THE NORTHERN TRUST, Round 2: Leaderboard, tee times, TV times

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W. Va. — Kevin Chappell, needing two birdies in his final two holes to shoot 57 on Friday at A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier, was not only battling The Old White TPC golf course, but he was also battling a shortage of “newâ€� golf balls. After every birdie Chappell makes during competition, he switches to a brand new golf ball, because he says that there’s only one birdie in each ball. The problem on Friday was that Chappell made 11 birdies in 16 holes, and he only had 11 new Titleist Pro V1 golf balls in the bag to start the round. That meant, with two holes left and sitting at 11-under par for the day on the par-70 golf course, he had to reuse a golf ball that he had already made birdie with. Chappell said, in a press conference following his Friday round of 59, having to reuse birdied-out golf balls could be the reason why he failed to birdie his final two holes. “We ran into a problem there, and that could have been the reason… why I didn’t make those putts on the last few holes,â€� Chappell said. In troubleshooting mode down the stretch, Chappell tried out two different used golf balls on his final two holes (he started on the back nine). “When I made birdie on 7, and I reached in [my bag] on 8 tee, there were no more new balls in the new ball pile,â€� Chappell explained. “So I had to reuse a ball… I reused a ball on 8, and I didn’t like the way that one went. So I put that one back and grabbed another one, and reused a ball on 9.â€� Using the already-been-birdied golf balls, Chappell two-putted from 54 feet 3 inches on his 17th hole for par, and he missed a birdie putt from 10 feet 9 inches on 18. Throughout the course of the round, Chappell did make his fair share of putts, however. He made 141 feet 2 inches worth of putts in total, picking up 5.008 strokes over the field. While he may attribute those made putts to his golf ball superstition, he also has a new prototype putter in the bag that helps with his setup. Chappell has a custom, half-mallet TaylorMade Mullen putter in his bag with a hosel that adds offset to the putter. Since Chappell sets up with his hands behind the putter face on occasion, the offset helps Chappell achieve his desired putter loft. “It’s got a lot of offset on it,â€� Chappell explained about his putter. “I tend to get my hands back when I putt, so this the grip sits in front of the face already. So if my hands tend to get back, they’re already in front of the face, so the putter has the proper amount of loft on it. The putter is actually the second version of a prototype putter made by Chris Trott, Director of Global Tours at TaylorMade. Due to Chappell’s love of the onesie clothing style, Trott stamped the first prototype putter “onesie,â€� and the second one “twosie.â€� So, Chappell’s custom TaylorMade Mullen putter that he used to shoot 59 on Friday has “twosieâ€� stamped on the sole. “It’s the second iteration of a putter that TaylorMade makes, and I have quite the onesie collection at my house,â€� Chappell said. “Chris Trott with TaylorMade, he named the first [prototype putter] ‘onesie.’ This one has a little bit more offset, so this one is called ‘twosie.’â€� Chappell currently sits in 5th place at 10-under par through two rounds, three strokes behind the leaders.

Click here to read the full article…

Click here to read the full article…

OPELIKA, Ala. — Chad Collins missed a chance for the 10th sub-60 round in PGA TOUR history and third of the season, parring the final two holes for an 11-under 60 on Friday in the second round of the Barbasol Championship. Collins hit his approach to the back fringe on the par-4 18th, leaving a 70-foot downhill birdie try that he hit 5 feet past. “I just got myself out of position off the tee, which you can’t do,” Collins said. “Probably one of the easiest hole locations on the green, so it was kind of unfortunate to not hit the fairway and I probably would have had a better look at birdie there. I gave it a run. I’m not too disappointed at all by 60, so I’ll take it.” After six straight birdies on Grand National’s rain-softened Lake Course, the 38-year-old player from Indiana player missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th. “Hit a good shot, but I hit it a little heavy,” Collins said. “I didn’t think it was going to get back there and it must have had a lot of overspin, hit the downslope, chased back there. I wasn’t sure how close it came to going in, but had to come pretty close. And then the putt was a little tricky. We couldn’t quite figure out if it was kind of right center, right edge or left center, left edge. Just kind of lost a little bit of speed and broke off the left edge. ” Jim Furyk shot a record 58 last year in the Travelers Championship in Connecticut and is one of eight players to shoot 59. Justin Thomas and Adam Hadwin shot 59s in January — Thomas in his victory in the Sony Open in Hawaii, and Hadwin in the CareerBuilder Challenge in California. Collins had five birdies in a front-nine 30, parred the 10th and ran off the six straight birdies to get to 11 under for the round. “It kind of crossed my mind probably on the par-5 16th,” Collins said about breaking 60. “Didn’t hit a very good tee shot there, but it was probably going to be a three-shot hole anyway. Then hit a good approach shot in there to 10 feet or so. When I made that, obviously with two holes to go, just needed to make one.” Collins topped the leaderboard at 15-under 127 halfway through the round. He made the 36-hole cut for only the fifth time in 23 events this year. The two-time Web.com Tour winner had missed five straight cuts and 11 of 12. “This year’s been kind of a struggle for me,” Collins said. “I haven’t been playing that well and it’s super nice to see putts fall in, good ball-striking and being in position on the weekend.” Collins had his lowest round on the PGA TOUR and tied the course record set last year by Jhonattan Vegas. “Owe it all to the putter,” Collins said. “I did strike it well, but I made a lot of putts. Made a few that I probably shouldn’t have made, had a stretch going there on my back nine of five or six in a row. Hit some clutch shots, but just made a lot of putts.” He also shot 60 in a 2013 Web.com Tour event in Utah, playing his first nine holes in 9-under 27 with an eagle and seven birdies. “Obviously, the course in Utah, in my opinion, was a little bit more gettable,” Collins said.

Click here to read the full article…