2022 Constellation Furyk & Friends

How Vijay Singh tapped into his tournament swing data at Furyk & Friends — legally

The deWiz was used within the Rules of Golf and received approval from PGA Tour rules officials to be worn in tournament play.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Vijay Singh wasn’t checking the time on his wrist obsessively during Furyk & Friends at Timuquana Country Club because he had an important date after the round. Rather, he was wearing a golf swing analyzer on his wrist called deWiz, which measures swing data in real time such as length of backswing, tempo and transition.

The device, which is being used within the Rules of Golf and received approval from PGA Tour rules officials to be worn in tournament play, was used by Singh, an investor in the company, at the PGA Tour Champions event and marked the first time the wearable technology was put in play on a major global tour.

Singh, who has used the app to try to lengthen his swing, wore the device in tournament or “stealth” mode, meaning it simply collected and aggregated all the data from each swing and didn’t provide any feedback. But during practice, it syncs to an app on your mobile device and instantly sends a 3D rendering of your swing.

Vijay Singh of Fiji plays his shot from the 17th tee during the second round of the Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS at Timuquana Country Club on October 08, 2022 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

Quass Singh, Vijay’s son, explained that if his father hit a bad shot, for instance, at No. 10, he could call up the shot after the round and learn that his swing on that particular shot was .05 seconds faster than the previous swing.

Singh also noted the benefits for amateurs. The device features a patented learning stimuli that delivers a light electric impulse if the swing goes off key. For those masochists out there, it can be set higher to resemble an electric shock. Pick your preference and then set the swing parameters in the app and if you break those thresholds, it instantly alerts you.

“Say you’re swinging over the top. It’s tough to fix that,” Quass Singh said. “But with the device, you can teach your brain subconsciously how to not do what you don’t want it to do.”

So, what did the analysis of Vijay’s swing during a competitive tournament reveal? DeWiz officials shared some of the preliminary findings from his data:

Range vs. course

In general, Vijay was slower, longer and more over-the-top on the range vs in competition

Start to Impact Time (seconds): Range averaged 1.24, 1.25 and 1.21 (rds 1, 2 and 3), vs 1.15, 1.17, 1.15 on the course (and 1.22 in the pro-am, which is closer to his practice range time).
Length of Backswing (inches): Range average 62, 61.1, 61.3 (rds 1, 2 and 3) vs 60.8, 59.7, 60 on the course. (Pro-am 60.4 – so closer to competition.)
Transition (inches): Range average 3, 3.5 and 4.5 (rds 1, 2 and 3) vs 1.5, 1.5, 2 on the course (Pro Am 2 – so closer to competition).

Misses

We also were tracking some advance data that currently is only available to our deWiz Coaches – including initial downward direction – which showed Vijay was dropping his hands more in transition on some shots deemed “misses.” We also saw that Vijay was slightly faster on his backswing on Vijay’s “misses” compared to his best shots.

Consistency

Lastly, we can see how Vijay maintained consistency with his length of backswing and tempo under pressure way better than a club golfer. Research of regular golfers using deWiz on-course shows a greater drop in length of backswing and changes in tempo. Vijay was less than two inches shorter in his LoB between course and range (which is significant), but we see club golfers are usually 6 inches less (or 10 percent) of their average LoB on the range.

The deWiz wearable technology possesses the potential to bridge the gap from the driving range to the first tee and provide full-swing analysis.

Vijay Singh shows off his deWiz watch prior to the final round of the Constellation FURYK & FRIENDS at Timuquana Country Club on October 09, 2022 in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

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Steve Stricker dominates Furyk & Friends for 11th PGA Tour Champions win, fourth this season

Steve Stricker earned his fourth win on the PGA Tour Champions this season, 11th overall.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — First there was a sore throat and a cough.

Then a fever as high as 103 degrees.

Next came Pericarditis, irregular heartbeat, jaundice, high white and red cell blood counts, high liver function tests, an inability to eat solid food and the loss of nearly 30 pounds from an already slim build.

Steve Stricker had a long list of ailments beginning last fall after he led the U.S. to a Ryder Cup victory in his home state of Wisconsin. It lasted into the early spring and doctors couldn’t pinpoint anything.

The only thing they knew was that it wasn’t COVID-19, it wasn’t cancer and it wasn’t the Crohn’s Disease and liver transplant that contributed to the death of his older brother Scott in 2014.

But after six months away from golf, a variety of antibiotics and more rest than he wanted, Stricker was able to return to play on the PGA Tour Champions in May.

Call it a new lease on life. Call it relief that he got his health back. But one thing’s for certain: Since returning, Stricker has played some of the best golf of his career this season.

Attacking the par-5s and making only one bad swing on the final hole when it didn’t matter, Stricker broke a five-way tie for the most victories on the Champions Tour by winning his fourth title this season, the Constellation Furyk & Friends on Sunday, by two shots over Harrison Frazar and three over tournament host Jim Furyk at the Timuquana Country Club.

Stricker slams door on the field

Stricker (69) had a streak of 46 bogey-free holes in a row going back to the front nine of Friday’s first round and finished at 14-under 202. Frazar (65), a Monday qualifier, birdied four of his first five holes and wound up getting as close as anyone to Stricker, who began the day with a three-shot lead over Furyk (69) and Mike Weir (75).

Steve Stricker celebrates with the trophy after winning the 2022 Constellation Furyk & Friends at Timuquana Country Club in Jacksonville, Florida. (Photo: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

“I felt like if I could go around here and not make a bogey today and take care of the par-5s, birdie two or three of them, shoot 3-under par or 4-under par, it was going to take a really special round [to catch him],” he said, standing by his wife of nearly 30 years, Nikki, who has been his caddie this season. “I didn’t make a mistake really until the last shot out of the fairway and at that point I figured it was over. It was a good day … a tough day when you have a three-shot lead, but I did all the things I was supposed to do.”

Stricker has played lights-out since capturing the Regions Tradition on May 15, his fourth Champions tour major. He’s finished among the top-three in seven of 10 starts, and in the last six weeks, he’s won three times and finished third in four starts.

Stricker has been in the 60s in his last 11 rounds and has a scoring average of 67.0. The $300,000 first-place check vaulted him to third on the money list with $2,473,725.

“We never take any of these for granted,” Nikki Stricker said of her husband’s 35 worldwide victories. “It was just about staying patient and kind of doing his thing.”

Stricker ready for bow season

Here’s the scary part: Stricker said he’s only beginning to feel at full strength.

“I think the last month or so, I feel like I’m showing better signs,” he said. “I still feel like it’s not all quite there. My body, the way it feels isn’t quite the same, strength-wise. I’ve played a lot of golf lately, I’ve lost some weight again lately, so I don’t know if I just need to get going again, put some weight back on, start working out harder again and try to get back up there 10 more pounds.”

And at any rate, it’s getting close to Stricker’s favorite time of year: hunting season, where he loses himself deep in the Wisconsin woods to use a bow to hunt whitetail deer.

“I’m 55 years old, I’ve had a nice career, I’ve been fortunate enough to play a long time, but I still feel like that’s my passion [hunting], that’s what I love to do,” he said. “So I wait for this time period all year long. It’s really only about a month of good hunting and then it goes away, so it’s like I hate to miss that month. Unfortunately, the Schwab Cup playoffs are right in that month time frame. We’ll see. We’ll see what happens at home and I’ll go from there.”

Furyk, who tied for fourth and third in the first two years of his tournament, said it was going to take an extraordinary round to catch Stricker on yet another day of Chamber of Commerce weather.

“Steve’s not going to give the tournament away and he’s not going to back up,” Furyk said. “Someone’s going to have to go chase him.”

Frazar makes a run

Frazar nearly did. After making the field by winning a Monday qualifier with a 65 at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley, the former University of Texas player posted his first career top-10 on the Champions Tour.

His early run was fueled by precise iron shots that set up four birdie putts of 8 feet or less. He posted three more birdies on the back nine but missed two long birdie attempts on his last two holes.

Frazar is still content. With a top-10, he’s automatically in the field for next week’s SAS Championship in Raleigh, North Carolina, the final regular-season event, and his $176,000 second-place check gave him $333,527 and at 52nd place, he’s inside the top-72 that will qualify for the Schwab Cup playoffs.

He’s had his own health issues, such as back injuries, and didn’t play much golf for about five years until becoming eligible for the PGA Tour Champions.

“I’ve felt very good about my game for about the last five or six week,” said Frazar, who is a fellow member with world No. 1-ranked Scottie Scheffler at the Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas. “I’m finally getting to the point where I’m saving strokes instead of throwing them away.”

Contact Garry Smits at gsmits@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @GSmitter

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Striking late: Steve Stricker vaults to top of Furyk & Friends leaderboard with back-nine run

Steve Stricker went nuts on the back nine of the Timuquana Country Club on Saturday.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Patience is a virtue on courses such as the Timuquana Country Club, but when opportunity strikes – as it did on the back nine Saturday for Steve Stricker – it’s time to take charge.

Stricker came from two shots off the lead through 12 holes by playing the next four at 5 under, and with a tournament-record 64, seized the second-round lead in the Constellation Furyk & Friends at 11-under 133.

Tournament host Jim Furyk (69) and Mike Weir (68) are tied for second at 8 under and will play with Stricker in the last group for Sunday’s final round.

Not to be dismissed are Lee Janzen (68) and Thongchai Jaidee (65) at 7 under. There’s a crowd at 6 under led by 65-year-old Bernhard Langer (68), who had three birdies and an eagle on the back nine, Ken Duke (68), who aced the par-3 17th hole, Padraig Harrington (69), Steve Flesch (71) and Rob Labritz (71).

Harrington and Labritz both birdied the final hole.

Stricker will be trying to break a five-way tie for the most victories on the PGA Tour Champions this season with three, and he will be gunning for his third victory in four starts. Since finishing second in the U.S. Senior Open, he’s finished among the top three in five of his last six starts and Saturday was his 10th consecutive round in the 60s and his 17th in a row at par or lower.

He started his move to the top with an 8-foot birdie putt at the par-5 13th, converting a bunker shot. Stricker made a 15-footer for birdie at the par-3 14th, eagled the par-5 15th on a 25-foot putt and then dropped another one of similar length at the par-4 16th.

“You never know when a run like that’s going to come,” he said. “You just try to keep plugging along. Some of these par 3s you’re just trying to get it on the green. You literally are just trying to get it on the green and go from there, make a par and move on. They’re difficult to hit.”

Stricker played the par-5s at 5 under and made par all six times he missed a green.

“He’s playing really solid right now,” Furyk said. “We’re going to have to go catch him.”

Furyk made only one birdie among his first 12 holes but he drove the ball better (hitting 11 fairways) and failed to get up and down only once after missing five greens.

“I’m actually real happy with the round today,” said the Jacksonville resident. “To be honest with you, more solid. [Friday] I got a little loose, hit some awkward tee shots, had some really good saves, especially on the way in.

“Today was a little bit more textbook, kind of kept it in the fairway a lot,” he added. “I hit a bunch of greens. When I did miss greens, I put the ball usually in pretty good positions to get the ball up and down. Really, I was more comfortable if that made sense.”

Weir had a run of four birdies on his first six holes on the front nine, rapping in short putts at Nos. 2 and 5 along with a 25-footer at No. 4 and a 17-footer at No. 6. He missed only two greens.

Weir briefly took the lead with a birdie at No. 9 but played the back even par, swapping a birdie at No. 15 for a bogey at the 16th.

“I gave myself a lot of chances, especially on the back nine,” he said. “They [putts] just didn’t want to go in. I got on a run there on the front nine, hit some close shots. I felt like I could have got on another run, but sometimes they go in and they don’t. It will be tough to catch [Stricker] tomorrow.”

Duke made his sixth hole-in-one in PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions competition, using a 9-iron from 138 yards out at the 17th. It’s the second ace in the two-year history of the Furyk & Friends, with both coming on the same hole. Tom Lehman made one at the 17th last year.

Duke said he was getting frustrated after taking a bogey at the par-5 15th, courtesy of a water shot.

“I was telling [his caddie], ‘let’s make something,’” he said. “Just hit a green.”

Duke broke into an awkward victory dance of sorts, prompting some judging from the Golf Channel announcers.

“Dancing with the Stars is not calling me any time soon,” he said.