Tag: PGA Tour

Tyler Duncan wins RSM Classic with birdie at 18

Tyler Duncan wins his first PGA Tour title at the 2019 RSM Classic in dramatic fashion.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Tyler Duncan sank a 12-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole of the RSM Classic to win his first PGA Tour title over Webb Simpson.

On a cool, blustery day, Duncan birdied the final two holes to tie Simpson. He made only one bogey all week and fired a 5-under 65 Sunday and 72-hole total of 19-under 261 at Sea Island Resort’s Seaside Course.

Simpson birdied two of his final holes and signed for a 3-under 67, but lost in a playoff at Sea Island for the second time in his career.

RSM CLASSIC: Scores | Gallery

The wheels finally came off for Brendon Todd, who was attempting to become the first player to win in three consecutive weeks on the Tour schedule since Tiger Woods in 2006, and the first to win three consecutive starts since Dustin Johnson in 2017.

Dating to the final round of the Houston Open, Todd hadn’t shot higher than 68 in his last 12 rounds, but he punched a 7-iron from 148 yards into the hazard to the right and made double bogey to squander the lead. Then his putter let him down as he missed a series of makeable birdie and par putts. He didn’t circle his first birdie on the card until 15 and closed in 2-over 72 to finish fourth.

Simpson charged early with birdies at Nos. 1 and 3 to erase his two-stroke deficit at the start of the day. Then he strung together 10 pars in a row before a bogey at 14 dropped him into a tie with Sebastián Muñoz and Duncan.

Muñoz, the winner of the Sanderson Farms Championship in a playoff, capped off a terrific fall season with a third-place finish after shooting 2-under 68 to finish at 18 under. Muñoz had a 26-foot birdie putt to tie for the lead, but missed it to the left.

Duncan, who had only three top-10 finishes in 67 previous starts, played his first 54 holes bogey-free until making his only hiccup of the week, a bogey on No. 1 on Sunday. But he poured in four birdies through 15 holes to share the lead with Simpson and Muñoz, who both birdied the short par-5 15th to pull in front of Duncan. The 30-year-old Purdue grad answered at the par-3 17th, sticking his tee shot to 7 feet and rolling in the putt, and then, for good measure, draining a 25-footer at 18 for birdie.

Simpson canned a 22-foot birdie putt at 16 and parred in for 67. But he still hasn’t won the RSM Classic after losing in a playoff in 2011 and finishing third in 2018 at the RSM Classic.

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How does life on tour compare for women and men? Let the numbers speak for themselves

For the first time in 10 years, I was home in Houston at the same time as the PGA Tour’s Houston Open. I have to be honest: I had no desire to set foot on the property. It was very disheartening to watch all the stands go up, see all the courtesy …

For the first time in 10 years, I was home in Houston at the same time as the PGA Tour’s Houston Open. I have to be honest: I had no desire to set foot on the property.

It was very disheartening to watch all the stands go up, see all the courtesy cars around town and then see the purse that these guys are playing for. A $7.5 million purse for an event that didn’t have a single player inside the top 30 in the world competing? Well, you ask, why am I so disappointed? For starters, through last month’s BMW Ladies Championship, LPGA events averaged 19 top-30 players at each tournament. Let’s run through some more stats.

The purse at the Houston Open was greater than every single tournament on the LPGA tour’s schedule. The closest is the U.S. Women’s Open at $5.5 million, which will be played here in Houston next summer. We received courtesy cars at two events this year (KPMG, U.S. Open), and the men get them every week.

I think the one number that really highlights the difference is the total amount of money each tour plays for in a season. PGA Tour players competed for more than $343 million plus an additional $71 million in bonuses in 2018-19, while the LPGA came in at $70.2 million with only $1.1 million in bonuses in 2019! I’ll do the math for you: The women play for roughly 17% of what the men do.

Stacy Lewis hits her tee shot on the 13th hole at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Kemper Lakes Golf Club. (Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports)

This is significantly behind what women are making in the workplace in 2019. According to the latest report from Payscale.com, women make on average 79 cents to every dollar earned by a man. I’m not writing this to complain; I’m writing this to make you aware. I believe this topic needs to be talked about more and not be one we all shy away from because it is uncomfortable. It is the truth. Let’s talk about the truth.

Club manufacturers across the golf industry have begun to pull back on sponsorships on both sides, but this has been a huge hit to our tour. Callaway and PXG are the only companies consistently out every week, and we all so appreciate their investment, but neither have a tour van. I saw at least 10 companies with their trucks in Houston for the guys. The LPGA has a full-time employee who has to drive a van to service our players. I have heard of very good players having to buy their own equipment.

Life is very different on the LPGA. Another big difference is corporate sponsorships. While I don’t know specific numbers, I estimate the 17% applies here as well, and it may be even less. I have been very fortunate in my career off the golf course. I’ve had to work very hard for it, but I haven’t had to worry about covering my expenses every year. But there are plenty that do.

Let’s take the 100th-ranked player on the LPGA money list. This season Mariah Stackhouse made $127,365. No. 100 on the PGA Tour money list for 2018-19, Carlos Ortiz, made $1,073,962. Once Mariah pays taxes and expenses, I bet she barely breaks even. The PGA Tour had 112 guys make over a million dollars in 2018-19, while the LPGA has 13 so far this year.

Stacy Lewis waits to tee of on the 10th tee during the second round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club. (Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports)

The truth is LPGA players are playing for more than we ever have in our history. We have seen significant increases specifically in our major purses over the last few years. Why? Because the person/sponsor writing the check said 17% is not OK. I would love to see more companies that sponsor the PGA Tour come to an LPGA event and ask them if 17% is OK. Another truth is we currently have great sponsors and partners. Many have been with the LPGA for a long time, and we are so appreciative of them for our progress over the last decade. But I think it’s time we start looking forward and figure out how to narrow the gap.

This is an uncomfortable subject I know, and it’s not a simple fix. It goes back to the chicken or the egg, which comes first. You need to spend money to make more money, but how do you make more money if you don’t have it to spend? I’m OK with not having totally equal purses, but I think we can do better than 17%. Gwk

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Should Tiger have waited and picked Brendon Todd for the Presidents Cup?

Tiger Woods might have pulled the trigger on Rickie Fowler too soon. Brendon Todd is hot and would have been a good Presidents Cup pick.

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Did Tiger Woods pull the trigger too soon with his latest pick as captain of the U.S. Presidents Cup team?

It’s a valid question, courtesy of Brendon Todd, who is in the pole position to win a third consecutive event on the PGA Tour.

On Wednesday, Woods, while he could have waited, didn’t waste any time in replacing the injured world No. 1 Brooks Koepka with Rickie Fowler to round out his band of 12 that will head to Australia Dec. 7 to face the Internationals at Royal Melbourne.

RSM Classic: Tee times, viewing info | Scores | Photos

Fowler was the expected choice. He’s a force in the team room, a solid, experienced player in the matches, a guy who finished 11th in the points race to be one of the eight automatic qualifiers. Fowler was Woods’ fifth pick – he earlier selected himself, Tony Finau, Gary Woodland and Patrick Reed.

But Fowler hasn’t played since August, as he got married in October and then got sick at the end of his honeymoon with an intestinal bacterial infection.

Meanwhile, Todd has gone bonkers.

He’s won the Bermuda Championship and the Mayakoba Golf Classic and will take a two-shot lead into Sunday’s final round of the RSM Classic at Sea Island Golf Club. With a bogey-free, 8-under-par 62 in Saturday’s third round, Todd got two clear of Webb Simpson and Sebastian Munoz, is three clear of D.J. Trahan and four ahead of three other players.

Todd missed just one green in regulation on the Seaside Course and hit every fairway in regulation. While he made birdie putts from 20, 12, 6, 2, 28, 18, 2 and 9 feet, he also lipped out four other birdie putts.

“Like my caddie said, it was like a video game out there today,” Todd said. “Just thrilled with the way I’m hitting it and feeling out there. That was about as good as I could ask for in the circumstances.

“I just expect certain areas of my game to perform at a certain level right now. So when they do, the scores come and then you just kind of take them and move through the round and try to shoot as low as you can.”

Todd’s remarkable run could lead him to winning three consecutive events on the PGA Tour. The last player to do that? Woods, in 2006.

It’s a stunning about-face. Todd nearly quit the game and considered opening a pizza franchise when he missed 37-of-41 cuts and went more than two years without breaking 70 on the PGA Tour and Korn Ferry Tour from 2016-18.

Now he’s posted 12 consecutive round in the 60s, signing for 66-68-63-67-62-63-68-65-68-66-66-62. Folks, that’s a whopping 68-under par.

But he has no ill will toward Woods for not picking him.

“If there was any inkling at all, Davis (Love III) or Zach (Johnson) or one of the assistant captains might have mentioned it to me. Obviously Tiger had Rickie in mind a long time ago, as he should have, and I’m fine with that,” Todd said.

Todd also isn’t complaining about the final group on Sunday, where he’ll go out with Simpson and Munoz. Todd and Simpson played junior golf against each other and they’ve remained friends ever since. In times of struggle, each has consoled in the other. On Sunday, they will play on the PGA Tour together for the first time since being grouped in the first two rounds at Colonial in 2016.

“We’ve been able to talk to each other on the phone and help each other out,” Simpson said. “I’ve been so proud of him for hanging in there.  I mean, I think besides the Player of the Year, I mean, his story could be the biggest story of the year. To come back just proves what kind of guts he has inside of him to not give up or throw in the towel.”

But Simpson won’t question Woods’ decision to take Fowler.

“It’s funny, Brendon texted me after he won (in Mayakoba) and he said, ‘Captain’s pick?’” Simpson said. “But now it’s like he’s playing as good as anybody in the world. But I think the team’s set, but he definitely gave it a good try.”

That’s all Todd will do in the final round, for he’s not going to change anything.

“I just want to get into my little zone and attack the golf course like I’m trying to go shoot nothing because that’s been my mindset every day for the last three events and there’s really no reason to change it just because I’m (in) the lead,” Todd said. “And whether it happens or not, you know, I’m not going to change my game plan, I’m not going to feel good or bad about myself, I’m just going to keep attacking.”

It’s worked pretty well for three consecutive tournaments.

[opinary poll=”do-you-like-tigers-pick-of-rickie-fowler” customer=”golfweek”]

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RSM Classic: Final round tee times, how to watch

Here are final round tee times and viewing information for the final round fo the RSM Classic.

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The fall portion of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season wraps up this week with the Tour’s annual stop at Sea Island Golf Club for the RSM Classic.

The event used the new-look Plantation Course and its neighboring Seaside Course for Thursday and Friday’s rounds. Saturday and Sunday’s golf action will be at Seaside.

Take a look at the final round tee times and viewing information below.

RSM Classic: Scores | Photos

Final round tee times

1st tee

(All Times Eastern)

Tee time Players
9:05 a.m. Kyle Stanley, Wes Roach, J.T. Poston
9:15 a.m. Chase Seiffert, Will Gordon, Alex Cejka
9:25 a.m. Dylan Frittelli, Brandon Hagy, Ryan Armour
9:35 a.m. Chesson Hadley, David Lingermerth, Matthew NeSmith
9:45 a.m. Russell Knox, Scott Harrington, Bill Haas
9:55 a.m. Hank Lebioda, Talor Gooch, Kyle Reifers
10:05 a.m. Keith Mitchell, Brian Stuard, Troy Merritt
10:15 a.m. Fabián Gómez, Tim Wilkinson, Denny McCarthy
10:25 a.m. Vaughn Taylor, Alex Noren, Scott Brown
10:35 a.m. Henrik Norlander, Brian Harman, Nick Watney
10:45 a.m. Tyler Duncan, Scottie Scheffler, Doc Redman
10:55 a.m. D.J. Trahan, Kyoung-Hoon Lee, Ricky Barnes
11:05 a.m. Brendon Todd, Webb Simpson, Sebastián Muñoz

10th tee

Tee time Players
9:05 a.m. Stewart Cink, Mark Hubbard, Shawn Stefani
9:15 a.m. Luke List, Jim Herman, David Hearn
9:25 a.m. Adam Long, Mark Anderson, Harry Higgs
9:35 a.m. Ryan Brehm, Ben Crane, Anirban Lahiri
9:45 a.m. Rhein Gibson, Mackenzie Highes, Austin Cook
9:55 a.m. Maverick McNealy, Kramer Hickok, Patton Kizzire
10:05 a.m. Michael Thompson, Scott Stallings, Cameron Tringale
10:15 a.m. Davis Riley, Jim Furyk, Davis Thompson
10:25 a.m. Zach Johnson, Rory Sabbatini, Peter Uihlein
10:35 a.m. Tim Herron, Luke Donald, Matt Jones
10:45 a.m. Doug Ghim, Tyler McCumber, Cinvent Whaley
10:55 a.m. Rob Oppenheim, Satoshi Kodaira
11:05 a.m. Bo Hoag, Adam Hadwin

How to watch

Sunday
Golf Channel: 1-4 p.m.

[opinary poll=”does-purse-size-make-a-professional-even” customer=”golfweek”]

Brendon Todd takes lead at RSM Classic, goes for 3rd straight win

Brendon Todd could earn his third-straight PGA Tour win if he holds on for the final 18 holes at the RSM Classic.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. (AP) — Brendon Todd made six birdies on the front nine to seize control and shot 8-under 62 on Saturday at Sea Island to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the RSM Classic as he goes for his third straight PGA Tour victory.

Todd, who overcame a case of the full yips that nearly drove him from the game, is coming off victories in the inaugural Bermuda Championship and the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

He was at 18-under 194, two shots ahead of Webb Simpson (63) and Sebastian Munoz (66).

Tyler Duncan, who started with a two-shot lead, made 18 pars for a 70 and fell four shots behind.

Todd is trying to become the first player since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win three consecutive starts.

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RSM Classic: Rounds 3 tee times, how to watch

The fall portion of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season wraps up this week with the Tour’s annual stop at Sea Island Golf Club for the RSM Classic. The event used the new-look Plantation Course and its neighboring Seaside Course for Thursday and Friday’s …

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The fall portion of the 2019-20 PGA Tour season wraps up this week with the Tour’s annual stop at Sea Island Golf Club for the RSM Classic.

The event used the new-look Plantation Course and its neighboring Seaside Course for Thursday and Friday’s rounds. Saturday and Sunday’s golf action held only on Seaside.

RSM Classic: Scores | Photos | Tee times, TV info

Tee times

Round 3, 1st tee

(All Times Eastern)

Tee time Players
9:20 a.m. Matt Jones, J.T. Poston, Keith Mitchell
9:30 a.m. Chesson Hadley, David Lingmerth, Michael Thompson
9:40 a.m. Mark Hubbard, Shawn Stefani, Matthew NeSmith
9:50 a.m. Hank Lebioda, Cameron Tringale, Dylen Fritelli
10 a.m. Ryan Armour, Davis Riley, David Hearn
10:10 a.m. Nick Watney, Mark Anderson, Vaughn Taylor
10:20 a.m. Tim Wilkinson, Tim Herron, Kyle Reifers
10:30 a.m. Webb Simpson, Will Gordon, Alex Cejka
10:40 a.m. Alex Noran, Dennis McCarthy, Doc Redman
10:50 a.m. Henrik Norlander, Brian Harman, Kyle Stanley
11 a.m. Scott Brown, Brendon Todd, Kyoung-Hoon Lee
11:10 a.m. D.J. Trahan, Ricky Barnes, Fabian Gomez
11:20 a.m. Tyler Duncan, Sebastian Munoz, Rhein Gibson

Round 3, 10th tee

Tee time Players
9:20 a.m. Bill Haas, Mackenzie Hughes, Brian Stuard
9:30 a.m. Scottie Scheffler, Troy Merritt, Stewart Cink
9:40 a.m. Luke List, Rory Sabbatini, Scott Stallings
9:50 a.m. Brandon Hagy, Talor Gooch, Jim Herman
10 a.m. Adam Long, Austin Cook, Maverick McNealy
10:10 a.m. Harry Higgs, Ryan Brehm, Peter Uihlein
10:20 a.m. Chase Seiffert, Ben Crane, Luke Donald
10:30 a.m. Russel Knox, Jim Furyk, Adam Hadwin
10:40 a.m. Doug Ghin, Davis Thompson, Kramer Hickok
10:50 a.m. Tyler McCumber, Anirban Lahiri, Scott Harrington
11 a.m. Satoshi Kodaira, Zach Johnson, Patton Kizzire
11:10 a.m. Vincent Whaley, Rob Oppenheim

TV info

Saturday
Golf Channel: 1-4 p.m.

Sunday
Golf Channel: 1-4 p.m.

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Brian Harman enjoying the home cooking this week at RSM Classic, and hitting all 18 greens

Local resident Brian Harman hit 18 greens in regulation for just the second time in his career during the second round of the RSM Classic.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Brian Harman is enjoying sleeping in his own bed this week at the RSM Classic. He’s hosting his parents and has his caddie, Scott Tway, in his guest house, and every night they’ve been firing up the grill.

“We had elk tenderloin two nights ago, we had tomahawk pork chops and then we had beef tenderloin last night, so we’re eating well,” Harman said. “We’re dialing it back tonight. Chicken breasts.”

About the only thing better than his home cooking this week is his ballstriking. Harman, 32, hit all 18 greens at Sea Island’s Seaside Course in the second round en route to shooting 4-under 66 and finishing T-11 and five shots back of leader Tyler Duncan. It marked the second time in his career that he hasn’t missed a green in regulation.

SCORES: Check in with the RSM Classic leaderboard

“Anytime you don’t have to chip, it’s a fun day,” Harman said. “My ballstriking is as good as it has ever been, probably even better than when I was 20th in the world. I just have to get my putting back to where it was.”

It’s been a challenging year for Harman, who reached No. 20 in the world in February 2018 but slipped to No. 123 entering the RSM. He needed a hot streak late in the season to make the FedEx Cup Playoffs for the eighth straight year. Harman says he suffered from mental fatigue and blamed the Tour’s wraparound schedule – “it’s hard not to think about it,” he said – for the “crippling anxiety” of trying to turn his season around.

“We play so much golf now that it’s impossible to be mentally engaged for a year straight. You need to be able to build in breaks so it is always fresh and you’re not just going through the motions,” Harman said. “I want to take time off until I miss it and I want to come back and work again. With the wraparound schedule you have to be resilient, you have to be tough and I didn’t feel very tough at the beginning of the season.”

Harman turned the corner with a T-6 finish at The Travelers in June, and a few weeks later at the 3M Championship he had a heart to heart with himself before the final round.

“I should be trying to win this golf tournament, not worrying about what’s going to happen. So, I just made the choice that day that whatever happened, I was going to act like I had been there before,” he said.

Harman ended the 2018-19 season with four top 10s in his last seven events. When he didn’t advance past the first FedEx Cup playoff event, Harman had a month-long layoff, which was a blessing in disguise.

“That was my first month off, continuous month off in three years,” Harman said. “Whereas like my rookie year, you could take three or four months off and you could show up in Hawaii and be fresh and ready to go. It’s just a different dynamic. I think it’s probably why the Tour’s getting younger, just because things are kind of ramped up.”

Harman showed no rust after his extended time off, notching a T-3 finish at A Tribute to Military at The Greenbrier in the Tour’s season-opening event.

“That just kind of gives me a little freedom to know that I can take some time off when I need to try to avoid getting too bogged down and too, you know, just golf, golf, golf,” he said.

Harman enters the weekend at the RSM Classic in striking distance, four strokes off the pace set by 36-hole leader Tyler Duncan as he seeks his first win since the 2018 Wells Fargo Championship. In seven previous starts, Harman’s best finish at his home game is a T-4 in 2018, but he’s also missed the cut twice.

“It used to kind of bug me a little bit,” he said of playing at Sea Island, “it’s kind of like I wanted to play well so badly, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve just kind of embraced it. It’s just a fun week, man. Let’s have fun, let’s have a good time. It seems to be helping a little bit.”

And what would it mean to win the RSM Classic?

“It would mean the world, man,” he said. “All of them are important. This one would be really special.”

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Robert Garrigus opens up on his 3-month suspension for ‘drugs of abuse’

Robert Garrigus opens up about his 3-month suspension from the PGA Tour for having elevated THC levels during a random drug test.

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Robert Garrigus was suspended from the PGA Tour for three months earlier this year for what he says was medical marijuana prescribed by his doctor. Garrigus was randomly drug tested by the Tour after the opening round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, and failed based on elevated levels of THC, one of the active ingredients in marijuana.

“When I failed my test for THC, I hadn’t taken a drop for 10 days. I didn’t do it that morning,” said Garrigus, who was suspended under the conduct policy that applies to substances of abuse. “I shot 81. It was the worst round of my PGA Tour career.”

That wasn’t the worst of his problems. Of the suspension, which began in March and caused Garrigus, 42, to miss as many as 12 tournaments, he said, “it crushed my year.”

So what is Garrigus, who shot 73 in the opening round of the RSM Classic, taking these days for his pain relief?

RSM Classic: Scores | Photos | Tee times, TV info

“Advil,” he said. “That’s good for my liver. I can’t wait for that test.”

While marijuana is legal in some states, it is on the banned substance list under the Tour’s anti-doping policy. Garrigus became the first player to be suspended for a drug of abuse.

Garrigus, whose lone Tour victory came at the 2010 Children’s Miracle Network Classic, has a history of drug problems and has spoken publicly about it numerous times before, dating back to when he checked himself into a rehab program in 2003. But Garrigus claims that he was prescribed marijuana to treat knee and back pain, and had been monitoring his THC levels to make sure he remained within Tour guidelines.

“There’s something new that hurts every single day. Being a golfer for 25 years I guess that’s going to happen,” he said. “But I could be on Oxycontin on the golf course and get a TUE (Therapeutic Use Exemption) for that. I think that is ridiculous. The Tour can talk to me all they want about it but that is a double standard. If you think I’m better on the golf course on Oxycontin than I am on THC then you’ve lost your mind. It makes me laugh.”

“Under the WADA guidelines, there are exemptions for narcotics (such as Oxycontin) under certain circumstances but those circumstance would have to be extreme,” said Andy Levinson, the PGA Tour’s senior vice president of administration.  “Those aren’t the type of medications that would be given an exemption on an ongoing basis. It would be a limited time exemption.”

Getting back on track

While sidelined for three months, Garrigus lost 20 pounds and dropped to 175. He said it took 120 days for THC to leave his system. Garrigus returned to the Tour at the 3M Open in early July after two Korn Ferry Tour starts and said the pressure he felt to retain his playing privileges with only four events remaining in the regular season was overwhelming. He met with Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan at the John Deere Classic.

“It was a good conversation and I let him know my peace,” Garrigus said. “They had to deflect. They have an image to protect and uphold. There’s nothing the Tour can do right now because we’re following WADA’s guidelines. We’re not partners with WADA. If we were partners, every single drug test would be known, but since we’re following their guidelines there is Commissioner discretion and the Commissioner’s discretion, Rule 28-1, says he has discretion whether he wants to put it out into the public. I urged him to make sure there are no discrepancies.” (Levinson disputes this claim by Garrigus, stating via text: “Discretion on the section is wholly different than the public reporting. All suspensions for PED’s or drugs of abuse are reported under our regulations.”)

Garrigus also voiced his displeasure that the 12-week suspension isn’t created equal for all players, noting that Matt Every, who was suspended in October, will miss fewer tournaments based on the time of his violation.

“I get suspended in the middle of the year. Matt Every gets suspended at the end of the year and he misses three tournaments,” Garrigus said. “There also needs to be some discrepancy there. There’s a gray area there, but the Tour has always been black and white.”

So are Garrigus’s thoughts on the benefits of taking CBD and THC.

“The fact that it is socially unacceptable for cannabis and CBD right now blows my mind. It’s OK to take Oxycontin and blackout and run into a bunch of people, but you can’t take CBD and THC without someone looking at you funny. It makes no sense,” Garrigus said.

“I’m not mad at anybody but it makes me laugh at the whole way it is set up. There needs to be something different.”

[opinary poll=”should-pga-tour-players-be-suspended-for” customer=”golfweek”]

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Davis Love III discusses taking game from range to course, new role at CBS

After the opening round at the RSM Classic, Davis Love spoke to Golf Channel about his new role at CBS and why he’s not done with golf.

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After shooting an opening-round 68 at the RSM Classic on Thursday, Davis Love III was candid about his struggles translating his game from the range to the course.

Love told Golf Channel on Wednesday he was struggling on the course in a way he wasn’t on the range and despite finishing the first round at 2 under, those struggles continued Thursday.

“I did the same thing today on the front nine,” Love said in an interview with Golf Channel. “I didn’t get it from the range to the course. … I didn’t get off to a great start but I hung in there and was patient, made some putts on the back nine and got a decent score. Obviously not the score I wanted for a start, but if you’re on par you’re always in pretty good shape.”

RSM CLASSIC: Leaderboard | Photos | Tee times

Love, who played the Seaside Course during the first round, was 1 over on the front nine with one birdie and two bogeys, but corrected on the back nine adding three more birdies.

The 55-year-old Love said in addition to adjusting his game, he will also have to adjust his schedule as he is becomes an analyst for CBS beginning in 2020.

“My No. 1 job is going to be be prepared for CBS,” Love said. “My No. 2 job is to have fun and play golf and I think that will free me up a little bit, but obviously I’m not going to be playing in CBS events. I’ll have to play around it which means a lot more Champions Tour events.”

Love’s TV debut will be in January at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

Later, Love was asked about the giant capsized ship off the coast.

“It’s disappointing when I come down the 18th hole with the Commissioner of the PGA Tour, the CEO of RSM, one of his guests, and (rock star) Darius Rucker and it’s the prettiest day of the year and you see a barge with port-o-lets on it and a sunken ship in the background,” he said.

[opinary poll=”whos-your-pick-to-win-the-rsm-classic_go” customer=”golfweek”]

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