Ooh, chocolate drops! Plantation Course gets a new/old look

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. — Adam Svensson shot a 5-under 67 and had a three-stroke lead in the Barbasol Championship when second-round play Friday at water-logged Keene Trace was suspended because of darkness. Svensson had a 15-under 129 total at Keene Trace, where a mid-day thunderstorm followed dense morning fog. Play was delayed a total of 5 hours, 20 minutes, with half the field unable to finish the round. The rain softened the greens even more than the first round, where two-thirds of the field shot par or better. It also made the 7,328-yard layout play longer, though Svensson continued to set the pace with seven birdies that offset bogeys on the par-4 third and par-3 16th. He shot a 10-under 62 on Thursday. “The greens were still rolling nice, but they were just wet so you had to hit a lot of soft shots into the green and a lot of chippy iron shots or wedges,” said the Canadian, who napped for an hour in his car during one delay. Trey Mullinax made a 20-footer for birdie on the par-4 13th to reach 13 under and finish his day. Mark Hubbard (67), Robin Roussel (68) and Brandon Hagy (62) were in at 12 under, while Tom Lewis (four holes left) also was 12 under with Jonathan Byrd (five holes left), Matti Schmid (eight holes left) and Max McGreevy (nine holes left). Hagy started at No. 10 and eagled the par-4 18th hole with a 148-yard shot from the left rough with a 50-degree gap wedge. “I was on the side slope over there in the rough and it was a left pin, so not a lot of stuff going for me there,” Hagy said. “But I caught a decent lie and when I hit it my caddie thought it was a little too much and I was like, ‘No, I think it’s pretty good.’ It just landed, took one hop and went right in the hole, so that was pretty cool.”

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Michael Thompson loves to read, and for that, he surely has his mother to thank. She was an English teacher, and he was losing himself in the wonder of books long before he ever wrapped his fingers around the grip of a golf club. Even now, as he travels around the world making his living on the PGA TOUR, he always has at least one book in his suitcase to help him get his mind off golf. A bound book with words on paper, too – no Kindles or iPads for him. “No, I like the actual physical book,” Thompson says. “I like turning pages. I don’t like staring at a screen for very long, so I try to travel with the actual book.” Among Thompson’s go-to authors is Clive Cussler. He especially likes the Dirk Pitt series, which he started reading again earlier this year. Pitt is the larger-than-life adventurer and decorated aviator featured in Cussler’s novels from 1976 to 2019. It probably doesn’t hurt that Pitt’s character has a collection of classic cars, either. Thompson shares that interest with the protagonist — and Cussler the author, as well — and even taught himself how to rebuild a 1967 Ford Mustang fastback, as well as other special rides. One of Thompson’s favorite books of all time is Where the Red Fern Grows. He was an Eagle Scout, and the plot, which centers on a young boy in the Ozarks and his two redbone coonhounds, resonates with him, as does Jack London’s classic,The Call of the Wild. “I just love the story of being in the woods and a little boy growing up with his dogs and kind of the struggle of life as a kid and hunting and teaching your dog how to do the things you want to do,” he says. “And I always loved being outdoors. I was in the Boy Scouts growing up, so anything kind of mountain-to-cabin just was kind of real romantic to me.” Historical fiction is another of Thompson’s interests, along with biographies and autobiographies. The two-time PGA TOUR winner is also very process-oriented – remember the rebuilt Ford Mustang? – so he enjoys books that help with setting and accomplishing goals. “I like reading those as well because they’re encouraging and just motivating,” Thompson says. Lately, though, Thompson has found himself imparting his love of reading to the next generation. His mom has helped, too, sending some of the books she once read to Thompson to her grandson Jace and granddaughter Laurel. “I have two little kids now, so she’s been going through the closet at home and finding all the children’s books that we used to read and, and she’s given me a bunch of them,” Thompson says. “They have the date of one when we got them either Christmas or birthday gifts. “… It’s just cool to go back and see actually see the physical book and remember like how old I was when I first remember reading it and being read those books. It’s just cool.” Jace likes the Berenstain Bears and Dr. Seuss. But like most little boys, he’s also into lizards and snakes so there’s an amphibian encyclopedia that’s high on his reading list right now, too. And the precocious youngster also has a book that’s teaching him about weather. “He’s always asking, Daddy, let’s read it. Can you read this to me?” Thompson says, smiling broadly. “He’s got his favorite ones like there was one that was the green pit viper. He’s just all into snakes right now. … And then he likes reading about the haboobs and weather patterns, the big dust storms. “It’s fun to see him kind of latch onto some of that. And remember the facts and the statistics with regards to all of the characteristics of the different animals and that kind of thing.” Laurel, on the other hand, is a toddler, so her attention span is limited. “She’ll sit there for a little bit, but then she wants to run around and play,” Thompson says with a laugh. “But she’ll get into it.” And when Laurel does, Thompson and his wife Rachel will be ready. “It’s the fun part of being a parent,” he says.

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – The knee is fine. The game was good enough. But the home of the Bear Trap bit Brooks Koepka on Thursday. Koepka shot 4-over 74 in the first round of The Honda Classic. “I actually played pretty good,â€� he said. “I didn’t even hit bad shots and I was getting penalized. That happens.â€� RELATED: Leaderboard | Quick look at The Honda Classic He was 1 under par before making a triple-bogey on the sixth hole, where his tee shot and third shot found the water. He was trying to hit a draw off the tee to hold the left-to-right wind, but the ball turned more than expected. “I probably hit it too good, too low, for it to really hold the wind,â€� he said. He birdied the next hole but followed with a double-bogey on 9 to make the turn in 3-over 38. He birdied the 12th hole but finished with bogeys on two of the last three holes. He three-putted No. 16 from 52 feet, then hit his second shot into the water on the par-5 finishing hole. This is just Koepka’s fourth start of the season. He has a missed cut, withdrawal and T43 in his previous three starts.

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