Durant scores 31 in return, but Nets fall to HeatDurant scores 31 in return, but Nets fall to Heat
Brooklyn star Kevin Durant appeared in his first game since Jan. 15 following a sprained MCL in his left knee.
Day: March 4, 2022
Cameron Crazy: Coach K home finale a hot ticketCameron Crazy: Coach K home finale a hot ticket
Tickets for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell game against North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday are fetching prices usually reserved for the Super Bowl.
Jon Rahm misses 10-inch putt, rallies to open Arnold Palmer Invitational in even-par 72Jon Rahm misses 10-inch putt, rallies to open Arnold Palmer Invitational in even-par 72
Arnold Palmer once opined that golf is both “deceptively simple and endlessly complicated.” In Thursday’s opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Jon Rahm approached a 10-inch par putt at the par-3 seventh hole at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. After taking the putter back, Rahm decelerated on the follow-through, the ball moving just one inch. It marked the shortest missed putt of his PGA TOUR career. The world No. 1 tapped in for bogey, en route to an opening-round, even-par 72, seven strokes back of early leader Rory McIlroy. Rather than shying away from the situation, Rahm did his best to explain the short miss in his post-round meeting with the media. “I wish I could give you all the excuses in the world,” said Rahm as dusk descended upon central Florida. “It just didn’t feel good in my hands, and I tried to stop, and I didn’t. I just simply didn’t stop. I don’t know. It was very odd.” The bogey dropped Rahm to 2-over for the day. He made the turn at the same score before rallying with three birdies on the back nine, against a bogey at the par-4 18th. “It’s not like it affected my play the rest of the day, because I played really good,” Rahm reflected post-round. “But sitting at 1-under, I feel like, would feel a lot better than even par. “I’ve seen many things. I’ve seen the putter get a little stuck on a blade of grass on the way back and do something funny, hit the ground before because you’re not paying attention. I’ve seen so many things from a foot. I’ve seen some of the best putters in the world miss it because you don’t really take a proper stance. “It sucks to give away a shot like that, to be honest.”
Cut prediction: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MastercardCut prediction: Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard
2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Round 1 Scoring Conditions: Overall: +0.29 strokes per round Morning wave: +0.10 Afternoon wave: +0.48 Current cutline (top 65 and ties): 82 players at +1 or better (T63) Top 3 projected cutline probabilities: 1. 1 over par: 41.9% 2. E: 26.0% 3. 2 over par: 22.1% Top 10 win probabilities: 1. Rory McIlroy (1, -7, 25.3%) 2. Billy Horschel (T2, -5, 6.6%) 3. Sungjae Im (T5, -4, 6.1%) 4. Viktor Hovland (T11, -3, 6.1%) 5. Jon Rahm (T51, E, 4.3%) 6. Will Zalatoris (T5, -4, 4.0%) 7. Scottie Scheffler (T21, -2, 3.3%) 8. Tyrrell Hatton (T11, -3, 3.2%) 9. Adam Scott (T5, -4, 2.9%) 10. Charles Howell III (T5, -4, 2.3%) NOTE: These reports are based off of 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 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, 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.
Chase Seiffert, Michael Kim share lead at Puerto Rico OpenChase Seiffert, Michael Kim share lead at Puerto Rico Open
RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico — Chase Seiffert started fast and closed with a birdie for a 7-under 65 and a share of the Puerto Rico Open lead with Michael Kim on Thursday. Trying to win for the first time on the PGA TOUR, Seiffert birdied Nos. 2-5 at breezy Grand Reserve, bogeyed the sixth and added birdies on Nos. 9, 13, 16 and 18. “Absolutely stoked,” Seiffert said. “We have wonderful conditions. I came out of the gates really putting well. That got my round off to a nice start. … It seemed like every time I missed the green, it was an easy up-and-down, so… Just kind of stress-free golf.” Kim had a bogey-free round. Since winning the John Deere Classic in 2018, he has made only 15 cuts in 75 starts on the PGA TOUR, including one stretch of 25 consecutive events without making it to the weekend. He was No. 75 in the world when he won and now is at No. 1,030. The event is being played opposite the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in Orlando, Florida. The winner will receive a two-year exemption and gets in the PGA Championship. Ryan Brehm was a stroke back, and Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Aaron Baddeley shot 67. University of Oklahoma senior Chris Gotterup had a 68 in his first TOUR round. He won the Puerto Rico Classic collegiate event two weeks ago at Grand Reserve. Vaughn Taylor also was at 68 with Ben Kohles, Nick Hardy, Patrick Flavin, Greg Chalmers, Peter Uihlein and Satoshi Kodaira. Puerto Rico native Rafa Campos birdied his last two holes for a 70. Kurt Kitayama, third last week in the Honda Classic, shot a 76.
Why Adam Scott didn’t have a driver Thursday at Bay HillWhy Adam Scott didn’t have a driver Thursday at Bay Hill
With the rough up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, Adam Scott used a calculated plan of attack to shoot a 4-under 68 that put him comfortably in the top 10 after the first day at Bay Hill. Instead of using the popular bomb-and-gouge approach, Scott went without a driver Thursday. The driver stayed in his locker, and the longest club in his bag was a 13.5-degree TSi2 fairway wood with a Graphite Design Tour AD-DI 9X shaft (more on the T-Series woods here). “The basic stats are you hit more fairways with a shorter club than you do a longer club, and a 3-wood you hit more fairways than a driver,” Scott said after his round. “I thought it was a premium on hitting fairways here this week. … It’s kind of hard to figure how I’m going to get (the driver) back in the bag for tomorrow. I want to. It’s inspiring to watch Rory (McIlroy) drive it, and I’d like to hit a couple. I’m going to hit a few on the range and see how it feels, but my game plan worked pretty good so far. It’s hard to criticize it.” Scott entered this week fresh off a T4 finish at The Genesis Invitational, where he used a 9-degree Titleist TSi4 driver. But he’s currently ranked 183rd in driving accuracy on the season, hitting just 52.7% of fairways. “I just don’t think anyone is particularly accurate with the driver, myself included,” Scott said. “Once you’re up at these ball speeds, it’s just hard to be relatively accurate. Rory (McIlroy) made it look great today. … (My driver) is far from terrible, but I have to say since the middle of last year the confidence is really improved with the driver. I just didn’t see the advantage with it (this week). I can get home on all the par-5s with the (13.5-degree wood). …I felt like I wasn’t really handicapping myself at all, even though I was watching a guy 50 yards in front of me.” How much distance is Scott really giving up? Well, his playing partner Rory McIlroy averaged 314 yards off the tee and hit 78.6% of the fairways on Thursday, while Scott averaged 276.7 yards and hit the short grass just half the time. Scott estimated that he gives up about 15 yards on average between his gamer driver and the 13.5-degree fairway wood. “Tomorrow it looks a bit windier and I’m going to have to have a serious think, because if it was into a stiff breeze on 18, maybe I’m handicapping myself,” Scott said. “You have to have your head in the right place to do stuff like this. Like if you miss a fairway anyway, you’re chipping out to the same spot whether it’s a 3-wood or a driver … and you have to get it up and down anyway.” Although Scott has admitted his accuracy is an issue with his driver, he asserts the no-driver-strategy was strictly based on the course setup (and windless conditions): “I’m not trying to get away from hitting a driver, I just really felt I’d only hit it a couple times here, and what was the benefit? Nothing. I’d still get home on the par 5s.”