Favorite Scottie Scheffler trending back to the winner’s circle at Cadence Bank Houston Open

JEJU ISLAND, South Korea (AP) — Scott Piercy led a dominant American leaderboard at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES on Friday with a 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead after two rounds. Piercy had a 36-hole total of 9-under 135, one ahead of Brooks Koepka, who also shot 65 and is playing in his first tournament since being voted PGA TOUR Player of the Year. Chez Reavie, who led by one stroke after the first round, was in third, three strokes behind Piercy. Sweden’s Alex Noren (65) and Ian Poulter (69) of England were tied for fourth, four behind. Five Americans — Brian Harman with a round-of-the-day 64, Ryan Armour and Gary Woodland (67s) and Jamie Lovemark and Pat Perez (68s) — were tied for sixth, five strokes behind Piercy. Defending champion Justin Thomas shot 70 and was eight shots off the lead at 1-under.

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McKINNEY, Texas — Now that Sam Burns has figured out how to turn an early lead into a victory, it’s already time to try again. Burns birdied six of his last eight holes Friday for a 10-under 62 and a two-stroke lead over Alex Noren at 17 under after the second round of the AT&T Byron Nelson. RELATED: Full leaderboard | What’s in Burns’ bag? Noren shot 64 to get to 15 under, and K.H. Lee had his second 65 to reach 14 under. Doc Redman bogeyed two of his last three holes for a 67 that left him 13 under. J.J. Spaun was 12 under, following a first-round 63 that left him tied with Jordan Spieth with a 69. Spieth shot 70, leaving the local favorite in the group at 11 under that included Matt Kuchar and Charl Schwartzel. Scoring went up overall along with the wind a day after the new home of the Nelson, the par-72 TPC Craig Ranch north of Dallas, surrendered 94 rounds in the 60s in its debut. That number dropped considerably in the second round. The tougher conditions didn’t affect Burns, playing for the first time since his first PGA TOUR win two weeks ago at the Valspar Championship in Florida. Before Burns won at Innisbrook, the 24-year-old Louisiana native who lives in East Texas had twice failed to convert 54-hole leads, in the Vivint Houston Open last fall and The Genesis Invitational at Riviera in February. Now he has a TOUR-best five 36-hole leads this season after following a 65 with the lowest round of his career. Burns is trying to become the first to get his first two PGA TOUR victories in consecutive starts since Camilo Villegas in 2008. “The biggest thing for me is just seeing the hard work that we put in it, start seeing results from that,” Burns said. “A lot of times you don’t know how long the results are going to take. It’s cool to see some feedback from the progress we’ve made back home and seeing it in tournament play as well.” Already with a four-hole run of birdies on the back nine, Burns put his tee shot in the stadium setting of the par-3 17th inside 4 feet, then hit a short approach on the par-5 18th to 2 feet for birdie. Another birdie came on the par-4 14th, when Burns laid up on the 318-yard hole while playing partner Bryson DeChambeau drove the green and two-putted for birdie for the second day in a row. Burns made a 17-footer. DeChambeau, who played at nearby SMU and is one of three top-10 players in the field, had two late bogeys for a 68 to get to 7 under. Sung Kang, the 2019 winner and defending champion after last year’s cancellation, is 8 under after a 69. Spieth didn’t make any putts beyond 12 feet a day after a 55-footer for eagle on the final hole pulled him even with Spaun. Still, Spieth was in his best position in five years for a top-10 finish — or better — at the Nelson. That hasn’t happened in the decade since Spieth contended on Sunday as a 16-year-old amateur before tying for 16th. Not only are Spieth’s thoughts on the best finish in his hometown event, the three-time major winner and others are peeking at next week’s PGA Championship on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island in South Carolina. “There is no reason for me not to trust everything I’m doing,” said Spieth, who ended a nearly four-year victory drought in San Antonio the week before finishing third at the Masters. “At this point, I’ve got an opportunity to contend here, and if I can get myself a chance on Sunday, that is the best prep for this tournament and also next week.” Burns and Spieth already have spots in the PGA. Lee, who has never won on the PGA TOUR, doesn’t. A Nelson victory would put the 29-year-old South Korean in the field. Hideki Matsuyama shot 70 and was right on the Nelson’s record-low cut line at 6 under in his first appearance since becoming the first Japanese winner at the Masters. Jon Rahm, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 3, shot 69 and was 7 under. Masters runner-up Will Zalatoris, playing not far from where he grew up on a course he knows well, joined Matsuyama at 6 under. The 24-year-old birdied two of his last four holes for a 68. The Nelson moved to TPC Craig Ranch after last year’s COVID-19 cancellation, which followed two years at Trinity Forest links course in Dallas. Before that, the Nelson spent more than 30 years at the Four Seasons resort in Irving. TPC Craig Ranch’s debut coincided with Lee Westwood’s first appearance in either Dallas-area tournament. The 48-year-old Englishman, who hasn’t played Colonial in nearby Fort Worth, shot a 64 and was 9 under. Westwood wanted to see his daughter in Florida — and didn’t want to go into the PGA without having played in a month. “I thought maybe, you know, try a new experience,” said Westwood, who opened his second round on the back nine and birdied five of the first six holes. “I don’t want to call it prep for next week, but I prefer to go into a major championship being competitive the week before.”

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A little over a week ago, WiIlie Mack III managed to squeeze in 27 holes of practice at iconic Riviera Country Club. Turns out, comedian Adam Sandler just happened to be playing in the group behind him that Sunday, too. "He wasn’t doing any Happy Gilmores," Mack recalls with a chuckle. "But it was fun to meet him." It will be all business this week, though, when Mack returns to the historic club which has counted among its members old-school Hollywood movie stars like Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn to Sandler and many other current celebrities like Mark Wahlberg and Larry David and Carson Daly. He's playing in the Genesis Invitational after receiving the Charlie Sifford Exemption given to a deserving minority golfer as chosen by the Tiger Woods Foundation. It will be Mack's second career start on the PGA TOUR — and second in four weeks. Yes, life is moving fast for the unassuming 32-year-old these days. But make no mistake - this is the byproduct of years of hard work for Mack who once slept in his Ford Mustang in hotel parking lots while playing the mini-tours in Florida and pursuing his pro dream. Mack and his father, a mental health counselor with the state of Michigan, actually started playing golf because of Woods, who is on the mend from a fifth microdiscectomy and won't be able to compete in the tournament he has hosted since 2016. Woods will be onsite, however. "I just remember watching on TV and he was just different than everybody else," Mack says. "I just kind of like gravitated to watching him." To earn the Sifford exemption, well, that was almost beyond belief. "I thanked them probably more than most times for a lifetime," Mack recalls. "But I was just excited and kind of got off the phone and called my dad and he started crying. "So, it was … it was a good day." Mack says he was probably 6 years old when the two first went to the golf course. He reports that he was "horrible" at first but treasured the "good bonding time" with his dad. They'd watch TV and try to imitate what the pros did when they teed it up on courses like Pierce Park and Swartz Creek in their hometown of Flint, Michigan. "We kind of just kept with it," Mack says. "And by the third year I got a lot better. I think after that it kind of just stuck with me, and I fell in love with the game." By the time Mack was 12, he started taking lessons from Jack Seltzer, a member of the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame. There was a golf dome about 20 minutes from Mack's house so he could practice during the cold, snowy winter months. Although Mack played football, basketball and baseball, too, he knew his 5-foot-7 frame wasn't exactly built for long-term success in those sports. Golf was different, though, and Mack had several scholarship offers, eventually deciding to play at Bethune-Cookman in Daytona Beach, Florida. "I wanted to get out of Michigan, for sure," Mack says, weighing sunshine versus snow. "I didn’t even go to any of the other schools. I just went there and fell in love with it." While at Bethune-Cookman, Mack won 11 tournaments and his career goals came into sharper focus. "I always dreamed to be on the PGA TOUR when I started golf," Mack says. "But probably when I was in college and I won my ninth tournament, I kind of was talking to my parents and I was telling them I wanted to try and maybe make a career out of it. "It might not have worked out, but I wanted to at least give it a shot. And then here we are today.” It hasn't been easy. And he's not where he wants to be — yet. But Mack has come a long way from those days when he'd curl up in his car in hotel parking lots when he couldn't find a buddy's couch to crash on early in his golf career. He'd park between two cars in hopes of keeping a low profile so the nighttime security guards wouldn't chase him off. "I got caught a couple of times, but I would just go to another parking lot and try to get some sleep," Mack says. If he had a good payday and could cover his entry fee for his next event, Mack might splurge on a motel room or treat himself to something better than fast food. He did most of his practicing at Orange County National in Winter Garden, Florida, just outside Orlando, where as an added bonus, he could use the shower in the locker room. "The good thing about sleeping in the car was I got up early and practiced as long as I could because I knew I was going back to that car," Mack says. "So, I stayed out there as long as possible." His vagabond lifestyle lasted about 18 months. While there were times it almost seemed oddly normal, Mack says, there were others when he wondered what in the world he was doing with his life. "But I would talk to my dad and just think about what he said about not giving up and how hard times don’t usually last," Mack says. "So, I'm glad I got through those hard times and I think it made me a better person and a better golfer today." Eight years down the road from those lean times, Mack is playing at Riviera in his second TOUR event. He feels more prepared than he was at the Farmers Insurance Open, where he was a last-minute addition to the field after his good friend Kamaui Johnson had to withdraw when he tested positive for COVID-19. Mack also has straightened out an equipment issue that plagued him as he shot 74-75 at Torrey Pines. On Friday afternoon after he missed the cut, the TaylorMade folks discovered his driver had a crack in it. "I hit four fairways in those two days and usually the best part of my game is driving and putting," Mack says. "So, I was kind of confused why it was going so far right every hole, but I got that figured out." Mack's practice at Riviera was a confidence-builder, too. "(It) was just more of a tree-lined course and kind of an up-North feel which I’m used to," he says. "So, it just kind of fits my eye a little bit better." His goal this week is obviously to win, while a top-10 finish would get Mack into the next TOUR event. But if that doesn't happen, he hopes to take some momentum with him back home to Orlando. "Hopefully this won’t be my last time playing in a PGA TOUR event," says Mack, who has also played in one Korn Ferry Tour event and another three on PGA TOUR Latinoamerica. "But if I don’t win or come in top-10, I definitely will take everything I can out of the experience and work harder than I am now." Mack now has a two-year sponsorship agreement with Farmers Insurance that helps cover his expenses on the Florida Professional Golf Tour, where he leads the money list, and the Advocates Pro Golf Association Tour, a non-profit that seeks to bring more diversity to the game. And Mack understands how important it is to carry on the legacy of Sifford, who was the first African-American to play on the PGA TOUR. "It’s kind of like the Jackie Robinson of golf," Mack says. "And who knows if Tiger would be who Tiger is today if it wasn’t for him." Or whether Mack would be the man he is, either.

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