• ESPN report…”American Daly, a former British Open and U.S. PGA champion who has failed to make the cut in a major since 2012, started strongly at the Albatross Golf Resort with birdies on his first three holes before adding two more to turn in five under.”

• “The 52-year-old, nicknamed “Long John”, birdied three more times on the back nine to equal the course record, showing that his booming drive is still a powerful weapon.”

• “The Nos. 1 and 2 ranked players in the world, with Justin Thomas rounding out the threesome, played in relatively anonymity. There were crowds, sure, although most were sprinting ahead to see the next shot of Woods rather than the ones about to be played. But Tiger failed to muster much of merit, sluggish in his even-par 71, while golf’s Bash Brothers provided their share of impressive shots.”

• “Better yet, in dissonant fashion. Although Johnson paced the early wave with seven birdies, and Koepka posting five red figures of his own, they broke par together on just one hole (the par-5 13th).”

• “There’s the obvious drama created when the world’s top two players go head-to-head, along with the added intrigue of Koepka possibly unseating DJ in the world math this week. There’s also an interesting sidebar over the upcoming PGA Tour Player of the Year voting, although two majors certainly gives Koepka the upper hand in that match.”

• “But it’s the duo’s unique relationship that creates the most compelling narrative….When they aren’t pounding drives ridiculous distances and winning Tour events – they’ve won a combined five times this season – Johnson and Koepka can normally be found working out together at the Joey D Performance Center in Jupiter, Fla.”
• “There’s no bitterness or jealousy, simply an organic competition that drives both players….”In the gym, obviously working a little bit harder, trying to out-train him and he’s trying to out-train me, and on the golf course, I’m trying to out-perform him and he’s trying to do the same thing,” Koepka said…. “It’s been good for the both of us, so hopefully it continues for the next however many years.”

• AP Report…”Professional golfers will tell you they had a “perfect number” to the flagstick after knocking an approach shot close, the yardage to said flagstick fitting precisely to the club in hand.”

• “That cherished pre-shot data triggers confidence and trumps caution, allowing players to attack rather than protect, to swing fully and freely instead of trying to manipulate the distance with less than a full swing.”

• “Tiger Woods received no such numbers at soggy Ridgewood Country Club in Thursday’s first round of the Northern Trust, the first leg of the FedExCup. With players allowed to lift, clean and place their ball in the fairway because of the damp conditions, Woods still was unable to control the flight and distance of his shots into the greens.”

• “Just didn’t have the situations where I had the full club and I could go ahead and take a rip at it and start being aggressive and going after these flags,” said Woods, who is 20th in the FedExCup standings. “I kept having to play a little defensive because I was taking more club, trying to shape it and take spin off. Just one of those days.”

• In short, Mitchell says your practice swing probably isn’t so perfect, and it may be a good indicator of the root flaw in your golf swing. “Look at what your club face is doing at impact. Study where the bottom of your swing arc is. Is the bottom of your arc where you want it to be when you’re taking practice swings? Are you taking practice swings starting where your ball position would be for the given shot? Look how you deliver your golf club. Is it on your desired swing path? Is it with your desired angle of attack? Study these components to ensure that your practice swing has an opportunity to perform more efficiently, and ultimately replicate your real swing.”

• “The moral of this story: there are always reasons why your perfect practice swing doesn’t show up when you’re trying to execute your real swing, including the pressure to actually perform! But, if you fix the root cause of your swing and actually use a practice swing that works for the shot you want to hit, then you can replicate your practice swing and hit better shots, even under pressure.”

Mitchell’s full explainer.

• “A soon-to-be junior at Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina who says his mom just wanted to name her son “something different,” Green heard through students and advisors about the tour’s internship program. With a little bit of golf in his background (Green was part of The First Tee of Greater Charlotte when he was younger), he gave it a shot and applied, unaware of the connection of his name to the tour’s flagship event.”

• “I think we taught Island more about the island green during the interview process then he knew beforehand,” said Jim Clarke, the tour’s Senior Director of Human Resources who also oversees the internship program.

• “According to Clarke, no one knew Island’s name when going through the first round of applications, the committee looking initially at blind resumes with no names or schools, just backgrounds and essays.”

• “No one at the tour even knew until we started announcing the class,” Clarke said. “This wasn’t something that came from [PGA Tour commissioner] Jay Monahan like, ‘Hey, we need this guy to be here.’ When I called Island’s manager at first, he picked up and said What’s his real name? I said, I know, he’s going to get a lot of that this summer. But we go through applications, essays, a pre-recorded series of video questions they have to answer and then a live Skype call. So that helps narrow everything down, and outside of our admissions committee, people didn’t know we had an Island Green in the mix.”