When the World No. 1 headed into the final round at an iconic course tied for the lead with the World No. 246, the name Dustin Johnson was all-but carved into the trophy. The man sharing that lead- Ted Potter Jr- was expected to simply enjoy the experience of playing alongside the world's best, almost like being paired with his favourite celebrity in the Pro-Am. The Florida native had other ideas.

Despite a bogey on Sunday's first hole, Potter went on to force pundits and writers into countless magic-themed Potter puns. A rare wayward drive from DJ at the fifth forced him into a drop and conceded the lead to Potter. Now, I told you in my tournament preview that approach to the green would be crucial on this course, with small greens making precision crucial. This is where DJ would pull away from the rest of the field towards victory, right? On the sixth a sensational approach shot set up a birdie... for Ted Potter Jr. Then, on the par-3 seventh, the playing partners landed their drives in extremely similar positions right next to the green. The world leader chipped expertly to within a few feet for an easy par-putt, as expected. But a moment of magic from Potter (I did warn you) saw him chip in for his fourth birdie in six holes after opening with a bogey.

Three-under going into the back nine, all Potter had to do was hold his nerve. He did exactly that; shooting even-par down the stretch to finish with a three-stroke win as his playing partner needed a closing birdie to save par for the day, with four bogeys proving his downfall.

Circling back to my tournament preview blog, I told you Chez Reavie would 'upset the applecart', and boy did he do that. A stand-alone bogey on the back nine forced him to share the runner-up spot, although he wasn't in bad company as tournament favourite Dustin Johnson, second-favourite Jason Day and many experts' top-tip Phil Mickelson tied him at fourteen-under. The 50/1 long-shot may have been overshadowed by Potter's wizardry, but back-to-back runner-up spots can't be ignored.

Ted Potter Jr. - What's in the Bag?

Driver: PING G400

Fairway Wood: PING G400

Hybrid: PING G400

Irons: PING iBlade

Wedges: PING Glide 2.0, Cleveland RTX-3

Putter: Odyssey White Hot #2

Golf Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

With a strong contingent of celebrities on show, from Hollywood headliners to sport stars, it’s no surprise that everybody’s talking about the AT & T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. We’ve already seen Bill Murray in sunflower-covered Bell-bottoms and Clint Eastwood sinking putts for fun and I’m sure that’s just the start of what will be an awesome week in California.

Now, back to the serious golf, there are plenty of big golf names, including Rory McIlroy’s return to the PGA Tour. The Northern Irishman has been in fine form on the European Tour, but hasn’t made a PGA Tour appearance all season. This is also his tournament debut, so I’m completely bemused as to why he’s the joint-second favourite at a measly 10/1. I’m not saying he hasn’t got a chance- I’m not stupid- but I think anybody willing to take a punt on him deserves more of a reward for their bravery.

On the subject of low odds, World No. 1 Dustin Johnson occupies the 11/2 favourite spot, with No. 2 Jon Rahm equal to McIlroy and Jason Day at 10/1 and No. 3 Jordan Spieth just behind at 11/1. Bar McIlroy, I think these are pretty fair prices, with DJ, Rahm & Day all claiming titles already this season and Spieth an ever-present threat. However, the two that jump out at me are DJ and Spieth purely due to their precision. DJ’s incredibly accurate iron play and Spieth’s smart scrambling could prove key.

Speaking of accuracy approaching the greens brings me to my 50/1 long-shot: Chez Reavie. After a playoff loss at last week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, Reavie’s impressive Strokes Gained: Approach-The-Green (third on PGA Tour) gives him a real shot this week. Gary Woodland, the man who beat Reavie in a playoff last week, can be found at 25/1 – the lowest odds outside the World top 10 – having finished T7, T12 & 1^st so far in 2018. Not far behind Woodland is Phil Mickelson. ‘Lefty’ has been tipped by many to have a strong performance and, at 28/1, isn’t a bad shout at all.

Given the extra eyes pulled in by celebs (he certainly knows how to step up under pressure) and the importance of accuracy around the green, Jordan Spieth is my top pick for this week. But, if you’re looking for higher odds, I’m tipping Chez Reavie to upset the applecart.

3 courses, 4 days, 1 winner. Let the games begin!

Written by Joe Carabini

Joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

As January 2018 draws to a close, we take a look at which new clubs have hit the ground running on Tour.

TaylorMade

In the first month of the calendar year, TaylorMade golf clubs have already been in the bag of five winners and three runners-up across the PGA and European Tour. That’s seven top-two finishes in as many tournaments. No poster (or digital whatnot, as the case may be these days) can deliver advertising like that. As the old, and extremely irritating, adage goes: the stats don’t lie.

The TM stars wasted no time in 2018, with Dustin Johnson and Jon Rahm finishing one-two as the PGA Tour began the year with the Tournament of Champions. Rahm then followed this up with a win at the CareerBuilder Challenge, whilst Tommy Fleetwood was putting his new M3 Driver to good use in the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. The following week on the European Tour, it took a tournament-record 23-under from Haotong Li to separate TaylorMade trailblazer Rory McIlroy from the Dubai Desert Classic crown. The very next day, Australia’s Jason Day edged out Alex Noren to win the Farmers Insurance Open after a playoff so tight they ran out of daylight, meaning the tie couldn’t be decided until Monday. Still, Day prevailed for the first time in any tournament since 2016… in his first month with the new M3 Driver. I don’t know about you, but I think I’m sensing a pattern here.

What's in the Bag?

DJ and Rahm were both equipped with the M4 Driver, whilst Fleetwood and Day opted for the M3 Driver. DJ stuck with the M4 as his 3-wood, but Rahm switched to the M3 5-wood. However, arguably the most impressive shots of 2018 so far have come from DJ’s iron play since adding the TaylorMade P-790 irons to his bag.

Callaway

Sergio Garcia made a slightly more low-key, but no less successful, adjustment to life with new clubs. Following his recent transfer from TaylorMade to Callaway, the Spaniard struck gold in his first outing with the new Callaway Rogue woods and Mack Daddy 4 wedges. The new Callaway frontman topped the Singapore Open leaderboard as he dipped his toe in the Asian Tour.

As Sergio successfully switched to the Asian Tour, Li Haotong successfully switched in the opposite direction. His aforementioned victory over McIlroy featured a strong performance with the new Callaway Rogue fairway wood.

Despite an agonising loss at the hands of Jason Day, Alex Noren looked a force to be reckoned with as he got to grips with latest Callaway technologies.

TaylorMade’s success really casts a shadow over most other brands sending their latest inventions out on Tour, but Callaway’s showing has been impressive nonetheless.

What's in the Bag?

The Callaway Rogue Sub Zero Driver and Mack Daddy 4 wedges proved effective for Garcia and Noren, along with the Rogue fairway woods.

Cobra Golf

With only two players inside the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) top 100, and Bryson DeChambeau teetering on the brink at No. 99, Cobra Golf’s new F8 range could very easily have slipped under the radar. Rickie Fowler ensured that wasn’t the case.

Fulfilling his role as the manufacturer’s wonderkid, Cobra’s Californian swept aside the competition at the PGA Tour’s star-studded Hero World Challenge on his inaugural outing with the new Cobra F8+ woods last November. The F8+, a Tour-level edition of the traditional F8 design, grabbed headlines following Fowler’s strong performance with the driver, 3-wood and 5-wood.

What's in the Bag?

Fowler has gone from strength to strength from the tee and fairway with the Cobra King F8+ Nardo Driver and Cobra King F8+ Baffler 5-wood.

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

There were so many stories to come out of the weekend’s Hero World Challenge, but there’s only one place we, as golf enthusiasts, can possibly start…Tiger Woods’ eagerly-awaited return.

The 14-time major champion was playing in his first PGA Tour event since the summer of 2015 and didn’t disappoint. Having undergone two back operations during his time on the sidelines, as well as a failed comeback just a few months ago, it was always going to be intriguing to see how golf’s biggest superstar fared in the Bahamas.

Arguably Tiger picked the perfect tournament to return – he hosts the event each year, was playing amongst friends and was guaranteed to play 72 competitive holes (as long as his back held out, which it did). On the other hand it was an 18-man field made up of the world’s best golfers – Stenson, Spieth, Dustin - so it wasn’t exactly ‘easy competition’.

Nevertheless Tiger caused a media frenzy with the vast majority of Sky’s coverage focused on Tiger during the four days – not surprising really given he was the guy everyone wanted to see. So how did he get on? Well, on the plus side he made 24 birdies over the four days which was the most in the field. Unfortunately for the American, he also carded the most double bogeys out of everyone - six to be exact.

So overall a pretty good week for Tiger, all things considered. But the real shining light was Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama. If you read our weekly round-ups then you’ll be familiar with the 24-year-olds name from recent weeks. He’s been in phenomenal form of late and he carried this on, winning the Hero World Challenge by two shots from Henrik Stenson. That is four wins his last five starts, with his other result being a lousy runner-up finish. Not bad.

2017 is going to be a very interesting year.

What equipment did Matsuyama use?

• Driver – Callaway Great Big Bertha (9 degrees)
• Fairway wood – Callaway Big Bertha Fusion (15 degrees)
• Irons – TaylorMade M2 Tour (3-iron); Srixon Z945 (4-PW)
• Wedges – Cleveland Golf 588 RTX 2.0 (52, 56 and 60)
• Putter – Scotty Cameron
• Ball - Srixon Z-Star XV

The Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas pulled together eighteen of the world’s best golfers in the hope of producing some of the world’s best golf. As you well know, there was a special name amongst the field this week. Amongst the world’s best golfers was arguably the world’s greatest ever golfer. Tiger’s back with a brand new back.

Whilst we couldn’t ignore the headline act, there was still a golf tournament to be played. And what a golf tournament it was. Fresh off conquering the European Tour, Tommy Fleetwood wasted no time in upsetting the apple cart on the PGA Tour. The Englishman led the field after an opening round of six-under, ahead of Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar on five-under. Tiger Woods picked up a more-than-respectable three-under on the par 72 Albany golf course, New Providence.

Charley Hoffman’s nine-under 63 stole the show on day two, taking him to twelve-under for the tournament, whilst Brooks Koepka’s six-over 78 condemned him to the worst round of the star-studded tournament. Woods hit an eagle on the ninth on his way to a four-under, leaving him five strokes off leader Charley Hoffman heading into the weekend.

Extremely blustery conditions on Saturday prevented a single player breaking 70, including a collapse from Tiger Woods. Tiger was five-over after ten holes, before saving his blushes with a couple of birdies to finish on 75 for the day and four-under heading into the final round.

Despite five birdies and an eagle on the final day, a double bogey on the tenth and back-to-back bogeys to close saw Tiger finish the tournament on eight-under at T9. Not bad at all.

Fleetwood tied Spieth on -12 for a share of third; narrowly edging out Hideki Matsuyama and Patrick Reed, who finish on -11. Hoffman’s 70-72 weekend would usually have ensured victory, especially given the lack of below-par scores on Saturday. But Rickie Fowler climbed four places on Sunday with a remarkable eleven-under for the day to beat his American counterpart by four strokes. Fowler finished on -18 for the tournament after seven straight birdies to open the final day, before a further four birdies saw him streak into the lead.

A promising return for Tiger, a course-record and tournament-record for Fowler and yet another great result for Tommy Fleetwood. But what was in the winner’s bag?

Rickie Fowler – What’s in the Bag?

Driver: Cobra King F8+

3 Wood: Cobra F8+

5 Wood: Cobra F8+ Baffler

Irons: Cobra King Forged MB (4-PW)

Wedges: Cobra King V-Grind

Putter: Titleist Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS Prototype

Golf Ball: Titleist Pro V1

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

Last week in the Foremost Golf blog we looked at the rapidly increasing excitement around the European Tour's Race to Dubai. With the first two tournaments of October, England's Tyrrell Hatton snatched back-to-back victories to put the heat on at the top of the Race to Dubai standings. Now, taking notes from his fellow countryman, Justin Rose has emulated Hatton's consecutive wins with victories at the WGC-HSBC Champions and Turkish Airlines Open respectively. Both golfers hadn't won a tournament in 2017 prior to the aforementioned titles. Apparently being an English golfer is a lot like waiting for a London bus. That said, nobody's ever paid me a (not so) small fortune to get on a London bus.

Justin Rose, who overturned an eight-stroke deficit the previous week to win in Shanghai, sat nine strokes behind clubhouse leader Nicolas Colsaerts heading into the weekend, before the Belgian hit two-over on Saturday and slipped to -12. Meanwhile, Rose roared to a -7 for the day to equal Colsaerts at twelve-under for the tournament. Ireland's Shane Lowry and Kiradech Aphibarnrat shared the overnight lead heading into the final round at -14. Another Irish golf legend, Padraig Harrington, shared T2 with Rose and Colsaerts. Rose once again came from behind in steady fashion. As viewers marvelled at Dylan Frittelli's three birdie chip-ins on the front nine, including two genuine moments of magic on the fourth & eighth, Rose continued to march up the leaderboard with consistent birdies.

Six birdies and a bogey left Rose and Colsaerts level on the eighteenth at -17. Rose nailed a birdie putt to force Colsaerts into a pressure putt for a playoff. The Belgian narrowly missed and Rose emerged victorious, making himself just the third player ever, joining Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, to follow up a World Golf Championship success with another title (again, not something I’ve seen a London bus do). Now, with just two tournaments left- the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa and the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai- Justin Rose sits just behind Race to Dubai leader Tommy Fleetwood. Fleetwood’s T23 leaves him in need of a big result to maintain his top spot. Behind Rose is Sergio Garcia, Jon Rahm, Tyrrell Hatton, Ross Fisher and Rafa Cabrera-Bello respectively; making it four Englishmen and three Spaniards in the European Tour’s top seven.

Justin Rose – What’s in the Bag?

Driver: TaylorMade M1

3-wood: TaylorMade M2

5-wood: TaylorMade M1

Irons: TaylorMade P790

Wedges: TaylorMade Milled Grind

Putter: TaylorMade TP Red Ardmore 2

Golf ball: TaylorMade TP5

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

With the World No. 1 holding a six stroke lead at the start of play, the final round of the World Golf Championship-HSBC Champions in Shanghai was a formality. A damp squib, to be frank.

Brooks Koepka's opening-round 64 took him to an impressive eight-under, but Dustin Johnson stole the show with a 63 on the second day, as seven birdies on the back-nine of a bogey-free Friday put him top of the pile at -13. Koepka and the chasing pack began to slip away, failing to match DJ’s 68 on the penultimate round. That third round included a costly triple bogey for Koepka, whilst Sweden’s Henrik Stenson continued a steady march up the leaderboard; his three-under taking him to -10 for the week to occupy third spot; one stroke behind Koepka. Dustin Johnson sat six strokes clear at -17.

After the final round, Justin Rose confessed that he had been eyeing up the runner-up position, with a scorecard of 67 (-5), 68 (-4) and 72 (PAR) leaving him sharing T4 with Brain Harman at -9 for the tournament heading into the final day. He caught Stenson with birdies on the second and third, before throwing it away with bogey-birdie-bogey-bogey between the sixth and ninth.

Henrik Stenson wasn’t looking over his shoulder, though. Consecutive bogeys on the opening two holes from DJ combined with Stenson’s -2 front-nine to close the gap to three strokes, whilst Koepka was +1. Then, the damp squib came to life.

Justin Rose began totting up the birdies. One, two, three, four…Hang on, what’s Dustin doing? As Rose sinks his fourth birdie of the back-nine on the sixteenth, Dustin Johnson sinks his fifth bogey of the day and falls to -12. Rose and Stenson are now tied for the lead at -13.

Rose sinks yet another birdie on the seventeenth, whilst Stenson slumps to -12 with a bogey. Formality? I think not! The Englishman calmly finishes the job with a closing PAR to overturn an eight stroke deficit on the World No. 1 and claim his first victory of 2017.

The remarkable victory- a record-equalling comeback- puts Rose at third in the FedEx Cup rankings. But, far more importantly, it also launches Rose to third in the Race to Dubai rankings. Tommy Fleetwood and Jon Rahm’s underwhelming performances (T20 and T36 respectively), along with Sergio Garcia’s non-entry, gives Rose a real shot at the European Tour’s main prize, with just three events left to play.

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

Following back-to-back European Tour victories for Tyrell Hatton, the Race to Dubai was seriously heating up as the players prepared for the Andalucia Valderrama Masters. Tommy Fleetwood took the Race to Dubai lead with his Open de France win back in June, and hasn’t threatened to give it up since. But Sergio Garcia saw his chance and took in with great aplomb as he sailed to victory at his home club: Real Club Valderrama. The Spandiard, who won the last edition of the tournament in 2011 (prior to a five-year break) and simply loves playing in his homeland, closed the gap on Fleetwood in the Race to Dubai leaderboard with just four events left to play.

Garcia edged out Dutchman Joost Luiten by a single stroke, whilst England’s Daniel Brooks deservedly took third spot. Garcia was made to dig deep on the final day to go -12 for the tournament, and even reverted to putting with his 3-wood (a “trick” he learned after smashing his putter at the PGA Tour’s Dell Technologies Championship last month) on the ninth hole. It worked a charm and the Masters champion made it a three-win European Tour season for the first time in his career. This feat comes despite only playing 12 European Tour events, compared to Tommy Fleetwood’s 20. Fleetwood was absent for last week’s event, meaning he has some work to do if he is to maintain top spot and claim the European No. 1 title at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai next month.

On the topic of English success, Daniel Brooks’ top-three finish proved a critical one as it means he will retain his Tour card. He may have slipped away from the top two, ultimately finishing five strokes off Garcia despite levelling up on the second hole of the final round, but Brooks will be delighted nonetheless.

A big, if unsurprising, win for Garcia not only caps of the greatest season of his career, but also tees up (pun intended) a phenomenal final month of the European Tour season.

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

In the early months of this year, FootJoy released a revolutionary spikeless golf shoe to the UK market. The FootJoy Pro/SL golf shoe sparked a lot of water-cooler talk amongst golf fans as some of the world's best Tour players starting wearing the game-changing shoe on their way to superb performances on Tour. It soon became clear that players like Louis Oosthuizen and Adam Scott were benefitting from FootJoy's latest and greatest golf shoe. Demand for the FootJoy Pro/SL soared in the UK and, soon enough, they were flying off shelves up and down the country. Amateur golfers can now enjoy the lightweight, waterproof ChromoSkin leather construction, the Fine-Tune Foam cushioning and, of course, the TPU moulded outsole for the spikeless grip & stability that has been heralded as a true game-changer.

But it's not just the fancy new technologies that has everybody talking about the Pro/SL. The hybrid of sporty and smart looks create a shoe that not only performs to the highest level, but is also extremely easy on the eye. The blue/white, navy/white and black colours have all proven to be favourites both on and off the golf course. However, the NEW silver/white model delivers perhaps the sleekest, most stylish design yet. It's brand new to the UK golf market, but it's already extremely popular.

Why not check out the FootJoy Pro/SL Men's Golf Shoe right here at Foremost Golf and enjoy the bonus of FREE golf socks and FREE UK delivery?

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com

The PGA Tour's 2017 season started with Brendan Steele claiming his second-ever PGA Tour victory at the Safeway Open, before Justin Thomas claimed a second PGA Tour victory himself at the CIMB Classic the following week. If you'd told any golf fan that Steele would remain on one victory for the season, you wouldn't have raised an eyebrow. If you'd told them that Thomas would go on to claim another four victories, a Major, the FedEx Cup, Player of the Year & the Arnold Palmer Award as the season's top-earner, you'd be peeling eyebrows off the ceiling. But, as is the nature of golf, a relatively low-key early-season event in Malaysia kick-started one of the most impressive seasons in modern golf and became the making of a golf superstar.

Despite his successful defence of the CIMB Classic title, it was perhaps not until the Sony Open in Hawaii that we saw JT showcase his greatness for the first time. Coming into the tournament off the back of a win in the SBS Tournament of Champions in the previous week, Thomas claimed consecutive wins in Hawaii. The American shot a new tournament record and became the youngest player ever to shoot a sub-60 round as he struck 59 on his opening round, courtesy of eagles to open and close the round.

Speaking of rising stars, January saw Jon Rahm win his first-ever PGA Tour victory at the Farmers Insurance Open in California. On paper, this holds little significance (Rahm was one of twelve maiden winners in 2017) but I can't be the only one expecting this to be the first of many for the young Spaniard. Jon Rahm finished 2016 as World No. 137 but now sits at World No. 5.

The following month, Dustin Johnson made history en route to becoming the World No. 1. DJ's win at the Genesis Open, the thirteenth of his career, meant he joined Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as one of only three players to win a tournament in each of his first ten professional season. Fittingly, this win propelled him to top spot in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR).

From consistent TOUR victories to elusive Majors, Sergio Garcia famously scalped his maiden Major title with a playoff win over Justin Rose in the Masters at Augusta National. Kim Si-Woo pulled off a gargantuan shock at The PLAYERS Championship in May, coming from behind on the final day, the 21-year-old South Korean was also the youngest player to win the tournament by more than a year and a half. Brooks Koepka made it seven maiden Major winners on the bounce with another surprising victory at the U.S. Open, before Jordan Spieth (who else) put an end to the run with his third career Major in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Justin Thomas capped off the year's Majors and put himself in the driving seat for Player of the Year with a win at the PGA Championship.

The lucrative $10 million FedEx Cup prize made the final four tournaments- the FedEx Cup playoffs- a tense affair for the world's best. DJ pulled off a playoff win in the opening playoff event- The Northern Trust- with a moment of magic against Jordan Spieth. JT made it five for the year in the Dell Technologies Championship to all-but confirm the Player of the Year and FedEx Cup titles. Marc Leishman finished strongly with a BMW Championship win, but it was Xander Schauffele's TOUR Championship victory to close the season that grabbed headlines. The victory earned him a well-deserved Rookie of the Year title as he climbed from World No. 299 to World No. 32.

Written by Joe Carabini

joe.carabini@foremostgolf.com