Stats Report: Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, Round 1

Tiger Woods’ day included a collision with a security guard, a momentum-killing weather delay and a wild run down the stretch.

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The top 70 in the FedExCup standings head to Olympia Fields Country Club for the penultimate event of the FedExCup Playoffs. As of Saturday, the field will feature 69 of the TOUR's top 70 players, including two-time FedExCup champions Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Those on the outside looking in will jockey for their spot in the BMW Championship this weekend in THE NORTHERN TRUST at TPC Boston. FIELD NOTES: Woods has committed to the BMW Championship as he looks to make another run at the FedExCup. He is a five-time winner of the BMW Championship, including twice in the FedExCup era. He went on to win the Cup both times that he won the BMW (2007, '09)... The PGA TOUR's latest member of the ‘59' club, Scottie Scheffler, will make his debut at the BMW Championship. Scheffler competed at Olympia Fields in the 2012 Junior Ryder Cup... Dustin Johnson - who nearly shot 59 the same day as Scheffler but ended with a 60 - is also a two-time winner at the BMW Championship. He's looking for more magic this week as he takes a run at his first FedExCup... Justin Thomas leads the FedExCup standings (as of Aug. 22) and not only will defend his BMW Championship title, but is gunning for his second FedExCup in four seasons... Other past BMW Championship winners who will be at Olympia Fields include Marc Leishman (2017), Jason Day (2015), Billy Horschel (2014), and McIlroy (2012)... Justin Rose finished T5 in the 2003 U.S. Open hosted at Olympia Fields, but save for a magical weekend at THE NORTHERN TRUST, he'll fall short of earning a spot to the BMW Championship. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 1,500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Olympia Fields Country Club (North Course), par-70, 7,366 yards. Located about 35 minutes from Chicago, this 36-hole facility has a long history. It hosted the Western Open five times, and is a storied major championship venue. Most recently on the men's side it hosted the 2003 U.S. Open (won by past FedExCup champion Jim Furyk) while the KPMG Women's PGA Championship came to the club in 2017 (Danielle Kang was the winner). Established in 1915, the North Course was designed by Willie Park Jr. It will play as a brute to the best golfers in the world with one par-3 longer than 250 yards and two par-5's (including the opening hole) playing longer than 600 yards. STORYLINES: The BMW Championship marks the final opportunity to earn a spot in the 30-man Playoffs finale at East Lake. This is the second year that the No. 1 seed in the FedExCup standings will start the TOUR Championship at 10 under par and with a two-shot lead before the tournament starts. That No. 1 seed will be determined at the conclusion of the BMW Championship ... Xinjun Zhang, who missed the cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST, will wait to see his fate. He came into the week on the bubble for the BMW Championship, ranked 70th in the FedExCup standings. 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Marc Leishman (2017). *At Olympia Fields - 272, Jim Furyk (2003) 18-HOLE RECORD: 59, Jim Furyk, (2nd round, 2013) *At Olympia Fields - 63, Vijay Singh (2nd round, 2003) LAST TIME: Justin Thomas captured his 10th PGA TOUR title at the 2019 BMW Championship, contested at Medinah Country Club. A six-shot lead early Sunday was reduced to just two as Thomas made the turn, but a birdie on the 72nd hole put a bow on a three-shot victory over Patrick Cantlay. Thomas came into Sunday after firing a tournament-low 61 in the third round and headed into the TOUR Championship as tops in the FedExCup standings. Hideki Matsuyama finished third at 20 under, but still five shots back of Thomas' 25-under winning total. Tony Finau, Jon Rahm, and past FedExCup champion Brandt Snedeker rounded out the top five. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 12 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-7 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday 10:10 a.m.-7 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday, 8:15 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Sunday, 9:15 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-7 p.m. (Featured Holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. Sunday, 2 p.m.-7 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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Tom Hoge captured his first PGA TOUR victory Sunday at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, standing strong down the stretch against the likes of former FedExCup champions Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth. It was a long-awaited win for the TCU product and North Dakota native, coming in his 203rd career start. Recent changes to both his swing and equipment have clearly paid off for Hoge, who moved to No. 2 in the FedExCup. His win came just two weeks after a runner-up in The American Express. A putter switch quickly paid dividends, as last week’s victory was punctuated by a 20-foot birdie putt on the 71st hole. Hoge put the one-of-a-kind club in his bag at Pebble Beach, and the backstory of how it got there is quite incredible. Hoge was looking for a new putter a couple weeks ago at The American Express. He wanted one that could help him align more squarely to the target. According to Odyssey tour rep Joe Toulon, Hoge had a tendency to occasionally aim too far left. Hoge’s caddie, Henry Diana Jr., approached Toulon with a request to build a custom Odyssey 2-Ball for his player. “Henry thought a 2-Ball with a long line on it might be something easier for him to line up,” Toulon told GolfWRX. “He didn’t tell Tom about that conversation. I said, ‘You know what, I’ll have one made up and ready to go in case that time comes.’” The problem with the order, though, is that it had to be custom made. Hoge only plays putters with a plumber’s neck, but Odyssey doesn’t make a White Hot OG 2-Ball putter with that hosel. So, Toulon had to put an order into Odyssey headquarters for a custom version with a plumber’s neck. The order took about a week, and it got delivered during the practice days before last week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Upon arrival, Toulon noticed the plumber’s neck was significantly heavier than the stock hosel options on the 2-Ball, so he removed the back weight on the sole. At that point, the putter was ready for Hoge’s approval, and he tested it against his other options prior to the event. Obviously, Hoge ended up making the decision to switch into the new custom putter. And the rest is history. But there’s another fold to the story. Diana Jr., Hoge’s caddie, originally suggested the 2-Ball putter because he has a bit of history with that model himself. Back in the mid-90s, Diana Jr. was a professional golfer who, like Hoge, also struggled with aiming too far left. He was using a 1986 Dave Pelz 3-Ball putter at the time. That club was a predecessor to Odyssey’s original 2-Ball putter, which was released in 2001. Diana Jr.’s father was a tool and die maker who built golf clubs on the side. When Diana Jr. was searching for a fix to his alignment issue, his father decided to make him a 2-Ball version. The 2-Ball worked wonders for the younger Diana. Then, years later, Odyssey brought a 2-Ball putter to retail and it became a huge success. “My dad was a tinkerer and he was always forward-thinking in a lot of ways and he had great ideas,” Diana Jr. told GolfWRX. “Pelz was obviously the pioneer of it, and then [my father] tweaked it, then Odyssey obviously came out with it. But it really worked…It’s just unbelievable how full circle it went.” It was a great call by Diana Sr. to craft a prototype version of the 2-Ball back in the mid-’90s, and it was a great call by Diana Jr. to suggest the custom build for Hoge. It wasn’t just the shortest club in the bag that helped Hoge win for the first time. Changes to the longest club also paid off. “When I started helping him – the reason I started helping him – was because he didn’t drive it well enough,” Hoge’s swing instructor, Scott Hamilton, told GolfWRX. “He was at like 51% or 52% driving accuracy. He was so in front of (the golf ball). The thing that makes his iron swing so good wasn’t very beneficial for his driver. He liked to push his pelvis forward on his backswing, so he’d get so in front of it, and that just didn’t work with the driver. “We worked really hard on getting him to load and stay behind it. … He’s greatly improved his driving.” Hoge was using a Titleist TSi2 driver in early 2021 to help take advantage of its more forgiving properties compared to the lower-spinning TSi3 version. According to Van Wezenbeeck, the high MOI (moment of inertia) driver helped offset Hoge’s inconsistency (more on Titleist’s TSi drivers here). The improvements that Hamilton and Hoge made started to set in, however, and he was gaining speed. As his spin rates started to climb while using the TSi2, Van Wezenbeeck and Hoge started to explore the lower-spinning TSi3 head and more stable shafts. Hoge is hitting the ball both longer and straighter, a combination that any golfer would take. “We were kind of fighting spin with the TSi2, and the mishit wasn’t as good,” Hamilton said. “When he jumped to the TSi3, the spin and launch profile started matching up and it started really moving out there. … Last year, he was probably at like 113 or 114 (mph of swing speed), and two years ago he was like 112. … He hit one the other day like 122 or 121. So he’s ramped speed way up. His on-course speed is like 115-117 now; not always, but when he wants it, it’s in there. So that always helps.” It does indeed.

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