Day: May 6, 2017

The First Look: THE PLAYERS ChampionshipThe First Look: THE PLAYERS Championship

May 6, 2017May 6, 2017| 1:31

• COURSE: TPC Sawgrass (PLAYERS Stadium), 7,189 yards, par 72. Already lauded as a course that plays no favorites and deftly tests all parts of a player’s game, the Stadium Course offers two new tests this year for the game’s best players. The narrow water hazard between Nos. 6 and 7 has been expanded into a rectangular lake, removing several trees in the vicinity. More significant is No. 12, which has been turned into a drivable par-4 with both fairway and green sloping toward a new water hazard on the left. What hasn’t changed is the hole that receives the most attention – the iconic 17th, measuring 137 yards over water to a green connected only by narrow rear pathway. • FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 600 points. • CHARITY: More than 300 Northeast Florida charities receive assistance from THE PLAYERS Championship, among them Wolfson Children’s Hospital, American Cancer Society and Epilepsy Foundation of Florida. Last year’s event raised a record $8.5 million for charity, bringing its total to more than $84 million since the event first arrived outside Jacksonville in 1977. • FIELD WATCH: World No. 1 Dustin Johnson and newlywed No. 2 Rory McIlroy join defending champion Jason Day to headline what is annually the year’s strongest roster. The lineup features 24 of the top 25 in the current world rankings and 55 of the top 60. … Bernhard Langer, 59, is the oldest player in THE PLAYERS field for the third consecutive year. The Hall of Famer will make his 26th start at TPC Sawgrass, getting in by virtue of last year’s victory at the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship. … One additional berth is available for the winner of this week’s Wells Fargo Championship, if he hasn’t already qualified. • 72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Greg Norman (1994). • 18-HOLE RECORD: 63, Fred Couples (3rd round, 1992), Greg Norman (1st round, 1994), Roberto Castro (1st round, 2013), Martin Kaymer (1st round, 2014); Jason Day (1st round, 2016); Colt Knost (2nd round, 2016). • LAST YEAR: Day tied the Stadium Course record with an opening 63 and hardly looked back, becoming just the fifth wire-to-wire winner in the event’s history as he completed a four-shot triumph. Day’s total of 15-under-par 273 was the lowest score at TPC Sawgrass in 10 editions since THE PLAYERS moved to a May date. The chase pack never got closer than two shots in the final round, after Day’s bogey at the par-5 ninth hole. The Aussie birdied two of his next three, though, to post his third victory in a nine-week span, alongside wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Kevin Chappell used late birdies at Nos. 16 and 17 to take runner-up honors, matching their 1-2 finish at Bay Hill. • STORYLINES: Johnson, owner of three straight wins before the Wells Fargo Championship, could use an uptick at TPC Sawgrass. Before last year’s share of 28th, his previous seven starts had yet to yield a top-30 finish. Johnson has broken 70 just once in an opening round – a 68 in 2014. … New Masters champion Sergio Garcia, the 2008 PLAYERS winner, makes his first start since Augusta National. It’s been 14 years since he missed a cut at TPC Sawgrass – but the past two Masters winners (Jordan Spieth, Danny Willett) missed THE PLAYERS cut after slipping on the green jacket. … McIlroy tees it up in competition for the first time as a married man, wedding Erica Stoll in a lavish affair 2 ½ weeks ago at Ashford Castle in Ireland. The reigning FedExCup champion has finished outside the top 10 just once anywhere since East Lake, failing short of knockout play at the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play. • SHORT CHIPS: A total of 36 balls found the water surrounding No. 17 last year, slightly below average (39.5) since the PGA TOUR began keeping count 14 years ago. Two years earlier produced the all-time low of 28 splashdowns. The record is 93, when the event first moved to May in 2007. … Paul Azinger (1987) is the only man to birdie No. 17 in all four regulation rounds. Rickie Fowler birdied it three times in a day, during the final round and playoff of his 2015 triumph. … Day became just the second of the past 10 champions who managed to close the deal after holding the 54-hole lead. Martin Kaymer was the other, holding off Jim Furyk after a rain delay in 2014. • TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 2-7 p.m. (NBC). • PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-7 p.m. (featured groups), 9 a.m.-7 p.m. (17th hole). Saturday-Sunday, 8:30 a.m.-7 p.m. (featured groups), noon-7 p.m. (17th hole). • RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-7 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com). For more on all the courses in the TPC network, visit TPC.com.  Play where the pros play. To book your tee time at TPC Sawgrass, visit TeeOff.com.

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Hurley, Power share lead after rain-delayed roundHurley, Power share lead after rain-delayed round

May 6, 2017May 6, 2017| 1:01

WILMINGTON, N.C. — Once the rain finally stopped, the wind took over Friday in the Wells Fargo Championship. Billy Hurley III and Seamus Power of Ireland did their best to figure out the strong gusts and wound up atop the leaderboard at the end of a long day. The second round started three hours late because of a violent storm that dumped nearly 2 inches of rain on Eagle Point, and 65 players had to return Saturday morning to complete the round. Hurley hit a 4-iron from 174 yards that came up 15 yards short, and he managed to get up-and-down to cap off a strong finish for a 3-under 69. Power shot a 71 and joined Hurley at 5-under 139. John Peterson’s last hole was a birdie on the par-5 12th hole. He was at 5 under and had six holes to play Saturday morning. Francesco Molinari of Italy, who opened with a 66, also was at 5 under and had seven holes remaining. Dustin Johnson couldn’t get off the golf course fast enough. In his first tournament since a slip down the stairs knocked him out of the Masters Tournament, Johnson opened with a tough par save and a birdie to get within two shots of the lead until dropping shots on a pair of par 3s, getting out of position off the tee on the reachable par 5s and ending with a third bogey on No. 13. Johnson was 2 over for his round, five shots out of the lead. With the worst of the weather out of the way, one bizarre dynamic was in play depending on how the second round finishes Saturday morning. When play was halted by darkness, 80 players were at 1 over (either finished or on their back nine). That could mean only a six-shot separation between leading and making the cut on the number, meaning a wide-open weekend. The key was to get through Friday’s wild weather. The wind was so strong that it blew Phil Mickelson’s hat off his head as he was preparing to hit his tee shot. Mickelson went along nicely until missing the green to the right on No. 9, dumping a chip into the bunker and making double bogey on his last hole for a 72. He was at 1-under 143. “It was more difficult with the wind,” Hurley said. “Thankfully, with the rain it was softer. It we didn’t have this rain, and then we had this wind, it would have been pretty brutal. So we didn’t have to completely worry about the ball running away from you on the ground as much as it did yesterday.” Hurley was 1 over for his round when he ran off four birdies over his last seven holes, including a couple from tap-in range, yet it was the par on No. 9 that excited him as much as the birdies. The green is exposed as much as any at Eagle Point, and he holed a 10-foot par putt. Power played No. 9 in the middle of his round, hit a 6-iron and came up 40 yards short. His pitch barely reached the fringe, and he made bogey. Walking back up the hill to face the 186-yard, downhill 10th hole, he hit 5-iron and held his breath. “It’s unusual. It messes with your eyes because you’re uncomfortable hitting that show knowing that if the wind dies, you might watch a ball sail into the water around the greens,” Power said. “You’ve just got to pick a number and you’ve got to go with and just try to get through those.” Jon Rahm of Spain knows the feeling. Rahm made five birdies and had to settle for a 71, but he was at 4-under 140 along with Vaughn Taylor (69), Rafa Cabrera Bello (71) and Brian Harman (69). Rahm began his round on the par-3 10th with a shot that came up some 20 yards short of the pin. What really got his attention was the par-3 second hole, where he hit a beautiful tee shot that went 192 yards — except the hole was playing only 161 yards. “There were a couple moments where the difference between the wind being just straight right-to-left or being a little bit in, that wind could mean easily 20 yards because it was blowing so hard,” Rahm said. “What happened to me on No. 2, after a great stretch of holes, I carried it about 30 yards farther than what I wanted. I’m not the only one dealing with this. It probably happened to a couple other guys where they were 20 yards short or 20 yards long.” Was it more fun than a calm day? Rahm smiled. “It is fun because I played good,” he said. “But it does get a little frustrating sometimes.”

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Watch Live: Giants and Reds meet in MLB Game of the DayWatch Live: Giants and Reds meet in MLB Game of the Day

May 6, 2017May 6, 2017| 0:45

The San Francisco Giants have started their season off miserably. Not only are there another five months left in the season, the next ten games the Giants play could change the way their entire season looks. You can stream the game for free on the Sports Betting News MLB page, on our Free Game of the Day tab or in this very post, beginning at 8:30 p.m. ET.

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