Knox wins Irish Open in playoff after extraordinary finish

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. — Max McGreevy completed a 9-under 63 on Saturday to share the second-round lead and had a one-stroke advantage when darkness suspended third-round play in the PGA TOUR’s Barbasol Championship. Much of the field began the third round in the evening in sunny conditions after heavy showers hit Keene Trace for the second consecutive day. More than 2 1/2 inches of rain over two hours delayed play for nearly 5 1/2 hours, with bare-footed grounds crew using buckets to clear water from bunkers. McGreevy and Matti Schmid, a former University of Louisville player, each shot 63 and were at 16-under 128 after the completion of the second round — a stroke ahead of first-round leader Adam Svensson. Those three were among the last to tee off and completed three holes. McGreevy opened with a birdie, Svensson birdied the par-3 second hole and Schmid was even after a bogey on the second hole. Ricardo Gouveia carded a 7-under 65 in the second round for a 15-under 129 total and was even through three holes. Sean O’Hair, Kevin Streelman and Trey Mullinax were each at 14 under, with O’Hair and Streelman completing four holes. McGreevy’s remarkable second round completed on Saturday morning ultimately featured 10 birdies, including four over a five-hole stretch on the front to overshadow the American’s lone bogey on the par-4 seventh hole. Schmid’s bogey-free round included nine birdies, including three on Keene Trace’s four par-5 holes. “I don’t know if I put 10 birdies together in a tournament the last couple of weeks, so to put it together in one round regardless how easy the course was playing felt really good,” McGreevy said earlier in the day. “Golf swing feels good, putter feels good. Just kind of giving myself looks and just seemed to keep going in the hole.” Just a few golfers were able to tee off soon after the second round was completed. Darkness also suspended play Friday, when fog and thunderstorms caused nearly 5 1/2 hours of delays.

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CROMWELL, Conn. – Rory McIlroy is fighting a cold. You can understand why. After carding a final-round 69 to finish T5 at the U.S. Open, he flew home to South Florida to see his wife, Erica, and their daughter, Poppy. He slept in his own bed, flew back to Connecticut, attended a five-hour meeting Tuesday – he’s one of four player directors on the PGA TOUR policy board – and played in the Travelers Championship’s Wednesday pro-am in the rain. And after all of that, he shot an 8-under 62 Thursday to take the early first-round lead. “Energy levels are OK,” McIlroy said after his eight-birdie, no-bogey round, which was one better than fellow morning-wave finishers Martin Laird and Xander Schauffele. “I’m feeling a little under the weather, but it’s just concentration at this point. “I’ve got three more rounds left until I have a couple of weeks off and prepare for the Open Championship,” he continued. “I’m going to put everything into those three rounds.” It’s been a busy stretch for McIlroy, who is teeing it up for the fourth week in a row. He won the RBC Canadian Open for his 21st TOUR title two weeks ago, and was in contention until the bitter end at the U.S. Open at The Country Club, where he had hoped to break a dry spell in the majors that dates back to 2014. Despite falling short in Boston, he’s playing well and is up to second in the Official World Golf Ranking. He and Erica have been laughing about how they’re losing their voices; they think Poppy brought something home from daycare. Unlike the weekend at the U.S. Open, and pro-am day at the Travelers, McIlroy found much more agreeable conditions for the opening round at TPC River Highlands. In partly-cloudy skies and warm temperatures, he and the others in his group, Webb Simpson (64) and Kevin Kisner (67), took advantage of a course softened by rain. “We had a great group,” said Simpson, who also didn’t make any bogeys. “Rory played great, Kevin played great. We kind of fed off each other. I think the holes started looking bigger and bigger to us. A lot of putts were made.” In three previous Travelers starts, McIlroy, who leads the TOUR in scoring average (68.657), has never finished in the top 10. The two-time FedExCup champion, No. 3 in the current standings, couldn’t ask for a better start to rectify that. “It’s like U.S. Open rehab coming here,” he said. “You’re like, oh, I can actually make some birdies. This is nice.” Three more solid rounds and his 22nd TOUR title would be even nicer, but it’s early. In his fourth straight week of competition, nursing a cold, McIlroy is taking it one birdie at a time.

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