Live leaderboard: Track Cup matches

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Since finishing T-9 in his Open Championship title defense last July in Carnoustie, Jordan Spieth has played in nine PGA TOUR events. He’s failed to crack the top 10 in any of those starts. It’s the longest non-top-10 stretch of his stellar TOUR career. Of course, Spieth isn’t about top-10 finishes. He’s interested only in winning. From that standpoint, he’s made 34 worldwide starts without a win since his breathtaking Open victory at Royal Birkdale in 2017. But as he prepares for this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, site of one of his 11 career TOUR victories, Spieth is encouraged by the state of his game. The top-10s may be elusive, but the confidence is not. “I’m in a good place right now,� said Spieth, who once again will partner with country musician Jake Owen in the pro-am portion of the event. That twosome will play with Dustin Johnson/Wayne Gretzky for the first three rounds this week, starting at Monterey Peninsula on Thursday. “I feel like my game’s trending the right direction,� Spieth added. “Sometimes that means results are coming soon. Sometimes it means they’re coming later. But they’re coming.� And Spieth is willing to remain patient – something he didn’t always do last season as he desperately tried to avoid his first winless year as a pro. “I’m not going to chase them as hard as I tried to, maybe force or chase them last year because you can get hurt doing that,� Spieth said. “You can get into some bad patterns.� Asked if he’s hearing a lot of negative static based off of last season’s results, Spieth said no. He does, however, hear people talking about comparisons to other years – especially the 2014-15 season when he won five times, including his first two majors, and took home the FedExCup. “I’m used to that now four or five years in,� Spieth said. “But at the same time, at this point it’s how do I improve to get myself into contention this week, and then what do I do next week, and just staying very present and recognizing the longevity of a career and that your career’s not defined by a couple bad years. “I could have really poor years the rest of my career and still have a pretty fantastic career. So if I just think about it that way, it kind of certainly makes me a little happier, frees me up a bit.�

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Sources told ESPN that Tiger Woods has crush injuries of both lower legs, including a compound fracture and a shattered ankle. He was undergoing surgery at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Things were looking good after Russell Henley shot what appeared to be a 2-under 69 in the second round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic. At 7 under overall, he was on the first page of the leaderboard. And then he wasn’t. While sorting through his bag in search of golf balls to sign and give away after signing his card, Henley realized he had inadvertently used a different type of Titleist Pro V1x during the round, violating the PGA TOUR’s One Ball Rule. Related: Leaderboard | Tringale, Seiffert make back-to-back aces “It was a small dash, a different way it was marked that would have been easy to overlook,â€� said TOUR Rules Official Brad Fabel. “He came to us and said he didn’t know how it had gotten in his bag.â€� The eight Rules of Golf officials on site conferred for about an hour and a half and even brought in the USGA to weigh in on the matter. “We researched it pretty thoroughly,â€� Fabel said. There was no question, Henley said, that he’d used the ball. He gives balls he’s put into play to his caddie to mark accordingly, and the Pro V1x in question was marked as such. That left two questions: Where had this single, differently marked ball come from (just to satisfy his curiosity) and for how many holes had he used it, i.e. how many penalty strokes would he take? Where it came from would have to wait, but ultimately, Henley decided he’d used it on holes 9, 10, 11 and 12, costing himself two shots per hole. He had made par on all four holes, but now four straight double bogeys would turn his 69 into a 77, leaving him outside the cut line. The mix-up ends Henley’s made cuts streak at eight, including the last four starts of last season and the first four of this season. He took the news well. “He was great,â€� Fabel said. “I’ve got a ton of respect for that gentleman.â€� Here is the USGA’s explanation: “When changing balls, the player is permitted to substitute a ball of another brand or type unless the Committee has adopted the One Ball Condition of Competition (see Appendix I; Part C; Section 1c). This optional condition (usually referred to as ‘The One Ball Rule’) is generally adopted only in events that are limited to professional golfers or highly-skilled amateur golfers. Generally, this condition of competition is not adopted in club-level competitions.”

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