Page 23 - Golf Champion - Mar 2021

"I felt like the chip, if I just caught it right in the
fringe it was going to check up on me, and it did
perfectly," he said. "Took a nice little right kick for
me, and didn't look anywhere else but the hole."
The crowd was a fraction of the usual size but the
most on tour during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coming off a career-worst three straight missed
cuts, Koepka rebounded from a bogey on the
second with a 24-foot eagle putt on the par-5 third
and birdied Nos. 13-15.
Schauffele birdied the par-4 18th for a 71 to tie for
second with Kyoung-Hoon Lee (68). Schauffele tied
for second last week at Torrey Pines.
Lee birdied 17 to pull within one of Koepka, but
drove into the right rough on the par-4 18th and
had his 34-foot birdie try slide by on the high side.
"I'm pretty excited this week," Lee said. "Everything
good -- irons, driver, birdieing, everything --- and a
lot of saves."
Steve Stricker, the 53-year-old U.S. Ryder Cup
captain who was trying to become the oldest
winner on the PGA TOUR, closed with a 67 to tie
for fourth with Spieth (72) and Carlos Ortiz (64) at
17 under.
Spieth and Schauffele struggled from the start, with
Spieth bogeying the first hole after nearly driving
into a desert bush. They each had two bogeys on
the front nine, with Schauffele making the only
birdie between the two on the front side on No. 9.
James Hahn, three strokes ahead in the middle of
the round, bogeyed four of the last eight holes for a
69. He finished 10th at 15 under.

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