SHANGHAI - Tony Finau has enjoyed such a good year that he wasn't about to let one bad break get him down Friday at the final World Golf Championhip of 2018.
Finau had just built a three-shot lead during the second round of the HSBC Champions as Patrick Reed began to stumble. Finau then hit an approach shot from the rough toward the 11th green at Sheshan International Golf Club. The ball landed on a sprinkler, shot high in the air and rolled over the back of the putting surface and into the hazard.
It led to a double bogey and cut his lead to one shot, but Finau didn't flinch.
He had a pair of birdies on the remaining par 5s, laid up on the reachable par-4 16th to make birdie and wound up with a 5-under-par 67. That put him at 11-under 133 after 36 holes, three shots clear of Reed (72), Tommy Fleetwood (68) and Justin Rose (67), who is trying to repeat as the tournament's champion.
"That was about as bad a break as I've ever had, to kick all the way over the green into the hazard," Finau said. "One thing I've learned in this game, you take the good with the bad and keep moving forward. I knew I was playing well still and still at the top of the leaderboard - just keep plugging along and try to get that back, and I was able to do that."
Reed opened with a pair of quick birdies in a swirling wind that came out of the opposite direction it had during the first round. He made his first bogey of the tournament on the fifth hole of the second round by missing a four-foot putt after a smart chip shot from deep rough. He then hit into the water on No. 6 and had to scramble to make bogey. He also hit into the water on the par-5 eighth, but his short game allowed him to save par.
The reigning Masters champion looked certain to drop another shot on the par-5 18th when his tee shot bounded off the side of a hill and into the water. Reed took his penalty drop, then tried to hit a slice over two portions of the water. He blasted his hybrid shot to about 12 feet from the hole for a two-putt birdie and a 72.
"I figured I just hit the shot I needed - a big, huge slice," Reed said. "Why not start in toward the grandstands to the left?"
Rose won last year by rallying from eight shots behind on the final day, so a three-shot deficit shouldn't look all that daunting. Currently ranked No. 3 in the world, he plodded his way around the course and kept bogeys off his card but missed a 15-foot putt for eagle on the last hole.
Finau hasn't won since the 2016 Puerto Rico Open, an opposite-field event that was held the same week as the WGC Match Play, but this has been a big year for him. He has 10 finishes in the top 10 in 2018, and the 29-year-old American's consistency led to him making a Ryder Cup team for the first time.
Finau got a good break during the United States' competition with Europe last month at Le Golf National. In his opening fourballs match with partner Brooks Koepka, the U.S. team looked to be in big trouble until Finau's tee shot on the 16th hole hit off the railroad ties framing the green and settled three feet away from the hole, crucial to winning the match, though it turned out to be inconsequential as Europe rolled overall.
Fleetwood birdied the 18th hole Friday to join Reed and Rose at 8-under 136. Xander Schauffele was another shot behind in fifth after a 71, while Patrick Cantlay wasted a good birdie chance on the final hole and had to settle for 68. He was five behind and alone in sixth.
Rose has a chance to return to No. 1 in the World Golf Ranking with a victory, and it doesn't look as though Brooks Koepka can put up much of a fight. Koepka, in his debut at No. 1, was frequently stretching his back and at times walking with an uncomfortable gait. He also missed several short putts on his way to a 74, leaving him 13 shots back.
Second-ranked Dustin Johnson faded after a quick start and shot a 73, leaving him 14 shots behind.
Fifth-ranked Rory McIlroy was even worse. It took him 15 shots to play the two par 5s on the front nine, taking a triple bogey on No. 2 and a double bogey on the par-5 eighth hole.
Finau kept motoring along, as he has been doing the past few months. This was Finau's 19th round in the 60s over his past 21 starts in PGA Tour events. He had 11 top-10 results during the 2017-18 season that finished last month.
"Outside of that tough break, I played really nicely," Finau said. "I was happy just to make a few birdies coming down the stretch. It's hard to swallow when you feel like you hit a good shot and you have a bad break like that. So I was able to just hang in there and make a few birdies at the end, which is nice."
Finau has gone 63 starts on the PGA Tour without winning, though he is making progress toward adding to his victory total.
"Tony is great, and he's due a win, to be fair," Fleetwood said. "He's done everything else this year, so I wouldn't put it past him or hold it against him if he did get the win. But there's a long ways to go."
Cameron Champ, Norman Xiong share Sanderson Farms lead
JACKSON, Miss. - Norman Xiong's ability to make the hard shots on another damp, chilly day made the rest of his second round much easier at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Now the 19-year-old is not only playing on the weekend for the first time on the PGA Tour, he's in contention.
Xiong shot a 5-under 67 for a share of the lead at the Country Club of Jackson in just his seventh start on the top-tier circuit. He was even with Cameron Champ - who settled for a second-round 70 after finishing with back-to-back bogeys - at 9-under 135 overall.
For Xiong, who is in the field because of a sponsor's exemption, two straight solid days on the course have helped him build confidence.
"I guess it finally proves that I belong out here, or hopefully one day eventually can be out here permanently," Xiong said.
Shawn Stefani and Jonathan Byrd were one shot back, each shooting his second straight 68. Chad Ramey (70), Seth Reeves (70), Scott Stallings (67), Hudson Swafford (68) and D.J. Trahan (70) were two shots back and tied for fifth.
Chattanooga's Stephan Jaeger (70) was tied for 50th at 2 under, and fellow Baylor School graduate Harris English (72) was tied for 60th at 1 under. Athens, Tennessee, native Eric Axley (76) missed the 1-under cut by five strokes.
Xiong started his second round on the back nine and made an eagle on No. 11 after hitting a 55-foot putt from the fringe. He followed that encouraging start with two chip-ins for birdie, on No. 16 and then No. 6.
"They really kind of take off the pressure on a day like this when it's windy and the pins are not as accessible," Xiong said of his birdies. "You can play safe off those good breaks."
If Xiong were able to win on Sunday, he would be the second-youngest winner on the PGA Tour since 1932 - one day older than Jordan Spieth when he won at the John Deere Classic in 2013.
Xiong was born in Guam and moved to Southern California when he was a boy. He played at the University of Oregon for two years before turning professional over the summer.
The 23-year-old Champ wasn't quite as sharp as he was Thursday, when he opened with a 65. He looked as if he was still going to keep his lead and was two shots ahead of Xiong before the disappointing ending.
He started his round on the back nine and managed to stay out of serious trouble until the final two holes. He missed a seven-foot par putt on No. 8 and then couldn't get up and down on No. 9, settling for another bogey.
"Today was a struggle ball-striking-wise off the tee," Champ said. "I couldn't find the fairways. Something was a little off. But I just kept plugging away at it.
"Obviously, my finish wasn't as good, but I'll take a 2 under today with the way I was hitting it."
Tom Byrum leads Champions event
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. - Tom Byrum birdied five of the last seven holes for a 6-under 66 and the first-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions' Invesco QQQ Championship.
"Just got on a nice roll, made some nice putts and made some good shots and just capitalized on it," Byrum said. "It was just what you write up out there, 'Picture that shot, hit it and go knock it in.' It works out when you can do that."
The top 54 in the season standings qualified for the second of three playoff events, with 50 players making the trip to Sherwood Country Club. The top 36 at the end of the tournament will advance to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix on Nov. 8-11.
The 58-year-old Byrum entered the week 46th in the standings. He's winless on the 50-and-older tour after winning once on the PGA Tour.
"I'm just trying to play the best I can every day. That will take care of itself," Byrum said. "I would love to give you more of the insider stuff but trying not to complicate it. If I play good, everything will take care of itself, so that's what I'm trying to do."
Scott Parel was a stroke back. He won the Boeing Classic in August for his first PGA Tour Champions title.
Bernhard Langer opened with a 68. The 61-year-old German star won the tournament last year and is the current points leader. He finished second behind Woody Austin last week in the playoff opener after winning the regular-season finale.
Miguel Angel Jimenez, second in the points race, matched playing partner Langer with a 68.
Michael Bradley, David McKenzie and Jesper Parnevik also shot 68. They are all outside the top 36, with Parnevik 39th, Bradley 48th and McKenzie 54th. At 69 were Glen Day, Bob Estes, Jeff Maggert, Colin Montgomerie and Vijay Singh.
Scott McCarron was a stroke back at 5 under after birdies on Nos. 11 and 12, but he settled for par on the par-5 13th and dropped back even more with a quadruple bogey on the par-3 14th. Fourth in the standings, he shot a 71. Playing partner Jerry Kelly, third in the standings, had a 75.
Wei-Ling Hsu moves into first place
TAOYUAN, Taiwan - Wei-Ling Hsu was feeling the love from her home crowd at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship, and it inspired her to a 5-under 67 and a one-stroke lead after two rounds.
Hsu was at 9-under 135 overall at Ta Shee Golf and Country Club, with first-round leader Jodi Ewart Shadoff (71) dropping into second.
"That was probably the most people I had around me; I felt a lot of support," said Hsu, who is 24 and was born in Taipei. "It also helped that I didn't look around much or check the scoreboards."
If she had, she would have seen that former world No. 1 Lydia Ko was the big mover Friday with a round-leading 66 to rise into third place and within two strokes of her lead.
The South Korean-born New Zealander had five birdies on her front nine but then stalled somewhat on the back nine. She birdied the 10th and had a bogey on the 11th, then had all pars until her approach shot to one foot from the hole on the par-4 17th gave her a late tap-in birdie.
"Probably one of the best shots of my career," Ko said.
Nelly Korda (71) and Mirim Lee (67) were tied for fourth, three shots off the lead.
Danielle Kang, who won last week's tour event in Shanghai, withdrew before the start of the second round because of an undisclosed illness, the LPGA posted on Twitter.
The tournament is the third of five being played during the tour's annual Asian swing. Next week, it's the Toto Japan Classic, followed by the Blue Bay LPGA on China's Hainan Island.