Love strides back into winning form
Davis Love III shot a 7-under 63 yesterday in The Greenbrier Classic, leaving the 53-year-old star 2 strokes behind first-round leader Sebastian Munoz.
In his best round of the season, Love birdied four of his first five holes on the Old White TPC in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., which was reconstructed after deadly floods forced the cancellation of last year’s tournament.
Love is set to enter the World Golf Hall of Fame in September. His last win came at the 2015 Wyndham Championship, which made him the third-oldest winner in PGA Tour history. Slowed this year by a bad back and a broken collarbone sustained in a January snowboarding accident, Love took advantage of a course softened by overnight rain for his best round of the season.
“I’ve been working real hard the last couple of weeks on trying to fix my swing to kind of swing around a stiff back and a stiff hip,” Love said. “I’ve given up on hitting it a long way. I’m just saying I’ve got to hit it straight, and this is the perfect golf course for me to get it in the fairway. A lot of hard work is kind of starting to pay off.”
Munoz, a 24-year-old Colombian, was boosted by five birdies on the back nine for a 61. He is looking for his first top 10. His best finish is a tie for 27th at the Texas Open. Defending champion
Danny Lee was at 64 along with David Lingmerth, Ben Martin, rookie Xander Schauffele, Graham DeLaet and Nick Taylor. Phil Mickelson shot 67 in his first tournament since parting ways with his caddie of 25 years, Jim “Bones”
Mackay. Mickelson’s brother, Tim, is his caddie for the rest of the year.
Players were allowed to lift and clean their golf balls in the fairway because of the wet conditions. It took a full year after the June 2016 floods that killed 23 statewide to get Old White back to playing conditions.
Europe: Rahm roams
Rising Spanish star Jon
Rahm upstaged tournament host Rory McIlroy at the Irish Open by shooting a 7-under 65 to move 1 stroke off the first-round lead.
Rahm, ranked No. 11, showed impressive form on the links two weeks out from the British Open, rolling in six birdies and an eagle on a low-scoring day at Portstewart, Northern Ireland.
Rahm was tied for third place with Englishmen
Matthew Southgate and Oliver Fisher. American Daniel Im, ranked No. 542, and Benjamin Hebert of France, ranked No. 254, held the lead after shooting bogeyfree 64s.
McIlroy, the defending champion and part of a heavyweight group containing Rahm and Hideki Matsuyama, parred his last 11 holes and was even par at a tournament which benefits his own foundation. The No. 2-ranked Matsuyama shot 67.
LPGA: Rookie leads
Belgian rookie Laura Gonzalez Escallon birdied three of the final four holes for a 7-under 65 and a share of the lead with Sei Young Kim in the Thornberry Creek Classic in Oneida, Wis.
Gonzalez Escallon, the 26-year-old former Purdue player who won twice last season on the Symetra Tour, also started fast in the first-year event, making birdies on three of the first four holes.
Kim had eight birdies and a bogey. The South Korean won the Lorena Ochoa Match Play in May in Mexico for her sixth LPGA Tour victory.