Expert Picks: Vivint Houston Open

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Russell Henley keeps giving himself chances on the PGA TOUR, but eventually, he’d like to convert. Henley, a three-time winner on TOUR, has a six-shot lead heading into the final round of the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. It’s his fourth 54-hole lead since 2020, including the Sony Open in Hawaii earlier this calendar year, none of which have resulted in trophies. His six-shot cushion, however, is the largest on TOUR (outside of the TOUR Championship) since Jon Rahm at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday two years ago. Rahm was forced to withdraw after the third round. Henley, after a 6-under 65 on Saturday, will try to separate himself from the task at hand. Again, to try and win on TOUR. The last time Henley won was in 2017 at the Cadence Bank Houston Open. “I mean, I’m just going to try to get my mind off of golf a little right now and get some dinner and watch a little football, maybe watch the World Series and just kind of go into tomorrow, new day and just do the best I can,” said Henley, whose alma mater, the Georgia Bulldogs, beat the University of Tennessee on Saturday afternoon. Henley has yet to make a bogey through 54 holes. However, his results at El Camaleón Golf Course in his career haven’t been the harbinger of a nice week. His best result in four previous tries was a tie for 29th in 2018. He missed the cut in 2019 after calling a penalty on himself, which cost him eight strokes. “That was a weird one,” said Henley with a smile. “But I do feel good about this place. I feel like I can play well here, but it is difficult.” Henley said he’s felt better off the tee this week, keeping the ball in play. He was 4 under through nine holes on Saturday, including making a birdie on the par-4 first. He added two more birdies on the back nine, including one from long-distance on the par-3 15th. He’ll be in the final group Sunday alongside Will Gordon, a winner on the Korn Ferry Tour this year, while Patton Kizzire and Seamus Power will make up the penultimate pairing. Power will be going for back-to-back wins after putting himself into contention with a third-round 63. The Irishman man an ace on the par-3 eighth, an eagle just three holes later on the par-4 11th, and then a hole-out birdie from a greenside bunker on the par-4 14th. Henley admitted that this golf course is the kind of place where a lot of birdies could be made (Sunday was the third-straight day where a round of 8-under-63 or better was shot) so he’s not taking his lead for granted. Still, it’s a place he’s happy to be. Now it’s time to get the job done. “Out here you’ve got to keep attacking. Everybody’s so good and everybody can go low, so it’s a tough game out here,” said Henley. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a lead like this. It’s definitely tough to finish golf tournaments, so I’m just really trying not to think about the score and just think about each shot.”

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NASSAU, Bahamas — Gary Woodland, a longtime equipment free agent with his irons, has stuck a set of Wilson Staff prototype blades in his bag for this week’s Hero World Challenge. While he hasn’t yet made a full-time commitment to the clubs, he’s certainly looking forward to seeing how they perform this week in the Bahamas and likely at next week’s QBE Shootout in Florida. Following his practice round Tuesday at the Albany course, Woodland discussed the irons and whether his free agency will soon end. ON USING THE WILSON STAFF IRONS: “Obviously it’s a good time in the season to start testing some stuff. I had a bunch of stuff sent to my home. I hit these and loved them. They’ve been really good.â€� ON WHAT HE LIKES ABOUT THE IRONS: “It’s a new blade I believe they’re going to come out with next year. Through the turf has been phenomenal. Ball flight, trajectory all have been very consistent and what I’ve been looking for. … The big thing is consistent trajectory. When I look up, the ball is coming out of the window I want it to.â€� ON THE NUMEROUS CLUBS HE’S TRIED OUT: “I’ve been a free agent and I haven’t had an iron deal for a long time. It’s been nice. I’ve kind of tinkered over the last couple of years with a bunch of different sets. I’ve tried pretty much everything so it’s been nice to kind of just get one in play. I haven’t switched in competition the last couple of years. I’ve played the same ones (Titleist 716s). It’s nice to come down here. You’ve got four rounds to put ‘em in play.â€� ON WHEN HE RECEIVED THE WILSON IRONS: “A couple of weeks ago. I’ve been off for the last two weeks so it’s been good. I think they look phenomenal. So traditional. Very clean. I haven’t signed a deal with anybody but they definitely stick out.â€� ON THE WILSON FG TOUR V4 2-IRON ALSO IN HIS BAG: “It’s a little bit more forgiving. I haven’t switched a 2-iron in a couple of years, either. That’s a club I really trust, so it’s a big step for me to put something else in the bag because that’s one I’ve had in the bag for a very long time. But this one’s been very good, very forgiving – probably a little bit more forgiving than what I’ve been playing with, which is nice.â€� ON WHETHER HIS FREE AGENCY WILL END: “Free agency’s been nice. It’s been, really, since 2015. I’ve obviously been under contract with TaylorMade with the driver and fairway woods. Having the flexibility to play what you want is awesome until you find something you really like, then you can maybe make the change. It’s been nice the last couple of years to have this freedom.â€� ON THE BEST TIME TO SWITCH: “The start of the year is a good time. It’s weird with our wraparound schedule, but now is the time to go out. I’ve had a couple weeks off. Playing this week, playing the Shootout next week. So it’s a good time to go test stuff under the gun.â€� As for Wilson’s reaction, a company spokesman said that Woodland “expressed some interest in a new blade and we are happy to supply product for him, or any other TOUR player, for their personal testing and evaluation.â€� PGA TOUR SUPERSTORE: Buy equipment here

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HOW THEY QUALIFIED Winner — PGA/U.S. Open Championship Jimmy Walker Winner — THE PLAYERS Championship Webb Simpson Winner — The Masters Tournament Bubba Watson Winner — the Open Championship Phil Mickelson Winner — TOUR Championship Xander Schauffele Winners of the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Memorial Matt Every David Lingmerth William McGirt Tournament Winner in last two seasons Ryan Armour Jonas Blixt Wesley Bryan Kevin Chappell Austin Cook Tony Finau Brice Garnett Fabian Gomez Cody Gribble James Hahn Brian Harman Russell Henley Mackenzie Hughes Billy Hurley III Smylie Kaufman Kevin Kisner Patton Kizzire Peter Malnati Ryan Moore Scott Piercy Ted Potter Jr. Brandt Snedeker Chris Stroud Hudson Swafford Vaughn Taylor Aaron Wise Sponsors Exemptions — Web.com Tour Finals Tommy Gainey Sponsors Exemptions — Members not otherwise exempt John Daly Ken Duke Sponsors Exemptions — Unrestricted Davey Jude Sam O’Dell Norman Xiong PGA Club Professional Champion — 6 Events Omar Uresti PGA Section Champion/Player of the Year Devin Gee Past Champions Angel Cabrera Danny Lee Life Member Vijay Singh Top 125 on Prior Season’s FedEx Cup Points List Bill Haas Charles Howell III Kevin Na Keegan Bradley Anirban Lahiri Scott Brown Jamie Lovemark Sung Kang Ollie Schniederjans Sean O’Hair Robert Streb Kelly Kraft Jason Kokrak Patrick Rodgers Chad Campbell Kevin Streelman Cheng Tsung Pan Whee Kim Harold Varner III Nick Taylor J.B. Holmes J.J. Spaun Michael Kim Scott Stallings Martin Flores Richy Werenski Ryan Blaum Geoff Ogilvy  Robert Garrigus Brian Gay  Brandon Hagy Derek Fathauer Tyrone Van Aswegen Harris English Dominic Bozzelli Nick Watney John Huh Blayne Barber Rory Sabbatini J.J. Henry Major Medical Exemption Michael Thompson Jon Curran Bob Estes Chris Cough Steve Marino John Peterson Top 10 and Ties from Previous Event Chase Seiffert Top Finishers from Web.com Tour Prior Season Andrew Putnam Tom Hoge Keith Mitchell Brandon Harkins Alex Cejka Martin Piller Abraham Ancer Corey Conners Tyler Duncan Seamus Power Talor Gooch Nicholas Lindheim Sam Saunders Joel Dahmen Ben Silverman Denny McCarthy Tom Lovelady Adam Schenk Shawn Stefani Xinjun Zhang  Sam Ryder Bronson Burgoon Jonathan Randolph Matt Jones Rob Oppenheim  Stephan Jaeger Ethan Tracy Roberto Diaz Jonathan Byrd Lanto Griffin  Cameron Tringale  Brett Stegmaier Conrad Shindler Matt Atkins Steve Wheatcroft Zecheng Dou Andrew Yun Kyle Thompson Kris Blanks Will Claxton Will MacKenzie David Berganio Jr. 126-150 Prior Season’s FedEx Cup Points List Trey Mullinax J.T. Poston Ben Crane Johnson Wagner David Hearn Zac Blair  Cameron Percy Ricky Barnes Daniel Summerhays Reorder Category — Cat. 34-38 Joaquin Niemann Jim Furyk Hunter Mahan Tim Herron Stuart Appleby Brendon de Jonge Parker McLachlin

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