Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. Catch Kuchar, If You Can.

It’s catch Kuchar if you can as Matt takes a one shot lead into the final round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club.

Matt Kuchar / Heathcote / Getty Images

Matt Kuchar had a third round of -1 under under par for a total of -11 under, which kept him at the top of the leaderboard in the Crowne Plaza Invitational, by just one shot.

Matt’s third round  finally ended more than 12 hours after he woke up;

” This morning feels like a day ago. It would’ve been nice to extend my lead, tomorrow will be an exciting day.”

Just one shot back at -10 under par are  Boo Weekley, Graham DeLaet, Matt Every and Chris Stroud. Boo said it will be a shoot-out tomorrow;

“It’s going to be a shootout.”

Zach Johnson, the defending Champion is at -8 under par, three shots off the pace, but still in contention.

Jordan Spieth had a share of the lead early on, but some costly mistakes dropped him down the leaderboard. Afterwards he did not want to focus too much on what happened to him today;

“I can’t focus too much on today, I’m really happy with the way I putted. I just made some mental errors, just rookie mistakes that cost me about four shots. Otherwise, I’d be tied for the lead. Just got fooled big-time by the wind on four or five holes. I just guessed incorrectly twice in a row, it was a decision that obviously looks bad afterward. I’m happy to close with a birdie and carry it into tomorrow only four back.”

Tim Clark and Martin Flores shot the low rounds of the day, both with rounds of -5 under par 65.

Tim was happy with the way he played today;

” Yesterday was really bad, luckily I kind of got it figured out and today the swing felt good. I’ve been in this position a lot, so again, it’s about for me staying aggressive on this golf course, when you try to play it safe, it can come back and get you. So I just need to stay aggressive. For a guy who doesn’t hit it very far, this is a very good golf course to come in and do some shot-making.”

 

L.E.T. Deloitte Ladies Open. Camilla Carries On.

Camilla Lennarth carried on where she left off in the L.E.T. Deloitte Ladies Open maintaining her lead in the competition on The International Course in Amsterdam.

Camilla Lennarth / LET

Camilla had a second round of par, but her tournament score of -7 under par was enough for the rookie to stay ahead of the pack, albeit by only just one shot. It was another chilly day out on the course, Camilla still wearing her pink Beanie. She said she was very happy to be where she wants to be;

” It feels good and it’s a new experience for me. It’s where I want to be, but I will be nervous tomorrow. I will definitely be nervous because I haven’t played in the final group in such a big event like this. I’m very happy and obviously it’s where I want to be.”

Another rookie, Holly Clyburn is just one shot back at -6 under par, Holly said she had played solid golf, and was also pretty happy with her performance;

” It was pretty solid from tee to green and once I got on the putting green it was nice to roll some putts in. I was very happy because it was solid from start to finish.”

These two can not relax because there are three established Tour champions who are only three shots off the lead on four-under-par, Christel Boeljon, Melissa Reid and Carlota Ciganda,

Carlota is the defending Champion here, and has the chance to win again;

“ I played pretty good today despite a double on my second hole. On my back nine, I birdied one and had a few birdie chances so I’m happy with my score because I don’t think it’s an easy course. I’m happy that I have a chance to win again so I’m going to try my best.”

Christel has the support of the home gallery, and is looking forward to the challenge;

” I think on this golf course anything can happen so I’m looking forward to the final round.”

It will be interesting to see if either of the two rookies can hold off the challenge of the more experienced players, I look forward to it.

BMW PGA Championship. Cañizares Claims Lead.

Alejandro Cañizares has claimed the lead after the third round of the BMW PGA Championship, played on the West Course at the Wentworth Club in England.

Alejandro Cañizares / Getty Images.

Alejandro Cañizares has a one shot lead at the BMW PGA Championship, shooting a third round of -4 under par 68, and claimed top spot of the leaderboard. He had been taken ill on the flight from Korea to China and had to withdraw from the Volvo China Open, being diagnosed with viral meningitis. He came here with little ambition;

” This week I was just happy to be able to swing the club,  after the practice round on Tuesday I felt really tired because it was the first 18 holes I had walked in three weeks. I had no idea how I was going to feel so I am very pleased that it’s working out for me. Every now and then I get a little weird feeling in my head, but the doctors say that is normal.”

Sitting right behind him on the leaderboard is Lee Westwood, his third round score of -5 under par 67 has put the Englishman firmly in contention for this title. This his first tournament in England since his move to Florida in the States, and this is his 20th attempt at winning the BMW PGA Championship. Lee thinks it would be ironic if he won now;

” I’m still far from holding the trophy but it would be ironic,  it would be great and I am after as many wins as I can get, but it’s a crowded leaderboard and I will have to play as well if not better than I did today. I felt much more in tune with my swing and had a lot better distance and direction control with my irons and set up a lot of chances. It was one of the most fun days I have ever had on a golf course. It was good to see a lot more smiling faces and a lot more people prepared to take their hands out of their pockets and applaud. I get great support here but even more so today.”

Matteo Manassero (69) and Mark Warren (70) share third place on seven under par, Mark said it would be huge for him to win:

” It would be huge to win, this is our premiere event, this is the biggest event we play outside the Majors for us, it doesn’t get any bigger. Career-wise it would mean the world to me.”

Sergio Garcia, who has had a rough time with the media this week, has enjoyed the support of the crowd at Wentworth, and thinks he could finish strongly tomorrow, he is in a group of eight players just four shots off the lead:

“I think it’s been a tough week but we’ve been getting better every day, so hopefully we can finish on a high note tomorrow. There’s no doubt that everybody has made it so much easier for me. The crowds here, I don’t have words to explain what I feel towards them. They have been amazing, every single tee, every single green, cheering me on. I can never pay them back.”

PURE SILK-BAHAMAS LPGA Classic. 1st Round Suspended, Darkness Falls.

The Pure Silk Bahamas Classic has had play suspend in the first round on the Ocean Course at the Atlantis Resort due to torrential rain. Some of the holes on the course are totally unplayable after 12 inches of rain fell on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. A very strange occurrence for a place named Paradise Island.

Darkening Skies / Gabe Roux

Course maintenance crews are working around the clock,  in an attempt to pump the extra water back into the ocean, but it is a time-consuming task.

The LPGA finally admitted defeat and canceled play on Thursday and also announced that 12 holes would be played on Friday for the first round. The schedule for Saturday is to play a second 12 holes. A decision will then be made on Saturday whether or not to play the full 18 holes or finish with a final 12 holes on Sunday. The twelve holes that will be played are;  10-6-7-4-5-11-12-13-14-2-3-8.

There are three Ladies tied at the top of the board at the moment, Mariajo Uribe,  Heather Bowie Young and Silvia Cavalleri are all level at -6 under par. This is only one shot ahead of those in second place in this shortened format of the game with only 12 holes being played.

LPGA Commissioner Michael Whan had this to say;

” When you have a situation like this, you bring everyone together that you trust and you make the decision. It’s fair if someone doesn’t like the decision we made, but I think this outcome is a lot better than any other alternative. Everybody who plays the next three days will play the same course.”

Juli Inkster thinks everyone should just get on with it;

” I think we need to try to play for Pure Silk and for Bahamas Tourism. This is something that has never happened before and it probably never will happen again. I think we should play, money should be official and everyone should get on with it.”

Stacy Lewis, the Rolex Rankings number two said there was good and bad to the situation;

” There is good and bad to the situation and you have to decide if your glass is half full or half empty. At the end of the day, we’ll all play the same holes, the same course and be scored the same way. That’s a golf tournament. It’s all about your perspective on it, If you go into it thinking, ‘this is dumb’ or ‘we shouldn’t play’ then you probably won’t play very well. I think, for the sponsors, we need to play. It’s a first year event and we need to get out there.”

Well spoken Stacy, lets play. Both Juli and Stacy are at -1 under par.
 

L.E.T. Deloitte Ladies Open. Rookie Camilla Lennarth Has 3 Stroke Lead.

The Ladies European Tour event the Deloitte Ladies Open has a rookie leading after the first round in Amsterdam. Camilla Lennarth of Sweden fired a -7 under par 66, on the par 73 lay-out, to lead by three strokes.

Camilla Lennarth / LET

Camilla was able to make the most of the warmer afternoon conditions after the bitterly cold start to this event in the Netherlands. She was able to post four birdies on the back nine, five overall to go with her Eagle for her -7 under par total. They are playing on The International course, which lies next door to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam. She said she was surprised to see the lead was only at -3 under when she teed off;

” Before I teed off I saw the leaders at three-under and I was a little surprised, I just aimed for a par on every hole and things went my way. I made some putts and that gave me some momentum. I was hoping for a better start this year, I played well at Q-School but I’ve been struggling ,so it’s nice that even though I didn’t strike the ball as well as I can, I got a great score out there. This is the best score I’ve ever posted in a tournament.”

Gwladys Nocera and Benedikte Grotvedt are tied in second place, three shots at -4 under par, is playing with confidence now after she had gone through a period of playing badly;

” I hit the ball pretty well. I was most of the time close to the pin, the right side of the green, so lots of birdie opportunities. Everything was good and the course was hard, so nothing to complain about. I’ve come from playing badly and losing so much confidence and now being able to play well again feels good so I don’t want to think about it. I just want to play golf, because that’s what I love.”

There are six players in a group at -3 under-par, of them only Melissa Reid and Line Vedel started early, in temperatures hovering around 7C for most of the morning.

Melissa said she was shivering while putting;

” It was so cold this morning that you couldn’t warm up and you were shivering putting your ball on the tee so the mental side was to get over that. When you’re freezing you have to keep your body warm and your hands warm and that’s the biggest challenge.”

It would take more than a pink Beanie to keep me warm at those temperatures.

 

Crowne Plaza Invitational. 2nd Round Suspended, Kuchar Leads.

Matt Kuchar is at the top of the leaderboard at the suspension of play in the second round of the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club.

Matt Kuchar / Heathcote / Getty Images

Matt and all the other afternoon players had to endure more than two hours of delay in the second round of the tournament, due to dangerous weather conditions, that included lightning  But that obviously did not upset Matt too much, as he climbed up to the top of the leaderboard. He currently has a one shot lead, being at -10 under par after 15 holes of his second round. The horn blew again just after Matt had hit his tee shop on the par 3, 16th, it was the second interruption of play on the day.

” That’s a bit of a bummer, it’s no fun to wake up at 4:30 to get out here and play three holes. But we get used to it for what we do. I really got off to a great start, and then I kept playing some good golf. This course can give you trouble, but if you are hitting it good, you can make some birdies out here.I was hitting it good and able to fire at some pins today.”

Graham DeLaet, who has completed his second round is currently one shot adrift of the leader, at -9 under par for the tournament, and is also the clubhouse leader. Graham admitted the dreaded Horrible Horse-shoe got to him today, three bogeys at 3,4 and 5.
“It definitely got me today.”

 

Defending champion Zach Johnson is -5 under par through 16 holes and has moved to -6 under for the tournament.

The projected cut line is -1 under par.and if that cut line holds, the players who have already finished their rounds at even par or worse include: Charl Schwartzel, 15th in the world rankings; Corey Pavin, who was making his 30th Colonial start; David Hearn, who opened with a 64 on Thursday but shot a +8-over par 78 on Friday, which included a quadruple bogey at the par-3, 13th where he hit two balls into the water off the tee.

BMW PGA Championship. Francesco Molinari Leads at Wet Wentworth.

Francesco Molinari leads at the BMW PGA Championship after the conclusion of the second round at the Wentworth Club on the West Course.

Francesco Molinari / Getty Images

On a wet and cold second day at Wentworth Francesco Molinari leads the BMW PGA Championship by just one shot after his second round of -4 under par, for a tournament total of -6 under par.

Francesco is happy to be at t he top, but is under no illusions as to how hard it will be to stay there on this difficult West course;

” I’m really happy with yesterday and today. The conditions were quite tough but I hit the ball well and the putter is working well so I am really happy at the moment. Six under is a good score given the conditions, I live over here now so I am used to it,  and I’m in a great position going into the weekend, but it’s a really tough course so anyone six or seven behind is still in it.”

Tied in second place is George Coetzee, at -5 under par, the South African has fared better than his compatriot James Kingston, who topped the leaderboard yesterday but collapsed today with a second round 77. Ten shots worse than his 66 of yesterday, he now has a tournament total of -1 under par.

Joining George at -5 under par are Alejandro Cañizares, Marc Warren and Mark Foster.

Lee Westwood is lurking at -3 under par and thinks he could be dangerous if his short game keeps improving, and his long game comes together;

 ” My short game’s been red-hot. I played some nice pitches and walking off the back of the 12th green, where I pitched to about four feet, Ernie said ‘Bit of a short-game wizard now.’ I also got up and down on 18 after hitting it in the hazard and those sorts of things can make a big difference to your week and going into the weekend with momentum. If my long game starts to come together, I could be dangerous.”

Lee’s Ryder Cup team-mate Luke Donald made a premature exit in his bid for a hat-trick of titles and fellow heroes of the Miracle at Medinah also made an early departure from The European Tour’s Flagship Event, with Rory McIlroy (75), Graeme McDowell (75), Ian Poulter (76) and Paul Lawrie (72) all joining Luke in missing the halfway cut.

Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. 1st Round, Ryan Palmer Shoots 62

Ryan Palmer shot a 1st round 62 to lead the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club by just one shot from John Rollins. Ryan is at -8 under par with John at -7, both players are members at Colonial Country Club.

Ryan Palmer / Cohen / Getty Images.

Ryan Palmer was reacting to a challenge from his caddy, James Edmondson;

” See if you can match my low score on this course.”

Ryan laughed as he said;

“What do you do when you get that thrown at you, we had a good laugh on that one. I felt comfortable over every tee shot, the way I hit it, I drew it up perfectly like I wanted to. It helps, obviously, the experience I have had here, I can’t begin to tell you what it would mean if it happens, hopefully I’ll be able to tell you on Sunday. This is what I dream about when I play here every year. This is the one tournament I gear up for the most.”

John Rollins is already thinking of a showdown with Ryan on Sunday;

“I think it’s pretty cool, it would be fun if we could fast forward this to Sunday. I think he is a pretty permanent fixture in the men’s group, I know a lot of people know that Ryan is a member. A lot of people may not know that I’m a member here. Hopefully by the end of the week they will,  I hope I come out on top.

There are three players tied in third place at -6 under par; they are, Morgan Hoffman, Canadians David Hearn,  and  Graham DeLaet and John Peterson.

Morgan comes into this tournament after a tie for fifth at last week’s HP Byron Nelson Championship, he said it was a confidence booster;

” Last week was a big confidence booster.”

Graham said he thought they got lucky with the weather;

” I think we got pretty lucky, the wind really didn’t kick up too hard and you kind of expect low scoring out here if you can just keep the ball in play and make a few putts.”

 

 

BMW PGA Championship. Play Suspended, Kingston Claims Lead.

 

Play in the first round of the BMW PGA Championship has been suspended due to darkness on a dramatic opening day on the West Course at Wentworth Club. Currently James Kingston of South Africa has claimed the lead.

 

James Kingston / Getty Images

James Kingston has completed his first round at the BMW PGA Championship with a leading score of -6 under par, 66 at the Wentworth Club in England.

A 90-minute delay at Wentworth, due to the threat of lightning meant the last group, who had only just then teed off, could not complete the course in daylight hours. They will return early on Friday morning to complete their first rounds, and with second round tee times unchanged, all should go smoothly.

In second place is Mikko Ilonen at -5 under par, with Scott Henry and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño a shot further back at -4 under par. All of these players have completed their rounds.

Also at -4 under par is Austrian Martin Wiegele, Martin has only completed 13 holes, so has a chance tomorrow of climbing further up the leaderboard. There were five groups still on the course when play was suspended.

James recieved an invitation to play in this event, he lost his card for the Tour and currently has to survive on these kind of opportunities. He was feeling pretty upset about losing his Tour card;

“I never felt like I played poorly enough to lose my card and that’s what makes it even more frustrating. I felt like I played half decent throughout the whole season, but just never managed to put a score on the board. It does make it a little harder to accept. Getting an invite into this event, what a great feeling to be back here. I think I’ve made the most of it today.”

Mikko was happy to survive in the very cool Wentworth temperatures;

” It was pretty nippy when we started and stayed that way, ”all day I was thinking ‘Can I get these waterproof trousers off?’ and never managed it. We even had hail on the ninth tee. I said to a friend last night it was going to snow today and she laughed at me. It’s British summer and we have proof of that.”

Scott Henry, who graduated from the Challenge Tour last season, only found out he was in the tournament as he boarded a flight from Madeira on Monday morning. He is another player who has grabbed an opportunity, and played well;

“It was nice to see my name on the leaderboard on the back nine, it was a bit surreal. I was pretty nervous this morning, it’s a big tournament and the first time I have been here. It’s a great test of golf and for the first time this year I could put everything together.”

All but one of last year’s victorious Ryder Cup team are in the 150-man field, but several of them fell victim to the closing stretch at Wentworth Club’s famous West Course.

Justin Rose at even, Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell, last weeks winner started with rounds of 74, Ian Poulter 76 and Luke Donald 78.

 

Anchoring Banned, R&A and USGA Announce.

                            

 

The Royal and Ancient and the USGA made an official announcement on Tuesday morning, May 21, on their respective websites and at a press conference that they will add rule 14-1b to the official rules of golf effective Jan. 1, 2016, which will ban anchoring.

USGA President Glen D. Nager had this to say;

” Having considered all of the input that we received, both before and after the proposed Rule was announced, our best judgment is that Rule 14-1b is necessary to preserve one of the important traditions and challenges of the game, that the player freely swing the entire club. The new Rule upholds the essential nature of the traditional method of stroke and eliminates the possible advantage that anchoring provides, ensuring that players of all skill levels face the same challenge inherent in the game of golf.”

Peter Dawson, who is the Chief Executive of The R&A announced;

” We took a great deal of time to consider this issue and received a variety of contributions from individuals and organisations at all levels of the game. The report published today gives a comprehensive account of the reasons for taking the decision to adopt the new Rule and addresses the concerns that have been raised. We recognise this has been a divisive issue but after thorough consideration we remain convinced that this is the right decision for golf.”

The new rule as it will appear in the rule book;

14-1b Anchoring the Club

In making a stroke, the player must not anchor the club, either “directly” or by use of an “anchor point.” 

Note 1:  The club is anchored “directly” when the player intentionally holds the club or a gripping hand in contact with any part of his body, except that the player may hold the club or a gripping hand against a hand or forearm.

Note 2:  An “anchor point” exists when the player intentionally holds a forearm in contact with any part of his body to establish a gripping hand as a stable point around which the other hand may swing the club.

So it has finally arrived and I gather from all the posts on the Internet that most golfers around the World are in favor of this new rule.  The professional players will have plenty of time to adjust to conventional putting, or win as much money as they can between now and January 1st 2016, and then retire from the game.

Executive Director of Rules and Equipment Standards at The R&A, David Rickman, had this to say;

” This Rule change addresses the future and not the past. Everyone who has used an anchored stroke in the past, or who does so between now and January 1, 2016, will have played entirely within the Rules and their achievements will in no way be diminished.”

USGA Executive Director Mike Davis admitted that not everyone agreed, but he felt it was in the best interests of the game;

” The discussion around the Rule has been very helpful, and we appreciate that so many different perspectives were offered. We know that not everyone will agree with the new Rule, but it is our hope that all golfers will accept that this decision is reasoned and motivated by our best judgment in defining the sport and serving the best interests of the game.”