World Long Drive Is (Already) Back: And Meet Troy Mullins

There are four big changes this year for the Volvik World Long Drive Championship: the women's final will be played Wednesday on the same night as the men, Tuesday features a mixed team event, drivers can only be 48 inches and the event is now in early September (better weather!).

The men's round of 16 is now set after qualifying, with one big surprise in top-ranked Maurice Allen's failure to advance, writes Will Gray for GolfChannel.com.

OPEN DIVISION (MEN’S) ROUND OF 16 MATCHES:

(1) Ryan Reisbeck (Layton, Utah) vs. (16) Wes Patterson (St. Louis, Mo.)
(8) Kevin Shook (Bradenton, Fla.) vs. (9) Mitch Grassing (Ottawa, Ont., Canada)
(4) Tim Burke (Orlando, Fla.) vs. (13) Stephen Kois (Wheaton, Ill.)
(5) Trent Scruggs (Hickory, N.C.) vs. (12) Kyle Berkshire (Orlando, Fla.)
(2) Justin James (Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) vs. (15) Bobby Bradley (Wellington, Fla.)
(7) Paul Howell (Wilson, N.C.) vs. (10) Steve Monroe (Clearwater, Fla.)
(3) Will Hogue (Memphis, Tenn.) vs. (14) Josh Cassaday (Denver, Colo.)
(6) Joe Miller (London, England) vs. (11) Nick Kiefer (Chicago, Ill.)

Mark Wahlberg is excited...

#Repost @markwahlberg ・・・ Don't miss the @WorldLongDrive sponsored by @performinspired tomorrow and weds Sept 5&6 on @golfchannel at 9pm ET. #WorldLongDrive #performanceinspirednutrition #bushnellgolf

A post shared by World Long Drive (@worldlongdrive) on Sep 4, 2017 at 4:50pm PDT

Last week I had the privilege of chat at Wilshire Country Club with budding star Troy Mullins, winner recently in Denver, a favorite for the women's title and Los Angeles native who attended high school near Wilshire before attending Cornell. Troy is already one of the more fascinating young studies in golf, using off-the-(Roger Dunn)-shelf drivers, athleticism developed as a heptathlete and aspiring to play LPGA Tour golf.

Here is the chat and a short feature produced by Ben Elisha:

Here was Mullins recently in her final preparation as posted by instructor George Gankas, which involves getting uber-flexible for the shot at the belt.