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
Thailand’s Pajaree storms to top of crowded LPGA leaderboard in Arizona
- Pajaree: It was a great day out there. I actually was in the zone
- Vu, who withdrew from two tournaments on the LPGA’s recent Asian swing with back trouble, was delighted to find herself in contention
LOS ANGELES: Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn birdied her last five holes in a 9-under par 63 on Thursday to break free atop a log-jammed leaderboard after the first round of the LPGA Ford Championship in Gilbert, Arizona.
With five players in the clubhouse on 8-under, Pajaree rolled in a birdie putt at her final hole, the ninth to seize a one-shot lead over world No. 2 Lilia Vu of the US, Spaniards Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz, Germany’s Isi Gabsa and Australian Gabriela Ruffels.
“It was a great day out there,” said Pajaree, who claimed the most recent of her two LPGA titles at last year’s LPGA Match-Play. “I actually was in the zone. I didn’t realize that I holed my fifth birdie in a row on the ninth green. But it was a great day.”
Pajaree, who matched her career low round on the LPGA tour, said she knew she had the makings of a good round after her third birdie of the day at the 18th.
“Bogey-free, came out with three-under par going into the back nine. I played some really good shots today,” she said. “Hit a lot of good drivers off the tee and gave me a lot of benefit just going into the green with short irons.
“I was able to just hit some good long irons in as well, so that helped,” she added.
Vu, who withdrew from two tournaments on the LPGA’s recent Asian swing with back trouble, was delighted to find herself in contention.
“Today, honestly, my only goal was to hit the ball solid,” she said. “It’s been rough the past couple weeks with how my body is doing and just struggling with a back injury.
“But I’m almost 100 percent, so it was really fun to play without pain today and focus on where I wanted to hit the ball instead of bracing for pain.”
Vu had nine birdies with one bogey, joining the group on eight under with a birdie at the 18th.
“I was really excited to pull off shots that I saw in my head,” Vu said. “It’s been a while since I’ve been able to hit a shot that I see, so I think it was super fun to be like, OK, I can hit a nice little draw here. Ends up maybe like 10, 15 feet, and go and try and make it.”
Ciganda and Gabsa both had eight birdies without a bogey, while Ruffels and Munoz each had an eagle on the way to 64 at the Seville Golf and Country Club.
French star Celine Boutier, who won the LPGA’s most recent event in Arizona when she won at Superstition Mountain last year, was two off the lead on 65, where she was joined by South Korean Kim Hyo-joo.
Another 11 players were a further stroke back on 66. That group included American Nelly Korda, who supplanted Vu as No. 1 in the world with her victory in the Seri Pak Championship on Sunday — Korda’s second victory in as many starts this season.
Nelly Korda delivers more drama and wins playoff for 10th LPGA Tour title
- Korda ended it quickly with a 12-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to beat Ryann O’Toole and return to No. 1 in the women’s world ranking
- Korda decided to skip the entire Asia swing, giving her nearly two months off
PALOS VERDES ESTATES, California: Nelly Korda took seven weeks off and nothing changed. She won again on the LPGA Tour and made it far more exciting than it needed to be.
Korda made bogey on her last two holes Sunday to fall into a playoff in the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship, and then ended it quickly with a 12-foot birdie putt on the first extra hole to beat Ryann O’Toole and return to No. 1 in the women’s world ranking.
“I’m aging myself really quickly out here,” the 25-year-old Korda said.
Korda, who closed with a 2-under 69, won for the second time this year, both of them involving surprising collapses and amazing revivals. She won the Drive On Championship in Florida in January by dropping four shots in three holes on the back nine, only to rally with an eagle-birdie finish to beat Lydia Ko.
She hasn’t played since then, skipping the Asia swing and returning this week with a little bit of rust that didn’t take long to shake off. Korda seized control by smashing a fairway metal up the hill on the par-5 14th. The ball caught a slope at the back of the green and rolled down to 18 feet, and she made the eagle putt.
O’Toole holed a 20-foot par putt on the 18th for a 66, and that looked to be good only for second place. And then Korda made it interesting.
She missed a 5-foot par putt on the 15th hole. She went just over the green on the par-5 16th with a 7-iron and made birdie. She came up short on the par-3 17th and missed a 6-foot par putt. And then she went long on the 18th and failed to save par again.
“Eagle, bogey, birdie, bogey, bogey. Yeah,” Korda said. “I say this all the time, but I seem to always make it interesting. Just doing normal Nelly things, making it interesting.”
They finished at 9-under 275, and the playoff ended quickly.
O’Toole hit 7-iron from the right rough to about 15 feet and her birdie putt burned the edge of the cup. Korda hit 8-iron to 12 feet and poured it in for her 10th career LPGA title.
“At least I gave it my best attempt,” O’Toole said. “That putting could have gone either way. Nelly played really great. Obviously, last couple holes for her put her in the position to be in a playoff with me. Hey, I came from behind and gave it my best chance. I can’t be more proud.”
Korda decided to skip the entire Asia swing, giving her nearly two months off. It helped that her swing coach, Jamie Mulligan, works down the road at Virginia Country Club in Long Beach and was able to work with her after each round.
It also helped to calm her anger after the bogey-bogey finish.
“I vented to my coach on the putting green and then he asked me if I’m ready to be positive. Took a little bit and then I was ready,” Korda said. “And then we talked a little bit, laughed a little bit. He’s really good at just cracking jokes, which sometimes I just give him a pity laugh.”
And then she reminded herself that despite the sloppy finish, the trophy was still in her sights.
Making it tougher were brutal conditions of wind and cold. O’Toole was wearing ear muffs when she holed her clutch putt at the end of regulation.
Korda seemed to embrace the challenge.
“The weekend was brutal,” she said. “It’s also the beauty of the game. It’s fun to be able to play in these conditions and be a little more artistic.”
Jiyai Shin, a former world No. 1 who has been the top player on four worldwide tours, shared the lead going into the final round but fell back for good with a three-putt double bogey on the 12th. She closed with a 73 and tied for fifth.
Gabriela Ruffels (70) and Alison Lee (72) tied for third. Ruffels needed a birdie on the final hole to join the playoff.
Korda replaces Lilia Vu at the top of the women’s world ranking.
Wyndham Clark sets a big target at The Players Championship. Scheffler coping with pain in his neck
- Clark had a four-shot lead over Xander Schauffele (69) and Nick Taylor (68), who played in the afternoon and had to cope with warm, breezy conditions on greens that remained surprisingly soft on the Stadium Course
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida: Scottie Scheffler had his 25th consecutive round under par Friday in The Players Championship, and this was hard work. He felt pain in his neck that required treatment on the course, and he struggled to swing and to stay within range of Wyndham Clark.
Feeling fit or not, that turned out to be the goal for everyone.
Clark was playing in the group behind, oblivious to Scheffler’s injury or anything else. He ran off four straight birdies on the front nine and finished with a 7-under 65, one shot short of the 36-hole record at the TPC Sawgrass.
He had a four-shot lead over Xander Schauffele (69) and Nick Taylor (68), who played in the afternoon and had to cope with warm, breezy conditions on greens that remained surprisingly soft on the Stadium Course.
Scheffler was simply happy to be done. He felt something wrong on his fourth full swing of the day, a shot that went left on the par-5 11th that kept him from a good look at birdie. He got treatment before his tee shots on three straight holes and managed a 3-under 69.
“I felt a little something in my neck, and then I tried to hit my tee shot on 12, and that’s when I could barely get the club back,” Scheffler said through a PGA Tour official. “So I got some treatment, maybe loosened it up a tiny bit. But most of the day, I was pretty much laboring to get the club somehow away from me.”
The hope for Scheffler is he would have free range by the weekend. The concern is that he already was No. 1 in the world and appearing to hit another gear coming off his five-shot victory last week at Bay Hill until this injury interruption.
Clark is proving each week to be a serious challenger no matter Scheffler’s condition.
The US Open champion already shot 60 at Pebble Beach to win in 54 holes because of weather, and he was the only player who mounted any challenge against Scheffler at Bay Hill last week, finishing runner-up.
He got through the back nine on another calm, sunny morning in 1 under and then started hitting everything close to perfect — a wedge to 18 inches on No. 1, a simple up-and-down for birdie on the par-5 second, a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 third and a wedge to 4 feet on the fourth hole.
“I’m just super excited that kind of had a ho-hum front nine and then turned and really just got into a nice zone and felt really good on the greens and shot an awesome number,” Clark said.
He closed with a birdie for a 30 on the front nine and was at 14-under 130. The 36-hole recordholder for The Players is Webb Simpson in 2018.
Schauffele has only one blunder through 36 holes, a hybrid he hit into the water on the par-5 11th that led to double bogey. He got that back with a 7-iron into the par-5 16th for eagle and at least worked his way into the final group.
He got there with a 6-iron off the pine straw and under the trees onto the 18th green for par.
“I wanted to be in the final group as often as possible, especially being four shots back,” Schauffele said.
Taylor had three bogeys, each time answering with a birdie to stay in the mix.
Former US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick had a double bogey on No. 4 that slowed his momentum. He had to settle for a 69 and was five shots behind, along with Maverick McNealy, who finished with a 67 in the morning and followed with a 68.
Scheffler was in the group at 8-under 136, and by the sound of it, he was happy to be there.
“I did enough to keep myself somewhat in the tournament, and so that’s really all I could ask for,” Scheffler said. “The way I was getting around the course, the way my neck was feeling, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to continue playing. So yeah, good fight out there.”
At least he’s still playing. Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Will Zalatoris were among those set to miss the cut — Spieth for the sixth time in 10 appearances, Thomas for the first time. The second round was to be completed Saturday morning because of darkness.
Rory McIlroy didn’t make a par until the seventh hole in a wild round of 73 that left him eight shots behind Clark.
Scheffler converted two of his four birdie chances at the start, but then he walked briskly up the hill toward the 14th tee with his physio, Marnus Marais. He sat on a chair behind the 14th tee with Marais working on him.
Scheffler drilled his drive down the middle and had a 20-foot birdie chance. Then he walked through the palmetto bushes, away from spectators, for more work. Thomas and Rickie Fowler hit their tee shots and waited on Scheffler. The same scene played out after the 15th.
Clark, meanwhile, looks to be a daunting target. A year ago at The Players Championship, hardly anyone knew who he was. But the 29-year-old from Denver is working his way into the elite in golf as much with his big titles — two signature events and one major — as his No. 5 world ranking.
Rory McIlroy shoots a 65 with 2 tee shots in the water and 1 uncomfortable dispute
- McIlroy ended the day with 10 birdies for his lowest start ever at the TPC Sawgrass, leaving him tied with Xander Schauffele and US Open champion Wyndham Clark
- It was the drop on No. 7 that caused so much conversation with Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland, and some confusion on where he should drop
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida: Rory McIlroy began The Players Championship with a 65 on his scorecard, two tee shots that went into the water and one lengthy dispute about where to take a penalty drop on Thursday.
McIlroy ended the day with 10 birdies for his lowest start ever at the TPC Sawgrass, leaving him tied with Xander Schauffele and US Open champion Wyndham Clark. He would love to have back the tee shots on the 18th and the seventh holes, both of which found water and slowed his momentum on an otherwise superb display of golf.
It was the drop on No. 7 that caused so much conversation with Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland, and some confusion on where he should drop.
“I think Jordan was just trying to make sure that I was doing the right thing,” McIlroy said. “I was pretty sure that my ball had crossed where I was sort of dropping it. It’s so hard, right? Because there was no TV evidence. I was adamant. But I think, again, he was just trying to make sure that I was going to do the right thing.”
McIlroy was 8 under for the day playing the par-4 seventh — his 16th hole of the round — when he pulled his tee shot. The land slopes toward a large pond, meaning the only gallery is on the opposite side of the fairway. Television replays saw the ball bounce, but not where.
The question became was it above or below the red hazard line. Had it landed above, McIlroy would take a one-shot penalty and drop it near were it crossed the line into the water. But if it were below the line — closer to the water — he would have had to take his penalty and drop back by the tee box on the 452-yard hole.
McIlroy had already taken his drop when his playing partners had questions. Spieth was heard to say, “We don’t know for sure that it crossed the line.”
“I’m pretty comfortable I saw it above the red line,” McIlroy said.
At one point it appeared to get testy between Spieth, McIlroy and caddie Harry Diamond.
“Everyone that I’m hearing had eyes on it is ... saying they were 100 percent certain it landed below the line,” Spieth said.
“Who’s everybody, Jordan?” Diamond said.
“Who are you talking about?” McIlroy added.
Spieth said all that mattered was what McIlroy thought.
A rules official arrived but was of little use without having seen the shots, and with the camera angle unable to capture exactly where the ball landed.
“I think my ball bounced above the red line, but it’s not definitive,” McIlroy told the official. “I’m pretty comfortable it did. We’re trying to check with TV and they can’t say.”
This went on so long that it took some 30 minutes to complete the hole. McIlroy said he was trying to take the drop in the most conservative spot. Eventually, he came up short of the green with his third shot, ran it 10 feet by the hole and missed the putt to take double bogey.
Hovland, who was involved in a similar tense dispute involving Daniel Berger at The Players two years ago, declined to comment, and Spieth bolted into the clubhouse after the round.
“I think at the end of the day we’re all trying to protect ourselves, protect the field, as well,” McIlroy said after his round. “I wouldn’t say it (the debate with Spieth) was needless. I think he was just trying to make sure that what happened was the right thing.”
Adding to the attention was their place outside the ropes. McIlroy resigned from the PGA Tour policy board in November, and Spieth was chosen to finish his term as the tour was trying to negotiate investment deals with private equity and Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
McIlroy and Spieth also were at odds last month at Pebble Beach on whether the PGA Tour needed a deal with the Public Investment Fund.
They also disagree on whether LIV Golf players should be punished if they ever came back to the PGA Tour. McIlroy doesn’t think they should.
There also was an inquiry into McIlroy’s tee shot on the 18th. He dropped at the start of the fairway, not by the tee box, and managed to hit 3-wood to the front of the green and escape with a bogey.
“Again, adamant it crossed (land), it’s just a matter of where it crosses. I think this golf course more than any other, it sort of produces those situations a little bit,” McIlroy said. “I feel like I’m one of the most conscientious golfers out here, so if I feel like I’ve done something wrong, it’ll play on my conscience for the rest of the tournament.
“I’m a big believer in karma, and if you do something wrong, I feel like it’s going to come around and bite you at some point,” he said. “I obviously don’t try to do anything wrong out there, and play by the rules and do the right thing. I feel like I obviously did that those two drops.”
Lost in all this drama was a 65. It was a remarkable round considering his two tee shots.
“It would be nice to shoot 62 and not have two in the water, I guess,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy wants to ‘speed up’ PGA-PIF deal to reunite stars
- McIlroy: We all need to sort of move forward and try to bring the game back together
- McIlroy, the 2019 Players champion, is hoping to rediscover his best form this week
MIAMI: Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy wants talks on a PGA Tour merger deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) to conclude quickly, saying fans want star golfers reunited.
Saudi-backed LIV Golf League, in its third campaign, has many star names who defected from the PGA Tour, including reigning Masters champion Jon Rahm and 2023 PGA Championship winner Brooks Koepka.
Talks to finalize a framework agreement from last June to unify the PGA and PIF have dragged beyond a December deadline, something McIlroy sees as a factor in television rating declines for PGA signature tournaments, down 30 percent for last week’s event at Bay Hill.
“I want the train to speed up so we can get this thing over and done with,” McIlroy said Wednesday on the eve of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Florida.
McIlroy said the PGA’s signature events, with limited fields in big-money showdowns, “are not quite capturing the imagination this year compared to last year.”
“I think it’s because fans are fatigued of what’s going on in the game and I think we need to try to reengage them in a way that the focus is on the play and not on talking about equity and all the rest of it,” he said.
“The sooner that this is resolved, I think it’s going to be better for the game and better for everyone, the fans and the players.”
McIlroy said a major factor is that LIV and PGA players compete against each another only at major tournaments.
“If I were a fan, I would want to watch the best players compete against each other week in, week out,” McIlroy said.
“If you just unified the game and brought us all back together in some way, that would be great for the fans, I would imagine.
“I think that would then put a positive spin on everything that has happened here, and OK, get together, we all move forward, and I think people could get excited about that.”
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has been criticized since revealing the PGA-PIF deal and reigning Olympic champion Xander Schauffele said Monahan “has a long way to go to regain the trust of the membership.”
Monahan has McIlroy’s support as he continues what he calls “accelerating” talks with PIF.
“I think some of the reaction to June 6 was warranted, but at this point it’s eight months ago and we all need to move on,” McIlroy said. “We all need to sort of move forward and try to bring the game back together.”
McIlroy cited Monahan’s work during the Covid pandemic, on media rights deals and aligning with the DP World Tour.
“People can nit-pick and say he didn’t do this right or didn’t do that right, but if you actually step back and look at the bigger picture, I think the PGA Tour is in a far stronger position than when Jay took over,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy, the 2019 Players champion, is hoping to rediscover his best form this week after failing to post a top-20 finish in his four PGA Tour appearances so far this year.