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thought this was an Fu- ryk said. a nice gift, an opportuni- Ian Poulter, who resurrected his PGA Tour career with a runner-up at The Players two years ago, had a 66 and was three shots behind, along with Abraham Ancer of Mexico (66) and Bri- an Harman (69). Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player, also had an eagle-birdie-par ish for a 68. He was in the group shots behind.

McIlroy won since Bay Hill a year ago, though he has had his chances for more. The Arnold Palmer Invitation- al last week was the ninth time in his last 30 tournaments dating to the start of 2018 that he played in the group without winning. But he has been patient. He says his attitude has been good all year, and it can be tested severely on the Players Stadium Course. There is no sense of panic or a need to start pressing if he gets into that position again.

just need to keep seeing red num- McIlroy said. need a win. not putting myself under pressure to again, winning is a byproduct of doing all the things that doing well. If I focus on winning, what goes into After a sluggish start even par through seven holes McIlroy poured it on by taking aim at when he could. He ran four birdies in a stretch around the turn, and then blis- tered a 4-iron with a right-to-left wind allowing him to keep his mind the water to the right of the green on the par-5 16th.

The ball bounced onto the green to 10 feet for birdie. He followed with a wedge to the back shelf on the island green and another birdie to tie for the lead, and then made his great escape by opening the face of a pitching wedge to get over the tree, and letting the wind guide it back to the green. Walking toward the green, McIlroy said he told NBC Sports analyst Roger Maltbie that with Phil the last two days maybe inspired me to play a shot like That would be Phil Mickelson, who play very inspired, at all. Mickelson had another 74 and missed the cut at The Players for the sixth time in the last seven years. He alone.

Jordan Spieth missed the cut for the third time in eight starts this year, getting inside the cut line with a series of birdies before he was slowed by shots into the water on consecutive holes. He had a 69. Fleetwood knows a thing or two about fast starts. Last month in Mexico, he started eagle-eagle. This felt just as good, perhaps be- cause of his standing in the tournament.

Fleetwood, who shared the 18-hole lead, was two behind when he teed and back in the lead after just two holes. He made a 12-foot birdie on No. 1, holed a bunker shot for eagle on the par-5 sec- ond and then made a 25-footer on No. 3. had a great range session warming up, and all you want to do then is make sure you try and take that out onto the course, which was very Fleet- wood said.

had the absolute dream start. Today was a little bit more up and down, but going to be. There was a lot of good and I just feel really happy with Golf Continued from Page 1B PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Calif. Ma- jor champion. FedEx Cup champion.

And now Justin Thomas has another ti- tle. Matchmaker for Michelle Wie and Jonnie West. Wie, the golf prodigy from Hawaii and former U.S. Open champi- on, revealed on Instagram this week she was engaged to West, the Golden State director of basketball opera- tions and the son of NBA great Jerry West. And it all started with an exchange of text messages.

both asked me about each oth- Thomas said. Thomas has been close friends with Wie in South Florida, where they both live. She made him a red, white and blue pair of shoes after Thomas won the 2017 PGA Championship that had on the heel of one shoe and on the heel of the other. A few years ago, he stayed at the home of Jerry West in old room during the PGA Tour stop at Rivi- era when the former Lakers star was the executive director. Thom- as came to know Jonnie West when he went to Warriors games.

know Jonnie really, really well, but I know him well enough to know a really good dude and a hard worker, and I know Michelle would ap- preciate Thomas said. I know over 6-foot, which is a neces- sity for Michelle. And Michelle is the best. She can get along with anybody. Thomas is not sure how they connected.

Wie, who has been coping with a wrist injury, graduated from Stanford and spends plenty of time in the Bay Area. both literally within the hour asked me about the other Thom- as said. said, great, great. You guys should meet She goes out west a lot. obviously in San Francisco.

She was like, right, going to meet up with not going to Thomas said with a laugh. think it would turn into that. But glad it West and Wie did not mention a wed- ding date in the Instagram post though Thomas suggested it would be this sum- mer during the PGA lucrative Fe- dEx Cup events. wants me to marry he said. think going to be able to.

We were talking about it, and I think the dates are going to work out. She wants me to skip a (FedEx Cup) Matchmaker: Justin Thomas links Wie with Jerry son Doug Ferguson ASSOCIATED PRESS Jerry West, center, a member of the Executive Board, visits with Warriors partial owner Vivek Rnadive, right, as son, Jonnie West, left, looks on before a news conference May 23, 2011 in San Francisco. Golfer Michele Wie revealed on Instagram earlier this week that she was engaged to Jonnie West, the director of basketball operations and the son of NBA great Jerry West. ERIC.