Category: PGA Golf

golfweek.com photo: Tyler Duncan takes the lead with a 54 at the Safeway Open on Saturday at Silverado Resorts and Springs in Napa

By Jeremy Harness

 NAPA, Calif. – All the factors are there for a huge turnout for Sunday’s final round: A razor-thin lead at the top, and the ultra-popular Phil Mickelson near the top of the leaderboard with a real chance to win.

 As it stands right now, Tyler Duncan is the one that everyone else is chasing at the Safeway Open, the tournament held at Silverado Resort and Spa that officially kicks off the 2017-18 PGA Tour season, but it’s not by much.

Duncan entered Saturday’s third round leading by a single stroke over first-round leader Brendan Steele. After the first nine holes of Saturday’s third round, the two switched spots, as Steele played the first nine at one-under while Duncan dropped a shot. However, that would soon change. At the 11^th, Duncan made birdie while Steele could not get up and down after finding himself left of the green on the same hole.

 “I’m just looking forward to the opportunity,” said Duncan, a rookie on the PGA Tour this season. “To be here playing on Sunday is awesome, and I’m going to come out and give it my best.

 “I’m not sure it’s set in yet. I don’t know how well I’ll sleep tonight, and I’m sure I’ll be nervous tomorrow, but I’m looking forward to it.”

 As for Steele, he fell further behind the lead when he could not get up and down at the 18^th hole, moments after Duncan was able to accomplish that task, dropping him to 12-under overall and an even-par round of 72 on Saturday, as he is tied for third and trails by two shots.

Chesson Hadley, who burst onto the scene on Friday with a round of 61, picked up two more shots on Saturday and trails by only a shot after three rounds. The two will play together in the final group Sunday, at 12:30pm PST, along with Bud Cauley, who launched himself into a tie for second with a bogey-free round of 66 that featured three birdies on each side.

 “I’m very proud of the way I played today,” Hadley said. “It’s really just about staying in the hunt for tomorrow, and that’s where we are, which is great. I wouldn’t mind another 11-under round tomorrow (as was the case on Friday). If we can get greedy, that would be really nice.”

 Kevin Na, who lost in a playoff to Emiliano Grillo in this event two years ago, was also six-under on Saturday and gave himself at least an outside shot to win. Grillo himself stayed in the mix with a four-under 68 and is currently tied for fifth at 11-under overall.

 Of course, the excitement tends to build considerably any time Mickelson is anywhere near the lead with a realistic chance to win. After two consecutive rounds of 69, he picked up four more shots on Saturday for a round of 68, capping things off with a birdie at the par-5 18^th, much to the delight of the huge crowd of fans that followed him around the course. 

With an overall score of 10-under and tied for seventh, he will play two groups behind the leaders, at 12:10pm PST, along with recent Web.com Tour grad Andrew Putnam and Bill Haas, who won the season-ending FedEx Cup back in 2011.

 “I like the position I’m in, I just have to get off to a good start,” Mickelson said. “The greens are baking out. They’re much firmer, faster and very glossy. I think it’s going to be difficult to follow birdies.

 “So if I have a chance to make some birdies and force them to have to make birdies, I think it’s going to be a lot harder.”

 

AP Photo/Eric Risberg photo: Tyler Duncan takes a one stroke lead with a six under 66 at the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort and Spa on Friday

By Jeremy Harness

 NAPA–Tyler Duncan fought off a sluggish start to his second nine in Friday’s second round, seizing control of his game and ended up taking a one-stroke lead with a six-under 66 at the Safeway Open, held at Silverado Resort and Spa.

 He played a clean first nine at three-under and had a promising start to his second nine, making birdie at the first, but then started spiraling in the wrong direction with three consecutive bogeys and looked like he was going absolutely nowhere.

 That’s exactly when he started getting his game back on track, and he was able to keep the momentum going all the way through until he was at the top of the leaderboard with an overall score of 13-under.

 He birdied the fifth, and after settling for a par at the par-4 sixth, he birdied the seventh and eighth before dropping in an eagle at the par-5 ninth to take the lead by a single shot.

 In the process, he overtook first-day leader Brendan Steele, who had a solid round of five-under 67 with only one bogey on his scorecard on Friday and enters the weekend trailing by only one shot and a 12-under overall score.

 The defending champion played a bogey-free front nine that was highlighted by three birdies, and after dropping a shot at the 11^th, a long par-3, he got right back on the horse with consecutive birdies at the 12^th and 13^th before knocking down a 12-footer at the par-3 15^th.

 The round of the day – and the tournament, for that matter – belonged to Chesson Hadley, who made a huge charge on Friday with a tournament course record of 61.

 He birdied three of his first five holes and offset a bogey at the sixth with two more birdies and capping off the front nine with an eagle at the ninth. He never stopped the momentum, either, as he birdied five of the next seven holes and even had a chance for a 59 before parring out the next two holes.

 He is currently in third place at 11-under. Meanwhile, Zac Blair and Tony Finau are both tied for fourth at nine-under, with Finau shooting a 65 on Friday while Blair fired a 66.

 

photo courtesy golf.com: Brendan Steele had an eagle, six birdies and a bogey en route to an opening round of 65 at the Safeway Open on Thursday

By Jeremy Harness

 After a two-week offseason, the 2017-18 PGA Tour season is off and running, as of Thursday.

 The first stop of this campaign is none other than Northern California, for the Safeway Open, and there were plenty of players shooting low scores and vying for the lead at Silverado Golf Club.

 In fact, there were three players who claimed a share of the top spot after Thursday’s first round after shooting a seven-under 65, including defending champion Brendan Steele.

The only blemish on Steele’s scorecard on Thursday is a bogey at the par-4 sixth hole, but that followed an eagle at the par-5 fifth that saw him stuff his second shot from 200 yards out to just outside of two feet.

 He bounced right back three holes later with a birdie at the par-5 ninth and played a flawless back nine with back-to-back birdies at the 13^th and 14^th holes and running off three birdies in a row to close out his round in style.

Tyler Duncan had a fantastic start to his round, holing out his approach shot from 119 yards for an eagle at the par-4 10^th hole before birdieing holes 16 through 18, just as Steele did. Also as was the case with Steele, he suffered only one bogey on his round, his coming at the ninth, as he had trouble from within 70 yards and paid for it.

 Tom Hoge, meanwhile, played a clean round on Thursday, recording seven birdies without a single bogey on his card. He made most of his headway on his first nine, starting on the 10^th hole and knocking down six birdies on that side and joining the other two co-leaders with birdies at holes 16 through 18.

 His final birdie of the day came at the par-4 sixth, knocking down a 12-footer to do it.

 Right behind them are four more players sharing the fourth position at five-under, including 2015 champion Emiliano Grillo, who played a bogey-free round after five birdies on his first nine but did not make a single birdie on his second nine.

 

golfweek.com/USA Today Photo: Pure Insurance Champion Behnard Langer basks in victory after taking the top prize at Pebble Beach on Sunda

By Jeremy Harness

 PEBBLE BEACH – Bernhard Langer just knows how to win golf tournaments.

 The 60-year-old German, who in 1986 became golf’s first official number one-ranked player, won his 34^th PGA Champions Tour (formerly known as the PGA Senior Tour) win on Sunday, taking home the PURE Insurance Championship at Pebble Beach.

 This marked his fifth win of the year, a string that includes the Senior PGA Championship as well as the Senior Open Championship.

 Langer suffered a bogey at the par-4 eighth, but that was the last real mistake he would make for the rest of the day. He righted the ship with a par at the ninth, and then played a bogey-free back nine that saw him record four birdies, including three straight at holes 13 through 15.

 His closest pursuer, Jerry Kelly, shot a bogey-free 67, but after a lights-out front nine that saw him go four-under, he just could not make up ground on the back nine after Langer hit the accelerator. As a result, he settled for a second-place finish.

 Kenny Perry, who entered Sunday trailing by only one stroke, struggled a bit out of the gate, dropping a shot in the first four holes without a single birdie. He did record a pair of birdies in his second nine, but he simply made too many mistakes to be a factor down the stretch, as he shot a two-over 74 on Sunday and finished in a tie for fifth.

 Langer began Sunday’s proceedings with a one-shot lead but soon saw it increase to three. However, it would not take long before he had some company again.

 Kelly, who won the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship last weekend in Victoria, British Columbia and also took the Boeing Classic two weeks before that, made a huge charge on the front nine on Sunday.

 He birdied the first two holes and then made eagle at the par-5 sixth to tie Langer at the top, at 13-under.

 Soon thereafter, Langer bounced back from a bogey at the par-3 fifth with a birdie on the very next hole to go back in the lead by himself. He would not relinquish that advantage, and he only built on it as the afternoon progressed.

 Scott McCarron, the first-round leader who lost ground on Saturday, got himself within striking distance on Sunday, shaking off a bogey at the par-4 fourth and ran off three birdies in a row at holes six through eight to get to within three shots of the lead.

 He lost some of that momentum by bogeying the ninth, but he got it back on the back nine, as he made back-to-back birdies at the 14^th and 15^th holes. However, he just could not generate enough of it – and started the final round too far back – to make a real challenge to the title once Langer got going.

 

montgomeryadvertiser.com photo file: Ellie Mae Classic/Web.com 2017 winner Martin Piller take the trophy at TPC Stonebrae in Hayward on Sunday

By Jeremy Harness

HAYWARD, Calif. – Martin Piller and Brandon Harkins went toe-to-toe for 18 holes on Sunday, and in a tournament that sees plenty of birdies, it was one that made all the difference.

Piller made birdie on the 10^th hole while Harkins settled for a par, and from that point, both birdied the 14^th and 16^th holes, and when Harkins could not make birdie on either of the final two holes, Piller captured the Ellie Mae Classic, his fourth win on the Web.com Tour.

With the victory, he is also expected to be among the top 25 on the Web.com Tour’s money list, as he is projected to jump 81 spots into the 24^th position. Meanwhile, Harkins is also projected to be on that list, known on this tour as “The 25.” He is expected to assume the 21^st spot while jumping 43 spots to do so.

The leader at the start of the day was Andrew Yun, but the Stanford alum lost ground – and the lead – on the front nine, making a bogey on the very first hole and dropping another shot at the par-4 eighth. After another bogey at the 11^th, he bounced back and finished his final round at even-par to finish in a tie for third.

Meanwhile, Piller and Harkins both took advantage, as they both overtook Yun and tied for the lead at the turn with matching scores of 15-under for the tournament.

Harkins did not have a single bogey on his card and ran off birdies at both the par-5 third as well as the par-4 fifth to go two-under on the front nine. To get into the top spot, Piller, whose wife, Gerina Piller, plays on the LPGA Tour, made back-to-back birdies at the second and third and gained another shot at the par-3 sixth and, like Harkins, had an unblemished scorecard.

Piller took the outright lead at the par-4 10^th with a birdie while Harkins was forced to settle for a par. The lead would not change hands again.

Harkins quickly had company in the second position. Vince Covello played his way into the mix, blitzing the back nine by playing that side six-under en route to an eye-popping 62 to tie Harkins at 3:30pm PST.

Covello ended up in a tie with Yun at 15-under and stood a chance to win, as he was only one stroke behind Piller when he finished. However, his disadvantage was that he had finished his round while Piller and Harkins still had much of their back nines left to play.

Another guy who made a big charge on Sunday was Michael Weaver, a Cal alum who is nowhere near the top 25 (he began this week ranked 243^rd in that category). He didn’t play like it, however, as he fired a six-under 64 to launch himself into a three-way tie for fourth.

He did not record a bogey in the final round and spread his birdies evenly, picking up three shots on the front nine and three more on the back.

There are three more events in the Web.com Tour’s regular season before the playoffs begin. Even though the top 25 players on the money list at the end of the regular season get their PGA Tour cards for next season, the top 25 players after the playoffs also get in, meaning that 50 players will get their cards for the 2017-18 campaign.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle: Although eliminated from competition from Friday’s round Stephen Curry talks with the media after his second round of the Ellie Mae Classic golf tournament at TPC Stonebrae in Hayward, Ca., on Fri. August 4, 2017. Curry finished the day at 8 over par for the tournament

By Jeremy Harness

 HAYWARD–Now that Steph Curry is out of the Ellie Mae Classic, the story now shifts to the guys who play the game of golf for a living, who rely on their performance in each tournament to improve their chances to get to the sport’s highest level.

 Stanford alum Andrew Yun is now 18 holes away from bettering his shot of getting his PGA Tour card for next season, as he leads this event by a single stroke after carding a 68 in the third round at TPC Stonebrae Saturday afternoon, as he heads into Sunday’s final round with an overall score of 15-under par.

 Yun is currently 12^th on the Web.com Tour – considered the minor-league affiliate for the PGA Tour – and the top 25 players on this list at the end of the season get full exemption on the PGA Tour for the 2017-18 campaign.

 He exchanged two bogeys for a pair of birdies on the front nine, but he then played a tighter back nine to hold onto his lead. He parred the first three holes on the back side but then made back-to-back birdies on holes 13 and 14.

 As was the case on Friday, there are close followers waiting for Yun to slip up so that was they could grab the lead and have a chance to take home the trophy and move up the money list. One of those guys is Jim Knous, who went to college at the Colorado School of Mines and is currently 108^th on the Web.com Tour.

 After a third-round 66, he only trails Yun by a shot. If he holds this position through Sunday, he is expected to jump 66 spots into the 42^nd position with only a few events left in the regular season.

 Another player who can make a big jump and get close to the top 25 is Brandon Harkins, who is an alum of Las Lomas High School in nearby Walnut Creek and played his college golf at California State University, Chico. He shot a two-under 68 on Saturday and heads into the final round in a three-way tie for third and is only two shots off the lead.

 If his position stands, he would leap 14 spots to the 29^th position and would stand an excellent chance to sneak into the top 25 and get his PGA Tour card for next season.

 He currently shares the third position with the likes of Lanto Griffin – who is named after a spiritual master (Lord Lanto) and Nate Lashley.