing for the last three-plus years, is working. "I was believing in myself the whole week," said Garcia, who moved to fourth in the FedExCup just three events into the new season. "I obviously hit a bad putt on six for par, but I stuck with it, I kept going, I kept believing, I kept telling myself you’re doing great, just keep doing what you’re doing, it’s great. You’re not going to make every single putt." He is asked incessantly about the closed eyes, and it would be easy to have doubts. As one reporter here pointed out, it looks not just odd but like the act of a desperate man. But Garcia and his wife Angela talked about it and agreed: If he didn't commit to something and really give it a chance, the odds were remote that he was ever going to settle into a groove on the greens. His experience tuning out the doubters, all those people who harped on his inability to win a major, served him well. Now he's peaking again with another Masters only a month away. "Well, it’s obviously a boost of confidence, there’s no doubt," Garcia said. "Even if I would have not won it, it still would have been a massive high for me this week. To be able to do a lot of the things that I did, it meant a lot. It showed me a lot of what I still have, and what I still can do."

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