Expert Picks: Wyndham Championship

JACKSON, Miss. — Byeong Hun An was making so many birdies in the Sanderson Farms Championship he worried the storms would cost him momentum. Even waking up at 4 a.m. to play 25 holes Friday didn’t slow him. An finished off a 6-under 66 in the morning and then birdied four straight holes to start the second round, carrying the former U.S. Amateur champion to another 66 and a two-shot lead when the second round was halted by darkness. “I was on a bit of fire yesterday. I finished with three birdies,” An said. “Was a bit disappointing that they blew the horn because I was especially in good shape and I had two par 5s coming in. Two 66s, that’s not bad. It was solid apart from one shot I hit in the water.” Instead of setting up a fifth straight birdie in the second round, An pulled his second into a pond on the par-5 fifth hole and made bogey. He still shot 31 on the front. He finished two rounds with 13 birdies. And he was at 12-under 132. J.T. Poston, who finished his first round with a 64 to share the 18-hole lead with Tom Hoge, had a 70 and was among those at 134, along with Hoge (70), George McNeill (67) and Scottie Scheffler, a rookie who led the Korn Ferry Tour Finals that just ended earlier this month. Scheffler also has 13 birdies through 36 holes. Among those still on the course at the Country Club of Jackson when play was suspended by darkness, Cameron Percy of Australia was at 9 under and Seamus Power of Ireland was at 8 under. They each had seven holes remaining in the second round, which was to resume Saturday morning. If the weather cooperates, it should be no trouble getting back on schedule, especially with a new PGA TOUR policy that reduces the cut to top 65 and ties. Among those assured of missing the cut was 17-year-old Akshay Bhatia, who made his TOUR debut with a 70 in the morning and a 74 in the afternoon. “I know I can compete out here,” Bhatia said. “I shot under par in my first go-round as a pro. Just got to do what I need to do and say it with a smile.” If the lead holds for An, it will be the second time on the PGA TOUR he has led after 36 holes. The other occasion was two months ago in the Wyndham Championship, where he finished third. Poston won that event. An stayed hot, even though he didn’t take advantage of the par 5s like he thought he would. He has played them in even par for the two rounds, including his bogey from the water early in the second round. He’s doing enough right on the other holes. An started out his second round with an 8-foot birdie putt, holed a birdie putt from 18 feet on the next hole, got up-and-down from a bunker on the par-5 third — his lone birdie on the par 5s so far — and made an 8-foot birdie on No. 4. “If you hit it well and in position I think you’ll have plenty of birdie chance because the greens are … they’re not soft, but they kind of stop dead, so they don’t spin as much or they’re not as firm as I thought it would be,” An said. “I think you can fire at the flag and it stops within couple feet. Definitely see a lot of birdies out there. “I definitely need a lot of birdies on the weekend as well because people can make birdies out here.” Carlos Ortiz of Mexico and Harris English each shot 71 and were at 8-under 136. Brandt Snedeker was at 6 under for the tournament with two holes left in his round. Joaquin Niemann, the 20-year-old from Chile who won last week at The Greenbrier, ran into a rough patch and was hovering around the cut line until a late birdie. He was at 4 under — two shots above the projected cut line — with two holes remaining. Defending champion Cameron Champ had a 72 and was eight shots behind.

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – It was just last week that Vijay Singh turned 56 years old. No word on how he celebrated, but it’s doubtful any present could be better than the one he might give himself Sunday. Singh is just 18 holes away from becoming the oldest winner in PGA TOUR history, as his 5-under 65 in Saturday’s third round of The Honda Classic put him within striking distance of the lead. Sam Snead currently has the record for oldest winner, at 52 years, 10 months, 8 days when he won the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open. Just six other players have won PGA TOUR events in their 50s, the most recent being Davis Love III, who was 51 when he won the Wyndham Championship in 2015. Singh, of course, could shatter Snead’s record by more than three years. He understands the enormous challenge that awaits him Sunday. “I’m physically quite capable of doing it,� Singh said. “Mentally, I’m going to go out there and see how my mind works. If I just don’t let anything interfere, I think I can do it.� It’s been 11 years since Singh’s last TOUR win, the 2008 Deutsche Bank Championship – the second of his back-to-back wins in the FedExCup Playoffs that year that helped seal his FedExCup title. But he does have recent success on PGA TOUR Champions, with four career victories, including three in 2018 – including the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship and the Charles Schwab Cup Championship. Asked what he might be able to draw from those wins, Singh replied: “Playing the Champions Tour, you’ve got to make a lot of birdies. It’s all about making a lot of putts, a lot of birdies there. That brings, I guess, aggression out of you, and you go out there and you know you have to make birdies. “It’s just like the Web kids coming over here. They feel the same way – they’re going to make a ton of birdies. I think anything I take away, it’s that. You’ve got to score well on the Champions Tour, just like you’ve got to score well here.� Just three years ago, Singh finished T-6 at The Honda Classic, shooting four rounds of par or better. Four months later, he was runner-up at the 2016 Quicken Loans National, finishing with a final-round 65. That’s the last time he’s had a top-10 finish on TOUR. Since then, he’s made 36 starts on the PGA TOUR, with 22 missed cuts. That includes both of his starts this season. But just when it appeared his days as a Sunday contender were done, Singh has found his game again in the first 54 holes this week. “Today I played really well,� Singh said after his six-birdie, one-bogey round. “Today I played like I know how. I just let it go and the swing was a lot more freer. If I did what I did today – this is how I used to play. I don’t know what I found, but I’m going to see if it’s still there tomorrow.� Putting has been his nemesis the last decade – the last time he ranked inside the top 100 in Strokes Gained: Putting was in 2006, when he was 99th in that category – but he ranks inside the top 30 in the field this week, and he had a terrific putting day Saturday. He made all 16 putts inside 10 feet, including all four in the 5-10 foot range. He has a new long putter that he put into play recently and “that kind of inspired me, and I’m putting really well with it.� Added Singh: “There is no tension in my body. Putting has been great this week. Standing over the putts, there’s no fidgeting feelings or anything like that. I guarantee if I had a short putter, I would feel a little tense and anxious, but this long putter, I felt pretty much nothing …. “Putting is another thing that kind of stopped me from scoring well, and this week I made a lot of putts with it, and I hope I can do that again tomorrow.� Singh, of course, is long fabled for his tireless work ethic, but even those long hours on the range can’t guarantee he’s up to the rigors of a stress-filled Sunday. He does have one suggestion to solve that. “That should give me a cart tomorrow,� Singh joked. “I deserve one.� Don’t worry, Vijay. If you win The Honda Classic, they’ll give you something much more valuable.

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