LIV Golf team final in Dallas area in September

Here are nine tidbits from the second round of the World Golf Championship-Mexico Championship at the Club de Golf Chapultepec outside Mexico City that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Be looking for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. Pain or Gain These were the top-five picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: Without a cut this week, gamers can cross their fingers, rub their lucky rabbit feet and pray that the 72nd hole will matter for their selection. We haven’t seen a low one this week as the Poa annua greens are difficult to read and errant ball striking is causing bother. People’s Choice Tommy Fleetwood sits No. 1 on this list just as he does in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Game presented by SERVPRO. After two rounds, he’s 12 shots off the pace as both his iron game and short game continues to struggle. Normally he’d be an afterthought and a trunk slam but since there is no cut gamers can dream a bit. I’m subbing him out to hedge my bets, so I’m hoping this will trigger 63 or lower! Leader Raise your hand if you had Shubhankar Sharma leading after 36 holes. Now keep it up if you were lying! The 21-year-old playing in his first PGA TOUR event leads by two. His performance has been spectacular as the moment, field or course has not gotten to him, yet. He’s obviously feeling the pressure as he’s eagled No. 1 on both days by driving the green! He came home in 31 (-5) and is the only player in double-figures at 11-under through 36. Spanish Armada Most gamers would think Jon Rahm would be included in this section but his even-par round of 71 saw him drop 13 spots to T20. His countrymen Rafael Cabrera Bello and Sergio Garcia (#NappyFactor) are sitting two shots behind surprise leader Sharma. Garcia shared the low round of the day with Kyle Stanley, as they both posted bogey-free rounds of 65. Cabrera Bello, who signed for 67 after his bogey-free 66 to open, has finally gotten his putter to cooperate and leads the field in Strokes Gained: putting. X-Man If you’re not on board with Xander Schauffele, fine, my job is not to convince you. As a rookie he won twice, including becoming the first to win The TOUR Championship. With that on his resume, I doubt he’s too worried about those around him. The proof is he’s the only player bogey-free after 36 holes. He’s trending properly as well with T5 at WMPO after three rounds and hit the top 10 at Riviera in his last start. 3 up Stanley, as mentioned above, was on fire thanks to his short game (6-6 scrambling) and putter (2nd, strokes-gained). His bogey-free 65 moved him up 20 spots to T12 but those putting numbers are the exception, not the rule. Caution. … Charley Hoffman also was bogey-free with 66 as he moved up 11 spots to match Stanley at T12. Gamers who loaded up on the San Diegan on the West Coast Swing were left scratching their heads, as his best result was only T26 at WMPO. He’s squared just one bogey and one other this week. … Jordan Spieth is quietly going about his business and signed for a bogey-free 67 (T14). He committed to the Valspar Championship today as he looks to find form before heading to Augusta. The putter continues to be the issue, as he missed a couple of short ones that kept him from getting REALLY low. 3 down                               With only one player in double-digits under-par, I would have thought a round of 70 (-1) would have been a decent outing today. Wrongo. Just ask Rickie Fowler and Tony Finau, as they backed up opening 68s with 70s and each fell 12 spots to T20. Finau backers were licking their chops when he was eight-under and one shot out of the lead. A double and a bogey in his last four holes halted the momentum. Fowler’s short game abandoned him Friday, and I doubt that’s going to continue…. Chris Paisley raised just as many eyebrows yesterday as Sharma did when he fired 65 to trail by one. He started on No. 10 today and turned at seven-under, stalking the lead. He bogeyed the first five holes on the front and carded 40 for 75. He dropped 27 spots to T29. Time to Panic?!? After back-to-back 74’s, Matt Kuchar investors need to blindly hang on or move a stronger player into the lineup. I’m not his biggest fan on Poa annua. … Chez Reavie’s excellent recent run ran out of gas at Riviera (T78). The week off last week didn’t help, yet, as he’s opened 72-73 and is T49. … Patrick Cantlay posted 70 followed by a 75 in Round 2. I love the way he grinds so we’ll see how committed he is after hitting only five fairways and six greens Friday. Study Hall Tiger Woods announced earlier on Friday that he will be playing the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook next week followed by the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. He’s never played Innisbrook and is an eight-time champion at Bay Hill. … Hideki Matsuyama will not play at Valspar but will try and return at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. … Martin Kaymer updates his injury via Twitter.

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GREENSBORO, N.C. - There's no rest for the weary. Not when you're at the Wyndham Championship and it's the final week of the PGA TOUR's regular season with the FedExCup Playoffs looming large next week. RELATED: Leaderboard | Four-way tie for lead after Round 2 | Projected FedExCup standings Si Woo Kim is a prime example. The co-leader - Kim's tied for the top spot after matching 65s in the first two rounds - has played every single tournament since the TOUR's Return to Golf in June after a three-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means the Wyndham Championship, a tournament he won in 2016, is Kim's 10th straight event. Let that sink in a little bit. And even after that marathon stretch, Kim still arrived at Sedgefield Country Club this week in dire need of FedExCup points. He was ranked No. 121 and was hardly safe to make the Playoffs which start next week at THE NORTHERN TRUST at TPC Boston. The other three players tied for the lead with Kim are on similar runs but are safely in the Playoff bubble. Tom Hoge and Talor Gooch, who shot 65 and 68, respectively, will be seeking their first PGA TOUR titles this week while Billy Horschel, the 2014 FedEx champ who had a 64 Friday, is vying for his sixth. Horschel has only missed the Wyndham Championship once since 2011, and he's finished 11th or better three times in his last four starts here. With the compacted TOUR schedule, though, and the hopes of a long Playoff run, Horschel wasn't sure a trip to Sedgefield was in the cards this year. "I knew if I played here there would be a lot of tournaments in a two-and-a-half month window, but with my position in the FedExCup, I felt like it was vital for me to come here and try to accumulate more points," said Horschel, who ranks 50th. "So, after Sunday I flew home and spent two days there and I flew up here Wednesday morning. It was just nice. It was nice to not be here Monday, Tuesday and sort of grind it out. So, I know I’ve got several more weeks left to play golf and I’ll just do a good job of being smart with my practice. "Thankfully, the game’s in a good spot. I don’t have to really grind too hard, which helps a lot in that aspect." There are a total of 35 players within four strokes of the lead heading into a third round fraught with uncertainty with a weather forecast that calls for heavy rain and thunderstorms. And even without the potential downpour to soften things up, Sedgefield figured to be generous - already giving up four 62s this week and even relinquishing a 59 to Brandt Snedeker in 2018. One of those 62s was shot in the first round by the popular Harold Varner, who grew up in Gastonia, North Carolina, and graduated from East Carolina. He's not putting much stock in the meteorologists as he looks for his first PGA TOUR victory, though. "I've got to hit more fairways," said Varner, who only hit nine in shooting a 69 on Friday but still starts the weekend one stroke off the lead. "They said it was supposed to rain all day today, but it didn’t. I’m always glass is half full, so we’ll see what happens. "I don’t control that, so we’ll just do what I do best, play golf." Hoge, who opened the season with a career-best runner-up finish at The Greenbrier, and Gooch have played in nine of the 10 tournaments since the break, each taking the week before the PGA Championship off to recharge. Like Horschel, their FedExCup position is solid — Hoge ranked 38th at the start of the week and Gooch clocking in at No. 66. The goal is to be among the 30 who get to the finale at East Lake where anyone can win the $15 million FedExCup bonus, though, so every bump helps. For Gooch, Friday marked the first time he'd ever shot 65 or lower twice in a TOUR event - as well as the first time he'd made the cut in two Wyndham Championship starts. "It was solid," he said. "I got off to kind of a slow start yesterday on the front nine and kind of got it going on the back and just carried that momentum all the way through the round. Anytime you shoot 65, it doesn’t matter who, what, when, where, why, you’ve done some good." Paul Casey, who's three strokes behind after a 66 and riding momentum after a tie second at the PGA on Sunday, is making his fifth straight start. He can't remember ever doing that in his professional career and admits he's trying to conserve energy while looking to win his fourth TOUR event. That said, he'd also like nothing better than to add three more starts to the five he's already made and advance to Atlanta for the fifth straight year. He moved from No. 121 to 54th with his runner-up finish at TPC Harding Park. Tempering expectations will be key. "It would be real easy to stand on the first tee yesterday and expect, you know, brilliant golf like I played on Sunday or all week last week," Casey said. "Then if you don’t play it, then you’re putting yourself between a rock and a hard place. "Yeah, no question. Just expectations is always the best way to be, but it’s hard. I made a really good jump up the FedExCup last week and I want to keep that going. … I want to make it to East Lake because I feel like — well, if you want to win it, you’ve got to be there." First, though, there's a tournament to try and win in the Piedmont Triad of North Carolina.

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LA QUINTA, Calif. – A World Golf Hall of Famer, the Desert Classic’s most consistent contender and a 31-year-old rookie will meet in Sunday’s final group of the Desert Classic. Phil Mickelson said he was rusty at the start of the week. Three days later, he shot the second-lowest 54-hole score of his lengthy career, a 22-under 194 (60-68-66). He’s trying to become just the third wire-to-wire in the Desert Classic’s 60-year history. He has a two-shot lead over Adam Hadwin, who’s accustomed to late Sunday tee times on PGA West’s Stadium Course. Adam Long, who’s making his sixth PGA TOUR start, is 19 under par after shooting his second 63 of the week. Mickelson is seeking the 44th win of his Hall of Fame career. He has converted 25 of 39 54-hole leads into victory, but this is just the second time since 2013 that he has started Sunday with a lead. He held a two-shot lead entering the final round of the 2016 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but shot 72 and lost to Vaughn Taylor by one shot. “I just love being in contention, having a chance to win, being in the final group, feeling the nerves, feeling that excitement, the opportunity,� Mickelson said.. “It’s really fun.� Hadwin is 79 under par at this event since 2016. No one else has come close to matching him over those 15 rounds. Mickelson is 58 under. Only Bud Cauley, who missed the cut, stands between them (59 under). “I’ve had a chance these last few years now,� Hadwin said. “I’ve been close.� In the last three Desert Classics, he’s finished no worse than sixth. He’s shot seven consecutive rounds of 68 or lower here, going 40 under in that span. On Sunday, they’ll face the toughest course among the trio in use this week. Pete Dye built PGA West’s Stadium Course as a West Coast sequel to TPC Sawgrass. He was given orders to build the hardest golf course in the world. The course isn’t nearly as terrifying as when it opened in the 1980s, but there are still enough water hazards and deep bunkers to keep players on their toes. MUST READS: Round 3, Desert Classic The field has averaged 70.4 strokes on the Stadium Course this week, but there have been 64 scores of double-bogey or worse, as well. There aren’t any hazards in the short grass, though. Hadwin hit all 18 greens in his 65 on Thursday at the Stadium Course. Mickelson has made just one over-par score this week despite missing half his fairways over the last two rounds. He was bogey-free at the Stadium Course on Saturday while hitting just six fairways. Mickelson, who’s second in driving distance this week, said it’s just part of his plan. “I played OK. My goal or game plan of playing the Stadium Course is to actually hit drivers and to try to bomb it down there as close to the greens as you can,� he said. “It’s a course you don’t have to be perfect on. You have to hit a lot of good shots in certain spots, but if you miss it properly, you can still play this golf course. “I feel like I don’t have to be perfect. I can come out, play aggressive, which is how I like to play, try to crush drivers and get it down as close as I can to the greens and see if I can make some more birdies.� Long will round out the final threesome. He’s 205th in the FedExCup after missing three of four cuts this season (and finishing T63 in his other start, at the Safeway Open). “It will be fun,� he said. “It will be exciting. It will be a challenge. It will be tough.�

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