See which clubs the PGA Tour’s best drivers are using off the tee to maximize distance and accuracy.
It all starts with the tee shot. Modern professional golfers attack holes right from the start using a combination of power and accuracy in an attempt to create easier approach shots and scoring chances.
The U.S. Golf Association and the R&A have determined that distance is playing too large a role in golf, and the game’s governing bodies are researching what should be done to stop the trends of players hitting the ball farther and courses growing longer. While they investigate various options, pros continue to grip it and rip it.
No one drives the ball better than the 10 players listed below, the leaders in strokes gained off the tee in the 2019-20 PGA Tour season. See which clubs they use to gain an edge over the competition.
A strokes gained average of 0.5 means a player gains half a shot against the field average. So a player with a strokes gained off the tee of 0.5 would be two shots better than average over the span of a four-day tournament.
Bubba Watson says a missed cut isn’t the end of the world, and his life is really more about his family.
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MEXICO CITY – Bubba Watson has always marched to the beat of his own drum.
So it came as no surprise to learn how he dealt with missing the cut last week in the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, one of his favorite courses in the world and site of three of his 12 PGA Tour titles.
Instead of hopping on a plane for a quick trip to his home in Florida, he remained in the City of Angels and called up a good friend for a friendly round of golf before heading to the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship.
A day after missing the cut, Watson was joined by Justin Bieber on the first tee at Lakeside Golf Club. Yes, that Bieber, the 25-year-old pop star. The two were joined by Watson’s caddie, Ted Scott, pastor Judah Smith and producers Mark Scoon and Ryan Good.
“Life sometimes throws you curve balls. I’ve had some ups and downs over the last five years in my personal life, in my mind, and I’ve reached out to some guys, and I’ve also helped some guys,” Watson said. “I was very disappointed missing the cut. But at the same time, you’ve got to live life. So I called my buddy and we got together and played some golf and freed it up and just had some fun. I was in a good frame of mind, and where my life is with my beautiful wife and my beautiful kids; who cares about missing a cut really.”
Watson has remained in a good frame of mind at Club de Golf Chapultepec, which rests 7,800 feet above sea level. One would naturally think the big-hitting lefty would love playing in the thin air, but his results in this tournament would indicate otherwise – he’s finished in ties for 27th, ninth and 38th.
But he got off to a great start Thursday with a 4-under-par 67 to place him two strokes behind leader and world No. 1 Rory McIlroy.
“Well, what my psychologist would say would be yes, I love it here. I don’t have a psychologist, but if I did, that’s what they would say,” said Watson, who had finished in a tie for sixth in the Farmers Insurance Open and in a tie for third in the Waste Management Phoenix Open before missing the Genesis cut.
“It’s one of those things where it’s fun. When we talk about four days of golf, me and you hit a shot and we land a foot apart, one is going to bounce, one doesn’t. And it’s just about getting the bounces to go your way, the putt to go your way, and today I made some putts. I missed a couple greens just off the green, so it looks like I missed a lot of greens today, but I putted the ball nicely.”
Watson one-putted 13 greens, including the final seven to close out his round.
“I know my ball-striking is where I want it to be. My mind is where I want it to be and everything,” he said. “Coming here, I was just hoping I’d get the right bounces and the right breaks. I know I can play around here if I stay committed to all the shots, and today I did that.
“The key is always patience. That’s the beauty of what Tiger Woods has been able to do, McIlroy has been able to do. It comes down to patience. When you have patience and trust in yourself and your ability, that’s when you can play good golf. I mean, all these guys at this field, at this event can play the game of golf. But it comes down to who’s got the most patience and the freed-up mind and mental attitude.”
Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio talks to Bubba Watson about his favorite club in his bag, best golf partner, what he’d be doing if he wasn’t a professional athlete, and much more.
Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio talks to Bubba Watson about his favorite club in his bag, best golf partner, what he’d be doing if he wasn’t a professional athlete, and much more.
Tiger Woods completed his comeback over the last few years, but two PGA Tour stars notched 18 victories in the last decade.
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The first decade of the 21st century was dominated by Tiger Woods.
He won 56 PGA Tour titles and 12 major championships. He was named the PGA Tour’s Player of the Year eight times. And his sustained brilliance and dominance continued to elevate the sport’s exposure – as well as its purses.
His star power was so lit that people wondered if the sport would survive if he ever went away. Well, Woods didn’t go away despite a public scandal and numerous battles with his back and left knee when the calendar turned to 2010. And joined by a stellar cast of gifted golfers, the game marched on in the next decade.
A new crop of stars, many inspired by Woods, included Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas and Jason Day, took the stage. Established stars, with Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, helped the game flourish.
Here are the top 10 players of the decade who authored so many flashes of stardom.
Lefty began the decade with an emotional victory at the Masters as his wife, Amy, successfully battled cancer. It was his third green jacket. In 2013, he won the British Open for the first time, his fifth major. While the U.S. Open remains elusive, he finished second in 2013 for his record sixth runner-up in the national open. He went nearly five years without a victory but then won the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship in 2018, which he followed with his 44th Tour title the following year at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at age 48. He won seven PGA Tour titles and also played in every Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup except one during the decade.
9. Bubba Watson
The big-hitting, creative lefty from tiny Bagdad, Florida, began the decade with zero wins. He ended the decade with 12 victories, the third-most by a player in the decade. Two of those wins came in the Masters, two others in World Golf Championships. While he wowed galleries everywhere with his pink driver and prodigious firepower, he was one of the best on and around the greens.
8. Justin Rose
After beginning his career by missing the cut in his first 21 tournaments, Rose became a force in this decade. He won 10 PGA Tour titles. He won the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion, won the 2018 FedExCup at 38. He draped the gold medal around his neck when golf returned to the Olympics in 2016. He reached No. 1 in the world.
7. Jason Day
Through numerous ailments – especially to his back – Day won 12 times in the decade, including his lone major title at the 2015 PGA Championship. He won the Players, two World Golf Championships and two titles during the FedExCup Playoffs. His run from 2015-16, when he won seven of 17 titles, was one of the best in the decade. He also became No. 1 in the world.
After joining the PGA Tour in 2014-15 season, it didn’t take long for Thomas to establish himself as one of the game’s elite. In 2019, he became just the fifth player in the past 60 years to win 11 Tour titles before turning 27. The others? Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. His 2017 was one of the decade’s best years, as he won his maiden major at the PGA Championship, captured five titles in all and won the FedExCup. He also reached No. 1. He heads into the next decade coming off a 2019 in which he won twice, including a tournament in the FedExCup Playoffs.
5. Tiger Woods
The game’s biggest star kept coming back. After a public scandal kicked off his decade, he added three Tour titles to his haul in 2012 and five more in 2013, when he was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year by his peers and became No. 1 again. Then his back went out and Woods wondered if his playing career was over. But four surgeries to his back – the most recent a spinal fusion – gave him back his way of life. Then he overcame an addiction to prescription painkillers. After a five-year winless drought, he won the 2018 Tour Championship. Seven months later, he marked his comeback with a remarkable victory at the Masters, his fifth green jacket, 15th major and first in 11 years. In his last PGA Tour start of the decade, he won the Zozo Championship in Japan for his record-tying 82nd PGA Tour victory.
Tiger Woods celebrates after making a putt on the 18th green to win the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Rob Schumacher, USA TODAY Sports)
4. Jordan Spieth
He was in high school when the decade started. He used sponsor’s exemptions to kick off his career and won his first PGA Tour title as a teenager. He won 10 more times in the decade, with his creativity, bulldog attitude and electrifying putters among his numerous weapons. In 2015, he posted the decade’s best year and flirted with the Grand Slam as he won the Masters and U.S. Open, finished in a tie for fourth in the British Open (one stroke out of a playoff) and second in the PGA. He also won the FedExCup and became No. 1. His third major title came at the 2017 British Open. That was his most recent victory, but he’s confident his elite form will return in the coming decade.
3. Brooks Koepka
He began his professional career in the remote areas of the European Tour’s developmental circuit but finally touched down in the U.S. with a victory in the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Then he became a major force, both with his power, demeanor and touch on and around the greens. From 2017-19, he won his four majors and became the first player ever to go back-to-back in the U.S. Open and PGA Championship. In 2019, he won the PGA, finished second in the U.S. Open, tied for second in the Masters and was fourth in the British Open. He will begin the new decade as the top-ranked player in the world and the game’s most feared player in the four major championships.
2. Dustin Johnson
He tied for the most victories in the decade with 18, among them his lone major at the 2016 U.S. Open, six World Golf Championships and four wins in the FedExCup Playoffs. He also had the most top-5s in the decade (58) and most top-10s (88). He won at least one PGA Tour tournament every year. He also finished runner-up in three majors, including twice in 2019 at the Masters and PGA Championship. While his power is matched by few others, he worked hard to become one of the game’s best from 150 yards and in.
1. Rory McIlroy
The boy wonder became the man in golf this decade. He won 18 times on the PGA Tour and added six more titles on the European Tour. He became the heart and soul of the European Ryder Cup team. With his eight-shot romps in the 2011 U.S. Open and 2012 PGA Championship, he joined Tiger Woods as the only players to win multiple majors by at least eight shots. With his FedExCup titles in 2016 and 2019, he joined Woods as the only two-time winners of the lucrative postseason. McIlroy won four majors, tying Koepka for the most in the decade, and three PGA Tour Player of the Year awards, the most in the decade. In 2019, won four PGA Tour titles, including the Tour Championship and the Players. He won the decade’s last World Golf Championship. He was the best player of the decade.
Kevin Kisner said he enjoyed the late-night TV. In fact, reactions to a U.S. Presidents Cup win around Tiburon were all positive on Sunday.
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NAPLES, Fla. – Kevin Kisner was one of the players rumored to be a possible captain’s pick for the U.S. Presidents Cup team. Instead, he spent the past week at the QBE Shootout at Tiburon Golf Club, where he partnered with Charley Hoffman to finish T-8 among the 12 teams in the field.
Kisner said he enjoyed watching the late-night Presidents Cup broadcast on TV. In fact, reactions to a U.S. win around Tiburon were all positive on Sunday.
“I stayed up and watched all of it and it was great,” Kisner said. “I couldn’t ask for it to go any better.”
“I watched all of it Saturday night and it was thrilling, a big win for players and especially Tiger,” Billy Horschel said. “But remember the Internationals lost one or two matches they should have won and that made a difference.”
Former European Ryder Cupper Graeme McDowell watched most of the singles matches.
“This week raised the health and sponsorship value of the Presidents Cup. The week was very interesting,” McDowell said. “It was fun watching and usually I watch like 10 shots in a day, and last night I watched probably 110 shots.”
“I went to sleep and watched the highlights this morning,” Bubba Watson said.
Greg Norman, who played for the Internationals in that side’s lone Presidents Cup victory back in 1998 (when the matches were also played at Royal Melbourne), didn’t watch, but wasn’t too surprised the Americans rallied in singles.
Bubba Watson: “People forget I won three times in 2018 and was ranked just out of the top 10 in the World Ranking at the end of the year.”
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Bubba Watson is not finished nor is he wallowing in golf purgatory, or even remotely disturbed about the status of his game.
The reports from the critics or golf nerds on social media, noticing he is nowhere near Australia and the Presidents Cup this week, are running the gamut on what and why is wrong with the popular Watson.
Watson, while being besieged for autographs at Tiburón Golf Club after the QBE Shootout pro-am, delivered what amounted to a stern “state of Bubba’s golf game” message.
“The critics and social media are very premature with my situation and they just continue to make up stories,” said Watson, who lives near Pensacola and is involved with numerous business ventures in the Florida Panhandle.
“I didn’t win a tournament this past year so everyone says that’s it for a 41-year-old. I plan on winning again as soon as next year.”
What prompted the growing chorus of concern about the two-time Masters winner was a year when he missed six cuts, had only three top-10 finishes, saw him drop to his current World Ranking of 41, and 81st in the FedEx Cup standings.
“People forget I won three times in 2018 and was ranked just out of the top 10 in the World Ranking at the end of the year,” said Watson, making his fifth appearance in the QBE Shootout.
Fueling additional speculation on his status was Watson not being a captain’s pick for the Presidents Cup team or even a vice-captain, a position he served at the 2016 Ryder Cup.
“I told Tiger at his tournament in the Bahamas last week that I’m probably way down the alternate’s or vice-captain’s list and I joked with him that I might hole up on the plane and show up at Royal Melbourne,” he said. “I do have a lot of confidence that I have the leadership skills to be helpful with team events.
“I enjoy helping, even if it’s just getting a team member a sandwich or a bottle of water. I still view being selected as a captain for a team event a Hall of Fame moment, an honor and privilege. Now other considerations have come into the selection process like trying to get the right people for TV ratings.”
While Watson is focused on getting back closer to the top or into a team event, he has a good reason to be happy when he comes home.
“In the old days there was a special feel when they selected you, but today the only thing I feel special about is having a wonderful wife and two great kids,” he said. “I would give up my two green jackets for their happiness.”
Watson joked that he would be a different captain, especially with a player like Tiger Woods.
“I would tell Tiger ‘You’ve won 82 times, just sit here and eat ice cream,’” he said.
Charley Hoffman was planning on an expensive post round cocktail hour after making a hole on the 207-yard par-3 12th hole with a 6-iron.
“I played the shot high in the air to the right and then let it come back in,” Hoffman said. “It landed soft and Kevin told me it rolled right in.”
Partner Kevin Kisner was waiting to start the celebration.
“He owes me some drinks starting right now upstairs,” Kisner said.
Hoffman’s partner last year, Gary Woodland, made a hole in one on the eighth hole.
“Neither one of us won a car,” Hoffman said. The ace was his fifth in PGA Tour competition and the 15th overall.
OSU coach watches Hovland, Wolff
Oklahoma State coach Alan Bratton followed former players Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff during the first round on Friday.
“You never know how you’re going to do out here,” Bratton said in an interview with Golf Channel’s Billy Ray Brown. “I know they would end up out here eventually, but I’m just really proud of the performance that they’ve had so far. Hopefully their career looks like this and just keeps taking off.
“We had Viktor for three years prepping him, whether it was Coach (Donnie) Darr and I, and all of our former players. It’s nice, OSU has four of the 24 players this week. They’ve had plenty of mentoring. They’ve been set free now, and they’re ready to take on the world. And hopefully they keep doing what they’re doing.”
The proteges didn’t do something they’d like to keep doing Friday, shooting a 7-under 65 and sitting in last place.
“We hit it good today but made no putts,” Wolff said. “This was my first scramble ever in competition but we’ve got two days left so we need to put up some low numbers.”
Analyzing the 2019 QBE Shootout and which teams of golfers are the best options for the event. Who will win at Tiburon Golf Club?
Twelve two-man teams will compete in the QBE Shootout at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla., this weekend. The 54-hole event runs three days, from Friday through Sunday.
The first round is played under scramble rules, whereby both members of each team will play every shot with the better ball being taken each time. Round 2 consists of greensomes, where both players tee off on each hole and the alternate shot is played from the spot of the better ball.
The final round is played under standard four-ball rules with each golfer playing the hole on their own and the best score being taken.
The 7,288-yard venue plays as a par 72. The teams compete for a $3.5 million purse, but it is not an official money event and no FedExCup points are awarded.
QBE Shootout – Odds, picks and best bets
Matthew Wolff. (Photo Credit: Rob Kinnan – USA TODAY Sports)
The two combine for just 42 years of age, making them younger than several of the individual golfers in this event. Hovland is expected to be a top contender for PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, while Wolff came up just short of the award last year.
Hovland, 22, placed solo fourth at last season’s Wyndham Championship for the best result of his young career. He’s ranked 96th by the Official World Golf Ranking, while Wolff, who got his first career win at the 3M Open last summer, is 117th in the world. Their odds are lower as fan favorites, but the youngsters have the length and putting, and the motivation for the early-career win in an uninspired field.
Charles Howell III-Bubba Watson (+800)
Watson, ranked 44th by the OWGR, is coming off a last-place finish at last week’s Hero World Challenge. Howell, ranked 54th in the world, missed the cut at the RSM Classic as his last event. The two combined for four victories in 2018.
Howell finished tied for third here last year with partner Luke List. Watson was sixth with Harold Varner III.
Charley Hoffman-Kevin Kisner (+1200)
Hoffman also finished T-3 a year ago (with partner Gary Woodland), while Kisner finished last with playing partner Cameron Champ. Kisner tied for seventh at last week’s Hero World Challenge exhibition. The two have plenty of length off the tee, and Kisner, who’s the defending match-play champion, can get hot and carry the team with his putter.
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The QBE Shootout added a former champion, a two-time major winner, and one of the contenders for a Presidents Cup captain’s pick in completing its field Tuesday. Ian Poulter, who won the 2010 tournament with Dustin Johnson, plus two-time Masters …
The QBE Shootout added a former champion, a two-time major winner, and one of the contenders for a Presidents Cup captain’s pick in completing its field Tuesday.
Ian Poulter, who won the 2010 tournament with Dustin Johnson, plus two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and Kevin Kisner were among the 10 announced to the field by tournament host Greg Norman for the tournament, which is Dec. 11-15 at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.
“We are pleased to round out the field with such a quality group of players and equally thrilled with the compelling teams we’ve been able to put together,” Norman said in a release. “These dynamic duos comprised of young guns, recent Tour winners and established veterans are sure to create an exciting three-days of competition.”
The 24-person field features nine players whom won during this past season and a total of 80 career PGA Tour and LPGA victories as well as eight of the top 50 players in the world. There are also eight first-time participants in the annual event.
Kisner, who won the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, was listed by many as a possibility to be one of Tiger Woods’ captain’s picks for the Presidents Cup.
Also competing are: 2019 Valero Texas Open winner Corey Conners; reigning Zurich Classic of New Orleans champion Ryan Palmer; former Australian PGA Championship winner Harold Varner III; Kevin Chappell, who earlier this fall became the 10th player in PGA Tour history to shoot 59; six-time PGA Tour winner Charley Hoffman; four-time Tour winner and two-time Shootout champion Sean O’Hair, and six-time Tour winner Rory Sabbatini.
This year’s QBE Shootout will also feature nine new teams competing for the $3.5 million purse. The three returning teams are defending champions Brian Harman and Patton Kizzire as defending champions, Billy Horschel and Brandt Snedeker who played in 2018, and the return of the team of Graeme McDowell and Poulter, who were paired together in 2008.
Lexi Thompson will be playing for the fourth straight year, and this time will be paired with O’Hair, who won the QBE Shootout with two different partners, Steve Stricker and Kenny Perry. Thompson played with Bryson DeChambeau her first year, and Tony Finau the past two.
Shootout rookies Viktor Hovland and Matthew Wolff also are paired together.
Finau, Patrick Reed, and Gary Woodland, all of whom have played in the Shootout multiple times, were three of Woods’ captain’s picks announced last week. Woods picked himself for the fourth selection.
Friday’s first round will be broadcast live by Golf Channel from noon to 2 p.m. and on Golf Channel Digital from 2-4 p.m. Over the weekend, the final two rounds will be live on Golf Channel from noon to 4 p.m., both Saturday and Sunday.
The QBE Shootout will once again feature a scramble format during the first round, a modified alternate shot format on Saturday, and a final-round four-ball on Sunday.
Florida, began the decade with zero wins. He ended the decade with 12 victories, the third-most by a player in the decade. Two of those wins came in the Masters, two others in World Golf Championships. While he wowed galleries everywhere with his pink driver and prodigious firepower, he was one of the best on and around the greens.
