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      Phil Mickelson Leads P.G.A. Championship After Third Round

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      Mickelson has a one-shot lead over Brooks Koepka entering the final round of the P.G.A. Championship, where he is bidding to become the oldest man to win a major.KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Mindful of keeping his focus as he ages, Phil Mickelson has begun meditating in his spare time. In the third round of the P.G.A. Championship on Saturday, he clearly took his new diversion to the workplace, pausing for long contemplative moments, occasionally with eyes closed, as he prepared to execute a shot.For 11 holes on Saturday, the result was a commanding, five-shot lead.But Mickelson’s composed walk around the treacherous Ocean Course at Kiawah Island would turn into roughly an hour of chaos, when it seemed he was on the verge of playing his way out of the tournament.Mickelson found the inner peace — or relied on nearly 30 years of top performances — to right the ship in the nick of time, rallying with five closing pars to take a one-stroke lead over Brooks Koepka into Sunday’s final round. Koepka had briefly tied Mickelson atop the leaderboard but bogeyed the 18th hole as Mickelson was calmly closing out his day.Brooks Koepka stalked Mickelson on the back nine, pulling even late in the round.David J. Phillip/Associated PressIf Mickelson, who turns 51 next month, maintains that advantage in the final round, he will become the oldest golfer to win a major championship, taking the record from Julius Boros, who was 48 when he won the 1968 P.G.A. Championship. A win on Sunday would be Mickelson’s sixth major victory, something only 13 other men’s golfers have achieved.“Tomorrow, I just want to stay calm enough and focused enough and visualize each shot, and if I can do that I can have the performance I want,” Mickelson said after shooting a two-under-par 70 that left him seven-under par for the championship. “It’s a great opportunity.”Mickelson blamed a loss of concentration for his missteps on the 12th and 13th holes on Saturday, which cost him three strokes and nearly derailed his round.“I slipped on a couple shots, but I’ve seen a lot of progress mentally,” he said. “That’s all significantly better. You know, just to have a chance tomorrow is the goal.”Mickelson will be paired with Koepka on Sunday, while Louis Oosthuizen, who is alone in third at five under, and Kevin Streelman, at four under, will be the second-to-last group off the first tee.On Saturday, Mickelson repeatedly stood motionless and pensive behind his golf ball. When he finally set up for his next shot, he would often have a thin, relaxed smile on his face.For a little more than the first half of his round, the absorbed deliberation led to spectacular outcomes as Mickelson birdied five holes to take a five-stroke lead on the field with eight holes to play.Nothing in Mickelson’s recent performances would have foreshadowed such a successful assault this week on the devilish Ocean Course. Since missing the cut at last year’s United States Open, his best result has been a tie for 21st. He has finished outside the top 50 in other events nine times.Mickelson’s mini-collapse on Saturday, which included knocking a tee shot under a golf cart perched on a sand dune, began on the par-4 12th hole, where he hit his tee shot into a bunker and had to chip out sideways because of an awkward lie. After his next shot landed 26 feet from the hole, he had to settle for a two-putt bogey.That lapse, after a string of pars and birdies — and after subpar rounds of 70 and 69 in the first half of the tournament — appeared to unnerve Mickelson, despite his new relaxation techniques.On the 13th tee, after Mickelson’s playing partner Oosthuizen smacked his ball into a swampy water hazard right of the hole, Mickelson did the same. Worse for Mickelson, he deemed that his tee shot had traveled entirely over the hazard and therefore he had to re-tee with a penalty stroke. While his next shot bounced safely in the fairway, it counted as his third shot and led to a double-bogey six — the first six Mickelson had recorded on any hole at the event.Mickelson’s confidence and calm were tested by a stumble on the back nine.David J. Phillip/Associated PressMickelson rallied with two pars, which offered a return to normalcy that he had needed. But then he severely hooked his tee shot at the par-5 16th and watched helplessly as it bounded into the course’s thick native grasses. The ball came to rest beside the front tire of a golf cart parked atop a sandy mound.The cart was moved, and Mickelson punched out, and he then found the green with his third shot. His 12-foot birdie putt was struck too firmly, though, and while it hit the hole, it was traveling so fast that it hopped over the cup and lipped out.Minutes earlier, on the 16th green, Koepka had rolled in a birdie putt that pulled him into a tie for the lead at seven under. His stay alongside Mickelson in first was brief, however; Koepka missed a 6-foot par putt on the 18th hole as his rival parred in.“It felt like the worst putting performance I’ve ever had,” said Koepka, who has won four major championships, and two P.G.A. Championships, since 2017. “The only way to look at it is that it can’t get any worse.”While Koepka was on his way to a bogey at 18, Mickelson, on the par-3 17th hole, the most intimidating spot on the course, drilled an impressive iron from the tee to within 17 feet of the cup. He settled for par when his birdie putt trickled just left of the hole, but on the final hole of the day, despite missing the green to the left, he nearly chipped in from 65 feet. His 5-foot par rolled around the edge of the cup but dropped in for his final par.Mickelson opened Saturday’s round by slicing his first tee shot into rough so thick his caddie, and brother, Tim could not find the ball even when standing only eight feet away. Nearby fans pointed it out. When Phil Mickelson later arrived on the scene and gazed down at his ball, he chuckled.But after a long pause with his eyes closed as he visualized the shot to come, he successfully wedged the ball onto the green and made a steadying par. Mickelson then birdied the par-5 second hole as well as the par-4 third, where his tee shot came to rest 2 feet from the hole. He added birdies on the sixth hole, where he made a 16-foot putt, and the seventh, where he rolled in his ball from 5 feet.A precise wedge from 118 yards on the 10th hole left Mickelson a 6-foot putt. He was already walking to collect it before it disappeared into the hole moments later, to the delight of the roaring gallery. More

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      Phil Mickelson’s P.G.A. Numbers: 50 Years and One More Day

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      Mickelson has a one-shot lead over Brooks Koepka entering the final round of the P.G.A. Championship, where he is bidding to become the oldest man to win a major.KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Mindful of keeping his focus as he ages, Phil Mickelson has begun meditating in his spare time. In the third round of the P.G.A. Championship on Saturday, he clearly took his new diversion to the workplace, pausing for long contemplative moments, occasionally with eyes closed, as he prepared to execute a shot.For 11 holes on Saturday, the result was a commanding, five-shot lead.But Mickelson’s composed walk around the treacherous Ocean Course at Kiawah Island would turn into roughly an hour of chaos, when it seemed he was on the verge of playing his way out of the tournament.Mickelson found the inner peace — or relied on nearly 30 years of top performances — to right the ship in the nick of time, rallying with five closing pars to take a one-stroke lead over Brooks Koepka into Sunday’s final round. Koepka had briefly tied Mickelson atop the leaderboard but bogeyed the 18th hole as Mickelson was calmly closing out his day.Brooks Koepka stalked Mickelson on the back nine, pulling even late in the round.David J. Phillip/Associated PressIf Mickelson, who turns 51 next month, maintains that advantage in the final round, he will become the oldest golfer to win a major championship, taking the record from Julius Boros, who was 48 when he won the 1968 P.G.A. Championship. A win on Sunday would be Mickelson’s sixth major victory, something only 13 other men’s golfers have achieved.“Tomorrow, I just want to stay calm enough and focused enough and visualize each shot, and if I can do that I can have the performance I want,” Mickelson said after shooting a two-under-par 70 that left him seven-under par for the championship. “It’s a great opportunity.”Mickelson blamed a loss of concentration for his missteps on the 12th and 13th holes on Saturday, which cost him three strokes and nearly derailed his round.“I slipped on a couple shots, but I’ve seen a lot of progress mentally,” he said. “That’s all significantly better. You know, just to have a chance tomorrow is the goal.”Mickelson will be paired with Koepka on Sunday, while Louis Oosthuizen, who is alone in third at five under, and Kevin Streelman, at four under, will be the second-to-last group off the first tee.On Saturday, Mickelson repeatedly stood motionless and pensive behind his golf ball. When he finally set up for his next shot, he would often have a thin, relaxed smile on his face.For a little more than the first half of his round, the absorbed deliberation led to spectacular outcomes as Mickelson birdied five holes to take a five-stroke lead on the field with eight holes to play.Nothing in Mickelson’s recent performances would have foreshadowed such a successful assault this week on the devilish Ocean Course. Since missing the cut at last year’s United States Open, his best result has been a tie for 21st. He has finished outside the top 50 in other events nine times.Mickelson’s mini-collapse on Saturday, which included knocking a tee shot under a golf cart perched on a sand dune, began on the par-4 12th hole, where he hit his tee shot into a bunker and had to chip out sideways because of an awkward lie. After his next shot landed 26 feet from the hole, he had to settle for a two-putt bogey.That lapse, after a string of pars and birdies — and after subpar rounds of 70 and 69 in the first half of the tournament — appeared to unnerve Mickelson, despite his new relaxation techniques.On the 13th tee, after Mickelson’s playing partner Oosthuizen smacked his ball into a swampy water hazard right of the hole, Mickelson did the same. Worse for Mickelson, he deemed that his tee shot had traveled entirely over the hazard and therefore he had to re-tee with a penalty stroke. While his next shot bounced safely in the fairway, it counted as his third shot and led to a double-bogey six — the first six Mickelson had recorded on any hole at the event.Mickelson’s confidence and calm were tested by a stumble on the back nine.David J. Phillip/Associated PressMickelson rallied with two pars, which offered a return to normalcy that he had needed. But then he severely hooked his tee shot at the par-5 16th and watched helplessly as it bounded into the course’s thick native grasses. The ball came to rest beside the front tire of a golf cart parked atop a sandy mound.The cart was moved, and Mickelson punched out, and he then found the green with his third shot. His 12-foot birdie putt was struck too firmly, though, and while it hit the hole, it was traveling so fast that it hopped over the cup and lipped out.Minutes earlier, on the 16th green, Koepka had rolled in a birdie putt that pulled him into a tie for the lead at seven under. His stay alongside Mickelson in first was brief, however; Koepka missed a 6-foot par putt on the 18th hole as his rival parred in.“It felt like the worst putting performance I’ve ever had,” said Koepka, who has won four major championships, and two P.G.A. Championships, since 2017. “The only way to look at it is that it can’t get any worse.”While Koepka was on his way to a bogey at 18, Mickelson, on the par-3 17th hole, the most intimidating spot on the course, drilled an impressive iron from the tee to within 17 feet of the cup. He settled for par when his birdie putt trickled just left of the hole, but on the final hole of the day, despite missing the green to the left, he nearly chipped in from 65 feet. His 5-foot par rolled around the edge of the cup but dropped in for his final par.Mickelson opened Saturday’s round by slicing his first tee shot into rough so thick his caddie, and brother, Tim could not find the ball even when standing only eight feet away. Nearby fans pointed it out. When Phil Mickelson later arrived on the scene and gazed down at his ball, he chuckled.But after a long pause with his eyes closed as he visualized the shot to come, he successfully wedged the ball onto the green and made a steadying par. Mickelson then birdied the par-5 second hole as well as the par-4 third, where his tee shot came to rest 2 feet from the hole. He added birdies on the sixth hole, where he made a 16-foot putt, and the seventh, where he rolled in his ball from 5 feet.A precise wedge from 118 yards on the 10th hole left Mickelson a 6-foot putt. He was already walking to collect it before it disappeared into the hole moments later, to the delight of the roaring gallery. More

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      Phil Mickelson Moves Into PGA Championship Lead

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      If he triumphs at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island this weekend, Mickelson, 50, will become the oldest winner of a major golf tournament.KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — As Phil Mickelson climbed a hillock to step onto the final green of his second round at the P.G.A. Championship on Friday, a shout from the crowd rose above the growing applause: “You’re not old, Phil.”Mickelson, who will turn 51 next month, smiled and flashed a thumbs up, his favorite nonverbal acknowledgment across a career dating to the early 1990s. Minutes later, when Mickelson sank a 22-foot birdie putt that put him near the top of the leaderboard just past noon on Friday, he boyishly bounded off the green, offering a thumbs up in every direction.Eight years after his last major championship victory, Mickelson shot a 69 to finish Friday at five under par, which put him in a tie for first with Louis Oosthuizen at the midpoint of the event. Two windswept days remain on the grueling Ocean Course, but Padraig Harrington, who played in Mickelson’s group in the first two rounds, saw something distinctive in his longtime rival’s deportment.“He has the bit between his teeth,” Harrington, 49, said, using an expression for a horse that cannot be stopped. “I expect him to contend, to be there at the end of the week, for sure.”He added: “He’s not here to make the cut — even 15th would be a disappointment. You know what? Even second would be a disappointment for Phil.”Louis Oosthuizen has won one major, the British Open in 2010, and finished second in each of the three others.Matt York/Associated PressMickelson has won five major championships, a total that only 13 male golfers have bettered — and just six of them did so after 1964. A victory this weekend would not only improve his standing in the sport’s pantheon, but would also make him the oldest major champion, taking the record from Julius Boros, who was 48 when he won the P.G.A. Championship 53 years ago.Harrington, who was at even par for the tournament after the second round and still in the title hunt, was asked if he had an appreciation for what Mickelson was trying to do at an age when many golfers have opted for the game’s senior tour.Harrington, who has always had a way of channeling his inner Irish poet, smiled as he replied, “Unfortunately, as you gain experience, you lose innocence.”He explained: “There is a sweet spot on the way up when you’re gaining a bit of experience and yet you have that innocence. As you get older, yeah, we have experience, but we have some scar tissue in there.”The consequence? “We can overthink things,” Harrington said.For all of Mickelson’s many talents — he got his 44th PGA Tour victory two years ago — he has rarely been able to avoid the ruinous trap of overanalyzing his own game.Consider the past few weeks, when Mickelson missed the cut at the tour’s Valspar Championship, one of nine tournaments this season in which he has failed to contend for the title.“As I’ve gotten older, I have a hard time focusing,” Mickelson said afterward. “And that’s my challenge right now. I’m trying all different things to be able to elongate my ability to stay focused, or to refocus.”Brooks Koepka is seeking his third P.G.A. Championship victory.Sam Greenwood/Getty ImagesAfter Friday’s round, Mickelson revealed his new plan for sharper concentration.“I might try to play 36, or 45, holes in a day and try to focus on each shot, so that when I go out and play 18, it doesn’t feel like it’s that much,” he said.Mickelson, who is always tinkering, mentioned other tactics.“I might try to elongate the time that I end up meditating, but I’m trying to use my mind like a muscle and just expand it,” he said.Mickelson has also done something more customary for a struggling golfer, which is to put a new club in his bag. Off the tee, Mickelson has increasingly relied on an uncommon 2-wood. His brother and caddie, Tim, said the club was similar to one Mickelson had used in his last major championship victory, at the 2013 British Open.“It basically goes 20 yards short of his driver,” Tim Mickelson said. “It’s like a 12½-, 13-degree, something like that. It basically goes plenty far, but having that smaller head, you just have a touch more confidence that it’s going to go straighter.”Mickelson started Friday’s round on the back nine, where he fought 20-mile-an-hour winds, as did the rest of the field, and made the turn at two over par. But Mickelson had five birdies for a 31 on his closing nine — and he nearly eagled the par-5 seventh hole.Twenty minutes after his round was over, the excitement of the moment had not diminished.“To know I’m playing well heading into the weekend, to be in contention, to have a good opportunity,” Mickelson said. “I’m having a blast.”Hideki Matsuyama, who won the Masters last month, worked his way into contention at the P.G.A. Championship on Friday.Patrick Smith/Getty ImagesBrooks Koepka continued his consistent play Friday with a second-round 71 that left him in third place, one stroke behind Mickelson and Oosthuizen. Three other golfers were tied for fourth and two strokes off the lead: this year’s Masters champion, Hideki Matsuyama; Branden Grace; and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.Throughout Friday’s round, there was considerable movement on the leaderboard. The first-round leader, Corey Conners, bogeyed five of his first six holes and stumbled to a three-over-par 75. Will Zalatoris, the tour rookie who has ascended to 30th in the world rankings, slumped with a 74 Friday after shooting a one-under 71 in the first round. Jon Rahm, ranked third worldwide, shot a frustrating 75 to fall to three over for the tournament. Justin Rose, another pre-event favorite, matched Rahm’s 75 and was also at three over.Jordan Spieth shot 75 as well and was at four over at the tournament midpoint. Dustin Johnson, the game’s top-ranked player, continued the uneven play he has consistently exhibited since late February with a 74 that followed a first-round 76.Rallying from an opening-round 75, Rory McIlory shot 72 and was at three over par. The 2020 champion of the event, Collin Morikawa, fell to one over for the tournament with a 75 on Friday. A trio of players held their positions just below the leaders: Gary Woodland, the 2019 United States Open champion, Kevin Streelman and Sungjae Im each shot rounds of 72, which left them two under for the championship. More

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      10 Memorable Moments From P.G.A. Championships

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      The tournament’s history includes brilliant play from the stars Tiger Woods and Gary Player, and the surprising winners Bob Tway and John Daly.The fans who follow professional golf can cite plenty of memorable moments over the years from the Masters, the United States Open and the British Open.That isn’t necessarily the case with the least glamorous of the four majors, the P.G.A. Championship, which starts Thursday on the Ocean Course at the Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina. The P.G.A. is a major nonetheless, and since its format switched from match play to stroke play in 1958, the tournament has featured its share of heroics and dramatic finishes.Here, in chronological order, are 10 P.G.A. Championships that stand out since the format changed.Gary Player won the 1972 P.G.A. Championship at Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.Getty Images1972: Oakland Hills Country Club, Bloomfield Hills, Mich.After bogeys on 14 and 15, Gary Player of South Africa, a future Hall of Famer, hit his tee shot into the rough on the right on 16 and then had a huge willow tree and a water hazard between him and the green.No problem.Player borrowed a chair from a fan to get a better look at what he was facing. He hit a 9-iron to within three feet of the hole, made the birdie putt, and won by two strokes over Tommy Aaron and Jim Jamieson.Lee Trevino, center, won the 1974 P.G.A. Championship at Tanglewood Park in Clemmons, N.C.Al Satterwhite/American Broadcasting Companies, via Getty Images1974: Tanglewood Park, Clemmons, N.C.Consider those who were in contention during the final round: Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Sam Snead, who was 62 years old.Ultimately, it was Trevino, using a putter he discovered in a friend’s attic, who prevailed by a stroke over Nicklaus to win the first of his two P.G.A.s. After making a bogey on 17, Trevino two-putted for a par at the final hole to hold off Nicklaus. Snead, who won his first P.G.A. in 1942, tied for third.1978: Oakmont Country Club, Oakmont, Pa.The P.G.A. was the only major Tom Watson didn’t win in his career. At Oakmont, he came very close.Watson, who led by five over Jerry Pate heading into the final round, shot a two-over 73 on Sunday. As a result, he found himself in a sudden-death playoff with Pate and John Mahaffey. Mahaffey, after an opening 75, shot rounds of 67, 68 and 66. Each player made a par on the first hole before Mahaffey birdied the second for the victory.Bob Tway won the 1986 P.G.A. Championship at Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.Jeff McBride/PGA TOUR Archive, via Getty Images1986: Inverness Club, Toledo, OhioWith eight holes to go, Greg Norman enjoyed a comfortable four-stroke lead. He was on track to win his second straight major, having captured the British Open in Scotland a month earlier.Norman proceeded to double-bogey No. 11. By the time he and Bob Tway, reached No. 18, they were all square. A playoff seemed likely. Tway then made a birdie when he knocked his bunker shot into the hole. Norman missed his birdie attempt for the tie.John Daly won the 1991 P.G.A. Championship at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Ind.Getty Images1991: Crooked Stick Golf Club, Carmel, Ind.John Daly, an alternate who made the field when other players withdrew, shocked the sport with a three-stroke victory over Bruce Lietzke. The manner in which Daly won was a big part of the story. Hitting one booming drive after another, he became the game’s new hero.Daly, a tour rookie, was an unknown heading into the week. He would win one more major, the 1995 British Open.Greg Norman lost the 1993 P.G.A. Championship in a playoff with Paul Azinger at Inverness Club.Phil Sheldon/Popperfoto, via Getty Images1993: Inverness ClubAnother strong performance for Norman in Toledo. Another heartbreaking finish.The beneficiary this time was Paul Azinger, who birdied four of his last seven holes to force a playoff with Norman. Both parred the first hole before Norman missed a four-footer for a par on the second. Norman would have been the first player since Walter Hagen in 1924 to capture the British Open and the P.G.A. in the same year.Sergio Garcia’s memorable shot at the 1999 P.G.A. Championship at Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Ill.Roberto Schmidt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images1999: Medinah Country Club, Medinah, Ill.Tiger Woods won by one stroke for his second major title and first since his triumph in the 1997 Masters. However, it was the play of 19-year-old Sergio Garcia that makes this tournament so memorable; specifically, the shot he hit at No. 16.With the ball inches from a tree, Garcia hit it onto the green. He ran down the fairway and jumped in the air to see where the ball ended up.2000: Valhalla Golf Club, Louisville, Ky.The first P.G.A. of the new century offered an unlikely and most entertaining duel between Woods, the No. 1 player in the world, and an unknown, Bob May.May pulled off one clutch shot after another over the final nine holes, capped by a double-breaking 15-foot birdie putt at No. 18. Woods followed with a five-foot birdie putt to stay alive and then prevailed by one stroke in a three-hole playoff. May would never win a PGA Tour event.2001: Atlanta Athletic Club, Johns Creek, Ga.David Toms had a choice to make.Leading by one shot on the par-4 18th hole, with his ball in the rough and a water hazard between him and the putting surface, he had to decide whether to go for the green or play it safe. He played it safe. It was the right choice.Toms hit his second shot short of the water, his next shot landed about 12 feet from the hole and then he made the par putt to edge Phil Mickelson by a stroke. Mickelson had just missed his birdie effort from 25 feet.2014: Valhalla Golf ClubRory McIlroy, the leader by one after three rounds, bogeyed two of his first six holes on Sunday, while other contenders made birdies. Suddenly, McIlroy was down by three.He turned things around with an eagle at No. 10 and followed with birdies at 13 and 17 to take the lead heading into the last hole. As darkness approached, Mickelson made it exciting, nearly chipping in for an eagle from off the green, which would have tied him with McIlroy. More

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      Omar Uresti’s Second Act

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      The golfer is the definition of a journeyman, playing off and on for decades. This is his fifth time playing the P.G.A. Championship.Omar Uresti, 52, is 5 feet 6 inches tall with a slight belly and signature sideburns. Last month, he punched his ticket to this year’s P.G.A. Championship at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort in South Carolina by winning the P.G.A. Professional Championship. Uresti beat a field of 312 of the best club pros, teaching pros and life members in the P.G.A. of America — some half his age — to be one of 20 non-Tour pros to gain entry to the major.Call it his second act. As a touring pro for 20 years, Uresti was the definition of a journeyman. He never won a PGA Tour event, but he won enough money to stick around.“When I was on Tour in the ’90s and early 2000s, I never qualified for the P.G.A. Championship,” Uresti said. “I played in six U.S. Opens, but I never qualified for any other majors.”This week marks his fifth P.G.A. Championship. At the 2017 event he had his best showing. While he finished 21 shots behind Justin Thomas, who won that year, he beat Jim Furyk and Padraig Harrington — both major champions — and young stars like Matthew Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele.Uresti’s days of elite competition seemed over in 2012. In his mid-40s, he no longer had playing privileges on the PGA Tour, and he was too young for the P.G.A. Tour Champions senior circuit. “I went into a little bit of a depression,” he said. “I didn’t play that much golf. I put on 20 pounds.”Omar Uresti during a practice round at the 2018 P.G.A. Championship. His best showing came in 2017, when he finished 21 shots back.Brynn Anderson/Associated PressHe called a friend in the P.G.A.’s Texas office and learned he could reclassify himself as a P.G.A. Life Member. In doing that, he could enter local tournaments. “It saved me, to be able to keep competing,” he said.His success has not been without controversy. Some club pros complain that he doesn’t have the work responsibilities, like running tournaments and giving lessons, that they do. But Uresti shakes it off.The following interview has been edited and condensed.How did you beat a field of young club pros?I worked really hard for a few weeks to get my swing a little better. I’d gotten really out of whack over the past four years. So I watched some old footage from Bay Hill in 1997, when I was leading going into the last day, and I saw how good my swing was. [Phil Mickelson shot seven under par in the final round to win- the Bay Hill Invitational.]How do you hang in there with the long hitters?At the 2017 P.G.A. Championship, I got paired with Rory McIlroy on Saturday. I average about 275 yards off the tee. Rory was hitting it 60 to 80 yards by me, cutting corners. On one hole, it was 285 to a fairway bunker. I barely got to it and had 220 yards to the green. Rory flew it over the bunker and had 100 yards left. But we both made par. That’s when I came up with my mantra: I’m going to straight them to death. I’m going to hit the fairway and hit the green and give myself some chances.What are your plans for Kiawah?I’ve never played it. I’m not sure what to do. It’s tight and windy.What’s your day-to-day life like in Texas?I grew up here at the Onion Creek Club in Austin, Texas. My dad worked three jobs at the time so we could become members and move out here. We joined in 1975 and moved here in 1976, when I was 7. My mom is 83. She lives with me. We take care of each other. When I’m in town, I get to see my kids. Omar Jr. is 16. My daughter, Izzie, is 14.Why do you get so much criticism from other P.G.A. members?I’m not affiliated with a club like they are. But I’m in talks with [Austin courses] Butler Park Pitch and Putt and Lions Municipal Golf Course. I’m talking to them about helping out and making some clinics for kids.What does it take for a pro who is not grinding it out week after week to play at the highest level?It takes a good frame of mind. I try to get out there every day and put in a couple of hours to keep working on my game. More

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      Rory McIlroy Wants A Second P.G.A. Championship on Kiawah Island

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      His world ranking dropped to as low as 13th this spring. But coming off a victory, McIlroy has returned to the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island, where he ran away with the P.G.A. Championship in 2012.KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Returning to the scene of one of his greatest triumphs, Rory McIlroy played a practice round Tuesday at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island, where in 2012 he won the P.G.A. Championship by a staggering eight strokes.It is the largest margin of victory in the tournament, which was first contested in 1916. McIlroy was only 23.Standing about 100 yards from the 18th green, where he sank a 20-foot putt to close out his 2012 performance, McIlroy was asked Tuesday if that victory — the second of four major championships he won from 2011 to 2014 — felt like nine years ago.“It seems longer,” said McIlroy, one of the PGA Tour’s most candid, reflective members. “I feel like a different person and a different player.”At the conclusion of the 2012 P.G.A. Championship, which came 14 months after McIlroy won the United States Open — also by eight strokes — there was a growing consensus that men’s golf was at the dawn of a new era, one that would be dominated by McIlroy. Tiger Woods had not won a major since the United States Open in 2008.McIlroy has indeed cast a long shadow over golf. He has spent 106 weeks as the world’s top-ranked golfer, holding that spot for more than five months last year.But McIlroy, 32, has also been transformed from the floppy-haired 20-something of his last appearance at Kiawah Island. He is now married and a new father, and he endured a rare decline for much of 2020 and 2021, finishing 30th or worse in nine tournaments. At the Masters tournament, where McIlroy has been in the top 10 six times, he missed the cut this spring. His world ranking, now at No. 7, dropped as low as 13th.But taking the advice of a new swing coach, Pete Cowen, who has known McIlroy for many years, he has rebounded, winning the Wells Fargo Championship — his first PGA Tour appearance since the Masters — on May 9.McIlroy’s down period was never long enough to cast the Wells Fargo victory as a comeback, but his return to Kiawah Island, where he will seek his first major championship in nearly seven years, has allowed him to take some measure of what has changed in his life since 2012.McIlroy won the event at the Ocean Course in 2012 by eight strokes.Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images“I’m in a completely different place in life,” he said. “Yeah, everything has changed, really.”He continued: “I think a lot has changed for the better. I’m standing up here probably more confident in myself, happier with where I am in my life, and yeah, just sort of enjoying everything, enjoying life, enjoying everything a bit more.”McIlroy paused and smiled.“Yeah, it’s all good.”Adam Scott — the 2013 Masters champion, who is now 40 — has watched McIlroy’s entire professional career. He was unsurprised by the Wells Fargo victory, and he mostly recalls McIlroy’s soaring heights, including the 2012 P.G.A. Championship. On Tuesday, Scott was asked if that performance had called to mind Woods in his prime, when he made golf seem patently easy.“Yeah, Rory was giving off that vibe at the time,” Scott said. “That was his second major win, and he’d won both majors by eight. That sounds pretty Tiger-esque to me. That was the early Tiger kind of moves.“I mean, it looked free-flow, and he was driving it much longer than most others that week, and straight, and rolling putts in. When talented guys like a Tiger or a Rory start doing that, it does make the game look easy, even on a really tough course.”Wherever McIlroy’s golf game stands as he enters his 49th major championship, he has a more upbeat, energized approach than he did last year, amid the pandemic. McIlroy, more than any other top golfer, admitted that his stumbles in 2020 were in part related to the lack of fans at events.He felt listless without the reaction of an enthusiastic gallery after a good shot and conceded that it had an effect on his ability to play his best. On Tuesday, McIlroy said he had been boosted by the return of fans at events where attendance is at about 25 percent of capacity, or roughly 10,000 spectators.“It’s funny, ever since I was 16 years old I’ve had thousands of people watch me play golf pretty much every time I teed it up,” he said. “Even going back to amateur golf, that was true. So then, not having that last year after playing in that environment for 14 or 15 years, it was so completely opposite.“As I said at the time, it was like playing practice rounds. It’s easy to lose concentration. Everyone is used to a certain environment, whatever work you do.”McIlroy said he had watched the Champions League soccer semifinals and realized that the players had to be performing in front of an empty stadium for the first time in their careers.“That just must be terrible,” he said. “You want to play in front of people and you want to feel that atmosphere. It’s unfortunate that in these times a lot of people don’t have that experience, but I am glad that we’re getting back to some sort of normalcy.”Even the silly remarks that fans are prone to shout after a golfer’s shot — mostly to be heard on the television broadcast — no longer annoy McIlroy.“Yeah, love the mashed potatoes guys again,” he said, smiling. “I don’t even care about the stupid comments. I’m just glad that everyone is back here.” More

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      The Ocean Course, Long Absent From Golf’s Spotlight, Is Back

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      The masterpiece on Kiawah Island, designed by Pete and Alice Dye to be as challenging as it is breathtaking, has not been the site of a major tournament in almost a decade.KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — The P.G.A. Championship is returning this week to the Ocean Course, a daunting place rich in golf lore. Despite the course’s almost spiritual status in the sport — “The Legend of Bagger Vance” was filmed there — this will be only the second major championship held on the site.Pete Dye, who with his wife, Alice, began work on the course at Kiawah Island in 1989, never questioned whether his creation would be one of a kind. In 2012, as he walked the course one quiet evening a month before the P.G.A. Championship that summer, he stopped to wave a hand across the windswept landscape, where the crash of ocean waves is an ever-present soundtrack.“It is the only course we built that walks and swims,” Dye said. “It is of the land and it is of the water.”Head down, Dye marched about 10 strides, then turned to add, “You can go from Miami to New York and you won’t find a golf course like it on the Atlantic Ocean.”The P.G.A. Championship’s return to the Ocean Course has been made more poignant by the deaths of Pete last year at age 94 and of Alice in 2019 at 91. The Dyes, who were married for nearly 70 years, were golf architecture royalty: Pete as the most influential designer in the last half of the 20th century, and Alice as his constant partner who became the first female member and the first female president of the American Society of Golf Architects.Pete and Alice Dye in 1991, the year their Ocean Course at Kiawah Island opened.PGA TOUR Archive, via Getty ImagesTheir work at Kiawah Island symbolized their bond. During one of the couple’s surveys of the property as the final nine holes were being laid out in 1991, Alice said: “Pete, I can’t see the ocean on this nine. I don’t want to just hear it, I want to see it.”The fairways were raised several feet, which provided more than an upgraded view. Elevated fairways exposed the closing holes to seaside winds so fickle that they bedeviled the charging, or fading, tournament leaders. The gusts have become a hallmark of the endlessly memorable course.The Dyes will be missed this week at the masterpiece they created, but their presence will be felt, even by those who were toddlers when the course made its debut.Webb Simpson, who is ranked 10th in the world, did not make the cut at the 2012 P.G.A. Championship, but he left Kiawah Island forever impressed.“I did not play well, but I didn’t blame the golf course,” Simpson, 35, said in an interview this month. “I loved Kiawah. I remember leaving in ’12 and thinking it was like a British Open course where you have to trust your lines over corners, over bushes, over marsh. There’s a 66 or an 80 out there every day for any golfer, which is exciting for a major.”Keegan Bradley tied for third at the 2012 P.G.A. Championship, which was won by Rory McIlroy. Bradley, 34, believes the Ocean Course’s relatively rare appearance on the calendar of elite golf events is part of its appeal.“It’s not a major championship venue that we go to every five years,” said Bradley, who won the 2011 P.G.A. Championship. “It’s become a special place for us to go.”Tiger Woods preparing to putt on No. 9 during the final round of the P.G.A. Championship in 2012. He finished tied for 11th.Sam Greenwood/Getty ImagesThe Ocean Course was not always held in such regard.Seated in matching white wicker chairs at their South Florida home during a 2011 interview, the Dyes recalled the course’s earliest days.“I saw its future the moment I got there, even if there was nothing but myrtles and ugly bushes,” Pete said. He laughed. “Of course, the first time the P.G.A. folks saw the land they almost threw up.”Then Hurricane Hugo blew through the southeastern United States in September 1989. Kiawah Island was declared a national disaster area. At a 1990 news conference for the 1991 Ryder Cup, Pete was asked where he planned to put the huge galleries of fans expected to attend.“Galleries? How do I know?” Pete answered. “We don’t even have holes yet.”Alice’s memory of the day was slightly different.“You had a plan, Pete,” she said in 2011. “You just didn’t want to tell them yet.”Alice and Pete later agreed that Hugo had oddly helped their project. It ruined the work already done on several holes, but the destruction gave the Dyes the opportunity to rebuild sand dunes and other natural elements to their liking. Flood lights were set up so work crews could put in 16-hour days to get the course ready in time.The course revealed to the golf world ahead of the 1991 Ryder Cup was stunningly beautiful. Playing it was less than pleasant. David Feherty, a television commentator who was on the European Ryder Cup team that year, called the course “something from Mars.”Ian Woosnam in a bunker on the 17th hole during the Ryder Cup at the Ocean Course in 1991.Stephen Munday/Allsport, via Getty ImagesThe competition, won by the American side after three exhilarating days, became the most famous Ryder Cup, in part because of the treachery of the finishing holes at the Ocean Course. The television ratings for the event eclipsed those of that weekend’s N.F.L. games, a first for any golf competition.The Dyes’ creation at Kiawah Island immediately climbed near the top of the rankings of America’s best courses.But it was always impossible for the Dyes to choose a favorite among the more than 100 golf courses they designed.“We think of them like our children,” Alice said, “not pieces of history.”This week, the Ocean Course, after nine years on the sidelines of major championship golf, will take another turn in the spotlight. And with it will come another chance to appreciate the brilliance of Pete and Alice Dye, a golf team like no other. More

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      A Curious Golfer, a Lawn Mower and a Thousand Hours in Lockdown

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      On Friday evening, Chris Powell and 23 locals stood in a field roughly a mile from his home in the rolling hills of Rhayader in Mid Wales. All around the group, familiar features dotted the landscape — from a winding series of public footpaths to gorse bushes, patches of bracken and a centuries-old stone cottage.But among the greenery there were some new additions: flags, yardage markers, tees, bicycle tires that had been painted red and placed on the ground and a selection of golf bags.While others in Britain spent the past year or so navigating coronavirus lockdowns and picking up indoor hobbies, Powell estimated that he had spent roughly 1,000 hours roaming this land that was once his town’s local golf course — a site that closed more than five decades ago and has slowly been melding into the landscape ever since.To rebuild the course Chris Powell pored over old maps. He used a metal detector to locate original cups. Thanks to Powell’s dedication to discovery and his skills as a one-man renovation team, he managed not only to identify all of the previous tees and greens, hidden among the hills and foliage, but also to repair the course to a playable state. There were surprises along the way, too — like the discovery of ties to a certain course in Augusta, Ga. — and now he and the group were ready to tackle the Rhayader Golf Links once more.“Once I get into something, I’m very obsessive,” Powell, 63, said before teeing off, dark rain clouds rolling through the surrounding valleys.The journey to this point started more than a year ago, when Britain was facing its first lockdown and Powell and a friend decided to take to the hills as part of their permitted exercise.A quick search for Rhayader (pronounced Rei-eder, similar to Ryder Cup) reveals a quiet town, of roughly 2,000 residents, known for its trout fishing, hiking routes, nearby Elan Valley dams and one of the highest pubs per capita figures in the United Kingdom.Chris Powell placed tee marker signs along the course.But golf can be found within this DNA, too. According to the website Golf’s Missing Links, which documents more than 2,000 courses that have been lost to time and the landscape, a nine-hole course first existed in Rhayader from 1908 until its abeyance around the time of World War I. Then, in the mid-1920s, a new nine-hole course was opened on a separate site about a mile from the town center, eventually closing in 1968. Another course on a third site failed in the 1990s, shutting after a few years.Powell remembers parts of the defunct second course from his youth, when he would trek over the hills with his pony. “Ever since I was a kid I’ve always been fascinated by man-made stuff,” Powell, a farrier, said. “So if I’m walking over hills, I’m always fascinated by, say, an old house, and I always want to know, What did that used to be like? Or, Where was that room? Where was the pig sty?”On their first visit to the old links site last year, Powell and his friend, Martin Mason, 53, said they could clearly make out two greens. From there, Powell returned every few days, walking through fields and ferns in the hope of finding new features among the bracken, which, he said, was at chest height in places.Within a couple of months, Powell had unearthed around five or six greens and a similar number of tee boxes. At that point, he said, he remembers thinking, “I am going to run a charity golf day” in a year’s time.Crossing a sheep fence on the 14th. The manager of a nearby course said: “It will be rough and ragged. But that’s not the point.”“He wanted to make it playable for people who’ve not been up there,” Mason, who occasionally helped during the discovery process, said. “We didn’t know where this was leading.”In order to find the final holes, Powell turned to a local undertaker, who had played the course when he was younger and was able to give Powell rough reference points on the hillside, which is often used by mountain bikers. He and Mason were able to discover some of the original cups using a metal detector. They also worked off an old course map that they had found online, which threw up a familiar name within golfing circles: “Laid out as planned by Dr. A. MacKenzie, Golf Course Architect.”Dr. Alister MacKenzie was a British golf course architect whose work spanned four continents. Within the past 10 years, three MacKenzie courses — Cypress Point Club in California, Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia and Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, the home of The Masters — have been ranked in the top 10 in the world.“I was pretty surprised, I have to say,” Powell said.A player walks above an old quarry while looking for the ball from his first drive.Powell also discovered a newspaper article from 1925 that listed MacKenzie as the architect, and a roughly 90-year-old guidebook that documented the designer’s observations while at the site (“I have attempted to reduce the hill climbing to a minimum”). But various societies tied to MacKenzie’s courses show no recognition of Rhayader online — mainly because, members said, affiliation is only for active courses, and online chronologies document MacKenzie being in X location on Y date, rather than simply listing courses he may have worked on.Powell didn’t mind, though. He kept working on his antithesis of the pristine Augusta National course, hoping to one day host a round in the Welsh hills. He purchased a riding mower to tackle the remaining bracken. Some nights he walked the hills hitting balls, which, when they would become lost on the fern-covered fairways, he would retrieve using a sickle.In late April, Powell was presented with an opportunity: the previous year’s bracken had died down, giving him a few weeks when the remaining dead ferns could be cleared from key sections of the course, making it somewhat playable before the ferns grew back.On Friday evening, players found smaller touches, too. There were scorecards and directional signs that Powell and his wife had made. Holes had been given names, like “Moonshot,” where the drive was high and blind, and “Rollercoaster,” requiring players to drive into a valley and then play back up toward the green. All entry fees would be sent to causes supporting the National Health Service.Volunteers poured tea for golfers during the competition.“It will be rough and ragged,” said Ben Waters, 36, the course manager at nearby Llandrindod Wells Golf Club where Powell now plays, who had advised him during the previous months. “But that’s not the point. This has been one man working on a hillside in his spare time.”Over roughly four hours, players trekked across the countryside and, in the case of the first hole, over the outline of an abandoned quarry. They were each armed with a hand-drawn course map, made up of straight black lines and occasional red X’s, which, according to the index, meant “DEEP BRACKEN.”On blind holes, players were required to ring horseshoes that Powell had set up to alert the group behind that it was safe to hit. Greens were lumpy and the standard of “a lawn, at best,” Powell said, so hitting into a red ring around the flagstick counted as sinking a shot. One hole also required players to climb a fence to reach the tee. The first group out were soaked by a swift rain shower.By the time the final group had finished, the sun had set and it was getting dark. Players were met with homemade snacks underneath a cabana, and the Rhaeader Cup — to use the Welsh spelling, Y Rhaeader, meaning “The Waterfall” — was presented to the winning team. Powell hoped the charity round could become an annual event.“The most upsetting part is that it will be completely unplayable again in another month,” he said.Hitting into a red ring around the flagstick counted as sinking a shot. Nature will eventually reclaim the course and Powell’s labors of love. But something more lasting would come of his efforts.Neil Crafter is a golf course architect from Adelaide, Australia, who has quietly been researching and documenting MacKenzie’s work for more than 20 years.Despite Rhayader not being listed as an active MacKenzie course or in any sort of official chronology, the course map featuring his name and the newspaper article referencing Rhayader as being the designer’s work “match my guidelines” for it to be recognized, Crafter, 63, said last week.By “identifying his formula” for hole descriptions over the years, Crafter said he felt comfortable declaring that observations attributed to MacKenzie in the local guidebook read like a “classic MacKenzie course” — taking into account chosen words, references to drainage and the choice to lay out a course at one with the landscape.Crafter is nearly finished writing a series of books on the more than 250 MacKenzie courses he has studied over the years. These will include chapters on active courses, defunct courses and some that were never made — Augusta National, Royal Melbourne, Cypress Point and, yes, Rhayader Golf Links, whose biography Crafter has already written.He offered to read out the final line of that chapter.“Uniquely, the land the course was laid out on remains open farmland today and evidence of MacKenzie’s old greens, tees and bunkers can be clearly seen,” Crafter said.He paused.“I’d love to add a footnote to that: ‘In 2021, a group of local golfers played the course once more.’” More