Noren shoots 66, shares lead at The Honda Classic

For most of us, golf is a hobby, a way to put work in our rearview mirrors, at least for four or five hours at a time. Chesson Hadley plays the game for a living, though, and he had to look elsewhere “so it’s not just golf, golf, golf all the time.â€� He tried hunting and liked it. Hadley, who is a gregarious sort, was particularly partial to turkey and bird hunting, which he found to be a little more social than hunting for four-legged wild game. “You don’t have to stand completely still and not speak and you don’t have to get up at zero o’clock in the morning to do some of these things,â€� he explains. But at the same time, Hadley doesn’t have land to hunt on. The father of two young children also felt guilty coming home from weeks on the road and then disappearing again to go out and hunt. So Hadley eventually decided to take up woodworking. It’s something he can do at home when the kids are asleep. Plus, he used to watch his dad build things so he has his own teacher — and what his dad can’t show him how to do, YouTube can. “You can just watch — I mean, it’s unbelievable,â€� Hadley says. “You pick up techniques and it’s very simple. And so I started doing a little bit that it’s fun.â€� Hadley’s biggest challenge has been staying focused on the project at hand. “I’m a little bit scatterbrained so once I start like multiple different projects and seemed to like get halfway through them all and just kind of set them down for several months,â€� Hadley says. “So I need to pick one, stick to it and finish it and move on. But I enjoy it.â€� One of the projects that Hadley has actually finished is a side table for his man cave. It’s made of walnut and maple with a butcher block top that has routed edges. “If I had to do it again, I could make it look better, I think, but it was a good first kind of project,â€� Hadley says. “… You can actually open the lid and there’s a cooler inside so I don’t have to go keep going back to the fridge for soda or maybe a beer.â€� He started a project for the kids, too. They have a small table made out of a laminated particle board and Hadley wanted to build some sturdy chairs for them. “I never quite finished it because I was trying to do it with dowels,â€� he says. “And your measuring has to be so, so precise in order for the dowels to the line up here and then you’ve got to attach the end and if one’s off the whole thing is going to be off.â€� “I did OK. But I wasn’t doing it the easiest way possible. You really need a drill press to draw perfectly straight down into your wood and I didn’t have that.â€� But Hadley is starting to accumulate tools for his workshop which is now in the garage of his Raleigh, North Carolina, home. He’s got various sanders and drills as well as a planer, a router and a joiner. “But as a man, you always need more,â€� Hadley says with a grin. “I don’t have enough. So I’m always eying a bargain here and there.â€� He doesn’t have enough room for a table saw yet, but Hadley does have miter, circular and jig saws. The way he sees it, that might not be a bad thing, either. “The table saw is just super easy, you’ve got the fence, you just run up against that,â€� Hadley says. “But those are also incredibly dangerous. And believe it or not, my golf is more important to me than woodworking. “I need my fingers.â€� Hadley is working on another side table for his man cave. This time he’s replacing the pocket screws he used on the first one with biscuit joints for a more seamless look. “I attach the legs together by biscuits,â€� Hadley says. “So there’s no screws, there’s nothing visible. It’s pure — that’s really the more fine woodworking.â€� Hadley would also like to make something with a concrete tabletop. “It’s not hard at all and you can do anything,â€� he says. “You can make a side table or a coffee table or whatever. You’ve just got to build a frame, pour the concrete and sand it flat. It’s really neat.â€� That is, if he can just find the time.

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CROMWELL, Conn. — Harris English birdied the eighth hole of sudden death to win the Travelers Championship on Sunday, beating Kramer Hickok after both birdied the final hole of regulation to force the playoff. RELATED: Leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Harris English, Travelers Championship | Remembering John Shippen It matched the second-longest sudden-death playoff in PGA TOUR history. English shot a 5-under 65 to finish the fourth round at 13 under, then made a 5-foot putt on the seventh trip down the 18th hole of the day. Hickok had missed a 36-foot birdie putt and finished the playoff with eight consecutive pars. The TOUR record for a sudden death playoff is 11 holes in the 1949 Motor City Open, when Lloyd Mangrum and Cary Middlecoff were declared co-winners by mutual agreement due to darkness; four other events have reached an eighth playoff hole. The eight-hole playoff was a record for the tournament, which went seven holes in 1961 (Ted Kroll) and again in ’62 (Bob Goalby), when it was known as the Insurance City Open. It was the second win this year and the fourth career victory for English, who finished third at the U.S. Open last week — and fourth in the pandemic-delayed U.S. Open in September. He won $1,368,000 and 500 FedExCup points, moving into second in the standings. English sank a 28-footer on the 72nd hole to emerge from a three-way tie and finish at 13 under. Then he headed to the range to stay warm in case Hickock, who was minus-12 with two holes to play, could catch him. The 29-year-old Texan, who had never won on the PGA TOUR, couldn’t convert a 39-foot birdie putt on the 17th, but he knocked in a nine-footer for birdie on No. 18 to match English. They played 18 again — twice — and parred it again — twice. On to No. 17, then 18, then 17, then 18, then 18 again: All pars. Hickok lipped out on two long birdie putts that would have won it; on the sixth playoff hole, English missed a seven-foot birdie putt to win. On the final trip down the 438-yard par 4, Hickok put his second shot 28 feet from the pin and two-putted. English landed his approach 16 feet away and made birdie. Hickok has never won on the PGA TOUR. The second-place finish was his best ever, topping a tie for eighth in the 2018 Bermuda Championship that was his only other time in the top 10. Four players were tied at 12 under after Bubba Watson bogeyed the 14th. But the three-time Travelers winner played the last five holes at six over to drop out of the chase. “I’m glad that I was there, had the opportunity,” Watson said. “You know, I would love to do it again next week, throw up on myself again. It would it be great. I want to the opportunity and the chance to win.” Watson’s collapse left Hickok — his 54-hole co-leader —- on top at 12 under with English and Marc Leishman, who had finished his round with a 64 two hours earlier. English finished the fourth round birdie-bogey-birdie, skipping after the ball and pumping his fist after the final hole of regulation. Hickok’s celebration was even more emphatic. But there was still a playoff to come. Leishman won the tournament in 2012, shooting a 62 on Sunday to come from six strokes behind and earn his first career victory on TOUR. This year, he shot 64 in the final round and was the leader in the clubhouse for several hours at 12 under but settled for third. With plenty of low scores Sunday and all of the leaders still on the course, he sensed it wasn’t enough. “Nice to make a run and be around the lead,” said Leishman, who did head out to the range to warm up before English took his place. “Not holding my breath, but I won’t be going anywhere.” Abraham Ancer (65) was fourth at minus-11. Kevin Kisner had his second 63 of the tournament — along with a 70 and a 74 — to tie for fifth at 10 under with Brooks Koepka (65) and three others. A top-five finish would have moved Dustin Johnson back to the No. 1 spot in the world. But the defending champion shot 71 on Sunday to tied for 25th at 6 under.

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