Graeme McDowell gives team ‘shot in the arm’ with brilliant ace

NORTON, Mass. – News and notes from Friday’s first round of the Dell Technologies Championship, the second leg of the FedExCup Playoffs, with Dustin Johnson the clubhouse leader after shooting a 5-under 66 in the morning. BUNCHES OF SUCCESS Earlier this year, Dustin Johnson won a tournament. Then he kept winning – two more times, to be exact. He might have kept the streak going had he not slipped down some stairs in Augusta, Georgia. Last year, Johnson won a tournament – the U.S. Open, his first major. Then he won again, a World Golf Championships event, in his next start. The year before that, Johnson won a WGC event, and followed with a couple of T-6 finishes. Johnson, as you can tell, has shown a penchant lately for building on success. Most golfers get the hot hand and play well. Johnson gets the hot hand and keeps winning. And while it’s early at TPC Boston, the FedExCup leader made it clear Friday with his 5-under 66 that he’s determined to keep winning after claiming last week’s THE NORTHERN TRUST. “He’s a great player and he’s not going to let off the gas pedal,� said Bryson DeChambeau, one of the chasers after a 2-under 69. “That’s the one thing you have to take into account.� Johnson said there’s no secret to stringing together wins. “When you win, you’re playing well, so it gives you a lot of confidence,� he said. “For me, that was one thing that was probably lacking a little bit the last few months – just the confidence, just because I wasn’t seeing the shots that I wanted to see. I wasn’t hitting them consistently. So the confidence was just down a little bit. “But you know, after last week, obviously I’ve got a lot of confidence now. I feel like the things I’ve been working on, they are back to working.� Good omen for DJ. Bad one for the rest of the field. HARMAN EYES PRESIDENTS CUP MOVE Brian Harman and Steve Stricker were in the same group for the first two rounds at last month’s PGA Championship. Stricker is the U.S. Presidents Cup captain. Harman is hoping to earn a spot on the team. They’re good buddies. But evidently, the Presidents Cup was not a topic of discussion in those two rounds at Quail Hollow. “I certainly haven’t lobbied for a pick by any means,� Harman said. “… I’m just not a guy that’s going to toot my own horn. I feel like I would be a really good part of the team, but if they don’t think so, that’s fine too.� Harman entered this week ranked 12th in points and has a mathematical shot at making the team on merit. He trails No. 10 Charley Hoffman by 402 points, so a win (worthy 1,100 points) or solo second (630 points) could leap him past Hoffman and No. 11 Kevin Chappell – depending on how those two fare, of course. “It’s very important to me, and I’d love to make it,� Harman said. “But the only way to make it is to play well this week.� Harman did his part Friday with a 3-under 68 that puts him in contention after the first round. While a top-10 spot in the Presidents Cup standings would guarantee him a spot, moving to No. 11 might not be bad either, as Stricker could certainly justify that position as one of his captain’s picks. During his amateur days, Harman played on two Walker Cups and two Palmer Cups. All four times, he played for the winning team. But he’s yet to play on a national team since turning pro. “I’ve done pretty good in the team stuff,� Harman said. NOTABLES WATCH A first-round look at some of the notable names in this week’s field: Jordan Spieth (72) – Spieth ranks 177th on TOUR in putting from 7 feet, making less than 52 percent of his attempts this season. He missed two putts between 7-8 feet on Friday. Justin Thomas (71) – A fairly uneventful round, with just one birdie immediately followed by one bogey. “I fought for every stroke,� Thomas said. “I just didn’t have it.� Brooks Koepka (74) – The U.S. Open champ started with a bogey and struggled on the par 5s, making bogey on two of the three. ODDS AND ENDS Prior to Kevin Tway’s ace, the par-3 11th had yielded just three birdies in the first 70 or so golfers who had played the hole Friday. Tway’s hole-in-one was the ninth in tournament history and the third at that hole. … Kelly Kraft suffered a septuple-bogey 12 at the par-5 second hole. That’s the largest score recorded on a single hole this season on TOUR. Kraft eventually withdrew after hitting his tee shot on the 15th hole with an injury to his right foot. … Ryan Moore also withdrew after signing for an 11-over 82. Both players started the week inside the top 70 bubble but could drop out.

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The all-Australian pairing of Cameron Smith and Marc Leishman could have been over before it began at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans after Smith let his partner trim his infamous mullet on tournament eve. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Smith, Leishman have point to prove Staying together in a house near TPC Louisiana, Smith was about to head out to a local barber for a tidy up on Wednesday until his mate stepped up. “I said I needed to get a cut and I was going to go get one yesterday afternoon. Leish said, I can do it, I cut my boys’ hair at home. So I put faith in him, and I think he did a pretty good job,” Smith said after the pair opened with an impressive 9-under 63 in Four-Ball to be just one shot off the lead. It was a brave move as Smith’s hair has become the two-time PGA TOUR winners good luck charm and if things had of gone wrong – well – “I would have killed him,” Smith, who won this event in 2017 with Jonas Blixt, smirked. “But the lines were there. I had a barber do it last year, so all Leish had to do was like a coloring in, just don’t go outside the lines. I had a pretty good template to work with. It wasn’t too tough.” Leishman, a five-time TOUR winner who teamed with Smith to a runner-up finish at the 2018 World Cup, was as comfortable with the clippers as he is over a 3-footer. “During the quarantine, the start of last year when all the hairdressers were closed, my boys were getting a bit scruffy and I cut their hair,” he explained. “I will say I was a bit nervous the first few chunks I took out, but they turned out pretty good, so I was confident I could handle the short sides for Cam.” The duo’s attention now turns to the Foursomes format on Friday, also known as alternate shot. Leishman, who technically contributed just one of the teams birdies while Smith made an eagle and six birdies, was hoping to make his presence felt. “We were pretty good (today). I had the pars covered on most holes, and he had the birdies covered,” Leishman said. “It was great to be playing with someone who’s got a hot putter and putting himself in good positions on pretty much every hole. It made my job pretty easy. Hopefully I can fire up tomorrow and be ready for the foursomes.”

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