Scott Stallings (68) and Sungjae Im (67) were one shot behind, while Dustin Johnson overcame a rough patch early in his round with five birdies on the front nine to salvage a 69. Teryn Schaefer presents the best social media posts from around the world of golf in "Good, Bad & Unusual" and after each day's play brings you the biggest talking points in "The Takeaway".
Casey last year ended eight years without winning on the PGA Tour when he closed with a 65 and had to wait to see if Tiger Woods and Patrick Reed could catch him. If I go out tomorrow and beat him, I actually might win, plain and simple.
"Of the guys on the leaderboard, he's the one I would want to be paired with, so it doesn't bother me", Casey said. Even though Johnson sits a shot behind the defending champ, he is listed as a 5/4 favorite to win, according to the Westgate Las Vegas Superbook, while Casey faces 9/4 odds of successfully defending his title. "This year, knowing that I have won around here, I have a slightly different approach to it, and I played today quite aggressively and tried to take advantage of the golf course that I knew was going to get very, very tough this afternoon".
Both Johnson and Watson are among the leaders in a sizable tie for 11th place (2 under).
Donald was tied for the lead until a bogey on the final hole from a tough spot in a bunker some 30 yards short of the pin on the 18th. It was the centerpiece of a resurgence for Casey, a 41-year-old from England who is back among the top 15 in the world. "I didn't think about anything and just started playing".
"It was a big birdie", Johnson said. Furyk shot a 3 under 68 on Saturday and is 5 under overall. He showed how quickly fortunes can change when he made three birdies in five holes to start the back nine, and then smashed an 8-iron with a breeze at his back that rolled across the 15th green and into the cup for a hole-in-one.
Casey s lone bogey came on his closing ninth hole, finding bunkers with his first two shots and missing a six-footer for par.
Austria's Sepp Straka, the first-round co-leader, followed his opening-round 66 with a 76 on Friday and is in a pack of golfers at even-par 142.