Meechai leads Women’s Open; Korda misses cut

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• COURSE: Firestone Country Club (South), 7,400 yards, par 70. From beginnings as a generous perk from Harvey Firestone to employees of his tire company, the club wound up making its own name as a major host even before joining the World Golf Championships lineup. The South course opened in 1929, with Robert Trent Jones overseeing upgrades for the 1960 PGA Championship captured by Jay Hebert. The PGA of America brought its showcase event back again in 1966 and ’75, by which time Firestone had become home of the World Series of Golf. That event moved under the WGC banner in 1999. • FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 550 points. • CHARITY: The First Tee is the primary beneficiary of World Golf Championships events. In addition, Northern Ohio Golf Charities has designated Akron Children’s Hospital and University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital as the tournament’s signature recipients. In all, the event has donated more than $46 million to Northeast Ohio causes. • FIELD WATCH: Newly crowned Open Championship winner Jordan Spieth joins defending champion and FedExCup No. 2 Dustin Johnson atop a current roster of 78 qualifiers. The field features 33 of the top 35 in the FedExCup standings. … Berths remain available for the RBC Canadian Open winner, plus anyone who enters the top 50 in Monday’s world rankings. … Recent winners Bryson DeChambeau (John Deere Classic) and Xander Schauffele (Greenbrier Classic) are among eight men making their World Golf Championships debut. … Rod Pampling, winner in Las Vegas last November, is playing his first WGC since the 2009 WGC HSBC Champions in China. … Lee Westwood is set for his 58th WGC start, still in pursuit of his first WGC victory. • 72-HOLE RECORD: 259, Tiger Woods (2000). • 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, José María Olazábal (1st round, 1990), Tiger Woods (2nd round, 2000 and 2nd round, 2013), Sergio Garcia (2nd round, 2014). • LAST YEAR: Johnson followed up his breakthrough U.S. Open triumph with another victory on the big stage, using a 66-66 weekend to overtake Jason Day for his third WGC crown. Coming off a post-Open trip to the Bahamas, Johnson showed some early rust before finding his groove again on the weekend. He trailed Day by three with six holes left, but birdies at Nos. 13 and 14 trimmed the gap before a double bogey by Day, who found water at Firestone’s 655-yard 16th hole. Another Johnson birdie at No.17 sealed the win, holding off Scott Piercy’s late charge. Piercy (70) finished one shot back, the second time in three weeks he’d come in as runner-up to Johnson. Day’s 72 left him three behind, sharing third with Spieth, Matt Kuchar and Kevin Chappell. • STORYLINES: Johnson, already a winner at Mexico and Dell Technologies Match Play, has a chance to become the first man to capture three WGC crowns in the same year. Though Tiger Woods owns 18 WGC titles, he never won more than two in a season. … Johnson hasn’t won since the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play, before hurting his back in a slip-and-fall mishap in Augusta. He said last week he’s still feeling effects from the injury. … Spieth, whose triumph at Royal Birkdale moved him to the top of the FedExCup chart and No.2 in the world rankings, returns to action in quest of a third straight victory. He won the Travelers Championship before heading across the Atlantic. … Rory McIlroy, the 2014 champion, hopes to build on an uptick in form at Royal Birkdale that propelled him to a share of fourth. He had missed three of his previous four cuts. • SHORT CHIPS: Shane Lowry, who triumphed in 2015, and Hunter Mahan (2010) are the only Firestone champions in the past 22 years who don’t also have a major title to their names. That includes the last five editions of the old World Series of Golf. … Argentina’s Andres Romero is the only man who comes to Firestone outside the top 125 in the FedExCup standings, though he’s focused more attention on Europe this year and has made just eight PGA TOUR starts. He’s in via his victory at Europe’s BMW International Open. • TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 1:30-6:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, noon-1:30 p.m. (GC); 2-6 p.m. (CBS). • PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. (featured groups), 2-6:30 p.m. (featured holes). Saturday-Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured holes). • RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Is Brooks Koepka back? It appears that way. He fought his way into contention at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational thanks to six birdies in his final 10 holes Saturday. When he walked off the golf course, he said his ball-striking is the best it’s been since his win in last year’s PGA Championship. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Mickelson: ‘I’m starting to play well again’ Koepka, who shot 68 on Saturday, will enter the final round three shots behind leader Brendon Todd. Koepka leads the field in both Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green, Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and greens in regulation. He’s had just one top-10 this season, and is coming off a missed cut at last week’s 3M Open. That may have been a blessing in disguise, though, because it gave him extra time to work with one of his coaches, Pete Cowen. It was the first time Koepka and Cowen, an Englishman, had seen each other since THE PLAYERS in March. “The changes we made are only five, six days old now, so every day is getting more and more comfortable,” said Koepka, who’s seeking his first win since TPC Southwind last year. Koepka also started working with putting coach Phil Kenyon this week and came out of the gates with a stellar putting performance in his first-round 62. Several short misses marred his 71 on Friday, but his putting was better Saturday. Koepka said alignment was the culprit. He’s 52nd in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. Koepka was 2 over early in the third round after making double-bogey on the second hole for the second consecutive day. He added another bogey at 6, but started to heat up during the mid-point of the round. He made four consecutive birdies on putts of less than 10 feet. It started with a 6-foot birdie putt at No. 9. He knocked his approach to 7 inches on 10, rolled in an 8-footer on 11 and sank a 9-footer on 12. He holed a 22-footer from the fringe on 14 (which doesn’t count toward Strokes Gained: Putting) and birdied the par-5 16th before making bogey on the next hole. “I knew it was kind of coming around,” Koepka said. “It was kind of a matter of time and that’s why I’ve been playing every week. I think sometimes you’ve got to play your way into it and I’ve done that. I feel very comfortable with what I’m doing, changes we made. It feels honestly like it did last year around this time.”

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