Golf roundup
Huston, Herman share Buick Challenge lead PINE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (AP) – The golf course was playing so easy that John Huston tried to make birdies on every hole. He wound up with a share of the lead at the Buick Challenge, and almost in the record books.
Despite missing two birdies putts inside 5 feet on par 5s, a 6-foot birdie putt on the opening hole and a 12-foot eagle putt that got him thinking about golf’s magic number, Huston still matched his best score on the PGA Tour with an 11-under 61.
That left him tied with Tim Herron going into the final round, and wondering just how low he could have gone Saturday.
“It was still a really good round,” Huston said.
Huston and Herron were at 20-under 196, setting the 54-hole record at the Buick Challenge. Huston’s 61 was one stroke off the course recoteve Lowery in 1997.
“You just can’t let up,” Huston said. “I was trying to keep the pedal to the metal and keep going, knowing that everyone else was playing under easy conditions.”
How easy?
Huston and Herron (65) were among a dozen players who shot 65 or better on the soggy Mountain View course at Callaway Gardens. The average score on a damp, overcast day was 68.2, the lowest it has been all week.
“I feel like I’ve just shot par,” Craig Parry said after his 66, which left him one stroke out of the lead at 197 with David Toms, who chopped it around for a 63.
Imagine how Chris Smith must feel. He shot the best round of his career, a 63, and wasn’t even low man in his group by two shots. Of course, he was playing with Huston.
“That’s as much fun as I’ve ever had out here,” Smith said. “There’s no question he was dragging me along.”
Huston had no idea a 61 was in the cards when he started, especially after missing a 6-footer for birdie on No. 1 and a 2-footer on the second hole. The rest of his round was such a blur he couldn’t ever remember what clubs he hit to the green, only that the putts kept going in for birdies.
He made six in a row, starting on No. 3, to get into contention, chipped in from 40 feet on the 14th and then started thinking about a 59 when his drive landed next to Vijay Singh’s pitch mark on the par-5 15th.
Because players are allowed to lift, clean and replace their balls in the fairway, Huston elected to use that pitch mark as a tee. He hit 4-wood to 12 feet, an eagle putt that would have put him 11 under for the round with three holes to play.
“If I made that, I thought I had a chance to shoot in the 50s,” he said.
He missed the putt and had to settle for birdie, which required three birdies over the final three holes to become only the fourth player on the PGA Tour to shoot 59.
Huston was between clubs on the par-3 16th, hit 35 feet beyond the hole and was lucky to escape with a two-putt par. He birdied the 17th from 3 feet, then lipped out from 15 feet on the 18th.
LPGA-Nine Bridges
JEJU ISLAND, South Korea – Se Ri Pak’s toughest competition in the second round of the Nine Bridges Classic was the weather.
Pak missed a chance to run away with the LPGA event, shooting a 4-over-par 76 in windy conditions Saturday to take a three-stroke lead into the final round.
The South Korean star, coming off a victory two weeks ago in the Tournament of Champions, was the only player under par after two rounds. She had a 3-under 141 total.
Pak had a double bogey, three bogeys and just one birdie a day after shooting a 65 in calm conditions on The Club at Nine Bridges course.
“It was so difficult out there,” Pak said. “It was very cold. The wind was so strong. I knew it was going to be a tough day today, with the weather so windy and cold, but when I actually played the round, it was even worse than I expected.
“I’m very unhappy. I thought an even-par round would be good in such windy conditions, and for tomorrow, it’s the same.”
South Korea’s Grace Park, a two-time winner in three full seasons on the LPGA Tour, was the only player to break par Saturday, shooting a 71 to jump from a tie for 22nd to second.
“I told my caddie that it felt like I shot 64 out there,” Park said. “Yesterday, I think I had a little bit of an alignment problem with my putting, but I got that straightened out, so that was very, very good for today.”
Mi Hyun Kim, another South Korean player who has won twice this year, shot a 75 to join Canada’s Lorie Kane (75), Scotland’s Mhairi McKay (75) and Jackie Gallagher-Smith (76) at 1 over.
Annika Sorenstam, seeking her 10th LPGA Tour title of the year and 12th worldwide title, was five strokes back at 2 over after her second straight 73.
“It was very cold and windy,” Sorenstam said. “It was one of the toughest conditions I played in a really long time.”
The Swede needs to win the final four events of the season to tie the tour record of 13 victories set by Mickey Wright in 1963.
Sweden’s Carin Koch, expecting her second child in April, also was 2 over along with Danielle Ammaccapane. Koch shot a 76, and Ammaccapane had a 74.
Pak is seeking her fifth victory of the year and 18th in five full seasons on the LPGA Tour.
Four strokes ahead of Cristie Kerr and Gallagher-Smith after the first round, Pak played the first six holes in even par – offsetting a bogey on the par-5 third hole with a birdie on No. 5.
She bogeyed No. 7, had a double bogey on No. 14 and fell to 3 under with a bogey on the 18th, another par-5 hole.
Senior Tour Championship
OKLAHOMA CITY – Tom Watson used an eagle and excellent putting to shoot a 6-under-par 66 and take a share of the lead after three rounds of the Senior Tour Championship.
Watson and Gil Morgan were each at 9-under 207 going into Sunday’s final round of the season-ending event.
Second-round leader Hale Irwin was at 210 after a 1-over 73. Irwin needs to finish fourth or better to become the first senior golfer to win $3 million in one season.
Fuzzy Zoeller shot a 3-under 69 and is tied with Irwin. Bob Gilder, who began the day one stroke off the lead, shot a 73 and stood at 211 along with Larry Nelson, Morris Hatalsky and Allen Doyle.
Watson, who has not won this year, needed just 23 putts to shoot the best round of the tournament. On a cloudy day with temperatures in the 40s, he birdied the first hole to start a 4-under 32 on the front nine, highlighted by his eagle on the par-4 seventh – which he double-bogeyed in the first round.
The 435-yard seventh is the No. 1 handicap hole at Gaillardia Golf & Country Club in part because it usually plays into a south wind. The breeze was from the north on Saturday, leaving Watson a 132-yard approach that he holed with a 9-iron.
“It drew back a little bit, hit the flag but stayed up,” Watson said. “Even with my bad eyes, I still thought I saw the ball on the green there.
“That was the highlight of the round.”
Watson made the turn at 7 under, then added birdies on 13 and 17. His shortest birdie putt was his last, an 8-footer.
Watson got off to a slow start in the tournament, shooting a 2-over 74 in the weather-delayed first round. He came back Friday afternoon with a 5-under 67 on another cloudy, cool day.
“Yesterday, I felt I left a lot of strokes on the golf course,” said Watson, who won this event in 2000. “I played very well and missed a lot of makable putts. Today, I scored better than I played.
“The weather is not bad,” he said. “People say it’s cold, but if you dress properly for it, keep your hands warm, it’s not cold.”
Morgan, who lives in nearby Edmond, began the day at 6 under, one stroke behind Irwin. He put together birdies on three of four holes beginning on No. 10 to get to 9 under and finished with five straight pars.
“It seemed like I didn’t play quite as well as I played the first two rounds, especially on the front side,” Morgan said. “I had some opportunities and let them get away. That’s part of the game.”
Irwin, seeking his fifth victory of the year, bogeyed the third hole to drop to 6 under and then made nothing but pars until sinking a birdie putt on No. 17. He gave that back with a bogey on the closing hole.
With rain in the forecast for Sunday, the starting times have been moved up two hours and golfers will go off the first and 10th tees.