How to Watch The Honda Classic, Round 3: Live leaderboard, TV times, tee times, live stream

Bryson DeChambeau birdied four of the last six holes Saturday for a share of the lead with Peter Uihlein in the Shriners Hospitals For Children Open.

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AUSTIN, Texas — Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed enjoy few things more than trying to beat each other, and that’s when they are partners. The stakes are even higher in the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Win or go home. Spieth and Reed did their part Thursday by winning their matches for a second straight day to set up a showdown on the skirts of Hill Country in Texas. They play Friday to determine who wins the group and advances to the weekend of this World Golf Championship. Reed fired the first shot when asked what made Spieth a good opponent in match play. “I don’t know. My back still hurts from the last Ryder Cup,” he said with a laugh, alluding to the way he carried Spieth in their partnership at Hazeltine to a 2-1-1 record in team play during a rare American victory. Spieth dodged trouble early against Haotong Li, who missed putts inside 8 feet on two of the opening three holes, won the second hole when Spieth hit into the hazard and thought he won the fourth hole until Spieth matched his birdie by chipping in from short of the green. Spieth never trailed and pulled away with a savvy play on the par-4 13th over the water and into the wind. He hit driver well to the right toward the gallery, which gave him a clear look at the green without having to hit over any of the lake. His pitch-and-run settled a foot away for birdie and a 2-up lead, and Spieth closed him out, 4&2. Right behind was Reed in his match against Charl Schwartzel, and the South African was 2-up at the turn until Reed won the next two holes to set up a tight finish. Schwartzel stayed 1-down when he missed a 5-foot par putt on the 17th. Needing a birdie on the 18th to halve, Schwartzel could only watch as Reed hit a wedge that nearly went in and stopped a few inches away. Reed and Spieth are 7-2-2 as partners in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. They are 1-1 in PGA TOUR playoffs, with Reed hitting through the greens to short birdie range when he won the Wyndham Championship in 2013, and Spieth returning the favor in 2015 at Innisbrook by winning a playoff with a 30-foot putt. They don’t have much of a relationship except in team competitions, and even then it’s unusual. “Because we’re so competitive with each other within our own pairing at the Ryder Cup, we want to outdo each other. That’s what makes us successful,” Spieth said. “Tiger says it’s a phenomenon. It’s not something that he’s used to seeing in those team events. Normally you’re working together. But we want to beat each other every time. In alternate shot, if we don’t win a hole, I want it to be his fault and he wants it to be my fault. “We’ve almost played every single match we’ve been involved in together against each other,” he said. “We just happen to be wearing the same colors.” Reed and Spieth have advanced out of group play just once, both in 2016 at Austin Country Club, and both lost fourth-round matches. “He’s not going to give you holes,” Reed said. “You have to go and play some good golf. And that’s what it’s going to down to. Because I plan on not giving him any holes.” That isn’t the only match between undefeated players this week. Alex Noren of Sweden had another easy time, beating Thomas Pieters in 14 holes, and won for the sixth time in his last seven matches. He faces Tony Finau, who dispatched of Kevin Na to win his second straight match. Defending champion Dustin Johnson will effectively play a practice round Friday. A year after the world’s No. 1 player couldn’t be beaten, Johnson couldn’t beat anybody. He lost to Bernd Wiesberger on Wednesday, and fell behind early in a 4-and-3 loss to Adam Hadwin on Thursday. Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson still have life. McIlroy had an easy time beating Jhonattan Vegas, while Brian Harman knocked out Peter Uihlein in the other match in their group. Harman will win the group if he beats McIlroy on Friday; McIlroy has to win to have any chance of making it to the weekend. “At least I’ve given myself a chance to progress,” he said. Mickelson, who lost to Charles Howell III in the opening round, rallied from 4-down after eight holes and won the last three holes to beat Satoshi Kodaira. Mickelson still needs Howell, who won against on Thursday, to lose a match.

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Rory McIlroy fires a 4-under 66 on a marathon Sunday to cruise to a four-shot victory at the TOUR Championship, locking down his second FedExCup title. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where McIlroy not only completed his comeback from five behind top-seeded Justin Thomas at the start of the week (in the new Starting Strokes format), he shot the best score over the four days at East Lake and wound up winning by four over Xander Schauffele (70).   FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Player of the Year just got more interesting. There was little question at the end of last season that Brooks Koepka was Player of the Year. This time around, though, McIlroy at least stirred the pot a little with his victory at East Lake, where he took control with a three-shot swing at the seventh hole. (McIlroy birdied and Koepka drove into the trees and double-bogeyed.)  “His game is in great form right now,� Koepka said afterward. “It’s really impressive to watch.� Because of the way players are sent out during the FedExCup Playoffs, McIlroy and Koepka played together eight times over the last five weeks on TOUR. McIlroy shot the lower round four times, Koepka three, and they tied once. Who will be Player of the Year?  Koepka seems to have the inside track. His three wins included a major (PGA Championship), the World Golf Championships – FedEx St. Jude Invitational, and THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES. And he contended in every major, finishing no worse than tied fourth in any of them.  McIlroy, though, also had three wins (THE PLAYERS Championship, RBC Canadian Open and FedExCup). What’s more, his 14 top-10s (in 19 starts) were the most on TOUR, and he was No. 1 in Strokes Gained: Total (+2.55), the margin by which he beat the field average each day. “The Holy Grail is three,� he said, because only Tiger Woods has reached that exalted number. For more on the comparison between Koepka and McIlroy this season, click here. 2. McIlroy’s perseverance paid off. Success gets in the way. If you put your head down and keep doing the work (despite whatever obstacles might come your way), often you achieve your objectives in the long run. McIlroy came to East Lake with two wins (THE PLAYERS Championship, RBC Canadian Open) but 11 other top-10s in which he did not win. Among those was his deflating experience at the World Golf Championships – FedEx St. Jude Invitational, where he went into the final round with a one-shot lead over Brooks Koepka but had his doors blown off, 71 to 65. Although he could have sulked, McIlroy did not; instead, he vowed to be more like Koepka next time. Indeed, the tables turned at the TOUR Championship, with Koepka the one taking a one-shot lead into the final round, and McIlroy blowing his doors off, 66 to 72. “I think some of the work that I’ve put in on the mental side of the game, … I think you’re starting to see the fruition of that,� McIlroy said. For more on arguably McIlroy’s greatest season, click here.       3. The new format was a home run. With the new Starting Strokes format, top-seeded Justin Thomas took a two-stroke lead into the tournament, and joked that he had never slept on a Wednesday lead. How would it go? In retrospect, quite well. With Shauffele carding an opening 64, Koepka a 67 and Thomas an even-par 70, you suddenly had three tied at the top at 10 under. McIlroy, who shot an opening-round 66, was just a shot off their lead. This was anything but a runaway victory for Thomas. We now know that a two-stroke lead, or even a five-stroke lead, can mean very little. (McIlroy, who started five behind Thomas, would beat the top seed by 10 over 72 holes.) The action was much easier to follow, with one leaderboard and one trophy (the FedExCup), and prominently featured the two players who had had the best season in McIlroy and Koepka. Change is good.  4. Timing was everything. True, McIlroy had played in the TOUR Championship’s final group with Tiger Woods the previous year, and played poorly. True, McIlroy had lost to Koepka at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational just four weeks earlier. He wanted to atone for both disappointments.   Whether or not that desire for retribution played into it, McIlroy found his peak form at one of the most important tournaments of the year while the others just didn’t. “Just didn’t put the ball in play,� said an uncharacteristically wild Koepka. “I hit it horrible,� said Schauffele. “I scrambled. I hung in there.� “Just really had a couple freakish, bizarre, stupid mistakes this week,� said Thomas. Speaking of odd mistakes, Paul Casey (72, solo fifth, nine back) and his caddie had one when Casey accidentally hit the wrong club. You don’t see that every day. In the end, McIlroy let them all self-destruct while hitting it better than anyone from tee to green. 5. We can’t wait for next season. Koepka has dominated for much of the past two years, but McIlroy is climbing back into peak form and offering glimpses of the dominant player he was circa 2014. Each player is full of praise for the other, and they keep facing off in high-pressure situations.  Is this a rivalry? With others – Thomas, Schauffele, Casey, Woods, Dustin Johnson, 2018 FedExCup champion Justin Rose – unlikely to let them have the stage to themselves, the game is must-see TV.   FIVE INSIGHTS 1. McIlroy led the field in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (+5.314), SG: Tee to Green (+10.968), and Driving Distance (314.6 yards average). He also was the only player in the field to post four rounds in the 60s, and joined Koepka as a three-time winner this season (TOUR Championship, RBC Canadian Open, THE PLAYERS Championship).  2. With his second TOUR Championship victory, McIlroy has finished inside the top 10 in five of six starts at East Lake (1st/2019, 1st/2016, T2/2014, T7/2018, T10/2012). He also becomes the first to win THE PLAYERS and the TOUR Championship in the same season, and his final-round 66 looks even better considering only eight of 30 players broke par in the final round.  3. Xander Schauffele, who played a total of 31 holes Sunday (13 in round three), recorded the first ace of his PGA TOUR career at the ninth hole in round three. With the hole playing 240 yards, it was also the longest ace of the season on TOUR. (Chez Reavie became the first player to make a hole-in-one at the ninth in the second round, and said it was the 21st of his life.)  4. World No. 1 Brooks Koepka (72, T3) shot his first over-par score in his last 16 rounds on TOUR. Like Schauffele, Koepka played 31 holes on Sunday and struggled with his ball-striking. He hit just five of 14 fairways in the final round, and just 28 of 56 overall (T24). 5. Top-seeded Justin Thomas (68, T3) finished five back and faulted his double-bogey in the first round and triple-bogey in the third, both after short-iron approach shots. He ranked first in Strokes Gained: Around the Green (+3.736) and second to McIlroy in SG: Off the Tee (+3.586).

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