FORT WORTH, Texas – Bryce Molder would have a magical number if he could combine his front-nine scores through two days at Colonial into one round.

Bolstered by 11 combined birdies on Nos. 1-9 at Hogan’s Alley, Molder had a one-stroke lead with three holes to play Friday in the Dean & Deluca Invitational when second-round play was suspended because of darkness.

“It kind of tale of two nines even though I didn’t finish the second nine,” Molder said “The first nine was really clean. … Everything was going right.”

At 9 under, Molder was a stroke ahead of Webb Simpson and two in front of second-ranked Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed. Simpson and Spieth completed their rounds.

Molder was the first-round leader after an opening 64 with six birdies on the front nine. He had five more birdies on that side Friday, which would translate to a 59 – that is the best score ever shot on the PGA Tour.

“You know, I thought about that when I was on No. 6 today,” Molder said. “That was fun. I mean, I wish I could have just turned back around, teed off on No. 1 and just kept going because that side has been really good to me.”

Play was stopped at 8:21 p.m. with 61 of the 121 players still on the course. They will return to complete the second round Saturday morning, scheduled to resume just more than 11 hours after stopping. The third round will be played after the cut is made.

Simpson was 8 under after a 67.

Spieth shot a 66 with four birdies in five holes after turning to the front nine.

Reed had 10 holes left. He has a PGA Tour-high eight top-10 finishes this season.

Molder’s only slip-up was a double bogey at the 441-yard 12th, when he hit his first two shots into the rough and three-putted from 27 feet not long before play was stopped Friday.

In his first round Thursday, Molder was in the first group off the No. 10 tee. He got to his seventh hole before a 75-minute weather delay, then came out to finish the seventh of his nine consecutive pars before all his birdies on the front side.

There were consecutive birdies after starting at No. 1 on Friday, and Molder hit his approach from 188 yards at the difficult fifth hole to 2 feet for another birdie. He chipped in from the front bunker at the par-3 eighth.

Spieth goes into the weekend in contention at home for the second week in a row, and at Colonial for the second year in a row. He tied for second in the 2015 Colonial, one stroke behind Chris Kirk.

The 22-year-old Dallas native was a stroke out of the lead after two rounds last week at the Byron Nelson, and was alone in second going into the final round before a closing 74 that left him tied for 18th.

This week, Spieth said he is much more comfortable with his swing and his game overall midway through the tournament.

“Much better, yeah. I’d say it’s up there close to if I want to have it 100 percent trust by major time. It’s creeping up,” said Spieth, the defending U.S. Open champ playing his third tournament since blowing a five-stroke lead on the back nine when trying to win his second consecutive Masters last month. “Big step up from last week. It’s getting close.”

After starting the second round with a three-putt bogey at the 408-yard 10th, Spieth had a couple of short birdies before another bogey at the 192-yard 16th. His 35-foot downhill putt that he hit at a 90-degree angle picked up speed and went 15 feet past the hole.

His birdie rush after the turn went through Nos. 4 and 5, the 221-yard par 3 followed by the 472-yard hole along the Trinity River that wrap up a difficult trio of holes known as Colonial’s “horrible horseshoe.”

Simpson had 17 consecutive rounds of 70 or higher before an opening 65 at Colonial that he backed up with a round of four birdies and one bogey.

“It was kind of a grind. … I had to get up-and-down a few more times today and guess out of the rough what the ball was going to do into the green,” Simpson said. “But it felt great. Just almost more satisfying today than yesterday because I managed my game.”

The trio of Canadians in the field had yet to play their second rounds when play was halted. Brantford, Ont., native David Hearn’s first-round 67 has him tied for 12th. Abbotsford, B.C., products Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor sit T17 and T30, respectively.

FORT WORTH, Texas – Bryce Molder a réussi des oiselets sur six de ses neuf derniers trous pour une première ronde de 64 (moins-6), jeudi, et il détient un coup d’avance en tête de l’Invitation Dean & Deluca au Colonial.

Molder faisait partie du premier groupe à prendre le départ sur le 10e tertre et il était sur le 16e vert quand le jeu a été interrompu pendant 75 minutes en raison d’un orage. Il a réussi la septième de ses neuf normales consécutives quand le jeu a repris, puis il a accumulé les oiselets sur le premier neuf.

Patrick Reed, Anirban Lahiri et Webb Simpson suivent à 65.

Ryan Palmer, qui est membre au Colonial, faisait partie du groupe

à égalité au cinquième rang à 66. Jordan Spieth, classé deuxième au monde, a joué 67 après avoir raté les six premières allées.

David Hearn, de Brantford, en Ontario, a joué 67 pour faire partie du groupe à égalité en neuvième position. Adam Hadwin et Nick Taylor, tous deux d’Abbotsford, en Colombie-Britannique, ont remis des cartes respectives de 68 et 69.

FORT WORTH, Texas – Bryce Molder was joking around with playing partner Scott Langley as the sky darkened over Colonial.

“It was almost like they were about to blow the horn for darkness,” Molder said.

Except it was early in the morning after Molder – the leader after a 6-under 64- and Langley began play in the first group off the 10th tee Thursday in the Dean & Deluca Invitational at Colonial.

“It wasn’t dark to where you can’t see the ball flight, but you’re kind of reading putts looking a little funny at it,” Molder said. “It was dark. It was weird. It was almost like late, late, late in the day.”

They were on the 16th green next to the clubhouse when play was stopped because of rain and lightning in the area. After the 75-minute delay, when clouds thinned considerably, Molder had six birdies in his last nine holes and the 64 held up for a one-stroke lead over Patrick Reed, Anirban Lahiri and Webb Simpson.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., shot 67 for a share of ninth place. Abbotsford, B.C., products Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor shot 68 and 69, respectively.

Ryan Palmer, the Colonial member whose caddie James Edmondson is the four-time club champion, joined Jason Dufner, Martin Piller and Kyle Reifers in a tie for fifth at 66.

“It’s a golf course I can step on to each tee and don’t even need my yardage book,” Palmer said. “To shoot 4-under out here on a Thursday, you’re not hurting.”

Jordan Spieth, the world’s No. 2-ranked player, was among nine players at 67 after his breezy afternoon round when he missed the first six fairways. But he hit eight of the first nine greens and 14 overall while carding only one bogey – at the 244-yard, par-3 fourth hole.

“It was so tough to gauge the wind correctly and get the ball close to the hole,” Spieth said. “On a day like this, you’re just really looking to hit greens in regulation, be as stress-free as possible, and it felt like we were out there.”

Seventh-ranked Adam Scott, who in 2014 won at Colonial to cap his first week at No. 1, had an opening 72 with four birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey.

Jason Kokrak was at 6 under and tied with Molder for the lead when he hit a drive in the centre of the 18th fairway. But his approach went into the water to the right of the green, as did the next shot after his drop. His quintuple bogey 9 ended a round of 69.

Kevin Chappell (68) had the shot of the day with an eagle on the 387-yard 10th hole when his 8-iron approach from 158 yards went into the hole on the fly.

Moulder, with one win in 251 career PGA Tour starts, had his first 18-hole lead since the 2002 Byron Nelson. He finished Thursday with four consecutive birdies – all from at more than 10 feet, including a 20-footer at No. 7 after his drive into a fairway bunker on the 438-yard hole.

His only non-birdies on the front nine were at Nos. 3-5, known as the Horrible Horseshoe because of the layout and difficulty of that trio. He had pars of each of those holes, the 452-yard dogleg left 3rd hole, the long par 3, and the 465-yard 5th hole parallel to the Trinity River.

“I hit a lot of greens early, 20, 30 feet, and just kind of rolled it up close,” Molder said. “And then all of a sudden hit a couple close when I made the turn, Nos. 1 and 2, got some close birdies. … Maybe (the delay) just kind of helped me wake up. Actually, I went back out on the range and just kind of one little tinker here or there and found a little groove for the rest of the 12 holes.”

Langley had a 70.

IRVING, Texas – Sergio Garcia shot a 62 the first round he played at the Byron Nelson and tied for third as a 19-year-old kid in 1999. He won there five years later, again with Lord Byron watching.

With another win at the Nelson, Garcia matched Seve Ballesteros for the most PGA Tour victories by a Spanish-born player.

Garcia made a par on the first playoff hole Sunday to beat Brooks Koepka for his ninth career PGA Tour victory. He then touched the likeness of Nelson that tops the championship trophy and wiped away tears while sharing a moment with Peggy Nelson, the late golfer’s widow.

“I just said thanks for everything, that it was great to see her again,” Garcia said. “It’s been a very emotional week and obviously Peggy finished it off by making me cry, which I didn’t think I was going to do.”

The 36-year-old Spaniard overcame four bogeys, and two balls in the water on the back nine, for a 2-under 68 to get to 15-under 265. He was two groups ahead of the final pairing of hometown favourite Jordan Spieth and Koepka, who bogeyed the 14th and 15th holes and just missed a birdie chance at 18.

“To be up there with Seve, it means the world to me and I kind of – you can kind of say I went a little bit a la Seve today,” he said. “I definitely wasn’t driving the ball great until the end and a couple of iron shots here and there, but I was chipping and putting great. Some of his wins were like that and I’m very proud of it.”

Koepka, who started the day with a two-stroke lead over Spieth, was 17 under after his last birdies of the day, at Nos. 7 and 9. He shot 71.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., shot a 276 overall to finish in a tie for 58th place.

When they went back to 413-yard 18th again for the playoff, Koepka went first and drove into the water before taking his drop and leaving his approach short of the green. Garcia hit a drive of more than 300 yards and followed with a wedge to about 17 feet.

“I drew it back into the wind. I was hoping it might hit the rocks,” Koepka said. “I really didn’t have much the last 36 holes. I had no idea where the ball was going.”

Garcia also won the 2004 Nelson and is the first two-time winner in the 34 tournaments since the event moved to TPC Four Seasons in 1983.

Matt Kuchar was a stroke out of the playoff at 14 under after a 65.

Spieth, the world’s No. 2-ranked player, had two bogeys in his first five holes Sunday and went on to shoot 74. He finished tied for 18th at 10 under.

“Just didn’t really get anything going and kind of stinks, given I had a chance here at a hometown event,” Spieth said.

Koepka hit each of his first two shots into the rough at the 14th and 15th holes. Those bogeys allowed Garcia to match the lead.

Even after his drive at No. 18 went into the right rough, Koepka still had a chance to win without a playoff when he made a nice shot to the green. But his 16-foot birdie chance curled just under the cup.

Garcia was 15 under for the third time in his final round when he made a short birdie putt after a nice chip shot at the par-5 16th. He had a pair of 12-foot birdie chances after that, but the ball stopped short at the par-3 17th and curled around the cup at No. 18.

In his 301st PGA Tour start, Garcia improved to 5-6 in playoffs and got a check for $1,314,000. Koepka was in his first playoff in his 55th tournament, a year after his only victory in the Phoenix Open.

Spieth first played in the Byron Nelson as a 16-year-old six years ago, when he tied for 16th – still his best finish in his six starts there. The Dallas native missed his high school graduation ceremony the following year after again making the cut there as an amateur.

Six weeks after his misery at the Masters, and a week after missing the cut at The Players Championship in his only other tournament since that blown five-stroke lead on the back nine when trying to win at Augusta for the second year in a row, Spieth was pretty much out of contention at home after his two early bogeys.

“Frustration, yeah,” Spieth said, describing how he felt. “I mean don’t go from the final group in second place alone and finish in 18th … there’s not many positives you’ll be able to take out of that other than the last hole I played I made birdie.”

That came on the same day that third-ranked Rory McIlroy won the Irish Open, his home tournament where he had struggled over the years.

AT&T, which sponsors the Nelson and Spieth, gave away 8,000 bobbleheads on Saturday. There were huge crowds watching his every move and his picture was plastered everywhere at TPC Four Seasons, but he had three bogeys in his first eight holes Sunday.

Phil Mickelson never saw a shot he didn’t think he could hit.

Part of his massive popularity in golf is the high-risk nature with which he attacks the game. When he won his third Masters in 2010, the signature shot was a 6-iron between a gap in the Georgia pines that barely cleared a tiny tributary of Rae’s creek and settled 5 feet from the hole.

It’s the high risk off the golf course that could pose problems.

Mickelson’s association with Las Vegas gambler Billy Walters brought him the wrong kind of attention Thursday.

Federal authorities named Mickelson as a relief defendant in a civil suit that accuses Walters and Thomas Davis, a former corporate board member at Dean Foods, of insider trading that allowed them to make tens of millions of dollars in illicit stock trades.

Mickelson was not charged. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges he only benefited from the misdeeds of others. He agreed to repay (with interest) the $931,000 he made in a single trade of Dean Foods in the summer of 2012.

“Simply put, Mickelson made money that wasn’t his to make,” said Andrew Ceresney, the SEC’s head of the enforcement division.

“Phil was an innocent bystander to alleged wrongdoing by others that he was unaware of,” said Gregory Craig, one of Mickelson’s lawyers.

Here’s a timeline from 2012 contained in the complaint:

– Walters called Mickelson on July 27 and they exchanged texts over the next two days.

– Mickelson bought $2.4 million of Dean Foods shares on July 30 and July 31 in three brokerage accounts. The SEC says he had less than $250,000 in those accounts, had not been a frequent trader and had never bought Dean Foods stock.

– Dean Foods announced second-quarter earnings and the spinoff of subsidiary White Wave Foods after the market closed Aug. 7.

– The stock price went up 40 per cent the next day, and Mickelson sold all the shares he had bought for a $931,000 profit.

Perhaps more troublesome is the SEC allegation that Mickelson had placed bets with Walters prior to the tip, he owed Walters money at the time of the trading and that he repaid Walters a month later “in part with the proceeds of his trading.”

That raises some uncomfortable questions.

How much did Mickelson owe Walters? If he placed bets with Walter, what were they for?

The complaint has the attention of the PGA Tour, which has a section in its player handbook under “Conduct of Players” related to gambling. One part says that a player shall not “associate with or have dealings with persons whose activities, including gambling, might reflect adversely upon the integrity of the game of golf.”

“That’s something we’re in the process of looking at and determining,” tour spokesman Ty Votaw said.

Two years ago at the Memorial, two FBI agents approached Mickelson after his first round to talk to him about Walters during an insider trading investigation. Mickelson said that week he had been co-operating, that he had done nothing wrong and that he hoped in the future he would be able to discuss it.

He wasn’t talking Thursday.

Instead, his management company released a statement that said Mickelson felt “vindicated” because the SEC complaint does not say he violated any securities laws. It also said Mickelson did not want to benefit from a transaction the SEC viewed as questionable, so he was returning the money.

And it referenced the standards of his corporate partners who pay him millions in endorsements.

“He subscribes to the same values and regrets any appearance that, on this occasion, he fell short,” it said. “He takes full responsibility for the decisions and associations that led him to becoming part of this investigation.”

According to Golf Digest, Mickelson earned approximately $52 million on and off the golf course last year.

The statement said Mickelson appreciates that his sponsors are staying with him.

ExxonMobil and Barclays declined comment. KPMG said while disappointed by the SEC announcement, Mickelson’s statement “makes clear he respects and shares” the company’s values.

What next?

Mickelson often is referred to as the “People’s Choice” for his relationship with the fans. He treats them well. He takes time for them. His philanthropy is off the charts, whether it’s a teacher’s academy with ExxonMobile, paying for school supplies for the underprivileged or providing college education for wounded and fallen soldiers.

That might be enough to get him through his latest bad lie, this one not anywhere near a golf course.

IRVING, Texas – Brooks Koepka overcame two early bogeys and the huge shadow of playing alongside Jordan Spieth in his home event, shooting a 5-under 65 on Saturday to take the lead into the final round of the Byron Nelson.

Koepka was at 16-under 194 to match the best 54-hole score at the Nelson and put him two strokes ahead of Spieth.

Koepka took the lead with a 20-foot birdie putt at No. 14. That was the same hole where Spieth hit his drive into the water, had to punch into the fairway and then drained a 23-foot bogey putt in his round of 67.

Spieth played his first PGA Tour event at the Nelson as a 16-year-old amateur six years ago. He is now the world’s No. 2-ranked player and the crowd favourite. His image is everywhere, including the 8,000 bobbleheads given away Saturday.

Matt Kuchar (65), Bud Cauley (68) and Sergio Garcia (68) were tied for third at 13 under.

Canada’s Adam Hadwin shot a 69 and dropped five spots into a tie for 13th. The Abbotsford, B.C. native is 9 under for the tournament.

Playing in the final threesome with Spieth and second-round leader Ben Crane, Koepka hit his first drive way left on the way to an opening bogey. There were birdies at Nos. 3 and 5, but Koepka followed with another bogey at No. 6 when he hit his first two shots into the rough.

But Koepka played bogey-free the rest of the day and took over as the lead with a birdie at the difficult 405-yard 14th hole. Spieth made the long putt to keep that hole from being worse right after his first par this week at the par-3 13th, where he had after three-putted for bogey each of the first two days.

At 26, Koepka is four years older than Spieth but has only one win (Phoenix in 2015) in his 54 previous PGA Tour starts.

Crane, who turned 40 in March, shot 72 and dropped to 10 under and in a tie for 11th. He is looking for his first victory in 48 starts since winning at Memphis two years ago in what also was his last top-10 finish.

Garcia was 15 under and with the outright lead after his fourth birdie of the round, and second in a row, when he made a 25-foot at No. 8, a 463-yard par 4. But the 36-year-old Spaniard, the 2004 Nelson champion, then three-putted from nearly 60 feet at the 9th hole before missing the fairway with his drive at No. 10 and being unable to make a 9-foot par save before pars on his last eight holes.

That second bogey came about the same time Spieth, in the final group right behind him, made a 9-foot birdie at the 416-yard No. 9 to get to 14 under for the lead.

This is Garcia’s 61st PGA Tour start since his last win in 2012, his first at TPC Four Seasons in that span.

Spieth is playing the Nelson for the sixth time, the fourth as a professional. The Dallas native’s best finish was a tie for 16th as a 16-year-old in 2010, when he was tied for seventh after the third round _ his best 54-hole showing until now.

Since playing at the Nelson that first time, and then the following year missing his high school graduation ceremony after making the cut again, the only year he missed playing Lord Byron’s tournament was in 2012, when he was at the University of Texas and the Longhorns were NCAA champions. As a pro, he had never been better than tied for 18th going into the final round and hasn’t finished better than a tie for 30th last year.

IRVING, Texas – For Jordan Spieth, it only seems as if it has been a while since he topped a leaderboard. For Ben Crane, it actually had been.

Crane shot a 7-under 63 on Friday at the Byron Nelson to take the second-round lead at 12-under 128. He was one stroke ahead of a quartet of players that included Spieth, playing only his second tournament since squandering a five-stroke lead on the back nine when trying to win his second consecutive Masters.

Spieth was alone in the lead for a bit while playing in the morning, but after finishing his round of 65 was tied at the top with Brooks Koepka (64) and Bud Cauley (65). First-round co-leader Sergio Garcia also joined them after a 66 later in the day.

“It hasn’t been that long,” said Spieth, speaking before Crane’s afternoon round. “The Masters felt like it was quite a while ago and that’s why it almost feels like, that’s why I’m getting the questions, ‘Was it nice to have your name back on top?’ Well, I mean (it was) two tournaments ago.”

Canada’s Adam Hadwin is four shots back and tied for eighth. The Abbotsford, B.C., native birdied two of his last three holes to finish with a 66. Fellow Canadians Graham DeLaet, of Weyburn, Sask., and Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont., are projected to miss the cut.

The last time Crane had led a tournament was going wire-to-wire to win at Memphis two years ago, the last of his five PGA Tour victories and his last top-10 finish. This is his 48th tournament since.

Crane, who turned 40 in March, took the lead after six birdies in an eight-hole stretch during the afternoon, including a 70-footer from a greenside bunker at the par-4 third hole, his 12th of the day, to get to 10 under for the tournament. He initially took the outright lead with a 3-foot birdie putt at the par-4 sixth.

“I’ve been struggling really for three years now, but intermittent bits of encouragement,” Crane said. “This has been one of those weeks where I feel like my game is really coming around.”

His only bogey came on his 17th hole Friday, the 463-yard eighth hole where his first two shots found the primary rough before his 16-foot par chance curled under the cup. Crane had two-putted from 50 feet on the previous hole to save par, and regained the outright lead with his final stroke of the day, a 14-foot birdie putt to match the best 36-hole score at Lord Byron’s tournament.

“A great way to finish and just kind of good continuation of all the good stuff that was happening throughout the day,” Crane said.

After the Masters last month, Spieth didn’t play again until missing the cut last week at The Players Championship. The Dallas native and world’s No. 2-ranked player is now at TPC Four Seasons, where he played his first PGA Tour event as a 16-year-old amateur six years ago and finished in a tie for 16th, still the best of his five previous starts there.

Spieth has hit 33 of 36 greens so far, and the only one he missed Friday was No. 9, his final hole of the day. He pitched to 11 feet and saved par.

“I still got pretty frustrated at times because I would have a really good wedge number … that should be within 10 feet all day,” he said. “With the size of the greens, my misses are still holding the greens. I’ve had so many 40-footers out here I’ve managed to get in in two putts.”

Spieth made the turn after three consecutive birdies, two-putting from 45 feet at the par-5 16th and rolling in a 35-footer at the par-3 17th. A 30-foot birdie try at No. 2 curled just under the hole, and a 45-foot eagle chance at the par-5 7th hole stopped just short. His only bogey Friday was a three-putt at the par-3 13th, the same as in his opening 64.

Even without feeling like he’s playing his best golf, Spieth has had consecutive rounds in the mid-60s.

“Great sign,” Spieth said.

D.A. Points had nine birdies and a bogey through 13 holes in his second round, then parred the last five holes to finish a round of 62, the best round of the day and nine strokes better than his first round.

Defending champion Steven Bowditch shot 70 on Friday and just made the cut at 2-under 138. The Australian who lives in North Texas had missed the cut in his five previous tournaments, and seven of the last nine.

IRVING, Texas — Jordan Spieth covered his mouth in disbelief on the 16th green when his long eagle putt stopped short of falling in for a share of the lead. His group then rushed to complete the final two holes before dark.

Spieth finished with consecutive pars for a 6-under 64 on Thursday and was within a stroke of the lead when the first round of the AT&T Byron Nelson was suspended because of darkness.

The world’s No. 2-ranked player and Dallas native, whose first PGA Tour event was the Nelson as a 16-year-old amateur six years ago, is playing only his second tournament since squandering a five-stroke lead on the back nine at the Masters. He missed the cut last week at The Players Championship, but had only one three-putt to start at rain-softened TPC Four Seasons.

“This week felt a bit different than the past couple years as a professional. I don’t know what it is,” Spieth said. “I came out and maybe kind of the bad weather has kind of softened the crowds and hasn’t felt the same. … Everything has been a bit more calm this week and it’s been a lot easier to just stay in a normal rhythm.”

Sergio Garcia, Danny Lee and Johnson Wagner shared the lead at 7-under 63. Garcia played in the morning, and Lee and Wagner, like Spieth, were just able to complete the round that started 2 1/2 hours late after early morning rain.

Dustin Johnson and Freddie Jacobson matched Speith with 64s.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., shot a 66. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., shot 73 and Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., shot 74.

Tom Hoge, one of 30 players who have to finish their first rounds Friday morning, was 6 under through 14 holes. His only bogey was after he missed the green and then two-putted from 10 feet at the par-3 fifth, the last hole he completed. His final shot Thursday was an approach at the par-4 sixth, onto the green and 41 feet from the cup.

Garcia finished his round with eight consecutive one-putts. Wagner and Lee, the 25-year-old South Korean who lives in Irving and is playing on his home course, also were bogey-free.

There was a loud cheer at No. 1 when Spieth teed off, and another when he holed a shot from the intermediate rough for a birdie after missing the first green.

Spieth was 3 under through 10 holes before four consecutive holes without a par. He made a short birdie at 11 and a 20-footer at No. 12 before his only three-putt, from 50 feet at the par-3 13th. He quickly got back that stroke with a 13-foot birdie putt at No. 14.

Then at the par-5 16th, Spieth’s 40-foot eagle chance that was rolling toward the middle of the cup when it stopped just short.

The 64 matched Spieth’s best round at the Nelson, where his best finish is still a tie for 16th in his debut as a teenager. He tied for 30th last year when he played after winning the Masters.

After his short appearance at The Players, Spieth talked about needing to do a better job being positive and having more fun. This was a good start at the Nelson.

“It’s just kind of something that everyone goes through. You got to learn to deal with it your own way and everyone gets frustrated when you play golf. You can’t be perfect in this game,” he said. “It’s just little bits and pieces here where I can maybe stay a little more neutral and yeah, when you’re playing well, when you’re 4, 5-under par, it’s a lot easier to be happy.”

Garcia had a quick answer for what he changed midway through the opening round when all of his putts started going into the hole, including a 60-foot eagle putt on the par-5 seventh after a 25-foot birdie putt the previous hole.

“Nothing,” said Garcia, the 2004 Nelson champion. “The hole got in the way. Simple as that.”

Garcia finished a stroke off his Nelson-best 62 he shot as a 19-year-old in 1999 in his first round at Lord Byron’s tournament on the way to a third-place finish. He is back for the first time in five years.

He had only one birdie and needed 18 putts on his first 10 holes, including a 21-foot par-saver after his tee shot into the greenside bunker at the par-3 17th.

“Nice par putt on 17 to stay 1 under and then kind of caught fire on the other nine,” Garcia said.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – To see him now, it’s hard to believe Jason Day had only one victory in his first six years on the PGA Tour.

Then again, consider the start of the year.

Day finished a combined 35 shots out of the lead in the three tournaments he finished. The other was Torrey Pines, where he was defending champion and missed the cut while coping with a nasty virus.

Since then, he has gone wire-to-wire against strong fields twice in the last two months, and he effectively did the same at the Dell Match Play when only one of the seven matches he won reached the 18th hole. He has seven victories in his last 17 tournaments. He is No. 1 in the world with the highest points average since Tiger Woods.

For Day, it’s all about the long haul.

To measure his career to date, he is different from Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth in one respect. Everyone knew McIlroy and Spieth had exceptional talent, and it didn’t take long for them to get on the fast track. McIlroy locked up his European Tour card in two events, won in his second full season and was a U.S. Open champion at 22. Spieth had no status when he turned pro, won on the PGA Tour, was the youngest American to play in the Presidents Cup and had two majors at 21.

Day had every bit as much talent.

He turned heads when he came to America to play the Web.com Tour and won a tournament at 18. What followed were marriage, nagging injuries, his first child, finding a balance between home and golf and questions about why he wasn’t winning more.

The answer was a hard look at who he was and motivated him.

Colin Swatton, his longtime coach and caddie, recalls a conversation they had early in his career.

“He said, ‘When do you think I’ll win on tour?’ And I said, ‘You’ll win when you want to win. You’ll dominate when you want to dominate.’ He never understood that,” Swatton said Tuesday. “And then at the British Open he was like, ‘Gosh, I let another one slip through my fingers. Enough is enough. This is my time. This is when I want to make my mark in golf.’

“Motivation for any player has to come from within.”

Day looks back at that British Open last summer as a turning point in his career. He came up short on a 30-foot birdie putt to get into a playoff at St. Andrews, and he walked away more determined than ever to make it his time. He would follow up that week with a win at the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey.

There was another moment this year at Doral that reminded the 28-year-old Australian what it took.

Swatton prefers data over emotion because that’s what gets through to Day, so he keeps files of information. One reason Day started off the year so slowly is because he stayed away from the game for three months, mainly because wife Ellie gave birth to their second child.

Day was disappointed at Doral, where he tied for 23rd and was never in the picture.

Swatton was realistic. He knew that Day couldn’t expect to have the same form after sitting out three months. Hours lost meant more hours required to reformulate the swing and the feel. So he kept a log of the hours Day had put in and showed it to him after Doral.

“When he walks off and he’s disappointed, you have to present him with facts. You can’t present him with emotion,” Swatton said. “I said, ‘The fact is, this is all the practice you’ve done.’ He looked at it and said, ‘Oh my goodness.’ I said, ‘Exactly.’

“He just had to be patient.”

Day is diligent when it comes to work. He thought winning would come easier when he showed up on the PGA Tour in 2008. He doesn’t want to make that mistake again. So he kept working. And he started winning. And here he is, No. 1 by a margin that suggests he might be there for some time.

“He found what motivates him to work hard,” Swatton said. “And right now he’s motivated to do something similar to Greg Norman, to Tiger Woods. I think he just loves winning. Walking down 18 on Sunday, people are yelling and screaming, and he said, ‘This is why I work hard. This walk.’

“It’s not about the $1.8 million or whatever,” Swatton said. “He just loves winning.”

It doesn’t come as easily as he can make it look.

Day said he has been building to this moment, even during the lean years, finding something that will make him a little better each year.

“Look, I’m in it for the long haul,” he said after his most recent victory. “It’s not like I’m here for five years and someone younger than me is going to be a half-step quicker or I’m going to be an old, slow man. At the end of my career, I want to be able to look back and know that I incrementally got better as the years went on. And if I can focus on that, then I will.

“As long as I want it, and if I do the work, then I’ll get better.”

BETHESDA, Md. – Tiger Woods grimaced as he took three warmup swings after sitting in a chair for 30 minutes on a cool, blustery Monday morning at Congressional talking about his upcoming tournament. Hitting a ceremonial shot from a forward tee on the par-3 10th hole, he chunked his first attempt into the pond short of the green.

He asked for another ball. That one splashed, too. With officials from his foundation egging him on, he tried one more time. The last one cleared the pond, but not by enough. It landed on a steep bank and rolled down into the water.

His efforts at Congressional – home to the Quicken Loans National, which he hosts and which benefits his foundation – put to rest most of the lingering questions about whether he’ll be ready to return to competitive golf anytime soon.

“I have been practicing at home, and I’m progressing nicely. I’m hoping to play,” Woods said. “That’s the overriding question I keep hearing: When are you coming back, when are you playing? I get it all the time. If I knew, I’d tell, you, because it’d be fun to know.”

Woods, who underwent two back surgeries last fall, said he’s getting stronger and hitting the ball better. The tournament at Congressional will be played June 23-26, the week after the U.S. Open, and it certainly appears that Woods will attend only in a noncompetitive role.

Woods, 40, hasn’t played since last August, and he’s fallen to no. 524 in the world ranking. He said Monday he can’t spend nearly as much time practicing as he used to. He’s been playing friendly games at Medalist, his home club in Florida, but he’s yet to play 18 holes, although he said he’s physically capable of playing a full round.

“Everything about my game is coming around. Now it’s just a matter of being consistent with it,” Woods said. “And then being able to do that not only at home against the boys at Medalist and trying to take their cash, but trying to come out here and doing it against the best players in the world is a completely different deal.”

If he were healthy, June would be a busy month for Woods, starting with the Memorial and then the U.S. Open at Oakmont, where he tied for second in 2007, followed by the Quicken Loans National, which he’s won twice. While Woods did not confirm that he would be absent from those events, he said it’s frustrating not to be able to play at places where he’s been successful.

“I want to play. Trust me, I want to,” he said. “The plan is to get well, and whether that’s by next week or it’s a year from now, I don’t know. My doctors don’t know, I don’t know.”

Woods also said he considered walking away from the game after his first back surgery, a microdiscectomy in 2014.

“Do I want to go through that whole process again of getting back? Some part of me said yes, some part of me said no. Because it is hard,” Woods said. “Nerve pain – if you’ve never experienced it, man, it’s something else.”

He said he no longer has any nerve pain, although he’s not pain-free.

Still, Woods believes he can still generate the same clubhead speed that he did when he was younger, and he showed little interest in changing his aggressive style of play to protect his body.

“Ironically enough, my speed’s higher than it’s been in a few years. And I’m not trying. My technique just changed. That’s a good sign. When I get stronger and I do crank it up, I’ll have the speed I used to have, which will be nice,” Woods said. “… Guys who are on the shorter side have success, but when they’re not quite on their game, they’re missing cuts.”

While sidelined, Woods has watched admiringly as his friend Jason Day has solidified his hold on the No. 1 ranking. The two are in touch frequently and Day, who won the Players Championship on Sunday, has spoken about the valuable advice he’s gotten from Woods.

“I think it’s fantastic how he’s playing, how he’s handling himself, how focused he is and how committed to improving” he is, Woods said. “He practices with purpose and you can see it when he plays.”