Tiger alive; Fowler, Mickelson falter at Players

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Harold Varner III, Tom Hoge and Roger Sloan each shot 8-under 62 on Thursday to share the first-round lead at the Wyndham Championship, the PGA TOUR’s final regular-season event before the FedExCup playoffs. Varner started the go-low parade at at Sedgefield Country Club with an eight-birdie, no-bogey round that matched his career best on the PGA TOUR. RELATED: Leaderboard | Simpson, Todd feed off friendly energy in Round 1 | FedExCup update Hoge and Sloan, playing together, followed suit later in the round, Hoge also matched his career low on TOUR, while Sloan’s score set his personal best. There were 33 players on the course who had not finished when the round was suspended due to bad weather. Hoge looked like he might have a shot at 59 after he went eagle-birdie on the 15th and 16th holes to reach 9 under. But Hoge, who first played on the PGA Tour in 2015 and has never won, missed a 10-footer for birdie on the 17th before his only bogey on No. 18 to drop into the tie. Sloan had birdies on the 16th and 17th holes and had a chance at 9-under to take the lead alone, but came up short on a 15-foot birdie try on the final hole. The strong start was especially crucial for the 33-year-old Canadian, who came into the TOUR’s last regular-season event at 178 in FedEx Cup points — well out of the 125 cut off to make next week’s first postseason event, THE NORTHERN TRUST in Boston. Sloan is projected to rise into the top 50 should he maintain his position. “Honestly, I don’t have to do anything,” he said. “I’m very blessed that I have status on the PGA TOUR next season. That’s important. I’m going to get starts, I think that frees you up.” All three leaders are seeking their first TOUR wins. The trio were two shots in front of Harris English (64). A large group was at 5-under led by former Masters champion Patrick Reed. Past U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson led another pack at 4-under 66. Paul Casey, who tied for second last week at the PGA Championship, was at 67. Some other PGA Championship contenders last week were not as fortunate. Both Brooks Koepka and Justin Rose, each in the mix in the final round of the year’s first major, could not keep that going in this one. Koepka was 10 shots behind after a 72. Justin Rose finished a stroke worse at 73. Koepka said he was flat after playing several weeks in a row. “A bit tired, to be honest with you, so definitely came out flat,” he said. “But I’ve got to play, I’ve got no other option.” Koepka said even moving up a spot or two in FedExCup standings is helpful to advance, so that’s why he passed up a week off to compete. PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa is off. Varner had eight birdies, including four in a row midway through the round, without a birdie his first 15 holes. He finished with three pars. Varner, who went to high school in Gastonia about two hours away and college at East Carolina, was disappointed he couldn’t play in front of friends and family due to the ongoing pandemic. “It’s unfortunate this year because I enjoy the cheers and stuff,” he said. “But we’ll get through this year and figure it out. Yeah, it’s just good to be close to home.” Hoge started crunching the numbers after he reached 9-under with two holes left. “I thought we could birdie the last two, but you’ve got to put it in the fairway,” he said after his tee shot on No. 18 went into the rough leading to bogey.

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NASSAU, Bahamas — Viktor Hovland made consecutive eagles and closed with consecutive bogeys while overcoming a six-shot deficit to win the Hero World Challenge on Sunday and keep Collin Morikawa from reaching No. 1 in the world. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Viktor Hovland, Hero World Challenge | Hero World Challenge was stage for reemergence of public Tiger Woods So wild was this final round of the year for golf’s elite that Morikawa, who started the day with a five-shot lead, wasn’t even a factor over the last hour at Albany Golf Club. Hovland closed with a 6-under 66 in his debut at a holiday event that was filled with pure chaos involving eagles and triple bogeys, none more bizarre than Jordan Spieth and Henrik Stenson hitting their drives off the ninth tee from what was a new 17th tee for the final round. “I didn’t think a win was going to be very possible,” Hovland said. “But I know this course is tricky. You can make birdies, but it’s easy to make bogeys and doubles. If I put a good score up there, you never know what’s going to happen.” Just about everything did. Ultimately, this was about another 24-year-old star in the making adding to a big year. It just wasn’t the one so many expected. Morikawa, the Open champion, missed three birdie chances from 10 feet or closer at the start of the round and then went sideways with two shots into the bushes at Nos. 4 and 6 that led to double bogeys and a 41 on the front nine. He closed with a 76 and tied for fifth. A victory would have made him the 25th player to reach No. 1 in the world since the ranking began in 1986. That still belongs to U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm, who didn’t play this week. Hovland was among five players who had at least a share of the lead at some point. That changed on the reachable par-4 14th for more than just Hovland. First it was Sam Burns, a two-time winner this year who was tied for the lead when he put his tee shot just right of the green. Four times, with a fairway metal and a wedge, he hit up the slope and watched it roll back to his feet. He made triple bogey to fall back. Next came Hovland, hitting his tee shot into a bunker. He blasted out and lightly pumped his fist when it dropped for an eagle. On the par-5 15th, Hovland hit his second shot with a breeze at his back to 20 feet and holed that for another eagle. And he wasn’t done. He dropped his approach to 3 feet for birdie on the 16th. That allowed him two bogeys at the end to finish at 18-under 270. Scottie Scheffler narrowly missed a fifth straight birdie on the 18th hole. He shot 66 and finished one shot behind, ending a year in which he made a sterling Ryder Cup debut but still has yet to win on the PGA TOUR. Scheffler started seven shots back. He made a triple bogey. And he nearly won. Justin Thomas had a 64 to tie for fifth. Another shot back was Daniel Berger, who was right in the mix until starting the back nine with two bogeys, and then holing out with a full wedge for eagle from the 15th fairway. Bryson DeChambeau finished his day with a triple bogey from the water. He was leading after 36 holes and finished in a tie for 14th in the 20-man field. Spieth and Stenson were at the bottom of the pack all day, and they were assured of staying there when they walked back to where the ninth tee had been all week, not realizing that it was used as the tee for the par-3 17th hole and they should have been playing about 25 yards farther ahead. They had to replay the hole and add two shots to their score. It was that kind of day, and the action never stopped until Tiger Woods — in a red shirt, of course — handed the trophy to the Norwegian. Hovland is the third straight international winner, following Henrik Stenson and Rahm. He won for the third time this year, following victories in Mexico a month ago and Germany on the European Tour this summer.

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J.R. Smith is the first male golfer to sign a brand ambassador deal with Lululemon.

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