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After putting woes led to a 2-over-par 72 in the second round of the PGA Championship on Friday, Tiger Woods heads into the third round 8 shots behind leader Li Haotong and in a tie for 44th place.

When Rory McIlroy missed his tee shot right of Harding Park’s third green, the usual army of volunteers and three-deep crowds was not there to direct him to the ball.  After his group that included Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas had hit their approaches, the marshals on hand headed to the green’s right side. It was down deep.

According to Kama Yechoor, a volunteer who had finished his shift and was watching the group, those on hand were looking for the ball in an area pin-high right. Turns out, Rory had not flown nearly that far and the ball was sitting well down somewhere beside the fronting greenside bunker.

Jane Crafter, a former LPGA great and longtime commentator working ESPN’s Featured Group coverage, approached the scene to assess the tee shots and was going to help the search.  Everyone this week is a marshal without spectators. No one wants to see a player lose a ball. Even though the bluegrass roughs were topped off at 3.5 inches, the tall stuff is already a stout five inches in shaded areas.

“I didn’t see it, but I felt it,” Crafter said. She stepped on McIlroy’s ball as she approached.

When McIlroy and caddie Harry Diamond arrived, Crafter was told what had happened, according to Yechoor. He called for a ruling.

Lydia Ko, the former No. 1 player in women's golf who hasn't won in her past 44 events, shot a 6-under 65 on Friday to take a one-shot lead at the Marathon Classic.

Gabriela Ruffels rallied from a slow start in two more matches Friday, won them both and advanced to the quarterfinals in her bid to win back-to-back in the U.S. Women's Amateur.

The Rose Ladies Series Grand Final was suspended on Friday when a wildfire broke out at Chobham Common in Surrey, England and spread towards the Wentworth club.

Andy Sullivan carded a blistering 28 on the back nine to sit at the top of a leaderboard filled with home favourites after the second round of the English Championship on Friday.

Cameron Tringale has been disqualified from the PGA Championship after signing an incorrect scorecard following his second round on Friday.

Li Haotong, who shot a 65 on Friday, is looking to become the first player from China to ever lead after any round of a major championship.

Not surprisingly, the 2020 PGA Championship first round fared well in the ratings department thanks to a west coast playing and eastern prime time audience. Even without Tiger Woods who will be in the prime time window Friday.

For Immediate Release:

ESPN’s live telecast of the opening round of the PGA Championship on Thursday, Aug. 6, from TPC Harding Park in San Francisco averaged 1,246,000 viewers, making it the event’s most-viewed first round telecast since 2015 and the second-best opening round in the last 10 years.

ESPN’s telecast, which ran from 4-10:30 p.m. ET, peaked at 1,509,000 viewers between 7:15-7:30 p.m. ET and every quarter-hour of the telecast until 10 p.m. averaged more than 1 million viewers. Viewership was up 24 percent from last year’s first-round telecast on TNT and up 31 percent among adults ages 18-49.

The LPGA's ANA Inspiration, which had been postponed due to the pandemic, will not have fans when it's held Sept. 10-13 in Rancho Mirage, California.

Follow these steps in your pre-shot routine to increase your chances of success for every shot you hit.

Step 1: Switch On Your Golf Brain

You’ll need to make the transition from broad focus (in between shots) to narrow focus during shots. Whatever conversations or thoughts you were having in between shots need to be put aside and all your attention must go to the shot at hand.

Step 2: The Thinking Phase

The thinking phase is where your thinking about the shot is done. It’s important that it’s done here and not over the ball, where your mind will need to be quiet. The purpose of the thinking phase is to pick the optimal shot given:

The challenge ahead of you (the golf course layout and weather conditions)The risk reward of each possible option and your confidence level in each

Thinking phase questions:

“Where is the good and bad miss?”“What is the lie like and what’s the wind doing?”“What are the options available to be?”“Which is the shot/target with the greatest reward that I feel at least 75% confident I can execute?”

Once you feel confident about your type of shot, you need to prime your body and mind to execute it.

CBS Sports’ Final-Round Coverage of @WGCFedEx is Most-Watched Sports Broadcast of Weekend pic.twitter.com/ulxT9SkR2T

— CBS Sports PR (@CBSSportsGang) August 4, 2020

The Clippers/Lakers NBA return on Thursday won the week (barely), but CBS’s coverage of the WGC FedEx St Jude was the highest rated weekend sports broadcast, according to ShowBuzzDaily. The telecast featured a wild final round eventually won by Justin Thomas.

More impressively, it was played against increased sports competition returning from the COVID-19 breaks and summertime weather that often puts a huge damper in ratings (see the 2019 comparable weekend below).

The numbers marked an upgrade over last year’s dreadfully rated FedEx St Jude and the Wyndham Championship, played on a comparable weekend in 2019.

The 2019 numbers:

Still not convinced COVID-19 is taking its toll on golf OEMs? We’ve already taken a look at Acushnet’s second-quarter performance. Now it’s time to take a gander at Callaway’s Q2 2020 Financial Report.

On the face of it, the Callaway numbers tell a story that could scare the hell out of management and investors alike. But upon further review, the picture is very similar to Acushnet’s – not great, but it’s not the Seventh Sign of the Apocalypse, either.

Once again, we must declare we are not, nor are we claiming to be, financial experts or investment counselors. We’re golf industry enthusiasts who like to read and learn what all this accounting stuff means.

The Specifics

Callaway’s Q2 2020 Financial Report shows net sales of $297 million for the quarter. That’s down 34% from the $447 million in sales during Q2 last year, and it’s right in line with the $300 million in sales reported by Acushnet for Q2.

The Q2 Net Profit story is startling. There isn’t any.

Jason Day and Brendon Todd shot 5-under 65s Thursday to share the first-round lead of the PGA Championship at San Francisco's Harding Park. Nine players, including two-time defending champion Brooks Koepka, are just one shot back.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan was nailed by an errant tee shot by Matthew Fitzpatrick at the PGA Championship on Thursday.

The two-time defending champ put himself in position for a third. Can Brooks Koepka do it again? Will TPC Harding Park show its teeth? We get you set for Round 2 of the PGA Championship.

A lot has changed for Tiger Woods over the years, including his willingness to embrace the adoring galleries that helped buoy his comeback. Now, amid silent sidelines, Woods tries to pull off the improbable yet again.

The wedge is the club that should be replaced most often in your lineup. How frequently should you replace yours?

4:00  – What causes wedge wear and how often should you replace them?24:56  – Most Wanted: The Best Players Distance Irons of 2020

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The post When Should You Replace Your Wedges? | #NoPuttsGiven 50 appeared first on MyGolfSpy.

My story for The Athletic on Tiger’s solid opening round at Harding Park focused on the weird start, group vibe and Tiger’s slight miss at 8 that prevented an opening 67.

ESPN.com’s Bob Harig focused on a similar theme—the surreal start to the round when three of the game’s biggest names were met with silence.

Alan Shipnuck at Golf.com focused on Tiger’s ability to get the most out a so-so day.

Highlights from the featured group that goes at 1:58 pm PT Friday.

Bryson DeChambeau broke his driver on the seventh hole of the PGA Championship while leaning over to pick up the tee. PGA rules allowed him to then repair the club using a new shaft.