Morning 9: Rahm rallies | New President at Honma NA | Creamer ahead in France | Bubba’s mental coach

• “Rahm matched the lowest round of his PGA TOUR career with an 8-under 62 on Thursday at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, taking advantage of nearly perfect greens to open a three-stroke lead.”

• “I was pretty exhausted Monday and Tuesday, and that’s why I decided not to do much on the golf course and just make sure mentally I was going to be ready to compete,” Rahm said.

• “He spent about an hour on the putting green Wednesday. He didn’t step foot on the front nine, his back nine, until he made the turn, and he had five birdies on that side.”

• BBC Report…”Former world number two Paula Creamer carded a seven-under-par 64 to hold a one-shot lead after the first round of the Evian Championship.”

• “American Creamer, who won the US Women’s Open in 2010, hit seven birdies without dropping a shot at the Evian Resort Golf Club in France.”

• “Australian Minjee Lee was set to share the lead with Creamer, but hit a bogey on the last.”

Full piece.

• Golf Digest’s Brian Wacker…”The 40-year-old 12-time tour winner said the decision was based on trying to help him deal with issues off the course in order to keep them from becoming a distraction on it.”

• “I’ve got more junk going on in my life,” Watson said. “Car dealership, baseball team, apartment complex, candy shop, driving range, office buildings. I’ve got to make sure my RV gets to tournaments. I’ve got to make sure my kids are doing the right things at school. Got a beautiful wife that I’ve got to make happy. Just a lot more stuff going on.”

• “I’d get rid of my wins in a heartbeat,” Watson said. “I’d work at a golf shop in a heartbeat if I had to take care of my family and everything. It’s good junk, but it’s a lot more junk than I had 20 years ago.”

• “In Thursday’s opening round of the World Golf Championship-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, Johnson was bumbling along on TPC Southwind’s back nine (his opening nine), playing the stretch in a disastrous three over that included three bogeys, a double and two birdies.”

• “So he decided then seemed as good a time as any to go from a conventional putting grip to a cross-handed one (left-hand low).”

• “It couldn’t get any worse, so I figured I had to try something,” said Johnson. “It was, yeah, not very good and so going to the back, I don’t know, I didn’t decide to do it until I was literally about to hit the putt on [the first], which was my 10th hole. But sometimes you just need a little bit of change.”

Full piece.

• “The good times continued Monday when the European Tour announced the 2026 Ryder Cup would be played at Adare Manor in Ireland. It was particularly good news for Rory McIlroy, who helped lead the charge to bring The Open to Royal Portrush.”

• “It’s going to be a great venue,” McIlroy said following his round at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. “It’s really cool and I’m so happy for [Adare Manor owner J.P. McManus] and his family and everyone involved with Adare that it’s there.”

• “McIlroy was particularly excited about the prospect of playing a Ryder Cup in Ireland. The 2006 Ryder Cup was played at The K Club in Kildare, Ireland, a year before the Northern Irishman turned professional.”

• Neil Squires of the Daily Express…”What he revealed raises serious questions about his capacity to close the deal at Augusta, join the five giants who have won the Grand Slam and make the leap into golf’s historic hall of fame.”

• “McIlroy is one of the sport’s great talents. He has won 25 tournaments around the globe including four Majors, ranks No 3 in the world and has a record this year on the PGA Tour superior to anyone’s.”

• “Send him out on a golf course with an empty head and he has the capacity to destroy it. But Portrush represented a heightened example of his inability to deal with his own emotional state when a tournament really matters to him.”

• “Per an announcement from Yum Brands, Strategic Advisor Mark King has accepted a new role as Chief Executive Officer of Taco Bell.”

• “King was instrumental in several major North American Honma projects, including the relocation of headquarters from Cypress, California to Carlsbad, and in the assembly of a world-class leadership team. Honma extends its warmest congratulations to King and wishes him the very best in his new role. King will remain an ambassador and friend of Honma.”

• “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to lead such a fantastic team here in North America. Mark established a wonderful foundation of talent and culture and was instrumental in getting us to where we are today. I’m humbled to help lead this iconic brand into a bright future in North America,” said Kawaja.

• “We accomplished a great deal in my time at Honma and I’m proud of all the strides we’ve made in a short time. The team we were able to assemble in North America has some incredible things planned and I’m excited to watch them grow. With John at the helm I have no doubt the best of Honma is ahead,” said King.

• “It took him nearly half his life, but Hines, who is 60 and the director of golf at Cape Fear Country Club, in Wilmington, N.C., has pulled off a feat that no other golfer is known to have equaled: He has played every major championship course in the world.”

• “The quest began for Hines in 1990, when he landed a job at Northwood Club in Dallas. Knowing that Northwood had hosted the 1952 U.S. Open (winner: Julius Boros), Hines got to thinking, which gave way to an inkling that he was onto something, which evolved into a goal. As a junior, he had played Pinehurst No. 2, unaware that it had held the 1936 PGA Championship. Still, Pinehurst counted, so Hines had that going for him. Two major championship venues down. Only 117 to go.” 

Full piece. 

For the rest of the awards…