Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Lindberg takes three-shot lead in Rancho Mirage
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — Pernilla Lindberg took advantage of playing partner Sung Hyun Park’s late collapse to take a threestroke lead Saturday in the ANA Inspiration.
Lindberg shot a 2-under 70 on another hot and mostly calm day at Mission Hills, putting the 31-year-old Swede in position to make the major championship her first professional victory.
Amy Olson was second after a 68. The 25-year-old former North Dakota State star — and the LPGA Tour’s only certified public accountant — also is seeking her first win as a pro.
Lindberg was two strokes behind Park after the fourth-ranked South Korean player made her thirdstraight birdie on the par-5 11th. The group was then put on the clock for slow play, and Park dropped five strokes in the next five holes.
The U.S. Women’s Open champion bogeyed Nos. 12 and 13, had a double bogey on the par-4 14th after taking two shots to get out of the back bunker, and bogeyed the 16th.
Lindberg scrambled for pars on the first four holes on the back nine, ran in an 18-foot birdie putt on 14 and made a 25-footer for par on 15 for a two-stroke swing. Lindberg bogeyed the par-3 17th and then hit a wedge to 5 feet to set up a birdie on the par-5 18th. She broke the tournament 54-hole mark at 14-under 202.
Park finished with a 74 to fall into a tie for third at 10 under. She shot a 64 on Friday for a share of the second-round lead with Lindberg.
Inbee Park, the 2013 winner and a seven-time major champion, had a 67 to get into the group at 10 under with Moriya Jutanugarn (66), Jennifer Song (68), Jodi Ewart Shadoff (69) and Charley Hull (69). Inbee Park won the Founders Cup two weeks ago in Phoenix, playing the final 36 holes in 14 under.
Lindberg rebounded from her first bogey of the week with a 20-foot par save on the par-4 sixth. The former Oklahoma State player made a 35-footer for birdie on the par-3 eighth.
Ayako Uehara (70) was 9 under, and top-ranked Shanshan Feng (67) and Jessica Korda (73) were another stroke back.
Stanford sophomore Albane Valenzuela shot 71 to get to 7 under and top the four amateurs to make the cut. Minjee Lee also was 7 under after a 64, the best round of the day.
Lexi Thompson, of Delray Beach, was tied for 17th at 6 under after a 70. She won in 2015 and lost a playoff to So Yeon Ryu a year ago after being penalized four strokes during the final round for a rules violation the day before.
Michelle Wie was 2 under after a 72. She has fought dizziness caused by a virus.
Poulter shares lead in Houston
HUMBLE, Texas — Ian Poulter has played in the Masters a dozen times, never missing the cut. Beau Hossler has never played a competitive round at Augusta National.
Both are in position to become the last man in the Masters field, and neither wants to think about it.
The 42-year-old Poulter surged into a share of the lead at the Houston Open on Saturday with a 7-under 65, and Hossler, a 23-year-old PGA Tour rookie, matched him at 14-under 202 after he holed a 7-footer for birdie on the par-4 18th to shoot 69.
Like all PGA Tour events that offer full FedEx Cup points, the Houston Open title comes with an invitation to next week’s Masters.
“No, not thinking about it, not talking about it,” Poulter said. “I’m going to go out and have some fun tomorrow. There’s a lot of ifs and buts. I’ll have no emotion at all. I’m in a nolose situation. I’ll go do my job.”
Four players were two shots behind Poulter and Hossler — Australian Greg Chalmers (65), Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo (67), American Kevin Tway (69) and Paul Dunne of Ireland (69) — and none of them has a spot at Augusta yet either.
Hossler has popped up on a major leaderboard before — he briefly led the 2012 U.S. Open while still in high school — and he said getting to the Masters would be “as good as it gets.” But he said contemplating that opportunity would only lead to “trouble” on Sunday.
Poulter shot 64 on Friday after opening with a 73 that had him packing his bags in anticipation of a missed cut. It was the first time since his last victory in 2012 that he had consecutive rounds of 65 or better on the PGA Tour.
Asked if his rounds ranked among the best back-toback efforts in his 23 years of touring professionally, Poulter said, “From a putting standpoint, yes, absolutely.”
It was a simple fix for the English veteran renowned for making crucial putts on winning Ryder Cup teams. He opened his shoulders slightly, allowing him to see the lines better, and has played his last 40 holes in 16 under, without a bogey.
“Hopefully I’ve found the key,” Poulter said. “I need to write it down and, when it’s not there, I need to read it.”
Poulter nearly made it into the Masters last week with a run to the quarterfinals at the Dell Technologies Match Play, which improved his world ranking to 51st — just missing the cutoff to move into the top 50. Making matters worse, he had been told by media members that his quarterfinals appearance would guarantee him enough ranking points. But just before he began his quarterfinal match, officials informed him that he’d need to make the semis.
The news knocked Poulter off his game and he lost badly, 8 and 6, to Kevin Kisner.
“Some people were getting in my head space, which is never good,” Poulter said. “Yeah, maybe I was a bit angry on Thursday. Maybe I was kind of forcing, trying to force my way into (the Masters). That didn’t work, so I had to re-think it. I kind of had to flow the cobwebs out, reset and go again.”
Rickie Fowler birdied three of the first four holes to move into the lead before he faltered with a double bogey on the sixth hole and a triple bogey — including a three-putt from inside 7 feet — on the par-5 13th. He shot 73 and was five shots back.
Jordan Spieth, whose putter appeared to be heating up after a season-long slump, had four three-putts in the first eight holes — including two misses from inside 4 feet — and shot 71. He trailed by four shots.
Henrik Stenson and Matt Kuchar were 11 under, among the dozen players within three shots of the lead.
Ninety players teed off Saturday, the most in almost three years on the PGA Tour, after Bobby Gates’ final-hole bogey on Friday allowed an additional 20 players to make the cut. Seventy-five remain after Saturday’s secondary cut, including Phil Mickelson, who had a double bogey and a triple bogey in his round of 72.
Now that he’s out of the hunt, Mickelson will spend Sunday trying to gear up his game for Augusta. Hossler, Poulter and many others can only hope for the chance to do the same.