Two third basemen won the Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote on Thursday for the first time in the competition’s 16-year history, as top vote-getter Justin Turner of the Dodgers — who set a Final Vote record with 20.8 million votes — and Mike Moustakas of the Royals were added by fans with the 32nd and final roster spots for the 88th All-Star Game presented by Mastercard on Tuesday at Marlins Park.
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The Final Vote has ended. Soon we will learn who won the last roster spots for the 88th All-Star Game presented by Mastercard. The results of the Esurance MLB All-Star Game Final Vote will be revealed on MLB Tonight, live on MLB Network and MLB.com, at 6 p.m. ET.
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, WV. – Notes and observations from the early goings of Thursday’s first round of The Greenbrier Classic, where Davis Love III turned back the clock to provide a vintage performance – shooting a bogey-free 7-under 63. LOVE-LY PERFORMANCE Davis Love III finished his Pro-Am round feeling pretty good about how he hit the ball. His walking scorers noticed as well and made a point to tell the soon to be Hall-Of-Famer he’d only missed two fairways and greens. It just solidified the great vibes the 53-year-old was feeling heading into The Greenbrier Classic. Love III rode the momentum and confidence early to birdie four of his opening five holes and finished with a sublime 7-under 63 to lead the morning wave. It was his 18th under par round at The Old White TPC course, but easily his best. (65, round 3, 2014). Of his four early birdies, the longest was from 10’8â€�, as his approach game looked every bit as good as it ever has for the 21-time PGA TOUR winner. “That’s about as good as it gets,â€� Love III admitted of his start. “This is as good a scoring conditions as we’re going to get probably for the whole week. I’m glad I took advantage of it.â€� Love III has been battling several injuries over the last few years including back and hip problems that still bother him. He also broke his collarbone in early January in a snowboarding accident. But of late some dedicated hard work had his confidence up and to see it turn into a score had him smiling. “Based on recent scoring average, no,â€� he said if he expected the low round. “But based on good attitude, yeah. I’ve been working really hard the last couple weeks on trying to fix my swing to kind of swing around a stiff back and stiff hip. “I put a lot of time in hitting balls and trying to get back to hitting it solid. I’ve given it up on hitting it a long way. I’m just saying I just got to hit it straight. This is a perfect golf course for me. If you get it in the fairway, everybody has an opportunity from the fairway. Despite his great feels post the Pro-Am Wednesday Love III still went out for nearly two hours of short game practice. When he chipped in for birdie on the 17th hole Thursday he told his caddie the extra practice had paid off. “A lot of hard work is kind of starting to pay off, and hopefully the rest of the summer I can keep it going.â€� Should Love III go on to win his 22nd TOUR title he would become the oldest winner ever, beating the record of Sam Snead who won the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open at 52 years, 10 months, 8 days. Oddly enough Love III won the same tournament, now called the Wyndham Championship, in 2015 at the age of 51 years, 4 months and 10 days placing him third on the all-time list. PLAYOFF REVENGE? Two years ago when The Greenbrier Classic was last played David Hearn and Robert Streb were on the wrong end of the four-man playoff that eventually provided Danny Lee with his first PGA TOUR win. But the pair have started strongly as they attempt to go one better with solid 5-under 65s to be just two back of the early lead. Streb famously damaged his putter in the final round in 2015 and was forced to putt with his wedge over the back nine and still managed to get to extra holes before being eliminated on the first playoff hole. Hearn, who had missed a very similar putt in regulation for the win on the 72nd hole, nailed a birdie to continue with Lee before falling on the second playoff hole. “I’m real proud of the way I played here last time we were here. Really good memories obviously coming off 18. Made a great birdie to continue into the playoff,â€� Hearn said. “I don’t think it’s unfinished business, but this course really suits my eye and I really enjoy playing this golf course. I got off to a nice start today. Let’s see what you can keep doing.â€� Both men need good weeks for their FedExCup hopes. Hearn is the current bubble boy, sitting 125th on the points list. Streb sits 137th. Hearn tries not to think about it too much but admits it’s hard not to. “They send me a text every week, so it’s hard not to know where you are – unless you don’t pay attention to those,â€� he smiled. “Overall, I got off to a really slow start this year. I started working with a new coach and did some swing changes. Nothing major, but it’s taken me a little while to get some traction. The last month and a bit I’ve been playing some really good golf. “So overall my game has been trending in the right direction. I’m trying not to watch that bubble because I know I’m playing good golf and it really shouldn’t matter.â€� LINGMERTH BOUNCES BACK David Lingmerth showed no ill-effects of his Sunday stumble last week, opening with a tidy 6-under 64 to be just one back of the early pace. The Swede led after the first three rounds last week at the Quicken Loans National only to fade on Sunday to a T5 finish. But he needed just 23 putts on Thursday, making 117’9â€� worth of them as he put together a six-birdie effort. “If you gave me a T5 at Quicken Loans before the week started, that’s not a bad finish. I can’t go and be upset about it,â€� he said. “Obviously with the last two rounds shooting 3-over and 3-over, that’s not really what I had in mind. So, a little disappointed, but not going to dwell on it too much. Just put the foot down on the pedal again and keep going. Hopefully we can get ourselves in contention again.â€� ODDS AND ENDS Ben Martin entered this week 127th in the FedExCup meaning his opening round 6-under 64 comes at a great time. Fresh off his lone top-10 of the season, a T5 last week at Quicken Loans, Martin is hoping to make a late playoff push. “Last week last week was huge. I think I went from 145 or so to right around 125. I got off to a bad start this year, but I’m going in the right direction. Looking to keep moving up that board,â€� he said. Matt Jones, who was T2 the last time he played The Greenbrier Classic in 2013, was 2-over through his opening five holes before fighting back. Four birdies in his final six holes helped him to a 4-under 66. Patrick Reed continues to put himself in position for another win, opening with a solid 4-under 66. Davis Love IV, or Dru, was unable to match his father’s heroics shooting a 4-over 74. BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA
His work was over for the week, but Scott Brown, like a lot of PGA TOUR pros, is always on the job. So, after having missed the cut at Bethpage Black in the first FedExCup Playoffs event last August, Brown wanted to get right back at it. Surrounded by a plethora of golf options out on Long Island, he hit balls at the Tam O’Shanter Club in Glen Head where the head professional, Mark Brown, presented an intriguing suggestion: Why not go look at the Glen Oaks Club in nearby Old Westbury? “So, I went over and played it, and I’m glad I did,� said Scott Brown. “It’s my kind of golf course.� The impetus to play Glen Oaks went deeper than practice, though. Scott Brown knew that THE NORTHERN TRUST would open the 2017 FedExCup Playoffs at Glen Oaks, a course that may be a mystery to PGA TOUR pros but certainly isn’t to many members of the Metropolitan section of the PGA of America. Mark Brown, for instance. A week before the FedExCup Playoffs at Bethpage Black, Glen Oaks hosted the 101st Met Open where the Tam O’Shanter head pro shot 69-69-68 for a 4-under 206 and four-stroke win. He was excited to point Scott Brown toward Glen Oaks, but Tim Shifflett isn’t surprised to hear that it came with advanced billing. “We call it the Augusta of the north,� Mark had said. “I know people say that, but I just don’t like that expression,� said Shifflett, the head professional at Glen Oaks since 2001. “It certainly wasn’t our intent when we renovated.� Mark Brown understands the pretentiousness to compare any golf course to the home of the Masters, “but, honestly, (Glen Oaks) is that pure, that perfectly conditioned.� What Mark Brown might not have known is that Scott Brown is a native of Augusta, Ga., and knows Augusta National well. He was in synch with Mark Brown’s assessment. “It’s a fabulous golf course, similar (in style) to Augusta National in that you have to play shots to certain quadrants of the greens,� said Scott Brown. “It’s not crazy tight (nor is Augusta National) and it’s fun to play. The greens are firm and you have a lot of options for shots around the greens.� Jason Caron, the head professional at the Mill River Club in Oyster Bay, has heard the “Augusta of the north� expression and said it fit. “Seriously, Glen Oaks is that good,� he said. Certainly, its history is that good, too, flavored in large part by its connection to the “Roaring ‘20s� when so many of America’s wealthiest families established sprawling estates on Long Island. Shifflett noted that the Glen Oaks Club started in 1924 on the Queens-Nassau border, built on land purchased from William K. Vanderbilt’s “Deepdale Estate� which curled around Lake Success. When reporters wrote of two-time PGA Champion Leo Diegel’s exploits in the 1920s, he was said to have been from Glen Oaks. As urban sprawl spread on Long Island in the ‘60s, the Glen Oaks Club gave way to the North Shore Towers. Club members bought land about 15 miles west and in 1971 re-opened Glen Oaks in Old Westbury as a 27-hole course designed by Joe Finger. Not that it wasn’t a good course — the routing was praised and the putting surfaces were splendid— but Shifflett used the word “unmemorable� to describe it. “It was not interesting. Every hole looked similar — trees left, bunkers right; trees right, bunkers left. Every green had a bunker left, a bunker right, a bunker to the rear,� said Shifflett. “It was all so redundant.� The hiring of superintendent Craig Currier – who had done brilliant work at Bethpage Black for both the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Opens and had also worked at Augusta National and Garden City GC – signaled a change of direction for Glen Oaks. With credit to a membership that trusted their vision, Shifflett and Currier were told to pick an architect who would oversee a renovation. After considering bigger names, they decided on Joel Weiman, senior designer with McDonald & Sons of Maryland, with whom Currier had worked on a Bethpage project. Together, they went to work . . . and work . . . and work. “It was more work than I ever envisioned. But once we started, there was no stopping,� laughed Currier. “It’s like when you start tearing your kitchen apart.� The overall goal, said Shifflett, was for “green grass, white sand and mulch around the trees – three distinct looks.� Hurricanes of 2011 (Irene) and 2012 (Sandy) contributed to the aesthetics all three wanted by clearing several swaths of trees. Mostly, though, it was the collaborative efforts of Weimer, Currier and Shifflett that produced sweeping vistas and such a clean, fresh look. Scott Brown, who played Glen Oaks with firm and fast conditions, gave it thumbs up. He loved the sprawling piece of property with wide and tightly-mown fairways that run into sharp-edged bunkers, shaved areas around the greens, and putting surfaces which can offer speeds that will command your respect. If similar conditions exist August 24-27 for THE NORTHERN TRUST, Scott Brown suggested his brethren will be tested. But Mark Brown, who was the only competitor to break par at last year’s Met Open, said Mother Nature will be in charge. “If it does get soft,� he said, “I could see the guys eating it up. It’s not terribly long (using Nos. 1-3 and 6-9 from the White Course, 4-5 from the Red Course, and all nine of the Blue Course, Glen Oaks will offer a composite layout of approximately 7,300 yards) and these guys usually figure things out quickly.� Currier, after two U.S. Opens at Bethpage, knows the landscape. If he could dial it up, “I’d wish for a good, dry week with a little wind,� and he’s confident that “from tee-to-green (the players) will love it.� The firmness of the greens and their speeds will likely decide the overall scores, but for Currier there is a bigger picture. The Met Section has a long line of world-class golf courses and the Glen Oaks Club — with a distinctive look that is its own — is getting mentioned in the conversation. “They’re talking about our golf course,� said Currier. “That’s kind of cool to see.�
