A packed leaderboard down the stretch at Augusta National? That’s how it goes, no matter what event it is here. But the course played hard, which could be what is in store when the Masters gets going, too.
Japanese teenager Tsubasa Kajitani overcame a double-bogey on the 17th hole by closing with a superb par save, getting her into a playoff that she won on the first extra hole Saturday to capture the Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Cincinnati has placed men’s basketball coach John Brannen on paid leave pending an investigation after six Bearcats players decided to transfer last month.
SAN ANTONIO — The co-leaders after three rounds at the Valero Texas Open spoke on a darkening Saturday night about their hopes to play hard and well for one more day. Neither mentioned the personal stakes. One wants to win for the first time in 83 starts on the PGA TOUR. The other wants to win for the first time period. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Wallace plays with new cross-handed swing The last group in the final round of the oldest professional tournament in Texas, the one celebrating its 99th year on the TOUR, will feature Jordan Spieth and Matt Wallace at 12 under par, with Charley Hoffman two strokes behind them. Spieth, a Texan who has yet to triumph in his home state, looks to summon the brilliance of his first five seasons, when he won 11 times, including three majors. Wallace, an Englishman with 36 TOUR starts since 2017, has never finished better than third. Hoffman has no victories since the 2016. That was right here at TPC San Antonio, in the sixth-oldest professional golf tournament in the world. The three of them separated themselves on a cool, gloomy afternoon after rain postponed play for two and a half hours. Spieth and Wallace shot 5-under 67. Hoffman shot 65. They played the back nine in a combined 14 strokes under par, which bodes well for those who believe in momentum carried over. Spieth has had his opportunities in a resurgent 2021 season. He held a share of the 54-hole lead at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, his first since 2018. He finished tied for fourth. He did the same thing a week later, at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but this time he had the 36-hole, too. He tied for third there. "I was pretty anxious to start that next day" in Phoenix, said Spieth, whose struggles since 2017 have been documented well and discussed widely, including after his even-par 72 in the fourth round in the desert. "I felt really calm at Pebble," he said, "and then been in contention a few times since." In his five starts in stroke-play tournaments since a missed cut in January at the Farmers Insurance Open, Spieth has had a reasonable chance to win four (he tied for 48th at THE PLAYERS Championship). In every one of them, he failed to break 70 in the final round. That pattern must end. "The goal this week was to get myself into contention and have a chance to win," Spieth said. "The next goal is to try and get myself into position to be in control on the back nine." Wallace knows and accepts that spectators at the Valero Texas Open, even in modest numbers in a pandemic, unanimously agitate for a Texan to prevail — or maybe even Hoffman, a Californian who, since 2006, has four finishes here inside the Top Five and six inside the Top 10. "Hopefully I won over some fans there today," Wallace said. Wallace, 30, has four international victories, all of them on the European Tour, but none in the U.S. "There's times in rounds where you know you need to make things happen and know you need to hole a putt at the right time," he said. "So I'll prepare myself for that and I'll think of the good stuff," he added. "That I've holed putts this week. I've pulled shots off." The winner of the Valero Texas Open gets a pair of Lucchese boots — crafted in Texas since 1883. Those are stakes of a different shape. The player who holes the most putts, pulls off the shots and produces enough of the good stuff gets to try them on for size.
SAN ANTONIO — Valero Texas Open co-leader Matt Wallace tried a new idea this week when practicing to play a greenside bunker shot. He swung the club cross-handed. RELATED: Full leaderboard "I've been working with my coach on trying to keep my right shoulder down, a little bit flatter, keeping the right elbow in," Wallace said. "Helps my low point. I sometimes get a little bit steep and on top. Cross-handed helps me fold my right arm and keeps my shoulder down." Wallace said his ball flight has been higher as a result. (He grips it conventionally for the shot, naturally.) "I think my bunker play's been really good this week," he said. It's better than most. Wallace is four of seven in sand saves, good for a tie for 21st in the field of 78.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Jordan Spieth shot a 5-under 67 on Saturday to move into a tie for the lead heading into the final round of the Valero Texas Open. Spieth and Englishman Matt Wallace are at 12 under after each player birdied their final two holes of the day. Wallace also posted a 67, and Charley Hoffman is alone in third at 10 under after shooting a 65. RELATED: Full leaderboard Hoffman was seven shots back after a bogey at No. 4, but he finished up with six birdies and sank a five-foot eagle putt at the 14th. He won here five years ago. Three consecutive bogeys early on the back nine sent second-round leader Cameron Tringale to a 1-over 73 that put him at 8 under for the tournament. India's Anirban Lahiri is at 7 under after a 69. Tom Hoge finished with five birdies and moved up 26 spots on the leaderboard with a third-round 66. He is in a group of four players at 6 under that includes Lucas Glover (70), Gary Woodland (67) and Matt Kuchar (70). The start of play was delayed for more than two hours by rain. Time has just about run out on Rickie Fowler's chances to make his 11th straight Masters appearance next week. He has to win to get in, but his 69 Saturday has him in 21st place and nine shots out of the lead. With four birdies in an eight-hole stretch, Spieth was tied with Wallace and Hoffman for the lead heading to the 308-yard 17th. Spieth sailed his tee shot about 50 yards off line, right of the green, still just about pin high. His ball had rolled several yards down a concrete cart path and settled onto a gravel maintenance path. Wallace nailed his tee shot to the fringe of the green. Spieth got free relief with a drop off the gravel. From about 52 yards, Spieth opened the face of his wedge and sailed it upward, a nifty recovery shot that trickled the ball to about three feet from the cup. With his chip and short putt, Wallace also birdied 17. Wallace and Spieth reached the 18th in two and each birdied again. Spieth, winless since his 2017 Open Championship title, has been knocking on the door the past two months. He led heading into the final round at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He shared the lead with 18 to go at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and he led at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard with 11 holes to go. Wallace was a stroke back of Tringale entering the day and took the lead after opening with two birdies. He bogeyed No. 11 but came in with four birdies after that. The 2016 Valero Texas Open is one of four wins on the PGA TOUR for Hoffman. He also was runner-up here in 2019 and 2011, and finished third in 2013. Hoffman bogeyed his fourth hole Saturday and was seven back. But he birdied 6 and 8 with putts inside eight feet, and put away a 17-footer for birdie at the 12th. His putter stayed hot at 16 and 17 - both of those birdies came from past 13 feet. He finished it off with a 340-yard drive on 18, reached the par-5 in two from 260 yards out and left his 40-foot uphill eagle putt just a couple of feet short for an easy birdie.
Hornets forward Gordon Hayward is set to miss at least four weeks after suffering a sprained right foot during Friday’s win over the Pacers.
I think we've earned the right to come back for another week of picks after stacking up a 9-3 record SU, but the
Nets coach Steve Nash said Saturday that there is a “high probability” Kevin Durant will return to the court this week after missing extended time with a hamstring strain.
