After suffering another irregular heartbeat in August in Colorado, Kenley Jansen is back from the DL and playing with the Dodgers — but with a new state of mind about his health and this season.
Sure, Tiger went low, finally getting off to a fast start in a tournament. But even his caddie knows there’s a long way to go.
Montreal, QC, Canada — An object in motion generally stays in motion, and just one event removed from his first professional victory at the ATB Financial Classic, Corey Pereira seems to have maintained his momentum through the off-week and into this week’s Mackenzie Investments Open presented by Jaguar Laval. With a staggering nine birdies on his round, the Mission Viejo, CA native played a bogey-free round for the seventh time this season and matched his lowest score relative-to-par as a professional golfer in the form of a 9-under 63 to set the Elm Ridge Country Club course record. “It was awesome, I really got it going out there,� said Pereira. “Tee-to-green, it was mediocre, but I haven’t putt that well in a long time; I seemed to make everything out there and golf is fun when it’s like that.� While a hot putter was the case in Montreal, just under a month ago in Calgary, the Washington University alum proved he could do it by striking the ball as well, firing rounds of 64-65-62-67. While Pereira self-admittedly struggled with the flat stick during his second round at the ATB Financial Classic, it was how he turned it around that won him the title. “I know how difficult it is to win; one warm day doesn’t mean it’s the summer,� said the second-year pro. “I can go out tomorrow and struggle, but I have to be prepared for anything, and there’s some things I need to tighten up if I want to win this tournament.� Currently in the No. 6 position on the Order of Merit, a win would solidify Pereira’s spot among The Five that gain Web.com Tour status at season’s end, and while Pereira knows this, it’s not something he is actively going to think about as the week goes on. “It’s huge being in that top-5, I know that,� said Pereira, who finished last season at No. 39 on the Order of Merit. “I can only control my game, take it one shot at a time, try to shoot the lowest score I can and see where the numbers stack up.� Two Canadians currently sit in a tie for 13th at 4-under, Luke Moser, who Monday qualified into the event, and Sebastian Szirmak, a Quebec native playing this week on a Sponsor’s Exemption. The duo leads the charge for the Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Week award, while Mackenzie Tour regulars this season Taylor Penrith and Michael Gligic sit in a tie for 42nd at 2-under. Key Information  When asked about his ability to take rounds way under-par, Corey Pereira made reference to his closest call to a 59 at Cameron Park Country Club, his home club in California. Playing with his course-record holding friend, Pereira had a putt for 59 on the final hole that would not only get him to the elusive number for the first time but would also break his pal’s record by one. While Pereira left the putt on the lip, he says it’s rounds like those back home that taught him how to play freely when under par.  Entering the week at No. 65 on the Order of Merit, Theo Humphrey played his best round since the Windsor Championship in July, avoiding any bogeys to fire a 66 to put him in a tie for third place.  With his spot in the Freedom 55 Financial Championship secured, Blake Olson has his sights set on more as he comes into the Mackenzie Investments Open presented by Jaguar Laval in spot No. 42 on the Order of Merit. In search of his third top-10 of the season, Olson made eight birdies, including two to close out his round, to shoot 65.  While Paul McConnell opened the season strongly with back-to-back top-15 finishes to start the year, he has struggled since, missing three cuts. However, on Thursday at Elm Ridge the University of Texas-Arlington alum was back in form, making five birdies in a row from hole Nos. 13-17 before closing with a par to fire a 66.  Last season, JD Tomlinson finished the season as the odd-man out in spot No. 61 on the Order of Merit, giving him no status on the Mackenzie Tour. Working his way back onto the Tour, Tomlinson comes into Montreal in a similar position, currently at number 59. The Gainesville, FL native did himself a favour on Thursday, making six birdies to fire a 67 to sit comfortable in a tie for sixth.  Zach Wright, who, while playing consistently, has cooled slightly since his dominant start to the season, looks to solidify his spot at No. 2 on the Order of Merit with a good finish this week at Elm Ridge. The Louisiana State product got off on the right foot on Thursday, carding a bogey-free 67 to sit in a tie for sixth.  Order of Merit leader Tyler McCumber, winner of three of the past four Mackenzie Tour events, played his worst first round since the season-opening Freedom 55 Financial Open, making four birdies and two bogeys to shoot 70. Quotable “I just tried to shoot 59 when I had that going, and my home course is like that, it plays pretty easy and we shoot some low rounds out there, so I try to go as low as I can, and I feel like I’m comfortable under-par and I’m comfortable going more under par. My background helped me today.� – Corey Pereira “I just played pretty solid, hit the driver really well, gave myself some short irons and then just made a couple putts, so it was an easy day overall. The wind was starting to pick up towards the end of the day, so it was a bit more difficult for the guys in the afternoon, but overall I played really good.� – Blake Olson “I’ve got other goals, like, trying to get into the top-10 and we’ve got two weeks to do it, so I’m trying to do all I can and just play well each day. Being aggressive off the tees and being patient coming in is just really a priority, so that’s what I’m going to try to do all week.� – Blake Olson “I started off hitting a snap hook on the first hole and thought, ‘oh boy, this might not be good,’ but I ended up making a great par putt, about an eight-footer, on one of the easiest holes on the golf course. To make that save to start the day allowed me to have a good round, and I hit the ball really well after that and ended up shooting a good score.� – Theo Humphrey “I think I’ve been too focused most of this year on end results, trying to do this or trying to do that, I just need to go out there and play good golf and that usually adds up pretty well.� – Theo Humphrey First-Round Weather: Warm and sunny, 23 degrees Celsius with minimal wind.
The finish to the last NFL season was unquestionably weird. It ended with something good happening for the sports fans of Philadelphia—a Super Bowl title. The Eagles’ Nick Foles and Minnesota’s Case Keenum were meant to be backups.
Severe weather hit Philadelphia less than an hour before the NFL season opener between the Eagles and Atlanta Falcons.
The NFL season will start a little late. Tonight’s Falcons-Eagles game is being delayed by severe weather in Philadelphia. Fans have been urged to take cover in the stadium concourse area, and players on both the Falcons and Eagles left pregame warmups to head to the locker room. The forecast in Philadelphia
Francisco Mejia made his first start behind the plate for the Padres on Thursday night at Great American Ball Park, and he made an immediate impact at the plate with his first two Major League home runs in his first two at-bats
Nick Foles and the Eagles begin their Super Bowl title defense against Matt Ryan and the Falcons.
NEWTON SQUARE, Pa. – It’s not often that Rory McIlroy gets a momentum bump from a pro-am round. Wednesdays generally are not a productive scoring day for him “My stroke average in pro-ams is probably about 75.7,â€� he acknowledged. But this Wednesday at the BMW Championship was different. McIlroy played his final nine holes of the pro-am at Aronimink in 8-under 27, including a stretch of seven consecutive birdies. McIlroy was still on fire a day later. He played his first 14 holes in Thursday’s first round in 9 under, reeling off six straight birdies at one point. By the time he got to his 15th hole, the par-4 sixth, he was thinking 59. A couple of late bogeys dashed those dreams, but his 8-under 62 still was good enough to share the first-round lead with Tiger Woods. And that 23-hole stretch over two days in which he shot 17 under? “Oh, that’s pretty good,â€� McIlroy said. Two weeks ago, McIlroy sat out the FedExCup Playoffs opener in order to work on a few things. Last week, he tied for 12th, shooting 67-66 in his middle two rounds at TPC Boston. On Thursday, he was in full Rory mode, hitting 11 of 14 fairways, 16 of 18 greens and averaging 24 feet, 3 inches proximity to the pin – second-best average of the day. “It’s a golf course that just seems to fit my eye,â€� McIlroy said. “I like the greens. You can work the ball in off the slopes. You got to hit it pretty wild to start missing fairways. So if you get your ball in the short stuff, you can get it going.â€� McIlroy’s 62 was his lowest round of the year by two strokes and is just one off his career low. But through 14 holes, it looked like he was headed for the record books. Asked if he was disappointed not to have shot 59, McIlroy could only smile. “Geez, Debbie Downer here,â€� he said. “… I’m not going to say it stinks too bad because I’d much rather shoot 62 today and win the golf tournament Sunday than shoot 59 today and maybe not win.â€� No matter how things turn out the rest of the week, though, perhaps McIlroy will take a new approach toward pro-ams. “Maybe I should try a little harder on Wednesdays,â€� he said. “It seemed to work this time.â€� NOTABLES One person who did not play in the pro-am was Tiger Woods, who took off on Wednesday after playing nine holes with McIlroy on Tuesday. “I needed it, I really did,â€� Woods said after his 62, his lowest score on the PGA TOUR in five years. “I just played a lot of golf in the last six weeks and I needed a day to recover and make sure I was fresh for today.â€� Woods is the co-leader after 18 holes for the first time since the 2013 World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship. Rickie Fowler missed the first two FedExCup Playoffs events with an oblique injury, but it certainly didn’t impact him Thursday. He shot a bogey-free 5-under 65, his round getting off to a quick start with a birdie putt from just inside 12 feet. Fowler hit 12 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens. “I’m happy we’re back this early as far as coming back from the injury,â€� Fowler said. “You never know exactly how long those things are going to last, and especially with our sport being very rotational-oriented, having the oblique was a little scary. But happy that we’re in a good spot now. Speaking of Fowler … he worse custom-made yellow shoes that honored the late Jarrod Lyle. The shoes included the birth and death dates for Lyle, along with his initials on the back of one shoe and an image of his bucket hat on the other. Fowler said he was hoping to wear the shoes on the weekend at the PGA Championship (Lyle died the day before the first round) “but I didn’t have anything to wear them with, so I couldn’t really make it work. … Obviously we don’t want to ever forget Jarrod.â€� Although admittedly tired after winning the first two FedExCup Playoffs events, points leader Bryson DeChambeau spent more than an hour on the practice green after signing for a 3-under 67. DeChambeau missed a birdie putt inside 10 feet early in his round but likely was more frustrated with missing a 6-foot par putt at the par-3 eighth for his only bogey of the day. DeChambeau is assured of No. 1 status after this week, no matter how he fares. Jordan Spieth played in the same threesome as Tiger Woods and Rickie Fowler. Those two got off to hot starts, but it took longer for Spieth to heat up, as he birdied three of his last four holes to shoot a 3-under 67. “The toughest part is when there’s that many birdies within the group, him and Rickie, it’s tough not to force it when I was out of position all day,â€� Spieth said. “So I thought my 3 under was fantastic from places I played today.â€� Due to the threat of inclement weather Friday afternoon, tee times for the second round have been moved up. Play will begin at 7 a.m. ET, with threesomes off two tees. QUOTABLES My body just remembers it.That was weird, right? All three of us.I’m not very old but I feel like I shouldn’t be making those mistakes, second year veteran out here. SUPERLATIVES Lowest rounds: The 8-under 62s shot by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy. Combined, they made 1 eagle, 17 birdies and 3 bogeys. Bogey-free rounds: Rickie Fowler (65), Brian Gay (66), Henrik Stenson (66), Paul Casey (69). Longest drive: Brooks Koepka’s 361-yard tee shot at the par-5 ninth. Koepka also had a drive of 354 yards at the seventh hole. Longest putt: Beau Hossler’s birdie putt from 70 feet, 1 inch at the par-4 15th. Hardest hole: The 246-yard par-3 eighth played to a stroke average of 3.420. Just three birdies were made by the 69 players in the field (Justin Rose, Ian Poulter and Chris Kirk). Easiest hole: The 542-yard par-5 16th played to a stroke average of 4.304. Six eagles and 38 birdies were made there, while just two players suffered bogeys (Chesson Hadley, Brandt Snedeker). CALL OF THE DAY For play-by-play coverage of the second round of the BMW Championship, listen at PGATOUR.COM. SHOT OF THE DAY
Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor belted his seventh leadoff home run of the season in Thursday night’s series opener against the Blue Jays to tie Grady Sizemore (2008) for the franchise mark.
