How to watch Safeway Open, Round 3: Leaderboard, tee times, TV times

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Tiger Woods put his name on the leaderboard again, and this time it stayed there. Woods looked sharper as the gallery got louder. He made four birdies, got a few good bounces and kept a clean card at Innisbrook until the last hole for a 3-under 68 that gave him a share of the early lead Friday at the Valspar Championship. Paul Casey and Brandt Snedeker also had 68s, while Ryan Palmer had a 66 to share the lead at 4-under 138. “I don’t think this will be leading, but at least I’m there with a chance going into the weekend,” Woods said. “Today was a good day.” Masters champion Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy were among those playing in the afternoon. Woods also got his name high on the leaderboard when he first returned from his fourth back surgery in the Bahamas, an unofficial event with an 18-man field before as sparse of a gallery as will ever see him play. That didn’t last long. This looked as though it could. Woods has been slowed my mistakes, some leading to big numbers the last time he played at the Honda Classic. The second round at Innisbrook was all about control of his shots that rarely put him out of position off the tee and especially on the green, where he could attack putts from below the hole. He took the lead with a drive that was heading left, struck a cart path and caromed back into the fairway on his 14th hole, the par-5 fifth. That set up a long iron into the front right bunker, and a delicate shot from the sand to about 5 feet for his fourth birdie of the round. He gained even more momentum with a 12-foot par putt from the collar of the fringe at No. 7, and Woods was heading toward a bogey-free round until his wedge on the par-5 ninth rode the shifting wind to the right and into the gallery, his ball on a woman’s bag. After getting a drop, his chip came out too strong and hit the flag, leaving it only 6 feet away. He missed the putt and didn’t seem all that bothered. Just over five months ago, Woods still didn’t have the clearance to begin hitting full shots, much less playing without restrictions. In his fourth PGA TOUR event in seven weeks, he looks like a contender. “I’ve come a long way in that span of time,” Woods said. What’s changed is the energy of the gallery, enormous for the Valspar Championship, all of them looking for any reason to cheer. “The roars are a little louder, and there’s certainly an energy about the gallery that you don’t have anywhere else,” Jordan Spieth said. Spieth missed the cut for the second time this year. He is still trying to rediscover his putting touch, and his iron game left him in the opening round of 76. He didn’t fare much better on Friday with two birdies, two bogeys, a 71 and a phone call to get back to Dallas sooner than he wanted. Henrik Stenson, the other major champion in the group, had another 74 and missed the cut. “I’ve played with Tiger many times. It’s nothing new,” Spieth said. “It kind of feels like you’re playing in a major championship in a normal round, which if anything should bring out better golf for me. I just got way off on my iron play, with putting not improving either. That’s how you shoot over par.” Casey holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th for his 68, putting him in good shape going into the weekend. Casey has gone nearly four years since his last victory. He was on the opposite side of the course as Woods, though he could hear him. “Feels like the old days,” Casey said. Snedeker holed a 35-foot birdie putt on the par-3 13th and took care the par 5s on the front nine for his 68. Sean O’Hair, a past winner at Innisbrook who lost in a playoff to Spieth here in 2015, had a 68 and was at 3-under 139. Former PGA champion Jimmy Walker reached 6 under with four birdies on his first five holes, only to lose ground the rest of the way for a 71. He was at 2-under 140. Woods never really saw his name on the board. Whenever he glanced at the video board, it was showing Spieth or Stenson putting and their statistics. But he could sense from the crowd that everything was going his way. These last two days have given his comeback some momentum. “To play myself into contention this early into it was nice, and on top of that, to build on what I did a week ago,” he said, referring to the Honda Classic when he was on the fringe of contention going to the back nine. “I feel comfortable out there.”

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AUGUSTA, Ga. – One day after making the Masters look easy, Jordan Spieth reminded us how hard it really is to win the Green Jacket. Spieth rolled through the second nine Thursday, making five consecutive birdies en route to a 66 that gave him a two-shot lead. He had that look of focused determination that he gets when he enters a state of flow. He stared down his iron shots without a hint of anxiety and pumped his fist while putts were still rolling toward the hole. He looked like a man unconcerned with any outcome besides the one he envisioned. The game looked simple on the course that brings out his best. The ease with which he took that two-shot lead made it seem feasible that we were witnessing another coronation at Augusta National. Yes, it was only Thursday, but his demeanor was reminiscent of 2015, when he tied the tournament scoring record and won by four shots. Even the bogey he made on the 18th hole added to his confidence after he averted a worse score with a skillful pitch. He received a warm ovation when he arrived at the first tee shortly before Friday’s 10:53 a.m. tee time. He spoke again Thursday evening of his reverence for this event, and the patrons responded with a gesture that showed their admiration for another of Augusta’s adopted sons. They could hardly envision what the next five hours would hold. He drove into the pine straw on the first two holes. Both times, he hit three shots before his ball came to rest on short grass. He needed a series of par saves to keep his deficit from getting even larger, then stayed in contention by answering the siren song of the second nine’s two par-5s. He still had to fight on the final two holes, holing an 8-foot par putt on 17 and saving par from a fairway bunker after a drive that caused him to slam his club into the tee. He wasn’t happy that he failed to convert the 10-foot birdie putt that followed a strong approach from the sand, but he could still walk off the course proud of the fact that he’d played his final 11 holes bogey-free to keep himself in contention for a second Green Jacket. He sits at 4-under 140 after Friday’s 74. He was 3 over after his first two holes, but birdied both of the second nine’s par-5s to shoot 34. “The wheels could have come off there, but I made some nice par saves and was able to grind out some phenomenal second shots (to the par-5s),� he said after his round. He hit just half his fairways Friday, resulting in several adventurous holes. He was so far right on the first hole that he had to ask multiple times for the crowd to move farther into the trees to give him a clear shot to the green. His punch-out from the pine needles stayed in the second cut and his third shot rolled off the false front. He missed his 11-foot bogey putt. He hooked his tee shot on No. 2, rushed his punch shot and had to hit a phenomenal 6-iron just to reach the green in three shots. He three-putted from 52 feet. Both errant shots were caused by mishits on the toe, he said. Not a good start, but Spieth has been doing this long enough to know that 52 holes remained. His caddie, Michael Greller, reminded him, “Man, you always take punches out here and come back stronger.� Even after the quadruple-bogey that cost him the 2016 Masters, he birdied two of the next three holes to give himself a chance. He made another quad in last year’s first round but started Sunday just two shots back. “So what’s the first couple holes on a Friday mean? It doesn’t really mean much to me,� he said. “It means let’s figure out what was wrong and fix it, but it’s not going to affect the outcome of this tournament off of those two holes. I’m still in a great position.� His biggest mistake may have been his approach shot to the seventh hole, because that miscue came from a mental mistake. “I just didn’t trust my instincts there,� he said. His tentative approach shot plugged into one of the bunkers fronting the green, resulting in a bogey that dropped him to 4 over for the day. After parring the par-5 eighth hole, he played what he called his most important hole of the day. His tee shot on No. 9 snuck into the second cut and his approach shot went over the green. He two putted from 75 feet, holing a 6-footer for par to shoot 40 on his front nine. “When that went in, I thought, okay, forget about everything that’s happened. Let’s try to shoot 2 under on the back nine. That was the goal,� he said. He accomplished it with two birdies on Augusta National’s famed par-5s on the second nine. They were his only two birdies on a day when inconsistent wind gusts made it difficult to get the ball close to the hole. He hit 12 greens Friday, one more than he did in the previous day’s 66, but had just a handful of birdie chances. The first came from an unlikely spot after he drove into the pine straw on the par-5 13th. A tree stood between his ball and the hole, but he had room to hook a 4-iron onto the green. It wasn’t until after he hit the shot that he realized the risk. Sometimes it’s better not to overthink it. “When I was walking (to the green), I’m like man that was a really, really difficult shot to pull off. I don’t know why I didn’t have any nerves,� he said. “I just kind of stepped up and hit it. It was probably the quickest shot I hit today, which is weird.� Spieth also hit the 15th green with his 212-yard second shot after hitting a 320-yard drive. It was another shot that allowed him to move closer to the lead, increasing his chances of another Masters title in spite of a horrible start to the day.  

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SHANGHAI  — Dustin Johnson shot a 4-under 68 in blustery conditions that led to big numbers, building a six-shot lead in the WGC-HSBC Champions and leaving him one round away from becoming the first player to win three World Golf Championships in the same year. He got plenty of help from Brooks Koepka. They were tied for the lead through seven holes Saturday until a four-shot swing on the par-5 eighth hole. Koepka drove into the hazard off the tee, and then found the hazard again on his approach to the green. He missed a 6-foot putt and took triple-bogey 8. Johnson smashed his drive over the trees and into the fairway, and with a thick splotch of mud on his golf ball, he sent that into the left rough above the green. He hit a flop shot to 15 feet and holed it for birdie. Just like that, his lead was four shots, and no one got any closer the rest of the way. Johnson was at 17-under 199. Koepka hit into the water from a bunker on the par-5 closing hole at Sheshan International and had to make a 6-footer to save bogey. That gave him a 73, leaving him six shots behind. Henrik Stenson, finally starting to round into form, shot 69 and was at 10-under 206. Even with more wind anticipated Sunday, this was turning into another exhibition for Johnson, the world’s No. 1 player. “I’m in a good position going into tomorrow,” Johnson said. “But I’m still going to have to go out and play a really solid round if I want to get it done.” Johnson earlier this year won the WGC-Mexico Championship and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Texas. Not even Tiger Woods with his 18 titles in the World Golf Championships ever won more than two in one year. Johnson already has five such titles, and he’s the only player to have won each of the four. He won the WGC-HSBC Champions four years ago. “If Dustin keeps on playing the way that he’s done this week, I think it’s going to be a one-man show tomorrow,” Stenson said. “But you never know. Tough wind, and this golf course has a couple of holes where you can certainly have a number. It’s never over until it’s over.” Koepka discovered the hard way how big numbers can wreck a round. The U.S. Open champion was practically flawless at the start, running off three straight birdies to take a two-shot lead. Johnson responded with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fourth and driving into the rough just short of the par-4 seventh green, hitting a delicate flop-and-run to 3 feet for birdie to catch Koepka. And then after a lengthy wait on the tee at No. 8, it all changed. With the wind at the players’ backs, and with sheer power of Johnson and Koepka, the line was over trees that have grown so tall in recent years they can’t see the fairway. Johnson hammered his tee shot and knew from experience he was fine. Koepka caught his drive on the toe and it turned over from right-to-left. His caddie ran down toward the area to see if he had a shot, and quickly realized it was gone. Koepka hit his third shot from the tee, and then his fourth turned left into the hazard again. He had no choice but to take another penalty and head back to the fairway, and after a good wedge, he missed the putt for his 8. Koepka also missed good birdie chances on No. 9 and 11, and good par chances on Nos. 10 and 12 that he felt could have given him momentum. “It was definitely windier today,” he said. “I didn’t think it was playing that difficult. Definitely should be able to shoot 4 under out here, minus a triple and whatever else I had, a lot of bogeys.” He wasn’t alone. One reason for the waiting on the front nine was Patrick Reed, who had a triple bogey on the opening hole and a pair of double bogeys for an outward nine of 44. Two more double bogeys on the back nine led to an 82. Si Woo Kim made an 11 on the eighth hole. Sheshan International played to an average score of 72.73, two shots harder than the opening round. Conditions likely will be tougher for the final round, made even more difficult by the No. 1 player ahead by six shots.

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