Web.com finish helps to fuel Glover’s resurgence

Two-time major champion Dustin Johnson and a host of other PGA Tour players are in the field for the first LIV Golf Invitational Series event, while Phil Mickelson was not included on the list of players released on Tuesday.

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The U.S. Open may visit a new venue this year, but the year’s second major should still be one of the season’s toughest tests. Here’s a look at some of the groups to watch next week at Erin Hills:  Hideki Matsuyama (3), Rickie Fowler (8), Jon Rahm (4): Three of the world’s best players, all of whom are seeking their first major, are in this group. Matsuyama, 25, has two wins this season. Fowler, the 2015 PLAYERS champion, was runner-up at the 2014 U.S. Open. Fowler, 28, won this year’s The Honda Classic and recently was runner-up at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Rahm, 22, has a TOUR-high seven top-10s in 15 starts, including his win at the Farmers Insurance Open. Rahm’s meteoric rise to the upper echelons of the game has come rapidly, as evidenced by the fact that he was low amateur at last year’s U.S. Open (T21). Tee time: 7:51 a.m. on Thursday off No. 10; 1:36 p.m. on Friday off No. 1. Kevin Kisner (6), Billy Horschel (18), Branden Grace (87): This group features the winners from the PGA TOUR’s recent Texas swing and a player who’s played well at the past two U.S. Opens. Kisner won the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational, while Horschel recently claimed the AT&T Byron Nelson. Grace finished fifth at last year’s U.S. Open and T4 in 2015. These players could face each other at the Presidents Cup later this year, as well. Kisner is fourth in the U.S. standings, while Horschel is 20th. Grace ranks sixth in the International Team standings. He went 5-0-0 at the 2015 Presidents Cup. Tee time: 8:24 a.m. on Thursday off No. 1; 2:09 p.m. on Friday off No. 10. Martin Kaymer (NR), Jordan Spieth (5), Dustin Johnson (1): The past three U.S. Open winners are in this group. Johnson, the defending champion, leads the FedExCup standings after winning three consecutive events earlier this year. Spieth, who won the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay en route to claiming the FedExCup, won this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Kaymer won the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 weeks after winning THE PLAYERS Championship. Tee time: 8:35 a.m. on Thursday off No. 10; 2:20 p.m. on Friday off No. 1. Marc Leishman (14), Pat Perez (7), Si Woo Kim (23): This group features three players who have won on the PGA TOUR this season. Kim, 21, became the youngest player to win THE PLAYERS when he was victorious last month at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass. Perez is seventh in the FedExCup standings thanks to five top-10s this season, including a victory at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. Leishman won the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Tee time: 1:14 p.m. on Thursday off No. 1; 7:29 a.m. on Friday off No. 10. Brad Dalke (a) (NR), Wesley Bryan (20), Brendan Steele (11): Dalke, the 2016 U.S. Amateur runner-up, gets to tee it up with two PGA TOUR winners in his U.S. Open debut. Bryan, the 2016 Web.com Tour Player of the Year, won this year’s RBC Heritage. Steele is in FedExCup contention thanks to a win at the Safeway Open and three other top-10s. Dalke recently helped the University of Oklahoma win the NCAA Championship. Tee time: 1:14 p.m. on Thursday off No. 10; 7:29 a.m. on Friday off No. 1. Bubba Watson (106), Adam Scott (66), Sergio Garcia (12): Sergio Garcia joined an exclusive club when he won the Masters in April. Now he gets to play in a group alongside his fellow owners of a Green Jacket. Perhaps they can give him suggestions for the Champions Dinner. Scott won the 2013 Masters, while Watson won at Augusta National in 2012 and 2014. Garcia has five top-10s in the U.S. Open, including a T5 last year. Scott has four top-20s in his past five U.S. Open appearances. Tee time: 1:36 p.m. on Thursday off No. 1; 7:51 a.m. on Friday off No. 10. Jason Day (42), Justin Rose (15), Rory McIlroy (64): Defending FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy, who will be making his first PGA TOUR start since THE PLAYERS because of a rib injury, leads this threesome of major champions. Day won his first major at the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, about an hour north of Erin Hills. He has five top-10s in six U.S. Open appearances, including two runners-up (2011, 2013). Rose won the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion by two shots over Day and Phil Mickelson. Rose, the 2016 Olympic gold medalist, was runner-up to Sergio Garcia at this year’s Masters. Tee time: 2:09 p.m. on Thursday off No. 1; 8:24 a.m. on Friday off No. 10. Steve Stricker (120), Stewart Cink (60), Phil Mickelson (43): Steve Stricker, the local favorite, will tee up alongside two other players in their 40s. Stricker, this year’s U.S. Presidents Cup captain, is from Edgerton, Wisconsin, about an hour from Erin Hills. It is yet to be determined if Mickelson, who has a record six runners-up at the U.S. Open, will compete at Erin Hills. He said he would withdraw from the event if it conflicts with his daughter’s high school graduation. Stewart Cink, the 2009 Open Championship winner, qualified for this year’s U.S. Open, his first since 2014. Cink has eight top-25 finishes this season. Tee time: 2:20 p.m. on Thursday off No. 1; 8:35 a.m. on Friday off No. 10.

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DUBLIN, Ohio – Jordan Spieth’s revival continued on Thursday at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, where the former FedExCup champion opened with a 6-under 66. Related: Leaderboard | Tiger shoots 2-under 70 But the 11-time PGA TOUR winner was measured with his thoughts after a round that had him just one shot off the early lead. Spieth was able to climb the leaderboard thanks to some brilliant scrambling and pure putting. He chipped in twice and dropped in a 35-foot eagle putt over the course of his round. “It was okay. Some more work to do on it. I missed three greens with wedges and plugged one in a bunker with a punch 8-iron. So I had four opportunities, ended up off the green on all of them,â€� Spieth said post-round. “Some of those short clubs can certainly get a little tighter. Two chip-ins certainly helped. I felt like I stole a couple early in the round to be under par, and then just kind of played the shots that needed to be played. “I hit a lot of fairways, which was nice, which gave me plenty of looks at birdie, and seemed to capitalize on quite a few of them.â€� Spieth is winless since the 2017 Open Championship, but ended a 10-month drought without a top-10 over the last two weeks, as the Texan finished T3 at the PGA Championship and T8 last week at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Given Spieth’s trend this season has been good early scores but fades on the weekends, he wasn’t getting carried away. The 2015 FedExCup champion says all the work on revamping his swing is showing results and the important mental side of believing he’s on the right track is paramount. He was also particularly cognizant of saving energy, given this is a fourth straight tournament, a run he is using to really ingrain things. “Trying to trust things on the golf course in tournament play is big for me now because, like I said, it’s kind of a significant type of feeling through the swing that if I took a couple of weeks off and came back, it’s a little harder to trust that right away,â€� Spieth explained. “But if you’re used to trusting it, it’s almost like playing through the… I don’t want to say slump… but playing through anything that’s been a little off. And more trusting the golf course the better.â€�

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