Monday qualifiers: Greenbrier Classic

Brian Bullington has missed the cut in all seven of his starts on the PGA TOUR Latinoamerica circuit this season but the former Iowa Hawkeye was hardly looking backwards after a blistering Monday qualifying effort for the John Deere Classic. Bullington, who grew up about two and a half hours from TPC Deere Run in Frankfort, Illinois, carded eight birdies and an eagle with just a lone bogey on the way to a 9-under 63 at Pinnacle Country Club. This will mark his second start on the PGA TOUR and the John Deere Classic having missed the cut in the 2016 edition. It’s been quite the last few weeks for fellow former Hawkeye Sean McCarty who shot 7-under 65 to also make the field. Last month McCarty qualified for the PGA Championship via his tie for second at the PGA Professional Championship. The long-time club professional at Brown Deer Golf Club in Coralville Iowa, just over an hour from TPC Deere Run, will make his eighth PGA TOUR start – his sixth at the event. Vince India (-7) and Manav Shah (-6) took the final two places. Monday king TJ Vogel missed out on an eighth successful qualifying effort by two shots. BRIAN BULLINGTON (65) Age: 24 Hometown: Frankfort, Illinois Alma mater: University of Iowa PGA TOUR starts: 1 Cuts made: 0 Best finish: CUT, 2016 John Deere Classic Notes: Shot 75-74 in only previous TOUR start at TPC Deere Run. Has missed cut in all seven starts on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica this year but made nine of 15 cuts on the same tour in 2016. SEAN McCARTY (65) Age: 40 Hometown: Solon, Iowa Alma mater: University of Iowa PGA TOUR starts: 7 Cuts made: 1 Best finish: T23, 1997 John Deere Classic Notes: Will play the second major of his career at the upcoming PGA Championship and first since 2003 when he played the U.S. Open. Is a Hall of Famer at Iowa. VINCE INDIA (65) Age: 29 Hometown: Deerfield, Illinois Alma mater: University of Iowa PGA TOUR starts: 2 Cuts made: 1 Best finish: T50, 2018 Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship MANAV SHAH (66) Age: 25 Hometown: Bakersfield, California Alma mater: UCLA PGA TOUR starts: Debut Notes: Has had a few seasons on the MacKenzie Tour – PG ATOUR Canada with three top-10s in 2016 but none in 12 starts in 2017. A MILITARY TRIBUTE AT THE GREENBRIER QUALIFIERS MC. TJ Vogel, 69-69 MC. Wes Homan, 69-70 MC. Blake Taylor, 70-71 MC. Logan Lagodich, 70-73 THIS SEASON’S QUALIFIERS Qualifiers: 75 Made cut: 24 (32%) Top-10s: 4 (Scott Strohmeyer, T4 at Sanderson Farms; Trey Mullinax, T8 at Valspar; Julian Suri, T8 at Houston; Chase Seiffert, T9 at Travelers) Top-25s: 6 Most times qualified: T.J. Vogel (7)

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PARAMUS, N.J. – Phil Mickelson has a lot on his plate these days. For one thing: Twitter. He just dove in with an account earlier this week at THE NORTHERN TRUST, where two closing bogeys dropped him out of the lead but still gave him a second straight 68 (6 under) at Ridgewood Country Club. He was within two of early second-round leader Sean O’Hair (69) with the afternoon wave yet to complete their second rounds. At the very least, the solid start promised to give Mickelson something benign to tweet about, which should put his kids at ease about Dad’s leap into the wild, wooly world of social media. “They are nervous (laughter),â€� said Mickelson, who birdied five of his first six holes Friday to jump into the lead. “And they should be, you know, rightfully so, because in time, I will mess up. It’s just my — I always kind of ride the line somewhere. Sometimes I cross it. Sometimes not.â€� On a more serious note, Mickelson is buckling down as he tries to atone for missing the TOUR Championship at East Lake last year. Things were looking good just six months ago. When he picked up his 43rd PGA TOUR win at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship in early March, it broke a nearly five-year drought and portended a big season. Or not. Mickelson finished T5 at the Wells Fargo Championship, but otherwise hasn’t really contended. He hit a moving ball at the U.S. Open, finished T24 at The Open Championship, and missed the cut at the PGA Championship. He’s 11th in the FedExCup, and has made more news with his newly announced made-for-TV match against Tiger Woods than with his play. Now, though, Mickelson seems to be on the comeback trail, again, at age 48. A day after he hit just three fairways but saved himself with his putting, he hit nine of the first 10 in the second round. Only a few late misses marred his effort, but he was encouraged. He badly wants to be on the U.S. Ryder Cup team that will try to be the first to win on European soil since 1993, but first he has to prove worthy of a pick from U.S. Captain Jim Furyk. “Yeah, it’s important,â€� said Mickelson, who has been on every U.S. Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup team since 1994, “because this started out to be a great year, and I want to finish it off right. And usually when I have a bit of a lull in the summer, I play well in the Playoffs. So I expect to have a good first two events and try to make it really easy for Captain Furyk.â€� In the process, he’s hoping to knock off one more thing on his to-do list: Finish the season ranked first in Strokes Gained: Putting. He got off to a good start at Ridgewood this week, making over 110 feet of putts in the first round, but knows he’s still got work to do. “I’ve been No. 2 in strokes gained behind Jason Day all year,â€� Mickelson said. “So either I’m going to have a phenomenal putting stretch and get to No. 1, or I’m just going to bend his putter a little bit so he comes back, because it’s been a great putting year.â€� OBSERVATIONS O’HAIR WINNING MIND GAME … Sean O’Hair says he doesn’t really set goals. He says making his way through the FedExCup isn’t the be all and end all. He says being a member at Aronimink in Philadelphia – where the third FedExCup Playoff event, the BMW Championship, will be held Sept. 6-9 – doesn’t burden him with pressure. Nope. Sean O’Hair is just happy to be here after a tough last few months. Believe him or not, but O’Hair has played inspired golf over the opening two rounds of THE NORTHERN TRUST. He backed up his opening 66 with a 2-under 69 to move to 7 under, good enough for the clubhouse lead after the morning wave. “I’m not really much of a goal setter,â€� said O’Hair, who at 121st in the FedExCup likely needs a top-30 or better here to survive to the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston. “It’s always a bonus to get in the TOUR Championship and it’s always a nice way to end the year. “I think every week is just an opportunity,â€� he added. “Every day is an opportunity. And for guys like me, every day is, you know, kind of a do-or-die situation. I actually think that just takes the pressure off. You win one of these events, and all of a sudden, thing change, and if you get in the TOUR Championship and win the TOUR Championship, you have a good chance of winning the FedExCup.â€� While the scoreboards are constantly flashing projections, O’Hair said he is taking no notice. The four-time TOUR winner is just grateful to be in New Jersey and not at the Web.com Finals in Ohio. “The last thing for me that’s going to help me is thinking about what I need to do to get to Aronimink or get to TOUR Championship,â€� he said. “I feel like the last two days have kind of happened because I’m working on the right things, and I’m focused more on maybe the process of the game right now than the actual score and result of it. “This is the end of my 14th season out here, so I’ve done this enough to know that if I go out there trying to get results, whether it be finishing a certain position on FedExCup or win a golf tournament or shoot a score; that just doesn’t work for me. That’s not how I function.â€�

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