Reed Masters win no surprise, nor McIlroy’s putting meltdown

NASSAU, Bahamas — In his first trip to the Hero World Challenge, it didn’t take Jon Rahm long to figure out how to score. Being aggressive starts with keeping the ball in play. And with five par 5s and a pair of reachable par 4s at Albany Golf Club, plenty of birdies should be available. That was the case Friday, when Rahm made birdies on half of his holes for a 9-under 63 to share the lead with Henrik Stenson, who had a 66. “I hit it so solid off the tee, I was always in the fairway with a short club in,” Rahm said. “I think the best way to describe it, having five par 5s and two relatively short par 4s, out of those seven holes I got six birdies. So I capitalized on the easier holes today. Didn’t seem like much could go wrong.” Only the end went wrong for tournament host Tiger Woods, and it could have been worse. Woods was 5 under for his round and trying to stay in the thick of his holiday event when he drove into a palm bush on the 18th hole. He dropped to one knee to pop the ball back to the grass, came up just short of the green, chipped weakly and made double bogey for a 69. But questions arose about this shot out of the bush. After extensive video review, it was determined he hit the ball more than once. However, because of an 18-month-old rules decision that limits the use of video evidence, Woods was spared the additional penalty because he didn’t think he made contact twice and it couldn’t be determined by the naked eye, only the use of high resolution TV played in super slow motion. “Looking at in the regular speed on a high definition television, you couldn’t tell that at all,” said Mark Russell, the PGA TOUR’s vice president of rules and competition. “But when slowed it down to ultra-slow motion, high definition television, you could see where the club did stay on the clubface quite a bit of time, and it looked like he might have hit it twice. But there’s no way he could tell that.” Even so, Woods remained eight shots behind in his first 72-hole event since ending his remarkable comeback year with a victory in the TOUR Championship. He was tied for 14th, along with Patrick Reed, who shot 40 on the front nine on his way to a 77. Patrick Cantlay, who shared the 18-hole lead with Reed, had a 70 and was one shot out of the lead along with Dustin Johnson, who had a 67 in a tropical spot where he loves to vacation but rarely contends. Johnson had a pair of sloppy bogeys early on the nine — one didn’t bother him too much when 3-year-old son Tatum came out to greet him — and recovered nicely on the back nine with four straight birdies to get in the mix. Tony Finau had a 64 and was two shots behind. Stenson nearly rallied from a seven-shot deficit in 2016, only to finish toward the bottom of the pack last year. He has had enough rest for the tendon in his left elbow to quit bothering him on the golf course, and he gets another crack at winning this weekend. “I’ll try and make it to the finish line,” Stenson said. “I haven’t played a lot of golf, though. Since the Ryder Cup, I had an injury problem, I was out for five weeks. So I guess I should be a little bit fresher than some of my colleagues who call me from Hong Kong or somewhere else at this point. I’m feeling all right. We just keep on going, try to make as many birdies as we can.” Everyone was under par going into the weekend, with Jason Day bringing up the rear at 1-under 143. It’s a testament to the good scoring conditions, with all but two players under par in the second round — Reed and Bubba Watson, who had a 73. Woods was hopeful of much better considering how he struck the ball, though he missed plenty of chances. “I didn’t really figure out my putter well today, missed quite a few short ones,” Woods said. “I hit the ball close — close enough to really have a shot of a low number today — just didn’t do it.” Rahm figured out the secret to that. He hit it so well off the tee but he had no choice but to stay aggressive and attack flags, and there’s no reason to stop now in his final event of the year with five players separated by just two shots. “On days like today, I just didn’t really think about my swing,” he said. “It was like a well-oiled machine.”

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Phil Mickelson became the oldest major champion ever by winning the PGA Championship, a victory that offered one lasting glimpse at his golfing greatness.

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ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – It was past 8 p.m. as Rory McIlroy made the eastward turn toward St. Andrews’ final hole, walking out of the shadows cast by the Old Course Hotel and toward an expanse of grass bathed in the golden light of a summer’s dusk. He’d just made an unlikely birdie on the Old Course’s most penal hole, the one that forces players to overcome both a blind tee shot lined with O.B. and an approach shot over a sand-filled pit. Playing so late into the evening is a unique aspect of The Open, and McIlroy has had some memorable moments among the overserved Open galleries following him on a Friday night. Three years ago, his countrymen tried to cheer him to the weekend in the Open’s return to Northern Ireland, a tournament whose significance extended far beyond golf. The outpouring of love from a country where he hadn’t resided for years nearly brought him to tears. Similar roars could be heard Friday in St. Andrews. They chanted McIlroy’s name and stomped their feet in the grandstands behind the 17th green after he made his 25-foot birdie putt. McIlroy was in contention this time, though, just three shots off the lead. It’s hard to not get romantic during times like these, as the setting sun performed alchemy on these ancient stone buildings, turning them from grey to gold. The grandstands couldn’t fit all the interested observers who wanted to see him finish his round. They packed the road that runs down the right side of the 18th hole, watched from rooftop balconies and open windows. McIlroy couldn’t author the perfect finish for the partisan crowd, making par on the pedestrian finishing hole, but he still has two more rounds to author a story befitting golf’s spiritual home. Five hours earlier, McIlroy had doffed his cap in a show of respect directed at Tiger Woods as Woods walked down St. Andrews’ finishing hole for what may be the final time. Only Augusta National has played a role in Woods’ career that can rival the importance of St. Andrews to his legacy. He won twice here by a combined 13 shots, completing the career Grand Slam with his 2000 victory. Woods calls St. Andrews his favorite course in the world. Players compete for myriad reasons, but only a select few have the privilege of playing for legacy. They compete with the knowledge that their accomplishments will be remembered for generations, serving as inspiration and worthy of enshrinement. Players must win multiple majors and dozens of TOUR titles to be a member of this class. Only Woods, when his body allows him to play, competes with a greater awareness of his lasting impact than McIlroy. And so it would be fitting if McIlroy, two days after showing deference to the greatest player in this year’s Open, were to walk down St. Andrews’ 18th hole to a similar reception. “You could feel the warmth and you could feel the people from both sides,” Woods said. Friday’s raucous roars would simply serve as an appetizer for the reception that McIlroy would receive with a win Sunday, following the footsteps of European legends like Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo in crossing the Swilcan Bridge en route to lifting the Claret Jug. Bobby Jones said that a player must win at St. Andrews to truly be considered great. There’s a bit of hyperbole to that statement. Players get so few opportunities to play an Open at St. Andrews that many of the best players in the game’s history lack that line item in their otherwise gilded resumes. Greatness is McIlroy’s lone concern at this point in his career. At 33, he’s already a Hall of Famer. Majors are the only metric by which his career will be judged. He has four, but it’s been eight years since his last one. He still has time to win more than any other European. Faldo holds the modern record with six, while Harry Vardon won seven before World War I. After shooting 66-68 this week, McIlroy will start the second half of The 150th Open in third place, three shots behind leader Cameron Smith (67-64) and one back of TOUR rookie Cameron Young (64-69). McIlroy is tied with Viktor Hovland and they’re one ahead of Dustin Johnson. Scottie Scheffler, the man who sits atop the world ranking and FedExCup standings, lurks at 8 under. Earlier this week, McIlroy said the Old Course is playing “fiddly.” Scores may be low, and rounds long, because the modern game may be more than the Old Course can handle but it has put up an admirable fight and produced a hearty list of contenders because it only allows players who can produce a variety of shots to succeed. McIlroy said he isn’t concerned with the names who stand atop major leaderboards, even if they are THE PLAYERS champion, a two-time major winner, the world No. 1 or some of the game’s rising stars. “You just look at where you are on the leaderboard,” McIlroy said. “It doesn’t matter what name is beside the 13 under.” That may be true for McIlroy, who is in the heat of competition, but the quality of this leaderboard is fitting for a course and tournament that is so important to the game’s history. Woods’ walk down 18 on Friday will be remembered for years if it is indeed the close of his career at St. Andrews. McIlroy’s same steps on Sunday may be memorable, as well. Legacies are made at St. Andrews.

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