Open Championship organizers don’t want anybody calling it ‘The British Open’ anymore and it is causing more confusion than ever

Tiger has some work to do. So does Dustin Johnson. But Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and even Lee Westwood are in good shape. Here are the key storylines heading into Round 2 of the U.S. Open.

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OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Bryson DeChambeau missed shooting a 59 by inches. He might not be the last person to threaten the milestone in these conditions at Caves Valley. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Bryson DeChambeau narrowly misses historic 59 | FedExCup update: Sergio Garcia making run at TOUR Championship DeChambeau’s 12-under 60 stood out, but it was another day of low scores in general at the BMW Championship on Friday. It also was the second straight week a player shot 60 during the FedEx Cup playoffs. Cameron Smith missed a 12-foot putt for a 59 last weekend at Liberty National. DeChambeau leads in Owings Mills at 16 under, but he was just a shot ahead of Patrick Cantlay, who shot a 63 on Friday. “I thought I played great — 9 under, I’m very pleased,” Cantlay said. “But obviously there was lower than that out there today.” Jon Rahm also was a stroke behind DeChambeau. He played 15 holes before play was halted for darkness. At that point, only six of the 69 players in the field were over par for the tournament. Scores were low in the first round as well — the leaders were at 8 under — and that doesn’t seem likely to change over the weekend. Play was delayed by thunderstorms Friday, after DeChambeau and Cantlay had already posted their impressive numbers. “The fairways are pretty wide here and the greens are pretty big,” said Jordan Spieth, who played in DeChambeau’s group. ”You have to really kind of screw up to make a bogey.” Spieth was at 3 under after two rounds. He had a good view as DeChambeau made eight birdies and two eagles in his second round. “I was just trying to piggyback a little bit, but when you’re watching it, it can be a little bit kind of frustrating if you don’t have it going,” Spieth said. “You’re like, `Man, is this what everyone is doing? Is everyone tearing it up?’” Just about. Harris English (70) also played with DeChambeau and was 5 under — which would have been good enough to win the BMW Championship last year when it was at Olympia Fields. This year, he was 11 strokes back. The Caves Valley course was an unknown commodity entering the week, this being the Baltimore area’s first PGA Tour event since 1962. “It’s very hard to predict when we come to a new site how the scoring’s going to be,” said Steve Rintoul, a PGA Tour rules official in charge of this event. Rintoul said recent rain softened the course up, creating conditions that are pretty much ideal for low scores. “It never really escapes the soft conditions because of the heat and humidity,” he said. “When you get greens this good and soft conditions, it’s just prime for scoring.” The FedEx Cup isn’t the U.S. Open. Low scores aren’t uncommon. The Northern Trust at Liberty National last weekend was won in a playoff by Tony Finau, who finished at 20 under. Dustin Johnson won the Northern Trust at 30 under last year. DeChambeau and Cantlay are halfway to a score like that. “Some holes it’s harder to get balls really close, to feed in close to the hole because they are fast greens and you can get on some bad sections on the green,” Spieth said. “But it’s hard to kind of be totally out of position unless you do something really wrong.”

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A second collegiate star has turned pro in the middle of the season, adding another name to the list of prospects who will be seeking sponsor exemptions once the PGA TOUR season resumes in January. Wake Forest senior Will Zalatoris, the 2017 ACC Player of the Year, announced Thursday that he will turn pro and forego his final semester of collegiate golf. “I wanted to give myself the best chance to have a TOUR card for 2018 and 2019,� Zalatoris told PGATOUR.COM. “I want to give myself the best opportunity to set myself up for the future, so I wanted to have these extra six months to play in a few more events and build my routine.� Zalatoris finished his Wake Forest career with a 70.44 scoring average, breaking the school record of former FedExCup champ Bill Haas. Zalatoris won four collegiate titles, as well as the 2014 U.S. Junior Amateur. His announcement came shortly after his Walker Cup teammate, Cameron Champ, made the leap to the pro ranks. Champ was in the middle of his senior season at Texas A&M. This is believed to be the first time in recent history that two collegiate players of such high profile have turned pro in the middle of the same season. “I think turning pro (in the middle of the season) will become a little bit more popular in the years to come, mainly because of the schedule,� Zalatoris said. “You get a full six months back of playing pro events. I was one of the kids who said, ‘You have four years of college and the rest of your life to play golf,’ but talking to some guys on TOUR, they mentioned how important that first year was.� Champ finished T16 at last week’s Web.com Tour Q-School to secure status for the upcoming season. Zalatoris failed to advance out of second stage, so he will have to rely on sponsor exemptions and Monday qualifiers for starts on the PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour. He has just 21 hours remaining toward his psychology degree, and is currently taking nine hours online. Being so close to completing his degree made it easier to leave school early, he said. He is planning to graduate in 2018. Zalatoris isn’t the first U.S. Junior champion from Texas to turn pro after failing to advance out of Q-School’s second stage. Jordan Spieth took that path in 2013, winning that year’s John Deere Classic and qualifying for the TOUR Championship. Spieth and Zalatoris also share a swing coach, Cameron McCormick. Turning pro early gives Zalatoris time to play both the PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour in his quest to earn a TOUR card. The Wyndham Championship, the final PGA TOUR event before the FedExCup Playoffs and Web.com Tour Finals, is the only start he has confirmed on his schedule, he said. Zalatoris is the third member of this year’s victorious U.S. Walker Cup team to turn pro, after Champ and Maverick McNealy. The U.S. defeated Great Britain & Ireland, 19-7, in September at Los Angeles Country Club. Joaquin Niemann, the world’s top-ranked amateur, also is expected to turn pro in early 2018. McNealy, who graduated from Stanford with a degree in Management Science and Engineering, made his pro debut at the Safeway Open (T52). He also has sponsor exemptions into three PGA TOUR events in California (CareerBuilder Challenge, Farmers Insurance Open and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am) and two in Texas (AT&T Byron Nelson, DEAN & DELUCA Invitational). He also has full Web.com Tour status for next year after finishing T10 at Q-School. McNealy and Niemann are the past two winners of the Mark H. McCormack Medal, given to the world’s top-ranked amateur. Spieth and Peter Uihlein are previous collegiate standouts to turn pro in December. Uihlein did so in 2011, forgoing his final semester at Oklahoma State to pursue starts on the European Tour. Uihlein, the 2010 U.S. Amateur champion, won on that circuit in 2013 and is in the midst of his first season as a PGA TOUR member after winning the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship, the first event of this year’s Web.com Tour Finals. Uihlein, 28, is 40th in the current FedExCup standings. Spieth turned pro in December 2012, halfway through his sophomore season at Texas.

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