They played golf together as juniors.

Then, were college teammates.

Both play on the PGA Tour.

Now, they are Olympians.

Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes will be making their Olympic debut in Tokyo, with the men’s golf tournament happening from July 28-31 at Kasumigaseki Country Club. The two Canadians share many stops along with their respective golf careers. Add representing Canada at the Summer Olympics to that list.

“It’s going to be awesome,” Conners said on a Zoom media availability prior to the Olympics. “Neither of us would have ever thought that we’d be Olympians or PGA Tour winners and continue to be great friends, but this is amazing. Hard to believe it happened.”

Conners and Hughes were born a mere 114 kilometres away from each other in Listowel and Dundas, Ontario respectively. They each met at Listowel Golf Club for a junior golf event when they were 12 years old. Flash forward to the present and the pair from small towns are sporting the red and white at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.

Both golfers experienced success as juniors. Hughes enrolled at Kent State University in 2008-09, with Conners joining him two years later. Under the leadership of Kent State golf coach Herb Page, Conners and Hughes propelled the program to the final eight of the 2012 NCAA Championship.

Conners won the Ontario Junior Championship in 2010. Hughes secured back-to-back victories in the Canadian Amateur Championship in 2011 and 2012. In 2012, both Conners and Hughes earned spots on the Canadian national junior team, coached by Derek Ingram. Competing in the World Team Amateur Competition in Turkey, Hughes, Conners, and Toronto native Albin Choi placed sixth.

“This is a very big event for both of them and I know they’re really looking forward to competing and trying to win a medal for Canada, with a long-time friend and teammate,” Ingram said. “For me, I couldn’t be more happy to be coaching long time students and great people who I’ve worked with for many years.”

It didn’t take Hughes long to record his first professional victory, the Cape Breton Celtic Classic on the Mackenzie Tour in 2013. Three years later, Hughes won on both the then Web.com Tour (Price Cutter Charity Championship) and the PGA Tour, winning a five-man playoff at the RSM Classic.

Conners, after turning pro in 2015, waited until the 2019 Valero Texas Open to win his first PGA Tour title. It not only qualified the young Canadian into the Masters the week after but a plethora of major championships the last couple of seasons.

It’s not hard to spot Conners and Hughes at the majors; the Canadians in the field often take a group photo together during a practice round. It speaks to the camaraderie that is felt amongst the Canadian contingent of men’s golfers, both young and old.

The major championships in 2021 provided an opportunity for Conners and Hughes to get in the mix against the best in the world. At the four majors, a Canadian finished in the top-20, and at two of them, Conners and Hughes earned a top-10. The 2021 U.S. Open saw Hughes in the final group on Sunday and Conners in the penultimate pairing during the final round of the latest Open Championship.

These results demonstrate how far Conners and Hughes improved since turning pro and their affinity for the big tournaments. While the two are rookies at the Olympics, they are no strangers to playing against golf’s best players, such as Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, or Rory McIlroy.

The Olympics will look and feel no different. No fans and rigorous health protocols define the daily realities for the Olympic athletes due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Some top golfers, like World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, are absent from the Olympics, due to the restrictions, the pandemic, and the busy golf schedule. For Conners and Hughes, skipping the Games didn’t cross their minds. They immediately said yes when given the opportunity to compete in the Olympics, not only to represent Team Canada but also how rare this chance is.

Four years ago, Graham DeLaet and David Hearn competed for Canada in Rio, finishing 20th and T-30th respectively. With how well Conners and Hughes are playing coming into this event, coupled with their motivation, there’s no doubt the chance to get on the podium is within reach.

“Hopefully we’ll do a little better and win some medals,” Hughes said.

(Note: To purchase Olympic golf gear, please click the link here)

BLAINE, Minn. (AP) – Cameron Champ was struggling mightily through the first half of this year, a frustrating series of performances that pointed him back to his state of mind more than any mechanical flaw.

Like many newlyweds, the 26-year-old was distracted by the delicate balance of passionately pursuing his career while still trying to carve out a healthy personal life at home. He found himself becoming much too upset by a bad round.

There sure wasn’t much for Champ to be mad about at the 3M Open.

Champ fended off dehydration and crisply putted his way to a 5-under 66 on Sunday, winning by two strokes for his third career victory.

Louis Oosthuizen, Jhonattan Vegas and Charl Schwartzel tied for second. Keith Mitchell was fifth at 12 under, and behind him were five players tied for sixth.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. finished tied for sixth, Roger Sloan of Calgary finished tied for 16th, Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., finished tied for 49th, and David Hearn of Brampton, Ont., finished tied for 58th.

Champ joined Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau as the only under-28 players to win in each of the last three seasons on tour. He jumped from 142nd to 49th in the FedEx Cup standings, with the top 125 qualifying for the playoff opener.

This month has brought quite the turnaround for the Texas A&M product, after nine missed cuts and one withdrawal over his first 16 starts of 2021. The best finish in that stretch was a tie for 17th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Champ hit the reset button after missing the cut at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit three weeks ago, though, and emerged with a tie for 11th at the John Deere Classic in Illinois.

His wife, Jessica, was surely happy to hear that.

“It’s more so realizing what I want to do in the game of golf and then who I want to be at home. It’s a balance you have to find, and if you don’t, it can really haunt you and it can cause a lot of issues,” Champ said. “So I just feel like the last two months I’ve been in a lot better head space.”

During another 90-degree day, Champ was far from his physical best. He felt some dizziness along the back nine, putting his hands on his knees at one point as he hung his head to try to regain some composure. He had plenty of it on the last hole, after his safe strategy with the tee shot to stay away from the lake landed way left in a trampled, sandy area directly behind a clump of trees.

Champ managed to chip out onto the primary rough, then scoot up the fairway. His approach was a beauty that landed perfectly and rolled back toward the pin. He sank the easy par putt and had enough energy to pump his arms in celebration of his first top-10 finish since last October.

He had the best putting performance of the 3M Open field, with an average of 8.48 strokes gained.

Oosthuizen shot 66, too, in a much stronger finish than the previous weekend at the British Open, where his 54-hole lead turned into a tie for third after a fourth-round 71.

Playing six pairs ahead of Champ, Oosthuizen birdied three of the last four holes to give himself an outside chance. His approach to the 18th green almost yielded an eagle on the PGA Tour’s hardest par-5 hole, but the ball lipped out. Oosthuizen made a 2 1/2 foot putt for birdie instead and his fourth runner-up finish in seven starts. Schwartzel, his fellow South African, posted a 68 to match Vegas in the final round.

Cameron Tringale, a one-stroke leader after the third round, took a triple bogey on the par-3 13th hole right after consecutive birdies had brought him back into contention. He shot 74 and finished six strokes behind Champ, leaving PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson as the only 54-hole leader or co-leader to win in the last 13 tour events.

Matthew Wolff (2019) and Michael Thompson (2020), the first two winners of the 3M Open, each finished in a tie for 39th place at 5-under.

“Once I start an event,” Reed said, “I’m definitely going to finish the event.”

BLAINE, Minn. (AP) – The third round of the 3M Open was filled with shots into the rough and the water around the 18th green, and sometimes both.

Cameron Tringale stayed out of trouble that so many others didn’t Saturday – and took the lead into the final round.

Tringale made a short par putt on the treacherous par-5 18th hole for a 5-under 66 and a one-stroke advantage over Gary Woodland and Maverick McNealy.

Tringale, who tied for third last year at the TPC Twin Cities, eagled the par-5 12th and had three birdies in a bogey-free round. The 33-year-old topped the crowded leaderboard at 12-under 201. In an interview with reporters afterward, he quickly recalled that he birdied the 18th in the final round of the 2020 edition of the 3M Open, without fans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Woodland overcame a double bogey on No. 1 with birdies on five of his next six holes in a 67. McNealy had a bogey-free 68.

“There’s going to be birdies tomorrow. You’re still going to have to go low. You’re just going to have to play a good round in the wind,” Woodland said.

Pat Perez shot a 66 to join an eight-way tie for fourth, two shots off the lead. Included in that group was Calgary’s Roger Sloan, who cared a 1-under Saturday.

Four players were three strokes back. Louis Oosthuizen, the highest-ranked player remaining at No. 9 in the world and in the FedEx Cup standings, was in a six-way tie for 16th place at only four shots behind.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., was in the group that’s four shots off the pace after carding a 2-over Saturday. Hadwin shot a6-under 65 on Friday to grab a share of the second-round lead. Canadians David Hearn and Michael Gligic are both tied for 63rd.

During yet another unseasonable day of 32 C-plus degree heat, the scores crept up throughout the afternoon with the thermometer as drier and breezier air affected the play.

Keith Mitchell had a record-tying seven straight birdies to start his round on his way to a 29 on the back nine. The front nine? He posted a 37 for a 66 that left him four strokes behind Tringale. Rickie Fowler birdied six of his first 10 holes, before a triple bogey on the unrelenting 18th left him with a 70 and a tie for 29th in a six-stroke deficit.

The mini-lake in front of the 18th hole sure swallowed up a lot of balls. It’s currently ranked as the hardest par 5 on the PGA Tour. There were nine bogeys and 12 scores worse than that Saturday, for a cumulative score of 35-over. The rest of the course was 85-under.

Tringale safely hit his first two shots along the edges of the fairway before landing his third attempt at the cusp of the green. His 52-foot shot put himself in perfect position for par.

Fowler, on the other hand, splashed his third shot well short of the green. After the penalty stroke, he landed in the rough. After escaping that, he left a 20-foot putt short. He took his highest score to finish a round in his tour career.

Mitchell matched Juan Sebastian Munoz (2020), Brandt Snedeker (2007) and Joe Durant (2005) with seven birdies in a row to begin the round.

The 29-year-old Mitchell, whose only career PGA Tour victory came in the Honda Classic in 2019, had his streak stopped when a putt lipped out on the 17th green. Then the hot air grew drier and breezier, forcing a more conservative approach. The momentum shift, he said, was palpable. His tee shot on box No. 1 after the turn landed into the native grass area.

The first half of his card was clearly a keeper.

“I actually felt some nerves a little bit, but they were good nerves. It was a good kind of nervous, not like the `Hope I don’t miss the cup’ nerves or `Where do we stand on the FedExCup’ nerves. It’s more of like, `Hey, I’m in contention again, and I want to play well’ nerves, and those are the good kind. Those are the fun kind.”

With only three tournaments remaining after this prior to the FedEx Cup playoffs, Mitchell is one of several golfers near the 125-man cut who could use a strong performance on Sunday to create a bigger cushion. Mitchell entered the week ranked 114th. Perez was 115th. Chez Reavie, who was two strokes behind Tringale, was 119th. Fowler was 124th.

BLAINE, Minn. (AP) – Canadian Adam Hadwin missed the weekend cuts in his last three tournaments, continuing a disappointing stretch as he dropped to 120th in the FedEx Cup standings.

The 33-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C., has put himself in position to get back in contention for the playoffs with a strong run at the 3M Open.

Hadwin shot a 6-under 65 on Friday for a share of the lead with Ryan Armour at 10-under 132. Armour shot 65.

Hadwin and Armour were two of few players in the afternoon to go low as wind started to play a role following a hot and humid morning with heat indexes reaching 100 degrees.

Bo Hoag (66), Chez Reavie (67), Jhonatton Vegas (69) and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., (69) were a shot back. All four played in the morning.

Second-ranked Dustin Johnson bogeyed the 18th hole after putting his tee shot in the water and missed the cut. He shot 72 to finish at even par. The cut was 2-under.

Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., (71) and David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., (69) made the weekend cut at 2 under.

Staying in contention this weekend would be a boon to Hadwin and Armour.

Hadwin, who finished fourth in the inaugural 3M Open in 2019, was just inside the cut for the FedEx Cup playoffs. The top 125 in the standings make the playoffs. Armour started the tournament 135th.

“I think the biggest thing coming in this week, I’ve just been a little bit more committed to the process and less on the outcome,” Hadwin said. “Certainly playoffs, maintaining status, all that stuff has probably been creeping in a bit in the last little bit and I probably got away from some of the little details that make this game happen for us. So, I’ve gotten back to that these last three rounds and it’s worked out a lot better for me.”

Hadwin, famous for shooting a 59 at the CareerBuilder Challenge in 2017, had a 69 on the final day of the British Open and followed with a 67 on Thursday in Minnesota. His only PGA Tour win was the Valspar Championship in 2017.

Armour’s lone victory came in the 2018 Sanderson Farms Championship. He’s coming off a fifth-place finish at last week’s Barbasol Championship. He birdied five of his final eight holes Friday.

“I’m trying,” Armour said. “We’ll worry about the points later. I don’t feel like I’ve really had as bad a year as 135 sounds. I missed five or six cuts by a shot, so you’re always kind of around that cut line and I just fell on the wrong side of it a few times. That’s what kind of gnaws at you because you feel like, man, it’s not that bad, so maybe I should be higher, but you’ve got to go out and get it done and we’re just trying our hardest right now.”

Eleven players finished their first rounds Friday after a weather delay Thursday left them unable to finish. With more inclement weather forecast overnight, the 3M Open will go with threesomes off split tees Saturday.

Vegas was able to finish in the dark on Thursday, but it wasn’t without incident as his approach on the 18th hit the top of a hospitality tent. The ball was found and he was given relief and finished with a birdie and a tie for the lead.

One of four players at the 3M Open slated to play in next week’s Olympics, Vegas kept his strong recent form going Friday. The Venezuelan was among the leaders before a bogey finish on the ninth hole, which is playing as the toughest on the course.

Vegas has tied for 11th or better in three of his last five tournaments.

“I feel I like I’m keeping the ball in play pretty well, giving myself enough chances, making a few putts, which is always good,” Vegas said. “The wind is blowing and it’s kind of that intensity that is a little bit annoying, especially some of those shots with so much water around this place, but played solid. I can’t really complain too much.”

BLAINE, Minn. (AP) – Rickie Fowler’s improved driving helped him shoot a 5-under 65 on Sunday in the final round of the British Open.

Looking for a late push in the FedEx Cup standings, Fowler carried over the strong play Thursday with a 7-under 64 in the first round of the 3M Open.

Fowler set the opening-round pace with a bogey-free round later equaled by Jhonatton Vegas and Troy Merritt, who attended Spring Lake Park High School, about six miles south of the TPC Twin Cities.

Fowler, who has never missed the FedEx Cup playoffs in 11 seasons, started the tournament ranked 124th in the standings, with the top 125 making the playoffs. There are two weeks remaining after the 3M Open to qualify for the playoffs.

“I know where I’m at, what we need to do and stuff like that,” Fowler said. “Really just focusing on things we’ve been working on, playing more consistent good golf. More days like today and things will be fine. Kind of keep things, like I said, simple and small, focus on the day-to-day and this week, and go from there. Everything will work out.”

Vegas capped an eventful opening round in the dark when his approach on the par-5 18th landed on top of a hospitality tent. His ball was eventually found and he was given free relief. He birdied the hole to tie for the lead.

Scott Stallings was trying to equal the course record of 62 before he double-bogeyed the 18th following more than a two-hour delay due to lightning in the area. Stallings was a stroke back at 65 with Adam Schenk and Canadian Roger Sloan. Sloan, from Merritt, B.C., had two holes to play when play was suspended due to darkness with 11 players still on the course.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., fired a 4-under 67. Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., opened with a 69, while David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., shot 71.

After his disappointing finish last weekend in the British Open, Louis Oosthuizen shot 68. Dustin Johnson, who withdrew with a back injury after an opening 78 in the 3M Open last year, opened with a 70.

Johnson was playing with Keith Sbarbaro, TaylorMade’s vice president of tour operations, as his caddie after Johnson’s brother, Austin, his usual caddie, tested positive for COVID-19.

Johnson said his brother has already been cleared for his next tournament, the FedEx St. Jude Invitational in Memphis, Tennessee, from Aug. 5-8.

Fowler, who’s looking for his first win since the 2019 Phoenix Open, didn’t have any mistakes. Starting on the back nine, the 32-year-old from California made three straight birdies on his turn from the 18th to the second hole.

He gained some confidence following his final round last weekend at Royal St. George’s. Fowler was one of 30 players to take a charter straight to Minnesota from the British Open.

“That was something that was kind of holding me back from making birdies, moving forward last week,” Fowler said about his driving. “So today, I mean, going off of what we did Sunday last week, just needed to tighten a few things up. This golf course is fairly generous off the tee. There’s a few lakes, ponds that you just need to avoid. Other than that, it’s go, attack for the most part.”

Fowler and Merritt were in the morning wave that started in hazy and humid conditions and then had to wait through a delay of 2 hours, 24 minutes. Stallings was alone in the lead when play resumed, but his second shot on the 18th found the water, and his follow-up overshot the green.

Merritt, who’s missed the cut in his last two starts, could be the sentimental favorite back in Minnesota. He finished with eight birdies, including his final two holes to equal Fowler.

“I’ve seen this golf course now for about 20 years,” Merritt said. “Came to watch the seniors play when I was in high school and got to play it once or twice. It’s just a lot of fun. It’s great for the players, it’s great for the fans, you can make a lot of birdies, the scoring’s usually really low. So, if you like shootouts, this is the golf course for you and you’re going to get another one this week.”

SANDWICH, England (AP) – Collin Morikawa received the claret jug, thrust it into the air and gave it a kiss, a two-time major champion at age 24.

This time, there were people to cheer him.

The American closed with a bogey-free, 4-under 66 and won the British Open in his debut Sunday, becoming the first player to capture two different majors on the first attempt.

His victory 11 months ago in his first PGA Championship came in the first major with no spectators amid the coronavirus pandemic.

So it was a very different scenario for Morikawa, a mature-beyond-his-years Californian, as he made one of the greatest walks in golf down the 18th fairway at Royal St. George’s, first to applause and then to a standing ovation.

After tapping in for par to win by two shots over Jordan Spieth, he gave a fist pump before applauding the spectators in the huge grandstand around the 18th green, part of a crowd of 32,000 people who enjoyed immaculate weather around the links off Sandwich Bay.

They got to witness a player making a historic start to his major championship career.

Morikawa is halfway to the career Grand Slam after eight starts and the first player since Bobby Jones in 1926 to win two majors in so few appearances. He follows Gene Sarazen, Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Spieth in winning multiple majors before turning 25.

His total of 15-under 265 was a 72-hole record in 15 British Opens at Royal St. George’s.

And he did it with style, flushing iron shots for birdies or stress-free pars and getting up-and-down on the rare occasions he found trouble.

Starting the final round one shot behind Louis Oosthuizen, Morikawa was tied for the lead after four holes and then made three straight birdies on Nos. 7-9 to overtake the South African, who hadn’t trailed since the 12th hole of his second round.

Morikawa made key par saves at Nos. 10 and 15, between which he rolled a birdie putt up and over a ridge and into the cup on the 14th to build a two-stroke lead he never lost. Spieth parred his final four holes and also shot 66.

By making par at the last after another perfect drive, Morikawa played his final 31 holes without a bogey on a course that has confounded many great players because of its quirky bounces and undulating fairways.

All the more remarkable was that this was his first major test on a seaside links. Morikawa knew little about this style of golf before playing the Scottish Open last week at The Renaissance Club, which is not a traditional links but featured the kind of tight lies and rolling terrain that prepared him for it.

He even had three new irons in his bag this week.

For Oosthuizen, who was seeking a wire-to-wire win and a second claret jug he had a runaway victory at St. Andrews in 2010 it was another near miss in a career full of them. He was runner-up this year at the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open, two of his six second-place finishes at majors.

This time Oosthuizen tied for third with U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm (66) after closing with a 71 his first round not in the 60s this week. He never recovered from losing his lead with an ugly bogey on the par-5 seventh hole. He caught way too much ball with his third shot from a greenside bunker, which bounced onto the putting surface and landed in a bunker on the other side.

Morikawa made a routine birdie on the hole to move two ahead of Oosthuizen. Spieth had made eagle at No. 7 a few minutes earlier.

Spieth, the British Open champion in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, had his closest call in a major since then. Ultimately, his bogey-bogey finish on Saturday left him too far behind the flawless Morikawa.

MacKenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., shot a 1-under 69 and finished tied for sixth spot with American Brooks Koepka.

After starting the day in fourth, Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., fell to 15th with a 3-over 73.

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. – James Hahn missed a chance to shoot the 13th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history Saturday. He settled for a 12-under 60 and a chance to win Barbasol Championship.

Eight strokes back entering the day, Hahn had two eagles in the career-best round to move within two strokes of leader J.T. Poston at Keene Trace.

“To come up one short stings a little bit,” Hahn said.

Hahn’s 132-yard approach on the par-4 18th spun back, leaving a 35-foot putt that he missed to the right a few minutes before second-round leader Poston teed off.

Jim Furyk set the tour record with a 58 in the 2016 Travelers Championship and also is one of 11 players to shoot 59.

Hahn chipped in for eagle on the par-5 15th to get to 11 under and made a 6 1/2 birdie putt on the par-3 17th.

“When I looked at the leaderboard, it said that I was 11 under and I could swear I was 10,” Hahn said. “I had no idea what I was shooting at that point, I had to double-check the scorecard and that was kind of the “Oh, boy” moment. Yeah, then you start thinking crazy things coming down the stretch, but I pulled it together.”

Poston had a bogey-free 66 to get to 19-under 197. He won the 2019 Wyndham Championship for his lone tour title.

“It was another good one, bogey-free, which is always nice around here,” Poston said. “Never want to give any back when everybody’s making some birdies.”

Luke List was a stroke back after a 65. He’s winless on the tour.

Because of wet conditions the players were allowed to use preferred lies.

The 39-year-old Hahn made a 5-foot eagle putt on the par-5 fifth, and has four eagles in the first three rounds. His two PGA Tour victories came on demanding courses in the 2015 Northern Trust at Riviera and 2016 Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow.

He turned to a local caddie at Keene Trace after parting ways with his usual lopper.

“A couple weeks ago my caddie actually left me, so I was searching around for a caddie,” Hahn said. “This week I was fortunate enough to have a local guy that knows the golf course. His name is Joe Muschong and he’s helped me out a lot this week and kept me cool throughout the round.”

Hahn also changed his putting routine.

“Earlier in the week I was kind of messing around with different practice routines with my putting stroke,” Hahn said. “Yesterday, actually, I changed my routine, decided not to take any more practice strokes at the ball. That freed me up a little bit, but had no idea I was going to shoot like that today.”

Joseph Bramlett had a 67 to join Hahn at 17 under.

David Lingmerth (65) and Seamus Power (67) were 16 under. Jason Dufner (65) was another stroke back with Derek Ernst (66), David Hearn (67), Bo Hoag (67) and Ryan Armour (69).

Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont. finishes the third round tied for the twelfth spot. Pendrith completed the round 3 under, putting his total round under 14.

Defending champion Jim Herman was 14 under after a 65. He won in 2019, and the event was cancelled last year.

SANDWICH, England (AP) – Even with his swing getting loose over the final hour Saturday, Louis Oosthuizen walked off the 18th green with a one-stroke lead at the British Open and another shot at ending his 11-year wait for a second major title.

A third round as undulating as the fairways at Royal St. George’s ended how it started, with Oosthuizen holding off Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth, and three shots separating them.

Oosthuizen, a runner-up in the last two majors, overcame his first real wobble of the tournament on the back nine with a key par save on the 15th and an 8-foot birdie on the par-3 16th that led to a 1-under 69.

That put him at 12-under 198 as the South African stayed on course to be the first wire-to-wire winner at golf’s oldest championship since Rory McIlroy in 2014.

Morikawa slid a 15-foot birdie putt just past the hole on the 18th green, settling for a 68 as he bids for a second major to go with his win at last year’s PGA Championship. The American was four shots behind after 10 holes and made a strong push at about the time Oosthuizen showed signs of fading. He trimmed Oosthuizen’s lead to one shot.

Spieth was tied for the lead until he bogeyed his last two holes he missed a par putt from 2 feet at the 18th to complete a disappointing back nine of lost chances. The three-time major champion had a 69 and was three shots back, just as he started the day.

It had all looked so different with an hour left in the day, with the three players tied for the lead at 11 under with four holes to play on a day the pin positions not the weather proved to be the greatest defense at Royal St. George’s.

The wind didn’t get above 10 mph and a cloudless sky with bright sunshine looked sure to bring another day of low scoring.

However, pins were tucked away, sometimes near slopes, while the firmer fairways brought the deep rough and pot bunkers into play.

It ensured some big names were unable to launch a challenge.

Top-ranked Dustin Johnson started four shots off the lead but plunged out of contention by making five bogeys in his opening 11 holes. Two late birdies could give him only a 73, leaving him eight shots behind.

Brooks Koepka, a four-time major champion, was a shot further back after managing only a round of 72.

McIlroy started much further back but reached the turn at 4 under for the championship after making five birdies. The back nine was another story and McIlroy threw an iron to the ground he called it a “little toss” during a run of three bogeys in five holes on his way to shooting 69, his first round in the 60s at Royal St. George’s.

It left him only on 1 under and with no chance of a second claret jug.

Instead, Corey Conners (66) and Scottie Scheffler (69) moved into contention at 8 under while Jon Rahm looking to add the British Open to his U.S. Open from last month shot 68 and was 7 under alongside MacKenzie Hughes and Dylan Frittelli.

Marcel Siem, who qualified from the second-tier Challenge Tour in Europe only last week, rebounded from an 8 after going out-of-bounds at the par-5 14th with two birdies in his final three holes. He was in a three-way tie for ninth place, six off the lead.

All of them are chasing Oosthuizen, who won at St. Andrews in 2010 and has rung up a career Grand Slam of runner-up finishes since then. That includes the U.S. Open last month, where he was leading with two holes to play until Rahm’s birdie-birdie finish. He also was runner-up in the PGA Championship to Phil Mickelson.

NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (AP) – J.T. Poston shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 on Friday to take the second-round lead in the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship.

Poston had a 13-under 131 total at rain-soaked Keene Trace in the tournament that was delayed twice Thursday because of rain and lightning. Because of the wet conditions, players were allowed to use preferred lies in the fairways.

“It’s been really good,” Poston said. “Just ball-striking’s been a lot better than I’d say it has been the last few months. Just nice to give myself a lot of looks. They’re bent greens, it’s soft. Hit the ball close to the hole and you can make a few putts, too.”

Poston had late birdies on the par-4 seventh and par-5 eighth in the round that began on No. 10. The 28-year-old former Western Carolina player won the 2019 Wyndham Championship in Greensboro for his lone PGA Tour title.

He’s comfortable on Keene Trace’s greens.

“They’re a lot like what I grew up on in Hickory, North Carolina,” Poston said. “They’re bent and they’re about the same speed as what I’m probably used to when I was a kid. Just kind of brings back some good memories of putting on that putting green growing up. It just feels normal to me.”

Ryan Armour and Joseph Bramlett were a stroke back, each shooting 67.

“It was softer today,” Armour said. “Definitely that rain yesterday afternoon, the two rain delays we had, I was not getting any bounce on the driver, it was kind of hit and plug, which I would love it if it would bounce a little more, the length I hit it, but I’m still able to get to three of the par 5s, which is good for me.”

Brian Stuard, tied for the first-round lead after a 64, shot a 69 to drop into a tie for fourth at 11 under with Taylor Pendrith (68), Luke List (68) and Seamus Power (68).

Pendrith finished his late afternoon round in the rain.

Defending champion Jim Herman was 7 under after a 70. He won in 2019, and the event was canceled last year.

Will Grimmer, tied with Stuard for the lead after wrapping up an opening 64 in the morning, shot a 74 in the second round to drop to 6 under.

Wilco Nienaber, the big-hitting South African who received a foreign exemption to play, had a 71 to get to 5 under.

John Daly missed the cut with rounds of 76 and 70.

SANDWICH, England (AP) – Louis Oosthuizen set a 36-hole record at the British Open and is halfway to ending that run of near misses at the majors.

He’ll have to hold off a cast of major champions on the weekend at Royal St. George’s.

On a day of pleasant summer weather that took the fear out of the links off Sandwich Bay, Oosthuizen broke away from a three-way tie with a birdie-birdie-eagle run from the 12th hole. He shrugged off his first bogey of the week for a 5-under 65 and a two-stroke lead on Friday.

Former PGA champion Collin Morikawa had a 64 and was two shots behind.

Another shot back was Jordan Spieth (67), going after his fourth major.

Lurking was two-time major champion Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world, who shot 65.

Oosthuizen was at 11-under 129, breaking the 36-hole Open record first set by Nick Faldo in 1992 at Muirfield and matched by Brandt Snedeker in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

This will be the fifth time in the last nine rounds at a major that Oosthuizen, the 2010 Open champion at St. Andrews, has had at least a share of the lead. He was runner-up at the last two majors, to Phil Mickelson at the PGA Championship in May and to Jon Rahm at the U.S. Open last month.

He’ll also be aware of the quality of player behind him, though.

Morikawa, making quite a debut in links golf, made seven birdies in his first 14 holes as part of a clinic in iron play. He missed a 5-foot par putt on No. 15 and had a 10-foot birdie putt on the final hole catch the lip.

Spieth, four shots behind when he teed off, was tied for the lead after 12 holes and then played the last six holes in 1 over.

Then there was Dustin Johnson, a runner-up at Royal St. George’s in 2011, who stuck his approach at the last to 3 feet for a birdie and a round of 65, which left him tied for fourth place at 7 under with Dylan Frittelli of South Africa (67) and Scottie Scheffler (66).

One shot behind an eclectic mix of players at 6 under including two more South Africans in Justin Harding and Daniel Van Tonder were Rahm (64), Brooks Koepka, and MacKenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont. (69). Listowel, Ont.’s Corey Conners had his second straight 68 to sit at 4 under.

After Friday’s round, both Canadians are sitting in the top 20, Hughes is tied for the 12th spot with Conners close behind tied for 17th.

Koepka made four birdies in his last five holes for a 66, then continued his petty feud with Bryson DeChambeau with perhaps the best shot of his round.

During a television interview, Koepka said he was driving it great, adding: “I love my driver” a clear nod at DeChambeau, who complained on Thursday that his driver “sucks.”

DeChambeau just made it to the weekend at Royal St. George’s by shooting a 70, which saw him make the cut on the number at 1 over.

Rory McIlroy did, too, needing a birdie on the final hole for another 70. He was 11 shots behind.

Other big names weren’t so lucky: No. 7 Patrick Cantlay, No. 9 Patrick Reed, former Open champions Francesco Molinari and Henrik Stenson, and Darren Clarke, the 2011 champion at Royal St. George’s, were all headed home.