Tony Finau back in win column at THE NORTHERN TRUST

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – After Friday’s even-par effort at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, Scottie Scheffler looked to an old friend for the weekend. And the putter he wielded for his four wins earlier this year made a triumphant return. Scheffler, who shot a 9-under 62 Sunday to tie the low round of the week at El Camaleon, said this is the time of year when he will usually “experiment with stuff” when it comes to equipment. He was frustrated after leaving a bunch of putts short on Friday, but his Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless Tourtype GSS Prototype made a return for the weekend. “It never goes too far away,” said Scheffler with a smile of his trusty flatstick. “It’s probably something I’ll continue to fiddle around with, but I went back to something I’m really comfortable with and I putted well the last two days.” Scheffler needed only 25 putts on Sunday. He hit 16 of 18 greens and had a tidy of a closing round as you could ask for – including a hole-out eagle on the par-4 third. “It looked like it landed close, but we couldn’t really see, couldn’t really hear anything, nobody was clapping or anything,” said Scheffler. “So when I got up there, I was like, ‘Oh man, it must have spun off the green.’ Then I checked the cup and it was in.” Scheffler, who had a chance to return to world No. 1 with a win or solo second in Mexico, said that particular accomplishment didn’t measure for him this week. That’s not to say, however, it’s not something he’d like to get back. “Rankings are great; it was definitely fun being No. 1 in the world,” said Scheffler. “It’s definitely something I hope to get back to, but it’s not something that’s going to occupy a lot of my thoughts.” Scheffler will tee it up at next week’s Cadence Bank Houston Open for his final event of the 2022 calendar year. And his old putter will most definitely be in tow.

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GERMANTOWN, Tenn. – Late in a major-winning season may seem like an odd time to make an equipment change, but Justin Thomas has a new driver in the bag at this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship. This week at TPC Southwind, where Thomas won the 2020 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, is Thomas’ first with Titleist’s new driver. Why change now? Titleist first brought the TSR drivers out on TOUR at the Travelers Championship, which Thomas had to withdraw from because of a back injury. He had the new driver at home but wasn’t able to sufficiently practice with the club before back-to-back events in Scotland because he wanted to rest his back. With three weeks off after The Open, he was able to put the new club through its paces and was ready to debut it this week. “The biggest difference is the spin,” Thomas said after his first-round 67 in Memphis. “When I heel it, it doesn’t spin crazy high and when I toe it, it’s somehow spinning a little more. It’s unbelievable in terms of misses.” Mishits on the heel of a driver tend to have more spin while misses on the toe tend to have less. Consistent launch conditions were one reason Thomas made the change, said Titleist tour rep J.J. Van Wezenbeeck. Thomas also saw an uptick in ball speed, according to Van Wezenbeeck, and liked the TSR3’s “classic shaping” and “clean look.” Thomas is using a 10-degree Titleist TSR3 with a Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60 TX driver. The head is on the D1 setting, which takes three-quarters of a degree of loft off the face. Decreasing the loft also opens the face, which is a look at Thomas prefers. “I like it being a little bit open,” Thomas said. “I don’t like when I can’t see a lot of face because then I feel like I have to get it up in the air and then I start getting underneath it and that gets the two-way miss going. I feel like when I’m driving it my best, although I like to work it both ways, I feel like I aim at something and rip it and it goes pretty straight and falls right. Kind of letting the openness in the club let it fade a little bit.” Thomas entered the week at No. 8 in the FedExCup standings after a season that included his second PGA Championship win and top-10s in half his starts. He was sixth in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+1.5) on Thursday. He’s trying to join Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods as the only two-time winners of the FedExCup. Thomas won his first FedExCup five years ago, the same year that he won his first PGA Championship.

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Round 1 of the 3M Open takes place Thursday from TPC Twin Cities. Michael Thompson defends against a field that includes Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, 2019 3M winner Matthew Wolff, Louis Oosthuizen, Tony Finau and plenty of other PGA TOUR stars. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action, including Featured Groups for PGA TOUR LIVE. Leaderboard Full tee times HOW TO FOLLOW (All times ET) TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday 7:45 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday-Sunday, 7:45 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com). TOURCast: Get shot-by-shot info in real time with shot tracks and video with TOURCast. TOUR Pulse: Get the PGA TOUR app to utilize TOUR Pulse, which provides users the ability to experience a mix of content, such as video highlights, written hole summaries and stat graphics on every player after every hole they complete. FEATURED GROUPS Stewart Cink, Cam Davis, Dylan Frittelli (tee times) Michael Thompson, Matthew Wolff, Patrick Reed (tee times) Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Louis Oosthuizen (tee times) Rickie Fowler, Tony Finau, Sergio Garcia (tee times) MUST READS Power Rankings Expert Picks The First Look

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