‘Everything’s fine’ between Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth

McKINNEY, Texas — Sebastián Muñoz will be the “other” local guy in the final pairing of the final round of the AT&T Byron Nelson. RELATED: Leaderboard | Inside the Field: PGA Championship It’s cool by the Colombian who now calls the Dallas area home and has at least shared the lead after all three rounds. Muñoz shot a 6-under 66 on Saturday and was 21 under, a stroke ahead of hometown favorite Jordan Spieth, who is still seeking a breakthrough at the event in which he contended in the final round as a 16-year-old high schooler in 2010. Spieth shot a 64. Joaquin Niemann will be the third player in the final group Sunday, alone in third another shot back after a 65. James Hahn almost matched Muñoz’s opening-round 60 at TPC Craig Ranch, shooting 61 to jump 34 spots to a tie for fourth with Justin Thomas (64). Spieth is a year younger than Muñoz at 28 but has three majors among 13 career victories after starring at the University of Texas. Muñoz, who played in college nearby at North Texas, is 2 1/2 years removed from his lone PGA TOUR win. “Besides winning in Bogota, Colombia, I’ve never been the favorite of any other place,” Muñoz said. “So it’s a familiar spot. Jordan is, of course, the golden boy here, so everyone’s favorite. I’m good friends with him, so it’s going to be a lot of fun tomorrow.” Spieth never went more than two holes without a birdie before a bogey at 15. He’s had lower rounds and been close to victory before in a tournament he wants to win badly after such a remarkable PGA TOUR debut as an amateur 12 years ago. Besides, he and others among the top 30 in the world playing this week are getting ready for the PGA Championship next week at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Oklahoma. “So having a chance to win this event, this will be kind of the best chance I’ve maybe ever had going into Sunday,” Spieth said. “Done a good job not putting too much pressure on myself, I just wanted to get into contention and obviously see what needs to be sharpened for next week. But there’s no better prep for a major than winning the week before.” Speith was ninth last season in the first year at TPC Craig Ranch, his best Nelson finish. Muñoz made a 39-foot birdie putt on the par-4 second hole and sank a long bunker shot on the short par-4 sixth. Playing with another Texan in Ryan Palmer, Muñoz ran into trouble along with Palmer on the par-4 16th. After Palmer sprayed his approach way right into the stands, Muñoz went left playing a shot from a bunker with the ball in the rough above his feet. He swiped the ground with his club after leaving a chip 30 feet away and ended up with his only bogey. Palmer, two shots back at the time after a stretch of five consecutive birdies, had to drop in some deep rough, needed two shots to get out and three-putted for double-bogey. A West Texas native and Dallas-area resident seeking his first individual victory since 2010, Palmer shot 70 and was 17 under with defending champion K.H. Lee (67) and 2011 Masters winner Charl Schwartzel (68). Spieth briefly pulled even with Munoz at 18 under with five birdies in six holes before the Colombian hit his approaches on 9 and 10 within 5 feet for birdies that put him back in front to stay. Hahn missed the cut the past two times he played the Nelson after finishing third in 2017, the last year at the TPC Four Seasons in another Dallas suburb, Irving. The move to McKinney, about 30 miles north of downtown, came after the Nelson was played twice at Trinity Forest in southern Dallas, then canceled during the pandemic before another relocation. A two-time PGA TOUR winner, Hahn birdied five of the last six holes on the front nine and started a 5-under stretch over four holes by hitting his second shot to 7 feet on the par-5 12th. “I feel like it just played easy out there for me, but everyone’s shooting, 9-, 10-under, someone is every day,” said Hahn, who has missed 10 cuts this season. “So I just felt like, ‘Why not me?’” Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, who overcame a triple-bogey early in the second round for an outside shot to make a Sunday run, recorded birdies in bunches in a 65 that left him at 16 under. The top-ranked player and Dallas resident birdied four of the last five holes on the front and three in a row on the back, but his bogey-free round ended with a disappointing par on the reachable par-5 18th. “I haven’t really seen the ball go in very much, which is frustrating because you got to make putts out here to shoot low scores,” Scheffler said. “I fought my way kind of back into the tournament, but I need a hot putter tomorrow if I want to make some noise.” Davis Riley shot 64 and was tied with Scheffler and Beau Hossler (67). A pair of older TOUR rookies faded from contention with 2-over 74s. David Skinns, a 40-year-old from England started the day tied for the lead with Muñoz and Palmer, and 33-year-old American Justin Lower, who was just a shot back.

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HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Brandt Snedeker has felt like he’s been playing well, but the results haven’t shown it. Now, finally, they are. Snedeker, the 2011 RBC Heritage champion, heated up with a second-round 64 at Harbour Town and is just two off the lead, his best showing through 36 holes since missing much of 2017 with a sternum injury. Bryson DeChambeau saved par on 18 to shoot 64 and leads alone at 10-under, while Si Woo Kim (65) and Ian Poulter (64) were tied for second just one shot back. “About as frustrating as it’s ever been in my career,â€� Snedeker said of his uncharacteristic play this season, which has seen him miss putts, miss cuts, and miss the Masters for the first time since 2010. He came into this week languishing at 131st in the FedExCup. “It’s been tough,â€� Snedeker added. “I feel like I’m working hard or harder than I ever have in my career. I feel like I’m doing all the stuff right.â€� In making eight birdies and one bogey, Snedeker, 37, looked less like the guy who has struggled this season and more like the eight-time PGA TOUR winner who lifted the TOUR Championship and FedExCup trophies in 2012. He’s the same guy, but with a whole new appreciation for the game that was off limits to him, and some changes to his team. After a 2017 season marred by a sternum injury that sidelined him for five months, Snedeker parted with his caddie of 12 years, Scott Vail, and hired Matt Hauser, who’d been with Johnson Wagner. Healthy again, Snedeker vowed to make the most of the new partnership and his new start. “You don’t realize how much you love the game until you don’t play it for a while,â€� he said from the unofficial QBE Shootout last December, when he and Bubba Watson finished seventh of 12 teams. “I had 14 weeks pretty much away from the game of golf, eight weeks not even swinging a golf club.â€� Now Snedeker is not only swinging a club, but he’s knocking the last bit of rust off at a course he loves. “It’s fun to be where you feel like you belong,â€� he said. OBSERVATIONS DECHAMBEAU HEATS UP WITH PUTTER Bryson DeChambeau once felt so frustrated with his putting that he tried going side-saddle. Not anymore. He took just 23 putts, including a par save of just under 13 feet on the 18th hole, for a career-low 64. “My putting has progressed over time,â€� said DeChambeau, who was fourth in the field in strokes gained: putting (+3.399) on Friday. “It’s taken time to understand a lot of these variables that were unknown to me in college, unknown to me in junior and amateur golf.â€� Although he speaks of having to be patient, it’s worth remembering that DeChambeau, who picked up his first TOUR win at the John Deere Classic last summer, is still only 24. “It just takes time, being comfortable out here,â€� he said. “It just does. And it has taken a little bit longer than I expected, but I’m comparing myself to Jordan Spieth.â€�     POULTER PLAYS THROUGH FATIGUE Ian Poulter doesn’t often play six weeks in a row. It’s just worked out that way. So far, so good, though, as Poulter shot a bogey-free 64 Friday to go into the weekend just one back. His secret so far: going to bed “exceptionally earlyâ€� and staying there. “Six weeks in a row is unusual,â€� said Poulter, who won the recent Houston Open to play his way into the Masters, where he finished T44. “That’s more golf than I’m used to playing. I’m looking forward to having a glass of champagne next week, relax for a few days, and then back on the horse.â€� After taking next week off, Poulter will play in the two-man team event, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, with Graeme McDowell.  KIM SHOOTS 65 WITH A TRIPLE Si Woo Kim, who will defend his title at THE PLAYERS Championship next month, is one off the lead after one of the more unusual rounds of his young career. He could not remember posting such a low score with a triple-bogey, and especially not a triple with two penalty shots. He hit his tee shot into a greenside bunker at the 192-yard, par-3 14th hole, splashed out, and found himself on the fringe and with a skiff of sand between his ball and the hole. He wiped away the sand with his hands, which PGA TOUR rules official Mark Dusbabek informed him on the 15th tee would draw a two-stroke penalty. “I honestly didn’t know,â€� Kim said through a translator. He birdied seven of his next nine holes, finishing with his ninth birdie at the short, par-4 ninth. “This might be the first time that I’ve played so well with a triple-bogey,â€� he said. “But I’m having great feel around the greens and I feel really confident around the greens. I’m looking forward to the weekend.â€� Kim is third in the field in strokes gained: putting.       KRAFT GETS FREAKISH BAD BREAK Kelly Kraft teed off at the par-3 14th only to watch his ball hit a “giant, black birdâ€� and plop into the water hazard. The bird flew away, but Kraft’s score was grievously injured as he took a double-bogey and wound up missing the cut by a shot. “There was a helping wind, and I hit a 7-iron, caught it perfect,â€� Kraft said. “It was probably 30 yards off the tee box and this giant, black bird swooped in front of it and hit it and the ball fell 20 yards short in the water.â€� Kraft was told that while the so-called cancel-and-replay rule is invoked if a ball hits a permanent, elevated power line, the same doesn’t hold true for a bird strike. “The big difference is a bird is a God-made object,â€� said Dillard Pruitt, a PGA TOUR rules official on site. “Whereas a telephone wire is man-made.â€� For more on Kraft’s unlucky shot, click here. MAGGERT ENJOYS RARE TOUR START Jeff Maggert, 54, was the oldest player in the field despite the presence of fellow PGA TOUR Champions-eligible players Glen Day, 52, and Davis Love III, who turned 54 on Friday. But Maggert (76-72), making his first PGA TOUR start in almost two years, still knows how to play and might have made the cut were it not for a triple-bogey in the first round and a double in the second. “They had an extra sponsor’s invitation,â€� he said. “And I wanted to give my son Jake a chance to caddie in a TOUR event. He did good. He’s a good caddie.â€� A father of five, Maggert has a home in Sea Pines and brings his family here from Houston in the summers. Although Harbour Town is an easy walk, he also gave Jake, 13, a break in using only a lightweight carry bag, not a staff bag. “This is my style of course,â€� said Maggert, the consummate control player who won three times on the PGA TOUR. “If they played courses like this every week, I might come out here and give it a go again.â€� Next week he will return to the PGA TOUR Champions and the Bass Pro Shops Legends of Golf at Big Cedar Lodge, where his partner, for the first time, will be Jesper Parnevik. “This was fun, but it’s hard to come out for one week,â€� Maggert said. “I had two crappy holes. Other than that, I felt like I could have made a run and finished under par.â€� NOTABLES DUSTIN JOHNSON – Making his first start here since 2009, the World No. 1 and South Carolina native shot his second straight 69 and was at 4-under for the tournament. WESLEY BRYAN – Defending champ and Palmetto State favorite missed a two-and-a-half-foot par putt at the 17th hole, but birdied the tough finishing hole for a 71 to remain 2-under. DAVIS LOVE III – Five-time winner celebrated his 54th birthday with a 5-under 66, but was still 1-over and outside the cut line after an opening-round 77. LUKE DONALD – Five-time runner-up here bounced back with a 67, but missed a birdie putt of just inside five feet at the ninth hole, his last of the day, to finish 1-over, a shot outside the cut. JIM FURYK – The two-time RBC champion (2010, 2015) shot his second 70 to make the cut. QUOTABLES “Sit. Sit. Sit. Go.â€�“This has got to be more unusual than a hole-in-one.â€�“I was kicked in the teeth.â€�”Everything.” SUPERLATIVES Low round: 8-under 63 by Satoshi Kodaira of Japan, who made 124 feet, 4 inches worth of putts and was first in shots gained: putting (+5.207). He shot an opening-round 73 and is T13, four back. Longest drive: 347 yds (Bryson DeChambeau/No. 9) Longest putt: 46’ 11â€� (Austin Cook/No. 12) Toughest hole: The par-3 4th (3.298)

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Each day at THE PLAYERS Championship, PGATOUR.COM’s staff writers will dive into the big issues and questions everyone is discussing. Spoiler alert – lots of talk about Webb Simpson. How would you best describe Webb Simpson’s course-tying 63? Ben Everill (Staff Writer) – Entertaining. Insane. Dramatic. It was certainly fun. A 63 with a double bogey … that’s impressive stuff. Sean Martin (Senior Editor) – Unbelievable. His putting was absolutely incredible. Everyone in his group could only laugh when he holed that putt from behind the 15th green. The ball slammed into the hole. It was headed 10 feet by if it didn’t hit the hole. Instead, it dropped in for birdie. Mike McAllister (Managing Editor) – When you have your competitors openly rooting for you to shoot 59 … well, that about says it all. Yet somehow, the island-green 17th still got the last laugh. Cameron Morfit (Staff Writer) – Justin Rose said it best: miracle round. Simpson made nearly 300 feet of putts over the first two days, which is astounding. It’s the best putting performance I’ve seen since Sung Kang over the first two days at the Houston Open last year. With a commanding 5-shot lead, is this tournament over? Everill – Not by a long shot. History at this tournament says it is but if ever there is a place to see a big swing, it is TPC Sawgrass. There were 57 double bogeys and 14 others in the second round alone. Martin – No one who has led by three or more strokes at THE PLAYERS’ halfway mark has failed to win. No reason to see that changing. This course is a great fit for Simpson, who is quietly having a great season. After qualifying for last season’s TOUR Championship, he’s 36th in this season’s FedExCup. McAllister – Maybe at some other courses, but not here. The last two holes alone keeps everybody honest. Simpson has the big lead, but he’s also wearing the big target. Morfit — Well, I mentioned Kang in Houston last year. I should also probably mention that he didn’t win. Russell Henley did. Of the chase pack, who’s most likely to track him down? Everill – Jason Day. The 2016 champion is seven shots back but at T8 he’s close enough. As conditions no doubt get tougher, the grinder in Day will come to the fore. Martin – I think Jason Day is a threat. He’s coming off a win and always a threat to go low. McAllister – I’m with Ben and Sean. Day will go super-low at least one of the weekend rounds. Whether that’s enough is the question only Simpson can answer. Morfit — I like Patrick Cantlay on this course, maybe because he absolutely loves this place. How many players say that? Several notable names – Tiger, Spieth, JT – made the cut on the number. Do they have any hope? Everill – No. Nada. Zip. Nothing. Buckley’s. Duck Egg (please reference your Australian dictionary for full understanding). Martin – There’s nothing a couple 65s couldn’t solve. But I don’t see it happening. McAllister – Fourteen shots off the pace? No. But I’m interested in who’ll play well in a seemingly hopeless situation. Spieth showed at Augusta National this year that he can produce the unexpected fireworks. Morfit — There’s an old golf writer trick that goes like this: To get an idea who has a chance and who doesn’t, erase the top guy on the scoreboard and then decide who’s still in it. But even playing that silly game, I’m going to say anyone who made the cut on the number has absolutely no chance.

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