Two-time major champion Hubert Green dies

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Dustin Johnson is using a new technique for his putting and he likes the results. Frustrated over not seeing enough putts go in over the last three months, Johnson tried the “AimPoint” method that some players use to help them read the greens. He opened with six birdies on the back nine, only once had a putt over 3 feet for par and wound up with a 6-under 66 to share the early lead at THE PLAYERS Championship. Alex Noren and Webb Simpson also were at 66 among the early starters Thursday. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, playing together for the first time in nearly four years, were out in the afternoon when the light wind was a little stronger. Johnson and the early birds couldn’t ask for better scoring conditions at TPC Sawgrass. Johnson, whose No. 1 ranking is in jeopardy this week, made the putts he had been missing in Mexico and Riviera, at Augusta National and Hilton Head. So he had one of his coaches, Allen Terrell, teach the method to Austin Johnson, his brother and caddie. And then the world’s No. 1 player picked it up quickly, and they were on their way. “I was just not making enough putts,” Johnson said. “It’s definitely helped. Because I’m a feel putter, anyway, and so the way you’re doing it really is you’re just feeling. So it definitely works. I was pretty good the first time I switched. I had done it a little bit, like messing around with it. I’m very pleased with the way I putted today.” It involves a player holding up one or two fingers, depending on the length of the putt, to help determine. “The only thing I don’t like is holding up fingers,” Johnson said. “I make AJ do that.” The scoring was so easy that 43 of the 72 players who teed off in the morning broke par. Defending champion Si Woo Kim had the lead until two late bogeys. He had to settle for a 67, still a strong start considering that no one has ever won back to back in the PGA TOUR’s premier event. Also at 67 was Keith Mitchell, who only got into the tournament Wednesday when Paul Casey had to withdraw with an injury. Mitchell played nine holes of practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, and made his debut with four straight birdies at the start. All that ruined his day was a double bogey at the par-3 third hole, his 12th of the day. “I don’t want to say it was a surprise. I’ve been playing well lately,” Mitchell said. “I was surprised to be able to play, first of all, so that was more of the surprise, just to be able to tee it up. When we did, we just tried to take advantage of our opportunity.” Among those who didn’t take advantage was the feature group of the morning — Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. They were a combined 3 over, and McIlroy had the best score of the group with a 71. “It could have been better. I could have been probably a little worse, as well. It was probably a fair reflection of how I played,” McIlroy said. “It looked like it played easy out there, but our group didn’t feel like that with what we shot.” Spieth hit into the water three times in his opening seven holes, leading to a pair of bogeys and double bogey. He also drove the 12th green to 10 feet for eagle. But he shot a 75, and he’ll have to work hard Friday to avoid missing the cut for the fourth straight year at THE PLAYERS. Johnson doesn’t have a great track record on the Stadium Course. The 66 was his best round by two shots, and only the fourth time he broke 70. The timing couldn’t have been better, especially with his No. 1 ranking on the line. He opened with simple birdies at the 11th and 12th (eagle chances at both), and made a 10-footer at No. 14 and a 20-footer on the par-5 16th. The bonus was on the 18th, when his 35-foot birdie putt had plenty of speed as it swirled into the cup. He also made a 10-foot birdie at the par-5 second, and then didn’t have many reasonable chances the rest of the way. But it was free of stress, too. His only brush with bogey was a 6-foot par putt on the island-green 17th. “I don’t think I putted very well around here as a whole,” Johnson said of his record at Sawgrass. “That’s one thing I’ve struggled around here with, and today I rolled it nicely.”  

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WILMINGTON, N.C. – Notes and observations from Sunday’s final round of the Wells Fargo Championship at Eagle Point Golf Club, where Brian Harman made a 28-foot birdie putt at the last hole to get to 10 under and nip Dustin Johnson (67) and Pat Perez (68) by one. Rookie Jon Rahm (71) made a par 5 at the 18th hole and finished fourth alone at 8 under. For more coverage from Eagle Point, click here for the Daily Wrap-up. HARMAN OVERLOOKED NO MORE Attention was paid to Dustin Johnson, who was going for his fourth straight win; and Jon Rahm, the rookie sensation; and Ryder Cup hero Patrick Reed, the third-round leader; and the capital L Lefty, Phil Mickelson, who had never won in North Carolina. Not much attention was paid to little lefthander Brian Harman—until he gave everyone no choice. “Well, I would be lying if I didn’t say I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder,” Harman said after he made a wild, nearly 30-foot birdie putt on the last hole to win by one. He screamed and connected on a high-five with his much-taller caddie Scott Tway as the crowd roared and the enormity of his putt hit home. Dustin Johnson and Pat Perez were out; Harman had won it. Harman is 5 feet, 7 inches tall, and his tee shots don’t exactly scrape the bottom of the sun. He is steady—he was 32nd in FedExCup standings, and moves to 9th—but other than his only other TOUR win at the 2014 John Deere Classic, he hadn’t often been spectacular. When he first saw Eagle Point a few weeks ago on a reconnaissance trip with Patton Kizzire, Harris English and Hudson Swafford, Harman wasn’t sure the place was for guys like him. “I actually thought like, man, this is a real bomber’s paradise—18 and a couple of the par 5s on the front,” Harman said. “Like if you can carry like, that magic number seems to be like 290, 300 yards, if you can carry it, kind of catches the downslope and runs down there a little bit.” Harman would have to be precise, limit his mistakes, and take advantage of his opportunities. He averaged 284.1 yards off the tee, which placed him a respectable 40th in that category, and hit fairways and greens. He putted better than average. (He was 17th in strokes gained: putting.) He hung around. He said his most important round may have come Friday, when in whipping winds he not only refused to shoot himself out of the tournament, he carded a 3-under 69. Although they hadn’t first planned to be here, Harman’s wife Kelly and their daughter Cooper Marie came up from their home in St. Simons Island, Georgia. Cooper Marie will walk soon, and Kelly said Brian has been on edge about potentially missing her first steps. As it turned out, it was Kelly and Cooper Marie who got to watch Brian take the biggest step. “It’s very hard to stay patient because you know what it feels like to win, you know what it takes,” Harman said after his raucous 172nd TOUR start. “You feel like you’re capable of it but it just doesn’t happen. And then it doesn’t happen again and it doesn’t happen again, and then that’s where the doubt starts to creep in. So this one feels very good.” WIN STREAK OVER FOR JOHNSON After making the cut on the number (1 over), Dustin Johnson did almost everything he needed to on the weekend to win his fourth tournament in four starts. Alas, his second straight 67 Sunday was not quite good enough, and he will not become the first player to win in four consecutive starts since Tiger Woods won five straight nine years ago. “I didn’t really know what to expect this week, because I didn’t really get to practice leading into this tournament,” Johnson said after making a 15-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to take the clubhouse lead. “So most of my practice I’ve done since I’ve been here.” Johnson was coming off a long layoff after falling down a flight of stairs and withdrawing from the Masters Tournament, but there was nothing wrong with his long game at Eagle Point. He led the field in average driving distance (307.3 yards) and strokes gained: approach the green. His short game was only average, though, as he ranked 63rd in strokes gained: around the green. “Physically, I’m really good,” Johnson said. “Everything’s 100 percent, feeling great. I can swing at it, no problems. Still got a lot of practice to do to get ready for next week [and THE PLAYERS Championship], but looking forward to it.” SHOT OF THE DAY PEREZ: T2 ‘A BONUS’ Pat Perez hadn’t competed since a T18 finish at the Masters, so he came to Eagle Point with few expectations. At the very least, he would knock the rust off for THE PLAYERS. He did a lot more than that. Perez bounced back from a double-bogey at the 14th hole with birdies on two of his last three to tie Johnson at 9 under par before Harman made his winning putt. At 40, Perez is in the midst of his finest season yet. His T2 at the Wells Fargo was his fifth top-10 finish in 15 starts, and moves him from seventh to fifth in the FedExCup points race. “Hell of an up-and-down from back there,” Perez said of Harman. “He deserves it, he played great. I made double on 14, that killed me, but to have a look at the end, I was really excited about it.” Needing to make birdie at the last to tie Johnson, Perez got almost to the green with his second shot. His chip rolled out to just over four feet from the cup, and he rolled in the putt. “I wasn’t really expecting too much this week,” Perez said. “I didn’t do a whole lot—I was just trying to hit some shots and get ready for next week. This was just kind of a bonus being there.” RAHM STILL ROLLING At fourth in the FedExCup points race, Jon Rahm now has six top-10 finishes in his last eight starts, the highlight being his Farmers Insurance Open win at Torrey Pines. He needed a replay of his final-hole eagle at Torrey Pines on Sunday, but airmailed the green and settled for a par. “I probably hit one of the best 5-woods I’ve hit in my life, probably better than the one at 18 at Torrey,” Rahm said. “The adrenaline—it was just so flushed and it was way longer than I expected. And then that chip was really hard.” Rahm’s par was a slight buzzkill, but he was still able to see the big picture. His form remains excellent, and next week he’ll take his game to TPC Sawgrass and THE PLAYERS, where, he noted, the success of his countryman Sergio Garcia suggests Rahm could do well there, too. “I’m playing against the best in the world,” Rahm said, “and to be my first year and have as many options as anyone to win tournaments, I’m extremely happy just about that. Hope I can keep it going and maybe next week have a chance again.” CALL OF THE DAY   KAUFMAN ALL SMILES Other than keeping good company in Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler, Smylie Kaufman has been having a rough go of it lately. Kaufman, 25, came to Eagle Point languishing at 203rd in the FedExCup standings after making only four cuts in 13 starts. His game was in a far different place than it was when he win the 2016 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Eagle Point, though, is nothing if not generous off the tee, and the long hitting Kaufman took to it immediately. His 4-under 68 Sunday got him to 7 under for the tournament, the leader in the clubhouse until Harman, Johnson, Perez and Rahm came in. “Yeah, I saw that,” said Kaufman, who ultimately slid down the board and into a T5 finish, still by far his best result this season. “It’s nice to be leading at something. I’ve been leading to the airport recently, so it’s nice to have my game trending in the right way.” The secret, Kaufman said, has been good, old fashioned hard work. He said he “grinded out a cut” at the Valero Texas Open, and while his T37 finish was nothing to write home about, it was at least a step in the right direction. He missed the cut again while playing with Harold Varner III at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, but at least they shot a second-round 65. Then came the Wells Fargo at Eagle Point, and something to build on for real. “There’s going to be a time this year where I’ll have another opportunity to win,” Kaufman said, “and hopefully I can just reflect on my past experiences and go get it.” ODDS AND ENDS Going for his sixth PGA TOUR victory, leader Patrick Reed faded with a final-round 75 and tied for 12th. … The first three rounds, played in relentless wind, yielded just one bogey-free round apiece. In calmer conditions Sunday, Paul Casey (68), Xander Schauffele (68) and Tag Ridings (69) all went bogey-free. … Rahm was attempting to become the first international player 22 or younger with a multi-win season since Sergio Garcia in 2001. … Harman, the first lefty to win on TOUR since Greg Chalmers at the Barracuda Championship, has one top-10 finish, a T8 in 2015, in five career starts at THE PLAYERS. BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA Nice going @harmanbrian. Awesome putt big daddy!!! — Hudson Swafford (@Hud_swafford) May 7, 2017 Also shoutout to the crowds out at the @WellsFargoGolf this week! They were awesome everyday! — Zac Blair (@z_blair) May 7, 2017 Fun week at @WellsFargoGolf definitely one of my favorites. As a NC kid always fun playing at home! Congrats to @harmanbrian #seaislandmafia — J.T. Poston (@JT_ThePostman) May 7, 2017 Making birdie at the 72nd hole to win. It’s tough to top this feeling. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/jhkCMpUSgV — PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 7, 2017

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