Tiger prepared for 3 straight tournaments

Here are nine tidbits from the third round of the Travelers Championship that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. TPC River Highlands has played host since 1991 and measures 6,841 yards (Par-70). Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. The weather that looked impending never materialized during the round. The course was receptive due to the overnight rains and there was hardly any wind. It was easily the best round of the week for scoring. Players who didn’t post 67 or better probably didn’t hold their place in the standings from Friday. Berger is going to be an interesting call tomorrow as he didn’t fire for the second day in a row. He closed with 67 last year and 74 the year before so that’s not much help. Round of the Week Paul Casey took complete advantage of the conditions to post 62 and stake himself to a four-shot lead heading into Sunday. His six birdies and an eagle were the result of fantastic approach play as he painted all 18 GIR. He also led the field in proximity and only needed 29 putts. In 15 rounds the last four years at this event he’s 49-under par. It will take a Furyk-ian effort to run him down and win tomorrow. Closest Russell Henley will have a front-row seat and can apply the most pressure as he will play in the final group four shots behind. Henley only has squared one bogey on the week and he can’t add to that number much tomorrow. As great as Casey has been into greens, Henley leads the field in GIR (48 of 54) for the week. Henley has unfinished business here as he was 14-under after three rounds in 2016 before limping home with 73 (T11). Joiners The group at five shots back includes 36-hole leader Brian Harman and he was joined by J.B. Holmes and Anirban Lahiri. While Harman bogeyed two of his last three to fall back, Holmes and Lahiri shot up the board in Round 3 because of their prowess on the back nine. Both players signed for 30 and each had an eagle as they both moved up eight spots to T3. Holmes is trying to back up his solo third in Memphis while Lahiri hasn’t cashed inside the top 25 since last November. Top 10 in the Top 10 Gamers have been riding Bryson DeChambeau for most of 2018 and he hasn’t disappointed. After a tough first 10 holes (+1) he made three birdies against no bogeys in his final eight holes to stay in the top 10. He was a whopping four shots worse on the greens today and still signed for 68. I’d point out he has two doubles on the week and he’s only five back. Bubbling Bubba Watson had to 12-under with three holes to play but two bogeys on the way in knocked him back to T6. Looking to become the only player in recent memory to win this event for the third time, he’ll need nothing short of his best tomorrow. The good news for his investors is he’s posted a few low ones here including 63 already this week. Moving Day The back nine was the place to make up ground today and Jamie Lovemark (64) took advantage coming home in 31. He’s seven back after moving up 23 spots to T11. Brad Faxon made up seven shots in his victory in 2005, the largest come-from-behind win in history. He’s looking for his first top-10 check on his own ball since The Honda Classic … Kyle Stanley (65) joined Lovemark on T11 after moving up 14 spots. He defends next week at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm and looks to be right on schedule. … Patrick Cantlay (65) is eight back and he’ll need to probably match the 60 he posted as an amateur here in 2011 to have a sniff. Moving Day: Wrong Way Rory McIlroy began the day T8 and was torching the joint tee-to-green in the first two rounds. It all came to a screeching halt in Round 3 as he only found 12 of 18 GIR and he lost over 2.5 strokes putting. His investors are all shouting at me that he shot 64 on Sunday last year. He sure did. … Zach Johnson matched McIlroy as the first two activities on his card in Round 3 were squares. He righted the ship before a double on No. 16 killed the momentum. His 71 took him from T2 to T15 and eight shots back. Study Hall Round 1 scored 69.776 (-0.224) while Round 2 crept just higher at 69.994 (-0.006). Saturday’s excellent scoring conditions were realized as the field averaged 69.108 (-0.892)… Casey, Henley, Lovemark and Cantlay were joined in the clean card club by Emiliano Grillo (66) and Chase Seiffert (!!) (67). James Hahn carded his first hole-in-one on TOUR on No. 11 and sits T22.

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Zach Johnson and Chris Kirk kept clean cards on a gorgeous day, and each shot 7-under 63 to share the lead after the first round of the Sony Open.

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CROMWELL, Conn. – Brendon Todd and Dustin Johnson each shot career-low 61s at the Travelers Championship on Saturday, leaving Todd with a two-stroke lead. The 34-year-old Georgian, playing a couple holes behind Johnson, had a chance at the tournament’s second 60 of the week but missed a 10-foot putt to the left on the 18th hole. He finished with a 54-hole score of 192 after shooting 66-65 the first two rounds. Johnson, who is looking for his 21st win on the PGA TOUR, also has improved each day, opening with a 69-64. Both golfers shot bogey-free rounds, with Todd making five birdies on the front nine and Johnson five on the back. Todd said the round became a game of whatever you can do, I can do just as well. RELATED: Leaderboard | Tee times | Morikawa’s made cut streak comes to an end | Gordon making the most of opportunity at Travelers “It’s hard to miss the leader boards obviously, so (Johnson’s) name was up there from a pretty early point,” Todd said. “Again, I just use it as motivation to go out there and make some more birdies.” Todd is looking for his third win of the season but his first since the fall, when he went back-to-back at the Bermuda Championship and the Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico. “Whenever I get a two- or three-week stretch in a row, I tend to be playing better by the end of it,” he said. “That’s just something I’m using to my advantage now after missing two cuts. I’m peaking in the third week and hopefully I can get it done tomorrow.” Despite going 9 under for the day, Johnson lamented missing several birdie chances and and eagle attempt on the par-4 ninth, when his ball stopped six inches from the pin. Just two of his birdie puts, an 18-footer at the 10th hole and a 21-footer on the 12th, were longer than 9 feet. “I really felt like I controlled the distance with my irons really well and hit tons of good shots,” he said. “I had a lot of really good looks at birdie.” Kevin Streelman fired a 63 after two straight rounds of 66 and was just three shots back. Mackenzie Hughes, who led after a 60 on Thursday, shot his second straight 68 for sole possession of fourth place. “Today if I had putted like I did the first day, I could have shot low 60s for sure,” Hughes said. “Play the same as I did today tee to green and roll in a few putts and it’ll be awesome.” Bryson DeChambeau and Kevin Na each shot 65 and were tied for fifth at 197. Phil Mickelson, who celebrated his 50th birthday last week, began the day with a one-stroke lead but struggled, finishing tied for seventh in a group six shots back. He made just his second bogey of the week on the third hole and also dropped strokes on the seventh and 13th before finishing with a 71. Mickelson, looking for his 45th win and third on this course, has mostly struggled. He missed the cut in his previous three tournaments. “I haven’t played great this year,” he said. “I’ve missed a lot of cuts, and the next thing I know my game is starting to come back and I can sense it. I played two great rounds, and this is really a lot of fun.” Top-ranked Rory McIlroy, who opened the tournament with a 63, said he feels he is too far back to contend for the title after rounds of 68 and 69. He bogeyed two of his final four holes — his tee shot landed in the water on the course’s signature 15th hole and he also made bogey at 18 — to finish in a group eight shots back. “I guess, if I had have been able to sneak a couple more over the last few holes, get to 14 and then all of a sudden you feel like you’re right in it. But I went the other way those last few holes, and that’s what took me out of it,” he said. Jason Day requested to be tested for COVID-19 on Saturday morning just before his round. Officials decided to have him play as a single on Saturday as a precautionary measure. He shot a 69 and is 1 under par headed into Sunday. The round began early in the day because of threatening weather, with golfers going off both the first and 10th tees. It finished just before the skies opened. A forecast for more rain on Sunday will mean another early start.

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