Denny McCarthy shoots 63 for lead at AT&T Byron Nelson

OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Justin Thomas was already salivating over the prospect of an ice bath. Cameron Smith was craving a cold shower and an even colder beer. Sam Burns went for a nap and Patrick Cantlay was making sure his fluid intake was as high as humanly possible. It wasn’t the hottest PGA TOUR event on record at the BMW Championship but with the elevation changes at Caves Valley coupled with the mercury pushing 90 degrees all day and the humidity making it feel like triple figures, it certainly was a grind. With the race for the FedExCup heating up as much as the conditions players found themselves very focused on recovery between rounds. Those with the ultimate prize and $15million bonus in their sites know they must navigate seven more rounds while staying as fresh as possible. Co-leader Jon Rahm was looking at the bright side of his COVID enforced break from the recent Olympics after an 8-under 64 projected him to the top of the FedExCup standings. “Luckily, I had a month off, so it helps. Those guys that went to the Olympics and played Memphis and played more events than me may be a little bit more tired, but really that shouldn’t be an excuse in my case,” Rahm said. “On Tuesday when I came to the course I didn’t do too much. I didn’t even venture out on the golf course because I knew it was a tough walk. I just hit some balls, a little bit of putting and chipping and went home. “On days like that what I really prioritize is hydration. If you get dehydrated in the middle, it’s going to affect you over the next few weeks.” Water was on Xander Schauffele’s mind as well and he was throwing them back in the early stages of his 5-under 67. Of course the side effect of this was nature calling and when he stopped for relief after the 10th hole, he accidentally left his putter leaning up against the outside of the port-a-john. It wasn’t until after his wedge shot on the 11th hole that the recent gold medalist and caddie Austin Kaiser realized the mistake with Kaiser sent on a sprint back up the hill some 300-yards to retrieve it. Kaiser needed a couple extra hydration beverages afterwards. “Yeah, that’s my fault. I thought he grabbed it, which is my fault, and then I didn’t look, which is my fault again, so I had like a triple whammy there. And then he had to run back, and then I missed the putt after, so it was really not a good hole for me,” Schauffele laughed. “It was nice that the crowd got him going coming in because he was huffing and puffing.” Smith, the runner up at THE NORTHERN TRUST last week, said he was mindful of his walking pace throughout his 4-under 68. Already certain to start the TOUR Championship in a high seed Smith is looking to balance his energy through this week and next. “We were probably walking a bit slower than what we typically do and trying to find shade a lot… it was brutal out there today,” the Australian said. “Those last probably four or five holes, it gets to you and you start thinking, when is this going to end. You’ve just got to be smart about it. “I’m from Queensland where it gets hot, so it doesn’t really bother me, it just takes a lot out of me. So now I’m looking forward to a quick massage, then cold shower and a couple cold beers.” Despite the sunny conditions the PGA TOUR utilized preferred lies in the opening round thanks to remnants of Tropical Storm Henri that have kept the fairways soggy underneath. With temperatures to continue to soar through the final three days, but also the chance of thunderstorms, that could continue throughout. “Based on the remnants of Hurricane Henri that brought 2-3 inches of rain to Caves Valley Golf Club over the weekend, combined with extreme heat, high dew point and humidity, the PGA TOUR Competitions Committee has granted players the ability to utilize preferred lies in closely-mown areas for Round 1 of the BMW Championship,” Chief Referee Steve Rintoul said earlier in the day. “Unfortunately, the conditions we’ve been dealt, along with no wind to speak of, has slowed the drying of the golf course. In some instances, players will be dealing with some extreme mud adhering to the golf ball that will affect its flight in unpredictable ways. THE PGA TOUR has a philosophy in place for using preferred lies for two reasons, one is temporary water and the second is for this exact situation which will allow us to deliver a more-even playing field.”

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SAN DIEGO - Two-time Farmers Insurance champion Jason Day will make his 2021 debut at Torrey Pines with a Frankenstein bag set up and a new coach behind him as he looks to return to the top of the PGA TOUR. Day, who won the Farmers Insurance Open in 2015 and 2018, revealed recently he is working with Tiger Woods' former instructor Chris Como and will start the year as an equipment free agent after being with TaylorMade since 2006. Como is just the second major coach the 33-year-old Day has had in his career with the Australian previously working with childhood mentor Colin Swatton for two decades before the pair parted ways last season. The 12-time TOUR winner has battled back issues over the last decade and continues to try to adjust his game to limit the risk of injury and pain. Day divulged he is trying to get his swing path more inside but has to do so at a slow pace as it is a move that in the past has caused problems. "I feel like things are progressing nicely with my swing … but I just really have to be very patient with the technical aspect of it," the 12-time TOUR winner said. "I’m working with Chris Como and we’re not trying to change the makeup that I had beforehand ... we're just trying to fine-tune it. "We’re trying to get better hip movement, we’re going to get a little bit deeper on the backswing in regard to the hip motion, and I’m trying to get a little bit more turn in the upper body ... last year I was kind of coming over the top of it just to kind of alleviate some of the back pain. "Right now, if I do it correctly, it doesn’t hurt my back, which is tremendous. For the longest time I was swaying a little bit, getting a little bit too much tilt in my upper body, and that was forcing my right hip to sway out and then I’d get too lateral going forward. Then I’d crunch down to try and lift the ball up and crunch down my back, and I just did it over and over and over again, and then sooner or later it would just kind of flare up and go out." Day is making the changes with a bevy of mis-matched equipment. In fact, he will use six different brands in his bag with a Ping driver, TaylorMade 3-wood, Mizuno irons, Artisan wedges, a White Hot 2-ball Odyssey putter and a Bridgestone XS golf ball. Day missed the TOUR Championship for the second straight year in 2020 and hasn't won on TOUR since his two-win season of 2018 - a drought coming up on near three years. He sits outside the top 40 in the world after spending a total of 51 weeks at the top back in 2015 and 2016. "All I have to do is just go out and play ... there are no excuses," Day said ahead of starting back up this season while sitting 94th in the FedExCup. "Playing bad golf is frustrating, being a competitor and not living up to what you think you should be living up to is very frustrating. This is my 14th season on TOUR now; I know that a career is long, but I’m trying to do everything I possibly can to get back to where I should be, and I feel like that’s No. 1 in the world. "If I look in the (recent) past, it’s depressing, so I don’t want to do that. If I look to the future, it gives me anxiety, so I don’t want to do that. I can only control what I can do right now." A closer look at what Day has in the bag this week: Driver: Ping G425 (10 degrees) Shaft: TPT 14 LO 5 3-wood: TaylorMade SIM Max Shaft: Mitsubishi Kuro Kage XTS 80TX Irons: Mizuno JPX921 Tour (3-P) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold X7 Wedges: Artisan Prototype (50,54,60) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Odyssey White Hot 2 Ball Ball: Bridgestone Tour B XS

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The final event of the 2017-18 PGA TOUR season is here, with golf’s biggest prize up for grabs. The FedExCup will be awarded on Sunday to one of the 30 players in the field at the TOUR Championship. The top five players in FedExCup points control their destiny. If Bryson DeChambeau (1), Justin Rose (2), Tony Finau (3), Dustin Johnson (4) or Justin Thomas (5) wins the TOUR Championship, he will be guaranteed the FedExCup. The other 25 players each require help in order to wrap their hands around the FedExCup and its $10 million bonus. PGA TOUR LIVE will air live coverage for the first two rounds (Thursday/Friday) starting at 10 a.m. ET with a preview show, then going directly to the first tee time at 11:40 a.m. ET. Featured Holes coverage will then begin of the par-4 first, the par-3 15th and the par-5 18th. Weekend coverage of the final two rounds will go directly to Featured Holes coverage starting at 12 noon (Saturday) and 11:30 a.m. (Sunday). A free live stream on Twitter will be available on Thursday and Friday between 10 a.m. to approximately 11:35 a.m. ET. Players will be paired in twosomes for each day and will be re-paired before every round. For Thursday’s first round at East Lake, players are paired according to their FedExCup points standing, with the final twosome of DeChambeau and Rose teeing off at 2 p.m. ET. MORE: PGA TOUR LIVE | Tee times Here’s a look at some of the Featured Groups on Thursday (FedExCup ranking in parentheses): Tommy Fleetwood (19), Tiger Woods (20): Woods – the only two-time FedExCup champ — is making his first TOUR Championship appearance in five years. He won at East Lake in 2007 in the inaugural year of the FedExCup. Fleetwood is making his first career start at the TOUR Championship. Two weeks ago at the BMW Championship, Woods opened with a 62, while Fleetwood shot consecutive 62s in the middle two rounds. Tee time: 12:30 p.m. ET. Rory McIlroy (17), Xander Schauffele (18): Both know what it’s like to win at East Lake. McIlroy won the FedExCup title in 2016 in a three-man playoff for the TOUR Championship, while Schauffele won the TOUR Championship last season to put a bow on his Rookie of the Year campaign. Both played well at the BMW Championship, each finishing inside the top 5. Tee time: 12:40 p.m. ET. Brooks Koepka (7), Bubba Watson (8): Between them, they’ve combined for five wins this season. Oh, and you may have heard – each one drives the ball a very long way. Watson ranks seventh in driving distance average at 313.1 yards; Koepka ranks eighth at 313.0 yards. Neither has made much noise during the Playoffs, although Koepka finished strongly at the BMW. Tee time: 1:30 p.m. ET. Justin Thomas (5), Keegan Bradley (6): Last year’s FedExCup champ playing with the most recent winner in the FedExCup Playoffs. Thomas did not win the TOUR Championship last season, but his second-place finish was good enough to earn him the FedExCup title. He’d like to win both this time. Bradley ended a six-year winless streak on TOUR with his playoff victory over Justin Rose at Aronimink two weeks ago. Tee time: 1:40 p.m. ET Tony Finau (3), Dustin Johnson (4): Remember what we said about the power of Koepka and Watson off the tee? Well, these two are statistically even more powerful. Finau ranks third in driving distance at 316.3 yards, while Johnson is sixth at 314.2 yards. Both also have the same number of top-10s this season – a TOUR-leading 11 – but Finau still is looking for his first victory of the year. If he claims the TOUR Championship, he’ll also win the FedExCup. Tee time: 1:50 p.m. ET Bryson DeChambeau (1), Justin Rose (2): DeChambeau won the first two Playoffs events, guaranteeing the top spot going into East Lake. Rose has finished T-2 and solo second in his last two starts. While DeChambeau is making his first appearance at East Lake, Rose has a very good track record at the course, with a couple of seconds among his five top-10 finishes. Tee time: 2 p.m. ET

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