Brendon Todd leads at Travelers

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Patrick Cantlay started this season amid great uncertainty. He’s finishing it with a flourish. “I played really well, took advantage of the short holes,â€� he said after firing a second-round 65 to get to 10 under par and in solo fourth, six off the lead. “There’s a lot of driveable par-4s and some getable par-5s. You’ve got to get your scoring there.â€� Cantlay made seven birdies against just one bogey, and although he came into this week at 41st in the FedExCup, he is now projected to move up to 21st. The improvement is even more eye-opening when you consider where he was at the start of this season. The former UCLA Bruin and No. 1-ranked amateur in 2011, Cantlay saw the start of his pro career complicated by back problems and the death of a friend, Chris Roth, who died in Cantlay’s arms after being hit by a car in 2016. In March, Cantlay came into the Valspar Championship playing on a major-medical extension; he had 10 starts in which to earn 389 FedExCup points or $624,746. His solo second-place finish at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course was worth $680,400, making him fully exempt for the remainder of this season. He kept going from there. Despite still getting used to the travel required on TOUR, Cantlay finished T3 at the RBC Heritage, and T10 at THE NORTHERN TRUST. Now he’s right where many expected he would be when he ruled the amateur ranks. “Not really,â€� Cantlay said, when asked if he was surprised by his performance at Conway Farms and his solid play all season. “I prepare and practice in order to put myself in position to win tournaments, and I feel like I’m able to do that. My prep has been good. My body is feeling really good, which is nice for a change, and looking forward to just keep doing what I’m doing.â€� BUBBLE WATCH Here are the players who are projected to move inside and outside the top 30 that will advance to the final leg of the FedExCup Playoffs, the TOUR Championship.If I look back to when I was sitting on the couch at home, yeah, come a long way. Cantlay started this season on a major-medical extension after struggling with chronic back pain. He shot 65, and in solo fourth is projected to move up to No. 21. TOP 5 WATCH The Top 5 players entering the TOUR Championship will control their own destiny at East Lake. Here’s a look at how the current Top 5 fared Friday at the BMW. 1. Jordan Spieth (70). It wasn’t a great day for the “super groupâ€� of the FedExCup top three, but Spieth limited the damage with 15 pars. Projected first. 2. Justin Thomas (70). Still absent his A game after win at the Dell Technologies Championship two weeks ago, but not completely out of it at 11 back. Projected second. 3. Dustin Johnson (72). A far cry from the guy who won THE NORTHERN TRUST to open the Playoffs, a suddenly wayward D.J. is tied for 61st place. Projected third. 4. Hideki Matsuyama (68). FedExCup slump may be breaking with solid second round that saw him birdie five of his last 13 holes. Projected sixth. 5. Jon Rahm (68). He isn’t far off, but too many mistakes, especially on the front nine, have “Rahmboâ€� falling out of the Top 5. Projected seventh. FEDEXCUP NOTES Francesco Molinari of Italy, who missed the cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST and finished well back (T61) at the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston, chalked up his six-birdie, no-bogey 65 Friday in part to a trip to his home in London last week. “I think I was probably more mentally tired,â€� said Molinari, who at 9-under is tied for fifth place with Stewart Cink (66), seven back, and is projected to go from 42nd to 27th in the FedExCup. “It’s been a long season traveling back and forth from Europe. So, yeah, I felt refreshed. … I had been away since the week before (the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational, Aug. 3-6). It was too long. Needed a few days in my own bed.â€�

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – There was plenty of daylight when third-round play concluded, the fans marching off the course and back to their regularly scheduled lives. That’s the thing about a limited-field event like the World Golf Championships FedEx St. Jude Invitational: There’s always plenty of time to work on your game after you sign your card. And so, one by one, the chase pack alighted for the practice grounds at TPC Southwind. Cameron Smith (65, 16 under, two back) went straight for the driver, having hit just five fairways in round three. Bryson DeChambeau (63, also two back) worked on short putts. Scottie Scheffler (67, five back) worked on his bunker play. Then there was leader Harris English, who shot 65 to reach 18 under par, did his media hits, and left the property. He is who he is. With two wins already this season (Sentry Tournament of Champions, Travelers Championship) he is fifth in the FedExCup and a career-high 10th in the world. At 32, he has never looked more comfortable being Harris English. “Yeah, just to be you,” English said, when asked what advice he would give to his 24-year-old self who won here, the first of four PGA TOUR titles and counting despite a seven-year win drought. “I mean, I’ve spent too many years chasing my swing, trying to swing it like somebody else instead of just refining what I did and why I swing the club how I did. Just to be myself and keep grinding at it, keep doing what you’re doing, keep enjoying the challenge.” DeChambeau also is enjoying the challenge. He came into this week with few expectations after having to bow out of the Olympics with COVID-19, but despite dropping a few pounds and losing a few miles per hour of clubhead speed, he’s in the thick of it after a 7-under 63. “Not much, just a little lower ball speed,” he said, when asked what impact being sick has had on his game. “But I’ll get that back real quickly. It’s honestly kind of helped me this week hit it in the fairway, I don’t know why.” (He’s 29 of 42 in driving accuracy, tied for 12th in the field.) English and DeChambeau, who would each become the first player with three victories this season with a win, will make up the final twosome at 2 p.m. ET Sunday. “I enjoy playing with Bryson,” said English, who has been one of the premier ball-strikers in the game since recommitting to his natural swing in 2019, and who leads the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. “To me it’s a lot like playing with Bubba Watson, I enjoy kind of seeing what he does.” Cameron Smith would love to come from the second-to-last group and spoil the party. He got more out of his round than he could have after hitting just five fairways. His iron play was on point, as was his putting one day after tying a TOUR record with 18 putts. The turning point for him Saturday: a chip-in birdie at the ninth hole to change his momentum. “Harry was hitting the ball so good today,” Smith said, a nod to his playing partner English in the last twosome out Saturday. “It was good to see some good shots, especially when I was struggling myself. Yeah, he definitely toted me along I think for sure.” One intangible: Smith will go out with Presidents Cup teammate Abraham Ancer (67, four back after bogeys on the last two holes) and they could not be more comfortable with each other. “Got to take it low tomorrow,” said Ancer, who is still searching for his first TOUR win. Although Smith came in with the same score as DeChambeau, the first-in-last-out rule means it will be DeChambeau in the last twosome Sunday, not Smith. “Personally, I like to see what’s going on,” Smith said of playing in the final group. “Obviously there’s a lot of leaderboards around, so we’re able to see (despite being in the penultimate pairing). I’m looking forward to playing with Abe. He’s a really good friend and we have a lot of fun out on the course.” Scheffler and Ian Poulter (67) are not out of it at five back. English, who would surpass Collin Morikawa at FedExCup No. 1 should he hold on, would be the third wire-to-wire to winner in this event after Tiger Woods (2000) and Stewart Cink (’04), both of whom accomplished the feat when the tournament was played at Firestone South. Of course, English was just a teen-ager back then, and in his 20s he got caught up trying to be someone else, losing the DNA of his swing somewhere along the way. Now he’s just himself, even during increasingly rare dry spells like his first seven holes (all pars) on Saturday. The forecast calls for temperatures in the 90s, and DeChambeau, Smith and the rest of them will no doubt be trying to apply their own kind of heat. English, who grew up in Georgia, who knows himself and his game better than ever, seems nonplussed. Bring it on. “I love being in this situation,” he said. “I love this golf course and I feel like my strategy through the years has really worked out and it’s a lot – it’s very similar to a course I grew up on in south Georgia, so very comfortable with it and looking forward to the challenge tomorrow.”

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