Cameron Champ, his foundation supporting Black-owned small businesses

BLAINE, Minn. — Adam Hadwin missed the weekend cuts in his last three tournaments, continuing a disappointing stretch as he dropped to 120th in the FedExCup standings. RELATED: Leaderboard | TPC Twin Cities’ par-5 finishing hole anything but a snoozer The 33-year-old Canadian has put himself in position to get back in contention for the playoffs with a strong run at the 3M Open. Hadwin shot a 6-under 65 on Friday for a share of the lead with Ryan Armour at 10-under 132. Armour shot 65. “I drove it really well today,” Hadwin said. “Wasn’t in any trouble, hit a lot of good quality iron shots. Again, fat sides of the hole, I gave myself opportunities. My speed control’s been really good. It’s been as stress-free a 65 as you’re going to have.” Hadwin and Armour were two of few players in the afternoon to go low as wind started to play a role following a hot and humid morning with heat indexes reaching 100 degrees. Bo Hoag (66), Chez Reavie (67), Jhonatton Vegas (69) and Roger Sloan (69) were a shot back. All four played in the morning. Dustin Johnson bogeyed the 18th hole after putting his tee shot in the water and missed the cut. He shot 72 to finish at even par. The cut was 2-under. Staying in contention this weekend would be a boon to Hadwin and Armour. Hadwin, who finished fourth in the inaugural 3M Open in 2019, was just inside the cut for the FedExCup Playoffs. The top 125 in the standings make the Playoffs. Armour started the tournament 135th. “I think the biggest thing coming in this week, I’ve just been a little bit more committed to the process and less on the outcome,” Hadwin said. “Certainly Playoffs, maintaining status, all that stuff has probably been creeping in a bit in the last little bit and I probably got away from some of the little details that make this game happen for us. So, I’ve gotten back to that these last three rounds and it’s worked out a lot better for me.” Hadwin, famous for shooting a 59 at the CareerBuilder Challenge in 2017, had a 69 on the final day of the Open Championship and followed with a 67 on Thursday in Minnesota. His only PGA TOUR win was the Valspar Championship in 2017. Armour’s lone victory came in the 2018 Sanderson Farms Championship. He’s coming off a fifth-place finish at last week’s Barbasol Championship. He birdied five of his final eight holes Friday. “I’m trying,” Armour said. “We’ll worry about the points later. I don’t feel like I’ve really had as bad a year as 135 sounds. I missed five or six cuts by a shot, so you’re always kind of around that cut line and I just fell on the wrong side of it a few times. That’s what kind of gnaws at you because you feel like, man, it’s not that bad, so maybe I should be higher, but you’ve got to go out and get it done and we’re just trying our hardest right now.” Eleven players finished their first rounds Friday after a weather delay Thursday left them unable to finish. With more inclement weather forecast overnight, the 3M Open will go with threesomes off split tees Saturday. Vegas was able to finish in the dark on Thursday, but it wasn’t without incident as his approach on the 18th hit the top of a hospitality tent. The ball was found and he was given relief and finished with a birdie and a tie for the lead. One of four players at the 3M Open slated to play in next week’s Olympics, Vegas kept his strong recent form going Friday. The Venezuelan was among the leaders before a bogey finish on the ninth hole, which is playing as the toughest on the course. Vegas has tied for 11th or better in three of his last five tournaments. “I feel I like I’m keeping the ball in play pretty well, giving myself enough chances, making a few putts, which is always good,” Vegas said. “The wind is blowing and it’s kind of that intensity that is a little bit annoying, especially some of those shots with so much water around this place, but played solid. I can’t really complain too much.”

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PGATOUR.COM: This year marks the sixth year of the Morgan Stanley Eagles for Impact Challenge – can you tell us a little more about this initiative and First Tee, your new charitable partner? Alice Milligan: Morgan Stanley has a longstanding commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and providing the next generation of diverse youth with the tools they need to succeed. When we became a Proud Partner of THE PLAYERS, we developed the Eagles for Impact Challenge which has allowed us to celebrate great golf shots while giving back. Inspired by Morgan Stanley’s Institute for Inclusion – which was launched in June of 2020 to accelerate an integrated diversity, equity and inclusion strategy driving change within our firm and beyond – we have focused our Eagles for Impact initiative on increasing representation through access and education. The Eagles for Impact initiative now lives within our broader campaign platform, Everyone Deserves a Shot. The campaign strategy is centered on the idea that a more inclusive and representative society starts with increasing education opportunities and opening doors for the next generation. This year, we have teamed up with First Tee, a youth development organization that shares our goal of growing access to the game. PGATOUR.COM: Given the new focus of Eagles for Impact, can you share details about the program and how your donations will support First Tee’s mission? Alice Milligan: For every eagle made throughout the tournament, Morgan Stanley will donate to First Tee to help support the recruitment, development and retention of diverse coaches. These dollars will directly support First Tee in providing continued training for diverse coaches so all participants can see and learn from representative role models. Coaches are the backbone of First Tee programming – they help create character-building experiences to prepare kids for any challenges they may face, and First Tee continues to make it a priority for their coaches to represent all current and future participants. To date, Morgan Stanley has donated over $1.2 million through the Eagles for Impact program. We’re looking forward to counting eagles again this year to further our impact. PGATOUR.COM: Are there any on-site events this year that you’re particularly excited about? Alice Milligan: Yes, Morgan Stanley will host a special event at THE PLAYERS on Tuesday, March 8th with First Tee. During the event, we will host 20 young women from First Tee-North Florida, where they’ll have the opportunity to hear from a variety of industry experts on their career journeys, walk the TPC Sawgrass course and view the practice rounds. Their final stop will be at the Morgan Stanley Eagles for Impact venue, where they’ll be the first to play three special putting greens they helped us design for fans to enjoy during the tournament and pick up exclusive Morgan Stanley swag. PGATOUR.COM: Can you tell us a little more about the firm’s broader efforts in the diversity and inclusion space? Alice Milligan: Commit to diversity and inclusion is the firm’s fifth core value – it is a key area of focus for our employees and our clients. Most recently, Morgan Stanley announced the Institute for Inclusion’s Equity in Education and Career Consortium. In collaboration with partner organizations, this initiative will support high school and college students to achieve stronger career and financial outcomes. Funded by an initial commitment of $20 million, EECC helps address systemic inequities in education and career outcomes for young adults from low-to-moderate income backgrounds with a focus on ethnically diverse students. Other key initiatives include the HBCU Scholars Program, which provides 60 four-year full ride scholarships at Howard Harvard, Morehouse College and Spelman College, over a 5-year period. In 2021, the Firm announced the first cohort of 12 students selected for the scholarship at each school and we’ll be announcing our second cohort this summer. Finally, The JumpStart Initiative, which was created in partnership with LEAD (Lead, Education and Development), a non-profit that works with high-potential youth from diverse backgrounds, develop their professional knowledge, find mentors and gain access to educational resources that might otherwise be out of reach.

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DUBLIN, Ohio – Rickie Fowler has long set fashion trends on the golf course so seeing him in slick sunglasses during an overcast opening round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide was not overly surprising. RELATED: Fowler debuts patriotic golf ball at Muirfield But the five-time PGA TOUR winner revealed his often-imitated fashion style was not the primary reason for wearing the glasses at Muirfield Village through a rainy Thursday. The glasses are in fact prescription and have been a huge help as Fowler continues his climb out of an on-course slump. “I always struggled with seeing more than say 150 yards and little things far away,” Fowler revealed after a tidy 3-under 69 to open the tournament. “It’s not enough to where I really wanted to try going to Lasik or anything like that. I’ve always been able to see up close fine, I don’t have any problem with that. The only time I start to struggle with some depth perception is in low light situations, so early morning or as the sun’s going down. And so I just wanted to try another option before going to Lasik down the road.” Fowler is coming off a T8 at the PGA Championship, where he also had the glasses, his first top-10 on TOUR since January of 2020. The eyewear has been another missing piece of the puzzle as he fought through swing changes. The 32-year-old had experimented with eyewear in the past at home but his swing had been so rapid that glasses would not stay in place. With his new more measured swing things have changed. “I always felt that with the nose piece, with how much I move sometimes in the swing it would get in the way and I would lose sight of the ball, so I didn’t like glasses forever,” Fowler explained. “But now that things have been cleaned up and I swing a little bit more within myself, that gave me the opportunity to try standard sunglasses without prescription and I saw that I wasn’t squinting as much, I wasn’t stressing my eyes as much, especially with it being bright out too, especially in Florida. “So I said, shoot, why don’t we try prescription. Now I can actually see the ball land.” Fowler finished runner up at Muirfield Village in his first appearance in 2010 and again in 2017. At 126th in the FedExCup and 101st in the world rankings he is also chasing a kick up the season long standings and a berth in the U.S. Open at his hometown Torrey Pines from June 17-20. Fowler must forge his way inside the world top 60 via his Muirfield Village result or get through 36-hole final qualifying on Monday – a quest he wasn’t concerned about. “I’ve done it before, been there a handful of times… it’s been a quite a few years, but no, it wasn’t something I was like necessarily bummed out about, I put myself in this position. So we got a tee time on Monday, let’s go qualify and get our spot at Torrey Pines,” Fowler, who got through qualifying twice as an amateur said. “The biggest thing that I learned from those 36-hole days is don’t try and press it. Kind of you’re playing a little bit more conservatively and just kind of keep moving forward. I was talking with a couple of these guys yesterday, just kind of saying, don’t trip over your shoelaces, you don’t have to do anything super special, just go play golf and keep moving forward.”

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