Golf-Jones puts himself in frame for Presidents Cup

 

August 18, 2013

By Andrew Both

GREENSBORO, North Carolina, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Australian Matt Jones has emerged as a contender for the International Presidents Cup team after another sizzling performance on the PGA Tour.

Jones reeled off five consecutive birdies on his way to a sparkling eight-under-par 62 in the final round at the Wyndham Championship on Sunday.

He started his purple patch at the 12th hole and while his run came too late to contend for victory, he vaulted into a tie for fifth at Sedgefield, just three strokes behind play-off winner Patrick Reed.

Jones has finished in the top-seven in three of his past four starts - performances which no doubt have caught the attention of Nick Price, captain of the International team for October's Presidents Cup against the United States at Muirfield Village in Ohio.

The top 10 in the standings after the next two tournaments will gain automatic selection, while Price will pick two others.

Jones remains outside the top 10 but few other International players are in good form, which may help the Australian's cause.

Jones, 33, downplayed his chances, saying he needed to win in the next two weeks to justify selection.

"I'd need to win a tournament to feel like I've earned my way there," Jones told Reuters. "Top 10s are great but I think you've got to handle the pressure of winning a tournament to understand what playing a Presidents Cup is like.

"This is the closest I've been (to making the team) and it's great to be there because it means I've played well this year."

Jones, who is 37th on the tour's FedEx Cup points standings, has always had a good long game but putting has often been his weak link.

But he made his share of putts on Sunday, including a rollercoaster 45-footer at the 13th that he described as the best putt of his life.

"I had to nearly putt it off the green - at a 45-degree angle to the hole up one steep hill and back down another steep hill - and it went in," he said. "It was amazing." (andrewboth@gmail.com)

Peter Malnati wins first Web.com Tour title

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Miguel Angel Carballo of Argentina, hits from the rough along the second fairway during the first round of the Honda Classic golf tournament in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., Thursday, March 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

August 18, 2013AP - Sports

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Peter Malnati won the News Sentinel Open on Sunday for his first Web.com Tour title, birdieing five of the last seven holes for a one-stroke victory.

Malnati, a former University of Missouri player from Dandridge, Tenn., closed with a 5-under 65 for a 16-under 268 total at Fox Den Country Club. He earned $99,000.

James White, Miguel Angel Carballo, Matt Bettencourt and Blayne Barber tied for second. White had a 66, Carballo and Bettencourt shot 67, and Barber finished with a 68.

ones puts himself in frame for Presidents Cup

 

Andrew Both August 18, 2013

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Matt Jones of Australia watches his second shot on the 15th hole during the third round of the Memorial …

By Andrew Both

GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Australian Matt Jones has emerged as a contender for the International Presidents Cup team after another sizzling performance on the PGA Tour.

Jones reeled off five consecutive birdies on his way to a sparkling eight-under-par 62 in the final round at the Wyndham Championship on Sunday.

He started his purple patch at the 12th hole and while his run came too late to contend for victory, he vaulted into a tie for fifth at Sedgefield, just three strokes behind play-off winner Patrick Reed.

Jones has finished in the top-seven in three of his past four starts - performances which no doubt have caught the attention of Nick Price, captain of the International team for October's Presidents Cup against the United States at Muirfield Village in Ohio.

The top 10 in the standings after the next two tournaments will gain automatic selection, while Price will pick two others.

Jones remains outside the top 10 but few other International players are in good form, which may help the Australian's cause.

Jones, 33, downplayed his chances, saying he needed to win in the next two weeks to justify selection.

"I'd need to win a tournament to feel like I've earned my way there," Jones told Reuters. "Top 10s are great but I think you've got to handle the pressure of winning a tournament to understand what playing a Presidents Cup is like.

"This is the closest I've been (to making the team) and it's great to be there because it means I've played well this year."

Jones, who is 37th on the tour's FedEx Cup points standings, has always had a good long game but putting has often been his weak link.

But he made his share of putts on Sunday, including a rollercoaster 45-footer at the 13th that he described as the best putt of his life.

"I had to nearly putt it off the green - at a 45-degree angle to the hole up one steep hill and back down another steep hill - and it went in," he said. "It was amazing."

(andrewboth@gmail.com)

Golf-Young Briton Fleetwood hunting first tour win at Gleneagles

Aug 24 (Reuters) - Young Briton Tommy Fleetwood overcame the occasional attack of the jitters to join Argentine Ricardo Gonzalezat the top of the leaderboard after the Johnnie Walker Championship third round in Scotland on Saturday.

 Fleetwood, 22, chasing his first European Tour win, carded a five-under 67 to join Gonzalez (70) on 16-under-par 200 at Gleneagles, the venue for next year's Ryder Cup.

 Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed (66) was in third spot on 201, two strokes ahead of Briton Stephen Gallacher (64) and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger (72).

 "This is what you spend hours and hours practising for,"Englishman Fleetwood told reporters. "Getting up there in golf tournaments ... is what you dream about when you're a little kid.

 "You want to play on the European Tour and the Johnnie Walker Championship is a massive event, one I always used to watch.

 "I was a bit nervous out there at times and you get a little trembly over three- or four-footers downhill left-to-right but I coped really well," added Fleetwood.

(Writing by Tony Jimenez; editing by Stephen Wood)

Golf-Woodland seizes three-shot lead in Barclays third round

By Larry Fine

 JERSEY CITY, New Jersey, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Long-hitter Gary Woodland ran off four birdies in a row from the sixth to seize a three-stroke lead with nine holes to play in the third round of The Barclays on Saturday at Liberty National.

 The 29-year-old Woodland, who earlier this month won the Reno-Tahoe Open for his first PGA Tour title, was four under par for the round and 13-under for the tournament, the opening event in the FedExCup playoffs.

Little known Kevin Chappell also used a blistering hot spell to leap up the leaderboard, making seven birdies in an eight-hole stretch to reach 10 under par with two holes to play in his round.

 Moving Day lived up to its name in Saturday's third round afterMatt Kuchar claimed a two-shot lead in completing a second round 65 in an early morning return along with 39 other players after play was suspended on Friday due to failing light.

Bogeys at the third and seventh holes dropped Kuchar to nine under par, four shots off the pace.

 Webb Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion who had been tied for second with Woodland at the halfway mark, bogeyed the sixth and eighth to fall into a tie for fourth on eight-under with fellow American Rickie Fowler.

Fowler had used an eagle at the par-five sixth to move into a temporary share of the lead at 10-under but double-bogeyed the ninth after an errant tee shot.

World number one Tiger Woods also moved in the wrong direction. The FedExCup points leader began the round at six under par and birdied the first to reach seven-under, but three bogeys in a five-hole stretch left him five-under through 12.

 Tied for sixth at seven under par, six behind Woodland, were a group of seven including U.S. Open winner Justin Rose (through 12 holes) and fellow Englishman David Lynn (12), former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa (11), Australian Aaron Baddeley (15) and Spain's Sergio Garcia (11).

 They were joined by Americans Jim Furyk (13) and 20-year-old Jordan Spieth (15).

Players teed off in threesomes off both nines for the third round at the scenic course waterside course with views of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline.

 (Reporting by Larry Fine, Editing by Gene Cherry)

Kuchar takes 2-shot lead at halfway point

JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) -- Matt Kuchar expanded his lead to two shots at The Barclays without making a single par Saturday morning.

Kuchar played five holes Saturday morning to complete the second round at Liberty National. His first shot of the day was a 30-foot birdie putt. He followed that with a poor tee shot that led to bogey, two short birdie putts, and another poor drive on the 18th for a bogey.

It gave him a 6-under 65 and a two-shot lead over Webb Simpson and Gary Woodland going into the third round.

Tiger Woods made a 10-foot birdie on the 17th hole and saved par from a bunker on the 18th to end his up-and-down round at 69, leaving him five shots behind.

Kuchar was at 11-under 131.

The tournament was delayed by six hours on Thursday because of rain. The third round featured threesomes off both sides, and with a brilliant blue sky along the banks of Hudson River, the tournament was expected to be back on schedule by the end of Saturday.

The third round also figured to go a long way toward unscrambling a leaderboard packed with some of golf's best players. Sixteen players were separated by five shots at the halfway point of The Barclays, half of them major champions.

Rory McIlroy hit a tough tee shot into the wind on the 18th and made an 8-foot birdie putt for a 65 that put him in the large group at 6-under 136 that included Woods, Sergio Garcia and U.S. Open champion Justin Rose.

Masters champion Adam Scott (66) and former PGA champion Keegan Bradley, who had a tournament course record of 63, were in the group at 7-under 135.

It was a tough end for so many others, however.

The Barclays is the first of four tournaments in the FedEx Cup playoffs, and only the top 100 players in the standings advance to the second stage next week outside Boston. Morgan Hoffmann figured to be one of them. He was looking for a strong finish to get among the final groups. Instead, he finished with a pair of double bogeys to miss the cut by one shot and end his season.

Thirteen players ranked outside the top 100 failed to make the cut, so they are done for the year. That opened the door for others who narrowly made the cut and now have the weekend to try to advance. That group includes Erik Compton, who finished birdie-birdie to make the cut on the number. He came into the playoffs at No. 117.

J.J. Henry also bogeyed his final hole to miss the cut by one shot. He was at No. 97, making it unlikely he would get through to next week.

Kuchar won The Barclays three years ago when it was played at Ridgewood Country Club. He already has won twice this season.

PGA Tour Expert Picks: WGC Bridgestone Invitational

by Kyle Porter | Golf Writer

July 31, 2013 12:04 PM ET

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Each week during the official PGA Tour season, CBSSports.com's Kyle Porter will give his best shot at pegging the winner and seeing what other golfers will have a good week. The picks are based on a combination of homework, guesswork and just plain instinct.

Want to make your picks? Tweet your Winner, Top 10 finisher and sleeper to @EyeOnGolf

Odds provided by Bovada.lv

Field | Course Guide | Previous Champions | Schedule | Rankings, FedEx Points

Firestone Country Club -- Akron, Ohio

Purse: $8.8 million

Defending Champion: Keegan Bradley

FedEx Cup Points: 550

TV Schedule

Thursday: GOLF -- 2-6 p.m.

Friday: GOLF -- 2-6 p.m.

Saturday: GOLF -- 12-1:30 p.m., CBS -- 2-6 p.m.

Sunday: GOLF -- 12-1:30 p.m., CBS -- 2-6 p.m.

Pick to win

Jason Dufner Odds: 50 to 1 World Ranking: 24 I have a good feeling about Dufner this week (plus I'm playing with free money after nailing the Snedeker win last week!). He finished seventh here last year while his buddy Keegan Bradley took home the title. Dufner has only played three times since May which I think is good for him -- he doesn't strike me as somebody who wants to grind in the heat all summer. He finished T4 at Merion and T26 at Muirfield. I expect better than this week at Firestone.

Lock for Top-10 finish

Tiger Woods Odds: 9 to 2 World Ranking: 1 I guess the only stat you need is that he's played this tournament 13 times and 11 of those times he's finished inside the top 10. You could point out that his two non-top 10s were recent (2010 and 2011) but he finished T8 last year and probably has a better chance to win this thing than he does of finishing lower than 10th. All in on Tiger this week.

Sleeper

Martin Laird Odds: 100 to 1 World Ranking: 49 Laird hasn't been great this year but he does have a win and a top five finish at the Players Championship. He's also only missed one cut since the Masters in April. He's only played this tournament three times but has been successful in all three posting T29, T11, and T16 finishes in his outings at Firestone. Love him at 100-1 given that he's coming off a British Open where he was right in the mix until an 81 in the third round.

Bet I love

Jason Day to finish in top 10 Odds: (+250) World Ranking: 20 Day is best in the big boy tournaments and this week 48 of the top 50 in the world will be teeing it up. His last three finishes here were T29, T4, and T22 but the T4 came the year he played really well at the Masters and US Open. Guess where he's played really well so far this year? Yeah, Masters and US Open. I expect him to be in one of the last five groups on Sunday.