Golf roundup
Furyk holds 1-shot lead in Wachovia Championship CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Jim Furyk hit a 7-iron that landed softly on the 16th green and trickled within 2 feet of the cup, a birdie that allowed him to get his nose in front Saturday at the Wachovia Championship.
Now comes the finishing stretch on what figures to be a sloppy track.
Furyk did just enough on a rain-softened Quail Hollow to shoot a 4-under 68, giving him a one-shot lead over South Africans Retief Goosen and Trevor Immelman and a good chance to redeem a bitter playoff loss a year ago.
“I’m happy with the way I played,” said Furyk, who was at 11-under 205 and was the only player to shoot in the 60s all three days. “I’m happy to be out front at this point. I’ve got another round of golf tomorrow and I need to attack the golf course again and try to post one more good round.”
What defines a good round remains to be seen.
The forecast has so much rain that starting times have been moved up five hours with hopes of finishing. That figures to make Quail Hollow even softer – and longer – and create a wide-open race among the 10 players within five shots of the lead.
“I think we all wish it would be nice, hot, sunny and beautiful,” Furyk said. “But it’s not going to be, so you adjust.”
Some of the scoring was plenty hot in the third round.
Goosen made seven birdies on the back nine and was thrilled to escape with a bogey on the 18th hole after driving into the creek that meanders down the left side of the fairway. That gave him a 65 and left him one shot behind, along with Immelman, who birdied the 18th for a 66.
Bo Van Pelt had a three-shot lead going into the third round, but he opened with a bogey and followed with eight straight pars, eventually settling for a 73 that allowed several players into the mix.
SK Telecom Open
INCHEON, South Korea – Michelle Wie’s first chance to play a post-cut round in a men’s professional tournament got washed out.
Heavy rain and strong wind forced the postponement of the third round of the SK Telecom Open, where the 16-year-old American is six strokes off the lead after making the cut in a men’s tournament for the first time Friday. Because of the delay, the Asian Tour event was be shortened from 72 holes to 54.
Wie was six strokes behind leaders Iain Steel of Malaysia (66) and Prom Meesawat of Thailand (64).
Franklin American Mrtg.
FRANKLIN, Tenn. – Angela Stanford moved into position for her first LPGA Tour victory since 2003, shooting a 6-under 66 to take a four-shot lead after the third round of the Franklin American Mortgage Championship.
Stanford entered the day ahead by one stroke at Vanderbilt Legends Club’s Ironhorse Course. She responded with 25 putts in a seven-birdie, one-bogey round that featured five straight birdies to put her at 18-under 198.
She won the 2003 ShopRite LPGA Classic for her lone tour title.
Cristie Kerr (66) and Sophie Gustafson (68) were tied for second.
Regions Charity Classic
HOOVER, Ala. – Mark McNulty shot a 5-under 67 to take a one-stroke lead over Dick Mast and Brad Bryant in the Champions Tour’s Regions Charity Classic.
McNulty finished at 10-under 134, parring the par-5 closing hole after dropping a stroke on No. 17 when he hit his second shot into the water.
Mast (66) is trying to become the first Monday qualifier to win since Pete Oakley in the 2004 Senior British Open. Bryant shot a 67.
Italian Open
MILAN, Italy – Italy’s Francesco Molinari and England’s Benn Barham shot 5-under 67s to share the lead at 16 under after the third round of the Italian Open.
Molinari, whose brother, Edoardo, won the U.S. Amateur last year, is attempting to become the first home winner of the Italian Open since 1980.
England’s Phillip Archer was a stroke back after a 68.