How to Watch: Presidents Cup, Saturday

SCOTTSDALE. Ariz. — Tony Finau and Webb Simpson crashed golf’s biggest party with some back-nine fireworks. Finau shot a 9-under 62 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over Simpson in the Waste Management Phoenix Open, making an eagle on the par-5 13th and then, switching to a Kobe Bryant jersey for one hole, a birdie on TPC Scottsdale’s stadium par-3 16th. Related: Leaderboard | Amy paying it forward | Spieth misses cut, continues search for his best “I had a perfect number for a sand wedge and go ahead and fire right at the pin,” Finau said. “Damn near made it. That would have been pretty sweet with the Kobe jersey on. But I like that shot. That was pretty nice.” Simpson had a hole-in-one on the par-3 12th in a 64. Second-round leader J.B. Holmes and Hudson Swafford were two strokes back. Holmes shot 70 and Swafford had a 66. Holmes won at TPC Scottsdale in 2006 and 2008 for the first of his five PGA TOUR titles. Xander Schauffele (66), Adam Long (66) and Scott Piercy (68) were another shot back. Finau began his back-nine charge with a birdie on 12, ran in a 20-footer for the eagle on 13, then settled for birdie on the par-5 15th after missing a 6 1/2-foot eagle try. After the birdie on the rowdy 16th, he three-putted for par from the fringe on the short par-4 17th — missing a 4-foot birdie attempt — and saved par on the par-4 18th after driving left into the first section of the church pew bunkers. “I missed the one on 15 where I stuffed it in there and another one on 17,” Finau said. “It would be nice to have those back, I would have had the low round of my career. But it was a beautiful round of golf.” The 30-year-old from Utah won the 2016 Puerto Rico Open for his lone PGA TOUR title. “I look forward to tomorrow, my game’s in a good place and I always tell myself, `Whatever happens, you’re going to learn from it and get better and stronger as long as it doesn’t kill you,'” Finau said. “I’m still standing here punching and I’m going to do that for the rest of my career. So, I got 18 holes to try and win this golf tournament and my expectation is exactly that.” Simpson used a 7-iron on the 196-yard 12th. The ball bounced and rolled, turning slightly to right as it lost speed. “We figured with all the adjustments and everything, playing 180 yards, which is a perfect 7-iron for me and as soon as I hit it I knew I hit a good shot,” Simpson said. “I quit watching it because I can’t see the green. I can’t really see that well, to gauge how far it was from the hole. I was looking at the crowd and they got more excited and then their hands went up. And at first my first thought was, `That couldn’t have gone in.’ And then it dawned on me they were really excited, so it was fun.” He birdied 14 and 15, then saved bogey on 17 with a 20-foot putt after driving short and right into a bunker and taking three more shots to get on the green. He also scrambled on 18, making a 10-footer for par after driving into the right rough. The 2012 U.S. Open champion has five PGA TOUR victories, the last in 2018 at THE PLAYERS Championship. He lost a playoff to Hideki Matsuyama at TPC Scottsdale in 2017. “The golf course has gotten more firm every day, so it’s going to be challenging tomorrow,” Simpson said. “But guys, I think, are still looking at it as plenty of birdie opportunities. This course is playing shorter, so we’re having shorter clubs in, even though the greens are more firm.” Jon Rahm was tied for 11th at 10 under after a 68, playing alongside Finau. “Can’t make a putt. If I could make a putt, I would be happier,” Rahm said. “But six back, hitting it good, I just can’t seem to roll it in and at this point it just seems like it’s a little bit too far to be able to make it up. This course, it isn’t as easy to make up distance.” Billy Horschel, a shot behind Holmes entering the round, had a 73 to drop seven strokes back. Wyndham Clark, the first-round leader after a 61, also was 9 under after a 74 in the final group with Holmes and Horschel. FedExCup points leader Justin Thomas shot 69 to get to 8 under. Defending champion Rickie Fowler was 5 under after a 69.

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SANDWICH, England – They call him King Louis but of late he’s been more of a prince. Come Sunday at The 149th Open Championship, Louis Oosthuizen has the chance to earn the title once more, fittingly at Royal St. George’s, where he takes a one-shot lead into the final round. Legend has it that Saint George tamed and slayed a dragon. Oosthuizen’s proverbial dragon is his near misses. Since winning the 2010 Open at St. Andrews, Oosthuizen has finished second in six majors and THE PLAYERS Championship without winning another PGA TOUR event. Two of those close calls happened in the last two majors – the PGA Championship in May and the U.S. Open in June. On both of those occasions, poor shots into hazards late in the championship proved very costly. But he won’t let those scars affect his fight. “Finishing second isn’t great, so I will play my heart out tomorrow and see if I can lift the Claret Jug again,” Oosthuizen said. “You’re not going to do something silly with taking the impossible shot on, but if there is opportunity to be more aggressive when you need to, you’ve got to do it if you want a win a championship.” A third round 1-under 69 moved the South African to 12 under for the week, his third straight lead. Open debutant Collin Morikawa (68) is just a shot behind with 2017 Open Champion Jordan Spieth (69) is third at 9 under. Corey Conners (66) and Scottie Scheffler (69) may have dragon slaying ideas of their own starting four back while Jon Rahm is not out the running just yet at seven under. That’s plenty more dragons to slay for Oosthuizen. “All of us are just human to think of lifting the trophy, and that’s going to be in your mind. But I think you just need to know it and how to handle it,” he said. “Once we get on the golf course, it’s all golf. “You need to believe that you can lift the trophy, as well, and if you think about it beforehand that you might win this championship, I think that’s great, and you have to believe you can do it.” His nearest challenger in Morikawa is looking to slay history. No player in the long history of golf has won two different majors on their first try. The 2020 PGA Champion has that chance. The 24-year-old showed great composure to rebound from falling four shots back early Saturday. His win at Harding Park came when he burst out of a stacked and packed leaderboard. But this is a new beast, mainly as there are fans, and the added pressure that provides. “I’m going to try and keep it as similar as possible to every other tournament I’ve played. Hopefully trust the process and just be committed with that,” Morikawa said. “The biggest thing I can draw from the PGA is just knowing I can get it done. But I think confidence just comes from hitting good shots, quality shots, seeing putts go in. There is a lot to draw from, especially this week. “I don’t have much experience on links golf, and pretty much all the highlights in my head are from this week. Thankfully there is quite a few. Hopefully we can just use that momentum from the first three days and just bring it into the last 18. It’s going to be a grueling 18, but I look forward to it. It’s the position you want to be in.” And what of Spieth’s dragons? Well it may be more like demons after a costly finish to the third round. The former FedExCup champion gave up back-to-back bogeys on the last two holes from great position in the fairway to fall three back. The first from a poor wedge shot, the second via a three-putt from 20-feet. He’s only managed to come behind to win in two of his 12 PGA TOUR victories. And we can’t discount Conners, Scheffler or even fellow non-major winners MacKenzie Hughes (-7), Dylan Frittelli (-7), Cameron Smith (-6), Justin Harding (-6) or Marcel Siem (-6) given the last two champions at St. George’s were long shots Ben Curtis and Darren Clarke. The last 20 Open winners have come from the top nine on the leaderboard with a round to play. Only one can be the dragon slayer. Who you got?

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