Tiger Woods updates: PGA Championship, Round 2

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – The fans at Riviera Country Club offered to put up floodlights. They needn’t have bothered. Tiger Woods was already lighting the place up. Woods injected some serious energy into the delayed start of the third round at the Genesis Open when he opened with a birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie run to send the crowd into frenzy. By the time darkness halted play, the 80-time PGA TOUR winner had negotiated seven holes in five under par and moved from a tie for 52nd to a tie for 14th at six under. He didn’t want it to end. No one else did either. While still a long way adrift of Justin Thomas – who leads at 13 under through two holes of Round 3 – Woods now has the opportunity to make waves on what promises to be a marathon Sunday. Starting on the drivable par-4 10th hole, Woods knocked in a 5-foot birdie after a nice chip. After a brilliant drive down the par-5 11th, the two-time FedExCup champion then hit an exquisite 250-yard 3-wood to inside 10 feet and made eagle. When a 21-foot birdie dropped in on the next hole they could hear the roars reverberating around the Hollywood sign. But Woods wasn’t done yet as he buried another from 14 feet – despite the distortion of crowd containment breaks – to create more buzz in Los Angeles than the Oscars. “It was definitely crazy. Gives you even more respect for what he’s able to do knowing he deals with that every time he tees it up,â€� playing partner Peter Malnati said. Malnati had never played with Woods before and caught himself in awe. Before today he had thought the roars for his two aces on TOUR were good. “They were nothing like the combination of excitement you hear with Tiger,â€� he laughed. “Obviously, the atmosphere was already incredible and then to see that quality of golf was really cool. “It is pretty impressive. It is kind of fun to watch, he’s driving the ball beautifully and he’s as good as he’s ever been with his irons. That’s really cool and amazing to see it up close, so in control, it’s nice.â€� Woods had seemingly ruled himself out of contention with his 70-71 opening. But now, despite still having a big hole to climb out of, he retained some optimism of finally breaking through at Riviera. “I’ve got some work to do,â€� Woods admits. “I’ve got to get up and down at 17. No. 18’s not going to be playing short with these temperatures and then I’ve got to get one, and then two is going to be back into the fan again. I’ve got to do some damage to those holes. “It’s going to be in the 40s and it’s supposed to be blowing close to 20 miles an hour. So it’s going to be a tough day for all of us and one that we’re going to have to fight through.â€� TOUR officials will not re-pair groups between rounds, instead hoping to get the two final rounds finished in one day for a regulation finish. For Woods that means 28 and 1/3 holes as he faces a delicate pitch shot and likely putt to make par on 17, his eighth hole of the round. “It’s going to be a long one. Up early and start working on it and staying loose and staying ready,â€� he added. “It’s just going to be a lot of walking. And last couple days, it’s definitely testing the body.â€�

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Nelly Korda became the first two-time winner on the LPGA Tour this season, closing with a 5-under 67 on Sunday for a 2-stroke victory in the Meijer LPGA Classic on Sunday.

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THE OVERVIEW By Ben Everill, PGATOUR.COM Strap yourselves in because despite an incredible 2017 season from Jon Rahm, you ain’t seen nothing yet. In his first full season, the young Spanish sensation made 21 of 23 cuts with the highlight being his back-nine blitz at Torrey Pines to take the Farmers Insurance Open title. TOP 30 PLAYERS TO WATCH IN 2018: We’ll countdown our list with one new player each day in December. Click here for the published players. MORE: Top 30 explanation and schedule He had 11 top-10s in all with huge chances to win at the World Golf Championships–Mexico Championship (T3), the World Golf Championships–Dell Match Play (2nd), the Wells Fargo Championship (4th), the DEAN & DELUCA Invitational (T2) and all four FedExCup Playoff events where he finished T3, T4, T5 and T7. Add the fact he won two events on the European Tour and you have quite a rockstar effort. In June 2016, he was 766th in the world rankings. Now he’s comfortably in the top five. Even with all the achievements, we expect even bigger things in 2018. He has power off the tee and precision into the greens. His putting is better than most on TOUR. And he has desire and passion. The 23-year-old hates to lose and will do whatever it takes to win. Aggression is his forte. At Torrey Pines, the event looked headed for a multiple-man playoff until he shot 6-under 30 on the back nine — including two eagles to crush the field. In all his chances to win, he went down swinging. Rahm will never play for second place. This alone makes him fun to watch. The goal for the new season has to be more of the same, but with better results in the majors. While his WGC efforts were grand, his best major effort was T27 at the Masters. He was T72 on debut at THE PLAYERS. BY THE NUMBERS How Jon Rahm ranked in Strokes Gained statistics during his last full season on the PGA TOUR. FEDEXCUP Current 2017-18 position: 151st Playoff appearances: 1 TOUR Championship appearances: 1 Best result: 5th INSIGHTS FROM THE INSIDERS  PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Jon Rahm in 2018. TOUR INSIDER by Cameron Morfit It’s going to be hard to top last season for the big-hitting 23-year-old from Spain, but we may be just beginning to understand how good he is. Consider how close he was to winning the entire FedExCup: Rahm finished fifth after registering top-10 finishes in all four Playoffs events. The only way to improve from here will be to turn some of those close calls (11 top-10 finishes, one win at the Farmers Insurance Open) into victories, and to show his “Aâ€� game at the majors. Click here to follow Cameron on Twitter FANTASY INSIDER by Rob Bolton With proper respect to older 20-somethings who have won majors and achieved more, the Spaniard is in a class of his own. If it’s possible for someone with lofty expectations to have already shattered them, he’s the guy. He cannot be overvalued. As a first-year PGA TOUR member in 2016-17, he put up video-game numbers en route to ranking second in the all-around. Yet for all of his angles at which he can score and contend, perhaps most impressive is his blend of drive with humility sitting right out there on his sleeve. And he turned only 23 years of age just last month. Click here to follow Rob on Twitter EQUIPMENT INSIDER by Jonathan Wall Won the European Tour’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship with a yet-to-be-released “Hi-Toe” TaylorMade Milled Grind wedge. His win with Spider Tour Red at the Farmers Insurance Open coincided with the putter’s meteoric rise in popularity on TOUR. Rest of his TaylorMade setup consists of the company’s M2 driver, M1 3-wood, P750 irons and Milled Grind wedges.  Click here to follow Jonathan on Twitter STYLE INSIDER by Greg Monteforte As explosive as Rahm’s game is, his style is just the opposite as he has a penchant for simple looks with modern designs and high-tech fabrics. He could improve his style in 2018 by matching his belt to his pants to create a smooth transition from top to bottom. Click here to follow Greg on Twitter

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