Live leaderboard: Quicken Loans National

NOTE: For the first three events of the FedExCup Playoffs, Rob will focus only on golfers outside the bubble to advance. In this first edition, all five included below open the Playoffs outside the top 100 in points. Jimmy Walker … The effect of Lyme Disease on his performance is evident, but at 101st in the FedExCup points, he has the shortest road to advance. The last two times he’s fallen outside the top 100, he climbed back in thanks to a T18 at The Greenbrier Classic and a T28 at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. His physical challenge hasn’t negatively influenced his trademark putting, either. If anything, he’s found strength and confidence in it. His overall putting average of 1.502 strokes per hole played is a five-year low among all golfers on the PGA TOUR. Steve Stricker … When you turn 50, your Official World Golf Ranking is supposed to plummet, not rise as his has. Currently 77th in the OWGR and 110th in FedExCup points on the strength of two top 10s and a trio of top 20s. Also 18th on the PGA TOUR Champions money list in just six starts, but it’s his vintage work on the junior circuit that’s kept him floating for a sprint in the Playoffs. He’s second in fairways hit, T33 in proximity, 10th in strokes gained: putting and 23rd in adjusted scoring. A titillating sidebar to his prospects is that the Presidents Cup captain just might play alongside eventual charges who are eager to impress. David Lingmerth … Given his spot at 103rd in points and that a top-40 finish in the first tournament of the Playoffs historically has been enough to lock up a tee time at TPC Boston the following week, the Swede is as smart a projection as it gets among the 24 outside the top 100 and present at Glen Oaks. In his last 10 PGA TOUR starts, he rung up seven top 30s and didn’t miss cut. If that seems like the bar has been lowered to view him as a threat, consider that he recorded only one top 30 and missed the cut in half of his first 10 TOUR starts this season. Slots 11th in strokes gained: putting. Rory Sabbatini … As one of the four who snuck inside the top 125 of the FedExCup standings at the Wyndham Championship, it’s all gravy now for the 41-year-old. It’s the payoff of the battle back via the Web.com Tour graduate reshuffle category, a necessity secured in advance when he failed to meet the terms of a Minor Medical Extension to start 2016-17. At 122nd in the FedExCup standings at THE NORTHERN TRUST, he could use a T4 like he posted at the Wyndham Championship (but a top 25 should do). He’s well aware of how his uptick in putting is behind the sudden surge of five top 25s in his last six starts. Case in point, he enters having recorded positive strokes gained: putting totals in four consecutive measured tournaments for the first time in over two years. Richy Werenski … Talk about comin’ in hot! The 25-year-old rookie was 160th in the FedExCup standings after an 0-for-5 rut through The Greenbrier Classic. All he’s done since is go 5-for-5 with 16 red numbers in as many stroke-play rounds to complement a playoff loss at the Barracuda Championship. Now 108th in points, just like with Sabbatini, Werenski’s timely turnaround is directly attributable to markedly stronger putting. During this stretch, he’s jumped 59 spots to 119th in strokes gained: putting by shedding 1.66 strokes per start on average.

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KAPALUA, Hawaii — Gary Woodland made a 65-foot eagle putt and finished with a birdie for a 5-under 68 to keep his three-shot lead in the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Saturday. Rory McIlroy briefly caught him for the lead until the birdies stopped falling. He shot 68 and starts the new year playing in the final group. They were tied late in the third round when McIlroy missed a good birdie chance on two par 5s at No. 15 and No. 18. In the group behind him, Woodland reached the front of the 15th green and watched his putt up the slope and into the grain drop for eagle, with the pin still in the hole. He holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the toughest pin position at the 18th — front and right — to end the day where he started. Woodland was at 17-under 202, and would love nothing better than to secure another trip to Kapalua in the first tournament of the year. Marc Leishman, who made a double bogey in the opening round and a triple bogey on Friday, limited the damage to only one bogey. He had a 68 and was well in range, four shots behind. Xander Schauffele (68) and Bryson DeChambeau (70) were five back. The only downer for Woodland was learning that his grandmother in Kansas had died Friday night. This is a family vacation for most of the Woodland crew — for Christmas, he flew out 11 relatives. “She’s been downhill for a little while now,” Woodland said. “It’s been tough. And you try to prepare for that, but you never really can. Definitely will have a little extra emotion with me, but we’ll get through it.” It was a tough day of work on the course, as the trade wind returned stronger than expected. McIlroy managed to get through it without a bogey. He had a close call on the 16th, when he tried to atone for the missed birdie on the previous hole by going at the flag and landing just over the green. He faced one of the fastest chips on the course, down the slope toward the Pacific horizon, and left it 12 short. He made his par to at least stay in range. McIlroy spoke earlier in the week about playing in the last group six times last year. One of those was the Masters, when he started two shots behind Patrick Reed and never challenged. Another was the TOUR Championship, where he was three behind Tiger Woods and didn’t give him much of a fight. “I probably pushed a little too hard, and it didn’t really work out for me,” McIlroy said. “I just have to go about my business. I didn’t make a bogey today, so I’ll make that a goal tomorrow.” It still will depend on Woodland, a three-time winner on the PGA TOUR who wants more victories to show for his improved all-around game. His only mistake on Saturday was coming up just short of the green on No. 12 and missing a 5-foot par putt. Woodland was part of a crowded leaderboard Friday when he pulled away with five straight birdies. This time, all he needed was one big putt. He laughed when it dropped, though he says it had nothing to do with surprise. “I just saw somebody’s face in the background. They weren’t too happy that the ball went in, so it made me laugh,” he said. “I enjoyed that.” The last two winners at Kapalua, Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, needed something special Sunday. Thomas shot a 70 and was seven behind, while Johnson had 69 and was eight back.

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