Watch live: British Open Round 1 underway

LEXINGTON, Ky. – David Toms didn’t know exactly what to expect this week. The 52-year-old had entered the Barbasol Championship because he wanted to stay sharp. Toms doesn’t plan to play the Senior Open Championship next week, and he didn’t want to take a four-week break before PGA TOUR Champions returns for its final 11 events of the season. His son Carter was playing in a tournament, too, so there wasn’t really time for a family vacation. So, Tom’s wife Sonya and their daughter Anna said they’d make the four-and-a-half-hour drive to Kentucky from their home in Shreveport with him. So far, it’s been well worth the trip. Toms fired a 64 on Friday that left him tied for third at 12 under, just three strokes off Jim Herman’s lead entering the weekend – with a chance to become the second-oldest winner on the PGA TOUR. Sam Snead, who won the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open at the age of 52 years, 10 months and 8 days, is the first. He has Toms by a matter of four months and nine days. “That would be kind of cool, but I’ve got a long way to go,â€� said Toms, who remembers spending time with Snead at the Masters. “See if we can play well enough tomorrow not to be too far back on Sunday and have a chance.â€� Toms, a 12-time winner on the PGA TOUR, has been his usual patient and steady self during the first two rounds at the Champion Course at Keene Trace Golf Club, a course he’s played several times before in U.S. Open qualifying. The 2001 PGA champion has hit 21 of 28 fairways and 29 of 36 greens in regulation. He’s made one eagle, 14 birdies – pitching in three times Friday from just off the green — and dropped just three shots to par, including on the last hole Saturday that kept him from a share of second. “My first goal was just to play Saturday and Sunday really, and then I started feeling good about it yesterday, the way I was playing, and obviously it carried over to today,â€� Toms said. “So, I’m in good shape. But I’ll have to go really low on the weekend like everybody else is going to have to do. “It’s a longer golf course for me, so it helps that it’s drying up a little bit. So, I don’t have as many scoring opportunities as some of the other players, but if I can take advantage of the ones I do have, I’ll be okay.â€� This is just the third TOUR event he’s played this season, tying for 31st at the Charles Schwab Challenge and missing the cut at the U.S. Open. Toms has three runner-up finishes on the PGA TOUR Champions, though, including in his title defense at the U.S. Senior Open and at another major, the Regions Tradition. “Had opportunities, haven’t been able to get it done,â€� Toms said. “But like I said, everybody out there are champions, all the guys that are playing, so they know how to win. “You have to go out there and do it and I haven’t been able to this year. We still have a lot of tournaments left.  Our fall is pretty important as a player out there, a lot of tournaments. So, I have some opportunities, I just have to get close and see if I can have something go my way.â€� He’s got a prime opportunity this weekend, too.

Click here to read the full article…

DETROIT — Tony Finau sent an approach from 250 yards soaring over trees and onto the seventh green at Detroit Golf Club, going for the reward and ignoring the risk with a difficult shot. The way he has been playing over the last week, it made a lot of sense. Finau, coming off his third career victory on the PGA TOUR, and Taylor Pendrith shared the first-round lead at 8-under 64 on Thursday in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. The pivotal shot on Finau’s 16th hole, a 560-yard par 5, set up a two-putt from 43 feet for one of his eight birdies. “I had to get all of it to get it to the hole and hit it right in the middle of the green,” he said. The leaderboard was filled with players who took advantage of favorable scoring conditions with morning tee times. In the afternoon, the wind picked up and the scores did as well. Former U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson, Michael Thompson, Cameron Champ, Lee Hodges and Matt Wallace were two shots back. Si Woo Kim and Kurt Kitayama, both ranked among the top 70 in the world, were in the pack at 67. Finau, who rallied from a five-shot deficit with 11 holes left to win the 3M Open by three shots Sunday in Minnesota, opened with a birdie and had five birdies on his front nine. After cooling off with four straight pars, Finau closed with his seventh and eighth birdies in a bogey-free round. He hit all 18 greens in regulation for the first time in 728 PGA TOUR stroke-play rounds. “Do the math, I missed 10 putts,” he said. “Obviously, 64′s a very good round, but this is a golf course where a lot of guys are going to make birdies.” On the par-4 eighth hole, he made a 41-foot putt downhill with a slight break from right to left for another birdie and a three-shot lead. “It was nice to just get a bonus birdie on 8 after a poor wedge shot, but that’s why we call our putter the equalizer,” Finau said. Pendrith, a 31-year-old PGA TOUR rookie, surged into a share of the lead with five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on his back nine. Toward the end of his round, the relatively anonymous player in the world noticed the ‘h’ in his last name was missing on the leaderboard. Alas, the 8 under next to his misspelled name was correct. “That’s all that matters,” he said with a grin. Pendrith is atop a leaderboard for the first time on the PGA TOUR following an opening round. The Canadian did have the third-round lead by three shots last October at the Bermuda Championship before closing with a 76 and finishing a career-high fifth. In March, he was 13th at THE PLAYERS Championship and came away with a career-best $327,222 — and a broken rib. The injury prevented him from competing for nearly four months, leading to him being ranked No. 237. He has bounced back with ties for 11th and 13th at tournaments earlier this month. “When I’m healthy, I can compete with the best,” Pendrith said. Nate Lashley, who won his first and only PGA TOUR title in Detroit four years ago, shot a 68 after getting an anti-inflammatory shot in his right foot. “I’m having surgery next week,” he said, adding he will need four to six weeks to recover. Mark Hubbard was also four shots off the lead after a topsy-turvy round with four birdies, two bogeys and an ace on the par-3, 216-yard 11th hole. Hubbard dropped his club and his head after hitting his tee shot. “That’s embarrassing,” he said while the ball was in flight. The ball landed on the front of the green and rolled toward the cup before going around it and dropping in. “That’s probably going to end up being one of my favorite hole-in-ones,” said Hubbard, who has nine career aces. Defending FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay, ranked No. 4 in the world, and 13th-ranked Will Zalatoris both shot 70. Cameron Young was another shot back and 20th-ranked Max Homa had a 72.

Click here to read the full article…

Our experts provide their top fantasy values as the FedExCup playoffs continue at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

Click here to read the full article…