The equipment changes that have helped Will Zalatoris in 2022

Graeme McDowell celebrated in different stages at the par-3 17th hole at TPC Louisiana on Friday. It’s a fairly brutal hole, all 216 yards of it, and water guards its entire left side. A par was the score he was chasing in the second round of the Zurich Classic. So when McDowell saw that the beautiful 4-iron he struck safely on land, pitching at the front of the green, that was cause for joy in itself. He didn’t bother to even watch the rest once it bounced. RELATED: Leaderboard | Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson combine to make move in ‘tricky format’ And then his ball released, and rolled, and rolled some more … 40 feet or so … right into the jar for McDowell’s very first ace in a PGA TOUR event. McDowell, the 2010 U.S. Open champion, figures he has “around 14” or so holes-in-one around the world, as many as five as a pro on other tours, but he had never had one on the PGA TOUR. When the ball disappeared, McDowell’s partner, Matt Wallace, was more thrilled than McDowell, giving him a double-armed jolt to the shoulders as everybody else on the tee swarmed him. “It’s a sweet one, obviously,” said McDowell, 41, a four-time winner on the PGA TOUR. “It means I can share the bar bill with Matty, as well, which is great. I think we sent a few beers over to the caddie tent, and we sent a few beers over to the media center, as well, just in case you guys are thirsty.” McDowell’s ace, which came on the eighth hole of the round, provided a nice spark for the McDowell-Wallace tandem, which moved from the cutline into the fringes of contention. A second-round 70 left them at 8-under 136, just five shots out of the lead. Because the hole-in-one arrived at the PGA TOUR’s two-man team event it was not deemed as being “official” by the PGA TOUR. As far as McDowell and his partner were concerned, you can keep the asterisk. “Nah, that counts,” Wallace said. Added McDowell, “Official? I don’t care if it’s official, unofficial … I’m pretty sure it says ‘1’ on the scorecard.” With a big weekend ahead, his own celebration would have to wait. Maybe a little red wine with dinner, McDowell said. “It was a nice little shot in the arm for us, and we birdied the next, and we put ourselves in a nice little slot going into the weekend,” McDowell said. “… We may have a glass of wine, but we’ll save the celebrations, hopefully, for Sunday night.” Rest easy. If McDowell and Wallace were to win, it would be counted as official. And they’ll both know the shot that got them going.

Click here to read the full article…

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Peter Uihlein hasn’t been playing that poorly, even though he came into this week’s Honda Classic having missed five consecutive cuts. With the PGA TOUR shifting to the East Coast, he knows it’s time to start making hay, and on Thursday at PGA National, Uihlein started nicely, opening with a 3-under 67. A shot behind him on the board was Brooks Koepka, who played solidly if not spectacularly at PGA National’s penalizing Champion Course. Koepka opened with 68, four shots off the low score (Kurt Katayama) from the morning wave. Uihlein was first off on the 10th tee at 6:50 a.m., the sun just awaking, and Koepka played about an hour behind him. It was sort of old times for the two, who used to room together just down the road from PGA National in a residential community when they were fresh out of college, taking a breather from the European Challenge Tour, and both dreaming big. “It’s cool. When we were playing overseas and we would be in town for Honda week, just based on the schedule, we would be around and hang out with some guys,” Uihlein said. “Obviously, BK has had a tremendous career and it’s still only going to get better. It’s been awesome to see.” Uihlein, 32, who won the 2010 U.S. Amateur on his 21st birthday, earned his way back onto the PGA TOUR through playing the Korn Ferry Tour a year ago, winning once (MGM Resort Championship at Paiute) and finishing runner-up twice. Koepka, 31, doesn’t have to worry quite as much about his playing opportunities. As a four-time major champion ranked 15th in the Official World Golf Ranking, he plays when and where he wants. He, like Uihlein, seemed to enjoy the challenge as the winds kicked up around the demanding PGA National layout, where trouble lurks just about everywhere. “The wind got up there probably a little bit earlier than I thought it would,” Koepka said. “I just kind of ho-hummed it around. … Didn’t deserve anything worse, didn’t deserve anything better.” Koepka is a four-time major winner. Meanwhile Uihlein, once the world’s top-ranked amateur, has played five years on the European Tour, and is in his fifth season on the PGA TOUR, with a year on the Korn Ferry mixed in. He got a chuckle on Thursday when a reporter asked if he considered himself to be a journeyman. “Golf’s hard. Everybody is good,” Uihlein said. He currently is ranked 306th in the world, but four years ago was inside the top 50. “I saw somebody posted a statistic showing the guy who finished 130th and the guy who finished 10th on the FedExCup … (the differences are) minute. Very, very small.” There has been a silver lining to having a few extra weekends off during the West Coast Swing for Uihlein. Five weeks ago, Uihlein’s wife, Chelsea, gave birth to a boy named Tucker, the Uihleins’ first child. They took young Tucker for a trial run to Bradenton last week for the Korn Ferry’s LECOM Suncoast Classic; when his newborn showed up, Peter birdied his last two holes to make the cut. When Tucker made an appearance on Thursday at PGA National, his pops came through with a nice par at the sixth hole (his 15th) followed by chip-in birdies at Nos. 7 and 8. “So far, he’s been good luck,” Uihlein said. “He’s been fun. It’s different. In Europe, you’d play and maybe go downtown and eat, do whatever. Now it’s like play, practice, go home. I bottle-fed him when I got home last night. So you do things like that. Life is different than what it was.” He and Koepka have fun memories of their time living under the same roof in Jupiter. Koepka followed Uihlein’s post-college path by turning pro, getting his passport, and heading to Europe, first learning to win on the Challenge Tour before eventually graduating to winning on what is now the DP World Tour. A South Florida native who was familiar with Palm Beach County, Koepka was looking for his own place to settle into when he wasn’t traveling in Europe. Uihlein, who traveled with Koepka some overseas, decided to move from Orlando to the east coast of Florida, and he and Koepka and Matt Broome (now Uihlein’s manager) moved in together into a community called Evergreen. When Uihlein bought a house in Jupiter a short time later, they moved in there, too. “Four or five years, maybe?” Uihlein said, recounting the rooming arrangement. “We just played golf and hung out every day and had a good time.” Added Koepka, “It’s nice to see him play well, and hopefully he plays well the next three days.”

Click here to read the full article…

Who can win? Who has the best betting value? What props are the most interesting? Our experts look at the PGA Championship from all angles.

Click here to read the full article…