How to watch Safeway Open, Round 4: Leaderboard, tee times, TV times

While golfers competing in this week’s European Tour event in Saudi Arabia are catching heat for political reasons, they say they are there just as competitors and nothing more.

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SAN ANTONIO – Trey Mullinax didn’t make the FedExCup Playoffs last season, so he’s not fully exempt on the PGA TOUR. His conditional status – he finished 137th on the points list – limits his playing opportunities, as he’s made just two starts in the last nine weeks. That means lots of practice time back home in Birmingham, Alabama. Also lots of time to hang out with his family. “It’s been nice, to be honest,â€� he said. “Obviously I would like to play a little more, but the tournaments I get in, I’m really excited, I’m excited about playing golf.â€� Excited enough Saturday to set a course record at TPC San Antonio. Mullinax’s 10-under 62 on Saturday not only put him in the record books, it put him in position to chase his first PGA TOUR win. Having started the day tied for 25th, Mullinax is now in solo third at 12 under entering the final round of the Valero Texas Open. He’ll be in the final threesome with co-leaders Zach Johnson and Andrew Landry, one stroke ahead. Until Saturday, the lowest round since the tournament moved to TPC San Antonio in 2010 has been the 63s by Matt Every in 2012 and Martin Laird, who shot his in the final round to win in 2013. Mullinax set the record by setting another record, shooting 29 on the back nine – two eagles, four birdies and a bogey – for a new nine-hole mark. Mulinax wasn’t exactly sure what the course record was before rolling in his final putt, a 16-footer for eagle at the par-5 18th. After the ball dropped, he turned to caddie David Flynn and said, “I think that might be the course record.â€� Flynn wasn’t sure either. “No matter what,â€� he replied, “you still played pretty good.â€� Mullinax has played pretty well in his limited starts, a tie for sixth at the Valspar Championship, and a tie for 22nd his last start at Corales Puntacana. That was just about a month ago. He opened Thursday with a 2-over 74, doing well to prevent the round from getting away from him. He improved on Friday as his putter heated up, shooting a 4-under 68 to make the cut. That got him to Saturday. “Obviously I don’t think you ever walk onto a tee and think 62,â€� he said, “but I thought I had some low rounds in me. I thought I was rolling the ball well and felt really good with my irons on the range this morning, so got some stuff to happen.â€� He opened with birdie in three of his first four holes, then sandwiched two more birdies around his lone bogey on the 11th after the turn. At the par-5 14th, he chipped in from 95 feet for eagle. That’s when the round ceased looking good and started looking historic. “I knew I was kind of playing pretty well,â€� he said. Consider that an understatement. Mullinax chipped in again from 40 feet just off the green for birdie at the 16th, drilled his approach inside 6 feet at the 17th, and finished with that eagle putt after a terrific second shot from 257 yards with the ball above his feet. He aimed at the left greenside bunker and cut a 3-iron, letting it bounce toward the pin. Johnson, who shares the course record of 60 at the previous Valero venue at La Cantera, wasn’t surprised to hear about the new mark. Neither was he surprised to hear it was Mullinax who shot it. The two became friends when Mullinax used to live in St. Simons Island, Georgia. “I could see a guy that hits it hard, which he does,â€� Johnson said. “He hits it really, really hard. I could see that because the par 5s kind of become par 4s to some degree with this south wind. And you’ve got to putt, you’ve still got to hit good shots and putt. “62’s ridiculous but you can see it.â€� Despite the limited opportunities to showcase his skills, Mullinax has never worried about getting rusty or losing his competitive edge. “You never really lose how to play golf,â€� he said. “It’s just tournament golf, right? So you just go out and get back in the swing of things. Just another day on the golf course.â€� Saturday, though, was a day no golfer had previously experience at TPC San Antonio. And if Mullinax wins Sunday, his playing schedule will become a lot busier with the two-year exemption awarded to the champion.

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Notes and observations from Saturday’s third round of the BMW Championship, where in tougher conditions Marc Leishman birdied the 18th hole to shoot 68 and extend his lead to five shots over Jason Day (70) and Rickie Fowler (70). For more coverage from Conway Farms Golf Club, click here for the Daily Wrap-up. CONWAY FARMS BITES BACK No one would ever confuse Conway Farms for Bethpage Black. After all, this is where Jim Furyk fired a 59 at the 2013 BMW, and where Marc Leishman shot a 62 in the first round. But the course is not without its defenses, and they were up Saturday. “It was a lot tougher today,â€� said Phil Mickelson, who birdied three of his first six holes only to eventually settle for a 2-under 69. “The pins were in tough spots and the greens got a lot firmer.â€� That was a common refrain, as players made 164 bogeys on the day, compared to 147 on Friday and 131 on Thursday. Rickie Fowler eagled the first hole, but alas could only find one more birdie and two bogeys the rest of the way. “I didn’t make anything,â€� he said of his putting. Patrick Cantlay double-bogeyed the par-3 11th after hitting his tee shot in the water, but at least he had company. The 169-yard hole yielded no birdies and 19 bogeys or worse on the day, the first time all season in which a par-3 has shut out the entire field. Jason Day crushed his tee shot 366 yards on 18, but pulled his second shot into a buried lie in the greenside bunker. He hacked his ball out and settled for his 15th par of the day. “The greens started to get a little firmer,â€� Day said. “The fairways started to get a little firmer.â€� Leishman hung tough despite bogeys at the fourth and seventh holes, sprinkling in five birdies. “The course changed quite a lot today compared to the first two days,â€� said Leishman, who shot a back-nine 40 to finish a disappointing third at the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston two weeks ago. “Firmed up a lot and the greens sped up, so that [good play] was good to see and nice to keep making birdies like I have been all week.â€� RAHM MAKES PUSH TO STAY IN TOP 5 FedExCup No. 5 Jon Rahm could do no wrong earlier this season, registering seven top-10s in a span of 10 starts, highlighted by his win at the Farmers Insurance Open. He hit a sudden dip in form, a summer swoon that saw him miss cuts and/or fail to contend in the majors, and now he’s back again, playing some of his best golf of the year from tee to green. The 22-year-old from Spain racked up seven birdies against just one bogey and signed for a 65, tied with Lucas Glover (-10, T12) for best of the day. At 11-under, Rahm is eight off the lead. “I’ve been really close timing-wise, really close to hitting really good shots,â€� Rahm said. “My swing hasn’t been a hundred percent, maybe 90 percent. This week it’s close to a hundred percent. I’m visualizing the shots, hitting them a lot closer to the way I see it.

“Hit more than two perfect shots a round, you’re having a really good ball-striking day. I’m fortunate to say there’s been least two of them each round. Hopefully I can keep it going.â€� Rahm is coming off a T4 at the Dell Technologies Championship and a T3 at THE NORTHERN TRUST. With Jordan Spieth falling down the leaderboard, Rahm could wind up being the most consistent performer over the first three legs of the FedExCup Playoffs. “My ball-striking was probably close to the best it’s ever been right now,â€� he said, “so hopefully I can keep going and make a few more putts.â€� CALL OF THE DAY BRADLEY FEELING LIKE OLD SELF Keegan Bradley was the PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year back in 2011, when he won the HP Byron Nelson Championship and the PGA Championship. He would play in a Presidents Cup (2013) and two Ryder Cups (2012, 2014), forming an electric tandem with Phil Mickelson. Today, Bradley, 31, is lingering at 48th in the FedExCup standings. He and his wife, Jillian, are anticipating the birth of their first child, due Nov. 18, as Keegan works to find his old form. “Everyone thinks I stink now,â€� Bradley said after shooting an opening-round 65 at the BMW. Scores of 72-68 in the second and third rounds have him at 8-under (T20), and he’s projected to finish outside the top 30 (47th) in the FedExCup. He’ll likely need to shoot something around 66 on Sunday to play his way into the season-ending TOUR Championship at East Lake. What happened to Bradley? Everything. The USGA and R&A outlawed anchored putting. He retooled his full swing, so he was working on new mechanics both on and off the greens. He changed caddies and slipped to 60th in the FedExCup in 2015, and 103rd last season. Relegated to watching Presidents Cups and Ryder Cups on TV, he missed the Masters this year as veterans like Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson sent encouraging messages to buoy his spirits. Through it all, Bradley kept on working as the golf world moved on. Now in his 10th year as a pro, he has been encouraged by five top-10 finishes this season. He’ll need a sixth on Sunday. “If it’s not this year, hopefully it will be next year,â€� he said. “But I feel a lot more like the person I was out on the course, now more than ever.â€� ODDS AND ENDS Leishman is 14-under so far on the par-4s, which is on pace to set a new record for a winner in the FedExCup Playoffs. (Jason Day went 15-under in winning THE NORTHERN TRUST in 2015.) Leishman is also excelling on and around the greens, second in the field this week in strokes gained: around the green (+1.477). He was 31st in that category entering the week. … The largest margin of victory in a FedExCup Playoffs event is eight strokes, which Tiger Woods accomplished twice (2007 TOUR Championship, 2009 BMW Championship). Jason Day won THE NORTHERN TRUST in 2015 by six shots. Leishman currently leads the BMW by five. … Justin Rose was one of the few to keep a bogey off his card on the way to a 66 (12-under, solo fourth). The Olympic gold medalist from England said he noticed a slight uptick in the wind on Saturday. “Lot of tricky club-making decisions out there,â€� he said. … The field’s stroke average for the third round was 69.420, the highest it’s been all week. The second-round stroke average was 69.072, while the first-round average was 68.855. SHOT OF THE DAY

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