Golf roundup
Woods leads Buick Open by a stroke GRAND BLANC, Mich. (AP) – Tiger Woods kept things interesting in the Buick Open with a shaky start Saturday.
Four strokes ahead after the second round, Woods had a double bogey on his first hole Saturday and was three strokes behind at one point before rallying for a 1-under 71 and a one-stroke lead.
Woods, preparing for the PGA Championship next week at Hazeltine in Chaska, Minn., has won 24 of 26 PGA Tour events when leading or tied or the lead entering the final round.
Esteban Toledo, who enjoyed the lead for a few holes, was a stroke back at 14 under after a 67. Fred Funk (67) and Bob Tway (68) were 12 under, and first-round leader Kent Jones (70) followed at 11 under.
Woods, playing his first tournament since his chance for a Grand Slam ended at the British Open, had gone 51 holes without a bogey, dating to the third hole in the final round at Muirfield.
But his streak ended with a double bogey on No. 1, which dropped him to 12 under.
Woods’ drive went into the right rough, his second shot sailed long and left, out of bounds by a foot. His fourth shot landed in a greenside bunker and he missed a 6-foot bogey putt.
Woods got a stroke back with a birdie on No. 2. Then he birdied 7 and bogeyed 9 to finish the front nine at 1 over for the day and 13 under overall.
Toledo had a three-stroke lead at 16 under with a birdie at No. 13, then struggled and fell into second. He has never won on the PGA Tour and his lone career win came in the 2000 Mexican Open.
Toledo’s bogeyed the 15th and missed a 2-foot birdie putt on the next hole. He missed the green on the par-3 17th, then bogeyed to fall to 14 under, one shot behind Woods.
Woods birdied three of five holes on the back nine before bogeying 18.
Woods, who has won seven of the last 12 major tournaments, has a chance this week and next to add to his impressive resume.
If he wins the Buick Open and the PGA Championship he would be the first player to win three majors in one year twice. Ben Hogan did it in 1953 and Woods did it two years ago.
Woods also would also be the first player to win a major after winning a tournament the previous week since Sandy Lyle won the Greater Greensboro Open and the Masters in 1988.
Woods won this year’s Masters and U.S. Open, the first two legs of the Grand Slam.
Phil Mickelson and Ed Fiori are the two players who have won tournaments in which Woods had at least a share of the lead going into the final round.
Mickelson took him down in the 2000 Tour Championship at East Lake, and Fiori beat him at the 1996 Quad Cities Classic in Woods’ third tournament as a pro.
Woods is playing the week before a major for the fourth time and all of those tournaments have been the Buick Open.
In his previous three visits to Warwick Hills, he tied for eighth in 1997, tied for fourth in 1998 and tied for 11th in 2000 before going on to win the PGA Championship as the third leg of his “Tiger Slam.”
Great Lakes Classic
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – Patty Sheehan and Jan Stephenson shot 1-under 71s in windy conditions to share the second-round lead in the Women’s Senior Golf Tour’s Great Lakes Classic.
Sheehan and Stephenson were 4 under, a stroke ahead of Chris Johnson, who also had a 71.
Pat Bradley, who shared the first-round lead with Barb Moxness at 4 under, shot a 74 to drop into a group two strokes back at 2 under on the 6,175-yard Green Bay Country Club course.
Hollis Stacy, a playoff winner last year over Sheehan, also was 2 under along with Marilyn Lovander, Martha Nause and Alice Ritzman.
Moxness had a 75 to fall to 1 under.
Women’s British Open
TURNBERRY, Scotland – Karrie Webb will have to overcome a three-shot deficit and a leaderboard packed with youngsters to win a third Women’s British Open title.
Webb shot a 2-under-par 70 for a three-round total of 9 under, three strokes behind co-leaders Carin Koch of Sweden and Jenny Rosales of the Philippines.
Koch made a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 18 for a 4-under 68, tying Rosales, who shot a 65 to get to 12-under 204.
Spain’s Paula Marti shot a 69 and 19-year-old LPGA rookie Natalie Gulbis had a 67. They were two strokes back at 10-under 206.
Michelle Ellis (68), Beth Bauer (70), Tina Barrett (70), and Candie Kung (71) were tied with Webb, who is trying to become the first player since 1964 to win a major four years in a row.
“Obviously, I’d like to be leading, but three shots isn’t too far behind on this golf course,” Webb said. “If we could get a bit of wind up tomorrow, it definitely could go any way.”
Koch acknowledged that Webb is the biggest threat.
“Karrie is just such a consistent player,” Koch said. “She’s won majors before which a lot of us haven’t. And that’s very much an advantage for her.”
Webb has 11 come-from-behind victories in her career, all from two strokes or more.
With a victory, the 27-year-old Webb can become the first golfer since Hall of Famer Mickey Wright to win majors in four straight years. Wright achieved the feat twice between 1957-64.
Starting her third round at 7 under, Webb opened with a bogey. She rebounded to birdie Nos. 3 and 6, and made the turn at 8 under.
On the back nine, Webb had one birdie and eight pars.
“It was still a pretty solid round,” Webb said. “If a couple of putts had dropped, I would only have been one shot behind.”
Webb knows the competition isn’t conceding first place.
“The quality of talent up there is not surprising,” Webb said. “Even though they’re inexperienced, the course hasn’t bared its teeth yet.
“It could still be the exact same leaderboard even if it had. The names that are out there you will probably see for a long time.”
Mi Hyun Kim, who won her last two LPGA tournaments and was the runnerup last year, limped around Turnberry, finishing with a 3-over 75 while struggling with a severe cramp in her foot. She stands at 3-over 219.
“My right foot is bad and has got a bit worse each day,” said the Korean who removed her shoe between shots. “My shoe was a bit too tight.”
3M Championship
BLAINE, Minn. (AP) – Hale Irwin shot a 2-under 70 in windy conditions for a share of the lead with James Mason after the second round of the Senior PGA Tour’s 3M Championship.
Mason had a 72 a day after shooting a course-record 64 on the TPC of the Twin Cities. The leaders were 8 under, three strokes ahead of Bruce Fleisher (68), Bob Gilder (68), Rocky Thompson (71), Leonard Thompson (71), and Allen Doyle (71).
The wind, with gusts of more than 30 mph, did not prevent Irwin from recording a 12th consecutive round under par – the longest streak on the tour this year.
Irwin, the 1997 and 1999 tournament winner at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids, birdied the second, 10th and 15th holes to offset a bogey on No. 8. The three-time U.S. Open champion is coming off a playoff loss to Hubert Green last week in the Long Island Classic.
Mason, the Georgia club pro who won the NFL Golf Classic in May, birdied three of the first six holes to get to 11 under, but gave back three strokes on Nos. 7 and 8. He had a double bogey on the seventh after hitting his approach shot over the green.
Don Pooley had the best round of the day, a 66 that left him four strokes back. Fleisher and Leonard Thompson had bogey-free rounds, with Fleisher managing the only birdie of the day on the 582-yard, par-5 18th hole.
Bruce Lietzke, the winner last year in his third senior start, followed his opening 69 with a 76 to fall nine strokes back.
Arnold Palmer, the 72-year-old star who teamed with former University of Minnesota player Tom Lehman to design the course, shot an 80 for a 14-over 158 total.
Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench was last in the 77-player field, shooting his second straight 81.