Pick ‘Em Preview: TOUR Championship

CROMWELL, Conn. – Rory McIlroy is fighting a cold. You can understand why. After carding a final-round 69 to finish T5 at the U.S. Open, he flew home to South Florida to see his wife, Erica, and their daughter, Poppy. He slept in his own bed, flew back to Connecticut, attended a five-hour meeting Tuesday – he’s one of four player directors on the PGA TOUR policy board – and played in the Travelers Championship’s Wednesday pro-am in the rain. And after all of that, he shot an 8-under 62 Thursday to take the early first-round lead. “Energy levels are OK,” McIlroy said after his eight-birdie, no-bogey round, which was one better than fellow morning-wave finishers Martin Laird and Xander Schauffele. “I’m feeling a little under the weather, but it’s just concentration at this point. “I’ve got three more rounds left until I have a couple of weeks off and prepare for the Open Championship,” he continued. “I’m going to put everything into those three rounds.” It’s been a busy stretch for McIlroy, who is teeing it up for the fourth week in a row. He won the RBC Canadian Open for his 21st TOUR title two weeks ago, and was in contention until the bitter end at the U.S. Open at The Country Club, where he had hoped to break a dry spell in the majors that dates back to 2014. Despite falling short in Boston, he’s playing well and is up to second in the Official World Golf Ranking. He and Erica have been laughing about how they’re losing their voices; they think Poppy brought something home from daycare. Unlike the weekend at the U.S. Open, and pro-am day at the Travelers, McIlroy found much more agreeable conditions for the opening round at TPC River Highlands. In partly-cloudy skies and warm temperatures, he and the others in his group, Webb Simpson (64) and Kevin Kisner (67), took advantage of a course softened by rain. “We had a great group,” said Simpson, who also didn’t make any bogeys. “Rory played great, Kevin played great. We kind of fed off each other. I think the holes started looking bigger and bigger to us. A lot of putts were made.” In three previous Travelers starts, McIlroy, who leads the TOUR in scoring average (68.657), has never finished in the top 10. The two-time FedExCup champion, No. 3 in the current standings, couldn’t ask for a better start to rectify that. “It’s like U.S. Open rehab coming here,” he said. “You’re like, oh, I can actually make some birdies. This is nice.” Three more solid rounds and his 22nd TOUR title would be even nicer, but it’s early. In his fourth straight week of competition, nursing a cold, McIlroy is taking it one birdie at a time.

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LAS VEGAS – J.J. Spaun isn’t, and doesn’t want to be, a rookie anymore. The 27-year-old has just begun his second season on the PGA TOUR and as such expects a whole new level of performance. Spaun had a respectable rookie season in 2016-17 finishing 97th in the FedExCup to retain his playing privileges. But he says the three top-10s from last season is not enough, and is aggressively pursuing his first victory. With a 66-65 opening to the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin he has opened a three-shot gap at the top and intends to keep the foot down. “I’ve had a year’s experience now on the TOUR, and this year it’s kind of just taking my game to the next level instead of just kind of being someone that lingers around the cut or top 20s,â€� he said. “It’s time to step up if I want to do something big out here on TOUR and make a name for myself.â€� Spaun said he fell into the trap of some of the negative associations of being a rookie last season. The little things like tee times and scheduling were getting under his skin more than they should have. But he’s thrown away the excuses now. “You need to kind of grow up. You’re not a baby, you’re not a rookie anymore,â€� he stressed. “You feel like – when you’re a rookie – everything is kind of stacked against you. But now it’s time to actually go to work and put yourself in contention and try to get W’s out here.â€� While not officially the 36-hole leader yet as play was suspended late due to darkness Spaun will almost certainly hold the position. The 36-hole leader/co-leader has gone on to win six of the last 10 Shriners Hospitals for Children Opens.  OBSERVATIONS Robert Garrigus felt like he almost couldn’t miss on the greens as he carded eight birdies on Friday. With just a lone double bogey trying to derail his day Garrigus shot an impressive 65 to move to 7-under for the tournament. The stats backed up his thoughts on the greens as he gained 4.811 strokes on the field putting in the second round to be ranked first in the field. “All in all it was one of the great days –  eight birdies in the wind, made a lot of good putts, hit everything where I was looking today with the putter, and that doesn’t happen very often, so I’m going to cherish this one,â€� he said. Darkness once again halted play before the full round could be completed with 28 players left to finish round two on Saturday morning. As such a cut hasn’t been made. The projected cutline stands at +1 with 80 players currently inside the mark. Those on the bubble include defending champion Rod Pampling and major winners Geoff Ogilvy, Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson. The wind was again a factor although it didn’t pick up quite as much as expected in the afternoon at TPC Summerlin. Even so the morning wave played the par-71 course in a 71.99 average while the unfinished afternoon wave was at 72.98 Aaron Baddeley put on a scrambling masterclass in the wind, getting up and down 9/9 times. The four-time PGA TOUR winner put up a second round 66 to give himself a chance at win number five. He sat five off the lead and in a tie for fourth when play was suspended. “The forecast for tomorrow is going to be super windy so it’s going to be a real patience day,â€� he said.â€� Just sort of picking up a bunch of pars and making some birdies. If we can do that on the weekend, we’ll be in a good spot on Sunday.â€� Kelly Kraft is the lone player who can, albeit unlikely, take away the 36-hole lead from J.J. Spaun. The former U.S. Amateur winner sits 4-under on his round through 15 holes and at 8-under overall to be second alone. His round included an ace on the 5th hole. First round leader Whee Kim battled to a 1-over 72 on Friday but remains in contention in a tie for 6th, six shots off the pace. There were two hole-in-ones on Friday. After just three aces in the first five tournaments of the season Kelly Kraft aced the par-3 5th hole with a 6-iron from 174 yards and Brice Garnett performed the feat on the par-3 14th hole with an 8-iron from 164 yards. The last player to make a hole-in-one on the PGA TOUR and go on to win was Dustin Johnson at the 2015 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship QUOTABLES “I always listened to Freddie (Couples) when he told me, when it’s breezy, swing easy. I do have the best job in the world, for me. This is all I can do. Playing golf for a living is a blessing, and the family loves me, so everything is good.â€� – Robert Garrigus after a 65 moved him to 3rd place. “I got a new putter this week. The Ping Ancer. It’s beautiful. I’ve done some string drills on the putting green, which really sort of helped me get the ball started on the right line. Just sort of through that, I let my body adjust and it’s feeling good.â€� – Aaron Baddeley after sitting fourth in Strokes Gained: Putting through his two rounds. He is five shots off the lead in a tie for 4th place. “Once you kind of see a wheel fall off, you can kind of start seeing all the wheels fall off. I kind of did that a little bit last week, but it was a couple of bad breaks. This week I didn’t want that to happen.â€� – J.J. Spaun after he backed up his lone bogey on Friday with two tap in birdies.  SUPERLATIVES Low Round: J.J. Spaun (1st), Robert Garrigus (3rd) and Chesson Hadley (T16) led the way Friday with rounds of 65. Spaun had 7 birdies and a lone bogey, Garrigus had eight birdies and a double bogey while Hadley notched up 7 birdies and an eagle but had three bogeys. Longest Drive: Bubba Watson gave the crowd what they wanted to see with a 393-yard blast off the 9th tee. Longest Putt: South African Rory Sabbatini drained the longest putt of the second round with a 67-foot bomb for birdie on the 10th hole. Sadly it won’t help him make the weekend after a 77. Toughest Hole: For the second day running the par-4 3rd hole played the toughest, yielding just 10 birdies and a 4.303 stroke average. Easiest Hole: The par-5 9th once again proved the place to make your move with 2 eagles and 64 birdies helping it to a 4.592 stroke average. 

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One thing in particular unites International team

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