Tiger Woods undergoes fifth back surgery

Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Jack Nicklaus’ Muirfield Village Golf Club, just outside Columbus, Ohio, has hosted for the 42 previous events and plays 7,392 yards to a Par-72. PAIN OR GAIN These were the top-10 picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: With another day of excellent scoring conditions, MVGC played under-par for the second day in a row. We saw plenty of movement in both directions from the most selected players! The roller coaster rolls on tomorrow as thunderstorms are forecast for the afternoon. Trying to beat the weather, tee times are now threesomes off No. 1 and No. 10 starting at 7: 30 am and concluding with leader Bryson DeChambeau (-14), Patrick Cantlay (-13) and Kyle Stanley (-13) at 9:30 am. Make sure your lineups are sorted tonight! Also, LIVE STREAMING will be provided on PGATOURLIVE.COM and CBSSports.com starting at 11 am. Alone Last week at Colonial, Bryson DeChambeau birdied his first two holes on Saturday from T6 and looked to be in the fight. He played the rest of his round in three-over-par and finished the round T31. This week on Saturday he racked up a bogey-free 66 to move into first place alone after 54 holes. His only win on TOUR was last summer at the John Deere Classic where he came from four shots off the lead. That’s where Justin Rose will start tomorrow with Tiger Woods one behind the Englishman. Recent Experiences Patrick Cantlay will make up one third of the final pairing tomorrow as he also posted 66 in Round 3. Unlike DeChambeau, Cantlay picked up a pair of eagles, including an ace on No. 8, but squared two bogeys for his total. Like DeChambeau this is only his second event at MVGC. He’ll be looking to join the group of multiple winners this season as he picked up his first at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas last November. Rear View Mirror Kyle Stanley and Joaquin Niemann both posted 70 from the final two-some Saturday and will sit one off DeChambeau’s lead. Stanley won last summer at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farms in a playoff and has a pair of top-10 finishes at MVGC, including T6 last year. In Niemann’s two top-10 paydays this year he’s closed with 67 (Valero) and 66 (Colonial) but he wasn’t one shot off the lead. If he cards four or five-under tomorrow again I’ll LOVE his chances but I’m more interested to see how he reacts with a chance to win! Large Cat Prowling With a birdie on No. 15, Tiger Woods was tied for the lead on 11-under. With bogeys, plural, on two of the next three holes, Woods donated two shots to the field and eventually ended the day T7. He’s leading the event in SG: tee to green and proximity but his putter hasn’t blown up yet. He finished Round 3 69th in SG: putting (of 81 players) so it’s back to the practice green again tonight. He had troubles closing rounds at THE PLAYERS and don’t look at his front nine vs. back nine scores from this week either. Since he’s my O&D this week, I’ll be in charge of the pompoms tomorrow! On Your Marc I usually mention at least once during the week about #Play72. The most difficult part of fantasy golf is waiting for it to end some weeks and this is one of those weeks for the Marc Leishman supporters. He made the cut on the number and faced the MDF on Saturday before making six birdies to move to T37. He’s first off tomorrow on No.1 and will have perfect greens to putt. Don’t give up just yet! Moving Day Rory McIlroy fired a bogey-free 64 for the lowest round of the week and moved up 58 spots to T11. He has a wonderful top gear that was on display with an eagle and six birdies. The 63 he fired in the first round in 2014 is still his best so he’s hardly in uncharted waters. … We haven’t mentioned Whee Kim since he fell in a playoff at the Shriners to Cantlay. His best payday since the first weekend in November was the following week when he cashed for T45 at OHL Classic at Mayakoba. He moved up 28 spots to T7 after 67 in Round 3. He’s second in SG: putting for the week. Moving Day: Wrong Way Just when I think I’ve solved the Jason Day mystery at MVGC he drops 24 spots to T28 in Round 3. On another day with optimum scoring conditions, the Aussie and club member limped around in 74. There were only six scores worse than 74 Saturday. … The frustration for gamers who back Henrik Stenson at MVGC continued again in Round 3. The Swede couldn’t bounce from his 66 in Round 2 as he dropped 12 spots to T21 after an even-par 72. He’s painting fairways and greens but his trusty short game hasn’t been on point. … MDF claimed eight players including Kevin Kisner and Adam Hadwin as more than 78 players made the 36-hole cut. Study Hall Round 1 scored 72.558 (+.558) and there were just three bogey-free rounds. Round 2 entered the history books as it was just the 13th round in history to average less than 71.00 (70.458). Round 3 fell right in the middle at 71.173 (-0.827). … Byeong-Hun An (5th) is the only player with two bogey-free rounds (Rounds 2 and 3). … Francesco Molinari, like Rose, is looking to win back-to-back events as he’ll begin the final round of the Italian Open one behind England’s Lee Slattery.

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What a fortnight for Houston-area sports fans! The Astros prevailed in the World Series in six games, one of which with a combined no-hitter. The parade is over but as the celebration continues, locals can extend their attention to this week’s Cadence Bank Houston Open just five miles west of Minute Maid Park. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live | The First Look As Yordan Álvarez has proven, there isn’t a yard can that contain him, but Memorial Park Golf Course would present a respectable challenge to his brawn. The par 70 capable of stretching 7,412 yards hosts a field of 132. POWER RANKINGS: CADENCE BANK HOUSTON OPEN Hideki Matsuyama, Will Gordon, Luke List and David Lingmerth will be among the notables reviewed in Draws and Fades. In its first two years after returning as the host of the annual stop in Houston – it served as the site for 14 editions in the middle of the 20th century and not long after the tournament was launched in 1946 – Memorial Park has been the most challenging track of the fall. Last year’s field average of 70.799 reflected a slight ease, but it still slotted it a hair harder than Colonial Country Club among all par 70s in 2021-22, and recall that winds were gusting to 30 mph and stronger on the weekend in north Texas later in the season. Memorial Park is unusual as a par 70 in that its routing includes five par 3s and three par 5s. While most tracks new to most golfers present a reasonable test merely in the context of unfamiliarity, Memorial Park hasn’t conceded much despite budding relationships. Consider that all three of the par 5s ranked inside the top-40 hardest of 163 par 5s played all of last season. As a set, they slotted second-hardest, and that was after they tied for most challenging in the super season of 2020-21. So, having muscle to move it off the tee has merit, but actually capitalizing on the par 5s isn’t as much of an objective as it is not being beat up by them. Overall, Memorial Park is no joke, and the lushest of the bermuda rough is a fraction taller this year at 2½ inches. Bermuda greens still are ready to run up to 12 feet on the Stimpmeter, and they’re poised to defend as the stingiest in yielding par breakers on average from a season ago. Although the host course ranked a firm and fair T16 in greens in regulation among all courses, no other surrendered a lower conversion percentage for birdies and better with a putter in hand. Primary levers are pulled for course management and patience this week. Distance is a bonus, but only if harnessed. Putting plays up more than usual. After a couple of days with seasonable conditions, jackets and umbrellas will be commonplace by Saturday. Daytime temperatures could cool as much as 20 degrees with highs in the low 60s, if that, and the wind will freshen as rain is a coin flip. Things should calm a bit for the finale. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws & Fades WEDNESDAY: Pick ‘Em Preview SUNDAY: Payouts and Points, Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Rookie Ranking * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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NAPA, Calif. — Jim Knous shot a 7-under 65 on Saturday for a share of the lead with Maverick McNealy after three rounds in the Fortinet Championship. RELATED: Leaderboard | Phil Mickelson in contention at Fortinet Championship Knous had eight birdies, five on the front nine, then held on after a bogey on No. 12 to match McNealy at 14 under. McNealy, the second-round leader, had four bogeys on the front nine, then closed with three consecutive birdies for a 70. Max Homa (65) was two strokes back with Scott Stallings (67), Mito Pereira (70), Troy Merritt (69) and Beau Hossler (70). Ten others, including Phil Mickelson (67), were four strokes back heading into the final round. On a cool, sometimes blustery day when the lead changed hands several times, Knous made up for an uneven day off the tee with steady, consistent iron play that put him in good shape on the greens. The 31-year-old needed just 22 putts covering 69 feet to maneuver his way to the front of the pack. “Putter got hot there late on the back nine,” said Knous, who is winless on thePGA TOUR since making his debut at this course in 2019. “I just tend to see the breaks pretty well out here. A lot of them have big swings and you can use your imagination and that’s kind of how I like to putt, so I was able to roll some nice ones in.” Knous made an 8-foot birdie putt from off the green on 18. “Me and my caddie had a great read,” Knous said. “It was just going to break a little bit right at the end. Put a good stroke on it, perfect speed, and there you go.” McNealy entered the day with the lead, but fell three strokes behind after struggling with his driver on the front nine. McNealy was 2 over for the round midway through the back nine when he got rolling. He made a 22-foot putt for birdie on 13, rolled another long putt in for birdie on 16, then sank two more birdie putts on the final two. “It was a crazy day,” said McNealy, who, like Knous is seeking his first TOUR win. “I remember hitting a good tee shot down the middle on the 12th with a utility iron and everything seemed to slow down and calm down for me. I started seeing my lines with the putter.” McNealy stayed in the hunt despite appearing to hurt his right wrist punching out from a tree on No. 3, the first of his four bogeys on the front nine. “(I) was really lucky that I didn’t try to hit a full swing because I chipped out sideways and a softball-sized rock came out from under the ball,” McNealy said. “I stung my wrist a little bit. I’m really glad I didn’t go after that one full because I told (my caddie) I would have been out for a year.” Mickelson had his best round of the tournament and made five consecutive birdies on the back nine. The 51-year-old PGA Championship winner immediately went to the putting green after finishing his round. “I felt like I blocked a couple putts … and I just wanted to work on that,” Mickelson said. Webb Simpson also was 10 under after a 65. The 2012 U.S. Open champion had eight birdies – three more than he had in the first two rounds combined.

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