Bernhard Langer to give the field a reprieve, withdraws from Cologuard Classic with injury

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Rory McIlroy shot an 8-under 62 on Saturday at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational to take a one-stroke lead over Brooks Koepka. McIlroy, who missed the cut by a stroke last week in the Open Championship on his home turf in Northern Ireland, rebounded very nicely. He had a nine-birdie, one-bogey round to move from a tie for 17th to the top of the leaderboard at TPC Southwind. He finished the round Saturday with three straight birdies. McIlroy capped his birdie spurt by rolling in a 27-footer on the par-4 18th after putting his tee shot into a fairway bunker. He had a 12-under 198 total. Two groups behind McIlroy, Koepka (64) had his chances. The top-ranked player in the FedExCup finished with three straight pars. Now Koepka and McIlroy, who played the first two rounds together, will play together Sunday in a final round for the first time in their careers. Second-round leader Matthew Fitzpatrick (69) was third, two strokes back. Marc Leishman (63), Alex Noren (66) and Jon Rahm (68) were three shots behind.

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After an adjustment to the PGA TOUR schedule, the Houston Open returns after an 18-month break with a new spot during the season. The longtime lead-in to the Masters is now part of the fall stretch of tournaments in 2019-20, and will return to the Golf Club of Houston’s Tournament course for this year for the final time before shifting to a new course in 2020. A former FedExCup winner, past Houston champions and multiple major winners headline the field in Humble, Texas. FIELD NOTES: Sanderson Farms Championship winner and current FedExCup leader Sebastián Muñoz will play his fourth tournament in a row to start 2019-20. Muñoz has Lone Star state connections, as he went to the University of North Texas. … 2013 FedExCup champion Henrik Stenson returns to the Houston Open after finishing T6 in the last edition. He was also runner-up in 2016. … Cole Hammer, the No. 2-ranked amateur in the world and current Texas Longhorn, has received a sponsor exemption and will make his first non-major PGA TOUR start (he played the 2015 U.S. Open as a 15-year-old). … Safeway Open winner Cameron Champ will be making his third start of the season next week. … Past Houston Open winners Jim Herman, Russell Henley, D.A. Points, Johnson Wagner, Hunter Mahan and Matt Jones are teeing it up. … Jimmy Walker, who is one of six golfers who hold the course record at the Golf Club of Houston (63) is one of trio of major champions in the field (the others being Stenson and Jason Dufner). … After making his first PGA TOUR start in more than two years at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas, Graham DeLaet is set to play again in Houston. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points COURSE: Golf Club of Houston (Tournament), 7,441 yards, par 72. The course plays host to the PGA TOUR for the 13th time. STORYLINES: The 2019 edition of the Houston Open is the first of a five-year agreement between the PGA TOUR and the Houston Astros Foundation. The tournament will move to Memorial Park Golf Course next October after the course finishes at $13.5-million renovation. … The Houston Open was long known as the pre-Masters tune up, but this year it moves to the fall for the first time. It remains to be seen if the course will be set-up as it has been in the past (as comparable as possible to Augusta National). … After 2018’s edition, there has now been a playoff 24 out of 73 times at the Houston Open. Only the U.S. Open has had more playoffs on the PGA TOUR. …There are a ton of Texas connections in the field at the Houston Open including university alums and locals with Texas ties. Multi-time TOUR winner Jhonattan Vegas, Beau Hossler and Kramer Hickok went to the University of Texas and Scottie Scheffler (the Korn Ferry Tour’s top golfer for 2019) is a Dallas resident. 72-HOLE RECORD: 266, Curtis Strange and Lee Trevino (1980 at Woodlands CC), Vijay Singh (2002 at TPC Woodlands). Golf Club of Houston record: 268, Phil Mickelson (2011), Russell Henley (2017). 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, Ron Streck (3rd round, 1981 at Woodlands CC), Fred Funk (3rd round, 1992 at TPC Woodlands). Golf Club of Houston record: 63, Johnson Wagner (1st round, 2008), Adam Scott (1st round, 2008), Jimmy Walker (1st round, 2011), Phil Mickelson (3rd round, 2011), Scott Piercy (1st round, 2015), Sung Kang (2nd round, 2017). LAST TIME: The last time the Houston Open was played in April 2018 it delivered a big-time result. Ian Poulter drained a 20-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to force a playoff with Beau Hossler. The Englishman made a slippery par putt on the first playoff hole to top Hossler (who made a triple-bogey 7) and earn a spot in the Masters the following week. Poulter closed with a 5-under 67 and his Houston Open title was his third on the PGA TOUR. Jordan Spieth shot a final-round 66 to finish T3 alongside Emiliano Grillo. Sam Ryder rounded out the top five. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 4 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 8:15 a.m.- 7 p.m. ET (Featured Groups) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 1 p.m.-7 p.m. ET. Saturday-Sunday, 2 p.m.-7 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

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Here are nine tidbits from the first round of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. The Old White TPC at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia hosts for the eighth time and measures 7,287 yards and plays to Par-70.   KNOW THY ENEMY These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. The morning wave had the best greens and best weather. The afternoon wave had to deal with a 1 hour 55 minute weather delay. Play was halted at 3:51 p.m. and resumed at 5:46 p.m. after the conditions were deemed safe. Don’t be surprised if there is more weather that causes play to stop and start again Friday! The splits were barely noticeable so when in doubt with the weather tomorrow, split/blend accordingly. Round 1 scoring average was 69.340 (-0.660) and there are 87 golfers currently at one-under par or better. There were seven bogey-free rounds Thursday as play was completed even with the weather delay. No tee times have been adjusted for Friday. PEOPLE’S CHOICE There’s good news and bad news for Bubba Watson and his investors. He was cruising along at four-under-par before a sloppy double late in his round knocked him back to 68 (-2). Watson jammed his hand/wrist early in the round as he had to navigate a bunker shot near the lip. Luckily he shook it off in a couple of holes and it wasn’t bothering him according to his post-round interview. Whew. Don’t forget the winner of this tournament has NEVER LED after any round except Round 4 in the seven previous editions. No lead is safe and there have been no 54-hole conversions. Strange, but true. STREAK BUSTER If Webb Simpson is going to rack up his first win and fourth top-10 payday at The Greenbrier, he’s going to have to do it in historic fashion. Knowing that he will have another mouth to feed shortly, I doubt he’s worried about streaks by previous champions. He needed to birdie the last two to tie the course record 59. He made pars on the final two holes to sign for a bogey-free, career-best 61 and the outright lead.  WHERE’S WHEE? It’s never hard to find the guy who circled 10 birdies on the day! Whee Kim sits T2 after making six on his opening nine to go out in 30. His score could have been even better but he squared two bogeys during that opening run. He played the back in bogey-free 32 and sits one behind Simpson’s lead. His 62 is his career-best round on TOUR. NOTHING NEW FOR NIEMANN I get that Joaquin Niemann is 19, but this isn’t his first event at The Old White TPC. Last year as an amateur he showed up and opened 68-68 to easily play the weekend. Saturday got the best of him as he stumbled to 75, but it was Sunday’s 64 that should have caught your attention! His bogey-free 63 is his third bogey-free round in his last four on TOUR. Don’t be late to this party. HE’S KRAFTY Grabbing gamers attention in late February with a T8 and a solo third in late March, Kelly Kraft looked like he was heading to “regular” status in his column. His next 11 events saw him pack early seven times and T35 was his biggest payday. He must like it here as he was T5 with all four rounds in the 60’s last year in his first try. This year he extends to five in a row with seven birdies against one bogey for 64 in Round 1. HOWELL-ING AT THE MOON The human ATM doesn’t have a very stellar track record here compared to some of his other stomping grounds. Charles Howell’s T9 in his first visit in 2010 is his only top-10 finish, and he’s not cashed for anything better than T32 in his next six tries. Gamers still backed him heavily as his recent form is impossible to ignore. He didn’t win the tournament on Thursday but his 68 surely didn’t lose it.  DEFENSE It’s never easy to win tournament No. 1, and it’s probably just as difficult to arrive for the first time as the defending champion. Xander Schauffele will get it out of the way this week so he won’t have to worry about it at East Lake (if he qualifies) to wrap up the season. His opening round 66 didn’t beat his 64 from last year but he played his last 12 holes in five-under to keep it around the top 10. He’s now 18-under in five rounds. COURSE HORSE Robert Streb has finished second and lost in a playoff in his last two starts in West Virginia and was 26-under combined. He’s picked up right where he’s left off as his opening round 66 runs his streak of rounds in the 60’s to nine. His best finish on TOUR this season is T40 so something has to give this week! STUDY HALL Norman Xiong is making his pro debut this week. As of this evening he was leading the event in SG: off the tee, striped 12-of-14 fairways and checked in on 17-of-18 GIR. His round of 69 (-1) could have been much better but he needed 33 putts. You’ve been alerted.  Billy Hurley III was of the 36 and 54-hole leaders (2014) who couldn’t close the door. His 66 in Round 1 gets him out of the blocks nicely. The fellas with babies on the way all were red figures after Round 1. Austin Cook (-4), Wesley Bryan (-1) and Simpson have all announced recently that their families are expanding.  Smylie Kaufman signed for 79 and then WD with an elbow issue.  The highest round on a winner’s scorecard for the week is 70. Scott Stallings is the only victor of seven to accomplish this. Stallings fired 70 this year in Round 1 as well.

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