The post The magic behind Xander Schauffele’s Odyssey O-Works Red putter appeared first on Golf.

The post The magic behind Xander Schauffele’s Odyssey O-Works Red putter appeared first on Golf.

With a stroke of his Odyssey O-Works Red 7CH putter on Sunday afternoon, Xander Schauffele locked up the Presidents Cup for the U.S. team in a thorough 17.5-12.5 thumping of the International squad. Outside of the first two wins of his PGA Tour career, the remaining trips to the winner’s circle have come with O-Works Red 7CH in his hands — a winged profile that was released a little more than 5 years ago.

To get a better understanding of Schauffele’s current putter setup and what makes him tick on the greens, GOLF.com spoke to Odyssey Tour rep Joe Toulon about the unmistakeable red mallet.

On what Xander likes most about the O-Works Red 7CH (Joe Toulon, Odyssey Tour rep): “The O-Works Red is his baby. He did some tinkering around with a White Hot OG #7, but that was more about testing a putter in a different weight. He just needed a fresh look and the silver finish on the OG gave him that. But it was a temporary change before he went back to the O-Works Red. He knows what to expect with the O-Works putter — and that’s huge.”

On why he uses a custom black White Hot insert: “I think people see it and assume it’s a different insert — but it’s not. It’s still the same White Hot in a black finish. He’s taken to the more muted look the black insert provides. What I will say is it’s not a permanent thing for Xander. It’s the look he likes at the moment, but it could always change. He tried the traditional white insert when he used the White Hot OG 7 earlier this year, so he’s open to different looks depending on how he’s feeling.”

On his preference for the 7 head shape: “He feels like it’s something he can align easily. The crank hosel gives him that little bit of toe hang that matches up with his preferred path and rotation, which is something he and his putting coach, Derek Uyeda, work on quite a bit with Quintic. He wants to know those numbers and be comfortable with what he sees from that putter.”

On how he tests putters: “He’s not someone who’s going to make wholesale changes. He’s going to test each variable at a time. When we went to the silver White Hot OG for a time, he like added black lines — instead of white — to the silver head because he wanted a fresh look and he felt it improved his alignment. That may have been where he figured the silver with the white insert was a good visual, so when he switched back to the O-Works Red, because hes’ comfortable with that one, he felt the black insert was the more muted look, similar to what he saw with the silver putter. He’s very meticulous and thinks about those things before ever making a change.”

On what weekend golfers can learn from Xander’s putting process: “He calibrates himself everyday on the green. Before he starts on his putting practice, he gets on a putting mirror with the same right-to-left and left-to-right putts and trains his eyes to see things the same way each day. If you don’t check in on things like that, things can change from week-to-week with your eye line and visuals. You might putt great one week and poor the next and don’t know what changed. His calibration process removes a bunch of those variables. That ensures nothing is going to get too far off.”

On variables he’s reticent to change: “He’s open to different alignment aids, lofts and has tried lighter builds before, but the overall length and grip are two things he’s less inclined to mess with. Whenever I make up something for him, those are two things I don’t typically touch. I know he tried out the arm-lock grip for a hot minute, but for the most part he’s been in the same grip and putter length for the last four or five years.”

Schauffele’s putter specs

Model: Odyssey O-Works Red 7CH

Length: 34 3/8 inches (end of grip)

Lofts: 2.75 degrees (also has a backup with 4 degrees)

Lie angle: 71.75 degrees

Alignment: Top line and tracers in white paint fill

Insert: White Hot (painted black)

Grip: SuperStroke Traxion 2.0 Tour (10-gram weight)

Swingweight: D 7.5

Total weight: 517.5 grams

Shaft: Black steel (stepped)

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The post Have Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay become the U.S.’s new dominant duo? appeared first on Golf.

The post Have Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay become the U.S.’s new dominant duo? appeared first on Golf.

Team Schauffele/Cantlay reached the 14th in a state of euphoria. They were 5 up with five holes to play, and needed only to find the putting surface on the 223-yard, lake-defended par-3 to close things out. The two players — ranked 4th and 5th in the world, respectively — walked arm-in-arm, smiles plastered on their faces. Once again, they had utterly dominated their match-play opponents. Soon they would be basking the glow of another shared victory.

But then something odd happened. After a short conversation, Cantlay swung first, a skyball that started off the toe of the club and ended short left of the green. Then came Schauffele. Another mishit, this one starting right and careening off a bank into a collection area.

Their opponents, Hideki Matsuyama and Tom Kim, both found the green with their tee shots. A few minutes later, Schauffele and Cantlay watched as Kim poured in his birdie putt to extend the match.

“Pat and I, unfortunately, normally one of us will save each other,” Schauffele said later of his pairing’s effort on the 14th. “But we hit two of our worst tee shots all week on the same hole.”

Finally, the U.S. Presidents Cup team’s juggernaut pairing looked human.

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Can anyone stop Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay? Goodness, it doesn’t look that way.

At the Presidents Cup, Schauffele and Cantlay have not just beat opponents, they have embarrassed them. It’s the continuation of a growing trend for the uber-talented friends, a pattern that has them morphing quickly into the United States’ most lethal match-play pairing.

On Thursday, Schauffele and Cantlay stuck an early knife in the Internationals hopes in their first match against their opponent’s only experienced pairing, Matsuyama and Adam Scott. In a sign of confidence, captain Davis Love III put Schauffele and Cantlay out first for the heavily favored Americans and offered a simple message: take care of business. The two golfers wasted no time getting to work, trading birdie after birdie until they walked off the course after the 13th hole with a 6-and-5 throttling.

The victory moved Schauffele and Cantlay to 6-2-0 as teammates and 4-0-0 in the last 12 months (5-0-0 if you count the PGA Tour’s Zurich Classic, where Schauffele and Cantlay broke the tournament scoring record), a stretch in which the pair’s average margin of victory is 4 up.

“They don’t even need to talk to the captains anymore,” NBC Sports’ John Wood said Friday. “‘Just tell us our tee time for the first round and we’ll see you there.’ Just throwing more and more coal on the fire and when they get the train going, it’s unbelievable how good they play together.”

Of course, it hasn’t always been this easy. At the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in 2019, captain Tiger Woods paired the two rookies together for much of team play. With the Americans on their heels in the opening days, their play sagged.

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“We were sort of put in the fire there playing all matches,” Schauffele remembers. “We were both rookies there. We knew each other pretty well, but you get to know each other really well when you’re in these team rooms. Probably in Australia is when we became very close, and we continued our friendship from there.”

The friendship blossomed into a full-blown bromance at the Ryder Cup in Whistling Straits, where the two golfers went 2-0-0 together in a triumphant American win. On a historically topsy-turvy U.S. team, Schauffele and Cantlay were stronger than granite on the course, and tighter than anyone off it. Then came the 2022 season, the win at the Zurich Classic, the shared trip to Napa Valley, and, at long last, the Presidents Cup.

When they arrived at Quail Hollow, it was less of a question of “if” they would be paired together at the Presidents Cup than “when.” (“If it’s cool with you guys, we’re just going to run it back,” Love told Schauffele and Cantlay.)

These days, Schauffele and Cantlay are beginning to draw more attention than the U.S.’s other high-profile pairing, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. At least some of that is due to personality. Thomas and Spieth play a high-flying style that is dazzling and very often terrifying. Schauffele and Cantlay, on the other hand, are relentless.

“Our style of play is very similar,” Schauffele agrees. “Throw it to the fat part of the greens, try to take advantage of par-5s, low stress.”

Low stress, and very often, high reward. These are the benefits of sharing the same style and, it often appears, the same brain.

“I feel like Melbourne, we played all of the first four matches with each other,” Schauffele said. “Ever since, we’ve just felt really comfortable playing this format with each other. The New Orleans tournament this year kind of secured that feeling between the two of us, and we’re just going to ride that hot streak.”

Their bid for 7-3-0 will have to wait until at least Saturday afternoon at the Presidents Cup. On late Friday evening, Love announced he would not be playing Schauffele and Cantlay in Saturday’s morning foursomes session.

At long last, it seems, Schauffele and Cantlay have met their match: their captain.

NEWSLETTER

The post Have Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay become the U.S.’s new dominant duo? appeared first on Golf.

The post Who’s playing in the Presidents Cup? Meet the U.S. and International teams appeared first on Golf.

The post Who’s playing in the Presidents Cup? Meet the U.S. and International teams appeared first on Golf.

Due to the pandemic, this will be the first Presidents Cup since 2019, when the Tiger Woods-captained U.S. team narrowly edged the Ernie Els-led International squad with a miraculous come-from-behind win in Sunday singles.

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The U.S. team holds a dominating 10-1-1 record in the matches and most expect a similarly dominate performance with LIV Golf defectors being ineligible to play in this year’s event and taking the hardest toll on Trevor Immelman’s International team.

Without further ado, let us introduce you to the players who are playing this year.

United States Team

*denotes captain’s pick

Captain: Davis Love III

Love was a six-time member of the U.S. Presidents Cup team and compiled a 16-8-4 record in those matches. Love — who was born in Charlotte, N.C., home of this week’s host, Quail Hollow Club — won 21 times on the PGA Tour, including one major win at the 1997 PGA Championship. He also notably won the 2015 Wyndham Championship at the age of 51, becoming the third-oldest winner in PGA Tour history. Love was an assistant captain on the 2013, 2015 and 2017 Presidents Cup teams and captained the 2012 and 2016 Ryder Cup teams.

Sam Burns

Career Presidents Cup record: First appearance

Burns may have been overshadowed by close friend Scottie Scheffler in the early part of the 2021-22 season, but the Louisianan had a break out year himself, winning three times, including taking down Scheffler in a playoff at the Charles Schwab Challenge in May. This will be his first appearance at either the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup.

Patrick Cantlay

Record: 3-2-0 in one appearance (2019)

Cantlay had another solid year in 2022, winning once while defending his crown at the BMW Championship in Wilmington and teaming up with Xander Schauffele to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He played all of his matches in 2019 with Schauffele and figures to do so again. Cantlay was also very successful at last year’s Ryder Cup where he compiled a 3-0-1 record at Whistling Straits, the one tie coming in the only match he wasn’t paired with Schauffele.

Tony Finau

Record: 0-1-3 in one appearance (2019)

The big-hitting Finau had a slow start to the season before catching fire over the summer, notching five top-5s in a stretch of eight events, including back-to-back wins at the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic in July. He somewhat surprisingly did not notch a win in his only Presidents Cup appearance in 2019. He only had one loss in four matches, however, and he’ll be looking for a new partner as both his partners from 2019, Matt Kuchar and Bryson DeChambeau, are not playing this year. He’s picked up three wins in his two Ryder Cups in 2018 and 2021.

Max Homa*

Record: First appearance

Homa comes in as perhaps the hottest player in the matches. He won in dramatic fashion last week at the PGA Tour season opening Fortinet Championship, holing a chip shot from off the 18th green to win. He also finished a career best tied for fifth in the Tour Championship in his previous start. This will be his first team match appearance.

Billy Horschel*

Record: First appearance

If you were shocked to learn Horschel is making his first ever appearance in either the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup this week, you’re not alone. Horschel’s career resume includes seven PGA Tour titles, including this year’s Memorial Tournament, and the 2014 FedEx Cup. He’s had a mixed bag of a season, missing four of last eight cuts on the PGA Tour, but with the win in Columbus sandwiched between two of them. He did earn a top 10 in his most recent appearance during his title defense at the DP World Tour’s BMW PGA Championship.

Kevin Kisner*

Record: 2-0-2 in one appearance (2017)

Kisner is the oldest player on Team USA’s roster and has become known as somewhat of a match play savant, including a win at the 2019 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and owning an undefeated record at the 2017 Presidents Cup. His best finish this past season was a second at — you guessed it — the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, but he did rack up five other top 10s. Kisner will also be looking for a new partner as he played with Phil Mickelson in all three team matches in 2017.

Collin Morikawa*

Record: First appearance

Morikawa came out just as hot as his first three years on Tour to begin this season with five straight finishes of T7 or better, but he fell back to earth a little toward the end of the year, his first on Tour without a win. Although he did lead the U.S. Open through 36 holes, he struggled Saturday and was out of contention by Sunday. The two-time major winner, who is still just 25 years old, showed better form at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August with a T5 finish, but needed to be one of Love’s six captain’s selections to make it to Quail Hollow. He led the U.S. team in qualifying for the Ryder Cup last year and went 3-0-1 at Whistling Straits, his lone tie coming in singles.

Xander Schauffele

Record: 3-2-0 in one appearance (2019)

Like Finau, Schauffele also had a strong end to the season, finishing in the top 20 in all but one of his last 11 events. Again, like Finau, he notched back-to-back wins at the Travelers Championship and Genesis Scottish Open. He also teamed with Cantlay for a team win at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and figures to see a lot of his close friend whom he has a 4-2-0 record with in Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup matches.

Scottie Scheffler

Record: First appearance

Scheffler has come a long way from being a captain’s selection at last year’s Ryder Cup. The Texan notched his first four PGA Tour wins last season, including a major victory at the Masters, and earned the World No. 1 ranking. While he didn’t come away with the FedEx Cup title, PGA Tour Player of The Year honors are a decent consolation — as well as the $5.75 million he got for finishing T2 at East Lake. He went undefeated, going 2-0-1 at Whistling Straits, teaming with Bryson DeChambeau in two four-ball matches. He also beat Kisner at this year’s WGC-Match Play.

Jordan Spieth*

Record: 8-5-1 in three appearances (2013, 2015, 2017)

After missing the 2019 matches, Spieth is back on the U.S. team at just the right time. With stalwarts like Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed absent this year, Spieth and Justin Thomas are the only players with multiple Presidents Cup matches under their belt coming into the week. The 29-year-old notched a win at the RBC Heritage this season and finished a respectable tied for 13th in the FedEx Cup. He carries a career 16-12-4 record in U.S. team cup matches and played with Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed in all of his partner matches in 2015 and 2017. At last year’s Ryder Cup, he paired most often with good buddy Justin Thomas.

Justin Thomas

Record: 6-2-2 in two appearances (2017, 2019)

Thomas may not have met all of his preseason goals, but he notched 11 top 10s last season and his second major title at the PGA Championship. He brings with him the most impressive U.S. team match record, going 12-4-3 across two Presidents Cups and two Ryder Cups. In his two previous Presidents Cups, he paired with Tiger Woods, Rickie Fowler and Daniel Berger, all of whom are not playing this week. He figures to play more with Spieth as he did twice at Whistling Straits.

Cameron Young*

Record: First appearance

Young had a debut season to remember, notching six top-three finishes and was one of two rookies to qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship. Those top finishes also include just missing out on the playoff at the PGA Championship by one stroke, and the memorable eagle finish at the Open Championship at St. Andrews to earn the runner-up spot.

International Team

*denotes captain’s pick

Captain: Trevor Immelman (South Africa)

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Immelman is the youngest captain in International team history at just 42 years old. The South African is a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, including one major, holding off Tiger Woods to win the 2008 Masters. He’s also picked up six victories around the world on the DP World Tour and Sunshine Tour. He’s a two-time veteran of the Presidents Cup and served as assistant captain under Ernie Els in 2019. Many fans will know him now for his broadcasting as he is expected to take over as the lead analyst for CBS’s golf coverage, following Nick Faldo.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout* (South Africa)

Record: First appearance

Bezuidenhout had a solid rookie year, making 20 cuts in 24 starts on the PGA Tour with 10 top-25 finishes. He’s perhaps better known in Europe, having a breakout year in 2020 while notching three victories including the Alfred Dunhill Championship. His best finish on the PGA Tour in 2022 was a T2 showing at the John Deere Classic and he advanced to the second FedEx Cup Playoff event at the BMW Championship. He’s one of five Presidents Cup first-timers selected by Immelman.

Corey Conners (Canada)

Record: First appearance

Conners played his way to the Tour Championship for the third time of his career thanks to 20 made cuts in 25 starts and four top-10 finishes. One of those top 10s came last month at the BMW Championship where he finished in T5, but he missed the cut last week in the PGA Tour’s season-opening Fortinet Championship. The Canadian has one win under his belt on the PGA Tour, coming at the 2019 Valero Texas Open.

Cam Davis* (Australia)

Record: First appearance

Davis notched five top-10s in 25 starts last season on the PGA Tour. His best golf came toward the end of the season when he made his last 10 cuts in a row. His best year on Tour came a season ago when he made 21 of 26 cuts and notched his debut win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. His cuts-made streak broke last week at the Fortinet Championship where rounds of 74 and 70 sent him to Charlotte early.

Sungjae Im (South Korea)

Record: 3-1-1 in one appearance (2019)

The iron man of the PGA Tour, nobody plays more golf than Sungjae Im. Im had another strong season on Tour in 2021-22, winning for the second time at the Shriners Children’s Open and finishing strong with three T2 finishes in his last five events, including at the Tour Championship. The World No. 19 will be heavily relied upon as one of just four veterans on the International team with Presidents Cup experience. All three of his partners from Royal Melbourne — Adam Hadwin, Abraham Ancer and Cameron Smith — are not on the team this year.

Tom Kim (South Korea)

Record: First appearance

Kim burst onto the scene in 2022, finishing third at the Genesis Scottish Open, seventh at the Rocket Mortgage, and then capturing his first win at the Wyndham Championship in August to secure his PGA Tour membership and even qualify for the FedEx Cup Playoffs. He was only a special temporary member when he won, but had earned enough points to get his full status for 2023. He’s now exempt through 2024 and he auto-qualified for the International team.

K. H. Lee* (South Korea)

Record: First appearance

Lee has two PGA Tour titles and both have come at the AT&T Byron Nelson. At this year’s tournament, Lee outdueled Jordan Spieth down the stretch to defend his title. The rest of his season wasn’t much to write home about, with almost as many missed cuts (7) as top-25s (8), until he used T20 and T5 finishes in the first two Playoff events to catapult his way into his first Tour Championship appearance.

Hideki Matsuyama (Japan)

Record: 6-7-4 in four appearances (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019)

Hard to believe the 30-year-old Matuyama is about to start his fifth Presidents Cup, but the Japanese star heads to Quail Hollow as the alpha of the International squad. It was another good year for the World No. 17 on the PGA Tour, finishing 11th in the FedEx Cup after winning twice, with one of those victories coming last fall in his home country at the Zozo Championship. Only one of his previous partners, Adam Scott, is on the roster this week and they haven’t played together since Matsuyama’s Presidents Cup debut in 2013.

Sebastián Muñoz* (Colombia)

Record: First appearance

Munoz hasn’t quite played up to the same level as he did in his breakout season in 2019-20 when he got his first win at the Sanderson Farms Championship and then went on to finish 8th in the final FedEx Cup standings thanks to a solid performance at East Lake, but his 2021-22 campaign was enough to earn a captain’s pick. He had two runner-up finishes on the season.

Si Woo Kim* (South Korea)

Record: 1-2-0 in one appearance (2017)

Kim was the only one of Immelman’s captain’s selections with previous Presidents Cup experience, winning a four-ball match and losing in foursomes and singles matches in New Jersey in 2017. That season was also the year of his signature win, The Players Championship. He won in early 2021 at The American Express, but has not played well as of late, only recording one top 10s in 21-22, last fall at the Sanderson Farms Championship. Both of his partners from 2017 are not on this year’s team.

Taylor Pendrith* (Canada)

Record: First appearance

Normally for a rookie, an injury can be devastating. Taylor Pendrith missed time between The Players in March and the Barbasol Championship in July because of a rip injury, but it didn’t stop him from earning nine top 25s in 16 starts. Since coming back from the injury, Pendrith finished worse than T13th once in six starts, including a tie for second at the Rocket Mortgage Classic and a tie for eighth at the BMW Championship.

Mito Pereira (Chile)

Record: First appearance

Heartbreak at the PGA Championship overshadowed what was otherwise a very respectable debut season on the PGA Tour for Pereira. He opened the year with a solo third at the Fortinet Championship and had two other top 10s, including at Southern Hills. Of course his season will be remembered for the leading the PGA through 71 holes, only to hit his tee shot in the water on 18, leading to a double bogey and missing the playoff. Pereira was rumored to be joining LIV Golf, but reportedly is waiting to jump so he could play in the Presidents Cup.

Adam Scott (Australia)

Record: 16-22-6 in nine appearances

The 42-year old hasn’t missed a Presidents Cup since 2001 and is by far the most experienced player on either team, having more appearances than the entire International team combined and as many as the entire American team combined. His 10th appearance will break his own record for the Internationals. He also has a chance to tie or pass Ernie Els’ International record of 21 points this week. Aging like fine wine, the 42-year-old didn’t win on the PGA Tour this year, but only missed two cuts all year and had five top 10s. His back-to-back T5s to start the FedEx Cup Playoffs helped him play his way into the Tour Championship from outside the top 70 at the end of the regular season. Matsuyama is the only teammate his paired with before on the International roster.

NEWSLETTER

The post Who’s playing in the Presidents Cup? Meet the U.S. and International teams appeared first on Golf.

The post To better understand LIV vs. PGA Tour, I talked to a top player in the fray appeared first on Golf.

The post To better understand LIV vs. PGA Tour, I talked to a top player in the fray appeared first on Golf.

The world of men’s professional golf has begun imitating the world at large. Pick a side. Dig in deep. Cover your ears. That’s how we get Shane Lowry winning “one for the good guys” as a Tour loyalist triumphing over LIV defectors. It’s how we get to Talor Gooch trumpeting that LIV’s atmosphere was like a Ryder Cup. We’re prone to simplicity, hyperbole, tribalism. So it goes.

As for Schauffele: How long you got? The No. 5 player in the world is thoughtful. He’s intentionally understated. He chooses his words carefully. And now that the job requirements of his profession have surpassed athletic excellence to include understanding of geopolitics and the legal system, whew, sometimes it’s easier to say relatively little instead. While his PGA Tour peers were gearing up for an awkward showdown at the BMW PGA Championship, Schauffele went off the grid. He and Maya, his wife, joined Patrick Cantlay in Napa for what turned out to be Cantlay’s engagement weekend. Then he laid relatively low, fulfilling a couple sponsor obligations in southern California (his original home) before packing up his car for a road trip to Las Vegas (his new home). That’s where I caught up with him, sitting in traffic, to recap an unforgettable PGA Tour season. And once he knows what he wants to say, Schauffele isn’t afraid to do so. He’s a straight shooter. You can listen to the entire chat on the Drop Zone podcast below (or here on Spotify).

We worked our way through his entire year, beginning at last fall’s Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, where he won three points and then worked his way through an assortment of High Noons and champagne before a memorable performance at Team USA’s winning press conference. We dived into his red-hot stretch of wins, too, and his relief at getting over the line on the PGA Tour after so many close calls. “I think subconsciously it definitely was [weighing on me] more than I wanted to admit,” Schauffele said. And then, as all golf conversations do these days, ours gravitated to LIV vs. the PGA Tour.

Of late, Schauffele has made it clear his interests are with the PGA Tour. But that’s not to say he was never curious about an alternative to the current setup. He went to the Saudi International, after all, where there was plenty of talk about the rival circuit. But he said there was nothing more to that decision than dollars and cents.

“I went to collect an appearance fee, I’m not going to sit here and lie about it,” he said. “Nothing really came of it except playing a tournament on a different continent and me collecting some cash.”

See? Straight shooter, once he gets around to it.

We talked about the Genesis Invitational, which was a particularly pivotal week for the LIV-PGA Tour dynamic. That was the week LIV seemed to be getting close to launch. It was also the week that Alan Shipnuck’s book excerpt was released, an excerpt that included biography subject Phil Mickelson opening up about his feelings on the Saudis. His “scary m—–f—–s” comment made headlines. Mickelson vanished. The Tour secured vocal commitments from top pros — Schauffele included. It was a strange chapter in the saga given Schauffele and Mickelson are friendly and were in the habit of playing sporadic practice rounds together at home. Schauffele wasn’t eager to condemn Mickelson; he offered praise for his general vision. But he didn’t let him entirely off the hook, either.

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“He said what he said, so in terms of feeling bad for him, it’s hard,” Schauffele said. But like some other players, he’s somewhat sympathetic to Mickelson’s claim that he thought his comments were off the record, calling it a pro’s “worst nightmare” when speaking to the media.

As for Mickelson’s larger goal? When it comes to leverage, Schauffele thinks he had a point.

“The main points he was trying to make, and what he really wanted in his vision, maybe we’re living it out now on the PGA Tour, and it’s unfortunate he isn’t a part of that, because this is pretty much what he so wanted,” he said. “But at the same time, he kind of knew it would take something drastic, and he had to pick which side of the fence he wanted to be on.”

Thus far they’ve found themselves on opposite sides of that fence.

Schauffele met with the LIV group. “I felt like it was stupid for me not to do that,” he said. He wasn’t sure how things would break from there. Wasn’t sure what the end result would be. Now, though, he thinks there has unquestionably been financial gain for all players involved.

“Everyone that’s gone over there has obviously gotten a lot of guaranteed money, and people that are on this side of the fence here are making more money because of the LIV tour and what they’ve presented,” he said.

Schauffele was also at the PGA Tour players’ meeting in Delaware that yielded a relatively unified front; he felt that was a turning point for the collective power of its players. He appreciated the commanding presence of Tiger Woods plus the newer leadership of Rory McIlroy and gave credit to Cantlay, too, who he called “a very good thinker.”

“One of the things I’m wary of is that we need to continue to stay together during this process because we are stronger together,” he said. “So yeah, absolutely, walking out of that room I think everybody felt a lot better than they did before they walked in.”

As for the flow of pros from one tour to the other? Schauffele is done being surprised when new pros leave. Loyalty to the establishment has proven flexible, to say the least.

“In terms of other guys going over there, I really couldn’t tell you,” he said. “I think everybody has a number or a reason, and they don’t seem too afraid to shell out. So I could imagine, if you tell me five or 10 more guys are going to go in the next year, I wouldn’t bet against you. I don’t know any more names personally, but the way things are going, based on our short historical analysis here, you wouldn’t bet against it, either.”

You can listen to the entire conversation with Schauffele in the player below or on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

The author (cautiously) welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.

The post To better understand LIV vs. PGA Tour, I talked to a top player in the fray appeared first on Golf.

The post Was Phil Mickelson right? Xander Schauffele weighs in: ‘This is what he wanted’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Was Phil Mickelson right? Xander Schauffele weighs in: ‘This is what he wanted’ appeared first on Golf.

The Olympic gold medal winner (and PGA Tour mainstay) found himself stuck between a rock and a hard place when Mickelson infamously accused the Tour of “obnoxious greed” back in January, igniting a fight that has spanned the majority of the year and included Mickelson’s unceremonious defection to LIV Golf and subsequent multi-year suspension from the Tour. Here was Mickelson, one of Schauffele’s mentors, friends and practice partners, battling against Schauffele’s place of work, the PGA Tour, the platform that had allowed Schauffele to earn millions and make an international name for himself.

In recent weeks, that awkwardness has only grown more pronounced. First, there was the announcement from the PGA Tour that outlined wholesale format and structural changes in order to better compensate its top players. The changes include expanded bonus pools and high-purse “elevated” events for the game’s top players, and were made with the no-so-subtle intention of slowing the bleed of talent following Mickelson from the PGA Tour to LIV. Then, there was Mickelson’s victory lap press conference at LIV Boston, in which he lauded players for achieving the changes he’d fought for, and the PGA Tour for “magically” finding the money to fund those changes.

On this week’s episode of “The Drop Zone,” Schauffele spoke for the first time about his perspective from the middle of the fray, and about making sense of Mickelson’s “success” (or lack thereof) in reaching the change he so desired. A wide-ranging interview encompassing the entire PGA Tour season eventually landed, inevitably, on Mickelson.

“I think recent articles come out, where people were like, ‘well he wasn’t too far off, he just said some unsavory things,'” Schauffele said, referring to Mickelson’s other now-infamous interview with The Firepit Collective‘s Alan Shipnuck, in which he called LIV Golf’s financiers ‘scary motherf—–s.’

“It’s unfortunate that he wasn’t able to get his point across or his point was taken kind of aggressively. Not out of context, but without him really knowing. It’s sort of every player’s nightmare, I guess — that’s why we get scared to talk to you guys.”

While Schauffele understands Mickelson’s plight (Phil claimed he believed their conversation was off the record, a statement Shipnuck disputes), he’s not quite sure he reaches the degree of feeling sympathy for Phil.

“He said what he said, so in terms of feeling bad for him, it’s hard,” Xander said. “But at the same time, whether he was emotional and behind closed doors, that’s one thing.”

Still, Xander says, even if Mickelson’s methods were unsavory, it’s hard to argue with their effectiveness. Phil sought to improve the conditions for the sport’s top players, and to that degree, he was successful.

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“He knew it would take something drastic, and he had to pick which side of the fence he wanted to be on,” Schauffele said. “He’s been such a staple on the PGA Tour and such a staple in our game of golf, that it’s… I don’t hold anything against him or think of him much differently. Regardless of what people have written about him.”

The irony, of course, is that of all the people to bear the fruit of Phil’s labor, Phil himself won’t be one of them.

“The main points he was trying to make, and what he really wanted in his vision, you know maybe we’re living it out now on the PGA Tour,” Schauffele said. “It’s unfortunate he isn’t a part of that, because this is what he so wanted.”

To hear the rest of Schauffele’s Drop Zone interview, including his thoughts on the whole of LIV Golf, check out the link above, or download the episode on Spotify here or Apple Podcasts here.

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The post Star leaderboard, big money and LIV Golf: The biggest storylines for Sunday at the Tour Championship appeared first on Golf.

The post Star leaderboard, big money and LIV Golf: The biggest storylines for Sunday at the Tour Championship appeared first on Golf.

Third-round play, at 6:36 p.m. ET Saturday, was suspended for the second time due to lightning in the area, and the PGA Tour called play for the day shortly after 7 o’clock. Fourteen players, including leader Scheffler, will resume their third round at 9:45 a.m. Sunday.

Assuming no major delays on Sunday, the FedEx Cup will awarded, along with it the $18 million first-place prize.

With that, here’s four stories to follow for Sunday’s action:

Long day ahead

Thankfully, the Tour Championship features just a 29-man field, which will make it much easier to get everyone around the golf course on Sunday.

That said, the final twosome of Scheffler and Schauffele were in the 13th fairway when play was suspended, and will have five-and-a-half holes to complete when play resumes. Scheffler, who is even for the round and 19-under for the week, will sleep on a one-stroke lead over Schauffele, the smallest after any day of the tournament.

Many others in contention for the huge FedEx Cup bonus purse will be playing extra golf on Sunday. That is except for Justin Thomas, who has just a 2-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole left to play. That would get him to 15-under for the tournament.

Going down the leaderboard, Sungjae Im, in third, has four holes to play; Rory McIlroy, in fourth, has two holes remaining; and among those tied at 14-under and in a tie for fifth is the penultimate pairing of Jon Rahm and Patrick Cantlay, who will play their second shots to the 14th hole when play resumes.

Close race

Scheffler’s lead, which was at one point seven shots during Friday’s second round and started at two to begin the week, is now just one over Schauffele. Schauffele twice pulled even with Scheffler on Saturday, but the pair mostly held in place, with Scheffler playing even-par golf for 12 holes, and Schauffele shooting one-under.

What looked like a two-horse race at one point has become anything but, with eight players within five shots of the lead going into Sunday. Schauffele started the day two back of Scheffler, but four clear of anyone else.

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“I wasn’t playing my best, but I was kind of hanging in there,” Scheffler said in a brief media session. “I was looking forward to giving myself some opportunities at the end, but then the horn went off.”

Im has a 4-under round through 14 holes going to jump into third at 16-under. Rory McIlroy was 5-under and is at 15-under. There’s a group of four players at 14-under, including Thomas, who is very likely to move to to 15-under once he makes his shorty in the morning to cap off a round of 63.

Big money on the line

In case you haven’t heard, a ton of money is at stake, as this is the final event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. A total of $75 million is on the line Sunday, including $18 million to the winner.

Second place will net $6.5 million. Even the last-place finisher on Sunday will cash a considerable check, at $510k. Will Zalatoris technically finishes last because of his WD earlier in the week and gets $500k, but that is still more that Tour’s leading money winner from 1984 [Tom Watson] made that season.

LIV Golf rumors

Of course, no story talking about the PGA Tour and looking ahead these days can be done without mentioning LIV Golf. Several outlets reported Saturday that two golfers playing in the Tour Championship — Open Championship winner Cameron Smith and Joaquin Niemann — would be joining the controversial, Saudi-backed league.

Smith completed his third round on Saturday, firing a 2-under 68 to sit at 8-under and in a tie for 18th after starting the week sixth in the FedEx Cup standings and with a 4-under starting score.

Niemann still has four holes to play and is at 12-under and in a tie for 10th.

The reports indicate that both players, along with several others, including Harold Varner III, Mito Pereira and Mark Leishman, will be in the field for next week’s LIV Golf Invitational Boston.

Quotable

Scheffler on his Saturday night plans: “Just go home and get some sleep and food — sorry, food and then sleep.”

The post Star leaderboard, big money and LIV Golf: The biggest storylines for Sunday at the Tour Championship appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘I’m not a fan’: Is the Tour Championship format working? Pros are lukewarm at best appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘I’m not a fan’: Is the Tour Championship format working? Pros are lukewarm at best appeared first on Golf.

Yes, most weekend warriors can relate to this week’s format at the Tour Championship because it features a staggered start.

Or in other words; handicap strokes.

Well, sort of. Instead of worse players (or in this case, lower-ranked) being given strokes to help level the playing field, it’s the top players who are given the advantage and given a head start based on their play this season.

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For the players, it’s unusual to say the least. For Scottie Scheffler, who starts the event with a two-shot lead at 10 under by virtue of being the FedEx Cup leader, he doesn’t even recall if he’s ever been given strokes before.

“I can’t remember anything off the top of my head if I was ever the one getting strokes. I’m not going to give you a hard ‘no,’ but I can’t think of any off the top of my head,” Scheffler said Wednesday. “It’s nice being on this end of the strokes versus having to give them up to everybody, which is nice, like I have to do at home.”

Patrick Cantlay took advantage of the format last year, winning the BMW Championship the week before to springboard to the top of the standings and start the Tour Championship with a two-shot lead. He went on to the win the tournament, and by extension the FedEx Cup by a stroke over Jon Rahm.

However, that doesn’t necessarily mean he likes the system, especially considering he won the BMW again this season, but instead starts two behind Scheffler this week.

“I’m not a fan,” Cantlay said bluntly Tuesday. “I think there’s got to be a better system, although frankly I don’t know what that better system is.”

Perhaps no one may have more reason to gripe with the Tour Championship format than Cantlay’s friend, Xander Schauffele. Schauffele has a remarkable record at East Lake, winning in his first appearance there in 2017 as a rookie.

Since the format change in 2019, Schauffele has never finished outside the top-5 at the Tour Championship and in 2020, Schauffele had the best aggregate score at East Lake by three strokes. But that year, Dustin Johnson played well enough to keep Schauffele out of the mix and thanks to his start atop the leaderboard, won the tournament by three over Schauffele.

Schauffele’s starting score that week: three under.

“I’ve obviously been on sort of both sides of that fence, too, from a competition standpoint,” Schauffele said Tuesday. “I understand why it’s the way it is, but I think the overall consensus just from talking to players is maybe a sit-down needs to happen to sort of reshape it or try to make it better, at least come up with options and then show it to us or just give it a whirl.”

It seems like a sit down between players did well for the Tour’s schedule and structure, but the opinions of what needs to be changed seem far from agreed upon.

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U.S. Open Champion Matt Fitzpatrick brought up how he finished 15th in the standings and will start this week at three under, while Cameron Smith came in 6th, but is only one stroke ahead. He suggested the gap may be “a little bit unfair.”

And of course with a subject as polarizing as the format, there are still players who like the format, Fitzpatrick said.

“I actually spoke to [Collin Morikawa] about it last week, and he defended it,” Fitzpatrick said.

Morikawa entered last year’s playoffs as the No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings. He underperformed in the playoffs, missing the cut at the Northern Trust and finishing tied for 63rd at the BMW. He played poorly at East Lake too, and walked away with a T26 finish in the FedEx Cup.

Fitzpatrick chalked it up to the playoff events having too many FedEx Cup points, being worth four times as many as a regular Tour stop.

“He’s got more class than me, I guess, I’d be fuming if I was him,” Fitzpatrick said of Morikawa. “I just think it’s hard to sort of do these extra points in our game. I did have a thought that somehow the Playoffs could be match play somehow where it’s a bit more realistic to every other sports playoffs if that’s the way the Tour want to go.”

Match play was something Cantlay said could be part of the “limitless” solutions to the format.

Fitzpatrick said Morikawa continued his defense by comparing the format to playoffs of other sports. That’s where Fitzpatrick disagreed.

“Golf is just so different to the other sports,” he said. “That’s why I think looking at match play would probably be more of an answer because you’ve got a team that makes the Playoffs in last place or whatever and you don’t think they’re going to go anywhere, and then they end up going all the way.

“And then you could have a guy say in 90th gets all the way to the final.”

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It is hard to argue the three FedEx Cup winners were unworthy of the title since the format change. Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Patrick Cantlay each led the PGA Tour in wins during the season in which they won. However, only McIlroy has won the Tour Championship not starting from the pole position at 10 under.

In fact, in 2019 when McIlroy won, Justin Thomas was the pre-round leader at the Tour Championship, despite only winning once that season, the week prior at the BMW Championship.

Regardless of the format, players seem to be treating it the same. Scheffler called his two-stroke lead “nice,” but he said it won’t change how he plays the week.

“I’m still just preparing like it’s a regular four-day event and kind of going from there,” he said. “Definitely haven’t felt like I’ve been sleeping on a lead or anything like that. Just kind of feel like I’m just getting ready for a tournament.”

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The post 3 weeks, 3 countries, 3 wins: Xander Schauffele shines at Genesis Scottish Open appeared first on Golf.

The post 3 weeks, 3 countries, 3 wins: Xander Schauffele shines at Genesis Scottish Open appeared first on Golf.

It didn’t take long to get his next one.

After a quick stop in Ireland, where he won the two-day J.P. McManus Pro-Am, Schauffele outlasted one of the strongest fields in the golfing world with a final-round 70. Despite playing what he called his “worst golf of the week,” he leaned on two late birdies to post seven under par, good for a one-shot win at the Genesis Scottish Open.

“It’s an incredible feeling. Big sense of relief,” Schauffele said post-round. “It was a very stressful day and this is very rewarding.”

Stressful indeed. Schauffele began his day at the Renaissance Club with a two-shot lead and added to it with two spectacular birdies set up by approach shots from outside 200 yards. But it wouldn’t all be smooth sailing. A missed six-footer for birdie at No. 3 kicked off a rough stretch in which he bogeyed three of four holes and finished the front nine at six under for the tournament. Schauffele’s friend Kurt Kitayama had suddenly seized a one-shot lead. Big names lurked close behind, including Schauffele’s good friend Patrick Cantlay and his Ryder Cup teammate Jordan Spieth.

Travel

“I was trying to find something,” Schauffele said. “Every time I wanted to cut it I hit it way right and every time I wanted to draw it I hit it way left. At least it was going the correct direction, but it was going, you know, miles apart.”

He found enough. Schauffele ran off a string of pars, worthy scores on the challenging links test, and then canned a 15-footer for birdie at No. 14 to reclaim the outright lead.

He all but sealed the deal when he found the fairway at the par-5 16th and then hit the green in two, setting up a two-putt birdie and a two-shot cushion.

“I came out of the gates very nicely and kind of hit a wall and was looking a bit sketchy for a little bit, as I like to say,” Schauffele said. “It was nice to sort of steady the ship on the way in.”

He took advantage of the extra stroke at No. 18, where he took iron off the tee, played his second just short of the green and ended up lagging a six-footer near the hole for a tap-in bogey and a one-shot win.

“It’s what links golf promotes, getting the ball in the hole,” Schauffele said. “I was telling myself that, it doesn’t really have to be pretty. It wasn’t very pretty, unfortunately, but I got the ball in the hole and one better than everyone else.”

With the victory, Schauffele — who earned $1.44 million in victory — becomes the first golfer to win consecutive starts on the PGA Tour since Scottie Scheffler won the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and the Masters earlier this year.

It was fitting that Schauffele’s win came in the first-ever co-sanctioned PGA Tour and DP World Tour event; the tournament fell under both umbrellas for the first time. He praised the fans and called it “an honor” to win the first such event.

Schauffele will jump to No. 5 in the world with the win, his highest ranking since late 2021. He’ll also move front and center as a favorite at this week’s Open Championship at St. Andrews, where he’s seeking his first major championship.

“I’m not sure if that’s like a curse or something,” he said with a smile. “I’m going to ignore all the media as much as possible. There’s a few guys like to tell me about history and all, but I’m obviously in good form and going to try to carry that into next week.”

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The post Winner’s bag: Xander Schauffele’s equipment at the 2022 Scottish Open appeared first on Golf.

The post Winner’s bag: Xander Schauffele’s equipment at the 2022 Scottish Open appeared first on Golf.

Driver: Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond S (Mitsubishi Chemical Kaili White 70TX shaft), 10.5 degrees

3-wood: Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond (Mitsubishi Chemical Kaili White 70TX shaft), 15 degrees

Irons: Mizuno MP-20 HMB (3-iron; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shaft), Callaway Apex TCB (4-PW; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts)

Wedges: Callaway Jaws Raw (52 degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts), Titleist Vokey Design SM6 (56 degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shaft) Titleist Vokey Design SM9 (60K degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shaft)

Putter: Odyssey Odyssey O-Works 7CH Red (SuperStroke Traxion 2.0 Tour grip)

Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft X LS

Grips: Golf Pride New Decade Multi Compound

Want to overhaul your bag for 2022? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf. For more on the latest gear news and information, check out our latest Fully Equipped podcast below.

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The post Winner’s Bag: Xander Schauffele at the 2022 Travelers Championship appeared first on Golf.

The post Winner’s Bag: Xander Schauffele at the 2022 Travelers Championship appeared first on Golf.

Driver: Callaway Rogue ST Triple Diamond S (Mitsubishi Chemical Kaili White 70TX shaft), 10.5 degrees

3-wood: Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond (Mitsubishi Chemical Kaili White 70TX shaft), 15 degrees

Utility wood: Callaway Apex UW (Mitsubishi Kai’li White 90 TX shaft), 21 degrees

Irons: Callaway Apex TCB (4-PW; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100)

Wedges: Callaway Jaws RAW (52), Titleist Vokey SM6 (56) Vokey SM9 (60 K-Grind; Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100)

Putter: Odyssey Odyssey O-Works 7CH Red; SuperStroke 2.0 Tour

Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft X LS

Grips: Golf Pride New Decade Multi Comp

Want to overhaul your bag for 2022? Find a fitting location near you at GOLF’s affiliate company True Spec Golf. For more on the latest gear news and information, check out our latest Fully Equipped podcast below.

The post Winner’s Bag: Xander Schauffele at the 2022 Travelers Championship appeared first on Golf.