McIlroy, Scott, Kuchar share lead at Riviera; Woods falters

IRVING, Texas – For just the second time since 2002, John Senden is not in the AT&T Byron Nelson field, a tournament that’s generally a fixture on his playing schedule. The reason is heartbreaking: Senden is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the PGA TOUR after announcing three weeks ago that his 13-year-old son Jacob has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Shortly after the announcement, Senden’s good friend and fellow Aussie Steven Bowditch – who lives close to the TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas and won this event in 2015 – came up with an idea for TOUR pros to show their support. During Thursday’s first round, players wore on their caps a patch resembling a Rubik’s Cube, which happens to be Jacob’s favorite toy. While Senden is not here in person, the family – and especially Jacob – is in the thoughts of Bowditch and his fellow competitors. “We’re all thinking of him all the time,” Bowditch said. “Anything we can do to try and put a smile on his face and help him get through this. We just all hope he can punch on through.” Another Aussie, Cameron Percy, was on the practice green at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans when he heard that Bowditch and his partner Rod Pampling had withdrawn in the team event. Soon after, he was informed of the reason. “I had a tear in my eye,” Percy recalled Thursday. “Everyone felt the same way – just devastated. We had played a practice round in San Antonio the previous week, had dinner twice and we spoke that Friday night. I had no idea. Neither did he. “There couldn’t be two nicer people than John and (wife) Jackie. It’s not fair, is it?” Ernie Els had not been aware of the development until he showed up at the course Thursday at TPC Four Seasons and saw the patches of support. Nine years ago, Els announced that his son Ben was autistic, and since then, the South African and his wife Liezl have been instrumental in raising awareness for the disorder. Many TOUR pros have donated their time and participated in Els’ charitable functions for his foundation. “It just makes you think,” Els said. “We’re chasing birdies and pars out here, but when you hear something like this, we pull together as a TOUR, as a friendship, as a unit. We’ve done it with me. We’ve done it with other guys. We’re going to do it for John and his family now.” Jason Day has dealt with his own family’s cancer issues lately, his mother Dening having been diagnosed in Australia with terminal lung cancer. Day brought his mother to the United States, where further tests were done. Surgery was recently performed that resulted in a much more encouraging diagnosis, and Dening is now back in Australia with an improved outlook. “I know exactly what he’s feeling like in regard to that,” Day said. Day and his wife Ellie have two young children. Day said he “could never fathom thinking about going through something like that. It breaks my heart for him and I’m just hoping and praying for the best for him and his family because it is a difficult time for him.” And now the fight begins. Bowditch reports that Jacob had his first treatment last weekend. “I’m sure he’ll pull through and come out the other side,” Bowditch said. “He’s a strong kid, a great kid with a great family.”

Click here to read the full article…

Click here to read the full article…

DETROIT – It would seemingly qualify as minutia, a detail about Charles Howell’s remarkably consistent playing career on the PGA TOUR. Only when the man himself knows about it, is it really minutia? “I’m aware of it. I am,� he said after shooting a 5-under 67 in Friday’s second round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. It pushed Howell to 12-under 132, two off Nate Lashley’s 67 – 130, with Cameron Champ (65 – 131) sandwiched between. That would certainly qualify as Howell being in contention for his second TOUR win of the year and yet another top 10, which is where the minutia enters the picture. Since 2012, Howell has piled up a whopping 34 top 10s – but only one of them has come in the summer months. And since we’ve been roasting with sultry weather here at Detroit Golf Club on this first full week of summer, it was asked of Howell to explain that quirky piece of information. But he merely shook his head after a round in which he made three straight birdies on the front, then two in a row on the back to vault into third. “I really don’t know why that is, but you know one thing great about turning 40?� said Howell, who reached that number on his recent birthday (June 20). “You stop worrying about things like that. It used to keep me up at night, I would grind over stuff like that.� He had a sly smile on his face, apparently having some fun with the minutia, but it was all good. “I tried it all. I took more weeks off in the summer, I played more in the summer. One (summer) I actually tried having neck surgery.� To no avail. His only summer top 10 since 2012 came two years ago when he lost in a playoff to Kyle Stanley at the Quicken Loans National. Should things progress as they have the last two days, Howell knows he’s in position to derail that summer drought line of thinking. But he suggested he and the rest of the 71 players who made the cut at 5-under 139 will be greeted by a tougher test on the weekend. “The scores are lower than I thought they would be from playing the practice days,� he said. “(But) the greens started to firm up a little bit (and if it doesn’t rain), I think you’ll see the balls bouncing on the greens tomorrow, especially in the afternoon.� The field average for the first two days has been 70.161 and Lashley, who got in as an alternate, continued his torrid play with three birdies on each side, the only miscue coming at the par-3 11th when he came up just short with his 228-yard shot and couldn’t get it up-and-down. He pretty much did everything else, though, even though he conceded he was nervous trying to back-up the first-round 63. The nerves stem from sitting 132nd on the FedExCup points list. “I need a good week to move up into the Top 125,� he said. “To do it this week comfortably would be great. To be able to kind of relax the last few events of the season would be really nice.� Lashley knew Champ’s 13-under was the lead when he teed off late and he got within one with a 33 on the front. His bogey at 11 negated the birdie he had made at 10, but a birdie at the par-3 15th got him tied, then he made his fifth birdie of the tournament at a par-5, the 17th. “If you hit fairways here, you can really score,� said Lashley, echoing a sentiment that has been shared by most of the competitors. It was felt going into the competition that Detroit GC could be attacked, but the lack of wind and excessively warm temperatures have made it even more of a shoot-out. Howell, however, is playing in his 546th TOUR tournament (in comparison, this is Lashley’s 33rd and Champ’s 28th) and he’s what they say is “qualified� to offer perspective. “(If it doesn’t rain), I think it’s going to change quite a lot,� said Howell. “The greens will start to get a little bit of that light-gray tint to them when the ball’s bouncing a bit. I think tomorrow afternoon it will be pretty firm.� Summer weather, which could be Howell’s time of year this week.

Click here to read the full article…