What are Tiger’s odds at Torrey Pines?

THE OVERVIEW By Ben Everill, PGATOUR.COM It is hard to resist a good name pun here as Kevin Chappell was so often the bridesmaid but finally became the bride — so to speak — last season. Although from a financial standpoint, Chappell’s 2015-16 season exceeded last year’s earnings by more than $1.3 million, there is no doubt that the 2016-17 campaign offered a career high for the former UCLA star. A breakthrough win at the Valero Texas Open came after six career runner-up results and three other third—place finishes. Four of the runner-up efforts came the season prior. In addition, he surged his way into the U.S. Team for the Presidents Cup, where he was a valued addition in the rout of the Internationals at Liberty National. It was his first national appearance for a U.S. team. The questions now: Can he continue to rise? Can Chappell meld together the consistency of high finishes from two years ago with a winning season like last year? The skill is clearly there, particularly in the ball-striking department. If he can create an uptick in his putting to go with it, he could be one we are watching much more often.  TOP 30 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2018: We’ll countdown our list with one new player each day in December. Click here for the published players. MORE: Top 30 explanation and schedule There’s a simmering surge of competitiveness always right below the surface for Chappell – often you see some frustration bubbling over as he expects so much from himself. Now that the win column has been ticked, the nerves around contention are being used in better ways and this grinder could be one name seen on countless Sunday leaderboards. Click here to follow Ben on Twitter FEDEXCUP 2017-18 position: T139 Playoff appearances: 7 TOUR Championship appearances: 2 Best result: 8th (2016) BY THE NUMBERS INSIGHTS FROM OUR INSIDERS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Kevin Chappell in 2018. TOUR INSIDER by Ben Everill What’s next for Chappell? Brandon Christianson, coach of the Stanislaus State golf team and a Chappell insider, isn’t worried. As teammates at UCLA, Chappell would drag Christianson out to practice under the lights at The Lakes at El Segundo driving range. “That’s just the type of guy he is,â€� Christianson says. “He’s always progressing. As we grew up, at different points throughout junior golf, college golf, people would plateau and fall off. Kevin saw that happening and made sure it didn’t happen to him. That’s what’s always what has set Kevin apart is his accountability to himself.â€�  Click here to follow Ben on Twitter FANTASY INSIDER by Rob Bolton It wasn’t long ago when he was reserved as a horse on challenging tracks. Ball-strikers emerge when par is of value, so it surprised no one that he prevailed for the first time at the perennially tricky TPC San Antonio. But that was merely the expected payoff after years of close calls. Today, he’s among the keystones of well-balanced rosters because he’s a lock for all of the biggest events for a while, he remains as active as ever, having touched 26 starts in six of seven campaigns, and he’s maximizing his cuts made with 13 of his 23 career top 10s as a PGA TOUR member in the last two seasons alone. Oh, and that skill set of saving strokes against the field tee to green will take years to rust because of his sneaky length off the tee. Click here to follow Rob on Twitter EQUIPMENT INSIDER by Jonathan Wall Chappell remains an equipment free agent following Nike’s departure from the hard-goods industry in 2016. Continues to play Nike Vapor Pro Combo and MMProto irons. Added a Cobra King wedge during the second half of the season. Put Aldila’s X-Torsion Copper and X-Torsion Green shafts in his driver, 3-wood and 5-wood at Akron. Picked up more than 10 yards of carry with the new driver shaft.  Click here to follow Jonathan on Twitter STYLE INSIDER by Greg Monteforte Chappell’s modern and sporty looks are great examples of where golf fashion is today. He is a great brand ambassador for Nike as he doesn’t shy away from amping up his kits with bright colors and innovative designs. Expect him to stay on the cutting edge in 2018 with the latest styles and fabric technologies from the Swoosh.  Click here to follow Greg on Twitter

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HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Gap. Lead. Cushion. Whatever you want to call it, Stewart Cink has it. He went into the weekend with a five-shot lead over Corey Conners, bogeyed the third hole just to remind everyone he’s human – it was his first bogey in 37 holes – and yet steadied himself for a 69 to reach 18 under. The lead? It’s still five. Cink will play in the final group with Collin Morikawa (67) on Sunday as he looks to become the only multiple winner this season besides FedExCup No. 1 Bryson DeChambeau. “I’ve been there before,” said Cink, 47, who is two for 12 at closing out 54-hole leads/co-leads on the PGA TOUR. “I’ve certainly been nervous and thrown up on myself and I’ve also played great in that situation. You know, I think it’s a lot better to embrace it and enjoy it and feel the tingle as opposed to trying to act like it’s not there.” Morikawa, who at world No. 4 is the highest ranked player in the field other than top-ranked Dustin Johnson (71, T36), an RBC ambassador, hopes to pressure Cink early Sunday. “Thankful to get three in a row and give myself at least somewhat of a shot come tomorrow,” said Morikawa, who birdied Nos. 13-15. “Yeah, I mean, it shows that there’s 62s, there’s 63s out on this golf course, I just have to go out there and find it. Each day I’ve shown little specks of good golf, I’ve just got to put it all together for tomorrow’s final round if I want a chance.” With a victory Cink, who won the season-opening event in Napa last September and is coming off a T12 at the Masters, is projected to move from 26th to third in the FedExCup standings. Will he win by five? Ten? Absent anyone from the chase pack going low, the main drama Saturday was the 4 o’clock flyover by a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. What the leader is doing this week, this season, is plenty dreamy. He was 144th in the FedExCup and 300th in the Official World Golf Ranking after he missed the cut at the Wyndham Championship to close out last season. He started this season with his son, Reagan, on the bag, and shot 65-65 on the weekend to win in Napa right out of the gate. It was his seventh TOUR win but the first in over 11 years, since the 2009 Open Championship. This week he “cranked” (his word) his opening tee shot into the water but went unconscious in a good way after that, going 63-63 to take a huge lead. They were his third and fourth rounds of 63 or better this season. He had three such rounds the previous three seasons combined. “To shoot 8-under both rounds is incredible,” said Webb Simpson (64, T6). Cink could have extended his lead Saturday but was admittedly a fraction off with the putter. He missed his par try from just inside five feet at the third hole, and his birdie attempt from just inside four feet at the par-5 15th hole. He was -1.464 in Strokes Gained: Putting. Still, though, he “didn’t do a lot of damage” and wasn’t entirely disappointed. “I was a little bit tied up in the results,” he said, “and it’s something I can recognize and hopefully get better at tomorrow. But it’s natural; it happens to everybody.” Part of the Cink revival goes to the influence of his caddie, Reagan. This was never supposed to be a long-term arrangement, as Reagan was out of college and had secured a job with Delta Airlines. Why caddie? In the end, though, they were simply too potent a team to break up. “When you get on the golf course with Stewart and Reagan,” Simpson said, “they’re acting like player and caddie. They’re having fun, as usual, but I’m sure it’s been fun for Stewart to see Reagan kind of come into his own as a caddie.” Cink has won here, of course, but that was back in 2000 and ’04. The largest lead lost with 18 holes to play is six, a distinction held by seven players, most recently world No. 1 Dustin Johnson at the 2018 WGC-HSBC Champions. Nothing is given and nothing is a foregone conclusion on TOUR. “One of the things that we talked about before the round,” Cink said, “and I talked to (wife) Lisa about it, too, was expecting some adversity out there and being prepared for something like No. 3 where I missed a pretty easy putt, just a little left-to-righter, four feet, I think.” He will no doubt see more adversity Sunday but says he’ll play his game and not obsess over Morikawa or anyone else. He’ll look at where he stands as he heads into the last three holes, or perhaps as he considers what to do with his second shot at the par-5 15th hole. He’s looking forward to it.

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As players get bigger, faster and stronger on the PGA TOUR, low-launch, low-spin driver shafts have become commonplace for those with high swing speeds. Fujikura’s Ventus is the latest shaft to offer what the shaft manufacturer calls a “TOUR-driven tip stiff profile” with low torque throughout the shaft. For those players with high swing speeds, low torque throughout the shaft should reduce twisting at impact for a tighter overall dispersion. The stiff overall profile comes from a full length pitch 70-ton pitch fiber at 45 degrees in the bias layer that’s designed to improve consistency and was shown to boost Moment of Inertia (MOI) for more center face strikes during testing. During the Safeway Open, TOUR winner Cody Gribble and Andrew Landry became the first two players to use the shaft in their driver (Gribble) and fairway wood (Landry). Gribble noted during testing that his impact location was better overall with Ventus than the company’s Speeder Pro Tour Spec shaft he was using at the time. Ventus is currently offered on TOUR in three different models (6, 7 and 8) and two flexes (6-S, 6-X, 7-S, 7-X and 8-X). Weights range from the mid 60 grams (6-S and 6-X) to mid 80 grams (8-X).

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