Winner’s Bag: Cameron Champ, 3M Open

Born in Charlotte and an alumnus of UNC, Davis Love III is a Tar Heel through and through. North Carolina has been the site of on-course success for Love, as well. He’s a three-time winner of the Wyndham Championship, claiming the trophy in three different decades. The 2015 Wyndham Championship, which he won at the age of 51, was the last of his 21 TOUR wins. He also won the Wyndham in 2006 and 1992. Only Sam Snead, who won the event a record-tying eight times, has had more success in this event. Next month, Love also will captain the U.S. Presidents Cup team at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Club. In preparation for that role, he’s competing for the second consecutive week on TOUR – a luxury afforded him as a life member – to get a closer look at prospective players. “I’m thrilled to be back,” Love III told the press on Tuesday. “(I) won it at Forest Oaks across town, and won here (at Sedgefield Country Club), so it always gives me good vibes when I come back to a place that I played well. … I always do play better when I get to North Carolina for some reason.” In celebration of the 30-year anniversary of Love’s first Wyndham first win, we wanted to look at what’s changed in his equipment setup between now and then. As you can expect, the changes have been drastic. He was still using a persimmon wood when he first won in Greensboro, as well as two classic equipment lines, the Tommy Armour 845 irons and Ping Eye 2 wedges. Love used a 2-iron back then, when he was one of the longest hitters on TOUR, but now a 4-iron is the longest iron in his bag. Love’s 1992 driver was a far technological cry from what he uses now: a weight-adjustable Titleist TSi3, equipped with a graphite Fujikura Ventus Red shaft. He was one of the last players to wield a persimmon driver, using a Cleveland Classic until 1997. “The Cleveland has been in my bag since 1985,” Love III wrote in his 1997 book, “Every Shot I Take.” “It was given to me by a good friend, Bob Spence. I experiment with metal drivers often; I find – for me, and not necessarily for you – they go marginally longer than my wooden driver, but they don’t give me any shape. I find it more difficult to create shape to my drives off the metal face, which is important to me. …I also love the sound my ball makes as it comes off the persimmon insert of my driver. “I’m no technophobe,” he added. “My fairway ‘woods’ have metal heads … but when it comes to my old wooden driver, I guess the only thing I can really say is that I enjoy golf more with it, and I think I play better with it…golf is somehow more pleasing to me when played with a driver made of wood.” Love III changed his tune later in 1997, though, when he switched into a Titleist 975D driver made of titanium instead of wood. Flash forward to this year’s Wyndham Championship, and Love III still has a Titleist driver in his bag. Check out the full specs below from Love III’s win in 1992 versus what he has in the bag this week! DAVIS LOVE III WITB 1992 Driver: Cleveland Classic Oil Hardened RC85 3-wood: TaylorMade Tour Spoon Irons: Tommy Armour 845 (2-PW) Wedges: Ping Eye 2 (SW, LW) Putter: Ping Anser DAVIS LOVE III WITB 2022 Driver: Titleist TSi3 3-wood: Titleist TS3 Utility: Callaway Apex UW Irons: Titleist AP2 718 (4-9 iron) Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM9 (46-10F, 50-08F, 56-14F and 60-10K) Putter: Scotty Cameron Masterful Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1 2021

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AUSTIN, Texas — Billy Horschel had just enough left in the tank to win the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play on Sunday with help from Scottie Scheffler in a tough end to the longest week in golf. RELATED: Bracket, Scoring | Winner’s Bag: Billy Horschel, WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Horschel made only one birdie in the championship match, chipping in from 40 feet on the fifth hole, and left the mistakes to the 24-year-old Scheffler in winning 2 and 1. Horschel, who had never reached the weekend in four previous appearances at this World Golf Championships event, won six out of the seven matches over 122 holes he played at Austin Country Club. He won for the sixth time on the PGA TOUR, and his fifth individual title. “It was one of those days where I didn’t play very good,” Horschel said, still able to smile because of the outcome. “I was just grinding it out.” It ended a great run for Scheffler, a Texas graduate who had to beat three former Match Play champions and two players from the top 10 in the world to reach the championship match. He had the support of the Austin crowd that occasionally shouted out, “Hook ’em.” He pulled a tee shot on the par-5 sixth that required him to take a penalty drop away from the boundary fence. He pulled his approach on the par-5 12th into the water. He hooked another drive off the two-story hospitality tent left of the 15th fairway. Through it all, he managed to stay in the match. Scheffler made par and halved the hole after the penalty drop on No. 5. Even after hitting into the water on the 12th, he had a 10-foot par putt to win the hole after Horschel hit a wedge into the bunker. Scheffler missed to stay 2 down. Horschel hit another wedge into a back bunker on par-5 16th. This time, Horschel got up-and-down to save par and halve the hole, and he won the match when Scheffler missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th. Matt Kuchar won the consolation match over Victor Perez of France. Kuchar, trying to tie Tiger Woods’ record with a fourth appearance in the championship match, didn’t make a putt longer than 3 feet, 6 inches in his semifinal loss to Scheffler. Perez wasn’t much better. He lost three holes on the back nine to Horschel by making bogey or worse. The wind had a lot to do with that, with gusts raging through the trees in the morning and still causing problems in the afternoon. The championship match didn’t feature a birdie after Horschel’s chip-in on the fifth hole. Scheffler, who made 15 birdies in 31 holes to beat Ian Poulter and Jon Rahm on Saturday, had only four birdies in his two matches Sunday.

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