Leonard, who declined his $21.3 million player option to become an unrestricted free agent, plans to meet with a handful of teams — including the Raptors — before making a decision about his future.
DETROIT – Living life on the alternate’s list doesn’t provide a whole lot of glamour. Nate Lashley will tell you that without hesitation. But at the same time, the he’s thankful for the opportunity he has at this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic to prove that it can lead to brighter days and a permanent status. There’s a long way to go, Lashley conceded, “but hopefully I can go out there and play like today, play relaxed golf and have some fun.� The fun was understandable, a bogey-free day with nine birdies and a mere 23 putts at Detroit Golf Club. At 9-under 63 in Round 1, he has a solo lead for the first time in an unheralded PGA TOUR career, he will tell you, that hasn’t always been like the fun he had Thursday. Last year’s rookie season saw him finish 172nd on the FedExCup points list and led to a trip back to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. He is playing this year on a minor medical exemption and has found himself on a weekly basis on the outside looking in. RELATED: Kisner finding his game in Detroit | Fowler all in at Rocket Mortgage Classic | Woodland back to work after major victory Last week, Lashley opted to stay home in Arizona, so he wasn’t in position to accept a spot into the Travelers Championship that materialized late. “When you (are an) alternate, it’s not a whole lot of fun, that feeling of only missing an event by one person.� This week, he arrived in town more confident of a spot and, indeed, he got the word around noon Wednesday that he was in. Given that Lashley in limited opportunities (14) has gotten to No. 132nd in FedExCup points, a playing chance this week is well-timed as he jockeys to get into the playoffs. So, yes, a career-best score on the TOUR made him smile. He was asked the secret and the 36-year-old laughed. “Just get up, take it one shot at a time,� he said. “Just the same, old thing that everybody says. “It’s just no easy to do.� Lashley knows better than most. He was a junior at the University of Arizona in 2004 when his parents and girlfriend flew to Oregon to watch him in an NCAA Regional. They were killed in a plane crash returning to their home in Nebraska. His circuitous route to the TOUR, a road that featured years of minitour golf and a dramatic win on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2017 has tested his patience, but Thursday he was a model of consistency – he hit 10 fairways, 13 greens, and posted whopping 4.359 strokes gained: putting. “I got it under the hole on most holes,� he said, “and had a lot of uphill putts with not a lot of break.� Lashley was hardly the only one to take advantage of a premier day of scoring chances at this newest of golf courses on the TOUR schedule. For most of the day, the field average for the par-72 layout was under 70 and roughly 75 percent of the 156-player field was in red numbers. Shockingly, some heralded names were not, most notably Gary Woodland, the recent winner of the U.S. Open. He bogeyed two of his first three holes, struggled most of the day off the tee, and had to finish with a flourish – birdies on four of his last six holes – to shoot 73. “My timing was off,� conceded Woodland, who suggested he was almost too excited to be back in action since winning at Pebble Beach two weeks ago. “The energy, the fans were amazing. Crowds were huge, which was awesome (but) I was just quick. I hit everything right all day.� Right, as in the wrong direction. Which was the opposite of Lashley, who did nearly everything right, as in correctly.
Terez Paylor and Charles Robinson discuss why every team in the NFC West has something to look forward to in 2019 with the possible exception of one. Nevertheless, they argue that the division could be the most competitive in football in 2019.Hear the full conversation on the Sports Betting News NFL Podcast
DETROIT – It’s not like he needed to take out his phone and call up the GPS. But Kevin Kisner did have to turn to playing competitor and tournament host Rickie Fowler Thursday morning after playing his ninth hole at Detroit Golf Club, the par-4 18th, and ask, “How do you get to the first tee?� Fowler, who is surely in demand here at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, smiled, then nodded, as if to say, “follow me.� Kisner laughed, but no apologies were necessary. Like virtually every other competitor in the 156-player field, Kisner had never seen Detroit Golf Club before this week, but extenuating circumstances kept him from a full practice look. He played Monday in Rhode Island at the CVS Charity Classic and “I felt like I needed a little more rest this week after two long weeks (U.S. Open and Travelers Championship) in a row.� He took Tuesday off, played just the back side in his nine-hole practice round Wednesday, then started on the back nine Thursday morning. Was Kisner worried as he took his 4-under score to foreign territory, Detroit GC’s front nine? Not at all. The man’s a trained professional, after all, and he had a pair of aces up his sleeve. “A good caddie (Duane Bock) who has seen the golf course and great yardage books that pretty much tell the story before you get there.� Wouldn’t you know it, Kisner’s introduction to the front nine started birdie-birdie-birdie. Quality stuff, for sure, but on this warm and sun-splashed day, the PGA TOUR’s first-ever tournament in Motown provided local fans with a parade of low scores and birdies by the buckets. It was a daytime fireworks display led by Nate Lashley, who didn’t find out he was officially in the tournament until Wednesday at noon. He took advantage, for sure, peppering Detroit GC with five birdies over the final six holes to post the lowest score (9-under 63) in his brief TOUR career (33rd tournament, 96th round). When you one-putt nine of the 13 greens you hit in regulation and require just 23 overall, it’s a very good day, so Lashley, who is currently 132nd in the FedExCup standings, was obviously content. But this figures to be a shoot-out and no pairing demonstrated that quite like the marquee draw of Kisner, Fowler and Charles Howell III. They combined for three eagles (two for Howell, one for Fowler), 14 birdies, and 17-under and when the red numbers were finalized, Howell’s 65 put him just off of Lashley’s morning pace, Kisner was at 66, and Fowler’s 68 left him thinking he had to step it up Friday. That Howell and Kisner scored beautifully made for an intriguing study, for their 2018-19 seasons have been eerily similar. Drift back to late November, the RSM Classic in Sea Island, Ga., where Howell won for the first time since 2007 and Kisner was joint seventh. Productive stuff for both and each carried it over into the early months of 2019, Howell with two more top 10s, Kisner with a win at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. But while neither can complain about their FedExCup standing (Howell is 15th, Kisner 17th), each concedes that the results the last three months haven’t been as impressive as they were early on. “The TOUR has gotten so good, it doesn’t take much out here,� said Howell, trying to explain why he piled up all four of his top 10s in his first nine starts, but hasn’t had any in his last 11. He looks like he’s still 20, jokes that “I feel 100,� but the kid from Augusta, Ga., recently turned 40 and is in his 20th season, playing his 546th TOUR tournament this week. OK, so he might not stretch back to hickory, but Howell knows what it was like out here with balata balls and fields not quite as deep as they are in this era. “It’s why you see guys working so hard out here, hiring coaches to help them. It feels like’s it’s a razor’s edge,� said Howell. “If you can get even one percent better or a slight advantage, because everyone’s so dang good out here, it’s important to push yourself and push the limit to find ways to get better.� Kisner’s only top 10 in a stroke-play event this far this year remains that RSM start in November (he won in match play and was joint fifth with Scott Brown in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event), but insists that’s not a true reflection of his overall play. “The consistency of my game has probably been as good as anytime in my career,� said Kisner. “I just haven’t been able to put it all together. The momentum hasn’t carried through an entire week.� Maybe it will this week, especially now that he’s actually played all 18 holes? Kisner smiled. “No time like the present,� he said.
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