PGA Tour supports legalized gambling

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OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – News and notes from the third round of THE NORTHERN TRUST, with Jordan Spieth leading Dustin Johnson by three shots after a 6-under 64. Click here for more from Glen Oaks. SPIETH FLIPS THE SWITCH If Jordan Spieth wins Sunday, part of the credit will be a missed 12-foot birdie putt he had in the middle of his second round Friday. Spieth said the missed putt on the ninth green flipped the switch on understanding the speed of Glen Oaks’ greens. He turned to caddie Michael Greller and said, “I just haven’t hit them hard enough on this front nine. I just need to dial in the speed.� Since then, Spieth has played 27 holes. He’s made 14 birdies. He’s gone from 1 under and on the fringes of contention to now being the leader at 12 under and primed for his 12th PGA TOUR win. Making the proper speed adjustment, Spieth made five straight birdies in that second round, starting with an 11-footer on the 10th hole. “From there,� he said, “I started to fill it up.� He continued his hot putting Saturday, with four birdies on the front and four more on the back. So far, he’s made nearly 327 feet of putts in the first three rounds (only Kevin Tway and D.A. Points have made more). After the first round, Spieth ranked 99th in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. Now he ranks seventh. We should be used to this flip-the-switch ability on the greens from Spieth. It happened at The Open Championship in the final round. It’s not necessarily the way Spieth wants to approach things. He’d much rather have a hot putter for 72 holes. He told Greller as much before Saturday’s round. “I wish I was a lot more neutral with my putting,� Spieth said. “But the fact that I’m able to flip that switch mentally … is advantageous. It’s certainly an advantage I feel I have, that I can do. “But you know, I need to hold steady. I’ve still missed some putts inside of five (feet) this week, quite a few of them, and on afternoon poa annua, it’s likely to happen again.� For now, though, the switch is in the “on� position. If it stays that way Sunday, everybody else is playing for second. REMEMBER EAST LAKE Last year, Kevin Chappell led the TOUR Championship by two shots with two holes to play. But he suffered a bogey at the 17th hole, dropped into a three-man playoff and eventually saw Rory McIlroy win the tournament – and the FedExCup title. Chappell clearly hasn’t forgotten. He calls it unfinished business. “I want to put myself in the exact same situation I was in 350 days ago on the 71st tee on Sunday and we’ll see what happens,� Chappell said. He entered this week 30th in FedExCup points, which makes him the bubble boy for East Lake. Thanks to a 6-under 64 – matching Jordan Spieth for low round of the day – Chappell is tied for eighth at 5 under and leaving no doubt that he wants a shot at redemption. If he keeps playing well, he also may get his first opportunity to represent the U.S. since turning pro. Chappell is projected to move to 10th in Presidents Cup points. If he stays there after next week’s Dell Technologies Championship, he would earn one of the automatic berths for Team USA at Liberty National. For now, his focus is on the FedExCup Playoffs. “Team events are always a result of achieving your individual goals,� Chappell said. “… It’s sort of icing on the cake. If you look at it that way, I’ve never had the icing on the cake, so I look forward to that.� CALL OF THE DAY JUST MOVE CLOSER Paul Casey was with his swing coach Peter Kostis on the range Saturday morning. “You’re standing too far away from the golf ball,� Kostis said. Responded Casey: “After I hit it or before I hit it?� That might have prompted a chuckle, but the simple fix was an effective one. Casey moved an inch closer to the ball, steepened his shoulder plane, and struck it solid for 18 holes. He missed just three fairways and four greens, returning with a 4-under 66 that leaves him tied for third at 7 under. “Wonderful stuff,� Casey said. “… I’ve clearly got two guys ahead of me who are tough. But I’m in a great position. So I’d like to go out there tomorrow and tear it up and maybe do something better than I did today and we’ll see what happens.� QUOTE OF THE DAY Let’s be honest here. I’d rather have a three-shot lead. But it’s not that bad coming from three shots back, either, because that can change in one hole. ODDS AND ENDS Keegan Bradley said he played Glen Oaks a handful of times during his college days at St. John’s. “But I played it before they took all the trees down,� he said. “I don’t really remember many of the holes.� Still, he looks quite comfortable here, shooting a bogey-free 4-under 66 that left him in solo seventh at 6 under … Don’t expect a lot of fireworks from the leaders on the front nine Sunday. Most of the scoring holes are on the back. Tony Finau is 3 over on the front and 4 under on the back. “To me, the three hardest holes on the course are 1, 4 and 8. They all have length. The first hole is ridiculous. That’s just a par 5. If you make a 4 there, you feel like it’s a birdie.� Spieth is 2 under on the front and 10 under on the back. “It’s a difficult nine for somebody to go 4- or 5-under on, no matter how hot they get,� Spieth said of the front. “Then you get to a bunch of wedge holes and you can start really controlling your score from there.� … Tough day for Rickie Fowler, who was one of the 36-hole co-leaders but started with five bogeys in his first six holes. He eventually shot 74 to fall to 2 under and into a tie for 22nd. … Just 20 attempts have been made to drive the green at the short par-4 11th, which played to 297 yards Sunday. Finau has made three of those attempts and is surprised more of the longer hitters haven’t gone for it. But he understands why. “It has nothing to do with distance,� he said. “A lot of guys can get there. If anything, if you roll through the green and into that back bunker, that’s not a good spot.� Said Chappell: “It’s probably not the most enticing drivable hole we’ve seen on TOUR.�  

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JACKSON, Miss. – Sometimes you get the best results when you least expect it. That was certainly the case for Andrew Landry during Thursday’s opening round of the Sanderson Farms Championship. Battling allergies and an achy shoulder, Landry started the round with low expectations – and then proceeded to light the course on fire, making birdies on the first four holes, and then holing out for eagle from 113 yards on the next to reach 6 under par after five holes. He cooled off after that, and finished with a 6-under 66, good for a spot atop the very crowded leaderboard with Ryan Armour, Conrad Shindler, J.J. Spaun, and Wyndham Clark. And if you had asked Landry what he expected before he teed off, well, he probably didn’t expect to see his name that high up. “Honestly, I wasn’t feeling that up to par going into the day, with my whole golf game and the way I’m feeling,â€� he said. “I’ve been sick the last week. … I’ve been blowing snot out and just nasty stuff.â€� To add to that, he said, “I slept on my shoulder wrong and didn’t really get to practice the last two days. It’s been kind of hurting.â€� So, distractions can help the golf game? “It actually does,â€� said Landry, smiling. “Kind of gets your mind off it, where you don’t have any expectations and you can go out and free up and play golf.â€� Landry’s remarkable opening nine (he started on the back) began with a 6-iron to 4 feet for birdie on the par-3 10th, and ended with a chip-in birdie on No. 18. His back-nine score of 29 included two hole-outs and just nine putts. “It’s fun doing that,â€� he said. “Hitting shots like that and making putts. You just go black out, and it gets really fun.â€� He made two bogeys on his inward nine, but capped the day with a birdie on his final hole, No. 9. Landry, 30, has two Web.com Tour victories but is chasing his first PGA TOUR win. He nearly became an overnight sensation during the 2016 U.S. Open, when he shot the lowest-ever first-day U.S. Open round at historic Oakmont, 66, and then played his way into the final pairing on Sunday. He faltered that day, shooting 78, but that week told him he belonged on this kind of stage. “It’s just a belief system, knowing that you can come out here and play golf and have fun doing something you love,â€� Landry said. “Just believing in yourself. That’s the biggest part of this whole entire job, believing yourself that you can do it and sticking to your game.â€� OBSERVATIONS Spaun’s 66 included seven birdies and several long par putts. All told, he made 103 feet of putts, including 77 feet worth on his inward nine. Armour’s 66 was his best first-round score since he shot 67 on Day 1 of last year’s Sanderson Farms Championship. He’s obviously hoping for a better second round this year – last year he shot 77 on Friday and missed the cut. Local favorite Jonathan Randolph held a share of the early first-round lead– for about 10 minutes. Randolph, who grew up in the Jackson area and considers CCJ his home course, birdied Nos. 13 and 14 to get to 6 under par and a share of the lead in the morning wave, but he then bogeyed 15 and made double-bogey at No. 16. He finished with a 3-under 69. The double on the par-4 16th came after he dumped his second shot from the right rough into water left and short of the green. “I’ve played that hole 100 times, and I knew as soon as I hit it,â€� Randolph said of his water ball. “I told my caddie, ‘You can’t do stupid stuff like that and win this golf tournament.’â€� The last two champions of this event, Cody Gribble (2016) and Peter Manalti (2015), were in the same threesome – and posted decidedly different results. While Gribble struggled to hit fairways and shot 3-over 75, Manalti made seven birdies to shoot 5-under 67 and stand one shot off the lead. NOTABLES WYNDHAM CLARK – A recent University of Oregon grad who is in this week’s field on a sponsor’s exemption, birdied five straight holes (Nos. 11-15) on the way to his 66. He also had an eagle on No. 3. This is his sixth PGA TOUR event, but he does not have status on the PGA TOUR or Web.com Tour. Does he feel pressure to play his way in? “My first few starts, I felt pressure to play well and earn my status that way, but, honestly, this event is to get me ready for Q School, which is next week. If I happen to play great, that’s awesome, and I don’t need to get to Q School.â€� DAVID HEARN – His 68 included birdie putts of 42, 12, 28, and 18 feet. All told, he made 157 feet of putts – tops in the field on Day 1. DRU LOVE – He shot 1-under 71, which was one better than his father, Ryder Cup captain and 21-time PGA TOUR winner Davis Love III. This is the sixth TOUR event they have played in together, and Thursday marked the first time son’s score has bested father’s in the same round. QUOTABLES “I’m just a medium hitter, but I drive the ball awesome. I truly believe I hit driver as the best club in my bag. I like to hit it every hole. There’s holes you can’t hit it, and that’s OK, but whenever I have the opportunity to hit driver I hit it.â€� – First-round co-leader Andrew Landry   “The greens are so pure right now, like marble floors, so if you’ve got good lines and good speed, good things are going to happen.â€� – First-round co-leader Conrad Shindler, whose round included a 25-foot eagle putt on No. 3   “It’s always important, I mean, disregarding the weather. But I saw that stuff. It’s coming. To get off to a good start can only help.â€� – First-round co-leader Ryan Armour, on the importance of a good start in Thursday’s sunshine, with cold and wind forecast for the weekend SUPERLATIVES Low Round: 66, by Ryan Armour, Andrew Landry, J.J. Spaun, Conrad Shindler, and Wyndham Clark. Longest Drive: 381 yards, by Brandon Hagy, on No. 6. Longest Putt: Talor Gooch (71) drained a 51-foot, 6-inch birdie putt on No. 16, for one of just five birdies made there Thursday. Toughest Hole: The par-4, 453-yard 16th hole played to an average of 4.356 and yielded just five birdies. Ten of the 32 double-bogeys posted on Thursday came at 16. Easiest Hole: The par-5, 554-yard third hole played to an average of 4.447. There were three eagles made there, and more than half the field (71 players) made birdie there. CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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