Scott Piercy leads THE CJ CUP after Round 2

LA QUINTA, Calif. — Phil Mickelson birdied four of his last five holes Friday in the Desert Classic to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend in his first event of the year. A day after matching his career-low score with 12-under 60 at La Quinta Country Club, the 48-year-old Mickelson had a 68 on PGA West’s Nicklaus Tournament Course to reach 16 under. “I struck the ball every bit as well, I just didn’t putt anywhere close to as well as I did yesterday,” said Mickelson, the tournament winner in 2002 and 2004. Lefty will play the final two rounds on PGA West’s Stadium Course. “I’m starting to drive the ball a lot longer and straighter than I have in a while and so that sets up nicely for that course,” Mickelson said. “I feel like I can play aggressively with the way I’m hitting it off the tee.” Curtis Luck was second after a 66 on the Nicklaus layout. The 22-year-old Australian rebounded from a bogey on the par-3 eighth with a closing birdie on the par-4 ninth. “Just like yesterday, very solid, lot of greens, a lot of fairways,” said Luck, the 2016 U.S. Amateur champion. “Just missed a couple of short ones today, unfortunately. But putting’s been great.” Adam Hadwin and Steve Marino were 13 under, and defending champion Jon Rahm was another stroke back with Wyndham Clark and Joey Garber. MUST READS: Round 2, Desert Classic Mickelson finishes strong to maintain lead Hadwin back in contention Luck two shots back going into weekend Mickelson birdied the par-4 fifth and sixth holes, the par-5 seventh and closed with another on No. 9 . On his opening nine, he birdied the par-5 11th and par-3 12th , then gave back the strokes with a double bogey after hitting into the water on the par-4 18th. “It really wasn’t as hard a shot as I made it look,” Mickelson said about his approach on 18. “I had a decent lie after dropping off the cart path, but I had the ball a little bit below my feet and a slight uphill lie, which the tendency on those shots is to pull it and I just didn’t adjust for that very well and I pulled it right in the water.” Mickelson is making his first TOUR start since early October and first competitive appearance since beating Tiger Woods in Las Vegas in November in a one-day, made-for-TV event. He won the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship last year for his 43rd PGA TOUR title and first since the 2013 British Open. “There’s two areas that guys tend to decline when they hit about mid 40s or so forth,” Mickelson said. “One is speed and one is putting. The last two years I’ve done a good job of improving my putting. I’ve actually putted better the last few years than I ever have in my career. The last thing is speed, because if I have speed with the driver then I can worry more about accuracy.” Hadwin had a 66 at La Quinta, the course where the Canadian shot 59 two years ago. “I’m playing some extremely good golf again here in the desert and just got to keep moving forward,” Hadwin said. Marino had a hole-in-one on the seventh hole at La Quinta in a 65. “There was like probably 15 people behind the green, but it was weird, they didn’t really go bananas,” Marino said. “So we thought it was in, but it wasn’t like a hundred percent sure and luckily we went up there and it was in the hole.” Rahm had a 66 on the Nicklaus Course. He also will play the final two days on the Stadium Course. “It’s still a very, very difficult golf course and you have to hit it good,” Rahm said. “Hopefully, I just keep the mojo that I had last year going.” Clark shot 67 on the Nicklaus layout, and Garber had a 64 at La Quinta. Defending FedExCup champion Justin Rose was tied for 28th at 8 under after a 68 on the Nicklaus layout.

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MELBOURNE, Australia – Notes and observations from the fourth round of the ISPS Handa Melbourne World Cup of Golf where Belgium won their first World Cup title by three shots. LEADING LIGHTS Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry admitted they could feel the groundswell of support for the host nation Australia as it got to gut-check time in the World Cup. Starting the day with a significant five-shot lead, Team Belgium knew it would take something special to beat the Aussies at Metropolitan Golf Club. As the locals swarmed around Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith and became more and more vocal in the group ahead, the pair knew a challenge was being issued. But with nerves of steel, the 26-year-old Pieters and 25-year-old Detry met every test and then capped off the win with a final-hole birdie to win by three shots. The final round, 4-under 68 was more than enough to stay ahead of Australia (65) and Mexico (66) – leaving them at 23 under for the week. “You can hear the “oi oi oi” chants going, so you know somebody made a birdie,â€� Pieters said. “We felt the guys coming right behind us and we answered it with a birdie, so I think we handled the situation very well.â€� It is the first win for Belgium in the World Cup. Belgium hadn’t had a result better than fourth since 1955. “Being able to put our name down the list when you see the amount of good players and all the big names that were actually on the Cup, it feels pretty special,â€� Detry said. Pieters burst onto the European Tour scene a few years ago, winning three times in a 12-month span in 2015-16. But he hasn’t been able to maintain the same form since, making this victory extra special. “It feels very good. It’s been a long time since I won and this feels as good as an individual title. I’m very, very happy,â€� Pieters said. “We’ll take a lot of confidence out of this. It’s a shame the season’s over for me now.â€� Detry is yet to win on the European Tour but he’s been knocking on the door with a handful of recent close calls. Pieters now thinks this will change. “His drive down the 18th … that’s a drive of somebody that’s going to win next year, for sure,â€� Pieters said of his partner. “To hit a drive like that, I can tell how much adrenaline was going through his body by how far it went. He’s going to take this forward for sure.â€� NOTABLES AUSTRALIA: Host nation Australia had the local crowds rocking down the back nine at Metropolitan after Marc Leishman and Cameron Smith caught fire and threatened to steal the Cup. But a short putt from 4 feet for birdie on the par-4 16th was pushed wide by Leishman, stalling the huge charge the locals had made. Starting the final round a distant six shots back of Belgium, the Aussies made the turn after four birdies thinking they could certainly make the leaders sweat with a few more. Smith buried birdie putts on the 12th and 13th holes and then, just as hopes looked dashed after Leishman left a bunker shot in the sand, he holed out for another birdie. But it was the last birdie they’d bank. The short miss on 16 sucked the life out of the charge and they would ultimately sign for a 7-under 65 to finish at 20 under. “Obviously that putt on 16 I would like to have made,â€� Leishman said. “I would love to have that again. “But Belgium was clearly the best team all week. When you come up against someone like that, we did what we had to do today to put the pressure on and they were just too good. When you get beat by someone who’s playing that well, there’s not much you can do.â€� MEXICO: It was an impressive couple of weeks in Australia for Abraham Ancer, who won the Australian Open before combining with Roberto Diaz to finish in a tie for second at the World Cup. A final round 6-under 66 on Sunday was highlighted by late birdies on 14, 16 and 17 giving them an outside shot at victory if they could make something happen on the last hole. But Belgium stayed rock solid. The runner-up result represented Mexico’s highest finish in the tournament, besting the seventh-place effort in 1953 from Al Escalante and Juan Neri. USA: Matt Kuchar and Kyle Stanley never really threatened to bring the USA a 25th World Cup title, shooting 66-79-66-68 to finish at 9 under and a tie for 16th. SHOT OF THE DAY QUOTABLES I haven’t heard a roar like that for a very long time. It was awesome. There’s nothing like representing your country on the other side of the world, it’s just amazing. It’s kind of a funny week, the weather was different, total different all the time. A little disadvantage having different balls … that’s why I struggled with the short game a little bit this week.  

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SAN ANTONIO — Brandt Snedeker and Beau Hossler each shot rounds of 5-under 67 to join J.J. Spaun and Dylan Frittelli atop the leaderboard after the third round of the Valero Texas Open on Saturday. RELATED: Leaderboard | Top 10 Valero Texas Opens | Martin sees bigger picture at Valero Texas Open Both Spaun, who shot 69, and Frittelli (70) bogeyed the last hole to finish with a share of the lead at 10-under 206. Another final-hole bogey kept Scott Stallings out of the lead. He also shot 65 and was a shot back at 9-under. Matt Kuchar’s bogey at 18 dropped him to 8-under after an even-par round. Spaun birdied four of his five holes heading to the 18th to take a one-shot lead. At the 17th he drove the green at the 303-yard par-4 and almost made the 19-foot eagle. However, he pushed his tee shot on 18 into the trees, punched out, then laid up short of the stream that guards the final green. He ended up with a 22-foot putt for par that he missed. Second-round leader Ryan Palmer didn’t have a bogey Friday. On Saturday he didn’t have a birdie and dropped to 21st place with a 5-over 77. With a bogey-free round, Snedeker was 4-under on the backside. He is looking for his first win since 2018. It would be his 10th TOUR victory. Spaun and Hossler are each looking for their first TOUR win and Frittelli won in 2019 at the John Deere Classic. Maverick McNealy matched the best round of the day with 65, and he was three shots back with Charles Howell III (72), Si Woo Kim (68), Denny McCarthy (68), Troy Merritt (69), Aaron Rai (68), Brendon Todd (72) and Gary Woodland (72). Hossler had three-straight birdies starting at No. 14 when all of his approach shots finished less than 10 feet from the hole. A pro since 2016 after playing at University of Texas, Hossler has a career-best finish of second in the 2018 Houston Open and was third this year at Pebble Beach. Stallings, a 37-year-old three-time winner on the PGA TOUR, started the day out of the top 20 and got in range of the leaders when a 36-foot birdie dropped at No. 8 to go 7-under. It was his third birdie of the day, and two more at 14 and 15 gave him a share of the lead. A victory would be his first since the 2014 Farmers Insurance Open and would qualify him for the Masters next week. He hasn’t played in Augusta since a missed cut in 2014. Kuchar was two strokes out of the lead entering the day, but he was in a six-way tie for the lead when he walked off the second green after a 4-foot birdie putt. He took the lead with a 16-footer on the next. The lead was two with a birdie from 17 feet on the fourth. But his three-putt inside 40 feet on the fifth soon had him back in a tie. Spaun birdied three of his first six holes and reached 10-under at No. 6. It was the second time this week Spaun reached double digits and was on top of the leaderboard. On Friday, he reached 10-under and bogeyed three of four holes including a lost stroke at No. 9. On Saturday, he double-bogeyed the ninth.

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