Jon Rahm has new putter in bag at Arnold Palmer Invitational

NORTON, Mass. – News and notes from Friday’s first round of the Dell Technologies Championship, the second leg of the FedExCup Playoffs, with Dustin Johnson the clubhouse leader after shooting a 5-under 66 in the morning. BUNCHES OF SUCCESS Earlier this year, Dustin Johnson won a tournament. Then he kept winning – two more times, to be exact. He might have kept the streak going had he not slipped down some stairs in Augusta, Georgia. Last year, Johnson won a tournament – the U.S. Open, his first major. Then he won again, a World Golf Championships event, in his next start. The year before that, Johnson won a WGC event, and followed with a couple of T-6 finishes. Johnson, as you can tell, has shown a penchant lately for building on success. Most golfers get the hot hand and play well. Johnson gets the hot hand and keeps winning. And while it’s early at TPC Boston, the FedExCup leader made it clear Friday with his 5-under 66 that he’s determined to keep winning after claiming last week’s THE NORTHERN TRUST. “He’s a great player and he’s not going to let off the gas pedal,� said Bryson DeChambeau, one of the chasers after a 2-under 69. “That’s the one thing you have to take into account.� Johnson said there’s no secret to stringing together wins. “When you win, you’re playing well, so it gives you a lot of confidence,� he said. “For me, that was one thing that was probably lacking a little bit the last few months – just the confidence, just because I wasn’t seeing the shots that I wanted to see. I wasn’t hitting them consistently. So the confidence was just down a little bit. “But you know, after last week, obviously I’ve got a lot of confidence now. I feel like the things I’ve been working on, they are back to working.� Good omen for DJ. Bad one for the rest of the field. HARMAN EYES PRESIDENTS CUP MOVE Brian Harman and Steve Stricker were in the same group for the first two rounds at last month’s PGA Championship. Stricker is the U.S. Presidents Cup captain. Harman is hoping to earn a spot on the team. They’re good buddies. But evidently, the Presidents Cup was not a topic of discussion in those two rounds at Quail Hollow. “I certainly haven’t lobbied for a pick by any means,� Harman said. “… I’m just not a guy that’s going to toot my own horn. I feel like I would be a really good part of the team, but if they don’t think so, that’s fine too.� Harman entered this week ranked 12th in points and has a mathematical shot at making the team on merit. He trails No. 10 Charley Hoffman by 402 points, so a win (worthy 1,100 points) or solo second (630 points) could leap him past Hoffman and No. 11 Kevin Chappell – depending on how those two fare, of course. “It’s very important to me, and I’d love to make it,� Harman said. “But the only way to make it is to play well this week.� Harman did his part Friday with a 3-under 68 that puts him in contention after the first round. While a top-10 spot in the Presidents Cup standings would guarantee him a spot, moving to No. 11 might not be bad either, as Stricker could certainly justify that position as one of his captain’s picks. During his amateur days, Harman played on two Walker Cups and two Palmer Cups. All four times, he played for the winning team. But he’s yet to play on a national team since turning pro. “I’ve done pretty good in the team stuff,� Harman said. NOTABLES WATCH A first-round look at some of the notable names in this week’s field: Jordan Spieth (72) – Spieth ranks 177th on TOUR in putting from 7 feet, making less than 52 percent of his attempts this season. He missed two putts between 7-8 feet on Friday. Justin Thomas (71) – A fairly uneventful round, with just one birdie immediately followed by one bogey. “I fought for every stroke,� Thomas said. “I just didn’t have it.� Brooks Koepka (74) – The U.S. Open champ started with a bogey and struggled on the par 5s, making bogey on two of the three. ODDS AND ENDS Prior to Kevin Tway’s ace, the par-3 11th had yielded just three birdies in the first 70 or so golfers who had played the hole Friday. Tway’s hole-in-one was the ninth in tournament history and the third at that hole. … Kelly Kraft suffered a septuple-bogey 12 at the par-5 second hole. That’s the largest score recorded on a single hole this season on TOUR. Kraft eventually withdrew after hitting his tee shot on the 15th hole with an injury to his right foot. … Ryan Moore also withdrew after signing for an 11-over 82. Both players started the week inside the top 70 bubble but could drop out.

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J.R. Smith said his college golf experience will bring on similar emotions to those he had in the NBA. “It’s still as nerve-racking as shooting a free throw in front of 5,000 (fans) instead of making a 5-foot putt in front of three.”

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Pine Valley and Augusta National. Two of the most prestigious clubs in the world, but with one big difference. Augusta National hosts one of the world’s biggest golf tournaments. Millions of people see the course every year. Many can recite its holes from memory. Pine Valley, on the other hand, is shrouded in secrecy. There is only one day per year that the public can get on the course. That’s for the final round of the Crump Cup, an annual amateur invitational. Related: Free historical content available on PGA TOUR LIVE | Golf world presents revised 2020 calendar Most golf fans have only seen photos of the famous course. Few can name the holes of George Crump’s masterpiece. Now, you can watch two World Golf Hall of Famers play Pine Valley. The 1962 Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf between Byron Nelson and Gene Littler is now available free on PGA TOUR LIVE. On a week when many of us would be glued to our couches to watch the Masters, it’s worth watching another classic course that offers a contrasting style. Where Augusta National is known for its immaculate manicuring, Pine Valley offers a rugged test. The aerials that kick off the broadcast alone make this must-see TV. They show Pine Valley’s large, unkempt wastelands of sand and thick forest that offer stiff penalties for players who stray from the wide fairways and large, severely-sloped greens. The fact that the match also includes two of the game’s sweetest swingers is a bonus. Littler won the 1961 U.S. Open, while Nelson had 52 wins, including his historic 1945 season, and five majors. Here’s a few other selections from PGA TOUR LIVE that are appropriate for Masters week: • Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf: Gene Sarazen vs. Henry Cotton: This is a rare opportunity to watch the man who hit the greatest shot in Masters history. Sarazen won the second Masters in 1935 with an albatross on the 15th hole in the final round. • Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf: Greg Norman vs. Nick Faldo: This match came two years before that fateful Sunday at Augusta National, when Norman lost a six-stroke lead to Faldo in the final round of the 1996 Masters. It offers an opportunity to watch two of the best players from the 1990s. • Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf: Jimmy Demaret vs. Sam Snead: This is an opportunity to watch two three-time Masters champions compete. • PGA TOUR Profiles: Sergio Garcia: Born to Be A Champion: Sergio Garcia had to wait a long time to win his first major at the 2017 Masters. This documentary details that journey. • PGA TOUR Profiles: Home Again: Bubba Watson is a two-time Masters champion. You can learn more about his journey from the Florida panhandle to major champion in this documentary. • PGA TOUR Profiles: Great Scott: A documentary on Adam Scott becoming the first Australian to win at Augusta National.

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