Dallas’ Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler return to site of PGA TOUR debuts

AUGUSTA, Ga. — No spectators, no roars. Paul Casey still had no problem finding enough energy from the sheer mystique of the Masters Tournament on Thursday in an opening round that was delayed seven months by a pandemic and then nearly three hours by thunderstorms. RELATED: Leaderboard | Like ‘old’ times at Augusta | DeChambeau bounces back It carried him to a 7-under 65, matching his lowest score at Augusta National and giving him a two-shot lead among those fortunate enough to get in 18 holes before it was too dark to continue. "So many people like myself are just excited to play this," Casey said. "This is a treat. It always has been and always will be a real treat." The autumn Masters brought a different course, for sure, some of that courtesy of the weather. The downpour that began about 30 minutes after Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player hit their ceremonial tee shots, coupled with a November tournament with some Bermuda grass that still hasn’t gone dormant, left Augusta National soft and vulnerable to low scores and far less punishment. Defending champion Tiger Woods even got into the act. A notorious slow starter despite his five green jackets, he played his first bogey-free round at any major in 11 years and matched his low start at the Masters with a 68. "I put a lot of it together today," Woods said, his only regret not making a few more putts. He finished with eight pars. The biggest crowd — about 100 people in this case — was two groups ahead of Woods watching Bryson DeChambeau smash shots into trees and one shot into the azaleas bushes behind the 13th green. He was lucky to find it because his provisional shot went into the creek. He still made double bogey, though he managed to scratch out a 70. So much action, typical of the Masters, and so little volume. And it was worth the wait caused by COVID-19. "I was vocal earlier in the year about not enjoying golf in a pandemic," Casey said. “I didn’t know how the fan-less experience would be and so far, I’ve not enjoyed it. I’ve had nothing, or very little, to draw on from being out playing tournament golf. The Masters, though, this week it still has a buzz to it. There’s an energy and a little bit of vibe. "Yes, it’s clearly a lot less than what we’re used to. But there’s something about this place. I felt excited to be here." The excitement for Casey began on the fearsome 10th hole when he hit his approach to a front pin about 5 feet away for birdie. He had eagle chances on both par 5s on the back nine and settled for birdies. He took on a left pin at the par-5 second with a 6-iron and watched the ball plop 6 feet away for eagle. "You can't hit that shot in April," he said. "It pitched and stopped instantly, and that shot in April would have one-hopped over into the patrons." There was a lot to be excited about on several scorecards. Webb Simpson played a tidy round, making eagle on No. 2 after the turn and finishing with seven pars for a 67. He was joined by Xander Schauffele, a runner-up to Woods last year, who had seven birdies in his round of 67. "You’re going at pins that you wouldn't really feel that comfortable with," Schauffele said. "There's so many spots where your ball will stay. It was just really strange." Lee Westwood wasn’t sure he would ever make it back to the Masters, earning a ticket back with his tie for fourth in the Open Championship last summer. The best player without a major showed he still has some life at age 47. He shot 31 on the front and limited the damage on the back for a 68, joining the group that included Woods, former Masters champion Patrick Reed, Hideki Matsuyama and Louis Oosthuizen. Dustin Johnson was among those who played in the afternoon and had to return Friday morning to finish. He opened with an eagle on No. 2 and was 3 under at the turn. Justin Thomas started with three straight birdies and was at 5 under through 10 holes. Rory McIlroy also played in the afternoon, made bogey on his first hole and was struggling to make birdies. He was even par at the turn, which felt worse on a day like this. The delay was the last thing the Masters needed with limited daylight hours leading to the two-tee start. Every minute counts, and it was doubtful 36 holes could be completed by Friday. The loudest cheer — applause, certainly not a roar — came for Nicklaus and Player hitting tee shots so early that they couldn’t see where they landed. Five groups got through one hole before the siren sounded to stop play for 2 hours, 45 minutes. And then players began to light up the course as the clouds moved to the east and those famous shadows from Georgia pines stretched across the fairways. It looked just the Masters, minus the spring blooms, even if it didn’t sound like one.

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HOUSTON — Winning used to come hard for Tony Finau. Now he’s making it look easy. Staked to a four-shot lead Sunday at the Cadence Bank Houston Open, Finau stretched it to eight shots on the back nine and sailed to his third PGA TOUR victory of the year after two wins last season. With three bogeys that only affected the margin, he closed with a 1-under 69 and won by four. Finau won only once in his first 185 tournaments upon joining the PGA TOUR. Now he has four in the last 30 tournaments, including three in this calendar year. “I’ve always had belief, but confidence when you win is contagious,” Finau said. “I’m starting to put together a full-package game.” It certainly showed over four days at Memorial Park. Finau seized control with a 62 in the second round ahead of the change in weather and was superb in his bogey-free round of 68 in Saturday’s cold and wind. No one came close to catching him on Sunday. He finished at 16-under 264 and started the new season with a win — moving to No. 12 in the world ranking — after shaking off some rust in a missed cut last week at Mayakoba. PGA TOUR rookie Tyson Alexander won the B-flight, and it was a big deal. Alexander made a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 66 and moved out of a tie for second to be the sole runner-up. That was worth enough FedEx Cup points that it should be a virtual lock that he qualifies for the postseason next summer. “Great week for me,” Alexander said. “I wish Tony would have taken the week off.” Ben Taylor missed his 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 70 and finished third. Finau said he felt uncomfortable with such a large lead at the start of the round, and he conceded he had some doubts about how he would play. Those didn’t last terribly long. He rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the second hole, and then quickly pulled away from the field. Finau holed a 7-foot birdie putt on the fifth, made a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-5 eighth and capped off the front nine with a 20-foot birdie putt. That gave him an eight-shot lead, and from there it was matter of staying upright. “It was one of those days I fought and fought, and I made a lot of nice putts that calmed me,” Finau said. “I’ve never been in this position. I had a lot of nerves. Overall, as the round went on, I felt better. I was happy to get the `W’ today.” He didn’t make a bogey until the 10th hole, and then he dropped two more shots along the back nine from a bunker and with a long three-putt. Even so, no one ever got closer than the four-shot margin at the end of the round. Alex Noren had a 68 and tied for fourth to move to No. 45 in the world. He will need to stay in the top 50 by the end of the year for any hope of a Masters invitation. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler closed with a 67 and tied for ninth. He needed a win to replace Rory McIlroy at No. 1 in the world. McIlroy is playing next week in Dubai to wrap up the DP World Tour season, while Scheffler will next play at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, a 20-man field that includes host Tiger Woods.

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A decade ago, as Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas were finishing up decorated college careers and testing the waters in pro golf, Tiger Woods was, well, Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy had captured a pair of majors in eight-shot routes that were reminiscent of the sort of the dominance Woods had displayed in earlier days. How to Watch Capital One’s The Match: Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy vs. Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth Fast forward to today and Spieth and Thomas are set to face Woods, the 82-time TOUR winner who’s currently battling plantar fasciitis, and McIlroy, the reigning FedExCup champion and world No. 1. The four players will square off in The Match, a 12-hole contest under the lights at Pelican Golf Club in Belleaire, Florida on Saturday, Dec. 10 (TNT, 6 p.m.). “If you told me and Justin back in 2012, when we were in school, that we’d be playing a match against those two, we’d say things have gone pretty well,” said Spieth, who went 5-0-0 at the Presidents Cup in September, racking up all but one of those points with Thomas as a teammate. “We’d be pretty excited to play with those guys. I don’t want to lose sight of that.” This will be the seventh iteration of The Match, and the third time Woods will be a participant. It will mark the debut for the other three, although Thomas was an on-course commentator in 2020. All four players have been world No. 1, and all four have won the FedExCup, McIlroy (three) and Woods (two) having done so a combined five times. Thomas and Spieth have been a successful pairing in the Presidents and Ryder Cup since 2018, combining to go 8-2-0. They could be the favorites because of Woods’ injured right foot, which kept him out of the Hero World Challenge, a tournament he hosts, in the Bahamas last week. Although he said he has been told to stay off his feet, Woods anticipated he’ll be a go for The Match because he can ride a cart. “I can hit the golf ball and hit whatever shot you want,” Woods said. “I just can’t walk.” Any team would be in for a fight against Spieth and Thomas, who have combined for 28 PGA TOUR wins and five majors. They often rent houses and eat together on the road and have momentum after going 4-0-0 at the recent Presidents Cup and 1-1-0 at the 2021 Ryder Cup, both of which were won by their U.S. Team. They were even 3-1-0 in the United States’ loss at the 2018 Ryder Cup, when nearly nothing went right for the Americans outside Paris. “One, he’s an unbelievable player,” Spieth said of Thomas, whom first met while he and Thomas represented the United States as 14-year-olds in a junior tournament in France, “so it really helps to have someone that talented who’s on your side. That’s the No. 1 key. The other thing is knowing what to say, or when to say nothing, which is sometimes better.” In fact, all four players enjoy an easy familiarity. Thomas and Woods went 2-0-0 at the 2019 Presidents Cup, where Woods was the playing captain, and McIlroy has seldom been more prominent than he was this year, when he came from behind to win an unprecedented third FedExCup before capturing THE CJ CUP in South Carolina to recapture the No. 1 ranking. Spieth, a Dallas resident, is the lone participant in The Match who doesn’t make his home in south Florida. “I think we all are obviously very close,” Thomas said, “and we have an opportunity to just honestly go out like we would us four, go play a practice round and have some kind of match. I’m sure it will be very entertaining. It’s just going to be fun for us. “Even if it wasn’t on TV,” he continued, “us four would have a blast going out and playing 12 holes together, let alone under the lights at what sounds like a really cool golf course.” Spieth figures The Match will feature plenty of friendly banter. Woods describes Thomas as the little brother he never had. Spieth said he and Thomas always tend to “keep it light in between shots.” Spieth said he watched Thomas try his hand as an on-course commentator for The Match in 2020, when there were few live sporting events on TV as America grappled with the first waves of the pandemic. Spieth was curious how Woods would play and remembers Tom Brady’s hole-out from the fairway. This time around, he will be on the other side of the television screen. “It’ll feel like a dream foursome,” Spieth said, “or a Wolf game at home, or a match you’d love to set up for the Tuesday of the Masters. I don’t think it’ll be like a normal round. It’s about having fun, the banter. If you play well, you play well, but it’s about being entertainers for the night.”

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