LANTO GRIFFIN

Phil Mickelson didn't have any trouble focusing at Quail Hollow.

The Masters features only six players, three of them amateurs, who have never played in the Masters.

(AP Photo/David J. Phillip)AUSTIN, Texas – The Latest on the Dell Technologies Match Play (all times CDT):6 p.m.Bob MacIntyre of Scotland gave the world's No. 1 player all he could handle in the Dell Technologies Match Play. Johnson has not advanced out of group play since he won the Match Play in 2017. In the Dell Match Play two years ago, he went 1-2 and failed to advance out of his group. Ad___(This item has been corrected to show that DeChambeau won his first match last time at the Dell Match Play.)

Conners surged into the lead with a 25-foot eagle putt on the par-5 16th hole — his second eagle on that hole in two days — for a 3-under 69 and a one-shot advantage over former Bay Hill winner Martin Laird (67). He was two shots behind, along with Viktor Hovland and Lanto Griffin, who each had a 68. The forecast featured plenty of rain Saturday, which figures to make Bay Hill play longer and tougher, while also keeping the greens from getting as crusty as they were last year when Tyrrell Hatton won with a closing 74. He won at Bay Hill in 2011 on a final round so tough a 75 was enough to get the job done. He played in the morning, had a pair of birdies and came to the 16th, the easiest at Bay Hill.

(AP Photo/Gregory Bull)SAN DIEGO – Patrick Reed was involved in another rules controversy Saturday in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. Believing the ball didn't bounce, Reed picked it up to see if it was embedded before a rules official arrived. Reed told the official that no one in his group, as well as a nearby volunteer, saw it bounce. “At that point we go with what the rules official said and also with what the volunteers and what we see,” Reed said. Reed shared the lead with Alex Noren after the first round and was one shot off the lead after 36 holes.

Viktor Hovland, left, of Norway, waits to putt on the eighth hole of the South Course during the second round of the Farmers Insurance Open golf tournament at Torrey Pines, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021, in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)SAN DIEGO – Viktor Hovland birdied his final for a 7-under 65 on Torrey Pines’ tough South Course on a rainy, miserable Friday, giving him a one-shot lead after two rounds of the Farmers Insurance Open. Reed shot an even-par 72 on the South Course a day after firing an 8-under 64 on the easier North Course. AdThe weather is supposed to clear up for the weekend rounds on the South Course. “I just played really solid and made some putts.”He had just one bogey, on the par-4 15th.

Brandt Snedeker hits his third shot on the 16th hole during the first round of the Houston Open golf tournament Thursday, Nov. 5, 2020, in Houston. Snedeker shot a 5-under 65 in the afternoon to take a two-stroke lead in the last event before the Masters. “Drove it great,” Snedeker said. “Around this golf course you have to be in the fairway, otherwise it’s going to be a long day for you. “The golf course kind of forces you into being patient just because you can’t really miss too many greens,” Scheffler said.

He holed a 10-foot birdie putt to tie for the lead, and then followed with a 30-foot birdie putt up the slope on the par-3 17th. It was another grind for Tiger Woods, the Zozo Championship winner last year in Japan, who could only manage a 71. Griffin opened with four straight birdies to take the lead, and he stayed there until the end of the round. Thomas was playing well enough, even if he had little to show for it after opening with two birdies. And when Griffin holed his birdie putt on the 14th, Thomas missed badly from just inside him.

Justin Thomas hits from the bunker to the eighth green during the second round of the Zozo Championship golf tournament Friday, Oct. 23, 2020, in Thousand Oaks, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)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. 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. 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.

He has not made it to the Tour Championship since 2017, the year of his last victory. CLUTCH PARFormer Masters champion Charl Schwartzel had reason to celebrate on Friday without ever being in the hunt at the PGA Championship. That got the attention of the PGA of America, which gave him an exemption into the PGA Championship. The LOCALiQ Series for players on the Canadian, China and Latin America circuits for the PGA Tour now has a conclusion. STAT OF THE WEEKIn the last five years of the PGA Championship, players have posted all four rounds in the 60s without winning 16 times.