Tag: Russell Knox

After enduring Hurricane Laura, Sam Burns storms to lead at Safeway Open

Sam Burns shot 65 on Friday to grab a 2-stroke lead over Harry Higgs at the Safeway Open.

NAPA, California – Just a few weeks ago, after Hurricane Laura battered the Louisiana community that he calls home, Sam Burns grabbed a chainsaw and chopped down a tree that fell in a neighbor’s driveway across the street.

“I just tried to help out where I could,” he said. “I don’t think I did a whole lot, but I just tried to be a helping hand.”

It puts a water ball and subsequent double bogey at the par-3 11th hole, Burns’s second hole of the day at Silverado Resort and Spa’s North Course, in proper perspective, but it doesn’t mean Burns didn’t simmer on the inside.

“It pissed me off a little bit, woke me up, I guess,” he said. “It picked me up, like, ‘Hey, let’s go.’ Just kind of stuck with it and the golf course opened up for me the rest of the day.”

Did it ever. Burns birdied the next three holes and eight in a 12-hole span to shoot 7-under 65 and open a two-stroke lead over Harry Higgs after the second round of the Safeway Open.

SAFEWAY OPEN: Leaderboard | Tee times, TV info

Burns, 24, is another up-and-coming American pro who has floated under the radar as the likes of Collin Morikawa, Matt Wolff, Norway’s Viktor Hovland won tournaments, and, more recently, Scottie Scheffler, have made headlines. But Burns has an impressive pedigree too: 2014 AJGA Rolex Junior Player of the Year; a three-time state champion at Louisiana; All-American and Jack Nicklaus Award winner in 2016-17. He’s confident his time will come.

“Comparison is kind of the thief of joy. I try to stay as far away from that as possible,” he said. “There’s no timeline for me.”

That timeline could accelerate if he continues playing the way he has during the opening two rounds. Despite the early double bogey, Burns improved to 15-under 129 and hit 16 of 18 greens in the second round and ranks first in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-green. He credited his strong ballstriking performance to his ability to adjust quickly to a new set of irons he put in the bag this week.

“Some of the guys at Callaway came to my house last week and we worked on some stuff with my irons, put the new irons in play. So far, they’ve been pretty good,” He said.

Burns is making his 61st Tour start this week and if anything has slowed his progression, it may be due to breaking his right ankle in July 2019, which forced him to miss the rest of the 2018-19 season.

“I came back and tried to play in the fall but came back too early, just really bothered by my ankle,” said Burns, who made his first FedEx Cup Playoff appearance and finished No. 111 in the standings.

Higgs shot the low round of the day, a bogey-free 62 that included a walk-off albatross.

Australian Cameron Percy (64-68), American D.J. Trahan and Scot Russell Knox (63-69) shared third. Knox, the overnight leader, was stuck in neutral most of the day, but finished with birdies on the final two holes and drew inspiration from the U.S. Open tennis.

“I watched a great tennis match last night, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka got dominated the first set. It was amazing so watch her pump herself up. Her body language changed and it was really amazing how she lifted her level of play and was able to go on and win the match,” Knox said. “Kind of inspired me to try and do that today. I mean, when things were kind of in neutral, I was like, you know what, let’s get going here. A little Friday fist pumps never hurt anyone.”

Doug Ghim (66), one of 13 players who had to finish his first round in the morning, and James Hahn (65), who has 14 events remaining on a medical exemption to regain his playing privileges, are tied for six at 11 under.

“I’m just counting down the number of tournaments that I have remaining,” Hahn said. “Just kind of walking the course today, I was just kind of telling myself I have 14 opportunities to win a golf tournament and from there, you know, whatever happens, whether they let me keep playing or whether they tell me to go home, I think I’m just going to go out and try to give it my all.”

Phil Mickelson birdied three holes in a row beginning at No. 8 and posted a bogey-free round of 67.

“I needed to go a little bit lower, but I’ve got a chance if I go really low tomorrow, 8- 9-under, to get myself in it for Sunday,” Mickelson said.

Major winners Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia and Shane Lowry won’t have that chance as they were among the casualties of the 36-hole cut.

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Russell Knox, after missing FedEx Cup Playoffs by 2 strokes, comes out of the gate with 63 at Safeway Open

With a new coach and renewed purpose, Russell Knox came out of the gate hot with a 9-under 63.

NAPA, Calif. – Russell Knox looked up from his cell phone and told his caddie, “Good gracious, you find out how many friends you have when you have a good day.”

To which Bradley Whittle, never breaking stride, retorted, “Better than having them cheer you up for a bad one.”

Well, there was plenty of reason for friends of Knox to text words of congratulations after shooting 9-under 63 at Silverado Resort & Spa’s North Course to grab the early first round lead at the Safeway Open.

Knox, 35, missed the FedEx Cup Playoffs by a matter of two strokes, finishing No. 127 in the regular-season points standings after struggling following the resumption of play in June. (He missed 10 straight cuts between AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February and the 3M Open in July.)

“I mean, I deserved to not make it,” he said.

Safeway Open: Leaderboard | Tee times, TV

But Knox didn’t sit at home and stew. Instead, he made a significant change, hiring a new coach, Mark McCann, and attempting to dig it out of the dirt.

“I don’t see myself as a golfer who should be missing the Playoffs, but I just had a weird year, weird couple years, got into a little funk. It’s hard, you’ve got to fight out of it,” he said. “I’ve worked as hard as I ever have the last two weeks before this event. So, it’s really nice to see something good happen immediately. I definitely feel like my game is heading in the right direction.”

Knox’s bogey-free round included playing 4 under on a three-hole stretch starting at No. 4, an eagle at the par-5, fifth hole. The Scot drilled 3-hybrid from 229 yards to 14 feet and rolled in the putt. Knox turned in 31 and tacked on four more birdies on the inward nine, including a 31-foot birdie putt at 12 and birdies at two of the last three holes.

 

“When you have a good round like this, putts like that go in,” Knox said of the lengthy putt at 12.

Knox isn’t attempting to chase distance – he’s been down that road, he said – but rather get back to what he does best.

“I got away from kind of my DNA, I guess, of what’s made me be able to play on the PGA Tour. I’ve just tried to tighten it up and get back to hitting it straight, hitting on the fairways and then allowing my iron game to take over, which has fortunately always been kind of there for me. Then if I make a few putts, then I can have a good round,” he said. “I can’t worry about the big boys sending it. For me, I’ve just got to get it in play and take it from there.”

Brendan Steele is simply getting back to one of his favorite stomping grounds. The two-time Safeway Open winner (2016, 2017) posted a bogey-free 7-under 65.

“It kind of reminded me of my first round, I shot 63 maybe in 2016 in the opening round and it was very stress free, felt very comfortable, hit a lot of good shots,” he said.

So, what’s his secret to success at Silverado?

“People have been asking me that for years,” he said. “I really have a good sense of where you can be aggressive out here, where you need to be conservative, where you can miss it to different pins. I just kind of understood it right away, which is nice. And being from California, I’m comfortable on the greens.”

Steele trails Knox, who tabbed himself a notoriously slow starter at tournaments and couldn’t remember if he’d ever held a first round lead in his nine years on Tour. It turns out he was co-leader of the 2013 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“I’ve struggled first rounds for so long I feel like, so one of my main goals this season was to get off to a better start,” he said. “I didn’t quite expect this, but nice to shoot a good score.”

And nice to get congratulatory texts from all your friends, too.

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What are PGA Tour pros doing this off-season? We asked

A seemingly endless PGA Tour schedule is finally in the books for 2019. How do Tour pros plan to spend their “off-season” and the holidays?

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — A seemingly endless PGA Tour schedule is finally in the books for 2019 with the conclusion of the RSM Classic, the last official event of the decade (let the Silly Season begin!).

How do Tour pros plan to spend their “off-season” and the holidays? We asked 18 pros after the RSM Classic.

Weddings, surgeries, pulled wisdom teeth, hunting and fishing, and — shocker — more golf are on the agenda.

(Photo: Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports)

Scott Brown

“If you’re looking for me, I’ll be hunting. I went deer hunting 20 of the last 25 days before going to Mayakoba. It’s fun to try to kill something bigger than you.”

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