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GolfWRX Morning 9: Pro-am (and lack thereof) key for Woods, McIlroy | Golf’s winningest putter returns | Titleist TS

Published

7 years ago

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By Ben Alberstadt (ben.alberstadt@golfwrx.com)

September 7, 2018

Good Friday morning, golf fans. Remember: All that golf isn’t going to play itself this weekend.
1. Tiger! (and Rory, too!)
Returning to his Scotty Cameron Newport 2, Tiger Woods was firing on all cylinders during the first round at Aronimink. Ditto, Rory McIlroy.
  • AP Report…”Tiger Woods had his lowest round since his last victory more than five years ago, an 8-under 62 with birdie chances on all but two greens and only one bad swing all day. All it got him at the BMW Championship was a tie for the lead Thursday with Rory McIlroy.”
  • “It was one of those days where it was out there,” McIlroy said.
  • Woods “had failed to break par in the opening round at 10 of his last 11 tournaments. This was a big exception.”
  • “Woods returned to the same putter he has used to win 13 of his 14 majors — his third different putter in as many weeks — and saw some familiar results. He opened with a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 10, shot 29 on the back nine, and then rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 1 to reach 7 under through 10 holes.”
2. A tale of two pro-ams
Here’s a (potentially) interesting note: Rory McIlroy was lights out in the BMW Championship pro-am. He shot 62 in the opening round. Tiger Woods skipped the BMW Championship pro-am (the first time in his career he’s skipped one). He shot 62 as well.
  • “Golf Channel’s Ryan Lavner…”Rory McIlroy joked that his pro-am scoring average is probably 75.7 – “I just don’t try,” he shrugged – but Wednesday’s spin around Aronimink certainly caught his attention.”
  • “On his second nine (the front side), he made seven birdies in a row and then added a birdie on the ninth hole for a 27. In Thursday’s opening round, when his score actually counted, he played his first 14 holes in 9 under par.”
  • “So, including the pro-am, he played a 23-hole stretch in 17 under…”That’s pretty good,” he said.”
3. The return of Excalibur
As you saw during the first round of the BMW Championship, Tiger Woods and his beloved flatstick have ended their separation and are once again an item. The putter, which Woods has used for 13 of his 14 major championship victories, had been on the shelf since the Quicken Loans National in June.
  • We hinted this was a possibility earlier this week after spotting Woods practicing with both his famed Newport 2 and a TaylorMade Juno. Woods arrived at Aronomink without the TaylorMade Ardmore 3 he’s been using for five events prior to last week’s Dell Technologies Championship.
  • Woods used the Juno at TPC Boston to less than satisfying results: Woods was 36th in the field in strokes gained putting and was particularly poor during the final round when he needed 33 putts and lost 1.352 strokes to the field on the greens.
  • After the round, Woods said: “It felt good. My body remembered the feel of that putter and how it swings. I was just letting it rip on the greens.”
  • Our Gianni Magliocco wrote…”Having come into this week battling issues with the flat-stick over his previous two events, Woods will have been delighted with his performance today with his Scotty Cameron Newport 2. Woods gained over two strokes on the field on the bentgrass greens, taking just one round to validate his decision to return to the putter that won him 13 of his 14 major championships.”
4. X trying to make travel plans
Golf Channel’s Nick Menta...”The reigning Rookie of the Year and would-be defending champ at East Lake opened with a 7-under 63 Thursday at the BMW Championship, leaving him one off the pace set by co-leaders Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.”
  • “Schauffele entered this week 41st in FedExCup points, with the top 30 advancing in two weeks to the Tour Championship. Following the PGA Championship, he missed out on automatic qualifying for the U.S. Ryder Cup team when he finished 12th on that points list. And he admitted Thursday that the pressure of trying to qualify for the team has hampered his play following his runner-up finish at The Open.”
  • “Tony Finau is the consensus front-runner to nab the 12th and final spot on the team, but captain Jim Furyk was clear Tuesday night that a few guys remain in the mix.”
  • “I feel like I need a win,” Schauffele said Thursday. “Might not be enough. Tony is an ATM or top-10 machine, you know. He’s been killing it and playing great golf. I feel like if I were Jim right now, I would pick him, to be completely honest. I could win and he could finish in second or third and, you know, I’d be happy with my win and wouldn’t be disappointed with the year.”
Tony is an ATM!
5. Meanwhile, in Europe…
A round one update from the European Masters at Crans-sur-Sierre.
  • EuropeanTour.com…”Maximilian Kieffer fired his lowest opening round for five years to take the lead after day one of the Omega European Masters.”
  • “The German birdied three of his last five holes at Crans-sur-Sierre Golf Club on the way to a 64 that left him at six under, a shot clear of Frenchman Julien Guerrier, Dane Søren Kjeldsen, England’s Andy Sullivan and Japanese Hideto Tanihara.”
  • “Scot David Drysdale, Spaniard Nacho Elvira and South African pair Erik van Rooyen and Justin Walters were then two shots off the lead.”
A glance at the leaderboard: With Kieffer yet to tee off in round two, Tanihara has moved into the lead at 9 under.
6. Casey the leader?
Paul Casey, never at the forefront of European golf, not thought of as a particularly commanding presence, and not often on Ryder Cup squads, is prepared to step up in Paris.
  • Writes Alistair Tait…”Casey makes his return to the competition following a 10-year absence after being handed a wild-card pick from European captain Thomas Bjorn. The 41-year-old Casey is ready to chaperone the five rookies around Le Golf National in Paris to help Europe win back the Ryder Cup. He already has some experience of that from helping Bjorn’s European team win the EurAsia Cup in January.”
  • “Having tasted that experience in Malaysia with Thomas at the helm has given me a sense of the role I can play on and off the golf course,” Casey said. “To play sort of the role that I did in the EurAsia Cup along with Henrik (Stenson), a senior role, is one I’ve obviously never done before. It was great to sample it and get some exposure to it and kind of test myself in that role. I’m relishing that opportunity.”
  • “It’s very satisfying, actually, because I didn’t have that ability in the past. One, I wasn’t old enough and experienced enough. Two, I didn’t need to play that role because we had such great leaders in the team room for the teams I played.”
7. TS launch
In case you missed it, Titleist officially launched the TS drivers and fairway woods yesterday. The artillery as been a minor sensation on Tour, with the majority of staffers having already made the switch-if you recall, for Justin Thomas, TS stands for the s**t.
  • A few morsels from WRX’s pieces introducing the clubs…”To summarize, the TS2 and TS3 drivers have a 20 percent thinner titanium crown than the 917 drivers, allowing weight to be placed lower and deeper for lower CG (center of gravity) and higher MOI (moment of inertia, a measure of forgiveness). The faces also use variable thickness for faster ball speeds across the face, and this year, the faces have been made 6 grams lighter.”
  • “According to Titleist, the faces are so thin now that the scoring lines have to be lasered onto the faces instead of etched, as with previous generations. With the combination of weight savings from the face and crown, Titleist says these drivers have the lowest CG ever for a Titleist driver, and MOI is 12 percent higher than the 917 drivers.”
  • “Additionally, for more club head speed, Titleist says that enhanced aerodynamic shaping of the club heads that reduces drag by up to 20 percent.”
  • “The “Titleist Speed” fairway woods, each measuring 175cc, are made for faster ball speeds with higher launch, lower spin rates and increased MOI (moment of inertia, a measure of forgiveness), according to Titleist
  • “To achieve those results, Titleist designed the crowns of the new fairways to be 27 percent thinner than the previous 917 fairways, thus allowing engineers to move weight lower and deeper in the club heads. Also, a new variable thickness face helped to save weight from the face, and helps to deliver faster ball speeds across the face. With the weight savings from the crown and face, Titleist says MOI is up 11 percent compared to its 917 predecessors.”
  • “While Titleist took the Active Recoil Channel out of the driver, the company put a new Active Recoil Channel in the TS2 and TS3 fairways, made to launch the ball higher; Titleist says  since fairways need to hit the ball off the turf, and thus, lower on the face, the Active Recoil Channel remains a “crucial technology.” The new channel in the fairways is designed to be “higher” for more face flexibility to increase ball speeds.”
Full articles here and here.
8. A (tenuous) Burt Reynolds golf connection
Credit to Golfweek’s Bill Speros for unearthing this gem featuring the recently departed Burt Reynolds.
  • He writes…”ESPN used Burt Reynolds as the Almighty Himself in a spot promoting the-then Senior PGA Tour back in 2009. In this spot, “God” explains why he used his divine powers to create the every man, cigar-smoking pro golfer Larry Laoretti. This clip was part of a campaign promoting the Senior Tour as “Heaven on Earth.”
RIP, Mr. Reynolds.
9. Coach K and the Cuppers
The U.S. Ryder Cup squad went out for dinner Wednesday in Philadelphia. Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Kzrzyewski was photographed with 11 of 12 team members, Jim Furyk, and his vice captains. Presumably, Coach K had some words of wisdom for the team, reprising the motivational role he played ahead of the U.S. Cup win in 2016.
As a former Philly resident, I’m keen to know where they dined. Anyone heard anything?

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Ben Alberstadt is the Editor-in-Chief at GolfWRX, where he’s led editorial direction and gear coverage since 2018. He first joined the site as a freelance writer in 2012 after years spent working in pro shops and bag rooms at both public and private golf courses, experiences that laid the foundation for his deep knowledge of equipment and all facets of this maddening game. Based in Philadelphia, Ben’s byline has also appeared on PGATour.com, Bleacher Report...and across numerous PGA DFS and fantasy golf platforms. Off the course, Ben is a committed cat rescuer and, of course, a passionate Philadelphia sports fan. Follow him on Instagram @benalberstadt.

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Tour Rundown: Bend, but don’t break

Published

3 weeks ago

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Aug 4, 2025

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I’m going to gush in this intro paragraph, to get the emo stuff done early. I’ve not pulled harder for a professional to win, than Cameron Young. I coach golf in New York state, and each spring, my best golfers head to a state championship in Poughkeepsie. I first saw Cameron there as a 9th grade student. I saw him three more times after that. I reconnecected with Coach Haas from Wake Forest, an old interview subject from my days on the Old Gold and Black, the Wake newspaper. He was there to watch Cameron. After four years at Wake Forest, Young won on the Korn Ferry Tour, made it to the big tour, almost won two majors, almost won five other events, and finally got the chalice about 25 minutes from the Wake campus. Congratulations, Cameron. You truly are a glass of the finest. #MotherSoDear

OK, let’s move on to the Tour Rundown. The major championship season closed this week in Wales, with the Women’s Open championship. The PGA Tour bounced through Greensboror, N.C., while the PGA Tour Americas hit TO (aka, Toronto) for a long-winded event. The Korn Ferry lads made a stop in Utah, one of just two events for that tour in August. The many-events, golf season is winding down, as we ease from summer toward fall in the northern hemisphere. Let’s bask in the glory of an August sunrise, and run down a quartet of events from the first weekend of the eighth month.

LET/LPGA @ Women’s Open: Miyu bends, but she doesn’t break

Royal Porthcawl was not a known commodity in the major tournament community. The Welsh links had served as host to men’s senior opens, men’s amateurs, and Curtis and Walker Cups in prior years, but never an Open championship for the women or the men. The last-kept secret in UK golf was revealed once again to the world this week, as the best female golfers took to the sandy stage.

Mao Saigo, Grace Kim, Maja Stark, and Minjee Lee hoped to add a second major title to previous wins this season, but only Lee was able to finish inside the top ten. The 2025 playing of the Women’s Open gave us a new-faces gallery from day one. The Kordas and Thitikulls were nowhere to be found, and it was the Mayashitas, Katsus, and Lim Kims that secured the Cymru spotlight. The first round lead was held at 67 by two golfers. One of them battled to the end, while the other posted 81 on day two, and missed the cut. Sitting one shot behind was Miyu Yamashita.

On day two, Yamashita posted the round of the tournament. Her 65 moved her to the front of the aisle, in just her fourth turn around a women’s Open championship. With the pre-event favorites drifting off pace, followers narrowed into two camps: those on the side of an underdog, and others hoping for a weekend charge from back in the pack. In the end, we had a bit of both.

On Saturday, Yamashita bent with 74 on Saturday, offering rays of hope to her pursuing pack. England’s Charley Hull made a run on Sunday closing within one shot before tailing off to a T2 finish with Minami Katsu. Katsu posted the other 65 of the week, on Saturday, but could not overtake her countrywoman, Yamashita. wunderkind Lottie Woad needed one round in the 60s to find her pace, but could only must close-to’s, ending on 284 and a tie with Minjee for eighth.

On Sunday, Yamashita put away the thoughts of Saturday’s struggles, with three-under 33 on the outward half. She closed in plus-one 37, but still won by two, for a first Major and LPGA title.

PGA Tour @ Wyndham: Young gathers first title near home

Cameron Young grew up along the Hudson river, above metro New York, but he also calls Winston-Salem home. He spent four years as a student and athlete at Wake Forest University, then embarked on tour. This week in Greensboro, after a bit of a break, Young opened with 63-62, and revved the engine of Is this the week once more. Runner-up finishes at the Open, the PGA, and a handful of PGA Tour events had followers wonder when the day would come.

On Saturday, Young continued his torrid pace with 65, giving him a five-shot advantage over his closest pursuer. Sunday saw the Scarborough native open with bogey, then reel off five consecutive birdies to remind folks that his time had, at last, arrived. Pars to the 16th, before two harmless bogeys coming home, made Young the 1000th winner of an official PGA Tour event (dating back to before there was a PGA Tour) throughout history. What’s next? I have a suspicion, but I’m not letting on. Mac Meissner closed with 66 to finish solo 2nd, while Mark Hubbard and Alex Noren tied for third.

Korn Ferry Tour @ Utah Championship: Are you Suri it’s Julian?

Who knows exactly when the flower will bloom? Julian Suri played a solid careet at Duke University, then paid his dues on the world’s minor tours for three years. He won twice on two tours in Europe, in 2017. Since then, the grind has continued for the journeyman from New York city. At age 34, Suri broke through in Beehive state, outlasting another grinder (Spencer Levin) and four others, by two shots.

Taylor Montgomery began the week with 62, then posted 64, then 68, and finally, 70. That final round was his undoing. He finished in that second-place tie, two back of the leader. Trace Crowe, Barend Botha, and Kensei Hirata made up the last of the almost quintet. As for Suri, his Sunday play was sublime. His nines were 32 and 31, with his only radar blip a bogey at ten. He closed in style with one final birdie, to double his winning margin. Hogan bloomed late…might Suri?

PGA Tour Americas @ Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos – CBM Aggregates

Some tournament names run longer than others. This week in Toronto, at the Heathlands course at TPC Toronto, we might have seen the longest tournament title in recorded history. The OVOPBVCCBMA was a splendid affair. It saw three rounds of 62 on Thursday, but of those early risers, only Drew Goodman would stick around until the end. 64 was the low tally on day two, and two of those legionnaires managed to finish inside the top three at week’s end. Saturday brought a 63 from Patrick Newcomb, and he would follow with 64 on Sunday, to finish solo fourth.

Who, then, ended up winning the acronym of the year? It turns out that Carson Bacha had the right stuff in TeeOhhh. Bacha and Jay Card III posted 63 and 64, respectively, on day four, to tie for medalist honors at 23-under 261. Nathan Franks was one shot adrift, despite also closing with 63. If you didn’t go low on Sunday, it was about the check, not the championship.

Bacha and JC3 returned to the 18th hole twice in overtime. Card nearly chipped in from the thick stuff for birdie, while Bacha peeked and shoved a ten-feet attempt at the win. On the second go-round, Card was long with his approach, into the native grasses once more. He was unable to escape, and a routine par from the fairway was enough to earn the former Auburn golfers a first KFT title.

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Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2025 Wyndham Championship

Published

4 weeks ago

on

Jul 29, 2025

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GolfWRX is live this week from the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season, the Wyndham Championship.

Photos are flowing into the forums from Sedgefield Country Club, where we already have a GolfWRX spirit animal Adam Schenk WITB and plenty of putters for your viewing pleasure.

Check out links to all our photos below, which we’ll continue to update as more arrive.

General Albums

WITB Albums

Pullout Albums

See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.

 

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BK’s Breakdowns: Kurt Kitayama’s Winning WITB, 3M Open

Published

4 weeks ago

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Jul 28, 2025

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Kurt Kitayama just won his 2nd PGA Tour event at the 3M Open. Kurt is a Bridgestone staffer but with just the ball and bag. Here are the rest of the clubs he used to secure a win at the 2025 3M Open.

Driver: Titleist GT3 (11 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 7 TX

3-wood: Titleist GT1 3Tour (14.5 degrees, A3 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX

7-wood: Titleist GT1 (21 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 TX

Irons: TaylorMade P7CB (4), TaylorMade P7MB (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (52-12F, 56-14F), Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Newport 2 Tour Prototype
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy 1.0PT

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Bridgestone Tour B XS (with Mindset)

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WITB

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