SYRACUSE, NEW YORK – Veronica Felibert shot a 6-under 65 on Sunday to earn her first career Symetra Tour victory at the Credit Union Classic presented by Wegmans.  Felibert birdied three of her final four holes to seize control and win by three strokes over Lindy Duncan.

“Oh my god, I’m very, very happy,” said 29-year-old Felibert.  “I’ve been working very hard and it is finally clicking so I am very, very excited.”

Felibert made birdie on the 15^th hole to take a one shot lead over Garrett Phillips, who was one group in front.  Felibert made par on the 16^th hole while Phillips made birdie to momentarily move into a share of the lead.  Then, Felibert made a long birdie putt on the 17^th hole to take a one shot lead.

Phillips made double bogey on the 18^th hole to give Felibert breathing room.  Felibert calmly stuck a stock 9-iron to three feet and tapped in for birdie to win on 18.

“The whole day was a little up-and-down, I shot 6-under with two three-putts.  I missed some short ones, but I kept believing in myself and even on the long putts I was trying to make them and it actually happened.”

After making the long putt on the 17^th hole, Felibert felt destined to hoist the trophy.

“On 17, when I made the long putt, I had the feeling that when something is for you, it is for you.  It was meant for me at that point and nobody was going to take it.  Then, I hit my driver right down the middle on 18 and had perfect yardage to the pin and I hit a soft 9-iron and it just felt great.”

Felibert has played in 43 career Symetra Tour events over the last five years and was waiting desperately for this moment.

“I’m probably going to cry later because I know myself and this means a lot.  If you are a player or work on the Tour, you know I work very hard and being out here for so many years makes me realize I still haven’t been able to win and I feel so capable.  This is very special and I am just so happy.”

The winner’s payout of $15,000 moves her from 42^nd on the Volvik Race for the Card money list to 11^th with $27,941.  Felibert is off to play in the Meijer LPGA Classic presented by Kraft this coming week.  Now that she is on the cusp of the top-10 on the money list, she is going to reconsider her plans for the remainder of the season.

“I have to check if my schedule is going to change.  I’ve been trying to play as many LPGA Tour events as I get in and if I get a week off then I play Symetra Tour.  A lot will depend on what I do next week on the LPGA Tour.”

Most of Felibert’s family lives back in Caracas, Venezuela.  However, her friend from Brooklyn, New York took the train up to caddie for her this weekend.

“At least I had a friend that came from New York City on Friday night.  I picked him up at the train station and the train was late, it didn’t come until 11:00 p.m.  It was just very special to have him there and to have someone that I could talk to was pretty cool.”

Felibert had numerous people she wanted to share the win with that were not able to be in Syracuse.

“This is the best golf moment of my life and I want to share it with so many people that aren’t here like my parents, my sisters, my nephews and my coach, who has been so helpful to me over the last two years, and my sponsor arteasan.”

Lindy Duncan shot a bogey-free 5-under 66 to finish in solo second.  Her performance moved her from 29^th on the Volvik Race for the Card money list to 16^th.

Duncan made just one bogey over the final two days.

Numa Gulyanamitta, Calle Nielson and Garrett Phillips finished in a tie for third at 8-under 205.

On the Canadian side, Samantha Richdale claimed a top 10 5-under finish with a 67 in the final round. Maude-Aimee Leblanc  finished just behind her in a tie for 13th, after carding a final round 69.

RENO, Nev. – Geoff Ogilvy won the Barracuda Championship on Sunday for his eighth PGA Tour title and first since 2010, scoring five points with an eagle on the par-5 13th and pulling away for a five-point victory in the modified Stableford event.

Players received eight points for double eagle, five for eagle, two for birdie, zero for par, minus-one for bogey and minus-three for double bogey or worse.

Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open winner, added birdies on the par-4 14th and par-5 18th to finish with 49 points. He had 14 points in the final round with the eagle, five birdies and a bogey.

The 37-year-old Australian was making his first appearance at Montreux since 2002 after failing to qualify for the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational. He entered the week with only two top-25 finishes this season and was 151st in the FedEx Cup standings.

He earned $540,000 and a spot next week in the PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky.

Justin Hicks was second at 44 points after an 18-point day.

John Huh and Jonathan Byrd tied for third at 37. They each had 11-point rounds.

Nick Watney, three points behind Ogilvy entering the final day after leading after each of the first two rounds, tied for eighth at 34 points. He had three birdies and four bogey in a two-point round.

Ogilvy had 14 points in the first round, 16 in the second and seven in the third.

Canada’s Miek Weir finished tied for 69th with 14 points.

AKRON, Ohio – Tiger Woods was at Firestone, and the scene looked all too familiar.

Except he wasn’t hoisting a trophy.

He could barely bend over to pick up his tee.

Right when Woods thought he was making small progress toward his return from back surgery, he suffered a scary setback Sunday when he was stricken with more back pain and withdrew after eight holes from the Bridgestone Invitational.

How bad was it? Woods headed home to Florida to find out if he could play the PGA Championship this week.

But as he stood next to his car, he struggled to even take off his golf shoes before his caddie drove him away into an uncertain future.

The lasting images of Woods at Firestone were not of him winning, like he did last year for the eighth time. They were of Woods wincing, hobbling and twitching. Those were the scenes from earlier this year when he coped with recurring back pain that forced him to withdraw from the Honda Classic and eventually led to back surgery March 31.

In his third tournament since returning from surgery, this had the look of a serious setback.

Woods injured himself playing a shot from edge of a bunker on the par-5 second hole. With all weight on his right leg, he took an awkward slash at the ball, fell back toward the sand and landed with a thud, and kept jogging out of the bunker from sheer momentum of the steep drop.

“I just jarred it, and it’s been spasming ever since,” Woods told a PGA Tour official before leaving.

Woods kept playing, hitting a number of shockingly bad shots. He hit one into the water from the fairway on No. 3, coming up some 30 yards short of the flag. And on the par-3 fifth hole, his tee shot was 65 yards short of the hole. From a bunker left of the seventh green, he blasted out and back into the fairway and made double bogey.

He grimaced at impact when he hit a 315-yard drive into the left rough on No. 9. Woods slowly stooped over with his right hand on his leg, reached toward his back and slowly bent down to remove the tee from the ground. Moments later, he stepped into a cart and headed for the parking lot.

“It’s just the whole lower back,” Woods said. “I don’t know what happened.”

Masters champion Bubba Watson said he didn’t see Woods hit the shot that hurt him on No. 2, though he could tell as the round went on that something wasn’t right.

“He hit some shots that we’re not used to seeing Tiger hit, even when he’s coming back from an injury like this,” Watson said. “So obviously, something was bothering him. … Like I told him when I shook his hand, I said, `I’m praying for you. Hope everything turns out good. Hope to see you next week.'”

With the pain he showed leaving the course – and just four months removed from back surgery – it would seem unlikely that Woods plays next week at Valhalla, where he won the PGA Championship in 2000. Woods is scheduled to play the opening two rounds with Phil Mickelson and Padraig Harrington.

Mickelson was on the 11th hole – not far away from No. 9 – when he noticed Woods leaving.

“It didn’t look good. It looked like he was really in pain,” Mickelson said. “I hope he’s OK. I hope he’s able to play next week. I hope it’s a muscle and nothing serious because I’m really looking forward to playing with him. We rarely get paired together. If we do, it’s been early Saturday.

“As much as I love playing with him, playing against him, trying to beat him, we all want him in the field. We all want him back. I just hope he’s OK.”

If Woods does not play in the PGA Championship, that would be the end of his season. He would have to win the PGA to be eligible for the FedEx Cup playoffs. In six starts on the PGA Tour this year, Woods finished all four rounds only twice.

Woods had back surgery to alleviate an impinged nerve, forcing him to miss the Masters for the first time and the U.S. Open. He returned after three months to Congressional – three weeks ahead of his own schedule – and reported no pain in missing the cut by four shots at the Quicken Loans National. He also reported no pain in four rounds at the British Open. He finished 69th, 23 shots out of the lead, his worst 72-hole result in a major.

And now with another injury, Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson might have an even more difficult time picking him for the American team. The captain has said he wants Woods on the team if he was healthy and playing well.

Woods was doing neither.

BLAINE, Minn. – Kenny Perry eagled the last hole after waiting out a thunderstorm to take a one-shot lead Saturday after the second round of the Champions Tour’s 3M Championship.

Perry shot a 9-under 63 to reach 16-under 128 at TPC Twin Cities.

The six-time senior winner birdied the par-3 17th and was on the green on the par-5 18th when play was stopped for the thunderstorm. After a two-hour delay, he made the 8-foot eagle putt.

First-round leader Marco Dawson was second after a 66.

Bernhard Langer, Gary Hallberg, Jeff Maggert and Gene Sauers were 13 under. Langer, coming off a record-breaking victory in the Senior British Open, and Maggert shot 67, and Hallberg and Sauers had 65s.

Dawson and Maggert were in the 18th fairway when play stopped. When play resumed, Dawson put a 5-iron pin high to set up an eagle, but Maggert – tied for the lead at the time – hit his approach shot in the water en route to a bogey.

Two shots back to start the day, Perry was 3 under on the front nine and added birdies at Nos. 10 and 15 to pull into a tie for the lead.

Fifth in the season-long points race, Perry has been one of the more consistent tour players, finishing no worse than 14th – including four top-10s – in his last six events. That includes a major win May 18 at the Regions Tradition.

Maggert, who started the day one shot back, bogeyed the first hole to fall to 7 under, before birdies on Nos. 3 and 4. Starting on No. 7, he birdied five of six holes to take a two-shot lead at 14 under, but promptly gave a shot back with a bogey on the par-4 14th.

Dawson tied for the lead with a birdie on the 318-yard par-4 seventh after he drove the green and two-putted. However, he didn’t get another birdie until No. 16.

Langer, who won the event in 2009 and 2012 and took the Senior British Open by a tour-record 13 strokes last week, was 3 under on the front, but had just two birdies on the back nine.

Canada’s Rod Spittle is tied for 16th after carding a 5-under 67 on Saturday.

AKRON, Ohio – Sergio Garcia was in the trees left of the 18th fairway, looking through a gap in the branches to find a way out. Ahead of him was Rory McIlroy, giving his 35-foot birdie putt a little body English before it fell for birdie.

Garcia never lost command of the Bridgestone Invitational on Saturday, even after a storm delay of just over three hours. He started with a three-shot lead, stretched it to six shots at one point and closed with three good pars for a 3-under 67, three shots ahead of McIlroy.

The Spaniard just lost a small measure of comfort.

McIlroy, coming off a wire-to-wire win in the British Open, might be the last player anyone wants to see right behind.

“I’ve got to keep doing the same thing, make sure that I have good confidence in myself, that I play nicely, and then see what happens,” Garcia said. “If Rory comes out, or whoever is behind us comes out, and get crazy like I did on Friday, then it is what it is. But hopefully, I’ll be able to play well again and be all the way up there tomorrow.”

Garcia, who seized control with a career-best 61 on Friday, was at 14-under 196.

McIlroy birdied his last two holes for the second straight day for a 66, and he got his wish – a spot in the final group.

Sunday is set up as a replay of The Open – only with the roles reversed.

McIlroy had a six-shot lead going into the final round at Hoylake. Garcia, playing in the group ahead, made a spirited run at McIlroy and got within two shots late in the round until he faltered and Boy Wonder pulled away.

“Obviously, Rory is playing great, and we get along nicely as of right now,” Garcia said. “I think we’re both excited about it. We’re definitely going to play hard. It will be nice to see if I can do the same thing he did to me a couple of weeks ago. So we’ll see.”

This time, it’s McIlroy who has to chase.

“My goal today was to try and get in the final group,” McIlroy said. “Sergio didn’t quite have that luxury of seeing what I was doing on the last. It will be nice to play alongside him tomorrow and at least keep an eye on what’s going on. Try to apply a bit of pressure when I can, but just really looking forward to getting in there and having another chance to win a tournament so soon after what happened at Hoylake.”

Rickie Fowler also was in the hunt at Hoylake, though he took himself out of the picture on the final hole. He went from the left trees to a plugged lie in the bunker, having to brace his right good against the side of a hill. He left it in the bunker and wound up with a double bogey for a 72, putting him 10 shots behind.

This isn’t a two-man race for a World Golf Championship title.

Marc Leishman had a 68 and was five shots behind, while Adam Scott returned from the rain delay carrying only his long putter, the only weapon he needed to convert one last birdie for a 65 that at least left him with a slim chance. He was six shots behind, along with Keegan Bradley (68) and Justin Rose (70).

The race won’t feature defending champion Tiger Woods. The eight-time winner at Firestone made only one birdie on Saturday – he failed to birdie a par 5 for the second straight day – and shot 72. He was 15 shots behind.

Garcia, who won the Qatar Masters this year, has been building toward moments like this. Two weeks after his runner-up finish to McIlroy at Hoylake, the Spaniard has performed so solidly at Firestone that he went 37 consecutive holes without a bogey. Along with four birdies in 11 holes to start his third round, he built a six-shot lead for a brief moment until missing the 14th green long and failing to convert a 5-foot par putt.

Three pars at the end helped keep in front.

He pulled his lay-up shot on the par-5 16th into deep rough, which felt even thicker after the rain delay. Garcia managed to judge it perfectly to clear the water. He hooked his tee shot on the 17th hole and hit 8-iron safely onto the green. The biggest challenge was the 18th, where he had to clear trees with a shot from the rough. He opened up the face of a 7-iron to play a big cut with such elevation, and it cleared the back bunker, leaving him 75 feet away.

“Where I hit it, I couldn’t really do much more than that and hope to make a good two-putt,” he said.

He lagged it down to 5 feet, and lightly pumped his fist when it fell. Every shot matters, especially with someone like McIlroy right behind him.

“The one on 18 is the one that felt the best,” Garcia said, “because it was probably the toughest to make par.”

CALGARY – Yakima, Washington’s Brock Mackenzie carded six birdies and a bogey to shoot a 5-under 67 on Saturday at Sirocco Golf Club and build a two-shot lead heading into the final round of the ATB Financial Classic.

The 33-year old was 21-under through 54 holes, the lowest mark of the PGA TOUR Canada era and tied for the second lowest in Tour history. Mackenzie has made just one bogey on the week, offset by 22 birdies to lead by two over Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Stephen Carney and Milford, Iowa’s Brady Schnell, who followed up a second round 59 with a 67 on Saturday.

“Any time you’re leading, you want to try and distance yourself as much as you can so there’s only a few guys who can win the tournament,” said Mackenzie, a veteran of the Web.com Tour and PGA TOUR Canada. “That’s what I was trying to do today. So many guys played well, and it’s a course where you can make lots of birdies, so anyone within eight shots could win.”

Mackenzie owns one win on PGA TOUR Canada, coming at the 2010 Bayview Place Island Savings Open presented by Times Colonist, and says he’s relishing the opportunity to be in contention for a second win tomorrow in Calgary.

“I love being in contention,” said Mackenzie. “I’ve been in contention a couple of times this year. I’m getting more and more comfortable being in that position. It’s just another round of golf and I’m doing the things that I need to do.”

The University of Washington alumnus, who won twice on the All-American Gateway Tour in the offseason, was in the hunt earlier this year in Victoria before finishing tied for second. Currently 10^th on the Order of Merit, he’ll have a great chance to solidify his spot in the race to earn Web.com Tour status at season’s end.

“I did what I needed to do today,” Mackenzie said. “It’s going to be a fun day tomorrow. The first three rounds of golf, I couldn’t be more pleased with how I’ve played and hopefully I can handle myself too.”

Mackenzie’s closest pursuers on Sunday will be able to keep a close eye on the 54-hole leader, with round four tee times moved up to due anticipated inclement weather. Players will tee off the 1^st and 10^th tees in threesomes, and Mackenzie will be joined by Carney and Schnell in the final group. Mackenzie said he was pleased to be ahead of golf’s latest ‘Mr. 59’ given the historic accomplishment.

“The fact that I’m leading a guy who shot 59 on me, that makes me happy,” said Mackenzie. “But he could very likely do it again tomorrow and win by six. Most of the guys inside the top-10 have that ability to go low, and I guarantee that they’re going to be full charge ahead with nothing to lose.”

Two shots behind Schnell and Carney in solo fourth was Victoria, British Columbia’s Cory Renfrew, who posted the round of the day with a 7-under 65 to sit 17-under through three rounds.

SCHNELL RE-FOCUSES ON PURSUIT AFTER MAGIC FINISH
After he holed out from 122 yards on Friday to shoot 59, one could forgive Brady Schnell if he found it difficult to re-focus on the chase for the lead at the ATB Financial Classic on Saturday.

“It’s just going to be one of those things I’ll probably think about a few times over the course of my life. Those things don’t happen every day,” said Schnell.

The buzz of the accomplishment didn’t seem to distract Schnell, though, with the 29-year old continuing the strong play with five birdies on his first eight holes to reach 19-under, where he finished the day.

“I made a nice 12-footer on two to kind of get things going, and it’s always nice to get that first one under your belt, especially after a round like that,” said Schnell. “To be 5-under through eight, I was very happy to keep things rolling.”

RENO, Nev. – Geoff Ogilvy got up-and-down for birdie from a greenside bunker on the par-5 closing hole to take a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Barracuda Championship.

In the modified Stableford event, players receive eight points for double eagle, five for eagle, two for birdie, zero for par, minus-one for bogey and minus-three for double bogey or worse.

Ogilvy, the Australian who won the 2006 U.S. Open, had seven birdies and two bogeys in a 12-point round in hot, windy conditions at Montreux to push his total to 35.

“I played quite well,” Ogilvy said. “Birdied the par 5s I needed to birdie, which is ante in this format, because birdies are so much better than bogeys are bad. So it’s definitely a format that rewards the guy that makes a lot of birdies. … So I put some points on the board, which you have to, because there were some low ones this morning, it looked like, or some high ones, however you want to put it.”

He’s making his first appearance in the event since 2002 after failing to qualify for the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational.

“Someone can have 20 points,” Ogilvy said. “So that means I still have to score a bunch of points just to stay in front of the guys who are close. So I just go out and play as well as I can. Hopefully, it goes well.”

Nick Watney, the leader after each of the first two rounds, was tied for second with Jason Allred. Watney scored six points, and Allred had 14.

“A little bit disappointed, to be honest,” Watney said. “Missed my share of putts. But I’ve got a chance tomorrow. So I would have taken that at the beginning of the week.”

He had four birdies and two bogeys.

“It was tricky and the greens were getting a little baked out,” Watney said. “So, probably the most difficult that I’ve seen it this week so far. But at the same time Geoff played really well and there were some out there.”

Brandon Steele was fourth with 30 points after a 10-point round.

John Mallinger, Lee Janzen and David Lingmerth had 28 points.

Mallinger, playing on a sponsor exemption, had a hole-in-one on No. 11 in a 19-point day – the most in the history of the event.

“I just started off a little bit slow,” Mallinger said. “Only had a couple of birdies on the front and then made the turn and made a 1, kind of kick-started my day.”

He used a 9-iron on the 155-yard hole and won a car.

“Perfect club for me,” Mallinger said. “You can’t see. It’s elevated. I hit it. They all clapped. I was like, `Is it close? Is that in?’ … Sounds like I got a Lexus.”

Janzen scored 13 points, and Lingmerth had 12.

Ogilvy won the last of his seven PGA Tour titles in 2010. He has only two top-25 finishes this season and is 151st in the FedEx Cup standings, with the top 125 getting into the first playoff event.

“I don’t really think about it, to be honest with you,” Ogilvy said about the FedEx Cup. “I thought I was thinking about it a bit earlier in the year because I was struggling. I was way back on the list. Thinking about it doesn’t really help you play very well, usually. I’m glad I’ve got a chance.”

Watney is making his first appearance in the event since 2008. He’s 124th in the FedEx Cup race as players fight for spots in The Barclays, the playoff opener he won in 2012 for the last of his five PGA Tour titles.

“I’m hitting the ball great,” Watney said. “If I can putt, I got a real chance.”

Because of expected afternoon thunderstorms Sunday, the tee times have been pushed up and the players will start on both Nos. 1 and 10 in threesomes.

Mike Weir is tied for 61st with 14 points.

Calgary – Milford, Iowa’s Brady Schnell made PGA TOUR Canada history on Friday, holing out a gap wedge from the fairway on his final hole to shoot a 13-under 59 at Sirocco Golf Club at the ATB Financial Classic. Schnell moved to 14-under through 36 holes to sit two shots back of leader Brock Mackenzie of Yakima, Washington, who shot a 9-under 63 to take a one shot lead over Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Stephen Carney through two rounds.

Schnell, a 29-year old in his third season on PGA TOUR Canada, holed a 122-yard approach with a gap wedge on the 454-yard ninth hole for his final shot of the day. He becomes the second player in PGA TOUR Canada history and the first of the PGA TOUR Canada era to shoot a sub-60 score. Previously, Jason Bohn shot a 13-under 58 in the final round of the 2001 Bayer Championship.

“To shoot 59 is crazy enough, but to hole out on the last hole to do it, I just can’t even believe it,” said Schnell, a University of Nebraska graduate. “That’s the ultimate number, to get inside the 50s. To do it in a tournament on PGA TOUR Canada is even better. I guess it’s what we all dream of, but just to do it in that fashion makes it sweeter too.”

Schnell began the day at 1-under par after an opening 71 and at one point trailed Mackenzie by 15 shots, but quickly gained ground on the leader with an outward 30 on his first nine holes. After five more birdies, he came to his final hole knowing where he stood with a look at golf’s most sought-after score.

“I knew where I was at,” said Schnell. “I just kind of kept track and figured it out, and I was standing in six fairway and said ‘you can make four birdies over the next four holes.’ I lipped out on six for birdie, and then I just made birdie-birdie-eagle.”

While he was unable to accomplish his goal of four closing birdies, one memorable swing made up the difference and put Schnell in the game’s history books.

“I hit a hard 52 [degree wedge]. I felt a little jacked up, and from back in the fairway it looked like it spun back a foot or two,” Schnell said. “I couldn’t believe it when it dropped.”

Earlier, Mackenzie’s 63 gave him a 16-under total through two rounds, tying the record for lowest 36-hole score of the PGA TOUR Canada era.

“I knew I was playing well, but I didn’t realize at the end I was 9-under,” said Mackenzie, who tied the lowest 36-hole score of the PGA TOUR Canada era at 128. “It was a good day. I made most everything that I saw and hit it great, so it was good.”

The 33-year old, who owns one PGA TOUR Canada win at the 2010 Bayview Place Island Savings Open presented by Times Colonist, began his day by finishing his first round with four consecutive pars (first round play was suspended due to dangerous weather Thursday night and resumed at 7:15 AM). After three more pars to start round two, Mackenzie reeled off nine birdies, and said he was in a zone after that.

“When things are going good, I kind of just get in a robot mode where I just kind of get my number and hit the shot,” said Mackenzie, who finished with a birdie on the ninth by hitting a pitching wedge to four feet. “I wasn’t thinking ‘oh, I need to get another one,’ it was a perfect number for a wedge.”

“I made a couple of birdies, and then I got it going on the back side,” added Mackenzie. “It’s nice to see the ball go in. I’ve hit it really well all year, and so far this is the best I’ve putted all year.”

One back of Mackenzie was Carney, who finished up his first round this morning with an 8-under 64, then returned to shoot 65 in his second round to sit 15-under. Christopher Ross, a PGA TOUR Canada rookie, was one shot further back, and briefly shared the course record with a 10-under 62 before Schnell’s 59 set the new mark.

“I had it going in the beginning and in the middle and then the end, so, yeah, it was a good day out there,” said the 27-year old Ross. “I kept playing to my strengths. There were a few par-5s I could have gone for, but just because I was hitting my wedges nicely and my putter is hot, I played to my strengths.”

Ross said he knows he’ll need to keep the pedal to the metal this weekend, with scores around him going well under par through two rounds.

“If you let up off the gas out here, you’re going to get lapped,” said Ross. “The greens are perfect, the fairways are perfect and the weather’s nice, so if you let up at all, you’re going to get passed. That was my mentality today.”

Winnipeg – Winnipeg, Man., native Jay Doyle will hope to draw on a hometown edge when he vies for Canada’s most historic championship as the 47-year old shot 1-over 71 during Friday’s Final Qualifier at Elmhurst Golf and Country Club to earn his place into next week’s 110th Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship.
 
Doyle is one of five players and three Manitoba natives to earn an exemption into the storied Canadian Men’s Amateur Golf Championship. Also punching a ticket into next week’s championship are Alex Purdom of London, Ont. (+2) and Ben Bandura (+2) of Selkirk, Man. as well as Bobby Wiebe of Headingley, Man. (+3) and Russell Bowie of Mississauga, Ont. (+3).

Among the three Manitoba natives earning spots through the Final Qualifier, Bandura plays out of the host Elmhurst Golf and Country Club while Doyle plays locally out of Niakwa Country Club and Wiebe represents the Breezy Bend Country Club.

After Friday’s Final Qualifier, a total of 240 players are set to compete in the 2014 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, contested August 4-7th at Elmhurst Golf and Country Club as well as Southwood Golf and Country Club. 

After the first two rounds, the field will be reduced to the low 70 players and ties for the final 36 holes of the championship finishing on Thursday, August 7th at Elmhurst Golf and Country Club. 

Practice rounds are set for Saturday, August 2nd and Sunday, August 3rd with the opening round set to tee off on Monday, August 4th. 

Admission is free to all spectators throughout the week.

For a full field list as well as starting times, live scoring and post-round results for the 110th playing of the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, click here.

RENO, Nev.  – Nick Watney increased his lead to three points Friday in the Barracuda Championship, scoring eight points in the modified Stableford event at Montreux to push his two-day total to 26.

Players receive eight points for double eagle, five for eagle, two for birdie, zero for par, minus-one for bogey and minus-three for double bogey or worse.

Watney had five birdies and two bogeys in the morning session after making nine birdies in his bogey-free first round.

Geoff Ogilvy was second. Wes Roach was third at 22, and Tommy Gainey and Tim Wilkinson had 21. Ogilvy had a seven-point round, Roach and Gainey each scored 10 points, and Wilkinson had five.

Watney is making his first appearance in the event since 2008 after failing to qualify for the World Golf Championship-Bridgestone Invitational. He’s 124th in the FedEx Cup standings, with the top 125 getting into The Barclays – the playoff opener that he won in 2012 for the last of his five PGA Tour titles.

Watney made two birdies and two pars on his opening nine and added birdies on Nos. 2, 3 and 8.

Ogilvy, the Australian who won the 2006 U.S. Open, earned five points with an eagle on the par-5 13th, gave back a point with a bogey on No. 14 and birdied No. 16. On Thursday, he had eight birdies in a bogey-free round.

Making his first appearance in the event since 2002, Ogilvy won the last of his seven PGA Tour titles in 2010. He has only two top-25 finishes this season and is 151st in the FedEx Cup standings.

Mike Weir is tied for 29th heading into the weekend. The 2003 Masters champ recorded five birdies Friday to earn 10 points.