Luke List equals course record to lead Scottish Open by one stroke

Las Vegas already is famous as a spot where success and failure is measured and felt in an instant, but the pace at which it’s experienced isn’t limited to the indoors of casinos. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live | The First Look America’s Playground also boasts the Las Vegas Motor Speedway just outside the sprawl northeast of town, but even there the fastest vehicles seen may not be on the 1.5-mile track when the fighter jets are practicing at nearby Nellis Air Force Base. And there’s yet another racetrack in town, metaphorically speaking, of course. It’s TPC Summerlin, host of this week’s Shriners Children’s Open. As the easiest par 71 on the PGA TOUR, each of the 144 entrants should expect to hit the ground, uh, running. Whoever crosses the finish line better than the rest will be the 40th champion in tournament history. POWER RANKINGS: SHRINERS CHILDREN’S OPEN J.T. Poston, Si Woo Kim, Cam Davis, Alex Noren and Justin Suh will be among the notables reviewed in Draws and Fades. It’s not a surprise that Sungjae Im doesn’t win every time he plays, but it might have been a surprise if he went his entire career without winning at TPC Summerlin, as he did a year ago. Known largely as one of the busiest among the best, Im also has been among the most frequent in signing lots of scorecards with lots of red numbers. So, while a contemporary or seven can stride into this week’s host course with confidence that it will reward the kind of practice that should yield low scores, Im is the kind of guy who has been there and done that time and again. Relatively speaking, he already was a target before his title. Still, a pair of 2-under 69s resulted in a trunk slam last year – or, given where we are in our history, a slowly lowered liftgate after a button on the fob has been depressed – but that’s not uncommon when the weather cooperates, which it will again this week. The retractable roof is closed. Sunshine will dominate the scene with daytime highs flirting with and touching 90 degrees. What wind flaps the flags will be a non-factor. It’s a simple formula and one with which the recent graduates of the Korn Ferry Tour are familiar: Pile up the scoring opportunities and pour in the putts. If any isn’t targeting 20-under at the conclusion of four rounds, he’s doing it wrong. Last year’s field average in similar conditions was 68.926 (or 2.074 strokes under par) and that was a three-year high. In addition to scoring, Im led in greens in regulation (62) and scrambling. That combination usually is unbeatable provided chances are converted, but he did that, too, ranking fifth in putting: birdies-or-better. He also paced in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and par-4 scoring, but he did everything well all week. Everyone who has pegged it on the 7,255-yard layout before likely will notice that all fairways and greens have been replaced with new grass. It’s a significant change/improvement since last year’s edition, but the turf was exposed to a hot summer in 2022, and recovery efforts are ongoing. As a result, the bentgrass greens are not expected to roll further than 11 feet on the Stimpmeter. (The customary maximum is 11½ feet.) However, the thickest of primary bermuda rough continues to be mowed at 2½ inches. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws & Fades WEDNESDAY: Pick ’Em Preview SUNDAY: Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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FORT WORTH, Texas – Jordan Spieth was walking down the 11th fairway Saturday when his caddie Michael Greller broke the news: The stifling heat had made it impossible for him to finish out the third round at the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational. “This is my last hole,â€� Greller said. So after completing the 11th, Greller left the course to receive medical treatment while Spieth’s trainer Damon Goddard took up the bag. Spieth eventually finished with a 2-under 68 that leaves him at 4 under for the tournament and tied for eighth. He’ll start Sunday’s final round five shots behind leader Webb Simpson, and he said Greller will be back on the bag for the slightly cooler (mid-80s) day. “Mike said he’ll be plenty fine by tomorrow,â€� Spieth said. “[He] just needed to pack it in, otherwise something really bad could have happened. It was a no-brainer situation.â€� Temperatures climbed to 96 degrees – with a heat index of 108 – Saturday on the hottest day of the PGA TOUR season. “Everybody is talking about it,â€� said Stewart Cink, who had the second best round of the day, a 4-under 66 (Emiliano Grillo shot a 65). “It’s like Topic No. 1 in the locker room and on the range. It’s hot. I think the main thing is it’s really the first heat of the year we’ve experienced.â€� Added Simpson: “It’s 100 degrees out there. Knowing that caddies are going down, we were just trying to stay upright.â€� Greller, already feeling ill, knew before Saturday’s round that he might not last, so he confidentially told Goddard – who was already planning to be at the course — to be prepared to take over. Once the round started, Greller made several restroom trips; Spieth thinks it was to find shade and pour water over his head. At one point, Greller said he had stopped sweating, and realized that was a problem that needed to be solved. But not until the 11th fairway did Spieth realize the full extent of the problem. “I was kind of surprised,â€� Spieth said. “I guess he had told Kelly (Kraft, Spieth’s playing partner) at some point during the round. Kelly asked if he was OK. I thought he was acting a little strange, a little quiet. I guess it just got him early on today.â€� Said Goddard: “I saw [Greller} fading a little bit earlier, even in warmups. He’s a trooper. On 12, I got tapped in and we said let’s go.â€� It’s not the first time Goddard has carried Spieth’s bag in an emergency situation. At the 2014 Shell Houston Open, Greller became ill, and Goddard filled in for the first round – with Spieth shooting a bogey-free 2 under. The streak didn’t continue Saturday, as Spieth three-putted the 14th for a bogey. But he bounced back with two birdies on his last three holes. “We actually had a blast towards the end there,â€� Spieth said. “Both of us kind of got a little off for the first few holes in the middle of the back nine there, and then we were able to grind it out and finish strong. “Yeah, it’s a little awkward, but I ended up setting off stuff and doing everything, so kind of slows the pace down a little bit.â€� Besides training Spieth, Goddard trains Kraft, who also lives in Dallas. That gave Goddard a chance to see both players up close in the same pairing. “It was actually good timing for Greller to go down,â€� Goddard. “Now I can see them in game-time scenarios. It was good. It was fun.â€� And it was hot.  

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