Discharged Bae ‘dying to play golf’

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – The skies opened and the rain came to delay the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, but amid the umbrellas and the puddles the headliner hung tough. First-time participant Rickie Fowler, the highest ranked player in the field (10), is contending in his first start in five weeks and his first start of the new season. Fowler had three holes remaining and was just one shot off the lead, tied with first-round leader Patton Kizzire (70). They were chasing Patrick Rodgers, who birdied four straight holes to take the lead at 11 under but still had three holes left to play on the front nine when darkness fell over El Camaleon Golf Club. Heavy rain suspended afternoon play for two hours and 15 minutes.  “Today was tough,â€� said Kizzire, who double-bogeyed the first hole, his 10th of the day. “I had a few hiccups out there, but with the wind and the rain and with the wind and rain together, it was tough. And the stop and start was tough. But I hung in there, made a few birdies there towards the end of my round, and then survived that really tough rain that we had there at the end.â€� Fowler was on the 15th tee when he asked how much longer players would be expected to stay on the course as darkness fell. He made par on the hole before play was stopped and players were driven away in vans. Four players have won the OHL Classic in their first start in the event: Johnson Wagner (2011), John Huh (2012), Harris English (2013) and Fred Funk (2007).  OBSERVATIONS HARKINS HANGS TOUGH. The last six holes played by Brandon Harkins, 31, went birdie, bogey, birdie, bogey, birdie, bogey. “Wasn’t quite the finish I was looking for, trading birdies and bogeys like that,â€� said Harkins, who shot 68 to get to 9 under. “But you know, I really can’t complain in the wind like this.â€� Harkins has already shown plenty of bounce-back. He twice missed 72nd-hole putts to force playoffs on the Web.com Tour last year, but finished 21st on the Regular Season Money List to get his TOUR card. Now he’s looking to improve on a T9 at the Safeway Open and a T20 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. GAY MAKES LIKE 2008. Four-time TOUR winner Brian Gay will turn 46 next month and is making his 522nd career start. He sure didn’t seem to have lost his edge Friday. Gay was five-for-five in scrambling and shot a bogey-free 65 that included an eagle at the par-5 13th hole. He got his first win at Mayakoba in 2008, but hasn’t won since the 2013 CareerBuilder Challenge. After getting to 9-under overall Gay said, “I’ve always loved it since we started coming here.â€� He began last season on a Major Medical Extension, needing to earn 309 FedExCup points or $461,851 in 14 starts to remain exempt for the rest of the season. He accomplished that with back-to-back T6 finishes at the RBC Heritage and Valero Texas Open.   RODGERS SEEKS FIRST WIN. The only player in the field so far without a bogey, Rodgers is beginning his third season on TOUR after a stellar college career. He won 11 times in three years at Stanford, tying Tiger Woods’ win total, accomplished in two years, and compiled a 70.32 scoring average, breaking Woods’ all-time school mark of 70.96. One of the TOUR’s biggest fitness fanatics, Rodgers finished 78th in the FedExCup last season, his best result a runner-up finish at the John Deere Classic, where he led through 36 holes. He is coming off a missed cut at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in his fourth start of the new season. CEJKA LOOKS FOR REDEMPTION. Alex Cejka (67, 6 under) is in contention again after losing a three-man playoff at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open last week. The week before that, Cejka got caught up in an odd rules scenario. He was disqualified from the Sanderson Farms Championship for holing a tap-in putt on his final hole of the second round after the siren had sounded for a suspension of play due to a dangerous weather situation.   NOTABLES SI WOO KIM – Up and down year since becoming the youngest winner of THE PLAYERS Championship in May, but the two-time TOUR winner is lurking at 7 under after a 68. OSCAR FRAUSTRO – A wild start for the low Mexican so far as Fraustro went 5 under for his first four holes on the way to a 66. He’s 7 under at the halfway mark. Fraustro and Carlos Oritz tied for ninth here in 2014, the best-ever finish by a Mexican player in this tournament. RYAN ARMOUR – Just a few weeks removed from nabbing his first win at 41, Armour shot a second-round 69 to get to 5 under and is six back. ZAC BLAIR – Came to El Camaleon as an alternate and was last man in the field, but will play on the weekend after going 3 under for his last 11 holes to shoot 68 and make the cut at 2 under. ROBERTO DIAZ – The last player to graduate from the Web.com Tour, Diaz is making the most of it at Mayakoba. His second-round 65 left him at 6 under, five back. QUOTABLES “No comment.â€� – Cal State-Chico graduate Brandon Harkins (68, 9 under), when asked if his alma-mater lived up to its party-school reputation. SUPERLATIVES Shot of the day: Jonathan Byrd aced the 151-yard eighth hole, the fifth ace of his TOUR career. His most famous hole-in-one came in a playoff at the 2010 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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NICHOLASVILLE, Kentucky — The highlight of the week? That’s easy. It has to be the grip gap wedge – one of her favorite shots – that Brittany Lincicome played from 116 yards out at the par-5 17th on Saturday that tracked into the hole for eagle. “So cool,â€� Lincicome said with a big smile of satisfaction as she talked with reporters after her round. “When it went in that couldn’t have ended my week any better.â€� Then she proceeded to make everyone’s else’s day, patiently signing every ball, glove and ticket thrust her way. She posed for photos with little girls and boys — and grandparents, as well. “The fans were incredible,â€� Lincicome said. “It was so great feeding off their energy. They were cheering for me every time I hit a shot, every time I got it in the fairway, got it on the green.   
“It made me feel way more comfortable.â€� That comfort zone showed in her performance on Saturday at the Barbasol Championship as Lincicome rebounded from a disappointing opening round of 78 to shoot 1-under. She made that eagle and five birdies – including three straight — while dropping five shots to par. Lincicome is only the sixth woman to ever play in a PGA TOUR event, and just the second to break par. Only two women have completed 72 holes in official TOUR events: Babe Didrikson Zaharias at the 1945 Phoenix Open and the 1945 Tucson Open and Shirley Spork at the 1952 Northern California-Reno Open. “I would’ve liked to have shot better (Thursday),â€� acknowledged Lincicome, who had a triple bogey and a double in the first round.  “Obviously today was a pretty nice day, so I guess ending with today’s round it’s a good way to kind of leave, I guess.

“And then holing out on 17 is pretty cool. I can’t wait to watch the replay later.â€� Conrad Schindler said it was a treat to play with Lincicome as she made history in the first two rounds. He gave their gallery something to cheer about on Saturday, too, firing a bogey-free 64.    “To get to have a front row seat in the group, it’s a unique aspect,â€� Schindler said. “A lot of people get behind her, but you also can get some fans out there rooting for you, so it’s definitely nice to have.â€� Schindler said he likes to chat between shots, just like Lincicome does. They talked about the differences between their two tours, and at times the conversation shifted to their dogs – his two, a lab-pit mix and a Catahoula Leopard-Great Dane hybrid and her Rottweiler who lives with her grandmother. Lincicome, who loves to fish for goliath grouper and spend time on her boat, also wants to get a Labrador. “That’s what helps me in my element when I’m playing well, is not thinking about golf as much, just kind of deviating away from it,â€� Schindler said. “When it’s time, we only spend about 30, 40 seconds on the shot. “So it’s nice to have someone else out there that you’re strolling the fairways with talking to.â€� Schindler, who turned 30 on Friday, said he came away impressed with Lincicome’s game. She was tied for third in driving accuracy, hitting 22-of-28 fairways and took 51 putts, including just 23 on Saturday. “It’s really consistent,â€� Schindler said. “You know, she does the same thing every shot. She just knows where it’s going to go. Great short game. Maybe the first day just a little nerves, but each day she gained confidence.â€� Lincicome, who has won eight times on the LPGA Tour, thinks that playing in the Barbasol Championship could help her as she goes after her third major at the Ricoh Women’s British Open Aug. 2-5 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. Hitting shots inside the ropes this week wasn’t the hard part – although the Lincicome admitted she had to force herself not to try to swing out of her shoes when she saw her playing partners outdriving her by 20 or 30 yards. But the media attention, the fan curiosity and the expectations all were heightened this week. Lincicome called World Golf Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam to get her advice on Wednesday night. Sorenstam was the first woman to play on the PGA TOUR in 51 years when the world No. 1 teed it up in the 2003 Bank of America Colonial. Sorenstam told Lincicome to look at the big picture and how this week at Keene Trace Golf Club will help her handle her nerves in the future. Sorenstam also said to relax by watching a movie that night. But Lincicome, who was renting a home for the week with her husband, parents and caddy, had too much going on to follow that advice. “This is obviously a much bigger stage or different stage than I’m used to,â€� Lincicome said. “With a major coming up, hopefully that first tee shot I won’t be as nervous. “I’ve learned to kind of play through the nerves this week, which is great. Just in the future I think that’ll really help me.â€�

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The 2017-18 FedExCup season is now past the halfway point of the regular schedule. Twenty-one weeks are in the books; 19 weeks are left before the top 125 players in the standings advance to the FedExCup Playoffs. At the very top, nothing really has changed since last year’s FedExCup Playoffs ended. Justin Thomas won the 2017 FedExCup crown, and he’s atop the current standings for the seventh consecutive week. But with a half-season still to be played, there are no guarantees. A few FedExCup observations:  Don’t be surprised if there’s a generous amount of turnover in the next 19 weeks. Of the top 30 players a year ago at this point, 10 fell outside the top 30 by the time the FedExCup Playoffs started. Only one of those 10 players managed to play his way back inside the top 30 and advance to the TOUR Championship – Justin Rose, who posted top-10 finishes in each of the four Playoffs events. Fourteen players who made the TOUR Championship last season are currently outside the top 30, including defending East Lake champion Xander Schauffele. The reigning Rookie of the Year finished third in the FedExCup Playoffs last year but is currently 46th and has just two top-10 finishes in 11 starts. Another notable, reigning U.S. Open champ Brooks Koepka, is currently 97th and has been sidelined since late January with a wrist injury. Just four players have been atop the FedExCup standings this season – Thomas for seven weeks, Patton Kizzire for eight weeks, Pat Perez for four weeks and Brendan Steele (winner of the season-opening Safeway Open) for two weeks. Thomas currently leads Kizzire by 440 points – that’s the biggest margin between No. 1 and No. 2 in the FedExCup standings entering the RBC Heritage since 2009.  Thomas, incidentally, has now been No. 1 this season for the same number of weeks (7) he was all of last season. And get this: Since the start of the 2015-16 season, there have been 106 weeks of tournament competition. Thomas has been inside the top 15 of the FedExCup standings a total of 104 weeks in that span. The only times he was outside the top 15? The first two weeks of this season. He didn’t play the opening week, and he was 33rd after the second week. Thomas not only has the most FedExCup points, he’s also making the most of each start. Thomas leads in FedExCup points per event with an average of 176.9 in his 10 starts. The next five are Dustin Johnson (161.3 avg.), Justin Rose (144.8 avg), Jason Day (130.6 avg) and Bubba Watson (128.1 avg). If Tiger Woods can maintain his pace, he’ll be in excellent shape to make a run at his third FedExCup title. Woods currently ranks 42nd in points, averaging 79.3 points per start. A year ago, any player who averaged 70 points or better per start in the regular season found himself inside the top 12 starting the FedExCup Playoffs. Woods won the inaugural FedExCup title in 2007 and won it again in 2009. Chesson Hadley has made the biggest one-year improvement in the standings. A year ago, he ranked 217th entering the RBC Heritage; he now ranks 26th, a jump of 191 spots. In fact, seven players have made jumps of 100-plus spots – Hadley, Ryan Armour (190 to 40), Tom Hoge (180 to 48), Ryan Palmer (201 to 76), Ian Poulter (149 to 25), Bubba Watson (124 to 3), and Brian Gay (151 to 47).

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