Live leaderboard: Round 2 of RBC Heritage

SILVIS, Ill. – Francesco Molinari is the only Italian to win the Italian Open, lives in London with his wife and two kids, and speaks Spanish to his Basque caddie. One thing, though, was lost in translation. His putter wasn’t listening to him. After a lackluster T25 finish at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship, Molinari decided he had had enough. He called Englishman Phil Kenyon, putting coach to Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson and others, and asked if Kenyon could take on another client. “I thought the game was good early in the season, but there seemed to be something not quite right,� Molinari said after shooting a second-round 66 to get to 11 under par and in contention yet again at the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run on Friday. “Everything is coming together now,� Molinari added. Yeah, you could say that, if being arguably the hottest player in golf is your thing. Molinari shot a final-round 62 to win the Quicken Loans National two weeks ago, by eight shots. It was the first victory by an Italian on the PGA TOUR in over 70 years, and included an eagle, birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie turbo boost that left everyone else far behind. His tee-to-green performance was statistically the best by a winner on TOUR this season, and came on the heels of his big win at the European Tour’s BMW Championship. (He plays both tours.) And yes, he also rolled it well on the greens at 17th in Strokes Gained: Putting. “He’s more scientific,� Molinari said of his new putting coach, Kenyon. “We analyzed video and looked at the machines that measure the face angle, and my stroke wasn’t very good. Little by little be began to change things at Bay Hill, and it’s slowly gotten more consistent.� All of which helps explain why Molinari, 15th in the world and the highest-ranked player at the Deere, has become a force to be reckoned with even on a course he’d never seen before this week. He decided to play the Deere because he needed to add a new event, and wanted to play his way into The Open Championship instead of taking this week off. “Last year I didn’t play before The Open; I went to Birkdale to study the course, and it didn’t work out,� said Molinari, who missed the cut. “I had to play an event I hadn’t played in the previous four years, and thought it would be good to keep it going right until The Open.� Next week he will be back on his home side of the Atlantic, where he lives with his wife, Valentina, and their kids, Tommaso, 7, and Emma, 2. Molinari said they thought of moving last year, maybe establishing a base in the United States, but they’ve been in London nine years. They have friends, and Tommaso goes to school there. It’s home, and you can’t argue with that. Besides, in the midst of the best season of his career, in which he reached “the next level� with his eight-stroke romp at the Quicken Loans, Molinari would be crazy to change anything else. OBSERVATIONS HEARN LOVING TPC DEERE RUN. Canada’s David Hearn is no stranger to success at the John Deere, having advanced to a playoff with Zach Johnson and eventual champion Jordan Spieth in 2013. This week, Hearn is at it again, making 230 feet of putts over the first two rounds (66-64) to get into contention. “I guess I’m putting too well,� he joked after being asked by an official to demonstrate his stroke with the long putter after the round. (He was determined not to be anchoring.) “I just have a good feeling around here,� said Hearn, a member of the University of Wyoming Sports Hall of Fame who came into this week 152nd in the FedExCup. “I read the greens well. I’m just really trying to not think about too many things and try to point and shoot. Right now, they’re going in, so hopefully that continues on the weekend.� NOTABLES DAVIS LOVE III – Never got anything going (73-74) to miss the cut and lose to his son (below). DRU LOVE – Improved with a second-round 68 but was still likely to miss the cut at 1 under. WHEE KIM – Birdied three straight holes to close out the front nine and had it all the way to 11 under before a double bogey at the last gave him a second-round 68 and left him with some work to do on the weekend at 9 under. He’s 89th in the FedExCup. SAM RYDER – Playing three groups behind Kim, Ryder eagled the 10th hole and got to 12 under before also making double on 18. He is coming off a missed cut at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier and at 148th in the FedExCup needs to make a move. JOHN HUH – Roared back from a double-bogey on his last hole Thursday with an 8-under 63 on Friday. He’s 9 under overall, and 104th in the FedExCup. QUOTABLES I think that’s why I play so well. I’m not thinking about golf. I’m thinking about living. You can die in this heat.

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Kiawah Island is the longest course in major championship history so it should be no surprise that a new driver has been key to Phil Mickelson’s success halfway through the PGA Championship. Mickelson, 50, held the lead after Friday’s morning wave thanks to rounds of 70-69. He ranked first in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, in the top 10 of Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and averaged 298 yards off the tee. This is the first week that Mickelson is using a custom Epic Speed head that effectively has 5 degrees of loft. The shaft is 47.9 inches, pushing up against the USGA limit of 48 inches. “It’s like working with a long-drive competitor at that point,” said Gerritt Pon, Callaway’s senior club performance analyst. “He’s not using it for accuracy. He’s using it for distance. Interestingly enough, he’s the type of player who does not necessarily lose accuracy with the longer shaft. Some lose a tremendous amount, some actually gain a little bit, but he’s the type of player who doesn’t lose accuracy. But he gains speed. “To swing the longer shaft, he’s trying to hit up on the ball a little more than with a normal shaft. He’s creating a lot of loft at impact to launch it high, so the main things that had to be accomplished was making the driver low-spin and fast.” Mickelson’s new Epic Speed, which was built especially for him, features Callaway’s aerodynamic Cyclone head shape. A second screw was added to the front of the head to lower the center of gravity. “With faster swing speeds, you see more benefit from the aerodynamically-designed head,” Pon said. “He has a driver that is fast, easy for him to draw, mitigates the left miss (for a left-hander) more than some of our other models that are popular on TOUR, and is very low spin.” Mickelson tested an 8.5-degree model of the Epic Speed that was lofted down to 6.5 degrees but that head created too much spin. He wants his draws to spin under 2,000 rpms and his fades to spin under 2,400, Pon said. If Mickelson were right-handed, the increased number of offerings available may have made it easier to find a match for him. Making a head that fit Mickelson meant designing a new head in CAD and then working with the foundries to have it produced. That is typically an eight-week process, Pon said. “We started with a baseline of the Epic Speed, which was a long time in the making, and then modified it with Phil in mind,” Pon said. “This particular model of the Speed is pretty new. Even though it looks like the same Epic Speed, it’s a customized version for a left-hander who’s trying to swing a long shaft with low loft and low spin. “So basically Phil Mickelson.”

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