McIlroy, Woods have Masters on mind for different reasons
AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Masters should have been the first major Rory McIlroy won.
Now it is the only one he is missing.
Augusta National was thought to be the domain of Tiger Woods when he won four green jackets before turning 30.
Now he is 43, with eight surgeries behind him, so far removed from his last Masters victory that the club has changed chairmen twice since he last won 14 years ago.
McIlroy and Woods are the central figures at the 83rd Masters, which starts April 11. They share the stage with a cast of characters that gets deeper and stronger every year, so tough that 23 of the last 25 major champions were among the top 25 in the world ranking.
One is looking to join the most elite group in golf by capturing the final leg of the career Grand Slam.
The other is looking to recapture glory on a course where his red shirt was blazing among the azaleas, dogwoods and all the colours of springtime in Augusta.
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Welcome to the RBC Canadian Open, @rorymcilroy – see you in JUNE! ?? #SummersOpen #RBCCO
Woods has always had a hold on the Masters, so much that his Sunday shirt packed as much interest as the green jacket. To see him two years ago walk gingerly to the Masters Club dinner for past champions was to wonder if he would ever shine at Augusta, much less play. It was only a few weeks later that Woods had a fourth surgery on his back to fuse the lower spine.
He not only returned, Woods capped his remarkable comeback by winning in Georgia last year for his 80th career victory on the PGA Tour. But it was at East Lake in late September, not at Augusta National the second week in April.
Is his comeback complete without a major?
Woods last year was still learning what his fused back was capable of doing. He was coming off two close calls in Florida, but he didn’t break par at the Masters until the final day, when it was much too late.
Now he is building, and while his results in five tournaments this year have not been anything special, Woods has been gearing for this week.
“I’m right there where I need to be,” he said. “I’ve gotten a little bit more consistent with my play, and I think that everything is headed on track toward April.”
His last two majors were telling because he was in the hunt at both of them until the final hour. He briefly had the lead at Carnoustie in the British Open. He chased Brooks Koepka all the way to the finish line in the PGA Championship.
McIlroy had reason to think he would be allowed upstairs in the champions’ locker room by now. It was in 2011 when he had a four-shot lead, only to throw it away with a tee shot behind the cabins, a four-putt from 12 feet, a wild drive along the azaleas and an 80 on his scorecard.
He responded by winning four of the next 15 majors, before being slowed by a few nagging injuries.
This will be his fifth shot at the career Grand Slam, and he is getting closer. McIlroy played in the final group last year with Patrick Reed, missing a short eagle putt on the second hole that set the tone for his day. Already this year, he has not finished out of the top 10 in all seven of his tournaments, including a victory at The Players Championship against the best field in golf.
Is he excited? Hard to tell.
McIlroy has spent the last year reading books on life and success, working more on his attitude than his golf game. He is determined not to let the sport define his success. And it appears to be paying off. Las Vegas has installed him as the favourite at the Masters.
“I would have said a couple of years ago, ‘I need to win a Masters, I need a green jacket,’ where now it’s, ‘I want to win it.’ And I’d love to win it,” he said. “But if I don’t, I’m OK. Maybe some people will say that I’m not motivated enough. Believe me, I am motivated to make the most of what I have and to put my name among some of the greats of our game.”
This figures to be his biggest test. So powerful is the allure of Augusta National and the exclusivity of the club and its list of winners that players have been haunted over the years at being left out, whether it was Greg Norman or Tom Weiskopf, David Duval or Tom Kite.
That’s just the mystique. Equally tough will be the players Woods and McIlroy are trying to beat.
McIlroy at No. 3 is among five players who are vying for No. 1 in the world – Justin Rose, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas are the others. All of them have reached the top of the ranking before, all of them having won a major or more. It has never been this crowded at the top since the ranking began in 1986.
Missing from that list, and perhaps the most intriguing player at the Masters besides Woods and McIlroy, is Jordan Spieth.
No one has performed as well at Augusta as Spieth since his debut five years ago – two runner-up finishes, a wire-to-wire victory, in the hunt on Sunday every year and ending the day atop the leaderboard eight times out of 20 rounds.
But he is in the worst slump of his young career, winless since the 2017 British Open, no performance in the top 20 this year. He says his game is close. The Masters might be the ultimate measure of how close – or far – he really is.
That is also true for Woods, McIlroy and everyone else.
Three months into the year, six months into the PGA Tour season, golf doesn’t feel as though it really starts until Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player hit the honorary tee shot, until “Fore, please” is heard on the first tee as players are introduced, and until that first big cheer makes fans wonder where it came from and what it was for.
Hughes ties for 2nd at Corales behind champion McDowell
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – Graeme McDowell won the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title since November 2015, closing with a 3-under 69 for a one-stroke victory over Chris Stroud and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes.
“This is big. This is big. … It’s been a rough few years,” said McDowell, the 39-year-old major champion from Northern Ireland.
He didn’t get an automatic Masters spot with the victory because the event was played opposite the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play.
“It’s difficult to win on the PGA Tour,” McDowell said. “Don’t like calling this a second-tier event, but obviously the best players in the world are in Austin, Texas, this week. Still got a great field down here.”
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McDowell took the lead from Stroud with a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th and closed with a bogey – lagging a 30-foot par putt to inches – on the par-4 18th. Stroud bogeyed the final two holes in a 69. Hughes, of Dundas, Ont., also closed with a bogey for a 66.
“To be honest, Graeme earned it,” Stroud said. “He hit some great shots and 17 is a perfect example. He hit a lot of good shots today and didn’t get rewarded. He got rewarded there.”
McDowell set up the two-stroke swing on 17 with a 6-iron shot.
“I was standing on 16 green, I said to myself, ‘You’ve got to do something that’s tournament winning,”’ McDowell said. “The shot to 17 was tournament-winning level. … I’ve been struggling with my long-iron play all week, medium- and long-iron play. It’s a shot I’ve been working on on the range the last few days and it was a perfect 6-iron, it was a perfect number for me, and when it came off the bat I knew it was pretty good.”
McDowell finished at 18-under 270, rebounding from an opening 73 with consecutive 64s to take a one-stroke lead over Stroud into the final round. The 2010 U.S. Open champion, McDowellwon his fourth PGA Tour title.
“I sat over there Wednesday and I said that I was here on a mission,” McDowell said, “I was here motivated, and the attitude was going to be very, very important this week. I got off to a slow start and then I kind of found my groove Friday, Saturday, especially on the greens.”
Hughes rallied with his second straight 66 to climb into a share of 2nd place, his best PGA TOUR result since his 2016 win at the RSM Classic. The Dundas, Ont., native was coming off a strong T13 result at the Valspar Championship just a week earlier.
.@MacHughesGolf for birdie and a share of the LEAD ?? pic.twitter.com/ujHT0xgC5T
— Golf Canada (@GolfCanada) March 31, 2019
Stroud faltered after birdieing the par-5 14th and par-4 15th to take the lead.
“I hit the ball really poorly today and I did a really, really good job of making awesome pars, making some birdies when I had a chance,” Stroud said. “I just hit it pretty poorly, and to have a chance to win hitting it that poorly makes me feel pretty good. Even coming down the last two holes, I hit a pretty poor chip on 17 after hitting a horrendous 6-iron. That’s a perfect 6-iron for me.”
Jonathan Byrd (66) was fourth at 16 under, and Chip McDaniel (63) and Kelly Kraft (68) followed at 15 under.
Second-round leader Sungjae Im, likely needing a victory to get into the top 50 in the world and earn a Masters spot, had a 71 to tie for seventh at 14 under.
Canadians Ben Silverman (Thornhill, Ont.) and David Hearn (Brantford, Ont.) finished T12 and T18, respectively.
Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes climbs into 5th at Corales
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – Graeme McDowell one-putted the first 15 greens Saturday and shot his second straight 8-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead in the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.
Winless since 2016, the 39-year-old major champion from Northern Ireland had a 15-under 201 total. He opened with a 73.
“I’ve been seeing these Paspalum greens pretty well early in the week, but I’ve been working on some routine stuff the last couple weeks,” McDowell said. “Something small’s kind of clicked, something I used to do really well years ago. I became not so good at it and I’ve tried, I’ve been practicing. It’s just a breathing thing and it really clicked with me last week a little bit and it’s been working really well on the greens again this week. It’s helping me relax and it’s helping me just stand there and hit nice putts.
“Just before I take the putter head away, just a little bit of an outbreath to relax,” McDowell said. “It’s something I used to do very well way back when and it’s amazing how you instinctively get good at things and then you stop being good at things as well. That’s cleaned my routines well up on the greens.”
Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., was tied for fifth at 11 under. Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., was at nine under and David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., was at 8 under.
McDowell had six birdies, two bogeys and a par on the front nine, then birdied four of the first six holes on the back nine. His one-putt streak ended with a two-putt par on the par-4 16th and he parred the final two holes, also one-putting the par-4 18th to finish with 20 putts.
“Standing over those 3-footers on 14 and 15, I was more nervous about the 3-footers that I didn’t want to spoil my round of putts,” McDowell said. “I hit a great shot into 16. I hit a really good putt there and my run came to an end. But it was a fun day. Listen, I hit a lot of great shots and made some putts. I’m going to have to keep doing that tomorrow if I want to try and win.”
The 2010 U.S. Open champion the last of his three PGA Tour titles three years ago at Mayakoba in Mexico. He has eight European Tour victories, the last in the 2013 French Open.
“Scoring is still hot here,” McDowell said. “You’ve got to keep your foot on the pedal and I’ve got to come back out here tomorrow and try to make some more birdies.”
Chris Stoud was second, also shooting 64. He eagled the par-5 fourth in a bogey-free round.
“I think all the work I’ve been putting in the last couple weeks starting in Tampa last week, it just all pays off,” Stroud said. “To me, it’s just like a big waterfall. You’ve just got to keep working. I’m still going to go tighten up a few things, but I hit some really great shots when I needed to today, especially on the last hole.”
Second-round leader Sungjae Im, likely needing a victory Sunday to get into the top 50 in the world and earn a Masters spot, had a 69 to drop into a tie for third with Aaron Baddeley (68) at 13 under. The winner doesn’t get an automatic Masters spot because the event is being played opposite the World Golf Championships event in Texas.
Hughes (66), Sepp Straka (67), Kelly Kraft (68) and Paul Dunne (70) were 11 under.
Ben Silverman shares 11th midway through Corales
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – Likely needing to win to get a Masters spot through the world ranking, Sungjae Im rebounded from an early double bogey to take the second-round lead Friday in the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.
“After that bad start, my goal was to remain calm throughout the rest of my round,” Im said. “I’m hitting the ball really well, so I think that led to a lot of my birdies. Being able to control my mind helped me get those birdies as well.
A day before his 21st birthday, the South Korean player finished with his second straight 5-under 67 for a one-stroke lead over Jonathan Byrd (67), Aaron Baddeley (67), Paul Dunne (69) and George McNeill (65).
At 59th this week, Im needs to get into the top 50 in the next ranking to play at Augusta National. The winner doesn’t earn an automatic Masters spot because the event is being played opposite the World Golf Championships event in Texas.
Im follow the double bogey on his second hole – the par-3 11th – with birdies on four of the next five holes.
“It’s a long par 3, about 220 metres to the hole. There was wind blowing toward me, so I hit my 3-wood,” Im said. “My shot ended up in the back bunker and it was sitting on a difficult downslope, so it wasn’t a great situation. In hindsight, if I would’ve given the shot an extra thought and calmed myself down more, I could’ve walked away with a bogey, but I rushed things and that led to an unfortunate start.”
On his back nine, he rebounded from a bogey on the par-3 second with birdies on four of the final seven holes.
Jonas Blixt was 8 under after a 65, and Graeme McDowell followed an opening 73 with a 64 to top the group at 7 under.
“Played OK yesterday, except for my medium- and long-iron play was a little rusty,” McDowell said. “The rest of it was really good, so I knew if I could clean that up today that everything would be good. And it was very benign conditions this morning. It was nice to start on the front, which is probably the easier nine.”
Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., paced the Canadians with a 4-under 68 to sit at 6 under for the tournament in a tie for 11th. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., is 1 back at 5 under, while David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., sits T54.
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo shot 79-80 to finish 127th out of the 128 players who completed two rounds. Playing as an amateur, the CBS analyst had his lone birdie of the week on the par-4 eighth after making a triple bogey on the hole Thursday.
“I took the same club but decided to tee it a little lower, just a little stinger shot,” Romo said. “I putted terrible throughout the week and you feel like you can hit the ball for really good stretches, but you get nothing out of it.”
He finished last a year ago.
Mackenzie Hughes keeps rolling in Punta Cana
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – Joel Dahmen birdied five of his last six holes Thursday for a 6-under 66 and a share of the first-round lead in the PGA Tour’s Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship.
Dahmen rebounded from a bogey on the par-4 third with four straight birdies and closed with another birdie on the par-3 ninth. Winless on the PGA Tour, the 31-year-old former University of Washington player was tied with Matt Jones and Paul Dunne.
“Slow start,” Dahmen said. “I bogeyed the par 5 early, but knew that the front was gettable. The wind was pretty consistent all day, which was nice. Then just made a couple nice putts.”
Sungjae Im, trying to move from No. 59 in the world into the top 50 to get into the Masters, was a stroke back. The winner doesn’t earn an automatic Masters spot because the event is being played opposite the World Golf Championships event in Texas.
Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., was the top Canadian at 3 under. Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., shot 2-under 70, Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., had a 71, David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., both shot 72 and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., carded a 73.
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo had a 79. Playing as an amateur, the CBS analyst bogeyed three of the first four holes and had a triple bogey on the par-4 eighth. He also bogeyed the par-4 13th, failing to make a birdie in the round.
“I think it’s somewhat nerves early on,” Romo said. “Missed a few short putts that you feel you normally make and then just a bad swing on 8 that cost me a triple bogey. Hard to make birdies out here, just the wind.”
Romo was tied for 128th, ahead of only two players. He missed the cut and finished last a year ago.
“I think you want to really compete with yourself, see how good you can get,” Romo said. “I play with a lot of these guys, you see how talented they are and how good. The thing that stands out is the consistency, the ability to do it over and over again. In this game one or two swings costs you a day. Today, that was a little bit of my day.”
Dunne birdied three of his last four, finishing on the front nine. The Irishman won the 2017 British Masters.
“I like the golf course. I feel comfortable here,” Dunne said. “The couple of loose tee shots I normally hit in a round I can get away with here, so play to my strength a little bit. The breeze blowing for the week is nice, we’re used to that.”
Jones also had a strong finish, birdieing three of the last five on the back nine. The Australian won the 2014 Shell Houston Open for his lone PGA Tour title and also won the 2015 Australian Open.
“Just hit a lot of quality iron shots and got it close to the pin,” Jones said. “Six under was a good score. It was probably the worst score I could have shot today.”
Aaron Baddeley was at 68 with Roberto Diaz, Sepp Straka, Brady Schnell, Jonathan Byrd, D.J. Trahan and Sam Burns.
Defending champion: Brice Garnett shot 71. Davis Love III and son Dru each shot 72.
Hughes follows his own advice at Valspar Championship for best finish of season
Mackenzie Hughes is used to giving other people advice on the PGA Tour this season. Last week, the Canadian started listening to it himself.
Hughes, from Dundas, Ont., had missed the cut at four consecutive events but after giving himself a pep talk, he had his best result of the season at the Valspar Championship, tying for 13th at 3-under par in Palm Harbor, Fla.
“I was a little down on myself, I’d lost a little bit of confidence, but it wasn’t for lack of a physical game,” said the 28-year-old Hughes. “I told myself to just go out on the golf course and trusting my abilities and giving myself some pep talks out there.
“It sounds kind of silly and very simple but that was pretty much it, just a bit of proper self-talk, trying to keep myself pumped up, not getting down on myself.”
After psyching himself up last Wednesday, Hughes shot a 70-72-68-71 at the Valspar and moved up the FedEx Cup standings 29 spots to 158th.
It’s ironic that it took some self-talk for Hughes to pull out of his slump since he’s become a bit of a sage on the PGA Tour this season. In January, he helped Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., adjust his putting, helping the fellow Canadian shoot a 64-64 that weekend to tie for third at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
“I still haven’t gotten my coaching fee for that yet,” joked Hughes. “I’m sure it’s in the mail.”
On Tuesday, Hughes and David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., played a practice round ahead of the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic. They were joined at the 10th tee by former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, who will also be in the field that tees off on Thursday.
Hughes enjoys helping his fellow golfers in part because it helps him understand his own game better.
“There’s definitely things that I have to try and remind myself of when I’m telling Tony something, or if I’m telling a young junior some thoughts on how to approach the game,” said Hughes. “It sometimes serves as a good reminder that yeah, this is the stuff I need to think about and these are the things I do when I’m playing my best.”
Hughes, Conners, and Hearn will be joined in the Corales field by Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C.
It will be a tightly contested tournament, with some of the bigger names on the PGA Tour participating in the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. No Canadians are in the field at that event, which is headlined by Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy.
There’s a reason Match Play is only once a year
AUSTIN, Texas – Rory McIlroy loves match play because he believes it is the purest form of golf.
Most would agree.
He also prefers single elimination, which he referred to as “straight knockout.” In simple terms, lose and go home.
Most players would agree on that, too, with a few exceptions.
It wasn’t much fun for Thomas Bjorn, who in two straight appearances flew from Dubai to San Diego and lost after 13 holes of the opening round. And for those who believe the word “upset” doesn’t apply at this level of golf, they probably didn’t see Ernie Els after he lost in the opening round to Phil Tataurangi.
What this World Golf Championship has shown is that golf is no longer all about competition.
This is the entertainment business.
It’s not just about birdies and bogeys. It’s television and corporate hospitality.
That’s why Match Play switched to group play in 2015, and it’s difficult to argue with the results. After 16 years of a few surprises – Jeff Maggert and Kevin Sutherland come to mind – the winners under the new format have been Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Bubba Watson.
McIlroy and Johnson joined Tiger Woods as the only No. 1 seeds to win. Day was the No. 2 seed. Watson, the two-time Masters champion, is considered the outlier in this context as the No. 35 seed.
So something is going right.
But even with the change, it still doesn’t solve one problem that exists in just about any format – the longer the tournament goes, the less interesting it gets because there are fewer possibilities.
Think back to The Players Championship two weeks ago when eight players had a share of the lead on the final day. In the Match Play, it comes down to two players over the final four hours, and that’s assuming it lasts that long. Watson only had to play 12 holes to win.
There are 12 matches involving 24 players on Saturday. There are four matches involving the same four players on Sunday, and that includes the consolation match, which is for world ranking points, FedEx Cup points, the difference of $138,000 and mostly something to fill dead time on television.
What would make the consolation match compelling is having Tiger Woods. In his 13 appearances, Woods has lost in every round except the semifinals. Put him in the consolation match, and it would be fun to compare which match had the biggest gallery and how much TV time each would get.
This is why the PGA Championship abandoned match play in 1958.
And it’s why the PGA Tour never once considered any form of match play to decide the FedEx Cup at the Tour Championship. It is good to have match play once a year because it is the purest form of golf. But no more than that.
“Wearing my player’s hat, I would love to see straight knockout again,” Paul Casey said. “But I understand it from trying to sell this from a corporate sponsor’s point of view, from an entertainment point of view. You want as much golf as possible on the weekend.”
They want as much golf as possible on the whole golf course.
Imagine having a corporate hospitality tent on the 18th hole. Last year, only three of the 16 matches on the weekend even reached the 18th hole.
“If I lose on Wednesday, I want to go home,” Casey said. “As much golf and excitement and drama to the end is ideal, but I don’t know what the solution is.”
Gone from the single elimination is the excitement of Wednesday, when half the field was sent home.
The group play still has a sense of urgency in the opening session, or at least it should. No one has ever lost on Wednesday and won since the switch to group play. Only eight players have lost their first match and won their group, with Bill Haas in 2017 reaching the semifinals.
Casey said one sponsor proposal sent to – and rejected by – the Players Advisory Council was match play until the weekend, two players from each group advancing and 32 players competing in stroke play over the final two days. That would be about the size of the Tour Championship field.
One problem.
“What would you call it?” Casey said, chuckling at the idea that stroke play would decide the Match Play champion.
He also has heard suggestions about stroke play for qualifying and then using only the back nine for 18-hole matches so the gallery and corporate clients in tents can see more action.
“There’s some outside-the-box thinking going on,” he said.
More changes are possible, if not likely. Remember, the championship match used to be 36 holes until it was changed to an 18-hole final in 2011. Is it possible to reduce the length of the matches to nine holes so there could be more matches, more players, more possibilities on the weekend?
Anything should be on the table.
Match Play is different. The lowest score, sometimes the best golf, over seven rounds doesn’t always win. That’s the beauty of this match play.
That part never changes.
Mackenzie Hughes finishes T13 to lead all Canadians at Valspar
PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Paul Casey became the first back-to-back winner of the Valspar Championship on Sunday by closing with a 1-over 72 for a one-shot victory over Jason Kokrak and Louis Oosthuizen.
Casey thought his biggest challenge would be Dustin Johnson, who was one shot behind. Instead, the world’s No. 1 player failed to make a single birdie for the first time in 31 tournaments worldwide.
The real challenge was Innisbrook, so tough that no one shot better than 68 in the final round.
Kokrak (71) and Oosthuizen (69) each had a share of the lead on the back nine. Kokrak missed an 8-foot par putt on the final hole. Casey was in a fairway bunker on No. 18 when he hit to just over 20 feet and two-putted for the win.
It was the first time since this event joined the PGA Tour schedule in 2000 that the winner was over par in the final round. The course was so dry and fast that no one shot better than 68, and the average score of 72.143 was the second-toughest final round his year behind rainy, windy Riviera.
Canadian Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., shot an even-par 71 to close the event at 3 under par — good for a share of 13th. Countryman Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., began the day in a tie for sixth but faltered down the stretch with a string of bogeys, finishing tied for 24th at 1 under.
Canadian Nick Taylor sits T6 ahead of Valspar finale
PALM HARBOR, Fla. – The final hour changed the dynamics of the Valspar Championship, just not the lead.
That still belongs to defending champion Paul Casey, and he saw only the upside of having his three-shot margin shrink to one, and going from a final round pairing with a player who is 0 for 195 on the PGA Tour to playing alongside the No. 1 player in the world.
On a Saturday at Innisbrook that began with all 70 players who made the cut still very much in the mix, Casey surged to a three-shot lead until a bogey on the 18th hole for a 3-under 68 that left him one shot ahead of Dustin Johnson.
Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., was tied for sixth, four shots back of Casey, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., was tied for 14th at 3 under and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., was tied for 27th.
That’ll work, @ntaylorgolf59 ?? pic.twitter.com/q1Cp3gPx9T
— Golf Canada (@GolfCanada) March 23, 2019
At stake for Casey is a chance to become the first back-to-back winner of the Valspar Championship since this PGA Tour event began in 2000.
Behind him is Johnson, who is going for his second victory in three starts.
“Of the guys on the leaderboard, he’s the one I would want to be paired with, so it doesn’t bother me,” Casey said. “Obviously, two shots would have been nicer than one, but one is better than level, or one behind.”
Johnson had some say in that final margin with one of his best shots of the day, a 9-iron from a bunker a few paces in front of a steep lip to the front shelf of the 18th green, 10 feet behind the hole. He made that for a 67 to get into the final group.
And that was good news for Casey?
“He’s the best player in the world. That’s why I work and I do what I do, because I want to play against the best in the world,” Casey said.
He also pointed to Johnson being the favourite, at least in the eyes of thousands of fans on a warm, sun-filled day at Innisbrook, the kind of buzz it had last year when Tiger Woods played for the first time.
“I actually feel very little pressure,” Casey said. “You look at my results versus Dustin’s. He’s the better player, so it’s pretty simple. If I go out tomorrow and beat him, I actually might win, plain and simple. Great scenario.”
Only it’s not that simple, and no one knows better than Casey.
A year ago, he rallied from five shots behind with a 65 and wound up winning by one shot over Woods and Patrick Reed. That’s a tribute to Innisbrook, which players regard as one of the purest tests of the year, certainly in Florida.
Casey was at 8-under 205. Eight players had a share of the lead in the third round, and 10 players finished within four shots of the lead.
That starts with Jason Kokrak, winless in his 195 starts as a pro over the better part of eight years. He showed how quickly fortunes can change when he made three birdies in five holes to start the back nine, and then smashed an 8-iron with a breeze at his back that rolled across the 15th green and into the cup for a hole-in-one .
“You can be three, four, five shots out at this golf course and really make some noise if you get it going early,” Kokrak said.
Kokrak shot 30 on the back for a 66 and was poised to play in the final group until Johnson made his birdie on the 18th. Luke Donald, a past winner at Innisbrook playing for only the second time this year – and first since January – grinded his way to a 70 and joined Scott Stallings (70) three shots behind. Louis Oosthuizen, who had a 66 despite two bogeys on the last three holes, and Jim Furyk were among those four behind.
Casey seized control with three birdies in a five-hole stretch to start the back nine. But on the final hole, after Johnson made his birdie, Casey went into the first of a series of miniature church-pew bunkers on the 18th, couldn’t get to the green and missed his 15-foot par putt.
Johnson looked to be giving up plenty of opportunities, especially on the par 5s. He had an iron into the green on Nos. 1 and 11, just missed and chipped to short range before twice missing birdie chances. And then he picked up a birdie on the par-5 14th in the most unlikely way .
From light rough with trees partially in his way, he tried to hammer a 5-wood 290 yards. But it came out with too much wind and floated into the wind, hit a tree well short of the green and nearly went into water that isn’t typically in play. Still, he had a tree between his ball and the green. Johnson hit a hard pitch from 73 yards to the right of the tree and let the hill bring it back to the green. And then he made a 35-foot birdie putt.
“Makes up for the other two,” he said, walking to the 15th tee.
But the big shot was on the 18th, and the birdie got him into the final group in his first trip to Innisbrook since 2010.
“I’m in a good position … because this golf course, it’s tough,” Johnson said. “If I can go out and shoot a good score, then I’ve got a chance.”
Nick Taylor excited for challenge of Copperhead Course at Valspar Championship
This week’s Valspar Championship is playing right into Nick Taylor’s hands.
Taylor, from Abbotsford, B.C., is looking forward to taking on the difficult Copperhead Course at the Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor, Fla., this week at the Valspar because it is just that – a challenging par-71 7,340 yards.
“It’s typically a difficult golf course. You have to keep it in play. Par’s not going to hurt you,” said Taylor on Wednesday. “I just prefer courses where 2- or 3-under par is a great score instead of being a shootout like some tournaments where the winner is 20- to 25-under.
“Here, 10- to 14- under is where winners have been and it’s where I would prefer it if I were to pick a tournament.”
The timing is great for Taylor, too. He’s coming off his strongest performance of the season, tying for 16th at 10 under at the hyper-competitive Players Championship.
“My iron play was really solid all week, made a few mistakes the first day. I felt the greens were tough in the afternoon,” said Taylor, who shot a 73 in the first round but recovered with a 69-69-67 line the rest of the way. “I played really well the last three days and cashed in a lot of opportunities on the Sunday to have my best round of the week so that was pretty much the difference.”
Pleased with his overall performance, Taylor isn’t looking to tweak anything about his game, instead focusing on maintaining what brought him success at the Players to the Valspar.
Taylor will be joined by seven other Canadians at the Valspar Championship, matching the record for Canadians at a PGA Tour event outside of the RBC Canadian Open. Monday qualifier David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, dual citizen Austin Connelly, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., and Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., will also play, with the latter being added to the field on Wednesday.
Already a tough course, Taylor played nine holes on Tuesday at Copperhead and another nine at the Pro-Am and said that the greens are firm.
“Early in the morning was a little chilly, but the course is in great shape,” said Taylor. “The greens are fast and pretty firm. If the weather holds up it might be tough.”