Xander Schauffele wins WGC-HSBC Champions

SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Open prides itself on being the most open of all majors with some 9,000 players from all walks of golf having a chance to compete. Open, indeed. RELATED: Leaderboard | Richard Bland: Five things to know The weekend at Torrey Pines features major champions and major contenders, players who are unknown or unheralded, all of them still within reach of that U.S. Open trophy. Nine shots separated first from last. It starts with Richard Bland, a 48-year-old from England who finally won on the European Tour last month in his 478th try. Bland had a 4-under 67 and walked off Torrey Pines with his name atop the leaderboard in only his fourth major. His first one was 23 years ago. Russell Henley had a chance to build a two-shot lead Friday afternoon when he stood over an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-5 ninth. He missed, and then watched his 2-foot par putt spin out of the cup. That gave him a 70 to join Bland 5-under 137. They will be in the final group Saturday, with plenty of heavy hitters behind them and getting far more attention. Former Open Championhip winner Louis Oosthuizen (71) and Matthew Wolff (68), the U.S. Open runner-up last year at Winged Foot, were one shot behind. Another shot back were two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson (67) and Jon Rahm (70), a past winner at Torrey Pines and former world No. 1. Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka were at even par, only five shots behind. They were on the same score. They will not be in the same group. Also at even-par 142 was Justin Thomas, who had a 68. “Most times if I’m five back going into a Saturday, I need to probably make 12, 15-plus birdies on the weekend to hang in there,” Thomas said. “But this is a U.S. Open. It’s a little bit different.” Henley doesn’t know much about Bland except that he pays a little attention to golf worldwide and recalled hearing about his British Masters win to end his long quest for a victory. “I’m sure he knows nothing about me, too,” said Henley, a three-time winner on the PGA TOUR who has played 26 majors without a top 10. Bland’s victory in the British Masters made him the oldest first-time winner in European Tour history. That also was the start of a three-tournament series for the leading 10 players to get into the U.S. Open. Travel restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic eliminated the 36-hole qualifier in England. This is only his fourth major — twice at Royal Birkdale in 1998 and 2017, once at Bethpage Black for the U.S. Open in 2009 — and he came in on a high note. “A lot of guys have a lot more on the CV than I do,” Bland said. “But I’m here to compete and give it everything I’ve got.” Oosthuizen, coming off a runner-up finish in the PGA Championship, finished with two pars in the morning to cap off a 67 to share the first-round lead with Henley. He didn’t get any lower in the second round and shot 71, but was right in the mix. So was Wolff, a surprise only because he lost all joy playing golf after such a hot start out of Oklahoma State that he walked away from the game for two months, even missing a major at the PGA Championship. He returned to the toughest test in golf and shot 70-68, two-putting for birdie on the last hole. “It’s awesome that I came out here and played well, but I think more importantly, I’m just getting closer to being more comfortable and being happy and enjoying it,” Wolff said. “I feel like I’ve done a very good job of enjoying it, but I’ve still got a long way to go to keep a level head. Like I said, I’ll probably be working on the same thing that I’m working on now for the rest of my career.” Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy were headed the wrong direction. Johnson, who missed the cut in the Masters and PGA Championship, dropped to 4 over until a late rally gave him a 73 and a spot in the weekend. He was seven behind. McIlroy had to birdie two holes down the stretch for a 73. He was six behind. The 36-hole lead at Torrey Pines in the 2008 U.S. Open was 3-under 139. The course is strong as ever with enough wind, though a marine layer has kept sunshine from baking out some of the greens. Then again, the weekend awaits. The weekend will include Phil Mickelson, whose deft scrambling kept him inside the cut line and he finished with a birdie for a 69. He was seven shots behind in his quest to complete the career Grand Slam. Bland will be a big part of the weekend, and that’s the charm of the U.S. Open. “I love that about the game,” defending champion Bryson DeChambeau said after a 69 left him five shots behind. “Anybody, any age group, can play this great game and compete and contend. If you’re got the skill set to get the ball in the hole in the least amount of shots, you can be up there with the young guns.” Bland is the classic journeyman, happy to be making a living at golf for more than two decades, disappointed to have not won until he broke through last month, not nearly surprised as most everyone else that he was tied for the U.S. Open.

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Round 3 of the PGA Championship takes place Saturday from Kiawah Island. Phil Mickelson and Louis Oosthuizen share the lead at 5 under with two-time PGA champion Brooks Koepka one behind. Reigning Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama is T4 at 3 under along with a pair of South Africans in Branden Grace and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. Here’s everything you need to follow the action. Leaderboard Tee times HOW TO FOLLOW (All times ET) Television: Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-1 p.m. (ESPN+), 1 p.m.-7 p.m. (ESPN). Saturday-Sunday, 8 a.m.-10 a.m. (ESPN+), 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (ESPN), 1 p.m.-7 p.m. (CBS) Bonus: Thursday-Friday, Featured Group #1, 7 a.m.-7 p.m. (ESPN+), Thursday-Friday, Featured Group #2, #3, #4, 8 a.m.- 7 p.m. (ESPN+). Saturday-Sunday, Featured Group #1, #2, 8 a.m.-7 p.m. (ESPN+), Featured Group #3, #4, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. (ESPN+). Radio: Thursday – Sunday, 1 p.m.-7 p.m. ET (on SiriusXM 208, XM 92. Not available on PGA TOUR Digital platforms). NOTE: The PGA of America, who owns and operates the PGA Championship, controls all digital streaming and broadcast rights to this event. For more information on how to watch this week, please visit the PGA Championship website. PGA TOUR LIVE coverage will resume next week at the Charles Schwab Challenge. MUST READS Late carnage spares few at Kiawah Phil Mickelson ‘has the bit in his teeth’ at PGA Championship DJ, JT, Schauffele among those to miss cut Details on Mickelson’s new custom driver Win probabilities: PGA Championship No. 17 provides best theater again at Ocean Course Morikawa’s shot heard ’round the world

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MEXICO CITY — Bryson DeChambeau kept making so many birdies in the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship that when he rolled in his ninth one from 45 feet, all he could do was throw his hands in the air in pure wonder. Related: Leaderboard | Bubba Golf enjoying mini-revival in 2020 | Erik van Rooyen has first PLAYERS in sights after record-tying 62 He wasn’t alone Friday in making birdies, although Rory McIlroy would like to have joined the party. DeChambeau made seven birdies in an eight-hole stretch at Chapultepec Golf Club for an 8-under 63, giving him a one-shot lead over Erik van Rooyen of South Africa and Patrick Reed at the halfway point of this World Golf Championships event. DeChambeau was at 11-under 131. van Rooyen, who played college golf at Minnesota, celebrated his 30th birthday by making nine birdies to tie the course record with a 62. Reed made five birdies on the back nine for a 63 Justin Thomas ran off four straight birdies to end the back nine, and then holed a 35-foot eagle putt to build a three-shot lead through 10 holes. That was gone in a matter of four holes as player after player kept rolling in putts on a day with much less wind and far better scoring. The average score 70.28, more than two shots better than Thursday. Hideki Matusyama was 9 under for his round through 15 holes and had a 20-footer birdie attempt from the fringe on the par-3 seventh. He missed that 3 feet to the left, then missed the next one. He bogeyed the next hole, too, and had to settle for a 64. That left him at 9-under 133, along with Thomas, who had to settle for a 66. McIlroy wasn’t so fortunate. Staked to a two-shot lead at the start of the day, he opened with eight straight pars, didn’t make a birdie until his 12th hole and fell six shots behind at one point. Two birdies at the end gave him a 69 and was only three shots behind. “I made eight pars in a row, and then it’s like, `OK, you’re either going to make a birdie or a bogey. What’s going to come first?’ And I ended up making bogey,” McIlroy said. “There’s a long way to go.” DeChambeau can use all the science he wants with calculations for altitude and air density. The difference for him on this day wasn’t that difficult to figure out. “I just made a lot of putts today,” he said. His big run began on the 18th hole with a 15-foot birdie putt. He got up-and-down from short of the green on the reachable par-4 first hole, made a 15-footer on the net hole, added a few birdies inside 6 feet, and then made a 25-foot birdie. That apparently wasn’t enough. His tee shot on the 223-yard seventh hole with a green fronted by water went toward the back of the putting surface, leaving DeChambeau a downhill putt that is tough to lag. His putt was perfect pace, and a perfect line, as it turned out. “I just threw my hands up in the air. I mean, come on. Who thinks I’m going to make this one?” DeChambeau said. “Matt (Fitzpatrick) just looked at me and he was like, `What are you doing? Go get a lottery ticket or something.'” Reed seems to play his best with a chip on his shoulder. “I’m not going to lie, just the whole thing on the outside distracts us from our ultimate goal, and that’s to go out and play great golf and continue to try to improve every day on and off the golf course,” Reed said. “As long as you’re doing that, then you’re living the right way. So at the end of the day, you can’t please everybody, and I feel like I’m doing everything I need to be doing to continue to strive in the game of golf, hopefully on and off the golf course.” Most intriguing of the lot is van Rooyen, who finished the year among the top 50 to earn his first trip to The Masters. Now it’s about building a schedule on the road to Augusta. He has a sponsor exemption to the Honda Classic — van Rooyen moved to the area last summer — and needs to be in the top 50 each of the next two weeks to get into the Arnold Palmer Invitational and THE PLAYERS Championship. He currently is at No. 52. “I think at a tournament like this and a field like this, if you can play well, you can play well anywhere,” van Rooyen said. “So if I continue the way I’m going, it’ll be a big confidence booster.” Defending champion Dustin Johnson continued to struggle. A two-time winner in Mexico, Johnson has made only three birdies in two days. He shot 71 on Friday and was 16 shots behind.

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