Monday Finish: McIlroy close like a champion at THE PLAYERS

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – Led by former champion Dustin Johnson it was all systems go for a number of the regular season’s best players in the opening round at THE  NORTHERN TRUST. The marquee group of 20-time PGA TOUR winner Johnson, former PLAYERS and U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson and Spanish star Jon Rahm – playing together based on their FedExCup position – scorched Liberty National. With the TOUR Championship already secured the trio might have been wary of a little complacency slipping into their game but they needn’t have worried. Johnson – who finished seventh in the regular season – posted an impressive 8-under 63 to sit just one shot behind Troy Merritt’s early lead. Rahm, 10th in the regular season, opened with a 64 while Simpson (ninth) kickstarted his Playoff run with a round of 65. RELATED: What you need to know for FedExCup Playoffs | Woods starts slow | Merritt moves off bubble “Everything looked easy and we fed off each other. One of us was always close and we were trying to get it closer than the next person and making putts,â€� Rahm said of his group dynamic. “There was a good vibe in the group going on. It’s a little bit easier because the greens are so soft. Dustin finished with almost five in a row … We definitely fed off each other.â€� Johnson was the champion of THE NORTHERN TRUST in 2011 and 2017 on different courses. He wasn’t content with his start, heading straight to the range afterwards. Since having won the World Golf Championships – Mexico Championship in February and finishing runner-up at the Masters in April and the PGA Championship in May, Johnson’s results have trailed off. A pair of T-20s are his best in his last five starts. “I’ve been working pretty hard on my game the last month or so. Finally felt like it’s coming around. Obviously today was a really good score, but just want to make sure I keep it that way,â€� Johnson said of his decision to hit the practice range. “Any time you shoot 8 under, no matter what golf course, you know you did everything well. Today I drove it well and hit a lot of really good iron shots. Rolled the putter nicely. “Every Playoff event is big, and you really want to get off to a good start in any of them.â€� While not playing with the others Rory McIlroy – who is second in the FedExCup – also started hot with a 65 of his own. The quartet are looking to put pressure on FedExCup leader Brooks Koepka who opened with a relatively pedestrian 1-under 70. McIlroy had to watch Koepka go past him in the final round of the recent World Golf Championships – FedEx St. Jude Invitational but this time it was the American getting lapped by his playing partner. “You’ve got to expect the guys like DJ or Rahm or any of the guys that are in the top 10 of the standings are going to come and play well,â€� McIlroy said. “I’m pleased with the start. Bogeyed the first hole, which was the 10th, but played really well after that. Played 7 under from there on in with no bogeys. “I saw some better iron shots than I did in Memphis. I drove it just as good. I putted nicely. It’s so soft out there, you need to shoot low scores this week to have a chance … so just going to try to have to keep the foot down. “It’s definitely a golf course that you’re going to have to keep being aggressive on this week.â€� The player at the top of the standings following next week’s BMW Championship will start the TOUR Championship at 10 under. That player will have between a two and 10 shot lead over the field that is staggered based on FedExCup position. Any of the current top 10 is likely to project to top spot with a victory in New Jersey.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. – When the NBA came courting J.R. Smith during his senior season at St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, New Jersey, the scouts kept telling him one thing. “They always told me I could go back (to school) whenever,” said Smith, who had committed to the University of North Carolina. So, after finishing as the co-MVP at the McDonald’s All-American Game in 2004, Smith opted to head directly to the NBA. The 6-foot-6 shooting guard played professionally for 16 seasons and won NBA titles with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016 and Los Angeles Lakers in 2020. The 35-year-old is retired now and about to embark on a new adventure, enrolling at North Carolina A&T State University, one of the nation’s top HBCUs, to pursue a degree in liberal studies. Maybe those NBA scouts were right after all. “So, this is whenever,” said Smith, shortly before he split the fairway with his opening drive during the pro-am at the Wyndham Championship. The 6-foot-6, 200-pounder starts classes on Aug. 18. He is also waiting on the NCAA and to sort out his eligibility, and when it does, Smith, who plays to a 5 handicap, is looking to join the Aggies’ golf team. “It’s a big deal for A&T. It’s a big deal for him,” said Richard Watkins, who coaches both the men’s and women’s teams and was in Smith’s gallery on Wednesday. “It’s not very often that somebody in his position really has an opportunity to have a thought, a dream, an idea, and to be able to go ahead and move in that direction. “He’s a former professional athlete, but (it’s) a unique set of circumstances. He didn’t go to college, never matriculated, the clock never started.” Smith, who wore an A&T shirt as he played in the pro-am, said he started thinking about going to college during a trip to the Dominican Republic with Ray Allen, an 18-year NBA vet who is in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. “He was talking about some of the things he was doing by going back to school, challenging yourself and stuff for us athletes,” Smith said. He also talked with Chris Paul, who plays for the Phoenix Suns, and his older brother C.J., who grew up in nearby Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Chris Paul played at Wake Forest but never graduated and is working on a degree in communications at Winston-Salem State, another HBCU. Smith started playing golf about 12 years ago after attending the late Moses Malone’s charity event. According to a 2014 Q&A in Bleacher Report, he was just riding in a cart when Malone told him to get out and hit the ball. After that first drive, which Smith said went about 300 yards “dead center,” he was hooked. Smith has often been seen in the galleryat PGA TOUR events, following friends like Keegan Bradley, Lee Westwood and Rory McIlroy. “Golf is one of those games that has you feeling really high and or can bring you down to your knees and humble you,” Smith said. “And to have that feeling and knowing that all of the game’s pretty much on my own hands and I don’t have to worry about teammates to pass the ball and receiving passes and playing defense so, I can play my game and just have fun.” On hand to watch Smith tee off the 10th hole was Wyndham Championship tournament director Mark Brazil. The TOUR event will help support a women’s tournament for eight different schools, including four HBCUs, in October as well as a similar event for the A&T men in the spring. “Chancellor Harold Martin is on my board of directors, and I just started thinking it would be really cool to kind of give back and with all the things we’ve been doing with Harold Varner’s HV3 Foundation, this would be a nice extension,” Brazil said. While Smith, who is moving his family of five to Greensboro, says it’s been a long time since he was in a classroom, he’s ready for the new challenges at A&T. “I’ve got no free time now,” Smith said. “Raising kids and going to school, my schedule will be full. I can’t wait to be a part of the HBCU family. “I’ve really been embraced by everybody so far on campus. I’m looking forward to start going to football games and repping Aggie Pride.”

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