Times wires
Saturday, May 28, 2011
IRVING, Texas — Ryan Palmer fought through a breezy day for 3-over 73 at the Byron Nelson Championship, and that was good enough to top the leaderboard Saturday at 5-under 205 after three rounds.
Even with two bogeys the last three holes, Palmer finished a stroke ahead of playing partner Sergio Garcia after the two started the day tied for the lead. Garcia shot 74 in the PGA Tour event, bogeying the 16th and 18th holes, where he missed makable putts.
"It was the kind of day, if you let yourself go, it could go very wrong," said Garcia, the 2004 Byron Nelson champion who hasn't won since 2008. "We grinded it out the best we could."
The last three holes at TPC Four Seasons played into the wind, sustained all day at 25 mph, with gusts near 40. Only eight of 74 players shot under par. The best was 67 by Arjun Atwal, which tied him with Tampa resident Ryuji Imada (70) for third at 3 under.
"Obviously, the scores show how hard it was," Palmer said.
Teen four shots back: On the day he graduated from high school, amateur Jordan Spieth, 17, shot 2-over 72 to sit 1-under 209 at the Byron Nelson. The former U.S. Junior Amateur champ's round ended about 4 p.m. local time, the time the other 245 boys in the senior class of Dallas Jesuit Prep were beginning their graduation ceremony on the SMU campus, about 20 miles away.
Because of expected traffic, Spieth's mother, Chris, said they wouldn't try to get to the ceremony, which was also near where Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was getting married.
Spieth (pronounced SPEE-th), who made the cut in the tournament for the second straight year, birdied his first two holes.
"I was like all right, who knows what can happen, who says you can't shoot 5, 6 under (Saturday). And then reality kind of kicked in," he said. "I caught a couple of bad breaks. But also within those bad breaks I made a couple of amateur decisions, which definitely hurt."
Champions: Hale Irwin shot 2-under 70 to tie Kiyoshi Murota for the lead through three rounds of the Senior PGA Championship at Louisville, Ky. A win would make him the oldest winner of the oldest senior major. Irwin turns 66 Friday. Irwin and Murota, who battled back pain to shoot 74, were at 9-under 207. Tom Watson, the 2007 champion, shot 68 and was one back.
European: Luke Donald birdied two of his last three holes for 1-over 72 and a share of the lead at the BMW PGA Championship with 17-year-old Matteo Manassero (72) in the third round at 5-under 208 at Virginia Water, England. Top-ranked Lee Westwood and Fabrizio Zanotti of Paraguay shot 69s and were two strokes back. Donald, ranked second, needs to finish in front of Westwood to capture the No. 1 ranking.
LPGA: Heather Bowie Young shot 6-under 66 in chilly, rainy conditions to take a two-stroke lead over Suzann Pettersen and Lindsey Wright in the 36-hole Brazil Cup at Rio de Janeiro. Young had eight birdies and two bogeys in the 30-player exhibition event. Catriona Matthew was three strokes back at 69 with Azahara Munoz and Mariajo Uribe.