Scheffler has 2-shot lead at Players on record day

POTOMAC, Md. — Kyle Stanley got up-and-down for par from just over the 18th green to win the Quicken Loans National on the first hole of a playoff with Charles Howell III on Sunday. On a chaotic final day at TPC Potomac that included a 5-minute delay for a pop-up storm, Stanley and Howell finished at 7-under 273 after matching final-round 4-under 66s. Howell had a 21-foot putt to win on the final hole of regulation that rolled over the left edge of the cup. In the playoff, both missed the fairway and the green. Howell’s chip came up short and he missed the 11-foot par putt. Stanley chipped to 5 feet and pumped his fist as the putt dropped. It was the second career victory for Stanley, who had struggled following his 2012 win at the Phoenix Open.

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NAPA, Calif. — Justin Lower weathered the wind and birdied the 18th hole Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the season-opening Fortinet Championship. Lower shot a 3-under 69 to get to 13 under at Silverado Resort & Spa, with his fifth birdie of the round giving him his first career 54-hole lead in his 29th start on the PGA TOUR. He’s looking for his first TOUR victory. Defending champion Max Homa and Danny Willett were a shot back after even-par 72s. Byeong Hun An had a 71 to get to 11 under. While several players who went out early in the day posted low scores in good playing conditions, the course got much harder late in the day when the wind picked up to wreak havoc on the players. Willett took several minutes on the eighth green clearing off blowing leaves just before making a birdie putt that put him briefly in the lead at 13 under. Workers with leaf blowers came out on the next hole to keep the green clean but Willett made a double-bogey 7 after his approach shot flew past the green. There were few birdie chances available with players happy with pars late in the day. That led to a very condensed leaderboard with eight players within three shots of the lead headed into Sunday. An moved into a one-shot lead when he hit a solid tee shot on the par-3 15th came and then made a birdie from about 6 feet to get to 13 under. But he gave it back and more with a double bogey in the par-5 16th when his second shot got caught near the root of a tree. That opened the door for Lower, who put his second shot on the par-5 18th just off the green and then made the short birdie putt. It’s been quite a few weeks for Lower, who appeared to lose his TOUR card after three-putting the final hole of the Wyndham Championship for a bogey when he only needed a par to remain in he top 125. Lower found his way back into the top 125 and is taking advantage of it in the first tournament of the new season. Conditions aren’t expected to be much better in the final round, which has already been altered by an ominous forecast with rain and wind. The leaders will tee off several hours earlier than scheduled with the final round featuring threesomes off split tees. Davis Thompson and Harrison Endycott shot the low rounds of the day with 65s that left Harrison in a four-way tie for fifth place with Paul Haley II, Matt Kuchar and Adam Svensson. Endycott was a stroke behind in a four-way tie for ninth. Endycott the first player out on the course and played as a single in his first career tournament make the cut with a birdie on the the final hole of the second round. He overcame a broken driver early in that round and was happy to have all of his clubs available Saturday. “Definitely helps when you’ve got a driver in the bag after yesterday’s shenanigans with the cracked driver face,” he said. “This golf course is tough hitting 3-wood everywhere. So it was nice to get freed up, played some good golf today.” Haley, who had gone 3,315 days between appearances on the TOUR from the 2013 Wyndham Championship and the start of this tournament, was tied with Thompson in the group at 10 under after a 66.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Pat Perez leads by one stroke halfway through the CIMB Classic after carding a 7-under-par 65 around a four-hour delay for rain on Friday. Fellow American Xander Schauffele was on Perez’s tail after a long-range eagle on No. 3 set up his 5-under 67. Defending champion Justin Thomas had another poor round by his high standards, a 71. A three-peat at TPC Kuala Lumpur, where he clinched his first PGA TOUR title in 2015, seems a tall order. Two bogeys compounded by a double bogey on the 12th meant Thomas was 10 shots behind Perez, at 3 under for the tournament. Perez, meanwhile, was hoping for more gusty winds and rain after making eight birdies, including four in a row. He’s at 13-under 131 overall. “I don’t want sunshine at all. It’s too hot, way too hot,” Perez said. “I like it just the way it is right now, perfect. Cloudy, no wind. “I didn’t think I really played that well. I got off to a slow start, I was 1 over through four. We had the break, and … I like the front (nine), I play better on the front.” Sung Kang of South Korea (68), Thomas Pieters of Belgium (67) and overnight leader Cameron Smith of Australia (71) are tied for third, four shots off the pace at 9 under. TOUR Rookie of the Year Schauffele said he was comfortable. “Everything’s kind of coming easy,” Schauffele said. “Today was one of those weird days where (I had) all the breaks. I had some squirrely tee shots and a couple of weird drops. But they all kind of went my way.” More unsettled weather is expected over the weekend.

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