Michael Thompson wins 3M for first PGA Tour victory since 2013

MEXICO CITY — The PGA TOUR released today the four featured groupings for Thursday-Friday at this week’s World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship at Club de Golf Chapultepec. Starting times and day (Thursday/Friday) for the featured groupings will be announced when the official groupings and starting times for the entire field are released on Tuesday. To watch the featured groupings on Thursday-Friday, fans in the United States can tune into the Golf Channel telecast (2-7 p.m. EST) and stream PGA TOUR LIVE via subscription on NBC Sports Gold and Amazon Prime Video Channels. Here’s a look at the Featured Groups on Thursday and Friday (current FedExCup ranking in parentheses): Tiger Woods (139) — Woods, scheduled to play in his first-ever competitive event in Mexico, has won a record 18 World Golf Championships in nine different locations worldwide. Bryson DeChambeau (10) — DeChambeau has won four of his last 10 worldwide starts including two FedExCup Playoffs events. Abraham Ancer (42) — As Mexico’s top-ranked player, Ancer will compete at the Mexico Championship for the second consecutive year. The Presidents Cup hopeful captured the Emirates Australian Open last December and is currently No. 6 in the International Team standings. Rory McIlroy (36) — McIlroy, who has two World Golf Championships, comes into the week with top-fives in all three starts of 2019, most recently a T4 at the Genesis Open. Bubba Watson (71) — Watson, owner of two World Golf Championships titles, finished in the top 10 last year in Mexico City. He will defend the title at the third WGC of the season, the Dell Technologies Match Play in March. Brooks Koepka (14) — The reigning PGA TOUR Player of the Year, Koepka is in search of his first World Golf Championships crown and second PGA TOUR win of the season (THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES). Rickie Fowler (11) — Fowler makes his first start since winning his fifth PGA TOUR title at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Jon Rahm (26) — Rahm has top-10s in all five PGA TOUR starts in the calendar year, including a T9 at the Genesis Open. Patrick Reed (51) — Reed became the youngest winner of a WGC event when he won this tournament in 2014 when it was staged in Miami. Phil Mickelson (7) — Playing in his 600th official PGA TOUR event this week in defense of his WGC-Mexico Championship title, Mickelson won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am two weeks ago for his 44th career TOUR title. Justin Thomas (6) — Thomas, who finished second in a playoff to Mickelson at the Mexico Championship last year, has two third-place finishes and a runner-up in his last three TOUR starts. The nine-time TOUR winner holds the course record at Club de Golf Chapultepec (62). Dustin Johnson (57) — Winner of all four World Golf Championships, including two WGC-Mexico titles (2017, 2015), Johnson has won at least one TOUR event in 11 consecutive seasons.

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NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Xander Schauffele began his second round by missing a 4-foot birdie putt. That was hardly a sign of what was to follow Friday in THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK. RELATED: Full leaderboard | What the pros are playing at Shadow Creek Schauffele made putts as short as 3 feet and as long as 35 feet. He chipped in from 20 feet. He seemingly couldn’t miss during a two-hour stretch when he made seven birdies over eight holes, including six in a row, for a career-best 29 on the back nine. His momentum slowed with the pace of play, and he settled an 8-under 64 for a three-shot lead over Tyrrell Hatton. "Some of those holes, you’re not really trying to birdie them, you’re just trying to leave yourself an uphill 35-footer. And fortunately, I made a couple of them," Schauffele said. “It was a nice stretch. Got a little bit stale there on the other side. Pace of play slowed down a lot, kind of hot, easy to let the mind wander. "Upset I didn’t make more birdies, but pleased I didn’t make any bogeys." He was at 14-under 130 and now has the course record at Shadow Creek, which is hosting THE CJ CUP for this year only because the COVID-19 pandemic made travel to South Korea impractical. Hatton, among six players who were in England last week for the European Tour’s flagship event, was headed for a rocky finish when he laid up into the rough on the par-5 16th that led to a second straight bogey. He rallied to close with a pair of birdies for a 68. Russell Henley (68) was another shot back at 10-under 134. Defending champion Justin Thomas found some momentum with six birdies, despite missing two easy chances on par 5s, for a 66 and was eight shots behind at the halfway point. "I guess I played my way somewhat back into it," he said before turning to look at the scores on a nearby monitor. "But Xander kind of went off today, so that makes it a little harder." Thomas kept glancing at video boards trying to figure out what Schauffele was doing, besides making a lot of birdies. "This is a place you can do it," Thomas said. "You can go crazy low out here. You’ve got a lot of bowl pins, a lot of pins you can get close to. If you don’t have control of your ball, as firm as the greens are, you can make a lot of bogeys, too." It wasn’t just Schauffele making birdies. He played alongside Collin Morikawa, who shot a 65, and Viktor Hovland, who had a 66. They were a combined 21-under par, with a better-ball score of 59. Schauffele was doing most of the damage. After his tee shot to 3 feet on the 211-yard 13th hole, he rolled in a 25-foot putt on the next hole, a birdie putt from just over 35 feet on the 15th, two-putted from a sidehill lie on the fringe at the par-5 16th and looked to be in trouble on the par-3 17th when his tee shot landed beyond the green near the creek. The hop was gentle, leaving him in thick grass, and he chipped in. Then on the par-5 18th, he had to lay up from a fairway bunker, hit wedge to 15 feet below the hole and made that. That’s when he hit the brakes, and so did the tournament. The course has enough reachable par 5s (and one par 4) to lead to congestion. And with so few volunteers, there is a lot of searching for balls, along with provisional tee shots. Hovland had one just short of the par-3 fifth hole as he looked through thick grass framing the bunkers. Brooks Koepka had his entire group searching left of the seventh fairway (he also hit a provisional) until it was found. He took a penalty drop into the rough, advanced it down the fairway and made a 12-footer for par. Koepka, who was 6 under through 13 holes, had to settle for a 68. He was 10 shots behind. Jon Rahm made a 5-foot eagle putt on his fourth hole. He made four bogeys and no birdies over his next 10 holes, birdied the last for a 73 and was 10 shots behind. Rory McIlroy had a mixed bag of seven birdies and four bogeys for a 69, leaving him 12 behind and looking for momentum to carry into next week at Sherwood Country Club.

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Two years ago, Patrick Cantlay was just starting his comeback from a career-threatening back injury. The PGA TOUR’s first team event in decades was fast approaching. “I wasn’t sure if anybody would really want to play with me. I hadn’t played very many tournaments in three years,â€� said Cantlay, who played just six TOUR events from 2014-16. He decided to phone a friend from his amateur days. Cantlay was a high-schooler when he played a practice round with Patrick Reed at one of the country’s top amateur events, the Western Amateur. Now Cantlay wanted to team with him at TPC Louisiana. Related: Why Tiger chose Tiger … and 15 other things Reed accepted, and the partnership has lasted through all three team editions of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Cantlay and Reed are even the rare team that coordinates outfits. The partnership could make its way to Australia next month. With Jordan Spieth not on this year’s roster and all 11 players clamoring to team with Tiger Woods, it could make sense for the Patricks to pair at the Presidents Cup. Cantlay and Reed, two iconoclasts who are known to keep to themselves, are kindred spirits. Reed stays firmly ensconced in the tight circle known as Team Reed, while the quiet Cantlay is an old soul who can speak more easily about classic rock than college football. “We’ve always enjoyed each other’s company and enjoyed each other’s competitiveness,â€� Reed said. “We are both pretty intense and like team competitions.â€� They finished T14 in the 2017 Zurich and improved to T7 the following year. They missed the cut this year. TPC Louisiana is a much different test than Royal Melbourne, though. The Alister Mackenzie design in Australia promises to play firm and fast. That plays into the hands of Reed and Cantlay. Cantlay, winner of this year’s Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, has long expressed his preference for classic venues, especially those with fast, sloping greens that require players to calculate the perfect combination of speed and line. “I feel like the golf courses, as far as I’m concerned, the rough can’t be long enough, the fairways can’t be narrow enough, the greens can’t be fast enough. I love golf like that,â€� Cantlay said after his win at Muirfield Village. Reed, of course, already has one win at a Mackenzie masterpiece. Their games ostensibly fit well together, with Cantlay known for his strong ball-striking and Reed’s short game being his strong suit. Cantlay said the stats didn’t influence his decision to pair with Reed, though. “You just want to play with the best player that you can,â€� he said. “If you’re good and they’re good, you’ve got a better chance to win than most everybody else.â€� Cantlay finished second to Rory McIlroy in Strokes Gained: Total in 2019. He will be representing the United States for the first time since the 2011 Walker Cup. Reed is the only player to play in every TOUR Championship and qualify for every U.S. team since 2014. This was the first time Captain America needed a captain’s pick, though. In the wake of his 2018 Masters victory, Reed struggled with the changes that come with a maiden major victory. A family vacation to the Hamptons after this year’s PGA Championship helped him regain his form. He’s finished in the top 25 in 13 of his past 14 worldwide starts. His win at THE NORTHERN TRUST was his first since his victory at Augusta National. Reed’s last appearance on a U.S. team, at the 2018 Ryder Cup, ended in controversy, however. He said he was “blindsidedâ€� by not being paired with Spieth. Reed went 1-2 in Paris, losing both his team matches with Woods. Reed said in the same interview that Woods, who won the previous week’s TOUR Championship, apologized for his performance. Reed used to emulate Woods by wearing red-and-black, and they forged a strong bond when Reed was an assistant captain at the 2016 Ryder Cup and 2017 Presidents Cup. Reed insists that last year’s controversy has “been put to bed,â€� however. “I could see myself playing with any one of the guys,â€� he said recently. Cantlay could be a good start.

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