Ramey wins Corales Puntacana for 1st tour title

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Steve Stricker is having too much fun at the Waste Management Phoenix Open to stress over a messy finish Friday. RELATED: Leaderboard | Return of fans helping return of Koepka Trying to become the oldest winner in PGA TOUR history, the 53-year-old U.S. Ryder Cup captain shot a 5-under 66 to get within a stroke of leader Xander Schauffele entering the weekend at TPC Scottsdale. Stricker scrambled for par on the eighth, but couldn’t overcome another poor approach on No. 9 in a closing bogey. “Just hit an awful iron into the green on No. 9,” Stricker said. “But overall a good day.” Stricker, who will be 54 on Feb. 23, won the last of his 12 PGA TOUR titles in 2012 at Kapalua. Sam Snead is the oldest winner at 52 years, 10 months, 8 days in the 1965 Greater Greensboro event. Seven players have won in their 50s, the last Davis Love III at 51 in the 2015 Wyndham Championship. “I know it’s a long shot,” Stricker said. “I’ve got to play my very best, just like anybody else does out here. But you know, I’ve been there. I’ve won a few times out on this TOUR and I know what it takes, although it’s been a while. It would be fun to see how I handle it if I do get that opportunity.” The five-time PGA TOUR Champions winner, with wife, Nicki, working as his caddie, birdied four of his first eight holes with hardly anyone watching in the chilly morning conditions. The attendance is capped at about 5,000 a day, a fraction of the usual turnout but the most for a TOUR event since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s always tough to get going around here in the morning and we started on the back nine with some pretty good holes and some water holes that can come up and get you,” Stricker said. Schauffele, coming off a second-place tie last week at Torrey Pines, played the back nine in 6-under 30 in the afternoon for a 64. He birdied Nos. 12-14, made a 21-footer for eagle on the par-5 15th, and hit a wedge to 4 1/2 feet to set up a final birdie on the par-4 18th. “It was a bit slow at first,” Schauffele said. “Kind of saw everyone’s name flying up the leaderboard.” He was at 12-under 130. Keegan Bradley was tied for second after a 65. He made 10 birdies in a 14-hole stretch from his 12th hole Thursday to the seventh Friday — all on the front nine. “All it was was having some putts go in,” Bradley said. Scottie Scheffler (65), Sam Burns (68) and Kyoung-Hoon Lee (66) were 10 under. Scheffler hit to a foot for birdie in the morning on the 16th. “There was literally nobody there, so I couldn’t tell if it had a chance or not,” Scheffler said. He followed with a 40-foot eagle putt on 17, but gave back the strokes with a four-putt double bogey on the par-4 fifth. Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka were 8 under. Spieth is trying regain the form that carried him to 11 PGA TOUR victories — three of them majors — in his first five seasons on the TOUR. Winless since The Open Championship in 2017, he shot his second straight 67, highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 third. “It felt like a 6- or 7-under day, and this is one of the first times I’ve almost been disappointed shooting 4 under in a round in long time, and that’s a good sign,” he said. “(Yesterday) I shot 4 under, but I got away with murder.” Justin Thomas was 7 under after a 65. He opened with a double bogey on the par-4 10th after making a late triple bogey Thursday on 17. “Hit a perfect tee shot down 10 and had a pitching wedge in and made about as easy and bad of a 6 as you possibly could,” Thomas said. He had five birdies in a six-hole stretch from No. 14 to No. 1, bogeyed the par-5 third, and then birdied four of the last five. “I stayed patient and understood that you can make a boatload of birdies,” he said.

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – His steady ball-striking has been a bit off. An ill-timed camera click contributed to a tee shot into a penalty area. And yet, Justin Rose leads the U.S. Open. Rose followed his first-round 65 with a 70 on Friday to sit at 7-under 135. He was the solo leader after the morning wave completed play. Rose, one of the game’s best iron players, has hit just 19 greens in the first two days. His short game, likely his most underrated skill, has saved him. Related: Leaderboard | Poor finish stalls Tiger run | Koepka: ‘I’ve got a chance’ “I’ll say my short game has been really, really strong this week,â€� he said. “I’ve made a lot of putts inside 10 feet. I’ve managed my game really well. I’ve missed it in the wrong spots. I’ve always given myself an opportunity to salvage something out of every hole I’ve played. And I haven’t compounded any mistakes so far.â€� His chipping and pitching has impressed one of the PGA TOUR’s short-game masters who witnessed it first-hand over the opening two rounds. “He’s chipping and putting beautifully, and not hitting it probably as well as he’d like to, and he’s still leading the U.S. Open,â€� said Jordan Spieth. “So that’s scary.â€� Rose has made just three bogeys this week. One of them came on the short fourth hole, where his tee shot sailed over the cliffs. Rose immediately turned toward the stands and told the fans that he heard their cameras click during his swing. Rose took the blame for the mishit, though. “Ultimately, I never really felt set on that shot,â€� he said. He spent time after the round trying to recalibrate his technically-sound swing. Rose was seen on the practice area past 4 p.m. Friday, well after he finished his round. Not that there should be too much cause for concern. He remembers fighting his swing during his U.S. Open win six years ago at Merion, as well. “I still remember working through the week with Sean (Foley, Rose’s swing coach) at Merion, I still wasn’t 100 percent dialed into my long game,â€� Rose said. “Sometimes, it’s nice to be in contention with things to work on going into the weekend. Sometimes, if you feel perfect after two days, it’s sometimes hard to keep that level every single day. So that could be similar.â€� Rose is trying to become the first reigning FedExCup champion to win the U.S. Open since Tiger Woods in 2008. Rose won on the California Coast earlier this year at the Farmers Insurance Open and ranks 10th in the FedExCup.

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