Mallinger tops Gore to win Pebble Beach Invite

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – John Mallinger won the Pebble Beach Invitational on Sunday, birdieing four of the last six holes for a 4-under 68 and a two-stroke victory over Jason Gore.

Mallinger, who lost his fully exempt PGA Tour status after finishing 133rd on the money list, made a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to finish at 15-under 273 in the event featuring 76 male and female players. He earned $60,000 in the $300,000 tournament sponsored by Callaway Golf.

Mallinger, who also led after the second and third rounds, had eight birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey in the final round played in intermittent rain.

“I putted well today and putted well all week,” said Mallinger, who has eight top-three finishes but is winless since joining the PGA Tour in 2006. “I love Pebble Beach. It’s tough to beat Pebble Beach.”

Gore, who will join Mallinger in the PGA Tour’s final qualifying tournament, closed with a bogey-free 65.

“I tried, but I just got outplayed,” said Gore, who also birdied the final round. “But I played well and I’ll take the momentum to Q-School.”

Pat Perez (65) and Champions Tour player Russ Cochran (71) tied for third at 11 under. Cochran, who began the final round trailing by one stroke, held a one-stroke lead after birdieing the 11m but bogeyed the 13th and Mallinger soon began his final birdie spree.

Annika Sorenstam, completing her first 72-hole tournament since her LPGA Tour retirement in 2008, shot a 73 to finish at 3 under.

“It’s funny, you don’t play for two years and then you go inside the ropes and the mindset comes back,” Sorenstam said. “It’s there, which is too cool. But you can’t make the same shots anymore.”

Morgan Pressel shot a 72 to finish at 7 under, the best among the 13 LPGA Tour entrants.

Tommy Armour III, the 2008 and 2009 winner, withdrew before the final round because of personal reasons.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.

View the original article here

Mallinger takes lead at Pebble Beach Invite

Photo by Getty Images

John Mallinger during the second round at the PGA Championship.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – John Mallinger, no longer fully exempt on the PGA Tour after finishing 133rd on the money list this year, birdied five of his last six holes at Pebble Beach for 7-under 65 and a one-stroke lead in the Pebble Beach Invitational.

Mallinger had nine birdies and two bogeys in the second round to reach 9-under 135 in the 76-player event that features male and female professionals.

“I pretty much made everything out there,” said Mallinger, third twice in the PGA Tour’s Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. “I just always feel comfortable here. It’s like home.”

PGA Tour winner Matt Bettencourt, the first-round leader after a 64 at Del Monte, had a 72 at Spyglass Hill to drop into a tie for second with two-time Champions Tour winner Russ Cochran and four-time LPGA tour champion Candie Kung. Cochran had a 65, and Kung shot a 68, both at Del Monte.

“I played pretty well, but I didn’t hit it below the hole,” said Bettencourt, the Reno-Tahoe Open winner in July for his first PGA Tour title. “That’s the key at Spyglass. The greens were firm and fair and that’s what makes it a great course.”

D.A. Points was fifth at 7 under after a 66 at Pebble Beach.

Annika Sorenstam, competing for one of the rare times since her retirement in 2008, shot a 72 at Spyglass Hill, leaving her six strokes back at 3 under.

Twenty-five players shot sub-par rounds, nine fewer than in the opening round. Del Monte produced 17 of the under-par scores in the second round.

Kevin Streelman, who had a first-round 69 at Del Monte, was disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard at Pebble Beach.

Defending champion Mark Brooks, the seven-time PGA Tour winner and only three-time Pebble Beach Invitational champion, will likely moss the cut after shooting a 78 to finish at 11 over.

The top 40 and ties following the third round will advance to the final round Sunday at Pebble Beach. The winner will receive $60,000 from the $300,000 purse.

The tournament is sponsored by Callaway Golf.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.

View the original article here

Pettersen leads by 1 at Lorena Ochoa Invite

Photo by Getty Images

Suzann Pettersen during the first round of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Suzann Pettersen moved into position for her first LPGA Tour victory of the year, shooting a 3-under 69 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.

Pettersen, the Norwegian star who has 10 top-five finishes season, was 12 under on the Guadalajara Country Club course. She had five victories in 2007 and also won the 2009 Canadian Women’s Open.

“I’ve been in this situation a lot,” Pettersen said. “Hopefully my experience from previous tournaments this year can help me play well tomorrow.”

Ai Miyazato (68), Stacy Lewis (69), In-Kyung Kim (68) and Karine Icher (68) were tied for second, and second-round leader Paula Creamer (72) was another stroke back at 10 under.

“If there’s that many people that close, some of them will go low,” Pettersen said. “You can’t really look back. Just try and look ahead and try and bring it home.”

Pettersen birdied five of the first 10 holes to reach 14 under, but dropped two strokes with bogeys on the par-4 15th and par-3 17th.

“It’s just a roller coaster out there,” Pettersen said. “I made some really good birdies and made a few sloppy on swings on the few bogeys that I made. But I made a good putt on the last and that kind of helped me get my momentum going for tomorrow. I’ve been feeling really good on the greens and making some nice putts.”

Ochoa, playing her first LPGA Tour event since retiring in April, shot a 69 on her home course, leaving her 10 shots back in a tie for 24th.

Miyazato has a tour-high five victories this season.

“I played really good, because it was kind of one of the tough days I think, because the wind just keeps switching around,” the Japanese star said. “And it was tough to make a decision on every single shot, but I had very good focus. I’m very happy. I played good today.”

She’s close friends with Ochoa.

“That would be great,” she said about winning. “But you never know what’s going to happen, because with the top 10 players, it’s getting really close right now. So I need to be like playing good and just need to be patient, I think. So one more day, you know, just having fun.”

Michelle Wie, the winner last year, withdrew Thursday because of a back injury after an opening 78.

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.

View the original article here

Kerr jumps to 3-shot lead at Lorena Invite

Photo by Associated Press

Cristie Kerr put up a tournament-record 64 in the first round of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.

GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Cristie Kerr shot a tournament-record 8-under 64 on Thursday to take a three-stroke lead over Stacy Lewis in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational, while Ochoa opened with a 74 on her home course in her first LPGA Tour start since retiring in April.

The third-ranked Kerr birdied nine of the first 15 holes at Guadalajara Country Club, but dropped a stroke on the par-3 17th. She won the LPGA State Farm Classic and LPGA Championship in consecutive starts in June.

“I felt really good out there,” Kerr said. “I was there every shot. I want to do the small things well and take it day by day. I won today for myself, and I’ll go out there tomorrow with the same amount of confidence.

“When you’re swinging well, you have good confidence and a I had lot of good yardages into the hole today,” Kerr said. “So, I had good control of my ball, and if I have good control of my ball, then I can still be aggressive. Every day’s different.”

Japanese star Ai Miyazato. U.S. Women’s Open champion Paula Creamer, South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi and Australia’s Katherine Hull shot 68s, and South Koreans Hee Young Park and In-Kyung Kim had 69s.

Michelle Wie, the winner last year for her first LPGA Tour title, withdrew after the round because of a back injury. She shot a 78.

“I was very excited to be here, but unfortunately I can’t play anymore,” Wie said. “I’m going to see the doctor tomorrow and hope to make it feel better. We took an MRI and I have two little cysts near my spine and a little disc bulge. It’s nothing major but it’s just something I can’t play with right now.”

Ochoa closed with her second double bogey of the round.

“It’s good to be back,” Ochoa said. “It would be better if I had a better round today. Especially the end of the day was a tough one because I tried really hard to stay around par and just finish really good. But nothing I can do now.”

Her husband, Aeromexico CEO Andres Conesa, caddied for her.

“He did pretty good,” Ochoa said. “I was very impressed. But I know talking to him he did a good job. He was taking care of his duties.”

The course sits more than a mile above sea level, making club selection difficult in the thin air.

“It’s actually really hard,” Lewis said. “I’m still kind of adjusting. I think it’s somewhere between 5 and 10 percent depending on how long the shot is and how long it’s in the air and things like that. But I had some shots today that just went crazy far for me. So I’m still trying to adjust.”

Yani Tseng, 14 points ahead of second-place Miyazato in the player of the year race, struggled to a 76. Top-ranked Jiyai Shin, skipping the tournament, and Choi are tied for third, 18 points behind Tseng. Kerr is fifth, 22 points behind Tseng.

“This tournament is definitely key. We have 35, 36 of the best players in the world here, and everybody’s playing well,” Kerr said. “So for me to try and accomplish the goals that I have of player of the year and so on, I have to keep doing what I did today.”

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.

View the original article here