Ko, winless in past 44 events, up 1 at Marathon

For a few brief moments Phil Mickelson's dream of conquering Winged Foot to complete a career grand slam was on track at the U.S. Open, but inaccuracy off the tee once again gave him nightmares. A week after hitting just 12 of 56 fairways at the Safeway Open, Mickelson managed to find the short grass off the tee just twice in Thursday's opening round on the way to a dismal 9-over 79. The 50-year-old's chance at redemption from 2006 looked a chance after he rolled in back-to-back birdies out of the gate. Perhaps he truly had let go of the infamous 72nd hole double bogey that helped Geoff Ogilvy claim the trophy over 14 years ago. Mickelson's early birdies came despite missing both fairways left into deep rough and the fairytale writers lifted their eyebrows and dared to think something special might be on its way. However, the inaccuracy quickly caught up. From the moment a four-foot par putt on the third hole lipped out, Mickelson found himself in a deep spiral not even his 44-time PGA TOUR winning experience could fight. Bogeys on the fourth, fifth and eighth followed with Mickelson not chalking up his first fairway until the par-5 ninth hole. It didn't help as he would go on to make par after another missed putt. Bogey at 10 and another at 13 came soon after the turn with the latter the start of a six-hole finishing stretch that the six-time U.S. Open runner-up played in six over. Ultimately, he would finish 14 shots off the pace and all but officially be eliminated from contention. Only U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Lukas Michel (80) was behind him on the leaderboard. The words he said as he left Napa must have been ringing in his ears throughout the round. "The last couple of months I’ve been missing it more to the right and not worried about the left and the left crept in again," Mickelson had said after the Safeway Open. "For years I missed it left. I haven’t been fearing that at all lately, but this week I missed it left, which is not good. I can deal with missing it right now, but not left." He went on to say he was confident of being able to turn it around before the opening round in New York but sadly that was not the case. Prior to the Safeway Open he had won his debut start at PGA TOUR Champions. "I actually have had some nice breakthroughs in the last year and I feel like I’m on the precipice of playing really well, but I’ve got to get it to click," he said.

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When Kevin Na won the recent Shriners Hospitals for Children Open it was his third TOUR victory in a span of just 30 starts – after winning just once in his first 369. The term “late bloomer� is a little hard to define, but we know it when we see it. Here is what it’s not: longevity. Sam Snead, oldest-ever PGA TOUR winner – 52 years, 10 months, 8 days when he won the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open, now the Wyndham Championship – does not qualify as a late bloomer. He’d done too much blooming already. Ditto for Davis Love III, who is one of six others to win on TOUR in their 50s; Phil Mickelson, 49, who despite a recent slump has remained a threat to win; and Tiger Woods, who will turn 44 in two months and won last week’s inaugural ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan. Here are the Top 18 Late Bloomers of the last 40 years based on their ratio of late-career to early-career victories, but with special bonus points for near-misses on the big stage even while playing (or contemplating) PGA TOUR Champions. It’s a subjective list, and some of these players are still blooming, but all give us hope that our best is right around the corner, as well. 1. Vijay Singh: Notched all of his 34 TOUR wins after turning 30, and a staggering 22 of them in his 40s. Bonus points: Singh, at 56, was just a shot back through 54 holes at The Honda Classic last season before carding a final-round 70 for solo sixth place. 2. Kenny Perry: Won 11 of 14 tournaments on TOUR in his 40s. Approaching 50, racked up five combined wins in 2008 and ’09; made the U.S. Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams in those years, respectively, at 48 and 49; and lost ’09 Masters Tournament to Angel Cabrera in a playoff. 3. Steve Stricker: Unlike the two guys above him on this list, Stricker won a couple times in his 20s. He went through a much-chronicled slump in his 30s, though, winning just once more, before figuring it out and making up for lost time with nine more victories in his 40s. 4. Fred Funk: Took him a while to make the TOUR, but once he got there he made the most of it. Among eight total victories, had four in his 40s – including the 2005 PLAYERS Championship at 48 – and even won at age 50 at the 2007 Mayakoba Golf Classic. 5. Tom Watson: Collected none of his 18 TOUR wins in his 20s, but 16 in his 30s, and two in his 40s. It was what happened after that, though, that pushes him high up this list, as his timeless swing – developed well into his career – nearly won him The Open Championship at age 59. 6. Calvin Peete: Winless in his 20s, but five wins in his 30s and six more in his 40s. The famously straight driver was 41 when he won twice in 1985, including THE PLAYERS Championship. He turned 42 that July and went 2-1-0 for the U.S. Ryder Cup team. 7. Nick Price: He won just once in his 20s, but racked up an astonishing 94.1% of his 17 TOUR wins after turning 30. Flourished in his 30s with 13 victories (including three majors), and won thrice more in his 40s. Won 2002 Mastercard Colonial, now Charles Schwab Challenge, at 45. 8. Ben Crenshaw: At 43 he won 1995 Masters just days after serving as pallbearer at the funeral of his longtime instructor, Harvey Penick. After winning once in his 20s, Crenshaw notched seven of his 12 wins in his 30s and four in his 40s; all told, 91.7% of his wins after turning 30. 9. Mark O’Meara: Peaked at 41, when thanks partly to the influence of pal Tiger Woods he won the Masters Tournament and Open Championship, his only two majors. Bonus points: O’Meara lost the first four playoffs of his TOUR career, but won the last three. 10. Tom Kite: Long considered the best player never to win a major and one of the game’s hardest workers, he was 42 when he broke through at the 1992 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Of his 17 total TOUR wins, he won none in his 20s, 11 in his 30s, and six in his 40s. 11. Loren Roberts: Captured three of his nine TOUR victories in his late 30s and six in his 40s. In 2000, he turned 45 and had three top-10 finishes in the majors, including a T3 at the Masters. 12. Hale Irwin: Did not win in his 20s, but made up for it with six victories in his 30s and four in his 40s, including the 1990 U.S. Open at Medinah at a record 45 years of age. 13. Jeff Sluman: Authored two of his six wins in his 30s, including the 1988 PGA Championship at Oak Tree, and four in his 40s. 14. Zach Johnson: Played for Drake University and was equally unknown on the mini-tours until his 30s, when he racked up 11 (of 12) wins including a Masters and Open Championship. 15. Bubba Watson: Didn’t win at Georgia or on the Korn Ferry Tour, but has notched all 12 of his TOUR victories, including two Masters titles, since turning 30. 16. Kevin Na: He’s an old 36, having turned pro at 17. When he won the recent Shriners Hospitals for Children Open it was his third TOUR victory in a span of just 30 starts – after winning just once in his first 369. 17. Pat Perez: One win (2009 CareerBuilder Challenge) before turning 40, but two in the last three seasons. Perez, 43, comes into THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES after posting top-10s there the last two years, and finished third at the recent Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. 18. Paul Casey: The 42-year-old Englishman was stuck on one TOUR win for nine years but has won the last two Valspar Championships. Has said he may be playing the best golf of his life.

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DETROIT – Given the locale, Brandt Snedeker understands why he wasn’t showered with congratulations in the aftermath of his alma mater’s victory in the College World Series. “We are surrounded by University of Michigan fans here,� said Snedeker, who watched every pitch in the deciding game of Vanderbilt’s victory over the Wolverines. He even Tweeted out his support for the Commodores, with a clever reference “to being behind enemy lines.� It was all good fun, but Snedeker – who made the cut on the number at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, then shot a third-round 7-under 65 to roar up the leaderboard – did confirm that he was blown away by what has greeted him here at Detroit Golf Club: Fan appreciation. Related: Tee times | Lashley keeps lead after second-round 67 “I have been showered with ‘Thank you for coming to Detroit’ all week. Literally, hundreds of times every day, the appreciation is unheard of,� said Snedeker. “The way they have embraced this tournament is incredible.� The Rocket Mortgage Classic marks the first time a PGA TOUR tournament has ever been held in Detroit and it’s the first event in the area since 2009. Clearly, the desire to be part of it was enormous; corporate hospitality sold our quickly and so, too, did tickets. As a PGA TOUR member, Snedeker felt the love. But as a guy who is invested in a Korn Ferry Tour event in his hometown, the Nashville Golf Open Benefitting the Snedeker Foundation, he identifies with the task that was pulled off here. “A lot of power to them. It takes a lot of different people to do this,� said Snedeker. “You have to have support from people at the host club, people in the community, people with the title sponsor – and the support has to be 100 percent. If not, it would show.� Snedeker, who began Round 3 in a tie for 58th, put together a bogey-free effort that featured a chip-in eagle at the par-5 seventh. As he signed his card, he was only two off the clubhouse lead, but he knew that the front-runners were just going out and plenty of birdies awaited. “I just hope to be within four or five at the end of the day,� he said. Whether that happened or not, Snedeker would still be happy, in large part because of a warm homecoming here for the PGA TOUR. “I can’t think of a better start to a new event that I’ve ever seen,� he said.

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