Los Angeles Times: Kisner, Matsuyama are tied at halfway point of the PGA

By Art Spander
Los Angeles Times

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — He was the basketball player who wasn’t tall enough, the football player who got crushed. So Kevin Kisner, a feisty sort who enjoyed the camaraderie and competition of team sports, took the advice of a high school coach who told him, “I think you ought to stick to golf.”

For a while, lacking confidence in his ball-striking — the very essence of the game — it seemed he was stuck with golf. “I was like, ‘I got no chance the way I’m hitting it,’” Kisner said of his early days as a pro in the sport’s minor leagues.

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Copyright 2017 Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times: Some big names struggle as Olesen and Kisner share PGA Championship lead

By Art Spander
Los Angeles Times

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In the first round of the year’s last golf major, Jordan Spieth couldn’t make a putt until he absolutely had to. U.S. Open champ Brooks Koepka was troubled by the greens but still managed to break par. Jim Herman, who was a pro for one of Donald Trump’s courses, briefly was the leader. But it was Thorbjorn Olesen, a very good Dane if not a great one, and Kevin Kisner who shared the lead.

By the time this 99^th PGA Championship comes to a close — that would be Sunday, barring a thunderstorm or two — one of the pros will be receiving the Wanamaker Trophy, but the winner most likely will be the course, Quail Hollow Club.

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Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times: Awe-inspiring Jordan Spieth has the tools to complete a career Grand Slam. And he's only 24

By Art Spander
Los Angeles Times

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — He’s one of many: Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy — all winners, champions. Yet Jordan Spieth also is one of a kind, a golfer who has others in awe, has them using words such as intangible when reflecting on his game.

“You can’t really describe it,” said Ernie Els when called on to analyze Spieth’s success, most recently in the British Open. Spieth was about to self-destruct with a terrible tee shot but went five under the last five holes to win.

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Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times: Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els reach 100 majors at the PGA

By Art Spander
Los Angeles Times

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On a rainy Tuesday in the Piedmont, two days before the last big golf tournament of the year, there was nothing finer in Carolina than to hear Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els talk about reaching the century mark — and Rory McIlroy talk about Phil and Ernie, along with some comments of his own game.

When the 99th PGA Championship begins Thursday at Quail Hollow Country Club, Mickelson and Els each will be playing in his 100th major championship, a total achieved by only 12 others and topped by the 164 of the great Jack Nicklaus.

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Copyright © 2017, Los Angeles Times

Global Golf Post: Club Pros Relish Moment On The Big Stage

By Art Spander
Global Golf Post

SPRINGFIELD, NEW JERSEY — Bubba Watson has been chided occasionally for some of his comments, an inescapable part of being a star in modern society. But his approach to the game of golf, and those who teach it as well as play it, is commendable.

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Copyright 2016 Global Golf Post