Live leaderboard: Final round from Pebble Beach

ST. LOUIS – Some players like being under the proverbial radar. Jordan Spieth doesn’t mind it. But come Sunday afternoon, Spieth hopes to be the brightest blip on the screen. While Spieth knows the 2017-18 season on the PGA TOUR has not been his best, the 25-year-old has still been a factor in two of the three majors. Spieth was third at the Masters, almost producing the best Sunday comeback in Augusta National history. He held a share of the 54-hole lead at the recent Open Championship only to fade to a ninth-place finish. But at the end of the day, almost winning is not winning. With 10 PGA TOUR wins in the three seasons prior to this one, trophies are now expected from him. Winning this week would be an incredible way to break the recent slump that has seen him drop from world No. 2 at the start of 2018, to his current position of eighth. Because if he claims the Wanamaker Trophy, Spieth enters notable company as just the sixth man to achieve the career grand slam behind Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. “This tournament will always be circled until I’m able to hopefully win it someday … which will ultimately achieve a life-long goal for me,â€� Spieth said. “So certainly, emphasis in my head on it, but nothing overpowering, nothing that takes over once I start on the first tee, just more going into the week.â€� This is just Spieth’s second chance to complete the slam after last year’s whirlwind where he claimed the Claret Jug and turned up to Quail Hollow as hot property. He admits to being more anxious then because he was in form and going to a course he felt he could contend. But this year the focus is on the likes of four-time winner Woods, world No. 1 Dustin Johnson and defending FedExCup and PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas. “I like to come in in form,â€� Spieth said when asked if he’d prefer his current spot of under the radar or being the brightest spot on it. “I feel somewhat under the radar this year. I’ve kind of felt that way a lot this year, I don’t mind it. “But at the same time, after one round it changes. So ideally, going into Sunday you’re a bright spot.â€� Statistically the problem for Spieth has been putting. He ranks 165th in Strokes Gained: Putting after being inside the top 10 on TOUR in two of the last four seasons and inside the top 40 in all four seasons. But at Carnoustie he lamented “two bad swingsâ€� that took him out of the tournament when he bogeyed the fifth and doubled the sixth hole. 
 He’s seen the good and the bad with majors, winning three and of course letting a few slip. He points out Jack Nicklaus had multiple near misses to go with his 18 wins, which makes the losses easier to accept. “Each week, if I don’t have a chance to win on Sunday, I’m disappointed waking up. But I understand this year’s been kind of a building year for me, and I’ve been working back towards the level that I like to be at,â€� he said. “If I look back, I try and focus on four tournaments a year, I have a huge emphasis on them, and two of them I’ve had a chance to win on Sunday this year. So if I’m looking at it from that standpoint, it’s kind of mission accomplished with one to go.â€� “But obviously, getting in the winner’s circle when it’s been over a year is something that I obviously would like to do. “I don’t feel any added pressure from it, I won’t, but if it happens or doesn’t happen through the rest of this calendar year, I’m working in the right direction, I’m doing the right things, and again if you get yourself in position enough, the bounces will go your way.â€�

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The Golf Podcast: How Spieth held on to win The Open

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PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – For the second day in a row, Mackenzie Hughes ended his round with a little bonus. Hughes, who shot a 6-under-par 66 Saturday to move into the top-10 in Punta Cana, chipped in for birdie on the par-4 18th for his seventh birdie of the day. This came after he ended Friday’s round with a chip-in birdie on the par-3 9th. “I was walking up 18 thinking about what that round could have been,� admitted Hughes, who missed three birdie putts inside of 10 feet on the back nine. “I was kicking myself thinking, ‘man, if I had got a couple more I could have been right there.’ That, on 18, erased a couple of those.� The 66 matched Hughes low round of the season. His first round of 2018-19 at the Safeway Open was also a 66. Hughes finished T-13 last week at the Valspar Championship, which was his best result on TOUR since a T-8 at the 2018 RBC Canadian Open. This year’s Canadian Open is at Hamilton Golf and Country Club, where Hughes – who’s from nearby Dundas, Ontario – has played upwards of 50 times growing up. Although he’s looking forward to a home game that week, he said it was nice to reflect back on a solid result in Tampa as well, which came after missing four-straight cuts. “It’s not like if I miss four cuts in a row I was playing poorly. But you get a little down and the self-talk gets going the wrong way,� said Hughes, who won The RSM Classic in 2016. “Last week I flipped that self-talk around a little bit. Playing with those guys – like Bubba (Watson) on the weekend – seeing your game up against those guys … they’re not doing things much different than I am. It’s a putt here and there, and I felt like I was close. “Seeing that result definitely gave me a boost coming in here.� Hughes admitted he hasn’t yet got fully adjusted from last week’s tight Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort to this week’s wide-open Corales Golf Course. He said Sunday at the Valspar Championship putts that were downhill and down-grain would be rolling about 18 on the stimpmeter. He said this week there likely isn’t a putt over 10 on the stimpmeter. “The greens are good, it’s just a mater of getting yourself to hit it that hard. I’ve left putts inside of 15 short. It’s hard to do on a normal week,� said Hughes. “It’s been the biggest adjustment … a bit more aggression and committing to getting to roll the ball past the hole.� Away from the golf course Hughes has had to make an adjustment to his family’s new normal. The 28-year-old and his wife, Jenna, welcomed their first child (a boy, Kenton Robert) in 2017. He credits Jenna – his “rock-star wife,� he says – for allowing him to do what he needs to do to keep working on his game. After last year, he said he’s in a fun stage of life with Kenton, who is about 18 months old. “He’s talking and walking like a little man,� said Hughes, “it’s been really fun. It’s been a lot easier this year for sure. “It seems very normal, and I couldn’t imagine it any other way than it is now.� Although he admitted it was a steep learning curve last year, Hughes has turned a corner as he looks to build off of a good result last week, and some good play so far in Punta Cana.

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