Niemann, Lewis share 36-hole lead in Detroit

Here are nine tidbits from the third round of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. The Old White TPC at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, hosts for the eighth time and measures 7,287 yards and plays to Par-70. Hey, Hey, Hey, Goodbye Kevin Na blew away the field Sunday becoming the eighth-consecutive player in eight events to come-from-behind to win at The Old White TPC. He played his final three rounds in 18 under par to post 19-under 261 to win for the second time on TOUR and first time since 2011. His five-shot victory is the largest in tournament history surpassing Angel Cabrera’s two-shot win in 2014. After MC at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, Na headed to Korea to play the Kolon Korea Open Golf Championship and was rewarded for his travels with T5. Returning to the States last week it probably wasn’t surprising that he cashed only T64 after a few weeks away. After opening with 69 he exploded for 63-65-64 in the final three rounds to win easily. The numbers shouldn’t be surprising to veteran gamers as he was second in scrambling, Strokes Gained: Putting and fourth in Strokes Gained: Around the Green. It didn’t hurt either that he was fifth Strokes Gained: Tee to Green as he took advantage of his opportunities when he found the fairways. With only two par-5 holes this week Na worked his magic on the par-4 varieties as he was 15 under on that bunch, which would have won the tournament alone! His second top-10 finish in five tries at The Old White TPC sees him run his aggregate total to 50 under at this event. Of his 20 rounds eight check in at 66 or better with his 63 in Round 2 and closing 64 the best of the bunch. This was his third T6 or better finish in his last five starts on TOUR dating back to T6 at the AT&T Byron Nelson. At over $2.8 million he has a realistic chance to better his best season of $3.44 million in the coming months. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. Sure, Bubba Watson equaled his best finish at the event of T13 but he began the final round T6 without many heavy-hitters in his path. His 72 could have been worse if not for an eagle and birdie in his final six holes that steadied the sinking ship. For the second year in a row Watson played the final round in 2 over and suggests this might not be place to use him down the road. Pain or Gain These were the top-10 selected golfers (plus one) in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: There is nothing worse and nothing better than having to play all 72 holes in any fantasy format. #TheThursdayArmy can’t wait to tell everyone how they “knew it” but they don’t hand out big checks until late Sunday afternoon. Russell Henley sat T48 after Round 3 and the buyer’s remorse was palpable before he fired the best round of day Sunday with 63. In three events at The Old White TPC he’s finished fifth, T5 and now 10th, cementing his horse-for-course status. Kelly Green Wrapping up solo second Kelly Kraft added his biggest pay day of the season and he did so in dramatic fashion with a birdie at the last. He checked off a couple of more boxes this week as he played with the lead after 36 and 54 holes for the first time in his career and will have points of reference moving forward. In two tries in the mountains of West Virginia he’s collected T5 and solo second and is 25-under-par.        Popping The best club in the bag of Brandt Snedeker was on display as he gained over two shots on the greens and moved up six spots to T3. His share of the podium was his just his second top-10 finish of the season but his second in four events. The key to his round was keeping it between the lines after a double and a bogey on Holes Nos. 4 and 5. He played his last 13 holes in four-under to stay in the big bucks. He’ll be a favorite next week at TPC Deere Run and definitely at Glen Abbey for the RBC Canadian Open. ‘Rak is Back The engine was trying to turn over the last three weeks as Jason Kokrak opened with 66 at the Travelers Championship and 69 last week before MC. This week he finally put three really good ones together and shared the final spot on the podium even with a 71. He led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green and GIR plus co-led the field with only four bogeys. His ball striking was so good that he stayed in the top three while losing 3.572 strokes on the green! Big Money Movers Joaquin Niemann continues his impressive early career as he picked up his fourth top-10 pay day in just nine events. His bogey-free 64 in the final round brushed off a Round 3 72. This is the second week running that he’s squashed an off-day Saturday (74 last week at QLN, followed by 65) with a proper Sunday to reward investors. … #NappyFactor Austin Cook announced this week his family is expanding and he cashed his second top-10 check in three starts. Giddy up! … Harold Varner III played from the final group with Kraft and held it together for T5, which included a birdie on No. 16, to cash his biggest check of the year. … Joel Dahmen is better known for being involved in the Sung Kang rules snafu last week but pro gamers will tell you he’s cashed in 10 of his last 12 events. His T5 is his best to date and he has exactly one round over 71 in the last three months. … Sam Saunders broke out Grandpa Arnie’s putter for this week and he finished T5 on the scoreboard and 22nd Strokes Gained: Putting. He’d like to have the two bogeys in his final three holes back but it’s his best finish since T5 at the Puerto Rico Open in 2017. Sunday Silence Xander Schauffele kept another streak alive this week as no former champion has defended their championship. His first over-par round in eight tries was a gut-punch to his investors this week as his 75 on Sunday knocked him back 18 spots to T21. Only Anirban Lahiri and three others had a worse final round with 76 as the Indian dropped from T6 to T39. He’s been close three weeks in a row but his best finish in that run is T9 Study Hall After a dry week and weekend The Old White TPC registered its most difficult round of the week Sunday. The final round average of 70.156 was the only round of the week that played over-par but the total for the week was still in the red at 69.471 (-0.529). … Na and Ollie Schniederjans both circled 23 birdies, most of the week. … The best four players not already qualified who finished inside the top 12 qualified for The Open Championship are Kraft, Snedeker, Kokrak and Cook. Qualifiers from across the pond from the Irish Open are Ryan Fox, Andy Sullivan and Zander Lombard. Russell Knox won in a playoff over Fox. … Robert Streb’s reign of finishing second (or T2) came to an end at T11. His 64 on Sunday was T2-best round of the day. … John Peterson missed out on keeping his card by a number so small I can’t calculate as he was in an eight-way tie for 13th. He needed to be in a six-way tie or better. EVERY shot in every tournament counts, as it should.

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PACIFIC PALISAIDES, Calif. – Tournament host Tiger Woods will have to wait at least one more year for another chance to break his win drought at Riviera Country Club after a tough third round at The Genesis Invitational. After opening the tournament with rounds of 69-73 to sit 10 shots back of Matt Kuchar’s 36-hole lead, Woods left Friday night knowing he could ill afford any mistakes on the weekend if he was to make a charge up the leaderboard. But any thoughts of a vintage charge were thwarted early as he played his first seven holes in five-over par, including a disastrous four-putt for a double bogey on the par-4 13th, his fourth hole of the morning. Woods had a birdie attempt from 18-feet, four-inches but pulled it left. He then missed from two-feet, four-inches for par and three-feet, two-inches for bogey with power lip outs before finally getting it home from three-feet for a double. Related: Leaderboard | TOUR pros: My first time with Tiger | JT admits Tiger carried him at Presidents Cup No other venue has repelled Woods like Riviera – the 82-time PGA TOUR winner is in his 13th try in this tournament with a runner up in 1999 his best return. Riviera is where his PGA TOUR career began as a 16-year-old having grown up in nearby Cypress. Amazingly, it is the second time Woods has four-putted the 13th green at Riviera having also done so in the third round in 2000. It is the only green on record in his career that he has done so twice and comes one start after four-putting during the Farmers Insurance Open on the opening hole of Torrey Pines South. Four of his now 14 career four-putts have come since June 2018. “That was a lot of shots. I hit the ball quite a few times, especially on the greens, and it was a long day,â€� Woods said post round. “I didn’t putt well today at all. I didn’t have a feel for it, I didn’t see my lines, I couldn’t feel my pace and I was just off.â€� Woods finished the round with a 5-over 76 to drop to five over for the tournament and near the back of the pack of those making the cut. When asked of the positives, the 44-year-old could only wryly say, “Well, I’m done.â€� But then added, “It’s a new day tomorrow. That’s the way golf is, put it in the past and try to learn from what I did right and wrong. Obviously there wasn’t a whole lot I did right today, and figure it out for tomorrow. “I just need to… not throw away shots with wedges in my hand, not three-putt, four-putt. All the things that, you clean all that up, next thing you know, you add that up and I’m probably, what, 7, 8, 9 under, and that’s without doing anything great, just not doing any of the dumb things.â€� Woods did not commit to play in next week’s World Golf Championship – Mexico Championship and also is not sure of his next start after tomorrow’s final round. “That’s the fun part of trying to figure this whole comeback — how much do I play, when do I play, do I listen to the body or do I fight through it?â€� he said. “There are some things I can push and some things I can’t. “I feel stiff, but I have weeks like that, especially in the cold mornings like it was the other day. Don’t quite move as well and that’s just kind of how it’s going to go.â€�

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The Wyndham Reward Top 10 is a season-long competition that offers a $10 million bonus for the 10 golfers who end the regular season at the Wyndham Championship inside the top 10 in FedExCup points. The player atop the standings will earn $2 million, with varying payoffs for the others through $500,000 for the 10th place finisher. This week: Mayakoba Golf Classic Current Top 10 in field 1. Lanto Griffin 4. Sebastian Munoz 7. Joaquin Niemann 9. Cameron Champ No. 1 watch: Lanto Griffin has been atop the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 standings since winning the Houston Open on Oct. 13. Top 10 moves: Reigning FedExCup champ Rory McIlroy moved from 35th to second in the Wyndham Reward Top 10 standings after winning the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions. Adam Hadwin dropped from 10th to 11th. Scenarios notes • Besides the four players currently in the top 10 standings, 12 others can also take over the top spot with a win this week – Mark Hubbard (13), Danny Lee (14), Harris English (16), Brendon Todd (17), Tom Hoge (T-18), Scott Harrington (20), Xinjun Zhang (21), Charles Howell III (22), Carlos Ortiz (25), Denny McCarthy (26), Harry Higgs (28) and Scottie Scheffler (29). • All other players in this week’s field at Mayakoba are projected to at least move inside the top 10 with a win. • Sixteen TOUR members in the field are still looking for their first FedExCup points of the season, including defending Mayakoba champ Matt Kuchar, who is making his first start of the 2019-20 PGA TOUR season. Kuchar finished third in the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 standings last season behind Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy.

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