Creamer leads Evian Championship with 64
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France – Paula Creamer is leading a major tournament again, shooting a bogey-free 7-under 64 Thursday in the first round of the Evian Championship.
When Creamer last topped a major leaderboard, she won the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open by four strokes to get her ninth title on the LPGA tour.
At the Evian Resort Golf Club, where she had a signature win as a teenager, the 32-year-old American moved one shot clear after making her seventh birdie on the par-5 18th.
“I feel really just in control,” said Creamer, now ranked No. 156 and whose last top-10 finish in a major and last tournament win were both in 2014. “It’s been several years where I felt like just all-in-all good in my shoes.”
Creamer dressed all in black as temperatures rose to 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees F) in the French heatwave. She took 31 shots to reach the turn and stayed clear of four players who peppered the back nine with birdies.
At 6 under were Brittany Altomare, who earned a career-best runner-up finish in Evian in 2017, seven-time major winner Inbee Park, No. 2-ranked Jin Young Ko, and Mi Hyang Lee.
Two shots behind Creamer on 5 under were Jennifer Kupcho – the inaugural Augusta National Women’s Amateur winner in April – and Mel Reid of England, who got the day’s only eagle at the 18th. Top-ranked Sung Hyun Park was among three players on 4 under, three shots back.
FedEx St. Jude Invitational
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Jon Rahm matched his career low with an 8-under 62 in the FedEx St. Jude Invitational, taking advantage of nearly perfect greens to open a three-stroke lead in the World Golf Championships event.
Rahm rolled in five putts of at least 16 feet for birdies in the bogey-free opening round at TPC Southwind.
The Spaniard finished with a 7-footer to save par.
He also opened with 62s last year in his CareerBuilder Challenge victory and in January in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
Bubba Watson, Hideki Matsuyama, Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Smith and Shugo Imahira shot 65. Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter were among six players at 66.
Justin Thomas, the winner of the WGC event last year in its final time at Firestone in Ohio, had a 68. Dustin Johnson, the St. Jude Classic winner on this course last year, and Rory McIlroy, who missed the cut by a stroke last week in the British Open, each shot 69.
Barracuda Championship
RENO, Nev. – David Lingmerth had nine birdies to take the lead Thursday in the suspended first round of the Barracuda Championship, the PGA Tour’s lone modified Stableford scoring system event.
The Swede had 18 points at Montreaux Golf and Country Club under the format that awards eight points for albatross, five for eagle, two for birdie and zero for par, and subtracts a point for bogey and three for double bogey or worse. Play was stopped at 5:10 p.m. because of lightning and then called off for the rest of the day.
Lingmerth, the 2015 Memorial winner for his lone PGA Tour title, is 229th in the FedEx Cup standings with only two weeks left to get into the top 125 for the first playoff event. He has missed four straight cuts, shooting 79-63 last week in Kentucky in the Barbasol Championship.
Tyrone Van Aswegen, Robert Streb and Tom Hoge were tied for second with 13 points. Bronson Burgoon was the top player still on the course. He had 10 points with five holes to play.
Senior British Open
LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England – A quartet of Americans – Wes Short Jr., Scott Dunlap, Scott Parel and Ken Duke – topped the Senior British Open leaderboard, together with England’s Paul Broadhurst, when first-round play was suspended due to fading light.
The leaders were a stroke ahead after a 3-under 67 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
Former Ryder Cup captains Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie were tied for sixth with Americans Woody Austin and Tom Gillis, and Sweden’s Magnus P. Atlevi.