Malnati tops at Quail Hollow
Peter Malnati and Tiger Woods both had reason to celebrate on the ninth green at Quail Hollow at the end of their rounds in Charlotte, N.C. Malnati was coming off two straight birdies to take the lead yesterday in the Wells Fargo Championship when he put his 5-iron in a deep bunker to the right, with the green running away from him. He was trying to blast out to 15 feet, but he got the club too much under the ball and feared for the worst until it cleared the lip by inches.
Malnati emphatically wiped his hand across his brow, made the 6-foot par putt for a 3-under-par 68 and had a 1-shot lead over Jason Day and Aaron Wise.
“Pretty scary when I hit it,” he said. “I got away with it, looked like a genius.”
Hours earlier, Woods stood over an 18-foot putt on No. 9, his final hole of another ordinary round that up until then featured no birdies. He finally made one, and stretched out both hands in mock celebration when it dropped.
“I’m on a hot streak right now. I made the last putt,” he said.
Never mind that it was the only putt he made longer than 5 feet. Or that he was nine shots out of the lead in a tie for 48th, his worst position through 36 holes in his last five tournaments. At least he was still playing on the weekend at Quail Hollow, where he had missed the cut his previous two trips. That putt made certain of it, though Woods made it the cut with a shot to spare.
Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson also had to sweat it out.
McIlroy, the only twotime winner at the Wells Fargo Championship, celebrated his 29th birthday yesterday by matching his worst score at Quail Hollow with a 76, including three bogeys over the last five holes. He was in the same spot as Woods, 9 shots out of the lead.
Mickelson wasn’t that wild — three bogeys, two birdies, another 72, and he made the cut with 1 shot to spare.
Langer up by 3
Bernhard Langer felt like his game was rounding into form after a slow start to the year by his lofty standards, and it all came together on a calm, humid day at The Woodlands Country Club at The Woodlands, Texas.
The 60-year-old Langer shot a course-record, 9-under 63 to take a 3-stroke lead at the Insperity Invitational.
Seeking his first victory of the year after seven wins in 2017, Langer won the Houston-area event in 2007 for the first of his 36 victories on the 50-and-over tour . ...
France’s Celine Boutier shot a 1-under 70 to grab the lead among the 12 golfers who finished the raindelayed first round of the LPGA Texas Classic in The Colony, Texas.
After Thursday’s play was cancelled and yesterday’s began following an 81⁄2-hour delay because of rain, the tournament was cut from 72 holes to 36. All 144 golfers will play both rounds.