Tiger Woods looks solid in first-round 68 at PGA Championship

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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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AUSTIN, Texas – Bryson DeChambeau battled to a tie with Richard Bland in his long-awaited return from injury, before confirming he may compete in another long drive competition a week after the upcoming Masters. RELATED: Bracket, Scoring | Match recaps from Wednesday | Five matches to watch Thursday at WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play DeChambeau and Bland couldn’t be separated after 18 holes at the World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play, the first time the big-hitting American has played on the PGA TOUR since missing the cut in January’s Farmers Insurance Open. The eight-time winner was recovering from a fractured hamate bone in his left hand and a torn labrum in his left hip. The 28-year-old could have been staring down a loss against the veteran Englishman but was the beneficiary of a mid-round rule change from TOUR officials that helped preserve his position in the match. DeChambeau was granted free relief from a sprinkler head on the drivable par-4 13th hole at Austin Country Club, despite the fact Belgium’s Thomas Pieters was denied it in the same circumstances earlier in the day. The issue reared up thanks to some unfortunate wind gusts during course set up that saw the red hazard line paint find its way onto the edge of the sprinkler head, effectively making an area that should be outside a penalty area, inside it. When Pieters found himself resting on top of the sprinkler but up against red painted grass in his match against Tom Hoge, he was denied permission to move his ball. While technically a correct call by the official, it was not how the course was intended to play. As a result the incident prompted the rules committee to deliberate quickly and a decision was made to amend the hazard line. But before they could change the paint, DeChambeau’s match reached the 13th hole and he chipped his second shot into the same place. After discussion with officials DeChambeau was afforded relief, tied the hole, and officials repainted as they left the green. “Two wrongs don’t make a right. To make the correction before Bryson’s match got there was important,” Chief Referee Gary Young explained. “There was nothing we could do to fix the Thomas Pieters situation. It was over with. But just to get it right was important. The decision had already been made prior to his ball getting there. We had discussed it. We were in the process of getting the paint to the location, and the call came from the official.” Had this been a stroke play event the change would not have been able to have been made but as DeChambeau’s ruling had no effect on Pieters’ match, or any others on the course, the adjustment could be made. Pieters lost the 13th hole to Hoge to reduce his lead to two holes and was visibly upset with the decision. Thankfully, despite losing the 14th as well, he was able to rally and close out a 2-up win. “One of the rules officials come up and he clarified it to me that Thomas didn’t get relief but they changed it because it just wasn’t right and apparently, they can do that in match play,” DeChambeau said post-match. “So, I felt really bad for him, but lucky break for me.” DeChambeau gave himself a pass mark in his return despite being far from his best. He missed his title defense at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and THE PLAYERS Championship during his hiatus and only began practicing five days prior. “I was very cautious, there were a lot of drives out there that felt really bad because it’s not going places I want it to go. (That’s) just because I’m not confident with how my wrists are moving through it,” DeChambeau said. “That will get ironed out over time, a little bit of nerves, calming that down, and playing golf again. I started touching a club last Friday and six weeks off is not an easy task to come back and play against the best in the world. “(The injuries) are fine… as of right now it’s holding up well and I pray it holds up the whole way.” If his body does hold up through this tournament, next week’s Valero Texas Open, and then the Masters, DeChambeau floated a return to the Professional Long Drivers Association’s next event at Hobe Sound in Florida on April 14-16. DeChambeau made it through to the final eight in the World Championships in Mesquite, Nevada last year and hopes to continue his quest for even more power, speed and distance. “If I’m progressing positively and not overdoing it every day and having these micro progressions and I get to Augusta where I am close to 200mph ball speed again, there is a possibility if nothing gives out, and its structurally stable, that I’ll do that,” DeChambeau said about the Florida competition. “I want to do it, I love it, it’s one of my favorite things to do to help grow the sport a bit. I know this (PGA TOUR) is where my home is, but at the end of the day I want to expand out and try and give people a little bit of a show too.” First up is Thursday’s match against Lee Westwood in Group 9 play, a match he can’t afford to lose if he is to stay alive in the title race.

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