Sabbatini leads Wachovia
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – The roars were relentless from all corners of the course, a salute to a record-tying score, three eagles from the fairway, an ever-changing leaderboard and trouble for those who dared to take on too much. Quail Hollow is not Augusta National.
It only sounded like it Saturday.
Rory Sabbatini holed out a sand wedge for eagle on his opening hole, and picked up even more ground with an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole to tie the course record with an 8-under 64 and to get the final pairing he wanted with Tiger Woods.
“There was a sense of Augusta because typically this is a golf course where there’s a lot of people out there and … you’re fairly close, so you can hear everything that’s going on,” Sabbatini said. “There were a lot of big roars. It was a fun day of golf.”
It must have felt like the Masters for Woods, too.
Just like the third round last month at Augusta National, he lost a chance to be in the lead with bogeys on his final two holes. From under a tree right of the 18th fairway, he went for the green and wound up in the creek, and Woods was fortunate to escape with bogey when he made a 7-foot putt in the dark.
“I knew it was going left-to-right, but I had no idea how much because I couldn’t see it,” Woods said, knowing that the putt would put him in the final group with Sabbatini, only one shot behind after his 68.
Asked about a final-round pairing with the world’s No. 1 player, Sabbatini relished the chance.
He remains bitter about his victory last year at the Nissan Open, saying he has heard whispers that it happened without having to beat Woods because he had withdrawn on the weekend with the flu.
“He’s here this week – best opportunity I’ve had to put any of that criticism or doubt aside,” said Sabbatini, who was at 11-under 205.
Woods wasn’t the only one who struggled down the stretch on a gray afternoon of light rain and an unlimited supply of excitement.
Phil Mickelson was in contention until a peculiar decision to hit a hybrid out of the thick grass on the bank of the creek, the ball going too far and into the water for a double bogey.
Arron Oberholser, who earlier holed out for eagle on the third hole, was tied for the lead and in the fairway bunker on the 18th when he came out too far left, into the creek, and took double bogey. That gave him a 69.
Singh, whose eagle from 161 yards on the 12th was the best of the tree, also went into the creek, but his ball didn’t. It stayed in the thick grass, and he rolled up his pants to his knees to go into the water and blasted out of the hazard down the fairway. He nearly escaped with par until his 45-foot cruelly caught the left edge of the cup. He also shot 69 and joined Oberholser at 9-under 207.
Steve Stricker (66) and Ken Duke (68) were another shot back at 208, while Mickelson wasted a solid round on his final hole and settled for a 68 that put him in the group at 209.
Sabbatini closed with a 64 to tie for third last week at the Byron Nelson Championship, and he showed how quickly he can get it going.
Woods also played in the final group with Stuart Appleby at the Masters, but wound up in a tie for second to Zach Johnson. He is the best closer in golf, but not necessarily in this position. In five previous tournaments when Woods had at least a share of the 36-hole lead and lost it in the third round, he has never won.
Scoring was ideal. Even with light rain and overcast conditions, the fairways remained fast and the greens were more receptive.
And it showed, with excitement at every turn.
Some thought the Masters was dull this year after a convergence of firm conditions, cold weather and wicked wind on the weekend that kept birdies at a minimum and the crowd quiet.
The Wachovia Championship has all the trappings of a major, and it certainly sounded like one Saturday.
“We’ve heard a lot of roars today – I mean, a lot of big roars,” Stricker said. “I didn’t know who was doing it, but obviously, there were some great shots.”
The biggest might have come from Singh.
From the first cut on the right side of the 12th fairway, 161 yards from the hole, he had to bend his shot slightly around a tree line and twisted his body, trying to get a look at the elevated green. He really didn’t need to see anything – the crowd noise told him everything.
The ball banged into the back of the cup and settled at the bottom, thrusting Singh into a share of the lead.
Woods was the only one who didn’t do anything spectacular, although the cheers for eagles – especially Singh’s shot – brought him to life with four birdies in a five-hole stretch that put him atop the leaderboard at 12 under.
After Singh repaired the cup from his eagle, Woods holed a 12-foot birdie putt to join a four-way tie for the lead. Then came a 12-foot birdie on the 14th, and after hitting into the rough on the par-5 15th, he holed an 18-foot birdie to take the outright lead.
The key was to finish the round before darkness and to avoid bogeys.
At least he could say he finished – just not the way he wanted.
SemGroup Championship
BROKEN ARROW, Okla. – Lorena Ochoa’s charge fizzled in the second round of the SemGroup Championship.
Ochoa got off to an eagle-birdie start, but a double bogey at No. 15 spoiled her round and left the top-ranked Mexican star three strokes behind leaders Stephanie Louden, Nicole Castrale, Karin Sjodin and Reilley Rankin.
The four leaders, tied at 4-under 138, are all seeking their first LPGA Tour win.
“No matter who is up there, I know that I have played just as well as they have, and I want to win just as much as they do,” said Sjodin, a former Oklahoma State star who leads the tour in driving distance.
Rankin shot a 3-under 68, Louden had a 69, Sjodin a 70 and Castrale a 71.
“Of course it’s better to have those names up there than Annika (Sorenstam) and Lorena,” Sjodin said. “But I still think if I had played just as well as them so far, I can do it tomorrow as well.”
Rankin’s 68 matched Mi Hyun Kim and Young Kim for the low round of the day on a windy, but much drier course at Cedar Ridge Country Club. Mi Hyun Kim and Angela Stanford (71) were one stroke behind the leaders. Se Ri Pak (71), Katherine Hull (69) and Virada Nirapathpongporn (70) were tied for seventh, two strokes off the lead.
Pak, who has 23 career wins, is the only player among the top nine that has more than one career victory. Stanford is the only other with even one win, and it came at the 2003 ShopRite LPGA Classic.
Seven players were three strokes back, including Juli Inkster (70) and Ochoa (71), who took over the No. 1 ranking from Sorenstam last week.
Ochoa had birdie putts at the fourth and fifth holes slide just past the right edge of the cup, and her round soon took a turn for the worse. The wind caught her tee shot at No. 6 and dropped it on the far side of the green. She three-putted for bogey to fall to 2 under.
Ochoa ripped a drive well beyond 300 yards to straighten out a dogleg right and set up a birdie at the 399-yard par-4 seventh. She had another birdie at No. 10, and bogeys at the eighth and 13th holes before misjudging the wind at the 185-yard 15th.
“I hit it the way I wanted to hit it. I hit it so low that the wind didn’t even touch the ball. I ended up on the back of the green,” the Mexican star said.
“Sometimes it’s just a learning experience. It would be different if you miss a shot and end up in the water or hit a tree or something. I hit the perfect shot, but just ended up in a bad spot. I will learn from that and not do it again.”
A day earlier, Ochoa said she hoped to perhaps play a low round on Cinco de Mayo “for my Mexicans.” She wore a light green polo shirt and sweater and white shorts, and she appeared poised to take over the tournament after she reached the green on the 520-yard, par-5 opening hole in two shots. She then knocked down a 30-footer for eagle with her putter featuring a green, white and red grip.
She drilled her tee shot within 5 feet on the next hole, then curved in her birdie putt. That ended up being the high point of her day.
“Obviously, I’m not very happy with that double bogey on the par 3. It doesn’t feel good. The good thing is that I’m only three shots behind the leaders, and I’m feeling good with my game,” Ochoa said. “I think I hit the ball very solid today, gave myself a lot of birdie opportunities.”
To earn her first win as the world No. 1, she’ll have to make up ground.
Castrale, the first-round leader, holed out a 6-iron for eagle at No. 4 for her second chip-in of the tournament. She pitched in on the third hole Friday.
“There are a lot of great players on the leaderboard, whether they’ve won or not,” said Castrale, who played in college at Southern California.
Louden, who birdied the first two holes, held the lead for a time after two more birdies at the ninth and 11th holes got her to 6 under. She had bogeys at Nos. 13 and 16.
Rankin was the last of the leaders on the course and had a chance to take the outright lead, but had a long birdie putt skate just right of the hole. Her knees buckled after watching the putt roll past the hole.
Still, being atop the leaderboard capped a yearlong struggle to regain her form.
“I call it Reilley’s world. It doesn’t matter how I do it. I just do it,” said Rankin, who’s never finished higher than fourth at a tour event. “And I don’t have to know or be able to explain it to somebody.
“That’s what makes me good is to just play like that. I have to play my way.”
Defending champion Cristie Kerr, who set the course record with a 61 in the second round last year, missed the cut after shooting a 77.