Phil Mickelson trending in the right direction at THE NORTHERN TRUST

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Tiger Woods may be playing the Wells Fargo Championship for the first time in six years, but he wasn’t the only member of his pro-am group who was in the spotlight Wednesday. Shahbaz Hashmi, a high-school senior from Alamo Heights, Texas, got to play with Woods after winning an essay contest conducted by Wells Fargo and The First Tee. Hashmi impressed with his game (he’s a +0.9 handicap) and his composure. Ashami hit a long tee shot down the 18th fairway, then almost made birdie after hitting his approach shot to 20 feet. He shared the podium with Woods in his post-round press conference and even fulfilled an autograph request after finishing his round. “Shahbaz, he did fantastically today,� Woods said. “Some of the shots he hit today, the flight of some of the drives he hit was penetrating and solid, especially after the wind came up. He piped the drive down 18.� Hashmi, a 12-year participant in The First Tee of San Antonio got to pick his playing partner Wednesday. It was an easy decision. “Tiger Woods is unequivocally my hero,� he said. “Watching him dominate in a way no other athlete has in their respective sport has served as such an inspiration for not only me but my entire generation.� Woods owns 79 PGA TOUR victories. Hashmi has an impressive resume of his own. He is the president of The First Tee of San Antonio’s junior advisory board and mentors younger participants in the program. He speaks three languages (French, Uru/Hindi and English) and wants to study international monetary policy and foreign relations in college. He has a 4.0 grade-point average. Hashmi carried his own bag in Wednesday’s pro-am and made sure to capture plenty of photos and videos of the round. He stood in the middle of the 16th fairway, about 10 yards behind Woods, as Woods hit his approach shot. The amateur tees were some 70 yards ahead of the back tees on the par-3 17th, but Hashmi made the trek bto watch Woods tee off. Like the rest of Woods’ gallery, Ashami held his phone aloft as Woods hit his shot. Ashami said Woods’ advice helped him hit that impressive tee shot on the last hole. “He said his father told him that, with driver in hand, he could swing as hard as he wanted as long as he could hit the center of the clubface and hold his finish until the ball landed,� Ashami said. “Coming in, I was just holding my finish to the best of my ability. On the back nine, I was striping it off the tee and with the irons.� He drew a “Nice shot there� from Woods after hitting his approach shot to 20 feet. He barely missed the birdie putt. It would’ve been the perfect ending to the perfect day. “I can’t say one thing I was impressed by because I was impressed by all of it,� Ashami said. This will be Woods’ seventh start at the Wells Fargo Championship. He finished no worse than 11th in his first four trips here, including a win in 2007, but missed the cut in his past two trips to Charlotte (2010, 12). Woods is scheduled to tee off at 12:50 p.m. Thursday with Brooks Koepka and newly-minted Masters champion Patrick Reed. Woods will see a new course after modifications were made for last year’s PGA Championship. Changes include combining the first two holes to make a long par-4 and a new par-3 fourth hole. “The golf course is much harder than it used to be, that’s for sure,� Woods said. “Some of these holes have become a lot more stout. The bunkers are certainly more in play than they used to be and the greens are new so they’re a little more springy.� This will be Woods’ first start since a disappointing 32nd-place finish at the Masters. Woods arrived at Augusta National after having opportunities to win his preceding two starts, but poor iron play kept him from contending at a course where he has won four times. A final-round 69 was his only under-par round of the week. Woods took 10 days off after Augusta National. He is scheduled to play this week and next week’s THE PLAYERS Championship. It will be just his second appearance at TPC Sawgrass since his win in 2013. He finished T69 at the 2015 PLAYERS. “Hopefully I can have everything peak for this week and next week� Woods said.

Click here to read the full article…

Jin Young Ko took the lead into the weekend in the LPGA Tour’s CME Group Tour Championship, with defending champion Sei Young Kim and 2018 winner Lexi Thompson one stroke behind.

Click here to read the full article…

AUSTIN, Texas — Needing to win the final hole to advance, Robert MacIntrye drilled a driver to 3 feet of the cup on he 371-yard 18th hole. Moments later, Sergio Garcia ended one of the record eight sudden-death playoffs with a hole-in-one. RELATED: Bracket, Scoring | Things you may have missed, WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Day 3 Already the most fickle event in golf, the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play on Friday was an endless frenzy. Kevin Na discussed with Dustin Johnson about waiting for a putt to be conceded — 6 inches — and then birdied the last two holes to oust the No. 1 player in the world. Patrick Cantlay, practically flawless with 14 birdies and an eagle over two days, managed only two birdies and lost a playoff with a three-putt. When it finally ended, Jon Rahm at No. 3 was the only player from the top 20 seeds who made it to the knockout stage of the weekend at Austin Country Club. “You just never know what can happen out there,” Billy Horschel said after beating Max Homa on the third playoff hole. Just about everything did. Garcia beat Lee Westwood in the longest of the eight playoffs with a 9-iron from 161 yards to a front pin on the par-3 fourth hole that landed just beyond the pin and trickled back into the cup. Equally stunning was the drive of MacIntyre, the 24-year-old from Scotland with plenty of spunk and loads of fight. He was 1 down against Adam Long, who was poised to advance with Johnson in the group ahead about to lose to Na. Johnson backed away from his 6-foot par putt — Na only had 4 feet for birdie — and his caddie, brother Austin, stepped in a few feet from the cup to help read the putt. Out of nowhere, a ball shot up the left side of the bank around the green and rolled in front of the caddie’s feet. Dustin had to mark MacIntyre’s ball so he could putt. MacIntyre was oblivious to what happened except he knew he hit the shot of his life. “Probably one of the best and one of the luckiest golf shots I’ve hit in my life,” MacIntyre said. “You’ve just got to keep fighting until the end, and it just shows anything can happen in this game.” His only chance was a low bullet, and it caught the downward slope for extra run toward the left side of the green, which MacIntyre couldn’t see. He heard it was on the green. “I didn’t have a clue how close,” MacIntyre said. I’m thinking it’s going to be just on the green below the slope. Going to have hopefully two putts maybe to win the hole. But when I seen where they put the ball back down I was like, `No way!’ “And that’s what you play the game for, these moments.” Given how three days of group play has gone, there is no telling what to expect on the win-or-go-home weekend. It will include a trio of Texas Longhorns, including Jordan Spieth for the first time since 2016. He won three straight holes around the turn and, unlike Thursday when he let Matthew Wolff off the hook, Spieth managed to close out Corey Conners. Scottie Scheffler halved his match when Xander Schauffele made an 8-foot birdie putt on the last hole, and then Scheffler returned the favor with a 12-foot birdie on the second extra hole. The other Longhorn is Dylan Frittelli of South Africa, who became the first No. 64 seed in Match Play history to make it to the weekend. Frittelli had company. Two other players seeded at No. 60 or lower made it to the knockout stage. Ian Poulter won his third straight match as the No. 60 seed, while Erik van Rooyen (62) advanced by beating Daniel Berger with a par on the second playoff hole. Poulter and Matt Kuchar are the only players to have won all three matches. Kuchar knocked out defending champion Kevin Kisner with a 20-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole. The 64-man field based on the world ranking was divided into groups of 16 based, with the final 16 assigned to the “D” group. Eight of those players are still in the game. Rahm was the only player from the “A” group of top 16 seeds. Brian Harman felt a small measure of redemption. He shot the equivalent of a 64 in the opening round and still lost to Cantlay, who had seven birdies and an eagle. But when Cantlay fell flat and lost to Hideki Matsuyama, that sent Cantlay and Harman back out for a sudden-death playoff that Harman won when Cantlay’s 4-foot par putt lipped out. Garcia was amazed by his ace, but he was quick to point out that he had to make a 10-footer and an 8-footer for par on the previous two holes just to stay in the match during the playoff. The eight playoffs to decide group winners broke the previous mark of five in 2017 since group play began six yeas ago. “The two putts I made … massive to keep myself going,” Garcia said. “And then obviously the shot on 4, it’s a great shot, but then you get lucky that first of all it doesn’t hit the flag because it must have been very close to hitting the flag, and then it rolls back in. Obviously, very happy about that.”

Click here to read the full article…