Posts for 'Players' Category

About the only thing fun for Jason Day was being atop the leaderboard in the Deutsche Bank Championship. One day after he opened with a 63 in conditions so calm he might as well have been playing indoors, Day found out quickly what he was up against Saturday in tree-shaking wind on the TPC at Boston.

He hit a tee shot down the middle and found it in the right rough. He aimed his 9-iron 10 yards left of his target and saw it fly over the green. Day got away with it by chipping in for birdie on his way to a 4-under 67 to share the lead with Brandt Snedeker, the second straight week the 22-year-old Australian has been a 36-hole leader in the FedEx Cup playoffs. "It was a little tougher out there today," Day said. "It wasn't as fun as yesterday, I'll tell you that much."

Snedeker went from the rain showers of Hurricane Earl to breezy conditions in his second round and had a 7-under 64. The wind got stronger throughout the afternoon for Day, who birdied his last two holes to catch Snedeker. For all the fretting over weather giving half the field a good break, it turned out to be a push. Of the top 18 on the leaderboard, it was evenly split with players who had to cope with rain and who got the worst of the wind.

"I wasn't liking my odds in the draw when I teed of yesterday," Snedeker said. "That being said, I think it's going to end up working out exactly the same. I think these guys in the afternoon are going to have the tough conditions we had yesterday afternoon."

Zach Johnson and Jason Day beat up on the course and beat the weather at the Deutsche Bank Championship. For Tiger Woods, it was the other way around. Johnson strengthened his Ryder Cup case Friday by rolling in putts from everywhere in easy scoring conditions ahead of Hurricane Earl, giving him an 8-under 63 and a share of the lead with Day.

Woods had two bogeys in four holes when the first patch of rain arrived, and it didn't get much better. He had two more bogeys and was in last place until he fought back for a 72, leaving him three shots below the projected cut. If he doesn't make the cut Saturday, Woods will not advance to defend his title next week outside Chicago.

"I'm going to have to shoot something good tomorrow, hopefully move up a little bit," Woods said. "Obviously, get off to a better start than I did today."

Scoring was so ideal that Johnson and Day had a 63 and still only had a one-shot lead — over eight players. That group included Ryder Cup hopeful Ryan Palmer, Rory McIlroy and Geoff Ogilvy, who had the best score of anyone in the afternoon.

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A chart of FedEx Cup standings at the Deutsche Bank Championship showed Tiger Woods at the top, not unusual considering he was won the cup and its $10 million prize every year he has played. This chart was different.

It listed the 10 players who are on the bubble at the TPC Boston, starting with Woods at No. 65 through Josh Teater at No. 75. Only the top 70 after this week will advance to the third round of the playoffs at the BMW Championship, where Woods is defending champion. Woods has failed to defend a title when the tournament has changed dates or when he was injured. Never has he not gone back to a tournament as the defending champion because he was not eligible.

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No. 7 Not So Lucky For John Elway On This Day:  John Elway  pulled an Elway on the Elway hole. "Seven on 7," the Hall of Famer said sadly after carding an even-par 72 Wednesday in his first senior golf tournament since turning 50 in June. Elway's blunder came about when he played the wrong ball and ended up with a triple bogey on the par-4 seventh hole at the Green Valley Ranch Golf Club, site of the HealthOne Colorado Senior Open.

Elway hit a TaylorMade Penta 2 ball from the rough only to realize when he reached it again on the fairway that it wasn't his. So, he penalized himself two strokes. "It was the same exact ball and it was buried. I could barely see the ball and it was a TaylorMade 2, which is what I was hitting," Elway said. "I didn't mark the ball. ... I just figured it was the same lie, same everything, so I didn't check it for sure. I was happy to find it, actually.

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Tiger Woods - Potential Picks Not Making Pavin's Job Easier: Too bad Ryder Cup eligibility is based on passports instead of property taxes. There still might be hope for Paul Casey, who has been living in Arizona for most of his adult life. Ditto for Justin Rose, who makes his home in Florida.

Alas, those English-born stars were left off the European team when Colin Montgomerie had five worthy candidates as captain's picks and could only take three. Montgomerie famously referred to his dilemma as an "embarrassment of riches."

For U.S. captain Corey Pavin, there's more emphasis on "embarrassment" than "riches" at the moment.

Some people thought Pavin was lucky he didn't have to announce his picks the day after the PGA Championship, instead having three additional tournaments to allow players to state their case. It isn't getting much clearer.

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Matt Kuchar Win The Barclays Golf Tournament: Matt Kuchar  stopped practicing for a playoff and walked over to the 18th green to watch with thousands of other spectators, planning to congratulate Martin Laird on the victory. A short time later, the celebration was for Kuchar. His fortunes took quite a turn Sunday at The Barclays.

So did his golf ball. Kuchar gave the FedEx Cup playoffs a memorable start with a 7-iron out of the rough that sent his ball toward the back of the green, where it caught enough of the slope to turn sharply to the left and roll to within 30 inches of the hole for a birdie.

"The shot came out beautifully," he said. "I ran it up to that back right bank and saw the crowd just all of a sudden ... like a wave of people standing and cheering. I knew it was getting good. That was an exciting way to cap off this tournament."

Five shots behind to start the final round, Kuchar closed with a 5-under 66 and got into a playoff when Laird three-putted for bogey from just inside 25 feet on the final hole.

The timing could not have been better for Kuchar. He had nine top 10s this year to earn a spot on his first Ryder Cup team, but didn't have a trophy to show for his solid play. The victory put him atop the FedEx Cup standings, giving him a good shot at the $10 million prize. And the third victory of his career likely will move him to a career-best No. 10 in the world ranking.

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Matt Kuchar Win The Barclays Golf Tournament: Matt Kuchar  stopped practicing for a playoff and walked over to the 18th green to watch with thousands of other spectators, planning to congratulate Martin Laird on the victory. A short time later, the celebration was for Kuchar. His fortunes took quite a turn Sunday at The Barclays.

So did his golf ball. Kuchar gave the FedEx Cup playoffs a memorable start with a 7-iron out of the rough that sent his ball toward the back of the green, where it caught enough of the slope to turn sharply to the left and roll to within 30 inches of the hole for a birdie.

"The shot came out beautifully," he said. "I ran it up to that back right bank and saw the crowd just all of a sudden ... like a wave of people standing and cheering. I knew it was getting good. That was an exciting way to cap off this tournament."

Five shots behind to start the final round, Kuchar closed with a 5-under 66 and got into a playoff when Laird three-putted for bogey from just inside 25 feet on the final hole.

The timing could not have been better for Kuchar. He had nine top 10s this year to earn a spot on his first Ryder Cup team, but didn't have a trophy to show for his solid play. The victory put him atop the FedEx Cup standings, giving him a good shot at the $10 million prize. And the third victory of his career likely will move him to a career-best No. 10 in the world ranking.

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Michelle Wie's - Lead At Canadian Women's Open: Michelle Wie's second round didn't have the wow factor of a hole-in-one, but a 3-under 69 on Friday was enough to keep her the American atop the leaderboard late in the second round of the Canadian Women's Open.

The Hawaii native posted a two-round total of 10-under 134, three strokes ahead of Jiyai Shin of South Korea, who had a second-round 67.

Morgan Pressel had a 66 at the St. Charles Country Club to move into a tie at 138 with defending champion Suzann Pettersen of Norway.

Sarah Jane Smith of Australia also had a 66 and was in a group at 3 under in the tournament with a $2.25 million purse.

Wie, 20, had her ace on the par-3 11th during her first-round 65, a course record for a women's competition.

"I tried. Didn't work out," Wie said with a smile of not repeating the ace. "Compared to (Thursday), nothing was that dramatic.

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Japan's Miyazato Leads at LPGA Safeway Classic: Japan's Ai Miyazato fired a six-under 66 for the first-round lead at the LPGA Safeway Classic at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club. Miyazato had a one-stroke lead on Taiwan's Teresa Lu and Jee Young Lee of South Korea. Miyazato is in a five-way tussle for the world's top ranking with American Cristie Kerr, Jiyai Shin of South Korea, Suzann Pettersen of Norway and Yani Tseng of Taiwan.

Since the retirement of Lorena Ochoa earlier this year, Miyazato, Kerr and Shin have traded the top ranking six times in the past three months. "Even though it was just for two weeks, I was so very happy," Miyazato said about being number one. "I was happy because I experienced something that I never really experienced before, and so it will just be really good for my future as my career goes on."

Miyazato has won four times on tour this season. Tseng shot a three-over 75 at the Safeway. South Korea's Chella Choi, Taiwan's Amy Hung, Japan's Momoko Ueda and American Brittany Lincicome were two strokes off the lead with four-under 68s. Veteran Juli Inkster joined a large group at three under. M.J. Hur is the defending champion of the tournament. Hur shot a 74 on Friday on the 6,546-yard Ghost Creek Course. It is the tournament's second year on the rural course after 19 years at Columbia Edgewater County Club. The top-ranked Kerr shot a 70. Michelle Wie was at even par going into Saturday's second round.

Woods Commits To First FedEx Cup Playoff Event: Tiger Woods is playing the first FedEx Cup playoff event with hopes that it's not his last. Woods on Thursday officially entered The Barclays, which starts Aug. 26. It's the first of four playoff events that conclude with the Tour Championship and a $10 million prize to the winner of the yearlong FedEx Cup competition.

Woods is No. 108 in the standings, and he is likely to go further down the list depending on what happens this week at the Wyndham Championship. Only the top 125 players are eligible for The Barclays, which will be played at Ridgewood Country Club. Woods did not play Ridgewood the last time the tournament was held there in 2008. He missed the FedEx Cup playoffs that year while recovering from knee surgery, the only time he did not claim the $10 million prize since the series began in 2007.

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