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FORT WORTH, Texas –Â Jon Rahm was at Colonial during tournament week each of the past two years to accept the Ben Hogan Award that goes to the nation’s top college golfer. This time, he’s playing in the PGA TOUR event at Hogan’s Alley and among the leaders. With his 4-under 66 on Thursday, Rahm was a stroke behind first-round leaders Kelly Kraft, Derek Fathauer and PGA TOUR rookie J.T. Poston. That also put Rahm ahead of two-time Colonial champs Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson after both birdied their last three holes for 67s. He also led 2016 winner Jordan Spieth, whose even-par round included six birdies. “The last two times I was here, all I recorded was super happy and positive memories,” Rahm said. “It’s just the vibe that I have around this place is so positive, especially with Sergio (Garcia) winning and with the Ben Hogan history that I’m related to now.” The 22-year-old Rahm, the winner at Torrey Pines in January, had only one bogey while playing with Masters champion Garcia, the fellow Spaniard who won in his first Colonial appearance in 2001. Kraft and Graeme McDowell, tied with Rahm for fourth, had the only bogey-free rounds. Only 33 of the 121 players finished the first round under par. Scott Brown had the other 66, and had the outright lead at 6 under before a double bogey at No. 18. Spieth, coming off missed cuts the past two weeks, was tied for 34th his six birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey. He was even par after birdies on his last two holes. “It’s a great finish. Kept me in the tournament,” Spieth said. “If I was a couple over, you know, in the back of my mind I would be wondering about the cut line.” After two bogeys on the first four holes, Spieth made 4-foot birdie putt at the 466-yard No. 5 hole, and made a 10-foot birdie at the 168-yard, par-3 13th. In between those birdies at two of Colonial’s toughest holes, Spieth made a nearly 40-foot putt to save par after a wayward drive at No. 9. His drive at the 10th went into a concrete culvert for another bogey, and he missed the fairway right again at the 622-yard 11th, only to get back in the fairway and go on to a 2-foot birdie. “Hit some very solid shots. With gusty winds, it’s not going to end up where you think it’s going to a lot of the time,” Spieth said. “I felt like I missed some fairways by 1-5 yards today. That made a complete difference in the way the hole played.” Before his birdie-birdie finish, Spieth had double bogey at the 429-yard 15th, when he blasted from a fairway bunker through the green and into the water, and made bogey at the par-3 16th. Mickelson, back at Hogan’s Alley for the first time since 2010, made an 8-foot putt at the 435-yard 7th hole, then hit his tee shot inside 2 feet of the cup at the par-3 8th. His 33-footer at No. 9 came after playing partner Matt Kuchar had just missed a slightly longer putt on the same line on their finishing hole. When changes were made to the course after his 2008 victory, Mickelson missed the cut in 2010 with a chance to become the world’s No. 1 player. He later indicated that Colonial no longer suited his game. “Nothing real specific,” he said, when asked what changed his mind. “It’s been a while and I needed to … I felt it was in my best interest to get in contention and try to play more events and try to get the scores, results out of it.” Rahm was at Arizona State when he became the first two-time winner of the Hogan Award. His first competitive round at Colonial came a day after Arizona State’s women rallied to win their eighth NCAA championship, and first since 2009. “To see them win in the fashion they did, it was amazing,” said Rahm, who practiced with that team while in school. “The coolest thing is that’s the closest I’ll ever be to experiencing something like that and I’m happy for them. … To be honest, that energy and positivity probably helped me today.”
JACKSON, Miss. — Ryan Armour and Tyrone Van Aswegen are threatening to break up the young men’s monopoly at the Sanderson Farms Championship. The 41-year-old Armour shot a 4-under 68 in Friday’s second round to take a one-shot lead over Van Aswegen at the Country Club of Jackson.  Armour has never won on the PGA TOUR and has only four top 10s in 104 career events. He made four straight birdies on the back nine and finished just before a wave of thunderstorms swept over the Country Club of Jackson and suspended play for the day.  There were 30 players still on the course when play ended. They’ll finish their second rounds on Saturday in what’s expected to be much colder weather. Armour, who grew up in Ohio, said he’s used to playing in less than ideal conditions.  He’s at 10-under 134.  “No matter if it’s cold or hot, if the scores are going crazy, just give yourself as many opportunities as you can to be successful,” Armour said.  Armour or Van Aswegen, 35, would be the oldest winner at Sanderson Farms since Woody Austin in 2013. Cody Gribble, Peter Malnati and Nick Taylor were all in their 20s when they won over the past three years. So were Scott Stallings, who won in 2012, and Chris Kirk in 2011. Armour has been on the PGA TOUR off and on since 2007, but never had consistent success, bouncing between the Web.com and PGA TOUR. He didn’t play in any PGA TOUR events from 2011 and 2014 and didn’t even qualify for the Web.com Tour in 2013.  He spent much of that time around his home course in Florida, catching up with family and making adjustments to his game.  “I knew if I was going to get back going, it had to happen then,” Armour said.  He got his Web.com card back in 2014 and eventually made it back to the PGA TOUR last season. He had to go to the Web.com Tour Finals to get his card back for this season and finished second in the first Finals event last month. Now he’s brought that form to Mississippi. Van Aswegen, winless in four years on the PGA TOUR, shot the low round of the day, a 7-under 65. He tied for ninth at the Safeway Open earlier this month in Napa, California.  The South African started on the back nine and was 3-under before a double bogey on No. 16. He rebounded with seven birdies over his final 10 holes.  “I had to just make a decision to keep going,” Van Aswegen said. “If you don’t do that, your round is toast. I was pretty happy to rebound after that. I had some luck along the way, too, so that was nice.”  Vaughn Taylor shot 66 and was two shots back, along with Seamus Power, who had two holes left to play in the second round on Saturday.  Dru Love, the son of Davis Love III who is playing on a sponsor’s exemption, shot 67 and was four shots back. His father shot 72 and was likely to miss the cut.
Still feeling the effects of an awkward shot in the opening round, the defending Honda Classic champion said he was dealing with “a dead arm” Friday as he battled his way through a topsy-turvy 4-over 74 in the second round at PGA National. That left Thomas at 2 over for the tournament, right on what became the cut line. “My mind is just all over the place,” said Thomas, the world’s third-ranked player who is trying to become the first player since Jack Nicklaus in the late 1970s to win the Honda in consecutive years.
