Matthew Fitzpatrick’s road from England back to the PGA Tour — and the United States

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – What a difference a day makes. Not 24 hours after Phil Mickelson seized the lead with a magical 64 at the Wells Fargo Championship, he succumbed to mental mistakes and plummeted down the leaderboard with a 75 on Friday. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Inside Max Homa’s mind | Rickie Fowler solid in return at Wells Fargo Championship At 3 under total he was still within reach of the leaders with the afternoon wave just getting started. “I threw two shots away on 15 and two on 17,” Mickelson said, “and that ultimately — you know, things I’ve been doing, and I just can’t keep doing that. I’m optimistic for the weekend, though.” At 50, Mickelson has struggled with mental lapses despite meditation, eye exercises and dietary changes. Particularly egregious, he said, was his bogey at the par-5 15th – he was up around the green in two but watched his pitch shot bleed off the back of the green – and double-bogey on the par-3 17th (water). “I hit a lot of good shots on the front nine,” he said. “I didn’t make any putts and turned in even. Then the back nine I made – I just – I just wasn’t sharp. I think kind of an example of what I’ve been talking about is like on 17 we’re standing over the ball and I’m changing my mind and I’m changing the shot, moving the clubhead a little bit and it just – instead of backing away and kind of refocusing. “I just kind of hit it and I’m not really kind of aware of what I’m doing.” Everything was fun, fun, fun on Thursday, when the fizz of his chemistry with Joel Dahmen (72, 2 under) and Lanto Griffin (68, 1 over, in danger of missing the cut) bubbled over into the golf. “We got in some dopamine talk,” Dahmen said after his first-ever round with Mickelson. “Frontal lobe and dopamine,” he continued, “and then the units of it, which I was actually impressed with. Then he hit a 6‑iron to three feet, so he must have had his dopamine correct on that one.” Mickelson laughed. “I hope you were paying attention,” he said. There was no such jocularity Friday, especially not on the back nine, when Mickelson shot 40 and looked like the guy who is 165th in the FedExCup and 115th in the world. He hit his tee shot into the water and did well to save par at the par-4 14th hole, and his bogey on 15 seemed to come out of nowhere. “I hit a great drive and I kind of went blank on the 2-wood (second shot),” he said, “because I couldn’t quite get it there and I wasn’t sure what I was doing and I just kind of hit without realizing I was hitting and (lacking) a purpose and a swing purpose. “It’s just little things like that that I’ve been struggling with,” he continued. “Then I hooked it to the right and compounded it with a few bad wedges. I love the golf course, I’m playing well, and if I can stay focused this weekend, I’m going to have a good weekend.”

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HONOLULU, Hawaii – Stewart Cink is looking to continue a trend from 2018 on the PGA TOUR. The 45-year-old hasn’t won on TOUR for nearly nine and a half years but he was a keen observer last year as no less than 11 players broke significant win droughts. On Friday at the Sony Open in Hawaii Cink put up an 8-under 62 to move to 10 under, within striking distance of Matt Kuchar’s 14 under lead. Indeed Kuchar (1,667 days) was one of the players to break a drought in 2018. Charles Howell III (4,292 days), Paul Casey (3262 days), Kevin Na (2,472 days), Keegan Bradley (2,227 days), Ted Potter Jr. (2,045 days), Ian Poulter (1,975 days), Tiger Woods (1,876 days), Phil Mickelson (1,687 days), Webb Simpson (1,666 days) and Gary Woodland (1,646 days) also snapped the famine. Sunday would represent 3,466 days since Cink claimed the 2009 Open Championship in a playoff over Tom Watson for his sixth TOUR win. He had his chances last season. Cink finished T4 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, T2 at the Travelers Championship and T4 at the PGA Championship last summer showing there is plenty of life in his game. On Friday he needed just 24 putts on the way to nine birdies with just a lone bogey. “It was a great day out there. Really all facets of the game were firing,â€� Cink enthused. “Drove it well and hit a lot of good irons. Rolled in a lot of putts from the range that really makes a difference in your score, which is like, say, 10 to 20 feet. Had a lot of putts like that and made a lot today. “That’s kind of a hallmark of my game over my whole career, is I do have a lot of putts in that range because usually I’m one of the better ball-strikers. When you see them going in the game feels a little bit easy.â€� Indeed Cink gained over two and a half strokes on the field in Strokes Gained: Putting Friday. He was 15 of 18 inside 20-feet.

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What happens if you make a hole-in-one at the U.S. Open but no fans are on-site to see it? You don't get the raucous reaction one would expect from the New York galleries, but fortunately it counts the same on the scorecard. "Up here in New York, the fans are amazing," said Patrick Reed after making a 1 on Winged Foot's short seventh hole. He knows about the New York fans after winning THE NORTHERN TRUST at Bethpage Black and Liberty National, and playing the 2017 Presidents Cup at the latter. "You go ahead and you hole out from the fairway, you make a hole-in-one, the fans will just go crazy. It was unfortunate the fans weren't here because that would have been an awesome experience. But at the same time, an ace is an ace. I'll take it either way." Reed's hole-in-one - the second of his PGA TOUR career - helped him to a 4-under 66 in the first round of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot. Reed's ace on the 165-yard seventh completed a 6-3-1 stretch (double-birdie-eagle). He hit 9-iron. "I was excited about it, but really I knew from that point that, hey, you need to settle down, get ready for the next hole," Reed said. "Around here at Winged Foot, every golf shot, you have to pay full attention because if you hit one poor golf shot, a lot of things can happen out here." Reed's double on No. 5 was the only hole he played over par all day. He made three birdies on the back nine to shoot 66. He was one shot behind leader Justin Thomas after the morning wave completed play.

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