Expert Picks: WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

DUBLIN, Ohio – Rory McIlroy has a great rapport with tournament host Jack Nicklaus, whom he sees all the time at the Bear’s Club in South Florida. They have lunch, and talk golf and life. RELATED: Leaderboard | The Counsel of Jack Nicklaus As for the bond between world No. 8 McIlroy and Muirfield Village, host of this week’s Memorial Tournament presented by Workday, well… “Muirfield and I have had a bit of a complicated relationship,” McIlroy said this week, before opening with scores of 70-69 to reach 5 under par, two behind leader Denny McCarthy (69) as the afternoon wave teed off Friday. “It seemed to fit me quite well earlier in my career and then the last few years, I’ve sort of maybe struggled with the strategy of how to play it.” In 10 starts here, McIlroy has four top-10 finishes, but he also has two missed cuts, plus two other starts in which he made the cut but finished way, way back. He’s never won, or even had a close call. Still, he keeps coming back because it’s the Memorial. Also, he’s not terribly far off – here or anyplace else. McIlroy has finished second (Masters), fifth (Wells Fargo Championship) and eighth (PGA Championship) in his last three starts. And he’s embarking on a busy four-week stretch that will include not just the Memorial but a (2019) title defense, of sorts, at next week’s RBC Canadian Open and the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Boston the week after that. Then he’s off to the Travelers Championship. “I feel like my game is in good shape,” he said. “So I’m excited for this run and excited to give myself a few more chances to hopefully win golf tournaments.” For McIlroy, 14th in the FedExCup and seeking his first win since THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT last fall, Muirfield presents a special challenge, but not an insurmountable one. He can’t swing the driver with impunity, which means finding other ways to shine. “I feel like a lot of the fairways here pinch in around 310,” he said, “so it allows the sort of average hitters to hit driver. For an example, last year I played with Viktor Hovland the first two days, and the first hole, he can hit driver sort of right to where the bottleneck starts. I can’t hit driver because I’ll hit it too far but then I hit 3-wood, you know, 15 or 20 yards short of his driver. So I’m hitting 6-iron or 7-iron in and he’s hitting an 8-iron or a 9-iron in. “It just seems like the length advantage has sort of been nullified here over the last few years,” he continued. “It’s just finding a different way to play the golf course. A lot more 3-woods. I actually went to one of my old 3-woods this week that’s a lower lofted. It’s sort of like a 2-wood in a way which I think will be good to utilize this week.” That strategy seems to be paying off. Case in point, McIlroy hit a 269-yard fairway finder at the par-5 fifth hole Friday, then nuked a 271-yard 3-wood to within roughly six feet of the pin. He made the putt for eagle to reach 6 under par, only to hit his tee shot in the bunker and bogey the par-3 eighth, his second-to-last hole of the day, to leave a slightly bitter taste. “Yeah, another solid day’s play,” McIlroy said. “Couple of silly bogeys. Bogeyed the 11th par-5 and the 14th for the second day in a row. But I guess it sort of happens around here. It’s getting tricky and you’re going to make bogeys regardless of where they come. “Overall, two solid rounds of golf,” he continued, “right in contention going into the weekend, depending what guys do this afternoon. Yeah, happy with how everything is sort of going.”

Click here to read the full article…

From paying full mortgages to tossing every golf ball in the water to getting fired by text on the range, some tales of players and caddies are legendary.

Click here to read the full article…

There are 23 rookies on the PGA TOUR in 2017-18. This feature provides a subjective ranking updated weekly. The Rookie of the Year is voted by PGA TOUR members who make at least 15 starts. SNAPSHOT: The first doubleheader of the 2017-18 didn’t deliver any fireworks for the rookie class, but it could be one of those moments in time to which a couple of guys might reference later as a launch pad for the season. The World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions has been contributing to the FedExCup since the first wraparound season in 2013-14, but no rookies qualified for the first two editions. In the last three, 12 have competed at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, none faring better than Peter Uihlein on Sunday. His T5 is the first top 10 among rookies. That set includes non-members who were officially designated as rookies later in the same season. Contested concurrently at the Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi, the Sanderson Farms Championship crowned the first breakthrough champion of the season in Ryan Armour. He was a PGA TOUR rookie in 2007 when Brandt Snedeker captured the Rookie of the Year award. Twenty rookies at the first additional event of the season were paced by Ben Silverman. He tied for seventh, 10 strokes back of the winner. It’s the worst low-rookie result in the tournament since it was slotted into the fall portion of the schedule in 2015. Conrad Shindler was one of five to share the lead with an opening 66, but he scored 75-75-73 the rest of the way and finished T59. In his first-ever TOUR-sanctioned start, non-member Scott Strohmeyer was one of three to tie for fourth place at the SFC. With the equivalent of 68.333 FedExCup points in his bank, he’ll head to this week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open atop the ranking for non-members who have yet to exhaust rookie eligibility. Daisuke Kataoka, who placed T15 at the WGC-HSBC, slots second on the list with 55.200 points.* – In the field at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions as of Oct. 22. LOW ROOKIE — WGC-HSBC Champions: Peter Uihlein (T5). Second time (T10, CIMB). LOW ROOKIE — Sanderson Farms: Ben Silverman (T7). First Time. CAREER-BEST FINISHES (AND TIES) — WGC-HSBC Champions: None. CAREER-BEST FINISHES (AND TIES) — Sanderson Farms: Ben Silverman (T7), Tom Lovelady (T18), Talor Gooch (T30), Ethan Tracy (T30), Adam Schenk (T43), Conrad Shindler (T59). * – In the field at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open as of Oct. 29. Through the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and Sanderson Farms Championship NOTE: A player’s rookie season (“Rookie Year”) is defined as the season in which he becomes a PGA TOUR member (including Special Temporary Members) and plays in 10 or more events as a member or finishes in the Top 125 on the Official FedExCup Points List, the Top 125 on the Official PGA TOUR Money List or qualifies as a Top 125 – Nonmember, whichever occurs first. Further, for purposes of this definition, a new member (including Special Temporary Members) shall not be eligible for the PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year if he has previously played in more than seven (7) Official PGA TOUR Money events as a professional in any prior season.

Click here to read the full article…