WiretoWire: Xander Schauffele takes Travelers Championship, returns to winner’s circle

Dustin Johnson? Crossed his name off the list a year ago. Henrik Stenson followed the next month. A scant two weeks later, it was Jimmy Walker’s turn. Sergio Garcia, some had feared, had become a permanent resident on the list. But in April, he finally bid adieu. Best player without a major. Those four had either been atop the list or at least in the discussion, each having spent time inside the world’s top 10 list without benefit of major success (albeit Stenson and Garcia have each won THE PLAYERS Championship, which some consider … well, you be the judge). But thanks to their respective wins in the last 12 months, they’ve gracefully bowed out, more than willing to let others carry the torch — or shoulder the burden, depending on your perspective – starting at this week’s U.S. Open. Consider it an unprecedented string of success for the list … and we’re not even including 2015, when Jordan Spieth and Jason Day won their first majors. There was a seven-major stretch in the late 1950s when Arnold Palmer, Billy Casper and Gary Player all won their first majors, but each of those future World Golf Hall of Famers was still in his 20s at the time, still relatively unscarred. Casper was making just his seventh major start when he won; Palmer and Player were at nine each. Compare that to Garcia, who won in his 74th major start. Or Stenson’s 41 or Johnson’s 25 or Walker’s 18. Plus, these four were older – in their 30s, or in the case of Stenson, 40. Of course, that’s the thing about the list. Not only is it unofficial, the definition is a bit murky. Zach Johnson never considered himself on the list. He was still in the growing phase of his career and had never contended in a major prior to his 2007 Masters win, the first of his two major victories. “I don’t know if there’s an age parameter,â€� Zach said when asked to define the list. “If we’re talking rookies or 2-3 years out of the gate, that’s hard to say. I’m not suggesting they’re flashes in the pan, but to me, that best to never win is a connotation or description of an individual that’s been out here for a long time and put himself in position a lot but never came through. “Does that make sense? I don’t know what the age is, but I think it’s more of an experience factor.â€� Still, it’s difficult to avoid factoring in a player’s current world ranking, regardless of his age or experience. Should Hideki Matsuyama, ranked No. 4, not be on the list simply because he’s 25? Erin Hills will be his 19th major appearance, one more than when Walker won the PGA Championship last year. “Certainly to be considered one of the top guys to not have won a major means you’re one of the top guys. It also means you’ve not won a major,â€� said Matt Kuchar, who’s most definitely on the list. “I think at some point kind of everybody has been on that list, every great player is on it until they win their first.â€� But do players actually like being on the list? Some do; others want nothing to do with it. Younger players see it as a promise of things to come; the grizzled vets wonder if it reflects their shortcomings. Perhaps another way to look at the list – it’s a positive to be on it until it becomes a negative. “You never want to be on that list, you never want to be the top player that hasn’t won the major,â€� said Patrick Reed, whose name has certainly been under consideration the last few years. “It’s one of those things that to be able to make it in the Hall of Fame, to be able to be a household name and that kind of thing, I would think you do need to have a major underneath your belt.â€� You never want to be on that list, you never want to be the top player that hasn’t won the major. Charley Hoffman was in contention through three rounds at the Masters this year, and he’s won four times on TOUR. But he isn’t on the list, nor does he necessarily want the expectations that come with being on it. “I wouldn’t put my name in that category. It’s not a place I don’t put a lot of stress on,â€� he said. “That’s why I play all right at the Masters. I wouldn’t say I don’t care but it’s not like someone is picking me to win that week.â€� “Obviously I would love to be in that conversation because that means you need one, you want one. I think the more pressure I put on myself at the major championship, the worse I tend to play.â€� On the flip side, Ryan Palmer – like Hoffman, a multiple winner on TOUR but with a spotty record in majors – would love to elevate his game and be considered for the list. “If you’re considered one of the best players without a major, you’ve done some pretty good things in this game and had some pretty good success,â€� Palmer said. “I don’t look at it as a negative thing being the best player not to win a major. I know Sergio had so many close calls, and I know it was pretty cool to finally see him breakthrough and win, that’s for sure.â€� So now that Garcia, DJ, Stenson and Walker are off the list, who belongs at the top? “Still gotta say Westwood, right?â€� said Zach Johnson. Certainly, Lee Westwood and Garcia have spent much of their careers as 1 and 1A on the list. With Sergio out of the mix, it’s easy to consider the 44-year-old Englishman as the leader in the clubhouse. He’s been the European Tour’s Player of the Year three times, he’s played on 10 Ryder Cup teams, he’s won 39 golf tournaments on five continents, and he’s a former World No. 1, having held that position for 22 weeks. The only other player to have been No. 1 and not won a major is Luke Donald. Plus, Westwood has been in contention many times to cross his name off the list. Of his 76 major starts, he has 11 top-5s, including three runner-up finishes. “Majors are the only thing missing,â€� Westwood once said a few years ago. “Maybe I’ll never win one. Maybe I will. I could. I’ve got no answer to that. Keep working hard and trying to get myself into the position. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.â€� A few years ago, Steve Stricker’s name would have been more prominent. During the 2009 FedExCup Playoffs, he rose to world No. 2 and won three events that season. But at age 50 and playing a reduced schedule, he’s five years past the age of the oldest first-time major winner (Jerry Barber, who was 45 when he claimed the 1961 PGA). History is against him this week. Still, after qualifying as a sectional medalist, he could ride the emotion of playing the first U.S. Open held in his home state of Wisconsin. If it happens, he’ll be the feel-good story of the year. Soon after Garcia’s win in April, the best-player-without-a-major question was posed to Kuchar, another familiar name up for consideration. His seven TOUR wins includes a PLAYERS Championship and a World Golf Championship. He’s a consistent top-10 machine, arguably the best on TOUR in that category in recent years, and he has eight top 10s in his 45 major starts. Oh, and he won the bronze medal at the Rio Olympics last year behind two major winners in Justin Rose and Stenson. The 38-year-old Kuchar contemplated his answer for a few seconds before responding. “It’s funny,â€� he said. “I’ve not run through who the other names would be, but I’d certainly think I would be one of those guys, sure.â€� There’s one other thing he’s also sure of. “I’m hoping that I can get off that list sometime quickly,â€� he said. “Sometime soon.â€� Perhaps, he hopes, as soon as this week. FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION Depending on the criteria, here’s an unofficial list of the active Best Players Without a Major. IF WORLD RANKINGS MATTER … Players without a major currently ranked inside the world Top 10: Hideki Matsuyama (4th), Alex Noren (8th), Rickie Fowler (9th), Jon Rahm (10th). IF EXPERIENCE MATTERS … A few players with 45 or more major starts without a win: Lee Westwood (76 starts), Steve Stricker (68), Luke Donald (53), Paul Casey (52), Matt Kuchar (45). FYI: Donald is not in the field at Erin Hills. IF FEDEXCUPS MATTER … Three players in the U.S. Open field have won FedExCup titles but not a major: Bill Haas (2011), Brandt Snedeker (2012), Billy Horschel (2014). IF AGE IS NO FACTOR … These players have plenty of time to break through: Si Woo Kim (age 21), Justin Thomas (age 24), Thomas Pieters (age 25), Tyrrell Hatton (age 25) IF THE EYE TEST MATTERS … A few names (but certainly not all) who just seem like they have the game to win a major: Patrick Reed, Brooks Koepka, Branden Grace. 

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Throughout the 2021-22 PGA TOUR season, GolfWRX.com has been hard at work on the Equipment Report, keeping PGATOUR.com readers informed on the latest equipment releases, player staff deals, “What’s in the Bag?” (WITB) changes, custom Tour designs, and the stories behind them all. Last week on the Equipment Report, we released the first part of our top 10 equipment stories of the season, which included five stories: 1) John Daly’s wild WITB, 2) Tiger Woods’ “Tiger Slam” irons go to auction, 3) Tony Finau’s heart-warming golf ball markings, 4) Celebrity golf clubs at Pebble Beach, and 5) Tom Hoge’s custom winning putter. This week, we’re highlighting five more stories to fill out the top 10. Enjoy the look back, and we’ll see you next week at the 2022 Fortinet Championship at Silverado Resort & Spa in Napa for more equipment coverage. Tiger Woods makes big equipment changes in 2022 Woods teed it up just three times on TOUR, including the Masters, the PGA Championship and The Open Championship. In every appearance he made, however, Woods made headlines in the equipment world. At the Masters, Woods showed up with essentially the same club setup he used when playing in the 2021 PNC Championship, but he shocked the world with a change to his footwear. For decades, Woods has been the face of Nike Golf shoes, but due to his prior injuries and surgical repair, he wore FootJoys at the Masters instead. He explained the surprising switch-up in a press conference: “I have very limited mobility now,” he said. “Just with the rods and plates and screws that are in my leg, I needed something different, something that allowed me to be more stable. That’s what I’ve gone to. Nike’s been fantastic over the years of providing me with equipment … and … we’ve been working on trying to find something to allow me to do this and swing again. We’re still going to continue doing it, and hopefully we’ll have something soon.” At the PGA, Woods arrived with new irons and wedges in the bag. He started Thursday using two new TaylorMade P770 driving irons (2 and 3), each with True Temper’s new Dynamic Gold MID Tour Issue X100 shafts. The MID shaft was launched in 2022 and is designed for slightly higher spin and launch angles compared to the True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts he uses in his TaylorMade P-7TW irons (4-PW). During rounds two and three at Southern Hills, though, Woods played with just one of the P770 driving irons, opting to put his usual TaylorMade M3 5-wood back in the bag. He was also using two new TaylorMade MG3 Raw wedges (56 and 60 degrees), which were newer models compared to the MG2 wedges he used at the Masters. Then, at the 2022 Open Championship at St. Andrews, Woods made four changes to his bag setup: 1) He changed into a Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X shaft in his TaylorMade Stealth Plus 9-degree driver. 2) He switched into a True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shaft in his TaylorMade P770 3-iron. 3) He continued using an MG3 Raw 60-degree wedge, but switched back into an MG2 56-degree wedge. 4) He added lead tape to the back cavity of his Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS putter. Check out Woods’ full WITB from the last time we saw him in action at the Open Championship at St. Andrews: Driver: TaylorMade Stealth Plus (9 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 6 X 3-wood: TaylorMade SIM Titanium (15 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 70T X 5-wood: TaylorMade M3 (19 degrees) Shaft: Mitsubishi Diamana D+ Limited 80 TX Irons: TaylorMade P770 (3-iron), TaylorMade P-7TW (4-PW) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Wedges: TaylorMade MG2 (56 degrees), TaylorMade MG3 Raw (60 degrees) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS prototype Ball: 2022 Bridgestone Tour B XS Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet Cord J.R. Smith’s show stopping purple Bettinardi putter After retiring from the NBA, basketball star J.R. Smith enrolled at North Carolina A&T and joined the school’s golf team. In August, Smith played in the BMW Championship Pro-Am, and he dropped jaws with his custom purple Bettinardi Inovai 6.0 putter with star engravings on the face, and a wild hosel construction. “I’ve been fortunate to be in a situation where people want to help me, and help my golf game get better,” Smith said. “So it worked out. One of my boys who took me (to Bettinardi), he had a purple (putter). Then it was like, alright, I gotta outdo him, or we gotta match a little bit. So we both went with the purple.” Speaking with Tom Sopic from Bettinardi’s Hive Team, GolfWRX learned that Smith visited the company’s custom fitting studio in Tinley Park, Illinois to get dialed into his 38-inch putter. “He’s obsessed with the game of golf, and it has become a major passion in his life,” Sopic said. “He hit seven putts in a row on Quintic (a putting analysis system) that had perfect numbers in all categories right after he got his new putter. The iconic Stinger Bees on the sole are a staple within the Bettinardi brand, and a major symbol of The Hive. “His putter is a one-of-one, with a star-engraved 1.5-degree face piece, fitting for the superstar that is J.R. Smith.” Read the full story here Justin Thomas puts (another) 1-of-1 Scotty Cameron putter in play Thomas won the PGA Championship in May with a custom Scotty Cameron T5 prototype with a “knuckle neck,” but he put an all-new Scotty Cameron T5 prototype in play at the BMW Championship last month. Aside from the obvious aesthetic customizations – which include his personal “JT” logo – the new putter was built a half-inch shorter than his previous putter to let his arms hang more naturally. “For me, a tendency I have with my putting is to get a little bit this way (left shoulder up) and open,” Thomas said. “I’ve … been playing a lot of golf with Patrick Cantlay. He obviously has very long arms and his putter is very short. (I was noticing) just how naturally his arms go on the club, and I felt like that wasn’t the case for me … and I think that has something to do with my bad tendencies. “If I can be a little bit more comfortable at setup, then that’s obviously one less factor I have to worry about.” Unbeknownst to the public, the new “JT” putter had been in the works since February. Click the link here to read the full story Solving the mystery behind Adam Scott’s custom irons On Tuesday at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, Adam Scott showed up to Muirfield Village Golf Club with a completely new set of blade irons, which mysteriously had only his logo on the back. “What are those?” we wondered. As it turned out, Scott, an equipment free agent, requested custom-made irons from multiple manufacturers, and Miura sent him these one-of-one blades made specifically for his exacting preferences. The box of new irons from Miura showed up at Muirfield on Monday, and Scott put them into play Thursday. Speaking with GolfWRX prior to the event, he explained what he liked about the irons: “Really it’s the sole design that’s the difference,” Scott said. “It’s just a little less bounce. They’re a little flatter and wider on the sole. My eye for a blade is very different than most of the stock blades that are being made by the companies today. I grew up with offset, which is almost a thing of the past. Even in larger headed irons these days, there’s little offset out here. But I like it, and it’s hard to find. Titleist made me an amazing set of 681.AS irons that had the offset and were pretty much like the clubs I was using (the Titleist 680 Forged). And this set was made with the idea of less bounce than those.” Scott, who played his way into the BMW Championship and then the TOUR Championship, has had them in the bag since the Memorial, and he spoke further on the irons at the 2022 U.S. Open with @GolfWRX on TikTok. Read the full story here Scottie Scheffler signs with TaylorMade, dumps his longtime Nike fairway wood Scheffler had an unbelievably hot start to the year, winning two PGA TOUR events before March (2022 WM Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational). At the time, Scheffler was an equipment free agent, so he could play any clubs he wanted. The week of THE PLAYERS Championship, however, Scheffler announced that he signed an equipment deal with TaylorMade. While the timing seemed odd, Scheffler justified the decision by notching two more wins at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and The Masters Tournament. He explained the TaylorMade decision to GolfWRX’s Two Guys Talking Golf podcast following his Masters victory: “I would say first and foremost [the reason] would be the driver,” Scheffler said. “I already used the (TaylorMade P-7TW) irons for a while. I like the irons. But the (TaylorMade Stealth Plus) driver, when we did testing over the winter, I saw some pretty nice gains. It was one of those things, like, I know I’m going to use this driver, I know I’m going to use the irons, so maybe let’s see if we can work something out. Just because having consistency with their brand, obviously I trust what they do. To be part of the family and be part of the team was pretty cool for me, and so we wanted to work something out with them, and we were able to get it done. I’m happy to be part of the team.” Scheffler made a noteworthy fairway wood switch before the Masters, too. Prior to signing with TaylorMade, he’d been using a Nike VR Pro Limited 13-degree fairway wood for years, but he switched into a new TaylorMade Stealth HL 16.5-degree. “One of the things I’ve struggled with was actually hitting 3-woods too far, and also just not seeing all my shots,” Scheffler told GolfWRX. “These guys did something to the (Fujikura Ventus) shaft, honestly I can’t even remember what they did, but it was something with the tipping. They may have tipped it a couple extra inches and moved some weight around the head, and then started with a higher loft and bent it down…and it was a pretty seamless transition. I saw the shots I wanted to see. My mishits were more accurate with the TaylorMade than they were than my Nike.” We spoke to Scheffler in-depth about his equipment, and what it was like to have a green jacket for the first time. Check out that full story here

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