Bland fires 66, ahead by 1 shot at Senior PGA

Tiger Woods has added another competition to his calendar for next month. Woods will play in his Hero World Challenge, he announced Wednesday on Twitter. It will be his first time teeing it up in competition since his emotional appearance in The Open at St. Andrews. The tournament, which he has hosted since 2000, will be played Dec. 1-4 at Albany Golf Club in The Bahamas. Woods also is scheduled to take part in Capital One’s The Match, where he will partner with Rory McIlroy to take on Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida. The PNC Championship, which Woods has played the past two years with his son Charlie, is Dec. 17-18 in Orlando. Woods has not yet committed to this year’s event, but playing again in the PNC would mean the 82-time TOUR winner would compete in three consecutive weeks in December.

Click here to read the full article…

THE OVERVIEW Cameron Champ is making his professional debut at this week’s OHL Classic at Mayakoba. He doesn’t yet have his PGA TOUR card, but once he secures it, expect the following prediction to come true at some point during his career. He will lead the TOUR in driving distance. OK, we’re not exactly going out on a limb with that one. Champ, the former Texas A&M star, showed earlier this year at the U.S. Open that he can outdrive the best players in golf. Not only did he lead the field at Erin Hills in driving distance, his 324.4-yard average (all drives) was 10 yards longer than the next players on the list, Trey Mullinax and eventual U.S. Open champ Brooks Koepka. On the measured holes (two per round), Champ averaged 337 yards. That was Champ’s first start in a TOUR event. His second came at last month’s 2017-18 season opener, the Safeway Open. Playing in a threesome that included former long-distance driving champion Jamie Sadlowski and former TOUR driving distance leader John Daly (the first TOUR pro to average more than 300 yards in a season), Champ averaged 311.9 yards on all drives in his first two rounds before missing the cut. Sadlowski averaged 317.9 yards while also missing the cut. Patrick Rodgers led the field on all drives for the entire week with a 306-yard average. Although Champ certainly relies on his strength off the tee, he knows that to succeed on TOUR, he’ll need a well-rounded game. At the U.S. Open, he was in contention through two rounds (tied for 4th) and eventually finished T-32 by finding Erin Hills’ generously wide fairways at a 75 percent clip. At the narrow Silverado layout, he hit the fairway just 35.7 percent of the time. Champ arrived early at El Camaleon to give himself more prep time. Despite the tight layout, he said the course “fits my eye and suits me well.� He’s figured out that it will again be important to find the fairway this week. Thus, his gameplan includes keeping his biggest weapon in the bag most of the time. “I’ll probably hit 2-iron on the majority of the holes,� Champ said. “Par 5s, obviously I’ll hit drivers.� Last week at Bear Creek Golf Club in Murrieta, California, Champ played in the second stage of Web.com Tour Q-School and finished inside the top 20 who will advance to the final stage in December. With at least some status secured, Champ opted to turn pro this week in the middle of his senior season at A&M. He’s playing on a sponsor’s exemption, one of the maximum seven that he can utilize. “I learned a lot from the first two pro events I played in,� Champ said. “Just have to get into my own groove and how to prepare right, how many practice rounds, how much practice, when to practice, when to leave the course, when to get there. I think I’ve kind of got it down for myself.� The one thing he definitely has down is his length off the tee. Until further notice, it will be his calling card. “I’m a pretty quiet, humble kid,� Champ said. “I don’t say much, but whenever I tee off, it kind of says it all.� THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER 1. PAT PEREZ: Defending champ. Current FedExCup points leader. Already a winner on TOUR this season. It’s a good time to be Pat Perez. 2. RICKIE FOWLER: His first career start in the OHL Classic is also his season debut. Time to start sending JT and Jordan a few messages. 3. CHESSON HADLEY: Top-five finishes in each of his first three starts this season. The only thing he hasn’t done thus far is finish first. Maybe that happens this week. THE FLYOVER The Mayan-influenced clubhouse offers a unique view for players as they stand on the tee at El Camaleon’s finishing hole, the 458-yard par-4 18th. Two years ago, the hole was the second-toughest on the course, playing to a stroke average of 4.214. Last year, it was a little friendlier, playing to a stroke average of 4.087 that ranked seventh most difficult. That made it the 21st most difficult finishing hole out of the 50 that were played on TOUR last season. Here’s a look at the 18th green and the clubhouse. WEATHER CHECK There should be some interesting weather this week at Mayakoba, with rainy conditions and challenging wind gusts for most of the week. PGA TOUR meteorologist Joe Halvorson reports that “instability increases Friday through the weekend as a cold front approaches and stalls out just north of the Yucatan Peninsula. This feature will bring chances for scattered showers and thunderstorms, in addition to increased northeasterly winds. Temperatures are forecast to reach highs in the middle 80s.� For the latest weather forecast from Playa de Carmen, Mexico, click here for the Travelers Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK I can’t believe what’s transpired in 12 months … I was just hoping, you know, not to get hurt and hopefully get my card back and that kind of stuff – and here I am, I won twice and now I got to 18 in the world. I just can’t believe it. ODDS AND ENDS 1. NOTABLE NAMES. Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed are each making their first appearances in this event, helping to raise the quality of the field. In fact, eight of the 24 players who competed at last month’s Presidents Cup are at Mayakoba this week – U.S. teammates Fowler, Reed, Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell, along with International players Emliano Grillo, Jhonattan Vegas, Anirban Lahiri and Si Woo Kim. 2. STROUD’S STREAK. The OHL Classic is in its 11th year, and Chris Stroud has yet to miss a start. He’s the only player in the field to have competed in all 10 of the previous events. During that span, he has three top-15 finishes – his best a T3 in 2014 – and has missed the cut just twice. 3. HOME-GROWN FAVORITES. There are five players from Mexico in the field this week – Abraham Ancer, Roberto Diaz, Oscar Fraustro, Carlos Ortiz and Jose de Jesus Rodriguez. Ancer, ranked 287th in the world, is the highest-ranked of those five. “I think it’s great for Mexico that since we have this tournament here, it’s helping more Mexican players come out and play and see where their game is,� said Perez, who is of Mexican-American descent. “I think it’s awesome.�

Click here to read the full article…

SANDWICH, England – Louis Oosthuizen took a deep breath after signing his scorecard and put on his best blank face before exiting the scoring area to face a myriad of media stops at The 149th Open. The South African is halfway to what would no doubt be an incredibly well-received second Open and major title after backing up a 64 with a second round 5-under 65 at Royal St. George’s – notching up a 36-hole record at 11-under 129. He knew what was coming. The same questions. Those bloody same questions about routinely being the groomsmen rather than the groom himself. Deep down it has to feel like nails on a chalkboard. But the pause – and collection of composure of thoughts – was certainly deliberate. Oosthuizen is a glass half full guy. Not half empty. And he knew he needed to just power through the commitments. Besides – if he’s hearing them again it means he’s playing well. It is no secret the 38-year-old has finished runner up in majors six times since his maiden major win at the 2010 Open Championship at St Andrews. This includes the PGA Championship from May and the U.S. Open in June this year. He has also been second at THE PLAYERS in the past. This time he is once again very well poised. But the names lining up right behind him are certainly nerve inducing. Oosthuizen has a two-shot lead over Collin Morikawa (64) and is three clear of 2017 Open champion Jordan Spieth (67). World No. 1 Dustin Johnson (65) is part of a three-way tie for fourth just four shots back. This won’t be handed to him no matter how much he deserves it. When the question about his “frustration” came as expected Oosthuizen went on the front foot. “It’s more inspiration I would say, knowing that I can still compete in majors. I just need to pull it through and see if I can go one better on this weekend,” he said. “The game is good, but I know it’s a really good leaderboard. I have to play good golf this weekend if I want to come out first.” In May, it was Phil Mickelson who bested Oosthuizen. The killer blow coming when he found water with his third shot into a par 4 down the stretch. In June he was playing solidly until Jon Rahm made back-to-back birdies to finish and with the feeling he needed to push a wayward drive on the penultimate hole found a canyon. It’s all in the experience bank now. “In a few of them I needed to play just that little bit better coming down the stretch,” he conceded noting a need for aggression at times. “Right now I think where my game is at, I just need to put myself in position, and this year is the best I’ve been putting, and I just need to hit greens and give myself any opportunities for birdies.” Should Oosthuizen win on Sunday he would join Julius Boros as players to wait 11 years between their first and second majors. Boros will keep the record though – by nine days. Records are there for the challengers also. Morikawa’s 64 in the morning wave posted the lowest 36 holes in an Open at Royal St. George’s (131) only for Oosthuizen to take it just hours later. All that would be forgotten if he wins on his Open Championship debut and become the first player to win two separate majors at their first attempt. He will also look to emulate Ben Curtis – the last player to win an Open on debut – who coincidentally won at Royal St. George’s in 2003. Willie Park Sr (1860), Tom Kidd (1873), Mungo Park (1874), Jock Hutchison (1921), Denny Shute (1933), Ben Hogan (1953), Tony Lema (1964) and Tom Watson (1975) are the only players pre Curtis to all win The Open on debut. On Friday he played with wisdom beyond his experience, noting some of his impressive par saves were perhaps more important than his seven birdies. “Out here in links golf you’re going to hit bad shots. You’re going to hit bad approach shots, bad tee shots,” he said. “To see the par save on 13 I’m really going to draw on that for the rest of the week because sometimes you have to just bite your tongue, play safe, and try and make par best you can. Sometimes bogey is going to be your friend.” Spieth concurs with Morikawa, especially as he believes officials have been nice in the opening two rounds, but won’t be as accommodating over the weekend. “These pin locations, though, they may not look so tricky on television, but a lot of them are on crowns and knobs and they’ve left a lot of opportunities to make them very, very subtly challenging,” Spieth warns, “I think that that’s what’s going to happen, which will obviously make it a little bit harder to make putts or get balls really close to the hole. They made it a good mix with some fun pins these first couple days.” Spieth joined the lead at the 12th hole but faded from there. His 1-under 34 on the back nine was bettered, or equaled by, the top 15 on the leaderboard. “Those last six holes were kind of frustrating. I think I need to bring more food on the golf course tomorrow. I really just got in a weird head space, like fatigued there on the 13th green as we were waiting and hitting putts,” Spieth said. “I just didn’t stay focused like I was early in the round. Wasn’t very sharp. It’s an easy solution for tomorrow. But the finish on 18 probably securing a second to last group on a Sunday is a good position to be in.” And then, there lurking, is Johnson. The two-time major winner seeks a third leg of the career slam. “Obviously I feel like I’m in a good position heading into the weekend,” Johnson said. “The course is definitely firming up. It was firmer this afternoon and it’s definitely going to keep getting firmer if the weather stays like this. I like the position I’m in going into the weekend. Still going to have to play some really good golf if I want to contend on Sunday.”

Click here to read the full article…