DeChambeau takes 1-shot lead as Woods lurks at Memorial

DETROIT — Nate Lashley birdied the final three holes and five of the last six for a 9-under 63 and the first-round lead Thursday in the Rocket Mortgage Classic, the PGA TOUR’s first event in Detroit. The 36-year-old Lashley had the lowest score in his PGA TOUR career, a day after getting a spot at Detroit Golf Club as an alternate. Ranked 353rd in the world and No. 132 in the FedExCup standings, Lashley’s only top-10 finish in his two-year PGA TOUR career is a tie for eighth in the Puerto Rico Open in February. Ryan Armour and Nick Watney were a stroke back at 64. Chez Reavie, the Travelers Championship winner last week in Connecticut, Charles Howell III and Stewart Cink topped the group at 65. Dustin Johnson opened with a 71. Gary Woodland had a 73 in his first start since winning the U.S. Open. Lashley made the most of the opportunity with a bogey-free round, taking advantage of scoring opportunities during a day with little wind on a short course with receptive greens. He opened with a birdie and had three more on the front nine before the closing spree. Lashley, who is from Nebraska, had a knee injury last year that stunted his rookie season on the PGA TOUR after 17 events. There’s no chance he can afford to be comfortable with the early lead. Johnson provided proof the Donald Ross-designed course can present a challenge. He ranked in the middle of the pack off the tee, missing five of 14 fairways. He was among the worst on approach shots, leaving him 33-plus feet away from the pin on average. Johnson was 2 over at No. 11 after his second double bogey before rallying with three birdies over the last five holes. Woodland was strong late in the first round after failing to maintain any momentum from winning the first major of his career. He tied a U.S. Open record by making just four bogeys over four rounds at Pebble Beach and had that many bogeys in a four-hole stretch at Detroit Golf Club and a total of six. After falling to 5 over through 11 holes, he had four birdies over the last six to finish with a 73. Reavie, meanwhile, picked up where he left off after winning for his first win in 11 years. He had a 4-under 32 on the front nine and was 3 under on the back, including an eagle on the 582-yard, par-5 17th.

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The game’s top players tee it up at Wisconsin’s Whistling Straits, for the 43rd playing of the Ryder Cup. The first Ryder Cup was played in 1927 but since 1979 the competition has consisted of two days of four-ball and foursome matches along with one day of singles matches. The 2021 Ryder Cup begins Friday, September 24, here’s what you need to know on the unique team format. WHERE: The location of the Ryder Cup alternates between Europe and the United States. TEAMS: The qualifying criteria for the each team is different. For the U.S a points system has been in place since the 2019 season with players collecting points up until the completion of the 2021 BMW Championship. The top six players on the points list secured spots on the U.S. team with the remaining six players selected by Captain Steve Stricker following the completion of the 2021 PGA TOUR season. U.S. Roster: Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Tony Finau, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, Harris English, Daniel Berger, Scottie Scheffler. For Europe the qualification is based on two lists. The top four players from the European Points list were selected with the top five players in the World Points list who had not already qualified earning spots. Europe also selected three captain’s picks to complete the roster. Europe Roster: Jon Rahm, Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton, Bernd Wiesberger, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Paul Casey, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Lee Westwood, Shane Lowry, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter. FOUR-BALL: Each member of a two-man team plays his own ball, so four balls are in play on every hole. Each team counts the lowest of its two scores on each hole, and the team whose player has the lowest score wins the hole. If the low scores are tied, the hole is halved. FOURSOMES: Each two-man team plays one ball per hole with the players taking turns until each hole is complete. Players alternate hitting tee shots, with one leading off on odd-numbered holes, and the other hitting first on even-numbered holes. The team with the low score on each hole wins that hole. If their scores are tied, the hole is halved. SINGLES: each match features one player from each team. The player with the lower score on each hole wins that hole. If their scores are tied, the hole is halved. Unlike stroke play, players don’t have to complete each hole in match play. If a player concedes a stroke – almost always a putt – to his opponent, the opponent picks up his ball, takes the score he would have made on the next stroke and moves on to the next hole. POINTS SYSTEM: Each match is worth one point, with matches ending in a draw worth 1/2 point to each side. The first team to reach 14 ½ points (of the 28 points available) wins the Ryder Cup. If the matches end in a 14-14 draw, the team holding the Ryder Cup retains it. Europe is the defending champion headed into the 2021 Ryder Cup. The three days of the matches consist of 28 total matches, each of which is worth one point. There are no extra holes in Ryder Cup matches. Should the two sides be tied after 18 holes, each side earns a halve (1/2 point).

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Two days ago, Jhonattan Vegas and Brooks Koepka – a couple of heavyweights off the tee — joined in the unveiling of the PGA TOUR’s new state-of-the-art mobile fitness center. On Thursday, they spent 18 holes together flexing their muscles at The Honda Classic. Although Koepka is the reigning PGA TOUR Player of the Year, it was Vegas who held the upper hand after the first round at PGA National. His bogey-free 6-under 64 put him atop the leaderboard, while Koepka lurks after a 67. The third member of their group, Gary Woodland, also packs a punch off the tee but fell off the pace with a 2-over 72. None of the three actually had a particular eye-opening round in regards to driving distance average – Koepka’s average of 282.1 yards for all drives was the highest in the group – but they all seemed to end up in the same part of the fairway for most of the holes. “We were all three right there,â€� Vegas said when asked about his playing partners off the tee. “Every hole, we were literally right now to each other, which is good. Obviously Brooks has been playing phenomenal golf the last few years and Gary has been playing great golf. … It was easy to have the same flow.â€� Said Koepka: “It was nice. Anytime you’ve got a guy playing well, you kind of feed off it and kind of watch some putts go in, and it kind of feels like the hole is starting to open up. It was good to see him play well. It was nice to see some putts drop myself and kind of fee off that a little bit.” “But I’m not too concerned with what anyone else is doing.â€� Koepka, of course, won two majors last season, and then opened his 2018-19 season by winning THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in Korea. Woodland has six top-10s in nine starts this season, including a runner-up at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. He’s the highest-ranked player in this week’s field in the FedExCup standings at No. 3. Koepka is 17th. Vegas’ season hasn’t been nearly as productive. In eight starts, he has just one top-10 earlier this month at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. He sandwiched a pair of missed cuts around that result and doesn’t have another finish inside the top 25. His putting has been the issue – he ranked T-190th in Strokes Gained: Putting this season – and so he changed putters recently and spent some extra time on the practice greens. On Thursday, he made four putts between 14 and 19 feet. It was his irons, however, that keyed Thursday’s round. He missed just three greens, and two of those misses were on the fringe, 15 feet from the hole. A year ago at The Honda Classic, Vegas signed for a 6-over 78 in the final round, his worst score in 22 previous rounds at this event. He finished at 14 over that week. “I was hitting my irons extremely bad Sunday of last year,â€� Vegas recalled. “Felt like I hit it everywhere. … Obviously I felt like I played well today, hit my irons the best I’ve hit them all year.â€� While Koepka, who lives in nearby Jupiter, had family members in his gallery – “It’s nice to play in front of the hometown,â€� he said — Vegas had at least one notable watching him play. Andres Galarraga, the retired baseball star nicknamed the Big Cat, is a fellow Venezuelan. The five-time All-Star hit 399 career homers and twice won the National League’s Silver Slugger award. “He’s been a good mentor, to be honest,â€� Vegas said. “He’s been good giving me support and everything through the years.â€�

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