What makes Tiger’s crash hard to stomach

The next two events are among the most important on Jordan Spieth’s calendar each year. This week, he returns to the tournament that served as his TOUR debut, where he twice contended as a teenager but has yet to win. He’s hoisted the trophy at the other TOUR stop in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, the Charles Schwab Challenge, but winning his hometown event, the AT&T Byron Nelson, has eluded him. Then Spieth will try to complete the Career Grand Slam at a course that seems to complement his skill set, Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Spieth heads into this important fortnight in good form, fresh off a victory at the RBC Heritage. Sharing his home this week with two friends, Justin Thomas and Jason Dufner, should help alleviate any pressure he may feel to win a home game and the only major lacking from his resume. “I always want to play really well here,” said Spieth, whose T9 in last year’s AT&T Byron Nelson, the first played at TPC Craig Ranch, is his best in 10 appearances at this event. “It’s obviously one that’s starred on the calendar.” So is the PGA Championship, the tournament that’s stood between him and the Career Grand Slam for each of the past five years. This year’s venue, Southern Hills, is one Spieth played in his amateur days, but it has undergone a dramatic renovation by Gil Hanse since then. That’s one reason Spieth and Thomas, following in the flight path of Tiger Woods and Scottie Scheffler, visited Southern Hills earlier this week for an early PGA Championship practice round. Since Hanse’s renovation, the thick Bermudagrass rough that lined the holes of the Perry Maxwell design have been replaced by short grass. It’s a change that makes the short game that much more important because players must pick their pitch shots precisely. It’s similar to another course where Spieth has had plenty of success, Augusta National. The tiny targets also play to another of Spieth’s strengths, his iron play. “It’s tough to chip,” Thomas said about Southern Hills. “I mean the balls roll off the green, they go pretty far away. You get some grainy, elevated greens to where it’s difficult to get the ball around the hole and over the course of the round in a tournament that can be quite a few shots and the person I think that does that the best is going to have the best chance of winning.” It was Thomas’ first trip to the course. He said he was “blown away” by the layout, despite the 35 mph gusts they faced in their practice round. “I thought tee to green it was excellent,” he said. “I thought it challenged kind of all facets of your game. You have to work the ball quite a bit, you have to, you really, really have to be good around the greens. You can’t fake your way around it.” Spieth played Southern Hills in the 2009 U.S. Amateur, when he was still in high school. “It’s changed so much and I was 15 or 16 years old, so I just wanted to see it … take some stress off practice rounds next week and be able to do nine each day instead of feeling like I got to go out and learn a lot,” Spieth said. “The golf course was fantastic. I loved it. The green complexes are perfectly fitting to the holes. The greens play maybe three quarters of the size that they actually are. There’s a lot more runoffs than I remember into Bermuda chipping areas and into runoff areas that are mowed. So, you can be left with a lot of really delicate little shots. “I think it’s going to be a really firm and fast PGA and it’s going to be one of the higher scoring PGAs that we have seen. It was a great test. I really enjoyed playing it.” Spieth often plays the week before a major, whether it’s the Valero Texas Open before the Masters or the John Deere Classic before The Open. He wouldn’t miss this week, when he can play host to his friends. “I’ve got no complaints thus far, but it’s only Wednesday, so ask me later in the week,” he joked about his housemates. Thomas added this event to his schedule as he ponders a different method for preparing for the majors. Thomas’ PGA win came after playing the week prior at Firestone, but he traditionally doesn’t play the week before a major. But this is Thomas’ first start since the RBC Heritage. He last played TPC Craig Ranch in Q-School nine years ago and with Spieth’s current caddie, Michael Greller, on the bag. Thomas is 20th in the FedExCup with six top-10s, but not a win, this season. “I felt like taking four weeks off into a major wasn’t a very smart idea … and I personally just want to try something a little different this year,” Thomas said. “These last three majors, I’m going to see how I feel this week, and potentially add (the RBC Canadian Open, the week before the U.S. Open), but I just want to play the week before and see how that feels and see how that gets going into next week and seeing if that can lead to some success. “My game has been very, very solid this year. It just hasn’t produced any wins, which is what I play for. I’m getting close, I just got to stay patient and just let it come. I know that it will. Just have to be in the right frame of mind for it and hopefully we can get on a little run whenever it does happen.”

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Here are nine tidbits from the third round of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. The Old White TPC at The Greenbrier Resort in White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia hosts for the eighth time and measures 7,287 yards and plays to Par-70. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 selected golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf game presented by SERVPRO. With temperatures in dipping into the 70’s the breeze blowing, The Old White TPC showed its teeth, to a degree, in Round 3. After giving up a round of 61 in the first two rounds the lowest total on moving day was just 65. The track and the greens both firmed up nicely and there’s hardly a wonder why the top 10 was turned upside down. The Final Pairing Kelly Kraft has never held the 36-hole lead before and now he’s never lost it. He’ll want to forget he played the three holes in two-over par as he saw his three-shot lead evaporate as he shares the 54-hole lead. The good news is he finished the day in red numbers (69) and he’s 13-under on the Par-4 holes. He’ll be playing alongside another looking for win No. 1 on TOUR, Harold Varner, III, so that should help both of them relax. Varner’s last bogey was 39 holes ago as he posted 66 after 64 in Round 2 to share the lead. The last time we checked in with Varner he was putting all four rounds under-par at TPC Sawgrass for T7, his only top 10 of the year. He’ll be looking to join the first-timers club in the winner’s circle tomorrow. He closed with 67 last year in much different circumstances. Na-ht Out of It Kevin Na backed up his 63 in Round 2 with the co-low round of the day, 65, in Round 3 and sits just one back of the lead. He’ll have no problem stalking two players who have never won as he looks to pick up his first win since 2011. He closed with 61 at Trinity Forest for solo fourth at the AT&T Byron Nelson in May and his only top 10 here was posting 65 in 2012. Country Roads, Take Me Home Bubba Watson isn’t worried about stats or trends and shouldn’t be as well as he’s playing. He’s never led this week so he can join the previous seven winners in keeping that streak alive if he does the business tomorrow. He matched the low round of the day on Saturday with 65 as he led the field in SG: off the tee, tee to green, driving distance and proximity. He fired 63 on Sunday his last time out to win the Travelers so I’m not going to be surprised with another low one tomorrow! Mountain Climbing Tony Finau is looking to keep up his momentum going at The Old White TPC. His worst round of 11 is 69 and his best is 66 so I’m not surprised with his trio of 67’s this week. His third one of 2018 moved him up 10 spots to T14 as he looks to best his T7 from last year. He was second to Watson in the first three categories listed above and third in proximity. He’ll need to make a few tomorrow to get back into the top 10. I’m not betting against him as he’s T4 in birdies for the week. The Defending Champ All the talk of coming from behind to win is great but I’ll also point out that nobody has successfully defended either. Xander Schauffele doesn’t care about any stats or streaks as he became the first rookie to win The TOUR Championship last year. He’ll gladly take his chances on a course he loves as his 65 today pushes his two-year total to 27-under in seven rounds. Moving Day For the second week in a row Bronson Burgoon has forced himself into the conversation with a big round on Saturday. And for the second Saturday running it’s a 65 on Par-70 layout that’s put him in the mix. Last week he backed it up with 67 for his first top-10 TOUR finish and a trip to Carnoustie. He’ll have to feel like he’s playing with house money on Sunday as he moved up 24 spots, the most into the top 10. … J.T. Poston went out early and posted the first 65 of the as he jumped 42 spots to T18. … Brandon Harkins continues to rumble as well as his 66 leapfrogged 39 players to T21. Moving Day: Wrong Way Webb Simpson (T2) and Whee Kim (T5) both shared the worst round of the day with matching 76’s. Simpson dropped 28 spots to T30 while Kim plummeted 43 spots to T48. Simpson’s rough day affected more gamers than Kim’s to say the least. … The next step for cut-maker extraordinaire Tyler Duncan is putting together two solid WEEKEND rounds. He’s made nine cuts in a row but he dropped 52 places from T8 to T60 after 75 Saturday. I’ll keep reminding everyone that he’s a rookie playing his 26th event. Study Hall Saturday’s scoring average was the most difficult of the week but still played under-par at 69.753 (-0.247). Round 1 was 69.340 (-0.660) and Round 2 went lower at 68.636 (-1.364) before the correction in Round 3. … Varner has the cleanest card of week so far with just two bogeys and zero others. … Ollie Schniederjans (T14) has circled the most birdies thus far with 19 but has eight bogeys and a double to go with them. … Every player inside the top 10 SG: approach the green is in the top 21 save for Simpson. … Every player inside the top 10 SG: putting is T21 or better as well. … Only Varner and John Peterson (T38) played bogey-free golf in Round 3. Check yesterday’s Emergency 9 for more info on Peterson.

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The FedExCup Playoffs continue today with Round 3 of the BMW Championship from Medinah. Here’s how to follow all the action. Round 3 leaderboard Round 3 tee times HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 3-7 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 12-3 p.m. (GC), 3-6 p.m. (NBC). Sunday, 12-2 p.m. (GC), 2-6 p.m. (NBC) PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday, 9:45 a.m.-7 p.m. (featured groups). Saturday, 8:15 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups), 3-6 p.m. (featured holes). Sunday, 8:15 a.m.-2 p.m. (featured groups), 2-6 p.m. (featured holes). International subscribers (via GOLF.tv): Thursday-Friday, 11:15 to 22:00 GMT. Saturday-Sunday, 12:30 to 22:00. RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 1-7 p.m. ET; Saturday-Sunday, 1-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com). FEATURED GROUPS Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson Tee time: 10:00 a.m. ET Justin Rose, Matt Kuchar Tee time: 10:40 a.m. ET MUST READS Hot putter helps Matsuyama set course record Tiger fights rust, uncooperative putter in second consecutive 71 Cantlay, Finau share second – and may share a Presidents Cup team room Hadwin aims to atone for BMW near miss Pan relishes rounds with Woods Thomas starts strong, ties course record Kokrak wants to concentrate on scores, not scenarios Rookie of the Year race down to five Tiger still showing rust Furyk flashes old form FedExCup Playoffs primer, new format detailed Insider: New format at East Lake to bring drama Seven things to know about Medinah CALL OF THE DAY

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