Woods opts to play next week; ReavieGlover tied for lead
Tiger Woods is returning from his post-Masters break at the Wells Fargo Championship next week. It will be his first time playing at the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., since he missed the cut in 2012. Woods won the tournament in 2007.
Woods announced Thursday he will be playing consecutive weeks at the Wells Fargo Championship and The Players Championship. It will be the third time since returning from back surgery that he plays back-toback weeks.
Woods tied for 32nd at the Masters, failing to break par until the final round.
Since returning from a fourth back surgery, he has missed only one cut in the six tournaments he has played. Woods was runner-up by one shot at the Valspar Championship.
PGA Tour: Chez Reavie and Lucas Glover teamed to shoot a 12-under 60 on Thursday for a share of the Zurich Classic lead with China’s Zhang Xinjun and Dou Zecheng. Reavie and Glover each had six birdies in the best-ball format, pushing through soggy weather early in the round before conditions cleared at TPC Louisiana in Avondale. Zhang and Dou birdied four of their final five holes.
Tony Finau-Daniel Summerhays, Chris Paisley-Tommy Fleetwood, J.J. Henry-Tom Hoge, Michael Kim-Andrew Putnam, Kevin Kisner-Scott Brown and Troy Merritt-Brendon de Jonge were tied for third at 62.
Jason Day and Ryan Ruffels shot 64, Masters champion Patrick Reed and Patrick Cantlay had a 65, and Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer were at 66.
This is the second year that two-player teams have competed at the Zurich Classic. The unusual tournament features best-ball play in the first and third rounds and alternate shot in the second and final rounds.
LPGA Tour: Lydia Ko shot a 4-under 68 on a chilly Thursday morning at the LPGA MediHeal Championship for a share of the lead halfway through the first round. Jessica Korda, Caroline Hedwall and In-Kyung Kim joined Ko atop the leaderboard in the LPGA Tour’s return to Lake Merced, Calif., after a year away.
The Swinging Skirts LPGA winner at the course in 2014 and 2015, Ko eagled the par-5 fifth and had four birdies and a bogey. The 21-yearold from New Zealand has 14 LPGA Tour wins.
Korda, playing alongside Kim a group ahead of Ko, also eagled the fifth and had four birdies and a bogey. Korda won in Thailand in February in her return from reconstructive jaw surgery.
Sei Young Kim, Charley Hull and Celine Herbin shot 69. Michelle Wie had a 74, and ANA Inspiration winner Pernilla Lindberg shot 79.
European Tour: Jin Daxing took a one-stroke lead at the China Open after shooting an 8-under 64 in the first round. Jin’s bogey-free round at the Topwin Golf and Country Club in Beijing included six birdies and an eagle on the par-5 eighth. The 25-yearold Jin is playing in only his eighth European Tour event and has made the cut only once. Matt Wallace (65) had an eagle-birdie finish to move into a tie for second with Nino Bertasio.
The Cleveland Browns believe all Baker Mayfield has in common with Johnny Manziel are height and a Heisman.
After months of dissection and debate, the Browns selected Mayfield, Oklahoma’s cocky and charismatic quarterback with the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft on Thursday, a somewhat surprising selection by a team that figured to play it safe with such an important decision.
But coming off a 0-16 season, the Browns are betting that Mayfield is a better player than USC’s Sam Darnold, Wyoming’s Josh Allen or UCLA’s Josh Rosen, a talented group regarded as the top QB class in years.
The Browns followed Mayfield’s selection with another surprise, taking Ohio State cornerback Denzel Ward. Cleveland was thought to be high on North Carolina State defensive end Bradley Chubb, but instead opted for the speedy Ward, who skipped his senior season with the Buckeyes to turn pro.
Mayfield may have been college football’s top player last season, when he passed for 4,627 yards, 43 touchdowns and won the Heisman Trophy. But the 23-year-old is undersized (he’s just over 6-foot), and there are questions about his character following a 2017 arrest and some on-field antics which included him grabbing his crotch in a game at Kansas.
Those antics have led to the inevitable comparisons to Manziel, who was selected by the Browns in the first round in 2014 and flopped on the field while partying his way out of the league.
New Browns general manager John Dorsey has been enamored with Mayfield for some time, and believes his competitiveness and will eventually resolve the team’s decades-long quarterback dilemma. Cleveland has started 28 QBs since 1999.
Last week, Dorsey defended Mayfield’s character and called him “a pleasant fella. He is pretty sharp. He is fine. I have no problems with him.”
Still, Mayfield was seen as a longshot to go to the Browns before word leaked out in recent days that Dorsey had the support of assistant GM Eliot Wolf and Scot McCloughan, the former 49ers and Redskins GM now working with Cleveland as a consultant, to make the pick.
Mayfield, who went 33-6 as a three-year starter for the Sooners, is the fifth quarterback taken in the first round by the Browns in their expansion era — and first since Manziel.
And although he may be Cleveland’s quarterback of the future, the present belongs to Tyrod Taylor, who was acquired by the Browns in a trade from Buffalo. Coach Hue Jackson has already said Taylor is his starter in 2018, and the plan is for any rookie to sit and learn.
At No. 2, the Giants passed on an heir apparent to twotime Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning and took a running back that many think is the best to come out of college in decade by selecting Penn State’s Saquon Barkley, who many football experts consider the best running back to enter the NFL since Adrian Peterson came out of Oklahoma in 2007.
Barkley, who entered the draft after his junior season, has all the ingredients to become a great. He has quickness, speed, strength, character and can pass protect. He also can catch and is a dynamic returner.
“He’s a tremendous talent,” Giants general manager Dave Gettleman said. “You put the film on of a defensive guy and if they’re playing Penn State, then I’m watching Saquon. He’s one of those guys that
The Jets got their franchise QB next with USC’s Sam Darnold; the Broncos found a bookend pass rusher to Von Miller in North Carolina State’s Chubb; The Colts solidified their offensive line with Notre Dame guard Quinton Nelson; and the Bills traded up with the Bucs to select quarterback Josh Allen.