Golf-Mickelson storms home at 'home', looks ahead to next week

By Larry Fine

 JERSEY CITY, New Jersey, Aug 25 (Reuters) - After three pedestrian rounds, Phil Mickelson put it together in Sunday's final round at The Barclays, surging up the leaderboard after a blistering six-under-par 65 at Liberty National.

 Mickelson said he felt close to shooting a good score and that his seven-birdie round could be a launching pad for next week's second event in the FedExCup playoffs, the Deutsche Bank Championshipin Boston.

 "Yesterday after the round, I felt a good round coming, because the pieces were there for a low round yesterday but I didn't put it together," said British Open champion Mickelson, referring to his third-round 70 on Saturday.

"I made a lot of little mistakes. I just played sloppy but I felt my ball-striking was coming and I felt the putter was coming.

"I feel like now, my ball striking is coming around. It was pretty sharp. I feel really good on the greens and I'm looking forward to getting to Boston next week."

 Mickelson began the day tied for 34th at three under par after rounds of 71-69-70 and finished tied for sixth, at one stage standing within a stroke of the lead before slipping with a bogey at the 18th.

The big left-hander said the pressure was off on Sunday since he began the final round nine shots off the pace and he had no specific target.

"Being nine shots back starting the day, you don't think you had a chance," he said.

"It was just to play a good, solid round, to play smart, to hit the shots and to miss it in the proper spots and play a good, solid round and use it as a motivation or momentum-builder for next week."

His stretch of seven birdies in 10 holes from the sixth, however, was nearly good enough to help catapult him to the top of the leaderboard.

"I do believe, had I made one or two coming in, I might have had a chance," he said.

 Mickelson, who is a member of Liberty National, feels at home on the waterside layout perched on the edge of New York harbor and called it an enjoyable week in front of area fans who have long embraced him.

"I love playing here. I love playing in the metropolitan area - New York, New Jersey. It's just terrific," said Mickelson, who even enjoys the running banter from vociferous fans.

"The people are really fun to play in front of. They are just fun," he said.

"It's probably my favorite place to play. They have been great to me and my family, and I love some of the comments. It's funny." (Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

Golf-Australia's Scott wins Barclays in tight finish

* Claims one-shot victory over four rivals

* Woods rebounds after collapsing with back pain (Adds details, quotes)

By Larry Fine

 JERSEY CITY, New Jersey, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Masters championAdam Scott of Australia won The Barclays after a nail-biting finish, claiming the title on Sunday by one stroke over four rivals in the opening event of the FedExCup playoffs.

 Early finisher Scott posted a five-under-par 66 at Liberty National for an 11-under-par total of 273 that stood up as Tiger Woods (69),U.S. Open champion Justin Rose (68), Canadian Graham DeLaet(65) and Gary Woodland (73) all finished one stroke back.

Scott began the day six strokes behind overnight co-leader Woodland and played eight groups behind the final pair. He finished his round about 90 minutes before the last putt was sunk.

He watched challenger after challenger come up short and at the end he was glancing up at a large screen TV near the practice range as he stayed loose in case of a playoff.

"I was thinking, I'm lucky to even have a chance, I started today on a wing and a prayer I thought," said Scott.

"I played a good round of golf but I didn't think it was good enough. But the closing holes threw up a challenge on these guys and luck was definitely on my side today."

 It was Scott's first victory since his rousing playoff win over Argentina's Angel Cabrera at Augusta, and a frustrating loss for his pursuers, particularly Woods.

BACK PAIN

Woods, who complained of a sore back this week after sleeping on a soft hotel bed, collapsed to his knees after striking his second shot on the par-five 13th hole and grabbed at his back.

The shot sailed left and into the water beyond the tee box at an adjacent hole. Woods went on to bogey the hole and the 15th as well before bouncing back with birdies at 16 and 17. He left his last birdie try two revolutions short of the cup.

"It (the pain) actually started the hole before, my little tee shot there started it," Woods said of his tee shot at the 12th hole. "Thirteen just kind of accentuated it."

Woods was asked if it was a back spasm. "Oh yeah, big time," said the 37-year-old American, who bent very gingerly each time he removed his ball from the cup. "It's definitely spasming."

Rose needed two putts from 30 feet at the last to tie Scott, but sent his 30-foot birdie try five feet past and missed the par putt.

"I felt it was a putt to make, a putt I could make," Rose said about his birdie try at 18 that would have won him the tournament.

"It was uphill, a little left-to-right. I was surprised to see it go five feet by, I've got to say. Disappointing way to finish."

MISSES TWICE

Woodland had 10-foot birdie attempts at both 17 and 18 to join Scott on 11-under but missed both.

"I hit a good putt," the long-hitting American said about his chance on the 72nd hole. "Hit it right where I wanted to. Just went the other direction. Frustrating."

Tied for sixth place at nine under par were British Open champion Phil Mickelson, who fired a final-round 65, and fellow-Americans Jim Furyk (69) and D.A. Points (67).

While he had not won since the Masters, Scott continued to play very good golf. He tied for third at the British Open and tied for fifth at the PGA Championship earlier this month before claiming his 10th career PGA Tour victory on Sunday.

"It's been a great year for me," he said. "I've been playing consistently well and trying hard to get another victory this year and surprised myself with this one today.

"Got to keep it going now, three big weeks in the playoffs left and hopefully I can cap it off with a big win in the FedExCup," said the Australian, with an eye toward the $10 million bonus paid to the series winner.

"This win's for the new member of my family, Olivia, who was born yesterday," Scott said. "So big shout out to my sister and her husband. I'm thinking of you guys."

The top 100 on the FedExCup points list advanced to next week's playoffs event, the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston. (Reporting by Larry Fine, Editing by Gene Cherry)

Aussie Scott captures The Barclays

Adam Scott, who won his first major title at The Masters, fired a five-under par 66 on Sunday to capture The Barclays, the first leg of the PGA Tour playoffs.

The Australian took the early clubhouse lead by posting a bogey free round to reach 11-under par 273 and then watched a number of challengers fall short, including a hurting Tiger Woods, who finished in a tie for second.

"I can't believe it," said the 33-year-old Scott from Adelaide. "I just played a good round today. Things turned my way a lot out there."

Woods, battling back pain, ended up in a tie with three others after shooting a two-under 69 at Liberty National Golf Club. Woods' attempted birdie putt on 18, which would have put him in a playoff, stopped just inches short of the cup.

Canada's Graham DeLaet (65), England's US Open champion Justin Rose (68) and third round co-leader Gary Woodland (73) were level with Woods at 10-under 274.

Scott got his US PGA playoff series off to a successful start as he claimed his first title since his triumph at Augusta National.

He denied world number one Woods a chance to win his sixth tournament of the year.

Scott, whose anchored putting style will be banned starting in 2016, caught fire in the middle of his front nine with three-consecutive birdies beginning at the par-four fifth.

England's Rose, Woods and Woodland all had a chance to force a playoff at the 18th hole, but none of them could make birdie.

Woods came the closest but his long putt from off the green did a double curl and stopped just shy of the hole.

"I hit good putt and I thought I made it," said Woods, who battled through back spasms all weekend long.

The spasms became so bad on the back nine Sunday that Woods grimaced and dropped to all fours after hitting one shot on the 13th fairway. The shot sailed left and into a water hazard that resembled a sea of green muck, forcing him to take a drop.

"I had back spasms big time," Woods said. "It started a little before but 13 accentuated it."

Asked if he would be able to continue in the playoff series Woods said, "that's all hypothetical. I just got off (the course) and am not feeling my best right now."

Reigning British Open champion Phil Mickelson (65), Jim Furyk (69) and D.A. Points (67) shared sixth at nine-under.

Ricky Fowler (70), Nick Watney (69), Matt Every (68) and Jason Kokrak (67) tied for ninth at minus-eight.

The Barclays is the first leg of the USPGA Tour's playoffs which continue in Boston next week with the Deutsche Bank Championships. The top 100 in the playoff points standings advance to the Deutsche Bank.

Seventy will then advance to the BMW Championship, and the series culminates with the top 30 players in the standings competing in the Tour Championship, with the points leader at the end earning a $10 million bonus.

Woodland holes 58-foot chip, wins Reno-Tahoe Open

CBSSports.com wire reports

Aug. 4, 2013 9:13 PM ET

• 1   |  Comment

RENO, Nev. -- The momentum slipping away in the Reno-Tahoe Open, Gary Woodland got out of trouble in a hurry on the par-4 14th hole.

After nearly losing his ball in the pine needles and sagebrush, Woodland chipped in from the rough from 58 feet for one of his four birdies Sunday en route to his second PGA Tour victory.

KYLE PORTER

We want Woods to win, but we want drama, too

"I got lucky to find my ball on 14 there in the hazard and I kind of chopped it out," Woodland said. "The chip that went in I was just trying to get it on the green, let alone go in. It was one of the best shots I've ever hit."

Woodland finished with 44 points in the modified Stableford format that awards eight points for double eagle, five for eagle, two for birdie, zero for par, minus-one for bogey and minus-three for double bogey or worse.

Jonathan Byrd and Andres Romero tied for second with 35 points, and Brendon Steele had 33 at Montreux Golf Club on the edge of the Sierra.

Woodland, also the 2011 Transitions Championship winner as a tour rookie, earned $540,000 for the victory and got a spot next week in the PGA Championship.

"It felt like it was meant to be this week," said Woodland, whose best finishes this year had been three ties for 16th at the Phoenix Open, Memorial and AT&T National.

"I tried to stay calm and really focus on what I was doing."

Byrd had an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey to set a single-day scoring record with 18 Stableford points that would have equaled a round of 64 under the usual format.

Dicky Pride and David Mathis tied for fifth with 32 points, followed by Seung-Yui Noh andRory Sabatini with 31, and Chris DiMarco with 30. David Toms and Stuart Applebby tied for 16th with 26 points.

Woodland, the 2011 PGA Tour rookie of the year who played basketball at Washburn before transferring to Kansas and becoming a golfer for the Jayhawks, didn't have a bogey Sunday until the 17th hole thanks to some nifty work around the greens getting up and down to save par five times on the day.

"Even though I wasn't hitting greens I was hitting it in the right spots and gave myself opportunities to get up and down," he said.

On the front nine, Woodland had sand saves out of three greenside bunkers and made his only birdie from 7 feet on the par-3 second.

After he drove into the waste area on the 367-yard, par-4 14th, he hit 20 yards over the green into the rough before watching his 58-foot chip roll against the pin and into the cup.

He added a 21-foot birdie putt on the next hole to open up an eight-point lead over the late-charging Byrd and Woodland's playing partner Steele, who made his birdie putt ahead of Woodland on the 15th.

"To follow up after Brendon Steele made the putt on 15, to answer him was huge," Woodland said. "He had a lot of momentum and I sort of stole it all back and sort of rode it the rest of the way."

He closed with a birdie on the 616-yard 18th when he drove 338 yards into the middle of the fairway, hit his approach 231 yards just in front of the green, chipped to 2 feet and tapped in for the win that also earned him his tour card for the next two years and boosted him from 116th to 54th in the FedExCup standings.

Byrd birdied five of his first seven holes then eagled the par-5 13th when he hit his second shot 219 yards to inside 7 feet.

"My whole mindset was just to be a little more aggressive and give ourselves chances and just free it up," he said. "And I was able to do that today getting off to a hot start. ... Just felt like I was off to the races."

Romero, who finished third at Reno last year and was this year's second-round leader, had five birdies and a bogey to jump from 137th to 110th in FedExCup points. The top 125 advance to the playoffs.

Copyright 2013 by STATS LLC. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC is strictly prohibited.

PGA Championship Expert Picks

by Kyle Porter | Golf Writer

Aug. 7, 2013 2:33 PM ET

• 0   |  Comments

Each week during the official PGA Tour season, CBSSports.com's Kyle Porter will give his best shot at pegging the winner and seeing what other golfers will have a good week. The picks are based on a combination of homework, guesswork and just plain instinct.

Want to make your picks? Tweet your Winner, Top 10 finisher and sleeper to @EyeOnGolf

Odds provided by Bovada.lv

Field | Course Guide | Previous Champions | Schedule | Rankings, FedEx Points

Oak Hill Country Club -- Rochester, N.Y.

Purse: $8 million

Defending Champion: Rory McIlroy

FedEx Cup Points: 600

TV Schedule

Thursday: TNT -- 1-7 p.m.

Friday: TNT -- 1-7 p.m.

Saturday: TNT -- 11-2 p.m., CBS -- 2-7 p.m.

Sunday: TNT -- 11-2 p.m., CBS -- 2-7 p.m.

Pick to win

Henrik Stenson Odds: 22 to 1 World Ranking: 33 I don't love his odds right now (22-1) but he's playing some of the best golf of his career. Was the best "not-out-of-his-mind" golfer at the British Open (thanks a lot, Phil) and finished T2 to Tiger's madness at Bridgestone. He also finished T5 at the Players Championship and has finished in the top six in two of his last three PGA Championships.

Lock for Top-10 finish

Tiger Woods Odds: 4 to 1 World Ranking: 1 He's making it difficult to not pick him for the top 10 in majors right now as he's finished in the top 10 in three of his last five majors. Plus, if you watched him play at Bridgestone, you probably think he's never going to lose again. I don't think he'll win (and that'll be the story) but I think he's going to be in it on Sunday once again.

Sleeper

Harris English Odds: 125 to 1 World Ranking: 73 Had a sneaky T15 at the British Open and even though he's never played a PGA Championship, I trust his ability to play this long, fast course. He's 32nd in driving distance and 20th in strokes gained putting -- both

Scott, Furyk top PGA Championship scoreboard in ripe conditions

CBSSports.com wire reports

Aug. 8, 2013 8:05 PM ET

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Adam Scott fires a 65 for a share of the first-round lead at the PGA Championship. (USATSI)

PITTSFORD, N.Y. -- Adam Scott began the final major of the year with a tee shot deep into the trees. He ended the opening round of the PGA Championship by having to gouge out of deep rough. It was the golf in between that was some of the best he has ever played, even for an Australian with a green jacket.

Showing that he's not satisfied as only being a Masters champion, Scott ran off five straight birdies early in his round Thursday on soft and vulnerable Oak Hill, and a 15-foot par putt at the end gave him a 5-under 65 and a share of the lead with Jim Furyk.

"Probably the best run I've ever had," Scott said of his five straight birdies. "I just hit really nice shots and didn't leave myself too much work. You have to take advantage of that if you're feeling that. It was a dream start after kind of a nervous first couple of holes."

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

Leaderboard

It felt like an easy start to so many others.

Oak Hill has such a strong reputation that it has yielded only 10 scores under par over 72 holes in five previous major championships. The last time the PGA Championship was held on this Donald Ross design in 2003, there were only 12 rounds under par on the first day.

But with overnight rain, humid conditions and a 71-minute delay for storms in the afternoon, Thursday might be as easy as it gets. Scott and Furyk had plenty of company, two of 35 players who broke par.

Tiger Woods was not among them.

The world's No. 1 player made only two birdies despite playing in the still of the morning, and he watched his round fall apart with a bogey on par-5 fourth and a double bogey on his final hole when his flop shot out of a deep rough floated into a bunker. Woods had a 71, not a bad start at Oak Hill, except on this day.

ON A ROLL

Scott off to fast start

"The round realistically could have been under par easily," Woods said.

Furyk, who won his lone major at the U.S. Open in 2003 at Olympia Fields, has gone nearly three years since his last win at the Tour Championship to capture the FedEx Cup and win PGA Tour player of the year. Still fresh are the four close calls from a year ago, including the U.S. Open.

He was as steady as Scott, rarely putting himself in trouble until the end of the round. Furyk missed the fairway to the right and had to pitch out because of thick rough and trees blocking his way to the green. That led to his only bogey, but still his lowest first-round score in 19 appearances at the PGA Championship.

"Usually disappointed with ending the day on a bogey," Furyk said. "But you know, 65, PGA, is not so bad."

David Hearn of Canada, an alternate until a week ago, had a 66 in the morning. Also at 66 was Lee Westwood, who had his best score ever in the PGA and offered evidence that there was no hangover from losing a 54-hole lead in the British Open last month.

There were no record scores at Oak Hill despite the soft conditions, just a lot of low rounds.

"If you don't hit it in the fairways, then you won't score well," Westwood said. "These guys are good. There are a lot of good players playing in the tournament. Somebody is going to hit it straight, and somebody is going to shoot a good score."

Scott certainly didn't start out that way. He had to pitch out from the trees on No. 1, but managed to get up-and-down from about 85 yards in front of the green, and after two more pars, he began his big run of birdies.

"Just got on a bit of a roll and hit a few shots close," Scott said. "I didn't have too much putting to do. You've got to take advantage when it happens, because it doesn't happen too much in the majors. Nothing to complain about in 65."

He felt similar to the opening round at Royal Lytham & St. Annes last year in the British Open, when he flirted with a 63 and had to settle for a course record-tying 64. Scott was on pace to tie the Oak Hill record for majors when he holed an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-3 15th, but he three-putted the next hole for bogey and was pleased to walk away with par on the 18th.

"I felt good out there today," he said. "I felt like I could swing freely and I was hitting all the shots that I wanted to hit. When you get something going for you in a major, sometimes you have got to be not afraid to get out of your own way and let go. I did that at Lytham, and I did that here for 10 or 11 holes."

Just last month at Muirfield, the 31-year-old Australian had the outright lead on the back nine in the British Open until he made four straight bogeys and couldn't keep up with Phil Mickelson and his great finish. Even so, it was evident that Scott was serious about adding more majors to that green jacket he won at Augusta National in April.

"I put a lot into my game the last two years with a focus on the big tournaments," Scott said. "Everyone around me has had the same focus, as well. We come here to do business."

Even Rory McIlroy got in on the act. The defending champion, at the end of a major season that has been a major disappointment, came out firing with three birdies on the opening four holes and made the turn in 32 until back-to-back bogeys. He wound up with a 69.

A resurgent Paul Casey was in the group at 67, while U.S. Open champion Justin Rose, British Open runner-up Henrik Stenson and the ageless Miguel Angel Jimenez were among 11 players at 68.

Mickelson wound up with the same score as Woods, only they arrived at 71 much differently. Woods had only two birdies. Mickelson shot 71 despite two double bogeys, including one on the 18th hole. On the par-5 fourth hole, he hooked his tee shot out-of-bounds and nearly lost the next tee shot in the same place.

"The first four holes was like a shock to my system," Mickelson said. "Hitting it out-of-bounds on 4 ... out-of-bounds is not even in play. So I got off to a terrible start. I was actually under par for a little while, but that took a lot of fight. And unfortunately, I'm in a position where if I hit a low round tomorrow, I can get back in it."

He headed straight to the practice range, even summoning coach Butch Harmon down from the Sky Sports television booth.

Asked when he finished his work if he was worried about his game, Mickelson replied, "Not now. I was."