Tiger Woods commits to THE NORTHERN TRUST, BMW Championship

Play opens today at the Sony Open in Hawaii. The strong field includes Collin Morikawa, Webb Simpson, Marc Leishman, Sergio Garcia, Joaquin Niemann, Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar and defending champion Cameron Smith. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action. Leaderboard Full tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Saturday, 7 p.m.-10:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Sunday, 6 p.m.-10 p.m. (Golf Channel) Radio: Thursday-Saturday, 5 p.m.-10:30 p.m. ET. Sunday, 5 p.m.- 10 p.m. ET (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) FEATURED GROUPS Collin Morikawa, Webb Simpson, Marc Leishman Sergio Garcia, Joaquin Niemann, Hideki Matsuyama Carlos Ortiz, Sungjae Im, Cameron Smith Harris English, Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar MUST READS Power Rankings Expert Picks Cameron Smith making name for himself The First Look Garcia turns from Niemann rival to cheerleader Insider: From triple bogey to trophy

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Scottie Scheffler recorded his first PGA TOUR victory Sunday at the WM Phoenix Open following a three-hole playoff against reigning FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay. While the win should mostly be attributed to years of hard work, perseverance and raw talent, at least a sliver of credit must go to a putter change he made the week of the event. Scheffler hasn’t been one to change putters much throughout his career thus far, mostly opting for a Scotty Cameron Tour Rat 1 prototype putter. Heading into 2022, though, he wanted a slightly different look Back in December 2021, Scheffler took a trip to the famous Scotty Cameron Putter Studio in California to work with Scotty Cameron Tour Rep Brad Cloke. Before the trip to the studio, Scheffler had been experimenting with a Scotty Cameron Newport 2 Timeless putter at home — for those who may not know, Scotty Cameron’s Newport has a bit rounder and softer edges than its Newport 2 style. While Scheffler liked the slightly different look of his Newport 2 Timeless putter at home, he wanted to get something more dialed in. And there’s no better place to do it than Scotty’s studio, where the fitters can make custom adjustments to weighting, profile, look and materials. “He just wanted to switch things up a little bit and give himself a slightly different look heading into 2022,” Cloke said in a Titleist press release. “Prior to visiting us in the studio, he’d been messing around with an older Newport 2 Timeless he had at home. He’d added bunch of lead tape to the sole to try and get it to a similar swingweight as his Super Rat. He really liked the profile but the feel wasn’t exactly where he wanted it, so we went to work on building him a new setup with adjustable weighting.” Of course, custom putter builds don’t just happen overnight. Scheffler had to wait for his new putter to get made and delivered from the studio. So, for the first few events of 2022, Scheffler used the Newport 2 Timeless putter that he’d been experimenting with. His new Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless Tourtype GSS prototype finally showed up the week prior to the WM Phoenix Open. It is 36.25 inches long and it has two 25-gram weights in the sole to get the weighting right for Scheffler’s stroke and feel preferences. The putter went right into play, and, obviously, it worked. Scheffler ranked second for the week in Stroked Gained: Putting (+6.49) and he made 44.7% of his birdie attempts. Illustrating how slim the margins are on the PGA TOUR, the new club helped Scheffler hole a couple crucial putts that helped him just make the cut at TPC Scottsdale. Scheffler advanced to the weekend with just a stroke to spare, thanks in part to a 35-foot birdie putt he made on his second-to-last hole Friday. “I kept telling (caddie Ted Scott) on Thursday and Friday I was scoring really poorly. I was playing fantastic golf, my swing felt great, short game felt good, putting felt good, everything felt really good and I was only 3 under,” Scheffler said in his pre-tournament press conference for this week’s Genesis Invitational. “I was really fighting the cut line on Friday afternoon. I had to make like a 6- or 7-footer on 7 for par to stay at 2 under, which was the cut line. Then I ended up making like a 40-footer for birdie on 8 to get to 3 under, and got up and down on 9 because I thought the cut line was going to be at 3 under.” Scheffler shot up the leaderboard with weekend rounds of 62-67 to claim his first TOUR title. Thanks to Cloke and his fitting efforts, Scheffler was able to find the right look, and Scheffler was able to capture his first career victory. Sometimes it’s the little things that can push golfers over that performance barrier. In terms of other putter changes, Adam Scott also switched putters recently. More on that change here.

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SYDNEY, Australia – It took three rounds – and doesn’t include Jordan Spieth – but a PGA TOUR experienced crew have taken the Australian Open by the scruff of the neck. Four of the top five players on the leaderboard are regulars and winners on the TOUR, headed by local favorite Jason Day who leads at 10-under. Day has won 10 times on the PGA TOUR but has never won his national Open. The last time he visited his home shores he won the World Cup with Adam Scott in 2013 and his Aussie fans have been begging for an opportunity such as this for the last four years. He may never get a better opportunity than this to carve his name into the Stonehaven Cup, which already has legends of golf including Gene Sarazen, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Peter Thomson, Greg Norman, Tom Watson, Adam Scott, Geoff Ogilvy, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth adorned on it. “You can look at the names on the Cup, a lot of Hall of Fame members, a lot of great players, a lot of future Hall of Fame members,â€� Day said. “It would be nice to add my name to that list as well, but the hardest thing for me, you don’t want to get ahead of yourself and it’s easy tonight be able to think about the possibility of holding the Stonehaven Cup for the first time. “I don’t want to win it just once, I’d like to come back and win it multiple times.â€� Young Aussie Lucas Herbert is the outlier at 9-under before the hunting TOUR level pack begins. Former Houston Open winner Matt Jones, who also won the Australian Open at The Australian Golf Club two years ago, sits tied third with three-time TOUR winner Jonas Blixt at 7-under. Jones is a member at The Australian and grew up on the course. “I think anyone that plays a golf course for years and years is going to have an advantage, just knowing where to miss shots and how to manage the course would be an advantage for me,â€� he said ahead of his Sunday chase. “Jason’s a world class player, former No. 1 in the world. He’d be the favourite to win but we’ve seen many upsets before and as long as I manage my game and give myself birdie opportunities, anything to happen.â€� Blixt’s teammate in his 2017 Zurich Classic win, Australian Cameron Smith, is fifth at 6-under. He is hoping to draw on the experience of an epic final round and playoff battle with Scott Brown and Kevin Kisner when chasing Day down. “Zurich was probably one of the best experiences of my life as far as getting in the moment and being in contention,â€� Smith, who has finished inside the top-5 of his two PGA TOUR starts this season, said. “I think that will help me heaps tomorrow, obviously been there and doing it on the big circuit is a big help.â€� For the record, defending champion Spieth sits eight shots back. He hasn’t given up hope but knows it’s an extreme long shot. He is expecting high winds like in 2014 when he blitzed the final round field with an 8-under 63 to win the title. “We need 8-under; that would probably be enough given the conditions for tomorrow, may not even need that much but it’s going to be so difficult tomorrow that I’ll go out and try and get under par early and just see what the golf course gets to,â€� Spieth said. Despite the quality of the chasing pack, Day remains the prohibitive favorite. He hasn’t won since his 2016 PLAYERS Championship triumph, which at the time was an eighth TOUR win in 17 starts. On the TOUR he has converted six of 13 54-hole leads, including five of his last six. But despite his clear experience advantage, he expects to feel the butterflies in the stomach Sunday. His win drought is similar to the ones faced by Rory McIlroy (2013) and Jordan Spieth (2014) before they won in Australia. They then followed the drought-breaker with stellar multiple major winning seasons. “I know it’s going to be a very difficult day tomorrow with regard to what we’re going to have out there, the pressure, the wind, the fans, the media and everything out there,â€� Day said. “It’s been a while since I’ve won, so obviously everyone’s going to be nervous out there. “But it’s a good nervous; without nerves you don’t get in the zone and without being in the zone, you don’t shoot the scores that you can shoot. “I’m going to enjoy the challenge of trying to win again tomorrow and it’s going to be a lot of fun getting out there and playing against these guys out there.â€�

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