Tiger Woods updates: WGC-Bridgestone, Round 4

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – Chip McDaniel saved the best for last this week in Punta Cana. McDaniel, who was co-medalist at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship Monday Qualifier in Miami two weeks ago, shot a 9-under-par 63 Sunday to move into the top-10. “That was a lot of fun, man,â€� said McDaniel with a smile. “I’ve been hitting it great all week and yesterday I made five birdies and shot one under and didn’t putt very well, just a couple mistakes. I cleaned those up… I saw a few go in today, that’s all it takes.â€� His 63 featured 10 birdies, and was the round of the tournament. It was McDaniel’s second TOUR start – he played the 2018 Barbasol Championship and made the cut after getting a sponsor invite – after a decorated college and junior career that saw him win the Kentucky State Amateur twice. He also was named the Kentucky Junior Amateur Champion for three straight years. McDaniel, who is playing Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada Q-School in April, said his wins as an amateur helped him get into a good mindset Sunday on the PGA TOUR. “The Kentucky Amateur, the last one I won in 2017, that was really big for me because I hadn’t won a golf tournament in two years, so it was nice to close a tournament out,â€� he said. “Just like this, you know, I’m not going to win, but I finished with a great round the right way and that really helps my confidence a lot.â€� The University of Kentucky alum said he put an old putter back in his bag about three days before travelling to Punta Cana, and the return did wonders for him on the green. The native of Manchester, Kentucky had college teammate Evan Cox – who qualified for this season on the Mackenzie Tour via Q-School earlier this year – on his bag this week. The two worked well together, McDaniel said, since Cox knows McDaniel’s game better than almost anyone. McDaniel, via his top-10 result this week, will now tee it up next week at the Valero Texas Open, and is looking to parlay his good play Sunday into more of the same. “I’m just now thinking about it. I’ve seen the golf course on TV a few times,â€� he said. “Not very many times, but I’m excited.â€� This will be the third time this season a Monday Qualifier has finished in the top 10 (Aaron Baddeley, T4 at Safeway Open; Corey Conners, T3 at Sony Open).

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Ever since Bubba Watson won the 2012 Masters with a custom pink-colored Ping G20 driver, he’s used a pink version of the newest Ping driver models. At the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open and the 2019 Genesis Open, however, Bubba was using the matte-black stock version of Ping’s new G410 Plus driver head as he led driving distance in each event. No more pink driver for Watson? Not so fast. After testing the new Ping G410 driver, Watson saw a significant reduction in his spin rates, according to Ping TOUR rep Christian Pena. By reducing the spin, Watson could hit his patented “big sliceâ€� shot harder without losing distance, and it made the ball flight of his low, 30-yard cut shot “stronger,â€� says Pena. Along with the stronger flight, Pena also says Watson picked up significant ball speed and distance. Seeing these performance increases, Watson wanted to switch into the new Ping G410 plus head even though Ping didn’t have a custom pink version immediately available. In the meantime, with the new matte-black Ping G410 Plus driver — which was made to match the exact specifications of his previous Ping G400 driver — Watson led driving distance in the Waste Management Phoenix Open (326 yards) and the Genesis Open (309.3 yards). Ahead of the 2019 WGC-Mexico Championship, however, Watson showed off his new custom Ping G410 Plus driver, with “Bubbaâ€� painted onto the half-pink, half-black crown. Every year, it’s somewhat of a competition to see what pink driver design Watson ultimately elects to put in play. “With every new model, our industrial designers present a couple of pink-themed options (artist renderings) for internal approval by John and John K. Solheim before showing them to Bubba for him to choose the version he likes best,â€� a Pete Samuels, Director of Marketing at Ping told PGATOUR.COM. “After we introduced the G20 driver in 2011, Bubba asked for a pink version to go with the pink shaft he had been playing. Since then, we’ve made him a pink version every time we’ve come out with a new driver. The G410 Plus marks the sixth version of a Bubba pink driver and they’ve all been very unique. He’s a very creative and generous person, so he’s been able to bring a lot of attention to his charitable efforts by playing pink PING drivers. It’s been a great concept for all involved,” Samuels added. From the designs he was presented, Watson chose the “Bubbaâ€� version, which he will likely put into play this week, according to a Ping representative. Below are the exact specs of his new Ping G410 Plus driver: Loft: 9-degree head with 7.5 degrees of actual loft Length: 44.5 degrees Shaft: Grafalloy Bi-Matrix X-Flex Tipping: 0.5 inches Swing weight: D4 Weight setting: 10 grams of weight in the neutral setting Grip: Ping 703-Gold, 15 wraps under left hand and 13 wrap under right hand

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