Leaderboard: Moving day at Safeway Open

Matt Every has missed the cut in 20 of the 27 events he’s played in this season, but he’s only one shot off the lead heading into the weekend at the Canadian Open. Every opened with rounds of 65-68 at Glen Abbey, and the two-time Bay Hill winner sits one stroke behind Martin Flores. Every hasn’t finished in the top 25 since the 2016 Waste Mangement Phoenix Open, mostly because of a wild driver. He’s admitted to suffering from “freeze-outs.” He will stand over a shot and have no idea where the ball is going. “Technically I’m better right now,” Every said after Round 1. “I haven’t been hitting any foul balls off the tee. My scores earlier in the year were bad because I would hit like one or two

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y – When the world’s best players tee it up here for the 2018 U.S. Open June 14-18, they’ll confront a golf course that is substantially different than the one they last faced in 2004. The course has been stretched, sculpted, and restored to more of its original character as designed by architect William S. Flynn, whose plan for the course from the 1931 rerouting into the present configuration now hangs prominently in the clubhouse. Jeff Hall, managing director, rules and open championships for the U.S. Golf Association, said that a decision to narrow the fairways marginally came upon reflection about the experience of the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, where uncommonly mild winds made the wide fairways readily accessible to players, diminishing the importance of skilled driving as a crucial element of championship golf. An early look at the course hosted by the U.S. Golf Association on a spectacular fall day revealed considerable modifications to the course.

Titleist Vokey Design Spin Mill wedges have been the most played wedges on the PGA Tour for years, and this week at the Shiners Hospital for Children Open in Las Vegas, the next-generation SM7 wedges make their debut. While Titleist is not discussing details about the SM7, several players took to social media to sing its praises. Like the Vokey Design SM6 wedges that they likely will replace in the Titleist stable, the SM7 wedges appear to have more mass concentrated at the top of the hitting area of the sand and lob wedges. The pitching wedges and gap wedges (lofts of 46 to 52 degrees) have thin toplines and extra mass in the lower portion of the heads, as they tend to be used on full-swing, square-faced shots from fairway or rough.