Streb nearly holes out in a playoff to win at Sea Island

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Matt Fitzpatrick will happily trade a planned off-season break for a place in the FedExCup Playoffs. The young Englishman had scheduled a nice mini off-season for himself in the coming weeks, but after a 6-under 64 on Friday at the World Golf Championships – FedEx St. Jude Invitational, he might have to readjust. Fitzpatrick moved to 9 under for the tournament at the halfway stage, good enough for a two-shot lead over Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith and Billy Horschel. As a special temporary member on the PGA TOUR, the 24-year-old is not eligible for the FedExCup Playoffs unless he wins a regular season event. He’s just 36 holes away from that possibility. “I was looking forward to some time off. But if I were to make the Playoffs, then that would obviously be brilliant,â€� Fitzpatrick said. “The goal at the start of the season was to get my card and obviously I wrapped that up early, so anything extra is a bonus.â€� With 545 non-member FedExCup points already, Fitzpatrick will have PGA TOUR status next season. A huge chunk of those came with his runner-up finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard. With five European Tour wins already to his name, the former U.S. Amateur champion has serious pedigree. But he is still seen as an underdog in the elite field. It’s a tag he’s happy to run with. “I’m not on anyone’s radar every week, it’s great,â€� he said. “Obviously you want to get to that stage where you are on the radar and you’re doing press conferences every week, but at the same time, being where I am is not an issue. It’s a nice place to be.â€� If he continues the form through the weekend, those extra press conferences will be coming thick and fast.

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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Three weeks ago, Darren Clarke was asked by The R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers to hit the opening tee shot early Thursday morning at The Open Championship. There was no hesitation in the Northern Irishman’s response. “A definite yes,â€� Clarke said. It won’t be a ceremonial tee shot – after all, Clarke is in the 156-man field thanks to his Open win in 2011. His shot off the 421-yard par-4 first at 6:35 a.m. local time will count. But there is no more fitting player in the field to start play in the first Open held in Northern Ireland since 1951, when Royal Portrush last played host. Clarke is a resident of Portrush and his win in 2011 was the first for a Northern Irishman since Portrush native Fred Daly won the Claret Jug in 1947. He calls Royal Portrush the “best golf course in the world.â€� RELATED: Tee times | Featured Groups | Experts roundtable | Five things to know: Royal Portrush Clarke’s Open win, which came on the heels of consecutive U.S. Open wins by Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell (2010) and Rory McIlroy (2011), were instrumental in helping to convince The R&A to return the Open to Royal Portrush. McIlroy, in fact, won all four of his majors before the official announcement was made by The R&A in October 2015. Clark also credited Irishman Padraig Harrington’s three major wins – including back-to-back Open wins in 2007-08 – as key to the resurgence of Irish golf. “It was Padraig started it before that, when he won all his majors,â€� said the 50-year-old Clarke, the oldest of the six players in the field born on the island of Ireland. Harrington, McDowell, McIlroy, Shane Lowry and amateur James Sugrue – who joins Clarke in the opening threesome with American Charley Hoffman – are the others. Of course, the political climate also has improved since the Good Friday agreement in 1998 led to an end of the Troubles that had plagued Northern Ireland since the late 1960s (although small-scale violence still flares up). Clarke recalled the time in 1986 – he was still in his late teens – when he worked at a club. He was filling up small bottles with mixers when the club received a bomb scare. Clarke and all the others in the club hurriedly left the building. Thirty minutes later, the bomb went off. “The place was flattened,â€� Clarke said. “That was life in Northern Ireland,â€� he added. “Bombs were going off quite frequently. And a lot of people, unfortunately, paid a heavy penalty for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. But that was our life back there at that stage.â€� Thirty-three years later, he’s now the unofficial ambassador of this Open Championship. Many players getting their first look at Royal Portrush have sought his advice. Adam Scott, still seeking his first Open win after so many near-misses, played three practice rounds with Clarke. “He’s gone out of his way to spend way too much time with me,” Scott told Sports Betting News. ”I love watching how he plays the links he grew up on, to see what he thinks and how he navigates. He’s been incredibly helpful. It’s nice to have a good level of comfort to go play the tournament.” Clarke was asked about all the advice he’s been dispensing. “Probably told them too much, really,â€� he smiled. But just like the invitation to hit the first tee shot, Clarke doesn’t hesitate when asked how to navigate Royal Portrush. He noted the importance of finding the right angles and being committed to shots, pointing out the areas from which to attack. He keeps stressing the need to hit fairways. “If you’re not in the fairways,â€� he said, “you’re going to struggle to get around.â€� And if the winds don’t kick up as much as they usually do, he warned players to expect more challenging pin placements. “The thing about Royal Portrush, it’s a fair golf course,â€� he said. “If you play well around Portrush, you should have the opportunity to score well. If you’re missing too many shots, you’re not going to get around Portrush. That’s the way it is.â€� On Thursday at 6:35 a.m. – the sun will have already been up for approximately 90 minutes – Clarke will get things started in earnest. The gallery, even at that early time, should be substantial. The Open was sold out 11 months ago. Golf fans in Northern Ireland have waited 68 years for this championship. Clarke, so proud that his country is once again the host, will be emotional. But he won’t be misty-eyed. After all, he has a job to do. “I just hope I manage to get one going straight down the fairway,â€� he said.

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Beau Hossler earned a share of the lead Thursday while almost no one watched. He kept it Friday in front of thousands. Hossler shot 9-under 66-65 at the Charles Schwab Challenge on two wildly different days at Colonial Country Club. His first round included eagles on two par-4 holes, both of them so late in the day that nearly everyone had vacated the property. His second round was an easier quest — five birdies, no bogeys, barely a sweat on his visored brow — down fairways lined with plentiful spectators getting a head start on the holiday weekend. And that’s exactly what Hossler got, too. He and Scott Stallings took the early lead of the $8.4-million tournament, one of the oldest on the PGA TOUR. “Today felt, frankly, never really stress-free, but as stress-free as it’s going to get,” Hossler said. “It felt like I was in play. I never was that out of position. Yesterday I was kind of grinding more.” Through 36 holes, Hossler gained more than nine strokes on the field in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, and nearly six in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green. He ranked first in both categories. He ranked second in scrambling, converting 10 of 11 attempts in the first two rounds. With considerable wind in the forecast for Saturday, Hossler said he hoped his experience at Colonial — the former University of Texas Longhorn estimated he’d played the course more than 20 times since moving to Texas from California — would help his campaign to win for the first time in his five years on the TOUR. In fact, Hossler said, he welcomed menacing conditions. “To be honest, from my perspective, the harder the golf course plays, I think it favors me,” he said. “I’ve never been a player that thrives on shooting 30-under par in a tournament.” Hossler has made two cuts in four starts at the Charles Schwab. His best finish was a tie for 40th in 2019. His current season includes a third-place finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and two Top 10s, the most recent at the Valero Texas Open. Hossler had his chances last month in San Antonio, but shot even-par 72 in the final round. He finished in a tie for fourth. May is a different month. Colonial is a different course. “Hopefully it plays difficult,” Hossler said, “and smart strategy and good commitment and good execution is what will come out on top.”

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