Stenson’s 64 closes out victory at Wyndham

Viktor Hovland made a rare mid-tournament equipment change during his win at last week’s Hero World Challenge. He started the week at Albany Golf Club with a Ping i210 3-iron in his bag. Seeking a higher trajectory with his long approach shots after the wind died down on the weekend, however, he swapped it out for a 7-wood that he’d only started using a few weeks earlier. Ping’s TOUR manager, Kenton Oates, had been strongly suggesting for some time that Hovland add a 7-wood to his arsenal. Hovland, however, felt a utility club or long iron worked best in the slot between his 3-wood and 4-iron. When he first arrived on the PGA TOUR, he played a 21-degree Callaway X-Forged UT iron. More recently, the 24-year-old Norwegian has had a Titleist T200 3-iron and a Ping i210 3-iron in the slot. He changed his mind, however, after testing the 7-wood of fellow TOUR player Lanto Griffin on the range at the Shriners Children’s Open in October. According to Oates, Hovland “changes from tournament to tournament” and was targeting a 240-yard carry with the club in that slot in his bag. Hovland switches each week between the 3-iron and the 7-wood depending on the characteristics of that week’s venue. When he’s looking for higher, softer-landing approach shots in the 240 to 260-yard range, or playing a long, fast course, Hovland will opt for the 7-wood. When facing a shorter or tighter golf course where he might use the club off the tee, he opts for the 3-iron. He also uses the 3-iron in windy conditions to keep the ball closer to the ground. Indeed, Hovland had the latter in his bag at the start of the Hero. After the wind died down during the final rounds of the Hero, Hovland switched out the 3-iron for a Ping G425 Max 7-wood with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 X shaft. Hovland’s switch is part of the 7-wood’s increasing popularity on TOUR. Oates said many of the 7-woods he builds are “more like 6-woods.” They are usually set in Ping’s “small minus” or “minus” loft sleeve setting, which reduces the loft of the club by 1 or 1.5 degrees. So, instead of playing at 21.5 degrees, the club plays at 20 or 20.5. Additionally, Ping will often build the clubs with a shaft that is shorter than standard length.

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IRVING, Texas — Billy Horschel won the AT&T Byron Nelson with a par on the first playoff hole Sunday after Jason Day pulled his 4-foot par putt left and past the hole. That miss by Day almost wasn’t even needed for Horschel, whose 36-foot birdie chance was rolling straight toward the center of the cup before stopping just short. He won for the fourth time on the PGA TOUR and for the first time since taking the 2014 TOUR Championship for the FedExCup title. With a 1-under 69, including a 60-foot birdie putt at the 14th hole, Horschel matched Day at 12-under 268. Day had a 68. Third-round leader James Hahn finished a stroke back after shooting 71. He just missed a miraculous eagle at the 18th hole that would have gotten him in the playoff with his playing partners. Because of early morning rain that delayed the start Sunday, threesomes were used instead of the usual weekend twosomes. No one outside of that final group made a real charge to contend with the final trio. The playoff wrapped up the Nelson’s 35th and final tournament in Irving. The event will shift next year to the new links-style Trinity Forest Golf Club south of downtown Dallas. The tournament was first played in Irving in 1983, but its roots go back to 1944 as the Texas Victory Open at Lakewood Country Club, where Byron Nelson won a year before his streak of 11 PGA TOUR victories in a row. In 1968, the tournament became the first named after a PGA TOUR player. Day, who got the first of his 10 PGA TOUR victories at the 2010 Nelson, had the lead alone only once. He pitched in a 78-foot shot from the rough by the greenside bunker for a birdie at the 477-yard 15th, after two horrible shots to get in that position. His tee shot went into the rough to the far right under the trees, and his approach set up an awkward stance. But at the par-5 573-yard 16th, the easiest hole at TPC Four Seasons, Day’s wayward tee shot hit a spectator. After making sure the woman was OK, his approach shot settled pin high on the green but a 9-foot birdie chance curled by the hole. Horschel, who earned $1.35 million, also got to that green in two, and two-putted from 44 feet for a tying birdie before they both parred the last two holes. Hahn almost matched them at 12 under when his approach from 122 yards at the 18th hit on the green, spun back and skimmed over the edge of the cup. He made the 4-foot birdie putt to finish alone in third, ahead of Jason Kokrak. Kokrak went into the weekend with a five-stroke lead, the largest ever after 36 holes at the Nelson. But he shot 72 on Saturday and closed with a 70 to get to 10 under. Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world, had a closing 69 to tie for 13th at 6 under. Defending champion Sergio Garcia had birdies on six of his last eight holes Saturday to get within four strokes of the lead. But he was as quickly out of contention after giving back four strokes in a three-hole stretch early in the final round when he missed three putts of 5 feet or less on Nos. 2-4. His closing 74 put him 4 under and tied for 20th. During the stretch when Hahn fell behind his playing partners, Horschel rolled in a 60-foot birdie putt at the par-4 14th after his poor approach that led him to toss his club in the air. Hahn was leading alone again for the first time since the second hole, by one stroke over his playing partners, after making a 15-foot birdie off the fringe at the 312-yard 11th hole to go to 13 under. After Day and Horschel bogeyed the 452-yard 12th, Hahn missed a chance to extend his lead there. But his 5-foot par putt curled around the cup, the first of his three consecutive bogeys that knocked him out of the lead for good.

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