PALM HARBOR, Florida: Adam Schenk looked as though he and everyone else would get passed by Jordan Spieth on Saturday at the Valspar Championship. When a wild and windy round finished, Schenk was still the player everyone was chasing.
Schenk hit his approach to the 18th hole to 5 feet and made the birdie putt for a 1-under 70, giving him a one-shot lead over Spieth and Tommy Fleetwood as he goes after his first victory on the PGA Tour.
“We didn’t have a ton go our way until the very end,” Schenk said.
Neither did Fleetwood, who opened with a birdie and followed with 12 straight pars. He wound up with a bogey-free 69 and realized not losing ground was one of the best things he had going on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook.
Spieth, however, is who dictated the action.
He had a 69 and had to decide when it was over whether that was a good score on account of all the mistakes he made or a wasted chance to separate himself from the field. Spieth opened with a 6-iron to 7 feet for eagle. He led by as many as two shots.
But he made only three pars over his final 12 holes — on four of those occasions, he followed a bogey with a birdie. But that ended on the 18th when he hit a tree on his drive, went into a front bunker and then blasted by the pin to the collar for a final bogey.
“I didn’t have my best stuff in the approach game, but overall I’m in a good spot for tomorrow,” Spieth said.
Schenk was at 8-under 205 and will play in the final group with Spieth, whose game appears to be rounding into form with the Masters on the horizon.
Schenk is playing his 10th week in a row because his wife, Courtney, is expecting their first child at the end of April. He also is entered in the field next week in the Dominican Republic, though a victory could change everything.
That feels a long way off.
Eight players were within three shots of the lead. Webb Simpson had a 68 that included a bogey on the par-5 14th when he hit into the water while trying to lay up. He was two shots behind, along with Taylor Moore (69) and Cody Gribble (70), who had short birdie putts on the 16th and 17th hole and narrowly missed a 20-footer in his bid to birdie all three holes as part of the “Snake Pit” on the Copperhead course.
Patton Kizzire had a 67 and posted early, not sure where that would leave him. Spieth had a lot to do with that and he wound up keeping everyone close.
“Eventful,” is how Spieth described his round.
He missed a 5-foot par putt on No. 7. He hit 6-iron to 12 feet for birdie on No. 8. He missed a 7-foot par putt on the 10th, and then hit a bunker shot that landed in the collar and bounced out to 3 feet for birdie on the par-5 11th.
Spieth followed a three-putt bogey on the 13th with a 3-wood to 35 feet for a two-putt birdie on the 14th. It was like that throughout the back nine, and Spieth looked to have settled down with a 10-foot par putt on the 17th, only to send his tee shot into the trees on 18.
“I made a few too many mistakes, but overall in these conditions, I think I would have signed for 2 under,” Spieth said.
The weather was as wild as his round, gusting to 20 mph and shifting to an entirely different direction as the final groups were on the back nine. Players were hitting 9-iron into the par-3 17th earlier in the round, and Gribble had to hit 5-iron late in the day.
Rain that was expected never arrived, though Innisbrook was expecting showers overnight that could put a premium on scoring.
Fleetwood was the steadiest of the bunch. He made birdie on the par-5 opening hole and the par-5 14th, and was had a collection of big par putts to keep some momentum.
“I kept plugging away,” Fleetwood said. “Pars were good. Birdies were hard to come by. The middle stretch the par saves on 9 and 10 were good putts to hole. I never went backward. I was very happy with anything par or better.”
Schenk’s late birdie gives him lead over Spieth, Fleetwood
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Schenk’s late birdie gives him lead over Spieth, Fleetwood
- Adam Schenk was at 8-under 205 and will play in the final group with Spieth, whose game appears to be rounding into form with the Masters on the horizon
McIlroy soars to the top of the leaderboard at Dubai Invitational
- Scotland’s Connor Syme, Spaniard David Puig were McIlroy’s closest rivals at four under
- A minute’s silence was held at 1.30 p.m. for the 40 victims of the Crans-Montana fire, which included Italian golfer Emanuele Galeppini
DUBAI: Rory McIlroy declared his opening round of 66 as a “nice way to start the year” as he held a one-shot lead at the 2026 Dubai Invitational.
The world number two made a rapid start with seven birdies and a bogey after 10 holes to send a daunting message to the rest of the field as he led by three shots at six under par.
His momentum stalled as he carded a dropped shot and seven pars to close his first round of the year in 66 and take the clubhouse lead at five under.
Matt Wallace rolled in four straight birdies around the turn to surge ahead at seven under, but two dropped shots and a double bogey saw him slip down the leaderboard.
Scotland’s Connor Syme and Spaniard David Puig were McIlroy’s closest rivals at four under.
“It was good. I got off to a great start, played a very good first nine,” McIlroy said.
“Then the wind got up a little bit and felt like that front nine, which was our second nine, was the trickier one.
“I made a silly bogey on three and then didn’t capitalize on the par-five after that.
“So, I felt like I left a few out on that side, but I played a really good nine holes of golf. Overall, a nice way to start the year.”
McIlroy, who started at the 10th, was inches from an opening eagle before he climbed to two under at the 11th with a close-range birdie.
He slid a four-foot par putt by at the 12th, but responded immediately with birdies at the 13th and the par-three 14th thanks to a stunning tee-shot.
The Northern Irishman took the outright lead at four under with another gain at the 17th and when finished his front nine with another birdie, he was two shots clear.
McIlroy was in relentless form as he rolled in his seventh birdie of the day, and third in a row, at the first to extend his advantage to three strokes at six under.
However, Oliver Lindell closed in on the early leader courtesy of a stunning birdie blitz from the ninth to the 13th.
McIlroy bogeyed the third to slip back alongside the Finn to share the lead at five under and they were joined by Guerrier, starting on the back nine, who briefly made it a three-way tie after his seventh birdie of the round at the sixth to go with his double bogey at the ninth before fading away.
Matt Wallace opened with a bogey, but bounced back with a birdie at the third and a chip-in eagle at the fourth.
Another gain followed at the sixth before he surged to the summit courtesy of four straight birdies from the eighth to move two ahead at seven under.
The Englishman dropped a shot at the 12th, double bogeyed the 16th and closed with a bogey as his two-shot lead evaporated.
Syme and Puig were one shot behind McIlroy at four under following five birdies and a bogey in their 67s.
Wallace endured a rollercoaster card of an eagle, six birdies, three dropped shots and a double bogey to finish to sit in a tie for fifth at three under, Lindell double bogeyed the last in his 68, while French pair Guerrier and Antoine Rozner and Spaniard Angel Ayora were also at that mark.
There was a minute’s silence held at 1.30 p.m. for the 40 victims of the Crans-Montana fire during New Year celebrations, which included rising Italian talent Emanuele Galeppini, who was about to start his tenure as Junior Captain at Dubai Creek Resort.
Black ribbons were worn by players, caddies and DP World Tour staff as a mark of respect.
