KAPALUA, Hawaii — Justin Thomas kept bogeys off his card, thanks in part of Dustin Johnson’s caddie, and birdied three of his last five holes Thursday for an 8-under 65 to share the lead with Harris English in the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Thomas couldn’t have asked for a better start in his bid to become the first back-to-back winner at Kapalua since 2010. On a gorgeous afternoon on the western edge of Maui, he birdied three straight holes to finish the front nine and took advantage of the scoring holes on the back nine.

But it was the 13th hole where Thomas got his biggest break.

He sent his drive well to the right into the deep native grasses, expecting it never to be found. He hit a provisional, and the group made a cursory search when Austin Johnson found it by stepping on it.

The ball was replaced to its original spot — only about a half-turn — and Thomas hacked out sideways, put it on the green and rolled in a par putt from just inside 40 feet.

A two-putt birdie on the par-5 18th tied him with English, whose 65 was highlighted by pitching in for eagle on No. 9.

Unlike the wind that was ripping across the Plantation Course earlier in the week as the players arrived, it was relatively calm by Kapalua standards and it showed in the scoring. Only two players in the 42-man field were over par.

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., is in the hunt. Taylor opened with a 6-under 67 in Hawaii to sit two strokes behind first-round leaders Harry English and Justin Thomas. Fellow Canadian Mackenzie Hughes (Dundas, Ont.,) fired a 73.

Sergio Garcia, playing at Kapalua for the first time in 15 years, and Patrick Reed were also among those at 6-under 67, with Adam Scott in the group at 68.

Johnson, making his first start since winning the Masters in November, showed some rust on the greens. He had good birdie looks on the final six holes and didn’t make any of them, settling for a 2-under 71.

The tournament features more than just PGA Tour winners for the first time. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down golf for three months, the field includes anyone who made it to the Tour Championship.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Viktor Hovland of Norway holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole Sunday for a 6-under 65 and a one-shot victory in the Mayakoba Golf Classic, his second PGA Tour victory this year.

It was the first time since the Mayakoba Classic began in 2007 that it was won with a birdie putt on the final hole. For the 23-year-old Hovland, it’s old hat. He made a 30-foot birdie putt on the last hole to win the Puerto Rico Open in February.

Aaron Wise closed with a 63 and did everything right over the last two holes except make the birdie putts. Tied for the lead, he missed birdie putts from 12 feet on each of the last two holes at El Camaleon Golf Club.

Corey Connors of Listowel, Ont., was the sole Canadian to play the final round, and shot 66 to finish tied for 17th at 13 under.

Hovland had four birdies in the opening six holes and built a two-shot lead going into the back nine on a course softened by rain that caused a two-hour delay in the morning.

But he made bogey on the 12th hole, and that seemed to create chances for a half-dozen players separated by one shot along the back nine.

Hovland responded with birdies on the next two holes, and he appeared to be in control with a tee shot to 4 feet on the par-3 15th. But he hit a tentative putt to remain tied with Wise, and Hovland thought he was in big trouble when his long iron on the 515-yard 16th hole sailed hard to the right toward the mangrove trees.

It came down in the waste area a few feet from the hazard, and he hit a splendid sand shot to 4 feet to save par.

Hovland, starting his second season on the PGA Tour after a stellar college career at Oklahoma State, finished at 20-under 264 and moved to No. 15 in the world.

That makes three players in the top 15 who were still in college a year ago in May. The others are PGA champion Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff, a teammate of Hovland’s at Oklahoma State.

Adam Long (67) and Tom Hoge (69) tied for third at 17-under 267. Hoge holed a 20-foot birdie putt from the fringe on the 15th hole to get within one shot, but he three-putted from some 70 feet on the tough 16th to fall back. Long lost hope when he sent his tee shot into the vegetation on the 17th hole and took bogey.

Emiliano Grillo, who led after the second and third rounds, closed with a 72 and tied for eighth, five shots behind. Justin Thomas got back to the fringe of contention with a 62 on Saturday, and the world’s No. 3 player followed that with a 69, making double bogey on No. 10 to end his chances.

This was the final PGA Tour event of the year, one last chance for players who either qualify for the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua or lock up a spot in the Masters next year. Neither was an issue for Hovland, who qualified for Maui with his win in Puerto Rico and was set for Augusta National by reaching the Tour Championship his rookie season.

Austin Eckroat of Oklahoma State had a 67-65 weekend and tied for 12th.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Emiliano Grillo steadied himself with a pair of birdies over the last six holes Saturday for a 3-under 68, giving the Argentine a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Mayakoba Classic.

Tom Hoge, without a win in his PGA Tour career, birdied four of the last five holes at El Camaleon Golf Club for a 65 to get within one shot of the lead.

Corey Conners, a native of Listowel, Ont., is currently tied for 20th place after shooting a 3-under 68 Saturday. He is the lone Canadian in the field after Michael Gligic, Drew Nesbitt, Roger Sloan and Adam Hadwin all missed the cut.

After two days of rain, the course was soft and susceptible to low scores and quick movements, and there were plenty of both. Players were allowed to clean and place their golf balls in the fairway.

Adam Long ran off seven birdies on his opening nine holes before he slowed and had to settle for a 63. Justin Thomas, who started on the back nine, played bogey-free for a 62 to get back in the mix. He was four shots behind.

Tony Finau also got in on the action, but only briefly. Finau made a hole-in-one on the 103-yard fourth hole with a gap wedge. He followed with three more birdies on the front nine and got within one shot of Grillo at one point.

But he was wild with the driver, and it finally caught up with him. Finau bogeyed the 11th and 12th, and he failed to make birdie on the par-5 13th with an iron for his second shot. He had no birdies on the back nine, dropped another shot on the 18th and wound up with a 69, leaving him five shots behind.

Grillo was at 16-under 197.

His only victory was in the season-opening Safeway Open in 2015 in his debut as a PGA Tour rookie. He rallied that day at Silverado. Sunday will be the first time he takes a lead into the final round on the PGA Tour, but he should get some confidence from being at Mayakoba.

This was his 19th round at El Cameleon, all of them under par.

“Started in the lead, finished in the lead, that’s kind of the idea,” Grillo said. “Hopefully, one more of those.”

Even so, it figures to be a wild chase in the final official PGA Tour event of the year. Ten players were separated by five shots, and Saturday showed that ground can be made up quickly.

“Didn’t have it on the back nine for me. Luckily I’m still within reach,” Finau said. “A lot of guys scored today. Hopefully, I’m one of those guys tomorrow that takes it low. It’s going to take probably a low to mid-60s round for me tomorrow.”

Viktor Hovland, who won in Puerto Rico in one of the final events before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down golf for three months, put together a string of birdies of his own down the stretch for a 63 that left him alone in third, two shots behind.

Thomas didn’t feel as though he played that much differently from the second round, when he had a rough time on the greens in the afternoon and finished with two bogeys for a 67. He said he told his father it might have been the worst 67 ever shot.

“I felt like I could have shot 60, 61, 62 and shot that,” he said. “So I just really just tried to go out there and didn’t really have a game plan or mentality, just try to hit the fairways and, with the ball in hand, just attack and make a bunch of birdies. And we did.”

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., played 68 during Saturday’s round for 8-under 205. The sole Canadian in the field after Friday’s cut, Conners is tied for 20th place going into the final day of the tournament.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Emiliano Grillo made birdie on half of the holes Friday on his way to an 8-under 63 that gave him a three-shot lead going into the weekend at the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

The second round was delayed by one hour by heavy rain in the morning, and it was not completed before it was too dark to continue. No one was close enough to catch Grillo, who was at 12-under 130. It will be only the fifth time in 136 starts on the PGA Tour that he has a share of the lead after any round.

Tony Finau one-putted six consecutive holes in the middle of his round, four of them par saves and none tap-ins, and posted a 66. He was at 9-under 133, along with Tom Hoge, who had a 67.

Justin Thomas, at No. 3 the highest-ranked player in the field, was zooming into contention with five birdies and an eagle through 12 holes. His momentum stalled, however, particularly with bogeys on his last two holes. Thomas had to settle for a 67 and was nine shots behind.

But he’s still playing, which won’t be the case for Rickie Fowler and Brooks Koepka.

Fowler was in position for an easy birdie on the par-5 13th hole when he sent a long iron well to the right into the trees for a lost ball. That led to bogey, and he dropped another shot on the 17th that led to a 1-over 72. The cut would not be made until Saturday, though Fowler looked certain to miss by one shot.

With no events left this year, Fowler is likely to fall out of the top 50 in the world for the first time since 2010, his first full year on the PGA Tour. He still is not eligible for the Masters next April, though he would have three months at the start of next year to either win or get into the top 50 by the end of March.

Koepka, coming off a pair of top 10s in the Houston Open and the Masters, had another 71 and finished at even-par 142. He was in reasonable shape until three-putting from about 8 feet on the par-5 fifth hole for a bogey, his 14th of the round. He made birdie on the par-3 eighth, but will miss by one shot.

Among those still on the course was former U.S. Amateur champion Andy Ogletree, who turned pro after finishing low amateur at the Masters. Ogletree was at 7 under with three holes remaining.

Grillo made five birdies on the front nine to catch Finau and Hoge, who played in the morning. After a bogey at No. 10, the Argentine hit his stride with his great iron play and ran off three straight birdies.

As it began to get dark, Grillo stuffed a wedge into about 4 feet on the 17th for his ninth birdie of the round, and he elected to finish the 18th after the horn sounded to stop play because of darkness.

Russell Knox, who had the 18-hole lead after a 65, shot a 69 and was alone in fourth at 8-under 134. The group one shot further back included Kyle Stanley and Joel Dahmen, each with a 67, and Aaron Wise (68).

Finau has been among the top 20 in the world dating to August 2018, even though his lone victory on the PGA Tour remains the Puerto Rico Open in 2016.

“I learned this game doesn’t owe you anything. You’ve got too earn everything you have, earn all your wins,” Finau said. “It’s been a long time coming I feel like for (win) No. 2. Hopefully, it happens here in a couple of days.

Steve Stricker, the 53-year-old Ryder Cup captain, shot 70 and was at 3-under 139. It was the sixth time in 12 starts on the PGA Tour that he made the cut.

Carlos Ortiz, playing for the first time since the Mexican earned his first PGA Tour title in the Houston Open last month, had a 68 and was six shots behind.

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., was the lone Canadian to sit over the projected cut line of 1 under. He shot 66 Friday and is tied for 18th at 5 under.

Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., who was two shots off the lead after the first round, shot 75 Friday to fall to even par.

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C, (70) was at 3 over and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., (74) was at 4 over. Monday qualifier Drew Nesbitt of Shanty Bay, Ont., was at 3 over through 33 holes.

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Russell Knox shot a 6-under 65 on Thursday at breezy and wet El Camaleon Golf Club to take the first-round lead in the PGA Tour’s Mayakoba Golf Classic.

The 35-year-old Scot birdied five of the last six holes on his opening nine, then played the final nine in 1 under with a bogey on the par-4 second and birdies on the par-5 fifth and par-4 sixth.

“Took me a few holes to kind of settle into my round, but when I did, I had six or seven very good holes,” Knox said. “I hit the ball well, drove it in the fairway, and with lift, clean and place, I could be fairly aggressive. Par was good today.”

Chile’s Joaquin Niemann was a stroke back with Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo and American Tom Hoge. Niemann is donating his entire prize money and $5,000 for every birdie and $10,000 for an eagle to help pay for a drug for his 2-month-old relative in Chile.

“I’m playing for Rafita, that is one of my cousins that was diagnosed a couple days ago with a really rare disease,” the 22-year-old Niemann said. “All the guys here on tour are being really nice, using the little ribbons we’re having to support Rafita. He’s fighting now in Chile, so we’ve got to work our way to help him.”

Niemann also finished on the front nine, making birdies on Nos. 3, 5, 6 and 7.

“It was tough,” Niemann said. “It was hard to adjust myself into the wind early, but I’m really happy the way I played. Took me a couple holes to like figure it out a little bit with the wind. I’m really happy the way I played and the way I finished.”

Knox has two victories on the PGA Tour and one on the European Tour. He lost in a playoff at Mayakoba in 2016.

“I guess it’s the tequila and tacos,” Knox said. “Obviously, I love the course. It sets up well for me. I mean, historically, my driving accuracy and iron play’s been my strength, so that’s kind of the key things that this course brings out in you.”

He liked the wind better than the rain-softened turf.

“I always kind of want it to be a little windy,” Knox said. “I feel like I can flight my ball well at times. But it’s so soft out here, it’s the opposite of like links golf. No, I’m thrilled with that and look forward to trying again tomorrow.”

Carlos Ortiz, the Mexican star playing for the first time as a PGA Tour winner, was two strokes back at 67. He won the Houston Open a week before the Masters and did not play at Sea Island.

“When I made like a 60-footer for eagle on 5, I knew it was going to be a pretty good day,” Ortiz said. “I was in control of my game. It’s one of those where you hit a good drive, it kind of sits down in the fairway and you feel like you’re going to get a flyer and it’s going to come out soft, but I’m really happy the way I played.”

Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont. ended his first round as the top ranked Canadian after scoring a 67, coming into a tie for fifth place alongside defending champion Brendon Todd as well as Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland, Aaron Wise, Nate Lashley and Akshay Bhatia.

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., shot an even round of 71. Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. (71), Monday qualifier Drew Nesbitt of Shanty Bay, Ont. (73) and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C. (75) rounded out the Canadians.

Former U.S. Amateur champion Andy Ogletree, the low amateur at the Masters, had a 69 in his pro debut. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker also shot 69.

Rickie Fowler had a wild round of 70 with eight birdies and quadruple and double bogeys. He played the final six holes in 4 under to get under par.

“This has to be the lowest I’ve shot with a quad,” Fowler said. “That doesn’t happen a whole lot.”

Four-time major champion Brooks Koepka had a 71. Justin Thomas shot 72. At No. 3, he’s the only player from the top 10 in the world in the field.

The PGA Tour has acquired a minority stake in the European Tour’s media production company as part of an alliance announced Friday, a big first step toward developing a more unified golf schedule around the world.

The deal effectively makes the two leading tours more partners than rivals. The tours said in a statement the alliance would allow them to collaborate on commercial opportunities and global media rights in certain territories.

“The PGA Tour moves from a competitor to a partner,” Keith Pelley, chief executive for the European Tour, said on a conference call.

While seen as a pivotal first step, any notion of a world tour _ which golf executives have contemplated for more than a decade _ remains some years away. The immediate goal is to figure out a schedule that keeps the tours from competing against each other and strengthening events on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond.

Pelley offered few details on scheduling, access to tours or even negotiating media rights.

As part of the agreement, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan will join the European Tour board as a non-executive member who would have a vote. “They have a monetary investment in our business,” he said of the PGA Tour.

Pelley said the board’s approval of the partnership was unanimous.

The announcement is likely to put an end to the Premier Golf League, which a year ago was courting the world’s best players for a team-based circuit and funded in part by Saudi money. Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka rejected the idea right before the pandemic.

Pelley said The Raine Group, a private equity firm behind the Premier Golf League, presented a “compelling offer to take the European Tour to another level but in a different direction.”

“We felt partnering with the PGA Tour was the best option,” he said.

Pelley said the partnership grew out of golf organizations having to work together at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic to rearrange the major championship season for men and women.

“We shared the challenges of working through a year neither of us could have ever imagined and we found definite synergies in many areas of our respective tours,” Pelley said.

The announcement comes toward the end of a devastating year financially for both tours. The PGA Tour has lost more money than the European one because of its size, though it had more in reserve to handle the crisis.

The PGA Tour shut down for three months, and then resumed June 8 and played a tournament every week except for this one, with no reduction in prize money. Two of its Asia tournaments, in South Korean and Japan, moved to the western U.S. with a purse of $9.75 million (CJ Cup at Shadow Creek) and $8 million (Zozo Championship at Sherwood).

The European Tour resumed in July with a series of new tournaments geared toward giving its members events to play while maintaining a strict bubble to protect against the spread of the coronavirus. Players would stay in regions such as the Iberian peninsula and the U.K., though the total purse was rarely more than 1 million euros.

The exceptions were the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, the flagship event at its headquarters, the Scottish Open and the DP World Tour Championship next month in Dubai.

The gap between the tours has grown so much in the last decade there have been rumblings of a merger of the tours, or even a takeover, given the PGA Tour’s wealth. Monahan referred only to a partnership, and said “we look forward to working together for the benefit of the men’s professional game and for golf fans around the world.”

Pelley strongly disputed the notion of a merger, suggesting that would happen only if the tour had financial difficulties or there were significant benefits for the players. He said the European Tour had a strong balance sheet, which allowed it to create 15 new events during the pandemic and spend $3 million on a health and safety plan.

“This is not a merger,” he said.

A week before the pandemic, the PGA Tour announced a new media rights deal that starts in 2022 and is said to be worth $7 billion over nine years, which includes digital. The tour also has a 12-year deal with Discovery, which owns Golf TV.

London-based Discovery also is a rights holder for the European Tour, which has various contracts with TV companies, given its schedule that plays in more countries than any tour.

The PGA Tour has become so lucrative that Europe’s best players have taken up membership on both tours. Of the 20 Europeans among the top 75 in the world, only four are not PGA Tour members.

CHICAGO – (November 24, 2020) – Canadian golfer Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., has won $300,000 through RSM’s Birdies Fore Love charitable giving competition. Conners won for recording the most birdies (or better) over the first 11 events of the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season.

The top three players who accumulated the most birdies (or better) throughout the fall, concluding with The RSM Classic at Sea Island, Georgia, were awarded with $300,000, $150,000 and $50,000, respectively, for charitable donations to the players’ choice of children- and/or family-focused charitable organizations.

Patton Kizzire recorded the most birdies (or better) at this year’s RSM Classic, winning $50,000 for his charity of choice to wrap up the 2020 RSM Birdies Fore Love program.

In addition, players who recorded the most birdies (or better) in each fall event earned $50,000 for charities of their choice, bringing the total raised through the Birdies Fore Love on-course competition to $950,000 through this year’s program.

For a list of the weekly Birdies Fore Love winners from this year’s fall events, as well as final scoring results, visit the PGA TOUR website.

Winning players donated funds to charitable organizations focused on building tomorrow’s middle market business leaders through programs that support education, as well as organizations committed to improving the lives of youth through a focus on hunger, housing and/or health.

“This year’s RSM Classic has certainly been like no other,” said Davis Love III, 21-time PGA TOUR winner and RSM Classic tournament host. “I am extremely proud and humbled by the success of the RSM Birdies Fore Love competition. The generosity of the RSM team, its clients and friends is truly remarkable. Our tournament and the charitable dollars we raise would not be possible without RSM, one of the best Title Sponsors in golf.”

Over the past three years, RSM’s Birdies Fore Love has helped PGA TOUR players support more than 30 deserving nonprofit organizations. Since The RSM Classic began in 2010, RSM and the Davis Love Foundation have donated more than $21.6 million to deserving charities.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Robert Streb made an 8-foot par putt to stay alive in a playoff and ended it on the second extra hole Sunday with a pitching wedge that came an inch from going in, giving him a victory over Kevin Kisner in the RSM Classic.

Streb won for the second time on the PGA Tour, his other title also coming in a playoff at Sea Island six years ago.

He rallied from a five-shot deficit in 2014. This time, he lost a three-shot lead until a 6-iron to 12 feet on the par-3 17th hole for a birdie that allowed him to close with a 2-under 68 and force extra holes.

Kisner, whose first of three PGA Tour titles came at Sea Island in 2015, closed with a 63.

They finished at 19-under 263, one shot ahead of Cameron Tringale (62).

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., finished tied for 10th on the strength of a 7-under 65 in the second round—the lowest round ever by a Canadian. Conners recorded six birdies during a bogey-free Sunday, finishing 15-under 267 for the tournament. Bunched up in a seven-way tie for 23rd was Roger Sloan from Merritt, B.C — he shot up 18 spots on Sunday after a round of 64.

 

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Fellow Canadians Michael Gligic (Burlington, Ont.), Mackenzie Hughes (Dundas, Ont.), David Hearn (Brantford, Ont.), Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor (both from Abbotsford, B.C.) did not make the cut.

Kisner had the advantage on the 18th hole on the Seaside course for the first playoff hole. His approach caught a good bounce and left him a 15-foot birdie putt, while Streb drove into the bunker, couldn’t reach the green and his pitch from about 30 yards away still came up some 8 feet short.

Kisner missed, and Streb rolled in his par putt. They returned to the 18th again, and Streb had a flyer lie in the rough left of the fairway. He went with pitching wedge from 158 yards expecting it to come out hot, and it did. It was close to perfect, the ball landing softly and rolling just over the left edge of the cup.

Kisner’s tee shot settled in the Bermuda rough to the right of the fairway, and his approach bounded over the green. Knowing his chip had to go in, he ran it some 20 feet by and holed that for a meaningless par with Streb inches away.

The victory came at just the right time for Streb, who had to return to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals more than a year ago just to regain full status on the tour. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic that shut down golf for three months, no one lost his current status. Streb missed out on the PGA Tour post-season again, but kept his card.

Now he has a two-year exemption through the end of August 2023, and he returns to the Masters in April.

Streb also extended a trend in his new PGA Tour season that began in September, joining other players who ended long victory droughts. Stewart Cink won the Safeway Open for his first victory in 11 years. Martin Laird ended seven years without winning in Las Vegas. Brian Gay won in Bermuda, his first victory in more than seven years.

In 11 tournaments of the new season, Streb is the fifth winner to be ranked outside the top 300 in the world.

Kisner did well to get in the playoff after starting five shots back. He made five birdies in 10 holes, including a pitch from thick rough in the middle of a sandy waste area to tap-in range on the par-5 seventh. He caught Streb with a 6-foot birdie on the 13th hole, and stayed in the game with an 18-foot par putt from the fringe on the next hole.

Streb missed a pair of 5-footers on the back nine, one for par and another for birdie on the par-5 15th, but he delivered the key shots when he needed. One of them was his 6-iron on the 17th. The shot he’ll remember is the pitching wedge he nearly jarred that gave him the victory.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Robert Streb kept his game from coming undone over the first hour Saturday, and then pieced together enough birdies for a 3-under 67 to build a three-shot lead going into the final round of the RSM Classic.

Streb came from five shots behind when he won at Sea Island six years ago, his only PGA Tour title. This time, he has a lead over Zach Johnson (65) and Bronson Burgoon (67).

Streb was at 17-under 195.

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., was the top Canadian on Saturday, tied for 14th spot with 4-under 66. His only fellow Canadian left in the competition is Roger Sloan from Merritt, B.C., who was tied for 41st heading into Sunday, the final day of the tournament.

Camilo Villegas pulled within one shot on the lead going to the back nine of the Seaside course Saturday until a two-shot swing at the 10th that cost him momentum. Streb hit his approach to 8 feet for birdie. Villegas was just on the fringe 15 feet away, ran it by 5 feet and missed that to fall three shots back.

Villegas added a bogey on the 13th, didn’t make a birdie on the back nine and had to settle for a 70. He was five shots behind as he tries to win for the first time since five years, and following a summer in which he lost his 2-year-old daughter.

Streb had to earn back his full PGA Tour card a year ago, and then missed the PGA Tour post-season for the third straight year. He kept his status because of the pandemic-shortened year, and a victory Sunday would give him an exemption through August 2023.

Even so, he knows from experience not to look too far ahead.

It was in 2014 when Streb closed with a 63 to make up a five-shot deficit before winning a three-man playoff. Six players were within five shots of the lead going into Sunday.

Even with no spectators and only limited corporate clients allowed, Johnson will feel an entire community behind. He lives at Sea Island, and no resident has ever won this event. Winless since the 2015 British Open at St. Andrews, Johnson rallied late with three birdies over his last five holes, finishing with a 30-foot birdie putt.

Burgoon had five birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine — the exception was a bogey on the 14th, playing straight into a strong wind along the water — to overcome a rough start and get into the final group.

Emiliano Grillo had a65 and was four shots behind, while Kevin Kisner (66) and Kyle Stanley (68) were five back.

Streb began his round with a quick hook and escaped trouble with par. From the left side of the second fairway, 123 yards to a back pin and facing the wind, he left it on the front of the green and had to two-putt from 75 feet. He came up well short of the green on the par-3 third and had to get up-and-down from 65 meet, making an 8-foot par putt.

“It wasn’t the greatest start, but got out of there with a bunch of pars and tried to find some consistency and it got better,” Streb said.

It never felt easy, but he wasn’t losing any ground. He made his first birdie with a sand wedge to 3 feet on No. 8, and the rest of the round was relatively stress-free except for a couple of more two-putts from 50 feet or longer.

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. — Robert Streb birdied his last two holes on the Plantation course at Seal Island and matched his career low with a 9-under 63, giving him a two-shot lead over Camilo Villegas on Friday in the RSM Classic.

Villegas had an even better finish to stay in range going into the weekend.

His tee shot on the par-5 18th on the Plantation course hit a cart path on the right side of the fairway and bounced enough that he only had a 9-iron left over the water to a front pin. He was urging it to clear the water, and it landed just on the green and left him about 12 feet away for a closing eagle and a 66.

The final two rounds move to the Seaside course, which Joel Dahmen lit up Friday for a 9-under 61 that took him outside the cut line to just outside the top 10.

The last four winners at the RSM Classic each had the 36-hole lead.

“I don’t want to be the one that breaks it,” Streb said. “There’s still a lot of golf left, and we’ll see what happens.”

Streb was at 14-under 128 at the only tournament he has won on the PGA Tour. It was the fourth time he shot 63, the most memorable in the second round at Baltusrol in the 2016 PGA Championship.

Villegas has the same attitude — go play, count up the scores, see where he stands — though he is not oblivious to the attention on his for all he has been through this year.

The 38-year-old Colombian missed all of 2019 recovering from a shoulder injury, and then his world was torn apart when his 2-year-old daughter, Mia, developed tumors on her brain and spine. She died in late July. Villegas has his brother as a caddie — Manny, who also played professionally — and that helps keep his mind on the golf.

“I’m going to be very honest with you, there’s so much happening on the golf course, you’re so focused, and that’s what I’ve been doing all our life. Having my brother on the bag has helped, too. He keeps me in check and we try to play golf when we’re out there.”

On Thursday, he saw a rainbow on the range and it made him think of his daughter.

“Once you get on that first tee, you try to focus on golf,” he said. “I think I’ve done a good job of it.”

Villegas is a four-time winner — his last victory was six years ago — and knows not to get too caught up at the halfway point. Even so, he is building confidence mainly from his shoulder feeling good and knowing he has put in the work.

“It’s not a two-day thing, it’s a process,” Villegas said.

Bronson Burgoon also had a 63 at Plantation and was three shots behind with Sea Island resident Patton Kizzire, who had a 66 at Plantation. Harris English, another Sea Island resident, shot 66 at Plantation and was four shots behind with Kyle Stanley (65 on Plantation).

Of the top 10 on the leaderboard, past Sea Island winner Kevin Kisner was the only one who played the par-70 Seaside course, where he made a 35-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a 66.

Merrit, B.C., player Roger Sloan is the top Canadian going into the weekend — he shot a 69 on Friday and sits in a tie for 22nd with 6 under. Corey Conners (Listowel, ON.) is one point behind with 5-under 137. Fellow Canadians David Hearn, Mackenzie Hughes, Nick Taylor, Adam Hadwin, and Michael Gligic will not be continuing on to the weekend after missing the 3-under 139 cut line.

All together, sixty-five players made the cut. Among those missing the cut was Justin Rose, who birdied three straight holes before ending with a bogey from the bunker on the 18th hole at Seaside to miss by one. Sungjae Im, a runner-up last week at the Masters, shot 69 at Seaside and missed the cut by two shots.