Warriors’ Steph Curry, Damion Lee attend U.S. Open final round

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Here are nine tidbits from the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. The Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida, plays 7,419 yards (par 72). Pain or gain These were the top five picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: The eight-time winner was the main choice this week to the surprise of absolutely no one. All five on this list made the cut and they are all within five shots of each other heading to the weekend. People’s Choice: Tiger Woods There’s an old saying that you can’t win the tournament on the first day but you can lose it. Forgive me if I push this to include the second round as well. Woods didn’t have his best stuff on Friday but his even-par round of 72 didn’t turn into a blow-up round and MC. He held it together around the greens, saved some fantastic pars and will play the weekend seven shots off the lead. On a course where he’s dominated over the years, there’s no chance I’m writing him off. He’ll need a round in the mid-60s tomorrow to give his O&D investors hope. Moving Day Thoughts After the conclusion of play on Friday there are only five players within four shots of the lead shared by Henrik Stenson and Bryson DeChambeau, who both posted 11-under-par 133. It’s been no secret that the mornings have been chilly for the first two rounds but that’s changing on Saturday. I’d expect some hotter starts as guys will have feeling in the fingers and toes as temperatures will be much warmer for the earlier tee times. It’s interesting to see that the strongest wind will be later in the afternoon so I’d expect some low ones in the early wave. Morning Show Those of you who did your homework this week will know two things about 36-hole co-leader Bryson DeChambeau. His WD last week after an opening-round 76 chased me away but maybe I should have stuck around. In 2016, as an amateur, he was paired with Rory McIlroy on Sunday and lost by a shot. McIlroy shot 65 and they both finished T27. DeChambeau has played six rounds at this event is 17-under-par. #Noted. … Rookie Talor Gooch backed up his opening-round 65 on Thursday afternoon with a 70 on Friday morning and is alone in third. This makes perfect sense as he entered the week on back-to-back MCs in the last two Florida events. He has three top-25 finishes on the season with T16 at Sony Open in Hawaii the best. Afternoon Edition South Korean Byeong-Hun An posted his second consecutive 68 and sits alone in fourth. He set gamers up last week at Valspar after closing 69-65 at The Honda Classic (T5). The response was 73-73 and MC and plenty of groaning for those who were on board. He has more rounds above par than below par in Orlando but his metrics are strong across the board after two rounds. … Patrick Reed hasn’t been deterred by his “comebacker” on the final green last week at Valspar as he sits T6 after 68-70. He’s made two doubles but leads the field in putts per GIR and T2 in birdies. I hope the Houston resident doesn’t have one eye on WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play or Houston Open just yet. 3 up Big hitter Luke List continues his excellent form. His bogey-free 67 in the morning wave moved him up 26 spots to T6 and five shots of the lead. His worst payday in his last five events is T26. … Gamers (see: Glass) were SEETHING this afternoon as they noticed Ryan Moore ascending the leaderboard. THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN LAST WEEK on a course he had previous successes, not at Bay Hill where his best finish is T34 in the last four years. His best weekend round in those four years is 73. Caution. … Charley Hoffman posted the round of the afternoon wave with a bogey-free 66 to jump up 27 spots into fifth place. The 54-hole co-leader from last year also shot 66 in Round 2 last year. He’s just four shots back but his four trips before last year included three MCs and T59. 3 down While Gooch was firing 70 after his 65 on Friday, Aaron Wise had a rougher ride following his 65. His 76 included six bogeys and a double plus an eagle and two birdies. Bay Hill is usually tough on young kids that don’t have the chops but I think he bounces back tomorrow because he’s not in that group. … The biggest surprise of the day might have been Brian Harman shooting 75 after his opening-round 68. The man who leads the TOUR in top-10 finishes gave up 31 spots on the leaderboard. He’ll need a couple really good ones on the weekend to add to that total. … Did the jet lag finally catch up to Emiliano Grillo? His opening-round 69 was followed by 75 to drop him 40 spots to T53. Last week he was in the hunt in the Hero Indian Open (6th) in New Delhi, half a world away. He’s rattled off 13 consecutive cuts worldwide. MC HOF World No. 29 Louis Oosthuizen (76-74) continues to frustrate gamers but he’s been doing this since he won the 2010 Open Championship. … World No. 31 Kiradech Aphibarnrat played this event twice before and cashed T6 each time. This week he’s out early (73-74) as the cut was 1-over-par. World No. 33 Matthew Fitzpatrick made three doubles on Thursday and dug a hole too deep (76-71). … I’m officially concerned about World No. 36 Kevin Kisner. He had the 54-hole co-lead here last year but that couldn’t spark him. He’s now MC in his last three events where there was a 36-hole cut and two of those are on his beloved Bermuda. Study Hall Friday’s scoring average of 72.059 was barley better than Thursday’s 72.20. … Along with Stenson, List and Hoffman, J.B. Holmes also posted a bogey-free round. Holmes has now made the cut here in nine of his last 10. … Billy Horschel has only made one bogey on the week and sits T6. This is his first weekend in five starts. … Danny Willett opened with even-par 72 but WD after four holes on Friday. He said on Twitter that his game is good but he needs to get his body to 100 percent.   Tweet of the Day

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The schedule for the 2018-19 PGA TOUR season has been released. As expected, the changes are dramatic and intriguing. The shifting of tentpole events and a compact finish certainly gives the golf world a fresh look, and no doubt will generate considerable buzz. There’s a lot to like about the changes – and here are my top 10 things. I like THE PLAYERS Championship’s move to March. There are many reasons (including the one below), but a key one is that the chances of sweltering heat should be diminished. A quick check on weather.com indicates that average temperatures for Ponte Vedra Beach in March are a high of 72/low of 55. Average temps in May are a high of 83/low of 68. May not seem like a huge difference but I welcome the opportunity of wearing a thin sweater on a crisp morning at TPC Sawgrass. I like that the Florida Swing is intact. By moving THE PLAYERS Championship back to March, that means all four of the Sunshine State’s events are compacted into a nice month-long run, starting with The Honda Classic to open March. There’s just a nice symmetry and rhythm to having the TOUR move from Hawaii, to the West Coast, then to Mexico, then to Florida. Everything seems in harmony. On the flip side, I like that the two events in North Texas are now split. Having grown up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, I always considered it special to have the TOUR in DFW for two consecutive weeks (it’s a bragging thing in Texas, of course), with the tournaments just 30 miles apart. But I sometimes wondered if the second-week event suffered from fan fatigue, or perhaps was merely seen as an extension of the first week … or vice-versa. By having the year’s second major (the PGA Championship) splitting up the tournaments, each of my two hometown events should have its own identity. The AT&T Byron Nelson gets the buildup going into the PGA, and the Charles Schwab Challenge gets to reset the next phase of the schedule. On the third flip side (is that even geometrically possible?), I like that the other two Texas events are on consecutive weeks. With the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play keeping its place in the second half of March, followed by the Valero Texas Open moving into the slot previously occupied by the Houston Open, there is a new Texas Two-Step on the calendar, those two tournaments just 80 miles apart (Houston is twice as far). Yet there is no danger in either one suffering an identity crisis – a limited-field match play event followed by a full-field precursor to the Masters. I like the Midwest swing. With the Rocket Mortgage Classic moving to Detroit Golf Club, followed immediately by the new 3M Open at TPC Twin Cities, then the John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run, there’s now a three-week stretch for the terrific golf fans in those states (Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois) during a key portion of the FedExCup regular season. It also helps negate Ohio’s loss of the World Golf Championships event at Firestone. Of course, Ohio already has one of the TOUR’s cornerstone events, the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, in early June. Speaking of Detroit and Minneapolis, I like that the schedule is adding two great musical cities. Motown speaks for itself, and then you add in Prince’s hometown. My fondness for Minneapolis also extends to two criminally underrated bands — Husker Du, and The Replacements. Throw in TOUR stops in jazzy New Orleans, Elvis’ Memphis, and the Live Music Capital of the World in Austin, and any golf fan can get his music fix properly filled. I like that the national opens of Canada and the U.S. are now back-to-back. Just works better in my head than having the RBC Canadian Open follow the Open Championship. Plus, I like that 100 years after the first Canadian Open, next season’s event will have its earliest finish in tournament history. The RBC Canadian has been held eight times in June, with the earliest finish coming on June 21, 1959 (a Doug Ford victory by two strokes). I like the almost frightening step-on-the-gas finish in the regular season. The last three weeks of the schedule include a) the lone overseas major; b) a new-WGC venue in Memphis at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational; and c) the traditional finale to determine the FedExCup Playoffs field. Oh, and throw in two opposite-field events, and you have five tournaments that will have a huge impact on the makeup of the 125 players advancing to the Playoffs. It’s not too dissimilar to this season’s schedule, but the challenge of traveling back from the Open Championship (at Royal Portrush next year) and revving up again so quickly seems a bit more daunting. Speaking of which, I like that The Open Championship is the final major of the season. It’s certainly not the first time golf’s oldest major has held that position; the last time, in fact, was 1971 when the PGA Championship was played in February, and there were several years before in the first half of the century. It’s actually a bit of a throwback schedule, and yet it provides a fresh approach. I like the three-tournament FedExCup Playoffs ending in August. It’s nice to have things settled before football starts dominating the fall weekends, and eliminating the off-week will prevent a disruption in momentum. Indeed, the volatility with just three events should turn the Playoffs into a wild ride. While I will miss TPC Boston next season – a visit to New England that time of the year is never bad, and the seafood at the Fresh Catch in nearby Mansfield makes life worth living (ask Angel Cabrera about his four-lobster night) – something had to give. Besides, the Playoffs are expected to be back at TPC Boston the following season, so the lobster bib won’t stay in drydock too long.

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