Sony Open in Hawaii, Round 3: Leaderboard, tee times, TV times

The Masters is a perfect storm for custom clubs and gear. The course, the tournament, the food and the colors are all so iconic. They provide the ideal inspiration for golf companies to develop cool pieces of custom equipment. Given how many companies created awesome one-off gear ahead of this year’s Masters, we couldn’t highlight just one custom piece here at the Equipment Report. Instead, we’ve compiled a list of the coolest Masters-inspired equipment below. Some of the gear highlighted below is currently available on the market, while other items will be much tougher to get your hands on. Read on for further details about each item. Bridgestone welcomes Tiger back After last year’s car accident, five-time champion Tiger Woods took a step back from competitive golf to heal his surgically-repaired right leg and get his game, and body, back into proper form. This week marks his return to competitive golf. It’s his first official start since the 2020 Masters. To celebrate Woods’ return, Bridgestone Golf – the company that makes the Tour B XS golf ball that Woods uses – is giving away 100 commemorative “Tiger’s Back” golf balls on its Twitter account. Follow the directions in the Tweet above to enter for a chance to win. TaylorMade’s Azalea golf balls Inspired by Augusta National’s famous Azalea flowers, Taylormade has released new Pix TP5 golf balls to retail. The five-layered balls feature the company’s popular visual technology on the ball’s urethane cover. You can find the limited-edition golf ball on the TaylorMade website, or you can follow the directions in Matthew Wolff’s tweet for a chance to win six dozen of them for free. Spieth’s bag goes for the Masters green Jordan Spieth, the 2015 Masters champion, typically uses a black-and-blue AT&T staff bag throughout the PGA TOUR season. At this year’s Masters, however, Spieth will be using an all-green version of the bag. This is the most festive that Spieth has gotten with his golf bag since last year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Custom staff bags Many golf manufacturers create custom staff bags for TOUR staffers to use in The Masters. Which company do you think did it best this year? Piretti’s 1-of-200 Azalea putter GolfWRX spotted this Piretti putter at last week’s Valero Texas Open. The high-end putter maker crafted this 1-of-200 putter with an Azalea flower on the sole and an “Interstate 20” local highway shoutout on the face. It may be difficult to get your hands on one of these beauties, since a Piretti representative told GolfWRX the putters have already sold out. SIK Golf’s 1-of-50 putter SIK Golf, the company that designs Bryson DeChambeau’s putters, was recently bought by LA Golf, the company that makes DeChambeau’s shafts. For this year’s Masters, LA Golf has developed 50 limited-edition SIK Golf putters that are creatively named “A Putter Unlike Any Other.” They are currently available on SIK Golf’s website selling for $899.99, and they come with an LA Golf putter shaft and custom headcover.

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Collin Morikawa has scattered four victories across three PGA TOUR seasons, but he hasn’t defended a title until now. But even the winner of the 2020 PGA Championship will have to wait to experience the thrill of returning to the same site as a previous conquest. The 2021 PGA Championship will be contested at The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort beside the Atlantic Ocean in South Carolina, essentially on the opposite side of the contiguous United States where TPC Harding Park is located, where Morikawa broke through for his major nine months ago. Morikawa figures to dazzle again on the Pete Dye design that hosted the PGA Championship in 2012, but he’s hardly alone among the projected contenders. Scroll past the ranking of 20 for what the field of 156 faces, what’s new and more insight. RELATED: The First Look | How the field qualified | Nine Things to Know: Kiawah Island POWER RANKINGS: PGA CHAMPIONSHIP Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider will include reviews of numerous notables, including 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, two-time PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Tyrrell Hatton, Joaquin Niemann and Patrick Cantlay. When Kiawah Island hosted the 2012 PGA Championship, the PGA TOUR still had a Fall Series and current Danish sensation, Rasmus Højgaard, was 11 years old. (The two-time European Tour winner, who is now all of 20, is in this week’s field.) However, as of Monday, 42 qualifiers (more than one-quarter of the field) competed in the 2012 edition. Rory McIlroy, then just 23 years of age, prevailed by a record eight strokes at 13-under 275. Focus on that and the message of the general challenges of The Ocean Course is lost. The stock par 72 averaged 2.566 strokes over par and punished with more double bogeys (286) and triple bogeys or worse (53) than any other course on TOUR that season. So what did the PGA of America approve? Another 200 yards of length, because of course. Now tipping at 7,876 yards, The Ocean Course is the longest track in the history of major championship golf. Eight of the holes – four on each side – were stretched. The par-4 12th was increased the most. Now 484 yards, it’s 72 yards longer than its 2012 self that, incidentally, averaged 0.145 strokes over par. Have fun with that, fellas. Because of variable wind directions on the daily, Dye routed The Ocean Course in the facsimile of a figure eight. (Despite how many “others” are penciled down on the hardest holes, there’s no proof that the course also resembles a sideways snowman from above, but understanding Dye’s take-no-prisoners philosophy, it can’t be ruled out.) Despite its aesthetic as a links course hard by the sea and general starkness of the land, The Ocean Course rewards shot-shapers and ball-strikers. However, there is a conflict. Even moderate breezes suggest a controlled, lower ball flight, but many of the greens are perched and surrounded by Dye’s infamous run-off areas. The complexity of that challenge will be humbling for many. The weather will cooperate and push just enough so that the course shows its teeth, but the bark could be worse than the bite. Still, par will be a terrific score even though something in the red numbers will be required to claim the Wanamaker Trophy. Long and accurate will play well, but it won’t be the only formula for success. Paspalum greens typically are slower by default, but they’ll be surprisingly slick due to the preparation and exposure. The 2012 edition was held in August, so the rough was longer and the course no longer was affected by the annual overseed, but this week’s setup includes overseeded bermuda rough in which only the ryegrass will extend at least three inches. Because of the advancement in technology since its last staging, it’s understandable why the PGA of America has gravitated toward the limits of The Ocean Course. Headlining a smorgasbord of perks, the champion will receive 600 FedExCup points, fully exempt status on the PGA TOUR through 2025-26, a lifetime exemption into the PGA Championship and exemptions into the next five editions of each of the other three majors. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers; Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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How it works: Each week, our experts from PGATOUR.COM will make their selections in PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf. Each lineup consists of four starters and two bench players that can be rotated after each round. Adding to the challenge is that every golfer can be used only three times per each of four Segments. Aside from the experts below, Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton breaks down the field at this year’s 3M Open in this week’s edition of the Power Rankings. For more fantasy, check out Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers and Reshuffle. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live THINK YOU’RE BETTER THAN OUR EXPERTS? The PGA TOUR Experts league is once again open to the public. You can play our free fantasy game and see how you measure up against our experts below. Joining the league is simple. Just click here to sign up or log in. Once you create a team, click the “LEAGUES” tab. Then click on “FEATURED,” and then on the PGA TOUR Experts league that populates. SEASON SEGMENT

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