Troy Merritt takes 4-point lead in Barracuda Championship

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Justin Rose birdied the first three holes to quickly extend his lead at the Fort Worth Invitational and finished with a 4-under 66 on Saturday to take a four-stroke advantage into the final round at Colonial. Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open champion with eight PGA TOUR victories, was 14 under. Emiliano Grillo, his playing partner, shot 69 and was at 10 under with Brooks Koepka, who had a 67. After a two-putt birdie at the opening par 5, Rose had back-to-back birdie putts to get to 13 under. That put him four strokes ahead of Grillo, who had eight pars in a row before consecutive birdies on Nos. 9 and 10. It is the largest 54-hole lead at the Hogan’s Alley since Kenny Perry led by seven in 2005. Rose’s last 54-hole lead came in the 2017 Masters, where the Englishman lost to Sergio Garcia in a playoff.

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Here are nine tidbits from the second round of the THE PLAYERS Championship that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. THE PLAYERS Stadium Course TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, has been the host since 1982 and plays 7,189 yards to a Par-72. PAIN OR GAIN These were the top-10 picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy One & Done presented by SERVPRO: The cut landed at 1-under-par 143 and will include 80 players in Round 3. After the round the field will be cut again (MDF) to the top 70 and ties. People’s Choice Playing with buddy Sergio Garcia and Jason Day, Henrik Stenson continued his excellent form on TOUR despite a triple-bogey eight on his second hole of the day. He rallied to post a clean card with five bogeys to remain in the hunt for the weekend (-6). The Swede has had two bad holes in his first 36 as he had only one bogey on Thursday. He’s T2 in GIR and T5 in scrambling. Wonderful Webb The second-round spotlight belonged to Webb Simpson and he didn’t have any competition. He stood on No. 17 tee on 11-under for THE ROUND. A birdie-birdie finish would have equaled 59 but sadly his tee ball bounced off the railroad ties and off the back of the green. Insert Pete Dye smiley face here. Simpson made double and parred 18 for 63, tying the course record set last by Colt Knost in 2016. He also tied the 36-hole scoring record (129, -15) set by Jason Day, who also shot 63 (Round 1), in 2016. Simpson gets to claim the biggest 36-hole lead, five shots, in history, all to himself. Brilliant. Fowl Moods Second choice Rickie Fowler had it to five-under on the day and three-under for the tournament before doubling consecutive holes (Nos. 6 and 7) and falling to 1 over, MC. Fowler has followed up his 2015 master class on Sunday with MC in 2016 and T60 last year. His lowest round in the last eight is 70. … Rory McIlroy birdied No. 16 and just needed to par the final two holes to earn a weekend tee time. He rinsed his tee shot on No. 17 and missed a six-foot putt to have a chance on the final hole. His streak of five consecutive weekends at TPC Sawgrass crashes out. Savage. … Francesco Molinari entered the week with second-best scoring average EVER. In his last three visits he posted T6, T7 and T6. Now in eight events, he owns four top-10 finishes and four MC. #AllOrNothing. I got nothing this week. Sad! Charl(es) Charging With only one bogey as his only blemish after 36 holes, South African Charl Schwartzel is keeping up his hot play. He was a last-minute replacement for countryman Branden Grace (#NappyFactor) at the Zurich Classic and finished third with Louis Oosthuizen. He collected T9 cash last week in Charlotte and now sits T2 after Friday. His best finish at TPC Sawgrass is T26 in 2011, the same year he won the Masters. … Charles Howell III also had a clean card on Friday as he backed up his 68 with 67 to sit T5. His best payday in 15 previous tries is T56 so his investors shouldn’t start lighting off any fireworks just yet. Movin’ On Up Jason Day posted a bogey-free 67 to move up from T27 to T8 in Round 2. He pegged 15/18 GIR after only splitting half of the fairways but he’s getting the ball in the hole. He’s seven back. … Bryson DeChambeau circled seven birdies and signed for 67 to climb 28 spots to T11. He’s not even the best of the bunch for maiden voyagers as that honor goes to Xander Schauffele (T8). Streaking Former World No. 1 and former champion Martin Kaymer finally MC in his 10th event. … New dad Branden Grace will cash for the fifth time in five tries. He’s currently T34 and that would be his best finish. … Rory Sabbatini collected T6 on his last visit in 2015. He hasn’t MC in 12 events in 2018 and checks in T17. … Emiliano Grillo is 13-13 on his own ball this season. … It’s seven consecutive weekends at TPC Sawgrass for 2004 champion Adam Scott after 69-68. He grabbed his broomstick putter again this week and reverted to a driver from 2010. Whatever is clever! His best finish this season is T13 at The Honda Classic, another tough Florida course. MC HOF In addition to the heavy hitters listed above, Hideki Matsuyama (79-69), Louis Oosthuizen (78-71), Cameron Smith (76-75), Phil Mickelson (79-73) and Brandt Snedeker (82-72) didn’t sniff the line. Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are the marquee names who snuck in on the number. Study Hall Friday’s scoring average was 71.273 versus 72.014 in Round 1. … There were six bogey-free rounds on Thursday and six more on Friday. … Jamie Lovemark (67) and Patrick Reed (68) joined the bogey-free parade in Round 2. … #Area51 Steve Stricker backed up his opening round 67 with 69 in Round 2 and is T8. … Sean O’Hair WD after Round 1.

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