Pat Perez cruises to four-stroke win in Malaysia

POTOMAC, Md. — David Lingmerth waved his arm disgustedly to the right to warn the gallery after he blocked his tee shot on the tight par-5 10th hole at TPC Potomac. After two shots from the rough, one from a hazard and one from a bunker, he made a 6-footer for bogey to fall to 3 over for the day. He was still tied for the lead. Minutes later, he led by himself again when Daniel Summerhays bogeyed 11. It was that kind of day at the Quicken Loans National. Lingmerth steadied himself after his adventure on 10 and made an aggressive swing with a driver that came off perfectly on the short par-4 14th, leading to a two-putt birdie. The 29-year-old Swede made a sloppy bogey on 17 and managed a 3-over 73 to drop to 7 under and maintain a one-shot over Summerhays. Spencer Levin, who teed off two hours ahead of Lingmerth, was alone in third at 5 under after the best round of the day, a 65. There was little wind Saturday, and the greens were softened by a thunderstorm that caused a 90-minute delay, but TPC Potomac played as difficult as ever, showing as much bite as its storied neighbor, Congressional. Saturday ended the same way the first two rounds did — with Lingmerth atop the leaderboard. Lingmerth, who came from behind to win a Web.com Tour event at TPC Potomac in 2012, has a chance to go wire-to-wire for his second PGA TOUR victory. “I haven’t had the wire-to-wire scenario in my career, but a lot of great players have won tournaments that way and I would like to do it as well,” he said. “I’m kind of feeling like I’m up for the challenge.” Lingmerth relied on a fade to avoid trouble off the tee while starting the tournament with back-to-back rounds of 65. On Saturday, it didn’t take long for his go-to shot to abandon him. He yanked his opening tee shot into a fairway bunker, leading to bogey. It was one of four tee shots he missed to the left in the first eight holes, including a driver in the water on the narrow par-4 fourth. Still, no one managed to get ahead. Geoff Ogilvy’s putter went cold and he didn’t make a birdie in a round of 74. He was still just three shots back, along with a fellow Australian half his age, Curtis Luck, who shot 67, and South Korean Sung Kang, who shot 71. Kyle Stanley and Charles Howell III both shot 67 and were four shots back. Just 17 players were under par after three rounds. Summerhays was solid from tee to green but couldn’t get many putts to fall. His only chance to win this season came at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, where he led by three shots after 54 holes but shot a final-round 78 to tie for 10th. He’s earned $8.4 million in 188 career PGA TOUR starts without a victory. “I struck the ball extremely well,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of great looks, so maybe I just need to persuade that ball into the cup a little bit more.” Levin has been the PGA TOUR’s iron man this season, with little to show for it. He’s making his 25th start and has teed it up in every event he’s been eligible for, making only 10 cuts and failing to record a top-20 finish. At 176th in the FedExCup standings, he’s in danger of losing his tour card. “It was the best round I’ve had all year by far. It’s been a tough year, but the putts have been going in this week, which is obviously why I’m playing well,” Levin said. Levin, who first gained attention as a cigarette-smoking amateur at the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, has played in 232 events in his PGA TOUR career, with his best finish a runner-up in 2011. That was also the year he played in his only British Open. “I’ve had a chance and have never won, so if I don’t, it wouldn’t be anything new,” Levin said. “But I’m going to go out there with a different mindset. I’m going to try and make putts and see if I can’t do it.” Even if he doesn’t win, he could earn one of four spots available at this event for the British Open at Royal Birkdale. No player inside the top 18 going into the final round is currently eligible for golf’s next major.

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ELKHORN, Neb. – Andrew Kozan enjoyed an extended victory lap after an unlikely victory at last week’s Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank. Kozan and his wife Caylin made a 935-mile drive from Salt Lake City to Omaha for this week’s Pinnacle Bank Championship presented by Aetna, for an attempt at becoming the Korn Ferry Tour’s first multiple winner this season. Having suffered a skid of 11 consecutive missed cuts into Utah, Kozan had been planning out his strategy for First Stage of Q-School. Now he’s chasing his first PGA TOUR card. Kozan, 23, opened the Pinnacle Bank Championship in 4-under 67, a strong start at The Club at Indian Creek, a par-71 track measuring 7,721 yards. No player fared better than 66 in the morning wave. “I had never met him until today, and what I just watched was pretty damn good golf,” said playing partner Paul Haley II, who stands No. 2 on the Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Eligibility Points List and has safely cemented a PGA TOUR return. “He hit the ball great, putted well, got up and down a bunch … I was impressed with his game for sure.” After his string off 11 consecutive missed cuts, Kozan had fallen outside the top 150 on the standings. With just two events remaining in the Regular Season, his prospects of finishing top-75 to qualify for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals looked bleak, let alone having a chance at earning a place in Sunday afternoon’s TOUR card ceremony in Nebraska. For a few months, Kozan struggled to bring all areas of the game together. Sometimes the driver might be off. Other times, the approach game, or chipping, or putting. “Three of the four would be great,” Kozan said. “And the one that wasn’t there would cost me.” It coalesced in Utah. Refreshed after a well-timed off-week where he barely touched a club, Kozan entered the final round at Oakridge CC in 13th place. He carded 8-under 63 and took the trophy with a one-stroke win over three players at 21 under. Kozan fulfilled the various winner’s obligations in Utah, then hit the road with his wife. They stopped at a Hampton Inn somewhere in southern Wyoming, then slept from 1 a.m. until 7 a.m. They completed the remaining nine hours of the journey to Omaha on Monday. “We drove ‘til we got tired,” explained Kozan. “We had a rental car the week before. Didn’t know if I was playing in this event until maybe Tuesday of last week; I wasn’t sure if I was going to be in (the field) or not. By then, by the time we looked for decent flights, it was a thousand bucks a ticket, so we might as well save two grand and drive over there. It wasn’t too bad. It was a cool, scenic drive.” From uncertainty of whether he would qualify for the Pinnacle Bank Championship on his number, to a reasonable chance at a PGA TOUR card, Kozan has seen an appreciative quick turn in fortunes. This week, the Florida native needs a two-way T3 at minimum for a chance at a TOUR card. The operative word, though: chance. It’s all he could ask. “It’s great, and it’s frustrating,” remarked Kozan of life in professional golf. “And that’s why we keep coming back.”

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2021 PGA Championship, Round 1 Scoring Conditions: Overall: +2.77 strokes per round Morning wave: +2.33 Afternoon wave: +3.22 Current cutline (top 70 and ties): 76 players at +2 or better (T62) Top 3 projected cutline probabilities: 1. 4 over par: 41.8% 2. 5 over par: 28.0% 3. 3 over par: 20.4% Top 10 win probabilities: 1. Corey Conners (1, -5, 16.1%) 2. Viktor Hovland (T2, -3, 10.0%) 3. Collin Morikawa (T8, -2, 5.6%) 4. Keegan Bradley (T2, -3, 4.8%) 5. Jon Rahm (T31, E, 4.5%) 6. Cameron Davis (T2, -3, 3.2%) 7. Brooks Koepka (T2, -3, 3.1%) 8. Tyrrell Hatton (T16, -1, 2.7%) 9. Sungjae Im (T8, -2, 2.7%) 10. Will Zalatoris (T16, -1, 2.6%) NOTE: These reports are based off of the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live “Make Cut”, “Top 20”, “Top 5”, and “Win” probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of the PGA Championship, or to see how each golfer’s probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model’s home page.

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