The First Look: Farmers Insurance Open

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PARAMUS, N.J. – Phil Mickelson has a lot on his plate these days. For one thing: Twitter. He just dove in with an account earlier this week at THE NORTHERN TRUST, where two closing bogeys dropped him out of the lead but still gave him a second straight 68 (6 under) at Ridgewood Country Club. He was within two of early second-round leader Sean O’Hair (69) with the afternoon wave yet to complete their second rounds. At the very least, the solid start promised to give Mickelson something benign to tweet about, which should put his kids at ease about Dad’s leap into the wild, wooly world of social media. “They are nervous (laughter),â€� said Mickelson, who birdied five of his first six holes Friday to jump into the lead. “And they should be, you know, rightfully so, because in time, I will mess up. It’s just my — I always kind of ride the line somewhere. Sometimes I cross it. Sometimes not.â€� On a more serious note, Mickelson is buckling down as he tries to atone for missing the TOUR Championship at East Lake last year. Things were looking good just six months ago. When he picked up his 43rd PGA TOUR win at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship in early March, it broke a nearly five-year drought and portended a big season. Or not. Mickelson finished T5 at the Wells Fargo Championship, but otherwise hasn’t really contended. He hit a moving ball at the U.S. Open, finished T24 at The Open Championship, and missed the cut at the PGA Championship. He’s 11th in the FedExCup, and has made more news with his newly announced made-for-TV match against Tiger Woods than with his play. Now, though, Mickelson seems to be on the comeback trail, again, at age 48. A day after he hit just three fairways but saved himself with his putting, he hit nine of the first 10 in the second round. Only a few late misses marred his effort, but he was encouraged. He badly wants to be on the U.S. Ryder Cup team that will try to be the first to win on European soil since 1993, but first he has to prove worthy of a pick from U.S. Captain Jim Furyk. “Yeah, it’s important,â€� said Mickelson, who has been on every U.S. Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup team since 1994, “because this started out to be a great year, and I want to finish it off right. And usually when I have a bit of a lull in the summer, I play well in the Playoffs. So I expect to have a good first two events and try to make it really easy for Captain Furyk.â€� In the process, he’s hoping to knock off one more thing on his to-do list: Finish the season ranked first in Strokes Gained: Putting. He got off to a good start at Ridgewood this week, making over 110 feet of putts in the first round, but knows he’s still got work to do. “I’ve been No. 2 in strokes gained behind Jason Day all year,â€� Mickelson said. “So either I’m going to have a phenomenal putting stretch and get to No. 1, or I’m just going to bend his putter a little bit so he comes back, because it’s been a great putting year.â€� OBSERVATIONS O’HAIR WINNING MIND GAME … Sean O’Hair says he doesn’t really set goals. He says making his way through the FedExCup isn’t the be all and end all. He says being a member at Aronimink in Philadelphia – where the third FedExCup Playoff event, the BMW Championship, will be held Sept. 6-9 – doesn’t burden him with pressure. Nope. Sean O’Hair is just happy to be here after a tough last few months. Believe him or not, but O’Hair has played inspired golf over the opening two rounds of THE NORTHERN TRUST. He backed up his opening 66 with a 2-under 69 to move to 7 under, good enough for the clubhouse lead after the morning wave. “I’m not really much of a goal setter,â€� said O’Hair, who at 121st in the FedExCup likely needs a top-30 or better here to survive to the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston. “It’s always a bonus to get in the TOUR Championship and it’s always a nice way to end the year. “I think every week is just an opportunity,â€� he added. “Every day is an opportunity. And for guys like me, every day is, you know, kind of a do-or-die situation. I actually think that just takes the pressure off. You win one of these events, and all of a sudden, thing change, and if you get in the TOUR Championship and win the TOUR Championship, you have a good chance of winning the FedExCup.â€� While the scoreboards are constantly flashing projections, O’Hair said he is taking no notice. The four-time TOUR winner is just grateful to be in New Jersey and not at the Web.com Finals in Ohio. “The last thing for me that’s going to help me is thinking about what I need to do to get to Aronimink or get to TOUR Championship,â€� he said. “I feel like the last two days have kind of happened because I’m working on the right things, and I’m focused more on maybe the process of the game right now than the actual score and result of it. “This is the end of my 14th season out here, so I’ve done this enough to know that if I go out there trying to get results, whether it be finishing a certain position on FedExCup or win a golf tournament or shoot a score; that just doesn’t work for me. That’s not how I function.â€�

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Patrick Reed couldn’t remember the last time he went 10 days without touching a golf club. When pressed for an answer, he jokingly replied, “1990.â€� That was the year he was born. It was difficult to do, but Reed needed to step away from the game this spring. He is known for being a passionate player, but he’d become lethargic on the course and frustrated with his results. His clubhead speed was down and the ball wasn’t flying where he anticipated. He took a three-week break from the TOUR, including that 10-day stretch where he didn’t touch a club, to try and regain the energy that made Captain America one of the TOUR’s most fiery competitors. Related: Final leaderboard | FedExCup standings | What’s in Reed’s bag? The plan paid off with Reed’s first PGA TOUR victory in 16 months. He came out on top during a final round Sunday that was a back-and-forth struggle between several players. His final-round 69 was enough for him to keep the one-stroke advantage that he started the day with. Reed finished at 16-under 268 at Liberty National Golf Club, one shot ahead of Abraham Ancer. With the win, Reed jumped from 50th to second in the FedExCup standings. He also re-insterted his name into the Presidents Cup conversation. Reed has qualified for the TOUR Championship and represented the United States in every year since 2014. His path back to the winner’s circle actually started with that break in May. His family vacationed in the Hamptons during his self-imposed hiatus. He was surrounded by some of the world’s best golf courses, but Reed happily filled his days playing with his two kids and spending time with his wife. Even the backyard of their rented manse had the perfect dimensions for a driving range: 310 yards by 50 yards of manicured grass. Reed stayed at the same house during last year’s U.S. Open, and the owner shaved a strip of short grass so that he could use the grounds as a practice facility. He had no desire to do the same this year, though. “I didn’t want to see the golf clubs,â€� he said. His enthusiasm quickly returned when he got back on the course. It helped that he eagled his first hole after his break, the first hole at National Golf Links of America. He hit driver to 6 feet. “I come back and I’m hitting the ball farther. I have a clear picture on what I’m trying to do and all of a sudden, I come out and I start hitting the ball where it’s supposed to go,â€� Reed said. “I’m starting to think clearly while I’m out there (on the course) and … the game starts turning around.â€� His fifth-place finish at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in June was his first top-10 on the PGA TOUR since October. Two starts later, he finished 10th at The Open Championship. Then he conquered Liberty National with a strong ball-striking performance this week. He finished in the top 10 of Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (2nd), fairways hit (T8), greens in regulation (T5). He’s now converted five of his seven 54-hole leads into victories. He got off to a shaky start Sunday, though. He immediately followed an opening birdie with back-to-back bogeys. He added another bogey on the short par-5 sixth hole. After the next hole, his caddie/brother-in-law, Kessler Karain, reminded him to just keep hitting greens instead of playing too aggressively. Reed made three birdies and no bogeys the rest of the way. He regained a one-stroke lead after his birdie at the short par-3 14th. Rahm had just three-putted the same hole and was on his way to a bogey at No. 15, as well. Those two miscues dropped him into a tie for third place with Harold Varner III. Reed gave another undercut fist pump after holing a 9-footer for par on 15. A perfect pitch on the drivable 16th left him with a tap-in for birdie to take a two-shot lead. Pars on the final two holes were enough to hold off Ancer, who birdied 17 to pull within a shot as they headed to the 18th tee. This was Reed’s first victory since his triumph at last year’s Masters. Some players struggle after their first major because they lose a little fire after winning their first major. Reed felt like his win at Augusta National had the opposite effect. “I almost felt like I pressed harder and worked harder and tried harder and therefore, it made me physically and mentally drained,â€� he said. “I kind of went the wrong direction and that’s why I felt like I needed the break.â€� Reed’s winless streak hit its deepest depths in Florida, just as his Masters defense was fast approaching. There was a three-round stretch when he shot a final-round 78 at THE PLAYERS Championship, then fired 77-75 to miss the cut at the following week’s Valspar Championship. He was spotted working with swing instructor David Leadbetter on the range at that event, but he’s since resumed working with solely his longtime coach, Kevin Kirk. This was Reed’s seventh PGA TOUR win. The 29-year-old now owns a major, World Golf Championships and two FedExCup Playoffs events. He also won THE NORTHERN TRUST in 2016, when he finished a career-best fifth in the FedExCup. In two weeks, he’ll make his sixth consecutive appearance in the TOUR Championship. Now he’s trying to extend another streak. Reed has appeared on every U.S. team since 2014. Reed started the week ranked 17th in the U.S. Presidents Cup standings. He’s now 12th in the standings. The top eight after next week’s BMW Championship will earn automatic berths on the team that will travel to Royal Melbourne in December. Reed would need to win next week as well to qualify for the team. At worst, he’s placed himself in the running for one of the four captain’s picks. Those will be announced after the World Golf Championship-HSBC Champions. The Presidents Cup was ever-present as Reed competed at Liberty National. The view of the Statue of Liberty stoked the flames of a player who enjoys the moniker of Captain America. Liberty National was the site of the last Presidents Cup, the United States’ thrashing of an overmatched International side. And Reed held off a potential Presidents Cup foe in Mexico’s Ancer. They were paired together in Sunday’s final group. “The biggest thing for me was … to just focus on the golf I’m playing because at the end of the day, if you play good golf, that all takes care of itself,â€� Reed said.

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