Wyndham Championship, Round 3, Sergio Garcia Leads

                                                                                                                       

Sergio Garcia/Gerry Broome / Associated Press

After three rounds of the Wyndham Championship Sergio Garcia is in control of his Ryder Cup destiny. Sergio had a third round of       -4 under par 66 on the par 70 Sedgefield Country Club lay-out, to lead by one shot from Tim Clark and Bud Cauley, who are on -13 under par. The FedEx Playoffs are just one week away, and Sergio Garcia is rounding into form at the right time. The going will  not be easy, apart from Bud Cauley and Tim Clark by one,  Jason Dufner, Harris English and Carl Pettersson are lurking with serious intent. Sergio is acutely aware of the competition looming behind him for the final round;

” Obviously I would love to be two, three shots better but, you know, we’re in a good situation, it’s going to be a tough day. There’s no doubt about it. A lot of very good players behind me trying to achieve the same thing I’m trying to achieve. So, you know, hopefully I’ll go out there tomorrow, play well again and give ourselves a good shot at winning and see if we can finish in the same position that I was today. Eighteen pars are not going to win it, you have to make some birdies out there. I don’t have a number, I’m not going to say I need to shoot 4 under, 5 under, or whatever. Someone might go out and shoot 9 under, and 5 under’s not good enough.”

Jason Dufner had the best round of the day, a -7 under par 63, and playing like that he could easily be in contention coming down the stretch on Sunday afternoon. Jason trails Sergio by two shots and is trying to win for the third time during this breakout season. Amazingly he would replace Tiger Woods as No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings if he did, now that would be a talking point.

There are sixteen players within four shots of the lead, so in reality tomorrow is going to be a shoot-out, and may the best man win.

The American Ryder Cup Captain Davis Love 111 is still in contention in this tournament, and a win for him here would be a momentous occasion. And don’t forget Carl Pettersson, the Sedgefield Country Club member, he knows this course well, and that factor could give him the edge. Of course Carl will not be playing for Ryder Cup selection, as he does not qualify to play for either the U.S. or the European Team. I think some rule changes need to be made here, but you know how long it takes the authorities to come to any conclusions on rule changes, long putters have been around for twenty years.

Here is how the top of the leaderboard currently looks.

1. Sergio Garcia -14                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                T2. Bud Cauley -13                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           T2. Tim Clark -13                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            T4. Jason Dufner -12                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    T4. Harris English -12                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  T4. Carl Pettersson -12                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       T7. Davis Love III -11                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       T7. Matt Every -11                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              T7. Jimmy Walker 11

Valero Texas Open, Ben Curtis wins at TPC San Antonio

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Ben Curtis cured his drought and won the Valero Texas Open, at TPC San Antonio. Ben won by two shots from Matt Every and John Huh. The winning score was -9 under par, with an even par last round of 72 for Ben, he needed to birdie the last to achieve that score,  which proved to be enough to lift the trophy.

John Huh had a last round of -3 under par for a total of -7 under par for the tournament. Matt Every could not catch Ben, he managed only a -1 under par final round as his challenge faltered. He and John shared second place with final totals of -7 under par.

Next week the Tour moves to TPC Louisiana, Avondale, Louisiana for the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, where Bubba Watson returns  to defend his Zurich Classic title.

Other big names in the field include, Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, and Graeme McDowell. It will be interesting to see how Luke Donald performs in his pursuit of the number one ranking. Rory McIlroy will not be there this week so it is a good opportunity for Luke to regain the top spot.

Valero Texas Open, windy third day @ TPC San Antonio

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It was a tough and windy third day at The Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio, with Ben Curtis hanging on to the lead despite shooting a +1 over par round. Ben’s total tournament score of -6 under par is three shots batter than his nearest rival, Matt Every.   Matt also had a +1 over par 73 for his total of -6 under par and will have to play really well tomorrow if he wants to win the title.

No one played very well in the windy conditions, so although Ben Curtis stumbled they was no real pressure from behind. John Huh and Matt Kuchar had rounds of -5 under par and have moved up the leaderboard, but will need to repeat those performances if they are to figure at the back end of Sunday.

Valero Texas Open, 2nd round incomplete @ TPC San Antonio

The Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio 2nd round was suspended due to darkness leaving the round incomplete. A Rain delay in the afternoon disrupted play for two hours, and after the resumption of play, darkness fell before the round could be completed.

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Ben Curtis

Ben Curtis,  who won The Open in 2003,was top of the leaderboard at the suspension of play, with another -5 under par round 67, and a tournament total of -10 under par. He leads David Mathis by two shots, with Cameron Tringale and first round leader Matt Every another shot behind. Matt Every has still not completed his second round, he has completed 16 holes, but is finding life difficult after his first round 63. Matt is currently +2 over par for his round, and has two holes left in the 2nd round to try and reduce the deficit before his starts out on his third round.

Ben said of his second round;

“Playing obviously really well. You know, the key around here is if you can drive it straight, keep it in the fairway, give yourself a chance to get at some of these pins, you know, with the slope of the greens and stuff like that, it makes it a lot easier from the fairway. I did that. Hit a lot of good iron shots. Left them, for the most part, on the right level and made a few putts and, you know, it was a pretty easy Round 2. You hate to say that but I mean I didn’t ,even when I missed the green, there was no terribly difficult up and down. All pretty straightforward. Played well. Every part of the game was good. You know, you wish you could have something to say about it afterwards, didn’t do this or that. I missed a couple short, maybe three, four birdie putts that I should have made inside ten feet but other than that, I’m not going to complain and, you know, the course is in great shape and greens are fantastic, rolling really good and there’s a lot of slope to them. It doesn’t mean they’re bad. It just means they’re tough. We’ll see how it goes over the weekend. When you’re not playing the schedule that you want, you don’t have it all laid out in front of you before the year starts, you’re kind of playing when you can. It’s hard.”

Ben Curtis is playing TPC San Antonio for the first time, the Valero Texas Open is just his fourth PGA TOUR start because of his low status after a miserable 2011.

Valero Texas Texas Open, Opening Round, Every shoots 63

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Matt Every shoots a flawless round of 63 for a new course record at the opening round of the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio. Matt’s -9 under par round gives him a three shot lead over the field, with his nearest competitor, Hunter Haas three shots adrift after a solid round of 66. Matt was happy with his record round;

” No bogies is always good no matter what course. I didn’t even know what the course record was until I got done. I kind of kept going and got a few good breaks in the middle of the round to keep the momentum going and then added up to 9-under.  I mean it’s just one day. It is nice to get off to a great start but you can’t read too much into one day of golf out here. Everyone is so good. It’s a good start. That’s what it means.”

Hunter Haas said it was all down to his caddy;

“I didn’t drive the ball that well but my irons kept me it in. I caught a good one and flushed it down there and the caddy today told me we’re down there this far, you better go for it. It’s nice to finish off a round like that. It’s been awhile. I’ve had a few good rounds this year and keep doing the rest of the week. It’s very nice. It’s nice to walk off 18 holes anytime without any bogies.”

Ben Curtis is a shot further back after A -5 under par round of 67, and said it was an easy round;

” Birdied No. 4, made like a 12-footer there. It was a good hole to get a birdie on. One of the tougher holes out here. Hit a great shot in there, especially being in the wind today, it played really long even though we had it teed up. Then 6, I birdied 6. I hit it in the trees on the left and just trying to get it on the front right of the green and I was only like a hundred yards to the front or something, 90 yards to the front. I was just trying to just get it up near the green somewhere and get up and down and hit it. It came out left right at the hole and it hit just over the bunker and trickled up to about six feet and I made that. Then the next hole I hit a 4-iron to about 20 feet, just straight up the hill and pretty easy straightforward putt and made that. Then 9, hit an 8-iron in there and maybe 15 feet, just left of the hole and, again, just a slight left to right break. Pretty easy putt.And then birdied 14, the par 5 on the back. Hit a sand wedge in there to eight feet, made the putt. Overall, pretty easy. I had maybe, let’s see ; 11 I had like a 3-footer for par. 13, I had maybe a 4-footer for par and other than that the rest were tap-ins so it made it quite easy on myself.”

RBC Heritage, 1st round

Tied for the lead at after the 1st round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links, Hilton Head, South Carolina are, Chad Campbell, Vaughn Taylor and Colt Knost. All three had a first round score of  67 for a total of -4 under par for the tournament.

Colt Knost commented on his late tee time today and early start tomorrow;

The Associated Press

‘ It’s good. It’s good to take advantage of , it’s probably good in this situation. It’s normally a tough tee time to finish so late, and the greens aren’t quite as good as they normally are. I’m excited to go out and have a little better conditions in the morning and get after it. I heard it was cold and a little windy this morning. From what I’ve seen it’s supposed to be a little better tomorrow. If it is, it is, if not, but it wasn’t calm for us out there today. Our first 12, 13 holes it was windy and it was swirling around a lot out there. We got lucky the last few coming in, and I was able to take advantage of it”

Vaughn Taylor said;

“ It’s very difficult. It’s obviously a tough driving course. And then if you’re not on the right side of the fairway, your back is behind the wall. And the greens are firm and fast. So it’s tough. You’ve just got to kind of grind it out. You know you’re going to miss some greens. So you’ve got to do your best trying to get the ball up and down. I fortunately did a good job of that today.” And of his effort on the ninth hole, Vaughn happily recounted; “ I had exactly 100 yards to the hole. I was trying to decide between a lob wedge and a sand wedge, but I had a little bit of an upslope lie, I decided to go with the sand wedge and hit a smooth one. Came off right, right at it, and fortunate enough to go in.”

Chad Campbell was pleased with his round;

The Associated Press

 ” It felt like I’ve been playing better here lately. I got off to a great start today; birdied 2 and 4 and 5. It’s nice to get off to a good start here. It was a little tricky with the winds, and it’s always a tough golf course. Pleased about the way I played today.”

There are four players just one shot behind, Jim Furyk, Charlie Wi, Harris English and Matt Every.

Biggest surprise of the day was world number one Luke Donald struggling to a +4 over par round of 75.

The Associated Press

Sony Open Hawaii – Matt who

Matt Every has a two-shot lead at the halfway mark of the US PGA Tour event at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Matt who, I hear you asking. Matt Every is the American who made headlines in the summer of 2010 for being arrested on a misdemeanor marijuana charge in a hotel room during the John Deere Classic. At the time he denied possessing or using marijuana and the charges were eventually dropped, though he was suspended for three months for ‘conduct unbecoming a professional’. A strange decision by the PGA but one that Matt excepted.

“I’m not mad at the tour, they did what they had to do”. ”I don’t do drugs. It was a crappy deal. Wrong place, wrong time, perfect storm and I got three months out of it,”

“I still hang out with the s upame people. If one of my friends likes to smoke marijuana every now and then I’m not going to say, well, you can’t be my friend anymore”

“Honestly, I know more people who smoke marijuana than those who don’t” “I know that’s probably not the politically correct thing to say, but it’s the truth.

“I don’t do it, but I don’t frown upon it.”

Every backed up his opening round 66 with a six-under par 64 to move to 10 under for the tournament, and that has given him a two-stroke advantage over David Hearn (66) and Carl Pettersson (67) who sit at eight under.

The best placed Australians are John Senden (67) and Gavin Coles (66) who are in a tie for 17th place, five shots off the pace. John Senden opened with a birdie but then had a couple of bogies before racking up four birdies in five holes to find himself in the thick of the tournament.

Kiwi Danny Lee’s first event as a full-time PGA Tour member ended prematurely with a missed cut at +3.

 Photo / AP