Johnson nearly sinks hole-in-one on a par 4

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Harris English shot a 5-under 65 on Friday at TPC Southwind to hold onto the lead in the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. English withstood strong challenges from Cameron Smith and Abraham Ancer to hold the top spot at 13-under 127. Smith had a 62 that required only 18 putts, tying a PGA TOUR record for fewest putts in a round. Ancer shot a bogey-free 62, his tour-leading 14th bogey-free round of the season. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Leishman’s emotional reunion with parents Ian Poulter (66), Scottie Scheffler (65) and Sam Burns (64) were 10 under, and Louis Oosthuizen (64) and Bryson DeChambeau (66) were 9 under. DeChambeau missed the Tokyo Olympics last week because of a positive test for COVID-19. English opened the World Golf Championships event Thursday with a 62 to match his lowest PGA TOUR score and entered the second round with a two-stroke advantage over a foursome that included Poulter. The 2013 winner at TPC Southwind, English showed no signs of relinquishing his lead from the outset. Starting on the back nine, he rolled in a 35-foot birdie putt on the par-3 11th and added birdies at 14 and 16. The only blemish during English’s round was a bogey on the par-4 second hole. He missed a 9-foot par putt, but recovered immediately with an eagle on the par-5 third. He hit his approach inside 5 feet and made the putt to go up by three strokes. He added another birdie at No. 8. Two of English’s four PGA TOUR victories come this season, the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January in Hawaii and the Travelers Championship in June in Connecticut. He finished third in the U.S. Open. “This game is all about confidence and if you have confidence on your side, you just run with it,” English said. “In years past, a (bad shot) would send me into a downward spiral. Now I’m enjoying the grind of it.” A relatively wind-free day produced an abundance of low scores. Of the top 37 on the leaderboard, 34 shot 69 or better. With 48 of the world’s top 50 players in the 66-player field, English can’t afford to be comfortable with how the first two rounds have gone. “You’ve got to keep the gas pedal down,” he said. “The scores are pretty low right now and you can’t let up.” Smith, who finished 10th at the Tokyo Olympics last weekend, said he wasn’t aware of how few putts he had taken until he “adding them up” as he walked down the 17th fairway. “I said, `That can’t be right’,” Smith said. “It was just a good day on the greens. The surfaces here are so good.” Smith also had a bogey-free round that included an eagle on the par-5 third hole. He needed only seven putts through the first nine holes. On the back nine, he rolled in birdies on Nos. 12, 14 and 16 – all inside 25 feet – and nearly added a birdie on 18, sliding his 22-foot putt just left of the cup. Ancer used solid iron play to post his 62. Each of his eight birdie putts was inside 17 feet. “I’m really happy with the way I stroked the ball,” he said. “My long irons were spot on.”

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Thursday morning was supposed to bring an early wake-up call for John Rollins here at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Just not at 5:30. It was also supposed to bring an 18-hole walk inside the ropes, but at Spyglass Hill Golf Club, not Pebble Beach Golf Links. Oh, and he was supposed to be a caddie, not a competitor. The fact that it was all turned upside-down and Rollins was hitting golf balls for the first time in more than a week and competing in a PGA TOUR tournament for the first time since last August was as improbable an occurrence as he has ever been part of. “Crazy. What a roller-coaster day,� said Rollins, who at 43 has played in just 24 PGA TOUR tournaments since losing his full exempt status following the 2014 season. But if you think that accepting the spot in the field at 5:30 a.m. – about three hours before his tee time, by the way – was an easy one, think again. Fact is, “I had to really think about it. I asked myself, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ Hunter (Mahan) is my friend and I was here to caddie for him, so I called him. Hunter (whose tee time was 10:01)  and his wife, Kandi were more than gracious. Hunter said, ‘There’s a reason you’re here, so go and enjoy.’ � Rollins laughed, because “I had done absolutely no prep work� back home in the Dallas area, but he took Mahan’s advice. He did enjoy himself and was overall pleased with his round of 1-over 73 at Pebble Beach – two bogeys and one lone birdie, at the par-4 11th. “I didn’t play terribly. Actually, I was OK, everything considered.� He played in just nine PGA TOUR tournaments last year and has made just eight cuts in limited appearances the last three seasons. So, there’s no wonder Rollins’ name was well down the list of alternates when he came here to caddie for Mahan. “I looked, just for the heck of it at the beginning of the week,� said Rollins, “but I was outside the top 20.� What he didn’t anticipate was the sequence of events. Most of those names ahead of him, for instance, were already committed to the Web.com Tour tournament in Panama or the PGA TOUR Champions Oasis Championship in Boca Raton, Fla., or confirmed they couldn’t fly to Pebble Beach in time. When Tommy Gainey had connecting flight problems and had to withdraw, Rollins’ name was called. “I looked at my phone and saw PGA TOUR headquarters and I thought, ‘What would the PGA TOUR be calling me at 5:30 for?� To find a caddie, Rollins got in touch with Daniel Chopra who provided the phone number of Kevin Hanssen, lead instructor at the Pebble Beach Golf Academy. Hanssen worked with Rollins last fall here at Pebble Beach, so it provided to be a seamless fit. As for being thrust inside the ropes with little preparation, Rollins thought it proved one thing. “My heart is still in the game. I know that and I know the success I’ve had out here.�

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