Jon Rahm readies for battle in tough conditions at the Memorial Tournament

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Experience is supposed to count at TPC Sawgrass but someone forgot to tell the Spanish duo of Rafa Cabrera Bello and Jon Rahm. Cabrera Bello has just one previous appearance (where he missed the cut) and Rahm is on debut at THE PLAYERS Championship. Yet the two have given themselves a great shot at joining Sergio Garcia as Spanish champions of the PGA TOUR’s signature event. With help from three birdies in his final four holes Cabrera Bello shot a 2-under 70 to grab a share of the morning wave clubhouse lead at 5-under while Rahm’s 72 has him just a shot back at 4-under. The 22-year-old Rahm, a winner at the Farmers Insurance Open, and a runner up at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play comes off a fourth place finish at the Wells Fargo Championship. At fourth in the FedExCup standings, the 22-year-old Rahm’s confidence is sky high. He remained positive after notching four birdies to counter four bogeys on Friday. “I’m not a perfectionist, but I expect a lot of myself,” Rahm said. “… I try to have full confidence in my abilities and that’s probably partly why maybe when I haven’t been playing my best golf I’ve still been able to score because I have full confidence in I myself and try not to doubt it.” Cabrera Bello is looking to be just the third player to make his first PGA TOUR title come at THE PLAYERS – joining Craig Perks (2002) and Tim Clark (2010). ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT WORKS WONDERS A more open-minded approach paid dividends for Webb Simpson during the second round of THE PLAYERS Championship. As a result, the former U.S. Open champion finds himself firmly in the mix after making some changes in his putting earlier in the week. First, though, he needed a bit of an attitude adjustment. “I’ve been more open minded to changing, to tweaking,” Simpson said. “I’ve always been open minded with the full swing so I thought, why do I get so closed minded with the putting, why not try a few different things, kind of a ‘who cares’ mentality. “We tweaked a few things with setup, with the grip, with the routine even and found something that’s been good.” Simpson entered the week ranked 186th in strokes gained putting. He ranked 26th among the field that now numbers 144 after the first round, though, and was in the top 10 when he finished the second. Four birdies in a five-hole stretch as he made the turn vaulted Simpson up the leaderboard. He chipped in at the seventh hole, then made putts of 25, 10 and 14 feet at Nos. 9-11 to get to 5 under. The real key, though, and perhaps the most satisfying part of the round for Simpson, were the putts he made on Nos. 13-18. He saved par with putts of 11, 12, 6, 8 and 10 and made a 10-footer for bogey at No. 14. “It proved to me that the 6-, 8-footers are huge, because if I miss a couple of them in the middle of the round, I lose momentum,” Simpson said. “But I made them and I kept going.” Simpson, who lost in a playoff earlier this year at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, has never had a top-10 finish at THE PLAYERS in seven previous starts. In fact, Friday’s 69 was just the fourth time he’s broken 70 in 22 rounds on Pete Dye’s diabolical layout. DÉJÀ VU ALL OVER AGAIN For the second straight week, world No. 1 Dustin Johnson finds himself near the cut line at even par after rounds of 71-73. Johnson can only hope to have the same kind of success as he did last weekend at the Wells Fargo Championship. After consecutive rounds of 67 at Eagle Point, he was waiting in the clubhouse for a potential playoff that could have given him a fourth win in as many starts. Then Brian Harman drained a dramatic 30-footer on the 72nd hole to leave the man who ranks first in the FedExCup one stroke shy and in a tie for second. Johnson said Friday that he felt that if THE PLAYERS lead stayed around 6 or 7 under he’d have a chance this weekend. “I’m going to have to play two really good rounds on the weekend,” he said. “But tomorrow I’ll probably be teeing off pretty early and (I can) go out and post a good number and get myself back in the golf tournament.” HEARN BACK IN CONTENTION David Hearn is no stranger to the leaderboard at THE PLAYERS Championship and 2017 is no exception. A 69 on Friday left the Canadian veteran tied for the early lead with Rafa Cabrera Bella. Hearn has never missed the cut in five starts at TPC Sawgrass and posted his best finish, a tie for sixth, in 2014. A year later Hearn was tied for the lead after the first round and trailed by two after the second and third. A final-round 78 sent him tumbling down the leaderboard but did nothing to temper his enthusiasm for the course. “I think that I enjoy playing this golf course because I think it’s a mental test from beginning to end,” said Hearn, whose caddy lives in nearby St. Augustine. “There’s no real gimme holes on this golf course. … “I think a lot of guys think this golf course can play really, really hard but I enjoy that challenge. So it’s been a good two days for me and I’ve had some good success here in the past so I’m looking forward to another good weekend.” ODDS AND ENDS Chez Reavie looked to have thrown away his decent start to the tournament with three bogeys in his first six holes Friday but he fought back late with three birdies in his final four holes to grind out a 72 and stay at 4-under… Sergio Garcia aced the island green 17th on Thursday but on Friday he needed a little bit of luck to stay dry. His club selection of pitching wedge nearly cost him as his ball barely reached the green, bouncing hard off the railroad pillars and ricocheting to the putting surface… When Anirban Lahiri came to the 18th tee he sat just five shots off the lead at even par. Sadly the Indian star then hit three balls in the water on his way to a 10, just one short of Andre Stolz’s record 11 from 2005.

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HAIKOU, CHINA — American Joseph Winslow shot a 4-under 68 to take a three-stroke lead heading into the final day of the PGA TOUR Series-China International Qualifying Tournament No. 2 at Mission Hills Haikou’s Sandbelt Trails Course. Winslow, 25, moved to 9 under, three clear of 23-year-old compatriot Ryann Ree (68), while second-round co-leader William Harold (72) of England, Chinese Taipei’s Haosheng Hsu (68) and Americans Jesse Speirs (70) and Matthew Negri (68) shared third at 5 under. Malaysia’s Arie Irawan birdied his last three holes to shoot a 68 and move to 4 under, tying for seventh place with Argentine Martin Kim (70), Philippine amateur Lloyd Jefferson Go (70) and Americans Brett Munson (67) and Kevin Techakanokboon (71). Earlier in the day, Chinese Taipei’s Minhsuan “Max� Hsieh carded two eagles and a hole-in-one in his final seven holes for a 65, following opening rounds of 79 and 76. He moved from a tie for 92nd at the start of the day to a share of 39th at 4 over. The top-15 finishers will earn full cards and the next 25 and ties will be conditionally exempt for a Series that rewards the top-five money winners with places on the Web.com Tour, the path to the PGA TOUR. Standing 6-foot-5, the big-hitting Winslow showed his intentions from the first when he hit driver and his playing partners took an iron and a hybrid. The Kansas native birdied No. 2 and then eagled the par-4 third by holing out from the sand after pushing his drive into a greenside bunker. A bogey on No. 6 was followed by birdies on Nos. 8, 9, 11 and 14 as he moved to 11 under, but he gave the chasing pack hope when he double-bogeyed the par-3 16th. “Today was pretty solid again. I hit the ball pretty well, especially for the first 10, 11 holes, putted pretty solid, had some good short-game shots, but didn’t quite take advantage of some of the holes. I felt I had a few opportunities out there. Overall, solid, did what I needed to, but could have played better,� said Winslow. Although on track to earn a full card on the Tour, Winslow’s taking little for granted after last month’s PGA TOUR Latinoamerica qualifier in Bogota, Colombia, when a closing 80 dropped him from solo second to 17th, securing only conditional status on that Tour. “That was a really important day for me, probably one of my biggest lessons and something I needed to learn here for 2018. As soon as I got done that day, I’ve been thinking about this specific day for two weeks now, how I wanted to get ‘revenge’ at the PGA TOUR China qualifier and to get back into that position,� said Winslow, who played 12 events on last year’s PGA TOUR Latinoamerica. “I’m comfortable at the top of the leaderboard, I just had a bad day over there, but I learned the lessons that I needed to and adjusted my preparation. We started to do that today, and it worked pretty well. It’s now time to make a couple more adjustments on the nutrition side for tomorrow and be ready to rock and roll.� Irawan, 27, started the week with a 75 but rounds of 69 and 68 have put him position to become the first Malaysian to hold a full card on PGA TOUR Series-China. “I feel great. I really stayed patient out there. I didn’t hit as close as I did yesterday, didn’t make as many putts, but I’m quite happy because I finished with three birdies – better than yesterday’s double bogey – so that’s good. I just got to look at things positively,� said Irawan, a former Asian Tour player and two-time winner on the Asian Development Tour. “Now, I just have to play my game, just stay patient, hit fairways, hit greens and be as relaxed as I can be. I know the last day people get more nervous, and I know the pins will be tougher, but whatever happens, happens. That’s it.� Irawan is seeking a new career direction after recovering from a moped accident in early 2016 that left him with metal plates in his shoulder. Now, he’s aiming for a full season in China and an eventual place on the Web.com Tour. “I look at things positively in life, and after that accident I knew it was always going to be a good thing. There’s always a reason things happen, so it gave me time to re-think: Should I think about PGA TOUR China, should I stick to Asian Tour, what is my plan? It’s great that PGA TOUR China is back, and this is the road that I really want to take, for sure.�

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