The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Landry, Scheffler pull away at American Express tournament
Andrew Landry and Scottie Scheffler broke away Saturday at The American Express in La Quinta, California. Landry shot a 7-under 65 at PGA West’s Jack Nicklaus Tournament Course to join Scheffler atop the leaderboard at 21-under 195, four strokes ahead of third-place Rickie Fowler.
Scheffler had a 66 on the adjacent Stadium Course, also the site of the final round today.
“It’s a tough course. It’s a good track,” Scheffler said. “If you’re not on your game, you can really struggle. There’s a lot of trouble out there, so you’ve got to hit a lot of quality shots to keep the ball in play. Good test.”
Fowler, tied with Scheffler for the second-round lead, overcame two front-nine bogeys to shoot 70 at the Stadium Course. At the event for the first time in six years, he played the Pete Dye-designed course for the time Saturday after only taking a quick scouting drive early in the week.
Ryan Moore and Chase Seiffert were five strokes back at 16 under. Moore had a 67 at the Stadium, and Seiffert 67 on the Nicklaus.
Tournament host Phil Mickelson missed the cut by six strokes. The 49-year-old Hall of Famer finished three rounds at 3 under. He eagled the par-5 16th on Saturday in a 71.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Lee Westwood, chasing his 25th European Tour win, moved into a one-shot lead after the third round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Saturday. Westwood carded a seven-under 65, including an eagle on the par-five eighth, to move to 14-under for the tournament.
Bernd Wiesberger and second-round leader Francesco Laporta are one shot off the lead, with Matthew Fitzpatrick a shot further back at 12-under. Sergio Garcia and Kurt Kitayama are at 11-under.
Top-ranked Brooks Koepka recovered from a poor round Friday to fire a 2-under 70 and is tied for 48th, nine shots off the lead.
LPGA: Inbee Park finally made a bogey, but she still finished with a 4-under 67 Saturday and a twoshot lead over Sei Young Kim heading into the final round of the season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Florida.
Park, a 19-time winner on the LPGA Tour, hadn’t made a bogey since November’s season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. But she finally dropped a shot when she three-putted the difficult 211-yard par-3 18th.
Closest to Park is Kim, whose three victories in 2019 included the lucrative CME Group Tour Championship. Kim made five birdies in a wild second nine and shot 67.
CHAMPIONS: Woody Austin scrambled for birdie on the par-4 18th Friday to take the lead into the final round of the season-opening Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii, while Ernie Els had the best round of the day to get into contention in his senior debut.
Austin had a 4-under 68 to get to 11-under 133, a stroke ahead of Bernhard Langer, who followed an opening 64 with a 70. Els followed a 72 with a 65 to get to 7 under. He birdied four of the first six holes and eagled the par-5 seventh.