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Alex Myers discusses what makes the Patriots’ latest title run extra tough to watch for non-New Englanders.
NORTON, Mass. – Those giant LED boards are all over the TPC Boston layout, the bright lights projecting everything from hometowns to the length of the putt a player is about to attempt. But Jonas Blixt doesn’t need to watch the FedExCup projections roll across the screen to know what he must do this week at the Dell Technologies Championship. The affable Swede came into the second Playoffs event ranked 84th with only the top 70 moving on to the BMW Championship in two weeks. So Blixt needs to play well to advance – and that’s exactly what he did in Friday’s first round. Blixt’s 3-under 68 left him in a tie for sixth and just two strokes off the lead held by Dustin Johnson. He likely needs to finish 24th or better to get to the BMW Championship for just the second time in his career. He currently projects to 49th. Solo second on Monday would probably get Blixt safely inside the top 30 so he could make his TOUR Championship debut. What about a win on Labor Day? “Then everything takes care of itself,� Blixt said. “But you’ve got to put yourself in that situation first. Coming down the stretch, you’ve got two things to play for. “You got the championship and (the FedExCup rank) and depending on where you are, you’ll play for one of them. The three-time PGA TOUR champ knows better than to get ahead of himself. “My back’s against the wall a little bit and I’m just trying to play good golf,� Blixt said. “I wouldn’t say push it a little bit but play aggressive and we’ll see what happens. “You never know. Golf is such a hard sport to predict.� Blixt, who teamed with Cameron Smith to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans earlier this year, had a solid round on Friday that included two birdies, one bogey and a 36-footer for eagle on the 18th hole. The round of 3 under was his lowest in relation to par since the second round of the Travelers Championship in June. Blixt, who has missed five straight cuts since that tournament in Hartford, brought his coach, Richard Lindberg, to Massachusetts this week. They’ve been working together at TPC Boston since last Saturday – it’s their second session in the last month. “We worked on a couple of things, small things, that could potentially help me a little bit,� Blixt said. “You never know. I had a good day today. It could be a worse day tomorrow. “But I’m swinging it well and a lot more confident today than I have been the last couple of weeks.� BUBBLE WATCH Here are the players who are projected to move inside and outside the top 70 that will advance to the third leg of the FedExCup Playoffs, the BMW Championship. QUOTE OF THE DAY I’m not trying to think about it, but yeah, it is there. It’s always nice to make a hole-in-one. They don’t come very often. TOP 5 WATCH The Top 5 players entering the TOUR Championship will control their own destiny at East Lake. Here’s a look at how the current top 5 fared Friday at the Dell Technologies Championship. 1. Dustin Johnson (66). Last week’s winner maintained his hot hand by grabbing the first-round lead. Projected to first. 2. Jordan Spieth (72). It wasn’t a great putting day, as Spieth missed four putts inside 10 feet. Projected to second. 3. Justin Thomas (71). Just one birdie and one bogey on a day that Thomas said he “fought for every stroke.� Projected to fourth. 4. Hideki Matsuyama (72). Had a double bogey early in his round and an eagle from 6 feet to finish it off. Projected to fifth. 5. Jon Rahm (67). Finished with a flourish – four birdies in his last five holes to move within one shot of Johnson. Projected to third. FEDEXCUP NOTES Ryan Moore and Kelly Kraft withdrew on Friday; Moore after his round and Kraft on his back nine after suffering a foot injury. Moore started the tournament ranked 61st and Kraft was 64th, so both are in jeopardy of falling outside the top 70. The projected total needed to make the BMW Championship is 723 points, and both players are below that number. But they will have to wait until the completion of play Monday for their fates to become official. For now, Moore is projected to stay inside the top 70 while Kraft is projected out. … Adam Scott fell outside the top 70 after not playing last week following the birth of his second child. His even-par 71 projects him back inside the top 70 after the first round. … This week’s bubble boy, Grayson Murray, started strong with a 3-under 68. But he’s downplaying the pressure of maintaining his position. “If my season ends right now, I’ve had a great year,� said Murray, who won the Barbasol Championship earlier this season. “I don’t put any pressure on me. But obviously the goal is to get to East Lake.� Murray currently projects to 44th.
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Amid the wind and the havoc at Kiawah Island, there was a semblance of simplicity to the way Corey Conners navigated his way around the Ocean Course for a 5-under 67 and a two-shot lead Thursday in the PGA Championship. RELATED: Once again, 17 provides best theater at Kiawah | Leaderboard He birdied all the par 5s. He made a couple of long putts for birdie. He dropped only one shot. The scorecard alone made it look like a walk on the beach. It just didn’t feel that way. “I’d say it’s impossible to be stress-free around this golf course,” Conners said. “You can’t fall asleep out there on any holes. It’s very challenging. I was fortunate to have a good day. Made it as least stressful as possible on myself.” With a stiff wind into his face for his last five holes, the 29-year-old Canadian played the tough closing stretch in 2 under, one of those birdies a 55-foot putt from just short of the green. He led by two shots over a half-dozen players. That group included Brooks Koepka, who started his day with a double bogey and stayed largely out of trouble the rest of the way; and Cameron Davis, who overcame a triple bogey on the sixth hole. Keegan Bradley, Viktor Hovland, Aaron Wise and Sam Horsfield also were at 69. The seven players to break 70 were the fewest for the opening round of the PGA Championship since there were five at Hazeltine in 2002. “I definitely knew in my preparation that it was possible to have a decent round out here and shoot a 5-, 6-under par round,” Conners said. “So kind of started the day thinking, ‘Why not me?’ There’s birdies to be had.” No one needed them like Koepka, a major presence when conditions are severe. One hole into this major, he had reason to be more worried about his brain than his ailing right knee. His opening tee shot on the 10th hole at Kiawah Island was struck poorly and didn’t quite clear a waste area. Koepka tried to do too much from a soft lie in the sand and barely got it out. It led to a double bogey, and the toughest part of the Ocean Course was still to come. But this is a major, and this is Koepka, and that’s when he’s at his best. He knuckled down from that mess by running off six birdies the rest of the way. “You can’t do that stuff if you want to win. You’ve just got to be more focused,” said Koepka, who has played only twice in the last three months because of surgery to repair ligaments in his knee. “I don’t know if that’s a lack of not playing or what. It was just stupid. I was able to recover, I guess.” So did 50-year-old Phil Mickelson, who had four bogeys through six holes and nothing but birdies and pars the rest of the way to join the large group at 70 that included defending champion Collin Morikawa and former U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland. More telling were those on the other side of par, some of whom will be scrambling to make it to the weekend. Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world in the midst of his worst stretch in nearly two years, took a double bogey from a wild tee shot on the front nine and a double bogey on the 18th for a 76. He’s in jeopardy of missing the cut in consecutive majors in the same year for the first time in his career. Justin Thomas took double bogey on the 18th hole in the morning and two holes later sent a sand shot over the green and just into a hazard for another 6 on the par-5 second. He had a 75. Rory McIlroy, coming off a victory at Quail Hollow two weeks ago, sent his opening tee shot into a water hazard. He salvaged a bogey, but certainly not his round. McIlroy made bogey on three of the par 5s for a 75, his worst start ever in a PGA Championship. Jordan Spieth, who needs a victory to complete the career Grand Slam, shot 73. The PGA of America moved up tee boxes, as expected, to account for the wind. The course played to 7,660 yards — 178 yards shorter than the scorecard — though that didn’t make it easy. Thomas, for one, still hit 7-wood into the 214-yard 17th. John Daly was among 12 players who shot in the 80s. On the 30-year anniversary of his PGA Championship victory at Crooked Stick, he shot 85. There were birdies to be had, and mistakes to be made, and Martin Laird was example of both. So wild was his round that he made bogey on No. 12, ran off four straight birdies and then closed with two bogeys. That added to a 70, not a bad day’s work. “I kind of went out with the mindset this week, even though it’s hard, don’t give the course too much respect,” Laird said. “You still have to take on shots when you have the chance. When I had a spot where I could go at the flag, I was making sure I kept doing it and hit a lot of really nice shots and managed to make some birdies. “You’re going to hit bogeys on this golf course,” he said. “It’s nice when you can throw in a bunch of birdies, too.” Finally heeled from a left knee injury, Koepka injured ligaments in his right knee in March and has played only twice since then, the Masters and last week in Dallas. He began with a poor 3-wood on No. 10 that didn’t clear the waste area. He took on too much with a soft lie in the sand and barely got it out, leading to a double bogey. But he didn’t flinch and had few complaints about his start. “It’s a major. I’m going to show up. I’m ready to play,” he said. “I love it when it’s difficult. I think that’s why I do so well in the majors. I just know mentally I can grind it out.”
