Quail Hollow’s greens are extremely quick and getting firmer and slicker by the day.
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Blair was 7-over par for the tournament when he was disqualified and would have faced an uphill battle to make the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship.
Trailing in third place were two South Koreans, Kim Kyung-Tae, the victor of The Crowns tournament last weekend in Japan, and Lee Chang-Woo, who won the 2013 Asia-Pacific Amateur.
Journeyman pro Andrew Loupe, who was joint overnight leader with Steve Wheatcroft, shot 71 to set the early clubhouse lead at eight-under.
“It’s halftime, ” Loupe said. “Just do my best to stay in this very moment”. And the Warriors still considered him doubtful to play in today’s Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals at Portland.
Mickelson believes he’s in the thick of it at 5 under as he chases his first win in Charlotte.
She has started the season with five straight top-five finishes, also winning the Chico’s Patty Berg Memorial. “That’s never really happened to me before”.
Rory McIlroy had a flurry of birdies in the middle of his round. He finished with a double bogey. “The course dried out and played much faster, so 68 is a really good round out there”, Fowler said. “The 45-year-old’s one blemish was a 3-putt bogey-5 at the eighth from 23’3”.
Fowler began the third round three shots behind Loupe and in a six-way tie for fifth. He rolled in three consecutive birdies on 14, 15 and 16 before a bogey on 17 to eventually card a 68.
Like Castro, the 18th hole ultimately proved to be the undoing for McIlroy and Mickelson, too. The five-time PGA Tour victor finished at 12-under 204 at The Woodlands Country Club. The Dubliner struggled again yesterday, carding eight bogeys on his way to a five-over-par 77, leaving him on a seven-over-par total, six shots off the projected cut line. But this year he’s started wearing jogger trousers and high-top golf cleats. Hadley had a 67, and Hubbard shot 68. If he can turn in another where he lifts mistakes and makes shots when he needs to he could hold off Fowler, who will certainly be the crowd favorite in the pairing. Fans cleared a way and Kokrak chipped to about 18 feet and eventually bogeyed the hole.
Lowry played in the morning group, and after his opening 74, he needed to get on the birdie trail to gain some traction in the tournament.
On the back nine, the par-4 11th hole will be redesigned as a fairway bunker will be moved about 75 yards farther from tee box, and a new green will be built to the left and slightly beyond the current putting surface on the 11th hole. Blair was disqualified because you can’t use an intentionally damaged club. “From there you can score on this golf course”. I’m just trying to get as many under par as possible. Are you good enough?
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Castro hasn’t played his best golf of late. “It gives you kind of a glimpse of what it can be or will be for next year’s PGA Championship”. “If you can split it up a bit and get the times where you just go have fun with your friends, and obviously you see we had a great time…”
