Third annual MetLife Matchup tees off on February 4th

Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal shot 8-under 62 on Sunday to win the ISPS Handa Championship for his seventh European tour title — and first on home soil.

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Note: This file has been updated after the completion of the second round Saturday morning at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Jordan Spieth hopes to complete 20 holes on Saturday. He’ll need to do it on two different courses. Spieth was the only player among the five co-leaders who failed to finish the second round before play was suspended Friday afternoon due to wet conditions at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The 2017 champ is one of 44 golfers facing an extended day Saturday as the tournament seeks to get its schedule back on track. Play resumed at 10:10 a.m. ET (7:10 a.m. local) with Spieth having two holes left at Spyglass Hill. He’d completed his second round after finishing the ninth hole, then shuttled to Pebble Beach for the third round. “I’ve got a shot from the fairway on eight, and then the ninth hole trying to make two pars there – and then go on to Pebble and kind of see what the day gives you,â€� Spieth said on Friday.  Unfortunately, he was unable to produce two pars. Spieth bogeyed his last hole, the par-4 ninth at Spyglass Hill, early Saturday morning to finish off a 4-under 68 that left him at 9 under through 36 holes. That left four players at 10 under and tied for the lead after 36 holes — Phil Mickelson, Paul Casey, Lucas Glover and Scott Langley. Looking ahead to the rest of the forecast Saturday, meteorologist Joe Halvorson said there will be on-and-off periods of light rain, “with considerable dry time between the showers.â€� Winds could gust to 18 mph in the afternoon, and then another wave of rain is expected overnight Saturday. The heavy stuff on Friday didn’t appear until early afternoon. With tee times moved up an hour, it allowed 111 players and their amateur partners to finish the second round before play was suspended at 2:11 p.m. locally. Mickelson, Casey, Glover and Langley each finished their 36 holes on Friday at 10 under, with Spieth at the same mark after 34 holes. Jason Day was at 9 under with three holes remaining on his round – he bogeyed his first hole Saturday but bounced back with a birdie to join Spieth in a tie for fifth. Scott Piercy, solo seventh, is at 8 under after playing his three holes Saturday in even par.  “I’m so happy to get done,â€� Casey said after his 7-under 64 at Monterey Peninsula, the low score on Friday. “We were on the last hole and I heard that horn go. And then there was a second one and then a third one. … I had to think for a minute because you get one long blast, you’re done. But the three means, I guess, it’s bad conditions but you can finish the hole. I’m like, ‘We can finish the hole?’ “I’ve never been so happy. I went from upset to happy in an instant.â€� Langley, whose best finish in six starts in this event was a T-62 a year ago, had to play his last three holes at Spyglass Hill in the rain. He three-putted the 17th for bogey and eventually finished with a 3-under 69 after shooting a 64 at Monterey Peninsula on Thursday. “Thankfully we got pretty much 15 holes rain-free, which I felt pretty lucky to get,â€� Langley said. “So count it as a good break, and obviously really happy with my score. Spyglass always seems to be the course that I’ll call it the toughest out of the three.â€� Of the top six players on the leaderboard, Mickelson, Langley, Spieth and Day will play their third rounds at Pebble Beach, where most of the crowd will be with the amateur celebrities also on site. Casey will be at Spyglass Hill, and Glover will be at Monterey Peninsula. If there is an advantage, it would go to Glover. The stroke average for Monterey this week is 1.060 under par, while Spyglass Hill is 0.140 under par and Pebble Beach is 0.191 over par. But Glover is not looking at it that way. His approach will be the same as the first two rounds. “Just get the ball in the fairway first and then go from there and be aggressive where we can,â€� he said. Mickelson, a four-time winner of the AT&T Pebble Beach, has 83 career rounds in this event and is a collective 140 under – the most under par of any player in the last 20 years. He knows the rain and wind and cold — temperatures will hover around 50 on Saturday — can challenge anybody’s gameplan. “You just don’t know how it’s going to play or what the weather’s going to be,â€� said Mickelson, who was the solo leader for much of his round until three late bogeys brought him back to the pack. “You end up trying to shoot as low a round as you can because everybody else is facing the same conditions.â€� But not every player has the same number of holes to play. Ask Spieth, who must start his Saturday earlier than his four co-leaders. At least the course should be drier than when he left it on Friday.

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Montreal, QC, Canada — An object in motion generally stays in motion, and just one event removed from his first professional victory at the ATB Financial Classic, Corey Pereira seems to have maintained his momentum through the off-week and into this week’s Mackenzie Investments Open presented by Jaguar Laval. With a staggering nine birdies on his round, the Mission Viejo, CA native played a bogey-free round for the seventh time this season and matched his lowest score relative-to-par as a professional golfer in the form of a 9-under 63 to set the Elm Ridge Country Club course record. “It was awesome, I really got it going out there,� said Pereira. “Tee-to-green, it was mediocre, but I haven’t putt that well in a long time; I seemed to make everything out there and golf is fun when it’s like that.� While a hot putter was the case in Montreal, just under a month ago in Calgary, the Washington University alum proved he could do it by striking the ball as well, firing rounds of 64-65-62-67. While Pereira self-admittedly struggled with the flat stick during his second round at the ATB Financial Classic, it was how he turned it around that won him the title. “I know how difficult it is to win; one warm day doesn’t mean it’s the summer,� said the second-year pro. “I can go out tomorrow and struggle, but I have to be prepared for anything, and there’s some things I need to tighten up if I want to win this tournament.� Currently in the No. 6 position on the Order of Merit, a win would solidify Pereira’s spot among The Five that gain Web.com Tour status at season’s end, and while Pereira knows this, it’s not something he is actively going to think about as the week goes on. “It’s huge being in that top-5, I know that,� said Pereira, who finished last season at No. 39 on the Order of Merit. “I can only control my game, take it one shot at a time, try to shoot the lowest score I can and see where the numbers stack up.� Two Canadians currently sit in a tie for 13th at 4-under, Luke Moser, who Monday qualified into the event, and Sebastian Szirmak, a Quebec native playing this week on a Sponsor’s Exemption. The duo leads the charge for the Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Week award, while Mackenzie Tour regulars this season Taylor Penrith and Michael Gligic sit in a tie for 42nd at 2-under. Key Information  When asked about his ability to take rounds way under-par, Corey Pereira made reference to his closest call to a 59 at Cameron Park Country Club, his home club in California. Playing with his course-record holding friend, Pereira had a putt for 59 on the final hole that would not only get him to the elusive number for the first time but would also break his pal’s record by one. While Pereira left the putt on the lip, he says it’s rounds like those back home that taught him how to play freely when under par.  Entering the week at No. 65 on the Order of Merit, Theo Humphrey played his best round since the Windsor Championship in July, avoiding any bogeys to fire a 66 to put him in a tie for third place.  With his spot in the Freedom 55 Financial Championship secured, Blake Olson has his sights set on more as he comes into the Mackenzie Investments Open presented by Jaguar Laval in spot No. 42 on the Order of Merit. In search of his third top-10 of the season, Olson made eight birdies, including two to close out his round, to shoot 65.  While Paul McConnell opened the season strongly with back-to-back top-15 finishes to start the year, he has struggled since, missing three cuts. However, on Thursday at Elm Ridge the University of Texas-Arlington alum was back in form, making five birdies in a row from hole Nos. 13-17 before closing with a par to fire a 66.  Last season, JD Tomlinson finished the season as the odd-man out in spot No. 61 on the Order of Merit, giving him no status on the Mackenzie Tour. Working his way back onto the Tour, Tomlinson comes into Montreal in a similar position, currently at number 59. The Gainesville, FL native did himself a favour on Thursday, making six birdies to fire a 67 to sit comfortable in a tie for sixth.  Zach Wright, who, while playing consistently, has cooled slightly since his dominant start to the season, looks to solidify his spot at No. 2 on the Order of Merit with a good finish this week at Elm Ridge. The Louisiana State product got off on the right foot on Thursday, carding a bogey-free 67 to sit in a tie for sixth.  Order of Merit leader Tyler McCumber, winner of three of the past four Mackenzie Tour events, played his worst first round since the season-opening Freedom 55 Financial Open, making four birdies and two bogeys to shoot 70. Quotable “I just tried to shoot 59 when I had that going, and my home course is like that, it plays pretty easy and we shoot some low rounds out there, so I try to go as low as I can, and I feel like I’m comfortable under-par and I’m comfortable going more under par. My background helped me today.� – Corey Pereira “I just played pretty solid, hit the driver really well, gave myself some short irons and then just made a couple putts, so it was an easy day overall. The wind was starting to pick up towards the end of the day, so it was a bit more difficult for the guys in the afternoon, but overall I played really good.� – Blake Olson “I’ve got other goals, like, trying to get into the top-10 and we’ve got two weeks to do it, so I’m trying to do all I can and just play well each day. Being aggressive off the tees and being patient coming in is just really a priority, so that’s what I’m going to try to do all week.� – Blake Olson “I started off hitting a snap hook on the first hole and thought, ‘oh boy, this might not be good,’ but I ended up making a great par putt, about an eight-footer, on one of the easiest holes on the golf course. To make that save to start the day allowed me to have a good round, and I hit the ball really well after that and ended up shooting a good score.� – Theo Humphrey “I think I’ve been too focused most of this year on end results, trying to do this or trying to do that, I just need to go out there and play good golf and that usually adds up pretty well.� – Theo Humphrey First-Round Weather: Warm and sunny, 23 degrees Celsius with minimal wind.

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