Newlywed Mullinax top at Puerto Rico Open
American rookie Trey Mullinax remained atop the leaderboard after Friday’s conclusion to the opening round of the lightning-halted US PGA Puerto Rico Open.
Five days after marrying his high school sweetheart, Mullinax fired a bogey-free nine-under par 63 Thursday to seize a one-stroke lead over compatriot D.A. Points.
Tour rookie Mullinax, who married Abi Essman in his hometown of Birmingham, Alabama, matched the best opening round in tournament history with his lowest PGA round.
Americans Bill Lunde and Xander Schauffele shared third on 65 with eight others another stroke adrift.
Lightning halted the first round of the US PGA Tour event with 36 players still on the course who completed their opening round Friday morning.
Three early Friday finishers were level in the pack on 66 for the lowest opening round among those who could not finish Thursday, including Puerto Rico’s Rafael Campos and Americans J.J. Spaun and Jonathan Randolph.
The event offers a chance for lesser lights on the PGA Tour to contend while top-ranked talent plays at Austin, Texas, in the World Golf Championships Match-Play tournament.
Mullinax seeks his first PGA crown while Points chases his third after the 2011 Pebble Beach Pro-Am and 2013 Houston Open.
KO STRUGGLES WHILE CHUN CHARGES TO SHARE LPGA LEAD
LOSANGELES: Top-ranked defending champion Lydia Ko struggled with her putting while South Korea’s Chun In-Gee sizzled late to grab a share of the lead after Thursday’s opening round of the LPGA Kia Classic.
New Zealand’s Ko needed a birdie-birdie finish to fire a twoover 74 to give the South Koreanborn 19-year-old a share of 81st just a week before she defends a major crown at the ANA Inspiration at Rancho Mirage.
“I was hitting my drives really well. My long game was pretty good,” she said. “I had a few miss-clubs and I couldn’t make up and down on like 99 percent of the shots that I missed the greens.”
Ko began on the back nine with a bogey. She answered with a birdie on 15 but stumbled with three bogeys in a row starting at the par-5 17th. She made another bogey at the par-3 sixth before her hot finish.
“I was struggling on the putting greens,” Ko said. “It was really hard to get anything rolling when you’re not putting that good.”
Chun was among the last players to finish at the Carlsbad, California layout, with birdies on five of the last seven holes to shoot a six-under par 66 and match Americans Cristie Kerr and Mo Martin for the 18-hole lead.
“Greens were a little bumpy this afternoon so I stayed patient (and) so I made a good round,” Chun said.
She will seek her third major title next week after the 2015 US Women’s Open and last year’s Evian Championship. The 22-year-old was runner-up to Ko at last year’s ANA Inspiration.
Martin fired a bogey-free 66. She opened with a birdie, ran off three birdies in a row starting at the par-5 fifth and added birdies at the par-5 10th and 17th holes.
“Just had a really good putting day,” Martin said. “I’ve been waiting for a good putting week and I had a good putting day today. It was great.”
Kerr took her lone bogey at the second hole but birdied the third as well as all four par-5 holes, the par-3 14th and the 18th.
“I hit some close and made some longer putts. It was a good mix of stuff out there,” she said.
VANI WINS TITLE
PUNE: Vani Kapoor carded threeover 74 on the final day to claim her second title of the season in the sixth leg of the Hero Women’s Professional Golf Tour at the Poona Club Golf Course here . Gaurika Bishnoi and Amandeep Drall were tied second with identical scores of 225 after 54 holes. The Rs 6,00,000 event culminated. New Delhi’s Vani had an uneasy start, carding a bogey on the 3rd hole and a double on the 7th.