Feng leads ShopRite field by three

Feng leads ShopRite field by three










The Sports Xchange June 1, 2013 8:10 PMThe SportsXchange



GALLOWAY, N.J. -- Shanshan Feng came sprinting out of the starting gate. Now it's up to the rest of the field to chase her down.

Feng sits atop the leaderboard at the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer at the 36-hole mark. She fired a 4-under par 67 on Saturday at the Bay Course at the Stockton Seaview Hotel and Golf Club just outside Atlantic City to stand at 6-under par 136.

The 23-year old Feng is seeking her second career LPGA win; she won the Wegmans LPGA Championship in Rochester one year ago and will defend her title next week.

Feng will be three shots clear of the field when the final round gets underway Sunday morning. Haeji Kang, and first-round co-leader Moriya Jutanugarn are at 3-under par 139. Kang, who like Feng had an early tee time on Saturday, carded a 69 while Jutanugarn shot 73.

Chie Arimura and Anna Nordqvist are both at 140 while Karrie Webb, Michelle Wie, Karine Icher, Hee Young Park, and first-round co-leader Amanda Blumenherst were all at 141.

Defending champion Stacy Lewis, who was one shot off the lead when the second round started, wound up shooting 80 and fell into a tie for 49th place at 5-over par 147. She made the cut with just a shot to spare.

For most of the field, Saturday was a survival test. At times the winds blew at more than 25 mph and played havoc with the players' distance control. The winds also hardened the putting surfaces.

Feng started her round on the Bay Course's back nine and it wasn't long before her putter heated up. After starting her round with four straight pars she reeled off four consecutive birdies and made the turn at five under par after a bogey at 18. She picked up an additional stroke on par on her second nine.

Kang played her front side in even par before making two birdies on the backside.

Wie had an up-and-down round that included four straight birdies at one point. Standing on the eighth tee (her 17th hole) she was just one shot off the pace. But she finished double bogey-bogey to drop three shots.

NOTES: The cut came at 6-over par 148. Angela Stanford, a past winner, along with Natalie Gulbis and Lexi Thompson, are among the players who failed to qualify for the final round. ... Just 18 players in the 141-woman field broke par. ... Wie first played in this event 10 years ago at age 13. She tied for 52nd that year.

Feng overcomes wind to lead ShopRite

Feng overcomes wind to lead ShopRite










Rick Woelfel, The Sports Xchange June 1, 2013 9:10 PMThe SportsXchange


GALLOWAY, N.J. -- Shanshan Feng came sprinting out of the starting gate. Now it's up to the rest of the field to chase her down.

On a day when the wind made conditions brutally difficult, Feng took control of the ShopRite LPGA Classic.

She fired a 4-under par 67 on Saturday at the Bay Course at the Stockton Seaview Hotel and Golf Club just outside Atlantic City to stand at 6-under par 136 for 36 holes.

The 23-year-old Feng is looking for her second LPGA win; she'll defend her title at the Wegmans LPGA Championship in Rochester next week.

Feng will be three shots clear of the field when the final round gets underway Sunday morning. Haeji Kang and first-round co-leader Moriya Jutanugarn are at 3-under par 139. Kang, who like Feng had an early tee time Saturday, carded a 69 while Jutanugarn shot 73.

Chie Arimura and Anna Nordqvist are both at 140 while Karrie Webb, Michelle Wie, Karine Icher, Hee Young Park and first-round co-leader Amanda Blumenherst all stand at 141.

Defending champion Stacy Lewis, who was one shot off the lead when the second round started, wound up shooting 80 and fell into a tie for 49th place at 5-over par 147. She made the cut with just a shot to spare.

Feng started out with a red-hot putter. After starting the round with four straight pars, she reeled off four consecutive birdies.

"I started the round with confidence," she said, "because even though I didn't have a good start yesterday I did have a really good finish. So I think after a few pars, and then I made like four birdies in a row. But then after four birdies, I was like, 'Oh, maybe I'm doing well right now.' But I think a four-under round is still a pretty good score."


Playing the back nine first, Feng did indeed bogey the 18th but still made the turn at five under par. She picked up an additional shot on par on the front side.

Feng put a new set of clubs in play this week, which she said boosted her confidence.

"This is the first week with the new clubs, and right now I'm feeling really, really good," she said. "Nothing's really different, but I think just more effort, so I like them."

While Feng was enjoying the sanctity of the clubhouse, her closest pursuers were battling the conditions.

Jutanugarn moved into a tie for the lead when she birdied the 12th hole (her third). But bogeys at the 14th, 18th and second cost her three shots and she played the rest of her round in even par.

"We had an afternoon tee time" she said, "and the wind picked up stronger. I tried to play one shot at a time, and keep calm and try to play, whatever."

At times during the afternoon the winds blew at more than 25 mph, playing havoc with the players' distance control. The winds also hardened the putting surfaces.

Paula Creamer made the cut right on the number at 148.

"Nobody has ever seen this place like this before," she said. "It's not only that it's just windy -- we've played in that before. The conditions aren't quite the best.

"The greens need some water, that's for sure. It's just getting so firm out there. But it is what it is and you just have to go about it and commit to your shot and whatever happens happens after the ball leaves the club face."

Wie, who also played the backside first, moved to within two shots of the lead when she birdied her opening hole. But a bogey at 15 and a double-bogey at 18 dropped her to one under par.

She rallied on the front side, rolling in four straight birdies to get to within two shots of the lead standing on the eighth tee. But two errant tee shots cost her three shots on the way in as she finished double bogey, bogey.

"It was a little more difficult than yesterday," she said. "This golf course, it can get you on a hole. I had two double bogeys today. It's very frustrating, but at the same time this course can do this to you."

Wie is trying to win her third LPGA title and her first since 2010.

NOTES: The cut came at 6-over-par 148. Angela Stanford, a past winner here, along with Natalie Gulbis and Lexi Thompson, are among the players who failed to qualify. ... Just 18 players in the 141-woman field broke par. ... Wie first played in this event 10 years ago at age 13. She tied for 52nd.

Webb wins LPGA event

Webb wins LPGA event










Rick Woelfel, The Sports Xchange June 2, 2013 6:20 PMThe SportsXchange



GALLOWAY, N.J. -- Karrie Webb came from five shots off the pace on Sunday to win the ShopRite LPGA Classic Presented by Acer by two shots.

Webb fired a 3-under par 68 in the final round over the Bay Course at the Stockton Seaview Hotel and Golf Club near Atlantic City. She finished the 54 holes at 4-under par 209.

It was the 39th career victory for the LPGA Hall of Famer and her first since she won the inaugural RR Donnelley Founders Cup in 2011.

Shanshan Feng, who started the day with a three-shot lead, closed with a 75 to finish second at 2-under par 211. Hee Young Park carded a 71 to finish alone in third place at 212. Jenny Shin's 70 left her at 213.

Michelle Wie, who was tied with Webb when the round began, finished with a 74 to tie for ninth place at 215.

Webb started her day tied for sixth place but worked her way through the pack, while battling winds that at times blew at over 25 mph.

She jump-started her round by rolling in an uphill 25-foot birdie putt at the par-4 second hole. She followed up with a 10-foot eagle putt at the third that moved her into a tie for the lead with Feng, two groups behind her, who double bogeyed the second.

Webb stumbled with a bogey at the sixth, but her performance on the greens was the key to her round. On six different occasions, she salvaged par by rolling in putts of between four and seven feet.

After her bogey at the sixth, she ran off 11 straight pars before draining a short birdie putt at the final green.

Feng double bogeyed the fifth to fall to 3-under-par for the championship but regained the outright lead with a birdie at the eighth.

When Feng bogeyed the 11th and 13th, Webb found herself atop the leaderboard for the first time. Her birdie at the 18th extended her lead to two shots.

Feng cut the deficit in half with a birdie at the par-4 16th, but bogeyed the 17th.

Just three players, Webb, Feng, and Park, finished the 54 holes under par.

Notes: Webb's winning total tied for the highest in the history of the tournament, relative to par. Juli Inkster finished 4-under-par for the 54 holes in the inaugural event in 1986, which was also played at Seaview... Webb is the sixth LPGA Hall of Famer to win this tournament. The others: Inkster, Betsy King, Annika Sorenstam, Nancy Lopez, and Se Ri Pak.... Former world No. 1 Yani Tseng shot an 80 on Sunday to finish her week tied for 69th place at 10-over par 223.

Former PGA Tour Jim McGovern feeling dandy ahead of '13 PNC debut

Former PGA Tour Jim McGovern feeling dandy ahead of '13 PNC debut











PGA.COM June 14, 2013 2:01 PM

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PGA Professional Jim McGovern, who won the 1993Shell Houston Open , is now in his third season as the …


By Bob Denney, The PGA of America

Two decades removed from winning the Shell Houston Open, his lone victory of a 22-year PGA Tour career, Jim McGovern is at peace in a place where television doesn't shine its bright lights or draw the rapt attention of a scrutinizing national audience.

It is home, sweet home.

In his third season as the PGA head professional at White Beeches Golf and Country Club in Haworth, N.J., McGovernhas not retired from competition. He merely refined his priorities to what comes first -- his family. McGovern, 48, will be part of the 312-player field in his first PGA Professional National Championship, June 23-26, at Sunriver (Ore.) Resort. He earned his berth by finishing third in last fall's New Jersey PGA Championship.

"It's great; I like being home," says McGovern, sounding ever like a man who found Shangri-La. "I love it here. The traveling was getting to me. My kids were getting bigger and I wasn't there to see them grow up. I have even dabbled a bit as a basketball coach."

One of nine children of Howard and Terese McGovern, owners of a family trucking business, McGovern has six brothers. Brother Rob is a former NFL linebacker turned U.S. Army military attorney; and brother Bill is the linebackers coach for the Philadelphia Eagles.

"Bill getting that job means that I might have to put on a little green, but not when they face my (New York) Giants," joked McGovern.

The McGoverns are a hard-working family, says Jim, and that stems from parents who believed in earning what comes from sound business practices and building those you care about most. "My dad made us who we are, what we are," says McGovern. "Mom is still going great at 82, and she is working in our golf shop."

A native of Teaneck, N.J., McGovern says he hurt his arm playing baseball during the same part of the season as when golf season was starting in school.

"The golf coach also was a gym teacher," says McGovern. "I was a junior in high school at the time. I remember the coach saying, 'Hey McGovern, you better try golf.'"


McGovern's path to full-time golf was later sealed when he suffered a knee injury in football at Bergen Catholic High School. Perhaps it was destiny as the McGovern brothers had grew up near the fourth hole at Hackensack Golf Club near Oradell. They would sneak on the course at twilight for any game that they could squeeze in before sunset. "It was like the biggest backyard we'd seen," says McGovern.

"Golf was a perfect challenge for me," says McGovern, who turned professional in 1988. "For me, it was facing one opponent -- the golf course. I love being tested."

The competitive side of McGovern carried over to his responsibilities as a PGA club professional. He reviews merchandise orders, trains an apprentice, coordinates junior camps and oversees details for the club's member-guest tournament.

This is the same guy who made nearly 200 PGA Tour cuts, tied for fifth at the 1994 Masters, and earned nearly $3 million. He remains just the second New Jersey native to win on the PGA Tour, following 1941 PGA Champion Vic Ghezzi, an 11-time Tour winner.

When McGovern defeated John Huston in a playoff in the rain-shortened 1993 Shell Houston Open, he became one of six first-time winners on Tour that year and pocketed $587,495. He would never win again, spending years between the PGA Tour and the former Nationwide circuit.

He regained a Tour card for the 2008 season, making just 11 cuts in 26 events. By then a lack of success and the travel away from his wife, Lauren, and their four children had taken its toll.

A disappointing 2008 season convinced McGovern it was time to consider making a career change. After playing in a handful of Tour events through 2010, McGovern interviewed successfully for the head professional job at White Beeches, a 1920 Walter Travis layout, just a few miles from his Bergen County home.

The new experience of competing against his club professional peers in The PGA of America has been a fulfilling transition. "I enjoy being with the guys that I have met in this Section," McGovern says. "They have accepted me."

The chance to compete at the highest level has been a part of McGovern's DNA throughout his career.

"I like being competitive. I'd rather be watching a tractor pull than a soap opera," says McGovern. "It excites me."

The 46th PGA Professional National Championship is presented by Club Car, Mercedes-Benz and OMEGA. The Championship, June 23-26, will be televised live by GOLF CHANNEL.

Tiger Woods has an injured elbow, but remains in U.S. Open contention

Tiger Woods has an injured elbow, but remains in U.S. Open contention











Eric Adelson June 14, 2013 5:24 PMYahoo Sports







ARDMORE, Pa. – What looked at first like a new ailment has been bothering Tiger Woods for a while.

Woods' left elbow, originally believed to be a wrist injury, has become one of the major storylines of this major tournament. It flared up again on Friday after nagging him as early as the second shot of the U.S. Open here on Thursday. After shooting even par for his second round, Woods admitted his elbow has been hurting since The Players Championship in early May.

Woods didn't seem to show much (if any) pain during The Memorial leading up to the U.S. Open, but his poor performance there now seems more of a source of wonder than an aberration. How badly has the elbow been hurting, how often, and how much is it affecting his game?

Woods, closed-lipped as ever, gave a snippy answer when asked how he hurt the elbow.





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Tiger Woods grimaces after hitting his second shot on the eighth hole. (Getty Images)"Playing golf," Woods said.



Playing golf was certainly the cause of aggravation on Friday. The winces of Thursday became full-fledged grimaces as the afternoon wore on, not on every hole but especially when he was forced to escape from rough as tangled as late '80s computer wires.

The most pain seemed to come on Hole 7, when Woods tee shot veered left and left him in the tall grass behind a large tree. His ensuing shot caused him to swing his left arm behind his back in pain. Woods then flubbed his next shot, hitting a wedge no more than two feet, before carding a bogey that left him six shots off the lead at the time of the conclusion of his round.

The injury makes Woods' impressive second round even more notable, as he fought to even par and watched many of the other leaders fall away. After the end of his first round Friday morning, Woods was tied for 45th. After the end of his second round Friday afternoon, his 3-over was tied for 27th with many others still battling the course. The world's top golfer has a puncher's chance for his 15th major, bad elbow or not.

The pain doesn't seem to be weighing on Woods mentally. Keep in mind, his last U.S. Open win came on a torn ACL.

Asked if he liked his chances over the weekend, Woods simply said, "Yes."

Amateurs enjoy solid performances at US Open

Amateurs enjoy solid performances at US Open












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Cheng-Tsung Pan shot a 2-over 72 that put him in good position to make the cut.(Getty Images)

PGA.COM June 14, 2013 8:00 PM


By Dan Gelston, Associated Press

ARDMORE, Pa. -- Cheng-tsung Pan had a pretty good day on the course. He felt even better about it when he scanned the scores.

"When I look at the scoreboard with my last name up there, it's pretty cool," he said.

The Taiwan-born Pan was one of several amateurs who had a respectable showing in Thursday's opening round of the U.S. Open. Pan shot a 2-over 72 at Merion Golf Cluband put himself in solid position to make the cut.

Kevin Phelan of Ireland topped the four amateurs who completed early rounds with a 1-over 71 that put him four shots behind clubhouse leader Phil Mickelson.

Pan and Phelan did great at No. 13: Both parred the hole and picked up a birdie or two elsewhere.

"It's always nice to be able to compare yourself to the best in the world," Phelan said. "It's the first time I've had a round anywhere close to them. It's nice, but there's a long way to go."

Pan, 21, is a junior at the University of Washington. He missed the cut in his other Open appearance in 2011, saying he was too excited and had too many distractions to play his best game.

He brought only two friends with him to Merion. And this time?

"I had it going," he said.

Pan, who also answered questions in Mandarin, wants to graduate from Washington and become the first member of his family to earn a degree. He played nine holes Wednesday with his idol, Luke Donald, but never could bring himself to say how much he admired his game.


"Nah, too embarrassing," he said.

Phelan, who failed to make the cut in the 2010 Open, plans to turn pro later this year and attend Q-School. With more rounds like Thursday, Phelan just might reach his goal of making the Great Britain-Ireland Walker Cup team.

"It certainly can't hurt," said Phelan, 22, who lives in St. Augustine, Fla.

He was nervous before his first tee, but calmed down after his first swings. He came away from a practice round with Masters champion Adam Scott with some useful advice for taming the soggy course.

Sure, it's only Thursday and the amateurs concede there's too much golf ahead to start thinking about making the cut. But perhaps history could be on their side.

Only 21, amateur Jim Simons took a two-shot lead into the final day of the 1971 Open played at -- yes, Merion. Trying to become the first amateur to win the event since 1933, Simon faded to fifth. Lee Trevino would go on to beat Jack Nicklaus in a playoff. No amateur has led again on the final day.

Bobby Jones won the U.S. Amateur in 1930 at Merion, clinching his Grand Slam.

On Thursday, Michael Kim had three birdies and shot a 3-over 73 to join Pan and Phelan as the top-three amateurs. The 19-year-old Kim was more jittery playing practice rounds than approaching his first Open tee shot.

"I didn't really feel too nervous out there, other than maybe a couple moments," he said. "I just tried to have fun. Tried not to expect too much."

Three of eight amateurs made the cut last year at Olympic Club and the best score for the tournament wasJordan Spieth at 7-over 287.

"The gap between amateur and pro, I think it's getting smaller," Pan said. "As an amateur, we're getting more chances, more opportunities to compete in professional events. We learn from those."

Four-way tie for lead at Congressional

Four-way tie for lead at Congressional










June 29, 2013 6:59 PM

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Roberto Castro of the U.S. lines up his putt on the seventh hole during the first round of The Players …


(Reuters) - A tumultuous day at the AT&T National ended with a four-way tie for the lead heading into Sunday's final round at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.

Roberto Castro pitched in after hitting his approach shot into the water to save par at the 18th and complete a 71 to join the party at seven-under-par 206 along with Andres Romero of Argentina, and Americans Bill Haas and James Driscoll.

One stroke back was long-hitting Jason Kokrak, who powered a 349-yard drive at 18 on his way to finishing a 70 for 207, one stroke better than Tom Gillis and South Korea's Charlie Wi.

Wi made nine birdies, including seven on the front nine, on his way to a 65.

Jordan Spieth, a 19-year-old who began the round sharing the lead with Castro, held an early two-stroke lead after opening the third round with a pair of birdies to reach nine under par, slipped back to four under, three strokes off the pace.


Romero, who had to finish five holes early Saturday morning to complete the weather-interrupted second round, made four early birdies in the third round to reach 10 under par and seize a three-stroke lead.

But the Argentine double-bogeyed the 11th and bogeyed the 12th to set up the log jam at the top.

Haas triple-bogeyed the 11th after dumping a wedge shot into the pond right of the green as player fortunes rose and fell throughout the round as they aimed at pins often placed on the edge of trouble.

Because of a threat of stormy weather forecast for late Sunday afternoon, players will again go off both tees in groups of three beginning at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT) with the final groups teeing off two hours later.

(Reporting by Larry Fine in New York,; Editing by Gene Cherry)