Phil not talking PGA Tour status before LIV debut

Click here to read the full article…

John Mallinger, Jack Maguire and Derek Barron shot 66 on Monday to share medalist honors in the qualifier for the Farmers Insurance Open. Tyler Torano grabbed the fourth and final spot in this week’s PGA TOUR event with a 5-under 67 at El Camino Country Club in Oceanside, California. Mallinger, 38, will be making his first PGA TOUR start since withdrawing from the second round of the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in October 2015. The Long Beach State alum has two runners-up and seven third-place finishes in 186 career PGA TOUR starts. He lost a playoff to Bo Van Pelt at the 2009 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee and finished two shots behind Mark Wilson at the 2012 CareerBuilder Challenge. He twice finished third at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (2007, ’08) and was third at the 2009 PLAYERS Championship. He finished in the top 70 in the FedExCup standings in three consecutive seasons (2007-09). Mallinger played with Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers at last year’s BMW Charity Pro-Am on the Web.com Tour. The native of nearby Escondido, California, had surgery on his left shoulder in 2013 and played the 2013-14 season on a medical extension. He was unable to regain his status, and has made just two PGA TOUR starts since 2014. Last year, he made the cut in just one of eight starts on the Web.com Tour. Maguire, 23, made the cut at the 2015 U.S. Open (T58) as an amateur and played the past two seasons on the Web.com Tour. He has conditional status on that circuit after finishing 93rd on the money list. He also finished T42 at last year’s U.S. Open, his best finish in four career PGA TOUR starts. Barron, 32, made his only previous PGA TOUR start at last year’s U.S. Open, missing the cut with rounds of 70-83. He finished 38th on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada’s money list last season, posting two top-10 finishes in nine starts. Tyler Torano, 26, is an alumnus of Loyola Marymount and was born in nearby Chula Vista. He will be making his PGA TOUR debut. He has made 24 starts on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica over the past two years, posting one top-10 and missing 16 cuts. Sony Open in Hawaii qualifiers T67. John Oda, 68-70-69-71 T69. Steve Allan, 68-70-72-69 MC. Ricky Barnes, 72-69 MC. Gunn Yang, 74-71 2017-18 Monday qualifiers Qualifiers: 24 Made cut: 9 Top-10s: 1 (Scott Strohmeyer, T4 at Sanderson Farms) Top-25s: 1

Click here to read the full article…

ORLANDO, Fla. – Rory McIlroy clearly has a sense of history when he plays at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard. In true Palmer like fashion McIlroy produced a couple of blitzes in his third round Saturday to walk off Bay Hill with a share of the lead. It comes a year after he birdied eight of his last 13 holes on Sunday to win the event. McIlroy’s 6-under 66 moved him to eight under for the week, good enough for top spot as the overnight leaders made the turn. The former FedExCup champion started the day seven shots back of Tommy Fleetwood and Keegan Bradley but shot out of the blocks like a rocket with four birdies in his opening six holes. While a bogey at the par-4 8th slowed his run McIlroy reinvigorated his title defense with three closing birdies in the final four holes. “Just what I needed,â€� McIlroy said of his round. “It’s really tough out there, difficult conditions, I definitely noticed a change in the golf course the last few holes, so with the leaders having to play another nine or 10 holes out there it’s going to be interesting to see where 8-under ends up at the end of the day. “I was more in control of my golf ball today, I hit more fairways, and because of that I gave myself more birdie chances and I converted a few of them. So I did everything I needed to do today to get myself back in the golf tournament and excited to have another chance tomorrow.â€� McIlroy came into the week with four top-5 finishes in his last four starts but hasn’t won since a year ago.

Click here to read the full article…