Power Rankings: Sanderson Farms Championship

LAS VEGAS - Collin Morikawa wasn't about to let Xander Schauffele have all the fun, even if it went somewhat unnoticed. After a relatively benign opening 1-under 71 on Thursday, Morikawa slotted seven birdies in a bogey-free 7-under 65 in the second round of THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK to find his way into a tie for fifth. Amazingly it was a round that went a little under the radar as he was paired with Schauffele who set the course alight early and ultimately went one better with a 64. RELATED: Full leaderboard | What the pros are playing at Shadow Creek Schauffele birdied seven of his opening nine holes to shoot 29 on the back side and added one more birdie on the front to move to 14 under and three shots clear at the top of the leaderboard. But while he has set up a substantial and impressive lead, Morikawa's effort ensured Schauffele won't be able to take his foot off the gas on the weekend. The 23-year-old flashed one of his now trademark cheeky grins when he was met with a question about Schauffele's birdie blitz, reminding those in attendance that he also had gone low and so to had the third member of the threesome in Viktor Hovland (66). "It wasn’t just him. Viktor was making a bunch of birdies in that stretch, I had a couple myself. It’s enjoyable," he quipped. "When you have momentum like that, you just want to keep it going, you don’t want to kind of stall out mid round. "All of us just kept making birdies… I knew it wasn’t going to stop. I knew there was birdie chances on the front nine and we just had to keep it going. As long as I kept giving myself good looks, hitting the fairway, I knew a few would drop by 18." Morikawa credited the blemish free round to a new putter he's using this week. He's made a switch to a mallet style from the blade type he used to win the Workday Charity Open and PGA Championship last season. He needed 28 putts on Thursday and just 26 Friday and has gained 1.545 shots over the field on the greens to go with his usual ball-striking clinic. His approach game has yielded 4.077 strokes against the field so far. "I had a long neck in the blade and the way it was stroking from lag putts, it was never consistent, like the ball didn’t roll as well," he said. "If you look at the best putters, obviously their putts roll really well and their speed’s really consistent. The blade, when I found it outside 30 feet, some I’d hit past and then I’d adjust and then the next one it would be maybe six feet short. I was just looking for something to roll a lot cleaner through the putt."

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PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL – Rory McIlroy is returning to The Honda Classic, the tournament announced Thursday. McIlroy, who’s in the midst of a three-month break as he recovers from a lingering rib injury, has added the PGA TOUR’s stop in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, to his developing schedule for the upcoming year. The Honda Classic, which will be held Feb. 22-25 at PGA National’s Champion Course, is scheduled to be his fifth start of 2018. McIlroy, the 2016 FedExCup champion, will return from his layoff with two European Tour events in the Middle East next month. He’ll begin his PGA TOUR season with three consecutive starts: the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on Feb. 8-11, Genesis Open on Feb. 15-18 and The Honda Classic on Feb. 22-25. McIlroy, who’s making his debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, is scheduled to play alongside his father, Gerry. After an off week, McIlroy will make his debut in the Valspar Championship on March 8-11 and then play the following week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. McIlroy struggled with a rib injury throughout last year. He finished 58th in last season’s FedExCup standings and went winless worldwide for the first time since 2008. He hasn’t played since October. “I definitely think the injury was the biggest thing that affected my season,â€� McIlroy recently told the No Laying Up podcast. “If someone was to say, ‘Why didn’t things go the way you wanted them to this year?’ I would say because of the injury. “You swing away from pain, so I started to get the club way on the inside on the downswing and my path was so far from in-and-out because anything going left at impact was putting pressure on that rib and on that joint and it would hurt. “I played for four months without hitting a shot left-to-right and you can’t do that.â€� McIlroy won The Honda Classic in 2012 to reach No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time and was runner-up at the event two years later, losing in a four-man playoff won by Russell Henley. He has missed the cut in his past two appearances at PGA National, though, and withdrew mid-round from the 2013 tournament, citing a painful wisdom tooth. He missed last year’s event because of his rib injury. Despite his injury struggles in 2017, McIlroy is optimistic about the upcoming year. “These three months (off) could give me the foundation to have the next 10 years be even better than the 10 years I’ve just had,â€� McIlroy said. “That turns a great career into one of the greatest careers.”

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AUGUSTA, Ga. — Hideki Matsuyama delivered golf-mad Japan the grandest and greenest prize of all. Ten years after Matsuyama made a sterling debut as the best amateur at Augusta National, he claimed the ultimate trophy Sunday with a victory in the Masters Tournament to become the first men’s major winner from Japan. RELATED: Leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Hideki Matsuyama, Masters Tournament Matsuyama closed with a 1-over 73 and a one-shot victory that was only close at the end, and never seriously in doubt after Xander Schauffele’s late charge ended with a triple bogey on the par-3 16th. Moments before Dustin Johnson helped him into the green jacket, Matsuyama needed no interpreter in Butler Cabin when he said in English, “I’m really happy.” So masterful was this performance that Matsuyama stretched his lead to six shots on the back nine until a few moments of drama. With a four-shot lead, he went for the green in two on the par-5 15th and it bounded hard off the back slope and into the pond on the 16th hole. Matsuyama did well to walk away with bogey, and with Schauffele making a fourth straight birdie, the lead was down to two shots with three to play. The next swing all but ended it. Schauffele’s tee shot on the par-3 16th bounced short of the hill and dribbled into the pond. His third shot from the drop area went into the gallery. He ended up with a triple-bogey 6. Never mind that Matsuyama bogeyed three of his last four holes. All that mattered was that uphill walk to the 18th green, needing only to blast out of the bunker and take two putts for the victory. That’s what he did, a final bogey for a one-shot victory over 24-year-old Masters rookie Will Zalatoris, who closed with a 70 and stayed on the practice range just in case of a playoff. Matsuyama finished at 10-under 278 for his 15th victory worldwide, and his sixth on the PGA TOUR. He becomes the second man from an Asian country to win a major. Y.E. Yang of South Korea won the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine over Tiger Woods.

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