DeChambeau, caddie split before event starts

SAN ANTONIO — Cameron Tringale made a move for his first PGA TOUR victory with a 3-under 69 Friday and a two-shot lead after two rounds of the Valero Texas Open. RELATED: Leaderboard Tringale, a 12-year veteran, was at 9-under after a round that included five-straight birdies and leads Jordan Spieth and Englishman Matt Wallace. Spieth continued his comeback from a three-year winless slump and was at 7-under after a 70. Wallace shot 68. Kyle Stanley also shot 68 and was at 5-under with Brandt Snedeker (67), Kevin Stadler (70) and Erik van Rooyen (68). First-round leader Camilo Villegas shot a 76 to fall five shots back in a group that includes Matt Kuchar, who shot his second 70. Tringale led by as many as five strokes after he closed out his front nine with consecutive birdies on his fourth through eighth holes and then birdied his 11th. Three of those featured approach shots that left him with putts of less than 5 feet. "I just hit a lot of really good iron shots to those holes," Tringale said. "I think my furthest putt was 4 feet, so just good approaches to the green. Still gotta roll those in, but was able to do it. I took advantage most of the time." His birdie run marked a quick turnaround from his start when he opened with bogeys on his first two holes. "I was really just trying to get back into the round and get into the red numbers again," he said. "I kept it in play and just had a lot of looks and a few went in." A win would give Tringale, 33, his first official TOUR win. He won a team event at the Franklin Templeton Shootout with partner Jason Day in 2015. This year he was tied for seventh at Pebble Beach. Spieth continues to look like he's getting past a slump that has seen him drop from No. 1 in the world in 2016 to No. 92 in January. Now 53rd, he's in good position for his fifth top-10 finish in the past two months after a four-birdie round. He hasn't won since 2017. "I'm really pleased with where things are at, but they're not where I want them to be at," Spieth said. "I'm trying to kind of take it slowly and patiently and reward myself, be excited about the good ones and not get too down about the bad ones." He opened with birdies on his first two holes but fell back to even for his round with bogeys at 11 and 13. "I thought the start was key for me, and I got off to a great start," he said. "I put some really good swings on the ball after kind of being a little sloppy at the end of yesterday's round." Spieth birdied the par-5 14th by getting up and down from a greenside bunker. He had an easy 3-footer for birdie on the next hole and almost chipped in for another at the 17th. Wallace is also looking for a first PGA TOUR trophy, but he's won four times on the European Tour since 2017. He had a bogey-free round. Only one of his scoring putts — a 20-footer on his 11th — came from more than 5 feet away. "Whenever you go bogey free, whatever golf course it is, it's nice, but especially here," Wallace said. "I've been feeling comfortable about my game for a while now, just trying to hole a few more putts and keep the scoring going and making the right putts at the right time." Snedeker, four strokes out of the lead, opened his round with three-straight birdies and added another two holes later. He pitched in for an eagle at his par-4 8th hole but played even par the rest of the way. Phil Mickelson recovered from a first-round that saw him take a 10 on the 18th hole. He shot 3-under 69 on Friday. He'll head to Augusta next week after missing the Valero Texas Open cut at 4-over.

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Lee Westwood was voted as the European Tour’s golfer of the year for 2020 on Monday, winning the award for the fourth time in his career after ending the season as the Race to Dubai champion at the age of 47.

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – The TOUR’s hot-shot rookie and one of its longest-tenured players will play in the final group at The RSM Classic on Saturday. They’ll be joined by one other man. Jason Gore, insurance salesman. Back problems and bad golf led the former TOUR winner to look for another job. It also helped him regain his love for the game. Kirkland-Gore Insurance was founded about 18 months ago. Entertaining clients is his main responsibility, but he did earn his insurance license last week. “I was playing well at home, but who knows when you get out here and play in this kind of weather, especially with this competition,â€� Gore said. He is competing on a sponsor exemption this week.  In the past 25 years, only eight players have won a PGA TOUR event while playing on a sponsor exemption. Gore is one of them. He will play in Saturday’s final group alongside Cameron Champ, the early front-runner for this season’s Rookie of the Year award, and Charles Howell III, the 39-year-old veteran of more than 500 TOUR events. Howell has a three-shot lead over Champ and Gore after back-to-back 64s. Howell is looking for his first win in more than a decade and just the third in nearly two decades as a pro. Champ is looking for his second win in five starts. Gore and Champ both shot 63 on Friday to move into second place. Champ is in position to take the FedExCup lead. At least for a day, Gore was reminded of better days. He’s still known best for his magical run in 2005, when he was the endearing underdog who played in the U.S. Open’s final group. He won four of his next eight starts, including his lone PGA TOUR title, and shot a 59. He’s won just once on the Web.com Tour since. This week, he’s back in the final group after getting one of the last spots in the field. He learned Sunday night that he’d been given a tee time at Sea Island. His car was packed for an unofficial event at Pebble Beach. He was on a red-eye flight to the East Coast hours later. “I’m just glad my boss would let me off to play,â€� he said. He only has the partial PGA TOUR status that is afforded to past champions, though. He’s played just 12 events over the past two years. He’s made one cut. “I haven’t played a weekend in so long, I don’t know what to do,â€� Gore said. “I have nothing to lose.â€� On Friday, he didn’t look like a man with a day job, albeit one that affords a lot of time on the golf course. He birdied his final four holes to shoot 30 on the back nine of Sea Island’s Seaside Course. He leads the field in Strokes Gained: Putting after gaining more than 5 shots on the greens Friday. He made all seven of his attempts between 5 and 15 feet, including three putts of 10-15 feet. He also made a 27-foot birdie putt on 17. Gore’s year got off to a promising start. Now he’s looking for a strong finish. He finished second in his third tournament of 2018, the Web.com Tour’s Club Colombia Championship. He hasn’t made a cut in his last eight starts, though. “My back felt terrible,â€� said Gore, who has arthritis in his spine. He had radio-frequency ablation six weeks ago to “burn all the nerves in there.â€� “Being out here, it kind of beats you up after all these years,â€� he said. Stepping away was just what he needed to get back on the leaderboard.

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