Fowler closes with clutch par, now tied atop OHL

LAS VEGAS — Adam Schenk let the wind do the work for a driver onto the par-4 15th green, the start of three birdies over his last four holes Saturday that led to a 5-under 66 and a one-shot lead over Matthew Wolff in the Shriners Children’s Open. RELATED: Leaderboard | Inside the Field: THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT The wind also helped him rip another drive on the 18th that set up a gap wedge for his final birdie, giving the 29-year-old from Indiana another shot at his first PGA TOUR victory. It doesn’t get any easier from here. Right behind was Wolff, one of the more dynamic young players who is comfortable with where he is and how he’s playing. Wolff hit a pitching wedge on the 514-yard 16th hole and made eagle from 18 feet that led to a 65. Schenk was at 18-under 195, the second time he has held a 54-hole lead. The other was at the Barracuda Championship in August, when he had the equivalent of an even-par 71 on the final day of modified Stableford and finished fourth. Six players were separated by three shots going into the final round at TPC Summerlin, a group that includes Sam Burns. Coming off a victory last week in Mississippi, Burns had his game in control and took the lead with a birdie on the 11th hole. He was tied coming up on the back-to-back scoring holes at Summerlin — the reachable 15th, and the par-5 16th with the front pin tucked behind a pond. Burns hit a pedestrian pitch and missed his birdie chance on the 15th, and he came up short and into the water on the 16th, leading to a bogey. He had to settle for a 68, and only a few words when he finished. He was two back. Andrew Putnam (66) and Chad Ramey (69) also were two shots behind, while Sungjae Im spent too much time mixing birdies and bogeys for a 70 to finish three back. Schenk recorded his 10th consecutive round in the 60s at the TPC Summerlin, and this started out as one of the tougher days. Rain on Friday was shooed aside by wind that stuck around, and it was blustery enough early in the round to become a problem. Schenk had two bogeys on his opening five holes and was in danger of falling behind, except that he knew the course — even a windy Summerlin — would offer chances. He seized them at the end of the front nine, running off three straight birdies, including a 6-iron to 5 feet on the 213-yard eighth hole. Wolff loves it here, too. He has never shot worse than 69 in his 11 rounds in Las Vegas, dating to his rookie season. Wolff lost in a three-man playoff at the Shriners last year, and he had a hunch he was in for a good week. He loves the course, yes, but he also could feel his game was getting more athletic, more powerful, and he was in a good position to score. It just took him a little time on Saturday to prove it. He didn’t make birdie until the par-5 ninth hole, and then he made up for the slow start with the scoring holes on the back nine. He hit 3-wood off the tee and 7-iron from 251 with the wind at his back on the par-5 13th, setting up a tough up-and-down from behind the green. He drove the 15th green with a 3-wood and crushed his drive on the 16th so far that he had a stock pitching wedge for his second. The former Oklahoma State star looked confident as ever, a big change from earlier this year when he stepped away from golf to clear his head, to keep from letting scores dictate what makes him happy. He has family with him this week from California, and he has another shot to win in Las Vegas. The low round belonged to Lanto Griffin, who figured after a 72 on Thursday this would be a short week. He followed with a 64 on Friday before the wind arrived, and he handled the wind beautifully Saturday with another 64 that left him five shots behind.

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CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – Winning the Claret Jug is fun, especially when you produce the kind of amazing, frenetic finish he did last year at Royal Birkdale. But giving back the Claret Jug a year later during a pre-tournament ceremony that included a short drive in a futuristic concept vehicle, followed by a quick presentation while standing on the first tee? Kind of a drag. Or as Jordan Spieth put it, “It wasn’t an enjoyable experience.â€� Not that he’s complaining. It’s the price that must be paid for winning The Open Championship, a price Spieth would gladly pay every year if necessary. “The traditions of The Open are very special, even if you’re on the wrong end of that one,â€� he said. But while waiting there on Carnoustie’s first tee Monday in front of the curiosity seekers and tournament officials, it finally hit home that his reign as Champion Golfer of the Year is over. He had expected the transfer of the Claret Jug to be a simple behind-the-scenes process in the players’ parking lot after he pulled the black case from his car. He didn’t expect pomp and circumstance. “Because of that, it actually hit me harder,â€� Spieth said. “I was like, man, this was in my possession. I took it to all the places that allowed me to get to where I am today. My family was able to take it around. Members of the team were able to take it. “It’s the coolest trophy that our sport has to offer, so having to return that was certainly difficult. Kind of hit me a little bit there on the tee box.â€� Of course, he hopes it’s only a temporary loss of title. But that’s when another reality may factor in – his 52 weeks spent as Open champion also means it’s been 52 weeks since his last victory. It’s his longest calendar drought since he turned pro. In that time, he’s played 24 events worldwide — 22 of those on the PGA TOUR, with eight top 10s, including a couple of runner-up finishes in the FedExCup Playoffs last year. Mostly, though, it’s been a year of frustration, especially in 2018 due to struggles with his putter (he enters this week ranked 175th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Putting). He’s been playing, in his words, “cut-line golf,â€� and his schedule has been a heavy one that drained him of energy. So getting away from the game for a few weeks has been nice. He followed his last start at the U.S. Open with a trip to Seattle to be with his sister Ellie, who participated in the Special Olympics USA Games. He also visited his caddie Michael Greller, who lives in the area. They went out to Chambers Bay, site of Spieth’s 2015 U.S. Open win, and relived some moments while walking the 18th hole. Spieth then went to Cabo San Lucas on a vacation with friends, much like last year (you may recall the photo of Spieth with other A-listers such as Michael Phelps, Michael Jordan, Russell Wilson and Fred Couples). They played a little bit of golf, nothing serious. Only last week did he get back to the grind of preparing for competitive action. “Nice to kind of have that itch to get back,â€� he said. “It was nice to kind of start from scratch, almost like wet concrete with parts of my game.â€� He’s hoping the reboot — along with a firm and fast Carnoustie course that expects to play different than most others in the Open rota do – will be the jumpstart he needs. “Coming to an Open Championship requires a lot of feel and imagination, and I think that’s what I needed a bit of in my game,â€� Spieth said. “I’d gotten very technical and very into making everything perfect instead of kind of the way I normally play. “This week kind of provides that opportunity where you don’t know how far the ball is necessarily going to go off the tee. You need to play the spots, and then you have to use your imagination from there – hold the ball, ride the wind, a lot of different scenarios based on where pins are and the distance that you have.â€� If this week comes down to a matter of making decisions, then Spieth can draw on good vibes from a year ago at Royal Birkdale. It was his decision to play from the driving range after his wayward tee shot at the 13th hole, and when all is said and done, it may go down as the best decision of his career. Spieth reviewed that decision on Monday, recalling that he overruled Greller, who was “pretty adamantâ€� about hitting a second tee shot. Instead, Spieth went through the process of exploring the scenarios afforded him. He opted to take an unplayable lie so he could go in line with the hole as far back as necessary. He asked if the driving range was out of bounds. It wasn’t, so he eventually an appropriate spot (after a free drop to avoid some trailers), and the yardage was close enough to reach the green. His ability to salvage a bogey completely shifted his mood, as he followed by playing the next four holes in 5 under to pull away from Matt Kuchar. “I looked like a different person – demeanor, player, everything,â€� Spieth said. Perhaps he’ll be a different player this week than the recent form he’s shown. That’ll would require improved putting, a bit more consistency off the tee, and not overthinking his decisions. He’s confident about getting back to a winning groove – but if it happens at Carnoustie, he’d rather it not be as dramatic as a year ago. “Even though it was so special the way it happened, that was more special for the writing and the story,â€� Spieth said about last year. “For me, I would’ve been more proud if I had made no bogeys and three birdies – and that would be the goal of what to do next time.â€�

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