Leaderboard: Crowded at the top at RBC Heritage

MAMARONECK, N.Y. — This was the Winged Foot everyone has heard about. This is the U.S. Open everyone expected. Patrick Reed answered the first big test Friday when the wind arrived out of the north, bringing a little chill and a lot of trouble. He never got flustered by bogeys and made enough birdie putts and key saves for an even-par 70. It felt just as rewarding as the 66 he shot in the opening round, and it gave him a one-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau, who powered and putted his way to a 68. The opening round featured soft greens, a few accessible pins and 21 rounds under par. Friday was the epitome of a major long known as the toughest test in golf. Three players broke par. Nine others shot even par. Everyone else was hanging on for dear life. As the final groups tried to beat darkness in this September U.S. Open, only six players remained in red numbers. “It’s almost like they set it up to ease our way into it, and then showed us what it’s supposed to really be like,” Reed said. Television showed his five birdies. What took him to the 36-hole lead at 4-under 136 was a collection of pars from bunkers and from thick grass just over the greens. He managed them all with grit, a common trait among U.S. Open champions. DeChambeau showed plenty of resiliency, too, bouncing back with birdies after all five of his bogeys and finishing the best round of the day with a pitching wedge on the downwind, 557-yard, par-5 ninth to 6 feet for eagle. Rafa Cabrera-Bello of Spain and Harris English each had a 70 and were at 2-under 138. They were joined by Justin Thomas, who opened with a 65 — the lowest ever at Winged Foot for a U.S. Open — and lost all those shots to par after 10 holes. Thomas then delivered a 5-wood from 228 yards into the wind on the par-3 third hole and made a slick, 15-foot, double-breaking birdie putt to steady himself. He scratched out a 73 and is right in it. Jason Kokrak (71) was the only other player under par at 1-under 139. “This isn’t exactly a place where you go out and try to shoot 6 or 7 under to catch up,” Thomas said. “I’m not going to worry about what everyone else is doing because you could shoot 80 just as easily as you could shoot 68. I just need to stay focused, and most importantly, go home and get some rest. Because I’m pretty tired.” There’s still 36 holes to go, and no indication that Winged Foot is going to get any easier. “The rough is still really thick. I don’t think they’re planning on cutting it,” Matthew Wolff said after salvaging a 74 that left him four shots behind. “The greens are only going to get firmer, and the scores are only going to get higher.” Tiger Woods is among those who won’t be around to experience it. He had a pair of double bogeys at the end of the back nine, and two birdies over his last three holes gave him a 77. He missed the cut by four shots, the eighth time in his last 15 majors he won’t be around for the weekend. “It feels like the way the golf course is changing, is turning, that anybody who makes the cut has the opportunity to win this championship,” Woods said. “I didn’t get myself that opportunity.” Neither did Phil Mickelson, who had his highest 36-hole score in 29 appearances in the one major he hasn’t won. Ditto for Jordan Spieth, whose 81 was his highest score in a major. PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa missed an 8-foot birdie putt on the final hole that cost him a chance to keep playing. Reed turned in a workman-like performance, making birdies when he had the chance, saving par when needed. This is the kind of golf he loves. It’s a grind. And it’s about feel. He was most pleased with his birdie on No. 1 after he made the turn, going with a chip 8-iron from 147 yards into the wind and riding the slope at the back of the green to tap-in range. “I love when it’s hard, when you have to be creative on all different golf shots,” he said. There were plenty of great rounds on such a demanding course, many of which fell apart at the end. Louis Oosthuizen was 3 under in the morning when he finished bogey-bogey-double bogey for a 74. Xander Schauffele was 3 under until he bogeyed three of his last five holes. “The wind can make a par-3 course difficult, so put that on a U.S. Open setup, it’s going to be even more so,” Schauffele said. “It’ll be a fun afternoon to watch on TV.” Rory McIlroy’s problems started early. He was 5 over through seven holes, including a birdie at the start, and shot 76 to fall seven shots behind. Dustin Johnson was bogey-free through 16 holes until a pair of bad tee shots led to bogey. He had a 76 and was in the group at 3-over 143. All of them still feel as though the U.S. Open is in sight. “I’m confident now, after seeing what was out there this afternoon, over par will win this tournament,” Adam Scott said a 74 left him nine shots back. “The greens finally dried out. If there’s any breeze, over par is winning.” It usually does at Winged Foot.

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Tiger Woods has announced he will release a book about his storied life and sensational career. The 81-time PGA TOUR winner has had a plethora of books written about him over the years, but this will be the first official account coming directly from Woods and those in his small inner circle. “I’ve been in the spotlight for a long time, and because of that, there have been books and articles and TV shows about me, most filled with errors, speculative and wrong. This book is my definitive story,â€� Woods said via statement Tuesday. “It’s in my words and expresses my thoughts. It describes how I feel and what’s happened in my life. I’ve been working at it steadily, and I’m looking forward to continuing the process and creating a book that people will want to read.â€� HarperCollins Publishers have secured the rights to the memoir entitled BACK and will publish it across the globe. A release date is yet to be announced. It will cover everything from his childhood, his stellar amateur career, his multiple injuries and personal battles, and of course his compelling professional golf career through his 15th major championship at the Masters in April. The publishers claim the book “is a candid and intimate narrative of an outsize American life: from growing up a celebrated golfing prodigy to shattering centuries-old racial barriers as a young pro; from rising to unprecedented fame and global icon status to battling devastating injuries and personal issues; from enduring years of physical anguish to mounting an astonishing comeback at 43 years old, culminating with the 2019 Masters, where his thrillingly impossible victory captured the imagination and hearts of people around the world.â€� “Meeting with Tiger, speaking with him at length about the process of writing a memoir, I was delighted to discover how much he has to say, and how ready, how eager, he is to say it,â€� editor Shannon Welch said. “He’s at a place in his career and his life where he’s thinking deeply about his story, the highs and the lows, and how it all relates and connects. I think the result will be extraordinary.â€� Woods, who hasn’t played since August and has had arthroscopic surgery on his knee, is due to start his 2019-20 PGA TOUR season next week at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP in Japan, a few days after he battles Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama in The Challenge: Japan Skins. He will then focus on his captain duties for the Presidents Cup as he must select his four captain’s picks to round out the U.S. team, which may or may not still include himself, on Nov. 4.

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NASSAU, Bahamas – Despite a double-hit on his second shot from under a bush off the 18th fairway, Tiger Woods avoided losing two strokes on his last hole en route to a 3-under 69 in Friday’s second round of the Hero World Challenge. Woods was not aware that he had hit the ball twice with his clubface, and the double-hit was detected only through the use of ultraslow motion on a high-definition TV. Decision 34-3/10 of the USGA rules put limitations on use of video evidence. Mark Russell, PGA TOUR Vice President of Rules and Competition, said that Woods’ double-hit at 18 falls under that decision. “Basically it says if the player did not know that he did that and the only way you can tell that is by using this type of slow-motion technology, he’s exempt from the rules,� said Russell, who viewed the replay at the nearby TV compound. “So there’s no penalty there.� Woods’ tee shot at the par-4 18th finished in a sandy area under a bush to the right of the fairway. While kneeling on his right knee, Woods used an 8-iron to flick the ball back onto the grass. After finishing his round with a double-bogey at 18, Woods waited 25 minutes before signing his scorecard and emerging from the tent, having met with rules officials to determine if there was a penalty. Woods said he wasn’t aware there was even an issue until he reached the scoring area. “I didn’t feel like I made contact twice,� said Woods, who is 2 under through 36 holes, eight shots off the lead shared by Jon Rahm and Henrik Stenson. “It was such a short little shot. I was just trying to hit it sideways there. Under slow-motion and high def, you can see that the ball hit the clubface twice, but there’s – I don’t know, there is no penalty. … “In slow motion, you can see I did hit it twice, but in real time, I didn’t feel that at all.� Had the penalty been accessed, Woods would’ve lost one stroke. In addition, he would’ve had to count the second hit as a stroke. Thus, his double-bogey would’ve turned into a quadruple bogey. Russell said Woods was asked point-blank if he thought he hit the ball twice, and Tiger responded that he didn’t, thus bringing the current rule in play. “If you looked at it regular speed, it wouldn’t enter your mind that he did,� Russell said, “but if you look at it ultraslow motion, the ball did stay on the clubface quite a long time.� Starting in 2019, the rule will change, with no penalty assessed but the second stroke added to the scorecard. Of course, that discussion didn’t come into play Friday. “We’re operating in the rules we’re dealing with right now,� Russell said. “It’s confusing enough as is.� The double-bogey at 18 is nothing new for Woods. In his last 10 rounds at the Albany course dating back to 2016, he has suffered four double-bogeys or worse and is a collective 9 over par on that hole. “Let’s just say I don’t play that hole well,� Woods said.

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