Teeing Off
MY BAG
FOR THE SBS CHAMPIONSHIP
Sean O'Hair
"I love my five-wood. It's so multidimensional. I can hit it 215 to 255 yards and shape the shot any way I want."
FAIRWAY METALS
TaylorMade Burner 2008 (14.5°)
SHAFT
Mitsubishi Diamana Whiteboard 83 (X flex)
TaylorMade r7 (17.5°)
SHAFT
Mitsubishi Fubuki 83 (X flex)
PUTTER
Rossa
Kia Ma Daytona
DRIVER
TaylorMade R9 TP (10.5°)
SHAFT
Matrix Ozik HD6 (X flex)
IRONS
TaylorMade R9 TP (four through nine)
SHAFTS
True Temper Dynamic Gold X100
WEDGES
TaylorMade Z TP (48°, 50°, 54° and 60°)
SHAFTS
True Temper Dynamic Gold X100
GRIPS
Golf Pride
BALL
TaylorMade TP Red (No. 28)
NEXT YEAR'S FIRST EVENT
SBS CHAMPIONSHIP
Threesomes
As 2010 gets under way, watch for the season opener's Rule of Threes. Since the SBS Championship moved to Kapalua's Plantation course in 1999, four of the 11 winners were making their third start in the event. Next year's treys? Will MacKenzie, Sean O'Hair, John Rollins and Heath Slocum. Of the four, Slocum and O'Hair were the most impressive down the stretch in '09. Slocum won the first playoff event, the Barclays, while O'Hair placed in the top eight in each of the others, including a third at the Tour Championship, where he clung to a chance of winning the FedEx Cup right down to the final hole. He wound up fifth overall, but he could be the man to beat in Hawaii.
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Fresh Field
In 2009, 31 players qualified for the '10 SBS, but Phil Mickelson has already said that he won't play. Of those who remain, there will be seven rookies and 10 second-timers teeing it up (see chart). Taken altogether, 21 will be at Kapalua for no more than the third time. (If, as expected, Tiger Woods takes a pass, it would be 21 of 29.) That might indicate a youth movement on Tour, but the average age of those 21 pros is 33.2 years, including three in their 40s and only five in their 20s.
[The following text appears within a chart. Please see hardcopy or PDF for actual chart.]
STARTS
0 7
2 10
3 4
4 4
5 3
8 1
9 1
PLAYERS
—Compiled by Sal Johnson
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY SI IMAGING: KOHJIRO KINNO (BAG, BALL)
PHOTO
ERICK W. RASCO (WEDGES). CARYN LEVY/PGA TOUR/GETTY IMAGES (O'HAIR)
CHART
SLIM FILMS (CHART)