PHOENIX – Paul Goydos birdied the par-5 18th for a 6-under 65 and a one-stroke lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Tied for the first-round lead with Tim Petrovic after a 63, Goydos had six birdies in the bogey-free round in warm, sunny conditions at Phoenix Country Club.

“I was very, in a sense, for lack of a better word, simple,” Goydos said. “I hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens and I made six putts for birdie. A couple of them short and a couple of nice mid-range ones. I think what I take out of it is I didn’t put a lot of pressure on myself.”

The 54-year-old Goydos won the 2016 event at Desert Mountain. He has five victories on the 50-and-over tour after winning twice on the PGA Tour.

“The weather’s supposed to be good, the scores are going to be good this weekend,” Goydos said. “Should be exciting.”

Scott McCarron, one of six players left in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup points race for a $1 million annuity, was a stroke back at 13 under after a 64. He birdied the final two holes.

“I drove the ball pretty well, hit a lot of fairways, gave myself a lot of opportunities, and then hit it close on 17 and 18,” McCarron said. “Always nice to be able to finish the round hitting it close.”

Petrovic was 12 under after a 67.

“Just a little shaky out of gate,” Petrovic said. “Just kind of chunked a chip on the first hole and three-putted on the second hole. That’s not the way you want to start. … I got myself back into it, for sure.”

Wes Short Jr. had a 63 to match Duffy Waldorf (65) at 9 under. Vijay Singh (67) and Marco Dawson (65) were 8 under, and Cup contender Jerry Kelly (67), Stephen Ames (67) and defending champion Kevin Sutherland (68) were another stroke back.

Points leader Bernhard Langer (70) and No. 2 Scott Parel (69) were tied for 20th at 2 under.

Langer and Parel would take the Cup with a tournament victory, while Miguel Angel Jimenez, Kelly, McCarron and David Toms need a win and help from other players. Langer has won the season-long competition four times, three straight from 2014-16.

Toms was 6 under after a 67, and Jimenez 2 over after a 75.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Matt Kuchar knew he was in trouble when his tee shot sailed so far to the right that he hit a provisional in case the ball was out-of-bounds.

He found the ball, and somehow never lost the lead.

Kuchar escaped his only big mess Friday with a 35-foot bogey putt on the 12th hole, and he rode eight birdies to a 7-under 64 that gave him a two-shot lead over PGA Tour rookie Cameron Champ going into the weekend at the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

Champ, going after his second victory in three weeks, played in the morning and shot 62 with a bogey on his final hole.

Kuchar was at 14-under 128 as he tries to end more than four years without a PGA Tour victory.

“Yesterday was kind of a bogey-free day and just easy, and everything else today was about the same,” he said. “I just had that one challenging hole.”

The challenge was figuring out what to do once he found it.

The ball was under a cluster of trees and bushes with rocks scattered everywhere. Even taking a one-shot penalty for an unplayable lie was not an easy option. If his drop settled between rocks, he would have to play that or take another penalty.

Finally, he found a spot and the drop landed in enough soft soil for him to pitch out of trouble, through the fairway and into the rough. He got his fourth shot onto the green and made the long putt to escape with bogey.

“That was great,” Kuchar said. “I knew I had a par 5 following it, and I figured I was probably going to make double there and birdie on the next. I ended up making bogey there and par on the par-5 13th, so still felt like I was very much in control.”

What put Kuchar in good shape were the five straight birdies on the front nine, and then he took the lead for the first time with a birdie on No. 11 before his wild adventure on the 12th hole. Tied again for the lead, he added two birdies coming in for his two-shot cushion.

Champ already is the talk of the tour for the speed of his swing and how far he hits the ball, though there is more to his game than length. El Camaleon Golf Club is all about location – preferably the fairway – more than smashing it as far as possible.

Two weeks after winning the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi, he worked on a few tweaks in his swing and was in full control of where the ball was going. For the second straight day, Champ missed only two fairways, key to good scoring at Mayakoba.

“It’s not a bomber’s course,” Champ said. “You have to place it off the tee, and some holes the rough is very thick and you’ve just got to whack it out. This course I feel like is very suitable for everyone. Just to be able to place my ball right in the fairways and on the greens and make the putts when I needed is great.”

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., was the only Canadian to make the cut after firing a 4-under 67 to tie for 10th at 10 under. Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., all exited the tournament.

An area renowned for its wild weather – rain out of nowhere, plenty of wind – has seen sunshine and calms for two days, and it’s reflected in the scoring.

The cut was at 4-under 138. The weekend will not include Jordan Spieth.

The three-time major champion missed the cut in his final event of the year after a 69. Spieth managed only eight birdies in good scoring conditions and will have the weekend off for the seventh time this year. Next up is his wedding over Thanksgiving weekend.

Kuchar, meanwhile, has more than Champ to worry about the next two rounds.

The seven players at 11-under 131 included defending champion Patton Kizzire, past Mayakoba champion Brian Gay and Anirban Lahiri of India, who has played in the last two Presidents Cups. Eighteen players were within five shots of the lead.

Rickie Fowler (68) and Tony Finau (65) were at 8-under 134, along with their Ryder Cup captain, Jim Furyk, who had a 65.

HAINAN ISLAND, China – How’s this for a birthday present?

Gaby Lopez turned 25 on Friday and celebrated with a hole-in-one that helped her to a 6-under-66 and a one-stroke lead over Ariya Jutanugarn after the third round of the Blue Bay LPGA tournament.

Even better, Lopez will be after her first career U.S. LPGA Tour victory in the final round on Saturday and will play in the last group with Ariya, the No. 1-ranked golfer. They also played together on Friday at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Club.

“I have been waiting for this moment,” the Mexican said. “I’m very lucky to share the course with the best player in the world. You know, I had fun. I enjoyed today.”

Lopez aced the 17th, knocking in a 7 iron from 181 yards. She also had six birdies including three to open the round. She said it was her eighth hole-in-one.

“As soon as the ball left the club I knew it was a good shot, but I couldn’t see because the sun was in my face,” Lopez explained. “I turned around and my caddie goes, ‘It went in.’ I couldn’t give myself a better birthday present.”

Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., is 4 over for the tourney and 13 shots off the lead. Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont., is 8 over.

Jutanugarn, of Thailand, led by four strokes after the second round but slipped to a 71, which included a bogey on the final hole.

Sung Hyun Park shot a 67 and fellow South Korean Sei Young Kim had a 68 to put them both five strokes behind the leader.

The tournament wraps up five straight weeks of play for the tour in Asia.

PHOENIX – Paul Goydos and Tim Petrovic shot 8-under 63 on Thursday to share the lead in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, leaving points leader Bernhard Langer seven strokes back in the PGA Tour Champions’ season finale.

In sunny, 80-degree conditions at Phoenix Country Club, Langer parred the final nine holes for a 70. The 61-year-old German star opened with a chip-in eagle on the par-5 first, but had two front-nine bogeys.

Goydos also eagled the first and closed with a birdie on the par-5 18th. He won the 2016 event at Desert Mountain.

“The problem you have is the golf course is in perfect condition, the weather’s perfect. It’s going to be hard to keep the scores down,” Goydos said “Eight-under par’s going to finish 15th and 20th maybe, so you need to kind of keep going. And you don’t really kind of worry about too many things until – it’s a cliche – but the back nine on Sunday, you start making decisions.”

Petrovic eagled the 306-yard, par-4 fifth and rebounded from a bogey on the par-4 17th with a birdie on 18.

“A lot of greens, hit a lot of shots in what I call the ‘Petro range,”’ Petrovic said. “These greens are just rolling so good, you get it on line, it’s going to go in.”

Canadian Stephen Ames carded a 3-under-par 68 to share 12th place, five strokes off the lead.

Scott Parel, No. 2 in the standings after winning two weeks ago at Sherwood, made a double bogey on 18 for a 71.

Langer and Parel would take the Cup with a tournament victory, while Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jerry Kelly, Scott McCarron and David Toms would need a win and help from other players. Langer has won the season-long competition four times, three straight from 2014-16. He has two victories this year.

McCarron topped the six contenders for the $1 million annuity, closing with an eagle for a 65.

“I just missed a short putt on 17, so I really wanted to have a chance to make eagle on 18 and I just absolutely killed the driver down there,” McCarron said. “I don’t know how far it was, but I only had 181 yards to the front and just ripped a 6-iron. I wasn’t trying to hit it right of the hole location there, I was trying to hit it a little bit left of it. I pushed it just a tad, but I hit it really hard, so it was good and it came out great, just about 15 feet below the hole.”

Kelly had a 68, and Jimenez and Toms shot 69.

Glen Day shot 66, and defending champion Kevin Sutherland was at 67 with Vijay Singh, Joe Durant, Billy Mayfair, Lee Janzen, Kent Jones and Jeff Maggert.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Matt Kuchar decided at the last minute to play the Mayakoba Golf Classic and made it look like a smart move Thursday.

Kuchar missed only two fairways at El Camaleon Golf Club, key to good scoring, and kept bogeys off his card for a 7-under 64 that gave him a share of the lead with Dominic Bozzelli and PGA Tour rookie Kramer Hickok.

Kuchar has gone more than four years since his last PGA Tour victory. His 64 was his lowest opening round on tour since a 64 in the 2017 Phoenix Open.

“It’s an amazing resort, Mayakoba. So to be able to bring the family to enjoy some vacation time, it’s a bit of a working vacation,” Kuchar said. “I had a good time at the office, as well.”

Most players did, with more than half of the 132-man field in the 60s.

Canadian Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., was in the group after carding a bogey-free 66 highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 13th hole. Fellow B.C. product Nick Taylor is T42 at 3 under par.

Jordan Spieth was not among them. Playing his second straight week in the fall – and his last tournament before his wedding – Spieth traded birdies and bogeys and had to settle for an even-par 71, leaving him in need to a good round Friday just to stick around for the weekend.

One of his former roommates had no such issues.

Hickok also played college golf at Texas and lived with Spieth in Dallas until a few months ago, when all the roommates had to find other arrangements as Spieth prepares for his marriage to Annie Verret.

Spieth had his first PGA Tour victory seven months after leaving college early. Hickok toiled on the Mackenzie Tour in Canada, then the Web.com Tour before finally making it to the big leagues. But he says he learns plenty by playing with Spieth at home.

“I’m reaching out when I’m home and trying to pick his brain a little bit here and there, but really just watching him play, what he does at practice,” Hickok said.

Among those in the large group at 65 was Abraham Ancer, whose tie for fourth last week in Las Vegas moved him to No. 98 in the world. That made Ancer the first Mexican golfer to crack the top 100 in the world ranking, and he carried that to his native soil and kept moving in the right direction.

Also at 65 were Bud Cauley as he returns from a car accident at the Memorial in early June, and defending champion Patton Kizzire, who made back-to-back eagles on the par-5 fifth hole and by holing out on the par-4 sixth.

Rickie Fowler was among those at 66.

Kuchar has slipped to No. 40 in the world, failed to reach the third round of the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time in a decade and did not play in the Ryder Cup for the first time in 10 years. He still keeps upbeat on and off the golf course, and decided while in Las Vegas (a tie for 57th) to play Mayakoba.

His caddie already had other plans, so Kuchar hired a local caddie from El Camaleon.

His wife, Sybi, also got in on the act. Kuchar was playing with Zach Johnson, whose caddie (Damon Green) became ill from the heat with four holes to play. Kuchar’s wife was following along in the gallery and carried Johnson’s bag the rest of the way.

“I knew she had caddied for me before and was friendly with Zach Johnson, and figured she would be good to handle it, and Zach would go easy on her,” Kuchar said.

Kuchar and Johnson live at Sea Island on the Georgia coast.

Spieth was 2 under through eight holes until he dropped three shots over the next eight holes. Going back to an old driver didn’t help as he hit only six fairways, making it tough to score for anyone out of the rough.

“If you’re not driving it well, this course is extremely hard,” Kuchar said. “If you’re driving it well, you can make some birdies, which I was able to do today.”

HAINAN ISLAND, China – Top-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn shot a 4-under 68 to take a four-stroke lead at the halfway point of the Blue Bay LPGA tournament.

Jutanugarn had birdies on the final two holes – and four of the closing seven – on Thursday to take command over the rest of the field at 7-under 137.

Jennifer Song, Moriya Jutanugarn, and Gaby Lopez shot 71s and were in a tie for second at 3-under.

The leader is likely to play in a group on Friday with her older sister.

“I haven’t played with her for so long,” she explained. “We have so much fun. At the same time we didn’t talk much when we played … especially when there are three players in the group.”

She said all the talk would distract the other player.

Jutanugarn said the sisters have played together before, but never in the same group on the final day. She said they are sharing the same living quarters this week. But she went on to explain they are very different characters.

“I think we are very nice to each other when we’re on the golf course, but off the golf course I think we not nice to each other,” she joked.

Between siblings, old habits die hard.

“You know, she’s really professional,” Ariya said of her sister. “So her room is so clean. I throw everything. She yells at me every day.”

First-round leader Thidapa Suwannapura carded a 75 and fell six strokes behind the leader.

Canadian Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., slipped in the second round with a 4-over 76 to fall into a tie for 11th after holding 2nd place in the first round.

The Blue Bay tournament is the last of five on the LPGA Tour’s Asian swing.

HAINAN ISLAND, China – Two golfers from Thailand and one Canadian were at the top of the leaderboard after Wednesday’s first round of the Blue Bay LPGA tournament.

Thidapa Suwannapura shot a 4-under 68 to lead the tournament by one shot from her compatriot Ariya Jutanugarn and Alena Sharp of Canada.

“Nice to get a good round under your belt to start the week. I love coming here,” said Sharp. “I’ve played well here before. The first year I was here I think I had a Top 5.”

Sharp battled the windy conditions to post a 3-under-par 69 in Thursday’s opener and is building on a positive outlook for the future after admitting she wasn’t very pleased with this past season.

“I’m trying to gain more distance,” said Sharp, who is teeing up this week for the first time since the Evian Championship in mid-September. “That’s my overall goal with the driver. I’m not working on that right this second. That’s kind of after this tournament. Work into that and get in the gym more and get some more speed that way.”

Sharp did compete in a Cactus Tour event last week, emerging victorious and adding a pep to her step as she came to China. A good finish this week could earn her a spot in next week’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship, but that’s not immediately on Sharp’s mind. She just wants to feel good about her game.

“There is always light at the end of the tunnel. Finishing off on a good note and getting ready for next year is my main goal for this week,” said Sharp. “I didn’t really have a lot of expectations coming in. I’m not thinking about CME. It would be nice to play next week, but if that happens that’s just a bonus.”

Six other players, including three other Thai players, were two shots back and five others were three off the lead in the 72-hole tournament, which concludes the LPGA’s Tour’s Asian swing.

“It’s getting better every year,” Suwannapura said of women’s golf in Thailand.

Suwannapura gave her iron play credit for her round, beating windy conditions that she said she seldom sees at home.

After undergoing surgery on her back almost two years ago, she’s still rebuilding her game.

“After surgery I had to change my swing a little bit,” she said. “I could not use the same muscles. I usually use a lot of my back, and then broke my back – and then I had to use some other parts.”

She said her back was getting “better and better,” but lamented her putting.

“I feel like putting, it’s a weakness of my game,” she said. “I hit it so straight. I hit a lot of fairways. … Putting, just please putting.”

TORONTO – On Tuesday, the Canadian Olympic Committee launched their new series of Canadian Olympic School Program resources for the 2018-19 school year.

Titled the “Pursue” series, the new resources are a multimedia experience, featuring video interviews from eleven athletes who competed at PyeongChang 2018 in addition to classroom activities focused on reading and writing. The modules, entitled “The Dream”, “The Journey”, “The Performance”, “The Joy”, and “The Passion” use athlete experiences to promote the Olympic values of Excellence, Respect, and Friendship. The five new resources join the over 100 free resources available to educators, athletes, coaches, and community groups at olympic.ca/education.

Founded in 1987, in advance of the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games, the Canadian Olympic School Program is one of the enduring legacies of the Calgary Olympic Games. In over 30 years since its launch, the school program has been used in thousands of classrooms nationwide. With resources developed by teachers, for teachers, the program encourages physical activity and healthy lifestyle, helps to promote safer and more inclusive sport environments, and inspires the application of Olympic values.

“For over thirty years the Canadian Olympic School Program has helped bring lessons from the Olympic Movement into classrooms across our country,” said Tricia Smith, president of COC. “This new selection of pedagogical resources will build on that tradition and help inspire students to learn from and live by the Olympic values demonstrated by our Canadian athletes.”

The golf competitions at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games will be held at the Kasumigaseki Country Club with the men’s competition beginning on July 30 and the women’s on Aug. 5.

On Oct. 23 and 24 in Moose Jaw, Sask Sport Inc. hosted a two-day inclusion and diversity seminar featuring guest speakers and stakeholders across amateur sporting agencies and other vested groups. The solely focused seminar was reportedly the first of its kind for a sports governing agency in Canada.

Sporting organizations under the Sask Sport umbrella, including Golf Saskatchewan have been working to increase participation in various sporting activities. According to Sask Sport several amateur sport groups were undertaking their own initiatives to increase numbers and diversity but last week’s event was the first collective session to discuss inclusion and diversity. Amy Shipley, the community development consultant for Sask Sport said Saskatchewan residents are searching for different activities.

“The population demographics in Saskatchewan are changing and the province is becomingly increasingly diverse. The conversations at the retreat started an important dialogue on how the system can leverage the strength of diversity in the province,” she said.

The objective of the conference was to inject enthusiasm into the diversity and inclusion dialogue. Ideas were generated on how to increase participation through individuals that brought different ideas to the table. Shipley said hearing from provincial sporting agencies was important to Sask Sport going forward.

“Roundtable discussions allowed members to share their thoughts and ideas on enhancing the system through diversity. Too often we look to outside sources and subject matter experts and forget that there is strength in our system to challenge difficult issues and find solutions that will create a stronger sport system,” Shipley said.

Golf Canada incorporated their own Equity Diversity Inclusion Policy in December of 2017. President Leslie Dunning Pictured above) provided a keynote address during the conference highlighting Golf Canada’s plan and ideas. Dunning said she was very impressed with Sask Sports’ enthusiasm towards diversity and inclusion.

“The fact Sask Sport is taking leadership and spending two days on this topic with their sports organizations is really impressive to me,” she told Golf Saskatchewan. “I am not aware of any other sports group across the country that have used an entire seminar over two days focused entirely on the issue.”

Dunning was pleased to see provincial tribal councils and Indigenous groups involved in the meetings as well.

Sask Sport will share the information generated during the conference to their members and ask the groups to answer a questionnaire and provide feedback. Potential “lunch and learn” meetings are being discussed to keep the momentum going. Dunning said Golf Canada had numerous discussions ahead of their organization settling on a policy for diversity and inclusion in their sport. She hopes Sask Sport can follow the same route.

“Accountability is part of it and annual reporting on what are the initiatives. Not just to make sure we are doing it but to share successes on what is possible. I think that’s important, build a policy into your plan, you have reports of what is happening, that keeps the topic in the forefront. My hope is it turns into action,” Dunning said.

SHIGA, Japan – Local favourite Nasa Hataoka shot a 5-under 67 on Sunday to win the Japan Classic for her second LPGA title of the season.

Hataoka offset a pair of bogeys with seven birdies at the Seta Golf Club to finish at 14-under 202, two strokes ahead of compatriots Momoka Ueda, Saki Nagamine and Spain’s Carlota Ciganda, who all shot 68.

Hataoka, who also won the Arkansas Championship in June, started the final round four strokes behind second-round leader Minjee Lee. Lee quickly faded, playing the opening nine at 7-over 43 and opening the door for Hataoka, who played the same stretch at 4-under 36. Hataoka had a setback after the turn, carding consecutive bogeys at the 11th and 12th and allowing Ciganda to briefly pull into a tie for the lead. But Hataoka regained her confidence with a clutch par save at No. 13, and her birdie at No. 14 reclaimed the lead.

“I realize something has to come to me and I had to get through it, and I knew it was at the 13th hole,” said Hataoka of the putt that saved her round. “I was not totally comfortable with the shot, but I was calm enough to play well on that hole.”

Ciganda had a chance to tie Hataoka at No. 18 but left her birdie putt from above the hole too short. Hataoka’s birdie putt fell, clinching a hard-fought home win.

South Korean golfers Jin Young Ko (66) and Ji-Hee Lee (68) were tied for fifth at 11-under 205.

Lee struggled with her game and had back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 7 and 8 as part of a 78 that left her tied for 15th.

“I didn’t hit the shots that I wanted very solid,” Lee said. “So obviously it didn’t go the way I wanted.”

The LPGA stop in Japan is the fourth of five consecutive tournaments across Asia.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson finished in a tie for 41st.