CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand – Unfazed by an earthquake just before she teed off, top-ranked Lydia Ko won the New Zealand Women’s Open for the third time in four years Sunday.

The magnitude 5.7 quake rattled the area about 10 minutes before Ko began play. She started the round on time and play wasn’t interrupted by the quake.

“It was interesting, I’ve never been on a golf course where there is an earthquake,” Ko said. “It was a lucky I wasn’t out there playing because I wouldn’t want to be in the middle of my swing and the ball moves somewhere else.”

Ko closed with a 2-under 70 for a two-stroke victory. The 18-year-old South Korean-born New Zealander finished at 10-under 206 at Clearwater Golf Club. She also won the national championship in 2013 and 2015.

England’s Felicity Johnson, South Korean amateur Hye Jin Choi and Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen tied for second. Johnson shot 67, Choi 69, and Madsen 70.

The event was sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour and Australian Ladies PGA.

The earthquake came a week before the fifth anniversary of a 6.3 magnitude quake that killed 185 people in Christchurch and area.

Ko birdied her second hole but gave it back with the only bogey of her round at the par-5 fifth, three-putting from 10 feet.

She briefly dropped behind Amelia Lewis, but the American bogeyed the 16th, leaving Ko among five players tied at 8 under. Lewis finished with a 69 to tie for sixth at 6 under.

Ko birdied Nos. 10 and 11 to take a two-shot lead and she held that advantage to become the first player to successfully defend the title.

“I could feel some tears coming after the 18th hole,” Ko said. “It’s been a long week, a lot of emotion and a lot of people to share this amazing victory with. Especially given how much New Zealand golf has been a support to me and my career.”

Three Canadians were in the filed. Lorie Kane, Kyla Inaba and Jessica Macphee all failed to make the 36-hole cut.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Phil Mickelson stayed away from all the celebrity commotion Saturday at Pebble Beach. More importantly, he stayed away from bogeys on the toughest day.

Mickelson took only 21 putts and shot a 6-under 66 to take a two-shot lead in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, leaving him one round away from tying the record with his fifth victory at this event.

“It’s fun to be back in the thick of it,” Mickelson said.

It’s his first 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour since the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. Mickelson has gone 52 events worldwide since his last victory at Muirfield in the 2013 British Open that gave him the third leg of the Grand Slam. It is the longest drought of his career.

He was at 16-under 199 and led by two shots over Hiroshi Iwata of Japan, who had a 69 at Spyglass Hill.

Freddie Jacobson had a 68 at Monterey Peninsula, which for the first time this week played the toughest of the three courses because of the brisk wind. He was three shots behind, along with Sung Kang, who had a 70 at Pebble Beach.

Jordan Spieth, the world’s No. 1 player, was happy to have a tee time on Sunday.

Spieth struggled on the par 5s for the third straight round, playing them at 1 over at Pebble Beach. He had to get up-and-down for par on the par-5 18th for a 74 to make the cut on the number. He has played the par 5s in even par for the week.

“I’m not in contention. It will be the first stress-free round that I’ve really had in quite a while where I’ve played a Sunday not having a chance to win,” Spieth said. “It’s not good, but at the same time, I think I can get into a groove and not lose any hair over the back nine. I’m going to fire at some pins.”

Mickelson got as much as he could out of his 66.

He played at Pebble Beach with the rest of the celebrities, which is a tradition on this course, except that he teed off on the back nine and was on the opposite end of the golf course from the dancing, clowning and raucous atmosphere on a gorgeous day once the fog lifted.

Mickelson’s pitch to the 18th went through the green, and he chipped in for a birdie to make the turn in 3 under. He had to scramble for par out of a bunker on No. 1. On the third hole, he drove into a fairway bunker and purposely played away from the flag, chipping just short of the green for a good angle at the pin.

He also had to get up-and-down for par on the short par-4 fourth hole. Those typically are the scoring holes, but he took off from there with three straight birdies, including a 20-foot putt on the 112-yard seventh hole, tougher than usual because of a firm green and a breeze at the back.

Even his birdie at the par-5 sixth was no picnic. Mickelson short-sided himself on his second shot and had to hit a flop shot over the bunker to about 4 feet. He closed with two solid pars (one from the front bunker on No. 8) and is trying not to look too far ahead to Sunday.

The next six players behind him on the leaderboard have combined for four PGA Tour victories. Mickelson is going for his 43rd.

Mickelson, however, wasn’t taking anything for granted. This was a good score on a tough day.

“It’s been awhile since I’ve been in contention and it would mean a lot to me to be able to play a good final round tomorrow,” he said. “And as well as I’ve been hitting the ball, the score was great, but the ball striking wasn’t indicative of how I’ve been hitting it. So I would like to get that dialed in for tomorrow’s round.”

PGA champion Jason Day had a 68 at Pebble Beach to get within six shots of the lead. Justin Rose was among five players to have at least a share of the lead at one point Saturday, reaching 13 under. He made four bogeys and no birdies over the final 11 holes, including going bunker-to-bunker around the 18th green for a bogey. That gave him a 72 and he was seven shots behind.

Canada’s David Hearn has a share of 17th at 7-under. Nick Taylor is tied for 29th at 4-under, while Austin Connelly is tied for 54th at 1-under.

NAPLES, Fla. – Kenny Perry calls Bernhard Langer “The Germinator.”

“Is he human?” Perry asked.

PGA Tour Champions rivals have to be wondering about the 58-year-old German star.

Langer followed his opening 10-under 62 with a 66 on Saturday to increase his lead to seven strokes in the PGA Tour Champions’ Chubb Classic at TwinEagles.

Langer’s lead is the largest in the event after 36 holes. At 16-under 128, he’s closing in on the tournament-record 20-under total that he set in 2011 and Perry matched in 2012.

Langer won the event in 2011 and 2013. The two-time Masters champion has 25 victories on the 50-and-over tour.

“I know when things go great, it’s unbelievable the scores that can be produced,” Langer said. “I once won a tournament by 17 shots. When everything gets going, you know, I can go low. But there’s still a couple of hiccups out there, which I got away with. Like the tee shot on 18 and the tee shot on 17, I wasn’t happy with.”

However, he said his 5-iron shot to 12 feet on No. 17 and bunker shot over water onto the green on No. 18 to save par give him a lot of confidence going into Sunday.

Langer made a 15-foot putt on No. 3 for eagle that got his day going. He also had a 25-footer for birdie on No. 16. He also had a few putts he just missed in earlier holes. He’s had to change from the anchored-putting stroke he used the past 17 years because a rule change this year.

“He looked at me last year at the end of the year and he told, me, ‘I’ll figure it out,'” Perry said.

Langer said players asked him last year when he was going to make the putting change and he said “Not until the season’s over.” There was a Schwab Cup to be won.

And this year, the adjustment is progressing.

“I had some fantastic two putts from long distance and made a few and really I didn’t miss any short ones,” he said. “What else can you expect from a putting, right?

Perry and Scott Dunlap were tied for second. Perry had a 67, and Dunlap shot 66.

Perry had three birdies and a bogey from Nos. 14-17.

Only a bogey on No. 7 stopped Dunlap’s birdie run from Nos. 3-8. He also birdied Nos. 16 and 17.

Canada’s Rod Spittle is tied for 20th at -4, while Stephen Ames is tied for 33rd at -1.

PRETORIA, South Africa – Charl Schwartzel will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Tshwane Open after a 66 took him to 9 under par overall on Saturday.

The former U.S. Masters champion had three birdies and an eagle in the third round at Pretoria Country Club. His bogey on the last hole was his first dropped shot since the opening round.

Schwartzel won the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa in November for his first European Tour title in two years.

In Pretoria, he leads from fellow South African Zander Lombard. Two other home players, Haydn Porteous and Anthony Michael, are another two shots back on 6 under.

Englishman Toby Tree is the only non-South African in the top six, tied for fifth on 4 under with Dean Burmester.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Sung Kang didn’t know anything about his amateur partner until he went on the Internet and looked up actor Ray Romano. He didn’t realize the par at Monterey Peninsula was 71 until he scrambled for par on his final hole and realized while signing his card Friday that he set the course record with a career-low 60.

It added to a memorable day at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where Kang and Hiroshi Iwata of Japan wound up tied for the lead.

“I feel like I’m living a dream right now,” Kang said.

Kang and Phil Mickelson each brought the possibility of 59 into the conversation – one early in his round, the other late.

Mickelson took only 11 putts on the front nine at Monterey Peninsula. When he made a 40-foot eagle putt on the 10th hole, he was 7 under for the round and had a pair of par 5s remaining over his last eight holes.

He made bogey on one of the par 5s, hooking his fairway metal into shrubs and having to reach into the thick plants with a hybrid to punch out the ball and make sure it only went about 6 feet so that it wouldn’t go up the slope and roll back into the bushes. Lefty usually doesn’t hit great shots that go 6 feet unless he has a putter.

Then, he nearly lost his tee shot on the final hole and made another bogey for a 65, leaving him one shot behind.

“I thought I was going to shoot a lot lower than I did,” Mickelson said. “I didn’t expect to play 1 over coming in. But I’m not going to complain because I made a lot of good putts on the front.”

He goes to Pebble Beach on Saturday as he goes after a record-tying fifth win in this event.

Kang and Iwata were at 11-under 132.

Iwata, who tied a major championship record with a 63 at the PGA Championship last year at Whistling Straits, had a 66 at Pebble Beach.

Mickelson, Freddie Jacobson (69 at Spyglass Hill) and Chez Reavie (70 at Pebble Beach) were one shot to par behind at 10 under, while Justin Rose had a 68 at Monterey Peninsula and was at 9 under.

Jordan Spieth failed to birdie any of the par 5s at Monterey Peninsula – he is 1 under on the par 5s this week even though he could reach all of them in two shots – and his round of two birdies and 16 pars put him at 3-under 140 and eight shots out of the lead.

“I’m 1 under on the par 5s, and from where I’ve been, they have pretty much all been par 4s for me,” Spieth said. “So it almost feels like I’m playing them 7 over.”

Rose thought Monterey Peninsula was difficult because the greens are not as pure as the other courses. Then he was told that Kang was at 11 under and playing his final hole and Rose smiled and said, “The greens are obviously perfect.”

Kang couldn’t agree more. He lost track of the number of birdie putts he made in the 15-foot range, saying they were “too many to count.” Some of them he read on his own. Other times he brought in the experience of his caddie, Mike “Fluff” Cowan, who is working for Kang while Jim Furyk recovers from wrist surgery.

And the 28-year-old South Korean had an actor at his side cheering him along.

Romano, who has become a regular at this event, wasn’t sure the name of his partner earlier in the week. No offence taken. Kang didn’t know him, either.

“One of my buddies came up and said, ‘Oh, you’re with Ray. He’s very famous,”’ Kang said. “I did some research on it. I Googled Ray and he was like on a really famous TV show for six or seven years. He gets like almost a third more earnings from TV drama show.”

Asked if Romano knew him, Kang smiled and said, “I think he’ll remember me after today.”

Kang had three birdies and an eagle on the back nine to start his round, picked up a pair of birdies early on the front nine and then poured it on with three straight birdies that brought him to 11 under with only the par-3 ninth remaining.

“I still thought the par was 72,” he said.

He hit what he called his worst shot of the day, a big cut that came up short and in the rough. He chipped to 15 feet and saved par.

“It was just going in every single time,” he said.

Jason Day had a 66 at Monterey Peninsula to get within five shots of the lead. Patrick Reed, playing alongside Mickelson, had six birdies in a seven-hole stretch on the back nine and also was at 6 under.

Leading the Canadian charge is David Hearn at 6-under. Two-shots back of Hearn at 4-under is fellow Canadian Nick Taylor. Austin Connelly is 1-under, while Mike Weir rounds out the Canadians at 9-over.

NAPLES, Fla. – Bernhard Langer had a hard time choosing what kind of putter to use.

Once the 58-year-old German star made that decision, he made the rest look easy Friday, shooting a 10-under 62 to take a four-stroke lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Chubb Classic.

Langer used an anchored stroke with a long putter for 17 years, but new golf rules forced him to adjust after Jan. 1. He said he has used 15 putters and four styles in the last month. Last week in the Allianz Championship in Boca Raton, he had two putters in his bag for a round.

“I need to weed through all the different ways and this can take weeks or even months,” Langer said.

Friday he chose the long putter.

“It was the right decision, I think,” he said.

That’s an understatement.

Langer made 11 birdies at TwinEagles, including five straight birdies on Nos. 3-7 and Nos. 14-18. He made a 35-footer on No. 9 and a 40-footer on No. 17.

Had he not missed 5- and 6-footers, he said his score could’ve even been better.

“I practiced with two different putters (Thursday) night and I practiced some more this morning before the round with two different putters,” he said. Then I can go either way, but I decided to go with a long one today and I was glad I did because I putted very well except those two short ones I missed.”

Warmer weather and a much gentler win than earlier in the week played a key in the fine round.

“I played a practice round Tuesday and it was blowing 23-25 mph and that was really difficult,” he said. “Today was 4-5 mph, sometimes nothing. If there is no wind, you can be more aggressive, you can shoot to your numbers more precisely.”

Langer went on to win the event in 2013 after also opening with a 62.

In the past seven years in Naples, Langer has two victories, two seconds, a tie for third and a tie for fourth. He was in contention last year before withdrawing to attend to a family matter.

“I don’t know exactly why, but we talked about it a few days ago when I was here,” he said. “Not sure what it is, I just feel comfortable here and generally, I’ve always had a decent start. If I look back the last eight or nine years on this tour, I had a pretty good start every year, starting in Hawaii and then playing Boca and coming here.”

Jay Haas was second. He had six birdies.

“It was not easy, but I never felt like I was going to make a bogey,” he said. “I didn’t expect 6 under to be leading, but maybe didn’t see 10 under, either.”

Jeff Maggert was third at 67, and Fred Couples was at 68 along with Kenny Perry Kevin Sutherland, Steve Lowery, Scott Hoch and Michael Allen.

Stephen Ames was 2-under after a 70, while fellow Canadian Rod Spittle had a 70 and was 1-under.

Richmond, B.C. – British Columbia Golf has announced the addition of Matthew Steinbach to their staff as Manager, Golf Participation, effective immediately.

Steinbach will be responsible for managing current ‘grow the game’ initiatives within British Columbia Golf such as Future Links, Playground 2 Fairway (P2F), SOAR, Golf In Schools and SNAG and will also be working with the Allied Golf Association to promote all grow the game initiatives.

“It’s a pleasure to join the team and support British Columbia Golf as leaders in growing golf as a sport for life,”” Steinbach said.

Steinbach comes to British Columbia Golf with a strong background in the golf industry including roles as Golf School Assistant, Guest Services Manager and Pro Shop Assistant at the Wolf Creek Golf Resort in Ponoka, Alta.

In addition, after obtaining his Bachelor of Arts Degree as a Communications Major while a member of the Men’s Varsity Golf Team at Simon Fraser University, he gained more valuable experience in the golf industry as a Pro Shop Assistant at the Memorial Golf Club in Qualicum Beach, BC and later with the Copper Point Golf Club in Windermere, BC.

Steinbach also has over 8 years of sales and customer development experience in the food industry. Most recently he held the position of Key Account Manager with the General Mills Canada Corporation.

“I look forward to combining my corporate experience with my passion for the game of golf to help grow the game in British Columbia,” added Steinbach.

“We are looking to utilize Matthew’s proven business skills to help us determine where we are with recreational golf in B.C. and once we determine that, how we can continue to grow the sport.”

British Columbia Golf Executive Director Kris Jonasson welcomed Steinbach to his new role with the organization, saying,

PRETORIA, South Africa – Charl Schwartzel made a charge up the leaderboard at the European Tour’s Tshwane Open on Friday, going 6 under in his second round to sit two shots off the lead.

Schwartzel had four birdies and an eagle in his 64 to move to 5 under overall and second behind South African compatriot Anthony Michael.

Michael carded a 1-under 69 to set the clubhouse target before a thunderstorm and then hail forced a suspension in play at Pretoria Country Club.

Daniel Im of the United States (68) and Theunis Spangenberg (71) of South Africa were tied for third on 4 under alongside Haydn Porteous, who won the tour’s Joburg Open last month.

Overnight leader Justin Harding appeared to have revived his challenge with a hole-in-one on the par-3 No. 14 after starting with successive bogeys. But he had four more bogeys and a double bogey for a 5-over 75 to slip down to a tie for seventh.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Justin Rose, a U.S. Open champion and the No. 7 player in the world, shot a 6-under 66 his first time playing Spyglass Hill and spent a gorgeous day listening to the fans call out his name. Except they weren’t calling for him, and he knew it.

His partner in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is Justin Timberlake.

“I’ve never seen a demographic like that on a golf course where you’re sort of running the gauntlet from one tee to the other. Everyone was under 21 and 80 percent female,” Rose said. “I said, ‘OK, that moved the needle a little bit there.'”

Rose did OK himself Thursday.

He got off to a strong start is his debut at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where Chez Reavie had the low score at a tournament that needs three days to sort out because of the variety of courses.

Reavie made an eagle on the 16th hole and shot 8-under 63 at Monterey Peninsula, which played just more than 1 1/2 strokes under par and was the easiest of the three courses. Freddie Jacobson made five birdies in a six-hole stretch and shot 7-under 65 at Pebble Beach, the only course to play over par (72.06) on Thursday.

Cameron Smith of Australia and Bronson Burgoon each had a 7-under 64 at Monterey Peninsula.

Rose is among six players from the top 10 in the world, and the only one of them to break 70. This is his first time playing the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, partly because he chose not to play in the Middle East swing on the European Tour, and partly because of a partner (Timberlake) that he has come to know over the years.

Both did well at their crafts.

Rose strung together seven birdies, holing out from the bunker on No. 10 and ending his round with a 50-foot birdie putt that banged into the back of the cup. He played Pebble Beach and Monterey Peninsula for his practice rounds and realized he should have been at Spyglass “because it’s a pretty tough course.”

“There’s some strong holes on it,” Rose said. “And I heard some strange reports about Spyglass, like the first few holes are great, then it disappears into the hills and it’s not that good. That’s not what I saw. That’s a pretty stellar golf course to me and really enjoyed playing it.”

Timberlake played too – the guitar.

He didn’t contribute any shots to their pro-am score, but Rose said the highlight was on the 16th tree when Timberlake grabbed a guitar for an impromptu performance, with Alfonso Ribeiro chipping in.

“That was a cool moment,” Rose said. “Not many people saw it, because there was only like 20 people back there. That’s obviously when you really appreciate how someone can grab a guitar, go a cappella and sound so awesome. You have a better appreciation. You see him hit not maybe so many great golf shots, but then you realize, ‘Ah, that’s pretty damn special right there.’ So we all have our own skill set.”

Reavie enjoyed the pure weather almost as much as he enjoyed watching putts go in. Golf has been a grind for Reavie since he missed nearly all of 2014 because of surgery on his left wrist and had to return to the Web.com Tour Finals last year just to get his PGA Tour card back.

“Even on days I putt well, I still don’t make as many putts as I made today,” Reavie said.

Some of the biggest stars had to settle for enjoying the weather.

Jordan Spieth, the No. 1 player in the world, chipped poorly by his standards and three times failed to get up-and-down for birdies on the par 5s at Spyglass Hill. He opened with a 71, along with PGA champion Jason Day. Dustin Johnson had a 70 at Spyglass, while Bubba Watson had a 73. Patrick Reed had a 72.

All of them are among the top 10 in the world and were at Spyglass with the celebrity rotation.

“A bit weak,” Spieth said about his round. “I played the hardest holes on this golf course 4-under par, and then I played all the easy ones over par. Just kind of a bit odd. I just was not quite dialed in with the wedges or short game. But all in all, to actually shoot 1 under with what I felt like I should have shot today is promising, considering we’re going to the two easier courses in my mind.”

J.B. Holmes also shot a 66 at Spyglass Hill, while David Hearn lead the four Canadians in the field after a 67.

Mike Weir, playing his first PGA Tour event in nearly seven months, had a 77.

Phil Mickelson had a 68 while playing with a different setup in his driver that he regretted changing.

“Like an idiot, I switched drivers,” Mickelson said.

He said his driver has weight ports that can be adjusted to affect the spin rate and he didn’t think he was getting as much as he wanted last week in Phoenix. So he made an adjustment and “hit some shots I didn’t care for today.”

“So I’ll go back to my other driver,” he said.

The European Tour has made a fast start in its effort to combat slow play.

The revised Pace of Play policy, introduced before the Abu Dhabi Championship last month, has helped to reduce average round times and may result in an increased size of fields for tournaments, the tour said on Thursday.

Recently hired chief executive Keith Pelley has made cracking down on slow play a priority, in a bid to make the game more entertaining. Monitoring penalties have been implemented that could lead to fines for repeat offenders.

Since the new policy was introduced last month before the Desert Swing, times for the first and second rounds compared with the 2015 events were reduced by five minutes at the Abu Dhabi Championship, and 10 and four minutes respectively at the Qatar Masters. At the Dubai Desert Classic last week, the tour says the timings of the last match out were reduced by an average of 13 minutes.

“It is terrific to see the policy has had an immediate effect, even though we are still in the early stages of its implementation,” said Pelley, who wants to shave off 15 minutes from rounds. “I am also pleased that our members have reacted positively to this change.

“We are continually striving to make our product even more appealing and entertaining for our fans, and this is a good starting point.”

Top-ranked Jordan Spieth, who competed in Abu Dhabi, was one of five players to have been given monitoring penalties during those three events. These players will be fined the next time they receive a monitoring penalty during this season.

“Our players are now more aware than ever that slow play is unacceptable,” Pelley said.

The tour said saving time in rounds “could conceivably mean larger field sizes in the long term, meeting another of the European Tour’s key priorities of increasing playing opportunities.”