Jordan Spieth"s here. After a sleepy Thursday at Baltusrol, the PGA Championship has some life on Friday morning with Spieth making a big charge up the leaderboard on the opening nine of his second round. The 2015 Masters and U.S. Open champion is 4-under on his first nine holes, and now 4-under for the championship and one shot off the lead.
Spieth had to wait around on the 10th tee, where he started his second round with Bubba Watson and Sergio Garcia, for about 50 minutes before his round started. The PGA blew the horn just before he was set to tee off, using a stoppage to clean up a course that had taken on too much water. The waiting around didn"t exactly cool Spieth and he opened with three birdies in his first four holes. The work was largely done with approach shots that repeatedly tucked in tight to the cup on a course that"s extremely soft. He used the putter on his fourth hole of the day to pour one in from a moderate length and the Friday move was on.
The start should have been even better! Mixed in with those three birdies was an ugly bogey that won"t show up as a three-putt in the stats but was just that. Spieth was just 17 feet from the cup and blasted his putt from the fringe way past the hole, missed the comebacker and walked off with a bogey that could have thrown him off early in his day.
That mishap is it though for the golden child, who is making an early statement with the 18-hole leader Jimmy Walker still a couple hours from his tee time. With the course playing benign, Walker"s lead could be gone before he ever hits a shot on Friday.
After the quick start, Spieth held the line with a few pars and then feasted where you have to on this Baltusrol setup -- at those two finishing par-5s.
Those birdies capped an outward 32 stripe show that has a soggy crowd chasing the Spieth group early on Friday.
We"ve heard Spieth say his ball striking has been on at these last two majors, that it had come around "beautifully" after some uneven moments this season. That"s been the strength during this Friday round.
His putter just went cold in the opening round at Royal Troon and he caught the wrong side of the draw. Now he"s caught his heater and looks like he"ll be at or near the top of the leaderboard at the midpoint of the PGA.
Spieth has jumped 34 spots so farup the leaderboard. Here"s the top of the board early on Friday:
Jason Day,Jordan Spieth,Branden Grace,Justin Rose PGA Championship Final Round 2015
Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
We"ve seen many high-profile screw-ups by the different governing bodies, leagues and institutions that lead golf this year. But this is a new one. Apparently the PGA either forgot to put the hole in the right spot, or just put it in a totally different spot than it had originally told players. The PGA would eventually catch the mistake, but only after the first group of the day played the 10th hole (their opening hole) operating with a pin sheet that had the old information on it. Old information that told them the hole was on the opposite side of the green. Really.
The bad info also may lead to one player, Colt Knost, missing the cut by a shot.
Knost was in that first group and had every right to be ticked off Friday morning when he took tournament organizers to task on Twitter after he set out for his second round of the PGA Championship with the wrong pin sheet.
At the time, we didn"t have the full background of the screw-up and know why Knost was upset. But this is an inexcusable screw-up. The PGA of America recognized its mistake and later apologized for the error.
The following official statement was issued:
"The second round hole location sheet provided to Group 14 the first group of the day to play from Tee #10 listed the hole location as being on the left side of the green (20 paces from the front of the green and four paces from the left edge of the green).
"In error, the hole was actually cut and positioned on the right side of the green (19 paces from the front of the green and five paces from the right edge of the green). The PGA of America Rules Committee did not notice the hole had been cut in the incorrect location until after each member of Group 14 had hit his second shot to the green.
"The hole location played by Group 14 was provided a revised hole location sheet to all subsequent groups, meaning all groups today are playing this same hole location. PGA Chief Championships Officer Kerry Haigh met with the players in Group 14 (Colt Knost, Joe Summerhays and Yuta Ikeda) after they signed their cards to offer an explanation, express his disappointment and apologize to them."
Knost made a bogey-5 on the hole and finished his round on the projected cut line at 2-over. He was not pleased.
Knosts earlier tweet, of course, referred to the way the USGA screwed up a penalty call on Dustin Johnson in the final round of the U.S. Open.
Making matters worse: the bogey from that hole could be the difference between Knost missing the cut. He"s at 2-over and the cut line is jumping all around that number. It just jumped to 1-over, meaning Knost would go home if things hold.
Nathan Solis and Redding Record Searchlight , KXTV 8:34 AM. EST July 29, 2016
This undated picture released from North Korea"s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 12, 2014 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (front L) inspecting the command of Korean People"s Army (KPA) Unit 534. (Photo: KNS/AFP/Getty Images, 2014 AFP)
PYONGYANG, North Korea North Koreas top diplomat for U.S. affairs told The Associated Press on Thursday that Washington crossed the red line and effectively declared war by putting leader Kim Jong Un on its list of sanctioned individuals, and said a vicious showdown could erupt if the U.S. and South Korea hold annual war games as planned next month.
Han Song Ryol, director-general of the U.S. affairs department at the Norths Foreign Ministry, said in an interview that recent U.S. actions have put the situation on the Korean Peninsula on a war footing.
The United States and South Korea regularly conduct joint military exercises south of the Demilitarized Zone, and Pyongyang typically responds to them with tough talk and threats of retaliation.
Han said North Korea believes the nature of the maneuvers has become openly aggressive because they reportedly now include training designed to prepare troops for the invasion of the Norths capital and decapitation strikes aimed at killing its top leadership.
Han says designating Kim himself for sanctions was the final straw.
The Obama administration went so far to have the impudence to challenge the supreme dignity of the DPRK in order to get rid of its unfavorable position during the political and military showdown with the DPRK, Han said, using the acronym for North Koreas official name, the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.
The United States has crossed the red line in our showdown, he said. We regard this thrice-cursed crime as a declaration of war.
Although North Korea had already been heavily sanctioned internationally for its nuclear weapons and long-range missile development programs, Washingtons announcement on July 6 was the first time Kim Jong Un has been personally sanctioned.
Less than a week later, Pyongyang cut off its final official means of communications with Washington known as the New York channel. Han said Pyongyang has made it clear that everything between the two must now be dealt with under war law.
U.S. officials could not be immediately reached for comment, and South Koreas unification, defense and foreign ministries did not immediately comment.
Kim and 10 others were put on the list of sanctioned individuals in connection with alleged human rights abuses, documented by the United Nations Human Rights Commission, that include a network of political prisons and harsh treatment of any kind of political dissent in the authoritarian state. U.S. State Department officials said the sanctions were intended in part to highlight those responsible for the abuses and to pressure lower-ranking officials to think twice before carrying them out.
Pyongyang denies abuse claims and says the U.N. report was based on fabrications gleaned from disgruntled defectors. Pointing to such things as police shootings of black Americans and poverty in even the richest democracies, it says the West has no moral high ground from which to criticize the Norths domestic political situation. It also says U.S. allies with questionable human-rights records receive less criticism.
Han took strong issue with the claim that it not the U.S. but Pyongyangs continued development of nuclear weapons and missiles that is provoking tensions.
Day by day, the U.S. military blackmail against the DPRK and the isolation and pressure is becoming more open, Han said. It is not us, it is the United States that first developed nuclear weapons, who first deployed them and who first used them against humankind. And on the issue of missiles and rockets, which are to deliver nuclear warheads and conventional weapons warheads, it is none other than the United States who first developed it and who first used it.
He noted that U.S.-South Korea military exercises conducted this spring were unprecedented in scale, and that the U.S. has deployed the USS Mississippi and USS Ohio nuclear-powered submarines to South Korean ports, deployed the B-52 strategic bomber around South Korea and is planning to set up the worlds most advanced missile defense system, known by its acronym THAAD, in the South, a move that has also angered China.
Echoing earlier state-media reports, Han ridiculed Mark Lippert, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, for a flight on a U.S. Air Force F-16 based in South Korea that he said was an action unfit for a diplomat.
We regard that as the act of a villain, who is a crazy person, Han said of the July 12 flight. All these facts show that the United States is intentionally aggravating the tensions in the Korean Peninsula.
Han warned that Pyongyang is viewing next months planned U.S.-South Korea exercises in this new context and will respond if they are carried out as planned.
Nobody can predict what kind of influence this kind of vicious confrontation between the DPRK and the United States will have upon the situation on the Korean Peninsula, he said. By doing these kinds of vicious and hostile acts toward the DPRK, the U.S. has already declared war against the DPRK. So it is our self-defensive right and justifiable action to respond in a very hard way.
We are all prepared for war, and we are all prepared for peace, he said. If the United States forces those kinds of large-scale exercises in August, then the situation caused by that will be the responsibility of the United States.
Last years Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises involved 30,000 American and 50,000 South Korean troops and followed a period of heightened animosity between the rival Koreas sparked by land mine explosions that maimed two South Korean soldiers. In the end, the exercises escalated tensions and rhetoric, but concluded with no major incidents.
Han dismissed calls for Pyongyang to defuse tensions by agreeing to abandon its nuclear program.
In the view of cause and effect, it is the U.S. that provided the cause of our possession of nuclear forces, he said. We never hide the fact, and we are very proud of the fact, that we have very strong nuclear deterrent forces not only to cope with the United States nuclear blackmail but also to neutralize the nuclear blackmail of the United States.
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A San Diego police officer was fatally shot and another was wounded at a traffic stop late on Thursday, police said on Friday, and a suspect was taken into custody.
The officers, members of the department"s gang suppression unit, were shot during the traffic stop at about 11 p.m. local time in Southcrest, a neighborhood in southeast San Diego, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported. The officers were taken to hospitals.
"It is with a very sad heart that we announce the death of one of our officers tonight," the department said on Friday on its Twitter feed.
The second officer underwent surgery and is expected to survive, the department said.
The police department said it was searching for suspects in addition to the one in custody.
The incident comes amid a national debate on policing and minorities. Eight officers were shot dead in ambushes in Dallas and Baton Rouge in July, putting police departments across the United States on high alert. The deaths of black people at the hands of police also have triggered protests in the past two years.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has vowed to be tough on crime, commented on the San Diego shooting via Twitter, saying, "It is only getting worse. People want LAW AND ORDER!"
Three distinctofferings hit wide release this weekend, but which one is worth your money? EW wants you to make good choices at the multiplex, so let our handy Critical Mass guide point you in the right direction!
Are you in the mood for another Jason Bourne outing? Curious to see just how sassy Mila Kunis and Christina Applegate can get in Bad Moms? Check out what the critics are saying about the weeks hottest new releases in the reviews below.
Opens July 29.
EWs Leah Greenblatt says:
Director Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips, United 93) has always had a taste for the topical and political, and his third Bourne outing augments the usual truth-and-justice talking points with a strenuously current nod to digital privacy issues via a Zuckerberg-like social-media mogul (Riz Ahmed). If anything, he underplays those assets, shorting deeper story development for exotic zip codes, bang-up fisticuffs, and adrenalized chase scenes (one of which delivers a level of casual collateral damage that feels, after the events in Nice, ill-timed at best). Jason Bourne has already given us a hero who transcends two dimensions. We just need to know more about what hes fighting for. B+
Read the full EW review.
Rotten Tomatoes: 58%Metacritic: 59
Opens July 29.
EWs Chris Nashawatysays:
With as much insight asBad Momshas, its hard to believe that the film was written and directed by two men, Jon Lucas and Scott Moorethe same guys who co-wrote that ode to arrested male development,The Hangover, no less. ButBad Momshas the sting of truth about the relentless demands mothers (and yes, even fathers) face today. Its also incredibly funny in a way that that a similarly-themed show like BravosOdd Mom Outwants to be, but isnt. That show is so caught up in its aspirational Upper East Side milieu of one-percent privilege, theres nothing to really relate to.Bad Momsis for all the other mothers out there. The ones whod like to bring store-bought doughnut holes to the school bake sale without being judged by Gwyneth. The ones who cant afford housekeepers or nannies. The ones who know that the promise that You can have it all is a lie. The ones who put up with more than they should have to all day-every day, and desperately need a night out with someone like Kathryn Hahn just to feel human again.A
Read the full EW review.
Rotten Tomatoes: 50%Metacritic: 62
Now playing.
EWs Kevin P. Sullivan says:
The novel concept ends up doing wonders for the films rhythm. Text messages drive the action, pushing Vee and Ian from romantic challenges to more dangerous ones (and one with a regrettable cameo from a particular social media joke thief). This structure lends the film a brisk pace that never slows down enough for the audience to realize that the characters are as flimsy as their motivation: to make money. And it isnt until a third act twist that makes the proceedings any more complicated than that. For her part, Roberts does a convincing job of playing the innocent caught up in an intoxicating game, but Franco cant seem to stop smiles. Its as if hes not totally sold on the concept, quietly wondering in the back of his head whether hes going to look dumb on screen. Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (Catfish and Paranormal Activity 3, the series high point) give Nerve an ebullience that doesnt turn mean-spirited. This is a film about young people with a youthful energy and sense of fun thats refreshing, especially in the summer of movies weve had so far. The tone and relatively low stakes allows Nerve to be shallow, divertive escapismkind of like Snapchat.B
Read the full EW review.
Rotten Tomatoes: 61%Metacritic: 58
Now playing.
EWs Chris Nashawaty says:
I dont want to sound too nit-picky and churlish. But the Trekverse is something that really means something to people. For them, Beyond is a fine movie, its just not a very good Star Trek movie. After all, as summer releases have gotten more and more and sensational and trivial, the Trek franchise could always be counted on to serve up some smarts along with its sci-fi action beats. With Beyond, it feels like just another summer tentpole with not enough going on underneath the tent. C+
Read the full EW review.
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%Metacritic: 68
Now playing.
EWs Chris Nashawaty says:
Pets has a great premise, but its more busy than clever. Sylvester and Tweety packed more anarchy and wit into a six-minute Looney Tunes short than Renaud and Cheney manage in an hour and a half. Like a dog that endlessly chases its tail in circles, Pets is amusing for a while, then it just tires itself out.B
Read the full EW review.
Rotten Tomatoes: 74%Metacritic: 61
Now playing.
EWs Christian Holub says:
Unfortunately, the movies ending does not do this storyline justice. Suffice it to say that the mental health aspect of the story is not treated with respect, but rather as a simple plot device, to be used and discarded like so many shattered lightbulbs. In a culture that already doesnt do well by victims of mental illness, its disappointing, and takes a lot of wind from Lights Outs sails. Its easy to not want to think hard about horror movies, to just let them wash over you like the cathartic experiences they are. But this movie purposely inspires viewers to think about serious topics, and then disregards the consequences of doing so, undermining the whole enterprise. The final physical sensation is not terror or relief, but disgust. B-
Read the full EW review.
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%Metacritic: 57
Now playing.
EWs Devan Coggan says:
Its been 14 years since we first met Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), and Diego the saber-toothed tiger (Denis Leary) in the original Ice Age. Were now on our fifthyes, fifthinstallment in the computer-generated series, and with Ice Age: Collision Course, the novelty is starting to thaw. C-
Read the full EW review.
Rotten Tomatoes: 12%Metacritic: 34
Now playing.
So why does Ghostbusters feel so restrained? For starters, its too slavish when it nods to the original (although its throw-back cameos are fun), and too flailing and flat when it strays from it (Feig and co-writer Katie Dippold introduce a ghost-unleashing villain, then dont know what to do with him). Even the spectral f/x are oddly shlocky (seeing it in 3-D is pointless aside from one comin-at-ya slime gag). McCarthy, of course, gets off some lunatic one-liners; McKinnon, the groups loose cannon, can crack you up just by widening her wildcard eyes; Jones mixes her signature bluster with an air of gung-ho joy; and Wiigs timing is as Swiss-precise as ever (that is, when shes not being saddled as the films straight-woman). Even Chris Hemsworth, as the Ghostbusters dim, beefcake receptionist, is funny for a while. But with a cast as daring and quick as this one, Ghostbusters is too mild and plays it too safe. Somewhere, I bet, theres an R-rated directors cut of the movie where these women really let it rip. I want to see that movie.C+
Zack Ryder shows off his San Diego Comic-Con toy haul
PHOTO ABOVE: Sharon Grant, pharmacist at Hillcrest Pharmacy, said preventive approaches to dealing with HIV -- including use of the drug Truvada -- will likely increase dialogue between doctors and people infected or at higher risk of becoming infected with the virus.
San Diego County is among a growing number of communities nationwide to begin championing a goal that would have seemed downright audacious a few years ago: driving HIV infection rates to zero -- or as close to it as possible.
Public-health experts said similar programs already underway in San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C., show that big drops in new HIV cases are difficult but possible. They"re cautiously optimistic about getting targeted people to consistently take prescribed drugs and practice safer s*x two behaviors that have persisted despite decades of other outreach efforts.
Taking the San Diego region from nearly 500 new HIV infections per year down to almost zero will rely partly on the meticulous use of antiretroviral medications. Research shows that daily use of these drugs, particularly Truvada, massively lowers transmission rates of the human immunodeficiency virus and boosts resistance to infection by more than 90 percent.
But Truvada can cause serious side effects such as kidney damage and loss of bone density in a small percentage of patients. And critics of Truvada-based prevention programs contend that they could lull people into more careless sexual practices.
Truvada, a drug made by Gilead Sciences, can dramatically reduce transmission of HIV. / courtesy photo AP
Truvada, a drug made by Gilead Sciences, can dramatically reduce transmission of HIV. / courtesy photo / AP
For the Getting to Zero plan passed last week by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors to work, it will also take extensive coordination, said nationally known AIDS activist Peter Staley.
He said there must be strong connections between public-health departments, medical providers and the outreach organizations that serve communities facing the highest risk of HIV infection.
The only way these things work is when you get these massive coalitions. You get everybody sitting down regularly looking at the data. Its using science and adding a little elbow grease, Staley said.
San Diego appears to have built that kind of coalition. The special task force that put together the countys plan includes not just public health officials, but also representatives from the medical community and advocacy groups.
Patrick Loose, chief of the countys branch dealing with HIV, hepatitis and sexually transmitted diseases, said he believes that the programs ambitious aim is truly achievable, though the timetable for success has not been determined.
There has to be a community engagement and effort around this, and there have to be a lot of partners who come together to forward this message, but today were living in a world where the CDC describes HIV as a winnable battle. Thats a very amazing thing, Loose said.
Victory isn"t likely, Staley said, without additional resources. He said New York has invested about $20 million in additional resources for housing, nutrition and transportation services necessary to solve some of the social challenges that keep some from staying enrolled in treatment regimens.
San Diego County has not identified funding sources to bolster its HIV-prevention efforts, but officials said they will do so in the future.
New drug, old stigma
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012 approved Truvada, a new application of existing antiretroviral medications used to manage HIV infections from becoming AIDS.
In San Diego County and elsewhere, the Truvada-based strategy seems simple: Keep treating all infected patients while having everyone who is at elevated risk of infection take a daily preventive dose. If both actions can be done consistently for a few years, HIV could be vanquished.
Experts said pulling off the "zero" feat will not be nearly as easy as it sounds.
The county Health and Human Services Agency said there about 20,000 HIV-positive people in the region, along with an estimated 2,300 who do not know they are infected and 6,400 who have tested positive but are not in treatment.
Many AIDS activists said today"s overriding culture in gay communities is to lessen your risk of infection by steering clear of people who admit they are HIV-positive. This in turn creates social pressure against disclosure of an HIV diagnosis and makes many people reluctant to get tested regularly.
San Diego county"s new program calls for not only Truvada prescriptions, but also outreach to the affected demographic groups and increased HIV testing.
Most insurance companies and Medi-Cal cover Truvada prescriptions, and the drug"s maker, Gilead Pharmeceuticals, offers financial help to people who are uninsured or have trouble meeting their copays.
High-risk groups include gay, bisexual and straight men and women who have multiple sexual partners; intravenous drug users; and men who have s*x with other men but identify themselves as straight.
Quick work
Loose, the county health official, believes progress can be made by working with health providers to make HIV testing an automatic step in patient care and by appealing to people"s noblest instincts.
If you are someone who is afraid of the stigma, were going to make it so that you dont have to seek out HIV testing. Its just going to be offered to you, Loose said. We think the message needs to be that we all have a role in ending the HIV epidemic.
The first wave of cities that launched similar programs have seen substantial results, even none of their rates have come close to zero, said the prominent AIDS activist Staley.
D.C. probably preceded everyone else, and they started ramping up their testing programs in 2006. They have seen close to a 50 percent drop in annual HIV diagnosis rates. San Francisco has seen a 30 percent drop in the last two years alone, Staley said.
He said the most impressive results seem to come in places where public-health departments work very closely with local advocacy groups. A seamless connection between HIV testing and treatment is critical, he said.
You ramp up testing to find those who dont know theyre positive and you have these hand-holding programs to get them treatment right away," Staley added. "Now its pretty standard in San Francisco that youre put on antiretrovirals the very same day (of diagnosis). Within weeks, you have no detectable viral load and are therefore un-infectious.
Not controversy-free
Its a far cry from how the AIDS epidemic started.
In 1981, rare lung infections detected in otherwise healthy, young gay men living in Los Angeles led to evidence of severe immune-system deficiency an effect also quickly linked to intravenous drug users.
By 1984, there were 7,699 AIDS cases and 3,665 deaths in the United States.
The world reported 4.7 million cases in 1995. And by 1999, 14 million people had died from the disease.
Antiretroviral drugs have turned HIV infection from a death sentence to a chronic, largely manageable condition. San Diego County recorded 475 new cases in 2015, a nearly 90 percent decline from the peak caseload seen in 1984.
Epidemiologists believe Truvada can help them minimize new HIV infections, but they have faced opposition from the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The organization"s position is that using HIV drugs for prophylaxis rather than treatment could increase the rates of other sexually transmitted diseases.
In an open letter to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the foundation said the rapid rise in rates of STDs such as syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhea indicate that fewer people are using condoms and suggesting the need to reinvigorate safer-s*x campaigns. The group asserts that such campaigns have received less attention as the CDC focuses on Truvada.
Loose and Staley said while the foundation is one of the most powerful advocacy groups in the nation, its stance against Truvada does not enjoy broad support in the community of gay and HIV support groups.
They said STD rates started increasing long before the FDA approved Truvada in 2012. They also said large studies of Truvada have not found an increase in STDs.
As the Democratic National Convention wrapped up Thursday in Philadelphia, Malia Obama was spotted at the Cashmere Cat set at Lollapalooza. Social media users photographed and filmed Obama, 18, in the crowd watching the Norwegian producer.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment. This is not Obama"s first visit to Chicago"s largest music festival. She caused a stir in 2014 when she was spotted at Chance the Rapper"s set.
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Covering Lollapalooza every year since the festival decided to call Chicago home in 2005, Tribune critic Greg Kot picks his top five shows from the last decade.
(Chicago Tribune)
Tribune critic Greg Kot remembers the times in Lollapalooza"s history when the festival was anything but drama-free.
