Bryson: Majors should provide bids for LIV’s best

FORT WORTH, Texas — Steve Stricker was worried about withdrawing from the first round of the Fort Worth Invitational. Now he’s near the top of the leaderboard. Stricker felt his back crack on his fourth hole on Thursday and had trouble walking on his front nine. He signed for a 5-under 65 at Colonial Country Club, though, and was two back of leader Charley Hoffman after the morning wave completed play. Stricker, who won at Colonial in 2009, started Thursday’s round on the 10th tee at 8:06 a.m. The pain hit when he made impact with his 6-iron tee shot on the par-3 13th. He bogeyed the hole to fall to 2 over par. “I felt my lower-back crack right where I had surgery back in 2014, pretty much right on the spot,â€� Stricker said. “I tried to walk to the green and that wasn’t going so well. It kind of tightened up on me. “There were a couple times there where I was wondering if I should even be trying, if I should walk off and not risk injuring it some more.â€� He did keep going, and mounted an impressive comeback around the turn. He was 7 under par and bogey-free on his final 14 holes. He played the six-hole stretch from Nos. 15-2 in 6 under, including an eagle on the par-5 first hole, where he holed out from a greenside bunker. He added another birdie on the par-4 seventh to match his lowest score of the season. “It didn’t look or feel very good for a while,â€� he said. “I somehow just managed through it. It seemed to kind of loosen up and let go the more I kept playing. “I just kept plodding along.â€� Stricker, 51, has two wins and two runner-ups in four individual starts on PGA TOUR Championship. He’s made the cut in four of six PGA TOUR events in 2018. Stricker is No. 149 in the FedExCup standings, and needs some good finishes to make it back to the postseason. He has failed to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs just once (2015) in the 11 years since the FedExCup’s inception. This is his third consecutive week of competition. He finished T23 at THE PLAYERS and runner-up at the Regions Tradition, one of PGA TOUR Champion’s majors. “I’ve been feeling fatigued the last week or so. I don’t know if that has played a role in it. Maybe I’m old and I’ve played too much,â€� Stricker said. “It was a little scary. It was a pretty good crack and I had no idea what had happened.â€� He said that he would seek further treatment and diagnosis after his round and would skip Thursday’s post-round practice session to rest his back. NEW PUTTER PAYS OFF FOR HOFFMAN This is Hoffman’s 10th start at the Fort Worth Invitational, and seventh in a row. He’s never missed a cut at Hogan’s Alley, but he’s hardly found himself in contention, either. He has just one top-10 — a T10 in 2015 — at Colonial. That could change this week. Hoffman’s 63 on Thursday was his low round at Colonial by two shots. He missed just two greens and three fairways and didn’t record a bogey. A new putter helped Hoffman have his low round of the season by three shots. He gained more than two strokes on the greens Thursday. He dispatched the putter that he’s used for the past five years for a heavier one. “It worked today,” he said. “Putting is a fickle part of the game, so hopefully the good mojo continues.” Hoffman is one of just two players (Phil Mickelson) to qualify for the BMW Championship in every FedExCup season. That event is reserved for the top 70 in the FedExCup. Hoffman is 95th in this season’s standings, though. He has failed to record a top-10 in 15 events. NOTABLES Rickie Fowler shot 67 in his first round at Colonial since 2014. Fowler, who started on the 10th hole, made four birdies in a five-hole stretch from Nos. 15-1. Hitting fairways is a high priority at Colonial, so Fowler added a 2-iron to his bag to use from the tee this week. “That’s the name of the game on this golf course, get it in the short grass,â€� Fowler said. Jordan Spieth opened with a 1-under 69, his 17th sub-par score in 21 rounds at Colonial. His putting struggles continued Thursday, as he lost more than 1.5 strokes on the greens. He three-putted from 9 feet on the sixth hole, his 15th of the day, but birdied the next hole to get under par. He also was 0 for 2 from 7-10 feet on Thursday.

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Kevin Kisner, Alex Noren, Justin Thomas and Bubba Watson are the last four standing at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Here is what you need to know ahead of Sunday’s action. Day 5 tee times HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN (ALL TIMES ARE ET) TELEVISION: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (GC), 3-7 p.m. (NBC) (Golf Channel / NBC Sports LiveExtra simulcast stream) RADIO: 11 a.m.-7 p.m (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com)

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After an exhilarating week at the Masters it’s time to exhale and enjoy the (s)Low Country lifestyle of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina for the RBC Heritage. Pete Dye’s Harbour Town Golf Links in the Sea Pines Plantation will provide the backdrop, as it has done every year except 2011. The family-friendly atmosphere of resort life doesn’t mean easy by any means. Pete Dye’s tiny Bermuda greens, tree-lined fairways plus the coastal breezes makes this event anything but a hit-and-giggle. The pros love this test as the Par-71 (7,099 yards) doesn’t suit the bomb-and-gouge faction. Rather it requires decision-making, shot-shaping and the ability to navigate the winds that are usually ever-present this time of year. The “rough” won’t catch or slow down errant tee shots so playing out of the tress will be necessary and possible. The closely mown areas around the greens will provide a platform for plenty of chip-ins this week as well. Also, at less than 7,100 yards, finding the fairway will result in more wedges and lofted irons from premium attacking positions. Some of the smallest greens on TOUR won’t run white-hot because of the undulation and potential for wind so expect well-hit putts to roll in and Satoshi Kodaira returns and will look to join Boo Weekley as the only players to defend their title this century. The field of 132 is playing for a purse of $6.9 million with the winner’s share $1.242 million plus 500 FedExCup points. Need more Course Info? Check Rob Bolton’s Power Rankings, The First Look and Course Preview. Recent Winners Satoshi Kodaira (2018, -13): Making only his 15th TOUR start and his first at HTGL, the Japanese defeated Si Woo Kim on the third playoff hole to win the 50th edition. He began the day six back of Ian Poulter’s 54-hole lead and five back of Kim before he posted 66 on a blustery morning. Kodaira continued the trend of Masters participants winning here (only seven since 1982 have not played the week before) as he was T28 the week prior at Augusta. He also made it six consecutive winners who have overcome three or more shots in the final round. #PlayAll72. Notables: Led the field in proximity and continued the streak of winners to hit the top seven in Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-green. … The last four winners have been T2 or better in Par-4 scoring. … Bryson DeChambeau (T3) fired 64 in Round 2 to lead by one after 36 holes. … Poulter was looking to win for the second time in three weeks (Houston Open) but crumbled with 75 in the breeze (T7). Over 50 years the average winning score is 11-under. Wesley Bryan (2017, -12): Making only his 18th start on TOUR, the South Carolinian became the first native to lift the trophy. Like Kodaira, it was also his first time in the event so course history won’t be a dominant angle this week. Bryan only hit 40 GIR, the worst ever for a winner, but led the event in scrambling. Notables: Bryan made up four shots as Jason Dufner couldn’t make his 54-hole lead stand up. … Poulter began the day three back before 73 knocked him to T11. … First time the cut was under-par in 49 editions (-1). … Bryan, one of the seven not to play the week before, is not in the field this week as he recovers from a torn labrum. Branden Grace (2016, -9): The South African began the streak of first-time TOUR winners. Luke Donald led Grace by three entering the final round but finished T2 with Russell Knox, two back. Grace holed plenty of putts but he was also third in scrambling and second in Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green; also finished T7 in 2015 and T11 in 2017. Notables: Bryson DeChambeau made his professional debut and collected T4 cash. … Only five shots separated T30 thru T5. Key stat leaders Golfers around the top 25 in each statistic on the 2018-19 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. This is the 26th event of the season. * – Finished inside the top 10 since 2010 Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green  2  *Byeong-Hun An  5  Dustin Johnson (T16, 2018; first appearance since ’09)  6  Tommy Fleetwood (first appearance)  7  Corey Conners 10 *Patrick Cantlay 11 *Matt Kuchar 12 *Jason Kokrak 13 Lucas Glover 15 Xander Schauffele 17 *Luke List (T3, 2018) 19 *Jim Furyk 20 Sungjae Im 21 D.J. Trahan 22 Keith Mitchell Scrambling  1  Lucas Glover  2  Jonathan Byrd  3  *Aaron Baddeley  5  Tommy Fleetwood  6  *Jim Furyk  7  *Webb Simpson  8  D.J. Trahan 10 Ernie Els 11 Anirban Lahiri 12 Dustin Johnson 14 *Patrick Cantlay 15 Denny McCarthy 16 *Graeme McDowell (only top 10 is 2013 win) 17 *Si Woo Kim 18 Ryan Armour 19 *Brian Stuard 21 *Marc Leishman 23 Francesco Molinari 24 *Russell Henley Bogey Avoidance  1  Lucas Glover  2  Dustin Johnson  3  Charles Howell III (best finish this decade is T22)  4  *Jim Furyk  5  *Matt Kuchar  6  *Webb Simpson  7  D.J. Trahan  8  *Patrick Cantlay  9  Ernie Els 10 Jonathan Byrd 11 Xander Schauffele 12 *Aaron Baddeley 17 Tommy Fleetwood 18 Sungjae Im 21 *Graeme McDowell 22 Abraham Ancer (first appearance) 24 *Si Woo Kim  Par-4 Scoring  1  *Patrick Cantlay  1  Jonathan Byrd (1 top 25 in 14 starts)  3  Charles Howell III  4  Lucas Glover  7  Dustin Johnson  7  Jason Kokrak  7  Abraham Ancer  7  Xander Schauffele  7  *Jim Furyk  7  Ryan Palmer  7  *Si Woo Kim  7  *Webb Simpson 21 *Graeme McDowell 21 Scott Piercy 21 Rafa Cabrera Bello 21 *Matt Kuchar 21 D.J. Trahan (first start since 2012; 1 top 25 in nine previous) 21 *Aaron Baddeley Levels of Confidence Frequent Flyers Matt Kuchar: This is the 16th-consecutive appearance and he’ll be looking to make the weekend for the 15th-straight time. The 2014 champ is 42 under and has collected T23 or better over the last five editions. Jim Furyk: When healthy he was the winner in 2010 and 2015 with a pair of top-10 paychecks squeezed between. He’s healthy again! Webb Simpson: Solo second (2013) and T5 last year highlight eight consecutive starts that have finished on Sunday. Kevin Kisner: Aiken, S.C., native has rattled off P2, T11 and T7 in three of his last four starts and is 45 under during that stretch. Patrick Cantlay: Making his third start after a combined 20 under par the last two years (T7 2018, T3 2017). Bryson DeChambeau: He’s won five times on TOUR and has gone close twice here (T3 2018, T4 2016). Metal Detected Ian Poulter: Never missed in eight tries and has been all around it the last two years until Sunday. Kevin Streelman: Rattled off six straight with bookend top-10 paydays (T3 2013, T7 2018). Luke Donald: In the last decade he’s cashed T2, T3, 2, T37, T3, 2, T15, T2, 2 and MC in 2018. Aaron Baddeley: 2006 champ has cashed 10 of 14 and has seven inside the top 25.

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