DJ rolls, Koepka stumbles on a crowded day atop the PGA Championship

JERSEY CITY, NJ — Notes and observations from the U.S. Team in Friday’s second round of the Presidents Cup, where the home team took an 8-2 lead. For more coverage from Liberty National, click here for the Daily Wrap-Up. THOMAS, FOWLER BRING IT It was the first time since the PGA Championship that Justin Thomas’ exuberance gave him a hoarse throat. Just as he did at Quail Hollow, Thomas holed out from off the green and it looks like come Sunday he’ll be hoisting another trophy. The FedExCup champion has brought his domination to the Presidents Cup. Thomas, who won five times this season, holed out a bunker shot on the 14th hole and executed two more deft short-game shots on the back nine of Friday’s Four-Balls victory with partner Rickie Fowler. They won, 3 and 2, over the International Team’s top duo, Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen. Grace and Oosthuizen were 5-0 until running into a new U.S. duo that could be dominant for decades to come. “I told Rickie on the first tee today, I’m like, ‘Come on, we need to bring it today,’â€� Thomas said. “They are great players. But man, we just kept fighting. To get that win was huge for us.â€� Thomas and Fowler, who are neighbors in Jupiter, Florida, are the only U.S. team to go 2-0 in the Presidents Cup’s first two sessions, helping the United States to a record-setting advantage. The home team leads 8-2, the largest lead a team has ever held after the first two sessions. Thomas, one of the TOUR’s best iron players, impressed with a strong short game Friday. His tee shot sailed well left on the drivable par-4 12th, but he executed a deft bump-and-run that stopped 13 feet from the hole. He made the birdie putt for a crucial halve that kept his team 2 up. Two holes later, he holed out a bunker shot for another halve. It was so good that, like his chip-in at Quail Hollow, he raised his arm in celebration several feet before the ball found the hole. Thomas birdied the 15th hole and his bunker shot at the next hole hit the flagstick. “We enjoy this so much,â€� Thomas said. “We’re going to play 15, 20 more years of this stuff, and if we continue to be partners, there’s going to be rounds where we really rely on the other one. (Fowler) really held us in the start when I wasn’t playing very well, and I made a couple birdies there later.â€� Thomas and Fowler have played just 30 holes in their two matches. They beat Charl Schwartzel and Hideki Matsuyama, 6 and 4, in the tournament’s opening match. They have lost only three holes, and trailed for only one hole. CALL OF THE DAY MICKELSON MAKING IT For the second consecutive day, Phil Mickelson stood on the 18th green with a birdie putt for the win. He made it this time. Mickelson holed a 12-foot birdie putt to win the 18th hole in his Friday Four-Balls match. He and partner Kevin Kisner beat the International Team’s Jason Day and Marc Leishman, 1 up, in a rematch of Thursday’s Foursomes match that ended all square after Mickelson missed an 8-foot par putt on the final hole. Kisner and Mickelson celebrated Friday’s finishing birdie with a celebration straight from “Three Amigos,â€� a 1980s comedy starring Martin Short, Chevy Chase and Steve Martin. “I thought we biffed it when we were doing it, but when I looked back and saw the replay, I think we kind of nailed it actually,â€� Mickelson said. “But I get that I can’t dance. I get that I can’t take selfies, but I can putt, and it was nice to roll that last one in.â€� CHAPPELL, HOFFMAN CAME TO PLAY Kevin Chappell and Charley Hoffman had to wait an extra day to make their Presidents Cup debut. It was worth the wait, as they teamed to score a 6-and-5 victory over Anirban Lahiri and Charl Schwartzel. It is the largest winning margin this week. Despite teeing off in the fourth match of the day, Chappell and Hoffman scored the United States’ first point. The day’s other four matches all went to at least the 16th hole. Hoffman and Chappell were only all square when they stepped to the first tee. They won the match’s first two holes and lost just one hole, the par-3 10th. “We were just grinding,â€� Hoffman said. “We didn’t know we got the first point. I wasn’t paying attention to the scoreboards or leaderboards or anything. Chappy and I were just trying to get the job done.â€� Hoffman, 40, is the second-oldest member of this year’s U.S. Team (only Phil Mickelson is older). Chappell, 31, holds the course record at Liberty National; he fired 62 in the third round of the 2013 THE NORTHERN TRUST. SHORT SHOTS Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth didn’t win Friday, but they kept their undefeated Presidents Cup record intact. The indomitable American duo used a late comeback to earn a halve against Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Hadwin. Spieth and Reed, who are now 2-0-1 as a Presidents Cup team, were 2 down through 14 holes. Reed made birdie on the 15th hole, and Spieth followed by knocking his tee shot stiff on the par-3 16th to square the match. Spieth lipped out a 19-foot birdie putt on the last hole. He and Reed are 6-1-3 in international team competition. The United States won Friday’s Four-Balls session, 4 ½ – ½. It was the first time since 2007 that a team failed to win a single point in a team-play session. There have been 46 team sessions in the history of the Presidents Cup; this was just the sixth in which a team failed to score 1 point. The last time before Friday was in 2007, when the U.S. Team shut out the Internationals in Day 3 Foursomes. All three teams that were kept intact for the first two sessions are undefeated. Fowler and Thomas are 2-0, while Spieth-Reed and Mickelson-Kisner are both 1-0-1. BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Click here to read the full article…

DUBLIN, Ohio – The rib is long gone and the blood thinners are no longer a part of his routine. Troy Merritt is slowly starting to feel like his old self again after dealing with the rigors of a blood clot in his arm last summer, followed by surgery early this year to remove a rib that was causing the issue. Related: Leaderboard | Watch PGA TOUR LIVE After feeling his way back into the PGA TOUR over the past two months, the two-time TOUR winner has opened the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide with rounds of 69 and 66 to set the morning wave pace at 9-under. Merritt won the Barbasol Championship last year in July, but soon after, his arm turned purple. He couldn’t lift it. His wife insisted he see the doctor. They found a massive blood clot that extended from his chest to his elbow. The underlying cause was a condition called thoracic outlet syndrome. “Basically my top rib and clavicle were too close together, and it pinched the vein and it caused the blood clot,â€� Merritt explains of the condition common in major league pitchers. Merritt had the clot removed and then played with the aid of a compression sleeve and blood thinners. He was over that by Janiary, so he decided to have the problem rib yanked out. Not only has that allowed the pills to go by the wayside, but it has also created a secondary benefit no one was expecting. “It’s freed me up a little bit more on my golf swing,â€� Merritt smiled. “My tempo has been better ever since it was out. I had tight scalenes (muscles that elevate the first rib) throughout the years, and I get to the top of my backswing and it would pinch a little bit and cause me to get a little quick. “Now they’re not tight anymore and I can take my time, and as a result I hit the ball quite well in 2019.â€� Merritt’s position atop the leaderboard at Muirfield Village is clearly one he is happy to be in, but not one he totally expected just yet. His always svelte frame has even less defined muscle these days, but he’s working on his strength and golfing endurance. At 110th in the FedExCup race, he could use some decent results to go with the T4 he had at the Safeway Open and the T10 he mustered at the RBC Heritage. But that is not his focus at the moment, especially as his latest win has him exempt through next season. “I’m just trying to get 20 starts. I’ll play all summer long. Not really looking at the points race too much. But just planning on playing a lot of golf,â€� he said halfway through his 12th start. “The course is still very scorable and very gettable. I think you’ll see a few guys get in double digits and stay there. We put our self in a good position for this weekend. We’ll see what the weather does. I can’t imagine the course is going to change too, too much. Just go out and make a bunch of birdies. It’s nice to be in contention.â€�

Click here to read the full article…

Click here to read the full article…