Justin Thomas would make FedExCup history with TOUR Championship win

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SANDWICH, England — Louis Oosthuizen set a 36-hole record at The 149th Open and is halfway to ending that run of near misses at the majors. He’ll have to hold off a cast of major champions on the weekend at Royal St. George’s. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Morikawa makes waves on Friday On a day of pleasant summer weather that took the fear out of the links off Sandwich Bay, Oosthuizen broke away from a three-way tie with a birdie-birdie-eagle run from the 12th hole. He shrugged off his first bogey of the week for a 5-under 65 and a two-stroke lead on Friday. Former PGA champion Collin Morikawa had a 64 and was two shots behind. Another shot was Jordan Spieth (67), going after his fourth major. Lurking was two-time major champion Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world who shot 65. Oosthuizen was at 11-under 129, breaking the 36-hole Open record first set by Nick Faldo in 1992 at Muirfield and matched by Brandt Snedeker in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. This will be the fifth time in the last nine rounds at a major that Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion at St. Andrews, has had at least a share of the lead. He was runner-up at the last two majors, to Phil Mickelson at the the PGA Championship in May and to Jon Rahm the U.S. Open last month. “I’m not really going to think about the second spots,” said Oosthuizen, when asked what he’ll do differently this time. “I know my game is in a good place.” He’ll also be aware of the quality of player behind him, though. Morikawa, making quite a debut in links golf, made seven birdies in his first 14 holes as part of a clinic in iron play. He missed a 5-foot par putt on No. 15 and had a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole catch the lip. Spieth, four shots behind when he teed off, was tied for the lead after 12 holes and then played the last six holes in 1 over. Then there was Dustin Johnson, a runner-up at Royal St. George’s in 2011, who stuck his approach at the last to 3 feet for a birdie and a round of 65, which left him tied for fourth place at 7 under with Dylan Frittelli of South Africa (67) and Scottie Scheffler (66). One shot behind an eclectic mix of players at 6 under — including two more South Africans in Justin Harding and Daniel Van Tonder — were Rahm (64) and Brooks Koepka. Koepka made four birdies in his last five holes for a 66. DeChambeau just made it to the weekend at Royal St. George’s by shooting a 70, which saw him make the cut on the number at 1 over. Rory McIlroy did, too, needing a birdie on the final hole for another 70. He was 11 shots behind. Other big names weren’t so lucky: No. 7 Patrick Cantlay, No. 9 Patrick Reed, former Open champions Francesco Molinari and Henrik Stenson, and Darren Clarke, the 2011 champion at Royal St. George’s, were all headed home.

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Tiger Woods confirmed on Friday that the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park would be his next start on the PGA TOUR. Woods tweeted that he was “disappointed to miss the @WGCFedEx but doing what I think it best to prepare me for the @PGAChampionship and upcoming FedExCup Playoffs.” Woods is a four-time PGA champ and two-time winner of the FedExCup. He currently ranks 42nd in the FedExCup standings which would assure him of an appearance in THE NORTHERN TRUST and a good bet for the BMW Championship the next week. Only the top 30 players advance to the TOUR Championship at East Lake, which Woods has won twice, including most memorably in 2018 with cheering fans following him up the 18th fairway at East Lake – punctuating an amazing comeback and ending victory drought of nearly five years. When Woods tees it up at TPC Harding Park in two weeks it will be just his second start since the TOUR schedule resumed after the COVID-19 hiatus. He tied for 40th on Sunday at the Memorial Tournament, finishing 6 over after rounds of 71-76-71-76. After the final round at Muirfield Village, Woods said he would be focused on his putting, which didn’t seem as decisive or as automatic as it once did. He said he didn’t feel comfortable playing the breaks on those firm, fast, sloping greens on Jack Nicklaus’ signature layout. “Well, I think I need to work on my putting a bit and clean that up,” Woods said. “But as far as my swing, it felt good. I was able to hit good shots. Friday was a bit off physically, but overall for my first week back, it was a lot, a lot of positives.” Woods has played four times in this stop-and-start 2019-20 season. He picked up his 82nd PGA TOUR victory at the ZOZO Championship to open the season in October. He tied for ninth at the Farmers Insurance Open and was 68th at the Genesis Invitation before the break.

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