Sunday, July 05, 2015

US PGA Tour report and scores

Greenbrier headed for a free-for-all finish

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     left to right: Jason Bohn ... Sean O'Hair ... S J Park ... Bryce Molder (Getty Images)

 FROM GOLF.COM
 By WILL GRAY
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, West Virginia. – Even after the final sparkler fizzles out on the lawns near the Old White TPC, White Sulphur Springs,  there will be plenty of fireworks still to come at The Greenbrier Classic.
A Sunday shoot-out looms, with a packed leaderboard set to battle it out on a course synonymous with low scores and final-round theatrics.
Eight players are separated by a single shot through 54 holes, with another 23 names within four shots of the lead. 
 Each will wake up with realistic thoughts of hoisting the trophy, from rookies seeking a breakthrough to veterans looking for validation.
Granted, the winner will not have to slay a murderer’s row of recent champions. Of the top eight players, only three have won on the USA PGA Tour. The most recent of those victories was Bryce Molder’s win at the 2011 Frys.com Open.
Sean O’Hair had a victory that year too, the latest of his four career wins. He holds a tenuous grip on a share of the lead, alongside Molder, Jason Bohn and S. J. Park, with one round separating him from a victory that would complete his return to the top levels of the game.
O’Hair had just turned 29 when he captured the RBC Canadian Open, seemingly set to enter a golfer’s prime with equal parts accomplishment and potential. Instead he watched his game desert him, bottoming out with a two-year stretch in 2013-14 that cost him his card.


Equipped once again with full-time status, the 32-year-old has flourished this season, with six top-25 finishes including a playoff loss to Jordan Spieth at the Valspar Championship.
“I feel like I’ve got my best golf ahead of me. I really do,” O’Hair said. “I just felt like the last couple years when I’ve struggled, I haven’t really owned my game. I’ve tried a lot of different things, a lot of different methods, and really just got back to me hitting a lot of balls and just going back to basics and kind of, like I said, just owning it.”
O’Hair’s four victories are one more than the combined total of his seven closest competitors, but he plans to draw inspiration from an unexpected source.
“I think your failures actually help you better than your successes,” O’Hair said.
 “Going into tomorrow, I know what I’m probably going to feel like when I wake up in the morning. I know what I’m going to feel like when I step up on the practice tee and on the first tee, so it’s not like I haven’t been in this situation before.”
At age 42, Bohn is one of the few players near the top with more seasoning than O’Hair. He likely didn’t expect to add to his dossier of high finishes after barely scraping past the 36-hole cut. But then again, a third-round 61 can change expectations considerably.
“I just wanted to sleep in, to be honest,” said Bohn, who will play alongside O’Hair in Sunday’s final pairing. “Now I don’t have to get up early in the morning.”
Bohn has two wins, most recently the 2010 Zurich Classic, while the final member of the foursome at the top is an unheralded rookie. But Park’s record of one top-25 finish in 20 starts this season doesn’t dampen his confidence entering what could be the biggest round of his career.
“I think I’m going to really have fun tomorrow,” said Park, who was a runner-up at the Humana Challenge in January. “I’ve had this situation before, been in this position, so it’s always going to be the same. It’s going to be another round for me.”
The Greenbrier has rewarded rookies in the past, notably Scott Stallings in 2011 and Ted Potter Jr. the following year, and Park isn’t the only freshman in the mix. Justin Thomas headlines the group of players at 10 under, just one shot off the pace, eyeing a title that would cement his status as one of golf’s latest can’t-miss prospects.
“I’ve been ready to win since I was playing as an amateur,” Thomas said. “I’ve just put myself in more positions now. Just whenever it’s meant to be, it’ll happen.”
Within these West Virginia mountains, it’s often better to come from behind than to try to protect an advantage. Stuart Appleby set that tone with a final-round 59 en route to victory in 2010, with similar late heroics from Stallings, Jonas Blixt and (nearly) George McNeill in the years since.
There will be plenty of final-round roars, and perhaps even more fluctuations to the leaderboard.
“I just feel like this field every week is just so strong, and it’s really anybody’s game any given Sunday,” said O’Hair. “It’s exciting.”
“It’s becoming more and more common out here, I think,” added Molder. “If nobody decides to run off and leave everyone, then you kind of get that bunched-up feeling.”
It should prove difficult to separate from the pack during the final trip around the Old White TPC, where nearly half the field remains in the mix. The only certainty seems to be that someone will emerge with enough final-round fireworks to earn what could be a watershed victory.
ALL THE THIRD-ROUND SCORES
Par 210 (3x70)










T1 Jason Bohn 69  69  61  



199
T1 Sean O'Hair 66 67 66



199
T1 Sung Joon Park 68 65 66



199
T1 Bryce Molder 68 64 67



199
T5 Justin Thomas 67 67 66



200
T5 David Hearn 68 64 68



200
T5 Danny Lee 63 69 68



200
T5 Chad Collins 65 67 68



200
T9 David Lingmerth 67 70 64



201
T9 Brendon Todd 65 69 67



201
T9 Jonathan Byrd 63 69 69



201
T12  Robert Streb 68 67 67



202
T12 Seung-yul Noh 69 65 68



202
T12 Andres Romero 67 67 68



202
T12 Patrick Rodgers 68 65 69



202
T12 Greg Owen 65 67 70



202
T17 Gonzalo Fernandez-Casta 67 70 66



203
T17 Scott Brown 67 69 67



203
T17 Steven Bowditch 68 68 67



203
T17 Kevin Kisner 67 69 67



203
T17 Shawn Stefani 69 67 67



203
T17 Patrick Reed 68 68 67



203
T17 Maverick McNealy 67 68 68



203
T17 George McNeill 67 68 68



203
T17 Tony Finau 68 67 68



203
T17 Bubba Watson 67 68 68



203
T17 Cameron Percy 68 66 69



203
T17 Pat Perez 67 68 68



203
T17 J.J. Henry 68 66 69



203
T17 Tom Hoge 68 66 69



203
T17 James Hahn 66 67 70



203
T32 Johnson Wagner 69 68 67



204
T32 Luke Guthrie 67 70 67



204
T32 Brice Garnett 69 68 67



204
T32 Morgan Hoffmann 68 67 69



204
T32 Justin Leonard 66 68 70



204
T32 Robert Garrigus 66 67 71



204
T32 Scott Piercy 67 66 71



204
T32 Kevin Chappell 65 67 72



204
T40 Graham DeLaet 68 70 67



205
T40 Chez Reavie 68 70 67



205
T40 J.B. Holmes 67 69 69



205
T40 Russell Henley 70 66 69



205
T40 Eric Axley 68 67 70



205
T40 Chris Stroud 66 69 70



205
T40 Scott Langley 62 69 74



205
T47 Chad Campbell 66 72 68



206
T47 Derek Ernst 67 71 68



206
T47 Ryan Armour 69 69 68



206
T47 Whee Kim 69 69 68



206
T47 Jason Kokrak 69 69 68



206
T47 Kyle Reifers 69 69 68



206
T47 Byron Smith 66 71 69



206
T47 Scott Stallings 69 68 69



206
T47 Davis Love III 68 69 69



206
T47 Brendon de Jonge 70 66 70



206
T47 Tiger Woods 66 69 71



206
T47 Sang-Moon Bae 68 67 71



206
T47 Mark Hubbard 70 65 71



206
T47 Kevin Na 65 70 71



206
T47 Andres Gonzales 68 66 72



206
T62 Michael Putnam 73 65 69



207
T62 Billy Hurley III 67 71 69



207
T62 Hudson Swafford 70 68 69



207
T62 Brian Davis 64 70 73



207
T62 Jhonattan Vegas 66 65 76



207
T67 Derek Fathauer 68 70 70



208
T67 Kevin Streelman 67 70 71



208
T67 Paul Casey 66 71 71



208
T67 Keegan Bradley 68 69 71



208
T71 Ricky Barnes 72 66 71



209
T71 Alex Cejka 68 70 71



209
T71 John Huh 66 71 72



209
T71 Bill Lunde 70 66 73



209
T75 Martin Flores 67 69 74



210
T75 Ryo Ishikawa 64 71 75



210
T77 Louis Oosthuizen 70 68 73



211
T77 Will MacKenzie 70 68 73



211

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