Henley shoots 67, owns 2-shot lead at Sony Open

Venezuela has been big at the RBC Canadian Open lately, what with Jhonattan Vegas winning the last two years. South Africa had a nice run with Nick Price (1991, ’94), David Frost (’93), and Tim Clark (’14). Australia had champions Jason Day (’15) and Greg Norman (’92). Heck, even Sweden (Carl Pettersson, ’10) and Fiji (Vijay Singh, ’04) have caught the can-do spirit in Canada. As for Canada, though, it’s complicated. Patrick Oswald Fletcher was the last Canadian to win the Canadian Open in 1954, making him the first from the Great White North to win the tournament since 1914 and, ahem, not exactly opening the floodgates. Yes, Oswald acted alone. (Sorry.) Mike Weir nearly won in ’04, but Canada wept as Singh drained an eight-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole, then beat Weir in a playoff. “It’s going to end at some point,” Weir said of the streak when it reached its 60-year anniversary in 2014. “… It would be nice to get the streak over so we don’t have to talk about it.” On the plus side, there are 21 Canadians in the field this week. They are led by favorite son Weir and Adam Hadwin, who won the Valspar Championship last year and comes to Glen Abbey at a respectable 61st in the FedExCup. All four Monday qualifiers this week were Canadian. On the minus side, a few of the Canadians are amateurs, which would suggest an uphill climb to the trophy ceremony, and others are still trying to crack the all-important FedExCup top 125. “A good week locks up my card,” said Ben Silverman, 30, who is 135th. “Allows me to plan my schedule ahead of time next year, so I don’t have to travel like a crazy man.” Like Weir and others, Silverman said he wants to be the one to break the streak, but it can be hard to make history with so much math on the brain. While a win at Glen Abbey would deliver 500 FedExCup points, any sort of top-10 finish would undoubtedly be a win of a different kind, nudging players off the bubble and into the FedExCup Playoffs. Careers hang in the balance. Corey Conners, the rookie who led the Valspar Championship before a final-round 77 dropped him into a tie for 16th place in March, is No. 126. Nick Taylor, who won the 2015 Sanderson Farms Championship, is No. 127. Silverman is No. 135. David Hearn is No. 148.   Their precarious positions notwithstanding, the dry spell of Canadians in Canada owes not to some tragic inability to win on the PGA TOUR. Most have proven plenty capable. Hearn opened with 66-64 before fading to a T16 finish at the recent John Deere Classic, while Mackenzie Hughes, who won the 2017 RSM Classic but is 174th in the FedExCup, closed with 68-65 to also finish T16 at TPC Deere Run. They made nice bookends, for what it’s worth. Then there was Conners at the Valspar. Feeling he had nothing to lose after making it into the field as an alternate, and “good Canadian vibes around that placeâ€� after countryman Hadwin’s victory the year before, Conners made headlines for three days at Innisbrook. But on day four, playing behind one of his idols, Tiger Woods, it all caught up to him. After getting texts from Justin Thomas, a friend from Jupiter, Fla., and countrymen Weir and Hughes, the Cinderella Story Conners crashed on a day in which he briefly couldn’t feel his arms.    “First time in the final group,â€� Conners said. “A huge event. I was a little tentative on the greens, made a few mistakes, didn’t get those breaks, and couldn’t get the round going.â€� The example of Conners, who was two shots back through three rounds at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship two weeks later, only to close with a 76 to finish T13, may speak to the Canadians’ real problem at the RBC Canadian Open: They want it too much. Weir, who had delivered for Canada with his historic Masters victory in 2003, admitted the moment got to him when trying to win at home in ’04. He found the water on the third playoff hole. “I feel for Mike,â€� Singh said. “He wanted to win this tournament really badly.â€� “I wasn’t able to gather my emotions like I normally do,â€� Weir said. Who is this year’s great Canadian hope? It could be Hadwin, who in eight starts at the RBC Canadian Open has two top-10 finishes, a T7 in ’15 and a T4 in ’11. He was T35 at The Open Championship, and contended at the CareerBuilder Challenge (3rd) and Genesis Open (T6). Conners will play for the sixth week in a row at Glen Abbey. “I like to play,â€� he said. “I’ve kind of learned over the past couple of years to manage my energy and rest a bit. It’s weird to think the season’s going to be over.â€� He says he hasn’t gotten much out of his game lately, but isn’t far off from the player who contended at the Valspar. He likes Glen Abbey, and his friends, family and his fiancé, Malory, will come from his hometown of Listowel to support him on the Jack Nicklaus design.      “I have a good feeling around the golf course and feel like my game has gotten a lot better,â€� said Conners, who played collegiately for Kent State. “I’m hitting the ball great and hitting some good putts, just haven’t gotten them to fall. I’ve maximized my score.â€� I’ve maximized my score. For Canadians at the RBC Canadian Open, it’s a familiar refrain.

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Brendan Steele … If he just plays to his average, he’d very much be in the proverbial conversation of identifying the best golfer. Currently ninth on the PGA TOUR in total driving, 41st in greens in regulation, T34 in proximity to the hole and 20th in strokes gained: off-the-tee. Also 35th in birdie-or-better percentage, 38th in adjusted scoring, sixth in bogey avoidance and No. 1 in scrambling. His splendid season features a win and another six top 20s, the last a T6 at THE PLAYERS. Placed T15 at Oakmont last year, so the stage isn’t too big and the lights aren’t too bright for this 34-year-old in his prime. Byeong Hun An … If there’s still a chip on his shoulder for failing to slam the door at the Waste Management Phoenix Open four months ago, Erin Hills presents the kind of open-air routing that feeds into his zeal for bringing a course to its knees. While this track is too long to achieve that objective, he should no doubt double down on the confidence borne from the possibility. Combine fantastic form over the last month – he’s gone T8-T5-T24-T25 worldwide, respectively – and there’s reason to believe that the magic will continue. Alexander Levy … France’s top-ranked talent needed sectional qualifying to book his second appearance (T27, 2015), but he was already connecting with the kind of form that was deserving of a spot in the field. The 26-year-old’s win at the Volvo China Open in April punctuated a burst started by a solo fourth in Malaysia in February. That was trailed by a T8 at the Shenzhen International the week prior to what was his fourth title on the European Tour. He’s since added a T15 at the Nordea Masters. Ranks 41st on his circuit in greens in regulation and 35th in scoring. Bud Cauley … Making his first start in a major in four years and it really couldn’t have occurred at a better time. The 27-year-old has been a regular on leaderboards for the last two months. He strung together four consecutive top 10s and last logged a T25 at the Memorial. His surge can be directly correlated to hitting enough more greens in regulations and sinking a few more putts than field averages. Like diet and exercise to tone the body, it’s a formula that should trim scoring, and it has. Joaquin Niemann … His résumé is the stuff of hyperbole, but you need to be familiar with it. Just 18 years of age, he’s already the world’s top-ranked amateur. To put that into some perspective, he kicked aside all-everything Maverick McNealy of Stanford for the honor in April, while recent NCAA individual champion Braden Thornberry ranked 16th prior to his T4 at the FedEx St. Jude Classic. Niemann arrived at Erin Hills having won his last five competitions by a respective nine, six, eight, four and eight strokes. That blistering streak was sparked by a win in a professional competition in his native Chile, which was already his second pro victory of 2017. His run of wins included titles at Innisbrook’s Copperhead Course (host of the Valspar Championship) and at the Mexican International Amateur this past Sunday, which is where he traveled after surviving a playoff in the U.S. Open sectional qualifier the previous Monday. Committed to the University of South Florida this fall, he opened the year with a playoff loss at the Latin America Amateur Championship.

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – It had been five long years since he won, but that wasn’t what was on Gary Woodland’s mind when he made the final putt and pointed to the sky. He was thinking of the family member who was gone but not forgotten. “Yeah, that was just kind of a tribute to last year,� Woodland said after shooting a final-round 64 and beating Chez Reavie with a par on the first playoff hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. “Obviously, we lost a little girl, and being there, seeing my wife give birth to her, that’s real.� Woodland’s eyes flooded with tears. “Just wanted her to know I still love her,� he said. On March 29 of last year, Woodland released a statement that he and his wife, Gabby, had lost one of their unborn twins. He had just withdrawn from the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, and in the statement he added that “doctors will be monitoring the health of my wife and the other baby for the remainder of the pregnancy.� Just over 10 months later, Gabby and their son, Jaxson, surprised him on the 18th green as the family celebrated Gary’s first victory since the 2013 Barracuda Championship. Woodland calls Jaxson his “miracle� son, and he and Gabby held him close and continue to do so after the trials of 2017. “Really took off about four months,� said Woodland, who moves from 38th to fifth in the FedExCup standings. “But I found a way to get to the TOUR Championship, kind of battled through the end of the year, and I couldn’t wait for 2018 to start.� Said Brennan Little, Woodland’s caddie: “His demeanor has been better. Last year was a bit of a mess. I mean, not really knowing his schedule, missing a few events, going home. Now the wife and the baby have been out; his attitude has been really good, which I think you can see in some of the rounds in Hawaii and San Diego, he got off to some bad starts and brought them back.� Woodland was trending in the right direction after a T7 at the Sony Open in Hawaii and a T12 at the Farmers Insurance Open. Matt Kuchar, who hung around to congratulate Woodland after the victory, said he played nine holes with Woodland on Tuesday before the start of the WMPO and was wowed. “He was driving it just so well,� Kuchar said.   In addition to his wife and son, Woodland was cheered on by his parents, his sister and her husband, and others from back home in Topeka, Kansas. (He now lives in South Florida.) He got a text from his coach, Butch Harmon, on Thursday, urging him to put four good rounds together and not worry about the score. He did that, and recent putting lessons from friend Brad Faxon paid dividends, as well, as Woodland made 200 feet of putts on the weekend. “I was in the zone,� he said. “I mean, I really had it going. My caddie asked me when I got done, did I know I made nine birdies. I didn’t even know I did that.� Now it’s on to California for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the resumption of a career that for five years was sidetracked by frustration, injuries and loss. “It’s really hard to put in words right now,� Woodland said. “Last year we battled through it, couldn’t get to the off-season quick enough, couldn’t start 2018 soon enough. For [Jaxson] to be here, it’s obviously a miracle, but I’m just so excited to share this with him and my family, and hopefully it’s the start of something special.� OBSERVATIONS REAVIE COMES UP SHORT: Chez Reavie made clutch birdies on 17 and 18 to tie, and the birdie at the last, measuring 21 feet, 4 inches, was Hollywood stuff when you consider he was a standard-bearer in this event as a boy. “That was the dream, man,� Reavie said. “… I grew up here in Mesa. I carried the sign board here growing up when I was in high school and junior high, and to have a chance to win the tournament this week was a lot of fun.� Reavie, a former Arizona State standout, was going for his second PGA TOUR win (2008 RBC Canadian Open) in his 237th start, but couldn’t get up and down to save par from just in front of the 18th green in the playoff. He had missed the cut in his previous three starts at the WMPO, and now has seven top-25 finishes in eight starts this season. He moves up to 13th in the latest FedExCup standings.   PHIL ENCOURAGED: Phil Mickelson still hasn’t won since the 2013 Open Championship, but he provided late thrills with birdies at 15, 16 and 17. Alas, he double-bogeyed 18 for 69 and T5, four out of the playoff. “That was a cool moment there,� Mickelson said of the curling, 30-foot putt he made for birdie at the fan-choked 16th hole. “It’s just a cool feeling. What a great hole.� (He birdied it three of the four days.) The T5 was the best result this season for the 47-year-old Hall of Famer and has him trending in the right direction going into the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, where he won the last of his four titles in 2012. “I just didn’t get it going early, and I don’t know what to say,� Mickelson said after making eight pars on the front nine at TPC Scottsdale, falling behind. “It was fun to be in contention. I had a great time coming down the stretch. I didn’t like, obviously, the last hole, but other than that it was a pretty solid week and that was the only over-par score [of the day].� FOWLER FALTERS: Seeking his fifth win in his 200th PGA TOUR start, Rickie Fowler bogeyed three of the last four holes for a 2-over 73 and T11. He also broke a streak of 12 straight under-par rounds at WMPO. Although the bogeys on holes 15-17 were his most glaring mistakes, he cited his failure to make anything on the greens for his inability to turn a 54-hole lead/co-lead into a victory for the fifth time in six attempts. “Just couldn’t buy a putt,� said Fowler, who ranked -1.432 in strokes gained: putting, 60th in the field, in the final round. “That’s one of the best clubs in my bag. I feel like I hit a lot of good putts, so it was a little disappointing not to see really anything go in on the back nine. I think that was kind of the biggest letdown.� Fowler was trying to win for the first time in Phoenix after runner-up finishes in 2010 and 2016. “I love this place,� he said. “The course and I, most of the time we get along well.�  NOTABLES PATTON KIZZIRE – Remains the FedExCup leader after shooting a final-round 70 to finish T31. JON RAHM – FedExCup and world No. 2 bogeyed the opening hole and never found his stride in a final-round 72 to finish T11. ALEX NOREN – Hard-luck playoff loser at the Farmers Insurance Open last week fired a final-round 70 to finish at 10-under and T21. JUSTIN THOMAS – Reigning FedExCup champ bounced back from a disappointing third round with a final-round 66, including a kick-in eagle on 17, to finish T17. OLLIE SCHNIEDERJANS – Wineless member of the vaunted high school Class of 2011 thrilled with a final-round 65 but ran out of holes to finish T3, three out of the playoff. PATRICK REED – Still trying to rebound from a winless 2017, Reed finished strong with a 67 to get to 11-under and T17. XANDER SCHAUFFELE – Reigning Rookie of the Year bogeyed three of his first five holes and never recovered. Birdie at the last gave him a 1-over 72 for T17 finish. QUOTABLES That’s just a sign that things are not going to go good.It’s right up there with the putt I made to win in Canada.It’s nice to be back in here seeing all you guys again.  CALL OF THE DAY SUPERLATIVES Low round: Woodland made nine birdies and two bogeys for a 64, best of the day. Long drive: Jon Rahm’s 354-yard tee shot split the fairway at the par-5 third hole. He made par. Longest putt: Scott Stallings made a birdie putt of 52 feet, 4 inches at the par-4 14th hole.  Easiest hole: Short par-4 17th played to 316 yards, 16 shorter than on the scorecard, and field average (3.431) was more than a half a shot under par. Hardest hole: The 465-yard, par-4 11th played to a 4.278 stroke average. 16th hole: Tees were moved back again to 168 yards, and the field averaged 3.083 strokes at the Coliseum. Matt Kuchar nearly aced the hole, his ball coming to rest just 3 inches short. 17th hole: Played just 316 yards and the field ate it up, averaging 3.431 strokes to make it the easiest of the day. Justin Thomas hit 3-wood to 4 feet, 3 inches and made the eagle putt.  TOP SHOT FROM NO. 16 BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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