Golf roundup
Calcavecchia’s lead shrinks in Canadian Open VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – Mark Calcavecchia guarantees he’ll make some birdies in the final round of the Canadian Open. He’ll need them to hold off a pack of challengers as he goes for his first PGA Tour win in four years.
The 45-year-old Calcavecchia didn’t make a birdie in Saturday’s third round, and that proved costly as his he shot a 2-over 72 and saw his five-shot lead shrink to one going into the final round at the Shaughnessy Golf Club.
“The good news is I hung in there and only shot 2 over without making a bogey,” he said. “The bad news is I was in position to get to 9 or 10 under and put some space between me and the rest of the guys.”
There’s no room for error Sunday, not with 12 players within five shots of the lead. Among them are Craig Barlow and Stephen Ames, both of whom benefited from spectacular shotmaking in the third round.
Ames had a course-record tying 64, and Barlow made a hole-in-one in a round of 65 to surge into contention.
Calcavecchia, the 1989 British Open champion, battled inconsistent drives and missed putts to get to 6-under 204.
After opening with rounds of 65 and 67, Calcavecchia had one putt after another slide by. He had back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 9-10, and scrambled to eight pars on the back nine, including getting up-and-down from 60 yards at No. 18 to remain in the lead.
He also saved an improbable par at the 13th after hitting his tee shot so far left into the trees that he had to chip out to the adjoining 14th fairway. He hit his third shot within 20 feet of the cup and made the putt.
“After missing so many, I had a feeling I was going to make it,” Calcavecchia said. “That’s one of my better pars of the year.”
Calcavecchia will have to hold off a host of pursuers to win for the first time since the 2001 Phoenix Open. Among the challengers will be Barlow and Jesper Parnevik (67), one shot back at 5 under. Ryan Moore (67), the 2004 U.S. Amateur and NCAA champion, is two shots back.
Ames is in a four-way tie at 3 under in a group that includes defending champion Vijay Singh (68), Jerry Kelly (69) and Brian Davis (66).
“I like my chances right now,” Singh said. “I’m playing within myself and giving myself a lot of opportunities. I just need the putter to get hot tomorrow.”
Barlow bogeyed his first two holes and was at even-par through 13 holes, then played the last five holes in 5 under. He drove the 289-yard par-4 14th and made a 6-foot eagle putt. He followed with a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-5 15th.
He aced the par-3 17th with an 8-iron, landing his approach about 10 feet short before the ball rolled into the hole for his first hole-in-one on tour.
“When it was in the air, I never thought of it going in,” Barlow said. “I just knew I’d hit it good.”
Ames, who started on No. 10 Saturday, reeled off four straight birdies, starting at No. 12, and added birdies at Nos. 17 and 4 in a round of 6 under.
Ames, the only Canadian who made the cut out of 16 who started, tied the course record set by Lanny Wadkins in the 1978 Canadian PGA Championship. Watkins shot 64 when the course played to a par 72.
Suddenly, Canadian fans had a new hero to cheer. Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champion and runner-up to Singh at Glen Abbey, missed the cut.
Ames is a native of Trinidad and Tobago who now lives in Calgary and has obtained Canadian citizenship.
As word of his round spread, his gallery steadily grew to five deep.
“The bigger the better as far as I’m concerned,” Ames said, anticipating the support he’s expected to get in the final round.
In the crowd was Ames’ wife, Jodi, who underwent surgery for lung cancer in July. She followed him on the back nine Saturday, and Ames was solid, hitting 11 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens.
“Today was exceptional ball-striking,” he said. “I missed one fairway really wide, which was my first attempt and the other two I missed were in the first cut. That is a feat in itself around this golf course.”
Ames hugged his wife as he walked down the fairway at No. 1, and described her presence on the course as “a big relief.”
Americans close the gap in Solheim Cup
CARMEL, Ind. – Captain Nancy Lopez needed more energy and more wins from her American team at the Solheim Cup on Saturday morning.
No problem.
Rookies Christina Kim and Natalie Gulbis took a big early lead in the day’s first match, riled up the crowd for their teammates and even pumped some excitement into the American veterans to help the U.S. win three of four matches and forge a 6-6 tie at the midway point.
Another round of four best-ball matches was set for later Saturday before the event ends Sunday with 12 singles matches.
After blowing four of six leads on the back nine Friday, it didn’t take long for the Americans to sense a change in their play – or the crowd’s enthusiasm.
“We did what we needed to do,” said Kim, the most boisterous of the team’s three first-time players. “And the crowd was great today, so much better than yesterday.”
Gulbis and Kim made Lopez’s decision to send them out first look brilliant.
Kim, a crowd favorite, urged the crowd to roar. It kept Gulbis smiling and relaxed, and the two made enough shots to close out two European rookies, French partners Gwladys Nocera and Ludivine Kreutz, 4-and-2 for the first American win in the alternate-shot format.
The enthusiasm seemed contagious.
With Kim and Gulbis watching the from the 16th hole, having clinched their victory moments earlier, 45-year-old Juli Inkster rolled in an 8-foot birdie putt for a 3-and-2 victory over England’s Laura Davies and Sweden’s Maria Hjorth. Rookie Paula Creamer put Inkster in the right spot, and when the ball dropped, Inkster jumped as Kim and Gulbis paraded around the green with arms raised.
“That was great, that’s what we want,” American assistant captain Donna Caponi said.
Michele Redman, 40, joined the club by pumping her fist and waving her visor after making a long par-saving putt at No. 17. It kept the U.S. 1-up, a match it eventually clinched on the final hole over Annika Sorenstam and Catriona Matthew.
Redman was a late addition after Cristie Kerr woke up with a stiff neck, and her slow play irritated Sorenstam, the world’s best female golfer.
But it was Sorenstam’s errant tee shot at, into the water down the right side, that gave the U.S. a 2-up victory.
“Someone was pounding at my door at 5:20 a.m.,” Redman said. “I was her first choice. I wanted to prove to her (Lopez) I could do it.”
The only U.S. stumble came in the third match. Sophie Gustafson and Carin Koch, both Swedes, won four straight holes at the turn and coasted to a 5-and-3 victory over Laura Diaz and Wendy Ward. Ward is 2-7-1 all-time in three Solheim Cup appearances.
“I didn’t putt like I did yesterday, but the greens were beautiful,” Koch said. “If you get it on the right line, the right speed, the greens are really true. They’ll go in.”
The Americans also managed to do what seemed unthinkable only a day earlier – beating both of Europe’s most reliable winners. Sorenstam and Davies, one of the game’s biggest winners, share the record for most Solheim victories at 18. But they couldn’t hold off the Americans on Saturday morning.
In the afternoon matches, Europe’s Iben Tinning and Trish Johnson faced Inkster and Beth Daniel, and Koch and Matthew played Kerr and Creamer. In the other two matches, it was Gustafson-Suzann vs. Rosie Jones-Meg Mallon, and Davies-Sorenstam vs. Hurst-Kim.