Three share lead after third round at Sanderson Farms Championship

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Albin Choi always dreamed of winning on the PGA TOUR. He just hoped it would be as a player. Choi got his first PGA TOUR win Sunday, but it was as a caddie for The Honda Classic champion Sungjae Im. Choi was a fortuitous fill-in on Im’s bag. It was Choi’s first week caddying for his friend, whom he met during Im’s lone season on the Korn Ferry Tour. Ki Taek Lee, a former college teammate of Jon Rahm’s, will be Im’s caddie for the next two weeks. Lee, who has caddied for K.J. Choi, was on Im’s bag at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship but missed last week to attend a wedding. Related: Monday Finish: Im breaks through | Im withstands pressure to win The Honda Classic Now Choi hopes the experience can help him continue his professional career as an injury to his left wrist heals. “Just seeing what it takes to be a PGA TOUR winner and being there inside the ropes, it was really good,â€� Choi said Sunday. “I haven’t felt that in a very long time.â€� Im won The Honda Classic by one stroke over Mackenzie Hughes. Im and Hughes both shot 66, matching Sunday’s lowest score, while playing in the fourth-to-last group. Choi was a groomsman in Hughes’ wedding. “That was really crazy,â€� Hughes said about the pairing. “I thought it was kind of a dream come true because my caddie is a good friend of mine, and I get to walk with Albin who I’ve known since junior golf days. It was a lot of fun. We had a few good laughs out there.” Choi, 27, is a former Canadian Amateur champion and was the 2013 Atlantic Coast Player of the Year while playing for North Carolina State (he won the award one year after someone named Brooks Koepka earned that honor). Choi turned pro in 2013 and won two years later on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada. He finished sixth on the Order of Merit that year. He’s played the past four seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour, collecting five top-10s in 110 career Korn Ferry Tour starts. Choi, who lives in Jupiter, Florida, lost his status after finishing 117th on the regular-season points list last year. He started caddying at nearby Old Palm Golf Club about four months ago while nursing a wrist injury. This was his first time caddying on the PGA TOUR. He had experience at PGA National, though. Choi got his Korn Ferry Tour card with a T14 finish in the 2015 Q-School at PGA National. “I know how hard it is to navigate your way through this golf course. … I just felt like the experience kind of helped me today,â€� Choi said. “From a player standpoint, I kind of knew what he was feeling at certain times, and I felt like I could kind of draw upon my experiences to help him out today and to keep his head in the right place.â€�

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HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Webb Simpson celebrated another victory on Father’s Day, this time with a tartan jacket. In a wild sprint to the finish after a three-hour weather delay, Simpson ran off five birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine at Harbour Town and closed with a 7-under 64 for a one-shot victory over Abraham Ancer. Simpson won the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in 2012. The U.S. Open has been scheduled to end on Father’s Day every year since 1976, but it was moved to September this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Simpson has also won on Mother’s Day (THE PLAYERS Championship in 2018). The RBC Heritage filled the spot on the schedule and Simpson, now a father of five, became a winner for the second time this year with a record score at Harbour Town. He didn’t have much of a choice with so many low scores on a soft course with little wind. He finished at 22-under 262, breaking by two the tournament record set by Brian Gay in 2009. “It was a crazy day,” Simpson said. “I didn’t get it going until 12 and then the putts started going in and I started getting confident. It’s amazing to be standing here right now.” Simpson, who won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February, moved to No. 5 in the world. He also moved to the top of the FedExCup standings. It was a tough runner-up finish for Ancer, trying to become the fifth straight winner of the RBC Heritage to capture his first PGA TOUR victory at Harbour Town. He hit all 18 greens in regulation and tied for the lead with a bold fairway metal over the trees to the par-5 15th that set up a two-putt birdie. He also stayed in the game with a birdie on the 17th. Ancer shot 65. There was just no catching Simpson, whose only birdies were on the par 5s on the front nine until he couldn’t miss. He rolled in birdie putts from 10 feet and 20 feet on the 12th and 13th, two-putted for birdie on the 15th and then sealed it with two more birdies from 15 feet and 18 feet. Charles Schwab Challenge winner Daniel Berger also stayed in the mix by chipping in for birdie on the 17th and closing with a 65. Tyrrell Hatton, whose last tournament was his victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, was leading until a poor tee shot led to bogey on the 13th, and bogeys were hard to recover from on this day. He shot 66 and tied for third. Dylan Frittelli had the low score of a tournament filled with them, a 62 that put him in the lead before the final groups even teed off. Justin Thomas had a 63 and tied him. Both knew it wasn’t going to hold up, especially after returning from a storm delay to still conditions and even softer conditions. But it led to a carousel of contenders, and even Brooks Koepka got in the mix. Koepka hit driver on the 331-yard ninth hole that hit on the slope above the bunker and settled 3 feet for his eagle. He birdied the next two to get within one of the lead, but his hopes ended with a 5-foot birdie putt he missed on the par-5 15th. Koepka missed a pair of 5-foot par putts on the front nine. He closed with a 65 and finished seventh, his best result since the Tour Championship. Rory McIlroy closed with a 70 and tied for 41st, his second straight result out of the top 30 after going seven consecutive events worldwide with no finish worse than fifth. The PGA TOUR now heads to the Connecticut for the Travelers Championship.

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Patrick Reed's process for handling an embedded-ball drop was declared "textbook" by PGA TOUR rules officials, Reed said in an interview after his third round at the Farmers Insurance Open. Reed's approach shot on the par-4 10th hole sailed well left into deep rough. As he approached the ball, he was told by a volunteer that his ball did not bounce after landing, leading Reed to believe his ball may have embedded. Players are permitted free relief from an embedded ball. Torrey Pines is playing soft after rain and hail hit Friday, causing the first three rounds to be played under lift, clean and place. Before checking to see if his ball was embedded, Reed told his playing partners, "Hey guys, I'm going to check it. They said it didn't bounce." When rules official Brad Fabel arrived, Reed had already determined his ball was embedded and moved it. Reed then asked Fabel to check the ground for an indentation, saying, "Since I picked it up to check - it seems like it broke ground - but I want you to double check." The official said he did feel an indentation in the ground from Reed's ball. He then guided Reed through the drop for relief. Video replay showed Reed's ball did bounce after landing, but in a post-round interview, rules official Ken Tackett said, "We're fine with the outcome of the situation." Reed got up-and-down to save par on 10. Reed birdied his final hole to shoot 70 and tie Carlos Ortiz for the 54-hole lead at 10 under par.

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