Jon Rahm fights off flu in Round 1 at Desert Classic

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HOUSTON — Winning used to come hard for Tony Finau. Now he’s making it look easy. Staked to a four-shot lead Sunday at the Cadence Bank Houston Open, Finau stretched it to eight shots on the back nine and sailed to his third PGA TOUR victory of the year after two wins last season. With three bogeys that only affected the margin, he closed with a 1-under 69 and won by four. Finau won only once in his first 185 tournaments upon joining the PGA TOUR. Now he has four in the last 30 tournaments, including three in this calendar year. “I’ve always had belief, but confidence when you win is contagious,” Finau said. “I’m starting to put together a full-package game.” It certainly showed over four days at Memorial Park. Finau seized control with a 62 in the second round ahead of the change in weather and was superb in his bogey-free round of 68 in Saturday’s cold and wind. No one came close to catching him on Sunday. He finished at 16-under 264 and started the new season with a win — moving to No. 12 in the world ranking — after shaking off some rust in a missed cut last week at Mayakoba. PGA TOUR rookie Tyson Alexander won the B-flight, and it was a big deal. Alexander made a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 66 and moved out of a tie for second to be the sole runner-up. That was worth enough FedEx Cup points that it should be a virtual lock that he qualifies for the postseason next summer. “Great week for me,” Alexander said. “I wish Tony would have taken the week off.” Ben Taylor missed his 25-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a 70 and finished third. Finau said he felt uncomfortable with such a large lead at the start of the round, and he conceded he had some doubts about how he would play. Those didn’t last terribly long. He rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt on the second hole, and then quickly pulled away from the field. Finau holed a 7-foot birdie putt on the fifth, made a 40-foot birdie putt on the par-5 eighth and capped off the front nine with a 20-foot birdie putt. That gave him an eight-shot lead, and from there it was matter of staying upright. “It was one of those days I fought and fought, and I made a lot of nice putts that calmed me,” Finau said. “I’ve never been in this position. I had a lot of nerves. Overall, as the round went on, I felt better. I was happy to get the `W’ today.” He didn’t make a bogey until the 10th hole, and then he dropped two more shots along the back nine from a bunker and with a long three-putt. Even so, no one ever got closer than the four-shot margin at the end of the round. Alex Noren had a 68 and tied for fourth to move to No. 45 in the world. He will need to stay in the top 50 by the end of the year for any hope of a Masters invitation. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler closed with a 67 and tied for ninth. He needed a win to replace Rory McIlroy at No. 1 in the world. McIlroy is playing next week in Dubai to wrap up the DP World Tour season, while Scheffler will next play at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, a 20-man field that includes host Tiger Woods.

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Jordan Spieth will defend his title against a strong lineup that includes multiple other high-profile U.S. Open cuts, as the PGA TOUR travels some 100 miles north from testy Shinnecock Hills to a more birdie-friendly TPC River Highlands next week for the Travelers Championship.  FedExCup titleholder Justin Thomas and Masters champion Patrick Reed also headline a field that features eight of the top 15 in the world rankings. U.S. Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk will also return to the site where he carded the TOUR’s first 58 just two years ago. FIELD NOTES Bubba Watson, a two-time winner on Hartford’s outskirts, and THE PLAYERS Championship winner Webb Simpson also help bolter a post-Open lineup with 13 of the world’s top 30. Patrick Cantlay, whose 60 in the 2011 edition remains the lowest PGA TOUR round by an amateur, returns to River Highlands for the first time since 2014. He tied for 24th that year but missed two cuts in later visits. TPC River Highlands is set to welcome 50 players who teed it up at Shinnecock Hills this week. Hogan Award winner Doug Ghim, last year’s U.S. Amateur runner-up, makes his pro debut on a sponsor invite. Other exemptions went to former Illinois teammates Nick Hardy and Dylan Meyer. FEDEXCUP Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day all seek to bounce back after a rough two days at Shinnecock Hills. A bogey/bogey finish Friday kept Spieth from playing the weekend, while tough openers left McIlroy (80) and Day (79) unable to recover. Each of the past four Travelers winners have triumphed after competing in the U.S. Open, though Russell Knox’s 2016 win gets an asterisk. An Olympic shakeup that year moved the Travelers to August. Spieth has a chance to join Phil Mickelson (2001-02) as the only man to go back-to-back in Hartford. Just four New Englanders have won in Hartford, though two came back-to-back in 2005 (Brad Faxon) and 2006 (J.J. Henry). The others are Paul Azinger (1987, ’89) and Bob Toski (1953). Comedian George Lopez, ESPN’s Chris Berman and Boston sports legends Ray Allen (Celtics) and Tim Wakefield (Red Sox) top the marquee for the Wednesday celebrity pro-am. COURSE TPC River Highlands, 6,841 yards, par 70. Marking its 35th year as a PGA TOUR venue, the Pete Dye design overlooking the Connecticut River is the third course housed on the property dating back to 1928. Dye completely overhauled the footprint in 1982, and Bobby Weed provided an upgrade nine years later in consultation with former TOUR pros Roger Maltbie and Howard Twitty. Nos. 15-17 play around a four-acre lake, helping create a finish considered among the most thrilling on TOUR. River Highlands is the site of the TOUR’s only 58, when Jim Furyk reeled off 10 birdies and holed out for eagle at the par-4 No.3. 72-HOLE RECORD 258, Kenny Perry (2009). 18-HOLE RECORD 58, Jim Furyk (4th round, 2016). LAST YEAR Spieth’s first visit to River Highlands produced a highlight-reel finish last season, holing a bunker shot on the first hole of a playoff to dispatch Daniel Berger and celebrate with an emphatic shoulder bump with caddie Michael Greller. Unable to stave off Berger’s late charge in regulation, Spieth watched as his blast from 60 feet away dove into the cup on the second trip through No. 18. Berger nearly rendered the celebration premature when he just missed a 50-foot birdie try, but the FedEx St. Jude Classic winner came up shy in his bid to sandwich two wins around the U.S. Open. Berger forced the playoff with three birdies in the final six holes of regulation, erasing a three-shot deficit with a 3-under-par 67. Spieth became just the second man since World War II to collect 10 PGA TOUR victories before turning 24, taking up company with Tiger Woods (15 wins). HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 3:30-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-3:30 p.m. (featured groups), 3:30-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured holes). RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6:30 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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