Open de España. Paul Dunne Has Room at the Top.

Paul Dunne of Ireland has plenty of room at the top of the Spanish Open leaderboard, taking a three shot advantage into the weekend in Spain.

Paul Dunne / getty

Paul carded a second round -7 under 65 to stay on top of the Spanish Open leaderboard with a -13 under par 36 hole total;

“It’s just one of those days, I went on playing, I wasn’t really thinking about the score, then the score kind of built on itself.”

“The conditions were a lot better than the last couple of days and playing early I got the best of the greens so it was a pretty steady day. “

“My game is in good shape, I’m feeling good. I see a lot of birdies around this course if the weather stays like this so hopefully I can make them.”

Sharing second place at -10 under par are Brett Rumford, Australia, -6 under 66 today, Callum Shinkwin, England, -5 under 67, and local player Nacho Elvira from Spain with -6 under 66 in his second round.

Local favorite Jon Rahm is in the group at -9 under, signing for a second round -4 under 68 today, while defending champion Andrew  Beef Johnston, England is tied at -8 under par, carding consecutive rounds of -4 under 68.

Jon said he only made one mistake today, getting into the water on 12;

“I only made one mistake on number 12, besides that tee to green was outstanding, the driving is about as good as I’m going to hit it ever.”

“I can’t remember a round where I’ve hit it tee to green as good as I did today.”

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The Masters. Patrick Reed Leads.

Patrick Reed, USA, leads The Masters at the half-way stage at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.

Patrick Reed / getty

Patrick scored a second round -6 under par 66 to lead The Masters after 36 holes with a -9 under par total;

“Everyone wants to win Majors and if you don’t believe you can win them, then you probably shouldn’t be playing in them.”

“I believe that if I play the golf that I know how to play, that I can win Majors.”

“I have to go in and not get ahead of myself, just take it shot by shot, hole by hole, like I’ve been doing. There’s a lot of holes left and I just need to go out and keep to my game-plan, play some solid golf and just go out and continue shooting in the 60s and see if it gets the job done.”

“I don’t know how many times on putting greens I was like, all right, well, this putt is to win the Green Jacket.”

“It’s one of those things that all kids growing up think about, and to have the reality to be able to sit up here after Friday and having the lead in the tournament, it’s great.”

“But, you know, we’re only halfway. I’ve got a long way to go and just need to continue doing what I’m doing.”

Marc Leishman from Australia is alone in second place at -7 under par, with a second round -5 under 67, while Henrik Stenson, Sweden, holds third place at -5 under after his second round -2 under 70.

Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland, -1 under 71, and Jordan Spieth, USA, +2 over par 74, are tied in fourth spot, both at -4 under par for the competition.

Rory is happy to be in contention;

“Being up there around the lead going into the weekend, it’s a good position to be in.”

“But I think I’m happier with how I’ve felt and how I’ve handled certain things and how my thought process has been. That’s been a pleasing thing.”

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Houston Open. Beau & Poults Share 54 Hole Lead.

Beau Hossler USA & Ian Poulter, England, share the 54 hole lead at the Houston Open and will take a two shot advantage into the final round at the Golf Club of Houston in Texas.

Poults / getty

Beau, -3 under par 9 today, was joined at the top of the Houston Open leaderboard by Poults who carded a bogey free -7 under 65, both players at -14 under par for the tournament.

Poults need to win here to get into the Masters next week, he reckons it’s not on his mind, he is just thinking of good putting;

“No, not thinking about it, not talking about it, I’m going to go out and have some fun tomorrow. There’s a lot of its and buts.”

“I’m in a funny position, right? I said to you guys I’ve got no expectations going out on the golf course.”

“I didn’t have any expectations, I just went out to play golf. I’m going to do exactly the same tomorrow regardless.”

“Just opened my shoulders slightly, I’ve been seeing my lines a lot easier and been rolling a few putts in.”

“So good golf has obviously been rewarded with rolling a few putts in.”

Beau will be nervous, but is comfortable with that;

“I’ll be nervous just like I always am.”

“I’ve learned at each stage of golf that I’ve played from junior golf to amateur golf to now playing professional golf that winning tournaments is difficult and it takes a level of comfortability to do that.”

Four guys are those two shots back at -12 under, Greg Chalmers, Australia, also -7 under 65 today, Emiliano Grillo, Argentina, -5 under 67, Kevin Tway, USA, -3 under 69, and Paul Dunne, Ireland with his third round of -3 under 69.

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WGC Dell Technologies Match Play. The Final Four.

The final four have made it to the semi’s for the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play competition at Austin Country Club in Texas.  Justin Thomas will play Bubba Watson while  Alex Noren will take on Kevin Kisner tomorrow

Justin Thomas / getty

Justin defeated Kyle Stanley 2 & 1 to get into the semi’s, sinking a  great putt on fifteen to keep momentum going;

 “That putt on 15 was huge after just a terrible wedge, another terrible wedge shot and a pretty bad putt as well.”

“To have about a 6, 7-footer on the read that I’d already missed two of, about half a ball to a ball out to the right. And twice I hit it too hard when I was reading it with softer speed.”

“So it’s funny how that always happens. You have a putt late in the round when you need it and it’s a putt that you haven’t had success with earlier in the day.”

“If I miss that, he’s got all the momentum in the world and I’m only 1-up with 3 to go, and he could win the match outright, let alone an extra hole.”

“To make that putt to stay 2-up with three to go was huge.”

Bubba beat Kiradech Aphibarnrat 5 & 3, also with good putting;

 “It was a great match,  I gave him one on nine, he gave me one on ten.”

“We had difficult putts, him being the first putter on eleven, putted it seven feet from the hole, so he missed that and I two-putted.”

 “It could have went either way, and today I made putts and I got the breaks going my way. I didn’t three-putt when I needed a two-putt.”

Alex Noren had a win over Cameron Smith 4 & 2, and spoke about match-play;

” You can go through holes that maybe mentally you’re a little bit out of it and then you get into it when it’s 72 holes.”

“In match play, you’ve just got to be really focused all the time and anything can happen. And then you have to play good each round. You can’t just give up a round and then think you’ve got three more.”

Kevin obliterated Ian Poulter 8 & 6, saying he was prepared for a difficult match today;

“Probably didn’t see that one coming. I thought it was going to be a difficult match. Obviously Ian’s match play record speaks for itself.”

Poults summed up his day;

 “I think the word is disappointed. I gave him no fight at all. It was rubbish. It’s a shame is all it is.”

“It’s bizarre. Bizarre. A couple of poor shots early on. Just didn’t have it this afternoon. It’s a real shame.”

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Dell Technologies Match Play. Elimination Day For Rory, Jordan and Phil.

It was elimination day at the Dell Technologies Match Play at Austin Country Club in Texas, with Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Phil Mickelson taking the early plane home.

Played 3 Won 3 Sergio Garcia / getty

 

Rory was defeated today by Brian Harman;

 “Obviously I tried to play as good as I could. And to end with a bit of pride.”

“I left myself behind the 8-ball after losing that first match and scrapped it back little bit.”

“Brian played great today. He made a few birdies and didn’t really make a mistake.”

Phil knows losing on day one is hard to overcome;

 “It feels good to come back and win these last two matches, even though I’m not advancing.”

“But it goes back to the first day. You need to be ready to play from Day 1, because the opportunity to be eliminated is there.”

“I played well today and made a lot of good birdies on the back nine. Rafa and I had a good match.”

Jordan is still having problems off the tee;

“I don’t think it would have been that tough to beat me today. I just didn’t have a really good day. You know, sometimes that happens. I just got a little off.”

“Yesterday I could feel it after the round with my driver. I went to the range, a set-up thing.”

“It kind of bit me on the first couple of holes today with a few out-of-play balls.”

“Patrick is a great competitor. I felt like I fought hard around the middle of that match and then I just didn’t quite have it today.”

Here is the list of the 16 qualifiers, and their matches for tomorrow;

Brian Harman v Bubba Watson 

Kiradech Aphibarnrat v  Charles Howell III

Sergio Garcia v Kyle Stanley 

Justin Thomas v Si Woo Kim 

Cameron Smith v Tyrrell Hatton 

Patrick Reed v Alex Noren 

Louis Oosthuizen v Ian Poulter 

Kevin Kisner v Matt Kuchar 

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Valspar Championship. Rookie Corey Conners Leads.

 PGA TOUR rookie Corey Conners, Canada, leads the Valspar Championship at the Copperhead Course in Florida.

Corey Conners / getty

Corey shot a first round -4 under par 67 to lead the Valspar Championship by one shot on day one;

“I don’t overpower it, but everything is really solid.”

 “I definitely like the challenge and like golf courses that put a premium on the fairway and hitting the green.”

“It was a lot of tap-in pars and made some birdies.”

Tied in second place at -3 under par are, Whee Kim, South Korea, with Kelly Craft and Nick Watney from the USA.

Nick is trying to recover from a back injury, and feels he is playing better than his results;

“I feel like my results haven’t quite caught up to the way I’m playing. I feel like I’m playing pretty well.”

 “I got some breaks today, drove it in the trees on the sixth, I had a shot, holed a bunker shot.”

“Maybe I need to steal a few shots here and there and get some good things going.”

Sharing third spot at -2 under are, Russell Knox, Scotland, with Jimmy Walker and Keegan Bradley, both from the USA.

Tiger continued his comeback, with a -1 under 70, and is in the large group at T 8, which included, Justin Rose, England, Sergio Garcia, Spain, and Adam Scott, Australia.

Tiger said he is getting better;

“I’m getting a little better piece by piece.”

“This was a very good test of all the things I tried to hit.”

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ISPS HANDA New Zealand Open. Daniel Nisbet Wins.

Daniel Nisbet, Australia, wins the ISPS HANDA New Zealand Open at Millbrook Resort in Arrowtown, New Zealand.

Daniel Nisbet / getty

Daniel won the ISPS HANDA New Zealand Open with a final round -9 under par 62, for a winning total of -27 under par;

“I’ve been aggressive all week so I just wanted to stay aggressive and attack the pins and I just wanted to hole a few more putts.”

“I played really well this week; I played really well two weeks prior as well. What this leads to in the future, I don’t know,.”

Long time leader Terry Pilkadaris, who started the day with a five shot advantage, had to settle for second place at -25 under par, a final round -1 under 70 was blamed on his putter, it would not sink the birdie putts;

“I didn’t make enough birdies, it’s as simple as that. I didn’t make any mistakes, just didn’t hole the 10 footers that I had been making.”

“At the start of the week if you’d said I’d shoot 25-under, you’d be like yeah I’ll take that.”

“It’s disappointing not to win, but 62 to beat you, it’s one of those things.”

“On a five shot lead, you know with good weather conditions that someone is going to go low. I thought I plotted my way around the course really well, gave myself the chances, I just didn’t hole the putts.”

Jarin Todd, USA, was third at -22 under par, with a good last round of -5 under par 66.

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