Phil Mickelson shoots 68 to take two-shot lead into the weekend at the Desert Classic

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Ian Poulter’s father, Terry, is in from the U.K. to watch his son play the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town. So far, he’s gotten quite a show. Poulter extended his bogey-free streak to 45 straight holes and is in position to win for the second time in three weeks after a third-round 67 on Saturday. This, despite the fact that he’s playing for the sixth week in a row and normally spends no more than three straight weeks on the road. “I’m surprised I’m still awake, to be honest,â€� Poulter said. “Six weeks in a row. Normally after three I’m begging for a week off. … My dad said I’ve never had so much sleep before.â€� Luke List (67) and Si Woo Kim (68) will join Poulter in the final threesome Sunday at 9 a.m. Tee times have been moved up, and players will go off of split tees in order to get done around 2 p.m. ET and potentially ahead of the anticipated thunderstorms. Poulter has not made a bogey since the 10th hole of the first round, and he is only two weeks removed from his resounding victory at the Houston Open, where at one point he played 49 holes without a bogey on the way to his third PGA TOUR win. His recent consistency notwithstanding, few careers have seen more ups and downs than Poulter’s over the last year and a half. “There’s been quite a lot of lows in the last 18 months,â€� he said. Lows, as in his lowest ranking: 207th after The Honda Classic last season. (He’s back up to 31st.) Lows, as in thinking he’d lost his TOUR card after missing the cut at the Valero Texas Open last season, when it appeared that he had not fulfilled the terms of his Major Medical Extension from a 2016 foot injury. (As it turned out, the math was wrong. He had done enough, after all.) A T2 finish at THE PLAYERS Championship secured Poulter’s TOUR status for 2018, and he has kicked his game into another gear this season. After going back to the putter he used to spark Europe’s comeback at the 2012 Ryder Cup, Poulter finished T5 at the World Golf Championship-Dell Technology Match Play. He won the Houston Open a week later, earning him an eleventh-hour invitation to the Masters. Now he’s fighting through fatigue and conjuring up some of his best golf. “I needed something to change on the greens,â€� he said of the Medinah putter, with which he has ranked seventh in strokes gained: putting this week. “Going back to something that I couldn’t blame, with a putter that you know has done some great things in the past, there’s no excuses.â€� OBSERVATIONS HORSCHEL TURNS CORNER. Billy Horschel had missed five of his last six cuts and came into this week ranked 160th in the FedExCup. He will play in the second to last group on Sunday after shooting a third-round 67 to get to within two of the lead. The big difference: While he came into the week ranked 119th in strokes gained: putting, Horschel is second in that stat this week. “This course suits me well,â€� said Horschel, who tied for ninth here in his first RBC, in 2013. “I’m striking it well, putting well and thinking well.â€� That last part, the mental side, has perhaps been holding him back, he said. “It’s a little bit more of a mental thing with me right now,â€� said the four-time TOUR winner and 2014 FedExCup champion. “So I need to get back to the way I was thinking my entire career, especially ’13 and ’14.â€� KISNER TRIES TO FORGET 2017. Kevin Kisner was in position to close out a victory at the RBC Heritage a year ago, but he bogeyed four of his last eight holes for a 74 and a T11 finish. Now he’s back to try again. He shot a third-round 66, tied for the best of the day, to get to 10-under and within three shots of the lead. “Last year was pretty pitiful on the back nine Sunday,â€� said Kisner, a two-time TOUR winner who finished second at the recent World Golf Championship-Dell Technologies Match Play, and who came into this week 30th in the FedExCup. “So I’m going to try to make amends with it and do a little better on the back nine. I feel comfortable. I’m swinging great and I’ve got a lot of confidence, so I’m looking forward to it.â€� S.W. KIM OVERCOMES NERVES. It was a long wait before Si Woo Kim started his round in the last twosome with then-leader Bryson DeChambeau. So long, in fact, that Kim was surprised to realize he felt nervous. “I was a little disappointed because I was nervous on the first few holes,â€� said Kim (68, one back), who will defend his title at THE PLAYERS Championship next month. “…Having a really late tee time today, I felt that was a big waiting period for me. So my body needed to adjust to that.â€� A day after taking just 23 putts and shooting a 65 with a triple-bogey, Kim said he felt slightly less sharp on the greens (27 putts). Still, he is fourth in the field in strokes gained: putting (+5.762) for the week. NOTABLES BRYSON DECHAMBEAU – Second-round leader got off to a great start with a birdie on the first hole, but a triple-bogey at the second and doubles at 13 and 17 led to a 75. He’s seven back. DUSTIN JOHNSON – Making his first start here since he missed back-to-back cuts here in 2008-2009, world No. 1 and native South Carolinian shot 72 and was well back at 3-under. WESLEY BRYAN – Defending champ shot his second straight 71 to remain 2-under. Only three players have successfully defended at the RBC: Payne Stewart (1989-’90), Davis Love III (1991- ’92) and Boo Weekley (2007-’08). DAVIS LOVE III – After making the cut on the number, five-time winner fell back with a 74. JIM FURYK – The two-time RBC champion (2010, 2015) shot 73 to fall to 2-over. QUOTABLES I’m surprised I’m still awake.Last year was pretty pitiful on the back nine on Sunday.It’s such a great area. My wife’s family is here, and my family is here. We just tried to make a vacation out of it. SUPERLATIVES Low round: 66 by Byeong Hun An, Charley Hoffman, Kevin Kisner and Tyrone Van Aswegen. Longest drive: 356 yds (Dustin Johnson/No. 15) Longest putt: 34’ 11â€� (Charles Howell III/No. 18) Toughest hole: The par-4 3rd (4.169)

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One guy is from the heart of Texas, the other the Basque country of northern Spain. But my, how they clicked. Ryan Palmer and Jon Rahm, each having found himself without a partner heading into the 2019 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, high-fived, hugged and ate Skittles on the way to a three-stroke victory over Tommy Fleetwood/Sergio Garcia. “It never felt odd to me,� Palmer said on a conference call with reporters Tuesday, when told that they’d been described in one news account as a Felix-and-Oscar odd couple. There are all sorts of origin stories for the teams at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Some share a last name (brothers Brooks/Chase Koepka, T22 last year). Others have the same first name (Alex Prugh/Alex Cejka, T13 last year). They share a sponsor, agent, nationality (India’s Shubhankar Sharma/Anirban Lahiri, T22 last year), or all of the above. Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown, who lost in a playoff in 2017, the first year the Zurich Classic was a team event, are friends from Aiken, South Carolina. Cameron Smith and Jonas Blixt, who beat them, teamed up because Smith’s caddie was living with Blixt in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. (Then-23-year-old Smith even later moved to the area himself.) South Georgia hunting buddies Patton Kizzire, who is 6 feet, 5 inches, and Brian Harman, who measures just 5 feet 7 inches, really do look like an odd couple. And while they missed the cut at the Zurich last year, they won the unofficial 2018 QBE Shootout in Naples, Florida. Then there’s Palmer (the Texan) and Rahm (the Spaniard currently ranked world No. 2), who were set to defend their title this year until the coronavirus pandemic had other plans. With Rahm’s caddie, Adam Hayes, giving them Skittles for birdies at TPC Louisiana, they made nine best-ball birdies for a third-round 64, Rahm accounting for eight of them. Palmer, who helped them avert disaster when both hit into the water on 17, then made several clutch putts in the final round as they brought it home with an alternate-shot 69. They slipped on the customary white winners’ belts with 6-inch rhodium-plated buckle designed by Malcolm DeMille and featuring New Orleans symbols like musical notes, the fleur-de-lis, and gators. That this even had a chance to happen was a quirk of fate, God’s wink, kismet, and maybe some good old New Orleans juju. Palmer’s usual Zurich partner, Jordan Spieth, had decided to take the week off, and Rahm’s partner, Wesley Bryan, was inactive due to shoulder surgery. “When Wesley told me he was having shoulder surgery a few months before the event, I was in no-man’s land,� Rahm said last year. “I’m really happy I said yes (to Palmer).� Said Palmer on Tuesday, “It was an easy text and he jumped right on it.� Easy because their caddies, Hayes and Palmer’s friend and bag man James Edmondson, are friends. Easy because Rahm had played in Palmer’s charity event, and they’d gotten to know each other. And, yes, easy because Rahm was already one of the best players in the world. Their age difference? Not a big deal. “I spent two years playing with Jordan,� Palmer said, “I’m real good friends with him and he’s the same age as Jon. I thought, ‘What a great opportunity to partner up with a great player.’ � Palmer misses being in New Orleans this week. He misses the food, and hanging out with his friends there, including Sean Payton, head coach of the Saints. They’re pro-am partners, and Payton has brought Palmer into the team’s NFL Draft room to peer behind the curtain. As for New Orleans, he added, he and Rahm have kept in touch, two solid ball-strikers who fade the ball off the tee and play the occasional practice round together. So, no, they’re not as odd a couple as you might think, but there was one odd part. It happened long after they won, and, needing to eat before getting on planes to fly to their respective homes, the Zurich Classic’s newest power couple walked into a Popeyes for some fried chicken. Said Palmer, laughing at the memory, “We were still wearing those belts.�

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