The First Look: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Jim “Bonesâ€� Mackay will soon return to the fairways of the PGA TOUR, just not in his old role. Mackay, who spent the past 25 years as the caddie for Phil Mickelson, will join Golf Channel and NBC as an on-course reporter, the network announced Thursday. Mackay will start his new job in two weeks at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Mackay also will cover this year’s FedExCup Playoffs and Presidents Cup. “During my years as a caddie, I had the opportunity to watch Tommy Roy work his magic in the production truck and walk the fairways with Notah Begay, Roger Maltbie and Mark Rolfing. To join them and be a part of the coverage of some of golf’s biggest events – starting with The Open – is an opportunity I’m very grateful for,â€� Mackay said in a release. “I’m eager to add my take to help illustrate the strategic decisions golfers face inside the ropes. Mackay and Mickelson were known for their lengthy banter before shots, which was often captured by on-course microphones. Their debates about the myriad ways the imaginative Mickelson could potentially play a shot became the subject of memes and social-media satire. Fans appreciated how their conversations provided insight into one of golf’s most creative minds. Mackay, who could famously veto one shot per year, often played the conservative foil to his boss, who had a reputation as a swash-buckling shotmaker who reveled in risk. Mackay, 52, was on the bag for 41 of Mickelson’s 42 career wins and all five of his major championships, including the 2013 Open Championship. Mickelson has played in all 11 Presidents Cups, starting in 1994. A good player in his own right – he was a NCAA Division II All-American at Columbus State in 1988 – Mackay has a reputation for his strong golfing mind. He said it was his love of the game that led to this new role. “I was a golf rat as a kid. I would watch everything from start to finish. I would read golf magazines from beginning to end,” Mackay said. “I’ve always been fascinated by the game at this level.” Mackay got his first taste of broadcasting at the 2015 RSM Classic when he and Matt Kuchar’s caddie, John Wood, were on-course reporters for Golf Channel’s coverage. Mackay has signed a multi-year deal with Golf Channel and NBC, according to the release, marking the first time a full-time caddie has been added to a network’s broadcasting team. “The player-caddie dynamic in golf is often one of the most compelling and unique narratives being captured during our coverage,â€� said Roy, the lead golf producer for NBC Sports. “Bones has a career’s worth of experience being immersed in the most pressure-packed situations on golf’s biggest stages working alongside Phil, one of the most cerebral champions in the sport.â€� THE PLAYERS Championship, SBS Tournament of Champions, World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship and the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play are among the other tournaments on Golf Channel and NBC’s broadcast schedule.

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PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) — Joel Dahmen, who took advantage of gentle, morning conditions Thursday on a tough Copperhead course, shot a for a 5-under 66 and a share of the lead with Austrian-born Sepp Straka in the Valspar Championship. Dahmen is playing a course he had never seen for the third straight week. But he has been playing well of late and considers himself a streaky player. Coming off a tie for 12th at THE PLAYERS Championship, he handled Innisbrook with six birdies and a strong finish — a 6-iron to 4 feet for birdie on No. 3, a 7-iron to 5 feet on the par-3 fourth hole, a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 9. The lead stood when the wind picked up in the afternoon. Of the 28 rounds in the 60s, only eight were in the afternoon. One of them belonged to Dustin Johnson, who had not seen Innisbrook in nine years. He had a 69, with one birdie coming on the 578-yard 14th hole with a big drive and a 3-wood dead into the wind to 30 feet. “I played a little bit better than my score,” Johnson said. “But first time being here in a while, not real used to the golf course … all in all, it was a good score. I felt the conditions were tricky.” It was all part of an action-filled day at Innisbrook, where Russell Knox wiped out a double bogey on No. 9 by hitting 3-wood into the cup from 274 yards for an albatross on the par-5 11th, and riding that to a 29 on the back nine. He was one shot behind at 67. “It’s a good way to go from plus 2 to minus 1 very quickly,” Knox said. “Didn’t even have to putt, which was great.” And for the second straight week, Peter Uihlein saw the rarest shot in golf. He was standing on the 12th tee when he watched Knox’s ball roll onto the green and into the cup. Last week at THE PLAYERS, Uihlein was in the same group when Harris English made an albatross. The group at 67 included Kevin Kisner and Luke Donald. Donald has been battling a back injury that has limited him to just six tournaments worldwide in the past year. Donald was tied for the lead until a bogey on the final hole from a tough spot in a bunker some 30 yards short of the pin on the 18th. And while it’s just one round, it’s a round he needed to see for his state of mind, much less his back. “It makes your back feel better, actually, when you make a few birdies and hole a few putts,” he said. “It’s good for the soul. And it’s been a while since I had a really good round like that, and it does feel good. I felt very relaxed out there, which is somewhat unusual. The last year or two hasn’t really been that way.” Defending champion Paul Casey opened with a 70, while Jon Rahm made his Innisbrook debut at 71. But even the easier morning conditions didn’t help Patrick Reed, who had a 77, or Jason Day at 74. Knox finished his front nine with a double bogey for a 38 until the albatross turned his fortunes. He added three more birdies to turn a rough start into an ideal one, especially considering the importance of these next two weeks. He is No. 62 in the world, which gets him into the Match Play next week. He has two tournaments to crack the top 50 and get back to the Masters. “Getting into Match Play was big,” Knox said. “I’ve been building a bit of momentum. The Masters has been on my mind since the first of the year.”

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BRESCIA, Italy — Martin Kaymer compiled a bogey-free 63 on Friday to lead the Italian Open by one shot at the halfway stage, as several of Europe’s top golfers came to the fore. The Ryder Cup player from Germany birdied five of his last six holes, and had eight in total, as he produced the lowest round of the week to move to 11-under after 36 holes on another day of low scoring at the Gardagolf Country Club. “It’s been a while since I played that solid,” said Kaymer, who missed the cut in three of his last four events. “I was getting very close recently but that positivity was missing on the golf course because I haven’t had a lot of good results. “It doesn’t matter if you’ve won majors and had the situations I had at the Ryder Cup, it’s really exciting to be in a position that you can win a golf tournament again.” Kaymer, whose last win yielded a second major title at the 2014 US Open, was one ahead of Italy’s Francesco Molinari, 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett, Graeme McDowell, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Thomas Pieters. Willett reached a career-high ninth in the world after claiming his first major title at Augusta National, but has plummeted to 462nd after struggling for form. The 30-year-old Englishman returned a 65 on Thursday, his lowest round of the season, and followed it up with a 67. “I haven’t made a cut for a while so to actually be this side of the leaderboard is pretty nice,” said Willett. “I’ve been working really hard. I’ve not been getting any results and you just have to keep your head down and hope that you get a couple of days like this under your belt.” The entire field will be separated by just seven shots over the weekend after the cut fell at 4 under par.

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