THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Justin Thomas went from a fast finish one day to a fast start the next, and it carried him to a 7-under 65 on Friday and a one-shot lead in the Zozo Championship at Sherwood.

Thomas wasn’t particularly thrilled, except for his position, mainly because the final stretch of holes was still fresh on his mind and he closed with six consecutive pars on a day when the field made birdie or better just over 33% of the time.

Richy Werenski led the way with 12 birdies for a 61, the lowest score in a tour-sanctioned competition at Sherwood. The average score was 67.87.

Tiger Woods managed to beat that, making eight birdies in is round of 66, and he still didn’t pick up any shots against the lead. The defending champion at the Zozo Championship — he won last year in Japan — was still 12 shots behind.

“Got off to a much better start and kept rolling,” Woods said.

Thomas finished late Thursday afternoon with a 29 on the back nine at Sherwood for a 65. He began the second round on the back nine and ran off four straight birdies, chipping in on the par-3 12th, and played it in 31.

But after two birdies in three holes to start the front nine — he hit into the water on the par-5 second hole and still managed to escape with par — he didn’t convert any birdie chances.

Thomas was at 14-under 130, one stroke clear of Lanto Griffin and Dylan Frittelli, who each had a 65 and each made bogey on the final hole.

Griffin tied Thomas with a 5-foot birdie on the seventh hole and then a 5-iron that didn’t turn out the way he had envisioned — he aimed 25 feet left and hit it right at the flag, 15 feet behind it.

“Pushed it right at the flag and it lands a foot from the hole,” Griffin said. “Then Rickie (Fowler) hit right where I was trying to hit it and his caddie said, `Good shot.’ And I said, `Yeah, that’s where I was trying to hit it.”’

It worked out fine, but he dropped back with a clunky 9-iron on the ninth hole that came up nearly 30 yards short of the hole and he missed a 10-foot par putt.

Patrick Cantlay found his putting touch and and shot 65. He was two shots behind, along with Scottie Scheffler, who also had a 65.

Low scores were everywhere on a course that is short by PGA Tour standards and has five par 5s that are reachable in two, even without hitting driver off the tee. There has been little wind, pleasant weather. And different from the days of the Woods’ holiday event in December, a 78-man field makes it likely more players are going low, especially when they see what everyone else is doing.

Woods couldn’t be much worse from Thursday, especially on the par 5s. He played them in 3 over in the opening round of 76, his highest score in his 13th year playing Sherwood. He played them in 4 under on Friday.

Phil Mickelson played them in 3 over Friday, but it was really just a couple of par 5s that ate him up.

He sent his tee shot off the property to the left on the 11th hole and made bogey. And on the 13th, he sent two shots into what amounts to a jungle left of the fairway and made a quadruple-bogey 9. He shot 74 and was near the bottom of the pack, one week after winning for the second straight time on the 50-and-older PGA Tour Champions.

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., is the top Canadian after firing a 5-under 67 to reach 8 under heading into the weekend. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., (68) is 6 under, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., (72) is 5 under, while Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin (67) is 2 under.

Making birdies is not a problem for Rory McIlroy — he’s just not getting much out of them. McIlroy made seven birdies in the opening round, but he had three bogeys, two double bogeys and one club snapped over his knee on the back nine. On Friday, he made eight birdies and still only managed a 67.

“So I’ve made 15 birdies in the first two days, which usually would put you right up at the top of the leaderboard. I just made too many mistakes,” McIlroy said. “It was the same story last week, sort of the same story at Winged Foot. Just one of those stretches where the good stuff’s there, but the bad stuff is sort of taking away from the fact that I’m hitting good shots and making birdies.”

Thomas has won the last four times he had a 36-hole lead, though this is different. Twenty players were within four shots of the lead, all of them at 10 under or better. He is playing well, making birdies and it was no time to let up.

“I played well. I’m not very pleased with the finish,” he said. “The last six holes, I would have liked to at least have got something. Having a 5-iron and a 5-wood out of the fairway into two par 5s and making two pars is not good. I just wasn’t near as tight and tidy those last four holes.”

LAS VEGAS – In his 10th season, in his 233rd tournament, Jason Kokrak can finally call himself a PGA Tour winner.

Kokrak earned every bit of it Sunday in the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek. He matched the best round of the tournament with an 8-under 64 to overcome a three-shot deficit at the start and win a duel on the back nine with Xander Schauffele.

“Couldn’t be happier,” said Kokrak, who was born in North Bay, Ont.

The timing couldn’t be better. The CJ Cup moved from South Korea this year to Shadow Creek because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kokrak is an ambassador for MGM Resorts, which owns the prestigious Tom Fazio design.

“It feels like home,” Kokrak said. “I’ve played this golf course enough that I should know it by now.”

Kokrak began to pull away with four straight birdies on the front nine, and birdie putts from 20 feet and 18 feet to start the back nine stretched his lead to two shots.

Schauffele answered with three straight birdies, the last one a 45-footer by using his putter from the thick collar of the 13th green to catch him. Then, it was a matter of who blinked first.

That turned out to be Schauffele on the par-5 16th, when he only managed to advance his shot from deep rough left of the fairway some 85 yards into more rough. Swinging with all his might, his third shot peeled off to the right into more rough well below the green, and he made his only bogey in his round of 66.

Kokrak also was in the left rough, hacked out to the right rough and put his third shot in the bunker. But he splashed it out to just inside 4 feet and made par for a one-shot lead, and Schauffele couldn’t catch up.

Kokrak, a 35-year-old from Ohio, all but clinched it when he drilled his drive into the fairway on the par-5 18th, leaving only a short iron to 25 feet. He two-putted for his final birdie of a round he won’t soon forget.

Russell Henley, who began the final round with a three-shot lead, never got anything going early and fell behind when he bogeyed the par-5 seventh and Kokrak was on his early run of birdies.

Henley’s hopes ended on the reachable par-4 11th when he drove over the green into thick rough and, facing a downhill chip, left it in the rough short of the green and made bogey on the second-easiest scoring hole at Shadow Creek. That put him four shots behind, and a late push of birdies was never going to be enough.

He closed with a 70 and tied for third with Tyrrell Hatton, who was coming off a victory last week in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. Hatton closed with a 65.

Kokrak played bogey-free on a course where trouble was never too far away. Justin Thomas, within five shots of the lead, has two straight bogeys on the front nine and three more in a four-hole stretch on the back for a 74. Rory McIlroy was at least headed for a good finish until he had a pair of bogeys and two double bogeys over the last five holes for a 74.

Making it even tougher on Kokrak and Schauffele was Jason Day, the third in their group, withdrew with a neck injury on the second hole. That meant a twosome amidst a course filled with threesomes, and a lot of waiting. They still played at the highest level, with Kokrak delivering all the key putts.

Kokrak earned a spot in the Masters next month from reaching the Tour Championship a year ago in August. Now he can plan on two trips to Augusta National, qualifying for the 2021 tournament by winning.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. finished in a tie for 28th place with a score of 5-under. He shot a 2-under 70 in final round Sunday. Another Abbotsford native, Nick Taylor finished in a three-way tie for 61st place with Nick Taylor of Listowel, Ont., and American Andrew Landry at 3-over.

Mackenzie Hughes started the 2021 PGA Tour season with the highest ranking of his career and he’s already reaping the benefits.

Hughes, from Dundas, Ont., will be in the field at this week’s CJ Cup, which has moved South Korea to Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas.

He said that getting to set his own calendar is one of the advantages of finishing last season 14th on the FedExCup standings.

“These are the kinds of tournaments and fields you want to be a part of it. It’s a reward for having a good year the prior year,” said Hughes from his home in North Carolina.

“You want to build your schedule around the biggest tournaments and you want to play the best players in the world.”

Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, both from Abbotsford, B.C., as well as Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., are also in the 78-player field at the no-cut event.

The first three editions of the CJ Cup were played at the Nine Bridges Golf Club on Jeju Island, South Korea, but was moved to the Vegas swing of the PGA Tour schedule this year.

Hughes said that being able to set his own schedule is especially helpful as he and his wife Jenna are expecting their second son the last week of November.

He will play at next week’s ZOZO Championship at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif. – moved from Tokyo because of travel restrictions related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Houston Open and the Masters will follow but the RSM Classic on Nov. 19 is a maybe for him as Jenna’s due date approaches.

“That’s what I’ll keep doing going into next year,” said Hughes. “I’ll probably end up playing a bit less but keep my attention around the bigger tournaments and layer in some other tournaments around that to get ready for those.”

Families were not allowed to travel with golfers for most of the 2020 PGA Tour season as the top men’s golf tour tried to maintain a bubble during the pandemic. That was tough for a family man like Hughes, who skipped the Sanderson Farms Championship and the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open so he could be at home.

“I’ve enjoyed being home for a couple of weeks, I don’t get too many of those breaks,” said Hughes. “It’s nice to be with them and hang out have some fun but also provide my wife with some help, provide some support as we raise out child.”

This is no ordinary road to the Masters.

Instead of the tropical warmth of Florida in the spring, it starts in the hot desert air of Nevada in October.

Instead of a series of PGA Tour events some 500 miles south of Augusta National with an occasional detour into Texas, this road starts 2,000 to the west, heads out to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and then back over to Houston.

What hasn’t changed is the top players are back in action with Georgia on their minds.

It starts Thursday with the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek, typically held in South Korea and now part of an Asia swing that moved this year to the western U.S. because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Four of the top five players in the world are at Shadow Creek, with top-ranked Dustin Johnson pulling out after his positive test for the coronavirus.

It’s different, just like the entire year in just about every sport.

Rory McIlroy thinks Shadow Creek might be even better than what Florida offers because of the bentgrass greens that are fast with big slopes.

“It’s not a bad place to prepare for Augusta,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “Climate’s going to be a bit different, but it’s not bad preparation. Obviously, it’s on the other side of the country. But when you think about the courses that we play leading up to Augusta, they’re all Bermuda for the most part. It’s Florida. It’s a different test and a different setup.

“I think here this week and Sherwood next week, I think that’s going to be a lot of guys’ last event before Augusta.”

Most of them are happy to have the opportunity.

The CJ Cup (South Korea) and the Zozo Championship (Japan) likely would not have attracted top players unwilling to travel that far during a pandemic, especially with the Masters having been pushed back to November. Both tournaments have limited fields with no cuts and big money.

The Zozo Championship next week is at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. That will be followed by the Bermuda Championship and Houston Open ahead of the Masters on Nov. 12-15.

“I think a lot of guys are really happy that they’ve got these two events to play and see where their game is,” McIlroy said. “These are obviously big events in their own right, but looking ahead for a few week’s time.”

Shadow Creek adds to the prestige as the elite club in Las Vegas, a Tom Fazio-design with a list of members that range from former U.S. presidents to Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter to actors Sylvester Stallone and Matt Damon.

The condition is mint. Justin Rose said they were the best greens he has played this side of Augusta National and Muirfield Village, home of the Memorial.

It last was seen on television two years ago when Phil Mickelson beat Tiger Woods in a $9 million winner-take-all match as golf delved into pay-per-view, which turned out to be free because of technical glitches.

“I definitely look at that as our key event this fall,” Rickie Fowler said. “With CJ bringing the tournament here to Shadow, I think is is actually a great place to have a little checkpoint of where things are leading up to Augusta. The greens could be fairly similar in areas to what we may see at Augusta.”

The CJ Cup marks the return of Brooks Koepka after two months off to heal a left hip injury, a byproduct of a knee injury he had been dealing with since last year. Several others, such as defending champion Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele, have not played since the U.S. Open.

Rose, Shane Lowery and Tommy Fleetwood are among those who were outside London last week for the European Tour flagship event, finding it well worth it to cross eight time zones to tee it up at Shadow Creek.

As much emphasis as there is on the greens, McIlroy arrived in Las Vegas talking about length _ specifically Bryson DeChambeau’s method of hitting it as far as he could on his way to winning the U.S. Open.

McIlroy isn’t about to add 40 pounds of muscle and mass. But he is trying to add speed to his swing, even if he doesn’t catch up to the 200 mph ball speed DeChambeau is approaching.

“Having length is an advantage and I’ve always been pretty long,” McIlroy said. “I think what I want to do is at least know that I have it if I need it. I’m not going to try to do it all the time, I’m not trying to get my ball speed into the 190s every time I hit a driver, but at least I know that if I need to do it, I can do it.”

DeChambeau is home in Dallas for a month working on a 48-inch driver for the Masters. McIlroy is at Shadow Creek and Sherwood the next two weeks. Both are thinking about the Masters in their own way.

LAS VEGAS – Dustin Johnson became the most prominent player to test positive for the coronavirus since golf resumed in June, forcing him to withdraw Tuesday from the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek.

The PGA Tour said in a statement that Johnson notified officials he was experiencing COVID-19 symptoms and was given another test that came back positive.

Johnson is the No. 1 player in the world and the reigning PGA Tour player of the year after winning the FedEx Cup for the first time. He has not played since he tied for sixth at the U.S. Open last month.

“Obviously, I am very disappointed,” Johnson said in a statement. “I was really looking forward to competing this week, but will do everything I can to return as quickly as possible. I have already had a few calls with the tour’s medical team and appreciate all the support and guidance they have given me.”

Johnson did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Johnson is the 12th player to test positive at a tournament or at home since the PGA Tour resumed its schedule on June 8. The tour said a small number of players tested positive at home and chose to keep it private.

It comes one week after Tony Finau, at No. 16 in the world, tested positive with minor symptoms and withdrew from the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in Las Vegas.

Johnson holds the course record at Shadow Creek after its latest renovation, posting a 7-under 65 five years ago while playing with hockey great Wayne Gretzky, the father of Johnson’s partner Paulina Gretzky.

Still to be determined is whether Johnson is able to play the Zozo Championship at Sherwood next week in Thousand Oaks, California. Johnson is a member at Sherwood Country Club, where he spends a lot of time with Gretzky.

“He was really, really looking forward to these two weeks,” said David Winkle, his manager at Hambric Sports.

Winkle said Johnson came out to Las Vegas early to practice, and he received a negative test on Sunday.

“But then he started experiencing symptoms later that night,” Winkle said. “He took it easy on Monday and thought maybe he was coming down with a cold. He had a little chest congestion. He went back and was tested this morning.”

Under the protocols on the PGA Tour, which are based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Johnson is to self-isolate for 10 days dating to when he first experienced symptoms and can return if there are no other symptoms.

That would leave open the possibility of Johnson playing next week at Sherwood, provided he would want to play having gone 10 days without being able to prepare.

Most of the world’s best players are in Las Vegas and California for two weeks as part of their preparations for the Masters. Johnson is scheduled to play the Houston Open on Nov. 5-8 a week before the Masters.

Finau experienced symptoms last weekend, meaning he was eligible to be at Shadow Creek on Wednesday to start practicing. Instead, he chose to withdraw.

LAS VEGAS – Martin Laird lost a chance to win by making bogey on the 18th hole, only to redeem himself in a three-way playoff by making a 20-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole Sunday to win the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

Laird ended seven years without a victory in a year filled with so much doubt, which included knee surgery right about the time golf was set to resume from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 37-year-old Scot suddenly is flying high.

He needed a sponsor exemption to play the tournament he won in 2009. He ended it with a birdie to beat Matthew Wolff and Austin Cook. It was the third three-man playoff in Las Vegas for Laird, who won in 2009 and lost the following year when Jonathan Byrd made a hole-in-one on the 17th hole at the TPC Summerlin.

Laird contributed a pair of big shots on the par 3.

He had a one-shot lead with two holes to play Sunday when he sent his tee shot on the par-3 17th off a cart path and some 30 yards right of the green with the pin to the right. He hit a chip-and-run over the cart path, under the trees, between a pair of bunkers and then made a most improbable par with an 18-foot putt.

But he missed the green to the right on the 18th and chipped to 30 feet, two-putting for bogey and a 3-under 68 to fall into a playoff at 23-under 261 with Wolff and Cook, who each closed with a 66.

They all made par on the 18th in the playoff, and then Laird ended it on the 17th with his birdie. Laird, at No. 358 in the world, becomes the third winner in the last four regular PGA Tour events to be ranked outside the top 300.

Now he has a two-year exemption, and he’s headed back to the Masters in April and the PGA Championship in May.

Laird appeared to have everything going his way when he caught a buried lie near the lip of a bunker while facing a front pin on the par-5 ninth. He blasted away, turned his head and looked back to see the superb shot trickle into the cup for eagle. That gave him a three-shot lead heading to the back nine.

But he couldn’t hold it.

Cook never really went away, closing within one shot with a 40-foot birdie putt on the 17th and burning the edge of the cup on his birdie attempt on the closing hole. Wolff was never far away and arrived in a powerful burst with a two-putt birdie on the reachable par-4 15th, blasting a 375-yard drive on the par-5 16th and stuffing wedge to 10 feet for eagle.

Laird never lost the lead, though he was grinding to the finish line. He had to make a 15-foot birdie putt on the 15th, the easiest hole at TPC Summerlin. He played away from the flag and water on the par-5 16th to 70 feet and came up 15 feet short, leading to a three-putt par.

And then he made his great escape on the 17th after a tee shot off the cart path. A par on the 18th was all he needed for the victory, and he hung it out to the right, down to a collection area with a drain a yard in front of his ball.

Patrick Cantlay, who shared the 54-hole lead with Laird, was the biggest surprise of the day. Cantlay won the tournament in 2017 and was runner-up each of the last two years. Fourteen of his 15 rounds at the TPC Summerlin were under par. He opened with four bogeys in six holes and didn’t make birdie until the 13th, closing with a 73.

U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau closed with a 66, and that was the worst he could have done. With a helping wind, he played the par 5s on the back nine in 1 over. He also bogeyed the last from a bunker.

He tied for eighth in his first appearance since becoming a major champion at Winged Foot, and he now goes back to the lab – or the gym, in his case – for the next month before resurfacing at the Masters.

Abraham Ancer birdied the last two holes for a 67 to finish alone in fourth. Will Zalatoris closed with a 69 for a three-way tie for fifth, leaving him just short of enough FedEx Cup points to earn special temporary membership on the PGA Tour. His next chance is in three weeks in Bermuda.

Michael Gilgic of Burlington, Ont., finished tied for 27th place at 14-under. Adam Hadwin of Abbortsford, B.C., finished in a nine-way tie for 34th at 13-under.

LAS VEGAS – Tied for the lead going into the weekend, Patrick Cantlay already was four shots behind before he hit his opening tee shot Saturday in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

That didn’t bother him in the least. He knows what to expect at the TPC Summerlin.

A tee shot so far left on the 10th hole that he had to hit a provisional? That made him a little anxious, but only until he found his original, hit wedge to 4 feet for birdie and began his climb back to where he started.

When the third round ended, Cantlay and Martin Laird each had a 6-under 65 without making it look terribly special and were tied for the lead. Both got their first PGA Tour victory at this tournament. Both have lost in a playoff. Both have played it enough times to realize birdie opportunities are there for everyone.

Canadian Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., made noise himself, shooting a 9-under 62 to climb into a tie for 9th. Countryman Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., sits one back of Hadwin at 15 under par in a tie for 14th.

U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau was among the exceptions.

He had a pair of double bogeys and back-to-back bogeys, all before he reached the seventh hole. At that point he was 5 over in a five-hole stretch, which he said felt more like 12 over on a course like the TPC Sumerlin. He rallied enough for a 71, though he was seven shots behind and had 30 players in front of him.

“Yeah, it was really weird,” he said. “I don’t know. It’s golf, right?”

Those 30 players ahead of him starts with Cantlay and Laird at 20-under 193.

“I’m sure by the time I get to the golf course the lead will already be more than 20 under, which is what it’s going to be around here,” Cantlay said. “I think my strategy out here is to stay patient because I know there are so many birdie opportunities instead of pressing or feeling like I’m trailing, and realize that they’re out there if I hit good shots.”

Laird had one exciting moment when he holed a 50-foot eagle putt on No. 9. Otherwise, it was attacking flags when he could and playing for the fat of the green with it was too risky. Some wind late in the day made it a little tougher, but the scoring average still was 67.5.

“I have had good rounds every day, so I’m not going to change anything,” Laird said. “It’s been working and I’m in a good spot, so just keep going.”

Matthew Wolff got it started early. After making the cut with one shot to spare, Wolff had three eagles in a five-hole stretch and had to settle for pars on his final two holes for a 61.

Making three eagles at Summerlin is not unusual with a few short par 4s and all the par 5s easily reachable. Wolff, however, holed out on No. 11 from 116 yards. He drove the green on the 301-yard 15th hole to 15 feet and holed an 18-foot eagle putt on the par-5 13th.

He never really considered 59 because he was only 2 under on the front. He played the back in 8-under 28.

“If you only shoot 2 under on the front you feel like you never have a chance to shoot 59,” he said.

Wolff posted his 18-under 195 right as the last group was starting the third round, and it held until Laird was the first to get to 19 under with a birdie on the 13th.

Wyndham Clark (65), Brian Harman (67) and Austin Cool (67) also were at 195.

Na had a 64 and was three shots behind along with Will Zalatoris, who has a chance to earn special temporary membership with a strong finish Sunday. He already is leading the Korn Ferry Tour points list.

Cantlay picked up birdies where he expects to except on the short par-4 seventh, where his drive was hung out to the right and found a bunker, leaving a 70-yard sand shot that he did well to get within 12 feet for a two-putt par.

He expects to birdie the 10th, but not after hitting a provisional off the tee.

“I was hoping that it would be somewhat OK over there and I could make a par,” he said of his original tee shot. “Fortunately, it wasn’t that bad and I was able to hit a great shot, so that was a bonus.”

DeChambeau, playing for the last time before the Masters on Nov. 12-15, did too much damage early on to recover. A wild tee shot on No. 2 led to double bogey, and while he missed the fairway badly on No. 6, what led to the double bogey was a three-putt from 12 feet.

Four straight birdies on No. 8 steadied him – he nearly drove the 419-yard 10th – but not enough. He failed to convert on the short par-4 15th and dropped another shot coming in.

“Didn’t really hit bad shots, just didn’t go where I wanted to,” DeChambeau said. “Went into some really bad places and unfortunately didn’t save par from them. Just stuff didn’t go my way today, and it’s OK. Not a big deal.”

JACKSON, Miss. – Sergio Garcia delivered two key shots on the back nine, the last one an 8-iron to 30 inches on the final hole for birdie and a one-shot victory in the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Garcia closed with a 5-under 67 and won for the 10th consecutive year worldwide, and the first time on the PGA Tour since the 2017 Masters.

Peter Malnati, whose lose PGA Tour victory came at this tournament five years ago, closed with a career-best 63 and waited nearly two hours to see if it would hold up.

It almost did.

Garcia was two shots behind when he hit 5-wood on the par-5 14th that narrowly cleared a bunker, hitting in the top collar, onto the fringe and rolling out to just inside 4 feet for eagle to tie for the lead.

He had to save par from a bunker with a 5-foot putt on the 15th after a poor tee shot, and then he delivered the winner with a big tee shot on the 18th and an 8-iron from 171 yards. Garcia immediately began walking after the shot, and it dropped down next to the hole and settled right behind it.

Closing his eyes right before the stroke, a habit he returned to this week, he made it and clenched his fist with a grin not seen on the 40-year-old Spaniard lately.

One week after falling out of the top 50 in the world for the first time since 2011, Garcia won for the 11th time on the PGA Tour and the 31st time worldwide. He finished at 19-under 269.

J.T. Poston, who started the final round in at three-way tie with Garcia and Cameron Davis of Australia, was one shot behind when he missed the 16th fairway to the right, went into a bunker and failed to save par. He finished with two pars for a 70 to finish alone in third.

Davis had three bogeys on the front nine and was never a factor, closing with a 72.

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., carded a final round, 2-under 70 to finish as top Canadian in a tie for 17th place. Fellow countrymen Roger Sloan (Merritt, B.C.) finished T32 and Michael Gligic (Burlington, Ont.) at T37.

Sergio Garcia squeezed his eyes shut on the 18th green, not as he stood over his putt but when he saw it stop one turn short of dropping for another birdie.

No matter. He played bogey-free Saturday in the Sanderson Farms Championship for a 6-under 66, and he was tied for the lead in his debut at the Country Club of Jackson.

Cameron Davis set the target early when the Australian opened with five straight birdies and then hit fairway metal to 10 feet for eagle on the par-5 14th, carrying him to a 9-under 63. He was the first to post at 14-under 202, a lead that held until Garcia caught him, and J.T. Poston made a 12-foot par save on the final hole for a 69 to join them.

Garcia is getting plenty of attention for putting with his eyes closed, something he says he has done frequently in practice and at tournaments, including his 2017 victory in the Masters.

He also is enjoying himself, even when putts that look like they’re going in stay out.

“We love to make every putt we look at _ or not look at, in this case _ but we know that’s not going to happen,” Garcia said. “At the end of the day, if I can leave the course feeling like I’ve given it my best chance _ like I did today _ that’s all I can do.”

He might need to make everything on Sunday in what figures to be a horse race, with 10 players separated by four shots on a course renowned for its pure, fast greens.

Poston reached 15 under with a two-putt birdie on the 14th and a pitch from the rough to 4 feet on the reachable par-4 15th. But he was too steep on a bunker shot on the 16th, coming up 30 feet short and leading to bogey. Poston stayed in a tie by saving par from a bunker on the 18th with a 12-foot putt for a 69.

“Three guys tied for the lead and a bunch of guys right behind us, so I think you’re going to have to go shoot something pretty low because out of that group somebody is going to shoot probably 6, 7 under I would guess, maybe even lower,” Poston said. “I think it’ll still take a good score, so my mindset will still be trying to make a bunch of birdies.”

Brandt Snedeker, looking confident with that pop of a putting stroke, shot a 67 and was one shot behind along with Kristoffer Ventura, the former Oklahoma State start from Norway who had a 68.

For Keegan Bradley, it was a battle. Staked to a two-shot lead going into the weekend, he had three bogeys on the front nine before he hit a hybrid from 255 yards to 15 feet for an egle on the 11th hole. He finished with seven pars for a 73, though he was very much in the picture.

Bradley was at 12-under 204 along with Aaron Wise (67) and Dan McCarthy (69).

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., is the top Canadian following a 3-under 69 that got him to 10 under. Roger Sloan, from Merritt, B.C., is 7 under after a 71, while Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., slipped to 3 under after firing a 3-over 75.

Garcia is trying to extend a streak in which he has won somewhere around the world each of the last nine years dating to 2011, which also was the last time he was outside the top 50 in the world. Garcia slipped out to No. 51 this week and decided to play the Sanderson Farms Championship for the first time.

Not since that 2017 Masters has he had at least a share of the 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour.

“Just believing in myself, trusting myself. That’s what I have to do tomorrow, too,” Garcia said. “Obviously Sunday it’s always a little bit more difficult, but I’ve got to go out there and go through the same routine and just go with it, even if you stumble a little bit early on or something like that. Just believe that what you’re doing is right, and that’s what I’m going to try to do.”

Charley Hoffman had a 72 and was four shots behind along with Tyler McCumber, a runner-up last week in the Dominican Republic, who shot 66 to get back in the picture for a final round that figures to be wide open.

JACKSON, Miss. – Keegan Bradley likes the way he’s putting. He must really like the idea that the birdie putts he made Friday on his way to a 7-under 65 were not terribly far from the hole.

In his debut at the Country Club of Jackson, Bradley made three straight birdies on the back nine to take the lead and closed with another short birdie putt to take a two-shot lead over J.T. Poston and Charley Hoffman.

Bradley, whose victory in the BMW Championship at Aronimink two years ago was his only title in the last eight years, was at 13-under 131.

Poston made five birdies on the back nine for a 67, while Hoffman shot 69.

“I had a blast today playing,” Bradley said. “It’s so fun to be done with the round, done with 36 holes and say, `Man, that was a fun time.’ Sometimes it’s not fun at all. What a great day, and I’m bringing a lot to the weekend that I’m happy about.”

It hasn’t been much fun in the last year for Bradley, who won the PGA Championship as a rookie. He hasn’t had a top 10 since his runner-up finish at the Travelers Championship in June 2019. But he likes how he’s playing and how he’s putting on the fast, pure Bermuda greens.

Also having a blast is M.J. Daffue of South Africa, who gets by on Monday qualifiers and is giving himself another chance. Daffue was a Monday qualifier for the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village, birdied his last hole of the second round to make the cut and tied for 22nd. This was his third time Monday qualifying since July.

Daffue, a 31-year-old who played college golf at Lamar, goes week-to-week, so it shouldn’t be too difficult for him to avoid looking ahead.

“Trying to do everything at once – get all those points at once or trying to win – it will really eat at you,” Daffue said. “So I’m just trying to chip away at it. I’m in a good position. Try to get to a target score for the week and just keep hitting the shots and try to hit good putts.”

Kevin Chappell, among four players who shared the lead after the first round, appeared to be on his way to setting a target in the morning and getting some separation. He followed a 64 with five birdies on the front nine – along with a bogey on the par-5 fifth hole – to reach 12 under.

But then he three-putted the 10th. He chopped his way along the left side of the par-5 11th and made double bogey on the third-easiest hole at Country Club of Jackson. He dropped another shot on the 12th. Chappell shot 40 on the back nine and had to settle for a 72, leaving him five shots back.

“I’ve got as much firepower as I need,” Chappell said. “I’ve got to figure out the bad stuff and limit. I’m physically going to make bad golf swings and hit it in bad places. That’s just kind of where my game is at the moment. But I compounded some mistakes out there and let it get out of hand. Those are the things I’ve got to stop.”

He was in the group at 8-under 136 along with Sergio Garcia (68), Anirban Lahiri (70) and Brandt Snedeker (66).

Garcia, making his Sanderson Farms Championship, was putting with his eyes closed. He says he has been doing that a majority of the time all the way back to 2017 when he won the Masters, and sounded surprised to get so many questions. Perhaps no one noticed, or no one has been watching him that closely.

Corey Conners (70) of Listowel, Ont., was the low Canadian, sitting in a group tied for 12th at 7 under. Michael Gligic (73) of Burlington, Ont., and Roger Sloan (71) of Merritt, B.C., were tied with others for 18th at 6 under.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., both missed the cut.

The cut was at 3-under 141, unfortunate for Michael Kim. Since winning the John Deere Classic in July 2018, Kim has made the cut only twice in full-field tournaments, both within three months of his lone victory.

It was good news for Jay McLuen, another Monday qualifier who suffered a heart attack three years ago and was treated with shock paddles in the ambulance. Then, his wife nearly died in April when a tractor fell on them.

He shot 71 and wound up making the cut on the number. He also made the cut in the Puerto Rico Open, where he was given a sponsor exemption.