Leaderboard: Streb leads RSM Classic

ATLANTA – A hilly layout with fairways lined by long, Bermudagrass rough. It’s enough to remind Justin Thomas of the site of his greatest triumph, and East Lake could be the place where he puts the perfect ending on an impressive season. Thomas is tied for the lead halfway through the TOUR Championship, sitting at 7 under par to share the top spot with Paul Casey and Webb Simpson. A win would clinch the FedExCup for Thomas, who has already won five times this season. “It’s so rare that we play Bermuda rough this long and this thick,â€� Thomas said after Friday’s 66, which was capped with an eagle at the par-5 18th. “The only place I have was Quail (Hollow). So, in terms of the premium of hitting the fairway and how important it is, it’s definitely somewhere in that aspect.â€� He has excelled off the tee this week by eschewing his usual power game for more control off the tee. Instead of trying to bomb it over fairway bunkers, Thomas is teeing the ball lower to hit those head-high, fairway-finding “stingerâ€� tee shots. After struggling with his driving at the BMW Championship, where he finished 47th, Thomas has hit 20 of 28 fairways at East Lake Golf Club, second-best in the field. “If you’re in the fairway you can attack the golf course,â€� said Dustin Johnson. A win at East Lake would put a bow on Thomas’ dream season, allowing him to leave Sunday on the high of a FedExCup crescendo. His five wins this season includ the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow and the second event of the FedExCup Playoffs, the Dell Technologies Championship. This season’s accomplishments also include a 59 in his Sony Open in Hawaii victory and a record-setting 63 at the U.S. Open, where he finished ninth. Despite this lengthy list of accomplishments, he arrived at East Lake at No. 2 in the FedExCup standings, surpassed by Jordan Spieth’s consistent postseason play (he’s posted two runners-up and a T7 in three Playoffs events). Any player in the top 5 of the FedExCup standings can clinch the Cup with a win at East Lake, regardless of how his closest competitors fare. A FedExCup-clinching win by Thomas would mirror Spieth’s victory here two years ago. Spieth was the best player during the regular season, winning four times and the season’s first two majors, but Jason Day passed him in the FedExCup standings by the time they’d arrived at East Lake. Wanting to put a cherry atop a historic season, Spieth rode a hot putter at East Lake to victory over Henrik Stenson, earning both the TOUR Championship and the FedExCup. Three of the past four FedExCup champions were No. 2 in the standings when they arrived at the TOUR Championship. Thomas, of course, finds himself in the same position. He won his second start this season, then added back-to-back wins in Hawaii. Some inconsistent midseason play preceded his PGA Championship win, and he added victory No. 5 at TPC Boston. “I want to win any week but it definitely would be a nice cap,â€� Thomas said. Not only would a win give him the FedExCup, but it would be his sixth of the season. That’s the most since Tiger Woods won six times in 2009. Thomas is hitting the ball well enough at East Lake that he’s in the lead despite losing strokes to the field on the greens. He leads the 30-man field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee by missing just eight fairways while averaging 306.5 yards on all tee shots. He’s also fourth in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green, having hit 27 of 36 greens. Thomas, who’s had 58 putts through two rounds, is 19th in Strokes Gained: Putting this week. Friday’s 66 was the second-lowest round of the day – bested only by Patrick Reed’s 65 – but Thomas felt it could have been lower, as he failed to convert on several opportunities where he had wedge in his hand from the fairway. “I had a couple wedges I didn’t hit as close as I felt like I should have, and just really hit some good putts that I don’t know how they didn’t go in,â€� said Thomas, who had 30 putts Friday. He’ll have his work cut out for him, though, as the top 10 players on the leaderboard are separated by just two shots. John Rahm, No. 5 in the FedExCup, is one shot back, along with Reed and Justin Rose. Some say the TOUR Championship is an easy tournament to win because of its small field, but it’s also made up solely of players who’ve proven to be the best over the entire season. Winning will not be easy, but he can take comfort from the simplicity of the task that awaits him this weekend. Winning takes care of everything. “It’s nice to have everything in my own hands and know that if I just take care of what I need to do, then it’s over with,â€� he said. He can provide the perfect ending to the season with a win at East Lake, but that’s easier said than done.

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PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Sam Burns is a winner again in the Valspar Championship, this time with a lot more stress and plenty of more emotion. RELATED: Leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Sam Burns, Valspar Championship Burns holed a birdie putt from just over 30 feet on the 16th hole to beat Davis Riley on the second playoff hole, giving him three PGA TOUR victories in his last 22 starts. Burns, who closed with a 2-under 69, is the second straight back-to-back winner at Innisbrook following Paul Casey’s consecutive wins in 2018 and 2019. The tournament was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic. The victory moves Burns to No. 2 in the FexExCup and No. 10 in the world for the first time, knocking Dustin Johnson out of the top 10 for the first time in seven years. “Man, it’s crazy,” Burns said. “Davis played well today, especially the way he finished. I tried to stay steady. I didn’t make a lot of mistakes. A lot of time on Sunday if you plot your way around, make a bunch of pars, throw in a few birdies, a lot of times it works well. So happy.” Burns won last year by three shots. Riley, a rookie contending for the first time on the PGA TOUR, overcame a triple bogey on the par-5 fifth hole with a clutch 5-iron for birdie on the par-3 17th. He had a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th for the win and left it out to the right, closing with a 72. Both made pars on the 18th in the playoff, with Riley saving par from a front bunker. Neither looked to be in great birdie position on the 16th until Burns’ putt caught the left edge and went 180 degrees around the cup before falling in the back side. Riley hit a strong pitch needing to hole it to extend the playoff and missed long. Justin Thomas (70) and Matthew NeSmith (71) each finished one shot out of the playoff, and each had a share of the lead at some point during a tense final round in warm, windy conditions on the Copperhead course. Thomas was one shot out of the lead when he laid up 54 yards short on the par-5 11th. It settled in a tiny hole that kept him from clean contact, and his wedge went just long into light rough. His chip ran 12 feet by the hole and he took bogey at the easiest hole on the course. One hole later, Burns made a 15-foot birdie putt and Thomas suddenly was four shots behind. He had two straight birdies to stay in the game and had a chance when Burns took bogey from the bunker on the 17th. But then Thomas hit his tee shot into the slope of a bunker right of the 18th and couldn’t reach the green. It was his fourth top 10 in six starts this year for Thomas. “I didn’t really do anything at all today and I very easily could have won the tournament,” Thomas said. “I mean, good drive on 18, and I have a wedge in there and could be in this playoff just as easily. But a lot to build on a, lot of positives, and we got a big stretch coming up, so I’m excited for it.” NeSmith fell back with consecutive bogeys late on the front nine. One shot behind heading to the 10th tee, he didn’t make birdie until his 12-foot putt on the 17th. He had a 35-foot putt from the fringe to join the playoff, and it just slid by the hole. Those were the only four who had a serious chance at winning. Riley had never been in contention on the back nine on the PGA TOUR and looked like he might not get there at Innisbrook. Even though he started with a two-shot lead and opened with four solid pars, the par-5 fifth turned into a nightmare. From well left of the fairway, he went left down the adjacent sixth fairway, only to chunk his third shot from 106 yards into the base of a tree. He took a penalty drop, hit long into the rough, chipped long again into the rough and made triple bogey. But he steadied himself with a 50-foot birdie putt from the fringe on No. 8 and a nervy 7-foot par putt on the ninth and the race was on.

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FORT WORTH, Texas – Phil Mickelson stared down at his ball for several seconds. He switched clubs. A difficult shot from the deep bunker guarding Colonial’s 18th green would decide if his victory lap at the Charles Schwab Challenge would last two more days. The shot landed gently but rolled 10 feet below the hole. Mickelson needed to make that par putt to make the cut. His ball started left of his intended target and broke just below the hole, coming close enough that Mickelson jerked his knees straight and swung his putter between his legs as the ball burnt the edge. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Could Tiger and Phil both be at the Ryder Cup? A miss of mere millimeters sent Mickelson home early from the Charles Schwab Challenge, a tournament he has won two times. “I love this tournament and am sad I won’t be here for two more days,” Mickelson said. He shot 69 on Friday, four shots better than his score in a windy opening round. After his emotional win at last week’s PGA Championship, Mickelson was paired at Colonial alongside local favorite Jordan Spieth and defending champion Daniel Berger. It was Mickelson who received the largest cheers on many holes, even though Spieth played well enough to hold the 36-hole lead. Next up for Mickelson is an extended preparation for the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Club in his hometown of San Diego. Mickelson isn’t playing the next two weeks so he can spend extra time preparing for the one major that stands between him and the career Grand Slam. Last week’s win in the PGA Championship was his sixth major title, but none of those wins have come at the U.S. Open. He has a record six runner-up finishes in the one major that has eluded him. The same short game that helped Mickelson win at Kiawah Island almost carried him across the cutline Friday. He hit just eight greens Friday but saved par several times to keep his weekend hopes alive. After making a bogey on his first hole, he made four birdies and no bogeys over his next 14 holes. That final birdie, at the par-4 15th, put him 3 under for the day and one inside the cut line. He failed to get up-and-down from greenside bunkers on both 16 and 18, however, and missed a 12-foot birdie putt on 17. Other players to miss the cut include Patrick Reed (68-74), Sungjae Im (71-71), Texas alum Scottie Scheffler (70-73), Lee Westwood (75-69), Cameron Champ (75-70) and Michael Visacki (77-72), the Monday qualifier who went viral at the Valspar Championship. He competed this week on a sponsor exemption.

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