Stenson up 1 at Bay Hill but big names lurking

He stopped short of calling himself a collector. But when Abraham Ancer actually thought about it, he admitted that he has about 60 putters at his home in San Antonio, Texas. “I have a ton of putters just because sometimes I go through phases of tinkering and trying other putters and making my gamer jealous, as I like to call that,” Ancer says. “So, I like to maybe see something different for maybe a week or so. “And then I go back to my gamer.” Ancer normally plays with an Odyssey No. 5 putter. But in that rather vast collection are a couple of counterbalanced putters that help him refine his rhythm and set-up when he needs to put that gamer in its place. Not all of the putters in his collection are the kind that Ancer, who won the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational in August, might put into play on the PGA TOUR, though. Some are very special — “one of ones that you can’t find anywhere else,” he says. “And that’s the stuff that I kind of like.” There’s a replica of his gamer with an insert made of a Damascus metal that that you can only get in Japan, for example. And the ones that Joe Toulon, Callaway’s putter guru, made that are stamped with the logo of Ancer’s tequila company, Flecha Azul. “So, there’s a bunch of cool ones that maybe to the naked eye would be like just a normal putter, but it has something that a lot of people don’t know and it’s pretty cool to me,” Ancer says. Ancer keeps 10 or so of the putters leaning at the ready against the wall in his office while the others are housed in the closet. He says when people come to visit, the first thing they do is grab one of the putters and hit a few. “The ones that I actually practice with, or like to see, they’re in my office where the putting mat that I use is,” Ancer says. “So, whenever I’m not doing much, I just get on there and practice a little bit. … “But when I move to my next home, I want to do an actual display of all of my favorite ones, so people can see them and do not keep them just in a closet. I feel bad just having them in there.” Ancer also has golf bags and other meaningful clubs — besides all those putters — that he’s used during his career that he’d like to put on display. One set is the bag, irons and driver that he used when he turned pro in 2013 after earning a degree in multi-disciplinary studies from Oklahoma. Ancer also has the bag that he received when he played in the 2019 Presidents Cup – and the man who is currently ranked No. 4 in the International Team standings will likely add another one of those in 2022. Plus, Ancer is a two-time Olympian, so those bags are special, too. “So that stuff, that just means a lot to me,” Ancer says. “And clubs that I, along the way, have played and, and remembered I’ve hit good shots with or whatever it is. I like to keep the bag that I use and the clubs that I use at the time.” Ancer, who was born in McAllen, Texas, and has dual citizenship, says he probably has seven bags on display at his house in San Antonio. But there are others at his childhood home in Reynosa, Mexico – including his dad’s golf bag and the clubs he used when he first started playing golf. Ancer’s father, Abraham Sr., who died in 2014, was the one who introduced him to the game. He used to take his son to Club Campestre de Reynosa when Ancer was still in diapers, and the precocious youngster started hitting balls as soon as he could stand. “So (my dad’s clubs) definitely hold a lot of sentimental value and I definitely want to keep them forever,” Ancer says. Some of the clubs Ancer used when he was a kid are also safely stored away in Mexico, as well. “Those are some great memories,” he says. “I was tiny, but I grew up playing with way longer clubs than I needed to. I was never like fitted. So that’s why a lot of people that see me play now, I stand really far away from the ball because I just got used to that.”

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This is an important time in history for golf in Japan. The inaugural edition of the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP this week reflects a commitment – at least six years to be exact – of the PGA TOUR visiting and growing with the country. After an extended hiatus, the PGA TOUR Champions returned to conduct events in 2017 and 2019, almost as a soft reopen for what’s coming. The renewed focus in the landing of the rising run includes next summer’s Olympic Games. The Japan Golf Tour is among the preeminent circuits around the world, but there hasn’t been a men’s event eligible to all since the World Cup of Golf in 2001. That was held in the afternoon shadow of Mount Fuji at The Taiheiyo Club in Gotemba City. The co-sanctioned ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP is hosted by Narashino County Club in the Chiba Prefecture east of Tokyo. Scroll past the projected contenders in the field of 78 for details on the tournament, the course and more. POWER RANKINGS: ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP Tiger Woods, Jason Day, Marc Leishman, Ian Poulter and THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES runner-up Danny Lee will be included among the notables covered in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider. ZOZOTOWN is the apparel company responsible for making the PGA TOUR’s first-ever annual tournament in Japan possible. The ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP debuts with a prize fund of $9.75 million and there is no cut. The winner will receive $1.755 million, 500 FedExCup points and fully exempt membership through 2021-22. The field reserves space for 60 golfers in order of final position in the 2019 FedExCup Playoffs. As of midday Monday, Kevin Streelman (75th) was the last man in the field via that conduit. Ten spots are reserved for members of the Japan Golf Tour. Eight sponsor exemptions complete the field. Fifty golfers from last week’s THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES made the trip to the ZOZO. Narashino CC is a 36-hole facility. A composite course has been routed for the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. It’s a par 34-36—70 stretching 7,041 yards. The five par 3s range from the 141-yard 13th to the 191-yard fifth. The longest of the trio of par 5s is the 608-yard 14th. The closing hole is a par 5 tipping at 562 yards, so the opportunity for walk-off heroics is in play. Golf courses of some age in Japan were built with two greens on every hole. At the time, it was a solution to present different strains of healthy grass no matter the season. Today, bentgrass blankets most greens primarily because advances in agronomy have allowed for improved conditioning where possible year-round. Narashino opened in 1965 with two greens per hole. They remain today. Those utilized for the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP have been prepped to run 11-and-a-half feet on the Stimpmeter. To honor the tradition of two greens in Japan, both the A and B greens on the par-4 fourth hole will be used at some point during the tournament. It’s possible that another hole or holes also will use alternate greens. As usual, targets in play for every round will be determined when hole locations are posted. If a golfer lands an approach on the incorrect green, the “wrong green” local rule will be enforced. It will allow the golfer relief off the green no closer the hole. No penalty will be assessed. Just like last week’s stop in South Korea, Japan has been hit by significant rain in recent weeks, so the greens will be receptive. Primary rough extending as high as three-and-a-quarter inches defending them and the Korai zoysiagrass fairways will be lush. More rain is on the way during the tournament. It’ll fall on Friday for sure and it can’t be ruled out on any of the other days. Strong winds will protect scoring during the first two rounds. It’ll abate on the weekend, which will allow the potential for a shootout to develop as ball-strikers tend to emerge on unfamiliar greens. Daytime highs will flirt with 70 degrees throughout. 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: Rookie Ranking, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider * – 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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