Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith pull away to share lead at Sentry Tournament of Champions

Dave Blakelock, founder of 100 Days 100 Courses powered by TeeOff by PGA TOUR, is playing 100 different golf courses in 100 days in hopes of raising $100,000 for Alzheimer’s research. On Sunday, that journey brought Blakelock to the home of THE PLAYERS Championship, The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Alzheimer’s impacts six million Americans and one-in-three seniors. Recent hardships in Blakelock’s own family inspired him to act. “My mother-in-law died of Alzheimer’s back in July, and my mother has early stage Alzheimer’s, so it has impacted both sides of my family,� he said. “I came up with this idea to play golf for 100 days to get people’s attention, and to try to create some awareness all over the country.� Starting in Palm Springs, California, back on March 14th, Blakelock is traveling over 9,000 miles to play golf every day at a different course. His final stop will be Plymouth, Massachusetts, on June 21st – the Summer Solstice, where people across the world participate in fundraising for Alzheimer’s on The Longest Day of the Year. To unify the narrative and pay a special tribute to those affected by Alzheimer’s, Blakelock is teeing up a purple ball on the third hole of every golf course he plays throughout his journey. Blakelock is playing at some of the best courses in the country. In addition to Sunday’s stop at TPC Sawgrass, he is also playing PGA West, Quintero and Crystal Springs Resort, among a host of others. TeeOff by PGA TOUR generously donated a foursome at each of the 100 courses during the trip, and three spots in every foursome are available to the public, with proceeds supporting the cause. To learn more about 100 Days 100 Courses, and to book a tee time in an upcoming foursome, please visit 100days100courses.com.

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Phil Mickelson has already performed one miracle this year, but he could be on the way to helping with another if his message helps Josh Allen deliver the Buffalo Bills their first Super Bowl championship. The Bills quarterback dressed as Mickelson for Halloween as he arrived for their Sunday clash with the Miami Dolphins, a nod to the relationship struck up between the pair. It seemed simply a cute social media play, with the obligatory nod to Mickelson’s shapely calves, until the Bills signal caller orchestrated a second-half revival to beat the Dolphins 26-11 after the teams were locked 3-3 at the half. In the first half, Allen and his team looked anything but the group who now leads the AFC East with a 5-2 record, but in the second half they transformed into the team some say could finally bring upstate New York the title they’ve craved since the 1964 and 1965 teams won AFL titles in the pre-Super Bowl era. Allen helped the Bills to score on their last four possessions in a scrappy, yet crucial win, and arrived at his postgame press conference once again dressed as Mickelson. But it was more than theatre. Turns out Mickelson has given the Bills offensive star a mindset boost. He was used as a motivational speaker of sorts for the team in the pre-season after becoming the oldest player to win a major championship at 50 years, 11 months. “It was right after he won the PGA and he was right there with his trophy and the golf cart. He was on the golf course, and he took about 30 minutes to talk to the team and it was really cool,” Allen revealed after. “He talked about finding, kind of like your Zen, finding where you’re calm and early on, I’ve known this for a long time, I don’t play good when I’m pissed off and frustrated. (And) I think that was maybe kind of causing some issues early on and to that second half just trying to find that inner peace where I can just kind of go out there and relax and that’s what we did.” Mickelson has been a late but impressive taker to the social media scene. But for all his playfulness and fun – he clearly was able to convey a serious message to the golf mad Allen. “I think it’s just self-knowledge, understanding who you are,” Allen added. “I know I don’t play well when I’m frustrated, and again, hearing that from a Hall of Fame golfer, one of the best of all time, to say that type of thing, that resonated well with me, because that’s exactly kind of how I feel, too. It helped me today and hopefully it’ll help me in the future, too.” If it helps the Bills to Super Bowl glory you might just see Mickelson at the victory parade.

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LAS VEGAS - Xander Schauffele left the U.S. Open at Winged Foot fried and done with golf. Well not forever, just for a while. RELATED: Full leaderboard | What the pros are playing at Shadow Creek The four-time PGA TOUR winner finished fifth that week in New York but was 10 shots back of Bryson DeChambeau and just felt wiped out. He knew he needed to walk away. The grueling stretch of championship golf that had consisted of two majors, a World Golf Championships and the FedExCup Playoffs inside seven weeks had finally taken a toll. The 25-year old was second in the FedExCup and hasn't had a result worse than 25th since mid-June. So he left his clubs tucked away for 10 days and figured he might have a little rust returning at THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK. Not so much. Five birdies in his opening seven holes catapulted him up the leaderboard and helped him on his way to a 6-under 66 that left him tied for second and just one shot off Tyrrell Hatton's lead. "I got home from the U.S. Open and for some odd reason I didn’t want to play golf. It was just one of those things," Schauffele admitted. "It was probably one of the first U.S. Opens that really took a chunk out of me. Took about 10 days off... started practicing shortly after that. Didn’t feel too rusty. A few chips and a couple mental mistakes I did..., but definitely happy with the 6 under." Schauffele said the rest was exactly what he felt he needed - but was something just a few years ago he would never have even considered. And the Californian felt right at home despite not having any previous Shadow Creek experience. "I used to be scared to take 10 days off and in the last two years I’ve kind of started to enjoy taking some time off so when I come back I’m kind of ready and fresh to push," he said. "The Grand Golf Club back at home (Del Mar), that’s my home course and it is a Fazio design, so I do see some design aspects that are similar. There is a level of comfort that I feel on certain tee shots and on the greens, too. They’re kind of trickier than people think. It took me a while to figure those out at home and hoping that that’ll help me here."

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