FedEx St Jude Classic. Stefani Steals 3rd Round Lead.

Shawn Stefani stole the third round lead at the FedEx St. Jude Classic with a -4 under par round 66, despite carding a 7 at the par 3 eleventh hole.

Shawn Stefani / Lyons / Getty

Shawn recovered to birdie four of the final five holes to grab a one-stroke lead at -12 under par, but still it was that quad that was the talk of the FedEx St. Jude Classic tournament at TPC Southwind.

Shawn himself shrugged off the watery mishap at eleven;

“I hit a good tee shot on 12 and the drive on 12 is not the easiest drive on the course, and then the birdie on 14 is when I got more calm. I’m actually playing a lot better than I was in Tampa. Having the lead was great, but I’m more prepared with my game. I can’t worry about what Phil’s doing out there, Phil’s Phil. I’m just going to concentrate on what I’m doing.”

Just one shot behind in second place at -11 under par, is playing partner Harris English who had a more modest third round, at -1 under 69.

Harris said is was tough to watch Shawn struggle on the par 3;

“It’s tough to watch that, I don’t care who you are, but he brought it back beautifully.”

Three players are tied in third spot, Patrick Reed, Nicholas Thompson and Scott Stallings, all at -8 under par.

Phil Mickelson has made his intentions clear, with a move up the leaderboard today with his third round of -5 under par 65 and is now at -7 under par for the tournament. Five shots is a lot to make up but if anyone can do it, Phil can, especially if putts like the one on the second hole start dropping;

“I’ve played better each round and I’m encouraged by that, I had a few bogeys and I left a few birdies go, let a few shots slide. It’s certainly out there. The putt on two was bigger, it was going pretty quick but ended up catching the middle of the hole and going in. Five under was a pretty good score today, but not great given the setup. I could really get some glimpses of my game getting where I want it. Hopefully, I’ll put together a really low round Sunday and catch the leaders.”

Rookie Eric Meierdierks is also at -7  under par after his third round of -4 under, 66 which included a hole in one at the par 3 thirteenth hole;

” The 13th hole, 8-iron, spun back into the hole, always helps the putting stats, that’s what I was looking for. Probably going to get some calls with bar tabs I have to pay.”

Euro Tour. Lyoness Open, Joost Jumps Into Three shot Lead.

In the European Tour Lyoness Open third round Joost Luiten has jumped into a three shot lead at the Diamond Country Club in Austria.

Joost Luiten / Getty Images

Joost took a leaf out of the balloon’s performance and took off during the third round with a -5 under par, 67 that elevated the Dutchman to the top of the leaderboard at -16 under par, and three shots clear of the field going into the final round.

Joost said he found it easy;

“It’s easy if you play like I did on the back nine, but the first fives holes were tough. Once I settled down a bit I started to play better, hit some good shots and make some putts. The first hole you’re always nervous. It’s always better to be leading than be behind. I don’t mind playing with the lead.”

Tied in second place at -13 under par are the Spanish armada of Jorge Campillo and Eduardo De La Riva, who will be fighting to chase down the leader all the way to the end on Sunday. These two are the only ones who realistically have a chance to challenge for the lead during the final round.

Round of the day went to Thomas Björn of Denmark who had a sparkling third round at the Diamond Country Club of -8 under par 64. This score fired him up the leaderboard for a share of fourth place at -11 under par. His polished performance started to shine in strange circumstances on the par fourth 12th hole, when he was contemplating changing his ball , then saw his approach shot find the hole;

” I hit the drive and I said to my caddie to change the ball at the next hole as the flight was a bit funny. Then I holed the second shot and he looked at me and said, flying funny is it. I’ve been plodding along and playing alright but not great. Something clicked into place today and I couldn’t stop making birdies on the back nine.”

Thomas could produce another sparkling round tomorrow, but Joost is the one holding all the aces at the Diamond Country Club.

 

 

Wegmans LPGA Championship. Choi Has 1st Round Lead.

Chella Choi, from South Korea, has taken the first round lead at the delayed Wegmans LPGA Championship with an opening round of -5 under par 67, at the Locust Hill Country Club course. The 2nd Major of the year is finally under way, barring more major rainfall.

Chella Choi / Halleran / Getty Images

The  wet and soggy conditions at Locust Hill Country Club could not prevent Chella from taking a slender one-shot lead at the Wegmans LPGA Championship. She carded six birdies in her first 10 holes and made just one bogey in her opening round, saying she had hit many fairways today;

“I hit a really good driver today, I hit 14 fairways.  So I’m really happy, my goal is just keep fairway.”

Tied in second place at -4 under par are Jiyai Shin, also of South Korea, and Morgan Pressel of America.

Morgan was also happy to have made many fairways;

“I played pretty well out there, I didn’t put myself really in any bad trouble which you can certainly find on this golf course.  I hit a lot of fairways, which you need to do.  I only missed I think two or three maybe, and the couple that I did, I most of the time saved par. I did not hit the ball very well here last year, I was in the rough a lot and I truly think that is kind of what caused it. It was just the many, many shots I had to whack out of the knee-high rough here.”

Alone in fourth spot is Brittany Lincicome, who is a further shot back at -3 under par. Brittany explained her thoughts on why she has had recent struggles with her game;

“For my game I really can’t even pinpoint one specific thing. Like the beginning of the year in the off season I tried taking lessons, and I’m a player that’s kind of more of a feel player.  I just kind of hit it, find it and hit it again. I think I was trying to change too many things at one time, so I kind of stopped doing that.  And then I wasn’t playing well, missed a couple of cuts in a row and lost my confidence. But took last week off to kind of go home and regroup, and you know, just try to remember that, you know, I’ve won five times on the LPGA Tour and I’ve been here before and I can do this. So I was just kind of feeling more confident today and every time I had a par putt or birdie putt I told myself, you’ve been here before, you can do this, let’s make this.  Just try to be more confident.  Even if I’m shooting 100, I’m going to try to be more confident.  That’s the mindset coming into this week.”

Yani Tseng got her first LPGA Tour hole-in-one in Friday’s first round on the par 3 15th, but she did not see it go in;

“No, I see where it was, but I did not see it go in, I had a hard time seeing the ball today.  So I see it was good in the air, so that’s all I needed. I mean after I hit it, I know it was a good shot, but I was just trying to be good distance, and I wasn’t thinking it was going to go in the hole.  I thought it would be perfect. This is my first hole‑in‑one since I turned pro.” 

FedEx St. Jude Classic. English Breaks Clear of the Pack

Harris English shot a second round of -6 under par, 64 to break clear of the pack in the FedEx St. Jude Classic at TPC Southwind.

Harris English / Lyons / Getty Images

Harris English has given himself a two shot lead at the half-way stage of the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis Tennessee, with his 36 hole score of -10 under par. He had a red-hot putter and said it was awesome to be at the top;

” It’s awesome to be in this position, I’ve worked very hard the last couple weeks and couple months to get in this position, and I feel like I’m ready and I feel like I got a lot of good people around me to help me. I haven’t holed out in a while, to make it on 2, probably the hardest hole on the golf course, is kind of unbelievable. I grew up on greens like this down in south Georgia, fast Bermuda greens. I’m very comfortable on these type of greens. I know when it’s going to be fast, and it’s really fast. And when into the green, it’s really slow. I have a good handle on the speed, that’s really what helped me today. When you get the speed down on the greens, you can start making some putts. I’m still looking for my first win and still hungry to be the best and to try to get my first win.”

Nearest challenger on Friday was Shawn Stefani, who had a second round of -5 under par for his tournament total of -8 under par.

Tied in third place are Paul Haley 11 and Scott Stallings, both players are at -5 under par.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson is at -3 under par but has more or less conceded this tournament, especially if Harris has another good round tomorrow;

“If he has another two days like the first two, it will be tough to catch him,. But I would say I look forward to being bunched throughout on Sunday coming down the stretch.”

Being seven shots behind the leader at the moment Dustin needs a good round tomorrow, but still needs Harris to have an off round to even think of catching him.

Missing the cut here in Memphis, Brandt Snedeker, D.A. Points and Guan Tianlang, the 14-year-old amateur from China who made the cut at the Masters. Paul Goydos missed the cut too, but he did play on Friday, shooting a 72,  after fearing that he had re-injured his left wrist during the opening round. Tim Clark and David Duval also joined the missed cut brigade.

 

Euro Tour. Luiten Lights Up Lyoness Open.

Joost Luiten shining second round lights up the Lyoness Open on the European Tour at the Diamond Country Club, in Austria.

Joost Luiten / Getty Images

Joost Luiten shot a second round of -4 under par, 68 to break clear of the pack and lead the Lyoness Open by one shot at -11 under par.

Joost said he round was good, and the rough meant you had to play smart golf;

“It was good “I hit some nice shots in close for birdie. I didn’t make as many putts as yesterday but I’m really happy with the score. On this course you know you’re going to make a few bogeys but there are a lot of chances for birdie as well. You just have to try to stay patient and I think I did that well today. The greens are great, maybe the best of the season. They’ve had a lot of rain but they’re still probably the best greens we’ve played on this year. They hold the shots going in and they are quick. What a good job they’ve done here. You have to play smart on some holes and it’s playing long, the rough is very tough.”

There are three players tied in second place at -10 under par, Paul Waring, Callum Macaulay and Eduardo De La Riva.

Spaniard Eduardo is a Qualifying School graduate, and started his second round with an eagle at the long tenth, and finished it with five birdies in his last seven holes which propelled him into contention.

Eduardo was very happy with his round and his putting;

” Five birdies in the last few holes is very good, and the last two holes were only from a couple of inches. I’ve played very good in some tournaments but I’ve had some problems with my putter. With some good work it’s better, today I putted very well and I’m very happy.”

Paul was also happy, especially as his wrist problems have gone away;

“I’m very happy, I finished a little bit poorly but I played awful the last few weeks to be honest so it’s nice to feel I have got my swing back where it needs to be. I did a lot of work after missing the cut in Sweden and because I know the course here I even had Tuesday at home practising before flying out. The wrist is absolutely fine now, nothing to worry about, which is nice. I can go and play golf and practise as much as I want and we are starting to see some results out of it.”

Cullum has his brother on the bag this week, and it appears to have been a good selection;

“It’s unchartered waters for the last two or three years, and if I’m being honest it’s come out of nowhere. I’ve had a really poor start to the season and I’ve worked exceptionally hard to improve, but things haven’t been going my way. I did a lot of work last weekend in Sweden with Scott Arnold, who also missed the cut, and he made a couple of suggestions. It was very simple, I was de-lofting my irons on the way back and not getting any height. It’s taken a lot of repetition and it still feels a little bit funny, but I just need to keep hitting balls and get more comfortable. This sport can change in a heartbeat and you have to keep plodding along hoping things will turn. This is a big step in the right direction. I’ve got my brother caddying for me this week and he’s always pretty cool no matter what. It’ll be new for me playing in the last few groups in a European Tour event, but that’s why we play the game. We want to get better every week.”

FedEx St. Jude Classic. Its Tight At The Top In Tennessee

            

It is tight at the top of the leaderboard in the FedEx St. Jude Classic at  T.P.C. Southwind, in Memphis Tennessee.

 

 

There are six players who tied at the top of the leaderboard at the conclusion of the first round at the FedEx St Jude Classic at TPC Southwind. Nathan Green, Martin Flores, Stuart Appleby, Glen Day, Harris English and Davis Love 111 all had opening rounds of -4 under par 66. on the par 70 lay-out. This is the final event before the U.S. Open next week at Merion Golf Club, and Davis said he was excited to be back in contention;

“I still hit some bad shots, at The PLAYERS and Memorial, I felt like I was playing better than I was scoring. I think it’s rust. I’m excited to be back, and I’m anxious and I want to play better than I’m playing. I’m a little bit tired from the two 36-hole qualifiers as well. You got to be a little bit more patient and polished. That’s going to take some rounds of golf to get back. I tried to keep up with Dustin and Brandt.”

Stuart Appleby had his best round of the year, but was surprised the scoring was not lower, in the near perfect conditions;

“I thought there were some more birdies out there, I think just with the pace of the greens if you’re above the hole it’s tricky. I’m happy with the way I played today. Anybody who got under par today, the scoreboard, certainly fought to get there.”

Nathan Green lost his status last year, and was nervous seeing his name at the top of the leaderboard when he had completed his round;

“I was starting to get nervous seeing my name on the board and made two good up and downs to finish off the round, which is nice”

Phil Mickelson shot a +1 over, 71 , but said this was a ball strikers course,and he was striking the ball well;

“This is great because it’s a great test. The guy that strikes it well is going to have a big advantage, but when you do miss greens, you’ve got to be pretty sharp with your short game because the lies around the greens are some of the most difficult that we get. It’s about as good as I’ve been striking it, and I feel like there’s a good round in me.”

Behind the pace setters on the leaderboard, and  just one shot adrift are eleven players, who all had -3 under par 67′s.

LPGA. Wegmans LPGA Championship. 1st Round Rained Off

The Wegmans LPGA Championship opening round was called off on Thursday due to continuous rain falling throughout the morning, making the Locust Hill Country Club course unplayable.

Wet and Puddled Fairways / Getty

The first and second round pairings will remain the same, and a cut will be made at the conclusion of the second round on Saturday. The officials intend to complete both the third and fourth rounds (36 holes) on Sunday, June 9.

The weather has been ever-present at tournaments this year, more so it seems on the LPGA Tour. Stacy Lewis said everyone pretty much knew it was going to be a wet tournament;

“I think coming into the day everybody knew what the weather was going to be. We knew it was going to be a long day, long week.  It always is here.  So, I mean we’re golfers.  We deal with rain delays all the time.  So you just have to stay patient with it and when you have an opportunity to play, just be ready to go and hopefully your golf swing can stay in a rhythm.”

Brittany Lang was happy to take the day off, to relax;

“ It’s definitely tough because you’re excited to get going, but to be honest with you, I’m fairly tired, being my fourth week in a row. So it’s actually kind of good for me. I mean I feel fine.  I’m sure I would have played fine, but a day of rest is probably good for me.  I’m sure a lot of girls are definitely ready to get going, but I’m going to go hang out and do some fun things and get ready for tomorrow and just rest. This amount of rain with that rough is going to be extremely difficult. It’s going to play longer, which the course isn’t overly long, so that’s really not too much of a factor. But that rough is going to get thicker, and being wet, it is so hard to hit out of wet rough like that,  I mean it’s nearly impossible.”

Paige Mackenzie said the rain will make the rough even rougher;

” The rough this year in my opinion is the longest that I’ve ever seen it. It’s always healthy, but it’s like Sunday rough on Tuesday, so it’ll be interesting not having cut it what it’s going to look like on Sunday with this kind of moisture and if it’s going to continue to grow the next four days.”

Euro Tour. Lyoness Open. Tom Lewis Leads.

Tom Lewis, from England, leads after the first round of the Lyoness Open, powered by Greenfinity, at the Diamond Country Club in Atzenbrugg, Austria.

Tom Lewis / Getty Images

Tom Lewis stamped his authority on the Lyoness Open with an opening bogey free round of -9 under par 63, which gave him a two shot lead over the field.

Tom said it was really only his putting today that made the difference between today and the rest of his year;

“It’s a great start, “I had some good fortune around the 17th and 18th, which was my front nine, and that made the back nine more relaxed. I holed a lot of putts, which was really the only difference between today and the rest of the year. This year’s been tough but I’ve been very close and shown a lot of good stuff. Today it all came together and if I can have three more rounds like that I’ll be alright. I always seem to throw in a double bogey in a round or a tournament and it pushes me out of contention. I’ve got to try to limit the mistakes and not get too down on myself, and I’ve been working hard on that with a lot of people. I’ve got a lot of support from friends and family, and good coaches, so with a bit of talent I’ve got no excuses.We travel so much and there’s so many different places, grasses, time differences – it can get to a lot of players. Some weeks you’re feeling great and some weeks you’re not. I need to turn the great weeks into really great weeks, and the not so great weeks I need to grind it out. I’ve got high expectations and not very much patience. Because I’ve struggled the last year or so I’ve lowered my expectations, which has been a good thing and has got my confidence back up. Hopefully I can get off to a good start tomorrow and make a few birdies early on. If I make a few mistakes, which I will this week, I just need to not get down on myself and I’ll be fine.”

Dutchman Joost Luiten is in second place, with his opening round of -7 under par, 65, he also said his putter was his best friend today;

“It always feels good to have a great score in the first round, I was four under after four and that keeps the round going. I hit a lot of fairways and greens and the putter was my best friend today. The course is starting to dry out but you don’t get any roll on the ball. The greens are very good so you can really make some putts. The weather was perfect today and there was no wind, which was good because when it’s windy it’s a very tough golf course. I played well two years ago which was my first and only time here. I finished third, so I know I can play well on this course and I showed it again today. It doesn’t matter who’s the favourite, you just have to go out and shoot as low a score as possible.”

There are four players tied in third place, all at -6 under par, they are; Graeme Storm, Alexander Levy, Richard McEvoy and Simon Dyson.

Graeme thought he should have been at -8 under, the way he played, but missed some chances;

“I stayed very composed and tee to green I played as well as I could have, I think I only missed three greens and I holed a few nice putts. I felt as though I could have shot eight under today, but I missed a couple of chances. It’s slightly disappointing bogeying the last as I had the perfect yardage for a six iron. I just pulled it a bit, which I did with a couple of irons in the last few holes, so I’ll be going to the range after lunch to fix that. Other than that I played great all day. I had a nice little run on seven, eight and nine, and should have birdied the tenth as well.”

Defending champion and home favorite Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, had consecutive birdies at the sixth and seventh as he opened his account here with a -4 under par. 68.

“I’m not ecstatic, but it’s a good start, I kept it together well and had to scramble a lot, especially on my front nine. On the back nine I had a few chances and managed to take a few of them. I started with a 71 last year so this is three better. Hopefully that means I can get to 20 under this time.”

Champions Tour. The Principal Charity Classic. Russ Cochran Wins.

Russ Cochran won the Champions Tour, Principal Charity Classic at the Wakonda Club in Des Moines.

Russ Cochran / Getty Images

Russ Cochran conquered his 2012 injuries and 35 winless tournaments to step back into the winners circle at the Principal Charity Classic, with a trophy winning score of -11 under par. A tense last round of  -5 under par 67, was enough,  but the left hander said he was not expecting to win, he thought second placed Jay Don Blake would make his last putt;

” I didn’t really expect to win. But I knew I could compete and get in contention. Of course, when you do that, sometimes good things happen. Blake is a tremendous putter. I didn’t want to see him roll it in with all the confidence, and I just felt like he would make it. Being such a good friend, I wanted him to make it.”

Jay Don Blake made bogey on the par three 17th hole, and had a chance to make a play-off with a putt on the 18th, which he missed;

“I quit on the stroke. I didn’t make a good stroke. I kind of de-accelerated and left it out there to the right”

He blamed the bogey on seventeen for unsettling him, leaving him with a total score of -10 under par;

“From then on, it just seemed like I was a little bit cautious with the putter. I wasn’t stroking as aggressive as I was before.”

Tied in third place at -9 under par for the tournament were; Kirk Triplett, Marl Calcavecchia and Duffy Waldorf. Both Kirk and Mark matched the -5 under par final round of 67 of Russ, but Duffy finished with -1 under par, 71.

 

 

ShopRite LPGA Classic. Karie Webb Wins Windy Classic.

Karrie Webb won the ShopRite LPGA Classic at Stockton Seaview Hotel and Golf Club Galloway, New Jersey.

Karrie Webb / Getty

The 38 year-old Australian Karrie won her first LPGA Tour title in two years, rallying from five shots down for a two-stroke victory over Shanshan Feng of China on Sunday, in the wind lashed ShopRite LPGA Classic.

Karrie had a final round of -3 under par, 68 in blustery conditions to win for the 39th time on the LPGA Tour, with a total of -4 under par for the tournament.

Shanshan Feng struggled in the windy conditions, having a final round of +4, 75 and finished at -2 under par. Starting with a three shot lead Shanshan could not hold on in the difficult conditions and had to settle for second place.

Hee Young Park finished in third place, the only other player to finish in under par for the tournament, at -1 under par.

In a disastrous day for the younger players, Karrie showed that experience can count.