Day: August 28, 2020

Brutal Olympia Fields sets up survival weekendBrutal Olympia Fields sets up survival weekend

August 28, 2020August 28, 2020| 21:15

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. - The players will deny it but there were reports a collective of them snuck back out on to Olympia Fields post round on Friday to perform a rain dance. With the former U.S. Open venue playing just like it would for a national championship, just two players sit under par after 36 holes. The hard and fast fairways and greens and tricky rough see only FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay at one under. Just two others, last week's champion and current FedExCup leader Dustin Johnson plus Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, are level par. The other 65 players are licking their wounds and praying for rain. And chances are they might get it. Forecasts gave a 60 percent chance of storms and some rain overnight. Of course that means a 40 percent chance of none. And McIlroy for one hope that's the case. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Cantlay, Scott position themselves for TOUR Championship push The champion of last year's season-long race is happy that this represents the fewest players under par through two rounds in a non-major since 2000. This despite dropping two shots in his last five holes. The scoring average through two rounds is 72.775 on the par-70 layout. "I said last week after the tournament, if you need someone to shoot between like even par and 2-under, I’m your man, so I’m loving these conditions," he said. "This is proper golf. This is you’ve really got to think about stuff, you’ve got to land it on your numbers, you’ve got to put it in play. Those sort of five-, six-footers for pars to sort of keep the momentum going is huge. It’s nice to play a round of golf like that again." McIlroy is obviously pleased to be where he stands at the halfway mark but expects those from back in the pack to come after those with a current advantage. If the course does get a little moisture from either rain or maintenance watering the greens it is likely to dry up as the day progresses. "We’re supposed to get a little bit of rain tonight, but I don’t think enough to really soften it. I think you’ll see over the weekend guys will go off early, be able to shoot some decent scores, and then as the day goes on and the later tee times get out there, it’ll just get progressively harder as the day goes on," McIlroy said. "I think something like remember THE PLAYERS Championship when it was back in May, guys would go out on a Sunday, six or seven back, shoot a 66 and they’d hang around the clubhouse all day and wait and see what happens to the guys on the way in. I think you might see something similar to that this weekend." Johnson won last week's THE NORTHERN TRUST at 30 under par. He knows the winner might be lucky to be three under this week. A long birdie on the last hole Friday brought him level and in contention to go back-to-back in the Playoffs. Both he and McIlroy share a record five FedExCup Playoff wins so far in their career. "It's a completely different golf course, completely different conditions. It’s firm and fast, and it’s a lot of fun to play this kind of golf. I like it. It’s very difficult, but you’ve got to stay focused all day long, and you’ve really got to pick and choose your spots where you can be a little bit aggressive," Johnson said of the contrast that saw the field a collective 383 over par through two rounds. "Last week was fun, too. But this week is more of a grind, that’s for sure. Every single hole out here is difficult. You’ve got to really be focused on every shot that you hit." Matsuyama is the only player in the field to reach four under throughout the tournament thus far, doing so with a sublime chip in for a birdie on the par-3 eighth hole on Friday. Unfortunately, it was his final highlight and four bogeys followed. "I wasn’t able to drive the ball well today, so it was a tough round," he said. "I’m just happy that I’m in position where I can contend on the weekend." Cantlay needed a hole-out eagle, a chip-in birdie and a 42-foot birdie putt on the last hole to keep his total under par. The two-time winner knows he can't rely on that over the final 36 holes. "The golf course is really, really good, but it’s very, very difficult. The chip-ins obviously helped a bunch, and you don’t do that every day, so I need to hit it a little better on the weekend. But for a scrambling day, it was excellent," Cantlay mused. "It’s about as stiff of a test as you would want. It’s very, very difficult, and you have to play from the fairway, and you have to play from below the hole, frankly. The greens have so much slope on them that you really need to be putting uphill, and so if you’re in the rough, it gets exponentially harder to do that." The former UCLA standout believes the key to victory will be keeping a level head. "You’ve got to realize that you’re going to make mistakes," he explained. "You’re going to make some bogeys just because of how hard the golf course is, and always having a forward mindset as opposed to thinking about what’s happened or what the mistakes you’ve made is really important." Those who dwell on mistakes will be no doubt forever mired in the clouds... and not the rain clouds they desire.

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BMW Championship, Round 2 updates: FedExCup PlayoffsBMW Championship, Round 2 updates: FedExCup Playoffs

August 28, 2020August 28, 2020| 21:00

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. - Adam Scott can't believe he has a shot at the TOUR Championship the way he's been hitting the ball off the tee at the BMW Championship. But the 14-time PGA TOUR winner is glad he does and intends to make the most of it over the weekend. Entering the week at 38th in the standings Scott needs a high finish to make it to FedExCup finale for the ninth time. Scott has hit just 10 of 28 fairways in his opening two rounds yet scores of 72-69 have the Australian at one over, just two off the lead and tied fifth. With Olympia Fields playing brutally tough, Scott is defying the odds with such little accuracy and currently projects to sneak into East Lake at 29th. The 40-year-old ranks 63rd or 69 players in Strokes Gained - Off the Tee (-2.297) but has saved himself on approach and on the greens. He sits sixth in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green (+3.169) and fourth in Strokes Gained: Putting (+3.011). RELATED: Full leaderboard | McIlroy, Cantlay hold one-shot lead at the BMW Championship "I’m not hitting it very good at all. Fortunately I’m putting well, and that’s keeping my score respectable. I’m missing so many fairways, which makes it hard, and around here, you’re going to pay the price eventually, and that’s why both the first two rounds I’ve struggled to get it in the clubhouse," Scott said after dropping three shots in his last five holes on Thursday and two on his last five on Friday. "It’s challenging because I’m just trying to kind of clear my head to hit a shot off the tee, and it’s hard when you hit one left and then you hit the next one right and you’re trying not to think about it too much. "I don’t think it’s far away, but I just haven’t found the rhythm out there at all, and I struggled with that over the weekend in Boston a bit and again here. But I’m grinding. I want to play next week." Joining him as a projected player to make a move from outside the top 30 to inside the mark is co-leader Patrick Cantlay. Cantlay's 2-under 68 on Friday followed an opening 71 and was full of highlights including two hole outs from off the green, one for an eagle, and a long range birdie to close his round. The two-time winner opened the week in 37th spot on the points list but currently projects to fourth. "The chip-ins obviously helped a bunch, and you don’t do that every day, so I need to hit it a little better on the weekend," Cantlay said. "But for a scrambling day, it was excellent." Woods needs miracle weekend... Tiger Woods sits eight shots back of the projected finish he needs to continue his season past the BMW Championship. For the second straight day Woods struggled and despite a birdie on his penultimate hole and a long range par putt dropping on the 18th the 82-time TOUR winner had to settle for a 5-over 75. He now sits eight over for the tournament, nine shots adrift of the lead and projecting 63rd in the FedExCup, well outside the top 30 who make it to the TOUR Championship next week. Mack attack... MacKenzie Hughes joins Scott and Cantlay as players trending inside the top 30 from outside the mark, as does Presidents Cup player Joaquin Niemann. Canadian Hughes started the week in 36th spot but sitting T10 through two rounds at the BMW Championship has him sitting right on the bubble, projected 30th and just nine points in front of Cameron Champ. Having started the week a 25th Champ has a serious grind ahead of him this weekend, now sitting T63 at Olympia Fields and knowing every position he can grind back could be the difference in continuing his season. Niemann sits T13 through two rounds sliding from 31st to 28th in the projected standings. That's currently bad news for his International Presidents Cup teammate Cameron Smith who looks set to move from 26th to 32nd. Adam Long (27th to 33rd) and Kevin Streelman (28th to 34th) are also in danger of finishing up early if they can't improve over the weekend. Hermanator... A few weeks ago prior to the Wyndham Championship Jim Herman was 192nd in the FedExCup. He famously went on to win at Sedgefield and entered the BMW Championship in 63rd position, a long shot to continue his season. But for a fleeting moment in Friday Herman projected into Atlanta before three bogeys in his last four holes had him settle for a 2-over 72 and into a tie for 13th at three over. While the poor finish now has him projected 53rd and out of the Playoffs Herman knows he's just three shots off the pace of producing the ultimate underdog run.

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