MARTIN LAIRD PENALISED A SHOT FOR TOUCHING BALL AND NOT TELLING REFEREE OR PARTNER

FROM THE BBC SPORT WEBSITE
By Keir Murray BBC Sport Scotland at Muirfield
Martin Laird was left "deflated" after incurring a one-stroke penalty for a rule infringement during an already forgettable third round of the Open. The 30-year-old Scot was within a shot of the lead after two holes, but carded a 9 at Muirfield's par-four third.
Seven holes later, he did not declare loudly enough his intention to touch his ball to identify it in the rough.
Laird, the world number 49, said of his penalty: "I don't even think 'rubbing salt in the wounds' would describe it."
Based in Arizona and chasing his first major, Laird moved to within a stroke of leader Miguel Angel Jimenez with a birdie at Muirfield's second hole.
But a disastrous five-over-par 9 at the next greatly damaged his chances of lifting the Claret Jug.
On the par-four 10th, he found the rough twice in succession and, on the second occasion, did not tell playing partner Dustin Johnson or the referee he was going to touch his ball to identify it.
Laird is adamant he told the ball-spotter, but that is not enough under the rules.
He said: "If I had said, 'Dustin, just went down to find my ball,' or, 'Rules official, I'm going to identify my ball', loud enough for one of them to hear, it would have been fine.
"It's the fact that none of them heard it, even though I said it.
"A spotter said to me, 'There's a ball here. I'm not sure if it's yours'.
"I said, 'I'm going to identify it'. I put the tee in the ground [to mark it] and didn't even lift my ball, just moved it a quarter roll to see the number.
"At the time I was thinking more about the golf shot I had coming up than about the ruling. It's one of those lovely rules of golf."
David Rickman, the R and A director of rules, explained the decision to turn Laird's bogey 5 into a 6.
He said: "Martin hit his tee shot in the rough. He then looked to identify it by gently parting the grass on that occasion. That was fine.
"He then hit a second shot which stayed in the rough. On that second occasion he marked the position of the ball and touched it and moved it ever so slightly."
Laird breached rule 12-2  by not informing Johnson, though he could also have told the referee or observer assigned to the group.
The Scot was further aggrieved by the referee's decision to tell him of the infringement and penalty on the 16th hole.
"That pretty much deflated me walking down that hole and I bogeyed 16 and double bogeyed 17," he said.
"I explained the situation, I talked to the head rules official. It's just one of those unfortunate things."
Laird's third-round 81 leaves him on nine-over par and 12 shots off the lead.
Stephen Gallacher began the day on four over and was going steadily at the turn, which he reached in par 36.
However, the 38-year-old Kingsfield pro's round fell apart in the closing stages as he dropped six shots in the last six holes.
He is now nine over par and alongside Richie Ramsay , who went round in 72.
"You've just got to be so patient out there," said the 30-year-old from Aberdeen.
"If you're not, it will chew you up and spit you out."
Sandy Lyle , the 1985 Open winner from Balquhidder, endured a rough afternoon.
The 55-year-old's scorecard was blighted by five bogeys and a brace of double bogeys as he racked up an 80 to leave him on 15 over along with the early pacesetter Shiv Kapur of India. 
+Several players were warned about slow play and put on the clock during the third round. But only one, Japanese Hideki Matsuyama, was penalised a shot. He finished with a 72 for 216 - six shots off the lead

LEE WESTWOOD LOOKS THE PART AS OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By OLIVER BROWN 
As if to mark his recent transplanting to the United States, Lee Westwood has taken to wearing a pair of trendy wraparound sunglasses that somehow imbue him with a look of greater purpose, with an extra dose of acquired Yankee swagger.

In one address to the press here he did not even deign to take them off. The same form prevails on the course: down the fairways he struts, with the barrel-chested comportment of a drill sergeant, trying assiduously to maintain his inscrutability behind the shades.

Seldom has Westwood looked so serene at such a critical juncture. Chatting animatedly with caddie Mike Kerr, and acknowledging the crowd’s reactions generously even after a mistake, he looked far removed from the tense and smouldering figure he can become when events do not fall his way. For the celebration of his eagle at the fifth, he obliged with an arched fist-clenching pose of which Bruce Forsyth would have been proud.

Encouragingly, his usual drolerie remained intact, too. Asked if he felt he was in a high-pressure situation, as he headed for a restorative supper, he replied: “No. I’m so good with a knife and fork now, that I don’t feel any pressure at all.”

To settle his racing mind, he also jested that he would choose Andy Murray’s favourite dinner of champions: 30 pieces of sushi. Let us not forget that for Westwood, facing nothing less than the round of his life on Sunday, so much of the battle is waged in the mind. 
He has been distressed by his tag as the only man ever to have finished in the top three at all four majors and never won, neglecting to close out several fine chances – not least at Turnberry in 2009, when he three-putted the final green.

An element of that trepidation still lingers, as illustrated by his careless bogey at Muirfield’s short 16th to lose his grip on the lead. Fear and Lothian, one might say.

Related Articles-------------------------------------------

• McIlroy rejects help to solve mental issues
  20 Jul 2013
• Mickelson clings to title hopes
  20 Jul 2013
• Silver Medal battle hots up
  20 Jul 2013
• Mahan shooting for redemption
  20 Jul 2013
• R&A deny price is putting fans off
  20 Jul 2013
• ---------------------------------------------------------- 

No wonder, given Westwood had Tiger Woods to suppress for his afternoon’s work. The two of them are on amicable terms, or at least as cordial as Woods enjoys with any rival, but in the Muirfield crucible barely a word was exchanged as each closed within sight of the prize. 
The Englishman cut a curious figure in his fluorescent orange top and ice-white strides – resisting any repeat of the first-day lemon shade, when Ian Poulter likened him to a tennis ball – and passages of his play today, as he vaulted to the front, were suitably luminous.
The goodwill for him to correct such a record in this, his 62nd major, is palpable. Cries of 'C’mon Lee!’ echoed across the links as he mounted the first tee to face Woods, who took a mouthful of water and promptly spat it out all over the grass. 
Settling his nerves with an arrow-straight first drive, Westwood had to wait until the par-five fifth for his breakthrough, the signature moment of his round. Putting from off the green, he set the ball rolling at a fair clip and duly detonated a thunderclap of noise from the galleries as it darted into the centre of the cup.
Better still for his mood, Woods was wobbling. Just as Westwood conjured his flourish, the world No 1 dropped a stroke at the same hole, gifting his Worksop companion a five-shot swing in the space of four holes. 
As ever with Westwood, though, the anxieties concerned his putter. He had looked serene on the greens all week, thanks to remedial sessions from former Open champion Ian Baker-Finch, but old deficiencies threatened to return as the pressure mounted.
First he was too bold, too wide with an attempted lag-putt at the eighth, missing his six-footer coming back. The same lack of judgment of pace caused his lapse at the long ninth, where he again leaked his par putt as Woods tidied up a straightforward birdie. Was this a repeat of the same film, with Westwood’s silky long game sabotaged by the putting yips, that we had seen so many times before?
Negative. When the duel was drawn, Westwood and Woods trading blows at the summit, it was the older man who retained his composure. Westwood has received numerous unwelcome reminders of the declining likelihood of winning a first major in one’s fifth decade – he turned 40 in April – but he has refused to lose faith. 
After all, Darren Clarke, his great friend and stablemate at Chubby Chandler’s management company, took home the Claret Jug at 43. And Mark O’Meara grasped not one but two major crowns with his Masters and Open triumphs in 1998, aged 41.
There was even a satisfied twirl of an iron when Westwood let fly with his glorious approach to the 14th, draining the ensuing 10-footer for a birdie that restored full ownership of the lead. He sought to alleviate some of the tension as he exchanged the odd pleasantry with Woods on their fairway walks, but his accomplice would not relent. 
Woods had pressing priorities of his own as he hunted down a 15th major crown to arrest a five-year hiatus without one, and was relentless in keeping Westwood honest on the closing stretch.
It was not enough, though. When Woods put his second shot at the 17th into the cross-bunkers he held his club above his head in exasperation, as if he recognised that Westwood, in this form and oddly Zen-like state, would surely be primed to take the fullest advantage. He was right. 
As Westwood finally removed his shades after the smoothest of pars at the last, there was no mistaking the tunnel vision. Behind the wisecracks and the Brucie impressions, the eyes had it.

 

2

0

2

CURRIE HOT STUFF IN MONTROSE PRO-AM WIN

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Caldwell Golf Club tour pro Christopher Currie won first prize of £1,191 in today's Petrofac Montrose Links pro-am with a very good round of seven-under-par 64.
Currie, one of the busiest players on the Tartan Tour, was scoring his fourth win of the month. Highlight of his halves of 34-30 was an eagle 3 at the long sixth. He birdied the fourth, fifth, 10th, 11th, short 12th, 13th, long 15th and 18th.
His two bogeys came at the short third and 17th.
He won by two shots from joint runners-up Chris Kelly (Cawder) and Aberdeen-based Greg McBain (Gamola Golf) on the 66 mark. They both earned £834. Kelly had a double bogey 6 at the 11th but had eight birdies in halves of 33.
McBain, who had seven birdies, led the Petrofac Juniors amateur trio of Rhys Bailey (handicap 18), Sean Logue (18) and Aiden Spark (15) to victory in the pro-am team event with a net total of 21-under-par 121. Two other teams, who had Chris Kelly and Paul McKechnie, also totalled 121 but McBain's team won on a card countback.

LEADING PRO SCORES
Par 71
64 Christopher Currie (Caldwell) £1,191
66 Chris Kelly (Cawder), Greg McBain (Gamola Golf) £834 each
69 Christopher McMaster (Panmure), Alan Tait (Marriott Dalmahoy), Greig Hutcheon (Banchory), Stephen Gray (Hayston), Scott Henderson (Kings Links), Paul McKechnie (Braid Hills), David Patrick (Kingsfield), Graham Fox (Clydeway Golf), Nikki Christie (Carnoustie Links) £282 each.
70 Neil Fenwick (Dunbar), Euan Cameron (Turnberry Hotel) £136 each
71 Fraser Mann (Musselburgh), Calum Lawson (Wellsgreen), James McGhee (unatt) £107 each
72 Graeme Brown (Montrose Links), Heather MacRae (Gleneagles Hotel), Jason McCreadie (Buchanan Castle) £38 each
73 Stuart McEwing (Montrose Links), Lee Vannet (Carnoustie Links), Mark Kerr (Marriott Dalmahoy), Craig Matheson (Falkirk Tryst).
75 Craig Ronald (Carluke), Ross MacLeod (Clydeway Golf), Alan Fleming (North Highland College).
77 Gavin Cook (Prestonfield), James McKinnon (Irvine), Grant Smith (Gleneagles Hotel)
79 Joel Hopwood (Royal Aberdeen).
80 Brian Mason (Callaway Golf)
82 Michael Mackenzie (Edzell).

JAMES BYRNE CONQUEROR MOVES INTO SHARE OF CHALLENGE TOUR LEAD

CHALLENGE TOUR REPORT

FROM EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

South Korea’s Jin Jeong, who at Muirfield in 2010 became the first Asian golfer to win the Amateur Championship, overcame an eight shot deficit to move into a share of the lead with Norway’s Knut Borsheim heading into the final round of the Mugello Tuscany Open on the Challenge Tour. 

Jeong shot an eight under par 63 to the Borsheim’s  71 at the UNA Poggio dei Medici Golf Club near Florence, Italy, to lead the field on 15 under par. England’s Lloyd Kennedy birdied the last for a 66 to lie third, three shots back.

Jeong won the Amateur Championship over the famous East Lothian links three years ago, beating James Byrne in the final, before going on to win the Silver Medal as leading amateur in The Open at St Andrews where he finished tied 14^th. Inspired by the memories of his Muirfield victory as he watches this week’s Open Championship unfold from afar, Jeong tore through the field with an eagles and seven birdies in Italy. 

Playing only his second Challenge Tour event of the season after missing out on a European Tour card through last year’s Qualifying School, the Melbourne-based 23 year old’s bogey on the first acted as a “wake-up call”.

From there he didn’t put a foot wrong, eagling the third from ten feet after finding the heart of the green on the 536 yard par five with a five wood. Three more birdies followed in a front nine of 31 before another four birdies, including two to finish, brought him home in 32. 

That looked good enough to take the lead until Borsheim holed a 50 foot eagle putt on the final green to join him on 15 under par.

“It worked pretty well today,” said Jeong, who needed only 22 putts. “I saw after nine holes I had closed the gap and knew if I could keep it going I would be close to the lead. 

“It could be an important day for me tomorrow to try and secure more starts and hopefully I won’t drop my concentration and you never know.”

Borsheim led from the outset after following his opening 62 with a 65 for the lowest 36 hole total of the season but his three shot lead on the field disappeared when he lost a ball on the fourth en route to a double bogey six and then dropped two more shots over the next two holes. 

But the 26 year old regrouped on the back nine, picking up two birdies and his spectacular eagle on last to be round in level par. 

“I was pretty solid other than those three holes where I ran into trouble,” he said. “They are tough holes and you have to hit the fairway. I just need to try and get it going as I did for the first two days.”

Borsheim grew up playing amateur golf with last year’s Challenge Tour Number One Espen Kofstad and that will no doubt help him in his quest to follow him onto The European Tour. He said: “It’s nice to see Espen do well, and it gives you the feeling you can do well too.”

Andrew McArthur from Glasgow shot a 65, one of the day's best third-round scores to move into a share of fourth place on 202, four shots off the pace. Edinburgh's Raymond Russell also had a 65 and is on 207.

THIRD ROUND TOTALS

Par 213 (3x71)  

198 K Borsheim  (Nor) 62 65 71, J Jeong (Kor) 65 70 63

201 L Kennedy  (Eng) 69 67 65

202 A McArthur  (Sco) 66 71 65, M Crespi  (Ita) 72 64 66

203 P Archer (Eng) 66 68 69, F De Vries  (Ned) 66 64 73

204 K Ferrie (Eng) 68 70 66, J McLeary  (Sco) 66 68 70, A Otaegui  (Esp) 66 69 69, J Lima  (Por) 70 68 66, L Goddard  (Eng) 71 69 64

205 J Lando Casanova  (Fra) 70 67 68, D Frittelli (RSA) 65 69 71,

206 R Steiner (Aut) 71 67 68

207 A Saddier (Fra) 65 72 70, J Gibb (Eng) 70 66 71, F Bergamaschi (Ita) 71 69 67, J Guerrier  (Fra) 67 71 69, R Russell (Sco) 74 68 65, A Bernadet  (Fra) 70 69 68, R Kakko  (Fin) 67 68 72, G Stal  (Fra) 70 66 71, A Pavan (Ita) 68 69 70, N Lemke (Swe) 73 66 68, G De Filippi (am) (Ita) 69 69 69

208 S Walker (Eng) 69 68 71, J Barnes (Eng) 73 68 67, B Paolini (USA) 68 71 69, T Pieters  (Bel) 70 65 73

209 N Kearney (Irl) 72 70 67, S Manley (Wal) 70 70 69, B Chapellan (Fra) 72 68 69, J Pastor Lopez (Esp) 73 69 67, D Im (USA) 70 72 67, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 69 72 68

210 O Farr (Wal) 70 72 68, N Meitinger  (Ger) 69 70 71, A Domingo (Esp) 71 66 73, D Palm (Swe) 69 69 72, M Rominger  (Sui) 70 67 73, W Roebuck (Eng) 67 71 72, S Kim (SKor) 72 65 73,

211 S Arnold  (Aus) 74 67 70, W Besseling  (Ned) 70 71 70, A Maestroni  (Ita) 70 69 72, E Di Nitto (am) (Ita) 69 72 70

212 L Bjerregaard  (Den) 71 70 71, C Ford (Eng) 75 66 71, N Elvira  (Esp) 73 68 71, O Rozner  (Fra) 67 75 70

213 E Dubois (Fra) 72 70 71, H Santos  (Por) 71 71 71, O Wilson (Eng) 70 70 73, D Brooks (Eng) 70 68 75, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 71 70 72, J Huldahl (Den) 70 72 71, F Praegant (Aut) 73 69 71, A Rota (Ita) 64 76 73

214 D Perrier (Fra) 69 73 72, P Ricci (Ita) 72 68 74, P Oriol (Esp) 68 74 72, C Pigem (Esp) 72 70 72, C Kim (USA) 69 72 73, D Griffiths  (Eng) 69 72 73

215 G Molteni (Ita) 75 67 73, J Doherty  (Sco) 70 72 73, J Abbott (Eng) 69 70 76

216 T Remkes (Ned) 70 71 75

220 O Lieser (Cze) 69 72 79, N Quintarelli (Ita) 68 73 79

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS

LEE WESTWOODS LEAD BY TWO INTO FINAL ROUND OF OPEN

THIRD ROUND LEADERBOARD AT MUIRFIELD

Par 213 (3x71)
210 Lee Westwood (England) 72 68 70
212 Hunter Mahan (US) 72 72 68, Tiger Woods (US) 69 71 72
213 Adam Scott (Australia) 71 72 70
214 Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 69 72 73, Ryan Moore (US) 72 70 72, Zach Johnson (US) 66 75 73, Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 70 70 74
215 Phil Mickelson(US) 69 74 72.
216 Francesco Molinari (Italy) 75 73 68, Jamie Donaldson (Wales) 74 71 71, Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) 71 73 72, Jason Day (Australia) 73 71 72, Dustin Johnson (Australia) 68 72 76, Miguel A Jimenez (Spain) 68 71 77, Sergio Garcia (Spain) 75 73 68, Brandt Snedeker (US) 68 79 69. 

SELECTED SCORES
218 Ernie Els (S Africa) 74 74 70, Ian Poulter (England) 72 71 75, Richard Sterne (S Africa) 75 75 68 (T19)
219 Shingo Katayama (Japan) 73 77 69, Keegan Bradley (US) 75 74 70, Darren Clarke (Northern Ireland) 72 71 76 (T25)
220 Carl Petterson (sweden) 74 76 70, Todd Hamilton (US) 68 81 70, Paul Lawrie (Scotland) 81 69 70, Bud Cauley (US) 74 75 71
221 Boo Weekley (US) 74 76 71
222 Richie Ramsay (Scotland) 76 74 72, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 70 79 73, Fred Couples (US) 75 74 73. Mark O'Meara (US) 67 78 77, Martin Laird (Scotland) 70 71 81 (T51)
224 Gareth Wright (Wales) 71 78 75

TO VIEW ALL THE THIRD-ROUND TOTALS

CLICK HERE

RORY IS IN WORST FORM SINCE HE TURNED PRO SIX YEARS AGO

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By JONATHON LIEW AT MUIRFIELD

Out-of-sorts Rory McIlroy bowed out of the Open at Muirfield on Friday after another nightmare round of 75 left him marooned on 12-over par 154 - his worst 36-hole score in a major.

Rory McIlroy tossed away his putter and walked off the green with a void, faraway look in his eyes. Perhaps he was making plans for the weekend.

He absent-mindedly shook hands with his playing partners, Phil Mickelson and Hideki Matsuyama, and disappeared into the recorder’s hut to submit a scorecard so grisly it was practically bloodstained.

The grim numbers: 75 on Friday, 154 for the tournament, 12 over par. Home time.

This was his worst 36-hole score in a major, beating the 152 he carded at Pebble Beach in the US Open three years ago.

If he thought he had hit rock bottom in March when he walked away from the Honda Classic, or three weeks ago when he left the Irish Open with 13 clubs and two halves, then he was wrong.
 Since he turned professional six years ago, McIlroy has never been playing golf as badly as this.

At times during these dreadful two days, he has posed an interesting metaphysical question: how can a man simultaneously be there and yet so patently not there?
“Keep the faith, Rory,” one fan shouted on the 10th fairway. Normally McIlroy responds to such entreaties with a smile or a nod. This time, such was his fug of introspection that he heard nothing.
“Yeah, it was a bit like a sympathy out there,” he said with a smile. “Obviously they were willing me to play well. It’s disappointing not to be here for the weekend. It’s good to play in front of these crowds.”
For all the amateur psychology and quick fixes being peddled by the more seasoned voices in the game, the uniqueness of McIlroy defies easy diagnosis.
Such is his easy sense of humour, his evident bewilderment at the malaise afflicting him, that it is hard to know whether to give him a hug or a slap.
This tournament does not by itself spell disaster. Every other golfer has had bad shots, bad days, bad years. But the miracle of McIlroy is that he is not any other golfer.
When he first emerged as a grinning teenager, he emerged fully-formed, ready and destined to rule the game for a decade or more.
This may yet come to pass. But the turbulence of the past few months has left him concussed. It is not just the swing, not just the clubs, not just the pressure, not just the girl. It is all of them in tandem.
McIlroy looks like a young man whose world has been spinning so violently that he scarcely knows which way is north any more.
He scarcely appeared to know where the fairway was any more. McIlroy hit just eight out of 28 fairways during his two rounds. Only David Duval and Scott Piercy in the entire 153-man field hit fewer. That is a quite stunning failure to adhere to one most sacrosanct tenets of links golf.
Bear in mind, too, that at most holes he was taking long irons off the tee.
He missed left, he missed right. Sometimes both on the same hole. Every time, he would bring his club head to the ground with a thud, pull the peak of his cap a little further over his eyes and hand the club back to his caddie with drooping shoulders. Golf is an awfully lonely game when played from the rough.
Around the turn, he appeared to perk up a little. With nothing to lose and nothing to gain, he could simply play. He dusted off his driver and gave it a few airings.
Two birdies in the last four holes at least sparing him the ignominious prospect of being beaten by Sir Nick Faldo, an occasional critic of his.
“I still wanted to get something out of those last 10 holes,” he said. “And I hit some good drives out there. By the looks of it I should have probably hit with the driver everywhere this week. It might have done me better.”
McIlroy was not the only Briton to crash and burn on Muirfield’s glassy knolls. Justin Rose and Luke Donald also failed to make the cut, neither player able to locate any sort of consistency over the two days. Rose finished on 10-over in his first tournament since Merion.
Donald’s challenge, meanwhile, could already have been given up as a bad job after his 80 on Thursday. But he rallied a little on Friday; after beginning with two birdies in three holes, he faded on the back nine to finish with a 72, 10-over for the tournament.
But while their dejection was manifest, they could scarcely hold a candle to McIlroy, who now enjoys nine days off before his next appointment in Akron, Ohio.
Nine days to sort out his game and his brain. Nine days to relax, to ruminate, to wonder what can possibly have happened to him.

POULTER PLEA FOR SOME SENSIBLE PIN POSITIONS FOR WEEKEND ROUNDS

FROM THE SKY SPORTS.COM WEBSITE

Ian Poulter has again led the calls for Open organisers to be "sensible" with their set-up of a fearsome Muirfield layout over the weekend.

Poulter was the only player in the field to avoid dropping a shot on the back-nine in brutal conditions in the second round, and the Englishman's level-par 71 was one of the top 20 scores of the day.
Several elite players came to grief on the greens on the back-nine, with Phil Mickelson four-putting the 16th and Brandt Snedeker - regarded as one of the best putters in the world, also taking four putts at the 15th.
Nicolas Colsaerts ran up a horrific nine at the 15th after taking no fewer than six putts from the fringe, and the likes of Poulter, defending champion Ernie Els and Mickelson have called for cautious pin placements for the weekend.
"It is hard to get it close to any of those pins," said Poulter, who described some of the pin positions in the opening round as "a joke".
"When the ball is running as fast as it's running and as firm as the fairways are short of the greens it's really difficult to predict how far the ball is going to roll.

"The R&A can't soften the golf course up too much but we just need some sensible pins and it will be playable."
Ian Poulter

"We can all play this golf course when the pin locations are in places where you're not going to get called out for hitting a good putt for 20 feet. Today I think there was only one, probably 15, that was very dicey.
"I managed to two-putt it, so I'm over the moon but Billy Horschel hit a putt from 15 feet and it rolled 15ft past. It's brutally difficult to get it anywhere near a range where you feel comfortable having a go at a putt from 15, 20, 40ft.
"The R and A can't soften the golf course up too much but we just need some sensible pins and it will be playable."
Mickelson claimed some of the greens were "faster than Augusta," and added: "Augusta is 14.5 on the stimp and these were well into the 15 in spots and the 16th was one of them."
Els singled out 14 and 15 which, in his opinion, needed slowing up.
"Water - and you don't have to cut them," he said. "Fourteen and 15 are really getting out of hand. It's not very playable."
And Snedeker, who dropped seven shots over the last six holes to return a 79 that left him on five over, said: "You can probably look at it at the end of the day and see how many guys hit the green. I'm sure it's very few.
"We've got sand wedges into the green but I don't know how you're supposed to stop it. I don't know if that's fair or not. They need to put some water on it.
"Everything is dead. You've got fairways that are running 15 in some spots. You can't stand up, you can slip."

PAUL CLAXTON TAKES LEAD IN WEB.COM TOUR EVENT IN KANSAS

FROM THE WEB.COM TOUR WEBSITE

By Dave Senko, PGA TOUR staff
OVERLAND PARK, Kansas – Veteran Paul Claxton fired a 7-under-par 64 and holds a one-stroke lead at the midway point of the Midwest Classic Presented by Cadillac at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club at LionsGate. Claxton has a 36-hole total of 10-under 132 and is one in front of Franklin Corpening and Tyrone Van Aswegen.
Claxton’s bogey-free round included seven birdies and it was his second lowest round on Tour this year. He posted a third-round 63 at the Air Capital Classic in Wichita last month on his way to a T15 finish, his best showing to date.
Claxton is second on the all-time Web.com Tour list for career starts with 409, one fewer than Ben Bates. He is also a two-time winner on Tour with his last win coming at the 2007 Melwood Prince George’s County Open. His other victory came at the 2001 Web.com Louisiana Open.

“Today was a real good day for me. It’s nice to have no bogeys and a clean card,” said the University of Georgia product. “I played the par-3s really well today and it was kind of a highlight for me.”

Two of his seven birdies came on par-3s on the front nine. He hit an 8-iron to 20 feet on No. 5 and then three holes later made a 10-footer for birdie after hitting a 4-iron.

“One of the keys on this course is you’ve got to keep it in the fairways. They look wide but they’re really not,” Claxton added. “You’ve got to keep your foot on the gas and keep making birdies here.”

Claxton won’t have much breathing room when Saturday’s third round begins. He is being chased by Corpening and Van Aswegen, both of whom will begin the weekend at 9-under-par 133.

They are each coming off missed cuts at the Utah Championship, but have each posted a pair of rounds in the 60s this week.

“This golf course really fits my eye and my caddie and I have gotten ourselves in really good spots out there,” said Corpening, a rookie on the Web.com Tour this year. “We’ve had some difficult pins the last couple of days, but I feel really good playing on this course and am excited to be in the position I’m in.”

This is Van Aswegen’s third full season on the Web.com Tour and he has two top-10 finishes to his credit this year, including a T6 at the BMW Charity Classic in May. He currently is ranked 48th on the money list.

“Overall I had a good ball-striking day today and my irons were solid,” the South African native said after his second-round 68. “It was a bit windier today and the scoring wasn’t as easy as yesterday morning when I played.”

Midwest Classic News and Notes
-- The heat index was near 100 degrees on Friday. However, temperatures are expected to drop a bit on Saturday.
-- A total of 79 players made the cut at 1-under-par 141. A year ago the cut was 2-under-par 140 and 67 players made the cut.
-- Josh Broadway made the day’s biggest move. After shooting a 1-over-72, he fashioned a 7-under-par 64 on Friday to move up 86 places to T7.
-- Ben Martin’s string of consecutive rounds in the 60s ended at seven when he shot a 2-over 73 today. It dropped him from a T1 to T26. He also saw his streak of rounds of par/better end at 14.
-- Bio Kim withdrew during the round with an injury.
Andy Pope ran his streak of consecutive holes without a three-putt to 236 before it ended with a three-putt at No. 3. It was the best current streak on Tour.

-- Todd Baek had just 21 putts on Friday, including 13 one-putts. He leads all players through two rounds with an average of 23.50 putts-per-round.

SECOND-ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 142 (2x71)
Players from US unless stated
132 Paul Claxton 68 64
133 Franklin Corponing 67 66, Tyrone Van Aswegen (South Africa) 65 68
135 Aaron Goldberg 68 67, Jamie Lovemark 67 68, Chesson Hadby 68 67

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

CLICK HERE

LEADERSHIP LOGJAM IN US PGA TOUR EVENT IN MISSISSIPPI

 FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
In the second round of the Sanderson Farms Championship, six players were tied for the lead at 10-under when play was suspended due to darkness. 
MADISON, Miss. (AP) -- Paul Stankowski hasn't played in many PGA TOUR events lately, so he has spent a lot of time watching on television.
There's one trend he always notices.

 

"Everybody that plays well makes putts," Stankowski said, grinning. "I really haven't made any putts for 10 years. It's kind of nice to make putts -- join the party."
Stankowski's good putting is a big reason he was among six players tied atop a crowded leaderboard midway through the second round of the Sanderson Farms Championship.
He had a 4-under 68 to join Vaughn Taylor, Fabian Gomez, Troy Matteson and Kyle Reifers at 10 under in the clubhouse. First-round leader Daniel Summerhays also was 10 under, but only completed eight holes in the round Friday.
The 43-year-old Stankowski is the most unlikely name among the leaders. The veteran is playing in his first US PGA Tour event of the season and hasn't won since 1997.
He has played some on the Web.com Tour this season, but hasn't been particularly competitive. His last round before coming to Annandale was an 82.
Stankowski needed only 25 putts to get through the first round, which he finished early Friday. He wasn't as good in the second round, with 30 putts, but he made the crucial ones that helped him stay among the leaders.
"I've enjoyed it. It's all a process," Stankowski said. "I'm 43. I'm still learning and it's fun. I hope I can continue to roll it well and hit some quality shots and see what happens."
The leader had plenty of company behind them, with eight players within two strokes.
The 35-year-old Gomez shot a 64 in his second round, playing 29 total holes in the stifling Mississippi heat Friday after his first round was delayed Thursday. The Argentine played especially well down the stretch, making birdie on 17 and then holing a 50-foot eagle putt on 18.
Taylor and Matteson both shot 67 in the second round, and Reifers had a 69.
Play was delayed for the second straight day at Annandale Golf Club because of lightning close to the course. The afternoon session was unable to finish after a delay that lasted more than two hours.
The wet conditions and lack of wind have led to friendly course conditions for low scores. The only major obstacle is the heat -- temperatures climbed into the low 90s during the afternoon and there was oppressive humidity.
"The greens are receptive," Taylor said. "They are in really good shape. If you get the putter going you can shoot some good scores."
Summerhays continues to play well after a good showing at the John Deere Classic last week, where he tied for fourth after leading going into the final round. The 29-year-old birdied Nos. 5 and 7 before darkness enveloped Annandale.
Cameron Beckman joined Gomez as the only other player to shoot a 64, and it moved him to 8 under for the tournament. The 43-year-old Beckman is a former champion at Annandale, winning the tournament in 2001 when it was named the Southern Farm Bureau Classic.

Notes from Annandale

• Friday’s first-round restart time of 7 a.m. was delayed 28 minutes, due to fog. The first round resumed at 7:28 a.m. and concluded at 11:54 a.m. The second round began at 10:40 a.m., with preferred lies being utilized. Due again to a dangerous weather situation, the second round was suspended Friday from 3:59 p.m. until 6:10 p.m. The second round was suspended for the day due to darkness at 8:05 p.m. Fifty-nine players will be back in position at 7 a.m. Saturday to complete their second round. Annandale Golf Club, Madison, MS SECOND-ROUND LEADERBOARD Play not completed in Round 2 Players from US unless stated 134 Vaughn Taylor 67 67, Fabian Gomez 70 64, Paul Stankowski 66 68, Troy Matteson 67 67, Kyle Reifers 65 69. TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES CLICK HERE