Woods projected to make first cut since 2015

Four-time PGA TOUR winner Daniel Berger has recovered from a joint sprain in his lower back to take his place at the WM Phoenix Open, a week after withdrawing from his title defense at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Speaking on a live Twitter Spaces hosted by GolfBet, the 28-year-old said his absence from Pebble Beach was hard to swallow but was needed to clear any long-term concerns on his health. “It’s always tough to not be able to defend a tournament that you won and that you love so much but I didn’t feel healthy enough to compete for four days,” Berger said during practice at TPC Scottsdale. “I took the time that I didn’t play and I worked on my body and I got the treatment and did the stuff in the gym that I needed to do and I’m thankful for it because now I feel better and I’m ready to go.” Berger revealed he suffered a sacroiliac (SI) joint sprain, the part of the body that links the lower spine to the pelvis, earlier this year and played through it at Torrey Pines during the Farmers Insurance Open. He battled to a T20 finish in San Diego coming off a T5 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui. “That (playing on at Torrey) kind of made it worse and that’s why it was a big decision that I didn’t play last week because I didn’t want to make it worse than it already was,” he added. “You have a long season ahead of you and you have to think about events in the future and I didn’t want to do something that was going to make it harder for me to come back in the weeks going ahead… But I’m glad I’m back now.” Berger has four previous finishes inside the top 11 at TPC Scottsdale in seven appearances.

Click here to read the full article…

Keita Nakajima, the world’s top-ranked amateur, is making noise at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He is tied for fifth place at the halfway point after shooting 64 on Friday. Click here to learn more about the promising prospect from Japan, who also has won the Asia-Pacific Amateur and on the Japan Tour. He also is signed on to be part of the newly-announced Netflix documentary and will have starts in three majors this year. Below are the clubs that Nakajima is using this week at Waialae: Driver: TaylorMade Stealth (9 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD X Fairway wood: TaylorMade Stealth (16.5 degrees) Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD X Driving iron: TaylorMade SIM UDI (19 degrees) Irons: TaylorMade P7MC (4-5); TaylorMade P7MB (6-9) Wedges: TaylorMade MG3 (46 degrees, 52, 56, 60) Putter: TaylorMade Truss TB1 Juno

Click here to read the full article…

This week we head to Silvis, Illinois, and birdie-friendly TPC Deere Run, for the 20-year anniversary of John Deere’s title sponsorship. Designed by Illinois native and former TOUR pro D.A. Weibring, TPC Deere Run is set on an old Arabian horse farm along the Rock River. The scenic course features ponds and ravines, elevation changes and hardwood trees—and lots of red numbers. Players have made 30,042 birdies over the last 17 years at TPC Deere Run, the most of any course on TOUR. Six weeks and eight events remain until THE NORTHERN TRUST and the start of the FedExCup playoffs. With time running out to get into the top 125, some of the players hanging on just inside the cut line include Bubba Watson, Zach Johnson and Stricker. No one plays TPC Deere Run better than Stricker and Johnson, who are a combined 307 under par there since 2000. Could this be a get-well week for them? And keep an eye on this week’s winner, as nine of the past 10 John Deere Classic champions have gone all the way to the FedExCup finale, the TOUR Championship at East Lake. RELATED LINKS: Tee times | Field | Course | Past results PGA TOUR LIVE is scheduled to air from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday. After Featured Groups, the coverage will switch to Featured Holes at 4 p.m. The Featured Holes are the 361-yard, par-4 14th, which plays downhill and will tempt the longest hitters to try to drive the green, and the picturesque, 158-yard, par-3 16th, where players will aim for the green on a bluff 40 feet above the Rock River. PGA TOUR LIVE can also be viewed on Twitter from approximately 8 a.m. to 9:20 a.m. Thursday and Friday. (Note: All times Eastern; FedExCup ranking in parentheses.) THURSDAY Brian Harman (11), Wesley Bryan (28), Cody Gribble (74): Right-handed Bryan is the odd man out in this lefty-friendly group. Harman is enjoying his best season after a win at the Wells Fargo Championship and a T2 at the recent U.S. Open at Erin Hills. He’s hanging tough at 10th on the Presidents Cup points list. Bryan became one of four rookies to win on TOUR this season at the RBC Heritage, but has struggled since and is coming off a T46 finish at the Quicken Loans National. And Gribble, who last October won the Sanderson Farms Championship, is trying to snap a streak of three consecutive missed cuts.  Tee time: 8:50 a.m. off 10 tee Zach Johnson (103), Daniel Berger (9), Charles Howell III (17): This group features one of the most popular players in the field in Johnson, a Cedar Rapids native who played for Drake University of Des Moines. Johnson is also the 2012 John Deere champ, has finished T3 or better in five of the last six years, and sits on the tournament’s board of directors. Berger already has one win this season at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, where he went back-to-back, and at fourth in Presidents Cup points he has locked up a spot on the U.S. team. Howell nearly won the recent Quicken Loans National, falling to Kyle Stanley in a sudden-death playoff, despite the fact that he was coming off a nine-week break due to a rib injury.   Tee time: 9 a.m. off 10 tee FRIDAY Ryan Moore (61), Kyle Stanley (14), William McGirt (77): Five-time TOUR winner Moore is the Deere’s defending champion, and is coming off a banner season in which he nearly won the TOUR Championship and finished a career-high seventh in the FedExCup. Moore will try to continue a streak of 23 consecutive sub-par rounds at TPC Deere Run. Stanley’s last start saw him notch his first victory in five years, an emotional win at the Quicken Loans National in the nation’s capital two weeks ago. And McGirt is coming back to the Deere after a one-year hiatus; he shot four straight 69s and finished T41 in 2015.     Tee time: 8:50 a.m. off 10 tee Steve Stricker (121), Bubba Watson (118), Kevin Kisner (8): This group features three-time Deere winner Stricker (2009-2011) along with Watson, who is going for his 10th TOUR victory, and Kisner, who collected his second win at the recent DEAN & DELUCA Invitational in Texas. Stricker, 50, who finished T16 at the U.S. Open, is still competitive on TOUR amid his preparations to captain the U.S. Presidents Cup team at Liberty National in September. Watson, who finished T6 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, is making his first start at the Deere since 2010 (MC). His best finish there is a T17 in 2006. And Kisner has already amassed six top-10s this season, including a win at the DEAN & DELUCA and a playoff runner-up at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. At fifth in Presidents Cup points, Kisner, like Berger, has locked up a spot on the U.S. team that will take on the Internationals at Liberty National in September. Tee time: 9 a.m. off 10 tee

Click here to read the full article…