IRVING, Texas — Keegan Bradley still hasn’t gotten things right on the 18th hole at the Byron Nelson Championship, even when finally going left.
IRVING, Texas — Keegan Bradley still hasn’t gotten things right on the 18th hole at the Byron Nelson Championship, even when finally going left.
The bogeys on the closing hole at TPC Four Seasons haven’t cost him the lead yet.
Bradley overcame consecutive bogeys early and bogeyed No. 18 for the third round in a row Saturday to finish with a 2-under 68 that kept him in the lead.
“(Sunday) is the day. Right down the middle,” Bradley said about that last hole. “I’m due!”
Bradley’s 13-under 197 total gave him a one-stroke lead over Sang-Moon Bae, who had his third consecutive 66. Tom Gillis was two strokes back after a 67.
After going way right off the tee at No. 18 the first two rounds, Bradley smashed his drive Saturday down the left side toward the water. The ball stayed dry, but settled behind a large rock and forced him to punch back into the fairway. His approach settled on the front edge of the green and he almost saved par — the ball rolled just over the lip of the cup.
On Sunday, Bradley will be trying to win at TPC Four Seasons for the second time in three years. He could also become the Nelson’s first wire-to-wire winner since Tom Watson in 1980.
McDowell into Volvo Match Play semis
KAVARNA, Bulgaria — Graeme McDowell reached the Volvo World Match Play Championship semifinals with a victory over Nicolas Colsaerts, the defending champ who took a penalty drop inside a restroom.
McDowell rallied from an early deficit to win 2 and 1 over his European Ryder Cup teammate on the oceanside Thracian Cliffs course and will face Branden Grace, a 2 and 1 winner over Chris Wood.
In the other semifinal, Thomas Aiken will meet Thongchai Jaidee. Aiken topped Francesco Molinari 3 and 2, and Jaidee beat Scott Jamieson 4 and 3.
Colsaerts had the most memorable moment of the day when his tee shot on the short par-4 10th flew into a hazard behind a public restroom in a brick building close to the green. Because of where the ball crossed the hazard line, tournament officials ruled that the penalty drop must be made within the restroom itself, leading to a comical moment that had Colsaerts, his caddie and rules officials all laughing. Because it considered an immovable obstruction he was then given free relief to play from outside, and saved par to halve the hole.
Choi up by one at Mobile Bay
MOBILE, Ala. — Chella Choi shot her second straight 6-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead over Jessica Korda and Anna Nordqvist, the Swede who broke the course record with a 61 in the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic.
Choi twice made three straight birdies to move to 17 under, and has made only two bogeys in three rounds on The Crossings course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Magnolia Grove complex. The South Korean’s best finish in four-plus years on the tour is a tie for second in the Manulife tournament in Canada last March.
Nordqvist broke the course record of 62 set by Sydnee Michaels on Friday. Korda, the second-round leader, shot a 69.