How to Watch Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Round 2: Featured Groups, live scores, tee times, TV times

Oh Canada! It is time for the national championship of those living under the Maple Leaf, where the locals are hoping to end a significant title drought, but several of those from other parts of the world have other ideas as the race for the FedExCup Playoffs gets super serious. The RBC Canadian Open has been played since 1904, but Pat Fletcher was the last Canadian winner of the tournament in 1954, but he was born in England. Karl Keffer is the only Canadian-born champion, winning in 1909 and 1914. English-born Canadian brothers Charlie Murray (1906) and Albert Murray (1908 and 1913) also captured the title. This week’s PGA TOUR LIVE coverage gives us a look at some Canadian hopefuls but also FedExCup No. 2 and world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, plus the in-form Matt Kuchar, who wants to quickly get over his Open Championship loss. PGA TOUR LIVE will broadcast between 7 a.m. Eastern and 6:00 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday. The coverage will switch to Featured Holes at 3:00 p.m. Featured Hole Coverage consists of the 15th (Par-3) and 17th (Par-4) on Thursday and Friday. PGA TOUR LIVE also will be available on Twitter for approximately 90 minutes, beginning at 7 a.m. Here’s a look at this week’s Featured Groups. Click here to subscribe to PGA TOUR LIVE. (Note: FedExCup rankings in parentheses) THURSDAY Mackenzie Hughes (26), Scott Piercy (76), Ernie Els (210): Hughes will be flying the Canadian hopes as a TOUR winner this season. He’s proven he can win, now can he do it at home? Scott Piercy showed how to win the Canadian Open in 2012 and now he’s chasing a fourth TOUR win while Els is looking to capture the old magic as one of the Team RBC ambassadors. Tee time: 8:00 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee. Bubba Watson (117), Graeme McDowell (119), Matt Kuchar (17): Some big-name star power here with Kuchar coming off his runner up finish to Jordan Spieth at the Open Championship. He’s likely to want to put the memory aside with a dominant display. Watson and McDowell, both major winners sitting just inside the top 125 in the race for the FedExCup. They need some results to make sure of their place in the post season. Tee time: 8:10 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee. FRIDAY Grayson Murray (60), Adam Hadwin (13), Nick Taylor (78): Murray kept the trend of young winners running with his breakthrough at the Barbasol Championship last week and now gets the chance to back it up in a full-field event. He will be playing in front of some vocal locals as Hadwin and Taylor fly the Canadian flag. Hadwin, a winner earlier this season, is looking to consolidate a place in the International Presidents Cup team and Taylor wants a breakthrough result of his own. Tee time: 8:00 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee. Dustin Johnson (2), Jhonattan Vegas (87), Jim Furyk (147): Johnson lost the top spot on the FedExCup list with Spieth’s win in England but he can get it back if he wins in Canada. He’s burning after a slide on Sunday and will now look for win no.4 on the season with a chip on his shoulder. Vegas claimed the win at Glen Abbey last season and with hopes of making a run towards the International team in the Presidents Cup this week comes at an opportune time for the Venezuelan. Furyk, an RBC man, needs something big to make the FedExCup Playoffs. This could be the week he makes his move. Tee time: 8:10 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee.

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SAN ANTONIO – For the third time in five weeks, the PGA TOUR is in Texas. That generally means lots of wind. Tricky winds – the kind that tested the field Thursday at the Valero Texas Open. Grayson Murray handled it the best, shooting a 5-under 67 to take the first-round lead at TPC San Antonio. It’s a bit of a surprise, considering three days ago he contemplated walking off the range because it was so windy. “Just going to make me frustrated,â€� he told himself. But he worked through it, stayed on the range — and something started to click. His payoff was seven birdies, a terrific result in tough conditions. “That’s probably why I played well today, just because that gave me confidence that I’m now compressing the ball,â€� Murray said of his Monday practice. “If you don’t compress the ball, if you start coming out of it, start hitting these short weak right shots, the ball’s going to do whatever it wants to do in the air.â€� So just how was the wind Thursday? Let Keith Mitchell, making his first career start at TPC San Antonio, explain: “The wind blows 5 mph. Then it blows 20. Then it was from the northeast. Then it blows from the east-northeast. It’s not consistent out there. It’s so hard to pick a club from the fairway,â€� Mitchell said. He did just fine, though – a 2-under 70 that has him tied for 12th. Chesson Hadley shot a 68 that puts him in a five-way tie for ninth. One of his five birdies was at the par-4 ninth, the second toughest hole on the course, yielding just 12 birdies to the field. The 68 isn’t his lowest round of the season, but it might’ve been his most impressive. “Yeah, that could have been maybe the best round I played this year just from how hard it was and how difficult the course is,â€� Hadley said. Billy Horschel knows a thing or two about winning in Texas – he won last year in Dallas at the AT&T Byron Nelson. He also has three top-5 finishes in his last five starts in San Antonio. He may be headed for another good finish after his 68. “People ask me how you do it,â€� Horschel said about playing in the wind. “You keep the ball down … but if you don’t hit it solid, the wind’s going to take over. So always been a good wind player. I think it’s because I’ve always been a good ball-striker and hit it solid.â€� The wind will remain a factor the rest of the week, particularly in Sunday’s final round when gusts are expected to reach 30 mph. Patience will be tested. “I’m a lot more comfortable in the wind,â€� said Murray, who broke through last year with a win at the Barbasol Championship. “I’m starting to stripe it a lot better, which my ball doesn’t really get affected in this type of wind.â€� That was certainly the case Thursday. MISSED CUT STREAK IN JEOPARDY Jon Curran is tied for seventh after a 3-under 69. That’s significant on several levels. Curran has missed the cut in each of his first 10 starts this season. He’s had a couple of close calls. At the Houston Open three weeks ago, 90 players made the cut at 3 under. Curran was on that cutline with four holes to play in his second round – until a triple bogey. At the Sony Open in Hawaii, he was 6 under in his final 11 holes on Friday but missed the cut by a stroke. “Just been a really weird year,â€� he said. “… I may look like I’m not playing well but I’m doing all right.â€� Curran’s playing this year on a Major Medical Exemption, with 18 starts to make approximately 305-1/2 FedExCup points to retain membership. Ten starts in, he’s hasn’t made a dent – but he’s got a chance with another good round Friday. “It can be frustrating at times but I feel like I’ve gotten over it,â€� said Curran, who battled a rib injury last year. “I’ve definitely matured as a player. That’s just part of the game. … You can play well and miss the cut. That’s just how it goes.â€� NOTABLES Josh Creel is making his PGA TOUR debut this week. He won the Monday qualifier at Briggs Ranch, and then immediately made the 45-minute trip to TPC San Antonio. “I was so excited,â€� he said. “I put on two different tennis shoes – one white high top and one black low top. It wasn’t even close.â€� On Thursday, it got better – he shot a 3-under 69 to finish his first competitive round on TOUR tied for seventh. “It’s awesome,â€� he said. “Been a dream come true. Just soaking it all in.â€� Andrew Landry went through a stretch of four consecutive missed cuts earlier this season. He had a good excuse – his wife Elizabeth was about to give birth to their first child. Brooks Ryan Landry was born on March 20, and in Andrew’s return to the TOUR at last week’s RBC Heritage, he not only made the cut but was T-12 after three rounds before fading on Sunday. Now he’s in contention after opening with a 3-under 69 while playing with new shafts. “It wasn’t like I’ve been playing bad golf,â€� Landry said. “I think I had a lot on my mind. Now that the baby’s here and everybody’s healthy and everybody’s good, I think I can just go out and pin my ears back and play some golf.â€� Zach Johnson was 3 over without a birdie after saving par with an 8-1/2 foot putt at the par-4 13th. That lit the fire … and he proceeded to eagle the 14th, then birdie his last three holes to move to 2 under. “Just a matter of staying patient and waiting for it,â€� Johnson said. “I felt like I was hitting good shots and not being rewarded.â€� Defending champion Kevin Chappell suffered a double bogey on his second hole of the day, but fought back to shoot an even-par 72. … Sergio Garcia, making his first start since 2010, shot a 2-over 74 with just one birdie … Adam Scott, the 2010 champ who’s playing here for the first time since his title defense in 2011, did not record a birdie in shooting 3-over 75. He needed 19 putts on his first nine holes and 3-putted the 16th from 35 feet. … Another past champion, Jimmy Walker (2015), was going well until finding trouble off the tee on his ninth hole (the 18th), leading to a double bogey. He finished with a 71. … Besides Jon Curran, Kyle Thompson is the only other player who’s made 10 or more starts without making a cut this year. Thompson shot 73 on Thursday and is also inside the cutline (T-64). QUOTABLES Kind of the hard days like this is when you really want to buckle down and try to get as much out of it as you can because days that don’t blow well, it’s just going to be bunched up. We’re all too good out there to shoot 3, 4 over when it’s calm.I stole one there. That’s probably the hardest hole on the course.When things are going great, it’s the best game in the world. When things are going tough, it’s one of the hardest games in the world to play.I hit it close on almost every hole. That’s what you’ve got to do out here. SHOT OF THE DAY CALL OF THE DAY

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SOUTHPORT, England – News and notes from Thursday’s first round at The Open Championship. Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka were early clubhouse leaders after 5-unders 65 at Royal Birkdale. Rust? What rust? It’s four weeks later. It’s a different course, a different country, heck, even a different continent. Last month had wide fairways; this week, the fairways are tight. And yet, Brooks Koepka turned Thursday into essentially his fifth round at Erin Hills. After tying the all-time lowest winning score at the U.S. Open (16 under) in mid-June, Koepka kept the hot hand with an opening 65 that included a hole-out for eagle from a bad lie in a greenside bunker at the 17th. Though he didn’t swing a club for more than two weeks after winning his first major, Koepka picked up right where we last saw him when he shot 67 on the final day at Erin Hills. “Just fun to get back playing again,â€� Koepka said. “… After taking four weeks off, it’s kind of nice to get back inside the ropes and finally get those competitive juices flowing.â€� Success after a lengthy layoff is nothing new for Koepka. Prior to his first PGA TOUR victory at the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open, he had taken nearly a month off. Instead of getting rusty, he finds the downtime necessary to stay fresh and avoid the week-to-week mental grind. “If I start playing four or five weeks in a row, everything just seems to get nonchalant,â€� he said. “… You get to be in the routine and get used to it. And it just doesn’t seem like I’m fully ready to play. If you take some time off and kind of recharge mentally, physically, I feel like I’m in really good shape right now, even with that time off mentally.â€� So what did he do during this most recent break? He went to Las Vegas with a few friends – and evidently had a great time, since he deftly avoided providing details. (“It was funâ€� was as much as he wanted to offer.) He returned home on July 1, missing the gym more than missing his clubs. It wasn’t until the next week that he got back on the course, playing a fun match with his manager Blake Smith. He gave Smith 13 strokes – and his manager needed just 10 to win. If Koepka maintains his current major form, getting strokes may be the only way the rest of the field can beat him. In his last 12 major starts, he has five top-10 finishes (including his win) and five other top-25 finishes. “Look at all the majors that I’ve played … the record has been pretty good,â€� Koepka said. “Anytime you put something on the line like that, I get up for it.â€� It’s a tie game for Justin Justin Thomas is used to wearing a tie. He wore one every day while attending high school at St. Xavier in Louisville, Kentucky. He wore one during his Walker Cup days. So for Thomas, it was no big deal to wear one as part of his apparel script this week at Royal Birkdale. Yet he figured it would be a conversation starter for everyone else. “Obviously knew it was going to get a lot of publicity,â€� he said. “… But I didn’t come here to dress well. I came here to try to play some good golf. And I guess that just happened.â€� Indeed it did. Thanks to an eagle at 17, Thomas finished with a flourish, carding a 3-under 67. Just like four weeks ago at Erin Hills, Thomas appears ready to contend in another major. In that third round at the U.S. Open, Thomas tied a major record by shooting 63 that left him one shot off the lead and put him in Sunday’s final pairing. But he followed with a disappointing 75 and a tie for ninth. Still, it’s easy for him to shake off the high score and concentrate on his third-round performance. “I can think of 63 shots that come to mind before Sunday,â€� Thomas said. “Yeah, Sunday is definitely not something I’m taking from that week. I’m taking the experience of Sunday and the fact that I was there to start the day on Sunday.â€� As for the tie? It will stay hidden inside the closet for the rest of the week.  Spieth’s key adjustment The par-4 sixth hole, which faces toward the south, has been the most difficult the last two times Royal Birkdale has hosted the Open. It just so happens that the driving range faces in the same direction. Jordan Spieth used that to his advantage Thursday. Facing an approach shot that was 192 yards to the front of the green and 215 to the pin, Spieth opted for his 4-iron. Normally, he hits that upwards of 225 yards on the range back home in Dallas, Texas. But during his warm-up session Thursday, Spieth’s coach Cameron McCormick brought the TrackMan to calculate how much Spieth would need to adjust his yardage calculations in Thursday’s 55-degree weather. They figured the cooler temperatures resulted in a 10-15 yard reduction. Throw in the wind conditions, and it’s another 20-30 yards. Thanks to the adjustments, Spieth ripped his 4-iron and set up a two-putt par during his bogey-free round of 65. “Because I knew how far balls were carrying from our session this morning, I was able to know how far that ball would carry and then I can trust that,â€� Spieth said. “And that’s the most important thing, because you feel like you’re hitting so much club. You feel like you’re going to fly the world. And then it goes on the front green and I’m 60 feet away. I mis-hit it, it was a good club to get close to the hole. “I thought that was really well done by Cameron, because I didn’t even ask him to. He just brought it out and said, ‘Let’s figure this out, so you know at least when you’re coming into the wind what true effect it’s having.’ And it’s more an effect than anywhere I’ve experienced in the States.â€� Poulter back on track A year ago, Ian Poulter was part of Sky Sports’ broadcast team at Royal Troon. He did not like it. It wasn’t because he doesn’t like to talk. But he’d rather have been swinging a club than holding a microphone. Unfortunately, a foot injury kept the Englishman from making his 15th consecutive start in his national Open. This year, he had to qualify for the Open. Fortunately, one of the venues was his hometown course in Woburn. In front of several thousand fans, Poulter posted a score and then had to sweat out a 45-minute wait before securing one of the three spots that advanced to Royal Birkdale. “I certainly felt a bit of pressure — pressure to obviously make sure I take one of those three spots,â€� Poulter said. Now he’s back at Royal Birkdale. The last time he played here, he shot 69 in the final round in 2008 to finish solo second behind Padraig Harrington. It felt like old times on Thursday, as he shot a 3-under 67. The winds on Thursday were different than in the practice sessions, but Poulter was ready. It was the same kind of wind he played in nine years ago in the final round. On Wednesday night, he took out his old yardage book and adjusted his gameplan. “I almost played a round of golf last night in my head,â€� Poulter said, “and I had a lower score in my head last night than I did today. But don’t we all?â€� Two months ago, Poulter tied for second at THE PLAYERS Championship, his best result on TOUR in nearly four years. He followed that by making six more cuts on his worldwide schedule, including a tie for ninth last week at the Scottish Open. Apparently, he’s found his groove. “THE PLAYERS Championship was a big week for me,â€� he said. “I think that was a huge turning point. And I’m definitely a freer player on the golf course. I can be more aggressive. I can hit more of the shots that I’m kind of visualizing.â€� More playing. Less talking. Poulter is fine with that.

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