Live blog: WGC-Mexico Championship, Round 1

RENO, Nev. — John Huh made plenty of putts in Thursday’s opening round of the Barracuda Championship. That leads to good results no matter how the score is kept. Huh needed just 24 putts at Montreux Golf and Country Club, the last from 6 feet for his eighth birdie to close with 15 points and a one-point lead over Stuart Appleby and Miguel Angel Carballo. “Twenty-four putts is always nice. That was the key to make a few birdies,” Huh said. “Hopefully, I can do it the next three days.” Appleby also had eight birdies against two bogeys, while Carballo made up ground with a pair of eagles, one in which he holed out from 160 yards on No. 17. This is the only PGA TOUR event that uses the modified Stableford format that awards five points for an eagle and three points for a birdie, while deducting one point for a bogey and three points for a double bogey or worse. Huh, who hasn’t won since the OHL Classic at Mayakoba as a rookie in 2012, tied for third the only other time he played the Barracuda Championship in 2014. The timing couldn’t be better. He is not in the PGA Championship next week, meaning he has only the Barracuda Championship and the Wyndham Championship in two weeks to finish inside the top 125 in the FedExCup and keep his TOUR card for next season. Huh currently is at No. 112. That’s a goal for eight of the top nine players on the leaderboard. Appleby and Carballo are outside the top 200. Six players were at 13 points, a group that included Ryan Palmer. He needs to win to get into the PGA Championship next week at Quail Hollow. The PGA is holding a spot for a player who wins at Montreux that is not already eligible. Carballo only had three birdies against two bogeys, but those two eagles were worth the equivalent of five birdies (10 points). After holing out from a greenside bunker for birdie on the 16th, he holed out from 160 yards on the next hole. Then after he missed the green at No. 1 from the fairway and made bogey, the Argentine ripped a 3-wood that couldn’t see it was close until he got up near the green and saw it 8 feet from the hole. “We were hoping for the best and it ended up being right next to the pin,” he said. Davis Love III, who celebrates the 20-year anniversary of his PGA Championship victory next week, had 11 points. His son, Dru Love, was at minus 4 points and toward the bottom of the pack.

Click here to read the full article…

HONOLULU — Russell Henley made a series of key putts late in his round Saturday and salvaged a 3-under 67 that gave him a two-shot lead over Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama in the Sony Open in Hawaii. RELATED: Full leaderboard | The clubs Keita Nakajima is using at the Sony Open in Hawaii Matsuyama made up plenty of ground with a 63, taking only 25 putts even if he had no idea how some of them went in. He caught up with Henley briefly by closing with a 15-foot birdie putt. Henley regained the lead with a 12-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole. He kept it by avoiding a long three-putt on the 16th, making a comebacker from 8 feet. He made a 15-footer on the 17th to create a cushion. Starting out with a three-shot lead and posting a 67 was not the worst of days for Henley, even if he would have expected more in another day of limited wind. He was a 18-under 192 and will be paired with Matsuyama, as popular in Honolulu as any stop on the PGA TOUR outside Japan. Matsuyama will be going for his second win his season — he won the ZOZO Championship outside Tokyo last fall — and the eighth of his career, which would tie him with K.J. Choi of South Korea for most wins by an Asian-born player. This is hardly a two-man race at Waialae, a course with a history of players coming out of the pack with something in the low 60s, and such a score is certainly possible in these conditions. Seamus Power of Ireland birdied his last two holes for a 65, leaving him four shots behind, along with Matt Kuchar (67) and Adam Svensson of Canada (65) and Haotong Li of China, who was in the mix until a tough finish. Li was one shot behind with four holes to play. But then Henley birdied the 15th, and Li made a mess of the 16th hole, which bends to the left round houses and out toward the Pacific, the big “W” of palm trees behind the green. Li went way left off the tee. He went way right with his shot, some 20 yards beyond the 17th tee. He hacked out short and chipped long and took two putts for a double bogey. That left him four shots behind, but he didn’t lose his sense of humor. With his tee shot on a decent line off the tee at the par-3 17th, Li said loud enough for the gallery to hear, “Hole-in-one, please.” No such luck. He missed a birdie putt from just inside 15 feet, finishing with a long two-putt birdie and still had hope. Lucas Glover (64) and Kevin Kisner (65) were five shots behind. So much depends on Henley, who dropped two shots and made enough birdies to keep his distance as he goes for his second win at the Sony Open. He won at Waialae in the first tournament of his rookie season in 2013. “Russell seems to be the guy when he gets out in front and is playing well and confident, he seems to rise to the occasion,” Kisner said. “I think he’s going to be a tough competitor to try to beat.” Matsuyama looked up to the task, especially late in his round. He knocked in a 40-foot birdie putt on the 13th, and then holed a 15-footer for par on the next hole. He laid well back off the 15th tee with a 4-iron, a smart move because he was in the right side of the fairway with a large tree blocking his way to the pin on the right of the green. He had an 8-iron and enough room to sent it over the tree to 15 feet for another birdie. “Putting was a strong point today. Even my missed putts found the hole,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter. “I was lucky today.”

Click here to read the full article…

Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Si Woo Kim is dancing Gangnam Style in celebration around Ponte Vedra Beach after becoming the youngest champion of THE PLAYERS. Here’s five observations from THE PLAYERS at TPC Sawgrass where Kim was sublime on the way to a decisive, three-shot victory over Louis Oosthuizen and Ian Poulter. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Si Woo Kim is just 21 years of age and, as such, becomes the youngest winner of the PLAYERS Championship, beating out Adam Scott’s old mark by nearly two years. On Sunday at TPC Sawgrass, as others faulted around him, Kim put together a bogey-free 3-under 69 in an incredibly mature performance. Despite hitting just 8 of 18 greens in regulation, Kim managed to scramble his way to a relatively dominant victory. It is rare to see this sort of composure without the benefit of experience, especially on a course as penal as Pete Dye’s masterpiece. His win will likely see him join Nick Price’s International team at The Presidents Cup as new young blood as they try to win the biennial competition for the first time since 1998. Having already won the 2016 Wyndham Championship, Kim is the fourth-youngest player in the last 25 years to win twice on TOUR – behind Tiger Woods, Sergio Garcia and Jordan Spieth. Pretty heady company. Now we just have to see if he can continue the trends like those before him. 2. Ian Poulter might have fallen short of victory. And he might have hit a shank with a chance to win on the line. But it was still great to see some of the old fire in the Englishman’s belly as he went about snatching his best finish (T2) since the 2013 World Golf Championships – HSBC Champions. Just weeks ago, Poulter believed he had missed the terms of his medical and would be scratching around for starts. But he received a reprieve after a recalculation. The change in his status gifted him a spot in the PLAYERS and boy did he make it count. On Sunday, he charged into a share of the lead on the front nine, and when he made a lengthy par putt on the par-5 ninth, we saw some of his trademark passion with an intense fist pump. To be fair, his last seven holes failed to apply any heat on the leader, but he still showed poise to secure a huge jump in the FedExCup standings. He moved from 136th to 58th, and should be in great shape to make the FedExCup Playoffs and secure a TOUR card for next season. Love him or not, he certainly makes life interesting. 3. Speaking of passion and flair – how much fun was it to ride the rollercoaster with the Spanish connection this week at TPC Sawgrass?! Recently-crowned Masters champion Sergio Garcia gave us a poor start, opening in 40, but then a spirited fightback began, including a hole-in-one on the iconic 17th not long after. He then surged into contention through 54 holes only to post his final round 78 to fall well back. We saw similar stuff from PLAYERS first-timer Jon Rahm, who sat well-poised through 36 holes before shooting 82 on Saturday to MDF. And of course then there was Rafa Cabrera Bello who surged to a T4 finish thanks in part to the first-ever albatross on the par-5 16th hole. His celebrations were fun to watch – check it out below. 4. It was certainly strange to not have one of the big guns surging on Sunday at the PLAYERS. Spoiled with some of the most popular players on TOUR in recent years in Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar, Martin Kaymer, Rickie Fowler and Jason Day as winners of the tournament the large crowds were just waiting for the inevitable rush. Day was paired with Rory McIlroy as the two started eight back but never made a run. The defending champion shot 80 while Rory heads off for his MRI on his back following a 75. Sergio Garcia shot 78 Sunday. Dustin Johnson carded a lovely 68 but was still well off the pace. Fowler signed for a 79 … It was a week for others to shine. It makes this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson very exciting as the likes of Day, Johnson, Garcia and Jordan Spieth (who missed the cut at Sawgrass) join the field. 5. The changes at TPC Sawgrass were for the most part a success. The new green surfaces rolled pure and true and the drivable par-4 12th created a new dynamic to the back nine. A total of 41 players went for the green (hit 3-wood or driver) in the final round compared to 26 in Round 1, 39 in Round 2 and 46 in Round 3. Some players also attempted to hit the green using irons off the tee. While the majority laid back, worried about the risk, the hole did its job – i.e. it made them think. The course is one of the most exciting on the planet where a great score (ace, albatross) or even double digits (Anirban Lahiri had a 10 on the 18th) can be just around the corner.  FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Kim ranked second this week in Strokes Gained: off-the-tee and Strokes Gained: tee-to-green. For the season, Kim had ranked 195th and 194th on TOUR, respectively, producing a stunning turnaround. Kim led the field in Scrambling (22 of 27). 2. Kim’s winning 278 tournament total is the highest at THE PLAYERS since Sergio Garcia won in 2008 (283). 3. With 600 FedExCup points, Kim moves to No. 21 in the FedExCup, while Dustin Johnson (T12) maintained the lead. Last season, Kim was one of two PGA TOUR rookies to qualify for the FedExCup Playoffs finale, the TOUR Championship. He ended the season at No. 17. 4. Kim becomes the first player from Asia to win twice on the PGA TOUR before the age of 22. He is one of eight Korean-born players to win on the PGA TOUR and becomes the fifth with multiple victories: K.J. Choi (8), Y.E. Yang (2), Sangmoon Bae (2), James Hahn (2), Si Woo Kim (2), Kevin Na (1), Seung-Yul Noh (1), Danny Lee (1). 5. There was a total of 69 balls in the water on the par-3 17th island green for the week: 19 in Round 1, 29 in Round 2, 10 in Round 3 and 11 in the final round. It was the most water balls since there were 93 back in 2007 and the second-most since the stat was kept from 2003. TOP THREE VIDEOS 1. Take a bow Rafa Cabrera Bello… or a run through the high five gauntlet… after this history making albatross 2. A hole-in-one from a former PLAYERS champ fresh off winning a green jacket. Nice.  3. If at first you have a near air swing … try again. Jordan Spieth shows us how. 

Click here to read the full article…