Follow live: Browns, Giants face off in preseason actionFollow live: Browns, Giants face off in preseason action
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Day: August 22, 2021
‘It’s just devastating’: Falcons FB Keith Smith’s aunt and uncle cope with Dixie Fire loss‘It’s just devastating’: Falcons FB Keith Smith’s aunt and uncle cope with Dixie Fire loss
Falcons fullback Keith Smith was in between meetings at training camp earlier this month when he got a message in a group chat with family: His aunt and uncle’s house in California had burned down and they had lost essentially everything.
Jimmy Johnson to be inducted into Caddie Hall of FameJimmy Johnson to be inducted into Caddie Hall of Fame
Though it was his sense of adventure and a firm belief in his golf skills that led Jimmy Johnson out of Texas and onto the Sunshine Tour in South Africa in late 1979, it was something else that kept him there. Impeccable character. “We struck up a friendship when he first got over here,” said Nick Price, the Zimbabwean who was just digging in as a professional golfer in the late 1970s. “We played a few times together that year and it was a pleasant experience. “The next year our friendship jelled,” Price continued. “At the Christmas break, he said he wasn’t going (back to Texas) so I asked him to come up to Zimbabwe with me. Christmas is nice up there, I told him, and we had a wonderful time.” This week Johnson, 64, will blend into the background as Justin Thomas’ caddie at the BMW Championship at Caves Valley in Owings Mills, Maryland. But he’ll also be inducted into the Caddie Hall of Fame on Wednesday. Price, an 18-time PGA TOUR winner, said he wasn’t surprised that they connected all those years ago, because “Jimmy is an easy person to get along with.” Years later, in fact, Price hired Johnson as his caddie. When news circulates of his Caddie Hall of Fame induction, Price added, “A lot of people will feel very good, because so many people know him as such a good person.” Johnson has taken it all in with his typical humility. “I’m pleasantly surprised, to be honest,” he said. “But when I first heard the news, I was shocked. I told Vince (Pellegrino, senior vice-president of tournaments for the Western Golf Association) when he called me with the news that it would have been the furthest thing from my mind.” Price said he felt he could speak for anyone who has met Johnson – and especially for Steve Stricker and Thomas, the players Johnson has caddied for since 2008 – that the honor is spot on. Pointing to Johnson’s body of work – approximately 650 tournaments across 25-plus years, with 25 victories – Price called it “brilliant.” But he emphasized what isn’t part of the data. “Each move Jimmy made involved changes,” he said. “Steve was younger and played different than me, and then Justin was even younger, and he plays different than both of us. “So many differences. It was not an easy thing, but Jimmy adjusted. It’s a credit to him.” The Caddie Hall of Fame was started in 1979 and currently is administered by the Western Golf Association, which conducts the BMW Championship. Its members are a veritable Who’s Who of the PGA TOUR, including Steve Williams, Mike “Fluff” Cowan, Jim “Bones” Mackay, Joe LaCava, Bruce Edwards, Fanny Sunesson, and Andy Martinez. There are also icons who started in the game as caddies (Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, to name a few), plus celebrities and golf dignitaries who earned a love of the game as caddies (Bill Murray and his brothers, former USGA executive director David Fay, investment giant Charles Schwab, and former MLB Commissioner Peter Ueberroth). But if there’s an enshrined caddie with whom Johnson will forever be linked, it’s Jeff “Squeaky” Medlin. A popular, wire-thin caddie with a high-pitched voice, Medlin was instrumental in Price’s three major championships and No. 1 world ranking in the early 1999s. He was diagnosed with leukemia and had to step away from his work in late 1996. But he stayed in Price’s ear. “He told me, ‘Nick, get JJ (Jimmy Johnson) to caddie for you,” said Price. “I told him I was thinking of it, but I didn’t know if I should, because we were such good mates. “Squeak just looked at me and said, ‘He’ll be good for you.’” Medlin had pulled the right club, one final time. Playing against the best Johnson wasn’t always the guy carrying someone else’s clubs. He arrived on the Sunshine Tour at 22, a kid from Dallas who played collegiately at North Texas State and faced contemporaries like Hal Sutton, Fred Couples, Chip Beck, Phil Blackmar, Payne Stewart and Bob Tway. In the ’78 U.S. Amateur at Plainfield CC in New Jersey, Johnson lost in the third round to Bobby Clampett, then fell short at the PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament. Goodbye, Dallas; hello, Johannesburg. Johnson was ready for golf and prepared for adventure. He never imagined it being a 17-year run, but close calls at Q School back home – three times he missed at the finals – kept him chasing his dream half a world away. “Jimmy was such a good player,” said Price. “He was diligent, worked hard, played methodically and managed his game well. Really, the fact that he never got over the hump, as I call it, saddened me. It saddened a lot of us who really liked him.” The highlight to Johnson’s Sunshine Tour career came with a victory in the 1991 Bastille Players Tournament at Paarl Golf Club in Western Cape. By 1996, though, Price knew that Johnson going to call it quits and that Medlin’s advice, offered late in the year, was worth exploring. “I was just going to be filling in,” said Johnson, who had caddied a little for Mark McNulty, “until Squeaky got back.” It didn’t take long for the success, and the emotions, to flow their way. Price won the MCI Classic at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, shooting 65-69-69-66, his first PGA TOUR win in more than two years. Price being Price, he dedicated the win to Medlin, who would die two months later, and was thrilled to share it financially with Johnson. “It’s one thing to hire a friend,” said Price, “but it’s gratifying when you have success with him.” It was a productive ride: From 1997 through 2003, Price and Johnson won three times on the PGA TOUR, once in Japan. Upon turning 47 in 2004, Price pared down his schedule and urged Johnson to seek out other bags. He did, bouncing around from Michelle Wie to Adam Scott, back to Price, over to assorted others. Johnson settled in for a three-year run with Charles Howell III, who experienced the dry, quick wit that Price loved about Johnson. Once, after Howell suffered a poor putting performance, his caddie shook his head and quietly said: “If you don’t start putting any better, I’m going to go back to Michelle Wie.” Price laughs when he recounts stories like this. When Johnson landed with Stricker, he added, “I knew it would be great because Jimmy and Steve have very similar personalities.” Assuming we all agree that eight wins and nearly $11 million in prize money qualify as great numbers, then Price is correct – Stricker and Johnson jelled splendidly. But at 48, Stricker did as Price had done, telling Johnson that it would be sensible to work for a younger player. Enter Thomas, who was 22 when he hired Johnson in June of ’15. The duo have been nothing short of meteoric – a PGA Championship and PLAYERS Championship among 14 wins, two different stints at No. 1 in the world, and the 2017 FedExCup title. When it was suggested that the ’17 PGA win at Quail Hollow must be the highlight, being the only major, Johnson paused. “I’d call it an exclamation point,” he said, “because (if it hadn’t have happened), I was going to be OK with everything. It’s been a wonderful ride and I’ve been very, very fortunate to work for such great players.”
Shohei Ohtani in the Little League Classic? MLB could find no better ambassadorShohei Ohtani in the Little League Classic? MLB could find no better ambassador
Ohtani and Williamsport are a perfect match. The two-way wonder makes teammates, opponents and even a hardened former big leaguer like Doug Glanville feel like a 10-year-old again.
Owning up: Lindor says Cohen criticism is justOwning up: Lindor says Cohen criticism is just
Francisco Lindor, who is hitting .228 with 11 homers this season, said he and the rest of his teammates “haven’t really hit all year long” and that “I haven’t done what I’m here to do.”
The First Look: BMW ChampionshipThe First Look: BMW Championship
The PGA TOUR heads to Baltimore for the first time since 1964 for the penultimate event of the 2020-21 season, the BMW Championship. Jon Rahm, who was in position to start his FedExCup Playoffs run with a win at THE NORTHERN TRUST, looks to defend his BMW Championship title after a dramatic playoff win over Dustin Johnson last season. FIELD NOTES: Top 70 in the FedExCup standings after THE NORTHERN TRUST will tee it up at the BMW Championship… Rahm, the defending champion, stood to move from fifth to first in the FedExCup standings with a win at Liberty National… Dustin Johnson, who lost in a playoff to Rahm but went on to win the FedExCup last year, missed THE NORTHERN TRUST cut by a shot Friday after starting the tournament without a driver… After withdrawing from THE NORTHERN TRUST with an ankle injury, Patrick Reed is expected to return to action at the BMW… Olympic Gold medalist Xander Schauffele, two-time FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy, past FedExCup winners Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, plus Player of the Year candidate Collin Morikawa also will be among the headliners in Baltimore. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 2,000 FedExCup points. COURSE: Caves Valley Golf Club, par 72, 7,542 yards. Opened in 1991, the Tom Fazio design was recently updated with infrastructure changes over an 18-month timeframe. There’s more length, plus new and/or restored bunkers, and, in places, additional rough. The front and back nines have been switched to allow for better spectator views. The PGA TOUR hasn’t played an event in Baltimore since the 1960s, but Caves Valley is no stranger to big-time golf – the course played host to the U.S. Senior Open, the Constellation Senior PLAYERS Championship, and the first International Crown on the LPGA Tour. STORYLINES: The BMW Championship is the final opportunity to earn a spot in the FedExCup Playoffs finale, the 30-man TOUR Championship at East Lake… Keep an eye on the Monday finish at THE NORTHERN TRUST to see who will survive and advance. In 2020 there were six golfers who moved into the top 70 after THE NORTHERN TRUST and six who moved out… The FedExCup points leader after the first two Playoffs events will begin the TOUR Championship at 10 under par, meaning those at the top will be fighting for position at the BMW Championship. 72-HOLE RECORD: 260, Keegan Bradley (2018). *At Caves Valley GC (N/A) 18-HOLE RECORD: 59, Jim Furyk (2nd round, 2013). *At Caves Valley GC (N/A) LAST TIME: It was a thrilling finish to the second leg of the FedExCup Playoffs in 2020, with Jon Rahm defeating Dustin Johnson in a playoff at the BMW Championship. Johnson, who had won by 11 the previous week, rolled in a double-breaking 43-foot putt on the 72nd hole at Olympia Fields to force a playoff with Rahm at 5-under 276 after the Spaniard fired a 6-under 64 in the final round (the low round of the tournament). Rahm answered right back, however, with a curling 66-foot birdie bomb of his own to seal the win. It was his 11th TOUR title. Rahm’s victory came despite a mental blunder in the third round – he picked up his ball without marking it on the green and was penalized a stroke. Only five golfers finished under par at the 2020 BMW: Joaquin Niemann, Hideki Matsuyama and Tony Finau – after a final-round 65 – were the others besides Rahm and Johnson. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 12 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 12 p.m.-2 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. (Featured Groups). Saturday, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. (Featured Groups), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Sunday, 8 a.m.-2 p.m. (Featured Groups), 2 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-7 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).
Months into Jets job, Robert Saleh’s character-building put to the testMonths into Jets job, Robert Saleh’s character-building put to the test
No stranger to adversity in previous stops, how the Jets’ first-year coach deals with the season-ending loss of Carl Lawson will be closely watched.
Months into Jets’ job, Robert Saleh’s character-building put to the testMonths into Jets’ job, Robert Saleh’s character-building put to the test
No stranger to adversity in previous stops, how the Jets’ first-year coach deals with the season-ending loss of Carl Lawson will be closely watched.
Success of Patriots QBs Cam Newton, Mac Jones reflects well on Josh McDanielsSuccess of Patriots QBs Cam Newton, Mac Jones reflects well on Josh McDaniels
New England is reaping the benefits of a 10th straight season with its offensive coordinator, who was a finalist to become Philadelphia’s coach.
NFL preseason Week 2 takeaways: Roethlisberger thrives, Trubisky leads Bills in return to Soldier FieldNFL preseason Week 2 takeaways: Roethlisberger thrives, Trubisky leads Bills in return to Soldier Field
Mitchell Trubisky led the Bills to four straight touchdown drives and torched his former team, Ben Roethlisberger turned in a perfect passer rating of 158.3 in his preseason debut during Saturday’s preseason action.