CARLSBAD, Calif. – Cristie Kerr blew a five-stroke lead Saturday in the Kia Classic to set up a final-round showdown at Aviara Golf Club.

A day after shooting an 8-under 64 to open the big lead, Kerr had a 75 to drop a stroke behind playing partner Lizette Salas, Eun-Hee Ji and In-Kyung Kim. Kerr was tied with Caroline Hedwall, Wei-Ling Hsu and Cindy LaCrosse, and four players were another shot back in the final event before the major ANA Inspiration next week at Mission Hills.

“There is still Sunday,” Kerr said. “Somebody else got to sleep with the lead.”

The 40-year-old Kerr had a double bogey on the par-4 15th after snap-hooking a drive into the trees, and hitting a hybrid off a cart path.

“I just didn’t have it,” Kerr said. “I’ve got to go work on my game a little bit. Kind of been a little bit of the story this year, a little bit of inconsistency. Just got to be grateful I’m only one back with a whole new Sunday.”

The 2015 winner at Aviara, she followed the double bogey with a two-putt birdie on the short par-4 16th and had a bogey on the par-4 18th.

“Mentally, just wasn’t quite as sharp. Swing wasn’t quite as sharp,” Kerr said. “I mean, every putt I hit like bounced horribly. Like a lot of putts didn’t have a chance to go in the hole. I don’t know why it was different today on the greens.”

Ji had a 67 to match Salas (69) and Kim (69) at 11-under 205.

“Rough is really hard out there, so I try to keep in my fairway and try to keep it on the green,” Ji said. “I really focus on that.”

Salas had a chance to pull away, but missed birdie putts of 1 1/2 feet on 16 and 2 1/2 feet on the par-5 17th.

“I will admit there were a little nerves in there,” said Salas, the former Southern California player from Azusa. “It’s been a while since I’ve been in this position. But I was having fun out there just kind of taking what I could get. Mix of luck and momentum going. A lot of could haves, but I’m not going to dwell on that. Just going to be fortunate to be in this position again and just give it my all tomorrow.”

Anna Nordqvist had a 66 to top the group at 9 under.

Top-ranked Shanhan Feng (69) and Lydia Ko (70) were four strokes back at 7 under. Inbee Park, coming off a victory last week in the Founders Cup in Phoenix, was 6 under after a 68. Singapore winner Michelle Wie had a 68 to get to 5 under.

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., was the top Canadian at 4 under after a third round of 73. Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., was at 2 under after shooting 74 on Saturday.

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – It didn’t take long for Canadian Corey Conners to show that his breakout performance at the Valspar Championship was no fluke.

The Listowel, Ont., native will tee it up in Sunday’s final group for the second time in as many events. Conners’ five-birdie effort tied the low-round of the day, leaving the Team Canada National Squad graduate two back of the lead.

Conners’ round was punctuated by a chip-in birdie on the par-3 9th, to an elevated green well above the 26-year-old’s line of sight.

.@coreconn’s short game is ????

He’s in solo 2nd heading into the final round of the @CoralesChamp ?? pic.twitter.com/V6Wk19no0o

— Golf Canada (@TheGolfCanada) March 24, 2018

In his rookie season on the PGA TOUR, Conners has made 10 cuts in 11 events, with a T16 at the Valspar Championship two weeks ago being his best finish. Conners held the first-, second- and third-round leads at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort after coming into that week as third alternate.

“Really happy with the round,” Conners said. “I got off to a nice start, made a bunch of birdies on the front nine and kind of held it together on the back nine. It was playing really difficult. The wind was really blowing out there, made things challenging.”

He’ll tee off at 11:25 a.m. ET alongside leader Brice Garnett, a two-time winner on the Web.com Tour. The pair will be joined by Tyler McCumber, a Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada alumnus, who holds third place at 12 under par.

Click here for full scoring.

CARLSBAD, Calif. _ Cristie Kerr shot an 8-under 64 on Friday in the Kia Classic to take a five-stroke lead into the weekend.

The 40-year-old Kerr had eight birdies in her second straight bogey-free round to reach 13-under 131 at rain-softened Aviara.

“I like winning. I like challenging myself,” Kerr said. “Definitely doesn’t get any easier as you get older with the travel and recovery time. I got up this morning and I’m like, ‘Man, why does my hamstring hurt?’ From working around this hilly golf course. The golf ball doesn’t know an age. I’ve always said that. As long as I stay hungry, going to just keep playing.”

She has 20 LPGA Tour victories, winning at Aviara in 2015. She won twice last year and helped the U.S. beat Europe in her ninth Solheim Cup appearance.

“It’s tough as you get older just being fresh and rested,” Kerr said. “I put more focus into that as I’ve gotten older. I still practice, but off the course I try to get more rest.”

Lizette Salas, In-Kyung Kim, Hee Young Park and Caroline Hedwall were tied for second. Salas shot 67, Kim 69, and Park and Hedwall 70.

“I really like this golf course. I really like the environment,” said Salas, the former University of Southern California player from Azusa. “My family gets to come out. So much confidence at the beginning of the week, and definitely showed the first two days.

Jeong Eun Lee was 7 under after a 69, and defending ANA champion So Yeon Ryu had a 70 to get to 6 under.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson (70) Ariya Jutanugarn (72) and 2016 winner Lydia Ko (71) were 5 under. Shanshan Feng (68) was another stroke back, and Singapore winner Michelle Wie (72) was 1 under.

The only other Canadian to make the cut was Maude-Aimee Leblanc at 4 under.

Lexi Thompson was 2 over after a 74, making the cut on the number in the final event before the major ANA Inspiration next week at Mission Hills.

Kerr opened with birdies on the par-5 10th and par-3 11th, added birdies on the par-4 16th, 18th and second, and ran off three in a row on the par-3 sixth, par-4 seventh and par-5 eighth.

“I don’t think you can fall asleep on one shot,” Kerr said. “It’s a really good golf course. I think I play better on courses that demand the focus, so I think that’s why I’ve played well here in the past. … I’m trying not to put limits on myself right now. I’ve got some good things going on with my swing.”

She has long been one best putters and green-readers in the world.

“I can see the subtleties that a lot of people can’t,” Kerr said. “It’s a gift from God being able to do that. I’ve always had that, so I’m lucky.”

Laura Davies withdrew after an opening 82. The 54-year-old Davies tied for second last week in the Founders Cup in Phoenix, playing through painful left Achilles and calf problems.

AUSTIN, Texas – One shot into the match, Jordan Spieth already was in a golf cart being driven back to the tee.

It took three holes before Patrick Reed had to putt.

The most anticipated match turned into a sloppy affair Friday when Spieth hit one shot out-of-bounds, two shots into a hazard and three times gave away a chance to win the hole by three-putting.

And right when it looked as though Spieth might still have a chance, Reed buried him with a 40-foot birdie putt from behind the 17th green for a 2-and-1 victory in the Dell Technologies Match Play that sent Reed into the weekend and Spieth searching for answers.

“I don’t think it would have been that tough to beat me today,” Spieth said.

Reed was tough enough when it mattered. He seized control with the prettiest shot of the match, a knockdown wedge into the wind that grazed the front edge of the cup on the 13th for a 2-up lead. He ended it with a putt that looked as though it might go 8 feet by until the hole got in the way.

“Just happened to be the perfect line,” Reed said. “Thank God, because that thing was moving.”

Reed is among 16 players who won their group on Friday at Austin Country Club and advanced to single-elimination on the weekend, all of them from matches away from a World Golf Championships title.

That group includes Justin Thomas, at No. 2 the top seed remaining, who can go to No. 1 in the world by winning.

It doesn’t include Dustin Johnson, the defending champion who played so poorly that none of the three matches he lost made it to the 18th hole. Johnson left the gallery with one parting shot, a 489-yard drive that would be the longest in PGA Tour history except that stats from Match Play are not official.

Rory McIlroy had a chance to advance except that he was beaten soundly by Brian Harman.

And it doesn’t include Spieth, who now has gone seven tournaments since his last top 10.

“I’m human and I’m realistic that based on the way the year’s gone … it’s been kind of a trying time for me, especially on and round the greens,” Spieth said. “Stuff I took for granted in setup and pace control and all that kind of stuff … has been a little bit more difficult. And I’ve been trying to figure out how to get back to that level, and I’ve been trying different things.”

Thomas and Sergio Garcia (No. 7) were the only top-10 seeds to advance to the fourth round. Thomas had the easiest time, a 7-and-5 victory over Francesco Molinari. Asked how he felt going into the weekend, Thomas replied, “The same as the other 16 guys. We all start at the same place.”

Phil Mickelson was eliminated when Charles Howell III, who beat Lefty on Wednesday, completed a 3-0 mark in group play by beating Satoshi Kodaira.

Howell and Ian Poulter, who swept his matches when Kevin Chappell conceded at the turn with a back injury, still have a chance to earn a spot in the Masters by getting into the top 50 at the end of the week. They both need to win at least one more match.

Paul Casey might have had the toughest day: He lost twice.

Casey only had to halve his match to advance for the third time in four years. He lost to Matt Fitzpatrick, and even then had a chance to win his group if the other match was halved. Instead, Kyle Stanley made an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to win, and then he beat Casey on the second hole of a playoff.

Tyrrell Hatton also was forced into a playoff, and he beat Brendan Steele on the first extra hole.

The tightest match was Alex Noren and Tony Finau, one of four matches between players who had not lost all week. Finau won three straight holes on the back nine to take a 1-up lead, only to lose the 14th with a bogey. With the match all square, Noren made a 10-foot birdie at the 17th to go 1 up, and then holed a 15-foot par putt on the final hole to avoid going to a playoff with Finau.

Noren now has won seven of his last eight matches in his event, his only loss coming to Johnson in the quarterfinals last year.

Garcia won on the 17th hole against Xander Schauffele and won his group for the first time since it switched to pool play in 2014. He also becomes the home favourite from living part-time in Austin, where his wife gave birth to their first child last week.

Si Woo Kim outlasted Webb Simpson on the 18th hole to advance.

Matt Kuchar made a hole-in-one in a 6-and-4 victory over Ross Fisher to advance to the weekend for the second time in three years.

Vubba Watson birdied his last two holes to earn a halve against Julian Suri and avoid a playoff. Watson next faces Harman, a match of Georgia lefties.

Louis Oosthuizen beat Jason Day with two clutch putts, and then won the group with a 12-foot par putt in a playoff to beat Jason Dufner. This is the third time in four years that Oosthuizen has reached the weekend.

Kevin Kisner, a 4-and-3 winner over Johnson, figured he was headed for a playoff when Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., took a 1-up lead on the 18th over Bernd Wiesberger. But then Wiesberger holed a 20-foot putt for birdie, Hadwin missed his par putt from 12 feet and Kisner won the group.

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – Corey Conners continues to make a name for himself.

The 26-year-old Listowel, Ont., native put up a scorching nine-birdie effort en route to an opening-round 64, one stroke off the lead held by American Brice Garnett. In his 66th career round on the PGA TOUR, Thursday’s round marked his career-low, bettering his previous-best 66 (-4), which he posted in the second round of the 2018 Sony Open in Hawaii.

Conners, a Team Canada program graduate, is in chase of the outright lead for a second time in three weeks—he held the first, second and third-round leads at the Valspar Championship  after coming into that week as third alternate.

In his rookie season on the PGA TOUR, Conners has made 10 cuts in 11 events. He’ll tee off at 12:50 p.m. in Friday’s second round.

We see you, @coreconn! ??

He's knocking at the door again with an opening 8-under 64 to grab 2nd place early on at the @CoralesChamp ?? pic.twitter.com/0lphySWrsU

— RBC Canadian Open (@RBCCanadianOpen) March 22, 2018

Garnett was 10 shots better than his opening round at Punta Cana last year, when it was a Web.com Tour event. He shot 73-67 and missed the cut.

“I think last year I just kind of approached the golf course wrong,” Garnett said of the generous fairways on the resort course. “To me, this is a second shot golf course. Everybody’s in play off the tee and it comes down to a putting competition.”

Jonathan Byrd was in a large group at 66, while former Puerto Rico Open winner George McNeill was among those at 67.

AUSTIN, Texas – Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed enjoy few things more than trying to beat each other, and that’s when they are partners. The stakes are even higher in the Dell Technologies Match Play.

Win or go home.

Spieth and Reed did their part Thursday by winning their matches for a second straight day to set up a showdown on the skirts of Hill Country in Texas. They play Friday to determine who wins the group and advances to the weekend of this World Golf Championship.

Reed fired the first shot when asked what made Spieth a good opponent in match play.

“I don’t know. My back still hurts from the last Ryder Cup,” he said with a laugh, alluding to the way he carried Spieth in their partnership at Hazeltine to a 2-1-1 record in team play during a rare American victory.

Spieth dodged trouble early against Li Haotong, who missed putts inside 8 feet on two of the opening three holes, won the second hole when Spieth hit into the hazard and thought he won the fourth hole until Spieth matched his birdie by chipping in from short of the green.

Spieth never trailed and pulled away with a savvy play on the par-4 13th over the water and into the wind. He hit driver well to the right toward the gallery, which gave him a clear look at the green without having to hit over any of the lake. His pitch-and-run settled a foot away for birdie and a 2-up lead, and Spieth closed him out, 4 and 2.

Right behind was Reed in his match against Charl Schwartzel, and the South African was 2 up at the turn until Reed won the next two holes to set up a tight finish. Schwartzel stayed 1 down when he missed a 5-foot par putt on the 17th. Needing a birdie on the 18th to halve, Schwartzel could only watch as Reed hit a wedge that nearly went in and stopped a few inches away.

Reed and Spieth are 7-2-2 as partners in the Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup. They are 1-1 in PGA Tour playoffs, with Reed hitting through the greens to short birdie range when he won the Wyndham Championship in 2013, and Spieth returning the favour in 2015 at Innisbrook by winning a playoff with a 30-foot putt.

They don’t have much of a relationship except in team competitions, and even then it’s unusual.

“Because we’re so competitive with each other within our own pairing at the Ryder Cup, we want to outdo each other. That’s what makes us successful,” Spieth said. “Tiger says it’s a phenomenon. It’s not something that he’s used to seeing in those team events. Normally you’re working together. But we want to beat each other every time. In alternate shot, if we don’t win a hole, I want it to be his fault and he wants it to be my fault.

“We’ve almost played every single match we’ve been involved in together against each other,” he said. “We just happen to be wearing the same colours.”

Reed and Spieth have advanced out of group play just once, both in 2016 at Austin Country Club, and both lost fourth-round matches.

“He’s not going to give you holes,” Reed said. “You have to go and play some good golf. And that’s what it’s going to down to. Because I plan on not giving him any holes.”

That isn’t the only match between undefeated players this week.

Alex Noren of Sweden had another easy time, beating Thomas Pieters in 14 holes, and won for the sixth time in his last seven matches. He faces Tony Finau, who dispatched of Kevin Na to win his second straight match.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson will effectively play a practice round Friday. A year after the world’s No. 1 player couldn’t be beaten, Johnson couldn’t beat anybody. He lost to Bernd Wiesberger on Wednesday, and fell behind early in a 4-and-3 loss to Adam Hadwin on Thursday.

Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson still have life.

McIlroy had an easy time beating Jhonattan Vegas, while Brian Harman knocked out Peter Uihlein in the other match in their group. Harman will win the group if he beats McIlroy on Friday; McIlroy has to win to have any chance of making it to the weekend.

“At least I’ve given myself a chance to progress,” he said.

Mickelson, who lost to Charles Howell III in the opening round, rallied from 4 down after eight holes and won the last three holes to beat Satoshi Kodaira. Mickelson still needs Howell, who won against on Thursday, to lose a match.

AUSTIN, Texas – Rory McIlroy put together another flawless back nine, running off five straight birdies.

This time, it wasn’t enough.

Former U.S. Amateur champion Peter Uihlein built a 5-up lead against McIlroy and held off his late charge with enough key shots of his own in a 2-and-1 victory, one of several surprises Wednesday in the opening session of the Dell Technologies Match Play.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson hit two shots out-of-bounds on the same hole, another tee shot in the hazard and couldn’t make the putts that he couldn’t afford to miss on the back nine. He wound up losing on the 17th hole to Bernd Wiesberger.

Adam Hadwin was 1 down on the 17th green and could only watch as Kisner stood over a 10-foot putt for the win. Kisner missed, then missed the 4-foot par putt to lose the hole, and they each made par on the 18th for the halve.

Justin Thomas also got a scare, mainly because his opponent had to putt with a sand wedge over the last 12 holes.

McIlroy was coming off a victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational just three days ago, when he birdied five of his last six holes to win by three shots.

“I felt it was going to go two different ways,” Uihlein said. “When a guy comes off a win, next week out they’re either a little flat or still as hot as can be and they’re just going to blitz it.”

McIlroy was a little of both. He had a bogey, a double bogey and no birdies as Uihlein raced out to a 5-up lead through 10 holes. McIlroy began his run of five straight birdies on No. 12, and it might have been enough had Uihlein not matched him with a birdie at the 12th and another one on the 13th, when he laid up into the wind on the short par 4 over water and stuffed a wedge into 5 feet.

“I made him earn it at least,” McIlroy said. “I just came away a little fat. I didn’t really necessarily play badly. He didn’t make a bogey all day, so it was hard to sort of claw my way back.”

McIlroy, along with Johnson, Phil Mickelson and Tommy Fleetwood, now have to do some serious clawing to win their groups. All of them lost the opening match in their four-man groups and will need some help to advance to the weekend.

In the two years this round-robin format has been used, only four players have lost on Wednesday and won their group.

One of them was Johnson two years ago.

The world’s No. 1 player lost his first lead by driving into the hazard, another 1-up lead with he drove out-of-bounds twice on the par-5 sixth hole, and he was in serious trouble when his tee shot on the par-3 11th hit off the rocks guarding the green and into the lake, falling 2 down.

“I thought it was the easiest game I could have,” Wiesberger said. “I’m the underdog playing the defending championship. Just go out there and see what happens.”

Plenty happened on the first day as the 18-hole matches lived up to their fickle reputation.

Thomas, who had his wisdom teeth pulled two weeks ago and now is recovering from strep throat, built a 3-up lead that looked even larger when Luke List, whom Thomas beat in a playoff to win the Honda Classic, swung his putter into the hedges after losing the hole at No. 7.

Except those weren’t hedges.

“Turned out to be a wall,” List said.

It bent the grip of his putter enough that he could no longer use the damaged club in the round. List putted with the leading edge of his sand wedge, and he fought back to take Thomas to the 18th hole.

“When he started putted with the wedge, I knew that it would hopefully make it easier on me,” Thomas said. “But it didn’t.”

Jordan Spieth won his opening match over Charl Schwartzel by winning three straight holes to build a 3-up lead through 14 and holding on for a 2-and-1 victory. Spieth again missed a few short putts early in the round when he could have seized control.

The match ended with a peculiar twist. Schwartzel missed his birdie putt on No. 17, meaning Spieth had two putts from 5 feet to win the match. Schwartzel made him hit both putts, the second one from just over 2 feet.

“I missed some shorties to start the round. I don’t hold that against Charl,” Spieth said. “I didn’t enjoy hitting that second putt, and that’s the point.”

Charles Howell III birdied the 12th and 13th holes to go 3 up on Mickelson, who made only one birdie in 16 holes. Mickelson lost his opening match for the first time since John Cook beat him in 2002 at La Costa.

Mickelson, McIlroy and Johnson can’t afford another loss, and even that might not be enough to reach the knockout stage on the weekend.

Six of the matches were halved, and three of them felt like victories.

Zach Johnson was 4 down after 14 holes against Matt Kuchar when the two-time major champion birdied the final four holes for a draw.

Keegan Bradley was 2 up with three to play against 2017 finalist Jon Rahm when he bogeyed two of the last three holes in a match that ended in a tie.

Pat Perez rallied from 3 down with seven holes remaining to halve with Si Woo Kim.

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic – David Hearn is going to make his debut at Augusta National in two weeks.

Unfortunately for the 38-year-old, it won’t be on the course. Instead it was announced by TSN that Hearn would be joining the broadcast booth for this year, providing unique insights that only a longtime PGA Tour player could provide.

He said Wednesday before teeing it up at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship that this opportunity was an exciting one, but it’s sparked a bit of a fire in Hearn as well.

“It’s probably a bit more motivating to be asked to do something like that, versus anything else. To keep working on my game and to try to get (to the Masters) without having to get there with media,” said Hearn with a smile.

Hearn is playing this week in the Dominican Republic, an opposite-field event to the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship (Mike Weir and Corey Conners are the other two Canadians in the field), his eighth event of the 2017-18 PGA Tour season.

The native of Brantford, Ont. finished 128th on the FedEx Cup standings a year ago, just missing out on early full status for this season. He said at the end of last year he wasn’t going to mind taking a little time at home with his growing family (he and his wife had their third child in early 2017) but now that the season has begun to chug along and he hasn’t had the results he’s wanted – missing his last three cuts in a row – he’s getting anxious to get back into a more regular routine of tournaments.

“I think I’m ready to go,” he said with a laugh Wednesday.

He admitted he didn’t play well on the west coast in the events that he did get into, but he’s motivated to get going through this key part of the season.

“I’m rested and ready,” he said. “Hopefully I can put together a good week this week and roll it into another good one.”

Hearn played every PGA Tour season since 2011 before falling out of the top 125 on the FedEx Cup last year. His best year was 2015 when he finished 55th. That was the year he finished third at the RBC Canadian Open, playing in the final group on Sunday at Glen Abbey Golf Club.

He said this year has made him realize, despite his veteran status, that every event is an important one.

“Maybe in past years when I have had access to every event all year long… you take it for granted a little bit,” he said. “But, given this year, my schedule is going to be a little more limited so each event I get in, I have to be prepared and ready to go.”

The Corales Golf Course is set to measure 7,600 yards this week, and more than 4,000 of those yards will come on the back nine – with two par fives tipping out longer than 620 yards.

He said length is definitely a factor this week, but the unpredictable tropical winds will also play into the scoring.

“A lot will depend on how the wind blows and how tricky they want to make those pin placements,” said Hearn. “There is enough length on this golf course that it’s going to be hard to make a lot of birdies hitting long irons into the greens.”

Hearn will be paired with 2012 RBC Canadian Open winner Scott Piercy and two-time major champion John Daly for the first two rounds of the tournament.

And although a win won’t get Hearn into this year’s Masters as a player, he’s hoping a solid finish will spur him on to get into the tournament itself in 2019.

In advance of the modernization initiative to the Rules of Golf which will take effect in 2019, Golf Canada, in conjunction with the R&A and the United States Golf Association (USGA), recently announced a new Local Rule effective January 1, 2018. The new Local Rule will eliminate the additional two-stroke penalty for failing to include a penalty on the score card when the player was unaware of the penalty.

In addition to this Local Rule, new protocols have been put in place to review video when applying the Rules of Golf at broadcasted events. For Golf Canada specifically, this will only impact our two professional opens and not have any impact on our amateur competitions.

For some time, it has been a point of contention with many enthusiasts of the game that viewer call-ins should not be permitted in our sport. Advances in technology and the use of high definition television and slow motion replay have added a level of complexity that has caused undesirable outcomes to many competitions in recent years.

Golf’s governing bodies felt this needed to be closely looked at and a group of experts from the PGA Tour, LPGA, PGA European Tour, Ladies European Tour and The PGA of America, as well as the governing bodies, was tasked with discussing the role video footage when applying the Rules.

As a result of these discussions over the last year, the protocol moving forward will be to assign one or more officials to monitor the video broadcast of a competition to help identify and resolve Rules issues as they arise. Committees will also discontinue any steps to facilitate or consider viewer call-ins as part of the Rules decision process.

All of the organizations represented on the working group will introduce the Local Rule for 2018, and this score card penalty will be permanently removed when the modernized Rules of Golf take effect on January 1, 2019.

As golf’s governing body, Golf Canada will be implementing this new Local Rule as part of their Standard Local Rules and Conditions of Competition for competitions in 2018.

If a committee wishes to introduce this Local Rule to modify the score card penalty, the following wording for the exception to Rule 6-6d is modified as follows:

“Exception: if a competitor returns a score for any hole lower than actually taken due to failure to include one or more penalty strokes that, before returning his score card, he did not know he had incurred, he is not disqualified. In such circumstances, the competitor incurs the penalty prescribed by the applicable rule, but there is no additional penalty for a breach of rule 6-6d. This exception does not apply when the applicable penalty is disqualification from the competition.”

Click here for more information on the Rules of Golf, or to send a rules question to our ‘Ask an Expert’ tool.

This article was originally published in the 2018 March edition of the Alberta Golfer magazine. 

WAIMALU, Hawaii — It wasn’t meant to be for Team Canada’s Christopher Vandette, who relinquished the 54-hole lead to settle for a share of 2nd at the 2018 Hawaii State Amateur.

The 17-year-old Beaconsfield, Que., native built a lead as large as four strokes, holding the outright lead through the first three rounds before slipping in Sunday’s final with a 2-over-par 74. Vandette’s struggles were no match for the surging local Tyler Ota, who recorded a tournament-low 67 to leapfrog into first place for the two-stroke victory at 11 under par.

Despite the disappointing result, the reigning Quebec Men’s Amateur champion held his head high at the Pearl Country Club, showing the composure of a seasoned veteran.

“It’s not the finish Chris was hoping for, but there are a lot of positives to take away from this event and he’ll be come back stronger for it,” said Team Canada Development Squad coach, Robert Ratcliffe. “I’m proud of Chris’ performance both on and off the course… it was a great week all around for our team here.”

Development Squad teammates Peyton Callens (Langton, Ont.), Johnny Travale (Stoney Creek, Ont.), Nolan Thoroughgood (Victoria, B.C.) and Thomas Critch (Austin, Texas) were also in action in Hawaii—they finished 7th, 11th, T14 and T22, respectively.

Click here for full scoring.