There are always a few eye-popping drives produced at the 16th hole at Firestone Country Club, a par-5 that stretches to 667 yards and routinely plays as one of the longest holes of the season.
Even taking into account the fairway's downhill slope, the drive Justin Thomas uncorked Friday at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational garnered some attention.
Thomas crushed his tee shot 413 yards -- a prestigious blast made all the more impressive by the fact the PGA Tour media guide lists him at 145 pounds.
"It was the hardest I've probably ever hit a drive," Thomas said. "As soon as I hit it I knew -- I was just happy to hit the fairway. I hit it left of the world yesterday, but as soon as I hit it, I had a pretty good idea it was going to be down there."
The shot was the longest drive on Tour this season, 3 yards longer than Bubba Watson's tee shot on the sixth hole at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii in January. It left Thomas with just a 5-iron in for his second shot from 237 yards, and he chipped in for eagle -- only the third eagle on the hole ever in the tournament and first since 2008.
"I hit it just left of the green, and it was a pretty bad spot," he said. "I was actually pretty furious walking up there that I hit it there, and somehow managed to let the flag stick get in the way and chip in."
The eagle helped Thomas to a 1-under 69, and he is 1 under through two rounds of the no-cut event.
72 garners attention
Steven Bowditch had a big day Friday, and that didn't go unnoticed by the PGA Tour.
Dating back to the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March, Bowditch had racked up five consecutive rounds shooting 80 or higher in World Golf Championship events, but he was able to end that streak with a 2-over-par 72 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Friday.
The PGA Tour's random drug testing policy long has been criticized for not being random at all. It is not uncommon for a player to shoot a super-low round only to be immediately whisked away to take a drug test. Chris Kirk documented his brushes with drug testing on Twitter back in January of 2015 when he tied the course record at the Plantation Course at Kapalua only to be drug tested two days later.
So, Bowditch followed suit. After ending his streak of bad play in WGC events, Bowditch was asked to take a drug test, leading him to tweet: "Not even the Tour can believe I broke 80."
Unnecessary
Duron Carter, the son of NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Cris Carter, was ejected from a Canadian Football League game Thursday night after he knocked down Ottawa Redblacks Coach Rick Campbell during a prolonged touchdown celebration.
Video of the incident showed the Montreal Alouette receiver making the touchdown catch, running to the Ottawa sideline and exchanging words with members of the Redblacks before bumping into Campbell, who had stepped onto the field.
Carter had 4 catches for 63 yards and 1 touchdown prior to the ejection. The performance came on the heels of an 8-catch, 96-yard outing the previous week.
Sports on 07/02/2016