Live leaderboard: Round 2 of the Farmers

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Cameron Smith watched World No. 1 Jon Rahm ram home a 28-foot birdie on the 17th hole that must have felt like the 500th haymaker to the face in a heavyweight title fight. It was Rahm’s 11th of the day to go with an eagle and lone bogey and saw the Spaniard join the Australian on top of the leaderboard that Smith had owned over the first two rounds and most of the third at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. It surely was a blow that might leave the plucky Aussie on the canvas as he lined up a 28-foot attempt of his own. Instead, the gritty competitor from the working-class suburbs of Brisbane nailed his ninth birdie of the round to continue an incredible contest. Rahm won the battle on Saturday as he closed with another birdie to post a course-record 12-under 61 and join Smith at the top of the board at 26-under for the week. But Smith (64) is not ready to surrender the war as both take a five-shot buffer over Daniel Berger (66) and sit six clear of FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay (66), Australian Matt Jones (62) and South Korea’s Sungjae Im (65). Smith knows Rahm will start the favorite on Sunday but he’s far from intimidated. In fact, he revels in the underdog role. “I love to compete. Probably over the break there more so than missing golf I think I just missed competing,” Smith said. “I didn’t do a lot of stuff and it’s great to be out here and in the hunt on the weekend. “It was really good fun out there today. Obviously playing nice golf helps. But watching Jon was pretty intense there on that back nine, some of the best golf I think I’ve ever seen, definitely some of the best putting. “Now it’s one more day to go with him. Hopefully we can do much of the same tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.” After both players were even through four holes, they matched birdies on the fifth, seventh and ninth holes while only a missed five-foot birdie try from Smith on the eighth allowed Rahm to close the gap. Further matching birdies came at 10, 11 and 14 before Rahm needed eagle to best Smith’s birdie on the 15th. Matching birdies on 16 and 17 followed before Rahm pulled level with another on the last. With the second (67.816) and third (67.711) rounds setting new low scoring average records at the Plantation Course since 1999, Rahm and Smith stopped short of calling it a two-horse race on Sunday. But they know they have the chance to make it one. “We had a fun battle today and I’m guessing tomorrow’s going to be more of the same. We’re going to need a lot of birdies to get ahead and get the win,” Rahm said. “If we get a similar day someone can come and shoot 10, 11, 12-under… What I have to keep doing is just keep hitting it as well as I am tee to green. Keep putting it in the fairway and keep hitting good iron shots, give myself plenty of looks, and some of them will go in. You can get hot on this golf course and hopefully I can do the same thing tomorrow.” In Friday’s second round, Rahm struggled with the speed of the greens and made just 48 feet, 4 inches of putts. On Saturday he led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting on the way to 132-feet, 10 inches worth. He also dialed in his approach play, gaining over three strokes on the field. “I only left one short and I couldn’t believe it stayed short,” he said. “It all started on 2. I made that putt, I made that putt on 4, and it gave me a lot of confidence and I kept going, made a couple of those putts that yesterday I left short and it gave me so much confidence. “But a number of those birdie/eagles were very short putts so it also speaks to the ball striking I had today.” Smith is chasing the Hawaii double having won the Sony Open in Hawaii in 2020. He has now held the lead, or a share of it, over the first three rounds. He is also seeking to be the third Australian to win at Kapalua after Stuart Appleby won three straight in 2004-06 and Geoff Ogilvy went back-to-back in 2009-10. “Hawaii reminds me so much of where I grew up, it’s insane. The grass that we hit off, the greens being quite slow and grainy. Yeah, it’s awesome, I love it here,” he said. “I know it will be a challenge tomorrow but I’m looking forward to it. We all want to win and you have to beat the best to do that on the PGA TOUR so it’s nothing to shy away from.”

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HOUSTON (AP) — A key figure in the U.S. victory at the Ryder Cup, now Scottie Scheffler goes after a trophy of his own in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open. RELATED: Leaderboard | Scottie Scheffler gets mad, sets course record in Houston | Adam Schenk incurs penalty after mistakenly touching ball Scheffler pitched in from 55 feet for birdie on the 14th hole, holed a 10-foot birdie on the next hole and avoided mistakes down the closing stretch Saturday at Memorial Park for a 1-under 69 and a one-shot lead going into the final round. Scheffler, in his third year on the PGA TOUR, has a 54-hole lead for the first time. He was tied for the lead going into the final round at The American Express in 2020 and finished third. “I’m just going to go out there and try to get off to a good start and hopefully put myself out in front early and stay there,” Scheffler said. Kevin Tway had the lead until he chipped in the water and had to scramble for bogey on the par-4 17th, and then missed a 10-foot par putt on the closing hole. He shot 73 and was among five player who were one shot behind. Scheffler was at 7-under 203. Jhonattan Vegas, winless since the RBC Canadian Open four years ago, had a 68 and will be in the final group with Scheffler on Sunday. Matthew Wolff, one of the steadiest performers in the fall portion of the PGA TOUR schedule, had a 69 and gets another shot at winning for the first time since he stepped away from golf for two months earlier this year to reset. Kramer Hickok had a 70 and was in the group at 204 that included Martin Trainer, the 36-hole leader who struggled to a 74. The group two shots behind included Charles Schwab Challenge winner Jason Kokrak, who had to play 25 holes on Saturday because of a weather delay at the start of the week, and he was all over the place. Kokrak was at 8 under when he returned to play the 12th hole of the second round. He played his last seven holes in 7-over par and wound up nine shots out of the lead. He bounced back with seven birdies in his third round of 66 to right back in the hunt. Wolff also was atop the leaderboard at 8 under until he took double bogey on the 17th hole when his second shot came up short and in the water. He took a penalty drop, hit the same club to 7 feet and missed the bogey putt. “I just misjudged the wind,” Wolff said. “To this moment, I really don’t know what happened on that hole. It might have just been not as good of a lie as I thought.” Either way, he’s right in the mix in what should be a compelling finish with a dozen players within three shots of Scheffler’s lead. That includes Trainer, who took a double bogey on the front nine and then dropped consecutive shots on the back nine. But he finished with a 10-foot par that left him only one shot behind. Not bad for someone playing the weekend for only the second time since April. “I’m certainly hitting it better than I have in the recent past, even today,” Trainer said. “I think I have turned a corner and whatever happens this week happens. But I’m just excited about the future, to be playing well again.” Scheffler has been playing well ever since he left his four years’ at Texas with a business degree, first on the Korn Ferry Tour and then well enough to qualify for the Masters as a PGA TOUR rookie. He also was picked for the Ryder Cup, where he delivered one of the biggest birdie putts late in the fourth session and then took down Jon Rahm in singles. He also has contended in majors. All he’s lacking is a win, and with so many players in contention, it doesn’t figure to be easy. Scheffler had a chance to win last week, contending for the lead until one errant tee shot led to double bogey on the back nine at Mayakoba. “I feel like I’m playing solid golf right now,” Scheffler said. “I’m hitting a decent amount of fairways, a decent amount of greens, starting to roll the ball pretty good. There’s a few days where the putts may have not all gone in, but I always seem to be hitting them right around the cup at the appropriate speed so they’re bound to start falling eventually.”

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AUGUSTA, Ga. – Many wondered whether Brooks Koepka would compete in the Masters after last month’s Instagram post that showed him on crutches and his knee wrapped in bandages. RELATED: Power Rankings | Expert Picks | Nine things to know about Augusta National “Only one way to go from here,” Koepka wrote in the caption. His road to recovery led to Augusta National, though his participation in this year’s Masters remained in question until he showed up on property Sunday. “If I knew I was going to finish second, I wouldn’t have shown up,” he said Sunday. “I feel I can win. I’ll play, I’ll play. I’ll be all right.” The four-time major winner is one of just four players to finish in the top-10 in the past two Masters. He was runner-up to Tiger Woods in 2019 and finished T7 in November. After struggling with injuries the past few years, Koepka won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February — his first win since the 2019 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational — and finished second in the WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession later that month. He hasn’t competed since. He suffered ligament damage and dislocated his right kneecap when he slipped and fell in early March. He had surgery March 16. On Tuesday, Koepka declared his game “feels fine.” Walking the hilly property here is another issue. Going downhill puts extra pressure on his knee and Koepka said he may look a little awkward plucking his ball from the hole. “I can’t bend down. My knee doesn’t go. … It’s going to look funny, I know that. But what are you going to do?” he said Tuesday. “I’ve got to do it. No other option, is there?” It takes him about three hours in the morning to prepare to play, he said, but “once I get going, it’s all right.” Away from the course, it’s about staying off his feet and controlling the swelling. “He’s in great shape,” swing coach Pete Cowen told Sports Betting News. “The only problem is going to be the walking. It’s a tough course to walk.”

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