Tiger Woods’ putter woes continue at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide

SOUTHPORT, England – News and notes from Friday’s second round of The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale. Sergio’s injury scare Sergio Garcia almost knocked himself out of The Open. Frustrated after a chip shot came up short of the green at the par-3 fourth, Garcia took his club and hit the nearby gorse bush that had restricted his swing. He then grabbed his shoulder in pain. Eventually, he needed on-course treatment and “a good amount of pills to make it feel better.â€� He planned to have more treatment after his round. He bogeyed the fourth, but despite the pain, he shot a 1-under 69 that left him at 2 over entering the weekend. “Obviously I’m not happy about it because I almost screwed up my British Open,â€� the Masters champ said. “Fortunately for me I didn’t. But obviously it’s not what you want to do. But sometimes you’re out there and you’re trying your hardest, and when you can’t do it, it gets a little frustrating. We’ve all had those moments.â€� At least someone had fun Friday Zach Johnson cracked his driver on Tuesday. That’s not a good thing in any week – but especially on a major week. And especially coming off a terrific driving performance at last week’s John Deere Classic. Johnson had a comfort level with his old driver, but now had to seek one with the replacement driver. That comfort wasn’t there in Thursday’s first round, when he shot a 5-over 75. But it was there on Friday, when Johnson posted a 4-under 66 to move to 1 over heading into the weekend. “The one I’ve got, I think, is very good,â€� Johnson said about his replacement. “It’s not like it’s that much different. But everything is different. I can’t tell a difference in golf balls, but you give me any different iron or club, there’s a difference.â€� The difference between the first and second rounds for Johnson was essentially the same difference between his score Friday and the rest of the field. When Johnson signed for his 66, his score was nine strokes lower than the field average at the time. “Fantastic golf,â€� said fellow American Matt Kuchar. “Very, very impressive.â€� Although Johnson’s T-5 finish last week was his best result on the PGA TOUR in 16 months, he wasn’t happy with two bogeys on his back nine Sunday that took him out of contention. And he certainly wasn’t happy with his opening round. But he took out his frustrations on the range afterwards – and he also got comfortable with his replacement driver. So comfortable that he ranked Friday’s round among his top five all-time in the majors. “There were so many positives today,â€� said the 2015 Open champ. “I don’t know where to start. It was fun. It was a lot of fun.â€� Asked if he thought many others in the field would have fun Friday in the windy conditions, Johnson replied: “Hopefully not many. It would be a shame.â€� Kooch kicks back Matt Kuchar was in the 12th of 52 groups to tee off Friday. By the time he finished his round, his fellow first-round co-leaders – Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka – had not struck a shot. Since all players tee off from hole No. 1, play is extended well into the evening. Kuchar was the solo leader at 6 under after 15 holes, but a couple of late bogeys left him one shot behind Spieth and Koepka. Still, Kuchar was glad to have finished 36 holes in contention, and was looking forward to sitting back and watching the others try to handle the apparently worsening weather conditions. “One of the cool things over here, whether it’s Thursday or Friday … is getting to go back to the room, put on the TV and watch the guys play in the afternoon – and particularly in tough conditions,â€� Kuchar said. “I think that’s kind of what we know about The Open, and I think that’s what people enjoy about the British Open – watching the hard wind, the rain, the guys just trying to survive out there. “Today is my day.â€� Kuchar was anxious to see if anybody could catch his total of 4 under for two rounds. He suspects the players with later tee times did not have as much fun watching TV as he planned to have. “I don’t know that the guys that watched this morning get to think, ‘holy cow, this is going to be great. I get to go out and do this this afternoon,’â€� Kuchar said. “So in my situation having been out there, posted a nice round and now get to watch is fun.â€�

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Stars from all over will descend on the Monterey Peninsula for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. It joins The American Express as the only tournaments this season to be played across multiple courses. Spyglass Hill Golf Course, Monterey Peninsula Country Club and Pebble Beach Golf Links will be used this week. Both Spyglass Hill and Pebble Beach will play as par-72s. Pebble Beach measures 6,816 yards and Spyglass Hill is 7,035 yards. Monterey Peninsula will play as a 6,958-yard, par-71. All three courses have poa annua greens. The field will consist of stars like Jason Day and Patrick Cantlay along with course horses Dustin Johnson and defending champion Phil Mickelson, who’ve combined for seven wins over the past 22 years. They’ll be joined by celebrities like Bill Murray, Chris O’Donnell and Alfonso Ribeiro, as well as former and current NFL players like Larry Fitzgerald, Aaron Rodgers, Tony Romo and Peyton Manning. There will be 156 professional golfers and the same number of amateurs teeing it up in Northern California this week. Similar to The American Express, all golfers will play one round apiece at the three courses. After the 54-hole cut, the final round will be played on the historic Pebble Beach Golf Links. Of the 49 tournaments played last season, all courses here ranked in the top half of difficulty in scoring relative to par. Monterey Peninsula ranked the easiest, coming in at 22nd, with Pebble Beach playing the hardest, ranking 12th. Pebble Beach has played host to many tournaments in the past like the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, U.S. Amateur and Nabisco Championship, but Pebble Beach has been synonymous with this tournament since 1947. Although the three courses are similar in length and layout, the weather plays a huge factor in scoring if the winds decide to pick up. With nine holes set along the Carmel Bay, the tournament’s difficulty can shift year-to-year. Back in 2014, Pebble Beach played as the seventh-most difficult in scoring with extremely windy conditions. The following year it played as the eighth easiest with virtually no wind at all. Even though we only get ShotLink data from Pebble Beach, the priority metric to focus when building lineups is Strokes Gained: Approach into these greens, which are some of the smallest on TOUR. Proximity from 100-to-125 yards is another metric we should be focusing on at this tournament with a large number of iron shots being hit from this distance. Other key stats are Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green and par-4 efficiency between 350 to 400 yards. Dustin Johnson ($11,600) Coming off a second-place finish in the Middle East, Johnson comes back to Carmel Bay ready to get back in the winner’s circle. Length is not needed on any of the three courses, especially not his type of distance. What’s going to help and what has made him successful here is his wedge play. He’s gained in proximity from 100 to 125 yards in three of his past four tournaments here and ranks first in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green over his past 24 rounds at this event. Brandt Snedeker ($10,100) Another course-history play is Snedeker, who loves playing in California, especially on poa annua greens, ranking sixth in Strokes Gained: Putting over the past 50 rounds on the aforementioned surface. Don’t worry about his missed cut last season. Snedeker’s won four times between this tournament and the Farmers Insurance Open, along with a T8 at the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and T9 in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. He’s hitting his irons well and doesn’t have to worry about his lack of length at Pebble Beach, which is why he ranks sixth in Strokes Gained: Total here since 2015. Kevin Kisner ($8,500) Kisner is another strong poa annua putter poised to have a solid week in Monterey. Kisner ranks 15th in Strokes Gained: Putting on poa annua greens over the past 50 rounds, but it’s not just his long-form poa putting that should make him successful. It’s also his ball-striking. He ranks 22nd in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green and just inside the top 20 in Par-4 Efficiency on holes 350 to 400 yards over his past three tournaments. Hopefully we get Kisner at low ownership with his missed cut at The American Express last month along with being so closely priced to Russell Knox ($8,600), who’s playing fantastic golf. Nick Watney ($7,300) Watney will need to work on his putting this week, but he’s been able to play relatively well by gaining through his ball-striking in three of his past four tournaments. Watney ranks top 10 in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green and just inside the top 20 in proximity from 100 to 125 yards over his past three tournaments. 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