THE PLAYERS Championship officials ready for wild weather

Two friends share a house and, so far, the lead at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. That could make for interesting dinner conversation.

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DALLAS — Sung Kang and his caddie did some calculations on the driving range before the second round of the AT&T Byron Nelson on an unseasonably cool day with some breezy conditions. “The biggest thing was we needed to figure how shorter the ball is going to fly,” Sung said. “So we just trusted the number … just hit it, and then worked out good.” Kang was pretty much right on, matching the Trinity Forest course record with a 10-under 61 on Friday to take the lead at 16 under. He led by four strokes over playing partner Matt Every, who had his second consecutive round of 65, and Tyler Duncan (66). Brooks Koepka, the world’s No. 3-ranked player who goes to next week’s PGA Championship as defending champion, was fourth at 11 under after a 66. He overcame two early bogeys with six birdies in an 11-hole stretch that included four in a row late. “Solid round, just trying to keep pace,” Koepka said. “I would like to have been in the lead. But I mean, hey 61 today was pretty darn impressive.” Koepka was a stroke ahead of Rory Sabbatini, who had a bogey-free 65. With temperatures in the low 50s, Kang opened with a 9-foot birdie on the par-5 No. 1 hole. His approach to within a foot of the cup at the 311-yard No. 5 set up a string of six birdies in a row. “I don’t know what the guys are talking about. Perfect and awesome and nice conditions for the course,” Kang said jokingly after getting a post-round fist bump from Jordan Spieth, a member at Trinity Forest who shot 67 to get to 7 under. Kang had three more birdies in four holes on the back nine. His only par in that stretch was at the 441-yard par-4 15th — where the 31-year-old South Korean who lives in North Texas had his putter raised in the air in anticipation of another birdie. The 21-foot chance instead lipped the cup. “My 67 doesn’t look so good,” the beanie-wearing Spieth said, comparing his to Kang’s score. “But going out today, if you had offered me 4 under, I would have taken it.” First-round leader Denny McCarthy followed his opening 63 with a 77. Tony Romo, the CBS NFL analyst and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and also a Trinity Forest member, was 8 over after a 74. He missed the cut, like he did in two other PGA TOUR starts in the Dominican Republic, and tied for 148th in the event that began with 156 players. The only bogey for Every came at the 606-yard 14th hole, where his tee shot settled in the lip of a fairway bunker. Every slung away the rake that was by the bunker when he got there. He then hit the ball, which didn’t go nearly as far as the helicoptering club that he then threw in disgust. “Nothing I can do about it except get mad and complain, which I did,” he said. “Other than that, it was good.” At the par-3 17th, Every’s tee shot landed on the green in a good position, but rolled off and down the hill into some rough. He saved par after hitting to 8 feet. While Every didn’t get as much as he would have wanted out of those two tee shots that he called his best shots of the day, he still had an impressive round “drafting off of Sung all day, really.” After his near miss at No. 15, Kang’s tee shot at the 382-yard 16th went into a bunker, but he blasted to 11 feet and made birdie. He just missed a 24-foot birdie chance at the par-3 17th, and finished with a 14-foot par to match the 61 Marc Leishman had last year in the first Byron Nelson round played at Trinity Forest after the tournament moved from Four Seasons. Spieth again got off to a solid start before making his turn off a double bogey — at No. 9 during his opening 68 and at the 494-yard 18th on Friday, when he had an approach shot roll back down a swale toward him. He then birdied No. 1, and had three more birdies the last five holes. “It was nice to bounce back,” said Spieth, without a top-20 finish this season and without a win since the 2017 British Open. “That’s nice as you go into a weekend. Good momentum.” Romo, the only amateur in the Nelson, played on a sponsor exemption. He plans to compete in a U.S. Open local qualifying tournament next week. After an opening 76 with a chip-in eagle, Romo had three birdies Friday that were countered by four bogeys and a double bogey. “I think more than anything, I got a sense to be able to hit a lot of high-quality shots under what is a pressure situation for me,” Romo said. “That’s encouraging and shows that the work you’re doing holds up when it counts.”

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Sometimes patience goes a long way, and things can be worth the wait. Just ask Kevin Na, who has produced plenty of highlights between victories on the PGA TOUR, but finally produced those that matter most: Winning ones. Welcome to the Monday Finish, where Na said yeah on the greens at The Old White TPC over the weekend to streak away Sunday for a dominant win. FIVE OBSERVATIONS 1. Good things come to those who wait. When Kevin Na won the 2011 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, the prevailing thought was it would not be his last victory. Most pundits might not have said he’d win an epic number of tournaments, but the majority expected Na to make his presence felt in the winner’s circle again. The confidence of that happening dwindled with each passing missed opportunity and throughout a period where Na just could not pull the trigger on his swing. He had six runner up results since his Las Vegas triumph leading into this week. But after a less than stellar opening round, where he gave up nearly two strokes on the field in putting, Na found his groove. His performance on the greens on the weekend was first class. His Sunday efforts on the way to a 6-under 64 and a five-shot win showed a calmness in the moment he’d been missing. Saturday he made 124 feet, seven inches of putts. Sunday it was 143 feet, eight inches. See more about his putting stats below. Six birdies in seven holes set up the win. And a clutch par putt on the 12th, after his only bogey the hole before, showed he was ready. Much maligned at times for his pace of play or above mentioned “yips� Na always kept a positive attitude. And sported an infectious smile. His 16 at the Texas Open a few years back will always be the stuff of legend… but it is great to see him add a different set of highlights. 2. Phil Mickelson never really troubled those near the top of the leaderboard all week, but it didn’t stop him from dominating some headlines. Mickelson revealed a high stakes exhibition match against long-time rival Tiger Woods is in the works and had initially been mooted for the recently passed July 3 date. If it does happen, it’s sure to bring plenty of attention. It might be a decade or so after almost everyone wanted to see them head to head, but that’s okay. Now older and wiser, the pair could really add to the theatre of it all with plenty of barbs back and forth. It’s a watch this space scenario for sure. 3. He’s a familiar name with eight PGA TOUR wins, but Brandt Snedeker has been noticeably absent from regular contention this season as he returns from last year’s sternum injury. Sneds was one of those players you could always count on finding his way in and around the lead, but this reboot has been a tester on his patience as the great play hasn’t come as easy as often. But his steady perseverance started to bear fruit and now he has second top-10 finish from his last four starts. A tie for sixth at FedEx St. Jude Classic and his third place this week after a sublime Sunday 64 have Snedeker moving in the right direction to return to the FedExCup Playoffs. The 2012 FedExCup champion missed them last season with the injury. But an important move up to 84th this week — and booking a place in the Open Championship with his finish — has given him some breathing space and a platform from which to make further moves. 4. Sunday might have belonged to Na, but it was also significant to dig a little deeper and see how a bunch of players dealt with the furnace of pressure as they look to take their own dreams to another level. First there was Kelly Kraft and Harold Varner III, who held the 54-hole lead as they looked to secure their first wins on the PGA TOUR. They will certainly learn from the experience. Kraft hit the ball beautifully off the tee but couldn’t quite dial in his approach and putting game on Sunday. As each putt missed he saw Na just streak further and further away. But to his credit, he stayed solid enough to be runner up. Varner’s putter was also cold on Sunday and his tee game was also not quite up to scratch in terms of pushing for a win. But while it was clear he didn’t have his best stuff, Varner didn’t give up and ultimately finished in a tie for fifth. He shared that place with Sam Saunders, among others. Saunders was another with a chance for his first win, particularly with the good vibes of using Arnold Palmer’s old putter, but a Sunday 70 was all he could put together. Joel Dahmen had a chance to win but also failed to go low Sunday. But he put his experience of playing with Tiger Woods at the Quicken Loans National to immediate use, finishing with his first top-10 of the season. The tie for fifth is a career best finish on TOUR and just his second career top-10. And then there was John Peterson. Playing on his last start of a Major Medical exemption, Peterson needed a very high finish to get his TOUR card back. He needed a fairly high one for conditional status. Otherwise he would retire and move into real estate. After making a final hole birdie on Friday to make the cut on the number, he made his push all weekend and closed with a 66 to push into a tie for 13th. It meant a nervous wait. And in the end, it wasn’t the outcome he hoped for finishing an agonizing 0.58 points shy of the mark. If Peterson really is done with professional golf we wish him well in his new endeavors. 5. Bring on Joaquin Niemann. The youngster from Chile once again showed his mettle on Sunday. He could have mailed it in on Sunday after a disappointing third round sent him spiraling out of serious contention. But knowing every non-member FedExCup equivalent point is critical in his quest to join the PGA TOUR next season, the 19-year-old was outstanding on Sunday. His bogey-free 64 took him all the way into a tie for fifth and moved him to 414 non-member points. That would put him at 100th place on the list this season, seemingly locking up a place in the top 125 with just six weeks remaining. We are going to see a lot more of this guy. FIVE INSIGHTS 1. Na ranked inside the top 10 in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green (8th), Strokes Gained: Around- the-Green (4th) and Strokes Gained: Putting (2nd), marking just the second winner this season to rank inside the top 10 in all three of these Strokes Gained categories (Dustin Johnson, Sentry TOC). 2. Almost half (42 percent) of Na’s total strokes gained for the week were a result of his putting performance, gaining +1.772 strokes per round in Strokes Gained: Putting. In the last two rounds Na outperformed the field by +6.91 total strokes on the greens, compared to +0.19 in the first two rounds. 3. Na made five birdies in his opening nine holes of the final round, posting a 29. He’s just the fifth PGA TOUR winner in the ShotLink era to record an opening nine-hole score under 30. Na ranked inside the top four in several key putting statistics leading the field in Putts Per Round (26.50) and One-Putt Percentage (50%). He made three putts from outside 25 feet, tying Francesco Molinari (Quicken Loans National) and Webb Simpson (THE PLAYERS Championship) for the most Total One Putts from this distance by a winner this season. 4. Kraft (2nd), Snedeker (T3), Jason Kokrak (T3) and Austin Cook (T5) earned a berth into the 2018 Open Championship at Carnoustie. The leading four players who finished in the top 12 and ties not already exempt earned spots into the field. Cook received the invite for being the highest-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking of those who finished T5. 5. The big FedExCup movers this week included some critical moves with Playoff ramifications: Na — from 58th to 18th; Kraft — from 119th to 59th; Kokrak — from 95th to 64th; Snedeker — from 115th to 84th; Joel Dahmen — 126th to 108th; Saunders — 132nd to 113th and Varner — 139th to 123rd.

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