Tiger, McIlroy scorch BMW with first-round 62s

Bridgestone’s new Tour B JGR line was designed with the mid- to high-handicapper in mind, but even the best players in the world can get behind more forgiveness and ball speed. Earlier this season, Tour staffers Brandt Snedeker and Matt Kuchar added the Tour B JGR driver to the bag after noticing an uptick in speed and distance during testing. Snedeker would go on to shoot 59 during the first round of the Wyndham Championship with the club in the bag. A 9-time TOUR winner, Snedeker admitted he was somewhat surprised by how seamless the transition was from the previous version to the new driver. “I didn’t expect to make the switch so easily,” Snedeker said, “but when I compared the data on trackman, I was seeing three mph more ball speed and an extra six yards.” The new Tour B JGR driver (9.5, 10.5 and 11.5 degrees; $399), fairway woods and hybrids all feature the company’s Boost Wave Crown technology, comprised of internal and external channels that assist the crown in flexing more effectively at impact for a higher initial launch and increased ball speeds. The rear portion of the crown has been thinned out as well to allow the entire structure to flex. While the Boost Wave Crown is found in all three woods (driver, fairway and hybrid), only the driver boasts a rib-like design in the sole that works in tandem with the Boost Wave Crown technology to stabilize the lower portion of the face, while allowing the crown to flex more at the same time. A redesigned power milled face offers double the depth of its predecessor to reduce slippage at impact and keep the ball on the face longer at impact, decreasing the amount of unwanted spin on off-center shots. For the high-handicapper, the driver offers a 25-gram internal weight in the heel for a built-in draw bias; an external 10-gram weight port can be found in the heel as well. With so much weight positioned in one area of the head, it’s clear Bridgestone is trying to help those players who fight a considerable slice. The Tour B JGR fairway woods (15 and 18 degrees; $229) and hybrids (19, 22 and 25 degrees; $219) come with a Boost Wave Crown and variable thickness face designed to help with ball speed protection, particularly on mishits that find the low portion at impact. Taking a page from the metalwoods, the Tour B JGR HF1 (1030 forged construction; $849) and HF2 (1025 forged construction; $899) irons were designed with a power slit face design, whereby the junction of the face and sole is noticeably thinner than the surrounding areas. The design is supposed to improve initial launch and ball speeds by acting as a hinge at impact. “Our JGR lines have built up a loyal following since the original launch in 2015. The new TOUR B JGR builds on that success by providing golfers with the combination of style and forgiveness,â€� said Zack Kupperbusch, Bridgestone, golf club marketing. The HF1 offers slightly stronger lofts, a larger profile and wider sole with a hollow cavity that “provides easy launching distance in an extremely low COG forged head.” The forged two-piece HF2 is geared more for the mid-handicapper with a slightly more compact profile and rubber polymer insert that was added to the cavity to enhance feel and sound while reducing unwanted vibrations at impact. Bridgestone’s Tour B JGR line will be available Oct. 12, with the following stock shaft offerings: UST Mamiya Recoil 460 ES (driver), UST Mamiya Recoil 460 ES FWY (fairway wood), UST Mamiya Recoil 780 ES (hybrid), UST Mamiya (HF1) and True Temper XP 95 (HF2). PGA TOUR SUPERSTORE: Buy equipment here

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Justin Thomas has 12 PGA TOUR titles to his name, and along the way has also won the FedExCup and PGA Championship (both in 2017) and reached World No. 1. In three extended interviews, and just in time for Father’s Day, we spoke to Mike Thomas to find out what it’s like to be Justin’s dad. Yesterday, Mike spoke of the early years, being on TOUR while maintaining his teaching practice back in Kentucky and being the son of PGA professional Paul Thomas. Today, he addresses Justin’s special relationships with Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Nick Saban and why this superstar will never forget the kids in his gallery. RELATED: Part 1 of Mike Thomas Q&A You have to be a good time manager on TOUR. Justin won once or twice, and right away media and people wanted to stop and talk, wanting his autograph or a picture. I think he’s kind by nature. He’s like me, he doesn’t like to say no, and it’s hard for him to walk by those, but he has gotten that discipline: I’ve got a job to do, I’ve got a schedule before I tee off, this is what I do. And he always makes up for it after the round. He’ll always go find the kids. I told him his rookie year, I go, ‘Don’t ever forget that you were on the other side of that rope and what it meant for a player to fist bump you or make eye contact or throw you a ball. You have the power to just really make a kid’s day.’ And he’s always liked kids. When he was 12 years old he would play with a 6-year-old in the golf shop. The sick kids definitely pull at us. If he comes off somewhere and there’s a kid in a wheelchair he’ll stop and shake his hand. Even during the round. I mean, I think a handicapped child is – if that doesn’t get you, you’re not alive. And we went to St. Jude’s Hospital, first time we ever played Memphis when the WGC was there, and we went to St. Jude’s, and man, that’s hard. I love it, but that’s hard for me. My members or people out here always say, ‘Oh, you must be really proud of him. I’m like, I’m not proud at all how he plays, I’m proud of the person that he is. That means more as a parent. They’re like, ‘Well, you’ve got to be happy he won a major.’ I’m happy for him, but my pride isn’t based on the scores he shoots. I never went to AJGA tournaments. I was just too busy as a head professional. I went to local junior tournaments when he was 8, 9, 10 years old. Once he started leaving Louisville, I didn’t start watching him play a lot until he went to Alabama. I just said to myself, I’m not going to miss this college experience. I think I went to every college event he played in. It’s a huge asset for me to be able to take different ideas and tools home to my students. I was floored when I first came out here. I knew people used some gadgets, but I was shocked that almost everybody used a gadget at some point in their practice. Alignment stick, a mirror, a putting gate, a string, Putting Tutor with the balls on it. My kids’ aim is often poor, so I’ll show them pictures of these guys (TOUR pros) on my phone, and I’m like, ‘Just pick a swing, and there will be a stick down there if he’s not on the course. I go, ‘If one of the top players in the world is using a stick to make sure his alignment is good and you’re just going to wing it, good luck with that.’ That hits home for them. If you’re going to hit five putts from one spot for 30 minutes, you could be aiming over here, your face pointing out here, and you’ve got enough hand‑eye coordination you’re going to move that error to where they start going in. You’re going to walk off going, I’m putting pretty good, and putt like crap on the course. That’s because you only get one try. So my serious students practice with one ball, and every ball is judged. If we chip, putt, pitch, we don’t hit multiple pitches to a 70‑yard target. We hit one to a 70, one to a 40, one to a 55, one to an 80 and then go back into that rotation, because on the course you don’t get three tries to a 70‑yard target, you get one. Practice should replicate what happens on the course. We use an alignment stick marked in foot increments with a Sharpie to create 20 putts from four to eight feet, coming from four different directions. You get one chance with each putt, and you’ve got to get a good score or start over. When you get down to you have four putts left and you’ve got to make two of them, you get nervous. I’ll be like, ‘Are you feeling a little anxiety?’ Because that’s the purpose of the drill; the more times you feel anxiety here and are successful, that anxiety is not going to be as strong out there on the golf course because you’ve felt it in your practice. We do the same thing with chipping. So it’s better practice, and what I always tell them, I go, ‘Would you sign up for hitting fewer balls, chipping fewer balls, putting fewer balls and getting better? They go, ‘Yeah.’ I go, ‘You think hitting five bags of balls is going to make you better?’ One bag of balls hit properly is going to make you better than five bags of balls. I would say any good coach does because you want to simulate your play. That’s the goal. Like if we’re hitting 7‑irons, one of them can’t finish left of the target, one of them can’t finish right. One of them has to be high, one of them low, because that’s what you do on the course. Justin has been over to the Nicklauses’ house a number of times to talk about Augusta, and when you get to this level how do you push yourself to be better, what did you do. I’ve told Mr. Nicklaus, I go, ‘You know, as a father, I’m impressed that you are willing to do that. You don’t need to do that.’ It’s pretty cool, and Barbara has always been good, as well. Jani hauled his ass around forever. From 7 until he went to college. Even when he had his license, I don’t think he really drove to tournaments. We were flying by then to most of the events because he kind of quit playing in Kentucky when he was 13 or 14, but they’d have to get a rental car. Or they’d make an eight or nine‑hour drive to a tournament because it was cheaper. She was his travel agent. Obviously she was a stay-at-home mom for a long time, but even when he was starting to play away, she was a sales rep, would sell glassware. Now she manages a lot of Justin’s stuff. She’s the president of his foundation. She’s busy. We’ve done a couple scholarships for kids in Kentucky, the Justin Thomas Junior Grant, for kids who have shown an ability to compete but don’t have the funds to travel. We’ll go to Jupiter for Christmas and most of Jani’s family comes down. We hang out for three or four days and try to play golf and just have Christmas down there, do dinners together. He has somebody else that works with him – Matt Killen works with him on his putting, but I listen in to what they’re talking about so I can monitor it, so on, so forth. It’s simple things. We’re just always checking his line and his ball position and his body movement. I mean, I can do that in the absence of Matt because Matt typically will leave on Wednesday evening or afternoon, and then I’m kind of monitoring what they’ve worked on. You know, most of it I think with him and a lot of these players with putting is just getting on a roll. It’s not just stroking it well. Your fundamentals have to be good, but a lot of it is mindset, and that’s where I think I do a lot more of that than Matt. I always talk about the mindset of believing and staying patient. We always talk about that. We’re like, you know you have a run in you, just wait, be patient, and that run will come. It’s wildly exceeded any expectation that we had of our son. If I told you he was going to dominate out here, I’d have been a lunatic. I was hoping he kept his card – the first year he had his card, in June I’m checking with his agent and they thought he had enough money to keep his card for next year, and I told Justin that I thought that was a big accomplishment. I said, ‘You’ve got a job next year, I think you’re a lock for your card,’ and he was pissed. He’s like, ‘I’m not out here to keep a card, I’m out here to win.’ If you ask him, he’d probably give himself a B- or C+. He wants to win all the time and he wants to win a lot of majors. So having a third or fourth does not fit his goal structure. There’s a really great video of Coach Saban, I think it was before an LSU game – you can Google, on YouTube go to Coach Saban ‘make ’em quit,’ and he’s in the locker room talking to his team before the game, and part of his message was, ‘make them quit. That’s what we do. That’s our reputation. We make the other team quit. Make them quit.’ Justin plays that video all the time, so that’s probably where he got that. He’s just into Kobe and MJ and Saban. But when he won that playoff in Hawai’i, he’ll enjoy his win, but he said he felt bad about that three‑putt – he didn’t want (Xander Schauffele) to three‑putt. So he does have emotional nerve or whatever you call it towards the other player. When it’s over. While he’s playing – I think he got a lot of that from Tiger. Tiger was his idol growing up. I’m not proud at all how he plays, I’m proud of the person that he is. That means more as a parent. Tiger was starting to come back, and Justin would reach out to him, say, ‘Do you want to practice? Do you want to get some dinner? We’re going to play at 11 if you want to join us tomorrow.’ He reached out to him, and I think the other thing, and I could be wrong, but I think the other thing is like the first time they were together, Tiger was giving Justin s— and Justin threw it right back at him. I think Tiger enjoyed that. They’re always at each other. I think that’s made him young again, that he’s got a kid that will mess with him. Justin watched so many VHS and DVDs of Tiger’s career, just would watch him nonstop, like literally every night. So he emulated a lot of what Tiger did. And I’ve told Tiger, ‘You know, as a father, I can’t compliment you enough, your willingness to take him in and help him. I go, you didn’t have to do that. You chose to do that, and that says something about you.’ I told Mr. Nicklaus that, too; ‘You didn’t have to do that, and you chose to.’ Justin’s rookie year on TOUR, he’s playing those money games with Phil and those guys. He just didn’t care. He was not in awe of these guys, and his first year, he missed the (TOUR Championship) by one spot. He was mad. He goes, I should be able to play bad and make the (TOUR Championship). I would say stuff like that’s a pretty good accomplishment, and he would go, ‘That sucked. That was not an accomplishment, I failed in my goal.’ That’s kind of the drive that makes him go. He wants to be No. 1 and stay there. That’s a commitment. That’s a huge sacrifice of things that you don’t get to go to and so on, so forth. He watches what he eats, works out religiously, practices smartly. He watches what he’s doing a lot more now on his off weeks. He’s more cognizant of, hey, I can’t be doing this and that on my off week. He’s doing the things that it takes, it’s just hard competition in the top 10. Justin, he’s serious about it.

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LOS ANGELES — Rory McIlroy had a 3-under 68 on Saturday at Riviera and shared the 54-hole lead with Matt Kuchar and Adam Scott going into the final round at The Genesis Invitational. Riviera is a thorough test, and the greens are difficult enough that no one could run away with it. Tiger Woods managed to run the other direction with a 76 that left him 15 shots behind. Kuchar had a two-shot lead at the start of the gorgeous day and kept there with three birdies and no bogeys through 12 holes. But he started to miss short putts, made three bogeys in a four-hole stretch and had to rally with a birdie on the 17th to regain a share of the lead with a 70. Scott holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 67 that gives him a great chance to start his new year off with a win. Scott last played about two months ago when he won the Australian PGA Championship. He has a trophy from Riviera in 2005, even if the PGA TOUR doesn’t count it as an official win because it was shortened to 36 holes by rain. They were at at 10-under-par 203, and the final round figured to be wide open. Sixteen players were separated by four shots. Harold Varner III birdied his last two holes for a 69 and was one shot behind, along with Russell Henley (68). Dustin Johnson, who won at Riviera three years ago, had only two pars over his final 12 holes. That stretch also featured five birdies and an eagle for a 67. He was two shots behind, along with Joel Dahmen (66). Still in the mix was Hideki Matsuyama, who bogeyed his last hole Friday and was the last player to make the cut. Matsuyama played in the final group off the back nine, away from all the attention, and posted a 64. He was four shots behind and very much in the picture. Woods will have to wait another year to win at Riviera, another week to seek his record 83rd victory on the PGA TOUR. In a spot where he couldn’t afford to drop shots, he made more mistakes than he had all week, especially on the greens. He four-putted from 18 feet on No. 13, his second four-putt in as many tournaments this year and the first times since 1998 that Woods had multiple tournaments with a four-putt. He three-putted the 17th for par. He finished with a three-putt bogey from about 12 feet on the 18th. It added up to a 76, leaving him at the bottom of the pack. It was his highest score since he opened with an 81 at Royal Portrush in The Open Championship last summer, and the first time since the PGA Championship in May that Woods had consecutive rounds over par. “I hit the ball quite a few times, especially on the greens, and it was a long day,” Woods said. “I didn’t have a feel for it, I didn’t see my lines, I couldn’t feel my pace and I was just off. … Obviously, there wasn’t a whole lot I did right today, and figure it out tomorrow.” Woods said he wasn’t ready for the WGC-Mexico Championship next week and was not sure when he would play next. The idea is to peak for the Masters, still about two months away. Woods wasn’t alone in his struggles. Sung Kang missed a 2-foot putt during a stretch of three straight bogeys. Ryan Palmer took six shots to get out of a greenside bunker on No. 14 and made 9.

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