Monday Finish: Recapping Sunday’s drama at Travelers

There should have been a Bethpage Black-style warning sign on the first tee Saturday morning on the daunting Champion course at PGA National: Sorry, lads, fun time is over. No more low, low rounds. No more birdies in bunches. Every par will be earned. Today, you're going to need to do your best to hold on. Good luck! Saturday was the day PGA National fought back, setting the stage for a Sunday in South Florida with great promise for some drama, likely some disaster, and hopefully, some 11th-hour heroics. In Saturday's third round, Matt Jones, a man who grew up playing in the harsh and heavy winds of Australia, was the only man among the day's final six groups who would get the better of the golf course. As those around him tumbled down the board, Jones played his final 12 holes in 2 under, shot 1-under 69, and will carry a three-shot lead into the final round. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Jones ties course record in Round 1 All in all, not bad considering that midway through his front nine, Jones trailed leader Aaron Wise - who jumped out to 14 under with birdies at two of his first four holes - by six shots. The other 11 players who played in the final six pairings Saturday combined to finish 39 over par. Only two players managed bogey-free rounds. One, C.T. Pan, shot 65 and moved from T42 to T4. It was that brutal. After a pair of opening 64s, Wise slipped to 75. He still was low man in the day's final twosome; Brandon Hagy, who started Honda week at home in Scottsdale as the tournament's eighth alternate, shot 76 one day after he blistered PGA National in 62 shots. Jones had shot 61, the week's record-tying low, on Thursday, but one could make a case his 69 on Saturday was nearly as good in its quality. The afternoon winds kicked up, affected not only full shots but putts, and danger seemed to lurk everywhere. Lots of players who got through 14 holes in decent shape were clubbed down by the Bear Trap, holes 15-17, which proved particularly fierce in the third round. No player birdied the par-4 16th hole, playing dead into the wind, and there was only one birdie on the par-3 17th. Jones stands at 10-under 200 through 54 holes, three shots better than Wise and J.B. Holmes (67). Three players are at 6 under, and defending champion Sungjae Im (69) will start Sunday five back. Wise, 24, was sailing along nicely until he lipped out a par putt from 15 feet on the sixth hole and then watched his bogey comebacker from 3 feet horseshoe completely around the cup and return toward him. It was jolting, frankly, and he didn't seem to be the same player afterward. With the double, Wise's lead was trimmed from six to four; by the time he made bogey at 15, one of four he'd make on the incoming nine, Jones owned the lead, a turnaround of seven strokes in 10 holes. "It just played really, really hard," Wise said. "I honestly feel like I played well. The only thing I didn't do well was manage the wind. I felt like I hit it great with my irons, and not so great off the tee. I was out of position a lot. It added up to a big number. "Luckily, with how I played those first two days, I'm still in it, and still have a chance tomorrow." Jones, 40, joked that he has 36 years of experience playing in the wind. The 2014 Shell Houston Open winner, Jones has won a pair of Australian Open titles since then. He flighted his ball well and was sharp around the greens, making some nice par saves. That was crucial, as he hit only 10 of 18 greens. He knows Sunday will a challenge every bit as difficult as Saturday was, perhaps even greater. But he seems ready to greet it. "When you get to the back nine, you know what you're going to expect," he said. "It doesn't matter what the wind is doing on the back nine, it's going to be tough no matter what. "I'm happy to go low with the ball flight, and I'll probably play a little more conservative when the wind is up. I'll probably play a little safer than normal. I'm naturally a very aggressive player. I think in the wind I have a tendency to manage the golf course differently." Jones will have his hands full on Sunday. There are many chasers within reach, and PGA National often has its say in choosing a winner, too. Sunday will mark the first time that Jones will take a solo 54-hole lead into the final round on the PGA TOUR. Twice he has been a co-leader, finishing T5 and T4 on those occasions. Then again, those leads were in 2008 (John Deere) and 2009 (Honda). "I got a lot more experience, a lot more gray hair, and I’ve been in this situation before," Jones said. "So hopefully I can just draw from that, and look back on that, and learn from that, and figure it out."

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OLD WESTBURY, N.Y. – The FedExCup Playoffs will be a major determining factor in the votes of most PGA TOUR players as they contemplate their Player of the Year choice. Adding another layer of excitement to an already stacked four weeks of golf, the performance of those on the shortlist for Player of the Year will strengthen their pedigree with an impressive run in the postseason. And of course, others not yet in the full consciousness of the voters could yet leap out and surprise. “I don’t think you can even have the conversation until after East Lake to be fair,â€� former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy said. “These Playoffs are very important for Player of the Year.â€� While Justin Thomas, with wins at the PGA Championship, the CIMB Classic, Sentry Tournament of Champions and the Sony Open in Hawaii leads the contenders, he’s not a clear-cut choice just yet. He does have the bonus of shooting a 59 in Hawaii and a 63 at the U.S. Open. Jordan Spieth won The Open Championship, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Travelers Championship. He’s snapping at the heels of his friend. “The Playoffs are very important, this year. It’s a close race right now. I think it’s between four guys, in my opinion,â€� Spieth, who was the 2015 FedExCup champion and Player of the Year, said. “It’s a tremendous honor, having been there, it’s the MVP. You’re the MVP of the league. When you put it that way, it’s something that you want really badly. “So it’s a fight and it’s something that is keeping me going out and grinding at the end of a really good season.â€� Spieth admitted he felt slightly behind in the race but felt winning the FedExCup “would probably take care of it.â€� Thomas likes being the current favorite but adds, “I’d much rather hear you say that four events later than probably now.â€� While these two are the main contenders – ruling out others might be dangerous. Hideki Matsuyama – who enters the FedExCup Playoffs as the top seed – has won the World Golf Championships – HSBC Champions, the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the World Golf Championships – Bridgestone Invitational. While he is without a major it is important to note he has three runner-up finishes, one of which was the U.S. Open. He finished inside the top 14 of all four majors and missed just one of 18 cuts all year. “You say those guys, but if Dustin Johnson wins the next four weeks, there’s only one Player of the Year. It not even close,â€� Ogilvy adds. “To be fair, if anybody wins the next four events, they are in the conversation.â€� Johnson, the No. 4 in the FedExCup and world No. 1, is almost the forgotten man of the season. This is despite winning the Genesis Open, World Golf Championships – Mexico Championship and World Golf Championships – Dell Match Play in consecutive starts earlier in the year. “I’m just fine flying under the radar. That’s all right,â€� Johnson grinned as he begins his Playoffs push. The 2016 U.S. Open champion certainly hasn’t given up hope of being crowned the season-long champ and Player of the Year. “I’m looking for a really good finish to the year. Obviously at the end, I’d like to be the FedExCup champion. That’s a goal of mine right now. We’ve got four big tournaments coming up, and so I need to play well in all four.â€� Canvassing other players, who are the voters for the award, and you get a similar sentiment to Ogilvy. U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka doesn’t feel like he’s in the running now, but hopes to get some people thinking over the next month. “You win three times in the Playoffs and win the FedExCup — I would certainly say that changes some things,â€� Koepka said. “It is probably narrowed down to two or three guys and I don’t think I’m one of them but then again if you pop off a couple big wins in the Playoffs then the story changes.â€� Bryson DeChambeau, a winner at the John Deere Classic, jokingly asked if he could be Player of the Year if he won all four Playoffs events. It’s not as funny as it seems. If he did, that would be five wins on the season, more than anyone else. “The majors definitely mean a lot but it is who has been consistent over the course of the year and the FedExCup Playoffs are part of that,â€� DeChambeau said. Jason Day, who won five times in 2015 but lost out on the vote to Spieth — also a five-time winner — will be looking at the raw numbers when casting his ballot. “At the end of the day whoever wins the most usually is going to be Player of the Year,â€� he said. “If they have the same amount of wins but one wins the FedExCup, well of course, that’s going to sway the vote.â€� It’s certainly a fun side note to keep an eye on as we get underway at THE NORTHERN TRUST this week.

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