Stanford’s Rachel Heck defeated Kan Bunnabodee of Thailand 3 and 2 on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the U.S. Women’s Amateur.
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AVONDALE, LOUISIANA – Zurich Insurance is renewing its sponsorship of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans through 2026. The seven-year extension was announced today, the final day of the 2018 tournament, by Zurich North America CEO Kathleen Savio, PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan and CEO of the Fore!Kids Foundation Steve Worthy. The Fore!Kids Foundation is the local host organization of the Zurich Classic. Zurich became title sponsor of the tournament in 2005 and last signed an extension through 2019. Last year, the Zurich Classic became the PGA TOUR’s only official team event. The innovative format continued for this year’s tournament as the city of New Orleans celebrates its 300-year anniversary. “New Orleans has a resilient past with a bright future, and we’re proud to extend our sponsorship of the Zurich Classic, continuing our teamwork with charitable organizations,â€� said Savio. “The Zurich Classic is a wonderful opportunity to work side by side on and off the course to create opportunities, overcome challenges and win.â€� Zurich assumed sponsorship of the tournament just months before Hurricane Katrina devastated the region. Zurich and its employees became deeply rooted in New Orleans’ recovery, and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans became the first major sporting event to commit to returning to the city for 2006. Zurich executives and employees have been intimately involved with the community and the Fore!Kids Foundation’s charitable initiatives ever since. These include hands-on support of SBP, established after Katrina to rebuild homes in storm-ravaged areas of the city, and St. Michael Special School for children with significant learning disabilities. Funds from Zurich and the tournament helped to build a Vocational Training Center that bears Zurich’s name and a state-of-the-art playground at the school. “I can’t say enough about the dedicated support Zurich has provided to the Fore!Kids Foundation and the New Orleans area from the outset of sponsoring the Zurich Classic of New Orleans,â€� Monahan said. “It really has been an ideal association from the outset, when Zurich became so entrenched in the recovery process following Hurricane Katrina. That bond has continued to grow over the ensuing years and, I’m excited to say, will continue to do so for many more to come.â€�  Officials, in fact, have referred to New Orleans as Zurich’s adopted home. “Zurich has been an incredible partner and their support has allowed us to impact the lives of countless children in our region,â€� Worthy said. “We greatly appreciate their love of our community, and we look forward to our future, working together to make this event and its impact continue to grow.â€�  About PGA TOUR By showcasing golf’s greatest players, the PGA TOUR engages, inspires and positively impacts our fans, partners and communities worldwide. The PGA TOUR co-sanctions more than 130 tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Web.com Tour, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada and PGA TOUR Series-China. Members on the PGA TOUR represent the world’s best players, hailing from 25 countries (84 members are from outside the United States). Worldwide, PGA TOUR tournaments are broadcast to more than 1 billion households in 226 countries and territories in 23 languages. Virtually all tournaments are organized as non-profit organizations to maximize charitable giving. In 2017, tournaments across all Tours generated a record of more than $180 million for local and national charitable organizations, bringing the all-time total to $2.65 billion. The PGA TOUR’s web site is PGATOUR.COM, the No. 1 site in golf, and the organization is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. About Zurich Insurance Group Zurich Insurance Group (Zurich) is a leading multi-line insurer that serves its customers in global and local markets. With about 53,000 employees, it provides a wide range of property and casualty, and life insurance products and services in more than 210 countries and territories. Zurich’s customers include individuals, small businesses, and mid-sized and large companies, as well as multinational corporations. The Group is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, where it was founded in 1872. The holding company, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (ZURN), is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and has a level I American Depositary Receipt (ZURVY) program, which is traded over-the-counter on OTCQX. Further information about Zurich is available at www.zurich.com. In North America, Zurich is a leading commercial property-casualty insurance provider serving the global corporate, large corporate, middle market, specialties and programs sectors through the individual member companies of Zurich in North America, including Zurich American Insurance Company. Life insurance and disability coverage issued in the United States in all states except New York is issued by Zurich American Life Insurance Company, an Illinois domestic life insurance company. In New York, life insurance and disability coverage is issued by Zurich American Life Insurance Company of New York, a New York domestic life insurance company. For more information about the products and services it offers and people Zurich employs around the world go to www.zurichna.com. 2012 marked Zurich’s 100-year anniversary of insuring America and the success of its customers, shareholders and employees.
Phil Mickelson begins the day four shots off the lead shared by four players. Can Lefty rise up in Round 3?
HONOLULU – Brendan Steele, quite simply, had had enough. Steele had barely finished celebrating his third PGA TOUR win a few years ago at the Safeway Open – a title defense no less – when he was toasting something much bigger. The birth of his first child. RELATED: Leaderboard | International Team announces $125,000 donation to Australian bushfire relief Daughter Victoria, now 2 yearsr old, was immediately the focus of his world and remains so. And so golf … well it had to take a back seat. “Priorities kind of changed,â€� Steele admitted about the birth that came two weeks after winning the 2017-18 season Safeway Open on Oct. 8 in 2017. “I was hoping that that would change in a good way, like make golf less important and make it easier. But it kind of made golf less important and less important just to where I wanted to be at home and I wasn’t enjoying playing.â€� He just wanted to be a dad more and more. He didn’t want to leave his new family at home so he had his little one and wife Anastassia with him on the TOUR. Traveling with a young child brings its own challenges. Coupled with what Steele says was making a lot of bad decisions in terms of who he was listening to and how he was practicing, things naturally started to dip on the course. After finishing third at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in early February of 2018 the decline began. A T10 in April at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Jamie Lovemark remains the last of his 25 career top 10 finishes. Since then there have been 38 starts on TOUR without a top 10. But that should certainly change on Sunday at the Sony Open in Hawaii after Steele’s third round 6-under 64 saw him surge to 12 under for the week, setting up a three shot 54-hole lead over Australian Cameron Smith. “I was dragging my family with me everywhere, and that was hard on them,â€� Steele added of the tough times. “Really tough balance that we don’t talk about a lot out here. I’ve been out here a long time. I’ve been a pro for 15 years now, and sometimes it just gets old. “But I kind of relit my fire in the off-season and have been trying to work hard on my game and get the confidence back as well.â€� In wet and windy conditions at Waialae Country Club this week Steele has been a machine. His +9.56 Strokes Gained: Putting through three rounds is the best of his career and leads the field. He also leads the field in Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green (+7.651). It’s not that much of a surprise if you consider his win at the 2011Valero Texas Open was in high winds, as was one of his wins at Safeway. He now looks to improve on his conversion rate having only converted one of his previous four 54-hole leads to victory. But Smith lurks. So does Kevin Kisner at eight under. Webb Simpson, Collin Morikawa and Ryan Palmer will start five shots back at seven under. Smith and Kisner will join Steele in the final group feeling confident, especially if things turn into something akin to a match play scenario. Smith, chasing his first stroke play win on TOUR, has the Zurich Classic trophy with Jonas Blixt on his resume. He was also a solid performer for the International Presidents Cup team in the recent event, coming from three holes down to beat Justin Thomas in singles. “I’ve come from behind before in tournaments and I’ll draw from that tomorrow,â€� Smith said. “Should be a nice battle. Hopefully some more conditions like this. Bit tougher conditions I think will bring a lot of people into it, so should be exciting. If we got more stuff like that I think it’s not so much of a chase, it’s just being smart and hopefully the putts drop.â€� Kisner is the current champion of the World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play. He loves the battle also. And he says playing last week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui, also in high winds, could be the factor that lifts him over the other two. “I think that’s the biggest key to the whole week, is seeing how the golf ball was flying last week; not coming fresh off the couch and Christmas break and trying to play in these conditions,â€� Kisner said. “I told my caddie that we’re going to be more prepared than most of the guys. I feel comfortable, and hopefully I can keep it going tomorrow.â€� Steele will try to hold them off with his rediscovered desire and the experience bank he can tap into from the winning days. “I expect them to come out and play a really good round tomorrow. I know that I have to go do a lot of good things. There will be no taking the foot off the accelerator. I’ve got to go make as many birdies as I can,â€� Steele added. “It’s always going to be difficult no matter what. It would be very rare to come out and birdie the first six holes and have it never be in question. So as much as I would like that, I know it’s going to be tough. I’m going to have to battle. But it’s nothing that I haven’t seen before.â€� A win would be something Victoria hasn’t seen before … and there is plenty of desire in that.
