Finau is U.S. Ryder Cup team captain’s pick

DETROIT – Trust the process. That’s what Tiger Woods told Wyatt Worthington, II at a Tiger Woods Foundation junior clinic in Columbus, Ohio, 20 years ago. Worthington was 14, but he remembers it vividly. The advice sounds simple, but for those on the fringes that trust can be hard to come by with obstacles around every corner. Tournament fees, equipment costs, gas money, food and lodging – the costs of trying to make it can be prohibitive. Then along comes The John Shippen, a limited-field, two-day tournament to further the careers of top amateur and professional Black men and women golfers. The Shippen, in its inaugural playing at Detroit Golf Club, paid for airfare, rental cars, lodging and meals so that competitors could chase the dream. “This is unbelievable to me,” Worthington (75-70) said. “I’ve never had anything like this.” John Shippen, Jr., was the first American-born golf professional and the country’s first Black golf professional. His eponymous tournament Sunday and Monday featured 21 men playing for a spot in this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, and 12 women, who played a team format. They were vying for spots in the LPGA Tour’s Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, also a team event, July 14-17; and the Cognizant Founder’s Cup, Oct. 4-10. Tim O’Neal, who will turn 49 in August and is thus on the cusp of PGA TOUR Champions eligibility, shot a second-round 68 to reach 5 under par and win the men’s tournament by two over playing partner Kevin Hall (69). R.J. Young (68) and Kamaiu Johnson (69) tied for third at 2 under, three back. On the women’s side, Shasta Averyhardt and Anita Uwadia won the team portion, while 17-year-old Amari Avery, who played in the U.S. Women’s Open and was featured in the documentary “The Short Game,” won the individual shootout. O’Neal has missed seven cuts in seven career PGA TOUR starts, the last at the 2019 Genesis Invitational. He’s made his living on the mini-tours, including the Korn Ferry Tour and minority-focused APGA Tour. He was “so super happy,” he said, to punch his ticket into the Rocket Mortgage, but aware of the bigger picture, too. Because in a sense, with the Shippen allowing players to test their games on a PGA TOUR course in TOUR conditions, there was more than one winner. “Guys are getting exposure playing courses like this,” O’Neal said. “It’s going to help them down the road, for sure. It’s just a little bit different from playing in a regular tournament.” Joseph Bramlett, who along with fellow Rocket Mortgage participants Cameron Champ and Harold Varner III showed up to the trophy ceremony afterward, echoed that sentiment. “Absolutely,” Bramlett said. “It’s a two-day event, so more than just an 18-hole qualifier. It’s not an opportunity you get very often to get to play out here, and to be able to take that knowledge and see how your game stacks up, it’s invaluable.” O’Neal made seven birdies, including two on his last three holes. He was the oldest player in the field, but with 84 made cuts including nine top-10 finishes in 153 career Korn Ferry Tour starts, better to call him battle-tested. “Hopefully it’s going to inspire guys not to quit and keep grinding,” he said. The grinders were everywhere you looked at the Shippen. Worthington, a teaching professional from Columbus, Ohio, who also plays the APGA Tour, qualified for the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol. Although he missed the cut, he learned from the experience and fondly remembers playing partners Chris Kirk and Freddy Jacobson. “I’m fortunate and blessed to have had that opportunity,” he said. “It’s different when you’re right there with those players, but I knew then that I could do this if I just get the opportunity.” As soon as he found out he was in The Shippen, he called Andy Gibson, an old college friend who now works as the first assistant pro at Bonita Bay Club in Naples, Florida, to caddie for him. They enjoyed some nice moments – Worthington made five birdies in his first 11 holes Monday – even if it didn’t all add up to a win in the strictest sense. Others in the Shippen field are just starting out, but they, too, are familiar with the grind. Ryan Alford (75-77), who played for Louisiana Tech, just turned 25. He has played some with David Toms, and was high school teammates with TOUR winner Sam Burns, who is still a friend. “Getting to see a PGA TOUR course in tournament conditions, I think it’s awesome,” Alford said as he packed up, bound for Tyler, Texas, and a qualifier for the state open. “I’m glad they’re doing it.” Andrew Walker (72-77), a newly minted Michigan State graduate, was headed for Alabama to play in the Auburn University Club Invitational, the second event on the Forme Tour. He, too, was disappointed, but not hugely so. He’d gotten an all-expenses trip to play on a TOUR course, and had a small, mobile fan club in his mom, Nancy Walker, who drove nine hours from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; and his older brother, Filmore, who caddied for him. “It’s hard to say anything else other than it’s awesome,” Walker said. “I think if you were to ask any of my playing competitors or any of the people around here, it’s something that’s great to see finally happening. Hopefully it’s the first step of many to try to bring some more equality to the game.”

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MAMARONECK, N.Y. — This wasn’t the kind of fun Justin Thomas had in mind for a U.S. Open at Winged Foot. For all the hype and history of how much punishment Winged Foot has doled out over the years. Thomas took advantage of a surprising soft and gentle Thursday morning with a 5-under 65, the lowest score in six U.S. Opens on this tough Tillinghast design. And all that got him was a one-shot lead over Patrick Reed, Matthew Wolff and Thomas Pieters, with Rory McIlroy another shot behind and starting to swing freely. Thomas went into the week saying it was a “different kind of fun” to grind over pars, to hit middle irons to difficult pins instead of the low scoring at so many other tournaments. He delivered six birdies and finished with a 25-footer on the 18th on a putt he barely moved to get it started down one of the many wicked slopes on Winged Foot’s greens. “Yeah, 65 is fun no matter where you play, especially at Winged Foot,” Thomas said. “I was in a really good frame of mind, and I was focused. I just was sticking to my routine and playing every shot, as opposed to getting ahead of myself. It’s one of those rounds where … next thing you know, you make the putt on 18, you’re done for the day.” He played with Masters champion Tiger Woods and PGA champion Collin Morikawa, who couldn’t get done fast enough. Woods was in five bunkers through five holes and then appeared to steady himself with three straight birdies around the turn to get under par, but only briefly. He made three bogeys coming in, still had a chance to post a reasonable score and then let it get away. From short of the steep shelf fronting the 18th green, he flubbed a flop shot, pitched the next one about 8 feet beyond the pin and missed the putt to take double bogey for a 73. “I did not finish off the round like I needed to,” Woods said, a feeling he conveyed five more times out of the six questions he faced after his round. Neither did Morikawa, who shot 40 on the back nine for a 76. Most irritating to Woods was a missed chance to score. Low clouds added to the soft feel of Winged Foot. The greens were fast but not as firm. Jordan Spieth discovered that on the first hole. He was trying to figure out if his approach would take a hard hop and release or land soft and spin back. He guessed wrong, the ball rolled down the slope to the front of the the green and he three-putted for bogey. He also shot 73. Thomas judged it correctly with a short iron left of the flag that spun back close to the hole for birdie. His only dropped shot came at the par-3 third because the ball settled on a downward slope of a bunker, leaving him no chance to get it close. There were few complaints the rest of the way. He also made three birdies around the turn, narrowly missing a fourth in a row from just inside 10 feet at the par-5 12th. Thomas felt at ease, and Winged Foot allowed him to feel that way. At least on Thursday. The previous low score for a U.S. Open was a 66 by Fuzzy Zoeller in the second round in 1984. “The greens are very soft,” Thomas said. “I thought they’d be a little firmer, but I also understood that they need to err on this side if they can get them how they want this weekend. … It’s still Winged Foot. You’ve still got to hit the shots. That kind of was my game plan going into the week. Yeah, I need to respect the course. But if I’m driving it well and playing well, I do need to try to make some birdies.” Reed did better than that. Starting with four pars and a double bogey on No. 5, Reed hit driver to the left edge of the rough on the short par-4 sixth and chipped to 6 feet. Then, he hit 9-iron that one-hopped into the hole for an ace on No. 7, and the awkward pause of making sure it was a hole-in-one because there are no spectators around to cheer. “It would have been nuts. Up here in New York, the fans are amazing,” he said. “It was unfortunate the fans weren’t here because that would have been an awesome experience. But at the same time, an ace is an ace. I’ll take it either way.” Reed prefers the U.S. Open to be a battle for par, and so it was for those who got out of position. Even then, he delivered. Reed clipped a tree on the 16th and was some 300 yards from the green and managed to escape with par. Ditto for the 17th, where he hammered a hybrid out of thick grass and let it run hot onto the putting surface. McIlroy can make the game look easy anywhere, and such was the case. He birdied three of the par 3s, and only a pair of three-putts — one for par, one for bogey — slowed him. “It was one of those rounds I felt like could have been a little lower than it was, but at the same time 67 is a really good start.

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