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.

AKRON, Ohio – The PGA Tour is refuting a report that Dustin Johnson has been suspended.

Johnson said in a statement Thursday he was taking a leave of absence to seek professional help for “personal challenges” that brought an end to his season. Johnson will miss the PGA Championship, the FedEx Cup playoffs and the Ryder Cup.

Golf.com reported Friday that the tour had suspended Johnson for six months for using cocaine and failing a drug test. The website cited a source it did not identify.

The PGA Tour has a policy of not commenting on disciplinary actions. But it issued a statement Friday afternoon to clarify that Johnson has taken a leave of absence “and is not under a suspension from the PGA Tour.”

Niagara Falls, Ont. – After 72 holes of play that consisted of multiple course records, low scores, and weather delays, 18-year-old Austin James of Bath, Ont. claimed the 2014 Canadian Junior Boys Championship at Legends on the Niagara’s Battlefield Course. 

James gained momentum in Wednesday’s second round, which continued into Thursday due to a weather delay, when he matched the course record with an 8-under-par 64. He continued his strong play in Thursday afternoon’s third round, which was suspended due to darkness when James was 2-under through nine holes.

“I tried not to let [the suspensions] affect anything and just kept playing the way I was playing,” said James after Friday’s awards ceremony. “It was a good test to see if I could do it mentally and I’m happy I did.”

It was evident that James did not let the week’s suspensions faze him. He finished the third round with a score of 4-under-par 68, and began his fourth round just a few hours later. His final round even-par 72 was highlighted by an eagle on the par-5 sixth hole and led James to finish with a score of 15-under-par 273 for the championship. 

James’ victory comes just one week after his older sister, Team Canada member Augusta James, claimed the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship. Their simultaneous victories make them the only siblings to have won Canadian national championship titles in the same year.

“I will definitely remember this moment for a while, I’m really blessed to have her as a sister. She’s a really good golfer, so it’s great to try and compare myself to her.” James said.  “Obviously her win last week was incredible, winning by six at such a big event with such strong competition. I really have her to thank for this week, it kind of made me believe that it was possible, and that I could win something like this.”

Following James by four strokes to finish in second was Team Canada Development Squad member Tony Gil, 16, of Vaughan, Ont. Gil’s final combined score of 11-under-par 277 crowned him the Juvenile Boys Champion. He also broke the course record of 8-under-par 64, originally set by Patrick Murphy and matched by James earlier this week, with a 9-under-63 in the third round. Murphy, 17, of Crossfield, Alta. finished in third at 10-under-278 for the championship. 

Final results and a full field list are available here.

BLAINE, Minn. – Monday qualifier Marco Dawson shot a 9-under 63 on Friday to take the lead in the Champions Tour’s 3M Championship, leaving Bernhard Langer a stroke back five days after the German star’s record-breaking victory in the Senior British Open.

Dawson, playing the back nine first at TPC Twin Cities, birdied three of his first four holes and chipped in for eagle on No. 18. After a birdie on the par-5 third hole, he birdied three of his final four holes.

Langer, the two-time 3M champion who won by a tour-record 13 strokes Sunday at Royal Porthcawl, was tied for second with Jeff Maggert, Rocco Mediate and Vijay Singh. Langer holed out from the fairway for an eagle on the par-4 14th and added birdies on Nos. 16 and 18.

Kenny Perry opened with a 65, and Paul Goydos had a 67 in his debut on the 50-and-over tour.

Rob Spittle is the leading Canadian, carding 68 in the opening round. Jim Rutledge scored 72 to tie for 57th heading into the weekend.

Thornhill, Ont. (Golf Canada) – Grace St-Germain carded four consecutive under-par rounds to claim the 2014 Canadian Junior Girls Championship at Thornhill Golf and Country Club. 

The 15-year-old showed poise over the final 18 holes, withstanding Team Canada Development Squad member Valérie Tanguay by firing a final round 1-under 71. The victory is the Ottawa native’s first national championship and comes on the heels of wins at the Quebec Women’s Amateur and Ontario Junior Girls Match-Play.

“It feels great, it’s a great accomplishment and it’s an honour to have my name on that trophy,” St-Germain said following her round.

St-Germain finished the championship as the only player under-par at 6-under 282 to claim both the Junior Girls and Juvenile division titles. Over 72 holes she carded 18 birdies to finish seven strokes ahead of Tanguay after rounds of 70-70-71-71. 

“This morning on the putting green, Reggie [GAO’s coach] just told me to just breathe and smile and you’ll be okay, so I just tried to breathe and smile,” she said about overcoming her final round nerves.

With St-Germain’s win she also earns an exemption into the 2015 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship and all three Canadian Women’s Tour stops next season. 

Tanguay of St-Hyacinthe, Que., battled with St-Germain on the opening nine, trading the lead back and forth before stumbling on the closing stretch. The 18-year-old struggled on the back-nine posting a 4-over 40 to finish in solo second at 1-over 289 after a final round 5-over 77.

Thornhill’s Selena Costabile claimed solo third after a 3-over 75 to finish the championship at 3-over 291. Costabile also finished in second place in the Juvenile division, while Development Squad member Naomi Ko of Victoria carded a 2-under 70 to finish in fourth overall at 4-over 292.

Courtney Tolton of Mitchell, Ont. rounded out the top-5 after a final round 1-under 71 to finish at 6-over for the championship.

AKRON, Ohio  – Sergio Garcia doesn’t know anything about being in a zone. He had no trouble identifying the best round of his career.

Garcia one-putted the final 11 holes and made birdies on his last seven holes Friday in the Bridgestone Invitational to tie the course record at Firestone with a 9-under 61 and take a three-shot lead into the weekend.

He had a birdie putt on every hole on the back nine, missing only a 15-footer from the fringe at No. 11. Garcia shot 27 on the back nine, a course record.

“Just one of those moments that you love and you enjoy, and you wish there were no end,” he said.

It matched the tournament record held by Tiger Woods, who shot 61 in 2000 and 2013, and Jose Maria Olazabal, who shot his 61 in 1990. Woods went on to win by 11 shots in 2000 and seven shots last year. Olazabal won by 12 in the World Series of Golf.

Garcia still has work to do.

He was at 11-under 129, three shots clear of Justin Rose, who had a 67. British Open champion Rory McIlroy birdied his last two holes for a 64 and joined Marc Leishman of Australia (67) four shots out of the lead.

McIlroy played in the group behind Garcia, and could hear what was going on if he couldn’t see it.

“Every time I looked, he was putting a ball in the hole and the crowd was cheering,” McIlroy said. “I knew that he was making a few birdies.”

Garcia was five shots out of the lead when he had to scramble to save pars on back-to-back holes to close out the front nine on what seemed to be an ordinary round. Two good swings on the 10th hole led to a 20-foot birdie putt. He hit 8-iron to 2 feet on No. 12 and 3 feet on No. 13 for the easiest birdies he had all day, and those turned out to be the start of his big run.

The Spaniard finished in style, making birdie putts of 15, 25 and 20 feet on his last three holes.

It reminded Garcia of the Travelers Championships earlier this summer, when Kevin Streelman closed with seven straight birdies to beat Garcia and K.J. Choi by one shot.

“When I made the one on 17 I thought, `This kind of looks familiar from what happened not too long ago,'” Garcia said. “Obviously, Sunday would be even nicer. But I’ll take what I can get.”

His previous best score was a 62 on three other occasions – as a 19-year-old at the Scottish Open and Byron Nelson Classic in 1999, and at Mount Juliet in 2002 at the American Express Championship.

Woods also shot his 61s at Firestone in the second round. He could have used something remotely close to that to stay in range of Garcia. Instead, Woods hit only four fairways off the tee and couldn’t seem to make anything on the green. It added to a 71, leaving him 10 shots behind.

“I didn’t hit the ball well. I didn’t putt well. I didn’t do anything well,” Woods said. “The only thing I did well was I fought hard. Grinded hard. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a very good day.”

Starting times for the third round were moved up to Saturday morning, with threesomes off both tees, because of a forecast for storms. That figures to only keep Firestone soft, allowing players to attack the pins provided they’re in the short grass.

Rose missed only two greens in posting a 67 as his momentum builds toward the final major of the year next week at the PGA Championship. He wouldn’t mind adding a WGC title this week. Either way, there is a long stretch of big tournaments, and Rose is headed in the right direction. He won back-to-back starts at Congressional and Royal Aberdeen before stalling slightly at the British Open.

“I’m feeling good about peaking at this time of the year,” Rose said. “Every week is big. You could argue a major championship in the middle of it all is the one you’d really love to peak for next week. But at the same time, there’s not a bad golf tournament now for about two months. Looking forward to the whole stretch.”

He didn’t realize when he finished that Rose would have three shots to make up on Garcia starting out the third round.

It didn’t come entirely out of the blue for Garcia. Just two weeks ago, he challenged McIlroy briefly at Royal Liverpool until tying for second in the British Open. But this was something special, and Garcia could sense it.

“It feels great to be able to … equal the course record on a course like this. Even playing soft, it’s not that easy a course,” Garcia said. “You have to drive the ball very, very well. You have to put the ball on the greens on the right spots because you can get some really, really fast putts.

“Being in a group with Tiger and Jose Maria, it feels really good.”

Canada’s Graham DeLaet is tied for 9th after shooting 69 in the second round, only days after claiming low Canadian honours at the 2014 RBC Canadian Open.

RENO, Nev. – Nick Watney made nine birdies Thursday in a bogey-free round in the Barracuda Championship to take a two-point lead in the modified Stableford event.

Watney earned 18 points at Montreux Golf and Country Club. Players receive 8 points for double eagle, 5 for eagle, 2 for birdie, 0 for par, minus-1 for bogey and minus-3 for double bogey or worse.

“I’m very pleased with the way I played today,” said Watney, from Fresno, California. “This is pretty close to home. So it’s nice to see a lot of friends and family. I’m enjoying myself and hope it continues like this.”

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.

“You definitely don’t want to miss tournaments and not qualify for tournaments,” said Watney, who hasn’t had a top-10 finish since finishing second in the 2013 BMW Championship. “So it’s definitely a factor. But if you tee off thinking about that, you probably won’t play as well as you should.”

Geoff Ogilvy and Tim Wilkinson were tied for second.

Ogilvy, the Australian who won the 2006 U.S. Open, had eight birdies in his bogey-free round. Wilkinson, from New Zealand, had nine birdies and two bogeys.

“It was there for the taking,” said Ogilvy, 151st in the FedEx Cup standings. “I birdied the holes I was supposed to.”

Chad Campbell and Scotland’s Martin Laird were fourth at 13 points, and 2009 winner John Rollins was another point back along with Kevin Chappell, John Huh and Wes Roach.

Watney closed his afternoon round with a birdie on the par-5 18th. He also birdied Nos. 2, 4, 8-10 and 13-15.

“It seems to be pretty calm in the mornings around here and then the wind kicks up,” Watney said. “It’s just another factor, combined with the elevation and the uphills and downhills. Definitely gets your attention. We were very happy to get the round in with no rain because if we had to come back tomorrow and play extra holes, this is one of the toughest walks we have. So it’s nice to get it in and definitely sleep well tonight.”

Ogilvy, making his first appearance in the event since 2002, won the last of his seven PGA Tour titles in 2010. He has only two top-25 finishes this season and has missed 11 cuts in 20 events.

“I played well,” said Ogilvy, coming off a 34th-place tie last week in Montreal in the RBC Canadian Open. “Kind of weird. Was a bit 50-50 on actually coming here. Even after last week, I was kind of just frustrated and not making enough birdies really. I thought, `Well, I’m going to come and make 18 pars and not score enough points.'”

Wilkinson, winless on the PGA Tour, is 108th in the FedEx Cup standings. He birdied the final five holes on the back nine.

“I enjoy it out there,” Wilkinson said. “Good scenery.”

Gary Woodland, the winner last year, is playing in the World Golf Championship event in Ohio.

Canada’s Mike Weir has 4 points, while Brad Fritsch has 2.