Padraig Harrington: European Tour does not need Ryder Cup to boost finances this year

Emergency 9 Here are nine tidbits from the second round of the 50th RBC Heritage that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina plays to 7,099 yards (Par-71). PAIN OR GAIN These were the top five picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: The top three players will play the weekend but the last two will not. Donald’s Friday rally fell short by one shot while Casey’s never got started. The cut was 142 (E) as 76 pros and one amateur, Clemson’s Doc Redman (E), will play the entire weekend. People’s Choice: Matt Kuchar The 2014 champ had it to low as eight-under-par but a late double bogey knocked him back to T13. He matched yesterday’s bogey total (1) but was forced to grind out his round (70). After leading the field in SG: Tee to Green in Round 1 he was 93rd in Round 2. He’ll begin Saturday four shots behind leader Bryson DeChambeau who is 10-under. Halfway Leader DeChambeau’s first event as a professional was here in 2016 after collected the award for low amateur at the Masters. He promptly introduced himself to skeptical gamers as he collected T4 during windy, blustery conditions. Investors this week will happily be reminded that the weather isn’t going to get any better this weekend as the wind picks up and the chance for severe storms is prevalent. His numbers across the board suggests all parts of his game are firing and it’s time to get him off the bench and into the lineup. Morning Show Ian Poulter posted one of the two rounds of 64 in the late-early groups to jump 18 spots to T2. Poulter is the last winner on TOUR, non-major edition, and matched his second round score at the Golf Club of Houston that propelled him to his first title since 2012. His bogey-free round featured a perfect 5-for-5 scrambling and holing over 106 feet of putts. He’s never missed a weekend at this event in eight tries and should be one of the favorites entering the weekend. He has never had a problem wearing tartan! Afternoon Edition Moving up the List was Luke as his bogey-free 64 was one of the best of the early-late wave. After struggling with his short game Thursday he was perfect on Friday plus he started holing putts. This is the third year in a row he’s posted 68 or lower on Friday but just the second time he’s played the weekend. His worst finish in his last seven stroke play events is T26. He sits on eight-under and T4, moving up 30 spots. 3 Up Satoshi Kodaira, chosen by exactly one of you in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO set the low round of the week with 63. After opening with 73 he made four birdies on each side and didn’t drop a shot. This is his first round in the 60’s in six TOUR events in 2018. … Si Woo Kim continues to confound me yet make a case for season-long set-it-at-forget-it selection. I can’t figure out which weeks he’s going to fire and his 65 today WITH A TRIPLE BOGEY isn’t helping clear anything up. Oh, and he’s T2 heading into the weekend! … Speaking of confounding, Brandt Snedeker also posted 64 in the morning to move up 30 spots to T4. This is the same Snedeker who closed with 78 at Valspar in the final group, opened with 77 the next week at Bay Hill and MDF in Houston with 77 on Saturday. I’m not sold yet. 3 Down, but Not Out If you’re wondering how the scoring was on Friday, Dustin Johnson fired his second consecutive 69 and dropped six spots to T26. He’s only six shots behind and his investors will point out that he only made on bogey in Round 2. … Patrick Cantlay cracked the top 10 at No. 10 in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done game presented by SERVPRO. His opening round 67 was followed by 72 and a drop of 27 spots to T33. He’s seven back and hardly out of it. … First round leader Rory Sabbatini ran the lead out to 10-under before playing the final eight holes of his round in three-over. His birdie on the last moved him to T4 and will make dinner taste much better. He made 121 feet of putts in Round 1 and 35 feet in Round 2. MC HOF: God Save the Queen Edition Paul Casey’s rebound weekend at Augusta came to a crashing halt after 75-71. The world’s No. 13 player’s streak of TWENTY NINE events with a pay check ends. … The No. 18 player in the OWGR ranking Tyrell Hatton hit 25 of 36 GIR but took 66 putts to get down. His 75-71 matched Casey’s. … No. 38 Ross Fisher rebounded from 77 to 67 but missed out by two shots. … Perennial Harbour Town All Star Luke Donald was one better than Fisher (76-67) and yet still one short of the line. He was a massive disappointment in every format. Study Hall Friday’s scoring average was 70.031 versus 71.742 in Round 1. With both waves playing one shot easier than Thursday, I’d suggest the set-up helped. With windier conditions on the weekend, we’ll see if they keep it easier … Si Woo Kim leads the field with 14 birdies after 36 holes. … Chris Couch WD before making the turn on Friday… Gamers riding a heat check on Marc Leishman after his first two rounds at Augusta will be disappointed to see him miss the weekend by a shot. … Emiliano Grillo’s streak of cuts made extends another weekend after his 66 Friday.

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Las Vegas already is famous as a spot where success and failure is measured and felt in an instant, but the pace at which it’s experienced isn’t limited to the indoors of casinos. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live | The First Look America’s Playground also boasts the Las Vegas Motor Speedway just outside the sprawl northeast of town, but even there the fastest vehicles seen may not be on the 1.5-mile track when the fighter jets are practicing at nearby Nellis Air Force Base. And there’s yet another racetrack in town, metaphorically speaking, of course. It’s TPC Summerlin, host of this week’s Shriners Children’s Open. As the easiest par 71 on the PGA TOUR, each of the 144 entrants should expect to hit the ground, uh, running. Whoever crosses the finish line better than the rest will be the 40th champion in tournament history. POWER RANKINGS: SHRINERS CHILDREN’S OPEN J.T. Poston, Si Woo Kim, Cam Davis, Alex Noren and Justin Suh will be among the notables reviewed in Draws and Fades. It’s not a surprise that Sungjae Im doesn’t win every time he plays, but it might have been a surprise if he went his entire career without winning at TPC Summerlin, as he did a year ago. Known largely as one of the busiest among the best, Im also has been among the most frequent in signing lots of scorecards with lots of red numbers. So, while a contemporary or seven can stride into this week’s host course with confidence that it will reward the kind of practice that should yield low scores, Im is the kind of guy who has been there and done that time and again. Relatively speaking, he already was a target before his title. Still, a pair of 2-under 69s resulted in a trunk slam last year – or, given where we are in our history, a slowly lowered liftgate after a button on the fob has been depressed – but that’s not uncommon when the weather cooperates, which it will again this week. The retractable roof is closed. Sunshine will dominate the scene with daytime highs flirting with and touching 90 degrees. What wind flaps the flags will be a non-factor. It’s a simple formula and one with which the recent graduates of the Korn Ferry Tour are familiar: Pile up the scoring opportunities and pour in the putts. If any isn’t targeting 20-under at the conclusion of four rounds, he’s doing it wrong. Last year’s field average in similar conditions was 68.926 (or 2.074 strokes under par) and that was a three-year high. In addition to scoring, Im led in greens in regulation (62) and scrambling. That combination usually is unbeatable provided chances are converted, but he did that, too, ranking fifth in putting: birdies-or-better. He also paced in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and par-4 scoring, but he did everything well all week. Everyone who has pegged it on the 7,255-yard layout before likely will notice that all fairways and greens have been replaced with new grass. It’s a significant change/improvement since last year’s edition, but the turf was exposed to a hot summer in 2022, and recovery efforts are ongoing. As a result, the bentgrass greens are not expected to roll further than 11 feet on the Stimpmeter. (The customary maximum is 11½ feet.) However, the thickest of primary bermuda rough continues to be mowed at 2½ inches. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws & Fades WEDNESDAY: Pick ’Em Preview SUNDAY: Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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