Jordan Spieth threatens course record, ignites fans at Waste Management Phoenix Open

It’s one of the most interesting days in golf. Each June, hundreds of players compete for spots in the U.S. Open. The participants range from PGA TOUR winners to club champions. They all start on equal footing. Only their score, not their resume or name recognition, will determine if they get a tee time at Pebble Beach. Nearly half of the U.S. Open field will be filled by qualifiers, giving the Cinderella stories plenty of opportunities to compete in the year’s third major championship. Qualifying started in May, but the bulk of the qualifiers will be held on June 3. Check back here for results from all 11 sites (Note: x-won playoff; (a) – amateur). JUNE 3 England: Walton Heath Canada: RattleSnake Point Florida: Streamsong (Black) Georgia: Hawks Ridge Maryland: Woodmont New York: Century/Old Oaks Ohio: Brookside/Scioto Ohio: Springfield Washington: Wine Valley MAY 27 Kuwana Country Club Kuwana, Japan Kodai Ichihara, a two-time winner on the Japan Tour last year, took medalist honors after making 16 birdies in 36 holes. Ichihara, 37, finished fourth on the Japan Tour money list last season after winning twice. His biggest victory came at the Dunlop Phoenix, where he beat a field that included Brooks Koepka and Hideki Matsuyama. Shugo Imahira, who won last year’s Japan Tour money list, took the second spot. Mikumu Horikawa, who finished second to Ichihara at last year’s Dunlop Phoenix, took the final spot in a playoff over Chan Kim. Qualifiers 1. Kodai Ichihara, 65-66 2. Shugo Imahira, 65-67 T3. x-Mikumu Horikawa, 67-66 1st alt. Chan Kim, 65-68 2nd alt. Hiroyuki Fujita, 67-69 MAY 20 Bent Tree CC/Northwood Club Dallas, Texas Two PGA TOUR winners shared medalist honors, while a former major champion also was among the qualifiers. Brendon Todd and Nick Taylor both won in 2014. Todd’s win came at the AT&T Byron Nelson, while Taylor won the Sanderson Farms Championship. Todd was in second place halfway through the 2014 U.S. Open, but shot 79-69 on the weekend to finish T17. He made his only other U.S. Open start the following year. He has made six starts this year as he tries to fight his way out of a slump. He has two top-25s this season, his first since 2015. He’s 189th in this season’s FedExCup. This will be Taylor’s first U.S. Open start as a pro. He played twice as an amateur, in 2008 (MC) and 2009 (T36). He shot a second-round 65 at Bethpage Black to set the record for lowest U.S. Open round as an amateur. Taylor is 111th in this season’s FedExCup. Last year, he shot a 63 in the final round before the FedExCup Playoffs to crack the top 125 in the FedExCup and keep his card. Mike Weir will play his first U.S. Open since 2013 after shooting 69-67 in the qualifier. The 2003 Masters champion made the cut in the two previous U.S. Opens at Pebble Beach. Scottie Scheffler, who is second on the Web.com Tour points list, also qualified. Scheffler, 22, has a win and two runners-up this season. He was the low amateur in the 2017 U.S. Open. Qualifiers T1. Brendon Todd, 65-66 T1. Nick Taylor, 66-65 3. Carlos Ortiz, 66-67 4. Julian Etulain, 71-64 T5. Scottie Scheffler, 68-68 T5. Mike Weir, 69-67 T5. Brian Davis, 69-67 T5. Matt Jones, 66-70 T9. x-Charlie Danielson, 67-70 T9. x-Austin Eckroat (a), 65-72 1st alt. Cody Gribble, 68-69 2nd alt. Jared Wolfe, 67-71 Notables MC. Brian Harman, 68-70 MC. Mackenzie Hughes, 70-68 MC. Shane Bacon, 73-77

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NOTE: For the first two events of the FedExCup Playoffs, Rob will focus only on golfers outside the bubble to advance. In this first edition, all five below open the Playoffs outside the top 70 in points. Joaquin Niemann … The 20-year-old is getting his first taste of the Playoffs and he’s comin’ in hot. Now, that wasn’t his early trending as he sat 141st in points going idle at the U.S. Open, but he’s responded with a pair of T5s among five top 25s to rise to 74th. Most facets of his tee-to-green game were better than fine, but he was hurting himself with the putter. Perhaps some of that was due to his full cycle through PGA TOUR courses, but he’s shaved about a stroke and a half off his score with the putter alone in his recent surge. Russell Henley … A month ago, he was 165th in the FedExCup. Today, he’s 81st thanks to a runner-up finish at the John Deere Classic, a T13 at the Barracuda Championship and a T31 at last week’s Wyndham Championship. And that’s been his M.O. Get hot, stay hot. Despite a quiet season overall, he’s 15th in fairways hit, T46 in greens in regulation, T21 in proximity and T26 in scrambling. Now that he’s scoring, he lines up as a spoiler. The Playoffs were built with his profile in mind. Brian Harman … After enduring months when it was fair to wonder if he’d even qualify for the Playoffs – he was 132nd in points after the U.S. Open (in which he didn’t compete) – here he is at 86th thanks to a trio of top 10s on easier tracks. Not surprisingly for the lefty who’s best known as dangerous with the putter, those showings coincided with strong weeks on the greens, but he’s also improved in piling up the scoring opportunities over the summer. Given he’s third on TOUR in conversion percentage inside 10 feet, his personal converging trends are worthy of attention. Troy Merritt … At 72nd in the FedExCup, he likely needs no worse than a 29th-place finish at Liberty National to play on, but first he’ll have to make the cut. The 33-year-old has survived only two of his last six, but one went for a T7 at the 3M Open and the other was a runner-up performance at the Barracuda Championship. They’re among a career-best four top 10s on the season. Currently T34 on TOUR in total driving, 24th in greens hit, T21 in proximity to the hole and T21 in conversion percentage inside 10 feet. Kyle Stanley …  With nine top 25s on the season, it looks like a misprint when you see him slotted at the 98-seed at THE NORTHERN TRUST, worst among the golfers on this page. Upon closer inspection, it’s understandable given only one of those was a top 10 (T8, Wells Fargo) and that he’s missed nine cuts. However, he arrives having connected six cuts made, three of which for a top 25, including a T13 at the Wyndham where he was an uncharacteristically strong sixth in Strokes Gained: Putting. He’ll likely need a top-14 finish to advance, but he’s not unfamiliar with Liberty National having posted a T50 in 2013.

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With a buddy on the bag and fresh off receiving the Jack Nicklaus Award in Columbus, Ohio, on Sunday, celebrated amateur and Florida State standout John Pak is making his professional debut at this week’s Palmetto Championship at Congaree — and he’ll do so as a TaylorMade staffer, the company announced today. College golf’s top player, Pak has played TaylorMade gear and a Titleist ball since his amateur days. And as we found out from Ryan Ressa, TaylorMade’s player development manager, who has worked with Pak since he was in his early teens, it’s not surprising Pak will continue with the same bag setup and ball combination as he joins the professional ranks. The Scotch Plains, New Jersey, native is an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” kind of guy when it comes to his equipment, which is a trait Ressa sees among many of the game’s best. (Another TaylorMade staffer Tiger Woods, for one, comes to mind). Ressa and TaylorMade have had a relationship with Pak for nearly a decade, and it’s Ressa’s job to not only make sure Pak is in the right equipment for his game but is also navigating the matrix of amateur competitions, college, and the decision to turn pro successfully. According to Ressa, Pak, and other junior standouts, need new equipment, or at least a fitting, roughly every six months as their bodies and swings change. Even so, while he’s transitioned into new fairway wood models as they’ve become available, the DNA of Pak’s bag has stayed largely the same. “Jon is a very simple guy when it comes to equipment, and he doesn’t do a lot of tinkering outside of driver shafts,” Ressa said. “Deep down, he’s a great competitor. He just loves to compete and is focused on getting the ball in the hole. He’s stayed really, really consistent with the look of his irons, the loft of his wedges, and his bag setup. He’s been easy to work with and only needs one or two visits per year to get squared away.” All of this dovetails with the swing Pak has built with coach Sean Hogan, says Ressa. Pak’s action is tight, consistent, and repetitive with simple checkpoints to get back in sync when things go slightly awry. According to Ressa, when it comes to hitting the ball straight, Pak is “on another level.” Digging into the specifics of his bag: As mentioned, Pak regularly levels up into the latest generation of TaylorMade woods and usually makes the switch quickly after launch. He played the P750 irons — which Jon Rahm was in for years, as well as Collin Morikawa — before switching into the cavity-back P7MC. A few other notes: Pak has historically moved between a half-mallet TaylorMade putter model and a Spider (he’s in the Spider X Copper currently), and he plays the standard bounce on his wedges (no unique sole grinds here). Check out Pak’s full line up clubs below. WHAT’S IN THE BAG: JOHN PAK Driver: TaylorMade SIM2 Max (9 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD IZ 5 S 3-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max (15 degrees) Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 7 X Utility: TaylorMade TP UDI (2) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 95 X Irons: TaylorMade P7MC (3-9) Shafts: Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 125 S Wedges: TaylorMade MG2 (48, 50, 54, 58 degrees) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold S400 Putter: TaylorMade Spider X Copper (slant neck) Ball: Titleist Pro V1x Grip: Golf Pride Z Grip Cord

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