Corey Conners garners massive attention in Wells Fargo Championship betting

Day 2 of the Ryder Cup takes place Saturday at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. Stars from the United States and Europe will battle it out in one of golf’s most treasured and historic competitions. Here’s everything you need to know to follow the action. NOTE: The PGA of America, which owns and operates the Ryder Cup, controls all digital streaming and broadcast rights to this event. For more information on how to watch this week, please visit The Ryder Cup website. PGA TOUR LIVE coverage will resume on Thursday, Sept. 30 at the Sanderson Farms Championship. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Friday: 8 a.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday: 8 a.m.-9 a.m. (Golf Channel), 9 a.m.-7 p.m. (NBC). Sunday: 12 p.m.-6 p.m. (NBC) Streaming: Featured Matches (TBD): on Peacock, RyderCup.com, and the Ryder Cup app. Radio: Friday-Saturday, 8 a.m.-7 p.m. ET. Sunday, noon-6 p.m. (SiriusXM 92) MUST READS Match previews: Saturday morning Foursomes Full Day 1 recap DeChambeau blasts 417-yard drive McIlroy benched after tough opening day Five Things to Know: Whistling Straits How the Ryder Cup format works Writers’ Roundtable: Burning questions Will Viktor Hovland be Europe’s secret weapon?

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KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Brooks Koepka can barely bend down to get his ball from the hole. Phil Mickelson is battling father time before our eyes. While the 2012 PGA Championship at Kiawah was a celebration of youthful virtuosity (Rory McIlroy), the 2021 PGA has become a drama of the human condition. It’s about scar tissue both literal and figurative, and man’s animating quest to catch up to his younger self. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Final round: How to follow, tee times | Details on Mickelson’s new custom driver “I felt I had a very clear picture on every shot,” said two-time PGA TOUR Champions winner Mickelson (70), who despite some shaky moments on the back nine will take a one-shot lead over Koepka (70) going into the final round Sunday. “And I’ve been swinging the club well, and so I was executing. I just need to keep that picture a few more times. “So even though it slipped a little bit today,” he added, “and I didn’t stay as focused and as sharp on a few swings, it’s significantly better than it’s been for a long time.” Louis Oosthuizen (72) is two off the lead, and nine players, including major winners Bryson DeChambeau (71) and Gary Woodland (72), are within five. “I left a lot out there,” said Koepka (31 putts). “I’ve got a chance to win, so that’s all I wanted to do today is not give back any shots and be there tomorrow with a chance, and I’ve got that.” Unlike Mickelson, Koepka, who won the PGA in 2018 and ’19, has non-age-related issues. He won the Waste Management Phoenix Open for the second time in February, but shortly after that had surgery to repair a dislocated kneecap and ligament damage to his right knee. “Even though I’m not 100 percent,” he said earlier this week, “I can still hit the shots.” He was in obvious discomfort and unable to bend down to read putts or retrieve his ball from the hole at the Masters. He missed the cut. He also missed the cut at the AT&T Byron Nelson last week, but was pleased, he said, to be able to hit a variety of shots. Kiawah is a very long walk – at 7,876 yards, it’s the longest major venue ever – but at least it’s not hilly. And he’s proven himself correct; he really has hit all the shots. Mickelson would become the oldest men’s major winner, besting Julius Boros, who was 48 at the 1968 PGA. It would be his second PGA title (2005); sixth major (and first since the 2013 Open); and 45th PGA TOUR victory (first since the 2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am). The Ocean Course is a slippery stage, though, and even in his prime, Mickelson – now 115th in the world, 168th in the FedExCup – was one of the most accident-prone superstars. He led by five shots early on the back nine Saturday but showed cracks over the next two hours. The most glaring of these was his wild hook at the par-4 13th hole. The ball never crossed dry land, and although Mickelson made a valiant effort – hitting three from the tee and sticking his next shot to just over 11 feet – he failed to make the putt and carded a double-bogey. His five-shot lead was down to just one over Koepka and Oosthuizen, and although he striped his tee shot to just under 7 1/2 feet at the par-3 14th hole, his birdie try missed badly. The entire sequence – his failure to birdie the par-5 11th to his failure to birdie 14 – took only an hour. Older players have flirted with winning majors. Jack Nicklaus was 58 when he contended deep into Sunday at the 1998 Masters. Tom Watson was 59 when he nearly won the 2009 Open Championship. Fred Couples was 52 when he led after round two of the 2012 Masters. None of them won. With just two victories in the last seven years, Mickelson admits his mental game isn’t what it was. He has tried dietary changes, meditation, and marathon sessions of 36 to 45 holes a day. It’s a work in progress. What remains clear is that he’s having fun. He and Steve Stricker took on Zach Johnson and Will Zalatoris in a practice round earlier this week, and Mickelson birdied the first three holes. “Phil and I were 3-up after three,” Stricker said, “and he said it loud enough so everybody could hear, ‘You know, Strick, I thought we’d be more up at this point.’ And we were 3-up after three. “Typical Phil,” he continued. “It’s good to see him out here. He has such a good time in those practice rounds and seeing everybody it seems like. He still has a tremendous amount of desire to compete at this level, and that’s why he’s doing it and that’s why he’s playing well.” He’s still got one more day of fun, if that’s what this is. He’s still got people watching.

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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – From Brooks Koepka’s perspective, nobody in the field through three rounds of The Open Championship has been better tee-to-green. “I’ve hit it as good as I could possibly imagine,â€� he said. But … “I’ve putted the worst in the entire field. … It’s been really bad. Very frustrating. Disappointed.â€� And yet, there he is, still looming near the top of the leaderboard. Koepka’s 4-under 67 on Saturday at Royal Portrush leaves him at 9 under for the tournament and in a tie for fourth with Justin Rose. The bad news is that he’ll start Sunday’s final round seven shots off the lead held by Irishman Shane Lowry. For the player who’s gone 1-T2-1-2 in his last four major starts, it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility for Koepka to make his presence felt at Royal Portrush. Yes, he’s well back of Lowry, who has a four-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood. The tournament is in Lowry’s hands, not Koepka’s, going into the final round. RELATED: Tee times | Tough weather conditions in store | McDowell: Rory ‘won himself a lot of fans’ | Schauffele’s driver non-conforming But if Lowry stumbles – which he did three years ago after holding a four-shot lead through three rounds of the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont – then Koepka has just two players to hurdle: Fleetwood, who’s 12 under, and J.B. Holmes at 10 under. “It’s just not the week I’ve been looking for, not the week that I’ve expected,â€� Koepka said. “But at the same time, there’s one more round, so I need to figure it out.â€� Bad weather will help. Strong winds and potential rain are in the forecast, and that’s potentially good news for the chase pack. In perfect conditions Saturday, Lowry shot an 8-under 63, tying for the second-lowest score in major championship history. Another perfect day would make things easier for him. “You need some wind, you need some rain,â€� Koepka said. “You need anything that can kind of go your way. And that’s got to be an advantage – especially the way I’m striking the ball. I’ve struck it so good. If it’s going to be windy, you need to be able to strike it good, control your flight and figure out where you want the ball to end up. If it’s going to blow 30 (mph), it can get out of control very quickly.â€� Rose, in the same boat as Koepka, knows it’s just a matter of picking off the guys ahead of him and taking advantage if Lowry has a bad day. “Whenever some guy’s stretch the lead, I’ve always said, where’s second place? …â€� Rose said. “You never know what the leader is going to do. You’ve always got to look at where the chasing pack is and stay relevant to that.â€� That chasing pack is led by fellow Englishman Fleetwood thanks to his bogey-free 66 on Saturday. Fleetwood’s putter has been more effective than Koepka’s this week. He’ll also have the benefit of keeping Lowry in his sights, as the two are paired in the final group. Of course, that means he’ll also have to deal with all the support that Lowry will receive Sunday. It was a crazy scene on Saturday as Lowry rode the emotional Irish backing in the final group with Holmes. No reason to think it will be different in the final round. “I’m very happy to have that challenge,â€� Fleetwood said. “If you had said at the start of today, at the start of the week, at the start of the year, you’re going into the last round – whether I’m four back, five back, it doesn’t matter — I’m in the last group Sunday at The Open and playing with Shane, and the majority of the crowd might not be with you, I would’ve said fine, ‘Yeah, that’s fine.’ “I’m looking forward to it, to be honest with you.â€� Holmes had the front-row view on Saturday and called it “awesomeâ€� to see, a “cool experience.â€� Added Holmes: “I don’t know how many times in history you get the opportunity to witness that or be around that, to have somebody from the home country put a round up like that in an Open. It’s pretty special. Something I’ll never forget.” But in shooting a 69 and losing six shots to Lowry, Holmes now must hope he can at least switch the scores Sunday. No lead, he figures – or at least hopes — is insurmountable in a major. “It’s tough no matter whether you have a one-shot lead or a five-shot lead,â€� Holmes said. “It’s tough to finish off a major. It’s a tough test. So we’ll see.â€�

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