BMW Championship, Round 3: Leaderboard, tee times, TV times

HOUSTON – It wasn’t the coldest day in Houston Open golf history; after all, this tournament has been played as early as February and as late as the week before Thanksgiving. And it wasn’t the windiest day, although gusts did reach upwards of 30 mph. And it probably wasn’t the toughest day – but it was definitely tougher in Friday’s second round at the Golf Club of Houston than it was in the opening round. Almost two strokes tougher, in fact. Thanks to a strong cold front that arrived mid-morning – bringing rain and isolated thunderstorms that forced a 2-hour suspension – golfers found it difficult to not only break par, but stay warm in temperatures that dropped into the mid-50s. Related: Leaderboard | Soon to be a father, Malnati hopes to deliver a win | Win probabilities The stroke average on Friday was 73.438. It was 71.510 on Thursday at the par-72 course. Afternoon golfers, once they got on the course, felt the brunt of the conditions. Of the 11 golfers who managed to complete their rounds before darkness suspended play, just one – Scott Brown with a 69 – broke 70. Two others were at 71. The other eight did not break par. “It was tough out there,� said Sepp Straka after his afternoon 71 left him at 8 under through two rounds, two shots behind leader Peter Malnati. “It was cold, it was windy, completely different from yesterday morning. Yeah, it was a grind.� Mark Hubbard was one of the morning finishers, and he moved up the leaderboard with a 69. Still, he had to encounter the changing conditions mid-round. “It was weird,� he said. “I was sweating through my gray pants this morning at 7 a.m. and by about our 13th hole, I wished I had another jacket.� Malnati also went off early, and he made the biggest move with a 65 that left him at 10 under and with the solo lead. Talor Gooch, one of the 18-hole co-leaders, is a stroke back. “I went out just purely with the plan of I’m going to give my best effort all the time no matter what,� Malnati said. “… When the weather was good, trying my best on every shot resulted in 5 under through five and then when the weather turned after our long delay, that trying my best on every shot turned into 2 under through my last 13 – and that was still pretty darn good.� The 453-yard par-4 18th hole turned particularly nasty into the wind. It played to a stroke average of 4.891, making it the hardest hole on the course Friday. No player managed a birdie in the 110 players who played the hole. “They moved the tee box two up, so I don’t even think there was another tee box they could have moved it to,� Hubbard said, who noted that after his 238-yard tee shot found the rough near the fairway bunker, he was basically playing for bogey. His playing partners each made par using 3-woods with their approach shots. “I said ‘Good birdie’ to both of them,� Hubbard said. “At that point, I think that was my first bogey of the tournament – and in my mind, I was still bogey-free.� Of the 59 players still left on the course, just eight are at 2 under or better for the rounds. The good news, though, is that they should get improved scoring conditions once play resumes at 9 a.m. ET. The third round will then go off two tees in threesomes starting at approximately noon ET.

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MAMARONECK, N.Y. - Justin Thomas could have shot anything in the second round of the 82nd U.S. Open at Winged Foot on Friday. On a course where you must hit the fairway, he hit just three of them. The putts weren't dropping. He was 5 over for his first 10 holes. It was all slipping away. And then it wasn't. In a bounce-back that may have saved his chances for a second major title, Thomas birdied the long par-3 third hole and went 1 under the rest of the way for a 3-over 73 that left him 2 under, just two back. "Every single person in this tournament is going to go through a stretch where they get a bad run, especially here," he said. "... I wasn’t driving it well and then had a couple putts that easily could have gone in that kind of just stayed out. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Winged Foot fights back in Round 2 "But I just stayed positive" he added, "and kept fighting because I know that a 3 over is better than a 4 over, and today easily could have been a 6 or 7. I’m proud of myself for how I hung in." The second round brought significantly more wind, which sped the course up and made things considerably more difficult. Tiger Woods, one of Thomas' playing partners, struggled to a 77, and he wasn't even close to the worst of the casualties. Sung Kang shot 86, while Davis Thompson, the Georgia amateur who briefly held the first-round lead, shot 78 to miss the cut by one. It was that kind of day; the course bit back. Wayward with the driver, Thomas paid the usual price for inaccuracy at Winged Foot. He and his caddie Jimmy Johnson rolled with it, though, trusting that things would start to turn. "He knew and I knew that we were close to getting something and at least making some pars or throwing in a birdie or two," Thomas said. "He just kind of says to me, ‘Stay patient. Good things will happen. We’ve just got to keep playing our game.' And that’s what we did." Thomas found something with his tee shot at the third, his 12th hole of the day. He later called it the turning point. "I mean, that birdie on three was pretty sick," he said. "I mean, a 5-wood in there, 228 into the wind, and then just it was a really, really tough putt. I mean, I’m sure you could see with kind of the sun hitting the greens they weren’t exactly rolling true, but that’s how poa annua is and everybody has to deal with it in the afternoon. "That was a very quick double breaking putt," he added, "and that was nice. After playing No. 2 perfectly and just having it lip out, to birdie that hole almost feels like an eagle." Exhausted and out of daylight, he was due for some dinner and rest. He'll have some work on the driving range to do in order to straighten out the driver Saturday, but isn't overly worried. And at just two back, he likes his position. "It’s a better position than I’ve been in a U.S. Open before," he said. "This isn’t exactly a place where you go out and try to shoot 6 or 7 under to catch up."

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