Strong putting leads Spieth to 65 in opening round at Torrey Pines

TULSA, Okla. — Mito Pereira skidded out of control just like so many other contenders in the wind and cold of Southern Hills. He got back on course at just the right time Saturday in the PGA Championship. Pereira steadied himself with three birdies over the last six holes, the final one from just outside 25 feet for a 1-under 69. That gave the 27-year-old from Chile a three-shot lead over Matt Fitzpatrick and Will Zalatoris. For Tiger Woods, his slide on a battered right leg seemed to last all day in what turned out to be his last round. Woods withdrew for the first time in a major as a pro. He limped around Southern Hills for a 79, his worst score ever in the PGA Championship. At stake for the 27-year-old Pereira is a chance to become the first PGA TOUR rookie to win a major since Keegan Bradley in the 2011 PGA Championship. “I was playing really good and suddenly I made four bogeys in five holes. It was a tough place to be at that moment,” he said. “But just found myself from 13 on. Those holes are pretty tough. So really happy how I ended up playing. The birdie on 18 was a bonus. “Just happy to be in this position.” There were missed opportunities for so many others on a rough day featuring a wind out of the north that made Southern Hills play entirely different. Former PGA champion Justin Thomas went 12 holes without a birdie, and then he gave it back with a bogey on the closing hole for a 74. Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson looked shaky as ever on the greens, making three bogeys over his last four holes for a 73. They went from the cusp of contention to seven shots behind. Rory McIlroy had a six-hole stretch around the turn that he played in 6 over — and that even included a birdie — for a 74 to fall nine shots back. Zalatoris had his problems, too. He dropped four shots in the opening seven holes and went from a one-shot lead to a five-shot deficit until he crawled his way back into the game. “I was pretty frustrated with the start but I would rather have a frustrating start and good finish. It’s good momentum heading into tomorrow,” Zalatoris said. Pereira, the top player on the Korn Ferry Tour last year, was at 9-under 201. He will be in the final group of his first PGA Championship — and only his second major — with Fitzpatrick, who birdied his last two holes for a 67 to quietly sneak into contention. Zalatoris will be in the penultimate group with Cameron Young, the son of a PGA professional, who charged into the mix by driving the 296-yard 17th hole and making a 25-foot eagle. He wound up with a 67 and was four shots behind. What the leading four players have in common is inexperience at the highest level. None has won a major. None has even won on the PGA TOUR, the toughest circuit in golf, although Fitzpatrick is the No. 17 player in the world with seven titles on the DP World Tour. Pereira wasn’t immune from a slide. He became the first player to reach 10 under for the championship with a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-5 sixth, and he stretched the lead to five shots when Zalatoris made another bogey. But then the Chilean took bogey on the par-3 eighth, chunked an approach from the fairway on the ninth and made bogey, had a wedge spin off the front of the green at No. 10 and into the bunker for bogey, and went over the 12th green for a fourth bogey in five holes. Zalatoris briefly caught him with a 35-foot birdie putt on the par-5 13th. That only lasted as long as it took Pereira who match birdies from 18 feet, and the Chilean answered with a daring shot over the edge of a bunker to 6 feet for birdie on the par-3 14th. Woods was long gone and aching when all this action unfolded. He looked pained as ever in the morning after a half-hour delay from rain, making five straight bogeys, hitting two balls in the water and having to hole a 5-foot putt on the final hole to break 80. The only other time he withdrew from a major was when he injured his wrist in the 1995 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills when he was an amateur. Only 16 players remained under par at Southern Hills, a list that included Webb Simpson. On Friday, he had to save par from a bunker on his final hole to make the cut on the number. In a tie for 64th at the start of the third round, Simpson shot a 65 and moved into a tie for 10th. He was eight shots back, seemingly too far to catch Pereira, but so little is known about how he will be react to the Sunday pressure of trying to win a major.

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THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Matthew Wolff vowed he wouldn't be too nervous nor would he be trying to impress Tiger Woods in their first competitive PGA TOUR round together. In the end, he did both. Playing with his idol and fellow Southern Californian Woods, the 21-year-old Wolff shook off a rough start in the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD before shooting a respectable 3-under 69. He was matched by another young California kid in the group as 26-year-old Xander Schauffele also showed great poise to rebound from a late triple bogey. But the veteran 82-time TOUR winner they grew up wanting to be like - well, he had a day to forget. RELATED: Full leaderboard | How Tiger has inspired Phil Woods cobbled together a 4-over 76 in his first hit out since missing the cut at the U.S. Open, leaving the defending champion T75 in a 77-man field. The 44-year-old had a dismal day from the tee box, ranked last in the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (-2.770). He hit just seven of 13 fairways. His usual solid approach game was also missing with Woods ranked 75th in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green (-3.129) as he hit just 10 of 18 greens in regulation. An eight-foot birdie putt on the par-5 2nd hole was one of only three putts Woods made outside of five feet throughout the entire round. If Woods is to replicate his win from Japan a year ago, he will need to make up a deficit that already stands at 12 shots after Sebastian Munoz opened with a 64 to lead by one over Justin Thomas and Tyrrell Hatton. He has three rounds to do it given there is no cut, but it looks a tough road to navigate even though he's won at Sherwood five times in the past. For Wolff, it was a rollercoaster to remember. Having grown up nearby the young star has played Sherwood on numerous occasions, but never in competition this serious, and never with Woods. This was the legend he matched by winning the NCAA National Championship and a PGA TOUR event in the same year. They - along with Ben Crenshaw - are the only three to ever manage the feat. So Wolff was wary of falling into the trap of trying to impress the player he once used to watch from the galleries at Sherwood hoping for an autograph or even just a wave. "You do want to impress him and you do want to play well in front of him, but at the end of the day, that’s not what I came here to do. I came here to win a golf tournament," Wolff said prior to the round. "I feel like even though I’m just at the start of my career and I have a lot to prove to everyone, I’ve also accomplished a lot in the short time that I’ve been out here. It would be nice to go out and have Tiger talk about how good you are and stuff... his opinion is definitely a higher value than others..., but at the end of the day, if you don’t have confidence in yourself and you’re just trying to impress him... I just feel that that’s not a really good way to go about it. "I think you need to go out there and try to win a golf tournament no matter who you’re playing with. At the end of the day he’s one of the greatest of all time, but there’s people who have beaten him." Winning the tournament was a long way from possible when he sat two over through his first five holes and made the turn with a 1-over 37. But he stormed back into contention with an eagle, birdie, birdie run on holes 1-3. A few more chances slipped by but Wolff most certainly has a chance to contend after finishing runner up in two of his last three starts. Just days after being pipped at THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK by Jason Kokrak, Schauffele was flying at 5-under though 11 holes. But he dropped four shots in his next two holes to freefall down the leaderboard. But two birdies in his final three holes ensured he will also start Friday with a chance.

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The third round of the inaugural 3M Open takes place on Saturday from TPC Twin Cities. Here’s how to follow all the action. Round 3 leaderboard Round 3 tee times HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 2-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1-2:45 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Saturday, 10:15 a.m.-3 p.m. ET (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. ET (featured holes). Sunday, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m. ET (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. ET (featured holes). International subscribers (via GOLF.tv): Thursday-Friday, 12:00 to 22:30 GMT. Saturday-Sunday, 13:30 to 22:00. RADIO: Thursday-Friday, noon-6 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. ET (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com). FEATURED GROUPS (ALL TIMES EASTERN) Patrick Reed, Joaquin Niemann, Fabian Gomez: 10:45 a.m. Tony Finau, Corey Conners, Hideki Matsyuama: 11:45 a.m.  Sam Saunders, Sam Burns, Brian Harman: 12:35 p.m. Bryson DeChambeau, Adam Hadwin, Scott Piercy: 12:45 p.m. MUST READS DeChambeau leads, ties course record with 62 Saunders trending up at 3M Minnesota native Lehman fires 4-under 67 Finau finding his comfort zone at TPC Twin Cities TPC Twin Cities gets ‘tough’ makeover Former Vikings linebacker now TOUR rules official Family’s military background helps mold Cauley CALL OF THE DAY

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