Tag: 2021 Northern Trust

Cameron Smith flirts with 59, settles for course-record and career-low 60 at Northern Trust

Cam Smith’s mullet hairdo wasn’t the only thing on fire on Saturday. So was his game.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Cam Smith’s mullet hairdo wasn’t the only thing on fire on Saturday. So was his game.

On a calm, overcast day, Smith put on a ball striking clinic and took advantage of receptive greens during the third round of the Northern Trust, carding 11 birdies and had a 12-foot birdie putt at 18 to shoot golf’s magical number. Sadly, the Aussie native knew he’d misread his putt to become the 12th man to break 60 on the PGA Tour as the birdie effort started left and never turned back to the right.

“Looking back at it, I don’t know how I read it to go that way but it is what it is,” Smith said.

Smith, who celebrated his 28th birthday on Wednesday, was left to think about what could’ve been but also appreciated that he’d set the course record at Liberty National Golf Club and also shot the lowest score of his life.

“I shot 62 at my home club in Brisbane,” he said. “But 62 out there is not 62 out here.”

Northern Trust: Scores | Photos | Get to know Liberty National

Smith, a three-time Tour winner including at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April, began with birdies on five of his first six holes and chipped in at the ninth from 30 feet right of the green with his lob wedge to tour the first nine in 6-under 30.

“If you’d have seen me hit the ball yesterday you wouldn’t have thought that I had a chance (of going low),” said Smith, who made only nine birdies combined in the first two rounds.

He opened the second nine with a birdie at 10 and another at 13. Smith started thinking about 59 after taking dead aim from 147 yards – “a perfect number,” he said – with a wedge and dropping it to kick-in distance. If there was one putt he’ll lose sleep over, he said it would be his uphill 10-foot birdie putt at 15 that he tugged left.

“If I was picky, I’d say I left a few out there, but that would be rude,” he said.

One hole later, he drove the green with a 3-wood at the 290-yard par-4 16th, but burned the left edge on his 16-foot eagle putt. He tapped in for birdie to go to 10-under for the day. Still, after he missed the eagle, he told his caddie he didn’t think he had a chance.

“Last two holes here are pretty brutal, especially 18,” he explained.

But he had been playing all day with a different swing thought that he tried out that morning on the range – “try to cover the ball.” Inconsistency off the tee had been plaguing him of late, but he stepped up and hit two beauties at the final two holes to give him a chance at golf’s magical number.

“I just get a little bit behind it and I felt like today my body was just moving a little bit different and I was able to cover the ball,” he said.

His 306-yard poke at 17 set up a nifty wedge to 4 feet and he made the putt to give himself a chance at a piece of history at the last. He crushed his drive 342 yards to the left-center of the fairway and planted a wedge to 12 feet.

As he made his way to the green, the fans saluted him with a mixture of throaty cheers and wolf whistles. One fan yelled, “You’re a rabid dog, Cam!”

“The New York crowd is pretty brutal at some points, and they were right behind me, so that was pretty cool,” Smith said later.

He tamped down spike marks, went through his Aim Point routine, but as soon as he struck his putt for 59, he lifted his head and knew he’d misread it. He tapped in for 60 and a 54-hole total of 16-under 197, made a weak wave to the crowd and enjoyed the applause as he walked off the green with a two-stroke lead at the time.

“It’s a bit of a weird one,” Smith said of coming so close to membership in one of golf’s most exclusive clubs only to fall short. “But I think I’m happy.”

He’ll have an extra day to savor the memories as the final round of the Northern Trust has been postponed until Monday due to Tropical Storm Henri. Smith said he’s never experienced a day off in the middle of a tournament, and he’d likely spend the day laying around, going to the gym and trying to stay loose. But he confirmed there’s no chance he’ll be getting a haircut.

“It’s like my good luck charm,” he said. “I can’t cut it off at the minute. Maybe a couple bad months of golf, it will come off, but until then, it’s staying.”

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Northern Trust: Rory McIlroy decides laying up the way to go on par 5s

McIlroy attributed his insurmountable distance from the leaders to two things: slow starts and poor par 5s.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — If Rory McIlroy was playing craps in Atlantic City, he would be on a hot streak this week. Unfortunately, he’s playing golf a few hours north at Liberty National, where frequent 6s aren’t such a pleasing sight.

In Saturday’s third round at the Northern Trust, McIlroy signed for a 66 and a total of 6-under par that left him six strokes behind the overnight leader Jon Rahm. There was also a 6 he carded at the par-5 eighth hole to go along with one at the par-5 sixth on Thursday. Sandwiched between them was a triple-bogey 6 at the par-3 11th on Friday. It’s a brave mathematician who would remind McIlroy that 6 is the smallest perfect number.

“Just a few too many mistakes,” McIlroy said of his performance during this first of three FedEx Cup playoff events. “That was really the difference. I’ve putted well the last couple days and I made enough birdies. I think I’ve made 16 birdies for the week.”

McIlroy ranks among the best in the field in Strokes Gained Putting through three rounds, but  his full swing isn’t proving quite as reliable, though he has logged positive gained strokes off the tee in every round, none better than on Saturday. “I don’t feel like I drove the ball that badly,” he said. “I hit a couple destructive approach shots yesterday which cost me a little bit.”

More than a little bit, actually. The world No. 15 spotted the field almost five shots with his irons on Friday, a day on which he hit only eight greens and was forced to rely on his scrambling (eight of 10) to card a 70 that helped him make the cut on the number. His reward was one of the earliest starting times on the weekend, with the prospect of a 48-hour wait to get back out as Tropical Storm Henri pushed Sunday’s final round to Monday.

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McIlroy attributed his insurmountable distance from the leaders to two things: slow starts and poor par 5s. In his first two rounds, the four-time major winner was over par on his opening nine holes before clawing his way back. On Saturday he turned in 2 under and would have been even better if not for that 6 on the eighth.

“Got off to a better start today obviously and still didn’t play par 5s well. I played the par 5s at even par for the week,” he said. “Play those a bit better and the score all of a sudden goes from, whatever I’m at, 6 under, to double digits, at least, and you’re in the golf tournament.” (His par-3 scoring for the week is +4, almost all due to that ugly triple on Friday.)

The man McIlroy was looking up at on the leaderboard when he finished, Rahm, played the par 5s at 5 under through two days. Cam Smith, who charged into the lead later in the day, is 7 under on those holes, while even the player at the bottom of the leaderboard, Brian Harman, has outperformed McIlroy in par-5 scoring. Through nine trips around the long holes, McIlroy’s ledger shows two birdies, two bogeys, five pars.

And it could have been even worse. At the sixth hole during the third round, McIlroy found the water with his approach from 206 yards but saved par. “Actually I’m going to lay up on par 5s,” he said after his round. “I think I do better when I lay up on par 5s. Every time I try and go for one, I make at best, a par.”

The Northern Trust - Round Two
Rory McIlroy prepares to play his tee shot on the 16th hole during the second round of the Northern Trust, the first event of the FedExCup Playoffs, at Liberty National Golf Club on August 20, 2021 in Jersey City, New Jersey. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

That’s something of an exaggeration. This season, McIlroy has birdied 52.8% of his par 5s, seventh best on the PGA Tour. However, his par-5 scoring average ranks T-38th, suggesting a smattering of bogeys too.

“I did this in 2014 a lot. I put it in position on the fairway and I’d be thinking 3, and I’d make 5 or 6,” he said. “I feel like I’m sort of doing that again. So it’s almost like just don’t be too greedy, play for your 4.”

Laying up on the longest holes seems a curious consideration for a player who ranks second in driving distance on Tour. The only player longer than McIlroy—Bryson DeChambeau—is famously aggressive. No one goes for the green more, yet he and McIlroy have almost identical success rates, making birdie or better around 60% of the time. DeChambeau is 125-under par in 176 attempts, McIlroy 94-under for 154 tries.

Sloppy bogeys and not the plentiful birdies seems to be what McIlroy is focused on, and that’s an issue statistics suggest might be better addressed with short-game work than a new strategy for long holes: He doesn’t rank inside the top 100 in scrambling from any distance inside 30 yards.

“The thing is, as well, with how some of the green complexes are on par 5s, especially, because it’s a par-5 green, you miss it on the wrong side and it’s just really tough,” McIlroy added, as he prepared to head back to his Manhattan hotel to wait out the storm.

He will have one more day at Liberty National to test his laying up theory, and almost two full days to muse on it before he does.

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Northern Trust: Final round postponed until Monday due to Tropical Storm Henri

The PGA Tour announced that based on the projected path of Tropical Storm Henri and the Tropical Storm Warning that has been issued by the National Hurricane Center for the area where the tournament is located, the final round of the Northern Trust will be postponed until Monday.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – There won’t be a trophy handed out at the Northern Trust on Sunday.

The PGA Tour announced that based on the projected path of Tropical Storm Henri and the Tropical Storm Warning that has been issued by the National Hurricane Center for the area where the tournament is located, there will be no play on Sunday, Aug. 22.

Instead, the final round will be played on Monday. Tee times and groupings for Round 4 will be published on Sunday afternoon, with play on Monday slated to begin no earlier than 7:30 a.m.

The first FedEx Cup Playoff event is situated near the western edge of the projected cone for Tropical Storm Henri, which is predicted to become a hurricane before it makes landfall Sunday morning.

The Northern Trust is at Liberty National, sitting tight to the water just across the bay from New York and the Statue of Liberty.

Henri isn’t the first storm to disrupt the tournament. In 2011, Hurricane Irene made landfall and forced the cancellation of the final round of the Barclays, as the tournament was then known. It was then played at Plainfield Country Club in New Jersey, and the event was abbreviated after 54 holes with Dustin Johnson the winner. Plainfield was flooded in that storm.

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Jordan Spieth on his back-to-back eagles and round of 62: ‘I’m +8 Strokes Gained: Luck’

For the first time in his career, Jordan Spieth made back-to-back eagles and matched the course record at Liberty National GC in the process

JERSEY CITY, N.J.  – Jordan Spieth did some Jordan Spieth-like things again and even he knew it.

The 28-year-old Texan holed out two shots and made back-to-back eagles for the first time in his PGA Tour career. It added up to a course-record-tying 9-under 62 at Liberty National Golf Club in the second round of the Northern Trust.

“I think I was probably plus-8 Strokes Gained: Luck,” Spieth said of a made-up statistical category that needs to be created. “It was one of those days where just like everything was going my way.”

Spieth’s round started inauspiciously with a bogey at the first that had him concerned about the cut line before the fun started happening. After a birdie at No. 3, Spieth ripped a 327-yard drive that left him just 81 yards to a front hole location set in a bowl. Then he grooved a knock-down sand wedge that hit past the hole and spun back into the hole for an eagle.

“Uh, hello… maybe…yeah,” said CBS’s Dottie Pepper.

Spieth celebrated with a clenched fist and fetched his divot.

One hole later, at the 528-yard par-5, Spieth drove it way right but still had a good enough lie to rip his second shot at the green. His ball barely stayed dry and came to rest on the red paint of the penalty area. With his right foot on a stone wall, Spieth’s pitch from 85 feet landed in the middle of the green and crashed into the stick for an unlikely eagle. It was his 124th hole out since 2013, according to 21 Club’s Justin Ray and marked the second time in his career that he’s made multiple eagles in a round (third round, 2015 John Deere Classic) and the first time in 743 career rounds on Tour that he’s made back to back eagles. (Carlos Ortiz at the Sony Open and Tyrrell Hatton at the Palmetto Championship are the others to do so this season.)

“I didn’t play normal golf today,” said Spieth, who took just 21 putts and made just 55 feet of putts. “It was just kind of one of those days where you probably won’t get away with that throughout weekend. But just chipped the ball unbelievably well and then it led to at least some short par putts and then took advantage when they were for birdie.”

Spieth enjoyed his fifth career round of 62 or lower, but it was one shy of his season -best 61 during the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

“When things are starting to well, you go on a run, right,” he said. “You get momentum and the ball finds the cup and when it’s not going well it seems to, it bounces the wrong way. I feel like I’m on the right side of some momentum right now and I just have to keep it going.”

Fans at Northern Trust thrilled to be outside and ‘free’ amid COVID

Fans came from almost everywhere, in the face of the pandemic, to watch the Northern Trust, the first leg of the FedExCup Playoffs.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Chris Molicki just started playing golf, so he came up from Middletown to watch his first PGA Tour event.

Andy Goodelle came down with his wife and two children from upstate New York to North Jersey as part of their “summer vacation.”

And Jeff Miller traveled across the country, from Idaho, because attending a big-time tournament in the metropolitan area was on his “bucket list.”

Fans came from almost everywhere, in the face of the pandemic, to watch Thursday’s opening round of the Northern Trust, the first leg of the three-tournament FedExCup Playoffs.

“We figured today we were either going to play, or we were going to come here because it’s close enough – and I’m happy I came,” Molicki said.

Phil Mickelson draws a crowd as he tees off on 15 during the opening round of the Northern Trust Golf Tournament part of the PGA Tour being played at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City on August 19, 2021.

There were few masks outdoors and plenty of smiles in the morning at Liberty National Golf Club, where the rain stopped about an hour before the first tee time, and the course offers incredible views of the Statue of Liberty and New York City skyline.

That the metropolitan area has been hit especially hard by the pandemic was not a deterrent for these fans. Neither was the mandate to wear a mask indoors, unless while eating or drinking.

“We’ve loved being able to open our gates to the community and offer a day out with friends and family,” Northern Trust executive director Julie Tyson said Thursday. “Watching fans throughout the golf course has felt overwhelmingly positive and we hope people continue to be safe while enjoying the tournament.

“The Northern Trust is thrilled to be an outlet for people looking to ease back into attending events. It has been a universal experience spending the past year-and-a-half isolating, quarantining and keeping our families safe.”

Count Molicki among the people who recently picked up the game of golf because it offered the best opportunity to play a sport in the face of COVID-19. He was introduced to the game by his brothers, Ryan and Sean.

“There’s really nothing else you could do,” Molicki, 29, said as he stood with friends outside the ropes at the 18th green. “It was something I was always interested in, but I felt like it was hard to pick up, because it’s a steep learning curve. But this was really the only way to interact with people socially, safely.”

Count Miller among the people who has lowered his handicap, from a 5 to below a 2, during the pandemic, because outdoor activities have been on the rise the past 18 months. He, too, was making his first visit to a big-time golf tournament.

“It’s kind of a bucket-list thing,” said Miller, 41, a teacher who sat in the stands above the first tee and planned to return to Liberty National on Friday and Saturday before returning home. “I have a friend who lives in Brooklyn, so we’re staying there at his apartment.”

Jeff Miller came form Nampa, Idaho to see golf during the opening round of the Northern Trust Golf Tournament part of the PGA Tour being played at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City on August 19, 2021.

Count the Goodelle clan among the people who wanted to attend last year’s U.S. Open in New York, but the pandemic denied fans the trip to famed Winged Foot in Mamaroneck. So Liberty National was the next-best option for the foursome from New Hartford.

“We wanted to come to a professional tournament, this is the closest one to us, and it fits in with our summer vacation,” said Andy Goodelle, a teacher. “So it’s worked out.”

“It’s fabulous,” said Nicole Goodelle, also a teacher. “And there’s so much in this area.”

Meanwhile, their children, Tommy and Natalie, have mixed feelings about golf. While Tommy is an accomplished young golfer and loves the sport – “I see golf and I just really want to play” – older sister Natalie is not as into it.

“I don’t really hate anything, but golf is one of the things that I hate,” said Natalie, 14. “But today has been very peaceful. I’ve really enjoyed today so far.”

Rob Shuster and his adult sons, Brian and Brett, came from New York City and were enjoying the day. Rob is a big fan of the sport.

“I enjoy golf a lot on television and I wanted to see it close-up, because TV you get a different perspective from being live,” said Shuster, who lives in Queens. “I just want to watch great golfers up close.”

Phil Mickelson approaches the green on 13 and acknowledges the applause from the gallery during the opening round of the Northern Trust Golf Tournament part of the PGA Tour being played at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City on August 19, 2021.

Lyle Logan Jr. came from Chicago and was paying especially close attention to the players during practice. He plays college basketball at Suffolk University in Boston and respects what goes into preparing to play the game.

As he stood with his father overlooking the practice green, Logan said, “It’s the dedication the players have to take to be as good as they are.”

Up against the pandemic, Americans and beyond have had to wear masks while cooped up more indoors. Up against the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty and New York City skyline, fans at Liberty National could walk mask-free outdoors and smile.

“The pandemic’s been tough on everybody, but I’m glad I’m here, because I’m free,” Andy Goodelle said. “I feel like I can be myself in this venue. We’re outside doing things.”

Greg Mattura is a sports reporter for NorthJersey.com. For full access to live scores, breaking news and analysis from our Varsity Aces team, subscribe today. To get breaking news directly to your phone, sign up for our newsletter and download our app.

 

Jon Rahm says the FedEx Cup playoff system isn’t fair, but that won’t stop him from winning it

The Spaniard grabbed a one-stroke lead over Tony Finau at the midway point of the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Jon Rahm continues to dazzle at the Northern Trust.

The 26-year-old Spaniard fired another bogey-free round at Liberty National Golf Club, a 4-under 67, to grab a one-stroke lead over Tony Finau at the midway point of the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

While Rahm, who won the U.S. Open in June and held a six-stroke lead at the Memorial before having to withdraw from the tournament after testing positive for COVID-19, is picking apart the Bob Cupp-Tom Kite design with the Statue of Liberty and Verrazano Bridge in the background, he’s still not sold on the FedEx Cup playoffs. When asked if he liked that somebody could win the first two legs of the three-event playoffs and then sputter at the Tour Championship and fall several spots in the standings, Rahm said, “I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t like that at all. No, I think you have the playoffs itself and win the first two, and if you don’t play good on the last one, you don’t – you can end up with a really bad finish.”

Then he detailed a conversation he had with a PGA Tour official on this particular subject. Here’s Rahm’s version of how things went down: “I’m a Patriots fan, and the Patriots win the Super Bowl – win everything – and get to the Super Bowl and they don’t win the Super Bowl, you don’t win the Lombardi Trophy, right? My answer was, they still finished second.

“They have to understand golf is a little different,” Rahm continued. “You could win 15 events, including both playoffs events, and (under the current system implemented last year) you have a two-shot lead. I understand it’s for TV purposes and excitement and just making it more of a winner-take-all, and they give you a two-shot advantage, but over four days that can be gone in two holes, right.”

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The FedEx Cup playoffs is an easy target to poke holes in – someday they are bound to get it right – but he did find one thing he liked about the current system over the one that came before it – no whiteboard and mathematical scenarios for NBC’s Steve Sands to try to explain.

“I do like going to East Lake with this new one in the sense of knowing where you stand and what you have to do. You know, the years prior, so many different combinations of what could happen. It was kind of hard to get your head focused on one thing, right,” Rahm said.

On the course, Rahm is doing everything he can to ensure he’s holding the gleaming silver trophy after three weeks. He backed up his clean card and round of 8-under 63 with more rock-solid play and impressive scrambling to boot. But when Rahm was asked what he was most pleased with it wasn’t shooting 12-under 130 and playing bogey-free for 36 holes for the first time in 110 career Tour starts or his ability to save pars, but rather his composure.

“Believe it or not, hit my fair share of bad shots today,” he said. “There were two of them. The second on 16 and the second on 3, two shots where I have a wedge in hand and I miss on the green and I’m leaving myself a really tough up-and-down and I was able to make good putts for par.”

Those were two moments where in the past he might have lost his cool, but on Friday Rahm listened to his caddie, Adam Hayes, who reminded him “there’s a reason why you’ve practiced those wedges.” Rahm said he’s turned a weakness in his game when he turned pro into an area where he’s better than most and still sees room for improvement. (Rahm added a new 58-degree Callaway wedge that he’s using for the first time in a tournament and he holed out on a flop shot on the third hole Thursday.)

“Much like yesterday, I was able to save a couple of good ones. Just accepting that I can miss shots, I guess that’s the best way to explain it, is what happens here. You get a little too greedy, miss the green, and you can have a tough up-and-down, and I’ve been able to save those so far.”

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The best of the bunch was from 63 yards at 15, which spun back to inside a foot.

“That gives you a lot of confidence,” Rahm said.

Finau shared the lead with Rahm until 18 when he found the front greenside bunker and missed a 4-foot par putt. Still, Finau, 31, signed for 7-under 64 as he seeks his first win since 2016 and attempts to make a good impression with U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker.

“My last couple tournaments, the results haven’t shown I’ve played great, but I’ve played some really clean golf,” Finau said. “I felt like I was really close to putting it all together, and so far this week, after 36 holes, I’ve kind of done that.”

Justin Thomas, who was the first-round co-leader with Rahm, overcame four bogeys in his first eight holes to shoot 2-under 69 and was tied for third at 10-under 132 with Keith Mitchell, who six birdies in a row and 10 overall in matching Finau with 64.

The best commute to the Northern Trust is by ferry, and Collin Morikawa took the ride in style

Taking the ferry from lower Manhattan to Jersey City, N.J., and Liberty National Golf Club is easily the best way to get to a PGA Tour event.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Taking the ferry from lower Manhattan to Jersey City and Liberty National Golf Club is hands-down the best way to get to a PGA Tour event.

That is, unless you’re crashing at PGA National Resort & Spa during the Honda Classic or fortunate enough to rest your head at The Lodge at Torrey Pines during the Farmers Insurance Open and can stumble out of bed to the first tee. Sure, Donald Trump, pre-presidency, used to helicopter into Trump Doral back when it hosted a World Golf Championships event, but our chopper happens to be in the shop.

The next best thing is the ferry ride to Liberty National, where the great unwashed have pretty good odds they’ll be in the company of a PGA Tour pro on their ride. Members of the local First Tee chapter got an impromptu visit from World No. 1 Jon Rahm on Wednesday.

Have we mentioned the views? They’re to die for – Lady Liberty standing sentinel over New York Harbor off the coast of New York City and the Manhattan Skyline are more than Instagram-worthy. Tringale, however, has been there, snapped that photo of the Statue of Liberty so many times over the years that he had his nose in his Kindle most of the ride and said later that he was reading a golf book. But that doesn’t mean he’s not a fan of the ferry. Tringale actually switched hotels from one side of the Hudson River to the other once the free ferry for players (and all fans too, thanks to a Tour sponsor) kicked in.

Charley Hoffman wore his gym clothes and carried his golf outfit on a wire hanger whereas Collin Morikawa decided to make a grand entrance, dressing to the nines as if he we showing up at Madison Square Garden or MetLife Field for a big game. He was styling and profiling as if he were Lebron James or Tom Brady arriving in the tunnel before the NBA Finals or Super Bowl. Hey, this is the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs after all.

“Why not make an entrance in NY, right?” Morikawa said. “Every other sport does it. I might as well make something of it. We’ve got to have fun in this sport. This is all about enjoying the day.”

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Potential Hurricane Henri could threaten PGA Tour’s Northern Trust with landfall Sunday

Henri is predicted to grow to hurricane strength and make landfall Sunday east of Liberty National in New Jersey.

The PGA Tour’s first FedEx Cup Playoff event, the Northern Trust, is near the western edge of the projected cone for Tropical Storm Henri, which is predicted to become a hurricane before it reaches landfall Sunday morning.

The National Hurricane Center reported Friday morning that Henri was several hundred miles off the coast of Georgia and moving north with sustained winds of 55 mph and gusts reaching 65.

The forecasted track has the center of the storm reaching landfall Sunday afternoon. Tropical storm winds are predicted to arrive Saturday night. The projected cone stretches from Long Island to Maine and is likely to shift one way or another as the storm approaches land.

The Northern Trust is at Liberty National in New Jersey, sitting tight to the water just across the bay from New York and the Statue of Liberty. The PGA Tour has not yet announced any schedule change for the tournament.

A combination of storm surge, damaging winds and heavy rain could bring serious damage from Henri.

The surge along Long Island and up into Rhode Island could reach 2 to 4 feet, while the Jersey Shore could see 1 to 3 feet of surge, the National Hurricane Center said. Winds were up to 65 mph as it was spinning about 800 miles south-southwest of Nantucket, Massachusetts, as of Friday morning.

Rainfall of 2 to 5 inches was expected in southern New England, with some isolated patches of up to 8 inches, possibly causing flash flooding.

Much of the eastern part of Long Island and coastal Connecticut and Rhode Island were under hurricane watches, while the coast closer to New York City was under a tropical storm watch.

“Everybody along the Long Island area and New York City needs to be watching,” said Da’Vel Johnson, a National Weather Service meteorologist in New York.

If Henri disrupts the tournament, it won’t be the first time. In 2011, Hurricane Irene made landfall and forced the cancellation of the final round of the Barclays, as the tournament was then known. It was then played at Plainfield Country Club in N.J., and the event was abbreviated after 54 holes with Dustin Johnson the winner. Plainfield was flooded in that storm.

Henri follows on the heels of Tropical Storm Fred, which made landfall in Florida earlier this week before moving Northeast and drenching several states along its path to the northeast. USA TODAY reported that North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency after Fred caused flooding and left two people dead with 17 missing.

Bryson DeChambeau puts signature to crazy scorecard in first round of Northern Trust

DeChambeau had quite the colorful scorecard on Thursday.

Check out this gonzo scorecard.

Bryson DeChambeau made two – yes, just two – pars in Thursday’s first-round of the Northern Trust at Liberty National in Jersey City, New Jersey.

And still shot an even-par 71.

How is that possible? Well, he made nine birdies.

Here’s how the scorecard full of circles (birdies), boxes (bogeys) and double boxes (double bogeys) read above DeChambeau’s signature:

5-4-3-3-3-4-5-4-6 for a front-nine 37.

4-2-6-4-2-5-3-3-5 for a back-nine 34.

That’s two pars – on the par-3 third and the par-4 10th – nine birdies, five bogeys and two double bogeys. The world No. 6 started his round with two bogeys and ended his round with another bogey. Starting at the 11th, he went birdie-double bogey-birdie-birdie-bogey-birdie-birdie-bogey.

Northern Trust: Leaderboard | Photos

Despite the rarity of his round, DeChambeau, who is No. 7 in the FedEx Cup standings on the strength of his victory in the U.S. Open in the fall and the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this year, didn’t want to address it.

But he became just the fourth player since the PGA Tour started tracking hole-by-hole scores in 1983 to make two or fewer pars in a round and shoot par or better.

In 2011, Jarrod Lyle made two pars and shot 2-under-par 69 in the second round of the John Deere Classic.

In 2010, Kevin Johnson made two pars and shot 6-under-par 66 in the Puerto Rico Open.

And in 2001, Kaname Yokoo made just one par and somehow shot 4-under-par 68 in the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Players champion Justin Thomas also made nine birdies in the first round at Liberty National in the first of three events in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. But he made just one bogey and shot 63, which put him atop the leaderboard alongside reigning U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm, who had a bogey-free 63.

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Patrick Cantlay off to good start at Northern Trust with Tiger Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava, on the bag

Replacement caddie? No problem for Cantlay.

To look at Patrick Cantlay, you wouldn’t know if he shot 80 or 70.

Would have no idea if the tricky winds that whipped all about Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City, New Jersey, on Thursday in the first round of the Northern Trust gave him fits.

No clue how he got along with his replacement caddie who goes by the name of Joe LaCava. Or whether the pressure of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and trying to make the Ryder Cup team was getting to him.

Cantlay isn’t a robot, by any means. He just doesn’t show a lot of emotion whether he’s having a good, bad, or indifferent day. Guy has the perfect face and demeanor for the poker table.

Truth be told, however, Cantlay had a very good day on the course with striking views of Lady Liberty and the Manhattan Skyline. Cantlay birdied one-third of his holes and shot a 3-under-par 68 to earn a spot on the first page of the leaderboard in the first of three postseason events.

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His methodical work also bolstered his chances to win the FedEx Cup and its $15 million grand prize and did nothing to hurt his efforts to wear the red, white and blue in next month’s Ryder Cup.

“I thought I played really hard today. I don’t think it’s normal for it to be that windy that early, but it was soft. So if you hit good shots, you would be rewarded,” the four-time PGA Tour winner said. “Not perfect, but a really nice start.”

Harold Varner III said the same after he took the clubhouse lead with a 66. Also at 68 was Viktor Hovland.

Northern Trust 2021
Harold Varner III (right) is congratulated by Bubba Watson after making a putt for birdie on the 3rd hole during the first round of Northern Trust at the Liberty National Golf Club. (Photo: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports)

Reigning British Open champion Collin Morikawa, who earned the pole position for the FedEx Cup Playoffs by winning the points race during the regular season, never found his rhythm nor his best form and shot 74.

Jordan Spieth, who was second in the standings heading into the playoffs, shot 72.

Walking alongside Cantlay this week is LaCava, who is in the employ of Tiger Woods and was the longtime caddie for Fred Couples. Earlier this year, LaCava caddied twice for Couples.

The Cantlay-LaCava partnership is a one-week gig. Cantlay’s full-time looper, Matt Minister, is out after testing positive for COVID-19 but Cantlay expects him to return to his day job next week at the BMW Championship. At the World Golf Championships-St. Jude Invitational two weeks ago, Cantlay had Joe Skovron, Rickie’s Fowler’s caddie, on the bag.

Cantlay became friends with LaCava at the 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia. He also bonded with Woods that week and expanded their relationship back in the U.S.; the two live in Jupiter, Florida, and both are members at The Medalist in nearby Hobe Sound. Cantlay got in touch with Woods and got the OK to put LaCava on the bag.

“I knew he was kind of sitting at home, so I just asked him if he was available,” Cantlay said of LaCava, who lives in Connecticut.

Something else happened Down Under – Cantlay fell in love with team golf in his debut in the Presidents Cup, where he formed a successful team with gold medalist Xander Schauffele and the U.S. was victorious with Woods as the playing captain.

Cantlay now wants to make his Ryder Cup debut. He said he’s been thinking about the Ryder Cup for a while. Cantlay is ranked No. 9 in the official world golf ranking and stands 11th in the Ryder Cup standings; following the BMW Championship, the top 6 automatically make the team and then captain Steve Stricker makes six discretionary selections after The Tour Championship.

“I just have to take care of business and play well,” he said. “I’d love to play in the Ryder Cup. It brings out the best in me and I get fired up for it.”

He’s of the same mind concerning the FedEx Cup. The winner of the Zozo Championship last fall and the Memorial in June stood in third place when the playoffs began, but points are quadrupled the next two weeks; regular-season victories garner 500 points, a win this week 2,000.

“I think I’m in a good spot,” Cantlay said.

Straight-forward answer as usual.

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