Pat Perez claims one-stroke lead at CIMB Classic

DALLAS — Denny McCarthy has some loose connections to Jordan Spieth and Tony Romo, the Trinity Forest members in the local spotlight. The former University of Virginia player is on top of the leaderboard after one round at the AT&T Byron Nelson. McCarthy shot a career-low 8-under 63 on Thursday, with 10 birdies over a 12-hole stretch after an early double bogey to take a one-stroke lead over Tyler Duncan and Tom Hoge. Three-time major champion Brooks Koepka, the No. 3-ranked player in the world, was among nine players at 65. “Gives me the confidence that I know that I can shoot rounds like this,” McCarthy said. “I’ve kind of been looking for a round like this just to kind of get me going. I know I can be out here playing with the best and today kind of showed that.” McCarthy was part of the high school Class of 2011 that included three-time major champion Spieth and 2017 PGA TOUR player of the year Justin Thomas. That impressive group also produced three consecutive PGA TOUR rookies of the year: Daniel Berger (2015), Emiliano Grillo (2016) and Xander Schauffele (2017). All of those now mid-20 somethings have wins, except McCarthy, who is fully exempt on the PGA TOUR this season for the first time after winning the Web.com Tour Championship last September. His best PGA TOUR finish in his first 42 tournaments was fourth last year in the Dominican Republic at an event opposite the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. McCarthy played his first two rounds at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club then with Romo, the CBS NFL analyst and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback who missed the cut there in his only two previous PGA TOUR starts. Romo, playing on a sponsor exemption as an amateur at home, had a 76 that included an opening birdie and a chip-in eagle from 66 feet at the 544-yard seventh hole . Those were his only subpar holes in a round with two double bogeys and four bogeys. “Couple of the tee shots really cost me just because they’re penal in those areas. You can’t miss them there,” Romo said. “Like I said, the separation between these guys is the ability to do it for long stretches, consistency.” Spieth had a 68 in the afternoon, when the wind picked up after mostly calm conditions for McCarthy and the rest of the morning starters at the links-style course inundated by heavy rain earlier in the week. “Given the tougher conditions this afternoon and then tomorrow morning, it’s just kind of about hanging around and trying to make something happen on the weekend,” Spieth said. McCarthy began his early round with three consecutive pars before a double bogey at the 437-yard fourth, when he had to take a penalty stroke after a wayward tee shot and eventually two-putted from 11 feet. He was still 2 over after another par at No. 5. “(The double bogey) just kind of made me more calm after that,” McCarthy said. “I came out with the mindset I wanted to be aggressive and I wasn’t, and then after that double I kind of told myself, you know, just play really, really carefree and have fun with it.” A 9-foot birdie at the 415-yard sixth was the first of five consecutive one-putt birdies, three of those under 6 feet. McCarthy needed only 22 putts, 10 on the back nine. His 10 birdies were three more than he had ever had in a tour round. “I put in some really nice sessions on the range the last couple of weeks and I didn’t come out hitting it like I wanted to,” he said. “It’s easy just to not make a committed swing, and it cost me a couple shots there. But once I was aware that I wasn’t in that aggressive mindset, kind of put me right back in and was able to get the round going.” All three of Koepka’s major wins have come since his last Byron Nelson in 2017, when the tournament was still at the Four Seasons resort before moving south of downtown Dallas last year. He had never been on the front nine before Thursday, having practiced only on the back nine Tuesday before Wednesday’s pro-am was washed out. After four consecutive birdies in the middle of his round (at Nos. 17, 18, 1 and 2), Koepka finished with three birdies and two bogeys on the last five holes. His approach at No. 6 went over the green into a bunker for a bogey, and his missed the green with his approach at No. 9, his finishing hole. “Other than that, I struck the ball beautifully,” said Koepka, the two-time U.S. Open winner who next week will defend his PGA Championship title. “Hitting it good and putting it good, it doesn’t matter. Played a lot of golf courses where I really haven’t seen the golf course and gone to play. You’ve got a yardage book.”

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In skipping next week’s U.S. Open, Tiger Woods said he hopes to give his body more time to heal in order to play The Open in July.

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This is the last time that you will forget that the Dell Technologies Championship starts on Friday and ends on Labor Day. We creatures of habit will adapt to a new norm next year when the FedExCup Playoffs already will have ended by now. TPC Boston also will shift into its new position in the rotation for THE NORTHERN TRUST beginning in 2020. Until then, there’s the not-so-insignificant matter of the second leg of this year’s Playoffs. Scroll past the ranking for more about the only course ever to host the Dell Technologies Championship, what to expect from the field of 98 and more. For analysis on Tiger Woods, Henrik Stenson, Webb Simpson, Charley Hoffman, Marc Leishman, Wyndham Championship winner Brandt Snedeker and other notables, read the Fantasy Insider on Tuesday. Francesco Molinari (rest) and Rickie Fowler (oblique) are sitting out this week, but at a respective 13th and 22nd in the FedExCup standings, both will advance to next week’s BMW Championship. The leading 70 in points at the conclusion of the Dell Technologies Championship will qualify for the third event of the Playoffs. Despite a steady evolution of modifications and moderate stretching, TPC Boston has been one of the most predictable tracks on the PGA TOUR. It’s a par 36-35–71 taping off at 7,342 yards. This year’s only noticeable aesthetic change occurred at the par-4 12th hole where the bunker in the middle of the fairway short of the divide has been removed. Whether that eases scoring remains to be determined, but it probably won’t hurt. The longest par 4 on the course (at 510 yards) was the hardest hole in last year’s tournament. Averaging +0.343 strokes to par, it was the 13th-most difficult par 4 of 538 on TOUR last season. Given its familiarity, it comes as no surprise that experience at TPC Boston has helped define most champions. Since Adam Scott claimed the inaugural edition in 2003, Phil Mickelson (2007) is the only winner here who prevailed in his tournament debut. Justin Thomas was only 24 years of age when he recorded a three-stroke victory last year. Not that he profiles as a horse for any course, but he’s still building a stable of reliable sites, so it probably mattered that even the 2016-17 Player of the Year had appeared twice before at TPC Boston. Thomas put his stamp on an extreme week. He led the field in strokes gained: tee-to-green, scrambling and par-4 scoring, but he finished T32 in par-3 scoring and T30 in par-5 scoring. It was merely one way to get the job done during what can’t be ruled out as a shootout. Of the 11 who finished inside the top 10 on the leaderboard, eight ranked inside the top 25 in greens hit (Thomas was T13) and eight completed the week inside the top 20 in scrambling. All 11 left town having landed somewhere inside the top 25 in strokes gained: putting. This week’s field projects to score similarly to last year’s average of 70.781. After favorable conditions during the first two rounds when daytime highs will reach the mid-70s, an increase in both the heat and risk of inclement weather spikes by Monday. The Dell Technologies Championship is the last tournament of the season with a cut of low 70 and ties. (The 54-hole/MDF cut provision does not apply in the Playoffs.) Since the current scoring system was adopted in 2015, all golfers who have recorded a top 20 at TPC Boston have advanced to the BMW Championship. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton reviews and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Rookie Ranking, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider WEDNESDAY: One & Done, Facebook Live THURSDAY: Champions One & Done * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO, which also publishes on Tuesdays.

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