John Daly talks voter ID laws, predicts Tiger Woods comeback

A drivable par-4 and several of the game’s biggest stars. There’s a lot to love about this week’s PGA TOUR LIVE coverage. Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day, Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed are among the names that can be seen this week on PGA TOUR LIVE’s broadcast from the Travelers Championship. There will also be plenty of coverage of TPC River Highlands’ most famous hole, the drivable par-4 15th. PGA TOUR LIVE will broadcast between 7 a.m. Eastern and 6:30 p.m. on both Thursday and Friday. The coverage will switch to Featured Holes at 3 p.m. The drivable, par-4 15th and the par-3 16th are this week’s holes. 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 Brian Harman (10), Jim Furyk (137), Rory McIlroy (69): Furyk will play alongside a fellow FedExCup champ and one of this season’s breakout stars as he returns to the site of last year’s historic 58. McIlroy, the reigning FedExCup champ, is making his debut at this event after missing the cut in the U.S. Open. Harman, who finished T2 at Erin Hills, ranks in both the top 10 of the FedExCup (10) and the U.S. Presidents Cup standings (9). He’s finished in the top 10 in four of his past six starts, including a win over FedExCup leader Dustin Johnson at the Wells Fargo Championship and his U.S. Open runner-up. Tee time: 7:50 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee. Justin Thomas (3), Patrick Reed (75), Jason Day (45): Thomas and Reed are fresh off top-15 finishes at the U.S. Open, while Day is trying to rebound from his missed cut at Erin Hills. Thomas (T9) played in the final group last week after an electric 63 in the third round, while Reed (T13) posted his best career finish in a U.S. Open. Day’s top finish this season has been a runner-up finish at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Thomas and Day will see each other at this year’s Presidents Cup, as well, as both players rank second on their respective team’s point list. Reed, who’s nicknamed “Captain America� for his stellar play in international team events, is 11th in the U.S. standings; the top 10 on Sept. 4 will automatically qualify for the team. Tee time: 8 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee. FRIDAY Bubba Watson (109), Marc Leishman (15), Russell Knox (57): Three past winners of the Travelers Championship are in this group. Knox won last year with a dramatic 12-foot par putt on the last hole. Leishman, the 2009 Rookie of the Year, earned his first PGA TOUR win here in 2012. He earned his second victory earlier this year at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Watson is a two-time winner at TPC River Highlands (2010, ’15) and has finished in the top 10 in half of his 10 starts there. Tee time: 7:50 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee. Jordan Spieth (6), Brandt Snedeker (44), Wesley Bryan (22): Two former PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, Spieth and Snedeker, are paired with a favorite for this season’s award. Wesley Bryan won the RBC Heritage and has four other top-10s. Spieth, the 2015 FedExCup champ, is making his debut at this event, while Snedeker has finished 11th and 10th in the past two Travelers. Snedeker won the FedExCup in 2012. Tee time: 8 a.m. Eastern off 10th tee.

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SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda — Peter Malnati saw his infant son at a PGA TOUR event for the first time since the pandemic, which brought a smile to his face and another birdie on his card for an 8-under 63 and a one-shot lead Thursday in the Bermuda Championship. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Ghim taking advantage of second chance The tournament is the first to allow limited fans — no more than 500 a day at Port Royal — since the opening round of THE PLAYERS Championship on March 12. The final birdie was the ninth of the round for Malnati, who has gone from the South to the West to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and keeps playing some of his best golf. It was the third time in his last three events he posted a 63 or lower. Malnati was runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi and followed that with a tie for fifth at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. This round gave him a one-shot lead over Ryan Armour and Doug Ghim, who birdied his last two holes. "With everything in the world right now — and this island is doing a phenomenal job with their testing protocol and keeping everyone safe — I just didn’t know if it was actually going to work for them to get out here," Malnati said of about his wife and 1-year-old son. “So coming off that disappointing bogey on 17, I hit a nice drive on 18 and before I even get my yardage or anything, I see my wife and boy standing out there. "It just brought a huge smile to my face," he said. "To see them and then to finish with that birdie, I’m a happy man." Malnati ran off five straight birdies starting with No. 9, and he was looking to finish strong. Among the shorter hitters in the modern power game, he had made up his mind to take on the bunkers down the right side of the par-5 17th hole and turn it into an easy birdie. Instead, he turned it left into the water for a penalty stroke and made bogey. "So that stunk," he said. "But how can I complain about much? We’re on the island of Bermuda and I sure played great." The Bermuda Championship receives full status this year because the HSBC Champions in Shanghai was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning Bermuda is not the same week as a World Golf Championships event. The winner receives an invitation to the Masters Tournament next year. It also is the start of consecutive PGA TOUR events allowing limited fans. The Houston Open has said it will sell no more than 2,000 tickets a day. The Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, the first event of 2021, also announced this week it would have limited fans. Doc Redman, Vaughn Taylor and Chase Seiffert were at 65, while Hunter Mahan was in the group at 66. It was Mahan’s lowest opening round in more than two years. Three-time major champion and Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington opened with a 67. Harrington won at Port Royal in 2013 in the final stages of the course hosting the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. Fred Funk, the 64-year-old regular on the PGA TOUR Champions, shot 69. He played in the same group as his son, Taylor Funk, who shot a 73.

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INZAI CITY, Japan – Tiger Woods shot a second straight 6-under 64 on Saturday to take a two-stroke lead after the second round of the rain-hit ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. Teeing off in front of empty stands, Woods picked up where he left off after a 64 in Thursday’s opening round with a birdie on the first hole, one of seven on the day that gave him a 36-hole total of 12-under 128, two shots ahead of Gary Woodland. Woods took the lead on the par-4 17th when his approach shot landed a foot from the hole and he made the easy birdie putt. His only bogey came on the par-4 second hole. RELATED: Leaderboard | Tiger chases Snead’s record | Monday finish determined for ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP Organizers of the PGA TOUR’s first tournament in Japan closed the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club course to spectators for Saturday’s second round over safety concerns. Woodland, who shared the lead with Woods after the first round, had five birdies including three straight from the par-3 16th.

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