Pick ‘Em Preview: World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba

CROMWELL, Conn. — Rory McIlroy fought off a sinus bug to shoot an 8-under 62 on Thursday for a share of the first-round lead with J.T. Poston in the Travelers Championship. Coming off a fifth-place tie Sunday in the U.S. Open after winning the Canadian Open the previous week, the second-ranked McIlroy had a bogey-free morning round — highlighted by a 47-foot birdie putt on the par-4 seventh. McIlroy matched the lowest opening round of his PGA TOUR career. He finished with a tap-in birdie on the ninth hole after a 332-yard drive and 44-foot chip just past the pin. “It’s like U.S. Open rehab coming here,” the four-time major champion said. “I like coming here the week after the U.S. Open, it sort of gives you an opportunity to shoot low scores and get after it.” Poston had five straight birdies on Nos. 13-17 and made the turn at 6-under 29, giving rise to thoughts of Jim Furyk’s record 58 on the same TPC River Highlands course in 2016. Poston parred the first six holes on front nine and birdied Nos. 7 and 9 to cap a bogey-free round. “I gave myself a few looks, but kind of made a bunch of pars to start the front, so that was kind of out of the picture after a little while,” said Poston, the 2019 Wyndham Championship winner. “I might have thought about it a little more if I had made a couple of early birdies.” Xander Schauffele and Martin Laird were a stroke back. Schauffele hit all 18 greens in regulation for the first time in his career, despite showing up late at the practice range because he thought his 7:35 a.m. tee time was at 7:50. “That was a pretty big rookie move on my behalf,” the Olympic champion said. “But when I’m at home, I’ll show up for an 8 o’clock tee time at 7:55, maybe hit two putts and then start swinging. So, take advantage of the youth, I guess.” Patrick Cantlay, Charles Howell III and Webb Simpson, who played alongside McIlroy, were two shots back at 64. “We kind of fed off each other,” Simpson said about McIlroy. “The holes started looking bigger and bigger. A lot of putts were made.” Rain on Wednesday left the greens soft in the morning. They hardened later in the day and the wind picked up after lunch, leading to some higher scores. “I thought the conditions in the afternoon were a lot tougher,” Cantlay said. “It was blowing as soon as I got on the first tee. Watching a little bit of the coverage this morning, I knew it was much different this afternoon than the low scores those guys put up this morning.” Harris English, who won last year on the eighth hole of a playoff, opened with a 66. Top-ranked mastes champion Scottie Scheffler had a 68. Jordan Spieth, who holed a shot out of a greenside bunker on 18 to win here in 2018, had one of the tougher afternoons. He made a double bogey on 12, hitting his tee shot out-of-bounds near the Connecticut River. The three-time major winner sat cross-legged in the fairway as he attempted to regroup and then birdied two of his next three holes. But his tee shot at 16 found the water and he finished with a 75.

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CITY OF INDUSTRY, California - Kamaiu Johnson, one of the APGA Tour's biggest stars, birdied the 18th hole Wednesday to clinch the APGA Tour Championship, outlasting former PGA TOUR regular Brad Adamonis in the circuit's regular-season finale. Johnson had six birdies in shooting a second consecutive 4-under 68, ensuring the win with a 5-footer on 18 after hitting the par-5 green in two with a 5-wood from 236 yards out of the rough. His 8-under 136 at Pacific Palms Resort in City of Industry, California, was two strokes better than Adamonis and Tim O'Neal, another APGA Tour star who won two tournaments during the 2020 season. O'Neal clinched the season-long Lexus Cup Point Standings title with his second-place finish, pocketing the top prize of $17,500 from the $35,000 bonus pool purse. The Savannah, Georgia, pro won the APGA Tour at Farmers Insurance Open in January on Torrey Pines North and triumphed again in July, winning the APGA Tour at Dubsdread in Orlando. Johnson won $16,000 on Wednesday — $10,000 for winning the tournament and $6,000 for finishing second to O'Neal in the Lexus Cup Point Standings. "I went back to basics," said Johnson, the Tallahassee, Florida, native now residing in Orlando. "I worked with my coach (John Montgomery of Orlando) and came away with so much confidence. This win is bigger than me. This has been a growth year for the APGA Tour and for me with my Farmers Insurance sponsorship. The APGA Tour has done a great job with the schedule since the restart to give us this opportunity." The APGA Tour finished its regular season with six tournaments in 10 weeks after being sidelined along with all other professional sports by the global pandemic. The full 2020 schedule will comprise a record 10 events with a record $250,000 in prize money awarded. The tournaments were played without spectators under social distancing and health/safety guidelines in conjunction with regional authorities. Willie Mack of Grand Rapids, Michigan, took fourth place with a 5-under 139. Landon Lyons of Baton Rouge, winner of the previous two APGA events, was one stroke back in fifth. Kevin Hall of Cincinnati, Ohio, finished sixth with a 3-under 141. The APGA Tour became a prominent sports story on Aug. 24 when Charles Howell III pledged financial and mentoring support of the tour and its players as part of an initiative unveiled in an article by Adam Schupak of Golfweek/USA Today. Dubbed #CharlesHowell4APGATour, the program has Howell donating $50 for every birdie and $100 for every eagle that he scores in PGA TOUR competition. The three-time PGA TOUR winner is hoping to inspire others to join him in support of the APGA Tour. Howell's commitment includes playing rounds with APGA Tour players and providing informal mentoring as they pursue their goal of careers in professional golf. The Charles Howell news was also covered by Doug Ferguson of Sports Betting News. PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan discussed APGA Tour CEO Ken Bentley and the PGA TOUR/APGA Tour partnership in his pre-tournament press conference at this week’s TOUR Championship. The season began on a high note in Southern California in January when the Farmers Insurance Open hosted an APGA tournament during the annual PGA TOUR stop at Torrey Pines in San Diego. The Farmers Insurance Open included APGA Tour players and officials in all onsite activities and media operations throughout the week. The 27-hole APGA Tour at the Farmers Insurance Open competition, organized in collaboration with the PGA TOUR, Farmers and The Century Club of San Diego, took place on Torrey Pines’ North Course while the best players in the world were competing in the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open on the South Course. The exposure resulted in major print, digital and TV media coverage about the 11-year-old tour's mission of bringing diversity to the highest levels of professional golf in conjunction with the PGA TOUR, Farmers Insurance, Lexus and other supporting organizations. Tony Finau, Harold Varner and Joseph Bramlett are among the players who competed on the APGA Tour enroute to careers on the PGA TOUR. The APGA Tour season concludes in October with the APGA Tour Salute to African American Golfers in Los Angeles. The double-tournament includes a seniors competition on Oct. 11-12 and the Lexus Cup Invitational on Oct. 11-13, featuring the top 26 players in the Lexus Cup Point Standings plus four amateurs.

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Padraig Harrington gets it. He understands that the 2018 Ryder Cup is both trivial and also fundamental for European golf; a rich combination of the absurd and the significant.

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