THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) — Justin Thomas went from a quick end sooner or later to a quick begin the following, and it carried him to a 7-under 65 on Friday and a one-shot lead within the Zozo Championship at Sherwood.

Thomas wasn’t significantly thrilled, aside from his place, primarily as a result of the ultimate stretch of holes was nonetheless recent on his thoughts and he closed with six consecutive pars on a day when the sector made birdie or higher simply over 33% of the time.

Richy Werenski led the way in which with 12 birdies for a 61, the bottom rating in a tour-sanctioned competitors at Sherwood. The typical rating was 67.87.

Tiger Woods managed to beat that, making eight birdies in is spherical of 66, and he nonetheless did not decide up any pictures in opposition to the lead. The defending champion on the Zozo Championship — he received final yr in Japan — was nonetheless 12 pictures behind.

“Acquired off to a significantly better begin and saved rolling,” Woods stated.

Thomas completed late Thursday afternoon with a 29 on the again 9 at Sherwood for a 65. He started the second spherical on the again 9 and ran off 4 straight birdies, chipping in on the par-3 12th, and performed it in 31.

However after two birdies in three holes to begin the entrance 9 — he hit into the water on the par-5 second gap and nonetheless managed to flee with par — he did not convert any birdie probabilities.

Thomas was at 14-under 130, one stroke away from Lanto Griffin and Dylan Frittelli, who every had a 65 and every made bogey on the ultimate gap.

Griffin tied Thomas with a 5-foot birdie on the seventh gap after which a 5-iron that did not end up the way in which he had envisioned — he aimed 25 toes left and hit it proper on the flag, 15 toes behind it.

“Pushed it proper on the flag and it lands a foot from the outlet,” Griffin stated. “Then Rickie (Fowler) hit proper the place I used to be making an attempt to hit it and his caddie stated, ‘Good shot.’ And I stated, ‘Yeah, that’s the place I used to be making an attempt to hit it.’”

It labored out high-quality, however he dropped again with a clunky 9-iron on the ninth gap that got here up almost 30 yards wanting the outlet and he missed a 10-foot par putt.

Patrick Cantlay discovered his placing contact and and shot 65. He was two pictures behind, together with Scottie Scheffler, who additionally had a 65.

Low scores have been all over the place on a course that’s quick by PGA Tour requirements and has 5 par 5s which are reachable in two, even with out hitting driver off the tee. There was little wind, nice climate. And totally different from the times of the Woods’ vacation occasion in December, a 78-man subject makes it doubtless extra gamers are going low, particularly once they see what everybody else is doing.

Woods could not be a lot worse from Thursday, particularly on the par 5s. He performed them in Three over within the opening spherical of 76, his highest rating in his 13th yr enjoying Sherwood. He performed them in four underneath on Friday.

Phil Mickelson performed them in Three over Friday, but it surely was actually simply a few par 5s that ate him up.

He despatched his tee shot off the property to the left on the 11th gap and made bogey. And on the 13th, he despatched two pictures into what quantities to a jungle left of the green and made a quadruple-bogey 9. He shot 74 and was close to the underside of the pack, one week after profitable for the second straight time on the 50-and-older PGA Tour Champions.

Making birdies will not be an issue for Rory McIlroy. He is simply not getting a lot out of them. McIlroy made seven birdies within the opening spherical, however he had three bogeys, two double bogeys and one membership snapped over his knee on the again 9. On Friday, he made eight birdies and nonetheless solely managed a 67.

“So I’ve made 15 birdies within the first two days, which often would put you proper up on the high of the leaderboard. I simply made too many errors,” McIlroy stated. “It was the identical story final week, form of the identical story at Winged Foot. Simply a kind of stretches the place the good things’s there, however the dangerous stuff is form of taking away from the truth that I’m hitting good pictures and making birdies.”

Thomas has received the final 4 instances he had a 36-hole lead, although that is totally different. Twenty gamers have been inside 4 pictures of the lead, all of them at 10 underneath or higher. He’s enjoying effectively, making birdies and it was no time to let up.

“I performed effectively. I am not more than happy with the end,” he stated. “The final six holes, I’d have appreciated to a minimum of have gotten one thing. Having a 5-iron and a 5-wood out of the green into two par 5s and making two pars will not be good. I simply wasn’t close to as tight and tidy these final 4 holes.”