Quick look at THE NORTHERN TRUST

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Play Yellow, a program benefitting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals), announced today its newest brand ambassador Peter Malnati, winner on the PGA TOUR of the 2016 Sanderson Farms Championship. Peter and his family join Jack and Barbara Nicklaus and fellow TOUR professionals in support of Play Yellow and its mission to bring the entire golf world together to help the 10 million kids treated at local CMN Hospitals each year. Peter explains, “My wife and I have had the wonderful opportunity to visit Children’s of Mississippi and interact with the patients many times. I’m thrilled to be able to support the hospital here, and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals more broadly as a Play Yellow ambassador. CMN Hospitals treat more than 10 million children each year, and the Play Yellow initiative supports every one of them. To be even a small part of such a powerful mission is a great honor for us.” Since 2013, the Sanderson Farms Championship has raised more than $9.1 million that has gone towards the Children’s of Mississippi capital campaign. Last November, Children’s of Mississippi celebrated the grand opening of the Kathy and Joe Sanderson Tower (joining the existing Batson Tower), an expansion with top-of-the-line equipment that will help to treat more than 180,000 sick children each year. The Sanderson Farms Championship raises money for Mississippi’s only children’s hospital, Children’s of Mississippi. Last year, the Championship raised $1.45 million – the most money raised in the history of the tournament. “We are proud to have Peter Malnati and his family join Play Yellow,” says Chad Phillips, SVP, Play Yellow. “Peter will be a force for good for the golf community that supports Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. We are excited to have his passion and drive to change kids’ health to change the future.” Launched in 2019 alongside Jack and Barbara Nicklaus and CMN Hospitals, Play Yellow strives to bring the entire golf world together and raise the critical funds needed by CMN Hospitals and the patients they serve. Like most nonprofits, children’s hospitals rely on donations. More kids need the specialized care that children’s hospitals provide than can afford it, creating a significant funding gap that donations help close allowing CMN Hospitals to put necessary dollars toward advancing and improving research, care, and treatments. Play Yellow brings golfers together for a good cause. Play Yellow was inspired by a family friend of Jack and Barbara Nicklaus named Craig Smith who was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma as a young teenager. As Craig battled cancer, Jack and Barbara looked to support him and his family. One way was for Jack to wear a shirt in Craig’s favorite color, yellow, which Craig said brought Jack luck from week to week. Over the years, Jack could be seen wearing yellow on tournament Sundays and major championship Sundays. Who can forget Sunday of the 1986 Masters Tournament when Jack wore a yellow shirt to honor Craig and went on to win his record sixth Green Jacket? Years later, Play Yellow was born. CMN Hospitals has raised more than $7 billion in unrestricted funds for 170 children’s hospitals across the United States and Canada. Changing kids’ health through children’s hospitals isn’t just about helping those in critical situations — it’s also about the research, preventative care, health and safety education that help build healthier communities. By improving medical treatments, equipment and facilities, children’s hospitals can not only address the most challenging health issues of our day, but also prevent and prepare for those to come. When we change kids’ health, we change the future — for all of us. About Play Yellow Play Yellow, a program benefitting Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, launched alongside Jack and Barbara Nicklaus, brings together the golf community to help the 10 million kids treated at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals every year. Inspired by Jack’s family friend Craig, who was diagnosed with childhood cancer, and his lucky color yellow, Play Yellow engages golfers in raising critical funds for children’s hospitals. Through special events like Family Golf Day, local tournaments, corporate partners, and Play Yellow Sundays on the PGA TOUR, Play Yellow helps change kids’ health and change the future. For more information, visit playyellow.org and follow on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. About Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® raises funds for 170 children’s hospitals that support the health of 10 million kids each year across the U.S. and Canada. Donations go to local hospitals to fund critical life-saving treatments and healthcare services, along with innovative research, vital pediatric medical equipment, child life services that put kids’ and families’ minds at ease during difficult hospital stays and financial assistance for families who could not otherwise afford these health services. When we improve the health of all children and allow them the opportunity to reach their full potential, we also improve our communities for years to come. Together, we can change kids’ health. Together, we can change the future. To learn about Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and your local children’s hospital, visit cmnhospitals.org.

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NAPA, Calif. – After a lengthy off-season – hey, it was 48 hours for some players! — the 2017-18 PGA TOUR season started Thursday at the Safeway Open. Here’s a roundup of the key developments at Silverado: LEADERS BRENDAN STEELE (7 under) – In 11 of his last 13 rounds at Silverado, Steele has shot scores under par. He’s 42 under in that stretch, with a win last year and two other top-25s. On Thursday, he shot a 65 and did not miss a single green in regulation. He admitted that when he comes to a course he’s comfortable at, such as this week or at TPC Scottsdale or TPC San Antonio – two other courses he generally plays well at — his expectation level is higher. “When you get there, you get a little bounce in your step because you feel like it’s going to be a good week,â€� Steele said after Thursday’s round that included one eagle and five birdies. “… For some reason, I’ve just always had a good understanding of this course.â€� TYLER DUNCAN (7 under) – Duncan’s caddie is veteran Mike Mollet, who knows a thing or two about Silverado. Silverado was once the home course of Mollet’s high school when he played there as a freshman and sophomore many years ago. Duncan, a Web.com Tour grad, had not seen this course before this week, so he leaned on his caddie for some insight. “Yeah, he’s still got a little bit of knowledge,â€� Duncan said. “We did a lot of good work in the practice rounds and he remembered some things. So I think we have a pretty good idea what’s going on up there.â€� TOM HOGE (7 under) – In Monday’s final round of the Web.com Tour Championship, Hoge made seven birdies in his final 12 holes to finish T-12. It was just enough to gain his TOUR card for this season; of the top 50 grads, he ranked 47th. “Probably one swing away from not even being here,â€� Hoge said. On Thursday, he capitalized on the opportunity while riding the momentum of his hot finish. In fact, he made seven birdies on his last 13 holes, eerily similar to Monday. “I knew I was playing well, swinging well,â€� Hoge said. “Nice to get out there today and get off to a good start.â€� OBSERVATIONS PHIL OFF THE TEE. Phil Mickelson hit just 2 of 14 fairways – only one player, Carl Pettersson, had less accuracy off the tee Thursday — yet he managed to shoot a 3-under 69. Mickelson said he got a little jumpy on his tee shots, a little quick from the top, and that impacted his rhythm. “It got my body out in front and so my timing was off and I missed most of them to the left.â€� After his round, he was anxious to get some range work in to correct the problem. If he gets his driver straightened out, he could be a factor on Sunday. “You’re not going to hit a lot of fairways here because the fairways are pinched in so much that the numbers are going to be skewed for the entire field,â€� he said. “But I’ve got to drive it better than I did.â€� ZACH’S FIRST LOOK. Six weeks ago at THE NORTHERN TRUST, Zach Johnson played a course (Glen Oaks) he had never seen before and needed 38 putts in his first round. “I felt clueless,â€� he said. This week, he’s playing Silverado for the first time and shot a 4-under 68 with 30 putts while hitting 16 of 18 greens in regulation. “This one, I feel much more acquainted with,â€� Johnson said. “I feel like if I’m on, I can do some good work here.â€� BIG-HITTING TRIO. One of the most intriguing groups to watch in the first two rounds is this trio of big hitters – former PGA TOUR driving distance leader John Daly, former Long Drive champion Jamie Sadlowski and current Texas A&M senior Cameron Champ, who led the U.S. Open in driving distance halfway through this year’s tournament at Erin Hills. Their driving distance averages on Thursday: Sadlowski, 315.4 yards; Champ 304 yards; Daly 280.2 yards. “Jamie obviously hits it farther than both of us,â€� Champ said, “so I’m not even gonna try (to stay with him).â€� None of the three broke par. GOTTA PLAY NAPA. Emiliano Grillo played in last week’s Presidents Cup for the International Team, and he’s scheduled to play in at least the first two events in Asian in the next two weeks. It’s a heavy schedule, but the 2015 Safeway Open winner wasn’t about to skip Silverado. So he’s here this week and opened with a 5-under 67. “It was a tough decision,â€� Grillo said. “It was either going to play four, five in a row or skip Napa. I was like, ‘You know what, I’m still young, I’m 25, so I’m going to go and do the five in a row and try and do my best here.â€� GLOVER’S GOAL. Making the Ryder Cup team a few years ago wasn’t a realistic aspiration for Lucas Glover, who had fallen to 634th in the world in early January of 2015. But he entered this week ranked 92nd and coming off his best season in six years. It’s now a goal. “Never made one,â€� Glover said after his 5-under 67. “I want to make one. That goal wasn’t in the mirror a couple years back the way I was playing, but the year I had last year, I gained some confidence. So I think if I improve a little bit in certain areas, I can give it a run.â€� NOTABLES SANGMOON BAE – In his first TOUR appearance after his mandatory two-year military service in his native Korea, he shot a 1-over 73 that include a birdie on his opening hole. (Click here for more on Bae) MAVERICK McNEALY – In his first round as a pro golfer, the former world amateur No. 1 from Stanford shot a 4-under 68, finishing with birdies on three of his last four holes. XINJUN ZHANG – The Web.com grad from China was 5 under through 14 holes, but suffered a double bogey and a bogey on consecutive holes. He ended with a birdie to shoot 3 under. SEAMUS POWER – The last player among the Web.com Tour’s 50 graduates who had to sweat out his position on Monday, Power shot a 2-under 70, with three birdies on his final five holes. QUOTABLES “Outside the ropes, everything’s bigger; there’s more people. But inside the ropes, it’s still golf.â€� – Tyler Duncan, making his first PGA TOUR start as a member “I think there’s something to the start of the season with everybody being back to zero, it’s kind of a fresh start – which, whether you played good or bad last year, it’s kind of nice.â€� – Defending champion Brendan Steele “I grew up on greens way worse than this at times. So yeah, nothing like a little afternoon poa to get you going.â€� — California native Jamie Lovemark, discussing the poa annua greens after his 5-under 67 CALL OF THE DAY SUPERLATIVES Low round: 7-under 65s by Brendan Steele, Tom Hoge and Tyler Duncan Longest drive: Martin Laird, 385 yards at hole No. 5 Longest putt: Emiliano Grillo, 46 feet, 6 inches at hole No. 16 Toughest hole: The 203-yard second hole, which played to a stroke average of 3.264. SHOT OF THE DAY

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LAS VEGAS — When you get a free roll in Las Vegas, you take it. So it perhaps aptly comes to pass that Jordan Spieth feels like he’s “free-rollingâ€� it as he looks to kick start his season at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. The former FedExCup champion is coming off the first season of his career where he failed to make the TOUR Championship, being edged out by one spot thanks in the main part to his first winless season since 2014. Put bluntly, it was a very non-Spieth-like season. We’ve become accustomed to him winning. He’s done it 11 times on TOUR since his breakout rookie season in 2013 when he was a winner as a baby-faced 19-year-old. Even in 2014 — when he didn’t claim a TOUR title — he did win in the fall. It just happened to be at the Australian Open and then the Hero World Challenge. Most players who could point to a 31st place finish in the FedExCup as their worst in six seasons would be smiling. But with Spieth we expect more. And that external expectation used to grate on him a little. He was turning on sports commentary shows and seeing a heavy reliance on comparison talk. Comparing a player or team from now to before. Comparing one athlete to another. He has since come to realize that getting caught up in the, “what have you done for me lately,â€� crowd was not helping his psyche. “With the improved access that any person has via social media to an athlete, if you fall into that comparison talk it only hurts you,â€� Spieth explained as he prepares to make the first domestic fall start of his PGA TOUR career.  
“Using comparisons is unrealistic, especially in a sport like golf where you have so much that can happen so quickly. Seems like the questions I’ll get are people getting very caught up in a what have you done for me lately and your last tournament perspective. I’ll be honest, for a little while that kind of stuff got to me.â€� So has this now 25-year old matured past that now? Trying to force a win when you don’t have your best game is not going to work out. So rather than be overly frustrated with last season, he is trying to see the long-term benefits. He addressed some mechanical issues in his game — some he would talk about, others he will keep to himself. “It was a building year. I look back at last year as something that I think will be beneficial for me in the long run,â€� he said. “I really believe that. I know that’s an easy thing to say looking at kind of the positive in a negative, but there were tangible, mechanical things that I needed to address, and I was able to throughout the season. I feel like I’m free rolling this year.
 “Just having an elongated perspective, more patient view of things, helps free me up personally.â€� One of those tangible things was his putting. The guy who seemed to make everything with the putter all of a sudden wasn’t making everything. We saw nine misses from three feet. Nine. In the three full seasons prior to that, he missed just six of them combined. It left him ranked 136th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting — unfathomable for a guy who ranked second in 2016 and inside the top 40 from 2014 through 2017. “It’s physical. It really is,â€� Spieth said. “It’s a discomfort in setup that takes away from commitment through the stroke. If you’re not committed through the stroke you’re not going to make putts. It doesn’t matter what range they are. “It was every single length I missed more than I did the previous years combined. So you just fix it into the more committed stroke and clears up everything.â€� The truth is his work on the greens was looking up in the back half of the season. While in nine of his first 11 measured tournaments last year he lost strokes to the field putting, seven of his last eight were in the positive — including ranking second at the PGA Championship. “When I’m kind of back into the same positioning, the same look, the same timing, same stroke feel that I’ve had for the last five, ten years, minus a bit last season, then my confidence is probably as high as anybody’s on the greens,â€� he said. “Certainly not ideal … last year’s putting stats. But necessary for elongated peak performance going forward.
 “It was nice to sit back and kind of go through the checks and balances and fix what needs to be fixed.â€�
 But the focus has not been solely on the putter. Spieth has put a huge asterisk on his driving accuracy, and feels just a slight improvement could bear plenty of fruit. He was ranked 54th last season in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and 98th in driving accuracy at 61.29 percent. His mark of 67.8 percent accuracy in 2013 remains his career best. “My rookie season I think was my best statistical driving season,â€� Spieth said. “I think I ranked in the top 15 in strokes gained off the tee (he was 7th). I hit it five yards further now yet have not sniffed a top 15 in that category. So that’s a goal. “That’s something that I’m certainly focused on, is trying to hit more fairways. If I can get to 65 percent in my fairways I move up to the top 15 in strokes gained, and the rest of my game will come around to play from those positions and have a chance to win golf tournaments.â€�

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