Na chips in on last hole for 62, 1-shot lead at Colonial
Kevin Na stood over his ball after taking a drop in the rough beside the ninth green following two wayward shots, on his final hole of the day and with a share of the lead in the Fort Worth Invitational at Colonial.
As Na looked toward the hole more than 90 feet away, he saw the huge ridge going through the middle of the green. He then noticed the caddie of one of his playing partners move a bag from behind the green.
“Because I can chip it over the right down the other side,” Na said.
Instead, Na chipped in for an incredible birdie to wrap up an 8-under 62. That gave him a one-stroke lead over Charley Hoffman, who also had a bogey-free round Thursday. Jhonattan Vegas, Emiliano Grillo, Andrew Putnam and Beau Hossler all shot 64.
This is the sixth time Na has had a first-round lead, his third at Colonial. Na’s best finish at Hogan’s Alley was a tie for seventh in 2007, and his only PGA Tour victory came seven years ago in Las Vegas.
Sixty of the 121 players were under par, and another 16 shot 70. Jordan Spieth, the No. 3 player in the world, was at 1-under 69 and defending Colonial champion Kevin Kisner shot 72.
Champions: Nevada club professional Stuart Smith admitted sleeping on the lead of the biggest tournament available to him might be a problem.
“I can’t say, ‘Oh, it won’t bother me.’ But to me, it’s fun,” Smith said after shooting a 5-under 66 for a share of the first-round lead in the Senior PGA Championship in Benton Harbor, Mich.
Smith closed his morning round with a double bogey on the par-4 18th, and Scott McCarron, Tim Petrovic, Wes Short Jr., Barry Lane and Peter Lonard matched the 66 in the afternoon.
One of 41 club pros in the field at Harbor Shores for the senior major, Smith is the director of golf at Somersett Country Club in Reno.
European Tour: Rory McIlroy walked off the 18th green in disgruntled fashion, shaking his head and looking down at the ground. Shooting a 5-under 67 at Wentworth can rarely have felt so unsatisfactory.
The four-time major winner pushed his approach shot from the middle of the fairway into the overhanging trees at the par-5 last, saw his chip clip the flag pole, then missed a 3-foot putt for birdie for a disappointing end to his first round at the BMW PGA Championship in Virginia Water, England.
McIlroy, two shots off the lead held by Lucas Bjerregaard (65). is playing the European Tour’s flagship event for the first time since 2015. He won it in 2014, the year he won the British Open and the PGA Championship — his last major victories.
LPGA Tour: Moriya Jutanugarn , Caroline Masson, Danielle Kang and Amy Olson shot 6-under 66 to share the first-round lead in the Volvik Championship.
Jessica Korda, Minjee Lee, Nasa Hataoka, Lindy Duncan, Morgan Pressel, Megan Khang and Jodi Ewart Shadoff were a stroke back at 67 at Travis Pointe in Ann Arbor, Mich. Ariya Jutanugarn, the winner last week in Virginia, opened with a 69.
As the clock ticked away on the U.S. men’s national team’s 2018 World Cup hopes, reality started to sink in for many of the nation’s soccer fans.
The mood was especially somber at the Fox Sports headquarters in Los Angeles.
“It was so intense for all of us, that moment,” Fox Executive Vice President David Worthen Brooks said of the 2-1 loss to Trinidad and Tobago on Oct. 10 that eliminated the U.S. from competing in Russia.
Fox Sports will air the World Cup for the first time this summer. It paid $400 million for the rights to the 2018 and 2022 editions, as well as the 2015 and 2019 Women’s World Cups. The games will be aired on Fox and Fox Sports 1.
Luckily, Worthen Brooks and his team of producers were putting the finishing touches on a project Fox hopes can replace at least some of the emotion lost with the U.S. absence.
“Phenoms” will debut Friday, and the documentary series will provide American soccer fans with a close-up look at some of the sport’s burgeoning stars.
“Every individual has his own journey to become successful,” said Mario Melchiot, a former star of the Dutch national team. “For me, the best ones that I connected with are the winners. And we only have winners.”
Worthen Brooks and Melchiot, two of the executive producers for the film series, were in Austin promoting “Phenoms” during South by Southwest in March. They held a panel featuring chef and TV personality Gordon Ramsay.
But the real star power behind the project is on screen.
With the help of Melchiot, Fox identified and followed 60 talented teenagers from around the world. Many are expected to perform well for their countries in Russia: Marco Asensio (Spain/Real Madrid), Dele Alli (England/ Tottenham Hotspur), Paulo Dybala (Argentina/Juventus), Gabriel Jesus (Brazil/ Manchester City) and Hirving Lozano (Mexico/PSV Eindhoven), to name a few.
Others could blossom on the world stage. Fox hopes that by showing the players’ backstories, it can generate an emotional connection between fans and teams they might not otherwise root for. There are a lot to choose from.
It all kicks off with a fivepart miniseries leading up to the first game June 14. During the tournament, there will be 15 national specials, along with shorts about players and a feature film in seven languages.
And yes, there is a national special on U.S. players, even though none will play in the World Cup.
No matter the player or nationality, Worthen Brooks said the strength of the documentary series is the emotional weight behind the stories. Throughout their journeys, many of the players were displaced from their families, assimilating into a different culture and dealing with the sudden fame and exposure that comes with being a world star.
Dybala and Asensio also speak in great detail about the death of a parent.
“There’s so many different stories and so much drama,” Worthen Brooks said. “Knowing who these kids are, knowing personal information on them, just adds to all of the drama that you see on the field.”