Collin Morikawa's made cuts streak ends at 22 at the Travelers Championship

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THE OVERVIEW CHARLOTTE, N.C. – After spending the previous 14 years as host of the PGA TOUR’s Wells Fargo Championship, the Quail Hollow Club this week hosts its first major, the PGA Championship. Same location. Not exactly the same course. There are three new holes (Nos. 1, 4 and 5). Two other holes (Nos. 9 and 11) were modified. All 18 greens were reconstructed and resurfaced with Bermudagrass. More than 43 acres of sod were installed, with 200,000 pounds of earth moved and re-arranged. This all happened in less than 90 days last summer. Very impressive. So it’s different. Definitely different than in 2010 when the PGA of America announced Quail Hollow as the host venue for this year’s final major. But just how different? “It’s going to play a lot different,â€� said defending PGA champion Jimmy Walker, who has played 22 rounds at Quail Hollow since making his first Wells Fargo start in 2005. But another Quail Hollow veteran, Rory McIlroy, said the course is essentially 83 percent the same. “Obviously there has been a few changes and there’s a couple holes that look a little different,â€� said McIlroy, who has two wins and four other top 10s in seven career starts here. “But for the most part, 15 of the 18 holes are pretty much the same.â€� Phil Mickelson — who has more experience at Quail Hollow (52 rounds on TOUR) than anybody in the field except perhaps Quail Hollow resident/club member Webb Simpson – said the changes are noticeable but not jarring. “It’s actually made the golf course a little bit tougher, but it’s done it in a very subtle way, rather than overdoing it, overcontouring the greens, overcontouring things.â€� Tougher seems to be a word everybody can agree on. Last year when it hosted the Wells Fargo, the course played to a par 72 at 7,575 yards. The scorecard this week is just 25 additional yards (to 7,600) but now playing to a par 71. It’s the opening stretch that’s most noticeable. What used to be a gentle, inviting start to the round could very well be an immediate slap in the face. The par-4 first previously played at 418 yards; now it’s a 524 yards, essentially combining the old first and second holes. The old second was a par-3 at 178 yards; now it’s a par-4 at 452 yards. Meanwhile, about 30 yards was added to the third hole and is now at 483 yards. The opening three holes could rival Quail Hollow’s famed three-hole closing stretch (aka the Green Mile) as the most challenging on the course. Add the new No. 4 (a par 3 that was once a par 4) and No. 5 (a par 4 that was once a par 5) and there’s no easing into the round. “Used to be you got through the first five holes here at 1- or 2-under par and that was a decent start,â€� McIlroy said. “Now you get through the first five holes at even par – and that’s when the golf course starts to open up for you.â€� How much it will open up remains to be seen. An inch of rain this week has softened the fairways and will make the course play longer without the usual rollout. Plus, the third Bermuda rough will punish wayward shots. Said Walker: “There’s no worse grass to try to hit out of the rough than this stuff, especially when it’s wet.â€� Jordan Spieth called it “brutal.â€� “This is going to be,â€� Spieth added, “one of the most challenging tracks I think that we’ve played.â€� Three weeks ago, Spieth won The Open Championship with a score of 12 under. In June, Brooks Koepka won the U.S. Open at 16 under. Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose reached 9 under at the Masters in April before Garcia won in a playoff. From the sound of things, it doesn’t appear the winning score this week will get close to the other three majors this season. “You put in rough now that is extremely challenging, rough around the greens,â€� Mickelson said, “and you’ve got a major championship that a score very close to par is going to end up winning.â€� THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER Jordan Spieth Says he hasn’t been this relaxed going into a major since Chambers Bay in 2015. We all know what happened there. Hideki Matsuyama T-11 at Masters. T-2 at U.S. Open. T-14 at the Open. Hear that sound? It’s Hideki knocking on a major door. Rory McIlroy Given the course changes at Quail Hollow, are we overplaying the whole Rory-has-won-here-twice angle? Perhaps. The Flyover Say hello to the Green Mile, one of golf’s most treacherous three-hole closing stretches. At last year’s Wells Fargo Championship, it played to a cumulative 0.734 strokes over par. The 16th, at 506 yards, is one of three par 4s more than 500 yards this week. The signature 17th, at 223 yards, has a green that’s practically an island. And the 494-yard 18th was merely ranked as the hardest closing hole on the PGA TOUR last season. So, you know, have fun with all that. The Landing Zone Jordan Spieth said that if he were a fan this week, he would hang out at the 14th hole, which is 344 yards, the shortest par-4 on the course (the eight is 346 yards). “You would see guys potentially driving greens and you see short holes yielding really anything,â€� Spieth said. “You can make a 5 or 6 there pretty easily too. I think short drivable par 4s are the most fun holes for me.â€� Last year, the 14th played to a stroke average of 4.002 with just two eagles. Here’s where all tee shots landed last year. Weather Check Quail Hollow has already had an inch of rain this week, and the forecast doesn’t provide any comfort once the tournament starts. “It’s softened the golf course certainly more than we would want, and I think more than everybody would want,â€� said the PGA of America’s chief championships officer, Kerry Haigh. “But golf is an outdoor sport and it is what it is.â€� For the latest weather news Charlotte, North Carolina, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. Sound Check “Do I have to be the youngest? No, I don’t feel that kind of pressure. Would it be really cool? Absolutely.â€� Odds and Ends 1. LAST TWO CHAMPS. Defending PGA champ Jimmy Walker and 2015 winner Jason Day say they are on the upswing after going through some struggles (both on and off the course) this season. Walker, who earlier this year was diagnosed with Lyme disease, said about his form: “It’s trending. It feels pretty.â€� Said Day, whose mother underwent successful lung cancer surgery in the spring: “I feel like I’m starting to turn the corner.â€� 2. SPEAKING OF DAY. If he indeed turns the corner this week, he’ll do so without much practice time at Quail Hollow. He didn’t register at the course until Wednesday morning after flying to Charlotte the night before. Day has played the Wells Fargo Championship twice, but the last time was five years ago. He said he’s not worried; last year at Baltusrol, he played just one practice round and finished second behind Walker. “You know, there’s been tournaments where I’ve walked up and haven’t even played a practice round and I’ve played well,â€� he said. 3. WHAT DID I JUST EAT? Jordan Spieth went to a Charlotte restaurant called the Cowfish. It’s a sushi burger bar. “I had no idea how to feel going in with the menu, just burgers and sushi,â€� Spieth said. “I needed like a 20-minute break afterward to try to figure out what I just ate. But it was good.â€� 4. IT’S BEEN SEVEN YEARS. At Whistling Straits in 2010, Dustin Johnson had a one-shot lead with one hole to play but was penalized two strokes for grounding his club in a bunker off the 18th fairway. The T-5 finish remains his best in seven PGA starts. “I don’t think it owes me one,â€� Johnson said when asked about the controversial ruling. “It was my fault. I grounded a club in what they still say is a bunker.â€�

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NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – Tiger Woods’ magic with his Scotty Cameron didn’t continue Friday at the BMW Championship. Woods struggled with his putting throughout his second-round 70. After starting the day with a share of the lead, he is now five shots behind leader Xander Schauffele. After holing four putts of 10 feet or longer on Thursday, Woods’ longest made putt Friday was a 6-footer for par on his first hole. He ended the day with a three-putt bogey that was punctuated by a miss from 6 feet. It was his second consecutive missed par putt from inside 10 feet. Woods was 1 for 4 from 4-8 feet on Friday. This was his second-worst performance in Strokes Gained: Putting of the season. He lost 3.57 strokes on the greens. Only the second round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, where he lost 3.68 strokes with his putting, was worse. Woods made three birdies and three bogeys Friday. All three of his birdies came on putts from inside 3 feet, and two of them were on par-5s. He made just 31 feet, 4 inches of putts in the second round. Woods wasn’t ready to blame his putter, though. “I hit it just as good and putt it just as good. Nothing went in. That’s the way it goes,â€� Woods said. It wasn’t just his iron play that wasn’t sharp. He hit 14 greens Friday but failed to hit many shots close to the hole. On the par-3s and par-4s, he hit just two approach shots within 15 feet. His proximity of 37 feet, 4 inches was almost 12 feet higher than the previous day. A change in conditions is partly to blame. Woods’ average approach shots on the par-4s Friday was 144 yards, 19 yards longer than the previous day. Thursday’s high temperatures allowed the ball to fly far and for Woods to hit driver over many of the fairway bunkers that cut into the fairway. The softer conditions made the course play longer and made it difficult for him to get close to the back hole locations. Half of Friday’s pins were cut within 10 strokes of the back edge of the green. “(I) couldn’t get back there, couldn’t skip the ball back there,â€� Woods said. “It was a difficult task to try and flight one to get it back there without hitting it over the back.â€� Aroninimink was hit by rain overnight, and tee times were moved up because of thunderstorms that were forecast to hit Friday afternoon. The air was damp and heavy when Woods teed off at 8:06 a.m. He missed four birdie putts from 20 feet or less on his first seven holes. He didn’t make his first birdie of the day until the par-5 ninth hole, where he pitched to 2 feet from in front of the green.   That offset his first bogey of the tournament. One day after hitting his tee shot over the green on the downhill par-3 fifth hole, he hit it into one of the deep bunkers fronting the green. He couldn’t convert the 4-foot par putt after playing a delicate shot from the sand. It was his first miss from inside 10 feet of the week. Of his six missed greens this week, four have come on par-3s. Woods was under par for the first time Friday after a birdie on No. 11, where he wedged to 2 feet from 93 yards. He made a nice par save at the 15th hole, getting up-and-down from 75 yards after driving into the rough on the 515-yard, par-4. That preceded his third birdie of the day. Despite driving into a divot in the 16th fairway, he reached the green in two with a fairway wood. He two-putted for birdie. Woods then pushed his tee shot on the par-3 17th into a bunker before three-putting the last hole. “That round today was easily 6, 7-under par,â€� he said. “It turned into even par which is not what I needed to do today.â€�

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