Shubhankar Sharma accepts Masters Tournament invitation

McIlroy ‘struggling’ with sore back, to get MRI

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ORLANDO, Fla. - Jason Day stood along the right edge of the fairway on the benign par-5 16th hole at Bay Hill Club and Lodge, peering skyward through giant binoculars, looking like an expert birdwatcher looking for Florida's rare black-whiskered vireo. Instead, Day was searching for his Bridgestone golf ball, which he'd driven right, high into a tree, with the ball never returning to earth on Day 2 of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. With the help of binoculars borrowed from a spotter, a television camera and a digital camera, Day finally was able to locate and identify his ball (he did so through its Bridgestone ‘B XS' sidestamp) that had settled in a bird nest well up in the tree. RELATED: Full leaderboard Having identified the ball, Day was able to declare his ball unplayable, and not required to go back to the tee to hit another ball. The rule states a golfer does not have to physically recover the ball, and Day was able to drop two club lengths from the base of the tree, taking a one-shot penalty. An interpretation of Rule 19.2 states that if a player's ball is above the ground (such as in a tree, or a bush), the player may take lateral relief using the point on the ground below the spot of the ball. Day laid up short of the water that fronts the green, missed the green just right with his fourth shot, and took three shots to get down from the collar. Double-bogey. Not the result he had been thinking about standing on the tee of the course's easiest hole at 4 under par minutes earlier. "I think the mama bird is going to come back and find another egg there," Day said. "So it's unfortunate, but it is what it is." Day would make another double at 18 from a greenside bunker ("That was more of a gut punch than 16," he said), but fought back to make three birdies on the front nine (his second nine) and shoot level-par 72. The 2016 API champion, who early in his career lived only five minutes from the gates at Bay Hill, stands at 2-under 142 heading to the weekend. Eight years ago, also at Bay Hill, Sergio Garcia had a ball get stuck about 15 feet into the "V" of a tree right of the par-4 10th hole. To the cheers of a gallery, he climbed up the tree and played a backwards shot onto the green. He, too, made double, but after a rain delay, had to withdraw with six holes to play in his round because he had strained his shoulder. Day wasn't heading up a tree to play this one. Asked if he'd ever had a ball get stuck in a tree before, Day said he hadn't. "It's just like one of these trees here," Day said, pointing to a thinned-out tree near the practice tee, "so there's nothing for it to hold up, other than a nest. So it's unfortunate ... but I'm glad we found it in the end." Saturday, the binoculars returned, Day will get back to hunting birdies and eagles.

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Summertime rolls along and it’s back to birdies this week as the PGA TOUR returns to TPC Twin Cities for the second edition of the 3M Open. Nothing like another dose of temperatures in the 90s this week but at least the sweat equity will result in low scores in the suburb of Blaine, Minnesota. Matthew Wolff is back and will defend his maiden TOUR victory as he leads a field of 156 looking to grab their share of the $6.4 million purse ($1.152 winner) and add 500 FedExCup points to the ledger. The 20-year old broke onto the scene last year and pummeled the Par-71, 7,431 yards to the tune of 21-under in just his third start as a professional. The cherry on-top was his off-the-green putt for eagle on the final hole to secure the trophy. In the inaugural event the top 12 players were 16-under and the top 52 were all 10-under or better. There was a round of 62 (-9) posted in all four rounds and 44 bogey-free rounds. The course scoring average of 69.46 for the week suggests all comers are welcome. The 6,500 square foot Bentgrass greens will provide the largest targets yet since the restart. Prepped to run upwards of 13 feet on the Stimpmeter, those who hit it closest will have an easier time navigating. Although 72 bunkers and 27 water hazards sounds daunting, we’ve seen if the weather cooperates (read: no wind) these guys just fly right by and over. Only three inches or so of Bluegrass/fescue rough is on the menu this week so I’d expect another shootout again this time around. Tom Lehman and Steve Wenzloff have tuned up the prairie links at TPC Twin Cities after last year’s mid-summer feast. Check Rob Bolton’s Power Rankings linked below for the specific changes. RELATED: Power Rankings | Sleepers | Expert Picks 2019 3M Open: Top 25 (entered this week) 1 Matthew Wolff 5 Wyndham Clark 5 Carlos Ortiz 7 Sam Burns 7 Lucas Glover 7 Brian Harman 7 Troy Merritt 13 Fabian Gomez 15 Scott Brown 15 Scott Piercy 15 Roger Sloan 15 Shawn Stefani 23 Brice Garnett 23 Denny McCarthy 23 Tom Hoge 23 Arjun Atwal 23 Tony Finau 23 Charles Howell III 23 Johnson Wagner Recent Winner 2019: Matthew Wolff (-21) Eagle on the final hole to win as a sponsor’s exemption. … Fired 62 on Sunday to tie the 54-hole lead. … Led the field Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, second Strokes-Gained: Approach, third in Putting: Birdie or Better Percentage and co-led the field in Par-4 scoring. … Seven bogeys (T25) were cancelled out by 26 birdies and the final stroke for eagle. … Led the field in Par Breakers. … Only T62 scrambling. … Won NCAA individual title weeks before. Notables: Club “62” playing this week: Piercy (Round 1) and Glover (Round 4). … Brown and Burns led the field in Par-5 scoring (-10). … Wolff (-12) and Glover (-10) were the best two in Par-4 scoring. … Brooks Koepka 65th. … 85 players made the cut on 3-under. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. Greens in Regulation 4 Aaron Wise 5 Emiliano Grillo 7 Russell Henley 8 Will Gordon 10 Kyle Stanley 11 Harris English 15 Paul Casey 17 Josh Teater 18 Doc Redman 19 George McNeill 21 Matthew NeSmith 23 Cameron Percy 26 Brice Garnett Proximity 2 Johnson Wagner 5 Doc Redman 7 Jonathan Byrd 9 Vaughn Taylor 9 Tim Wilkinson 11 Russell Henley 13 Seamus Power 14 Emiliano Grillo 18 Chesson Hadley 18 Michael Gellerman 20 Robert Castro 20 Brian Harman 20 Ben Taylor 23 Jason Dufner 24 Ben Martin 24 Josh Teater Putting: Birdie or Better Percentage 3 Dominic Bozzelli 8 Seamus Power 13 Kristoffer Ventura 15 Tony Finau 16 Dustin Johnson 17 Bronson Burgoon 20 Charley Hoffman 24 Wyndham Clark 25 Chesson Hadley Rounds in the 60s 3 Harry Higgs 3 Lanto Griffin 3 Doc Redman 6 Carlos Ortiz 6 Patrick Rodgers 6 Henrik Norlander 15 Brian Harman 20 Adam Long 22 Kyoung-Hoon Lee 22 Talor Gooch 30 Adam Schenk 30 Tony Finau 30 Bubba Watson 30 Matthew NeSmith 30 Scott Stallings 30 Sebastian Munoz 37 Lucas Glover 37 Cameron Tringale 37 Harris English

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