As conditions toughened, Louis Oosthuizen and Kyle Stanley played even better. Each posted a 6-under 66 to share the lead at The Players Championship, making it even more difficult for the top two players in the world to catch them.

Oosthuizen and his sweet swing were a good fit in any conditions at the TPC Sawgrass, and he managed to play bogey-free and finish with a birdie on the par-5 ninth. Stanley had eight birdies as the wind increased and the firm putting surfaces became crusty.

They were at 9-under 135, two shots ahead of J.B. Holmes, who fell out of a tie with bogeys on his last two holes for a 69.

Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy scrapped it around Friday morning, Johnson making only one birdie for a 73 and McIlroy managing through nagging back pain for a 71. They were at even par and not too bothered. They were only five behind when they finished, and they could sense that because of steamy weather and swaying pines that nobody was going to get too far away from him.

“I definitely feel like I got the most that I could have out of that round,” Stanley said. “A couple bogeys, but you can expect that to happen around here with as difficult as the golf course is.”

Johnson and McIlroy at least are still in the game.

Jordan Spieth was headed home after missing the cut for the third straight year, yet he didn’t sound terribly upset. He chalked that up to not being able to handle this strand of grass when it gets firm and crusty. Spieth’s last hope ended with a tee shot that bounced at the back of the island-green 17th and into the water.

Equally surprising was Vijay Singh, the 54-year-old Fijian who was making putts from everywhere until a three-putt bogey on the 18th. He still shot 68 and goes into the weekend only three shots out of the lead.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., is the top Canadian through two rounds. He shot a 69 and is 5 under.

Hearn has a bogey free front nine, and got as low as four under for the day after back-to-back birdies on 12 and 13.

Back-to-back birdies for @HearnDavid.

He’s the solo leader at @THEPLAYERSChamp.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/L7HtcX09j1

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 12, 2017

Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., began the day as the co-leader with William McGirt at 5 under, but shot a 3-over 75 and fell to 2 under. Hughes made back-to-back birdies on holes two and three and was 7-under for the tournament, before struggling the rest of the day.

1. Par
2. ?
3. ?@MacHughesGolf leads alone at @THEPLAYERSChamp.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/lO3XbkdSXc

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 12, 2017

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., shot 72 and is 1 under while Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., missed the cut with back-to-back 74s.

The cut was at 2-over 146, and there will be another cut Saturday because more than 78 players advanced to the weekend. That’s when the tournament will finally start to take shape, and while Oosthuizen and Stanley stood out with the best scores of the second round, both know it can change quickly.

“We’re in a pretty good spot going into this weekend,” said Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion who still hasn’t won in America. “A lot of golf to be played around this golf course, and as we’ve seen the last two days, you can easily make a mistake around this track.”

Yes, there were plenty of those.

Anirban hit three shots into the water and made a 10 on the par-4 18th hole. Zac Blair hit three shots into the water on the par-3 17th and made a 9.

Phil Mickelson started making putts and moved up the leaderboard, only to begin a slow slide. He made three bogeys on the back nine and then, torn between a 9-iron and a wedge on the 17th, he opted for a wedge to make sure it didn’t go over the back of the island. It still hopped hard at the back of the green and went into the water, leading to a double bogey.

That left him at 72, seven shots behind.

“It’s a hard course, and any errant swings will lead to not a good score,” Mickelson said. “But I played a good front nine and shot even. I don’t know what else to say.”

Defending champion Jason Day didn’t make up any ground, either, trading birdies and bogeys for a 72. He also was seven back at 2-under 142. Rickie Fowler shot 74 and joined Johnson and McIlroy at 144.

Ian Poulter, who only got into The Players on a clerical mistake regarding his time away for injury, shot 67 and was in the large group at 5-under 139.

Oosthuizen picked up birdies on both par 3s on the back nine, and then hit his best shot on the first hole from deep in the woods on pine straw. He managed to play a low punch shot with a draw, and it ran up to about 5 feet for a birdie. He let his putter do the work the rest of the way, holing 20-foot birdie putts on the fifth and ninth holes to share the lead.

Thunderstorms are possible for Saturday afternoon, which might be what it takes to at least soften the Players Stadium Course. That still doesn’t change the nature of the TPC Sawgrass, which can penalize a slight miss with a big number.

Among those at 4 under was Jon Rahm of Spain, who couldn’t get going because of bogeys that followed birdies and led to a 74.

“I’m playing some of my best golf and I’m only 4-under par,” Rahm said. “When you have the best players in the world and the cut is over par, it shows that the golf course is very tough.”

And it showed that Oosthuizen and Stanley were at their best.

The full leaderboard can be seen here.

Mackenzie Hughes, of Dundas, Ont., arrived at the TPC Sawgrass with no scar tissue and played his first round at The Players Championship with no bogeys.

Pretty simple, eh?

The Canadian rookie shook his head and laughed. Even after going bogey-free in his debut Thursday for a 5-under 67 to share the lead with William McGirt, Hughes saw enough of the Players Stadium Course to realize that surprises lurk around every corner.

“There’s just not really a moment where you can let up,” Hughes said.

No need explaining that to Adam Scott, who won The Players in 2004 and was off to a strong start on a steamy afternoon when he was 6 under and heading to the infamous par-3 17th with its island green.

First, he watched Masters champion Sergio Garcia hit a gap wedge that took one big hop, land just behind the cup and disappear for a hole-in-one.

A HOLE-IN-ONE … in 360!

Let’s take a unique look at @TheSergioGarcia‘s ace at @THEPLAYERSChamp …#PGATOUR360 ◀️SWIPE▶️ pic.twitter.com/0VhyRdXWsM

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 11, 2017

Scott followed by spinning a shot off the bank and into the water for a double bogey, and he compounded that with another double bogey.

“I played some good golf out there and unfortunately not on the last two,” Scott said after settling for a 70. “It happens.”

At least he had company.

Dustin Johnson’s first wedge of the day hit the pin, caromed off the green and led to bogey. On a day when nothing seemed to go his way, the world’s No. 1 player opened with a 71. Rory McIlroy went to tap in from 2 feet and missed it, and then had to make one twice that long for his double bogey on the 10th hole. He shot 73.

Through it all, Hughes was rock solid. Only twice did he have par putts longer than 3 feet, and he made them both. The last piece of stress came on the final hole when trees block his way to the green. To chip out sideways would risk chipping into the water. He found a 4-foot wide window in which he had to keep it under on branch and go over two more. It was a large enough gap and the perfect shot for a 6-iron.

“I was close enough to the trees. It paid off,” said Hughes, who already has won (Sea Island) in his rookie season on the PGA Tour.

Mackenzie Hughes shares the lead at THE PLAYERS

See and hear what he had to say after a solid opening round ? pic.twitter.com/p9LJw6Ug6n

— Mackenzie Tour (@PGATOURCanada) May 12, 2017

McGirt played in morning and made a pair of eagles on the back nine to atone in his round of 67.

Among those at 68 was Jon Rahm, another first-timer at this lucrative event who had one of four bogey-free rounds on the steamy day in north Florida. Even with a mild wind in the afternoon, just over a third of the field broke par.

Fast starts and bad finishes were the norm, and not just for Scott.

Defending champion Jason Day ran off two straight birdies after making the turn and was in the lead at 5 under, which for the former world No. 1 was a peculiar position. He hasn’t won since The Players last year. Day, however, made three bogeys over his last four holes and had to settle for a 70.

He was playing in the same group as Rickie Fowler, the 2015 champion who also got off to a fast start until one bad shot – a really bad shot – on his 15th hole at the par-4 seventh. From the middle of the fairway, Fowler blocked it so badly to the right that it hit a cart path and went deep into the pines. It took him two shots to get out and he made double bogey. Fowler also shot 70.

Fowler managed to see the big picture.

“No one’s going crazy low or anything like that,” he said.

Garcia’s round was different. He made three bogeys and a double bogey in his opening six holes and went out in 40, the first nine holes of competition he has played since winning the Masters a month ago. He felt nerves on the first tee when he was introduced as the Masters champion.

“The feeling was great,” he said. “I think I wasn’t quite in the tournament because of everything that’s been going on after the Masters win and media and people congratulating you left, right and centre. I felt like I was a little bit up in the clouds, and when I woke up, I was 4 over after six.”

Johnson still has only two rounds in the 60s out of 27 attempts at the Stadium Course. He could accept this 71 just because of all that went wrong – the wedge that hit the pin on No. 1, birdie putts that spun around the holes at Nos. 2 and 12. Johnson rallied late with a 25-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole.

“It could have been really good today, but ended up just being OK,” Johnson said.

McGirt was among 13 players from the morning draw who shot in the 60s, but he was the only player to get as low as 6 under until he missed a short par putt on the final hole. Told that no one had made eagle on both par 5s on the back nine in the opening round, McGirt didn’t have an answer.

“Good numbers at a good time, made a good swing at a good time,” McGirt said. “You just kind of see the shot and hit the shot and see the putt and hit the putt.”

He made it sound simple, even though the Players Stadium Course can be anything but that

Brantford, Ont., native David Hearn, is T18 after an opening round 70.

The full leaderboard can be seen here.

A ring on his finger. New clubs in his golf bag.

If marriage and a new equipment deal were not enough for Rory McIlroy, he also was presented with his own bobblehead for winning the FedEx Cup last year. That’s the only thing that made him feel old.

“All these wrinkles around my eyes,” McIlroy said Tuesday as he gazed at the doll. “It makes me look like I’ve been tour two decades instead of one.”

He is about to complete his 10th full year as a pro, and it’s been a reasonable ride. McIlroy, who turned 28 on Thursday, already has 21 victories around the world and four major championships.

But he’s gone through quite a bit since he tied for seventh at the Masters.

“I needed to address a few issues in between Augusta and here, and I did that with the first 10 days after Augusta,” McIlroy said.

That was related to his equipment, and McIlroy wound up with his fourth brand of clubs in the last five years. He left Titleist for Nike to start 2013, and when Nike got out of the club-making business last year, he began using Callaway. He still wasn’t entirely comfortable, especially with the golf ball, so McIlroy went back to testing and wound up signing a long-term deal with TaylorMade.

“I came to the conclusion that was the best way forward for me to try and improve, try and win more, try to get back to world No. 1, try to win more majors,” McIlroy said.  “So I’m really excited about that.”

Time to show the world what you’re really made of.

Welcome to the family, Rory. #TeamTaylorMade pic.twitter.com/akofFlZI1X

— TaylorMade Golf (@TaylorMadeGolf) May 9, 2017

He was excited about his wedding, too.

McIlroy met his bride, Erica Stoll, nearly five years ago when she worked for the PGA of America in transportation for the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah. Stoll played a big part in sparing him major embarrassment when McIlroy forgot he was in the Central time zone and needed a police escort to the course. He got there with minutes to spare and won his match, and Europe staged a record-tying comeback.

They married two weeks ago in Ireland and spent their honeymoon in the Caribbean.

“It was obviously the best weekend of my life, and hopefully, the best weekend of Erica’s, as well,” he said. “It seems like with everything that’s went on the last few weeks – with getting married and teaming up with TaylorMade – it seems like everything’s very settled. There’s not many question marks going on in my life right now. I feel like everything’s exactly where it’s meant to be, and if you feel like that off the golf course, then I can only imagine that it will help you on it.”

And now it’s back to work.

McIlroy, whose combined 95 weeks atop the world ranking are the most of any player since 2010, is at No. 2. But he’s so far behind Dustin Johnson that he could win The Players Championship and the U.S. Open and still not catch up to Johnson.

McIlroy has not won anywhere in the world since his playoff victory in the Tour Championship last year to capture the FedEx Cup. This week doesn’t figure to be any easier, not so much because it has the strongest and deepest field in golf, but because of the nature of the Stadium Course on the TPC Sawgrass.

It doesn’t really favour any style of play.

“It is the toughest tournament to win in golf,” Jordan Spieth said.

For all his greatness, McIlroy didn’t even break par at The Players until his fourth appearance. He missed the cut three straight times, though he has shown steady improvement in recent years. Even so, he has never been closer than four shots of the winner.

“I’ve always felt that driving is a big advantage for me if I can drive the ball well,” McIlroy said. “Here, it just doesn’t let me do that, and earlier on in my career I had to come to terms with that and come to terms with hitting the ball in the same positions as everyone else off the tee and then trying to beat them in from there.”

Johnson arrived Tuesday fresh off a runner-up finish in the Wells Fargo Championship that ended his three-tournament winning streak. The defending champion is Jason Day, who went wire to wire a year ago. That was his last victory. No one has ever won back to back since The Players began in 1974.

“As well as all the great players who have won here, they all have different styles of game,” Adam Scott said. “So I think that the course is open to so many different guys to have a chance to win that maybe that’s why it makes it a little bit harder to have someone go back to back here. There’s just more guys in the mix.”

Brian Harman made a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole Sunday to win the Wells Fargo Championship and deny Dustin Johnson the chance at a fourth straight victory.

Johnson, in his return from a freak back injury that knocked the world’s No. 1 player out of the Masters, went from making the cut on the number to a 67-67 weekend at Eagle Point and appeared headed for a playoff with Harman and Pat Perez.

Harman won it with a birdie-birdie finish, none bigger than the par-5 18th.

After going so long on his second shot that he needed relief from behind a corporate tent, Harman hit a heavy chip that barely got onto the green. From just under 30 feet away, the putt dropped into the centre of the cup and set off a wild celebration, with Harman repeatedly shaking his fists and leaping to share a hard hug with his caddie, Scott Tway.

WOW!@HarmanBrian from LONG range.

We have a new leader … in dramatic fashion! #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/0XMM5kcRo3

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 7, 2017

Harman closed with a 4-under 68 for his second PGA Tour victory.

“It’s surreal,” Harman said. “I three-putted that 15th hole, knew it was going to be tough to birdie those last couple. But I stuck to my game plan and just did it. Did the best I could.”

And it was just enough.

Johnson was playing for the first time in six weeks because of his slip down the stairs the day before the Masters that led to him pulling out. A quick start allowed him to lurk behind the leaders all day, and he holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th that gave him a share of the lead.

Seeking his 4th straight (!) win.
72nd hole.
For birdie.
To tie the lead.

This is insane. #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/nO3aGkKmuz

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 7, 2017

Then, he was alone in the lead when others started to stumble – Perez with a double bogey on No. 14, Harman with the three-putt bogey on the 15th and Patrick Reed, the 54-hole leader who made four bogeys in a six-hole stretch on the back nine.

Perez bounced back strong with birdies on the 16th and smart play on the 18th, taking on the water that runs along the right side of the hole and laying up to trust his short game. He hit a pitch up the slope to 4 feet for birdie and a 68.

Perez headed upstairs to the clubhouse to hang out with Johnson, and when Harman left himself a long birdie chance on the 18th, they were gearing up for a playoff. And then they weren’t.

Canadian Nick Taylor finished T8 at 6-under par, his second top-10 finish of the season. His first was a T10 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Taylor was under par in all four rounds this weekend.

Jon Rahm of Spain, one of five players who had at least a share of the lead on the back nine, was the last player with a chance if he were to make eagle on the final hole, like he did when he won at Torrey Pines in January. But his approach sailed over the green, and his chip never had a chance.

Rahm closed with a par for a 71 to finish alone in fourth.

Reed shot 40 on the back nine for a 75 and fell out of the top 10. He played in the final group with Alex Noren of Sweden, who closed with a 77.

Harman’s only other victory was the John Deere Classic in 2014 that sent him to the British Open. This victory gets him back to the Masters, which he has played only one time, along with other perks of winning.

Johnson watched someone else leave with the trophy for the first time since Feb. 12, when he finished third behind Jordan Spieth at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Johnson ran off three straight victories against the strongest fields of the year to date, including a pair of World Golf Championships.

And then came the mishap at the Masters, when he suffered a deep bruise on his lower back from the tumble down the stairs while still wearing only socks. This was his first time playing in six weeks, and while there were signs of rust, he looked like the same old Johnson over the weekend as he tried to make up ground and almost did.

“I didn’t have a lot of time off, so I didn’t really know what to expect this week because I didn’t really get to practice leading into this tournament, either,” Johnson said. “Not much has changed. The first couple days I didn’t play that great, but really played nicely on Saturday and Sunday and so I’m happy with where the game is going into next week.”

Johnson had three birdies in six holes to lurk behind the leaders the rest of the day, and he kept pace with birdies on the 12th and 13th. His second shot on the par-5 12th hit the front of the green and was rolling back toward the water, stopping 8 inches away. He got up-and-down for birdie, the kind of break winners need.

Harman had other ideas.

The full leaderboard can be seen here here.

Patrick Reed birdied his final two holes for a 5-under 67 to surge into the lead Saturday at the Wells Fargo Championship, but not by much.

With one round remaining at Eagle Point, the tournament remains wide open, even for Dustin Johnson.

Reed stuffed a short iron into 4 feet on No. 17 and reached the 580-yard 18th hole in two for a two-putt birdie, giving him a one-shot lead over John Rahm of Spain and Alex Noren of Sweden.

Reed reels one back and now he’s 1 back!#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/5gYiDmyerg

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 6, 2017

Noren missed a 5-foot birdie putt on the last hole that would have tied Reed at 8-under. Noren and Rahm each shot 69.

Seventeen players were within four shots of the lead. That includes Phil Mickelson (69) and Johnson, who had a 67 despite missing a half-dozen chances from inside 15 feet on pure greens. Mickelson and Johnson are both 4-under.

Canadian Nick Taylor sits T8 after a 1-under round of 71. He started strong on the front nine pouring in two birdies and no bogeys.

On the back nine, Taylor was up-and-down, recording three birdies and two bogeys. He’s three strokes behind Reed. Fellow Canadian Mackenzie Hughes is T19 at 3-under.

The second-round was finished this morning due to a three-hour rain delay Friday. 36-hole leader Franceso Molinari is part of a group of four at 6-under.

The full leaderboard can be seen here.

Billy Hurley III and Seamus Power of Ireland were atop the leaderboard after a day of wind, rain and a second round at the Wells Fargo Championship that didn’t finish.

A violent storm overnight and into Friday morning dumped nearly 2 inches of rain on Eagle Point Golf Club and forced a three-hour delay. Hurley had a 3-under 69, while Power shot 71 and joined him at 5-under 139.

Jon Rahm of Spain was among those one shot back.

Dustin Johnson, in his first tournament since his slip down the stairs that knocked him out of the Masters, was 2 over for the round, five shots behind. He was through 13 holes.

Phil Mickelson made double bogey on his last hole for a 72 and was at 143.

Canadian’s Nick Taylor and Mackenzie Hughes are both T12 at -3.

See who finished their round and the full leaderboard here.

Six weeks away from competition didn’t keep Dustin Johnson from extending one streak Thursday, with hopes of adding to another.

Johnson showed more game than rust at the Wells Fargo Championship, where he missed only two greens – and plenty of putts – for a 2-under 70 that left him four shots behind Francesco Molinari among the early starters at blustery Eagle Point Golf Club.

It was Johnson’s 13th consecutive round at par or better.

Johnson wasn’t as flawless as he looked while winning three straight tournaments, though he had few complaints under the circumstances. It was his first time playing since he slipped in his socks down the stairs at his rental house in Augusta National, hurting his back and knocking him out of the Masters.

“Since I hadn’t played in so long, I’m happy with the way I played,” Johnson said. “I didn’t score that great, didn’t really hole that many putts, but other than that, I played really well. I think I hit 16 greens and I hit the ball great.”

No one was sure what to expect at Eagle Point, where the Wells Fargo Championship moved this year because its traditional venue, Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, is hosting the PGA Championship in August.

On greens that were slightly softer and as pure as can be, Molinari ran off five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on the front nine and closed out his round with a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th.

That gave him a one-shot lead over Alex Noren of Sweden, who is trying to play well enough in the majors, World Golf Championships and a few other American events to secure a PGA Tour card for next year. Noren, who played college golf at Oklahoma State, won four times last year on the European Tour and is No. 12 in the world.

Ben Martin and Ken Duke were at 68. Of the 78 players who started in the morning, only 23 players broke par. Phil Mickelson was among those playing in the afternoon.

Johnson started well enough to act as though nothing has happened since he last played March 26 at the Dell Technologies Match Play, his third straight victory, which strengthened his hold at No. 1 in the world.

He was rarely in trouble, made only one putt longer than 10 feet and still shot 70. It was a reasonable start in resuming his quest for a fourth straight PGA Tour victory, which would be the longest streak since Tiger Woods won five in a row at the end of the 2007 season and the start of 2008.

“I played a lot better than my score,” Johnson said.

He didn’t miss a green until a gust knocked down his tee shot on the par-3 second hole (his 11th of the round) and sent it down a slope short of the green. He chipped weakly up the hill to 12 feet and made his first bogey. He closed out his round by pulling a drive on the par-4 ninth hole, punching under tree limbs to short of the green and again pitching it short. He started walking as soon as he hit his 10-foot par putt, knowing it was off to the right.

“All in all, I’m very pleased with the day,” Johnson said.

There were no issues with the deep bruise he suffered in his lower left back, which ranks among the top freak accidents in golf under the circumstances. Johnson was playing the best golf of his life – those three victories were against the three strongest fields of the year – when he hustled downstairs to move his car in the rain because his 2-year-old son was on his way home from day care.

He slipped at the bottom of the stairs, crashing onto his back and left elbow, and Johnson couldn’t swing well enough to compete at the Masters.

Whatever rust he showed in the pro-am Wednesday was gone, at least on the back nine when he started. He hit a sand wedge to the back tier on the par-5 12th to 4 feet for birdie. He holed a putt just inside 10 feet for birdie on the par-5 15th, smashed another drive down the 16th and hit a wedge to 2 feet.

That put him at 3 under through eight holes, at the time tied for the lead, and he hammered another drive on the par-5 18th. With the wind in his face and water on the right, Johnson elected to lay up. His lob wedge was 20 feet right of the pin, and there were other short irons that a month ago he would have expected to get within 10 feet. The few times he did, Johnson missed the putts.

“I knew I wasn’t going to play as good,” Johnson said. “I maybe played a little more conservatively. But anything under par was going to be a good score.”

Canadians Mackenzie Hughes and Nick Taylor were among the 23 competitors able to break par at 2-under and 1-under respectively. Hughes recorded six birdies and four bogeys on the day.

AVONDALE, La. – The team of Cameron Smith and Jonas Blixt won the Zurich Classic on the fourth playoff hole Monday, capturing a new-format tournament that had been held over a day because of darkness.

Smith hit a 58-yard approach shot within 3 1/2 couple feet of the pin, and the Aussie sank a birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole to give himself and his Swedish teammate the victory. Smith and Blixtcould have won on earlier playoff holes but missed short birdie putts.

For the 23-year-old Smith, this was his first PGA Tour victory.

Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown had combined for a 12-under 60 Sunday to force the playoff. Kisner made a chip-in from nearly 95 feet on No. 18, but darkness prevented further play.

Blixt and Smith led by a stroke after two rounds and by four after three. They had fallen behind by two strokes, with Kisner and Brown birdieing 10 of their first 11 holes Sunday. But they rallied with birdies on Nos. 12, 15 and 16 to regain a one-stroke lead heading into the final hole of regulation, which they wound up having to birdie to force the playoff after Kisner’s clutch chip.

Both teams finished four rounds at 27 under par at the par-72 TPC Louisiana in suburban New Orleans.

Each player on the winning team earned $1.02 million and 400 FedExCup points.

This is the first team event on the PGA Tour since the Walt Disney World National Team Championship in 1981.

The tournament began with 80 two-player teams, with players choosing their teammates. Many said they chose friends on the Tour rather than research whose game best complemented their own. It made for a relaxed environment, the camaraderie showing golf’s looser side. The new format attracted half of the top 30-ranked players.

The players on each team alternated shots in the first and third rounds. In the second and final rounds, each player hit his own balls and each team took the best score per hole. The playoff was held in the same format as the final round.

Kelly Kraft and Kevin Tway finished third at 23 under Sunday. Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer were fourth. Six teams tied for fifth, including the pairs of Jason Duffner-Patton Kizzire and Bubba Watson-J.B. Holmes.

A couple of favoured teams missed the cut – Jason Day and Rickie Fowler, and Masters runner-up Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson.

AVONDALE, La. – Kevin Kisner chipped in for eagle on the 18th hole as darkness fell Sunday night at the Zurich Classic, lifting himself and teammate Scott Brown into a Monday playoff with Jonas Blixt and Cameron Smith.

Kisner’s chip-in – which skipped on a wet green, hit the pin and dropped in from nearly 95 feet – forced the 23-year-old Smith to make a 1 1/2-foot birdie putt to remain in contention for his first PGA Tour victory.

They were at 27 under through four rounds at the TPC Louisiana in the PGA Tour’s first team event in 36 years.

Blixt, a Swede, and Smith, an Australian, haven’t bogeyed a hole yet, and appeared to have the victory wrapped up before Kisner’s chip-in, which whipped the die-hard crowd around the final green into a frenzy while Kisner waved both arms in celebration.

The round finished in barely playable darkness because of a more than six-hour delay cause by thunderstorms.

Each player on the winning team will take home $1.02 million and earn 400 FedExCup points.

The Canadian duo of Graham DeLaet and David Hearn shot a 9-under 63 on the final day to finish 16 under.

Blixt and Smith led after the second and third rounds, but had to overcome a remarkable surge by Brown and Kisner, who stormed into the lead with birdies on the first eight holes and 10 of their first 11.

Blixt made a 5-foot birdie putt on the 16th, and Smith did the same on 17th to put themselves back in the lead.

Smith then dropped a 57-yard approach on 18 within 2 feet, seemingly dooming Kisner and Brown to second place. Instead, both teams will be back at it at 8 a.m. on the 18th hole to start the playoff.

Kisner and Brown each have one PGA Tour victory. The 33-year-old Blixt has won twice, but not since 2013.

Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer combined to birdie seven of nine holes in the middle of their round to pull as close as three strokes back with three holes to play, but couldn’t quite overcome a deficit that had been as large as six strokes.

Speith’s 16-foot birdie attempt rolled around the lip of the cup and out on 16. That, combined with Spieth’s narrow miss from 3 feet on the 18th green Saturday, and Palmer’s two misses from within 3 feet in the third round, were shots that one of the favoured pairs would have to regret in an otherwise strong, fourth-place performance.

Brown and Kisner led by two strokes after their birdie on the eighth hole and maintained that gap until Smith’s 34-foot putt on the undulating 12th green made it a one-stroke affair with six holes to play.

Kelly Kraft and Kevin Tway finished third at 23 under after Kraft followed up a 266-yard approach on 18 with a 22-foot eagle putt.

The tournament is the first team event on the PGA Tour since the Walt Disney World National Team Championship in 1981. The Zurich began with 80 two-player teams, with players choosing their teammates. Many said they chose friends on the Tour rather than research whose game best complemented their own, and it made for relaxed environment and demonstrations of camaraderie that players said showed more of the fun side of golf.

The players on each team alternated shots in the first and third rounds. In the second and final rounds, each player played their own balls and each team took the best score per hole. The playoff will be in the same format as the final round.

AVONDALE, La. – Jonas Blixt of Sweden and Cameron Smith of Australia apparently are enjoying playing as teammates too much to be unsettled by wind gusts reaching 36 miles per hour.

The pair extended their bogey-free run to three rounds in the new team format at the Zurich Classic, deftly adjusting to winds that unsettled many other PGA Tour pros and posting a 4-under 68 Saturday to widen their lead to four strokes.

“It’s like going back to playing as a kid,” the 33-year-old Blixt said. “I don’t feel like there’s any stress at all out there.”

Alternating shots on Saturday, as teams did in the first round, the Blixt-Cameron partnership posted four birdies to improve to 19-under, building on a lead that stood at one shot through two rounds. They are the only team without a bogey.

“Feels like back in the amateur days,” Smith said of playing in the first team event held on the PGA Tour since 1981, about 12 years before he was born. “It’s just nice to go out there and relax and have some fun.”

The Kevin Kisner-Scott Brown and Nick Watney-Charley Hoffman teams were tied for second. Canadians Graham DeLaet and David Hearn (73) were tied for 31st at 7 under. Also in contention are Jordan Spieth and Ryan Palmer, five shots behind – although they could have been several shots closer if not for some uncharacteristic misses of short putts by both players.

Spieth missed a 3-footer for birdie on the par-5 18th, wasting Palmer’s well-executed 86-yard approach shot. Throughout the round, Spieth was among players backing away from shots when they sensed a gust building and said the wind affected putting “significantly.”

“When you get a putt where the wind is blowing one way and you’ve got the grain the other, and the hill back with the wind, you just have no idea what that putt is going to do,” Spieth said. “If it gusts or doesn’t gust when you’re over it, it affects the putt by an entire cup, even from 6 or 7 feet. It’s really a guessing game.”

So expect more guessing in the final round, which will start earlier than planned – at 6:40 a.m. – because of rain in the forecast. The format will return to “best ball,” as in the second round, with each two-man team taking the best score of either player per hole.

Palmer narrowly missed par putts from within 3 feet on the second and 13th holes.

“You get winds whipping and swirling, it makes right-to-left putts break right,” Palmer said. “It’s tough.”

Blixt and Smith didn’t fail to execute many shots on the 7,425-yard TPC Louisiana course, which was carved out of cypress swamp and has a number of water hazards from which alligators took in the action, some climbing onto the course at the water’s edge.

The pair quickly recovered from minor errors or bad bounces. They wound up attempting only one par putt longer than 8 feet; Blixt rolled it in from 11 feet on the fifth. Blixt also made a putt of nearly 18 feet for birdie on the third hole.

“Sometimes things, bounces, stuff like that weren’t going our way, and we managed to get it up near the green and get it up and down, which kept the momentum going,” Smith said.

Brian Stuard, who won the Zurich last year when it was a traditional stroke-play event, and teammate Chris Stroud were alone in fifth at 13-under.

The teams of Kelly Kraft and Kevin Tway, and Angel Cabrera and Julian Etulian, were tied for sixth at 12-under.

Seven teams were tied for eighth at 11-under, including popular Gulf Coast native Bubba Watson and teammate J.B. Holmes.

As much fun as Blixt and Smith seem to be having, the pressure could mount a bit as they try to protect their final-round lead. Each golfer takes home $1.02 million and 400 FedEXCup points. Never mind the fact that the 23-year-old Smith has never won a PGA Tour event. But Smith noted that with each team keeping the best score per hole in the final round, there’s always the possibility for the veteran Blixt, who has won twice, to pick up the slack.

“I feel very comfortable going into tomorrow,” Smith said. “Jonas is playing so well … it’s just like having a backup.”