Jodi Ewart Shadoff of England hits her approach shot onto the 18th green during the first round of the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship, in Rancho Mirage, California, on Thursday. (Reuters)
Reuters/New Delhi
Motor racing fan Wade Ormsby of Australia hit top gear just in time, sinking two birdies in his last three holes to open up a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Panasonic Open India yesterday.
Ormsby, the overnight joint-leader, matched his first-round effort of a five-under-par 67 yesterday for a total of 10-under-par 134, two strokes ahead of Singapore’s Lam Chih Bing (69). The 33-year-old mixed six birdies with a lone bogey on the ninth hole on a windy day at the Delhi Golf Course which saw 68 players make the weekend cut.
“Yes, I love motorsports and racing. But that just sucks up your money while golf gives you that, so I’ll stay with golf anytime,” Ormsby told the Asian Tour in a statement. “There were lots of cross winds and it was tricky to try and keep them in the fairways. I just have to keep doing what I’ve been doing. My short game was fantastic today and hopefully that continues.”
Local favourite SSP Chowrasia (69) and Thai veteran Boonchu Ruangkit (68), who is looking to become the oldest winner on the Asian Tour at 56, stayed in touch at four strokes behind the leader. Singapore’s Lam, who lost his Asian Tour card last year, was putting his familiarity with the course to good use before hitting two consecutive bogeys on his last two holes.
“You can know the course very well but you still have to perform,” Lam said. “I’m very happy to be where I am. It certainly wasn’t easy out there today, I felt I played solid. It was a disappointing finish but three-under for today is a very good score.”
Tomasulo birdies to lead
Texas: Peter Tomasulo’s birdie-birdie finish completed a bogey-free five-under par 67 on Thursday and vaulted him into a tie for the lead with Matt Bettencourt at the US PGA Tour Texas Open. The US duo had a one-stroke lead over Ireland’s Padraig Harrington and Americans Billy Horschel, Bryce Molder and Harris English, who all finished a windy day at TPC San Antonio on four-under 68.
A group of 10 players on 69 included England’s Brian Davis, Australians Nathan Green, Alistair Presnell and Steven Bowditch, as well as Argentina’s Andres Romero. Tomasulo, making just his sixth start of the season on the PGA Tour and trying to regain full playing privileges after battling a rib injury two years ago, played in the last group of the day. He drained a 10-foot birdie putt at 18 for his share of the lead, and said playing late was an advantage on a day of gusty winds.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, dislodged from the top of world rankings by Tiger Woods and trying to sharpen up his game before next week’s Masters, had four birdies and four bogeys in an even-par 72.
Four-way lead in LPGA
Mission Hills: Na Yeon Choi, Suzann Pettersen and Jodi Ewart Shadoff fired four-under par 68s on Thursday to share the first round lead at the LPGA Kraft Nabisco, the first major of the season.
Both South Korea’s Choi and Norway’s Pettersen had four birdies with no bogeys on the par-72 Dinah Shore tournament course at Mission Hills, while England’s Ewart Shadoff had six birdies and two bogeys. Choi, ranked third in the world, teed off on 10 and picked up her first birdie at the 14th, draining a 30-footer from the fringe.