Leaderboard: CIMB Classic Round 1

GULLANE, Scotland — Robert Rock was already heading to Carnoustie next week to work at The Open Championship in a coaching capacity. He might now have to take his clubs. Rock, ranked No. 244, set the record for the lowest 36-hole total since the Scottish Open was launched by the European Tour in 1972, adding a 7-under 63 in the second round Friday to his 64 on Day 1. So far, he has made 13 birdies and not dropped a shot. Not only did it give the English golfer a two-shot lead on 13-under 127 at Gullane, it also gave him a great chance of earning one of the final qualification spots for the British Open just up the east coast of Scotland. “It’s everything for me,” Rock said. On a day when players shot low scores because of a lack of wind, the course record was broken twice — by Connor Syme of Scotland (62) and then Hideto Tanihara of Japan (61). The layout has only been played once before, at the Scottish Open in 2015. Tyrrell Hatton (64) and unheralded Swede Jens Dantorp (65) were the closest challengers to Rock. Eddie Pepperell (63) and Rickie Fowler (66), the winner at Gullane three years ago, were a shot further back. One of golf’s more nattily dressed players, Rock is most famous for overcoming Tiger Woods in a last-group, final-round shootout at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in 2012. That remains the second and most recent professional win for a player who never wears a golf hat and seemingly never has a hair out of place. Nowadays, the 41-year-old Rock — a former club pro — has started coaching again. Among his part-time pupils are Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn and up-and-coming English player Matt Wallace, whose two wins this year have secured a place at the Open for the first time. “My job is to be there with him (Wallace) and help him prepare. I was looking forward to that anyway,” Rock said, before adding with a smile: “But I’d love to play there, of course.” To do that, he has to be one of the leading three players to finish in the top 10 and ties who are not otherwise exempt for Carnoustie. And that’s far from guaranteed with Gullane as defenseless as it has been this week. Hatton, likely to be in Europe’s Ryder Cup team against the United States in Paris in September, opened with a 65 and has only made one bogey this week. Dantorp, who is playing in his second full year on the tour and has only one top-10 finish, went down No. 18 needing a birdie to tie the lead. He made a bogey, his first of the week. Tanihara was 9 under par for his round after 15 holes and required two more birdies to become the first player in European Tour history to shoot a 59. He could only par his way home, but that still meant Syme’s 62 from the morning was the course record for about eight hours. Defending champion Rafa Cabrera Bello missed the cut, which came at 4 under, after a 67 left him on 1 under. Also sidelined at the weekend will be Phil Mickelson (69, for 1 under overall) and Hideki Matsuyama (70, for 2 under overall).

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ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Notes and observations from the second round of The RSM Classic at Sea Island Resort’s Seaside and Plantation courses. LEADING LIGHTS Charles Howell III has played more than 500 PGA TOUR events. He’s never lost his card in nearly two decades on TOUR. He’s earned more than $35 million. He’s finished worse than 70th in the FedExCup just four times. His career has been a success according to multiple metrics. But he also knows what his resume lacks, the obvious criticism of an incredibly consistent career. He’s won just twice. His last win was in 2007, before Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas were in high school. Howell has an opportunity to end his winless streak in the final event of 2018. He has a three-shot lead halfway through The RSM Classic after shooting back-to-back 64s. His 14-under 128 ties the best 36-hole start of his career and the tournament’s two-round scoring record. Howell, 39, has a three-shot lead over 44-year-old Jason Gore, who is playing on a sponsor exemption, and 23-year-old rookie Cameron Champ. Gore got his insurance license last week. Champ won last month’s Sanderson Farms Championship and is in position to take the FedExCup lead into 2019. Howell has yet to make a bogey despite cold, windy weather on Georgia’s Atlantic coast. He called these the best ball-striking rounds of his career. “I’ve almost done everything in my career, but playing with a lead isn’t one thing I’ve really done a whole lot,� Howell said. “I could talk to you about finishing second or third a lot. As many golf tournaments as I’ve played, this is still relatively new for me.� This is the eighth 36-hole lead of Howell’s career, and first since 2010. He’s never won when leading after two rounds. He could be tough to catch if his strong ball-striking continues. He’s missed just two fairways and two greens this week. “I don’t really get nervous,� he said. “Sometimes I’ll jump ahead of myself and I get a bit excited or try too hard at times.� He’s made it look easy this week. Now comes the hard part. OBSERVATIONS AMATEUR HOUR: LSU freshman Garrett Barber is in 10th place after shooting 65 on Friday. Barber got into the field after winning this year’s Jones Cup. Past champions of that event include PGA TOUR players Beau Hossler, Corey Conners, Justin Thomas, John Peterson, Patrick Reed, Kyle Stanley and Luke List. CLOSING LIKE A CHAMP: Champ birdied his final four holes to shoot 63 and move into contention at another PGA TOUR event. This is the 11th time in his past 14 rounds that he has ended the day in the top 10. He was in second place halfway through last week’s Mayakoba Golf Classic after shooting 62. He closed with consecutive 69s to finish 10th. On Friday, he shot 63 to tie Jason Gore for the low round of the tournament. Champ also has opened a large lead in the Birdies Fore Love race, which goes to the player who has made the most birdies and eagles this fall. The winner of that competition, which concludes this week, will win $300,000 for charity. Champ has made 110 birdies and eagles this season, 11 more than J.J. Spaun. LOTS OF LOVE: There will be two Loves at Sea Island this week after Davis Love III’s son, Dru, birdied two of his last three holes to make the cut on the number. Dru shot back-to-back 70s. His father is ahead of him by two shots. This is Dru’s third made cut in 14 starts. QUOTABLES I’m just an insurance salesman now.Early this morning, it was so cold out there. … The first few holes of the day, you’re just trying to survive.It’s hard not to feel comfortable around these two places. SUPERLATIVES Low round: Champ and Gore both shot 63 to move into second place at 11 under par. They both birdied Nos. 15-18 and shot 30 on the back nine. Longest drive: Tom Lovelady hit a 339-yard drive on the eighth hole. Longest putt: Blake Morris, a Monday qualifier, made a 58-foot putt Friday. He missed the cut by one shot. Hardest hole: The 204-yard, par-3 third hole on the Seaside Course played to a 3.36 stroke average. Only 39 of 77 players hit the green Friday. There were just three birdies on the hole. Easiest hole: The 555-yard, par-5 16th hole on the Plantation Course played to a 4.43 scoring average. CALL OF THE DAY For play-by-play coverage of the third round of The RSM Classic, listen at PGATOUR.COM. SHOT OF THE DAY

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It was never a matter of if, just when. One of those things in golf you come to expect. Like Phil Mickelson producing a head-scratching flop shot, or Jordan Spieth holing out from off a green. Dustin Johnson will always win at some point. Johnson extended his run to 13 straight seasons with at least one PGA TOUR victory with his triumph at TPC River Highlands, taking his career tally to 21. It was another great Travelers Championship – a tournament that always finds a way to bring some drama even when it appears it might not. Welcome to the Monday Finish where we all wish we could be as nonchalantly successful as DJ. THREE KEYS TO SUCCESS 1. CONSISTENCY – Not inside a tournament, or even a round, but over a career. Johnson now has at least one win in his first 13 seasons on TOUR as a member, the fourth best streak of its kind on the all-time list. Only Arnold Palmer (17), Jack Nicklaus (17) and Tiger Woods (14) started with longer streaks, and we’re not sure you should bet against Johnson catching all of them. With his 365 career weeks inside the FedExCup top 30 (moved from 103rd to 22nd with the win) the most of all time since it began in 2007, Johnson has proven himself a constant performer. He now sits tied for 30th on the all-time win list, joining Davis Love III, Lanny Wadkins, Craig Wood & Willie MacFarlane at 21. One other number to remember is 30, the biggest win drought of tournaments for Johnson in his career. That’s pretty darn impressive. Read much more on that and why Johnson should command great respect here. 2. RESILIENCE – Johnson has had his fair share of meltdowns over the years. Some of which would potentially be the end of any sort of good career, let alone a great one he’s already had. His gift of being able to forget things and move on was on display again all week at Travelers. First off, he opened with a 1-under 69 which while might sound decent, had him sitting in T79th place. He’d never won an event after being so far back post Round One. Rather than kick stones he jumped out the gates in Round Two with a 64 and then on Saturday put up a new career-low 61 to surge his way back into contention. On Sunday it appeared he was cruising to victory after Brendon Todd produced a costly triple bogey on the 12th hole only for Johnson to hit his tee shot on 13 out of bounds. A bogey there could have derailed his psyche, instead he bounced back with birdie. A bogey on 16 might have sent the heart rate of most into overdrive. Johnson got to 18 one ahead and showed no fear, pumping his drive down the middle into wedge territory to help secure the win. 3. RETURN OF FORM – For the 2019-2020 season prior to this week, Johnson’s stats had not been the prettiest of his career. But at Travelers he stepped up his game big time. His Strokes Gained: Approach had been T79 entering the week but was sixth at Travelers and his proximity to the hole was fourth at Travelers having come in at T46 on the season. His approach game from 50-125 yards ranked a dismal 215th coming in but he was T22 on the week in that area. On the greens Johnson was 134th entering the week in Strokes Gained: Putting but was fourth at TPC River Highlands. His putting from 4-8 feet was T3 this week compared to 219th on TOUR prior and his average feet of putts made was ninth at Travelers after being T114th on the season. Here are more numbers to know from his efforts. OBSERVATIONS Rory ready to rest. Rory McIlroy had his best performance of the first three Return to Golf events at the Travelers, finishing just outside the top 10, but the FedExCup champion was far from happy with his efforts. He bemoaned “stupid shots” and “dumb mistakes” during the week and resolved to take a few weeks off to reset himself and freshen up in mind and body. While not at his best over the three weeks there was enough to suggest he will once again be a huge player in this season’s Playoffs. Target Todd. Brendon Todd may have faded late Sunday to a disappointing 5-over 76 but it was refreshing to see him back amongst it in 2020. Having broken the shackles of a huge career slump during the fall portion of this season back in late 2019 with two wins, Todd had stalled in the 2020 portion of things. But the precision shown from him for the majority of the tournament – he hit 46 of the first 47 fairways, 50 of the first 52 and 51 of 56 total – showed his comeback isn’t just a flash in the pan. Todd has the ability to be a serious contender any week out there. Gordon goes low. Will Gordon became the latest in a long list of up and comers who get sponsor invites at the Travelers Championship to make a name for himself. Gordon, the 2019 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, earned himself Special Temporary Membership with his T3 finish and now can take unlimited starts in the run home as he looks to keep his non-member points high enough to join the TOUR as a member next season. The learning curve for the youngster was a large one, shooting a 61 in Round 2 to be in the final group with Phil Mickelson on Saturday. He showed plenty, including his flurry of a finish on Sunday to secure his fate. Read more here. Phil Thrills. Phil Mickelson had us all believing he might actually win his first TOUR event since turning 50. The veteran was brilliantly measured over the opening two rounds, managing to stay out of a big hitting contest with Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau in the opening rounds to take the 36-hole lead. His fade on the weekend to finish T24 was a little disappointing for his legion of fans but the fact remains he showed enough to suggest 44 won’t be his final win tally. “I’m looking at this week as progress. Certainly the goal is to win golf tournaments, but keep in mind I’ve missed a bunch of cuts,” Mickelson said. “I haven’t played to the level I’ve wanted to, and this week I came in and had a lot of great finds. I hit a lot of good shots, hit a lot of good tee shots. My misses were much better.” Mickelson confirmed he will return to competition at the new Workday Charity Open. “I feel Muirfield Village is a great course for me, and I feel like this is a good momentum builder. There was a lot of good things that happened here that I need to refine, I need to touch up, but I felt like a lot of good things happened this week, and again, the goal is to win, but I also need to identify the fact that I made a lot of progress this week, too.” Morikawa is human. Some still thought he might be half cyborg given the fact he had made 22 straight cuts since he turned pro. But the streak ended at TPC River Highlands, just short of Tiger Woods’ record. Testing Times. It was a tough week for a handful of players who were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cameron Champ withdrew after a positive test pre-tournament while Graeme McDowell, Brooks Koepka, Chase Koepka also pulled out after some caddie positives. Chase has been given an assurance of a spot in the 2021 field having Monday qualified to get in but pulling out as a precaution to the field. Webb Simpson was another scratch under concerns a family member might have the virus although they were cleared later in the week. Denny McCarthy tested positive after the opening round and Dylan Frittelli also had a positive test post tournament. Jason Day was cleared after some initial fears on the weekend. The TOUR adjusted a handful of protocols to further mitigate risks going forward. QUOTEBOARD “Anytime you’re mentioned with those guys, with Tiger, Jack, Arnie, you’ve got to feel good about that because they’re the best that’s ever played this game. Anytime your name is mentioned in the same sentence with them, I’m very happy.” – Dustin Johnson “Decision-making was terrible the last few days. Just some stupid shots and trying to take too much on at times. Just sort of dumb mistakes in there that I don’t usually make.” – Rory McIlroy. WYNDHAM REWARDS The Wyndham Rewards Top 10 is a season-long competition that offers a $10 million bonus for the 10 golfers who end the regular season at the Wyndham Championship inside the top 10 in FedExCup points. The player atop the standings will earn $2 million, with varying payoffs for the others through $500,000 for the 10th place finisher. Webb Simpson holds on to the top spot this week despite having to WD pre-tournament. In fact the top eight spots have stayed intact following play at TPC River Highlands. The only change to the top-10 is Lanto Griffin has edged his way from 10th to ninth, leaving Sebastian Munoz in 10th as Abraham Ancer and Bryson DeChambeau edge closer. Winner Dustin Johnson led a host of big movers in the in the FedExCup. Johnson jumped 81 spots from 103rd to 22nd with his victory. Seung-Yul Noh (T11) moved up 53 spots from 247th to 194th, Patton Kizzire (T6) is up 47 spots from 208 to 161st, Scott Stallings (T6) is up 42 spots from 161st to 119th, Si Woo Kim (T11) jumped 32 spots from 177th to 145th, Wesley Bryan (T24) enjoyed a 32 spot bump from 241st to 209th and Ryan Armour (T6) moved into the playoff zone, jumping 31 spots from 143rd to 112th. Runner up Kevin Streelman improved from 41st to 18th and third placed Mackenzie Hughes enjoyed a rise from 70th to 46th. Here’s how the standings look heading into this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic. SOCIAL SNAPSHOT

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