Watch live: Kuchar into final at Match Play

Jason Kokrak wins the Charles Schwab Challenge for his second PGA TOUR title. Check out the clubs he used to get it done. RELATED: Final leaderboard Driver: TaylorMade SIM (9 degrees @8.5) Shaft: Accra TZ5 85 M5 Proto 3-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 (15 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 6.5 80 TX 7-wood: TaylorMade SIM2 Max (21 degrees) Shaft: Project X HZRDUS Smoke Green 6.5 80 TX Irons: PXG 0311 T Gen4 (4-PW) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 Wedges: PXG 0311 Sugar Daddy (52), Titleist Vokey Design SM8 WedgeWorks (60-T) Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 Putter: Bettinardi Studio Stock 38 Grip: SuperStroke Pistol GT Ball: Titleist Pro V1 Grips: Golf Pride MCC (Black/White)

Click here to read the full article…

The PGA TOUR heads three hours south of Augusta for The RSM Classic, the second-to-last PGA TOUR event of the calendar year. Tyler Duncan, coming off his Masters debut, will defend his maiden TOUR title while past FedExCup champions Justin Rose, Brandt Snedeker and Henrik Stenson lead the way along with a collection of major champions and Sea Island residents all looking to lift the trophy come Sunday. FIELD NOTES: Plenty of Masters competitors will hit the road from Augusta to Sea Island for The RSM Classic including past Masters winners Danny Willett and Zach Johnson... Each of the past seven winners at Sea Island will look to rekindle some old magic this week including 2019 winner Duncan, who is hoping to become the first golfer to successfully defend his title at The RSM Classic... Davis Love III, the longtime host of the event, will not play in 2020 due to a lingering neck injury... Last year's runner-up (who lost to Duncan in a playoff) Webb Simpson is back to try to avenge 2019's loss... Stewart Cink, Hudson Swafford, Martin Laird, and Brian Gay are winners from the fall who are in the field... Other notable names teeing it up at Sea Island including Jason Day, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose and Tyrrell Hatton. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: Sea Island Resort (Seaside), 7,005 yards, par 70; Sea Island Resort (Plantation), 7,060 yards, par 72. Yardage subject to change. Tom Fazio redid the Seaside Course in 1999, while tournament host Davis Love III and his brother Mark redesigned the Plantation Course for 2019. STORYLINES: Davis Thompson, the celebrated amateur, will play on the PGA TOUR for the third time this calendar year. He also played the Puerto Rico Open and the U.S. Open - where he led briefly during the first round. Thompson is the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world and will play for the second straight year in Sea Island... Per usual, there are plenty of Sea Island residents teeing it up at The RSM Classic, all of whom are trying to become the first local to actually win the tournament. Kevin Kisner won in 2015 but was living in Sea Island temporarily due to renovations on his home in South Carolina... Five of the 10 RSM Classic winners made the tournament their first PGA TOUR victory including Duncan in 2019. 72-HOLE RECORD: 260, Kevin Kisner (2015) 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Tommy Gainey (4th round, 2012) LAST TIME: Tyler Duncan topped Webb Simpson in a playoff to win his first PGA TOUR title at The RSM Classic in 2019. Simpson was the highest-ranked golfer in the field and appeared to be the man to beat. But Duncan closed with a 25-foot birdie to force a playoff, which he won on the second extra hole. The pair made pars on the first playoff hole but Duncan nailed a 15-footer for birdie, and the win. Duncan had just re-earned his PGA TOUR card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, but his closing 65 was tied for the round of the day. Sebastian Munoz finished third, Brendon Todd finished fourth, and Henrik Norlander, Scottie Scheffler, and KH Lee rounded out the top five. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-4 p.m. ET (Golf Channel) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 9:15 a.m.-4 p.m. ET (Featured Groups) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).

Click here to read the full article…

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Troy Merritt isn’t obsessed with his position in the FedExCup and what he needs to advance in the PGA TOUR’s Playoffs. He figures the best solution is good golf, and he delivered his best round of the year Thursday in THE NORTHERN TRUST. Merritt began with a 10-foot par save, followed with a pair of 20-foot birdie putts and took advantage of calm, rain-softened Liberty National by tying the course record with a 9-under 62 for a one-shot lead over Dustin Johnson. It wasn’t a career low — Merritt twice has shot 61 on the PGA TOUR — but it might have been his best round hardly anyone saw. The storm was so fierce on the eve of the FedExCup Playoffs opener that the public was not allowed in until 10 a.m., nearly three hours after the round began. And when the fans arrived, most of them were watching the action — what little there was — two groups behind him with Tiger Woods. Woods, in only his third round since the U.S. Open, made double bogey on the shortest hole on the course, three-putted from 15 feet and had three bogeys from the fairway in a listless round of 75. Along with being 13 shots out of the lead, he was in danger of missing the cut for the first time in the FedExCup Playoffs, which also would jeopardize a return to East Lake for the TOUR Championship. “We all knew it was soft out here with the rain last night,” Woods said. “I knew I had to go get it, post a low one, and didn’t do it. It’s certainly out there. Greens are soft. Fairways are soft. You can play aggressively and not have any real ramifications for playing aggressive.” Johnson ran off four straight birdies near the end of his round for a 63, a good start in a tournament he already has won twice. Kevin Kisner and Jon Rahm were at 64, while the group at 65 included Rory McIlroy and the suddenly hot Webb Simpson, who posted his sixth straight round of 65 or better dating to the final round of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational two weeks ago. The wind arrived in the afternoon, slowing the onslaught of low scores, with no round better than the 66 by Justin Rose. “Got a bit tricky this afternoon,” Rose said. “I didn’t pay too much attention to this morning’s scores. Saw a scoreboard at one points — 9 (under), 8, 7s, 6s — and I knew it was on. This golf course, if you’re playing well, you can take it on and challenge it. … If you’re not 100 percent on your game, you have to play conservatively.” Merritt is No. 72 in the FedExCup, with the top 70 advancing next week to the BMW Championship at Medinah. Points are quadrupled in the Playoffs. “I know good golf will take care of itself,” he said. “You just try to play the best you can. Obviously, I’ll be watching throughout the weekend, but just getting off to a good start, put that to the back of the mind and try to win a golf tournament.” Johnson has no such worries as the No. 7 seed, though this time of the year means a lot to him only because of past failures. He narrowly lost out on the FedExCup in 2016 when he had a share of the 54-hole lead, shot 73 and still could have won the Cup if anyone but McIlroy had won. McIlroy won in a playoff. Four other times he went to the TOUR Championship among the top five seeds and didn’t get it done. “Absolutely — especially with what they’re paying this year,” he said with a smile, referring to the $15 million payout. “That’s like winning five majors.” His math was a little off, but point taken — his interest level is high, and his game was sharp. Even with a 63, Johnson couldn’t help but recall four birdie putts of inside 10 feet in a five-hole stretch around the turn that didn’t fall. Brooks Koepka, who has won four majors in the last three years, still hasn’t found his groove in the FedExCup. Koepka is the No. 1 seed. In 15 playoffs events, he has managed only two top 10s — his best is sixth place at the TOUR Championship two years ago — and he didn’t get off to a great start at Liberty National with only three birdies in his round of 70. Either way, he’s assured of being in East Lake. That isn’t the case for the likes of Phil Mickelson at No. 34, who opened with a 72. And it’s never been this big of a struggle for Jordan Spieth, who is No. 69 and can’t even bank on next week. He played bogey-free for a 67 in the afternoon. “I don’t like starting where I did this Playoffs, and I don’t plan on ever starting this far down again,” Spieth said before he paused to smile. “Last year I said that, and then I did. But things are improving. Today was a good day.”

Click here to read the full article…