Leaderboard: Round 2 of Tour Championship

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Ted Potter, Jr. outplayed the world’s No. 1 player, Dustin Johnson, and held off everyone else to win the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am for his first victory since a broken ankle nearly ended his career. Potter holed a chip from behind the green for birdie on the par-3 seventh hole to build a two-shot lead over Johnson, and he didn’t make another mistake the rest of a breezy afternoon at Pebble Beach. He closed with a 3-under 69 for a three-shot victory over Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Jason Day and Chez Reavie. Johnson lost a share of the lead with a tee shot that sailed over the cliff on the par-3 fifth and never caught up. Johnson completes one full year at No. 1 in the world next week.

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PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – The PGA TOUR schedule is sprinting to the finish. This week’s Open Championship is immediately followed by a World Golf Championship (FedEx St. Jude Invitational) and then one last opportunity, at the Wyndham Championship, to jockey for FedExCup position before the trio of Playoffs events. For all the talk of this new schedule’s frenetic pace, at least we are past the days when majors overlapped, forcing players to declare their allegiances to one side of the Atlantic. That was the case in 1951, when The Open Championship last visited Royal Portrush. The first Open played outside England or Scotland started just a day after Sam Snead won his third PGA Championship. The Open’s qualifying rounds were taking place when Snead beat Walter Burkemo in the championship match. RELATED: Tee times | Expert Picks | Power Rankings | Tiger sharpening game | Rory’s 61 at 16 | Five things to know about Royal Portrush | Writers roundtable Most of the top Americans joined Snead at Oakmont Country Club outside of Pittsburgh. The contingent that traveled to Northern Ireland was so small that an amateur, Frank Stranahan, was its leading man. This was a day when professional golf was still a hardscrabble existence. As an heir to the Champion spark plug fortune, Stranahan never felt pressure to play for a paycheck. He was still one of the world’s best players, finishing second in both the Masters and Open Championship in 1947. He won his second British Amateur the year before playing Royal Portrush. Just four Americans qualified for the 1951 Open. One of them, Charles Rotar, didn’t need to make the lengthy trip. He was stationed in Frankfurt, Germany, as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. Stranahan was both low amateur and low American, finishing 12th in the championship. This year’s Open includes an American amateur who earned his spot via qualifying, Brandon Wu, but a lot has changed in six decades. The PGA is now in May (and at stroke play) and trans-Atlantic travel is infinitely easier. Thus, there was no decision to make. The American contingent over here this week is in the midst of a successful run in the Grand Slam events. Americans have won nine of the last 10 majors – Italian Francesco Molinari’s win at Carnoustie a year ago is the lone exception – and all three this year. Four of those last 10 have been won by Brooks Koepka, most recently at the PGA. Koepka and his countrymen could find Royal Portrush to their liking as they look to extend the streak. Irish links are known for more dramatic elevation changes than their cousins in England and Scotland. That means many of the holes require an aerial approach. The run-offs surrounding the greens also make recovery more difficult, making it harder for players to scramble their way to a good score. “I think more than typical Opens that I played, you’ve really got to ball strike it,â€� said the most recent American to win a major, U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland. “Not a lot of run-ups, you’re going to have to fly it on the greens, which I think sets up pretty good for me.â€� Royal Portrush received rain Wednesday, as well, which should allow players to fly shots closer to the hole. The course is playing softer than last year’s crispy test at Carnoustie. The biggest decisions may come on the tee. At least seven holes have some degree of dogleg, requiring players to commit to a specific line and distance. Players can be aggressive and cut the corner or lay back with irons. They may pay a high penalty if their tee shot fails to carry onto the fairway, though. The lusher conditions mean that the rough is thicker than the wispy grass that players saw last year, when Scotland was hit with a record heat wave. In some places, nothing more than a hack-out is possible. “Depending on the wind, you’re going to hit a lot of different clubs on every hole,â€� said Dustin Johnson. “You have options. You can kind of challenge it and get it down it there if you’re driving it well or you can leave it back and play it a little longer hole.â€� Darren Clarke, the 2011 Open champion and a Royal Portrush member who will hit the opening shot Thursday as part of the first threesome on the course, said he will be an interested observer this week. He’s curious to watch players pick a strategy. “You can try and take it on at your peril,â€� Clarke said about his home course. Weather and wind will play a part in players’ decision-making. The conditions have an outsized impact on scoring on links courses, so calmer conditions could goad players into being aggressive. Earlier in the week, the weather was reminiscent of a pleasant mid-summer’s day in the Midwest. That changed Wednesday, and tougher conditions could continue when play gets underway. Wind gusts up to 25 mph are expected Thursday. So are showers and “short-lived bursts of heavy rain,â€� according to The Open’s official forecast.  “I think it’s why this course is so well-designed,â€� noted Justin Thomas, a contributor to the Americans’ latest run, having won the 2017 PGA. “You really can do anything. I mean, even a hole like 1, do you want to hit driver and take it past every bunker or do you want hit 3-wood and kind of fit it in between them or do you want to hit a 4-iron and keep it short? You have the opportunity to do what you want.â€� Decisions, decisions. At least players weren’t forced to pick which major to play.

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The first anniversary of the Return to Golf is not without the irony that it’s also a reminder that not every tournament is all the way back. This position on the 2020-21 PGA TOUR schedule originally was occupied by the RBC Canadian Open, but it’s been tabled yet another season until it can be determined that all things associated with the tournament can be completed safely during and hopefully after the pandemic. In its place is the Palmetto Championship at Congaree. Situated in South Carolina’s Lowcountry near the small town of Ridgeland, Congaree will host 156 golfers for a traditional four-round competition. For details on the course, what’s at stake and more, scroll past the projected contenders. RELATED: The First Look | How the field qualified POWER RANKINGS: PALMETTO CHAMPIONSHIP AT CONGAREE Sungjae Im, Kevin Kisner, Tommy Fleetwood and Pat Perez will be among the notables reviewed in Tuesday’s Fantasy Insider. For the third consecutive month, the PGA TOUR finds itself in The Palmetto State. Its last visit crowned Phil Mickelson as the oldest champion in a major at the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island. The first yielded then-47-year-old Stewart Cink’s second victory of the season and third career at the RBC Heritage. As the seabird flies, Congaree is about 35 miles north-northwest of Hilton Head Island. Like Harbour Town, Congaree is a par 71 that shot-shapers will find to their liking what with swerving fairways crisscrossing mature oaks. Unlike Harbour Town, which tips at just 7,121 yards, Congaree can stretch to 7,655 yards. The 645-yard, par-5 fourth is the second-longest hole on the PGA TOUR behind the 677-yard, par-5 18th at Kapalua, except it’s essentially at sea level as compared to the downhill finisher of the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Golf Digest declared Congaree the best new private course in the United States in 2018. Tom Fazio designed and built it to resemble what can be found across the Sandbelt region of Melbourne, Australia. There is no rough, which means that there is no transitional area between fairways, green and sand. Ah, yes, the sand. It’s everywhere. The hole-by-hole description of Congaree at PGATOUR.COM presents dazzling overhead images. Of course, the game is played on the ground, or at least that’s where the eyes are and on which many an attempt to escape from trouble around green complexes will be preferred, but golfers who manage distance and control from tee to green will factor, so the aerial attack will play. Bermudagrass greens have matured and they’ll be TOUR-quality speed, but because they’re unknown to most of the competitors, putting is a secondary weapon to irons and short game. Winds are forecast to be light and rain cannot be ruled out during any round – it’ll be hot and muggy throughout – so hole locations will serve as a primary defense against scoring. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM’s Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers; Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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