The GOAT Invitational: Wright stuff vs. Arnie?

LA QUINTA, Calif. – A World Golf Hall of Famer, the Desert Classic’s most consistent contender and a 31-year-old rookie will meet in Sunday’s final group of the Desert Classic. Phil Mickelson said he was rusty at the start of the week. Three days later, he shot the second-lowest 54-hole score of his lengthy career, a 22-under 194 (60-68-66). He’s trying to become just the third wire-to-wire in the Desert Classic’s 60-year history. He has a two-shot lead over Adam Hadwin, who’s accustomed to late Sunday tee times on PGA West’s Stadium Course. Adam Long, who’s making his sixth PGA TOUR start, is 19 under par after shooting his second 63 of the week. Mickelson is seeking the 44th win of his Hall of Fame career. He has converted 25 of 39 54-hole leads into victory, but this is just the second time since 2013 that he has started Sunday with a lead. He held a two-shot lead entering the final round of the 2016 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but shot 72 and lost to Vaughn Taylor by one shot. “I just love being in contention, having a chance to win, being in the final group, feeling the nerves, feeling that excitement, the opportunity,� Mickelson said.. “It’s really fun.� Hadwin is 79 under par at this event since 2016. No one else has come close to matching him over those 15 rounds. Mickelson is 58 under. Only Bud Cauley, who missed the cut, stands between them (59 under). “I’ve had a chance these last few years now,� Hadwin said. “I’ve been close.� In the last three Desert Classics, he’s finished no worse than sixth. He’s shot seven consecutive rounds of 68 or lower here, going 40 under in that span. On Sunday, they’ll face the toughest course among the trio in use this week. Pete Dye built PGA West’s Stadium Course as a West Coast sequel to TPC Sawgrass. He was given orders to build the hardest golf course in the world. The course isn’t nearly as terrifying as when it opened in the 1980s, but there are still enough water hazards and deep bunkers to keep players on their toes. MUST READS: Round 3, Desert Classic The field has averaged 70.4 strokes on the Stadium Course this week, but there have been 64 scores of double-bogey or worse, as well. There aren’t any hazards in the short grass, though. Hadwin hit all 18 greens in his 65 on Thursday at the Stadium Course. Mickelson has made just one over-par score this week despite missing half his fairways over the last two rounds. He was bogey-free at the Stadium Course on Saturday while hitting just six fairways. Mickelson, who’s second in driving distance this week, said it’s just part of his plan. “I played OK. My goal or game plan of playing the Stadium Course is to actually hit drivers and to try to bomb it down there as close to the greens as you can,� he said. “It’s a course you don’t have to be perfect on. You have to hit a lot of good shots in certain spots, but if you miss it properly, you can still play this golf course. “I feel like I don’t have to be perfect. I can come out, play aggressive, which is how I like to play, try to crush drivers and get it down as close as I can to the greens and see if I can make some more birdies.� Long will round out the final threesome. He’s 205th in the FedExCup after missing three of four cuts this season (and finishing T63 in his other start, at the Safeway Open). “It will be fun,� he said. “It will be exciting. It will be a challenge. It will be tough.�

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SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. – The passing of the guard at the 118th U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills came in front of a makeshift stage with USGA insignia. Dustin Johnson (67, 4-under) was on his way to podium to meet the press when he passed Henrik Stenson (70, 1-over), who was on his way off the risers. “Go ahead,â€� Stenson said, patting Johnson on the shoulder. “Tell them you’re invincible.â€� Powering through unanticipated rain and cool weather, Johnson made a 45-foot birdie putt at the seventh hole, suffered just one bogey, and reminded many why he’s the No. 1 player in the word with a 67 that has him 4 under halfway through the tournament. Invincible? He sure looks that way. “I like where par is a good score on every hole no matter what club you got in your hand, what hole it is,â€� Johnson said. “… Around here, the fairways are fairly generous, but with crosswinds on every hole, they’re still tough to hit. Even though you’re in the middle of the fairway, a lot of times with a wedge you’ve still got to hit a good shot just to give yourself a 15- or 20-footer.â€� Stenson and fellow European Graeme McDowell (70, 9-over) said the pea soup weather made them feel like they were playing an Open Championship. But Johnson is reminding that he’s a threat on every type of course as he vies for his second U.S. Open title in the last three years. “We kind of played in it from 15 to about No. 3,â€� Johnson, whose group started on the back nine, said of the bad weather, “and then it kind of let up a little bit for us, and then we got to finish in some nice weather.â€� The leader played the first two rounds with Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas just days after taking back the No. 1 ranking from the latter by winning the FedEx St. Jude Classic. While Shinnecock is dissimilar to TPC Southwind, Johnson hasn’t lost a step. He hit 12 of 14 fairways, many times with his driver, to power his way across a course that played even longer than its stated yardage of 7,440. “Dustin was in complete control of what he’s doing,â€� Woods said. “He’s hitting the ball so flush and so solid. I know it’s windy, it’s blustery, it was raining early, but he’s hitting right through it.â€� OBSERVATIONS FLEETWOOD MAKES MOVE … With the wind and spitting rain, Tommy Fleetwood was only halfway through his round when he began anticipating being done. He survived, then he thrived, making three birdies in his last five holes for a 4-under 66, the best round of the week and enough to get him in contention after an opening 75. “It was windy and it was cold and the rain was coming down,â€� Fleetwood said. “It was literally counting holes down and trying to survive and make pars. Brightened up a little bit, and then I made some birdies towards the end.â€� A four-time winner on the European Tour who came into this week ranked 12th in the world, Fleetwood was 6 over for his first 15 holes Thursday. Now he’s just five behind the 36-hole leader after making putts and reeling off six birdies on an extremely difficult Shinnecock Hills course Friday, one made even tougher by the elements. “You have to keep going,â€� Fleetwood said. “I made a bunch of bogeys on that back nine in a row (Thursday), made one birdie in the last three, and then get a round like today and you’re back in it.â€�   STENSON BOUNCES BACK … Henrik Stenson crushed a driver 311 yards and blistered a 3-wood some 288 yards to reach the par-5 16th hole in two shots. He made the eagle putt from just inside 20 feet, the highlight of an even-par 70 that has him at 1 over and five behind the leader. “I still don’t feel like I’ve played that great tee-to-green,â€� Stenson said after hitting 12 of 14 fairways. “I’ve hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, but it’s still been — you know, not the quality of strike that I would have liked to have and the control of the direction all the time. But certainly, when we needed two good swings on 16, we managed to find them.â€� As great as his eagle was, Stenson credited a par save at the long, par-4 12th hole as the key to his round. He holed a par putt of 14 feet, 7 inches to keep the round going. “I feel like I battled well, I holed out well,â€� he said. “A lot of tricky par putts these last two days, and just kept it together nicely.â€� FURYK FIGHTS HARD FOR 73 … Jim Furyk, 48, hasn’t played well as he prepares to take on the Ryder Cup captaincy in France, but his second-round 73 has him at 4 over and in the mix again at Shinnecock. The 2003 U.S. Open champion said he didn’t drive the ball well, which is normally one of his strengths, but, “I made a lot of good, solid par putts and was able to keep the round going.â€� A few of the pars he described as “magical.â€� (Not normally a Furyk word.) This, despite being caught completely off-guard by the bad weather. “No one in our group had an umbrella or a rain suit,â€� he said. “… When we were getting up this morning there was a zero percent chance of rain. I think when we got here I heard someone say it jumped to 15 percent. And then it rained for two hours.â€� Like other medium-length hitters, Furyk reported struggling to reach some of the longer par-4s. “Into that damp breeze, and with the rain, the ball was going absolutely nowhere,â€� he said. NOTABLES JUSTIN THOMAS – FedEx Cup No. 1 and world No. 2 fought hard while playing alongside Johnson and Woods, making short birdie at the par-3 seventh hole to give himself some wiggle room in making the cut. Signed for a second-round 70 to go into the weekend at 4 over. SERGIO GARCIA – With a new caddie on the bag shot a second-round 79 and at 14 over has no hopes of making the weekend. JON RAHM – Never looked comfortable at Shinnecock and struggled to a 77 (+15) to become the second member of the Spanish Armada group, after Garcia, to miss the cut by a mile. RUSSELL HENLEY – Held a share of the first-round lead but faded slightly with a second-round 73 to go into the weekend at 2 over and six shots off the lead. Made a triple-bogey 7 at the third. TIGER WOODS – Butchered the first hole again, his double-bogey 6 making him 5 over there in two days on the way to a second-round 72 to finish +10. Likely to miss the cut. QUOTABLES He definitely didn’t have it, but, really, he didn’t play that poorly.When we were getting up this morning there was a zero percent chance of rain. I think when we got here I heard someone say it jumped to 15 percent. And then it rained for two hours.  SUPERLATIVES Low round: 66, by Tommy Fleetwood.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Tiger Woods was in a cheerful mood by the end of his topsy-turvy third-round 72 (3-under total) at THE PLAYERS Championship at a cool, blustery TPC Sawgrass on Saturday. He had reversed his front-nine slide with birdies at 12, 16 and 17, avoided falling victim to the 54-hole cut, and even enjoyed a belly laugh with his playing partner, Kevin Na, after both of them birdied the penultimate hole with short putts. “Kevin, he almost picked the ball out of the hole before it even got there,â€� Woods said with a smile. “And I had pretty much a kick-in, so I tried to emulate him as best I possibly could, meanwhile still trying to make the putt–I got to make the putt first, so I thought we had a good laugh about it.â€� Woods almost even managed to forget about his quadruple-bogey 7 at the island 17th hole the day before. Almost. The only player to win this tournament in May and March, Woods came here in search of his 81st PGA TOUR title. But he essentially took himself out of the tournament with Friday’s two water-balls on 17. He only found out later that after the first one he could have dropped on the path to the green. “Yeah, I talked to (Golf Channel analyst David Duval) about it last night,â€� Woods said Saturday after he salvaged a 72 despite hitting just 8/14 fairways and ranking deep in negative numbers in Strokes Gained: Putting, his worst stats of the week. “I didn’t realize that, where my ball had crossed, where my ball — I thought it had crossed on the green and just hopped over the back and that was it. Go right to the drop area.â€� According to the new Rules of Golf, though, he could have dropped a club-length from where he entered the hazard, as long as he kept the entry point between himself and the hole. That would have allowed him to putt or chip his ball up the path and potentially save bogey. MUST READS: Tiger Woods “At the very least, he cost himself three shots,â€� Brandel Chamblee said in a nighttime Golf Channel segment in which he, Duval and Frank Nobillo recreated the scene. “Unfortunately, I just didn’t know that’s where the ball had crossed,â€� Woods said Saturday, adding that he would have known he was entitled to drop on the path. “There’s no marshals up there and so it is what it is.â€� At least he got revenge with a tap-in birdie on 17, a five-stroke improvement over the day before, even if it will be remembered more for the comic moment he shared with his playing partner.  Na is known for the quick pick-up, but he and Woods had never played together in a tournament over the last 16 years Na has been on TOUR. Na putted first, from 4 feet, 5 inches, and chased his ball into the hole, nearly scooping it up before it rattled around in the white plastic insert. “I do that all the time,â€� said Na, who shot 78 (3-over), and will miss the 54-hole cut. “He’s seen it. I asked him, ‘You’ve seen it?’ He said, ‘Yeah, I’ve seen it but I’ve never seen it in person.’ And then he had a little one, kinda mimicking me. He didn’t get there fast enough. And you gotta use the left hand. He used the other hand. I’ll give him a lesson later.â€� In other Woods news, he said he will play in the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play, March 27-31. “Well, I’m guaranteed to play three rounds in a couple weeks,â€� he said, “and so that’s basically like a tournament, and we’ll see from there.â€�

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