Dual eagles help McIlroy’s cause at Riviera

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. - Rory McIlroy doesn’t need fans to keep his head in the game at the BMW Championship. Olympia Fields is so tough it won’t allow anything but his full attention on every shot. McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay made their share of mistakes Friday and shrugged them off because that’s bound to happen on the toughest test the PGA TOUR has seen this year. By the end of another steamy afternoon south of Chicago, they were the sole survivors to par. One week after McIlroy admitted to going through the motions without spectators around to provide the cheers, he had a 1-under 69 to share the 36-hole lead with Cantlay. RELATED: Full leaderboard It was plenty tough for Tiger Woods, whose PGA TOUR season appears to be two rounds from being over. He didn’t have enough good shots to atone for his bad ones, and he had to make a 35-foot par putt on his final hole to shoot 75, leaving him nine shots behind. Woods was toward the bottom of the pack at a tournament where he needs to finish around fourth to be among the top 30 who advance to the TOUR Championship. Cantlay holed a 50-foot chip for birdie, and holed out a 50-yard wedge for eagle. He also missed the green on three of the par 3s, the last one leading to a double bogey. He finished with a 6-iron out of the thick rough and made a 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole. It added to a 68, matching the best score of the round. They were at 1-under 139, one shot ahead of Hideki Matsuyama and Dustin Johnson, who were going in opposite directions when it was time to sign their scorecards. Matsuyama, the only player to reach 4 under at any point this week, dropped four shots over his last 10 holes for a 73. Johnson finished birdie-birdie for 69. “I think the test is what’s helped me focus and concentrate because if you lose focus out there for one second … just one lapse in concentration can really cost you around here,” McIlroy said. “I think one of the big keys this week is just not making big numbers. If you hit it out of position, get it back in position, make sure that your worse score is bogey and move on. Honestly, bogeys aren’t that bad out here.” He made a mistake on the 14th hole by going long and left, and only a great wedge to a back pin to 5 feet kept him from a big blunder, even though he missed the par putt. He flirted with trouble later in his round on the fifth hole with a wedge from 134 yards that came up 30 yards short, the pin tucked behind a big bunker. He left that in collar short of the green and got up-and-down for bogey. Cantlay doesn’t expect to hole out twice a round with wedges and hopes he can sharpen up his game a little. Still, he loves the idea of having to think and plot his way around the course. “It’s about as stiff of a test as you would want,” Cantlay said. “It’s very, very difficult, and you have to play from the fairway, and you have to play from below the hole, frankly. The greens have so much slope on them that you really need to be putting uphill. And so if you’re in the rough, it gets exponentially harder to do that.” For those playing well — anywhere within a few shots of par in this case — it was an enjoyable challenge. For everyone, regardless of the score, it was a grind. “I don’t know if any rain will matter, really,” Kevin Kisner said after a bogey-bogey finish ruined an otherwise good day and gave him a 70, leaving him three shots behind. “I think even par wins the golf tournament.” Doesn’t 280 always win the U.S. Open? That’s what Arnold Palmer used to say. And this feels like a U.S. Open. Go back to Shinnecock Hills two years ago in the U.S. Open to find the last time someone won at over par (Brooks Koepka). For non-majors, the tour said over par hasn’t won since Bruce Lietzke at the Byron Nelson Classic in 1981. It’s a massive change from last week, when Johnson won by 11 shots at 30-under 254. “Last week was fun, too,” Johnson said. “But this week is more of a grind, that’s for sure. Every single hole out here is difficult. You’ve got to really be focused on every shot that you hit.” Among those two shots behind was Louis Oosthuizen, whose birdie in the dark on the final hole last week at the TPC Boston moved him to No. 70 to qualify for the BMW Championship. “This is the golf course I needed to do what I must do,” he said of moving into the top 30. “Look, this can go really south on you quickly. You can shoot 6, 7 over on this golf course very quickly. But if you really stick to it and play middle of the greens and lag those putts, you can make a lot of pars. And you’re not going to lose spots if you’re making pars.”

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Kevin Tway broke in a split set of Mizuno JPX 919 Forged (3-4) and JPX 919 Tour (5-9) irons at the Safeway Open and found the winner’s circle for the first time in his PGA TOUR career. Tway received the new set during the Dell Technologies Championship but chose to take the irons home and get them dialed-in before putting them in the bag. The 30-year-old ranked 23rd in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-green with the irons, which are comprised of two different materials. The JPX 919 Forged is made from a Boron-infused 1025E carbon steel that allowed designers to improve durability and significantly thin out the face to a COR of .810 — an improvement of .10 when compared to its predecessor. During testing, most players saw an increase of 1 mph ball speed. With JPX 919 Tour, Mizuno’s HD grain flow forging process was used on the 1025E (Elite) carbon steel, which compacts more grain structure in the hitting area to improve feel. Tway’s irons played a role in his five consecutive birdies (including the three-hole playoff), but it was his Mizuno T7/Titleist Vokey Design SM7 wedges and TaylorMade Spider Tour Red that led the way. Tway recorded a career-best scrambling performance on TOUR at Silverado, salvaging par 80 percent (16 of 20) of the time over 72 holes. He made six of his 10 putts from 10-15 feet, including six of eight in the final three rounds. Here’s a look at Tway’s entire equipment setup. Driver: TaylorMade M2 ’17 (Mitsubishi Tensei CK Pro White 70TX shaft), 9.5 degrees 3-wood: TaylorMade M2 ’17 (Mitsubishi Chemical W Series 80X shaft), 15 degrees Irons: Mizuno MP-H5 (2-iron; UST Mamiya Recoil Prototype shaft), Mizuno JPX919 Forged (3-4; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X7 shafts), Mizuno JPX919 Tour (5-9; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X7 shafts) Wedges: Mizuno T7 (47 degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shaft) Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (54-08M degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shaft), Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (60-10S degrees; True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shaft) Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour Red PGA TOUR SUPERSTORE: Buy equipment here.  

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The Masters has a new date, but the amount of excitement remains unchanged. Tiger Woods is the defending champion after holding onto his Green Jacket for 19 months due to the impact of COVID-19 on the PGA TOUR schedule. A stout list of chasers will look to slip their arms into a Green Jacket, including reigning FedExCup champion Dustin Johnson, two-time FedExCup winner Rory McIlroy - who's looking to complete the career Grand Slam - and the most recent major winners, Bryson DeChambeau and Collin Morikawa. Morikawa is making his Masters debut. FIELD NOTES: Ninety-four golfers will tee it up at the Masters... The field for this edition was confirmed earlier in 2020, which means no one could earn their way in at the last minute or via his play through the Return to Golf... Twenty-six participants will be playing the Masters for the first time, including world No. 4 Morikawa and reigning PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Scottie Scheffler... Reigning U.S. Amateur winner Andy Ogletree leads the six-golfer amateur contingent. John Augenstein, the runner-up to Ogletree at Pinehurst in 2019, also is in the field. Augenstein is No. 6 in the PGA TOUR University rankings. The top 5 after the NCAA Championship earn Korn Ferry Tour status. Augenstein can earn PGA TOUR U points at Augusta National ... Tiger Woods looks to become the first golfer in history to win the Masters in back-to-back years twice. Jack Nicklaus (1965-66) and Nick Faldo (1989-90) achieved the feat while Woods pulled the trick in 2001-02... Four Canadians will tee it up, led by 2003 winner Mike Weir - the most that country has ever had in the Masters... Phil Mickelson, who has won twice on PGA TOUR Champions in two starts since turning 50 this year, is looking to become the oldest major winner ever. Mickelson is one of 15 past champions in the field... DeChambeau is on the hunt for his second major in a row. The last man to win back-to-back majors was Jordan Spieth in 2015. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 600 FedExCup points. COURSE: Augusta National Golf Club, 7,475 yards, par 72. Spring's tradition unlike any other has morphed into a fall classic for 2020. That likely means fewer flowers at the former site of Fruitland Nurseries. From a golf course perspective, the Bobby Jones/Alistair McKenzie classic will likely play longer than it does in the spring, given the weather and the grass being much fresher versus April. According to many TOUR players who have been asked about the course over the last few months, there's an ongoing belief that Augusta National has resources to make November's conditions as similar to April as possible. There were no changes to the course for the 2020 edition of the tournament, but land continues to be purchased around the course for potential future efforts. STORYLINES: Rory McIlroy is gunning for the career Grand Slam once again after winning the 2014 Open Championship... There will be no patrons at Augusta National in 2020. That's not the only change for the first November edition of the Masters. Golfers will go off split tees and there will be a morning and afternoon wave... Jordan Spieth looks to quash his winless drought that dates back to the 2017 Open Championship at a place where he is very comfortable. The past FedExCup champion has a win, two seconds, and a third at Augusta National... Morikawa, Justin Thomas, and Dustin Johnson are among the large group of notables looking to notch their second major championship ... Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, and Tony Finau are amongst the group looking to capture their maiden majors. Schauffele has finished in the top-10 in six of the last 10 majors he's played... Woods is looking to tie Jack Nicklaus for the most Green Jackets of all time (six). He missed the cut at the U.S. Open earlier this season and finished T37 at the PGA Championship in August. 72-HOLE RECORD: 270, Tiger Woods (1997), Jordan Spieth (2015). 18-HOLE RECORD: 63, Nick Price (3rd round, 1986), Greg Norman (1st round, 1996) LAST TIME: Tiger Woods held off a strong leaderboard to win his fifth Green Jacket - and first major since 2008. A final-round 70 put Woods at 13 under, one shot ahead of Johnson, Schauffele, and Brooks Koepka. After several of his closest pursuers hit their tee shots into the water on the par-3 12th hole, Woods birdied Nos. 13, 15, and 16 to eventually pull ahead for good. Despite a bogey on the par-4 18th, it was all he needed to capture his 15th major title in his "return to glory." Woods was two shots back of the 54-hole lead held by Francesco Molinari, who shot 74 Sunday to finish T5 alongside Jason Day, Webb Simpson, and Finau, who was also in the final group Sunday with Woods and Molinari. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-5:30 p.m. ET (ESPN), Saturday, 1 p.m.-5 p.m. (CBS), Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (CBS) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. ET, Saturday, 12 p.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. (Sirius 208 and XM 92)

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