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It isn’t for everyone.

Bill Parcells often said that playing in the NFL is “not for the well-adjusted.’’

The physical and mental toll of an NFL training camp can break the strongest of men, and it has.

If you like being pushed to the edge of exhaustion, both physically and mentally, in searing summer heat, while having the crap beaten out of you — all with the pressure of trying to earn a roster spot — then this is your calling.

Zach Fulton, a 29-year-old guard whom the Giants signed to a one-year, $1.075 million contract in the offseason, decided this was no longer his calling. He informed head coach Joe Judge on Thursday night that he was retiring because his body simply couldn’t handle the stress anymore.

Fulton’s retirement raised some eyebrows because he was the third player on the Giants to suddenly retire in the previous four days.

A day earlier, Joe Looney, a 30-year-old center the team was hoping would provide depth behind starter Nick Gates, informed Judge that he was retiring. And two days before that, on Monday, 29-year-old linebacker Todd Davis did the same.

Is this a sign that Judge’s training camp is over-the-top difficult?

Absolutely not.

In fact, for those of us of a certain age who’ve covered the league since the days when two-a-day practices in training camps were the norm (they were voted out by the NFLPA before the 2012 season for the sake of “player safety’’), today’s camps look rather tame by comparison.

That Fulton, Davis and Looney decided to shut it down is neither a question about their toughness and resolve nor a referendum on Judge’s practices being inhumane.

“I’m not in Zach’s head, and I don’t know the reasoning of why he decided to do what he did,’’ Giants reserve offensive lineman Jonotthan Harrison told The Post after practice Friday. “Training camp is mentally, physically and, sometimes, emotionally exhausting. The saying sounds cliché, but you have to grind through it. I’m not saying that in relation to [Fulton’s decision to retire], that’s just camp in general.’’

I asked Harrison, who’s in his seventh NFL season and is about the same age (29) as the three players who retired from the Giants this week, if he has ever been tempted to quit when pushed to the brink in training camps.

“Have I had a thought creep in before? Yeah, there’s those tough days, days that you question things,’’ Harrison said. “But the mental toughness is before having those thoughts, being able to talk yourself out of those thoughts.’’

There’s no shame in making the decisions that those three Giants players made this week. It, too, isn’t a poor reflection on Judge and his staff.

Reached by The Post on Friday, Fulton’s agent Rick Smith was adamant about the fact that Judge’s training camp had zero to do with his client’s decision to retire. That’s consistent with the feedback from both Looney and Davis.

Smith, however, declined a request from The Post to speak with Fulton.

For his part, Judge spoke on Friday with enormous compassion for the three players — particularly for a coach who has a reputation as a tough guy, being a Bill Belichick disciple and all.

“I’ve offered every one of these players an opportunity to actually take a couple of days and think about it before making a career-deciding decision,’’ Judge said. “I had a good conversation with Zach [Thursday] night. Zach was doing a good job for us. He’s a guy that I didn’t want to see go. However, I respect his decision. A lot of these older vets, they’re at a different point in their life with different things.

“You have to respect when these guys look us in the eye and say, ‘Listen, I really wanted to see if I could push through it, but I don’t think my body’s at that point,’ and you can leave this point in the game with your health.’’

Judge said he’s “left the door open for all three’’ players to return to the team if they change their minds “based on circumstances that, if something were to happen, they can return if we have room for them.’’

“I’d welcome all three of them back, I really would,’’ he went on. “These are guys we brought in our program because we think they would help the team. They’re three good dudes.’’

Judge acknowledged that “this is a demanding place,’’ adding, “This is a place that will want to work them, but we’re smart about how we work our players, and we’re very calculated. We have to push our players and train them that when they go on the field, No. 1 they’re safe and No. 2 they play effectively. It’s our job to help these players produce on the field and put them in position. It’s training camp.’’

And it isn’t for everyone.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

In the wake of Bryson DeChambeau’s embarrassing criticism of his club manufacturer, Cobra, saying his driver “sucks,’’ and then his subsequent damage-control Instagram back-track, the golf world wondered when Brooks Koepka was going to weigh in.

That time was Friday after Koepka had completed his 4-under-par 66 in the second round at Royal St. George’s and he was in front of a Golf Channel camera and microphone.  

“I thought the wind died down,’’ Koepka began. “Compared to (Thursday), I didn’t think it was as bad so you could be a little more aggressive. (I) drove the ball great.’’  

Then, with a smirk on his face, Koepka added, “Love my driver.”  

Kaboom.

It seems these days as if Koepka enjoys trolling DeChambeau, whom he abhors, as much as he does making birdies. Three weeks ago, after DeChambeau’s caddie Tim Tucker left him on the eve of the of the first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Koepka posted a Twitter picture and message to publicly express his love for his caddie, Rickie Elliott.  

On and on it goes.  

The beauty of the latest Koepka dig on DeChambeau about how he “drove the ball great’’ and his “love’’ for his driver was this: Koepka didn’t drive the ball great at all Friday, hitting only 6-of-14 fairways.  But who’s counting?  

DeChambeau, after his round, during which he made the cut on the number at 1-over par, declined interview requests made by tournament officials.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

Hatton is known on the European Tour as a player whose temper can sometimes get the best of him. On Friday, it did as he unleashed his pent-up frustration after spraying a wayward approach shot to the right of the 18th green.

Hatton was 2-over par at the time and needing a birdie to give himself a chance to make the cut, which was 1-over at the time.

Earlier in the round, Hatton gave the finger to a spectator who was annoying him. So, it was an angst-filled day for him.

Though he has a two top-6 finishes in British Open, he’s also missed the cut five times in eight Open starts.

Hatton has a history of being a self-described “angry golfer.” He’s even featured in a tongue-in-cheek video the European Tour produced on its social media

Will Zalatoris, who shot 1-under-par 69 on Thursday, was forced to withdraw from the tournament before his second round on Friday with a back injury. He sustained it while taking a swing out of the heavy rough on the 15th hole Thursday. Zalatoris hacked at it with a one-hand follow through and bent over in pain.

“I have been advised to not risk any further damage to my back,” Zalatoris wrote on Instagram. “I contemplated not finishing the round yesterday (Thursday), but considering this is my first Open, I felt like I needed to finish the round. I am completely gutted to not be moving forward in the championship.”

Zalatoris was scheduled to tee off in the afternoon wave alongside Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose, at 10:21 a.m. He arrived to the course early to hit balls and work with a trainer at the gym, but the pain worsened and he informed tournament officials he was withdrawing.

Zalatoris, 24, has had an amazing year. Only a year removed from playing on the Korn Ferry Tour, he was runner-up at the Masters in April and finished tied for 8th at the PGA Championship in May. He entered the week at No. 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

The 27-year-old DeChambeau, frustrated by his 1-over 71 in the British Open first round at Royal St. George’s in Sandwich, England, lashed out at Cobra, his club manufacturer, saying his driver “sucks’’ and adding that he has been working with them for years to find the right driver for him with no good results.

“If I can hit it down the middle of the fairway, that’s great, but with the driver right now … the driver sucks,” DeChambeau said. “It’s not a good face for me, and we’re still trying to figure out how to make it good on the mishits. I’m living on the razor’s edge like I’ve told people for a long time. When I did get it outside of the fairway, like in the first cut and whatnot, I catch jumpers out of there and I couldn’t control my wedges.”

“It’s quite finicky for me because it’s a golf course that’s pretty short, and so when I hit driver and it doesn’t go in the fairway, it’s first cut or whatever, or it’s in the hay, it’s tough for me to get it out on to the green and control that. It’s kind of living on the razor’s edge, and if I can’t figure it out.

“It’s forever. I’ve realized this for years now. This has happened since 2016-17 when players stopped drawing it. There’s not very many golfers that draw it anymore. It’s not because of spin rate. Everybody thinks it’s — we’re at 2,000, 1,800 spin or whatever. It’s not. It’s literally the physics and the way that they build heads now. It’s not the right design, unfortunately, and we’ve been trying to fix it [with no] results yet.’’

DeChambeau’s comments were followed by an explosive retort from his Cobra tour operations manager, Ben Schomin.

“Everybody is bending over backwards,’’ Schomin told Golfweek. “We’ve got multiple guys in R&D … trying to get this and that into the pipeline faster. [Bryson] knows it. It’s just really, really painful when he says something that stupid.”

DeChambeau did apologize in an Instagram post, writing: “The comment I made in my post round interview today was very unprofessional. My frustration and emotions over the way I drove the ball today boiled over. I sucked today, not my equipment. Cobra and I have worked together for over five years and they are some of the hardest working people in [the] golf industry and make an incredible product. Their team is like family to me, especially Ben Schomin, who has been there for me every step of the way since I started my career.

“I deeply regret the words I used earlier.”

Schomin is the man whom DeChambeau asked, with no notice, to caddie for him the last time he played, at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, after he and regular caddie, Tim Tucker, parted ways on the eve of the opening round.

Schomin lashed out at DeChambeau, who is paid a lot of money to promote Cobra equipment.

“He has never really been happy, ever,’’ Schomin said. “Like, it’s very rare where he’s happy. Now he’s in a place where he’s swinging a 5-degree driver with 200 rpm of ball speed. Everybody is looking for a magic bullet. Well, the magic bullet becomes harder and harder to find the faster you swing and the lower your loft gets.”

According to Schomin, Cobra has tried to appease DeChambeau with seven different drivers designed for him this year. DeChambeau has been using a Cobra Radspeed driver that’s 46 inches long, with 5 degrees of loft, and is exclusively crafted for him.

“It’s like an 8-year-old that gets mad at you,” Schomin said. “They might fly off the handle and say, ‘I hate you.’ But then you go. ‘Whoa, no you don’t.’ We know as adults that they really don’t mean that and I know that if I got him cornered right now and said, ‘What the hell did you say that for,’ he would say that he was mad. He didn’t really mean to say it that harshly. He knows how much everyone bends over backwards for him, but it’s still not cool.”

Suddenly, the ongoing beef between Bryson and Brooks Koepka doesn’t seem like such a big deal anymore.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

After Thursday’s opening round at the same course, Mickelson is tied for last place, shooting a stunning 10-over-par 80, 16 shots out of the lead, and leaving himself with no realistic chance at making the cut to play the weekend,

Mickelson, 51, won the PGA Championship at age 50 to add a sixth career major championship to his brilliant resume, but his form hasn’t been close to the same since his magical week at Kiawah Island.

Mickelson missed the cut at the Charles Schaub Challenge the week after the PGA, then tied for 61st at the Travelers Championship and tied for 74th at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in the lead-up to this week.

His round on Thursday never got going. In fact, it got worse as the afternoon wore on. He shot a 40 on the front nine with bogeys on Nos. 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9. On the back nine, he bogeyed 13, 15 and 16 and doubled 18. Mickelson, who hit only 42.9-percent of the fairways and 44.4-percent of the greens in regulation, didn’t card a single birdie.

Entering the week, Mickelson conceded that he had no idea what to expect of his play.

“I don’t know,” Mickelson said before Thursday’s round of his chances this week. “Your guess is as good as mine. All I can tell you is that I like the course. We’re going to have some nice weather. So, as always, I’m looking forward to playing over here.”

Mickelson continues to embrace his PGA victory.

“The first thing I have to say is that I will look back on this year as a great one, because I won the PGA,” he said. “But I have been inconsistent in my scoring. From a physical standpoint, my body feels really good. And my physical game has been good nearly all season. I’ve hit the ball well nearly every week.

“So, my inconsistency has stemmed from my inability to focus intently week-to-week. I just have to figure out ways to get back into that state of mind and that intensity. And nowhere is that more important than in conditions like we’re going to have this week. This course can be very penalizing. You’ve got to be focused on every shot. The penalty for a miss can be so dramatic.”

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

How else do you describe having a one-shot lead at the turn, at 5-under par, and shooting a 44 on the back nine to finish 3-over for the tournament and tied for 26th?

DeChambeau looked poised to repeat as U.S. Open champion and then he wasn’t. Instead of chalking the final result to poor play, though, DeChambeau lamented bad luck.

“I didn’t get off the rails at all,’’ DeChambeau said. “It’s golf. People will say I did this or did that, and it’s just golf. I’ve had plenty of times where I hit it way worse than today and I won. It’s just one of those things where I didn’t have the right breaks happen at the right time.

“I could have easily gotten to 7-, 8-under today. I just wasn’t fully confident with the golf swing and just got a little unlucky in the rough and a couple other places Nobody understands, at least if you play professional golf, major championship golf, a lot of it is luck. I can’t tell you how many times I hit shots this week into bad lies and good lies, and they played out 50-50 this week. I caught the bad lies in the back nine today.’’

In a way, though, DeChambeau brings luck into play with his bomb-and-gouge strategy off the tee, relying on getting decent lies in the rough when he misses fairways.

It worked at Winged Foot last September, but it backfired on Sunday.

“I knew going into the week that was going to be my game plan,’’ he said. “I had to be a little lucky, and I was for the first three and a half days and just didn’t get lucky on the last nine. But it plays a huge factor in major championship golf. It’s probably over 50 percent in most scenarios. There are times when I hit it in fairways and hit it into a divot. It’s just part of it.’’

It was ironic that DeChambeau, one of the longest hitters in the game, essentially lost his chance to win when he made a double-bogey mess of the 13th hole, which is a par-5. It was part of a damaging stretch during which he went bogey-bogey-double bogey.

Once he was out of it, DeChambeau, looking mentally drained and deflated, took an eight on the 72nd hole to put a cap on his miserable day.

Asked how long he thinks it’ll take to get over this, DeChambeau said, “Right now, I don’t even care. I’ve changed a lot, attitude-wise and everything. It’s frustrating in the moment when it’s happening, but afterwards for me now, I don’t really care as much. I’ve already won [a U.S. Open].’’

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

The place has proven to be pure heaven for him.

Before Rahm went on a scintillating late rampage to seize the U.S. Open on Sunday, capturing his first career major championship, he’d already bagged his first career PGA Tour victory on the course, winning the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open, and he asked his now-wife Kelly, to marry him while hiking along the trails that surround the place.

The win came just three weeks removed from Rahm being forced to withdraw from the Memorial after he’d built a six-shot lead through 54 holes because he tested positive for COVID-19. That cost him a chance to repeat as champion as well as $1.7 million.

“I’m a big believer in karma,’’ an emotional Rahm said. “After what happened a couple weeks ago, I stayed really positive knowing big things were going to happen. I didn’t know what, but we were coming to a place where I got my first win and it’s a very special place for me and my family. I just felt like the stars were aligning.’’

When he walked off the 18th green after his round, Rahm was embraced by Phil Mickelson’s brother Tim, who was his college golf coach at Arizona State. Rahm told Tim Mickelson: “I believed it.’’

Rahm’s play on the final two holes of the daunting South Course — birdies on 17 and 18 that elicited raucous roars from the packed COVID-be-damned crowd — were as electrifying as they were stone-cold clutch.

He finished the tournament 6-under par for the week after shooting a 4-under-par 67 in the final round to overtake South African Louis Oosthuizen, who finished second in a major championship for a remarkable ninth time in his career.

Rahm became the first player from Spain to win a U.S. Open.

“This was definitely for Seve,’’ Rahm said, referring to his Spanish golfing idol, Seve Ballesteros. “I know we talk about Seve at the Masters a lot, but I know he wanted to win this one most of all.’’

Rahm also became only the fourth player in storied U.S. Open history to birdie the final two holes to win it — joining Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson.

Classy company.

Classy performance.

Rahm’s birdie on 17 came when he buried a curling putt with about 6 feet of break and it tied him for the lead with Oosthuizen at 5-under.

Then, on the par-5 finishing hole, Rahm piped a 300-plus-yard drive into the fairway, hit his second shot into the right greenside bunker, splashed out to above the hole and, when he made the slippery down putt, he unleashed an upper-cut fist pump with such violence it would make Tiger Woods blush.

After Oosthuizen had appeared so unflappable on the back nine while everyone else around him (except, of course, Rahm) faltered, he appeared to tighten up as soon as Rahm’s 6-under score was posted. He finally blinked.

Oosthuizen’s chances to win were dashed when he hit his tee shot on 17 into the penalty-area gulch. It left him with a bogey, dropping him to 4-under par and two shots behind Rahm entering the final hole.

That had Oosthuizen needing eagle on the par-5 18th, which had yielded 13 eagles for the tournament, but only one on Sunday. Alas, Oosthuizen hit his tee shot into the left rough 247 yards away and had no chance to reach the green in two.

And it was over for him.

The day became dizzying with seismic shifts of the momentum and lead becoming difficult to keep up with.

Russell Henley and Mackenzie Hughes, two players with little experience playing in the cauldron of major-championship final-round pressure, began tied for the lead at 5-under par along with Oosthuizen.

Henley and Hughes, predictably, struggled under the white-hot lights, Henley shooting 75 and Hughes 77.

As they went backward, the cream of the game of golf rose to the top of the leaderboard, with Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa and Rahm making significant moves.

McIlroy, who’s been chasing his fifth career major for the past seven years since his last one (the 2014 British Open), started the day two shots back and vaulted himself into a tie for the lead on the front nine.

DeChambeau, the defending champion, seized the lead with a near hole-in-one on the par-3 eighth hole to get to 5-under after a tap-in birdie. Playing his bomb-and-gouge game off the tee, DeChambeau made the turn at 5-under with a one-shot lead over McIlroy, Morikawa, Rahm and Oosthuizen.

The biggest collapse came from DeChambeau, who went from leading by one shot entering the back nine to finishing 3-over for the tournament thanks to an unthinkable 44 on the back nine.

At one point, there were seven players tied at 4-under, one shot out of the lead held by Oosthuizen. And one by one, players started melting down.

Koepka bogeyed 16 to fall to 3-under, and then, trying to force a birdie to get into the clubhouse at 4-under, he bogeyed the par-5 18th to finish 2-under.

Morikawa took a double bogey on the par-5 13th hole to fall to 2-under and then he ended his chances with a bogey on 15 to fall to 1-under.

McIlroy bogeyed the par-3 11th to fall to 3-under and then double bogeyed 12 to end his chances, at 1-under par.

Hughes then hit a shot into a tree on the 11th hole, which forced him to take a drop and that ended in a double bogey to leave him at 2-under and effectively ruin his day and tournament.

Everyone else’s chaos became Rahm’s calm on his turf.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

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SAN DIEGO — In case you may not have noticed it yet, Jon Rahm is special.

He’s a special talent as a golfer, as evidenced by his No. 3 world ranking and five career victories already. His current form has him listed as the odds-on favorite to win this week’s U.S Open at Torrey Pines, and justifiably so.

He, too, is a special individual off the golf course — a 26-year-old who’s been mature beyond his years dating to his days as a player at Arizona State, where he was coached by Phil Mickelson’s brother (and current caddie) Tim, when he was in the country for the first time and was still learning to speak English.

These few years removed from his college days, Rahm has displayed an impressive grace on and off the golf course.

Never was the latter more evident than two weeks ago when Rahm was forced to withdraw from the Memorial Tournament as soon as he’d completed his third round with a six-shot lead at a remarkable 18-under par through 54 holes when a COVID-19 test came back positive.

The ordeal drew massive attention as much because of the fact that Rahm was going to win the tournament for the second consecutive year and collect $1.7 million as for the way he was informed in front of network television cameras right off the 18th green at Muirfield Village.

When officials informed him, Rahm doubled over in anguish.

The entire episode was uncomfortable to watch.

In its aftermath, when he could have railed against the PGA Tour’s protocols or why he had to be informed on national television instead of inside the privacy of the clubhouse, Rahm reacted with remarkable perspective.

“This is one of those things that happen in life, one of those moments where how we respond to a setback defines us as people,’’ Rahm wrote on social media shortly after the incident. “Thank you to all the fans for their support and I’m looking forward to watching the showdown tomorrow afternoon with you all.’’

That final-round showdown ended up being won by Patrick Cantlay over Collin Morikawa in a playoff. Both players finished 13-under par, five shots worse than the 18-under Rahm was when he was forced to withdraw.

“Jon’s response is the classiest I’ve ever seen,’’ Phil Mickelson wrote on Twitter after seeing Rahm’s post. “If you’re not already a huge Jon Rahm fan [which I am] you definitely will be now. Amazing character.’’

There was a lot of spirited reaction to the Rahm incident, ranging from people ripping the PGA Tour for how it handled the situation, why it couldn’t let Rahm play his final round alone, to the way they informed him in public.

There, too, were many who criticized Rahm for not being vaccinated, which turned out not to be true.

“I was vaccinated, I just wasn’t out of that 14-day period,’’ Rahm revealed Tuesday. “Looking back on it, I guess I wish I would have done it earlier, but thinking on scheduling purposes and having the PGA [Championship] and defending Memorial, to be honest, it wasn’t in my mind. I was trying to just get ready for a golf tournament. If I had done it a few days earlier, probably we wouldn’t be having these conversations right now. It is what it is. We move on.’’

Rahm was adamant that the PGA Tour shouldn’t be blamed for what happened.

“To all the people criticizing the PGA Tour, they shouldn’t,’’ Rahm said. “The PGA Tour did what they had to do. I’ve heard a lot of different theories [like] I should have played alone. That’s nonsense. The rules are there, and it’s clear. I was fully aware when I was in tracing protocol [because he’d been in previous contact with someone who’d tested positive for COVID] that that was a possibility. I knew that could happen. I was hoping it wouldn’t. The PGA Tour did what it had to do.’’

Now Rahm has to do what he has to do this week: Take advantage of his terrific form and the fact that he’s won at Torrey Pines (his first career win came in the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open) and win his first career major championship.

“When you don’t hit a golf shot for just over a week or just about a week, it’s tough leading into a major, especially a U.S. Open,’’ Rahm said. “[But] I’m confident I can get in form quick enough. I still have the memory of all those great golf shots I played. I’m going to choose to remember that.’’

Win or lose this week, we should remember Rahm for what he’s shown himself to be: a special representative of the game — on and off the golf course.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

To the disappointment of many, the USGA stayed steered clear of the drama brewing between the two and paired DeChambeau, the defending champion, with reigning Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and Tyler Strafaci, and Koepka with Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas.

Koepka’s disdain for DeChambeau became publicly evident shortly after the PGA Championship last month at Kiawah Island when an interview with the Golf Channel that never aired was leaked out, showing Koepka ridiculing DeChambeau and using profanity.

The issue escalated at the Memorial Tournament two weeks ago when DeChambeau had some fans in the gallery calling him “Brooksy’’ and he reportedly complained to tournament officials to have them removed (an assertion DeChambeau denied).

Koepka, who was not playing in the tournament, playfully posted on social media that he was willing to give away free beer to any fans who were ejected from the Memorial for tweaking DeChambeau with the “Brooksy’’ taunts.

“I wouldn’t even characterize it as a conflict,’’ Koepka said Tuesday. “We don’t like each other. I mean, there’s plenty of people that you guys [reporters] work with that you guys don’t like, so I don’t see the difference.’’

There was a report from former player Brad Faxon on SiriusXM radio that the USGA reached out to DeChambeau and asked if he would be OK being paired with Koepka and was rebuffed. Both DeChambeau and Koepka said no one from the USGA reached out to them to float that idea.

“I would be OK with that, but there was never really anything that went through me,’’ DeChambeau said Tuesday.

“I was not asked about playing with Bryson,’’ Koepka said. “I don’t care who I play with. It doesn’t matter. I’m focused on myself. It’s an individual sport, so you just got to worry about yourself.’’

Asked if he was bothered that the Golf Channel interview was leaked, Koepka insisted, “It doesn’t matter to me. I’m not too concerned. I don’t live with regret. It got out, not a big deal. And as far as perception [of his relationship with DeChambeau], I’m not really too concerned. I’m worried about what I’ve got to do and what I’m doing. I’m not concerned about what other people think.’’

DeChambeau has tried to make light of the supposed rift between him and Koepka, saying, “I think it’s fun.’’

“There’s a point where it’s great banter,’’ he said. “I personally love it. As time goes on, I hope on the weekend we can play against each other and compete. I think it would be fun and would be great for the game. Shoot, to be honest, people saying Brooksy’s name out there, I love it. I think it’s hilarious.’’

Asked if he’s bothered that no one has called Koepka “Bryson’’ yet, DeChambeau said, “I’m not worried at all. He’s older than me, and he’s won more majors than me [four to one]. Hey, I’ve got something to look up to.’’

Koepka has insisted that he believes the tension between him and DeChambeau “is good for the game.’’

“It’s bringing new eyeballs,’’ he said. “It’s pretty much been on every news channel. Pretty much everything you look at online, it’s got this in the headline, or it’s up there as a big news story. To me, that’s growing the game.

“You’re putting it in front of eyeballs, you’re putting it in front of people, the game of golf, who probably don’t normally look at golf, don’t play it, might get them involved. I don’t know how it’s not growing the game.’’

Jordan Spieth said there is “chatter’’ among the players about Brooks versus Bryson.

“I don’t really know how it all started,’’ Spieth said. “I don’t know where they’re at now. I don’t know the severity. They didn’t pair them this week and stuff like that, but I’m sure it will happen soon enough. Seems like people would be interested to watch that.’’

Webb Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion called the Koepka-DeChambeau back-and-forth “fun.’’

“I think they’ve got a rivalry now, and I think it’s good for the game,’’ Simpson said. “I think there used to be more rivals that became well-known. We don’t have that as much anymore. So, I think them kind of being open and honest is good in a way because we know kind of what they think.’’

Simpson then floated a conspiracy theory into the mix.

“I don’t know if they texted each other on the side and possibly went in agreement, ‘Let’s play this thing up for player impact program,’ ’’ he said, referring to a new incentive program created by the PGA Tour that rewards players’ popularity and attention brought to the tour. “That was kind of one of my thoughts. It would be fun to see them duel is out in a tournament here coming up, head-to-head on Sunday.’’

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

With Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers in his usual state of discontent and Deshaun Watson vowing never to play another down in Houston (if the Texans even want him anymore), Giants coach Joe Judge was asked the obligatory quarterback question in advance of Thursday’s OTA session at the team’s training facility.

The question: “There are some high-profile quarterbacks out there whose futures are undetermined; is there a possibility of making a move to upgrade at quarterback or is Daniel Jones your Week 1 starter?’’

The answer (which came approximately a nanosecond after the question was completed): “Daniel Jones is our quarterback.’’

Once that was out of the way, Judge dished high praise for his third-year quarterback, who’s made a concerted effort to bulk up this offseason, indicating that Jones’ leadership had been taken to a next level.

“I’m proud of the way he works every day,’’ Judge said. “This guy comes to work every day and whatever phase he’s in — if he’s in the weight room, getting treatment on field, throwing with his teammates, organizing things outside this building — [and] always has a plan of how he’s going to attack things and proud to watch how he’s worked.

“Daniel never shies away from a challenge, comes ready to work. Some of the conversations we have, when we challenge him internally, this guy steps up every day to the plate and comes to work every day with a plan.’’

Unfortunately, Jones, who’s armed with some new weapons in the offseason, has been unable to work with them in the first three OTAs.

The biggest prize, receiver Kenny Golladay, who was signed to a four-year, $72 million contract, was not on the field Thursday for the team’s third OTA, which was the first one open to media. Also missing were free-agent receiver John Ross and first-round draft pick receiver Kadarius Toney.

Newly signed tight end Kyle Rudolph is rehabbing from foot surgery.

While Judge and Jones surely would like to have the new offensive toys on the field for these OTAs, the sessions are voluntary and the mandatory full-team minicamp takes place June 8-10, so presumably all those absent on Thursday will be there.

“I know everyone is working,’’ Jones said, referring to the players not at the OTAs. “We’re focused on what we’re doing here. I’m certainly focused on my fundamentals and technique. I think that’s kind of the opportunity right now in the spring to do that. I know guys are working. We’re just doing what we can to take a step every day.

“I’m excited to get back out on the field. I think we’ve got a great group of guys coming in from last year [and] a few new pieces here and there. It’s about working together and building chemistry, getting on the field. I think we have an opportunity to improve this spring, keep that going into training camp.’’

Golladay worked out with his new teammates, including Jones, in early April, a part of some throwing sessions in Phoenix.

“It’s voluntary,’’ Giants receiver Sterling Shepard said. “I’m confident that everybody is getting the work they need right now.’’

Shepard called Golladay, with whom he worked in April, “a big-body guy, someone that can stretch the field, something that we need as an offense.’’

“We’re adding playmakers to this offense,’’ Shepard said. “That’s something that we needed. We needed guys you can get the ball to and they can make something special happen after the catch. I’m really happy about the additions. I can’t wait to see those guys get out there and get to running around.

“I got to run around with KG [Golladay] a little bit. The way he plucks the ball is something special. Can’t wait to get out there on Sundays with him, get going.’’

One critical offensive weapon who is a returning player and also wasn’t practicing Thursday is running back Saquon Barkley, who’s still rehabbing his injured right knee. The hope is for Barkley, who tore his right ACL and suffered an injury to his meniscus, to be ready for the start of the regular season.

So, they’ll all be together on the field, and once the games begin for real that’ll be the true measure of how improved the Giants’ offense is and how much better Jones is in Year 3.

“A lot of these guys I’ve played with each of my first two years,’’ Jones said. “As a quarterback, my role is a lot of times to be that communicator, to bring guys together, to get guys moving toward where we need to go, thinking about our goals and what we want to accomplish come this fall.’’

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

As mayhem ensued on the 72nd hole Sunday, and with security losing control of the masses as thousands of spectators stormed the 18th fairway celebrating Phil Mickelson’s historic victory, Koepka was lost in the mob along with his caddie, Rickie Elliott, for several moments before finally breaking out of the pack to safety.

“It would have been cool if I didn’t have a knee injury and got dinged a few times in the knee in that crowd because no one really gave a s–t,’’ Koepka said afterward. “Yeah, it’s cool for Phil, but getting dinged a few times isn’t exactly my idea of fun. I was trying to protect my knee.’’

The runner-up finish for Louis Oosthuizen was his sixth career second-place in a major championship. Oosthuizen, who won the 2010 British Open, finished tied with Koepka at 4-under par, two shots behind Mickelson.

“Look, I feel like I’m playing my heart out to get a second major, and I do know I have the game to do it,’’ he said. “This was close. My game wasn’t great on the weekend. I just need to work harder on it to get myself in contention again. Another second place, I’ve got to take it. But I feel like I could have probably [gotten] two or three more shots out of my game.’’

Oosthuizen, who began the day two shots behind Mickelson, said of chasing him, “I tried to be as aggressive as I could without doing stupid things.’’

Rory McIlroy didn’t understand what all the fuss was about. He sensed expectations building for him as this week approached because he was coming off a win at the Wells Fargo two weeks before and he, too, won the PGA when it was last at Kiawah Island in 2012.

His week ended up being thoroughly disappointing, 5-over par, after he shot an even-par 72 Sunday. He said afterward that he felt like he was “just sort of stuck in neutral.’’

“I didn’t understand those high expectations,’’ McIlroy said. “It was good to get a win at Quail Hollow, a course that I’ve always played well on and am comfortable on. But I said to you [reporters] on Tuesday I didn’t remember much of 2012. For whatever reason, it just wasn’t a very memorable week in many ways.

“I didn’t feel like playing well here nine years ago was going to automatically make me play well again, and I felt like coming in here there were still parts of my game that I needed to sharpen up. Obviously, those parts were exposed this week in the wind and on a tough course.’’

Defending PGA champion Collin Morikawa, who won at Harding Park last August, had a relatively quiet week trying to retain the Wanamaker Trophy, but he finished strong with a final-round, 4-under-par 68 Sunday to finish 1-under for the week. The 68 followed rounds of 75 and 74.

“I look back, and I pretty much forgot about Friday and Saturday,’’ Morikawa said. “It kind of sucks that those two days I played like that, but that’s golf, and you kind of learn. But it’s always nice to finish on a 68 in a major and just kind of use that momentum for the rest of the summer.’’

Morikawa conceded that he felt “a little extra weight’’ being the defending champion.

“People want to take the trophy from you,’’ he said. “I enjoy being in that position. You want to be in those positions because it shows that you’ve succeeded, you’ve played well the past year somewhere, at that course or whether it’s at a different course. So, I hope to keep defending. I hope to have more title defenses and all this stuff because it just means you’re doing something great.’’

The playing competition between Ryder Cup captains went to Europe’s Padraig Harrington, who had a strong week, finishing 2-under par for the week after closing with a 3-under-par 69 Sunday.

Steve Stricker, the U.S. captain, finished 4-over for the week.

“I’m very happy that I felt like I competed on a level with everybody else this week,’’ Harrington said. “Physically, tee-to-green, I played very well during the week. At 49 years of age, you don’t want to go out there and feel like you’re giving anything up.’’

Harrington called Sunday’s final round “probably my most enjoyable round of golf I’ve had on the golf course in a long time. For today at least, I’m back to being a golfer.’’

Harry Higgs, playing in his first career major championship, finished tied for fourth at 2-under par for the week, and that qualified him for the 2022 Masters.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

Mark Cannizzaro

Phil Mickelson will bring the drama in his chase for history

Buckle up for ride on 'The Phil Mickelson Experience' at PGA Championship

Rickie Fowler used Michael Jordan trash-talk matches to help revive career

Here's to one of these golfers snapping major heartbreak at PGA Championship

PGA Championship the perfect place for Jordan Spieth to rise again

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — Remember when Phil Mickelson couldn’t win a major championship?

Remember when he was defined by the label, “Best player never to win a major?’’

Remember the eye rolling that took place when he told anyone who would listen that he was going to break through at a major and, when he did, he’d win a bunch of them?

Remember the theories that suggested he’d never win one because of his stubborn insistence about playing such a hellbent aggressive style of golf?

Remember all those maddening, soul-crushing near-misses in U.S. Opens — Winged Foot in 2006, Merion in 2013, Shinnecock in 2004, Pinehurst in 1999, Bethpage in 2002 and 2009?

The six runner-up finishes in the major championship he coveted most when he was a kid and the one that has eluded him and stands between him and becoming only the sixth player in the history of the game to complete a career grand slam?

Remember when he was ridiculed for his physique?

Criticized for not being able to overcome Tiger Woods?

Remember all of those things?

Now remember this: Mickelson’s stirring and historic victory in the 103rd PGA Championship on Sunday at Kiawah Island catapulted him into rarified air in his sport.

Winning the PGA Championship, his second PGA title and sixth career major, just three weeks shy of his 51st birthday to become the oldest major championship winner in golf history by nearly three years moves Mickelson further up the list of the greatest players of all time.

Like pretty damned close to the top five of all time.

Everything in these conversations is, of course, subjective. And arguments will ensue. But the only players I would place above Mickelson on the list of all-time greatest players are Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Ben Hogan.

Walter Hagen (11 majors), Tom Watson (8), Sam Snead (7), Gene Sarazen (7), Bobby Jones (7) and Harry Vardon (7) all have more majors than Mickelson.

But, other than Watson, I’d argue that the competition those players competed against was not nearly as deep as the pool Mickelson has faced, most notably in thick of the Woods’ era. As for Watson, five of his eight majors came at the British Open.

As for its place in the history of the sport in terms of its significance, where do you place this win by Mickelson?

Nicklaus’ 1986 Masters victory (his 18th career major win) came when he was 46 years old and has always been considered the greatest victory in the history of the sport based on Nicklaus’s stature as the greatest player of all time, how long it had been since he’d won and his age.

Mickelson is more than four years older than Nicklaus was in ’86.

Woods’ Masters victory in 2019 surely ranks up there based on the litany of physical issues he’d endured with his back and the off-the-course scandal.

Woods, himself, must have been emotional watching what Mickelson has done this week.

“It’s very possible that this is the last tournament I ever win … like if I’m being realistic,’’ Mickelson said. “But it’s also very possible that I may have had a little bit of a breakthrough in some of my focus and maybe I go on a little bit of a run.’’

Next up is the U.S. Open next month at Torrey Pines, which happens to be in Mickelson’s hometown of San Diego.

What he did this week — keep his focus for four days and close the deal Sunday amidst five hours of tension and adversity — can do nothing but bolster Mickelson’s belief that he can finally win a U.S. Open.

“I’ve believed for some time now, without success, that I could play at my best and compete in major championships still,’’ Mickelson said. “But until this week, I haven’t proven it to myself or anyone else. But I do believe that I believe that if I stay sharp mentally, I can play well at Torrey Pines.’’

Mickelson said he’ll take two weeks off before the U.S. Open (he almost always plays the week before a major, so this is a shift in strategy), go to Torrey Pines and “spend time on the greens and really try to be sharp for that week, because, I know that I’m playing well and this could very well be my last really good opportunity.’’

No one took Mickelson seriously as someone who might win the PGA this week. Now, who’s going to bet against him at the U.S. Open?

“You can just see it in his eyes that he wants to win,’’ Collin Morikawa, the defending PGA champion, said after his round. “And nothing is really stopping him.’’

Nothing did.

Any nothing is stopping more questions about how good Mickelson has been and still is? Or what his standing is among the all-time greats?

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

Mark Cannizzaro

Buckle up for ride on 'The Phil Mickelson Experience' at PGA Championship

Rickie Fowler used Michael Jordan trash-talk matches to help revive career

Here's to one of these golfers snapping major heartbreak at PGA Championship

PGA Championship the perfect place for Jordan Spieth to rise again

Club pros deserve their place at PGA Championship

KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — You didn’t think this was going to be easy for Phil Mickelson, did you?

When he got to 10-under Saturday after making his fifth birdie of the day without a bogey and walked off the 10th green with a five-shot lead in the third round of the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course, you didn’t think Mickelson would get through his entire round without some sort of car wreck, did you?

As it turned out, he did not.

Credit Mickelson for surviving his wobbly moments — a sloppy bogey on No. 12 and a double-bogey thanks to a snap-hooked drive into a lagoon on No. 13 — for getting back to the barn at 7-under and still holding the lead.

Should the lead be larger than the one-shot edge Mickelson has over Brooks Koepka (6-under) entering Sunday’s final round?

Probably. But this is golf and — more to the point — this is Phil the Thrill. This is what Mickelson does. Nothing comes easy. Nothing comes without at least a salt-shake of drama sprinkled onto the proceedings.

But Mickelson must remember this when he wakes up on Sunday morning: It’s all there for him. Everything he plays for, everything that stimulates him professionally is in front of him and he controls his destiny.

Focus for one more day, play a solid, clutch round of golf and he will have a great chance not only to win his sixth career major championship and second PGA, 16 years after he won his first, but also to become the oldest major championship winner in the history of the sport.

Perhaps more important than all of that is this: A win on Sunday would provide proof to Mickelson, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that next month he can finally win a U.S. Open, exorcize the demons of the record six runner-up finishes and complete the coveted career Grand Slam.

The belief that would come from closing the deal on Sunday, staving off the likes of Koepka, Louis Oosthuizen (5-under) and the rest of this world-class field, would be more valuable than the Wanamaker Trophy Mickelson would hoist, the $2 million first-place check and even adding a sixth major to his résumé.

Mickelson said he believes he can maintain the elusive focus that he has lamented losing from time to time as a 50-year-old “because I feel or believe that I’m playing really well and I have an opportunity to contend for a major championship on Sunday and I’m having so much fun that it’s easier to stay in the present and not get ahead of myself.’’

Mickelson will turn 51 on June 16, which happens to be U.S. Open week, and he remains a marvel — even when he can be maddening while throwing away a five-shot lead in as much time as it takes to make a sandwich or a salad for lunch.

“It’s Phil, right?’’ Jordan Spieth said when he finished his third round. “It’s theater. I don’t watch golf, but I promise you I’m going to turn it on to watch him today. It’s pretty incredible. The guy’s got four good rounds on any golf course in him, and no one would bet against that.’’

He’s got one more of the four to go on Sunday.

“He’s phenomenal, he’s entertaining, and what he’s doing, that gives everybody hope,’’ said Gary Woodland, who’s five shots behind Mickelson. “I want to play this game for a long time, but what he’s doing right now coming out and beating up on the other guys, on this golf course, too, it’s very impressive. But any time you’ve got a short game like his and the confidence he has, it’s not surprising.’’

Mickelson’s short-game prowess has been on display all week. He closed his round Saturday with a ticklish up-and-down from a swale to the left of the 18th green to save par and preserve that one-shot lead over Koepka, who had just bogeyed 18 in the group ahead of him.

“Phil is one of the greatest short-game magicians that’s ever lived,’’ Paul Casey said. “He’s got this ability that frankly one or two or three guys maybe I’ve ever seen have. Phil stands out.’’

What has made Mickelson stand out this week is the fact that this has come out of nowhere. He hasn’t had a top-10 finish in a major championship since 2016.

“Maybe just because he hasn’t played the level of golf he’s wanted to recently, you might say that [you are surprised], but I’m not surprised at all,’’ Casey said. “I’m quite enjoying it and I hope he goes all the way. It’s great for the championship, and I love it.’’

So, too, do the legions of spectators who’ve been screaming, “Phil, Phil, Phil,’’ everywhere he walks this week at Kiawah, the echoes of those chants likely to be heard across the Atlantic Ocean.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

In between, several other fascinating storylines emerged on a compelling second-round Friday at the 103rd PGA Championship at Kiawah Island that has dished up a delicious weekend of golf ahead.

By the end of a wild day on Pete Dye’s diabolical Ocean Course, Mickelson and Oosthuizen ended up tied for the 36-hole lead at 5-under.

Oosthuizen, playing in the afternoon, shot a 4-under 68 and relinquished the lead when he carded his first and only bogey of the day on No. 18. Mickelson, playing in the morning wave of tee times, posted a 3-under 69 to get to 5-under.

Adding to the drama is the presence of Brooks Koepka, the 2018 and 2019 winner of the PGA Championship who had knee surgery in March. He shot a 1-under 71 Friday and is 4-under overall, just one shot out of the lead.

Oh yes, the reigning Masters champion, Hideki Matsuyama, is two shots off the lead at 3-under after shooting a second-round 68.

Oosthuizen called the round “probably up there with one of my best,’’ marred only by the bogey on the last.

Mickelson, who’s 26 days shy of his 51st birthday, was positively beaming after his round, energized to be in contention for his sixth career major title.

“I’m having a lot of fun,’’ he said. “To know I’m playing well heading into the weekend, to be in contention, to have a good opportunity, I’m having a blast. I’m excited for the weekend.’’

Mickelson, who won the 2005 PGA Championship at Baltusrol and is a five-time major championship winner, hasn’t had a top-10 finish in a major championship since his runner-up finish at the 2016 British Open. His tie for 18th at the 2019 Masters is the only top-20 finish he has in his past 16 majors.

A win would make Mickelson the oldest player ever to win a major championship, surpassing Julius Boros, who was 48 years and four months old when he won the 1968 PGA Championship.

“He’s really doing everything right,’’ Mickelson’s brother and caddie, Tim, said. “He’s been driving the ball well, his putting is good, his short game [is good]. He has had all the tools. Finally, everything sort of seems to be hitting on all cylinders right now.’’

Mickelson teased everyone two weeks ago when he posted a 7-under round on the first day of the Wells Fargo before fading in the final three rounds.

“He’s actually been playing really well the last three or four months, but he hasn’t scored very well,’’ Tim Mickelson said. “Obviously, he had a glimpse of it in Charlotte [at the Wells Fargo]. It’s a matter of staying patient and letting things happen. At a major championship you have to be patient [and] I see a patience from Phil, which is what you need to have at a major championship to win.”

The fans around Kiawah Island have been urging Mickelson on for two days.

“As much as the fans want it, I want it more for my brother,’’ Tim said. “I see how hard he works, not just at tournaments. When he’s home, he’s playing every day. I see how much he wants it, and I want to do anything I can to help him have that. You can’t win if you’re not in contention, so to have a chance with 36 holes to go, with a chance to win, obviously feels pretty good.’’

Beyond Mickelson, Oosthuizen, Koepka and Matsuyama, there are plenty of others with legitimate chances to win. Oosthuizen is joined by two fellow South Africans two shots back at 3-under — Branden Grace and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

Among those at 2-under are former U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, Paul Casey, Kevin Streelman and first-round leader Corey Conners, who followed his opening-round 67 with a 75 on Friday.

In all, 24 players are within five shots of the lead held by Mickelson and Oosthuizen.

“It’s kind of a leaderboard you wish for going into the weekend,’’ David Duval said on the Golf Channel broadcast, perfectly articulating what lies ahead in the next two days.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

Mickelson, whose 51st birthday is less than a month away (June 16), completed a remarkable first two days on the daunting Ocean Course, where the wind has consistently been blowing some 20 miles per hour off the Atlantic Ocean and wreaking havoc for some of the world’s best players.

Playing in the morning wave of tee times Friday, Mickelson shot a 3-under-par 69 to get to 5-under through 36 holes. At the time he completed his round, he was one shot behind Branden Grace, who’d gotten to 6-under par.

But Grace lost three shots on his final two holes with a double bogey on 17 and a bogey on 18, which left Mickelson with a two-shot lead as he left the course for his rental home, where he would relax on a couch and watch the afternoon wave battle the treacherous conditions in pursuit of him.

Mickelson, who won the 2005 PGA Championship at Baltusrol and is a five-time major winner, hasn’t had a top-10 finish in a major championship since his runner-up finish at the 2016 British Open. His tie for 18th at the 2019 Masters is the only top-20 finish he has in a major in that 16-event span.

Two more days like Thursday and Friday and Mickelson can become the oldest player ever to win a major championship, surpassing Julius Boros, who was 48 years and four months old when he won the 1968 PGA Championship.

“I’m having a lot of fun,’’ Mickelson said, beaming after his round. “To know I’m playing well heading into the weekend, to be in contention, to have a good opportunity, I’m having a blast. I’m excited for the weekend.’’

The remarkable element to Mickelson’s two rounds has been the way each has unfolded.

On Thursday, playing the more benign front nine, Mickelson shot 2-over-par 38, made the turn to play the more difficult (into the wind) back nine and he shot a 4-under-par 32.

On Friday, playing the back nine first, Mickelson shot a 2-over-par 38, made the turn and shot a 5-under-par 31 on the front nine for his final nine. That leaves him a cumulative 9-under-par 63 on his two final nines.

Along the way, Mickelson, after hitting only 6-of-14 fairways on Thursday, hit 11-of-14 on Friday. His game off the tee is often a sideshow when he starts hitting balls off the reservation and making crazy par saves from all over the yard.

On Friday, he looked in complete control.

“In the position he is, I expect him to contend and I wouldn’t put it past him being there at the end of the week,’’ said Padraig Harrington, one of Mickelson’s two playing partners the past two days. “I think he has the bit between his teeth. I think he believes he can do it in these conditions.’’

Australian Cam Smith showed no surprise at the position Mickelson is in, regardless of how old he is or what form he’s been in at recent major championships.

“He’s still Phil Mickelson to me,’’ Smith said. “He can show up and he knows that he can win. He walks around like he can still win, and he talks the talk. It’ll be tough to catch him, I think.’’

Strong words, considering the tournament is merely halfway complete.

“There were no foul balls,’’ said Jason Day, Mickelson’s other playing partner the first two rounds. “Usually with Phil you can get some pretty wide ones (drives), and he kept it straight out in front of him. No kind of off-the-map drives that get him out of position and make it really tough on him. With Phil, you kind of get some off-the-map drives that make it very interesting, and he’s kept it very, very straight over the last two days.

“And, his iron play was pretty tight. There was a lot of quality iron shots into the greens. When he was out of position, he just kind of — you know Phil — he got up-and-down. If he can keep it straight and hit it the way that he’s been hitting, he’s going to be around on Sunday for sure.’’

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

Mark Cannizzaro

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KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — It doesn’t seem like that long ago when life was pretty much perfect for Rickie Fowler.

He had it all. He was in all the biggest tournaments, was a regular at every one of the majors, was a perennial member of the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup teams and was one of the most popular and recognizable players in golf.

Fowler not only ran with the cool crowd, he was the leader of the cool crowd.

The only thing that eluded him — and still does — was a major championship victory. But, given how competitive he’d been in those and how close he’s come to winning one (11 top-10 finishes, including eight top-5s and three runners-up), conventional wisdom suggested that one or more of those would soon come, too.

Then conventional wisdom and all assumptions about where Fowler’s career was headed went straight to hell in a pull cart.

Fowler, 32, has spent the better part of the past year and a half wandering in the wilderness of the worst slump of his career.

His world ranking, which was as high as No. 4 in 2016 and was No. 23 at the end of 2019, has plummeted to 128th. As a result, Fowler has no longer become an automatic entrant into the major championships, missing out on the Masters last month because he fell outside of the top 50.

At this point, Fowler is a long shot (at best) to be a member of the U.S. Ryder Cup side in September, likely ending a stretch in which he’s played in the past three.

When Fowler failed to qualify for the Masters in April, it ended a streak in which he’d played every major championship dating back to the 2010 British Open.

The reason Fowler’s playing in the PGA Championship this week at Kiawah Island is not because he qualified on merit, but because the PGA of America extended him a special exemption based on his popularity and past performances.

And, in what can be best described as a baby step, Fowler shot an encouraging 1-under 71 in Thursday’s opening round on the Ocean Course and is four shots out of the lead held by Corey Conners entering Friday’s second round.

“It’s been tough,’’ Fowler conceded about his prolonged slump. “Where stuff started setting in was once I moved outside the top 50 in the world [and] wasn’t going to be in Augusta. It’s time to jump back on the horse. First get back inside the top 50 and keep on moving. We’re on our way back now, though.’’

Part of Fowler’s way back included some healthy trash-talk matches against Michael Jordan at the Florida course Jordan owns, The Grove, where Fowler spends a lot of his time practicing.

Fowler said he gives Jordan 10 shots in their money matches and, with Jordan’s “over-under’’ about 77. It forces Fowler to have to go low to beat the NBA great and not have to dig into his own pocket.

“I was 7-under through 17 holes and lost,’’ Fowler said of a recent match he had with Jordan. “And he’s not quiet about it.’’

Fowler added that “playing with MJ is as good as it gets for prep’’ for tournament weeks like this.

So, here he is, trying to resurrect his game and put his career back on the tracks at one of the most difficult major championship courses there is.

“Obviously, [I’m] very appreciative to have the opportunity to be here,’’ Fowler said. “I think it’s a little more motivation to go take advantage of it.’’

So far, so good.

Fowler, despite being so good with the fans and kids and being charitable, has his share of critics, many of whom are put off by how commercially exposed he is. His critics view him as someone who’s more committed to his marketing campaigns than working on his game.

Fowler’s last win came at the Waste Management in 2019. You have to go back 30 tournaments to find his last top-10 finish, in January 2020. He has five missed cuts in 2021, including the last two tournaments he played before this week — the Wells Fargo and AT&T Byron Nelson.

“In a way, [the struggle] is just putting things into perspective and understanding that I get to do this for a living and that’s awesome,’’ Fowler said. “I’ve had a great run so far out here. I definitely want more.’’

Golf is better when Fowler’s playing well. Whether that one round on Thursday at the Ocean Course is a proper indicator that he’s on his way back remains to be seen. He and his legion of fans can only hope.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

Mark Cannizzaro

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Jaylen Waddle has slight edge over DeVonta Smith in intriguing Giants scenario

Zach Wilson wasn’t a member of the Jets for enough time to take his girlfriend out for a celebratory dinner before he already was showing the kind of leadership the team desperately hopes translates into wins, division titles and Super Bowl-title runs in short time.

Twelve picks after Wilson was drafted with the second-overall pick on April 29, the Jets took USC guard Alijah Vera-Tucker with the 14th pick. Not long after that, they selected Mississippi receiver Elijah Moore at the top of the second round.

For Vera-Tucker and Moore, it must have felt as if Wilson had been in the Jets’ war room making the picks, based on how quickly he reached out to them with texts and phone calls welcoming them to his team.

It was the same for Michael Carter, the North Carolina running back who was picked in the fourth round, on Day 3 of the draft.

“Just talking to him on the phone, I could tell he’s like a general,’’ Moore said Friday at the first day of the Jets’ three-day rookie camp. “His passion comes out through the phone. He wrote to me on social media and said he was pumped and he texted me and said he was fired up.’’

Indeed, when Moore was drafted by the Jets, Wilson tweeted: “LESSS GOOO. Time to get to work @e_moore03 so pumped for you bro! @nyjets.’’

“We’ve been in contact almost every single day [since the draft] despite both of us very busy now learning the playbook,’’ Moore said. “He’s someone who wasted no time [reaching out]. As soon as [the Jets] got me, I started watching his [college] highlights and he started watching mine, just trying to see what I got and he’s got.

“I’m going to do everything I can to make him look good and vice versa.’’

This thing, of course, is at its infant stage — the Jets, new head coach Robert Saleh and Wilson trying to turn a decade of losing into a new era of winning.

Saleh took the first of a number of baby steps, as he was getting to see his rookie class for the first time in person on grass instead of a Zoom call.

Wilson stuck out among the 30 rookies for a number of reasons.

First, he was the No. 2-overall pick in the draft and the player for whom Joe Douglas has pushed all of his general manager chips to the middle of the table, betting on the organization finally getting this franchise quarterback thing right.

Second, Wilson is the only quarterback among the rookie class, which means his No. 2 jersey was the only red jersey on the field, signifying: Look, but don’t touch.

It’s the way Wilson has conducted himself behind closed doors and away from the cameras, though, that has been most impressive. This rookie camp, in the words of Saleh, is a “low-pressure’’ opportunity for “these guys to introduce themselves to us.’’

Wilson had already begun that process on his own, during the draft, when he texted his fellow draft picks as they were selected, to welcome them.

“He texted me when I got drafted, just trying to build a relationship with him,’’ Carter said Friday. “I’ve been talking to him the last couple of days. I’m really excited.’’

What was Wilson’s message to Carter on draft day?

“It was mostly, ‘I’m excited to have you on my team. I think you’re a hell of a player. I can’t wait to get to work,’ ’’ Carter said.

This is only the beginning of what the Jets hope will be a long and prosperous journey, but Wilson’s leadership skills already are shining through.

“The more I talked to him, I can see how people would say [Wilson is a great leader] just because of his energy and he’s not afraid to speak up and show his persona,’’ Carter said.

“I’ve talked to him a lot the last couple days,’’ Vera-Tucker said. “He wants to get to know us and bring us all in and turn this organization around.’’

What was Wilson’s message to Vera-Tucker when he first texted him?

“He just welcomed me in and after that it was, ‘Let’s get this thing done and work hard,’ ’’ Vera-Tucker said.

That’s music to the ears of the Jets and their fan base, which are starved for a winner.

“I’m a big believer in bringing the guys around you together having a strong connection with them,’’ Wilson said after he was drafted. “So, that’s a leader I’m going to be.’’

Wilson was making good on that promise before he pulled a Jets jersey over his shoulders.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

Mark Cannizzaro

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The Giants got better in this 2021 NFL Draft.

But how much better?

Enough to win the NFL’s most mediocre division, which was decided via pillow fight in 2020?

Possibly … with an asterisk, because there are asterisks attached to every NFL draft.

This was Dave Gettleman’s fourth draft as Giants general manager. At 70 years old, with a 15-33 record in his first three years and with a standing mandate from Giants ownership to better his “batting average,’’ it’s possible this might have been his last as a GM, pending 2021 results.

In honor of Gettleman’s four Giants drafts, here are four takes on this one:

Take One: The Giants strengthened their strengths.

With two of their first three picks, the Giants added to two positions they’d already improved via free agency — wide receiver and cornerback — with receiver Kadarius Toney in the first round and corner Aaron Robinson in the third.

Prior to the draft, the Giants spent $112 million in free agency on receiver Kenny Golladay and cornerback Adoree’ Jackson.

Take Two: The Giants finally addressed the outside pass rush.

That was the team’s greatest need, and the Giants hope they found a productive edge rusher in the second round with Georgia’s Azeez Ojulari, who had 8.5 sacks last season, 6.5 in the final six games.

The Giants cannot count on another 11.5 sacks out of Leonard Williams, an interior lineman who posted his career high in 2020. Williams, in fact, will only be better with an outside threat alongside him to reduce double-teams.

In the fourth round on Saturday, the Giants added Northern Iowa outside linebacker Elerson Smith, a 6-foot-6, 252-pounder who had 14 sacks in 2019 and didn’t play in 2020 because his conference’s season was canceled due to COVID-19.

Take Three: The Giants might have left their questionable offensive line compromised by not addressing it with any of their six picks in this draft.

Will the Giants pay for that?

The likely answer is “yes.’’

In fairness, teams with as many needs as the Giants cannot address every issue in one draft. The Giants made it their priority to find quarterback Daniel Jones another explosive skill-position player and they hope they did that with Toney.

What they hope now, though, is that their offensive line can protect Jones well enough for him to get the ball downfield to the likes of Golladay, Toney, Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton before he’s either sacked or turns the ball over.

“We have a lot more confidence in our offensive line players than you guys [reporters] do,’’ Gettleman said. “We’re happy with the guys we have. We’re not going to take a player just to take a player.’’

• Giants complete 2021 NFL Draft Tracker

Take Four: The NFC East just got a lot more interesting thanks to this draft.

The Giants may have done enough to overtake the likes of NFC East “champion’’ Washington, which went 7-9 last year and will be counting on 38-year-old journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick at quarterback. They may be better than the Eagles, who are relying solely on unproven quarterback Jalen Hurts after trading Carson Wentz to the Colts.

There will be some fascinating subplots out of this draft within the NFC East, scenarios that may well shape the outcome of the division.

The Eagles leapfrogged the Giants in the first round, trading their No. 12 pick with Dallas, which was at No. 10, to beat the Giants to Heisman Trophy winner DeVonta Smith, the receiver Gettleman was ready to take at No. 11.

After the Giants traded out of No. 11 once Smith as nabbed by the Eagles, the Cowboys drafted Penn State linebacker Micah Parsons, another player the Giants had an eye on.

One pick after the Giants took Ojulari at No. 50 overall, Washington selected Texas tackle Sam Cosmi. Giants fans will be watching carefully to see good he turns out to be.

“Every pick in this draft is a projection,’’ Giants coach Joe Judge said. “There’s not a single player who’s NFL ready.’’

The Giants, of course, hope theirs become NFL ready faster than those picked by the Eagles, Cowboys and Washington.

“We feel like we’ve added a lot of talent to our roster,’’ Gettleman said. “We added some playmakers, we added some pass rush and corners. We’ll know in three years whether we got this right or not.’’

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

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Trader Dave struck again.

And again.

Giants general manager Dave Gettleman, who entered this NFL draft having never executed a draft-day trade, was back in the wheel-and-deal business on Friday night.

One day after trading back nine spots in the first round and acquiring a haul from the Bears, Gettleman traded back eight spots in the second round and still picked the edge rusher the Giants coveted in Georgia’s Azeez Ojulari.

Then he traded up five spots in the third round and picked Central Florida cornerback Aaron Robinson, a physical press-cover cornerback who should factor in the slot.

“I’m sure Dave has a concussion,’’ Giants head coach Joe Judge joked Friday night. “We’ll have him checked out tonight.’’

Chris Pettit, the Giants director of college scouting, acknowledged there’s “been a little bit of ribbing’’ of Gettleman in the team’s war room for his sudden transformation into the NFL’s version of iconic “Let’s Make a Deal’’ host Monty Hall.

“We were busy,’’ Gettleman said with his patented sarcastic humor.

To review: With their three picks in the first three rounds, the Giants addressed three separate needs — another playmaker at receiver for quarterback Daniel Jones with first-round pick Kadarius Toney, cornerback and edge rusher, which arguably is the team’s most pressing need.

Lawrence Taylor. Michael Strahan. Justin Tuck. Osi Umenyiora. Jason Pierre-Paul.

Azeez Ojulari?

Is it possible the Georgia edge rusher the Giants selected with the 50th-overall pick becomes the next great sack master on a team that used to be defined by dominant pass rushers?

From Gettleman’s pick to God’s ears.

Pass rushing has been one of the most glaring needs the sad-sack Giants have been saddled with since Pierre-Paul was shipped to Tampa in 2018. The Giants’ sack production, once a proud franchise tradition, has been borderline anemic the past few years.

The Giants had 40 sacks last season, but 11.5 of them came from interior lineman Leonard Williams. They had 36 sacks in 2019, 30 in 2018 and 17 in 2017.

The lack of sacks has been enough to make LT, perhaps the greatest edge rusher of all time, want to donate some of the 132.5 he accumulated in his brilliant career back to this team.

The Giants’ current outside linebacker corps combined for 2.5 sacks last season. That number was frighteningly low in part because two projected starters — Lorenzo Carter and Oshane Ximines — missed most of the season due to injuries.

Both are expected back in 2021, but neither had proven himself to be any sort of pass-rushing force before getting hurt.

According to Pro Football Focus, the Giants’ top four pressure grades all came from interior defensive linemen. Williams had 62 pressures, Dexter Lawrence had 29, Dalvin Tomlinson had 28 and B.J. Hill had 22. Kyler Fackrell, who was second on the team to Williams in sacks with four but is no longer with the team, had the most pressures of any linebacker with a mere 19.

This brings us to the 6-foot-2, 249-pound Ojulari, who had 8.5 sacks and four forced fumbles last season for Georgia. He had 6.5 of those sacks in the final six games. Ojulari had 18.5 tackles for loss, 14 sacks and five forced fumbles combined the last two years. Pro Football Focus credited him with 15 quarterback hits and 45 hurries the last two years and 35 pressures in 2020 alone.

The Giants, in an effort to address the pass rush before the draft as they did with receiver and cornerback, were in the market to sign Leonard Floyd at the start of free agency, but Floyd re-signed with the Rams for more money.

Now they’ll hope Ojulari injects some life into their pass rush.

“I’ve got good speed, strength and power to beat the guy off the edge and I can affect the quarterback,’’ Ojulari said. “I’m ready to work and contribute.’’

He also is ready to one day add his name to the list of those distinguished Giants pass rushers.

“I’ve got to come in ready to work, put it on the table and give it all I’ve got for the great guys that played before me,’’ he said. “I’ve got a lot of respect for all of those players.’’

Now it’s time for opposing offenses to respect the Giants pass rush.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro

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When the Dolphins selected Alabama receiver Jaylen Waddle with the sixth-overall pick in Thursday night’s NFL draft, ESPN’s TV cameras showed footage of those in the Lions’ war room celebrating like they’d just won Super Bowl LVI.

Shortly after the Lions executives were finished dancing, hugging and high-fiving each other, they wasted little time in drafting the player of their desire, Oregon tackle Penei Sewell, with the seventh pick.

Several minutes later, as the Giants’ turn at No. 11 overall approached, there was no TV footage of their war room, and that was probably a good thing because it might have shown general manager Dave Gettleman and head coach Joe Judge cursing and throwing draft-night pizza slices against the walls in disgust.

The first round was a queasy roller-coaster ride of emotions for the Giants, who had their eyes on a couple of the top receivers, Alabama’s DeVonta Smith or Waddle, or top cornerbacks, Jaycee Horn or Patrick Surtain II.

Early on, the board looked like it was falling well for the Giants as the first three teams, as predicted, took quarterbacks. When LSU receiver Ja’Marr Chase and Waddle went to the Bengals and Dolphins, respectively, there was a quick run on the corners, with Horn and Surtain going to the Panthers and Broncos, respectively, at Nos. 8 and 9.

At that moment, it looked like Smith, the Heisman Trophy winner who posted prolific numbers in college and looked like a tantalizing new weapon for quarterback Daniel Jones, might be there at 11 for the Giants.

Only the Cowboys, who were expected to address defense, stood in the way at No. 10.

And then the Eagles intervened.

The same fr&%*!ing hated Eagles who less than five months ago tanked their season finale and cost the Giants the NFC East title by handing the Washington Football Team a victory and a playoff berth in a 20-14 loss.

Like the Giants, the Eagles, who were picking at No. 12, had eyes for one of the top receivers, and they deftly executed a trade with the Cowboys at No. 10 to leapfrog the Giants and swipe Smith from them.

The fr&%*!ing hated Eagles.

The Giants quickly — and correctly — retreated, trading their No. 11-overall pick to the Bears, swapping 11 for 20 and acquiring the Bears’ 2022 first-round and fourth-round picks and their fifth-rounder this year.

At the end of the day, Gettleman deserves credit for acting swiftly and acquiring an impressive haul for the trade down and landing Florida receiver Kadarius Toney with the 20th pick.

That it was the Eagles who forced the trade and cost the Giants the Heisman Trophy winner, though, was distasteful.

“It’s a business deal, that’s what it is,’’ Gettleman said. “One hand washes the other. Obviously, Dallas was happy with their return. So, they made the trade with Philly and we traded down. Not a big deal.’’

If you believe that then you believe LT’s making a comeback in 2021.

“Look, trades happen a lot,’’ Judge reasoned. “Normally, it doesn’t happen within the division, but my enemy is my friend. They made a move that worked for them and it was a good business move. We’re pleased the way it turned out. We added a good player and some assets for the future.’’

Sure they did, but … those fr&%*!ing hated Eagles, whose tank cost the Giants a playoff berth in January.

The reaction from the Giants players and coaches after that travesty predictably was heated.

“To disrespect the game by going out there and not competing for 60 minutes and doing everything you can to help those players win … we will never do that as long as I am the head coach of the New York Giants,” Judge said the day after.

Receiver Darius Slayton called it “sickening’’ on Twitter and added that it was “disrespectful to the game.’’

Eli Manning tweeted: “This is why we don’t like the Eagles.’’

Thursday night was reason 215 million for the Giants and their fans to dislike the Eagles.

Credit Gettleman for not reaching for an edge rusher at No. 20 and pivoting to Toney, a player the Giants liked throughout the predraft process who caught 70 passes and scored 11 TDs last season for the Gators.

The Giants needed to give Jones more skill-position talent with their top pick and they did that — even if it wasn’t one of the two Alabama dynamos.

Who knows? In the end, maybe Toney becomes a better receiver than Smith does for the Eagles.

That, along with the Giants winning more games than Philadelphia and making the playoffs for the first time in five years, is the best revenge they can exact on their Jersey Turnpike rivals in 2021.

In this case, revenge would be best served in the form of an 80-yard Toney game-winning touchdown reception over the fr&%*!ing hated Eagles.

Only then will all be forgotten, though never forgiven.

This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Mark Cannizzaro