Spieth says PLAYERS harder to win than a major

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Davis Riley made three birdies from tough spots to close out the front nine and then kept right on rolling Saturday until he had a 9-under 62, a tournament scoring record and a two-shot lead in the Valspar Championship. RELATED: Leaderboard | Wesley Bryan needs ‘special’ Sunday at Valspar Championship And just like that, a Masters invitation is in view for Riley, a 25-year-old PGA TOUR rookie. He played before the largest gallery at steamy Innisbrook, most of them there to watch the other Alabama alum in the pairing. Justin Thomas did his part with a third consecutive 66, which any other year would have set a tournament record. Riley stole the show with a creative chip-and-run from out of the rough and under a tree, and with a 70-foot bunker shot that clanged into the cup on the fly at No. 9. Those were two of his nine birdies on the Copperhead course — he had only 20 putts for the round — that helped him turn a five-shot deficit into a two-shot lead. “It’s always fun when you get to play with a good buddy and Justin obviously is one of the best players in the world,” Riley said. “There was definitely a level of comfort there for that.” Riley was at 18-under 195, breaking by four the tournament record last set a year ago by Sam Burns, who remains very much in the mix to win back-to-back. Matthew NeSmith, who set the 36-hole record and led by four shots when he made the turn, made his first bogey of the week at No. 10 and dropped three more shots. He sprinkled in enough birdies and a solid par save on the 18th for a 69. Riley and NeSmith will be in the final group Sunday. Thomas and Burns (67) were three shots behind and have the experience of winning. Adam Hadwin, who won at Innisbrook five years ago for his only PGA TOUR title, shot 70 and was five shots behind. NeSmith had reason to wonder what happened. He did everything right, with birdies on the par 5s, at 15-foot birdie putt on No. 7 and an 8-foot birdie on the ninth to reach 18 under. But he began showing a few cracks in his iron game, going into a bunker on the 10th, long on a pair of the par 3s and hitting a poor chip that led to bogey on the 16th. Even so, he was right there with a chance to win for the first time and earn a trip to the Masters, where his dad used to work as a part-time caddie. “This is what I’ve dreamed of as a little kid, coming out here and playing in the final group,” NeSmith said. “On the PGA TOUR the final group is the coolest thing in the world, and to have that opportunity and to play well was great. And I just tried to enjoy the walk. It’s hard. It’s obviously very hard. But I did a good job. “The goal was to finish 18 holes and enjoy the walk and we did both of those things today, so I’m pretty happy.” Thomas has gone more than a year since his last victory, at THE PLAYERS Championship, and stayed in the hunt amid the Riley show. He made a tough par save to close out the front nine and matched Riley with a 31 on the back nine to remain three behind. Even Thomas got caught up in Riley’s performance. “It was really impressive,” Thomas said. “It’s a big moment for a rookie — anybody — and he handled it like a rock star and made 9 under look very, very easy barring a crazy chip-in there on 9.” The Copperhead course played slightly tougher with the strongest breeze of the week on the tree-lined property. Even three days of sunshine couldn’t make the greens too firm, and players still took aim and scored low. The average score was 69.7. Xander Schauffele had a 68 and was in the large group at 11-under 202.

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What were we watching in 2020? What moments defied expectations and practically screamed to be shared and clicked again and again and again? We were fascinated by golf balls diving into holes - and in one case coming out like it was scared of the dark. We loved the interplay between Tiger Woods and his incredibly talented doppelganger, 11-year-old son Charlie. And we thrilled at the Dustin Johnson-Jon Rahm mano-a-mano at the BMW Championship. Herewith, the five most watched moments of the year. RELATED: Top read stories of 2020 5. Tiger’s eagle bounces out of the hole He made it. He didn't make it. Tiger Woods' 141-yard approach shot at the Farmers Insurance Open took two hops and fell in the hoop. And then, a microsecond later, it popped back out as if it had crawled back up the cup lining. "Unbelievable," said Nick Faldo. 4. Charlie Woods’ first-ever eagle Charlie Woods, 11, had won junior events in South Florida but no one knew the extent of his game until the televised PNC Championship. When he hooked a 5-wood around a stand of trees to a few feet from the pin, Tiger's tiny partner had made eagle on his own ball. 3. Dustin Johnson's incredible birdie on No. 18 at BMW Up and over a ridge, swinging right and downhill, then turning left at the hole - it's hard to overstate the difficulty of Dustin Johnson's 43-foot birdie putt on 18 in the final round of the BMW Championship. Then he made it, forcing a playoff with Jon Rahm. 2. Rory McIlroy sticks approach with Tiger Woods tending flag With Rory McIlroy practicing in the group behind Tiger Woods at the Genesis Invitational, and sizing up his approach shot from far back in the fairway, Woods jokingly tended the flag. McIlroy hit, and the shot was so good Woods could only laugh. 1. Jon Rahm's 66-foot birdie putt to win playoff at BMW Jon Rahm should have been shaken by Dustin Johnson's crazy 43-foot birdie putt to force a playoff at the BMW Championship. Instead, Rahm returned to 18 and made an even harder putt from 66 feet and on a similar line to end it. Said NBC's Dan Hicks, "Is this really happening?"

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