Bethpage is my one association with Tiger, and I’ll take it! – Lucas Glover

  CHARLOTTE, N.C. – It doesn’t take much for Rory McIlroy to contend at the Wells Fargo Championship. Five swings on Wednesday evening did the trick this time. McIlroy, making his first start since a difficult defeat at the Masters, headed to the range after feeling rusty in Wednesday’s pro-am. A quick look at the TrackMan made him realize that his clubface was closed through impact. “It almost feels like I’m trying to hold the clubface square for longer,� McIlroy said. That swing thought worked Thursday. He shot a 3-under 68 that left him one shot off the lead after the morning wave. McIlroy, who’s making his eighth start of the season, is 32nd in the FedExCup after a win in March at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. He hit just four fairways Thursday but still gained strokes off the tee by averaging 325.4 yards on all tee shots. More importantly, he hit 14 greens. And the putting lesson with Brad Faxon is still paying dividends, as McIlroy gained +1.6 strokes on the greens. “I love this place,� said McIlroy, who turns 29 on Friday. “I feel like I don’t have to play that well and I can still get it around.� McIlroy has finished outside the top 10 just once in seven Wells Fargo starts, including two wins. He set a course record in each start, shooting a final-round 62 in 2010 and third-round 61 five years later. Jason Day was on the practice green in 2010 when he watched a frustrated McIlroy walk off the ninth green after making the cut on the number. Two days later, McIlroy was holding the trophy after making 17 birdies and an eagle on the weekend. “He’s explosive in that way,� Day said. “It’s very similar to what Tiger does. He’ll come to a course and he’ll like it so much that he’s very dominant on it. This is a driving golf course. If you’re a good driver, you get the opportunities. He hits it long and straight and obviously he’s putting better.� Quail Hollow lets McIlroy hit a lot of mid- and long-irons and swing aggressively off the tee. The towering trees that frame the fairways help him envision the proper shot. When asked if it reminded him of Augusta National, McIlroy laughed and said, “I’ve just won here a couple times. That’s about the difference.� Of course, McIlroy needs a Masters win to complete the career Grand Slam. This year’s edition was his closest call at Augusta National since he completed the other three legs. A third-round 65 put him in the final group with Patrick Reed, but even during that remarkable round McIlroy could tell his game was not in top shape. “I was sort of holding it together,� he said. And it fell apart under the Sunday pressure. He shot a final-round 74 to fall into fifth place. He spent the week after Augusta National binge-watching television shows (Billions), reading books (The Chimp Paradox, Essentialism) and drinking wine. “Erica had to drag me out of the house,� he said. “Once I got back in my routine, I was fine.� He confirmed that Thursday. He’s back to his old ways at the Wells Fargo Championship.  

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Rickie Fowler’s swing is off-kilter, and so his title defense at The Honda Classic is over. One bad hole almost led Rory McIlroy to have a free weekend, as well. Fowler bogeyed six of his first nine holes Friday en route to a 76. He has two missed cuts and a lost 54-hole lead in three starts since his victory at the Hero World Challenge, where he shot a final-round 61. “I haven’t been swinging it great … the past month, month-and-a-half,” Fowler said after his round. “It’s close. A little bit off and the wind is going to make it look like you’re a terrible weekend golfer.” McIlroy made a triple-bogey on the par-3 17th, his eighth hole Friday, but a second consecutive 72 should allow him to squeeze inside the cut line. McIlroy won the 2012 Honda Classic and lost a playoff to Russell Henley in 2014, but he has struggled since. This was his seventh consecutive over-par round at PGA National.  They weren’t the only ones to have a tough time. PGA National’s Champion Course is playing especially tough this year because of strong south Florida winds and some agronomical struggles on the greens that have led to slick putting surfaces.  Thursday’s average score was more than 2.6 strokes over par and Friday wasn’t any easier. “It seemed like every hole that we had a right-to-left wind, the pin was on the right and vice versa, so it was hard to get it close,” McIlroy said. He was even par over his final 10 holes to give himself two more rounds at PGA National. When asked what he would play for over the weekend, he replied, “World-ranking points, FedExCup points and some cash, hopefully. That’s about it.” He’ll play the weekend in his adopted hometown for the first time since 2014, but another victory seems all but out of reach.

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HILTON HEAD, S.C. – We’ve grown accustomed to seeing Brooks Koepka in the mix on Father’s Day with consecutive wins and a solo second at the last three U.S. Opens, respectively. Thanks to the coronavirus, though, America’s national championship won’t be played until September. But the RBC Heritage, first canceled and then resurrected, took those holiday dates, and Koepka put together his best tournament of the season, closing with a 65 on Sunday for a seventh-place finish. Prior to this Father’s Day, though, Koepka, who had a painful stem cell injection to repair a partially torn patella tendon his left knee after last year’s TOUR Championship, hadn’t finished higher than a tie for 32nd at the Charles Schwab Challenge. He ranked 204th in the FedExCup, as a result. The top-10 finish at Harbour Town, though, vaulted Koepka 56 spots to No. 148. The top 125 at the end of the Wyndham Championship in mid-August advance to the FedExCup Playoffs where the winner of the $15 million bonus will be decided. Koepka has made it to the TOUR Championship four of the past five seasons and has yet to miss the Playoffs. In fact, his last top-10 finish prior to Sunday came at East Lake in August when he tied for third. “Obviously, six months off, three with the lockdown and then three on my knee, so, yeah, it feels like it’s been a really long time since I’ve even felt some juices flowing,” Koepka said. “It just felt nice to be in contention again. I feel like I played OK. I putted terrible today.” The RBC Heritage marked the second straight tournament in which Koepka had posted four rounds in the 60s. He played his final 14 holes in 7 under, including two eagles, one of which came when he drove the green at the par-4 ninth. “It wasn’t too bad,” Koepka acknowledged. “I hit shots exactly kind of how I wanted to coming down the stretch, which was nice. Obviously, it’s been an incredibly long time for me to be in contention. It just felt good to be back in the swing of things.” Koepka said he was trying to get to 21 under before ending up three short, and he called the 65 he shot as disappointing a score as he could have had. Webb Simpson won what turned into a shootout with a tournament-record score of 22 under. “It just felt nice to feel something again,” Koepka said. Koepka credited a session with the renowned Butch Harmon, the father of his swing coach Claude Harmon, prior to THE PLAYERS Championship with helping get things back on track. A meeting of his inner circle also bore fruit. “I told them what I wanted to do is get back to what got us there,” said the four-time major champion. “I think sometimes, when you get to the top, you change things a little bit. I laugh at it now because I always say, when I do that, I’m not going to do anything, and I think I tried to play too perfect instead of just being me, just go out and play golf.” The three-month break also enabled Koepka to spend more time with his physical therapist, Derek Samuel, who is based in San Diego. He says his body feels better than it has in years. “A lot of work I’ve done with Derek, with him, just manipulating the knee, the kneecap, it’s been a long road,” Koepka said. “It just feels like I haven’t been healthy for a very long time. My body feels great. I feel like I can really move through the golf ball. The knee feels great. “Finally able to do things I wasn’t able to do for a very, very long time. So, I’m excited, playing good, and I just need to keep it up.” Koepka is entered in this week’s Travelers Championship.

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