SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda — Ryan Armour and Wyndham Clark survived ferocious wind Friday in the Bermuda Championship to share the lead going into a weekend that includes 64-year-old Fred Funk.

Armour could only guess where the 30 mph gusts would blow his golf ball across Port Royal. The 44-year-old from Ohio still managed three early birdies and another on the par-5 17th for a 1-under 70. Clark played in the afternoon and reached 10-under par until a pair of late bogeys for a 68.

They were at 8-under 134, one shot ahead of Kramer Hickok (68).

The big surprise was Funk, who only played because he had a chance to be paired with his son, Taylor, who played at Texas. Funk, whose last PGA Tour victory was in 2007 at the Mayakoba Classic, chipped in for birdie from the behind the ninth green for a 72, and his son was so excited he about knocked him to the ground in celebration.

“This guy is pretty damn good for an old guy,” said Taylor, who shot an 81, one of nine players who shot in the 80s on the windswept day in Bermuda.

“He fought back and he made the cut, and not many 64-year-olds can do that in the world,” he said. “It was fun to watch him play.”

Funk is the oldest player to make the cut on the PGA Tour since 65-year-old Tom Watson five years ago in the RBC Heritage at Hilton. The only other players 64 or older to make the cut since 1970 were Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead.

“And then Funk. You throw that in there, it doesn’t sound right, does it?” Fred Funk said. “I don’t know whether I compete, but making the cut was big.”

It wasn’t easy on a day like this, where the wind was so strong it was difficult to stand up, especially on some of the holes along the ocean.

“Today was really hard,” Armour said. “We didn’t know whether to say get up, get down, what to tell it. We couldn’t judge the distance very well and we had some balls going sideways out there and my ball doesn’t usually go sideways. And it would just get up in the wind and it would go 20 yards further left or right than you wanted it to.”

That made the performance by Clark even more remarkable, although the wind finally caught up with him when he took bogeys on the par-5 seventh and the par-3 eighth to fall back into a tie with Armour.

Clark wasn’t caught up in the late bogeys, especially the last one.

“We all were hitting 6- and 5-irons into a par 3 from 160, and I missed about a 5-footer,” Clark said. “It’s bound to happen. If I didn’t bogey those, it would be one of the best rounds of my career. But it’s pretty hard to play a round with 30 mph wind and not make any bogeys.

“I’m not looking at those last two bogeys,” he said. “I’m up there in contention, and that’s all that matters.”

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., is the top Canadian, three shots back at 5 under (70). He currently sits at T6, up 9 spots from Thursday. Michael Gligic, from Burlington, Ont., (71) is 3 under, David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., (72) is 2 under, while Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., fired a 6-over 77 and will miss the cut.

The best round of the day belonged to Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who not only shot 66, he played bogey-free. He was three shots behind, while Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington used all his Irish experience with wind for a 71 — two birdies, two bogeys, 14 pars — and was four shots behind.

The day also brought a few surprising turns — defending champion Brendon Todd, the only player from the top 50 in the world at the Bermuda Championship, missed the cut, and former British Open champion Henrik Stenson withdrew before the start of the second round with a foot injury.

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda — Peter Malnati saw his infant son at a PGA Tour event for the first time since the pandemic, which brought a smile to his face and another birdie on his card for an 8-under 63 and a one-shot lead Thursday in the Bermuda Championship.

The tournament is the first to allow limited fans — no more than 500 a day at Port Royal — since the opening round of The Players Championship on March 12.

The final birdie was the ninth of the round for Malnati, who has gone from the South to the West to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and keeps playing some of his best golf.

It was the third time in his last three events he posted a 63 or lower. Malnati was runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Mississippi and followed that with a tie for fifth in Las Vegas.

This round gave him a one-shot lead over Ryan Armour and Doug Ghim, who birdied his last two holes.

“With everything in the world right now — and this island is doing a phenomenal job with their testing protocol and keeping everyone safe — I just didn’t know if it was actually going to work for them to get out here,” Malnati said of about his wife and 1-year-old son. “So coming off that disappointing bogey on 17, I hit a nice drive on 18 and before I even get my yardage or anything, I see my wife and boy standing out there.”

“It just brought a huge smile to my face,” he said. “To see them and then to finish with that birdie, I’m a happy man.”

Malnati ran off five straight birdies starting with No. 9, and he was looking to finish strong. Among the shorter hitters in the modern power game, he had made up his mind to take on the bunkers down the right side of the par-5 17th hole and turn it into an easy birdie.

Instead, he turned it left into the water for a penalty stroke and made bogey.

“So that stunk,” he said. “But how can I complain about much? We’re on the island of Bermuda and I sure played great.”

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., shot a 4-under 67 and is the top Canadian after round one, currently sitting in a tie for 15th.

David Hearn of Brampton, Ont was one shot behind, posting a 3-under 68 and tying with Burlington, Ont. born Michael Gligic for 26th. Fellow Canadian Graham De Laet of Weyburn, Sask., was 3-over par.

The Bermuda Championship matches the weakest field of the year on the PGA Tour, though it receives full status this year because the HSBC Champions in Shanghai was cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning Bermuda is not the same week as a World Golf Championship. The winner receives an invitation to the Masters next year.

It also is the start of consecutive PGA Tour events allowing limited fans. The Houston Open has said it will sell no more than 2,000 ticket a day. The Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua, the first event on 2021, also announced this week it would limited fans.

Doc Redman, Vaughn Taylor and Chase Seiffert were at 65, while Hunter Mahan was in the group at 66. It was Mahan’s lowest opening round in more than two years.

Three-time major champion and Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington opened with a 67. Harrington won at Port Royal in 2013 in the final stages of the course hosting the PGA Grand Slam of Golf.

Fred Funk, the 64-year-old regular on the PGA Tour Championship, shot 69. He played in the same group as his son, Taylor Funk, who shot a 73.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Nick Taylor has never been to the Masters. He already is motivated to get back.

Taylor is excited to be playing Augusta National in two weeks, make no mistake about that. The 32-year-old Canadian has only watched on television, often enough to have a good idea what to expect. And that’s what tempers some of the anticipation about his Masters debut.

He has seen it enough to know what he’ll be missing.

“When I won, you think of the Masters and what it’s going to be,” Taylor said. “And it’s not going to be that.”

No spring colours from the dogwoods and azaleas. The Par 3 Contest has been cancelled. The patrons will be at home, the same place Taylor has been all these years. That means no roars that echo through Georgia pines, as much a part of Masters lore as the green jacket.

For those who think Augusta National is the cathedral of golf, it probably will sound like one. The Masters without roars? That’s like having the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade without balloons.

Taylor is among 26 newcomers to the Masters, postponed from the first full week of April to Nov. 12-15 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nine of those players, such as PGA champion Collin Morikawa, already have secured spots for the next Masters, presumably in April.

There is no guarantee when the others will return, if they ever do.

Taylor won as a rookie in 2014 at the Sanderson Farms Championship when it was held the same week as the World Golf Championship in Shanghai and did not come with a Masters invitation. He finally earned his invitation in February, playing with five-time champion Phil Mickelson at Pebble Beach and posting a 70 in blustery conditions to win by four.

“To get that invite for the Masters, that’s a tournament I’ve dreamt about playing my entire life,” Taylor said that day.

Just over a month later, the pandemic shut down golf. The Masters was postponed until November. Then came the announcement in August that it would be held without fans.

The anticipation is different now from what it was in February.

“I was two months away from all the perks, maybe going before (the Masters) to see it,” Taylor said. “Now all the news we’ve heard about it is a downer. No fans. No Par 3. It’s hard to compare. It’s not that I’m not excited, but certain aspects make it a special week, especially having never been there before. To not have those only makes me want to go back.”

Taylor is thankful to be playing again, like so many others. This is the 21st consecutive week of PGA Tour golf, with no shutdown, no slashing of prize money and no fans, no energy. For a sport that sees something new every week – Winged Foot, Shadow Creek, Port Royal this week in Bermuda – there is a sameness to each week without anyone watching.

And now the Masters.

“It’s easy to get negative about what’s going on the world,” he said. “But we’re playing golf. The reality check when we’re out there is how fortunate we are. We have our jobs. Everyone in my bubble is healthy. But when you think about what could have been at the Masters, it can get disappointing.”

Tyler Duncan knows the feeling.

He won the RSM Classic at Sea Island last November, beating Webb Simpson in a playoff, and he received his formal Masters invitation in the mail soon after.

When the Florida swing arrived, Duncan called the club and arranged for a practice round at Augusta National. His plan was to go there on the Monday after The Players Championship.

Golf shut down on Friday of The Players.

“That didn’t work out,” Duncan said with a wry smile. “And then the course is shut down all summer. Now they’re trying to limit play, and you have to play with a member. I’ve been trying to do that but haven’t had a whole lot of success. We’ll show up and figure it out from there.”

Asked what he think he would miss the most, the azaleas or the noise, Duncan didn’t hesitate.

“The noise, for sure,” he said. “I’ve watched it so many times. A lot of shots come to mind, and you think of that. But you hear all the roars on the back nine where the tournament is won.”

He doesn’t know anything about Washington Road. He didn’t even know John Daly sold merchandise from an RV parked outside Hooters. Duncan won’t know all he’s missing.

“It’s still the Masters,” he said. “It’s a tournament everyone dreams of playing.”

Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player will be hitting the ceremonial tee shot without people standing a dozen deep around the tee trying to hear what they say. The starter will announce each player with that familiar, “Fore, please.” There’s still a green jacket everyone covets.

But it won’t be the same. It won’t sound the same.

They’re still going to the Masters. And then the goal is to come back to experience the real Masters.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — Patrick Cantlay rallied from four shots behind and got far enough ahead that Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas couldn’t quite catch him Sunday in the Zozo Championship at Sherwood.

Cantlay closed with a 7-under 65 for a one-shot victory, the third of his career, and first in his home state of California. All three required making up a deficit of three shots or more.

As much as Cantlay celebrated a victory he felt was overdue, Rahm and Thomas were left to rue their mistakes.

Rahm took the lead with a birdie on the par-5 11th, only to drop shots on each of the next two holes, including the par-5 13th. The Spaniard had a chance to force a playoff, but narrowly missed from 15 feet on the par-3 17th and from 20 feet on the final hole. He shot 68.

Thomas, who started the round with a one-shot lead, had to scramble for par on the last two par 5s, and hit into hazards on consecutive holes down the stretch. His tee shot to a front pin on the par-3 15th plugged into thick grass, and Thomas did remarkably well to hack out to 30 feet and make bogey.

Cantlay, in the group ahead of Thomas and Rahm, bungled the par-5 16th by missing the green from 114 yards and making only his second bogey of the round, and the tournament. That reduced his lead to two shots.

Thomas drilled a drive and was in perfect position with a 4-iron. But he sent that out to the right, trying to avoid a shot left of the green, and it bounced off a tree and into the creek. After the penalty drop, he had to play a marvelous pitch-and-run off hard pan to get up-and-down for par.

But he needed birdies, and that didn’t come for Thomas until he needed to hole out from the 18th fairway for eagle. His approach landed 4 feet next to the hole. The birdie gave him a 69, and denied Rahm a small consolation. Rahm needed to finish second alone to return to No. 1 in the world.

Dustin Johnson, a Sherwood member who missed this week recovering from a positive coronavirus test, remains No. 1.

Cantlay moved back into the top 10. He has no weakness in his game except for the victory tally. Cantlay had gone more than a year since his last victory, when he rallied from three behind at Muirfield Village to win the Memorial. His other win was in Las Vegas in 2017 when he came from four shots back and won in a playoff.

At a tournament with low scoring, he had no choice but to produce his best of the week. Cantlay opened with four birdies in six holes to get in the mix, and he surged into the lead with four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the front nine.

The final birdie was the toughest, a 7-iron he hit at three-quarter speed that landed right next to the hole and rolled out to 10 feet for his third straight birdie.

Thomas and Rahm provided some help on the par-5 13th. Thomas went from thick rough to more thick rough and still had 189 yards for his third shot, and he ended up making a tough par save from the collection area behind the green. Rahm was in the fairway and in range, but he came up well short into a bunker, left that short of the green and missed an 8-foot par.

No one else was within four shots of Cantlay.

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., continued his ascent and finished strong, ending the weekend in a tie for 8th after shooting 66. Canadian Mackenzie Hughes (Dundas, Ont.) finished in a tie for 41st, while Nick Taylor (Abbotsford, B.C.) and Adam Hadwin (Abbotsford, B.C.) both tied for 63rd.

The other show at Sherwood was on the opposite side of the course, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson playing together in the final round with no fans. There was nothing to see, anyway.

Woods closed with a 74 and still beat Mickelson by four shots. Mickelson, coming off a victory last week on the PGA Tour Champions, had five 6s on his card. Both finished out of the top 70 against a 78-man field.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — With one good break and two good putts, Justin Thomas felt much better about his round of 5-under 67 on Saturday that gave him a one-shot lead over Jon Rahm in the Zozo Championship at Sherwood.

Thomas, who trailed by as many as two shots on the back nine, hit driver on the par-5 16th that clanged off a sycamore tree and dropped into the rough instead of he creek. 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.

Rahm finished some two hours earlier with a 63, which he figured at least would get him close to the lead and nearly kept him at the top until Thomas finished strong.

Lanto Griffin was leading the Nos. 2 and 3 players in the world until making two bogeys over the last four holes, one in the water on the par-3 15th, the other by going rough-to-rough on the closing hole.

Thomas was at 19-under 197 in another week of low scoring on the PGA Tour, at least for most players. It was another grind for Tiger Woods, the Zozo Championship winner last year in Japan, who could only manage a 71.

That led to what figures to be the greatest illustration of the strange times brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Woods will be playing the final round with Phil Mickelson, the top two attractions in golf, and there won’t be any fans on the course to watch them.

Mickelson opened with seven birdies in eight holes, and played the rest of the way in 2 over for a 67.

It will be the ninth time they play together in the final round on the PGA Tour, and the first time they have no bearing on the outcome. They were 16 shots out of the lead. The first time they played together on a Sunday was at the 1997 PGA Championship when they were eight shots behind and each shot 75,

Thomas is going for his third victory this year. Rahm may return to No. 1 in the world and Griffin is equally intriguing. He won his first PGA Tour title last year in Houston and showed for much of Saturday that he doesn’t get caught in the weeds. Plus, his putting stroke has been pure all week.

Griffin opened with four straight birdies to take the lead, and he stayed there until the end of the round. He went to 19 under with a 15-foot birdie on the 14th hole — two clear of Thomas at that point — when his tee shot took on the flag on the right side of the green at the 15th and drifted too far right and into the hazard.

Instead of going to the drop zone, he went to a different set of tees that allowed for a full swing and better control, dropped that wedge into 20 feet and made the putt to escape with bogey.

Thomas was playing well enough, even if he had little to show for it after opening with two birdies. In trouble off the tee on the par-5 13th, he chose to drop on the cement cart path and hit a hard draw — without damaging his club — back into the fairway. But then he didn’t take advantage by hitting a mediocre wedge to the fringe to set up par.

And when Griffin holed his birdie putt on the 14th, Thomas missed badly from just inside him.

But it changed quickly with those two birdies on the 16th and 17th, and he was right back where he started the day.

Patrick Cantlay didn’t get much out of his round either, but he kept bogeys off his card for the third straight day. He was three shots behind, along with Sebastian Munoz and Ryan Palmer, who each had 66.

Canadian Corey Conners continued his upward trajectory as the top Canadian so far, closing in a tie for 20th with a 4-under 68. Fellow Canadians Mackenzie Hughes (Dundas, ON.), Nick Taylor (Winnipeg, MB) , and Adam Hadwin (Moose Jaw, SK) closed the day in ties for 36th, 48th, and 64th respectively.

Webb Simpson (67) and Bubba Watson (68) were among those four shots behind.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — The Houston Open will be the first domestic PGA Tour event to have fans, and that might be enough to send Phil Mickelson elsewhere in his final tournament before the Masters.

Mickelson typically plays the week before the Masters, and he was planning on being at the Houston Open. The tournament announced last week that 2,000 tickets a day would go on sale starting Wednesday.

The Houston Open is Nov. 5-8 at Memorial Park. That’s the same week as the 54-hole Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix on the PGA Tour Champions. Mickelson has won both his starts on the 50-and-over circuit.

“I think that they will do a very good, safe job in having 2,000 people at the Houston Open,” Mickelson said Wednesday at the Zozo Championship at Sherwood. “However, for me personally, I don’t like the risk of having that happen the week before the Masters. I just feel like the week before the Masters, that’s a big tournament we have and I just don’t want to have any risk heading in there. So it has made me question whether or not I’ll play there.”

Mickelson said if the Charles Schwab Cup Championship also has limited spectators, he probably would go to Houston.

“If Phoenix does not have people, I’ll probably go there, to be honest,” he said.

The plan for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, held at Phoenix Country Club, is to be limited to 350 members who will have access only to a private area in the clubhouse. They can watch on the course, with no area to congregate, and walking corridors are being widened. Members will have temperature checks each day and must wear masks at all times.

The Houston Open said spectators must have masks on at all times at Memorial Park except when eating or drinking. It has yet to announce specific guidelines for spectators.

The USGA announced the U.S. Women’s Open will not have spectators at Champions Golf Club in Houston. The Women’s Open is Dec. 10-13, a month after the Houston Open.

“Following extensive consultation with health officials, we have decided that hosting the U.S. Women’s Open without spectators will provide the best opportunity to conduct the championship safely for all involved,” said John Bodenhamer, the USGA’s senior managing director of championships.

Dustin Johnson, who has withdrawn from the last two PGA Tour events after the world’s No. 1 player tested positive for the coronavirus, is scheduled to return at the Houston Open. After self-isolating for 10 days, Johnson does not have to be tested again for three months under CDC guidelines the PGA Tour has adopted.

Brooks Koepka also has said he’s playing Houston, while Tiger Woods said Tuesday he has not decided whether to play the week before the Masters for the first time in his pro career.

Mickelson said the PGA Tour has done remarkably well in its return from the COVID-19 shutdown, and he’s confident the Houston Open will have a safe environment.

“But because I haven’t seen it before, because it’s the first one out on the tour with some people, I’m unsure and I don’t want to take any unnecessary risks,” Mickelson said.

Johnson last week was the 12th player to test positive at a PGA Tour event. Mickelson says players, caddie and the rest of essential personnel who face weekly testing at tournament sites have been accountable in how they operate and where they go amid a pandemic.

What concerns him the most, especially with the coronavirus test he faces at Augusta National, is false positives.

“That’s the scare,” Mickelson said. “Because I know that I’ve been able to stay safe, that my circle … has been safe, so we’ve made all those precautions. But the false positives is the thing that scares me.”

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.

Thomas wasn’t particularly thrilled, except for his position, mainly because the final stretch of holes was still fresh on his mind and he closed with six consecutive pars on a day when the field made birdie or better just over 33% of the time.

Richy Werenski led the way with 12 birdies for a 61, the lowest score in a tour-sanctioned competition at Sherwood. The average score was 67.87.

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.

“Got off to a much better start and kept rolling,” Woods said.

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.

But after two birdies in three holes to start the front nine — he hit into the water on the par-5 second hole and still managed to escape with par — he didn’t convert any birdie chances.

Thomas was at 14-under 130, one stroke clear of Lanto Griffin and Dylan Frittelli, who each had a 65 and each made bogey on the final hole.

Griffin tied Thomas with a 5-foot birdie on the seventh hole and then a 5-iron that didn’t turn out the way he had envisioned — he aimed 25 feet left and hit it right at the flag, 15 feet behind it.

“Pushed it right at the flag and it lands a foot from the hole,” Griffin said. “Then Rickie (Fowler) hit right where I was trying to hit it and his caddie said, `Good shot.’ And I said, `Yeah, that’s where I was trying to hit it.”’

It worked out fine, but he dropped back with a clunky 9-iron on the ninth hole that came up nearly 30 yards short of the hole and he missed a 10-foot par putt.

Patrick Cantlay found his putting touch and and shot 65. He was two shots behind, along with Scottie Scheffler, who also had a 65.

Low scores were everywhere on a course that is short by PGA Tour standards and has five par 5s that are reachable in two, even without hitting driver off the tee. There has been little wind, pleasant weather. And different from the days of the Woods’ holiday event in December, a 78-man field makes it likely more players are going low, especially when they see what everyone else is doing.

Woods couldn’t be much worse from Thursday, especially on the par 5s. He played them in 3 over in the opening round of 76, his highest score in his 13th year playing Sherwood. He played them in 4 under on Friday.

Phil Mickelson played them in 3 over Friday, but it was really just a couple of par 5s that ate him up.

He sent his tee shot off the property to the left on the 11th hole and made bogey. And on the 13th, he sent two shots into what amounts to a jungle left of the fairway and made a quadruple-bogey 9. He shot 74 and was near the bottom of the pack, one week after winning for the second straight time on the 50-and-older PGA Tour Champions.

Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., is the top Canadian after firing a 5-under 67 to reach 8 under heading into the weekend. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., (68) is 6 under, Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., (72) is 5 under, while Abbotsford’s Adam Hadwin (67) is 2 under.

Making birdies is not a problem for Rory McIlroy — he’s just not getting much out of them. McIlroy made seven birdies in the opening round, but he had three bogeys, two double bogeys and one club snapped over his knee on the back nine. On Friday, he made eight birdies and still only managed a 67.

“So I’ve made 15 birdies in the first two days, which usually would put you right up at the top of the leaderboard. I just made too many mistakes,” McIlroy said. “It was the same story last week, sort of the same story at Winged Foot. Just one of those stretches where the good stuff’s there, but the bad stuff is sort of taking away from the fact that I’m hitting good shots and making birdies.”

Thomas has won the last four times he had a 36-hole lead, though this is different. Twenty players were within four shots of the lead, all of them at 10 under or better. He is playing well, making birdies and it was no time to let up.

“I played well. I’m not very pleased with the finish,” he said. “The last six holes, I would have liked to at least have got something. Having a 5-iron and a 5-wood out of the fairway into two par 5s and making two pars is not good. I just wasn’t near as tight and tidy those last four holes.”

LAS VEGAS – In his 10th season, in his 233rd tournament, Jason Kokrak can finally call himself a PGA Tour winner.

Kokrak earned every bit of it Sunday in the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek. He matched the best round of the tournament with an 8-under 64 to overcome a three-shot deficit at the start and win a duel on the back nine with Xander Schauffele.

“Couldn’t be happier,” said Kokrak, who was born in North Bay, Ont.

The timing couldn’t be better. The CJ Cup moved from South Korea this year to Shadow Creek because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kokrak is an ambassador for MGM Resorts, which owns the prestigious Tom Fazio design.

“It feels like home,” Kokrak said. “I’ve played this golf course enough that I should know it by now.”

Kokrak began to pull away with four straight birdies on the front nine, and birdie putts from 20 feet and 18 feet to start the back nine stretched his lead to two shots.

Schauffele answered with three straight birdies, the last one a 45-footer by using his putter from the thick collar of the 13th green to catch him. Then, it was a matter of who blinked first.

That turned out to be Schauffele on the par-5 16th, when he only managed to advance his shot from deep rough left of the fairway some 85 yards into more rough. Swinging with all his might, his third shot peeled off to the right into more rough well below the green, and he made his only bogey in his round of 66.

Kokrak also was in the left rough, hacked out to the right rough and put his third shot in the bunker. But he splashed it out to just inside 4 feet and made par for a one-shot lead, and Schauffele couldn’t catch up.

Kokrak, a 35-year-old from Ohio, all but clinched it when he drilled his drive into the fairway on the par-5 18th, leaving only a short iron to 25 feet. He two-putted for his final birdie of a round he won’t soon forget.

Russell Henley, who began the final round with a three-shot lead, never got anything going early and fell behind when he bogeyed the par-5 seventh and Kokrak was on his early run of birdies.

Henley’s hopes ended on the reachable par-4 11th when he drove over the green into thick rough and, facing a downhill chip, left it in the rough short of the green and made bogey on the second-easiest scoring hole at Shadow Creek. That put him four shots behind, and a late push of birdies was never going to be enough.

He closed with a 70 and tied for third with Tyrrell Hatton, who was coming off a victory last week in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth. Hatton closed with a 65.

Kokrak played bogey-free on a course where trouble was never too far away. Justin Thomas, within five shots of the lead, has two straight bogeys on the front nine and three more in a four-hole stretch on the back for a 74. Rory McIlroy was at least headed for a good finish until he had a pair of bogeys and two double bogeys over the last five holes for a 74.

Making it even tougher on Kokrak and Schauffele was Jason Day, the third in their group, withdrew with a neck injury on the second hole. That meant a twosome amidst a course filled with threesomes, and a lot of waiting. They still played at the highest level, with Kokrak delivering all the key putts.

Kokrak earned a spot in the Masters next month from reaching the Tour Championship a year ago in August. Now he can plan on two trips to Augusta National, qualifying for the 2021 tournament by winning.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. finished in a tie for 28th place with a score of 5-under. He shot a 2-under 70 in final round Sunday. Another Abbotsford native, Nick Taylor finished in a three-way tie for 61st place with Nick Taylor of Listowel, Ont., and American Andrew Landry at 3-over.

Mackenzie Hughes started the 2021 PGA Tour season with the highest ranking of his career and he’s already reaping the benefits.

Hughes, from Dundas, Ont., will be in the field at this week’s CJ Cup, which has moved South Korea to Shadow Creek Golf Course in Las Vegas.

He said that getting to set his own calendar is one of the advantages of finishing last season 14th on the FedExCup standings.

“These are the kinds of tournaments and fields you want to be a part of it. It’s a reward for having a good year the prior year,” said Hughes from his home in North Carolina.

“You want to build your schedule around the biggest tournaments and you want to play the best players in the world.”

Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, both from Abbotsford, B.C., as well as Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., are also in the 78-player field at the no-cut event.

The first three editions of the CJ Cup were played at the Nine Bridges Golf Club on Jeju Island, South Korea, but was moved to the Vegas swing of the PGA Tour schedule this year.

Hughes said that being able to set his own schedule is especially helpful as he and his wife Jenna are expecting their second son the last week of November.

He will play at next week’s ZOZO Championship at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif. – moved from Tokyo because of travel restrictions related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Houston Open and the Masters will follow but the RSM Classic on Nov. 19 is a maybe for him as Jenna’s due date approaches.

“That’s what I’ll keep doing going into next year,” said Hughes. “I’ll probably end up playing a bit less but keep my attention around the bigger tournaments and layer in some other tournaments around that to get ready for those.”

Families were not allowed to travel with golfers for most of the 2020 PGA Tour season as the top men’s golf tour tried to maintain a bubble during the pandemic. That was tough for a family man like Hughes, who skipped the Sanderson Farms Championship and the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open so he could be at home.

“I’ve enjoyed being home for a couple of weeks, I don’t get too many of those breaks,” said Hughes. “It’s nice to be with them and hang out have some fun but also provide my wife with some help, provide some support as we raise out child.”

This is no ordinary road to the Masters.

Instead of the tropical warmth of Florida in the spring, it starts in the hot desert air of Nevada in October.

Instead of a series of PGA Tour events some 500 miles south of Augusta National with an occasional detour into Texas, this road starts 2,000 to the west, heads out to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and then back over to Houston.

What hasn’t changed is the top players are back in action with Georgia on their minds.

It starts Thursday with the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek, typically held in South Korea and now part of an Asia swing that moved this year to the western U.S. because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Four of the top five players in the world are at Shadow Creek, with top-ranked Dustin Johnson pulling out after his positive test for the coronavirus.

It’s different, just like the entire year in just about every sport.

Rory McIlroy thinks Shadow Creek might be even better than what Florida offers because of the bentgrass greens that are fast with big slopes.

“It’s not a bad place to prepare for Augusta,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “Climate’s going to be a bit different, but it’s not bad preparation. Obviously, it’s on the other side of the country. But when you think about the courses that we play leading up to Augusta, they’re all Bermuda for the most part. It’s Florida. It’s a different test and a different setup.

“I think here this week and Sherwood next week, I think that’s going to be a lot of guys’ last event before Augusta.”

Most of them are happy to have the opportunity.

The CJ Cup (South Korea) and the Zozo Championship (Japan) likely would not have attracted top players unwilling to travel that far during a pandemic, especially with the Masters having been pushed back to November. Both tournaments have limited fields with no cuts and big money.

The Zozo Championship next week is at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California. That will be followed by the Bermuda Championship and Houston Open ahead of the Masters on Nov. 12-15.

“I think a lot of guys are really happy that they’ve got these two events to play and see where their game is,” McIlroy said. “These are obviously big events in their own right, but looking ahead for a few week’s time.”

Shadow Creek adds to the prestige as the elite club in Las Vegas, a Tom Fazio-design with a list of members that range from former U.S. presidents to Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter to actors Sylvester Stallone and Matt Damon.

The condition is mint. Justin Rose said they were the best greens he has played this side of Augusta National and Muirfield Village, home of the Memorial.

It last was seen on television two years ago when Phil Mickelson beat Tiger Woods in a $9 million winner-take-all match as golf delved into pay-per-view, which turned out to be free because of technical glitches.

“I definitely look at that as our key event this fall,” Rickie Fowler said. “With CJ bringing the tournament here to Shadow, I think is is actually a great place to have a little checkpoint of where things are leading up to Augusta. The greens could be fairly similar in areas to what we may see at Augusta.”

The CJ Cup marks the return of Brooks Koepka after two months off to heal a left hip injury, a byproduct of a knee injury he had been dealing with since last year. Several others, such as defending champion Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele, have not played since the U.S. Open.

Rose, Shane Lowery and Tommy Fleetwood are among those who were outside London last week for the European Tour flagship event, finding it well worth it to cross eight time zones to tee it up at Shadow Creek.

As much emphasis as there is on the greens, McIlroy arrived in Las Vegas talking about length _ specifically Bryson DeChambeau’s method of hitting it as far as he could on his way to winning the U.S. Open.

McIlroy isn’t about to add 40 pounds of muscle and mass. But he is trying to add speed to his swing, even if he doesn’t catch up to the 200 mph ball speed DeChambeau is approaching.

“Having length is an advantage and I’ve always been pretty long,” McIlroy said. “I think what I want to do is at least know that I have it if I need it. I’m not going to try to do it all the time, I’m not trying to get my ball speed into the 190s every time I hit a driver, but at least I know that if I need to do it, I can do it.”

DeChambeau is home in Dallas for a month working on a 48-inch driver for the Masters. McIlroy is at Shadow Creek and Sherwood the next two weeks. Both are thinking about the Masters in their own way.