Six protesters storm 18th green, delay Travelers

VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) — Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter and Shane Lowry were picked by European captain Padraig Harrington on Sunday to fill out the team for the Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. Harrington had previously indicated Garcia and Poulter, who have a combined 15 appearances in the Ryder Cup, were in line to be selected. Lowry got the nod ahead of Justin Rose and will be one of three rookies in the team, along with Bernd Wiesberger and Viktor Hovland. Wiesberger, Lee Westwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton secured the final automatic qualifying places for Europe following the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday. They joined Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Hovland and Paul Casey in the team for the Sept. 24-26 event, when the Europeans will be defending the cup they won outside Paris in 2018. They have a huge advantage in terms of experience — Westwood (10) and Garcia (9) make up half of the 38 Ryder Cup appearances in the European team — though the Americans have nine of the current top 11 in the world rankings. The 41-year-old Garcia will be looking to add to his record haul of 25 1/2 points at Ryder Cups. “He’s a leader. He loves match play. He’s a great ball-striker and is well suited to the golf course,” Harrington said. “But it’s what he does for the team, he really leads out that team.” Poulter, who has earned the nickname “The Postman” because of his Ryder Cup exploits, has been given a captain’s pick for the second straight time. He is unbeaten in singles matches in his six appearances, delivering points for his team. “I don’t think this should have been too much of a doubt,” Harrington said of Poulter’s selection, calling the Englishman a “talisman.” “He brings an unbelievable passion to the team room, he brings incredible passion to his matches. He lifts his playing partners, he lifts his team.” Rose pressed his case for a pick by shooting a final-round 65 at Wentworth on Sunday in finishing in a tie for sixth, having needed a win to qualify automatically. “I played match play against the golf course, just to get into the spirit of match play,” Rose said pointedly. But Harrington was persuaded to go with Lowry, the 2019 Open champion, because of the Irishman’s consistency over a longer period of the qualifying period. “More relieved than anything else,” Lowry said. “But I’m over the moon, really excited.”

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Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the 100th PGA Championship gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis plays 7,316 yards to par-70. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 selected, plus one, golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. Round 2 was completed before 11:00 a.m. Saturday morning before Round 3 tee times began at 11:30 a.m. The cut landed on 140 (E) and for the first time in the history of the majors, +1 did NOT make the weekend. Of the 81 who made the cut they play both weekend rounds as there is no MDF in the major championships. Sunshine and hot temperatures made for ideal scoring conditions for the third round running. 54-Hole Leader After tying the PGA Championship record with 63 in Round 2, Brooks Koepka raced out of the blocks in Round 3. He was cruising with a five-shot lead as he went out in 30 before a pair of bogeys kept the field interested. He eventually signed for 66, tied for the second-best round of the day, and his total of 12 under par will give him a two-shot cushion in Round 4. He’ll look to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in the same season. Shotgun Rider Australian Adam Scott, as his investors will remind me, only has one top-10 payday this season on the Zoysia fairways at Trinity Forest (T9). He’ll play in the final group after posting the round of the day, 65, with birdies on two of his last three holes. He’s played the final three holes in 4 under the last two rounds and has plenty of experience in big moments. Beware the Injured Golfer Rickie Fowler is dealing with an oblique injury but gutted out 69 and will begin Sunday in the penultimate group with Jon Rahm. He’s three back but sits third in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. He hasn’t made anything this week but only has five total bogeys on his card. As long as he wakes up feeling well he should be in the fight on the back nine. Rahm-bo Fowler’s playing partner is also three back and is also looking to find answers with the putter on Sunday. Jon Rahm hasn’t squared a bogey in his last 45 holes but he resides in the bottom half of Strokes Gained: Putting. The good news is he’s in the top six in both Tee-to-Green and Approach-the-Green and that doesn’t hurt. He’s chased before this year as he signed for 3 under at Augusta on Sunday for solo fourth. First Time for Everything? Tiger Woods has never won a major championship in come-from-behind fashion but he’ll have a chance to change that Sunday. After back-to-back rounds of 66, Woods is in with a shout as he’ll begin the final round four shots behind Koepka (T6). The key for Woods will be simple in the final round as he’ll have to find some fortune on the back nine. He’s 2 over for the week on the inward nine and hasn’t broken par in three tries. Moving Day Daniel Berger has been battling a wrist injury but admitted before his round it’s go-time. He stepped on the gas after his opening nine of 41 to post 12 under in his last 45 holes. He moved up 21 spots to T15 after 66 in Round 3. … Xander Schauffele is looking to claim his third consecutive top-10 payday in the majors after T6 at Shinnecock Hills and T2 at Carnoustie. His 67 moved him to T15 and like Berger sits just one shot out of the top 10. Moving Day: Wrong Way Dustin Johnson didn’t make a birdie through the first 14 holes and saw the field run right past him as he was 5 over. Birdies on three of the last four holes saw him post 72 (+2) rally to T21 but he was T5 to begin Round 3. … Kevin Kisner played in the final group Saturday for the second year running and the results were similar. His 72 last year saw him maintain his lead but his 72 this time dropped him from second to T12. He finished T7 last year. Study Hall It keeps getting “easier” and that’s hardly a surprise after the weather. Round 2 finished under par at 69.594 while Round 3 was a tick lower at 69.500. … There were three bogey-free rounds in Round 3 as club professional Ben Kern joined Rahm and Berger in this elite club.  … Tony Finau has circled 18 birdies to lead the way but is T57. … Englishman Matt Wallace made a hole-in-one on No. 15 with a 5-iron from 232 yards. … The top four plus ties get into the Masters next year. … Every winner in recent memory has been in the top five entering Sunday.

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HUMBLE, Texas — Rickie Fowler doesn’t need a win in Texas to book his place in the Masters field. But that doesn’t make this week is any less important for the four-time TOUR winner, who arrived in search of positive vibes in the final tune-up before the year’s first major championship. After one round, Fowler believes his game is trending in the right direction after he opened with 66 on Thursday to move into contention. “Had a couple short ones that we could have got, but all in all, good solid day,” Fowler said. “I like where we’re heading into the next few days and going into the weekend.” Fowler began his round with three birdies in the first seven holes and added two more after the turn before suffering his first bogey on the par-4 6th — his 15th hole of the day — when his fairway bunker shot hit the bank and rolled into the water. Fowler managed to get up-and-down for bogey to limit the damage and then reeled off back-to-back birdies to close out his round on a high note. “Being in contention and getting yourself in position to win and kind of get the blood flowing, it makes it a lot easier to start things up,” Fowler said of playing well in Houston the week before the Masters. The putter was the difference for Fowler, who made 168 feet, 11 inches worth of putts — 51 feet, 7 inches more than his previous-best figure in the category this season — and only recorded one birdie putt shorter than 10 feet. Ranked 127th this season in strokes gained: putting, Fowler admitted the club has cooled since last season when he finished second in the statistical category. That wasn’t the case on Thursday. “Nice to have the putter coming around because it was something that was great last year,” he said. “I feel like it’s always been one of my strongest parts when it gets going, and I’ve had a couple cold months, so heating back up.” OBSERVATIONS Hoping to book his place in the Masters field, Steve Stricker opened with 67 and sits just two shots back of the lead after Round 1. While his wins came on the PGA TOUR Champions, it could be debated that no one in the field is playing at a higher level than Stricker, who won last week in Mississippi for his second straight victory on the 50-and-older circuit. Phil Mickelson has come agonizingly close to shooting 59. For nine holes on Thursday, it appeared the 43-time TOUR winner was well on his way to potentially getting another shot. Six birdies on the front saw Mickelson go out in 30, but the round hit a snag on the par-3 14th when he failed to advance his ball out of the greenside bunker, leading to a double bogey. Mickelson still shot 68. A two-hour rain delay to begin the first round ensured a return to the course on Friday for 33 players in the field. The Golf Club of Houston received 2.30 inches of rain. Round 1 will resume at 7:20 a.m. (local time) with Round 2 expected to begin as scheduled. Making his first start in Houston, Kevin Tway managed to log just one practice round before his pro-am was canceled on Wednesday due to inclement weather. A lack of course knowledge wasn’t an issue for Tway, who shot a bogey-free 65 to grab a share of the clubhouse lead with Lucas Glover. “I was kind of going at it a little less prepared than usual, but sometimes that’s good and today it was,” said Tway. Receptive greens and preferred lies in closely-mown areas turned the day into a birdie-fest for many in the field, with 39 players shooting 68 or better. Normally the first round is an opportunity to get into position for the weekend, but with low scores up for grabs, some felt the need to be even more aggressive than normal. “I was going right at it trying to hole a couple, especially with the wedges. You’ve got to try and make birdie with those conditions,” said Tway. One week after he came close to advancing out of the group stage at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, Julian Suri was Monday qualifying for the Houston Open. The 72nd-ranked player in the world shot 64 to make the field and then opened with 66 in just his fourth TOUR start this season. NOTABLES Jordan Spieth – The 2015 FedExCup champion opened with 68, his lowest first-round score at the Houston Open. Spieth waited until the end of the round to produce some fireworks, rolling in three consecutive birdies from inside 8 feet to move into contention. Henrik Stenson – The 2013 FedExCup champion never got the putter going but still managed to shoot 4-under 68. The Swede only missed two greens in regulation. Justin Rose – Rose hasn’t skipped a beat this season with four top 10s in his first five starts. His run of good form continued with an opening-round 68 that could have been even better if not for a bogey on the last. Six of his last 10 rounds have been sub-70. Tony Finau – Making his fourth appearance at the Houston Open, Finau hit 15 greens in regulation but needed 31 putts to get around the course in 2-under 70. Russell Henley – The defending champion made four birdies in his first six holes but only made one the rest of the way. He’s now opened with a sub-70 round three of the last four years. Matt Kuchar – Kuchar made his move on the back nine with four birdies in a five-hole stretch, beginning on the 12th, to shoot 68. He’s attempting to make the cut for the fifth time in 10 starts at the Houston Open. QUOTABLES I enjoyed the texts early on for extra sleep. Sleep’s always good for me. SUPERLATIVES Low round: Lucas Glover and Kevin Tway opened with 65s to grab a share of the clubhouse lead. The score was the lowest of the year for both players. Sam Ryder (8 under) and Beau Hossler (7 under) were still on the course when play was called due to darkness. Longest drive: 381 yards – Chesson Hadley padded his driving stats for the season with a poke that caught the cart path on the par-4 17th and wound up 86 yards from the hole. Hadley took advantage of his good fortune by making birdie. Longest putt: 53 feet, one inch – Matt Jones drained the lengthy birdie putt on the par-3 9th hole. Easiest hole: Par-5, No. 8 (4.450) with 68 birdies, 52 pars and 5 bogeys. Hardest hole: Par-4, No. 18 (4.147) with 14 birdies, 85 pars, 28 bogeys, 1 double bogey and 1 other. SHOT OF THE DAY

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