Old White nearly ready for Greenbrier Classic

Click here to read the full article…

Concerns about the cold weather’s effect on Tiger Woods’ back and his lack of competitive reps in this strange season were put to bed by a first-round 68 from Woods in the PGA Championship. It was his lowest opening round in a major since 2012. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Nine things to know about Harding Park Woods wore a sweater all day, but the cold, damp conditions didn’t impact his ability to swing freely. He led the field in driving distance when he walked off the course, averaging 313.5 yards off the tee on the two measured holes. He hit just half his fairways Thursday but his iron play was strong when he was in the short grass, especially on his back nine. Woods was even par after 12 holes, but then rolled off three birdies in a four-hole stretch. It started on the par-5 fourth, where he missed the fairway left and could only advance his second shot 150 yards. He hit his 160-yard approach to 4 feet, though. On the next hole, he hit just his fourth fairway of the round and hit his 148-yard approach to 14 feet. He hit an iron off the tee on the short seventh before sticking his 131-yard approach to 13 feet. He bogeyed the next hole out of a greenside bunker before hitting a 319-yard tee shot on 9 and finishing with a par. Woods, who teed off on No. 10 with Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, got off to a good start with birdies on two of his first four holes. He hit a high flop to 8 feet on the par-5 10th, then holed a 33-footer for birdie on 13. He bogeyed the next hole, appearing befuddled when his 9-foot par putt lipped out after he started walking after it. Woods finished his front nine with four consecutive pars, punctuating his play on that side with a 21-foot par putt on 18. Woods gained +1.4 strokes on the greens Thursday. He fell back to even par after a bogey at 2. Another fairway missed left forced him to rely on his short game, but he missed a 9-footer for par. He saved his best for the end of the round, though. Woods hit five of his final six greens and his last four fairways. Woods was three strokes behind leader Jason Day when he walked off the golf course. He is scheduled to tee off at 4:58 p.m. Eastern on Friday.

Click here to read the full article…

Local UCLA product Patrick Cantlay got out to a fast start just a few miles down the road from his alma mater. Tony Finau matched his play in the first round, and the two tied for a one-stroke edge over the field at 5 under. Tiger Woods made his return to the site of his debut at 16 years old, and struggled with the driver to a 1 over round. Defending champ Dustin Johnson started behind the eight ball with a 3 over showing in Round 1. He tees off early on PGA TOUR LIVE, looking to right the ship on his way to a successful title defense. Who shines heading into the weekend in Los Angeles? FULL FIELD: Defending champion Dustin Johnson, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Phil Mickelson and more! Round 2 tee times Round 2 leaderboard HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN TELEVISION: Friday, 3-7 p.m. (Golf Channel) Saturday, 2-3:30 p.m. (GC), 4-7 p.m. (CBS). Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6:30 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Friday, 9:30 a.m.-4 p.m. ET (featured groups), 4-8 p.m. ET (featured holes). Saturday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. (featured holes). Sunday, 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). A free preview of Featured Group coverage will be streaming live on Twitter on Thursday and Friday during the first hour of coverage. RADIO: Friday, 2-8 p.m. ET. Saturday, 2-7 p.m. Sunday, 1-6:30 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com) NOTABLE PAIRINGS (All times Eastern) Marc Leishman, Adam Hadwin, Peter Malnati 10:11 a.m. off the 1st tee Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Kevin Chappell 10:22 a.m. off the 10th tee Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Adam Scott 10:32 a.m. off the 1st tee Xander Schauffele, Wesley Bryan, Alex Noren 10:53 a.m. off the 10th tee Graeme McDowell, Smylie Kaufman, Luke Donald 2:51 p.m. off the 10th tee Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy 3:02 p.m. off the 1st tee Matt Kuchar, Phil Mickelson, Tommy Fleetwood 3:12 p.m. off the 1st tee Pat Perez, James Hahn, Padraig Harrington 3:33 p.m. off the 10th tee More on Featured Groups MUST-READS The Upshot: Round 1 Can Tiger finally tame Riviera? Power Rankings: Top picks for your fantasy team Tales from Tiger’s TOUR debut at Riviera Mayfair handed Tiger his only playoff loss at 1998 Genesis Open

Click here to read the full article…