Tiger Woods gets close, falls short once again at BMW Championship

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HOUSTON – Local amateur Cole Hammer, having just completed a 5-under 67 at the Houston Open that included eight birdies, immediately turned his attention to another big sports event in the city later in the evening. The decisive Game 5 between the Astros and the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Division Series. “I’m going to do everything I can to try to get to the stadium,â€� Hammer said, “I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere. I’m a huge Astros fan, have been for as long as I can remember. I’m praying for tonight.â€� MORE ON HAMMER: When will it be time to turn pro? At least some of his prayers were answered a while later, as he was able to procure tickets to the game that would send the winner to the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees. (Whether his prayers for an Astros win are answered would have to wait at least nine innings.) The 20-year-old Hammer, a University of Texas sophomore playing on a sponsor exemption this week, was impressive in his opening round Thursday after a shaky start. Starting his round off the 10th tee, he double-bogeyed the par-4 11th when he found the water with his tee shot. He immediately bounced back at the short par-4 12th, his pitch shot from 45 yards leaving him inside 5 feet for birdie. That was the first of eight in his round, as he became the eighth amateur since 1996 at a PGA TOUR event to record eight birdies in one round. Ty Tryon has the record of nine in the opening round of the 2001 B.C. Open. “Not a bad start in my book, that’s for sure,â€� Hammer said. Hammer hit just 6 of 14 fairways, but he leaned heavily on his putter to bail him out. He gained more than 4 strokes on the putting surface, the second-best performance in the field. Hammer is making just the second PGA TOUR start of his career. His first was at the 2015 U.S. Open when he qualified as a 15-year-old. He didn’t make the cut that week, but he’s in good shape to reach the weekend this time. “Feels like my first U.S. Open was so long ago,â€� Hammer said. “Yeah, I was a little bit nervous at the beginning of the round and then kind of settled down and was able to roll in some putts and it was a great start. Just what I wanted.â€� As it turned out, he also got the Astros tickets that he wanted. All in all, it was a pretty good day.

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AVONDALE, La. — Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown teamed to shoot an 8-under 64 in better ball on Saturday to take a one-shot lead heading into the final round of the Zurich Classic. The duo lost on the fourth hole of a playoff to Cameron Smith and Jonas Blixt last year, the first for the Zurich as a team event. They’re in contention once again atop a crowded leaderboard at 20-under 196. Tony Finau and Daniel Summerhays shot a bogey-free 63, and Michael Kim and Andrew Putnam teamed for a 66 to finish one shot behind Kisner and Brown. There were 13 teams within four shots of the lead. Several teams went low in the easier better-ball format. The teams of Brice Garnett-Chesson Hadley, Billy Horschel-Scott Piercy and Jason Dufner-Pat Perez all shot 61s to jump into contention. The format switches to alternate shot for the final round.

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