Saturday, March 23, 2013

PAVIN BIRDIES SIX IN A ROW TO SHARE SENIORS' LEAD


SAUCIER, Mississippi (AP) -- Corey Pavin birdied his first six holes and finished with a 5-under 67 to join Bernhard Langer, Roger Chapman and Joe Daley atop the leaderboard after the second round of the US Champions Tour's Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic today.
Pavin took advantage of Fallen Oak's soft greens in ideal windless conditions. Langer had a 65, Chapman shot 67, and Daley had a 66. Defending champion Fred Couples also had a good day, shooting a 66 to stay within striking distance at two strokes off the lead. It's a crowded leaderboard, with 14 players within three strokes of the lead. The round was delayed for more than an hour because of afternoon thunderstorms.

SECOND-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 144 (2x72)
136 Bernhard Langer (Germany) 71 65, Roger Chapman (England) 69 67, Joe Daly (US) 70 66, Corey Pavin (US) 69 67.

SELECTED SCORES
138 Fred Couples (US) 72 66, Peter Senior (Australia) 71 67 (T8)
147 Sandy Lyle (Scotland) 74 73 (T58).    

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TIGER WOODS' 66 GIVES HIM TWO-SHOT LEAD FOR FINAL ROUND

FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Tiger Woods is one round away from returning to No. 1 in the world.
With key par saves early in his round and an eagle for the third straight day at Bay Hill, Woods seized control Saturday with a 6-under 66 to race by Justin Rose and build a two-shot lead going into the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.

Woods was at 11-under 205, two shots ahead of Rickie Fowler (67), John Huh (71) and Rose, who at one point was six shots ahead of Woods. Rose had a 39 on the back nine and wound up with a 72.
Woods hasn't been No. 1 in the world ranking since the last week of October 2010. That can change Sunday with a victory on a Bay Hill course where he already has won seven times, and from a position where he hardly ever loses. An eighth win would tie Sam Snead for the most wins at a single event on Tour.

Woods, who is also in line to move to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings, is 41-2 on the US Tour when he has the outright lead going into the final round.

"Just because I've won here doesn't ensure that I'm going to win the tournament," Woods said. "The conditions are different. The game might be different. But the objective is still to put myself in position to win the golf tournament and somehow get it done on Sunday. Over the course of my career, I've done a pretty decent job of that."

A year ago, Woods was No. 18 in the world and without a TOUR win for two years. Now he is going for his third TOUR victory this year, and sixth dating to Bay Hill last season.
"It was one of my goals to get back to that position after being out of the top 50 there for a while, being hurt and having all my points come off when I couldn't play," Woods said. "That was not a fun stretch. But I had to get healthy in order to compete, and so far I've had five wins on TOUR. So I'm heading in the right direction."
Rose had a three-shot lead on the back nine until he crumbled, making three bogeys over the last six holes.

He didn't even make it into the final group off the tee on Sunday.

Fowler dropped only one shot on a muggy day with a short burst of showers, closing with a par from the back bunker on the 18th. The last time Fowler and Woods were paired together in the final round was at the Memorial, where Woods closed with a 67 to win and Fowler had an 84.

Fowler was only three shots behind going into the final round of The Honda Classic at the start of the Florida Swing and closed with a 74. He also had a bad Sunday at TPC Blue Monster at Trump Doral (78), though he was never in serious contention. Without knowing where his 67 would leave him at Bay Hill, he sounded determined to finish stronger."It was disappointing to play the way I did those two Sundays, but I felt really good with where I was at, putting myself in position to go win a golf tournament or have a good finish and kind of taking myself out of it," Fowler said. "So it was a little bit of a kick in the butt to go out there and finish off tournaments. So I'm looking forward to tomorrow and seeing if we can go do that."

Nine players are separated by three shots going into the final round, though the dynamic takes on a different vibe at Bay Hill.

Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark had a 66 and was in the group at 8-under 208, along with Jimmy Walker (70), Bill Haas (73), Ken Duke (70) and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain, who played with Woods and had a 68.

Woods narrowly beat the Spaniard a year ago in the opening round of the World Golf Championship-Accenture Match Play Championship. Fernandez-
Castano noticed a big difference one year later.

"He's definitely more comfortable," he said. "I remember at the Match Play, his routine was longer. You could see he wasn't confident with what he was doing."

Woods, who already had won twice this year, has a clearer vision of what he's doing and where the ball is going. He surged ahead with a 6-iron into 12 feet on the 15th for birdie, and another 6-iron into 20 feet on the 16th for an eagle that put him atop the leaderboard.

Woods has three eagles this week -- and six for the year -- compared with four eagles all of last season on the US PGA Tour.

"I made a few putts, and that's what I was pleased with today," Woods said.

Some of the most important putts were for par. Woods finished Friday's round with three straight bogeys, and he started Saturday with a 12-footer for par from behind the cup on the first hole. He poured that in, and it set the tone for the day.

Woods also made an 8-foot par putt on the fifth hole, and a 7-footer for par on No. 8. That was keeping him from losing ground, because there was nothing about the way Rose played that indicated he would come back to the field.
The turnaround was slow and steady, and then shockingly swift.
Rose opened with an 18-foot birdie on the first hole, a tap-in birdie on the third and then a 20-foot eagle putt from just short of the fourth green. At that point, Woods was six shots out of the lead after his two-putt birdie on the sixth. Woods followed with a 7-iron into 2 feet on the seventh, and two tough pars. He got up-and-down from the back bunker on No. 8, and then caught a huge break on the ninth when his tee shot was headed out-of-bounds and was hit a tree to stay in play.

Rose slowly began to leak. A three-putt from long range on the seventh. A missed 6-footer for par on the 10th. He still was three shots clear of Woods after a short birdie putt on the par-5 12th, and that's when it changed -- and quickly.

Rose three-putted from 60 feet on the fringe at the 13th with a weak attempt at his second putt. Four groups ahead of him, Woods rolled in his 20-foot eagle putt, and just like that, they were tied. Rose compounded his problems with a shot he sliced so badly on the par-3 14th that it nearly went out-of-bounds, and he had to scramble for bogey to fall behind for the first time.

He failed to birdie the 16th, three-putted the 17th and suddenly was a forgotten figure on the leaderboard.


THIRD-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 216 (3x72)
Players from USA unless stated
205 Tiger Woods 69 70 66
207 Rickie Fowler 73 67 67, John Hugh 67 69 71, Justin Rose (England) 65 70 72.
208 Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 69 73 66, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 69 71 68, Jimmy Walker 69 69 70, Bill Haas 69 66 73.

SELECTED SCORES
211 Ian Poulter (England) 72 69 70 (T14).
214 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 72 69 73 (T25).
215 Martin Laird (Scotland) 74 73 68 (T33).
218 Greg Owen (England) 74 73 71, Lee Westwood (England) 71 75 72 (T61).
221 Graeme McDowell (Northern Ireland) 72 74 75 (T71)

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INFANTILE GOLFING PRODIGIES SPRINGING UP IN CHINA

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
 By MATTHEW NORMAN
 If the veteran Chinese golfer Guan Tianlang strikes spectators as careworn and subdued when he tees off at the US Masters next month, small wonder about that.

For those long past the conventional age of retirement, the major tournament can be a hideous torment. The body may be still be in fine shape, but all too often a fragile mind betrays it.
Tom Watson, who came so tantalisingly close to winning the 2009 Open before blowing it on the final green and disintegrating in the play-off like Greg Norman on chokeabolic steroids, would tell you that.
If Watson seemed pretty ancient, at 59, to come within a putt of taking the title four years ago, today, with hindsight, he looks like Methuselah’s great grandfather.
So startling is the sudden stampede of ever more infantile golfing prodigies from China, in fact, that you cannot help feeling that Guan, by waiting until 14 to qualify for his Masters debut, has left it too late; that at his great age, he is far better suited to the role of PG Wodehouse’s Oldest Member, consoling younger men about their hooks and slices from the comfort of the clubhouse armchair.
One junior compatriot to whom Guan might want to offer avuncular advice is Ye Wocheng, the latest holder of the youth record after qualifying for the Volvo China Open many years before he can drive a car. O Ye the Little Waif is 12. That, to spell it out lest anyone thinks that this must be a typo, is T.W.E.L.V.E.
One often comes across tournament golfers dropping their balls, of course, but until now this has invariably followed an encounter with a less hormonal hazard than the onset of puberty.
How young the next record-holder will be is anyone’s guess. But if Ye’s parents should have defied China’s one-child-per-family policy to present him with a male sibling, we should probably be guided by Edmund Blackadder’s response to Pitt the Younger’s threat to run his own brother as a candidate against him in the Dunny-on-the-Wold by-election.
“And which Pitt would this be?” asks the Regent’s mordent butler. “Pitt the Toddler? Pitt the Embryo? Pitt the Glint in the Milkman’s Eye.”
With any belief-beggaring golfing development, the most sensible recourse is invariably to ask oneself what Peter Alliss must make of it.
 In this case, one assumes that the Socrates of the 19th will take a typically well-balanced attitude to a future in which Clearasil’s sponsorship of the US PGA is followed by the Happy World Of Haribo TPC event at Sawgrass, and then by the SMA Formula Milk US Open.
On the one hand, Alliss will regard anything that heightens the public’s interest in the game as something to be welcomed. On the other, he would wish to offer the caveat that outlandishly precocious talents, as Michael Owen’s retirement reminds, have a nasty habit of hurriedly fizzling out.
Take Richard II, who so courageously put down the Peasant’s Revolt (the 14th century equivalent, according to Dr David Starkey, of winning the Grand Slam) at 15. That early promise evaporated, however, and after a descent into vengeful tyranny, he was deposed and dead at 33. So something for Ye to ponder there.
Perhaps he is already musing on the perils. Although he was delighted with his achievement, one also detected a certain world-weary relief. “I have dreamed about this,” he said, in an early contender for Sporting Quote of the Decade, “since I was boy.
How distant childhood innocence seems to him now as he contemplates that it will not be long before he is supplanted by a golfer whose Norland-trained caddie has no option but to ditch the pitching wedge, and carry a teething ring in lieu of the 14th club.
With time running out, the pressure on Ye to make the cut will be horrendous. But if it all goes disastrously wrong and he does a Rory McIlroy, at least he will have a more convincing excuse for not completing his round than a troublesome wisdom tooth.
Once again, the guiding light is the Blackadder version of Pitt the Younger, who told the Commons: “Mr Speaker, Members of the House, I shall be brief, as I have rather unfortunately become Prime Minister right in the middle of my exams.”








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NEWS RELEASE FROM THE ASIAN TOUR
Kuala Lumpur, March 23: Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat held a one-shot advantage on Saturday over former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel at the Maybank Malaysian Open which has been reduced to a 54-hole contest.
Organisers were forced to cut short the US$2.75 million championship sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour after thunderstorms disrupted play for the third successive day, with Kiradech holding the lead on 11-under-par through two holes.
The third and final round will resume on Sunday, 9.45am at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club. The last time the Maybank Malaysian Open was reduced into a three-round affair was at the same venue in 2006.
Schwartzel, playing in the last group with Kiradech, trails by one while a group of seven players, who include China’s Wu Ashun, three-time Major champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland and Ryder Cup stars Edoardo Molinari and Anders Hansen, are a further shot back on nine-under.
Big-hitting Kiradech, dubbed Asia’s John Daly, is determined to close out the Maybank Malaysian Open after coming close three years ago when he entered the final round as the co-leader only to finish joint third.
“I’ve learned a lot from that. I’ve grown up in three years and I have learned a lot on how to play under pressure and how to play when you need to win. I think I have more experience and I hope it will help me tomorrow,” said the 23-year-old former world amateur champion.
Kiradech returned this morning to complete his second round with a 68 which gave him a two-shot lead. He birdied the first hole of the third round but bogeyed the second before play was called off at 4.02pm when the heavens opened up.
With 16 holes separating him from a second Asian Tour title, the burly Thai, who has been suffering from the effects a lingering thyroid problem, knows he holds an advantage although he expects Schwartzel to mount a big charge on Sunday.
“I feel better. You can say I have more chance to win now that it’s 54 holes. It’s a good chance for me to win my first co-sanctioned title. I still have to do my best and it’ll be tough work tomorrow. Charl is a good player. He’s a top player and he can catch up. I will just do my best.  
"If I can keep playing like how I have been doing in the first two days, I will have a chance,” said Kiradech, who finished fourth in last week’s Avantha Masters in India and also qualified for the British Open last month.
Schwartzel, who won the Thailand Golf Championship in December and has eight European Tour titles under his belt, birdied his opening hole of the third round to signal his intent of winning his first Maybank Malaysian Open title.  He also wants to keep the title in South Africa’s hands following last year’s triumph by close friend Louis Oosthuizen.
The 27-year-old Wu, bidding to become the third Chinese to win a co-sanctioned tournament after Zhang Lian-wei and Liang Wen-chong, parred his first two holes of the third round to stay two shots back of Kiradech.
“I think I still have a good chance. I’m in the championship group and the leaderboard is very tight. It is three rounds now so anything can happen. I have to go back and sleep! Hopefully I get enough rest and play well,” said Wu, who became the first Chinese to win in Japan last season.
“I have to pray hard … My game is in very good shape and I feel confident. Everything is good. I’m just happy to be in this tournament. Any finish is good for me. I don’t want to think about winning yet. I just want to stay happy,” added the smiling Chinese, who is playing on a sponsor’s invitation.
India’s Jeev Milkha Singh made a charge up the leaderboard by playing his 11 holes in five under and moving up to eight-under for the championship.
S Murthy, one of three Malaysians to make the halfway cut, stands at six-under through four holes of his third and final round with 19-year-old amateur Gavin Green a further shot back where he is two under for his round through 10 holes.
 
REDUCED TO THREE ROUNDS
POSITIONS AT END OF PLAY
DURING FINAL ROUND 

-11: Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA) through 2 holes
-10: Charl SCHWARTZEL (RSA) through 2 holes
-9: Anders HANSEN (DEN) through 8 holes, Edoardo MOLINARI (ITA)  through 5 holes, Padraig HARRINGTON (IRL) through 4 holes, Victor DUBUISSON through 4 holes, Gregory BOURDY (FRA) through 3 holes, WU Ashun (CHN) through 2 holes
-8: Jeev Milkha SINGH(IND) through 11 holes, Peter LAWRIE (IRL) through 6 holes, Jean GONNET (FRA) through 10 holes, Alastair FORSYTH (SCO) through 8 holes, Rafa CABRERA-BELLO (ESP) through 7 holes, Tommy FLEETWOOD (ENG) 

SELECTED POSITIONS
-7 Scott Jamieson (Scotland) through 5 holes.
-1 Stephen Gallacher (Scotland) through 3 holes  
 

NEWBURGH OPEN AM-AM REARRANGED FOR APRIL 7

Newburgh-on-Ythan Golf Club's Open Am/Am today (March 23)
 has been postponed due to high winds.
It is being rescheduled for SUNDAY, APRIL 7
Existing tee times will be carried forward to this date.
Please contact 01358 789058 with any queries.

Ian Bratton,
PGA Professional,
Newburgh on Ythan Golf Links,
Beach Road,
Newburgh,
Aberdeenshire,
AB41 6BY.

pro@newburghgolfclub.co.uk
Tel: 01358 789058

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DARRON STILES LEADS AT HALFWAY ON WEB.COM TOUR

FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE By Joe Chemycz, Web.com Tour staff
BROUSSARD, Louisiana  – Darron Stiles fired a 7-under 64 Friday to move into the 36-hole lead at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open, the first domestic stop on the 2013 Web.com Tour schedule.

Stiles followed the script perfectly at Le Triomphe Country Club with birdies on all four par-5s and then closed with another birdie putt from 18 feet on his final hole to finish at 11-under 131 and take a one-stroke lead over Arjun Atwal (65).

“I made the putts you’re supposed to make today,” said Stiles, who is 8-under on the quartet of par-5s. “To me, that’s the key on this golf course. If you can get the par-5s and then get one or two somewhere else, that’s six a day and that will usually get it done.”
Stiles had only 26 putts on the day and the biggest came at the par-4, 14th hole, which plays as the toughest of the bunch.
“I was surprised it went in. Fortunately the hole got in the way,” he said of his 27-foot birdie effort. “If not, I might have been chipping. It’s all straight downhill past the hole and it could have easily been 10 to 12 feet by. I think my caddie had the wedge ready for me.”
That putt, and the closer at the last, were the only two sizeable birdie putts among the eight he chalked up.
Atwal closed strongly during his round, finishing with three consecutive birdies and four in his final five. He was buoyed by an eagle-3 at No. 1, which came on the heels of a double-bogey at No. 18.
“That double at 18 was kind of exciting,” he said. “It came out of nowhere. I blocked my tee shot right and into the water and then I had to drop way back. I still had 235 (yards) to the pin.”
Boise’s Troy Merritt (66), Jason Gore (65) and Ben Martin (67) lurk two shots off the pace heading into the weekend.
Another five players are just three back, including past champion Brett Wetterich (66), who is trying to become the first player in Web.com Tour history to win the same event three times.
Second-Round Notes & Quotes:
-- Friday weather: Cloudy in the morning and sunny in the afternoon. Winds SE 10-20 mph. High of 81.
-- Saturday’s third-round play will be in threesomes off the 1st and 10th tees from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Tee times were moved up in anticipation of possible afternoon storms.
-- A total of 69 players made the 36-hole cut, which came at 2-under-par 140. Last year’s cut was at 4-under par.
-- Byron Smith had a hole-in-one at the 191-yard, 6th hole. Smith used a 7-iron for his third career ace.
“When I say three, I’m counting the one I made when I was 10,” he said proudly. “I had too much club for that back pin today. I couldn’t tell if I airmailed the green but then there was hootin’ and hollerin’ by the fans up there. I was really relieved because that thing needed to sit from the get-go. If that ball hit the ground it was gone.”
Smith fired a 5-under 66 and stands 7-under (T11) through 36 holes.
-- Rookie Chesson Hadley chalked up nine birdies during his second-round 65. Hadley is 6-under after two rounds and T13 heading into round three.
-- Aaron Goldberg’s 8-under 63 is the best round of the tournament thus far. Goldberg was bogey-free on Friday and is T13. His 63 matched his second-best effort on Tour (2011 Cox Classic/R1). Goldberg’s career-low is a 9-under 62 in the opening round of the 2012 Cox Classic in Omaha, Neb.
-- Jason Gore (Nos. 1, 5) and John Hurley (Nos. 5, 12) both had a pair of eagles during their second round.
-- Fan favorite John Daly birdied the final hole for a 2-over 73 and wound up missing the cut by one stroke. Daly closed his front nine with four birdies in five holes and was 7-under at the turn.
 After a par at No. 10, he gave seven shots back to par over the next four holes.
“It’s kind of a shock thing, really,” he said. “Next thing you know, a triple and a double and I really didn’t miss any golf balls. I’m hitting the ball so good though. I just didn’t make a lot of putts. I can get over triples and doubles but when you putt as bad as I did today that makes it tough.”
Daly finished with 32 putts on his round.
“I hung in there,” he said. “It’s just the funk that I’m in and like I’ve said, if there were 14 holes on every golf course I would have won a lot of golf tournaments.”
-- Michael Smith fired a 6-under 30 on the front nine Friday. He finished with a 6-under 66 but missed the cut.
-- Monday qualifier John Hurley of Texas A&M had a pair of eagles Friday en route to a 4-under 67. Hurley finished at 2-under 140 to make the 36-hole cut on the number – his first career cut in four total starts.
It’s been a wild week for the 25-year-old, who got married in Spring, Texas (near Houston) last Saturday. He then drove 3 ½ hours Sunday night and teed it up in the open qualifier at The Wetlands course. Hurley fired a 67 on a course he’d never seen before and gained a spot in this week’s event, his first start of the 2013 season.
Hurley’s wife, Lyndsey, is a second-grade school teacher who was back at work this week after the couple’s spring break wedding and will be headed to Lafayette to see her husband play.
“I’m playing in Brazil in two weeks,” said Hurley. “That’s going to be the honeymoon.”
-- The Le Triomphe CC course seems to hold some magic for two-time Chitimacha Louisiana Open winner Brett Wetterich, who moved into contention with a 5-under 66 Friday morning. Wetterich, who won here in 2003 and 2011, is now 8-under and tied for sixth place.
“I don’t know what happens,” he said of his stellar play in Lafayette. “I’m happy to be here. The course fits my eye better than anywhere else. I’ve met a lot of good people here. It’s almost like being at home except for the sleeping in a hotel room.”
Confidence seems to be the key for Wetterich, who is making his first start of the 2013 season.
“I didn’t feel great when I got here. Monday I hit balls and Tuesday I told my caddie that I just didn’t feel good about it,” he said. “Then Wednesday it got a little better and Thursday I played good. It’s just getting better each day.”
-- The Le Triomphe CC course seems to hold some magic for two-time Chitimacha Louisiana Open winner Brett Wetterich, who moved into contention with a 5-under 66 Friday morning. Wetterich, who won here in 2003 and 2011, is now 8-under and tied for sixth place.
“I don’t know what happens,” he said of his stellar play in Lafayette. “I’m happy to be here. The course fits my eye better than anywhere else. I’ve met a lot of good people here. It’s almost like being at home except for the sleeping in a hotel room.”
Confidence seems to be the key for Wetterich, who is making his first start of the 2013 season.
“I didn’t feel great when I got here. Monday I hit balls and Tuesday I told my caddie that I just didn’t feel good about it,” he said. “Then Wednesday it got a little better and Thursday I played good. It’s just getting better each day.”
-- Wetterich is in position to become the first player in Web.com Tour history to win the same event three times. He is one of 12 players who have won the same tournament twice.

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ROSE AND HAAS SHARE LEAD AFTER WOODS' LATE NOSEDIVE IN ARNOLD PALMER INVITATIONAL

FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE ORLANDO, Florida -- Bill Haas wanted to atone for the way he finished his opening round. He did that and more Friday and was tied for the lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.
That sure wasn't the case for Tiger Woods.


One shot out of the lead with three holes to play, Woods closed with three sloppy bogeys to fall four shots behind going into the weekend. That makes the chore a little more difficult in his bid to defend his title at Bay Hill and return to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings.
"The good news is we've got 36 holes to go," Woods said. "We've got a long way to go. And certainly four shots can be made up."
Haas not only kept bogeys off his card, his longest putt for par was no more than 4 feet in a clean round of 6-under 66. He was tied with Justin Rose, who was poised to take the outright lead until he was fooled by the speed of the greens after late afternoon showers and finished with a three-putt bogey for a 70.
They were at 9-under 135, one shot ahead of John Huh, who had a 69.
The finishing holes have proved pivotal in the opening two rounds. Haas was challenging for the lead on Thursday when he flew his tee shot into the back bunker on the par-3 17th and had to two-putt from 40 feet for bogey. Then, he three-putted from 8 feet on the 18th hole for bogey to ruin his day.
"So to leave, basically giving two away, my goal today was try to get those two back and go from there," Haas said. "That was kind of my mindset today, and then I was able to keep it going."
Rose went eagle-birdie on the 16th and 17th holes that sent him on his way to an opening 65, and he regained the lead Friday with a 4-iron just off the fringe for a simple birdie on the 16th. But after a burst of rain, he thought the green might be slower than it was on his 25-foot birdie try at the closing hole. He ran it 5 feet by the hole, and missed it coming back.
"But that was the only thing that hampered the day, really," Rose said. "All in all, exciting day and I'm in a good position."
Woods hit the ball better in the second round and had to settle for a higher score, all because of his finish.
He had about 210 yards from a fairway bunker on the par-5 16th and caught it heavy, slamming the sand with the back of his club even before the ball took one hop and tumbled into the creek short of the green. He pitched up to 25 feet and took bogey. Then, he turned over his tee shot on the 17th and wound up in the rough well behind the green, and his chip went all the way through the green.
Woods followed that with a tee shot into the right rough that forced him to play short of the water, and he hit a poor chip to about 30 feet. He missed that for a 70.
"I've made my share of mistakes on the last few holes the last couple of days, and I need to clean that up," said Woods, who made bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes on Thursday in the middle of his round.
That closing stretch wasn't the only thing that held him back. Woods missed a birdie putt inside 3 feet on the par-3 second hole. He missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-4 fourth hole and he tried to jam in a 3-foot birdie putt on the 12th that caught the lip and stayed out.
"He's normally a fast finisher, and you can expect him to probably finish fast on the weekend," Rose said. "He did a lot of hard work today. He actually played really well. I thought he was probably a couple of shots away from shooting 64 today at times. I'm sure he was very disappointed because he actually played some great golf today."
Sixteen players were separated by five shots going into the weekend, and the question was how much fire the downpour at the conclusion of Friday would take out of Bay Hill.
Ken Duke (68), J.J. Henry (67) and Jim Walker (69) were at 6-under 138. Woods was right behind, along with Mark Wilson and Vijay Singh, who each shot 68. Rickie Fowler had a 67 and joined the large group at 4-under 140.
Rose wasn't just fooled by the speed of the green on the 18th hole. He also had a spectator get in his head over a 15-foot birdie attempt on the 13th. The putt narrowly missed and Rose spun around and pointed his finger at the noisy spectator. It wasn't about heckling, rather advice.
"I was reading the putt thinking ... `Might go a little bit right-to-left of the hole. Fairly straight overall.' And as I'm lining it up, someone is like, `It goes right. It goes right. It goes right.' So I'm like, `OK, thanks, buddy,'" Rose said.
 "It's just one of those annoying moments where you're having to then battle someone who planted a seed. And I hit a great putt that's in the middle with 4 feet to go and it goes left of the hole."
He smiled when he finished the story. After all, he was still tied for the lead. 
Among the big names who missed the cut - 147 and better qualified for the weekend action - were Major winners Ernie Els (150) and Phil Mickelson (152)

HALFWAY LEADERBOARD
Par 144 (2x72)
Players from USA unless stated
135 Justin Rose (England) 65 70, Bill Haas 69 66
136 John Huh 67 69
138 Ken Duke 70 68, J J Henry 71 67, Jimmy Walker 69 69
139 Mark Wilson 71 68, Vijay Singh (Fiji) 71 68, Tiger Woods 69 70.

SELECTED SCORES
140 Gonzalo Fernando-Castano (Spain) 69 71 (T10)
141 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 72 69, Ian Poulter (England) 72 69
142 Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 69 72, Retief Goosen (South Africa) 73 69 (T21)
146 Lee Westwood (England) 71 75, Graeme McDowell (N Ireland) 72 745 (T57)
147 Martin Laird (Scotland) 74 73, Greg Owen (England) 74 73 (T70)

MISSED THE CUT (147 and better qualified)
149 Brian Davis (England) 76 73
150 Ernie Els (South Africa) 75 75, Ross Fisher (England) 75 75
151 David Lynn (England) 73 78.
152 Phil Mickelson 73 79

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LUKE DONALD MISSES CUT IN MALAYSIAN OPEN


NEWS RELEASE FROM ASIAN TOUR
Kuala Lumpur, March 23: Thai rising star Kiradech Aphibarnrat is in position of erasing his defeat at the Maybank Malaysian Open three years ago when he pulled two shots clear with a four-under-par 68 in the second round on Saturday.
 
The big-hitting Thai known for his grip-it and rip-it style of golf which somewhat mirrors John Daly’s game, returned this morning to finish the second round after play was abandoned on Friday.
 
The halfway cut was set an even-par 144 with 73 players making the cut. World number three Luke Donald of England will not feature in the last two rounds after shooting a three-over-par 147.
 
Kiradech made eight straight pars when play was resumed at 7.45am at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club but kept a cool head on a rather steamy morning. He was rewarded for his patience with a birdie on 18 after hitting an exquisite approach to three feet.
 
“I enjoyed my game. I had to cool myself down out there because I only had my first birdie of the day on the last hole. It was a good finish. I tried to stay calm out there because of the heat. I need to save my energy,” said the 23-year-old, who totalled 11-under-par 133.
 
He holds a two-shot lead over former Masters Tournament winner Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, Wade Ormsby of Australia, Gregory Bourdy of France and China’s Wu Ashun at the US$2.75 million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.
 
The memory of finishing third in 2010 after going into the last day as the joint leader is still fresh in his mind but Kiradech says he is more experienced now to seal the deal for a second Asian Tour win since 2011.
 
“I was very excited three years ago but I’ve learned a lot since then. I’m much older now and I learned a lot on the Asian Tour. I hope to finish better than 2010,” said Kiradech, who qualified for his first Open Championship debut through the International Final Qualifying – Asia earlier this month.
 
“I’ve been playing very well since the start of the year and my game has stayed up there. My iron and approach shots are better compared to last time. My driver isn’t working as well as I would like it to be so hopefully it will work in the last two days.”
 
The penultimate round will start at 1.15pm with the leading flight going off at 3.05pm which gives Kiradech time to rest and preserve energy. “I want to go back to the hotel and rest, take a shower and relax to save energy.”

In the steamy, strength-sapping temperatures (up in the 30s), World Number Three Luke Donald could only add a 73 to his opening 74 and on three over missed the cut by three shots.
It was the first cut in a regular European Tour event he had ever missed but he is not concerned this has damaged his prospects for next month’s Masters Tournament.
The Englishman was uncharacteristically out of form with the putter.
With the Masters Tournament just under three weeks away though, Donald is confident he can sharpen up in time as he goes in search of his first Major title.
“I’ve got a couple of weeks off to get ready for Augusta and I’ll obviously be very diligent in my preparation,” said the 35 year old. “I would have loved to go back home in form, but in golf you just never know.
“We’ve seen it many times before when people go into tournaments with very little form and win – including Majors. So you just have to keep plugging and hope it’s your turn.
“The greens here are very different from what I play on. They are a little slower than what I’m used to and I just didn’t adjust or adapt to them.
“I just couldn’t read them for the life of me. I’d think it was right to left and it went the other way. I got John (his caddie) to read a few too and we were seeing the same things.”
The two-time BMW PGA Championship winner is renowned for his brilliant short game, but he admits it needs a little work before he heads to Augusta National for the first Major of the season.
“The usual scoring clubs for me – from 100 yards and in – weren’t good enough,” Donald added. “It’s been a little bit that way the last few tournaments, but it’s something that never really worries me because I know they are my strengths.
“Tee to green I wasn’t that far off. But it’s the first time I’ve missed the cut in a regular European Tour event since I’ve been a pro. So I’m very disappointed for myself and disappointed for the fans who have come out to watch me.
“It would have been nice to play a couple more rounds and shown them a few birdies, which were few and far between this week unfortunately.”
SECOND ROUND COMPLETED
Par 144 (2x72) Yardage 6967 
133 - Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA) 65-68.
135 - WU Ashun (CHN) 67-68, Charl SCHWARTZEL (RSA) 67-68, Wade ORMSBY (AUS) 70-65, Gregory BOURDY (FRA) 66-69.
136 - Tommy FLEETWOOD (ENG) 70-66, Victor DUBUISSON (FRA) 67-69.
137 - S. Murthy (MAS) 67-70, Padraig HARRINGTON (IRL) 69-68, David HOWELL (ENG) 69-68, Edoardo MOLINARI (ITA) 66-71, Alexander NOREN (SWE) 69-68, Peter LAWRIE (IRL) 68-69.
138 - LIANG Wen-chong (CHN) 70-68, Scott JAMIESON (SCO) 66-72, Lee SLATTERY (ENG) 68-70, LEE Sung (KOR) 68-70, Mark FOSTER (ENG) 69-69.
139 - Rafa CABRERA-BELLO (ESP) 72-67, Pablo LARRAZABAL (ESP) 69-70, Prom MEESAWAT (THA) 68-71, Alastair FORSYTH (SCO) 69-70, Joonas GRANBERG (FIN) 71-68, Anders HANSEN (DEN) 66-73, Simon KHAN (ENG) 71-68.
140 - Matteo MANASSERO (ITA) 69-71, Bernd WIESBERGER (AUT) 71-69, Raphael JACQUELIN (FRA) 70-70, Jean GONNET (FRA) 70-70, Mikko ILONEN (FIN) 70-70, Joost LUITEN (NED) 69-71.
SELECTED SCORE
144 Stephen Gallacher (Scotland) 71 73 (T56)

MISSED THE CUT (144 and better qualified)
147 Luke Donald (England) 74 73, Simon Dyson (England) 75 72 (T90)
151 David Drysdale (Scotland) 79 72 (T127)    

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