Kim increases lead at Valero Texas Open

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GREENSBORO, N.C. - There's a lot on the line at this week's Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club. The top 125 in the FedExCup standings advance to the Playoffs next week and the Wyndham Rewards Top 10 competition will be decided. Here's a quick look at each one after Saturday's third round, which ended shortly after 2 p.m. after tee times were moved up to avoid a spate of thunderstorms and heavy rain. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Kim takes lead after 54 holes | Season’s final stretch in full swing at Sedgefield FedExCup Update At stake: The 125 spots in the upcoming FedExCup Playoffs. Players who finish outside the top 125 after this week will see their seasons end. Unlike in past seasons, though, all players who were exempt this year will retain their eligibility for the 2020-21 campaign due to the schedule reduction caused by COVID-19. Latest projections: Three players — Rob Oppenheim, Zach Johnson and Peter Malnati - have entered the Playoff picture with Fabian Gomez, Russell Knox and Charl Schwartzel potentially moving out of the top 125. … Oppenheim, who turned 40 in January, grew up about 70 minutes from TPC Boston, which hosts THE NORTHERN TRUST, and has never made the Playoffs. He is currently tied for second in the Wyndham Championship after shooting 62 on Saturday and projected to move from No. 145 to 77th. … Johnson, who was named the winner of the Payne Stewart Award earlier this week, tied the day's low round of 61 to move into a tie for ninth. He is projected to move from No. 129 to 109th in the FedExCup. Johnson has only missed the Playoffs twice since the competition's inception in 2007. … Malnati is 13 under and tied for seventh after his third-round 64. He has moved from 144th to No. 123 in the FedExCup. … Both Gomez and Schwartzel missed the cut and are projected to drop five spots to No. 127 and 130, respectively. Knox is still playing but he is currently tied for 75th and has moved from No. 124 to 129th in the FedExCup. On the move: Johnson raced up the leaderboard with a furious finish, playing his final five holes in 6 under. He started on the back nine and birdied his final three holes to turn in 32, then made a 15-footer for eagle at No. 5 and followed that with birdie putts of 15, 8 and 24 feet before holing it from the fringe at the ninth. "The irony is the first two days I really didn’t play that much worse, I just didn’t score," Johnson said. "I didn’t make many putts. Hit it close a few times, I had three three-putts and a four-putt. That just kills you. So, I mean, those that have been around me and know me, my team in particular, obviously my caddie and my coaches know that something like — maybe not to this degree, but something like this is not that surprising based on what I’ve seen. Is it big? Yeah, sure, it’s big. But, I mean, every round’s big." Particularly when it helps get a player closer to the top 125. Wyndham Rewards Top 10 At stake: The top 10 spots in the FedExCup standings and its bonus pool money of $10 million. Justin Thomas already has wrapped up the top prize of $2 million. For the third straight day, there was no movement in or out of the top 10. Webb Simpson, who has two wins this season, bogeyed his last hole on the way to a 65 that left him at 13 under and five behind Si Woo Kim. He remains ranked third in the Wyndham Rewards. … Sungjae Im, who is ranked fifth in the bonus competition, shot 66 and is 11 under through three rounds, tied for 14th. … No. 6 Patrick Reed, the 2013 Wyndham Championship winner, shot 67 Saturday and is eight back at 10 under. … Brendon Todd, who has also won twice this year, missed the cut but remains in the No. 9 spot.

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FORT WORTH, Texas – Time to talk changes for Bryson DeChambeau – currently tied for second after 36 holes at the Charles Schwab Challenge — since the last time we saw him play three months ago. First … THE WEIGHT. He’s between 235-240 pounds right now, thanks to his added muscle and the fact that he hasn’t been playing competitive golf in so long. He figures he’ll drop down to 230 in the next few weeks now that the TOUR has resumed its 2019-20 schedule. But hitting a specific number on the scale is not really part of his process in becoming stronger. “My ultimate goal is to get as strong as I can, and I don’t know what that weight is,â€� he said Friday after his second consecutive 65 left him at 10 under, tied with Jordan Spieth and one shot behind leader Harold Varner III. “I’m just going to keep proportionally making everything stronger and applying some force and speed to the golf swing to see what it can handle.â€� In case you’re wondering, when DeChambeau left SMU after winning the NCAA individual championship and the U.S. Amateur in the same year, he weighed just under 200 pounds. The additional bulk, of course, has forced changes to … HIS APPAREL. He’s gone up two sizes. “I was a medium starting last year, at the end of last year actually, and now I’m in an extra large,â€� he said. “It’s a little big fit on me depending on the style of shirt, but I love it. It feels comfortable. My back honestly in this XL fits perfect. “So I have had to change some stuff. Puma has been really nice to give me some clothing so don’t really have to worry too much about that.â€� Apparel size isn’t the only thing he’s had to adjust. Consider … CLUB LOFT. He’s producing so much spin now that he needed to make some drastic loft revisions. Like with his driver, which is 5-1/2 degrees. And he’s looking at a 3-wood at around 10 degrees. And his 4-iron is 17-1/2 degrees. All his irons, in fact, have been delofted. “I produce 4,000 spin,â€� he said. “It’s just that speed and deflection and all that. It’s crazy stuff that I would have never expected to happen, but I’ve had to make adjustments because loft is irrelevant, it’s really about your launch angle and spin right coming off of the ball, and the ball speed. “Pretty much that’s all that matters.â€� Still, he has to take all that into consideration with his … COURSE STRATEGY. Especially at Colonial, a tight, old-school shot-maker’s course that has never been a big-hitter’s favorite layout. DeChambeau is making his fifth career start in the Charles Schwab Challenge, but he’s getting to places this year that he never previously encountered. For example, the 390-yard par-4 sixth. There are two bunkers on the left side of the fairway, and one on the right. In his last six trips to the hole, DeChambeau has played short of those bunkers, his drives between 256-266 yards. On Thursday, he split the bunkers with a 297-yard drive. On Friday, he blasted a 330-yard drive over the right-hand bunker, setting up a 76-yard shot that finished inside 9 feet for a birdie. “I can just drive it all the way up past those bunkers and have a nice little flip wedge in there,â€� DeChambeau explained. “15, fly it over the bunkers, have a nice little flip wedge in there. 14, I had 100 yards in today. “I mean, it’s just stuff that is so beneficial when you get out here. You’ve got those bunkers and hazards in the way and I wanted to make those obsolete.â€� On Friday, he finished his round with a 335-drive at the 18th that came dangerously close to flirting with the water on the left side near the green. It wasn’t the stroke he wanted; he pulled the drive. But with his added muscle, he has to worry about such things now. “That’s something I’m going to have to be cautious of tomorrow depending on the wind,â€� he said. “If it’s pumping into the wind, I wouldn’t get it there, but if there’s no wind, I’ve got to make sure I stay right and draw it around the lake.â€� Oh, such problems, being so long off the tee that trouble comes into play. It’s a new world for DeChambeau; this weekend, it could be an extremely profitable one.

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