Golf: Thomas, Fowler and Varner tied for lead at Phoenix Open

KAPALUA, HI – Despite being in idyllic Maui, it was getting tough for Viktor Hovland to sport his trademark smile. The Norwegian superstar arrived on the island for the Sentry Tournament of Champions on the Dec. 29, set for a week of preparation after a holiday break in his home country. Alas, his golf clubs failed to join him. Flying high after recent wins at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba and the Hero World Challenge during the last two months, Hovland had put away his clubs in Oslo’s winter conditions to reconnect with family and friends over Christmas. He was content the week in Maui would bring sufficient time to get his swing back into a groove. But in the end the world No. 7 had just 24 hours to prepare after his trusty Ping sticks failed to follow him on a travel adventure halfway around the world. Hovland flew from Oslo through Paris and on to Seattle where he was left waiting for his bag for half an hour. Then he was told it had inadvertently been sent off course. “My duffel bag and my mom’s duffel bag was there, but we waited 30 minutes for my golf bag and it didn’t show up,” Hovland said. “I asked someone and they said they sent it through Salt Lake City, apparently.” The delay meant a missed connection to Maui forcing him onto another airline which complicated the search and saw his clothes delayed. “It was a big headache,” Hovland added. “But we got the clothes the next day and then it seemed the golf bag was just somehow sitting in Seattle for five days straight. “They didn’t really know where it was, so I was concerned they lost it initially. And then after a couple of days, they said they physically had it. That got me more frustrated. If you can see the bag, it shouldn’t be that hard to put it on the flight.” That left the 24-year-old doing what most do in Maui. Vacationing. “I really didn’t do anything. I worked out, ate, went to the beach… just had a vacation essentially,” he said. “I really haven’t touched a club since the Bahamas so I was planning on getting here to practice the whole last week and get back into it. Obviously, the preparations haven’t been ideal this time around.” Hovland resorted to using the clubs of his caddie Shay Knight for a little bit of practice. “He has Ping clubs, so that was good. But obviously different specs and different clubs so it wasn’t ideal but at least when you haven’t hit balls, the main thing is to just kind of get a feel for it.” Hovland’s drama wasn’t over. Replacement irons overnighted by Ping from Arizona got delayed in Honolulu and didn’t beat his regular bag which finally arrived late Tuesday night. The bag was roughed up and his back up driver had been snapped. At least he hadn’t planned to use it. In fact, he is still using a driver that belonged to James Hahn – one he was able to borrow in Mayakoba when Danny Lee accidently broke Hovland’s own driver on the range while testing out a speed drill. He would go on to win that week and subsequently still has it. With expectations now lowered for this week, would Hovland struggle to smile like has become his custom or would this equipment fiasco once again prove a good omen? “I was pretty frustrated there a couple of times,” he admitted. “But it’s not ideal that I have to spend these next couple of days to try to get back into things and find my swing. “It’s a little different case because I was playing pretty good and then testing James’ driver, it was really good. I’m still playing that driver … It’s a little different this week, but I’m getting better every day.”

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The PGA Championship is a week away, but the tour first will head to Texas for the AT&T Byron Nelson. Here are our best bets for the event.

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CROMWELL, Conn. – Give yourself a gold star – heck, two or three gold stars – if you can remember that time from 11 years ago when we had Zack Sucher sharing a golf stage with Andrew Putnam. It was the 33rd U.S. vs. Japan Collegiate Golf Championship at Tokyo Golf Club and while the 37-23 victory that Sucher and Putnam and teammates such as Kevin O’Connell, Lizette Salas and Sydnee Michaels recorded gathered very little fanfare, it served as a launching pad for pro golf careers that have been a series of ups and downs. The most recent upswing? This week’s Travelers Championship where the 32-year-old Sucher – he of the last-minute spot in the field via the sponsor’s invite to a Korn Ferry Tour member – had an eagle and three birdies over his final six holes at TPC River Highlands to shoot a second-round 5-under 65 to push to 11-under 129. That Sucher’s lead was threatened by Putnam, who started his second round in the afternoon with five birdies in seven holes before cooling off, was secondary to this storyline: Where has Zack Sucher been and what is he doing in contention at the Travelers Championship? The smile and Sucher’s answer provided a lot of insight. “First year I can remember in a long time where I’m pain-free and it’s feeling really good. It’s nice to be out here,� said Sucher, who missed the cut in a Korn Ferry Tour stop in Springfield, Ill., and drove here, assuming he had a good chance to get that sponsor’s spot. His gut feeling has played out nicely, in stark contrast to the way his life has gone since he left the Travelers Championship in 2017. He missed the cut, played in an outing, but had had enough of constant pain in his left leg. He knew the knee was an issue, but it turns out “his ankle was a mess,� said his wife, Courtney. Major surgery on the ankle and the knee sidelined Sucher for more than a year and the return to competition has been a mixed bag. In 10 Korn Ferry Tour tournaments Sucher has two top 10s, but in three PGA TOUR starts he’s missed one cut and finished T-35 and T-50. In other words, nothing to make Sucher feel that he was ready to break out at TPC River Highlands, but he’s played plenty of competitive golf to know it’s a landscape that cannot be explained. “The last few years I had on the (Korn Ferry Tour) were a bit of a struggle,� said Sucher, who has a win and 13 other top 10s on that circuit. “And every time I made it here (he’s had PGA TOUR status in 2015 and 2017), it seemed the harder I worked, the more the left leg would hurt.� An Atlanta native who played at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, Sucher gushes about doctors who repaired “two ligaments and a tendon in the ankle� and his knee problems. He even got plantar fasciitis in his right foot, said Courtney, shaking her head, recalling the mishap that occurred when her husband was shooting hoops during recovery. That injury probably wouldn’t surprise those who know that Sucher was a high school basketball standout at St. Paul’s Episcopal in Mobile, Ala., and were he “a foot taller,� golf might not have been his calling. But at 6-foot, 210 pounds, Sucher faded from hoops and settled into this competitive PGA TOUR landscape. Despite all the missed cuts and surgeries and tough times, Sucher can smile, and so can Courtney, who has walked 36 holes in wet, muddy conditions to watch her husband make 12 birdies against one lone bogey. Months ago he wasn’t sure he’d play again on the PGA TOUR and seven days ago he wasn’t sure he had a spot in this field, yet here he is, No. 505 in the world, setting the pace that those in the top 10, and everyone else, are trying to keep pace with. The beauty of sports, so unscripted and unexplainable, eh? “Absolutely. It feels great,� said Sucher, whose best finish in 35 PGA TOUR tournaments across three seasons is a tie for 20th at the 2015 Barracuda Championship. “A lot of work to be done, but right now it’s feeling great.�

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