The golf world shuts down, mostly, the week of a men’s major championship. That’s not a great thing for those of us that love to follow the globe of golf. We dig on results from Asia, Africa, Oceania, South America, Europe…name a continent, and we are invested in the action. Credit to the LPGA and the LET, who allow other tours to continue on, the weeks that they host major events.

This week, we followed tee shots and tap ins from Singapore to China, to Argentina, Texas, Louisiana, and Georgia. We counted three different formats among those six events. Modified stableford (the one with points), foursomes and four-ball (the ones we see at the team cup events) and medal play (you know, stroke play) made appearances across the spectrum. There may be no better week in profesional golf, so stay a while, soak this one up, and enjoy a week of Tour Tech Rundown. Thanks to Inside Tour Golf, Golf Monthly, and Today’s Golfer for initial equipment research.

LPGA @ Chevron Classic: The Nelly that we know and love

Nelly Korda has been through some turmoil and challenge since her four-win season in 2021, and her seven-win season in 2024. In 2023 and 2025, she was winless on the LPGA circuit. Illness and other interventions kept her from complete dominance of women’s professional golf for the first half of the present decade. Watch out. Korda has a pair of wins in 2026, including this week’s first major championship.

Korda opened with a pair fo 65s, to jump to a six-shot advantage over Patty Tavatanakit. Tavatanakit, the winner of this event in its previous life as the ANA Inspiration, chipped a shot off the lead in round two, besting Korda by one with a 69. A five-shot advantage in the hands of Nelly, while not a sure thing, was close to a sure thing. Tavatanakit or one of the other chasers required something other-worldly on Sunday, to apply pressure on the leader. No one reached extraterrestrial status.

Each day of the weekend, Korda posted four birdies against two bogeys. She offered an opening to her pursuers, but none of them was able to achieve the Beast Mode that Korda found on days one and two. Tavatanakit fell away on the front nine, but surged back on the second half to earn a T2 finish with Ruoning Yin. Yin was three-under through nine on Sunday, but ran out of magic coming home. China’s Yan Liu had the day’s low round of 67, but something along the lines of 61 was needed to catch Korda.

Nelly’s Bag of Clubs

• Driver: TaylorMade Qi4D
• 3 Metal: TaylorMade Stealth 2 @ 15 degrees
• 9 Metal: TaylorMade Stealth 2 @ 21 degrees
• Hybrid: Ping G425 @ 26 degrees
• Irons: P770 5 Iron
• Irons: P7CB 6-PW
• Wedges: TaylorMade MG$ @ 50 degrees; TaylorMade Proto @ 54 degrees; Vokey SM11 @ 58 degrees
• Putter: TaylorMade NK Proto

PGA Tour @ Zurich Classic: Nice fit, Fitzpatricks

Twelve teams posted four rounds in the 60s or better in this week’s team event in New Orleans. None of them won the Zurich Classic. The Norwegian duo of Kris and Kris (Reitan and Ventura) nailed three eagles in Sunday’s foursomes (alternate shot) competition, but that trio of turkeys wasn’t enough to secure victory. Alex Smalley and Hayden Springer had 58 in round one and 62 in round three, and even that wasn’t enough to snatch victory from two brothers from Sheffield.

The Fitzpatrick brothers, Matt and Alex, are the story in men’s golf so far in 2026. Matt spent a year at Northwestern, before opting for the professional ranks. Alex spent four years at Wake Forest, then turned professional. This year, Matt has two wins on the PGA Tour and a near-miss at The Players, where he lost to Alex’s former teammate, Cameron Young. As for Alex, he won his first DP World Tour title at the Indian Open in March. He may or may not be headed back to that tour, any time soon.

Alex anf Matt posted an unfathomable 57 in Saturday’s better ball competition, then held on Sunday with a birdie at the 72nd hole, to avoid a playoff with the aforementioned two partnerships. The Fitzpatricks concluded play on 31-under par, one shot clear of the chasers. If it weren’t for the three-hole stretch from 12 to 14, where the brothers made double bogey, par, bogey, it should have been a walk home in the park. Instead, the duo did it the proper way, taking two shots each at the last for one final birdie.

Matt is currently ranked in the top three worldwide. Alex will certainly move up in the OWGR, and will receive a two-year PGA Tour card, invitations to the PGA Championship in May at Aronimink, and the 2027 Players Championship. Brotherly love is special, but brotherly collaboration this week, is victorious.

Fitzpatrick’s Bags of Clubs

• Matt Driver: Titleist GT3                                        Alex Driver: Ping G440 LST
• Matt 3 Metal: TaylorMade Qi35                            Alex 3 Metal: TaylorMade Qi4D
• Matt 5 Metal: TaylorMade Qi35                            Alex 7 Metal: TaylorMade Qi4D
• Matt Irons: Ping i210 4 iron                                    Alex 9 Metal: TaylorMade Qi4D
• Matt Irons: Ping S55 5-9 iron                                 Alex Irons: Titleist T100 5-9 iron
• Matt Wedges: Vokey @ 48, 52.5, 56, 61.5            Alex Wedges: Vokey SM10 @ 46, 50, 56, 60
• Matt Putter: Bettinardi BB1 Fitz                             Alex Putter: Odyssey Ai-One #7S

DP World Tour @ Volvo China Open: Wiesberger wins by not losing

Bernd Wiesberger, one of the original signess with LIV Golf, captured the China Open at Enhance Anting golf club in Shanghai. It was his ninth DP World Tour title, first in Asia since 2017, and his first on tour since 2019.

Adrian Otaegui, formerly of Spain and currently representing United Arab Emirates, carried a one-shot, third-round lead over the Austrian Wiesberger into Sunday. Shaun Norris of South Africa sat in third position, four shots out of the lead. On day four in Shanghai, Otaegui reached four-under on the day, and minus-twenty for the week, to double his lead over the veteran Wiesberger. Beginning at the twelfth, the quilt began to unravel for the Basque champion.

Bogey at the par-three twelfth, followed by Wiesberger’s fourth birdie of the day at thirteen, brought the duo to deadlock at nineteen-under par. A second bogey from Otaegui at 16, also a par-three hole, forced his hand at the final hole. Needing birdie at minimum to tie the unflappable Wiesberger, Otaegui made a complete mess of the par-five closing hole. His drive was right, into the woodlands, but he had a shot out. His second reached the precipice of disaster, but remained shy of the water. Somehow, Otaegui still had a chance.

With his third from a downhill, sidehill lie in the rough, Adrian Otaegui bounced his shot off the backing bleachers, across the putting surface, into the hazard. His double-bogey seven took away all chance for victory, but preserved a solo second finish, two shots clear of Sweden’s Mikael Lindberg. Wiesberger put the finishing touches on a four-birdie, no-bogey final round, and won by three strokes.

Bernd’s Bag of Clubs

All of Wiesberger’s irons, regardless of model and style, are made with zero offest, unique in the professional game. He alternates his hybrid and two driving (2 & 3) irons, depending on course condition. He abandoned his Cameron putter for the Odyssey this spring.

• Driver:Titleist GT2 with Ventus shaft
• Fairway Metals: Ping G440 Max 3-metal with TPT shaft
• Hybrid: Titleist H2 17 degree with Fujikura shaft
• Irons: Titleist T100 2-iron with Nippon shaft
• Irons: Titleist 620.CB 4-6 iron; Titleist 620.MB 7-9 iron
• Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 at 46 and 53 degrees; Vokey WW at 59 degrees
• Putter: Odyssey Jailbird S2S Tri-Hot with split grip, broomstick shaft
• Ball: Titleist ProV1

Asian Tour @ Singapore Open: Ham drops the hammer at Sentosa

Jeongwoo Ham was on zero Bingo cards for winner at the beginning of the week. After a victorious tour around the Serapong course at Sentosa, Ham is bound for Birkdale. His two-shot win over Cameron John secured a first-ever major qualification for the 30-year old Korean golfer.

Throughout day four, Ham and John would lock gaze to see which would flinch first. John birdied hole number one, followed by Ham at hole number two. Still a four-shot advantage with sixteen to play. John had a marvelous opportunity to halve the lead at hole three. Ham made double-bogey six, but John also stumbled, to a bogey. Ham bounced back with birdie at number four, and the lead grew back to four.

As the front nine closed, John made a pair of birdies at seven and nine, to slice the lead to two. Also joining the chase was Josele Ballester. He would post 66 on day four to secure a tie for third position. On the inward half, Cameron John secured three consecutive birdies at holes twelve through fourteen, but was only able to gain one shot back, as Ham saved two shots on 13 and 14. As the duo reached the par-five 18th hole, the lead was one. It was Ham who birdied the closing trace, not the desperate John, and the margin of victory stood at two shots for Jeongwoo Ham. As a bit of consolation, Cameron John also earned a spot in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Come Monday morning, Ham’s ranking of 735 on the OWGR ought to ascend by a sizable amount.

Ham’s Bag of Clubs

Sourcing the gear of the #735 player in the world, short of a peek in the bag, is a challenge. Our usual intel agents have come up empty, and we can’t even use the logo on his cap as a clue. Alas, for now, Jeongwoo Ham’s gear line-up remains as TBD.

PGA Tour Americas @ Abierto del Centro Zurich: Flavin Flav is Monday Man no more

Patrick Flavin made a name for himself a few years back, as the fellow that Monday-qualified five times in one season, on the PGA Tour. The Miami University (Ohio) alum has found the professional game to be interesting, if not consistent. If there is a tour or tournament around, chances are excellent that Flavin has a kit from the kaboodle. Perhaps his win at Cordoba this week will mark the start of an uptick in his fortune.

A pair of Patricks went at it this week, over the Cordoba golf club in Argentina’s second city. Patrick Sheehan took a one-shot lead over Flavin on Thursday, thanks to a six-birdie 67 over the par-71 tract. The Patricks matched 66s on both Friday and Saturday, leaving the remainder of the field to battle for the A Flight plaque. Sunday saw a memorable, back-and-forth as the Patricks bravely fought for supremacy.

Flavin opened with bogey, but rebounded with three birdies on the outward half. Sheehan played conservatively, with one birdie and zero bogeys through nine holes. The pair was tied at the turn, but Sheehan made a second birdie, at number 12, to retake the advantage. The tournament shifted over the closing stretch. Flavin went on a tear, with birdies at 14, 15, and 16, while Sheehan continued to make pars. With two holes to play, Flavin held a two-stroke edge, but bogey at 17 reduced it to one. With the tournament on the line, it was Sheehan who flinched at the home hole. His bogey to Flavin’s par gave the winner a two-shot margin of victory.

Flavin’s Bag of Clubs

If you think that the #735 player is difficult to identify, imagine trying to find the #993 golfer in the OWGR. We suspect that Flavin has some affinity for Titleist bats, as his Instagram account gives an @ to the Massachusetts-based company.

PGA Tour Champions @ Mistubishi Electric Classic: What a relief, Retief

Those of us old enough to remember, recall when something changed for Retief Goosen. It was the 2005 US Open at Pinehurst #2. Keep in mind that this was the iteration of Pinehurst that no one liked: trees, thick round, soft fairways. The antithesis of what it is now, and what Shinnecock was the year before, when Goosen won his second US Open. At Pinehurst, with the third-round lead, Goosen snapped. He shot something like 80 in the final round, and was never again the steely champion we had grown to respect. Goosen won twice more on the PGA and European tours, but never again challenged in a major event.

Now in his eighth season on PGA Tour Champions, Goosen has five wins to show for his efforts on the senior circuit. He has one major title, the Senior Players in 2019, but he seems content to show up, give his all, and take what shakes. He looked nothing like a winner this week in Georgia, until he won. Zach Johnson, the latest 50-something to arrive on the second-chance tour, had a lead through three rounds, but forgot how to make birdies and eagles on Sunday. His eight points brought him to 36 on the week in the Modified-Stableford event, yet he came up two points shy. Sneaking past Johnson, into second, was Canada’s Stephen Ames, who amassed 19 points on Sunday, for a three-day haul of 37 points.

It was Goosen and his Sunday 14, that won the week. Goosen improved one point each day, from 12 to 13 to 14. He reached 38 points with his eighth birdie of the day, at the event’s final hole. Two bogeys stung a bit along the way, but no innoculation was required.

Retief’s Bag of Clubs

• Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond @ 8.5 degrees
• 3 Metal: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond @ 13.5 degrees
• Hybrid: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke @ 18 degrees
• Irons: Callaway X Forges 4 through 9 iron
• Wedges: Callaway Opus XP @ 50, 54, and 60 degrees
• Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Wing Back DB

Out front by three ?

Retief Goosen leads thru 8 via Stableford format @MEClassicGolf.

? @GolfChannel pic.twitter.com/aqTbQqylSA

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) April 26, 2026