SHANGHAI – France’s Alexander Levy had five straight birdies in the middle of his round and finished with a 7-under 65 to take the lead in the BMW Masters on Thursday.

Levy began the birdie run on the par-4 ninth on Lake Malaren’s Masters Course. He won the Volvo China Open in Shenzhen in April for his first European Tour title and took the rain-shortened Portugal Masters this month, becoming the first Frenchman to win two events in a single season on the European Tour.

“My golf game is very good as I was bogey-free in missing only one fairway and I’m still aggressive on the golf course and I like to play this golf, so I need to be thinking this way for the rest of the week,” Levy said. “I just like playing in China and, for me, this golf course is pretty much the same as in Shenzhen where there is a lot of water and you play target golf.”

Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts was a stroke back along with Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo and France’s Romain Wattel. Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell topped the six European Ryder Cup players in the field with a bogey-free 67 that contained three straight birdies from the 11th.

The tournament opens the four-event Final Series. The World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions is next week, also in Shanghai, followed by the Turkish Airlines Open and World Tour Championship in Dubai.

Wattel played his last 15 holes with a crack in his driver and did not know the rules allowed him to replace the damaged club.

“Given the length of this course, and also with the rain falling, you really need the driver so I was lucky not to have any real trouble using the club,” Wattel said.

Wattel indicated he will replace the driver and use one offered to him by fellow Frenchman Gregory Bourdy, who was first reserve for the event but did not tee up.

Colsaerts included in his bag an old 2 iron that he used to capture the 2011 Volvo China Open and the 2012 World Match Play Championship in Spain. The 2012 Ryder Cup player is back playing after taking a week off at Hua Hin in Thailand, where he said he underwent a “cleansing” ceremony undertaken by local Buddhist monks.

Six players, including Ryder Cup players Jamie Donaldson, Thomas Bjorn and recent Alfred Dunhill Links champion Oliver Wilson, shared sixth place on 4 under.

Justin Rose, one of Europe’s stars at the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles, recovered from a triple-bogey 8 on the fourth hole of his round, when he found water twice – first with a 3 iron and then further up the fairway with a 5 iron. He finished on level-par 72.

“I can’t remember the last time I shot an 8 as I am not a big numbers guy,” Rose said.

“Really,” he added, “I was just one swing away from shooting 4 under par.”

Italy’s Edoardo Molinari aced the par-3 13th – his fourth hole – with a 4 iron from 208 yards. The organizers are offering a BMW i8 sports sedan for a hole-in-one on the 17th hole, but Molinari had to settle for a miniature model along with a bottle of champagne.

“I now have a small car and maybe I can win the big one,” he said.

KUALA LUMPUR – At age 50, Davis Love III doesn’t need much advice on how to approach golf tournaments. The tropical heat of Malaysia this week, and the expansion of the PGA Tour, will at least give him some new experiences and challenges.

Still on the comeback from neck surgery in 2013 that sapped the strength in his left arm, Love is ready to take on an international schedule and eager to get his game back to its best.

Two players familiar with the rigors of regularly crisscrossing the globe are Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood, who are also in the field for the CIMB Classic starting Thursday in Kuala Lumpur, and they had some advice for Love and other PGA Tour players who are getting accustomed to playing more regularly outside of the United States.

No. 4 Garcia, the highest-ranked player in the field, is making his first appearance since the Ryder Cup and will play in a group with Europe teammate Westwood and American Patrick Reed, who were also part of the contest at Gleneagles last month.

As a player skipping between the PGA and European tours, Garcia said the key to handling the travel is enjoyment and rest.

“It’s just a matter of getting used to it and trying to take it with the best attitude possible,” Garcia said Wednesday. “The hardest thing is getting used to the jet lag and stuff like that.

“I go through stretches when I play but also through some stretches of maybe two, three or four weeks off like I just had, mainly because traveling is nice but it also takes energy out of you and sometimes you need to disconnect a little bit and recharge those batteries.”

Westwood won the Malaysian Open on the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club course in April, winning the co-sanctioned European Tour and Asian Tour event by six strokes. He shared some thoughts on how to approach the energy-sapping conditions in Southeast Asia.

“I don’t think there’s any real way to get over jet lag, certainly I can testify to it,” Westwood said. “I would imagine if you don’t travel much, then it comes as a bit of a shock with a 12-hour time change from the East Coast of America.

“It’s really important to stay fueled and well-hydrated first and foremost. You’re not to going to function if you get dehydrated out there and lose energy. Your brain is going to stop working.”

It’s all noted by Love, who plans to broaden his horizons.

Love is now eligible for the Champions Tour and plans on playing some tournaments on the 50-and-over circuit through the year, but the former U.S. Ryder Cup captain will concentrate principally on the PGA Tour to earn some FedEx Cup points and target tournaments where he does not get an exemption for his 20 tour victories.

“The British Open is the only real trip I’ve made,” Love said. “Now family and business will allow me to expand my horizons a little bit, so I’m going to try to play a little bit more all around the world, try to play in some of these events that I’m invited to.”

“At 50 years old, now I can start my world travels I guess.”

Doctors had told Love he will need another six to eight months to get back to his peak strength, but he is eager to get his game up to speed quickly and recapture the form that saw him win the PGA Championship and finish runner-up in three other majors during the late 1990s.

“I seriously want to play a lot of PGA Tour golf the next few years and see if I can get my game back,” Love said. “Now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I know my time in the game will eventually fade away, but I want to take advantage of that for as long as I can and continue to compete.”

CARLSBAD, Calif., – Callaway Golf announced that longtime Staff Professional Phil Mickelson has signed a multiyear extension with the company.

“When I joined the team at Callaway 10 years ago, I knew I was making the best decision of my career,” Mickelson said. “And I feel even stronger about that decision today. Backed by innovative technologies, industry-leading products, and the outstanding R&D group that works so closely with me, I honestly believe that these next few years will be the best of my career.”

Mickelson’s Hall of Fame career includes five major championship victories and 42 PGA Tour wins. As a Staff Pro, he will continue to play Callaway clubs, a Callaway golf ball and carry a Callaway Staff Bag.

“We are thrilled to extend our partnership with Phil,” said Callaway Golf President & CEO Chip Brewer. “He has meant so much to Callaway, and he continues to inspire us to develop the most innovative equipment in golf.”

Brooke Henderson’s standout season on the golf course has her in the running to be named the 2014 Ontario Athlete of the Year.

If the Team Canada member and Smiths Falls, Ont. native is successful in receiving the Syl Apps Award, she will become only the second golfer to receive the honour and the youngest award winner in its 16-year history. The only other golfer to earn the honour is Mike Weir, who received the award in 1999, 2000 and 2003.

Henderson is up against some stiff competition, including Kyle Lowry of the Toronto Raptors, Russel Martin of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays, Milos Raonic (tennis) Patrick Husbands (horse racing) and Cory Perry of the Anaheim Ducks.

Voting for the award is conducted annually by the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. Those eligible to vote include Ontario-based sports writers, broadcasters/personalities with at least 10-years covering sports in this province, members of the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors and the Hall’s Advisory Board.

To be eligible for the award, athletes must be born in Ontario or play for an Ontario-based team.  They also must have made an outstanding and memorable contribution to Ontario sport during the previous calendar year.

The public is encouraged to vote for their favourite athlete online. The voting widget is located on the left side of the home page and will be available until December 5, 2014.

A.W. Tillinghast

SCARBOROUGH, Ont. – Scarboro Golf & Country Club architect A.W. Tillinghast is one of four distinguished honourees who will be enshrined into the World Golf Hall of Fame & Museum as the Class of 2015.

Scarboro members are thrilled Laura Davies, David Graham, Mark O’Meara and Tillinghast will be inducted on Monday, July 13, 2015 at the University of St Andrews, just blocks from the Old Course, host site of that week’s 144th Open Championship.

“Tillie’s induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame is ridiculously long overdue. He should have been in there from when the hall first opened,” says Canadian golf course architect Ian Andrew of Brantford, Ont. It was Andrew, along with noted American golf course architect Gil Hanse, who completed a sympathetic restoration of all known Tillinghast features and the removal of all recent changes to the course to return it to its original character in the fall of 2007.

“You could argue that he is the greatest American golf course architect of all time. I certainly put him ahead of Stanley Thompson,” says Andrew who has played most of Tillinghast’s layouts still considered among the world’s best and used frequently for golf’s major championships. Bethpage State Park, Winged Foot, Baltusrol GC, San Francisco GC, Quaker Ridge, Fenway GC, Somerset Hills and Baltimore Country Club at Five Farms in Maryland, where London, Ont., golfer Sandy Somerville won the 1932 U.S. Amateur, are all Tillinghast designs.

Born in 1874, Albert Warren (A.W.) Tillinghast took golf lessons from Old Tom Morris, was an admirer of St Andrews, and used that knowledge to become a true pioneer of American golf.  He was a prolific architect, having worked on 265 plus courses including more than 100 original designs in the U.S. courses to his credit.  He was also an original member of the PGA of America and authored a slew of books about the game. He died in 1942 in Toledo, Ohio.

“It’s like a piece of art.  You look at Tillinghast, you look at Alistair MacKenzie, you look at Donald Ross, you look at designers of that era, like David (Graham) pointed out, those guys were artists,” O’Meara said during a Hall of Fame interview. “They just had great pieces of property, great land, great vision, and golf will always stand the test of time even though players hit it further and equipment is better and this and that.”

Scarboro is the lone Tillinghast design in Canada. The club hired him in 1924 to rebuild the initial George Cumming layout at a cost of $40,000 and Tillinghast`s layout opened for play in 1926. Since that time, Scarboro has hosted four Canadian Open Championships and numerous other international and national events within the amateur and professional ranks.

“We are thrilled Tillinghast is finally being recognized by the World Golf Hall of Fame. His significant talent and genius are evident on every hole when playing this great golf course,” says Neil Rooney, Scarboro’s Chief Operating Officer. “We are proud to have his name connected to Scarboro and the club will continue to preserve and enhance the legacy of his classic design in the decades to come.”

Andrew believes Tillinghast was a genius when it came to creating par-3s. You only need to play Scarboro’s second, fourth, 11^th and 14^th holes to experience that brilliance. “Of all of the architects of his time, Tillinghast was the one who manufactured greens sites. He was a creator and a constructor. He would bring material together to make things more dramatic than they would have been. He was not afraid to go really big and that set him apart,” Andrew added.

Andrew says Scarboro is worthy of study when it comes to understanding golf course architecture. In his books, the course is home to some of the greatest green sites you’ll find anywhere and its strategic grass-faced bunkers that now hang on the edge of putting surfaces make them all the more interesting.

“In my mind, Scarboro doesn’t get its due as a great place to play golf,” he says. “Strategically it’s a lot of fun to play and one of the best courses in Canada.”

This is the first Class to be elected by the Hall of Fame’s Selection Commission, which debated a group of 16 Finalists.  The four members of the Class of 2015 each passed the required 75 percent voting threshold – approval by at least 12 of the 16 members. The Selection Commission was co-chaired by Hall of Fame members Nancy Lopez, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and Annika Sorenstam and included the members of the World Golf Foundation Board of Directors and a mix of institutional and at-large seats.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Setting out to defend the FedExCup title in Malaysia this week, Billy Horschel is doing so as a changed man.

It’s not the fame, the money or the added pressure that has affected Horschel, but the arrival of his first child, who was born two days after he won the FedEx title.

“Golf isn’t what it used to be,” Horschel said Tuesday as he prepared for the CIMB Classic. “I used to think of golf as life or death. If I played bad, it showed, and I wasn’t a pleasant person to be around.

“With her, she doesn’t care if I play bad or good. She just cares that I’m there for her and I love her.”

The perspective on life may have changed, but one thing that hasn’t is Horschel’s determination to continue his success on the course, and that’s reflected in the tough goal he has set himself for the new season.

“I want to be the first guy to defend the FedExCup,” Horschel said. “No one has been able to do it. There’s only been one guy to win two FedExCups and that’s a guy by the name of Tiger Woods, he’s not too bad. But I want to be the first guy to defend the FedExCup. That would be an unbelievable thing to do.”

Horschel, who missed the cut in his opening event of the season at the Shriners’ Hospitals of Children Open, is part of a strong field at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club that includes Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Jason Dufner, Charl Schwartzel and defending champion Ryan Moore.

The PGA Tour event’s restricted 78-man field – there is no cut – is precisely half American and half international players, including the top 10 money winners from the Asian Tour.

Hideki Matsuyama, Ryo Ishikawa and Chinese teen prodigy Guan Tianlang are also among those vying for the $7 million in prize money, with the winner also receiving a place in the Masters and PGA Championship.

Dufner, the 2013 PGA Championship winner, is back from a neck injury and played in Australia last week.

“It was nice to get out and compete again, play some golf, see where I stand health-wise,” Dufner said. “Had some rust probably on my game and made quite a number of bogeys that I normally don’t make. But pretty good week for the most part, made a lot of birdies, and I did a lot of good things, so I’m encouraged going forward.”

While the new PGA Tour season is in its infancy, the Asian Tour is building toward its climax, with David Lipsky chasing a strong result in Malaysia as he seeks to hang on to his Order of Merit lead.

Nearest rival Anirban Lahiri of India won the prior event in Macau.

“Anirban is playing well but as long as I take care of business and do what I need to do, then everything should take care of itself,” Lipsky said. “I have a pretty sizable lead right now as it is. As long as I play well the rest of the year and do what I need to do, I’m pretty confident I can win.”

SAO PAULO – A judge has given the city of Rio de Janeiro and a local developer a deadline to decide whether they are willing to make changes to the Olympic golf course design, which could help settle a legal dispute that is threatening its completion in time for the 2016 Games.

The judge wants to know if they agree to “immediately” move three holes and redesign part of the course to make way for a wildlife corridor that will help preserve a local nature reserve, a demand made by local prosecutors.

The public prosecutor’s office is taking on the city government and the golf course developer in a lawsuit that contends environmental rules were breached in building the course, which had been billed as one of the highlights of the Rio Games.

In the decision announced Monday, judge Eduardo Antonio Klausner denied a request to give more time for the two sides to negotiate and said the city and the developer have five days to confirm whether or not they’ll re-design the disputed sections of the course.

“The defendants must say in five days whether they will immediately remove holes 12, 14 and 15 and relocate them in a way that allows for the preservation of the area,” the judge said.

The timeframe will start after the decision is officially published. The judge will then rule on the legal dispute.

Prosecutors contend the course is being illegally built in a nature reserve and want significant changes made to the original project. The city and the developer, Fiori Empreendimentos, say it’s impossible to implement all the changes requested by the prosecutors.

Depending on the response from the city and the developer, the judge could even halt construction on the course. Neither party could be immediately contacted for comment.

A major housing development is planned near the area, and any major change now could also affect that.

Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes has said publicly that he is against any changes to the current golf course project, which was designed by American Gil Hanse and was more than 60 percent completed.

The idea to relocate three of the holes was initially raised by the city and the developer – both defendants in the case – last month. Prosecutors said at the time that the change wasn’t enough, and further negotiations to reach an agreement failed.

The judge said the request to suspend the lawsuit so the parts could continue negotiating was “not recommended considering the real possibility of environmental damage and the proximity to the Olympics.”

Golf will be played at the 2016 Games after a 112-year absence from the Olympics, but the legal wrangling over the course has cast a shadow  over the sport’s return.

An Olympic test event is slated to be held late in 2015 or early 2016.

Via back9network.com – This take on Bob Dylan’s famous song The Times They Are A Changin’, featuring some revamped lyrics about golf, was a popular topic on social media today.

For those interested, comedian Matty Blake is the man in charge of the vocals. He hosts “Off Par”, an inventive look at the world of golf and entertainment with a comedic twist, which airs Monday-Friday at 8 p.m. EST on Back9Network.

On the show, Matty, along with co-host Charles, offer free-flowing laughs in the form of viral internet videos, user-generated social media content, golf-themed skits, and guest appearances by other comedians.

Enjoy!

HAINAN ISLAND, China – South Africa’s Lee-Anne Pace won the rain-shortened Blue Bay LPGA on Monday for her first LPGA Tour title and second worldwide victory in nine days.

Four strokes ahead with five holes left when play was suspended Sunday because of darkness, Pace finished off a 5-under 67 for a three-stroke victory over Germany’s Caroline Masson.

The 33-year-old Pace won the South African Women’s Open last week for her ninth Ladies European Tour victory. She’s the second South African-born champion in LPGA Tour history, joining 15-time winner Sally Little. The victory was her third in China, following the LET’s Sanya Ladies Open in 2010 and 2013.

Pace made a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th to finish at 16-under 200 at Jian Lake Blue Bay.

Masson birdied the final three holes for a 67.

Michelle Wie and Jessica Korda tied for third at 11 under.

Wie finished with a 70. She tied for fifth last week in South Korea in her first start since withdrawing from the Evian Championship in September after reinjuring her right hand.

Korda, tied for the second-round lead with Pace, closed with a 72.

Rain delayed play for nearly four hours Sunday with the leaders halfway through the round, leading to the Monday finish in the tournament cut from 72 to 54 holes after play was washed out Friday. The start Monday also was delayed by showers.

The tournament was the fourth stop on the six-event Asian Swing. The LPGA Taiwan Championship is next week, followed by the Mizuno Classic in Japan.