Veteran resurgence continues for Garcia and Cink

It started with a complaint about slow play, then snowballed into something much larger. Don’t remember all the details? That’s OK — there have been a lot. We give a rundown of how we got here.

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Byeong Hun An … Although he just missed qualifying for the Masters, he’s rested since sharing seventh place at the Valero Texas Open where he averaged 14 GIR per round (second overall) and paced the field in strokes gained: tee-to-green. It’s a true reflection on his default strength as he’s second on the PGA TOUR in strokes gained: tee-to-green, but he’s also No. 1 in strokes gained: around-the-green. The potent combo has yielded a 10-for-10 season with four top 20s. His glaring weakness is a super-streaky putter, but it’s mitigated by the small greens at Harbour Town. He proved as much here last year with a T7. Russell Knox … The 33-year-old Scot is a familiar face in this space over the years and this is his third appearance as a Sleeper in 2019 alone, but he deserves the attention. He’s survived 13 consecutive worldwide, five of which going for a top 25. He’s also perfect in five trips to Harbour Town since his debut in 2014 with a T2 (2016) among four top 20s and a scoring average of 69.40. Sits 30th on TOUR in strokes gained: tee-to-green and fourth in proximity. Ryan Armour … It’s easy to forget that the 43-year-old is enjoying just the first full season of fully exempt status earned after winning the Sanderson Farms Championship in late October of 2017. Indeed, he’ll ride it through at least 2019-20, so the pressure is off to keep his card. Even better, at least in the shorter-term, he’s poised to return to the Playoffs as he’s currently positioned at 76th in points. His best of five top 25s this season occurred just four weeks ago at the Valspar Championship where he finished T6 and led the field in scrambling while also ranking T10 in fairways hit, T14 in greens in regulation, T3 in proximity to the hole and second in strokes gained: tee-to-green. Based on season-long measurements, he’s an ideal fit at Harbour Town since he’s third in fairways hit, 11th in proximity and 18th in scrambling. This is his fourth appearance and second consecutive. Jonas Blixt … While he’s in his eighth season on the PGA TOUR, it’s still a little hard to believe that he’s approaching his 35th birthday (on April 24). It’s a phenomenon that happens following a career-worst season that was the first of two with fully exempt status achieved with a victory. Next week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans will mark the two-year anniversary of his win with Cameron Smith in the team format. Blixt has been trending nicely (yet quietly) of late. He’s cashed in each of his last six starts, two of which for a top 25 to double his total from all of last season. Putting is still his strength, and while he ranked ninth in scrambling en route to a T14 here last year, he also finished 14th in both strokes gained: approach-the-green and strokes gained: tee-to-green. Jonathan Byrd … The South Carolina native and five-time PGA TOUR winner has been as loyal as he can be to the tournament since debuting as a rookie in 2002, yet he’s connected for only one top-25 finish, and that was way back in 2004 when he placed T16. Perhaps this is the year that he establishes a personal best as he’s taking advantage of every opportunity despite Past Champion status. This is his third straight appearance via a sponsor exemption (2015, 2018), but he rolls in at 114th in the FedExCup with four top 25s in only eight starts, the best of which a solo fourth three weeks ago at Corales. Currently co-leading the PGA TOUR in par-4 scoring average and ranks second in scrambling. NOTE: Sleeper is a relative term, so Rob uses unofficial criteria to determine who qualifies. Each of the following usually is determined to be ineligible for this weekly staple: Winners of the tournament on the current host course; winners in the same season; recent major champions; top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking; recent participants of team competitions.

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Viktor Hovland was hitting it so well he had no trouble taking on a big risk, and it paid off Saturday with a big finish for a 9-under 62 and a two-shot lead in the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. RELATED: Leaderboard | Viktor Hovland contending with borrowed driver in Mayakoba Hovland, the defending champion at this Mexican resort, hit driver just over the green on the par-4 17th and hit a dart into the closing hole at El Cameleon for the lowest score of his PGA TOUR career. That gave him a two-shot lead over fellow Oklahoma State alum Talor Gooch (63), and he was three clear of Justin Thomas (64). “That was fun today,” Hovland said. “Obviously, got off to a nice start and it was nice to have one of those rounds where you can kind of keep it going throughout the day instead of maybe slowing down towards the end there where, frankly, there’s some tough holes.” Matthew Wolff, who started the weekend with a two-shot lead, made a pair of bogeys early in his round to fall out of the lead and managed only one birdie in his round of 73 that dropped him out of contention. Scottie Scheffler had a good start and little else, and a double bogey on the 14th hole when he drove into a hazard led to a 70 that put him seven shots behind. Hovland was at 19 under as he goes for his third PGA TOUR title. The Norwegian star already had made up a three-shot deficit with seven birdies, along with tough pars on some of the holes into the steady breeze. The TOUR moved up the tees about 100 yards on the 17th hole, with mangroves right of the green and a small lagoon to the left. Gooch was in the group ahead of him and hit iron off the tee and wedge to tap-in range for birdie that gave him a share of the lead. Hovland went with driver and it landed about 15 feet beyond the pin and rolled just off the edge. He pitched beautifully to 6 inches for birdie. “I’ve hit it great and I thought it was the play,” Hovland said. “So if it’s the play, you pull outt the big dog and you try to hit it.” Then, Hovland peeled a low driver into the fairway and stuffed that one about 4 feet away for another birdie to widen his lead. Gooch had a birdie putt that spun out of the cup on the 18th. Even so, he will be in the final group on Sunday as he goes after his first PGA TOUR victory. He did his best work earlier on the back nine, rolling in a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 12, an eagle putt from about 35 feet on the par-5 13th and then chipping in for birdie from just off the green at No. 14. “You never know when your time is going to come,” Gooch said, speaking specifically to his burst of scoring, and possibly to finally hoisting a trophy. This is his 102nd start. “The game came easy today,” he said. “I hit a bunch of fairways, hit a bunch of greens. Nice when you get a chip-in, you make a 30-footer and those are the type of things you need to have happen to turn it from a 67 to 63.” Thomas had a 62 in the third round last year at Mayakoba to at least give himself a chance. This time, he started much closer to the leaders and his 63 left him only three back. He began the tournament at 3 over for his opening nine. Thomas couldn’t help but think of his pairing with Patrick Cantlay at the BMW Championship, when Cantlay started slowly and wound up winning in a playoff. “And I know this is a course you can get on crazy kinds of runs out here,” Thomas. “It feels good to know I haven’t really done anything special, but I’ve just kind of checked the boxes and done a lot of things I need to do and put ourselves in a good spot.” Carlos Ortiz of Mexico had a 67 and was five shots behind.

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