Live leaderboard: Moving day at Sony Open

BLAINE, Minn. – Dustin Johnson withdrew from the 3M Open on Thursday, citing a back injury, after shooting 78 in the first round. The round of 7 over followed a pair of 80s and a missed cut at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide last week for the world No. 4, who won the Travelers Championship last month. Johnson started on the back nine Thursday and actually was 1 under through his first six holes. But his troubles began when he bogeyed No. 16 and hit his tee shot at the par-3 17th into the water on the way to a double bogey. “I just hit a poor shot on 17,” Johnson said. “I hit it a little heavy in the water, made 5 there.” The 18th was a disaster, though. A good drive on the curving, dogleg-right par 5 left him 208 yards from the flag – a “perfect” 6-iron, Johnson later said – but that went into the water. So did two more balls, and suddenly he was signing for a quadruple bogey. “Hit it right at it and never once did I think it was going to go in the water,” Johnson said. “That never crossed my mind when it was in the air. Just went in the water and I hit two more shots in the water, then I hit a good one, made a tap-in for a 9.” Johnson made two more bogeys on the front nine before sinking a 19-foot birdie putt on No. 9 to finish off his round. Johnson placed the blame for his recent spate of poor play on his iron game. He hit 9 of 14 fairways on Thursday but just 13 of 18 greens in regulation. “I feel like I’m driving it well, but the iron play, first six or seven holes hit it close and then the rest of the day kind of struggled a little bit with iron play,” Johnson said. “Kind of the same last week, I just struggled with my iron play and makes it difficult.” At Muirfield Village, Johnson was similarly beset by big numbers. He had two doubles and three triples, along with nine bogeys, in two rounds at the Memorial.

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Round 2 of THE PLAYERS Championship begins Friday from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The star-studded field includes Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Reed, Jon Rahm, Webb Simpson, Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action. Leaderboard Full tee times HOW TO FOLLOW (All times ET) Television: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC) Every Shot Live: Live streaming of every shot hit at THE PLAYERS Championship will get underway Thursday morning from TPC Sawgrass. Nearly 100 cameras will capture roughly 31,000 strokes taken over approximately 430 rounds played. It will be available free through PGA TOUR LIVE on NBC Sports Gold on Thursday. See schedule below. PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), 8 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 6:40 a.m.-8 p.m. (Every Shot Live). Saturday, 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 7:50 a.m.-8 p.m. (Every Shot Live). Sunday, 7:45 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups), 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 7:50 a.m.-6 p.m. (Every Shot Live) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio). TOURCast: Get shot-by-shot info in real time with shot tracks and video with TOURCast. TOUR Pulse: Get the PGA TOUR app to utilize TOUR Pulse, which provides users the ability to experience a mix of content, such as video highlights, written hole summaries and stat graphics on every player after every hole they complete. FEATURED GROUPS Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Collin Morikawa Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas Sergio Garcia, Webb Simpson, Rory McIlroy Patrick Reed, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth For the Featured Groups roundtable, click here. MUST READS Round 1 review: THE PLAYERS Championship McIlroy's title defense in tatters after early carnage at THE PLAYERS Mickelson sees positives at THE PLAYERS Stricker's wild day ends with 2-under 70 By the numbers: No. 17 at THE PLAYERS Championship Cut prediction: THE PLAYERS Championship Hovland assessed two-shot penalty at THE PLAYERS ‘Every Shot Live’ returns 20-year anniversary of Tiger’s ‘Better Than Most’ putt Inside THE PLAYERS’ greatest comeback Five things to remember from the 2019 PLAYERS CALL OF THE DAY

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Believe it or not, International Captain Ernie Els can turn the unfortunate loss of Jason Day into a positive for his Presidents Cup team. Sure, the list of what he has lost is vast, with the news that Day has succumbed to a back injury that will keep him sidelined for two months … • The experience of four previous Cup appearances • A 12-time PGA TOUR winner • A major winner • A former PLAYERS Championship winner • A former world No. 1 • A two-time winner of the World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play • A World Cup winner at Royal Melbourne • The best statistical putter on the team from last season • An Australian with a huge following But there are also gains to be had with the introduction of Byeong Hun An into his first Presidents Cup. Stay with us… RELATED: An in as Day bows out of Presidents Cup | Presidents Cup provides bonding experience for Hadwin, Weir | The unlikeliest Presidents Cupper Better form While Day is pure class, the fact remains he has had just one top-10 finish since The Masters Tournament in April – a T8 at the Travelers Championship in June. He hasn’t won since the Wells Fargo Championship in May of 2018. Now An hasn’t won on the PGA TOUR, but just since Day’s last top-10 finish the Korean has two third-place finishes on the TOUR and contended throughout the recent Asian swing. He was T6 at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES and T8 at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP before a T14 at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions. He sits 16th in the FedExCup while Day, who ended his fall with a missed cut at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, is 139th. An ranked first on the PGA TOUR last season in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and seventh in SG: Tee-to-Green. The injection of new blood The International team has a 1-10-1 record in all Presidents Cups. Certain players have been there for a while and been unable to come up with a much-needed win. Now of course, the strength of the U.S. Team is the major factor here. They have always been a far superior team on paper. But a lot of European Ryder Cup teams have looked inferior but won. Day played in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017 for an individual record of 5-11-4. For all his match play talent, Day hasn’t been able to turn it into Presidents Cup team success. In 2015, Day had won four of his last nine starts leading into the competition and was no worse that T12 over a stretch that included three majors, a WGC and the FedExCup Playoffs. But in Korea he went 0-4-1 and the Internationals lost by a single point. An is now one of seven rookies on the International Team. They don’t have the scars of losing. And An has his own match play history. He remains the youngest winner of the U.S. Amateur, a title previously held by Tiger Woods and then Danny Lee. The underdog status Even with the loss of the world No. 1 Brooks Koepka, the U.S. Team is stacked. Matt Kuchar, at 23rd, is the lowest-ranked American player in the world, and only Adam Scott (18th) and Hideki Matsuyama (20th) sit above him from the Internationals. Haotong Li, at 63rd, is the lowest-ranked International. Everyone expects the U.S. to win. They have dominated in the past and are led by Tiger Woods. But Els can harness that underdog mentality. (No one gives you guys a chance. They don’t respect you. They think they can just turn up and win.) Sport is full of underdog triumphs. There is an entire Hollywood movie genre on it. Maybe Els should play Rocky movies on the team bus. Or highlights of real-life upsets like when Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson or the New York Giants beat the previously undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl. They have an opportunity to create a unique legacy here… the team that finally knocked down the juggernaut. Freedom with pairings Els has stated for months that he will use analytics when making his partnerships and with another rookie he will have more freedom to do so. Day was expected to pair with fellow Australian Adam Scott – a unit that played together at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and wanted to do so again. It looked a good duo, despite a missed cut in New Orleans, taking away some options from Els’ plans. Now Scott is freed up to go where the numbers best suggest – something that might help him avoid adding to the unwanted record of having the most losses in Presidents Cup history. Maybe it will be another ball-striker like An or Louis Oosthuizen. Or will it be a fiery rookie with putting prowess like Sungjae Im or Joaquin Niemann? An also brings a balance as he can seamlessly partner with the other Asian players as well as others. So while it certainly isn’t good news that Day won’t return to his native land this December, it is not as dire as it might seem. Els will make sure his team knows it.

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