Cameron Champ shoots 65, takes one-stroke lead at Sanderson Farms

Justin Rose, who chased down Dustin Johnson a year ago to set his FedExCup-winning season into motion, makes his first start of the new PGA TOUR campaign when he defends his crown in at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai. Johnson also is back for another shot at a second WGC-HSBC title, now five years after capturing his first. Newly crowned Player of the Year Brooks Koepka and fellow major titleholders Francesco Molinari and Patrick Reed also highlight the first WGC lineup of the 2018-19 TOUR season. FIELD NOTES: Rory McIlroy returns to Shanghai after a year’s hiatus, giving the field four of the top five in the current Official World Golf Ranking. McIlroy was fourth two years ago, but sat out the final three months of 2017 to let a rib injury heal. … In all, the lineup boasts 19 of the top 30 in the rankings. … Rose, McIlroy and the “MoliWood� duo of Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood headline a reunion of 10 members from last month’s winning European Ryder Cup squad. … Johnson and Koepka are among four U.S. Ryder Cup members headed to China, joined by Reed and Tony Finau. … Brandt Snedeker, winner at the Wyndham Championship two months ago, and Paul Casey are among 12 men set to play all three stops on the TOUR’s Asia Swing. … Snedeker, Chez Reavie and Emiliano Grillo are the only ones among that dozen who also teed it up at the Safeway Open to start the new season. … Haotong Li, winner of the Dubai Desert Classic last January, heads a faction of seven Chinese entrants. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 550 points. STORYLINES: Johnson returns to the scene of last year’s staggering finish, where a closing 77 allowed Rose to overcome an eight-shot deficit entering the final day. Nonetheless, Johnson’s five career WGC titles are No. 2 all time behind Tiger Woods (18). … Rose, whose win last year was the first of three in the final 10 weeks of 2017, is heating up again. The FedExCup champ was no worse than fourth in each of the final three Playoffs events, a key contributor to Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph and eighth at the British Masters. … All but two of the previous 12 HSBC Champions winners have come from no lower than 30th in the world rankings. The exceptions: Y.E. Yang (77th/2006) and Russell Knox (85th/2015). … The HSBC Champions wraps up the PGA TOUR’s three-week Asia Swing and stands as the final stop in 2018 that brings together most of the top players from around the globe. … Three events follow on the TOUR calendar (Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, OHL Classic at Mayakoba, The RSM Classic), while the European Tour hits the homestretch of its Race to Dubai season pursuit. COURSE: Sheshan International GC (West), 7,261 yards, par 72. Set amid 1,000-year-old gingko trees, man-made waterways and a natural quarry, Sheshan International is one of China’s most exclusive clubs and has played host throughout the event’s 14-year existence except for a 2012 venture to Mission Hills. The Nelson & Haworth design, built in the shadow of Sheshan Mountain, opened in 2004 as the Shanghai region’s first golf club. Tiger Woods once praised the layout as “the crowning jewel of all of Asian golf.� To create the course’s drastic elevation changes, crews reportedly moved more than 2 million cubic yards of earth. 72-HOLE RECORD: 264, Dustin Johnson (2013). 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Martin Kaymer (3rd round, 2013), Danny Willett (4th round, 2015). LAST YEAR: Rose became the beneficiary of Johnson’s stunning Sunday, as Johnson failed to make a birdie and watched his six-stroke lead dissipate to nothing. The English pro still found himself six shots behind with eight to play, but reeled off six birdies in that closing stretch on the way to a closing 67. A birdie at the par-3 17th, where his tee shot stopped 2 feet from the flagstick, pushed Rose to the front and left it for Johnson to answer. Needing an eagle at the par-5 18th to force a playoff, Johnson wound up hitting his second shot into the water. That left the world No. 1 to join Greg Norman (1996 Masters) and Sergio Garcia (2005 Wells Fargo Championship) for the largest final-round lead surrendered in PGA TOUR history. Rose prevailed for the first time since his Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro, winning again a week later in Turkey and ending his year with victory at the Indonesian Masters. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Wednesday-Thursday, 10 p.m.-4 a.m. ET (Golf Channel); Friday-Saturday, 11 p.m.-4 a.m. (GC). PGA TOUR LIVE: None. RADIO: None.

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AVONDALE, La. – In New Orleans they do almost everything with music. And so it was the perfect town to implement walk up music for the first time on the PGA TOUR at the Zurich Classic. Some teams picked tunes to pump them up. Others to make them smile and relax. And there were certainly some great moments. Take Justin Rose – a former champion – he couldn’t resist a quick dig at his teammate Henrik Stenson. Rose had the DJ play “Goldâ€� by Spandau Ballet – of course in reference to him besting the Swede at the 2016 Rio Olympics. After raising his arms in triumph on the first tee he walked to Stenson for a high five and a “Sorry Bro,â€� much to everyone’s amusement. The biggest cheers might have come for the duo of Alex Cejka and Ben Crane. The pair cranked out Whitesnake’s “Here I go Againâ€� and performed a quick lip-syncing and headbanging performance. One fan let them know, “Y’all got to hit a good shot after all that now!â€� To which they did. Chris Stroud and Brian Stuard picked Metallica’s “Enter Sandmanâ€�. It was a popular choice as the fans rocked along with it. While the song had clipped off before the famous line one clever observer quipped as they walked off the tee, “Off to never never land.â€� England’s Tommy Fleetwood had his partner Chis Paisley in stitches with their choice of Fleetwood Mac’s “Everywhereâ€�. As the lyric pounded out… “I want to be with you everywhere,â€� Paisley couldn’t contain himself. His tee shot was immediately followed by a loud “fore rightâ€�. The first player to hit off in the morning, Joel Dahmen, also lost his ball well right after “I’m Alrightâ€� from Kenny Loggins – made famous in the Caddyshack soundtrack – had him too pumped up. But paired with Denny McCarthy the duo carded a 10-under 62 to rocket to 15-under and into contention. Charles Lewallan and his daughter Tiffany arrived at the first tee on hour before play started just to get a prime spot. The 61-year-old from Long Beach Mississippi was incredibly keen to see how the players took to the new concept. “I think it’s great. It’s a bit different and they seem to be having a good time with it. I loved the headbanging,â€� Lewallan said. “We game early just for this and it has been very entertaining.â€� The man in charge of the music was local lawyer Brett Bonin who DJ’s in his spare time at schools, volunteer groups and local golf tournaments. “You’ve got to do something cool on the side,â€� Bonin – who works for the Louisiana office of alcohol and tobacco control – said. “A good friend of mine got asked to do it but he had several other events going on; I’ve filled in for him whenever he had a conflict. “I’ve done a lot of golf tournaments here with music; I’ve done golf tournaments where they play loud music the whole time; that’s how I ended up being asked to do it.â€� Manned with his computer, an iTunes playlist and an amp and mixer Bonin had clipped each team’s song request down to 10 seconds. He and two friends were up to 1am making sure everything was in order and teed up to the right moment in the song after not getting the final cleared list until after 9pm Friday night. Three different players even called to make sure they had it right. “It’s a level of complexity that you never, ever deal with regular DJ work,â€� Bonin laughed. One of those levels came soon after with Charley Hoffman’s caddy asking for his song, “California Loveâ€� by Tupac, be played longer and during Hoffman’s swing. Bonin said he didn’t have that authority but when Hoffman himself insisted the Presidents Cup player did indeed hit his ball with the tune still blaring. “There’s like 20 different people giving you instructions and trying to figure out who trumps whom is very difficult,â€� Bonin said. They also had to do sound checks in the early hours Saturday with people placed on other holes on the course, making sure the volume wouldn’t adversely affect players out there already playing. Another Presidents Cup player – Louis Oosthuizen – had “Hakuna Matataâ€� play prior to his opening shot. Of course, it means, “no worries, for the rest of your days,â€� but Oosthuizen’s ball sailed left into a bunker. The team still made birdie. Other clever choices from teams included “Down Underâ€� from Men at Work with all-Australian team Cameron Percy and Greg Chalmers; a bagpipe version of Flower of Scotland from Russell Knox and Martin Laird and Toto’s “Africaâ€� from South Africans Tyrone Van Aswegen and Retief Goosen. Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar went with local favorite Louis Armstrong’s “When the Saints Go Marchingâ€� and had them dancing in the stands. And the 36-hole leaders Michael Kim and Andrew Putnam gained respect for poking a little fun at themselves. Choosing “Still D.R.Eâ€� by Dr. Dre they clipped at the lyrics, “Guess who’s back. Still doing this huh? Yeah, Check me out,â€� Putnam is currently 105th in the FedExCup and Kim is back in 171st. Keeping it light and with a fun vibe this week has helped them to a hot start. Those vibes are set to continue for all when the music returns Sunday.

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Tiger Woods said course changes at Quail Hollow Club led to his first-round struggles at the Wells Fargo Championship, but the 2007 winner did finish the day at even-par 71.

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