San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
WIND CALMS DOWN AS REDMAN TAKES LEAD
Doc Redman found the wind far more manageable Saturday, and he took advantage with a 4-under 67 for a one-shot lead going into the final round of the Bermuda Championship at Southampton, Bermuda.
The wind came out of the opposite direction as the previous day and it wasn’t quite as strong. It showed in the scores and in the number of opportunities for players who never won or have gone without winning in years.
Redman was at 10-under 203, one shot ahead of Ryan Armour (70), Wyndham Clark (70) and Kramer Hickok (69), who took three putts from a tough spot on the fringe on the 18th at Port Royal.
Another shot behind were Matt Jones (66), Brian Gay (67) and Ollie Schniederjans (69). Jones was bogey-free in the third round, which to him was as impressive as any of his five birdies.
Redman, the 2017 U.S. Amateur champion, is among 10 players separated by four shots who have never won on the PGA Tour. A victory today comes with an invitation to the Masters next April.
“I feel like with the wind switching, it was a little easier,” Redman said. “And it was still really windy. But (Friday) was incredible. We couldn’t have been far away from stopping play (Friday). That made it a little easier. And the greens roll great, so if you have looks at it you can make birdies.”
Redman still was mindful of the wind, particularly on the par-5 17th when he made decisions to play short off the tee because of the strong left-to-right wind off the Atlantic Ocean and potential problems it could have created.
The wind also made it tough on Armour, the 44-year-old from Ohio who picked the wrong day to not be swinging his best. What saved him was a short game that enabled him to break par for the third straight day and to stay very much in the mix to win.
“I’m going to have to go figure out what was going on,” Armour said. “Toward the end there, I started hitting the center of the face a little more. As you know, when the winds are this high, you’ve got to hit in the center or else it’s going to get blown all over.”
He took a little off a pitching wedge for a beautiful third shot just below the pin for birdie on the par-5 17th, and he narrowly missed a 15-footer on the 18th that would have given him a share of the lead.
Jones is used to windy conditions from his roots in Australia, and he handled it well. He will be going for his first PGA Tour victory since the 2014 Houston Open, although Jones won the Australian Open at the end of last year, and that tournament had a stronger field than what he’s facing in Bermuda.
Clarke shoots 62
Darren Clarke eagled the par-5 18th hole for a 10-under 62 and a share of the second-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Timbertech Champions at Boca Raton, Fla.
Winless on the 50-and-over tour, the 52-year-old major champion from Northern Ireland had eight birdies in the bogey-free-round at The Old Course at Broken Sound.
Robert Karlsson of Sweden birdied the 18th for a 66 to match Clarke at 13-under 131.
Jim Furyk was a stroke back after a 68. The 50-year-old Furyk won this year in his first two starts on the senior tour.
John Daly, tied with Furyk for first-round lead after a 64, had a 73 to drop into a tie for 20th at 7 under.
Elsewhere
Jamie Donaldson will look to seal his first European Tour title in more than six years after taking a one-stroke lead at the end of the third round of the Cyprus Open in Paphos, Cyprus.
Donaldson, who is most famous for securing the winning point for the European team at the 2014 Ryder Cup, birdied the 18th hole for the third time this week to shoot 2under 69 and reach 14 under par. He won the last of his three titles at the Czech Masters in 2014 and is playing on an invitation this week.