Golf Capsules: McIlroy gets back into the hunt in America
DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Rory McIlroy only gets to play three regular PGA Tour events this year. He showed Thursday why the Memorial Tournament was one of them.
On a Muirfield Village course that already ranks among his favorites, McIlroy had a birdie putt on his last eight holes and converted half of them on his way to a 6-under 66 to join Chris Riley in the lead after the first round.
McIlroy hit the ball so pure that he shot 32 on the front nine despite missing three birdie putts inside 8 feet.
"A great way to start the tournament," McIlroy said.
The 22-year-old from Northern Ireland narrowly made the cut at Wentworth in the BMW PGA Championship and wound up in a tie for 24th. Asked the difference between last week and this week, he replied, "It's about 30 degrees warmer."
A tournament known for its sloppy weather has been spectacular, and it showed in the scoring on a well-manicured course.
Chris DiMarco and Josh Teater were at 67, followed by a large group at 68 that included Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Stewart Cink and Rickie Fowler, the runner-up at the Memorial last year.
Fifty-one players in the 120-man field broke par.
Luke Donald, in his debut as the No. 1 player in the world ranking, recovered from a slow start by making four straight birdies toward the end of his round for a 70. He played with Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and four-time major champion Phil Mickelson, who each had a 72. Mickelson did that without making a single birdie on the par 5s.
Riley was in the first group to play in the morning and relied heavily on his putter to take advantage of the smooth greens, although scoring conditions were not much different in the afternoon.
"The less I think, the better I play," Riley said. "And today, I didn't have time to think. The pace of play was so good and I didn't stand around and think about shots. I just played golf."
This is the last tournament for McIlroy before the U.S. Open, a chance for the No. 6 player in the world to atone for his 80 in the final round that cost him a chance to win the Masters. That collapse hasn't stayed with him long. He was third the next week in Malaysia, and while he missed the cut while defending his title at Quail Hollow, he reached the quarterfinals of the World Match Play in Spain.
And now, the U.S. Open beckons — along with a chance to win on another stronger course in America.
"This is one of my favorite weeks of the year, one of my favorite courses," McIlroy said. "I feel as if it really does set up well for me. I like these sort of golf courses, the likes of here and Akron (Firestone) and Quail Hollow. And I'm swinging well, I'm hitting it good and I'm holing a few putts. Hopefully, I can keep it going for the next three days."
McIlroy likes to play the game through the air, the brand of golf most often seen in America.
But he doesn't get out as often.
By giving up his PGA Tour membership, he is allowed to play only 10 tournaments. That includes the four majors and three World Golf Championships, with The Players Championship not counting against his number — although McIlroy chose not to play this year.
And that's probably not going to change soon.
"Even if I did win, I still probably wouldn't take my card up," McIlroy said. "As a European and playing in some European events over the summer, like the French Open and the Irish Open, we have a very busy summer of golf. And I felt like after the PGA last year at Whistling Straits, I wanted to take a couple of weeks off just to refresh. You couldn't really do it. You had a week off and then straight to the (FedEx Cup) playoffs. It was a lot of golf over a short period of time."
There's a lot of golf left in this tournament, as McIlroy knows well. And there are plenty of players behind him.
Riley, Teater and DiMarco, who all played in the morning, are all ranked out of the top 250 in the world. Fowler is off to a slow start this year, but he looks right at home at the Memorial. Stricker has never had a top 10 at Muirfield Village in 11 tries, a strange statistic he would like to change. And then there's Johnson, who feels his game is about where it was last summer, when he nearly won two majors.
Donald has nine consecutive top 10s and is off to a solid start. For the 33-year-old from England, it felt slightly different from other tournaments, just because of the ranking attached to his name.
"It feels good," Donald said. "I'm excited to be there and looking forward to the challenges. I heard a few 'No. 1' shouts and stuff like that, so you feed off that."
DIVOTS: Nick Watney, the No. 15 player in the world, had to withdraw because of an illness. He was replaced by Kevin Stadler, who didn't bring his regular caddie with him fearing he might not get in. Stadler turned to Rich Schlaack, who once caddied for Bob Estes and Steve Flesch until retiring years ago. "I'll lose 20 pounds by the weekend," Schlaack said. ... The tournament is down to 118 players because Derek Lamely withdrew after he was 10 over through 12 holes, and Joost Luiten of the Netherlands was disqualified. ... Kenny Perry, a three-time winner at the Memorial, was among four players who shots in the 80s.
McIlroy plans trip to Haiti
DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Rory McIlroy's road to the U.S. Open goes through Haiti. McIlroy signed on as one of Ireland's ambassadors to UNICEF in March, saying he looked forward to working with the charity organization geared toward helping children and making a field visit.
McIlroy chose Haiti as his first trip, a tiny country ravaged last year by an earthquake.
The 22-year-old from Northern Ireland, who opened with a 66 to share the first-round lead at the Memorial, is going to Haiti on Monday and Tuesday for what he said "should be an eye-opening experience."
"It's something I've wanted to do since I signed up with UNICEF at the start of the year," McIlroy said. "I'm looking forward to it."
The trip figures to be part of a week filled with two extremes. McIlroy will go from Haiti to Washington for two days of practice at Congressional for the U.S. Open. Then after a day with a corporate sponsor in New Jersey, he plans to spend the weekend at Pine Valley Golf Club before heading over to the next major championship.
McIlroy said he first became interested in working with UNICEF through its partnership with Barcelona's football club, and star player Lionel Messi being one of the international ambassadors.
"You want to associate yourself with a charity that you feel close to, and UNICEF works with mainly a children's charity," McIlroy said. "And I feel like I'm the sort of age that I can relate to younger people. I just don't want to put my name on it. I wanted to do something, and they were very keen for me to go and see somewhere where they're hands-on.
"It just fit in quite well that I could go to Haiti for a couple of days and see what they do."
-- Doug Ferguson
LPGA
Creamer not satisfied being 11th in women's golf
GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) — Paula Creamer came to the ShopRite LPGA Classic a year ago wondering whether her surgically repaired left thumb would hold up for three days of play.
Her outlook on golf is much different these days, and it starts when she walks into her kitchen in Orlando.
Sitting on the table and serving as its centerpiece is the U.S. Women's Open trophy, the major that Creamer won shortly after returning to the LPGA Tour.
Creamer isn't satisfied with that or her current No. 11 ranking in women's golf. She wants to be up there with No. 1 ranked Yani Tseng, No. 2 Suzann Pettersen, No. 3 Jiyai Shin and No. 4 Cristie Kerr, the top-ranked American.
"I want to be a part of it," Creamer said Thursday on the eve of this year's $1.5 million ShopRite event at the Seaview Resort's Bay Course. "It's tough right now, and I'm not quite in that mix yet. I don't know what I am in the rankings, but I want to be higher without a doubt. I want to be No. 1 American, and I want to be the No. 1 player in the world, but that's not going to change overnight. I know that it's going to take some time."
Like many players on the LPGA Tour, Creamer has had difficulty finding her game this year with the lack tournaments. The ShopRite is only the eighth official tour event and the second consecutive one in New Jersey.
The Sybase Match Play Championship was held in late May and then players had a week off with some playing in an unofficial event in Brazil.
Creamer, who has been working on swing changes this season, played well at Sybase, finishing tied for fifth. She lost in the quarterfinals to Kerr, who finished runner-up to Pettersen.
"I'm just trying to get it back, trying to get in contention on Sundays," said Creamer, who will turn 25 in August. "I miss it. I miss being in the winner's circle."
Creamer has nine wins on the LPGA Tour and two others on Japan's LPGA Tour. Her only win since 2008 came last year when she captured her first major in winning the U.S. Women's Open at Oakmont.
"I feel like I matured so much as a golfer and a person that week," Creamer said. "It was the hardest golf course I ever played and the fact that I won by four there shows that I can play, I can be out there, I can be the best player, and it motivates me more and more."
Creamer is excited coming back to ShopRite this year. She nearly wrote a storybook return last year after a three-month layoff. She was within a shot of the lead after two rounds before fading to seventh in the tournament won by Ai Miyazato.
The seaside course has been lengthened slightly and made tougher with fescue being put around the bunkers. And when the wind is blowing like it did on Wednesday and Thursday, the course will play even tougher.
"This golf course needs to play harder," Creamer said. "But it shows that not necessarily adding tons of length everywhere makes the golf course harder. Bringing the fairways in and changing the style of it is actually going to be a good thing. Length isn't everything."
Miyazato added even the grass seems thicker this year, so scores won't be as low.
"I love this golf course because I enjoyed it so much every time that I'm playing over here," said Miyazato, ranked No. 7. "It's because it doesn't just favor the long hitters. But this is a course that favors the long hitters and short hitters, and course management comes into play a lot."
The tournament lost one of its top attractions on Wednesday when Pettersen withdrew because of a lingering battle with the flu.
Tseng also is a question mark. She only played nine holes in Wednesday's pro-am because her shoulder hurt. However, she was hitting ball on Thursday and is expected to play.
-- Tom Canavan
Champions
Tour leader Lehman hopes to fix swing
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Tom Lehman is having one heck of a season for a guy who feels his swing has been out of whack. Lehman leads the Champions Tour in earnings, tops the Charles Schwab Cup standings and will try for his fourth victory in nine starts when he tees off Friday in the Principal Charity Classic.
But in Lehman's mind, something isn't quite right with his game and last weekend was a reminder. The 52-year-old Minnesota native ran off six straight birdies in the third round of the Senior PGA Championship at Valhalla, the longest such stretch on the tour this year, then struggled to a final round 77 that included two double-bogeys.
"I could feel that round coming," Lehman said. "The last several rounds I've played have not been very good. I have been very erratic. My swing has been a little bit out of synch. I would play really well for a number of holes and I would play really poorly for a number of holes."
Lehman said his up-and-down play goes back to his victory in the Regions Tradition at Birmingham in early May, the senior tour's first major.
"I could feel my swing was getting away from me," he said. "I wasn't hitting it the way I normally do. I didn't make many bogeys, so I kind of won that one by just not beating myself. But at the PGA Championship, I hit some great shots and I hit some really poor shots and I just never ever got into a flow where I played well for 18 holes."
Lehman has seen clues this week that his game might coming back around. He could have played in the Memorial, but thought he'd be better served at this point by playing the par-71 Glen Oaks course.
The course has been receptive to low scores — Nick Price won last year at 14-under — but wind can turn the layout into a far more daunting challenge. Breezy conditions are forecast for Friday, with gusts up to 30 mph.
"I'm way better today than I was last week," Lehman said after his Thursday pro-am round. "I actually saw a swing that I made (last week) and no wonder I hit it so lousy. That was terrible. So I kind of had an idea of what the deal was and how to fix it.
"To me, it's about rhythm and balance. I felt way better today than I did Tuesday and way better Tuesday than I did Sunday."
Lehman's fast start has made him the leading contender for the tour's player of the year award, an honor that would give him a trifecta if it happens. He also has been player of the year on the PGA Tour (1996) and Nationwide Tour (1991).
No one has been player of the year on all three tours. Then again, not everyone has played on all three tours.
"You have to be, I wouldn't say lousy enough, but you have to struggle enough at some point to be able to have a chance to win on the Nationwide," Lehman said. "A lot of guys are just too good to ever have played there. Unfortunately, I wasn't, but it sure was good for me."
The Senior PGA, won by Tom Watson, was the fourth straight Champions Tour tournament that ended in a playoff. Such a string has occurred only once before, in 2005.
"It just goes to show you there's a lot of guys on an even scale out here," said Mark Calcavecchia, who led at the Regions Tradition well into the final round. "You've got to putt good. You've got to have a good week on the greens because if you don't, other guys will. Nobody's ever won a tournament without making a bunch of putts and getting lucky."
Calcavecchia's lead in Alabama evaporated with a double-bogey on No. 12 and he closed with a 75 to finish in a tie for fifth. He also finished fifth at The ACE Group Classic in February. The 1989 British Open champion is still looking for his first victory in just under 12 months on the 50-and-over tour.
"I've had some good chances to win and haven't quite pulled it off yet," he said. "I knew the golf was great because I've been paying attention to the scores. But it's better than I even thought it was. Some guys are better now than they ever were in their whole careers."
John Huston, a seven-time winner on the PGA Tour, will find out how he stacks up against the seniors when he makes his Champions Tour debut on Friday. Huston, whose last victory came in 2003, turned 50 on Wednesday and was treated to a birthday cake in the clubhouse after his pro-am round.
"From the start of the year, when I knew when it would be, where it would fall, I was looking forward to it," Huston said. "I'll try not to put too much pressure on myself to do whatever and just see how it works out."
Also playing in his first Champions event: Damon Green, best known as Zach Johnson's caddy on the PGA Tour.
Fifteen players have won in their Champions Tour debut. The last to do it was Tom Pernice Jr. at the 2009 SAS Championship. Pernice, who's playing this weekend, has not won in 18 tournaments since that memorable start.
International
Horne's 64 leads Wales Open; McDowell three shots back
NEWPORT, Wales (AP) — South African journeyman Keith Horne led the Wales Open after shooting a 7-under 64 in the opening round Thursday, with defending champion Graeme McDowell trailing by three strokes at Celtic Manor.
Horne made birdies on five of the last eight holes on his Wales Open debut, his 100th tournament on the European Tour since 2000. He shot 30 on the back nine of the links course.
Horne turned pro at 25 and turns 40 next week. He secured his European Tour card last year and is still seeking his first tour win.
"The golf course was playing as easy as it's going to play," said the 289th-ranked Horne. "The front nine was pretty tough because it was a bit cold and the ball wasn't going that far. The pins were pretty difficult on the front nine, too.
"Once I started to warm up myself and make a few birdies, I actually really enjoyed the back nine."
Ryder Cup player Peter Hanson was second after making four straight birdies from No. 14 in shooting a 65. The Swede was followed by English pair Steve Webster and Paul Broadhurst plus Alvaro Velasco of Spain, who all shot 66.
McDowell, Hanson's playing partner, was next in a group of six. He eagled the par-4 No. 15 with a 30-foot putt. But he failed with a birdie attempt at the next, the same hole where his 20-footer clinched victory over Hunter Mahan in the Ryder Cup last October.
"I guess I've used all my magic up on that green," McDowell said. "Overall, I'm very happy with the way I played. The course is running pretty fast and firm, so it's playing reasonably short. The greens are not as good as I've seen them here at Celtic Manor. The greens are very receptive and very soft and there's quite a lot of growth on them, so they are tough to putt on.
"Generally, very happy with 4-under par, very happy with the way I struck the ball and there were a lot of good things, a lot of positives out there."
John Daly made four bogeys on the front nine and two on the back in a 77.
Elliot Saltman of Scotland, who completed a three-month ban from the European Tour last month for marking his ball incorrectly, had a hole-in-one at No. 17. He followed it up with an eagle in a round of 73, the same score as his brother Lloyd.
McDowell won the U.S. Open champion after a victory at the Wales Open last year. Despite missing the cut at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last week, the Northern Irishman is mostly pleased with his game.
"I feel like I've got a better understanding for my golf swing and what I'm trying to do with it," McDowell said. "I can see my way around the golf course now. I was really happy with that ball flight, to see that coming back into my game was nice, and I drove the ball really solidly today as well."
Hanson, McDowell, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Ross Fisher are the only Ryder Cup players in the field, although captain Colin Montgomerie and vice captains Darren Clarke and Thomas Bjorn are also playing.
Fisher failed to come through qualifying for the U.S. Open on Monday. He needs to play well at Celtic Manor if he is to regain a place in the top 50 and win a place at the tournament on Washington's Congressional course from June 16-19.
The Englishman rallied from bogeys at No. 12 and No. 13 with birdies in three of the last four holes in a 70, including at the last where his long eagle putt stopped just before the cup.
Jimenez shot a 73, while Montgomerie signed for a 77 only four days after his first top-10 finish in almost three years, when he finished joint seventh at the BMW PGA Championship.
-- Rob Murray
Phoenix player Kallan takes lead
VICTORIA, British Columbia (AP) — Phoenix-area player Kyle Kallan shot a 6-under 64 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Canadian Tour's Time Colonist Island Savings Open.
Kallan, the 23-year-old former Scottsdale Community College star who won the 2007 NJCAA national championship, holed out for eagle on the par-4 15th hole and had four birdies in a bogey-free round at Uplands Golf Club. Canadian James Allenby was second.
"I had a lot of fun out there today," said Kallan, from Peoria. "I didn't really put a lot of pressure on myself, which is a change to the way I have been approaching my game.
"I missed the cut in Mexico and sometimes I take golf a little too seriously. I played a very conservative game today despite my score, fairways and greens was the order of the day for me."
Kallan was the 2010 Billy Mayfair Arizona Golf Association Player of the Year.
Banned golfer hits hole-in-one at Wales Open
NEWPORT, Wales (AP) — A golfer who recently completed a three-month ban from the European Tour for marking his ball incorrectly hit a hole-in-one in the opening round of the Wales Open on Thursday.
Elliot Saltman of Scotland aced No. 17 and followed it up with an eagle to shoot a 2-over 73 at Celtic Manor.
Saltman was disqualified after both of his playing partners questioned how he replaced his ball in the first round of the Russian Challenge Cup last September. He made his return at the Spanish Open last month.
College
LSU's Peterson wins NCAA golf title
STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — LSU senior John Peterson won the individual title Thursday in the NCAA Golf Championships, and UCLA topped the eight qualifiers for the team match-play competition.
Peterson shot an even-par 72 — playing the back nine in 4 under — to finish at 5-under 211, a stroke ahead of UCLA's Patrick Cantlay at difficult Karsten Creek.
Six hours after Peterson finished, Cantlay had a chance to force a playoff, but his 18-foot eagle try on the par-5 18th grazed the cup and stayed out. He birdied the final two holes for a 71.
Peterson opened with a 74 and had a competitive course-record 65 on Wednesday.
UCLA was 10 over in the third round to finish at 8-over 872. Georgia Tech was second at 11 over, and host Oklahoma State (15 over), Illinois (15 over), Georgia (20 over), Ohio State (23 over), Augusta State (24 over) and Duke (25 over) also advanced to match play. Texas A&M was ninth at 26 over.
Peterson completed an unprecedented sweep for LSU following freshman Austin Ernst's victory May 21 in the women's event.
"I thought it was over and I had won, then Cantlay makes birdie on 17, which is a very hard hole, then hits the green on 18," Peterson said. "I rushed to the range and started hitting 3-woods and hit them horribly."
Peterson said he wasn't discouraged by his two bogeys and a double bogey on the first nine holes.
"I'm a pretty resilient, tough player," he said. "I was raised to never give up. This is a tough course and it will punch you, but if you punch back, sometimes it will pay off in the end."
Peterson also birdied the 17th, hitting a 4-iron from 181 yards into a 25 mph wind to about 7 feet.
UCLA coach Derek Freeman was pleased with the team victory, but cautioned against euphoria with match play ahead. His Bruins will face Duke in the first round Friday. Oklahoma State will open against Ohio State, Georgia Tech will face Augusta State, and Illinois will play Georgia.
"We came here wanting to win the stroke play and the match play," Freeman said. "We're halfway there. The guys played excellent golf on a very difficult course."
In addition to Cantlay, UCLA's Gregor Main tied for 20th at 4 over and Alex Kim tied for 32nd at 6 over.
Top-rannked Oklahoma State won the stroke play portion the preceding two years, but was knocked off in match play by eventual champions Texas A&M (2009) and Augusta State (2010).
Cowboys coach Mike McGraw is expecting the teams remaining to see a different course Friday.
"I was hoping for a little bit of wind so the golf course would have some teeth," McGraw said. "The NCAA has taken into account getting 30 teams around the course with some of the pin and tee locations. I think you'll see things get more interesting tomorrow.
"You want to win every tournament you play, but I'm just thrilled we get a chance to move on and have a fresh start tomorrow."
First-round leader James White led Georgia Tech at even-par 216, tied for eighth. The Yellow Jackets are looking forward to a rematch with Augusta State, which eliminated them in the first round a year ago.
Oklahoma State's Peter Uihlein was one of five player to tie for third at 1 under, surviving a shaky stretch on Nos. 10-12 when lost a tee shot in the woods on 10, ricocheted his tee shot off a cliff wall into a pond on the par-3 11th, then drove wild right into the woods on 12. He came back with an eagle on the par-5 14th, chipping in from off the green, and finished with a 73.
OU golfer Collins qualifies for U.S. Women's Open
NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — A freshman golfer at the University of Oklahoma has qualified to play in the U.S. Women's Open.
Emily Collins finished second in a sectional qualifier Wednesday at Prestonwood Country Club in Plano. Collins shot a 5-under-par 66 to finish at even-par 142 in the two-round event.
Sarah Kemp, an LPGA tour player from Australia, won the event with a 138. The third qualifier was Chelsea Mocio, who finished with a 143.
The U.S. Women's Open will be held July 7-10 at the Broadmoor East Course in Colorado Springs, Colo. Collins played in 11 events for the Sooners this past year. Isabelle (Blais) Beisiegel is the only other Oklahoma player to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open while in college. She did so in 1998 and finished 36th.
Elsewhere
WVGA begins statewide program for juniors golfers
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — The West Virginia Golf Association has launched a statewide program designed to teach the basic fundamentals and principles of the game to children ages 6 to 12. The Little General Juniors golf program debuted this week with eight regions around the state participating.
The program was initially offered in 2009 at Charleston's Coonskin Park. The WVGA said Thursday it received an overwhelming response of participation in the first two years of the program and made it available to other regions.
In addition to Coonskin, this year the program is available at Barbourville's Esquire Country Club, Bluefield's Fincastle Country Club, the Lewisburg Elks Country Club, Charles Town's Locust Hill Golf Club, Logan Country Club in Chapmanville, Wheeling Country Club and Woodridge Plantation in Mineral Wells.
