Play Yellow welcomes Peter Malnati as Brand Ambassador

ORLANDO – What happened to Graeme McDowell? This is a question that McDowell, 39, has gone to great lengths to try to answer, and is still trying to answer in real time. Mr. Everything in 2010, when he won the U.S. Open, the decisive point for Europe in the Ryder Cup, and two events on the European Tour, he has accrued just one top-10 finish in his last 47 PGA TOUR starts. His T10 at the 2017 Shriners Hospitals for Children seems like a long time ago, and a highlight unworthy of his talent. “I think people would look at me the last four or five years and say that I’ve got caught up in other things and lost my focus on what I’m doing,â€� McDowell told the PGA TOUR recently. “Is that true or false? Did I get married and have children? Yeah. Did that take my focus off what I was doing? Maybe.â€� And yet here is McDowell again, trying to dig himself out, as he put it after carding a 4-under 68 in the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. He was T3 after the first round, his best start since the 2015 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational (now WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational), when he shot 66 and went on to finish T17. McDowell is scheduled to tee off Friday at 1:19 p.m. ET. It’s been a busy week so far. D.A. Points and Francesco Molinari each aced the par-3 seventh hole. There were 94 balls hit in the water in round one, the most of any round at Bay Hill since 2003. Phil Mickelson tried to hit a right-handed shot through a mesh fence, and failed. Still, the longest accounting of this Arnold Palmer Invitational was McDowell’s two-plus-page transcript after the first round. The recipient of the 2014 ASAP Sports/Jim Murray Award for accommodating the media, he’s always been one of the game’s great talkers. “Interesting to see a lot of Europeans playing well here,â€� he said, presciently. He was talking about Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello, who fired an opening 65, but, in a way, also predicting the second-round surge of England’s Tommy Fleetwood (66, 9-under total), who shot into the lead. “It’s a real fairway-and-green golf course,â€� McDowell added. “The rough’s very penal this week, and the greens are very firm.â€� Every course has seemed penal for McDowell of late, and true to form, he has owned up to it, for he is not only verbose, he is candid. (Somewhere there’s a television career out there with his name on it.) Thursday brought more gems from G-Mac, who has lived at nearby Lake Nona since shortly after his runner-up at the 2005 API. He laughed about a complication of sleeping in your own bed during a tournament: trying to get the kids to go to sleep. “It’s literally just life,â€� he said of his slow fade over last five years or so. “Life. Life just got in the way. Mostly the family stuff, and I don’t think I ever sat back and rested on my laurels and thought I was — I just, my practice changed. The time that I was giving to the game changed and I was less effective in what I was doing. It snuck up on me. “It sort of happened before I realize it had happened,â€� he added. How many golfers are that self-reflective? How many athletes? How many people? Still, there are all sorts of reasons to be excited if you’re McDowell, who is playing out of the 125-150 category from last season’s FedExCup. He’s twice finished runner-up at Bay Hill, including 2012, when he shot a 9-under 63 in the second round and earned a final-round pairing with Tiger Woods. (McDowell finished second to Woods, five back.) And he’s playing better than his results indicate at 117th in the FedExCup and 259th in the world. Also, the U.S. Open will return to Pebble Beach, site of his 2010 victory. (He’s already in the field thanks to his 10-year exemption.) And The Open Championship will be held near his boyhood home at Royal Portrush, Northern Ireland. He’s not in that field, but could earn a spot as the API is now part of the Open Qualifying Series; the top three finishers in the top 10 not otherwise qualified will earn spots in the field. McDowell only found this out Tuesday. He doesn’t want to obsess, so he’s trying not to think about it. “It’s hard to do because I want it really badly,â€� he said. “I want to be back up there competing with these guys and I do feel like I have some good stuff in me. But I’ve had to ask myself some pretty hard questions the last couple years. Thankfully, I’ve came to the conclusion that if it was all gone, I would miss it. So, you know what, let’s try and enjoy it while it’s here. “It’s an opportunity,â€� he added. “It’s not an opportunity to beat my head against the wall, it’s an opportunity to try and dig myself out of a hole and look at that challenge as something to be enjoyed, and it’s going to be very rewarding when I do get out of it.â€�

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SAN DIEGO – Justin Rose needed a fresh start. After missing four short putts in his first six holes – and watching his three-shot lead dwindle to a single stroke – Rose drew a line. It was a metaphorical line in the sand, but he drew it in his scorecard. It was time to start over. “I said, ‘All right, we build the round from this moment on,’â€� he said. He did. Rose birdied three of the next four holes, then grinded through Torrey Pines’ difficult back nine to secure a two-shot win in the Farmers Insurance Open. Torrey Pines is Tiger’s territory, but Rose supplanted him in the tournament’s record book. Rose’s 21-under 267 (63-66-69-69) was the lowest score at the Farmers Insurance Open since the South Course was toughened up in the early 2000s. He was two shots lower than Woods’ winning total in 2008. The reigning FedExCup champion is now sixth in the standings after winning his third start of the season. This was Rose’s 10th PGA TOUR win, the most by an Englishman since World War II. Three of Rose’s wins have come since the start of last season. It’s been an incredibly consistent run that culminated with a win in last season’s FedExCup. He’s finished in the top 10 in 13 of his last 21 TOUR starts, including eight top-3 finishes. He’s missed just one cut. And it was another victory at a tough test. Torrey Pines was softened by last week’s rain, but the rough was lush. Rose’s has won at storied venues like Merion, Colonial, Muirfield Village, Aronimink and Congressional. MUST READS: Round 4, Farmers Insurance Open Tiger planning schedule, hopes to peak for PLAYERS Championship Adam Scott’s recent putter switch propels him to best finish since 2016 Gooch continues strong form, gets second straight top-10 finish “I always pride myself on the golf courses I’ve been able to win on and this one is another very great golf course with a lot of history,â€� Rose said. “I love winning on great tests of golf and this one will give some special feelings because of that.â€� Rose also joined Woods as the only player to convert a 54-hole lead at this event over the last decade. Nine of the last 10 leaders entering Sunday had lost the tournament. He was in danger of joining them after his tough start Sunday. The way Rose won – by battling back after his lead was in jeopardy – showed a side of the Englishman that is often overshadowed by his genteel nature. “He has a nasty streak in him, for sure,â€� said Rory McIlroy. “Justin is, he’s a grinder. He’s learned the hard way, with the way he started his career (by missing his first 21 cuts). “I don’t think there’s many mentally stronger people in the world of golf than Justin Rose just because of what he’s been through and coming out the other end of it.â€� Rose started Sunday’s round with consecutive misses from 8 feet, then missed a 7-footer for par at the fifth hole and three-putted the par-5 sixth hole. Jon Rahm was just one stroke behind him. “I never lost the lead so I had to stay patient,â€� Rose said. “Definitely there were times in my career where I’ve had decent sized leads and you start to throw it away a little bit and you panic.  I just knew I couldn’t do that today. I stayed calm, I stayed with it.â€� Walking off the sixth green, Rose told himself to play like the man that he is: the unanimous No. 1 player in the world. Not only is he the reigning FedExCup champion, but he sits atop the world ranking. “I just said, “You’re No. 1 in the world for a reason, just start playing like it, please,’â€� Rose said. It started with a 138-yard approach to 5 feet on the seventh hole. He gave an understated fist pump when that putt fell. Then he got up-and-down from a bunker on the par-5 ninth. He hit a 150-yard approach to 8 feet on the 10th hole to take a four-shot lead with eight holes remaining. Then he had to grind. He parred two of the South Course’s hardest holes, Nos. 11 and 12, after hitting long-irons within 30 feet. His caddie, Gareth Lord, called Rose’s 4-iron on 11 his best shot of the day. Lord is filling in for Rose’s longtime caddie, Mark Fulcher, as he recovers from heart surgery. “His iron shots, the way he takes yardage off. That was a holding 4-iron. If he hits it normal, he’s going to go through the back. If he hits 5-iron, we’re 35, 40 feet short,â€� Lord said. “He said, ‘I’ve got that shot.’ And to pull it off the way he did, he’s pretty good under pressure.â€� Then he had to lean on his short game to maintain his advantage. Rose finished second in greens hit this week, but he had to save par after missing three in a row. He deftly executed a touchy chip on the par-5 13th, made a sand save on 14 and holed a 9-footer for par on the next hole. He made a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th, then finished with a birdie after wedging close. This was Rose’s first PGA TOUR win in January, and erased questions about his recent switch to Honma equipment. This was just his second start with the new clubs. “Everything has worked out better than I would have hoped,â€� he said.

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PARAMUS, N.J. – Dustin Johnson does have a pulse. We checked. You might not know it such is the swagger and demeanor of the FedExCup leader – always appearing cool and calm. Nothing much phases him. Not even a snap hooked drive that ultimately sees him write a dreaded snowman on his card. He just laughed it off. It was his ninth hole of the day and on the same hole playing partner Brooks Koepka made eagle – producing a five-shot swing between the pair. Nine holes later they both signed for a 4-under 67, just one shot behind the early leaders. Three birdies on his closing nine holes, including a near ace on the par-3 6th that cruelly lipped out, has Johnson projected to maintain his place on top of the FedExCup standings. It is a spot he wants to keep. “I’m fired up all the time. I just don’t let you guys see it. You’ll never know,â€� Johnson jokes. “But obviously I’ve got a lot of fire running inside of me and there’s a lot of things I want to do that I haven’t done. So, yeah, that keeps pushing me. “Winning the FedExCup is definitely a big accomplishment. It’s something that I really would like to win. To be the FedExCup champion means obviously you played really well in the Playoffs but you also had a great year, too.â€� Johnson entered the Playoffs with a slim 83-point lead over Justin Thomas. Thomas shot 2-under 69 in the same group. “83 points in the Playoffs is not a big lead. So I’m going to have to play well if I want to keep the lead the next three events,â€� Johnson added. Usually a pretty reliable driver of the ball, Johnson hit just six of 14 fairways on Thursday. “Today was an unusual day for me. I haven’t had the driver go this crooked in a long time. It had nothing to do with the driver. It was the drivee,â€� Johnson added. “But I figured it out, and it doesn’t matter. I can figure out a way to get around the golf course like I did today, even though I didn’t have my best stuff. My iron play was good. My wedges were good. I can still figure out how to hit those close to the hole, and I did. And once we had made the turn, I think I hit most of the fairways when I was finishing.â€� KEVIN TWAY KEEPS IT IN THE FAIRWAY Kevin Tway (5-under 66) stands to make a leap from 85th in the FedExCup if he keeps this up, but all anyone wanted to talk about after his round was what his father would have said about it. Eight-time PGA TOUR winner Bob Tway has followed his son’s progress at tournaments like the John Deere Classic this summer, but he’s not in New Jersey, so Kevin could only smile and hazard a guess.   “I think he’d like that I hit 10 fairways,â€� Kevin said. “I remember him watching (the Wyndham Championship) last week. One round, I wasn’t hitting any fairways, and my mom said he was on the bed cussing, like, ‘Just hit the fairway! It’s not that hard!’â€� Kevin Tway, who made nearly 100 feet of putts Thursday, is asked wherever he goes about his relationship with his father, who made more than 680 TOUR starts and saw his career plateau with his win at the 1986 PGA Championship at Inverness. “He knows my game probably better than anyone,â€� Kevin said of his dad, “so we talk just about every day. I always have him right here on my shoulder. He’s almost like a caddie out here for me. I’m always, ‘What would you do here?’ Stuff like that. We talk about it a lot. What he felt in certain situations, how he went about winning golf tournaments. I pick his brain a lot. He played at the highest level for 30 years; that’s a good tool to have.â€� Kevin’s opening round didn’t come out of nowhere. He’s had a productive summer, including a T11 at the Wyndham Championship, T9 at the AT&T Byron Nelson, T5 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, and T6 at the Travelers Championship. He also shot 63 at the inaugural Morgan Hoffmann Foundation Celebrity Pro-Am at nearby Arcola Country Club on Monday. Although his playing partners were on him to break the course record, Tway said he didn’t care what he shot. “That’s sometimes easier,â€� he said. “It’s always harder to do it when it really matters.â€� So far, so good at THE NORTHERN TRUST. OBSERVATIONS HIDEKI ROLE REVERSAL … A year ago Hideki Matsuyama opened the FedExCup Playoffs as the number one seed after three wins before producing a dismal post-season effort. The Japanese star could only muster a MC-T23-T47-T26 Playoff run ultimately dropping him to eighth in the standings. But this season he’s hoping for a role reversal. Without a victory Matsuyama entered THE NORTHERN TRUST in 76th place on the standings. After an opening 4-under 67 at Ridgewood Country Club he has a chance to make amends this season. “I’m trying my best. I’m trying to get better every day, and hopefully the Playoffs will be good to me this year,â€� Matsuyama said. “I’ve been working hard and I’m seeing some improvements in my game, and hopefully that will carry on through the Playoffs and I can do a little better.â€� WOODS PGA FORM DOESN’T TRAVEL … The last time we saw Tiger Woods he was putting serious heat on Brooks Koepka down the stretch at the PGA Championship. But his opening round at THE NORTHERN TRUST failed to elicit any of the huge roars and excitement we saw at Bellerive. Woods posted a solid even-par 71, five shots back of the morning wave lead. “Just didn’t have the situations where I had the full club and I could go ahead and take a rip at it and start being aggressive and going after these flags,â€� he said. “I kept having to play a little defensive because I was taking more club, trying to shape it and take spin off. One of those days.â€� NOTABLES JAMIE LOVEMARK – Opening round 66 holds a share of the morning wave lead. VAUGHN TAYLOR – Looking to be a bubble buster after his early 66 has him projected to Boston. TOMMY FLEETWOOD – Englishman chasing a big win in the USA opens with a 67. BROOKS KOEPKA – The U.S. Open and PGA Championship winner continued his hot form with a solid 67. JUSTIN THOMAS – FedExCup No. 2 opens with a 2-under 69. BRANDT SNEDEKER – Last week’s winner and Mr. 59 didn’t make the first tee … forced to withdraw with back spasms. Click here for more. QUOTABLES We’ve seen guys come from 125. If you’re in the Playoffs you have a good chance to get to East Lake. Just got to be in it to win it. I just hit a God-awful shot. I haven’t hooked a driver in a long time.I’ve not actually talked to him about it. I’d love to knock him off, and I’m sure he’d love to keep me where I’m at.

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