Jones survives a challenging day, takes a three-shot lead at Honda
Aaron Wise had a sixshot lead during the third round of The Honda Classic, looking poised to turn the tournament into a rout.
Everything went wrong from there, and Matt Jones took full advantage.
The 40-year-old Australian handled the wind at PGA National to shoot a 1-under 69 on Saturday in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., going to 10 under for the tournament and moving three shots clear of Wise and J.B. Holmes.
“I’m happy to go low with the ball flight, and I’m probably a little more conservative when the wind is up,” Jones said. “I’ll probably play a little safer than normal. I’m naturally a very aggressive player. But I think in the wind, I have a tendency to manage the golf course differently.”
Wise played his final 13 holes in 7 over, capped by hitting his tee shot into a quagmire of weeds and muck on the 18th for what became another bogey to cap a round of 75. Holmes (67) broke par for his third consecutive round.
C.T. Pan had a bogey-free 65 — the low round of the day — to get to 6 under, along with Cameron Tringale (69) and Sam Ryder (72). Defending champion Sungjae Im (69) was 5 under, tied with Keegan Bradley (67), Robert Streb (70), Zach Johnson (70), Brice Garnett (70) and Stewart Cink (70).
Wise was 2 under for his round and 14 under for the tournament after the fifth hole, six shots clear of the field.
That’s when his woes started, and what became a nine-shot turnaround between he and Jones began.
NFL GIANTS BOOST OFFENSE WITH TOP RECEIVER >>
The New York Giants’ anemic offensive is adding quite possibly the best free agent receiver on the market.
The Giants signed former Detroit Lions star Kenny Golladay to a four-year contract worth roughly $80 million in the hopes of giving quarterback Daniel Jones a bigthreat receiver.
A third-round draft choice in 2017, Golladay played his first four seasons with the Lions. He appeared in 47 games with 39 starts. He caught 183 passes for 3,068 yards and 21 touchdowns, including a league-high 11 scoring catches in 2019.
Golladay had 20 receptions for 338 yards and two TDS last season. Golladay, 27, missed 11 games in 2020 with a hip injury.
DOLPHINS WAIVE OL ISAIAH WILSON DAYS AFTER TRADE >>
Just three days after trading for offensive tackle Isaiah Wilson, the Miami Dolphins waived the former first-round pick on Saturday.
Wilson, 22, was the 29th overall pick by the Tennessee Titans in the 2020 draft but tweeted last month that he was “done” with the organization. The Titans then traded Wilson to the Dolphins as part of a swap of seventh-round draft choices, Miami’s this year for Tennessee’s in 2022.
But his arrival in Miami was anything but smooth, with Wilson reportedly missing workouts he had promised to attend and showing up late for his physical and onboarding process with the team. LAWSON REPORTEDLY RETURNING TO RAIDERS >> The Las Vegas Raiders are resigning cornerback Nevin Lawson, according to multiple reports on Saturday. The deal is for one season, per reports.
Lawson started 14 of 25 games played for the Raiders over the past two seasons. He recorded a careerhigh 61 tackles last season.
Motorsports
KYLE BUSCH DOMINATES IN TRUCK RACE AT ATLANTA >> Kyle Busch wasn’t about to let two straight NASCAR Camping World Truck Series races slip away.
Leading 102 of 130 laps and pulling away in the final stage of Saturday’s Fr8auctions 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Busch notched his first victory of the season. It was his sixth at the 1.54-mile track and the 60th of his career — extending his series record.
Busch beat runnerup Austin Hill to the finish line by 4.133 seconds. Third was John Hunter Nemechek, who had held off Busch, his car owner, to win the last Truck Series outing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
LLGAIER HOLDS OFF TRUEX TO WIN ATLANTA XFINITY RACE >> Justin Allgaier snatched the lead after Martin Truex Jr. made a mistake on pit road, and then held off his furious charge at the end to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Truex, racing in the second-tier series for the first time since 2010, dominated the first two stages and seemed headed for an easy victory until he got caught speeding on pit road.
The 2017 Cup champion had to drop to the back of the field as a penalty, but he quickly snaked his way through the field. Truex got within a half-second of the lead in the closing laps, but Allgaier pulled away for a 1.449-second victory in his JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
Allgaier took the checkered flag for the 15th Xfinity victory of his career ahead of Truex. Harrison Burton was third.
College football HBCU LEGACY BOWL TO SHOWCASE DRAFT-ELIGIBLE PLAYERS >>
The Black College Football Hall of Fame established the HBCU Legacy Bowl to allow NFL teams to see more draft-eligible players from Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The first edition of the game is scheduled to be played Feb. 12, 2022 at Tulane University in New Orleans.
UC DAVIS SETS PROGRAM RECORDS FOR POINTS, TOTAL YARDS >> Hunter Rodrigues was 19 of 23 for 265 yards and three touchdowns, and UC Davis set school records for total yards (768) and points in a 73-24 home victory over Cal Poly. Rodrigues completed all 14 of his passes in the first half for 188 yards and three touchdowns — plus a rushing score.