No quarterback at the Senior Bowl has set himself apart as an NFL draft dark horse, which means Ohio State’s Dwayne Haskins is still easily the top QB in the class.
SAN DIEGO – When Charles Howell III hits the iconic 18th hole at Torrey Pines South the bad memory comes flooding back … every single time. Never mind that he’s 18 of 18 making cuts at the Farmers Insurance Open with eight top 10s and three runner up finishes. Or that his 6-under 66 on Thursday was the equal low on the traditionally much tougher South Course to have him sit tied sixth. For 14 years now the one bad memory – amongst a vast bank of good ones at the venue – takes over. At the 2005 Farmers Insurance Open Howell III had a chance to win at the 18th before disaster struck. In a weather interrupted week he had posted a third round 8-under 64 to move within one of the lead but with no repairing continued into his fourth round well ahead of other contenders. The par-5 finishing hole beckoned with Howell sitting 1 under on his final round looking to post a score for the likes of Tiger Woods, Tom Lehman and Luke Donald to best. Howell III had wedge in hand looking to dial in something close. “It was 93 yards. I mean, give or take an inch. There hasn’t been a time I haven’t thought about it,â€� Howell III recalls of his third shot. The ball sailed straight at the flag and cannoned into the hole on the fly, bouncing back out just as quickly and ricocheted into the billabong guarding the front of the green. Instead of an eagle that would have seen him post 16 under, he settled for bogey and 13 under. It meant a runner up behind Woods. MUST READS: Round 1, Farmers Insurance Open Tiger grinds out 2-under 70 on South Course Rahm riding high again at Torrey Pines, leads by one Spieth needed only 22 putts on North Course “I know I would have lost that event, I get it. He would have done something, I just wanted to see what he would have done,â€� Howell III says now. “But that makes me uncomfortable. That one got me because I think it flew in the hole. “Then the fact that it’s a yellow hazard, yellow penalty area, so I had to go back over it again. I haven’t gotten over that, no, but every time I play that hole I think about it every time.â€� But perhaps the three-time PGA TOUR winner will be able to let it go if he can leverage his opening round into the win he’s come so close to at the venue. His lightning start on the South means he could really forge ahead on a North Course that played over two shots easier on Thursday and yielded a 10-under 62 from leader Jon Rahm. The top five players on the leaderboard all played the North Course. “This is a golf course that you just can’t fall asleep on and you can’t fall asleep on the North now, either,â€� Howell III warned. “There’s not really one hole out there where you can kind of start cruising through it. As the week goes on, scores tend to calm down, 10, 11, 12 under is right there come Sunday afternoon, I like that about it. “It’s hard but it’s fair, there’s no tricks to it, there’s no gimmicks out there.â€� For the record, Howell III birded the 18th on Thursday.
Top 100 prospects have turned into Gold Glove and MVP Award winners — here is the best prospect each MLB organization has had in the past 15 years.
Top 100 prospects have turned into Gold Glove and MVP Award winners — here is the best prospect each MLB organization has had in the past 15 years.
ORLANDO, Florida — After Demo Day on Tuesday, it was time to head indoors for the 2019 PGA Merchandise Show at the Orange County Convention Center. Inside the show, hundreds of golf companies displayed their latest products. My job was to find the coolest and newest products. Below are the highlights. Bushnell’s new Pro XE rangefinder One of the most popular rangefinder makers in golf has a new version that not only measures slope, but also measures temperature and altitude to produce an adjusted “Elementsâ€� yardage. The rangefinder can be made USGA conforming using a toggle that provides only the actual number, as well. Previously, Bushnell used Jolt technology that would vibrate when the laser locked onto the flagstick. Now, the rangefinder will not only vibrate when locked on target, but a red ring will flash on the display, thus providing visual feedback that a golfer has measured the flagstick, and not a tree behind the green. Additionally, using BITE technology, the Bushnell Pro XE has magnets on the side of the bodies that golfers can use to mount on a golf cart. The new rangefinders will sell for $549.99 starting “sometime in March,â€� according to a Bushnell representative. Voice Caddie SC300 Voice Caddie’s new portable launch monitor uses Doppler Radar technology, and it measures carry distance, swing speed, ball speed, smash factor, launch angle and flight apex. It also has a distance voice output – in other words, an audible reading of how far you hit the ball – and it measures atmospheric pressure. At the PGA Show, Voice Caddie was running a deal for $330, but the regular price of these launch monitors will be $549.99. Mizuno launches golf balls in North America Live at the PGA Show on Wednesday morning at its display booth, Mizuno announced new RB Tour and RB Tour X golf balls. These are Mizuno’s first golf balls to ever be released globally. The higher-flying, higher-spinning RB Tour, and the lower-flying, lower-spinning RB Tour X golf balls each have four-piece constructions with urethane covers. The golf balls have C-dimples to reduce drag, Mizuno said, in addition to a “high-energy ionomer mantle layerâ€� and a dual core with graduated firmness. They will sell for $43, hitting retail worldwide in February. EvnRoll’s new putters, Roll Board Since 2016, EvnRoll has been making milled putters designed by Guerin Rife that have “Sweet Faceâ€� technology on their faces to improve roll across the impact area. The company has now launched four new head models and “gravityâ€� grips. The new models include an ER1TS blade, an ER2.2 midblade, an ER5B mallet and an ER8.3 players mallet. The line is highlighted by the ER1TS due to its extreme offset. EvnRoll said the slanted hosel, which makes the shaft measure one-inch from the leading edge of the putter head, helps create greater stability. The increased offset, according to EvnRoll, also helps golfers set the wrist without the need for a forward press. All of the new putters come stock with ER5 Black grips, but new gravity grips are available for an upcharge. The V-shaped gravity grips have 35-gram EVA foam bodies, nine-inch 70-gram steel rods that run up the lower portions of the grips, and a 15-gram outer wrap. EvnRoll says the 120-gram grip designs help increase stability. Available in 33-35 inches, the new EvnRoll putters will sell for $359 for the stock grip, and $399 with a gravity grip. Cobra’s new King MIM wedge Cobra’s new wedges are completely machine-made. First, the wedge bodies are made using metal injection molding (MIM), a process typically used in golf to make Tungsten inserts for club heads. As part of the process, a mixture of 304 stainless steel powder is heated and injected into a mold. Then, the wedges undergo a robotic polishing procedure on areas such as the sole and topline, instead of any hand polishing. The grooves are CNC milled, and the faces have a circular CNC-milled pattern to maximize spin. Additionally, the wedges are chrome plated. The aim for Cobra, by eliminating hand polishing, is to make the same shape every time, thus ensuring consistency among retail products. Cobra’s King MIM wedges come with a “Versatileâ€� grind, which the company said is the same grind Rickie Fowler uses, KBS Rev 2.0 shafts, and they come in lofts of 52-60 degrees. The wedges hit retail on March 15 and will sell for $139 apiece. Garmin Approach G80 With both radar and GPS technologies, the Garmin Approach G80 acts as both a yardage-gathering device and a launch monitor. The 3.5-inch device measures club head speed, ball speed, smash factor, swing tempo and distance. It also provides golfers access to more than 41,000 golf courses worldwide, according to the company, acting like a GPS; the courses display in color on the screens. The G80 has Touch Targeting to get distances to specific targets, and it provides yardage numbers to front, middle and center of the green. The Approach G80 is currently available for $499.99. Wilson launches Staff Model Blades to the public The Wilson Staff blade irons that Gary Woodland popularized over the last few months will now be available in a retail version. They’re forged from 8620 carbon steel, have a high-polish mirror finish, a Fluid Feel Hosel and milled diamond patterns that frame the scoring lines. Currently available in right-hand only, the new Wilson Staff Model Blades (3-PW) are selling for $1,199 and come stock with Golf Pride Tour Velvet grips and True Temper Dynamic Gold shafts. Golf Pride’s new grips Golf Pride has unveiled four new grip models for 2019, including a “Plus 4â€� Tour Velvet that’s built up with 4-wraps worth of rubber under the bottom hand, a Z-cord Align grip that adds to the Align lineup, new grips (MCC Plus 4 and Tour Velvet 360) that have Arccos sensors built into the butt end, and a new Tour SNSR grip shape that has less curve on the top portion of the grip. The grips will launch on March 1, according to Golf Pride. Lynx Golf’s interchangeable driver face Lynx Golf was displaying a number of new products for 2019, but the highlight is its new Prowler VT that has an interchangeable face. Using SFT, or “Switch Face Technology,â€� Lynx’s new driver has a removable face that’s attached using screws. Between different lofts and face angles, the Prowler driver has 25 different face options, according to Lynx. The drivers displayed in two colorways – orange/black and silver/black – and they come with one face; additional faces will be available at an upcharge. The drivers are expected to go into production in March and sell for $525, according to the company. Fling Golf This wouldn’t be a proper PGA Show highlight story without at least one outlandish golf product. Fling Golf provides a twist on the traditional game of golf with “sticksâ€� that look like a hybrid between a golf club and a lacrosse stick. Instead of using them to hit a golf ball, Fling Golf sticks are mostly used by loading a golf ball into the head and throwing it … until it’s time to putt, at least. To play Fling Golf, participants need just one stick. They start at $109, and are available in three models; the Launch for beginners (short, medium and long lengths), the Stinger, and the “BallStick,â€� which measures 51 inches and is made for “tall or potentially crazy players,â€� according to the company. Fling Golf says there are more than 15,000 golf courses that are “Fling Golf ready.â€� BUY EQUIPMENT HERE: PGA TOUR Superstore
2019 Farmers Insurance Open, end of Round 1: Round 1 course scoring averages: South Course (SC): -0.4 strokes per round North Course (NC): -2.6 Current cutline: 73 players at -2 or better (T53rd position) Top 3 most likely projected cutlines: 3 under par: 27.4% 4 under par: 27.0% 2 under par: 16.9% Notable player below the current cutline: (Friday’s course for each player is listed) Rory McIlroy (T74, -1, NC) : 78.7% Make Cut Probability Gary Woodland (T74, -1, NC) : 78.1% Rickie Fowler (T118, +1, NC) : 56.9% Patrick Cantlay (T133, +2, NC) : 41.4% NOTE: These reports are based off the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut�, “Top 20�, “Top 5�, and “Win� probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 10K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the Farmers Insurance Open, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.
SAN DIEGO — The putter was working just fine, thank you very much. Jordan Spieth used another strong putting round to shoot 65 on Torrey Pines’ North Course on Thursday in Southern California. He is alone in fifth place, and his 22 putts were one short of his career-low, according to the Golf Channel’s Justin Ray. He hit just five fairways in the Farmers Insurance Open’s first round, though. “I scored tremendously well because I made a lot of putts,â€� he said. “It’s good to have to scramble and to make a lot of putts to keep rounds going. That was a great round considering some of the spots I was in.â€� Spieth has shot 11-under 131 (66-65) over his last two rounds on the PGA TOUR. This is the first time since last April that he shot consecutive rounds of 66 or lower. His putting struggles have received plenty of attention, but he has seen improvement since the opening round of his last tournament, the Sony Open in Hawaii. He missed the cut there, but shot 66 in the second round. “I’ve just been riding with it since,â€� he said. “It’s really nice to see them go in from anywhere.â€� This is Spieth’s first appearance in the Farmers Insurance Open since 2015. He’s missed the cut in two of his three appearances. Thursday’s 65 was just his second sub-70 round at this tournament. He shot 63 on the North Course in the second round five years ago. He is 9 over par in five career rounds on Torrey Pines’ South Course, which he will play Friday. He’s shot 75 in each of his last three rounds there and has never shot lower than 71.
The Los Angeles Lakers have their All-Star. LeBron James will be making the trip to Charlotte, North Carolina for the 2019 NBA All-Star game after leading the league in fan votes (finishing with 4,620,809) for the second consecutive season. James also led a;; Western Conference frontcourt players in
LA JOLLA, Calif. – The Farmers Insurance Open used to be an annual display of Tiger Woods’ dominance. Then early exits and questions about his health became the dominant theme. Thursday’s opening round at the Farmers Insurance Open served as confirmation. His 2-under 70 on Torrey Pines’ brutish South Course showed that Woods can pick up where he left off in his last official PGA TOUR event, the TOUR Championship. It’s been four months since he induced pandemonium at East Lake. He struggled in his handful of rounds since then, but on Thursday he erased questions that arose after poor performances at the Ryder Cup and Hero World Challenge. Given the opportunity to build back his strength in the offseason, Woods looks ready to resume his pursuit of Sam Snead’s victories record. Woods was understandably rusty, but there were plenty of promising signs. He accomplished something Thursday that he had not done in six years. This was the first time since 2013 that Woods shot under par in his opening round on the South Course. He won that week. The leaderboard will show that Woods sits outside the top 50, but that is deceptive because of the two courses in use this week. The South Course was more than two strokes harder than the shorter North on Thursday. “A couple under par on the South course is not something to sneeze at, but now I have to shoot a low one tomorrow,â€� Woods said. While Jon Rahm leads after shooting 62, no one shot lower than 66 on the South. Woods hit half of his fairways while hitting driver off most tees. Last season, the South Course had the hardest fairways to hit (48 percent). He hit 12 of 18 greens on Thursday, as well, but made just four putts longer than 3 feet Thursday. “I felt pretty comfortable with everything today,â€� Woods said. “I felt like I drove it halfway decent today and irons were good but not great. Playing at competitive speed again, I didn’t quite hit all my irons pin high like I normally do. That’s something hopefully I’ll have a better handle on tomorrow. It was nice to have some juice flow in the system again, it’s been a while.â€� All four came on the South Course’s par-5s, where he had to work hard to make birdie. All of his birdie putts on those holes were longer than 10 feet, including a 29-footer on the 13th hole. He had to lay up three times. His only other birdie came after he knocked his tee shot stiff on one of the South Course’s hardest holes. Woods hit a low, piercing iron to 3 feet on the 215-yard 11th hole. The average proximity on that hole was 36 feet. Only eight other players birdied the hole Thursday. Woods started his round by splitting the first fairway with a driver. He hit his approach shot to 25 feet and two-putted for par. He bogeyed the next hole, though, after missing both the fairway and the green. It was the first of three consecutive misses from 10-15 feet. The latter two were for birdie. He missed another makeable birdie putt, from 20 feet on the fifth hole. He got back to even par at the par-5 sixth hole, where he holed a 10-foot putt from the fringe to complete an up-and-down from the greenside bunker. He made birdie the hard way on the par-5 ninth to make the turn in 35. Woods was left with a 166-yard approach shot after driving into the rough. He reached 2 under par after his birdie at No. 11, but he missed a 6-foot par putt on the next hole. Woods hit the fairway on 13, but he laid up from 293 yards. His 100-yard approach went long and didn’t spin back after landing in the fringe. He made the long, downhill putt, though. He grinded out pars on 14 and 15 after missing the fairway. He made another bogey on 16 after pushing his tee shot into a bunker. He had to lay up on 18 after missing another fairway, but he wedged to 12 feet and curled in the putt to close with another birdie. He gained a half-stroke on the greens Thursday.
Veteran Saints tight end Benjamin Watson implored NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to “lead by example” and address Sunday’s officiating error that cost New Orleans a shot to reach the Super Bowl.
