🏌🏻 What's In Malnati's Bag?

Good morning. As some of the top players headline the Houston Open this week, take a look at what’s in Peter Malnati’s bag that won the Valspar Championship.

And Nelly Korda held her nerves during a thrilling playoff to win the Seri Pak Championship - here’s what she used during her victorious campaign.

TRIVIA: Only 4 players have won both the Masters and US Open from multiple shots back entering the final round: Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Jack Nicklaus and who else? Answer at the end of the mail.

⛳ This day in history: Hal Sutton won The Players Championship in 2000 and Stephen Ames won The Players title in 2006 - both on this date.

NEXT ON THE TEE
Tournaments This Week

PGA Tour: Texas Children’s Houston Open 

📍 When and Where: March 28-31, Memorial Park Golf Course, Houston
💰 Purse: $9.1 million
🏌🏻 Headliners: Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Will Zalatoris, Sahith Theegala

DP World Tour: Indian Open 

📍When and Where: March 28-31, DLF Golf & Country Club, New Delhi
💰 Purse: $2.25 million
🏌🏻 Headliners: Rasmus Hojgaard, Yannik Paul, Anirban Lahiri

LPGA Tour: Arizona Championship 

📍 When and Where: 28-31, Seville Golf & Country Club, Gilbert
💰 Purse: $2 million
🏌🏻 Headliners: Lilia Vu, Lydia Ko, Nelly Korda

ALBATROSS
Scheffler's Return Headlines Houston Open

The Texas Children's Houston Open tees off on March 28 at the Memorial Park Golf Course - here are top things to look forward to.

🏌️Stars In Action: Top-ranked stars like Scottie Scheffler, Wyndham Clark, Sahith Theegala, Jason Day and Will Zalatoris among others are a part of the field in Houston. WR 30 Tony Finau will look to defend his title.

Check out Scottie Scheffler’s net worth and all that you need to know about him!

💸 Lowest Betting Odds: Scottie Scheffler's +300 opening odds (at BetMGM) are the lowest for a pre-tournament favorite since last year’s Mexico Open at Vidanta when Jon Rahm opened at +240 before finishing runner-up to Tony Finau.

Scheffler is in insane form, and to top that, he will be playing in his home state.

🚫 Yu, McNealy Withdraws: Kevin Yu and Maverick McNealy have withdrawn from the tournament. The withdrawals allow Scott Piercy and Zecheng Dou, both of whom have conditional status on the PGA Tour, to play the tournament.

💰 Prize Money & FedEx Cup: The prize purse for this week stands at $9.1m, with the winner bagging $1.638m. 500 FedEx Cup points are also available to the winner.

🌦️ Weather: Houston's weather conditions for the week appear to be ideal for the players and the fans. The final day (Sunday) is expected to be cloudy but there is no threat of rainfall.

📺 Telecast Details:
Thursday - 4-7 PM (GC/Peacock)
Friday - 4-7 PM (GC/Peacock)
Saturday - 1-6 PM (Peacock/NBC)
Sunday - 1-6 PM (Peacock/NBC)

TWEET
Worth Mentioning

EAGLE
Unpacking Tiger and Rory's TGL

The TGL, a virtual golf competition backed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, will make its delayed launch in January 2025.

⛳️ TGL Schedule and Teams:

✅ The TGL's first three matches will take place on the first three Tuesdays in January 2025 -- Jan. 1, 14 and 21 -- airing live on ESPN from the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens.

✅ PGA Tour stars committed to join Woods and McIlroy in TGL competition include Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Max Homa, Wyndham Clark and Collin Morikawa.

✅ Players will hit tee shots into a 64-by-46-foot screen. Once they are inside 50 yards, players transition to live action inside the GreenZone, a 22,475-square-foot short-game complex that physically transforms between holes.

✅ There are six teams: Los Angeles Golf Club, Atlanta Drive Golf Club, Boston Common Golf, Jupiter Links Golf Club, TGL New York and TGL San Francisco.

✅ Woods will compete for Jupiter Links, while McIlroy will play for Boston Common.

⛳️ Rory To Play Zurich Classic: Rory McIlroy will team up with Shane Lowry in next month's Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the PGA Tour's only team competition.

McIlroy has never played the tournament at TPC Louisiana, which has been a team event since 2017. The tournament will take place from April 25-28.

LOCKER ROOM
What else is making news

LPGA Tour: The JM Eagle LA Championship will set an LPGA Tour purse record when it is played in late April, with its purse being raised by $750,000 to $3.75 million - the largest prize money available on tour outside of the majors and the CME Group Tour Championship.

PGA Tour Studios: PGA Tour’s media and entertainment ambitions move closer with new studios set to open in January 2025.

Happy Gilmore 2: Adam Sandler has script 'in the works' for the sequel of Happy Gilmore, nearly three decades after the original hit theaters.

Tough Start: Charlie Woods carded rounds of 78, 81 and 78 on his AJGA debut to finish in a tie for 32nd in the 51-player field.

WM Phoenix Open: Nearly 2,800 tickets have been refunded to affected fans so far, with the total expected to grow with people still able to request refunds until the end of this month.

PGA Tour Champions: Steve Stricker, Fred Couples, Ernie Els among 10 players to watch in Galleri Classic golf tourney.

HBCU Partnership: Make Golf Your Thing, a collaborative industry movement, is continuing to build relationships and foster greater access and inclusivity in the sport through events at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

BIRDIE
Malnati's Equipment Strategy That Conquered Valspar

Peter Malnati won his first PGA tournament in almost nine years to qualify for the first Masters of his career.

⏳ What Was Malnati's Strategy? Malnati was working with a new 5-iron, and he brought it out for a crucial shot late in the Valspar Championship. The scoreboard was tied, and he used the new 5-iron to place his tee shot a little over six feet from the hole and birdied to go up a shot.

📌 Why Does Malnati Use A Yellow Ball? You must have spotted Malnati using a yellow ball at Valspar - well, it is not a strategic move as such.

He started using it in Minnesota at the 3M (Open) last summer and the reason he switched to it is because his 4-year old son, Hatcher, likes the yellow balls. Malnati plans to use it even in the upcoming tournaments.

DRIVING RANGE
Towel Drill For Clubface Stability

In this video, Stephen Deane explains how a simple drill using a towel can impact and improve your game in a number of ways.

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