Johnson shoots 63 to take lead in China

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda - Earlier this week, Padraig Harrington got on a plane for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic hiatus. His destination: the Bermuda Championship, his first PGA TOUR start since the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in March. The 2021 Ryder Cup European Captain (originally scheduled for last month) drove to the first four European Tour events in which he competed post-hiatus. Harrington will play next week's Vivint Houston Open on a sponsor's exemption, and he gained Bermuda Championship entry on a minor medical extension. Timing aligned for the six-time TOUR winner (including three majors) to make his TOUR return, at a course on which he won the 2013 Grand Slam of Golf. Harrington stands 4 under through two rounds at Port Royal GC, including an even-par 71 on a windswept Friday at Port Royal GC, a day which featured a scoring average north of 73. The 49-year-old stands four back of co-leaders Ryan Armour and Wyndham Clark, positioned to chase his first TOUR win since the 2015 Honda Classic. "I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight," said Harrington after Friday's second round at the sub-7,000-yard Port Royal layout. "At the end of the day, firm greens, fast greens and wind all defend a golf course. It can't always be predictable.” "It was tough out there. They set the golf course up particularly easy today. The tees were up, pins were up ... they couldn't have made the course any easier." Harrington described his current form off the tee "the best I've ever hit it," a combination of length and accuracy that fosters confidence. The 15-time European Tour winner turns 50 next August and admitted that he sometimes checks the scores on PGA TOUR Champions before those of any other Tour - "I don't know what that tells you." His plan is to play wherever he thinks he can win. This week on the shores of the Atlantic, he believes he can do just that. "If I don't think I can win out here, I won't play here," Harrington said. "I'm not here to turn out; I'm here to try and win. Wherever I'm playing, in my head I think I can win." Improved driving has gone a long way toward his current mentality. "I've always worked on my driving, and always try to get more speed, more speed," Harrington said. "With the work I've done on my driving, in training I get lots more speed, so I can play well within myself on the course. It's not like I can get 196 (mph) ball speed at home; I'm not getting anywhere near that. At the speeds I'm getting, I'm getting it with a very controlled, shorter swing. "So it means that on a nice distance, now I hit it straight, which I haven't hit it straight. The last tournament I played in Europe (Scottish Championship), I led strokes gained: off-the-tee, which, that's never happened." Harrington said that Ryder Cup captaincy duties won't kick into high gear until January - "it's all about me at the moment." When that changes, though, he believes his process at this stage of his career will allow him to simultaneously compete and fulfill captaincy duties at a high level. Earlier in his career, he'd get up three-and-a-half hours before his tee time for physio, training and the like. Now, "a few stretches and off. I can go on a much quicker time frame." "How do I balance it? Basically I'm older, and I know I can't do as much," Harrington said. "I just have to take it a little easier and not do my old schedule, and that kind of suits the Ryder Cup, because I'm busy with that." And if current form is any indication, he just might position himself to play his way onto his own team. "I spent the past couple years struggling on cut lines," Harrington said. "Now I feel like I can be patient and still be in contention on Sunday."

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JACKSON, Miss. — Mackenzie Hughes made birdie on his third time playing the 18th hole on Sunday, and it gave him a playoff victory over Sepp Straka in the Sanderson Farms Championship. Hughes twice had to made tough par saves on the closing hole at the Country Club of Jackson, in regulation from 100 feet behind the green for a 3-under 69 to force a playoff and from a tough spot in a bunker to keep going. Straka narrowly missed his birdie putt on the second playoff hole from 18 feet on the fringe. Hughes hit his approach to 8 feet and made the winning putt. The victory comes one week after the Presidents Cup, and Hughes was disappointed not to be included on the International Team at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he lives. He wanted to use that as motivation, and it sure worked out that way. Hughes won for the second time on the PGA TOUR, both in a playoff. His victory at Sea Island in 2016 didn’t finish until Monday morning, and this looked like it might be headed there with fading sunlight on the last hole they played. Garrick Higgo of South Africa had a 68 and finished third. Straka finished two groups ahead of Hughes and missed birdie chances of 20 feet and 18 feet on the last two holes for a 67 to finish at 17-under 271. Hughes twice came up clutch with his putter down the stretch, even if the putts were for par. He was out of position on the par-5 14th, his wedge over a tree back toward the fairway came up short in a bunker, he had to lay up again and escaped with a 15-foot par putt. On the closing hole, he was well left off the tee and punched under a tree and over the green against the grandstand. After free relief, he used putter from 100 feet away off the green with perfect pace for par. On the first playoff hole at the 18th, Hughes came up short in a bunker with only about 15 feet from the edge of the bunker to the pin. He blasted out to 5 feet and made par. That sent them back to the 18th for a third time, and Hughes closed him out. Mark Hubbard, who went into the final round with a one-shot lead, managed only two birdies in his round of 74 and tied for fifth. The final round featured five players who had at least a share of the lead at some point. That included Emiliano Grillo of Argentina, whose round came undone on the par-5 14th when he took a triple bogey without a penalty shot. Higgo never was part of the lead, though he lingered the entire day and missed an 8-foot birdie putt on the 17th that ultimately kept him out of the playoff.

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