Willie Mack shares Round 1 lead at APGA Tour event at World Golf Village

Sean O'Hair has barely played on the PGA TOUR the last two seasons but he's looking to take full advantage of his good play at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship heading into the weekend. After back-to-back rounds of 5-under-par 67, O'Hair was only the second golfer into double-digits under par after the morning wave Friday. The four-time TOUR winner is looking to return to the winner's circle for the first time since the 2011 RBC Canadian Open - more than nine years ago. O'Hair tore his left oblique nearly 18 months ago and is still recovering after surgery. He teed it up at just two PGA TOUR events last season - the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Honda Classic, finishing T50 and missing the cut, respectively. He's on a Major Medical Extension this season. He missed the cut at the Safeway Open to start the season. However, O'Hair's 10-under total has him in good position going into the weekend in the Dominican Republic. "I was pretty proud of the bogey-free today," said O'Hair. "I’ve been playing solid. Today I left a few out there, but I’ll take the bogey-free round, for sure." O'Hair said he had quite a bit of scar tissue built up near his oblique from the car accident he was involved in in 2008 which needed to be removed along with having his oblique repaired. He admitted that while he's basically been off the TOUR for a year-and-a-half, he's trying to get into a routine again. But, there's been a bit of a turning point this week. "My body’s still not quite there as far as just the workload that you do just from traveling and hitting balls and walking and practicing. It’s kind of hard to practice that at home. But, you know, as far as health-wise, I feel great and it’s nice to be out here, for sure," he said. O'Hair said he didn't want to get ahead of himself in terms of qualifying for the FedExCup Playoffs later this season, but he's got a laser-like focus on these next 16 events so then he can keep his PGA TOUR card. However, he said one thing is for sure: his love of the game hasn't waned. "I think I got a little bit lazy and took too much for granted right before I got injured. I think I was more counting the days to retirement and I think you get that taken away from you, the ability to play golf, and you figure out that you love the game still and you still want to compete," said O'Hair. "It was a really hard recovery for me and I didn’t know if I was going to make it back or not, so it took a lot of hard work to get to this point and it feels good." O'Hair wasn't the only golfer on a Major Medical Exemption to play well through two rounds at Corales. Graham DeLaet fired an 8-under-par 64 on Friday, his lowest such round in relation to par on the PGA TOUR since a 9-under-par 63 effort at the Barbasol Championship in 2016. DeLaet was on the shelf for most of the last two seasons due to a back injury and bounced back Friday after an opening-round 78. Jamie Lovemark, meanwhile, is also on a Major Medical after suffering a shoulder injury that sidelined him for the balance of the last two seasons. He sits at 6-under through two rounds at Corales. "I've been feeling good," Lovemark said Friday. "I came back last year and had no confidence I wasn't very sure of myself. I had no speed. I'm getting my speed back and getting my confidence back." Lovemark finished T56 at the Safeway Open as he looks to have a solid run in his return. He tore the labrum in his shoulder (It was "popping in, popping out," he said). He didn't have to have surgery but has been through a lot of rehab which he calls "tedious and annoying," but helpful. "I was off for six months. It was a nice break but it was too long," he said. "There's pressure to perform but you lose sight of that usually and you just play the round in front of you. At home you think about it but I've got 15 events, almost a full season, and I'm starting to play better."

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NORTH BERWICK, Scotland – The calmest winds that Matt Fitzpatrick has faced at this week’s Genesis Scottish Open came towards the end of his second round. It was as if the weather wanted to rub it in, only confirming what Fitzpatrick already knew. RELATED: Tee times dictate scoring in opening round | Smith, caddie win cars after ace in Scotland “It’s safe to say we got the worse half of the draw,” he said after shooting a 66 that was Friday morning’s second-best score. The luck of the draw is an inherent part of links courses, where a seven-day forecast inspires about as much confidence as an American driving on the left side for the first time. Thursday’s afternoon wave averaged about three strokes higher than the other half of the field. Those same players seemed to face the toughest conditions Friday even though it was their turn to tee off early. The lowest 36-hole score from the late-early starters was 3-under 137. Four players shot that score, including two of the TOUR’s most recent winners, but they were six shots behind leader Cameron Tringale, who had yet to start his second round, when they signed their cards. U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Travelers winner Xander Schauffele, rookie Kurt Kitayama and DP World Tour member Jordan L. Smith were all tied as the top players from the tougher conditions. Schauffele started his day by making eagle on the par-5 10th. His second shot was an 8-iron from 225 yards that he hit to 15 feet. His 65 was the low round from Friday’s early starters. “It wasn’t that (the wind) was constant. It was that it was kind of coming in and out and pretty strong breezes,” said Schauffele, who’s ranked eighth in the FedExCup after his recent win at the Travelers Championship. “I enjoy the challenge.” Fitzpatrick shot 66 on Friday after bogeying his last two holes. Kitayama, a TOUR rookie who’s won twice on the DP World Tour, shot a 66 on Thursday that was the low round from the afternoon. Smith made a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th as part of his second-round 69, winning cars for both himself and his caddie, a childhood friend. He is one of just two players from this half of the draw to shoot under par in each of the first two rounds. Rickie Fowler, who shot 69-69, is the other. Plenty of the game’s biggest names did not fare as well. Despite those two closing bogeys, Fitzpatrick finished eight shots ahead of playing partners Collin Morikawa and Will Zalatoris, who both shot 71-74. Hideki Matsuyama was 7 over par for 36 holes, while PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas finished 10 over, matching the second-worst 36-hole score of his career in relation to par. It was just the second missed cut in 17 starts this season for Thomas. This is Fitzpatrick’s first start since he won the U.S. Open. He welcomed getting back to work after the whirlwind weeks that followed his win in Brookline. “It’s just been busy with all sorts of stuff so I’m toward get back into regular scheduling,” said Fitzpatrick, who’s 11th in the FedExCup. That includes late tee times on weekends, even when he faces the worst of the weather.

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Adrian Meronk held off a final-round charge from New Zealander Ryan Fox to win the Irish Open at Mount Juliet Estate in County Kilkenny on Sunday.

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