Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland and Justin Suh detail why they’ve switched to Cobra Darkspeed driver

“The benefit for me of going to more loft is more control, but at the same time I didn’t sacrifice any speed or spin”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Cobra ambassadors Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland and Justin Suh played a version of speed-dating on Wednesday evening with members of the media at Continental Golf Club before taking part in some after-hours glow golf.

All three players have transitioned into the club maker’s newest driver, the Darkspeed, which comes in three models (X, LS and MAX) and features a forged titanium face with carbon fiber crown and sole panels, moveable weights and adjustable hosel. Golfweek’s equipment expert David Dusek says, “it’s designed for golfers who want an aerodynamic driver that delivers more ball speed and trajectory control.” The pros all have opted for the LS, which stands for low spin, but according to Cobra’s Ben Schomin, former major winner and gearhead Jason Dufner is looking to use the Darkspeed Max.

Not surprisingly, all three players at the Cobra media event gushed about the new club but they were refreshingly honest about the process to find the right specs and shaft combination to maximize performance. And to hear them tell it, that search isn’t necessarily over. Here’s what we learned about how Fowler, Woodland and Suh made the move to Cobra Darkspeed LS.

2023 RSM Classic odds, course history and picks to win

Poston tied for 21st at the RSM Classic last year.

The final official PGA Tour event of 2023 is here as a number of players looking to make a last-second FedEx Cup standings push are in St. Simons Island, Georgia, for the 2023 RSM Classic at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course.

Adam Svensson, who’s made four of four cuts during the FedEx Cup Fall, returns to the site of his lone PGA Tour win as the defending champion. The Canadian sits at +3500 (35/1) to repeat.

Other players in the field include European Ryder Cupper Ludvig Aberg, Russell Henley, Brian Harman, Corey Conners, and Cameron Young.

Aberg — the betting favorite at +1400 (14/1) — has tied for second (lost in a playoff), 13th and 10th in three starts this fall.

Golf course

Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course | Par 70 | 7,005 yards

2022 RSM Classic
Patrick Rodgers putts on the 14th green as the Tall Ship Lynx passes behind at Sea Island Resort Seaside Course on November 19, 2022, in St Simons Island, Georgia. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

Betting preview

‘Meant to be’: Erik van Rooyen wins 2023 World Wide Technology Championship for terminally-ill friend

“He used to play to not get embarrassed. It’s gonna take a little bit to let the predator out.” The predator came out on Sunday.

LOS CABOS, Mexico – As soon as Erik van Rooyen struck his 2-iron into the fairway at the par-5 finishing hole, he turned to his caddie Alex Gaugert and said, “One more of those,” implying he planned to use the same club again for his next shot.

Van Rooyen was tied for the lead on Sunday at El Cardonal at Diamante and when he heard he had 272 yards to the front and 304 yards to the hole, he said, “Perfect for the 2-iron.”

Gaugert had another idea.

“I’m like, Dude, I don’t mind something landing front edge and getting back there,” he said.

He started to run through a series of reasons why van Rooyen would be better off using a 17-degree 3-hybrid. He reminded him of the beauty he hit with the same club at 14 just a few holes earlier and the one at the first hole on Friday that set up an eagle.

“Oh, hell yeah,” van Rooyen said with a glint in his eye.

“Clear and committed,” Gaugert said.

Then as he had done on every shot all day, van Rooyen thought of their college teammate at Minnesota, Jon Trasamar, who had texted them on Tuesday with the news that he had about six weeks to live due to stage 4 melanoma.

“Then I flushed it,” van Rooyen said.

“Be as good as you look,” Gaugert barked at the ball and it more than obliged.

It stopped 20 feet past the hole and van Rooyen removed any doubt by rolling in his third straight putt of that length for a birdie-birdie-eagle finish.

“There’s nothing quite like it in life,” Van Rooyen said of his clutch 3-hybrid to the 18th green. “Yeah, that shot will be with me forever.”

Van Rooyen stormed home in 8-under 28 at the course Tiger Woods designed and erased a two-stroke deficit with three holes to play to win the World Wide Technology Championship.

How did he pull off an improbable two-stroke victory over Matt Kuchar and Camilo Villegas? To Gaugert it was simply meant to be.

“That should be the headline of every news article that’s written because there’s no reason he should have won this golf tournament. There’s no way to describe it other than it was it was meant to be,” Gaugert said.

It was meant to be even after van Rooyen opened with a bogey on a par 5 after dumping his approach in the front bunker and failing to extricate himself on his first attempt.

“The start we got off to today made you want to puke,” Gaugert said.

But then van Rooyen rolled in a 35-foot birdie at the second and thought to himself, “this is a silly game so just keep playing.”

But by the seventh hole, van Rooyen turned to Gaugert in the fairway and said it was time to press. Gaugert, who remains a good enough player that he was a Monday qualifier for the 3M Open in July, talked him out of it and advised him to stay patient, “let it happen,” as he put it, and stay disciplined. Van Rooyen listened, agreeing it was too soon to hit the panic button.

“And then I sprayed (my next shot) right of the green. So it’s funny how that works. Hit a really good chip,” he said.

Meanwhile, Villegas made birdies on four of the first six holes and Kuchar reeled off five in his first 12 holes to assume the lead.

This was a big week for van Rooyen. The 33-year-old South African native entered the week ranked No. 131 in the FedEx Cup standings and his two-year exemption for winning the 2021 Barracuda Championship was expiring in a few weeks if he didn’t have a good finish. He suffered through a stretch of seven missed cuts in a row from early May to early June and in 27 previous starts on the season had more missed cuts (14) than he had made (13). He began working with instructor Sean Foley, who helped him more with the mental game than the golf swing during their hour-long conversations. Van Rooyen’s final-round 63 marked his 13th consecutive round of par or better. Gaugert went so far as to send Foley a text six weeks ago thanking him for his efforts.

Foley’s response speaks volumes: “He used to play to not get embarrassed, and it’s gonna take a little bit to let the predator out,” Gaugert recalled Foley wrote.

The predator came out on Sunday. Van Rooyen birdied four of the first five holes on the back nine and then came to the difficult par-4 15th, where one day earlier Kuchar had a five-stroke lead before making a quadruple-bogey 8 there.

Van Rooyen aimed his 9-iron about 10 yards right of the flag and tugged it five yards left of it. “It was a putrid shot,” Gaugert said. Yet it defied gravity and stayed on the fringe.

“I have no clue how other than our buddy Jon was with us,” Gaugert said. “Erik’s ball should have never ever stayed up there.”

“We both kind of looked at the sky and we were like, maybe it’s written in the stars,” van Rooyen said. “When that happened, I was like, ooh, we might have a chance.”

That wasn’t Gaugert’s only thought. He told van Rooyen that etiquette be damned, they needed to play their next shot before the ball rolled down the slope. Van Rooyen sheepishly asked Kuchar if he could play out of turn.

“He was very nervous to do so. And I go, ‘Ask him now.’ The wind was picking up, if the wind gives us any sort of gust his ball is going down,” Gaugert said.

They left the green with a par and then van Rooyen rolled in back-to-back 20-foot birdie putts to tie for the lead. On his ball, van Rooyen had written the initials “JT,” for Trasamar, the first person he met when he arrived from South Africa to attend Minnesota, his roommate of three years and his best man at his wedding nine years ago. Despite job security for next season being shaky at best coming into this week, van Rooyen and Gaugert had booked a flight on Saturday afternoon to fly home to Minnesota on Monday morning to go see their ill friend Tuesday. Depending on how the final round played out, they had a reservation to Bermuda that would arrive at 11pm on Wednesday and they would tee it up on Thursday without seeing the course in advance.

“We ain’t playing Bermuda now,” said Gaugert.

It was meant to be that the win will allow them to spend more precious time with JT.

After van Rooyen sank the winning eagle putt for a 72-hole aggregate of 27-under 261, he and Gaugert embraced in one of the longest bro-hugs ever on the 18th green. Van Rooyen said that Gaugert, usually the stoic one who keeps the more volatile van Rooyen in line and helps balance him out, simply cried. But Gaugert also had a memory flash through his head. During his senior season in 2013, their pal Trasamar earned Big Ten Golfer of the week honors after placing second at the Barnabas Health Intercollegiate. It included a career-low 66 in the second round.

“He beat me by a stroke with a back-nine 28, just like Erik,” Gaugert said.

It turned out Gaugert’s memory was off by a stroke. Trasamar had shot a back-nine 29, but that only made Gaugert smile.

“He just wanted to give Erik an extra stroke,” he joked.

Sometimes it’s just meant to be.

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2023 World Wide Technology Championship odds and picks to win

Here are four picks for this week’s event south of the border.

After a week off, the PGA Tour is south of the border for the 2023 World Wide Technology Championship at the Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal at Diamante in Los Cabos, Mexico.

European Ryder Cupper Ludvig Aberg, who lost in a playoff at the Sanderson Farms Championship and tied for 13th at the Shriners Children’s Open in two starts during the FedEx Cup Fall, is the betting favorite at +900 (9/1). Cameron Young is next at +1100 (11/1), as he makes his first start since the BMW Championship. Fortinet Championship winner Sahith Theegala rounds out the top three in odds at +1600 (16/1).

WWT Championship: Tiger Woods merch photos

Other players in the field include Akshay Bhatia, Emiliano Grillo, Cameron Champ and Matt Kuchar.

Golf course

El Cardonal at Diamante | Par 72 | 7,452 yards

Diamante Cabo San Lucas
The Tiger Woods-designed El Cardonal Golf Course at Diamante Cabo San Lucas (Photo: Diamante)

Betting preview

Collin Morikawa ends two-year winless drought at PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship

“I had to really look back and ask myself what’s wrong? What’s the reason behind finishing 2nd or 5th versus a win?”

Collin Morikawa came to Japan this week with the simple goal of ending his winless drought in the country where his father’s parents grew up and cruised to a six-stroke victory with a bogey-free 7-under 63 on Sunday to win the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship.

“It feels so good,” Morikawa said. “I knew I was going to get here at some point but it’s like getting your first win or major. People start asking questions and asking why. I had to really look back and ask myself what’s wrong? What’s the why? What’s the reason behind finishing second or fifth versus a win? This win means the world.”

He claimed his sixth Tour title and first since the 2021 British Open. For Morikawa to do so at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Japan, 25 minutes northeast of Tokyo, meant a great deal to the 26-year-old of Japanese (father’s side) and Chinese descent (mother’s side).

“I knew at the beginning of the week that the fans out here are obviously rooting for the Japanese players, but I like to count myself as a part Japanese player in that, so I felt the love,” he said.

ZOZO: Prize money | Winner’s bag

It had been 27 months since he hoisted a trophy, just under 24 months since the former Cal Bear notched his last worldwide victory at the 2021 DP World Tour Championship. Morikawa had recorded four runner-up finishes since his last trophy – including at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January and the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July – and 14 top-10s, tied with Tommy Fleetwood for the most top-10 finishes during the last two seasons.

Speaking on the eve of the tournament during a press conference, Morikawa said, “Here’s one last chance for the season to kind of come off and finish off on a high note. I know what my goal is and I know what I want to do and accomplish this week is really just stand up and find a way to win.”

Morikawa grabbed the lead on Thursday with a 64 but struggled to 73 in strong winds on Friday. After starting 3 over through four holes on Saturday, Morikawa trailed by as many as nine strokes before rallying with birdies on five of his last six holes to shoot 66.

Two shots back heading into Sunday, Morikawa said his mindset for the final round would be to get off to a hot start and he did just that. Morikawa made birdies at the third and three of the last four holes on the front nine to shoot 30 and build a three-stroke lead at 11 under as Justin Suh, who held his first 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour, chunked a chip at the fourth and made his second straight bogey. He stumbled to a final-round 74. Beau Hossler and Eric Cole, who played alongside Suh in the final group, faltered as well. Morikawa tacked on a birdie at No. 12, holing a 15-foot putt, and at 15 and 18 to play his final 24 holes in 12 under. No one mounted a charge as Morikawa posted a 72-hole total of 14-under 266. Cole and Hossler both made birdies at the last to shoot 70 and tied for second, a stroke better than Robby Shelton (65) and Ryo Ishikawa (67).

2023 Zozo Championship
Collin Morikawa hits his tee shot on the 10th hole during the final round of the 2023 Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Inzai, Chiba, Japan. (Photo: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

“The game felt very good,” Morikawa said. “Everything kind of clicked.”

Morikawa, who won twice in his first eight starts in the majors, had dipped from second in the Official World Golf Ranking to No. 20 during his winless drought but managed to make the Tour Championship as one of the top 30 in the FedEx Cup the last two seasons and represent the U.S. in both the Presidents and Ryder Cups. He complained that he lost his trademark fade that removed the left side of the course from play but his version of a slump still was the equivalent of what most pros would call a banner season.

For Morikawa, it was a learning experience that appears will only make him stronger in the years to come. Speaking at the Tour Championship in August about what he’s taken away from the last two seasons, he said, “I just love golf. I mean, it’s been frustrating, but I truly love it. Because when you’re in positions like this, when you’re able to put yourself in contention, whether it’s one round or two rounds or four rounds, that I just, I know I love being in these positions.”

Especially when he comes out on top as he did in impressive fashion at the Zozo Championship.

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Justin Suh seeks first win, Collin Morikawa bounces back and more from Saturday at the 2023 Zozo Championship

Catch up on the action here.

The first three rounds of the 2023 Zozo Championship are in the books and one man sits alone atop the leaderboard.

After a third-round 3-under 67, Justin Suh leads by one at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Japan.

Beau Hossler and Eric Cole are tied for second at 8 under and all three players are looking for their first wins on the PGA Tour. Hossler followed up his Friday 65 with a 1-under 69 on Saturday, while Cole bounced back from a 1-over 71 with a 4-under 66.

Defending champion Keegan Bradley (67-70-73) is even par for the week and is tied for 21st.

Here’s everything you need to know from the third round of the Zozo Championship.

Beau Hossler’s low round among 5 things you missed from round 2 at 2023 Zozo Championship

“That was one of the windiest rounds of golf I’ve had all year, for sure. That was tough.”

Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo says the secret to Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Japan is the weather.

“If it’s good weather,” he said, “I enjoy playing out here.”

Well, the sun was shining again in the Land of the Rising Sun but Mother Nature drew up tricky conditions on Friday that were no treat. Grillo and many of the players in the 78-man field were left blowing in the wind.

“The last nine, 10 holes, I just had to grind really hard,” said Grillo, who was pleased to shoot 1-over 71.

Blustery conditions made it the type of the day that separates the men from the boys during the second round of the Zozo Championship in Arazai, 25 minutes northeast of Tokyo in the Chiba Prefecture.

“That was one of the windiest rounds of golf I’ve had all year, for sure. That was tough,” said Cam Davis. “I hit my shortest drive of the year probably by 40 yards on the last hole. I can remember the last time I hit driver, driver on a par-4 and still came up short of the green.”

Former Tour pro Graham DeLaet, who is serving as Golf Channel’s lead analyst this week, said, “You know it’s windy when your chips are being affected by it. Those are the days if you’re playing your home golf course you just take the day off.”

Only 13 players in the field managed to break par and Ben Taylor signed for 84 lifting the Round 2 scoring average to 72.45, or almost three strokes higher than Round 1. But the wind didn’t seem to bother American Beau Hossler, who shot the low round of the day, a 65, to improve to 7-under 133 and grab a one-stroke lead at the midway point.

“Playing in whatever, easily 20- to 30-mile an hour winds today was certainly a challenge,” Hossler said. “I’d say anything under par was a really quality score, so to shoot 5 under par was incredible.”

“It just kind of kept on gusting,” added Justin Suh, who was a stroke behind Hossler after 36 holes. “You’d get one every five minutes that would come like 40 miles an hour and it was pretty insane.”

With a forecast for high winds, the PGA Tour staff didn’t cut the greens between rounds in hopes of slowing the speed and for good reason.

“It was very necessary,” Suh said.

Three converted par 5s into par 4s – Nos. 4, 9 and 12 – played into a southwest wind direction meaning all of them played dead into the wind, making par a good score. “I tried to take the attitude that a four was like a birdie on those holes,” Hossler said.

But the conditions got the better of Hideki Matsuyama, who made consecutive double bogeys and ballooned to 76, and first-round leader Collin Morikawa who shot 3-over 73.

“It was definitely a grind,” Suh said.

Here are four more things to know about the second round of the Zozo Championship.

Justin Suh leads, Patrick Cantlay chases third Memorial win, Rory McIlroy bounces back and more from Friday at Muirfield Village

Rickie’s eagle, Rory’s rebound were among the second-round highlights.

The leaderboard is littered with big names through two days at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio.

Justin Suh, who made a run at the Honda Classic earlier this season, leads at 8 under after 36 holes. He played solidly on Thursday, signing for a 2-under 70. But Friday was a different story.

Suh used birdies on Nos. 3, 5, 8, 11, 14 and 15 to get to 6 under on his day before giving one back at No. 16. However, he stuffed his 174-yard approach into 18 to nine feet and converted the birdie to finish off his 6-under effort.

On his heels at 7 under is Hideki Matsuyama, who rode a hot putter all day Friday to a 7-under 65. Matsuyama won at Muirfield in 2014 and is in prime position to add another Memorial Tournament trophy to his collection.

Patrick Cantlay, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Rickie Fowler are all inside the top 10.

If you missed any of the action on Friday, no worries, we have you covered. Here’s everything you need to know from the second round of the Memorial Tournament.

Memorial: Photos

Harry Hall, Adam Schenk lead, Viktor Hovland and Justin Suh make a move and more from Saturday at the Charles Schwab Challenge

Catch up on Saturday’s action here.

Harry Hall posted a third-round 2-over 72, but he still holds a share of the 54-hole lead at the 2023 Charles Schwab Challenge.

The Englishman made back-to-back double bogeys on Nos. 6 and 7 and it looked like he was going to nosedive down the leaderboard. However, he bounced back nicely once he made the turn, making birdies on Nos. 12 and 17 to sign for a 72.

Atop the board with Hall is Adam Schenk, who got around Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, with a 3-under 67 on Saturday. Schenk birdied his first two holes of the day before giving one back on No. 4, his lone bogey of the day. After making the turn with a 1-under 34, Schenk made birdie at the par-5 11th and closed out his day with another circle at the last.

Hall, who has two top-10 finishes this season, is looking for his first win on the PGA Tour. Schenk, who missed three straight cuts before this week, is also searching for his first victory.

If you missed any of Saturday’s action, no worries, we have you covered. Here’s everything you need to know from the third round of the Charles Schwab Challenge.

Charles Schwab: Photos

Hideki Matsuyama, Will Zalatoris WD during final day of pool play at WGC-Dell Match Play

For Matsuyama, it’s just another bump along an injury-plagued 18 months.

AUSTIN, Texas — After grinding through a couple victories the old-fashioned way through the first two rounds at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, Max Homa became the first player to reach the knockout stage at Austin Country Club without getting to the first tee on Friday.

Homa — who beat Justin Suh, 3 and 2, in his opening match, and then came from behind to get the same result against match-play guru and friend Kevin Kisner on Thursday — moved into the round of 16 after Hideki Matsuyama withdrew before the pair were set to tee off.

All tee times were moved up on Friday due to inclement weather in the region, and Matsuyama, who opened play with a 1-up victory over Kisner, but fell to Suh on Thursday, 3 and 1, would have been playing for an opportunity to advance.

Matsuyama said he withdrew as a precautionary measure, according to a statement that came through the PGA Tour Communications team. He is still expected to play next week in the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.

Unfortunately for Suh, that means he’s also eliminated, even though a win against Kisner and a Matsuyama victory could have pushed him into a playoff.

Also, Will Zalatoris conceded to Ryan Fox as their match was about to begin. According to the Tour, Zalatoris cited illness as the reason. He had failed to win either of his first two matches and had already been eliminated.

For Matsuyama, this was just another bump along an injury-plagued 18 months.

The eight-time PGA Tour champ withdrew from the 2022 Players Championship before the first round, citing a back injury. He withdrew from the Valero Texas Open a week before defending at the Masters. He withdrew from the 3M Open after the first round and from the FedEx St. Jude Championship playoff event due to a neck injury.

And he withdrew from the Cadence Bank Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course, also citing a neck injury.

For Homa, this marks the first time in three attempts that he has emerged from pool play. He tweeted Friday morning, saying he hopes Matsyuama feels better soon.

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