Bryson DeChambeau’s second round at the Masters has a meltdown, another search party and a dragging on social media

MEXICO CITY — Dustin Johnson watched a six-shot lead shrink to two before putting together enough birdies Saturday for a 5-under 66 and a four-shot lead over Rory McIlroy going into the final round of the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship. Johnson nearly threw away his six-shot lead through eight holes when McIlroy made a 35-foot birdie putt on No. 9, and then Johnson ran into some serious tree trouble on the 10th hole. He hit trees with three consecutive shots and had to two-putt from across the green to salvage a double bogey. It was his first score worse than par at Club de Golf Chapultepec this week. And it was his last of the day. “I didn’t let it bother me because I knew I was playing well and there were plenty of holes I could make birdie,” Johnson said. Johnson answered with two straight birdies, sandwiched two birdies around a big par save, and restored a cushion going into Sunday. McIlroy got no closer than two shots all day and had to settle for a 68. No one else was closer than seven shots of the lead. Tiger Woods pulled within four shots after Johnson’s blunder, but his hopes ended on the greens. Woods had a 5-iron from the middle of the fairway on the par-5 15th, put it into a bunker, blasted out weakly to 25 feet and four-putted for a double bogey, with the last three putts from just outside 3 feet. He followed that with a three-putt bogey on the 16th, and a birdie on the final hole gave him a 70. Woods, who hit 16 greens in regulation, was 10 shots behind and in no mood to speak to anyone after the round. Johnson, the only player to capture all four World Golf Championships, is going for his sixth WGC title and his 20th career victory on the PGA TOUR, which would make him a lifetime member at age 34. McIlroy did his best to hang around. He made back-to-back bogeys on the front nine that put him six behind, and then ran off three straight birdies to close the gap. He missed a 3-foot par putt on the 14th hole and was suddenly left a tall order for Sunday. It’s even tougher on everyone else. Masters champion Patrick Reed finished with three straight birdies for a 64 and was in the group seven shots behind with Patrick Cantlay (65), Sergio Garcia (69) and Cameron Smith (68). Reed started birdie-eagle and missed plenty of short putts. He said he would need as many opportunities on Sunday and even a better score. “It’s going to take a really special day tomorrow,” Reed said. “I don’t think 7 under is going to get it done. I’m thinking it’s going to at least take 10 (under) to maybe even a 59 depending on how he finishes the day.” Johnson had a two-shot lead to start the third round over McIlroy and Matt Kuchar, whose hopes for a Mexican sweep of PGA TOUR events fizzled with a 79. Johnson seized command on the second hole, when he hit a driver over the trees on the 367-yard hole, hopped it onto the green to 4 feet and made the putt for eagle. He holed a 10-foot birdie on No. 5 and kept getting looks at medium-range birdie attempts without making them. The 10th hole was merely a detour. Johnson hit driver off the tee into the trees and had a reasonable gap through the trees. But his lob wedge came out high, hit a tree and bounced into the bushes. Johnson was able to get a free drop from a sprinkler line, but that did him no good. His next shot came out soft and struck a tree trunk, rolling into the bushes. He did well to punch that away from the bunker and onto the far left side of the green. McIlroy smashed his drive and flipped a wedge into short range for birdie, making it a two-shot swing. That was as close as anyone came to Johnson, who looks poised to win for the second time in four weeks after his victory at the Saudi International. Then again, Johnson had a six-shot lead in the WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai at the end of 2017 and wound up tying a PGA TOUR record for largest 54-hole lead lost in the final round. He has a 4-3 record on the PGA TOUR when he has the lead. “D.J. is playing very well. He seems to be comfortable on this golf course. He’s going to be very tough to beat,” McIlroy said. “Tomorrow I’m going to have to go out there and probably shoot something similar to what I shot the first day (63) to have a chance.”  

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GERMANTOWN, Tenn. – Sahith Theegala was out to dinner the other night. It was a Thai place near TPC Southwind, home of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, where Theegala’s second-round 70 has him at 7 under and in contention yet again entering the weekend of a PGA TOUR event. They were a party of seven, including Theegala’s childhood coach, Rick Hunter; college coach, Michael Beard; Beard’s two sons; a Pepperdine University booster; and Theegala’s fitness guy, Josh Loyo. It was going to be 20-25 minutes to get a table. Then the restaurant owner, spotting a celebrity in his midst, got involved, which, ahem, expedited things. You could say life has changed for Theegala. A year ago, he was gearing up for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Now he’s taking selfies with restaurant owners and is known as one of the fastest rising talents on the PGA TOUR. “It feels like he’s starting to own it a little bit,” Pepperdine’s Beard said Friday, when Theegala hit 11 of 14 fairways for the second straight day but putted poorly. “At first he was kind of feeling it out, but he’s getting more comfortable out here.” The proof is in the numbers. He’s 39th in the FedExCup and 64th in the world. Cameron Young leads the Rookie of the Year race after a T3 at the PGA Championship and solo 2nd at The Open, two of his seven top-3 finishes this year. He’s ninth in the FedExCup. Joohyung “Tom” Kim, 20, entered the picture with his Wyndham Championship win and is 34th. Mito Pereira (38th) led all the way to the last hole of the PGA and has had a nice year. Theegala, though, would also have to be considered a strong contender for top rookie. “He reminds me of Tony at that age,” said Boyd Summerhays, who coaches Tony Finau, the 32-year-old who’s won three of his four PGA TOUR titles in the last 12 months. “I love the guy. A little raw, but a massive talent, and he’s got the head for it, too.” To be sure, Theegala is learning fast, and from more than just narrow losses at the Travelers Championship (72nd-hole double bogey, T2), WM Phoenix Open (71st-hole bogey, T3), and Sanderson Farms Championship (final-round 71, T8). Theegala has had to learn how to travel, too, which meant realizing that living in L.A. wasn’t working. Although he is SoCal to his core, he moved to Houston four months ago. He plays out of The Woodlands, where TOUR pros have put down roots for years and where Theegala said childhood memories of visiting his aunt factored into his decision. “Just like a more central location,” he said. “I lived pretty far east in L.A. so getting to (Los Angeles International Airport) was a pain and I had like 10-hour travel days and connecting. I was like, I’m over this.” Of Houston, he added, “It’s a two-hour flight everywhere direct and it’s been so awesome for that.” What’s more, he has had an easier time simulating TOUR golf there than in L.A. For the last three months, Theegala said, he has been practicing and playing on Bermudagrass, a notoriously fickle surface that can give fits to players who hail from the West Coast. The move has steeled him nicely for the Bermuda at TPC Southwind. Not that he hasn’t had a few hiccups. Of his second round, he said the front nine was a string of missed opportunities and the back was scratchy but still featured “some good shots coming down the stretch.” Despite all that, he’s still poised to make a move in the FedExCup Playoffs. “He forgets quickly,” said his childhood coach Hunter, who teaches at the public El Prado G.C. in Chino, California. “It’s a huge quality. Like today, he could have shot 5 or 6 under. On the first seven holes he didn’t have a birdie putt over 10 feet.” The other night, Hunter was at the practice area with Theegala and his caddie, Carl Smith, when Theegala hooded his sand wedge and started hitting low hooks to a target only 20-25 yards away. That turned into a competition to see who could throw it closest to the pin. Sometimes his thirst for competition leads to darts, or Ping-Pong, or games made up on the spot. “When he was 7,” Hunter said, “playing on little par-3 courses, he came back from a tournament and said, ‘Mr. Hunter, there’s this one hole with a tree right in front of the green. I can’t get over it. Can you teach me how to go around it?’ And I went, here we go, now we’re going to learn how to hit shots at 7 years old, and that’s all he does now. Around, over, under. Back then he was never hitting a straight ball, and that’s what he does now.” Theegala is also never far from his dedicated fans. As on the West Coast Swing and elsewhere, his parents, father Muralidhar and mother Karuna, have followed him at TPC Southwind. They’ve rented a house, because Sahith also pulls in friends, cousins, aunts, uncles. Sometimes his little brother, Sahan, a student at Seton Hall, comes out. Theegala is like the Boston Red Sox: He can travel far and wide and still enjoy a modicum of hometown support. “And people who don’t even know him love him,” Hunter said. “I always say the kids love him and the drunks love him, and everybody in between. He’s a great personality, he really is. And fun to watch. He’s not afraid to take a risk, and sometimes he gets bit, but he lives with it. He’s had so many miracle shots over the years, it’s a normal happenstance.” Theegala figures he’ll go into the weekend with some ground to make up, but he’s not worried. At the Travelers he never really led until the end but double-bogeyed 18 to lose to Xander Schauffele by two. In Phoenix, as a sponsor exemption, he was the solo leader after the second and third rounds, but a bad bounce at the drivable 17th hole trundled into the water and led to a crushing bogey. Scottie Scheffler was the first-time winner that week. At Sanderson Farms, Theegala had at least a share of the lead after each of the first three rounds, but he never had his best stuff as he faded with a final-round 71. Sam Burns won. Asked what he’s learned, Theegala said it hasn’t been a conscious evolution but somehow he still seems to be getting better at handling those late tee times on the weekend. “I keep reminding myself this is a great feeling to feel pressure,” he said. He’s got the physical tools. He’s got the head for it. Sahith Theegala’s table is ready.

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Like a putt that gives into the gravitational forces of Raes Creek, it's an annual tradition for the PGA TOUR to tumble toward the Atlantic Coast after the Masters, only this year's migration has a different destination. Since 1983 and with the exception of 2011, golfers who competed in the major and didn't opt for rest packed up their things and headed to Hilton Head Island for the RBC Heritage, which they again will do in April of 2021, but for the first time, the Golden Isles of Georgia were punched into the GPS for the 11th edition of The RSM Classic. Sea Island Resort also hosts a much different event. For the details, a review of the co-hosts and more, scroll past the projected contenders. RELATED: The First Look | Inside the Field POWER RANKINGS: THE RSM CLASSIC Jason Day, Justin Rose, Lee Westwood, Brendon Todd, Tommy Fleetwood and Joaquin Niemann will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday's Fantasy Insider. Unlike its neighbor north of the South Carolina-Georgia line, The RSM Classic is a full-field open with the maximum 156-man field. It's possible at this latitude at this time of year because every golfer will play the Seaside Course and the Plantation Course once each before the 36-hole cut. When the low 65 and ties are determined, only Seaside will be utilized for the third and final rounds. Arriving at an apples-to-apples assessment of the leaderboard requires patience on multiple-course events, but it's especially relevant at Sea Island because Seaside is a par 70 (tipping at 7,005 yards) and Plantation is a par 72 (capable of stretching to just 7,060 yards). Last year, in relation to par after the opening round, a 5-under 67 on Plantation positioned seven golfers at T5, whereas a 3-under 67 on Seaside slotted another seven at T31. Plantation also scores easier in relation to par, so taking advantage is valuable. In the debut of its redesign in 2019, it averaged 70.439 (or 1.561 strokes under par). Seaside checked in at 68.899 (or 1.101 strokes under par). Capitalizing on Plantation's four par 5s is de facto strategy, but as a group, they flashed some teeth thanks in part to length added on Nos. 4 and 18. At an average of 4.69, they were the hardest they've played since the course in all five editions as part of the rotation. Because coastal sites are most susceptive to wind, greens usually roll slower than at, say, an inland parkland track. However, Seaside is prepped to roll out to 12-and-a-half feet on the Stimpmeter, while the putting surfaces at Plantation will be governed to 11 feet. None of the 36 TifEagle bermudagrass greens are overseeded. Fairways on both courses are overseeded, but only the rough and areas around the greens at Seaside are treated similarly. The longest primary rough on either course is just an inch and a half, but there is no intermediate rough on Plantation. Breezes are forecast to be stronger early in the tournament, but the first two days will be similar, thus retaining an even, 36-hole playing field as everyone cycles through each course. Rain can't be ruled out, but delays aren't expected. After a daytime high in the upper 60s on Thursday, temperatures will rise into the 70s for the remainder. En route to his breakthrough title here last year, Tyler Duncan crafted a bogey-free, 9-under 61 in the second round on Seaside. He then authored one of the strangest days in the history of any PGA TOUR winner. Despite hitting 16 greens in regulation on Seaside in the third round, he settled for 18 pars and a 70. The positive spin is that he was bogey-free until penciling in a 5 on the par-4 first hole in his final round. It was his only step backward all week. He outlasted Webb Simpson with a birdie on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff. For the week, Duncan missed only six (of 56) fairways and 12 greens in regulation. He led the field in par-3 scoring and scrambling. He also paced it in proximity to the hole. Since ShotLink is used only on the Seaside Course, shot-level measurements reflect only 54 holes for all golfers who survive the cut and complete the tournament. For greater detail on how Duncan's route to victory compares other recent winners, and for all relevant course history, read Mike Glasscott's Horses for Courses on Tuesday. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch, Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Fantasy Insider * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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