Jon Rahm wins BMW Championship in thrilling playoff

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Two days ago, Jhonattan Vegas and Brooks Koepka – a couple of heavyweights off the tee — joined in the unveiling of the PGA TOUR’s new state-of-the-art mobile fitness center. On Thursday, they spent 18 holes together flexing their muscles at The Honda Classic. Although Koepka is the reigning PGA TOUR Player of the Year, it was Vegas who held the upper hand after the first round at PGA National. His bogey-free 6-under 64 put him atop the leaderboard, while Koepka lurks after a 67. The third member of their group, Gary Woodland, also packs a punch off the tee but fell off the pace with a 2-over 72. None of the three actually had a particular eye-opening round in regards to driving distance average – Koepka’s average of 282.1 yards for all drives was the highest in the group – but they all seemed to end up in the same part of the fairway for most of the holes. “We were all three right there,â€� Vegas said when asked about his playing partners off the tee. “Every hole, we were literally right now to each other, which is good. Obviously Brooks has been playing phenomenal golf the last few years and Gary has been playing great golf. … It was easy to have the same flow.â€� Said Koepka: “It was nice. Anytime you’ve got a guy playing well, you kind of feed off it and kind of watch some putts go in, and it kind of feels like the hole is starting to open up. It was good to see him play well. It was nice to see some putts drop myself and kind of fee off that a little bit.” “But I’m not too concerned with what anyone else is doing.â€� Koepka, of course, won two majors last season, and then opened his 2018-19 season by winning THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in Korea. Woodland has six top-10s in nine starts this season, including a runner-up at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. He’s the highest-ranked player in this week’s field in the FedExCup standings at No. 3. Koepka is 17th. Vegas’ season hasn’t been nearly as productive. In eight starts, he has just one top-10 earlier this month at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. He sandwiched a pair of missed cuts around that result and doesn’t have another finish inside the top 25. His putting has been the issue – he ranked T-190th in Strokes Gained: Putting this season – and so he changed putters recently and spent some extra time on the practice greens. On Thursday, he made four putts between 14 and 19 feet. It was his irons, however, that keyed Thursday’s round. He missed just three greens, and two of those misses were on the fringe, 15 feet from the hole. A year ago at The Honda Classic, Vegas signed for a 6-over 78 in the final round, his worst score in 22 previous rounds at this event. He finished at 14 over that week. “I was hitting my irons extremely bad Sunday of last year,â€� Vegas recalled. “Felt like I hit it everywhere. … Obviously I felt like I played well today, hit my irons the best I’ve hit them all year.â€� While Koepka, who lives in nearby Jupiter, had family members in his gallery – “It’s nice to play in front of the hometown,â€� he said — Vegas had at least one notable watching him play. Andres Galarraga, the retired baseball star nicknamed the Big Cat, is a fellow Venezuelan. The five-time All-Star hit 399 career homers and twice won the National League’s Silver Slugger award. “He’s been a good mentor, to be honest,â€� Vegas said. “He’s been good giving me support and everything through the years.â€�

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AUGUSTA, Ga. — They started the week sharing an unexpected — and then highly discussed and over-analyzed — nine-hole practice round. They’ll finish seeking positive vibes and updating course notebooks. The one thing Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson won’t do Sunday afternoon at the Masters is slip on another Green Jacket. Their performances in the first three rounds will leave them as curious bystanders when the back-nine drama heats up at Augusta National. Woods, the four-time Masters champ, will start the final round at 4 over after shooting an even-par 72 on Saturday. Three-time winner Mickelson, at 7 over after a 2-over 74, will tee off even earlier in the morning. He may be done before the final group tees off. Given that Woods was the betting favorite entering this week and Mickelson was riding huge momentum after his recent World Golf Championships win in Mexico, being non-factors is definitely surprising. And disappointing. “I don’t have it,” Mickelson said. “It’s frustrating being out there. But it’s still Augusta. I’m trying to make due. But it’s just frustrating to be out there playing when you know you don’t have a chance.” Woods said his goal now is to finish at even par, maybe even in red numbers. He’ll need to shoot a 68 on Sunday to avoid finishing over par for just the third time since his last Masters win in 2005. “I wish this week would’ve been a little bit better,” Woods said. “Hopefully tomorrow I can shoot something, get me to even par or even in the red. I think that will be a good goal tomorrow and hopefully I can get it done.” What Woods hasn’t been able to do is figure out his faulty iron play. Distance control has been an issue, especially in the second round when he hit several approaches over the green. He’s found places this week at Augusta National that he’s never previously visited. As a result, he hasn’t given himself many makeable birdie putts, the strain on his putter leaving him mostly in a defensive posture. Woods called his iron play “scratchy this week” — lthough he finally hit the 12th green on Saturday after finding Rae’s Creek the first two days. “I just haven’t gotten it done,” Woods said. “I feel like I’m driving it better than I have all year, but I’m not capitalizing on it. And when I did miss, I missed in the wrong spots. My swing’s just off with my irons just at the wrong time.” As a result, he also has failed to take advantage of the four pars at Augusta National, the holes he’s eaten up in his 20 previous visits. Woods had entered this week a cumulative 150 under on the par 5s, but he’s just 1 under on those holes through three rounds. “I’m hitting so many good putts; they’re just not going in,” Woods said. “But I’m not hitting it close enough. I’m not getting up there and not taking advantage of the par 5s. Consequently, a good round is even par.” As for Mickelson, his week was summed up by his second shot on the opening hole Saturday. After his tee shot sailed into the trees down the right side, his ball rested on the pine straw. He tried to hit from under some branches but failed to connect on his first swing. “I hit the trunk on the downswing and just whiffed it,” Mickelson explained. “And punched out and made triple. I’ve made a lot of triples lately.” In fact, he’s suffered a triple bogey in each of the last two rounds — it’s the sixth time in any major he’s had two triples in a week. Three of those have been at the Masters (2012, 2014 and this week). A bogey on the ensuing hole had Mickelson reeling, but he managed to shoot 2 under for the final 16 holes. In the process, he picked up a few tips on the course. “It’s Augusta; you always learn some things,” Mickelson said. “I was taking some notes — there were some new pins there. So I’m kind of doing preparation for next year, I guess.” At least Mickelson won’t go away empty-handed this week. Thanks to his eagle at the par-5 eighth — set up by a driver off the deck to 9 feet — he is assured of a pair of crystal glasses awarded for any eagle at the Masters. “Every now and then I’ll hit a shot like that and it makes it fun,” Mickelson said of his second shot. “The nice thing is I’ll get some crystal out of it. It wasn’t a total loss.”

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