Talk about a belated Christmas gift. Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Arizona, is putting up $10,000 in a winner-take-all exhibition on Sunday.
Click here to read the full article…
| Did you win, but don't know how to collect your winnings? Our partner site Hypercasinos.com will explain how online casinos pay out winnings. |
RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – On a day with unpredictable, swirling winds it was the steady play of Andres Romero that leads the way after the first round of the Puerto Rico Open. Romero, a one-time PGA TOUR winner, fired a 6-under-par 66 at the Coco Beach Golf Club Thursday. The Puerto Rico Open is Romero’s third PGA TOUR start of the 2018-19 season. He finished T-26 at the Sanderson Farms Championship and missed the cut at The RSM Classic. Through a translator, he said he has been playing well for a while and was happy to see everything click Thursday. “Mainly it was my putting that was letting me down lately and today was very good,â€� he said. â€�It gives me a lot of confidence for the whole game.â€� With winds gusting up to 30 mph and intermittent rain falling through Thursday, Romero said he embraced the difficult conditions. “It was very tough for everyone, not only for (me),â€� said Romero. “Had to think a lot more than a regular round. For example (I) hit a 6-iron from 150 yards on No. 15. But was playing well and feeling confident, so that helped a lot.â€� Romero leads by one over Sepp Straka, a rookie on the PGA TOUR this season. Straka earned his TOUR card via Web.com Tour Finals in 2018 and his best result so far came at last month’s Farmers Insurance Open, where he finished T-13. Straka is the first-ever golfer from Austria to hold PGA TOUR status and he said he’s been feeling a lot more comfortable as the weeks have gone on. He was steady Thursday in Puerto Rico, making six birdies and one bogey. He said Thursday’s 67 was a continuation of some good play of late. “I feel like my game has been pretty good for a couple weeks,â€� he said. I had a terrible week of scoring at Pebble, but I felt like my game was pretty good, ever since Torrey, really. I played well out there. And ever since then, I have hit the ball pretty nice.â€� Behind Romero and Straka is a group of nine golfers at 4-under that includes Ben Crane, Ollie Schniederjans, Roberto Castro, Martin Piller, Roberto Diaz, Joey Garber, Nate Lashley, Alex Kang, and David Hearn. Hearn has never finished outside the top-25 in the four times he’s played this event and said given his position in last year’s FedExCup standings he’s hopeful for a good week to give him some confidence. “Good starts are always a good way to go about it,â€� said Hearn. “I feel like my game’s been really close. I’m really close to putting together some consistent golf, so hopefully next three days, just more of what I just saw today.â€�
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. – Unrelenting rain and a saturated Aronimink course has pushed back the final round of the BMW Championship to Monday. With the final 30 spots in the FedExCup Playoffs on the line, officials remain intent on completing 72 holes, even if it requires a Tuesday finish. But the possibility also exists that the tournament might be over, with 54-hole leader Justin Rose declared the winner and the current top 30 in projected points moving on to the TOUR Championship. Depending on how quickly the course can dry up, a window of weather opportunity exists Monday between approximately 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET. Even if the final round isn’t completed Monday, PGA TOUR regulations state that the tournament will extend to Tuesday if at least half the field can finish their rounds on Monday. “If we get in tomorrow and we get half the round completed, yes, we would be into Tuesday,â€� confirmed Slugger White, the PGA TOUR Vice President of Rules and Competitions. “If we don’t — it’s really too early to talk about that.â€� White did say the final round would not start on Monday if tournament officials don’t think half the field can finish. If that happens, then the tournament would revert to the 54-hole leaderboard for the final results. Play on Sunday had been scheduled to start at 7 a.m. ET but by the time White arrived at 4:45 a.m., a half-inch of rain already had fallen. Tee times were delayed several times in hopes of starting play. But light morning rains turned heavier in the afternoon, never allowing any opportunity to begin the round. PGA TOUR meteorologist Joe Halvorson said the total rainfall by 2 p.m. ET when the final announcement was made was one inch. More rain was expected the rest of the day, preventing the course from drying out. “Overnight, for the rest of the day, we’ll still have rains from the system as the warm front is moving north of us,” Halvorson said. “Totals, I’m thinking from this point on we’ve got a half-inch to three-quarters of an inch overnight, but what I’m seeing, as this front lifts north of us during the morning hours tomorrow, I think the showers could become a bit more scattered.” More than 3 inches of rain has hit the area this week due to remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon “Obviously we’ve got kind of a mess out there,â€� White said during a mid-day press conference. “As of right now, the golf course is unplayable. … It’s pretty bad.â€� White said the greens and bunkers were fine, but that some teeing grounds and fairways were marginal. “The front nine holes are relatively good,â€� he added. “The back nine is our biggest concern.â€� Even if play is possible on Monday, it will likely end in the early afternoon when thunderstorms are expected to hit the area. “There is some potential that that thunderstorm threat could potentially hold off a little bit later and clouds in the area and may take a little bit longer to stabilize,” Halvorson said. “I wouldn’t think 2:00 as our end-all time; there’s some potential for that window to be extended a little bit later until the storms develop.” The sense of urgency to play all 72 holes is increased in FedExCup Playoffs events, since the progressive cut after each tournament determines the field for the next event. This week at the BMW Championship, a field of 69 players began the week, with just the top 30 in points moving on to the TOUR Championship and a chance to win the FedExCup. “You’ll see guys that are 30, 31, 32 on that list for two weeks from now that they all want to play in, and we want them to play,” White said. Making the East Lake field also comes with other perks, such as invitations to big events that allow a player to organize his playing schedule. Those benefits were not lost on Keegan Bradley when he rolled in a 7-foot putt to save par to end his third round Saturday. That kept him projected to 30th in the FedExCup standings after starting the week ranked 52nd. Making the TOUR Championship “is everything to me,â€� said Bradley, who would be guaranteed the final spot if the final round cannot be played. If that happens, then 2015 FedExCup champ Jordan Spieth would finish 31st in the points and miss the TOUR Championship for the first time in his TOUR career. He’s obviously hoping the final round can be played so he can jump back inside the top 30 after starting the week ranked 27th. “I’m dying to get there,â€� Spieth said. If the 54-hole leaderboard holds, then Rose would win for the third time this season and take over the No. 2 spot in the FedExCup standings behind Bryson DeChambeau, who won the first two Playoffs events. Rose would also move to world No. 1 for the first time in his career. “I’ll take the two-day washout, of course,â€� Rose said.
JACKSON, Miss. — Ryan Armour and Tyrone Van Aswegen are threatening to break up the young men’s monopoly at the Sanderson Farms Championship. The 41-year-old Armour shot a 4-under 68 in Friday’s second round to take a one-shot lead over Van Aswegen at the Country Club of Jackson. Armour has never won on the PGA TOUR and has only four top 10s in 104 career events. He made four straight birdies on the back nine and finished just before a wave of thunderstorms swept over the Country Club of Jackson and suspended play for the day. There were 30 players still on the course when play ended. They’ll finish their second rounds on Saturday in what’s expected to be much colder weather. Armour, who grew up in Ohio, said he’s used to playing in less than ideal conditions. He’s at 10-under 134. “No matter if it’s cold or hot, if the scores are going crazy, just give yourself as many opportunities as you can to be successful,” Armour said. Armour or Van Aswegen, 35, would be the oldest winner at Sanderson Farms since Woody Austin in 2013. Cody Gribble, Peter Malnati and Nick Taylor were all in their 20s when they won over the past three years. So were Scott Stallings, who won in 2012, and Chris Kirk in 2011. Armour has been on the PGA TOUR off and on since 2007, but never had consistent success, bouncing between the Web.com and PGA TOUR. He didn’t play in any PGA TOUR events from 2011 and 2014 and didn’t even qualify for the Web.com Tour in 2013. He spent much of that time around his home course in Florida, catching up with family and making adjustments to his game. “I knew if I was going to get back going, it had to happen then,” Armour said. He got his Web.com card back in 2014 and eventually made it back to the PGA TOUR last season. He had to go to the Web.com Tour Finals to get his card back for this season and finished second in the first Finals event last month. Now he’s brought that form to Mississippi. Van Aswegen, winless in four years on the PGA TOUR, shot the low round of the day, a 7-under 65. He tied for ninth at the Safeway Open earlier this month in Napa, California. The South African started on the back nine and was 3 under before a double bogey on No. 16. He rebounded with seven birdies over his final 10 holes. “I had to just make a decision to keep going,” Van Aswegen said. “If you don’t do that, your round is toast. I was pretty happy to rebound after that. I had some luck along the way, too, so that was nice.” Vaughn Taylor shot 66 and was two shots back, along with Seamus Power, who had two holes left to play in the second round on Saturday. Dru Love, the son of Davis Love III who is playing on a sponsor’s exemption, shot 67 and was four shots back. His father shot 72 and was likely to miss the cut.
