Leaderboard: Can Tiger Woods put everything together at his own event?

FORT WORTH, Texas — The quiet of Colonial made Xander Schauffele feel as though he were back home in San Diego playing with his friends. In this case, his buddies happen to be some of the biggest stars in golf. Schauffele made a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole Saturday to break out of a six-way share of the lead with a 4-under 66, giving him one-shot lead over an all-star cast going into a final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge. RELATED: Leaderboard | ‘Who’s who’ leaderboard heading into weekend at Colonial Jordan Spieth took only 10 putts on the front nine and had the lead until he didn’t hit the 15th green from 81 yards away, leading to bogey. He had a 68 and was in a chasing pack that featured Justin Thomas, U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, Collin Morikawa and Branden Grace. The PGA TOUR returned after three months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and it didn’t take long to show its fan base just what it was missing. Fourteen players were separated by three shots, including Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose and Patrick Reed, who made the cut with one shot to spare and shot 63 to give him a chance. Golf fans should be in for a treat — in front of the TV, anyway. Colonial is the first of five tournaments in the return to golf that doesn’t allow spectators. Players have had three days to adjust to the lack of sound. Sunday is different, everyone trying to generate their own momentum without the energy typically delivered from outside the ropes. Schauffele was at 13-under 197. Woodland birdied his last two holes for a 66 and will play with his Presidents Cup teammate in the final group. Right behind will be Thomas, the former PGA champion and world No. 1, who went 11 holes without making a birdie in good scoring condition until two over the final five holes in a 66 that put him right in the mix. He played alongside Grace, who also had a 66. Spieth passed a big test. Stuck in a slump, he had five tournaments last season when he started with two rounds in the 60s and was left behind when he couldn’t break par on Saturday. There were a few anxious moments for him, such as an iron off the fifth tee that would have finished on the practice range if not for a fence in place for the tournament. He got up-and-down from short of the green to escape with birdie. His next tee shot was right and banged off a cart — one the loudest sounds of the day — leaving him blocked by a tree. He punched it low into a back bunker and saved par. But he didn’t make a birdie over the final nine holes, and the 15th cost him when his lob wedge came up short. No matter. He was one off the lead, and his tie for second is his best 54-hole position since the Colonial last year. He shot 72 in the final round and tied for eighth. Harold Varner III, still looking for his first PGA TOUR victory, started with a one-shot lead and birdied the opening hole. That was his last birdie. Varner couldn’t get putts to fall, including two birdie chances inside 8 feet toward the end. He had to settle for a 70, but was still only two shots behind. Looking up at Schauffele is not the issue. It’s looking around at everyone else. McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau, were among the players who went into Sunday with a realistic chance. The field was the strongest Colonial has seen, not surprising because so many players stuck at home for the last three months were eager for competition. And this week has made clear that so many of them came to play.

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2022 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, Round 2 Top 10 win probabilities: 1. Scottie Scheffler (2, -11, 13.6%) 2. Viktor Hovland (T3, -10, 12.8%) 3. Matthew Wolff (1, -13, 12.6%) 4. Justin Thomas (T5, -9, 5.9%) 5. Carlos Ortiz (T3, -10, 5.8%) 6. Billy Horschel (T5, -9, 5.6%) 7. Aaron Wise (T5, -9, 4.6%) 8. Sergio Garcia (T5, -9, 4.0%) 9. Talor Gooch (T5, -9, 3.5%) 10. Russell Henley (T15, -8, 3.4%) NOTE: These reports are based off of the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut”, “Top 20”, “Top 5”, and “Win” probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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KAPALUA, Hawaii — Justin Thomas kept bogeys off his card, thanks in part of Dustin Johnson’s caddie, and birdied three of his last five holes Thursday for an 8-under 65 to share the lead with Harris English in the Sentry Tournament of Champions. RELATED: Leaderboard | Bold predictions for 2021 Thomas couldn’t have asked for a better start in his bid to become the first back-to-back winner at Kapalua since 2010. On a gorgeous afternoon on the western edge of Maui, he birdied three straight holes to finish the front nine and took advantage of the scoring holes on the back nine. But it was the 13th hole where Thomas got his biggest break. He sent his drive well to the right into the deep native grasses, expecting it never to be found. He hit a provisional, and the group made a cursory search when Austin Johnson found it by stepping on it. The ball was replaced to its original spot — only about a half-turn — and Thomas hacked out sideways, put it on the green and rolled in a par putt from just inside 40 feet. A two-putt birdie on the par-5 18th tied him with English, whose 65 was highlighted by pitching in for eagle on No. 9. Unlike the wind that was ripping across the Plantation Course earlier in the week as the players arrived, it was relatively calm by Kapalua standards and it showed in the scoring. Only two players in the 42-man field were over par. Sergio Garcia, playing at Kapalua for the first time in 15 years, and Patrick Reed were among those at 6-under 67, with Adam Scott in the group at 68. Johnson, making his first start since winning the Masters in November, showed some rust on the greens. He had good birdie looks on the final six holes and didn’t make any of them, settling for a 2-under 71. The tournament features more than just PGA TOUR winners for the first time. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down golf for three months, the field includes anyone who made it to the TOUR Championship.

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