Leaderboard: Round 2 of Valspar Championship

Tony Finau struggled for so much of Saturday at the HSBC that he was hopeful for a strong finish to carry some momentum into the final round.

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FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Daniel Berger was playing some of the best golf that no one noticed. Three months away because of the COVID-19 pandemic didn’t slow his momentum, and he made it pay off Sunday with a victory at Colonial. The PGA TOUR made a healthy return to golf at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Berger saved par from behind the 17th green on the first playoff hole and won when Collin Morikawa missed a 3-foot par putt. Berger closed with a 4-under 66, his 28th consecutive round at par or better dating to Oct. 11 at the Houston Open. Even over the final hour, a half-dozen players were still in the mix. All that was missing was the sound and energy of a gallery, with the PGA TOUR not allowing spectators for the opening five events in its return. Berger won for the third time — all victories during this week on the calendar, just not in circumstances like this. It was the first PGA TOUR event since March 12 when the spread of the new coronavirus shut down golf and other sports. From no positive tests to a dynamic finish at history-rich Colonial, PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan sized up the week by saying, “This has been a phenomenal start to our return.” Morikawa has been equally steady. Since graduating from Cal a year ago, he has won and made every cut, a streak now at 21 events, the longest streak by a newcomer since Tiger Woods. He took a share of the lead with a 50-foot putt on the 14th hole. It was the short ones that hurt. Morikawa also missed a birdie putt from 6 feet on the 18th hole in a 67. Berger was the only one who delivered, making a 10-foot birdie on the final hole that put him at 15-under 265. The last time Berger was in a playoff, Jordan Spieth holed a bunker shot to beat him at the Travelers Championship. So he could feel for what Morikawa felt int he loss. “It’s going to hurt for a little while, but he’ll get over it and he’ll be winning again,” Berger said. Even the optimism of being back to golf didn’t eliminate the sting, and more than Morikawa felt it. Xander Schauffele gave new meaning to the phrase “Horrible Horseshoe” at Colonial. He hit into the water on the 15th from a fairway bunker, hit a poor chip after the penalty shot and then made a 30-footer to escape with a bogey. He followed with a 25-foot birdie to regain a share of the lead. And then his 3-foot par putt on the 17th hole dipped in one side of the hole and spun out of the other. His 25-foot birdie putt to join the playoff came up just short and he shot 69. Bryson DeChambeau cringed when his 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th narrowly missed, giving him a 66 and leaving him one shot out of the playoff. Ditto for Justin Rose, whose 18-foot birdie on the last hole was a turn short. He also had 66. Jason Kokrak finished well ahead of everyone else. he also missed a birdie on the last hole in his round of 64. Spieth, trying to end three years without a victory, left with a consolation prize of progress. He missed a 2-foot par putt on the sixth hole — part of three bogeys in a four-hole stretch — but was still in the mix until a tee shot out of bounds on the 14th. Even then, he made a 35-foot putt to save bogey. He wound up with a 71 and tied for 10th. Rory McIlroy had seven straight tournaments no worse than fifth, a streak that came to a stunning halt. Starting the final round three shots behind, he was 5 over through seven holes and closed with a 74 to tie for 32nd. The final round was as wild as expected with eight players taking turns or sharing time in the lead, all without having any idea without fans to give a hint of what was going on. “If there are fans and everything with the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs,’ I’d probably be a little more (ticked) off,” Schauffele said. “Maybe that’s a good thing for me right now. But it was definitely weird. It was sort of an internal battle, which it always is for me, but more so internal this week just with no fans.” Monahan conceded his biggest concern going into the week, even with its testing and safety procedure, was positive tests popping up. “That’s something, candidly, that I lost a lot of sleep over in the weeks that preceded coming in,” he said. All 487 tests at Colonial were negative, and the golf lived up to its part with a star-filled leaderboard and a half-dozen players still in the mix the final hour. Next up is the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head on the South Carolina coast, and Monahan said the first week won’t be complete until then to see how players handled the interstate travel. Those on the charter were tested for the new coronavirus after the third round. Everyone else would be tested when they arrived at Hilton Head. “This is about a sustained return,” Monahan said. “But I think as we sit here late in the day Sunday, there’s no question that this has been an exceptional week.”

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NASSAU. Bahamas – In two weeks, Rickie Fowler no longer will be a 20-something. His birthday on Dec. 13 will be his 30th, and with that milestone comes a change in perception. Gone are the days of being considered of the TOUR’s young guns who represent the game’s future. Now the time has arrived to craft his legacy.  The clock, whether symbolic or real, is ticking. “I’ve always heard that 30s were your prime,� Fowler said on the eve of his title defense at this week’s Hero World Challenge. “So we’re just getting into it.� But does that ticking clock come with an increased sense of urgency? Not yet, said Fowler, who has four PGA TOUR wins since getting his card in 2010. While the 2015 PLAYERS Championship remains his signature victory, Fowler has yet to reach the lofty heights of still-in-their-mid-20s friends Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, who’ve collected two FedExCups, four majors and 19 overall TOUR wins in the last four seasons. The comparisons may be a bit unfair, but the difference in pace can’t be discounted. “I look at the next 5-10 years as the time to take advantage of things and make sure that we’re not sitting back and just relaxing,� Fowler said. “Go out and take care of what we want to take care of and see what can happen.� Fowler comes off a 2017-18 season in which he recorded six top-10 finishes in 20 starts, including two seconds (one of which was the Masters). It was, in his words, a “fairly consistent� season. “Put myself in contention a lot, put myself in great positions at the majors,� he added. “Just never got the job done.� Now as he turns 30, it’s time to start completing more jobs. He insists, though, that his definition of a successful season has not changed. “I think as long as you’re always seeing improvement and it’s not just based off wins,� he said. “Yes, I want to win more. If I went off of my checklist or what I ultimately want to do, I haven’t had a successful season. “So I want to win more majors. I want to win more golf tournaments. But in golf, other than Tiger winning at a 30 percent rate, that doesn’t just happen. So you have to kind of look at the glass half full, especially if you’re talking about staying motivated and keep wanting to move forward. If you look at the negatives or downside of not winning, man, it’s going to be a long road. … “I’ve just always tried to go kind of a glass half-full, keep moving forward.� So get ready for a big push the next 10 years for Fowler. His legacy is on the line. When he celebrates his 40th birthday on Dec. 13, 2028, he’ll have a much better understanding of how he rates as a pro golfer. “I would say 40s is a little bit more of where we’d look at prime … in the rearview mirror. So I’m looking forward to these next 5-10 years of taking advantage of them and making them count.� STENSON AND HIS CADDIE: Henrik Stenson will continue to work with new caddie Scott Vail while he takes a break from Gareth Lord, who has been on Stenson’s bag since 2013. Stenson and Vail first worked together at the European Tour event in Dubai two weeks ago. Stenson said the partnership could remain for the foreseeable future. “There’s a high chance Scotty will continue,� Stenson said Wednesday. “We’re in the dating stage. We’ll see where it takes us.� Stenson, who took five weeks off after playing the Ryder Cup, finished tied for 12th in Dubai. LAST MAN IN: Keegan Bradley wasn’t originally scheduled to compete in the Hero World Challenge, but he got the last-minute invite when Tommy Fleetwood withdrew. It’ll be his first start in this event since 2015, when he finished when the host course was Isleworth in Florida. “Coming to this tournament’s a no-brainer for us,� said Bradley, who won the BMW Championship during the FedExCup Playoffs. “It’s a real testament to how you’ve played not only this year, but over the past two years because of how the world ranking points work. It’s a big deal to play in this tournament. It’s a great way to close out the year, a great place to come.� Bradley didn’t even mind the additional travel, even though it’s already been a busy fall of travel. He made the trip to Malaysia to play the CIMB Classic, flew back to the U.S. for a week, then flew back to Asia for the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in China. Asked why he didn’t just go ahead and play THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES in Korea while he was already in Asia, Bradley just shrugged. “Now looking back on it, it might have been a mistake,� he said. WINNERS IN THE FIELD: Of the 18 players in Albany this week, two already have posted wins on the PGA TOUR – Xander Schauffele (at WGC-HSBC Champions) and Bryson DeChambeau (Shriners Hospitals for Children Open). Both players are ranked inside the top 10 in the FedExCup standings.

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