DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the third consecutive night, Simin Feng (Beijing, China) will sleep on the lead at the Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying Tournament. After a bogey at the 17th hole, Feng finished with an exclamation point, an eagle at the 18th, to take the outright lead heading into the weekend.

“It’s a great feeling to play good early,” Feng said. “It feels great to be in the lead but there’s still two more days to go and many more holes to come so I just have to keep going.”

Feng, who finished in a tie for sixth at Final Stage of Qualifying Tournament in 2014 to earn her LPGA Tour card, sits at 12-under for the tournament to lead Cydney Clanton (Concord, N.C.) by two-shots.

“I kind of tried to tweak my practice a little bit before this tournament,” Feng said. “I decided to focus on my wedge game and the scoring part of the game which has really helped me here. I’ve been able to save some shots and make some birdies on par-5s.”

The new approach was keyed by Feng’s father who noticed some holes in his daughter’s game during LPGA and LET tournament rounds in China.

“My dad helped me with planning the practice a little bit before I came down here,” Feng explained. “He saw some weaknesses during my tournaments with the LPGA and LET in China. He made some suggestions to work and it turned out to be pretty good. I just need to keep it going and keep it as simple as possible. It will make life a lot easier if I can.”

Feng was the 2014 SEC Freshman of the Year at Vanderbilt before turning professional.

The top 20 players following fifth round play on Sunday will earn LPGA membership in category 12 on the priority list. There are currently 17 players at 4-under, 212, or better and eight players in a tie for 18th at 3-under, 213.

Of the 13 players T8 or better, six have had LPGA Tour status in the past including the top three and Canada’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc (T8). Of the remaining seven, four are 20 years old or under.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Brandt Jobe won the Champions Tour qualifying tournament Friday to earn one of five fully exempt spots next year, closing with a 2-under 69 for a one-stroke victory.

Jobe, a six-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, had an 18-under 266 total on TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course. Tom Byrum, Willie Wood and Jose Coceres tied for second, and Mike Grob was another stroke back to take the last fully exempt spot. Byrum shot 63, Wood and Coceres 67, and Grob 69.

The next seven players – John Riegger, Gibby Gilbert III, Jean-Francois Remesy, Stan Utley, 1996 U.S. Open champion Steve Jones, Chien Soon Lu and Miguel Angel Martin – are conditionally exempt. The top 30 finishers – including Canada’s Jim Rutledge – and ties are eligible to compete for spots in open qualifiers.

Canadians Stuart Hendley (-4) and Rick Gibson (-2) finished T53 and T59 respectively.

SUN CITY, South Africa – Henrik Stenson made five birdies on his back nine to shoot a 5-under 67 Friday and take a one-shot lead after the second round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

After bogeying three straight holes before a two-hour rain delay, the Swede came back out to pick up five shots between the 11th and 17th holes for an 11-under total of 133. Jaco van Zyl of South Africa was second after a 68, with American Robert Streb shooting the best round of the day for a 66 to sit another shot back in third.

“I was not on a good run before the break,” Stenson said. “I didn’t do too much wrong but managed to string three bogeys in a row, so at that time it was probably good to have a break, and it really cooled down afterward for the back nine.”

Van Zyl, who shared the overnight lead with Stenson, birdied his first two holes after the rain break to move to 10 under, but could only par the last seven.

“It felt a little like a duel between me and Henrik,” Van Zyl said. “I looked at the leaderboard and I think we were two or three clear of the rest of the field. I don’t feel that there’s too much expectation, so I’ll go out over the weekend and try and get a couple of low ones in there.”

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The Shaw Charity Classic, conducted annually at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club in Calgary was awarded with the Champions President’s Award at the PGA TOUR’s Tournament Meetings on Thursday, December 3 in Miami, Fla.

“On behalf of the Champions Tour, I am honored to congratulate the Shaw Charity Classic for their efforts in securing a second straight President’s Award,” said Miller Brady, the Champions Tour’s Chief Operating Officer. “In a short period of time, Sean Van Kesteren and his staff have put forth one of our Tour’s premier events, delivering on all applicable fronts to create a fantastic tournament week for players, fans, and most importantly, the community.”

The Shaw Charity Classic became the first international event to win the President’s Award in 2014, which captures the criteria of all Champions awards, as well as the intangibles that make it stand out amidst a plethora of successful tournaments.

In 2015, Jeff Maggert claimed his third of four PGA TOUR Champions titles at the Shaw Charity Classic with a four-shot victory over World Golf Hall of Fame member Colin Montgomerie.

“It’s an honor. To be honest, I’m quite surprised as I didn’t think we’d have a chance to win this award two times in a row,” said the tournament’s Executive Director, Sean Van Kesteren. “We’re very happy for our ownership group, for Shaw, but most importantly, for all of the charities we support. Charity is why we’re doing this. We have a great team up in Calgary, and the community has really embraced the event. We have a good thing going, so hopefully we’ll be around for a long, long time.”

The 2016 Shaw Charity Classic will again be played at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club on September 2-4.

GOLD COAST, Australia – David Lingmerth of Sweden shot a 4-under 68 on Friday to take a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the Australian PGA championship.

Lingmerth had a 36-hole total of 3-under 141 on a Royal Pines course playing slightly easier than Thursday, when rain and gusting winds prevented all but six players from finishing under par in the European Tour co-sanctioned event.

Only 12 players were under par after the second round.

The six players tied for second included American Peter Uihlein (67), England’s Mark Foster (73) and first-round leader Zander Lombard of South Africa (75).

“This gives me some confidence going into the weekend, but at the same time, these are all players that can shoot seven, eight under, both rounds out there over the weekend,” Lingmerth said. “I’m going to have to play very well to win, but I do feel like I should have a good shot.”

One of five players tied for eighth, two strokes behind Lingmerth, was U.S.-based Australian Rhein Gibson, who shot 64 on Friday after an opening 79.

Gibson said he rated Friday’s round better than his unofficial 16-under-par 55 he carded in an out-of-competition match with friends in Oklahoma three years ago.

“Under tournament conditions … this course is tough,” said Gibson, who has qualified for next year’s PGA Tour after finishing 10th in the Web.com Tour finals.

“To be able to do that on a Friday to make the cut and get back in contention, it’s probably better than a 55.”

American Brandt Snedeker, the highest-ranked player in the tournament at No. 38, missed the cut after an opening 84. He shot 75 Friday and was 15-over to miss qualifying by nine strokes.

Snedeker promised to come back to Australia and play better.

“I definitely feel embarrassed about my play the last two days,” Snedeker said. “I’m going to need to come back down here and redeem myself. I feel like they deserved better and my game was not up to it obviously.”

Defending champion Greg Chalmers shot 76-75 to also miss the cut by one stroke.

NASSAU, Bahamas – Paul Casey a signé un oiselet au dernier trou pour ramener une carte de 66 le plaçant parmi les trois golfeurs en tête au Hero World Challenge, jeudi.

Lui, Jimmy Walker et Zach Johnson ont tous retranché six coups à la normale.

Le tournoi ne compte que 18 joueurs, dont cinq n’ont pas goûté à la victoire cette année. Casey fait partie de ce groupe.

Le champion en titre Jordan Spieth a réussi un trou d’un coup en route vers un 67, le même score que quatre autres golfeurs.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – China’s Simin Feng and South Korea’s Julie Yang shared the second-round lead at 9-under par Thursday in the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.

Feng had a 2-under 70 on LPGA International’s Hills Course, and Yang shot a 69 on the Jones Course.

The top 20 finishers Sunday will earn full LPGA Tour cards, and Nos. 21-45 and ties will receive conditional status.

“It’s a marathon, not a sprint, but I’m happy with how I’ve played so far,” Yang said. “My only bogey of the day came on the last hole so it was a good day.”

She tied for 21st in the event last season.

“I have the experience from last year and I know what to expect,” Yang said. “Last year was a tough year with conditional status and I feel like my game is ready to go back to the LPGA.”

Christine Song was third at 8 under after a 71 on the Hills Course. Cydney Clanton was another stroke back after a 70 on the Hills Course.

Canada’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc and Thailand’s Benyapa Niphatsophon were tied for fifth at 6 under. LeBlanc had a 67 on the Hills Course, the best round of the day.

“Everything seemed to be working today,” LeBlanc said. “I didn’t make any putts on the front nine, but I made five birdies on the back and no bogeys so it was just a solid round.”

Niphatsophon shot a 70 on the Jones Course.

Cheyenne Woods, Tiger Woods’ niece, had a 69 on the Hills Course to top the group at 4 under. Mexican amateur Gaby Lopez also was 4 under after a 72 on the Hills Course.

“I’ve been giving myself a lot of opportunities for birdies and I’ve converted a lot of them,” Woods said. “I had six today, which was nice. Overall, it comes down to ball striking and I’ve been keeping it in play and giving myself a lot of chances on the greens.”

She tied for 11th last year.

“It’s nice to know that I’ve played well here before,” Woods said. “I’ve played this course a lot whether it was on Symetra Tour or Q-school. It’s nice to know that I have that history here and also mentally to know that I’ve done it before it’s nice to be able to fall back on that and take that confidence into this year.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Brandt Jobe shot a 5-under 66 on Thursday to increase his lead to two strokes in the Champions Tour qualifying tournament.

The top-five finishers Friday will earn fully exempt status, and the next seven will be conditionally exempt. The top 30 finishers and ties will be eligible to compete for spots in open qualifiers.

Jobe, a six-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, had a 16-under 199 total on TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course. He had five birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine.

“I really didn’t play that well today and got lucky with the score I ended up with,” Jobe said. “Tomorrow, I’ll try not to beat myself because I tried hard to do that today on the front nine. I’ve put myself in a good spot and I’m happy with that, but I’ve got one more big round to play.”

Mike Grob was second after a 66. The Billings, Montana, player had a hole-in-one on the 199-yard eighth hole with a 6-iron.

“It feels like you need to make some birdies out here and if you’re not making them early, you get a little worried,” said Grob, a six-time winner on the Canadian Tour. “That hole-in-one really helped.”

Jose Coceres, Willie Wood and Gibby Gilbert III were tied for third at 13 under. Coceres had a 64, and Wood and Gilbert shot 68.

In a tie for 30th, Jim Rutledge leads the Canadians at 6-under 207.  Rick Gibson and Stuart Hendley – the other two Canadians in the field – are tied for 53rd at 2-under 211.

NASSAU, Bahamas –

NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — Paul Casey is off to a good start in his final chance to win a tournament this year.

Casey birdied the final hole at Albany Golf Club on Thursday for a 6-under 66 that gave him a share of the first-round lead with Jimmy Walker and Zach Johnson in the Hero World Challenge.

The scenery and tropical sunshine made it feel like a working vacation, and a gentle breeze off the tip of New Providence island only added to the relaxation. Hideki Matsuyama (75) was the only player in the 18-man field who didn’t break par.

Defending champion Jordan Spieth made a hole-in-one with a 6-iron on the second hole and finally added a birdie on a par 5 to join a large group at 67 that included Bubba Watson and Adam Scott, who lives at Albany and still holds – barely – the course record of 65.

Casey is among five players in this field of top-50 players who has yet to win this year.

“The only blemish I can think of is maybe I left a putt short on line, which is a little criminal,” Casey said. “Other than that, I played some really, really nice golf.”

He wasn’t alone. Walker made quick strides with a new move in his swing and produced eight birdies, six of them in an eight-hole stretch on the back nine.

Johnson recovered from a slow start that could have been worse. He originally was penalized one shot for marking his ball off the green at the par-5 third, only for the penalty to be rescinded when officials determined it was too difficult on some holes to determine where the putting surface ended.

“When we started rolling the greens and mowing them down at tournament height, and then the sun came out, we had a situation in a lot of places where you couldn’t differentiate between the collar and the green,” said Mark Russell, the tour’s vice president of competition. “Rather than put the players in a situation where they were going to have a problem, we took care of it.”

The weather played a big role in the low scoring. Still, there was one noticeable difference from past years. This was the fewest number of rounds over par on the first day, and there had been no shortage of rounds in the upper 70s and 80s.

Part of that might be the first time the World Challenge has been played at Albany Golf Club. It was at Isleworth last year in Florida, and at Sherwood Country Club in California for 14 years.

Then again, players have been competing around the world – Spieth and Scott in Australia last week, Johnson at Sea Island two weeks ago.

There were a few exceptions. Walker hasn’t played since Las Vegas in mid-October and he has just begun to work with Butch Harmon on a move in which his head moves down the target line, similar to how David Duval swung the club.

“It’s something he’s been trying to get me to do for a while, and it’s tough,” Walker said. “I told him I was going to make a really tough commitment to try to do it. I’ve been swinging a certain way for a long time and it’s a hard habit to break.”

It didn’t go so well in the pro-am, mainly because there was a lot of standing around. In twosomes, Walker found his groove.

Scott started par-birdie-eagle until losing some momentum with a bogey, and then he added three birdies on the back nine. Spieth’s start was sensational, a 6-iron that landed in front of the hole and dropped in the cup.

“Absolutely flushed it right at the hole and didn’t think it went in,” Spieth said. “I started walking because balls have been sticking on the green, so I thought it stuck. But I guess it just crept forward that extra 2 feet.”

He didn’t get much help from the crowd reaction, mainly because there wasn’t much of a crowd. No more than two dozen fans were with any group.

Dustin Johnson might have had the largest gallery when he added his coach, a social media consultant, his wife, her brothers and their girlfriends. He was happy just to be playing after he cut his right heel coming out of the water from diving on Tuesday.

“I thought it was just a scratch,” he said. “Then I was just sitting in the boat, looked down and there was blood everywhere.”

He played the opening round in tennis shoes and managed just fine with a 68.

Anirban Lahiri of India, playing on a sponsor exemption had a 69 that included a bogey on the par-5 ninth when he hit a sand wedge out of the dunes that went over the green and over some 25 yards of water near the 18th fairway.

Johnson was penalized on his third hole for marking his ball off the green. The penalty later was rescinded because it was not clear where the putting surface ended on several greens.

NASSAU, Bahamas – Tiger Woods says he has a “fantastic” relationship with his ex-wife and he has taken steps to explain to his two children what happened to their marriage.

In a rare and extensive interview with Time magazine, Woods also shared the same sentiments about his future that he did Tuesday at the tournament he is hosting in the Bahamas. He still wants to play golf at the highest level, though he is resigned that it might not happen if the nerve damage in his back doesn’t allow for it.

The world’s former No. 1 player was interviewed by Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member and journalist Lorne Rubenstein at Woods’ new restaurant in Florida. They covered topics ranging from his greatest joy on the golf course to chipping sessions with Seve Ballesteros to his family.

CLICK HERE TO READ LORNE RUBENSTEIN’S TIME INTERVIEW WITH TIGER WOODS

Woods, who turns 40 on Dec. 30, says he has told 8-year-old Sam and 6-year-old Charlie that his parents don’t live in the same house because “Daddy made some mistakes.”

“I just want them to understand before they get to the Internet age and they log on to something or have their friends tell them something,” Woods said. “I want it to come from me so that when they come of age, I’ll just tell them the real story.

“And so, that’s part of the initiative – ‘Hey, it was my fault, too. I was to blame’ – and so I’m taking initiative with the kids,” he said. “I’d rather have it come from me as the source. And I can tell them absolutely everything so they hear it from me.”

In the meantime, Woods said he is stressing to his children that they have two parents who love them.

His marriage crumbled at the end of 2009 when he was exposed for having multiple extramarital affairs, and Elin Nordegren divorced him the following August. Woods endured leg injuries in 2011, got back to No. 1 in the world with eight victories in 2012 and 2013 and has been in a free fall because of back injuries since.

He had surgery to alleviate a pinched nerve the week before the 2014 Masters and has had two more procedures in the same spot over the last three months.

“One, I don’t want to have another procedure,” Woods told the magazine. “And two, even if I don’t come back and I don’t play again, I still want to have a quality of life with my kids. I started to lose that with the other surgeries.”

Asked what he would have done differently before and after the scandal in his personal life, Woods said he would have had a more open, honest relationship with his wife.

“Having the relationship that I have now with her is fantastic,” he said. “She’s one of my best friends. We’re able to pick up the phone, and we talk to each other all the time. We both know that the most important things in our lives are our kids. I wish I would have known that back then.”

Woods last played on Aug. 23 when he tied for 10th and thought the pain he experienced was from his hip. Instead, it was a recurrence of his back problems. The uncertainty of his health has led to plenty of speculation that his career might be over.

“Put it this way. It’s not what I want to have happen, and it’s not what I’m planning on having happen,” Woods said. “But if it does, it does. I’ve reconciled myself to it.”

On other topics:

-Woods pointed out again that the chart of Jack Nicklaus he kept on his bedroom wall as a kid had nothing to do with the record 18 majors. It was related to age – the first time Nicklaus broke 40, broke 80, won his first golf tournament, his first state amateur, his first U.S. Amateur and first U.S. Open.

“To me, that was important,” he said. “This guy’s the best out there and the best of all time. If I can beat each age that he did it, then I have a chance at being the best.”

-He came to know the late Seve Ballesteros when the Spaniard was working with Butch Harmon and they would spend time together in Houston.

“We’d hit balls and then he’d show me short game, for hours,” Woods said. “Then we’d go play till dark. It was awesome. To see how he could do it, and I could never do it. But I could take pieces. I’d ask him, but man, I couldn’t do a lot of them. But I realized I don’t have to do a lot of them. I can do it my way.”

-Before the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, which he won with shredded knee ligaments and two stress fractures his leg, Woods tried to wear a brace for nine holes at his home course in Southern California. It was his first time playing golf since the Masters, and the brace kept him from rotating. He lost eight balls in nine holes and shot 54.

“I’m grinding my butt off and I said, ‘OK, you’re the No. 1 player in the world and you just lost eight balls on a home course that you could play blindfolded,’ and I shot a 54. This is going to be an interesting week,'” he said.

-He loves playing alone at the Medalist Golf Club in the evening because it reminded him of time he spent with his father as a kid. Woods said they would retreat to the far corner of the Seal Navy golf course in California.

“We’d be on the tee back there just hitting golf balls, not saying a word to each other,” he said. “Going out in the evenings brings me back to that happy place.”