Rory McIlroy doesn't lead the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, but a 3-under 67 on Friday in Round 2 got him to 8-under overall and within three of co-leaders Tommy Fleetwood, Ian Poulter and Justin Thomas. It wasn't as easy as it looks on paper. McIlroy played his first 16 holes a little up and down and was 1 under going to the 17th tee. He blew his drive on the second-to-last hole off the planet to the right, and a stalled round looked like it would upend his chances at this tournament. A bogey-par close could mean dropping back to 5 under, well behind the 11-under lead. But from a spot that barely shows up on ShotLink, he hit an iron into the front bunker on the par 4 and holed out for birdie. Golf, baby! McIlroy followed that with a birdie on the 18th hole for a 3-under 67, and all of a sudden he trails the leaders by just three strokes. He said on Golf Channel that the distances on his wedges were off all day, and it showed as he lost over a stroke to the field on approach shots. Still, he was my pick coming into this week, and his finishing one-two punch with the holed bunker shot and approach to 5 feet on No. 18 mean he could be poised to repeat his 2014 performance here when he shot 66-66 on the weekend to win by two. Sometimes it's the little things few people notice on a Thursday or Friday that win you a golf tournament, and McIlroy might have given himself the boost he needed late in the day in Round 2 to get his second win of 2018. There's a long way to go, and he has several stars to overcome, but at the very least, he's given himself a great shot as the final major of the year approaches next week. Here are four other takeaways from Round 2 at the Bridgestone Invitational. 1. European takeover: After over a year of young American dominance at the major championships, the U.S. streak was ended at the Open Championship two weeks ago by Francesco Molinari. The unofficial European Ryder Cup team has showed no signs of slowing down this week as two of its presumed members (Poulter and Fleetwood) lead while two others (McIlroy and Jon Rahm) are in the top 10. Maybe I'm the only one who cares about the sometimes-meaningless Ryder Cup subplot running through all of these tournaments, but I think it's a fun little prelude to Paris in September. 2. Somebody will blitz the field: This tournament smells like somebody is going to shoot a 62 on Saturday or Sunday to win. We saw it last year when Hideki Matsuyama dropped a sick 61 on Sunday to run away with the tournament, and it feels like somebody (Justin Thomas perhaps? Maybe Louis Oosthuizen?) is going to do so again this time around. 3. Fleetwood's round of the day: I'm not sure anybody in golf gets hotter than Tommy Fleetwood when he's really feeling it. He finished Friday first in strokes gained from tee to green and ninth in strokes gained putting. That seems like a pretty good combination to put yourself in position to win your first PGA Tour event. "Next step is a PGA Tour win," Fleetwood told the media. "A WGC would be a lovely way to do that. They're the biggest events in the world -- majors, WGCs, Players, and the BMW at Wentworth -- those are the biggest tournaments you're going to play and the best fields in the world ... winning one shows you're a proper player." 4. Interesting struggles: After two rounds of play at Firestone, 52 players are at even par or better, but there are some intriguing names who are not among those. Xander Schauffele (+2), Jordan Spieth (+3) and Bryson DeChambeau (+4) are all over par after two rounds in this no-cut event. Schauffele and Speith might still be carrying some of the emotions that come with contending late at a major championship as they were in the final pairing at The Open a few weeks ago. DeChambeau, who did a sit-down interview with Mike Tirico this week to clear up his behavior at the European Open from last week, might still be experiencing some of the fallout from that. There are no alarm bells for three guys who could be on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, but it hasn't been the start they've wanted going into the year's final major. CBS Sports was with you the entire way Friday updating this story with the latest scores, analysis and highlights from Round 2 of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. If you are unable to view the live updates below, please click here. Thanks for stopping by.<doc-sep>Justin Thomas' third win of the 2017-18 PGA Tour season was also probably his most stress-free. Thomas shot a 1-under 69 in the final round of this week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational to capture the ninth win of his young career and his first WGC trophy. The round included just one bogey, two birdies and 15 pars, but ended emotionally for J.T. (more on that in a minute). The No. 3 player in the world finished at 15 under on the week, four clear of Kyle Stanley, who finished runner-up. Thomas showed off every facet of his game in the impressive win as he buoyed himself on Friday with his putter before closing like he started, by hitting preposterously-good drives and approach shots. He finished in the top 15 in three of the four rounds in strokes gained on approach shots. For most of the ending on Sunday, Thomas did what the guy who has won at this course eight times -- Tiger Woods -- did to win golf tournaments. He got way out ahead and played defense. He didn't make mistakes. His proximity to the hole on Sunday was the worst it had been all week, but that was likely strategic as all Thomas had to do was hit the middle of greens and two-putt his way to a dump truck full of money. Maybe because the rout was on and he could enjoy the final few holes, Thomas showed some emotion at the end. His grandparents were both in attendance, and Thomas clearly wanted to win with them there. His grandfather, Paul, played in the 1960 PGA Championship at Firestone Country Club. "I'm glad I finally played well around here, just in time for it to leave," Thomas told Peter Kostis of CBS Sports. "I got a little choked up when I saw grandma and grandpa over there. It's really cool. They don't get to come out very often anymore. This is my first PGA Tour win with them here, so it's pretty cool." The victory for Thomas might not have made for exciting television -- he made just two birdies and nobody truly challenged him in his quest for that first WGC title -- but it does mean that he's now backed up his five-win season in 2016-17 with another three wins so far this year. We underrate how difficult it is to present sufficient encores to elite seasons (which is what last year was), but Thomas has made it look fairly simple with maybe the most complete game on tour. It's a game that seems especially built for a course like Firestone. Thomas came into this week at Firestone, the last event in this course's history, fifth overall in total strokes gained on the PGA Tour but no worse than 51st in any specific category. He is quite feasibly the most consistently great player in every category. There are golfers who are better drivers, better putters and better iron players, but there might not be any who are better across the board than he is right now (the only one that sticks out to me as a challenger is Dustin Johnson). Now Thomas will go to Bellerive next week and the 100th PGA Championship looking for his second straight victory at that tournament and with a boatload of confidence from lapping a field that is probably one of the best he'll see all season. With a stretch run of the PGA Championship and a handful of playoff events, Thomas -- who, remember, had three wins this time last year -- could follow up his great season a year ago with an even better one this time around. Grade: A+ Here are the rest of our grades for the Bridgestone Invitational. Dustin Johnson (T3): D.J. stalled a bit over the first two rounds before shooting a 66 on Saturday to at least get a peek at the leaderboard. Then he went out and made nine 3s on his first 11 holes and looked for a while like 59 or 58 was in play. However, he went in circles coming home and bogeyed the last to shoot 64 and finish T3. My biggest takeaway is that Johnson is literally never out of a golf tournament no matter how far back he his. Johnson trailed by 11 after 36 holes and nearly touched the lead with 43 bogey-free holes to close out this event. He should probably be the favorite next week at Bellerive, and he probably will be. Grade: A- Rickie Fowler (T17): What a bizarre week for Fowler. He shot a 63 in the first round, and then he followed that with a 74. He bounced back in Round 3 with a 65, and then he shot a 74 in the final round. His strokes gained looked like a seismograph. Grade: B Round 1: T2 Round 2: T64 Round 3: 1 Round 4: T44 Phil Mickelson (T24): After Lefty opened 66-69, he pulled a mini-Tiger (more on that in a minute) and finished with a 72-70. Mickelson said after his round that he needs to work on his short game going into the PGA Championship, and he's probably right. He finished outside the top 40 in strokes gained putting as well as strokes gained around the green but gained strokes on the field with his driver and finished top 10 in approach shots. Oh, and then he offered private dance lessons for anyone who wants them. Grade: B Tiger Woods (T31): The eight-time winner of this event had one of the worst weekends he's had in recent memory. After a strong open in which he was 6 under after two days, Woods finished with a pair of 73s and tumbled from just outside the top spot on the leaderboard to not even within striking distance. I stand with the group that's curious about how Woods' body will hold up over the final two months of the year as he strains it with the most tournaments he's played since probably 2012. Grade: C+<doc-sep>Justin Thomas got off to a slow start in the third round of the 2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, but then caught fire in the middle with five birdies in nine holes and looked poised to run away with the golf tournament like we've seen happen so many times in Firestone's history. A 1-over finish over the last four holes led to a 67 from Thomas to get him to 14 under overall and kept the field in it, but Thomas' hot run in the middle put him in position to win for the third time this season and give him the first WGC title of his career. Thomas, who putted stupendously over the first two days, let his ball-striking take over on Saturday. He finished second in the field in proximity to the hole and gained over two strokes on the field on approach shots in tough conditions. The longest of Thomas' six birdie putts on the day was from 10 feet, and most were within five. This is how most of the best ball-strikers win golf tournaments, and Thomas is no different. His putting kept him in the event early, and now he can close with his strongest suit. The group he'll have to close against will be formidable, though. Rory McIlroy is 11 under and just three back, and Ian Poulter (-11) and Jason Day (-10) are lingering as well. Sunday should rock with some fantastic personalities (and golfers) atop a stacked leaderboard as we close out the final WGC of the 2017-18 season. Here are four more takeaways from Saturday's third round. 1. Rory is hanging: It hasn't been the horse race we usually see from McIlroy when he wins golf tournaments, but he's hung tough with long par putts and no bogeys over his last 26 holes. A McIlroy-Thomas shootout on a Sunday in the week before a major championship is as good an opening act as we could ask for, and I'm fired up to watch these duel for this title in the final round. 2. Fowler's weird event: Rickie Fowler has easily had the strangest first three days of anyone in this tournament. After shooting a 63 on Thursday, he backed that up with a 74 on Friday and a 65 on Saturday when the course was playing as tough as it has all week. He went from the second-best round of the day to one of the worst to the best. All over the place. And yet ... he still has a chance to win this tournament with another strong showing on Sunday afternoon. After seeing Hideki Matsuyama shoot 61 in the final round last year to win, I'm not counting anyone (least of all Fowler) out of this tournament. 3. Jon Rahm is quietly great: He hasn't won a lot recently, but Rahm doesn't get talked about enough among the elite players in the world. He shot a 2-under 68 on Saturday and sits inside the top 10 with an outside shot at running up the leaderboard on Sunday and claiming the first WGC event of his career. 4. Jason Day is a blast: When he's in contention, there might not be a more fun player to watch than Day. It seems as if he holes out from all over the place and hits more putts than Ben Crenshaw in his prime. He did so again on Saturday en route to a 1-under 69. CBS Sports was with you the entire way Saturday updating this story with the latest scores, analysis and highlights throughout Round 3 of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. If you are unable to view the live updates below, please click here. Thanks for stopping by.<doc-sep>The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club is back for the 65th anniversary of professional golf at the famous South Course in Akron, Ohio. The field of golfers is littered with stars, highlighted by Tiger Woods, who is making his first appearance at the Bridgestone Invitational in four years. He's fresh off of a near victory at the British Open, where he tied for sixth at 5-under, just three strokes back of the winner, Francesco Molinari. Woods has eight career victories at Firestone Country Club with his last win coming in 2013. He also set the course record at 21-under back in 2000. MORE: Live PGA Tour leaderboard Here's everything you need to know about the 2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. including tee times and how to watch Tiger live. PGA Tour TV & live-streaming schedule: WGC-Bridgestone Invitational Woods will be part of PGA Tour Live’s Featured Groups coverage throughout the tournament. Woods will tee off with Marc Leishman on Saturday at 1:05 p.m. ET. MORE: Live Tiger Tracker Golf Channel will have live coverage of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Thursday and Friday starting at 1:30 p.m. ET for Rounds 1-2. On Saturday, Golf Channel will have live coverage of Round 3 beginning at noon with CBS taking over on Saturday at 2 p.m. On Sunday, Golf Channel will start final-round coverage at noon with CBS again taking over at 2 p.m. Live TV schedule Thursday: Golf Channel (1:30-6:30 p.m.) Friday: Golf Channel (1:30-6:30 p.m.) Saturday: Golf Channel (Noon-1:45 p.m.); CBS Sports (2-6 p.m.) Sunday: Golf Channel (Noon-1:45 p.m.); CBS Sports (2-6 p.m.) You can also live stream the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at GolfChannel.com, PGA Tour live. Live-streaming schedule Thursday: PGA Tour Live (Featured groups 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; 2-6:30 p.m.) Friday: PGA Tour Live (Featured groups 9 a.m.-2 p.m.; 2-6:30 p.m.) Saturday: PGA Tour Live (Featured groups 9 a.m.- 6 p.m.) Sunday: PGA Tour Live (Featured groups 9 a.m.-6 p.m.) WGC-Bridgestone Invitational tee times, pairings Tiger Woods tees off Saturday at 1:05 p.m. ET along with Marc Leishman. Here's a look at the full Bridgestone Invitational tee times for Round 3. MORE: Live Tiger Tracker Round 3: Saturday, Aug. 4 (all times Eastern)<doc-sep>
Ian Poulter leads the 2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational after 18 holes, but he's definitely not alone. Poulter shot a round-of-the-day 8-under 62 to take a one-stroke lead atop the leaderboard over Kyle Stanley and Rickie Fowler. Poulter, who said he only played four holes in practice rounds earlier in the week, started on the back nine on Thursday and went out in 30. He closed on the other side with a 32 and played all 18 holes bogey free. His reward? A mega-elite board behind him chasing at a scorer's course (more on this in a minute). Poulter was pleased with how the first day of play went, though. "If you would have offered me this at the start of the day, I would have snapped your arm for it," Poulter told the media after his round. Poulter struck the ball beautifully and putted like a Ryder Cup point was on the table. That's usually a good combination for him (or anyone), and he finished inside the top 10 in both strokes gained on approach shots and on the greens on Thursday. A win this week would be his third WGC (and, strangely, just his fourth PGA Tour win), but we have a long way to go and a number of elite players he has to put away. Still, as the final major championship of the season nears next week and with just three rounds left in the final WGC, Poulter is moving in the right direction for his second victory of 2018. Here are four more takeaways from Round 1. 1. D.J. ... struggles? A 1-under 69 isn't the end of the world, but the favorite coming into this week is seven back of the lead and took a few body blows on Thursday. When he gallops like he did last week at the RBC Canadian Open, it feels as if he may never lose again. Then you look up and he's chipping left-handed and, well, life comes at you fast on the PGA Tour. Johnson was lousy with his approach shots and even lousier with his putting on Thursday at Firestone. Zero concerns about him rebounding with something in the mid 60s on Friday. 2. Rory does not struggle: I thought Rory McIlroy was the real favorite coming into this week given how he played at The Open a few weeks ago, and he did nothing to go against that in Round 1. McIlroy excelled off the tee (of course) and around the greens and saved par when he had to en route to a 5-under 65. He's not yet the favorite to win this tournament, but with how easy the 65 came to him on Thursday (not to go full Patrick Reed on you, but it could have been a 63), maybe he should be. 3. What a leaderboard: Remember when Charley Hoffman had a bunch of top 10 players in the world chasing him at the 2017 Masters after the first round? That's what I feel like to a lesser degree this week. Poulter makes for the perfect antihero in any setting but especially when the following superstars are tailing him. Rickie Fowler (-7, one back) Patrick Cantlay (-6) Marc Leishman (-5) Rory McIlroy (-5) Jon Rahm (-5) Justin Thomas (-5) Jason Day (-5) Brooks Koepka (-4) Tiger Woods (-4) Tommy Fleetwood (-4) Patrick Reed (-4) Phil Mickelson (-4) Tiger is obviously the headliner in that group -- he shot an impressive 66 on Thursday -- and he's looking for his ninth win in 16 appearances at this tournament. If he can rectify his driver woes on the back nine on Thursday, then he has as good a chance as anyone out of that group. 4. Phil has a very Phil-like day: Release a video in which you dance like the most uncool dad in a long history of uncool dads on the PGA Tour in the morning. Pull flags and hole out in the afternoon. Just a normal Thursday for Phil Mickelson, who shot a 4-under 66 to tie Woods and get inside the top 15 after the first 18 holes at Firestone. CBS Sports was with you the entire way Thursday updating this story with the latest scores and highlights from the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, particularly while Woods was on the course. If you are unable to view the updates below, please click here. Thanks for stopping by.