JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) Nick Price got the celebration going. He won the second of 12 singles matches when David Duval conceded his short par putt on the 17th hole at Royal Melbourne, the decisive point for the International team to win the Presidents Cup.

That was 1998.

Price was the No. 6 player in the world. Tiger Woods had only one major. Jordan Spieth was in kindergarten.

At the Payne Stewart Award ceremony in Atlanta, Price was introduced as a past recipient. He rose to be recognized, his gray hair brushed straight back, and the host couldn’t resist asking him with the Presidents Cup a week away, ”Is this finally the year?”

Price only smiled and returned to his seat.

He gets his third chance as International captain to change the outcome of matches that have been one-sided for the better part of two decades. Nothing has changed except the venue and nearly a dozen fresh faces.

The Americans have won more tournaments. They have better world rankings. They are playing bef..

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) Facts and figures for the 12th Presidents Cup matches:

Teams: United States against an International team of players from everywhere but Europe.

Dates: Sept. 28-Oct. 1.

Venue: Liberty National Golf Club.

Length: 7,328.

Par: 71.

Points needed to win: 15+.

Captains: Steve Stricker (U.S.) and Nick Price (International)

Defending champion: United States.

Series: United States leads, 9-1-1

Format: Nine matches of foursomes, nine matches of fourballs, 12 singles matches. Each is worth one point.

Last time: The Americans won for the sixth straight time in the tightest matches since the tie in South Africa in 2003. The International team rallied on the final day in South Korea and was on the verge of winning when Anirban Lahiri had 4 feet for birdie and Chris Kirk was 15 feet away. Kirk made his birdie and Lahiri missed, and the Americans picked up the decisive point in a 15+-14+ victory when Bill Haas, son of U.S. captain Jay Haas, held off Sangmoo..

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) Scott McCarron shot an 8-under 63 to take a one-stroke lead Friday after the first round of the PGA Tour Champions’ Pure Insurance Championship.

McCarron had seven birdies and an eagle to go along with a bogey on the par-71 Poppy Hills course. Bernhard Langer was in second, followed Kevin Sutherland another two shots back after a 66. Russ Cochran and Scott Parel were next at 67, joined at 4 under by Jerry Kelly and Scott Dunlap, who shot 68s on the par-72 Pebble Beach course.

McCarron, who started off on the back nine, began his round with two birdies, and was at 3 under after another one on No. 15. He then birdied Nos. 1 and 2 and added an eagle on the par-4 No. 5 to move to 7 under. A bogey on the next hole was followed by two birdies on his last three.

Fran Quinn, Jesper Parnevik, Davis Love III, Colin Montgomerie, Joe Durant, Tom Kite, Duffy Waldorf and Lee Janzen each shot 68s on Poppy Hills, and were joined at 3 under by Brandt Jobe, who had a 69 o..

BEACHWOOD, Ohio (AP) Matt Atkins shot a 2-under 68 Friday to take a one stroke lead after the second round of the DAP Championship, the third of four events in the Web.com Tour Finals.

Atkins, who shared the first-round lead with Nicholas Lindheim, was even par on the front nine before getting birdies on Nos. 10 and 11. He also birdied No. 16 before a bogey on the par-3 No. 17 put him at 8-under 132.

Carlos Ortiz shot a 67 to pull into a tie with Lindheim, who had a 69, at 133. Ryan Armour (68), Brett Stegmaier (69) and Shawn Stefani (67) were tied another shot back.

The event is the third of four tournaments that determine 25 PGA Tour cards. The series features the top 75 players from the Web.com regular-season money list, Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings and non-members with enough money to place in the top 200 in the FedEx Cup had they been eligible. Lindheim, a PGA Tour rookie this season, finished 197th in the FedEx Cup.

Atkins has already earned a PGA To..

ATLANTA (AP) Justin Thomas hit 5-iron to 6 feet for an eagle on 18th hole at the Tour Championship on Friday and moved one step closer to a $10 million bonus.

Already a five-time winner and a major champion this year, the eagle gave Thomas a 4-under 66 and a share of the lead with Paul Casey and Webb Simpson going into the weekend at East Lake.

The FedEx Cup and its $10 million prize still lacks clarity, mainly because the Tour Championship is so wide open.

Thomas, Casey (67) and Simpson (67) were at 7-under 133. Jon Rahm of Spain was among four players just one shot off the lead. Still in the mix was Dustin Johnson, who again didn’t get much out of his round but still was just four shots back.

ATLANTA (AP) Justin Thomas hit 5-iron to 6 feet for an eagle on 18th hole at the Tour Championship on Friday and moved one step closer to a $10 million bonus.

Already a five-time winner and a major champion this year, the eagle gave Thomas a 4-under 66 and a share of the lead with Paul Casey and Webb Simpson going into the weekend at East Lake.

The FedEx Cup and its $10 million prize still lacks clarity, mainly because the Tour Championship is so wide open.

Thomas, Casey (67) and Simpson (67) were at 7-under 133. Jon Rahm of Spain was among four players just one shot off the lead. Still in the mix was Dustin Johnson, who again didn’t get much out of his round but still was just four shots back.

Jason Dufner already had an uphill battle in order to win the FedEx Cup, but it got even harder for the 2013 PGA champion late in his round Friday at the Tour Championship.
After posting a first-round two-under 68 at East Lake, Dufner had it rolling again in his second round, playing his first 15 holes in four under. But as he got near the finish, the Golf Channel broadcast picked up on Dufner no longer retrieving his ball from the hole when it would go into the cup. The first assumption was that it must have been an injury, potentially derailing not only his round but his chances of finishing the weekend. This was not the case.
The cameras finally provided a glimpse of what was really wrong… Dufner had ripped his pants. WARNING – GRAPHIC:
https://twitter.com/TODDALBO/status/911338629103894529
Just a little wardrobe malfunction for Duf, who actually attempted a nice little curtsy prior to forgoing reaching down for the ball altogether.
https://twitter.com/GolfChannel/status/911338960..

Editor's Note: The opponent is different, but the role will be the same for Tiger Woods in the Presidents Cup at Liberty National. What does it mean to be an assistant captain? We explored last year before the Ryder Cup.
There's been a fair amount of discussion about what exactly Tiger Woods' role will be as an assistant captain to Davis Love III in the upcoming Ryder Cup. To be clear, a Ryder Cup captain nor his assistants will hit any shots during the matches — the last playing captain was Arnold Palmer in 1963 — so fans will be deprived of seeing Woods do the one thing he's known for
best.
Even then, Love expects Woods to be more of a spectacle than guys competing.
“I can’t imagine what it is going to be like to have Tiger Woods on a golf cart watching a group of guys play golf,” Love told SiriusXM radio on Tuesday. “Half the fans are going to be watching Tiger watch golf, they’re not going to be watching the golf.”
Still, the question remains: what will Tiger&..

VILAMOURA, Portugal (AP) Nino Bertasio led the Portugal Masters after shooting a second consecutive round of 6-under-par 65 on Friday.

The Italian golfer will enter the third round with a one-shot lead over Marc Warren of Scotland (64) and Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark (65).

Bertasio hit six birdies on a blemish-free day at Victoria Golf Course.

”I’m feeling good,” Bertasio said. ”I had a bogey-free round and it was very easy golf. I just missed one green and I chipped it to one foot so I never really struggled to make pars.”

Joost Luiten (68), who had a share of the lead after the first round, and Jason Scrivener (67) were two strokes behind.

VILAMOURA, Portugal (AP) Nino Bertasio led the Portugal Masters after shooting a second consecutive round of 6-under-par 65 on Friday.

The Italian golfer will enter the third round with a one-shot lead over Marc Warren of Scotland (64) and Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark (65).

Bertasio hit six birdies on a blemish-free day at Victoria Golf Course.

”I’m feeling good,” Bertasio said. ”I had a bogey-free round and it was very easy golf. I just missed one green and I chipped it to one foot so I never really struggled to make pars.”

Joost Luiten (68), who had a share of the lead after the first round, and Jason Scrivener (67) were two strokes behind.