Mickelson will miss U.S. Open for daughter’s graduation

HAMBURG, Germany — Bryson DeChambeau shared a one-shot lead with Richard McEvoy heading to the final round of the Porsche European Open on Saturday. Both golfers seek their first European Tour title. DeChambeau started the third round ahead by a shot. But McEvoy carded a 3-under 69 for the Englishman to lead the tournament at 12 under. DeChambeau had to birdie the last hole to tie him with a 70 at Green Eagle Golf Courses. Right behind them were Masters champion Patrick Reed (69), and Austria’s Matthias Schwab (70). McEvoy’s momentum — he went out in 32 — was stalled by a three-hour delay for lightning in the area. But after winning in France last week on the Challenge Tour, he’s enjoying his attitude and form. “I prevailed last week so fingers crossed I can finish it off again tomorrow,” he said. Unlike McEvoy, DeChambeau was grateful for the stop in play. It gave him time to refocus and get his game back in order. He made three birdies on the back nine. An American hasn’t won this event in 38 years. Reed briefly held the lead on his own after play resumed and he birdied the 11th, but he was overtaken by DeChambeau and McEvoy and dropped a shot on the 13th.

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RIDGELAND, S.C. — Tom Kim felt as much a spectator as a player Thursday in THE CJ CUP in South Carolina, amazed at how Rory McIlroy produces so much power with so little effort. Kim wasn’t too bad himself. They were the star attractions on a beautiful morning at Congaree Golf Club, one of them pursuing the No. 1 world ranking, the other a 20-year-old who is quickly becoming one of the more popular players among his peers. Trey Mullinax and former U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland each had a 6-under 65. McIlroy and Kim, who played together in the same group with Rickie Fowler, were among those another shot back at 66. “He makes this game look so easy,” said Kim, who won two weeks ago in Las Vegas to become the first player since Tiger Woods with two PGA TOUR titles before turning 21. “It was really hard to just kind of play my own game sometimes, seeing the lines he took. It was like 380 (yards) to the runout and he was saying, ‘Sit!’ I was like, ‘Really? Like sit?’ But he almost made it. “Obviously, what was the most important thing for me today was trying to play my own game and not look at his line. But it was still so much fun.” McIlroy was equally impressed, mainly at how polished Kim plays at such a young age. They matched birdies for so much of the day in different manners. One example was the par-5 fourth hole, where McIlroy hit a 360-yard drive that bounded along the firm, wide fairway, and belted a fairway metal just through the green. Kim was 50 yards behind him off the tee, still 64 yards from the hole after a fairway metal, and then clipped a wedge over a bunker to 7 feet for birdie. McIlroy really showed his driving ability on the 366-yard 15th, with sand and water along the right side of the green. He hit his drive just onto the front of the green, even as Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas in the group ahead were putting. “The longer I stood over that tee shot, the more likely it was that I was going to lay up, so I just needed to step up and hit it,” McIlroy said. “Whether they were on the green or not, I had to go.” Some apologies were in order by McIlroy, minus the hard feelings. “He was never going to fly it on the green,” Thomas said. “It was never going to hit us. We’re just jealous. I wish I had hit on the green.” McIlroy, the reigning FedExCup champion, needs to win to reach No. 1 in the world for the ninth time in his career, and he was off to a good start with a bogey-free round. Kim was one better, firing at pins with his superb iron play and not getting as much as he would have liked with his putter. He was tied for the lead until pulling his tee shot on the 18th, having to play short of the water and missing an 8-foot par putt. “He didn’t really miss a shot out there,” McIlroy said. “He’s a very, very solid player, plays to his strengths. Makes the same swing at it pretty much every time. He was sort of picking my brain a little bit out there about speed training and I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no.’ I think as he gets older and maybe a touch stronger, he’ll get that naturally. “I was like, ‘Don’t go down that path, you’re good the way you are.’” It was a good day for so many in the 78-man field, starting with Mullinax and Woodland. Both ran off three birdies early. Mullinax already was 7 under through 12 holes when his birdies dried up. Woodland finished with two birdies. But not everyone. Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player since late March and trying to hold off McIlroy, switched putters and didn’t have much to show for it with two birdies and two bogeys for a 71. Jordan Spieth had a 75 with a round that included a triple bogey and a putt he missed from 16 inches. Spieth tried to backhand his short par putt on the 16th and it missed the hole, the lowlight of an otherwise rough start to his season. Fowler, who had the 54-hole lead in Japan last week, fell back early when he four-putted from 20 feet on the fourth hole. He had a 74.

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For the first time since his famous win at Winged Foot in 2006 Geoff Ogilvy is not exempt for the U.S. Open – and he’s okay with it. He may not even try to qualify. That’s not to say the eight-time PGA TOUR winner doesn’t want to be in the field at Erin Hills – his passion for top level play is still well and truly burning – rather he is intelligently thinking about his status in the FedExCup and his best plan of attack to make the Playoffs. Playing this season on TOUR via his career money earnings exemption the 39-year-old Ogilvy sits a respectable 109th in the FedExCup race to this point. He has split his 16 starts with eight made and eight missed cuts. While doing okay, he has yet to sew up a Playoff berth for this season and by extension a TOUR card for next season. He contended heavily in the fall at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open (T4) and has three further top 25 finishes since to give him a fighting chance to make the Playoffs for the first time since 2014. In the first eight editions of the Playoffs Ogilvy was a staple, making the TOUR Championship five times. He wants to be back there. Among the many perks of making the field at East Lake is a very set schedule, that includes the major championships. And so, Ogilvy sits at an interesting crossroads. Enter 36-hole qualifying for the U.S. Open on June 6 which could impact on his preparations for the FedEx St Jude Classic in Memphis that week, or perhaps forego this one major to have a better chance at a renaissance down the track. He could still skip qualifying all together and make the field should he find his way into the world top 60 by June 12, but this would likely only be possible with a win, and another high finish, in his next few tournaments. He sits 214th in the world as he lines up at the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational this week. “Being at qualifying – it’s going to be strange. There’s an outside chance I wouldn’t go… there’s some reasonably compelling reasons to not try,â€� Ogilvy admits. “Not because I don’t want to play in the U.S. Open or that I don’t want to win the U.S. Open.  It’s just my priority at the moment has got to be moving up in the FedExCup, moving up in the World Rankings… it’s prioritizing. “It’s a major and it’s great, and if you finish high up there it’s a great week and it’s a pile of points and money and you get the feeling again but on the other hand it’s very difficult to leave the U.S. Open with confidence unless you win or finish top four or five. “If you do qualify, it might mess up the Memphis week, then you go to the U.S. Open and maybe miss the cut and then you go to Hartford (Travelers Championship) all tired and kind of over it with four big weeks coming up after that. So, we’ll have to wait and see.â€� Despite this possibility, Ogilvy makes it clear he feels he’s far from a spent force. Still shy of his 40th birthday he has taken great motivation from performances of his contemporaries in recent times. And while he is set to be an assistant captain at this year’s Presidents Cup for the International Team he hasn’t given up hope of playing on a fourth team this year, or even further down the line. I play for that Sunday afternoon where I’ve got a chance because that’s when I’m happiest.  He jokes about feeling old when watching the PGA TOUR Champions events and realizing he’s played with every single person in the field. But by the same token he has the belief his age will not be a hindrance, in fact it could be the key for him to claim a second major championship or perhaps a fourth World Golf Championship. “If you look at the top 10 in the world, really it’s kind of made up of similar ages that it has been before, there’s still the Stenson’s and the Rose’s, the Garcia’s and the Adam Scott’s,â€� Ogilvy says. “My age group is still making up a chunk of the top 10 in the world. So, we’re still in that window of time that’s prime. Look at Phil Mickelson. He is nearing 50 and he’s still very relevant.  “There was all the talk about youth taking over golf and it’s harder and harder for the old guys, but then you go to the Masters, and with 18 holes to play, it was all 30 somethings. “I still think it’s such an amazing sport. Physical prowess is never going to trump experience at golf. It might on the odd given week here and there, but over the long‑term, experience and golf wisdom, which only develops over a long time of playing, is the key.â€� With his last win on TOUR coming in the 2014 Barracuda Championship can this week at Colonial be the sleeper week he’s looking for? He does have three previous top-20 finishes at the course. “I just want to get back in the mix,â€� he says. “I just get envious of like Sunday afternoons – that’s what I play for. I don’t really play for money anymore, and I don’t play for the glory or the fame or the things on the mantle. “I play for that Sunday afternoon where I’ve got a chance because that’s when I’m happiest.  “I’m just kind of waiting for the right week to come along, and I can string a bit of form together. I feel kind of poised for a reasonable summer.â€�

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