Spieth has share of lead at Texas Open
SAN ANTONIO — Jordan Spieth shot a 5-underpar 67 on Saturday to move into a tie for the lead heading into the final round of the Valero Texas Open.
Spieth, the 27-year-old Texan with three major championships, and England’s Matt Wallace were at 12-under 204 after each player birdied his final two holes of the day. Wallace also posted a 67, and Charley Hoffman was alone in third at 10 under after shooting a 65.
Hoffman was seven shots back after a bogey at No. 4, but he finished up with six birdies and sank a five-foot eagle putt at the 14th. He won this event five years ago.
Three consecutive bogeys early on the back nine of the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio sent 36-hole leader Cameron Tringale to a 73 that put him at 8 under overall and alone in fourth, with India’s Anirban Lahiri (69) one stroke back.
Tom Hoge finished with five birdies and moved up 26 spots on the leaderboard with a third-round 66. He was tied for sixth at 6 under with Lucas Glover (70), Matt Kuchar (70) and Gary Woodland (67).
Chattanooga native Keith Mitchell (71) was tied for 17th at 4 under, and fellow Baylor School graduate Luke List (70) was tied for 26th at 2 under.
The start of Saturday’s play was delayed 2 1/2 hours by rain, and time has just about run out on Rickie Fowler’s chances to make his 11th straight appearance at the Masters, which starts Thursday. He has to win to get to Augusta National, but his 69 had him tied for 21st and nine shots out of the lead.
With four birdies in an eight-hole stretch, Spieth was tied with Wallace and Hoffman for the lead heading to the 308-yard 17th. Spieth sailed his tee shot about 50 yards off line, right of the green, still just about pin high. His ball had rolled several yards down a concrete cart path and settled onto a gravel maintenance path.
“I didn’t feel like I had great control of the golf ball,” Spieth said. “I left the ball in the right spots when it was missed, and really I did a great job managing today.”
Wallace nailed his tee shot to the fringe of the green. Spieth got free relief with a drop off the gravel. From about 52 yards, Spieth opened the face of his wedge and sailed it upward, a nifty recovery shot that trickled the ball to about three feet from the cup.
With his chip and short putt, Wallace also birdied 17. Wallace and Spieth reached the 18th in two, and then each birdied again.
“It was good fun on the back nine, trading birdies,” Spieth said. “I think that’s what we’ll hopefully look to do tomorrow. On the back, it was nice to see some putts go in within the group. It was a fun atmosphere out there.”
Spieth, winless since his 2017 British Open title, has been knocking on the door the past two months. He led heading into the final round of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, shared the lead with 18 to go at the Phoenix Open and led at the Arnold Palmer Invitational with 11 holes to go.
Runaway on LPGA
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — Patty Tavatanakit opened a five-stroke lead on another hot and windy afternoon at the ANA Inspiration, all but crushing her challengers’ hopes with a striking combination of power and touch.
A shot ahead after each of the first two rounds at Mission Hills Country Club, the 21-year-old from Thailand posted a 5-under 67 in 100-degree heat to reach 14-under 202 in the LPGA Tour’s first major championship of the year.
Tavatanakit matched the tournament 54-hole record set by Pernilla Lindberg in her 2018 victory. Dottie Pepper set the overall mark of 19 under in 1999.
Reigning champion Mirim Lee (68) of South Korea and Ally Ewing (66) were second at 9 under in the event being played without spectators for the second time in seven months.
Tavatanakit crushed drives — she hit a 337-yarder on the par-5 11th — and was equally effective on and around the greens. The tour rookie is trying to become the sixth straight international winner in the tournament celebrating its 50th edition. She won seven times in two seasons at UCLA and had three victories on the developmental Symetra Tour in 2019.
Augusta champion
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Japanese teenager Tsubasa Kajitani overcame a double bogey on the 17th hole by closing with a superb par save, getting her into a playoff that she won on the first extra hole to capture the Augusta National Women’s Amateur title.
In a fitting conclusion to a final round filled with more blunders than birdies, she won with a par when Emilia Migliaccio’s delicate chip on the 18th hole in the playoff didn’t clear the sand.
Kajitani thought she had lost the tournament, just like so many other players on a chaotic back nine, when she took four shots from the front of the 17th green for a double bogey.
She wasn’t alone in her mistakes, however, and when she used the slope to perfection on the 18th hole for a pitch that grazed the edge of the cup, she had a par round of 72. Migliaccio closed with a 70 and already was in at 1-over 217 in the 54-hole event, with no idea she would have more holes to play at the home of the Masters.
In the playoff on the 18th, Migliaccio was right of the bunker near the green, leaving her a delicate shot over sand to a fast green. She left it in the bunker, and Kajitani won with beautifully judged pace from the back of the green that left her 4 feet away for the winning par.
The 17-year-old was in tears when it was over, saying only to an interpreter, “I can’t describe it.”
This was nothing like the first edition of a tournament already elite in stature because of where it’s played. Two years ago, Jennifer Kupcho and Maria Fassi staged a dynamic duel along the back nine, and Kupcho delivered a charge so familiar at Augusta National with an eagle and three birdies over the final six holes.
The final hour of the second edition featured a triple bogey that cost U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Rose Zhang, a double bogey for Olivia Mehaffey of Northern Ireland on No. 12, consecutive threeputts that stalled Ingrid Lindblad and bogeys on the final hole that kept the playoff from being even more crowded.