Wheatcroft sizzling in Illinois
Six birdies in row cap career-best 62
Steve Wheatcroft, an Indiana, Pa., native, shot a career-best 9-under 62 Thursday to take a one-shot lead in the John Deere Classic in Silvis,Ill.
Wheatcroft birdied seven of the last nine holes to finish a shot ahead of Michael Kim. Johnson Wagner, Nick Taylor, Andres Romero and Joel Dahmen shot opening-round 64s.
Wheatcroft hasn’t had a top-10 finish this season, and he’s 209th in the FedEx Cup standings. But he caught fire on the back nine, finishing with six birdies in a row, including a 13-foot putt on the par-4 18th. His previous best scoreson the PGA Tour were 64s at the 2012 Greenbrier Classic and the 2016 CanadianOpen.
“I tried to keep the round going. I asked if we could just go to the first tee and start round two,” Wheatcroft said. “No, I don’t know if I’ve ever done that to finish a round. It was great. Yeah, I would just tryto keep doing what I’m doing.”
Senior Women’s Open
Elaine Crosby shot a 3-under-par 70 at Chicago Golf Club for the lead after the first round of the inaugural tournament in Wheaton, Ill. A winner of two tournaments in 17 LPGA seasons, Crosby, 60, owns a one-shot advantage over Trish Johnson, Laura Davies and Liselotte Neumann. Missie Berteotti of Pittsburgh opened witha 3-over 76.
Marathon Classic
Thidapa Suwannapura, who has three top-10 finishes in 120 career LPGA Tour events, shot a 6-under-par 65 to take the first-round lead at in Sylvania, Ohio. She birdied five of the final six holes, including the par-5 18th at Highland Meadows. The Thaiplayer had her previous top-10 finish in 2014 at the Kingsmill Invitational. Her best performance this season was a tie for 18th three weeks ago in Arkansas. Seven players, including defending champion I.K. Kim and former No. 1 Yani Tseng, were a strokebehind at 66.
Scottish Open
American Luke List equaled the Gullane course record with a 7-under-par 63 in the opening round in Gullane, Scotland. List moved into the lead with his ninth birdie on the 15th hole and held it to lead by a stroke. He was followed by five players — Rickie Fowler, Lee Westwood, Robert Rock, Scott Fernandezof Spain, and Jens Dantorpof Sweden.