Greatest golfer ever? Mickey Wright dies at 85

Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the Genesis Open that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Be looking for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. Even Money Bubba Watson, the 54-hole leader after his 65 (-6) in Round 3 in 2018, also won this event in 2014 and 2016. After surviving the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game last night, the lefty opened with eagle 3 at the first hole and never looked back. His 65 was tied second-best total in Round 3. When making the cut at Riviera, he’s never finished worse than T17 in six other tries so I wouldn’t expect a regression tomorrow. He held the 54-hole lead by one here in 2016 and held off Dustin Johnson and a crew of others so he knows how to close the deal. Cameron, Champ Cameron Champ was the 2018 Charley Sifford Memorial Exemption for this week but missed the cut. Cameron Tringale missed the cut for the first time in eight tries. Australian Cameron Smith matched Watson’s 65 and moved up 12 spots to T3. This is his third consecutive year at Riviera and his last two rounds are his best of the 11 he’s played. He’ll begin Sunday two shots out of the lead after his second bogey-free round this week (Round 1). He’ll lean on his short game and the good vibes from his win at the Australian PGA in December. Na or Never It’s been awhile for Kevin Na, 2011 to be exact, since his last trip to the winner’s circle. He was up for the fight in Round 3 as he posted 67 (-4) that included an eagle to open and a double bogey-bogey combo on the back nine. He persevered with two birdies and three pars in his final five holes and it also just two back. Na is looking to improve on his T4 from last year and to pick up his first top 10 since the Dell Technologies Championship last Labor Day. Former Winners Dustin Johnson shot 64, again, just like he did in Round 3 last year, and posted the lowest round of the day. Gamers are rejoicing as he was the most-selected player in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO and the most-selected player in PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO. After moving up 45 spots to T8, he’ll probably need one more 64 to defend his title but WE HAVE HOPE, PEOPLE! … Aaron Baddeley won the 2011 edition as Kevin Na and Fred Couples joined him in the final group. He’s also T8 after a 68-67 Friday-Saturday combo. … Two-time champ Phil Mickelson moved up 13 spots to T13 after 67. He’s looking to paint the top 10 for the third consecutive week for the first time since 2009. … James Hahn, the dragon slayer in the playoff from 2015, sits T16. That Watson guy is doing well too… Moving Day Canadian Adam Hadwin tweeted … that he was packed up and ready to go home before sliding into the weekend on the number after 70-74. He took advantage of his second wind and signed for 66, moving up 44 spots to T20. Pro gamers will point out he was one of Rob Bolton’s Sleepers this week and that he’s never finished worse than T34 in three prior starts. … Talor Gooch has been in this column plenty a few times already as the rookie has posted eight cuts in 10 tries. His 67 pushed him up 33 to T20 as he looks to improve on his best finish of the season, T16. Moving Day: Wrong Way After plaudits for Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Austin Cook yesterday, I’m forced to backtrack. The Spaniard fired 73 to drop from T10 to T37 and Cook matched his score and his drop, as he moved from T15 to T42. You’re on your own tomorrow! … Martin Kaymer had one of the three, bogey-free rounds after 36 holes. He made up for lost time today with six squares and a 75, dropping 39 spots to T54. … Chez Reavie couldn’t stop the bleeding after a 76 in Round 2 as he threw up a pair of hockey sticks (77) in Round 3 and currently sits last. Finding Rory After completing two rounds in the circus with Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas and lurking at T15, McIlroy couldn’t get anything going in Round 3. His 73 included only half of the fairways and half of the greens as he slid 10 shots out of the lead (T42). He scrambled at just over 55 percent but was only successful once from four tries in the bunker. He lost strokes on the poa annua greens for the third day in a row as well. I’m hoping the earlier tee time and frustration push him to air it out Sunday. He stays in my lineup. Study Hall Morgan Hoffmann withdrew during Round 2 but no reason has been given. Hoffmann announced that he was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy late in 2017 but has been playing a full, normal schedule. Stay tuned. … Haotong Li aced No. 6 and the sponsor exemption is currently T26. If you’re not familiar with him, don’t be last to the party. … There are eight players who have made five bogeys or less thru 54 holes. Of those eight players, seven reside T8 or better. The outlier is T13. Par is a good score this week!

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At 7,643 yards, Torrey Pines was the longest course in major championship history when it hosted the 2008 U.S. Open. So what was Phil Mickelson’s plan of attack for the first major at his hometown muni? Eschew the driver. With firm summer conditions and thick rough lining the fairways, Mickelson decided to start the week without a driver in his bag. “I don’t really want to hit it past 300 yards on most of the par-4s because it starts running into the rough,” Mickelson said back then. “And I felt like with the fairways being firm like they were today, all I needed was 3-wood on the holes.” Mickelson may employ a similar strategy this week. He expects to hit a 2-wood on about half his tee shots this week. But Mickelson, who’s made no secret of his pursuit of extra clubhead speed in recent years, also will have his driver in the bag. “There’s a lot of holes where it kind of turns or tightens,” he said in his pre-tournament press conference. “That 2-wood, I’ll call it, seems to fit the right yardage on a lot of those holes for me.” Mickelson’s 5-degree driver, the Callaway Epic Speed Triple Diamond driver with a Fujikura Ventus Black shaft, also will be in the bag. It’s the same club that helped him hit big bombs in his win at last month’s PGA Championship. Most impressive was the 366-yard tee shot he hit to set up a crucial birdie on the tournament’s 69th hole. In 2008, Mickelson opted for a Callaway FT Tour 3-wood — a 13-degree version bent to 11.5 degrees and equipped with a 43-inch Mitsubishi Diamana White Board shaft – in lieu of his driver. However, over the opening two days of the tournament, Mickelson struggled off the tee. On the brutally challenging and lengthy California course, Mickelson found himself not just in the rough for most of Thursday and Friday, but short too. “When I made some terrible swings and hit in the rough it kind of defeats the game plan because now I’m short and crooked,” he said. Following rounds of 71 and 75, Mickelson abandoned the plan and put his FT-5 Tour driver (bent at 8.5 degrees) back in the bag for the weekend. Being 4 over par forced his hand. He needed to make birdies if he was going to contend at Torrey Pines. As he explained to media that week, being 4 over par forced his hand, and the need to have more short irons into holes to help him score was what brought the driver back into play. “Why did I put the driver in the bag today? … I needed to try to make some birdies and get a few shorter irons in,” he said. He was undone by a quadruple-bogey 9 on the par-5 13th, though, and shot 76 in the third round to end his chances. He closed with his low round of the week, a 3-under 68, to salvage a T18 finish. Since then, Lefty has won multiple majors and also experimented with going without driver again at Merion at the 2013 U.S. Open. Mickelson won the 2006 Masters with two drivers in the bag, an experiment he repeated at the 2019 Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. Two years ago at Muirfield Village, he reflected on his decision to start the 2008 U.S. Open without a driver. At the Memorial Tournament in 2019, Mickelson carried multiple drivers, where he also reflected on his 2018 driverless experiment at Torrey Pines. “That was a mistake, obviously. What a great idea that was,” he said. “I’m going to play with a 3-wood. And then I missed the fairways with the 3-wood. That was ridiculous. That didn’t work out.” Mickelson will have a different setup this week and hope for a different result. It would be a storybook victory for the World Golf Hall of Famer.

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