Shriners Hospitals for Children Open
Shriners Hospitals for Children Open
LAS VEGAS — Ben Martin birdied five straight holes on the back nine Saturday and finished with a 9-under 62 to take a two-stroke lead in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
Winless in 55 career starts on the PGA Tour, the 27-year-old former Clemson player matched his best score on the tour — set last year in the Zurich Classic — to get to 17-under 196 at TPC Summerlin.
Martin had four birdies and bogey on the front nine, birdied No. 10 and took the lead with his birdie run on Nos. 13-17.
Scotland’s Russell Knox, tied for the second-round lead with Andrew Putnam, was second after a 66.
Jimmy Walker also had a 62 to move into a tie for third with Andrew Svoboda at 13 under. Walker won three times last season and played in the Ryder Cup. Svoboda had a 67.
Defending champion Webb Simpson also had a 67 to top the group at 12 under.
Putnam shot a 73 to drop into a tie for 24th at 8 under. He had six bogeys, four in a six-hole stretch on the back nine.
Jarrod Lyle was tied for 42nd at 6 under after a 70. The Australian is making his second PGA Tour start since a recurrence of leukemia some 18 months ago.
World Match Play Championship
ASH, England — Dutchman Joost Luiten extended his unbeaten run in the World Match Play Championship, routing Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal 6 and 5 in the quarterfinals.
Luiten had seven birdies in overcast and wet conditions on The London Golf Club to set up a semifinal match Sunday against Finland’s Mikko Ilonen, a 2-up winner over France’s Victor Dubuisson.
Luiten was 3-0 in round-robin play to reach the quarterfinals.
In the other semifinal, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson will face South Africa’s George Coetzee.
Stenson beat Swedish compatriot Jonas Blixt 2 up, and Coetzee topped American Patrick Reed 2 and 1.
The final also is Sunday.
LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship
INCHEON, South Korea — South Koreans Hee-Kyung Bae and Kyu Jung Baek both shot 4-under 68 to share the third-round lead in the LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship.
Bae had five back-nine birdies on Sky72’s Ocean Course, and Baek had six birdies and two bogeys.
They were at 5-under 211, a stroke ahead of second-ranked ranked Inbee Park (68), No. 4 Suzann Pettersen (71), second-round leader Karine Icher (73), Brittany Lincicome (72), Beatriz Recari (72), Sandra Gal(71), In Gee Chun (69), Pornanong Phatlum (69), Yoon Kyung Heo (70) and Ilhee Lee (71).
Park could supplant Stacy Lewis at No. 1 if she wins. Lewis is taking the week off.
U.S. Women’s Open champion Michelle Wie was two strokes back after birdieing four of her last five holes for a 67.
Greater Hickory Kia Classic
CONOVER, N.C. — Jay Haas shot a 4-under 67 to take a two-stroke lead after the second round of the Champions Tour’s Greater Hickory Kia Classic.
Haas, the 60-year-old former Wake Forest player who won the event in 2005 and 2009, had a 12-under 130 on Rock Barn Golf and Spa’s Champions Course. He extended his streak of under-par rounds to 22, making five birdies and a lone bogey on No. 17. Haas won the last of his 16 Champions Tour titles in June 2012 in Iowa.
Joe Durant, tied for the first-round lead with Haas at 63, had a 69 to drop into a tie for second with Kirk Triplett and South Africa’s David Frost. Triplett, the winner last week in Cary, had a 66, and Frost shot 65.
Frost had seven birdies and a bogey to match the best round of the day. Triplett had six birdies and a bogey, and Durant birdied the final three holes to finish with six birdies and four bogeys.
The Associated Press