Aditi shines at Texas Classic, Woods struggles at Wells Fargo

In the 32 holes she has played so far, Aditi Ashok reached 6-under and was tied for the lead with four others.

In the 32 holes she has played so far, Aditi Ashok reached 6-under and was tied for the lead with four others.

 

India’s Aditi Ashok shared the lead and gave herself a great chance of grabbing a breakthrough win after the Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic was reduced to 36 holes because of inclement weather.

With rain giving her a chance to tee off earlier, she got to play her first round on Saturday and had to begin her second round, which has also become the tournament’s final round, the same day.

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In the 32 holes she has played so far, Aditi reached 6-under and was tied for the lead with four others.

Aditi played 32 holes and made 10 birdies in them. She had 23 putts over her first 18 holes, which she played in 2-under 69. She then took 18 on her first 14 holes of the final round and was 4-under with four holes to play.

“Sometimes I get off the golf course and I wish I had nine more holes because I’m playing so good and that kind of happened today,” said Ashok, who has two career Top-10 finishes on the LPGA.

“I’m just going to focus on my four holes on Sunday and make the best of it that I can. Maybe it’ll be good enough to give the overnight leaders something to chase, but even then I’ve had such a good week that it has been fun,” she added.

Bhullar in Korea

In Korea, Gaganjeet Bhullar was edged out in a four-way playoff for the GS Caltex Maekyung Open Golf Championship as Korea’s Sanghyun Park won the event for the second time in three years with a par at the third playoff hole on Sunday.

Park, who won the event in 2016, had to go the extra distance to lift his sixth professional title after he carded an even-par-71 in the final round to force his way into a play-off with compatriots Yikeun Chang (69), Junggon Hwang (70) and Bhullar (70).

Bhullar said, “I gave my 100 per cent and I played really well, especially the last 36 holes. I played steady and gave myself opportunities today. I hit the ball well and gave myself lots of good looks out on the course. But I would like to congratulate Park as he’s a deserving winner.”

It was Bhullar’s best result since his win in Macao last October. He is the first Asian to win eight times before the age of 30.

Woods at Wells Fargo

Leader Jason Day overcame a rocky start to finish at 4-under 67 in the third round of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte.

With 10-under 203 after three rounds, he is two shots clear ahead of Nick Watney (66) as the third round yielded decent scores.

At the Quail Hollow, which was more amenable to good scores on Saturday, Peter Uihlein (62), Phil Mickelson (64) and Rory McIlroy (66) all made headway.

Anirban Lahiri missed the cut earlier and will now feature in the Players Championships next week.

While many players took advantage of a softer course, Tiger Woods failed to do the same on a course that was 228 yards shorter and soft enough that the players actually found pitch marks on the greens.