Lashley opens 6-shot lead in RM Classic
DETROIT — Nate Lashley has been thinking about the deaths of his parents and girlfriend as he tries to close out the Rocket Mortgage Classic for his first PGA Tour title.
“Yeah, it definitely crosses your mind,” Lashley said Saturday after shooting a bogey-free 9-under 63 to open a sixstroke lead at 23 under. “It came through my mind at one point today. At some points it’s not easy, but it goes through your mind and it’s something that’s always going to be there for me.”
The 353rd-ranked player is in his second season on the PGA Tour, reaching the highest level of golf after a long road that included tragedy, selling real estate and playing in the PGA Tour’s minor leagues.
After watching Lashley play in a tournament for the University of Arizona in 2004, his parents and girlfriend died in a plane crash in Wyoming. Rod and Char Lashley and Leslie Hofmeister, all of Scottsbluff, Neb., were missing for three days before their bodies and the wreckage were found near the 13,780-foot Gannett Peak.
Lashley meditates, but acknowledges he can’t always control where his thoughts drift even when he’s playing golf.
“You can’t prepare for what your mind’s going to go through on the golf course,” he said.
Lashley made a living as a real estate agent after graduating from college and his playing career started, stopped and resumed again. He won the Waterloo Open in Iowa in 2011 and quit competitive golf the next year.
He made his PGA Tour debut last season in his mid-30s, but he had to end his year after 17 events because of a knee injury.
The 36-year-old Lashley slipped into the field at Detroit Golf Club as an alternate. He tied for eighth in February in the Puerto Rico Open for his only top-10 finish on the tour. He’s 132nd in the FedEx Cup standings.
If he can shoot 63 for a third time, he’ll set the PGA Tour scoring record in relation to par that Ernie Els has held since 2003 at 31 under.
J.T. Poston (66) was second. Cameron Tringale (65) was another stroke back as one of many players taking advantage of one of the easiest courses on the tour.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Lashley, who shot a 67 in the second round. “You don’t ever expect to shoot 9 under on the PGA Tour, and I’ve done it twice in three days.”
In other news:
• Steve Stricker opened a six-stroke lead in the U.S. Senior Open on Saturday at South Bend, Ind., shooting a 4-under 66 and extending his bogey-free run to 48 holes.
Seeking his second senior major title after winning the Regions Tradition by six strokes in May in Alabama, the 52-yearold Stricker had a tournament-record 18-under 192 total on the rain-softened Warren Golf Course.
“The course toughened up a little bit today,” Stricker said. “The wind was coming from a different direction, kind of a west-northwest to almost a northwest wind, and it played a little bit different. Greens firmed up. Some of the pin locations were a little bit tougher, and you could tell in the scoring.”
Fellow Madison, Wisc., player Jerry Kelly was second after a 70.
David Toms was third at 11 under after a 70.
• Sung Hyun Park birdied the final two holes for an 8-under 63 and a share of lead with Carlota Ciganda after the second round of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship at Rogers, Ark.
Ciganda shot a 66 to match Park at 13-under 129 at Pinnacle Country Club. The Spanish player chipped in from 60 yards for eagle on the par-4 first hole and closed with a birdie on the par-5 18th.
• Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa shot a 2-under 69 to increase his lead to five strokes in the Andalucia Valderrama Masters at Sotogrande, Spain.