Day outlasts Noren in playoff to win Farmers

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NOTE: For the first three events of the FedExCup Playoffs, Rob will focus only on golfers outside the bubble to advance. In this second installment, all five below enter the Dell Technologies Championship outside the top 70 in points. Harold Varner III … Two weeks ago at this time, he was headed to the Web.com Tour Finals after what couldn’t be ruled out as a sophomore slump. He then celebrated his 27th birthday on Aug. 15 with a T10 at the Wyndham Championship five days later. That secured both his third consecutive season with a TOUR card and a spot in the Playoffs for which he opened 123rd in points. A T20 at THE NORTHERN TRUST bumped him to 91st and into the field at TPC Boston where he placed T33 in last year’s debut. Since the FedExCup points structure was revised in 2015, all top 20s at the Dell Technologies Championship have yielded survival. He’s simmered before, so there’s precedent for another climb. During a 9-for-9 stretch as a rookie from April into July of 2016, he recorded five top 25s, including three in a row at one point. Graham DeLaet … No stranger to back injuries, it knocked him out during his third round of the Barracuda Championship to start the month, and then again during his second round at Glen Oaks last week. However, in between, he mustered a T7 at the PGA Championship where he led the field in greens hit and strokes gained: approach-the-green. Now 74th in the FedExCup standings, the 35-year-old Canuck will be keen to tap into the form that fueled a career-low-tying 62 in the third round of the 2013 edition of the Dell Technologies Championship. But he won’t need as strong as a top-five to advance. In last year’s Playoffs, Chris Kirk arrived at TPC Boston slotted 75th in points. He finished T33 in the tournament and rose to 66th. With this modest goal facing DeLaet, his health might be the greater challenge. Jason Kokrak … He serves as a terrific example of how even consistently strong play during the Playoffs sometimes isn’t enough, so he’s seeking redemption. After entering last year’s series at 65th in points, he opened T7-T8, the latter at TPC Boston, to rise to 34th. A T17 at the BMW Championship left him 33rd, just outside the bubble for a berth in the TOUR Championship. Nonetheless, it’s a career-best result he’s targeting right now. On the shoulders of consecutive top 25s, he arrives at the Dell Technologies Championship at 79th in points. Finished T16 in the tournament in 2014. Chad Campbell … Still owns the badge as the last golfer to capture his first PGA TOUR title at the TOUR Championship. That was in 2003 under the old qualifying system and contested in Houston, the last time before it moved permanently to East Lake. Now 43 years of age, he’s reached the Playoffs finale only once, way back in 2008. Currently 76th in points, if he performs like he has since May, we’ll see him at the BMW Championship in two weeks. He’s survived nine of 10 cuts, five going for a top 25. Ranks 13th in greens in regulation, fourth in scrambling and 50th in adjusted scoring. Finished T21 at TPC Boston last year. Rafa Cabrera Bello … Fits the classic narrative that class is permanent, which it going to be put to the test this week. It’s the minimalist’s approach toward his expectations as the 19th-ranked golfer in the world sitting 80th in the FedExCup standings. The Spaniard is making his debut in the series at 33 years of age. It was just eight weeks ago that he prevailed at the Scottish Open. A T4 at Royal Birkdale followed, but he hasn’t readapted to parkland-style golf in three U.S.-based starts since. With everything to gain and as one of the best putters on the planet, he’s at or near the top of the list of guys in a slump who present among the most dangerous to threaten at TPC Boston.

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DUBLIN, Ohio — The Memorial Tournament presented by Workday has another player who appears to be running away with the tournament. Billy Horschel will get a chance to finish the job. One year after Jon Rahm built a six-shot lead — only to withdraw after the third round because of a positive COVID-19 test — Horschel delivered a gem at Muirfield Village on Saturday with a 7-under 65 for a five-shot lead. Not only did Horschel make seven birdies, he has gone 44 consecutive holes without a bogey on a course where the greens have been getting increasingly firm under more sunshine that this tournament is used to seeing. Horschel chipped in for birdie on his opening hole. Everything else was simply solid, with only one other birdie putt outside the 10-foot range. He was at 13-under 203, five shots clear of Aaron Wise (69) and Cameron Smith (72). Horschel cared more about how he was playing — very well — than the size of his lead. “I just go to the tee understanding I’m leading the tournament. I know I’ve got however many shots I have ahead,” he said. “I’m not going to be protective, I’m not going to be overly aggressive. I’m going to play the way I have the last three days. We’re going to hit the golf shots that are required, and I know if we do that it’s going to give me the best chance to be victorious come tomorrow.” He will be going for his seventh PGA TOUR victory. Daniel Berger had a 67 and six shots behind along with Jhonattan Vegas and former Open Champion Francesco Molinari, who hasn’t had a top-five finish since the 2019 Masters. “I’m just happy to be up there,” Molinari said. “Billy is a really good player, but in golf you never know. On a course like this, it’s showing today that if you hit the fairways you get plenty of chances and you can shoot 6-, 7-under par. If you start missing fairways it’s a whole different challenge. I think there’s going to be an outside chance, but it’s just nice to be kind of up there.” Smith started with a one-shot lead and ran into trouble immediately, with bogeys from the bunker on the first two holes. He played alongside Denny McCarthy, who on three occasions in the first hour was putting for birdie from closer than where Smith was putting for par. It was a struggle for Smith to get back to even for the day, but by then, Horschel was starting to pull away from everybody. He took the lead with a wedge to 3 feet for birdie on the par-5 seventh, and then stuffed his tee shot to a front pin within 6 feet on the par-3 eighth. He made birdie on all the par 5s. The four times he missed the green, he chipped in on No. 1 for birdie and made tough saves from bunkers and a delicate pitch behind the 12th green that ran quickly away from him. Smith saved himself one shot at the end. The greens are firm enough that anything in the rough makes it hard to stop near the hole. Smith’s shot from deep grass right of the 18th fairway bounded to the back of the green with a front pin. The Aussie went with a flop shop that trickled near the hole and settled 3 feet away for par. Rory McIlroy started the third round just three shots out of the lead, but as everyone else around him was piling up birdies, McIlroy was stuck on pars. He didn’t make his first birdie until the 11th hole and shot 73 to fall nine shots behind. Defending champion Patrick Cantlay began his round by pulling his tee shot into a stream and making double bogey. He atoned for that with a pair of eagles, finished with three straight par putts from outside 8 feet and shot 69. He was seven beind. That would appear to be too far back — the largest comeback at the Memorial is five shots, most recently 15 years ago by K.J. Choi. Then again, players have rallied from seven shots behind to win the last two weeks by Sam Burns at Colonial and by Justin Thomas at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s any different,” Wise said. “Anything is possible.”

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