PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Another strong finish over the closing stretch Saturday. Another big lead after 54 holes.

Rickie Fowler can only hope that Sunday at the Honda Classic turns out as easy as it did the last two weeks on the PGA Tour, when Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson converted big leads into inevitable victories.

Fowler made two birdies over the final three holes to cap a 5-under 65 that gave him a four-shot lead over Tyrrell Hatton of England as he tries to end a frustrating year of not winning anywhere in the world.

“It would be nice to follow in their footsteps,” Fowler said. “But I do have a lot of work to do tomorrow. A four-shot lead is nice. That can obviously go away very quickly, too.”

Graham DeLaet (70) of Weyburn, Sask., was seven strokes back of Fowler. David Hearn (67) of Brantford, Ont., was 3 under and Mackenzie Hughes (72) of Dundas, Ont., was 2 over.

Fowler holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 16th, got a potential break with a ruling behind the 17th green that allowed him to use a putter instead of a wedge, and then closed with a drive so bold and big that he had only a 7-iron into the par-5 18th to set up a two-putt birdie.

That put him at 13-under 197 and plenty of room for error.

Spieth made three birdies over his last four holes Saturday at Pebble Beach to build a six-shot lead (he won by four). A week later, Johnson birdied his last three holes at Riviera to build a five-shot lead and won by that margin.

The difference could be PGA National, with all its water and a forecast of strong wind for the final round.

“If you’re playing from three, four shots behind, you can’t make a mistake,” Fowler said. “When you’re out front, four shots, I make a mistake, OK, we’re still up. … To be out front and be in control and with the way I feel about the game, the way I’ve been swinging, I’m looking forward to it.”

Fowler is 5 under over the final four holes at PGA National so far this week.

“Birdies happen in the Bear Trap,” he said, referring to the closing stretch. “But other numbers do, as well.”

Hatton did his work before that stretch, running off three straight birdies to get within one of the lead. But he went long on the 17th and was perplexed by the Bermuda grass that he rarely sees. He chipped 15 feet by the pin and made bogey, then left a wedge short of the 18th green and had to scramble for a par and a 66.

Hatton and Fowler played together in the third round of the British Open last year, when neither had a chance to win the way Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson were playing Royal Troon that week. There’s plenty at stake this time.

Hatton, in his first PGA Tour event in Florida, came into the week with no expectations and stuck to that plan.

“All you can do is try your best and play well. That’s what I try and do every week,” Hatton said. “It’s a new course for me. I played 27 holes on Monday and Tuesday, and my caddie has done enough homework. So we know what to do. Hopefully, I’ll just play well.”

Two-time major champion Martin Kaymer had a chance to join Hatton at 9-under 201 until he took bogey from the middle of the fairway on the 18th and wound up with a 68. That left him in a large group at 7-under 203 that included Emiliano Grillo, who finished his 65 just as the leaders were starting the third round.

Ryan Palmer and Wesley Bryan, tied for the lead going into another tame day in South Florida, lost ground over the final two hours. Palmer played the final 11 holes in 4 over and shot 73, leaving him seven shots behind. Bryan hit consecutive tee shots into the hazard – including the par-3 15th that led to double bogey – and he made birdie on the 18th to salvage a 72.

Fowler hasn’t won since Abu Dhabi a year ago in January. His last PGA Tour victory was in September 2015 at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

“I definitely need to put myself in this position more often, which is just going to lead to me winning more often,” Fowler said. “I’m not going to be able to take a 36- or 54-hole lead every time and win, but the more times you put yourself there, the more trophies I get to hold on Sunday.”

This is the fifth time he has held a 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour and Fowler has yet to win from that position. He had a three-shot lead going into the final round at the Memorial in 2010 and shot 73 to finish three behind Justin Rose.

There at least was small redemption from a year ago, when Fowler became the first player to go bogey-free over the opening 36 holes at PGA National. But on Saturday, he made no birdies, shot 74 and dropped out of the hunt.

“I did better than last year,” he said. “I’m definitely in a better position that last year.”

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – This was not a trick. This was a PGA Tour event.

Wesley Bryan, the PGA Tour rookie best known for the trick-shot videos he makes with his brother George, was so far right of the eighth fairway Friday in the Honda Classic that he was seemingly blocked out by the trees with limited options – or not many good ones, anyway.

Option one: There was a small gap at the top of the trees and he could take it over it all.

“But the best I could have done was hit just short of the green,” Bryan said.

Option two: Chip out sideways back to the fairway.

“But shoot, that was probably a harder shot that taking a low cut through the trees,” he said.

So he went with option three, and hammered it with so much bending left-to-right action that it cut through the trees and settled about 18 feet away. Bryan missed his birdie putt and looked back on the high-risk shot with a veteran’s perspective.

“Definitely don’t want to go over there and hit it again,” he said.

Bryan is loving his time on the PGA Tour more than ever. With a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole at PGA National, he had a 3-under 67 and goes into the weekend tied for the lead with Ryan Palmer.

He also shared the 36-hole lead in the John Deere Classic last August, but then he was fresh with confidence from having won for the third time on the Web.com Tour to earn an instant promotion to the big leagues. He tied for eighth.

When his rookie season began in October, he could barely crack an egg – three finishes out of the top 40, four missed cuts, another middle-of-the-pack result. But at Riviera last week, Bryan shot a 63 in the third round and was two shots behind Dustin Johnson. That excitement lasted about as long as it took Johnson to close out the third round with three straight birdies and soon stretch his lead to nine shots.

“It was really a tournament for second place,” Bryan said. He made a few bogeys down the stretch and tied for fourth.

PGA National represents his next chance.

Bryan is all about having fun. He and his brother, who grew up in South Carolina and attended the same high school (Dutch Fork) as Johnson, stumbled into making videos. Bryan has a knack for hitting a golf ball in midair, and his brother was the setup man.

But he liked the idea of being a PGA Tour player more than an internet star, and when he made it through Q-school to earn a Web.com Tour card, he showed there was a lot more to his game than trick shots.

He had never played a PGA Tour-sanctioned event until just over a year ago when he tied for seventh in his Web.com Tour debut in Panama. Then came victories in Louisiana in his third start, in Mexico a month later. He was on his way.

Bryan raised more than a few eyebrows last November at the RSM Classic at Sea Island when he was presented his award for Web.com Tour player of the year. He was asked that day about the talent gap between the Web.com Tour and the PGA Tour.

“I mean, I don’t think there’s any gap, honestly,” he said. “The best players on the Web.com Tour, if you put their best game against the best in the world out here, I don’t think you’re going to get more than a shot or two difference. The shot or two is going to come if one of the top 5 players in the world gets really hot.”

He realizes that “guys are good out here” and “they don’t stop making birdies.”

Then again, confidence goes a long way, and he picked up plenty of it with his three victories last year on the Web.com Tour.

“The more times you get in contention with a chance to win, the better off you are in the future,” he said. “Luckily, I was able to knock it out three times last year, and I found that under pressure, I can still hit the shots.”

One of the more important shots he hit Friday was with his putter – in a palmetto bush, 125 yards from the green.

He figured it was his best chance to advance the ball, and he scooted it along some 20 yards to get a better look at the green. He came up just short, chipped to 8 feet and made it for bogey.

“Don’t like making bogeys, but any time you find yourself with a putter out of the trees for your second shot, it’s not good,” he said. “Glad to settle for bogey there.”

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – One reason Martin Kaymer enjoys the Honda Classic is because he doesn’t feel as though he has to make a bunch of birdies.

On such a serene Thursday at PGA National, that was required to keep pace.

A pair of PGA Tour rookies who last played this course at Q-school for the Web.com Tour, Cody Gribble and Wesley Bryan, each opened with a 6-under 64 in the morning and it stood the rest of the day. The wind never really materialized. The greens remained soft from a big rain the day before.

More than half of the field was at par or better.

Kaymer, a two-time major champion from Germany playing on a sponsor exemption, chipped in from behind the 17th green for birdie and closed with a two-putt birdie from 40 feet for a 65. He was one shot behind, along with Anirban Lahiri of India.

“I felt very calm over the ball,” Kaymer said. “I enjoy the golf course. When you stand on the first tee, you don’t feel like you need to make five or six birdies. It’s a ball-striking golf course, but even level par or 1-over par is a very good round.

“It was very soft and there was not much wind,” he said. “Once you miss the fairway, it was actually OK from the rough because the greens are soft. I’ve not played the golf course in easier conditions.”

Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., Rickie Fowler and Ian Poulter found it the same way. They were part of a large group at 66. Sergio Garcia was headed in that direction until he pulled his tee shot left on the par-3 fifth hole and made double bogey, added a pair of other bogeys and recovered with a birdie on his final hole for a 68. He was in the group with defending champion Adam Scott.

Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., were at 1-under 69.

“If the weather stays good and it’s able to dry out, I don’t see the golf course getting any easier,” Fowler said.

It was an important start for Poulter, who is playing on a medical extension from a foot injury last year and has only six PGA Tour events left to earn either $220,301 or 154 FedEx Cup points to retain his full status.

“I’m on borrowed time,” said Poulter, who has slipped to No. 206 in the world. “A win would be nice. I have to think that I’ve got a chance, I really do. The situation I’m in, I have to be aggressive, but I’ve got to be careful. I can’t make many mistakes.”

Bryan is coming off his best tournament, a tie for fourth at Riviera in which he got within two shots of Dustin Johnson toward the end of the third round. It took him awhile to get going in warm, calm weather, and he finished with a 30 on the front nine.

Gribble already has won this season at the Sanderson Farms Championship last fall while the top players were in Shanghai. He missed four straight cuts on the West Coast and finally got his swing back to where he wants it. Along with birdies on three of the par 3s, he hit all 18 greens in regulation.

Bryan, still more known for the trick-shot videos he makes with his brother, can feel his confidence starting to grow.

And it helped to be on familiar turf.

“I think the comfort out here this week … yeah, I got into some pretty good form, but out here on the golf course, I got through Q-school just about 14 months ago, and it’s a place that I’m comfortable at and a golf course I know,” he said.

He picked up a rare birdie on the sixth hole, one of two that have been converted from par 5s to par 4s for the Honda Classic, followed that with a 12-foot par save and then a 10-foot birdie on No. 8 to join Gribble in the lead.

Gribble’s PGA Tour journey started a year earlier than Bryan’s. He tied for eighth at Q-school in December 2014 to get onto the Web.com Tour. He did well enough in the final event to earn his card, and a month later he was a PGA Tour winner.

“This is one of the tournaments I like to play,” Gribble said. “I played it well in Q-school a couple years ago. I’ve got some good memories.”

There weren’t a lot of good memories over the last month, missing the cut in three straight events starting with the Phoenix Open. But the Texan has been grinding away with his coach the last few weeks and it’s starting to take hold.

“We both know exactly how we want the ball to come out. We want less curve. I tend to draw it too much,” Gribble said. “I know we wanted more a cut swing, but kind of finally … it’s hard to explain. It clicked today, but it could be lost again tomorrow. You never know. It was a great start, and hopefully I can build on it.”

It helped to have a birdie putt on every hole. His lone bogey was a long three-putt on the 16th hole.

A total of 114 local qualifiers will be conducted in 44 states and Canada for the 117th U.S. Open Championship, which will be contested June 15-18 at Erin Hills in Erin, Wis. The 18-hole qualifiers are scheduled to take place from May 2-18. Golf Canada is hosting a local qualifier for the first time.

“The support provided by state and regional golf associations, along with Golf Canada, will allow thousands of golfers from around the world, both professional and amateur, to take part in the two-tiered process of U.S. Open qualifying,” said Stuart Francis, USGA Championship Committee chairman. “We are pleased to conduct an international local qualifier for the first time in Canada as we continue to expand qualifying opportunities around the globe for all of our USGA championships.”

Beacon Hall Golf Club, in Aurora, Ontario, will host the local Canadian qualifier on Monday, May 8. The course, designed by Bob Cupp, opened for play in 1988. The outward nine is lined by stands of pine trees while the inward nine features fescue and waste bunkers.

Those players who advance out of local qualifying will compete in sectional qualifying, which will be conducted over 36 holes at 10 U.S. sites on Monday, June 5. For the 13th consecutive year, Japan and England will host international sectional qualifying, both scheduled in late May.

In 2016, the USGA accepted 9,877 entries for the championship at Oakmont (Pa.) Country Club. The record of 10,127 was established for the 2014 championship at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s Course No. 2, in the Village of Pinehurst, N.C.

Thirty-eight courses return as U.S. Open local qualifying sites from last year and several have a long history as hosts. Illini Country Club, in Springfield, Ill., has conducted a U.S. Open qualifier in 43 of the last 44 years. Maketewah Country Club, in Cincinnati, Ohio, has been a local site in 40 of the last 41 years. Riverton (Wyo.) Country Club has hosted local qualifying since 1998, while Collindale Golf Course, in Fort Collins, Colo., has been a host site since 2003. Ironwood Country Club, in Palm Desert, Calif., has held a local qualifier in 18 of the last 19 years.

The Country Club of Detroit, in Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich., will serve as a U.S. Open local qualifying site for the third time since 2012. Arnold Palmer won the 1954 U.S. Amateur at the club, defeating Robert Sweeny, 1 up, in the final. It was the first of three USGA championships for Palmer, including the 1960 U.S. Open. The club also hosted the 1915 U.S. Amateur, won by Robert A. Gardner.

Several local exemptions for the U.S. Open were amended prior to the 2014 championship. The top 500 point leaders and ties from the Official World Golf Ranking™ (as of March 8) will be exempt from local qualifying. Any player in the OWGR’s top 500 (as of April 24) who has filed an entry prior to the deadline of 5 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, April 26, will also earn a local exemption. In the past, only the top 150 point leaders were exempt. Additionally, any player who has had multiple finishes in the top 400 of the year-ending OWGR in the past five calendar years (2012-2016) is exempt from local qualifying.

Ken Venturi (1964) and Orville Moody (1969) are the only players to win the U.S. Open after qualifying through both local and sectional play. Last year, 27 players advanced through local and sectional qualifying to the 156-player U.S. Open Championship field at Oakmont. Of those 27, five players made the 36-hole cut, including Brandon Harkins, who started his journey at The Club at Ruby Hill, in Pleasanton, Calif., which will host a local qualifier for the ninth consecutive year.

Several U.S. Open champions have advanced to the championship through both local and sectional qualifying at some point in their careers, including Lucas Glover, David Graham, Lou Graham, Hale Irwin, Tony Jacklin, Lee Janzen, Tom Kite, Johnny Miller, Corey Pavin, Curtis Strange, Lee Trevino and Fuzzy Zoeller.

To be eligible, a player must have a Handicap Index® not exceeding 1.4, or be a professional.

There are 16 local qualifying sites in the state of Florida, the most of any state. Fourteen local qualifiers are scheduled in California, while Texas will host seven local qualifiers.

Online player registration for the 2017 U.S. Open will begin in the first week of March (https://champs.usga.org/index.html).

LOS ANGELES – Dustin Johnson’s raw talent and a trophy case that keeps growing allowed him to believe he was the best player in golf.

Now he can say it.

Even if he doesn’t understand the math involved with being No. 1.

Johnson extended a remarkable run, which began with his first major at the U.S. Open last summer, with a five-shot victory in the Genesis Open that was never in doubt Sunday. That elevated the 32-year-old American to No. 1 in the world for the first time.

Johnson doesn’t spend a lot of time crunching numbers, especially the computations for the world ranking. But he said he would look at it first thing in the morning.

“I don’t really understand it,” he said. “But I can read 1-2-3. I guess that’s all that matters.”

In a 36-hole Sunday brought on by weather delays at Riviera, all it took was five holes to put Johnson in charge. He finished the third round in the morning with three straight birdies for a 7-under 64 to build a five-shot lead. He started the final round with two straight birdies and eventually stretched his lead to nine shots.

He went 49 straight holes without a bogey.

Johnson didn’t know he was in range of the 72-hole scoring record at Riviera that dates to 1985, the longest standing on the PGA Tour schedule. He wasn’t thinking about reaching No. 1 in the world. All he cared about was winning at Riviera, one of his favourite courses where he had four chances to win in the last five years.

“Winning the golf tournament … that’s what I was here to do,” he said.

Johnson, who made three meaningless bogeys over the last 10 holes for an even-par 71, became the 20th player to reach No. 1 since the world ranking began in 1986. He ended Jason Day’s 47-week stay at the top.

“He deserves it because he’s been playing great golf,” Day said.

Johnson won for the fourth time against some of golf’s strongest fields in the last eight months – the U.S. Open at Oakmont, a World Golf Championship at Firestone, a FedEx Cup playoff event at Crooked Stick and the best field so far this year at Riviera. He has finished no worse than third in eight of his last 16 tournaments.

“No surprise to us players, and I don’t think too much surprise to many others,” Jordan Spieth said.

And it’s not a surprise to Johnson.

Asked if he ever looked at himself as the best in the world even without the No. 1 ranking, Johnson smiled and said, “All the time.”

“I mean, I think I’m a good player,” he said. “Everybody has their own opinion. I believe in myself. I think I’m a great player. The best in the world? I mean, until now I probably wouldn’t have said I was the best in the world. But now I can say it.”

He heard it, too, as the gallery on the hill surrounding the 18th green began chanting, “No. 1.”

Johnson finished at 17-under 267. Lanny Wadkins won at Riviera in 1985 at 20-under 264. Johnson said he didn’t know what the record was, and once he made the turn with a seven-shot lead, he started playing away from trouble and at the middle of the greens.

“I didn’t finish the last 10 holes the way I’d like to, but I had a pretty good lead. I was on cruise control,” Johnson said.

Told the record score, he said, “Next year.”

Thomas Pieters of Belgium and Scott Brown tied in the other tournament. No one had a chance to win as soon as Johnson began the final round with two straight birdies, but Pieters closed with a 63 and Brown shot a 68 to share second place at 12-under 272.

That’s a big step for Pieters to earn a PGA Tour card, and it assured him a spot in the next two World Golf Championships. Cameron Tringale, who played the final 36 holes with Johnson, also was at 12 under until a double bogey on the final hole dropped him to a tie for eighth.

Graham DeLaet (68) of Weyburn, Sask., finished in 17th at 7 under while Adam Hadwin (69) of Abbotsford, B.C., was 34th at 4 under. Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor (73) was 55th at 1 under.

PGA Tour rookie Wesley Bryan shot a 63 in the third round Sunday morning and got within two shots of Johnson, but only until Johnson finished off the third round with his stretch of birdies. Bryan shot 72 in the afternoon and tied for fourth.

Bryan went to the same high school as Johnson – Dutch Fork in South Carolina – though he played most of his golf with Johnson’s younger brother, Austin. He has seen enough of Johnson to realize this was inevitable.

“Honestly, I’m surprised it took so long for him to get to No. 1 in the world,” Bryan said. He’s got all the talent that you could ever want in a golfer.“

Pat Perez saw it all day. He also was in the final group for the last 36 holes, and on the ninth tee, Perez stood to the side as Johnson’s tee shot was headed for a bunker. Johnson dipped his knees and urged it to cut, as if that mattered – it cleared the sand by some 20 yards.

Perez shook his head, smiled. Later in the final round, Perez was standing behind the 10th green when he said, “The guys hits it 40 yards by me, hits his short irons great and makes 30-foot putts. What do you?”

LOS ANGELES – Dustin Johnson is closing in on that elusive victory at Riviera, and a shot to reach No. 1 in the world.

And he still has a long way to go.

Johnson made two tough pars around the turn and poured it on late with three birdies over his last four holes for another 5-under 66 and a one-shot lead in the Genesis Open. It was a good place to be Saturday afternoon, except he was only halfway home at rainy Riviera.

The tournament lost an hour to fog Thursday, then seven hours when heavy rain and wind arrived in southern California on Friday, and two more hours Saturday morning to get the course cleaned up for play.

So what day is it?

“Saturday,” Johnson said. “Yeah, I think it’s Saturday.”

He was at 10-under 132 and had a one-shot lead over Pat Perez, who birdied his last two holes for a 66, and Cameron Tringale, whose wedge from 82 yards flew straight into the cup on No. 18 for a birdie and a 64.

Jhonattan Vegas finished his second round well before lunch with four pars for a 68. He was in the group at 7-under 135 along with Patrick Rodgers (67) and PGA Tour rookie J.T. Poston (69).

Graham DeLaet (68) of Weyburn, Sask., and Adam Hadwin (73) of Abbotsford, B.C., are both at 1 under after the second round. Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor (68) is even while David Hearn (73) of Brantford, Ont., is 1 over and Mackenzie Hughes (71) of Dundas, Ont., is 5 over. Hearn and Hughes missed the cut.

Sam Saunders, who opened with a 7-under 64 on Thursday and didn’t play at all on Friday, stumbled to a 77. He was right on the cut line and was in danger of becoming the first player in four years to go from leading the first round to missing the cut until a long birdie on the 17th. Saunders was nine shots behind.

The PGA Tour got a big break when 71 players made the cut, making it possible to complete 72 holes by Sunday. The third round was to begin late Saturday afternoon. Johnson, Perez and Tringale were unlikely to play again Saturday.

Johnson was in control of his game and the focus going into a marathon Sunday.

He said earlier this year that Riviera was the one tournament he wanted to win outside the majors because of his love for the course and how much he loves it, even though it has given him nothing but heartache. He has had a chance to win four times in the last five years.

Now, a victory might be enough to move him to No. 1 in the world. Johnson would have to win the Genesis Open and have world No. 1 Jason Day finish out of the top three to go to No. 1 for the first time.

“I don’t really worry about that,” Johnson said. “I want to put myself in position to win this golf tournament. That’s really all I care about is what it takes to get it done here. The rest of the stuff, the points and the world golf rankings, yeah, I would like to get there but I’m not worried about it.”

Day had another 70 and was eight shots behind and tied for 40th.

Jordan Spieth, coming off a victory at Pebble Beach, managed his 19th consecutive round under par on the PGA Tour with a 68 even though he felt as though he hit it short and crooked most of the week. He was at 5 under and in a tie for 11th.

Perez was coming off a bogey on the par-5 ninth when he drove left of the 10th green and hit what he thought was as good a shot as he could that ran onto the green toward the pin. It kept rolling into a bunker, though he hit a nifty shot from the sand to 3 feet for par.

“Another birdie,” he said as he walked off the green, paying homage to a 313-yard hole that bedevils him.

He saved his best work for the end of the round, chipping in from birdie from deep rough on the 17th and stuffing his approach into 8 feet for birdie on the 18th. Perez already has made a remarkable return from shoulder surgery, winning in his third tournament back in Mexico. Now he’s headed back to Mexico in two weeks for a World Golf Championship, and a big Sunday could set him up for another WGC at the Dell Match Play.

Perez said his shoulder pain started to return in Phoenix, but he has shortened his swing and expects no trouble over as many as 36 holes Sunday.

Tringale ran off three straight birdies on the front nine and didn’t drop a shot, saving his best for his final shot. After driving right into the eucalyptus trees on 18 and coming up short, he holed out for a 3 to get into the final group.

“Heard it hit the flag and then when people started going crazy, figured it had gone it,” he said. “It was a fun way to end.”

Now, the tournament feels as though it’s just getting started.

LOS ANGELES – Wind, rain and the snap of a large tree limb were enough to stop play Friday in the second round of the Genesis Open.

Sam Saunders remained atop the leaderboard without ever hitting a shot Friday at Riviera.

Jhonattan Vegas joined him at 7-under par and was all too happy to wait until Saturday morning – maybe – to complete his second round. The wind made it difficult to pick the right club. The rain made it difficult to gauge the speed on the greens.

But it was the crack of a eucalyptus tree that made PGA Tour officials sound the horn to get players – and spectators – off the course.

“We could have played a little bit more, but why? It’s going to get nothing but worse,” said Mark Russell, the PGA Tour’s vice-president of competition. “We wanted to get them out of there when the trees started snapping.”

No one was hurt, although Russell said he heard some spectators had to scramble to safety when the eucalyptus limb fell some 30 yards behind the third green.

It was tough on a few players, too, at least between the ears.

Hideki Matsuyama, who had a mathematical chance to reach No. 1 in the world this week with a victory, returned Friday morning to complete the first round and made three straight birdies for a 68. He likely will have to finish with three straight birdies Saturday just to make the cut. Matsuyama was 6 over through 15 holes on his second round, and 3 over for the tournament.

Defending champion Bubba Watson hasn’t had much go his way this week, even when they do. He couldn’t decide on a club at No. 5 and came up well short of the green, only to chip in for a birdie. Standing on the tee at the par-3 sixth, with a bunker in the middle of the green and the pin left and to the back, Watson jokingly lamented, “The one time I don’t want to hit first.”

He still had two holes to play and was 8 over, virtually assured of missing the cut.

Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., was the lone Canadian to start his second round. He played 14 holes and is 5 over for the event.

Cameron Percy of Australia was among 24 players who finished his second round. He shot a 71 and was at 5-under 137. Zac Blair and Martin Laird each shot 68 and were finished at 4-under 138.

Graeme McDowell birdied three of his last eight holes for a 70 and was at 3 under, along with Daniel Summerhays (73) and Keegan Bradley (70).

Very much in the mix was Jordan Spieth, playing in the same group as Watson. He was the last to hit on No. 6 and had no idea what was going on when he hit his shot .

“Oh, don’t go that way,” Spieth said as the wind failed to bring it back to the right toward the green.

“No way. No way,” he said when his shot appeared to go well beyond the bunker to the left of the putting surface.

And then he heard a smattering of cheers.

The shot landed on a hill beyond the green, rode the slope back down to about 10 feet and he wound up with a birdie. He was at 5 under with two holes to play, and depending what the weather has in store, that might not be a bad place to be.

Spieth, coming off a victory at Pebble Beach last week, was headed for his 19th consecutive round under par on the PGA Tour.

“We knew it would be interesting today, and last week actually was great prep for it because we played through conditions like this that first round,” Spieth said. “Things aren’t going to always go your way on a day like today. Actually, rarely they’re going to go your way. … Tough break on this wave, but that happens, too. Go out tomorrow and play a strong last couple of holes and see if we can take advantage this weekend.”

Still to be determined was whether the rain _ and any debris _ would allow the second round to resume at 7 a.m. Saturday. Ideally, the second round would end in the mid-afternoon, making it still possible for 72 holes by Sunday.

Among those who didn’t play on Friday was Dustin Johnson, who opened with a 66. He needs a victory to have a chance to reach No. 1, depending on how Jason Day fares. The world’s No. 1 player was at 2 under for the tournament with three holes to play.

Day already had one highlight. He began his second round on No. 10, and his drive was so far to the right that it was in front of the temporary green, leaving him no shot except to bounce it up the narrow strip of turf separating two bunkers. He pulled it off perfectly, the ball stopped 8 feet away and Day walked off with a birdie.

LOS ANGELES – This is the starring role Sam Saunders prefers.

Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer who so famously kept his composure during a heartfelt eulogy of The King, rolled in birdie putts and kept a clean card at Riviera on Thursday for a 7-under 64 and an early two-shot lead in the Genesis Open.

Saunders called it his best round on the PGA Tour, and it was merely a coincidence that it came on the 50-year anniversary of Palmer defending his title at the Los Angeles Open, when it was played at Rancho Municipal.

“He just always talked about how much he loved coming out there and playing,” Saunders said. “I think his celebrity matched pretty well with the celebrity atmosphere that you have here, so he was obviously comfortable with that.”

Saunders had a two-shot lead over Dustin Johnson, who has a chance to go to No. 1 if he were to win this week. Daniel Summerhays, Cameron Percy, J.T. Poston and Brett Stegmaier joined Johnson at 66, while Phil Mickelson was among those at 67.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., paced the Canadians with an opening-round 68 (-3) to hold a share of 18th. David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., was the only other Canadian to finish under-par, carding a 70 (-1) in Thursday’s opener.

Because of a fog delay in the morning, darkness kept 48 players from finishing the first round. They were to return 7 a.m. Friday, though the bigger question was whether a monster storm of rain and wind would allow for that.

Jordan Spieth was at 2 under and facing a 50-foot birdie putt on the 17th. Jason Day was at even par through 16 holes, while Hideki Matsuyama was 1 under through 16 holes.

Saunders has kept a busy schedule over the last four months in the aftermath of Palmer’s death. He is taking on a bigger role at the Arnold Palmer Invitational next month, along with being a husband and the father of two sons, and getting his golf game in shape.

“It’s been busy, but busy in a good way,” he said.

Saunders was rock solid Oct. 3 when he stood before thousands at St. Vincent College, and so many more watching the live telecast of Palmer’s memorial service. Speaking without notes, Saunders beautifully captured the spirit of Palmer as a golfer and as a grandfather, saying that day, “There wasn’t a big difference between the man you saw on TV and the man we knew at home.”

He has always been known as Palmer’s grandson, and Saunders has learned to embrace it. He no longer worries about trying to make a name for himself.

“I don’t need to compete against my grandfather’s career. Nobody can,” he said. “I don’t care how many golf tournaments you win, nobody’s going to compete in the terms of doing what he did for the game. And for me to try to promote my own brand or name would be foolish because I have such a great opportunity to promote and to continue what he has already done. That’s what I’m going to do and not make it about myself.”

The morning was perfect for scoring once the fog lifted, and Saunders rarely had a round with so little stress. He only came close to making bogey twice, saving par with an 8-foot putt on the par-3 fourth hole and a 6-foot putt on the par-3 14th.

Saunders, with only conditional status this year, is playing on the first of what figures to be several sponsor exemptions. He missed the cut in La Quinta and Pebble Beach and knew with the forecast so dire that it would be key to getting off to a good start.

Johnson has come close to winning Riviera, one of his favourite courses, four of the last five years and he looked as though he might be tough to beat this week when he holed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole as he made the turn, going out in 32.

He failed to birdie the par-5 first hole when his approach was on the fringe on the wrong side of the green, forcing him to hit a flop shot to the other side. Worse yet, he was stung on the neck by a bee, and stood on the next tee rolling a cold water bottle against his neck as his brother and caddie, Austin, removed the stinger.

Johnson hit two ordinary shots, but followed with a pair of 25-foot birdie putts. A bogey on the fourth hole dropped him to 5 under, and he finished with pars.

Mickelson is playing his fifth straight event, though the 46-year-old sure didn’t seem bothered by that. He went eagle-birdie-birdie around the turn to briefly take the lead and settled for a 67.

Also at 68 was Billy Hurley III, surprised by a strong performance after writing a moving letter in The Players Tribune to his late father, who committed suicide. Others at 68 included Branden Grace, playing Riviera for the first time, and Padraig Harrington, who fears a shoulder injury might require surgery.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Jordan Spieth kept it simple Sunday and won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am for the ninth PGA Tour title of his young career.

Spieth started with a six-shot lead and no one got closer than three all day. He putted for birdie on all but one hole and closed with a 2-under 70 for a four-shot victory over former U.S. Amateur champion Kelly Kraft, who shot 67.

U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson shot 68 to finish third.

The scenery was as spectacular as it gets on the Monterey Peninsula. The final round was on the dull side, and that was just fine with Spieth.

“That’s a dream round when you’re leading by a bunch,” Spieth said.

It was his first 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour since the Masters, where he lost a five-shot lead on the back nine at Augusta National. The 23-year-old Texan ran off 14 straight pars until a 30-foot birdie on the par-3 17th. That allowed for an easy walk up the 18th, a closing hole even more gorgeous with a four-shot lead.

Spieth’s only other birdie was on the par-5 second when he two-putted from 12 feet.

One day after he took only 23 putts on the bumpy greens of Pebble Beach, he didn’t make hard anything, and didn’t look to be trying to make them from above the hole to avoid putting himself in a position to drop shots.

No one could put any pressure on him over the opening seven holes, which is where rallies begin at Pebble Beach.

Two-time Pebble Beach winner Brandt Snedeker, playing in the final group with Spieth, managed three birdies through six holes to get within four shots. But he narrowly missed birdie chances on the fifth and seventh holes, and he fell back with a bogey on the ninth. Snedeker closed with nine straight pars for a 70 to finish fourth.

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., both shot a final round 71 to finish the tournament at 8-under 279 and tied for 10th. Ottawa’s Brad Fritsch (71) was 33rd while Adam Hadwin (73) of Abbotsford was 39th.

Kraft, a close friend of Spieth’s from Dallas, ran off four straight birdies on the front nine, and his birdie at No. 11 got him to within three shots. His last hope was missing an 8-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole.

Spieth said caddie Michael Greller told him on every tee, “Keep playing boring golf.”

“I don’t like boring golf,” he said. “But that’s what was needed today.”

He played the final 28 holes without a bogey.

Spieth became the seventh straight PGA Tour winner in his 20s, and he got back into the hunt for No. 1. He had fallen far enough behind that even by beating a strong field at Pebble Beach, it will not move him from No. 6.

But he goes to Riviera next week with a chance to reach as high as No. 2. Johnson, with this third-place finish, could go to No. 1 by winning at Riviera.

The spot now belongs to Jason Day, who shared the 36-hole lead at Pebble Beach and fell 10 shots behind with a 75 on Saturday. Day bounced back with a 67 to tie for fifth with Gary Woodland (65) and Torrey Pines winner Jon Rahm (68).

Spieth now has four top 10s in his four starts this year and already appears to be peaking as the Masters gets closer. He has shot under par in all 16 rounds he has played this year, 17 in a row dating to the Tour Championship last fall.

The only disappointment for Spieth was not winning the pro-am with country singer Jake Owen. They tied for third, four shots behind Ken Duke and Carson Daly.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Jordan Spieth had a performance that matched the magnificent views – finally – at Pebble Beach on Saturday.

Spieth took only 10 putts on the back nine, closed with a pitch that checked up inches from the cup for another birdie and shot a 7-under 65 to open up a six-shot lead going in the final round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Starting out the round in the weather-delayed event tied with Jason Day and Derek Fathauer, Spieth never gave anyone a chance.

Following his only bogey of the round – a 7-iron over the cliffs on No. 8 that narrowly stayed up in the rough above the putting surface – he ran off three straight birdies, made a tough, curling 6-foot par putt on the 12th and then closed with three birdies and another tough par save on his last four holes.

He was at 17-under 197 and had his largest 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour.

Brandt Snedeker did his part with a 30 on the front nine – he started on No. 10 – for a 67 to pull within two shots when he finished.

Snedeker, trying to win at Pebble Beach for the third time in five years, was at 11-under 204 and will be in the final group with Spieth, along with their amateur partners. Spieth is playing with country singer Jake Owen, while Snedeker’s partner is Nashville businessman Toby Wilt.

Dustin Johnson spent three days with Spieth and couldn’t keep up, at least not on the greens. The U.S. Open champion made three birdies over his last six holes and saved par from a shot into the Pacific Ocean on No. 18 for a 66. He was seven shots behind.

Among the Canadians making the cut, Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C. and Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., both head into Sunday T11 at 7-under. Taylor’s third round 68 featured a mix bag that included two eagles, three birdies, two bogies and a double bogey while Hughes caught fire with seven birdies through 17 holes before a triple bogey on 18 dropped him back to 4-under on the day.

Adam Hadwin, also of Abbotsford, was 4-under on the day and 5-under overall (T16) while Brad Fritsch of Manotick, Ont. rounds out the Canadian scoring at 4-under (T28) after shooting 69 on Saturday.