FEDC9CB0D4B5: 2014

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Jutanugarn leads Lotte Championship by one stroke over Seo and Pettersen

Ariya Jutanugarn at the LPGA Lotte Championship

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Ariya Jutanugarn leads the LPGA Lotte Championship after playing the front nine at Ko Olina in 6-under 30.

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Associated Press

KAPOLEI, Hawaii -- Thai teen Ariya Jutanugarn shot an 8-under 64 on Wednesday at Ko Olina to take a one-stroke lead over Suzann Pettersen and Hee Kyung Seo after the first round of the LPGA Lotte Championship.

The 17-year-old Jutanugarn played the front nine in 6-under 30 in her afternoon round, dropped a stroke on the par-4 10th with her lone bogey, then made a 20-foot eagle putt on the par-5 14th and birdied the par-4 15th. She matched the tournament record in second-year event after only getting into the field Sunday when she won a qualifier.

"I have very good front nine, but I just wanted to make more birdies," Jutanugarn said. "My record is 8 under and I want it to be lower. When I had bogey on 10, I thought I wasn't really confident in my putting. So, when I had eagle, I was more confident."

Jutanugarn was in position to win the Honda LPGA Thailand in February, only to collapse on the final hole to hand Inbee Park the title. Jutanugarn closed with a triple bogey to blow a two-stroke lead, missing out on a playoff when she lipped out a 3-foot putt. She rebounded three weeks ago in Morocco, winning the Ladies European Tour's Lalla Meryem Cup for her first professional title.

"I was very confident today," she said.

Pettersen had nine birdies and two bogeys in her morning round. The Norwegian is a 10-time winner on the LPGA Tour and won an LET event earlier this year in China.

"I went out today and tried to be really aggressive," said Pettersen, coming off a third-place tie two weeks in the Kraft Nabisco Championship. "My dad was so disappointed after the Kraft that I left all the putts short. He's like, `You got to hit the ball past the hole to make putts.'"

Pettersen played in a pair of unreleased Nike shoes that she's been testing back home. She got the green light to wear them this week.

"It's a female version of Tiger Woods' shoes," Pettersen said. "I must say I feel the greens a lot better because the foot is sitting a lot better in the shoe."

Seo, the 2010 Kia Classic winner, had a bogey-free round in the afternoon.

Hyo Joo Kim, the 17-year-old South Korean player who played in a group with Jutanugarn and 15-year-old New Zealand amateur Lydia Ko, matched Danielle Kang with a 66.

Ko had a 71. She won the Canadian Open in August to become the youngest LPGA Tour winner at 15 years, 4 months, 2 days. The South Korea-born Ko has two other pro victories, the New South Wales Open last year and New Zealand Women's Open this year, and won the U.S. Women's Amateur last season.

"It was very fun because everybody is young," Jutanugarn said. "We're friends. I've played with them before."

Second-ranked Stacy Lewis, the winner of consecutive events this year in Singapore and Phoenix, was three strokes back at 67 along with defending champion Ai Miyazato, Beatriz Recari, So Yeon Ryu, Jane Park, Rebecca Lee-Bentram, Jane Rah and Gerina Piller.

Lewis missed the cut last year, the last time she has failed to advance to weekend play.

"I learned a lot from this tournament last year," Lewis said. "I think you learn more from failures than you do from success."

Recari, playing the back nine first in a group with Pettersen and Angela Stanford, Recari birdied four of the first six holes.

"We teed off at 7:50 and it was already blowing pretty hard, especially on the back nine," the Spaniard said. "Those holes are really open to the ocean. So, I think it was a good challenge out there.

She enjoyed playing alongside Pettersen.

"It's always great to play with her because she's so competitive," Recari said. "It got to the point where we were feeding off each other because we were making birdie, birdie. We were just hitting really good shots into the pin and making some putts."

Recari won the Kia Classic last month for her second LPGA Tour victory.

"The thing is, when you win, you want to keep winning," Recari said. "I didn't feel like I just wanted to sit back and relax and just kind of cruise. Obviously, you want to put yourself in that position again and, hopefully, get more trophies."

Lee-Bentham opened with nine straight pars, then birdied five of the next seven holes in her bogey-free round.

"I just told myself to be patient," Lee-Bentham said. "Putts weren't going in on the front nine, but I was making pars. I knew if I kept making pars the birdies would come."

Jutanugarn's older sister, Moriya, had a 69.

Top-ranked Inbee Park, the Kraft Nabisco winner, was in a group at 70 that included local favorite Michelle Wie and Natalie Gulbis, playing her second tournament following a bout with malaria. Third-ranked Yani Tseng, winless in more than year, had a 71.

The players, caddies, and staff wore red ribbons to honor victims from the Boston Marathon bombings.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Woods ties record and takes 2-shot lead

By DOUG FERGUSON (AP Golf Writer)December 6, 2013 8:00 PMAP - Sports

Tiger Woods tees off on the second hole during the second round of the Northwestern Mutual World Challenge …

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (AP) -- Tiger Woods didn't like the way he warmed up on the range. What he produced on the golf course Friday left him with no complaints.

Woods had a birdie putt on every hole and made 10 of them for a 10-under 62, tying his course record at Sherwood Country Club and giving the tournament host a two-shot lead over Zach Johnson going into the weekend at the World Challenge.

''It was good today,'' Woods said with a broad smile, perhaps because there was little else to say.

''It was a clinic,'' said Graeme McDowell, the defending champion who played alongside Woods in the second round and had a 67.

Woods was at 11-under 133 and will be paired in the last group Saturday with Johnson, who missed a few good birdie chances on the back nine but still managed a 68. Johnson is a two-time runner-up at the World Challenge, both times to Woods.

Matt Kuchar had a 68 and was three shots behind, and no one else was closer than five shots. What could challenge Woods, along with everyone else, is a forecast of rain and then wind for the final two days.

Woods didn't feel good about his swing until a tee shot to 15 feet on the par-3 third hole, and while he had to settle for par, he at least liked the way the ball left his club.

''It was the first swing I think I made, even during warm-up, that felt really good,'' Woods said. ''And I tried to keep that feeling the rest of the day, and I did. I hit a lot of good shots after that.''

It was the 10th time Woods has shot 62 or lower in a tournament. He went on to win six of those events. The exceptions were the 1999 Byron Nelson Classic (61 in the first round), the 2005 Buick Open (61 in the second round) and the 2012 Honda Classic (62 in the final round).

This is his final event of the year, though Woods has been around long enough to keep it in perspective.

''Two more rounds,'' he said.

No one is ready to concede this tournament to Woods, except for those at the far end of this 18-man field. Hunter Mahan had an 80, Dustin Johnson had a 79 and Rory McIlroy, coming off a win at the Australian Open, had a 77.

''Amazing what Tiger did out there. It's just some incredible golf,'' Kuchar said. ''I kind of felt sorry for Graeme McDowell. I saw he posted a 5-under-par round, and it must have felt like it was 2 or 3 over. It's tough when you're paired with a guy like that. It makes you feel like you're not doing much. But the rest of us just go about our business.''

Even after watching what he felt like was an exhibition - Woods' golf, not the tournament - McDowell figured he could still defend his title if he could nail down the speed of the greens, which are running on the fast side.

That's what set Woods apart on another chilly day at Sherwood. Not only did he make the putts, he rarely was in a position where he had to stress over par. The lone exception came on the par-3 12th, when Woods was in such a precarious spot above the hole that he had no intention of trying to make birdie. He would have had to start the ball high on a ridge to get it to roll near the hole, and that would mean more speed going by. So he aimed for the low side and made the 10-foot par putt coming back.

''I don't think I've seen them quite this fast unless we get Santa Ana's blowing when it's dry,'' Woods said. ''I mean, this is the last tournament of the year for a lot of us. I'd think they'd make it a little easier on us. But they gave it to us pretty good the last couple days. You miss the ball in the wrong spots, you're making bogeys.''

Woods never went more than two holes without a birdie. One of the few times he was above the hole, Woods hit his putt on a perfect line with the right pace and dipped his knees when it dropped in the right side of the cup.

Even as he dropped further behind, McDowell couldn't help but appreciate a flawless round of golf.

''I enjoyed that,'' he said. ''It was cool to see that kind of golf. He was under control. He hit it down the middle of every fairway. He didn't have that kind of violence with his speed through the ball.''

Woods said he was similar to the 61 he shot this summer at Firestone, where he went on to win by seven shots.

''I think Firestone is obviously a much more difficult golf course than Sherwood,'' Woods said. ''But as far as quality ball-striking, I hit it equally as good today, if not even better.''

Woods ties course record 62 for World Challenge lead

By Rebecca BRYANDecember 6, 2013 8:49 PM

Thousand Oaks (United States) (AFP) - Tiger Woods matched his own Sherwood Country Club course record on Friday with a 10-under 62 to take the lead in his World Challenge.

The world number one, who started the day four shots off the lead, had 10 birdies and no bogeys for an 11-under total of 133.

That gave him a two-shot lead over first-round leader Zach Johnson, who had four birdies in a four-under 68 for 135.

"It was good today," said Woods, who has won this 18-man tournament he hosts for the benefit of his charitable foundation five times. He set the course record of 62 in the second round in 2007, en route to one of those triumphs.

"I only made probably two putts that were downhill. I hit a lot of good shots, leaving myself in these spots so my putts weren't really that difficult to make."

Woods saw a long putt at the seventh curl around the hole and drop in the back for birdie.

He kept his momentum with a key two-putt par at the par-three 12th and birdied 13 despite a tough lie in a bunker with an acorn behind his ball.

Oddly enough, Woods wasn't feeling that great as he warmed up for a round that was delayed for an hour by morning frost.

"I did not warm up well," he said. "I was not hitting it very good on the range."

He opened with back-to-back birdies at the first and second, leaving himself a putt of less than two feet at the first.

But it wasn't until the third hole, he said, that he felt his swing really click.

"I tried to keep that feeling the rest of the day, and I did," he said. "I hit a lot of good shots after that."

Woods' score was one shot off the best of his career. He has shot 61 four times, most recently in the second round of the WGC Bridgestone at Firestone in August -- where he went on to win by seven strokes.

"This is similar to what I did at Firestone this year," he said. "I think Firestone is a much more difficult golf course than Sherwood, but as far as quality ball-striking, I hit it equally as good today if not better."

American Matt Kuchar carded a 68 for 136 to stand alone in third place heading into a weekend that could see rain move across the rolling countryside course, 64 kilometres (40 miles) west of Los Angeles.

"The next couple days, if the weatherman actually does get it right, we are going to have a hell of a test," Woods said.

Johnson birdied the 18th to narrow the gap to Woods -- an especially pleasing finish after his bogey there on Thursday.

"Steady golf," he said of his round. "Four-under is a nice score. Amazing what Tiger did out there. It's just some incredible golf."

Former world number one Rory McIlroy, who captured his first win of 2013 just last week at the Australian Open, endured another tough day.

He carded a five-over 77 that included a double-bogey six at the par-four fourth and a quadruple-bogey nine at the par-five 16th.

Tiger stumps Sherwood rivals with magical 62

By Mark Lamport-StokesDecember 6, 2013 11:57 PM

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

THOUSAND OAKS, California (Reuters) - Tiger Woods' closest challengers were left scratching their heads in disbelief after the world number one took control of the Northwestern Mutual World Challenge with a 10-under-par 62.

Five-times champion Woods played near-flawless golf on Friday in the second round of the tournament he hosts, equaling the course record he set at Sherwood Country Club in 2007 to end the day two shots clear.

His stunning 10-birdie 62 was five strokes better than the next-best score in an elite field of 18, Northern Ireland's defending champion Graeme McDowell and England's Ian Poulter both having carded 67s.

"Amazing what Tiger did out there," American Matt Kuchar told reporters after shooting a second successive 68 to sit three strokes off the pace in third spot at eight under.

"It's just some incredible golf. The rest of us, my four-under score is kind of a good barometer. That's some good quality playing. Ten under is an amazing round of golf but I'd certainly take two more rounds of four-under par."

Kuchar expressed sympathy for twice World Challenge champion McDowell, who was paired with Woods for the second round but lost ground despite firing a five-birdie 67.

"I kind of felt sorry for Graeme," said Kuchar, a double winner on the 2013 PGA Tour. "I saw he posted a five-under-par round, and it must have felt like it was two or three over.

"It's tough when you're paired with a guy like that. It makes you feel like you're not doing much. But the rest of us just go about our business."

McDowell, who clinched the World Challenge for the first time with a playoff victory over Woods in 2010, was full of admiration after having a ringside seat on Friday for the American's 62.

"It was a clinic," the Northern Irishman said. "It was cool to see that kind of golf. He was under control. He hit it down the middle of every fairway."

First-round leader Zach Johnson birdied his final hole for a bogey-free 68 to secure outright second place and was largely satisfied with his round.

"I had opportunities," said Johnson, who had opened with a 67. "I had some putts on the back nine, opportunities where I could have got up and down for birdie and a couple of those par-fives that I didn't.

"Other than that, it was a pretty solid day. No complaints. I mean, you finish with a birdie on 18, especially after yesterday when I bogeyed it, so I'll take it."

The average score on Friday was 70.78, almost nine strokes worse than the 62 posted by Woods, who is seeking a record sixth victory at the event and his sixth tournament win this year.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes; Editing by Peter Rutherford)