Free spirit Mark Hubbard eyes first TOUR title at Sanderson Farms

Click here to read the full article…

AKRON, Ohio – Rory McIlroy just didn’t want to yell at his friend any more. He didn’t want to lose his mate. The reigning FedExCup champion said his recent split with longtime caddie J.P. Fitzgerald came after Rory realized the relationship he had come to love, the one he had enjoyed since 2008 when he was just an 18-year-old potential star, was under threat. In this break-up … well, McIlroy took the blame. “I still consider J.P. one of my best friends, one of my closest friends, but sometimes to preserve a personal relationship, you might have to sacrifice a professional one and that was sort of the decision that I came to in the end,â€� McIlroy said Wednesday as he prepares for the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. “I was getting very hard on him on the golf course and I don’t want to treat anyone like that, but sometimes this game drives you to that. I got to the point where if I didn’t play a good shot or if I made a wrong decision, I was getting more frustrated at him than I was at myself. I would much rather be angry at myself for making a wrong decision than being angry at him. “It’s a big change. J.P. has been a huge part of my life.â€� Fitzgerald joined the teenage McIlroy after parting ways with Ernie Els and was on the bag for McIlroy’s four majors and FedExCup triumph over the last nine years. But the little things were starting to annoy each other and the writing was on the wall as tempers were getting shorter. McIlroy did not rule out a reunion in the future, but now the job falls – at least for the next two weeks — to another of his good friends, Harry Diamond, who was the best man at McIlroy’s wedding earlier this year. Diamond, a businessman in Northern Ireland who grew up with McIlroy in Holywood, will caddie at Firestone Country Club this week. It’s McIlroy’s first visit since winning the Bridgestone Invitational in 2014. Injury curtailed McIlroy’s title defense the following year, then he had a scheduling conflict last year. Diamond will also work next week’s PGA Championship, to be held at Quail Hollow, where McIlroy is a two-time winner of the Wells Fargo Championship on the PGA TOUR. After that, it’s anyone’s guess who’ll carry McIlroy’s bag – including McIlroy himself. “We’ll see how the next two weeks go, but I’m not ruling anything out,â€� he said. “It could be two weeks, it could go longer than that. If we have a couple of good weeks here, you never know but I think that decision will be up to Harry rather than me. “Obviously he’s got his own thing going on back home, but a couple of wins might change things.â€� Diamond was a reasonable amateur player back in Ireland in his own right, with McIlroy clearly of the opinion he can add to his game. But the Northern Irishman also admits he will be taking more ownership and calculating yardages himself for the first time in years. “He knows me, he knows my game, he’s caddied for me before, he knows my personality,â€� McIlroy stressed. “I just needed someone who knew me and knew my thought process. I might think a little bit differently than some of the other players out here, might come to decisions in a different way.â€� Sitting 53rd in the FedExCup this season McIlroy is looking for a similar late burst to last year, where he entered the Playoffs in 36th spot yet won the Dell Technologies Championship and the TOUR Championship to claim the season-long trophy. “The year hasn’t panned out the way I’ve wanted it to, but I know more than anyone that can change over the course of a few weeks, especially with how the Playoffs are and how much you can vault up those standings,â€� McIlroy said. “There is a sense of urgency. Like there’s two big weeks coming up here before the FedExCup Playoffs, and I want to play well, and I feel like I’ve started to turn a corner with how I played at the Open. “I feel like if I can go into the Playoffs in a better position than I was last year, I have a great chance to maybe repeat.â€�

Click here to read the full article…

CROMWELL, Conn. – OK, he never claimed to be more powerful than a locomotive or possess the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound. But Phil Mickelson surely never refused to stand on the tee box and go toe-to-toe with anyone. Often to his detriment. But he was a young stallion then. Today he’s a sly fox. But after posting 7-under 63 – his best score in a PGA TOUR tournament since firing that same score in Round 4 of the Dell Technologies Championship in 2018 – Mickelson is in position to tie Walter Hagen for eighth place on the career victory list. RELATED: Leaderboard | Tee times | Morikawa’s made cut streak comes to an end | Gordon making the most of opportunity at Travelers That itself is no surprise. Mickelson remains a fiercely competitive force and as deft as ever with the short-iron game. The surprise is that he showed humility and good sense, a blueprint he once would have discarded on the way to the first tee. But knowing that Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau were his playing competitors, Mickelson took a deep breath and rejected those voices within. “I made some strides in the sense that I didn’t try to go toe-to-toe with two of the longest guys in the game,” said Mickelson. For example, the 442-yard, bombs-away, par-4 seventh. McIlroy ripped it 353, DeChambeau rifled it 359, but Phil dinked it out there with a 3-wood. He made birdie. At the dogleg right, McIlroy (321) and DeChambeau (358) took it up and over trees to get it down near the green. Mickelson carved another 3-wood around the bunkers and into the fairway, a mere 306. He made birdie. At the par-5 13th and par-4 14th, Mickelson played conservatively, again with 3-woods. Each shot found the fairway, each hole was birdied. His competitors hit drives all over the map at those holes. “There are some holes where I can open it up and hit driver,” said Mickelson. “But really, I just want to get it in play.” Knowing those words coming out of his mouth were stunning, Mickelson acknowledge, “I know, it’s not like me.” But he’s never been 50 before, never had to reign things in, never seen the likes of what DeChambeau has brought to the PGA TOUR in this restart to the 2019-20 season. “It is hard for me. .. it’s hard for anyone to imagine how straight he hits it for as hard as he hits it,” said Mickelson, shaking his head. Though he shot 67 – 132 and at 8-under is tied for ninth, five shots back, DeChambeau had Mickelson gushing. “I mean, he drove it pin-high at No. 9. Are you kidding me?” Observers may have said thing to themselves, listening to Mickelson concede he had backed off any challenge to try and match his playing competitors. But the lefthander said he learned the hard way at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera than to miss with the big boys. “I tried in LA to match it with Brooks (Koepka) and Bubba (Watson), and those guys are long,” said Mickelson. “I was trying to swing hard and I ended up missing the cut. I ended up not playing well and I learned from that.”

Click here to read the full article…