Garrick Higgo headlines next wave of International talent

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — The Americans haven’t opened with a lead this large in the Ryder Cup since Jack Nicklaus and Lee Trevino were playing, and before Tiger Woods was even born. RELATED: Full recap from Day 1 | Pairings, preview for Saturday morning That didn’t seem to be big enough to satisfy U.S. captain Steve Stricker. Dustin Johnson and Xander Schauffele each won two matches, Bryson DeChambeau smashed a drive that had everyone talking and the Americans were relentless Friday at Whistling Straits in losing only one match to build a 6-2 lead. “It’s a great start. We are happy with the start,” Stricker said. “But my message to the guys is tomorrow is a new day. Pretend today never happened, and let’s keep our foot down and continue to play the golf that we know we can play.” Oh, how Europe would like to forget this day ever happened. Rory McIlroy never made it to the 16th hole in losing both his matches on the opening day for the first time. The lone bright spot was Jon Rahm, living up his No. 1 ranking by winning in foursomes with Sergio Garcia and keeping Europe in a tight fourballs match long enough for Tyrrell Hatton to birdie the last hole to at least salvage a half-point. Europe has never trailed by four points after the first day since the Ryder Cup was expanded to include the continent in 1979, the modern era of these matches that Europe now dominates. Go back to 1975 to find the last time the U.S. had a four-point lead in the Ryder Cup. “No doubt, it was a tough day,” European skipper Padraig Harrington said, attributing the difference to a putt here, there and pretty much everywhere. “There’s obviously still 20 points to play for.” Suddenly, though, there seems to be a sense of urgency. The Americans were delivering big moments and the big smiles, waving up hands to get the one-sided gallery to cheer even louder, cupping hands to their ears to urge them along. They are looking for a fresh start after a quarter-century of losing, and its youngest team in history took a big step to creating their own memories. “They fought hard every single shot out there, from what I saw,” DeChambeau said after he and Scottie Scheffler earned a halve in fourballs. “This is a great start, but the job’s not over. We have two more days. A lot more golf. And we cannot lose our mindset to win.” The first point of the 43rd Ryder Cup, postponed one year by the pandemic, went to Europe and its new “Spanish Armada” of Rahm and Garcia. The final match ended in a halve when Justin Thomas delivered a late eagle putt that allowed him and Patrick Cantlay to come all the way back from a 3-down deficit. Through the morning chill, the midday warmth, a ferocious wind in the afternoon and even a little rain, the one constant was American red scores filling the boards across Whistling Straits. “We can come back from 6-2,” said McIlroy, trying to summon calm and confidence after losing both matches. Europe will have to do it without him. McIlroy is not part of the foursomes lineup Saturday morning, the first time he has sat in a Ryder Cup. Both captains stuck to their plans, and it only worked out for one of them. Even with a 3-1 start in foursomes, Stricker broke up all his American teams as planned and still won the afternoon fourballs session with two wins and two draws. Johnson and Schauffele never trailed together, while the high-spirited Tony Finau made six birdies as he and Harris English trounced McIlroy and Shane Lowry. DeChambeau still hasn’t won a Ryder Cup match, but he delivered quite a show. He pounded a drive to where no one had dared to go on the par-5 fifth hole. It cleared a massive bunker complex and stopped rolling at 417 yards, setting up a 72-yard flip wedge for an easy eagle. “There are two towers behind the green — I can’t even describe to you — they are like 250 or 200 yards right of where I’m trying to hit my drive,” Scheffler said. “And it’s crazy for him to be able to commit to that shot. “It was great. That was a good spark for us and good momentum for the rest of the day.” DeChambeau and Scheffler were poised for a 1-up victory until Hatton hit 5-iron into a hard left-to-right wind that landed near the hole and settled 7 feet away. He made the birdie putt to scratch out a halve and could only hope it was worth more. “Things like this can turn the tide,” Rahm said. After one day, it already feels like a strong tide, and that makes Saturday and another round of foursomes and fourballs more important than ever. Harrington also broke up all his pairings. This was the first time since the Ryder Cup was expanded to include all of Europe in 1979 that no one from the morning played together in the afternoon from either team. Cantlay and Schauffele were tough as ever in foursomes, which set the tone for the Americans. They were 5 up through five holes against McIlroy and Ian Poulter, and closed out their impressive 5-and-3 win with four straight birdies, the last one conceded. “I don’t know if anyone could have beat Xander and Patrick today,” McIlroy said. Only one shot went into the lake — a pull-hook from Tommy Fleetwood on the par-5 16th. And there almost was one player who went into Lake Michigan. That would be Jordan Spieth, facing an impossible shot beneath the 17th green with the ball on a severe slope in the morning round. He swung so hard with a 52-degree wedge that momentum sent him backward, scrambling to keep his footing and then running down toward the edge of the bank until he could get his balance. The shot? Remarkable as ever, plopping down 6 feet away. Thomas missed the par putt and the match was over. That was one of the few moments that didn’t go the American’s way.

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The largest purse and winner’s share in PGA Tour history is on the line at The Players. Here’s how you can watch the action on ESPN+.

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The 10th of 24 contributing events for PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO is this week’s Regions Tradition. It’s the first of five majors, all of which are contested over 72 holes and begin on Thursdays. Scroll for tournament notes, 22 notables and four wild cards from the field of 78 in Birmingham, Alabama. No matter what you think you know, you don’t, you know? With proper and deserved respect to open qualifier Ryan Baca and North Texas PGA Section representative Brian Norman, neither are likely to generate enthusiasm for even two-man gamers at the AT&T Byron Nelson. See, they are the only two in the field of 156 with competitive course experience at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas. At the 2017 Texas State Open, Baca placed T10 and Norman finished T53. The 47th edition of the esteemed competition also included recognizable names like former PGA TOUR members Edward Loar (T15), Hunter Haas and Craig Kanada – the latter two of whom withdrew mid-tournament — among a handful of other blasts from the past for the truly hardcore (e.g. Brady Watt, Stuart Deane and “Mr. 57” Curtis Reed). Certainly, our own Sean Martin could have penned a Power Rankings for that event and made me blush. The moral of this story is that none of those guys are One & Done-worthy, but they’re the golfers with the muscle memory and some idea of where to miss on the collaboration by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw. At the head of the class among short-listers in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO are locals Jordan Spieth and Beau Hossler, but only Hossler demands serious consideration. Sorry, Sean, but the massive unknown favors the field. Your advised strategy is to review how you’d arrange available golfers on your board for later stops. It’s the essence at the core of the existence of Future Possibilities below. However, you still need to leave yourself with a chip for the AT&T Byron Nelson. I’ve already burned Marc Leishman, but he’d be the most logical at Trinity Forest. Aside from his reputation in the wind, he’s proven comfortable and confident on links-style tracks. And with four top 10s in 2018 alone, he presents no reason to wait. Jimmy Walker is back on the rise and doesn’t line up exceptionally strong the rest of the way. The Texan is the epitome of striking while the irons are hot and while we’re essentially in the dark. Form over everything else, gang. Like Walker, Adam Scott is the kind of chalk to which we can turn just to sleep better. A top 20 would be a net-positive as the Aussie continues to grind through relative adversity. He could emerge as a candidate again later, but the blank canvas of this week serves as a sensible time to circle him now. Billy Horschel is the defending champion on a different course. His recent uptick after finding magic with a familiar putter furnishes all the confidence we need to latch on, but his record at the FedEx St. Jude Classic is phenomenal and should be embraced. Holster. Because I view Matt Kuchar as a wild card who fits in almost everywhere but often doesn’t win tiebreakers, he’s my pick. As I wrote in the Power Rankings, he placed second at the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, which Jordan Spieth used as a comp to Trinity Forest. Sold. Martin Laird and Branden Grace are seriously tempting. Laird is a beast at the Barracuda Championship contested the same week as the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational where fellow Barracuda go-to’s Gary Woodland and Brendan Steele will be competing. Grace makes more sense at Trinity Forest and easily could have slotted higher than No. 11 in my Power Rankings. Since two-man gamers won’t be flipping a coin between Baca and Norman, saddle Hossler into the back seat. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2017-18. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Sergio Garcia … Open Championship (1); TOUR Championship (4) Branden Grace … U.S. Open (4); WGC-Bridgestone (3) Bill Haas … Wyndham (2) J.B. Holmes … Greenbrier (5) Billy Horschel … St. Jude (1); TOUR Championship (4) Russell Knox … Dell Technologies (7) Matt Kuchar … Fort Worth (6); Memorial (2); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (7); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9) Martin Laird … Barracuda (1) Marc Leishman … Fort Worth (7); Memorial (5); Travelers (2); Open Championship (1) Hideki Matsuyama … Memorial (10); U.S. Open (6); WGC-Bridgestone (8; defending) Graeme McDowell … WGC-Bridgestone (3) Kevin Na … Memorial (10); John Deere (9); Wyndham (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (11) Ryan Palmer … Fort Worth (2); St. Jude (6) Scott Piercy … John Deere (6) Adam Scott … U.S. Open (10); Open Championship (8); WGC-Bridgestone (3); Dell Technologies (9); TOUR Championship (6) Brandt Snedeker … Fort Worth (11); U.S. Open (5); Travelers (6); Canadian (3); Wyndham (4) Jordan Spieth … Fort Worth (2); Travelers (6; defending); John Deere (7); Open Championship (9; defending); WGC-Bridgestone (10); TOUR Championship (4) Jimmy Walker … Greenbrier (8); Dell Technologies (7) CHAMPIONS ONE & DONE Regions Tradition Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama, hosts for the third consecutive year. It’s an unusual par 72 in that there are five par 3s and five par 5s. It’ll tip at 7,277 yards. Like all majors on the PGA TOUR Champions, it begins on Thursday. However, it’s one of only two majors (Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship) for which there is no cut. Bernhard Langer is the two-time defending champion. He’s also the PGA TOUR Champions’ most recent winner at the Insperity Invitational, which came on the heels of consecutive playoff losses in the previous two tournaments. As a result, the 60-year-old sits atop the Schwab Cup money list. Total prize money for the Regions Tradition is $2.4 million. The champion will pocket $360,000. This is the most lucrative event of the season thus far. It’s fourth-most overall behind the U.S. Senior Open Championship ($4 million), the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship (estimated $2.8-$3.0 million) and Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship ($2.8 million). FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2018. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Stephen Ames … Principal (8); U.S. Senior Open (6); Boeing (2); Shaw (7) Joe Durant … Principal (2); American Family (8); U.S. Senior Open (7); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); 3M (6); DICK’S (12); Boeing (10); Shaw (11); PURE (3); SAS (13) David Frost … U.S. Senior Open (4); 3M (7); Boeing (5); Shaw (8); PURE (1) Fred Funk … Regions Tradition (3); Boeing (6); PURE (5) Doug Garwood … SAS (1) Paul Goydos … 3M (1; defending); DICK’S (3); SAS (5) Lee Janzen … U.S. Senior Open (2) Miguel Angel Jiménez … Senior PGA (6); Principal (10); U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (3); Senior Open Championship (4); 3M (9); Shaw (7); SAS (12) Brandt Jobe … Senior PGA (2); Principal (3; defending); U.S. Senior Open (4); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); 3M (5); Boeing (8) Jerry Kelly … Boeing (1; defending); Shaw (5); PURE (2); SAS (4) Bernhard Langer … Usable everywhere. Defending five titles. Tom Lehman … Regions Tradition (5); Principal (1); U.S. Senior Open (3); SAS (9) Jeff Maggert … American Family (3); Shaw (5) Scott McCarron … Regions Tradition (2); Senior PGA (11); Principal (1); SENIOR PLAYERS (3; defending); Senior Open Championship (10); DICK’S (4; defending); Shaw (5; defending); PURE (8) Colin Montgomerie … Senior PGA (1); U.S. Senior Open (6); SENIOR PLAYERS (2); Senior Open Championship (10); Shaw (4); PURE (7); SAS (3; defending) Tom Pernice, Jr. … Principal Charity (2); Shaw (3); SAS (5) Kenny Perry … Regions Tradition (5); Senior PGA (6); 3M (1); DICK’S (10); SAS (2) Gene Sauers … Regions Tradition (3); U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (6); Boeing (1) Vijay Singh … Senior PGA (3); U.S. Senior Open (2); Shaw (5); SAS (1) Kevin Sutherland … Usable everywhere. David Toms … Regions Tradition (3); Boeing (2); SAS (4) Duffy Waldorf … Principal (6); Shaw (5) WILD CARDS (short list of golfers not included above but on the rise or still building portfolios after recently turning 50): Bob Estes; Steve Flesch; Scott Parel; Steve Stricker

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