AROUND THE GREEN
Arevalo, Bruce shoot 74s
Abby Arevalo and amateur Samantha Bruce each carded a two-over-par 74 at the start of the second stage of the LPGA Tour and Epson Tour Qualifying Tournament at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Florida Tour Thursday.
The best effort among Filipino bidders, Arevalo and Bruce were tied for 67th spot, five shots off the pace.
Both playing the Panther course, Arevalo birdied a couple of par-5 holes but made four bogeys while Bruce had three birdies against five bogeys.
Pauline del Rosario got stymied by a triple bogey on 12 on her way to a 76 at Panther for 109th spot.
Daniella Uy, also playing at Panther, was in a share of 121st spot after a 77 while Chanelle Avaricio struggled at Bobcat with a 78 for joint 137th.
Eight players were tied on 3-under: Karen Chung, Nataliya Guseva, Becca Huffer, Seulki Lee, Sherman Santiwiwatthanapong, Maria Stackhouse, Yue Ren and Natthakritta Vongtaveelap.
Pagunsan salvages 71
Juvic Pagunsan bucked a double bogey to card even-par 71 in the Dunlop Phoenix tournament at the Phoenix Country Club in Miyazaki, Japan.
The 44-year-old Filipino ace three-putted the third hole and missed the green on the next to go 2-over before he birdied 7 to reach the turn on 1-over.
He birdied 10 and 14, dropped two shots on 17 before closing with a birdie to bring his 36-hole total to 3-under 139, good for a share of 25th.
Japanese Ohira Sato and Tomoharu Ohtsuki were tied on 9-under 133 after a 68 and 63, respectively.
Tied for third in 134 were Tom Kimmore of South Korea (66), Kazuki Higa of Japan (65) and Mito Pereira (69)
Hammer grabs RSM lead
MIAMI (AFP) — A week after making his first cut on the PGA Tour, American Cole Hammer shot an eight under-par round of 64 to grab the first-round lead at the RSM Classic on Thursday.
The 23-year-old joined the Korn Ferry Tour this season after an impressive college career at the University of Texas but has struggled in PGA Tour events.
After failing to make the cut in Tour tournaments in the past two seasons, he finally ended that streak at the Houston Open last week where he finished T27.
Judging from his play on Thursday, at a chilly Sea Island Golf Club in Georgia, that result was clearly liberating.
“I needed to get that monkey off my back. To do that in my hometown event in Houston, was huge for me. I was telling my parents, but the first tee in Houston was like the most nervous I’ve ever been, just with the hometown crowd,” he said.
“I told myself I’ll never be that nervous again. I just got comfortable after that and saw myself shoot a good round on Tour and now I believe that I can do it,” he said.