Jason Dufner back to winning ways at CareerBuilder Challenge in California

“It doesn’t matter when I won them or when the last time was, I’m showing up to win tournaments this year and play good golf every week”.

PGA champion, Jason Dufner accepting an award. “I never feel like this has to happen or that has to happen”.

Mickelson will be playing the next three weeks at courses where he has had success in the past. The Bengaluru golfer took his total to 13-under 203 after 54 holes of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) Tour tournament in partnership with the Clinton Foundation.

Lahiri admitted, “I left a lot of putts out there and that was disappointing”.

After fog delayed the start of play by almost three hours, Sullivan shot another 5-under 67 to go to 10-under and make another strong impression in front of his playing partner, European Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke. I thought it was going to sneak in there for a minute.

But while a couple of bogeys on the back nine – including a literal splash on 15 – took the shine off that hot start and a string of three straight birdies, Hadwin ended the day with an eight-under 64 and stands in third place at 20-under, three strokes behind Dufner. I leaned the shaft a little bit with the face open and tried to hit one where you kind of get a lot of grip. Dufner called Pete Dye’s island hole in the desert harder than its more infamous twin at TPC Sawgrass in Florida, where the Players Championship is contested.

He stayed alive on the first extra hole with an 11-foot par putt after having to lay up on his second shot from near the lip in a right-side bunker.

Dufner got off to a blazing start on the West Stadium Course, back in the tournament rotation for the first time since 1987, with six birdies in the first nine holes. He entered the day with a two-stroke lead, but Lingmerth fought back to tie things up on the 16th hole with a birdie.

He said: “It was pretty tough”. “I had some really good numbers with my wedges, which helps”. Dufner hit his ball in a deep fairway bunker, which forced him to lay up short of the green.

“Darren knows what I can do, so I don’t think it was imperative (to play well here)”, Sullivan said, “but it bodes well when you do”.

Lovemark had a 65 on the Nicklaus Course.

Lovemark teed off on 10 and enjoyed a round highlighted by an eagle at the par-four first, where he holed a shot from 105 yards out.

“Winning is winning”, Lovemark said. “There’s some long rounds out here”.

Bill Haas, the victor in 2014 and 2015, was three strokes back along with Jason Gore, Anirban Lahiri, Andrew Loupe and Adam Hadwin.

Phil Mickelson was tied for fifth at 17 under after a bogey-free 66 at the Stadium Course. Nick Taylor had a hole-in-one on the 205-yard sixth on the Stadium Course.