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F1 world champion Max Verstappen can still remember his worst racing blunder — and father Jos’ extreme reaction to it.
Wednesday was much cooler and very overcast, but there was no rain and the track had dried out to fast. It was nice during the special time for Kentucky Derby and Oaks horses so almost all the horses were out. There was even a timed work with Crown Pride working 4 furlongs in :46.60.
Our experts break down their favorite plays for Wednesday’s NBA conference semifinals slate.
POTOMAC, Maryland – A tiny square of chocolate sat nestled in cupcake frosting. Rory McIlroy, celebrating his 33rd birthday at the Wells Fargo Championship pro-am at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm, plucked the decorative part off the top and ate it. He thanked everyone and discretely left the cupcake under a tent next to the 10th tee. RELATED: McIlroy extends agreement with TaylorMade | McIlroy looks to improve wedge play “I try not to eat a lot of that stuff,” he said on the walk to his pre-tournament press conference. A 22-year-old McIlroy might have eaten the whole cupcake. That’s how old he was when he won the 2011 U.S. Open at nearby Congressional Country Club, which on Wednesday he called “the best week of golf I’ve ever played in my life.” Now, though, he’s older, and wiser. He’s an athlete, and athletes don’t often eat that stuff. McIlroy drove past a familiar looking course on his way to TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm for the first time Tuesday. Familiar, he realized with a start, because it was Congressional, the place where he rebounded from his Masters meltdown with an emphatic statement win. Since then, of course, he’s won nearly all the important hardware, at THE PLAYERS Championship, PGA Championship (twice), Open Championship. He’s the only other player besides Tiger Woods to win the FedExCup twice. Somehow, though, he’d never had occasion to play TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. He hadn’t even heard much about it. “But from what I’ve seen the last couple days,” he said, “I really like it … green complexes are tricky, pretty small targets, the rough maybe isn’t up as much as they usually have it here because of the time of year. “But overall, really solid test,” he continued. “Looking forward to getting out there.” The usual Wells Fargo venue, Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, is busy preparing for the Presidents Cup, but rest assured, McIlroy, who won the Wells Fargo for the third time a year ago, knows how to adapt. He also knows how to relate. He was the pro-am partner of choice for the four HBCU graduates and former First Tee kids who got him for the front nine. McIlroy made sure everyone walked away smiling, and offered tips to at least one of his young playing partners, Lennard Long of Morehouse College, now a First Tee coach. “Super friendly,” Long said. “Super just helpful. Asked him some tips for chipping and he was willing to give them to me, so I’m going to take them back and give them to our kids when I coach them so they’re really appreciative of it.” None of this should be surprising. McIlroy could be No. 1 in Strokes Gained: Self-awareness. A 20-time PGA TOUR winner, 11th in the FedExCup, seventh in the world, he is also a husband (Erica) and father (Poppy). He’s coming off a three-week break, his last competitive round a wild 64 at the Masters that vaulted him to second place, his best-ever finish at Augusta. He and playing partner Collin Morikawa each holed out from a greenside bunker on 18, touching off a wild celebration, after which McIlroy said he’d never had so much fun playing golf. Now he hopes to build on that success, as he’s on the precipice of playing six times in the next eight weeks. Those eight weeks should begin to tell us if anyone can challenge FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler. Whatever shakes out between the ropes, McIlroy is sure to command eyeballs. He has become one of the game’s elder statesmen (albeit a young one), a Player Director on the PGA TOUR policy board who isn’t afraid to speak his mind. “He’s a leader I think for us in a lot of ways,” said Webb Simpson. “Very articulate. And he’s been a global player for a long time, so I think his opinions matter. Him being on the board now, I think he brings a lot to the table. He’s certainly a guy who I think has been fun to listen to because he’s not just going to give you the right answers, he’s going to give you what he thinks.” Small example: Saturated from overnight rain, TPC Potomac would seem to offer the kind of soft targets that suit McIlroy nicely. Those were the conditions, after all, when he won his first major at that 2011 U.S. Open. Asked about the favorable conditions, though, he offered the gentle reminder that he’s won 30 trophies worldwide, not all of them on soggy grass. Instead of being chastened, though, the assembled journalists laughed right along with him. Still, Congressional really was special, and McIlroy planned to drop in. “We’ll see if I can rekindle some of those vibes from 11 years ago,” he said of the Wednesday afternoon visit, the first time he will have gone back to Congressional since participating in a First Tee clinic there a few years ago. Coming off the time of his life at the Masters, defending at his beloved Wells Fargo, and on his birthday, no less, McIlroy is in his element, that enviable, happy place where all the vibes are good and all the cupcakes fully frosted.
With the Kentucky Derby set to take place Saturday, here are the odds following the post position draw for the 20-horse field. Zandon is the morning-line favorite at 3-1.
Andy Katz talks with Xavier’s new head coach Sean Miller. Miller previously worked as an assistant coach and head coach at Xavier, leading the program to the Elite Eight and Sweet 16 in consecutive years. Since then, Xavier has entered the Big East and is coming off an NIT tournament victory.
There were shocking results the first two nights, including a triple-overtime thriller, multiple upsets and bad blood already.
Since joining the PGA TOUR in 2018, Denny McCarthy has established himself as one of the best putters in the world, ranking first in Strokes Gained: Putting in both 2019 and 2020. This week, McCarthy is set to compete in the Wells Fargo Championship at TPC Potomac at Avenel, which is just 14 miles from his birthplace of Takoma Park, Maryland. While preparing for the event, GolfWRX.com caught up with the 29-year-old to learn more about his putter, his mentality on the greens, how he prepares and why amateur golfers may struggle with putting themselves. Below, we highlight five key takeaways from the putting discussion with McCarthy, one of the game’s best putters. 1. FIND YOUR ‘FOREVER’ PUTTER McCarthy currently putts with a Scotty Cameron TOUR-only GoLo N7 mallet putter with a black finish, a white alignment line, a custom long neck, and a deep-milled face that produces a soft feel and muted sound. While he says he doesn’t always putt with the same exact putter from week to week — he makes slight variations depending on his feel and the green speeds — he does stick to the same style of putter head. McCarthy started using a GoLo mallet model while at the University of Virginia, and he’s stuck with it ever since. “I have 10 different versions of this GoLo head, basically,” McCarthy told GolfWRX.com. “The one thing I do keep very consistent is the black mallet style with the white line and the milled face. Then I might change the neck, or the weighting of it, depending on how fast the greens are, but I like to keep the head and how it looks the same. “I used a blade putter for a little bit as a kid, and then I used an old Odyssey Rossie mallet for a little awhile. Then in college I used a white (TaylorMade) Spider for a bit, then landed on the GoLo… it was very trial-and-error. I putted well with a mallet, with the Odyssey and the Spider, and then really liked the GoLo and everything about it. That was kind of like, ‘this is going to be my putter forever’… it’s just, to me, it’s the appearance of it. The way it sits on the ground.” Experimenting with different putters can be a fun and informative process, but once you find a head style that suits your stroke and preferences, it may be best to stick with it. 2. THROUGH THE GATE “I kind of stole it from (Tiger Woods),” McCarthy told GolfWRX. Like Woods, McCarthy uses a two-tee “gate” putting drill, which helps him square the face and make center contact. The drill is easy to set up. Simply place a golf ball about 5 feet from the hole on a straight putt. When you approach the ball with your putter, place a golf tee just outside of the toe and heel portions of the putter head. Then, hit putts by trying to keep the putter head within the tee “gate” at impact. It’s an easy way to train your stroke to make consistently centered impact with the golf ball. 3. GETTING ALIGNED Even though he has one of the best putting strokes in the game, McCarthy said his stroke can get a bit “wipey” if his alignment gets off. As he told GolfWRX, his stance tends to get a bit open at address, which leads to an outside-to-in stroke that leaves the face too open at impact. This causes a miss short and to the right. To help combat the issue, McCarthy simply lays down an alignment stick parallel to his target along his feet line. This helps him focus on keeping his stance square, and his putting stroke can flow freely from there. 4. AWAKEN YOUR INNER ARTIST According to McCarthy, putting should be treated as more of an art than a science. As part of his process, McCarthy picks out a target between his golf ball and the hole, such as a small imperfection in the green, or a piece of grass that’s a different color. Then, he lines up his golf ball to the intermediate target, and without taking a practice stroke, he lets his inner artist take over. “Treat it more as an art form than a science,” McCarthy said. “You don’t have to have a perfect stroke. My stroke is not perfect. I’m a good putter because I can see the greens well, and I track spots and I treat it more as an art form. I’m picking spots and ball marks, anything that stands out in my line. I line up my ball around those areas and see the arc of the putt as opposed to worrying about what my strokes doing.” To ensure that he’s lined up toward his intended target, McCarthy draws a line on his golf ball using a black marker. Then he aligns that line to his target, and he hits putts so that the line rolls end over end. While this is a common method of putting, McCarthy does it a bit differently. Instead of aligning the ball with the entire line showing, he tilts the line toward his target. He says he does this because although he wants the line there for a reference, he doesn’t want it to be his sole focus during the stroke. Remember, he treats putting as an art. Worrying too much about the line can restrict your stroke and make it less reactionary. 5. TRY TO MAKE IT Of course, not everyone can have the same confidence that one of the best putters in the world has, but a quick switch in mentality can work wonders. “I’m stepping into every putt like trying to give it a chance to go in,” McCarthy told GolfWRX. “I’m stepping into them trying to make them. I’m not trying to wish them up near the hole. If I’m getting a putter in my hands on the green putting for birdie, to me it’s like any putt is a good look to me. “Have fun with it as opposed to like, ‘Oh shoot, I haven’t putted well today. I’ve missed a bunch from this length.’ No, …go up there and pick a spot and get up and be confident and just hit a good putt. It’s more about the process than the result … to me. I’s about the process of going through what you’re seeing and hitting good putts. Once you hit the putt there’s nothing you can do after that, it’s out of my control. If I do everything well that I can control, I’ll be in good hands.”
Our experts have everything you need to know to bet the Wells Fargo Championship in Potomac, Maryland.
