Jon Rahm will take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai as he seeks to win the DP World Tour’s season-ending event for a third time.

The Spaniard started the third round four strokes off the pace, but carded a bogey-free, seven-under 65 to move to the top of the leaderboard, one stroke ahead of Matt Fitzpatrick,  two ahead of two-time Alex Noren, and three ahead of world no.1 Rory McIlroy, who is projected to finish the season at the top of the DP World Tour rankings as he moved to a share of fourth place alongside Tyrrell Hatton on 12 under par. Hatton, who lead the field by two midway through the third round, dropped back after chalking up four bogeys on the back nine on Saturday to post a level-par 72.

Fitzpatrick could still end the year as European no.1 but would need to win the tournament tomorrow and for McIlroy to finish worse than second. A runner-up finish could also see the reigning US Open champion lift the Harry Vardon Trophy on Sunday night, but he would need McIlroy to finish worse than seventh.

Speaking after his excellent third round, Rahm said: “I don’t think I could have shot any lower today. I really got the most out the round. I wasn’t at my best off the tee, but I was still able to get some birdies out of some not so good situations. I didn’t hit any of the fairways on the par fives and still played them three under par, so I’ve got to be happy with that. I’m hoping I can be a little better off the tee tomorrow, and maintain my good play in the other parts of my game and have a smooth round like I did yesterday.”

McIlroy, who also fired a 65, said: I didn’t get off to a great start with a bogey at the first, but I hit two quality shots into two and was able to make eagle and bounced back from that.Overall, I just hit it in the fairway a bit more today, which made a big difference. I was able to get control of my approach shots and hit them close and make some easy birdies. So yeah, obviously I just need to do more of the same tomorrow and see where it takes me.

He added: “I’ve never won the FedExCup and and the European rankings in the same year, so it would be really nice to get that done. It’s been a wonderful year. I’ve played some really consistent golf. If I’m able to go out there tomorrow and shoot a good score and get the job done, it would be a really nice way to end what’s been a great year.”

For the current leaderboard, click here.

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Simon Forsström secured a two-stroke victory at the Final Stage of Qualifying School to become one of 28 players to earn their DP World Tour cards at INFINITUM in Spain.

The Swede posted a closing 69 to finish on 29 under par, two shots ahead of Frenchman David Ravetto, who carded a 64 to climb into second place. Forsström was delighted to come out on top at the marathon six-round Final Stage event and admits earning top tier privileges means everything to him.

“It feels amazing,” he said. “Today was tough because it has been such a long week and the nerves started to kick in, especially when the wind picked up. I have been hitting it so well all week and now I need to take my game to the next level on the DP World Tour. This win is so important for my career.”

Englishman Daniel Brown finished third on 26 under par, while four-time DP World Tour winner Kiradech Aphibarnrat was a shot further back in fourth. Aphibarnrat was pleased to reclaim his top tier playing privileges after producing a grandstand finish in Tarragona and he is now targeting a climb up the world rankings and more victories on Europe’s top tier tour.

“I’m exhausted right now,” the Thai player said. “I feel like I’ve been playing for two weeks straight to earn this card. There are so many talented players ready to shine on the DP World Tour and I think six rounds at Qualifying School provides the perfect test to distinguish who is ready to compete with the best players. Now I have secured my card I am looking to get my fifth DP World Tour title. My goal is to get back into the top 50 in the world again and eventually get to double figures with wins. I only need six more!”

There were storylines aplenty on the final day in Tarragona, as Denmark’s Christoffer Bring, Englishman Sam Hutsby, American Gunner Wiebe and Swede Tobias Edén each completed all three stages of Qualifying School to earn their cards. Marcel Siem and David Horsey secured their return to the top tier, while Spaniard Alejandro Del Rey posted a sensational closing 63 to claim his our card after narrowly missing out at the Rolex Challenge Tour Grand Final just over a week ago.

Spain’s Mike Lorenzo-Vera also reclaimed his card, while Irishman John Murphy birdied two of the last three holes in his final round 65 to jump into the all-important top 25 in dramatic fashion.

The three unlucky players to miss out by just one shot were Italy’s Renate Paratore, Welshman Oliver Farr and Denmark’s Nicolai Kristensen. Paratore eagled the par-5th 18th to finished tied 29th.  The final leaderboard can be found here.

Final Stage Qualifiers
Simon Forsström, David Ravetto, Daniel Brown, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Alejandro Del Rey, Nick Bachem, Pedro Figueiredo, Christoffer Bring, John Axelsen, Ryo Hisatsune, Tobias Edén, Joël Stalter, Mike Lorenzo-Vera, Marcel Siem, Joshua Lee, Gary Hurley, Gunner Wiebe, Sam Hutsby, Gary Stal, Gudmundur Kristjansson, David Horsey, Jens Fahrbring, Niklas Lemke, Andrew Wilson, Ricardo Santos, Garrick Porteous, John Murphy and Adrien Saddier.

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Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat turned on the style as a seven under par round of 64 earned him the second round lead at DP World Tour Qualifying School – Final Stage.

The 34-year-old carded seven birdies without a blemish on the Lakes Course to reach ten under par, one stroke clear of English duo Ross McGowan and Daniel Brown, as well as Iceland’s Gudmundur Kristjansson.

There are still four rounds of the marathon Final Stage event to play at INFINITUM but Aphibarnat, a four-time DP World Tour winner, is the man who holds a narrow advantage after 36 holes.

“It was a good round, sitting on the top of the leaderboard is always good,” he said. “I just want to go out there and play my own game, enjoy it and not set goals. I’ve been struggling the last two years, not really enjoying golf as I used to, but to come back and play on the DP World Tour made me more comfortable. My game was getting much better. I just want to go out and play golf as I’m supposed to do. I played Asian Tour last week and I was pleased to see some friends. I had a good result, finishing in the top five, and I feel like I’m bringing some confidence into this week. There are still four more days, anything can happen, I’m just trying to play my own game.

Every player in the 156-man field will play two rounds on each of the Lakes and Hills courses at INFINITUM and the Bangkok native found it easier to navigate the Lakes layout due to how he was able to assess the wind.

“On the Hills, especially the front nine, it’s a little tight,” he said. “You’ve got to put the ball in the right spot and yesterday I played and the wind picked up with a lot of gusts.
“It’s quite difficult to read the wind but on the Lakes, it’s wide open. I know the wind is strong but you can tell exactly what the wind is doing. You just have to make sure you hole the putts to get a good score.”

Five players, including English amateur Callan Barrow, share fifth place on eight under par, with a further four players a shot further back in a tie for tenth. Germany’s Nick Bachem, who finished 25th on the Road to Mallorca Rankings, posted the low round of the day – and the week so far – with a sublime bogey-free ten under par round of 61 on the Lakes Course.

For the very latest scores from DP World Tour Qualifying School – Final Stage click here. 

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The first round of a sneaky good Mayakoba event is in the books, and while the top of the leaderboard doesn’t jump off the page, the field’s strength sits just beyond the leaders.

Will Gordon and Russell Henley are Nos. 1-2 at the top of this board after firing 62 and 63 respectively in Round 1, but the heavyweights are a few strokes back and looking to roll to the top on Friday and beyond. Let’s take a look at how Thursday played out at Mayakoba.

The leader

1. Will Gordon (-9): Gordon made eight birdies and an eagle en route to his first-round lead. The former Vanderbilt golfer had a strong year on the Korn Ferry Tour last season, accumulating six top 10s (including a win) and finishing sixth on the KFT points list. His best finish on the PGA Tour, however, is a T3 at the 2020 Travelers Championship. He said after his 62 that he’s eschewing what he tried to do in the past by tempering his expectations.

“I think that’s what I’ve tried to do in the past, but honestly I’m just going to try to enjoy the moment and continue just to move forward,” Gordon said. “I don’t know what the rest of the week holds, nothing’s promised and nothing’s given, so I’ve just got to continue to try to go out and earn it.”

Gordon’s season has gotten off to a really nice start as he’s made the cut at each of his first four events of the year. It was fascinating to hear him discuss what he’s learned and how he’s grown mentally because of the success of those he’s competed with on the KFT.

“There’s a lot of guys kind of my age and younger that are having a lot of success out here and guys that have been out here and had some major success that I grew up playing with,” Gordon said. “So … it does kind of take the fear away in a sense because you know you can do it, but you’ve still got to go out and do it and earn it. So it’s been good to see the KFT class play well this fall and I’ve gotten to see a bunch of those guys, so it’s been a cool transition this fall.”

Other contenders

2. Russell Henley (-8)

T3. Scott Piercy, Francesco Molinari, Sam Ryder, Harris English (-7)

T7. David Lingmerth, Martin Laird, Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland (-6)

The big dogs reside there at the T7 spot with Hovland going for his third consecutive victory at this tournament and Scheffler aiming for his fifth PGA Tour win in 2022. They played together on Thursday and shot a best ball 60.

“For the most part you’re doing your own thing, but it’s nice when you’re on the golf course and you can see other players hitting really good shots,” Scheffler said. “I think that’s good kind of momentum for the group, when somebody starts playing well, the other guys can kind of feed off of it sometimes.”

Hovland’s last nine rounds at Mayakoba look like this: 67-69-63-65-67-65-62-67-65. That makes for a 65.6 average over the last three seasons, which is absolutely ridiculous. Still, Hovland says he can (and should) play better than he did on Thursday.

“I think the last two years I’ve started 4 and 5 under (He was 4 under in the first round of both wins), so even improved on that,” Hovland said. “Obviously I made a couple putts and holed out from the bunker. Did a lot of good stuff today, but at the same time I felt like I hit some really bad shots, too. So I feel like there’s still opportunities to improve.”

Where’s Morikawa?

I’m not going to get concerned about Collin Morikawa (or any top 10 player in the world) at the start of November of any year. However, he shot 71 on Thursday and is currently T90. If he finishes outside the top 25 (which looks like a probability right now), that would mark three straight events to start his season in which he hasn’t notched a top 25 appearance. It’s something that’s worth monitoring.

2022 Mayakoba odds, picks

• Scottie Scheffler: 6-1
• Viktor Hovland: 13/2
• Russell Henley: 9-1
• Will Gordon: 14-1
• Harris English: 18-1
• Maverick McNealy: 18-1
• Tom Hoge: 22-1
• Francesco Molinari: 22-1

It’s a pretty interesting board right now. Scheffler is a bit too short for my taste, although I do kind of love Hovland at 13/2. Hoge at 22-1 is speaking my language. I’ve been riding the Hoge train for weeks now, and he can’t stop shooting scores in the mid 60s. He’s one of the best iron players in the world that nobody knows about. The value here is probably with Tony Finau — who was my pre-tournament pick — at 35-1. He’s 3 under and just four back of third place. That’s nothing for a scorer like Big Tone at a place like Mayakoba, and I’m  believing that he shook any rust he had off in Round 1.

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The first round leaderboard of the Shriners Children’s Open is fascinating. Tom Hoge leads after the round was suspended due to darkness Thursday with a stellar 8-under 63, but a host of players who bring interesting storylines to the table are just behind him.

While some of the biggest names in the field — Patrick Cantlay, Rickie Fowler and Max Homa — didn’t ascend to the very top of the table, they’re all still very much in the mix after strong starts at TPC Summerlin. All will chase Hoge, though, over the final three days as he tries to add to his 2022 win collection after taking the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this year.

Let’s take a look at his round as well as who else is in the hunt this week.

The leader

T1. Tom Hoge (-8)

Hoge was a menace in Round 1, although he said that was “a little bit unexpected” because he took some time away from golf over the last few weeks. He finished third in approach shots and third from tee to green, which means he didn’t have to putt it all that well to shoot the only 63 in the field on Thursday. This is nothing new though. Since Jan. 1, Hoge is a top 30 iron player in the world, and even higher than that if you look at PGA Tour-only players. He is unlikely to fade even if he doesn’t win what would be the second Tour victory of his career following his first in February at Pebble Beach.

There’s a lot at stake for somebody like Hoge this week, especially considering only the top 70 in the FedEx Cup rankings will make it into the FedEx Cup Playoffs this year. He’s coming off a career year in which he cleared $4 million and finished inside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings for the first time in his life (he finished 10th). To improve on that would be pretty incredible.

“Yeah, I felt like last fall I got off to a good start,” Hoge said. “I’ve played well in the fall in the past. I feel like there’s a lot of good golf courses that set up well for me in the fall. That’s one of the reasons why I’m playing a lot this year still. I feel like I could get off to a nice start in the FedEx Cup. I felt like I had that last year and continue that into the west coast. Just trying to do more of the same.

“I didn’t play as well as I would have liked in the summer last year, but you get off to this nice start, and you can kind of relax even when you’re not playing as well. Just trying to play as well as I can here in the fall and give it that head start.”

Other contenders

T2. Si Woo Kim, Maverick McNealy (-7)
T4. Keith Mitchell, Thomas Detry, Will Gordon, Tom Kim, Sam Ryder, Sungjae Im (-6)

There are so many different directions we could go here, but let’s keep it locked on how well the Presidents Cup International Team showed out in Round 1. It has three players in the top 11, including last year’s winner at this event, Sungjae Im. Im got one of the featured groups this week, and he picked up where he left off not only last year but also a few weeks ago when he starred at Quail Hollow.

Si Woo Kim also mirrored his Presidents Cup finale, where he took down Justin Thomas, by getting within one of Hoge. Is it a coincidence that those guys are carrying so much into this week’s Shriner’s event? Maybe, but also maybe not considering the experience they all had.

“I was not much confidence before Presidents Cup because I didn’t finish well like at the end,” Kim said. “I think that I had great confidence from the Presidents Cup, and then like everything feels comfortable and so much tension and so much pressure on the Presidents Cup week. So now like too much calm and nothing much pressure on it. So I try to keep more focused and like positive.”

Tom Kim forever

Tom Kim, Si Woo Kim’s partner for a chunk of the week at Quail Hollow, also started strong in Vegas after an incredible quote he gave early in the week about catching Tiger Woods’ career PGA Tour record of 82 victories.

“I’m always myself,” Tom Kim said. “The situation hasn’t really changed of who I am a little bit. No, I don’t really think it’s really changed for me. I think it’s going to be the same way. Tiger has 82 wins on the PGA Tour. Until I get to 83, it’s going to be hard for me to think a little different.”

Tom Kim forever.

2022 Shriners Children’s Open updated odds and picks

• Sungjae Im: 7-1
• Patrick Cantlay: 15/2
• Tom Hoge: 15/2
• Tom Kim: 10-1
• Si Woo Kim: 10-1
• Maverick McNealy: 14-1

I want to believe Tom Kim is going to win this golf tournament, of course, but I’m not sure 10-1 is a great number for him at this juncture. Instead I’d love to draw your attention to Keith Mitchell, who is just outside the shortest players at 18-1. He finished fourth from tee to green and fourth on approach shots on Thursday and will be a tough out if he keeps that kind of iron play up. He’s the sharp pick here even amid the bigger names. Homa (four back) at 25-1 is also worth a look.

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