For Bryson, practice paying off with Masters run

Landon Donovan is generally regarded as the best American male soccer player of all time, so accomplished the Major League Soccer's MVP award is named in his honor. On Wednesday, though, the 38-year-old steps outside his comfort zone to play with Tony Finau against Paul Casey and singer Jake Owen in the American Express Charity Challenge at PGA WEST in La Quinta, California. Donovan, who is co-owner and coach of the San Diego Loyal Soccer Club, took some time before the event to talk about how he got his start in golf and the particular skills he thinks set the game apart. PGATOUR.COM: You've been playing golf since you were in elementary school. What drew you to the game? DONOVAN: I believe it was in third grade. The reason I started was I was having some problems in school with my behavior and my parents told me that if I behaved well, they would take me on some sort of outing of my choosing. And I have no idea why one of the times I said I want to golf. And they were like, okay. So, I actually went out with my mom and started golfing. So, there’s a nostalgic piece of it. And then it’s kind of come and gone as I’ve been an adult — mainly based around my schedule and if I physically felt up to it or not when I was playing. But now that I’m coaching, there’s not a ton of time, but when I can I just love the sport. PGATOUR.COM: So how good a golfer are you? DONOVAN: Well, when I play a decent amount, I shoot in the low 80s. But I also don’t play from the tips. I don’t drive the ball particularly well, but my iron game and short game is OK by an average person’s standards. If I had to play from the tips at PGA WEST it probably would not be a pretty outcome, but I think they’re going to give us a little bit of leeway on some of the holes. PGATOUR.COM: Are you nervous? After all, it's going to be televised. DONOVAN: No, I’m not nervous. I’m excited. I hope nobody expects that I know how to golf. I just want to enjoy it. I mean, obviously it’s for a great, great cause, but more so, personally on the day, it’ll just be fun to get one, to get to play with Tony, and then just to see these guys up close and see how they hit the ball. I went to the Masters a few years ago. … Just to see the way they strike the ball and then listen to the sound is really remarkable. And you don’t realize that watching them on TV, obviously. So, when he gets to do it up close and then I just want to hear, I mean, probably the last thing Tony wants to do is talk about golf, but I just want to speak a little bit about like his process as he goes through lining up a shot and deciding how he’s going to play a certain hole and those kinds of things. I love learning, and that would be really fascinating to hear. PGATOUR.COM: You were such an awesome soccer player — the best of all time. Is it frustrating to play a sport that you haven’t mastered yet? DONOVAN: Yeah. I mean, that’s the beauty of all sports other than the one you played — and golf in particular. I play a lot of tennis, as well. And tennis is a sport where you can play a bad point and still win the point. You can actually play a relatively bad set or match and still win a match just based on how it’s going. In golf there’s nowhere to turn. There are no other variables. It’s just you on the ball. And that’s the daunting part because I’m so used to a sport where there are so many variables involved and so many players and referees and fans, the climate. What the beauty of golf is, you don’t have any excuses. It’s just you either did it or you didn’t. And so that’s what I love about it — but that’s also what’s very frustrating. I’m sure like everyone experiences the ability to hit a shot almost like a professional would hit, even though it’s once in a blue moon, it makes you feel like it’s a sport you can conquer. But then the reason why they are where they are is because they can do it every time or almost every time. Once in a blue moon, you can strike a ball like a professional, but you could never, ever, ever compete with them because you can’t do it twice in a row and they do it 200 times in a row over the course of a weekend. PGATOUR.COM: What frustrates you most about the game? DONOVAN: Honestly the level of respect I have for what they’re able to do is so high because in my opinion, tennis and golf are the two most mentally challenging sports. And I think golf is a little more than tennis because of what I just said. It’s a game and a sport that is far ahead of other sports in the way players mentally prepare. And if we could take that level of mental work and preparation and put it into other sports, athletes would be a lot better. And it’s still sort of the last plateau or I guess the last the last area to conquer in team sports because it’s seen as not macho or just toughing through it or get on with it, whereas in golf it’s like the mental side is you could say more important than the physical side. So, we can learn so much from that sport because they have no choice, but to get on with the next shot, regardless of what happened before and in soccer you’ll see guys who make a bad play or miss a shot and it affects them for the rest of the game and they can’t recover. And in golf you just have to learn no matter what happened — good, bad, ugly, indifferent — you have to get on with the next shot. That’s the only one that matters. And I think that’s a great metaphor for life and for other sports as well could be really helpful. PGATOUR.COM: And I also think the fact that a golf tournament is held over four days - not just a single game — makes it even more challenging mentally DONOVAN: That’s well said. And also, what people don’t realize is when amateur golfers golf, we all golf with the cart, right? At least a push-cart or most of us have like a motorized cart. If I walk seven or eight holes, I am exhausted. I mean, exhausted. And in the sun, right? So, you don’t realize how fit they are because that’s not easy. Yes. I know someone’s carrying their bag, but you just try walking 18 holes without hitting golf shots and without the mental strength. It’s really hard. It’s exhausting. So, it makes you realize what great shape they’re at. And then by Sunday afternoon, they still have the energy - it's really impressive. PGATOUR.COM: This may be a weird question because soccer is so fast paced but is there anything about soccer that helps you as a golfer? DONOVAN: It's actually a great question. Only since I stopped playing soccer did I realize in tennis and in golf, both, the value of just watching the ball when you strike it. And I never thought about it in soccer because I was so programmed to do it without thinking and it was just second nature for me. But in both tennis and golf, when I actually just watched the ball all the way to the racket or watch the club all the way until it hits through the ball, there’s a different outcome. And it’s so difficult because human nature is always to want to see where the ball is going. You always want to know where the ball is going. And so, in soccer, when there were times where I wasn’t scoring goals or something felt off with my shooting, I would always go back to, OK, just keep your head down and watch yourself, kick the ball all the way through the ball. And that’s exactly the same thing that happens in golf. Exactly. For me, it’s almost every time I watched myself swing all the way through the ball that I hit at least a decent shot. And when I don’t, I don’t. PGATOUR.COM: What's the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you on the golf course? DONOVAN: So, when I was with the under-17 national team, my coach at that time — and this was 20-plus years ago — he likes to tell this story. We were in, I think it was in Florida, and we were on a golf course and I hit a ball somewhere near the water and walked over and started lining up my shot. And without me realizing it, a gator or a crocodile had trickled his or her way up, like, really close to me. And then, my coach said, ‘Hey, Landon, you may want to check out what your surroundings are right now.’ And I looked out and needless said to say, I just left the ball. I was happy to lose a couple of dollars and get the hell out of there.

Click here to read the full article…

Lingmerth shoots 65 again, keeps Quicken lead

Click here to read the full article…

Few PGA TOUR players are more passionate about golf-course architecture than Zac Blair. He’s back on TOUR this season after spending a year on the Korn Ferry Tour, which means he can re-visit several of his favorite layouts. Waialae Country Club, which hosts this week’s Sony Open in Hawaii, is high on that list. Waialae was built by Seth Raynor nearly a century ago during an era known as the Golden Age of architecture. Blair’s affinity for the course is shown in his performances in Honolulu. He finished T6 in his Sony debut five years ago, then followed with a career-best third in 2016. This week will be his first Sony start in three years. After failing to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs in 2017 and 2018, he had to return to the Korn Ferry Tour last year. He won the second-to-last event of the Regular Season to regain his TOUR card and is off to a good start this season. He finished T4 at the Safeway Open and T14 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic to sit 51st in the FedExCup standings.  Blair recently spoke to PGATOUR.COM about Waialae, losing (and regaining) his TOUR card and the status of The Buck Club, the course he dreams of bringing to his native Utah. PGATOUR.COM: What’s your best memory from Waialae? Zac Blair: Probably that 3-wood I hit on 18 (in 2016). That was something you never forget, hitting that good of a shot in that situation. … I figured if I made eagle, I would have a chance to win. I hit it exactly how I wanted to. I needed to hit a really good one. I hit it perfect and it came off with that perfect ball flight. I knew if it got the hop, it could be really good. (Note: Blair, who had 275 yards remaining for his second shot to the par-5 18th, missed his 15-foot eagle putt and finished one shot out of a playoff won by Fabian Gomez.) PGATOUR.COM: What do you love about playing there? Zac Blair: It’s a cool spot. Any of those par-70s where you get that Bermudagrass, where there’s a real premium on hitting it in the fairway, it’s obviously really nice. I’ve played it a few times where it’s been really firm and I can get it out as far as those longer hitters because they may be hitting hybrid off the tee. The course is fun. It’s a cool way to start the year. I’m excited to get back and see what Tom Doak has done with the restoration. Most of the big changes have taken place the last two or three years since I last played there. PGATOUR.COM: What do you like about Raynor courses? Zac Blair: I just find them enjoyable. I really enjoy some of those template holes and green complexes in general. I feel like they offer a large selection of pin positions. You can make the course play a lot different day-to-day. A hole can play completely different just by moving the hole 10-12 steps. PGATOUR.COM: Do you feel like you gained anything from having to go back to the Korn Ferry Tour? Zac Blair: For sure. Not that I took it for granted, but you realize how good you have it on the big tour. From the courses we play, the food we eat to how they take care of you. It’s nice to get back for a lot of those reasons, and obviously you play for a lot more money, which is never a bad thing. PGATOUR.COM: Is your game any different than the last time you were on TOUR? Zac Blair: I don’t think so. I’m still short. I just have to make the putts. I just went back to a lot of stuff I did growing up or stuff I did right when I got out on TOUR. When I first got on TOUR, I just went out and felt it out. Then I was trying so hard to make my putting stroke more fundamentally sound or trying to change it because you would hear people say, ‘You’ll have to change your putting if you want to be more consistent.’ But I was always one of the best putters I knew, so it was silly to change it to make it look better. I went back to putting the way I putt. That’s the biggest difference. PGATOUR.COM: Was there a time when you worried about getting back on TOUR? Zac Blair: The year after I finished 126th (in the FedExCup), I still had a lot of opportunities. I got in like 20 events, so I got in enough where if I’d played well I could get back in that top 125. I may have gotten a little ‘woe is me’ that year, like, ‘I can’t believe I finished 126th.’ Last year, I told myself that if I just dedicated myself to grinding it out and not complaining about being on the Korn Ferry Tour, not having a ‘woe is me’ attitude, I could play solid and get my card. I just did a good job of staying focused and realizing that sometimes you have to go through situations like that to get back to where you want to be, or where you know you’re going to be. But there are always those times where you have bad weeks and you don’t know. PGATOUR.COM: What’s the status of The Buck Club? Zac Blair: I think it’s in a good spot. We’re still looking for some money to build the course but I think we’re pretty OK with where we’re at right now, with being a golf club without a course. We’re hoping to get it built in the near future, but we’re not in any rush to go do something drastic without the proper means to make it something that will last and be here for a long time. I wanted it to be this private club in Utah for my friends and golf junkies around the world, and it’s kind of turned into something bigger than that without trying. We do a lot of stuff for junior golf, raising money for things like that with the tournaments that we host. It’s been really cool to see all the people support it from all over the world. It’s crazy how much support we’ve gotten.

Click here to read the full article…