Valero Texas Open. Billy Battles On.

Billy Horschel battles on at the top of the leaderboard at the Valero Texas Open at TPC San Antonio,  AT&T Oaks Course.

Billy Horschel / Cohen / Getty Images

Billy Horschel shot a third round -2 under par 70, to lead the field at the Valero Texas Open by a comfortable two shots with a -10 under par total. Billy is full of confidence, and is no shrinking violet when it comes to making statements about his ability;

” I’ve never been star struck out here, I respect all the veterans out here. I respect everyone that’s put their time in out here. But at the same time, I’m as confident as I’ve ever been, and I feel just as good as anyone else in the world right now. I didn’t even know I fell out of the lead until someone just told me,  I couldn’t care less whether I was leading after eight holes or whether I’m leading right now. I knew that I was playing well. I’m trying to stay loose, I think I’ve learned in the past that the looser I am, the more it helps.”

Tied in second place at -8 under par are Jim Furyk and Charley Hoffman, Jim with a third round of -3 under par and Charley had a -2 under par score on the day. Jim will partner Billy for the final round, thanks to the former U.S. Champion’s consistent form from tee to green, Jim hit fifteen greens in regulation, a remarkable feat as the San Antonio wind switched to the South for the first time during the tournament.

“It was funny to wake up and have the wind the dead opposite. What I was hitting hybrid into Thursday and Friday, I’m hitting 9-iron today.  I’m glad I got a couple rounds under my belt before that wind switched.”

Sharing fourth spot at -6 under par, are Ryan Palmer, with a -4 under par 68 round today; Bob Estes, -3 under par  69, and World Number two Rory McIlroy, scrambling home with -1 under par round of 71. Rory is now four shots off the lead and will need a really low round tomorrow if he is to contest this title. It seems unlikely as he only managed to get on seven out of the fourteen 14 fairways, this was for the second time in the tournament, continuing his trend of up-and-down play this year after an off-season equipment change.

” It was a tough scoring day, It was hard to really go low under par. I probably should have been a couple better, but at the end of the day, it’s still a solid round, and I still have a chance coming into tomorrow.”

Bob Estes is not even thinking about the Masters, just tomorrow;

” I don’t like talking about it, I’m just thinking about tomorrow. There’s plenty to stress out about, think about, playing in this wind. It’s just course management, a lot of guys, when the wind is blowing, they have trouble keeping it down or playing the right shot, and sometimes you have to play some pretty good defense. You play too aggressively in certain places and you hardly have a chance to two-putt or get it up and down.”

If the wind does blow at up to 25 mph tomorrow, I guess anything could happen, but I don’t expect Billy Horschel to let another victory chance slip through his fingers.

Phil Fires in Pheonix

Phil Mickelson / Martin / Getty Images

Phil Mickelson fired in a first round of 60 in the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. The 60 was so nearly a 59 as Phil’s putt on the last lipped out, but he was happy to settle for the lead at -11 under par.

Phil said he was certain the putt for 59 was in;

“Six feet to go, it was in the center, three feet to go, it was in the center. A foot to go, it was in the center, and even as it’s approaching the hole, I couldn’t envision which side of the hole it could possibly miss on, and it ended up somehow just dying off at the end, catching the lip. Well, 60 is awesome, last time I shot 60 here in `05, I birdied like the last three or four holes just to do that, and I was ecstatic, and I’m ecstatic to shoot 60. But there’s a big difference between 60 and 59. Not that big between 60 and 61, there really isn’t. But there’s a big barrier, a Berlin Wall barrier, between 59 and 60. I shot it in the PGA Grand Slam of Golf. I shot 58 in a practice round. But to do it in a tournament would have been historic for me, something I’d always remember, and I’ll always remember that putt on the last hole probably, too. When I birdied three and four, done deal. I’m going to get this done, very disappointed that I wasn’t able to birdie the last couple. I just knew I could do it, and darn it, it just lipped out.”

There are five payers tied in second place at -7 under par, four shots adrift of Phil, they are;  Ryan Palmer, Brandt Snedeker, Padraig Harrington, Ted Potter Jnr, and Jeff Maggert. Behind them is a whole host of guy’s on -6 under par, but the day belonged the Phil Mickelson.

Would love the see Phil go on and win this tournament.

I will be in Scottsdale in July, so if you are interested in playing a round, or just interested in White Dragon Golf,  let me know and we can meet.

BMW Championship, Its Bunched at the top.

The BMW Championship got off to a flying start here at Crooked Stick Golf Club, Carmel, Indiana, Its bunched at the top of the leaderboard after Thursdays opening round. Four players are sharing the top position at -8 under par, after rounds of 64 they are;  Webb Simpson, Bo Van Pelt, Graham DeLaet and last weeks winner, World number one Rory McIlroy. Rory and Tiger Woods were paired up for this opening round, and they seemed to enjoy it, Rory said;

“I’ve always enjoyed playing with Tiger, and every time that we’re paired up, we seem to have a good time. I felt like my iron play was some of the best it’s been all year, basically in my whole life. I was giving myself a lot of opportunities to attack the pins from the fairways as well. I just have to try and keep doing that for the next three days. With the soft conditions, you could really shoot a number out there, and I did.”

Tiger was very complementary about Rory, and his impact on the game of golf;

“It’s a lot of fun, this is the next generation of guys coming out. He hits it great, putts it great, and on top of that, he’s just a really nice kid. The game of golf is in great hands with him, and he’s here to stay. I wasn’t playing particularly well, but I scored. Rory, on the other hand, played beautifully today. Every single part of his game was working. It all looked good. I was very fortunate to post the number I shot.”

Tiger and Rory/Halleran/Getty Images

Just one behind after finishing with rounds of 65 and scores of -7 under par are Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh, both previous winners of the FedEx Cup.

Another shot further back are three players on -6 under par; Luke Donald, Ryan Moore and Ryan Palmer. There are a plethora of players at -5 and -4 under par, the course is playing very easy with the recent rain softening the greens and also the players are allowed to pick, clean and place their ball, none of that tough stuff we have to play through, all we get is play the ball as it lies.

One of the TV commentators was talking about the new BMW M5, saying it was much more fuel-efficient than the old model. That is not much consolation for us guys down here in New Zealand, the government have just increased the price of gas because all us good Kiwi’s  have bought fuel-efficient cars. This means that we are not buying as much fuel as we used to, that’s got to be good, right. Not so, say the government, it means they are losing tax dollars, so they increased the price of gas to compensate.

I am currently between BMW’s, having recently sold my 7 series, so at the moment I am in a vacuum, and a little crest fallen.

HP Byron Nelson Championship, first round

Carroll/Getty Images

Ryan Palmer leads the HP Byron Nelson Championship after the first round was completed. Ryan shot a wonderful round of -6 under par, for 66, and leads by just one shot from Marc Leishman and Alex Chejka, who both had good rounds of 65.Ryan Palmer was a  runner-up in 2011, when he lost in a play-off, said he was happy to be back;

“Continuation from last year, that’s what’s cool about the whole thing. It was great. Felt great all morning, warm-up was great. I knew everything was going in the right direction, it was a matter of putting it all together at once. I drove it great for 14 holes, hit irons, putted great, had a short game my last four holes. I was talking to James walking up to the scoring table, and I was excited about my score but I was disappointed in myself and how I locked up the last four holes. I had big pull hooks on my last four tee shots. I fought my way in, but I got up and down 60 yards for par on 7, in on 8 and great up and down on 9. I fought to get in and the short game was awesome, but I was disappointed in the way I kinda locked up on my tee shots, but that’s what the short game is there for, and fortunately it was good. It’s great to be in this spot again.”

Marc Leishman finished off his round with two eagles;

” I hit the ball well all day, hit a lot of fairway and was getting up and down for pars, which was good, and I think I birdied the par five, seventh, first birdie of the day, followed with another on eight, bogey nine, and a couple of eagles on the back nine was awesome. On eleven I was trying to drive it up towards that right bunker, pulled it a little bit, perfect, right in front of the green there about ten feet off the edge, easy chip, down grain. Like I said, it was an easy chip and held that. Another one on sixteen, I think about 245, hit a two iron to about eight feet, easy put, straight up, rolled that in and it was a good day. I drove it well and held the par putts that kept the round going, and I managed, obviously two eagles helped as well.”

Two of the bigger names in the field, Phil Mickleson and Ernie Els could only muster par rounds, and will be hoping to do better tomorrow on this par 70 lay-out. As they say in golf, you can not win a tournament on the first day, but you sure can lose it.

Phil was unhappy with his performance;

” I’m frustrated that I’m letting shots slide here or there and not capitalizing on some birdie opportunities. The course is in great shape. We had a perfect day. There was no wind. You couldn’t ask for a better day. There are some low scores out there and plenty of birdies. I didn’t take advantage of it. I had countless opportunities to roll some in and didn’t take advantage of them.”

Ernie was just happy to be back at the Byron Nelson again, it has been a while since he competed here;

” It’s been awhile. God, I went through the workout area yesterday and I was looking at the old pictures. It’s amazing how quickly time goes. In ’95 I won here, and I played it a lot in the ’90s, and because of that tournament in England that had it the same damn date for so many years, and we redesigned the course, so I had a commitment to go there. But I always wanted to come back here, and now that they changed the date in England, and I’m grateful for that. I’m back here.”

Ernie also feels that he could win here, he has been close to wining this year. He blames a wayward putter for not doing so when he had the opportunity;

” You know, I probably could have won three times already this year, Europe and two of them here. But the flat stick didn’t help me out, I’m working on that. I feel like I’m hitting the ball nicely, I’m healthy again, I had the flu for 10 days, so I feel a lot stronger, so I’m looking forward to this week.”

Frosty Start in Sun Valley @ TPC Scottsdale

A frost delay at TPC Scottsdale in  the Waste Management Phoenix Open meant the first round could be completed. At the close of play Ryan Palmer was leading at -7 under par, but in close contention was Bubba Watson at -5 under par for 15 holes.Webb Simpson is alone in second place at -6, with six others finished on -5.

Palmer spoke about using his old putter;

“I pulled it out of the garage and was putting in my living room, then went outside in the backyard on my putting green, and I knew it was time to bring it back out. I used the exact same putter the last two years, and of course had two of the best years of my career. But toward the end of the year last year, around the BMW, I just got frustrated with not making anything, so I thought I’d try something different, put a similar style head in play and actually had some success. But my first two weeks out here I could tell I wasn’t comfortable when I’d get over the short putts. I guess you could say I left a couple out there, but it was a great day for sure.”

Webb Simpson, the highest ranked player in the field, likes the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale, saying;

“It’s one of those courses that just fits your eye well.”

Kyle Stanley  opened his account with a 69, just  four days after a devastating loss in the Farmers Insurance Open. He praised the folks who greeted his appearance;

“I’m kind of overwhelmed by it. It was just good to be out there, it was almost therapeutic.”