Viktor Hovland wins World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba

SAN ANTONIO — Jordan Spieth hasn’t lost his flair for the dramatic. First, he holed a delicate 70-foot lob shot from behind the green and over a bunker for birdie at the par-4 11th. “Slid under the ball really nicely on that chip shot, landed right on my spot, just trickled in,” Spieth said. “I was just trying to make 4.” Then he went one better at the par-5 eighth, holing a 56-degree wedge from 113 yards for eagle, and slapping five with caddie Michael Greller and lifting his lid in celebration. That capped off a second straight 68 for Spieth and was good for a five-way tie for the 36-hole lead at 8-under 136 among the morning finishers at the Valero Texas Open. “Certainly a bonus with that hole-out on 8,” Spieth said. “All in all, I think I progressed today from yesterday and that’s all I’m looking forward to doing day to day.” Spieth and Greller have tracked his holed shots from off the green since Spieth’s rookie year in 2014 and place a friendly wager on the total. It’s a tradition they picked up from Jason Day and his former caddie Col Swatton. Spieth’s over/under is based on the previous year’s total (hole outs at majors and from over-100 yards count double). Surpass that figure and you win; loser has to buy dinner and the tab tends to get steep.   “I’ve really taken advantage of it,” Spieth said. “One time I brought 20 people along.” Spieth recalls holing out somewhere in the neighborhood of 23 or 24 times in 2015 en route to winning the Masters and U.S. Open, which set the bar so high that Greller was able to win the following year and enjoy dinner on Spieth at Cafe Sydney during the week of the Australian Open. But Greller wasn’t too happy about winning last year’s bet when Spieth figures he dunked only eight shots all season — a career low. His two hole-out round Friday was a flash back to his 2015 glory days. “This feels more like the way it should be, to be honest. It’s like me, I guess,” Spieth said. “I told Michael I already have more (hole outs) than all of last year combined…so at least I won that bet already.” Spieth’s short game has helped him overcome a crooked driver — he’s hit just 11 of 28 fairways, but color fellow former Texas Longhorn Jhonattan Vegas impressed with Spieth’s ability to scramble. “You’re going to miss shots around this golf course, which he has, we all have, but he manages to do his scrambling a lot better than a lot of us, so game’s looking good,” said Vegas, who backed up a first-round 67 with a 71. “I thought he’s supposed to be in a slump?” a reporter asked. “If that looks like a slump, I want to be on it for the rest of my career,” Vegas said. Spieth shares the top spot on a crowded leaderboard with Canadian Corey Conners, Korean K.H. Lee, and Americans Adam Schenk and Harold Varner III. What Spieth’s four co-leaders all share in common is that they’ve neither won on the PGA TOUR nor have they qualified for the Masters yet. (Only Conners, the 2014 U.S. Amateur runner-up, has ever played in a Masters.) Conners is playing out of category 32a this season, the No. 126-150 finishers on the prior season’s FedExCup points list, and had to survive a 6-for-1 playoff in a Monday Qualifier this week just to earn his way into the field. “Just pumped to be out here,” said Conners, who shot 67 and is 8 under this week on hole Nos. 14-18. “I hit the ball really well, and never got myself out of position except for No. 10, where I drove it a little right. Other than that, it was really solid ball-striking. I was able to make some putts.” Lee held the solo lead until he made bogey at his final hole and settled for 67. Lee, 27, withdrew after the first round of the Valspar Championship in March with a left hip flexor injury, but said medicine and stretching had made a difference. “Not withdrawing this week,” he said with a smile. Schenk and Varner III both posted 66, tied for the low round of the 72 players in the morning wave on Friday. Varner is coming off a stretch where he’s missed three cuts in his last five starts and his best result is a pedestrian T-51. “Every year I’ve had some type of stretch where I’ve not played well and I think that was my stretch,” Varner said. Schenk, 27, started on the back nine and raced out to a hot start with five birdies. He’s trying not to look ahead and think of the perks that come with a first-time victory. But if he were to earn the last spot into the Masters awarded to the champion of the Valero Texas Open, he’s bound to have a better experience than the one time he attended Augusta National as a patron at a practice round with his Purdue University teammates. “I lost my wallet and was sick and laid down and slept the whole time,” Schenk said. Tonight, he just might get to sleep on a share of his first PGA TOUR lead.

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Weekly 18: Don’t expect Spieth slam talk to slow him down

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The seventh of 24 contributing events for PGA TOUR Champions One & Done presented by SERVPRO is this week’s Mitsubishi Electric Classic. It begins on Friday. Scroll for tournament notes and 21 notables from the field of 78 in Duluth, Georgia. As gamers, we are compelled to pigeonhole golfers into a finite set of bins. It helps keep all of our thoughts organized and it’s time-effective. However, correlation is primarily an exercise in making broad strokes and taking shortcuts. In reality, every golfer is unique with a profile as it pertains to all of the known variables every time he competes. This brings us to Luke Donald at the RBC Heritage. For one, as rapidly as you want to connect dots between fellow 40somethings/Englishmen Paul Casey and Ian Poulter, both of whom recent winners of PGA TOUR events, and even World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship winner Phil Mickelson, also a contemporary, none of them possessed the kind of epic course history at the sites of their titles as Donald has at Harbour Town Golf Links. It’s a relevant narrative to carry a casual conversation, but it’s an improper fantasy angle. It also disregards Donald’s extended poor form upon arrival for his 10th consecutive appearance (and 13th overall) on Hilton Head Island. Each of the other three guys had been performing with some degree of promise in advance of their victories. Yet, Donald, who sits 196th in the Official World Golf Ranking and surrendered the title of “low Luke” to Luke List (currently 67th) at the conclusion of 2017, shapes up strongest among the foursome in consumer confidence entering their respective tournaments. There isn’t a better test to determine if, when you paint your broad strokes, you prefer course history over recent form. And it’s not so much the logic, it’s the comfort level after you’ve pulled the trigger. If you have gamer’s remorse, well, there you go. Just as he was last year, Donald is my pick. If you don’t like it, ask yourself if you’re stereotyping for whatever motivation. My fantasy Rule No. 3 is to remain fluid. In his case, if you haven’t already, it means to open your mind to the creation of a new category (for you) for which Donald is the only member. He’s an extreme and he exists. It’s not like he’s suddenly forgotten how to play golf. He’s remained busy and he’s not injured. Perhaps best of all, he’s yet to reach paydirt. Despite that manifesto, if I was pacing my little league, I’d stick with the chalk of Matt Kuchar. Indeed, Donald is for gamers in pursuit since front-runners won’t trust him because of the absence of good form. Remember, good form is why front-runners are front-runners. If you’re chasing and still can’t trust Donald, Cameron Smith and Tyrrell Hatton present as meaty options who are still solidifying their value in our world. Both check boxes of previous experience and relative success at Harbour Town along with a strong upswing in form. Because of the breadth of the field, two-man gamers should take the position of striking with a pair of primaries instead of the usual 1-2 punch. My Power Rankings is littered with an array of options. For the sake of time and space, lean on Future Possibilities below for all notables and schedule accordingly. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES  NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2017-18. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Paul Casey … Travelers (4); WGC-Bridgestone (5); Dell Technologies (2); TOUR Championship (3) Kevin Chappell … Valero (1; defending); St. Jude (5); WGC-Bridgestone (2); Dell Technologies (3) Luke Donald … Heritage (1) Jason Dufner … Fort Worth (2); Memorial (3; defending); U.S. Open (4); Wyndham (6); TOUR Championship (7) Jim Furyk … Heritage (1); Memorial (7); U.S. Open (8); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (2); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9); TOUR Championship (4) Bill Haas … Wyndham (2) Brian Harman … Fort Worth (4); John Deere (3) Charley Hoffman … Heritage (7); Houston (5); Valero (1); Fort Worth (4); Travelers (2); Canadian (3) Billy Horschel … Valero (3); St. Jude (1); TOUR Championship (4) Dustin Johnson … Memorial (12); St. Jude (8); U.S. Open (13); Canadian (10); WGC-Bridgestone (14); PGA Championship (9); Dell Technologies (11); TOUR Championship (6) Zach Johnson … Fort Worth (2); John Deere (1); Open Championship (5); WGC-Bridgestone (6); TOUR Championship (8) Chris Kirk … Valero (4); PLAYERS (3); Fort Worth (2) Kevin Kisner … Heritage (4); Fort Worth (1; defending); Memorial (5); Wyndham (6) Russell Knox … Heritage (2); PLAYERS (8); Dell Technologies (7) Matt Kuchar … Heritage (1); Valero (10); PLAYERS (11); Fort Worth (6); Memorial (2); Canadian (3); WGC-Bridgestone (7); THE NORTHERN TRUST (9) Martin Laird … Valero (7); Barracuda (1) Marc Leishman … Fort Worth (7); Memorial (5); Travelers (2); Open Championship (1) Graeme McDowell … Heritage (4); WGC-Bridgestone (3) William McGirt … Heritage (1); Memorial (4) Francesco Molinari … PLAYERS (2) Ryan Moore … Travelers (2); John Deere (3); TOUR Championship (6) Kevin Na … Heritage (6); Memorial (10); John Deere (9); Wyndham (3); THE NORTHERN TRUST (11) Ryan Palmer … Valero (1); Fort Worth (2); St. Jude (6) Scott Piercy … John Deere (6) Charl Schwartzel … Memorial (4); U.S. Open (5); Open Championship (6); WGC-Bridgestone (2) Webb Simpson … Wells Fargo (7); Fort Worth (4); Travelers (8); Greenbrier (5); Wyndham (1) Brandt Snedeker … Heritage (10); Fort Worth (11); U.S. Open (5); Travelers (6); Canadian (3); Wyndham (4) Kevin Streelman … Wells Fargo (3); Memorial (1); Travelers (2) CHAMPIONS ONE & DONE Mitsubishi Electric Classic Now in its sixth edition, each has been contested at TPC Sugarloaf, former home of the AT&T Classic on the PGA TOUR from 1997-2008. The course is a stock par 72 tipping at 7,179 yards. Stephen Ames is defending his first title on the PGA TOUR Champions. His 15-under 201 is the tournament record. All five prior champions of the Mitsubishi Electric Classic are scheduled to play. Since winning the inaugural event in 2013, Bernhard Langer has added a trio of runner-up finishes. Scott McCarron is the only winner of the TOUR stop at TPC Sugarloaf who is competing this week. He prevailed in both 1997 and 2001, but he’s yet to pick one off as a senior. Total prize money of $1.8 million hasn’t changed since the tournament’s inception. The winner will pocket $270,000. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES NOTE: Select golfers committed to the tournament are listed alphabetically. Future tournaments are sorted chronologically and reflect previous success on the courses on which the tournaments will be held in 2018. The numerical values in parentheses represent the order of relative confidence of where to use each golfer if multiple sites are listed (e.g. 1 for strongest, 2 for next-strongest and so on). To present weighted confidence in real time, numerical values will not change all season no matter how many tournament remain listed for each golfer. All are pending golfer commitment. Stephen Ames … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (1; defending); Insperity (4); Principal (8); U.S. Senior Open (6); Boeing (2); Shaw (7) Billy Andrade … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (5); Bass Pro Shops (4) Joe Durant … Bass Pro Shops (5); Insperity (15); Principal (2); American Family (8); U.S. Senior Open (7); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); 3M (6); DICK’S (12); Boeing (10); Shaw (11); PURE (3); SAS (13) David Frost … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (6); Bass Pro Shops (3); U.S. Senior Open (4); 3M (7); Boeing (5); Shaw (8); PURE (1) Fred Funk … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (4); Bass Pro Shops (1); Regions Tradition (3); Boeing (6); PURE (5) Doug Garwood … SAS (1) Paul Goydos … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (6); Bass Pro Shops (2); Insperity (7); 3M (1; defending); DICK’S (3); SAS (5) Lee Janzen … U.S. Senior Open (2) Miguel Angel Jiménez … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (2); Insperity (13); Senior PGA (6); Principal (10); U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (3); Senior Open Championship (4); 3M (9); Shaw (7); SAS (12) Jerry Kelly … Boeing (1; defending); Shaw (5); PURE (2); SAS (4) Bernhard Langer … Usable everywhere. Defending five titles. Billy Mayfair … Boeing (2); PURE (1) Scott McCarron … Regions Tradition (2); Senior PGA (11); Principal (1); SENIOR PLAYERS (3; defending); Senior Open Championship (10); DICK’S (4; defending); Shaw (5; defending); PURE (8) Colin Montgomerie … Mitsubishi Electric Classic (5); Senior PGA (1); U.S. Senior Open (6); SENIOR PLAYERS (2); Senior Open Championship (10); Shaw (4); PURE (7); SAS (3; defending) Tom Pernice, Jr. … Principal Charity (2); Shaw (3); SAS (5) Gene Sauers … Insperity (7); Regions Tradition (3); U.S. Senior Open (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (6); Boeing (1) Vijay Singh … Bass Pro Shops (4; defending); Senior PGA (3); U.S. Senior Open (2); Shaw (5); SAS (1) Kevin Sutherland … Usable everywhere. David Toms … Regions Tradition (3); Boeing (2); SAS (4) Kirk Triplett … Insperity (2); Regions Tradition (6); American Family (5); SENIOR PLAYERS (1); Shaw (4) Duffy Waldorf … Bass Pro Shops (2); Insperity (4); Principal (6); Shaw (5)

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