Winner’s Bag: Harris English, Travelers Championship

NAPA, Calif. – Tony Romo didn’t come close to making the cut in his first three PGA TOUR starts, twice at the Corales Punta Cana Resort & Club Championship and once at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Still, as was the case when he quarterbacked the Dallas Cowboys, he was undeterred by a little adversity. “Same thing I did in football,� Romo said after birdies on his last two holes for a 2-under 70 at Silverado, his best round on TOUR by four shots. “You just start from the beginning. You’re not very good, not very good, and then all of a sudden you make the leap somewhere and all of a sudden you can be more efficient and you can do things a little bit better.� With the afternoon wave still out on the course, Romo was tied for 24th place and squarely in contention to make his first cut. He made 122 feet of putts and beat his playing partners Beau Hossler (74) and Michael Gellerman (76) with ease. Related: Leaderboard “He played well, so that was fun to watch, and he’s a good guy,� said Gellerman, who calls himself a fan of the Minnesota Vikings. That’s the team that will play the Chicago Bears in Chicago on Sunday, a game Romo is scheduled to call for CBS, his day job. If he makes the cut, he has said he will stay at Silverado to finish out the tournament. Few observers gave Romo much of a chance to make the cut. When he shot 79-80 at the Corales last season, he missed the cut by a wide margin and beat only one pro who did not withdraw. He shot 77-82 there the year before. His best result came at the AT&T Byron Nelson on his home course, but scores of 76-74 weren’t even close to good enough to play into the weekend. “It’s embarrassing to stink,� Romo said after his five-birdie, three-birdie round at Silverado on Thursday. “I stunk a lot, so just trying to continue to improve and get better.� His highly public failures told him what he wasn’t good at, especially putting, but he worked hard with instructor Chris O’Connell on every aspect of his game. He’d seen that hard work pay off in his scores at home in Dallas, but executing in a TOUR event is another matter. “Just the scoring back home and in practice sessions have shown that I’ve done things a little better,� Romo said. “So that makes you excited to come out and test your game. I think it’s rewarding on a tough golf course to come out here and do that.�

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NORTON, Mass. – The first time Justin Rose played a competitive round at TPC Boston, he shot 63. That was 15 years ago and he was not yet a TOUR member. He was playing on a sponsor’s exemption extended by then-tournament director Jay Monahan, now the PGA TOUR Commissioner. Rose, then 23-years old, eventually finished solo third and earned his TOUR card without having to go through Q-school. Since then, he’s played more than 300 TOUR events, won nine times – including a major and two WGC events – and also won an Olympic gold medal. It’s been a stellar career. But he’s never been able to match that 63 – although he came close Friday with a bogey-free 6-under 65 to take the first-round lead at the Dell Technologies Championship. “This golf course has been changed and manipulated a lot through the years,â€� said Rose after his 45th career round at TPC Boston. “I think the first couple of years I played really well and enjoyed it. Then obviously significant changes through the years. I guess the last few years things have settled a little bit again. “So I played better when it was pre-redesign. I probably had more success.â€� Indeed. Besides his solo third in 2003, he tied for fourth in 2006. But since the debut of the FedExCup Playoffs the following year and the course’s redesign by Gil Hanse, Rose’s only top-10 finish came last year with a tie for 10th. Perhaps he’s finally starting to solve it. He certainly solved the tricky wind conditions better than anybody else, and his bogey-free round was one of just two on the day (Abraham Ancer had the other in shooting 66). Of course, it helps that he’s an established world-class golfer, ranked sixth in FedExCup points and fourth in the world. Even so, TPC Boston – at least the latest version — may always seem liked a mystery to him. “I’ve had some mixed results here,â€� said Rose, who turned his first missed cut of the season at last week’s FedExCup Playoffs opener into a six-day visit back home. “I’ve had some great weeks and I’ve had some poor weeks here. It’s a course I never really know exactly what to expect. “But it’s a fun golf course.â€� It was fun 15 years ago when he first saw it. Maybe it will be even more fun for him the rest of this week. KEEGAN HANDLING HOMETOWN PRESSURE Keegan Bradley desperately wants to give his New England fans a winning performance. Unfortunately, he’s never really come close at TPC Boston. In six previous appearances at the Dell Technologies Championship, his best finish is a tie for 13th in 2012. That was the year he shot 63 in the third round. Alas, that only moved him within 13 shots of the leader. Two years later, he opened with a 65, leaving him in solo second … and then he gradually dropped down the leaderboard to finish tied for 16th. Yes, the Vermont native – who’s also an unabashed Boston sports fan — gets tons of support here. That also comes with tons of pressure. Now, though, he thinks he can properly channel that pressure. An opening 4-under 67, which leaves him just two shots behind leader Justin Rose, suggests this might be the year. “I’ve learned to love coming here,â€� Bradley said. “It used to be a very tough week for me. I put so much pressure on myself. But I’ve learned to go with it.â€� He’s also learning how to let go of disappointment. A week ago, his third-round 62 at THE NORTHERN TRUST moved him into solo second after 54 holes. A day later, in the final group with eventual winner Bryson DeChambeau, he suffered a free-fall, his 7-over 78 leaving him tied for 34th. Considering he hasn’t won a PGA TOUR event in six years and has just one top-3 finish in his last 119 starts, it was a bitter finish. But by the middle of this week, he was over it. “It was tough, because I felt like that was my day to kind of tell everybody that maybe I was back here and I was here to stay,â€� Bradley said. “I may have put too much pressure on myself. But it’s nice to come right back out and play quickly.â€� Will he keep riding the momentum – and successfully manage the expectations – for the final three rounds this week? Bradley certainly hopes so, but it’ll be difficult not to let his mind wander. “I would love to give the fans and my family who don’t get to come to a lot of tournaments see me compete and do well, maybe win,â€� he said. “That would be incredible. So always in the back of my mind, I think how amazing that would be. How cool that would be. “And that’s something that I’ll have to be aware of this week.â€� NOTABLES DJ’S GUARANTEE … In eight career starts at TPC Boston, Dustin Johnson has three top-10 finishes. He’s only held the lead once in 32 rounds here, and has only been inside the top-5 once entering the final round. His promise: That all changes this year. “I don’t understand why I haven’t had more success here because I like the golf course,â€� he said after an opening 68. “I feel like it sets up well for me. And I’m going to have success this year.â€� OFF THE BOTTOM OF THE SHOE … Marc Leishman’s approach into the par-4 sixth was sailing long right and heading into trouble – until it bounced off the bottom of the shoe of a fan who had stumbled and fallen backwards while trying to get out of the way. The ball ricocheted onto the green, and Leishman capitalized on the break by rolling in the birdie putt from 56 feet, 11 inches. “First time that’s ever happened to me,â€� said Leishman, who shot a 68. “It’s nice when it does happen … Hopefully I don’t need those kind of breaks later in the week.â€� Click here for the video of the shoe shot. TURF TALK … A week ago, Chris Kirk tied for last among all players who made the cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST. This week, he’s off to a great start with a 4-under 67. The difference, he said, is his ability to read the greens at TPC Boston after struggling last week at Ridgewood. And why is that? “I suck on poa annua,â€� Kirk said. He said other than a solo second in the 2013 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, his track record is horrible on poa annua greens. “I wish I somehow had any clue what I did that week,â€� he said. “I’m still using the same putter right now that I used that week.â€� Bentgrass greens, like at TPC Boston, and bermudagrass greens are no problem. “At least I feel good on two out of the three surfaces we play,â€� Kirk said. FEELING FRESH … Beau Hossler played six straight weeks earlier this season. He had another stretch of five straight weeks. But this week is just his third start in the last six weeks. “I feel really fresh, where a lot of players probably don’t right now,â€� Hossler said after his 67. “I would say my game isn’t exactly where I want it to be. But as far as mentally, I feel totally rested and prepared to compete.â€� Hossler’s fast start is no surprise – the rookie is fifth on TOUR in first-round scoring average. BANG-BANG FINISHES … Russell Knox was plodding along and coming off an unfortunate bogey on the 12th hole after finding the middle of the fairway. After that? Three birdies and an eagle hole-out at the par-4 15th to shoot 66 and share second place. “The round was just good in four holes,â€� Knox said. “It was nice. I haven’t hd one of those bang-bang runs in a while.â€� … Abraham Ancer also had one of those runs to finish his bogey-free 66, making four birdies in his last six holes. “Some putts didn’t go in on the front nine and I just stayed patient and made some coming in,â€� Ancer said. QUOTABLES They might be taking an early weekend. Should be in school studying.I’ve learned more about my game this year than any other season, no doubt. SHOT OF THE DAY

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Phil Mickelson beat Tiger Woods in overtime Friday in their $9 million pay-per-view match in Las Vegas. Mickelson won on the 22nd hole, making a 4-foot birdie putt on a specially set up 93-yard, par 3. The match at Shadow Creek Golf Club finished under floodlights. Mickelson said to Woods after the match: “Just know I will never let you live that down. It’s not the Masters or the U.S. Open, but it is nice to have a little something on you.” Woods said he enjoyed the match, even if he was on the losing end. “You couldn’t have made this event any better than it was,” he said. “It was back and forth and very competitive on a golf course that was playing on the tricky side.” Only 700 invited guests were allowed to watch the event at Shadow Creek. The match was billed as a chance for viewers to watch an untraditional golf broadcast as both golfers and their caddies were mic’d up. It also featured live odds from MGM resorts and a drone was used for live shots. There was some banter between Woods and Mickelson early on but not much as the stakes increased. Mickelson said on the 15th hole to Woods that “I’m trying to be more talkative but I’m not on this back nine.” Woods understood and responded that they were going back to their old mode of “trying to beat each other’s brains in.” The most revealing moment on the front nine happened after Woods missed a 4-foot, short par putt on the second hole to give Mickelson an early advantage. “I was half a second from giving him that putt because he always makes those,” Mickelson said to his brother, Tim, who was his caddie. Mickelson was 1 up through the front nine before Woods seized the lead with birdies on the par-4 11th and 12th holes. Mickelson then squared it with a birdie on the par-3 13th and retook the lead when Woods bogeyed the par-4 15th. Woods tied it with birdie from the fringe of the green on the par-3 17th. Both birdied the par-5 18th and then parred the first playoff hole before it went to the par-3 extra hole — which was pitch shots off the practice putting green — that they kept playing until there was a winner. After he birdied the 17th, Woods said to caddie Joe LaCava “just like old times, buddy.” Mickelson also said it was like old times for him against Woods after that trademark shot. “You’ve been doing that to me for 20 years, I don’t know why I am surprised now,” he said. Mickelson also had the advantage in challenge bets. Woods won the first challenge for $200,000 when Mickelson didn’t birdie the first hole. Mickelson though won the next three, which were closest-to-the-pin challenges on par-3 holes, which totaled $600,000. Both said they couldn’t see challenge bets become a part of regular PGA TOUR events. “Maybe at match play you could but that might not be the best thing,” Mickelson said. “I think it added to the competition. It had that flavor of a Tuesday practice round with more at stake.”

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