Jason Kokrak built a five-shot lead after 36 holes. See who can make a move in third-round action from Irving, Texas.
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After an opening-round, 6-over 78 at The 150th Open, Tiger Woods will need to go low Friday in order to advance to the weekend at the Old Course at St. Andrews. Woods began his second round at 9:58 a.m. local time Friday alongside Max Homa and Matt Fitzpatrick. Keep it here for hole-by-hole updates throughout Woods’ second round in Scotland, as the three-time Open champion (twice at St. Andrews) aims to author another improbable comeback in a career full of them. Hole 3 (par 4, 392 yards): Woods split the center of fairway with driver off the tee, leaving a short iron from 101 yards. He played a conservative wedge approach away from the hole, the ball spinning and skidding to an eventual stop 30 feet right of the hole. Knowing that it’s time to start making birdies in bunches if he hopes to survive the cut line, Woods delivered with a smooth stroke, the ball finding the center of the cup. Into red numbers on the day. 1-under Friday thru 3; 5-over total; 3/3 fairways hit; 3/3 greens in regulation Hole 2 (par 4, 449 yards): Woods took driver and played a high fade that landed in the right side of the fairway and rolled out to leave a good angle into the green. From 147 yards, he launched a high short iron that landed softly approximately 20 feet past the hole, a decent look at a birdie to kick-start his day. His birdie putt slid by, though, and he settled for a second consecutive par. Even-par Friday thru 2; 6-over total; 2/2 fairways hit; 2/2 greens in regulation Hole 1 (par 4, 357 yards): Woods took iron off the tee and played a low stinger down the middle on one of golf’s most iconic and widest fairways. After finding a divot off the tee on No. 1 in Thursday’s opening round, he had no such misfortune Friday. From 133 yards, Woods played a sensible wedge 30 feet right of the hole, safely away from the flagstick situated precariously close to the Swilcan burn. He two-putted for a routine par, two strokes better than Thursday’s double bogey at the opening hole. Even-par Friday thru 1; 6-over total; 1/1 fairways hit; 1/1 greens in regulation
AUSTIN, Texas – Three-time World Golf Championships–Dell Technologies Match Play champion Tiger Woods faces an uphill battle to advance to the weekend after a loss to Brandt Snedeker on Thursday. Snedeker took down Woods 2 and 1 in their group match, meaning Woods must beat Patrick Cantlay on Friday and have reigning PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Aaron Wise turnaround his poor form to take down Snedeker. Should Wise beat Snedeker and Woods prevail over Cantlay, the 80-time PGA TOUR winner would advance. Should Snedeker tie against Wise and Woods win, then a sudden death playoff would come between Woods and Snedeker. RELATED: Day 2 match recaps | Scores | Why every match matters Head-to-head results are not used to break group ties, giving Woods a small hope although Wise has only led for one hole in his two losses thus far to Woods and Cantlay. Snedeker automatically advances if he wins. “It was difficult conditions out there today. The wind was pumping and if you went around there with no bogeys, you probably would win your fair share of holes,â€� Woods said. “We both made a couple of mistakes out there, but he made a few less mistakes than I did. “All I can do is hopefully get a point tomorrow and see if that’s good enough.â€� Woods never found his way to the lead in Thursday’s match and was left to rue a couple of critical errors. He failed to make birdie on the par-5 sixth from just outside 5 feet. Then Woods three-putted the par-3 seventh for a bogey to hand Snedeker a 2-up lead. He rebounded to win the 10th hole with a birdie but failed to make inroads over the next four holes, missing birdie putts from 12, 15 and 11 feet that would have won holes. But it was his tee shot on the drivable par-4 13th that sent Woods’ challenge backwards. The shot found the water when he was attempting to lay up. A double bogey gave Snedeker the cushion he needed, and although Woods birdied the 14th, he was unable to birdie the par-5 16th, nor make a 23-footer on the 17th to stay alive. “I’m probably the most hated man in Texas right now… I bet you my kids were probably rooting for him late in the round,â€� Snedeker joked. “In the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really mean that much. I’ve got to go out and win tomorrow. As great as today was and as much fun as I’ve had, I’ve got to kind of reset my goals for tomorrow and make sure I’m doing the same thing I did this morning, which is tough to do. “You want to look ahead and say, hey, I beat Tiger. (But) I’m not anywhere yet. I’ve got to go play great tomorrow and use this momentum today from a lot of good stuff late in the round and kind of take that out tomorrow.â€�
THE OVERVIEW It is said to be high enough to pull the universe, houses the oldest Buddhist temple on Jeju Island, and features five hiking trails. But for players at THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, the inaugural PGA TOUR event in South Korea this week, there’s just one important thing to know about Halla Mountain, which is also known by Hallasan, among its many other names. It affects the way the greens play. “The whole golf course is on this side of the big mountain, sometimes it can look flat but really everything is still going down the mountain,â€� Adam Scott said. “So you just have to be a little bit aware of where down the mountain is. Sometimes it looks flat but it might be faster, sometimes it might be slower because you might be putting back up the mountain. It’s going to play a little part this week.â€� As we were reminded most recently at the Presidents Cup at Liberty National, golf courses can be built on all sorts of land — even an old dump. But if the Nine Bridges course can be readily compared to anything, it might be Kapalua, which hosts the Sentry Tournament of Champions and is also built into the side of a mountain. At its highest, Mount Halla measures 6,400 feet. Some have made it an object of worship, contending that gods and spirits live on it. That’s debatable, but what does live on it is a par-72, 7,196-yard course, with “rolling topographyâ€� (Golf Magazine) and closely mown runoff areas. It is legendary for its views, but even so it’s the challenge of the putting that is getting the most attention. Players have no institutional knowledge of the place, and are learning the lay of the land as fast as they can.  “The greens have a lot of slope on them,â€� FedExCup champion Justin Thomas said. “The greens are very big as well, so the slope can play a big factor and a big role in how you are going to play the course, if you want to use some of the slopes to get close to the holes, or if you want to use some to get into the spot where you want to putt from. But the hardest part is that you just have to play smart. You can’t be too aggressive and short sight yourself or have the putt above the hole. “You want to try to leave it below the hole and have as many makeable putts with as little break as possible that you can out there.â€� Jason Day wasn’t as worried about the putting as he was everything else. “I actually asked the local caddie if there is a mountain break, and she said, ‘There’s a little bit but not much,’â€� Day said. “Saying that, we are at elevation of, I think Jeju is at the highest 6,000 feet, and I think the golf course is at 2,000 feet. When you have an elevation change of about 2,000 feet from sea level, you probably have zero to five yards in distance change and in how much farther you will hit it. “That’s one thing that we have to tackle this week. There’s a lot of elevation change from tee to green, or second shot into the green, so with that you will have to be wary as well.â€� THREE PLAYERS TO PONDER 1. K.J. Choi: Korea’s most successful male golfer is making his first appearance at Nine Bridges. Expect big galleries. 2. Justin Thomas: The FedExCup champ started his new campaign with a T17 last week. He’s just getting cranked up. 3. Pat Perez: Broke into the world’s top 20 players with last week’s win at the CIMB Classic. Wonder if he’s still celebrating. THE FLYOVER The 353-yard 14th is the shortest par 4 on the back nine and should offer players a chance to drive the green. “It’s possible to have an eagle chance, but there’s some danger to doing that,â€� said Adam Scott. “The right-hand side bunker has severe penalties. It’s always a question of risk and reward. If it’s not too windy and you’re playing well, I think it’s a good opportunity to attack.â€� Justin Thomas is looking forward to it. “That’s a hole that could create a little bit of drama,â€� he said. WEATHER CHECK When the LPGA played at Jeju Island more than a decade ago, the weather was a big factor several years. Cold temperatures and brutal wind made an impact. While wind will likely be a factor this week, it shouldn’t be extreme. PGA TOUR meteorologist Stewart Williams forecasts partly to mostly sunny skies each day. “Temperatures will remain cool, especially in the mornings,â€� reports Williams. “Otherwise, Typhoon Lan is expected to pass just east of Japan on Sunday. This may produce isolated showers and windy conditions across Jeju Sunday afternoon.â€� For the latest weather news from Jeju Island, Korea, check out PGATOUR.COM’s Weather Hub. SOUND CHECK If it’s tough, I could see 8- to 12-under winning. If it’s pretty calm, it could be something around 16- to 20-under. Like I said, I’m pretty bad at that so I wouldn’t go off with what I said. ODDS AND ENDS 1. 17 FAN FAVORITES. Seventeen Koreans are among the 78 players in the field, including reigning THE PLAYERS champion Si Woo Kim, who is sponsored by CJ, this week’s title sponsor. “I always want to do well in any event that I take part in,â€� Kim said. “But this event is a little bit more special for me, so yes, I do feel a little bit more pressure.â€� 2. HE KNOWS JEJU. Graeme McDowell should be worth keeping an eye on this week, particularly because he’s one of the few non-Korean players who have enjoyed success on Jeju Island. McDowell won the European Tour’s Ballentine’s Championship in 2008 at Pinx Golf Club, which is close to Nine Bridges. “Nice to be back in this part of the world,â€� McDowell said. 3. DIFFERENT FEEL. Marc Leishman has playing experience on Korean courses – he was a member of the International Team at the 2015 Presidents Cup outside Seoul – but this is his first look at Nine Bridges. “The course is very good,â€� he said. “It’s different than a lot of other Korean courses I’ve played. It’s a lot more generous off the tee, a lot wider. Greens are very good. It’s important to get it on the right section of the green. It’s a beautiful golf course.â€�
