Waste Management Phoenix Open, Round 4: Leaderboard, tee times, TV times

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Dustin Johnson suffers a few shaky moments with a chunked pitch shot and back-to-back front-nine bogeys, but settles down to author a final-round 68 for a five-shot victory over Presidents Cup teammates Cameron Smith and Sungjae Im, who each carded 69s. Smith became the first player in Masters history to record four rounds in the 60s. Here are five stories you might have missed from the 2020 Masters. 1. This one came from the heart Johnson grew up in Columbia, South Carolina, just over an hour away from Augusta. He thought about the Masters whilst honing his game at the now defunct Weed Hill driving range, where he was often the last player practicing under the lights. When he'd actually won the green jacket, there was no mistaking how much this one meant to him. He began to tear up when his brother/caddie Austin did as they embraced on the 18th green. Then came the ceremony with CBS's Amanda Balionis as the usually stoic Johnson was overcome with emotion. "I had a tough time there speaking with Amanda on the putting green," he said. "Just because like I said, it means so much to me. It means so much to my family, Paulina, the kids. They know it’s something that I’ve always been dreaming about and it’s why I work so hard." That hard work, and the athlete in him, has put him over the top. Tiger Woods, who put the green jacket on Johnson Sunday, cited the winner's raw athleticism, plus his seemingly imperturbable nature. Johnson, who is 6 feet, 4 inches tall, could palm a basketball in the seventh grade and doesn't get too bent out of shape on the course. And he doesn't linger over losses. "As we've all seen, he’s an amazing athlete," Woods said. "He’s one of the first guys to ever bring athleticism to our sport. DJ has just an amazing ability to stay calm in tough moments ... and we all know as past champions how hard it is, the emotions we have to deal with out there. "There’s no one more suited to that, I think, than DJ." For more on Johnson's victory, click here. 2. It's been a rollercoaster One of the biggest pre-tournament concerns for the players was not to get the coronavirus. Paul Casey, who opened with 65 but closed with 77 to finish T38, was only half joking when he said he was so worried about getting it and missing Augusta he didn't let his kids have play dates. Johnson tested positive for the virus in Las Vegas on Oct. 11, and after withdrawing from THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK, spent 11 days holed up in his hotel room. It had a little outside area where he would sometimes go sit, and he would get up to shower, but otherwise that was it. He watched a whole lot of TV, especially the series "Yellowstone." The silver lining was he figured now that he'd had it, he would be OK for the Masters. "I know 2020 has been a really strange year, but it’s been good to me," he said after his fourth win of the year. "I’ve played some good golf. You know, I can’t thank Augusta enough for just having the Masters. Obviously when it canceled in April, none of us knew if we were going to be able to play in it. I was just happy to be here playing, and it worked out OK for me." 3. DeChambeau wasn't himself The biggest pre-tournament storyline, whether the newly beefy, ultra-long-hitting DeChambeau would tear apart Augusta National, never materialized. If anything, Augusta tore him apart, exposing the runaway U.S. Open champion's susceptibility to the blowup hole. DeChambeau double-bogeyed the 13th hole in the first round, and triple-bogeyed the par-4 third hole (with a lost ball) in the second. Ironically, the third and 13th holes are two of the shortest on the course. He closed with a 1-over 73 (T34) that featured a double-bogey at the par-4 fifth hole. He also complained of dizziness and brain fog. "At the beginning of the week I felt like I could have a great chance to win the tournament if I just played my game," DeChambeau said. "... I made way too many mistakes that I’ve got to talk about with my caddie and go, ‘Hey, how do we not make these mistakes anymore? How can we work better as a team to have that not happen?' At Winged Foot we did a great job of it. This week we didn’t." 4. Tiger and Phil flashed form Phil Mickelson was 5 under through two rounds and "driving it like a stallion." If he could just shore up his faulty putting, he said, he could potentially make a run at his fourth Masters title. It didn't happen, as he shot 79-73 to finish T55. Defending champion Woods had a crazier week. He, too, was 5 under through two rounds, but went 72-76 to finish T38. His final round was especially topsy-turvy as he hit three balls in the water and made a 10 - the highest score of his PGA TOUR career - at the par-3 12th hole. He then birdied five of his last six holes, including the last four in a row, to finish the round. "I committed to the wrong wind," he said of his misadventure on 12. "This sport is awfully lonely sometimes," he added. "You have to fight it. No one is going to bring you off the mound or call in a sub. You have to fight through it. That’s what makes this game so unique and so difficult mentally. We’ve all been there, unfortunately." For more on Woods' wild 12th hole, click here. 5. McIlroy still knocking on the door Rory McIlroy, 31, keeps flirting with winning Masters, the one major that eludes him for the career Grand Slam. With his opening-round 75, he spotted the winner 10 strokes, but beat Johnson by one the rest of the way to lose by nine and finish T5 with Dylan Frittelli (72). "You know, when I birdied the 8th hole and I got to 11 (under), I saw DJ had dropped to 15, and I thought, maybe there’s a chance," said McIlroy, who hasn't won in over a year. In retrospect, there wasn't a chance, and he played his last 10 holes in even par with a bogey at 10 and a birdie at the par-5 13th, which had vexed him all week. He signed for a 3-under 69, his third straight sub-70 round, and now has six top-10 finishes in his last seven Masters. "The wind sort of got up as we hit the turn," he said, "and it just was hard to make birdies." TOUR TOP 10 The PGA TOUR Regular Season top 10 will receive bonuses for their efforts.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – History does not favor Si Woo Kim this week. No champion of THE PLAYERS Championship has successfully defended in the 44 years of the tournament. The best result by a defending champ are the T-5s posted by Jack Nicklaus (1977), Tom Kite (1990) and Hal Sutton (2001). More to the point, the defending champ rarely finds himself in contention, and is more apt to miss the cut. Since Sutton’s result, the last 16 results by the defending PLAYERS champ includes four missed cuts, a WD, a DNP and just one top-10 finish – by Adam Scott, who tied for eighth in 2005. A year ago, Jason Day tied for 60th after shooting a final-round 80. Meanwhile, Kim became the youngest champ in PLAYERS history, winning by three strokes. It was an unexpected victory – and Kim continued to produce the unexpected Thursday. His 5-under 67 is the lowest opening score by a defending champ since the tournament moved to TPC Sawgrass in 1982. Had he not stumbled down the stretch with bogeys in two of his last three holes, he would’ve been the first-round leader. “I played great,� said the 22-year-old Korean, who began his round off the 10th tee and was a bogey-free 7 under for his first 14 holes. “… I liked the score in the first round, but I can hit it better.� Day arrived at TPC Sawgrass in 2017 still dealing with issues involving his mother’s battle with cancer. It did not leave him in the proper frame of mind to defend, but he also acknowledged that it’s difficult to defend in a tournament that produces the best field of the season. “This tournament is heightened,� he said. “The level of it just goes up every single year. I think it gets closer and closer to a major championship feel every single year that we play, and I feel like a lot of the guys think that it’s a major championship.� And just like a major, there are few successful defenses. The last one came at the Open Championship in 2008 when Padraig Harrington won at Royal Birkdale. Since the end of World War II, a total of 289 majors have been played – and the defending champ has won just 14 times, a success rate of less than 5 percent. Of course, that’s still better than the zero percent for defending PLAYERS champ. Asked after his round Thursday about what it would mean to be the first player to achieve that feat, Kim replied, “I feel like it would be dreaming, but that’s too hard. This is just the first round. I’m going to keep working hard.� Probably a wise move. Not only is he battling the best field in golf, he’s battling history. Notables Bubba Watson has made 10 starts at TPC Sawgrass. His best result was a T-37 in 2013. But his opening 68 – which ties for his lowest score in his last 21 rounds here – has him on personal-best pace. “Every time I come here, I’m just trying to beat 37,� Watson said. “I’m no good around this place. It’s very difficult for me because of the sights off the tee, some of the trees. It makes me fear hitting shots that I want to hit.� On Thursday he hit a respectable 10 fairways and 13 greens. Rule, Britannia? The English group of Justin Rose (68), Tommy Fleetwood (69) and Ian Poulter (70) combined for 9 under. Neither Poulter nor Rose, the two veterans, could ever remember playing in an all-English threesome at a PGA TOUR event. “I was alerted by the TOUR maybe last week some time that they were thinking about that group,� Rose said. “It was exciting to hear it.� It’ll be even more exciting if at least one of them can remain in contention Sunday, especially since no Englishman has ever won THE PLAYERS. Webb Simpson was among the attendees for a dinner local resident Jim Furyk hosted at his house Wednesday night for Ryder Cup hopefuls. Simpson is 23rd in the U.S. standings, but his 6-under 66 no doubt caught the captain’s attention. “I’ve still got a lot of work to do to get on the team, but it was nice to be there,� Simpson said. Jordan Spieth opened bogey-bogey-eagle-double en route to a 3-over 75. It wasn’t as bad it looked, though. During one three-hole stretch, he said he “lost three strokes with a total of 6 feet in the landing zone� and added that other than two bad swings, he “played good golf and just didn’t get rewarded for it.� Brooks Koepka, who recently returned to action after missing most of this year with an injured left wrist, re-aggravated the problem when he stopped in mid-swing during a practice session Wednesday in order to avoid a cart driver who had accidentally driven in front of him 15 yards away. “It’s the first time my strength actually backfired, to be strong enough to actually stop it,� said Koepka, who was hitting 3-iron stingers to practice for shots needed at the 18th hole. “He would’ve been dead. It was perfect timing.� Koepka iced the wrist overnight, then shot a bogey-free 2-under 70. Quotables My cut-to-top-6 ratio is pretty good.It’s hard not to have a smile on your face when you shoot 5 under at this place.I really don’t think I have anything to work on this afternoon. I think it’s time to go to the beach with the kids.

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Round 3 of the U.S. Open takes place Saturday from The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts. Collin Morikawa matched the low score of the championship with a 4-under 66 for a share of the 36-hole lead with Joel Dahmen and a shot at a third straight year winning a major. Click here for tee times and the leaderboard. HOW TO FOLLOW NOTE: The USGA, who owns and operates the U.S. Open, controls all digital streaming and broadcast rights to this event. For more information on how to watch this week, please visit the U.S. Open’s website. PGA TOUR LIVE coverage will resume on Thursday, June 24 at the Travelers Championship. Television: Saturday, 10 a.m.-12 p.m. (Peacock), 12 p.m.-8 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 9 a.m.-10 a.m. (Peacock), 10 a.m.-12 p.m. (USA), 12 p.m.-7 p.m. (NBC), Radio: Saturday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. (SiriusXM 92/U.S. Open radio) Digital Bonus: Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 11 a.m.-7 p.m. (Featured Groups). Sunday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Holes), 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (Featured Groups). For more live streaming information, click here for the official USGA Viewing Schedule. MUST READS Morikawa, Rahm, McIlroy bring buzz to Brookline in US Open Scottie Scheffler, Sam Burns contending again at U.S. Open Joel Dahmen is the accidental U.S. Open co-leader Viktor Hovland, Cameron Smith, and Cameron Young among big names to miss cut at U.S. Open MJ Daffue keeps the dream alive at the U.S. Open Rory McIlroy’s Stealth back in the bag at Brookline Nine Things to Know: The Country Club Keegan Bradley is back at Brookline for U.S. Open

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