Dustin Johnson settles for 60 and THE NORTHERN TRUST lead on historic day

SAN FRANCISCO – Tiger Woods says cold weather and lack of reps won’t stand in his way of claiming a record 83rd PGA TOUR victory and 16th major championship at TPC Harding Park this week. Woods has played just four PGA TOUR rounds since February – at last month’s the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide – thanks to a combination of his troublesome back and the COVID-19 pandemic. RELATED: Tee times, groups to watch | Tiger’s success runs deep in Northern California With temperatures at the coastal-adjacent public course are forecast to range from the mid 50s to just the low 60s, and with the high possibility of morning fog and chill from the marine layer, Woods will need to work hard to warm up his back just to get through four rounds of this 102nd PGA Championship. “It’s always 20 degrees cooler here than it is down there in Palo Alto. We knew that coming in. I think the weather forecast is supposed to be like this all week: Marine layer, cool, windy, and we are all going to have to deal with it,” Woods said ahead of Thursday’s opening round where he will begin at 8:33 a.m. local time alongside Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas. “For me when it’s cooler like this, it’s just make sure that my core stays warm, layering up properly. I know I won’t have the same range of motion as I would back home in Florida where it’s 95 every day. That’s just the way it is.” Woods had to scramble hard at the Memorial Tournament just to make the cut on the number before finding his way to a tie for 40th. That fight gave him some confidence, but also focus on what to work on since. It was his first start in five months after finishing 68th at The Genesis Invitational in February. His only other starts this season were his win at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan last October and a T9 at the Farmers Insurance Open in January. The veteran has four wins and three runner-ups previously at the PGA Championship and knows TPC Harding Park well from due to his amateur and college career. He’s long had great success in Northern California including winning a World Golf Championships event there in 2005 and being part of the victorious U.S. Presidents Cup team in 2009. “I feel good. Obviously I haven’t played much competitively, but I’ve been playing a lot at home. So I’ve been getting plenty of reps that way … the results that I’ve seen at home, very enthusiastic about some of the changes I’ve made and so that’s been positive,” Woods added without giving up the changes he referenced. “Just trying to get my way back into this part of the season. This is what I’ve been gearing up for. We’ve got a lot of big events starting from here, so looking forward to it. This is going to be a fun test for all of us. The rough is up. Fairways are much narrower than they were here in 2009.” To compete at the top of the leaderboard, Woods will need to be accurate off the tee so he can lean on his incredible iron game. While he doesn’t have enough rounds this season to qualify for rankings, Woods would sit 135th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee but third in Approach the Green. The bombers might be able to unleash more speed and distance, but if Woods can find the fairways, not many can match his iron play. As such, the game plan for Woods will be fascinating to watch. The rough is long in places and can provide the type of lie someone with a bad back does not want. Does he try to go long and risk the rough knowing he can still likely attack with a short iron, or does he dial back for accuracy and throw darts from the short grass? “It’s a par 70; it’s not as long numbers-wise, but the ball never goes very far here. It plays very long, even though it’s short on numbers,” Woods says of the 7,251-yard layout. “The big holes are big and the shorter holes are small. It can be misleading. They have pinched in the fairways a little bit and the rough is thick. It’s lush. With this marine layer here and the way it’s going to be the rest of the week, the rough is only going to get thicker, so it’s going to put a premium on getting the ball in play. It’s going to be a test.” When asked if he was ready for that test and if he could win, Woods flashed his trademark smile. “Of course.”

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JACKSON, Miss. – Sometimes you get the best results when you least expect it. That was certainly the case for Andrew Landry during Thursday’s opening round of the Sanderson Farms Championship. Battling allergies and an achy shoulder, Landry started the round with low expectations – and then proceeded to light the course on fire, making birdies on the first four holes, and then holing out for eagle from 113 yards on the next to reach 6 under par after five holes. He cooled off after that, and finished with a 6-under 66, good for a spot atop the very crowded leaderboard with Ryan Armour, Conrad Shindler, J.J. Spaun, and Wyndham Clark. And if you had asked Landry what he expected before he teed off, well, he probably didn’t expect to see his name that high up. “Honestly, I wasn’t feeling that up to par going into the day, with my whole golf game and the way I’m feeling,â€� he said. “I’ve been sick the last week. … I’ve been blowing snot out and just nasty stuff.â€� To add to that, he said, “I slept on my shoulder wrong and didn’t really get to practice the last two days. It’s been kind of hurting.â€� So, distractions can help the golf game? “It actually does,â€� said Landry, smiling. “Kind of gets your mind off it, where you don’t have any expectations and you can go out and free up and play golf.â€� Landry’s remarkable opening nine (he started on the back) began with a 6-iron to 4 feet for birdie on the par-3 10th, and ended with a chip-in birdie on No. 18. His back-nine score of 29 included two hole-outs and just nine putts. “It’s fun doing that,â€� he said. “Hitting shots like that and making putts. You just go black out, and it gets really fun.â€� He made two bogeys on his inward nine, but capped the day with a birdie on his final hole, No. 9. Landry, 30, has two Web.com Tour victories but is chasing his first PGA TOUR win. He nearly became an overnight sensation during the 2016 U.S. Open, when he shot the lowest-ever first-day U.S. Open round at historic Oakmont, 66, and then played his way into the final pairing on Sunday. He faltered that day, shooting 78, but that week told him he belonged on this kind of stage. “It’s just a belief system, knowing that you can come out here and play golf and have fun doing something you love,â€� Landry said. “Just believing in yourself. That’s the biggest part of this whole entire job, believing yourself that you can do it and sticking to your game.â€� OBSERVATIONS Spaun’s 66 included seven birdies and several long par putts. All told, he made 103 feet of putts, including 77 feet worth on his inward nine. Armour’s 66 was his best first-round score since he shot 67 on Day 1 of last year’s Sanderson Farms Championship. He’s obviously hoping for a better second round this year – last year he shot 77 on Friday and missed the cut. Local favorite Jonathan Randolph held a share of the early first-round lead– for about 10 minutes. Randolph, who grew up in the Jackson area and considers CCJ his home course, birdied Nos. 13 and 14 to get to 6 under par and a share of the lead in the morning wave, but he then bogeyed 15 and made double-bogey at No. 16. He finished with a 3-under 69. The double on the par-4 16th came after he dumped his second shot from the right rough into water left and short of the green. “I’ve played that hole 100 times, and I knew as soon as I hit it,â€� Randolph said of his water ball. “I told my caddie, ‘You can’t do stupid stuff like that and win this golf tournament.’â€� The last two champions of this event, Cody Gribble (2016) and Peter Manalti (2015), were in the same threesome – and posted decidedly different results. While Gribble struggled to hit fairways and shot 3-over 75, Manalti made seven birdies to shoot 5-under 67 and stand one shot off the lead. NOTABLES WYNDHAM CLARK – A recent University of Oregon grad who is in this week’s field on a sponsor’s exemption, birdied five straight holes (Nos. 11-15) on the way to his 66. He also had an eagle on No. 3. This is his sixth PGA TOUR event, but he does not have status on the PGA TOUR or Web.com Tour. Does he feel pressure to play his way in? “My first few starts, I felt pressure to play well and earn my status that way, but, honestly, this event is to get me ready for Q School, which is next week. If I happen to play great, that’s awesome, and I don’t need to get to Q School.â€� DAVID HEARN – His 68 included birdie putts of 42, 12, 28, and 18 feet. All told, he made 157 feet of putts – tops in the field on Day 1. DRU LOVE – He shot 1-under 71, which was one better than his father, Ryder Cup captain and 21-time PGA TOUR winner Davis Love III. This is the sixth TOUR event they have played in together, and Thursday marked the first time son’s score has bested father’s in the same round. QUOTABLES “I’m just a medium hitter, but I drive the ball awesome. I truly believe I hit driver as the best club in my bag. I like to hit it every hole. There’s holes you can’t hit it, and that’s OK, but whenever I have the opportunity to hit driver I hit it.â€� – First-round co-leader Andrew Landry   “The greens are so pure right now, like marble floors, so if you’ve got good lines and good speed, good things are going to happen.â€� – First-round co-leader Conrad Shindler, whose round included a 25-foot eagle putt on No. 3   “It’s always important, I mean, disregarding the weather. But I saw that stuff. It’s coming. To get off to a good start can only help.â€� – First-round co-leader Ryan Armour, on the importance of a good start in Thursday’s sunshine, with cold and wind forecast for the weekend SUPERLATIVES Low Round: 66, by Ryan Armour, Andrew Landry, J.J. Spaun, Conrad Shindler, and Wyndham Clark. Longest Drive: 381 yards, by Brandon Hagy, on No. 6. Longest Putt: Talor Gooch (71) drained a 51-foot, 6-inch birdie putt on No. 16, for one of just five birdies made there Thursday. Toughest Hole: The par-4, 453-yard 16th hole played to an average of 4.356 and yielded just five birdies. Ten of the 32 double-bogeys posted on Thursday came at 16. Easiest Hole: The par-5, 554-yard third hole played to an average of 4.447. There were three eagles made there, and more than half the field (71 players) made birdie there. CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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CROMWELL, Conn. (AP) — Xander Schauffele shot a 3-under 67 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over good friend and playing partner Patrick Cantlay into the final round of the Travelers Championship. Schauffele had a 17-under 193 total at TPC River Highlands. Cantlay shot 63. Rookie Sahith Theegala was third at 14 under after a round of 64, and Kevin Kisner had a 66 to get to 13 under. Schauffele began the day at 14 under with a five-stroke lead. The Olympic champion birdied the second hole for the third time this week and had another at No. 6, part of a career-best run of 48 holes without a bogey. But he put his tee shot at 13 in the water and briefly fell into a tie for the lead after a bogey. He broke his minor birdie drought at 16, then hit the pin on his approach at 17 and sank another. “I would love to have that tee ball back on 13,” he said. “For the most part I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to protect a lead, especially when it’s five shots and it’s easy to get comfortable.” Cantlay’s bogey-free round was the best of the day. Schauffele and Cantlay have been close friends since being paired together at the 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia and they combined to win the Zurich Classic this season. “If only it was a combined score again this week we would be doing well,” Cantlay joked. “It’s always nice to be out with him, if he’s on my team or if he’s not. I’m going to go out there tomorrow and try as hard as I can and let the chips fall where they may.” Schauffele is looking for his sixth individual title and first since the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions. He also is shooting for his sixth straight top-20 finish. He and Cantlay finished tied for 14th last week in the U.S. Open. “I’ve been looking forward to playing with Pat in a final round,” Schauffele said. “We don’t get paired together very often in regular tournaments, only in those team ones. So there’s a certain level of comfort we have playing with each other and hopefully that pays off and hopefully we can make a lot of birdies.” Theegala had an eagle on 13 to go with four birdies. The 24-year-old Californian hit his second shot on the par-4 17th over the course’s signature lake to about a foot from the pin, briefly tying Schauffele for the lead. But he bogeyed the final hole. He is looking to become the 18th player to get their first TOUR win in Connecticut. Ken Duke was the last to do it in 2013. “I’m definitely going to be nervous, definitely going to be excited,” he said. “Every single week I’m out here I feel like I’m getting more and more comfortable.” Former U.S. Junior champion Michael Thorbjornsen shot a 66 to put himself in contention. He started the weekend at 7 under, just the third amateur to make a PGA TOUR cut in 2022. The Stanford star is in a group of four tied for seventh place, but said he wasn’t feeling much pressure. “One thing that might help is winning or coming in second or third I’m not getting paid either way, so it’s another tournament for me,” he said. “It’s just another round for me and I’ll just try to go out there and do the same thing I did today.” Harris English, who is trying to become just the second player to successfully defend his title here after Phil Mickelson won in 2002, shot a 69 and was in a group at 10-under. Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler was also in that group after shooting a 65. He began the weekend nine strokes behind Schauffele. “Maybe I’ll go out tomorrow and do something crazy and we’ll see what happens,” Scheffler said. First-round co-leader Rory McIlroy (72) got in trouble early Saturday, hitting his tee shot on No. 2 off a nearby tree and into the tall grass 108 yards across the fairway to the right. After a 39 on the back nine Friday, he shot 36 on the front nine Saturday and finished 2 over for the day, and 6 under for the tournament, 11 strokes off the pace. There was also a buzz at the tournament Saturday around a player who was no longer even in Cromwell. Jason Kokrak was disqualified Friday after launching his final shot on the ninth hole over the green and the fence behind it. Kokrak, who would have missed the cut anyhow, left the course without replaying the shot. William McGirt who was playing in the same group said Kokrak simply didn’t see any point in finishing the hole. “He was like, `I’m not going to hold anybody up,'” McGirt said. “He didn’t storm off the golf course.”

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