🏌🏻Schauffele Leads Wells Fargo

Good morning. Rory McIlroy continues to make headlines both on and off the course.

The controversy surrounding his exclusion from the PGA Tour Policy Board didn’t seem to affect him one bit during Round 1 at Quail Hollow. McIlroy had a fine outing and currently sits T-2, three shots behind overnight leader Xander Schauffele.

Fun Fact: Since his debut at Quail Hollow in 2010, Rory McIlroy leads all players in SG total per round, SG off the tee per round, scoring average, cumulative score to par and drives of 300+ yards.

⛳ This day in history: On this date in 1930, Walter Hagen won the Open Championship at Muirfield, Scotland. His final 72-hole score was 292, 12 over par, but he won by six shots over runner-up Johnny Farrell.

ALBATROSS
Lucky Schauffele Leads Wells Fargo

The stars were at the top of their game during the opening round of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow. Schauffele, Morikawa, McIlroy, and Thomas, among others, are all in contention for a win.

🚀 Solo Leader: Xander Schauffele fired a 7-under-par 64 to take an early lead after Round 1. He birdied five of his first eight holes before taking his only bogey of the day at No 18.

Alex Noren, Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy are all three shots behind and placed T-2.

⏳ Lucky Escape: Schauffele benefitted from a free drop despite hitting his ball into a penalty area on the par-4 8th hole. He received a favorable ruling after he blew his drive way to the right into a cluster of trees and bushes.

Rules official Dave Donnelly gave him a relief because one of the PGA Tour’s ShotLink towers, which falls under the category of a Temporary Immovable Object, was in his line to the green.

📍 Morikawa Masterclass: Collin Morikawa has been playing with an uncluttered mind since reuniting with former swing coach Rick Sessinghaus. He hit 13 greens and missed just two fairways to register a first-round score of 67 and currently sits T-2.

🚫 Matsuyama Withdraws: Hideki Matsuyama withdrew before the start of his rain-delayed first round on Thursday due to a back injury. Matsuyama, 32, was attempting to compete for the first time since last month's Masters but pulled out just before his scheduled tee time at Quail Hollow Club.

Watch Round 1 Highlights

TWEET
Worth Mentioning

EAGLE
Woods, McIlroy Team Up For PGA-PIF Peace Talks

The PGA Tour has appointed Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott as player representatives for potential negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

The other members in this team are PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, John W. Henry of Fenway Sports Group (one of the primary investors in SSG), board chairman and Valero CEO Joe Gorder and former tour player Joe Ogilvie.

📌 Consolation for McIlroy? Rory McIlroy has been named to the “transaction subcommittee,” which was formed to handle the day-to-day negotiations as PIF seeks to become a minority investor in the Tour. This comes a day after his return to the PGA Tour Policy Board was "blocked" by other stakeholders.

Placing the world No 2 on the subcommittee creates a connection with PIF and its governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, who McIlroy shares a good relationship with.

📌 New Chairman: Joe Gorder has been unanimously elected by the PGA TOUR Enterprises Board of Directors to serve as its inaugural Chairman.

Gorder joined the PGA TOUR Policy Board last year as an Independent Director following a comprehensive search process, led by Player Directors Patrick Cantlay and Webb Simpson.

He notably serves Valero Energy Corporation as its Executive Chairman of the Board. Gorder and Valero have been steadfast supporters of the PGA TOUR for more than two decades, as Valero has served as title sponsor of the Valero Texas Open since 2002 with the partnership secure through 2028.

LOCKER ROOM
What else is making news

LPGA Tour: Rose Zhang (63) leads Cognizant Founders Cup; Nelly Korda six back.

PGA Tour: Beau Hossler and Scotland's Robert MacIntyre each fired a 7-under-par 64 to share the lead after the first round of the inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic.

PGA Tour Champions: Chris DiMarco, Padraig Harrington lead the Regions Tradition with play halted due to inclement weather.

LIV Golf: Mid-season trade window is open - here’s what to expect from the 13 teams.

Mother's Day Week: Meet the nine moms in action this week at LPGA Cognizant Founders Cup 2024.

BIRDIE
This Is How You Can "Cheat" At Putting

These technical adjustments, visualization tricks and a possible equipment change can help you find the "cheat code" to transform putting from your weakness to a strength.

⛳️ Grip Styles: If your full-swing grip is weak, try the “saw” grip, with the shaft across the fingers of your dominant hand for better clubface control.

If your grip is strong, eliminate erratic strokes with the “claw,” holding the putter more like a pencil or cross-handed.

⛳️ Arm-Locking: Anchoring a custom-made putter to the lead forearm, which is allowed by rules-makers, takes the hands completely out of the stroke. You use the shoulders and rib cage to move the putter (above), which greatly increases the ability to control the clubface through impact.

Watch DeChambeau do it, and you can see all the muscles in his forearms flexing because he’s so locked down.

⛳️ Eye Test: Select a 15-foot putt, then put an alignment stick on the ground so it’s between you and the hole and pointing at the cup (right).

Now address the putt so that your shoulders, hips, knees and feet are matching the alignment stick. There’s a good chance when you do this, the stick will no longer appear to be pointing at the hole.

⛳️ Setup: Make the alignment stick (from the previous point) appear to be pointing at the hole. It doesn’t matter how you stand as long as what you see matches up with the alignment rod pointing at the hole.

Customize your setup just like you customize your putter or your grip.

Read the full article.

DRIVING RANGE
Drills To Unlock Rotational Power

In this video, we share 3 battle rope drills to help you improve your rotational power in golf.

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