The first step into golf’s new normal

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – Martin Trainer finally feels like he belongs on the PGA TOUR. A win will do that to a guy. Trainer, who won twice on the Web.com Tour in 2018, shot a 5-under-par 67 Sunday to win the Puerto Rico Open by three shots. He had 230 text messages waiting for him after his round completed, and put in a quick call to his Mom before picking up the trophy and settling in as a PGA TOUR winner. “I never thought that I would be able to win on the PGA TOUR,â€� said Trainer. “I managed to do it today and that’s just incredible.â€� Trainer had made only three cuts on TOUR so far this year and said he started the year struggling with his game. He took a break after a busy Web.com Tour schedule last winter and returned to France – Trainer was born in Marseille – for some family time before getting back to work. With the win Trainer earned 300 FedExCup points (moving to 39th in the FedExCup standings) and will be exempt into THE PLAYERS Championship along with the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Realizing how much his life had changed, he said, was still settling in. “I never had the luxury of making a plan… I was just trying to play as many events as I could,â€� said Trainer. “So now I guess that will be a little different, I’ll be able to pick and choose where I want to go and have a little more flexibility with my schedule. It’s just such a great feeling to be able to have that.â€� Trainer finally allowed himself to realize he was a TOUR winner on the 18th hole despite battling nerves all day. His caddie, Ryan Ellerbrock (who plays on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica) was a fill-in for this week since his regular caddie was off sick. They’re friends and had some chemistry together when Ellerbrock caddied for Trainer during last year’s Web.com Tour Finals. Ellerbrock helped Trainer to relax by referring to Coco Beach Golf Club as ‘Mazatlan’, a course Trainer won on in 2016 on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica. He said Coco Beach GC was a carbon copy of that layout. “We had good vibes going into this week,â€� said Trainer. “I’m just happy it worked out.â€� He tipped his cap to the Puerto Rican fans as he approached the 72nd green, and another dream was realized. “The players are so good, they’re the best in the world,â€� said Trainer of his TOUR competition. “And I was able to, I guess, prove that I belonged today.â€� Daniel Berger fired a 6-under-par 66 Sunday to move into a tie for second with three other golfers as he makes a return from an injured wrist. Berger said he’s finally feeling healthy and will be playing the next four events. He’s only played three times since October and added the Puerto Rico Open to his schedule because he wanted to get his season kicked into high gear. “I’m fresh and I’m ready to play,â€� said Berger. “Usually at this point in the season, I’ve played more so, I kind of just wanted to get some reps in, and it was a great week, so I’m excited that I did make the stop here.â€� Berger finished tied for second with Johnson Wagner, third-round leader Aaron Baddeley, and Roger Sloan, whose T-2 result was his best-ever finish on the PGA TOUR.

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Nick Taylor birdied four of his last five holes at Pebble Beach on Friday for a 66 to take his first 36-hole lead on the PGA TOUR. Jason Day received a warm reminder at Pebble Beach how good it feels to hit shots the way he wants, make a bunch of putts and see his name high on the leaderboard. Related: Leaderboard | Day’s unique balloon therapy Day made two long birdie putts across the green, holed a 40-yard wedge for eagle on the dangerous par-5 14th, made a couple of big par saves and moved into contention with an 8-under 64 in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Taylor was at 14-under 129. “I feel like it’s been a long time since I’ve actually been out there and felt the way that I felt out there today and played well like that,” Day said. Defending champion Phil Mickelson also got in the mix with aburst of four straight birdies after the turn at Monterey Peninsula. He made bogey on the long par-3 ninth to finish his round of 7-under. He was three shots behind. Mickelson has not had a top 10 on the PGA TOUR since winning at Pebble Beach last year, though he finished third last week at the Saudi International and carried a little momentum into the event he has won five times. Day knows the feeling. Since last year at Pebble, he has recorded just three top 10s, none since last June. He has not seriously contended. His back troubles have been so frustrating that at times he wondered how much longer he wanted to play. He described those as “dark times.” His outlook Friday was as bright as the sunshine over the Monterey Peninsula, at least until a light marine layer over parts of the courses lowered the temperature. Day birdied the par 5s and made a 45-foot putt from the fringe on the par-3 fifth at Pebble. He holed a 50-foot birdie putt on the par-3 12th, another bonus. And then he surged into contention by holing out for his eagle on the 14th, and following that with a 15-foot birdie on the 15th. There’s still one more round before this tournament played over three courses takes shape, and there’s no better place to be in relative calm than Pebble Beach. “If you have really good weather, you can go low at Pebble,” Day said. That’s what Taylor did, making birdie on all the par 5s for his 66. Ditto for Chris Baker, the 33-year-old PGA TOUR rookie who played Pebble Beach for the first time in a practice round Wednesday, and really had a blast in his round of 64 on Friday that put him four shots behind, along with Charl Schwartzel (66 at Pebble). Of the top five players, only Mickelson was not at Pebble Beach. Monterey Peninsula played about two shots under par, while Pebble’s average was nearly 1 under. Spyglass Hill was nearly a stroke over par, so it was no surprise that only one player from the top 20 — Matt Every — was at Spyglass on Friday. Dustin Johnson, a two-time Pebble Beach winner who finished runner-up to Ted Potter Jr. two years ago, appeared to be hitting his stride with great control of his irons and usual power off the tee. He lost a little ground on the final hole when he three-putted for bogey from about 25 feet on his final hole at Monterey Peninsula, missing a 3-footer. That happens on poa greens with foursomes in each group, and Johnson shrugged it off. He’s used to odd things happening, even when it’s not all his doing. Day was feeling particularly optimistic, especially after the year he had. His back gave him so much trouble that one of his routines is to blow into a balloon for some 20 minutes to help get his rib cage aligned properly. He used to spend hours chipping and putting. He found it a small victory when he was able to putt for an entire hour. “It’s hard because … you expect so much of yourself, and everyone does,” Day said. “But sometimes when you’re injured, like for the most part I was all last year, it gets frustrating. And not only do you get frustrated, you don’t get the results and you lose confidence and then you’re … just trying to find a solution into why I’m not playing well and why is this happening. And you feel like your world is kind of crumbling. “It’s not a good feeling because there’s some dark moments in there that you got to kind of fight through.” There were no dark moments Friday, not in weather like this. Day and Taylor now move over to Spyglass Hill on Saturday morning, while Mickelson, Johnson and the celebrities head to Pebble Beach.

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