Justin Thomas is ready for a big year, Greg Norman’s league needs players and other big things in golf

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – It might be the U.S. Open but a couple of Englishmen looked right at home in the blustery conditions at Shinnecock Hills. While there was no rain to go with the high winds the pair grew up around, Ian Poulter and former U.S. Open champion Justin Rose certainly felt right at home in the morning wave. Poulter, who recently won at the Houston Open, put together a fighting 1-under 69 to be tied for the lead on the windswept course. Rose, the winner at the recent Fort Worth Invitational, showed poise on his way to a 1-over 71, positioning himself extremely nicely to repeat his efforts from 2013 at Merion. “I’m aware of the big picture of this tournament and I knew what today was all about,â€� Rose said after seeing plenty of other big stars put up huge numbers. “It was about hanging in there. If I’d a shot 72 or 73, it would be a good day’s work as well. Today is about eliminating a bad round, and I think it’s turned into a really positive startâ€� Rose hit a very impressive 13 of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens in regulation despite the high winds gusts of up around 30 miles per hour. For Poulter it was a welcome change to his usual U.S. Open efforts. A more relaxed attitude was the catalyst. From his debut at Shinnecock in 2004 Poulter played 12 straight U.S. Opens through 2015 but his best finish was a tie for 12th back in 2006. “Through most of the U.S. Opens, I haven’t enjoyed very many, to be honest. They’re difficult. They’re hot. They’re stressful. Feels like you’re pulling teeth every single hole you play,â€� Poulter said. “This week, I’ve changed my mindset. I’m here to enjoy my golf this week, to play freely, to go out and just go play golf. If I hit it in the rough, I hit it in the rough. I’m going to try and make par the hard way and just don’t get too bogged down with it.â€� OBSERVATIONS PIERCY MAKES MOST OF ALTERNATE SPOT … Scott Piercy had to play 42 holes just to qualify for the U.S. Open. He was the first alternate out of the Memphis, Tennessee, qualifier, and wasn’t added to the field for Shinnecock Hills until Monday. He teamed with Billy Horschel to win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in April, but he was so frustrated with his game that he walked off four holes into Wednesday’s practice round. He called his wife and told her that he’d likely be back home in Las Vegas by Saturday. Now he’s in contention at the U.S. Open. Playing in the day’s first group, Piercy shot a 1-under 69 on a windy day where many of the world’s best players were simply struggling to break 80. How did Piercy prepare for the first round at Shinnecock Hills after cutting his last practice round short? “We went home and crushed some pizza,â€� said Piercy, who’s 34th in the FedExCup. He also watched videos of his swing on Instagram in search of a fix for his ball striking frustrations. He found an old drill that he used in Thursday’s pre-round warmup. He was unsure how well it would transition to the golf course, though. He called his opening tee shot “a little sketchyâ€� but he made three birdies and just two bogeys in Thursday’s trying conditions. Piercy was the runner-up at the U.S. Open at Oakmont two years ago, shooting 1 under par at another old-school USGA test. He also struggled with his swing in the days leading up to that U.S. Open but then had the best ball-striking week of his life, he said. GOOD ON YOU GREGORY … You could have forgiven England’s Scott Gregory if he had of walked straight off Shinnecock Hills and into the nearby Atlantic Ocean. But to the 23-year-old’s credit he fronted up to talk to media after becoming the first player to shoot in the 90s at the U.S. Open since Felix Casas shot 92 at Bethpage Black in 2002. After qualifying out of the English sectionals Gregory struggled to a 22-over 92. He had 10 bogeys, three double bogeys, and two triple bogeys on his card. REAL U.S. OPEN RETURNS … A year after Brooks Koepka won with a 16 under total at Erin Hills a traditional U.S. Open broke out at Shinnecock. Scores ranged from 1-under 69 to 22-over 92 in the morning wave and averaged more than 6 over. Read more about the troubles for the world’s best players here. NOTABLES BROOKS KOEPKA – The defending champion had it under par early before fading to a 5-over 75. His play was pretty solid short of a few three-putts. RORY McILROY – The Northern Irishman was certainly not immune to the tough conditions, shooting his worst ever U.S. Open score with a 10-over 80. PHIL MICKELSON – Lefty’s quest for his national Open is going to be very tough after an opening 7-over 77. JORDAN SPIETH – The 2015 U.S. Open champion and current Open champion battled to an 8-over 78. JASON DAY – One of the favorites leading into the tournament Day had his worst U.S. Open round in relation to par with a 9-over 79. PATRICK REED – The only man with a chance to win the grand slam opened with a relatively solid 3-over 73.    RICKIE FOWLER – Fowler ground out a 73 only slipping up twice, with a double bogey and a bogey.    QUOTABLES I’m in a good place mentally. And that definitely helps. I enjoy the fight. I enjoy the grind … Especially when you’re on the right side of the fight. When you get a bit cut up and bruised, it can change pretty quick.For me, it was kind of like, all right, calm the mind. Get this crap out of your head.The pin locations were on the greens, which was nice.

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Rob Bolton lists five against-the-grain fantasy selections for this week’s event at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. John Huh … He’s performed his best on harder tracks where keeping one’s ball in play is at a premium. A T9 at Copperhead and a T22 at TPC San Antonio not only present evidence of that, those are also his top two results of 2017. While there’s an element of his game that suggests he doesn’t do any one thing exceptionally well, it cannot be denied that he leads the PGA TOUR in scrambling. Within that angle, he ranks second (behind Sergio Garcia) in scrambling from inside 10 yards. Since TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm stretches just 7,107 yards and boasts smaller greens, Huh’s is a valuable skillset this week. David Hearn … Arrives having connected top 10s for the first time since he opened what was then known as the Fall Series in his rookie season of 2011 with a pair. With a T10 at TPC Southwind and a T8 at TPC River Highlands, the 38-year-old climbed from outside the top 150 in the FedExCup standings to his current slot at 122nd. Obviously not yet safe to plan for a Playoffs berth and to retain his card, he’ll be counting on the sum of his parts to carry him forward again this week. In each of his last two starts, he ranked inside the top 25 in the field in total driving, greens in regulation and scrambling. James Hahn … Closed out his last start at Muirfield Village like a boss with a third-round 65 that featured a pair of five-birdie bursts and a final-round 69 during which he walked off birdie-birdie. Finished that week seventh in birdies-or-better percentage but also T6 in scrambling. That latter performance was his best in relation to any field all season. His previous mark occurred just over a month ago at the AT&T Byron Nelson (T13 in scrambling) where he finished alone in third place. It’s also the safety net that will come in handy around TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms where he placed T36 in the Web.com Tour stop in 2012, but his tee-to-green game remains his most reliable asset. Sung Kang … It doesn’t hurt that he tied for sixth in the Web.com Tour event contested at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in 2013, but it’s not primary reason he’s included in this group. Rather, the 30-year-old has been a fixture on both weekends and on the minds of fans in recent months. Since a T12 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, he’s 13-for-16 with six top 25s. He arrives at the Quicken Loans National with a modest consecutive cuts made streak of six in tow. Most comfortable on greens, but he’s turned a corner this season with his tee-to-green proficiency. Matt Jones … This close to keeping his head above water despite the challenge of procuring playing time on conditional status. The Aussie is 132nd in the FedExCup standings, but if he sat higher in the pecking order, he’d likely be coasting along. Five of his nine cuts made in only 13 starts have gone for a top 25, including a T18 in his last at TPC Southwind. Ranks 46th in adjusted scoring and 11th in scrambling.

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Harry Higgs lost his full PGA TOUR card toward the end of last season and took a step Friday at Sea Island toward getting it back. Higgs played bogey-free on the more difficult Seaside course for a 7-under 63, giving him a share of the lead with recent Texas grad Cole Hammer and Andrew Putnam going into the weekend of The RSM Classic. Plenty is at stake in the final official PGA TOUR event before a six-week break to end the year. Hammer, who had a 66 at Seaside, is playing on a sponsor exemption and has no full status on any tour. Putnam, whose only PGA TOUR title was in 2018, had a 65 on the Plantation course. He is playing for the eighth time in 10 weeks, having missed only the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in the fall because he’s made every cut — he was a runner-up in Japan — and because the weather isn’t all that great at home near Seattle. Higgs is an everyman, popular among his peers, and it stung to finish last season the way he did. After he tied for 14th in his Masters debut, Higgs missed the cut in 10 of his last 14 events to finish out of the top 125 in the FedExCup. He went to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and missed the cut in all three of those tournaments. Now he has conditional status, and this presents a great opportunity. Job security can be stressful on the PGA TOUR, especially going into a season in which only 70 will qualify for the lucrative postseason. “It’s in the back of your mind. It always is for almost everybody except for some of the top players in the world,” Higgs said. “But it can motivate you to work a little bit harder, make better decisions. The goal is to not really have to worry about it come March or as early as possible, right?” The leaders were at 12-under 130. Joel Dahmen (64 on Plantation), Beau Hossler (67 on Plantation) and Sahith Theegala, who matched Higgs with a 63 on Seaside, were one shot behind. Dahmen won in the Dominican Republic last year and his exemption runs out after this season. He often rooms with Higgs, so he can appreciate the feeling of playing with the pressure of trying to keep a job. “Golf is very hard and it can go sour quickly. To play with freedom for … two-and-a-half years, really, never had that in my career. So yeah, teeing up in Napa was like, `OK, we’re back at square one. If you don’t play well, you don’t have a job.’ I was very aware of that. “I don’t think about it necessarily when I’m out there, but there’s been a couple extra days of practice, for sure.” The weather wasn’t quite as cold as the opening round, and scoring remained low. The cut was at 4-under 138. Hammer, who made his first PGA TOUR cut as a pro last week in Houston, made bogeys from the fairway on the seventh and eighth holes at Seaside — two of the easier holes for the day — and then turned it around with an approach to 3 feet on No. 9 and then a birdie putt from 18 feet on the next hole. He was bogey-free the rest of the way and will be in the final group on the weekend. “I was a little bit depressed after 7 and 8. I put myself in great position to make birdies and I walked out with two bogeys, and that’s almost inexcusable,” Hammer said. “But coming back firing on 9 and then making a birdie on 10 — erasing those bogeys on two of the tougher holes right away — was huge for momentum and for confidence.”

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