Live leaderboard: Round 3 of Valero Texas Open

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Two-time FedExCup winner Rory McIlroy got off to a blistering start on Thursday at the BMW Championship, firing an 8-under 64 after making a series of equipment changes. Following his disappointing T43 finish last week at THE NORTHERN TRUST at Liberty National, McIlroy revealed that he tossed his 3-wood over the fence and in the direction of the New Jersey Turnpike, leaving him with some decisions to make before this week’s second event of the Playoffs. A quick rummage around his garage did the trick. The Irishman told media this week that rifling through his old gear led him to some significant changes, including the revelation of a “new old 3-wood,” he said. “It’s actually a 3-wood I used last year,” McIlroy said. “I went home, I went down to Florida after NORTHERN TRUST on Monday night, went into the garage and rummaged through a few different things, got my old putter back out, got my old 3-wood, brought a few shafts out, tried different shafts in the driver, went to a new shaft in the driver, and it seemed to work out today.” As well as the 3-wood change, McIlroy put a Graphite Design Tour AD XC shaft in his TaylorMade SIM2 driver. He said the new setup reduces spin while still allowing him to draw the ball consistently. “I just had a driver I felt was spinning a little too much, so a couple of times last week into the wind, I’d hit it and it would balloon up in the air,” McIlroy said. “And then if I wanted to try and hit a cut off the tee, I was not comfortable doing it because I felt like I was losing too much distance by hitting the cut.” Another significant equipment change this week has been McIlroy’s return to the TaylorMade Spider putter. The four-time major champion had recently swapped the club out for a Scotty Cameron blade but has returned to the Spider as he believes his off-days with the blade are too punishing. “I said to (caddie) Harry (Diamond) after the first round last week, I’m thinking about going back to the Spider,” he said, “and then I proceeded to gain four strokes on the greens over the next two days with the blade. But I think the thing with the blade is the good days are really good, but the bad days are pretty bad, as well. There’s quite a lot of inconsistency in it for me. It’s almost like I need to practice with the blade at home because you have to get your stroke spot-on to hit good putts with that style of putter.” Mcilroy also revealed that he may decide to practice with the blade at home while keeping the Spider for tournament play, as this week’s return to the mallet style has felt so easy after the small break. “Felt like I couldn’t not start it on line,” he said. “It was sort of – there’s a lesson in there somewhere about maybe just keeping the blade at home and practicing with it and then coming out here and putting with something that’s got a little more technology in it.” McIlroy’s driver shaft change led him to hit all but one fairway in the first round of the BMW at Caves Valley Golf Club, while the return to the Spider helped him gain over three strokes on the greens.

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TRUCKEE, Calif. — Chez Reavie holed a long chip shot for eagle on the par-5 sixth hole and took a three-point lead Friday in the Barracuda Championship. Reavie had a 19-point round in the modified Stableford scoring system event at Tahoe Mountain Club, getting five points for the eagle and 14 for seven birdies. A point is deducted for bogey and three taken away for double bogey or worse. “It’s actually 2 1/2 birdies, so if you can make an eagle, you can kind of leapfrog guys on the leaderboard,” Reavie said. “I hit an OK tee shot kind of up the right side, so I had a little further in. Had to hit a 5-wood, so I kind of favored toward the right bunker side, and I just missed the bunker and had to chip across the green and was fortunate to knock it in.” Reavie played the back nine first in his morning round, making four birdies. He added birdies on Nos. 3 and 4, had the eagle on No. 6 and birdied No. 8 to take a 28-point total into the weekend in the event co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour. He’s the only bogey-free player after 36 holes. “I think really having control of the golf ball out here really helps you,” Reavie said. “You’ve got to be in the fairway. Once you get in the rough, with the greens being firm, you can’t really be aggressive with your irons, so you have to drive the ball in the fairway.” The 40-year-old from Mesa, Arizona, has two PGA TOUR victories, taking the 2008 RBC Canadian Open and the 2019 Travelers Championship. Mark Hubbard, tied for the first-round lead with Charley Hoffman with 13 points, was tied for second with Henrik Norlander at 25 points. Hubbard had a 12-point round, and Norlander a 14-pointer. The 33-year-old Hubbard is winless on the PGA TOUR. He was third last week in Kentucky in the Barbasol Championship, the first of two straight U.S. events co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour. “It was tough early, man, with the cold and the elevation,” Hubbard said. “It’s hard to know how far the ball is going, and it seemed like every pin on our front nine, the back nine, was front with water short, so you couldn’t really play with it. So it was just tough to get the ball close early. Once it heated up and started going another 10 percent, I started making some birdies.” Norlander had seven birdies in a bogey-free round. The 35-year-old Swede, also winless on the PGA TOUR, made a weekend cut for only the third time in his last 16 starts. He had missed five straight cuts. “I’m very pleased,” Norlander said. “It’s, first of all, nice to not make travel arrangements on Friday afternoon. I’ve been sort of used to that lately. Just a lot better attitude this week. ”There’s a lot of bad voices in there, I’m not going to lie. But I think the key for me is to like accept that and then move from there. When I get bad, I try to avoid those voices, but they’re there.” Kevin Tway had 21 points. He birdied the first five holes in a 15-point day. Maverick McNealy and Martin Trainer followed at 19. Hoffman had 15 after a two-point day.

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