The Open’s leaderboard fitting for a historic tournament

JACKSON, Miss.  — Ryan Armour and Tyrone Van Aswegen are threatening to break up the young men’s monopoly at the Sanderson Farms Championship. The 41-year-old Armour shot a 4-under 68 in Friday’s second round to take a one-shot lead over Van Aswegen at the Country Club of Jackson. Armour has never won on the PGA TOUR and has only four top 10s in 104 career events. He made four straight birdies on the back nine and finished just before a wave of thunderstorms swept over the Country Club of Jackson and suspended play for the day. There were 30 players still on the course when play ended. They’ll finish their second rounds on Saturday in what’s expected to be much colder weather. Armour, who grew up in Ohio, said he’s used to playing in less than ideal conditions. He’s at 10-under 134. “No matter if it’s cold or hot, if the scores are going crazy, just give yourself as many opportunities as you can to be successful,” Armour said. Armour or Van Aswegen, 35, would be the oldest winner at Sanderson Farms since Woody Austin in 2013. Cody Gribble, Peter Malnati and Nick Taylor were all in their 20s when they won over the past three years. So were Scott Stallings, who won in 2012, and Chris Kirk in 2011. Armour has been on the PGA TOUR off and on since 2007, but never had consistent success, bouncing between the Web.com and PGA TOUR. He didn’t play in any PGA TOUR events from 2011 and 2014 and didn’t even qualify for the Web.com Tour in 2013. He spent much of that time around his home course in Florida, catching up with family and making adjustments to his game. “I knew if I was going to get back going, it had to happen then,” Armour said. He got his Web.com card back in 2014 and eventually made it back to the PGA TOUR last season. He had to go to the Web.com Tour Finals to get his card back for this season and finished second in the first Finals event last month. Now he’s brought that form to Mississippi. Van Aswegen, winless in four years on the PGA TOUR, shot the low round of the day, a 7-under 65. He tied for ninth at the Safeway Open earlier this month in Napa, California. The South African started on the back nine and was 3 under before a double bogey on No. 16. He rebounded with seven birdies over his final 10 holes. “I had to just make a decision to keep going,” Van Aswegen said. “If you don’t do that, your round is toast. I was pretty happy to rebound after that. I had some luck along the way, too, so that was nice.” Vaughn Taylor shot 66 and was two shots back, along with Seamus Power, who had two holes left to play in the second round on Saturday. Dru Love, the son of Davis Love III who is playing on a sponsor’s exemption, shot 67 and was four shots back. His father shot 72 and was likely to miss the cut.

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Round 1 of THE ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD begins Thursday. Here’s how to follow the action. Leaderboard Full tee times HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Sunday, 5 p.m.-8 p.m. ET (Golf Channel) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Sunday, 12:45 p.m.-8 p.m. ET (Featured Groups) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 2 p.m.-8 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 3 p.m.-8 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio). FEATURED GROUPS Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed Webb Simpson, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson Jon Rahm, Justin Rose, Hideki Matsuyama Tiger Woods, Matthew Wolff, Xander Schauffele MUST READS Power Rankings Expert Picks Tiger, Sherwood a perfect fit Tiger set to defend at THE ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD Strong Japanese contingent set for this week Tiger’s best stats from his 82 wins

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Although mostly known for its irons in the equipment world, Mizuno has launched two new drivers that have each gotten play on the PGA TOUR prior to this official launch. Mizuno staffers Luke Donald and Keith Mitchell have put the new ST190G and ST190 drivers in the bag, respectively. For Luke Donald, the change into Mizuno’s new, adjustable ST190G was immediate. After more than a 7-month hiatus from the PGA TOUR for health reasons, Donald returned to competition at the 2018 QBE Shootout with the ST190G driver in the bag.  For Mitchell, the change into Mizuno’s ST190 driver was unexpected. “Driving was my best category last year – I walked into testing to do ‘Cookie’ (Mizuno’s PGA TOUR Manager Jeff Cook) a favor, give him some numbers and leave,â€� Mitchell said, according to Mizuno press release. “It turned out to be the easiest change I’ve ever made – on the one club I never thought I would switch. The ST190 was faster, straighter and more forgiving than what I was playing. I’ve used it ever since and haven’t considered taking it out.â€� The ST190 and ST190G drivers are each designed with new Forged SP700 Ti faces that now have lighter “Cortechâ€� structures, which deliver higher ball speeds, according to Mizuno. Mizuno says the faces are 10 percent stronger than 6-4 Titanium faces and are made from fine grains that allow for a more complex geometry; the new heads include re-designed internal ribs behind the face that are said to help with sound qualities. A new carbon-composite crown from Mizuno weighs 12 grams, thus saving 7 grams of weight from its predecessor’s crown. The weight savings allowed Mizuno to reposition weight to increase ball speeds and lower spin rates, according to the company. Additionally, the “Amplified Wave Soleâ€� — featuring ripples in the sole behind the face — has a redesigned structure compared to previous drivers that Mizuno says helps expand the COR (coefficient of restitution) area, thus raising ball speeds across the face. Mizuno’s ST190 driver, which has a fixed 6-gram weight in the rear portion of the sole, is said to favor a “more downward angle of attack,â€� according to a Mizuno press release. The ST190G driver, on the other hand, favors golfers with a “more level angle of attack.â€� The CG-adjustable ST190G has two sliding weight tracks in the sole that house two 7-gram weights; the weights can slide back-to-front to influence spin rates by up to 200 rpm, says Mizuno, and they can be placed into one of the tracks to achieve a draw or fade bias. Put both weight in the toe track for fade bias, or put both weights in the heel track for a draw-bias. The ST190 driver (9.5 and 10.5 degrees) will sell for $400, while the ST190G driver (9 degrees) will sell for $500. Mizuno ST190 and ST190 TS (Tour Spoon) fairway woods The ST190 fairway woods also have carbon composite crown and wave technology in the soles, but instead of SP700 faces, they’re made from HT1770 Maraging steel faces. With the new crowns, Mizuno says it was able to save 4 grams of weight compared to its predecessors, allowing the company to move weight lower in the club head. Mizuno’s ST190 fairway woods have a fixed hosel (15 and 18 degrees), while the ST190 TS model is adjustable between 13-and-17 degrees. The standard fairway woods will sell for $250, and the adjustable version will sell for $300. All of the Mizuno ST190 products will be available in February 2019.

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