🏌🏻Dog Bite Rules Nelly Out

Good Morning! Akshay Bhatia lost his golf ball in a drain during Round 2 of the Rocket Mortgage Classic, but more importantly, he hasn’t lost his lead.

Click here to watch the hilarious incident.

Switching over to women’s golf, World No 1 Nelly Korda has withdrawn from next week's Aramco Team Series London on the Ladies European Tour after being bitten by a dog.

She was due to make her one and only appearance of the year in England at the Centurion Club, where she won last year by four strokes from Charley Hull. Korda will hope to be fit for the fourth women's Major of the year at the Evian Championship in France, which begins on July 11.

Today’s Trivia: The Open is the next Major on the golf calendar - who's the defending champion? Answer at the end of the email.

⛳ This day in history: On this date in 1906, Scotsman Alex Smith won first of his 2 Open titles, 7 strokes ahead of runner-up and younger brother Willie Smith.

TOP STORY
Bhatia and Rai Tied For Lead @ Rocket Mortgage

Akshay Bhatia of the US and England's Aaron Rai lead by two strokes after 36 holes at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Bhatia has been atop the leaderboard at the end of both days now.

Rai is also at 13 under after his second-round 65. He’s looking for more at Detroit Golf Club after a top-10 finish there in 2023.

📌Fowler Stumbles: Defending Champion Rickie Fowler finished the day even on the round, keeping him at 6 under for the tournament. Although he made the cut, Fowler is tied for 38th and seven shots back, after bogeys on his final two holes, Nos 8 and 9.

Fowler’s rough finish puts him in a difficult spot to win in his title defense, but he doesn’t lack fan support - which is a big bonus.

🚀Young Leads Chasing Pack: Bhatia and Rai are two shots clear of Taylor Montgomery, Troy Merritt, Erik van Rooyen and Cameron Young who all moved to 11-under on Friday. Young, the pre-tournament second favorite behind Tom Kim (missed cut) had seven birdies and just one bogey to very much remain in contention.

With just one bogey in two rounds, he’s limiting his mistakes and is yet to three-putt. He ranks second on the Par-5s and is sixth in SG: Tee-to-Green.

🚫Big Names Miss Cut: A number of top players missed the cutline including Tom Kim, Keith Mitchell, Robert MacIntyre and Webb Simpson, among others. Kim was one of the pre-tournament favorites following a playoff loss to Scottie Scheffler at last week’s Travelers Championship.

But he could only manage scores of 73-68, not good enough to make it to the weekend.

Watch Round 2 Highlights

TWEET
Worth Mentioning

WEEKEND READING
These Pros Are Coached By Family Members

Some of the top pros have remained coached, in a professional capacity, by a family member throughout their career to date - we take a look at few famous examples.

🏌‍♀Former World No 1 golfer Justin Thomas was introduced to golf by his father, Mike, and is still coached by him. Mike’s own father, Paul, was a club pro and Mike became a PGA teaching professional at Harmony Landing Country Club in Goshen, Kentucky.

🏌‍♀Another PGA teaching pro who had coached his son as a youngster, and still does, is David Young. He was the head professional at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in New York and his son is Cameron Young, PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 2021–22 and runner up in The Open of 2022.

🏌‍♀Xander Schauffele’s father, Stefan, had been an assistant golf pro in Hawaii. Stefan coached Xander, and still does. He is listed on his son’s website as ‘mind and swing coach’.

🏌‍♀Brooke Henderson, the winner of two Women’s Majors, also has a father who was an all round sportsman. Her father Dave, a teacher, was a hockey player, and coached her in that; he also coached her in golf. He still does the latter.

Read the full article.

DRIVING RANGE
Putting Tips and Techniques

In today's video, we share three simple drills that will improve the consistency of your golf stroke.

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