CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland – Graeme Storm of England fired a hole-in-one in his third round 6-under 64 to lead the European Masters on Saturday.

Storm’s 16-under total of 194 was one stroke clear of Englishman Tommy Fleetwood, who shot 63 on the sunbathed, 6,848-yard Severiano Ballesteros course.

Using a 6-iron, Storm aced the 217-yard par-3 11th to win a hybrid sports car valued at $186,000.

Storm, who is 159th in the European Tour money list, currently does not own a car and earned a more modest prize for his previous hole-in-one in March at the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco.

“There is a big difference between a lamp and a car like that,” said the 36-year-old Storm, whose only career win was seven years ago.

Brooks Koepka of the United States trailed Storm by two after making double-bogey on the par-4 18th, his only dropped shots in a 66.

Another American, David Lipsky, shot 66 to be three strokes off the lead in fourth.

Ryder Cup rookie Jamie Donaldson of Wales was a further stroke back, losing the lead after triple- and double-bogeys on par-4s coming home.

“A couple of bad shots cost me really,” said Donaldson, noting that a four-shot deficit can be quickly made up in thin Swiss Alps air. “Definitely. I haven’t really had a really low (round) yet.”

Joining Donaldson on 12 under were overnight leader Richie Ramsay of Scotland and Tyrrell Hatton of England.

Ramsay, the 2012 champion, shot a level-par 70 after bogeying three of the first four holes, and Hatton had two eagle-3s in his 5-under 65.

Donaldson’s Ryder Cup teammates, Frenchman Victor Dubuisson and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, both shot 68s to sit six and 12 shots back, respectively.

Dubuisson is among four players on 10 under, including Italian Marco Crespi whose bogey-free 62 tied for lowest score of the day.

CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. – Billy Horschel needed less than a week to give himself a second chance. If he keeps playing this well, his next shot at closing out a tournament won’t be nearly as stressful as the last one.

Horschel made a 32-foot birdie putt Saturday to wrap up his bogey-free third round at 7-under 63 and take a three-shot lead over Ryan Palmer heading into the final 18 holes of the BMW Championship.

On Monday at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Horschel had a 6-iron in hand on the 18th fairway and a chance to win or force a playoff, but he chunked the shot, made bogey and settled for a disappointing second-place tie.

“It happened,” said Horschel, who stands at 13-under 197. “It’s not a big deal. Just a bad swing at the wrong time. You can’t dwell on things like that.”

Five days later, he gave himself a cushion at the third of the four FedEx Cup playoff events, rolling in a 22 footer for birdie on 14, then an 8-foot birdie on 15 to vault into the lead. He closed it out with the long one on 18 – the uphill, par-4 477-yard closing hole that is the third toughest on the course and has surrendered only 18 birdies all week.

Horschel had one of 14 rounds of 67 or better at mile-high Cherry Hills, where soaking rains and cool weather over the last two days have softened the course and chipped away at some of its defences. There were 15 67s or better through the first two days. The course played 1.7 shots easier Saturday than it did Thursday.

“The greens are so much more soft than the first day,” said Morgan Hoffman, who briefly flirted with 59 but had to settle for an 8-under 62. “You can really throw it at the flags and keep it there.”

Masters champion Bubba Watson shot 66 to draw into a third-place tie at 8 under with U.S. Open champion Martin Kaymer, who made seven birdies over the last 12 holes to shoot 64.

“Should have been eight,” said Kaymer, who three-putted from inside 20 feet on the par-5 17th and settled for par.

Wasn’t the worst display on the greens, though.

Rory McIlroy made a 60-footer on the fourth to get into a brief tie for the lead but gave all that back and more with a four-putt from inside of 5 feet on No. 12 – bringing gasps from the crowd. It was McIlory’s first triple-bogey or worse since the first hole of last year’s BMW Championship.

“I completely misread the first one,” he said. “Then, just hit a bad put the second, and then the third one, I was just going for a tap-in and just lost concentration.”

The world’s top-ranked player shot 2-over 72 and goes into Sunday nine shots off the lead.

Second-round leader Sergio Garcia also struggled. He lipped out a 4-foot par putt on No. 7 – the hole he eagled on Friday – and closed out his round with an approach shot that struck a fan in the grandstand. His 2-over 72 left him seven off the lead.

Playing in the same group with those two stars was Palmer, who shrugged it off and shot 3 under, closing with a 30-foot birdie on 18 to pull within three of Horschel.

“Rory, he’s No. 1 in the world, and Sergio has been up there for years,” Palmer said. “So, for me to come out and hang in there and play well, I’m taking the next step in my career, I think.”

Palmer came into the week at 37th in the FedEx Cup standings and a good finish will put him in the 30-man field for next week’s Tour Championship, where a $10 million bonus is at stake.

He had a share of the lead most of the day, until Horschel started going off during the last 90 minutes.

“I was watching (the scoreboard) and yelling at him from the fairway to stop, but it didn’t work,” Palmer said.

They’ll play together Sunday, in the final group along with Kaymer.

On the sideline Sunday will be Phil Mickelson, who withdrew after finishing the second round 14 shots off the lead, and Keegan Bradley, who made the difficult decision to withdraw because he didn’t feel right about a drop he made near the 18th green on Thursday.

“It’s eating me alive,” Bradley said.

The decision could be costly. Bradley came into the week ranked 28th, and depending on how Sunday goes, he could lose his spot in the top 30 and a chance at the $10 million.

Right now, Horschel looks like as good a bet as any to win it. He came into the week ranked 20th.

“There were a lot more positives from last week to take than just one bad swing on the last hole,” Horschel said. “So, I knew coming in that I was going to play well.”

Canada’s Graham DeLaet is tied for seventh at 5-under 205. The Weyburn, Sask. native carded a 69 Saturday and will need to climb a few spots Sunday in order to qualify for the TOUR Championship. He’s currently projected to finish the week 32nd on the FedEx Cup standings.

PERTH, Australia – Minjee Lee turned professional Sunday, a day after leading Australia to a comeback victory in Japan in the Women’s World Amateur Team Championship.

The 18-year-old Lee, No. 1 in the world amateur golf ranking and 82nd overall, made the announcement in a light-hearted video with Matthew Pavlich, captain of the Fremantle Australian Rules football team.

Lee will make her first appearance as a professional next week in the Evian Championship in France.

Born in Perth and a member of the Royal Fremantle Golf Club, Lee won the 2012 U.S. Junior Girls’, the 2013 and 2004 Australian Women’s Amateur titles and the 2014 Victorian Open.

She was low amateur at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in California in April in her first start in a major championship, and received the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the No. 1 women’s amateur this year.

Team Canada’s Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont. will jump from second to first in the amateur ranking. The 16-year-old won the individual title in Japan Saturday, beating second-place Lee by three strokes, and leading Canada to a second-place finish.

QUEBEC CITY – Defending champion Esteban Toledo shot a 6-under 66 on Saturday for a share of the second-round lead with Brad Faxon in the Champions Tour’s Quebec Championship.

The 51-year-old Toledo, the only Mexican winner in the history of the 50-and-over tour, matched Faxon at 10-under 134 at La Tempete in the first PGA Tour-sanctioned event in the area since 1956. Toledo won the then-Montreal Championship last year at La Vallee du Richelieu for his second Champions Tour victory.

“I went out there on the golf course today and enjoyed myself,” Toledo said. “That’s pretty much what I did. … I hit it great. Hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of greens, I putted well and it seems like when I putt well, I get a lot of confidence.”

Faxon, also a two-time senior winner, had a 67.

“It was a good solid round of golf today,” said Faxon, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour. “I laughed at myself because I started thinking about how my rounds are usually miss the fairway, miss the green, chip it up, make a par, and this was on the fairway, on the green, make a putt and it was a nice round.

“Then when I started thinking about that, I hit a bad shot on 16 and made a bogey and then three-putted 17. But the birdie on 18 was a great birdie to make finishing in the dark, in the cold.”

Loren Roberts was third at 8 under after a 69. Jay Haas, Scott Simpson, Wes Short Jr. and Duffy Waldorf were 7 under. Simpson and Short shot 68, Haas had a 69, and Waldorf a 71.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen, making his Champions Tour debut, was tied for seventh at 6 under after a 67. He turned 50 last week.

First-round leader Chip Beck followed his opening 65 with a 75 to drop into a tie for 23rd at 4 under.

Horschel, qui a réalisé un coup roulé de 32 pieds, a remis une carte de 63, soit sept coups sous la normale, et détient présentement trois coups d’avance sur Ryan Palmer, qui pointe au second échelon à -10.

Le meneur a notamment effectué des oiselets aux 14e et au 15e trous, avant de remettre ça au 18e.

Martin Kaymer et Bubba Watson, de leur côté, se partagent le troisième rang à -8, un coup devant Rickie Fowler et deux devant Sergio Garcia.

Jim Furyk, Jordan Spieth et le Canadien Graham DeLaet se situent quant à eux à égalité en septième position, devant Chesson Hadley, Morgan Hoffmann, J.B. Holmes, Rory McIlroy et Adam Scott.

Team Canada had history in their sights but it wasn’t meant to be as Australia, with a combined 131 from world no. 1 ranked Minjee Lee and Su Oh in the final round, came from seven strokes back to win the 2014 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship (WWATC) at 29-under-par 547 at Karuizawa 72 Golf East’s Iriyama Course.

Canada, which led on each of the first three days and was vying for its first Women’s World Amateur victory, finished second at 27-under 549 to capture the silver medal.

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont. (66-69-66-68–269) and Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont. (71-70-69-72–282) combined for a final round 4-under 140 but it was not enough to hold off the surging Aussies. Teammate Augusta James of Bath, Ont. (69-76-72-75—292) shot a non-counting final round 75 to round out the trio.

“We did our absolute best out there today and it was just a little bit short,” said team captain, Liz Hoffman. “I look at that leaderboard and I think about what we’ve done the last four days and I am so proud of our girls. They’ve been fantastic and so wonderful to work with.”

Australia, which won the Espirito Santo Trophy for the third time, took the lead through six holes of the final round as Lee, No. 1 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™, was 4 under through five holes on an eagle and two birdies and Oh was 3 under with three birdies. Lee, 18, finished with an eagle and five birdies for a 65 while Oh, who is No.6 in the WAGR™, tallied six birdies for a 66. Neither recorded a bogey in their respective final rounds.

The Australians broke the mark for a final-round comeback of three strokes, which was set by their countrymen in 2002 in Malaysia. Their 72-hole total of 547 was one stroke shy of Korea’s record-low in 2010 and their final-round 131 is second-best all-time.

With her tournament score of 19-under par, Henderson, 16, finished as the low individual at the championship. Ranked No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Rankings, Henderson finished three strokes ahead of reigning World No. 1 Minjee Lee of Australia and her tournament score of 269 for the championship breaks the Women’s World Amateur mark of 274 set by Lydia Ko in 2012.

“Australia had a great round today, I was really impressed,” said Henderson. “They have very skilled players, including two in the top 10 in the world rankings, which is unbelievable. It’s a little disappointing to finish second but overall we had a really great week and played really well as a team.”

Canada’s runner-up finish marks the fourth time the squad has finished in second place in the race for the Espirito Santo trophy (’04, ’78, ’66). With the win, Australia put an end to Korea’s bid to become the first team to win three consecutive World Amateur titles – Australia also won in 1978 and 2002.

The Republic of Korea finished third, one stroke back of Canada at 26-under par in Saturday’s final. Denmark finished fourth at 556, followed by Sweden and the USA tied for fifth at 557, Mexico in seventh at 560, England and host Japan tied for eighth at 562 and the Philippines in 10th at 563.

The Women’s World Amateur Team Championship is a biennial international amateur competition conducted by the International Golf Federation (IGF), which comprises 137 national governing bodies in 131 countries. The competition, which is being held for the 26th time, is rotated among three geographic zones: Asia-Pacific, Americas and Europe-Africa.

This year’s event is hosted by the Japan Golf Association. The teams play for the Espirito Santo Trophy. The IGF is the international federation for golf for the International Olympic Committee and will conduct the Olympic golf competition in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. In each round, the total of the two lowest scores from each team constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day (72-hole) total is the team’s score for the championship.

The 2016 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship will be played in Cancun, Mexico.

The men’s competition for the Eisenhower Trophy gets underway on Sept. 10. Canada will be represented by Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.), Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ont.) and Adam Svensson (Surrey, B.C.).

CANADIAN INDIVIDUAL SCORES

1. Brooke Henderson, Smiths Falls, Ont. (69-66-69-68)
T20. Brittany Marchand, Orangeville, Ont. (71-70-69-72)
T51. Augusta James, Bath, Ont. (69-76-72-75)

Click here for team results.

Click here for individual results.

BEON EOIN, NS – Syracuse, New York’s Daniel McCarthy shot a 6-under 66 on Friday at The Lakes Golf Club to take the 36-hole lead at the Cape Breton Celtic Classic presented by PC Financial.

McCarthy, a 29-year old returning to PGA Tour Canada this season for the first time since 2010, went bogey-free on a six-birdie day and led by one over Moscow, Idaho’s Chris Williams through two rounds in Cape Breton.

“It’s nice to see some putts finally going in. I’ve been hitting it pretty well this year, but I’ve struggled a little bit with the putter,” said McCarthy, who sits 44^th on the Order of Merit with four top-25s on the season. “I’ve driven it really well and kept it in play. I’ve hit a lot of nice iron shots and rolled in a few putts too, and it’s been two good finishes to the rounds for sure.”

With time ticking down in the 2014 season, McCarthy said he’s still got his mind on the rewards of finishing in the top-20, top-10 and top-5 on the Order of Merit at season’s end.

“Well, I’m 44^th coming into the week. You’re still trying to get top-10 or top-5, so I know what I need to do,” said McCarthy. “I’m not changing anything, I’m just trying to hit good shots. Whether the putts go in is whether you’re going to win. Maybe it’s freeing me up a little bit knowing that I have top 60 locked up, so I might as well just go out and give it everything I’ve got.”

One shot behind McCarthy was Williams, who carded his second straight 67 to post 10-under, one stroke further ahead of Order of Merit No. 4 Matt Harmon, Big Break Greenbrier champion Mark Silvers and Forces & Families Open champion Greg Machtaler, who shot a 10-under 62 to reach 9-under par.

After posting top five finishes in each of his last two starts, Michael Gligic kept the strong play going on Friday, chipping in for birdie on his final hole of the day for a 6-under 66 and 8-under total, good for a tie for sixth heading into the weekend.

“I played so well last week, you could be negative because I didn’t win, but I just stayed positive,” said Gligic, who lost in a four-hole playoff to Nate McCoy at The Wildfire Invitational presented by PC Financial. “I’ve been playing too well to get down on myself and wanted to keep it going into this week. So far I’ve been playing half decent, so hopefully I can keep it going this weekend and give myself a chance.”

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Derek Fathauer shot his second straight 6-under 66 on Friday to take the second-round lead in the Chiquita Classic, the second of four events in the Web.com Tour Finals.

Fathauer, 12th on the Web.com Tour’s regular-season money list to secure a 2014-15 PGA Tour card, rebounded from a bogey with seven birdies in an eight-hole stretch from No. 17 to No. 6 at River Run.

“I just kind of shook it off and went on a little run from there,” Fathauer said. “I’m just trying to go out there and play every hole the way I drew it up in the practice round. I know there are birdies out there.”

The top 25 players on the Web.com money list are competing against each other for PGA Tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting in their totals and the final leader getting a spot in The Players Championship. The other players – Nos. 26-75 from the Web.com Tour money list and Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings – are fighting for another 25 cards based on their earnings in the four tournaments.

Greg Chalmers, Brett Stegmaier and Scott Pinckney were tied for second at 10 under. Chalmers shot 65, Stegmaier 66, and Pinckney 68. Chalmers, from Australia, was 132nd in the FedEx Cup.

“I push a little harder on the weekend trying to make things happen,” Chalmers said. “I need to control that tomorrow.”

Pinckney was 39th on the Web.com money list, and Stegmaier 41st.

“My ball-striking has been great,” Pinckney said. “I’ve been giving myself opportunities and capitalizing by making a couple of good putts.”

Canada’s Adam Hadwin, the first-round leader after a course-record 63, had a 72 to drop into a tie for fifth at 9 under.

QUEBEC CITY – Chip Beck eagled his final hole for a 7-under 65 and a one-stroke lead Friday after the first round of the Champions Tour’s Quebec Championship.

The 57-year-old Beck, winless on the 50-and-over tour, hit his 3-wood approach from 256 yards to a foot to set up the eagle on the par-5 ninth hole.

“It’s time, isn’t it? I’m ready,” Beck said about winning on the tour. “I’m 58 next week and you know what, I’m just going to play. I’m going to give it all I’ve got and enjoy whatever happens.”

On the par-5 18th, Beck hit a 3-wood second shot to 10 feet and two-putted for birdie.

“Thank goodness the course dried out today and the extra roll allowed me to reach both of those par 5s in two,” Beck said. “I managed to hit two of the best 3-wood shots of my life.”

The four-time PGA Tour winner also had six birdies and a bogey at La Tempete in the first PGA Tour-sanctioned event in the area since the 1956 Labatt Open at Royal Quebec.

“It’s a fun golf course with all the par 5s,” Beck said. “The course is playing great, the greens were really good and it’s amazing the transformation overnight with the smoothness of the greens and the dryness of the golf course, so the wind really helped us.”

Duffy Waldorf and Craig Thomas were tied for second. Thomas, a club professional at Metropolis in White Plains, New York, went through two stages of qualifying to get into the field.

“I’m extremely, extremely fortunate at the club that I work at,” Thomas said. “The members are very, very supportive and excited about both myself and my assistant, Colin Amaral, in our playing ability and our opportunities and the fact that we go out and represent the club. It couldn’t be a better situation for somebody like me. Without them I definitely couldn’t do it.”

Waldorf birdied four of the five par 5s.

“It was a good solid round,” Waldorf said. “I drove the ball really well, which helped. You kind of feel like you have to play the par 5s well out here and the four that I birdied I birdied fairly easily.”

Brad Faxon, Loren Roberts and P.H. Horgan III followed at 67. Esteban Toledo, the winner last year in the then-Montreal Championship at La Vallee du Richelieu, opened with a 68.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen had a 71 in his first Champions Tour round. He turned 50 last week.

CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE, Colo. – Sergio Garcia hit great shots that led to eagle, birdie and par Friday. They carried him to a 6-under 64, giving him a one-shot lead going into the weekend at the BMW Championship on ever-changing Cherry Hills.

Garcia holed out from a greenside bunker for birdie on the second hole. He holed a lob wedge for eagle on the short, par-4 seventh hole. And after hitting into the water going for the green on the par-5 17th hole, he escaped with par by getting up-and-down with a wedge to a foot.

He needed them all.

Ryan Palmer also made eagle with a short wedge on the seventh hole, and he finished birdie-birdie for a 64 to end up a shot behind.

Rory McIlroy made three straight birdies late in his round and left his last putt on the edge of the cup. The late surge gave the world’s No. 1 player another 67 and put him two shots behind. Billy Horschel, a runner-up last week at the TPC Boston, had a 66 and was tied with McIlroy.

Garcia was at 8-under 132.

Barring a charge that would make even Arnold Palmer proud, Phil Mickelson is playing his last PGA Tour event of the season. He twice hit into the water – making a triple bogey on the par-3 12th and a bogey on the 17th – and shot a 76. Mickelson, who needs to finish about fourth to qualify for the Tour Championship, was 14 shots behind and in a tie for 63rd in the 68-man field.

Jason Day withdrew on the ninth hole with a back injury and said he would try to be ready for the Tour Championship.

The only peculiar part of Garcia’s day was his left ear. He was on the sixth green when he felt a series of beeps, followed by a “pop” that made him feel uncomfortable for about the next hour before it finally went away. He’s not sure what it was. He’s not sure there’s a word for it in Spanish.

“It’s happened before, but usually I kind of blow it and it gets back,” Garcia said. “But for some reason, it just didn’t feel quite the same. And it still doesn’t, but it’s definitely better. It shouldn’t be too big of a deal.”

But it clearly didn’t affect his golf.

“Obviously, it helped, because then I made 2 on the next hole,” he said with a laugh.

The turnaround came at the end of his round. He went for the green in two on the 17th and came up well short. With the tough 18th ahead of him, it looked as though he would lose his lead and perhaps even more ground. But he hit wedge to tap-in range for his par, and then made one only six birdies on the closing hole at Cherry Hills.

“It’s only Friday, so we still have two days to go,” he said. “But it definitely helped my frame of mind going into the 18th tee, which today was playing quite hard. So it was nice to be able to get that up-and-down and then play 18 really well.”

Masters champion Bubba Watson had no trouble with the water on the 17th. He has taken on the cross bunkers both days with his driver, leaving him only an 8-iron Thursday and a 9-iron Friday. He made eagle the second time, shot 66 and was in the group at 4-under 136 that included Graham DeLaet of Canada and Hideki Matsuyama, who came into the week at No. 30 in the FedEx Cup.

The top 30 advance to the Tour Championship for a shot at the $10 million bonus.

Palmer has been showing up on leaderboards over the last month – share of the first-round lead at the PGA Championship and an opening 63 last week in Boston. He thought the greens might be softer because of the rain, and he was right. Palmer saw a few approach shots on No. 1 and told his caddie the course would be there for the taking.

He waited until the end to grab it with four birdies in his last five holes.

“It was a great way to finish,” he said. “I was glad I was one of the ones that shot low.”

McIlroy also made a late surge after starting with one birdie, one bogey and 12 pars. He began to turn it around with a 30-foot birdie putt on the 15th, a 35-foot birdie putt on the 16th and a long two-putt birdie at the 17th.

He shot the same score and felt entirely different – finishing with two late bogeys one day, three late birdies the next.

“I feel much better coming off the golf course because I birdied three of the last four holes,” McIlroy said. “I sort of struggled to get anything going today. It was a little cooler, so the ball wasn’t going quite as far, a little bit of wind … even though the course was softer, it still played pretty tough.”