Career Grand Slam still in reach for Phil Mickelson

RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico — Kyle Stanley shot an 8-under 64 on Thursday to take a two-stroke lead in the PGA TOUR’s Puerto Rico Open. Stanley had nine birdies and a bogey in windy afternoon conditions at Coco Beach Golf & Country Club. Related: Leaderboard | Brotherhood of the slump: How TOUR pros found their way back “Just kind of caught a hot putter,â€� Stanley said. “Ball-striking was pretty good and felt like I drove it well, too. Just a pretty solid round of golf. Kind of made my fair share of putts. Got off to a really nice start, birdieing my first three out of the gate. Pretty windy out there, so I’m really happy with the round.â€� The two-time PGA TOUR winner followed his opening birdie burst with another birdie on the par-5 fifth. He bogeyed the par-3 eighth, then birdied the next four and the par-5 15th. “To be honest, I really haven’t been playing that well the past month or so,â€� Stanley said. “I really struggled with my ball-striking last week in L.A., but felt like I putted pretty well. Just tried to clean up a few things in my swing and continue with some good putting prep leading into today.â€� Peter Uihlein, Josh Teater, Emiliano Grillo, Chris Couch, Henrik Norlander and Rhein Gibson shot 66, and 2013 winner Scott Brown, Martin Laird, Jay McLuen, MJ Daffue, Wes Roach and Julian Etulain followed at 67. “When it gets this windy, really the number on the bottom of the club kind of becomes obsolete, really,â€� Uihlein said. “It’s all about flight and what you want to hit, what you want to see.â€� Tom Lewis shot 73. Defending champion Martin Trainer opened with a 74. He played a five-hole stretch on his opening nine in 5 over with three bogeys and a double bogey, Six-time TOUR winner Bill Haas birdied two of the last four holes in a 69.

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One of the PGA TOUR’s most famed and historic tracks, The Riviera Country Club has been providing Hollywood-caliber drama for almost a century. With an iconic bunker in the middle of a green, a natural amphitheater and one of the world’s most recognizable short par-4s, Riviera demands a variety of shots to conquer its terrain. Coming off Max Homa’s playoff win over Tony Finau in 2021, this year’s edition will have its hands full to live up to the hype. But with one of the strongest fields on the PGA TOUR so far this season, a new star can join Riviera’s Walk of Fame (and win at a course that has befuddled the two greatest players in the game’s history). 1. WHAT A START The first hole at Riviera is an early feast opportunity for PGA TOUR players. The par 5 plays roughly 495 yards from a tee box that sits 75 foot above the fairway. While there’s out-of-bounds on the left and trees on the right, a straight drive should offer an eagle opportunity all four days. Only four par-5s played to a lower scoring average (4.28) last season, and it was the easiest opening hole on TOUR in 2021. It traditionally plays as the easiest hole at Riviera, as well. The difficulty dramatically shifts right after. The second hole, the No. 1 handicap hole, presents a 488-yard par 4 that heads back uphill, again with out-of-bounds on the left and trees on the right. A long, narrow green is just 25 feet wide and protected by bunkers on the left and front. Despite having different pars, the scoring averages for the two holes are usually separated by just a fraction of a stroke. They played to an average of 4.28 and 4.15, respectively, in 2021. While Riviera’s greens are the same Poa annua that players face throughout the West Coast, the Kikuyu fairways and rough offer a unique challenge. The sticky Kikuyu grass grabs balls like Velcro and makes it hard to execute bump-and-run shots around Riviera. 2. IN THE MIDDLE You do this if you are creating a golf course in a video game, but not usually if you are an architect building a PGA TOUR-caliber track. Long before video games existed, George C. Thomas Jr. and William P. Bell had a unique vision for Riviera’s par-3 sixth hole, putting what is now one of the world’s most famous bunkers smack in the middle of the green. If having a sand trap in the middle of the green is not enough, the putting surface is also two-tiered with a lower level mostly in front of the bunker and an upper level mostly behind the bunker. An errant tee shot, even just a few feet off-line, could find a player scrambling to putt around or pitch over the trap, even needing to pull out a wedge from the putting surface. There is no true safe shot on the green, as all four quadrants bring the center bunker into play. And that is before mentioning there are other bunkers in the back, left and front portions of the green. Birdie is manageable when on the correct tier of the green, but the landing spot can determine the difference between a two or a four quickly. 3. MUST-SEE TV Drivable par 4s are en vogue these days and perhaps No. 10 at Riviera sets the standards for those holes. Measuring anywhere from 282 to 315 yards, most players can hit the green if the conditions are right. However, such a tee shot challenges even the best shot-shapers in the world, with bunkers protecting the green on its right, left and back. The combination of deep bunkers and a skinny putting surface make getting up-and-down difficult, especially from the sand. Right-handed players will try to launch a power-fade, while left-handed players need to sweep a draw to the front-left portion of the green. The lay-up shot isn’t forgiving. A bunker running across the left portion of the fairway forces players to lay up to a full wedge shot if not going for the green. A handful of trees also run along the fairway left of the green. Homa famously found his ball lying next to one of those trees during the first playoff hole against Finau last year, but Homa was able to skip a shot out and match Finau with a par. Unlike No. 17 at TPC Scottsdale, where a water hazard provides penalty trouble for those taking a shot at the green (as Sahith Theegala found out last week), trees and bunkers are the issue on this drivable par 4. A miscue left or right off the tee and a player can go from envisioning eagle to scrambling for par, even without a penalty stroke. 4. HOLLYWOOD DRAMA Riviera is truly one of the OG staples of the Los Angeles social scene. The Hollywood sign – then Hollywoodland – was erected in 1923. Riviera opened its doors in 1926. At the time, with a cost of $243,827, Riviera was labeled as one of the most expensive golf courses in the world. The club has long-attracted famous members, with such Hollywood names as Humphrey Bogart, Walt Disney and Dean Martin making the course their home (“Bogey’s Tree,” a trimmed Eucalyptus on the 12th hole is allegedly where Bogart used to sit to heckle pros). In the 1950s, golf films “Pat and Mike” – starring Katharine Hepburn and Babe Zaharias – and “The Caddy” – starring Martin and Jerry Lewis – were both filmed at Riviera. “Follow the Sun,” a 1951 biographical film about Ben Hogan, was also taped at Riviera. And in more modern times, Seinfeld co-creater and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David helped raise money for the club’s caddies during the pandemic. The Genesis Invitational has been held at Riviera dating all the way back to 1929, hosting the event all but two years since 1973. The exceptions were in 1983, when the club hosted the PGA Championship, and in 1998, when it hosted the U.S. Senior Open. Riviera also has been the venue for the 1948 U.S. Open, 1995 PGA Championship, and 2017 U.S. Amateur. It is scheduled to host the 2026 U.S. Women’s Open, as well. The club will add Olympic golf to its history at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, although this won’t be the Olympics’ first foray on the grounds. Dressage equestrian and modern pentathlon were held at Riviera in 1932. Living up to its Hollywood pedigree, the 18th hole green is surrounded by a natural amphitheater, creating golf’s version of the Hollywood Bowl. As players stare down the 18th green, with Riviera’s iconic clubhouse in the background, the gallery seated on the hillside is staring directly down at them. 5. HOGAN’S ALLEY, BUT NO TIGER OR JACK Ben Hogan was one of Riviera’s early heroes, winning the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in 1947 and 1948 and the U.S. Open there in 1948. His dominance during that two-year stretch gave the course the nickname, “Hogan’s Alley,” a moniker it shares with Colonial Country Club for a similar reason. Hogan also finished runner-up in 1950, losing a playoff to Sam Snead in his return to the TOUR after his near-fatal car accident. Snead, Tom Watson, Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson all also notched multiple wins at Riviera over the next few decades. Nick Faldo, Ernie Els, Mike Weir, Adam Scott, and Dustin Johnson are among other modern winners. But the two jarring names you will not find on the champions’ plaque: Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Nicklaus made his professional debut at Riviera in 1962, tying for 50th place as a 21-year-old, earning $33.33 in prize money. He notched his best finish in 1978, grabbing runner-up honors two strokes behind Gil Morgan. Woods made his PGA TOUR debut at Riviera in 1992, driving up from Orange County as a 16-year-old high school sophomore (and amateur). He missed the cut. Woods’ best finish at Riviera was second in 1999, behind Els by two strokes. Since 2016, Woods has been the host of the Genesis Invitational with his TGR Foundation being the benefiting charity. But despite his connection to the course, Riviera is a place Woods has still never been able to lift a PGA TOUR trophy.

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AUSTIN, Texas - The World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play reaches the final day of the Group Stage on Friday. The 16 group winners will be decided, with sudden-death playoff looming if two or more players in the same group are tied in points following the completion of group play. RELATED: Scores, bracket, tee times | Recaps from Day 2 Here's a look at the scenarios for each group (current points in parentheses): GROUP 2: Justin Thomas (0.0) vs. Louis Oosthuizen (0.0); Kevin Kisner (2.0) vs. Matt Kuchar (2.0) The winner of the Kisner-Kuchar match advances. (A tie would force a playoff). Thomas and Oosthuizen are eliminated. GROUP 5: Bryson DeChambeau (1.0) vs. Tommy Fleetwood (1.5); Si Woo Kim (0.5) vs. Antoine Rozner (1.0) If Fleetwood wins, he advances. If Fleetwood ties and Rozner wins, it will force a playoff between those two. If Fleetwood ties and Kim wins, Fleetwood advances. If DeChambeau wins and Kim wins or ties, DeChambeau advances. If DeChambeau and Rozner win, it will force a playoff between those two. Kim is eliminated GROUP 7: Patrick Reed (1.5) vs. Joaquin Niemann (1.0); Christiaan Bezuidenhout (0.5) vs. Bubba Watson (1.0) If Reed wins, he advances. If Reed ties and Watson wins, it will force a playoff between those two. If Reed ties and Bezuidenhout wins, Reed advances. If Niemann wins and Bezuidenhout wins or ties, Niemann advances. If Niemann and Watson win, it will force a playoff between those two. Bezuidenhout is eliminated. GROUP 10: Patrick Cantlay (2.0) vs. Hideki Matsuyama (0.0); Carlos Ortiz (1.0) vs. Brian Harman (1.0) If Cantlay wins or ties, he advances. If Cantlay loses, he can still advance if Ortiz-Harman tie. If Ortiz wins and Cantlay loses, it will force a playoff between those two. If Harman wins and Cantlay loses, it will force a playoff between those two. Matsuytama is eliminated. GROUP 12: Tony Finau (0.5) vs. Jason Kokrak (1.0); Will Zalatoris (0.5) vs. Dylan Fritelli (2.0) If Frittelli wins or ties, he advances. If Frittelli loses and Kokrak ties or loses, Frittelli advances. If Frittelli loses and Kokrak wins, it will force a playoff between those two. Finau and Zalatoris are eliminated. GROUP 15: Matt Fitzpatrick (1.0) vs. Matthew Wolff (1.5); Corey Conners (0.0) vs. Jordan Spieth (1.5) If Wolff and Spieth each win or each tie, it will force a playoff between those two. If Wolff wins and Spieth ties or loses, Wolff advances. If Spieth wins and Wolff ties or loses, Spieth advances. If Spieth loses and Fitzpatrick wins, Fitzpatrick advances. If Spieth ties and Fitzpatrick wins, it will force a playoff between those two. Conners is eliminated.

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