Three things we learned at Pebble Beach

DETROIT – There’s nothing like playing in front of a legend. That was the half-serious explanation from Matthew Wolff, 21, after his six straight birdies and second-round 64 put him at 11 under and in a tie for the early second-round lead at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He figured he was just showing off for playing partner Vijay Singh, the 57-year-old World Golf Hall of Famer. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said this,” Wolff said, “but on number six, after I birdied, I said, ‘Gosh, maybe I just have a thing of playing with older guys and playing really well,’ because at 3M last year I shot 62 playing with Tom Lehman. Maybe it’s something about the old greats, me feeling like I need to impress them or something like that.” RELATED: Leaderboard | Fowler enjoys solid start at Rocket Mortgage | DeChambeau gives himself ‘B’ after monster round Wolff won the 2019 NCAA individual title, turned pro, and broke through with his first PGA TOUR win at the 3M Open almost exactly a year ago. But his rocket-like trajectory stalled with no top-10 finishes since then, and he now says it was because he tried to be too perfect. By pressing and grinding, he said, he actually went backward. “I would say just maturity, just mentally,” he said of the big difference this week. It’s funny to hear the M word – maturity – from a guy who just turned 21. Wolff was born on April 14, 1999. By that time Singh had won his first major, the 1998 PGA Championship, on the way to three overall and 34 PGA TOUR wins in total. When Wolff was 5, Singh reached world No. 1; when Wolff was 9, Singh won the FedExCup. The two are separated by 36 years, but, alas, by only seven strokes on the scorecard over the first 36 holes at sunny Detroit Golf Club. While Wolff was scorching the course and climbing the leaderboard, Singh, who sports a white goatee these days, was carding his second straight 2-under 70. At 4 under total, he is projected to make the cut. “I haven’t really heard much about him before,” Wolff said. “I never met him before this and this, the last two days were a lot of fun. He was talking to me the whole time. We talked about anything from, you know, golf to what he does just randomly and where he likes to go and travel. It was a really cool experience. “… It was cool to see how he approaches it and how he goes about his game,” he added. “I definitely learned a lot from him the last two days. I think he’s going to make the cut, so I’m not going to let up and let him catch me.”

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Emergency 9 Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the Fort Worth Invitational that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Colonial Country Club is the longest-serving host on TOUR (1946) and plays 7,209 yards to a Par-70. Pain or Gain These were the top-10 picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: The hot temperatures led to the lowest scoring-round total for the week and those with the earlier tee times took advantage. Looking at the table above, only Koepka and Rahm improved on their positions from Round 2, with Rahm making the biggest jump. With a very similar forecast on the cards tomorrow, I’d expect similar scoring conditions but it might not matter as well as Justin Rose is playing. Four Shots Clear The only blemish on the Round 3 scorecard for 36-hole leader Justin Rose was a square on No. 16 that trimmed his five-shot lead down to four. Koepka will join Rose in the final pairing tomorrow and we’ll see if he can put any pressure on the world’s No. 5 player. Rose continued his stellar play as he only squared one bogey for the third consecutive round as he posted 14-under-par 196. He doesn’t have any “others” on his card either. The last Sunday round he signed for was 66 at THE PLAYERS. One more of those and he’ll win comfortably. His last TOUR win saw another premium player blow a large lead. Dustin Johnson led by six heading into the final round at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions but Rose fired 67 in that final round to post his only win of this season. Separated After toasting TPC Sawgrass for 63 on Sunday two weeks ago, Brooks Koepka signaled he was ready for action. After his 63 in Round 2 this week, any doubts should be thrown out the window. He trails by four and has had to sign for two double bogeys this week. He’s made as many birdies as Rose (T2 for the week) but he knows he’ll have to make plenty more tomorrow. This should be a great duel in the Texas sun. Gree-LOW It says it right there in the pronunciation of Emiliano Grillo’s name: Low. Maybe GO LOW tomorROW? He had a chance in the final group in Round 3 to put pressure on the classy Englishman as he began play one back. He lost the two-ball by three shots and now is tied with Koepka for second. He’ll have a different partner for the final round as Corey Conners, the Canadian rookie who fired the co-low round of the day (63), will be riding shotgun. His lowest final round this season was 66 on Sunday at The Honda Classic. Uno Mas Jon Rahm reintroduced himself to the chase after 64 in Round 3 but sits six shots adrift heading into Sunday (T4). His final round 66 in his debut last year saw him claim T2 but I’ll be interested to see if he pins his ears back and tries to chase Rose down. His final round scoring average is 71.44 so it’s going to take something from the top drawer but I believe he has that extra gear. Nothing to Lose J.T. Poston has quietly rattled off eight consecutive rounds in the 60’s over his last three events and his bogey-free 65 has him in the four-way logjam for T4. His only top 10 in 13 previous start was T4 after a final round 66 in Las Vegas last fall. Sitting at No. 113 in the FEC standings, a top 10 would be a very nice bump on Sunday. Moving Day Nobody falls in and out of love quicker than I do with Louis Oosthuizen and I’m paying the price this week. His 64 vaulted him 30 spots up the board to T4 after 71 in Round 2. He’s T4 in scrambling for the week and will probably need to make at least seven more birdies Sunday to get into the mix. … Ted Potter, Jr., shared the low round of the day honors with Conners as his 63 saw him make up the biggest ground. Potter began the round T51 but after signing for seven birdies without a bogey or worse he found himself T9 at the end of play. The AT&T Pebble Beach champion has now rattled off four paydays in a row on TOUR. Moving Day: Wrong Way Bryson DeChambeau started T6, birdied his first two holes and looked to be on his way to chasing down the leaders. His final 16 holes were played in 3 over and didn’t include a par-breaker. He dropped 25 spots to T31 and will need something lower than 65 to crack the top 10. … Jordan Spieth is still trying to get out of third gear this season. On a day where plenty of low scores were to be had, the 2016 champ and podium regular at this event was stuck in reverse. Beginning the day T23, a low one could have stuck him in the rear-view mirror of the leaders but a level-par round of 70 saw him drop to T38, 11 shots back. Study Hall The easiest scoring conditions of the week were in Round 3 as the field averaged 68.462 (-1.538), easily surpassing the 69.760 from Round 1. … I’ve been tracking Strokes Gained: Putting numbers all week for the top five or so after each round. The top eight players after Saturday consist of two players in the top 20 in this category, Grillo (2nd) and Koepka (11th). There were six bogey-free rounds in Round 3 and all players posted 66 or lower… Brian Harman leads the field with 18 birdies and has snuck into the top 10 (T9) entering Sunday. … Gamers with an eye on the future will notice Rory McIlroy and Francesco Molinari will be the final pairing at Wentworth tomorrow for the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour.

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