Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, July 30, 2016
PGA Championship
McIlroy misses cut with bogey on 18th hole
By BARRY WILNER
Associated Press
SPRINGFIELD,
N.J.
(AP) — Phil Mickelson
walked off the irst green
with a disgusted look on his
face, as if he’d thrown away
any shot at making the cut in
the PGA Championship.
A 7 on the opening par-4
hole will do that to you.
“I think in the history of
the PGA Championship,
that’s the worst start of any
player’s round,” Mickelson
said. “I’d have to look that
up.”
The ive-time major
winner set about steadying
himself, writing the triple
bogey on the scorecard
and leaving it behind. With
four birdies the rest of the
way and only a slip-up on
16, Mickelson managed an
even-par 70 to advance to the
weekend.
“I was able to ight back
and be patient from there on
out, start to make a birdie
here or there,” he said.
As usual, Lefty’s gallery
was massive — he played
with defending champion
Jason Day, who is tied for
third at 7-under, and Rory
McIlroy, who bogeyed the
relatively easy par-5 18th to
miss the cut. Those thousands
of fans were as stunned with
the way Mickelson began as
he was.
After a 1-over 71 on
Thursday, the PGA winner
when the tournament last
was held at Baltusrol in 2005
hit his drive so far left on No.
1 that its irst bounce was on
Shunpike Road. It appeared
to hang a left on Baltusrol
Drive, possibly on its way to
the Hudson River.
Playing a provisional on
the 478-yard hole, Mickelson
messed up once more, the
ball landing far from the
fairway, nestling near a path.
His next shot almost landed
in the backyard of a home
adjoining the golf course.
He needed two shots to
reach the green, then, thank-
fully, he one-putted for a 7.
“Just a total mental block
on that irst hole,” he said.
“And I don’t even know what
to say. It was just horriic.”
Mickelson began his
comeback with a birdie on
Rory
McIlroy
waits to
putt on
the 18th
hole
during
the
second
round of
the PGA
Cham-
pion-
ship on
Friday.
AP Photo/
Mike Groll
No. 3, got another on the 8th
and one on No. 11. A bogey
on the par-3 16th jeopardized
his standing, but he made
sure he would make the
weekend with a birdie on the
inishing hole.
Then he let out a major
sigh of relief.
“I’m having a dificult
time right now managing
my expectations, because I
know how well I’m playing,”
he said, “and I’m so result
oriented that I’m not playing
very relaxed, free golf like
I did at the British, like I
did in the preparation here.
Tomorrow, I’m going to try
to go out and not worry about
the score and just play a good
round because I’ve been
hitting a lot of good shots.
I’m trying to force the issue
because I know you’ve got to
get hot out here.”
Unlike
Mickelson,
McIlroy couldn’t respond,
though he came close. The
two-time major champion
came off an opening 74 and
needed to post a good number
to remain in the tournament.
He made his irst birdie of the
tourney on No. 4 and birdied
6, but bogeyed the ninth.
After a birdie on 11, he was
in position to stick around,
but he bogeyed 13.
McIlroy came to the only
two par-5s on Baltusrol at 3
over; the cut would be plus 2.
He birdied the more dificult
17th, then fell apart after
hitting his second shot into
the deep rough behind 18.
Two wasted shots led to a
6 — and an early exit.
“I thought I needed to
make 4,” on 18, he said, “so
that’s what I was trying to do.
It was a tough lie. I hit the
irst one as hard as I really
could considering how close
the pin was to the edge of the
green.”
He felt most betrayed by
his putter.
“I think if you had given
anyone else in this ield my
tee shots this week, they
would have been up near
the top of the leaderboard,”
McIlroy said. “It just shows
you how bad I was around
the greens. Tee to green was
good, but it was just pathetic
when I got onto the green.”
PGA: Walker barely misses 36-hole record score for all majors
Continued from 1B
A second round that began in
rain with one group given the wrong
hole location on No. 10 ended with
Streb and Jimmy Walker sharing
the lead and becoming the eighth
and ninth players to match the
36-hole record in the PGA Cham-
pionship at 131.
Walker had to settle for a
4-under 66, right when he had
the 36-hole record for all majors
(130) within his reach with two par
5s remaining. But he hit into the
hospitality area well left of the 17th
and scrambled for par, and then his
tee shot narrowly missed its mark
and found the water on the 18th,
leading to bogey.
Even so, he was tied at the
halfway point of a major.
“It’s going to be a new experi-
ence, and it will be fun,” Walker
said. “You still have to go perform.
Doesn’t matter what tournament it
is.”
Day dropped to even par with
a double bogey on No. 7, and that
appeared to wake up the world’s
No. 1 player. Day went on a tear
with seven birdies over his next
eight holes, two of them from 18
feet, one of them from 35 feet.
Suddenly, he was on the verge of a
shot at 63 until he hooked his tee
shot to the base of the hospitality
major.
“I’ve never been in this situation,
and I’m not afraid of it,” Grillo said.
“I’m going to go out and enjoy it.”
By the end of the day, it was
easy to overlook a familiar igure
— Henrik Stenson, the British
Open champion who made eagle
on the 18th at the turn and polished
off another 67. He was only four
shots behind in his bid to match
Ben Hogan as the only players to
win two straight majors at age 40.
Mickelson made the cut, and
that might have been the most
entertaining of all.
He began his round with a tee
shot so far left that it sailed off the
property, bounced along Shunpike
AP Photo/Mike Groll
Jimmy Walker chips to the 15th green during the second round of Road and caromed to the left
the PGA Championship golf tournament at Baltusrol Golf Club in down Baltusrol Way. Wherever it
inished, it was out-of-bounds, and
Springield, N.J., Friday, July 29, 2016.
Mickelson had to scramble for a
area on the 17th, and pushed a by Emiliano Grillo, the talented triple bogey. He spent the rest of
driving iron into the right rough on young Argentine who worked the day battling to get back, and he
the 18th. He settled for pars at both hard on his putting at Baltusrol delivered on the 18th with a birdie
and watched it pay off. Grillo got to post a 70.
for a 65.
“I think in the history of the PGA
Day was right where he wanted this afternoon of birdies going by
to be, three shots behind going into making ive of them in a seven- Championship, that’s the worst
the weekend, his name high on the hole stretch on the back nine until start of any player’s round. I’d have
leaderboard for everyone to see. he cooled on the front and had to to look it up,” Mickelson said.
No need to. Someone pointed
At stake is a chance to join Tiger settle for a 67.
This is new territory for him, out that Nicolas Colsaerts piped
Woods as the only back-to-back
two over the fence and made 8.
PGA champions since the stroke- too.
“I’m having a dificult time right
Just like Walker and Streb, he
play era began in 1958.
Day was joined at 7-under 133 has never even contended in a now managing my expectations,
because I know how well I’m
playing and I’m so result-oriented
that I’m not playing very relaxed,
free golf like I did at the British,
like I did in the preparation here,”
Mickelson said.
Two weeks ago at Royal Troon,
where Mickelson opened with a 63
and Stenson close with a 63, it was
just those two players in a duel that
ranked among the greatest.
At Baltusrol, a dozen players
were separated by ive shots going
into the weekend, a group that
included Martin Kaymer (69).
Jordan Spieth was inally back in
the mix, at least on the fringes, after
a hot start that led to a 67. He was in
the group six shots behind.
The biggest surprise was Streb,
who became the fourth player with
a 63 at Baltusrol. Jack Nicklaus and
Tom Weiskopf each had 63 in the
opening round of the 1980 U.S.
Open, and Thomas Bjorn shot 63
in the third round in the 2005 PGA
Championship.
Streb hasn’t had a top 10 on the
PGA Tour since he tied for 10th in
the PGA Championship last year.
He found something in his swing
a few weeks ago, birdied the last
four holes a week ago Friday in the
Canadian Open just to make the
cut, and grabbed a sliver of history
at Baltusrol.
MARINERS: Game featured a 74-minute rain delay during 7th inning
Continued from 1B
Scott Servais said. “We’ve
seen him come out slow
in the past and be able to
make an adjustment, but not
today.”
Jon Lester recovered from
a rut of bad starts, pitching
six shutout innings for the
Cubs’ third straight win.
Jason Heyward and David
Ross homered as the NL
Central leaders won for the
10th time in 15 games.
“That’s a bad day. It’s
unfortunate. We got to get
better playing in these day
games,” Servais said.
Seattle lost in its irst trip
to Wrigley Field since 2007.
The Mariners let inielder
Luis Sardinas pitch the
eighth, and he threw a perfect
inning.
“When you’re down
like that, it’s about the next
day’s game,” Servais said
of conserving his bullpen.
“Don’t want to do it, don’t
like doing it, but sometimes
the game calls for it.”
Lester (11-4) had lasted
just 16 innings over his
previous four starts, going
1-1 with a 10.13 ERA. That
skid came after he had gone
9-3 with a 2.03 ERA in his
irst 16 starts.
Lester gave up four hits,
struck out seven and walked
two. He was already done
when there was a 74-minute
rain delay in the seventh.
“The guys swung the bats
really well,” Lester said. “I
try to always tell them, 12
runs and an airtight defense
makes a pitcher’s job a lot
easier, so that was good
today.”
Mike Montgomery, traded
last week from Seattle to the
Cubs, pitched the inal two
innings. He gave up a single
to Shawn O’Malley in the
ninth for the Mariners’ run.
The Cubs already led 5-0
when they scored six times
AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast
Seattle Mariners shortstop Shawn O’Malley, right,
turns the double play forcing Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bry-
ant (17) out at second and getting Anthony Rizzo at
irst during the seventh inning of a baseball game Fri-
day, July 29, 2016, in Chicago.
in the sixth inning, with
Anthony Rizzo hitting a
three-run double.
Heyward hit his irst
homer since June 11 and
drove in three runs. He had
been just 5 for 45 in his last
13 games.
Kris Bryant reached base
all ive times he came up for
the Cubs. He singled twice,
doubled and walked twice.
Sardinas, who played for
Texas and Milwaukee the
past two seasons, moved
from irst base to the mound
and retired the Cubs on eight
pitches.
“Tremendous job, threw
the ball downhill, little
breaking ball,” Servais said.
HOMECOMING
Servais, who played for
the Cubs during four seasons,
checked out the Wrigley
renovations.
“It’s about as nice as you
can get,” he said. “The visi-
tors’ side, it’s probably about
as tight as you can get. That’s
just the way it is. They use it
as a home-ield advantage.
But we’re excited to be here.
A lot of our guys haven’t
been here before.”
NEWCOMER
Seattle’s
Guillermo
Heredia made his major
league debut when he went
to right ield in the seventh.
He struck out in the eighth.
The Mariners recalled him
from Triple-A Tacoma before
the game and optioned LHP
David Rollins.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Mariners: RF Nelson
Cruz returned to the lineup
after fouling a ball off his
shin Tuesday. He went 0 for
2 with a walk.
UP NEXT
Mariners: It’s been a
streaky season for LHP Wade
Miley (6-8, 5.23). He lost his
irst two decisions, won his
next six and has lost his last
six starts.
Cubs: Jake Arrieta (12-4,
2.76) is 0-2 with a 5.55 ERA
in four July starts. He has
allowed 20 earned runs over
his last ive starts after giving
up 19 over his irst 15 starts.
DUCKS: Helfrich conident in all three guys, is excited to see them compete
Continued from 1B
glaring and everybody kind
of looks at each other and
goes, yeah.
“Like last year was a
unanimous vote. No ques-
tion about that. It can’t be
fake. It can’t be artiicial,
staged, any of those type
of descriptors. It’s just got
to happen. And right now
is the time where a lot of
that happens for those guys,
guys that go to work and
re-learn their terminology,
or in some guys’ case, learn
it for the irst time, and then
hit the ground running in
fall camp.”
Helfrich described the
three potential starters as
similar and completely
different, from what he saw
in the spring.
Here’s what he said about
each:
• Prukop: “A guy in
Dakota that had played a lot
of college football, different
plays, all those things, but
completely inexperienced in
our system, and you could
see those wheels turning
of, OK, we called that red
and we called that water or
whatever it is. And those
gears stuck a few times.”
• Jonsen: “He was there
for a year but didn’t — he
Prukop
Jonsen
couldn’t practice. He was
physically unable to prac-
tice, and so he was there.
He knows the terminology,
but he hasn’t actually done
it, so there was that learning
curve.”
•
Wilson:
“Wilson
hopped off the plane and
Wilson
started practice. It was kind
of a hit-the-ground-running
type of moment for him.”
Regardless of who starts,
he will have a plethora of
offensive weapons to get the
ball to, led by junior running
back Royce Freeman.
Freeman was overshad-
owed by Stanford’s Chris-
tian McCaffrey last season
but inished with impressive
numbers — 283 carries for
1,836 rushing yards and 17
touchdowns as well as 26
receptions for 348 yards and
two more scores.
The Ducks are also deep
at receiver and tight end.
Oregon also has the
luxury that the quarterback
doesn’t play as important of
a role as in other systems as
far as getting the play called
and everyone organized.
“How we go about
things, we don’t have the
look-them-in-the-eye-
in-the-huddle
moment,”
Helfrich said. “We don’t
do that. So that’s where
you have a guy like Royce
or Charles Nelson that can
lead the charge in terms
of work ethic and practice
and how we train, those
guys can lead that, and the
quarterback doesn’t have to
be that guy all the time.
“It can be. With Marcus
it was. Last year it wasn’t.
A few years before that it
wasn’t. It’s just kind of a
byproduct of how we do it.”
Fall camp for the Ducks
begins on Aug. 8 in Eugene
and the team’s media day
will also take place on that
same day.