Morikawa’s hot start continues, sits at 11 under

The World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play is back. Thursday’s second round is the second of three days of group play. After Friday, the player with the best record in each of the 16 four-man pools will advance to knockout play (ties will be broken via sudden-death playoff). Two rounds apiece will be played Saturday and Sunday to crown a champion. This is the only PGA TOUR event where players go mano-a-mano, and Austin Country Club is a perfect site for this format thanks to its offering of risk-reward holes. There will be 32 matches conducted on Thursday, and this file will be updated live at the conclusion of each match to keep you apprised of the action from the TOUR’s only match-play event. Return here often to learn about the latest upsets, comebacks and nail-biting finishes. THURSDAY RECAPS (Click here for live scores) GROUP 10 COREY CONNERS (2-0-0) def. LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN (0-2-0), 2 and 1 When people talk about the vagaries of match play, Oosthuizen should be presented as Exhibit A this week. He has made 11 birdies in the last two days and is winless. Oosthuizen hit a silky approach to 10 feet on the second hole to make birdie and take the lead, then matched birdies with Conners on the fifth hole. But Conners won the sixth, eighth and ninth holes to turn at 2 up and although Oosthuizen tied the match again on 13, an untimely tee shot on 16 coupled with a birdie from 8 feet by Conners on the par-3 17th hole closed the match quickly. “It was a hard-fought battle,” Conners said. “I felt like I played really well on the front nine. Got myself into the lead making the turn, kind of struggled in the first few holes on the back nine and was able to escape not losing too many holes and then won a couple at the end.” Oosthuizen is scheduled to play Paul Casey on Friday, although Casey has conceded both of his previous two matches. Conners will play Noren. Both are 2-0, with one win coming against Oosthuizen and the other via concession from Casey, meaning the winner of the match will advance to the Round of 16. ALEX NOREN (2-0-0) def. PAUL CASEY (0-2-0), concession Casey conceded his match for the second consecutive day, this time against Noren. Again, Casey said that his back was continuing to spasm, just as it was on Wednesday when he stopped his match on the second hole against Corey Conners. Casey told reporters that he has not decided if he will play in his Friday match against Louis Oosthuizen, but at 0-2 with two concessions, he has no chance to advance into Saturday’s Sweet 16. Meanwhile, Noren has the day off and is 2-0. He outlasted Oosthuizen, 1 up, on Wednesday in a match where Oosthuizen made seven birdies and never led at any point.

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Delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ryder Cup returns this week at Wisconsin’s Whistling Straits, the scenic Pete Dye design on the shores of Lake Michigan. It’s the 43rd playing of the team competition between the United States and Europe. The U.S. Team is led by Captain Steve Stricker, who will helm his squad in his home state. The U.S. looks to avenge a 17 ½ -10 ½ loss to Europe three years ago in Paris. Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington is Europe’s captain this year. U.S. ROSTER: Collin Morikawa (Rookie), Dustin Johnson (5th Ryder Cup), Bryson DeChambeau (2nd), Brooks Koepka (3rd), Justin Thomas (2nd), Patrick Cantlay (Rookie), Tony Finau (2nd), Xander Schauffele (Rookie), Jordan Spieth (4th), Harris English (Rookie), Daniel Berger (Rookie), Scottie Scheffler (Rookie). EUROPE ROSTER: Jon Rahm (2nd), Tommy Fleetwood (2nd), Tyrrell Hatton (2nd), Bernd Wiesberger (Rookie), Rory McIlroy (6th), Viktor Hovland (Rookie), Paul Casey (5th), Matthew Fitzpatrick (2nd), Lee Westwood (11th), Shane Lowry (Rookie), Sergio Garcia (10th), Ian Poulter (7th). STORYLINES: On paper, the U.S. Team is the favorite – its average world ranking is 9, while Europe’s is 30 — but Captain Steve Stricker is hoping a return to the United States and the firmly pro-American crowd will help his squad hoist the trophy at the end of the week. Team USA has won just two Ryder Cups in the last 20 years and both (2008, 2016) were home games… This will be the first Ryder Cup since 1993 without Phil Mickelson or Tiger Woods, although Mickelson is one of Stricker’s vice captains… It’s setting up as a battle between youth and experience, as the U.S. Team is sending six rookies to Whistling Straits, while Europe boasts Ryder Cup veterans in Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy and captain’s picks Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter. Garcia has earned the most points of anyone in the history of the Ryder Cup and is looking to add to his total. The average age of the U.S. Team is 29.1, while Europe’s is 34.6… While there were a few health questions surrounding the game’s top guys recently, they seemed to be answered. World No. 1 Jon Rahm battled a stomach bug before missing the cut at the season-opening Fortinet Championship. Brooks Koepka withdrew from the TOUR Championship after hurting his arm on a tree root, but confirmed to Golfweek that he is good to go. A back injury caused The Open champion Collin Morikawa to struggle in the FedExCup Playoffs, as well… Will previous experience at Whistling Straits be a factor? The last major contested at the course was the 2015 PGA Championship, where five Americans finished inside the top 20 (led by Jordan Spieth, who was runner-up). There was just one European (Rory McIlroy) who finished inside the top 20 (although McIlroy did finish just one shot out of a playoff in the 2010 edition)… There hasn’t been a ‘close’ Ryder Cup in any of the last three editions. Will this be the year where it comes down to the end? Europe won by seven points in 2018, while the U.S. won by six in 2016. Europe won by five in 2014. In 2012, Europe triumphed by a single point after the ‘Miracle at Medinah,’ coming back from a 10-6 deficit in the final day. COURSE: Whistling Straits (Straits), par 71, 7,390 yards (yardage subject to change). The Pete and Alice Dye masterpiece on the shores of Lake Michigan was inspired by the dramatic links of Ireland and boasts rugged, wind-swept terrain. It hosted the PGA Championship in 2004, 2010, and 2015 plus the U.S. Senior Open in 2007. RYDER CUP RECORD: United States leads 26-14-2. However, Europe holds a 11-8-1 edge since the old Great Britain & Ireland team was expanded to include the entire continent of Europe. LAST TIME: Led by Francesco Molinari’s 5-0-0 record, Europe defeated the U.S., 17 ½ -10 ½ and regained the Ryder Cup. The American squad got off to a fabulous start at Le Golf National in France – winning the opening session, 3-1. The U.S. was swept in the afternoon of the first day, however, and then lost the following session, 3-1. It went into Sunday’s singles down 10-6, and despite winning 2 ½ of the first three points, Europe was just too strong and had too big a lead to overcome. Europe won the Sunday singles 7 ½ – 4 ½ . Sergio Garcia’s singles win made him the all-time points leader in the Ryder Cup, while Molinari, winner of that year’s Open Championship, became the first European to earn the maximum five points at a Ryder Cup. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Friday: 8 a.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday: 8 a.m.-9 a.m. (Golf Channel), 9 a.m.-7 p.m. (NBC). Sunday: 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC) Streaming: Featured Matches (Various): on Peacock, RyderCup.com, and the Ryder Cup app.

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NASSAU, Bahamas – We could argue all day which golfer currently is the world’s best. If you want to lean on the latest rankings, this week it’s Brooks Koepka. But if you want to identify golf’s most consistent performer, that’s much easier to pinpoint: Justin Rose. Start with the fact he won the FedExCup in late September without the benefit of a victory in the Playoffs. In the 12-year history of the FedExCup, it’s the first time that has happened, as Rose was fueled by three top-five finishes in the final three Playoffs events. His consistency in that stretch gained him the PGA TOUR’s biggest prize. Of course, he has spent time (as recently as last week) as the world’s No. 1-ranked player, thanks to his continued high finishes. Since the end of the Playoffs, he’s made three starts, finishing eighth, third and then winning his last appearance at the Turkish Airlines Open. It’s no wonder he’s among the betting favorites (along with Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson) in the local sports books for this week’s Hero World Challenge, played near one of his part-time residences. In his last 13 starts, Rose has bookend victories (starting with the Fort Worth Invitational in May) and nine other top 10s. The headscratcher is his missed cut at the first FedExCup Playoffs event, THE NORTHERN TRUST. It was his first missed cut in more than a year. He obviously bounced back pretty well from that. But it’s not just the end results that reflect Rose’s consistency. Take a look at his Strokes Gained rankings last season: 16th in Off-the-Tee; 17th in Approach-the-Green; 6th in Around-the-Green; 21st in Putting; 4th in Tee-to-Green; and second (to Johnson) in Strokes Gained: Total. In other words, he finished top 25 in each of the TOUR’s key statistical categories. In the ShotLink Era, that’s historically consistent. Since 2004, just two other players have ever ranked inside the top 25 in each Strokes Gained category during a given season. It happened in the 2014-15 season when Jordan Spieth and Jason Day each pulled off the trick. Speith, of course, won five events (including two majors) that season en route to the FedExCup. Day also won five times. While Rose didn’t produce that kind of success, he now has a game that contends every time he tees it up. “My consistency’s been fantastic,� he said this week. “But if I can just bring the next gear or the next level more consistently, that’s going to translate to more wins.� The outlier in Rose’s all-around game always has been his putting. When Strokes Gained was first launched in 2004, he ranked 162nd that season in Putting. Until last season, he ranked inside the top 100 on TOUR in that category just three times – the best in 2010 when he tied for 53rd. Knowing that area of his game needed ramping up, he switch to a claw grip in the middle of the 2016 season until switching back to a regular style for awhile. He won Olympic gold that August and leaned on the old style at the Ryder Cup in Hazeltine. “Ryder Cup’s a tough week to introduce a new putting grip,� Rose said, “but I wish I had.� He went 2-3-0 that week and lost his Singles match to Rickie Fowler in the U.S. victory. But once making the full commitment to the claw grip, he hasn’t looked back. Putting success didn’t happen overnight, but he’s now at a comfort level that he’s never before experienced on the greens. “It took a lot of nit-picking away from my stroke and I think it’s allowed me to focus on other aspects of putting,� Rose said. “Putting’s not about a perfect stroke. It’s about skill acquisition, being able to read greens well, put it on the right speed, obviously start it on your line. “I just felt it simplified a lot of my process and I think that’s been the reason statistically this year’s all compiled into my best putting year ever.� Now that he has all aspects of his game working at an efficient rate, the key is to maintain that high level. And as we’ve seen, one year of consistency across the board doesn’t guarantee future consistency. Just ask Jordan Spieth, who last season struggled with his putting. Ranked second in Strokes Gained: Putting in the 2015-16 season, Spieth ranked T-123rd last season. Plus, addressing weaknesses is easy, as it provides a specific target to work on. Maintaining is more difficult, as lapses could happen with any club in the bag. Rose has a plan on how to handle it. “It’s always a matter of how do you protect that, how do you keep your strengths being your strengths,� he explained. “You’ve still got to focus on them. I’ve begun to develop what I call sort of my minimum viable product in terms of practice daily. What do I have to do daily just to kind of maintain what’s going well? And then when I get inspired to go down a route with my game, then I’ll get into a practice session based upon improvement. That could be different just depending on how I’m feeling. “I still think my iron play could be a lot stronger. It’s inherently been a strength of mine, but I think statistically, I haven’t been hitting my irons as I would like for the past number of sessions. Short game, chipping – I feel like there’s still a level I can go to there.� The overall goal, of course, is to win more tournaments. If he does so this week at the Hero World Challenge, he will return to the No. 1 spot in the world, and he’d love to close out the 2018 calendar year in that position. With his next PGA TOUR victory, he would have 10 in his career. That would be the most by any English player since the end of World War II. And, of course, he’ll manage his 2019 schedule in a way that will maximize his energy in the big events. He may have the most unique trophy case in golf – the FedExCup, an Olympic gold medal and a U.S. Open win – but at age 38, he knows the window of opportunity for more majors is starting to close ever so slightly. It’s been five years since that U.S. Open win, and after knocking on the door a few times – three second-place finishes, including last year’s Open Championship – he’s feeling a sense of urgency. “It’s time for me to win another major,� he said. For the time-being, though, he’s enjoying life as golf’s Mr. Consistency. It’s nice to wake up every day, get to the course, and have no significant weaknesses. Few golfers at any level can say that. “I feel good,� Rose said. “I’m really enjoying my golf and I think that’s the most important thing as well. It’s easy to enjoy when it’s going well, but I’m enjoying not necessarily the success or the results, but I’m enjoying the process and I think that’s important.�

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