A wild offseason should lead to an eventful season. Here are the biggest names and storylines to watch as the number of days remaining until kickoff enters double digits.
FORT WORTH, Texas — Kevin Na chipped in from the rough more than 90 feet away for an incredible birdie to close out an 8-under 62 and take the first-round lead in the Fort Worth Invitational at Colonial on Thursday. After Na’s tee shot at the 399-yard ninth hole went into the rough to the right, his approach flew over the green and settled against a temporary grandstand. His relief was a drop into more rough, but after the chip to the green, the ball rolled over a ridge, started to curl and caught the right edge of the cup before falling to end his round. That put him one stroke ahead of Charley Hoffman, who also was bogey-free when shooting a 63 in the morning round. Jhonattan Vegas, Emiliano Grillo, Andrew Putnam and Beau Hossler shot 64.
Denny Hamlin was the only driver to top 190 mph in the session
FORT WORTH, Texas — Steve Stricker was worried about withdrawing from the first round of the Fort Worth Invitational. Now he’s near the top of the leaderboard. Stricker felt his back crack on his fourth hole on Thursday and had trouble walking on his front nine. He signed for a 5-under 65 at Colonial Country Club, though, and was two back of leader Charley Hoffman after the morning wave completed play. Stricker, who won at Colonial in 2009, started Thursday’s round on the 10th tee at 8:06 a.m. The pain hit when he made impact with his 6-iron tee shot on the par-3 13th. He bogeyed the hole to fall to 2 over par. “I felt my lower-back crack right where I had surgery back in 2014, pretty much right on the spot,â€� Stricker said. “I tried to walk to the green and that wasn’t going so well. It kind of tightened up on me. “There were a couple times there where I was wondering if I should even be trying, if I should walk off and not risk injuring it some more.â€� He did keep going, and mounted an impressive comeback around the turn. He was 7 under par and bogey-free on his final 14 holes. He played the six-hole stretch from Nos. 15-2 in 6 under, including an eagle on the par-5 first hole, where he holed out from a greenside bunker. He added another birdie on the par-4 seventh to match his lowest score of the season. “It didn’t look or feel very good for a while,â€� he said. “I somehow just managed through it. It seemed to kind of loosen up and let go the more I kept playing. “I just kept plodding along.â€� Stricker, 51, has two wins and two runner-ups in four individual starts on PGA TOUR Championship. He’s made the cut in four of six PGA TOUR events in 2018. Stricker is No. 149 in the FedExCup standings, and needs some good finishes to make it back to the postseason. He has failed to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs just once (2015) in the 11 years since the FedExCup’s inception. This is his third consecutive week of competition. He finished T23 at THE PLAYERS and runner-up at the Regions Tradition, one of PGA TOUR Champion’s majors. “I’ve been feeling fatigued the last week or so. I don’t know if that has played a role in it. Maybe I’m old and I’ve played too much,â€� Stricker said. “It was a little scary. It was a pretty good crack and I had no idea what had happened.â€� He said that he would seek further treatment and diagnosis after his round and would skip Thursday’s post-round practice session to rest his back. NEW PUTTER PAYS OFF FOR HOFFMAN This is Hoffman’s 10th start at the Fort Worth Invitational, and seventh in a row. He’s never missed a cut at Hogan’s Alley, but he’s hardly found himself in contention, either. He has just one top-10 — a T10 in 2015 — at Colonial. That could change this week. Hoffman’s 63 on Thursday was his low round at Colonial by two shots. He missed just two greens and three fairways and didn’t record a bogey. A new putter helped Hoffman have his low round of the season by three shots. He gained more than two strokes on the greens Thursday. He dispatched the putter that he’s used for the past five years for a heavier one. “It worked today,” he said. “Putting is a fickle part of the game, so hopefully the good mojo continues.” Hoffman is one of just two players (Phil Mickelson) to qualify for the BMW Championship in every FedExCup season. That event is reserved for the top 70 in the FedExCup. Hoffman is 95th in this season’s standings, though. He has failed to record a top-10 in 15 events. NOTABLES Rickie Fowler shot 67 in his first round at Colonial since 2014. Fowler, who started on the 10th hole, made four birdies in a five-hole stretch from Nos. 15-1. Hitting fairways is a high priority at Colonial, so Fowler added a 2-iron to his bag to use from the tee this week. “That’s the name of the game on this golf course, get it in the short grass,â€� Fowler said. Jordan Spieth opened with a 1-under 69, his 17th sub-par score in 21 rounds at Colonial. His putting struggles continued Thursday, as he lost more than 1.5 strokes on the greens. He three-putted from 9 feet on the sixth hole, his 15th of the day, but birdied the next hole to get under par. He also was 0 for 2 from 7-10 feet on Thursday.
Cleveland’s LeBron James and Houston’s James Harden were unanimously voted All-NBA first team, with James earning the nod for a record 12th time in his 15-year career.
Lowe’s — the only sponsor Jimmie Johnson has ever had in the Cup Series — is leaving the seven-time champion at the end of the season.
With Steve Kerr trying to reach a fourth straight NBA Finals as the Warriors’ head coach, he recently sat down with Seahawks QB Russell Wilson for an interview.
Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson is expected to be on the floor when the team hosts the Houston Rockets in Thursday night’s Game 5 of the Western Conference finals. Thompson injured his left knee during Tuesday’s Game 4. Swingman Andre Iguodala, who missed Game 4 with a leg
The Angels enjoyed their most productive day at the plate in two weeks on Thursday afternoon, as Mike Trout and Albert Pujols homered and Martin Maldonado drove in three runs to fuel an 8-1 win over the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre. Dwight Smith Jr. hit his first big league homer for Toronto.
Blazers guard Damian Lillard made the All-NBA first team for the first time, joining regulars Anthony Davis, LeBron James, James Harden and Kevin Durant.
