Leaderboard: Round 2 of PGA Championship

HONOLULU — Matt Kuchar overcame three early bogeys that cost him the lead with flawless golf and two key birdies on the back nine to close with a 4-under 66 and win the Sony Open in Hawaii for his second PGA TOUR title this season. It wasn’t as easy as his four-shot victory over Andrew Putnam might indicate. Having made only one bogey through 54 holes to build a two-shot lead, Kuchar had three bogeys in his opening five holes Sunday and fell one shot behind Putnam, and he had to make a 10-foot birdie putt at the turn to avoid falling two shots behind. Kuchar caught him with an aggressive pitch up the slope on the par-4 10th hole. They remained tied with five holes to play when Putnam made bogey from a deep bunker left of the 14th green, and Kuchar made a pair of 12-foot birdie putts on the next two holes to seize control. Just like that, his lead was three shots, making for a pleasant walk up the par-5 18th. Kuchar became the first multiple winner on the PGA TOUR this season, having ended a drought of more than four years when he captured the Mayakoba Classic in Mexico last November. It was only the second time in his career Kuchar has won twice in the same season. He won the Match Play Championship and the Memorial in 2013. Now, he has the meat of the season in front of him. “I want to see how great this year can be,” Kuchar said. He finished at 22-under 258, the third-lowest total in Waialae history behind the PGA TOUR record of 253 by Justin Thomas in 2017 and Jimmy Walker’s 72-hole score of 257 when he won in 2015. Putnam, who won his first PGA TOUR title last summer at the Barracuda Championship, didn’t blink until that approach into the bunker that led to his lone bogey, and he couldn’t make enough putts to stay close to Kuchar the rest of the way. He closed with a 68 and moved into the top 50 in the world for the first time in his career. Corey Conners of Canada, who got into the field through a Monday qualifier, had a 64-64 weekend and was among four players who tied for third, though none had a serious chance of challenging what amounted to a two-player race at the top. Even so, the performance was big for Conner, who narrowly missed a full PGA TOUR card last year. Along with his runner-up finish in the Sanderson Farms Championship last fall, he has nearly as many FedExCup points as last year when he finished at No. 130. Marc Leishman (64), Hudson Swafford (64) and Chez Reavie (67) also finished in a tie for third. Davis Love III, who first played the Sony Open in 1986, missed by one shot matching the lowest 72-hole score of his career. His 64-65 weekend gave him a tie for seventh, and he now heads off to Singapore with hopes of earning a spot in The Open Championship. But this day ultimately belonged to Kuchar, who won for the ninth time in his career. He ended the 2018 season earlier than he wanted, failing to reach the TOUR Championship for the first time since 2009 and ending his streak of playing on eight straight teams in the Ryder Cup or Presidents Cup. He won again in Mexico in a Sunday much tighter than he would have preferred, and had a few nervous moments at the start at Waialae. He went long of the second green, leading to bogey. The other two were sloppy — a three-putt across the back of the fourth green, and a wedge into No. 5 that he was begging to get down as soon as it left his club. It hopped into the back bunker, and he missed an 8-foot par putt to lose the lead. From there, however, Kuchar had a birdie chance on the final 13 holes. Kuchar and Putnam were in a bunker short of the green on the par-5 ninth. Putnam went first and it rolled out to 2 inches for birdie. Kuchar came out weakly, but made the 10-foot birdie putt. They traded birdies on the 12th and 13th, and Kuchar took over from there. “It was so uncharacteristic of me,” Kuchar said, referring to his three-putt and bad wedge on No. 5. “But I kept plugging along, and I knew good things were going to happen. … To win two out of three is crazy to comprehend.”

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HONOLULU, Hawaii – Just under a decade ago Charles Howell III came to a conclusion not always felt by elite athletes … winning isn’t everything. Having already won twice on the PGA TOUR, Howell III had been bitter about not closing the deal more often. It was bothering him like it would most players. But then he became a father and a sense of reality set in. Does winning define me? Does winning define the person I am or ultimately how successful one is? Of course winning is sensational. Of course we look at Tiger Woods’ 80 PGA TOUR wins in awe. But there’s something to be said for consistent performance also. And there is a lot to be said for being a kind and caring person and a doting dad and husband. Howell did not want golf to ever become miserable. He didn’t want his golf game to dictate his moods. The ruthless would say this attitude contributed to a win drought for Howell III that spanned nearly 12 years. But when he claimed The RSM Classic late last year for his third career win, first in 333 starts, no one begrudged his moment. “I realized you can still have a fantastic career and not win all the time. I don’t mean that as defeatist, because it’s not. It’s just the reality of it,â€� Howell III said of his epiphany. “I think having kids you realize you just can’t do that. It’s like, No, I’m going to go do the best I can do and that’s going to be what it is and I’m going to go home. Work on it in practice, but this is going to be it. “Honestly, that may not sound like the right thing to say, but it is the reality and makes this a lot easier.â€� It was an attitude that has helped Howell III earn over $37 million in on-course earnings in his PGA TOUR career – ranked 20th of all time. It wasn’t like he wasn’t trying to win … it just didn’t always fall his way. “The line between first and second is a big line,â€� Howell III added. “I think Tiger coming along made winning look a lot easier than it really is. “You always really push yourself along to try to get better and improve, and that’s a great thing to do but at the end of the day you have to stop and realize, okay, hang on, it’s really hard to win. “If I’m able to keep staying in the mix and having a nice career, eventually the win will happen.â€� If Howell III is right about the latter line perhaps he should be the red-hot favorite for this week’s Sony Open in Hawaii. Since his first trip to Waialae Country Club in 2002 Howell has made 17 straight cuts in the event. The Augusta native has nine top-10s including two runner ups and two thirds. Clearly it is a course that suits his game and could see him lift his position in the FedExCup up from his already lofty fourth position. “I do love it here. Funny thing is I really can’t give a reason why I’ve had those finishes here, but I do like the golf course,â€� he explains.  “It’s quite a bit different than a lot we play. This is a nice change from the norm. It’s old-style.â€� These days a lot of the courses on TOUR seemingly suit those who hit the ball a long way. At an average 292 yards in driving distance so far this season Howell III is not classed as a bomber by any means. He has seen a shift from his early days on TOUR towards younger and more athletic players. But it drives him. “When I first started on TOUR the best players were the older players. Now I’ve gotten older it’s shifted the other way and the best players seem to be the younger players,â€� he said. “It makes me keep working hard. I know that. It makes me keep trying to find new and creative ways to get better, new ways to push myself along.â€� Howell III has never really been under threat of losing his TOUR card since he began what has now spanned 530 starts. His worst finish in the FedExCup was 97th in 2008. He’s cashed over one million dollars a season since his first full season in 2001. His latest win means he’s exempt through the 2020-21 season which will see him push towards an incredible 600 TOUR starts but he won’t take it for granted. “There isn’t a good player that has come out of college that doesn’t hit it 300 yards and doesn’t putt good,â€� he says. “So if that isn’t motivation enough to practice then I don’t know what is. They’ll take your job from you like that. If you look around, a lot of them keep doing that “If I want to still be sitting here in a few years I need to kick my butt in gear and keep working and practicing.â€�

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