Novak's 61 in Mexico and a quiet LIV deadline lead Friday's golf day

Andrew Novak shot a 10-under 61 on Friday to take a three-shot lead at the VidantaWorld Mexico Open, and the PIF's Friday deadline on LIV Golf's future passed without an announcement. Overnight in Malaysia, Miyu Yamashita kept her lead at the Maybank Championship heading into Sunday.

Platforms

WTGL's Los Angeles Golf Club posted its full season schedule Friday. LAGC opens Season 1 against New York Golf Club on Nov. 8 at 12 p.m. PT, and NYGC posted that it is getting ready for the same match.

Build & Gear

Odyssey's TRTL putters are on preorder and start shipping Nov. 6. The S, Double Bend and Crank Hosel models list at $349.99 on Odyssey's site, and GolfWRX lists the zero-torque TRTL Max Square 2 Square at $399.99. Each mallet has four adjustable sole weights and a dual-layer Ai-Star insert.

Courses & Play

A judge opened a misconduct inquiry into what the Justice Department told her about closing East Potomac (story). Skratch's Pinehurst Golf Diary played Nos. 4 and 10 (story).

Creators

Big John's playoff birdie in Episode 2 of the Internet Invitational knocked Peter Finch's team out (story). Bankruptcy filings show Rick Shiels' company withdrew a $7 million claim against LIV a week after filing it (story). Brooks Koepka sat down with Dan on Golf (story), and the Celtics ranked their own golfers (story).

Swing Lab

MyGolfSpy says its putting test found no statistical advantage to drawing a line on your ball, even though about 70% of its testers said they use one. That's an easy one to check on a sim putting green this weekend: hit ten with the line and ten without.

The Game

Novak eagled the drivable 13th and birdied three of his last four holes to reach 14 under, the AP reported. Five players sit at 11 under, including Ben Griffin and Kihei Akina, a 20-year-old BYU sophomore who shot 64. Tony Finau and Wyndham Clark missed the cut, which fell at 4 under.

Yamashita shot 67 on Saturday to reach 18 under, two ahead of Yan Liu, who shot 63, and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard.

At Te Arai Links, New Zealand's Zack Swanwick shot a second straight 67 and leads the Asia-Pacific Amateur by two over Cooper Moore and defending champion Fifa Laopakdee.

On LIV, Josh Carpenter posted Friday night that updates shouldn't be expected until next week. Peter Malinauskas told SEN there's a critical date for LIV's financial restructuring on Nov. 2, and Kooyonga wants an answer on its March event by Nov. 6. Separately, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan told Golf Channel the Saudi deal was gone after his White House meeting (story).

What to watch

The final round in Malaysia starts tonight, U.S. time, the Mexico Open finishes Sunday, and LIV's next answer may come Monday. If you're shopping for a putter, the TRTL ships Friday.