DUSTIN JOHNSON, SERGIO GARCIA SHARE LEAD AT LIV GOLF CHICAGO
A pair of former Masters champions is atop the leaderboard at LIV Golf Chicago as Dustin Johnson and Spaniard Sergio Garcia each shot 4-under-par 67 in the first round Friday in Bolingbrook, Ill.
Garcia, whose round began at the 17th hole at Bolingbrook Golf Club, used a run of four birdies at Nos. 11-14 to jump to 6 under for his day. But he finished with back-to-back bogeys to give up the solo lead.
“Yeah, obviously you never want to finish bogey-bogey,” Garcia said. “… I think at the end of the day, 4 under is a very good score. I would have taken it at the beginning of the day with the conditions and the wind and everything, so I’m not disappointed about that.”
Johnson also started his round at No. 17 and overcame two early bogeys to climb to 4 under.
Johnson has contended that his scores this season aren’t reflecting the quality of his play.
“I feel like I’m always close, and it only takes a couple shots here or there where my game just clicks back and I start playing good again,” Johnson said. “Got off to a little bit of a shaky start today but then started hitting some quality shots and rolled in a couple putts and kind of turned it around and finished off with a nice solid day today.”
They hold a one-stroke lead over six players, which include a host of high-profile names: Phil Mickelson, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Spaniard Jon Rahm, England’s Tyrrell Hatton and South Africa’s Dean Burmester.
Mickelson’s day resembled Garcia’s: He had a strong start, with four straight birdies at Nos. 12-15, but that was partially undone by bogeys at Nos. 17 and 18.
“I’m not really pleased with the finish. I need to be able to finish these rounds a little bit better. But I played well, hit a lot of good shots, and I really enjoy the golf course,” Mickelson said.
Another seven players are two off the pace at 2-under 69: Andy Ogletree, Talor Gooch, Spaniard Josele Ballester, Chile’s Mito Pereira, Australian Lucas Herbert and South Africans Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace.
As for the team competition, the South African outfit Stinger GC combined to go 6 under par Friday, good for a one-shot lead over Garcia’s Fireballs GC. Stinger is comprised of Burmester, Schwartzel, Grace and captain Louis Oosthuizen.
TOMMY FLEETWOOD ON TOP AT ST. JUDE; ROUND 2 TO CONCLUDE SATURDAY
MEMPHIS — England’s Tommy Fleetwood, seeking his elusive first win on the PGA Tour, followed a first-round 63 with a second-round 64 Friday to take the lead at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the opening tournament of the season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs.
Play was suspended in the afternoon with 21 golfers on the course at TPC Southwind as heavy rains flooded the area. Second-round play will resume Saturday morning before the third round begins off two tees in threesomes.
Fleetwood’s 13-under 127 total was four strokes better than Collin Morikawa and Akshay Bhatia. Morikawa’s 5-under 65 Friday included holing out from the fairway on the par-4 ninth for an eagle. Bhatia, the first-round leader after an 8-under 62, managed a 69 that included 15 pars.
England’s Justin Rose also was tied for second at 9 under with two holes remaining when the rains hit. Kurt Kitayama posted a 7-under 63 to finish at 8-under 132.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who opened with a 67, had a roller-coaster round that included four bogeys and eight birdies, but finished at 4-under 66 and stands at 7 under. Scheffler was visibly frustrated throughout the round, from attempting to kick his club after an errant drive to talking to himself after a poor approach.
A win by the 34-year-old Fleetwood would give the tour back-to-back first-time champions. Cameron Young won last weekend’s Wyndham Championship, the final regular-season event.
“Maybe this weekend is the weekend,” Fleetwood said. “We’ll see.”
Fleetwood, in his 15th year as a pro, entered the second round one stroke behind Bhatia. Fleetwood quickly overtook him by recording birdies in bunches. They came at Nos. 2, 3 and 4 on the front side and at Nos. 13, 14, 15 and 16 on the back nine, building a five-stroke cushion at the time. His only bogey came on No. 18 after his drive found a fairway bunker and his approach missed the green.
From early in the first round through the 17th hole of the second round, Fleetwood played a 30-hole stretch bogey-free with 14 birdies.
“When you shoot two good scores, it’s easy to say everything has been going well, but I think for the most part I’ve been very good off the tee, put myself in position to have a go at the course,” Fleetwood said. “My iron play has been good and solid, and I’ve rolled the ball well. The greens are really true.”
Fleetwood has won seven times on the European Tour, his last victory coming in the 2024 Dubai Invitational. He has come close multiple times on the PGA Tour. Among his three top-10 finishes in 2025 is a tie for second at the Travelers Championship in June.
“Happy to put myself in with a chance over the weekend,” Fleetwood said. “I think that’s exactly where you want to be and keep testing yourself. Yeah, it hasn’t happened for me yet out on the PGA Tour, but I would much rather be up there and not quite get it done than not there at all.”
Morikawa is trying to put his last two events — the Scottish Open and the Open Championship — behind him. He missed the cut in both, but is prospering after 36 holes in Memphis with a new caddie, Mark Urbanek, his fifth of the season.
“It wasn’t good,” Morikawa said of his game entering the week. “I went back to the drawing board, had to figure it out, had to really look at it from another perspective and say, OK, I look at my swing, looks like this, how do I just get down to the nitty-gritty and say maybe I need to be in this position, maybe I need to look at some setup stuff. You just keep trial-and-error stuff.”
The top 70 in the FedEx Cup points standings qualified for the St. Jude. Those who finish Sunday ranked in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup points standings qualify for the BMW Championship, the second round of the playoffs to be held next week in Owings Mills, Md. The top 50 also will be eligible for each of eight PGA Tour signature events in 2026.
–Phil Stukenborg, Field Level Media
JERRY KELLY, MATT GOGEL TIED FOR LEAD AT BOEING CLASSIC
Jerry Kelly rang up six birdies in a row late in his opening round on Friday, and he shares the early lead with Matt Gogel at the Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie, Wash.
Kelly’s 7-under-par 65 saw him roll in birdies at Nos. 12-17, including par-3s at Nos. 13 and 17 at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge.
That run actually boosted him to 8 under, but he finished on a sour note at the par-5 18th when he went from bunker to bunker, reached the green in four and two-putted for his only bogey of the day.
“I didn’t even realize I was on a pretty good birdie streak until I saw it on 17, that was fun,” Kelly said. “I knew I was 8 under but didn’t know I just made six in a row.”
Kelly, 58, will try to win the Boeing Classic for the second time. It was the site of his first PGA Tour Champions victory in 2017; now he is searching for his 14th title overall.
“It’s special because of this whole area, I love it,” Kelly said. “When I can look around and forget about golf, that’s a great thing for me. It’s so beautiful up here that it can even make me forget about golf.”
He and Gogel take a one-stroke lead over Paul Goydos into the weekend.
Gogel was one of the last players to finish and capped off a busy day with birdies at Nos. 8-9 to tie Kelly for the lead. Gogel recorded nine birdies and two bogeys. He was 1 over through six holes before birdieing eight of his final 12 holes.
Goydos, meanwhile, turned in a bogey-free card, with five of his six birdies coming on the front nine.
“For nine holes I really couldn’t have done much better. Everything was exactly what I was trying to do for the most part,” Goydos said. “Back nine I played solid. I didn’t hit the putter quite as well. I hit it to two inches on 12 for my only birdie on the back.”
Six players are tied for fourth at 5-under 67: Brandt Jobe, David Duval, Sweden’s Freddie Jacobson, New Zealand’s Steven Alker, Fiji’s Vijay Singh and Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke.
Two-time defending champion Stephen Ames of Canada opened with a 2-under 70.
