Cantlay has one-shot lead into final round at BMW Championship

DUBLIN, Ohio – A year ago Adam Scott was humbled in Ohio. His game had slipped and was at a crossroads. Would he find another gear to get back amongst the contenders on the PGA TOUR or would the 13-time winner fade away into some form of obscurity? While Scott has not added to his win tally in the last 12 months – a resume that includes victories at The PLAYERS Championship and the Masters – he has significantly lifted his game. That trend continued Friday when a 6-under 66 moved Scott to 7 under at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide through two rounds, just two back of the clubhouse lead after the morning wave. A year ago the Australian had slipped far enough down the world rankings that his play at Muirfield Village would be the determining factor in whether he would play his 17th consecutive U.S. Open and 68th straight major championship. Going into Sunday he was sitting well placed at T11 but shot 73 in the final round to tumble to T35. It meant he would have to front up to 36-hole sectional qualifying the following day if he was to keep his streak alive. Frustrated and annoyed Scott had contemplated not bothering. He had just one top-10 to that point in 14 starts on the season and was on the end of playing five straight weeks. But after some anger subsided, pride kicked in, and he decided to have a crack at getting to Shinnecock. Related: Tee times | Watch PGA TOUR LIVE | Down a rib, Merritt makes his move “It was definitely pride. I wanted to be at the U.S. Open. Unsatisfied just mailing it in and sitting on the couch when I could have been given a start,â€� Scott said. “It wasn’t like I was just playing horrible, but I just really couldn’t get anything to go my way. If I did something good, the other part of my game was ordinary. And I guess that had gone on for a while. And it takes its toll on the brain.â€� Scott’s performance at the sectional was impressive. He rushed out of the blocks with a 6-under 66 at the tougher Brookside Golf & Country Club and then held on with an even par 72 at the Lakes Golf and Country Club to be one of 14 qualifiers. He missed the cut at Shinnecock but soon after fueled with confidence again, he finished T17 at the Open Championship and then contended with Brooks Koepka down the stretch before settling for third place at the PGA Championship. Scott tacked on a T5 to open the FedExCup Playoffs and although he fell short of the TOUR Championship the uptick in form continued into the 2018-19 season. He was runner up at the Farmers Insurance Open and also contended at the Genesis Open (T7), the PLAYERS (T12), Masters (T18) and PGA Championship (T8) to sit 36th in the FedExCup heading into this week. And Muirfield Village is a place Scott believes he should have conquered. In his 11 previous appearances he has three top-5 finishes. “It really sets up well for me, and I feel like I’ve played a lot of good golf here over the years, just never four days in a row. It’s just never been quite enough,â€� he said. “But I’ve shot some of my really great rounds of my career here. I remember 62 in ’06 that was such a good round of golf on a very, very difficult golf course that day.â€� The question now becomes can Scott still close out over the weekend. His last win came in 2016. The return to form has been promising, but can he take it up a notch? A year ago he was just trying to get a top-10. Now he wants trophies again. “I did a really good job of it at the PGA, just getting out of my own way on the weekend, and I played really well and I hung in there right to the end,â€� Scott claimed. “It’s funny, and so quickly then the expectation changes and it’s now you need to win tournaments. And it just hasn’t happened. “It’s just about kind of doing what I did at that PGA and staying out of my own way and not really thinking about outcomes and all that cliché mental stuff and just play with a bit of confidence and a bit of fun.â€� Oh and that major streak? It will hit 73 at Pebble Beach in June at the U.S. Open. This time he’s already exempt.

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Max Homa has said that the final event of the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season carries some of golf’s most suffocating pressure, particularly for those on the top-75 bubble. Play well and you’ll have a chance to earn a PGA TOUR card via the three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Falter, and your fate could be Q-School, with an uncertain career path. “You start spiraling on the negatives,” once explained Homa of the prospects of losing full Korn Ferry Tour status. Entering the final event of the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season, Philip Knowles stood No. 87 on the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Eligibility Points List. He knew a good finish was required to keep a guaranteed job for 2023. He booked two flights. One was to Idaho for the Finals-opening Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron. The other was to his adopted hometown of Jacksonville, Florida, to begin preparations for Q-School. Knowles’ wife Olivia flew to Omaha on Sunday morning, unannounced, and was on the 18th green at the Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna to provide congratulations as Knowles cemented his first career top-10 finish (T10) to move to No. 67 on the Regular Season Eligibility Points List and cement a Finals berth. Not only was he exempt for 2023, no Q-School needed, but he would have a chance at a TOUR card via The Finals 25. “The fact that I’m going to Boise is incredible,” Knowles said shortly after signing his scorecard last Sunday in Omaha. “Still some processing to do there. First time having locked up full status out here, and having a chance at a TOUR card the next few weeks … it’s awesome.” Knowles accelerated his timetable, to say the least. The University of North Florida alum finished runner-up at the Albertsons Boise Open, carding a four-round total of 21 under at Hillcrest CC to match Will Gordon and MJ Daffue for the week’s low score. Gordon won with a par on the first playoff hole, but all three players have earned the Korn Ferry Tour’s ultimate prize. Gordon earns 1,000 Korn Ferry Tour points for his win; Knowles earns 490 points for a two-way T2. The fail-safe threshold for a player to secure a TOUR card via The Finals 25 is 220 points; both players comfortably surpassed that mark in Boise. (Daffue was already #TOURBound via a top-25 spot on the Regular Season Eligibility Points List.) Six players finished in a six-way T4, which allots 200 Korn Ferry Tour points. In addition to Erik Barnes and Taylor Montgomery, whose TOUR cards are secure via The 25, this group included Scott Harrington, Austin Cook, Thomas Detry and Dean Burmester; these four are seeking a TOUR card via The Finals 25. Although these players are not mathematically safe per the Korn Ferry Tour’s fail-safe threshold, they’ll head to next week’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus feeling confident about their chances. For reference, in a three-event Korn Ferry Tour Finals series, the threshold for a TOUR card has been 186 points (2019) and 157.773 points (2021). Knowles arrived at the 72nd hole Sunday in Boise with a one-stroke lead, hit his second shot over the green and was unable to get up and down for par, vexed by Hillcrest CC’s severe back-to-front sloping 18th green. He then burned the edge on a 6-foot par try in the playoff; Gordon tapped in for a winning par shortly thereafter. In the annals of closing bogeys to fall short of winning a title, though, Knowles’ may go down as one of the least consequential. Less than two weeks ago, the native of Bradenton, Florida, was reasonably justified in planning for Q-School. He needed to deliver one of his career-best finishes to keep his season alive. He started the year with conditional status and took advantage of a sponsor exemption into his hometown LECOM Suncoast Classic, chipping in on the final hole and finishing T22, which allowed him to play a mostly full schedule for the remainder of the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour calendar. He had spent most of his career in the proverbial week-to-week grind. Conditional status, Monday qualifiers, mini-tours and the inevitable, instinctual questions of how long to keep going. The nomadic unknown. Now the 25-year-old, who met his wife Olivia when she competed on their high school’s men’s golf team, is headed to the PGA TOUR. “It’s really hard to put into words,” reflected Knowles on a tranquil Sunday evening in Boise. “Conditional life on the Korn Ferry Tour is miserable. It is nothing short of miserable. If you’re Monday qualifying, you’re fighting every week just to have a chance to play. If you’re playing in the events and you’re conditional, you are hoping you’re continuing to play well enough to continue to get starts. “I’m married, I’ve got a kid on the way, and that dynamic of trying to plan things … family vacations, vacations with friends … for a couple of years now, I haven’t been able to plan. Everything’s been spur of the moment, because I couldn’t ‘t tell you where I was going to be next week, or a month from now. “To have experienced that, to play well last week when I had to was incredible. It’s what I felt like was coming. Then to come out here this week … to stand here now and think that I’ve got a PGA TOUR card is crazy.” Crazy, perhaps, but reality.

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