Rory McIlroy: ‘I don’t care about the U.S. Open or Open Championship … everything is at Augusta’

JACKSON, Miss. – Notes and observations from the first round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson. LEADING LIGHTS Cameron Champ is just one start into his rookie season, but he already appears on the cover of this month’s Golf Digest. Fans are enamored with the long ball, and Champ feeds that fascination. Champ, 23, set the Web.com Tour driving distance record this year (343.7 yards) but also proved that he’s more than just a one-man long-drive contest. He finished sixth on the money list, including a win at the Utah Championship, to earn a PGA TOUR card less than a year after turning pro. His strong play has continued into the PGA TOUR season. He holds the first-round lead at the Sanderson Farms Championship after finishing T25 in his debut at the Safeway Open. Champ made eight birdies and one bogey in a 65 Thursday at the Country Club of Jackson. He closed the round with a birdie at 18 that was set up by a 347-yard drive, the longest of the day on that hole. He shot a back-nine 31 after hitting six of his seven tee shots over 300 yards. He also drove it over the green on the 315-yard, par-4 15th hole. After he finished his round, he led the field in driving distance on all tee shots (304.5 yards), Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+2.14). He hit 9 of 14 fairways, including five of seven on the back nine, and missed just two greens. “I know the rough here is pretty brutal in some areas, but today I drove very well off the tee,â€� he said. OBSERVATIONS ANOTHER CAMERON: Until Champ’s birdie at the final hole, there were two Camerons, Champ and Tringale, tied for the lead. Tringale, playing in the day’s first group, shot 66. The 31-year-old has played on TOUR ever since turning pro out of Georgia Tech in 2009; the Sanderson Farms Championship is his 245th start. His impressive streak almost came to an end, though. After missing the cut in 19 of 26 starts last season, he regained his card with a T3 at the Web.com Tour Championship. He finished fifth at the same event last year to regain his playing privileges. “I drove it really poorly last (season) and it was hard to play golf short and crooked,â€� he said. “I’ve been driving it a lot better since the Web.com Tour Finals. … (I’m) trying to see my shot more clearly and hit the shot I’m trying to play instead of thinking about the shot I don’t want to have happen. When you hit a lot of bad ones, it’s a lot harder than it sounds to get those out of your mind.â€� OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: The Sanderson Farms Championship is an opportunity for nonmembers to get a TOUR start, and two players who fit in that category are off to a strong start. Chad Ramey, a Monday qualifier from Mississippi, shot 67 on Thursday. Scottie Scheffler fired 68. Ramey, a Mississippi State alum, survived a 10-for-3 playoff to make the field. He finished 80th on the Web.com Tour money list in 2018. Scheffler turned pro earlier this year; he was teammates with Champ on last year’s Walker Cup team. Scheffler recently advanced out of the first stage of Web.com Tour Q-School. Last year, Monday qualifier Scott Strohmeyer finished T4 at this event.

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The global swing of the PGA TOUR continues as we find ourselves in China with a star-studded field set to do battle at Sheshan International Golf Club. It’s the first of four World Golf Championship events for the season, which brings with it an increased purse and of course a solid 550 FedExCup points to the winner. The 72-hole stroke-play tournament features a 78-player field, with no cut. Highlighting the field are defending champion Hideki Matsuyama – who became the first player from Asia to win a World Golf Championship event at last year’s HSBC Champions and followed by winning the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational later in the season – and world No. 1 Dustin Johnson – who won the Mexico Championship and the Dell Technologies Match Play. Between them, the two players hold all four of the current World Golf Championships titles. For the first time in history, the PGA TOUR also welcomes players from China as members in the field. Zecheng Dou and Xinjun Zhang are rookies in 2017-18 after graduating from the Web.com Tour. They are part of a seven-man Chinese tilt. Here are the featured groups. China is 12 hours ahead. All tee times are Eastern Time. Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama, Jon Rahm The two players who hold all four WGC trophies in Matsuyama and Johnson are joined by the powerful Jon Rahm, who many predict will finish his career with a boatload of titles. Matsuyama finessed his way to a brilliant win last season and will be hoping to do so again, while Johnson starts his season looking to reassert his position as the world’s best now that the likes of Justin Thomas are coming for his mantle. Tee times: Wednesday 10:50 p.m. (ET) off 10 tee; Thursday 9:40 p.m. off 1st tee Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose, Paul Casey Eventually, Paul Casey is going to turn one of these perennial contention weeks into a victory – so why not this week as he has two top-10 finishes in the tournament prior to it taking official WGC status. Rose also had a top-10 finish in his past at the venue and will be looking to kick-start the new season in style. Kuchar will be inspired to play well in the land of ping pong – where he’s already putting his considerable skills to the test against the locals. Tee times: Wednesday 10:40 p.m. (ET) off 10 tee; Thursday 9:30 p.m. off 1st tee   Tyrrell Hatton, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Haotong Li Hatton is the hot hand, having won the last two European Tour events he entered at the Dunhill Links and Italian Open, while Fitzpatrick is also a recent trophy hoister having claimed the European Masters. They are joined by one the locals big hopes in Li who is no stranger to big event pressure having finished third at The Open Championship last season. Tee times: Wednesday 10:30 p.m. (ET) off 10th tee; Thursday 9:20 p.m. off 1st tee   Jason Day, Henrik Stenson, Brooks Koepka Day started his season last week in reasonable form with a T11 finish in Korea but the key was the return of his putting. With some rust shaken off in his tee and iron play he could be a huge factor. Stenson was tied for second last season in China and T11 the year before … his pure striking is suited for success. And of course the reigning U.S. Open champion will be hoping to start his season with a serious bang as he kicks off his 2017-18 campaign. Tee times: Wednesday 9:50 p.m. (ET) off 10th tee; Thursday 10:50 p.m. off 1st tee

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Phil Mickelson waited patiently for his opportunity. Then he pounced. With phone in hand, he walked swiftly toward the dignitaries’ box adjacent to the first tee at Liberty National. The first three chairs on the front row were occupied by former Presidents of the United States – Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. As Mickelson approached, Clinton gave him a salute. Mickelson took off his cap, shook the hands of all three men, then did what any of us would do in that situation. He asked to take a selfie. “How can you not do that?â€� Mickelson explained, adding, “Their presence really means a lot to this event. That’s what it’s about. It’s the Presidents Cup.â€� Afterwards, Mickelson practically bounded back down the fairway. When he met up with some of his U.S. teammates along with his captain Steve Stricker, he giddily showed them the photo. Alas, it was not perfect. Phil had aimed too high, and half his face was cropped off. “I’m so bad at selfies,â€� shrugged Mickelson. Not to worry. Memories of Thursday’s opening festivities, with three Presidents in attendance for the first time in this event, will never be forgotten. Actually, the interaction between the Presidents Cup teams and the ex-Presidents didn’t just start on Thursday’s first tee. The night before, the teams visited the Freedom Tower, with Clinton and Bush delivering speeches. “Bush was funny, and Clinton was, you know, amazing,â€� Stricker recalled Thursday night as he sat next to International Captain Nick Price after announcing their lineups for Friday’s Four-ball session. “The speech that he gave last night was truly moving, and funny, too. They are so good at what they do. You can see the position that they are in and see why they were there in that position.â€� Asked what exactly was moving about the speech, Stricker replied, “Just talking about 9/11 and I think if I remember right, Clinton talked about having America coming together a little bit more; and what a great opportunity for us during the matches here and golf to bring people together and support all of our countries. “It’s just the way he said it. I can’t even do it justice, you know. I really can’t.â€� Injected Price: “It was almost like they were in a comfort zone talking to sports men, to golfers.â€� Price had met Clinton and Obama during previous visits to the White House, but this week was his first time to meet Bush. Calling them icons, he noted how all three of the ex-Presidents weren’t afraid to proclaim their rooting interest. “They all said the same thing,â€� Price said. “‘Guys, we can’t pull for you, but we want you to have a good match.’ They were great. Of course, you’re not going to pull for us; you guys are Americans. You’re Presidents. But they are golfers and they are great sports men, too. “And our boys really appreciate that. They are very kind and very thoughtful.â€� Still, it was easy to feel a bit intimidated on the tee box Thursday. With each President wearing a short-sleeved golf shirt with the Presidents Cup logo, they posed for plenty of photos, shook lots of hands, smiled and waved to the full stands for more than 30 minutes. U.S. assistant captain Fred Couples spent several minutes chatting with them; you wondered how many rounds of golf Couples has played with each one. When it came time for the competition to start, the ex-Presidents stood together behind the tee box, as looming a presence as any TOUR pro will ever find himself. South African Charl Schwartzel, teeing off first for the Internationals, had the honors of striking the first tee shot in front of them. “It was one of the most exciting moments of my life, standing there,â€� Schwartzel said. “I was looking forward to this Presidents Cup for a very long time, and I didn’t expect all the Presidents to be there. Just to get to meet them was a dream come true for me. You know, then obviously to hit that first tee shot with the wind pumping off the right was quite intimidating. “But I thought I made a pretty good swing.â€� Schwartzel and his partner Hideki Matsuyama were facing Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler in that opening match. Fowler took the opening drive for his team, allowing the newly crowned FedExCup champ and his caddie, Jimmy Johnson, to soak it all in. “That’s the cool thing about golf is it ties us all together so much and they love golf, too,â€� Thomas said. “We have that kind of similarity and thing that we can kind of bounce back to or rely on. They are pulling for us. They just wanted to come out — it’s unbelievable, this being the Presidents Cup. Jimmy and I were saying, we just had three former Presidents of the United States on the first tee cheering us on and shaking our hand and acting like we are all boys, and it’s pretty unbelievable.â€� All three Presidents stuck around through the start of the third match, one that included Americans Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed. Asked what he said to the Presidents, Reed replied, “Hi, how you doing? It’s been a while.â€� Spieth, meanwhile, doesn’t live too far away from Bush in the Dallas area. They’ve played golf together on a few occasions. “He absolutely loves it,â€� Spieth said. “He’s a nut for it, and the other two are known to do it, as well. Cool of them to show up. I know it’s the Presidents Cup, but they certainly have pretty busy schedules.â€� After Reed hit his tee shot, the crowds thinned slightly, American fans in particular opting to follow their team’s powerhouse duo. Obama began making his exit. Before ducking into the tunnel, he noticed a group of American fans in the stands above him, all decked out in red, white and blue. “How you doing, guys? Appreciate ya!â€� he said. Clinton and Bush hung around, though, with Clinton munching on a green apple to help stave off hunger. Finally, Mickelson was back on the tee box, this time for his match, the last one of the day. He and teammate Kevin Kisner were facing the Australian duo of Jason Day and Marc Leishman. Kisner would be teeing off for the Americans – and that allowed Mickelson to provide some strategy tips to Clinton. They stood in the back of the tee, Clinton pointing down the fairway to the big willow tree at the end of the water hazard down the left side. It seemed to be a long carry, especially in these tricky wind conditions. Clinton asked Mickelson, “If you were teeing off, would you hit 3-wood?â€� Replied Mickelson, “No, I’d go ahead and hit driver. We can all reach that tree, even in the wind.â€� A bit more strategy talk ensued, and then Mickelson joined Kisner to walk down the fairway. Bush and Clinton eventually departed, too but only after more handshakes and photos and smiles. Eventually, the dignitaries’ box was empty. All that was left were a scattering of white chairs, each with a name on the backrest. Three of those names were once the most powerful men in the free world who had come on this day to simply watch some golf.

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