Team Canada’s Tanguay T8 after two rounds of Tullymore Classic
Team Canada Young Pro Squad’s Anne-Catherine Tanguay is T8 after two rounds of the Symetra Tour’s Tullymore Classic at Tullymore Golf Resort in Canadian Lakes, Mich.
Tanguay carded a 2-under-par 70 to sit six shots back of Lindsay Weaver (Scottsdale, Ariz.) who is 14 under par after a second round 65.
The Quebec City native entered the week sixth in the Symetra Tour’s Volvik race for the Card.
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Canada’s Gligic T4 after three rounds of Nashville Golf Open benefiting the Snedeker Foundation
Burlington, Ont., native Michael Gligic carded a 5-under-par 67 in round three of the Web.com Tour’s Nashville Golf Open benefiting the Snedeker Foundation to move to 11 under par and sit T4 after 54 holes at Nashville Golf and Athletic Club.
Playing on a sponsor exemption this week the Burlington, Ont., native had five birdies and no bogeys to sit two shots back of Conrad Shindler (Phoenix, Ariz.) who is 13 under par.
Gligic, 27, is playing on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada this season. His best result to date is a T14 at the Bayview Place Cardtronics Open presented by Times Colonist.
He had three top-five finishes on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada in 2016.
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Choi, Kang tied for lead at KPMG Championship, Henderson fourth
When the wind picked up in the afternoon and the sun beat down on Olympia Fields, Chella Choi delivered a smart, steady performance.
The kind that wins major championships.
Choi shot a 4-under 67 on Saturday for a share of the lead with Danielle Kang heading into the final round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Kang birdied the par-5 18th to join Choi at 10 under, setting up a final pairing of two players looking for their first major title.
Kang had a 68, also birdieing the 18th.
Jiyai Shin rocketed up the leaderboard with a 64, the best round of the day and good enough for third all by herself at 8 under. Defending champion Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., was another stroke back after a 69.
Kang and Sei Young Kim were tied for the lead after the second round. While Kim stumbled to a 72, the 24-year-old Kang had five birdies and two bogeys.
She saved par with a perfect bunker shot on No. 12 and then birdied the par-4 14th to get to 10 under for the first time. She gave a shot back with just her second bogey of the tournament on 16, but recovered with another nice bunker shot to set up her closing birdie.
Hamilton’s Alena Sharp was eight strokes off the lead.
Kang on the U.S. Women’s Amateur in 2010 in 2011, but she has never won an LPGA Tour tournament.
“I’ve been working on my game every day to get better,” Kang said. “Like I said previously, all I could do is work on my game and hope that every day, just chip away at your game and it gets better every day and that’s where it’s getting at. Every year, I’ve just been performing better. I have trust in my own game.”
The 26-year-old Choi had four birdies and no bogeys. She credited her solid play to her father, Ji Yeon Choi, who is caddying for her again after her play suffered when he retired following her only LPGA Tour victory in the 2015 Marathon Classic.
“I played bad, so my mom tell to my dad, go help Chella, why are you staying here?” Chella Choi said.
Shin, a former world No. 1 and two-time major champion, took off after a birdie on No. 9. She played the back nine in 5-under 30 to grab the clubhouse lead while Kang and the leaders were out on the course.
It’s a rare U.S. tournament for Shin, the straight-hitting South Korean player who left the LPGA Tour a couple years ago and moved to Japan to be closer to her family.
“I think I’m pretty lucky because I started a little bit early in the morning,” she said. “I started early in the morning. That’s why easy to make a few birdies.”
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Kang zeroes in on first pro and major win, Brooke Henderson T8
Danielle Kang won back-to-back majors as an amateur yet she’s never cracked the winner’s circle in her half-dozen years as a pro.
The 24-year-old Californian took a big step in the right direction, grabbing a share of the second-round lead in the morning wave Thursday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Her biggest hurdle could well be co-leader Sei Young Kim, the LPGA Tour’s 2015 Rookie of the Year and already a six-time winner on tour.
Kang and Kim each shot 5-under 66 to reach 7-under 135.
First-round leader Amy Yang (71), Chella Choi (70), Brittany Lincicome (66), Jodi Ewart Shadoff (66) and Mi Hyang Lee (67) were another stroke back.
So Yeon Ryu (68), who climbed to No. 1 in the world ranking after a victory last week and won the LPGA Tour’s first major of the season, was at 5 under, along with defending champion Brooke Henderson (69) of Smiths Falls, Ont., Moriya Jutanugarn (68) and Sarah Jane Smith (67).
Lydia Ko shot 68 to put herself back in contention at 4 under. Michelle Wie also was 4 under, following her opening 68 with a 70.
Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (71) was tied for 41st at even par.
Kang, the U.S. Women’s Amateur champion in 2010-11, conceded she didn’t have a game plan after her last practice round at Olympia Fields Country Club, one of several venues that previously hosted men’s majors now being tested by the women.
“I kind of was super-overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do,” she said. “So I called my brother, Alex, of course.”
Alex Kang, who plies his trade on the Web .com Tour, was familiar with Olympia Fields and its bunkers, and he gave her some simple advice.
“He goes, ‘Just blast it down,”’ she recalled. The plan worked as Kang, relying on her driver, hit 11 of 14 fairways and hasn’t made a bogey through 36 holes.
Kim carved her path up the leaderboard with a closing flourish, making three birdies in her last five holes. They came on the tougher front-nine side, though players caught a break as the swirling wind that made club selection dicey Thursday subsided in round two.
“Fortunately, when I tee off a little less windy,” Kim said, “so I was able to attack the pin.”
The KPMG kicks off a stretch of three majors in six weeks and Ryu could cement her new No. 1 status by adding a second major to the one she claimed in May by beating Lexi Thompson in a playoff at the ANA Inspiration. The LPGA Tour staged a brief celebration as she teed off Thursday, draping her caddie, Tom Watson, in a special green bib.
“The ceremony made me more nervous,” Ryu said. “No. 1, I thought it’s a lot of responsibility and it just gave me a lot of pressure. I finally got relaxed a bit more and just played as normal.”
Yang was on the 18th fairway a day earlier when play was suspended because of lightning. She returned just before 8 a.m. to complete her first round and made a birdie for a 65. Although she got to 7 under, she couldn’t hold it.
Kelly Shon, who opened with a 77, notched the low round of the tournament and tied a competitive course record with a 63. The former Princeton player made six birdies and an eagle without a bogey, placing her name in the Olympia Fields record book alongside Patty Sheehan and Meg Mallon and Rickie Fowler and Vijay Singh (who played the course with a par of 70).
“I wish I’d known I could have beat them all by one shot,” she said, adding quickly, “I’m just kidding.”
Shon knew something special was happening when she rolled in a 90-foot putt for eagle at No. 2.
“My caddie said to me, ‘I had a feeling you were going to make it. And I had a feeling if you made it, you were going to make the cut,”’ she recalled. “I don’t know if I believe in superstitions and stuff, but he’s 1-for-1.”
Among those missing the cut at 3 over were major champions Ariya Jutanugarn, the No. 2 ranked player in the world, and Anna Nordqvist.
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Lingmerth shoots another 65, leads Quicken Loans by 2 shots, Nick Taylor T6
David Lingmerth knows he won’t have to shoot 20-under par for the week to win at tricky TPC Potomac. After two near-flawless rounds in the Quicken Loans National, he was halfway there.
The 29-year-old Swede, the winner of a Web.com Tour event on the punishing Washington-area layout in 2012, shot his second straight 5-under 65 on Friday to extend his lead to two shots over Geoff Ogilvy.
Lingmerth used his reliable fade off the tee to avoid trouble and set up birdie opportunities. He has gone 34 straight holes without a bogey. His final fade of the day was possibly his best, a 6-iron from 177 yards that he held up against the wind on the par-4 18th. It finished 7 feet from the hole, leading to birdie.
Several players said before the tournament that 10 under might be good enough to win. Lingmerth’s winning score five years ago was 8 under.
“It’s definitely as tough as advertised,” he said. “It happens quite a bit actually that (the) two-round score ends up being pretty close to the final winning score. That’s not necessarily always the case. So I’m hoping to keep plugging away, making more birdies over the weekend.”
Lingmerth hit 12 of 14 fairways on Thursday and 10 of 14 on Friday, and he hit all but five greens in regulation each day. His short game was sharp, too. After his approach came up short on the uphill par-3 12th, he hit a bump-and-run into a steep slope that trickled onto the green and settled inside 2 feet.
The former University of Arkansas player won the 2015 Memorial for his lone PGA Tour title.
Ogilvy played in the first group off the 10th tee and also shot 65.
Daniel Summerhays shot 68 and was alone in third, four shots back. Sung Kang, who shot 69 amid tougher conditions in the afternoon, was five shots back along with Arjun Atwal (67).
Abbotsford B.C., native Nick Taylor is T6 at 4 under par (66-70). Mackenzie Hughes (Dundas Ont.) is T37 at +2. Brantford, Ont., product David Hearn is T47 at 3 over par.
Ogilvy took advantage of calm morning conditions and flawless greens to birdie three of his first four holes. He added birdies from 6 feet on No. 1 and inside 2 feet on Nos. 2 and 4. He finished with an 8-footer for par.
“That 7:15 (tee time) is pretty early. You’ve got to get out of bed pretty early, but once you get out here it’s always nice. It was the perfect morning to play golf,” Ogilvy said. “It’s always nice to be under before you’re over on a course this hard.”
The 2006 U.S. Open champion, who was once ranked No. 3 in the world, now sits at 232 and had to take a one-time exemption for being in the top 50 in career earnings to maintain his PGA Tour playing privileges this season. He missed the U.S. Open for the first time in more than a decade and isn’t in the British Open, either, although that could change this week. The top four players in the Quicken Loans National field who aren’t already exempt will qualify for the British Open, provided that they finish inside the top 12.
“I have to get the job done here,” Ogilvy said. “Back in the day when I was top 50 in the world, you have long-term exemptions, I would have considered going to play France this week.”
No one came close to challenging the leaders in the afternoon as the wind picked up, firming up the already-dry fairways and baking out the greens at TPC Potomac, which is hosting the event for the first time. The cut was 4 over.
Big numbers were easy to come by. Playing in the featured afternoon group with Rickie Fowler, Marc Leishman bogeyed four of his first six holes before rallying on the back nine to shoot 72 and remain in contention, eight shots off the lead. Fowler didn’t make a single birdie in his round of 72. He was 12 shots back.
Justin Thomas, the second-highest-ranked player in the field behind Fowler, couldn’t overcome the quadruple-bogey 9 he made on the 10th hole Thursday. He missed his second straight cut and hasn’t broken par since his record-tying 63 in the third round of the U.S. Open.
Russell Henley, who shot 67 on Thursday, made nine bogeys and was 10 shots worse on Friday. He still made the cut on the number.
Atwal is playing on a sponsor’s exemption from the tournament host who happens to be a good friend _ Tiger Woods, who is skipping this year’s tournament while he seeks treatment for his use of prescription drugs.
“I’ve been talking to him almost every day, and obviously he’s one of my better best friends as I would say. He wants me to play well,” Atwal said. “I’m hoping I won’t let him down.”
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Team Canada’s Maddie Szeryk wins B.C. Women’s Amateur
Team Canada Amateur Squad’s Maddie Szeryk won the B.C. Women’s Amateur at 9 under par carding a final round 3-under-par 70 to finish four shots ahead of her teammate Jaclyn Lee at Vernon Golf and Country Club, in Vernon, B.C.
Szeryk, 20, led through 54 holes and recorded her third under par round of the week with six birdies and three bogeys to win her second tournament in the last three weeks following a victory at the Women’s Western Golf Association Amateur Championship from June 12-17 at River Forest Country Club.
The London, Ont., native is coming off a stellar junior season with Texas A&M. She was named a First-Team All-American and won the Dr. Donnis Invitational at Kane’ohe Klipper Golf Course, posting an Aggies’ record season stroke average of 71.24 in the process.
Lee had the lowest score of the final round with a 5-under-par 68. The Calgary, Alta., native had an excellent sophomore season with the Ohio State Buckeyes leading the team in stroke average at 73.71.
The Amateur Squad’s Naomi Ko (Victoria, B.C.) finished tied for third at even par alongside Surrey, B.C. native Michelle Kim.
Ottawa’s Grace St-Germain – the fourth member of the team Canada Amateur Squad in Vernon – was fifth at 3 over par after a final round 73.
Development Squad rookie Mary Parsons (Delta, B.C.) was T9 at 17 over par (79-75-79-76). Her teammate Chloe Currie (Mississauga, Ont.) was T14 at 29 over par.
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TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club ready for Future Links, driven by Acura Prairie Championship
TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club is prepared to host the Future Links, driven by Acura Prairie Championship from July 3-6.
With support from Golf Saskatchewan, the Future Links, driven by Acura Prairie Championship is the fourth of six regional junior championships presented in partnership with Acura. The 54-hole stroke play tournament will begin with a practice round on July 3 before the tournament gets underway with round one on July 4.
After a 2011 flood, the back nine of TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club was redesigned by Les Furber. Now, the course features scenic hills with a lot of natural hazards and will be hosting its first Future Links, driven by Acura Championship.
“Golf Canada and Golf Saskatchewan are very excited to present the 2017 Future Links, driven by Acura Prairie championship in Estevan,” said Brian Lee, Tournament Director for Golf Saskatchewan. “We are looking forward to great competition amongst Canada’s premier junior golfers as they navigate the challenging grounds at TS&M Woodlawn Golf Club.”
The field will consist of 44 junior golfers in the Junior Boys Division with the top six earning exemptions into the 2017 Canadian Junior Boys Championship on July 31 – Aug. 3 at Cataraqui Golf & Country Club in Kingston, Ont. A tie for the sixth position will be decided by a playoff following the conclusion of play.
The Junior Girls Division will consist of 12 golfers with the top six (including ties) earning an exemption into the 2017 Canadian Junior Girls Championship on Aug. 1-4 at Camelot Golf & Country Club in Cumberland, Ont.
Two additional Future Links, driven by Acura Championships will span the country this summer.
July 10-13 – Future Links, driven by Acura Western Championship – Fernie, B.C. – Fernie Golf & Country Club.
July 17-20 – Future Links, driven by Acura Atlantic Championship – Church Point, N.S. – Clare Golf & County Club.
Additional information regarding the three previous 2017 Future Links, driven by Acura Championships – including participants, start times and up-to-date results – can be found here: Pacific Championship, Ontario Championship, Quebec Championship.
More information about Future Links, driven by Acura Championships can be found here.
NOTABLES
Callum Davison of Duncan, B.C.
The 16-year-old finished T6 at the Future Links, driven by Acura Quebec Championship at the beginning of June. He also won that same event in 2016, qualifying for the Canadian Junior Boys Championship, which he finished T3. Davison finished fourth in this same event last year and currently sits in second on the Future Links, driven by Acura Order of Merit.
Ryan McMillan of Winnipeg, Man.
McMillan finished T5 at this event last season. In 2016, the 17-year-old won the PGA of Manitoba Junior Championship, placed T5 in Manitoba Men’s Amateur Championship and finished 28th in the Future Links, driven by Acura Order of Merit.
Vaijayanti Bharkhada of Brampton, Ont.
The 15-year-old has three top-10 finishes this season at the MJT Spring Invitational, CJGA World Junior Championship and the MJT International Team Challenge. Bharkhada currently ranks at No. 51 in the Future Links, driven by Acura Order of Merit.
FAST FACTS
In 2017, Golf Canada is conducting its six regional Future Links, driven by Acura championships in conjunction with the Provincial Associations.
Top six finishers in the Boys Division earn exemptions into the 2017 Canadian Junior Boys Championship.
Top six finishers (including ties) in the Girls Division earn exemptions into the 2017 Canadian Junior Girls Championship.
In 2016 Peyton Callens won the Boys Division and Camryn Roadley won the Girls Division.
Tuesday’s pairings.
More information on the event can be found here.
ABOUT THE COURSE
Back nine was redesigned by Les Furber in 2013 after a flood in 2011.
Canada’s Gligic T9 after delayed round one of the Nashville Golf Open benefitting the Snedeker Foundation
Burlington, Ont., native Michael Gligic carded a 4-under-par 68 in the lightning delayed opening round of the Web.com Tour’s Nashville Golf Open benefitting the Snedeker Foundation to sit T9 after 18 holes at Nashville Golf and Athletic Club.
Playing on a sponsor exemption this week the Burlington, Ont., native started on hole No. 10 Thursday pouring in three birdies on his first nine holes to make the turn at 3 under.
Four more birdies on the back nine, along with a bogey and double-bogey put him six strokes back of Conrad Shindler (Phoenix, Ariz.) who posted a 10-under-par 62 in Thursday’s opening round.
A strong start in Music City ?@MGligicGolf posted a career-low round @NashGolfOpen to climb to T7. pic.twitter.com/1vMhDXASjl
— Web.com Tour (@WebDotComTour) June 30, 2017
Gligic, 27, is playing on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada this season. His best result to date is a T14 at the Bayview Place Cardtronics Open presented by Times Colonist.
He had three top-five finishes on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada in 2016.
Team Canada graduate Justin Shin (Pitt Meadows B.C.) is T31 at 2 under par.
Ben Silverman (Thornhill, Ont.) is T43 at 1 under par alongside Team Canada Young Pro Squad’s Albin Choi (Toronto, Ont.).
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Big hitters Henderson, Wie stake major claim at Women’s PGA
Michelle Wie launched a 3-wood into swirling gusts and toward the 18th green, wondering if the shot had enough steam to get there. A shift in the wind took the guesswork out of the equation.
“It died down and I got a little surprise,” Wie said. “I got all the way there.”
The 215-yard shot rolled within 30 feet of the flag to set up a two-putt birdie and a 3-under 68 that left Wie two shots off the lead during the opening round Thursday in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She wasn’t the only long-hitter to benefit from windy conditions and a tough front nine at Olympia Fields Country Club.
Defending champion Brooke Henderson, from Smiths Falls, Ont., matched the 3-under start, which left her two back of Chella Choi and Amy Yang. Choi shot a 66 in the morning, and Yang was on the 18th hole at 5 under with a chance to grab the outright lead when play was suspended at 7:01 p.m. because of dangerous weather in the area.
Brittany Altomare shot a 67, and Joanna Klatten also was 4 under with two holes left.
Joining Henderson and Wie at 68 were Alison Lee and Su Oh. Kim Kaufman and Emily Pedersen also were 3 under late in their rounds.
“I was able to carry a couple of fairway bunkers, which is huge, because not a lot of players are able to do that,” Henderson said.
Cuteness from Canada! ???@BrookeHenderson #KPMGWomensPGA pic.twitter.com/Q3EJ6mm5xV
— LPGA (@LPGA) June 29, 2017
The second major on the women’s tour is again being played at the site of previous men’s majors, where big tee shots can pay big dividends. Henderson won her first major at Sahalee last year, and Wie claimed her only major – the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open – at Pinehurst.
Praise for Olympia Fields, a tree-lined classic layout just south of Chicago, is nearly unanimous. But it’s being tempered by players struggling to navigate the changing wind, with gusts up to 16 mph. Oh called that a “massive” factor in her decision-making.
Hamilton’s Alena Sharp was tied for 37th at even-par 71.
The second major on the women’s tour is again being played at the site of previous men’s majors, where big tee shots can pay big dividends. Henderson won her first major at Sahalee last year, and Wie claimed her only major _ the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open _ at Pinehurst.
Praise for Olympia Fields, a tree-lined classic layout just south of Chicago, is nearly unanimous. But it’s being tempered by players struggling to navigate the changing wind, with gusts up to 16 mph. Oh called that a “massive” factor in her decision-making.
“We kind of anticipated it,” she said. “It’s the ‘Windy City.’ But it was like this from the very beginning and I stayed patient out there.”
The Women’s PGA marks the start of a stretch of three majors in six weeks, which should provide some clarity at the top of the game.
So Yeon Ryu, who beat Lexi Thompson in a playoff at the ANA Inspiration to claim the season’s first major, also took over the No. 1 spot this week after becoming the only repeat winner through the first 16 tournaments on the LPGA Tour. Ryu finished at 69, and Thompson at 70. Two-time major winner Lydia Ko also shot 70.
Ariya Jutanugarn, who slipped to No. 2 in the rankings after Ryu’s win last week in Arkansas, struggled to a 77, and Cristie Kerr shot 78.
The forecast for Friday calls for rain and slightly increasing wind. That could make things tougher for both Choi and Henderson, whose caddies are, respectively, their father and older sister.
When Choi was asked whether she could blame any bad shots on her caddie’s calculations, she smiled and said, “Sometimes.”
She added: “My father missed a couple of shots today, but it happens because the wind is every time switching.”
Watch the top highlights from round 1 of the @KPMGWomensPGA right here:https://t.co/59PGuIUZ6c pic.twitter.com/IpT3cYCn1q
— LPGA (@LPGA) June 29, 2017
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Nick Taylor one back of Lingmerth after round one of Quicken Loans National
David Lingmerth is one of a few players in the Quicken Loans National field with any memories to draw on at TPC Potomac – and they’re the best kind of memories.
The winner of a 2012 Web.com Tour event on the tight, tricky layout near Washington, Lingmerth once again relied on his accuracy off the tee Thursday to shoot a 5-under 65 and take the first-round lead.
The 29-year-old Swede, who doesn’t have a top 10 finish on the PGA Tour this season, hit 12 of 14 fairways, which tied for best in the field. Starting on the back nine in the afternoon, he made five birdies in a seven-hole stretch beginning at the 13th hole, three of them from inside 7 feet.
“I feel like that’s kind of one of my strengths, a thing I pride myself in, hitting a lot of fairways,” Lingmerth said. “I like this type of golf course when you can see the definition, you can zone in on your targets. You’ve really got to stay committed off the tee.”
He won the 2015 Memorial Tournament for his lone PGA Tour title.
Troy Merritt, the winner two years ago at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, was a stroke back along with Marc Leishman, Johnson Wagner, Sung Kang, Nick Taylor and Daniel Summerhays.
Taylor, from Abbotsford, B.C., was the low Canadian.
Well, that was fast.
6 holes in and Nick Taylor (@NTaylorGolf59) leads.
• ?(3 ft.)
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• Par
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• ? (7 ft.) pic.twitter.com/sz7sZxAsHf— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 29, 2017
TPC Potomac is hosting the event for the first time and has been extensively redesigned since it last welcomed the PGA Tour in 2006. It presented a stern test amid sunny, breezy conditions Thursday. Slight misses off the tee were punished severely and, as the weather heated up, even wedge shots were bouncing and releasing on the greens.
Leishman, the big-hitting Australian who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational this year, welcomed the challenge.
“It’s getting pretty baked, which is great. It feels a lot like Melbourne, actually,” Leishman said. “You can hear that real, you know, the hard sound when the ball hits the green. You’ve got that purplish colour, especially by the end of the day. It’s great. I’m enjoying it.”
On the 626-yard, par-5 second hole, Leishman’s 355-yard drive left him with a decision that few players had to confront. He watched his playing partners lay up and waited for the green to clear. He pulled out a 3-wood and then put it back in the bag. He also considered laying up with a 9-iron.
Ultimately, he settled on a 3-iron that he pulled slightly into a massive bunker in front of the green. No worries, though: He blasted out to 12 feet and made the putt for birdie.
The Quicken Loans is a home game of sorts for Leishman, who lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He drove his own car to the Washington area Tuesday and is staying with friends. His wife, Audrey, is home with their two sons. She’s also expecting their third child, due next week. Two years ago, Audrey nearly died from toxic shock syndrome
“We were just hoping she would survive and she survived, and we were hoping she would get somewhere back to full strength and she’s done that,” Leishman said. “Yeah, pretty exciting time for the Leishmans. Hopefully, she’ll hold out until next week and we can finish this tournament and go home and be a dad for a couple weeks.”
Leishman played alongside Rickie Fowler, the top draw at a tournament that is missing most of golf’s stars. Fowler was 3 over through two holes but rallied with four birdies to get back to even par after his first nine. He saved par from 8 feet on the sixth hole and 14 feet on the eighth to shoot 70.
Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., was tied for 15th at 2-under 68. David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., and Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., were tied for 49th at 1-over 71 and Adam Hadwin, also from Abbotsford, was tied for 66th at 2-over 72.
Holing out from everywhere.
Have a day, @MacHughesGolf!#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/rBETxDSoYk
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 29, 2017
Wagner reaped the rewards of a four-hour practice session Wednesday. At one point he was hitting mid-iron shots from the short-game area through a gap in the trees to the driving range while caddie Matt Hauser watched. They’d come up with a swing thought that was working and he wanted to hit a few more balls.
“I’ve just been struggling with really striking the golf ball the last few months,” Wagner said. “Finally we hit something that really, I could repeat in my head out there today.”
The former Virginia Tech player was back on the putting green Thursday afternoon, grinding over 75-footers. At 140th in the FedEx Cup standings, he could use a big week to lock up his PGA Tour card for next season.
“I’ve been in this situation a bunch,” Wagner said, “and I’m not overly stressed about it.”
The intensity of his practice suggested otherwise.
Brantford Ont., native David Hearn and Weyburn Sask., product Graham DeLaet are T49 at 1 over par.
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