Leishman at ease in BMW driver’s seat
As much as Marc Leishman has been through, especially off the golf course, it takes a lot to get under his skin. He tells his wife that even after a particularly bad round, give him 10 minutes and he’ll be fine.
His last tournament, when Leishman lost a 2-shot lead on the back nine at the TPC Boston, was an exception.
“That one probably took a day,” he said. “It stung a bit.”
Yesterday at the BMW Championship brought Leishman on the verge of redemption.
Leishman got up-and-down from a tough lie behind the 18th green for one last birdie that gave him a 3-under-par 68 and extended his lead to 5 shots over Jason Day and Rickie Fowler going into the final round at Conway Farms in Lake Forest, Ill.
Leishman, who was at 19-under 194, gets another chance to win a FedEx Cup playoff event and grab one of the top five seeds at the Tour Championship next week. The top seeds have a clear path to claim the $10 million bonus.
And this opportunity is much better than two weeks ago.
Leishman shared the 54-hole lead at the Dell Technologies Championship TPC Boston with Justin Thomas, who surged past Leishman and held off Jordan Spieth. This time, no one could make a run at him on a warm day with a steady wind that made conditions faster and more difficult.
Fowler rolled in a 25-foot eagle putt from just short of the green on the opening hole, and made only one birdie the rest of the way. He missed putts from the 6-foot range on consecutive holes on the back nine, one of them for birdie, and couldn’t make birdie with an iron in his hand for his second shot on the par-5 18th.
Day pulled within 2 shots with a birdie at the turn, but played the back nine with eight pars and a bogey. Fowler and Day each shot 70.
The top 30 in the FedEx Cup advance to next week’s Tour Championship, where all have a mathematical chance at the $10 million bonus.
Jutanugarn eyes history
Moriya Jutanugarn shot 3-under 68 to lead the Evian Championship second round, and could join her younger sister Ariya in golf’s record book.
Seeking to be the first sisters to win a major title, Moriya’s 9-under total left her 1 shot ahead of Ayako Uehara, who had seven birdies in her round of 66 in Evian-Les-Bains, France.
Victory for Moriya — who has a career-best finish of 10th at a major — would make the Jutanugarns the first sisters to win a major since the U.S. LPGA Tour was founded 67 years ago.
McKenzie even better
David McKenzie birdied the final six even-numbered holes for a 7-under 64 and a share of the lead with Jerry Smith in the PGA Tour Champions’ Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship in Victoria, British Columbia.
McKenzie, the 50-year-old Australian who Tuesday qualified to get in the field, began the unique run on the par-4 eighth and added birdies on Nos. 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18 to match Smith at 12-under 130 on Bear Mountain’s Mountain Course . . . .
Kiradech Aphibarnrat birdied his last hole to card 5-under 66 and take the lead after the third round of the KLM Open in Spijk, Netherlands.