Tiger Woods holds on to lead at TOUR Championship

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DUBLIN, Ohio – Xander Schauffele is trying to adjust from the underdog mentality that led to much of his success as he looks to address his closing issues this season. Schauffele played amateur and college golf amongst the likes of Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas but never gained the same exposure, leading to a determined mental spirit of trying to prove people wrong. This competitive desire within saw immediate success as he burst onto the scene as the Rookie of the Year in 2017, winning twice including the TOUR Championship. Even when he kept winning in following seasons ,Schauffele would continue to create the underdog theme in his mind as his success pushed him higher in the estimation of his peers and pundits alike. But now, despite being in the midst of an impressive season that boasts six top-5 finishes and has him sitting sixth in the FedExCup, Schauffele says it’s time for a mindset adjustment. He is without a win since claiming the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January of 2019 and it is this fact that has the 27-year-old rethinking how he has approached the mental side of his game. “I think it’s funny… I think this whole underdog role is probably why I’ve been successful… and it’s always important to play with a chip on your shoulder, but at the same time I think it might be the reason that’s maybe holding me back in big moments,” the world No. 5 said as he prepares for the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. “When you’re trying to win tournaments and once you’re at the top of a leaderboard, you can’t chase a ghost. So there’s no one in front of you to sort of bite at and so I think mentally it’s such a new realm for my brain that I’m just trying to process it all and really get more comfortable and think differently, once I’m at the top. “I’ve talked a lot with my dad about that… (and I’m) trying to read some material that will help me sort of explore some new kind of avenues with how my brain will think.” In all four of Schauffele’s TOUR wins he started the final round behind. On the four occasions he’s taken a 54-hole lead on TOUR he’s failed to close and the same is said for the four times he’s held the 36-hole lead and the one time he held an 18-hole lead. Three of Schauffele’s near finishes this season have been runner up results. He was bested by Jason Kokrak at THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK, finished second to Patrick Reed at the Farmers Insurance Open and was overrun by Brooks Koepka at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. April’s Masters also saw him well and truly in the mix before his tee shot on Sunday at 16 found the water allowing Hideki Matsuyama a passage to the green jacket and leaving Schauffele to settle for third place. Coming off the back of a missed cut at the PGA Championship, which Schauffele attributed to a poor mental attitude, the four-time TOUR winner has put significant focus on his mind game ahead of an assault on Muirfield Village. He’s reprogramming himself. “I think it’s OK to chomp at the bit moving up, but once you’re up there you got to be assertive and comfortable and do the right things still, you can’t really be like waiting for someone to get ahead of you to chase again,” Schauffele explained. “I still need to get to the top of the leaderboard to try out all these new things and I think all these experiences in the past are going to help me be more comfortable once I’m back there. But it’s more of an overall thought process I’m trying to change moving forward.”

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Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. TPC Southwind, located just outside Memphis, has been the host since 1990 and plays 7,244 yards to a Par-70.   KNOW THY ENEMY These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. Moving Day saw the leaders separate themselves after 54 holes. Dustin Johnson (65) and Andrew Putnam (64) are five shots clear of third after posting 15-under-par 195. TPC Southwind played the easiest it has in the last four editions on Saturday as the warm weather and lack of wind helped players stay out of trouble. THE FINAL PAIR On paper it looks to be a mismatch. Luckily for Andrew Putnam, golf is not played on paper but rather on a course with sand, water and out-of-bounds. The other good news is Dustin Johnson has everything to play for on Sunday and the pressure is squarely on his very broad shoulders. A win takes him back to No. 1 in OWGR and will see him become the seventh player on TOUR this year with multiple victories (Sentry TOC). Putnam has won twice on the Web.com Tour but his best finish this season in T5 at an opposite-field event in the Dominican Republic. He leads the field in GIR and is T1 in fairways and only has made one bogey on the week. His 64 was the co-low round of the day in Round 3. It won’t hurt if he one-putts the more greens again Sunday! The bad news for Putnam is Johnson’s final round scoring average here is 66.50 including 63 his last time in 2016. IN CINK After reading about his battle against skin cancer, I’ll be honest, Stewart Cink hasn’t been on my radar. He faded even further away after he didn’t fire last week at Memorial, an event where he cashed in 20 of 21 weekends. After a pair of 68’s to open, Cink had it to seven-under for the day through 16 before a late bogey saw him sign for the co-low round of the day (64). The highlight of his day was an ace on No. 8 and that helped him move up 11 spots to solo third. WEREN THE MONEY Richy Werenski (T4) is looking for his first top-10 finish since losing a playoff to Chris Stroud at the Barracuda Championship last August. I should note his best two finishes of the spring have been on courses that are not described as “easy”. He was T11 at the AT&T Oaks Course at the Valero Texas Open and T23 at TPC Sawgrass. The Georgia Tech alum will be paired comfortably with another, Cink, in the penultimate group.  LAST MAN WITH A CHANCE Joining Werenski at T4 is Wesley Bryan — and those fellas find themselves six shots off the lead. If TPC Southwind continues the trend of playing easier every day, it will truly take something historic to even push the leaders. Bryan hasn’t had a top 10 or top 25-finish this season but long-term investors will be anxiously watching tomorrow as that streak will surely end. AMATEUR HOUR For the second year in a row, Ole Miss golfer Braden Thornberry has turned heads at TPC Southwind. Last year the rising junior posted 67-65 on the weekend to claim T4. His bogey-free round on Sunday was one of two with winner Daniel Berger claiming the other. This year the rising senior entered the week off a tough NCAA tournament and opened with 73. He’s played his last 36 holes with 11 birdies against only two bogeys and his 65 Saturday moved him up 30 spots to T10.  MOVING DAY If Billy Horschel is going to extend his streak of top-10 finishes to five events in a row, he’ll need to use the same game plan in the final round as he did in Round 3. Horschel moved up 29 spots to T29 on the back of his 67. Gamers please note this is normal as he closed with 65 last year and 64 in 2015 in his last two visits.  There was no mystery as to why Henrik Stenson couldn’t get going as he lost over four strokes putting during the first two rounds. He painted as many fairways today as yesterday and hit the same amount of GIR but he gained just over two shots on the greens. His 66 moved him up 21 spots to T19. MOVING DAY: WRONG WAY This was just the first round above par (73) for Phil Mickelson in his last 15 attempts. He dropped 35 spots to T49 as he only made two birdies in Round 3, including one from off the green. I’m sticking Lefty on the bench tomorrow as his thoughts are probably drifting to Shinnecock as I type this.  Ryan Blaum dropped 17 places after playing in the final group with Johnson and shooting 74. He made only one birdie and now begins Sunday T19.  Man, when it goes south for Charl Schwartzel, it goes south. His 78 was the worst round of the day by four shots on the easiest day of the event. Bizarre. STUDY HALL Round 1 scored 70.769 (+0.796) and was the easiest opening round in the last four editions. Round 2 saw the scores continue to plummet as the weather cooperated at 70.526 (+0.526). Round 3 became just the second round in the last four years to check in under-par as the average was 69.472 (-0.528). There were four bogey-free rounds as Putnam and Horschel joined Trey Mullinax (65; T7) and Zac Blair (69; T39). The winner of U.S. Open has never won the week prior on TOUR.  Cink’s ace on No. 8 was the fifth of his career. 

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