Willie Mack III likely to make cut at Rocket Mortgage Classic

HAIKOU, CHINA—England’s William Harrold shot a 7-under-par 65 to share the 36-hole lead with towering American Joseph Winslow (69) at the PGA TOUR Series-China International Qualifying Tournament No. 2 at Mission Hills Haikou’s Sandbelt Trails Course. Chinese Taipei’s Chunkang “Jacob� Hung (74), the first-round leader, was third at 4-under, one ahead of Ireland’s Brian O’Donovan (73), a Mission Hills Shenzhen teaching pro, and the American trio of Jesse Speirs (71), Cody Paladino (70) and Kevin Techakanokboon (70). South Korea-based Argentine Martin Kim (69) is among a group at 2-under. Others in contention include Hong Kong’s Motin Yeung (72) and Japan’s Junya Kameshiro (68), in a tie for 13th at 1-under, while Malaysia’s Arie Irawan (69), moved to even-par and a share of 18th. The top-15 finishers will earn full cards and the next 25 and ties will be conditionally exempt for a Series that rewards the top-five money winners with places on the Web.com Tour, the path to the PGA TOUR. The 6-foot-5 Winslow carded his sixth birdie of the day at the par-5 18th to set the clubhouse lead. The 25-year-old bogeyed the par-5 first and doubled the par-4 17th, but in between birdied Nos. 3, 6, 7, 8 and 12 before closing his round with his 13th birdie in 36 holes. The 25-year-old native of Kansas is on track to earn a full card on the Tour but will be mindful of last month’s PGA TOUR Latinoamerica qualifier in Bogota, Colombia, when he started the final day in second place before a closing 80 left him 17th and with only conditional status for 2018 on that circuit. “I feel pretty good. I’ve had a couple of pretty solid rounds out there. Today was more gritty, while yesterday was pretty solid in general. it’s been fun, but I feel like my best golf is still ahead out here,� Winslow said. “I just want to keep playing solid on the weekend, keep executing the strategy. I want to play the par-5s a little bit better and clean up a little bit of the slop. My wedge play today wasn’t quite as solid, so I’d like to clean that up a bit, stay focused and keep playing my game.� Harrold, who shot an opening 64 in an Asian Tour event in Xiamen, China, at the end of last year, teed off on No. 10 and carded eight birdies, including three in a row, twice, from Nos. 11-13 and Nos. 7-9. The 29-year-old was delighted with the improvement from his opening 74. “I’ve had three birdies in a row before, but I can’t remember doing it twice in a round,� said Harrold, who won a European Challenge Tour event in 2014 and has two victories on the Euro Pro Tour. “I set myself up much better today and hit nice iron shots into good positions on the green. I also holed some good putts, and that’s not always easy on these greens, which have a lot of slopes. I putted nicely in the first round, but my swing wasn’t as good as today.� The 5-foot-3 O’Donovan played with Winslow for the first two days and enjoyed the group, despite the big difference in height and length off the tee. The 30-year-old native of Ireland played his own game and kept himself in contention for Tour golf. “Joseph’s hitting his second ball from a different place to me, places I don’t see on the golf course,� said the Irishman. “I remember I hit a really good drive on one hole, and he knocked a 3-wood about 30 yards past me. That was depressing, but it’s been good fun.� Kim showed his pedigree, having played on the Korean Tour for three years and on the Japan Golf Tour last year, although he failed to retain his card. The strongly built Argentine—whose grandparents moved from South Korea to Buenos Aires— is just three shots off the lead as seeks a PGA TOUR Series-China card and a path to the U.S. “It was a good round, I think. Even when I made mistakes, I didn’t lose focus, so that’s why I could finish under-par today,� Kim said. “I’m here because I want to be on the PGA TOUR, so first I have to get my card.�

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When the 1986 Pensacola Open began, Ernie Gonzalez’s claim to PGA TOUR fame was his 10th-place finish at the Bank of Boston Classic a month earlier. That was his career-best performance. After rain delayed play both Thursday and Friday at the October tournament in Florida’s Panhandle, Gonzalez moved to the top of the leaderboard—thanks to an eagle and five birdies over his final nine holes of the second round Saturday at Perdido Bay Country Club. Gonzalez led Joey Sindelar by a shot, with a Sunday 36-hole finale looming. Those 36 holes never came as the rain that fell as Gonzalez finished his second round only intensified, becoming torrential at times. Unplayable course conditions left officials no choice but to cancel the final two rounds and declare Gonzalez the winner. That victory, Gonzalez’s lone PGA TOUR title, remained the highlight of his PGA TOUR career. The California native of Mexican and Puerto Rican descent died in a Chicago hospital of causes due to Alzheimer’s disease. He was 59. Gonzalez, the third lefthander to win a PGA TOUR event—behind Sam Adams and Bob Charles—was born February 19, 1961 in the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista. He attended nearby U.S. International University, where he was a member of the golf team, and he turned pro in 1983. Gonzalez joined the TOUR in 1985. Following a 171st-place money-list finish in 1985, Gonzalez regained his playing privileges at that season’s Qualifying Tournament. His second year on TOUR was his high-water mark, making 25 appearances and getting to the weekend 13 times. Besides the win and the top-10 in Boston, he added a tie for third at the weather-shortened, 54-hole Vantage Championship in San Antonio, sharing third place with Ronnie Black, Phil Blackmar and Bobby Clampett, five shots behind winner Ben Crenshaw. Gonzalez finished the 1986 season 68th on the final money list. His $48,000 payday in San Antonio was a career-best, $7,500 more than his haul from Pensacola as officials reduced the Pensacola Open purse by 25 percent due to the two lost rounds. Following his victory, Gonzalez met with assembled reporters and talked about the long and productive week. “I was pretty nervous when I came out this morning. All we’ve been doing is sitting back and waiting. The waiting is tougher than the playing. I don’t know how to react.� He then paused, deciding on his words, before continuing. “It’s a win, and I’m happy. Realistically, my goal was to keep my card. Getting the win is a surprise and a big break.� Of his lone TOUR win, Gonzalez always contended, his opening-round 63 “was probably the best I’ve ever played.� Gonzalez’s victory did not lead to additional success on TOUR. By 1988, he had fallen to 207th on the money list and began playing sparingly after that, relying on his past-champion status to get into events. Between 1990 and 1998, he saw action in 38 tournaments but did play in at least one tournament every year from 1999 to 2010. His last made cut came at the 2009 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, a week where he showed he still had a little game remaining. After opening with a disappointing, 4-over 75 in the first round at TPC Summerlin, Gonzalez shaved 12 strokes off his score in the second round, firing a 63 that included a wild stretch of four birdies, a double bogey and an eagle on the back nine that moved him inside the cutline. He went on to shoot weekend rounds of 69-68 to tie for 47th. Gonzalez continued to play sporadic pro golf events while working for a beverage distributorship in Las Vegas. He played in 44 Korn Ferry Tour tournaments between the Tour’s inaugural year of 1990 and 2002. He tied for 14th at the 1990 New Haven Open in Connecticut for his top showing. After turning 50, he only played in one PGA TOUR Champions tournament, the 2011 Senior Open Championship, in Surrey, England, where he missed the cut. Funeral services are pending.

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KAPALUA, Hawaii – Jimmy Walker spent most of last season battling the effects of Lyme disease and now his wife Erin must also fight the good fight. Erin revealed in her blog on Thursday that after ironically spending the good part of nine months trying to raise awareness for the disease that had her six-time PGA TOUR winning husband wrecked with fatigue – she had also been diagnosed.   In an in-depth essay about Jimmy’s problems throughout 2017 Erin said she was diagnosed on December 15 last year and is now undergoing treatment. She is hopeful the early detection will ensure a quick recovery, unlike her husband. Since winning the 2016 PGA Championship Jimmy has struggled with his game, mainly due to the effects of the disease. Neither know how they contracted the illness which is non-transferable from human-to-human but comes from tick bites. They believe Jimmy may have caught it on a hunting trip while Erin could have picked up a bite walking a golf course – but neither saw a tick or the associated bull’s-eye rash that follows a bite. Erin revealed her husband went through bouts of depression after getting flu-like sickness several times throughout the year and also began to have “brain fog.â€� He actually tested positive for Lyme, Mono, two different types of pneumonia, West Nile Virus and a virus common to children called CMV. “He had good days, and bad days. Good hours and bad hours. His mood continued to decline and in hindsight he has said he was possibly depressed. We still aren’t sure if the Lyme caused the depression and mood issues, or if it was the fact that he felt awful all of the time,â€� Erin wrote. “Jimmy had no energy to practice, so his golf suffered. He didn’t have energy to play with the kids or help in normal activities around the house. Getting up to go to the golf course for his tournament rounds was the only energy he could muster and most days he felt like sitting down on the tee boxes in-between holes. “One of the biggest symptoms he was experiencing was brain fog. From difficulty to remembering simple tasks such as, leaving tickets for friends and family, to putting on a pot of water to boil and then leaving the house, he was experiencing these types of symptoms on a daily basis.â€� Jimmy is hoping to resume his PGA TOUR season later this month while Erin is hoping to continue her competitive horseback riding despite the diagnosis and re-evaluate the situation after a month of treatment. You can read her full blog here: https://tourwifetravels.com/lyme-disease/

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