Morning report: The Open, Round 2

NASSAU, Bahamas – We could argue all day which golfer currently is the world’s best. If you want to lean on the latest rankings, this week it’s Brooks Koepka. But if you want to identify golf’s most consistent performer, that’s much easier to pinpoint: Justin Rose. Start with the fact he won the FedExCup in late September without the benefit of a victory in the Playoffs. In the 12-year history of the FedExCup, it’s the first time that has happened, as Rose was fueled by three top-five finishes in the final three Playoffs events. His consistency in that stretch gained him the PGA TOUR’s biggest prize. Of course, he has spent time (as recently as last week) as the world’s No. 1-ranked player, thanks to his continued high finishes. Since the end of the Playoffs, he’s made three starts, finishing eighth, third and then winning his last appearance at the Turkish Airlines Open. It’s no wonder he’s among the betting favorites (along with Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson) in the local sports books for this week’s Hero World Challenge, played near one of his part-time residences. In his last 13 starts, Rose has bookend victories (starting with the Fort Worth Invitational in May) and nine other top 10s. The headscratcher is his missed cut at the first FedExCup Playoffs event, THE NORTHERN TRUST. It was his first missed cut in more than a year. He obviously bounced back pretty well from that. But it’s not just the end results that reflect Rose’s consistency. Take a look at his Strokes Gained rankings last season: 16th in Off-the-Tee; 17th in Approach-the-Green; 6th in Around-the-Green; 21st in Putting; 4th in Tee-to-Green; and second (to Johnson) in Strokes Gained: Total. In other words, he finished top 25 in each of the TOUR’s key statistical categories. In the ShotLink Era, that’s historically consistent. Since 2004, just two other players have ever ranked inside the top 25 in each Strokes Gained category during a given season. It happened in the 2014-15 season when Jordan Spieth and Jason Day each pulled off the trick. Speith, of course, won five events (including two majors) that season en route to the FedExCup. Day also won five times. While Rose didn’t produce that kind of success, he now has a game that contends every time he tees it up. “My consistency’s been fantastic,� he said this week. “But if I can just bring the next gear or the next level more consistently, that’s going to translate to more wins.� The outlier in Rose’s all-around game always has been his putting. When Strokes Gained was first launched in 2004, he ranked 162nd that season in Putting. Until last season, he ranked inside the top 100 on TOUR in that category just three times – the best in 2010 when he tied for 53rd. Knowing that area of his game needed ramping up, he switch to a claw grip in the middle of the 2016 season until switching back to a regular style for awhile. He won Olympic gold that August and leaned on the old style at the Ryder Cup in Hazeltine. “Ryder Cup’s a tough week to introduce a new putting grip,� Rose said, “but I wish I had.� He went 2-3-0 that week and lost his Singles match to Rickie Fowler in the U.S. victory. But once making the full commitment to the claw grip, he hasn’t looked back. Putting success didn’t happen overnight, but he’s now at a comfort level that he’s never before experienced on the greens. “It took a lot of nit-picking away from my stroke and I think it’s allowed me to focus on other aspects of putting,� Rose said. “Putting’s not about a perfect stroke. It’s about skill acquisition, being able to read greens well, put it on the right speed, obviously start it on your line. “I just felt it simplified a lot of my process and I think that’s been the reason statistically this year’s all compiled into my best putting year ever.� Now that he has all aspects of his game working at an efficient rate, the key is to maintain that high level. And as we’ve seen, one year of consistency across the board doesn’t guarantee future consistency. Just ask Jordan Spieth, who last season struggled with his putting. Ranked second in Strokes Gained: Putting in the 2015-16 season, Spieth ranked T-123rd last season. Plus, addressing weaknesses is easy, as it provides a specific target to work on. Maintaining is more difficult, as lapses could happen with any club in the bag. Rose has a plan on how to handle it. “It’s always a matter of how do you protect that, how do you keep your strengths being your strengths,� he explained. “You’ve still got to focus on them. I’ve begun to develop what I call sort of my minimum viable product in terms of practice daily. What do I have to do daily just to kind of maintain what’s going well? And then when I get inspired to go down a route with my game, then I’ll get into a practice session based upon improvement. That could be different just depending on how I’m feeling. “I still think my iron play could be a lot stronger. It’s inherently been a strength of mine, but I think statistically, I haven’t been hitting my irons as I would like for the past number of sessions. Short game, chipping – I feel like there’s still a level I can go to there.� The overall goal, of course, is to win more tournaments. If he does so this week at the Hero World Challenge, he will return to the No. 1 spot in the world, and he’d love to close out the 2018 calendar year in that position. With his next PGA TOUR victory, he would have 10 in his career. That would be the most by any English player since the end of World War II. And, of course, he’ll manage his 2019 schedule in a way that will maximize his energy in the big events. He may have the most unique trophy case in golf – the FedExCup, an Olympic gold medal and a U.S. Open win – but at age 38, he knows the window of opportunity for more majors is starting to close ever so slightly. It’s been five years since that U.S. Open win, and after knocking on the door a few times – three second-place finishes, including last year’s Open Championship – he’s feeling a sense of urgency. “It’s time for me to win another major,� he said. For the time-being, though, he’s enjoying life as golf’s Mr. Consistency. It’s nice to wake up every day, get to the course, and have no significant weaknesses. Few golfers at any level can say that. “I feel good,� Rose said. “I’m really enjoying my golf and I think that’s the most important thing as well. It’s easy to enjoy when it’s going well, but I’m enjoying not necessarily the success or the results, but I’m enjoying the process and I think that’s important.�

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Jason Dufner’s game was going nowhere, so he changed everything from his swing coach to his equipment to his caddie. It didn’t get any better. He at least is starting to see signs of it coming together with an 8-under 63 on Friday in the Wells Fargo Championship, matching his career-low score on the PGA Tour and giving him a one-shot lead going into the weekend at Quail Hollow. Dufner considers it the best two rounds he has put together since the 2017 Memorial, which also is the last time he had a 36-hole lead. “See how it goes being in the heat of it on Saturday and Sunday,” Dufner said. “I’ve been there before. It’s been a while, but I kind of know what to expect. It will be a good challenge to see where I’m at, what I’m doing.” Dufner was at 11-under 131. Joel Dahmen made his first bogey of the week on his final hole of the second round — from the middle of the fairway, no less — but still had a 66 and was one-shot behind. So was Max Homa, who also knows about coping with bad results when he missed the cut in 14 out of 17 events in 2017. He birdied his last two holes for a 63. Rory McIlroy, playing on the other end of the course, was stride for stride with Dufner until he dropped three shots over the last two holes. McIlroy made double bogey with a fat shot out of a bunker and a pitch too strong over the green at No. 8, and then went over the green on No. 9 for a bogey and a 70. Even so, he was five behind and in the mix for a third title at Quail Hollow. “I stood up here last night talking about that I got the most out of it yesterday, and today it was the complete opposite. I turned a 66 into a 70,” McIlroy said. “Golf, it’s a funny game and these things happen.” Dufner didn’t find too much funny about last year, when his world ranking fell from No. 41 to No. 124 and missed the cut 11 times. That’s when he decided to make changes to just about everything. “This is my fourth caddie of the year so far,” he said. “I left Chuck Cook, started doing some other things. I started working with Phil Kenyon. I think I’m on my fourth or fifth putter this year. I’m on my fourth or fifth driver, my fourth or fifth golf ball, fourth or fifth lob wedge. I’m trying to find stuff that’s going to work.” It worked on Friday at Quail Hollow. He started his round by missing the green 35 yards to the left and holing the chip over the bunker. He made a 20-foot eagle. He missed a 3-foot par putt. He drove the green on the par-4 14th for another birdie. And he capped it all off with a 40-foot birdie putt on the peninsula green at the par-3 17th. It was the first time he shot 63 since Oak Hill in 2013, the year he won the PGA Championship. “I’m just getting to that point where I’m kind of settled with everything,” he said. “Sometimes you make a change and it happens immediately. For me, that wasn’t the case. But kind of getting past all those changes and settling into playing some better golf instead of coming to tournaments wondering how I might play or how it might go or is this going to be the right change. Getting to where I feel more comfortable with that and I can just go out play free and play some good golf.” Dufner turned 42 in March and realizes he doesn’t have many years left to compete at a high level. “I’m not really trying to be mediocre,” he said. “I’m searching for things that are going to make me a better player.” Homa always had the talent, winning the NCAA title at Cal with a three-shot victory over Jon Rahm. He just fell into the trap of thinking he had to be even better when he got to the PGA Tour, and he’s had a rough go of it. But when he’s driving it well, it frees up the rest of his game. He also went back to longtime friend Joe Greiner, who caddied for him his first year on tour until leaving for another friend, Kevin Chappell. “Joe stayed with me until it became financially irresponsible for him to work for me,” Homa said. Chappell had back surgery and is out until the fall, and Homa brought him back. “My attitude is awesome nowadays,” he said. “I don’t really get too down on myself. I have an awesome, awesome caddie that doesn’t let me. If I’m quiet, he yells at me and tells me quiet golfers are usually very mean to themselves, so we have a good thing going.”

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — A year ago at The Honda Classic, Jhonattan Vegas made seven birdies all week. He’s off to a much better start this time. Vegas made six birdies and no bogeys Thursday, shooting a 6-under 64 to open a two-stroke lead after the first round. Lucas Glover bogeyed his finishing hole for a 66, leaving him tied with Zach Johnson, Ernie Els and Ben Silverman — who went to college at nearby Florida Atlantic. “Hit my irons the best I’ve hit them all year and I’ve always liked this golf course,” Vegas said. “It’s kind of one of those courses that I think suits me. You have to hit the ball well and you have to get around really well. And then I made a few putts.” Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler and Sergio Garcia were in a large group at 67, and defending champion Justin Thomas shot 68 after an eventful day that saw him play the last eight holes without a 9-iron after it bent when he hit it against a tree. “To feel like I gave quite a few back today and shoot 2-under par on this golf course, it’s great,” Thomas said. Also at 68 was Sam Saunders, the grandson of golf legend Arnold Palmer. Saunders birdied all three holes in “The Bear Trap” stretch at PGA National, the run of holes 15 through 17 where a par 4 is sandwiched by a pair of par 3s that can be treacherous even without much wind. Vegas made 12 bogeys last year at the Honda, along with three doubles and a triple, wound up beating only one of the 74 finishers and wrapped up the week with a final-round 78. He sprayed irons everywhere, missed half of the fairways, more than half of the greens. But Thursday, he was dialed in — missing only three of 14 fairways and three of the 18 greens, needing only 29 putts to get through the day. “I felt like I was in control pretty much all day long,” Vegas said. The 34-year-old Venezuelan has three PGA TOUR victories, winning the 2011 Bob Hope Classic and the RBC Canadian Open in 2016 and 2017. Vegas took advantage on a day to make noise at PGA National, where the wind was down. And that’s not typical. Forecasters correctly said breezes would be relatively light all day and should stay that way until perhaps the weekend, though Johnson — whose weather apps said breezes were going to be no more than 3 or 4 mph — was among those who felt the wind was still a factor and fluctuated more than expected. “We had a stretch there on the front nine where it was a lot more than that,” Johnson said. “The ball curving with the wind, depending on the direction, easily 10 to 15 to 20 yards. And then we made the turn and it started to be more consistent, not as gusty. … It was not Honda wind. I don’t think we’re going to get Honda wind until Sunday.” Els had no complaints. Els has won more than 70 tournaments worldwide, 19 of them on the PGA TOUR — the last of those coming in 2012 at the British Open. Getting a 20th on TOUR, he said, has been a goal for some time. “Secretly on TOUR among the players, you know when you win No. 20 you get some benefits,” Els said. “It’s late in my career, but I’ll take any win now.” Thomas sizzled at the start with three birdies in his first four holes, and made the turn at 4-under. That’s when his day got eventful. His drive ended up behind a tree on the 10th, and he figured that his 9-iron would snap on the follow-through of his approach shot. It merely bent instead, and the jolt of the impact meant Thomas was going to be spending some time Thursday night with an icepack on his wrist. He doesn’t believe it’ll impact him Friday. “Just more of a shock than anything,” Thomas said. Thomas then found his way into and out of trouble on The Bear Trap — making double-bogey, then having a par putt slide past the hole on 16, and making birdie on 17. He then birdied the last as well. Garcia also finished strong, with three birdies in his last four holes. “It’s a great round, at the end of the day,” Garcia said. DIVOTS: Fowler went into the water twice and wound up making a triple-bogey on the par-4 sixth, his nemesis hole at PGA National. In his last four rounds at the Honda, he’s 7 over on that hole. … Alex Cejka was disqualified for using an improper greens-reading device, officials said. He withdrew from last year’s tournament and missed the cut in 2017. … Cody Gribble had an interesting day — making quadruple bogey on No. 6, triple bogey on the par-4 11th, and then eagle on the par-5 18th. He shot a 77.

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