Bad blood brings good theatre to U.S. Open

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Two-time PGA TOUR winner Steven Bowditch will undergo spinal fusion surgery similar to that undertaken by Tiger Woods after doctors finally uncovered the source of two years of back pain the Australian had been struggling with.   Bowditch – who won the 2014 Valero Texas Open and 2015 AT&T Byron Nelson – had tried to battle through the mystery pain for two years.   The result was missing 25 of 27 cuts in 2016-17 and then missing the weekend in all eight tournaments he played in 2017-18.   Multiple MRIs had failed to pick up any problems until Bowditch was recently recommended to undergo a moving X-ray and the results picked up two stress fractures and spinal slippage.   “I have been diagnosed with Pars Defect and Spondylolysis. After meeting with several surgeons, who all arrived at the same conclusion, treatment is a surgical fusion of the L5 and S1, which I will undergo next month,� Bowditch said in a statement on social media.   “I spent much of the last two years dealing with lower back pain, leg numbness, sciatic pain, loss of control of my right side and tingling in my toes.   “I had exhausted everything I could think of to diagnose the source of my pain … several MRIs, multiple injections, chiropractic adjustments, physical therapy and massage. It would appear to calm down and then flair right back up as soon as I resumed golf activity.�   With the pain affecting his day-to-day life with his wife and young daughter, the 35-year-old is just grateful to have found the cause.   “I haven’t slept in my own bed for eight months. I need to sleep on a couch with my legs in the air to keep my back straight,� he told PGATOUR.COM.   “It is just such a relief to know what’s going on and hopefully this will ensure a pain-free future and a return to golf.�   While no timetable for a competitive return is set, Bowditch is hopeful he can be fit by late 2019.

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DETROIT — Tony Finau shot a 7-under 65 on Saturday to match Taylor Pendrith at 21-under 195 with a round left in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. RELATED: Leaderboard | Inside the Field: Wyndham Championship The 3M Open winner last week in Minnesota, Finau is trying to become the first to win consecutive regular-season tournaments in three years. A stroke ahead entering the round, Pendrith birdied four of the last five holes for a 66. Rookie of the year front-runner Cameron Young (65) was four strokes back. He matched the Detroit Golf Club record with a 63 on Friday. Stephan Jaeger was five shots back after a 65. Patrick Cantlay, the defending FedExCup champion, was six shots behind after a 66. Pendrith was the second-round leader after setting the tournament 36-hole record at 15-under 129. The 31-year-old PGA TOUR rookie from Canada missed nearly four months this year with a broken rib. The duel in Detroit seemed like match play with Pendrith and Finau taking turns pulling and falling into ties and moving ahead. Pendrith opened with 6-foot birdie putt to take a two-shot lead. Finau pulled within a stroke on the next hole, making a 20-foot chip from the greenside rough for birdie. “Stay hot, Tony!” a fan shouted. Pendrith, who had his share of fans back home in Ontario, looked cool and calm as he bumped fists with two young boys as he walked to the third tee. Finau pulled into the lead with a 15-foot putt at No. 3, then Pendrith pulled his 3-foot putt to miss an opportunity to stay ahead. Pendrith’s errant tee shot to the left on the par-5 631-yard fourth hole put him in the No. 6 greenside rough, leaving him behind several towering tees in his path to the green. He he hit a shot 104 yards to the hole, an approach within 16 feet and made the putt to restore his one-stroke lead. Pendrith took a two-stroke lead at No. 6, making a 7-foot putt that curled in the right side. Finau equaled Pendrith at 18 under at the turn after making birdies at Nos. 7 and 8 while Pendrith missed an 8-foot putt and made bogey on the ninth hole. Pendrith ended up behind a tree again at No. 13, forcing him to chip back onto the fairway and leading to a bogey that dropped him him into a second-place tie with Young. Finau took a two-shot cushion with an 8-foot birdie putt at 14. Pendrith, who won twice on PGA TOUR Canada, bounced back from his second bogey with three straight birdies to pull back into a tie with two holes to play. Finau went ahead at 17 with a birdie, and Pendrith tied it again with a birdie on the 54th hole. If Finau can outlast the competition to win Sunday, he will be the first to win two straight regular-season events since Brendon Todd in 2019.

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