Halifax (Golf Canada) – Former Nova Scotia Golf Association (NSGA) President John Horton and long-time golf volunteer Jim Clark as well as a pair of posthumous honourees—former NSGA Historian Allan ‘Bunny’ Dunlop and prolific blind golfer Brian MacLeod—will be acknowledged for their tremendous contributions to the game of golf as 2016 recipients of Golf Canada’s Distinguished Service Award.

The National Sport Federation’s Distinguished Service Award has been presented annually since 1993 to recognize outstanding individuals who have had an impact on Canadian golf either nationally or within their communities.

The presentation of the 2016 Distinguished Service Awards will take place on Saturday, February 27 as part of Golf Canada’s Annual General Meeting at the Prince George Hotel in Halifax. Dunlop and MacLeod, who both passed away in 2015, will also be acknowledged on Friday, February 26 during an informal afternoon ceremony at the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame.

“Golf Canada is proud to recognize John Horton and Jim Clark along with the late Allan ‘Bunny’ Dunlop and Brian MacLeod as the recipients of our 2016 Distinguished Service Award,” said Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons. “Their respective contributions have left a lasting impression on the Canadian golf landscape and it is with great respect that we honour these individuals for their passion and commitment to our sport.”

Recipients of Golf Canada’s Distinguished Service Award are often selected from within the province or region of the organization’s incoming President. On Saturday, February 27, Roland Deveau of Bedford, N.S., will be sworn in as Golf Canada’s 113^th President. As President-elect, Deveau will succeed 2015 President Paul McLean of King, Ont.

Golf Canada’s Annual General Meeting and presidential appointment will conclude three days of meetings from February 25-27 in Nova Scotia’s capital.

JOHN HORTON

Even before becoming the 60^th President of the Nova Scotia Golf Association in 2013-14, John Horton had spent more than 40 years promoting the game he loved. After serving on the Board of Directors and chairing the Junior Development of Golf at Ken-Wo Golf Club in the 1970s, the native of Wolfville, N.S., turned his passion for golf into an active volunteer role at the provincial level. In addition to championing the growth of Nova Scotia’s Junior Development program, the former school teacher familiarized himself with the Rules of Golf and became a Rules Official – a role that has allowed him to officiate at numerous local, regional, provincial and national championships. He has been active in Handicapping and Course Rating and currently serves as director of Course Rating with the NSGA. In addition to Rules, Handicapping and Course Rating, Horton has also served the NSGA as its Tournament Director and Junior Director. Despite ascending the volunteer ranks provincially, Horton remains committed to the home club at which he began his journey with the game, still serving as Ken-Wo’s Handicap chair.

JIM CLARK

Jim Clark began working as a volunteer with Golf Canada at the 1984 Canadian Open as part of the Caddie Committee. Over the next 15 years, the native of Midland, Ont., would serve as vice-chair and then chair of numerous committees which work tirelessly to organize Canada’s National Men’s Open Championship. Clark was appointed chair of the Canadian Women’s Open in 2001 and one year later became tournament chair for the RBC Canadian Open, a post he has held on seven occasions including most recently in 2015.  Clark was also selected to serve as tournament chairman for the inaugural World Junior Girls Championship in 2014 at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ont., and then this past year, he also served as the organizing committee chair for the 2015 Pan-Am Games golf competition conducted at Angus Glen. Over three decades, Clark has worked in various capacities and on several volunteer committees with Golf Canada – including past chair of the Championships Committee – where he readily demonstrates generosity and the spirit of volunteerism in giving back to the game of golf.

ALLAN ‘BUNNY’ DUNLOP (1944 – 2015)

Allan ‘Bunny’ Dunlop joined the Public Archives of Nova Scotia in 1970. For 27 years, the native of Halifax plied his craft and applied his extensive knowledge before retiring as Associate Provincial Archivist. Dunlop’s wealth of experience as an archivist and his love of the game brought him to the Nova Scotia Golf Association (NSGA) in 1997 where he served as the association’s Historian. The 39-year member of Ashburn Golf Club amassed, catalogued and maintained detailed records of golf – both in his home province and throughout the country. His 18-year tenure (1997 to 2015) as the NSGA’s Historian concluded with his passing in May of 2015. A golf competitor in his younger days, Dunlop was considered by many to be a true scholar of the game, having contributed historical information to national golf-related historical groups and societies. He compiled and documented the history of the sport as a volunteer with the NSGA and his legacy has allowed the association to maintain and preserve golf’s rich heritage in Nova Scotia.

BRIAN MACLEOD (1959 – 2015)

Brian MacLeod was not only a blind golf champion, but also a steadfast advocate for the game off the course. The native of Truro, N.S., traveled the world and amassed a golfing legacy that includes three victories at the Canadian Blind Open, two wins at the U.S. Blind Open, championship titles at the Italian Blind Open and the Australian Blind Open and two runner-up finishes at the World Blind Open. Despite those impressive accomplishments and his 67 total wins in 100 career national and international blind golf tournaments, it is MacLeod’s commitment as a life-long proponent of the sport for which he will be best remembered. Alongside friend and fellow blind golf champion Gerry Nelson, MacLeod founded Blind Golf Canada to promote the sport and provide competitive golf opportunities to the nation’s blind and visually impaired golfers. A proud ambassador for golf in Nova Scotia, Canada and internationally, Macleod passed away in December of 2015.

To follow Golf Canada’s 2016 Annual Meeting on Twitter, use #GCAGM16.

To view the entire strategic plan as a PDF, click here.

LOS ANGELES – The swing has always come easily to Bubba Watson.

He hits a golf ball with so much natural ability combined with such an unorthodox style that it piqued the curiosity of Tiger Woods when Watson first got on the PGA Tour, and even now it’s enough to cause his peers to stop and watch on the practice range.

His entourage has never included a swing coach. It’s all Bubba.

“Some of the shots he hits are so creative. He really has his style of golf under control,” Adam Scott said. “I don’t think you can teach it. He’s just such a natural talent. Watching a guy hit 5-iron to four different greens on the range about 85 yards, 120, 170 and 240 is pretty fun to watch.”

Scott didn’t have to watch him on Sunday, which was just as well because it might not have been all that fun for guys trying to beat him at the Northern Trust Open. Watson took the lead for the last time by swinging so hard that he nearly came out of his shoes on the par-5 17th. The ball traveled 334 yards up the hill, setting up a 2-iron that went 256 yards and led to a two-putt birdie. He wound up winning by one shot over Scott and Jason Kokrak.

He called it “Bubba Golf” when he won the first of his two Masters titles in 2012. Everyone knows what that is when they see it. It’s just hard to describe.

“I’m not trying to do anything. I don’t work on anything,” Watson said. “I just play golf. I see a shot and try to hit it. I’m scared to death on most of them, but I try to hit it anyway.”

The challenge for Watson is what goes on between his ears, and what occasionally comes out of his mouth.

Watson’s life is filled with conflict. He rubs some players the wrong way by bragging about the value of his watch. But there are plenty of other moments of quiet charity, such as the time he walked into a tournament office and wrote a $50,000 check to help with tsunami victims in Japan without saying a word.

He doesn’t like big crowds, but he couldn’t leave Riviera fast enough Saturday night so he could get to the Clippers-Warriors game and be part of the celebrity scene. He says he doesn’t like a lot of attention, but he is constantly posting videos of wild stunts and trick shots.

He is known for his prodigious tee shots, and one year at Doral he would turn to make sure fans were watching as he bashed tee shots to the back of the range. But then he refused to take part in a long drive competition at the PGA Championship two years ago.

Watson said he’s trying to get better, even though he accepts that he has flaws.

Most of the credit goes to his wife, Angie, and his caddy, Ted Scott, with whom he has worked for close to a decade.

“Angie is a saint. For her to marry me … she might have issues, too, I guess,” Watson said.

The wisecracks come easily when a trophy is nearby.

“If Angie has changed as much as I have since the day Teddy met me in 2006, we’d call her the second Mother Teresa. You know what I mean?” Watson said. “Me, I’m just a loser. I started as an ‘F’ and now I’m a D-plus. But me as a person has changed, and that’s what is happening in my golf. Not the swing.

“The swing?” he said dismissively. “I can hit shots.”

Watson wept when he won the Travelers Championship for his first PGA Tour title in 2010, and he nearly flooded the 10th green at Augusta National in 2012 when he beat Louis Oosthuizen in a playoff for his first major.

He doesn’t cry as much anymore.

Yes, he still gets angry. One video that showed up on social media at the Hero World Challenge was Watson screaming at the ground to say, “MUD BALL!” after an errant shot caused by a speck of mud. It looks as though he is harping on Scott when shots don’t go his way, but that was a product of a rant caught on TV a few years ago.

Watson said he was hurt by the verbal abuse he endured at the Phoenix Open two weeks ago, when he started his week by saying he didn’t like changes to the TPC Scottsdale and that he was playing mainly for his sponsors that week. He felt his comments were misconstrued in a headline. Watson said he reads only the headlines, and he believes that’s all anyone else does. He was booed so often Saturday in Phoenix that at least one player complained on his behalf to the tour.

Watson tries to pretend he doesn’t care what people think or what they say.

But he does.

“Deep down, the human side of me, yes, I’m pretty mad about it,” Watson said. “But I’ve got to get over it. I’ve got to be a better man. And with those comments, I’ve got to figure out how to answer things better. All the stuff going on in my head that we’ve been working on in the last 11 years of PGA Tour life, I’ve got to get better at it. I think I’ve made the right steps, but the bad stuff is going to pop out every once in a while.”

As for the golf?

The good golf pops out every now and again, and it’s a spectacle to see.

HALIFAX – Golf Canada’s 2016 Annual General Meeting (AGM) is set for this week (February 25-27) at the Prince George Hotel in Halifax.

The event will bring together Golf Canada’s Board of Directors, committee volunteers and staff, as well as representatives from Canada’s provincial golf associations and stakeholders from within the golf industry. The group will assemble for three days of meetings, presentations and discussion in preparation for the upcoming golf season.

The Annual General Meeting will culminate with the appointment of Roland Deveau of Bedford, N.S., as the National Sport Federation’s 113^th President. His induction will take place during an official ceremony on Saturday, February 27 at the Prince George Hotel. Deveau will succeed 2015 President Paul McLean of King Township, Ont., in leading Golf Canada’s Board of Directors.

Golf Canada will also present both its Volunteer of the Year Award, as well as its Distinguished Service Award(s) to honour and acknowledge a collection of individuals for their outstanding contributions to the game of golf in Canada.

A full itinerary of presentations taking place during Golf Canada’s Annual General Meeting is available here.

A copy of Golf Canada’s 2016 Strategic Plan is available here.

To follow Golf Canada’s 2016 Annual Meeting on Twitter, use #GCAGM16.

The Ladies’ Golf Union (LGU) and The R&A have agreed to proceed with a merger of the two organizations.

Following an extensive consultation exercise, agreement has been reached on the merger of the two St. Andrews-based bodies with the process due to be completed in the coming months.

The LGU organizes a series of prestigious championships and international matches including the Ricoh Women’s British Open and the Curtis Cup.

An announcement was made in February 2015 that a potential merger between the LGU and The R&A was under consideration. Since then discussions have taken place between the respective Boards and the LGU’s shareholders – England Golf, Scottish Golf, the Golf Union of Wales and the Irish Ladies Golf Union – and there has been unanimous support for the proposal.

“The LGU has a long and proud tradition of supporting women’s and girls’ golf,” said Trish Wilson, the Chairman of the LGU. “Funded by the lady golfers of Great Britain and Ireland, the LGU has positioned golf as a game for all women and girls.  My gratitude is due to our shareholders for their foresight and support in this move.

“I would like to thank the Chief Executive of The R&A and his team, and the foresight of his predecessor, for their initiative and conviction in achieving this outcome. Building on the strong relationship it already enjoys with The R&A, the LGU looks forward to realising the potential of this merger.”

“The LGU and The R&A have a wealth of experience in running successful championships and we have a shared focus on supporting the development of golf,” said Martin Slumbers, Chief Executive of The R&A. “The merger will enable us to capitalize on the strengths of the two organizations for the wider benefit of the sport, including the development of golf for women and girls.

“This is a historic move and an important step forward for golf on these islands. I would like to thank the LGU Board for their commitment and enthusiasm throughout this process and their stakeholders, including Ricoh and IMG, for their tremendous support.”

Planning is underway to integrate the staff from both organizations and to implement the agreed governance structure. The LGU’s championships and international matches will run as normal this year with the existing LGU team managing those events.  The business operations of the LGU will be brought into The R&A group of companies taking effect January 1, 2017.

LOS ANGELES – Bubba Watson ended his big week in L.A. as the star of his own show Sunday at Riviera.

Two shots behind with four holes to play, Watson made birdie on two of his last two holes to overtake Jason Kokrak and hold off Adam Scott for a one-shot victory in the Northern Trust Open.

Watson, who closed with a 3-under 68, won at Riviera for the second time in three years and moved back to No. 4 in the world.

He was among a half-dozen players who still had a chance over the back nine under warm sunshine. Watson took advantage of some late mistakes by Kokrak, who was going for his first PGA Tour victory, and his two birdies were enough to turn back the late heroics of Scott, who chipped in for birdie on the 18th for a 67.

That group of contenders did not include Rory McIlroy.

In his Riviera debut, McIlroy made eagle on the par-5 first hole to tie for the lead. He didn’t make a birdie until the 18th, giving him a 75 to tie for 20th.

Adam Hadwin was the top Canadian, finishing tied for 16th at -7. The former Team Canada member climbed 34 spots up the leaderboard Sunday thanks for a blazing 5-under 66.

Hadwin’s Canadian compatriot and fellow B.C. native Nick Taylor finished at 5-under and tied for 26th.

Watson, Scott, Kokrak and K.J. Choi were tied for the lead through 11 holes remaining and all of them dropped shots to fall out of the lead.

“For me to come back … and pull one out in a tough way means a lot,” Watson said.

He finished at 15-under 269 for his ninth career victory on the PGA Tour.

Kokrak had the lead to himself when Choi made bogey on No. 12, Scott missed 5-foot par putts on the 14th and 15th holes, and Watson went long of the 13th hole and watched his 20-foot par putt spin out of the cup.

Kokrak was firing at dangerous flags and pulling off the shots, stretching his lead to two shots with a daring approach to 4 feet on the 13th.

But one shot changed the dynamics of the final hour.

From the middle of the 15th fairway, Kokrak went long on one of the more difficult greens at Riviera and badly missed an 8-foot par putt as his lead shrunk to one. Watson stuffed his tee shot into 5 feet for birdie on the 16th, and Kokrak did well not to lose the lead by making a bending, 6-foot putt to save par from a bunker.

“You’ve got to eliminate the mental mistakes,” Kokrak said. “Hitting it in the middle of the green on 15 is just … I had a two-shot lead at the time.”

The decisive moment was on the par-5 17th, where Watson hit his tee shot so hard that both feet came off the ground. He reached the green with an iron and two-putted for birdie from about 40 feet. Kokrak hooked his tee shot into the trees, hit his second into a bunker and had to make a 6-foot par putt, falling one week.

Ahead of them, Scott stayed alive with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th to get within one shot, and then the former Masters champion chipped in from 25 feet behind the green on the 18th, the ball slamming into the pin. That momentarily put him in a tie for the lead until Watson made his birdie on the 17th.

Once Watson hit his approach to 15 feet, Scott knew his chances were over.

“A guy like Bubba, he’s very tough to beat,” Scott said. “He’s proving tough to beat from that position. He’s wearing the course out on the toughest day.”

Kokrak had a putt from about the same distance to tie for the lead, but the ball slid by the left side of the cup and he settled for a 68. Two putts later, Watson was waving to the crowd and headed to another trophy presentation.

What a week for Watson. He took his 3-year-old son to hang out with Justin Bieber. He made a cameo appearance in a “Girl Meets World” episode (they even gave him a line), and he dashed out of Riviera to hang out with his pals at the Los Angeles Clippers-Golden State Warriors game Saturday night.

Best of all was winning another tournament.

Dustin Johnson also was in the mix for much of the day, making too many bogeys to hold him back. He closed with a 69 and finished fourth, two shots behind. Marc Leishman of Australia, one shot behind for much of the back nine, failed to save par from a bunker on the 16th and closed with a 69 to join Choi three shots behind.

BEAUMONT, Calif. – Canada’s Jessica Wallace finished runner-up at the Symetra Tour’s season-opening IOA Championship on Sunday at the Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon.

Wallace, a Langley, B.C., native, posted a final round 70 (-2), pushing a par-putt on 18 to just miss forcing a playoff with champion Erynne Lee of Silverdale, Wash., who rallied with a final round 65 (-7) for the come-from-behind victory. Lee’s round was highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 16^th, which tied her for the lead at 11-under and turned out to be the winning score. The win marks the first time a rookie has won the Symetra Tour opener since 2005.

Lee takes the top spot on the first Volvik Race to the Card money list with her first-place check of $15,000.

Fellow Langley, B.C., native Sue Kim, a Young Pro Squad member, climbed the leaderboard to a fifth place finish after carding rounds of 72-69-67 to finish at 8-under.

Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C., finished one stroke back of Kim at 7-under par to tie for sixth. Young Pro Squad member and Bath, Ont., native Augusta James bounced back after an opening round 75 to finish tied for eighth at 6-under par (75-66-69).

The next Symetra Tour event is the Florida Natural Charity Classic—won last year by Sue Kim—from Apr. 8–10 in Lake Wales, Fla.

Canadian scores from the IOA Championship presented by Morongo Casino Resort & Spa:

• Jessica Wallace: -10 (69-67-70), 2^nd
• Sue Kim: -8 (72-69-67), 5^th
• Samantha Richdale: -7 (69-70-70), T6
• Augusta James: -6 (75-66-69), T8
• Sara-Maude Juneau: E (71-74-71), T31
• Anne-Catherine Tanguay: +1 (70-71-76), T37
• Brittany Marchand: +4 (74-72-74), T47
• Jennifer Kirby: +8 (71-76-77), T58

Click here for full scoring.

ADELAIDE, Australia – Honolulu-based Haru Nomura of Japan won her first LPGA tournament in her 72nd start, shooting a closing 7-under 65 on Sunday to win the Women’s Australian Open by three strokes.

Nomura, who was tied for the lead with two others going into the final round at The Grange’s West course, finished with a 16-under total of 272.

Top-ranked and defending champion Lydia Ko, who trailed by a stroke after three rounds, finished second after a 67.

Five-time champion Karrie Webb shot 71 to finish third, seven strokes behind Nomura. American Danielle Kang was tied for fourth after a 73, eight strokes behind.

Webb, who trailed by a stroke at the start of the final round, had three birdies in her first five holes to take a share of the lead, but those were her last under-par holes of the round.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson carded a final-round 67 to share 9th spot at 7-under for the tournament.

Nomura, whose previous best finishes were three top 10s, had birdies on 15, 16 and 17 and five overall on the back nine before a bogey on 18.

Born in Japan to a South Korean mother and Japanese father, Nomura said she wasn’t intimidated by Ko being so close late in the round.

“Golf is the fight of my own, it’s not against someone else,” she said. “Even though someone else plays well, if I hit my goals, then I win.”

Starting as third-round leader with Kang and South Korean Jenny Shin, Nomura had four birdies in six holes on the front nine. When Ko challenged on the back nine with three birdies in five holes to leave the New Zealander just one shot behind, Nomura responded with her three consecutive birdies.

Shin closed with a 74 to finish nine strokes behind.

Ko said she was not happy to finish the tournament with a bogey, but was overall pleased with her play.

“My goal was to shoot 67 today and I shot 67,” she said. “I played really well, but Haru played even better, and the roars I could hear she seemed like she was holing a lot of putts. So when another player does it, it’s really out of my hands.”

Webb said she was disappointed she couldn’t continue her early birdie run.

“I got off to a good start, I made a couple of putts and that was it,” she said. “I hit it really nicely again today, and it just gets really frustrating out there on the greens.”

The tournament was also sanctioned by the Australian Ladies and Ladies European Tour. Next week, the two tours will sanction the Australian Ladies Masters at Royal Pines on the Gold Coast south of Brisbane.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Australian Marcus Fraser made a curling 18-foot putt for par on the final hole Sunday for a 3-under 68 to win the inaugural Maybank Championship Malaysia by two strokes over Lee Soo-min of South Korea.

Fraser trailed third-round leader Lee throughout the final round at Royal Selangor Golf Club before taking advantage of Lee’s late collapse to claim a third European Tour victory in the event co-sanctioned with the Asian Tour.

The 37-year-old Australian, who ended a six-year title drought, finished with a 15-under total of 269 that included a bogey-free final two rounds.

Lee closed with a 73 and was tied for second with Miguel Tabuena of the Philippines, who shot a final-round 68.

Former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen shot a closing 66 and was seven strokes behind.

The 24-year-old Lee led by three strokes at the start of the day but a double bogey on 16 after an errant drive allowed Fraser to draw level. Tied on the 18th green, the South Korean missed his long par attempt before watching Fraser make his to clinch the tournament.

Lee then failed to convert his return putt to give Fraser his two-stroke margin.

“Unbelievable,” said Fraser, who leads the Asian Tour Order of Merit after only taking up membership at the start of the week.

“Six years since the last one . My kids keep saying every time I walk out the door ‘Hey Dad, can you bring home a trophy? And I’ll say I’ll try, I’ll try and this time I’ll take one home and I’ll get them to take it to school for show and tell,” he said.

He was surprised by his par-saving putt on 18.

“I don’t know how I got that one to go in,” he said. “I was very nervous and looking down on the putt, I could see my putter shaking. But I just said to myself that this is one opportunity for me to win and I took a few deep breaths and holed the putt.”

Lee said he felt “nervous and pressured” over the closing holes.

“This week is very good for my golf life, but I’m a little bit disappointed,” Lee said. “But … I have three top-10s in three events now, so it is OK.”

The 21-year-old Tabuena was pleased to finish tied for second after struggling with food poisoning over the opening two rounds.

“Not being 100 percent, no complaints at all,” Tabuena said. “It kind of helped that I wasn’t in the final group, it took some pressure off.”

LOS ANGELES – Bubba Watson has the 54-hole lead at the Northern Trust Open, and that might not even be the most fun he’s had this week.

He took his 3-year-old son to hang out with Justin Bieber. The two-time Masters champion had a small part – one line that he said required four takes – in Disney Channel’s show “Girl Meets World.” And he couldn’t wait to leave Riviera on Saturday so he could get to an NBA game between the Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State Warriors.

“That’s the advantage is that I’m friends with a lot of the guys, friends with Steve Ballmer – I don’t know if you know him, he’s the owner of the Clippers,” Watson said.

Winning at Riviera for the second time in three years? That might be gravy.

Watson put himself in prime condition on a gorgeous afternoon along Sunset Boulevard with a 4-under 67, which included an efficient up-and-down for birdie on the par-5 17th to break out of the pack and a par save from the concession area down the hill and to the right of the 18th green.

Navigating the final 18 holes against a strong pack of contenders might be tougher than traffic on the 405.

Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama were all among the 10 players within three shots of the lead going into the final round. Watson was at 12-under 201, one shot ahead of Johnson, Jason Kokrak and Chez Reavie.

“We all feel good about our chances, even the guy that’s five back,” Watson said. “For me, I’m going to go out and try to do the same thing, keep my head down, try to take deep breaths and try to slow it down and hopefully it works out.”

Watson hit more fairways on Saturday (10) then the opening two rounds combined. He’s not bothered by being in the short grass as much as having the right angle to the green, and what has really left him at ease – as much as Watson is ever at ease – is making the short putts. He has made only three bogeys in 54 holes.

“Knowing that I’ve won here and knowing that I can play around here, obviously I have a little bit of an advantage on the guy that probably hasn’t won here,” Watson said.

Kokrak, the 36-hole leader, made three birdies on the back nine to salvage a 70 and remain in the final group. Reavie had a three-shot lead at one point on the back nine, courtesy of a perfectly placed drive that led to eagle on No. 2. But he missed a pair of 8-foot par putts on consecutive holes and had to settle for a 69.

For all the birdies, the final round was shaped largely by pars on the 18th hole.

McIlroy, making his debut at Riviera, made three birdies on the back nine to reach 10 under when he pushed his tee shot too far right on the 18th for the second straight day. This time, he played too much of a fade around the eucalyptus trees, and it tumbled down the hill next to the concessions stand. His chip raced by the hole, leaving a downhill par putt form 18 feet that he made for par.

“That’s one of the loudest cheers I’ve had in a while,” McIlroy said. “It would be nice to hear something like that again tomorrow.”

He shot 67 and was two shots behind, a group that included Scott (67), UCLA alum Kevin Chappell (66), the resurgent K.J. Choi (67) and Marc Leishman (68).

“Everyone is playing good, and it’s whoever probably wants it the most tomorrow makes it happen,” Scott said. “Not everyone is just going to fade away. It’s not that brutal hard and fast stuff where your slight miss is really punished and you can’t get it up-and-down.”

Watson’s par from about the same area was even better. He was able to clip the ball perfectly, and it checked up just 3 feet above the hole.

Matsuyama, who won in Phoenix two weeks ago, made five birdies on the front nine to get into the mix, only to put four 5s on his card on the back nine. He shot 68 and was three shots behind, along with Troy Merritt (70).

It’s still wide open, even with the experience at the top of Watson and Riviera, and the experience of winning anywhere by McIlroy, who’s at No. 3 in the world.

“It’s one of these golf courses, if you just stay around, hang in there and not make too many mistakes, stay patient, your time will come and it will present itself with a few opportunities,” McIlroy said. “And thankfully on the back nine, I was able to take some of them.”

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., shot 1-over 72 and sits T41 at 3-under. Adam Hadwin is T50 at 2-under.