Old man Westwood takes on the kids
Lee Westwood made a pair of 30-foot putts over the final three holes Saturday, one for eagle and the other a closing birdie, for a sevenunder 65 that gave England’s ageless wonder a one-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Orlando, Fla.
Westwood turns 48 next month and is feeling younger by the years, coming off a third European Tour title and still easily among the top 50 in the world.
Now he goes up against U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, whose 68 included a birdie on the parfive sixth hole in which he cut off so much of the water he had only 70 yards for his second shot on the 531-yard hole.
Corey Conners of Canada, who started with a oneshot lead, could manage only a 71 on a cool, breezy day at Bay Hill with only a few drops of rain. He also was one shot behind.
“It’s nice to still be playing in these tournaments,” said Westwood, who is at 11-under 205. “You’ve got to be top 50 in the world and if you would have said to me 20 years ago will you still be top 50 in the world at 48 I might have been slightly skeptical.”
Jordan Spieth opened with a birdie and a hole in one, took the lead by holing a bunker shot on the parthree seventh, saved par after a tee shot into the water and shot 68 with the kind of round he’d rather do without. He was two shots behind, along with former PGA champion Keegan Bradley, who had the low score of the week at 64.
LPGA
Jennifer Kupcho made a 12-foot eagle putt on the final hole to cut Austin Ernst’s lead to a stroke in the Drive On Championship at rainy Golden Ocala.
Kupcho shot a two-under 70, setting up the eagle with a fairway wood from 215 yards that just cleared the rocks and water fronting
the green on the par-five 18th.
“I actually was like standing on the tee and I was like, ‘I feel an eagle coming on.’ So, it was pretty cool to do it,” Kupcho said.
Ernst parred the last six holes in a 69. The two-time LPGA Tour winner chipped in for birdie on the par-four ninth. She was at 13-under 203.