Changes coming in wake of chaotic Phoenix Open

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PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Justin Thomas was playing well enough to want to keep going, with six birdies in a seven-hole stretch before it was too dark to continue Friday at the Genesis Open. It also was raining. It was cold. And he already had been slogging through Riviera for nine hours. “It’s hard playing 30 holes, but it’s really hard when it’s raining and it’s soft,” Thomas said after making 14 birdies on a long day that sent him home tied for the lead with Adam Scott at 10-under par. “My legs are tired, so I just need to go home and rest and get some food and try to go to sleep early as I can.” Thomas, who opened with a 5-under 66 in the morning, was 5 under for his second round through 12 holes. He had an eight-hole stretch when he didn’t make a par (six birdies, two bogeys), ending with a two-putt par on No. 3. Scott was in the group right behind him and just as efficient, also opening with a 66 and reaching 5 under. His only blemish was a long three-putt for bogey on the par-5 17th on a course he loves. Scott won at Riviera in the rain 14 years ago, a tournament that was cut short to 36 holes and decided in a playoff. “I just got the momentum going and I kept it going,” Scott said. Tiger Woods had a few big moments that didn’t last long. He had four straight birdies around the turn in the morning, a streak that ended with a three-putt bogey at No. 12. He had four three-putts in the first round for a 70. His highlight in the afternoon, as the temperatures and rain became steady, was a 45-foot eagle putt on the par-5 first to start his back nine. It really was an Instagram moment, for a fan screamed out, “Make this! It’s going on Instagram!” Woods delivered, only to bogey the next two holes to end his day at even par for the second round, 1 under for the tournament. “I’m stiff right now,” Woods said after playing the most number of holes in one day since his return from a fourth back surgery. “It got pretty chilly toward the end. The ball wasn’t going very far.” No need telling that to Thomas. He was in the right rough after hitting driver 260 yards, leaving him 222 yards to a back pin on an elevated green. He pounded 5-wood to 10 feet and made his last birdie of the day. J.B. Holmes was another shot behind at the turn. Holmes was the 18-hole leader thanks to a hole-in-one on the par-3 sixth hole, followed by a birdie that led to an 8-under 63. At the time, he was one shot ahead of Jordan Spieth, who played all of six holes on Friday to complete his bogey-free 64 in calm conditions. Spieth figured it would be like that all day. He was wrong. Light rain fell as Woods, Thomas and Rory McIlroy (3 under through 12) were finishing the first round. It never really stopped the rest of the day. The start of the tournament was delayed seven hours Thursday, so just about everyone who makes the cut will face long days at some point. The second round resumes at 7 a.m., and the other half of the field starts their second round at 7:40 a.m. The cut figures to be made Saturday afternoon, leaving no more than about two hours of play the rest of the day. Those in or around the lead after 36 holes can expect to go 36 more on Sunday. Dustin Johnson played 36 holes on Sunday when he won the Genesis Open two years ago. Long before it was getting dark, Holmes could see just fine when he hit 8-iron to the back pin at No. 6, located just to the left of the bunker in the middle of the green. “Hit it exactly how I wanted it and it went in,” Holmes said. “It looked good the whole time.” Spieth took advantage of the restart on Thursday. His opening shot on the par-4 10th hit the cart path twice and went into shin-high grass so thick that it would have been hard work just to get it out. The round was scrapped and he returned for a routine par. He made the rest look easy except for the 13th hole, where he hooked his tee shot into a eucalyptus tree, played a slice on the outer side of the trees and got up-and-down for par. “It was probably better than any of the birdies,” he said. He holed two chips for birdie, one of them on the toughest hole at Riviera on No. 12, birdied all three of the par 5s and made a pair of birdie putts from about 10 feet when he returned Friday morning. He said those six holes were the best the putter has felt in some time. “I was able to kind of figure out a way to feel some freedom in the stroke and I was able to roll a couple of those in,” he said. Woods is the tournament host with his foundation running the event he first played in 1992 as a 16-year-old amateur. Next year, the tournament gets elevated status on par with the Memorial (Jack Nicklaus) and Arnold Palmer Invitational by offering a three-year exemption to the winners, getting a 120-man field and offering $9.3 million in prize money. But the course has never been kind to him. Riviera is where Woods has played the most times as a pro (9) without ever winning.

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HOUSTON – From the middle of the fairway, Roger Sloan’s mind often wandered far from his target. Instead of concentrating on his desired destination, he was worried about all the possible permutations for his next shot. He was calculating what a birdie would be worth, how many FedExCup points he would gain and what tournaments he’d earn entry into. “Sometimes I get caught up in the magnitude of the situation,” Sloan said Tuesday in his pre-tournament press conference for the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open. “It just builds the shot up too much to where it’s not a 6-iron anymore, now it’s the most crucial shot I’ve ever hit in my career.” Keeping his focus closer to the hole also meant his ball ended up there more often. It was especially helpful just a few weeks ago, in the final weeks of the 2020-21 PGA TOUR season. He closed the regular season with consecutive top-6 finishes to crack the top 125 in the FedExCup, not only earning a spot in the Playoffs but keeping his playing privileges for this season. The statistics would say that a large improvement in his ball-striking was the reason Sloan jumped from 169th in the 2020 FedExCup to 96th last season. He improved approximately 100 spots in both Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (156th to 62nd) and Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green (166th to 67th) last season. Sloan said his improved mental approach was the real key. “I’ve always actually been a fairly good ball-striker, but I kind of get in my own way a little bit,” he said. “Getting out of my own way is really … what we’ve been able to accomplish, having a little bit of freedom and ultimately giving myself access to my skills more frequently than I have in the past.” He summoned his best when it mattered most last season. With just two weeks remaining before the FedExCup Playoffs, Sloan stood 137th in the season-long standings. The mountainous terrain at the Barracuda Championship reminded the boy from British Columbia of home, however, and it helped him to a sixth-place finish, just his fourth top-10 in 95 career starts. He was still outside the top 125 when he arrived at the Wyndham Championship, the final event of the regular season. By Sunday, Sloan wasn’t just trying to keep his card. He was trying to earn his first PGA TOUR win. “I know with five holes to go, if I make two bogeys I’m going to Boise (for the first event of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals) and if I make two birdies I have a chance to win the golf tournament,” Sloan said Tuesday. “The weight of all of that was so great that all of a sudden it just forced me to just think I can only control the next shot, and I was able to hit some really good quality shots coming in.” He birdied 16 and 17 to earn a spot in a six-man playoff for the title, which was won by Kevin Kisner. The second runner-up finish of Sloan’s career earned him his second FedExCup Playoffs berth. One of the rewards for that strong finish to last season is an opportunity to compete at Memorial Park for the first time. He played the new design, which underwent a dramatic renovation by famed architect Tom Doak, once in preparation for last year’s Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open but wasn’t able to get in the field. This week, he’ll have some of his Canadian peers over for dinner. He’ll balance his duties at home with his professional obligations. Sloan has taken to Texas and he has endeared himself to his neighbors. Last winter, he built a backyard ice rink. “I guess everyone needs a Canadian in their neighborhood when the freeze comes,” he joked. “That’s still talked about.” Sloan hadn’t been to the Lone Star State before attending college at the University of Texas-El Paso. The story of how he arrived there still makes Sloan shake his head. As a high schooler in Canada, he naively wrote letters to the biggest programs in the United States. His inquiries were met with rejection. Some older kids from his area had gone to play at UTEP, but Sloan was too afraid to write the coach. “I never wanted to write a letter because I didn’t want to get a rejection letter. I just didn’t want to have that final no,” he said. Then UTEP’s head coach, Rick Todd, unexpectedly appeared to watch Sloan’s group at a junior tournament. Except Todd was there to watch another player. Sloan quickly caught Todd’s attention, though. “It was very apparent after a few holes that he was not interested in that kid,” Sloan said. “He saw a couple shots of mine and he reached out afterwards and that’s kind of how it came to be.” He seized the opportunity, just as he did at the end of last season.

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