Watch Tiger Woods’ dramatic fairway hole-out eagle, and fist pump, at the WGC-Match Play

THE OVERVIEW For a minute there, a few people started to lose sight of Brandt Snedeker. Injuries and a winless run of more than two years meant he fell into the shadows of consciousness while others stepped up to fill the breach. Despite the fact he was still playing decent golf, he could feel it. But the 37-year-old and past FedExCup champion was not ready to be forgotten, as he re-announced himself with his sublime efforts at the Wyndham Championship. There he opened with a famous 11-under 59, becoming the 10th and most recent member of the very exclusive (sub-60) club. He would go on to win the ninth title of his PGA TOUR career. Not content to stop there, he has already notched up a runner-up finish in the new season, falling in a playoff to Kevin Tway at the Safeway Open. He now has his sights set on a return to the TOUR Championship and another FedExCup title. His last trip to East Lake came in 2016 – a stat that does not sit well with a man with six trips to the Playoffs finale in the FedExCup era. His trademark putting remains his strength as he’s running fourth in Strokes Gained: Putting through the fall series and was ranked 16th on TOUR last season. As long as he can find the greens in regulation, Sneds is going to be a threat wherever he tees it up. — By Ben Everill Click here to see who else made the Top 30 list. BY THE NUMBERS FEDEXCUP UPDATE Current 2018-19 position: 18th Playoff appearances: 11 TOUR Championship appearances: 6 Best FedExCup result: Won the FedExCup in 2012. SHOTLINK FUN FACT In shooting 59 in the opening round of the 2018 Wyndham Championship, Brandt Snedeker became the fifth player to shoot a sub-60 round and go on to win. INSIDER INSIGHTS PGATOUR.COM’s Insiders offer their expert views on what to expect from Brandt Snedeker in 2019. TOUR INSIDER: After a small lull in his career mainly brought on by injury, Snedeker looks set to find his place back among the elite. The performance at Wyndham last season was epic and just another display of putting brilliance we have become accustomed to. The fire is clearly back in his belly and as such, don’t be surprised to see a 10th TOUR win soon. — By Ben Everill FANTASY INSIDER: Riddled with injuries for the last several years, he’s remained a dynamic contributor exponentially more than we’ve wailed over his absence at key times. Combine that resolve with a busy schedule and a proven record of hoisting hardware (nine career wins!), he simply doesn’t let us down even amid physical challenges. Continue to invest with confidence when it makes sense, which is often. — By Rob Bolton EQUIPMENT INSIDER: Snedeker has been using a White Hot XG Rossie putter (34 inches) for years now, and it’s still in the bag. That’s not likely to change anytime soon. That being said, Snedeker doesn’t mind switching it up when it comes to other clubs in his bag. Snedeker won the 2018 Wyndham with a new Bridgestone Tour B JGR proto driver, and a Graphite Design Tour AD-IZ shaft, but he’s since switched to a TaylorMade M3 with a Fujikura Speeder shaft. Snedeker also currently plays with Bridgestone J15CB irons, and a combo of J40 and J15 wedges. — By Andrew Tursky STYLE INSIDER: Snedeker rarely misses a beat when it comes to style. Consistently sharp looks with contemporary fits are his trademark. While he favors a traditional style, he embraces the latest trends and isn’t afraid to dial up vibrant colors to give his outfits some pop. His best fashion move lately has been the addition of G/FORE’s saddle shoes. The modern take on this classic silhouette is a perfect fit for Brandt’s style. — By Greg Monteforte

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CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — The way golf has been going the last few years, it would be reasonable to see the name “Johnson” atop the leaderboard and assume it belonged to the No. 1 player in the world. But not necessarily at The Open Championship. Zach Johnson — not Dustin — already has his name on the claret jug. And the way he handled the rain Friday in his round of 4-under 67, he might have a chance to see it on that precious silver trophy again. Johnson holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th and had a one-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood at the midway point of the second round. Fleetwood, the top player on the European Tour last year, put together the best round of the week at Carnoustie with a 65. Rory McIlroy had another 69 and was two shots behind. Johnson was at 6-under 136, and had to wait to see if it would hold up. Kevin Kisner, the 18-hole leader, was among the late starters. The light rain from overnight never let up. It wasn’t enough to turn the color of grass from brown to green, just enough to be a nuisance playing in rain gear, with towels hanging from the inside of umbrella to stay dry and putting surfaces that were slightly slower. Johnson overcame a bogey on the opening hole with birdies on the third and fourth holes, and he never put himself under too much pressure the rest of the way. Already a two-time major champion with titles at St. Andrews and Augusta National, the 42-year-old from Iowa now has made the cut 12 straight times at The Open, a streak that began at Carnoustie in 2007. His low ball flight, grinding nature and good putting give him the right ingredients. As for that other Johnson? Dustin Johnson was headed toward being the first No. 1 player in the world to miss the cut at The Open since Luke Donald in 2011 at Royal St. George’s. He appeared to keep it together with a tough par save from the bunker on No. 12, followed by two straight birdies. But he had another poor finish, closing bogey-double bogey for a 72 and is at 6-over 148 for 36 holes. Even as Tiger Woods was piecing together a level round, and late starters like Kisner and Jordan Spieth were still on the course, the cut figured to be about 3-over, plus or minus one shot. Zach Johnson and Dustin Johnson, one of golf’s most powerful players, share nothing in common but a surname. That hasn’t kept the casual fan from occasionally calling Zach Johnson by the wrong name. “I certainly am not the No. 1 player in the world that ends in ‘Johnson,” he said. “I’ve been called Dustin many times. I doubt he’s been called Zach that many times. Zach Johnson has more than held his own. In the power era of golf, he is more of a pistol than a cannon. And yet he has still won 12 times on the PGA TOUR, along with majors at the Masters and The Open. Fleetwood and McIlroy were playing a few groups ahead of Johnson, and it was a race to see who would wind up on top for much of the late morning until Johnson made his birdie putt on the final hole. Fleetwood shot 63 at Carnoustie last year in the Dunhill Links, but that was a European Tour event. In more difficult conditions, his 65 felt just as good, especially the birdie on the 18th that put him atop the leaderboard until Johnson finished. McIlroy, meanwhile, was within one shot until a long three-putt from just off the 12th green. He gave another shot back on the 15th when he pulled his second shot toward the gallery, though he made enough birdies to stay within range. “Under those conditions, I would have taken that score today going out,” McIlroy said. “It wasn’t that bad, but it was just damp enough and cold enough that the game plan that I was trying to adapt to be aggressive and hit driver a lot, I just couldn’t do it. … So a lot more irons off tees and a lot more conservative, but ended up being the same score.” Dustin Johnson wasn’t alone in his struggle this week. The No. 2 player in the world, Justin Thomas, also was headed toward a weekend off. Thomas was 2 under for the tournament when it took him two shots to get out of a pot bunker in the sixth fairway and three putts from long range on the green, leading to double bogey. He then made double bogey on the next two holes and wound up with a 77 to finish at 4 over.

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Bernhard Langer had a borrowed putter and a backup caddie Friday in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, but he still shot a 5-under 67, leaving him a stroke behind first-round leader Wes Short Jr.

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