By Joel Beall
Patrick Reed has been released from the hospital, according to multiple reports.

The news comes days after Reed released a statement to the Golf Channel that he had been hospitalized with bilateral pneumonia. Golfweek was the first to report that Reed has since returned to his home in Houston.

“I’m doing well,” Reed told Golfweek’s Steve DiMeglio. “I’m at home recovering and looking forward to getting back out there real soon.”

Reed had previously withdrawn from the Wyndham Championship and The Northern Trust, and his hospital stay forced him to drop out of this week’s BMW Championship as well. At No. 26 in the FedEx Cup rankings, he is unlikely to advance to next week’s season finale at East Lake in Atlanta.

Prior to his hospitalization, Reed was in the running for the final bid via automatic qualifying for the American Ryder Cup team, and is considered a candidate for one of six captain’s picks.

However, Reed did not give a timetable for his return or elaborate on the nature of his battle.

“It’s great to be back home with the family, kids and Justine,” Reed told Golfweek. “It makes the recovery process so much better. I’ve been focusing on my health and my family and Justine. You don’t realize how special you have it until something like this happens and I’m so happy just to be back recovering with them.

“I wish everyone a safe and healthy week and can’t wait to be back at it.”

The post Reports: Patrick Reed out of hospital appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
We are subscribers to the “bad carpenters blame their tools” theory when it comes to golfers and their equipment. In that same breath … sometimes a club needs to die. So we come here not to criticise Rory McIlroy for what he did to his 3-wood on Monday, but to sympathise.

McIlroy made the cut at the playoff-opening Northern Trust last week but was never a factor in the proceedings, finishing 13 strokes behind Tony Finau at Northern Trust. The Ulsterman was seen putting in extra hours at the Caves Valley range on Tuesday, perhaps a byproduct of that so-so finish (at least to McIlroy’s lofty standards). Turns out that extra season was needed because McIlroy needed to be fit into a new driver and fairway wood. A new driver because the one he was using was spinning too much to McIlroy’s liking.

The 3-wood …, well, take it away, Rory.

“I threw my 3-wood onto the New Jersey Turnpike off the 9th hole yesterday, or on Monday, and so I was without a 3-wood coming here,” McIlroy explained.

That would do it.

However, before you try and file an insurance claim or lawsuit for a rogue 3-wood falling from the sky and banging up your Toyota Camry on the way to Hackensack, there’s a good chance McIlroy’s stick didn’t reach the turnpike. But for those wanting a free 3-wood, have at it:

“I mightn’t have reached the road but I threw it into the trees off the ninth tee at Liberty National,” McIlroy clarified, “so if someone wants to go get a 3-wood, there’s one in there somewhere.”

Again, we empathize with Rory’s frustrations. But when in Jersey, do as the Jerseyites do. Meaning tie a stick of cement on that bad boy and fire it into the Hudson.

McIlroy’s not been his usual self this summer, dropping out of the top 15 in the world ranking for the first time since 2009. Luckily, this week’s venue at Caves Valley should fit his style, giving him a platform to make a late run at the FedEx Cup.

“It’s a big ballpark, can certainly let it rip out here, hit a lot of drivers,” he said. “I think there’s been a lot of rain in the Baltimore area, so it’s pretty soft, so the ball is not really going anywhere when it hits, which is good. It makes the course play nice and long, which I like.”

And for his sake, hopefully, he likes the new sticks in his bag, too.

The post Rory McIlroy tossed his 3-wood towards the New Jersey Turnpike because sometimes clubs need to die appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Daniel Rapaport
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Sunday after Sunday came and went without a trophy. They brought top-five finishes galore and PGA Tour stardom and generational wealth, but no hardware. Tony Finau was, in a sense, a prisoner of his own success. When you give yourself dozens of opportunities to win and you don’t do it, all anyone wants to talk about are the failures. This is the origin story of one of modern golf’s tried-and-true narratives: Tony Finau can’t get it done on Sunday.

Monday, however, proved a different story.

A day after Hurricane Henri passed through the Northeast and delayed The Northern Trust’s final round, Finau returned to Liberty National and played like a man who hadn’t won in five years. A back-nine 30, coupled with an unexpected wobble from World No. 1 Jon Rahm and a violent eject from Cameron Smith on the first playoff hole, brought Finau a second PGA Tour victory that felt more like a first.

“I have an extreme belief in myself, and I have to,” Finau, 31, said. The victory takes him to No. 1 in the FedEx Cup points standings with two tournaments to go and, perhaps more importantly, into the last automatic-qualifying spot for the U.S. Ryder Cup team with one week left in the points race.

“This game is hard as it is. These guys are so good as it is. If you can’t believe you can beat them, man, it’s just an uphill battle, and I just continue to believe. I believe in myself. I believe in my team. I haven’t had the wins to maybe have that type of confidence and belief, but you just have to. I have to believe I can go out there and beat J.T. today, and I can beat Jon Rahm. I have to believe that, and I did, and I continue to do that, and that’s the only reason why I’m sitting here today as the champion. I continue to believe in myself no matter where the chips fall, and try and do my best.”

Stacy Revere
Finau’s previous PGA Tour win, the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, came 1,975 days before he claimed The Northern Trust title.

The 2016 Puerto Rico Open surely brought sunshine and smiles for all who attended, but it looked a bit strange as the lone victory on Finau’s résumé. He is a player of jaw-dropping natural ability—he carries it 310-plus yards with a three-quarter backswing that’s probably closer to a three-fifths—and considerable accomplishments. In the 1,975 days since Puerto Rico, Finau has amassed eight runners-up, 11 top-threes, 39 top-10s, $20.4 million, a Ryder Cup start and a Presidents Cup appearance. Yet players of this caliber are judged by the Ricky Bobby criterion. If you ain’t first, you’re last. The focus, then, honed in on the near-misses. Why doesn’t he win more? Can he hole the putts down the stretch? Does he have what it takes to close the deal?

For the longest time on what turned out to be a balmy afternoon, it didn’t seem Finau would have any say in the matter. Rahm had kicked it into top gear, flashing the form that’s seen him emerge as the clear-cut best player in the world. The Spaniard played no-nonsense golf to turn in two-under 34 on Monday, and hold a two-shot lead. Finau needed to hop on his horse to have any chance, and even then, he’d likely need some help. He got both.

It began at 12, when Finau carved a pitching wedge to a back-right pin for a kick-in birdie. “When you can hit it to kick-in on any hole when you’re trying to chase someone—that’s a great feeling and gives you a lot of momentum when you don’t really have to look at a putt,” Finau said.

The shot of the day came at 13, with an assist from Henri. The hurricane didn’t quite bring its fastball, but a weak hurricane is a bit like a poor billionaire. In other words, it still rained. Really, really hard and for a really, really long time. The grounds crew deserve a Nobel for making Liberty National even playable after nine inches fell after Saturday night, even if it did require a four extra hours to get things started on Monday. Their best efforts still resulted in a pillow-soft golf course with greens that welcomed long-iron approaches with warm embraces. Finau roasted a 6-iron into the par 5 that drew a yard and plopped down a yard from the hole—three feet and one inch, to be precise, the exact same proximity as his approach on 12. After the round, Rahm asked Finau’s caddie, Mark Urbanek, how he made the momentum-shifting 3. “Did he stick it?”

“Like this,” Urbanek said, holding both index fingers about three feet apart.

Sarah Stier
When falling short in the past, Finau has been criticised for his final-round performances, but no one could do that when he went five under on his final seven holes for a closing 65 on Monday at Liberty National.

The eagle brought Finau to 18 under and saw him catch Rahm for the first time, but Rahm too feasted on the par 5 to reclaim a one-shot advantage then got up-and-down for par at the next. He’d played bogey-free golf for 14 holes and looked destined for a second victory in 2021 and likely Player of the Year honours—until he hit a tee shot on 15 that he thought would carry the bunkers down the left. It did not carry the bunkers down the left, forcing a layup and an eventual missed par putt from five feet.

“You know 15, it’s the one I keep going to,” Rahm said. “I hit every single one of those five shots the way I wanted to, and that’s the unfortunate part. That bunker, the wind didn’t push the ball the way I thought, and I think that was the difference.”

In the group ahead, Finau had followed up his eagle with a birdie at 14 and added another at the drivable par-4 16th to reach 20 under.

Rahm’s chances took another serious blow when he failed to birdie 16—but Smith, his playing partner and co-leader after 54 holes, made no such mistake. Two days after setting the course record with a 60, the Australian made a late charge with another birdie at 17 to catch Finau, who managed a gutsy up-and-down from a short-sided bunker for par at 18. Smith played two perfect shots down the last but left a 24-footer for the win short in the jar.

The two men—Finau with a high-and-tight haircut and a manicured beard, Smith with a juicy mullet and whispy moustache—headed back to the 18th tee box for the playoff, which was decided before they left the tee box. Finau played first and pured his down the centre. Smith countered with a foul-ball headed toward Brooklyn. It cleared the boundary fence, his re-tee found the bunker, and all the sudden Finau’s walk turned into a stroll.

“Just a terrible swing, mate,” Smith said. “Just a mis-hit, and in these conditions, you can’t mis-hit the because ball. Got a little bottom-y and a little bit heal-y and just blew up in the wind and went a long ways right. You know, my driver has cost me a few tournaments this year. That makes mean more determined to try and figure it out before the end of the year.”

Tracy Wilcox
Tony Finau hugs his coach, Boyd Summerhays after winning in a playoff on Monday during the weather-delayed final round of The Northern Trust.

Finally, Finau headed to a final-round press conference knowing he wouldn’t have to talk about losing. To his immense credit, he answered every question about his shortcomings with grace and a smile. He never turned bitter or snarky, for he maintained that he was playing great golf and that was all he could control. Stay the course, he told himself, and the wins will follow. The law of averages will eventually take hold, luck will fall his way, and his patience will be rewarded.

Yes, yes and yes.

“I hit some really clutch shots when I needed to, and I think it’s going to be huge for my confidence moving forward. I’ve played really nicely in big tournaments, but to turn in a 30 on the back nine of a playoff event, trying to chase down the best player in the world, those are all things that will go in the memory bank and hopefully I’ll continue with the success moving forward.”

How sweet it must feel.

The post How Tony Finau blocked out the haters, grabbed his ‘finally’ win and slayed a tired narrative appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Phil Mickelson had a quick exit at the playoff-opening Northern Trust, missing the cut at Liberty National. But his season will live for at least one more week.

Mickelson was the last player into the BMW Championship Cup, advancing to the FedEx Cup Playoffs’ second leg at No. 70 in the standings.

Tony Finau, who knocked off Cameron Smith in a playoff on Monday to capture the Northern Trust, enters the BMW Championship first in the FedEx Cup standings. Finau is followed by World No. 1 Jon Rahm, Smith, Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas.

But the FedEx Cup is a game within a game, and most of Monday’s drama (at least until tournament’s end) was on the “other” scoreboard. The two biggest movers in the Cup race were Tom Hoge, whose T-4 at Liberty National moved him from 108th to 48th, and Alex Noren, who jumped 48 spots off a T-4 finish. Keith Mitchell also saw triumph on Monday, birdieing the final three holes to go from outside the top 70 (101st) to comfortably in.

“I just love competing. I love playing golf. I love being out here and I reminded myself, two days playing in the last group with Justin Thomas, these are the nerves that you want. These are the kind of moments that you practice and play for,” Mitchell said after a T-9 finish. “That’s kind of the attitude I had this week, and coming down the stretch with three birdies is the same kind of thing where you just really are just enjoying being out here and enjoying competing and trying to do your best.”

Another notable leap came from Harry Higgs, who turned in a 66 on Saturday and 68 on Monday to keep playing for another week.

“Just get another chance to go and win a golf tournament. I’m sure the position that I will have advanced in heading into next week, I pretty much have one choice, maybe I could finish second and make it to East Lake [for the Tour Championship],” Higgs said of advancing. “Again, I’m no good with numbers, I don’t know how it works but I’m pretty sure if I win next week I will be into Atlanta, which is obviously a goal. It’s a goal of all of ours and a goal of mine throughout last two years.”

On the other end of that spectrum, a number of bubble players saw their bubbles burst. Matthew Fitzpatrick began the week at No. 60 but dropped to No. 73 after missing the cut. Fellow Englishman Tyrrell Hatton also went from the inside to out after failing to make the weekend. Matthew Wolff was the last man out at No. 71. Wolff, who took a mid-year sabbatical for his mental health, began this superseason with runner-up finishes at the 2020 U.S. Open and 2020 Shriners, but had just two top-20 finishes in 14 events in 2021.

As for Mickelson, the 51-year-old will need to reverse his recent fortunes to reach the season finale at East Lake. Aside from that magical week at Kiawah, Mickelson’s had just one finish inside the top 60 (a T-17 at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational).

Here are the top 70 players advancing to the BMW Championship.

1. Tony Finau
2. Jon Rahm
3. Cam Smith
4. Patrick Cantlay
5. Justin Thomas
6. Collin Morikawa
7. Jordan Spieth
8. Harris English
9. Bryson DeChambeau
10. Abraham Ancer
11. Louis Oosthuizen
12. Sam Burns
13. Xander Schauffele
14. Viktor Hovland
15. Brooks Koepka
16. Hideki Matsuyama
17. Jason Kokrak
18. Kevin Na
19. Stewart Cink
20. Corey Conners

21. Joaquin Niemann
22. Dustin Johnson
23. Daniel Berger
24. Scottie Scheffler
25. Sungjae Im
26. Patrick Reed
27. Billy Horschel
28. Rory McIlroy
29. Charley Hoffman
30. Max Homa
31. Kevin Kisner
32. Keegan Bradley
33. Si Woo Kim
34. Cameron Tringale
35. Marc Leishman
36. Cam Davis
37. K.H.Lee
38. Carlos Ortiz
39. Brian Harman
40. Hudson Swafford

41. Lucas Glover
42. Matt Jones
43. Alex Noren
44. Sergio Garcia
45. Erik van Rooyen
46. Lee Westwood
47. Shane Lowry
48. Tom Hoge
49. Cam Champ
50. Russell Henley
51. Branden Grace
52. Webb Simpson
53. Maverick McNealy
54. Paul Casey
55. Emiliano Grillo
56. Harold Varner III
57. Robert Streb
58. Aaron Wise
59. Sebastian Munoz
60. Chris Kirk
61. Jhonattan Vegas
62. Charl Schwartzel
63. Keith Mitchell
64. Kevin Streelman
65. Mackenzie Hughes
66. Patton Kizzire
67. Talor Gooch
68. Ryan Palmer
69.Harry Higgs70. Phil Mickelson

The post FedEx Cup Playoffs Top 70: Phil Mickelson advances despite missing cut at Liberty National appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
There’s a tendency to digest the spectacle of professional golf not for what it is but for what it means. Fans, media, even players are prone to this perspective, and the why is understandable. With so many events on the calendar—50 in this superseason—it’s somewhat irrational to think that each round in each event, in a vacuum, matters. So to make it matter we view it through a broader prism for added significance. This is especially true in a Ryder Cup season, in which every good performance by an American or European is correlated to the biennial match.

So long as it’s not forced, this is not necessarily a bad thing. It can make for fun discussions and enriched storylines. In that same breath, sometimes we are so busy playing the long game we lose sight of what’s in front of us. Which is a long-winded way of saying this: Friday at the Northern Trust was a damn fine display of golf.

Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele tied Liberty National’s course record with a pair of 62s. Spieth did so off back-to-back eagle hole-outs, Schauffele with two eagles of his own thanks to his stone-cold tee-to-green game. Six players, including Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau, weren’t far behind with 64s. Jon Rahm continued to make the case that he’s the best golfer in the world and no one else is close. First-round co-leader Justin Thomas looked as lost as a pro can look on his first nine (three-over 38) then bounced back with a finish (five under on his last five holes) signalling that while even the best can have bad days they remain the best for a reason. There was even an amusing viral moment thanks to Hideki Matsuyama, whose tee ball, somehow, found its way into a spectator’s shirt.

Because it’s the first leg of the playoffs, this is not a day consumed as its own entity. One of those 64s belonged to Keith Mitchell, who started the week on the outside looking in at 101st in the FedEx Cup standings and now has a chance not just to advance to next week but to earn a trip to East Lake. And because it is a Ryder Cup year, we see Finau solidifying his case for a captain’s pick.

That is all well and good and true. What’s more, what happens on Friday can be easily forgotten thanks to Saturday and Sunday. Still, Friday was a reminder that Fridays, or any day, no matter the event, can matter on their own.

Three things you missed from Day 2 at the Northern Trust:

PGA Tour monitoring storm
The PGA Tour announced Friday afternoon that play will continue at the Northern Trust Saturday as the East Coast braces for a potential hurricane. Sunday, however, may be a different story.

The National Hurricane Center issued a hurricane watch for New England Friday morning, with Tropical Storm Henri likely to develop into a hurricane. “Strengthening is forecast during the next couple of days, and Henri is expected to become a hurricane by Saturday and be at or near hurricane strength when it makes landfall in southern New England,” the centre said in a statement.

For now, the tour doesn’t expect this week’s event at Liberty National in Jersey City, N.J. to be impacted on Saturday, yet in its statement said it is possible Sunday’s final round may be moved to Monday.

“We are closely monitoring Tropical Storm Henri and its potential impacts on the Northern Trust,” the tour said in a statement. “There is no impact from the storm on Saturday’s forecast, and therefore play will be as scheduled in twosomes from the 1st tee with a 6 pm scheduled local finish time. We will evaluate the track of Henri throughout the day tomorrow and expect to issue the plan and schedule for the final round by late afternoon Saturday. Henri is not currently predicted to have any effect on the forecast for Monday. Depending on the forecasted track of the storm, it is possible that the final round may be rescheduled for Monday.”

Sarah Stier
Jon Rahm watches his shot from the 16th tee during the second round of the Northern Trust.

Some of the forecasts call for winds up to 75 mph, five inches of rainfall and a storm surge of three-to-five feet come Monday. The storm-force winds could reach the area as soon as late Saturday.

Rahm leads loaded board
The World No. 1’s worst finish in his last five starts is a T-8 at the PGA Championship. Well, technically it’s a WD at the Memorial, but now is not the time for semantics. What’s important is that Rahm remains on his heater, owning a one-shot lead at the Northern Trust thanks to a bogey-free trek through 36 holes.

“I would say the way I’ve kept my composure. I definitely, believe it or not, hit my fair share of bad shots today,” Rahm (12 under) said afterwards. “Much like yesterday, I was able to save a couple of good ones. Just accepting that I can miss shots, I guess that’s the best way to explain it, is what happens here. You get a little too greedy, miss the green, and you can have a tough up-and-down, and I’ve been able to save those so far.”

But chasing behind him are the likes of Thomas, Koepka, Finau, Schauffele and Spieth. Perhaps the most surprising name in that bunch is Finau, who is coming off a very so-so summer compared to his lights-out start to the year.

“I feel like I’ve played some nice golf,” Finau said. “My last couple tournaments, the results haven’t shown I’ve played great, but I’ve played some really clean golf. I felt like I was really close to putting it all together, and so far this week, after 36 holes, I’ve kind of done that. I’ve played some clean golf and more putts have dropped, so you kind of find yourself at the top of the leaderboard when that happens.”

Stacy Revere
Harold Varner III stands with his bag on the 18th hole during the second round of the Northern Trust.

Also on the fringe: Bryson DeChambeau, whose second-round 65 has him six back of the lead. Other notable names in the mix include Kevin Na at eight under with Victor Hovland and Patrick Cantlay at seven.

Big jumps, big falls
Since it is the postseason, there is the proverbial game-within-the-game at Liberty National, with the Northern Trust board sharing importance with the FEC standings. Through two days in northern Jersey, Mitchell has enjoyed the biggest jump in standings, vaulting up 64 projected spots in his current position (T-3). Behind him is Tom Hoge, who leaped from 108th to 62nd thanks to a 69-64 start. Other notable moves up the FEC board are Alex Noren (T-6, up to 52nd from 91st), Harold Varner III (also T-6, 72nd to 44th) and Robert Streb (T-12, 68th to 51st).

Unfortunately, there’s another side to that coin. Matt Fitzpatrick entered the week 60th in the FEC standings, but after missing the cut stands in 72nd. He’s joined by fellow Englishman Tyrrell Hatton, whose quick exit dropped him from 63rd to 73rd. Matthew Wolff’s eight-over score transferred him from 59th to the current cut-off man at 70th.

While there fates are not sealed, others saw their seasons ended. Former major winners Adam Scott, Bubba Watson and Jason Day will end their campaigns at Liberty National. Scott’s is a particularly cruel fate, given he had a chance to win last week’s Wyndham Championship that would have guaranteed passage to the second leg of the postseason.

The post Jon Rahm leads loaded board, big names exit and tour monitoring potential hurricane appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

He’s a man of the people.

Thank you, @JustinThomas34 ?

via @JRiek11 pic.twitter.com/EMLwUleZXS

— THE NORTHERN TRUST (@TheNTGolf) August 18, 2021

“These guys are good … guys” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but in this case we’ll allow it.

Perhaps the best part of the entire video, though, is not the gesture but the reaction. “It’s going to be a little bit before they fit you,” Thomas says handing over the mint FootJoys, but that doesn’t bother this kid any, who turns back to his equally psyched dad looking like he just opened up a PS5 on Christmas morning. Classic.

Thomas scored himself a fan for life. This kid got a memory he will never forget. Pretty great stuff across the board, including this t-shirt …

Sheesh kid, your swag game didn’t have to go this hard.

The post Little Justin Thomas superfan celebrates JT gifting him a pair of spikes like Christmas morning in August appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Christopher Powers
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Never mess with a good thing, or so the saying goes. In professional golf, a game full of pros who tinker with their equipment on a weekly basis, the one club that saying applies to is the putter.

For Justin Thomas, though, it was time for a change, albeit a small one. After losing a staggering 8.4 strokes on the greens with his formerly trusty Scotty Cameron Phantom X 5.5 putter at the Memorial Tournament in June, Thomas switched to a Scotty Cameron Phantom X Tour prototype, featuring what’s called a “knuckle neck.” That was just before the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, according to Thomas. He gained 4.8 strokes with the new flat stick on the South Course’s greens that week, his best-putting performance since the 2020 Zozo Championship, where he finished runner-up.

He then took it overseas for the Scottish Open and Open Championship, and later the Olympics in Tokyo. Results were mixed. Then, at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude in Memphis, he lost 5.1 strokes putting for the week, which ranked him 61st in a 65-man field. A shame given how well he struck the ball (Thomas was fourth in the field in strokes-gained/approach, and fifth in tee-to-green. He tied for 26th).

It was the latest bad putting week in a season full of them for Thomas, who ranks 126th on the PGA Tour in strokes-gained/putting for the year. But he wasn’t ready to ditch the new putter just yet. It took a serious talking to from a teenager to convince Thomas to go back to ol’ reliable.

“I had my AJGA event last week in Louisville, went right from Memphis,” Thomas said. “Went out and kind of saw some of the kids playing their practice rounds, and Tuesday was the Junior Am. But my dad had a couple students, and I went out to go — there’s a girl Abigail that he teaches that I went out to go see because I played a couple rounds with her. She’s a really good player, and she was playing with, I think, another two girls, a girl that my dad teaches and then a boy.”

This mysterious boy happened to be using a model of Thomas’ old putter, and he liked what he saw from it. Enough to basically bully Thomas into putting it back in his bag this for this week’s Northern Trust, the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

“He was using the putter, pretty much my putter that Scotty Cameron, the line that we kind of came out with, and he was like, you know, when are you going to use it again? Are you still using the long neck? I was like, yeah, I am, and I was kind of explaining it, and he’s just like, well, when are you going to start using it again? And I found myself defending myself to this 15-year-old.

“I was like, why am I not using this thing? I’ve had a lot of success. It’s not like I’m making a lot of putts with what I have. If you’re putting well, any of us can go out and putt with anything. I don’t know, it kind of hit me. I’m like, the kid’s got a point.”

Not only did the kid have a point, he may help propel Thomas to his second win of 2021. The 14-time tour winner opened with an electric eight-under 63 on Thursday at Liberty National, giving him a share of the lead with U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm. Thomas struck it well, as he often does, putting on a tee-to-green masterclass, but he didn’t let it go to waste like he did in Memphis. He gained nearly 2.5 strokes with the putter, which ranks eighth in the field.

“When I brought it out, it looked good, it felt good. Again, a lot of familiar feelings with it.”

As Thomas explained, the old and the new were essentially the same putters, but the old one has a different milling. “It’s a smooth face versus a deep mill,” he says. “So it has a little different feel, little different sound. But, ever since the U.S. Open, it’s been sitting in my office.”

Whatever the difference is, it was working for Thomas in New Jersey, all thanks to a teenager who clearly knows his stuff, and, more importantly, wasn’t afraid to tell Thomas that he should have never messed with a good thing.

The post Justin Thomas, bullied into going back to his old putter by a teenager, shoots 63 at the Northern Trust appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Alex Myers
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — For all the talk about the Brooks Koepka-Bryson DeChambeau rivalry this year, it was Jordan Spieth who nearly landed a knockout punch to Koepka on Thursday.

With the four-time major champ way left off the first hole at Liberty National, the three-time major champ went way left off the 18th tee, with his golf ball flying right over Koepka’s head (and just right of mine) before, thankfully, landing harmlessly in the deep rough. Just look at the look Brooks made toward his fellow Ryder Cup teammate!

But that wasn’t the only close call on Day 1 of the Northern Trust. In fact, it wasn’t even the only close call involving Koepka and this reporter. While watching Spieth play the par-5 sixth, a ball from the eighth tee just missed me again.

That turned out to be Cameron Smith’s ball, but when I ran to take cover, Koepka rattled one off the very tree I was cowering under. Last to play in the group was Hideki Matsuyama, who made it a trifecta missing way right and missed drilling a volunteer by inches. I asked if her if that had been happening all day.

“Yes,” she replied with a deep sigh. Fingers crossed she made it through the rest of the round.

There have been breezier days for sure on the PGA Tour this season, but the swirling wind off the Hudson River fooled the best golfers in the world—and wreaked havoc with those outside the ropes—in the first round. In other words, if you plan on attending the tournament this week, be careful.

In any event, while Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas are three shots clear of the field, here are five other takeaways from Day 1 at the Northern Trust:

Adam Scott continued to roll
Four days after missing a four-footer that would have won him the Wyndham Championship, the Aussie remained in great form. Yes, there were some missed opportunities—most notably from about six feet for birdie on Nos. 7 and 8—but Scott converted a par putt on No. 9, his final hole, from a similar length to the one he bricked on Sunday.

“I’m very disappointed I didn’t win that tournament,” Scott said. “I gave myself about as good a chance as you could possibly have, and I do pride myself on the fact that I really—there haven’t been many putts to win a tournament that I haven’t made when I’ve had that chance, and that’s a pretty short one to miss. So I mean, a little embarrassing.”

But there was nothing embarrassing about a first-round 67 for Scott. And the 41-year-old likes the groove he’s in for the playoffs.

“I’ve really struggled to get my game in the shape to contend at that level out here this year, and finally it was feeling that way,” Scott said. “Importantly, I wanted to bring it here this week, and so far I have. So that outweighs the disappointment, the encouragement of where tee to green I feel like I’m going is really good. But I’m running out of weeks to put that to use, so I’d better play well.”

And Scott should like his chances of doing just that as a winner at Liberty National in 2013. He also ranks only behind Dustin Johnson in all-time playoff top 10s with 18. Considering how he’s played his last three rounds, it’s hard to imagine him not contending again come Sunday.

Tony Finau (finally) found his form again

Sarah Stier

Cue our favourite leaderboard update giver, Chris Vernon: “TONY FINAU! WHERE HE BE NOW?!” Actually, he’s back among the leaders. For the first time in a (surprisingly) long time.

Finau fired a 67, which would be right near the lead if not for Rahm and Thomas having a birdie party on their respective back nines. Regardless, the 31-year-old has to be thrilled with his position considering the rut he’s been in.

After a hot start to the year, it’s been three months since Finau’s last top 10, at the PGA Championship. He’s even missed (gasp!) two cuts during that seven-tournament stretch.

But a high finish this week could go a long way for him receiving a captain’s pick for a second consecutive Ryder Cup. Finau is currently 12th on the U.S. points list in a year where captain Steve Stricker will pick half of his 12-man roster for next month’s event at Whistling Straits. TONY FINAU! THERE HE BE NOW!

Victor Hovland hit the shot of the day that you (probably) didn’t see
If you happened to be following the young Norwegian star while he played the fifth hole on Thursday, you’d never guess the weakest part of his game is around the green. That’s because Hovland pulled off one of the most ridiculous flop shots imaginable from a hazard—and with a tree restricting his backswing. Here’s how he described it, although words really don’t do it justice.

“I pulled a shot on No. 5 that looked like it was going to go in the water, but since I got a flier, it went over the water on the left side by kind of the trees, by the bridge, and it was right on the red line and my backswing was kind of up against a tree, so I had to take a very slow backswing,” Hovland said. “I hit a flop shot that hit the side of the slope on the green and rolled to maybe four feet. Went from looking like having to fight for a bogey to making a par, so that was big for momentum.”

Hovland birdied his next two holes and shot an opening 68 to put himself among the early leaders. And while he’s been hard on his shortcomings in the short game, the 23-year-old is encouraged by the improvements he’s been making in that area.

“Yeah, I feel my technique has gotten a lot better, and in practice it’s way better than it is in tournaments.

“I think for me it’s just kind of—I have some scar tissue in there, and just trusting kind of what I’m doing now. You know, I have a tendency of getting a little tentative on the chips out there, so I’ll hit good chips but they’re just eight, 10 feet short because I just don’t hit it; whereas I feel like as soon as I get more of that confidence I can hit it harder to create more spin just because I know I’m going to clip it the way I want to.”

Cam Davis made the luckiest eagle of the year
And that’s not an exaggeration. The drivable par-4 16th hole at Liberty National is the site of arguably the luckiest eagle in PGA Tour history—Scott Brown’s bounce off a bridge in 2013—but Davis may have topped that on Thursday by making a big bird that required two big and fortunate bounces.

Watch as Davis’ tee shot on the 283-yard hole (the tee box was moved up for the first round) takes a huge carom off the rocks in the pond guarding the right side of the green and then ricochets off a tree before settling about nine feet behind the hole:

Eagle on the rocks.@CamDavisGolf making the most of a WILD bounce. ? pic.twitter.com/euSnuNYbBl

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 19, 2021

Good, clean living, am I right? Just incredible. Go buy a lotto ticket tonight, Cam.

The post Jordan Spieth nearly kills Brooks Koepka, the luckiest eagle of the year, and the best shot you didn’t see on TV appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

That quote came from Ian Poulter, who was yelling back to his caddie as he trudged up Liberty National’s 15th fairway on Thursday at The Northern Trust. The Englishman had just come to find out his ball was resting up against a sewer right of the fairway. That sewer also happened to be in a penalty area.

“You’ve got to me f—ing kidding me,” Poulter uttered to himself.

One over on the day, Poulter seemed to already know his fate. As PGA Tour rules official Gary Young would later explain, Poulter’s ball was resting against an immovable obstruction inside a penalty area. Per the Rules of Golf, free relief is not granted in that situation. Poulter could either play it as it lies or take a drop out of the penalty area—but be forced to add a stroke to his score.

It’s that later point that Poulter seemed incredulous about, considering there was only dry ground where he was playing from in the penalty area, so a recovery shot would have been relatively easy. Adding the extra stroke seemed, well, too great a penalty.

So Poulter chose option 1—play it as it lies—but not before (playfully) getting his money’s worth, a la a MLB manager mouthing off at an umpire after being tossed.

“Come onnnn, this should not be here,” Poulter said to Young, pointing at the sewer, which was quite literally the only obstruction in the penalty area. Poulter just happened to find it.

Young reminded Poulter he should not be there, either. His ball, after all, was in a penalty area, so he had no one to blame but himself for being in the awkward spot. “Unfortunately, he hit it against the only thing in there that he couldn’t get relief from,” Young said.

Poulter, incredulously, then asked where the water was in this penalty area. Young pointed toward the woods, where the water is located well right of the 15th fairway and well right of where Poulter’s ball had come to rest.

“How is that a hazard line?” Poulter asked, pointing at the red line to the left of where his ball was that ran parallel to a cart path. “The water is 30 frickin’ yards that way.”

Indeed, had Poulter chosen to take the drop out of the penalty area, the ball likely would have wound up on a cart path and then he would have been entitled to free relief from the path—but still would have added the penalty stroke for dropping out of the penalty area in the first place.

Said Young: “He’s got to either choose to play it as it lies or he can take his relief options, which would have gotten him out on to this cart path and then he’d have free relief from the cart path.”

To his credit, Poulter calmed down and sucked it up, even yelling back “I appreciate it,” as Young drove away. He played the shot back toward the fairway—avoiding the penalty stroke by playing it as it lies—then came up short of the green with his third followed by nearly holing out his fourth for a miracle par. He went on to tap in for bogey, then followed with a birdie on the 16th and finished with a one-over 72. After beginning the week 79th in the FedEx Cup standings, he’s currently projected at 88th, well outside the top-70 line for the BMW Championship.

“It’s one of those, it’s unlucky, right?” Poulter said afterwards. “You get some good breaks, you get some bad breaks. That was a pretty bad break. Over the season, you take the rough with the smooth.”

With a potential Ryder Cup spot on the line, Poulter needs all the good breaks he can get, though he seemed very at peace with the unfortunate break not too long after it happened.

“What are you gonna do? Sh-t happens,” he said. “Nobody died. I’m 79th in the FedEx Cup, if I don’t get in Sunday, it’s irrelevant. I move on to the next event in Europe. Ryder Cup is in four weeks, that’s what’s relevant.”

The post Ian Poulter handles difficult rules situation in most Ian Poulter way imaginable appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
The modern game is filled with bombers, yet few are known for their power and thunder like Dustin Johnson. But those tuning into Thursday’s action at the Northern Trust noticed something off with the tournament’s defending champ: Golf’s mighty Thor was without his hammer.

According to Thursday’s broadcast from Liberty National, Johnson noticed a crack in his TaylorMade SIM2 driver prior to his tee time. The Rules of Golf allow for a replacement club to be subbed in; unfortunately for Johnson, his back-up was not on site, and the TaylorMade equipment truck had departed for next week’s BMW Championship.

Unable to find a suitable stand-in, the two-time major champ instead went with two 3-woods in his bag.

Johnson’s normal 3-wood is relatively weak at 16.5 degrees—if you can call a club that goes 280 yards “weak.” It is likely the second 3-wood is adjustable, allowing Johnson to move the loft closer to 13.5 degrees.

Losing a driver clearly hurt Johnson through nine holes, ranking 83rd in SG/off-the-tee on the front side. For context, Johnson was 11th in the category last season and fourth the year before that.

The reigning FedEx Cup champion entered the Northern Trust 17th in the FEC standings.

UPDATE: Johnson finished with a one-under 70. “I’ve got a 5-wood that I use for my 3-wood,” Johnson explained. “It goes the distance I want it to. But I had a strong 3-wood in my car, so it helped a little bit, especially I hit some — I hit a nice — the first time I hit it was on 8. Just I hadn’t hit it. It was brand new.” Luckily Johnson is already armed with a new driver, heading out to the range following his round to dial in the new big stick.

The post Dustin Johnson plays with two 3-woods after cracking driver appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.