The First Look: A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier

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LA QUINTA, Calif. — Lee Hodges and Paul Barjon took advantage of a late tee time Saturday to miss the worst of a windy day and share the third-round lead in The American Express. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Inside the Field: Farmers Insurance Open “It was tough early and it kind of died on our back nine a little bit,” Hodges said. “It was off and on, but it was a good wind. The easy holes were playing a little easier, but the hard holes were hard. So you just had to make a couple pars and then get to those downwind holes.” Playing together in the final group off the 10th tee on PGA West’s Stadium Course, the PGA TOUR rookies and close friends each birdied the par-5 fifth, par-4 seventh and par-5 eighth and closed with a par. “We’re just best buddies and we have a great time out there,” Hodges said. “We keep it really light and it’s easy to compete when your friends are playing well.” Hodges, a 26-year-old former Alabama golfer, shot an 8-under 64. Barjon, the 29-year-old Frenchman who played at Texas Christian, had a 65. “We just kind of feed off each other, so it’s been fun,” Barjon said. Hodges opened Thursday with a 62 at La Quinta Country Club for a share of the first-round lead with defending FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay, then shot a 72 on Friday on PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course. Hodges and Barjon, both making their 14th PGA TOUR start, were at 18-under 198. Tom Hoge was a stroke back after a 68 at La Quinta, playing in the second group off the first tee in the strongest wind of the day. “Generally, I would say it’s better to be here,” Hoge said about tree-lined La Quinta. “It’s a little more protected from the trees and a little bit shorter golf course, so you could play a little more conservatively off the tee, get the ball in play and go from there.” Hoge opened with his lone bogey of the week. He holed out from a greenside bunker on the par-4 fourth for the first of three straight birdies, added a birdie on the par-5 11th and parred the last seven. Seamus Power, also at La Quinta, was 16 under after a 66. The Irishman played a five-hole stretch on the front nine in 6 under, capping the run with an eagle on the par-5 sixth. “It was an interesting round,” said Power, who won his first TOUR title at the Barbasol Championship last year in Kentucky. “It was very fun on the front there. It was one of those rounds just kind of made everything I looked at for an hour and a half.” Hudson Swafford, the 2017 champion, was at 15 under with Harry Higgs and Lanto Griffin. Swafford birdied four of his last five holes on the Stadium Course, the site of the final round. “I was really patient,” Swafford said. “I gave myself a lot of looks even though it played really tough early. I mean the wind, I’m not going to say it’s laid down, but it was blowing early pretty good.” Griffin had a 69 at La Quinta. He’s making his first start of the year after injuring his back carrying his dog and withdrawing from the Sony Open last week in Hawaii. “It’s feeling a lot better than I thought it would and I’m playing a lot better than I thought I would,” Griffin said. “So, it’s been a really fun week.” Higgs shot a 67 on the Stadium layout in the first group off the first tee. Cantlay, a stroke ahead entering the day, had an even-par 72 on Stadium Course to drop four strokes back. Trying to win for the third time in four starts, the former UCLA player had four birdies and four bogeys. Last year in the desert, he closed with a Stadium-record 61 to finish a shot behind winner Si Woo Kim. Top-ranked Jon Rahm shot a 67 on the Stadium Course to get to 13 under. The 2018 winner finished with a 30-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th. Defending champion Kim was 11 under after a 69 on the Stadium Course. Tournament host Phil Mickelson tied for 150th in the 156-man field, shooting 78-73-72 and failing to advance to the final round.

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This week we head to Norton, Massachusetts, and TPC Boston, for the second FedExCup Playoffs event and the inaugural year of Dell Technologies’ title sponsorship. It’s only the second title sponsor (after Deutsche Bank) for this New England tournament that dates back to 2003. Take note: Thrilling comebacks are the norm here, typified most recently by Rory McIlroy, last year’s winner, shooting a final-round 65 to overtake Paul Casey. Arnold Palmer was the original designer for TPC Boston, but Gil Hanse and consultant Brad Faxon re-designed it in 2007. They added “chocolate-drop� mounds and grass bunkers to the 7,342-yard, par-71 layout. The green complex at the par-5 18th hole was redesigned and unveiled in 2012. The importance of the Dell Technologies cannot be overstated. The top 100 players in the FedExCup Playoffs will be cut to the low 70 for the BMW Championship, which, after a one-week break will be held Sept. 14-17. Three winners of the Dell Technologies have gone on to win the FedExCup since the Playoffs began in 2007: Vijay Singh in 2008, Henrik Stenson in 2013, and Rory McIlroy last year. But there’s even more at stake: Boston represents the last chance for players to earn automatic berths on the U.S. and International Presidents Cup teams. Two days after Monday’s final round, the U.S. and International team captains Steve Stricker and Nick Price will make their two captain’s selections.    PGA TOUR LIVE is scheduled to air from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, with Featured Groups coverage. The Featured Groups will consist of the top three in the FedExCup standings on Friday, and the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-ranked players Saturday. Similar to last year at this event, the second Featured Group each day will be decided by a Twitter vote. After Featured Groups, coverage will switch to Featured Holes at 3 p.m., the 161-yard, par-3 16th, and the 530-yard, par-5 18th, where many players will attempt to clear the hazard in front of the green with their second shots, then navigate what is arguably the most challenging green on the course.   PGA TOUR LIVE can also be viewed on Twitter from approximately 8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. Friday and Saturday. (Note: All times Eastern; FedExCup ranking in parentheses.) FRIDAY Dustin Johnson (1), Jordan Spieth (2), Justin Thomas (3): With his win over Spieth at THE NORTHERN TRUST at Glen Oaks, Johnson moved his record in sudden-death playoffs to 1-1 and matched Thomas with his fourth victory this season. No. 1 in the FedExCup and Official World Golf Ranking, Johnson has three top-10 finishes at TPC Boston and leads the TOUR in strokes gained: tee-to-green. Spieth, whose playoff record fell to 4-3, leads the TOUR in adjusted scoring and said he was unperturbed by what happened last week, Johnson having won it rather than Spieth losing it. Thomas is coming off a T6 finish at Glen Oaks, where he shot four sub-70 scores. He leads the TOUR in birdie-or-better percentage.       Tee time: 9:15 a.m. off 10 tee   Twitter vote groups: 9:03 a.m. off 10: Brooks Koepka/Daniel Berger/Charley Hoffman 8:51 a.m. off 10: Brian Harman/Pat Perez/Matt Kuchar 9:15 a.m. off 1: Kyle Stanley/Marc Leishman/Jason Dufner 9:03 a.m. off 1: Louis Oosthuizen/Xander Schauffele/Charles Howell III SATURDAY Hideki Matsuyama (4), Jon Rahm (5), Rickie Fowler (6): Matsuyama was on a roll when he shot a final-round 61 to win the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational just a little over three weeks ago. Now, though, he comes to Boston on the heels of a missed cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST. Rahm is trending upward: His T3 at Glen Oaks broke a mini-slump that saw him miss the cut at the U.S. Open, and finish a lackluster T44 at The Open and T28 at the WGC-Bridgestone. Meanwhile, Fowler continues to cruise with five top-10 finishes and two top-25s in his last seven starts worldwide.       Tee time: 9:15 a.m. off 10 tee Twitter vote groups: 9:03 a.m. off 10: Jhonattan Vegas/Kevin Kisner/Paul Casey 8:51 a.m. off 10: Webb Simpson/Kevin Chappell/Adam Hadwin 9:15 a.m. off 1: Russell Henley/Justin Rose/Brendan Steele 9:03 a.m. off 1: Jason Day/Sergio Garcia/Billy Horschel PGA TOUR LIVE is scheduled to air at 8:30 a.m. again Sunday and Monday, giving way to Featured Holes coverage of the fourth hole, a driveable par-4 where players will aim for the front-right corner of the green, plus 16 and 18.

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