Reed tied with Huh at soggy Sedgefield

 

Andrew Both August 17, 2013

By Andrew Both

 GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Patrick Reedbogeyed the final hole to slip back into a tie for the lead withJohn Huh after the third round at the Wyndham Championship on Saturday.

 On a day when there was little movement among the leading pack, Reed carded a reasonable one-over-par 71 in intermittent rain at soggy Sedgefield Country Club.

He missed a 10-foot putt at the last, while Huh holed out from almost the same distance to salvage par. Earlier, Huh made just about the worst possible start with a triple bogey at the second hole.

 Reed and Huh are at 10-under 200, one stroke ahead of Zach Johnson(66), Bob Estes (68) and Jordan Spieth (70).

Former Masters champion Johnson made the biggest move, reeling off five birdies before bogeying the final hole, the only blemish on his card, for a 66, equal to the day's best score.

Eight players are within two strokes of the lead.

Less than an hour of play was possible Saturday morning before persistent rain rendered the course unplayable shortly after 8am ET (12:00 GMT).

Competition resumed three hours later and despite more rain, officials deemed the course playable and the round was completed.

The lift, clean and place rule was invoked, allowing players to take preferred lies from the fairways.

(Reporting By Simon Evans,)

Golf-Reed tied with Huh at soggy Sedgefield

 

August 17, 2013

(Adds details, quotes)

By Andrew Both

 GREENSBORO, North Carolina, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Young guns Patrick Reed and John Huh had their struggles but ended tied for the lead after third round at the $5.3 million Wyndham Championship on Saturday.

 On a day when there was little movement among the lead pack, Reed carded a reasonable one-over-par 71 in intermittent rain at soggy Sedgefield Country Club.

He missed a 10-foot par putt at the last, while Huh holed out from a slightly shorter distance to salvage par. Earlier, Huh made just about the worst possible start with a triple bogey at the second hole.

 Reed and Huh are at 10-under 200, one stroke ahead of Zach Johnson (66), Bob Estes (68) and Jordan Spieth (70).

Eight players are within two strokes of the lead going into Sunday's final round.

 PGA Tour rookie Reed dropped three strokes in the first 13 holes as he struggled with his driver, but a good tee shot at the 14th got him back on the track and he reeled off three consecutive birdies.

"I was having issues with the driver, hitting everything left of left but the tee shot on 14, that was a key point," said the 23-year-old Texan. "I'm very excited (to have the lead) but at the same time I've got work to do."

Huh, who is barely two months younger than Reed, showed composure beyond his years after his disastrous second hole, where he took five strokes to negotiate the final 60 feet.

"I pulled my second shot into the wrong spot and instead of taking my medicine I got too greedy," said Huh, who could not stop his third shot on the green.

"It was a pretty rough start but I was able to hang in there and get everything together and here I am tied for the lead."

Huh was born in New York but spent 12 years of his childhood in South Korea before moving back to the US.

Former Masters champion Johnson made the biggest move, reeling off five birdies before bogeying the final hole, the only blemish on his card, for a 66, equal to the day's best score.

"There was a lot of precipitation and just a day to be patient," said Johnson. "The course held up well (and) the greens were still fast.

"I hit it great and didn't think I was going to sniff a bogey (but then) I three-putted 18 - hit two great shots and then a terrible lag putt," he said.

Less than an hour of play was possible Saturday morning before persistent rain rendered the course unplayable shortly after 8am.

Competition resumed three hours later and despite more rain, officials deemed the course playable all afternoon.

The lift, clean and place rule was invoked, allowing preferred lies from the fairways.

While the softer conditions allowed for more aggressive approach shots, the course also played significantly longer.

 Reed, for example, hit a "soft" wedge into the par-four second on the first two days. On Saturday he used a five-iron.

More rain is forecast for Sunday with organisers moving the start times forward and making use of starts on the first and tenth holes to try to beat the weather. (Reporting By Simon Evans,)

Europeans expand Solheim Cup lead

Denis Georgatos, The Sports Xchange August 17, 2013The SportsXchange

PARKER, Colo. -- Everything from a hole-in-one to an unseemly, heated green-side exchange involving an American golfer and her European counterpart to a shocking swing in momentum late in the day unfolded on Saturday in the Solheim Cup at Colorado Golf Club.

Beginning the second day down two points to the Europeans and still steaming over a blown official's ruling allowing an improper drop that helped swing a critical first-day match against the Americans, the U.S. team initially cut the deficit to a point despite losing one of the four morning matches on a hole-in-one by Sweden's Anna Nordqvist.

But Europe fought back in the afternoon four-ball session, sweeping all four matches in stunning fashion to take a 10.5-5.5 lead going into Sunday's final round when all 12 members from each team square off against each other in singles match play.

The Europeans, trying to beat the Americans on U.S. soil for the first time, clinched the afternoon sweep when Karine Icher of France chipped in for a birdie on the par-4 18th. The shot allowed the Europeans to halve the hole, giving Icher and Beatriz Recari a 1-up victory over Cristie Kerr and Morgan Pressel in a match that included another prolonged rules dispute over a drop when Recari put a shot into a hazard on the 16th hole.

Earlier in the afternoon session, Carolina Masson and Caroline Hedwall were 2-and-1 winners over Michelle Wie and Jessica Korda; Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz beat Gerina Piller and Angela Stanford 1-up, and Jodi Ewart Shadoff and Charley Hull won 2 up over Paula Creamer and Lexi Thompson.

The tournament has been tightly contested and intense with emotions on both sides occasionally boiling over. That was the case on the green at the seventh hole when Creamer got into a verbal exchange with the Ewart Shadoff and other members of the European contingent in full view of the gallery.

In a game known for its decorum on the course, it was a surreal scene more reminiscent of an ill-tempered baseball batter jawing with a pitcher who just threw a brush-back pitch.

After Ewart Shadoff, who was teamed with 17-year-old Hull, hit an approach shot to tap-in distance for a conceded birdie on the seventh hole, Creamer's long birdie attempt came up a couple of feet short. As she lined up to tap in the par putt, the Europeans made a last-minute concession, forcing Creamer to pull off the shot and pick up her ball.

Creamer, wanting to take the shot to help teammate Lexi Thompson with her line on her upcoming birdie putt attempt, was visibly angered by the move and let the Europeans know it.

A rules official intervened to try to calm the situation and apparently reiterated the Europeans' right to concede the putt.

However, there were reports that a caddie for one of the European players may have voiced the concession on Creamer's attempted shot. Under the rules, only player-issued concessions are supposed to be recognized.

Thompson, at 18 the youngest ever to play on the American squad, punctuated the brouhaha by draining a pressure-packed birdie putt to keep the match square. But the tie was short-lived as a fired-up Ewart Shadoff drained a birdie putt on the par-4 eighth hole as the Europeans went 1-up.

The Americans came back to square the match when Creamer sank a 5-foot birdie putt on the par 5 16th. On the par-3, 180-yard 17th, though, both Thompson and and Hull, the youngest player in Solheim Cup history, landed their tee shots within a few feet of the hole. Thompson just missed her birdie putt and Hull sank hers, pumping a fist and then wiping her brow with her forearm and sighing in relief as the Europeans again went 1-up.

The Europeans won the final hole, and in a sign of some conciliation after the blowup on the seventh, Creamer and Thompson both gave congratulatory hugs to Ewart Shadoff and Hull.

At the same hole during the morning session, Nordqvist, who was paired with fellow Swede Caroline Hedwall, put the Europeans up 6-3 when she aced the hole using a 7-iron. The ball took a couple of bounces on the green and rattled in off the flagstick, clinching a 2-and-1 victory over Pressel and Jessica Korda.

"It's definitely one of the highlights of my career," said Nordqvist, who ceremoniously walked up the green to retrieve the ball as a keepsake. "It's not many times that you can actually hole out and make a hole-in-one to actually win the match. It's one of the moments that I'm really going to remember for a long time."

The Americans nearly completed a sweep of the three other matches in the morning session, However, Catriona Matthew of Scotland, teamed with Masson, drained a birdie putt on No. 18 to win the hole and halve the match for the Europeans.

Wie and Brittany Lang were as many as four holes up early in their match against Suzann Pettersen of Norway and Recari. The Europeans fought back to square it before Wie made a short birdie putt on the 17th hole for a 1-up-victory for the United States.

Lewis and Creamer were 1-up winners for the U.S. over Munoz and Icher in the morning session.