The First Look: 3M Open

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – Lucas Glover smiled wryly when he was told he and Tiger Woods are the only two players in the PGA Championship field this week who have won majors at Bethpage Black. “That’s probably about it,â€� he joked when asked what else they might have in common. “That and we’ll have 14 clubs in the bag this week, I guess. “That’s pretty cool to have that (in common). That might be the only thing that anybody will ever use he and I’s name in the same breath. And any time you’re lumped in with him. It’s a pretty big honor.â€� But the now 39-year-old three-time PGA TOUR winner hopes he might have something else in common with Woods … the ability to recapture some old glory. Woods has famously returned from injury in the last year, winning the TOUR Championship and the Masters to pull within one of Sam Snead’s record 82 PGA TOUR wins. At East Lake it was Woods’ first TOUR win in five years and at Augusta it was his first major win in nearly 11 years. Glover, who won the 2009 U.S. Open, has faced similar lengthy win droughts. He has also battled some minor injuries, including most recently his knee. The last of his three TOUR titles came at the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship. But this season … well you could say he’s trending. Glover sits 31st in the FedExCup this season thanks to the fact he has four top-10s and 11 top-20s from 15 starts. Last season he managed just one top-10, back in October of 2017, so it is a welcome return to form. Related: Featured groups, tee times | Rethinking Tiger Woods | Spieth ‘flying under the radar’ in latest career Grand Slam bid | Nine things to know about Bethpage Black | The First Look Especially considering his FedExCup positioning since his last winning season reads 219th, 114th, 185th, 147th, 106th, 43rd and 135th. “I don’t think there’s been anybody to play this game that hasn’t been fried at one point or another,â€� Glover said. “It was pretty up and down and some lean times, but again, I don’t know of anybody that’s played this game for a long time that hasn’t gone through some ups and downs.â€� “Like (former NFL player) Brian Dawkins said in his Hall of Fame speech, you’re going through something so you’re going to come out on the other end, so that’s the way I’m looking at the last few years is I’ve come out the other side. “I haven’t won, I haven’t accomplished any of my goals, but I’ve come through it.â€� Glover’s victory in 2009 came in extremely wet conditions. The rain is again falling at Bethpage in the early part of this week. Back then he held off the likes of Woods, and Phil Mickelson as they charged towards him. He might have to do so again should he find himself in contention. “Any experience you have, good or bad, you can make it a positive, and that’s what I’m trying to do … I’m in every way a different person than 10 years ago, but I can still lean on all of that,â€� he adds. “My golf swing is different, my putting stroke is different, my brain is different, everything is different. But at the same time, I still get comfortable when I walk into the clubhouse or drive through the gate. “It’s just that calming feeling. It’s almost like how I imagine some guys feel driving down Magnolia Lane at Augusta that have had success there. It’s just like an automatic deep breath, like I’ve done it here, let’s see what we can do again.â€�

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Team Europe captain Henrik Stenson named Italy’s Edoardo Molinari as his second vice-captain on Monday for the 2023 Ryder Cup that will be played at the Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome.

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KAPALUA, Hawaii – Justin Thomas looked anything but a winner. Slumped in the interview chair. Tired. A little disheveled. Without a smile. The only clue he’d just won for the 12th time on the PGA TOUR was the beautiful glass trophy shaped in a wave with a whale tail diving in sitting on the floor next to him. Thomas had, in fact, just won the Sentry Tournament of Champions, for the second time no less, to take ownership as the most prolific TOUR winner of those in their 20s. It took three extra holes, but he had indeed prevailed over Patrick Reed and Xander Schauffele. He could be forgiven for his lethargy. The final few hours of a tough week which included wild winds and weather throughout were brutal on his nerves. He’d looked anything but a winner on the last few holes in regulation and even early in the playoff, just as he did now. And the emotional rollercoaster had worn him down. It’s hard to fathom your achievements in those circumstances so instantaneously. Earlier he had looked a winner for sure. Starting the day one back of Schauffele, he wrestled the lead at the ninth hole as he went through a stretch of four straight birdies (8-11) to extend his buffer. The lead was two with three holes to play, but a bogey on 16 cut it in half. Still, on the last, the par-5 finisher, Thomas had a one-shot advantage. He hit a poor drive but then inexplicably hit his second shot into the penalty area when he could have laid up safely. When he missed his eight-foot par putt, he thought it was over. Related: Leaderboard | What’s in Thomas’ bag? But Schauffele missed from closer and a playoff it would be. He dodged Reed missing putts to win on the first and second playoff holes before making birdie on the third to clinch. “The emotions and how I was winning and then I was barely winning and then I was losing and then I barely got in a playoff… that takes a lot out of you. I probably don’t seem as elated as I might be or as I would hope to be,â€� Thomas confirmed. “But it’ll just take a little bit. Once I get back to the hotel hopefully with my family, I’ll be able to enjoy it a little bit and we’ll talk about it. But relief is definitely a word that comes to mind. “I truly felt like through 15 holes it was one of the best rounds I had played. I was in such control tee to green. I was putting it beautifully, my irons were awesome, and I hit a really good drive on 16, just the wind took it more, and then 18 was just a disaster. I really didn’t hit very many good shots on the hole. But it worked out.â€� In winning, Thomas rocketed to the top of the FedExCup standings. He joined Tiger Woods (34) and Jack Nicklaus (20) as the only players with 12 or more PGA TOUR wins before the age of 27 in the last 60 years. It is his second win this season, and third in his last six TOUR starts. And he joined Stuart Appleby (3), Geoff Ogilvy (2) and Dustin Johnson (2) as multiple winners of the Sentry Tournament of Champions since the event moved to The Plantation Course at Kapalua in 1999. Thomas had started the week saying he was disappointed he hadn’t won more. Now he is on his way to rectifying that. “It means a lot. A decent amount of them I got fortunate like I did today. That’s what happens when you win. Stuff goes your way,â€� Thomas said. “It’s not supposed to be that hard. I know it’s hard, but I made it about five times as hard as it needed to be. Obviously you have to play well and make some putts and hit some shots, but at the end of the day, you need stuff to go your way, and it definitely did today, and it feels great. “It’s another one down. I want to keep building on that, and I feel like I’m really just trying to get better every year, and we’re improving in some of the right areas. Next week we will try to get to 13.â€� Of course the last time he won at Kapalua, in 2017, he almost let it slip to Hideki Matsuyama. But he went to the Sony Open and started with a 59. He would win that event with a record-low score. Perhaps if he recreates that, we might see a bigger grin.

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