Expert Picks: WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

DETROIT — Nate Lashley shot a 5-under 67 on Friday to top the Rocket Mortgage Classic leaderboard for the second straight day. Lashley had a 14-under 130 total at Detroit Golf Club. Cameron Champ was a stroke back after a 65. He played the front nine in 8-under 28, matching the lowest nine-hole score on the PGA TOUR this season. Champ was under par for six straight holes, matching a mark this season on the TOUR, after opening with a par. He cooled off on a steamy day at Detroit Golf Club with a 1-over 37 on the back nine. Charles Howell III (67) was two shots back. J.T. Poston (63) and Ryan Armour (69) were another stroke back. Dustin Johnson and U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland finished at 2 under to miss the cut by two strokes. Chez Reavie, who won the Travelers Championship last week, and Bubba Watson also failed to make it to the weekend. Reavie was tied for fourth entering the day and was 6 under on his 13th hole of the second round. He closed with a bogey, double bogey and triple bogey to plummet to 1-under 143. Watson shot a 75 to tie with Reavie toward the bottom of the 156-player field. The 36-year-old Lashley slipped into the tournament as an alternate Wednesday and has taken full advantage. His only top-10 finish during his two-year PGA TOUR career was in February, when he tied for eighth at the Puerto Rico Open.

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Brooks Koepka expects to miss the next 10 weeks with a partial torn tendon in his left wrist, but the reigning U.S. Open champ is hopeful he can return in time to play the year’s first major in early April. Koepka announced via news release Friday afternoon that he has suffered a tear to his Extensor Carpi Ulnaris (ECU) tendon. Currently ranked eighth in the world and 29th in the FedExCup standings, Koepka will miss several PGA TOUR events, including two World Golf Championships. But if the projected 10-week time period holds, his return date would be March 30, which is the Friday before Masters week. “I am frustrated that I will now not be able to play my intended schedule,â€� Koepka said in the release. “But I am confident in my doctors and in the treatment they have prescribed, and I look forward to teeing it up at The Masters.â€� Koepka had been troubled by wrist soreness since late 2017 but played through the pain at the Hero World Challenge and Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua while trying to pinpoint the issue. After finishing a distant last in Maui, the 27-year-old remained baffled. “It feels like someone is jabbing a knife in my hand,â€� Koepka said at the time. In the release, Koepka said doctors could not tell exactly when the injury occurred. An initial MRI failed to find the problem, so he sought a second opinion — and that’s when the partial ECU tear was discovered. The initial diagnosis was 8-12 weeks of rest and therapy, with a full recovery expected. “I began to feel some discomfort in my left hand at the Hero but it wasn’t a huge concern at the time,â€� Koepka said. “Then, perhaps unwisely, I decided to play through pain at the Sentry before the partial tear was diagnosed.â€� He’s had to shelve planned starts at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and will also miss the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship (March 1-4) and likely the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play (March 21-25) in the 10-week span. Koepka’s last WGC start was at the HSBC Champions in late October, when he tied for second. Three weeks later, he won the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament on the Japan Tour and was ranked a career-best seventh in the world. “I greatly appreciate all the emails and texts I have received over the past couple of weeks,â€� Koepka said, “and I look forward to a quick and successful recovery.â€�

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Granted, it was a wet first round of THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass, but it was still surprising to hear Keith Mitchell credit a swimmer for the assist after shooting a 5-under 67 to trail co-leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Hoge by one. Over a year ago, Mitchell, 30, was well into a promising career had yielded one PGA TOUR victory at The Honda Classic, but he suspected he wasn’t getting the most out of his game. The culprit: his bad attitude. To address the problem, he reached out to 23-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, the most decorated U.S. swimmer of all time. “I was not giving it my all,” Mitchell said after his opening round Thursday, which featured an eagle at the par-5 ninth hole. “And he was kind of helping me through some like downs and kind of really hit the reset button about a year ago. That kind of started everything, getting a mentality, getting some coaching, and really just not just feeling sorry for yourself out here.” With weather delays that eclipsed five hours, the first round tested everyone in the field. Mitchell said he had fun hanging out in the locker room and maintained a positive attitude. That hasn’t always been easy, but his work with Phelps, an avid golfer, has helped. Before they began their skull sessions, Mitchell said, he felt beat up, and like he had hit some sort of wall. “We had dinner a long time ago in Phoenix,” Mitchell said, “and he was talking about some really thoughtful things that apply to every sport. I’ll never forget, it really made an impact on me. It’s not just your typical golf stuff like one shot at a time and stay patient. It was more of kind of how to act and focus on the course, which is how you would do in swim meets. “… I just remember feeling like a loser talking to him sometimes,” he continued, “how I felt on the golf course, like pity and sorrow, and this game is hard. He just pretty much said there’s no place for that if you want to be at the top. That was probably a year, year and a half ago, when I was probably the lowest I’ve been in the World Rankings since I got on the PGA TOUR.” Mitchell had dropped all the way to 249th in the world after the Valspar Championship last year but began his comeback with a T3 at the Wells Fargo Championship. Since then, he has made a steady climb, and top-10s at The Honda Classic and WM Phoenix Open have him up to 73rd. Asked how often he sees Phelps, Mitchell said not often, but they still talk on the phone. “One call with him is pretty impactful,” he said. “I can promise you that.”

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