A year later, Amy Bockerstette has still got this

OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – News and notes from the third round of THE NORTHERN TRUST, with Jordan Spieth leading Dustin Johnson by three shots after a 6-under 64. Click here for more from Glen Oaks. SPIETH FLIPS THE SWITCH If Jordan Spieth wins Sunday, part of the credit will be a missed 12-foot birdie putt he had in the middle of his second round Friday. Spieth said the missed putt on the ninth green flipped the switch on understanding the speed of Glen Oaks’ greens. He turned to caddie Michael Greller and said, “I just haven’t hit them hard enough on this front nine. I just need to dial in the speed.� Since then, Spieth has played 27 holes. He’s made 14 birdies. He’s gone from 1 under and on the fringes of contention to now being the leader at 12 under and primed for his 12th PGA TOUR win. Making the proper speed adjustment, Spieth made five straight birdies in that second round, starting with an 11-footer on the 10th hole. “From there,� he said, “I started to fill it up.� He continued his hot putting Saturday, with four birdies on the front and four more on the back. So far, he’s made nearly 327 feet of putts in the first three rounds (only Kevin Tway and D.A. Points have made more). After the first round, Spieth ranked 99th in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. Now he ranks seventh. We should be used to this flip-the-switch ability on the greens from Spieth. It happened at The Open Championship in the final round. It’s not necessarily the way Spieth wants to approach things. He’d much rather have a hot putter for 72 holes. He told Greller as much before Saturday’s round. “I wish I was a lot more neutral with my putting,� Spieth said. “But the fact that I’m able to flip that switch mentally … is advantageous. It’s certainly an advantage I feel I have, that I can do. “But you know, I need to hold steady. I’ve still missed some putts inside of five (feet) this week, quite a few of them, and on afternoon poa annua, it’s likely to happen again.� For now, though, the switch is in the “on� position. If it stays that way Sunday, everybody else is playing for second. REMEMBER EAST LAKE Last year, Kevin Chappell led the TOUR Championship by two shots with two holes to play. But he suffered a bogey at the 17th hole, dropped into a three-man playoff and eventually saw Rory McIlroy win the tournament – and the FedExCup title. Chappell clearly hasn’t forgotten. He calls it unfinished business. “I want to put myself in the exact same situation I was in 350 days ago on the 71st tee on Sunday and we’ll see what happens,� Chappell said. He entered this week 30th in FedExCup points, which makes him the bubble boy for East Lake. Thanks to a 6-under 64 – matching Jordan Spieth for low round of the day – Chappell is tied for eighth at 5 under and leaving no doubt that he wants a shot at redemption. If he keeps playing well, he also may get his first opportunity to represent the U.S. since turning pro. Chappell is projected to move to 10th in Presidents Cup points. If he stays there after next week’s Dell Technologies Championship, he would earn one of the automatic berths for Team USA at Liberty National. For now, his focus is on the FedExCup Playoffs. “Team events are always a result of achieving your individual goals,� Chappell said. “… It’s sort of icing on the cake. If you look at it that way, I’ve never had the icing on the cake, so I look forward to that.� CALL OF THE DAY JUST MOVE CLOSER Paul Casey was with his swing coach Peter Kostis on the range Saturday morning. “You’re standing too far away from the golf ball,� Kostis said. Responded Casey: “After I hit it or before I hit it?� That might have prompted a chuckle, but the simple fix was an effective one. Casey moved an inch closer to the ball, steepened his shoulder plane, and struck it solid for 18 holes. He missed just three fairways and four greens, returning with a 4-under 66 that leaves him tied for third at 7 under. “Wonderful stuff,� Casey said. “… I’ve clearly got two guys ahead of me who are tough. But I’m in a great position. So I’d like to go out there tomorrow and tear it up and maybe do something better than I did today and we’ll see what happens.� QUOTE OF THE DAY Let’s be honest here. I’d rather have a three-shot lead. But it’s not that bad coming from three shots back, either, because that can change in one hole. ODDS AND ENDS Keegan Bradley said he played Glen Oaks a handful of times during his college days at St. John’s. “But I played it before they took all the trees down,� he said. “I don’t really remember many of the holes.� Still, he looks quite comfortable here, shooting a bogey-free 4-under 66 that left him in solo seventh at 6 under … Don’t expect a lot of fireworks from the leaders on the front nine Sunday. Most of the scoring holes are on the back. Tony Finau is 3 over on the front and 4 under on the back. “To me, the three hardest holes on the course are 1, 4 and 8. They all have length. The first hole is ridiculous. That’s just a par 5. If you make a 4 there, you feel like it’s a birdie.� Spieth is 2 under on the front and 10 under on the back. “It’s a difficult nine for somebody to go 4- or 5-under on, no matter how hot they get,� Spieth said of the front. “Then you get to a bunch of wedge holes and you can start really controlling your score from there.� … Tough day for Rickie Fowler, who was one of the 36-hole co-leaders but started with five bogeys in his first six holes. He eventually shot 74 to fall to 2 under and into a tie for 22nd. … Just 20 attempts have been made to drive the green at the short par-4 11th, which played to 297 yards Sunday. Finau has made three of those attempts and is surprised more of the longer hitters haven’t gone for it. But he understands why. “It has nothing to do with distance,� he said. “A lot of guys can get there. If anything, if you roll through the green and into that back bunker, that’s not a good spot.� Said Chappell: “It’s probably not the most enticing drivable hole we’ve seen on TOUR.�  

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Howard University moved one round closer to its first stroke-play victory as a men’s Division I program on Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass, shooting a second consecutive 19-over-par 307 – this time on the Dye’s Valley Course – to take a 1-shot lead into the final round of the 34th PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship. Howard, in its 154th year of existence, is only 13 months into restarting its golf program (it competed years ago in Division II), and is playing in only its third stroke-play tournament of 2020-21. Everett Whiten Jr. shot 1-over 73, with Gregory Odom Jr. pitching in with a 75. Odom, at 2-over 146, leads all individuals inside the Men’s Division I Team Division. Howard’s coach, Sam Puryear, played on a winning team in this tournament while at Middle Tennessee, and Odom said he and his teammates would like to give him a win as a coach, too. “I’m trying to stay mentally in the game,” said Odom, a junior from Memphis. “Leading as a team is always great. We didn’t have a super great season, but this is the finale. You’ve got to turn up.” Texas A&M-Corpus Christi took a commanding lead in the Women’s Team Division, shooting 26-over 314 on the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course to stretch its lead to 24 shots over Delaware State. Delaware State’s Baipor Khunsri (3-over 147) is the low individual through two rounds, but Texas A&M-Corpus Christi boasts four (Lucie Charbonnier, Kelli Ann Dugan, Reese Drezins and Kellsey Sample) among the top six. Joni Stephens, in her third season as coach for the Islanders, had a message for her front-running team: “Soak in this experience. The fact that we’re here at TPC Sawgrass and playing in the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship is unbelievable. This is an opportunity unlike anything we’ve ever had before and will be unforgettable. This will be something they’ll carry with them forever.” Dugan didn’t shoot her team’s lowest round, but provided the highlight of the day for the Islanders with a birdie-birdie finish at the Stadium’s famous 17th and 18th holes. She hit her tee shot in tight to set up birdie on the island 17th, then holed her third shot from short of the green at the par-4 18th. There are a lot of pros who would pay handsomely for such a finish in The Players each year. “I thought to myself, ‘I just birdied 17 and 18!’” said Dugan, a junior from San Antonio who shot 79. “I’ll never forget that. It’s something I’ll be able to tell my grandchildren.” Prairie View A&M’s men’s team, coming off a victory in the Southwestern Athletic Conference – its third consecutive conference title – shot 16-over 304 on Dye’s Valley to close the gap on Howard, and will head into Wednesday trailing the Bison by one shot. Prairie View received a rounded team effort, getting 75s from Lorenzo Elbert Jr. (the SWAC’s individual champion) and Isaiah Wilson and a 76 from Jordan Stagg. “The beautiful thing about winning the SWAC, it was very different than the first two (conference titles),” said Prairie View A&M Coach Kevin Jennings. “After the first round, we were 10 strokes back, and we made up nine strokes in the second round. Coming from behind gave the team a lot of momentum, and personally, gave us a lot of confidence within the group. I’m more than confident in my guys.” Alabama State (301) and Florida A&M (307) will start the final round eight shots behind Howard. Florida A&M, which recently won its first Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title, placing three players among the tournament’s top four, was the favorite to win the PWCC – the Rattlers were runners-up two years ago – but have yet to put a complete team round together. In the Women’s Individual Division, UNC-Wilmington junior Phu Khine produced the round of the tournament thus far, making six birdies in a 5-under 67 on Dye’s Valley. Khine started fast with two birdies and closed her round with two more, and said the effort was the best she has had this spring. “I’ve been waiting to see a round like this,” Khine said. “I wasn’t confident enough with my swing, and without confidence, my swing got messed up. So I’ve worked on a few key things and I’ve been committed. It’s more like a mental thing. I look at the pin sheet, and it’s like, I can hit that shot.” Miles College (Alabama) took a slim 3-shot edge over Livingstone College (North Carolina) into the final round of the Men’s Division II Team Division. Savannah State will start the final round 10 shots back. Anthony Lumpkin (74) leads Miles and is tied for second individually, one shot behind leader Jared Southerland of Kentucky State. Through two days of play, perhaps the best battle in any of the five divisions is taking place for the Men’s Individual title. Appalachian State junior Timothius Tarmardi pitched in for eagle from 15 yards at the penultimate par-5 17th hole at Dye’s Valley, and his 2-under 70 pulled him even with talented University of Alabama-Birmingham sophomore Khavish Varadan, who shot 74. The nearest competitor to those two stands eight shots back. Tamardi shot 33 going out on the Stadium Course on Monday, but didn’t finish well in his opening 74, so he cannot wait to get back there for one more go on Wednesday. “It was good experience for tomorrow,” he said. “I just need to seal the deal tomorrow. It’s not always about how you start, but how you end it. That’s all that matters.” This is the first time the PWCC has been staged at TPC Sawgrass, home course to The Players Championship each spring. Asked how he’ll handle the nerves on Wednesday when he steps to the famous finish at the Stadium Course, which includes that perilous 140-yard shot to the island green at No. 17, Tamardi, who is from Indonesia, paused for a moment. “Nothing crazy. One shot at a time,” he said, smiling. “We will talk about the 17th hole tomorrow.”

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