‘I root for him, he roots for me’: The Open means more to Fitzpatrick brothers

The opening round had Phil drama, club tosses and turkeys. What’s ahead during the second round of the U.S. Open? We’ve got it covered.

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – By his own admission, Rickie Fowler hasn’t played much golf. Maybe that’s a good thing. With no expectations but confident after a season that saw him win The Honda Classic among 10 top-10 finishes, Fowler cruised at El Camaleon. He made six birdies and got up and down five times in five chances to keep a clean card in his first round of the new season. “Touch and feel is a big thing coming off of—I think we’ve had roughly a month off, five weeks or so,â€� Fowler said. “So when the feel is somewhat there, it frees you up to know that you can get away with some missed shots and it allows you to swing a bit freer.â€� The highest ranked player in this week’s field (10th), Fowler hit eight of 14 fairways and 13 greens in regulation. He took 26 putts. The 28-year-old has traditionally started his season in Asia, but he skipped the TOUR’s three-week swing in Malaysia, South Korea and China. That left him looking for a place to play, and he had heard glowing reviews of Mayakoba. He hasn’t been disappointed, soaking up the sun with girlfriend Allison Stokke since Saturday. That Fowler’s game seems so well-suited for the 7,000-yard, par-71 Camaleon course has been a bonus. “I had a really fun pro-am group,â€� he said. “I think they ended up going on to win. My crew started off with a win this week, I might as well finish it for the group on Sunday. “But off to a good start. Definitely want to play well down here being my first showing at Mayakoba. Yeah, I couldn’t really ask for much more today.â€� OBSERVATIONS KIZZIRE CITES DUFNER INFLUENCE. The 6-foot-5, Auburn product Patton Kizzire drove into the bunker and bogeyed 18, but his 62 was still his career low by one. It also continued a torrid early-season run in which Kizzire tied for fourth at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and finished T10 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. One of his best results last season? A T5 with partner Jason Dufner at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. “He’s been a good mentor, a good friend,â€� Kizzire said. “He’s taken me under his wing and shown me a few things. We’ll play practice rounds together occasionally and just hang out. We’ll go to football games together and he’s a good one to pick his brain and to play with because he’s awfully confident.â€� MITCHELL SURPASSES FATHER. Keith Mitchell aced the 200-yard 10th hole with a 6-iron on his first swing of the day. It was only 8:30 a.m., and there were so few people around the green that Mitchell and playing partners Tom Hoge and Rob Oppenheim weren’t sure what had happened. “We heard a small clap,â€� said Mitchell, who went on to shoot 5-under 66. “It was pretty subdued.â€� It was his fourth hole-in-one and first since college, and he wasn’t sure where he stood relative to his dad, Jerry, who had made either three or four in his career. Mitchell, a Web.com Tour grad who missed the cut in his first three starts this season, texted his father in North Carolina and went to lunch. He later texted the PGA TOUR the verdict: “1 up.â€�  GOOSEN TURNS BACK CLOCK. Good results have been few and far between for the two-time U.S. Open winner, who was in a large group at 66 despite making bogey at the par-5 fifth hole. Goosen, 48, opened last season by missing seven straight cuts before finishing T2 at the Puerto Rico Open. He wound up 162nd in the FedExCup, and was 176th in strokes gained: putting (-.425). Thursday saw him hit eight of 14 fairways and 12 greens in regulation. He took 26 putts and looked more like the guy who has won seven times on TOUR. HAPPY NEWS FOR CHINA. Xinjun Zhang eagled the par-5 13th hole to join Goosen in the large group at 5-under 66. Zhang and Marty Dou played their way off the Web.com Tour last season to become the first players from China to earn their cards on the PGA TOUR. Now it’s just a matter of staying there. In three previous starts this season, Zhang had finished T37 at the Safeway Open, T44 at the no-cut World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai and missed the cut at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. NOTABLES GARY WOODLAND – A year after finishing second to Pat Perez at El Camaleon, Woodland was at it again, lurking after a 3-under 68 that included an eagle at the par-5 13th hole. KEVIN CHAPPELL – After a season that saw him win for the first time and make a successful Presidents Cup debut, he shot a 4-under 67. It’s been a good time for UCLA golf grads; Patrick Cantlay picked up his first win at last week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. FABIAN GOMEZ – He’s the leading Latin American player after firing a 5-under 66. KEN DUKE – Monday qualifier got off to a solid start with a 68. QUOTABLES “We got here on Saturday, but didn’t touch a club until Tuesday.â€� – Rickie Fowler (65) on how he’s been making the most of the extracurricular activities at Mayakoba. “I knew my game was in good shape.â€� – Keith Mitchell (66), who made a quintuple-bogey 9 in round one of last week’s Shriners Hospitals for Children Open but missed the cut by just one. SUPERLATIVES Streaks: Kizzire birdied holes 8-13, bogeyed 18, and signed for a 62. Easiest hole: The 532-yard, par-5 13th. Among the leaders, only Martin Piller (66) failed to make at least a birdie there. Xinjun Zhang (66) was one of a handful of players who eagled the hole. Shot of the day: Mitchell’s hole-in-one on his first shot of the day was the eighth in tournament history, and the second time a player has started the OHL Classic at Mayakoba with an ace. Thomas Aiken did the same thing in 2015, also on the 10th hole and also with a 6-iron. CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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MELBOURNE, Australia – If you want to be successful at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, you better have the keys to the sandbelt. No, that is not some random car model from the 1970s you’ve never heard of. But it is a term you will hear a million times over at this week’s Presidents Cup. The sandbelt is an incredible region where the golf gods set up conditions for near-perfection when it comes to golf course design. Some of the world’s best championship courses are scattered around here. Royal Melbourne is clearly one of those. PRESIDENTS CUP: Power Rankings | Expert Picks | Data-driven Els | What will Tiger be like as captain? | Inside Internationals’ win in 1998 | Quiz: Who should you root for? The term comes from the sandy loam soil that provides the ideal foundation for shaping a course that can boast undulating and firm greens, tight-cut greenside bunkering and all-year round playability. The courses are kind of like a hybrid between parkland and links golf. In contrast to much of Melbourne, which is covered by heavy clay subsoil, the Melbourne sandbelt region is a geographic anomaly resulting from a prehistoric flood which deposited heavy sandstone into low lying areas. The sandy loam can reach a depth of up to 80 metres in some places. There is no doubt this type of golf is different to what most of the globe is used to, particularly those in the U.S. So we went to International captains assistant Geoff Ogilvy – who has played Royal Melbourne more times than he can remember – to find out the seven secrets of sandbelt golf. 1. Tee shots are all about position, not distance. The big-bombing Americans will need finesse as well as brawn this week. Says Ogilvy: “The importance of your tee shot is not about being able to get it as close as you can to the green… it is important to get yourself in a position to find the right place on the green with your next shot. “You can’t outmuscle Royal Melbourne. Distance is valuable in some spots but sometimes it’s a 4-iron off the tee and sometimes it is a driver. Power is usually always an advantage but it is a balanced advantage here. “You need to work out where to be by theoretically playing the hole backwards. Sometimes the rough on the correct side of the hole is better than the fairway on the wrong side of the hole. You have to find that position from the tee and that can be tough as it is very wide and the best position isn’t always obvious.â€� 2. You must be under the hole if you want realistic looks at birdie on these slick greens. Greens around 13 on the stimp… you better watch out. Says Ogilvy: “The whole day at Royal Melbourne is about being under the hole for your birdie putt. This is really why the tee shot has to be positioned. If your tee shot is great, then it is exponentially easier to get it under the hole — and if you are under the hole, it is exponentially easier to make birdie. “You need to find the slopes where it will push the ball towards the pin, not away from the pin. If you let Royal Melbourne give you things it will, if you fight it … it will punish you every time. You can’t force it.â€� 3. Play to the front yardage, not the hole. Underestimate the bounce factor at your peril. If the ball looks like it’s all over the pin at Royal Melbourne, there is a good chance it won’t stay there. Says Ogilvy: “You have to be used to landing the ball short of the hole and having it bounce up. We are so used to getting the pin number and then taking the corresponding club and just fly it to the hole on the PGA TOUR where you can stick it or spin it back. “At Royal Melbourne, if the number is 170 [yards], you might be flying it 150. This is something all professional golfers can do but as we don’t do it as often, it is a skill you have to get back again and sharpen up in quick time. “Firm greens are always a challenge. When you are in the rough … it isn’t chip out rough … it’s flyer rough and that takes all the control off the ball. If you send it too far then the ball hits the green and just scoots through.â€� 4. Remember to stay clear of the dead zones. Says Ogilvy: “There are six or seven holes with spots that if you end up in them around the greens … you’ll be lucky to find the green at all with your chip shot or putt. Now I’m not going to give away where these all are but there are some obvious examples we’ve seen over the years where it is very difficult to get up and down. In the right place you are looking at a three or four on your card. The wrong place, it’s a six or a seven … that is the magnitude.â€� While Ogilvy didn’t give up specifics ,our best guess at some obvious problem areas come early in the round on the third, fourth and fifth holes. Those greens are potentially diabolical. The 176 yard par-3 third repels balls too short and is lightning from above. The par-3 sixth is just 148 yards but miss the green and you are likely dead. Find the wrong spot on the green and prepare for a likely three-putt. And then the par-4 fourth — that green slopes so hard from back to front that if you are behind the pin, you are more likely to chip or putt it off the green and back down the fairway then you are to make birdie. 5. Sharpen up your bunker play. Well it is called the sandbelt after all. Australians grow up on the beach. Says Ogilvy: “The bunkers are really tough. Firm greens mean you need to roll out your bunker shots as you won’t get a lot of spin from them. It’s a skill that is really rewarded. A lot of guys who grow up here are revered  bunker players all around the world because they’ve seen it all and learned it all. Practice from the sand more than usual… and then practice some more.â€� 6. Find a chip and run game, with multiple clubs. You don’t always need to chip with a high loft. And even the old Texas wedge from off the green might not be the dumbest play. Says Ogilvy: “The PGA TOUR can be very much a lob wedge tour. You get your 60 degree out when you miss the green generally speaking because that is the best club to use with the majority of setups. “But around Royal Melbourne guys might chip with 3-irons, hybrids, 5-irons … you name it. Again this is a skill everybody has but they need to relearn it this week. The more you can have the ball on the ground the better.â€� 7. Take your medicine. When in trouble, find the smart play. Unless forced by an opponent’s position, the aggressive hero shot is a very small percentage option. Says Ogilvy: “You have to think much more than usual around this sort of course. And you must remain patient. You can’t force it. You have to let it come to you with smart searching. This is certainly a place you can compound errors badly. It is a course played inside your head as much as anything else. It’s tricky and awkward so you just have to play it smart to prevail.â€�

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