Carnoustie presents a fast, brown look for British Open

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – The PGA TOUR released today the four featured groupings for Thursday-Friday at this week’s inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club in Detroit, Michigan. Full groupings and starting times for the first two rounds at the Rocket Mortgage Classic will be released officially at approximately 12 p.m. ET on Tuesday, June 25th. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured groups). Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes). International subscribers (via GOLF.tv): Thursday-Friday, 11:030 to 22:00 GMT. Saturday-Sunday, 13:00 to 22:00. RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com). Dustin Johnson, Chez Reavie, Patrick Reed • Johnson is No. 2 in the Official World Golf Ranking and No. 7 in the FedExCup standings • Reavie won last week’s Travelers Championship, his first TOUR title in 11 years, to move to No. 12 in the FedExCup standings • Reed, who has qualified for the TOUR Championship in five straight seasons (2014-18), sits outside the top 70 in the FedExCup (No. 73) Gary Woodland, Keith Mitchell, Brandt Snedeker • Woodland, making his first start since capturing the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, is No. 5 in the FedExCup standings and seventh in the U.S. Presidents Cup Team standings • Mitchell, the winner of The Honda Classic earlier this year, is No. 30 in the FedExCup standings • Snedeker – the 2012 FedExCup champion – shot 59 en route to winning the 2018 Wyndham Championship, contested at another Donald Ross course, Sedgefield Country Club Rickie Fowler, Charles Howell III, Kevin Kisner • All three players have wins in the 2018-19 PGA TOUR season and are inside the top 20 in both the FedExCup and the U.S. Presidents Cup Team standings • Fowler, a Rocket Mortgage ambassador, is 10th in the FedExCup and ninth in the U.S. Presidents Cup Team standings • Howell is 15th in the FedExCup and 16th in the U.S. Presidents Cup Team standings on the strength of a victory at the 2018 RSM Classic • Kisner won the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in March and sits 17th in the FedExCup and 15th in the U.S. Presidents Cup Team standings Bubba Watson, Hideki Matsuyama, Billy Horschel • All three TOUR Championship regulars sit outside the top 30 in the FedExCup standings • Watson, 71st in the FedExCup standings, has qualified for the TOUR Championship in eight of the last 11 seasons • Matsuyama is 34th in the FedExCup standings and looks to extend his streak of TOUR Championship appearances to six in 2019; currently fourth in the International Presidents Cup Team standings • Horschel, the 2014 FedExCup champion, is 54th in the FedExCup standings after qualifying for the TOUR Championship in three of the last six years

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. –  Even when the Internationals won a hole on Saturday, it seemed to backfire on them. A ruling on the 325-yard par-4 12th disqualified Jordan Spieth from the hole, but that only served to fuel his rally with partner Patrick Reed, as they won the final three holes of their afternoon Four-ball match to claim a 2 and 1 win over Jason Day and Louis Oosthuizen at the Presidents Cup. The match was all square going into the drivable 12th. The Americans had already conceded a birdie to Day when Oosthuizen attempted a chip for eagle from behind the green. The ball rolled well past the hole, then Spieth scooped up the ball while it was still in motion with the back of his putter. “The crowd was all cheering for it to continue to go down the slope,â€� Spieth said in explaining his actions. “I thought that was a little excessive, so I just tried to pick it up so we could just then … be quiet and we could go on with the rest of the hole.â€� The ball had not yet come to rest, and European rules official Andy McPhee had no choice but to disqualify Spieth from the hole. That prevented Spieth from attempting a 12-foot birdie putt that could’ve halved the hole. Instead, the Internationals won the hole to go 1 up. A discussion took place on the 12th green after the ruling, with Spieth explaining his actions to McPhee. U.S. Captain’s Assistant Tiger Woods also spoke with McPhee. “It’s a bad rule. We all agree,â€� Spieth said. “The Internationals wanted to concede the 13th hole. They felt so bad, even though I was a good 12-, 15-feet away from the hole. They handled it so well. Obviously we were trying to do the right thing; a rule’s a rule.â€� The International duo each said they did not want to win the hole that way. “I had no idea that there was a rule like that,â€� Oosthuizen said. “Unfortunately, you know, he’s there — a rules breach — we didn’t want to halve it. We wanted Jordan to putt and we offered the 13th hole to them, to walk to 14, and Jordan said, no, that’s the rule, and that’s how it is and don’t worry about it. “You know, that is the rule but again, silly rule. Added Day: “This is what’s wrong with rules sometimes in golf. He’s just doing the courtesy thing. I understand that Andy is trying to do his job and we’ve got to live by the rules out here in golf but it’s just unfortunate. “We wanted him to putt. No one wants to win a hole like that. It’s kind of a stupid rule. That’s why I think golf rules should be simplified a lot more.â€� NBC rules analyst Stephen Cox said that if McPhee hadn’t been assigned to the match, “I think you probably would have seen a situation where nothing would have happened. But as he has been assigned by the committee to accompany that match, if he spots a breach of the rules, unfortunately – as innocuous as it may seem and not necessarily in the spirit of the game – unfortunately he has got an obligation to act upon that. And unfortunately that’s the way it’s played out.â€� It only served to rile up the Americans. Spieth squared the match three holes later with a birdie at the 15th, then Reed and Spieth posted back-to-back birdies to win the next two holes and close out the match. “Yeah, I was fired up,â€� Spieth said. “I hit my next putt on the next hole about 8 feet by, really trying to throw it down the throat. Fortunately we both were able to come through and ham-and-egg it nicely coming in and make a comeback.â€� The comeback win moved the Spieth/Reed partnership to 3-0-1 this week.

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