Mickelson misses cut, worried about lack of focus

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea — India’s rising star Shubhankar Sharma is keen to maintain his push for a PGA TOUR card and a spot on the Presidents Cup’s International Team when he tees up at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES starting on Thursday. The young Indian finished T10 at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia last weekend after entering the final round as the joint third-round leader, but the disappointment was quickly forgotten when South African legend Ernie Els, who  is captain of the Presidents Cup’s International Team, invited him for a nine-hole practice round here on Tuesday. It brought back great memories for Sharma, who was hand-picked by Els to hit shots during a golf clinic in New Delhi in 2008. He is now fired up to launch another strong run in this week’s event, which is the only PGA TOUR tournament in South Korea. “We were just chatting a lot about his life on TOUR,â€� said Sharma of his day with Els. “He said he’s so happy that kids like me are coming up now and that the International Team is actually looking really strong. I think he’s a great captain and definitely we’ll have a great team together.â€� He recalled travelling to Delhi Golf Club to watch the Indian Masters and remembers vividly what Els, a four-time major winner, told him during the clinic.  “I traveled a long way just to get to Delhi,â€� said Sharma. “I walked with Ernie in the first round and I think after the second round was when he had his clinic. I was one of the lucky ones to go up to him and say hi and then obviously hit a few shots with his 9‑iron. There was like a 100-yard board on the range and I hit both my shots, landed right next to the board. The crowd was clapping and it was quite a good moment for me.  “There were two or three kids before me who tried to hit it and they couldn’t really connect. It was his club, it was like a heavy 9-iron, so just to hit those two shots was very special and that made my day.â€� “And then Ernie gave me his card, he signed his card and gave it to me and he said, ‘You’ll be a good player one day, just keep working hard.’ So we were talking about it yesterday, and it’s always nice when I remember that day.â€� Els, who has competed in eight Presidents Cups, believes Sharma will contend for a place on his International Team.  “I played with Shubhankar, who’s had an incredible year. He’s won a few times around the world in one year and he’s only 22 years old,â€� said the 49-year-old.   “I wasn’t familiar that he was right behind me when we were hitting balls and we were talking about it. Those kind of stories doesn’t normally happen. You watch your hero play and you want be like him. It’s not many times (that) it comes to fruition,â€� added Els. “I had the same situation with Gary Player where I asked him for his autograph when I was a kid and he doesn’t even remember. But it made such an impact in my life, and it’s amazing how it translates in your mind and changes your life. It’s amazing how you can touch lives without even knowing.â€� With countryman and close friend Anirban Lahiri having played the last two Presidents Cups, Sharma has made it a goal for him to get to Royal Melbourne. “The next Presidents Cup is going to be huge with Ernie and Tiger (Woods) being the captains,â€� he said. “The International Team could have pulled off a great win in Korea (in 2015). It definitely ranks in the top three (goals) with the majors and with the WGCs. Playing the Presidents Cup would be a huge honor.â€� “Anirban has done it, and if both of us can make the team, that will be the icing on the cake. Obviously we’ll have more fans back home in India. We have more than a billion people in India, and maybe a few percent will follow the Presidents Cup if we do make it. I think it will be great for our country and for golf back in Asia.â€� Sharma contended in Malaysia last weekend before slipping back with a closing 72. As he is in the field at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES and also in next week’s World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai, both with no halfway cuts, he is hoping to take a big step towards earning his PGA TOUR card via the non-member FedExCup points category. “Only good things, positives to take away from last week,â€� said Sharma, who got into this week’s field as the highest ranked player from the Asian Tour. “It’s always good when you’re in contention at a PGA TOUR event and I’ve been lucky enough to be in contention twice this year, leading after three days in both the tournaments. So I just want to take positives. “A top‑10 finish is never bad on the PGA TOUR even though I would have liked to be slightly higher than that, but I just want to take positives out of last week. I feel like my game’s in a good spot and I have two more weeks, this week and next week as well, so (I’ll) try and do my best and we’ll see how it goes,â€� said Sharma who finished T9 at the WGC-Mexico Championship in February.

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SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — The Americans won back the Ryder Cup and perhaps a whole lot more Sunday, sending a strong message to Europe with a powerful performance from their youngest team in history. RELATED: Full recap from Day 3 | Rory McIlroy tearful after Sunday singles win Scottie Scheffler, one of six Ryder Cup newcomers for the Americans, took down the No. 1 player in the world with a 4-and-3 victory over Jon Rahm as the scoreboards around Whistling Straits quickly filled with American red. The final blow came from Collin Morikawa, at 24 the youngest player on the team and already a two-time major champion. He holed a 3-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole that assured the Americans at least the 14 1/2 points they needed. Then it was a matter of the final margin. “I woke up this morning and I was trying to tell the guys, ‘Let’s get to 20 points,’ because this is going to be the next era of Ryder Cup team for the U.S. side,” Patrick Cantlay said, finishing an unbeaten week with a win over Shane Lowry. “We’ve got a lot of young guys. I think they’re going to be on teams for a long time, and I wanted to send a message.” Tony Finau had said on the eve of these matches that this was “the big one” because Europe had won nine of the last 12, and the Americans had so many fresh faces without any lasting scars from watching Europe celebrate so much over the years. The big one became one big rout. The Americans were young, yes, and very good, with four of the top five in the world ranking. The difference is they finally played like it.

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Four of the most exciting players in the game today – Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Matthew Wolff and Rickie Fowler – will usher in golf’s unofficial return to action Sunday at Seminole Golf Club with the TaylorMade Driving Relief charity skins match. On paper, casual fans may see this matchup as a bit lopsided. If you only compare the career resumes, that’s undoubtedly the case: Rory and DJ have combined for 38 PGA TOUR wins and 192 weeks at world No. 1. Rickie and Matthew’s added totals are six wins and zero weeks in the top spot. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks | How to watch: TaylorMade Driving Relief But a closer look at the numbers says that these two teams aren’t all that far apart. 15th Club took the strokes gained data from every PGA TOUR event since Wolff turned professional and compared the performances of the four players at a granular, detailed level. There are 151 different players with 30 or more ShotLink-measured rounds since Matthew’s pro debut at the 2019 Travelers Championship. Here’s how the two sides match up statistically during that span. Off The Tee ADVANTAGE: McILROY & JOHNSON The dream driving duo of Rory and DJ is almost impossible to top. In the time frame selected, Rory leads all players in average distance of all drives (307.6 yards), while Johnson is ranked fourth (305.7). McIlroy has averaged 0.90 strokes gained off the tee during that span, too, second-best on TOUR. Only Wolff’s old college teammate, Viktor Hovland, has a better number off the tee in that stretch (0.91 per round). That’s not to say Rickie and Matt will be blown off the course with the driver – both players are well above average in terms of distance. Wolff ranks 20th on TOUR in distance of all drives since turning pro (297.7 yards) while Fowler is 53rd (291.6). Wolff is also averaging more than one-third of a stroke gained off the tee, good for 34th of 151 players. Approach Play ADVANTAGE: McILROY & JOHNSON Although Rory and DJ get the nod here, it isn’t a large gap between the teams. DJ has uncharacteristically struggled with his iron play in recent months, averaging -0.33 strokes gained approach per round since last summer — ranked 134th of 151 players. For comparison’s sake, Collin Morikawa leads the TOUR in that stat during the time span, at 1.13 strokes gained approach per round. Rickie and Matt combine for a neutral performance, of sorts – when you combine the two, you get a number close to zero – no shots gained, or lost, to the field on approach play. Wolff has an average approach shot proximity of just under 35 feet since turning pro, best of these four players in that span. But thanks to Rory, ranked 14th on TOUR during this stretch, the DJ-McIlroy side has a slight advantage. Around The Green ADVANTAGE: PUSH Known throughout his career more for the longest club in his bag, has Rory become a savant around the greens, too? This is the third consecutive season McIlroy has been ranked in the top-20 on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green, a statistic he was outside the top-100 in back in 2010 when he broke through with his first win. And since last summer, he’s averaged 0.36 SG: Around-the-Green per round, 11th-best on TOUR in that span. While this statistical exercise is focusing on the time since Wolff turned pro, there’s history on the side of Rickie Fowler. In the 2016-17 season, Rickie had a sand save percentage of 68.7 percent, the best anyone had recorded on TOUR in 16 years. He ranked 15th on TOUR in strokes gained around the green just three seasons ago and was 11th in that statistic the season before that. This one is too close to call. Putting ADVANTAGE: FOWLER & WOLFF Rickie is averaging more than 80 feet of putts made per round since last summer, ninth-best on TOUR in that span and well ahead of the other three players Sunday. The 2017 TOUR leader in Strokes Gained: Putting, Fowler is statistically the strongest on the greens among these four. Putting is the worst ranking Rory has of the Strokes Gained categories in our selected time frame, but that isn’t saying much. McIlroy is averaging 0.43 strokes gained putting per round since last summer, putting himself firmly in the top-30 on TOUR. DJ, on the other hand, has struggled a bit with the putter in recent months. He’s lost, on average, about 0.31 strokes gained putting per round since last June – ranking 128th of 151 players. This is the area of the match where Fowler and Wolff can try to make up for their opponents’ advantage off the tee. Overall ADVANTAGE: McILROY & JOHNSON … narrowly Rory’s recent performance metrics are, unsurprisingly, reflective of the No. 1 player in the world and defending FedExCup champion and PGA TOUR Player of the Year. Since last summer, Rory leads the TOUR in Strokes Gained: Total, distance of all drives and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. His Strokes Gained average in that stretch – 2.33 per round – is more than one-third of a shot better than anyone else in that span (Jon Rahm is second, at 1.98). Fans unfamiliar with Wolff’s game, though, are in for a treat this weekend. His unconventional swing has produced big results in fewer than 20 career TOUR starts. At last year’s 3M Open, he became the second-youngest winner on TOUR since World War II. Wolff is well above average in almost every Strokes Gained category since he ended his amateur career last June. McIlroy and Johnson are the rightful betting favorites, but the Oklahoma State Cowboys connection should not be ignored this weekend in Florida. Justin Ray is the Head of Content for data-driven 15th Club.

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