An International Golf Federation official says that ideally organizers for the women’s Olympic tournament would let players know prior to the start of the third round that the event would be shortened due to a looming tropical storm.
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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Lee Westwood isn’t interested in comparing himself with the player who rose to No. 1 in the world a decade ago. All he knows is he’s playing some of his best golf, and he gets another chance to see if it can hold up against the best field. RELATED: Leaderboard | DeChambeau, Rahm lurk at THE PLAYERS Westwood had all the shots Friday in a bogey-free round at THE PLAYERS Championship, with two birdies at the start and a nifty pitch to a troublesome pin on the par-5 ninth to close with a another birdie and a 6-under 66. That gave him a one-shot lead over Matt Fitzpatrick (68) going into the weekend on the Stadium Course at the TPC Sawgrass, with U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau not too far behind. Westwood, who turns 48 next month, played well enough to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard last week at Bay Hill except that DeChambeau was one shot better in a fascinating duel of generations on a course that favors power. Sawgrass favors no particular style, and it produced an eclectic mix of contenders at the halfway point. “I think to compete in any of these tournaments against the best players in the world, you can’t have any weaknesses in your game,” Westwood said. “I wouldn’t be able to say I’m doing this better or that better. There’s not a shot out there I’m afraid of. There’s not a shot out there I’ll walk up to and think, `I haven’t got this one.’ “I’m comfortable out there with everything.” He was at 9-under 135 and will be part of the All-England final pairing Saturday. Sergio Garcia was another shot back after a 72 that looked like it was a lot worse with so many putts the Spaniard missed, including a 23-inch par putt on the 15th hole that followed a 5-foot par putt he missed on the 14th. Still, the 2008 champion showed plenty of game — and enough par putts that went in — to stay in the hunt. He drilled his approach to inches away on the par-5 11th for his third eagle of the week, which already ties the tournament record. And he finished in style with an approach that danced around the flag and settled 5 feet away for birdie on the 18th. “It was a beautiful roller coaster,” Garcia said. “There were a lot of good things. Unfortunately, a lot of bad things. But more than anything there was a lot of fighting, and that’s one of the things that I’m most proud of because when things are not really happening and you miss a couple putts here and there, it’s easy to kind of let the round get away from you.” When the second round was suspended by darkness, 16 players were within five shots of the lead. DeChambeau was in the group three shots behind after a 69 that began with a double bogey from the trees and a muffed chip out of the rough from behind the green. He was bogey-free the rest of the way on a course that doesn’t let him swing for the fences because of water and cross bunkers and other brands of trouble. “I’m happy with the fact that I’ve still been able to keep myself in it and score well,” DeChambeau said. “I’ve been pretty lucky, for the most part. I don’t think that’ll happen this weekend. I’ve got to make sure that my game is good off the tee, so I don’t have those issues occurring and I don’t have to rely on luck for the most part. I have to get it in the fairway.” Kirk holed out from the first fairway for eagle and closed with back-to-back birdies for a 65. Starting with a chip-in for birdie on the 15th, he played six straight holes in 6 under. Sungjae Im tied the tournament record with six straight birdies, a streak that ended when he missed the green to the left on the par-3 third, and even then he nearly chipped in. He had to settle for a 66 and was three shots behind. Dustin Johnson wasted a good start and shot 70, leaving him eight shots behind. Jordan Spieth made his first double bogey in 411 holes — the longest streak of his career — and shot 74 to make the cut on the number. Rory McIlroy, who opened with a 79, wasn’t much better Friday. He made another double bogey on the 10th hole and shot 75. His 36-hole total of 154 was his highest ever in his 11 appearances at THE PLAYERS Championship. He is the first defending champion to miss the cut since Rickie Fowler in 2016. Four players from the top 10 in the world missed the cut — Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Tyrrell Hatton and Webb Simpson, whose hopes ended with one of 13 balls in the water at the island-green 17th.
Jordan Spieth, coming off his first top-20 finish of the season, is in contention after a 5-under 65 in the first round. He’s a shot back of leader Tony Finau.
A breezy day on one of the PGA TOUR’s most penal courses isn’t the ideal setting for a struggling player, but it brought out the best in two of the game’s biggest names. TPC Southwind was softened by rain, but Thursday’s scoring average still was just a quarter-stroke under par. The Bermuda rough is difficult to judge, an inconsistent breeze rustled the trees and no course on TOUR has had more water balls since 2003. Brooks Koepka made it look easy in the first round of the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, displaying the bravado that brings out his best when conditions are toughest. Koepka matched his career-low round with a 62 Thursday at TPC Southwind. It gave him a two-shot lead over Rickie Fowler and Brendon Todd. RELATED: Full leaderboard Todd has already won twice this season after a remarkable comeback from a prolonged slump. Koepka and Fowler, on the other hand, are winless. Koepka ranks outside the top 125 in Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Putting this season, but on Thursday he was among the best in the field in those facets of the game. He missed just four greens and led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach (+3.36). He was fourth in Strokes Gained: Putting (+3.11), as well. “I never felt like I had to work too hard today, which is different than it has been,” Koepka said. He couldn’t have regained his form at a better time. Not only is he facing a fortnight of title defenses, but he’s 136th in the FedExCup with just three weeks remaining in the regular season. Koepka has just one top-10 this season and has finished outside the top 60 in his past three starts. Last week’s missed cut at the 3M Open may have been a blessing in disguise. It allowed him to work with his coaches, Claude Harmon III and Pete Cowen. It was Koepka’s first time seeing Cowen since THE PLAYERS. Koepka also added another coach to his stable. He started working with putting coach Phil Kenyon this week, as well. Koepka has been struggling with a left-knee injury – he had stem-cell treatment after last year’s TOUR Championship, but re-injured it at the CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES – but Cowen recently told the Daily Mail that the knee isn’t the culprit. “When you get an injury as bad as that you’re never 100% right again,’ said Cowen. ‘But I don’t think it’s a problem. That’s finding excuses for the fact he’s swinging it badly. We don’t need excuses, we need to sort it out.” Koepka, who thrives on criticism, appreciates the Englishman’s frank talk. “With Pete, it’s more psychological. He’ll beat me down,” Koepka said. “He’ll jump on me. I enjoy that, when someone tells I can’t do something.” Fowler also played well Thursday after struggling with his iron play and putting this season. Fowler is 89th in the FedExCup standings and in danger of missing the BMW Championship for the first time in his 11-year career. He’s never finished worse than 43rd in the FedExCup, but he has more missed cuts (five) than top-10s (two) this season. His results since the Return to Golf have belied that inconsistency, as he sandwiched two top-25s between three missed cuts, including an 81-68 roller-coaster in his last start at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. Fowler started working with swing coach John Tillery last fall. He saw quick results, finishing in the top 10 in his first two starts of the calendar year. Those remain his only top-10s of the season. Some more work with Tillery before arriving at TPC Southwind resulted in Fowler’s best round since January. Fowler ranks 96th in Strokes Gained: Approach this season after finishing in the top 50 in that statistic from 2015-18. But it hasn’t just been his ball-striking. He’s also 75th in Strokes Gained: Putting, a statistic he led in 2017. Over the last four seasons, Fowler has the third-highest Strokes Gained: Putting per round (+0.52) among players with at least 200 ShotLink-measured rounds. He was in the top 10 in both Strokes Gained: Approach and Putting on Thursday. He hit 13 greens, didn’t miss a putt inside 10 feet and holed three from outside 15 feet. His only bogey came on his last hole of the day, when he missed the fairway left and decided to lay up short of the green. “Today was an accumulation of the work last week and just freeing myself up and simplifying thoughts and just playing golf versus working on the range,” Fowler said. “I was able to get a lot of good work with the putter last week and get myself back into some better positions to free up the putter. I was pulling a lot of putts, I was kind of tense with it, so it’s nice to see things kind of pay off.”
