Jutanugarn, Kang miss cut at U.S. Women’s Open

ATLANTA – Notes and observations from the third round of the TOUR Championship, where Paul Casey holds a two-shot lead after shooting 65 on Saturday. For more from East Lake Golf Club, click here to read the Daily Wrap-Up. CASEY NOT BACKING DOWN Casey may lead the TOUR Championship, but the FedExCup’s top two players used late rallies Saturday to keep their FedExCup chances alive. Justin Thomas, who’s T4 in the TOUR Championship, is just 220 points behind Casey in the projected standings, while Jordan Spieth is just 246 points back. Spieth is T13 in the TOUR Championship. Thomas struggled for most of Saturday, but made birdie on two of his final three holes to shoot 70. He’s in a three-way tie for fourth at 7-under 203, five shots behind Casey. If Casey, who has one PGA TOUR win in 219 career TOUR starts, wins the TOUR Championship, Thomas can still win the FedExCup with a third-place finish. The last time the TOUR Championship winner didn’t also win the FedExCup? In 2009, when Phil Mickelson won the tournament and Tiger Woods claimed the FedExCup. Spieth is eight shots off the lead, but his FedExCup chances also are still alive. He birdied three of his final six holes to shoot 69 on Saturday. He’s trying to join Tiger Woods as the only players to win the FedExCup multiple times. “I was 2 over through 11 holes and I missed about a 3‑footer for birdie on the 12th and I really could be at 1 or 2 over for the tournament right now pretty easily,â€� Spieth said. “I did a great job of keeping myself in the FedExCup race and really in a solid position. I know that I’m capable of going low on this golf course.â€� If Casey wins the TOUR Championship, Spieth could still win the FedExCup with a T4 finish at East Lake. He is three shots out of fourth place. KIS CONTENDING Kevin Kisner took to Twitter on Friday night to request a helicopter ride from East Lake to Athens, Georgia, so that he could watch his beloved Georgia Bulldogs play Saturday night. He may be able to buy a helicopter come Sunday. Kisner shot Saturday’s low round, a 6-under 64, to put himself in contention for the TOUR Championship and FedExCup. He’s tied for second, two shots behind Casey.   I need a helicopter to take me to Athens tomorrow after the round to make the game. Who has one in ATL?— Kevin Kisner (@K_Kisner) September 22, 2017 Saturday’s 64 was Kisner’s low career round at East Lake by three shots. He broke par in just one of his first eight rounds at East Lake, but has shot in the 60s in all three rounds this year, shooting 68-68-64. Kisner gave the local fans something to cheer about before he cheered on Georgia in its Saturday evening game against Mississippi State. “It’s awesome being able to hear all the ‘Go Dawgs’ out there,â€� Kisner said. “There’s a lot of people I know and a lot of people that love me and like me out here, so I feel like it’s kind of a hometown event.â€� CALL OF THE DAY XANDER GOING LOW Xander Schauffele squeaked into the field at East Lake with a furious finish at the BMW Championship. Now he has a second PGA TOUR title within his reach. Schauffele shot Saturday’s second-lowest round, a 5-under 65, to pull within two shots of Casey. Schauffele already is a virtual lock for the PGA TOUR’s Rookie of the Year award. A win this week would add another accomplishment to an impressive rookie season. Schauffele got into the TOUR Championship by shooting 6 under on the final six holes of last week’s BMW Championship. He won this year’s The Greenbrier Classic and posted top-20 finishes at two majors (U.S. Open and the Open Championship), the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and two of the first three events of the FedExCup Playoffs. “It’s all surreal,â€� Schauffele said of this season’s success, “and I’m going to try and keep that mindset for tomorrow, just kind of have that nothing‑to‑lose mindset and see where it takes us.â€� SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Justin Thomas was playing well enough to want to keep going, with six birdies in a seven-hole stretch before it was too dark to continue Friday at the Genesis Open. It also was raining. It was cold. And he already had been slogging through Riviera for nine hours. “It’s hard playing 30 holes, but it’s really hard when it’s raining and it’s soft,” Thomas said after making 14 birdies on a long day that sent him home tied for the lead with Adam Scott at 10-under par. “My legs are tired, so I just need to go home and rest and get some food and try to go to sleep early as I can.” Thomas, who opened with a 5-under 66 in the morning, was 5 under for his second round through 12 holes. He had an eight-hole stretch when he didn’t make a par (six birdies, two bogeys), ending with a two-putt par on No. 3. Scott was in the group right behind him and just as efficient, also opening with a 66 and reaching 5 under. His only blemish was a long three-putt for bogey on the par-5 17th on a course he loves. Scott won at Riviera in the rain 14 years ago, a tournament that was cut short to 36 holes and decided in a playoff. “I just got the momentum going and I kept it going,” Scott said. Tiger Woods had a few big moments that didn’t last long. He had four straight birdies around the turn in the morning, a streak that ended with a three-putt bogey at No. 12. He had four three-putts in the first round for a 70. His highlight in the afternoon, as the temperatures and rain became steady, was a 45-foot eagle putt on the par-5 first to start his back nine. It really was an Instagram moment, for a fan screamed out, “Make this! It’s going on Instagram!” Woods delivered, only to bogey the next two holes to end his day at even par for the second round, 1 under for the tournament. “I’m stiff right now,” Woods said after playing the most number of holes in one day since his return from a fourth back surgery. “It got pretty chilly toward the end. The ball wasn’t going very far.” No need telling that to Thomas. He was in the right rough after hitting driver 260 yards, leaving him 222 yards to a back pin on an elevated green. He pounded 5-wood to 10 feet and made his last birdie of the day. J.B. Holmes was another shot behind at the turn. Holmes was the 18-hole leader thanks to a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth hole, followed by a birdie that led to an 8-under 63. At the time, he was one shot ahead of Jordan Spieth, who played all of six holes on Friday to complete his bogey-free 64 in calm conditions. Spieth figured it would be like that all day. He was wrong. Light rain fell as Woods, Thomas and Rory McIlroy (3 under through 12) were finishing the first round. It never really stopped the rest of the day. The start of the tournament was delayed seven hours Thursday, so just about everyone who makes the cut will face long days at some point. The second round resumes at 7 a.m., and the other half of the field starts their second round at 7:40 a.m. The cut figures to be made Saturday afternoon, leaving no more than about two hours of play the rest of the day. Those in or around the lead after 36 holes can expect to go 36 more on Sunday. Dustin Johnson played 36 holes on Sunday when he won the Genesis Open two years ago. Long before it was getting dark, Holmes could see just fine when he hit 8-iron to the back pin at No. 6, located just to the left of the bunker in the middle of the green. “Hit it exactly how I wanted it and it went in,” Holmes said. “It looked good the whole time.” Spieth took advantage of the restart on Thursday. His opening shot on the par-4 10th hit the cart path twice and went into shin-high grass so thick that it would have been hard work just to get it out. The round was scrapped and he returned for a routine par. He made the rest look easy except for the 13th hole, where he hooked his tee shot into a eucalyptus tree, played a slice on the outer side of the trees and got up-and-down for par. “It was probably better than any of the birdies,” he said. He holed two chips for birdie, one of them on the toughest hole at Riviera on No. 12, birdied all three of the par 5s and made a pair of birdie putts from about 10 feet when he returned Friday morning. He said those six holes were the best the putter has felt in some time. “I was able to kind of figure out a way to feel some freedom in the stroke and I was able to roll a couple of those in,” he said. Woods is the tournament host with his foundation running the event he first played in 1992 as a 16-year-old amateur. Next year, the tournament gets elevated status on par with the Memorial (Jack Nicklaus) and Arnold Palmer Invitational by offering a three-year exemption to the winners, getting a 120-man field and offering $9.3 million in prize money. But the course has never been kind to him. Riviera is where Woods has played the most times as a pro (9) without ever winning.

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ATLANTA – Chez Reavie wasn’t aiming at the hole with his tee shot on East Lake’s ninth hole. It doesn’t matter. He still collected the first ace on East Lake’s long ninth hole. Reavie was just trying to hit his hybrid in the middle of the green. It’s the sensible play on East Lake’s longest par-3, especially with the pin tucked behind a bunker on the left side of the green. The hole played 230 yards Friday, and less than half the field hit the green in regulation. “I kind of just overdrew it a little bit. Got a fortunate bounce, kicked a little right, and got lucky and it went in the hole,� Reavie said. RELATED: Leaderboard | Tee times | How new format works This is the 19th TOUR Championship at East Lake. Reavie’s was the first ace on the ninth hole, which used to serve as the finishing hole until the nines were flipped three years ago. Reavie has a knack for hitting his tee shots into the hole. He said this was the 21st ace of his life, and fifth of his PGA TOUR career. His secret? “Just aim it at the hole and get lucky a few times, I guess.� He made the turn in 30 and shot 64 on Friday, matching the low score of the tournament. Reavie was one of eight players to complete their round before play was delayed by weather. There was only one other under-par score posted Friday before the delay (67, Jason Kokrak). Reavie, winner of this year’s Travelers Championship, was in eighth place and seven shots behind Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka. The co-leaders had just made the turn when play was called.

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