Gary Woodland stays in front in Houston as he goes for 1st win since US Open

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Gary Woodland stays in front in Houston as he goes for 1st win since US Open

2026-03-29 06:38 Last Updated At：06:40

HOUSTON (AP) — Gary Woodland had to play hard to stay in front Saturday in the Houston Open and he added a pair of birdies late in his round for a 5-under 65 that gave him a one-shot lead over Nicolai Højgaard as he goes for his first win since the 2019 U.S. Open.

Woodland and Højgaard (63) were flawless in the final hour at Memorial Park and created some separation going into Sunday, with no one else closer than five shots.

Woodland has become a popular figure in golf for the way he has handled his recovery from brain surgery in September 2023, and earlier this month opening up on his struggles with post-traumatic syndrome disorder during an emotional interview at The Players Championship.

His golf has looked as good as ever, with full control of his swing and full use of his athletic power.

“I’ve just got to take a deep breath,” Woodland said. “I’ll have a good night ahead of me tonight to recover and rest, and tomorrow just don’t get ahead of yourself. I’m here, I put myself in this position for a reason, so take a deep breath and maintain what I’m doing.”

Woodland was at 18-under 192, the first time he has held the 54-hole lead since that 2019 major title at Pebble Beach. He has been helped by a change in shafts in his irons, noticing he was losing a little control as his speed began to return.

He was particularly strong down the stretch, and he had to be with Højgaard chasing him. Woodland drilled a 2-iron over the water an onto the green at the par-5 16th — one of only five players to hit the green in two — for a two-putt birdie.

His drive on the reachable par-4 17th hit the bunker with such force that it hopped out onto the collar, and he pitched down to 5 feet for another birdie.

Højgaard was right there with him, hitting a nice chip on the 16th for a birdie and getting up-and-down from a bunker on the 17th for another one. The Dane got back into the mix with a 62 on Friday, and he was equally effective on Saturday with his 63. He has made 15 birdies and one eagle the last two rounds.

Defending champion Min Woo Lee (67) and Michael Thorbjornsen (66) were five shots behind. Sunday is big for Thorbjornsen, who is No. 56 in the world. The top 50 after this week earn Masters invitations, and the Massachusetts native likely needs no better than eighth place.

Højgaard is still not in the Masters, though at No. 47 he is virtually a lock to stay in the top 50 barring a curious chain of events at Memorial Park.

Woodland would need nothing short of a victory to get back to the Masters, even a perk such as that is secondary considering all he has gone through.

The surgery was to remove a big part of a lesion that was producing unfounded fears of dying. He returned to the PGA Tour at the start of 2024, but only recently did he share struggles with PTSD, how he would begin crying in the middle of the round and sometimes hide in the bathroom.

To share that publicly was an enormous relief for Woodland, who said earlier this week he felt “1,000 pounds lighter.”

Now the focus turns toward winning the Houston, where he came close last year as a runner-up. Woodland leads the field in approach to the green, and he is second in putting — a slightly new putter has helped with alignment.

Facing him will be Højgaard, who made his Ryder Cup debut in 2023 for Europe. His identical twin, Rasmus, already has qualified for the Masters.

The 25-year-old Dane has three wins on the European tour, including the DP World Tour Championship at the end of 2023. He has yet to win on the PGA Tour.

“You know it's going to be a grind, you know it’s going to come down to potentially the last few holes anyway,” he said. “So you’ve just got to stay in the fight and play your best and do your best and then let’s see where we end up.”

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

'No Kings' rallies draw crowds across US, in Europe. Springsteen headlines Minnesota demonstration

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Large crowds protested Saturday against the war in Iran and President Donald Trump's actions in “No Kings” rallies across the U.S. and in Europe. Minnesota took center stage, with thousands of people standing shoulder-to-shoulder to celebrate resistance to Trump's aggressive immigration enforcement.

Minnesota's flagship event on the Capitol lawn in St. Paul drew Bruce Springsteen as its headliner. He and other speakers praised the state's people for taking to the streets over the winter in opposition to a surge of U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents.

Springsteen performed “ Streets of Minneapolis,” the song he wrote in response to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents. Springsteen lamented Good and Pretti’s deaths but said the state's pushback against ICE has given the rest of the country hope.

“Your strength and your commitment told us that this was still America,” he said. “And this reactionary nightmare, and these invasions of American cities, will not stand.”

People rallied from New York City, with almost 8.5 million residents in a solidly blue state, to Driggs, a town of fewer than 2,000 people in eastern Idaho, a state Trump carried with 66% of the vote in 2024.

U.S. organizers have estimated that the first two rounds of No Kings rallies drew more than 5 million people in June and 7 million in October. This week they told reporters they expected 9 million participants Saturday, though it was too early to tell whether those expectations were met.

Organizers said more than 3,100 events — 500 more than in October — were registered, in all 50 states.

In Topeka, Kansas, a rally outside the Statehouse had people impersonating a frog king and Trump as a baby. Wendy Wyatt drove with “Cats Against Trump” sign from Lawrence, 20 miles (32 kilometers) to the east, and planned to drive back to her hometown for a later rally there.

Wyatt said “there are so many things” about the Trump administration that upset her, but “this is very hopeful to me.”

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson characterized them as the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support.

The “only people who care about these Trump Derangement Therapy Sessions are the reporters who are paid to cover them,” Jackson said in a statement.

The National Republican Congressional Committee was also sharply critical.

“These Hate America Rallies are where the far-left’s most violent, deranged fantasies get a microphone,” NRCC spokesperson Maureen O’Toole said.

Trump's immigration enforcement push, particularly in Minnesota, was just one item on a long list of protester grievances that also included the war in Iran and the rollback of transgender rights. Speakers at the Minnesota rally decried billionaires' economic power.

In Washington, hundreds marched past the Lincoln Memorial and into the National Mall, holding signs that read “Put down the crown, clown” and “Regime change begins at home.” Demonstrators rang bells, played drums and chanted “No kings.”

Bill Jarcho was there from Seattle, joined by six people dressed as insects wearing tactical vests that said, “LICE” — spoofing ICE, as part of what he called a “mock and awe” tour.

“What we provide is mockery to the king,” Jarcho said. “It’s about taking authoritarianism and making fun of it, which they hate.”

About 40,000 people marched in San Diego, police there said.

In New York, Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said during a news conference that Trump and his supporters want people to be afraid to protest.

“They want us to be afraid that there’s nothing we can do to stop them,” she said. “But you know what? They are wrong — dead wrong.”

Organizers said two-thirds of RSVPs for the rallies came from outside of major urban centers. That included communities in conservative-leaning states like Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, South Dakota and Louisiana, as well in electorally competitive suburbs in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona.

Organizers designated the rally there as the national flagship event.

Before Springsteen took the stage, organizers played a video in which actor Robert DeNiro said he wakes up every morning depressed because of Trump but was happier Saturday because millions of people were protesting. He also congratulated Minnesotans for running ICE out of town.

The bill also included singer Joan Baez, actor Jane Fonda, Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and a long list of activists, labor leaders and elected officials.

Protesters held up a massive sign on the Capitol steps that read, “We had whistles, they had guns. The revolution starts in Minneapolis.”

“Donald Trump may pretend that he’s not listening, but he can’t ignore the millions in the streets today,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.

Demonstrations were also planned in more than a dozen other countries, from Europe to Latin America to Australia, Ezra Levin, a co-executive director of Indivisible, a group spearheading the events, said in an interview. In countries with constitutional monarchies, people call the protests “No Tyrants,” he said.

In Rome, thousands marched with defiant chants aimed at Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose conservative government saw its referendum for streamlining Italy's judiciary fail badly this week amid criticism that it was a threat to the courts' independence. Protesters also waved banners protesting Israeli and US attacks on Iran, calling for “A world free from wars.”

In London, people protesting the war held banners with slogans such as “Stop the far right” and “Stand up to Racism.”

And in Paris, several hundred people, mostly Americans living in France, along with labor unions and human rights organizations, gathered at the Bastille.

“I protest all of Trump’s illegal, immoral, reckless, and feckless, endless wars,” rally organizer Ada Shen said.

Richmond reported from Madison, Wisconsin, and Hanna from Topeka, Kansas. Associated Press journalists Nicholas Garriga in Paris, Mike Pesoli in Washington, Colleen Berry in Milan and Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California, contributed.