SAN ANTONIO – Steven Bowditch held on to win the Texas Open in windy conditions Sunday for his first PGA Tour victory and a spot in the Masters.

The 30-year-old Australian bogeyed the par-5 18th for a 4-over 76 – the highest closing score by a winner since Vijay Singh finished with a 4-over 76 in the 2004 PGA Championship – for a one-stroke victory.

“I’m over the moon,” Bowditch said. “I really can’t believe it.”

Bowditch finished at 8-under 280 at TPC San Antonio and earned $1,116,000.

Will MacKenzie and Daniel Summerhays tied for second. MacKenzie shot 70, and Summerhays had a 71.

Chesson Hadley and Ryan Palmer missed chances to get into the Masters through the top 50 in the world ranking. Hadley, the Puerto Rico Open winner, needed at least a sixth-place finish, but closed with an 80 to tie for 56th at 5 over. Palmer needed a top-three finish and had an 82 to also tie for 56th.

Bowditch entered the week 339th in the world and had only two top-10 finishes in eight years on the tour in a career marked by bouts of depression. He won once on the Australasian circuit and twice on the Web.Com Tour.

Bowditch played the front nine in 3-over 39, making a double bogey on the par-4 fourth. He countered a bogey on the par-3 13th with a birdie on the par-5 14th and made three pars before missing a 3-foot par putt and settling for a bogey on 18.

On the par-3 16th, he got up-and-down after missing the green. He pushed his drive on the par-4 17th, hit his approach on the green and two-putted, then pulled his tee shot left on 18, recovered with a shot to the fairway and reached the green in three.

“I just drew back on some experience,” Bowditch said.

MacKenzie made a 13-foot birdie putt on the 17th to pull within a stroke of Bowditch, but the Australian tapped in from 2 feet for his birdie at No. 14 to push the advantage back to two.

Matt Kuchar and Andrew Loupe shot 75s to tie for fourth at 6-under.

Calgary’s Stephen Ames finished tied for 16th at 1-under 287. The result is his best finish since the 2012 Mayakoba Golf Classic, where he also tied for 16th.

Brights Grove, Ont’s Mike Weir tied for 56th at 5-over 293.

LONGWOOD, Florida – Florida’s Hannah Yun shot a course-record 6-under 65 in the second-round of the IOA Golf Classic to take a one shot lead heading into the final round on Monday.  Yun is 8-under for the tournament after her stellar round.

The final-round will be played Monday, March 31.  Play was suspended due to weather on Saturday forcing the completion of the 54-hole event to take place on Monday.

Second-round play resumed at 10:01 a.m. on Sunday.

Yun played a flawless bogey-free round to jump from a tie for sixth to the leader with 18 holes to play.

“Today was just one of those days where I was feeling right, I could see everything and it’s a lot of fun to play golf that way because it comes easy for you,” said the former Florida Gators golfer.  “I was just trying to keep my rhythm, stay free and I was able to do that very well today.”

Yun has one career victory and seven career top-10 finishes on the Symetra Tour.  Her lone win came at the Volvik Championship in 2013.

“A win tomorrow would mean a lot, one step closer to the top-10 this year (on the Volvik Race for the Card money list),” said Yun.  “It would be huge if I could win another one this season; it would be a big boost to my confidence.”

Katelyn Sepmoree, a rookie on the Symetra Tour, shot a 5-under-par 66 on Saturday and stands in second place at 7-under for the tournament. The former University of Texas Longhorns golfer also played a bogey-free round.

Kendall Dye fired a 1-under 70 and is 5-under-par for the tournament.  She is in third place, three shots behind Yun.

Reilley Rankin, an LPGA Tour veteran, is in fourth place at 4-under.  Rankin shot a 3-under 68 on Sunday.

Sara Maude Juneau is the leading Canadian. The Fossambault-sur-le-lac, Que. native is 1 under after a 69 on Sunday and is tied for ninth.

Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C. (T17, E); Christine Wong of Richmond, B.C. (T40, +3); Jessica Wallace of Langley, B.C. (T57, +5); and Ashley Sholer of Hamilton (T70, +7) also made the 36-hole cut.

The cut line was 7-over-par and 82 players will compete on Monday in the final round.

Sholer made a hole-in-one on the par-3 second hole on Saturday.  She finished the final seven holes of her second round on Sunday.

She hit a 9-iron from 121 yards out to ace the second hole.  It was the second hole-in-one of the IOA Golf Classic.  Christine Wong made a hole-in-one on the 18^th hole at Alaqua Country Club on Friday.

Sholer saved the ball and wrote the date and yardage on it.  She is not sure what exactly she is going to do with it.

“Being with Britney Hamilton was just perfect, we both screamed,” said Sholer.  “I was trying to hurry and get it in before the horn blew; it was cool how it happened.”

Hamilton and Sholer are good friends who met on the Symetra Tour and now both reside in Sarasota.  Sholer and Emma De Groot live together and Hamilton lives right up the road.

When JoAnn Kelly of  Collingwood, Ont. took to the links for a casual round of golf this week at the Renaissance Golf Club in Fort Myers, Fla. she had no idea how lucky she was about to be.

The odds of recording one hole in one are said to be 12,500 to 1. Make two in one round and those odds move to 64 million to 1.

Kelly plays out of the Georgian Bay Club in Ontario and calls herself an ‘average golfer’ who enjoys spending time on the course with her entire family.

On March 25^th her play was well above average, as she aced not one but two holes at the Renaissance Golf Club. She recorded her first hole-in-one with a driver on Hole No. 4 and her second came with a 7 iron on the 12^th.

“I’m an average golfer, with a lot of luck,” Kelly said. “I feel like this is good for woman’s golf. What other sport can you match the pros?” she wrote to Golf Canada in an email.

British Columbia Golf launches partnership with Inside Golf

An agreement announced earlier this week between Inside Golf and British Columbia Golf formalizes a long-standing relationship and extends it into the digital realm of websites, electronic newsletter and mobile applications.

“We needed to update our communications technology to meet new demands for mobile and other devices as well as update our content management system for our popular website,” said British Columbia Golf Executive Director Kris Jonasson.

Inside Golf was able to meet these needs with the development of a responsive site that automatically identify the size of a site visitor’s screen or monitor (e.g. desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile) and then responds by reformatting to optimize the viewing experience.

This new website design is now live and can be viewed online at www.britishcolumbiagolf.org.

The four year publishing partnership will also see Inside Golf be responsible for the sale of advertising to appear on both the site and in the e-newsletters sent out to approximately 40,000 opt-in subscribers.

“Our company has been developing the idea of strategic partnerships with golf industry associations for the past five years,” said Inside Golf Inc. President Jeff Sutherland. “Based on success with the Western Canada Turfgrass Association, we took the idea to British Columbia Golf last fall. Our revenue-sharing approach meshed with the direction the association wanted to go and both parties have been working on the launch ever since.”

While Inside Golf will handle the publishing and technical aspects, British Columbia Golf will provide most content and maintain all editorial control.

“The intent here is to continue the information oriented nature of the existing site as well as add in relevant news and travel stories,” confirms Jonasson.

Inside Golf’s own website will soon be adapted to match the design chosen by British Columbia Golf.

CARLSBAD, Calif. – Cristie Kerr made a 55-foot par-saving putt after hitting her final approach into the water Saturday at Aviara, giving her a share of the lead with Lizette Salas after the third round of the Kia Classic.

Kerr finished with a 2-under 70 to match Salas at 10-under 206. After dropping a stroke on the par-5 17th, Kerr holed out from the edge of the green on the par-4 18th after taking a penalty drop.

Salas, the former Southern California player from Azusa, had a 69. She birdied the par-5 17th for a share of the lead and matched Kerr with a par on the last

Kerr won the Kingsmill Championship last year for her 16th LPGA Tour title.

Dori Carter, the second-round leader after a course-record 64, had a 74 to drop into a tie for third at 8 under with Thailand winner Anna Nordqvist, Ayako Uehara and Shanshan Feng. Nordqvist and Uehara shot 67, and Feng had a 69.

Third-ranked Stacy Lewis was 7 under after a 73.

Toronto’s Rebecca Lee-Bentham shot a 1-over 73 Saturday. She’s tied for 59th at 1-over 217.

BROUSSARD, La. – Kyle Reifers posted a bogey-free 5-under 66 Saturday and moved into the lead at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open presented by Nacher. Reifers’ 12-under 201 total is one stroke better than Blayne Barber and Brett Stegmaier, who each carded 65s during the windy third round at the Le Triomphe Country Club.

Steve Saunders, Justin Thomas, Andres Echavarria, Sebastian Vazquez and 2010 champion Fabian Gomez share fourth place, two shots back.

Another seven players are jammed together at 9-under, just three shots off the lead. Sunday might be a shootout as 27 players are within five of the lead – including Canada’s Derek Gillespie – which means it’s anybody’s tournament to win.

Gillespie is tied for ninth at 9-under 204.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. is three shots back of Gillespie at 6-under 207. He has a share of 28th spot.

Nick Taylor, also of Abbotsford, B.C., is tied for 56th at 3-under 210.

Overnight rains softened the course and offset the windy conditions outside Lafayette and compacted an already jammed leaderboard.

“I had a pretty good feel for what was going on out there,” said Reifers, who didn’t look at the board until he finished. “I didn’t think anybody was going to run away from me so I was just plotting a way to give myself birdie looks and see where it takes you.”

Reifers, a first-day co-leader following a 65, jumped into the fray with birdies on his first two holes and then settled back and relied on his putter.

“I made a lot of nice five to six footers and a couple of 3 ½ footers with crosswinds that normally aren’t that big of a deal but were a little bit tougher with the wind today,” he said after a 26-putt effort. “All in all, just a pretty solid round. I like the way I’m rolling it.”

Reifers teed off more than an hour before the 36-hole leaders but his flawless work held up as several challengers stumbled on their way to the clubhouse.

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda – Two Canadians and a Welshman are tied for the lead at the Grey Goose World Par 3 Championship after the opening-round at Turtle Hill Golf Club in Bermuda.

Quebec’s Dave Levesque, the No. 3-ranked player from the PGA of Canada Player Rankings, PGA Tour Canada player Andrew Jensen of Ottawa and two-time European Tour winner Mark Mouland of Wales put together impressive rounds of 3-under par 51 and lead heading into Sunday’s final round.

“It’s a sprint out there rather than like a four-round tournament where it’s more of a marathon,” Levesque said of the championship’s exciting 36-hole format. “You definitely want to start quick and keep going as fast as you can.”

Mouland jump-started his round with three birdies through the first five holes before cooling off and making pars the rest of the way. The 52-year-old Wales native said he played well, but Turtle Hill’s tricky greens got the better of him.

“I actually didn’t hole any putts over four feet which is kind of surprising,” he admitted after his round. “The greens are really tricky out here and are quite difficult to read. Then you factor in the winds and it makes the entire day tough to really score.”

Players were forced to deal with a steady swirling breeze off the Atlantic for most of the day Saturday. Jensen said the swirling winds cause indecision when choosing the proper club off the tee.

“You really have to trust your number out there,” Jensen said. “You’re really tossing between two clubs especially if you’re the first to hit.”

Winds are expected to pick up for Sunday’s final round, potentially making a tight leaderboard even tighter.

Twenty-five players are within five shots of the lead, including Thomas Curtis of England and local Bermudian Camiko Smith who are one back at two under. Terrence Daniels, also of Bermuda, is at one under.

Last year’s champion Jordan Mitchell, former Ryder Cup player Ronan Rafferty, Bermuda’s Michael Sims, this year’s Bermuda Open champion Justin Regier, PGA of America professional Chris Moody, PGA of Canada member Kent Fukushima, and amateurs Mark Phillips and Will Haddrell are all at even par, three shots off the pace.

In addition to the professionals in the championship, the 152-player field is rounded out by an impressive list of amateur golfers from Bermuda, the United States, Canada and Europe, all of whom are vying for titles in the men’s, women’s and senior amateur divisions.

Haddrell and Phillips, both of Bermuda, are tied for the lead in the men’s amateur division at even par. American Pat Ayres and Bermudian Katrin Burnie are tied atop the women’s amateur division leaderboard.

LONGWOOD, Florida – Second-round play at the IOA Golf Classic was suspended for the remainder of the day due to heavy rain, lightning and subsequent unplayable course conditions.

The first wave in the morning started play before horns sounded at 12:18 p.m. to suspend play.  Players on the course never returned as play was called for the day at 3:00 p.m.

Players that started their second-round will resume Sunday at 10:00 a.m. local time.  The second wave will begin at 10:30 a.m. Sunday.

The third and final-round of the IOA Golf Classic will now take place Monday, March 31.

Samantha Richdale was the leading Canadian when played was called Saturday. The Kelowna, B.C. native was 2 under for the tournament thru 8 holes of her second round.

SAN ANTONIO – Steven Bowditch opened a three-stroke lead Saturday in the Texas Open, while Phil Mickelson withdrew after 10 holes because of a pulled muscle in his right side.

Bowditch, the 30-year-old Australian seeking his first PGA Tour title, shot a 4-under 68 to reach 12 under at TPC San Antonio. Matt Kuchar and Andrew Loupe were tied for second. Kuchar shot 65, and Loupe had a 70.

“I’ve won four or five times on between Australia and Web.com,” said Bowditch, who would get into the Masters with a victory. “I’ve got a little experience, but not a great deal, especially at this level. I’ve never slept on a lead, so we’ll see how we go.”

Mickelson withdrew after pulling the muscle teeing off on No. 1 – his 10th hole of the round. He hopes to play next week in the Houston Open, the last event before the Masters.

“I pulled a muscle on my downswing trying to hit it hard,” Mickelson said a statement. “It just killed and it wouldn’t subside for 10 or 12 seconds. I’m going back to San Diego (for) a couple of days and have a doctor look at it, but there’s really not much you can do for a pulled muscle. I hope I’ll be OK to play the Shell in Houston, but I just don’t know.”

Lefty was 1-over par in the round and 4 over overall when the three-time Masters champion was taken off the course in a cart. His caddie, Jim Mackay, said Mickelson felt a twinge on his tee shot on No. 1.

“It’s definitely not his back,” Mackay said. “It’s his right side. The thing he had been talking about is how good his back had been feeling here. He’ll definitely play Houston, if he can.”

It’s the second time this year Mickelson has withdrawn in the middle of a tournament. He pulled out at Torrey Pines after making the cut because of a back injury.

On Friday, Mickelson made the cut on the number, following an opening 77 with a 70.

Bowditch, ranked 339th in the world, chipped in at the first two holes, for birdie at No. 1 and an eagle at the par-5 second. He drove to chipping distance at the 338-yard fifth hole and made a 4-foot birdie putt.

“(The chip on the first hole) calmed my nerves a little bit,” Bowditch said. “It was as easy a chip as you’re going to have out here.”

He cooled after that when he missed the green at No. 9 and bogeyed, then strung together pars until he drove close to the at the 324-yard downwind 17th. He chipped inside a foot and tapped in for birdie and kept his two-stroke lead when Loupe matched the birdie.

Loupe closed with a bogey.

Kuchar, a six-time winner on the tour, had the best round of the week. He holed out the greenside bunker on No. 1.

“Still surprised to be at 7 under today,” Kuchar said. “It’s not a score I would have thought was out there with these sort of (windy) conditions.”

Pat Perez was fourth at 8 under after a 69.

Kevin Na, who had a 16 on the ninth hole three years ago, was 7 under after a 69.

Calgary’s Stephen Ames shot 68 Saturday, moving him into a tie for 14th at 3 under 213.

Brights Grove, Ont.’s Mike Weir was even par on the day. The 72 helped him climb 13 spots into a tie for 56th at 3 over 219.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Asia staged an improbable Ryder Cup-like comeback on the final day of the EurAsia Cup on Saturday, picking up seven of 10 points available in singles to level the score at 10-all and share the trophy with Europe.

Asia, trailing 7-3 going into the final day, briefly took the lead at 9 1/2-8 1/2 before Joost Luiten beat Koumei Oda 1-up to pull the Europeans level.

The final match between Asia’s Hideto Tanihara and Europe’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano then finished all square.

Tanihara sank an eight-foot putt to halve the 17th after Fernandez-Castano eagled the 16th to even the match.

On the 18th, Tanihara had a chance to give Asia the win but his birdie putt was a foot to the left. Fernandez-Castano then holed a three-footer to halve the hole, their match and the Cup.

“I’ve been in contention many times in tournaments and I never felt as nervous as I have today,” Fernandez-Castano said.

“It’s totally different when you play for a team, all of a sudden everything was down to my game. I’m pretty proud of the way I played the last few holes.”

It was a familiar scenario for Europe – both good and bad.

The Europeans came back from a 10-6 deficit in the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah, Illinois, to win by a point. But they also blew a 10-6 lead on the final day in 1999 at Brookline, outside Boston, to allow the Americans to win.

The Europeans had a strong team at Glenmarie Golf and Country Club in Kuala Lumpur despite missing some of their bigger names, such as Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy. They’ll likely help defend the Ryder Cup against the United States at Gleneagles, Scotland, from Sept. 26-28.

Europe, which led 5-0 after the opening four-ball competition Thursday and by four points after Friday’s foursomes, only needed 3 1/2 points Saturday to clinch the trophy.

But Team Asia won six of the singles matches and halved two others in its comeback.

Asia captain Thongchai Jaidee beat Graeme McDowell 3 and 2 in his match, joining Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Kim Hyung-sung, Gaganjeet Bhullar, Anirban Lahiri and Siddikur Rahman as winners for Asia.

The comeback against a quality team from outside the continent in an elite competition should give golf a further boost in the region, where the sport is rapidly growing in popularity.

“The team played fantastic … in the meeting, I told the boys to push to the limit, try everything they could and stay positive,” Thongchai said. “We have got a very good result in the end.”

Europe captain Miguel Angel Jimenez defeated Nicholas Fung 1 up to give his side one of its only two wins on the day. Luiten’s victory was the other.

Europe’s Jamie Donaldson was 4-up after nine holes against Prayad Marksaeng, but had to settle for a draw.

The 50-year-old Jimenez complimented the Asian side on their play.

“It was an amazing day of golf, Asia, Europe they both win, nobody loses,” he said. “It’s been very tough … the Asian team, they played very well with six wins today and that showed that golf is very, very healthy all over their players.

“My players, they have given me everything and I have all the respect for them.”

CARLSBAD, Calif. – Dori Carter might have gotten a bit ahead of herself late in the second round of the Kia Classic. She still left everyone else behind Friday.

After birdieing six of the first seven holes on the back nine, Carter bogeyed the final two holes for an 8-under 64. The round was her lowest in competition and broke the Aviara course record.

Winless on the LPGA Tour, the former University of Mississippi player had 11 birdies and three bogeys. At 10-under 134, she had a two-stroke lead over Stacy Lewis and Cristie Kerr.

Lewis shot 66, and Kerr had a 68.

Toronto’s Rebecca Lee-Bentham carded a 2-over 74 Friday. The former Team Canada member is tied for 37th at even-par 144. She was the lone Canadian to make the 36-hole cut.