Tiger starts Masters with Leishman, Fleetwood

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – The skies opened and the rain came to delay the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, but amid the umbrellas and the puddles the headliner hung tough. First-time participant Rickie Fowler, the highest ranked player in the field (10), is contending in his first start in five weeks and his first start of the new season. Fowler had three holes remaining and was just one shot off the lead, tied with first-round leader Patton Kizzire (70). They were chasing Patrick Rodgers, who birdied four straight holes to take the lead at 11 under but still had three holes left to play on the front nine when darkness fell over El Camaleon Golf Club. Heavy rain suspended afternoon play for two hours and 15 minutes.  “Today was tough,â€� said Kizzire, who double-bogeyed the first hole, his 10th of the day. “I had a few hiccups out there, but with the wind and the rain and with the wind and rain together, it was tough. And the stop and start was tough. But I hung in there, made a few birdies there towards the end of my round, and then survived that really tough rain that we had there at the end.â€� Fowler was on the 15th tee when he asked how much longer players would be expected to stay on the course as darkness fell. He made par on the hole before play was stopped and players were driven away in vans. Four players have won the OHL Classic in their first start in the event: Johnson Wagner (2011), John Huh (2012), Harris English (2013) and Fred Funk (2007).  OBSERVATIONS HARKINS HANGS TOUGH. The last six holes played by Brandon Harkins, 31, went birdie, bogey, birdie, bogey, birdie, bogey. “Wasn’t quite the finish I was looking for, trading birdies and bogeys like that,â€� said Harkins, who shot 68 to get to 9 under. “But you know, I really can’t complain in the wind like this.â€� Harkins has already shown plenty of bounce-back. He twice missed 72nd-hole putts to force playoffs on the Web.com Tour last year, but finished 21st on the Regular Season Money List to get his TOUR card. Now he’s looking to improve on a T9 at the Safeway Open and a T20 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. GAY MAKES LIKE 2008. Four-time TOUR winner Brian Gay will turn 46 next month and is making his 522nd career start. He sure didn’t seem to have lost his edge Friday. Gay was five-for-five in scrambling and shot a bogey-free 65 that included an eagle at the par-5 13th hole. He got his first win at Mayakoba in 2008, but hasn’t won since the 2013 CareerBuilder Challenge. After getting to 9-under overall Gay said, “I’ve always loved it since we started coming here.â€� He began last season on a Major Medical Extension, needing to earn 309 FedExCup points or $461,851 in 14 starts to remain exempt for the rest of the season. He accomplished that with back-to-back T6 finishes at the RBC Heritage and Valero Texas Open.   RODGERS SEEKS FIRST WIN. The only player in the field so far without a bogey, Rodgers is beginning his third season on TOUR after a stellar college career. He won 11 times in three years at Stanford, tying Tiger Woods’ win total, accomplished in two years, and compiled a 70.32 scoring average, breaking Woods’ all-time school mark of 70.96. One of the TOUR’s biggest fitness fanatics, Rodgers finished 78th in the FedExCup last season, his best result a runner-up finish at the John Deere Classic, where he led through 36 holes. He is coming off a missed cut at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in his fourth start of the new season. CEJKA LOOKS FOR REDEMPTION. Alex Cejka (67, 6 under) is in contention again after losing a three-man playoff at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open last week. The week before that, Cejka got caught up in an odd rules scenario. He was disqualified from the Sanderson Farms Championship for holing a tap-in putt on his final hole of the second round after the siren had sounded for a suspension of play due to a dangerous weather situation.   NOTABLES SI WOO KIM – Up and down year since becoming the youngest winner of THE PLAYERS Championship in May, but the two-time TOUR winner is lurking at 7 under after a 68. OSCAR FRAUSTRO – A wild start for the low Mexican so far as Fraustro went 5 under for his first four holes on the way to a 66. He’s 7 under at the halfway mark. Fraustro and Carlos Oritz tied for ninth here in 2014, the best-ever finish by a Mexican player in this tournament. RYAN ARMOUR – Just a few weeks removed from nabbing his first win at 41, Armour shot a second-round 69 to get to 5 under and is six back. ZAC BLAIR – Came to El Camaleon as an alternate and was last man in the field, but will play on the weekend after going 3 under for his last 11 holes to shoot 68 and make the cut at 2 under. ROBERTO DIAZ – The last player to graduate from the Web.com Tour, Diaz is making the most of it at Mayakoba. His second-round 65 left him at 6 under, five back. QUOTABLES “No comment.â€� – Cal State-Chico graduate Brandon Harkins (68, 9 under), when asked if his alma-mater lived up to its party-school reputation. SUPERLATIVES Shot of the day: Jonathan Byrd aced the 151-yard eighth hole, the fifth ace of his TOUR career. His most famous hole-in-one came in a playoff at the 2010 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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IRVING, Texas — Brooks Koepka leaned in for a closer look at his ball buried in deep rough when a critter he couldn’t identify caused him to jump back with a bit of a startled look. His best guesses were a frog or rat, though he was too disoriented to be sure. It definitely wasn’t a birdie, because Koepka was on his way to finishing with two straight bogeys after sharing the lead late in his opening round of the AT&T Byron Nelson on Thursday. A year after losing to Sergio Garcia in a playoff at the TPC Four Seasons, Koepka settled for a 3-under 67 and trailed co-leaders James Hahn and Ricky Barnes by three shots. “It jumped out and I didn’t know what was going on, freaked me out,” said Koepka, who needed help from a bevy of tournament volunteers and fans to find his ball while hitting two shots out of the thick grass and just missing a chip that would have saved par on the ninth hole, his last. “I was so in amazement of what just happened, whether it jumped out, scared me. I couldn’t see it because it ran underneath the grass again.” Matt Kuchar, Jhonattan Vegas, Jason Kokrak and Cameron Tringale shot 66, and top-ranked Dustin Johnson topped the group at 67, a stroke ahead of fourth-ranked Jason Day and Jordan Spieth, the No. 6 player competing in his hometown event. Masters and defending Nelson champion Garcia, ranked fifth, had three bogeys on the front nine and just one birdie in a 73 that left him tied for 93rd. The event is the last at TPC Four Seasons, ending the tournament’s 35-year run in Irving. The tournament will move to the new links-style Trinity Forest Golf Club south of downtown Dallas next year. Tringale was the only player with a lower score than Johnson in a blustery afternoon round, while Hahn and Barnes played in slightly calmer conditions in the morning. “It was blowing hard and it was gusty,” said Johnson, who has four top-10 finishes in seven previous Nelsons. “I thought it was very difficult to judge the wind and control the ball. Felt like there were a lot of times I hit really good shots that didn’t end up in good spots.” Using a mallet putter instead of his traditional blade, Spieth made a 10-footer for his second straight birdie on his 17th hole, the par-4 eighth. Normally one of the best putters on tour, the Dallas native was frustrated with that part of his game after missing the cut at THE PLAYERS Championship last week. “It’s nothing crazy new,” said Spieth, whose best Nelson finish remains his tie for 16th as a 16-year-old amateur in 2010. “It helps me line up a bit better and that’s kind of been my struggle is lining the putter up where I want to. I just haven’t quite dialed in the speed yet.” Day birdied the par-4 11th when he chipped to 12 feet off a cart path behind the green after a 326-yard drive on the 309-yard hole. On the next hole, he had to bend his second shot around tree from the rough and saved par. Day eagled the par-5 seventh and curled in a 28-footer for birdie on 18. “In this wind, I think everyone’s kind of scrambling,” said Day, whose first PGA TOUR win came at the 2010 Nelson. “I was not going to drop it all the way back onto the other side of the road. It was just in long grass and I wouldn’t be able to flop it over. It was quite a simple shot. You just had to contact it correctly.” Hahn finished a bogey-free round with a 22-foot birdie putt on 18 to match his lowest round of the season. The two-time tour winner saved par with a 24-footer on 14. Hahn’s first four birdies were inside 10 feet. Barnes, who has made four straight cuts after missing 10 of his previous 13, started a run of three straight birdies with a chip-in on his 15th hole, the par-4 sixth. He had two bogeys. “I’m having signs of brilliancy,” said Barnes, still looking for his first win in his 255th PGA TOUR start. “I just need to put it all together.” Koepka birdied his first two holes and was 5 under through 13 holes before stumbling late. On No. 8, his 17th hole, Koepka had to lift a folder lawn chair to uncover his ball behind the green. He missed the par putt. After missing on a birdie chance for the win in 2016, Koepka went in the water on 18, the first playoff hole, to open the door for Garcia to become the only two-time winner since Lord Byron’s event moved to the Four Seasons. “I didn’t play very good today,” Koepka said. “Even last year, I didn’t play very good around this place and just managed to get a decent score. Three under isn’t very good around here. I’ll take it for how I played.”

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NAPLES, FL. – Tournament officials are excited to announce the addition of Live Fest to the QBE Shootout schedule, when the PGA TOUR event returns to Naples December 11-15, 2019. Headlining this premier music experience on Saturday December 14th will be Grammy award winning acts Lady Antebellum and Darius Rucker with two more bands to be announced later this summer. The concert, to be staged outdoors on the spacious driving range at Tiburon Golf Club at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort, Naples will start following the second round of the QBE Shootout at 4:00 p.m. and conclude at 10:00 p.m. Live Fest will offer general admission tickets, prime stage front seating and shared and private VIP hospitality experiences including the Garrison Brothers Live Fest Club. The concert staging area will include a MillerCoors Beer Garden, robust concession options and limited edition merchandise. Tickets will go on-sale on Saturday, July 27th at LiveFest.com. “As part of our continuing growth efforts we are thrilled to bring Live Fest to this year’s QBE Shootout. The addition of this premier concert fills an entertainment need in the market and is sure to reward the Southwest Florida community with a night to remember,â€� said Rob Hartman, QBE Shootout Tournament Director. To launch Live Fest, the QBE Shootout has partnered with Tiburon resident and local entrepreneur Steve Hagenbuckle. Thanks to Steve’s commitment along with strong corporate support from partners such as QBE Insurance and Greg Norman, the inaugural event is positioned to be a success from the onset. Live Fest has also experienced early sponsorship commitments from Mercedes-Benz, Tiburon Golf Club, The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort Naples, MillerCoors, Garrison Brothers Distillery, Iberia Bank, Naples, Marco Island and Everglades Convention & Visitors Bureau, iHeart Radio, Naples Daily News, Tito’s Vodka, Zoom Tan, Tileclaim.com, Stock Development, TerraCap Management and Private Reserve Realty. Additional sponsorship and corporate hospitality opportunities are available. “The energy and excitement around the QBE Shootout is at an all-time high and the addition of an event like Live Fest is certain to only add to the momentum we have captured in the marketplace. As the QBE Shootout heads into its 31st year, I look forward to welcoming my friends Darius Rucker and Lady Antebellum to Shootout week – they are sure to put on a spectacular show,â€� said Tournament Host Greg Norman. Over the course of their decade-long career, Lady Antebellum has become one of the 21st century’s premier vocal groups, blending deeply felt emotions with classic country sounds. They are back on the radio airwaves and at digital partners with “What If I Never Get Over Youâ€� serving as the first single under BMLG Records. Representing a new chapter as well as a return to the beginning for Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood, the plush mid-tempo ballad features Scott and Kelley trading anxiety and shared despair over an ending relationship. As a Country-radio staple, the trio has amassed record-breaking success with nine No. One hits while ushering in more than 18 million album units and 34 million tracks sold, with over 4 billion digital streams. Known for their 9X PLATINUM hit “Need You Nowâ€� which is the highest certified song by a Country group, they have earned ACM and CMA “Vocal Group of the Yearâ€� trophies three years in a row and countless other honors including seven GRAMMY awards, Billboard Music Awards, People’s Choice Awards, Teen Choice Awards and a Tony Award nod. The trio continues their first-ever Las Vegas residency, OUR KIND OF VEGAS, with upcoming shows in August. For more information on new music and tickets, visit ladyantebellum.com. Rucker first attained multi-Platinum status in the music industry as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of GRAMMY award-winning Hootie & the Blowfish. Since releasing his first country album in 2008, he has celebrated four summits to the top of the Billboard Country albums chart and earned a whole new legion of fans. In 2014, Rucker won his third career GRAMMY award for Best Solo Country Performance for his 4x Platinum selling cover of Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Wagon Wheel,â€� the No. 1 single off his album True Believers and one of nine overall Country No. 1 hits for Rucker. He is back on the road with his Hootie & the Blowfish bandmates this summer for the Group Therapy Tour as they celebrate the 25th anniversary of mega-hit Cracked Rear View as well as a forthcoming album under a new record deal with UMG Nashville. For more information, visit www.dariusrucker.com and follow on social media @DariusRucker. For the latest Live Fest news and information visit www.livefest.com, like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/livefestusa and follow us on Instagram @livefestusa. For the latest QBE Shootout news and information, visit the official tournament website at www.qbeshootout.com, like us on Facebook www.facebook.com/qbeshootout and follow us on Instagram @QBEshootout.

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