Follow Tiger Woods’ first round at the PGA Championship with shot-by-shot updates from TPC Harding Park.
The golf world endured a long wait to see Tiger Woods back in action when the sports world shut down in March because of COVID-19. We got a glimpse of Tiger in abysmal conditions at The Match II: Champions for Charity, and then a more formal look last month when he teed it up at the Memorial.
Woods closed out his 18th appearance in the Memorial on July 19 with a final-hole bogey that completed a 4-over-par 76 at and placed his name well down on the leaderboard at Muirfield Village Golf Club. The five-time winner of Jack Nicklaus’s annual gathering of the game’s best players posted rounds of 71-76-71-76 that left him at 6-over-par 294.
This week, Woods continues his quest for another major title at TPC Harding Park. He has a new putter in play – benching his iconic Scotty Cameron Newport 2 GSS that he used to win 14 of his 15 majors in favor of a new Scotty Cameron prototype.
Woods tees off at 11:33 a.m. EDT alongside Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas.
We’re tracking his round, shot-by-shot.
No. 13 – Par 4
Tiger just cut one around to the right fairway on this dogleg right, and we’re doing our best to temper our excitement as we’ve now seen Tiger move it in both directions on command. We like where this is headed.
No. 12 – Par 4
Tiger hugs a drive around this dogleg left and it lands on the left side of the fairway. That one looked pure. Tiger is the last to hit his approach here from 182 yards, and he nestles one in (with a very helpful bounce off the left side of the green) for yet another birdie look.
Tiger was lined up right and missed it right. Birdie chance squandered.
TIGER ON THE DAY: 1 under thru 3
No. 11 – Par 3
Tiger has 6-iron from 201 yards here and it lands softly on the right side of the green before rolling to the back. He’ll have another birdie look here.
The birdie attempt was low all the way, but Tiger leaves himself with an easy tap-in par.
TIGER ON THE DAY: 1 under thru 2
No. 10 – Par 5
It’s an eerie feeling without crowds on a hazy morning at TPC Harding Park. Less fanfare than usual for Tiger on the 10th tee, but he stripes one regardless. It lands just in the left rough.
Tiger’s hitting out of the left rough, albeit from a favorable lie. He used a fairway woods, but it went well right and outside of the ropes. Yet again, a favorable lie and hits a high pitch that lands softly and leaves an 8-footer.
The birdie putt is good (hello, new putter) and Tiger is in the red to start the day.
TIGER ON THE DAY: 1 under thru 1
Pre-round
It’s not going to be warm in San Francisco this week, which makes Woods’ warm-up even more key. Here’s an idea.
Troy Merritt will take the lead into the final round of the Barracuda Championship with +33 points.
Troy Merritt will take the lead into the final round of the Barracuda Championship with +33 points, followed by Maverick McNealy and Emiliano Grillo each with +29 points.
The Barracuda Championship, being played at Old Greenwood in Truckee, California, this week opposite the World Golf Championships FedEx St. Jude Invitaitional in Memphis, uses the Modified Stableford scoring format and is the only PGA Tour stop to do so.
Players are allocated points based on the number of strokes taken at each hole with the goal of achieving the highest overall score.
Merritt, who played golf at Boise State his last two years in college, finished second in the Barracuda last year, to winner Collin Morikawa. He had six birdies Saturday, and two bogeys.
Merritt will be in the PGA Championship starting Thursday, replacing Francesco Molinari, who withdrew Friday.
Robert Streb has +28 points, Joseph Bramlett and Richy Werenski each are next with +26 points. Seamus Power has +25 points.
Kyle Stanley led after the second round Friday with +22 points, mixing one eagle, six birdies and three bogeys in his first return to the Barracuda Championship since 2016.
Friday’s lead was the sixth time Stanley held the lead after 36 holes. He remained at +22 points (T10) after Saturday’s third round.
Stanley is a two-time Tour winner (2012 Waste Management Phoenix Open, 2017 Quicken Loans National).
The field was cut to the top 67 players after Friday’s second round. The cut line was at +6 points.
Sponsor exemptions Peter Kuest and Sahith Theegala both advanced to the weekend in their Barracuda Championship debuts. Theegala is at +13 and Kuest at +12.
Austria’s Matthias Schwab is trying to become the first sponsor exemption to win since Matthew Wolff (2019 3M Open).
Robert Streb has never missed the cut in five appearances at the Barracuda Championship.
Branden Grace has withdrawn from the Barracuda Championship after testing positive for COVID-19 before the third round.
Branden Grace has withdrawn from the Barracuda Championship after testing positive for COVID-19 before the third round.
Grace was tied for second through two rounds with Matthias Schwab and Robert Streb, each having +20 points in the event’s Modified Stableford scoring system.
“I felt great all week,” Grace said in a statement released by the PGA Tour. “Last night, I was tired and thought it had to do with the altitude. This morning, I notified the PGA Tour about my symptoms before going to the golf course. I wanted to get tested out of respect for my peers and everyone involved with the tournament. While it is unfortunate given my position on the leaderboard, the most important thing is our health.”
The Tour also says it has implemented its response plan in consultation with medical experts, which includes identifying individuals with whom Grace might have come into contact. After conducting the necessary contact tracing, the Tour’s medical advisors are not recommending any additional testing at this time.
The Tour reports that Grace’s caddie tested negative for COVID-19, but in accordance with CDC guidelines and Tour health and safety protocols, he will still quarantine for a period of 14 days.
Grace, a South African, has made six starts since the Tour restarted in June. He was T-19 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and 61st at the RBC Heritage, but has missed the last four cuts.
Golf Channel analyst tells the ForePlay podcast that Bryson DeChambeau’s distance gains are real and they’re amazing!
Bryson DeChambeau’s incredible bulk and impressive distance gains are the talk of the PGA Tour since play resumed in June, and ratcheted up with his victory at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last month. Speaking on Barstool Sports’s Fore Play podcast, Chamblee, the outspoken Golf Channel analyst, weighed in on the evolution of DeChambeau’s swing and what it means for the future of the PGA Tour.
From a distance standpoint, Chamblee says it’s not unprecedented for the longest hitter to be nearly 30 yards longer than the Tour average. The difference is DeChambeau has been able to do it while hitting more than 60 percent of fairways rather than past bombers who found only 40-50 percent of fairways.
“Long and straight is the Giza pyramid. You look at that and say, how the hell can a guy do that?” Chamblee said.
While DeChambeau’s weight gain has garnered the most attention, Chamblee says the drastic changes DeChambeau made to his swing deserve the majority of the credit for his accuracy.
“It’s like Moneyball. Distance has become strategy. It’s not just some freakish accomplishment that people have and is mysterious. John Daly was a freak. Dustin Johnson is a freak. Bubba Watson is a freak. That’s how people always dismissed distance,” Chamblee said. “Here comes Bryson DeChambeau and there’s a before and after. Wait a minute, it’s not a freakish talent. He was the same guy last year and now he’s this much longer. There’s an actual strategy here and I love that he went and figured it out.”
“I’ll tell you another thing that is impressive,” Chamblee continued. “Imagine having a job that paid you $2 million a year…and you risked all of that by changing everything you were doing that allowed you to have that job. He was having fantastic success but he risked all of that – millions of dollars, being his own boss, an incredible way of life – that’s amazing. I just don’t know many Tour players who would do that. That’s an incredible risk, and he pulled it off.”
The question remains: How long can DeChambeau keep up his rigorous training schedule and will others be willing to adopt it?
“At some point, your priorities changes…life takes over. Do I have 16 hours a day to devote to a physical pursuit at the expense of every other connection I have with people? Not many people are going to do that. You laud him for it,” Chamblee said.
When asked how concerned he is that DeChambeau may end up getting hurt, Chamblee said, “I don’t worry about him injuring himself with his golf swing, but from a fitness standpoint, from a rest standpoint, and that’s well outside my area of expertise, but my friends who are experts in that area have looked at his form and question it. I’m less inclined to think he’s going to get injured because of the metamorphosis of his body than I was with Tiger or DJ or Brooks or Jason Day or Rory for a short period of time before he changed his training.”
You can listen to the full podcast with Chamblee here.
The vibe at the 2020 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational is unlike any sporting event to come to Memphis.
John Williams was hitting flop shots in his backyard earlier this week, right underneath an #AISENSTRONG banner that’s hanging from his second-floor balcony.
Had he known who his next door neighbor is at the moment, he might not have chosen to fool around with his pitching wedge. But then Williams turned around.
Standing there at the grill was Rory McIlroy watching Williams do what McIlroy does better than just about everyone in the world. Soon enough, Williams and McIlroy began talking from across the fence line and McIlroy met his kids. Before long, Sergio Garcia — who’s sharing a house with McIlroy in the neighborhood surrounding TPC Southwind — came over to pet Williams’ dog.
“I tried to keep the conversation away from golf,” Williams said with a laugh. “I tried to play it cool.”
The vibe at the 2020 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational is unlike any sporting event to come to Memphis. Take Friday’s sleepy second round as an example.
It began at 7 a.m., and ended with Brendon Todd atop the leaderboard at 11 under, eating lunch at a picnic table with his wife and caddie where tens of thousands of Memphians would usually be congregating.
The constant murmur and spontaneous bursts of noise from the gallery were replaced by chirping birds and the buzz of cicadas like it was just another Friday morning. But the hackers and club members who would be figuring their way around the course have been replaced by Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson and Rickie Fowler and the rest of the world’s best golfers walking by.
Only those who live within the gated community around the course, and perhaps a guest or two, are able to catch a glimpse. It’s both fascinating and melancholy. A once-in-a-lifetime experience that this columnist never wants to experience again.
Patrick Reed putts on No. 17 green during the second round of the 2020 WGC FedEx-St. Jude Invitational on Friday, July 31, 2020 at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn.
Near the 10th hole, a man walked his dog as Thomas attempted a birdie putt. Along the fairway at No. 12, a man who finished his morning jog sat in an Adirondack chair cooling off as Koepka hit an approach shot. On No. 1, there’s a two-story patio that’s featured a dozen or so onlookers each day cheering golfers as they walk off the tee.
Other than the occasional golf clap, it’s about the only traditional sounds you’ll hear out here.
Ben Williams has been camped out with a folding chair next to the tee box at No. 11 — TPC Southwind’s signature Island hole — since Tuesday.
By Thursday, a handful of neighbors were out there with him. His 8-year-old son, Judah, and his father, Jimmy, joined him for the second round Friday. Three generations of Memphis golf fans watched a historic tournament that’s making history for the wrong reasons this year.
“I was thinking about telling Harry Diamond (McIlroy’s caddie) that it was a two-club wind Thursday. I tried to send mind signals but couldn’t do it (and) Rory hit into water,” Ben Williams said, and almost as soon as he said it Collin Morikawa and Patrick Reed did the same.
“It’s fun to see them miscalculate like me.”
None of this is what it should be, of course. There should be throngs of people walking around. They should be able to follow their favorite golfers from hole to hole. The mansions that border this course should be hosting parties.
Like longtime friends and Southwind neighbors Richard Lusk, Don Lasseter and Jerry Treece. They each were seated in folding chairs by the green at the par-3 14th Thursday, using the backyard of Carol McCourt. A year ago, she had at least 75 people during the final round. This year, there isn’t even a merchandise tent.
“It’s going to be the lost year,” McCourt lamented, and that sentiment applies to a lot more than golf these days.
“We’d be fighting the spectators for this shade,” said longtime volunteer Paul Allen, seated underneath a tree on No. 17.
“You don’t want to show Memphis in a bad light and have all the porches crowded,” added Nancy Mills, watching with another neighbor from the edge of her backyard on the 18th green.
But there is some good to come out of all this.
Nobody would be able to see the #AISENSTRONG banner, or the “We Love the Kids of St. Jude” sign hanging from the balcony of John Williams’ house in any other year. He wouldn’t be able to sit on his patio with a laptop open watching the world’s best golfers pass by his backyard. There would be a giant grandstand blocking the view on the back nine.
But with a pandemic hanging over this year’s tournament, most of the structures normally built out across the course were dismantled weeks ago, once the PGA Tour announced no fans would be allowed on site.
This presented Williams with an opportunity to channel the spirit this tournament usually showcases.
Aisen Cannon is the nephew of a longtime family friend. He was recently admitted to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with pediatric cancer and began chemotherapy, according to Williams.
“As a parent, I just can’t imagine,” he said Friday.
So he wanted to do more than just light a candle in church. He wanted Aisen to see his name on television.
By now, McIlroy and Garcia have seen the #AISENSTRONG sign. So have Thomas and Fowler and Jordan Spieth, who are staying a few houses down. So has defending U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, who’s staying in a house across the street. And maybe a national audience eventually will, too.
Memphis’ golf tournament doesn’t look or feel the same this year. But here’s hoping it gives Aisen Cannon at least one moment worth remembering.
You can reach Commercial Appeal columnist Mark Giannotto via email at mgiannotto@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter: @mgiannotto
Brendon Todd, a 35-year-old with three career PGA Tour wins, has never finished better than 23rd in a World Golf Championships event.
Brendon Todd, a 35-year-old with three career PGA Tour wins, has never finished better than 23rd in a World Golf Championships event.
But after a first-round 64, Todd fired a 65 Friday at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational and, at 11-under, will carry a two-stroke lead over Rickie Fowler into the third round.
Todd said he is putting better this week than he has all year. The highlight Friday was a 50-footer he sank on the par-3 14th for birdie.
“Yeah, it was a little bit in between clubs there, so I shot 6-iron to the left side of the green, safe shot, and had 50 feet over the mound,” Todd said. “It was breaking left to right five or six feet. My caddie really kind of set me up with a good spot there beyond the hole to aim at and I just focused all on speed. it happened to just drift right there in the middle of the hole. Bonus birdie there, but that’s what you’ve got to do to win golf tournaments sometimes and that’s how you shoot low rounds.”
Two of Todd’s three wins came in November at the Bermuda Championship and Mayakoba Golf Classic.
“In my whole life, this is definitely the most confident I’ve ever felt with my golf game,” the former Georgia golfer said. “It’s probably the most versatile I’ve ever been ball-striking-wise. I still don’t hit it far, but I feel like I’m able to shape shots a little bit. And my short game’s solid, so it just kind of comes down to how the putting is.”
Koepka’s short-game struggles return
Brooks Koepka appeared to put his recent putting struggles behind him Thursday.
In the first round, the defending champion sailed smoothly to a career low-tying 62 and entered Friday’s second round atop the leaderboard.
He maintained some of that momentum early in the second round, getting to 10-under, but a three-putt double bogey on No. 2 sent Koepka into a mini-spiral. He needed 10 putts over a four-hole stretch, which included a bogey on the fifth. Another bogey on No. 7 left the 30-year-old at 1-over for the round.
Koepka, tied for third at 7-under, will begin Round 3 well within striking distance of Todd.
“I’ve got 36 holes to go, man, I ain’t worried,” Koepka said.
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Phil Mickelson not going away
Phil Mickelson, 50, turned in a solid second-round showing.
After an opening-round 67, Mickelson shot an even-par 70 Friday, leaving him tied with five others for 15th.
“Although I’m eight back, I feel like I’m in a position that if I can get a hot round, and I’ve certainly shot some of those over the years, if I get a hot round (Saturday), I can move right up into contention for Sunday, which is what I would love, just to have a chance on Sunday,” Mickelson said.
Where’s Rory?
Rory McIlroy, the No. 2 golfer in the world, let things get away from him a bit in the first round, beginning with the par-3 No. 4, when his tee shot found the water. That sparked a string of three straight bogeys and he finished at 3-over 73.
But McIlroy recovered Friday and did so around the same stretch that gave him so much trouble the day before.
Following a birdie on No. 3, McIlroy drilled a 23-foot putt on the fourth for another birdie and added one more on No. 5.
McIlroy shot a 4-under 66 for his round although he is still 10 shots off the lead. He has four straight finishes outside the top 10 after 12 out of 14 top 10 finishes.
Rounds of the day
The best second-round showings belonged to Matthew Fitzpatrick and Kevin Na, who shot 6-under 64.
Fitzpatrick, tied for sixth at 6-under, had an eagle and five birdies. He has five European Tour wins and is seeking his first PGA Tour win.
Na, tied for 12th at 4 under, had six birdies, including five on the back nine after starting on No. 10.
The four-time PGA Tour winner tied for 43rd at last year’s WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
Reach sports writer Jason Munz at jason.munz@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @munzly.
After battling tumors on her brain and spine, Mia Villegas, the 22-month-old daughter of PGA Tour player Camilo Villegas, passed away.
After battling tumors on her brain and spine for the past six months, Mia Villegas, the 22-month-old daughter of PGA Tour player Camilo Villegas, passed away on Sunday, according to the PGA Tour.
Villegas, 38, revealed his daughter’s health battle in June before the start of the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass. Villegas and his wife, Maria, had noticed their daughter was not acting like herself in February while Camilo was playing the Honda Classic. Mia had stopped climbing and playing during her frequent trips to the gym with her dad and was crying more at night.
Initially, Camilo and Maria thought the change in behavior had to do with Mia teething. Scans at the Nicklaus Children’s Hopsital in Miami on March 14 revealed the tumors. Mía underwent surgery, but Camilo and Maria were told that persisting issues would require more treatment.
“After the surgery, when it was time to remove the stitches, they learned the growth had become pretty aggressive,” he told the PGA Tour. “We were told we needed to start treatment right away, so they kept us there. Physically, though, she wasn’t ready to get the kind of chemo doctors were hoping for.”
Mia was Camilo and Maria’s only child.
Villegas finished T-33 at the Korn Ferry Challenge and has not teed it up in competition since. Villegas is playing on a medical extension and has 13 PGA Tour starts left. He made his lone start on the Tour at the Honda Classic and missed the cut.
Memorial host Jack Nicklaus revealed in a conversation with Jim Nantz that he and wife Barbara Nicklaus had contracted COVID-19 in March.
In a moment of weather-forced downtime at the Memorial Tournament on Sunday, tournament host Jack Nicklaus revealed in a conversation with Jim Nantz on the CBS broadcast that both he and wife Barbara Nicklaus had contracted COVID-19 earlier in the spring. Jack, who said he suffered from a cough and sore throat, tested positive four times while Barbara, who was asymptomatic, had three positive tests.
The Nicklauses remained at home from mid-March to mid-April recovering, and as of Sunday, both had taken antibody tests that showed they had the antibodies.
“Theoretically we can’t get it and can’t give it, and that’s a nice position to be in,” Nicklaus said during the broadcast on Sunday.
There have been 3,748,000 confirmed cases in the U.S. and at least 140,000 confirmed deaths in the U.S., according to USA TODAY as of Sunday. In Ohio, there have been 73,821 confirmed cases and 3,132 confirmed deaths.
Nicklaus had not publicly discussed his bout with COVID-19 until Sunday. He acknowledged that he and Barbara were grateful for being some of “the lucky ones” who recovered.
As Nicklaus noted, both he and Barbara – who celebrated their 80th birthdays a month apart in January and February – are in the risk category for suffering complications from COVID-19.
Earlier in the week, Nicklaus had said he would shake the winner’s hand during the trophy presentation, and the revelation that he has the antibodies sheds some light on his thinking regarding that decision.
“I’m not going to give them COVID-19,” he had said, though he’ll still let the winner decide for himself whether he wants to interact.
Phil Mickelson is known for his creativity and confidence in his short game. That was evident in how he played No. 13 Sunday at the Memorial.
DUBLIN, Ohio – Phil Mickelson is known for his creativity and confidence in his short game. That was evident again in the way he played the 13th and 16th holes in Sunday’s final round of the Memorial at Muirfield Village Golf Club.
On the par-4 13th hole, Michelson hit his tee shot 364 yards, leaving the ball 78 yards from the hole. Instead of hitting a chip or flop shot, Mickelson pulled out his putter. Alas, the shot, well, puttered out before reaching the green. He did get up and down from there to make par on the hole.
Mickelson explained he saw a better angle to get to the pin by using putter instead of pulling sand wedge and trying to get the ball 12 to 15 feet from the hole.
“The reason I tried to putt was the fairway prior to the green was pitched more severely right to left, and if I used that slope it was going to angle and get the ball working over to the left pin and possibly get close, whereas if I hit a wedge shot and flew it on to the front edge or just short, it wasn’t using that extra pitch or contour to get the ball over to the left,” Mickelson said. “I would have had to settle for a good shot being 12 or 15 right of the hole. I didn’t hit it hard enough, but if I had hit that hard enough or the right speed, I think that ball could have gotten close to the hole to a tap-in, whereas a wedge I didn’t see that being possible.”
He didn’t see going for the green at the par-3, 173-yard 16th as possible, either. So Mickelson deliberately laid up on his tee shot, leaving his ball 43 yards from the cup. And yes, he putted from there.
Mickelson said he has struggled on that hole the last two weeks, including at last week’s Workday Charity Open. He’d made four double-bogeys on the hole before Sunday’s bogey.
“It just is a hard golf hole for me,” Mickelson said. “Obviously you can’t go left in the water, and when I go right, usually it’s a hotter shot like I pull it or it draws and it’s always on the downslope of the bunker, and I just can’t stop it oftentimes on the green.
“So I just laid up to where I have an angle to putt it up the green, so I took a 5 out of play and I was trying to make a 3 and had a 12-footer for it.”
He missed the 12-footer but tapped in for bogey. Mickelson shot a 78 Sunday and finished the tournament 9-over.
Here are the tee times and TV/streaming info for the third round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
Golf fans might see Memorial co-leader Tony Finau crank a few drives on moving day at Muirfield Village Golf Club. Finau joked with his coach Boyd Summerhays that he might try to hit a few extra hard this week after being inspired by Bryson DeChambeau’s new physique and length.
So far, Finau has done just fine on his way to the top of the leaderboard, where he sits at 9 under alongside Ryan Palmer. The latter player has put an old putter back in play this week and it brought a new level of comfort.
It was touch and go on Friday morning, but Tiger Woods will play the weekend after all. With rounds of 71-76, Woods made the cut on the number and will go out early – 8 a.m. EST – alongside Brooks Koepka, with whom he has already played the first two rounds.
Check out the tee times and TV/streaming information below.
PGA Tour Live on NBC Sports Gold (featured groups): 8:40 a.m.-3 p.m.
Twitter: 8:40-10:05 a.m. Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 12:30-3 p.m. PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 1-6 p.m. CBS: 3-6 p.m. PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ (featured holes): 3-6 p.m.
Sunday, July 19
PGA Tour Live on NBC Sports Gold (featured groups): 8:40 a.m.-3 p.m.
Twitter: 8:40-10:05 a.m. Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 1-3:30 p.m. PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 2-7 p.m. CBS: 3:30-7 p.m. PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ (featured holes): 3:30-7 p.m.
