Mitchell takes two-stroke lead at Valspar Championship
Shin shoots bogey-free 8-under, shares lead
PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Keith Mitchell capped off a magnificent run through the “Snake Pit” at Innisbrook on Saturday with a shot he never saw go in. His 7-iron from the 18th fairway onehopped into the hole for eagle and a 5 under and a two-shot lead in the Valspar Championship.
Mitchell was among a dozen players on the fringe of contention at a tournament so tight that it began with all 77 players who made the cut separated by a mere six shots.
That changed when he went 3-22 through the closing stretch of the Copperhead course, the first player to do that in tournament history. Mitchell holed a birdie putt just inside 15 feet on the 16th hole, hit 6-iron to inside 3 feet for birdie on the par-3 17th and then holed out on the 18th hole with a 7-iron from about 151 yards up a steep hill.
That puts Mitchell at 10-under 203, two shots clear of Mackenzie Hughes (69), Seamus Power (68) and Peter Malnati (68).
Mitchell knew the shot was good, but something flew into his eye as he followed the flight, causing him to look away and wipe away the speck. Then he heard a loud cheer, looked up and realized the ball had gone in for a most unlikely eagle.
“When I looked up, something kind of flew in my eye, so I kind of looked away and never saw it come down and land,” he said. “But I knew ... when I hit it, I was pleased with the contact.”
The 18th green is elevated, and the pin was up front behind a deep bunker, so he wouldn’t have been able to see it go in the hole, anyway. He could hear the crowd, and there was pleasant surprise on his face he couldn’t hide.
Mitchell has reason to feel the finish line feels a lot longer away than just 18 holes.
“No matter how well you played, it was going to be tough to get much better than 4, 5 under, I thought,” Power said. “It’s tough to get away from the pack, so it’s going to be some guys in with a chance.”
LPGA: In Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., Jiyai Shin — the 35-yearold South Korean star who last played a full LPGA Tour schedule in 2013 — shot a bogey-free 8-under 63 on the course overlooking the Pacific Ocean, then ended up tied for the lead hours later when defending champion Ruoning Yin closed with a triple bogey.
Shin, who now plays the Japanese and Korean tours to be closer to home, received a sponsor exemption in the event.
Shin had five straight birdies on Nos. 3-7 and played the last four in 3 under with birdies on Nos. 15, 16 and 18.
A two-time Women’s British Open winner with 11 LPGA Tour victories, the 5-foot-2 player is one of the most accurate hitters in women’s golf — a good fit for the hilly, tree-lined course with small greens.
DP WORLD TOUR: In Singapore, David Micheluzzi kept his cool to take a one-shot lead heading into the final round of the Singapore Classic.
The Australian finished his 6-under 66 with back-to-back birdies in the third round of the European tour event on Saturday. He’s 13-under par for the tournament.