Sebastián Muñoz wins Sanderson Farms title

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JERSEY CITY, NJ — Notes and observations from the U.S. Team in Friday’s second round of the Presidents Cup, where the home team took an 8-2 lead. For more coverage from Liberty National, click here for the Daily Wrap-Up. THOMAS, FOWLER BRING IT It was the first time since the PGA Championship that Justin Thomas’ exuberance gave him a hoarse throat. Just as he did at Quail Hollow, Thomas holed out from off the green and it looks like come Sunday he’ll be hoisting another trophy. The FedExCup champion has brought his domination to the Presidents Cup. Thomas, who won five times this season, holed out a bunker shot on the 14th hole and executed two more deft short-game shots on the back nine of Friday’s Four-Balls victory with partner Rickie Fowler. They won, 3 and 2, over the International Team’s top duo, Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen. Grace and Oosthuizen were 5-0 until running into a new U.S. duo that could be dominant for decades to come. “I told Rickie on the first tee today, I’m like, ‘Come on, we need to bring it today,’â€� Thomas said. “They are great players. But man, we just kept fighting. To get that win was huge for us.â€� Thomas and Fowler, who are neighbors in Jupiter, Florida, are the only U.S. team to go 2-0 in the Presidents Cup’s first two sessions, helping the United States to a record-setting advantage. The home team leads 8-2, the largest lead a team has ever held after the first two sessions. Thomas, one of the TOUR’s best iron players, impressed with a strong short game Friday. His tee shot sailed well left on the drivable par-4 12th, but he executed a deft bump-and-run that stopped 13 feet from the hole. He made the birdie putt for a crucial halve that kept his team 2 up. Two holes later, he holed out a bunker shot for another halve. It was so good that, like his chip-in at Quail Hollow, he raised his arm in celebration several feet before the ball found the hole. Thomas birdied the 15th hole and his bunker shot at the next hole hit the flagstick. “We enjoy this so much,â€� Thomas said. “We’re going to play 15, 20 more years of this stuff, and if we continue to be partners, there’s going to be rounds where we really rely on the other one. (Fowler) really held us in the start when I wasn’t playing very well, and I made a couple birdies there later.â€� Thomas and Fowler have played just 30 holes in their two matches. They beat Charl Schwartzel and Hideki Matsuyama, 6 and 4, in the tournament’s opening match. They have lost only three holes, and trailed for only one hole. CALL OF THE DAY MICKELSON MAKING IT For the second consecutive day, Phil Mickelson stood on the 18th green with a birdie putt for the win. He made it this time. Mickelson holed a 12-foot birdie putt to win the 18th hole in his Friday Four-Balls match. He and partner Kevin Kisner beat the International Team’s Jason Day and Marc Leishman, 1 up, in a rematch of Thursday’s Foursomes match that ended all square after Mickelson missed an 8-foot par putt on the final hole. Kisner and Mickelson celebrated Friday’s finishing birdie with a celebration straight from “Three Amigos,â€� a 1980s comedy starring Martin Short, Chevy Chase and Steve Martin. “I thought we biffed it when we were doing it, but when I looked back and saw the replay, I think we kind of nailed it actually,â€� Mickelson said. “But I get that I can’t dance. I get that I can’t take selfies, but I can putt, and it was nice to roll that last one in.â€� CHAPPELL, HOFFMAN CAME TO PLAY Kevin Chappell and Charley Hoffman had to wait an extra day to make their Presidents Cup debut. It was worth the wait, as they teamed to score a 6-and-5 victory over Anirban Lahiri and Charl Schwartzel. It is the largest winning margin this week. Despite teeing off in the fourth match of the day, Chappell and Hoffman scored the United States’ first point. The day’s other four matches all went to at least the 16th hole. Hoffman and Chappell were only all square when they stepped to the first tee. They won the match’s first two holes and lost just one hole, the par-3 10th. “We were just grinding,â€� Hoffman said. “We didn’t know we got the first point. I wasn’t paying attention to the scoreboards or leaderboards or anything. Chappy and I were just trying to get the job done.â€� Hoffman, 40, is the second-oldest member of this year’s U.S. Team (only Phil Mickelson is older). Chappell, 31, holds the course record at Liberty National; he fired 62 in the third round of the 2013 THE NORTHERN TRUST. SHORT SHOTS Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth didn’t win Friday, but they kept their undefeated Presidents Cup record intact. The indomitable American duo used a late comeback to earn a halve against Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Hadwin. Spieth and Reed, who are now 2-0-1 as a Presidents Cup team, were 2 down through 14 holes. Reed made birdie on the 15th hole, and Spieth followed by knocking his tee shot stiff on the par-3 16th to square the match. Spieth lipped out a 19-foot birdie putt on the last hole. He and Reed are 6-1-3 in international team competition. The United States won Friday’s Four-Balls session, 4 ½ – ½. It was the first time since 2007 that a team failed to win a single point in a team-play session. There have been 46 team sessions in the history of the Presidents Cup; this was just the sixth in which a team failed to score 1 point. The last time before Friday was in 2007, when the U.S. Team shut out the Internationals in Day 3 Foursomes. All three teams that were kept intact for the first two sessions are undefeated. Fowler and Thomas are 2-0, while Spieth-Reed and Mickelson-Kisner are both 1-0-1. BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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NAPA, Calif. – Notes and observations from round two of the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort & Spa.  LEADING LIGHTS SNEDEKER SPRINTS AHEAD. Brandt Snedeker was the star of a hot group (Fred Couples, Patrick Cantlay) as he shot 65 to take the solo lead by three heading into the weekend. Ryan Moore (67), Phil Mickelson (69) and Michael Thompson (65) lead the chase pack. A nine-time TOUR winner who won the 2012 FedExCup, Snedeker, 37, has racked up four of those victories in California, two each at the Farmers Insurance Open and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Through two rounds at Silverado, though, he’s been even more inspired by the state of 59-year-old playing partner Fred Couples, who also shot 65 (6-under). “It’s always fun to play with Freddy,� Snedeker said. “I don’t get to see him enough. When I made the turn, as good as I played, I was still tied with Freddy, and there was no way some 59-year-old guy who’s semi-retired is going to come out here and whip my tail. We kind of spurred each other on today and had a great time, and we saw a bunch of putts go in, which is nice.� Snedeker has made just under 200 feet worth of putts and is fifth in Strokes Gained: Putting through two rounds. NOTABLES PHIL’S BIG SHOCKER. Admittedly exhausted as he plays for the eighth time in the last 10 weeks, Phil Mickelson came to Silverado fully expecting to miss the cut but is well in contention at 10 under after a second-round 69. “Well, I’m cautiously optimistic,� Mickelson said as he goes into the weekend three back in search of his 44th PGA TOUR victory. “It’s certainly turning from pessimistic, because I didn’t think I was going to be here on the weekend, and the next thing you know I’m up on top of the leaderboard.� Mickelson has made over 227 feet of putts over the first two rounds despite making his eighth tournament start in the last 10 weeks, which he said is too much golf. For more on Mickelson’s plans to cut back, click here. COUPLES MAKES 500TH CUT. Fred Couples, who turned 59 earlier this week, marked another milestone as he shot 65 to make his 500th cut on the PGA TOUR. He came into this week with 491 made cuts, officially, but he’d also made eight cuts at The Open Championship prior to 1995, before the TOUR started counting that as an official event. Add it all up and he hit the 500 mark Friday. “I played well,� said Couples, who hit 10/14 fairways for the second straight day, but went from 141st to 3rd in Strokes Gained: Putting. “It’s not an easy course, but I feel like some of my strongest clubs are my 8, 9 and wedge, and I hit a lot of those.� One day after he played Silverado’s four par-5s in 1 over, he played them in 4 under as he soaked up a magical, sun-splashed day with playing partners Snedeker and Cantlay. OBSERVATIONS MULDER HANGS TOUGH. Sponsor’s exemption Mark Mulder, a pitcher for nine years with the Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals, improved by one with a second-round 74 to accomplish his goal of not finishing last—he beat Ollie Schniederjans and Wesley Bryan—and beat, by two strokes, the over-under of 151 set by his friends. CAULEY COMES BACK STRONG. Making his first TOUR start since suffering several broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a broken leg in a car crash during the week of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide at the start of the summer, Bud Cauley shot a second-round 69 to easily make the cut at 5 under. GET TO KNOW … SEPP STRAKA. Was born in Austria and lived in Vienna until age 14, when the family moved to Valdosta, Georgia. Played for Georgia Bulldogs and won 2016 SEC Championship before turning pro and capturing 2018 KC Golf Classic on the Web.com Tour last season. Dream foursome: Tiger, Moe Norman, twin brother Sam. 2nd EFFORT. The par-3 second hole is 240 yards on the card but played 247 on Friday, when the field averaged 3.313 strokes, making it the toughest of the day. Couples birdied it. “I really didn’t want to hit a 3-wood,� he said. “I swung and hit my little rescue as hard as I could, and lo and behold it went right at the flag and ended up about six feet away and birdie-birdie start.� THE REBOUND. Ricky Barnes shot 75 on Thursday, but roared back with an 11-under 61 in the second round to tie the course record. His Strokes Gained: Putting went from -2.714 (135th) in round one to +6.797 (1st) in round two. Barnes said the round, which began on the back nine, reminded him of his 10-under 62 at the 2010 Memorial with Tiger Woods. “I had a putt on the last hole and he told me to knock it in,� Barnes said. “I went just low side, and he walked by me and called me an amateur. So I knew I was going to get the ball in the hole on 9 today for birdie.� QUOTABLES I couldn’t lose to a 59-year-old.I’m surprised I haven’t hit any out of bounds. It hadn’t really sunk in until I got to the airport and they handed me the keys to the courtesy car. SUPERLATIVES Low round: 61 by Ricky Barnes (8-under total). Longest drive: 359 yards (Peter Uihlein/No. 4) Longest putt: 82’ 2� (Kyle Jones/No. 1) Toughest hole: The 247-yard, par-3 2nd played to a 3.313 average. Easiest hole: The 525-yard, par-5 5th played to a 4.583 average, easiest for the second straight day. CALL OF THE DAY For play-by-play coverage of the third round of the Safeway Open, listen at PGATOUR.COM. SHOT OF THE DAY

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