Golf
Logjam for lead at rain-plague Colonial FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – Scott Verplank set himself up for the chance at a rare Texas two-step on the PGA Tour.
Playing through periodic rain showers, Verplank had five birdies in 13 holes Saturday before the third round of the soaked Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial was suspended by impending darkness and more rain.
Verplank got to 9 under for a share of the lead with Rory Sabbatini, Pat Perez, Kevin Na, Arron Oberholser and Ben Curtis. Sabbatini had seven birdies and a bogey through 12 holes.
Last month in Irving, Verplank had an emotional victory at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship – the 42-year-old Texan’s first tour win since 2001. The only person to win the Nelson and Colonial in the same year was Ben Hogan in 1946, the first Colonial.
Tim Clark, the 36-hole leader, drove his first tee shot into a bunker after not missing any fairways in the second round. He managed to save par on the par-5 opener, but bogeyed three of the next four holes to fall to 8 under.
None of the 70 players who made the 36-hole cut completed the third round.
LPGA Corning Classic
CORNING, N.Y. – Paula Creamer birdied her two final holes for a 6-under 66 to tie Beth Bader and Young Kim for the lead in the LPGA Corning Classic.
Creamer, three shots behind Bader at the start of play, completed a bogey-free round by chipping to 3 feet at No. 17 and finishing with a 10-foot birdie putt on 18. The 20-year-old star, the Turtle Bay winner in her first start of the season, is seeking her fourth career LPGA Tour victory.
Bader (69), who began the day with a one-shot lead over Kim (68), fell behind by two shots at the turn, but she tied Kim at 16 under with a birdie at No. 13, and the two parred the final five holes to finish at 16-under 200.
Mi Hyun Kim (66) was a stroke back at 16 under. In-Kyung Kim (68) was 12 under, and Na On Min (68) and Becky Morgan (70) followed at 11 under.
Senior PGA
KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. – Eduardo Romero missed a chance to take a big lead into the final day of the Senior PGA Championship, bogeying the final two holes to finish the third round with a two-stroke advantage.
Romero was 9 under and four shots ahead after a birdie on the par-3 14th, but hit into a bunker on the 17th hole, leading to one bogey. Then he missed a 7-foot par putt on the 18th hole to tighten up a tournament he appeared to have a lock on.
Still, the Argentine star was 7 under after his 71, two strokes better than Denis Watson (69) and Nick Price (70). Naomichi “Joe” Ozaki (72) was fourth at 4 under.
No one else was under par after three days at Pete Dye’s seaside layout.
BMW PGA Championship
VIRGINIA WATER, England – England’s Paul Broadhurst birdied the final three holes for a 4-under 68 and a share of the third-round lead with countryman Ross Fisher in the BMW PGA Championship at historic Wentworth.
Fisher, a Wentworth member, birdied five of the last seven holes for a 70 to match Broadhurst at 10-under 206 on the West Course.
South Africa’s Richard Sterne (66) and Australia’s Marcus Fraser (70) were 9 under, and England’s Justin Rose, who shared the lead after the first two rounds, had a 73 to drop three strokes back at 7 under.