Tuning up for Match Play, Bubba Watson dials it back at Valspar Championship and gets a nice result

Pack your bags, grab your passport, and make sure you have some sunscreen. Puma Golf is taking you on a journey to some of the most popular stops on the PGA TOUR with its Game That Travels Collection. The series of eight drops features apparel, footwear, and accessories inspired by some of the biggest tournaments and most desirable locales on the schedule. Each ensemble in the collection tells a story through intricate details and bold patterns that capture the attitude of the host site. Puma gave us a peek at the Game That Travels Collection back in December at the Hero World Challenge. With the Bahamas as the setting, the brand outfitted Rickie Fowler, Bryson DeChambeau and Gary Woodland in pieces from its Saltwater series. In creating the signature prints, Puma designers pulled inspiration from the sharks, stingrays and turtles known to inhabit the waters surrounding the islands of the Bahamas. This week, at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, Puma brand ambassadors are debuting the second series of the Game That Travels line with the Island Time Collection. Throughout the tournament, you will see Rickie and Gary sporting signature prints inspired by Maui’s two iconic features—pineapples and palm trees. Fowler has often used the shores of Kapalua Bay to showcase his latest fashion flexes. Back in 2016, he had the social media world buzzing by rocking joggers and high-tops. Two years ago, he teed it up in an untucked Aloha shirt. This year he channeled those island vibes with a matching pineapple print shirt, shorts and bucket hat. When the TOUR heads to Torrey Pines for the Famers Insurance Open, Puma will introduce the Turfs Up Collection. Grab your board and your clubs as the laidback designs were inspired by the unique the surf and golf culture of the California Coast. As the TOUR travels to the east coast, the Game That Travels Collection takes a more refined tone. The second iteration of the X Collection celebrates Rickie’s progressive and elevated style as well as his 10-year partnership with the brand. Look for Fowler to wear tipped polos, skull prints, and PROADAPT kicks with gold chrome outsoles at THE PLAYERS Championship. The Game That Travels Collection will be in full bloom as players make the drive up Magnolia Lane for the Masters in Puma’s TournAMENt Pack. Vibrant green and pink floral prints signal a rebirth of the golf season by paying homage to Augusta National’s notorious White Dogwood, Golden Bell, and Azalea holes in Amen Corner. With two high-stress events in the rearview mirror and two more on the horizon, Puma will take us on a return trip to the Bahamas for a little relaxation with the Sweetness Collection. Inspired by Rickie’s infamous #SB2K trip, Sweetness is the perfect collection for kicking back and relaxing on a low-key golf vacation. Like Hawaii, the Bahamas is known for its abundance of pineapples and this collection will bring a new polo and trucker hat with a pineapple print to the fairways for Spring Break. Following a bit of rest and relaxation, the intensity of the golf season ramps up with two majors in quick succession. As the PGA Championship heads west for the rolling hills and free-spirited culture of San Francisco, Puma will celebrate the city’s famous Haight-Ashbury intersection, which served as the center of the hippie movement in the 1960s. At TPC Harding Park, the brand will tap into the groovy feels of the area by outfitting its players in polos, hats, and NXT Solelace shoes done in colorful tie-dye prints from the Love/Haight Collection. After leaving the funky streets of San Francisco, the golf world will return to Winged Foot for the U.S. Open. The club is known for the blue and white awning covering the terrace in front of the clubhouse and Puma pulled inspiration from that iconic feature for the Pars & Stripes Collection. The patriotic looks will be clean, technical, and rooted in performance—a nod to the highly skilled members of the club. Look for the Puma Golf Game That Travels Collection to be available upon individual releases throughout the year and available at the PGA TOUR Superstore.

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Francesco Molinari returns to Bay Hill to defend last year’s win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard but in order to do it, he’ll have to top world No.1 – and 2018 champ – Rory McIlroy, recent World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship winner Patrick Reed, and several notable Orlando, Florida, residents. Bay Hill will once again be the final event before the PGA TOUR’s signature tournament, THE PLAYERS Championship. RELATED: Inside The Field FIELD NOTES: McIlroy, who will defend his title next week at TPC Sawgrass, has made five starts this PGA TOUR season and has finished inside the top-5 each time. … Rickie Fowler hopes to rebound from a missed cut at The Honda Classic, his second MC in his last three starts. … Notable Orlando residents Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, and Graeme McDowell are all in the field… Last year’s runner-up, Matthew Fitzpatrick is still searching for his first PGA TOUR win; the second-place finish was his best result in 61 career PGA TOUR starts. … Matt Every, Robert Gamez, Jason Day and Marc Leishman join McIlroy and Molinari as past winners teeing it up again. … Every’s two PGA TOUR wins came in back-to-back years at Bay Hill (2014-15). … Phil Mickelson, another past champion, makes his second-straight appearance at Bay Hill after playing last year for the first time since 2013. … Recent winners Reed, Adam Scott, Viktor Hovland and Nick Taylor will be looking for their second win this season. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Bay Hill Club & Lodge, 7,454 yards, par 72. Bay Hill hosted its PGA TOUR event in 1979. Arnold Palmer bought the property in the 1970s and his legacy lives on at the storied Florida venue. STORYLINES: Brandon Matthews will be making his PGA TOUR debut on a sponsor exemption. A fan with special needs inadvertently caused Matthews to miss a putt during a sudden-death playoff on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica last year, but the way he compassionately responded to the fan was Arnold Palmer-like, according to tournament organizers. Tweeted Matthews after receiving the invite: What an incredible honor to be able to get the chance to compete in the @APinv as my first PGA tour event. Words can’t describe how grateful I am for this opportunity. … Viktor Hovland, who won the Puerto Rico Open, was an amateur last year at Bay Hill when he made the cut and finished T40. He turned pro three months later. … The winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational will receive a three-year exemption on TOUR instead of the usual two, thanks to its elevated status. … Past tournament winner Marc Leishman, Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer, and Grammy-award winner Darius Rucker are the 2020 tournament ambassadors. 72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Payne Stewart (1987). 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Andy Bean (2nd round, 1981), Greg Norman (2nd round, 1984), Adam Scott (1st round, 2014). LAST YEAR: A sizzling 8-under 64 (the low round of the week) sent Francesco Molinari into the winner’s circle, as he won for the third time in 12 TOUR starts. On the par-4 18th, the site of so much drama over the years, Molinari punctuated his victory with a 44-foot birdie putt. It was the second consecutive year the winner shot 64 in the final round, with McIlroy doing the same in 2018. … Englishman Matthew Fitzpatrick was runner-up while Sungjae Im, Tommy Fleetwood, and Rafa Cabrera Bello finished T3. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel). Saturday, 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (Golf Channel). Sunday, 2:30 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups and Featured Holes).  Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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The Club at Nine Bridges, site of this week’s THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, was the fourth-toughest venue on TOUR last season. High winds played a large part in the course’s difficulty, but so did its large, sloping greens and deep bunkers. According to several metrics, this week’s venue was the TOUR’s toughest on and around the greens. Players got up-and-down less than half the time at last year’s CJ CUP. The scrambling percentage at Nine Bridges (48.2 percent) was the lowest on TOUR last season. Nine Bridges also had the TOUR’s third-lowest sand-save percentage (39.3). “The ball, it has a tendency to not sit in great spots around the greens. You know, it always seems to kind of fall away or seems to go down into a bunker,â€� said last year’s champion, Justin Thomas. Nine Bridges also had last season’s highest average putts per round (31.3) – that’s almost 0.5 putts more than second-place Monterey Peninsula Country Club — as well as the lowest one-putt percentage (31 percent) and highest three-putt percentage (6.9 percent). The locals speak of the “Halla Mountain break,â€� a reference to the large mountain at the center of Jeju Island that influences the flow of the greens. “The whole golf course is on this side of the big mountain. Sometimes it can look flat but really everything is still going down the mountain,â€� said Adam Scott. Nine Bridges’ 73.2 scoring average was the second-toughest at a non-major last season (only PGA National, the site of The Honda Classic, was harder). Thomas also won The Honda, giving him victories at last season’s two toughest non-major venues. He opened last year’s CJ CUP with a 9-under 63. Then the winds, and harder hole locations, came and Thomas won by shooting even par over the final 54 holes (74-70-72). “Putting is so hard in this wind. You can have a 2- or 3-footer and if the wind picks up, you’re not going to make it and that’s just the fact of the matter,â€� Thomas said. “So that also goes into the statistics because you’re not making as many putts, percentages aren’t going to be as high. A lot goes into it, but the wind is definitely a huge factor, but the design of the golf course and the greens are also very influential.â€� Nine Bridges gets harder the closer a player gets to the hole. Many South Korean courses are claustrophobic, but Nine Bridges’ wide fairways were the third-easiest to hit last season (72.4 percent). Players hit nearly 70 percent of the greens last year, as well. Only 12 courses had a higher greens-in-regulation-percentage. The high winds and large greens impact the putting statistics because players who don’t hit it close are left with long, difficult birdie putts instead of chips and pitches from off the green. The rough is lower this year but the greens are firmer. And it’s going to be cool and windy once again. The temperature isn’t expected to exceed 62, and the winds could blow over 20 mph in the first two rounds. “It’s always windy here. It’s just a matter of how windy,â€� Thomas said. That means players will need to be precise with their ball-striking if they want to win this week. Saving par is no easy task at Nine Bridges.

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