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McGirt tops crowded Riviera leaderboard

4 min read

LOS ANGELES – William McGirt never matched par in his two previous trips to Riviera. Now he’s one round away from his first PGA Tour victory.

McGirt opened with eight birdies in 13 holes on a day when everything felt easy. He wound up with a 6-under 65 on Saturday in the Northern Trust Open, giving him a two-shot lead going into the final round.

At stake for the 34-year-old McGirt is his first trip to the Masters – he has played in only one major – and a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour.

Right behind him is just about everybody.

McGirt was at 12-under 201, two shots clear of George McNeill and Charlie Beljan.

McNeill, whose two wins were in the old Fall Series and an opposite-field event, started with an eagle and picked up a final birdie on the par-3 16th for a 66. Beljan, who lost in a playoff at Riviera last year to John Merrick, belted a 3-wood into eight feet for eagle on the 11th hole and shot a 68.

The leaderboard was about as crowded as the 405, which was reduced to two lanes right off Sunset Boulevard. Twelve players were within five shots of the lead, which can be easy to make up at Riviera, especially with a leader new to this position.

Jason Allred, the feel-good story this week after Monday qualifying for his first PGA Tour event in more than three years, had a 67 and joined Brian Harman (68) at 204. The group at 8-under 205 had star power – Jordan Spieth (67), Dustin Johnson (69) and Jimmy Walker (67), who is going for his fourth win of the season after winning last week in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-am. Also in that group were a pair of Masters champions, Bubba Watson (64) and Charl Schwartzel (68).

Behind them were a pair of former champions at Riviera, Bill Haas and Aaron Baddeley.

“It’s just 18 more holes, and whatever is going to happen is going to happen,” McGirt said. “All I can do is go out and play the best I can.”

He did that beautifully in the third round, with help from the most important club in his bag. McGirt made a simple birdie on the easy par-5 first hole, then made birdie putts of 20 feet and 25 feet on the next two holes. After a bogey from the bunker on No. 4, he knocked in another 25-foot birdie putt. McGirt said he told his caddie, Brandon Antus, “I just want to hit it to 30 feet all day – seem to be pretty good from that distance so far.”

Triplett, Langer share Champions lead: Kirk Triplett jokes that fellow golfers say they think Bernhard Langer is human.

“But I don’t know,” Triplett said. “I don’t know.”

What Triplett does know is that he matched the defending ACE Group Classic champion for the lead at 10-under 134 after the second round Saturday in Naples, Fla.

Triplett shot a 5-under 67 in windy conditions on TwinEagles’ Talon Course.

Langer, also the 2011 winner and 2012 runner-up, followed his opening 64 with a 70. He won the season-opening event in Hawaii last month for his 19th Champions Tour title.

“He’s the ultimate of our Champions Tour sport, right?” Triplett asked. “He’s out there, he’s preparing, he’s working, he’s playing the same way that he played, he’s treating this tournament playing like it was the Masters, right and not all guys do that.

“A lot of guys do, but not everybody can pull themselves into that mindset week after week.”

It’s Triplett’s shot. He’s on an impressive streak, going 64 holes without a bogey.

Stricker to Match Play after brother gets liver: Steve Stricker says he is going to the Match Play Championship now that his brother had a successful liver transplant.

Stricker was leaning toward not going to Arizona as his 50-year-old brother, Scott Stricker, was waiting on a transplant. He says he has been practicing, but his mind has not been on golf and it would be a long shot if something didn’t happen soon.

Later that evening on Thursday, a donor became available. Stricker says the surgery went better than expected.

He says his parents have encouraged him to play next week. It will be his first start of the year.

Stricker is No. 12 in the world and a past champion of this World Golf Championship. The tournament starts Wednesday at Dove Mountain in Marana, Ariz.

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