Confidence Factor: Fantasy advice for the Fort Worth Invitational

For a few brief moments Phil Mickelson's dream of conquering Winged Foot to complete a career grand slam was on track at the U.S. Open, but inaccuracy off the tee once again gave him nightmares. A week after hitting just 12 of 56 fairways at the Safeway Open, Mickelson managed to find the short grass off the tee just twice in Thursday's opening round on the way to a dismal 9-over 79. The 50-year-old's chance at redemption from 2006 looked a chance after he rolled in back-to-back birdies out of the gate. Perhaps he truly had let go of the infamous 72nd hole double bogey that helped Geoff Ogilvy claim the trophy over 14 years ago. Mickelson's early birdies came despite missing both fairways left into deep rough and the fairytale writers lifted their eyebrows and dared to think something special might be on its way. However, the inaccuracy quickly caught up. From the moment a four-foot par putt on the third hole lipped out, Mickelson found himself in a deep spiral not even his 44-time PGA TOUR winning experience could fight. Bogeys on the fourth, fifth and eighth followed with Mickelson not chalking up his first fairway until the par-5 ninth hole. It didn't help as he would go on to make par after another missed putt. Bogey at 10 and another at 13 came soon after the turn with the latter the start of a six-hole finishing stretch that the six-time U.S. Open runner-up played in six over. Ultimately, he would finish 14 shots off the pace and all but officially be eliminated from contention. Only U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Lukas Michel (80) was behind him on the leaderboard. The words he said as he left Napa must have been ringing in his ears throughout the round. "The last couple of months I’ve been missing it more to the right and not worried about the left and the left crept in again," Mickelson had said after the Safeway Open. "For years I missed it left. I haven’t been fearing that at all lately, but this week I missed it left, which is not good. I can deal with missing it right now, but not left." He went on to say he was confident of being able to turn it around before the opening round in New York but sadly that was not the case. Prior to the Safeway Open he had won his debut start at PGA TOUR Champions. "I actually have had some nice breakthroughs in the last year and I feel like I’m on the precipice of playing really well, but I’ve got to get it to click," he said.

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Harry Higgs lost his full PGA TOUR card toward the end of last season and took a step Friday at Sea Island toward getting it back. Higgs played bogey-free on the more difficult Seaside course for a 7-under 63, giving him a share of the lead with recent Texas grad Cole Hammer and Andrew Putnam going into the weekend of The RSM Classic. Plenty is at stake in the final official PGA TOUR event before a six-week break to end the year. Hammer, who had a 66 at Seaside, is playing on a sponsor exemption and has no full status on any tour. Putnam, whose only PGA TOUR title was in 2018, had a 65 on the Plantation course. He is playing for the eighth time in 10 weeks, having missed only the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in the fall because he’s made every cut — he was a runner-up in Japan — and because the weather isn’t all that great at home near Seattle. Higgs is an everyman, popular among his peers, and it stung to finish last season the way he did. After he tied for 14th in his Masters debut, Higgs missed the cut in 10 of his last 14 events to finish out of the top 125 in the FedExCup. He went to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and missed the cut in all three of those tournaments. Now he has conditional status, and this presents a great opportunity. Job security can be stressful on the PGA TOUR, especially going into a season in which only 70 will qualify for the lucrative postseason. “It’s in the back of your mind. It always is for almost everybody except for some of the top players in the world,” Higgs said. “But it can motivate you to work a little bit harder, make better decisions. The goal is to not really have to worry about it come March or as early as possible, right?” The leaders were at 12-under 130. Joel Dahmen (64 on Plantation), Beau Hossler (67 on Plantation) and Sahith Theegala, who matched Higgs with a 63 on Seaside, were one shot behind. Dahmen won in the Dominican Republic last year and his exemption runs out after this season. He often rooms with Higgs, so he can appreciate the feeling of playing with the pressure of trying to keep a job. “Golf is very hard and it can go sour quickly. To play with freedom for … two-and-a-half years, really, never had that in my career. So yeah, teeing up in Napa was like, `OK, we’re back at square one. If you don’t play well, you don’t have a job.’ I was very aware of that. “I don’t think about it necessarily when I’m out there, but there’s been a couple extra days of practice, for sure.” The weather wasn’t quite as cold as the opening round, and scoring remained low. The cut was at 4-under 138. Hammer, who made his first PGA TOUR cut as a pro last week in Houston, made bogeys from the fairway on the seventh and eighth holes at Seaside — two of the easier holes for the day — and then turned it around with an approach to 3 feet on No. 9 and then a birdie putt from 18 feet on the next hole. He was bogey-free the rest of the way and will be in the final group on the weekend. “I was a little bit depressed after 7 and 8. I put myself in great position to make birdies and I walked out with two bogeys, and that’s almost inexcusable,” Hammer said. “But coming back firing on 9 and then making a birdie on 10 — erasing those bogeys on two of the tougher holes right away — was huge for momentum and for confidence.”

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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – As the story goes, Shane Lowry and his close friend Padraig Harrington were sitting together on the same flight to California a couple of years ago when the plane encountered turbulence. After a nearby passenger started to become nervous, Harrington tried to calm her down. “Turbulence has never ever taken a plane down,â€� Harrington reassured her. To which Lowry quipped: “There’s a first time for everything.â€� Related: Leaderboard | Englishmen in contention at Royal Portrush | Spieth, Koepka bringing their best to another major The Irishmen shared a laugh as they told the story during a joint interview with the Independent newspaper a day later. It was good they could smile – especially for Lowry, given that the previous summer he had frittered away a chance to win his first major by shooting a final-round 76 at the U.S. Open in Oakmont. Lowry had entered the final round with a four-shot lead but bogeyed four of his first 10 holes, eventually giving way to Dustin Johnson. It was a harsh lesson – but perhaps a necessary one that will pay dividends this week at The Open Championship at Royal Portrush. Lowry will enter Saturday’s third round in the final twosome with American J.B. Holmes, the two sharing the 36-hole lead at 8 under. It’s Irish Whiskey vs. Kentucky Bourbon, although a large pack of contenders – including, of course, Brooks Koepka – are eager to chase. Every golfer at this level has varying amounts of scar tissue, tournaments that once seemed in their grasp only to slip away. Holmes once led the 2008 PGA Championship after 36 holes but ended up shooting a final-round 81 in a tournament won, coincidentally, by Harrington. But Lowry has the fresher scar tissue, and perhaps the most pressure, given that he’s an Irishman leading the first Open to be played in Northern Ireland in 68 years. If he can pull this off … well, no Irish writer – and there have been plenty of great ones – could produce this kind of story. “Look, I’m obviously going to be thinking about it tonight,â€� Lowry said. “There’s no point in shying away from it.â€� Yes, but will he be thinking about Oakmont? Harrington thinks it could help. Very few players win these things without going through that a couple of times,â€� said the three-time major winner, who definitely has suffered his share of near-misses. “I would definitely think he’s a better player because of Oakmont rather than scarred. “He’s won big tournaments. It’s not all gone one way or the other. He’s had some tough ones on the golf course and he’s had some good ones. That’s the most important thing. … Oakmont has definitely got to be a help to him, not a hindrance.â€� Holmes hasn’t really felt the weekend pressure at a major in the last decade. His two top-10 finishes came in the same 2016 season, and they were both of the backdoor variety – a tie for fourth at the Masters when he started the final round tied for 13th, and a third at the Open Championship when he entered Sunday eight shots off Henrik Stenson’s lead. But he has suffered through a poor stretch since winning the Genesis Open in February. After his second-round 68 on Friday, he acknowledged it was more than just a slump. “Four weeks ago, I thought my career was over. Or felt like it,â€� Holmes said. He’s obviously pulled himself together at Portrush. No one on the first page of the leaderboard has more career scar tissue than 46-year-old Englishman Lee Westwood, still seeking his first victory in his 82nd career major start. He has three seconds among his 18 top-10s; if he wins on Sunday, he’d be the oldest major winner since Julius Boros won the 1968 PGA at age 48. Westwood’s not thinking about that right now. “There’s too much ground to cover before Sunday night,â€� he said. “… If it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. And if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. Just go home and have dinner, go on holiday the next week. Do the same things. Life won’t change.â€� Lowry said life won’t change for him, either, if he wins. He just wants to go out and do his best. A year ago, he was in bad spot. He missed the Open cut for the fourth straight year. He split with his long-time caddie. He was depressed about his game. “I wasn’t in a great place mentally,â€� he said. Now, he’s 36 holes away from being a national hero. An entire island will be rooting for him this weekend. Maybe he turns that near-miss at Oakmont into a positive. Portrush native Graeme McDowell, making the cut on the number, will try to chase down Lowry. He expects it to be difficult. “Shane Lowry is probably one of the most competitive people I’ve ever met in the life,â€� McDowell said. Added Harrington: “He’s got a great attitude and a winning mentality … I think Shane does believe he can do it.â€� Sure, Lowry’s never won a major. But there’s a first time for everything.

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