Langer wins for 18th straight year on Champions

TULSA, Okla. — Tiger Woods made it sound as though Rory McIlroy played a brand of golf with which he wasn’t familiar Thursday in the PGA Championship. McIlroy looked free and easy and saw only opportunity at Southern Hills. He blasted his driver over trees and into fairways, setting up some of his seven birdies that carried him to a 5-under 65 and an early one-shot lead. Woods picked his spots and was never terribly crisp on a right leg he said felt worse than it did at the Masters last month. He fell apart in the middle of his round and at the end, finishing with two bogeys for a 74 and his worst start to a PGA since 2015. It was just what McIlroy needed as he tries to end nearly eight years without a major, many of those chances doomed by bad starts. This was his lowest start to par since a 5-under 66 when he won the PGA at Valhalla in 2014, the last of his four majors. “I think when your game is feeling like that, it’s just a matter of going out there and really sticking to your game plan, executing as well as you possibly can and just sort of staying in your own little world,” McIlroy said. “I feel like this course, it lets you be pretty aggressive off the tee if you want to be, so I hit quite a lot of drivers out there and took advantage of my length and finished that off with some nice iron play and some nice putting.” Will Zalatoris and Pebble Beach winner Tom Hoge each opened with a 66, while Matt Kuchar and Abraham Ancer were another shot behind. McIlroy and Woods were joined in the group by Jordan Spieth, who lacks only this major to complete the career Grand Slam and arrived in Tulsa with his game in good form. But a series of missed birdie chances was followed by a series of missed par putts, and Spieth never quite recovered. He had a late birdie and saved par on his final hole at No. 9 for a 72. Masters champion Scottie Scheffler was among those who played in the afternoon, as the heat index crept toward 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 Celsius). The difference between McIlroy and Woods was clear early in the round. On the 461-yard 12th hole, Woods hit iron off the tee that left him 178 yards. McIlroy pounded driver with a slight fade with the prevailing breeze, leaving him 86 yards. He hit lob wedge to a foot for birdie. That was the start of four straight birdies for McIlroy, which included a 6-iron to 25 feet for his longest birdie of the day at the par-3 14th. McIlroy made birdie on the two par 5s from greenside bunkers, hitting a 3-iron both times on the 628-yard 13th and the 665-yard fifth. He hit another big drive on the tough par-4 second, leaving 7-iron to about 10 feet. That one felt like a bonus to him. “You go out there and hit driver a lot, and if you have a hot week, you have a hot week and you’re up there,” Woods said. “The game is just different. It’s much more aggressive now, and I know that. But I was playing to my spots. If I would have hit the ball solidly on those two holes and put the ball in the fairway, I would have been fine.” He was speaking of No. 4, where he put iron in the rough and McIlroy hit a 327-yard drive up the hill and into the wind that left him a flip wedge to the green (he missed an 8-foot putt); and the ninth hole, when Woods’ tee shot hit a tree and left him a 4-iron to the green. The bigger concern was his leg. Woods has said he has good days and bad from a leg badly injured in his February 2021 car crash, and this didn’t looked like a great one. Of equal concern was going into Friday nine shots behind McIlroy and likely having to fight to make the cut. The warmth — not oven heat like the 2007 PGA in August — and mild wind led to ideal scoring, though Southern Hills still had enough defense. Only 17 of the 78 players from the morning wave broke par. “I don’t think a major champion here has ever been double digits under par, so you know the scores aren’t going to go much further,” Hoge said. “It’s a grind out here. If you get out of position in the rough here, it’s tough to control the golf ball around these greens because they can get running off so fast. You just try to keep it simple.” One other part of Southern Hills’ history with seven previous majors: Five of the champions had at least a share of the 18-hole lead. Xander Schauffele was in the group at 68, while Tony Finau was among those at 69. John Daly tried to revive some memories at age 56 and with a beard longer than any rough at Southern Hills. He opened with a 67 in 2007 and was 2 under through 10 holes until fading at the end with four bogeys over his last five holes for a 72.

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SAN ANTONIO — Andrew Landry won the Valero Texas Open on Sunday for his first PGA TOUR victory, pulling away with early birdies and holding on with par saves. The 30-year-old Texan parred the final seven holes for a 4-under 68 and a two-stroke victory over Trey Mullinax and Sean O’Hair. Landry finished at 17-under 271 at TPC San Antonio. Landry took a two-stroke lead to the par-5 18th after Mullinax chunked a flop shot and bogeyed the short par-4 17th. Landry hit a 55-foot putt over a ridge to 3 feet for par on 17 and made an 8-footer on 18 after running a 50-foot downhill birdie try past. Mullinax closed with a 69 a day after breaking the AT&T Oaks Course record with a 62. O’Hair shot 66. Tied for the third-round lead with Zach Johnson, Landry birdied the first three holes and added two more on Nos. 6 and 10. He bogeyed the par-4 11th before the closing par run. Landry won in his 32nd PGA TOUR start. He earned his tour card last year on the Web.com Tour, and lost a playoff to Jon Rahm in January in the CareerBuilder Challenge. Landry played at Arkansas after starring at Port Neches-Groves High School east of Houston. He now lives in the Austin area.

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Thank you, Kevin Kisner. If you follow my musings in the discussion threads beneath my columns and contributions, you might recall that he’s been my white whale in the Roster game. Spotted and on the line, but never captured (due primarily to technical difficulties of my own); that is, until at Colonial in the One & Done last week. Kisner is my first win of the 2016-17 season. (Yes, I also had him starting in the finale of the Roster game. It’s not quite the recent end of another drought assigned to silly curses that lasted 108 years, but it still feels great.) Kisner’s 500 FedExCup points propelled me into a healthy lead over Jonathan Wall, who connected wins with Dustin Johnson at Riviera and Rickie Fowler at PGA National. I haven’t burned either juggernaut yet and won’t at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide. While I’m holstering DJ for the TOUR Championship, I have no need to burn him sooner, anyway. Given the available pieces on my board, my decision boiled down to three guys, two of whom I’m endorsing no matter where you rank in your league. Tony Finau is my pick. After Johnson at the top of my Power Rankings, Finau at No. 6 is next-highest who I haven’t burned. What Kisner delivered last week was a bonus because if Finau yields a top 10 at Muirfield Village, I’ll be happy. That’s always the goal. He’s finished a respective T8 and T11 in the last two editions of the Memorial, so all expectations align. Also note that this is the final event for Finau in Future Possibilities. The other dynamic value who has my attention is Byeong Hun An. It’s all coming together for the 25-year-old former U.S. Amateur champion. His devil-may-care philosophy off the tee is perfect in setting the table at Muirfield Village where he tied for 11th last year, but the investment is doubly supported by a strong run of form of late. While you may balk if you’re front-running, all two-man gamers need to be on board. Matt Kuchar rounds out the threesome in my focus. He’d be my pick if I was chasing, but I’ll probably keep him handy for the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey where he’s hung up a T2 (2013), a T7 (2015) and a T9 (2016) in the last three editions on that course. Kuchar is also serviceable as a bridge, so I’ll hold that card because I’ve earned it. If you’re still sitting on your Jon Rahm chip, end the uncertainty and cash it in regardless of your position. You’re already enjoying watching him perform, but just wait until you’re emotionally invested. It doesn’t get any better. Hideki Matsuyama enters with mild concern, but Muirfield Village is as smart a site to plug him in as any other remaining. If hesitant, Adam Scott sets up wonderfully if you need a jolt. In fact, the Aussie would have been my first pick, but I already called his name for Riviera. While I’d almost never talk you out of Jordan Spieth, note that the Memorial isn’t among his Future Possibilities. Yes, that’s a subjective smattering, but I loosened the reins for that section this season, and this tournament still didn’t resonate. Patrick Reed and Jason Day will get their turns, but later. Use Reed as a bridge, if necessary. Meanwhile, in the Fantasy Insider for the AT&T Byron Nelson, I wrote that if Day “converts on something special, he’ll be poised for a mammoth summer.” He lost in a playoff, so that qualifies as something special. I have him penciled in for the BMW Championship, but might be persuaded to reconsider if he stays hot. It’s funny how perspective changes when you take the lead! In addition to An, two-man gamers should look at Marc Leishman, Patrick Cantlay, Bud Cauley and Steve Stricker. If you’re thinking about Stricker for the John Deere Classic, he’s going to be facing a tough decision since the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship will be contested the same week (July 13-16). It’s the fourth of five majors on the PGA TOUR Champions. It already wouldn’t be unprecedented for him to choose the PGA TOUR over a major on the 50-and-over circuit. It was just last week when he placed T7 at Colonial instead of trying his luck at the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2016-17. All are pending golfer commitment. Keegan Bradley … Memorial; WGC-Bridgestone; Dell Technologies Kevin Chappell … Dell Technologies Jason Day … U.S. Open; Canadian; WGC-Bridgestone; PGA Championship; Dell Technologies; TOUR Championship Luke Donald … Wyndham; TOUR Championship Jason Dufner … U.S. Open; TOUR Championship Tony Finau … Memorial Rickie Fowler … WGC-Bridgestone Jim Furyk … Memorial; U.S. Open; Canadian; WGC-Bridgestone; TOUR Championship Bill Haas … Wyndham Charley Hoffman … Travelers; Canadian Billy Horschel … St. Jude; TOUR Championship Dustin Johnson … Memorial; St. Jude; U.S. Open (defending); Canadian; TOUR Championship Zach Johnson … John Deere; Open Championship; WGC-Bridgestone; TOUR Championship Kevin Kisner … Wyndham Russell Knox … Travelers (defending); Dell Technologies Brooks Koepka … St. Jude; U.S. Open; PGA Championship Matt Kuchar … Memorial; Canadian; WGC-Bridgestone Martin Laird … Barracuda Marc Leishman … Memorial; Travelers; Open Championship Hideki Matsuyama … Memorial; PGA Championship; BMW William McGirt … Memorial (defending); Wyndham Phil Mickelson … St. Jude; Open Championship; PGA Championship Ryan Moore … Travelers; John Deere (defending); TOUR Championship Scott Piercy … John Deere; BMW Patrick Reed … Wyndham; Dell Technologies Charl Schwartzel … Memorial; U.S. Open; Open Championship; WGC-Bridgestone Adam Scott … Memorial; U.S. Open; Open Championship; WGC-Bridgestone; Dell Technologies; TOUR Championship Webb Simpson … Greenbrier; Wyndham Jordan Spieth … John Deere; WGC-Bridgestone; PGA Championship; TOUR Championship Brendan Steele … Travelers; Barracuda (already eligible for concurrent WGC-Bridgestone) Kevin Streelman … Memorial Bubba Watson … Travelers; Greenbrier; WGC-Bridgestone; TOUR Championship Gary Woodland … Barracuda; PGA Championship; Dell Technologies; TOUR Championship

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