Mitchell goes low again, up 5 shots at CJ Cup

Hogan. Snead. Nelson. The biggest names in golf have won there, and the biggest names will headline at this week’s Genesis Open at 7,322-yard, par-71 Riviera Country Club. Matt Kuchar and Xander Schauffele, FedExCup Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, are separated by just 8 points. Bubba Watson has won the Genesis three times, Phil Mickelson twice, Dustin Johnson once. Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth are winless here on TOUR, as is Tiger Woods, who will try to address one of the only holes in his golfing resume. THE FLYOVER To go or not to go? Players often try to drive the 315-yard, par-4 10th hole, with mixed results. Simply put, the shallow and well-bunkered green provides a stiff defense whether they’re trying to hit it with their first or second shots. Statistically, 61 percent of players have gone for the green off the tee since 2014, making birdie or better 30 percent of the time. The winners since ’14 are a combined 1-under when going for it and 2-over when laying up. Translation: Going for the green just might be a gamble worth taking. LANDING ZONE The 503-yard, par-5 opening hole provides an unusually elevated tee shot and a gentle start to the round. It has given up the most eagles on TOUR since 2004 (414), and winner Bubba Watson went a combined 5 under there last year, the fourth winner in the ShotLink era (since 2003) to play it in 5 under or better. Nearly 98 percent of the field went for the green in two last year, the highest percentage of any hole on TOUR. WEATHER CHECK  From PGA TOUR meteorologist Wade Stettner: “Rain will continue through the day on Thursday and could be heavy at times, especially during the afternoon hours when a front is forecast to reach LA. Total rainfall on Thursday is expected around 1 inch. Rain will taper off Thursday evening. Scattered showers are possible on Friday with the better chance during the afternoon hours. Dry conditions are forecast on Saturday, but there will be another chance of showers Sunday afternoon. Temperatures will be cool this week with afternoon highs only in the lower 60s each day.â€� For the latest weather news from Pacific Palisades, Calif., check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself because a lot of people are pulling for me, and I’m pulling for myself, too. BY THE NUMBERS  1926 – First year the Genesis was played, making it the seventh-oldest active TOUR event, behind The Open Championship (1860), U.S. Open (1895), BMW Championship (1899), RBC Canadian Open (1904), PGA Championship (1916), and Valero Texas Open (1922). 25 – Tiger Woods’ MC a year ago was only the 25th missed cut of his long career. In 17 TOUR starts since, his only MC came at the 2018 U.S. Open. 4 – Rounds of 64 or better already this season for Matt Kuchar, who leads the FedExCup by 8 points after wins at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and Sony Open in Hawaii. 2.814 – Winner Bubba Watson’s Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green last year, second best in the field. He was 21st in SG: Putting (+.767) SCATTERSHOTS Tiger’s to-do list: Woods made his first PGA TOUR start at age 16, in 1992. He missed the cut. Last year he missed the cut again. He’ll make his 13th career start at Riviera this week, the only TOUR course where he’s never won in 10 or more attempts. Black History Month: The Genesis will mark the 50th anniversary of Charlie Sifford’s win at the TOUR’s L.A. stop in 1969 (played at Rancho Municipal G.C.) and the 10th year of the Charlie Sifford Memorial Exemption. Tim O’Neal is the 2019 recipient of the Sifford Exemption, named for the first African-American to play the TOUR in 1960. Spieth has good memories: Jordan Spieth, who flashed some form in the first two rounds of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am before slogging through a forgettable weekend, has never won the Genesis. A T4 finish in 2015 remains his best result in six starts. However, as a member of the Texas golf team he helped the Longhorns win the 2012 NCAA championship at Riviera. DJ going for history: Dustin Johnson, who won the Genesis in 2017 and was runner up in 2014 and ’15, has 19 TOUR wins at age 34. In the last 50 years, only four players have reached 20 wins before age 35: Tiger Woods, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller and Phil Mickelson.

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Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the Travelers Championship that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. TPC River Highlands has played host since 1991 and measures 6,841 yards (Par-70). Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. The weather that looked impending never materialized during the round. The course was receptive due to the overnight rains and there was hardly any wind. It was easily the best round of the week for scoring. Players who didn’t post 67 or better probably didn’t hold their place in the standings from Friday. Berger is going to be an interesting call tomorrow as he didn’t fire for the second day in a row. He closed with 67 last year and 74 the year before so that’s not much help. Round of the Week Paul Casey took complete advantage of the conditions to post 62 and stake himself to a four-shot lead heading into Sunday. His six birdies and an eagle were the result of fantastic approach play as he painted all 18 GIR. He also led the field in proximity and only needed 29 putts. In 15 rounds the last four years at this event he’s 49-under par. It will take a Furyk-ian effort to run him down and win tomorrow. Closest Russell Henley will have a front-row seat and can apply the most pressure as he will play in the final group four shots behind. Henley only has squared one bogey on the week and he can’t add to that number much tomorrow. As great as Casey has been into greens, Henley leads the field in GIR (48 of 54) for the week. Henley has unfinished business here as he was 14-under after three rounds in 2016 before limping home with 73 (T11). Joiners The group at five shots back includes 36-hole leader Brian Harman and he was joined by J.B. Holmes and Anirban Lahiri. While Harman bogeyed two of his last three to fall back, Holmes and Lahiri shot up the board in Round 3 because of their prowess on the back nine. Both players signed for 30 and each had an eagle as they both moved up eight spots to T3. Holmes is trying to back up his solo third in Memphis while Lahiri hasn’t cashed inside the top 25 since last November. Top 10 in the Top 10 Gamers have been riding Bryson DeChambeau for most of 2018 and he hasn’t disappointed. After a tough first 10 holes (+1) he made three birdies against no bogeys in his final eight holes to stay in the top 10. He was a whopping four shots worse on the greens today and still signed for 68. I’d point out he has two doubles on the week and he’s only five back. Bubbling Bubba Watson had to 12-under with three holes to play but two bogeys on the way in knocked him back to T6. Looking to become the only player in recent memory to win this event for the third time, he’ll need nothing short of his best tomorrow. The good news for his investors is he’s posted a few low ones here including 63 already this week. Moving Day The back nine was the place to make up ground today and Jamie Lovemark (64) took advantage coming home in 31. He’s seven back after moving up 23 spots to T11. Brad Faxon made up seven shots in his victory in 2005, the largest come-from-behind win in history. He’s looking for his first top-10 check on his own ball since The Honda Classic … Kyle Stanley (65) joined Lovemark on T11 after moving up 14 spots. He defends next week at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm and looks to be right on schedule. … Patrick Cantlay (65) is eight back and he’ll need to probably match the 60 he posted as an amateur here in 2011 to have a sniff. Moving Day: Wrong Way Rory McIlroy began the day T8 and was torching the joint tee-to-green in the first two rounds. It all came to a screeching halt in Round 3 as he only found 12 of 18 GIR and he lost over 2.5 strokes putting. His investors are all shouting at me that he shot 64 on Sunday last year. He sure did. … Zach Johnson matched McIlroy as the first two activities on his card in Round 3 were squares. He righted the ship before a double on No. 16 killed the momentum. His 71 took him from T2 to T15 and eight shots back. Study Hall Round 1 scored 69.776 (-0.224) while Round 2 crept just higher at 69.994 (-0.006). Saturday’s excellent scoring conditions were realized as the field averaged 69.108 (-0.892)… Casey, Henley, Lovemark and Cantlay were joined in the clean card club by Emiliano Grillo (66) and Chase Seiffert (!!) (67). James Hahn carded his first hole-in-one on TOUR on No. 11 and sits T22.

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Brooks Koepka appears to open the door with a lackluster front nine, then slams it shut with a 29 on the back for a final-round 64 and a four-shot victory over Gary Woodland (63) at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Koepka, fresh off being named Player of the Year last season, began the new season in fitting fashion with his fifth PGA TOUR victory, this one propelling him to the No. 1 world ranking. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Koepka uses all 18 holes. Jack Nicklaus, who surprised Koepka with his Player of the Year trophy recently, was a master at biding his time and trusting that even if he didn’t start well, the birdies would come. Koepka took a page from that book in winning THE CJ CUP, where he bogeyed two of the first four holes and was caught at the turn by a surging Woodland (6-under 30 on the front nine). Koepka’s response, a blazing, 7-under 29 on the back, left no unanswered questions. “I’m not somebody that’s going to panic if things go the wrong way, pretty sure everybody can tell that,â€� Koepka said after hitting the after-burners to win. “I just kind of hang in there, wait for my holes, I know I’m going to have some good looks and when I do, you’ve got to capitalize on them.â€� 2. It was hard to find fault with Woodland’s 11 birdies in the final round. His first round, though, was a 1-over 73 that immediately set him on his heels. Right away, Woodland was five off the lead (Chez Reavie) and two behind eventual winner Koepka. “Thursday was so tough,â€� said Woodland, whose most recent victory came at last season’s Waste Management Phoenix Open. “But the last couple days I really had it going.â€� This wasn’t the first time Koepka and Woodland have clashed. They were paired together in the third round of the PGA Championship at Bellerive, with Koepka (66, on the way to his second W last season) getting the better of Woodland (71, T6) then, as well. “Brooks with the lead, not much fazes him,â€� Woodland said, “so you knew you had to make a lot of birdies and I made lot today, but I was just too far behind.â€� 3. The first round was all about survival. Players were caught off guard by the cold weather, with Scott Piercy (a lined hat, with ear flaps) among those who scrambled to buy warmer gear. How hard was it? There were no bogey-free rounds Thursday, but 21 the rest of the way. The first-round stroke average of 73.269 was by far the highest of the week, and in fact the course got easier each day, with the field average down to 69.410 by Sunday’s final round. 4. Ryan Palmer won’t soon forget the final round for many reasons, one of them personal. The Texan birdied his final seven holes for a tournament-record 62, and did not make a bogey, but he played with a heavy heart. Palmer wore a late friend’s initials on his cap, and tapped his chest and pointed to the sky after making his final birdie of the day on 18. “Yeah, we lost a good friend of ours,â€� Palmer said. “A lifelong friend, Dan Callahan, passed away earlier this week, fight with cancer he’s been fighting the last year and a half or so. Then the last couple weeks we knew he was going down that road and he went into hospice about a week ago and it was Monday or Tuesday we found out he passed. “His funeral’s Friday back in Florida,â€� Palmer continued, “and they’re going to have something back in Amarillo where we all grew up here in a couple weeks, I think. That’s the DC that you see on my hat. Yeah, he’s going to be missed.â€� 5. Only one player took home the trophy, but several players walked away from Nine Bridges whistling a happy tune. The 568-yard, par-5 18th hole gave up final-round eagles to Koepka, Chez Reavie, Cam Smith, Adam Scott, Keith Mitchel, Danny Willett, Kevin Chappell, Brice Garnett, Brian Stuard, Brian Gay, Hyungjoon Lee. The finisher gave up 11 eagles total, compared to just five on the rest of the course combined, and was so easy that Palmer said he’d like to have a do-over after merely making a birdie. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Koepka’s victory marked the second consecutive year in which the reigning PGA TOUR Player of the Year won THE CJ CUP. Justin Thomas won last year. Koepka was T42 in fairways hit (73.2 percent), T23 in Greens in Regulation (77.8 percent), and T5 in Putts (1.60). 2. In moving to 3rd in the FedExCup and No. 1 in the world, Koepka proved not only one of the hottest players on TOUR (he’s won three times in his last 11 starts) but also one of the most well-traveled. He now has 12 professional victories in seven different countries. 3. Koepka and runner-up Woodland each made two bogeys, but struggled or flat-lined in different places on the course. The result: Their best-ball score Sunday was 14-under 58. 4. Ryan Palmer’s seven straight birdies from holes 12-18 made him the 18th different player to post seven straight birdies on TOUR since the start of 2012. The last player to make eight straight was Chris Stroud in the second round of the 2011 OHL Classic at Mayakoba. Two players, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Lanto Griffin, made seven straight last season.  5. Kevin Tway (T52) gave up FedExCup pole position to Marc Leishman (66, T18). Justin Rose, the newly-minted FedExCup champion, did not play but starts his TOUR season this week at the World Golf Championship-HSBC Champions, where he won a year ago.

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